Congress created Business Development Companies (BDCs) in 1980 to provide public investors another means to invest in the long-term growth of smaller U.S. businesses. BDCs invest their capital primarily in small and middle market private companies in the U.S. Typically, BDCs are structured to originate and hold debt and equity investments and can invest across a portfolio company’s capital structure.

A BDC that is a “regulated investment company”, or a “RIC”, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, such as Main Street Capital, is required to distribute at least 90% of its taxable income to shareholders in order to maintain its RIC election and avoid corporate income tax.

Our principal investment objective is to maximize our investment portfolio’s total return by generating current income from our debt investments and current income and capital appreciation from our equity and equity-related investments, including warrants, convertible securities and other rights to acquire equity securities in a portfolio company. We seek to achieve our investment objective by providing customized long-term debt and equity capital solutions to lower middle market (“LMM”) companies (our “LMM investment strategy”) and debt capital to private (“Private Loan”) companies owned by or in the process of being acquired by a private equity fund (our “Private Loan investment strategy”).  Our portfolio investments are typically made to support management buyouts, recapitalizations, growth financings, refinancings and acquisitions of companies that operate in diverse industry sectors. We seek to partner with entrepreneurs, business owners and management teams and generally provide customized “one-stop” debt and equity financing solutions within our LMM investment strategy.  We seek to partner with private equity fund sponsors and primarily invest in secured debt investments in our Private Loan investment strategy. Our LMM portfolio companies generally have annual revenues between $10 million and $150 million, and our Private Loan portfolio companies generally have annual revenues between $25 million and $500 million.

Our unique investment strategy includes actively investing as an equity owner in virtually all of the LMM companies in which we invest. We believe that the LMM is a highly attractive segment of the overall market that provides unique and highly valuable equity investment opportunities for Main Street Capital. We believe that these unique equity investments provide for potential realized and unrealized gains to offset any potential credit losses and impairments relating to our debt investments and the opportunity for us to grow our net asset value (NAV) per share over time as these LMM portfolio companies perform and the value of our equity investments in these companies increase. We believe this unique investment strategy has provided superior returns to our shareholders for more than a decade. In contrast, most other BDCs primary focus is on debt investments only.

In addition, we are an internally managed BDC whereas the vast majority of other BDCs are externally managed.

We also maintain an asset management business through our wholly-owned portfolio company, MSC Adviser I, LLC (the External Investment Manager). See “Does Main Street Capital manage other funds?” below.

Being internally managed means that we are structured much like a typical operating company, with employees that are solely focused on Main Street Capital’s operating activities and with the significant benefits of a typical corporate governance structure relating to the compensation of our employees. As a result, the compensation that we provide to our employees is based on a combination of the overall financial performance and operating achievements of the company and the individual performance of our employees. As a result of these benefits, we believe that the internally managed structure better aligns the interests of our employees and shareholders. In contrast, an externally managed BDC does not have employees and is instead managed by a third-party management firm that charges the BDC an operating cost based on a percentage of assets plus certain incentive fees, meaning that an externally managed BDC’s operating costs will automatically increase as the BDC’s assets increase, irrespective of the BDC’s operating performance. Our internally managed structure has resulted in an overall cost to manage our business that is significantly lower than the average BDC, and such benefits can be measured by comparing Main Street Capital’s ratio of operating cost, excluding interest expense, as a percentage of total assets and Main Street Capital’s efficiency ratio to the average ratios for other BDCs. More details on our internally managed structure and the ratio comparisons can be found in our quarterly Investor Presentation located at our Investors page at https://ir.mainstcapital.com/.

Yes, through the External Investment Manager, we provide investment advisory and management services to BDCs, private investment funds, and institutional investors through separately managed accounts.  We currently serve as the sole advisor to MSC Income Fund, Inc. (www.mscincomefund.com, formerly HMS Income Fund, Inc.), a non-listed BDC. We receive a base management fee equal to 1.75%  per annum of the total assets of MSC Income Fund, and have the opportunity to earn incentive fees based upon the fund’s performance.  We also receive asset-based management fees and may also receive performance-based fees or allocations for providing investment advisory and management services to private funds and separately managed accounts.  Due to our unique internally managed structure, the benefits derived from these advisory relationships are included in our financial results and therefore passed on to our shareholders.

We generally are required to meet a coverage ratio, or BDC asset coverage ratio, of total assets to total senior securities, which include borrowings (other than small business investment company, or SBIC, debentures) and any preferred stock we have outstanding or may issue in the future, of at least 1. MAIN has historically operated at conservative regulatory leverage levels with significant cushion to the 1.5x regulatory limit.

Our common stock is listed and traded on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) under the symbol MAIN. For more detailed stock information, please visit our Investors/Listed Securities Info page at https://ir.mainstcapital.com/listed-securities-information.

Yes, we have a Direct Stock Purchase Plan (“DSPP”) that provides new and existing shareholders the ability to purchase shares of our common stock directly from us without paying any trading fees, brokerage commissions or service fees. Initial purchases of shares may be made between $250 (and $100 if you are a registered shareholder or you sign up for automatic monthly investments) and $25,000, and subsequent investments may be made between $100 and $25,000 per month. You can make optional cash investments by check or by authorizing a one-time debit or automatic monthly deductions from your bank checking or savings account. Sales of shares of our common stock under the DSPP will be effected monthly, on the 15th of each month (or the previous NYSE trading day if the 15th day is not an NYSE trading day) (each, an “Investment Date”). The Plan Administrator must receive full payment for your purchase at least two business days before the relevant Investment Date. You will not pay any trading fees, brokerage commissions or service fees on common stock purchased through the DSPP. You will, however, be responsible for any trading fees, brokerage commissions or service fees paid in connection with your sale of shares from the DSPP, termination of your account and for other actions as described in the DSPP. For more information, please visit our Investors/Listed Securities Information/Dividend Reinvestment and Direct Stock Purchase Plan page at https://ir.mainstcapital.com/dividend-reinvestment-and-direct-stock-purchase-plan.

Yes, we do periodically issue new shares of equity to fund our growth. In order to maintain the benefits of our “regulated investment company”, or a “RIC”, tax structure for U.S. federal income tax purposes, which provides us the opportunity to avoid corporate income tax if we distribute at least 90% of our taxable income to our shareholders, we generally do not retain our taxable income. As a result, we have in the past, and will continue in the future to require additional equity issuances to fund our growth. In addition, due to the unique nature of our investment strategy, which includes making equity investments with long-term or indefinite holding periods, we believe that it is important to fund a significant portion of our capital needs with equity issuances.

To facilitate these equity issuances as necessary to fund our growth, we currently maintain a program with certain selling agents through which we can sell shares of our common stock through at-the-market (“ATM”) offerings, and we seek to utilize our ATM program for these needs.

The CUSIP number for our common stock is 56035L104.
The CUSIP number for our 3.00% Notes due 2026 is 56035LAE4.
The CUSIP number for our 6.50% Notes due 2027 is 56035LAJ3.
The CUSIP number for our 6.95% Notes due 2029 is 56035LAH7.

The quarterly net asset value per share may be obtained in our public filings (our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and our Annual Reports on Form 10-K) with the Securities and Exchange Commission via its website www.sec.gov or by accessing our SEC Filings page at https://ir.mainstcapital.com/all-sec-filings.

Yes, we pay regular dividends to our shareholders of record on a monthly basis and periodically pay supplemental dividends. To view our historical dividends, please visit our Investors/Listed Securities Information/Dividends page at https://ir.mainstcapital.com/dividends.

To determine who should receive a dividend, you need to look at two important dates – the “record date” and the “ex-dividend date”.  When we declare a dividend, we set a record date when you must be on our corporate books and records as a shareholder to receive the dividend.  Once a record date is established, the ex-dividend date is set based on stock exchange rules. Stock trades generally settle in one business day at which time the buyer becomes the shareholder of record.  Therefore, the ex-dividend date for stocks is usually set  as the same date as the record date. The ex-dividend date represents the date on or after which shares trade without the rights to the specific dividend. If a buyer purchases shares on the ex-dividend date or after, the buyer will not receive the dividend payment. Instead, the seller retains the dividend payment. If a buyer purchases shares before the ex-dividend date, the buyer will receive the dividend (provided the buyer does not subsequently sell the shares prior to the ex-dividend date).  There is no requirement to hold shares of record past the record date for a dividend to receive the dividend, including on the payment date which can be weeks or months after the record date.  To view record dates, ex-dividend dates and payment dates for our dividends, please visit our Investors/Listed Securities Information/Dividends page at https://www.mainstcapital.com/investors/listed-securities-information/dividends.

Yes, the DRIP provides registered shareholders who hold their shares with American Stock Transfer & Trust Company LLC ("AST"), our transfer agent and registrar, and shareholders holding shares of our common stock through certain brokerage firms that have elected to participate in the DRIP, the ability to purchase additional shares of our common stock automatically by reinvesting all or a portion of their cash dividends paid on shares of our common stock. The DRIP is an "opt-out" program. Therefore, if we declare a cash dividend, registered shareholders who have not elected to receive dividends in cash will have their cash dividend automatically reinvested into additional shares of our common stock. Non-participating brokerage firms and other financial intermediaries may provide a similar dividend reinvestment program. If you hold your shares through a bank, broker or other intermediary, please contact your bank, broker or other intermediary to inquire about their dividend reinvestment options. For more information on the DRIP, please visit our Investors/Listed Securities info/Dividend Reinvestment and Direct Stock Purchase Plan page at https://ir.mainstcapital.com/dividend-reinvestment-and-direct-stock-purchase-plan.

Following the end of each year we provide a Form 1099-DIV and a tax status letter to our shareholders that describe the tax characteristics of the dividends paid in the preceding year, including a breakdown between ordinary income, capital gains and qualified dividends. DRIP participants are taxed on the dividends as if they had received cash. For information on the tax status of our historical dividends, please visit our Investors/Listed Securities Information/Tax Information page at https://ir.mainstcapital.com/tax-information. For information about taxes in respect of dividends received by you, you should consult your own tax advisor.

Unrelated business taxable income (“UBTI”) is income that a tax-exempt entity, such as a charitable organization, religious organization, qualified retirement trust, university, or other similar organization, earns from business activities that are not substantially related to the performance of the organization's exempt purpose and thus does not qualify for exemption from UBTI. In addition, an individual retirement account (“IRA”) can also earn active business income from the investments held by the IRA and UBTI earned in excess of certain statutory limits can cause certain additional tax reporting requirements and tax obligations for the IRA. Since we are a regulated investment company, or a “RIC”, which is a corporation for federal income tax purposes, we are able to act as a “blocker” and “shield” against UBTI and we can therefore pass the income and gains we earn through to our shareholders as dividends that are not subject to UBIT.

Please see the last page of our quarterly Investor Presentation located at our Investors/News & Events/Presentations page at https://ir.mainstcapital.com/presentations to view a detailed list of the analysts who follow the company.

You are a registered shareholder if you hold shares of Main Street Capital common stock registered in your name and you either hold a certificate representing such shares or such shares are held in book-entry form with American Stock Transfer & Trust Company LLC ("AST"), our transfer agent and registrar. If your shares are not registered in your name, but instead are held in the name of your bank, broker or other intermediary, your securities are considered to be held in “street name.”

Registered shareholders should contact American Stock Transfer & Trust Company LLC ("AST"), our transfer agent and registrar, by telephone at (800) 937-5449 or by visiting their website at www.astfinancial.com with any questions.

Shareholders who hold their shares in “street name” through a bank, broker or other intermediary should contact their bank, broker or other intermediary with any questions.