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EX-31.2 - EXHIBIT 31.2 - CROSSROADS LIQUIDATING TRUSTa6622330ex31_2.htm
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EX-32.2 - EXHIBIT 32.2 - CROSSROADS LIQUIDATING TRUSTa6622330ex32_2.htm
EX-32.1 - EXHIBIT 32.1 - CROSSROADS LIQUIDATING TRUSTa6622330ex32_1.htm
 
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

 
x
ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
 
FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2010
 
OR
 
¨
TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
 
FOR THE TRANSITION PERIOD FROM                     TO 
 
COMMISSION FILE NUMBER: 0-53504

KEATING CAPITAL, INC.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 
Maryland
26-2582882
(State of Incorporation)
(I.R.S. Employer Identification Number)
   
5251 DTC Parkway, Suite 1000
Greenwood Village, CO
80111
(Address of principal executive offices)
(Zip Code)
 
Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (720) 889-0139

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
None
 
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:
Common Stock, par value
$0.001 per share

 
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.    Yes  ¨   No  x.
 
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act.    Yes  ¨   No  x.
 
Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the Registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.    Yes   x   No  ¨.
 
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files).    Yes   o   No  o.
 
Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of Registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K.    x
 
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See definition of “accelerated filer,” “large accelerated filer” and “smaller reporting company”  in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):
 
  Large accelerated filer    o Accelerated filer    ¨  
 
Non-accelerated filer    x
Smaller reporting company    ¨
 
 
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act).    Yes  ¨   No  x.
 
 
 

 
 
No established market exists for the Registrant’s shares of common stock.   Based upon the $10 offering price of the shares issued in connection with the Registrant’s continuous public offering, approximately $11,790,460 of the Registrant’s common stock was held by non-affiliates as of June 30, 2010.  For the purpose of calculating the above amount, all directors and executive officers of the Registrant have been treated as affiliates. There were 3,711,476 shares of the Registrant’s common stock outstanding as of February 25, 2011.
 

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the registrant’s definitive Proxy Statement relating to the 2011 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, are incorporated by reference in Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K as indicated herein.
 
 
2

 

KEATING CAPITAL, INC.
 
FORM 10-K FOR THE FISCAL YEAR
ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2010
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS
 
     
   
Page
PART I
   
4
39
57
57
57
57
     
PART II
   
58
61
61
76
77
100
100
100
     
PART III
   
101
101
101
101
101
     
PART IV
   
102
104
 
 
 
3

 
 
PART I

Business
 
In this annual report, unless otherwise indicated, the “Company”, “we”, “us” or “our” refer to Keating Capital, Inc.

We were incorporated on May 9, 2008 under the laws of the State of Maryland, and we filed an election to be regulated as a business development company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”) on November 20, 2008.  Keating Investments, LLC (“Keating Investments”) serves as our investment adviser and also provides us with the administrative services necessary for us to operate. 

Congress created business development companies in 1980 in an effort to help public capital reach smaller and growing private and public companies.   We are designed to do precisely that.  We seek to make minority, non-controlling equity investments in private businesses that are seeking growth capital and that we believe are committed to, and capable of, becoming public, which we refer to as “public ready” or “primed to become public.”

We seek to invest principally in equity securities, including convertible preferred securities, and other debt securities convertible into equity securities, of primarily non-public U.S.-based companies. Our investment objective is to maximize our portfolio’s capital appreciation while generating current income from our portfolio investments.  In accordance with our investment objective, we seek to provide capital principally to U.S.-based, private companies with an equity value of less than $250 million, which we refer to as “micro-cap companies,” and U.S.-based, private companies with an equity value of between $250 million and $1 billion, which we refer to as “small-cap companies.”  Our primary emphasis is to attempt to generate capital gains through our equity investments in micro-cap and small-cap companies, including through the conversion of the convertible preferred or convertible debt securities we may acquire in such companies.  While a portion of our investments may, at any given time, include a component of interest or dividends, we do not expect to generate significant current yield on our portfolio company investments.  To date, none of our portfolio company investments have generated, nor are they expected to generate, interest or dividend income.  We may also make investments on an opportunistic basis in U.S.-based publicly-traded companies with market capitalizations of less than $250 million, as well as foreign companies that otherwise meet our investment criteria, subject to certain limitations imposed under the 1940 Act.

Our investments will generally take the form of either “sponsored deals” or “financing participation deals.” In a sponsored deal, we are generally the lead or primary investor, and are principally responsible for setting the terms and conditions of the investment, establishing the going public process, milestones and timing, generally assisting the portfolio company in raising any additional capital from co-investors and providing going public assistance and guidance. While we may in certain circumstances make an initial seed investment in prospective portfolio companies in sponsored deals, we typically attempt to avoid the risk associated with an initial seed investment where the potential portfolio company may abandon the going public process due to its inability or unwillingness to undertake and complete the audit, governance and other requirements to become public. We also believe it is important for a potential portfolio company to demonstrate its commitment to the going public process by funding any upfront legal and audit costs. All of the investment process steps set forth below will typically be applicable in a sponsored deal.

In a financing participation deal, typically we participate in a current private offering round being self-underwritten by the potential portfolio company or distributed by placement agents. Typically, the terms of a financing participation deal, which are generally already established consistent with a financing intended to be the last financing round prior to a traditional initial public offering, or pre-IPO financing, have already been established by the issuer and/or the placement agent.  In these types of deals, we generally are dealing with existing management and principal investors with a greater level of public company experience or knowledge and an expectation to go public within our targeted time frame.

Financing participation deals arise when we have the opportunity to participate in current pre-IPO financing rounds of later stage, venture capital-backed private companies that otherwise meet our investment criteria.  In these transactions, we are able to focus our investment process on a single investment, eliminating the need for an initial investment to fund certain upfront going public costs in a prospective portfolio company.
 
 
4

 
 
In financing participation deals, we believe we are generally able to avoid the risk associated with an initial seed investment where the potential portfolio company may abandon the going public process due to its inability or unwillingness to undertake and complete the audit, governance and other requirements to become public. We also believe it is important for a potential portfolio company to demonstrate its commitment to the going public process by funding any upfront legal and audit costs.  Our belief is that potential portfolio companies which meet our investment criteria will generally be able and willing to fund these upfront going public costs or will have already substantially completed certain audit and governance requirements.  Financing participation deals, which typically do not require us to seek co-investors, are also attractive to us while our investment size is limited as we attempt to increase our capital base.  Unlike sponsored deals, certain of the investment process steps may not be applicable to financing participation deals as identified below.

In a financing participation deal, we will typically make a single investment, principally consisting of convertible debt, convertible preferred stock or other equity, after we are satisfied that a potential portfolio company is committed to and capable of becoming public and obtaining a senior exchange listing (as defined below) within our desired timeframes and has substantially completed certain audit and governance requirements to our satisfaction prior to the closing of our investment.

While we have specifically identified sponsored deals and financing participation deals, we believe there may be other types of investment opportunities which may not have the specific characteristics of a sponsored deal or financing participation deal, but which may still meet our general investment criteria and which are still relevant to our focus on micro-cap and small-cap companies capable of and committed to becoming public.  We may make investments in such portfolio companies on an opportunistic basis.  In all cases, we expect our portfolio companies will generally be able to file a registration statement with the SEC within three to twelve months after our investment and will generally be able to obtain an exchange listing within 12 to 18 months after our investment.

In evaluating both sponsored and financing participation deals, we utilize an investment process focused on the following factors:
 
  Qualification. We obtain information from the potential portfolio company’s management, conduct a preliminary evaluation of threshold issues and make a determination as to whether the opportunity is qualified and deserving of additional investigation.
 
 
Evaluation. We undertake an in-depth evaluation of the opportunity with primary focus on understanding the business, historical and projected financial information, industry, competition and valuation to ascertain whether we have interest in pursuing the investment.
 
 
Report Preparation. We prepare an internal investment report which discusses our evaluation findings and recommendations, together with an internal valuation report outlining our acceptable valuation ranges for an investment.
 
 
Approval. Our investment adviser’s Investment Committee reviews the investment and valuation reports and, when appropriate, approves the investment subject to completion of satisfactory due diligence.
 
 
Term Sheet.  We prepare, negotiate and execute a term sheet with the portfolio company which, among other things, will establish the due diligence process and set a transaction closing time table (including the achievement of going public milestones).  This step is not applicable to our financing participation deals since the terms and conditions of such an investment have typically already been set by the portfolio company.
 
 
Due Diligence.  We conduct an on-site due diligence visit and complete the gathering and review of due diligence materials.
 
 
Co-Investment Documents.  As required, we assist the portfolio company in the review, revision and preparation of a confidential business memorandum, company investment PowerPoint presentation and executive summary that will be used by us to approach co-investors on a selected basis or by the portfolio company and its placement agents to undertake a private placement offering.  This step is typically not applicable to our financing participation deals as these documents or comparable information will normally already be available.
 
 
Governance.  We establish, and assist the portfolio company in satisfying, certain governance matters which may be required for an exchange listing and which we may designate as a condition to the closing of our investment (including the appointment of an independent board and the audit and compensation committees, the hiring, or the engagement of an executive recruiter to conduct a search for a qualified CFO, the engagement of a qualified independent auditor and completion of the audit).
 
 
5

 
 
 
Placement Agent. As required, we assist the portfolio company in identifying potential placement agents to raise additional capital beyond the investment amount we intend to provide.  This step is typically not applicable to our financing participation deals since either a placement agent will have already been engaged or the portfolio company will be handling the offering itself on a self-underwritten basis.
 
 
Capital Raising; Going Public Preparation.  We assist the portfolio company in monitoring the capital raising process, by introducing co-investors on a selected basis, and in achieving certain “going public” milestones which we may designate as a condition to the closing of our investment.  This step is typically not applicable to our financing participation deals; however, on a selected basis, we may introduce certain co-investors to the portfolio company.
 
 
Investment Closing.  At closing, we make our investment, principally consisting of convertible debt or convertible preferred stock or other equity.
 
 
Completion of Going Public Process.  Following the closing of our investment, we will provide managerial assistance to the portfolio company in their completion of the going public process, as needed, within the general time frames set forth below:
 
 
For a Sponsored Deal:
     
    (i) If we believe that the portfolio company is able to complete a traditional IPO based primarily on its current or anticipated revenue and profitability levels measured against recent comparable IPO transactions, which we refer to herein as “IPO qualified” or an “IPO qualified company,” we expect that the portfolio company will file a registration statement under the Securities Act within approximately nine months after closing and complete the IPO and obtain a senior exchange listing within approximately 15 months after closing.  If the portfolio company fails to complete an IPO within the 15-month time frame, the portfolio company is expected to file a registration statement under the Exchange Act and become a reporting company within 18 months after closing.  The final terms of a sponsored deal will be subject to negotiation, and there is no assurance that we will be able to include terms in our sponsored deals which will require the portfolio company to undertake all or any of these actions within these time periods.
     
    (ii) If we believe that the portfolio company is not IPO qualified at the time of our investment, we expect that the portfolio company will file a registration statement under the Exchange Act within three to six months after closing and obtain a junior or senior exchange listing within 15 months after closing.
     
  For a Financing Participation Deal:
     
    We expect that the portfolio company, which will typically be IPO qualified, will file a registration statement under the Securities Act within 12 months after closing and complete an IPO and obtain a senior exchange listing within 18 months after closing.
 
 
6

 
 
Investment Process Steps and Activities
 
Qualification, Evaluation and Report Preparation  
Obtain Company Information
(2 - 3 weeks)
 
Preliminary Evaluation of Threshold Issues
   
Prepare Summary Analysis
   
Assess Investment Criteria
   
In-depth Company Evaluation
   
Review Industry and Analyst Reports
   
Management and Third Party Interviews
   
Analyze Transaction Structure
   
Prepare Investment and Valuation Report
Approval, Term Sheet and Due Diligence  
Investment Committee Review and Approval
(1 - 2 weeks)
 
Set Primary Terms and Conditions of Investment*
   
Establish Critical Going Public Milestones
   
Discuss Co-Investment Strategy with Company*
   
Approve Investment
   
Prepare Term Sheet*
   
Establish Transaction Time Table*
   
Distribute Due Diligence Checklist
   
Conduct On-Site Visit and Complete Due Diligence
Co-Investment Documents,  Governance and Placement Agent  
Complete Business Memorandum and Investor Presentation*
(2 - 3 weeks)
 
Identify Qualified Agents and Co-Investors*
   
Assist in Governance Matters
   
Begin Search/Hire Qualified CFO
   
Engage PCAOB Registered Auditor
   
Delivery of Audited Financial Statements
   
Engage Placement Agent*
Capital Raising, Going Public Preparation  
Monitor Capital Raising Process*
(6 - 8 weeks)
 
Introduce Selected Co-Investors
   
Satisfy Going Public Milestones
Investment Closing
 
Prepare Investment Documents*
(1 - 2 weeks)
 
Fund Investment
Completion of Going Public Process  
Assist in Going Public Matters
(within 18 months after closing)
 
Prepare/File Registration Statement
   
Regulatory Approval
   
Complete IPO
   
Listing on/Upgrade to Senior Exchange
     
*Indicates typically not part of financing participation deals.
 
 
7

 
 
As an integral part of our investment, we intend to partner with our portfolio companies to become public companies that meet the governance and eligibility requirements for a listing on the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq (Global Select, Global or Capital Market) or NYSE Amex Equities, formerly known as the American Stock Exchange (collectively, “U.S. Senior Exchanges”).  We will also consider listings by foreign portfolio companies on the Toronto Stock Exchange, London Stock Exchange, Frankfurt Stock Exchange, Hong Kong Stock Exchange and other foreign exchanges that we may determine as acceptable venues (collectively, “Foreign Senior Exchanges”).  As a business development company, however, we cannot invest more than 30% of our assets in foreign investments.

We refer to the U.S. Senior Exchanges and the Foreign Senior Exchanges herein collectively as the “senior exchanges” or individually as a “senior exchange.” We intend for our portfolio companies to go public either through the filing of a registration statement under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act.   For portfolio companies that we believe are IPO qualified, we expect these companies to go public by filing a registration statement under the Securities Act and completing an IPO.  For portfolio companies that are either not IPO qualified at the time of our investment or fail to complete an IPO under the Securities Act in a timely manner, we expect these companies to go public by filing a registration statement under the Exchange Act, which makes them a non-listed publicly reporting company initially.

In general, we seek to invest in micro-cap and small-cap companies that we believe will be able to file a registration statement with the SEC within approximately three to twelve months after our investment.  These registration statements may take the form of a registration statement under the Securities Act registering the primary sale of common stock of a portfolio company in an IPO, a registration statement registering the common stock of a portfolio company under the Exchange Act without a concurrent registered offering under the Securities Act, or a resale registration statement filed by a portfolio company under the Securities Act to register shares held by existing stockholders coupled with a concurrent registration of the portfolio company’s common stock under the Exchange Act.

We expect the common stock of our portfolio companies that are not IPO qualified at the time of our investment, or fail to complete an IPO in a timely manner, to typically be initially quoted on the Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board (the “OTC Bulletin Board”) or, in the case of foreign portfolio companies, the Toronto Stock Exchange Venture, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (Chinext) or other foreign exchanges that we may determine as an acceptable initial foreign listing venue (collectively, “Foreign Junior Exchange”), following the completion of the registration process, depending upon satisfaction of the applicable listing requirements.   We refer to the OTC Bulletin Board and the Foreign Junior Exchanges herein collectively as the “junior exchanges” or individually as a “junior exchange.”    

We can provide no assurance, however, that the micro-cap and small-cap companies in which we invest will be able to successfully complete the SEC registration process, or that they will be successful in obtaining a listing on either a junior or senior exchange within the expected timeframe, if at all.  If, for any reason, a traditional IPO is unavailable due to either market conditions or an underwriter’s minimum requirements, we believe that we can provide each of our portfolio companies with an alternative and more certain solution to becoming public and obtaining an exchange listing through our investment adviser’s going public, aftermarket support and public markets expertise.

We intend to maximize our potential for capital appreciation by taking advantage of the premium we believe is generally associated with having a more liquid asset, such as a publicly traded security.  Specifically, we believe that a senior exchange listing, if obtained, will generally provide our portfolio companies with greater visibility, marketability and liquidity than they would otherwise be able to achieve without such a listing.  Since we intend to be more patient investors, we believe that our portfolio companies may have an even greater potential for capital appreciation if they are able to demonstrate sustained earnings growth and are correspondingly rewarded by the public markets with a price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple appropriately linked to earnings performance.  We can provide no assurance, however, that the micro-cap and small-cap companies in which we invest will be able to achieve such sustained earnings growth, or that the public markets will recognize such growth, if any, with an appropriate market premium.

To the extent that we receive convertible debt instruments in connection with our investments, such instruments will likely be
unsecured or subordinated debt securities. The convertible preferred stock we have received to date, and which we expect to receive in the future, in connection with our equity investments will typically be non-controlling investments, meaning we will not be in a position to control the management, operation and strategic decision-making of the companies in which we invest.

 
8

 
 
During 2010, we satisfied the requirements to qualify as a regulated investment company (“RIC”).  We will elect to be treated as a RIC under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”) for our 2010 taxable year when we file our 2010 tax return. In order to qualify for and maintain RIC status, the size of our individual portfolio company investments will be restricted in order to comply with specified asset diversification requirements on a quarterly basis. As a result, to comply with these diversification requirements, we expect that the average size of our individual portfolio company investments will represent approximately 5% of our total assets.  Based on our total assets as of December 31, 2010 and the $50 million to $100 million in total capital that we expect to raise in our continuous public offering which concludes on June 30, 2011, we anticipate that the average size of our future portfolio company investments will range  from approximately $2.5 million to $5 million. However, we may invest more than this amount in certain opportunistic situations, provided we do not invest more than 25% of the value of our total assets in any portfolio company and the value of our portfolio company investments representing more than 5% of our total assets do not in the aggregate exceed 50% of our total assets.

We expect that our capital will primarily be used by our portfolio companies to finance organic growth.  To a lesser extent, our capital may be used to finance acquisitions and recapitalizations. Our investment adviser’s investment decisions are based on an analysis of potential portfolio companies’ management teams and business operations supported by industry and competitive research, an understanding of the quality of their revenues and cash flow, variability of costs and the inherent value of their assets, including proprietary intangible assets and intellectual property.  Our investment adviser also assesses each potential portfolio company as to its appeal in the public markets, its suitability for achieving and maintaining public company status and its eligibility for a senior exchange listing.

Our debt and equity investments in portfolio companies could be impaired to the extent such portfolio companies experience financial difficulties arising out of the current economic environment.  Our inability to locate attractive investment opportunities, or the impairment of our portfolio investments as a result of economic conditions, could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

Our principal executive offices are located at 5251 DTC Parkway, Suite 1000, Greenwood Village, Colorado 80111, and our telephone number is (720) 889-0139. We maintain a website at www.keatingcapital.com. Information contained on our website is not incorporated by reference into this annual report, and you should not consider information contained on our website to be part of this annual report.

Private Issuances of Securities

On May 14, 2008, our investment adviser, Keating Investments, purchased 100 shares of our common stock at a price of $10.00 per share as our initial capital.  On November 12, 2008, we completed the final closing of our private placement offering.  We sold a total of 569,800 shares of our common stock in our private placement offering at a price of $10.00 per share raising aggregate gross proceeds of $5,698,000.  After the payment of commissions and other offering costs of approximately $454,566, we received aggregate net proceeds of approximately $5,243,434 in connection with our private placement offering.  
 
All shares of our common stock issued in our private placement were restricted shares and cannot be sold by the holders thereof without registration under the Securities Act or an available exemption from registration under the Securities Act.  We believe that the shares of our common stock issued in our private placement are eligible for resale under one or more exemptions from registration under the Securities Act.  Accordingly, subject to certain lock-up agreements currently in place with certain of our officers and directors, the holders of shares issued in our private placement will be able to sell their shares once we obtain a listing of our shares of common stock on the Nasdaq Capital Market, which we expect to occur by the end of 2011.  Although we currently satisfy the requirements to obtain a listing of our shares of common stock on the Nasdaq Capital Market and will file for such listing after conclusion of our continuous public offering, we cannot provide you with any assurance that we will be successful in obtaining a listing of our shares on the Nasdaq Capital Market within the timeframe we propose. 

Continuous Public Offering of Securities

On June 11, 2009, we commenced a continuous public offering pursuant to which we intend to sell from time-to-time up to 10 million shares of our common stock at an initial offering price of $10.00 per share, adjusted for volume discounts and commission waivers, through the period ending on June 30, 2011.  There can be no assurance that we will be able to sell all of the shares we are presently offering.

 
9

 
 
During the year ended December 31, 2010, we sold 2,290,399 shares of common stock in our continuous public offering at an average price of approximately $9.96 per share, resulting in gross proceeds of $22,809,653 and net proceeds of $20,613,587, after payment of $2,196,066 in dealer manager fees and commissions.  During 2011 through February 22, 2011, we sold an additional 851,177 shares of common stock in our continuous public offering at an average price of approximately $9.95 per share, resulting in gross proceeds of $8,469,970 and net proceeds of $7,660,599, after payment of $809,371 in dealer manager fees and commissions.

The following table summarizes the sales of our common stock under our continuous public offering by month since the offering commenced on June 11, 2009:
 
                     
Dealer Manager
       
   
Shares
   
Average Price
   
Gross
   
Fees and
   
Net
 
Month
 
Sold (1)
   
Per Share (1)
   
Proceeds
   
Commissions
   
Proceeds
 
                               
January 2010 (first closing)
    114,695     $ 10.00     $ 1,146,500     $ 114,243     $ 1,032,257  
February 2010
    54,638       9.99       546,000       54,261       491,739  
March 2010
    175,283       9.98       1,749,436       171,896       1,577,540  
April 2010
    151,554       9.84       1,491,050       127,062       1,363,988  
June 2010
    233,277       9.98       2,327,331       227,840       2,099,491  
July 2010
    113,780       9.99       1,136,483       112,457       1,024,026  
August 2010
    203,128       9.99       2,028,643       200,493       1,828,150  
September 2010
    146,716       9.95       1,459,215       138,771       1,320,444  
October 2010
    249,310       9.96       2,482,410       238,622       2,243,788  
November 2010
    371,395       9.96       3,697,520       354,967       3,342,553  
December 2010
    476,623       9.96       4,745,065       455,454       4,289,611  
January 2011
    315,143       9.97       3,141,484       305,195       2,836,289  
February 2011
    536,034       9.94       5,328,486       504,176       4,824,310  
                                         
      3,141,576     $ 9.96     $ 31,279,623     $ 3,005,437     $ 28,274,186  
 
(1)   All shares were sold at a price of either $9.30 or $10.00, depending on whether or not sales commissions were waived by the dealer manager.
 
 
Portfolio Companies

During the year ended December 31, 2010, we made four portfolio company investments in an aggregate amount of $3,600,491.  On February 22, 2011, we made an additional investment of $900,000 in an existing portfolio company, MBA Polymers, Inc.  We anticipate that it will take us up to 12 to 24 months after conclusion of our continuous public offering to invest substantially all of the proceeds from the continuous public offering in accordance with our investment strategy and depending on the availability of appropriate investment opportunities consistent with our investment objective and market conditions.

On January 25, 2010, we completed our first portfolio company investment, a $1,000,000 investment in the convertible preferred stock of NeoPhotonics Corporation (“NeoPhotonics”).  NeoPhotonics is headquartered in San Jose, California and develops and manufactures photonic integrated circuit based components, modules and subsystems for use in telecommunications networks.  NeoPhotonics completed an initial public offering on February 2, 2011 selling 7,500,000 shares of common stock at a price of $11.00 per share.  NeoPhotonics is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol NPTN.  Prior to the initial public offering, our NeoPhotonics preferred stock converted into 160,000 shares of NeoPhotonics common stock, which common shares are subject to a 180-day lock-up provision.

On July 1, 2010, we completed our second portfolio company investment, a $500,500 investment in the convertible preferred stock and warrants of Livescribe, Inc. (“Livescribe”).  Livescribe is a private company headquartered in Oakland, California and is a developer and marketer of a mobile, paper-based computing platform consisting of smartpens, dot paper, smartpen applications, accessories, desktop software, an online community and development tools.

On July 16, 2010, we completed our third portfolio company investment, a $999,991 investment in the convertible preferred stock of Solazyme, Inc. (“Solazyme”).  Solazyme is a private company headquartered in South San Francisco, California and is considered a leader in the development and commercialization of algal oil and bioproducts for the fuels and chemicals, nutritionals and health sciences markets.

 
10

 
 
On October 15, 2010, we completed our fourth portfolio company investment, a $1,100,000 investment in the convertible preferred stock of MBA Polymers, Inc. (“MBA Polymers”).  MBA Polymers is a private company headquartered in Richmond, California and is a global manufacturer of recycled plastics sourced from end of life durable goods, such as computers, electronics, appliances and automobiles.  On February 22, 2011, we made an additional investment of $900,000 in the same series of convertible preferred stock as our initial investment.  Our additional investment was part of an aggregate additional offering of approximately $14.6 million.

Beginning in 2011, we anticipate making five to ten investments per year depending upon the amount of capital we have available for investment.  We cannot assure you we will achieve our targeted investment pace.  We are subject to all of the business risks and uncertainties associated with any new business, including the risk that we will not achieve our investment objective and that the value of your investment could decline substantially.

Targeted Investments
 
We seek to provide capital primarily to micro-cap companies with an equity value of less than $250 million and small-cap companies with an equity value of between $250 million and $1 billion.  With micro-cap and certain small-cap companies historically having difficulty accessing the traditional capital markets and having less analyst coverage, less institutional ownership and lower trading volume, we believe an opportunity exists to become a preferred source of capital to such micro-cap and small-cap companies, particularly given our public markets strategy and the expertise of our investment adviser.  Our investment activities will generally be focused on micro-cap and small-cap companies that have demonstrated attractive revenue and earnings growth relative to their peers, and whose management teams are committed to becoming public reporting companies.  We expect these public ready companies will also have some or all of the following characteristics:
 
 
Operates in an attractive growth industry. We focus on micro-cap and small-cap companies across a broad range of attractive growth industries that we believe are being transformed or created anew by technological, economic and social forces and are capable of attracting interest from both retail and institutional investors.
 
 
Immediate need for external capital. We target micro-cap and small-cap companies whose organic growth is currently constrained by limited capital, and which have reached a point in their development where we believe external capital is required.  As part of our investment, we offer a more stable form of equity capital for our portfolio companies, while requiring that their ownership structure align the economic interests of their management team with the success of the enterprise.
 
 
Demonstrated revenue streamWe invest in micro-cap and small-cap companies that have a demonstrated revenue stream that we believe will make them attractive as publicly traded companies.  However, in certain opportunistic situations, we may invest in development stage, pre-revenue stage and early revenue stage companies if there is a clear and verifiable path to generating meaningful revenue within the next 12 months.
 
 
Demonstrated profitability. We focus on micro-cap and small-cap companies that are at or near profitability on an earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (“EBITDA”) or cash flow from operations basis, or where there is a clear path to generating positive EBITDA or cash flow from operations within the next 12 months.  With the capital we provide, together with the projected EBITDA or cash flow from operations of our portfolio companies, we expect each of our portfolio companies to be able to finance their development over the next 12 to 18 months without requiring additional outside capital subsequent to completion of our investment.  Once our portfolio companies become eligible to be listed on a senior exchange, which we generally expect to occur within 12 to 18 months after completion of our investment, we would expect our portfolio companies to be positioned to conduct, if appropriate, a registered offering either simultaneous with obtaining a senior exchange listing or within a reasonable time thereafter.
 
In addition to the foregoing, we seek to primarily concentrate our investments in micro-cap and small-cap companies having annual revenues in excess of $10 million that we believe have a strong prospect of revenue and earnings growth.  We also expect our portfolio companies to generally have an equity valuation, before our investment, of at least $25 million.  These criteria provide general guidelines for our investment decisions; however, we may not require each prospective portfolio company in which we choose to invest to meet all of these criteria.

 
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The success of our strategy depends largely on our ability to identify micro-cap and small-cap companies that are committed to becoming, and that we believe we can assist in becoming, public companies.  With over ten years experience sponsoring going public transactions, we believe that our investment adviser has the experience and expertise to assess which micro-cap and small-cap companies are public ready and to assist such companies in achieving public status in a timely and cost-effective manner.   Our investment structure is designed to ensure that there is a shared commitment to going public between us and the management teams of each of our portfolio companies.  As part of our investment, we will typically require that our portfolio companies undertake certain steps, prior to our investment, that we believe are important to becoming a public reporting company, and the completion of such steps will provide us satisfactory evidence of the portfolio company’s commitment to filing a registration statement under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act and obtaining a senior exchange listing within approximately 18 months after the closing of our investment.   

In the event a portfolio company fails to complete the going public process in a satisfactory manner, we will likely take steps to exit the investment.  However, in such cases, it may be difficult to sell the investment and we may have little or no recourse against the portfolio company.  Our options to liquidate the investment in such cases will likely be limited to a private sale of the investment to a third party or a strategic sale or merger involving the portfolio company.  There are also a number of private secondary markets that specialize in the sale of private securities that may provide us a source of qualified buyers in the event that we have to liquidate the investment privately, subject to any contractual restrictions on a private resale transaction that may be imposed on us by a portfolio company.

We believe the structure of our investments as convertible preferred stock or convertible debt instruments may provide an economic incentive for our portfolio companies to complete the going public process since these instruments typically automatically convert into common stock upon completion of an IPO or a senior exchange listing, in which case future preferred dividends or interest obligations, if any, would cease.  We also protect our investments by typically requiring certain governance and audit requirements be completed prior to the closing of our investment, including the delivery of audited financial statements in final or in draft, but substantially completed, form.  There can be no assurance that a portfolio company will become a public company and obtain a listing on an acceptable exchange.  In addition, we consider the real incentive for our portfolio companies to become public to be what we believe are the advantages of becoming a public company, primarily, the access to the broader public capital markets for future capital raises and the potentially higher equity valuations that are typically afforded more liquid public companies.  An important part of our investment adviser’s evaluation and due diligence process focuses on assessing the appeal that a prospective portfolio company may have in the public markets, as well as its suitability for achieving and maintaining public company status.  In addition, while we expect to make passive, non-controlling investments where we have little power to control the management, operations and strategic decision-making of our portfolio companies, we expect to provide managerial assistance to our portfolio companies, upon their request, throughout the investment process, especially as it pertains to the engagement of third party advisers and consultants with which our investment adviser has relationships, the completion of the going public process through the filing of a registration statement, and the design of an overall public markets strategy.

In order to qualify for and maintain RIC status, the size of our individual portfolio company investments will be restricted in order to comply with specified asset diversification requirements on a quarterly basis.   As a result, to comply with these diversification requirements, we expect that the average size of our individual portfolio company investments will represent approximately 5% of our total assets.  Based on our total assets as of December 31, 2010 and the $50 million to $100 million in total capital that we expect to raise in our continuous public offering which concludes on June 30, 2011, we anticipate that the average size of our future portfolio company investments will range  from approximately $2.5 million to $5 million. However, we may invest more than this amount in certain opportunistic situations, provided we do not invest more than 25% of the value of our total assets in any portfolio company and the value of our portfolio company investments representing more than 5% of our total assets do not in the aggregate exceed 50% of our total assets.

In our sponsored deals, we will be the lead investor in our portfolio investments and, to the extent our portfolio companies require more financing than we desire to invest, we anticipate seeking non-affiliated co-investors to participate in the financing of our portfolio companies.  In addition, in our sponsored deals, our portfolio companies may engage one or more placement agents with whom our investment adviser has relationships to assist in capital raising from non-affiliated co-investors.  We may also seek non-affiliated co-investors to participate in the financing of our portfolio companies in our financing participation deals.
 
 
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Keating Investments

 Our investment activities are managed by Keating Investments.  Keating Investments was founded in 1997 and is an investment adviser registered under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended.  The managing member and majority owner of Keating Investments is Timothy J. Keating.  Our investment adviser’s senior investment professionals are Timothy J. Keating, our President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of our Board of Directors, Ranjit P. Mankekar, our Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and a member of our Board of Directors, Frederic M. Schweiger, our Chief Operating Officer, Chief Compliance Officer and Secretary and Kyle L. Rogers, our Chief Investment Officer.  In addition, Keating Investments’ other investment professionals consist of two portfolio company originators, an investor relations director and a financial analyst.  Under our Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement with Keating Investments, we have agreed to pay Keating Investments, for its investment advisory services, an annual base management fee based on our gross assets as well as an incentive fee based on our performance. See “Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement.”

Market Opportunity

We believe the following market opportunity exists to provide financing for public ready micro-cap and small-cap companies.

Continued need for growth capital by public ready micro-cap and small-cap companies looking for an equity partner.  We believe a significant opportunity exists to provide growth, expansion and other types of capital to public ready micro-cap and small-cap companies that have reached a point in their development where additional equity capital is needed.  We believe our investment model offering non-controlling equity investments will provide an attractive vehicle for our portfolio companies to meet their capital needs.  While we expect our portfolio companies to become public reporting companies, we believe that we will be viewed by prospective portfolio companies as a provider of “patient” capital, given our focus on longer-term growth versus short-term gains, which we believe will serve as a key differentiator for us.  We believe there are a significant number of companies that are looking for the type of “patient” capital we will be able to provide.  We also bring enhanced value to our portfolio companies through our investment adviser’s going public, aftermarket support and public markets expertise, rather than through financial engineering or as a strategic business adviser to our portfolio companies.

We intend for our portfolio companies to go public either through the filing of a registration statement under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act.   For portfolio companies that we believe are IPO qualified, with the additional growth capital we provide through our investment, we expect these companies to go public by filing a registration statement under the Securities Act and completing an IPO.  For portfolio companies that are either not IPO qualified or fail to complete an IPO under the Securities Act in a timely manner, we expect these companies to go public by filing a registration statement under the Exchange Act.

  In general, we seek to invest in micro-cap and small-cap companies that we believe will generally be able to file a registration statement with the SEC within approximately three to twelve months after our investment is completed and obtain an exchange listing within approximately 18 months after the closing of our investment.  If, for any reason, a traditional IPO is unavailable due to either market conditions or an underwriter’s minimum requirements, we believe that we can provide each of our portfolio companies with an alternative and more certain solution to becoming public and obtaining an exchange listing through our investment adviser’s going public, aftermarket support and public markets expertise.  We can provide no assurance, however, that the micro-cap and small-cap companies in which we invest will be able to successfully complete the SEC registration process, or that they will be successful in obtaining a listing on either a junior or senior exchange within the expected timeframe, if at all.

Difficult market for private equity and venture capital funds. We believe that the public ready micro-cap and small-cap companies in which we intend to invest are also feeling the adverse impacts from the difficulties in current private equity and venture capital markets.  Private equity funds that typically relied on commercial banks or a syndicate of lenders to provide the debt capital necessary to produce their “leveraged” returns have seen these traditional sources of capital become largely closed.  We believe that the impact of these substantially tightened credit markets will be even more pronounced on the micro-cap and small-cap companies we intend to target, as they tend to be unable to support large debt burdens.  As a result, we believe private equity firms will be less interested in providing growth capital to public ready micro-cap and small-cap companies where leverage is limited.

We believe that venture capital funds are typically the least desired financing for our targeted growth companies due to pricing and control issues.  While many venture capital firms have cash to invest, they typically insist on a controlling interest in their portfolio companies.  While the market for venture-backed IPOs has recently shown signs of improvement, there continue to be liquidity pressures on venture capital funds that are seeking attractive exit alternatives and prospects of extended holding periods and possible “mark to market” valuation write-downs.  We also believe that venture capital funds, which currently have limited exit alternatives for their investments, will be required to fund all or a portion of any additional pre-IPO financing rounds for their existing portfolio companies.  As venture capital funds seek to bring in co-investors for these additional pre-IPO rounds, we believe that we are well positioned, through our financing participation deals, to participate in these later round financings of typically later-stage micro-cap and small-cap companies, which in some cases may be attractively priced compared to prior rounds.

 
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Accordingly, we believe that many viable public ready micro-cap and small-cap companies that fit our investment criteria will have limited, if any, access to the private equity market or venture capital financing, or that we will have the opportunity to participate in pre-IPO financing rounds with venture-backed later-stage companies, and we believe this trend is likely to continue for the foreseeable future.

Further, since our typical equity investment will be a non-controlling interest, we believe there is a significant opportunity for us to become a capital provider of choice for entrepreneurial businesses that are unwilling to give up a controlling interest typically mandated by both private equity and venture capital funds.  While we generally have no direct control over the management and strategic direction of our portfolio companies, we intend to ensure that our portfolio companies’ management teams have a meaningful equity stake and that their interests are aligned with our interests as an investor – mainly, to create stockholder value through a widely held and actively traded public stock. As part of the going public process, we intend to also provide our portfolio companies with recommendations on the composition of their Board of Directors, which we will typically require to be comprised of a majority of independent directors so as to satisfy the initial listing requirements of most senior exchanges.   

IPO financing alternative.  We believe that there exist significant and continuing opportunities to originate and lead investments in public ready micro-cap and small-cap companies.  We believe that the market for the companies that we are targeting has historically been characterized by continual change, which creates an ongoing need for capital within that marketplace. We believe that there exists a significant market opportunity to meet the capital requirements of a growing number of these businesses as they find access to the U.S. public and private capital markets relatively limited.  In addition, we believe that the capital markets have tended in recent years to be focused on larger funds and larger deals – deals which are magnitudes larger than what is required by the public ready micro-cap and small-cap companies we target.

We believe that we can offer public ready micro-cap and small-cap companies that have solid financial qualifications and strong growth prospects with an attractive, well-structured capital markets alternative which is supported by our investment adviser’s going public, aftermarket support and public markets expertise.  We believe that we can provide each of our portfolio companies with an alternative and more certain solution to becoming public and obtaining an exchange listing if, for any reason, a traditional IPO is unavailable due to either market conditions or an underwriter’s minimum requirements.  Our focus will be to identify these companies and provide an investment once they have proven they are ready to become a public company.  We also believe our investment process and going public through the filing of a registration statement under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act may prove more time-effective and less costly than a traditional IPO for the micro-cap and small-cap companies we intend to target that are not currently IPO qualified.  In addition, our investment in each portfolio company, unlike an IPO, will not generally depend on general market conditions or prevailing investor sentiment. We also believe that our investment adviser’s going public expertise and access to third-party advisers and consultants, that we expect will be retained by our portfolio companies, will allow our portfolio companies’ management teams to concentrate on maximizing their business potential and marketplace influence as we proceed through our disciplined and systematic going public process.

Benefits of being a public company.  Typically, we believe investors place a premium on liquidity, or having the ability to sell stock quickly. As a result, we believe that public companies typically trade at higher valuations than private companies with similar financial attributes. By going public, we believe that our portfolio companies may be able to receive the benefit of this liquidity premium, provided that they are successful in obtaining a listing on a senior exchange; however, there can be no assurance that our portfolio companies will trade at these higher valuations.
 
 
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Image
 
Source: Pratt’s Stats® at BVMarketData.com, Public StatsTM at BVMarketData.com as of February 17, 2011, for transaction between January 1, 2006, and December 31, 2010. Used with permission from Business Valuation Resources, LLC.
+Valuation based on 6,000+ private and public company transactions under $100 million.  EBITDA means earnings before interest, taxes, deprecation and amortization.
**Keating Investments, LLC calculations based on those companies having positive net income and EBITDA; valuation data based on private and public company transactions under $100 million.
 
  In addition to higher valuations, we believe that public companies also enjoy other benefits, including:
     
 
Lower cost of capital, superior access to the capital markets, and less stock dilution to founders when raising additional capital;
 
 
Creation of a stock currency to fund acquisitions;
 
 
Equity-based compensation to retain and attract management and employees;
 
 
More liquidity for founders, minority shareholders, and investors; and
 
 
Added corporate prestige and visibility with customers, suppliers, employees and the financial community.
 
Of course, public companies also incur significant obligations, such as the cost of periodic financial reporting, compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, as amended (the “Sarbanes-Oxley Act”), required disclosure of sensitive company information and restrictions on stock sales by major or controlling shareholders. But for the type of micro-cap and small-cap companies we intend to target, we believe that the capital-raising opportunities and other benefits of being public may substantially outweigh these disadvantages.  Additionally, under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Dodd-Frank Act”) signed into law in July 2010, publicly reporting companies with a public float below $75 million are now permanently exempt from the auditor attestation requirements under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.  While all public companies will continue to be required to assess the effectiveness of their internal control over financial reporting, the more costly requirement for the company’s independent auditors to report on management’s assessment will no longer be required for public companies with a public float below $75 million.
 
 
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However, we can provide no assurance that the portfolio companies in which we may invest will be successful in completing the SEC registration process to become a public company, or if they do so, that they will be able to obtain a subsequent listing on either a junior or senior exchange.  Any failure to do so could substantially reduce or eliminate the market premium associated with being a publicly traded company.

Investment Objective
 
Our investment objective is to maximize our portfolio’s capital appreciation while generating current income from our portfolio investments.  In furtherance of that objective, our primary emphasis will be to attempt to generate capital gains through our equity investments in micro-cap and small-cap companies, including through the conversion of the convertible debt or convertible preferred securities we will seek to acquire in such companies.  While a portion of our investments may, at any given time, include a component of interest or dividends, we do not expect to generate significant current yield on our portfolio company investments.  To date, none of our portfolio company investments have generated, nor are they expected to generate, interest or dividend income.

Investment Strategy

We implement the following strategies to take advantage of the market opportunity for providing capital to public ready micro-cap and small-cap companies that we believe have strong prospects for growth and which are at a point in their development where we believe a significant equity investment is required:

Visionary, industry leading management.  We seek to invest in businesses with a strong management team with industry experience, a visionary business strategy, a passionate commitment to achieve results, the proven ability to execute and lead, and a track record of being able to attract experienced industry talent.  At the time of our investment, our portfolio companies must typically have in place, or be committed to hiring, a qualified chief financial officer with a strong background in SEC reporting and compliance with proven experience in managing a micro-cap or small-cap public company’s financial reporting, internal controls, accounting and finance functions, and investor relations.

Innovative and quality products.  We focus our investments on companies where there is a proven demand for the products or services they offer rather than focusing on ideas that have not been proven or situations in which a completely new market must be created.  We look for businesses that are innovators, have technologies or products that extend, accelerate, or disrupt identified markets, have premium niche products capable of higher and more sustainable margins, and are able to attract top sales and engineering talent.  We target companies whose business will benefit from exposure as a public company and have appeal to retail and institutional investors alike.

Large potential markets.  We seek to provide capital to established micro-cap and small-cap companies with demonstrated growth that we believe is sustainable in industries where we believe there are substantial, leading edge market opportunities.  We focus on micro-cap and small-cap companies across a broad range of industries and markets that we believe will be capable of attracting interest from retail and institutional investors.  We focus on industries that we believe are being transformed or created anew by technological, economic and social forces – such as globalization, demographics, environment, energy, the knowledge economy and the Internet.  We look for businesses whose products or services are capable of moving into the mass market and disrupt existing, more mature markets.  We tend to limit our exposure to companies where long-term growth is dependent on favorable economic factors – such as a strong economy, rising consumer and business sentiment, lowering interest rates, falling inflation and stable financial markets.

Consistent and predictable results.   We focus on micro-cap and small-cap companies that have realistic operating targets set by management that are consistently achieved, have a demonstrated ability to grow market share profitably, have growing and sustainable profits, generate or have the potential to generate recurring revenue streams, have recognized technological barriers to market entry and have a commitment to stay ahead of innovation.  We seek to invest in micro-cap and small-cap companies that we believe will be rewarded in the public markets for consistent and predictable financial results.

Aligned interests.  We target micro-cap and small-cap companies that we believe offer growth opportunities and proactively approach them regarding investment possibilities. We believe that the experience of our investment adviser’s senior investment professionals and their understanding of public ready micro-cap and small-cap companies, our financing structure, our public markets strategy and our investment adviser’s going public expertise, and the opportunity to capture a potential liquidity premium as a publicly traded company will be attractive to prospective portfolio companies.  We believe it is important that each of our portfolio companies’ management teams have a meaningful equity stake in their business and that their interests are aligned with our interests as investors in the portfolio company to create substantial stockholder value through a widely held and actively traded public stock.

 
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Competitive Advantages

We believe that we have the following competitive advantages over other providers of capital to public ready micro-cap and small-cap companies including private equity firms, venture capital firms and reverse merger sponsors:

Public markets focus. We seek to invest in micro-cap and small-cap companies that are committed to, and capable of, becoming public companies and have defensible valuations to support our initial investment pricing.  We believe we have expertise in evaluating whether a portfolio company is capable of becoming a successful public company – both management commitment and skills and public market appeal. By providing capital to micro-cap and small-cap companies that are at a point in their development where we believe an equity investment is required, we hope to accelerate their growth with a properly timed going public strategy.  The going public process is a critical step in our overall investment process for each portfolio company that we expect certain audit and governance requirements will be substantially completed before we make our investment.

Going public expertise.  We believe that our investment adviser’s senior investment professionals and various third party advisers and consultants, with which our investment adviser has relationships, have extensive experience in taking companies public and designing capital markets and investor relations programs.  Our investment adviser had been a reverse merger sponsor for nearly a decade and completed 19 going public transactions between 2001 and 2007.  Our investment adviser’s senior investment professionals and various third party advisers and consultants will assist our portfolio companies in this going public process.  To the extent a portfolio company does not have sufficient qualified in-house personnel, we will generally require that one of our recommended third party advisers or consultants be retained by our portfolio companies to actively participate in and lead the going public process.  The third party advisers or consultants will assist our portfolio companies by organizing and coordinating the due diligence process for the portfolio companies, providing information to the portfolio companies’ senior management on the regulatory framework and compliance requirements of public companies under the Securities Act and the Exchange Act,  reviewing and analyzing the portfolio companies’ existing corporate governance, financial documents and structure, material contracts and business and financial plans, and assisting in the preparation of the portfolios companies’ registration statements and any other documents related to the going public process.  We believe that these third party advisers and consultants are experienced in the going public process, SEC compliance matters, public company reporting, and legal and financial matters associated with micro-cap and small-cap companies.  We believe the involvement of a third party adviser or consultant will result in a more coordinated, timely and cost-effective going public process – allowing each portfolio company’s management team to remain focused on growing their business.

Possibility of obtaining a senior exchange listing.  We believe that a senior exchange listing, if obtained, generally will provide our portfolio companies with visibility, marketability, liquidity and third party established valuations, all of which will aid in their future capital raising efforts.  More specifically, the advantages that a senior exchange listing would be expected to have for our portfolio companies include:
 
 
Visibilitygreater access to investment analyst coverage to disseminate our portfolio companies’ stories, and added corporate prestige and visibility with exchange listing;
 
 
Valuation and liquiditypotential for more stock liquidity as retail brokers become more interested in making a market in the stock and soliciting their clients to purchase the stock and as institutional investors who typically do not invest in junior exchange-listed stocks consider investments; and
 
 
Access to capitalgreater interest from top- and mid-tier investment banking firms to conduct a subsequent registered offering for our portfolio companies.
 
We will utilize our investment adviser’s expertise in public markets strategies to assist our portfolio companies in the design of a comprehensive aftermarket support program aimed at achieving a senior exchange listing.  We also will leverage our investment adviser’s expertise and access to their  contacts and third party consultants to develop and execute a disciplined plan to upgrade our portfolio companies from a junior exchange listing to a senior exchange listing, which we anticipate will take 12 to 18 months after completion of our investment in each portfolio company.

We believe our public markets strategy, if successfully implemented and coupled with a successful listing on a senior exchange, will give us an expected portfolio company investment horizon of generally one to three years via an orderly public market exit, which we believe represents a substantially shorter investment horizon when compared to traditional private equity and venture capital investments which have investment periods of five to seven years from their initial investment.

 
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However, we can provide no assurance that the portfolio companies in which we may invest will be successful in completing the SEC registration process to become a public company, or if they do so, that they will be able to obtain a subsequent listing on either a junior or senior exchange.  Any failure to do so could substantially reduce or eliminate the market premium associated with being a publicly traded company.

Investment structure.   We typically make a single investment, principally consisting of convertible debt, convertible preferred stock or other equity, after we are satisfied that a potential portfolio company is committed to and capable of becoming public and obtaining an exchange listing within our desired timeframes and has substantially completed certain audit and governance requirements to our satisfaction prior to the closing of our investment.

In evaluating both sponsored and financing participation deals, we utilize an investment process focused on the following factors:
 
  Qualification. We obtain information from the potential portfolio company’s management, conduct a preliminary evaluation of threshold issues and make a determination as to whether the opportunity is qualified and deserving of additional investigation.
 
 
Evaluation. We undertake an in-depth evaluation of the opportunity with primary focus on understanding the business, historical and projected financial information, industry, competition and valuation to ascertain whether we have interest in pursuing the investment.
 
 
Report Preparation. We prepare an internal investment report which discusses our evaluation findings and recommendations, together with an internal valuation report outlining our acceptable valuation ranges for an investment.
 
 
Approval. Our investment adviser’s Investment Committee reviews the investment and valuation reports and, when appropriate, approves the investment subject to completion of satisfactory due diligence.
 
 
Term Sheet.  We prepare, negotiate and execute a term sheet with the portfolio company which, among other things, will establish the due diligence process and set a transaction closing time table (including the achievement of going public milestones).  This step is not applicable to our financing participation deals since the terms and conditions of such an investment have typically already been set by the portfolio company.
 
 
Due Diligence.  We conduct an on-site due diligence visit and complete the gathering and review of due diligence materials.
 
 
Co-Investment Documents.  As required, we assist the portfolio company in the review, revision and preparation of a confidential business memorandum, company investment PowerPoint presentation and executive summary that will be used by us to approach co-investors on a selected basis or by the portfolio company and its placement agents to undertake a private placement offering.  This step is typically not applicable to our financing participation deals as these documents or comparable information will normally already be available.
 
 
Governance.  We establish, and assist the portfolio company in satisfying, certain governance matters which may be required for an exchange listing and which we may designate as a condition to the closing of our investment (including the appointment of an independent board and the audit and compensation committees, the hiring, or the engagement of an executive recruiter to conduct a search for a qualified CFO, the engagement of a qualified independent auditor and completion of the audit).
 
 
Placement Agent. As required, we assist the portfolio company in identifying potential placement agents to raise additional capital beyond the investment amount we intend to provide.  This step is typically not applicable to our financing participation deals since either a placement agent will have already been engaged or the portfolio company will be handling the offering itself on a self-underwritten basis.
 
 
Capital Raising; Going Public Preparation.  We assist the portfolio company in monitoring the capital raising process, by introducing co-investors on a selected basis, and in achieving certain “going public” milestones which we may designate as a condition to the closing of our investment.  This step is typically not applicable to our financing participation deals; however, on a selected basis, we may introduce certain co-investors to the portfolio company.
 
 
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Investment Closing.  At closing, we make our investment, principally consisting of convertible debt or convertible preferred stock or other equity.
 
 
Completion of Going Public Process.  Following the closing of our investment, we will provide managerial assistance to the portfolio company in their completion of the going public process, as needed, within the general time frames set forth below:
 
 
For a Sponsored Deal:
     
    (i) If we believe that the portfolio company is able to complete a traditional IPO based primarily on its current or anticipated revenue and profitability levels measured against recent comparable IPO transactions, which we refer to herein as “IPO qualified” or an “IPO qualified company,” we expect that the portfolio company will file a registration statement under the Securities Act within approximately nine months after closing and complete the IPO and obtain a senior exchange listing within approximately 15 months after closing.  If the portfolio company fails to complete an IPO within the 15-month time frame, the portfolio company is expected to file a registration statement under the Exchange Act and become a reporting company within 18 months after closing.  The final terms of a sponsored deal will be subject to negotiation, and there is no assurance that we will be able to include terms in our sponsored deals which will require the portfolio company to undertake all or any of these actions within these time periods.
     
    (ii) If we believe that the portfolio company is not IPO qualified at the time of our investment, we expect that the portfolio company will file a registration statement under the Exchange Act within three to six months after closing and obtain a junior or senior exchange listing within 15 months after closing.
     
  For a Financing Participation Deal:
     
    We expect that the portfolio company, which will typically be IPO qualified, will file a registration statement under the Securities Act within 12 months after closing and complete an IPO and obtain a senior exchange listing within 18 months after closing.
 
Non-controlling, minority investments.  We make non-controlling, minority investments in our portfolio companies.   We believe this makes us a more attractive source of capital in comparison to private equity and venture capital funds which typically require controlling investments.  Although we generally will not have the power to control the management, operations and strategic decision-making of the companies in which we invest, we expect to provide managerial assistance to our portfolio companies, upon their request, throughout the investment process, especially as it pertains to the engagement of our investment adviser’s recommended third party advisers and consultants, the completion of the going public process, and the design of an overall public markets strategy.  We believe that we will bring enhanced value to the process through our investment adviser’s public markets expertise, rather than through financial engineering or by serving as a strategic adviser to our portfolio companies.

Liquidity premium. We will maximize our potential for capital appreciation by taking advantage of the premium we believe is generally associated with having a more liquid asset, such as a publicly traded security.  Specifically, we believe that a senior exchange listing, if obtained, will generally provide our portfolio companies with greater visibility, marketability, and liquidity than they would otherwise be able to achieve without such a listing.  Since we intend to be more patient investors, we believe that our portfolio companies may have an even greater potential for capital appreciation if they are able to demonstrate sustained earnings growth and are correspondingly rewarded by the public markets with a price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple appropriately linked to earnings performance.  We can provide no assurance, however, that the micro-cap and small-cap companies in which we may invest will be able to achieve such sustained earnings growth, or that the public markets will recognize such growth, if any, with an appropriate market premium.

Investment Selection

Investment criteria.  We have identified criteria that we believe are important in meeting our investment objective. These criteria provide general guidelines for our investment decisions; however, we may not require each prospective portfolio company in which we choose to invest to meet all of these criteria.
 
 
Revenue growth. We seek to invest primarily in micro-cap and small-cap companies that are already generating revenue and which we believe have significant growth potential. We seek to invest principally in companies with annual revenues in excess of $10 million.  However, in certain opportunistic situations, we may invest in development stage, pre-revenue stage and early revenue stage companies if there is a clear and verifiable path to generating meaningful revenue within the next 12 months.  We examine the market segment in which each prospective portfolio company is operating, including its size, geographic focus and competition, to determine whether that company is likely to continue its current growth rate prior to investing.
 
 
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Large addressable markets. We seek to invest in businesses where we believe there is a proven demand for the company’s products or services that address large market opportunities.  We believe that large markets not only provide for more attractive growth prospects, but also have the ability to support a healthy competitive environment with more than one successful competitor.
 
 
Strong industry position. We seek to invest in companies that have developed defendable market positions within their respective markets and are well positioned to capitalize on growth opportunities. We seek to invest in companies that demonstrate competitive advantages versus their competitors, which should help to protect their market position and profitability and permit them to adapt to changes in their respective business environments.
 
 
Strong, experienced management team. We generally require that our portfolio companies have an experienced management team. We also require our portfolio companies to have in place proper incentives to induce management to succeed and to act in concert with our interests as investors, including having significant equity interests.
 
 
Positive EBITDA or operating cash flow. We focus on micro-cap and small-cap companies that are at or near profitability on an EBITDA or cash flow from operations basis, or where there is a clear path to generating positive EBITDA or cash flow from operations within the next 12 months. We seek to invest in companies that we believe will provide a predictable and growing EBITDA or cash flow from operations. We expect that projected EBITDA and cash flow from operations, together with the proceeds from our investments, will be a key means by which our portfolio companies will financially support their future growth plans until they are listed on a senior exchange and ready for a subsequent registered offering.
 
 
Attractive public markets company. We seek to invest in public ready micro-cap and small-cap companies whose management is committed to, and capable of, becoming a public company, whose business we believe will benefit from exposure as a public company and will have appeal to retail and institutional investors, and that we believe is capable of obtaining a senior exchange listing typically within eighteen months after we complete our investment.
 
 
Regulatory compliance. We generally require that our portfolio companies have in place, or be committed to hiring, a qualified chief financial officer with a strong background in SEC reporting, Sarbanes-Oxley Act compliance, Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (“GAAP”), accounting and internal controls management, and investor relations.  Before we complete our investment, our portfolio companies will be required to have GAAP compliant financial statements, in final or draft, but substantially completed form, for at least the past two years which have been audited by a Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (“PCAOB”) registered auditor acceptable to us.  For portfolio companies seeking a foreign listing, we will generally accept financial statements audited under standards imposed by, and auditors qualified under, the rules for the foreign jurisdiction and the foreign exchange.
 
Due diligence.  If a potential portfolio company meets all, or most, of the characteristics described above, our investment adviser’s investment professionals will perform a preliminary evaluation and review including company assessments, market and competitive analysis, evaluation of management team, financial models and business risks, and assessments of transaction size, pricing and structure. The process outlined below provides general parameters for our investment adviser’s investment decisions, although not all will be followed in evaluating each opportunity. Upon successful completion of this preliminary evaluation process, our investment adviser’s Investment Committee will decide whether to enter into a term sheet, undertake a due diligence process to, among other things, verify and validate our evaluation findings, and move forward towards the completion of an investment transaction.

Our evaluation and due diligence process typically encompasses the following steps:
 
 
Assessment of management. Our investment adviser will typically perform an assessment including a review of experience, passion, proven leadership ability, vision, ability to attract key employees, dispute resolution skills, and reputation in the market.  Our investment adviser will generally corroborate and verify management’s track record, industry accomplishments and leadership capabilities through extensive background checks, interviews with management, employees, references and other industry leaders, and on-site visits.  Our investment adviser will also assess the qualifications and experience of the chief financial officer to manage micro-cap or small-cap public companies.
 
 
Market and competitive analysis. Our investment adviser will utilize its investment analysts and engage, on an as-needed basis, outside experts to perform market and competitive analysis and due diligence. This analysis and due diligence typically will provide our investment adviser with a detailed understanding of the prospective portfolio company’s business, market opportunities and operations. This analysis may include:
 
 
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Industry and competitive analysis, including verification of market potential, the relative position of the prospective portfolio company within its market, the existence of significant barriers to entry for potential competitors, and pricing elasticity;
     
 
Customer and vendor interviews to assess reputation within its market;
     
 
Assessment of technology and intellectual capital; and
     
 
Examination of potential regulatory and legal issues.
 
 
Business model and financial assessment. Prior to making an investment decision, our investment adviser will typically review a prospective portfolio company’s business model and financial reporting. This will include a thorough review of historical and prospective financial information, accounting practices and financial models, and investment and loan documents.  Our investment adviser intends to challenge management’s financial assumptions, make an independent assessment of revenue and earnings quality, and conduct interviews with attorneys and auditors.
 
 
Strategic and public company analysis. Our investment adviser will also generally perform a strategic analysis of each prospective portfolio company, during which it will evaluate operating and market risks, public company attractiveness, comparable public company valuations, potential to become a public company in a cost-effective and timely manner, management commitment to being a public company, and potential appeal to retail and institutional investors in the aftermarket.
 
Deal sourcing.  We believe that the combined experience of our investment adviser’s investment professionals will provide us with access to investment opportunities. Our investment adviser’s reputation in the reverse merger industry has exposed us to a network of contacts and sources from which we intend to generate investment opportunities in public ready micro-cap and small-cap companies that are seeking alternatives to traditional IPO financing.  Our investment adviser’s network includes relationships with prior deal participants, prospective management teams, entrepreneurs, industry organizations, corporate development professionals, financial institutions, high net worth and institutional investors and service professionals.

We also receive deal referrals from strategic advisers, industry consultants, industry analysts, portfolio company managers, finders, lawyers, accountants and investment bankers. In addition, we expect that our investment adviser’s investment professionals will also serve as the direct source of proprietary deal referrals from their own business networks.

In many transactions, we expect that our investment adviser’s investment professionals will have prior knowledge of a prospective portfolio company and will have developed a relationship with its management or investors over a period of time resulting in an investment opportunity. We believe that such relationship building will serve us in several ways with respect to our investments, including: (i) generating investments on a timely, non-auction basis; (ii) assuring an alignment of interests between us and our portfolio companies’ management teams; and (iii) providing comfort that our portfolio companies’ management teams are committed to, and capable of, becoming public and achieving a senior exchange listing.  We intend to make investments in negotiated transactions as opposed to auction situations.

We have also implemented a proactive marketing program to communicate with our investment adviser’s established referral network and with companies that meet our investment criteria.

Investment decisions. Keating Investments is registered as an investment adviser under the Advisers Act, and serves as our investment adviser.  Keating Investments manages our day-to-day operations and determines companies in which we will invest.  Our investment adviser’s Investment Committee must unanimously approve each new investment that we make. The Investment Committee currently consists of the following members: Timothy J. Keating, Kyle L. Rogers and Frederic M. Schweiger, who are senior investment professionals of Keating Investments and executive officers of ours.  We believe the Investment Committee’s approach embraces an investment process with well-defined investment parameters, risk assessment techniques and valuation metrics that are applied consistently to all investments.

Investment Structure
 
Once our investment adviser has determined that a prospective portfolio company is suitable for investment, it will work with the management team of that company and, if necessary, its other capital providers, including senior and junior lenders, and equity capital providers, to structure an investment.   We intend to utilize an investment process focused on going public preparation and assessment and a single investment, typically consisting of convertible debt or convertible preferred stock or other equity investments, that will be contingent upon a portfolio company satisfying certain milestones we may require towards becoming public, including certain governance and audit requirements,  and otherwise satisfying us that it is committed and capable of becoming public and obtaining an exchange listing within our expected timeframe.  Where appropriate, we may also negotiate to receive warrants, particularly in sponsored deals where we typically provide more significant managerial assistance to a portfolio company, as part of our investments in our portfolio companies.

 
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We believe that our investment structure is an attractive approach for prospective portfolio companies, which complements the going public process and strategy we intend to implement with each of our portfolio companies. We also believe our non-controlling, equity investment structure provides an attractive vehicle for our portfolio companies to meet their immediate and short-term capital needs.  While we believe there are many micro-cap and small-cap businesses that are both interested in, and capable of, becoming public companies, many of these companies lack the personnel, organization, expertise and control systems to properly become a public company and manage the SEC compliance and filing requirements and general business aspects of being public.  We believe that the founders of many existing micro-cap and small-cap companies realize the potential benefits of being public, but also recognize the effort it takes to become a public company and maintain the public company status.  Our investment structure is designed to ensure our portfolio companies are public ready before we make our investments.  We believe that our portfolio company management teams will benefit from this approach because our portfolio companies can focus on growing their business and increasing their earnings after having hired the right personnel to operate as a public company, including an experienced chief financial officer.

The investment structure discussed below is intended to provide general guidelines for the terms and conditions which we intend to negotiate for our investments; however, we may not require each investment to contain all of these terms and conditions.
 
Going public process.  The going public process for our portfolio companies – though the filing of a registration statement under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act – is a critical step in our overall investment process.  We invest in micro-cap and small-cap companies that we believe will generally be able to file a registration statement with the SEC within approximately three to twelve months after our investment.  These registration statements may take the form of a registration statement under the Securities Act registering the primary sale of common stock of a portfolio company in an IPO, a registration statement registering the common stock of a portfolio company under the Exchange Act without a concurrent registered offering under the Securities Act, or a resale registration statement filed by a portfolio company under the Securities Act to register shares held by existing stockholders coupled with a concurrent registration of the portfolio company’s common stock under the Exchange Act.

We expect that this going public process will be implemented during the three to twelve month period following our investment, and as part of our investment, we will typically require that our portfolio companies undertake certain steps, prior to our investment, that we believe are important to becoming a public reporting company, and the completion of such steps will provide us satisfactory evidence of the portfolio company’s commitment to filing a registration statement under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act and obtaining a senior exchange listing within eighteen months after the closing of our investment.   We also typically require that certain governance and audit requirements be completed prior to the closing of our investment, including the delivery of audited financial statements in final or in draft, but substantially completed, form.  Our investment adviser’s senior investment professionals and certain third party consultants, who we will require be retained by our portfolio companies if they do not have sufficient qualified in-house personnel, will assist our portfolio companies in this going public process, which will generally commence prior to our investment.  We may require that one of our investment adviser’s recommended third party consultants be engaged by the portfolio company to actively participate and lead the going public process.  The third party consultants will assist our portfolio companies by organizing and coordinating the due diligence process for the portfolio companies, providing information to the portfolio companies’ senior management on the regulatory framework and compliance requirements of public companies under the Securities Act and the Exchange Act,  reviewing and analyzing the portfolio companies’ existing corporate governance, financial documents and structure, material contracts and business and financial plans, and assisting in the preparation of the portfolio companies’ registration statements and any other documents related to the going public process.  We believe that these third party consultants are experienced in the going public process, SEC compliance matters, public company reporting, and legal and financial matters associated with micro-cap and small-cap companies.

Our going public process through the filing of a registration statement under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act will generally include the following steps which will be coordinated and led by a portfolio company’s in-house personnel and/or a third party consultant, with managerial assistance from us, as needed:
 
 
Verify business and financial disclosures. Review accuracy of public disclosures regarding the portfolio company’s business, operations, management, products and services, markets, finances, major contracts, tangible and intangible properties, business strategies, related party transactions, compensation arrangements and stock ownership.  Organize all supporting documentation, diligence materials and corporate information.
 
 
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Review and preparation of business plans and financial models. Thorough review of historical and prospective financial information, accounting practices and financial models, review investment and loan documents, challenge management’s financial assumptions, and review revenue and earnings quality.  Assist in preparation of business history and plans, and management discussion and analysis.
 
 
Coordinate audit and legal processes. Work directly with the portfolio company’s internal staff and their audit and legal teams to prepare, present, review and complete audited financial statements, footnote disclosures and supporting analysis and documentation.  Assist in internal control compliance matters.
 
 
Assess and make recommendations on financial management team. Continue assessment of chief financial officer’s capabilities to lead and manage financial reporting and accounting functions for a public company.  Make recommendations for additional hires, if necessary.  Before, or within a reasonable time after, our investment is made, a portfolio company must typically have in place, or ready for hire, a qualified chief financial officer with a strong background in SEC reporting, Sarbanes-Oxley Act compliance, GAAP accounting and internal controls management, and investor relations.
 
 
Composition of Board of Directors. Work directly with the portfolio company’s management to identify the appropriate composition of the Board of Directors and to assess the skills and experience they should be seeking from new Board members including the financial expert.  The majority of the Board must consist of independent directors and the proper Board committee charters must be adopted and the committees selected, all in compliance with the initial listing requirements of most senior exchanges.
 
 
Preparation and filing of registration statements. Work directly with the portfolio company’s internal staff and their audit and legal teams to prepare and complete appropriate documentation for filing with the SEC under the Exchange Act, as applicable.  We expect the portfolio company to file a registration statement with the SEC within approximately three to twelve months after our investment.
 
 
Obtain trading symbol. Assist selected market maker in the preparation of documents to be filed with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) to allow for submission of initial price quotation on a junior exchange, or assist the portfolio company, if it so qualifies, with its initial application for listing on a senior exchange. Obtain and organize required supporting documentation.
 
Investments in the form of convertible debt or convertible preferred stock.  In order to qualify for and maintain RIC status, the size of our individual portfolio company investments will be restricted in order to comply with specified asset diversification requirements on a quarterly basis.   As a result, to comply with these diversification requirements, we expect that the average size of our individual portfolio company investments will represent approximately 5% of our total assets.  Based on our total assets as of December 31, 2010 and the $50 million to $100 million in total capital that we expect to raise in our continuous public offering which concludes on June 30, 2011, we anticipate that the average size of our future portfolio company investments will range  from approximately $2.5 million to $5 million.  However, we may invest more than this amount in certain opportunistic situations, provided we do not invest more than 25% of the value of our total assets in any portfolio company and the value of our portfolio company investments representing more than 5% of our total assets do not in the aggregate exceed 50% of our total assets.

Our investments in portfolio companies are expected to consist of convertible debt or convertible preferred stock or other equity instruments, including in certain circumstances, common stock, that will typically be contingent upon a portfolio company satisfying certain milestones we may require towards becoming public, including certain governance and audit requirements, and otherwise satisfying us that it is committed and capable of becoming public and obtaining an exchange listing within 18 months after our investment.  Our investments will typically be non-control investments (even in cases where we elect to convert our investment into common stock).  In some circumstances, we may take a control position in a portfolio company where we believe a unique opportunity exists for such an investment.  Our non-control equity investments will typically not provide us with Board seats or Board observation rights.

Our convertible debt investments, which we expect will usually be associated with our sponsored deals, will be primarily unsecured and subordinated loans that provide for a fixed interest rate that will typically provide us with current interest income. However, it is likely that interest on these debt investments may be deferred until maturity or conversion and, if paid, may be paid in shares of the issuer’s common stock.  We intend to set interest rates based on prevailing market rates at the time of our investment for comparable types of investments.  Typically, these loans will have maturities not to exceed 18 months, which coincides with the maximum period we believe is required to complete the process to go public and obtain an exchange listing.  To date, we have not made any convertible debt investments in portfolio companies.  

 
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In the case of our unsecured and subordinated debt investments, we intend to tailor the terms of our investments to the facts and circumstances of the transaction and prospective portfolio company, negotiating a structure that seeks to protect our rights and manage our risk while creating incentives for the portfolio company to achieve its business plan and complete the going public process in a timely manner.  For example, when structuring a debt investment, we will seek to limit the downside potential of our investments by:
 
 
Requiring a total return on our investments (including both interest and potential equity appreciation) that compensates us for credit risk;
 
 
Incorporating a “put” right into the investment structure; and
 
 
Negotiating covenants and other contractual provisions in connection with our investments. Such provisions may include affirmative and negative covenants, default penalties, lien protection, change of control provisions and possibly board rights.
 
In sponsored deals, our initial investments may also contain a “put” option which will allow us to require the company, at any time prior to maturity, to redeem the loan at a price of 120% of the outstanding principal amount plus accrued and unpaid interest. We may exercise this “put” option in the event the portfolio company either: (i) completes a debt or equity financing with a third party, or (ii) fails to complete, or elects to abandon, the going public process.  We believe that this “put” option will allow us to attempt to manage our risk.  However, we can provide no assurance that we will be able to negotiate a “put” option or that the micro-cap and small-cap companies in which we intend to invest will have sufficient resources to satisfy their payment obligation to us in the event we exercise our “put” option, and we may still lose a substantial portion or all of our investment notwithstanding our “put” option.

Our convertible preferred stock investments, which we expect will usually be associated with both our sponsored and financing participation deals, will represent an equity ownership interest in a portfolio company.  Although we believe that such equity investments have historically generated higher average total returns than fixed-income securities over the long term, such equity investments also have experienced significantly more volatility in those returns and may under-perform relative to fixed-income securities during certain periods. An adverse event, such as an unfavorable earnings report, may depress the value. Also, prices of equity securities are sensitive to general movements in the stock market and a drop in the stock market may depress the price of equity securities to which we have exposure. Equity prices fluctuate for several reasons including changes in investors' perceptions of the financial condition of an issuer or the general condition of the relevant stock market, or when political or economic events affecting the issuer occur. In addition, equity prices may be particularly sensitive to rising interest rates, as the cost of capital rises and borrowing costs increase.

Our convertible preferred equity investments may pay fixed or adjustable rate dividends to us and will generally have a “preference” over common equity in the payment of dividends and the liquidation of a portfolio company's assets. This preference means that a portfolio company must pay dividends on preferred equity before paying any dividends on its common equity. However, in order to be payable, dividends on such preferred equity must be declared by the portfolio company's board of directors. In the event dividends on our preferred stock investments are non-cumulative, which is typically the case, if the board of directors of our portfolio companies does not declare a preferred dividend for a specific period, we will not be entitled to a preferred dividend for such period.  We do not expect the board of directors of our portfolio companies to declare preferred dividends since these companies typically prefer to retain profits, if any, in their business.  Accordingly, we do not expect to generate dividend income on our preferred stock investments. Cumulative dividend payments on preferred equity means dividends will accumulate even if not declared by the board of directors or otherwise made payable. In such a case, all accumulated dividends must typically be paid before any dividend on the common equity can be paid. However, there is no assurance that any dividends will be paid by a portfolio company even in the case of cumulative preferred dividends and, in most cases, the payment of any accumulated dividends is likely to be deferred until conversion and, if paid, may be paid in shares of the issuer’s preferred or common stock.

We expect to tailor the terms of our investments to the facts and circumstances of each transaction and prospective portfolio company, negotiating a structure that seeks to protect our rights and manage our risk while creating incentives for the portfolio company to achieve its revenue and earnings growth.  We expect to attempt to include a cumulative preferred dividend feature in our convertible preferred stock instruments which will allow us to realize fixed returns in the form of a preferred dividend until conversion thereof.  However, there is no assurance that we will be able to include a cumulative preferred dividend feature as part of our investments.  In financing participation deals, dividends on convertible preferred stock instruments will typically be non-cumulative, meaning dividends which are not declared by the board of directors for a specific period will not accumulate and will never be paid to the holders.

 
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Both the convertible debt and convertible preferred stock instruments allows us to maintain an opportunity to participate in the capital appreciation of the portfolio company.  We intend to structure our investments to give us the option to convert our debt or preferred stock into common stock at a pre-determined conversion price, subject to adjustment for certain events including, possibly, certain negotiated performance events.  We also believe the conversion prices associated with certain of our investments may be determined by reference to an agreed upon discount from either the common stock price in a subsequent IPO or registered offering or a risk-adjusted, public company comparable valuation.  We expect our investments will typically have an automatic conversion feature where the instruments convert into common stock once the portfolio company completes an IPO or other registered offering and/or obtains a senior exchange listing.

We believe that, in some cases, we will be able to realize fixed returns in the form of interest or preferred dividend payments associated with our convertible instruments until one of the conversion events is triggered, while maintaining an opportunity to participate in the capital appreciation of the portfolio company, if any, through the conversion of debt or preferred stock to common stock.  While a portion of our investments may, at any given time, include a component of interest or dividends, we do not expect to generate significant current yield on our portfolio company investments.  To date, none of our portfolio company investments have generated, nor are they expected to generate, interest or dividend income.

In the event a portfolio company fails to complete the going public process in a satisfactory manner, we will likely take steps to exit the investment.  However, in such cases, it may be difficult to sell the investment and we may have little or no recourse against the portfolio company.  Our options to liquidate the investment in such cases, will likely be limited to a private sale of the investment to a third party or a strategic sale or merger involving the portfolio company.  There are also a number of private secondary markets that specialize in the sale of private securities that may provide us a source of qualified buyers in the event that we have to liquidate the investment privately, subject to any contractual restrictions on a private resale transaction that may be imposed on us by a portfolio company.
 
Our investments may include an additional equity component, such as warrants to buy common stock in our portfolio companies, principally in sponsored deals where we typically provide more significant managerial assistance to a portfolio company. Any warrants we receive with our investments may require us to pay an additional cost to exercise, and thus, if our portfolio companies appreciate in value, we may be able to realize additional investment return in the form of capital gains from the exercise of these warrants.  Any warrants associated with our investments will typically be detachable, which will allow us to receive repayment of our principal while retaining our equity interests in the portfolio companies.

In some cases, we will also obtain demand and/or “piggyback” registration rights in connection with the common stock underlying any warrants we may receive and underlying convertible debt or preferred stock investments.  However, these registration rights may be typically cut-back or completely eliminated by an underwriter in the case of an underwritten registered offering by one of our portfolio companies.  We may also be prohibited from selling or transferring our investments, through certain lock-up agreements, for a certain period, typically six months, following an underwritten registered offering by a portfolio company.  While these restrictions generally limit our ability to liquidate our investments, we believe these restrictions are consistent with our public markets strategy, which if successfully implemented and coupled with a successful listing on a senior exchange, will give us an expected portfolio company investment horizon of generally two to three years.

Co-investments.  We will generally be the lead investor in our sponsored deals. To the extent our portfolio companies require more financing than we desire to invest in our sponsored deals, we may seek non-affiliated co-investors to participate in the financing of our portfolio companies.  In addition, we expect our portfolio companies may engage one or more non-affiliated placement agents with whom our investment adviser has had prior experience to assist in capital raising from such non-affiliated co-investors. In financing participation deals, we also may also seek non-affiliated co-investors to assist portfolio companies in completing their pre-IPO round.  In certain cases, principally sponsored deals, our co-investors will be required to agree to certain resale conditions in order to mitigate the risk of any competing aftermarket sales among the holders of our investment securities.

We believe that our investment adviser’s network of high net worth investors, institutional investors and investment bankers, both from prior transactions and who are known to be focused on the type of micro-cap and small-cap companies we intend to target, will provide a source of capital for portfolio companies where we will seek co-investors to complement our investment.  

Total return strategy with focus on capital appreciation. While a portion of our investments may, at any given time, include a component of interest or dividends, we do not expect to generate significant current yield on our portfolio company investments.  Our primary emphasis is to attempt to generate capital gains through the sale of the common stock we receive upon conversion of the convertible securities of micro-cap and small-cap companies which are expected to file a registration statement with the SEC within approximately three to twelve months after our investment.  These registration statements may take the form of a registration statement under the Securities Act registering the primary sale of common stock of a portfolio company in an IPO, a registration statement registering the common stock of a portfolio company under the Exchange Act without a concurrent registered offering under the Securities Act, or a resale registration statement filed by a portfolio company under the Securities Act to register shares held by existing stockholders coupled with a concurrent registration of the portfolio company’s common stock under the Exchange Act.

 
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We expect the common stock of our portfolio companies that are not qualified to complete an IPO or fail to complete an IPO in a timely manner to typically be initially quoted on a junior exchange, following the completion of the registration process, depending upon satisfaction of the applicable listing requirements.   However, we target investments in portfolio companies that we believe will be able to qualify for a senior exchange listing within approximately 12 to 18 months after completion of our investment.   We do not expect the securities in our publicly traded portfolio companies to initially have an active secondary trading market and, as such, these securities will be illiquid until an active market develops. We believe that typically this liquidity will develop in conjunction with a senior exchange listing, which may not occur until 12 to 18 months after our investment is made, if at all.  However, there can be no assurance that our portfolio companies will obtain a senior exchange listing or, even if a listing is obtained, that an active trading market will ever develop in the securities of our publicly traded portfolio companies. The lack of such liquidity could impair the market price of such portfolio companies, and ultimately the return we may receive from our equity investment.

Other Investments

Currently, we do not intend to make investments, even to the extent permitted by the 1940 Act, in the following types of securities: (i) asset-backed securities, (ii) collateralized debt obligations, (iii) high yield bonds, or (iv) distressed debt.

However, we may invest, consistent with the requirements of the 1940 Act, in securities of public companies that are already traded on a junior or senior exchange, in securities of private companies that may not be based in the United States, or in securities we acquire in the secondary market and, in analyzing such investments, we will employ the same analytical process as we use for our primary investments in micro-cap and small-cap companies.

Changes to the laws and regulations governing our operations relating to permitted investments may cause us to alter our investment strategy in order to avail ourselves of new or different opportunities.  If legislation is enacted, new rules are adopted, or existing rules are materially amended, we may change our investment strategy. Such changes could result in material differences to the strategies and plans set forth in this annual report on Form 10-K and may result in our investment focus shifting.

For example, the SEC changed the criteria used to determine if a company is an Eligible Portfolio Company under the 1940 Act by permitting qualifying investments to be made by business development companies in publicly-traded companies, whether or not they are listed on an exchange, as long as their market capitalizations are no greater than $250 million.  Due to our public markets approach, we believe this change may be beneficial to us and provide us greater latitude to implement our investment strategy.

Until the net proceeds of our continuous public offering are invested in accordance with our investment strategy, and (i) during periods in which we determine that we are temporarily unable to follow our investment strategy or that it is impractical to do so, or (ii) pending investment of proceeds received in connection with the sale of a portfolio security or the issuance of additional securities, all or any portion of our assets may be invested in cash, cash equivalents, certificates of deposit, U.S. government securities and other high quality debt investments that mature in one year or less from the date of our investment.  Our determination that we are temporarily unable to follow our investment strategy or that it is impractical to do so will generally occur only in situations in which a market disruption event has occurred and where trading in the securities selected through application of our investment strategy is extremely limited or absent. In such a case, our shares may be adversely affected and we may be unable to pursue or achieve our investment objective.

Ongoing Relationships with Portfolio Companies
 
Strategic value added model.  As an integral part of our investment, we intend to partner with our portfolio companies to become public companies that meet the governance and eligibility requirements for a listing on a senior exchange.  We intend for our interests to be aligned with our portfolio companies’ management teams to maximize stockholder value through an eventual listing on a senior exchange, if possible.

We will offer and provide managerial assistance to our portfolio companies, in particular, in the completion of the going public process and the design of an overall public markets strategy.  We will fully utilize our investment adviser’s expertise in public markets strategies including the design of comprehensive aftermarket support programs for our portfolio companies.  We will also leverage our investment adviser’s expertise and access third party professionals and consultants to develop and execute a disciplined “migration plan” to upgrade our portfolio companies from a junior exchange listing to a senior exchange listing, which we believe will typically occur 12 to 18 months after our  investment is made.

 
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We believe this public markets strategy will provide us with an expected portfolio company investment horizon of two to three years via an orderly public market exit, which we believe represents a substantially shorter investment horizon when compared to traditional private equity and venture capital investments.  However, we can provide no assurance that the portfolio companies in which we may invest will be successful in completing the SEC registration process to become a public company, or if they do so, that they will be able to obtain a subsequent listing on either a junior or senior exchange.  Any failure to do so could substantially reduce or eliminate the market premium associated with being a publicly traded company.

Monitoring.  We will monitor the financial trends of each portfolio company to assess the appropriate course of action for each company and to evaluate overall portfolio quality. In certain limited cases, we may also control one or more of our portfolio companies.
 
We will utilize several methods for evaluating and monitoring the performance of our investments, including but not limited to, the following:
 
 
assessment of business development success, including product development, profitability and the portfolio company’s overall adherence to its business plan;
 
 
periodic and regular contact with portfolio company management to discuss financial position, requirements and accomplishments;
 
 
periodic formal update interviews with portfolio company management; and
 
 
review of monthly and quarterly financial statements and financial projections for portfolio companies.
 
However, once our portfolio companies become publicly reporting companies or while they have a registration statement pending, we typically evaluate and monitor these investments by relying primarily on the information contained in the public filings of these portfolio companies.

As a result of active monitoring and communication, we believe that our portfolio management process will emphasize value creation throughout the life cycle of a given investment. Paramount to these efforts will be the ongoing emphasis on our public markets strategy.  By doing so, we believe that our value to the portfolio company will go beyond the capital we have invested, and will extend to the overall goals of each portfolio company, which we believe will benefit the return on investment we realize in our portfolio companies.

Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement

Management services.  Keating Investments is registered as an investment adviser under the Advisers Act, and serves as our investment adviser. Subject to the overall supervision of our Board of Directors, Keating Investments manages our day-to-day operations and provides us with investment advisory services. Under the terms of the Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement, as currently in effect, Keating Investments:
 
 
Determines the composition of our portfolio, the nature and timing of the changes to our portfolio and the manner of implementing such changes;
 
 
Determines which securities we will purchase, retain or sell;
 
 
Identifies, evaluates and negotiates the structure of the investments we make; and
 
 
Closes, monitors and services the investments we make.
 
Keating Investments’ services under the Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement may not be exclusive and it is free to furnish similar services to other entities so long as its services to us are not impaired.
 
Management fees.  We pay Keating Investments a fee for its investment advisory services under the Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement consisting of two components - a base management fee and an incentive fee. The cost of both the base management fee payable to Keating Investments and any incentive fees earned by Keating Investments is ultimately borne by our common stockholders.

 
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The base management fee (the “Base Fee”) is calculated at an annual rate of 2% of our gross assets, where gross assets include any borrowings for investment purposes. We do not presently expect to use borrowed funds for the purpose of making portfolio investments. The Base Fee is payable quarterly in arrears, and is calculated based on the value of our gross assets at the end of the most recently completed calendar quarter, and appropriately adjusted for any equity capital raises or repurchases during the current calendar quarter. The Base Fee for any partial month or quarter will be appropriately pro-rated.
 
The incentive fee is determined and payable in arrears as of the end of each calendar year (or upon termination of the Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement, as of the termination date) and equals 20% of our realized capital gains, if any, on a cumulative basis from inception through the end of each calendar year, computed net of all realized capital losses and unrealized capital depreciation on a cumulative basis, less the aggregate amount of any previously paid incentive fees.
 
The following table sets forth various examples of the calculation of our annual incentive fee that would be earned by and payable to our investment adviser under the Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement based on different levels of realized and unrealized gains and losses over a period of years.  These calculations are based on the different assumptions set forth in the table:
 
Examples of Annual Incentive Fee for Capital Gains* (all dollar amounts in millions)
 
Example 1
             
Year
 
Investment Description
 
Incentive Fee
 
Explanatory comments
             
1  
Invested $5 in Company A stock and $10 in Company B stock.
  $ 0  
No incentive fee as there are no realized gains.
                 
2  
Sold Company A stock for $15 ($10 realized gain).  Fair value of Company B stock at $20 ($10 unrealized gain)
  $ 2.0  
Incentive fee equals 20% of $10 realized gains.  Unrealized gains do not affect calculation.
                 
3  
Fair value of Company B stock at $8 ($2 unrealized loss).
  $ 0  
No incentive fee as there is only unrealized loss in the year.
                 
4  
Sold Company B stock for $12 ($2 realized gain).
  $ 0.4  
Incentive fee equals 20% of cumulative realized gains of $12, or $2.4, less previously paid incentive fee of $2.
 
Example 2
 
Year
 
Investment Description
 
Incentive Fee
 
Explanatory comments
             
1  
Invested $20 in Company A stock, $30 in Company B stock and $25 in Company C stock
  $ 0  
No incentive fee as there are no realized gains.
                 
2  
Sold Company A stock for $50 (realized gain $30).  Fair value of Company B stock at $25 ($5 unrealized loss).  Fair value of Company C stock at $25 (no unrealized gain or loss).
  $ 5.0  
Incentive fee equals 20% of $25 (which is the $30 realized gains less the $5 unrealized loss).
                 
3  
Sold Company C stock for $30 ($5 realized gain).  Fair value of Company B stock at $27 ($3 unrealized loss)
  $ 1.4  
Incentive fee equals 20% of $32 (which is the $35 of realized gains less the $3 of unrealized losses), reduced by the $5 previously paid incentive fee.
                 
4  
Fair value of Company B stock at $35 ($5 unrealized gain).
  $ 0  
No incentive fee as there are no realized gains in year.
                 
5  
Sold Company B stock for $20 ($10 realized loss).
  $ 0  
No incentive fee as the 20% incentive fee on $25 (which is the $35 cumulative realized gains less the $10 realized losses) is less than the $6.4 previously paid incentive fee.
 
 
 
The hypothetical amount of income, gains and returns shown in the above tables assumes no leverage. There is no guarantee that the income, gains, or the income returns based on our net asset values, will be realized and actual income, gains and returns may vary from those shown in these examples.
 
 
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Administrative services.  Pursuant to the Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement, Keating Investments furnishes us with equipment and clerical, bookkeeping and record-keeping services. Under the Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement, Keating Investments also performs, or facilitates the performance of, certain administrative services, which include being responsible for the financial records which we are required to maintain and preparing reports to our stockholders and reports filed with the SEC. In addition, Keating Investments assists us in monitoring our portfolio accounting and bookkeeping, managing portfolio collections and reporting, performing internal audit services, determining and publishing our net asset value, overseeing the preparation and filing of our tax returns and the printing and dissemination of reports to our stockholders, providing support for our risk management efforts and generally overseeing the payment of our expenses and the performance of administrative and professional services rendered to us by others. We reimburse Keating Investments for our allocable portion of overhead and other expenses incurred by it in performing its administrative obligations under the Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement, including our allocable portion of the compensation of our Chief Financial Officer and Chief Compliance Officer, and their respective staff.

Payment of our expenses.  Our primary operating expenses include the payment of (i) investment advisory fees to our investment adviser, Keating Investments; (ii) the allocable portion of overhead and other expenses incurred by Keating Investments in performing its administrative obligations under the Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement; and (iii) other operating expenses as detailed below. Our investment advisory fee compensates our investment adviser for its work in identifying, evaluating, negotiating, closing, monitoring and servicing our investments. We bear all other expenses of our operations and transactions, including (without limitation):
 
 
Costs of calculating our net asset value, including the cost of any third-party valuation services;
     
 
Costs of effecting sales and repurchases of shares of our common stock and other securities;
     
 
Fees payable to third parties relating to, or associated with, making investments, including fees and expenses associated with performing due diligence reviews of prospective investments;
     
 
Transfer agent and custodial fees;
     
 
Costs related to organization and offerings;
     
 
Fees and expenses associated with marketing efforts;
     
 
Federal and state registration fees;
     
 
Any stock exchange listing fees;
     
 
Applicable federal, state and local taxes;
     
 
Independent directors’ fees and expenses;
     
 
Excess brokerage commissions;
     
 
Costs of proxy statements, stockholders’ reports and notices;
     
 
Fidelity bond, directors and officers/errors and omissions liability insurance and other insurance premiums;
     
 
Direct costs such as printing and mailing, and staff;
     
 
Fees and expenses associated with independent audits and outside legal costs;
     
 
Costs associated with our reporting and compliance obligations under the 1940 Act, the Exchange Act and applicable federal and state securities laws; and
     
 
All other expenses incurred by either Keating Investments or us in connection with administering our business, including payments under the Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement that will be based upon our allocable portion of overhead and other expenses incurred by Keating Investments in performing its obligations under the Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement, including our allocable portion of the compensation of our Chief Financial Officer and Chief Compliance Officer, and their respective staff.
 
 
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 All of these expenses are ultimately borne by our common stockholders.

Reimbursement of Keating Investments. We reimburse Keating Investments for our allocable portion of overhead and other expenses incurred by it in performing its administrative obligations under the Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement, including our allocable portion of the compensation of our Chief Financial Officer and Chief Compliance Officer, and their respective staff.  We will not reimburse Keating Investments for any services for which it receives a separate fee, nor for rent, depreciation, utilities, capital equipment or other administrative items allocated to a controlling person of Keating Investments.

Duration and termination.  The Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement was initially approved by our Board of Directors and our sole stockholder on July 28, 2008.  An amended and restated version of the Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement, which is presently in effect, was approved by our Board of Directors on April 17, 2009, and by our stockholders on May 14, 2009.  Unless earlier terminated as described below, our current Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement will remain in effect for a period of two years from the date it was approved by the Board of Directors and will remain in effect from year to year thereafter if approved annually by (i) the vote of our Board of Directors, or by the vote of a majority of our outstanding voting securities, and (ii) the vote of a majority of our directors who are not interested persons. An affirmative vote of the holders of a majority of our outstanding voting securities is also necessary in order to make material amendments to the Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement. Our Board of Directors (including the independent directors) is expected to consider the renewal of our Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement for an additional year at its meeting scheduled for March 2011.
 
The Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement will automatically terminate in the event of its assignment. As required by the 1940 Act, the Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement provides that we may terminate the agreement without penalty upon 60 days written notice to Keating Investments.  If Keating Investments wishes to voluntarily terminate the Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement, it must give stockholders a minimum of 120 days notice prior to termination and must pay all expenses associated with its termination. The Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement may also be terminated, without penalty, upon the vote of a majority of our outstanding voting securities.  See “Risk Factors — Risks Relating to Our Business and Structure.”
 
Without the vote of a majority of our outstanding voting securities, our Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement may not be materially amended, nor may we engage in a merger or other reorganization of Keating Investments. In addition, should we or Keating Investments elect to terminate the Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement, a new investment adviser may not be appointed without approval of a majority of our outstanding common stock, except in limited circumstances where a temporary adviser may be appointed without stockholder consent, consistent with the 1940 Act.
 
Prohibited activities.  Under the Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement, we cannot reimburse Keating Investments for any services for which it receives a separate fee, nor for rent, depreciation, utilities, capital equipment or other administrative items allocated to a controlling person of Keating Investments.  In addition, the Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement also prohibits the following activities between us and Keating Investments:
 
 
We may not purchase or lease assets in which Keating Investments has an interest;
 
    
Keating Investments may not acquire assets from us unless approved by our stockholders in accordance with our charter;
 
   
We may not lease assets to Keating Investments;
 
    
We may not make any loans to Keating Investments except for the advancement of funds as permitted by our charter;
 
    
We may not acquire assets in exchange for our stock;
 
        
We may not pay a commission or fee, either directly or indirectly to Keating Investments, except as otherwise permitted by our charter, in connection with the reinvestment of cash flows from operations and available reserves or from the proceeds of the resale, exchange or refinancing of our assets;
 
    
Keating Investments may not charge duplicate fees to us; and
 
   
Keating Investments may not provide financing to us with a term in excess of 12 months.

 
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In addition, Keating Investments is prohibited from receiving or accepting any rebate, give-up or similar arrangement that is prohibited under federal or state securities laws. Keating Investments is also prohibited from participating in any reciprocal business arrangement that would circumvent provisions of federal or state securities laws governing conflicts of interest or investment restrictions. Finally, Keating Investments is prohibited from entering into any agreement, arrangement or understanding that would circumvent restrictions against dealing with affiliates or promoters under applicable federal or state securities laws.

Organization of the investment adviser.   Keating Investments is a Delaware limited liability company that is registered as an investment adviser under the Advisers Act. Timothy J. Keating is the majority owner and managing member of Keating Investments.  Messrs. Keating, Mankekar, Rogers and Schweiger are Keating Investments’ senior investment professionals and Messrs. Keating, Rogers and Schweiger are the members of its Investment Committee.  Messrs. Keating, Mankekar, Rogers and Schweiger manage our day-to-day operations and provide the services under the Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement. Keating Investments may in the future provide similar investment advisory services to other entities in addition to us.  In the event that Keating Investments provides investment advisory services to other entities, Keating Investments intends to allocate investment opportunities in a fair and equitable manner pursuant to its allocation policies and procedures and in any event consistent with the fiduciary duties owed to us.  The principal address of Keating Investments is 5251 DTC Parkway, Suite 1000, Greenwood Village, Colorado 80111.

License Agreement

On July 28, 2008, we entered into a license agreement (“License Agreement”) with Keating Investments pursuant to which Keating Investments granted us a non-exclusive license to use the name “Keating.” Under the License Agreement, we will have a right to use the Keating name and logo, for so long as Keating Investments or one of its affiliates remains our investment adviser. Other than with respect to this limited license, we will have no legal right to the “Keating” name or logo. The License Agreement will remain in effect for so long as the Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement with our investment adviser is in effect.

Competition
 
We compete for investments with a number of business development companies and other investment funds (including private equity funds and venture capital funds), reverse merger and special purpose acquisition company (“SPACs”) sponsors, investment bankers that underwrite initial public offerings, hedge funds that invest in PIPEs, traditional financial services companies such as commercial banks, and other sources of financing.  Many of these entities have greater financial and managerial resources than we do. Furthermore, many of our competitors are not subject to the regulatory restrictions that the 1940 Act will impose on us as a business development company. We believe we compete with these entities primarily on the basis of our willingness to make smaller, non-controlling investments, our public markets approach, the experience and contacts of our investment professionals within our targeted industries, our responsive and efficient investment analysis and decision-making processes, and the investment terms that we offer. We do not seek to compete primarily on the deal terms we offer to potential portfolio companies. For additional information concerning the competitive risks we face, see “Risk Factors — Risks Relating to Our Business and Structure — We will operate in a highly competitive market for investment opportunities.”
 
Employees
 
Currently, we do not have any employees.  The management of our investment portfolio will be the responsibility of our investment adviser, Keating Investments, and its Investment Committee, which currently consists of Timothy J. Keating, our President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of our Board of Directors, Kyle L. Rogers, our Chief Investment Officer and Frederic M. Schweiger, our Chief Operating Officer, Chief Compliance Officer and Secretary.  Keating Investments’ Investment Committee must unanimously approve each new investment that we make. The members of the Investment Committee will not be employed by us, and will receive no compensation from us in connection with their portfolio management activities. However, Messrs. Keating, Rogers and Schweiger, through their financial interests in, or management positions with, Keating Investments, will be entitled to a portion of any investment advisory fees paid by us to Keating Investments pursuant to the Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement.
 
 
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Material U.S. Federal Income Tax Considerations

Election to be taxed as a Regulated Investment Company. During 2010, we satisfied the requirements to qualify as a RIC.  We will elect to be treated as a RIC under Subchapter M of the Code for our 2010 taxable year when we file our 2010 tax return. However, this election and our continued qualification as a RIC requires that we comply with certain requirements contained in Subchapter M of the Code that may affect our ability to pursue additional business opportunities or strategies that, if we were to determine we should pursue, could diminish the desirability of or impede our ability to qualify as a RIC. For example, a RIC must meet certain requirements, including source of income and asset diversification requirements. The source of income requirement mandates that we receive 90% or more of our income from qualified earnings, typically referred to as “good income.”
 
As a RIC, we generally will not have to pay corporate-level federal income taxes on any ordinary income or realized capital gains that we distribute to our stockholders as dividends. To continue to qualify as a RIC, we must, among other things, meet certain source of income and asset diversification requirements (as described below). In addition, in order to obtain the federal income tax benefits allowable to RICs, we must distribute to our stockholders, for each taxable year, at least 90% of our investment company taxable income (which is generally our net ordinary income plus the excess, if any, of realized net short-term capital gains over realized net long-term capital losses)(the “Annual Distribution Requirement”).
 
Conversion to RIC status. Prior to our 2010 taxable year, we were taxed as a C corporation.  A corporation that converts to taxation as a RIC may hold assets (including intangible assets not reflected on the balance sheet, such as goodwill) with “built-in gain,” which are assets whose fair market value as of the effective date of the election exceeds their tax basis.  In general, a corporation that converts to taxation as a RIC must pay corporate level tax on any of the net built-in gains it recognizes during the 10-year period beginning on the effective date of its election to be treated as a RIC.  Alternatively, the corporation may elect to recognize all of its built-in gain at the time of its conversion and pay tax on the built-in gain at that time.  As of December 31, 2009, we did not have any built-in gains and, accordingly, we do not anticipate having to pay any corporate level tax as a result of our election to be treated as a RIC beginning with our 2010 taxable year.
 
A corporation that converts to taxation as a RIC is also required, by the end of its first taxable year as a RIC, to eliminate the earnings and profits it may have accumulated while it was taxable as a C corporation. This is accomplished by paying to its stockholders in the first quarter of the tax year for which it makes a RIC election a cash dividend representing all of its accumulated earnings and profits (if any) for the period from inception through the end of the prior tax year.  For the period from inception through December 31, 2009, while we were taxable as a C corporation, we generated a cumulative net operating loss and, accordingly, we were not required to make any distributions to satisfy this requirement to eliminate accumulated earnings and profits.
 
Taxation as a Regulated Investment Company.  For any taxable year in which we:
 
    
Qualify as a RIC; and
 
   
Satisfy the Annual Distribution Requirement;
 
we generally will not be subject to federal income tax on the portion of our investment company taxable income and realized net capital gain (i.e., net realized long-term capital gains in excess of net realized short-term capital losses) that we distribute to stockholders with respect to that year.  We will be subject to United States federal income tax at the regular corporate rates on any income or capital gain not distributed (or deemed distributed) to our stockholders.

 Although we currently intend to distribute realized net capital gains (i.e., net realized long-term capital gains in excess of net realized short-term capital losses), if any, at least annually, we may in the future decide to retain some or all of our realized net capital gains, but to designate the retained amount as a “deemed distribution.” In the event we have realized net capital gains, we will likely distribute the amount of the realized net capital gain, reduced by any incentive fees payable to our investment adviser, to our stockholders at least annually.

In the event we retain some or all of our realized net capital gains, including amounts retained to pay incentive fees to our investment adviser, we will likely designate the retained amount as a deemed distribution to stockholders.  In such case, among other consequences, we will pay corporate-level tax on the retained amount, each U.S. stockholder will be required to include its share of the deemed distribution in income as if it had been actually distributed to the U.S. stockholder, and the U.S. stockholder will be entitled to claim a credit or refund equal to its allocable share of the corporate-level tax we pay on the retained realized net capital gain.
 
 
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As a RIC, we are subject to a 4% nondeductible federal excise tax on certain undistributed income unless we distribute in a timely manner an amount at least equal to the sum of (i) 98% of our ordinary income for each calendar year, (ii) 98.2% of our capital gains in excess of capital losses for the 1-year period ending October 31 in that calendar year, and (iii) any ordinary income and realized net capital gains for preceding years that were not distributed during such years  (the “Excise Tax Avoidance Requirement”). We will not be subject to excise taxes on amounts on which we are required to pay corporate income tax (such as retained realized net capital gains). We currently intend to make sufficient distributions (including deemed distributions of retained realized net capital gains) each taxable year to satisfy the Excise Tax Avoidance Requirement.

In order to qualify and continue to qualify as a RIC for federal income tax purposes and obtain the tax benefits of RIC status, in addition to satisfying the Annual Distribution Requirement, we must, among other things:
 
 
Have in effect at all times during each taxable year an election to be regulated as a business development company under the 1940 Act;
 
 
Derive in each taxable year at least 90% of our gross income from (a) dividends, interest, payments with respect to certain securities loans, gains from the sale of stock or other securities, or other income derived with respect to our business of investing in such stock or securities and (b) net income derived from an interest in a “qualified publicly traded limited partnership” (the “90% Income Test”); and
 
 
Diversify our holdings so that at the end of each quarter of the taxable year:
 
 
at least 50% of the value of our assets consists of cash, cash equivalents, U.S. government securities, securities of other RICs, and other securities if such other securities of any one issuer do not represent more than 5% of the value of our assets or more than 10% of the outstanding voting securities of such issuer; and
 
 
no more than 25% of the value of our assets is invested in (i) securities (other than U.S. government securities or securities of other RICs) of one issuer, (ii) securities of two or more issuers that are controlled, as determined under applicable tax rules, by us and that are engaged in the same or similar or related trades or businesses, or (iii) securities of one or more “qualified publicly traded partnerships” (the “Diversification Tests”).
 
We satisfied the above RIC requirements during 2010 and will elect to be treated as a RIC effective for our 2010 taxable year.  Since we did not generate investment company taxable income in 2010, we were not required to make any distributions to satisfy the Annual Distribution Requirement.   We also did not generate any realized net capital gains in 2010 and, as a result, we were not required to make any distributions to satisfy the Excise Tax Avoidance Requirement.

We may be required to recognize taxable income in circumstances in which we do not receive cash. For example, if we hold debt obligations that are treated under applicable tax rules as having original issue discount (such as debt instruments with payment-in-kind interest or, in certain cases, increasing interest rates or issued with warrants), we must include in income each year a portion of the original issue discount that accrues over the life of the obligation, regardless of whether cash representing such income is received by us in the same taxable year. Because any original issue discount accrued will be included in our investment company taxable income for the year of accrual, we may be required to make a distribution to our stockholders in order to satisfy the Annual Distribution Requirement, even though we will not have received any corresponding cash amount.  As a result, we may have difficulty meeting the Annual Distribution Requirement necessary to maintain RIC tax treatment under the Code. We may have to sell some of our investments at times and/or at prices we would not consider advantageous, raise additional debt or equity capital or forgo new investment opportunities for this purpose. If we are not able to obtain cash from other sources, we may fail to continue to qualify for RIC tax treatment and thus become subject to corporate-level income tax.
 
Gain or loss realized by us from the sale or exchange of warrants acquired by us as well as any loss attributable to the lapse of such warrants generally will be treated as capital gain or loss. Such gain or loss generally will be long-term or short-term, depending on how long we held a particular warrant. Upon the exercise of a warrant acquired by us, our tax basis in the stock purchased under the warrant will equal the sum of the amount paid for the warrant plus the strike price paid on the exercise of the warrant.
 
We are authorized to borrow funds and to sell assets in order to satisfy the Annual Distribution Requirement and the Excise Tax Avoidance Requirement (collectively, the “Distribution Requirements”).  Although we are permitted to borrow funds under the 1940 Act and could use these borrowed funds to make distributions to satisfy the Distribution Requirements, we currently do not intend to borrow money for this purpose.  Further, under the 1940 Act, we are not permitted to make distributions to our stockholders while our debt obligations and other senior securities are outstanding unless certain “asset coverage” tests are met. Moreover, our ability to dispose of assets to meet the Distribution Requirements may be limited by: (i) the illiquid nature of our portfolio, or (ii) other requirements relating to our status as a RIC, including the Diversification Tests. If we dispose of assets in order to meet the Distribution Requirements, we may make such dispositions at times that, from an investment standpoint, are not advantageous.
 
 
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Any transactions in options, futures contracts, hedging transactions, and forward contracts will be subject to special tax rules, the effect of which may be to accelerate income to us, defer losses, cause adjustments to the holding periods of our investments, convert long-term capital gains into short-term capital gains, convert short-term capital losses into long-term capital losses or have other tax consequences. These rules could affect the amount, timing and character of distributions to stockholders.
 
A RIC is limited in its ability to deduct expenses in excess of its investment company taxable income (which is, generally, ordinary income plus net realized short-term capital gains in excess of net realized long-term capital losses). If our expenses in a given year exceed investment company taxable income (which is likely to occur since our operating expenses are expected to exceed the amount of interest or dividend income we generate on our portfolio investments), we would experience a net operating loss for that year. However, a RIC is not permitted to carry forward net operating losses to subsequent years. In addition, expenses including any incentive fees paid to our investment adviser can be used only to offset investment company taxable income, not net capital gain. Due to these limits on the deductibility of expenses, we may for tax purposes have aggregate taxable income for several years that we are required to distribute and that is taxable to our stockholders even if such income is greater than the aggregate net income we actually earned during those years. Such required distributions may be made from our cash assets or by liquidation of investments, if necessary. We may realize gains or losses from such liquidations. In the event we realize net capital gains from such transactions, our stockholders may receive a larger capital gain distribution than they would have received in the absence of such transactions.
 
Assuming we continue to qualify as a RIC, our corporate-level federal income tax should be substantially reduced or eliminated to the extent that we distribute any ordinary income or realized net capital gains to our stockholders as dividends.  However, we will pay corporate-level federal income tax on any amount of realized net capital gain that we elect to retain and deem as a distribution to our stockholders.  It is likely that we will retain out of our realized net capital gain each taxable year an amount equal to any incentive fees payable to our investment adviser, with such amount being treated as a deemed distribution to our stockholders.  In such case, among other consequences, we will pay corporate-level tax on the retained amount, each U.S. stockholder will be required to include its share of the deemed distribution in income as if it had been actually distributed to the U.S. stockholder, and the U.S. stockholder will be entitled to claim a credit or refund equal to its allocable share of the corporate-level tax we pay on the retained realized net capital gain. The amount of the deemed distribution (net of such tax credit or refund) will be added to each U.S. stockholder's cost basis for its common stock. In order to utilize the deemed distribution approach, we must provide written notice to our stockholders prior to the expiration of 60 days after the close of the relevant taxable year.

Except as otherwise provided, the remainder of this discussion assumes that we qualify as a RIC and have satisfied the Annual Distribution Requirement.
 
Failure to qualify as a Regulated Investment Company.  If subsequent to our qualification for, and election as, a RIC, we are unable to continue to qualify for treatment as a RIC, we would be subject to tax on all of our taxable income at regular corporate rates. We would not be able to deduct distributions to stockholders, nor would they be required to be made. Such distributions would be taxable to our stockholders and provided certain holding period and other requirements were met, could qualify for treatment as “qualified dividend income” eligible for the 15% maximum rate to the extent of our current and accumulated earnings and profits. Subject to certain limitations under the Code, corporate distributees would be eligible for the dividends received deduction. Distributions in excess of our current and accumulated earnings and profits would be treated first as a return of capital to the extent of the stockholder’s tax basis, and any remaining distributions would be treated as a capital gain.

If we fail to qualify as a RIC in any taxable year subsequent to the effective date of our RIC election, we would be required to satisfy the RIC qualification requirements in order to requalify as a RIC and dispose of any earnings and profits from any year in which we failed to qualify as a RIC. Subject to a limited exception applicable to RICs that qualified as such under Subchapter M of the Code for at least one year prior to disqualification and that requalify as a RIC no later than the second year following the nonqualifying year, we could be subject to tax on any unrealized net built-in gains in the assets held by us during the period in which we failed to qualify as a RIC that are recognized within the subsequent 10 years, unless we made a special election to pay corporate-level tax on such built-in gain at the time of our requalification as a RIC.
 
 
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Regulation as a Business Development Company
 
We have elected to be regulated as a business development company under the 1940 Act. The 1940 Act requires that a majority of our directors be persons other than “interested persons,” as that term is defined in the 1940 Act. In addition, the 1940 Act provides that we may not change the nature of our business so as to cease to be, or to withdraw our election as, a business development company without the approval of a “majority of our outstanding voting securities,” within the meaning of the 1940 Act.
 
Qualifying assets.  Under the 1940 Act, a business development company may not acquire any asset other than assets of the type listed in Section 55(a) of the 1940 Act, which are referred to here as “qualifying assets,” unless, at the time the acquisition is made, qualifying assets represent at least 70% of the company’s total assets (the “70% test”). The principal categories of qualifying assets relevant to our business are any of the following:
 
(i) Securities purchased in transactions not involving any public offering from the issuer of such securities, which issuer (subject to certain limited exceptions) is an Eligible Portfolio Company, or from any person who is, or has been during the preceding 13 months, an affiliated person of an Eligible Portfolio Company, or from any other person, subject to such rules as may be prescribed by the SEC. An Eligible Portfolio Company is defined in the 1940 Act as any issuer which:
 
(a) is organized under the laws of, and has its principal place of business in, the United States;
 
(b) is not an investment company (other than a small business investment company wholly-owned by the business development company) or a company that would be an investment company but for certain exclusions under the 1940 Act; and
 
(c) satisfies any of the following:
 
(1) does not have any class of securities listed on a national securities exchange;

(2) is controlled by a business development company or a group of companies including a business development company and the business development company has an affiliated person who is a director of the eligible portfolio company; 
 
(3) is a small and solvent company having total assets of not more than $4 million and capital and surplus of not less than $2 million; or

(4) has a class of securities listed on a national securities exchange, but has an aggregate market value of outstanding voting and non-voting common equity of less than $250 million during the 60 days prior to acquisition by the business development company.
 
(ii) Securities of any Eligible Portfolio Company which we control.
 
(iii) Securities purchased in a private transaction from a U.S. issuer that is not an investment company or from an affiliated person of the issuer, or in transactions incident thereto, if the issuer is in bankruptcy and subject to reorganization or if the issuer, immediately prior to the purchase of its securities was unable to meet its obligations as they came due without material assistance other than conventional lending or financing arrangements.
 
(iv) Securities of an Eligible Portfolio Company purchased from any person in a private transaction if there is no ready market for such securities and we already own 60% of the outstanding equity of the Eligible Portfolio Company.
 
(v) Securities received in exchange for or distributed on or with respect to securities described in (i) through (iv) above, or pursuant to the exercise of warrants or rights relating to such securities.

(vi) Cash, cash equivalents, U.S. government securities or high-quality debt securities maturing in one year or less from the time of investment.
 
In addition, a business development company must have been organized and have its principal place of business in the United States and must be operated for the purpose of making investments in the types of securities described in (i), (ii) or (iii) above.

 
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Managerial assistance to portfolio companies.  In general, in order to count portfolio securities as qualifying assets for the purpose of the 70% test, we must either control the issuer of the securities or must offer to make available to the issuer of the securities (other than small and solvent companies described above) significant managerial assistance; except that, where we purchase such securities in conjunction with one or more other persons acting together, one of the other persons in the group may make available such managerial assistance. Making available managerial assistance means, among other things, any arrangement whereby the business development company, through its directors, officers or employees, offers to provide, and, if requested to, provides significant guidance and counsel concerning the management, operations or business objectives and policies of a portfolio company.

Senior securities.  We are permitted, under specified conditions, to issue multiple classes of debt and one class of stock senior to our common stock if our asset coverage, as defined in the 1940 Act, is at least equal to 200% immediately after each such issuance. In addition, while any senior securities remain outstanding, we must make provisions to prohibit any distribution to our stockholders or the repurchase of such securities or shares unless we meet the applicable asset coverage ratios at the time of the distribution or repurchase. We may also borrow amounts up to 5% of the value of our total assets for temporary or emergency purposes without regard to asset coverage.

We do not intend to borrow funds in the foreseeable future to finance the purchase of our investment in portfolio companies.  However, in the event we do borrow funds to make investments, we are exposed to the risks of leverage, which may be considered a speculative investment technique. Borrowings, also known as leverage, magnify the potential for gain and loss on amounts invested and therefore increase the risks associated with investing in our securities. In addition, the costs associated with our borrowings, including any increase in the management fee payable to our investment adviser will be borne by our common stockholders.

Proxy voting policies and procedures.  We vote proxies relating to our portfolio securities in the best interest of our stockholders. We review on a case-by-case basis each proposal submitted to a stockholder vote to determine its impact on the portfolio securities held by us. Although we generally vote against proposals that may have a negative impact on our portfolio securities, we may vote for such a proposal if there exists compelling long-term reasons to do so.
 
Our proxy voting decisions are made by our investment adviser’s senior investment professionals. To ensure that our vote is not the product of a conflict of interest, we require that: (i) anyone involved in the decision making process disclose to our Chief Compliance Officer any potential conflict that he is aware of and any contact that he has had with any interested party regarding a proxy vote; and (ii) employees involved in the decision making process or vote administration are prohibited from revealing how we intend to vote on a proposal in order to reduce any attempted influence from interested parties.
 
Stockholders may obtain information regarding how we voted proxies with respect to our portfolio securities by making a written request for proxy voting information to: Chief Compliance Officer, Keating Capital, Inc., 5251 DTC Parkway, Suite 1000, Greenwood Village, Colorado 80111.
 
Temporary investments.  Pending investment in other types of “qualifying assets,” as described above, our investments may consist of cash, cash equivalents, certificates of deposit, U.S. government securities or high-quality debt securities maturing in one year or less.

Code of ethics.  We and our investment adviser have each adopted a code of ethics pursuant to Rule 17j-1 under the 1940 Act and Rule 204A-1 under the Advisers Act, respectively, that establishes procedures for personal investments and restricts certain transactions by our personnel. Our codes of ethics generally do not permit investments by our employees in securities that may be purchased or held by us. You may read and copy these codes of ethics at the SEC’s Public Reference Room in Washington, DC. You may obtain information on the operation of the Public Reference Room by calling the SEC at (202) 551-8090. In addition, each code of ethics is available on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.  You may also obtain copies of the codes of ethics, after paying a duplicating fee, by electronic request at the following Email address: publicinfo@sec.gov, or by writing the SEC’s Public Reference Section, 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, DC 20549.  You may also obtain a copy of our code of ethics on our website at www.keatingcapital.com.
 
Compliance policies and procedures. We and our investment adviser have adopted and implemented written policies and procedures reasonably designed to detect and prevent violation of the federal securities laws and are required to review these compliance policies and procedures annually for their adequacy and the effectiveness of their implementation and designate a Chief Compliance Officer to be responsible for administering the policies and procedures. Frederic M. Schweiger serves as our Chief Compliance Officer.

 
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The Sarbanes-Oxley Act.  The Sarbanes-Oxley Act imposes a wide variety of regulatory requirements on publicly-held companies and their insiders. Many of these requirements affect us. For example:
 
 
Pursuant to Rule 13a-14 of the Exchange Act, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer must certify the accuracy of the financial statements contained in our periodic reports;
     
 
Pursuant to Item 307 of Regulation S-K, our periodic reports must disclose our conclusions about the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures;
     
 
Pursuant to Rule 13a-15 of the Exchange Act, our management must prepare an annual report regarding its assessment of our internal controls over financial reporting and, once our public float exceeds $75 million, must obtain an audit of the effectiveness of internal controls over financial reporting performed by our independent registered public accounting firm;
     
 
Pursuant to Item 308 of Regulation S-K and Rule 13a-15 of the Exchange Act, our periodic reports must disclose whether there were significant changes in our internal controls over financial reporting or in other factors that could significantly affect these controls subsequent to the date of their evaluation, including any corrective actions with regard to significant deficiencies and material weaknesses; and
     
 
Pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and Rule 13a-15 of the Exchange Act, we are required to include in our annual report on Form 10-K a report from our management on internal controls over financial reporting, including a statement that our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting as well as our management's assessment of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting.
 
Under the Dodd-Frank Act, publicly reporting companies with a public float below $75 million are now permanently exempt from the requirement to obtain an audit of the effectiveness of internal controls over financial reporting performed by their auditors.  Accordingly, until such time as we have a public float in excess of $75 million, our auditors will not need to report on our management’s assessment of our internal control over financial reporting. However, we will be required to assess the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting each year.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires us to review our current policies and procedures to determine whether we comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the regulations promulgated thereunder.  We will continue to monitor our compliance with all regulations that are adopted under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and will take actions necessary to ensure that we are in compliance therewith.

Privacy principles.  We are committed to maintaining the privacy of our stockholders and to safeguarding their non-public personal information. The following information is provided to help you understand what personal information we collect, how we protect that information and why, in certain cases, we may share information with select other parties.
 
Generally, we do not receive any non-public personal information relating to our stockholders, although certain non-public personal information of our stockholders may become available to us. We do not disclose any non-public personal information about our stockholders or former stockholders to anyone, except as permitted by law or as is necessary in order to service stockholder accounts (for example, to a transfer agent or third party administrator).
 
We restrict access to non-public personal information about our stockholders to employees of our investment adviser and its affiliates with a legitimate business need for the information. We will maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards designed to protect the non-public personal information of our stockholders.

Other.  We may also be prohibited under the 1940 Act from knowingly participating in certain transactions with our affiliates without the prior approval of our Board of Directors who are not interested persons and, in some cases, prior approval by the SEC.
 
We expect to be periodically examined by the SEC for compliance with the 1940 Act.
 
We are required to provide and maintain a bond issued by a reputable fidelity insurance company to protect us against larceny and embezzlement. Furthermore, as a business development company, we are prohibited from protecting any director or officer against any liability to us or our stockholders arising from willful misfeasance, bad faith, gross negligence or reckless disregard of the duties involved in the conduct of such person’s office.

 
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Available Information

We are required to file with or submit to the SEC annual, quarterly and current reports, proxy statements and other information meeting the informational requirements of the Exchange Act. You may inspect and copy these reports, proxy statements and other information, as well as related exhibits and schedules, at the Public Reference Room of the SEC at 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, DC 20549. You may obtain information on the operation of the Public Reference Room by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. The SEC maintains an Internet site that contains reports, proxy and information statements and other information filed electronically by us with the SEC, which are available on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Copies of these reports, proxy and information statements and other information may be obtained, after paying a duplicating fee, by electronic request at the following e-mail address: publicinfo@sec.gov, or by writing the SEC’s Public Reference Section, 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, DC 20549.

You may also obtain a copy of these reports, proxy and information statements and other information on our website at www.keatingcapital.com. We make available free of charge on our website these reports, proxy and information statements and other information as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the SEC. Information contained on our website is not incorporated by reference into this annual report on Form 10-K and you should not consider information contained on our website to be part of this annual report on Form 10-K.


 
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Risk Factors
 
An investment in our securities involves certain risks relating to our structure and investment objective. The risks set forth below are not the only risks we face, and we may face other risks that we have not yet identified, which we do not currently deem material or which are not yet predictable. If any of the following risks occur, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected. In such case, our net asset value and the price of our common stock could decline, and you may lose all or part of your investment.
 
Risks Relating to Our Business and Structure
 
We are a new company with a limited operating history and are subject to the business risks and uncertainties associated with any new business, including the risk that we will not achieve our investment objective.
 
We were initially formed in May 2008. As a result, we have limited financial information on which you can evaluate an investment in our company or our prior performance. We are subject to all of the business risks and uncertainties associated with any new business, including the risk that we will not achieve our investment objective and that the value of your investment could decline substantially or become worthless. Although we anticipate that it may take an additional 12 to 24 months to invest substantially all of the proceeds from our continuous public offering in our targeted investments, because of our relatively small size and limited operating history, we may be unable to identify and fund investments that meet our criteria.
 
Until we are able to invest such net proceeds in suitable investments, we will invest in temporary investments, such as cash, cash equivalents, certificates of deposit, U.S. government securities and other high-quality debt investments that mature in one year or less, which we expect will earn only nominal yields.  Since we do not expect to generate significant interest or dividend income on our portfolio company investments, our ability to make distributions in our initial years of operation will be based on our ability to invest our capital in suitable portfolio companies in a timely manner and to sell our interests in these portfolio companies at a gain after they become public.  Further, the base management fee payable to our investment adviser, Keating Investments, will not be reduced while our assets are invested in such temporary investments.  
    
 We are dependent upon key management personnel of Keating Investments, our investment adviser, for our future success, particularly Timothy J. Keating, Ranjit P. Mankekar, Kyle L. Rogers and Frederic M. Schweiger. If we lose any member of Keating Investments’ senior management team, our ability to implement our business strategy could be significantly harmed.
 
We depend on the experience, diligence, skill and network of business contacts of our investment adviser’s senior investment professionals. The senior investment professionals, together with other investment professionals that Keating Investments currently retains or may subsequently retain, will identify, evaluate, negotiate, structure, close, monitor and service our investments. Our future success will depend to a significant extent on the continued service and coordination of Keating Investments’ senior investment professionals, Timothy J. Keating, who is also the Chairman of our Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer, Ranjit P. Mankekar, who is also our Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and a member of our Board of Directors, Kyle L. Rogers, who is also our Chief Investment Officer and Frederic M. Schweiger, who is also our Chief Operating Officer, Chief Compliance Officer and Secretary.  The departure of any of these senior investment professionals could have a material adverse effect on our ability to achieve our investment objective. None of Messrs. Keating, Mankekar, Rogers and Schweiger is subject to an employment contract.  We do not carry key-man life insurance on the lives of Messrs. Keating, Mankekar, Rogers or Schweiger.
 
The amount of any distributions we may make is uncertain. Our distribution proceeds may exceed our net ordinary income and realized net capital gains, particularly during the period before we have substantially invested the net proceeds from our continuous public offering or realized any net capital gains from the disposition of our investments, and thus portions of the distributions that we make may represent a return of capital. We may not be able to pay you distributions, and our distributions may not grow over time.

Distributions to stockholders will be payable only when and as declared by our Board of Directors and will be paid out of assets legally available for distribution. We cannot assure you that we will achieve investment results that will allow us to make a targeted level of cash distributions or year-to-year increases in cash distributions. Our ability to pay distributions might be adversely affected by, among other things, the impact of one or more of the risk factors described in this annual report on Form 10-K. All distributions will be paid at the discretion of our Board of Directors and will depend on our net ordinary income and realized net capital gains, our financial condition, maintenance of our RIC status, compliance with applicable business development company regulations and such other factors as our Board of Directors may deem relevant from time to time. Distributions may also be paid during the year that exceed our net ordinary income and realized net capital gains and thus would constitute a return of your capital. We cannot assure you that we will pay distributions to our stockholders in the future. In the event that we encounter delays in locating suitable investment opportunities or in selling our portfolio investments, we may pay all or a substantial portion of our distributions from the proceeds of our continuous public offering in anticipation of future cash flow, which may constitute a return of your capital and will lower your tax basis in our shares.  Distributions from the proceeds of our continuous public offering also could reduce the amount of capital we ultimately invest in portfolio companies. Until we are able to pay distributions from net capital gains realized from the sale of our investments, and we can give no assurance as to when we will begin to realize any net capital gains from the sale of our portfolio company investments, if ever, we may pay distributions that represent a return of capital to you; however, we will not make any distributions representing a return of capital which would result in a total return of capital in excess of 10% of our total offering proceeds (i.e., the total gross proceeds received from the sale of our common stock).

 
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Our investment adviser and its management have no prior experience managing a business development company.
 
The 1940 Act imposes numerous constraints on the operations of business development companies. For example, business development companies are required to invest at least 70% of their total assets primarily in securities of eligible portfolio companies, cash, cash equivalents, U.S. government securities and other high quality debt investments that mature in one year or less. These constraints may hinder our investment adviser’s ability to take advantage of attractive investment opportunities and to achieve our investment objective. In addition, the senior investment professionals of Keating Investments have no prior experience managing a business development company, and the investment philosophy and techniques used by Keating Investments may differ from those private investments in smaller public companies with which Keating Investments’ senior investment professionals have experience. Accordingly, we can offer no assurance that we will replicate the historical performance of other companies with which Keating Investments’ senior investment professionals have been affiliated, and we caution you that our investment returns could be substantially lower than the returns achieved by such other companies.

Our business model depends upon the development and maintenance of strong referral relationships with investment banking firms, professional services firms and private equity and venture capital funds.
 
If we fail to maintain our relationships with key firms, or if we fail to establish strong referral relationships with other firms or other sources of investment opportunities, we will not be able to grow our portfolio and achieve our investment objective. In addition, persons with whom we have informal relationships are not obligated to inform us of investment opportunities and therefore such relationships may not lead to the origination of portfolio company investments.

Regulations governing our operation as a business development company affect our ability to, and the way in which we raise additional capital. As a business development company, the necessity of raising additional capital may expose us to risks and may result in dilution to our current stockholders.
 
We are not generally able to issue and sell our common stock at a price below net asset value per share. We may, however, sell our common stock, or warrants, options or rights to acquire our common stock, at a price below the then-current net asset value per share of our common stock if our Board of Directors determines that such sale is in the best interests of us and our stockholders, and our stockholders approve such sale. In any such case, the price at which our securities are to be issued and sold may not be less than a price that, in the determination of our Board of Directors, closely approximates the market value of such securities (less any distributing commission or discount). If we raise additional funds by issuing more common stock or senior securities convertible into, or exchangeable for, our common stock, then the percentage ownership of our stockholders at that time will decrease, and you might experience dilution.

We may in the future issue debt securities or preferred stock and/or borrow money from banks or other financial institutions, which we refer to collectively as “senior securities,” up to the maximum amount permitted by the 1940 Act. Under the provisions of the 1940 Act, we will be permitted, as a business development company, to issue senior securities in amounts such that our asset coverage ratio, as defined in the 1940 Act, equals at least 200% of gross assets less all liabilities and indebtedness not represented by senior securities, after each issuance of senior securities. If the value of our assets declines, we may be unable to satisfy this test. If that happens, we may be required to sell a portion of our investments and, depending on the nature of our leverage, repay a portion of our indebtedness at a time when such sales may be disadvantageous. Also, any amounts that we use to service our indebtedness would not be available for distributions to our common stockholders. Furthermore, as a result of issuing senior securities, we would also be exposed to typical risks associated with leverage, including an increased risk of loss. If we issue preferred stock, the preferred stock would rank “senior” to common stock in our capital structure, preferred stockholders would have separate voting rights and might have rights, preferences, or privileges more favorable than those of our common stockholders, and the issuance of preferred stock could have the effect of delaying, deferring, or preventing a transaction or a change of control that might involve a premium price for holders of our common stock or otherwise be in your best interest.
 
 
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Any failure on our part to maintain our status as a business development company would reduce our operating flexibility.
 
Upon approval of a majority of our stockholders, we may elect to withdraw our status as a business development company. If we decide to withdraw our election, or if we otherwise fail to qualify as a business development company, we may be subject to the substantially greater regulation under the 1940 Act as a closed-end investment company. Compliance with such regulations would significantly increase our costs of doing business and correspondingly decrease our operating flexibility.
 
Our ability to grow will depend on our ability to raise capital.
 
We will need to access the capital markets to raise cash to fund new investments. Unfavorable economic conditions could increase our funding costs, limit our access to the capital markets or result in a decision by lenders not to extend credit to us. An inability to successfully access the capital markets could limit our ability to grow our business and fully execute our business strategy and could decrease our earnings, if any.

In the event we borrow money, the potential for loss on amounts invested would be magnified and may increase the risk of investing in us.
 
The use of leverage magnifies the potential for loss on amounts invested and, therefore, increases the risks associated with investing in our securities.  We may borrow from and issue senior debt securities to banks, insurance companies, and other lenders. Lenders of these senior securities will have fixed dollar claims on our assets that are superior to the claims of our common stockholders and we would expect such lenders to seek recovery against our assets in the event of a default. If the value of our assets decreases, leveraging would cause net asset value to decline more sharply than it otherwise would have had we not leveraged. Similarly, any decrease in our income would cause net income to decline more sharply than it would have had we not borrowed. Such a decline could negatively affect our ability to make distributions to our stockholders. Leverage is generally considered a speculative investment technique. Our ability to service any debt that we incur will depend largely on our financial performance and will be subject to prevailing economic conditions and competitive pressures. Moreover, as the management fee payable to our investment adviser, Keating Investments, will be payable based on our gross assets, including those assets acquired through the use of leverage, Keating Investments will have a financial incentive to incur leverage which may not be consistent with our stockholders’ interests. In addition, our common stockholders will bear the burden of any increase in our expenses as a result of leverage, including any increase in the management fee payable to Keating Investments.
 
As a business development company, we generally are required to meet a coverage ratio of total assets to total borrowings and other senior securities, which include all of our borrowings and any preferred stock that we may issue in the future, of at least 200%. If this ratio declines below 200%, we may not be able to incur additional debt and could be required by law to sell a portion of our investments to repay some debt when it is disadvantageous to do so, which could have a material adverse effect on our operations, and we may not be able to make distributions. The amount of leverage that we employ will depend on our investment adviser’s and our Board of Directors’ assessment of market and other factors at the time of any proposed borrowing. We cannot assure you that we will be able to obtain credit at all or on terms acceptable to us.  Any borrowings by us will require the approval of our Board of Directors.
 
In addition, any debt facility into which we may enter would likely impose financial and operating covenants that restrict our business activities, including limitations that would hinder our ability to finance additional loans and investments or to make the distributions required to maintain RIC status under Subchapter M of the Code.
 
Our financial condition and results of operations will depend on our ability to manage our future growth effectively.
 
Although Keating Investments has been an investment adviser registered under the Advisors Act since 2001, it has no prior experience in managing a business development company.  Further, as discussed above, we are a recently organized company with a limited operating history. As such, we and our investment adviser are subject to the business risks and uncertainties associated with any new business enterprise, including the lack of experience in managing or operating a business development company. Our ability to achieve our investment objective will depend on our ability to grow, which will depend, in turn, on our investment adviser’s ability to identify, analyze, invest in and finance companies that meet our investment criteria.
 
Although we anticipate that it may take an additional 12 to 24 months to invest substantially all of the net proceeds from our continuous public offering in our targeted investments, because of our relatively small size and limited operating history, we may be unable to identify and fund investments that meet our criteria.  Until we are able to invest such net proceeds in suitable investments, we will invest in temporary investments, such as cash, cash equivalents, certificates of deposit, U.S. government securities and other high-quality debt investments that mature in one year or less, which we expect will earn only nominal yields.  Since we do not expect to generate significant interest or dividend income on our portfolio company investments, our ability to make distributions in our initial years of operation will be based on our ability to invest our capital in suitable portfolio companies in a timely manner and to sell our interests in these portfolio companies at a gain after they become public.  
 
 
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Accomplishing this result on a cost-effective basis is largely a function of our investment adviser’s proper structuring and implementation of the investment process, its ability to identify and evaluate companies that meet our investment criteria, its ability to provide competent, attentive and efficient services to us, and our access to financing on acceptable terms. The senior investment professionals of Keating Investments have substantial responsibilities under the Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement. These demands on their time may distract them or slow the rate of investment. In order to grow, we and our investment adviser may need to hire, train, supervise and manage new employees. Failure to manage our future growth effectively could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We operate in a highly competitive market for investment opportunities.
 
We compete for investments with a number of business development companies and other investment funds (including private equity funds and venture capital funds), reverse merger and special purpose acquisition company (“SPACs”) sponsors, investment bankers which underwrite initial public offerings, hedge funds that invest in private investments in public equity (“PIPE”), traditional financial services companies such as commercial banks, and other sources of financing.  Many of our competitors are substantially larger than us and have considerably greater financial, technical and marketing resources than we do. For example, some competitors may have a lower cost of funds and access to funding sources that are not available to us. In addition, some of our competitors may have higher risk tolerances or different risk assessments, which could allow them to consider a wider variety of investments and establish more relationships than we can. Furthermore, many of our competitors are not subject to the regulatory restrictions that the 1940 Act imposes on us as a business development company and, as a result, such companies may be more successful in completing their investments. There can be no assurance that the competitive pressures we face will not have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations. Also, as a result of this competition, we may not be able to take advantage of attractive investment opportunities from time to time, and we can offer no assurance that we will be able to identify and make investments that are consistent with our investment objective.

A significant portion of our investment portfolio will not have a readily determinable market value and will be recorded at fair value as determined in good faith by our Board of Directors and, as a result, there is and will be uncertainty as to the value of our portfolio investments.
 
Under the 1940 Act, we are required to carry our portfolio investments at market value or, if there is no readily available market value, at fair value as determined by our Board of Directors and in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. Typically, there is not a public market for the securities of the privately held companies in which we intend to invest. As a result, we will value these securities quarterly at fair value as determined in good faith by our Board of Directors.
 
Certain factors that may be considered in determining the fair value of our investments include the nature and realizable value of any collateral, the portfolio company’s earnings and its ability to make payments on its indebtedness, the markets in which the portfolio company does business, comparison to comparable publicly-traded companies and transactions, discounted cash flow and other relevant factors. Because such valuations, and particularly valuations of private securities and private companies, are inherently uncertain, may fluctuate over short periods of time and may be based on estimates, our determinations of fair value may differ materially from the values that would have been used if a ready market for these securities existed. Due to this uncertainty, our fair value determinations may cause our net asset value on a given date to materially understate or overstate the value that we may ultimately realize upon the sale of one or more of our investments.
 
Even in the event the value of your investment declines, the base management fee and, in certain circumstances, the incentive fee will still be payable.
 
The annual base management fee is calculated as 2.0% of the value of our gross assets at a specific time. Accordingly, the management fee is payable regardless of whether the value of our gross assets and/or your investment has decreased. Moreover, the incentive fee payable to our investment adviser is calculated annually based upon our realized capital gains, computed net of realized capital losses and unrealized capital depreciation on a cumulative basis. As a result, we may owe our investment adviser an incentive fee during one year as a result of realized capital gains on certain investments, and then later incur significant realized capital losses and unrealized capital depreciation on the remaining investments in our portfolio during subsequent years.
 
 
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We will remain subject to corporate-level income tax if we are unable to qualify as a regulated investment company under Subchapter M of the Code.
 
Although we have satisfied the requirements to qualify as a RIC during 2010 and will elect to be treated as a RIC under Subchapter M of the Code for our 2010 taxable year, no assurance can be given that we will be able to continue to qualify for and maintain RIC status in future years.

To maintain RIC tax treatment under the Code, we must meet the following annual distribution, income source and asset diversification requirements.
 
 
The annual distribution requirement for a RIC will be satisfied if we distribute to our stockholders on an annual basis at least 90% of our investment company taxable income (which is generally our net ordinary income plus the excess, if any, of realized net short-term capital gains over realized net long-term capital losses)(the “Annual Distribution Requirement”). Since we will not use debt financing, we will not be able to borrow money to make distributions necessary to satisfy the Annual Distribution Requirement and, as a result, we could fail to qualify for RIC tax treatment and thus become subject to corporate-level income tax.
     
 
The income source requirement will be satisfied if we obtain at least 90% of our income for each year from dividends, interest, gains from the sale of stock or securities or similar sources.
     
 
The asset diversification requirement will be satisfied if we meet certain asset diversification requirements at the end of each quarter of our taxable year. Failure to meet those requirements may result in our having to dispose of certain investments quickly in order to prevent the loss of RIC status. Because most of our investments will be in private companies or in public companies whose securities may not trade actively in the secondary markets, and therefore will be relatively illiquid, any such dispositions could be made at disadvantageous prices and could result in substantial losses. Although we currently do not intend to borrow money, we are allowed to use debt financing to raise cash to meet the diversification requirements at the end of any quarter.
 
If we fail to qualify for RIC tax treatment for any reason and remain or become subject to corporate income tax, the resulting corporate taxes could substantially reduce our net assets, the amount of income available for distribution, and the amount of our distributions.
 
We may in the future decide to retain some or all of our realized net capital gains, including amounts we intend to retain to pay incentive fees to our investment adviser, which may result in a deemed distribution to our stockholders.

Although we currently intend to distribute the amount of any realized net capital gains, reduced by any incentive fees payable to our investment adviser, to our stockholders at least annually, we may in the future decide to retain some or all of our realized net capital gains. In the event we retain some or all of our realized net capital gains, including amounts we intend to retain to pay incentive fees to our investment adviser, we will likely designate the retained amount as a deemed distribution to stockholders. In such case, among other consequences, we will pay corporate-level tax on the retained amount, each U.S. stockholder will be required to include its share of the deemed distribution in income as if it had been actually distributed to the U.S. stockholder, and the U.S. stockholder will be entitled to claim a credit or refund equal to its allocable share of the corporate-level tax we pay on the retained realized net capital gains.

 There is a risk that you may not receive distributions or that our distributions may not grow over time.  
 
Distributions to stockholders will be payable only when and as declared by our Board of Directors and will be paid out of assets legally available for distribution. On February 11, 2011, our Board of Directors declared a special cash distribution of $0.13 cents per share.  The distribution was paid on February 17, 2011 to our stockholders of record as of February 15, 2011.  As of the record date, there were 3,437,212 shares of common stock outstanding resulting in a cash distribution totaling approximately $446,837. This special cash distribution was paid based on the unrealized appreciation we had recorded on our NeoPhotonics investment and, as such, will be initially treated as a return of capital to our stockholders.  However, in the event we are able to sell all or a portion of our NeoPhotonics common shares at a gain during 2011 after the expiration of our six-month lock-up period, all or a portion of this special distribution may be reclassified at year end as a capital gain distribution to our stockholders.  We provide no assurance that we will be able to sell all or any portion of our NeoPhotonics common shares during 2011 and, even if such shares are sold, there is no assurance that we will be able to realize a gain on such sale.
 
 
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While we paid a $0.13 per share cash distribution to our stockholders on February 17, 2011 based on the unrealized appreciation we had recorded on our NeoPhotonics investment, which will be initially treated as a return of capital to our stockholders, we may not be able to pay any future distributions unless we are able to generate net capital gains realized from the sale of our portfolio company investments. We cannot assure you that we will achieve investment results or maintain a tax status that will allow or require any specified level of cash distributions or year-to-year increases in cash distributions.  While we may receive investment income in the form of interest and dividends from our portfolio company investments prior to conversion, such investment income is not expected to be significant and is not likely to exceed our operating expenses, in which case we do not expect to generate net ordinary income which would be available for distribution to our stockholders in the near future.  As a result, we expect that our primary source of distributions will be from net capital gains realized from the sale of our portfolio company investments.  The timing of any capital gains generated from the appreciation and sale of portfolio companies cannot be predicted, and we do not expect to generate capital gains on a level or uniform basis from quarter to quarter.   This may result in substantial fluctuations in our distributions to our stockholders.
 
We do not anticipate generating net ordinary income to distribute to our stockholders in the near future, and if we do make distributions, they will likely be paid from our realized net capital gains or may represent a return of capital. 

Our primary emphasis is to attempt to generate capital gains from the sale of our investments in micro-cap and small-cap companies.  While a portion of our investments may, at any given time, include a component of interest or dividends, we do not expect to generate significant current yield on our portfolio company investments.  To date, none of our portfolio company investments have generated, nor are they expected to generate, interest or dividend income.  Additionally, any investment income we may receive in the form of interest and dividends from our portfolio company investments prior to conversion is not likely to exceed our operating expenses, in which case we do not expect to generate net ordinary income which would be available for distribution to our stockholders.  We do not expect that our interest and dividend income from portfolio company investments would be sufficient to generate net ordinary income.  However, if we are able to generate net ordinary income, we intend to distribute such net ordinary income to stockholders.

Because we do not expect to generate net ordinary income, we expect that our primary source of distributions will be from net capital gains realized from the sale of our portfolio company investments.  The timing of any capital gains generated from the appreciation and sale of portfolio companies cannot be predicted, and we do not expect to generate capital gains on a level or uniform basis from quarter to quarter.  Distributions from realized net capital gains will typically be declared and paid at least annually. However, we may declare and pay periodic distributions which, in the aggregate, would be an estimate of the total net capital gains expected to be realized throughout the year.  During the pendency of our continuous public offering, we may also declare and pay periodic distributions in an amount reflecting all or a portion of any net unrealized appreciation on investments recorded on our books which, depending on the timing and amount of actual realization, may represent a return of capital.

Our distributions may exceed our net ordinary income and realized net capital gains and thus represent a return of capital, particularly during the period before we have substantially invested the net proceeds from our continuous public offering or realized any net capital gains from the disposition of our portfolio company investments.  We can give no assurance as to when we will begin to realize any net capital gains from the sale of our assets, if ever.  Distributions that represent a return of capital may lower your tax basis in our shares, or may be treated as a gain from the sale of such shares to the extent that such distributions exceed the basis in such shares, and reduce the amount of funds we have for investment in targeted assets. Distributions representing a return of capital will not reduce the number of shares of common stock that you own in us.  We will not make any distributions representing a return of capital which would result in a total return of capital in excess of 10% of our total offering proceeds (i.e., the total gross proceeds received from the sale of our common stock).

We may have difficulty paying our required distributions if we recognize income before or without receiving cash representing such income.
 
Because in certain cases we may recognize income before or without receiving cash representing such income, we may have difficulty satisfying the annual distribution requirement applicable to RICs. For example, we will include in income certain amounts that we have not yet received in cash, such as original issue discount, which may arise if we receive warrants in connection with the making of a loan or possibly in other circumstances, or contracted payment-in-kind (“PIK”) interest, which represents contractual interest added to the loan balance and due at the end of the loan term.   Accordingly, we may have to sell some of our investments at times we would not consider advantageous, raise additional debt or equity capital or reduce new investments to meet these distribution requirements. If we are not able to obtain cash from other sources, we may fail to qualify for RIC tax treatment and thus be subject to corporate-level income tax.

 
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Our quarterly and annual operating results will be subject to fluctuation as a result of the nature of our business, and if we fail to achieve our investment objective, the net asset value of our common stock may decline.
 
We could experience fluctuations in our quarterly and annual operating results due to a number of factors, some of which are beyond our control, including the interest rates and dividend rates payable on our debt securities and preferred stock investments, respectively, the default rate on any such securities, the level of our expenses, variations in and the timing of the recognition of realized and unrealized gains or losses, the degree to which we encounter competition in our markets and general economic conditions. As a result of these factors, results for any period should not be relied upon as being indicative of performance in future periods.  In addition, negative economic conditions may cause such default rates to be greater than they otherwise would be during a period of economic growth.
 
The primary source of our distributions will be from net capital gains realized from the sale of our portfolio company investments, the timing of which we cannot predict and, as a result, we will likely have substantial fluctuations in our distributions from quarter to quarter.
 
We intend to invest principally in equity securities, including convertible preferred securities and debt securities convertible into equity securities, of primarily micro-cap and small-cap companies. Our primary emphasis will be to generate capital gains through the sale of our equity investments in such micro-cap and small-cap companies, which we expect to become public reporting companies with their securities being quoted on either a junior exchange or senior exchange.  We do not expect the securities in our publicly traded portfolio companies quoted on a junior exchange to initially have an active secondary trading market and, as such, these securities will be illiquid until an active market develops. We believe that typically this liquidity will develop in conjunction with an upgrade to a senior exchange listing, which may not occur until 12 to 18 months after our investment is made, if at all.  However, there can be no assurance that our portfolio companies will obtain either a junior exchange or senior exchange listing or, even if a listing is obtained, that an active trading market will ever develop in the securities of our publicly traded portfolio companies.
 
Even if our portfolio companies are successful in becoming publicly traded companies, there is no assurance that they will be able to achieve their projected revenue and earnings targets or effectively maintain their status as public reporting companies.  In such case, there may be little or no demand for the securities of our portfolio companies in the public markets, we may have difficulty disposing of our investments, and the value of our investments may decline substantially.
 
Since our distributions are expected to be paid principally from net capital gains realized from the sale of our portfolio investments, we do not expect to be able to pay distributions on a level or uniform basis from quarter-to-quarter.  Distributions from realized net capital gains will typically be declared and paid at least annually. We may have substantial fluctuations in our distribution payments to stockholders, since we expect to have an average holding period for our portfolio company investments of one to three years and we may not generate any realized net capital gains during our initial years of operations.  Our ability to pay distributions in our initial years of operation will be based on our ability to invest our capital in suitable portfolio companies in a timely manner.

However, we may declare and pay periodic distributions which, in the aggregate, would be an estimate of the total net capital gains expected to be realized throughout the year.  During the pendency of our continuous public offering, we may also declare and pay periodic distributions in an amount reflecting all or a portion of any net unrealized appreciation on investments recorded on our books which, depending on the timing and amount of actual realization, may represent a return of capital.

Our distributions may exceed our net ordinary income and realized net capital gains and thus represent a return of capital, particularly during the period before we have substantially invested the net proceeds from our continuous public offering or realized any net capital gains from the disposition of our portfolio company investments.  We can give no assurance as to when we will begin to realize any net capital gains from the sale of our assets, if ever.  Distributions representing a return of capital will not reduce the number of shares of common stock that you own in us.  We will not make any distributions representing a return of capital which would result in a total return of capital in excess of 10% of our total offering proceeds (i.e., the total gross proceeds received from the sale of our common stock).

There are significant potential conflicts of interest which could impact our investment returns.
 
Our executive officers and directors, and any that may be retained in the future, and the current and future members and senior investment professionals of our investment adviser, may serve as officers, directors or principals of entities that operate in the same or a related line of business as we do or of investment funds managed by our investment adviser or its affiliates that may be formed in the future. Accordingly, if this occurs, it may give rise to certain conflicts of interest in evaluating the suitability of investment opportunities of ours and the allocation of investment opportunities between us and other investment funds managed by Keating Investments and its affiliates.  Additionally, our officers, directors, and the members and senior investment professionals of Keating Investments may have obligations to investors in those other investment funds, the fulfillment of which might not be in the best interests of us or our stockholders.  There can be no assurance that we will be able to resolve all conflicts of interest in our favor, and conflicts of interest may arise that can be resolved only through the exercise by our management and our independent directors of their best business judgment as may be consistent with their fiduciary duties.  We expect that our management and our independent directors will attempt to resolve conflicts in a fair and equitable manner taking into account factors that would include the investment objective, amount of assets under management and available for investment in new portfolio companies, portfolio composition and return expectations of us and any other entity, and other factors deemed appropriate.
 
 
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In the course of our investing activities, we will pay investment advisory and incentive fees to Keating Investments, as our investment adviser, and will reimburse Keating Investments for certain expenses it incurs. As a result, investors in our common stock will invest on a “gross” basis (after deduction of applicable sales loads) and receive distributions on a “net” basis after expenses, resulting in a lower rate of return than an investor might achieve through direct investments. Accordingly, there may be times when the senior investment professionals of Keating Investments have interests that differ from those of our stockholders, giving rise to a conflict.

Currently, our investment adviser’s senior investment professionals, Messrs. Keating, Mankekar, Rogers and Schweiger, and the other investment professionals currently retained by Keating Investments, do not serve as principals of other investment funds affiliated with Keating Investments; however, they may do so in the future.  If they do, persons and entities may in the future manage investment funds with investment objectives similar to ours. Accordingly, we may not be given the opportunity to participate in certain investments made by investment funds managed by advisers affiliated with Keating Investments.  In addition, Keating Investments’ investment professionals may, in the future, devote a substantial portion of their time to the business and affairs of other investment funds managed by Keating Investments and its affiliates.  In such event, we intend to have our independent directors review our investment adviser’s performance periodically, but not less than annually, to assure that Keating Investments is fulfilling its obligations to us under the Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement and that any conflicts are handled in a fair and equitable manner.
 
In connection with the consummation of our initial private placement, we entered into a license agreement with our investment adviser, pursuant to which our investment adviser granted us a non-exclusive license to use the name “Keating.” Under the license agreement, we have the right to use the “Keating” name and logo for so long as Keating Investments or one of its affiliates remains our investment adviser. In addition, we pay Keating Investments, our allocable portion of overhead and other expenses incurred by Keating Investments in performing its obligations under the Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement, including our allocable portion of the cost of our Chief Financial Officer and Chief Compliance Officer and their respective staff. These arrangements may create conflicts of interest that our Board of Directors must monitor.
 
Our Board of Directors may be authorized to reclassify any unissued shares of common stock into one or more classes of preferred stock, which could convey special rights and privileges to its owners.
 
Under Maryland General Corporation Law, our Board of Directors is permitted to reclassify any authorized but unissued shares of common stock into one or more classes of preferred stock. If the Board of Directors undertakes such a reclassification, it is required to file Articles of Incorporation Supplementary, which include, among other things, a description of the stock and a statement that the stock has been reclassified by the Board of Directors under authority contained in the charter. The Board of Directors is not required to make a specific finding prior to approving a reclassification, though we would generally expect the Board of Directors to determine, at a minimum, that any reclassification was in our best interests. In the event that our Board of Directors opts to reclassify a portion of our unissued shares of common stock into a class of preferred stock, those preferred shares would have a preference over our common stock with respect to dividends and liquidation, which would reduce the amount distributable to our common stockholders. The cost of any such reclassification would be borne by our existing common stockholders. The class voting rights of any preferred shares we may issue could make it more difficult for us to take some actions that may, in the future, be proposed by the Board of Directors and/or the holders of our common stock, such as a merger, exchange of securities, liquidation, or alteration of the rights of a class of our securities, if these actions were perceived by the holders of preferred shares as not in their best interests. The issuance of preferred shares convertible into shares of common stock might also reduce the net income and net asset value per share of our common stock upon conversion. These effects, among others, could have an adverse effect on your investment in our common stock.
 
 
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Our Board of Directors may change our investment objective, operating policies and strategies without prior notice or stockholder approval.
 
Our Board of Directors has the authority to modify or waive certain of our operating policies and strategies without prior notice (except as required by the 1940 Act) and without stockholder approval. However, absent stockholder approval, we may not change the nature of our business so as to cease to be, or withdraw our election as, a business development company.  We cannot predict the effect any changes to our current operating policies and strategies would have on our business, operating results and value of our stock. Nevertheless, the effects may adversely affect our business and impact our ability to make distributions.
 
Keating Investments and its affiliates, including our officers and some of our directors, will face conflicts of interest caused by compensation arrangements with us and our affiliates, which could result in actions that are not in the best interests of our stockholders.

Keating Investments and its affiliates will receive substantial fees from us in return for their services, and these fees could influence the advice provided to us. Among other matters, the compensation arrangements could affect their judgment with respect to public offerings of equity by us, which allow the dealer manager to earn additional dealer manager fees and Keating Investments to earn increased asset management fees.

Changes in laws or regulations governing our operations may adversely affect our business.

We are, and our portfolio companies will be, subject to regulation by laws at the local, state and federal levels. These laws and regulations, as well as their interpretation, may be changed from time to time. Any change in these laws or regulations could have a material adverse effect on our business.
 
Changes to the laws and regulations governing our operations relating to permitted investments may cause us to alter our investment strategy in order to avail ourselves of new or different opportunities. If legislation is enacted, new rules are adopted, or existing rules are materially amended, we may change our investment strategy. Such changes could result in material differences to the strategies and plans set forth in this annual report on Form 10-K and may result in our investment focus shifting.

Provisions of the Maryland General Corporation Law and of our charter and bylaws could deter takeover attempts and have an adverse impact on the price of our common stock.
 
The Maryland General Corporation Law, our charter and our bylaws contain provisions that may discourage, delay or make more difficult a change in control of us or the removal of our directors. Our Board of Directors has adopted a resolution exempting from the Business Combination Act any business combination between us and any other person, subject to prior approval of such business combination by our Board of Directors, including approval by a majority of our disinterested directors. If the resolution exempting business combinations is repealed or our Board of Directors does not approve a business combination, the Business Combination Act may discourage third parties from trying to acquire control of us and increase the difficulty of consummating such an offer. Our bylaws exempt from the Maryland Control Share Acquisition Act acquisitions of our stock by any person. If we amend our bylaws to repeal the exemption from the Control Share Acquisition Act, the Control Share Acquisition Act also may make it more difficult for a third party to obtain control of us and increase the difficulty of consummating such a transaction.
 
We have also adopted measures that may make it difficult for a third party to obtain control of us, including provisions of our charter authorizing our Board of Directors to classify or reclassify shares of our stock in one or more classes or series, to cause the issuance of additional shares of our stock, and to amend our charter, without stockholder approval, to increase or decrease the number of shares of stock that we have authority to issue. These provisions, as well as other provisions of our charter and bylaws, may delay, defer or prevent a transaction or a change in control that might otherwise be in the best interests of our stockholders.

Our investment adviser can resign on 120 days’ notice and we may not be able to find a suitable replacement within that time, resulting in a disruption in our operations that could adversely affect our financial condition, business and results of operations.
 
Our investment adviser, Keating Investments, has the right, under our current Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement, to resign at any time upon not less than 120 days’ written notice, whether we have found a replacement or not. If our investment adviser resigns, we may not be able to find a new investment adviser or hire internal management with similar expertise and ability to provide the same or equivalent services on acceptable terms within 120 days, or at all. If we are unable to do so quickly, our operations are likely to experience a disruption, our financial condition, business and results of operations as well as our ability to pay distributions are likely to be adversely affected and the market price of our shares may decline. In addition, the coordination of our internal management and investment activities is likely to suffer if we are unable to identify and reach an agreement with a single institution or group of executives having the expertise possessed by our investment adviser and its affiliates. Even if we are able to retain comparable management, whether internal or external, the integration of such management and their lack of familiarity with our investment objective may result in additional costs and time delays that may adversely affect our financial condition, business and results of operations.

 
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Our Board of Directors (including the independent directors) is expected to consider the renewal of our Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement with Keating Investments for an additional year at its meeting scheduled for March 2011. If for any reason our independent directors elect not to renew our Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement by May 14, 2011, we may not be able to find a new investment adviser or hire internal management with similar expertise.  

To the extent that we do not realize net ordinary income or choose to distribute any realized net capital gains, we will have a greater need for additional capital to fund our investments and operating expenses.
 
As a RIC, we must annually distribute at least 90 percent of our investment company taxable income as a dividend and may either distribute or retain our realized net capital gains from investments. As a result, these earnings may not be available to fund investments or to pay operating expenses. If we fail to generate realized net capital gains or to obtain additional funds, it would have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations as well as our ability to make follow-on and new investments. Because of the structure and objectives of our business, and since we typically do not receive significant interest and preferred dividends on our portfolio company investments, we expect to incur operating losses and will need to rely on proceeds from sales of investments, rather than on interest and dividend income, to pay our operating expenses. There is no assurance that we will be able to sell our investments and thereby fund our operating expenses.

Our ability to enter into transactions with our affiliates is restricted.
 
We are prohibited under the 1940 Act from participating in certain transactions with certain of our affiliates without the prior approval of a majority of the independent members of our Board of Directors and, in some cases, the SEC. Any person that owns, directly or indirectly, 5% or more of our outstanding voting securities will be our affiliate for purposes of the 1940 Act and we will generally be prohibited from buying or selling any securities from or to such affiliate, absent the prior approval of our Board of Directors. The 1940 Act also prohibits certain “joint” transactions with certain of our affiliates, which could include investments in the same portfolio company (whether at the same or different times), without prior approval of our Board of Directors and, in some cases, the SEC. If a person acquires more than 25% of our voting securities, we will be prohibited from buying or selling any security from or to such person or certain of that person’s affiliates, or entering into prohibited joint transactions with such persons, absent the prior approval of the SEC. Similar restrictions limit our ability to transact business with our officers or directors or their affiliates. As a result of these restrictions, we may be prohibited from buying or selling any security from or to any portfolio company of a private equity fund managed by Keating Investments without the prior approval of the SEC, which may limit the scope of investment opportunities that would otherwise be available to us.
 
We are uncertain of our sources for funding our future capital needs; if we cannot obtain debt or equity financing on acceptable terms, our ability to acquire investments and to expand our operations will be adversely affected.
 
The net proceeds from the sale of shares will be used for our investment opportunities, operating expenses and for payment of various fees and expenses such as base management fees, incentive fees and other fees. Any working capital reserves we maintain may not be sufficient for investment purposes, and we may require debt or equity financing to operate. Accordingly, in the event that we develop a need for additional capital in the future for investments or for any other reason, these sources of funding may not be available to us. Consequently, if we cannot obtain debt or equity financing on acceptable terms, our ability to acquire investments and to expand our operations will be adversely affected. As a result, we would be less able to achieve portfolio diversification and our investment objective, which may negatively impact our results of operations and reduce our ability to make distributions to our stockholders.
 
We incur significant costs as a result of being a public company.

As a public company, we incur legal, accounting and other expenses, including costs associated with the periodic reporting requirements applicable to a company whose securities are registered under the Exchange Act, corporate governance requirements, including requirements under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and other rules implemented by the SEC. We believe that complying with these rules and regulations may make some activities time-consuming and costly and may divert significant attention of our investment adviser’s senior investment professionals from implementing our investment objective to these and related matters.
 
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The impact of recent financial reform legislation on us is uncertain.

In light of current conditions in the U.S. and global financial markets and the U.S. and global economy, legislators, the presidential administration and regulators have increased their focus on the regulation of the financial services industry. The Dodd-Frank Act became effective on July 21, 2010, although many provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act have delayed effectiveness or will not become effective until the relevant federal agencies issue new rules to implement the Dodd-Frank Act. Nevertheless, the Dodd-Frank Act may have a material adverse impact on the financial services industry as a whole and on our business, results of operations and financial condition. Accordingly, we cannot predict the effect the Dodd-Frank Act or implementing its regulations will have on our business, results of operations or financial condition.

Risks Related to Our Portfolio Company Investments

Uncertain economic conditions may continue to adversely affect the capital markets and may reduce the availability of debt and equity capital for the micro-cap and small-cap companies we intend to target. These conditions may make it more difficult for us to achieve our investment objective and may have a greater impact on the micro-cap and small-cap companies we intend to target.  This may adversely affect the financial condition and operating results of certain micro-cap and small-cap companies in which we may invest, as well as reduce the availability of attractive micro-cap and small-cap targets for potential investment.
 
The generally uncertain economic situation, together with the possibility of continuing limited availability of debt and equity capital, including through bank financing, may have a disproportionate impact on the micro-cap and small-cap companies we intend to target for investment.  As a result, we may experience a reduction in attractive investment opportunities in prospective portfolio companies that fit our investment criteria.  In addition, our debt and equity investments in portfolio companies could be impaired to the extent such portfolio companies experience financial difficulties arising out of the current uncertain economic environment.  Our inability to locate attractive investment opportunities, or the impairment of our portfolio investments as a result of economic conditions, could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. 

Our equity and debt investments in the companies that we are targeting may be extremely risky and we could lose all or part of our investments.
 
The convertible unsecured or subordinated debt that we will invest in as a part of our investments will not be rated by any rating agency, but we believe that if such investments were rated, they would be below investment grade (rated lower than “Baa3” by Moody’s or lower than “BBB-” by Standard & Poor’s), which investments are commonly referred to as “junk.” Indebtedness of below investment grade quality is regarded as having predominantly speculative characteristics with respect to the issuer’s capacity to pay interest and repay principal and is, therefore, commonly subject to additional risks.
 
We expect our investments will also include equity securities, including preferred securities convertible into common stock.  We also may receive warrants as part of our debt and equity investments.  These debt and equity investments will entail additional risks that could adversely affect our investment returns.
 
In addition, investment in the micro-cap and small-cap companies that we are targeting involves a number of significant risks, including:
 
 
They may have limited financial resources and may be unable to meet their obligations, which may lead to bankruptcy or liquidation and the loss of our investment.
     
 
They typically have limited operating histories, narrower, less established product lines or offerings and smaller market shares than larger businesses, which tend to render them more vulnerable to competitors’ actions, market conditions, operational risks and consumer sentiment in respect of their products or services, as well as general economic downturns.
     
 
At the time of our investment, since they are primarily privately owned, there is generally little publicly available information about these businesses; therefore, although Keating Investments’ investment professionals and agents will perform “due diligence” investigations on these portfolio companies, their operations and their prospects, we may not learn all of the material information we need to know regarding these businesses.
     
 
 
They are more likely to depend on the management talents and efforts of a small group of persons; therefore, the death, disability, resignation or termination of one or more of these persons could have a material adverse impact on our portfolio company and, in turn, on us.
     
  Since part of our investment process requires that these companies become publicly traded companies, they will need resources, processes, procedures and systems to satisfy the additional regulatory burdens, they will incur legal, accounting and other expenses, including costs associated with the periodic reporting requirements applicable to a company whose securities are registered under the Exchange Act, recently adopted corporate governance requirements, including requirements under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and other rules implemented by the SEC, and they may not be able to attract retail and institutional investor interest in the secondary market, all of which may have a material adverse impact on our portfolio companies and, in turn, on us.
 
 
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A portfolio company’s failure to satisfy financial or operating covenants imposed by us or other lenders could lead to defaults and, potentially, termination of its loans and foreclosure on its assets, which could trigger cross-defaults under other agreements and jeopardize the portfolio company’s ability to meet its obligations under any debt securities that we hold and render our equity investments in that portfolio company worthless. In addition, a substantial portion of our investments will be in the form of equity, which will generally rank below any debt issued by our portfolio companies.
 
Even if our portfolio companies are successful in becoming publicly traded companies, there is no assurance that they will be able to achieve their projected revenue and earnings targets or effectively maintain their status as public reporting companies.  In such case, there may be little or no demand for the securities of our portfolio companies in the public markets, we may have difficulty disposing of our investments, and the value of our investments may decline substantially.
 
Our incentive fee may induce Keating Investments, our investment adviser, to make speculative investments.
 
The incentive fee payable by us to Keating Investments may create an incentive for Keating Investments to make investments on our behalf that are risky or more speculative than would be the case in the absence of such compensation arrangement. As our investment strategy is based primarily on equity investing and as Keating Investments’ incentive fee is based upon the capital gains realized on our investments, the investment adviser will invest more in companies whose securities are likely to yield capital gains, as compared to income producing securities. Such a practice could result in our investing in more speculative securities than would otherwise be the case, which could result in higher investment losses, particularly during cyclical economic downturns.
 
Our portfolio companies may incur debt or issue equity securities that rank equally with, or senior to, our investments in such companies.
 
Our portfolio companies may have, or may be permitted to incur, other debt, or issue other equity securities that rank equally with, or senior to, our investments. By their terms, such instruments may provide that the holders are entitled to receive payment of dividends, interest or principal on or before the dates on which we are entitled to receive payments in respect of our investments. These debt instruments will usually prohibit the portfolio companies from paying interest or dividends on or repaying our investments in the event and during the continuance of a default under such debt. Also, in the event of insolvency, liquidation, dissolution, reorganization or bankruptcy of a portfolio company, holders of securities ranking senior to our investment in that portfolio company will typically be entitled to receive payment in full before we receive any distribution in respect of our investment. After repaying such holders, the portfolio company may not have any remaining assets to use for repaying its obligation to us. In the case of securities ranking equally with our investments, we would have to share on an equal basis any distributions with other security holders in the event of an insolvency, liquidation, dissolution, reorganization or bankruptcy of the relevant portfolio company.

We may not realize any income or gains from our equity investments.
 
We intend to invest a substantial portion of our portfolio in equity securities, including convertible preferred securities and debt securities convertible into equity securities, of our portfolio companies. We may also receive warrants as part of our investments. These equity interests we acquire may not appreciate in value and, in fact, may decline in value if the company fails to perform financially or achieve its growth objectives.  We will generally have little, if any, control over the timing of any gains we may realize from our equity investments since the securities of our portfolio companies may have restrictions on their transfer or may not have an active trading market.

Equity investments also have experienced significantly more volatility in their returns and may under perform relative to fixed-income securities during certain periods. An adverse event, such as an unfavorable earnings report, may depress the value. Also, prices of equity investments are sensitive to general movements in the stock market and a drop in the stock market may depress the price of common stock investments to which we have exposure. Equity prices fluctuate for several reasons including changes in investors' perceptions of the financial condition of an issuer or the general condition of the relevant stock market, or when political or economic events affecting the issuers occur. In addition, common stock prices may be particularly sensitive to rising interest rates, as the cost of capital rises and borrowing costs increase.

 
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Since we intend to invest principally in equity securities, including convertible preferred securities and debt securities convertible into equity securities, of primarily micro-cap and small-cap companies, our primary emphasis will be to generate capital gains through our equity investments in portfolio companies.  Accordingly, although we may in limited cases receive current income in the form of interest payments on our convertible debt investments and dividend payments on our convertible preferred equity investments, the primary source of distributions we may pay to our stockholders will likely be from the net capital gains generated from the sale of our equity investments upon conversion of our convertible securities, the timing of which we cannot predict.  We do not expect to generate capital gains from the sale of our portfolio investments on a level or uniform basis from quarter to quarter.
 
While our investments will typically be made in private companies, we expect that these companies will become public reporting companies with their common stock being initially quoted on either a junior exchange or senior exchange.  We do not expect the preferred equity of our portfolio companies to be listed or quoted on an exchange or quotation system. We also do not expect the common stock in our publicly traded portfolio companies listed on a junior exchange to initially have a large number of freely tradable shares available for sale or an active secondary trading market and, as such, the common stock will be illiquid until an active market develops. We believe that typically this liquidity will develop in conjunction with a senior exchange listing upgrade which may not occur until 12 to 18 months after our investment is made, if at all.  Our convertible preferred stock instruments will generally provide for conversion upon the portfolio companies’ achievement of certain milestone events, including a qualified public offering and/or a senior exchange listing for their common stock.  However, there can be no assurance that our portfolio companies will obtain either a junior or senior exchange listing or, even if a listing is obtained, that an active trading market will ever develop in the common stock of our publicly traded portfolio companies.
 
Accordingly, we may not be able to realize capital gains from our equity interests, and any capital gains that we do realize on the disposition of any equity interests may not be sufficient to offset any other losses we experience. Furthermore, due to the expected growth of our portfolio companies, we do not generally expect to receive dividend income from our common stock investments. In the case of cumulative preferred stock, there is no assurance that any dividends will ever be paid by a portfolio company.
 
Our portfolio may be focused in a limited number of portfolio companies, which will subject us to a risk of significant loss if the business or market position of these companies deteriorates.
 
We are classified as a non-diversified investment company within the meaning of the 1940 Act, which means that we are not limited by the 1940 Act with respect to the proportion of our assets that we may invest in securities of a single issuer. To the extent that we assume large positions in the securities of a small number of issuers, our net asset value may fluctuate to a greater extent than that of a diversified investment company as a result of changes in the financial condition or the market’s assessment of the issuer. We may also be more susceptible to any single economic or regulatory occurrence than a diversified investment company. Beyond our RIC diversification requirements, we do not have fixed guidelines for diversification, and our investments could be focused in relatively few portfolio companies or market segments. As a result, a market downturn affecting one of our portfolio companies or one of these market segments could materially adversely affect us.
 
We expect to concentrate our investments in micro-cap and small-cap companies, which are subject to many risks, including periodic downturns.
 
We expect to concentrate our investments in what we believe are public ready micro-cap and small-cap companies. Under negative economic conditions, this could cause our investment performance to be worse than business development companies with no such concentration. We may avoid purchasing certain securities in certain micro-cap and small-cap companies when it is otherwise advantageous to purchase those securities or may sell certain securities of micro-cap and small-cap companies when it is otherwise advantageous to hold those securities. In general, our focus on micro-cap and small-cap companies may affect our exposure to certain market segments, which may affect our financial performance — positively or negatively — depending on whether these segments are in or out of favor.
 
The revenues, income (or losses) and valuations of micro-cap and small-cap companies, can and often do fluctuate suddenly and dramatically. There is no assurance that decreases in market capitalizations will not occur, or that any decreases in valuations will be insubstantial or temporary in nature. Also, our portfolio companies may face considerably more risk of loss and may not have the same returns as companies in other industry sectors due to their growth nature.
 
Even if our portfolio companies are successful in becoming publicly-traded companies, there is no assurance that they will be able to achieve their projected revenue and earnings targets or effectively maintain their status as public reporting companies.  In such case, there may be little or no demand for the securities of our portfolio companies in the public markets, we may have difficulty disposing of our investments, and the value of our investments may decline substantially.
 
 
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The value of our portfolio securities may not have a readily available market price and, in such case, we will value these securities at fair value as determined in good faith by our Board of Directors, which valuation is inherently subjective and may not reflect what we may actually realize for the sale of the investment.
 
The value of our portfolio securities may not have readily available market prices.  In such cases, we will value these securities at fair value as determined in good faith by our Board of Directors based upon the recommendation of the Board of Director's Valuation Committee. In connection with that determination, investment professionals from our investment adviser will prepare portfolio company valuations using the most recently available portfolio company financial statements and forecasts. The Board of Directors will also utilize the services of a third-party valuation firm, which will periodically prepare valuations for each of our portfolio investments for which no market quotations are readily available. The participation of Keating Investments in our valuation process could result in a conflict of interest as Keating Investments’ management fee is based, in part, on our gross assets. However, the Board of Directors will retain ultimate authority as to the appropriate valuation of each investment. Because such valuations are inherently subjective and may be based on estimates, assumptions and forecasts, our determinations of fair value may differ materially from the values that would be determined if a readily available market price for these securities existed.  In addition, the valuation of these types of securities may result in substantial write-downs and excessive earnings volatility.
 
Even if the equity securities of our public portfolio companies may be sold in the public markets, we expect these securities will initially be thinly traded and, as a result, the lack of liquidity in our investments may adversely affect our business, and will delay distributions of gains, if any.
 
While our investments will typically be made in private companies, we expect that, as part of our investment process, these companies will become public reporting companies with their common stock initially being quoted on either a junior exchange or senior exchange.  We do not expect the preferred equity of our portfolio companies to be listed or quoted on an exchange or quotation system. We do not expect the common stock in our public portfolio companies listed on a junior exchange to initially have an active secondary trading market and, as such, these securities will be illiquid until an active market develops. We believe that typically this liquidity will develop in conjunction with a senior exchange listing upgrade, which we do not expect to occur until 12 to 18 months after our investment is made, if at all.  Our convertible preferred stock instruments will generally provide for conversion upon the portfolio companies’ achievement of certain milestone events, including a senior exchange listing for their common stock. However, there can be no assurance that our portfolio companies will obtain either a junior exchange or senior exchange listing or, even if a listing is obtained, that an active trading market will ever develop in the securities of our publicly traded portfolio companies.
 
We expect substantially all of the common stock we purchase in a portfolio company will be “restricted securities” within the meaning of Rule 144 under the Securities Act (“Rule 144”).  As restricted securities, these shares may be resold only pursuant to an effective registration statement under the Securities Act or pursuant to the requirements of Rule 144 or other applicable exemption from registration under the Securities Act, and in accordance with any applicable state securities laws.
 
Typically, we will seek to obtain registration rights in connection with our purchase of equity investments in a portfolio company.  As such, the portfolio company will generally be required to file a resale registration statement under the Securities Act to register for resale the shares of common stock we acquire.  Notwithstanding such registration rights, we will be largely unable to control the timing of completion of any such registration process given external factors beyond our control. Even if a resale registration statement is declared effective, there can be no assurances that the occurrence of subsequent events may not preclude a portfolio company’s ability to maintain the effectiveness of such registration statement. Any of the foregoing items could have adverse effects on the liquidity of our shares of common stock.
 
In addition, the SEC has disclosed that it has developed internal guidelines concerning the use of a resale registration statement to register the securities issued to certain investors in PIPE transactions, where the issuer has a market capitalization of less than $75 million and, in general, does not qualify to file a registration statement on Form S-3 to register its securities. The SEC has indicated its position that these smaller issuers may not be able to rely on Rule 415 under the Securities Act (“Rule 415”), which generally permits the offer and sale of securities by selling stockholders on a continued or delayed basis over a period of time, but instead would require that the issuer offer and sell such securities in a direct or "primary" public offering, at a fixed price, if the facts and circumstances are such that the SEC believes the investors seeking to have their shares registered are underwriters and/or affiliates of the issuer. We believe that the SEC in most cases would permit a registration for resale of up to one third of the total number of shares of common stock then currently owned by persons who are not affiliates of such issuer and, in some cases, a larger percentage depending on the facts and circumstances.
 
SEC staff members also have indicated that an issuer in most cases will have to wait until the later of six months after effectiveness of the first registration or such time as substantially all securities registered in the first registration are sold before filing a subsequent registration on behalf of the same investors. Since our portfolio companies will have little or no tradable shares of common stock, it is unclear as to how many, if any, shares of common stock the SEC will permit our portfolio companies to register for resale.  The SEC may require as a condition to the declaration of effectiveness of a resale registration statement that we reduce or “cut back” the number of shares of common stock to be registered in such registration statement. The result of the foregoing is that the liquidity in the common stock of our portfolio companies may be adversely affected in the event the SEC requires a cut back of the securities as a condition to allow our portfolio company to rely on Rule 415 with respect to a resale registration statement, or, if the SEC requires our portfolio company to file a primary registration statement.
 
 
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In the event our portfolio companies are unable to register their common stock for resale under the Securities Act, we may be able to resell our common stock investments pursuant to an exemption from the registration requirements under the Securities Act if we meet the conditions of Rule 144. Rule 144 currently provides that a non-affiliated person (and who has not been an affiliate during the prior three months) may sell all of his restricted securities in a company that has been a reporting company for at least three months beginning six months after purchase, provided the issuer remains current in its reporting obligations during the next six months.  However, an affiliated person may sell his restricted securities beginning six months after purchase, provided the following conditions are met: (i) the issuer is current in its reporting obligations, (ii) all sales are in brokerage transactions, (iii) a Form 144 is filed, and (iv) during every three months the number of shares sold does not exceed 1.0% of a company's outstanding common stock.
 
In some cases, we may be deemed an affiliate of our portfolio companies based on our level of stock ownership or our ability to influence control over our portfolio company.  As such, in the absence of an effective registration statement for our shares, we may be limited in the number of shares we may be able to sell in any three months period under Rule 144.  This illiquidity may make it difficult for us to sell such investments if the need arises. Also, if we are required to liquidate all or a portion of our portfolio quickly, we may realize significantly less than the value at which we have previously recorded our investments.

Compliance with the criteria for securing exemptions under federal securities laws and the securities laws of the various states is extremely complex, especially in respect of those exemptions affording flexibility and the elimination of trading restrictions in respect of securities received by us in exempt transactions and subsequently disposed of without registration under the Securities Act or state securities laws. Even if we are able to sell our investments without registration, we may be prohibited from selling or transferring our investments, through certain lock-up agreements, for a certain period, typically six months, following an underwritten registered offering by a portfolio company.
 
A sale under Rule 144 or under any other exemption from the Securities Act, if available, or pursuant to a registration statement, may have a depressive effect upon the price of the common stock of our portfolio companies in any market that may develop.

Our failure to make additional investments in our portfolio companies could impair the value of our portfolio.
 
Following our investment in a portfolio company, we may have opportunities to make additional subsequent investments in that portfolio company. We may elect not to make such additional subsequent investments or otherwise lack sufficient funds to make those investments. We have the discretion to make any additional subsequent investments, subject to the availability of capital resources. The failure to make additional subsequent investments may, in some circumstances, jeopardize the continued viability of a portfolio company and our prior investments, or may result in a missed opportunity for us to increase our participation in a successful operation. Even if we have sufficient capital to make a desired additional subsequent investment, we may elect not to make that investment because we may not want to increase our concentration of risk, because we prefer other opportunities, or because we are inhibited by compliance with business development company requirements or the desire to maintain our RIC tax status.  If our portfolio companies are not able to generate sufficient cash flow from operations, they may lack sufficient capital to continue to grow their businesses, or they may not be able to continue their operations at all.  If our portfolio companies lack sufficient capital before they are able to obtain a senior exchange listing, there may be few, if any, options available to them to raise additional capital, jeopardizing the continued viability of, and our investments in, such portfolio companies.
 
Because we likely will not hold controlling equity interests in our portfolio companies, we may not be in a position to exercise control over such portfolio companies or to prevent decisions by management of such portfolio companies that could decrease the value of our investments.
 
Our equity investments will typically be non-controlling investments, meaning we will not be in a position to control the management, operation and strategic decision-making of the companies we invest in.  As a result, we will be subject to the risk that a portfolio company we do not control, or in which we do not have a majority ownership position, may make business decisions with which we disagree, and the stockholders and management of such a portfolio company may take risks or otherwise act in ways that are adverse to our interests. Due to the lack of liquidity for the debt and equity investments that we will typically hold in our portfolio companies, we may not be able to dispose of our investments in the event that we disagree with the actions of a portfolio company, and may therefore suffer a decrease in the value of our investments.
 
 
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We may be subject to certain risks associated with foreign investments.
 
In order to seek to enhance our overall return, we may selectively invest in companies that have operations or are domiciled outside the U.S. Certain risks are inherent in foreign operations, including:
 
 
Difficulties in enforcing agreements and collecting receivables through certain foreign legal systems;
     
 
Foreign customers may have longer payment cycles than customers in the U.S.;
     
 
Tax rates in certain foreign countries may exceed those in the U.S. and foreign earnings may be subject to withholding requirements, exchange controls or other restrictions;
     
 
General economic and political conditions in countries where we operate may have an adverse effect on our operations;
     
 
Exposure to risks associated with changes in foreign exchange rates;
     
  Difficulties associated with managing a large organization spread throughout various countries;
     
  Difficulties in enforcing intellectual property rights; and
     
  Required compliance with a variety of foreign laws and regulations.
  
Investing in foreign companies may expose us to additional risks not typically associated with investing in U.S. companies. These risks include changes in foreign exchange rates, exchange control regulations, political and social instability, expropriation, imposition of foreign taxes, less liquid markets and less available information than is generally the case in the U.S., higher transaction costs, less government supervision of exchanges, brokers and issuers, less developed bankruptcy laws, difficulty in enforcing contractual obligations, lack of uniform accounting and auditing standards and greater price volatility.
 
The success of our foreign investments will depend, in part, on our ability to anticipate and effectively manage these and other risks. We cannot assure you that these and other factors will not have a material adverse effect on our operations or our business as a whole.
 
Investing in primarily micro-cap and small-cap companies may present certain challenges to us, including the lack of available information about these companies.
 
In accordance with our investment strategy, we intend to make investments in primarily micro-cap and small-cap private companies. Generally, very little public information exists about these companies, and we are required to rely on the ability of the senior investment professionals of our investment adviser to obtain adequate information to evaluate the merits of investing in these companies. If we are unable to uncover all material information about these companies, then we may not make a fully informed investment decision, and we may lose money on our investments.

Resources could be expended in researching and negotiating investments that may never be consummated, even if non-binding letters of intent or definitive agreements are reached, which could materially adversely affect subsequent attempts to make other investments.
 
It is anticipated that the investigation of each specific target company and the negotiation, drafting, and execution of relevant agreements, disclosure documents, and other instruments will require substantial time and attention and substantial costs for accountants, attorneys and others. If a decision is made not to complete a specific investment, the costs incurred up to that point for the proposed portfolio investment likely would not be recoverable. Furthermore, even if an agreement is reached relating to a specific portfolio investment, up to and including the execution of a definitive agreement, we may fail to consummate the portfolio investment for any number of reasons including those beyond our control. Any such event will result in a loss to us of the related costs incurred.
 
 
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Risks Related to An Investment in Our Common Stock
 
 There is currently no public market for shares of our common stock, and we may be unable to obtain a listing of our shares on the Nasdaq Capital Market within our proposed timeframe. As a result, it may be difficult for you to sell your shares.

We are currently conducting a continuous public offering of our shares, which will conclude on June 30, 2011, and no public market currently exists for our shares.  While we currently satisfy the requirements to obtain a listing of our shares of common stock on the Nasdaq Capital Market, and expect to obtain a listing by the end of 2011, we cannot provide you with any assurance that we will be successful in obtaining a listing of our shares on the Nasdaq Capital Market within the timeframe we propose. In addition, our Board of Directors retains the discretion to postpone our listing on the Nasdaq Capital Market if it determines such a listing is not in the best interests of Keating Capital and our stockholders, though we would expect such a postponement to occur only in the event of extraordinary market or economic turmoil.  As a result, if you purchase shares you may have limited liquidity for a substantial period of time, and we cannot provide you with any assurance regarding when or if our shares will be accepted for listing or quotation on the Nasdaq Capital Market.  In addition, we can provide you with no assurance that, even if our shares are listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market, an active trading market for our shares will develop.

Our common stock price, if we become listed or quoted on the Nasdaq Capital Market, may be volatile and may decrease substantially.
 
We cannot predict the prices at which our common stock will trade, if and when it becomes listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market.  Shares of closed-end management investment companies have in the past frequently traded at discounts to their net asset values and our stock may also be discounted in the market. This characteristic of closed-end management investment companies is separate and distinct from the risk that our net asset value per share may decline. We cannot predict whether shares of our common stock will trade above, at or below our net asset value. In addition, if our common stock trades below its net asset value, we will generally not be able to sell additional shares of our common stock to the public at its market price without first obtaining the approval of our stockholders (including our unaffiliated stockholders) and our independent directors for such issuance.

If we become listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market, the 569,800 shares of our common stock sold in our initial private placement at a price of $10.00 per share would be eligible for resale under one or more exemptions from registration under the Securities Act, including Rule 144.  A sale under Rule 144 or under any other exemption from the Securities Act, if available, may have a depressive effect upon the price of our common stock in any market that may develop.

The trading price of our common stock, if we become listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market, may fluctuate substantially. The price of our common stock that will prevail in the market in the future will depend on many factors, some of which are beyond our control and may not be directly related to our operating performance. These factors include, but are not limited to, the following:
 
 
Price and volume fluctuations in the overall stock market from time to time;
     
 
Investor demand for our shares;
     
 
Significant volatility in the market price and trading volume of securities of business development companies or other companies in our sector, which are not necessarily related to the operating performance of these companies;
     
 
Changes in regulatory policies or tax guidelines with respect to regulated investment companies or business development companies;
     
 
Failure to qualify as a RIC, or the loss of RIC status;
     
 
Any shortfall in revenue or net income or any increase in losses from levels expected by investors or securities analysts;
     
 
Increases or decreases, or expectations about increases or decreases, in our quarterly dividends;
     
 
Changes, or perceived changes, in the value of our portfolio investments;
     
  Departures of Keating Investments’ key personnel;
     
  Operating performance of companies comparable to us; or
     
  General economic conditions and trends and other external factors.
 
 
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In the past, following periods of volatility in the market price of a company’s securities, securities class action litigation has often been brought against that company. Due to the potential volatility of our stock price once a market for our stock is established, we may become the target of securities litigation in the future. Securities litigation could result in substantial costs and divert management’s attention and resources from our business.

There is a risk that our stockholders may not receive consistent distributions or that our distributions may not grow over time.
 
Our primary emphasis is to attempt to generate capital gains from the sale of our investments in micro-cap and small-cap companies.  While a portion of our investments may, at any given time, include a component of interest or dividends, we do not expect to generate significant current yield on our portfolio company investments.  To date, none of our portfolio company investments have generated, nor are they expected to generate, interest or dividend income.  Additionally, any investment income we may receive in the form of interest and dividends from our portfolio company investments prior to conversion is not likely to exceed our operating expenses, in which case we do not expect to generate net ordinary income which would be available for distribution to our stockholders.  We do not expect that our interest and dividend income from portfolio company investments would be sufficient to generate net ordinary income.  However, if we are able to generate net ordinary income, we intend to distribute such net ordinary income to our stockholders.

Because we do not expect to generate net ordinary income, we expect that our primary source of distributions will be from net capital gains realized from the sale of our portfolio company investments.  The timing of any capital gains generated from the appreciation and sale of portfolio companies cannot be predicted, and we do not expect to generate capital gains on a level or uniform basis from quarter to quarter.  Distributions from realized net capital gains will typically be declared and paid at least annually. However, we may declare and pay periodic distributions which, in the aggregate, would be an estimate of the total net capital gains expected to be realized throughout the year.  During the pendency of our continuous public offering, we may also declare and pay periodic distributions in an amount reflecting all or a portion of any net unrealized appreciation on investments recorded on our books which, depending on the timing and amount of actual realization, may represent a return of capital.

Our distributions may exceed our net ordinary income and realized net capital gains and thus represent a return of capital, particularly during the period before we have substantially invested the net proceeds from our continuous public offering or realized any net capital gains from the disposition of our portfolio company investments.  We can give no assurance as to when we will begin to realize any net capital gains from the sale of our assets, if ever.  Distributions that represent a return of capital may lower your tax basis in our shares, or may be treated as a gain from the sale of such shares to the extent that such distributions exceed the basis in such shares, and reduce the amount of funds we have for investment in targeted assets. Distributions representing a return of capital will not reduce the number of shares of common stock that you own in us.  We will not make any distributions representing a return of capital which would result in a total return of capital in excess of 10% of our total offering proceeds (i.e., the total gross proceeds received from the sale of our common stock).

Your interest in us will be diluted if we issue additional shares, which could reduce the overall value of your investment.

Our charter authorizes us to issue 200,000,000 shares of common stock. Pursuant to our charter, a majority of our Board of Directors may amend our charter to increase the number of authorized shares of stock without stockholder approval. After your purchase in our continuous public offering, our Board of Directors may elect to sell additional shares in future public offerings or issue equity interests in private offerings. To the extent we issue additional equity interests, your percentage ownership interest in us will be diluted. In addition, depending upon the terms and pricing of any additional offerings and the value of our investments, you may also experience dilution in the book value and fair value of your shares.
 
 
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Unresolved Staff Comments

Not applicable.

Properties

We do not own any real estate or other physical properties materially important to our operation. Our headquarters are located at 5251 DTC Parkway, Suite 1000, Greenwood Village, Colorado, 80111, where we occupy our office space pursuant to our Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement with Keating Investments. We believe that our office facilities are suitable and adequate for our business as it is presently conducted.

Legal Proceedings

We are not currently subject to any material legal proceedings, nor, to our knowledge, is any material legal proceeding threatened against us. From time to time, we may be a party to certain legal proceedings in the ordinary course of business, including proceedings relating to the enforcement of our rights under contracts with our portfolio companies. While the outcome of these legal proceedings cannot be predicted with certainty, we do not expect that these proceedings will have a material effect upon our financial condition or results of operations.

Reserved
 
 
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PART II

Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
 
Market Information
 
There is currently no public market for our common stock. Our common stock is not listed on any securities exchange or inter-dealer quotation system at the present time. We currently satisfy the requirements to obtain a listing of our shares of common stock on the Nasdaq Capital Market and will file for such listing after conclusion of our continuous public offering.  While we expect to obtain such listing by the end of 2011, we cannot provide you with any assurance that we will be successful in obtaining a listing of our shares on the Nasdaq Capital Market within the timeframe we propose. 

 Even if our common stock is approved for listing on the Nasdaq Capital Market, we are not certain that any trading market will develop or, if it develops, whether such trading market will be sustained.  

Holders
 
As of February 22, 2011, there were 1,511 stockholders of record of our common stock.

Distribution Policy

Distributions to stockholders will be payable only when and as declared by our Board of Directors and will be paid out of assets legally available for distribution. On February 11, 2011, our Board of Directors declared a special cash distribution of $0.13 cents per share.  The distribution was paid on February 17, 2011 to our stockholders of record as of February 15, 2011.  As of the record date, there were 3,437,212 shares of common stock outstanding resulting in a cash distribution totaling approximately $446,837. This special cash distribution was based on the unrealized appreciation we had recorded on our NeoPhotonics investment and, as such, will be initially treated as a return of capital to our stockholders.  However, in the event we are able to sell all or a portion of our NeoPhotonics common shares at a gain during 2011 after the expiration of our six-month lock-up period, all or a portion of this special distribution may be reclassified at year end as a capital gain distribution to our stockholders.  We provide no assurance that we will be able to sell all or any portion of our NeoPhotonics common shares during 2011 and, even if such shares are sold, there is no assurance that we will be able to realize a gain on such sale.

While we paid a $0.13 per share cash distribution to our stockholders on February 17, 2011 based on the unrealized appreciation we had recorded on our NeoPhotonics investment, we may not be able to pay any future distributions unless we are able to generate net capital gains realized from the sale of our portfolio company investments.  We cannot assure you that we will achieve investment results that will allow us to pay any dividends or distributions or to make a targeted level of cash distributions or year-to-year increases in cash distributions.

We may use amounts from our net ordinary income, our realized net capital gains from the sale of our assets, and our offering proceeds to fund distribution payments to stockholders. Offering proceeds means the total gross proceeds received from the sale of our common stock (which includes the cost portion of the proceeds we receive from the sale of our assets). We do not anticipate generating net ordinary income and, as such, we do not expect that distribution payments will be paid from net ordinary income.  Distribution payments will likely be paid from our realized net capital gains (if any) from the sale of our assets or, in the event we have not realized any net capital gains, from our offering proceeds.  Any distributions paid from our offering proceeds will represent a return of capital to our stockholders.  Our distributions may exceed our net ordinary income and realized net capital gains and thus represent a return of capital, particularly during the period before we have substantially invested the net proceeds from our continuous public offering or realized any net capital gains from the disposition of our portfolio company investments.  We can give no assurance as to when we will begin to realize any net capital gains from the sale of our assets, if ever.  Distributions that represent a return of capital may lower your tax basis in our shares, or may be treated as a gain from the sale of such shares to the extent that such distributions exceed the basis in such shares, and reduce the amount of funds we have for investment in targeted assets. Distributions representing a return of capital will not reduce the number of shares of common stock that you own in us.  We will not make any distributions representing a return of capital which would result in a total return of capital in excess of 10% of our total offering proceeds (i.e., the total gross proceeds received from the sale of our common stock).

Our primary emphasis is to attempt to generate capital gains from the sale of our investments in micro-cap and small-cap companies.  While a portion of our investments may, at any given time, include a component of interest or dividends, we do not expect to generate significant current yield on our portfolio company investments.  To date, none of our portfolio company investments have generated, nor are they expected to generate, interest or dividend income.  Additionally, any investment income we may receive in the form of interest and dividends from our portfolio company investments prior to conversion is not likely to exceed our operating expenses, in which case we do not expect to generate net ordinary income which would be available for distribution to our stockholders.  We do not expect that our interest and dividend income from portfolio company investments would be sufficient to generate net ordinary income.  However, if we are able to generate net ordinary income, we intend to distribute such net ordinary income to stockholders.

 
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Because we do not expect to generate net ordinary income, we expect that our primary source of distributions will be from net capital gains realized from the sale of our portfolio company investments.  Distributions from realized net capital gains (i.e., net realized long-term capital gains in excess of net realized short-term capital losses) will typically be declared and paid at least annually.

The timing of any capital gains generated from the appreciation and sale of portfolio companies cannot be predicted, and we do not expect to generate capital gains on a level or uniform basis from quarter to quarter.  Distributions from realized net capital gains will typically be declared and paid at least annually. However, we may declare and pay periodic distributions which, in the aggregate, would be an estimate of the total net capital gains expected to be realized throughout the year.  During the pendency of our continuous public offering, we may also declare and pay periodic distributions in an amount reflecting all or a portion of any net unrealized appreciation on investments recorded on our books which, depending on the timing and amount of actual realization, may represent a return of capital.

We may have substantial fluctuations in our distribution payments to stockholders, since we expect to have an average holding period for our portfolio company investments of one to three years and we may not generate any realized net capital gains during our initial years of operations.  Our ability to pay distributions in our initial years of operation will be based on our ability to invest our capital in suitable portfolio companies in a timely manner, and we can give no assurance as to when we will begin to realize any gains from the sale of our portfolio company investments, if ever.

We have satisfied the requirements to qualify as a RIC and will elect to be treated as a RIC under Subchapter M of the Code for our 2010 taxable year when we file our 2010 tax return.  We also intend to qualify annually thereafter as a RIC. To maintain RIC tax treatment, we must, among other things, distribute at least 90% of our investment company taxable income.  In order to avoid certain excise taxes imposed on RICs, we currently intend to distribute during each calendar year an amount at least equal to the sum of: (i) 98% of our ordinary income for the calendar year, (ii) 98.2% of our capital gains in excess of capital losses for the one-year period ending on October 31 of the calendar year, and (iii) any ordinary income and net capital gains for preceding years that were not distributed during such years.
 
In the event we have realized net capital gains, we currently intend to distribute the amount of the realized net capital gain, reduced by any incentive fees payable to Keating Investments, to our stockholders at least annually.  However, we may in the future decide to retain some or all of our realized net capital gains.  In the event we retain some or all of our realized net capital gains, including amounts retained to pay incentive fees to our investment adviser, we will likely designate the retained amount as a deemed distribution to stockholders.  In such case, among other consequences, we will pay corporate-level tax on the retained amount, each U.S. stockholder will be required to include its share of the deemed distribution in income as if it had been actually distributed to the U.S. stockholder, and the U.S. stockholder will be entitled to claim a credit or refund equal to its allocable share of the corporate-level tax we pay on the retained realized net capital gain.  We can offer no assurance that we will achieve results that will permit the payment of any cash distributions and, to the extent that we issue senior securities, we will be prohibited from making distributions if doing so causes us to fail to maintain the asset coverage ratios stipulated by the 1940 Act or if distributions are limited by the terms of any of our borrowings.

 We have adopted a dividend reinvestment plan that provides for reinvestment of our dividends and other distributions on behalf of our stockholders, unless a stockholder elects to receive cash. As a result, if our Board of Directors authorizes, and we declare, a cash distribution, then our stockholders who have not opted out of our dividend reinvestment plan will have their cash distributions automatically reinvested in additional shares of our common stock, rather than receiving the cash distributions.  As we are currently conducting a continuous public offering of our shares, we expect to coordinate distribution payment dates so that the same price that is used for the closing date immediately following such distribution payment date will be used to calculate the purchase price for purchasers under the dividend reinvestment plan until our continuous public offering concludes. In such cases, we expect that reinvested distributions will purchase shares at a price equal to 95% of the price that shares are sold in our continuous public offering at the closing immediately following the distribution payment date.

 After conclusion of our continuous public offering and until our shares become publicly traded, the number of shares to be issued to a stockholder will be determined by dividing the total dollar amount of the distribution payable to such stockholder by the net asset value per share of our common stock as most recently determined by our Board of Directors on or prior to the valuation date for such distribution. If and when our shares become publicly traded, the number of shares to be issued to a stockholder will be determined by dividing the total dollar amount of the distribution payable to such stockholder by the market price per share of our common stock at the close of regular trading on the Nasdaq Capital Market, if our shares are listed thereon.  Market price per share on that date will be the closing price for such shares on the Nasdaq Capital Market or, if no sale is reported for such day, at the average of their electronically-reported bid and asked prices.

 
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No action will be required on the part of a registered stockholder to have cash distributions reinvested in shares of our common stock. A registered stockholder will be able to elect to receive an entire distribution in cash by notifying the plan administrator and our transfer agent and registrar, in writing so that such notice is received by the plan administrator no later than the record date for distributions to stockholders. The plan administrator will set up an account for shares acquired through the plan for each stockholder who has not elected to receive distributions in cash and hold such shares in non-certificated form. Upon request by a stockholder participating in the plan, received in writing not less than ten days prior to the record date, the plan administrator will, instead of crediting shares to the participant’s account, issue a certificate registered in the participant’s name for the number of whole shares of our common stock and a check for any fractional share.
 
Those stockholders whose shares are held by a broker or other financial intermediary will be able to receive distributions in cash by notifying their broker or other financial intermediary of their election.

Until our shares are listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market, we may offer our stockholders the opportunity to elect to have cash distributions reinvested in the shares of our common stock as long as: (i) the shares in which the stockholder reinvests are registered or exempted under applicable state securities laws, (ii) no sales commissions or fees are deducted directly or indirectly from the reinvested funds, (iii) stockholders may elect or revoke reinvestment within a reasonable time and such right is disclosed in a prospectus, (iv) stockholders have received a prospectus which is current as of the date of reinvestment, (v) we or the broker-dealer is responsible for blue sky compliance and will ascertain whether stockholders reinvesting continue to meet the applicable suitability requirements of their state at the time of reinvestment, and (vi) the reinvestment plan has substantially identical investment objectives as our program from which the distributions were made.

Due to these “blue sky” requirements and in an effort to pay our special cash distribution declared on February 15, 2011 in a timely manner, our Board of Directors determined that the special distribution was not available for reinvestment under the dividend reinvestment plan.  Once our common stock becomes listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market, all stockholders participating in the dividend reinvestment plan will have any cash distributions that may be paid in the future automatically reinvested in our common shares.

We can offer no assurance that we will achieve results that will permit the payment of any cash distributions and, if we issue senior securities, we will be prohibited from making distributions if doing so causes us to fail to maintain the asset coverage ratios stipulated by the 1940 Act or if distributions are limited by the terms of any of our borrowings.

All distributions will be paid at the discretion of our Board of Directors and will depend on our net ordinary income and realized net capital gains, our financial condition, maintenance of our RIC status, compliance with applicable business development company regulations and such other factors as our Board of Directors may deem relevant from time to time. Distributions may also be paid during the year that exceed our net ordinary income and realized net capital gains and thus would constitute a return of your capital; however, we will not make any distributions representing a return of capital which would result in a total return of capital in excess of 10% of our total offering proceeds (i.e., the total gross proceeds received from the sale of our common stock).  We cannot assure that we will pay distributions to our stockholders in the future.
 
Sales of Unregistered Securities
 
On May 14, 2008, our investment adviser, Keating Investments, purchased 100 shares of our common stock at a price of $10.00 per share as our initial capital.  On November 12, 2008, we completed the final closing of our private placement offering.  We sold a total of 569,800 shares of our common stock in our private placement offering at a price of $10.00 per share raising aggregate gross proceeds of $5,698,000.  After the payment of commissions and other offering costs of approximately $454,566, we received aggregate net proceeds of approximately $5,243,434 in connection with our private placement offering.  

            All shares of our common stock issued in our private placement were restricted shares and cannot be sold by the holders thereof without registration under the Securities Act or an available exemption from registration under the Securities Act.  We believe that the shares of our common stock issued in our private placement are eligible for resale under one or more exemptions from registration under the Securities Act.  Accordingly, subject to certain lock-up agreements currently in place with certain of our officers and directors, the holders of shares issued in our private placement will be able to sell their shares once we obtain a listing of our shares of common stock on the Nasdaq Capital Market, which we expect to occur by the end of 2011.  However, there is no assurance that we will be successful in obtaining a listing of our shares on the Nasdaq Capital Market within the timeframe we propose.
 
 
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Selected Financial Data
 
The following selected financial data for the years ended December 31, 2010 and 2009 and for the period from May 9, 2008 (Inception) through December 31, 2008 is derived from our financial statements which have been audited by Grant Thornton LLP, our independent registered public accounting firm. The data should be read in conjunction with our financial statements and related notes thereto and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” included elsewhere in this report.
 
               
At December 31, 2008
 
               
and for the Period
 
   
At and for the
   
At and for the
   
from May 9, 2008
 
   
Year Ended
   
Year Ended
   
(Inception) to
 
   
December 31,
   
December 31,
   
December 31,
 
   
2010
   
2009
   
2008
 
                   
Statement of Operations Data:
                 
Total investment income
  $ 54,009     $ 10,637     $ 14,005  
Base management fees
    218,876       90,904       11,990  
Incentive fees
    115,423       -       -  
Administrative expenses allocated from Investment Adviser
    404,633       269,384       28,041  
Total operating expenses
    2,031,002       1,006,615       542,965  
Net investment (loss)
    (1,976,993 )     (995,978 )     (528,960 )
Net change in unrealized appreciation on investments
    577,116       -       -  
Net (decrease) in net assets resulting from operations
    (1,399,877 )     (995,978 )     (528,960 )
                         
Per Share Data:
                       
Net asset value per common share
  $ 7.85     $ 6.53     $ 8.27  
Net investment (loss) (1)
    (1.43 )     (1.75 )     (1.79 )
Net (decrease) in net assets resulting from operations (1)(2)
    (1.01 )     (1.75 )     (1.79 )
Distributions declared
    -       -       -  
                         
Balance Sheet Data at Period End:
                       
Investments in portfolio company securities at fair value
  $ 4,177,607     $ -     $ -  
Short-term investments at fair value
    13,500,000       3,000,000       4,411,127  
Cash and cash equivalents
    4,753,299       367,918       367,588  
Total assets
    22,856,713       3,903,387       4,810,163  
Total liabilities
    400,313       183,891       94,689  
Net assets
    22,456,400       3,719,496       4,715,474  
Common shares outstanding
    2,860,299       569,900       569,900  
 
(1)  Per share amounts are calculated using weighted average shares outstanding during the period. 
(2) Net decrease in net assets resulting from operations during the year ended December 31, 2010 includes a net increase in unrealized appreciation on investments of $577,116, or $0.42 per weighted average share outstanding during the period.
 
Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
 
Forward-Looking Statements

Some of the statements in this annual report on Form 10-K constitute forward-looking statements because they relate to future events or our future performance or financial condition. These forward-looking statements are not historical facts, but rather are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about us, our prospective portfolio investments, our industry, our beliefs, and our assumptions.  The forward-looking statements contained in this annual report on Form 10-K may include statements as to:
 
        
Our future operating results;
 
        
Our business prospects and the prospects of our portfolio companies;
 
        
The impact of the investments that we expect to make;
 
        
The ability of our portfolio companies to achieve their objectives;
 
 
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Our expected financings and investments;
 
        
The adequacy of our cash resources and working capital; and
 
        
The timing of cash flows, if any, from the operations of our portfolio companies.
 
In addition, words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “expect” and “intend” indicate a forward-looking statement, although not all forward-looking statements include these words. The forward-looking statements contained in this annual report on Form 10-K involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results could differ materially from those implied or expressed in the forward-looking statements for any reason, including the factors set forth in “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this annual report on Form 10-K or incorporated by reference herein. Other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include:
 
        
Changes in the economy;
 
        
Future changes in laws or regulations and conditions in our operating areas; and
 
        
An inability to access the equity markets which could impair our investment activities.
 
We have based the forward-looking statements included in this annual report on Form 10-K on information available to us at the time we filed this annual report on Form 10-K with the SEC, and we assume no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Except as required by the federal securities laws, we undertake no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. You are advised to consult any additional disclosures that we may make directly to you or through reports that we in the future may file with the SEC, including annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K.

Investment Portfolio Composition and Activity

During the period from May 9, 2008 (Inception) through December 31, 2009, our investment portfolio consisted solely of money market investments and short-term certificate of deposit investments.  On January 25, 2010, we completed a $1 million investment in the Series X convertible preferred stock of NeoPhotonics Corporation (“NeoPhotonics”).  Our investment in NeoPhotonics was part of a $46 million Series X preferred stock offering.  NeoPhotonics, headquartered in San Jose, California, is a developer and manufacturer of photonic integrated circuit based components, modules and subsystems for use in telecommunications networks.  At December 31, 2010, our Series X convertible preferred stock investment in NeoPhotonics was valued at $1,550,000, including $550,000 in unrealized appreciation based upon a fair value determination made in good faith by our Board of Directors.

NeoPhotonics completed an initial public offering on February 2, 2011 selling 7,500,000 shares of common stock at a price of $11.00 per share.  NeoPhotonics is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol NPTN.  Prior to and as a part of the initial public offering, NeoPhotonics’ board of directors and requisite stockholders approved an amendment to the conversion rights of the holders of Series X preferred stock.  This amendment modified the conversion price of the Series X preferred stock in the case of an initial public offering from a conversion price of 50% of the initial public offering price to a fixed $6.25 per share.   As a result, prior to the initial public offering, our NeoPhotonics Series X preferred stock converted into 160,000 shares of NeoPhotonics common stock.  The shares of NeoPhotonics common stock we received upon conversion are subject to a 180-day lock-up provision which expires in August 2011.

On July 1, 2010, we completed a $500,500 investment in the Series C convertible preferred stock and warrants of Livescribe Inc. (“Livescribe”).  Our investment in Livescribe was part of a $39 million Series C preferred stock offering.  Livescribe, a private company headquartered in Oakland, California, is a developer and marketer of a mobile, paper-based computing platform consisting of smartpens, dot paper, smartpen applications, accessories, desktop software, an online community and development tools.   Livescribe’s smartpens are currently available from consumer electronics retailers in the U.S. and in several international markets.    In the event of a qualifying initial public offering, the Series C convertible preferred stock would be automatically converted into shares of Livescribe’s common stock.  Upon conversion, the common stock we would be issued would be subject to a six month lock-up period following the completion of the initial public offering.  We can give no assurances that Livescribe will ever complete an initial public offering, and even if completed, when it may be completed and at what price and under what terms.

For financial reporting purposes, our investment in Livescribe’s Series C convertible preferred stock was assigned a cost of $471,295 and the warrants were assigned a cost of $29,205 based on the fair value of the warrants as of the initial investment date calculated using the Black-Scholes option pricing model.  At December 31, 2010, our Series C convertible preferred stock investment in Livescribe was valued at $500,000, including $28,705 in unrealized appreciation based upon a fair value determination made in good faith by our Board of Directors.  At December 31, 2010, our Series C convertible preferred stock warrants in Livescribe were valued at $27,616, including $1,589 in unrealized depreciation based upon a fair value determination made in good faith by our Board of Directors.

 
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On July 16, 2010, we completed a $999,991 investment in the Series D convertible preferred stock of Solazyme, Inc. (“Solazyme”).  Our investment in Solazyme was part of a $60 million Series D preferred stock offering.   Solazyme is a private, renewable oils and green bioproducts company based in South San Francisco, California.  Founded in 2003, Solazyme is considered a leader in the development and commercialization of algal oil and bioproducts for the fuels and chemicals, nutritionals and health sciences markets.  Solazyme’s unique, proprietary technology allows algae, when fed sugars and plant byproducts, to produce oil and biomaterials in industrial fermentation facilities.    In the event of a qualifying initial public offering, the Series D convertible preferred stock would be automatically converted into shares of Solazyme’s common stock.  Upon conversion, the common stock we would be issued would be subject to a six month lock-up period following the completion of the initial public offering.  We can give no assurances that Solazyme will ever complete an initial public offering, and even if completed, when it may be completed and at what price and under what terms.  At December 31, 2010, our Series D convertible preferred stock investment in Solazyme was valued at $999,991, our original cost, based upon a fair value determination made in good faith by our Board of Directors.

On October 15, 2010, we completed a $1,100,000 investment in the Series G convertible preferred stock of MBA Polymers, Inc. (“MBA Polymers”).  Our investment in MBA Polymers was part of a $25 million Series G convertible preferred stock offering.  MBA Polymers, a private company headquartered in Richmond, California, is a global manufacturer of recycled plastics sourced from end of life durable goods, such as computers, electronics, appliances and automobiles.  MBA Polymers’ patented recycling technology allows it to sort, clean, purify and process reusable plastic materials.  These recycled plastics are then sold as “drop-in” green replacements for virgin plastic to original equipment manufacturers and other customers who desire a cost-competitive and/or greener alternative to virgin plastics.  In the event of a qualifying initial public offering, the Series G convertible preferred stock would be automatically converted into shares of MBA Polymer’s common stock.  Upon conversion, the common stock we would be issued would be subject to a six month lock-up period following the completion of the initial public offering.  We can give no assurances that MBA Polymers will ever complete an initial public offering, and even if completed, when it may be completed and at what price and under what terms.  At December 31, 2010, our Series G convertible preferred stock investment in MBA Polymers was valued at $1,100,000, our original cost, based upon a fair value determination made in good faith by our Board of Directors.

On February 22, 2011, we made an additional investment of $900,000 in MBA Polymers’ Series G convertible preferred stock.  Our additional investment was part of an aggregate additional Series G preferred stock offering of approximately $14.6 million.

The following table summarizes the composition of our investment portfolio, excluding short-term investments in certificates of deposit, at cost and fair value as of December 31, 2010.
 
               
Percentage of
       
               
Portfolio Company
   
Percentage of
 
               
Investments
   
Net Assets
 
   
Cost
   
Fair Value
   
At Fair Value
   
At Fair Value
 
                         
As of December 31, 2010
                       
Private Portfolio Companies:
                       
NeoPhotonics Corporation
  $ 1,000,000     $ 1,550,000       37.10 %     6.90 %
Livescribe, Inc.
    500,500       527,616       12.63 %     2.35 %
Solazyme, Inc.
    999,991       999,991       23.94 %     4.45 %
MBA Polymers, Inc.
    1,100,000       1,100,000       26.33 %     4.90 %
                                 
Total - Private Portfolio Companies
  $ 3,600,491     $ 4,177,607       100.00 %     18.60 %
 
 
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The following table summarizes the composition of our investment portfolio, excluding short-term investments in certificates of deposit, at cost and fair value by industry classification as of December 31, 2010.
 
               
Percentage of
       
               
Portfolio Company
   
Percentage of
 
               
Investments
   
Net Assets
 
   
Cost
   
Fair Value
   
At Fair Value
   
At Fair Value
 
                         
As of December 31, 2010
                       
Private Portfolio Companies:
                       
Technology Equipment
  $ 1,000,000     $ 1,550,000       37.10 %     6.90 %
Consumer Products
    500,500       527,616       12.63 %     2.35 %
Clean Technology
    2,099,991       2,099,991       50.27 %     9.35 %
                                 
Total - Private Portfolio Companies
  $ 3,600,491     $ 4,177,607       100.00 %     18.60 %
 
The following table summarizes the composition of our investment portfolio, excluding short-term investments in certificates of deposit, at cost and fair value by geographic region of the United States as of December 31, 2010.  The geographic composition is determined by the location of the corporate headquarters of the portfolio company.
 
                 
Percentage of
       
                 
Portfolio Company
   
Percentage of
 
                 
Investments
   
Net Assets
 
Geographic Location
   
Cost
   
Fair Value
   
At Fair Value
   
At Fair Value
 
                           
As of December 31, 2010
                         
West
    $ 3,600,491     $ 4,177,607       100.00 %     18.60 %
                                   
Total
    $ 3,600,491     $ 4,177,607       100.00 %     18.60 %
 
We currently anticipate completing five to ten investments per year until all of the proceeds of our continuous public offering have been invested. The consummation of each investment will depend upon satisfactory completion of our due diligence investigation of the prospective portfolio company, our confirmation and acceptance of the investment terms, structure and financial covenants, the execution and delivery of final binding agreements in form mutually satisfactory to the parties, the absence of any material adverse change and the receipt of any necessary consents.  We can provide no assurance that we will be able to meet our anticipated pace of investment.

We anticipate that it may take an additional 12 to 24 months to invest substantially all of the proceeds from our continuous public offering in our targeted investments.  Until we are able to invest such net proceeds in suitable investments, we will invest in temporary investments, such as cash, cash equivalents, certificates of deposit, U.S. government securities and other high-quality debt investments that mature in one year or less, which we expect will earn only nominal yields.  Since we do not expect to generate significant interest or dividend income on our portfolio company investments, our ability to make distributions in our initial years of operation will be based on our ability to invest our capital in suitable portfolio companies in a timely manner and to sell our interests in these portfolio companies at a gain after they become public.   

Results of Operations

The principal measure of our financial performance is the net increase (decrease) in our net assets resulting from operations, which includes net investment income (loss), net realized gain (loss) on investments and net unrealized appreciation (depreciation) on investments.  Net investment income (loss) is the difference between our income from interest, dividends, fees and other investment income and our operating expenses.  Net realized gain (loss), if any, is the difference between the net proceeds of sales of portfolio company securities and their stated cost.  Net unrealized appreciation (depreciation) from investments is the net change in the fair value of our investment portfolio.

Set forth below are the results of operations for the years ended December 31, 2010 and 2009 and for the period from May 9, 2008 (Inception) to December 31, 2008.
 
 
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Investment Income.   We have generated, and expect to continue to generate, limited investment income from the temporary investment of the net proceeds from our continuous public offering in high-quality debt investments that mature in one year or less, primarily certificates of deposit with maturities of four weeks.

For the years ended December 31, 2010 and 2009 and for the period from May 9, 2008 (Inception) to December 31, 2008, we earned interest income from certificates of deposit and money market investments of $44,009, $10,637 and $14,005, respectively.

We seek to invest principally in equity securities, including convertible preferred securities, and other debt securities convertible into equity securities, of primarily non-public U.S.-based micro-cap and small-cap companies. Our convertible debt investments, which we expect will usually be associated with our sponsored deals, will be primarily unsecured and subordinated loans that provide for a fixed interest rate that will typically provide us with current interest income. However, it is possible that interest on these debt investments will be deferred until maturity or conversion or may be paid in shares of the issuer’s common stock.  We intend to set interest rates based on prevailing market rates at the time of our investment for comparable types of investments.  Typically, these loans will have maturities not to exceed 18 months, which coincides with the maximum period we believe is required to complete the process to go public and obtain an exchange listing.  To date, we have not made any convertible debt investments in portfolio companies.

Our convertible preferred equity investments may pay fixed or adjustable rate dividends to us and will generally have a “preference” over common equity in the payment of dividends and the liquidation of a portfolio company's assets. This preference means that a portfolio company must pay dividends on preferred equity before paying any dividends on its common equity. However, in order to be payable, dividends on such preferred equity must be declared by the portfolio company's board of directors. In the event dividends on our preferred stock investments are non-cumulative, which is typically the case, if the board of directors of our portfolio companies does not declare a preferred dividend for a specific period, we will not be entitled to a preferred dividend for such period.  We do not expect the board of directors of our portfolio companies to declare preferred dividends since these companies typically prefer to retain profits, if any, in their business.  Accordingly, we do not expect to generate dividend income on our preferred stock investments. Cumulative dividend payments on preferred equity means dividends will accumulate even if not declared by the board of directors or otherwise made payable. In such a case, all accumulated dividends must typically be paid before any dividend on the common equity can be paid. However, there is no assurance that any dividends will be paid by a portfolio company even in the case of cumulative preferred dividends and, in most cases, the payment of any accumulated preferred dividends is likely to be deferred until conversion and, if paid, may be paid in shares of the issuer’s preferred or common stock.

To date, none of our preferred stock investments in portfolio companies have cumulative dividends and, we have not received, nor do we expect to receive, any dividends on these investments.  Dividend income from preferred equity investments in portfolio companies is recorded when dividends are declared or at the point an obligation exists for a portfolio company to make a distribution.

No interest or dividend income from our portfolio company investments was recorded for the years ended December 31, 2010 and 2009 or for the period from May 9, 2008 (Inception) to December 31, 2008.  Our primary source of investment income will be generated from net capital gains realized on the disposition of our portfolio company investments, which typically will occur after the portfolio company completes an IPO and any contractual lock-up period expires.

 From time to time, we may also generate other investment income comprised of fees for due diligence, structuring, transaction services, consulting services and management services rendered to portfolio companies and prospective portfolio companies, which services are separately identifiable from our investments.  For the years ended December 31, 2010 and 2009 and for the period from May 9, 2008 (Inception) to December 31, 2008, $10,000, $0 and $0, respectively, of other investment income was recorded.  The $10,000 of other income recorded during the year ended December 31, 2010 represents a non-refundable due diligence fee received from a prospective portfolio company in December 2009, which was initially recorded as deferred income and was subsequently recognized as income when the proposed investment transaction failed to close in February 2010.

Expenses.  Our primary operating expenses include the payment of: (i) investment advisory fees to our investment adviser, Keating Investments; (ii) our allocable portion of overhead and other expenses incurred by Keating Investments, as our administrator, in performing its administrative obligations under the Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement; and (iii) other operating expenses as detailed below. Our investment advisory fee compensates our investment adviser for its work in identifying, evaluating, negotiating, closing, monitoring and servicing our investments. See “Business – Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement.”  We bear all other expenses of our operations and transactions, including, without limitation:
 
Costs of calculating our net asset value, including the cost of any third-party valuation services;
   
Costs of effecting sales and repurchases of shares of our common stock and other securities;
 
 
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Fees payable to third parties relating to, or associated with, making investments, including fees and expenses associated with performing due diligence reviews of prospective investments;
   
Costs related to organization and offerings;
   
Transfer agent and custodial fees;
   
Fees and expenses associated with marketing efforts;
   
Federal and state registration fees;
   
Any stock exchange listing fees;
   
Applicable federal, state and local taxes;
   
Independent directors’ fees and expenses;
   
Brokerage commissions;
   
Costs of proxy statements, stockholders’ reports and notices;
   
Fidelity bond, directors and officers/errors and omissions liability insurance and other insurance premiums;
   
Direct costs such as printing, mailing, and long distance telephone;
   
Fees and expenses associated with independent audits and outside legal costs;
   
Costs associated with our reporting and compliance obligations under the 1940 Act, Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and applicable federal and state securities laws; and
   
All other expenses incurred by either Keating Investments or us in connection with administering our business, including payments under the Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement that will be based upon our allocable portion of overhead and other expenses incurred by Keating Investments in performing its obligations under the Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement, including our allocable portion of the compensation of our Chief Financial Officer and Chief Compliance Officer, and their respective staff.
 
Operating expenses for the years ended December 31, 2010 and 2009 and for the period from May 9, 2008 (Inception) to December 31, 2008 were $2,031,002, $1,006,615 and $542,965, respectively.  During the year ended December 31, 2010, we increased our efforts to enhance the distribution infrastructure for our continuous public offering and to prepare for the expected  listing of our shares on the Nasdaq Capital Market by the end of 2011.  During the year ended December 31, 2010, we also increased our marketing efforts for a wider distribution of our shares including participation in conferences, special programs and private meetings.  We continue to manage, coordinate and administer these outreach activities and we expect the expenses associated with these activities to decline upon conclusion of our continuous public offering on June 30, 2011.

We are also focused on building and enhancing our stockholder communications, investor relations and brand marketing programs as we prepare for the expected listing of our shares on the Nasdaq Capital Market by the end of 2011.  We believe it is important to develop these programs now as they will be the foundation of our aftermarket support initiatives once our shares become eligible for trading.  While some of these expenses may be one-time in nature, such as enhancements to our Web site and costs associated with updates to our continuous public offering and marketing materials, the majority of these expenses will be continuing in nature as we attempt to develop interest in the Company and an active trading market for our shares.
 
 
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A summary of the items comprising the increase in operating expenses of $1,024,387 for the year ended December 31, 2010, compared to the year ended December 31, 2009, is set forth below:
 
   
Years Ended
       
   
December 31,
   
December 31,
       
   
2010
   
2009
   
Increase
 
Operating Expenses
                 
Base management fees
  $ 218,876     $ 90,904     $ 127,972  
Incentive fees
    115,423       -       115,423  
Administrative expenses allocated from Investment Adviser
    404,633       269,384       135,249  
Legal and professional fees
    335,839       254,572       81,267  
Directors' fees
    108,000       99,000       9,000  
Stock transfer agent fees
    192,306       133,554       58,752  
Printing and fulfillment expenses
    108,192       25,501       82,691  
Postage and delivery expenses
    98,907       16,908       81,999  
Stock issuance expenses
    156,941       -       156,941  
General and administrative expenses
    291,885       116,792       175,093  
                         
Total Operating Expenses
  $ 2,031,002     $ 1,006,615     $ 1,024,387  
 
The increase of $127,972 in base management fees for the year ended December 31, 2010 compared to the year ended December 31, 2009 was the result of an increase in total assets on which the base management fee is calculated.  The increase in our total assets was primarily the result of net proceeds received from the sale of common stock in our continuous public offering.
   
The increase of $115,423 in incentive fees for the year ended December 31, 2010 compared to the year ended December 31, 2009 was the result of recording an incentive fee payable to our investment adviser on the unrealized appreciation of our NeoPhotonics and Livescribe portfolio company investments as of December 31, 2010, while we held no portfolio company investments with unrealized appreciation as of December 31, 2009.  The incentive fee is payable in arrears as of the end of each calendar year and equals 20% of our realized capital gains, if any, on a cumulative basis from inception through the end of each calendar year, computed net of all realized capital losses and unrealized capital depreciation on a cumulative basis, less the aggregate amount of any previously paid incentive fees. While we generated no realized capital gains on our portfolio company investments during 2009 or 2010 and were not required to pay an incentive fee for 2010, we accrued an incentive fee of $115,423 as of December 31, 2010 with respect to $577,116 of net unrealized appreciation as of such date.  Since the incentive fee is only payable based on realized capital gains (after reduction for realized capital losses and unrealized depreciation), this accrued incentive fee of $115,423 may differ from the actual incentive fee that may be paid to Keating Investments depending on whether the Company is ultimately able to dispose of its portfolio company investments and generate a net realized capital gain at least commensurate with the unrealized appreciation recorded as of December 31, 2010.
   
The increase of $135,249 in administrative expenses allocated from our investment adviser for the year ended December 31, 2010 compared to the year ended December 31, 2009 was primarily the result of: (i) the allocation to us of additional expenses associated with the management, coordination and administration of outreach activities designed to widen distribution of our shares in our continuous public offering, which expenses are expected to decline in conjunction with the conclusion of our continuous public offering on June 30, 2011, and (ii) the allocation to us of additional expenses associated with the management and implementation of our stockholder communications, investor relations and brand marketing initiatives.
   
The increase of $81,267 in legal and professional fees for the for the year ended December 31, 2010 compared to the year ended December 31, 2009 was primarily the result of: (i) an increase in audit and audit related expenses associated with the audit of our December 31, 2009 financial statements and reviews of our March 31, 2010, June 30, 2010 and September 30, 2010 financial statements, (ii) one-time professional fees for the enhancement and redesign of our Web site as we continue to implement our brand marketing strategy in anticipation of an expected listing of our shares by the end of 2011, (iii), fees paid to a third-party consulting firm engaged to assist us in documenting and testing our internal controls over financial reporting, and (iv) fees paid to a third-party valuation firm engaged to review preliminary portfolio company investment valuations prepared by the senior investment professionals of our investment adviser.
 
 
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The increase of $58,752 in stock transfer agent fees for the year ended December 31, 2010 compared to the year ended December 31, 2009 was primarily related to stock transfer agent fees for our continuous public offering being incurred for an entire 12 month period during 2010 while stock transfer agent fees were not incurred during 2009 until June 2009 when our continuous public offering commenced.
   
The increase of $82,691 in printing and fulfillment expenses for the year ended December 31, 2010 compared to the year ended December 31, 2009 was the result of: (i) an increase in the printing and production volume of periodic reports to our increasing stockholder base as required by state securities laws, (ii) an increase in the printing and production volume of other marketing and informational materials used in our investment origination activities, and (iii) an increase in fulfillment expenses related to inventory management and assembly of investor and broker-dealer kits and other marketing materials associated with our continuous public offering, which expenses are expected to decline following the conclusion of our continuous public offering on June 30, 2011.
   
The increase of $81,999 in postage and delivery expenses for the year ended December 31, 2010 compared to the year ended December 31, 2009 was primarily the result of an increase in the volume of kits and other marketing materials mailed to investors and broker-dealers in conjunction with our continuous public offering, which expenses are expected to decline following conclusion of our continuous public offering on June 30, 2011.
   
The increase of $156,941 in stock issuance expenses for year ended December 31, 2010 compared to the year ended December 31, 2009 was the result of expensing stock issuance costs associated with maintaining the registration of our continuous public offering (i.e., legal, accounting, printing and blue sky expenses), which expenses had, prior to the first closing under our continuous public offering, been capitalized as deferred offering costs and which are amortized as a reduction to paid-in capital ratably over the remaining term of the offering.
   
The increase of $175,093 in general and administrative expenses for the year ended December 31, 2010 compared to the year ended December 31, 2009 was primarily the result of: (i) an increase in travel and travel-related expenses directly related to our outreach activities designed to widen distribution of our shares in our continuous public offering, which expenses are expected to decline following conclusion of our continuous public offering on June 30, 2011, (ii) an increase in database and information service subscription expenses, and (iii) an increase in expenses associated with attending seminars and conferences resulting from our brand marketing initiatives.
 
A summary of the items comprising the increase in operating expenses of $463,650 for the year ended December 31, 2009 compared to the period from May 9, 2008 (Inception) to December 31, 2008, is set forth below:
 
         
Period from
       
         
May 9, 2008
       
   
Year Ended
   
(Inception) to
       
   
December 31,
   
December 31,
   
Increase
 
   
2009
   
2008
   
(Decrease)
 
Operating Expenses
                 
Base management fees
  $ 90,904     $ 11,990     $ 78,914  
Administrative expenses allocated from Investment Adviser
    269,384       28,041       241,343  
Legal and professional fees
    254,572       359,328       (104,756 )
Directors' fees
    99,000       53,189       45,811  
Stock transfer agent fees
    133,554       1,092       132,462  
Printing and fulfillment expenses
    25,501       19,187       6,314  
Postage and delivery expenses
    16,908       10,501       6,407  
General and administrative expenses
    116,792       59,637       57,155  
                         
Total Operating Expenses
  $ 1,006,615     $ 542,965     $ 463,650  
 
The increase of $78,914 in base management fees for the year ended December 31, 2009 compared to the period from May 9, 2008 (Inception) to December 31, 2008 was the result of the base management fee incurred for an entire 12 month period during 2009 based on total assets during this period, while the base management fee was only incurred for the period from November 13, 2008 to December 31, 2008 during the period from May 9, 2008 (Inception) to December 31, 2008.
 
 
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The increase of $241,343 in administrative expenses allocated from our investment adviser for the year ended December 31, 2009 compared to the period from May 9, 2008 (Inception) to December 31, 2008 was the result of such expenses being allocated to us from Keating Investments for an entire 12 month period during 2009, while such expenses were only allocated to us from Keating Investments for the period from November 13, 2008 to December 31, 2008 during the period from May 9, 2008 (Inception) to December 31, 2008.
   
The decrease of $104,756 in legal and professional fees for the year ended December 31, 2009 compared to the period from May 9, 2008 (Inception) to December 31, 2008 was primarily the result of a significant portion legal fees incurred during the year ended December 31, 2009 being classified as deferred offering costs related to the preparation and filing of the registration statement for our continuous public offering while the majority of legal and other professional fees we incurred in the period from May 9, 2008 (Inception) to December 31, 2008 related to our initial organization and formation as a business development company were expensed as incurred.
   
The increase of $45,811 in directors’ fees for the year ended December 31, 2009 compared to the period from May 9, 2008 (Inception) to December 31, 2008 was the result of directors’ fees being incurred for an entire 12 month period during 2009, while directors’ fees were only incurred from June 1, 2008 to December 31, 2008 during the period from May 9, 2008 (Inception) to December 31, 2008.
   
The increase of $132,462 in stock transfer agent fees for the year ended December 31, 2009 compared to the period from May 9, 2008 (Inception) to December 31, 2008 was the result of initial set-up and recurring stock transfer agent fees being incurred during 2009 commencing with our continuous public offering in June 2009, while only minor, administrative-related stock transfer agent fees were incurred during the period from May 9, 2008 (Inception) to December 31, 2008.
 
 
The increase of $57,155 in general and administrative expenses for the year ended December 31, 2009 compared to the period from May 9, 2008 (Inception) to December 31, 2008 was primarily the result of: (i) directors and officers insurance expenses being incurred for an entire 12 month period during 2009, while such expenses were only incurred from September 1, 2008 to December 31, 2008 during the period from May 9, 2008 (Inception) to December 31, 2008, and (ii) travel related expenses being incurred for an entire 12 month period during 2009, while such expenses were only incurred from June 1, 2008 to December 31, 2008 during the period from May 9, 2008 (Inception) to December 31, 2008.
 
Net Investment Loss.  For the years ended December 31, 2010 and 2009 and for the period from May 9, 2008 (Inception) to December 31, 2008, our net investment loss totaled $1,976,993, $995,978 and $528,960, respectively.

The increase of $981,015 in net investment loss for the year ended December 31, 2010 compared to the year ended December 31, 2009 is primarily attributable to an increase in operating expenses resulting from: (i) an increase in base management fees and administrative expenses allocated from our investment adviser, (ii) an increase in professional fees including audit fees and fees paid to a third-party valuation firm, (iii) an increase in stock transfer agent fees, printing and fulfillment expenses and postage and delivery expenses, all of which are primarily associated with our continuous public offering, which expenses are expected to decline following the conclusion of our continuous public offering on June 30, 2011, (iv) stock issuance expenses associated with maintaining the registration of our continuous public offering (i.e. legal, accounting, printing and blue sky), (v) the accrual of an incentive fee payable to our investment adviser as of December 31, 2010 based on unrealized appreciation on our portfolio company investments as of such date, and (vi) an increase in general and administrative expenses as discussed above.  

The increase of $467,018 in net investment loss for the year ended December 31, 2009 compared to the period from May 9, 2008 (Inception) to December 31, 2008  is primarily attributable to an increase in operating expenses resulting from: (i) an increase in base management fees and administrative expenses allocated from our investment adviser, (ii) an increase in stock transfer agent fees primarily associated with our continuous public offering, and (iii) an increase in general and administrative expenses as discussed above.  

Net Change in Unrealized Appreciation on Investments.  For the years ended December 31, 2010 and 2009 and for the period from May 9, 2008 (Inception) to December 31, 2008, the net change in unrealized appreciation on investments totaled $577,116, $0 and $0, respectively.

The net change in unrealized appreciation on investments for the year ended December 31, 2010 was the result of: (i) $550,000 in unrealized appreciation on our convertible preferred stock investment in NeoPhotonics, (ii) $28,705 in unrealized appreciation on our convertible preferred stock investment in Livescribe, and (iii) $1,589 in unrealized depreciation on our convertible preferred stock warrant investment in Livescribe.  Upon sale of any of our portfolio company investments, the value that is ultimately realized could be different from the aggregate fair value currently reflected in our financial statements, and this difference could be material.
 
 
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Net Decrease in Net Assets Resulting From Operations.  For the year ended December 31, 2010, the net decrease in our net assets resulting from operations was $1,399,877, or $1.01 per weighted average outstanding common share, which includes $577,116 in net unrealized appreciation on investments recorded during such period.
 
For the year ended December 31, 2009, the net decrease in our net assets resulting from operations was $995,978, or $1.75 per weighted average outstanding common share, and there was no unrealized appreciation or depreciation on investments during such period.

For the period from May 9, 2008 (Inception) to December 31, 2008, the net decrease in our net assets resulting from operations was $528,960, or $1.79 per weighted average outstanding common share, and there was no unrealized appreciation or depreciation on investments during such period.

Financial Condition, Liquidity and Capital Resources
 
In our initial private placement which was completed on November 12, 2008, we sold 569,800 shares of common stock at a price per share of $10.00, resulting in gross proceeds of $5,698,000 and net proceeds of $5,243,434 after payment of $454,566 in placement agent commissions and other offering costs.

On June 11, 2009, we commenced our continuous public offering pursuant to which we intend to sell from time-to-time up to 10 million shares of our common stock at an initial offering price of $10.00 per share, adjusted for volume discounts and commission waivers.  Our continuous public offering will conclude on June 30, 2011.  There can be no assurance that we will be able to sell all of the shares we are presently offering.  As of December 31, 2009, no shares of common stock had been sold and no proceeds had been received from our continuous public offering.

During the year ended December 31, 2010, we sold 2,290,399 shares of common stock in our continuous public offering at an average price of approximately $9.96 per share, resulting in gross proceeds of $22,809,653 and net proceeds of $20,613,587, after payment of $2,196,066 in dealer manager fees and commissions.  During 2011 through February 22, 2011, we sold an additional 851,177 shares of common stock in our continuous public offering at an average price of approximately $9.95 per share, resulting in gross proceeds of $8,469,970 and net proceeds of $7,660,599, after payment of $809,371 in dealer manager fees and commissions.

The following table summarizes the sales of our common stock under our continuous public offering by month since the offering commenced on June 11, 2009:
 
                     
Dealer Manager
       
   
Shares
   
Average Price
   
Gross
   
Fees and
   
Net
 
Month
 
Sold (1)
   
Per Share (1)
   
Proceeds
   
Commissions
   
Proceeds
 
                               
January 2010 (first closing)
    114,695     $ 10.00     $ 1,146,500     $ 114,243     $ 1,032,257  
February 2010
    54,638       9.99       546,000       54,261       491,739  
March 2010
    175,283       9.98       1,749,436       171,896       1,577,540  
April 2010
    151,554       9.84       1,491,050       127,062       1,363,988  
June 2010
    233,277       9.98       2,327,331       227,840       2,099,491  
July 2010
    113,780       9.99       1,136,483       112,457       1,024,026  
August 2010
    203,128       9.99       2,028,643       200,493       1,828,150  
September 2010
    146,716       9.95       1,459,215       138,771       1,320,444  
October 2010
    249,310       9.96       2,482,410       238,622       2,243,788  
November 2010
    371,395       9.96       3,697,520       354,967       3,342,553  
December 2010
    476,623       9.96       4,745,065       455,454       4,289,611  
January 2011
    315,143       9.97       3,141,484       305,195       2,836,289  
February 2011
    536,034       9.94       5,328,486       504,176       4,824,310  
                                         
      3,141,576     $ 9.96     $ 31,279,623     $ 3,005,437     $ 28,274,186  
 
(1)
All shares were sold at a price of either $9.30 or $10.00, depending on whether or not sales commissions were waived by
 
the dealer manager.
 
 
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We plan to invest the net proceeds from our continuous public offering in portfolio companies in accordance with our investment objective and strategy.  We anticipate that it will take us up to 12 to 24 months after conclusion of the continuous public offering to invest substantially all of the proceeds from the continuous public offering in accordance with our investment objective and strategy and depending on the availability of appropriate investment opportunities. We cannot assure you we will achieve our targeted investment pace.
 
We did not finalize or fund any portfolio company investments during 2008 or 2009.  During 2010, we made the following portfolio company investments:
 
On January 25, 2010, we completed a $1 million investment in the convertible preferred stock of NeoPhotonics.
   
On July 1, 2010, we completed a $500,500 investment in the convertible preferred stock and warrants of Livescribe.
   
On July 16, 2010, we completed a $999,991 investment in the convertible preferred stock of Solazyme.
   
·
On October 15, 2010, we completed a $1,100,000 investment in the convertible preferred stock of MBA Polymers.
   
During 2011 through the date of this annual report on Form 10-K, we made the following portfolio company investments;
   
On February 22, 2011, we made an additional investment of $900,000 in MBA Polymers in the same series of convertible preferred stock as our initial investment.
 
We anticipate making five to ten investments per year depending upon the amount of capital we have available for investment and on the availability of appropriate investment opportunities consistent with our investment objective and market conditions.

Prior to investing in debt and equity securities of portfolio companies, we will invest the net proceeds from our continuous public offering primarily in cash, cash equivalents, certificates of deposit, U.S. government securities and other high-quality investments that mature in one year or less from the date of investment, which we expect will earn only nominal yields.  Since we do not expect to generate significant interest or dividend income on our portfolio company investments, our ability to make distributions in our initial years of operation will be based on our ability to invest our capital in suitable portfolio companies in a timely manner and to sell our interests in these portfolio companies at a gain after they become public.  
 
We currently generate cash primarily from the net proceeds of our continuous public offering and our primary use of funds will be investments in portfolio companies, cash distributions to holders of our common stock, if any, and the payment of operating expenses.  We do not expect that our interest and dividend income from portfolio company investments will be significant and, as a result, we do not expect to generate net ordinary income. To date, none of our portfolio company investments have generated, nor are they expected to generate, interest or dividend income. Our primary source of investment income and possible distributions will be from net capital gains realized from the sale of our portfolio company investments.

The timing of any capital gains generated from the appreciation and sale of portfolio companies cannot be predicted, and we do not expect to generate capital gains on a level or uniform basis from quarter to quarter.  Distributions from realized net capital gains will typically be declared and paid at least annually. However, we may declare and pay periodic distributions which, in the aggregate, would be an estimate of the total net capital gains expected to be realized throughout the year.  During the pendency of our continuous public offering, we may also declare and pay periodic distributions in an amount reflecting all or a portion of any net unrealized appreciation on investments recorded on our books which, depending on the timing and amount of actual realization, may represent a return of capital.

Distributions to stockholders will be payable only when and as declared by our Board of Directors and will be paid out of assets legally available for distribution. On February 11, 2011, our Board of Directors declared a special cash distribution of $0.13 cents per share.  The distribution was paid on February 17, 2011 to our stockholders of record as of February 15, 2011.  As of the record date, there were 3,437,212 shares of common stock outstanding resulting in a cash distribution totaling approximately $446,837. This special cash distribution was paid based on the unrealized appreciation we had recorded on our NeoPhotonics investment and, as such, will be initially treated as a return of capital to our stockholders.  However, in the event we are able to sell all or a portion of our NeoPhotonics common shares at a gain during 2011 after the expiration of our six-month lock-up period, all or a portion of this special distribution may be reclassified at year end as a capital gain distribution to our stockholders.  We provide no assurance that we will be able to sell all or any portion of our NeoPhotonics common shares during 2011 and, even if such shares are sold, there is no assurance that we will be able to realize a gain on such sale.
 
 
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While we paid a $0.13 per share cash distribution to our stockholders on February 17, 2011 based on the unrealized appreciation we had recorded on our NeoPhotonics investment, we may not be able to pay any future distributions unless we are able to generate net capital gains realized from the sale of our portfolio company investments.  We cannot assure you that we will achieve investment results that will allow us to pay any dividends or distributions or to make a targeted level of cash distributions or year-to-year increases in cash distributions.
 
Our distributions may exceed our net ordinary income and realized net capital gains, particularly during the period before we have substantially invested the net proceeds from our continuous public offering or realized any net capital gains from the disposition of our portfolio company investments, and we can give no assurance as to when we will begin to realize any net capital gains from the sale of our portfolio company investments, if ever.  Distributions that represent a return of capital may lower your tax basis in our shares, or may be treated as a gain from the sale of such shares to the extent that such distributions exceed the basis in such shares, and reduce the amount of funds we have for investment in targeted assets.  However, we will not make any distributions representing a return of capital which would result in a total return of capital in excess of 10% of our total offering proceeds (i.e., the total gross proceeds received from the sale of our common stock).

As of December 31, 2010, we had cash resources of $18,253,299 (including cash, cash equivalents and certificates of deposit) and no indebtedness, other than accounts payable and accrued expenses incurred in the ordinary course of business, of $149,843, management fees, administrative expenses and reimbursable expenses payable to Keating Investments of $135,047, and incentives fees of $115,423 payable to Keating Investments based on the unrealized appreciation of our portfolio company investments.  As of December 31, 2009, we had cash resources of $3,367,918 (including cash, cash equivalents and certificates of deposit) and no indebtedness other than accounts payable and accrued expenses incurred in the ordinary course of business of $69,224 and management fees, administrative expenses and reimbursable expenses payable to Keating Investments of $114,667.  

As of December 31, 2010, our cash resources included $13,500,000 of certificates of deposit with original maturities of four weeks (maturing on January 6, 2011), which have been classified as Short-term Investments in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities included in “Item 8.  Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” and which have been valued by us at amortized cost as of December 31, 2010.  The remainder of our cash resources of $4,753,299 as of December 31, 2010 was held in depository accounts at Steele Street Bank & Trust, who serves as our custodian.   As of December 31, 2009, our cash resources included $3,000,000 of certificates of deposit with original maturities of four weeks (maturing on January 7, 2010), which have been classified as Short-term Investments in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities included in “Item 8.  Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” and which were valued by us at amortized cost as of December 31, 2009.  The remainder of our cash resources of $367,918 as of December 31, 2009 was held in depository accounts at Steele Street Bank & Trust.

As of December 31, 2010, we had net assets of $22,456,400 and, based on 2,860,299 shares of common stock outstanding, a net asset value per common share of $7.85.  As of December 31, 2009, we had net assets of $3,719,496 and, based on 569,900 shares of common stock outstanding, a net asset value per common share of $6.53.

Recent Developments

During 2011 through February 22, 2011, we had sales of common stock in our continuous public offering as follows:
 
                     
Dealer Manager
       
   
Shares
   
Average Price
   
Gross
   
Fees and
   
Net
 
Month
 
Sold (1)
   
Per Share (1)
   
Proceeds
   
Commissions
   
Proceeds
 
                               
January 2011
    315,143       9.97       3,141,484       305,195       2,836,289  
February 2011
    536,034       9.94       5,328,486       504,176       4,824,310  
                                         
      851,177     $ 9.95     $ 8,469,970     $ 809,371     $ 7,660,599  
 
(1)
All shares were sold at a price of either $9.30 or $10.00, depending on whether or not sales commissions were waived by
 
the dealer manager.
 
On February 2, 2011, NeoPhotonics, our first portfolio company, completed an initial public offering selling 7,500,000 shares of common stock at a price of $11.00 per share.  NeoPhotonics is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol NPTN.  Prior to the initial public offering, our NeoPhotonics preferred stock converted into 160,000 shares of NeoPhotonics common stock, which common shares are subject to a 180-day lock-up provision.
 
 
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On February 11, 2011, our Board of Directors declared a special cash distribution of $0.13 cents per share.  The distribution was paid on February 17, 2011 to our stockholders as of February 15, 2011. As of the record date, there were 3,437,212 shares of common stock outstanding resulting in a cash distribution totaling approximately $446,837. This special cash distribution was paid based on the unrealized appreciation we had recorded on our NeoPhotonics investment and, as such, will be initially treated as a return of capital to our stockholders.  However, in the event we are able to sell all or a portion of our NeoPhotonics common shares at a gain during 2011 after the expiration of our six-month lock-up period, all or a portion of this special distribution may be reclassified at year end as a capital gain distribution to our stockholders.  This special distribution resulted in a decrease in our net asset value per share.

 On February 22, 2011, we made an additional investment of $900,000 in MBA Polymers in the same series of convertible preferred stock as our initial investment.  Our additional investment was part of an aggregate additional offering of approximately $14.6 million.

Contractual Obligations
 
We have entered into a contract under which we have material future commitments, the Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement, pursuant to which Keating Investments has agreed to serve as our investment adviser and to furnish us with certain administrative services necessary to conduct our day-to-day operations. This agreement is terminable by either party upon proper notice. We pay Keating Investments a fee for its investment advisory services under the Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement consisting of two components; (i) a base management fee, and (ii) an incentive fee. We also reimburse Keating Investments for our allocable portion of overhead and other administrative expenses incurred by it in performing its administrative obligations under the Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement, including an allocable portion of the compensation of our Chief Financial Officer and Chief Compliance Officer, and their respective staff.  

If our Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement is terminated, our costs under a new agreement that we may enter into may increase. In addition, we will likely incur significant time and expense in locating alternative parties to provide the services we expect to receive under the Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement. Any new Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement would also be subject to approval by our stockholders.

Our Board of Directors (including the independent directors) is expected to consider the renewal of our Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement with Keating Investments for an additional year at its meeting scheduled for March 2011. If for any reason our independent directors elect not to renew our Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement by May 14, 2011, we may not be able to find a new investment adviser or hire internal management with similar expertise.  

 Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements
 
As of December 31, 2010, we have no off-balance sheet arrangements.

Related Parties

We have a number of business relationships with affiliated or related parties.  We have entered into the Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement with Keating Investments.  Timothy J. Keating, our President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors, is the managing member and majority owner of Keating Investments.   Ranjit P. Mankekar, our Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and a member of our Board of Directors, is also an executive officer of Keating Investments.  Frederic M. Schweiger our Chief Operating Officer, Chief Compliance Officer and Secretary, is also an executive officer and member of Keating Investments.  Kyle L. Rogers, our Chief Investment Officer, is also an executive officer and member of Keating Investments. We have also entered into a license agreement with Keating Investments, pursuant to which Keating Investments has granted us a non-exclusive license to use the name “Keating.” In addition, pursuant to the terms of the Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement, Keating Investments provides us with certain administrative services necessary to conduct our day-to-day operations.
 
Our investment adviser’s senior investment professionals, Messrs. Keating, Mankekar, Schweiger and Rogers, and the additional administrative personnel currently retained by Keating Investments, are expected to devote a majority of their business time to our operations. Currently, these senior investment professionals do not serve as principals of other investment funds affiliated with Keating Investments; however, they may do so in the future. If they do, persons and entities may in the future manage investment funds with investment objectives similar to ours. In addition, our current executive officers and directors, serve or may serve as officers, directors or principals of entities that operate in the same or related line of business as we do, including investment funds managed by our affiliates. Accordingly, we may not be given the opportunity to participate in certain investments made by investment funds managed by advisers affiliated with Keating Investments. In the event that Keating Investments or its affiliates provide investment advisory services to other entities, we expect that our management and our independent directors will attempt to resolve any conflicts in a fair and equitable manner taking into account factors that would include the investment objective, amount of assets under management and available for investment in new portfolio companies, portfolio composition and return expectations of us and any other entity, and other factors deemed appropriate.  However, in the event such conflicts do arise in the future, Keating Investments intends to allocate investment opportunities in a fair and equitable manner consistent with our investment objective and strategies so that we are not disadvantaged in relation to any other affiliate or client of Keating Investments.
 
 
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We rely on Keating Investments to manage our day-to-day activities and to implement our investment strategy. Keating Investments may in the future provide similar investment advisory services to other entities in addition to us.   As a result of these activities, Keating Investments, its employees and certain of its affiliates will have conflicts of interest in allocating their management time, services, and functions among us and any other business ventures in which they or any of their key personnel, as applicable, may become involved. In such case, Keating Investments and its employees may devote only as much of their time to our business as Keating Investments and its employees, in their judgment, determine is reasonably required, which may be substantially less than their full time.  This could result in actions that are more favorable to other affiliated entities than to us. In the event that Keating Investments provides investment advisory services to other entities, we intend to have our independent directors review our investment adviser’s performance periodically, but not less than annually, to assure that Keating Investments is fulfilling its obligations to us under the Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement, that any conflicts are handled in a fair and equitable manner and that Keating Investments has sufficient personnel to discharge fully its responsibilities to all activities in which they are involved.

As a business development company, we may be limited in our ability to invest in any portfolio company in which any fund or other client managed by Keating Investments, or any of its affiliates has an investment. We may also be limited in our ability to co-invest in a portfolio company with Keating Investments or one or more of its affiliates. Subject to obtaining exemptive relief from the SEC, we intend to co-invest with any such investment entity to the extent permitted by the 1940 Act, or the rules and regulations thereunder.
 
In addition, we have adopted a formal Code of Ethics that governs the conduct of our officers and directors. Our officers and directors also remain subject to the fiduciary obligations imposed by both the 1940 Act and applicable state corporate law. Finally, we pay Keating Investments our allocable portion of overhead and other expenses incurred by Keating Investments in performing its administrative obligations under the Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement, which creates conflicts of interest that our Board of Directors must monitor.

Information concerning related party transactions is included in the financial statements and related notes, appearing elsewhere in this annual report on Form 10-K.
 
Critical Accounting Policies

The preparation of financial statements and related disclosures in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements, and revenues and expenses during the periods reported. Actual results could materially differ from those estimates. We have identified the following items as critical accounting policies.
 
Valuation of portfolio investments. The most significant estimate inherent in the preparation of our financial statements is the valuation of our portfolio investments and the related amounts of unrealized appreciation and depreciation.  As of December 31, 2010 and December 31, 2009, approximately 18.51% and 0%, respectively, of our net assets represented investments in portfolio companies valued at fair value.  Value, as defined in Section 2(a)(41) of the 1940 Act, is: (i) the market price for those securities for which a market quotation is readily available, and (ii) for all other securities and assets, fair value is as determined in good faith by our Board of Directors.

Accounting Standards Codification Topic 820, “Fair Value Measurement and Disclosures,” (“ASC 820”) defines fair value as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date (exit price). In accordance with ASC 820, the Company uses a three-tier fair value hierarchy, which prioritizes the inputs used in measuring fair value as follows:
 
Level 1:  Observable inputs such as unadjusted quoted prices in active markets;
   
Level 2: Includes inputs such as quoted prices for similar securities in active markets and quoted prices for identical securities where there is little or no activity in the market; and
 
Level 3: Unobservable inputs for which little or no market data exists, therefore requiring an entity to develop its own assumptions.
 
 
74

 
As of December 31, 2010, all of our investments in portfolio companies were deemed to be Level 3 assets (see Note 3, Valuation of Investments, included in “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.”)

Determining fair value requires that judgment be applied to the specific facts and circumstances of each portfolio investment while employing a consistently applied valuation process for the types of investments we make. We are required to specifically value each individual investment on a quarterly basis.
 
The fair value of our equity investments for which market quotations are not readily available is determined based on various factors, including the enterprise value remaining for equity holders after the repayment of the portfolio company’s debt and other preference capital, and other pertinent factors such as recent offers to purchase a portfolio company, recent transactions involving the purchase or sale of the portfolio company’s equity securities, or other liquidity events. The determined equity values are generally discounted when we have a minority position, restrictions on resale, specific concerns about the receptivity of the capital markets to a specific company at a certain time, or other factors.  Equity investments for which market quotations are readily available are generally valued at the most recently available closing market price.

Enterprise value means the entire value of the company to a potential buyer, including the sum of the values of debt and equity securities used to capitalize the enterprise at a point in time. There is no one methodology to determine enterprise value and, in fact, for any one portfolio company, enterprise value is best expressed as a range of fair values, from which we derive a single estimate of enterprise value. To determine the enterprise value of a portfolio company, we analyze its historical and projected financial results and also use industry valuation benchmarks and public market comparables.  We also consider other events, including private mergers and acquisitions, a purchase transaction, public offering or subsequent debt or equity sale or restructuring, and include these events in the enterprise valuation process.  In addition, the trends of the portfolio company’s basic financial metrics from the time of the original investment until the measurement date are analyzed; material improvement of these metrics may indicate an increase in enterprise value, while material deterioration of these metrics may indicate a reduction in enterprise value.
 
The following is a description of the steps we take each quarter to determine the value of our portfolio investments. Investments for which market quotations are readily available are recorded in our financial statements at such market quotations. With respect to investments for which market quotations are not readily available, our Board of Directors undertakes a multi-step valuation process each quarter, as described below:
 
Our quarterly valuation process begins with each portfolio company or investment being initially valued by Keating Investments’ senior investment professionals responsible for the portfolio investment;
   
A nationally recognized third-party valuation firm engaged by our Board of Directors reviews these preliminary valuations at such times as determined by the Company’s Board of Directors, but in all cases a review will be conducted by the third-party valuation firm for each new portfolio company investment made during a calendar quarter and at least annually thereafter;
   
Our Valuation Committee reviews the preliminary valuations, and our investment adviser and the nationally recognized third-party valuation firm respond and supplement the preliminary valuation to reflect any comments provided by the Valuation Committee; and
   
Our Board of Directors discusses the valuations and determines, in good faith, the fair value of each investment in our portfolio for which market quotations are not readily available based on the input of our investment adviser, the nationally recognized third-party valuation firm, and our Valuation Committee.
 
Determination of fair values involves subjective judgments and estimates. Accordingly, this critical accounting policy expresses the uncertainty with respect to the possible effect of such valuations, and any change in such valuations, on our financial statements.

Deferred Offering Costs. Deferred offering costs are comprised of expenses directly related to our continuous public offering that were previously deferred and which are currently being amortized and charged against the gross proceeds of the continuous public offering, as a reduction to additional paid-in capital, on a straight-line basis beginning with the closing of the first common stock issuance on January 11, 2010 and continuing through the expiration of the offering period on June 30, 2011.  Offering expenses incurred subsequent to January 11, 2010 associated with maintaining the registration of our continuous public offering (i.e., legal, accounting, printing and blue sky) are expensed as incurred while other offering-related expenses are capitalized and subsequently amortized and charged against the gross proceeds of the continuous public offering on a straight-line basis over the remaining term of the offering.
 
 
75

 

Federal Income Taxes.  We have satisfied the requirements to qualify as a RIC and will elect to be treated as a RIC under Subchapter M of the Code for our 2010 taxable year when we file our 2010 tax return.  We also intend to qualify annually thereafter as a RIC.  In future years, if we do not meet the criteria to qualify as a RIC, we will be taxed as a regular corporation under Subchapter C of the Code. We intend to operate so as to continue to qualify to be taxed as a RIC and, as such, to not be subject to federal income tax on the portion of our net ordinary income and realized net capital gains distributed to stockholders. To qualify for RIC tax treatment, we are required to annually distribute at least 90% of our investment company taxable income. See “Business – Material U.S. Federal Income Tax Considerations.”

 Because federal income tax regulations differ from accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, distributions in accordance with tax regulations may differ from net investment income and realized gains recognized for financial reporting purposes. Differences may be permanent or temporary. Permanent differences are reclassified among capital accounts in the financial statements to reflect their tax character. Temporary differences arise when certain items of income, expense, gain or loss are recognized at some time in the future. Differences in classification may also result from the treatment of short-term gains as ordinary income for tax purposes.
 
Item 7A.                 Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk

Our business activities contain elements of risk.  We consider the primary types of market risk attributable to us to be valuation risk and interest rate risk.

Valuation Risk.  Value, as defined in Section 2(a)(41) of the 1940 Act, is (i) the market price for those securities for which market quotations are readily available and (ii) fair value as determined in good faith by, or under the direction of, the Board of Directors for all other assets.  (See Note 3, Valuation of Investments, included in “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.”)

Because there is initially no public market for the debt or equity securities of the private companies in which we invest, the valuation of these investments is estimated in good faith by our Board of Directors, in accordance with our valuation procedures.  In the absence of a readily ascertainable market value, the estimated value of our portfolio of debt and equity securities may differ significantly from the value that would be placed on the portfolio if a ready market for the debt and equity securities existed.  Changes in valuation of these debt and equity securities are recorded in our Statement of Operations as “Net change in unrealized appreciation (depreciation) on investments.”  Changes in valuation of any of our investments in privately held companies from one period to another may be volatile.

Interest Rate Risk.  As a significant portion of the net proceeds from our continuous public offering have been invested in short term investments, primarily certificates of deposit, pending subsequent investment in suitable portfolio companies in accordance with our investment objective, we have market risk exposure relating to fluctuations in interest rates.
 
As of December 31, 2010, $13,500,000 was invested in certificates of deposit with original maturities of four weeks (maturing on January 6, 2011) at an effective annualized interest rate of approximately 0.45%. Assuming no other changes to our holdings as of December 31, 2010, a one percentage point change in the underlying interest rate payable on our certificate of deposit investments as of December 31, 2010 would not have a material effect on the amount of interest income earned from our certificate of deposit investments for the following 90-day period.

            We have not engaged in any hedging activities since our inception and we do not expect to engage in any hedging activities with respect to the market risks to which we are exposed.
 
 
76

 
 
 Item 8.                 Financial Statements and Supplementary Data

Keating Capital, Inc.
Index to Financial Statements

 
Page(s)
Financial Statements
 
   
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
78
   
Statements of Assets and Liabilities as of December 31, 2010 and December 31, 2009
79
   
Statements of Operations for the years ended December 31, 2010 and 2009 and for the period from May 9, 2008 (Inception) to December 31, 2008
80
   
Statements of Changes in Net Assets for the years ended December 31, 2010 and 2009 and for the period from May 9, 2008 (Inception) to December 31, 2008
81
   
Statements of Cash Flows for the years ended December 31, 2010 and 2009 and for the period from May 9, 2008 (Inception) to December 31, 2008
82
   
Schedule of Investments as of December 31, 2010
83
   
Schedule of Investments as of December 31, 2009
84
   
Financial Highlights for the years ended December 31, 2010 and 2009 and for the period from May 9, 2008 (Inception) to December 31, 2008
85
   
Notes to Financial Statements
86
 
 
77

 
 
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
 
 

Board of Directors and Shareholders
Keating Capital, Inc.

We have audited the accompanying statements of assets and liabilities of Keating Capital, Inc. (the “Company,” a Maryland corporation), including the schedule of investments, as of December 31, 2010 and 2009, and the related statements of operations, cash flows, changes in net assets and financial highlights for each of the two years in the period ended December 31, 2010, and the period from May 9, 2008 (inception) through December 31, 2008. These financial statements and financial highlights are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements and financial highlights based on our audits.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States). Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements and financial highlights are free of material misstatement. The Company is not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform an audit of its internal control over financial reporting. Our audit included consideration of internal control over financial reporting as a basis for designing audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion. An audit also includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements.  Our procedures included confirmation of securities owned as of December 31, 2010 and 2009, by correspondence with the custodian and brokers.  An audit also includes assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

In our opinion, the financial statements and financial highlights referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of Keating Capital, Inc. as of December 31, 2010 and 2009, and the results of its operations, its cash flows, the changes in its net assets, and the financial highlights for each of the two years in the period ended December 31, 2010, and the period from May 9, 2008 (inception) through December 31, 2008 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.


/s/ GRANT THORNTON LLP

Denver, Colorado
February 28, 2011
 
 
78

 
 
Keating Capital, Inc.
Statements of Assets and Liabilities

 
   
December 31,
   
December 31,
 
   
2010
   
2009
 
             
Assets
           
Investments in portfolio company securities at fair value:
           
Non-control/non-affiliate investments
           
(cost: $3,600,491 at December 31, 2010)
  $ 4,177,607     $ -  
Short-term investments at fair value
               
(cost: $13,500,000 and $3,000,000 at December 31, 2010 and 2009, respectively)
    13,500,000       3,000,000  
Cash and cash equivalents
    4,753,299       367,918  
Prepaid expenses and other assets
    92,125       33,572  
Deferred offering costs
    333,682       501,897  
                 
Total Assets
    22,856,713       3,903,387  
                 
Liabilities
               
Base management fees payable to Investment Adviser
    90,631       29,468  
Incentive fees payable to Investment Adviser
    115,423       -  
Administrative expenses payable to Investment Adviser
    41,348       67,136  
Reimbursable expenses payable to Investment Adviser
    3,068       18,063  
Accounts payable
    80,275       32,113  
Accrued expenses and other liabilities
    69,568       37,111  
                 
Total Liabilities
    400,313       183,891  
                 
Net Assets
  $ 22,456,400     $ 3,719,496  
                 
Components of Net Assets:
               
Common stock, $0.001 par value; 200,000,000 shares authorized;
               
2,860,299 and 569,900 shares issued and outstanding as of
               
December 31, 2010 and 2009, respectively
  $ 2,860     $ 570  
Additional paid-in capital
    25,378,355       5,243,864  
Accumulated undistributed net investment loss
    (3,501,931 )     (1,524,938 )
Net unrealized appreciation on investments
    577,116       -  
                 
Net Assets
  $ 22,456,400     $ 3,719,496  
                 
Common Shares Outstanding
    2,860,299       569,900  
                 
Net Asset Value Per Outstanding Common Share
  $ 7.85     $ 6.53  

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
 
 
79

 
 
Keating Capital, Inc.
Statements of Operations

 
               
Period from
 
               
May 9, 2008
 
   
Years Ended
   
(Inception) to
 
   
December 31,
   
December 31,
   
December 31,
 
   
2010
   
2009
   
2008
 
                   
Investment Income
                 
Interest and dividend income:
                 
Certificate of deposit and money market investments
  $ 44,009     $ 10,637     $ 14,005  
Other income
    10,000       -       -  
                         
Total Investment Income
    54,009       10,637       14,005  
                         
Operating Expenses
                       
Base management fees
    218,876       90,904       11,990  
Incentive fees
    115,423       -       -  
Administrative expenses allocated from Investment Adviser
    404,633       269,384       28,041  
Legal and professional fees
    335,839       254,572       359,328  
Directors' fees
    108,000       99,000       53,189  
Stock transfer agent fees
    192,306       133,554       1,092  
Printing and fulfillment expenses
    108,192       25,501       19,187  
Postage and delivery expenses
    98,907       16,908       10,501  
Stock issuance expenses
    156,941       -       -  
General and administrative expenses
    291,885       116,792       59,637  
                         
Total Operating Expenses
    2,031,002       1,006,615       542,965  
                         
Net Investment Loss
    (1,976,993 )     (995,978 )     (528,960 )
                         
Net Change in Unrealized Appreciation on Investments
                       
Non-control/non-affiliate investments
    577,116       -       -  
                         
Net Change in Unrealized Appreciation On Investments
    577,116       -       -  
                         
Net Decrease in Net Assets Resulting From Operations
  $ (1,399,877 )   $ (995,978 )   $ (528,960 )
                         
Net Decrease in Net Assets Resulting from Operations
                       
Per Common Share
  $ (1.01 )   $ (1.75 )   $ (1.79 )
                         
Weighted Average Number of Common Shares Outstanding:
                       
Basic and Diluted
    1,383,537       569,900       294,824  
 
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
 
 
80

 
 
Keating Capital, Inc.
Statements of Changes in Net Assets

 
               
Period from
 
               
May 9, 2008
 
   
Years Ended
   
(Inception) to
 
   
December 31,
   
December 31,
   
December 31,
 
   
2010
   
2009
   
2008
 
                   
Changes in Net Assets from Operations
                 
Net investment loss
  $ (1,976,993 )   $ (995,978 )   $ (528,960 )
Net change in unrealized appreciation on investments
    577,116       -       -  
                         
Net Decrease in Net Assets Resulting from Operations
    (1,399,877 )     (995,978 )     (528,960 )
                         
Changes in Net Assets from Capital Stock Transactions
                       
Issuance of common stock in private offering:
                       
569,900 shares at $10.00 per share:
    -       -       5,699,000  
Issuance of common stock in continuous public offering:
                       
2,290,399 shares at an average price of $9.96 per share (1)
    22,809,653       -       -  
Offering costs from issuance of common stock
    (2,196,066 )     -       (454,566 )
Amortization of deferred offering costs
    (476,806 )     -       -  
                         
Net Increase in Net Assets Resulting From
                       
Capital Stock Transactions
    20,136,781       -       5,244,434  
                         
Net Increase (Decrease) in Net Assets
    18,736,904       (995,978 )     4,715,474  
                         
Net assets at beginning of period
    3,719,496       4,715,474       -  
                         
Net Assets at End of Period (2)
  $ 22,456,400     $ 3,719,496     $ 4,715,474  
 
(1)
All shares were sold at a price of either $9.30 or $10.00, depending on whether or not sales commissions were waived
 
by the dealer manager.
(2)
Net Assets at December 31, 2010, 2009 and 2008 include no accumulated undistributed net investment income and no
 
accumulated undistributed net realized gains.
 
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
 
 
81

 
 
Keating Capital, Inc.
Statements of Cash Flows

 
               
Period from
 
               
May 9, 2008
 
   
Years Ended
   
(Inception) to
 
   
December 31,
   
December 31,
   
December 31,
 
   
2010
   
2009
   
2008
 
                   
Cash Flows From Operating Activities
                 
Net decrease in net assets resulting from operations
  $ (1,399,877 )   $ (995,978 )   $ (528,960 )
Adjustments to reconcile net decrease in net assets resulting
                       
from operations to net cash used in operating activities:
                       
Net change in unrealized appreciation on investments
    (577,116 )     -       -  
Changes in operating assets and liabilities:
                       
(Increase) in prepaid expenses and other assets
    (58,553 )     (2,124 )     (31,448 )
Increase in base management fees payable to
                       
 Investment Adviser
    61,163       17,478       11,990  
Increase in incentive fees payable to Investment Adviser
    115,423       -       -  
(Decrease) increase in administrative expenses payable to
                       
Investment Adviser
    (25,788 )     39,095       28,041  
(Decrease) increase in reimbursable expenses payable to
                       
 Investment Adviser
    (14,995 )     4,188       13,875  
Increase (decrease) in accounts payable
    48,162       (3,670 )     35,783  
Increase in accrued expenses and other liabilities
    32,457       32,111       5,000  
                         
Net cash used in operating activities
    (1,819,124 )     (908,900 )     (465,719 )
                         
Cash Flows From Investing Activities
                       
Investments in portfolio companies
    (3,600,491 )     -       -  
Purchases of short-term investments
    (84,000,000 )     (16,703,814 )     (4,411,127 )
Proceeds from sales and maturities of short-term investments
    73,500,000       18,114,941       -  
                         
Net cash (used in) provided by investing activities
    (14,100,491 )     1,411,127       (4,411,127 )
                         
Cash Flows From Financing Activities
                       
Gross proceeds from issuance of common stock
    22,809,653       -       5,699,000  
Offering costs from issuance of common stock
    (2,196,066 )     -       (454,566 )
Additions to deferred stock offering costs
    (308,591 )     (501,897 )     -  
                         
Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities
    20,304,996       (501,897 )     5,244,434  
                         
Net increase in cash and cash equivalents
    4,385,381       330       367,588  
                         
Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of period
    367,918       367,588       -  
                         
Cash and cash equivalents, end of period
  $ 4,753,299     $ 367,918     $ 367,588  
                         
Supplemental Disclosure of Non-Cash Financing Activities
                       
Amortization of deferred offering costs
  $ 476,806     $ -     $ -  
 
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
 
 
82

 
 
Keating Capital, Inc.
Schedule of Investments as of December 31, 2010

 
                         
% of
 
Portfolio Company / Type of Investment (1)
 
Industry
 
Shares
   
Cost
   
Fair Value
   
Net Assets
 
                             
Non-Control/Non-Affiliate Investments (1)
                           
                             
Private Portfolio Companies:
                           
NeoPhotonics Corporation
                           
Series X Convertible Preferred Stock (3)(4)(7)
 
Technology Equipment
    10,000     $ 1,000,000     $ 1,550,000       6.90 %
                                     
Livescribe, Inc.
 
Consumer Products
                               
Series C Convertible Preferred Stock (3)(4)
    1,000,000       471,295       500,000       2.23 %
Series C Convertible Preferred Stock
                                   
Warrants (5)
        125,000       29,205       27,616       0.12 %
                                     
Solazyme, Inc.
 
Clean Technology
                               
Series D Convertible Preferred Stock (3)(4)
    112,927       999,991       999,991       4.45 %
                                     
MBA Polymers, Inc.
 
Clean Technology
                               
Series G Convertible Preferred Stock (3)(4)
    1,100,000       1,100,000       1,100,000       4.90 %
                                     
Total Non-Control/Non-Affiliate Investments (2)
                               
Private Portfolio Companies
              $ 3,600,491     $ 4,177,607       18.60 %
                                     
Short-Term Investments
                                   
Certificates of Deposit (6)
                                   
Maturing on January 6, 2011
                                   
Annual Percentage Yield of 0.45%
              $ 13,500,000     $ 13,500,000       60.12 %
                                     
Total Short-Term Investments
              $ 13,500,000     $ 13,500,000       60.12 %
 

(1)
Control investments are defined by the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "1940 Act"), as investments in which  more than 25% of the voting securities are owned or where the ability to nominate greater than 50% of the board representation is maintained.  Affiliate investments are defined by the 1940 Act as investments in which between 5% and 25% of the voting securities are owned.  Non-Control/Non-Affiliate investments are defined by the 1940 Act as investments that are neither Control Investments nor Affiliate Investments.
(2)
The aggregate cost basis for federal income tax purposes of Non-Control/Non-Affiliate investments is $3,600,491.  The gross unrealized appreciation based on the tax cost basis of these securities is $578,705.  The gross unrealized depreciation based on the tax cost basis of these securities is $1,589.
(3)
The shares of preferred stock represented by these investments are subject to legal restrictions on transfer pursuant to the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act") and may only be sold pursuant to a registration statement under the Securities Act or an available exemption from registration thereunder.  These shares are also subject to a contractual lock-up for a period of six months following completion of an initial public offering.
(4)
The shares of preferred stock represented by these investments carry a non-cumulative, preferred dividend payable when and if declared by the portfolio company's board of directors.  As no dividends have been declared or paid with respect to these investments, these investments are considered to be non-income producing.
(5)
The Warrants grant the holder the right to purchase shares of Series C convertible preferred stock at an exercise price of $0.50 per share. The Warrants have a contractual life of five years, expiring on June 30, 2015.
(6)
Fair value reflects amortized cost as of December 31, 2010.
(7)
On February 2, 2011, NeoPhotonics completed an initial public offering of its common stock at a price of $11.00 per share. Prior to the initial public offering, the Company’s Series X convertible preferred stock converted into 160,000 shares of NeoPhotonics common stock, which common shares are subject to a 180-day lockup provision (see Note 8).
 
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
 
 
83

 
 
Keating Capital, Inc.
Schedule of Investments as of December 31, 2009

 
               
% of
 
Portfolio Company / Type of Investment
 
Cost
   
Fair Value
   
Net Assets
 
                   
Short-Term Investments
                 
Certificates of Deposit (1)
                 
Maturing on January 7, 2010
                 
Annual Percentage Yield of 0.55%
  $ 3,000,000     $ 3,000,000       80.66 %
                         
Total Short-Term Investments
  $ 3,000,000     $ 3,000,000       80.66 %
 

(1)
Fair value reflects amortized cost as of December 31, 2009.
 
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
 
 
84

 
 
Keating Capital, Inc.
Financial Highlights

 
               
Period from
 
               
May 9, 2008
 
   
Years Ended
   
(Inception) to
 
   
December 31,
   
December 31,
   
December 31,
 
   
2010
   
2009
   
2008
 
                   
Per Common Share Data
                 
Net asset value, beginning of period (1)
  $ 6.53     $ 8.27     $ -  
                         
Net investment loss (2)
    (1.43 )     (1.75 )     (0.93 )
Net change in unrealized appreciation from investments (2)
    0.42       -       -  
                         
Net decrease in net assets resulting from operations (3)
    (1.01 )     (1.75 )     (0.93 )
                         
Capital stock transactions:
                       
Issuance of common stock in private offering (2)
    -       -       10.00  
Issuance of common stock in continuous public offering (4)
    4.26       -       -  
Offering costs from issuance of common stock (2)
    (1.59 )     -       (0.80 )
Amortization of deferred offering costs (2)
    (0.34 )     -       -  
                         
Net increase in net assets from capital stock transactions
    2.33       -       9.20  
                         
Net asset value, end of period (1)
  $ 7.85     $ 6.53     $ 8.27  
                         
Common shares outstanding, beginning of period
    569,900       569,900       -  
Common shares outstanding, end of period
    2,860,299       569,900       569,900  
Weighted average common shares outstanding during period
    1,383,537       569,900       294,824  
Total return based on change in net asset value (5)(6)(7)
    20.21 %     -21.04 %     -11.08 %
                         
Supplemental Data and Ratios
                       
Net assets, beginning of period
  $ 3,719,496     $ 4,715,474     $ -  
Net assets, end of period
  $ 22,456,400     $ 3,719,496     $ 4,715,474  
Average net assets during period
  $ 13,087,948     $ 4,217,485     $ 2,357,737  
Ratio of operating expenses to average net assets (8)
    15.52 %     23.87 %     35.62 %
Ratio of net investment loss to average net assets (8)
    -15.11 %     -23.62 %     -34.70 %
Portfolio turnover (9)
    -       -       -  
 
(1)
Based on total shares outstanding at the beginning and end of the corresponding period.
(2)
Based on weighted average shares outstanding during the period for the years ended December 31, 2010 and 2009 and total shares outstanding at the end of the period for the period from May 9, 2008 (Inception) to December 31, 2008. If net investment loss for the period from May 9, 2008 (Inception) to December 31, 2008 is calculated using weighted average shares outstanding during the period, the resulting net investment loss per share is $1.79.
(3)
Net decrease in net assets resulting from operations per share for the years ended December 31, 2010 and 2009 and for the period from May 9, 2008 (Inception) to December 31, 2008 include rounding adjustments to reconcile the change in net asset value per share for each period.
(4)
Represents the average increase in net asset value attributable to each share issued during the year ended December 31, 2010.
(5)
The total return calculations for the years ended December 31, 2010 and 2009 were based solely on the changes in the Company's net asset values.  For the years ended December 31, 2010 and 2009, no distributions were paid with respect to the Company's shares.
(6)
Total return for the years ended December 31, 2010 and 2009 was calculated as the change in net asset value for each period, divided by the net asset value per share at the beginning of each period.
(7)
Total return for the period from May 9, 2008 (Inception) through December 31, 2008 was calculated as the change in net asset value based on an initial investment at $9.30 per share (which represents the offering price per share in the Company's initial private placement, net of placement agent commissions) to the net asset value per share on December 31, 2008, divided by the initial private placement price of $9.30 per share.
(8)
Ratios for the Period from May 9, 2008 (Inception) to December 31, 2008 have been annualized.
(9)
For the year ended December 31, 2010, the only investment activity subject to the calculation of portfolio turnover was an aggregate of $3,600,491 in portfolio company investments.  As there were no sales of portfolio company investments during the year, there was no portfolio turnover.  For the year ended December 31, 2010, there was no investment activity subject to the calculation of portfolio turnover.
 
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
 
 
85

 
 
 Keating Capital, Inc.
Notes to Financial Statements

 
1.
Organization
   
 
Keating Capital, Inc. (“Keating Capital” or the “Company”) was incorporated on May 9, 2008 under the laws of the State of Maryland and is an externally managed, non-diversified, closed-end management investment company that has elected to be regulated as a business development company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”), as of November 20, 2008. During 2010, the Company satisfied the requirements to qualify as a regulated investment company (“RIC”).  The Company will elect to be treated as a RIC under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”) for its 2010 taxable when it files its 2010 tax return (see Federal and State Income Taxes under Note 2).  Prior to its 2010 taxable year, the Company was taxable as a regular corporation under Subchapter C of the Code.
   
 
The Company seeks to invest principally in equity securities, including convertible preferred securities, and other debt securities convertible into equity securities, of primarily non-public U.S.-based companies.  Under the Company’s investment process, it typically makes a single investment, principally consisting of convertible preferred stock, convertible debt or other equity, after it is satisfied that a potential portfolio company is committed to and capable of becoming public and obtaining an exchange listing within the Company’s desired timeframes and has substantially completed certain audit and governance requirements to the Company’s satisfaction prior to the closing of the Company’s investment.
   
 
Keating Investments, LLC (“Keating Investments” or the “Investment Adviser”) serves as the Company’s external investment adviser and also provides the Company with administrative services necessary for it to operate.  In this capacity, Keating Investments is primarily responsible for the selection, evaluation, structure, valuation and administration of the Company’s investment portfolio, subject to the supervision of the Company’s Board of Directors.  Keating Investments is a registered investment adviser under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended.
   
2.
Significant Accounting Policies
   
 
Consolidation
 
Under the 1940 Act rules and the regulations pursuant to Article 6 of Regulation S-X, the Company is precluded from consolidating any entity other than another investment company or an operating company that provides substantially all of its services and benefits to the Company. The Company’s financial statements include only the accounts of Keating Capital as the Company has no subsidiaries.
   
 
Reclassifications
 
For the year ended December 31, 2010, the Company separately classified Stock Transfer Agent Fees, Printing and Fulfillment Expenses and Postage and Delivery Expenses as individual line items in its Statement of Operations.  Stock Transfer Agent Fees were previously included as a component of Legal and Professional Fees, and Printing and Fulfillment Expenses and Postage and Delivery Expenses were previously included as components of General and Administrative Expenses in the Statement of Operations.  For comparative purposes, these line items have also been separately classified in the Company’s Statement of Operations for the year ended December 31, 2009 and for the period from May 9, 2008 (Inception) to December 31, 2008.
   
 
Use of Estimates
 
The preparation of financial statements in conformity with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles in the United States of America (“GAAP”) requires the Company’s management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of income and expenses during the reported period. Actual results could differ from these estimates and the differences could be material.  The Company considers its significant estimates to include the fair value of investments in portfolio company securities.
   
 
Valuation of Investments
 
Investments are stated at value as defined under the 1940 Act, in accordance with the applicable regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) and in accordance with Accounting Standards Codification Topic 820, “Fair Value Measurement and Disclosures,” (“ASC 820”).  Value, as defined in Section 2(a)(41) of the 1940 Act, is: (i) the market price for those securities for which a market quotation is readily available, and (ii) the fair value as determined in good faith by, or under the direction of, the Board of Directors for all other assets (see Note 3).
 
 
86

 
 
Keating Capital, Inc.
Notes to Financial Statements

 
 
At December 31, 2010, the Company’s financial statements included portfolio company investments valued at $4,177,607, with a cost of $3,600,491.  The fair value of the Company’s portfolio company investments was determined in good faith by the Company’s Board of Directors and in accordance with ASC 820.  Upon sale of the Company’s portfolio company investments, the value that is ultimately realized could be different from what is currently reflected in the Company’s financial statements, and this difference could be material.
   
 
Portfolio Company Investment Classification
 
The Company classifies its portfolio company investments in accordance with the requirements of the 1940 Act. Under the 1940 Act, “Control Investments” are defined as investments in which the Company owns more than 25% of the voting securities or has rights to maintain greater than 50% of the board representation. Under the 1940 Act, “Affiliate Investments” are defined as investments in which the Company owns between 5% and 25% of the voting securities. Under the 1940 Act, “Non-Control/Non-Affiliate Investments” are defined as investments that are neither Control Investments nor Affiliate Investments.
   
 
Cash and Cash Equivalents
 
Cash and cash equivalents are comprised of demand deposits.  Investments in certificates of deposit, which have original maturities of 90 days or less, are separately classified as short-term investments.
   
 
Deferred Offering Costs
 
Deferred offering costs are comprised of expenses directly related to the continuous public offering of the Company’s common stock that were previously deferred and which are currently being amortized and charged against the gross proceeds of the continuous public offering, as a reduction to additional paid-in capital, on a straight-line basis beginning with the closing of the first common stock issuance on January 11, 2010 and continuing through the expiration of the offering period on June 30, 2011.  Offering expenses incurred subsequent to January 11, 2010 associated with maintaining the registration of the continuous public offering (i.e., legal, accounting, printing and blue sky) are expensed as incurred while other offering-related expenses are capitalized and subsequently amortized and charged against the gross proceeds of the continuous public offering on a straight-line basis over the remaining term of the offering (see Note 6).
   
 
Concentration of Credit Risk
 
The Company may place its cash and cash equivalents with various financial institutions and, at times, cash held in depository accounts at such institutions may exceed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insured limit.
   
 
Securities Transactions
 
Securities transactions are accounted for on the date the transaction for the purchase or sale of the securities is entered into by the Company (i.e., trade date).  Securities transactions outside conventional channels, such as private transactions, are recorded as of the date the Company obtains the right to demand the securities purchased or to collect the proceeds from a sale, and incurs an obligation to pay for securities purchased or to deliver securities sold, respectively.
   
 
Interest and Dividend Income
 
Interest income from certificates of deposit and other short-term investments is recorded on an accrual basis to the extent such amounts are expected to be collected, and accrued interest income is evaluated periodically for collectability.
   
 
The Company’s preferred equity investments may pay fixed or adjustable rate dividends and will generally have a “preference” over common equity in the payment of dividends and the liquidation of a portfolio company's assets. In order to be payable, distributions on such preferred equity must be declared by the portfolio company's board of directors.  Dividend income from preferred equity investments in portfolio companies is recorded when dividends are declared or at the point an obligation exists for a portfolio company to make a distribution.
   
 
No dividend income from portfolio company investments was recorded for the years ended December 31, 2010 and 2009 or for the period from May 9, 2008 (Inception) to December 31, 2008.
 
 
87

 
 
Keating Capital, Inc.
Notes to Financial Statements

 
 
Other Income
 
Other income is comprised of fees, if any, for due diligence, structuring, transaction services, consulting services and management services rendered to portfolio companies and prospective portfolio companies.  For services that are separately identifiable from the Company’s investment, income is recognized as earned, which is generally when the investment or other applicable transaction closes, or when the services are rendered if payment is not subject to the closing of an investment transaction.
   
 
During the year ended December 31, 2010, the Company recorded $10,000 in other income representing a non-refundable due diligence fee received from a prospective portfolio company in December of 2009, which was initially recorded as deferred income and was subsequently recognized as income when the proposed investment transaction failed to close in February 2010.
   
 
Realized Gain or Loss and Unrealized Appreciation or Depreciation of Portfolio Investments
 
Realized gain or loss is recognized when an investment is disposed of and is computed as the difference between the Company's cost basis in the investment at the disposition date and the net proceeds received from such disposition.  Realized gains and losses on investment transactions are determined by specific identification.  Unrealized appreciation or depreciation is computed as the difference between the fair value of the investment and the cost basis of such investment.
   
 
Federal and State Income Taxes
 
During 2010, the Company satisfied the requirements to qualify as a RIC under Subchapter M of the Code and will elect to be treated as a RIC for U.S. federal income tax purposes for its 2010 taxable year when it files its 2010 tax return.  As a RIC, the Company generally will not have to pay corporate-level federal income taxes on any investment company taxable income (which is generally the Company’s net ordinary income plus the excess, if any, of realized net short-term capital gains over realized net long-term capital losses) or any realized net capital gains (which is generally realized net long-term capital gains in excess of realized net short-term capital losses) that the Company distributes to its stockholders from its taxable earnings and profits. To obtain and maintain RIC tax treatment, the Company must meet specified source-of-income and asset diversification requirements and distribute annually at least 90% of its investment company taxable income. In order to avoid certain excise taxes imposed on RICs, the Company currently intends to distribute during each calendar year an amount at least equal to the sum of: (i) 98% of its ordinary income for the calendar year, (ii) 98.2% of its capital gains in excess of capital losses for the one-year period ending on October 31 of the calendar year, and (iii) any ordinary income and net capital gains for preceding years that were not distributed during such years.  The Company has made no provision for income taxes as it will elect to be treated as a RIC for its 2010 taxable year and did not generate any investment company taxable income or realized net capital gains during the year ended December 31, 2010
   
 
Prior to its 2010 taxable year, the Company was taxed as a C corporation.  A corporation that converts to taxation as a RIC may hold assets (including intangible assets not reflected on the balance sheet, such as goodwill) with “built-in gains,” which are assets whose fair market value as of the effective date of the election exceeds their tax bases.  In general, a corporation that converts to taxation as a RIC must pay corporate level tax on any of the net built-in gains it recognizes during the 10-year period beginning on the effective date of its election to be treated as a RIC.  Alternatively, the corporation may elect to recognize all of its built-in gain at the time of its conversion and pay tax on the built-in gain at that time.  As of December 31, 2009, the Company did not have any built-in gains and, accordingly, it does not anticipate having to pay any corporate level tax as a result of its election to be treated as a RIC beginning with its 2010 taxable year.
   
 
A corporation that converts to taxation as a RIC is also required, by the end of its first taxable year as a RIC, to eliminate the earnings and profits it may have accumulated while it was taxable as a C corporation. This is accomplished by paying to its stockholders in the first quarter of the tax year for which it makes a RIC election a cash dividend representing all of its accumulated earnings and profits (if any) for the period from inception through the end of the prior tax year.  For the period from inception through December 31, 2009, while the Company was taxable as a C corporation, it generated a cumulative net operating loss and, accordingly, the Company will not be required to make any distributions to satisfy this requirement to eliminate accumulated earnings and profits.
 
 
88

 
 
Keating Capital, Inc.
Notes to Financial Statements

 
 
Accounting Standards Codification Topic 740, “Income Taxes,” (“ASC 740”) provides guidance for how uncertain tax positions should be recognized, measured, presented and disclosed in a Company’s financial statements.  ASC 740 requires the evaluation of tax positions taken or expected to be taken in the course of preparing the Company’s tax returns to determine whether the tax positions are “more-likely-than-not” of being sustained by the applicable tax authority. Tax positions deemed to meet a “more-likely-than-not” threshold would be recorded as a tax benefit or expense in the applicable period. Although the Company files federal and state tax returns, its major tax jurisdiction is federal. The 2008, 2009 and 2010 federal tax years for the Company remain subject to examination by the Internal Revenue Service.
   
 
As of December 31, 2010 and 2009, the Company had not recorded a liability for any unrecognized tax benefits.  Management’s evaluation of uncertain tax positions may be subject to review and adjustment at a later date based upon factors including, but not limited to, an on-going analysis of tax laws, regulations and interpretations thereof.
   
 
The aggregate cost of portfolio company securities for federal income tax purposes and portfolio company securities with unrealized appreciation and depreciation based on tax cost basis, were as follows as of December 31, 2010 and 2009:
 
     
December 31,
   
December 31,
 
     
2010
   
2009
 
               
 
Aggregate cost of portfolio company securities
           
 
for federal income tax purposes
  $ 3,600,491     $ -  
                   
 
Gross unrealized appreciation of portfolio company securities
    578,705       -  
 
Gross unrealized depreciation of portfolio company securities
    (1,589 )     -  
                   
 
Net unrealized appreciation of portfolio company securities
  $ 577,116     $ -  

 
Dividends and Distributions
 
Dividends and distributions to common stockholders are recorded when declared. No dividends or distributions were declared or paid during the period from May 9, 2008 (Inception) to December 31, 2010.
   
 
Net realized capital gains, if any, after reduction for any incentives fees payable to the investment adviser, are expected to be distributed at least annually.  In the event the Company retains some or all of its realized net capital gains, including amounts retained to pay incentive fees to the investment adviser, the Company will likely designate the retained amount as a deemed distribution to stockholders. In such case, among other consequences, the Company will pay corporate-level tax on the retained amount, each U.S. stockholder will be required to include its share of the deemed distribution in income as if it had been actually distributed to the U.S. stockholder, and the U.S. stockholder will be entitled to claim a credit or refund equal to its allocable share of the corporate-level tax the Company pays on the retained realized net capital gain.
   
 
On February 11, 2011, the Company’s Board of Directors declared a special cash distribution of $0.13 cents per share.  The distribution was paid on February 17, 2011 to the Company’s stockholders of record as of February 15, 2011 (see Note 8).
   
 
Per Share Information
 
Net changes in net assets resulting from operations per common share, or basic earnings per share, are calculated using the weighted average number of common shares outstanding for the period presented. Diluted earnings per share are not presented as there are no potentially dilutive securities outstanding.
   
 
Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements
 
From time to time, new accounting pronouncements are issued by the FASB or other standards setting bodies that are adopted by the Company as of the specified effective date. Unless otherwise discussed, the Company believes that the impact of recently issued standards that are not yet effective will not have a material impact on its financial statements upon adoption.
 
 
89

 
 
Keating Capital, Inc.
Notes to Financial Statements

 
 
In January 2010, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update No. 2010-06 (“ASU 2010-06”), Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures (Topic 820), Improving Disclosures about Fair Value Measurements.  ASU 2010-06 requires reporting entities to make new disclosures about recurring and nonrecurring fair value measurements, including significant transfers into and out of Level 1 and Level 2 fair value measurements and information on purchases, sales, issuances and settlements, on a gross basis, in the reconciliation of Level 3 fair value measurements.  ASU 2010-06 also requires disclosure of fair value measurements by “class” instead of by “major category” as well as any changes in valuation techniques used during the reporting period.  For disclosures of Level 1 and Level 2 activity, fair value measurements by “class” and changes in valuation techniques, ASU 2010-06 is effective for interim and annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2009.  The adoption of this portion of ASU 2010-06 on January 1, 2010, did not have a material impact on the Company's financial condition or results of operations.  For the reconciliation of Level 3 fair value measurements, this portion of ASU 2010-06 is effective for interim and annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2010.  The adoption of this portion of ASU 2010-06 is not expected to have a material impact on the Company's financial condition or results of operations.
   
3.
Valuation of Investments
 
The 1940 Act requires periodic valuation of each investment in the Company’s portfolio to determine the Company’s net asset value. Under the 1940 Act, unrestricted securities with readily available market quotations are to be valued at the current market value; all other assets must be valued at fair value as determined in good faith by or under the direction of the Board of Directors.
   
 
The following is a description of the steps the Company takes each quarter to determine the value of the Company’s portfolio investments. Investments for which market quotations are readily available are recorded in the Company’s financial statements at such market quotations. With respect to investments for which market quotations are not readily available, the Company’s Board of Directors undertakes a multi-step valuation process each quarter, as described below:

 
The Company’s quarterly valuation process begins with each portfolio company or investment being initially valued by Keating Investments’ senior investment professionals responsible for the portfolio investment;
     
 
A nationally recognized third-party valuation firm engaged by the Company’s Board of Directors reviews these preliminary valuations at such times as determined by the Company’s Board of Directors, but in all cases a review will be conducted by the third-party valuation firm for each new portfolio company investment made during a calendar quarter and at least annually thereafter;
     
 
The Company’s Valuation Committee reviews the preliminary valuations, and the Company’s investment adviser and the nationally recognized third-party valuation firm respond and supplement the preliminary valuation to reflect any comments provided by the Valuation Committee; and
     
 
The Company’s Board of Directors discusses the valuations and determines, in good faith, the fair value of each investment in the Company’s portfolio for which market quotations are not readily available based on the input of the Company’s investment adviser, the nationally recognized third-party valuation firm and the Company’s Valuation Committee.
 
 
Investment Categories and Approaches to Determining Fair Value
 
ASC 820 defines fair value as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date (exit price). In accordance with ASC 820, the Company uses a three-tier fair value hierarchy, which prioritizes the inputs used in measuring fair value as follows:
 
 
Level 1:  Observable inputs such as unadjusted quoted prices in active markets;
     
 
Level 2: Includes inputs such as quoted prices for similar securities in active markets and quoted prices for identical securities where there is little or no activity in the market; and
     
 
Level 3: Unobservable inputs for which little or no market data exists, therefore requiring an entity to develop its own assumptions.
 
 
90

 
 
Keating Capital, Inc.
Notes to Financial Statements

 
 
The Company applies the framework for determining fair value as described above to the valuation of investments in each of the following categories:
   
 
Short-Term Investments
 
Short-term investments, which include certificates of deposit with original maturities of 90 days or less, are valued at amortized cost, which approximates fair value. The amortized cost method involves recording a security at its cost (i.e., principal amount plus any premium and less any discount) on the date of purchase and thereafter amortizing/accreting that difference between the principal amount due at maturity and cost assuming a constant yield to maturity as determined at the time of purchase.
   
 
During the year ended December 31, 2010, the Company’s short term investments were comprised exclusively of investments in certificates of deposit with four week maturities, which the Company typically purchases each month upon maturity of existing certificates of deposit, resulting in cumulative purchases totaling $84,000,000 and cumulative maturities totaling $73,500,000.  During the year ended December 31, 2009, the Company’s short term investments were comprised of investments in certificates of deposit with four week maturities and investments in money market funds, with cumulative purchases of $16,703,814 and cumulative sales of $18,114,941.  During the period from May 9, 2008 (Inception) through December 31, 2008, the Company’s short term investments were comprised of Investments in money market funds, with cumulative purchases of $4,411,127 and no sales.
   
 
Equity Investments
 
Equity investments for which market quotations are readily available will generally be valued at the most recently available closing market prices.
   
 
The fair value of the Company’s equity investments for which market quotations are not readily available (including investments in convertible preferred stock) is determined based on various factors, including the enterprise value remaining for equity holders after the repayment of the portfolio company’s debt and other preference capital, and other pertinent factors such as recent offers to purchase a portfolio company, recent transactions involving the purchase or sale of the portfolio company’s equity securities, or other liquidity events. The determined equity values are generally discounted when the Company has a minority position, when there are restrictions on resale, when there are specific concerns about the receptiveness of the capital markets to a specific company at a certain time, or other factors.
   
 
Enterprise value means the entire value of the company to a potential buyer, including the sum of the values of debt and equity securities used to capitalize the enterprise at a point in time. There is no one methodology to determine enterprise value and, in fact, for any one portfolio company, enterprise value is best expressed as a range of fair values, from which the Company derives a single estimate of enterprise value. To determine the enterprise value of a portfolio company, the Company analyzes the portfolio company’s historical and projected financial results and also uses industry valuation benchmarks and public market comparables.  The Company also considers other events, including private mergers and acquisitions, a purchase transaction, public offering or subsequent debt or equity sale or restructuring, and includes these events in the enterprise valuation process.  In addition, the trends of the portfolio company’s basic financial metrics from the time of the original investment until the measurement date are analyzed; material improvement of these metrics may indicate an increase in enterprise value, while material deterioration of these metrics may indicate a reduction in enterprise value.
   
 
The fair value of common and preferred stock warrants is determined by using the Black-Scholes option pricing model.
   
 
Portfolio Company Investments
 
On January 25, 2010, the Company made a $1,000,000 investment in the Series X convertible preferred stock of NeoPhotonics Corporation (“NeoPhotonics”).  NeoPhotonics is headquartered in San Jose, California and develops and manufactures photonic integrated circuit based components, modules and subsystems for use in telecommunications networks.   On February 2, 2011, NeoPhotonics completed an initial public offering of its common stock at a price of $11.00 per share.  Prior to the initial public offering, the Company’s preferred stock converted into 160,000 shares of NeoPhotonics common stock, which common shares are subject to a 180-day lock-up provision (see Note 8).

 
91

 
 
Keating Capital, Inc.
Notes to Financial Statements

 
 
On July 1, 2010, the Company made a $500,500 investment in the Series C convertible preferred stock and warrants of Livescribe, Inc (“Livescribe”). Livescribe is a private company headquartered in Oakland, California and is a developer and marketer of a mobile, paper-based computing platform consisting of smartpens, dot paper, smartpen applications, accessories, desktop software, an online community and development tools.   For financial reporting purposes, the Series C convertible preferred stock was assigned a cost of $471,295 and the warrants were assigned a cost of $29,205 based on the fair value of the warrants as of the initial investment date calculated using the Black-Scholes option pricing model.
   
 
On July 16, 2010, the Company made a $999,991 investment in the Series D convertible preferred stock of Solazyme, Inc. (“Solazyme”).  Solazyme is a private company headquartered in South San Francisco, California and is considered a leader in the development and commercialization of algal oil and bioproducts for the fuels and chemicals, nutritionals and health sciences markets.
   
 
On October 15, 2010, the Company made a $1,100,000 investment in the Series G convertible preferred stock of MBA Polymers, Inc. (“MBA Polymers”).  MBA Polymers is a private company headquartered in Richmond, California and is a global manufacturer of recycled plastics sourced from end of life durable goods, such as computers, electronics, appliances and automobiles.  On February 22, 2011, the Company made an additional $900,000 investment in MBA Polymers Series G convertible preferred stock (see Note 8).
   
 
Since NeoPhotonics, Livescribe, Solazyme and MBA Polymers were private companies for which market quotations for their shares were not readily available as of December 31, 2010, the fair value of the Company’s investments in each of these companies was determined in accordance with the Company’s valuation policy for such types of equity investments, including a review of the fair value of each investment being performed by a nationally recognized third-party valuation firm.
   
 
Except for the Company’s investments in NeoPhotonics, Livescribe, Solazyme and MBA Polymers, there were no other purchases of equity investments during the years ended December 31, 2010 , 2009 and during the period from May 9, 2008 (Inception) through December 31, 2008.  There were no sales of equity investments during the years ended December 31, 2010, 2009 and during the period from May 9, 2008 (Inception) through December 31, 2008.
   
 
Fair Value of Investments
 
Each of the Company’s portfolio company investments were categorized as Level 3 in the fair value hierarchy as of December 31, 2010.  The following table categorizes the Company’s short-term investments and portfolio company investments measured at fair value based upon the lowest level of significant input used in the valuation as of December 31, 2010 and 2009:

                           
     
Quoted Prices In
   
Significant Other
   
Significant
       
     
Active Markets
   
Observable Inputs
   
Unobservable Inputs
   
Total
 
 Description  
(Level 1)
   
(Level 2)
   
(Level 3)
   
Fair Value
 
                           
As of December 31, 2010                        
Private Portfolio Company Securities:                        
 
Preferred Stock
  $ -     $ -     $ 4,149,991     $ 4,149,991  
 
Preferred Stock Warrants
    -       -       27,616       27,616  
                                   
Short-Term Investments:                                
 
Certificates of Deposit (1)
                               
 
(Maturing on January 6, 2011)
    -       13,500,000       -       13,500,000  
                                   
 
Total Investments at Fair Value
  $ -     $ 13,500,000     $ 4,177,607     $ 17,677,607  
                                   
As of December 31, 2009                                
Short-Term Investments:                                
 
Certificates of Deposit (1)
                               
 
(Maturing on January 7, 2010)
  $ -     $ 3,000,000     $ -     $ 3,000,000  
                                   
 
Total Investments at Fair Value
  $ -     $ 3,000,000     $ -     $ 3,000,000  
 
(1)
Fair value reflects amortized cost as of December 31, 2010 and 2009.
 
 
92

 
 
Keating Capital, Inc.
Notes to Financial Statements

 
 
The following table provides a reconciliation of the changes in fair value for the Company’s portfolio company investments measured at fair value using significant unobservable inputs (Level 3) for the year ended December 31, 2010:

     
Level 3
   
Level 3
       
     
Portfolio Company
   
Portfolio Company
       
     
Investments
   
Investments
       
 
Year ended December 31, 2010:
 
(Preferred Stock)
   
(Warrants)
   
Total
 
                     
 
Fair Value at December 31, 2009
  $ -     $ -     $ -  
                           
 
New investments in Level 3 portfolio company securities at cost
    3,571,286       29,205       3,600,491  
                           
 
Total unrealized appreciation (depreciation) included in change
                       
 
in net assets
    578,705       (1,589 )     577,116  
                           
 
Fair Value at December 31, 2010
  $ 4,149,991     $ 27,616     $ 4,177,607  
                           
 
Total gains and losses for the year ended December 31, 2010
                       
 
included in change in net assets atrributable to the change
                       
 
in unrealized gains or losses relating to investments still held
                       
 
at December 31, 2010
  $ 578,705     $ (1,589 )   $ 577,116  
 
4.
Investment Portfolio
   
 
As of December 31, 2010, the Company’s investment portfolio, excluding short-term investments, consisted exclusively of convertible preferred stock and warrant investments in privately held companies.  As of December 31, 2010, the Company had convertible preferred stock and warrant investments in four private portfolio companies with an aggregate cost of $3,600,491 and an aggregate fair value of $4,177,607.  As of December 31, 2009, the Company had not made any portfolio company investments, and the Company’s investment portfolio consisted solely of short-term investments.
   
 
The following table summarizes the composition of the Company’s investment portfolio, excluding short-term investments in certificates of deposit, at cost and fair value as of December 31, 2010.
 
                 
Percentage of
       
                 
Portfolio Company
   
Percentage of
 
                 
Investments
   
Net Assets
 
     
Cost
   
Fair Value
   
At Fair Value
   
At Fair Value
 
                           
 
As of December 31, 2010
                       
 
Private Portfolio Companies:
                       
 
NeoPhotonics Corporation
  $ 1,000,000     $ 1,550,000       37.10 %     6.90 %
 
Livescribe, Inc.
    500,500       527,616       12.63 %     2.35 %
 
Solazyme, Inc.
    999,991       999,991       23.94 %     4.45 %
 
MBA Polymers, Inc.
    1,100,000       1,100,000       26.33 %     4.90 %
                                   
 
Total - Private Portfolio Companies
  $ 3,600,491     $ 4,177,607       100.00 %     18.60 %
 
 
93

 
 
Keating Capital, Inc.
Notes to Financial Statements

 
 
The following table summarizes the composition of the Company’s investment portfolio, excluding short-term investments in certificates of deposit, at cost and fair value by industry classification as of December 31, 2010.

                 
Percentage of
       
                 
Portfolio Company
   
Percentage of
 
                 
Investments
   
Net Assets
 
     
Cost
   
Fair Value
   
At Fair Value
   
At Fair Value
 
                           
 
As of December 31, 2010
                       
 
Private Portfolio Companies:
                       
 
Technology Equipment
  $ 1,000,000     $ 1,550,000       37.10 %     6.90 %
 
Consumer Products
    500,500       527,616       12.63 %     2.35 %
 
Clean Technology
    2,099,991       2,099,991       50.27 %     9.35 %
                                   
 
Total - Private Portfolio Companies
  $ 3,600,491     $ 4,177,607       100.00 %     18.60 %
 
 
The following table summarizes the composition of the Company’s investment portfolio, excluding short-term investments in certificates of deposit, at cost and fair value by geographic region of the United States as of December 31, 2010.  The geographic composition is determined by the location of the corporate headquarters of the portfolio company.
 
               
Percentage of
       
               
Portfolio Company
   
Percentage of
 
               
Investments
   
Net Assets
 
   Geographic Location
 
Cost
   
Fair Value
   
At Fair Value
   
At Fair Value
 
                         
   As of December 31, 2010
                       
West
  $ 3,600,491     $ 4,177,607       100.00 %     18.60 %
                                 
Total
  $ 3,600,491     $ 4,177,607       100.00 %     18.60 %
 
5.
Related Party Agreements and Transactions
   
 
Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement
 
Subject to the overall supervision of its Board of Directors, Keating Investments, the Company’s external Investment Adviser, manages the Company’s day-to-day operations and provides the Company with investment advisory services. Under the terms of the Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement, Keating Investments:
 
 
Determines the composition of the Company’s investment portfolio, the nature and timing of the changes to the  investment portfolio and the manner of implementing such changes;
     
 
Determines which securities the Company will purchase, retain or sell;
     
 
Identifies, evaluates and negotiates the structure of investments the Company makes, including performing due diligence on prospective portfolio companies; and
     
 
Closes, monitors and services the investments the Company makes.
 
 
Keating Investments’ services under the Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement are not exclusive and it is free to furnish similar services to other entities so long as its services to the Company are not impaired.
   
 
The Company pays Keating Investments a fee for its investment advisory services under the Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement consisting of two components: (i) a base management fee, and (ii) an incentive fee.
 
 
94

 
 
Keating Capital, Inc.
Notes to Financial Statements

 
 
Base Management Fee
 
The base management fee (the “Base Fee”) is calculated at an annual rate of 2% of the Company’s gross assets, where gross assets include any borrowings for investment purposes.  The Company did not have any borrowings for the years ended December 31, 2010 and 2009, or the period from May 9, 2008 (Inception) to December 31, 2008.  The Base Fee is payable quarterly in arrears, and is calculated based on the value of the Company’s gross assets at the end of the most recently completed calendar quarter, and adjusted for any equity capital raises or repurchases during the current calendar quarter.
   
 
The Company recorded Base Fees of $218,876, $90,904 and $11,990 for the years ended December 31, 2010 and 2009 and for the period from May 9, 2008 (Inception) to December 31, 2008, respectively.  As of December 31, 2010 and 2009, Base Fees payable to Keating Investments were $90,631 and $41,387, respectively.
   
 
At December 31, 2009, the aggregate Base Fee liability payable to Keating Investments of $41,387 was comprised of: (i) $29,468 accrued as “Base management fees payable to Investment Adviser” in the accompanying Statement of Assets and Liabilities, and (ii) $11,919 included in “Accounts Payable” in the accompanying Statement of Assets and Liabilities.  The $11,919 included in Accounts Payable represented amounts (25% of cumulative Base Fees earned) that Keating Investments agreed to defer the collection of until the Company had completed at least one portfolio company investment.  As the Company completed its first portfolio company investment on January 25, 2010, the previously deferred Base Fees of $11,919 included in Accounts Payable at December 31, 2009, were paid to Keating Investments during the first quarter of 2010.
   
 
Incentive Fee
 
The incentive fee is determined and payable in arrears as of the end of each calendar year (or upon termination of the Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement, as of the termination date), and equals 20% of the Company’s realized capital gains, if any, on a cumulative basis from inception through the end of each calendar year, computed net of all realized capital losses and unrealized capital depreciation on a cumulative basis, less the aggregate amount of any previously paid incentive fees, with respect to each of the investments in the Company’s portfolio.  Keating Investments is not entitled to an incentive fee on investment income generated from interest or dividends on its portfolio investments.
   
 
During the years ended December 31, 2010 and 2009, and during the period from May 9, 2008 (Inception) to December 31, 2008, no incentive fees were earned by or payable to Keating Investments in accordance with the contractual terms of the Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement since the Company did not generate any realized capital gains during such periods.  However, as of December 31, 2010, the Company accrued an incentive fee payable to Keating Investments in the amount of $115,423 with respect to $577,116 of net unrealized appreciation on its portfolio company investments as of December 31, 2010.  Since the incentive fee is only payable based on realized capital gains (after reduction for realized capital losses and unrealized depreciation), this accrued incentive fee of $115,423 may differ from the actual incentive fee that may be paid to Keating Investments depending on whether the Company is ultimately able to dispose of its portfolio company investments and generate a net realized capital gain at least commensurate with the unrealized appreciation recorded as of December 31, 2010.
   
 
Administrative Services
 
Pursuant to the Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement, Keating Investments furnishes the Company with office facilities, equipment, and clerical, bookkeeping and record-keeping services. Keating Investments also performs, or facilitates the performance of, certain administrative services, which includes being responsible for the financial records which the Company is required to maintain, and preparing reports to the Company’s stockholders and reports filed with the SEC.
   
 
In addition, Keating Investments assists the Company with its portfolio accounting and bookkeeping, managing portfolio collections and reporting, performing stockholder and investor relations services, determining and publishing its net asset value, overseeing the preparation and filing of its tax returns, printing and disseminating reports to its stockholders, providing support for its risk management efforts and generally overseeing the payment of its expenses and performance of administrative and professional services rendered to the Company by others.
   
 
The Company reimburses Keating Investments for the allocable portion of overhead and other expenses incurred by Keating Investments in performing its administrative obligations under the Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement, including the allocable portion of compensation of the Company’s Chief Financial Officer and Chief Compliance Officer, and their respective staff.
 
 
95

 
 
Keating Capital, Inc.
Notes to Financial Statements

 
 
The Company recorded allocated administrative expenses of $404,633, $269,384 and $28,041 for the years ended December 31, 2010 and 2009 and for the period from May 9, 2008 (Inception) to December 31, 2008, respectively.  As of December 31, 2010 and 2009, allocated administrative expenses payable to Keating Investments were $41,348 and $67,136, respectively.
   
 
Reimbursable Expenses
 
Reimbursable expenses payable to Keating Investments totaling $3,068 and $18,063 in the accompanying Statement of Assets and Liabilities at December 31, 2010 and 2009, respectively, represent amounts owed to Keating Investments for direct expenses of the Company that were paid on its behalf by Keating Investments.
   
 
Duration and Termination
 
The Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement was initially approved by the Company’s Board of Directors and its sole stockholder on July 28, 2008. An amended and restated version of the Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement, which is presently in effect, was approved by the Company’s Board of Directors on April 17, 2009, and by the Company’s stockholders at its Annual Meeting on May 14, 2009.
   
 
Unless earlier terminated as described below, the Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement will remain in effect for a period of two years from the date it was approved by the Board of Directors and will remain in effect from year-to-year thereafter if approved annually by: (i) the vote of a majority of the Company’s Board of Directors, or by the vote of a majority of the Company’s outstanding voting securities, and (ii) the vote of a majority of the Company’s directors who are not interested persons. An affirmative vote of the holders of a majority of the Company’s outstanding voting securities is also necessary in order to make material amendments to the Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement. The Company’s Board of Directors (including its independent directors) is expected to consider the renewal of the Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement for an additional year at its meeting scheduled for March 2011.
   
 
The Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement automatically terminates in the event of its assignment. As required by the 1940 Act, the Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement provides that the Company may terminate the agreement without penalty upon 60 days’ written notice to Keating Investments.  If Keating Investments wishes to voluntarily terminate the Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement, it must give stockholders a minimum of 120 days’ notice prior to termination and must pay all expenses associated with its termination. The Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement may also be terminated, without penalty, upon the vote of a majority of the Company’s outstanding voting securities.
   
 
License Agreement
 
On July 28, 2008, the Company entered into a license agreement (the “License Agreement”) with Keating Investments pursuant to which Keating Investments granted the Company a non-exclusive license to use the name “Keating.” Under the License Agreement, the Company has a right to use the Keating name and logo, for as long as Keating Investments or one of its affiliates remains the Company’s investment adviser. Other than with respect to this limited license, the Company has no legal right to the “Keating” name or logo. The License Agreement will remain in effect for as long as the Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement with Keating Investments is in effect.

6.
Capital Stock
   
 
The Company’s authorized capital stock consists of 200,000,000 shares of stock, par value $0.001 per share, all of which has initially been designated as common stock.
   
 
From August 27, 2008 through November 12, 2008, the Company sold 569,800 shares of common stock in a private offering to various qualified purchasers at $10.00 per share, resulting in gross proceeds of $5,698,000 (the “Private Offering”).  After the payment of placement agent commissions and other offering costs of $454,566, the Company received net proceeds of $5,243,434 in connection with the Private Offering.
 
 
96

 
 
Keating Capital, Inc.
Notes to Financial Statements

 
 
On June 11, 2009, the Company commenced a continuous public offering pursuant to which the Company intends to sell from time-to-time up to 10 million shares of its common stock at an initial offering price of $10.00 per share, adjusted for volume discounts and commission waivers, through the period ending June 30, 2011.  During the period from June 11, 2009 through December 31, 2009, no shares of common stock were sold and no proceeds were received from the Company’s continuous public offering.  During the year ended December 31, 2010, the Company sold 2,290,399 shares of common stock at an average price of $9.96 per share, resulting in gross proceeds of $22,809,653 and net proceeds of $20,613,587, after payment of $2,196,606 in dealer manager fees and commissions.
   
 
The following table summarizes the sales of the Company’s common stock under its continuous public offering by month during the year ended December 31, 2010:

                       
Dealer Manager
       
     
Shares
   
Average Price
   
Gross
   
Fees and
   
Net
 
   Month  
Sold (1)
   
Per Share (1)
   
Proceeds
   
Commissions
   
Proceeds
 
                                 
   January (first closing)     114,695     $ 10.00     $ 1,146,500     $ 114,243     $ 1,032,257  
   February     54,638       9.99       546,000       54,261       491,739  
   March     175,283       9.98       1,749,436       171,896       1,577,540  
   April     151,554       9.84       1,491,050       127,062       1,363,988  
   June     233,277       9.98       2,327,331       227,840       2,099,491  
   July     113,780       9.99       1,136,483       112,457       1,024,026  
   August     203,128       9.99       2,028,643       200,493       1,828,150  
   September     146,716       9.95       1,459,215       138,771       1,320,444  
   October     249,310       9.96       2,482,410       238,622       2,243,788  
   November     371,395       9.96       3,697,520       354,967       3,342,553  
   December     476,623       9.96       4,745,065       455,454       4,289,611  
                                           
        2,290,399     $ 9.96     $ 22,809,653     $ 2,196,066     $ 20,613,587  
 
   (1)
All shares were sold at a price of either $9.30 or $10.00, depending on whether or not sales commissions were waived by the dealer manager.
 
 
Deferred offering costs are comprised of: (i) $501,897 of expenses directly related to the continuous public offering that were deferred prior to the first closing on January 11, 2010, and (ii) $308,591 of other offering-related expenses incurred subsequent to January 11, 2010 through December 31, 2010.  Deferred offering costs are being amortized and charged against the gross proceeds of the continuous public offering, as a reduction to additional paid-in capital, on a straight-line basis beginning with the first closing on January 11, 2010 and continuing through the expiration of the offering period on June 30, 2011.  During the year ended December 31, 2010, deferred offering costs totaling $476,806 were amortized and charged as a reduction to additional paid-in capital.
 
 
 
Offering expenses incurred subsequent to January 11, 2010 associated with maintaining the registration of the continuous public offering (i.e., legal, accounting, printing and blue sky) are expensed as incurred.  During the year ended December 31, 2010, $156,941 in offering expenses associated with maintaining the registration of the continuous public offering were expensed as incurred and are classified as “Stock issuance expenses” in the accompanying Statement of Operations.
 
 
97

 
 
Keating Capital, Inc.
Notes to Financial Statements

 
7.
Changes in Net Assets Per Share
   
 
The following table sets forth the computation of the basic and diluted per share net decrease in net assets resulting from operations for the years ended December 31, 2010 and 2009 and for the period from May 9, 2008 (Inception) to December 31, 2008:
 
                 
Period from
 
                 
May 9, 2008
 
     
Years Ended
   
(Inception) to
 
     
December 31,
   
December 31,
   
December 31,
 
     
2010
   
2009
   
2008
 
                     
  Numerator for decrease in net assets per share   $ (1,399,877 )   $ (995,978 )   $ (528,960 )
                           
  Denominator for basic and diluted                        
 
weighted average shares
    1,383,537       569,900       294,824  
                           
  Basic and diluted net decrease in net assets per share                        
 
resulting from operations
  $ (1.01 )   $ (1.75 )   $ (1.79 )
 
 
During the years ended December 31, 2010 and 2009 and for the period from May 9, 2008 (Inception) to December 31, 2008, the Company had no dilutive securities outstanding.
 
8.
Subsequent Events
   
 
The following table summarizes the sales of the Company’s common stock under its continuous public offering from January 1, 2011 through February 22, 2011:
 
                       
Dealer Manager
       
     
Shares
   
Average Price
   
Gross
   
Fees and
   
Net
 
  Month  
Sold (1)
   
Per Share (1)
   
Proceeds
   
Commissions
   
Proceeds
 
                                 
  January 2011     315,143       9.97       3,141,484       305,195       2,836,289  
  February 2011     536,034       9.94       5,328,486       504,176       4,824,310  
                                           
        851,177     $ 9.95     $ 8,469,970     $ 809,371     $ 7,660,599  
 
 
(1)
All shares were sold at a price of either $9.30 or $10.00, depending on whether or not sales commissions were waived by
   
the dealer manager.
 
 
On February 2, 2011, NeoPhotonics, the Company’s first portfolio company, completed an initial public offering selling 7,500,000 shares of common stock at a price of $11.00 per share.  NeoPhotonics is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol NPTN.  Prior to the initial public offering, the Company’s Series X convertible preferred stock converted at a conversion price of $6.25 per share into 160,000 shares of NeoPhotonics common stock, which common shares are subject to a 180-day lock-up provision.  At December 31, 2010, the Company’s Series X convertible preferred stock investment in NeoPhotonics was valued at $1,550,000, including $550,000 in unrealized appreciation based upon a fair value determination made in good faith by the Company’s Board of Directors.
 
 
98

 
 
Keating Capital, Inc.
Notes to Financial Statements

 
 
On February 11, 2011, the Company’s Board of Directors declared a special cash distribution of $0.13 cents per share.  The distribution was paid on February 17, 2011 to the Company’s stockholders of record as of February 15, 2011.  As of the record date, there were 3,437,212 shares of common stock outstanding resulting in a cash distribution totaling approximately $446,837. This special cash distribution was paid based on the unrealized appreciation previously recorded on the Company’s NeoPhotonics investment and, as such, will be initially treated as a return of capital to its stockholders.  However, in the event the Company is able to sell all or a portion of its NeoPhotonics common shares at a gain during 2011 after the expiration of its six-month lock-up period, all or a portion of this special distribution may be reclassified at year end as a capital gain distribution to the Company’s stockholders.
   
 
On February 22, 2011, the Company made an additional investment of $900,000 in MBA Polymers in the same series of convertible preferred stock as its initial investment.  The additional investment was part of an aggregate additional offering of approximately $14.6 million.

9.
Selected Quarterly Financial Data (Unaudited)
 
                                                   
                             
Net Change
   
Net Increase (Decrease)
 
     
Investment
   
Net Investment
   
in Unrealized Appreciation
   
in Net Assets
 
     
Income
   
Loss
   
(Depreciation) on Investments
   
from Operations
 
                                                   
           
Per
         
Per
         
Per
         
Per
 
 
Quarter Ended
 
Total
   
Share (1)
   
Total
   
Share (1)
   
Total
   
Share (1)
   
Total
   
Share (1)
 
                                                   
 
March 31, 2009
    1,231       *       (214,297 )     (0.38 )     -       -       (214,297 )     (0.38 )
 
June 30, 2009
    286       *       (296,919 )     (0.52 )     -       -       (296,919 )     (0.52 )
 
September 30, 2009
    3,723       0.01       (234,346 )     (0.41 )     -       -       (234,346 )     (0.41 )
 
December 31, 2009
    5,397       0.01       (250,416 )     (0.44 )     -       -       (250,416 )     (0.44 )
                                                                   
 
March 31, 2010
    15,725       0.02       (309,532 )     (0.42 )     550,000       0.75       240,468       0.33  
 
June 30, 2010
    7,894       0.01       (503,859 )     (0.48 )     -       -       (503,859 )     (0.48 )
 
September 30, 2010
    12,428       0.01       (414,186 )     (0.28 )     27,364       0.02       (386,822 )     (0.26 )
 
December 31, 2010
    17,962       0.01       (749,416 )     (0.34 )     (248 )     *       (749,664 )     (0.34 )
 
 
(1)
Per  share amounts are calculated using weighted average shares outstanding during the period.
 
 *
Per share amounts less than $0.01.
 
 
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Item 9.                    Changes in and Disagreements with Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm on Accounting and Financial Disclosure
 
There were no changes in or disagreements on accounting or financial disclosure with Grant Thornton LLP, the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm, during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2010.
 
Item 9A.                 Controls and Procedures.
 

(a) Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

As of December 31, 2010 (the end of the period covered by this report), we, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, evaluated the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rule 13a-15(e) of the 1934 Act). Based on that evaluation, our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were effective and provided reasonable assurance that information required to be disclosed in our periodic SEC filings is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SECs rules and forms, and that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, as appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure. However, in evaluating the disclosure controls and procedures, management recognized that any controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and operated can provide only reasonable assurance of achieving the desired control objectives, and management necessarily was required to apply its judgment in evaluating the cost-benefit relationship of possible controls and procedures.
 
(b) Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

Management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting, and for performing an assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2010. Internal control over financial reporting is a process designed by, or under the supervision of, our principal executive and principal financial officers, or persons performing similar functions, and effected by our Board of Directors, management and other personnel, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. Our internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (i) pertain to the maintenance of records that in reasonable detail accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of assets of the company; (ii) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures are being made only in accordance with authorizations; and (iii) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of our assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Therefore, even those systems determined to be effective can provide only reasonable assurance with respect to financial statement preparation and presentation.
 
Management performed an assessment of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2010 based upon the criteria set forth in Internal Control - Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (“COSO”). Based on our assessment, management determined that our internal control over financial reporting was effective as of December 31, 2010.

This annual report on Form 10-K does not include an attestation report of the Company's independent registered public accounting firm regarding internal control over financial reporting. Management's report was not subject to attestation by the Company's independent registered public accounting firm pursuant to rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission that permit the Company to provide only management's report in this annual report on Form 10-K.
 
 (c) Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

Management has not identified any change in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the fourth quarter of 2010 that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the Company’s internal control over financial reporting.
 
Item 9B.                 Other Information.

None.
 
 
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PART III
 
Item 10.                  Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance

The information required by this Item will be contained in the definitive proxy statement relating to our 2011 annual meeting of stockholders (the “Proxy Statement”) to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on or prior to April 30, 2011, and is incorporated herein by reference.
 
Item 11.                  Executive Compensation

The information required by this Item will be contained in the Proxy Statement to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on or prior to April 30, 2011, and is incorporated herein by reference.
 
Item 12.                  Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters

The information required by this Item will be contained in the Proxy Statement to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on or prior to April 30, 2011, and is incorporated herein by reference.
 
Item 13.                  Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence

The information required by this Item will be contained in the Proxy Statement to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on or prior to April 30, 2011, and is incorporated herein by reference.
 
Item 14.                  Principal Accountant Fees and Services

The information required by this Item will be contained in the Proxy Statement to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on or prior to April 30, 2011, and is incorporated herein by reference.
 
 
101

 
 
PART IV
 
Item 15.                  Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules
 
a. Documents Filed as Part of this Report
 
The following financial statements are set forth in Item 8:
 
Page(s)
Financial Statements
 
   
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
78
   
Statements of Assets and Liabilities as of December 31, 2010 and December 31, 2009
79
   
Statements of Operations for the years ended December 31, 2010 and 2009 and for the period from May 9, 2008 (Inception) to December 31, 2008
80
   
Statements of Changes in Net Assets for the years ended December 31, 2010 and 2009 and for the period from May 9, 2008 (Inception) to December 31, 2008
81
   
Statements of Cash Flows for the years ended December 31, 2010 and 2009 and for the period from May 9, 2008 (Inception) to December 31, 2008
82
   
Schedule of Investments as of December 31, 2010
83
   
Schedule of Investments as of December 31, 2009
84
   
Financial Highlights for the years ended December 31, 2010 and 2009 and for the period from May 9, 2008 (Inception) to December 31, 2008
85
   
Notes to Financial Statements
86
 
b. Exhibits
 
    The following exhibits are filed as part of this report or hereby incorporated by reference to exhibits previously filed with the SEC:
 
3.1
Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation (Incorporated by reference to Post-Effective Amendment No. 1 to the Registrant’s Registration Statement on Form N-2 (File No. 333-157217), filed on April 21, 2010)
   
3.2
Articles of Amendment to Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation (Incorporated by reference to Post-Effective Amendment No. 3 to the Registrant’s Registration Statement on Form N-2 (File No. 333-157217), filed on May 27, 2010)
   
3.3
Amended and Restated Bylaws (Incorporated by reference to the Registrant’s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 0-53504), filed on April 23, 2009)
   
3.4
Amendment to Bylaws dated August 5, 2010 (Incorporated by reference to the Registrant’s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 0-53504), filed on August 9, 2010)
   
3.5
Amendment to Bylaws dated October 22, 2010 (Incorporated by reference to the Registrant’s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 0-53504), filed on October 26, 2010)
   
3.6
Form of Amended and Restated Dividend Reinvestment Plan (Incorporated by reference to Post-Effective Amendment No. 2 to the Registrant’s Registration Statement on Form N-2  (File No. 333-157217), filed on May 21, 2010)
   
4.1
Form of Share Certificate (Incorporated by reference to the Registrant’s Annual Report on Form 10-K (File No. 0-53504), filed on March 9, 2009)
 
 
102

 
 
10.1
Form of Amended and Restated Investment Advisory and Administrative Services Agreement (Incorporated by reference to Amendment No. 1 to the Registrant’s Registration Statement on Form N-2 (File No. 333-157217), filed on May 1, 2009)
   
10.2
License Agreement between the Company and Keating Investments, LLC (Incorporated by reference to the Registrant’s Registration Statement on Form 10 (File No. 0-53504), filed on November 20, 2008)
   
10.3
Form of Indemnification Agreement for Directors (Incorporated by reference to Amendment No. 2 to the Registrant’s Registration Statement on Form N-2 (File No. 333-157217), filed on June 5, 2009)
   
10.4
Custody Agreement between the Company and Steele Street Bank & Trust (Incorporated by reference to the Registrant’s Registration Statement on Form 10 (File No. 0-53504), filed on November 20, 2008)
   
11
Computation of Per Share Earnings (included in the notes to the unaudited financial statements contained in this report)
   
31.1*
Certification of Chief Executive Officer pursuant to Rule 13a-14 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.
   
31.2*
Certification of Chief Financial Officer pursuant to Rule 13a-14 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.
   
32.1*
Certification of Chief Executive Officer pursuant to Section 906 of The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
   
32.2*
Certification of Chief Financial Officer pursuant to Section 906 of The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
 
*
Filed herewith.
 
c. Financial statement schedules
 
     No financial statement schedules are filed herewith because (1) such schedules are not required, or (2) the information has been presented in the aforementioned financial statements.
 
 
103

 
 
 
Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.
 

   
 
KEATING CAPITAL, INC.
   
Date:  February 28, 2011
/S/    Timothy J. Keating       
 
Timothy J. Keating
President and Chief Executive Officer
 
 

 
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, this report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the registrant and in the capacity and on the dates indicated.
 

 
/s/    Timothy J. Keating        
Date:  February 28, 2011
Timothy J. Keating
President, Chief Executive Officer and
Chairman of the Board of Directors
(Principal Executive Officer)
   
 
/s/   Ranjit P. Mankekar        
Date:  February 28, 2011
Ranjit P. Mankekar
Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Director
(Principal Accounting and Financial Officer)
   
 
/s/    J. Taylor Simonton        
Date:  February 28, 2011
J. Taylor Simonton
Director
   
 
/s/    Andrew S. Miller        
Date:  February 28, 2011
Andrew S. Miller
Director
   
 
/s/    William F. Owens        
Date:  February 28, 2011
William F. Owens
Director
 
104