Washington, DC, March 23, 2018 – The Investment Program Association (IPA) commends the U.S. Congress and the president on the inclusion of the Small Business Credit Availability Act, which was part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018, the omnibus government funding measure signed into law today.
The bipartisan and commonsense Small Business Credit Availability Act modernizes the regulatory framework for Business Development Companies (BDCs), improving access to capital for growing small and mid-size American businesses. As a result, BDCs will be brought in line with the same prudent and safe rules already established by Congress and regulators for other 1934 Act public reporting companies.
“We are pleased to see policymakers modernize the regulatory framework for business development companies. The IPA, our members in the portfolio diversifying investments (PDI) industry and small and mid-size American businesses have been advocating for these long overdue common sense bipartisan updates for years,” said Tony Chereso, president and CEO of the Investment Program Association. He went on to add, “The real winners here are America’s small and mid-size businesses that will have access to additional growth capital resulting in meaningful domestic investments and job creation. Further, individual investors will have more investment choices.”
BDCs play an important role in funding small and mid-sized U.S. companies that may not have access to traditional sources of capital. They also provide individuals with investment opportunities in private companies historically available only to institutional and wealthy investors, through a highly transparent structure subject to oversight by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, states and other regulators. Individual investors will see important benefits from these reforms, including having more of their dollars put to work in their desired investments. The result is increased potential for investment returns critical to people’s long-term financial goals and retirements savings.
“Congress created BDCs in 1980 to encourage the establishment of public vehicles to increase the flow of capital to small, growing U.S. businesses. Now the industry is better positioned to continue delivering on that mandate,” said Mr. Chereso.
About Investment Program Association
The IPA supports individual investor access to a variety of Portfolio Diversifying Investment (PDI) products with low correlation to the traded markets and historically available only to institutional investors, including: lifecycle real estate investment trusts (REITs), NAV and perpetual life REITs, business development companies (BDCs), interval and closed-end funds, energy and equipment leasing programs and real estate private equity offerings. PDI products have been held in the accounts of more than 3 million individual investors. They remain a critical component of an effectively balanced investment portfolio and serve an essential capital formation function for the U.S. economy. The mission of the IPA is to advocate for PDIs through education and public awareness.
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