Hercules Technology Growth Capital, a specialty finance company focused on providing senior secured loans to venture capital-backed companies in technology-related markets, announced its quarter-to-date fourth quarter 2012 portfolio update.

“2012 has been a tremendous year for Hercules in which we executed across all areas of our business and clearly established the company as the undisputed business development company (BDC) leader in venture lending,” said Manuel A. Henriquez, Hercules co-founder, chairman and CEO. “2012 was marked with numerous first-time achievements, ranging from completing our first Moody’s-rated A2 (sf) securitization of $231 million with net proceeds of approximately $129 million, to completing three senior unsecured and unrated 7.0% seven-year bond offerings or our first ‘baby bond’ capital raises totaling approximately $170 million, to executing two equity capital raises totaling approximately $81 million, all while achieving portfolio and earnings growth for our investors. We are very pleased that the financial community continues to recognize the quality of our portfolio, the caliber of our team, and our ability to identify investment opportunities, which is all underscored by Moody’s A2 (sf) rating of our securitization.”

Henriquez continued, “Despite a turbulent and unpredictable market triggered by post U.S. election uncertainty, the continued Euro crisis and now the looming fiscal cliff, we continued to meet the strong demand for venture lending from entrepreneurial companies during the fourth quarter. However, as has been the case through most of 2012, many of these commitments closed near the end of the quarter. We do not expect the majority of the new fundings to have a meaningful impact on our fourth quarter financial results given the late close, but they should provide for a strong start to 2013.”

Q4 Quarter-to-Date Originations:

As of December 19, 2012, Hercules has originated approximately $205 million of debt and equity commitments to new and existing portfolio companies.

Hercules’ new investment commitments include:

  • $40 million to Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company with an initial focus on cancer that is engaged in discovering, developing and preparing to commercialize innovative medicines that are paired with companion diagnostics for the treatment of serious diseases.

  • $34 million commitment to Comverge, a provider of Intelligent Energy Management solutions for Residential and Commercial & Industrial (C&I) customers.

  • $15 million commitment to ShareThis, the largest platform for sharing and influence across the web, reaching more than 600 million users across more than two million websites.

  • $14.5 million commitment to WomensForum.com, an online media platform that delivers women-focused content to its 20 million viewers.

  • $10 million commitment to Redwood Systems, the leading provider of building-performance lighting solutions.

  • $10 million commitment to Identive Group, a provider of solutions and services for the identification, security and RFID industries.

  • $8.5 million commitment to NuPathe, a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on innovative neuroscience solutions for diseases of the central nervous system including neurological and psychiatric disorders.

  • $6 million commitment to Polyera, a supplier of advanced semiconductor materials for the electronics industry including flat panel displays.

  • $1 million commitment to Clustrix, the scale-out SQL database for Big Data applications.

    In addition, Hercules provided more than $65 million in new commitments and renewals to existing portfolio companies. Year-to-Date 2012 Total Commitments:

    As of December 19, 2012, Hercules has closed total loan commitments and renewals of approximately $581.0 million to new and existing portfolio companies.

    As of December 19, 2012, Hercules has approximately $87 million in non-binding signed term sheets outstanding. These non-binding term sheets generally convert to contractual commitments in approximately 45-to-60 days from signing.