Allied Capital – Investing in the Entrepreneurial Economy

We are a business development company, or BDC, in the private equity business. Specifically, we have a portfolio of investments in the debt and equity capital of middle market companies in a variety of industries nationwide. As a BDC, we were created to be a source of capital to small and growing businesses in the United States.

We have participated in the private equity business since we were founded in 1958. Since then through September 30, 2009, we have invested more than $14 billion in thousands of companies nationwide. We primarily invest in the American entrepreneurial economy, helping to build middle market businesses and support American jobs. At September 30, 2009, our private finance portfolio included investments in 88 companies that generate aggregate annual revenues of approximately $10 billion and employ more than 48,000 people.

Our investment objective is to achieve current income and capital gains. In order to achieve this objective, we have primarily invested in debt and equity securities of private companies in a variety of industries.

In addition to our portfolio assets, Allied Capital manages private funds with total assets of approximately $3.3 billion. By growing our privately-managed capital base, we seek to diversify our sources of investment capital under management, leverage our investment expertise in our core asset classes and increase fees and other income from asset management activities.