tags: [analyst/edwin-dorsey, thesis/fraud] ...

TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC (NYSE: TPVG — $421 million) describes itself as “a leading global financing provider devoted to serving venture capital-backed companies.” In reality, TriplePoint is encumbered by high fees, weak management, and a weaker loan book saddled by portfolio company bankruptcies and upside-down startups. The Bear Cave believes TriplePoint’s equity may be severely impaired, if it has any value at all.

For a sense of TriplePoint’s troubles, investors need to look no further than its publicly disclosed net asset value, which has declined from $14.01 per share in Q4 2021 to $13.84 in Q1 2022, $13.01 in Q2 2022, $12.69 in Q3 2022, and $11.88 in Q4 2022. Shares closed yesterday at $11.92, a slight premium to net asset value, and the company reports Q1 2023 results tomorrow after the close.

TriplePoint charges investors 1.75% of the fund’s “average adjusted gross assets” and 20% of net investment income above an 8% hurdle rate.

The Bear Cave believes TriplePoint’s net asset value decline will accelerate in the coming quarters as TriplePoint may need to take significant write-downs in its loan book.