Organization and Basis of Presentation

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2024

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

Organization: TCW Star Direct Lending LLC (the “Company”), was formed as a Delaware limited liability company on March 7, 2022. The Company has conducted a private offering of its common limited liability company units (the “Units”) to investors in reliance on exemptions from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”). In addition, the Company may issue preferred units, though it currently has no intention to do so. On July 21, 2022 (“Inception Date”), the Company sold and issued 10 Units at an aggregate purchase price of $1 to TCW Asset Management Company LLC (“TAMCO”), an affiliate of the TCW Group, Inc. During the fourth quarter of 2022, TAMCO transferred its 10 units back to the Company.

On September 1, 2022, the Company filed an election to be regulated as a business development company (“BDC”) under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”). The Company also filed an election to be treated for U.S. federal income tax purposes as a Regulated Investment Company (a “RIC”) under Subchapter M of the U.S Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”) and has made such an election beginning with the taxable year ending December 31, 2022. As a BDC and a RIC, the Company is required to meet the minimum distribution and other requirements for RIC qualification, and as a BDC and a RIC, the Company is required to comply with certain regulatory requirements.

On September 15, 2022, the Company entered into the Investment Advisory and Management Agreement with TAMCO, its registered investment adviser (the “Adviser”). On the same date, the Company also completed the closing of the sale of its Common Units (the "Closing Date") pursuant to which the Company sold 3,753,190 Common Units at an aggregate purchase price of $375,319.

The Company commenced operations during the third quarter of fiscal year 2022 and commenced investment activity during the last two weeks of December 2022.

During the year-ended December 31, 2023, the Company formed three wholly-owned subsidiaries - TCW Star DLG-1 LLC, TCW Star DLG-2 LLC, and TCW Star DLG-3 LLC, each a Delaware limited liability company and each designed to be signatories on debt investments of the Company.

These consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Company and its wholly owned subsidiaries. All significant intercompany transactions and balances have been eliminated in consolidation.

Term: The term of the Company will continue until September 15, 2030 which is the eighth anniversary of the date of the Company’s amended and restated limited liability agreement (the “LLC Agreement”), unless extended or the Company is sooner dissolved as provided in the LLC Agreement or by operation of law. Thereafter, the Company may extend the term for successive one-year periods upon written notice to the holders of the Units (the “Unitholders”) and holders of preferred units, if any, (together with the Unitholders, the “Members”) at least 90 days prior to the expiration of the term or the end of the first one-year period.

Commitment Period: The Commitment Period commenced on the Closing Date, the day on which the Company completed the first closing of the sale of its Units to persons not affiliated with the Adviser, and will end four years from the later of (a) September 15, 2026, four years from the Closing Date and (b) four years from the date in which the Company first completed an investment. However, the Commitment Period is subject to termination upon the occurrence of a Key Person Event defined as follows: A “Key Person Event” will occur if, during the Commitment Period, (i) Richard T. Miller and one or more of Suzanne Grosso, Mark Gertzof and David Wang (each of such four Persons, a “Key Person” and collectively, the “Key Persons”) fail to devote substantially all (i.e., more than 85%) of their business time to the investment activities of the Company and the Related Entities; or (ii) Ms. Grosso, Mr. Gertzof and Mr. Wang all fail to devote substantially all of their business time to the investment activities of the Company and the Related Entities, in each case other than as a result of a temporary disability (the occurrence of such an event, a “Key Person Departure”); provided that if a replacement has been approved as described in the paragraphs below, such replacement shall be specifically designated to take the place of one of the above-named individuals and the definition “Key Person Event” will be amended to take into account such successor.

Organization and Basis of Presentation (Continued)

Upon the occurrence of a Key Person Event, and in the event that the Adviser fails to replace the above-referenced individuals in the manner contemplated by this paragraph, the Commitment Period shall be automatically terminated upon such Key Person Event. The Commitment Period will be re-instated upon the vote or written consent of 66 2/3% in interest of the Unitholders. The Adviser is permitted at any time to replace any person designated above with a senior professional (including a Key Person) selected by the Adviser, provided that such replacement has been approved by a majority of the Unitholders (in which case, the approved substitute will be a Key Person in lieu of the person replaced). The determination of whether a Key Person Event has occurred will be made by the Company in accordance with the criteria set out above. The Company shall provide written notice to Unitholders of such Key Person Event within 30 days of the date of such Key Person Departure. If the Company fails to obtain approval of a replacement of a Key Person following a Key Person Departure as provided herein, then notwithstanding anything herein, the Key Person Departure shall be permanent and the Adviser shall not be permitted to replace such Key Person. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Adviser is permitted at any time to replace any Person designated above with a senior professional (including a Key Person) selected by the Adviser, with the approval of the majority of the Unitholders (in which case, the approved substitute shall be a Key Person in lieu of the Person replaced) no later than 90 days after the date that the Adviser informs the Company of its proposed replacement of the Key Person. If such replacement(s) end the occurrence of a Key Person Event, the Commitment Period will automatically be re-instated.

In accordance with the Company’s LLC Agreement, the Company may complete investment transactions that were significantly in process as of the end of the Commitment Period and which the Company reasonably expects to be consummated prior to 90 days after the expiration date of the Commitment Period. The Company may also affect follow-on investments in existing portfolio companies up to an aggregate maximum of 10% of aggregate cumulative invested amounts.

Capital Commitments: As of September 30, 2024, the Company has sold 3,753,190 Units for an aggregate offering price of $375,319. Each Unitholder is obligated to contribute capital equal to their Commitment and each Unit’s Commitment obligation is $100.00 per unit. The sale of the Units was made pursuant to subscription agreements entered into by the Company and each investor. Under the terms of the subscription agreements, the Company may draw down all or any portion of the undrawn commitment with respect to each Unit generally upon at least ten business days’ prior written notice to the unitholders. The amount of capital that remains to be drawn down and contributed is referred to as an “Undrawn Commitment”.

The commitment amount funded does not include amounts contributed in anticipation of a potential investment that the Company did not consummate and therefore returned to the Members as unused capital. As of September 30, 2024, aggregate Commitments, Undrawn Commitments, percentage of Commitments funded and the number of subscribed for Units of the Company were as follows:


	Commitments		Undrawn Commitments		% of Commitments Funded			Units
Common Unitholder	$	375,319	$	225,319		40.0	%		3,753,190

Recallable Amount: A Unitholder may be required to re-contribute amounts distributed equal to (a) such Unitholder’s share of all portfolio investments that are repaid to the Company, or otherwise recouped by the Company, and distributed to the Unitholder, in whole or in part, during or after the Commitment period, reduced by (b) all re-contributions made by such Unitholder. This amount, (the “Recallable Amount”) is excluded from the calculation of the accrual based net asset value.

The Recallable Amount as of September 30, 2024 was $13,146.

TCW Star Direct Lending LLC 10-Q