Investor Lawyers Blog
Investors in ATEL 14 LLC (“ATEL 14,” or the “Company”), or a similar illiquid investment product, may be able to recover losses on their investment through FINRA arbitration, or in some instances, securities litigation. The attorneys at Law Office of Christopher J. Gray, P.C. possess considerable experience in representing aggrieved investors who have lost money due to unsuitable recommendations to purchase inappropriate securities, including illiquid non-traded investment products that do not trade on a national securities exchange.
According to publicly available SEC filings (from March 2017), ATEL 14 was formed as a California LLC in April 2009, for the purpose of funding equipment financing and acquiring equipment to engage in equipment leasing and sales activities. The Company’s primary investment objective is to acquire investments primarily in low-technology, low-obsolescence equipment such as the core operating equipment used by companies in the manufacturing, mining, and transportation industries. ATEL 14 conducted a public offering of 15,000,000 Limited Liability Company Units (“Units”) at a price of $10 per Unit. As of December 31, 2016, cumulative gross contributions to ATEL 14 (net of distributions paid and syndication costs) totaled $83.7 million – as of this same date, 8,316,662 Units were issued and outstanding.
Recently, Units of ATEL 14 were listed for sale on Central Trade & Transfer – which provides a secondary market for certain illiquid investments including private placements in LLCs such as ATEL 14 – for $3.10 per Unit. It would appear this pricing represents a significant loss for many investors who purchased Units through the IPO at $10 per Unit. Additionally, investors in ATEL 14 may not have fully appreciated the risk associated with the 9% sales commission brokers earned for recommending purchase of ATEL 14 Units to their clients.