Protégé OIC Program

(a) Establishment The Secretary shall establish a program to be known as the Protégé OIC Program under which a manager of an ownership investment company that is not a Protégé OIC may enter into a written agreement approved by the Secretary to provide guidance and assistance to a Protégé OIC with respect to— (1) applying for a license for the Protégé OIC to operate as an ownership investment company; and (2) management of the ownership investment company after licensure. (b) Application After entering into a written agreement described in subsection (a), the Protégé OIC shall apply for a license under section 4(c). (c) Selection The Secretary may grant a license to a Protégé OIC to operate as an ownership investment company under section 4(c) based on the investment track record of 1 or more of the managers that have entered into a written agreement described in subsection (a) of this section with the applicant Protégé OIC. (d) Requirements for managers If a manager enters into a written agreement described in subsection (a)— (1) the manager may hold a minority financial interest in the ownership investment company that is to be managed by the Protégé OIC; (2) the otherwise applicable maximum amount of outstanding leverage that may be made available to any 1 licensed company of the manager under section 7(b)(6)(B)(i)(I) shall be increased by $17,500,000; and (3) the otherwise applicable maximum amount of outstanding leverage that may be made available to any 2 or more licensed companies that are commonly controlled by the manager under section 7(b)(6)(B)(i)(II) shall be increased by $35,000,000.