Great Elm Group (GEG) Risk Analysis

We record reserves for unrecognized tax benefits based on our assessment of the probability of successfully sustaining tax filing positions. Management exercises significant judgment when assessing the probability of successfully sustaining tax filing positions, and in determining whether a contingent tax liability should be recorded and, if so, estimating the amount. If our tax filing positions are successfully challenged, payments could be required that are in excess of reserved amounts or we may be required to reduce the carrying amount of our net deferred tax asset, either of which result could be significant to our financial position, cash balances and results of operations.

Our businesses are highly dependent on our ability to process, on a daily basis, transactions across numerous and diverse markets and the transactions we process have become increasingly complex. If any of our financial, accounting or other data processing systems do not operate properly or are disabled or if there are other shortcomings or failures in our internal processes, people or systems, we could suffer an impairment to our liquidity, a financial loss, a disruption of our businesses, liability to clients, regulatory intervention or reputational damage. These systems may fail to operate properly or become disabled as a result of events that are wholly or partially beyond our control, including a disruption of electrical or communications services or our inability to occupy one or more of our buildings. The inability of our systems to accommodate an increasing volume of transactions could also constrain our ability to expand our businesses. Our financial and other data processing systems will rely on access to and the functionality of operating systems maintained by third parties. If the accounting, trading or other data processing systems on which we are dependent are unable to meet increasingly demanding standards for processing and security or if they fail or have other significant shortcomings, we could be adversely affected. Such consequences may include our inability to effect transactions and manage our exposure to risk. We may be required to expend significant additional resources to modify our protective measures or to investigate and remediate vulnerabilities or other exposures, and we may be subject to litigation and financial losses that are either not insured against or not fully covered through any insurance maintained by us. The increased use of smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices as well as cloud computing may also heighten these and other operational risks. We and our third-party providers are the subject of attempted unauthorized access, computer viruses and malware, and cyberattacks designed to disrupt or degrade service or cause other damage and denial of service. Cyberattacks and other cyber incidents are occurring more frequently, are constantly evolving in nature, are becoming more sophisticated and are being carried out by groups and individuals (including criminal hackers, hacktivists, state-sponsored actors, criminal and terrorist organizations, individuals or groups participating in organized crime and insiders) with a wide range of expertise and motives (including monetization of corporate, payment or other internal or personal data, theft of computing resources, financial fraud, operational disruption, theft of trade secrets and intellectual property for competitive advantage and leverage for political, social, economic and environmental reasons). Such cyberattacks and cyber incidents can take many forms including cyber extortion, denial of service, social engineering, such as impersonation attempts to fraudulently induce employees or others to disclose information or unwittingly provide access to systems or data, introduction of viruses or malware, such as ransomware through phishing emails, website defacement or theft of passwords and other credentials, unauthorized use of computing resources for digital currency mining and business email compromises. There can be no assurance that such unauthorized access or cyber incidents will not occur in the future, and they could occur more frequently and on a larger scale. Legal liability arising from such risks may harm our business. Many aspects of our business involve substantial risks of liability.

Our ability to successfully effect our growth strategy is dependent upon the efforts of our key personnel. The loss of our key personnel could severely negatively impact the operations and profitability of our business.

We carry various insurance policies on our assets. These policies contain policy specifications, limits and deductibles that may mean that such policies do not provide coverage or sufficient coverage against all potential material losses. There are certain types of risk (generally of a catastrophic nature such as war or environmental contamination) which are either uninsurable or not economically insurable. Further, there are certain types of risk for which insurance coverage is not equal to the full replacement cost of the insured assets. Should any uninsured or underinsured loss occur, we could lose our investment in, and anticipated profits and cash flows from, one or more of our assets or operations.

Global or regional changes in the financial markets or economic conditions could adversely affect our business in many ways, including the following: ?Limitations on the availability of credit could affect our ability to borrow on a secured or unsecured basis, which may adversely affect our liquidity and results of operations. Global market and economic conditions have been disrupted and volatile in the last several years and may be in the future. Our cost and availability of funding could be affected by illiquid credit markets and wider credit spreads. ?Should one of our customers, debtors or competitors fail, our business prospects and revenue could be negatively impacted due to negative market sentiment causing customers to cease doing business with us and our lenders to cease extending credit to us, which could adversely affect our business, funding and liquidity. Additionally, disruptions in the financial markets have increased the spread between the yields realized on risk-free and higher risk securities, resulting in illiquidity in parts of the financial markets. These and future market disruptions and/or illiquidity would be expected to have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Unfavorable economic conditions also would be expected to increase our funding costs, limit our access to the capital markets or result in a decision by lenders not to extend credit to us. These events have limited and could continue to limit our investment originations, limit our ability to grow and have a material negative impact on our operating results and the fair values of our debt and equity investments. As a result, we may experience additional losses on our investments. Decreases in the market values of investments held within the underlying portfolios of managed funds could also lead to decreases in asset-based fee revenues.

The build-out of our business is affected by conditions in the financial markets and economic conditions and events throughout the world, such as interest rates, availability of credit, inflation rates, economic uncertainty, changes in laws and regulations, market perceptions and other factors. Adverse changes could lead to a reduction in investment income, losses on our own capital invested and lower revenues from investment management fees. Such adverse changes may also lead to a decrease in new capital raised and may cause investors to withdraw their investments and commitments. Even in the absence of a market downturn, below-market investment performance by our funds and portfolio managers could reduce investment management revenues and assets under management and result in reputational damage that may make it more difficult to attract new investors or retain existing investors.

All aspects of our business are intensely competitive. We will compete directly with a number of BDCs, private equity and venture capital funds, financial investment firms and SPACs. There has been increasing competition from others offering financial services, including services based on technological innovations. Increased competition or an adverse change in our competitive position could lead to a reduction of business and therefore a reduction of revenues and profits. Competition also extends to the hiring and retention of highly skilled management and employees. A competitor may be successful in hiring away employees, which may result in us losing business formerly serviced by such employees. Competition can also increase our costs of recruiting, hiring and retaining the employees we need to effectively operate our business.