2019 South Carolina Code of Laws
Title 33 - Corporations, Partnerships and Associations
Chapter 37 - Business Development Corporations
Section 33-37-250. Powers.

In furtherance of the purposes for which the corporation is founded and in addition to the powers conferred on business corporations by this title, the corporation, subject to the restrictions and limitations contained in this chapter, may:

(1) elect, appoint, and employ officers, agents, and employees;

(2) make contracts and incur liabilities for any of the purposes of the corporation, except that the corporation may not incur secondary liability by way of guaranty or endorsement of the obligations of any person, firm, corporation, joint-stock company, association, or trust, or in any other manner;

(3) borrow money only from (i) the members, (ii) the Small Business Administration, an agency of the United States Government, and (iii) other lending sources approved by the board of directors of the corporation for the purposes of the corporation, issue its bonds, debentures, notes, or other evidences of indebtedness, whether secured or unsecured, and secure them by mortgage, pledge, deed of trust, or other lien on its property, franchises, rights and privileges of every kind and nature, or any part of them or interest in them, without securing stockholder or member approval. Except as provided in Section 33-37-465 and item (9), a loan to the corporation may not be secured in any manner unless all outstanding loans to the corporation are secured equally and ratably in proportion to the unpaid balance of the loans and in the same manner;

(4) make loans or participate with the Small Business Administration, an agency of the United States Government, in loans to any person, firm, corporation, joint-stock company, association, or trust and establish and regulate the terms and conditions of the loans and the charges for interest and service connected with them;

(5) purchase, receive, hold, lease, or otherwise acquire and sell, convey, transfer, lease, or otherwise dispose of real and personal property, together with rights and privileges incidental and appurtenant to it and the use of it including, but not limited to, real or personal property acquired by the corporation in the satisfaction of debts or enforcement of obligations;

(6) acquire all or part of the good will, business rights, real and personal property, and other assets, of any persons, firms, corporations, joint-stock companies, associations, or trusts, and to assume, undertake, or pay the obligations, debts, and liabilities of the person, firm, corporation, joint-stock company, association, or trust;

(7) acquire improved or unimproved real estate for the purpose of constructing industrial plants or other business establishments or for the purpose of disposing of it to others for the construction of industrial plants or other business establishments, and to transfer, lease, or otherwise dispose of industrial plants or business establishments;

(8) acquire, subscribe for, own, hold, sell, assign, transfer, mortgage, pledge, or otherwise dispose of the stock, shares, bonds, debentures, notes, or other securities and evidences of interest in or indebtedness of any person, firm, corporation, joint-stock company, association, or trust, and to exercise all the rights, powers, and privileges of ownership, including the right to vote, while the owner or holder;

(9) mortgage, pledge, or otherwise encumber a property right or thing of value acquired pursuant to the powers contained in items (5) through (8), as security for the payment of a part of the purchase price of it;

(10) cooperate with and avail itself of the facilities of the Department of Commerce and similar governmental agencies, including the Small Business Administration, an agency of the United States Government, and cooperate with and assist and otherwise encourage organizations in the various communities of the State in the promotion, assistance, and development of the business prosperity and economic welfare of those communities or of the corporation's area of operations or of any part of them; and

(11) do all acts and things necessary or convenient to carry out the powers expressly granted in this chapter.

HISTORY: 1962 Code Section 12-1125; 1958 (50) 1886; 1960 (51) 1937; 1993 Act No. 181, Section 521996 Act No. 353, Section 2; 2000 Act No. 234, Section 3; 2015 Act No. 60 (S.389), Section 1, eff June 4, 2015.

Effect of Amendment

2015 Act No. 60, Section 1, in (3), deleted "of this section" following "and item (9)"; in (4), deleted text at the end, relating to a showing that the loan applied for had been refused; in (9), deleted "of this section" following "through (8)"; in (10), substituted "of the corporation's area of operations" for "of this State"; deleted former (11), relating to subsidiary corporation organization; and redesignated former (12) as (11).