Organization and Limited Partnership Matters

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2015

Organization and Limited Partnership Matters [Abstract]

Organization and Limited Partnership Matters

1. Organization and Limited Partnership matters:

ATEL Capital Equipment Fund VII, L.P. (the “Partnership” or the “Fund”) was formed under the laws of the State of California on May 17, 1996 for the purpose of acquiring equipment to engage in equipment leasing and sales activities, primarily in the United States. The Partnership may continue until December 31, 2017. The General Partner of the Partnership is ATEL Financial Services, LLC (“AFS”), a California limited liability company. Prior to converting to a limited liability company structure, AFS was formerly known as ATEL Financial Corporation.

The Partnership conducted a public offering of 15,000,000 Units of Limited Partnership Interest (“Units”), at a price of $10 per Unit. On January 7, 1997, subscriptions for the minimum number of Units (120,000, $1.2 million) had been received (excluding subscriptions from Pennsylvania investors) and AFS requested that the subscriptions be released to the Partnership. On that date, the Partnership commenced operations in its primary business (acquiring equipment to engage in equipment leasing and sales activities). Gross contributions in the amount of $150 million (15,000,000 units) were received as of November 27, 1998, exclusive of $500 of initial Partners’ capital investment and $100 of AFS’ capital investment. The offering was terminated on November 27, 1998. As of June 30,2015,14,985,550 Units were issued and outstanding.

The Partnership’s principal objectives have been to invest in a diversified portfolio of equipment that (i) preserves, protects and returns the Partnership’s invested capital; (ii) generates regular distributions to the partners of cash from operations and cash from sales or refinancing, with any balance remaining after certain minimum distributions to be used to purchase additional equipment during the reinvestment period (“Reinvestment Period”) (defined as six full years following the year the offering was terminated), which ended December 31, 2004 and (iii) provides additional distributions following the Reinvestment Period and until all equipment has been sold. The Partnership is governed by its Limited Partnership Agreement (“Partnership Agreement”).

Pursuant to the Partnership Agreement, AFS receives compensation and reimbursements for services renderedand costs incurred on behalf of the Partnership (See Note 5). The Partnership is required to maintain reasonable cash reserves for working capital, the repurchase of Units and contingencies. The repurchase of Units is solely at the discretion of AFS.

As ofJune 30, 2015, the Partnership continues in the liquidation phase of its life cycle as defined in the Partnership Agreement.

These unaudited interim financial statements should be read in conjunction with the financial statements and notes thereto contained in the report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.