Organization and Limited Liability Company Matters

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Organization and Limited Liability Company Matters [Abstract]

Organization and Limited Liability Company Matters

1. Organization and Limited Liability Company matters:

ATEL Capital Equipment Fund VIII, LLC (the “Company” or the “Fund”) was formed under the laws of the state of California on July 31, 1998 (“Date of Inception”) for the purpose of equipment financing and acquiring equipment to engage in equipment leasing and sales activities. The Managing Member of the Company is ATEL Financial Services, LLC (the “Managing Member” or “Manager”), a California limited liability company. The Managing Member is a wholly-owned subsidiary of ATEL Capital Group. The Fund may continue until December 31, 2019.  As a limited liability company, the liability of any individual member for the obligations of the Fund is limited to the extent of capital contributions to the Fund by the individual member. 

Contributions in the amount of $600 were received, which represented a $500 initial member’s capital investment and a $100 Managing Member’s capital investment. The Company conducted a public offering of 15,000,000Limited Liability Company Units (“Units”), at a price of  $10 per Unit. On January 13, 1999, subscriptions for the minimum number of Units  (120,000, representing $1.2 million) had been received(excluding subscriptions from Pennsylvania investors) and AFS requested that the subscriptions be released to the Company. On that date, the Company commenced operations in its primary business (acquiring equipment to engage in equipment leasing, lending and sales activities).Gross contributions in the amount of $135.7 million  (13,570,188 units) were received as of November 30, 2000, inclusive of $500 of initial Member’s capital investment and $100 of AFS’ capital investment. The offering was terminated on November 30, 2000.

As of December 31, 2016, cumulative gross contributions, less rescissions and repurchases (net of distributions paid and allocated syndication costs, as applicable), totaling  $135.7 million (inclusive of the $600  initial Member’s capital investment)  have been received. As of the same date,  13,560,188 Units were issued and outstanding.

The Company’s principal objectives have been to invest in a diversified portfolio of equipment that (i) preserves, protects and returns the Company’s invested capital; (ii) generates regular distributions to the Members 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, 2006, and (iii) provides additional distributions following the Reinvestment Period and until all equipment has been sold. The Company is governed by its Limited Liability Company Operating Agreement (“Operating Agreement”), as amended.

Pursuant to the terms of the Operating Agreement, the Managing Member and/or its affiliates receive compensation for services rendered and reimbursements for costs incurred on behalf of the Company (See Note 6, Related party transactions). The Company 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 the Managing Member.

As of December 31, 2016, the Company continues in the liquidation phase of its life cycle as defined in the Operating Agreement.