Company: EQS
Filing Date: 2025-04-23
Form Type: PRE 14A
Source: 0001712543-25-000025
Chunk: 2

Company: EQUUS TOTAL RETURN, INC.
Filing Date: 2025-04-23
Form: PRE 14A
Chunk 2
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We are distributing this proxy statement and proxy form to stockholders
on or about May 19, 2025.

By order of the Board of Directors,

JOHN A. HARDY

Chief Executive Officer

April 30, 2025

Houston, Texas

<div align='center'>Important Notice Regarding the Availability of Proxy Materials

for the Company’s Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be held on June 26, 2025</div>

This proxy statement, proxy card and the Company’s Annual Report
to Stockholders for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024 are available free of charge at the following website: https://equuscap.com/investor-relations/sec-filings/
or by calling our proxy solicitor Georgeson LLC, toll free, at 1-855-733-4090.

700 LOUISIANA STREET

41 STFLOOR

HOUSTON, TX 77002

<div align='center'>EQUUS TOTAL RETURN, INC.

700 Louisiana Street

41 stFloor

Houston, Texas 77002

PROXY STATEMENT</div>

This proxy statement contains information relating
to the annual meeting of Equus Total Return, Inc. (“Equus” or the “Company”). The
annual meeting of stockholders (the “Meeting”) or any postponement or adjournment thereof will be held on June
26, 2025, beginning at 11:00 a.m., Eastern Time, at Jenner & Block LLP, 1155 Avenue of the Americas, 32 Floor, New York,
NY 10036. The Board of Directors (sometimes referred to hereinafter as the “Board”) is sending stockholders
this proxy statement to solicit proxies to be voted at the annual meeting. It is being mailed to stockholders on or about May 19, 2025.

<div align='center'>ABOUT THE MEETING</div>

What is the purpose of the Meeting?

At the Meeting, stockholders will be asked to
elect Company directors (see Proposal 1), ratify the selection of the Company’s independent registered public
accountant (see Proposal 2), approve, on a non-binding advisory basis, compensation paid to the Company’s named
executive officers in 2024 (see Proposal 3), authorize the Company to sell or otherwise issue shares of its common stock at a
price below its then-current net asset value (“NAV”) per share in connection with the conversion of an
existing investment note and the