Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)

9. DEBT

v3.3.1.900
9. DEBT
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2015
Debt Disclosure [Abstract]  
DEBT

Long-term borrowings are summarized as follows (in thousands):

 

    December 31, 2015     December 31, 2014  
Kinergy operating line of credit   $ 61,003     $ 17,530  
Term debt     162,622       17,003  
      223,625       34,533  
Less unamortized discount     (2,298 )      
Less short-term portion     (17,003 )      
Long-term debt   $ 204,324     $ 34,533  

 

Kinergy Line of Credit – Kinergy has an operating line of credit for an aggregate amount of up to $75,000,000 with an “accordion” feature to further increase the maximum credit under the credit facility to up to $100,000,000 in minimum increments of $5,000,000 each, upon Kinergy’s request, but subject to the consent of the agent and the lenders in their sole discretion. The line of credit matures on December 31, 2020. The credit facility is based on Kinergy’s eligible accounts receivable and inventory levels, subject to certain concentration reserves. The credit facility is subject to certain other sublimits, including inventory loan limits. Interest accrues under the line of credit at a rate equal to (i) the three-month London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”), plus (ii) a specified applicable margin ranging between 1.75% and 2.75%. The applicable margin was 1.75%, for a total rate of 2.375% at December 31, 2015. The credit facility’s monthly unused line fee is an annual rate equal to 0.25% to 0.375% depending on the average daily principal balance during the immediately preceding month. Payments that may be made by Kinergy to the Company as reimbursement for management and other services provided by the Company to Kinergy are limited under the terms of the credit facility to $1,100,000 per fiscal quarter.

 

The credit facility also includes the accounts receivable of PAP as additional collateral. Payments that may be made by PAP to Pacific Ethanol as reimbursement for management and other services provided by Payments that may be made by PAP to the Company as reimbursement for management and other services provided by the Company to PAP are limited under the terms of the credit facility to $500,000 per fiscal quarter.

 

For each calendar month, Kinergy and PAP are collectively required to maintain a fixed-charge coverage ratio (calculated as a twelve-month rolling EBITDA divided by the sum of interest expense, capital expenditures, principal payments of indebtedness, indebtedness from capital leases and taxes paid during such twelve-month rolling period) of at least 2.0 and are prohibited from incurring certain additional indebtedness (other than specific intercompany indebtedness.

 

Kinergy and PAP’s obligations under the credit facility are secured by a first-priority security interest in all of their assets in favor of the lender. Pacific Ethanol has guaranteed all of Kinergy’s obligations under the line of credit. As of December 31, 2015, Kinergy had an available borrowing base under the credit facility of $67,161,000.

 

Pacific Ethanol West Plants’ Term Debt – The Pacific Ethanol West Plants’ debt as of December 31, 2015 consisted of a $32,487,000 tranche A-1 term loan and a $26,279,000 tranche A-2 term loan, both of which have a maturity date in June 2016. Pacific Ethanol, Inc. holds a combined $41,763,000 of these term loans, which are eliminated upon consolidation. As of December 31, 2015, the combined outstanding balance of these loans was $17,003,000 on a consolidated basis (net of Pacific Ethanol, Inc. holdings).

 

The term debt requires monthly interest payments at a floating rate equal to the three-month LIBOR or the Prime Rate of interest, at the election of the Pacific Ethanol West Plants, plus 10.0%. At December 31, 2015, the interest rate was approximately 13.25%. Repayments of principal are based on available free cash flow of the Pacific Ethanol West Plants, until maturity, when all principal amounts are due.

 

On February 26, 2016, the Company retired the $17,003,000 outstanding balance by purchasing the lender’s position for cash at par without any prepayment penalty. This purchase increased the amount of the term loans held by Pacific Ethanol to a combined $58,766,000. As a result, the Company has no continuing obligations to any third-party lender under the credit agreements associated with this term debt.

 

Senior Unsecured Notes – On January 11, 2013, under the terms of a securities purchase agreement dated December 19, 2012 among the Company and five accredited investors, the Company issued and sold to the investors in a private offering $22,192,000 in aggregate principal amount of its senior unsecured notes (“January 2013 Notes”) and warrants to purchase an aggregate of 1,708,700 shares of the Company’s common stock (“January 2013 Financing Transaction”) for aggregate net proceeds of $22,072,000. The warrants have an exercise price of $6.32 per share and expire in January 2018. The January 2013 Notes had an original maturity date of March 30, 2016 and bore interest at a rate of 5% per annum, subject to adjustment. Payments due under the January 2013 Notes ranked senior to all other indebtedness of the Company and its subsidiaries, other than certain permitted senior indebtedness.

 

Upon closing of the January 2013 Financing Transaction, the Company recorded a debt discount of $2,657,000 associated with the value of the warrants issued in connection with the financing. The debt discount will be amortized over the life of the January 2013 Notes to approximate a yield adjustment.

 

If at any time the Company were to receive net cash proceeds from an issuance of equity or equity-linked securities of the Company, interest received from any purchased and outstanding plant owners’ term debt, certain sales of assets or as a result of incurring certain indebtedness, then the Company would be obligated to prepay the January 2013 Notes using 100% of all such net cash proceeds, provided that any net proceeds received in connection with an equity-linked issuance must be used to either prepay the January 2013 Notes or purchase certain outstanding debt issued by the plant owners.

 

During 2014, the Company made principal cash payments on the January 2013 Notes in the aggregate amount of $13,984,000, fully retiring the debt prior to maturity. During 2013, the Company made principal cash payments on the January 2013 Notes in the aggregate amount of $6,208,000 and the Company issued 500,000 shares of its common stock as a $2,000,000 principal payment, resulting in a loss of $229,000 on extinguishment of debt.

 

Subordinated Convertible Notes – On March 28, 2013, the Company issued $6,000,000 in aggregate principal amount of its Series A Subordinated Convertible Notes (“Series A Notes”), and warrants to purchase an aggregate of 1,839,600 shares of common stock for aggregate gross proceeds of $6,000,000. On June 21, 2013, the Company issued $8,000,000 in aggregate principal amount of its Series B Subordinated Convertible Notes (“Series B Notes”) for aggregate gross proceeds of $8,000,000. The warrants had an exercise price of $7.59 per share. Of the warrants issued in the transaction, warrants to purchase 788,400 shares of common stock expired in March 2015 and warrants to purchase 1,051,200 shares of common stock expired in June 2015. The net proceeds of these offerings of $12,560,000 were used to (i) purchase $6,665,000 of the plant owners’ debt maturing in June 2013, the maturity of which was also extended at the time from June 2013 to June 2016, and of which the Company immediately retired $1,122,000; (ii) acquire an additional 5% ownership interest in PE Op Co.; and (iii) purchase and immediately retire an additional $3,500,000 of the plant owners’ term debt.

 

Unless converted or redeemed earlier, the Series A and B Notes were to mature on March 28, 2014. The Series A and B Notes bore interest at 5% per annum, compounded monthly. All amounts due under the Series A and B Notes were convertible at any time, in whole or in part, at the option of the holders into shares of the Company’s common stock at a conversion price (“Fixed Conversion Price”), which was subject to adjustment as described below.

 

The Series A and B Notes were initially convertible into shares of the Company’s common stock at the initial Fixed Conversion Price of $15.00 per share. If the Company sold or issued any securities with “floating” conversion prices based on the market price of its common stock, the holder of a Series A or B Note would have the right thereafter to substitute the “floating” conversion price for the Fixed Conversion Price upon conversion of all or part of the Series A or B Note.

 

The Company determined that the conversion feature of the Series A and B Notes and the related warrants require bifurcation and liability classification and measurement, at fair value, and require evaluation at each reporting period. The initial fair values of the conversion feature of the Series A Notes of $1,400,800 and the warrants of $882,500 were accounted for as a debt discount and were amortized into interest expense as a yield adjustment over the term of the Series A Notes. The initial fair values of the conversion feature of the Series B Notes of $2,928,500 and the warrants of $689,300 were accounted for as a debt discount and were amortized into interest expense as a yield adjustment over the term of the Series B Notes.

 

In 2013, the Company made installment payments and processed a number of conversions. In the aggregate, the Company issued 4,446,000 shares of its common stock in payment of principal and interest in an aggregate amount of the $14,000,000 in respect of the Series A and B Notes. In connection with these installment payments and conversions, the Company recorded losses on extinguishments of debt of $4,621,000 for the year ended December 31, 2013.

 

As of December 31, 2013, the Series A and B Notes had been fully retired.

 

Acquisitions of Pacific Ethanol West Plant Debt – On January 11, 2013, the Company used $21,500,000 of the proceeds of the January 2013 Financing Transaction to purchase from certain lenders an aggregate amount of $21,500,000 of the Pacific Ethanol West plant owners’ tranche A-2 term loans. The Company determined that the acquisition of the plant debt was a modification of terms because the lenders who held the acquired plant debt were the lenders under the January 2013 Notes. Based on the Company’s review of the present value of cash flows of the January 2013 Notes compared to the older plant debt, which resulted in a less than 10% change, the modification was not significant and the Company did not record a gain or loss associated with the modification. The Company expensed certain legal costs associated with the debt modification of approximately $408,000, rather than amortizing those expenses over the life of the debt. Because the plant debt acquired is now held by Pacific Ethanol, Inc. this specific debt is eliminated in consolidation.

 

On March 28, 2013, the Company used proceeds from the issuance of its Series A Notes and warrants to purchase $3,500,000 of revolving credit facility debt, at par, from a lender. Under the terms of the amended credit facility, the Company was obligated to immediately forgive the purchased amount of revolving credit facility debt and has permanently reduced the maximum commitment on this facility to $36,500,000.

 

On March 28, 2013, the Company also used proceeds from the issuance of its Series A Notes and warrants to purchase $2,636,000 of tranche A-2 term loans and an additional 3% ownership interest in PE Op Co. for a combined purchase price of $2,150,000. The Company first allocated $331,000 of this payment to the PE Op Co. ownership interest and the remainder was allocated to the tranche A-2 term loans. The $817,000 difference between the amount the Company allocated to the term loans and the face amount of $2,636,000 was recorded as a gain on extinguishment of debt.

On June 21, 2013, the Company used proceeds from the issuance of its Series B Notes to purchase $1,122,000 of revolving credit facility debt at a discount. Under the terms of the amended credit facility, the Company was obligated to immediately forgive the purchased amount of revolving credit facility debt and has permanently reduced the maximum commitment on this facility to $35,378,000.

 

On June 21, 2013, the Company also used proceeds from the issuance of its Series B Notes to purchase $2,907,000 of tranche A-1 and A-2 term loans at a discount and an additional 2% ownership interest in PE Op Co. for $197,000. The Company recorded a gain on extinguishment of debt of $998,000 related to the discount it paid for the revolving and term loans.

 

On June 6, 2014, the Company purchased $14,675,000 of term debt for $17,038,000 in cash, reducing its consolidated plant term debt by $14,675,000, and recorded a $2,363,000 loss on extinguishment of debt for the amount paid in excess of the principal balance.

 

As of December 31, 2015, the Company held an aggregate of $41,763,000 of the tranche A-1 and tranche A-2 term loans, which has been eliminated upon consolidation.

 

Pacific Ethanol Central Plants’ Term Debt– As of September 30, 2015, the Pacific Ethanol Central Plants had term debt with an outstanding balance of $145,619,000. On July 1, 2015, upon effectiveness of the Aventine acquisition, Aventine became a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company and, on a consolidated basis, the combined company became obligated with respect to the Pacific Ethanol Central Plants’ term loan and revolving credit facilities. The creditors under the term loan for the Pacific Ethanol Central Plants have recourse solely against the Pacific Ethanol Central Plants and their subsidiaries but not against Pacific Ethanol, Inc. or its other direct or indirect subsidiaries. In connection with the Company’s allocation of purchase price, the debt was recorded at $142,744,000, net of a discount of $2,875,000.

 

The term loan facility matures on September 24, 2017. The term loan facility is secured through a first-priority lien on substantially all of the Pacific Ethanol Central Plants’ assets and contains customary financial covenants, including the requirement that Aventine maintain a cash balance of at least $2.0 million. Interest on the term loan facility accrues and may be paid in cash at a rate of 10.5% per annum or may be paid in-kind at a rate of 15.0% per annum by adding such interest to the outstanding principal balance. If the Company were to elect to pay interest in-kind, the interest would be capitalized at the end of each quarter. The Company paid interest in cash for the period from July 1, 2015, the effective date of the Aventine acquisition, through December 31, 2015.

 

On July 1, 2015, the Company repaid in full $14.5 million, including approximately $0.7 million in termination fees, representing all amounts owed under Aventine’s revolving credit facility.

 

Interest Expense on Borrowings and Maturities – Interest expense on all borrowings discussed above was $11,745,000, $6,546,000 and $12,680,000 for the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively. The consolidated long-term debt matures as follows: $17,003,000 was to mature in 2016 but was repaid in February 2016; $145,619,000 matures in September 2017 and $61,003,000 matures in December 2020.

 

At December 31, 2015, there were approximately $164.0 million of net assets of the Company’s subsidiaries that were not available to be transferred to the parent company in the form of dividends, loans or advances due to restrictions contained in the credit facilities of these subsidiaries.