SEC Company Response from ENER1 INC (CIK 0000895642) — Oct 21, 2005
ENER1 INC (CIK 0000895642)
Date: Oct. 21, 2005 · CIK: 0000895642 · Accession: 0001108017-05-000611
AI Filing Summary & Sentiment
File numbers found in text: 000-21138
Referenced dates: September 21, 2005
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CORRESP
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filename1.htm
Ener1 Correspondence
GIBSON,
DUNN & CRUTCHER LLP
LAWYERS
A
REGISTERED LIMITED LIABILITY PARTNERSHIP
INCLUDING
PROFESSIONAL CORPORATIONS
1050
Connecticut Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20036-5306
(202)
955-8500
SIGlover@gibsondunn.com
October
21, 2005
(202)
855-8593
C
26499-00003
(202)
530-9598
Ms.
Angela Crane
Branch
Chief, Division of Corporation Finance
Securities
and Exchange Commission
100
F
Street, N.E.
Washington,
DC 20549
Re:
Ener1,
Inc., File No. 000-21138
Form
10-KSB for the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2004, Filed April
15, 2005;
Form 10-QSB for the Fiscal Quarters Ended March 31, 2005 and June
30,
2005
Dear
Ms.
Crane:
On
behalf
of Ener1, Inc. (“Ener1” or the “Company”), this responds to your letter dated
September 21, 2005, regarding the Company’s Form 10-KSB filed on April 15, 2005
and Form 10-QSB for the quarters ended March 31, 2005 and June 30, 2005
(collectively, the “Filings”). Each of your comments is set forth below,
followed by the Company’s related response. The responses were prepared by the
Company with our assistance and the assistance of Kaufman, Rossin & Co., the
Company’s independent registered public accounting firm from March 2002 to
August 2005, and Eisner LLP, the Company’s current independent registered public
accounting firm.
-1-
Form
10-KSB for the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2004
Management’s
Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition, page 14; Critical Accounting
Policies, page 15
Comment
1. Tell
us your consideration of disclosing your inter-company transaction policy
under
this heading.
Response
1
The
Company considered the nature and extent of inter-company transactions during
the periods presented in the consolidated financial statements. These
transactions primarily consisted of asset transfers and allocation of expenses
between the Company and its subsidiaries.
In
accordance with Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) Release No. 33-8040
“Cautionary Advice Regarding Disclosure About Critical Accounting Policies”
(Dec. 12, 2001), registrants were encouraged to include in Management’s
Discussion and Analysis (“MD&A”) full explanations of their critical
accounting policies. An accounting estimate resulting from the application
of a
critical accounting policy is considered “critical” only if it meets two
criteria: (1) if it requires a company to make assumptions about matters
that
are highly uncertain at the time the accounting estimate is made and (2)
if
different estimates that the company reasonably could have used for the
accounting estimate in the current period, or changes in the accounting estimate
that are reasonably likely to occur from period to period, would have a material
impact on the presentation of the company’s financial condition, changes in
financial condition or results of operations.1
A “critical accounting policy” has been described as a policy that is both “very
important to the portrayal of the company’s financial condition and results, and
requires management’s most difficult, subjective or complex judgments."2 Such
disclosure is intended to give investors insight into management’s judgments
about future events, including the variables and assumptions underlying the
estimates used to formulate such judgments.
Management
determined that accounting for the Company’s inter-company transactions did not
involve estimates that were subject to a high degree of uncertainty or
susceptible to changes that might materially impact the Company’s financial
results or condition. Therefore, management concluded that the policy did
not
meet the criteria for disclosure as a critical accounting policy in the MD&A
section of the Company’s Form 10-KSB.
Financial
Statements, page 25
General
Comment
2. We
note in your risk factors on page 19 that investors should consider,
“challenges, expenses and difficulties that (you) will face as a
development
stage company.”
Please tell us if you consider the company to be a development stage enterprise.
See paragraphs 8 and 9 of SFAS 7.
Response
2
Although
the Company’s current line of business, developing new energy technologies,
represents a shift in focus from its prior core business, the Company has
been
an operating entity for many years and does not consider itself to be a
development stage enterprise within the meaning of Statement of Financial
Accounting Standards (“SFAS”) No. 7, “Accounting and Reporting by Development
Stage Companies.” The Company will not use this description in future
filings.
1Release
No. 33-8098, “Proposed Rule: Disclosure in Management’s
Discussion and Analysis
about the Application of Critical Accounting Policies” (May 14,
2002).
2Speech
by SEC Staff, “Critical Accounting and Critical Disclosures,” by Robert K.
Herdman, Chief Accountant, Financial Executives International - San Diego
Chapter, Annual SEC Update, January 24, 2002.
-2-
Consolidated
Statement of Operations, page 28
Comment
3. Other
income and expense are normally non-operating expenses, comprised of items
such
as dividends, interest and gains on sales of assets. Revise future filings
to
restate interest expense as a non-operating expense, or tell us why your current
presentation is appropriate.
Response
3
The
Company will revise future filings to report interest expense as a non-operating
expense.
Note
1. Nature of Business, page 32
Comment
4. We
note in September 2002 you acquired Ener1 Battery from your majority
shareholder, Ener1 Group. Tell us how you accounted for this transaction and
the
accounting literature upon which you relied. Include how you value the patents
and equipment acquired. If Ener1 Group created these assets, it appears the
assets would have no basis to be transferred to Ener1’s balance sheet. Please
advise.
Response
4
Effective
September 6, 2002, the Company acquired 100% of the outstanding capital stock
of
Ener1 Battery Company (the “Battery Company”) from Ener1 Group, Inc. (“Ener1
Group”). Because the Company and the Battery Company were under common control,
the Company accounted for this transaction by recording all assets and
liabilities of the Battery Company, including patents and equipment, at the
Battery Company’s historical cost basis as of the date of transfer. The Company
relied upon the provisions of paragraphs D11 and D12 of appendix D to SFAS
No.
141, “Business Combinations” (“SFAS 141”), in determining to account for the
transaction in this manner. Paragraph D11 states that the term business
combination “excludes transfers of net assets or exchanges of shares between
entities under common control.” Paragraph D12 states that “when accounting for a
transfer of assets or exchange of shares between entities under common control,
the entity that receives the net assets or the equity interests shall initially
recognize the assets and liabilities transferred at their carrying amounts
in
the accounts of the transferring entity at the date of transfer.” The Company
did not record the patents and equipment acquired on its books at their fair
market value at the time of the acquisition of the Battery Company because
SFAS
141 does not permit the acquiring company under these circumstances to step-up
the basis of the assets acquired to their fair market value as of the date
of
acquisition. In accordance with SFAS No. 144, “Accounting for the Impairment or
Disposal of Long-Lived Assets” (“SFAS 144”), the Company evaluates these assets
for possible impairment in the ordinary course of business.
Note
3. Significant Accounting Policies, page 33
Principles
of Consolidation
Comment
5. Please
show us the ownership structure of Ener1 Group in greater detail. Specifically,
how Ener1 Group relates to other companies to which you refer.
Response
5
The
organization chart attached hereto as Exhibit
A
illustrates the ownership structure of Ener1 Group, the Company, and the
Company’s subsidiaries.
-3-
Note
5. Property and Equipment, page 38
Comment
6. We
note that machinery and equipment principally held for production and not
currently being used is not depreciated. Please explain why depreciation was
suspended and show us your accounting complies with GAAP.
Response
6
As
of
December 31, 2004, the machinery and equipment, including any substantial
portion thereof, was not ready for production, and had not yet been placed
in
service; therefore, the Company had not yet begun to depreciate these assets.
See Response 15 for a further discussion of why the machinery and equipment
had
not yet been used. This machinery and equipment included new components for
a
manufacturing facility that had not been completed. Because the Company had
not
begun to use and depreciate the machinery and equipment, the Company’s
depreciation of this machinery and equipment was never suspended. As stated
in
Accounting Research Bulletin No. 43, “Restatement and Revision of Accounting
Research Bulletins,” Chapter 9C, paragraph 5, the cost of a productive facility
is one of the costs of the services it renders during its useful economic life.
Generally accepted accounting principles require that this cost be spread over
the expected useful life of the facility in such a way as to allocate it as
equitably as possible to the periods during which services are obtained from
the
use of the facility. This procedure is known as depreciation accounting, a
system of accounting which aims to distribute the cost or other basic value
of
tangible capital assets, less salvage (if any), over the estimated useful life
of the unit (which may be a group of assets) in a systematic and rational
manner. It is a process of allocation, not of valuation. In accordance with
depreciation accounting, the Company would not begin to depreciate the machinery
and equipment held for production until it was ready for use, i.e.,
the
beginning of its useful life.
Deferral
of depreciation until an asset is substantially complete and ready for its
intended use is consistent with industry practice. This practice is supported
by
the June 29, 2001 Exposure Draft of Proposed Statement of Position, “Accounting
for Certain Costs and Activities Related to Property, Plant and Equipment.”
Paragraph 34 of the Exposure Draft states “When PP&E is substantially
complete and ready for its intended use, all expenses associated with the
PP&E should be recognized in operations as they accrue, including carrying
costs (such as property taxes, insurance and ground rentals), and depreciation
should begin. PP&E should be considered substantially complete and ready for
its intended use upon completion of all major construction and installation
activities or when related revenues begin to be recognized, if
sooner.”
Note
8. Consolidation of 49% Subsidiary (EnerLook Solutions, Inc.), page
40
Comment
7. We
note that you continued to consolidate EnerLook after your ownership fell to
49%
in 2003. Please discuss your basis for consolidating EnerLook despite having
less than majority ownership. As part of your discussion explain all rights
held
by Ener1 Group and the management and funding by TVR.
Response
7
As
discussed in Note 8 to the Company’s financial
statements for the year ended December 31, 2004, when
EnerLook Solutions, Inc. (formerly known as EnerLook Health Care Solutions,
Inc., and now known as Ener EL Holdings, Inc.) (“EnerLook”) was formed in
February 2002, 51% of its common stock was owned by the Company. In early 2003,
EnerLook issued 333,333 shares of common stock to Solution Investment Group,
LLC
in exchange for $250,000 and also issued 125,000 shares of common stock to
an
employee. At December 31, 2004, the Company and Ener1 Group owned 49% and 43%,
respectively, of EnerLook’s outstanding common stock.
-4-
Rule
3A-02 of Regulation S-X states that the determination of whether an entity
should be consolidated should be made on the basis of whether the parent company
controls the entity and does not prohibit the consolidation of a less than
50%
owned subsidiary. The rule specifically discusses the possibility that a company
may need to consolidate an entity that is less-than-majority-owned if a
parent-subsidiary relationship exists by means other than record ownership
of
voting stock. Rule 1-02(x) states that a subsidiary of a person is an affiliate
controlled by such person directly, or indirectly, through one or more
intermediaries. The term “control” as defined in Rule 1-02(g) means the
possession of the power to direct or cause the direction of the management
and
policies of an entity. Control may be exercised in ways other than through
the
ownership of voting securities.
The Company concluded that it controlled EnerLook, even though it
owned
less than a majority of EnerLook’s common stock for the following reasons: The
combined ownership of EnerLook’s outstanding common stock by the Company and
Ener1 Group has been approximately 92% (approximately 49% and 43%, respectively)
since 2002. Ener1 Group also owns approximately 88% of the Company’s outstanding
common stock. In addition, since 2002, certain members of the Company’s
management have also been members of the management of Ener1 Group; these
individuals also comprise a majority of the Board of Directors of EnerLook.
For
these reasons, the Company determined that it controlled
EnerLook.
In
addition to the foregoing, the Company’s auditors consulted on an informal basis
with an SEC staff member on this issue, and the SEC staff member concurred
with
the Company’s decision to consolidate EnerLook on the basis of the facts set
forth above. Therefore, the Company determined that it was proper to consolidate
EnerLook even