SEC Company Response from ATLAS PIPELINE PARTNERS LP (CIK 0001092914) — May 9, 2005
ATLAS PIPELINE PARTNERS LP (CIK 0001092914)
Date: May 9, 2005 · CIK: 0001092914 · Accession: 0001015402-05-002296
AI Filing Summary & Sentiment
Referenced dates: May 2, 2005
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CORRESP
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Atlas Pipeline Partners Corresp 5-9-2005
May 9,
2005
Securities
and Exchange Commission
Washington,
D.C. 20549-0405
Attn:
Michael Moran, Branch Chief
Re:
Atlas
Pipeline Partners, L.P.
Form
10-K for the year ended December
2004
Filed
March 16, 2005
File
No. 1-14998
Dear Mr.
Moran:
This
letter responds to your comment letter dated May 2, 2005 concerning the
above-referenced filing (the “2004 10-K”). For your convenience, we first
restate your comment in italics and then provide our response.
FORM
10-K FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2004
Item
6. Selected Financial Data, page 21
1.
We
note your response to prior comment 2. Please revise your characterization
of EBITDA in future filings where you include adjustments and calculate
the non-GAAP measure differently than earnings before interest, taxes,
depreciation and amortization. Refer to Question 14 of Frequently Asked
Questions Regarding the Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures dated June 13,
2003.
The
calculation of EBITDA set forth in this section is described in the first
sentence of the paragraph immediately following the table of selected
financial data. We believe that this calculation is a standard formulation
for EBITDA. In our response to your prior comment 2, we stated that we
would add language that pointed out that EBITDA as used in our credit
facility differed from the standard method of calculating EBITDA set forth
in this section because the EBITDA calculation in our credit facility
required pro forma adjustments following material acquisitions. If, in the
future, we include adjustments and calculate EBITDA, as used in this
section, differently than the standard measure, we will revise our
explanation of the calculation.
Securities
and Exchange Commission
May 9,
2005
Page
2
Item
8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data
2.
We
note your response to prior comment 4. In future filings, please disclose
on the face of your statements of cash flows the gross amounts that you
received from the sale of your preferred interests to your related parties
and the gross amounts that you expended to repurchase such shares. The
amounts you expended to repurchase such shares should include the premium
that you paid. In addition, reference is made to your response to our
prior comment 14. Please revise to segregate the commitment fees paid to
your related parties for the purchase of preferred units from the issuance
of common units net of offering costs. Please revise this presentation, in
future filings, to represent these two separate
transactions.
In future
filings, we will disclose on the face of our consolidated statements of cash
flows the gross amounts we received from the sale of our preferred interests and
the gross amounts expended to repurchase such interests. The gross amounts
expended to repurchase the interests will include the premium we paid. We also
will segregate the commitment fees paid, and will show the sale and repurchase
as two separate transactions. The new line items will appear in “Cash Flows from
Financing Activities.”
Note
2. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies
Revenue
Recognition, page 46
3.
We
note your response to prior comment 12. Please include a description and
the amounts of your unbilled revenues for all periods presented in your
future filings.
In
future filings, we will include a description and the amount of our
unbilled revenues in the section of the notes to our consolidated
financial statements captioned “Summary of Significant Accounting Policies
- Revenue Recognition.” In our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the
quarter ended March 31, 2005, the description is as
follows:
Securities
and Exchange Commission
May 9,
2005
Page
3
“Because
there is a timing difference between the delivery of natural gas and the
Partnership’s receipt of a delivery statement, the Partnership has unbilled
revenues. These revenues are accrued based upon volumetric data from the
Partnership’s records and the Partnership’s estimates of the related
transportation and compression fees which are, in turn, based upon applicable
natural gas prices. The Partnership had unbilled trade receivables at March 31,
2005 and December 31, 2004, of $15.5 million and $13.4 million, respectively,
related to the Partnership’s Mid-Continent-Velma operations which are included
in its accounts receivable on its consolidated balance sheet. In addition, the
Partnership had unbilled trade receivables at March 31, 2004 and December 31,
2004, of $3.37 million and $1.9 million, respectively, related to its
Appalachian operations, which are included in its accounts receivable/accounts
payable - affiliates on its consolidated balance sheet.
Note
6. Spectrum Acquisition, page 50
4.
We
note your response to prior comment 14. It appears that the substance of
this transaction is a bridge loan whereby Resource America and Atlas
America, two of your related parties, had an expectation of being repaid
with proceeds from your public offerings. Please help us better understand
why you believe this transaction was in substance an equity investment by
these related parties. In doing so, please indicate whether there was an
agreement whereby Resource America and Atlas America would receive a
pro-rata share of earnings or preferred dividends during this timeframe.
Further, tell us and disclose the dates of the commitment agreements,
purchase of preferred units and closing of the July offering. Please tell
us if you considered alternate treatments with respect to the accounting
for the commitment fees or premiums paid to repurchase the preferred
interests and what consideration you gave to EITF Appendix
D-53.
In
addition to the reasons set forth in our discussion in response to prior comment
14, we believe that the preferred units in our operating partnership were in
substance preferred equity and not debt for the following reasons:
·
Unlike
debt, the preferred units had equal voting rights with the other limited
partners.
·
The
preferred units had no mandatory redemption date, no sinking fund and no
right in any holder to require a repurchase. Thus, unlike debt, the
preferred units had no contractual or other right to repayment. While the
preferred units could be exchanged for our common units on or after
January 1, 2005, it was only a substitution of one form of equity for
another and not a repayment.
Securities
and Exchange Commission
May 9,
2005
Page
4
·
While,
as we previously stated, we intended to use the proceeds of a common unit
offering to repurchase the preferred units, we were under no contractual
obligation to do so. Moreover, the purchase commitments for the preferred
units, which were executed on June 10, 2004, were not contingent on the
initiation of the subsequent common unit offering, which closed July 20,
2004.
·
The
preferred units had a stated distribution rate of 12% per year which was
senior in right of payment to distributions on all other equity of the
operating partnership, and subordinate to all
indebtedness.
·
The
preferred units specified that, upon liquidation of the operating
partnership, the liquidation proceeds were to be applied first to the
secured credit facility, other creditors and the costs and expenses of
liquidation, then to the preferred units and, thereafter, to the other
equity interests.
In future
filings, we will revise our calculation of earnings per unit to reflect the
guidance of EITF Appendix D-53.
Note
9. Related Party Transactions, page 55
5.
Reference
is made to your proposed disclosure in response to our prior comment 17.
Please ensure that the revised disclosure in the notes to the financial
statements includes management’s assertion that the method used is
reasonable.
We will
add the following sentence at the end of the disclosure proposed in our April
27, 2005 letter:
“The
General Partner believes that the allocation methods used are
reasonable.”
Note
16. Operating Segment, Information and Major Customers, page
59
6.
We
note your response to prior comment 19. You have indicated that you
classify and report your revenues in either natural gas and liquids, or
transportation and compression. If, as we believe, you have reported each
separate product and service that you sell into groups of similar products
and services, please tell us how you determined that such products and
services are similar and indicate the specific factors you analyzed in
reaching the conclusion that you did. We may have further
comment.
Securities
and Exchange Commission
May 9,
2005
Page
5
Our
determination was made as the result of a two-part analysis. In the first part
of our analysis, we determined that our revenues from services (which come from
fees for transportation and compression) are not similar to our revenues from
products (which come from the sale of products derived from the processing and
treatment of raw natural gas), in that the former involves fees for service
while the latter involves the purchase, processing and resale of energy
commodities.
In the
second part of our analysis, we determined whether the services and products
within the respective categories were similar. With respect to transportation
and compression, we noted that compression was an integral part of our ability
to transport natural gas through our gathering systems, that the compressors
producing the compression were physically integrated into their respective
gathering systems and that we did not charge separately for compression.
Accordingly, we determined that transportation and compression were coordinate
parts of the same service.
With
respect to natural gas and natural gas liquids, our analysis noted numerous
linkages and similarities, as follows:
·
Same
source - The residue natural gas and natural gas liquids we sell are
derived from the same source: the raw natural gas feedstock delivered by
our producers. We do not have separate contracts with our producers for
natural gas, on the one hand, and natural gas liquids, on the
other.
·
Same
processing - The residue natural gas and natural gas liquids are produced
at the same processing and treatment facilities using the same
processes.
·
Same
economic category - The products are within the same category: energy
commodities
We
further noted that paragraph 103 in Appendix A to SFAS 131 indicates that a
purpose of the requirement of paragraph 37 was to enable a comparison of a
company’s performance to industry statistics and information reported by
competitors. Our review of other companies similar to ours indicated that,
except for companies such as Duke Energy Field Services LLC which organize their
segments around specific products, the trend was to report in a manner similar
to ours. See, for example, MarkWest Energy Partners, L.P. and Crosstex Energy
LP.
Securities
and Exchange Commission
May 9,
2005
Page
6
In view
of the strong linkage between natural gas and natural gas liquids in our
operations, as well as the reporting practices in our industry, we concluded
that residue natural gas and natural gas liquids were part of a group of similar
products.
Very
truly yours,
/s/
Nancy
McGurk
Nancy McGurk
Chief Accounting
Officer
cc:
Edward E.
Cohen
Michael
S. Yecies, Esq.
Noah
Newitz, Esq.
Emanuel
Faust, Esq.