SEC Company Response from ATLAS PIPELINE PARTNERS LP (CIK 0001092914) — May 16, 2005
ATLAS PIPELINE PARTNERS LP (CIK 0001092914)
Date: May 16, 2005 · CIK: 0001092914 · Accession: 0001015402-05-002639
AI Filing Summary & Sentiment
Referenced dates: May 13, 2005
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CORRESP
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Altas Pipeline Partners Corresp 05-16-2005
May 16,
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 13, 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.
As
previously requested, 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. In this regard, adjustments to EBITDA for “other non-cash
items such as compensation expenses…” as disclosed on pages 22 and 23 is
not the standard formulation for EBITDA as discussed in Question 14 of
Frequently Asked Questions Regarding the Use of Non-GAAP Financial
Measures dated June 13, 2003.
In
future filings, we will revise our characterization of EBITDA where we
include adjustments and calculate the non-GAAP measure differently than
“earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and
amortization.”
Note
6. Spectrum Acquisition, page 50
2.
We
note your response to prior comment 4 which implies that you will be
accounting for the $400,000 premium paid for the redemption of your
preferred stock as an expense to be subtracted from net income in arriving
at net earnings available to limited partners. Please confirm that our
understanding is correct. Additionally, please tell us how you considered
the impact of the difference in the revised amounts of earnings available
to limited partners and related earnings per unit from the amounts
currently presented for the year ended December 31, 2004 and for the three
months ended September 30, 2004.
Securities
and Exchange Commission
May 16,
2005
Page
2
We
hereby confirm as correct your understanding that we will account for the
$400,000 premium as a subtraction from net income in arriving at net
earnings available to limited partners. To confirm our conversation with
the staff on
May 16, 2005,
for these purposes future filings will include any registration statement
or prospectus supplement that we may file in the near future that would
otherwise have, or incorporate by reference, the unrevised
amounts.
In
our consideration of the impact of the difference in the revised amounts
of earnings available to limited partners, we noted that the revision
would have the following effects for the following
periods:
Earnings
per unit as previously reported
Earnings
per unit
as revised
Year
ended December 31, 2004
$
2.60
$
2.54
Nine
months ended September 30, 2004
1.01
.95
Three
months ended September 30, 2004
.15
.09
Thus,
while the impact on reported earnings per limited partner unit would be
small for the year, it would be significant for the three month period.
However we also noted that the revision would not affect our reported net
income (as an enterprise) or our net income (either as an enterprise or
per unit) in future periods. We noted particularly that the revisions
would not affect our reported or future aggregate cash flows, cash flows
from operations, reported distributions or our ability to make
distributions in the future. We further noted that, because we are a
limited partnership, we believe that the basis upon which we are evaluated
by investors is our cash flows, distributions and ability to make future
distributions. Based upon this analysis, we concluded that the revisions
should not be material for purposes of restating previously filed
reports.
3.
We
note your response to prior comment 6. We believe that there are
additional factors that should be analyzed with respect to how you report
your revenues for each product and service. Such factors include margin
contributions from each of your products sold, future expectations for
each of your products, and how your customers view and use each of your
products. Please tell us how you considered these factors in analyzing how
you classify and report your revenues.
Securities
and Exchange Commission
May 16,
2005
Page
3
Please advise and revise in future filings as
appropriate. Reference is made to paragraph 37 of SFAS
131.
In
future filings, we will revise Note 16, “Operating Segment Information and
Major Customers” to present the revenues from natural gas, natural gas
liquids and condensate separately. We note in this regard that, in our
most recently filed quarterly report on Form 10-Q, we presented the
separate information in a table at the beginning of “Results of
Operations” in MD&A. We will present revenues for each such product
for all periods beginning after January 1, 2005. As described to the staff
in our conversation on May 16, 2005, we believe that it is impracticable
for us to determine revenues for each such product before such date.
Historically, our Mid-Continent operations did not account for their
hedging activities separately for each product and, without such
separation, we are unable to tie revenues from each product to the income
statement.
Very truly yours,
By:
/s/ Nancy McGurk
Nancy McGurk
Chief Accounting Officer
cc:
Edward
E. Cohen
Michael
S. Yecies, Esq.
Noah
Newitz, Esq.
Emanuel
Faust, Esq.