SEC Company Response from Thomas Equipment, Inc. (CIK 0001122380) — Nov 3, 2005
Thomas Equipment, Inc. (CIK 0001122380)
Date: Nov. 3, 2005 · CIK: 0001122380 · Accession: 0001144204-05-033876
AI Filing Summary & Sentiment
File numbers found in text: 333-124217
Referenced dates: October 20, 2005
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CORRESP
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filename1.htm
Thomas
Equipment, Inc.
Amendment
# 5 to Registration Statement on Form S-1
File
No. 333-124217
Responses
to SEC Comment Letter dated October 20, 2005
Pertinent
Current Events
On
October 28, 2005, the Company and Laurus Master Fund Ltd. (“Laurus”) entered
into an agreement pursuant to which the registration rights agreement dated
as
of November 9, 2004 between the Company and Laurus was terminated in its
entirety. As a result of such agreement, all of the shares of common stock
being
registered for resale on behalf of Laurus will be removed from the registration
statement upon the filing of Amendment No. 5. In connection with the agreement,
the Company and Laurus also agreed:
·
To
remove all adjustments to the interest rate payable on the convertible
notes resulting from changes in the trading price of the Company’s common
stock;
·
To
remove the requirement that the shares be registered before they
can be
used for repayment of obligations due under the notes;
and
·
To
remove the provisions in the notes which adjust the fixed conversion
price
in the event of a lower priced issuance by the Company and replace
such
provisions with traditional value-weighted anti-dilution
provisions.
In
full
consideration for all amounts due or which might otherwise have become due
to
Laurus pursuant to the registration rights agreement, the Company agreed
to pay
Laurus the sum of $600,000. A copy of the agreement between Laurus and the
Company was included as an exhibit to our Form 8-K filed on November 2,
2005.
Additional
Material Provided
Marked
copies of certain financial statement footnotes (Note 4 - Accounting Policies;
Notes 12 and 13 - Convertible Debt and Credit Facilities; Note 16 - Derivative
Liabilities; Note 17 - Redeemable Preferred Shares; Note 20 - Common Stock
Warrants), together with a schedule summarizing the valuation of derivative
liabilities, have been forwarded separately to the Staff. The footnotes are
being provided to illustrate additional disclosures being made or modified
in
response to the Staff’s comments. The actual amounts in the footnotes have not
yet been modified to reflect the affect of accounting for certain options
and
warrants as derivative liabilities.
Response
Note
12. Convertible long term debt page F-35, and Convertible credit facility,
page
F-36
1.
Please
tell us how you have applied the guidance in EITF Issue 00-19 in
evaluating
whether the debt conversion features for the convertible term loans
issued
to Laurus and the convertible credit facility with Laurus are embedded
derivatives that you should separate from the debt host and account
for at
fair value
under SFAS 133. It appears that these agreements may not meet the
definition
of conventional convertible debt in paragraph 4 of EITF Issue 00-19
since
they have a feature wherein the conversion price is reset if you
issue
shares at a price less than the fixed conversion price in the note.
1
of
10
As
a result, you would be
required to analyze the conversion feature under paragraphs 12-32 of EITF
00-19.
In
this regard, we note that your registration rights agreement requires you
to
file a registration statement that is declared effective by the SEC and to
keep
the registration statement continuously effective for a preset time period,
or
else you are required to pay a liquidated damages payment equal to 2% of
the
product of the original principal amount of the note per month until the
event
is cured, with no
cap on
the maximum penalty that could be incurred. Additionally, you will incur
these liquidated damages if your common stock is not listed or quoted, or
is
suspended
from trading for the periods outlined in the agreement. It appears that these
provisions would result in liability classification under EITF 00-19. If
true,
you would be required to bifurcate the conversion feature from the debt host
and
account for the feature as a derivative liability with changes in fair value
being recorded
in the income statement. Additionally, we note that if you conclude that
this
is
the appropriate accounting, you would not account for any beneficial
conversion
under EITFs 98-5 and 00-27.
Response
We
have not bifurcated the conversion feature of the Laurus loans
because, at
the time that these loans were entered into (November 2004 and
January and
February 2005), and in accordance with EITF 00-19, we viewed them
as
“conventional convertible debt in which the holder may only realize
the
value of the conversion option by exercising the option and receiving
the
entire proceeds in a fixed number of shares”. Accordingly, in accordance
with paragraph 4 of EITF 00-19, the requirements of paragraphs
12 - 32 of
EITF 00-19 do not apply and the embedded derivative was not bifurcated
and
accounted for separately.
EITF
Issue 00-19 does not define the meaning of the term “conventional convertible
debt” or what is meant by “a fixed number of shares”. That issue has now been
specifically addressed in EITF Issue 05-02, as follows -
“…
the
Task Force reached a consensus that instruments that provide the holder with
an
option to convert into a fixed number of shares (or equivalent amount of
cash at
the discretion of the issuer) for which the ability to exercise the option
is
based on the passage of time or a contingent event should be considered
"conventional" for purposes of applying Issue 00-19. Instruments that contain
"standard" antidilution provisions would not preclude a conclusion that the
instrument is convertible into a fixed number of shares. Standard antidilution
provisions are those that result in adjustments to the conversion ratio in
the
event of an equity restructuring transaction (as defined in the glossary
of
Statement 123(R) that are designed to maintain the value of the conversion
option.”
The
Laurus loan agreements contain antidilution provisions related to the effect
of
common stock reclassifications, stock splits, combinations, dividends, and
similar re-organization transactions. They also include a provision that,
in the
event that we issue shares at a price less than the Laurus conversion price,
the
Laurus conversion price is lowered to the same price. Given that the issuance
of
shares at a price lower than the Laurus exercise price is solely within our
control and that the provision lowering the conversion price is, prima facie,
intended “to maintain the value of the conversion option”, we concluded that the
Laurus loans are convertible into a “fixed number of shares”. Accordingly, the
requirements of EITF 00-19 were not applicable and the conversion option
was not
bifurcated.
We
acknowledge that the definition in Statement 123(R) does not specifically
include the issuance of shares at a price less than the (Laurus) conversion
price. However, we understand from our telephone discussions with the Staff
that
they would view as acceptable an adjustment of the conversion price based
on a
formula that is intended to keep the holder, as far as practical, in the
same
relative position as they were in prior to the sale of stock at a lower price.
Because the lowering of the Laurus conversion price is on a “dollar-for-dollar”
basis, it does not meet this requirement and therefore, at this time, the
conversion option in the Laurus loans would not be deemed to meet the definition
provided in EITF 05-02 and, therefore, the bifurcation exemption provided
by
EITF 00-19.
2
of
10
Paragraph
4 of EITF 05-02 acknowledges that because the term “conventional convertible
debt” was not defined in detail in EITF 00-19, there was diversity in practice
in evaluating whether convertible debt instruments were considered conventional
for purposes of determining whether those debt instruments qualified for
the
exception in paragraph 4 of EITF 00-19. EITF 05-02 was intended to address
the
lack of clear guidance on this specific topic, which it has (partially) done
(though it does not articulate the notion of a “keep whole” formula adjustment
being acceptable (although we, and we understand the Staff, believe it should
be). We note that the guidance provided by EITF 05-02 is to be applied
prospectively to new instruments entered into and instruments modified in
periods beginning after June 29, 2005, the date the FASB ratified the EITF
consensus. We recognize that the EITF consensus has clarified this issue
but we
believe that EITF 05-02 acknowledges that there was diversity in making this
evaluation and our interpretation of the literature, at the time that it
was
made, was appropriate.
2.
It
is unclear how you apply the monthly conversion repayment and conversion
rights in Articles II and III of the Laurus term notes. To help
us
understand the application and relationship between these provisions,
please provide examples illustrating how these operate. Please
ensure your
response and examples include a clear discussion as to whether
you are
required to pay the monthly amount in shares
if you meet the criteria outlined in Article II, or whether it
is your
option to pay
the monthly amount in cash or shares if you meet the criteria outlined
in
Article II. Please also explain in greater detail what the "repayment
notice” is, whether Laurus is required to provide you with the "repayment
notice" and what happens if the "repayment notice" is not
provided.
Response
Whether
or not repayments are made in cash or shares is initially at the
option of
Laurus. Once registration of the shares is effective, we can require
Laurus to take repayments in shares, subject to certain limits
related to
stock price and trading volume. These limits in effect allow us
to ‘force’
conversion in circumstances where the shares are registered, the
stock is
trading at a price above the conversion price and there is reasonable
trading volume.
Laurus’
right to request payment (including interest) in shares and our
right to
make payment in (registered) shares (subject to certain limits),
prima
facie, constitute a series of call and put options. However, these
options
are simply the embodiment of the conversion option embedded in
the debt
instrument. As discussed in our response to comment 1, this conversion
option (and, by extension, these calls and puts) have not been
bifurcated
and accounted for separately.
As
explained in Article II, Laurus will provide us each month with a “repayment
notice” stating whether they require to be paid in cash or shares. As further
explained in Article II, if Laurus does not provide notification, payments
are
to be made in cash (subject to our right to make payment in registered shares).
To date, all payments have been made in cash.
3.
In
addition, it appears that the warrants and options issued to Laurus
would
also be
required to be accounted for as derivative liabilities under EITF
00-19
since these warrants and options are subject to the same registration
rights agreement noted
above for the secured convertible term note. Please
advise.
Response
As
discussed in our previous response and in the Registration Statement,
we
viewed the Registration Rights Agreement as a separate instrument
and do
not believe that, at this time, it is required to (or that practice
supports) accounting for penalties under a registration rights
agreement
as a derivative instrument. We view the potential cash penalties
under the
agreement as a contingent liability, to be accounted for as
such.
3
of
10
From
our
discussions with the Staff, we understand that the Staff would not object
to
that accounting (i.e., the Registration Rights Agreement penalties are not
required, under current practice, to be accounted for as a derivative instrument
and the penalties under the Agreement are accounted for as a contingent
liability under FAS 5). However, we understand that the Staff’s view is that the
existence of these potential cash penalties means that they must be included
in
the evaluation (if not the valuation) of other instruments with which they
are
associated. Accordingly, the Staff believes that, under EITF 00-19, the
existence of these potential cash payments requires that the warrants and
options be accounted for as derivative liabilities and not as
equity.
The
effect of these penalties on the accounting for these other instruments is
addressed in EITF 05-04, which at this time is unresol