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The information in this preliminary prospectus supplement is not complete and may be changed. This preliminary prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus are not an offer to sell these securities, and we are not soliciting an offer to buy these securities, in any state where the offer or sale is not permitted. |
Filed pursuant to Rule 424(b)(3)
File No. 333-138341
SUBJECT TO COMPLETION, NOVEMBER 14, 2007
Preliminary Prospectus Supplement
(To Prospectus dated November 1, 2006)
$100,000,000
![](https://capedge.com/proxy/424B3/0000950129-07-005643/h51446b3h5144600.jpg)
Copano Energy, L.L.C.
Copano Energy Finance Corporation
81/8% Senior Notes due 2016
We are offering $100,000,000 of our 81/8% Senior Notes due 2016. The notes offered hereby are additional issuances of our existing 81/8% Senior Notes due 2016 and will be issued under the indenture dated as of February 7, 2006 pursuant to which we have previously issued $225,000,000 in aggregate principal amount of notes, which we refer to as the “original notes.” The notes offered hereby, together with the original notes, will be treated as a single class for all purposes under the indenture, including, without limitation, waivers, amendments, redemptions and offers to purchase.
The notes will mature on March 1, 2016. The notes will pay interest semi-annually in cash in arrears on March 1 and September 1 of each year, starting on March 1, 2008. The notes will be guaranteed on a senior unsecured basis by all of our current wholly owned subsidiaries (other than the co-issuer) and by certain of our future subsidiaries. The notes will be the issuers’ and the guarantors’ senior unsecured obligations and will rank equally in right of payment with all of the issuers’ and the guarantors’ existing and future senior indebtedness and senior to the issuers’ and guarantors’ subordinated indebtedness. The notes will be effectively junior in right of payment to the issuers’ and guarantors’ existing and future secured indebtedness, including debt under our senior secured revolving credit facility, to the extent of the value of the assets securing such indebtedness.
We may redeem the notes, in whole or in part, at any time on or after March 1, 2011 at the redemption prices specified under “Description of Notes — Optional Redemption” in the accompanying prospectus, plus accrued and unpaid interest. We may also redeem the notes, in whole or in part, at a “make-whole” redemption price specified under “Description of Notes — Optional Redemption” in the accompanying prospectus, plus accrued and unpaid interest, at any time prior to March 1, 2011. In addition, we may redeem up to 35% of the notes before March 1, 2009 with the net cash proceeds from certain equity offerings.
An investment in the notes involves risks. Please read “Risk Factors” beginning onpage S-5 of this prospectus supplement and page 4 of the accompanying prospectus.
Per Note | Total | |||||||
Public offering price(1) | % | $ | ||||||
Underwriting commissions | % | $ | ||||||
Proceeds to Copano Energy, L.L.C., before expenses | % | $ | ||||||
(1) | Plus accrued interest from September 1, 2007. |
Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or determined if this prospectus supplement or the accompanying prospectus are truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.
Banc of America Securities LLC expects to deliver the notes to purchasers on or about November , 2007 through the book-entry facilities of The Depository Trust Company.
Sole Book-Running Manager
Banc of America Securities LLC
The date of this prospectus supplement is , 2007
This prospectus supplement is part of a registration statement that we filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission using a shelf registration process. Under this shelf process, the document we use to offer debt securities from time to time is divided into two parts. The first part is this prospectus supplement, which describes the amount and price of the senior notes and also adds to, updates and changes information contained in the accompanying prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference into this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus. The second part is the accompanying prospectus, which provides you with a general description of the terms of the notes offered hereby. You should read both this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus together with additional information described below under the heading “Where You Can Find More Information.” If the description of this offering that is contained in this prospectus supplement differs from the description contained in the accompanying prospectus, you should rely on the information in this prospectus supplement.
You should rely only on the information contained or incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus or any free writing prospectus filed by us with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the “SEC.” We have not, and the underwriter has not, authorized anyone else to provide you with different or additional information. If anyone provides you with different or inconsistent information, you should not rely on it. We are not, and the underwriter is not, making an offer to sell these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer and sale is not permitted. You should not assume that the information in this prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus, any free writing prospectus or any document incorporated by reference is accurate as of any date other than their respective dates. Our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may have changed since those dates.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Prospectus Supplement
S-1 | ||
S-5 | ||
S-6 | ||
S-7 | ||
S-8 | ||
S-9 | ||
S-9 | ||
S-9 | ||
S-10 | ||
Prospectus Dated November 1, 2006 | ||
About this Prospectus | i | |
Summary. | 1 | |
Risk Factors | 4 | |
Information Regarding Forward-Looking Statements | 15 | |
Use of Proceeds | 15 | |
Ratio of Earnings to Fixed Charges | 16 | |
Description of the Notes | 16 | |
Material Tax Consequences | 55 | |
Legal Matters | 59 | |
Experts | 59 | |
Where You Can Find More Information | 59 |
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This summary highlights information contained elsewhere in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus. It does not contain all of the information that you should consider before making an investment decision. You should read the entire prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference for a more complete understanding of this offering. Please read “Risk Factors” beginning onpage S-5 of this prospectus supplement and page 4 of the accompanying prospectus for more information about important risks that you should consider before buying the notes to be issued in this offering. Unless the context requires otherwise, references to “Copano,” “we,” “our,” “us,” or like terms refer to Copano Energy, L.L.C. and its wholly owned subsidiaries.
Copano Energy, L.L.C.
We are a growth-oriented midstream energy company with natural gas gathering and intrastate transmission pipeline assets and natural gas processing facilities in Oklahoma, Texas, Wyoming and Louisiana. Since our inception in 1992, we have grown through a combination of more than 40 acquisitions and organic growth projects.
Our assets comprise approximately 6,000 miles of active natural gas gathering and transmission pipelines and six natural gas processing plants, with over one billion cubic feet per day, or Bcf/d, of combined processing capacity. In addition to our natural gas pipelines, we own the104-mile Sheridan NGL Pipeline and lease the46-mile Brenham NGL Pipeline. We own some of our assets through our interests in entities partially owned by third parties, including 696 miles of natural gas pipelines and the Southern Dome processing plant.
Recent Developments
Acquisition of Cantera Natural Gas, LLC
On October 19, 2007, we acquired all of the membership interests in Denver-based Cantera Natural Gas, LLC, referred to in this prospectus supplement as Cantera, for $612.6 million in cash, which included estimated net working capital and other closing adjustments, and equity issued to the seller valued at approximately $112.5 million. Cantera’s assets consist primarily of 51.0% and 37.04% managing member interests, respectively, in Bighorn Gas Gathering, LLC and Fort Union Gas Gathering, LLC, both of which operate natural gas pipeline systems in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin. The Bighorn system includes approximately 385 miles of natural gas gathering pipelines, which deliver natural gas into the Fort Union system. The Fort Union system consists of an approximately105-mile, 24” pipeline with a62-mile loop. We financed the cash portion of the purchase price for the Cantera acquisition and related fees and expenses using borrowings of approximately $300 million under our senior secured revolving credit facility and proceeds from a $335 million private placement of equity to certain institutional investors.
Acquisition of Cimmarron Gathering, L.P.
On May 1, 2007, we acquired all of the partnership interests in Cimmarron Gathering, L.P., referred to in this prospectus supplement as Cimmarron, for approximately $96.7 million, including equity issued to the seller valued at approximately $54 million. Cimmarron’s assets consist primarily of approximately 3,820 miles of pipelines in central and eastern Oklahoma and in north Texas, of which approximately 430 miles are operated for natural gas service, approximately 50 miles are operated for crude oil gathering service and approximately 3,340 miles are held for potential future development, and Cimmarron’s 70% undivided interest in the Tri-County gathering system located in north Texas. We funded the cash portion of the purchase price for Cimmarron with borrowings under our senior secured revolving credit facility. In addition, in June 2007, we acquired the remaining 30% interest in the Tri-County gathering system for $15.3 million in cash, funded with cash on hand and borrowings under our senior secured revolving credit facility.
Our Offices
Our principal executive offices are located at 2727 Allen Parkway, Suite 1200, Houston, Texas 77019, and our phone number is(713) 621-9547. Our website address is www.copanoenergy.com. Information on our website is not incorporated in this prospectus supplement.
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The Offering
The summary below describes the principal terms of the notes. Some of the terms and conditions described below are subject to important limitations and exceptions. Please read “Description of Notes” in the accompanying prospectus.
The Issuers | Copano Energy, L.L.C. and Copano Energy Finance Corporation. | |
Copano Energy Finance Corporation, a Delaware corporation, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Copano Energy, L.L.C. that has no material assets and was formed for the purpose of being a co-issuer of the notes. Copano Energy Finance Corporation has no operations and no revenue other than as may be incidental to its activities as a co-issuer of the notes. | ||
Notes Offered | $100 million in aggregate principal amount of 81/8% senior notes due 2016. These notes will be issued as additional notes under the indenture governing our outstanding 81/8% senior notes due 2016. The notes offered hereby, together with the $225 million in aggregate principal of notes issued under the indenture on February 7, 2006, will be treated as a single class for all purposes under the indenture, including, without limitation, waivers, amendments, redemptions and offers to purchase. | |
Maturity Date | March 1, 2016. | |
Interest | Annual rate: 81/8%. | |
Payment frequency: every six months on March 1 and September 1. | ||
First payment: March 1, 2008. | ||
Ranking | The notes will be our general unsecured obligations. The notes will: | |
• rank equally in right of payment with all of our existing and future senior indebtedness, including our outstanding 81/8% senior notes due 2016; | ||
• be effectively junior to all of our secured indebtedness to the extent of the value of the assets securing such indebtedness; | ||
• be effectively junior to all existing and future indebtedness and other liabilities, including trade payables, of our non-guarantor subsidiaries (other than indebtedness and other liabilities owed to us, if any); and | ||
• rank senior in right of payment to all of our future subordinated indebtedness. | ||
As of September 30, 2007, on a pro forma, as adjusted basis as described under “Capitalization” on page S-7 of this prospectus supplement, the notes would have been effectively junior to approximately $335.5 million of outstanding senior secured indebtedness. | ||
Subsidiary Guarantees | The notes will be jointly and severally guaranteed by all of our current wholly owned subsidiaries (other than the co-issuer) and by certain of our future subsidiaries. The subsidiary guarantees will: | |
• rank equally in right of payment with all of the existing and future senior indebtedness of our guarantor subsidiaries, including their guarantees of our other senior indebtedness; |
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• be effectively junior to all existing and future secured indebtedness of our guarantor subsidiaries (including their guarantees of secured indebtedness outstanding under our senior secured revolving credit facility) to the extent of the value of the assets securing such indebtedness; | ||
• be effectively junior to all existing and future indebtedness and other liabilities, including trade payables, of any non-guarantor subsidiaries (other than indebtedness and other liabilities owed to our guarantor subsidiaries, if any); and | ||
• rank senior in right of payment to any future subordinated indebtedness of our guarantor subsidiaries. | ||
As of September 30, 2007, on a pro forma, as adjusted basis as described under “Capitalization” onpage S-7 of this prospectus supplement, the subsidiary guarantees would be effectively junior to approximately $335.5 million of subsidiary guarantees of our indebtedness under our senior secured revolving credit facility (to the extent of the value of the assets securing such guarantees). | ||
Optional Redemption | We have the option to redeem the notes, in whole or in part, at any time on or after March 1, 2011, in each case at the redemption prices described under the heading “Description of Notes — Optional Redemption” in the accompanying prospectus, together with any accrued and unpaid interest to the date of redemption. | |
Prior to March 1, 2011, we may redeem the notes, in whole or in part, at a “make-whole” redemption price described under “Description of Notes — Optional Redemption” in the accompanying prospectus, together with any accrued and unpaid interest to the date of redemption. | ||
In addition, before March 1, 2009, we may, at any time or from time to time, redeem up to 35% of the aggregate principal amount of the notes with the net proceeds of a public or private equity offering at 108.125% of the principal amount of the notes, plus any accrued and unpaid interest to the date of redemption, if at least 65% of the aggregate principal amount of the notes issued under the indenture remains outstanding after such redemption and the redemption occurs within 120 days of the date of the closing of such equity offering. | ||
Change of Control | When a change of control event occurs, each holder of notes may require us to repurchase all or a portion of its notes at a price equal to 101% of the principal amount of the notes, plus any accrued and unpaid interest to the date of repurchase. | |
Certain Covenants | The indenture governing the notes contains covenants that, among other things, limit our ability and the ability of our restricted subsidiaries to: | |
• sell assets; | ||
• pay distributions on, redeem or repurchase our units or redeem or repurchase our subordinated debt; | ||
• make investments; | ||
• incur or guarantee additional indebtedness or issue preferred units; |
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• create or incur certain liens; | ||
• enter into agreements that restrict distributions or other payments from our restricted subsidiaries to us; | ||
• consolidate, merge or transfer all or substantially all of our assets; | ||
• engage in transactions with affiliates; | ||
• create unrestricted subsidiaries; and | ||
• enter into sale and leaseback transactions. | ||
These covenants are subject to important exceptions and qualifications that are described under the heading “Description of Notes” in the accompanying prospectus. | ||
If the notes achieve an investment grade rating from each of Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. and Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services, many of these covenants will terminate. | ||
For more details, please read “Description of Notes — Covenants” in the accompanying prospectus. | ||
Use of Proceeds | We will use the net proceeds from this offering to repay a portion of the outstanding indebtedness incurred under our senior secured revolving credit facility incurred in connection with our acquisitions of Cantera and Cimmarron. Please read “Use of Proceeds” onpage S-6 of this prospectus supplement. |
Ratios of Earnings to Fixed Charges
The table below sets forth the Ratios of Earnings to Fixed Charges for us for the periods indicated.
Nine Months | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ended | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Year Ended December 31, | September 30, | |||||||||||||||||||||||
2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||
Ratio of Earnings to Fixed Charges | — | — | — | 2.4 | x | 2.9 | x | 3.2x |
For purposes of computing the ratios of earnings to fixed charges, earnings consist of pre-tax income from continuing operations before equity in (earnings) loss from unconsolidated affiliates plus fixed charges, amortization of capitalized interest and distributions from equity investees less capitalized interest and preference equity distributions. Fixed charges consist of interest expensed and capitalized, distributions on preference units and the estimated interest component of rent expense. Earnings were inadequate to cover fixed charges for the years ended December 31, 2002, 2003 and 2004 by $3.1 million, $5.4 million and$1.3 million, respectively.
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An investment in the notes involves risks. You should consider carefully all of the information contained in this prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference as provided under “Where You Can Find More Information,” including our annual report onForm 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2006 and our quarterly reports onForm 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2007, June 30, 2007 and September 30, 2007, and the risk factors described under “Risk Factors” in the accompanying prospectus. This prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference also contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Please read “Information Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.” Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors, including the risks described in the accompanying prospectus and in the documents incorporated by reference. If any of these risks occurs, our business, financial condition or results of operation could be adversely affected.
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We estimate that net proceeds from this offering (after deducting discounts to the underwriter and estimated expenses of the offering) will be approximately $98.5 million. We will use the net proceeds of this offering to repay a portion of the indebtedness outstanding under our senior secured revolving credit facility.
As of November 8, 2007, indebtedness outstanding under our senior secured revolving credit facility was approximately $404 million, substantially all of which was incurred to fund our acquisitions of Cantera and Cimmarron and for general corporate purposes. As of November 8, 2007, borrowings under our senior secured revolving credit facility bore interest at a weighted average interest rate of approximately 6.82%. Our senior secured revolving credit facility matures on October 18, 2012.
An affiliate of Banc of America Securities LLC is the administrative agent for and a lender under our senior secured revolving credit facility, which will be partially repaid with a portion of the net proceeds from this offering.
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The following table sets forth our cash and cash equivalents and capitalization as of September 30, 2007:
• | on a historical basis; | |
• | on a pro forma basis, to reflect our acquisition of Cantera, the related equity issuances and borrowings under our senior secured revolving credit facility, as though such transactions had occurred on September 30, 2007; and | |
• | on a pro forma, as adjusted basis, giving effect to our issuance of the notes offered hereby and the application of the net proceeds therefrom as described in “Use of Proceeds.” |
This table should be read in conjunction with, and is qualified in its entirety by reference to, our historical financial statements and the accompanying notes incorporated by reference herein.
As of September 30, 2007 | ||||||||||||
Pro Forma, | ||||||||||||
Historical | Pro Forma | as Adjusted(2) | ||||||||||
(In millions) | ||||||||||||
Cash and Cash Equivalents | $ | 47.8 | $ | 85.0 | $ | 85.0 | ||||||
Debt: | ||||||||||||
Senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility(1) | 134.0 | 434.0 | 335.5 | |||||||||
81/8% Senior Notes Due 2016 | 225.0 | 225.0 | 325.0 | |||||||||
Total Debt | 359.0 | 659.0 | 660.5 | |||||||||
Total Members’ Capital | 477.0 | 920.4 | 920.4 | |||||||||
Total Capitalization | $ | 836.0 | $ | 1,579.4 | $ | 1,580.9 | ||||||
(1) | Total commitments under our senior secured revolving credit facility are $550 million. | |
(2) | Does not reflect our use of cash on hand at Cantera to repay on October 22, 2007 $30 million of debt outstanding under our senior secured revolving credit facility. |
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Subject to the terms and conditions of an underwriting agreement dated the date of this prospectus supplement by and among the issuers, the guarantors party to the underwriting agreement and Banc of America Securities LLC, as the underwriter, the underwriter has agreed to purchase from the issuers, and the issuers have agreed to sell to the underwriter, the entire principal amount of the notes.
The underwriting agreement provides that the obligations of the underwriter are subject to certain conditions precedent and that the underwriter is committed to take and pay for all of the notes, if any are taken.
The issuers and the guarantors party to the underwriting agreement have agreed to indemnify the underwriter and its controlling persons against certain liabilities in connection with this offering, including liabilities under the Securities Act, and to contribute to payments that the underwriter may be required to make in respect thereof.
The issuers have been advised by the underwriter that it initially proposes to offer and sell the notes at the price set forth on the cover page of this prospectus supplement. The underwriter may offer the notes to certain securities dealers at such price less a concession not in excess of % of the principal amount of the notes. The underwriter may allow, and such dealers may reallow, a discount not in excess of % of the principal amount of the notes to certain brokers and dealers. After the initial public offering of the notes, the public offering price, concession and discount may be changed.
The notes will not be listed on any securities exchange or on any automated dealer quotation system. The underwriter has advised us that following the completion of the offering of the notes, it presently intends to make a market in the notes. It is not obligated to do so, however, and any market-making activities with respect to the notes may be discontinued at any time without notice. No assurance can be given as to the liquidity of the trading market for the notes or that an active public market for the notes will develop. If an active public trading market for the notes does not develop, the market price and liquidity of the notes may be adversely affected.
We estimate that we will incur offering expenses, excluding underwriting commissions, of approximately $0.5 million.
The issuers and the guarantors party to the underwriting agreement have each agreed that for a period of 30 days from the date of this prospectus supplement, neither the issuers nor any guarantor will, without the prior written consent of the underwriter, directly or indirectly, issue, sell, offer to sell, grant any option for the sale of, or otherwise dispose of, any securities similar to the notes, or any securities convertible into or exchangeable for the notes or any such similar securities, except for the notes sold to the underwriter pursuant to the underwriting agreement.
In connection with the offering of the notes, the underwriter or its affiliates may engage in transactions that stabilize, maintain or otherwise affect the price of the notes. Specifically, the underwriter or its affiliates may overallot the offering of the notes, creating short positions for their own accounts. The underwriter or its affiliates may bid for and purchase the notes in the open market to cover these short positions. In addition, the underwriter or its affiliates may bid for and purchase the notes in the open market to stabilize the price of the notes and may impose “penalty bids” under contractual arrangements whereby they may reclaim from dealers participating in the offering of the notes for the account of the underwriter the selling concession with respect to the notes that are distributed in this offering but subsequently purchased for the account of the underwriter or its affiliates in the open market. These activities may stabilize or maintain the market price of the notes above independent market levels. The underwriter and its affiliates are not required to engage in these activities and may end these activities at any time.
The underwriter and certain of its affiliates have provided and may in the future provide certain commercial banking, financial advisory and investment banking services in the ordinary course of business for us, the guarantors and certain of our affiliates, for which it has received and may receive customary fees. An affiliate of Banc of America Securities LLC is the administrative agent for and a lender under our senior secured revolving credit facility, which will be partially repaid with a portion of the net proceeds from this offering.
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The validity of the securities offered by this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus will be passed upon for us by Vinson & Elkins L.L.P., Houston, Texas. The underwriter will be advised on certain matters relating to securities offered by this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus by Baker Botts L.L.P., Houston, Texas. Members of Vinson & Elkins L.L.P. involved in this offering own approximately 2,000 of our common units.
The consolidated financial statements and management’s report on the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting of Copano Energy, L.L.C. incorporated in this prospectus by reference from the Company’s Annual Report onForm 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2006 have been audited by Deloitte & Touche LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, as stated in their reports, which are incorporated herein by reference (which reports (1) express an unqualified opinion on the consolidated financial statements and includes an explanatory paragraph related to changes in accounting for share-based payments, changes in accounting for conditional asset retirement obligations and for changes in accounting for purchase and sales of inventory with the same counterparty, (2) express an unqualified opinion on management’s assessment regarding the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, and (3) express an unqualified opinion on the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting), and have been so incorporated in reliance upon the reports of such firm given upon their authority as experts in accounting and auditing.
The financial statements of Webb Duval as of and for the year ended December 31, 2004, incorporated in this prospectus by reference from the Company’s Annual Report onForm 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2006 have been audited by Deloitte & Touche LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, as stated in their report, which is incorporated herein by reference, and have been so incorporated in reliance upon the report of such firm given upon their authority as experts in accounting and auditing.
The consolidated financial statements of Cantera Natural Gas, LLC as of December 31, 2006 and 2005, and for each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2006, have been incorporated by reference herein and in the registration statement in reliance upon the report of KPMG LLP, independent registered public accounting firm, incorporated by reference herein, and upon the authority of said firm as experts in accounting and auditing. The audit report covering the December 31, 2006 consolidated financial statements makes reference to note 3, which addresses certain restatements that have been made to those financial statements.
The financial statements of Bighorn Gas Gathering, LLC as of December 31, 2006 and 2005, and for each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2006, incorporated by reference herein and in the registration statement in reliance upon the report of KPMG LLP, independent registered public accounting firm, incorporated by reference herein, and upon the authority of said firm as experts in accounting and auditing.
The financial statements of Fort Union Gas Gathering, LLC as of December 31, 2006, and for year then ended, have been incorporated by reference herein and in the registration statement in reliance upon the report of KPMG LLP, independent registered public accounting firm, incorporated by reference herein, and upon the authority of said firm as experts in accounting and auditing.
Certain matters discussed in this prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus and the documents we incorporate by reference include “forward-looking” statements. Statements that are not historical facts, but that address activities, events or developments that we expect or anticipate will or may occur in the future, including things such as references to future goals or intentions, are forward-looking statements.
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These statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology including “may,” “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “continue,” or similar words. These statements include statements related to plans for growth of the business, future capital expenditures and competitive strengths and goals. We make these statements based on our past experience and our perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments as well as other considerations we believe are appropriate under the circumstances. Whether actual results and developments in the future will conform to our expectations is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control. Therefore, actual outcomes and results could materially differ from what is expressed, implied or forecast in these statements. Any differences could be caused by a number of factors, including, but not limited to:
• | our ability to successfully integrate any acquired assets or operations; | |
• | the volatility of prices and market demand for natural gas and natural gas liquids; | |
• | our ability to continue to obtain new sources of natural gas supply; | |
• | the ability of key producers to continue to drill and successfully complete and attach new natural gas supplies; | |
• | our ability to retain our key customers; | |
• | general economic conditions; | |
• | the effects of government regulations and policies; and | |
• | other financial, operational and legal risks and uncertainties detailed from time to time in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. |
Cautionary statements that identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations are set forth in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus, including without limitation in conjunction with forward-looking statements that are referred to above. When considering forward-looking statements, you should keep in mind the risk factors and other cautionary statements in this prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus and the documents we incorporate by reference. All forward-looking statements included in those documents and all subsequent written or oral forward-looking statements attributable to us are expressly qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements. The forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made and we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, other than as required by law.
We have filed a registration statement with the SEC under the Securities Act that registers the notes offered by this prospectus supplement. The registration statement, including the attached exhibits, contains additional relevant information about us. In addition, we file annual, quarterly and other reports and other information with the SEC. You may read and copy any document we file at the SEC’s public reference room at 100 F Street, N.E., Room 1580, Washington, D.C. 20549. Please call the SEC at1-800-732-0330 for further information on their public reference room. Our SEC filings are also available at the SEC’s web site athttp://www.sec.gov. You can also obtain information about us at the offices of the NASDAQ Stock Market, 20 Broad Street, New York, New York 10005.
The SEC allows us to incorporate by reference the information we have filed with the SEC. This means that we can disclose important information to you without actually including the specific information in this prospectus supplement or the accompanying prospectus by referring you to those documents. The information incorporated by reference is an important part of this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus. Information that we file (but not furnish) later with the SEC will automatically update and may replace information in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus and information previously filed with the SEC.
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We incorporate the documents listed below and any future filings made with the SEC under Sections 13(a), 13(c), 14 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act (excluding any information furnished under Items 2.02 or 7.01 on any Current Report onForm 8-K) after the date of this prospectus supplement and until the termination of this offering. These reports contain important information about us, our financial condition and our results of operations.
• | Our Annual Report onForm 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2006. | |
• | Our Quarterly Reports onForm 10-Q for the quarterly periods ended March 31, 2007, June 30, 2007 and September 30, 2007. | |
• | Our Current Reports onForm 8-K filed on October 25, 2007, October 18, 2007, September 4, 2007, August 29, 2007, July 19, 2007, July 5, 2007, June 22, 2007, June 18, 2007, May 4, 2007, April 30, 2007, April 19, 2007, April 11, 2007, February 20, 2007 and January 19, 2007 (two filings). | |
• | Our Current Report onForm 8-K/A filed on October 30, 2007. |
You may obtain any of the documents incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus from the SEC through the SEC’s web site at the address provided above. You also may request a copy of any document incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus (including exhibits to those documents specifically incorporated by reference in this document), at no cost, by visiting our internet website at www.copanoenergy.com, or by writing or calling us at the following address:
Copano Energy, L.L.C.
Investor Relations
2727 Allen Parkway, Suite 1200
Houston, Texas 77019
(713) 621-9547
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PROSPECTUS
COPANO ENERGY, L.L.C.
COPANO ENERGY FINANCE CORPORATION
COPANO ENERGY FINANCE CORPORATION
81/8% Senior Notes due 2016
Copano Energy, L.L.C. and Copano Energy Finance Corporation may offer, from time to time, additional amounts of their existing 81/8% Senior Notes due 2016, which we sometimes call the “original notes” or the “existing notes.” Any additional notes will be issued under the indenture pursuant to which we issued the original notes on February 7, 2006. Further, any additional notes that we may issue will be treated as a single class with the original notes for all purposes under the indenture, including waivers, amendments, redemptions and offers to purchase. We sometimes refer to the original notes and the additional notes collectively as the “notes.”
The notes will mature March 1, 2016, and will pay interest semi-annually in cash in arrears on March 1 and September 1. Generally, our wholly-owned subsidiaries (other than the co-issuer, Copano Energy Finance Corporation) will guarantee the notes on a senior unsecured basis. The notes will be the issuers’ and the guarantors’ senior unsecured obligations and will rank equally in right of payment with all of the issuers’ and the guarantors’ other senior indebtedness. The notes, however, will be effectively junior in right of payment to the issuers’ and the guarantors’ secured indebtedness to the extent of the value of the assets securing such indebtedness.
The issuers may redeem the notes, in whole or in part, at any time on or after March 1, 2011 at the redemption prices specified under “Description of Notes — Optional Redemption,” plus accrued and unpaid interest. The issuers may also redeem the notes, in whole or in part, at a “make-whole” redemption price specified under “Description of Notes — Optional Redemption,” plus accrued and unpaid interest, at any time prior to March 1, 2011. In addition, the issuers may redeem up to 35% of the notes before March 1, 2009 with the net cash proceeds from certain equity offerings.
The issuers may offer and sell additional notes to or through one or more underwriters, dealers and agents, or directly to purchasers, on a continuous or delayed basis. This prospectus generally describes the terms of the notes; however, the principal amount of any additional notes that the issuers may offer, together with their offering price and initial interest payment date and the specific manner in which the issuers will offer them, will be included in a supplement to this prospectus relating to that offering.
You should carefully read this prospectus and any prospectus supplement before you invest. You also should read the documents we have referred you to in the “Where You Can Find More Information” section of this prospectus for information on us and our financial statements. This prospectus may not be used to consummate sales of notes unless accompanied by a prospectus supplement.
Investing in our notes involves risks. In addition to risks related to our business, limited liability companies are inherently different from corporations. You should carefully consider the risk factors beginning on page 4 of this prospectus and in the applicable prospectus supplement before you make an investment in our notes.
Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any other regulatory body has approved or disapproved of these securities or determined if this prospectus is truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.
The date of this prospectus is November 1, 2006.
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This prospectus is part of a registration statement that we and Copano Energy Finance Corporation have filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the “SEC”, using a “shelf” registration process. Under this shelf process, we may sell the notes described in this prospectus in one or more offerings. This prospectus provides you with a detailed description of the notes. Each time we sell notes, we will provide a prospectus supplement that will contain specific information about the terms of that offering, including the principal amount of the notes, their offering price and the initial interest payment date on the notes. That prospectus supplement may include additional risk factors or other special considerations applicable to the particular offering. Any prospectus supplement may also add, update, or change information in this prospectus. If there is any inconsistency between the information in this prospectus and any prospectus supplement, you should rely on the information in that prospectus supplement.
Additional information, including our financial statements and the notes thereto, is incorporated in this prospectus by reference to our reports filed with the SEC. Please read “Where You Can Find More Information.” You are urged to read this prospectus carefully, including the “Risk Factors,” and our SEC reports in their entirety before investing in our notes.
Throughout this prospectus, when we use the terms “we,” “us,” “our,” or like terms, we are referring either to Copano Energy, L.L.C. or to Copano Energy, L.L.C. and its consolidated subsidiaries collectively, unless the context requires otherwise.
In making your investment decision, you should rely only on the information contained in this prospectus, any prospectus supplement and the documents we have incorporated by reference. We have not authorized anyone to provide you with any other information. If you receive any unauthorized information, you must not rely on it. We are not making an offer to sell these notes in any state where the offer is not permitted. You should not assume that the information contained in this prospectus or any prospectus supplement or in the documents incorporated by reference into this prospectus or any prospectus supplement are accurate as of any date other than the date on the front cover of this prospectus or the date of such incorporated documents, as the case may be.
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This summary highlights information contained elsewhere in this prospectus or incorporated herein by reference. It does not contain all of the information that you should consider before making an investment decision. You should read the entire prospectus, together with the related prospectus supplement and the information incorporated therein and herein, for a more complete understanding of this offering. Please read “Risk Factors” beginning on page 4 of this prospectus for more information about important risks that you should consider before buying the notes.
Copano Energy, L.L.C.
We are a growth-oriented midstream energy company with natural gas gathering and intrastate transmission pipeline assets and natural gas processing facilities in the Texas Gulf Coast region and in central and eastern Oklahoma. Since our inception in 1992, we have grown through a combination of more than 30 acquisitions and construction of new assets. Our midstream assets include over 4,940 miles of natural gas gathering and transmission pipelines and five natural gas processing plants, with over 800 million cubic feet per day, or MMcf/d, of combined processing capacity. Our Houston Central Processing Plant is the second largest natural gas processing plant in the Texas Gulf Coast region and the third largest in Texas in terms of throughput capacity. This processing plant is located approximately 100 miles southwest of Houston and has the capacity to process approximately 700 MMcf/d of natural gas. In addition to our natural gas pipelines, we own the104-mile Sheridan NGL Pipeline extending from our Houston Central Processing Plant to the Houston area and we lease an additional47-mile NGL pipeline, which is expected to be operational in early 2007 and which extends from the tailgate of this processing plant to the Enterprise Product Partners’ Seminole Pipeline near Brenham, Texas. Our midstream assets include 144 miles of pipelines owned by Webb/Duval Gatherers (“Webb Duval”), a partnership in which we own a 62.5% interest and the Southern Dome processing plant owned by Southern Dome, LLC (“Southern Dome”), in which we own a 73% interest.
Copano Energy Finance Corporation, our wholly-owned subsidiary, has no material assets or any liabilities other than as a co-issuer of our debt securities. Its activities will be limited to co-issuing our debt securities, including the notes, and engaging in other activities incidental thereto.
Our principal executive offices are located at 2727 Allen Parkway, Suite 1200, Houston, Texas 77019.
For additional information as to our business, properties and financial condition, please refer to the documents cited in “Where You Can Find More Information.”
The Offering
The summary below describes the principal terms of the notes. Some of the terms and conditions described below are subject to important limitations and exceptions. Please read “Description of Notes.”
The Issuers | Copano Energy, L.L.C. and Copano Energy Finance Corporation. | |
Copano Energy Finance Corporation, a Delaware corporation, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Copano Energy, L.L.C. that has no material assets and was formed for the purpose of being a co-issuer of the notes. Copano Energy Finance Corporation has no operations and no revenue other than as may be incidental to its activities as a co-issuer of the notes. | ||
Notes Offered | The notes being offered by this prospectus are additional debt securities under an indenture pursuant to which we have previously issued $225 million in aggregate principal amount of our 81/8% senior notes due 2016. The principal amount of any additional notes we issue will be specified in the prospectus supplement relating to that offering. The additional notes and the original notes issued on February 7, 2006 will be treated as a single class of debt securities under the indenture. |
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Maturity Date | March 1, 2016. | |
Interest | Annual rate: 81/8%. | |
Payment frequency: every six months on March 1 and September 1. | ||
First payment: As specified in the related prospectus supplement. | ||
Ranking | The additional notes will be our general unsecured obligations. These notes will: | |
• rank equally in right of payment with all of our other senior indebtedness; | ||
• be effectively junior to all of our secured indebtedness to the extent of the value of the assets securing such indebtedness; | ||
• be effectively junior to all of the indebtedness and other liabilities, including trade payables, of our non-guarantor subsidiaries (other than indebtedness and other liabilities owed to us, if any); and | ||
• rank senior in right of payment to any of our subordinated indebtedness. | ||
As of September 30, 2006, the original notes would have been effectively junior to approximately $50 million of outstanding senior secured indebtedness. | ||
Subsidiary Guarantees | When issued, the additional notes will be jointly and severally guaranteed by all of our subsidiaries that then guarantee the original notes. The subsidiary guarantees will: | |
• rank equally in right of payment with all of the senior indebtedness of our guarantor subsidiaries, including their guarantees of our other senior indebtedness; | ||
• be effectively junior to all secured indebtedness of our guarantor subsidiaries to the extent of the value of the assets securing such indebtedness; | ||
• be effectively junior to all indebtedness and other liabilities, including trade payables, of any non-guarantor subsidiaries (other than indebtedness and other liabilities owed to our guarantor subsidiaries, if any); and | ||
• rank senior in right of payment to any subordinated indebtedness of our guarantor subsidiaries. | ||
As of September 30, 2006, the subsidiary guarantees of the original notes would be effectively junior to approximately $50 million of our guarantor subsidiary guarantees of our indebtedness under our senior secured revolving credit facility (to the extent of the value of the assets securing such guarantees). | ||
Optional Redemption | We have the option to redeem the notes, in whole or in part, at any time on or after March 1, 2011, in each case at the redemption prices described in this prospectus under the heading “Description of Notes — Optional Redemption,” together with any accrued and unpaid interest to the date of redemption. |
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Prior to March 1, 2011, we may redeem the notes, in whole or in part, at a “make-whole” redemption price described under “Description of Notes — Optional Redemption,” together with any accrued and unpaid interest to the date of redemption. | ||
In addition, before March 1, 2009, we may, at any time or from time to time, redeem up to 35% of the aggregate principal amount of the notes with the net proceeds of a public or private equity offering at 108.125% of the principal amount of the notes, plus any accrued and unpaid interest to the date of redemption, if at least 65% of the aggregate principal amount of the notes issued under the indenture remains outstanding after such redemption and the redemption occurs within 120 days of the date of the closing of such equity offering. | ||
Change of Control | If a change of control event occurs, each holder of notes may require us to repurchase all or a portion of its notes at a price equal to 101% of the principal amount of the notes, plus any accrued and unpaid interest to the date of repurchase. | |
Certain Covenants | The indenture governing the notes contains covenants that, among other things, limit our ability and the ability of our restricted subsidiaries to: | |
• sell assets; | ||
• pay distributions on, redeem or repurchase our units or redeem or repurchase our subordinated debt; | ||
• make investments; | ||
• incur or guarantee additional indebtedness or issue preferred units; | ||
• create or incur certain liens; | ||
• enter into agreements that restrict distributions or other payments from our restricted subsidiaries to us; | ||
• consolidate, merge or transfer all or substantially all of our assets; | ||
• engage in transactions with affiliates; | ||
• create unrestricted subsidiaries; and | ||
• enter into sale and leaseback transactions. | ||
These covenants are subject to important exceptions and qualifications that are described under the heading “Description of Notes” in this prospectus. | ||
If the notes achieve an investment grade rating from each of Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. and Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services, many of these covenants will terminate. | ||
For more details, please read “Description of Notes — Covenants.” |
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You should carefully consider the following risk factors together with all of the other information included in this prospectus, any prospectus supplement and the information that we have incorporated herein by reference in evaluating an investment in the notes. If any of the following risks were actually to occur, our business, financial condition or results of operations could be materially adversely affected. When we offer and sell any notes pursuant to a prospectus supplement, we may include additional risk factors relevant to such offering in the prospectus supplement.
Risks Related to Our Business
If the ScissorTail Acquisition or future acquisitions do not perform as expected, our future financial performance may be negatively impacted.
Our acquisition of ScissorTail Energy, LLC (“ScissorTail”) in August 2005 (the “ScissorTail Acquisition”) more than doubled the size of our company and significantly diversified the geographic areas in which we operate. We cannot assure you that we will achieve the desired profitability from ScissorTail or any other acquisitions we may complete in the future. In addition, failure to successfully assimilate future acquisitions could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.
Our acquisitions involve numerous risks, including:
• | operating a significantly larger combined organization and adding operations; | |
• | difficulties in the assimilation of the assets and operations of the acquired businesses, especially if the assets acquired are in a new business segment or geographic area; | |
• | the risk that natural gas reserves expected to support the acquired assets may not be of the anticipated magnitude or may not be developed as anticipated; | |
• | the loss of significant producers or markets or key employees from the acquired businesses; | |
• | the diversion of management’s attention from other business concerns; | |
• | the failure to realize expected profitability or growth; | |
• | the failure to realize any expected synergies and cost savings; | |
• | coordinating geographically disparate organizations, systems and facilities; and | |
• | coordinating or consolidating corporate and administrative functions. |
Further, unexpected costs and challenges may arise whenever businesses with different operations or management are combined, and we may experience unanticipated delays in realizing the benefits of an acquisition. If we consummate any future acquisition, our capitalization and results of operation may change significantly, and you may not have the opportunity to evaluate the economic, financial and other relevant information that we will consider in evaluating future acquisitions.
Our acquisition of ScissorTail could expose us to potential significant liabilities.
In connection with the ScissorTail Acquisition, we purchased all of the limited liability company interests of ScissorTail rather than just its assets. As a result, we purchased the liabilities of ScissorTail, including unknown and contingent liabilities. We performed due diligence in connection with the ScissorTail Acquisition and attempted to verify the representations of ScissorTail management, but there may be pending, threatened, contemplated or contingent claims against ScissorTail related to environmental, title, regulatory, litigation or other matters of which we are unaware. Although the former owners of ScissorTail agreed to indemnify us on a limited basis against some of these liabilities, a significant portion of these indemnification obligations expired on August 2, 2006 without any claims having been asserted by us. Accordingly, there is a risk that we could ultimately be liable for unknown obligations of ScissorTail, which could materially adversely affect our operations and financial condition.
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Our substantial indebtedness could limit our operating flexibility and impair our ability to fulfill our debt obligations.
We have substantial indebtedness. As of September 30, 2006, we have:
• | total indebtedness of approximately $375 million, including indebtedness associated with the original notes, our senior unsecured term loan and our senior secured revolving credit facility; and | |
• | availability under our senior secured revolving credit facility of approximately $150 million. |
Subject to the restrictions governing our existing indebtedness and other financial obligations, we may incur significant additional indebtedness and other financial obligations in the future. Our substantial indebtedness and other financial obligations could have important consequences to you. For example, it could:
• | make it more difficult for us to satisfy our obligations with respect to our indebtedness; | |
• | impair our ability to obtain additional financing in the future for working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions, general company purposes or other purposes; | |
• | result in higher interest expense in the event of increases in interest rates since some of our debt is, and will continue to be, at variable rates of interest; | |
• | have a material adverse effect on us if we fail to comply with financial and restrictive covenants in our debt agreements and an event of default occurs as a result of that failure that is not cured or waived; | |
• | require us to dedicate a substantial portion of our cash flow to payments on our indebtedness and other financial obligations, thereby reducing the availability of our cash flow to fund working capital, capital expenditures and other general company requirements; | |
• | limit our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business and the industry in which we operate; and | |
• | place us at a competitive disadvantage compared to our competitors that have proportionately less debt. |
If we are unable to meet our debt service obligations and other financial obligations, we could be forced to restructure or refinance our indebtedness, seek additional equity capital or sell assets. We may be unable to obtain such refinancing or equity capital or sell assets on satisfactory terms, if at all.
Restrictive covenants in the agreements governing our indebtedness may reduce our operating flexibility.
The indenture governing the notes contains various covenants that limit our ability and the ability of specified subsidiaries to, among other things:
• | sell assets; | |
• | pay distributions on, redeem or repurchase our equity interests or redeem or repurchase our subordinated debt, if any; | |
• | make investments; | |
• | incur or guarantee additional indebtedness or issue preferred units; | |
• | create or incur certain liens; | |
• | enter into agreements that restrict distributions or other payments from our restricted subsidiaries to us; | |
• | consolidate, merge or transfer all or substantially all of our assets; | |
• | engage in transactions with affiliates; | |
• | create unrestricted subsidiaries; and | |
• | enter into sale and leaseback transactions. |
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Our senior secured revolving credit facility and our senior unsecured term loan contain similar covenants as well as covenants that require us to maintain specified financial ratios and satisfy other financial conditions. These restrictive covenants in our indenture and in these credit facilities could limit our ability and the ability of our subsidiaries to obtain future financings, make needed capital expenditures, withstand a future downturn in our business or the economy in general, conduct operations or otherwise take advantage of business opportunities that may arise. We may be unable to comply with these covenants. Any future breach of any of these covenants could result in a default under the terms of the indenture, the senior secured revolving credit facility or the senior unsecured term loan, which could result in acceleration of our debt and other financial obligations. If we were unable to repay those amounts, the lenders could initiate a bankruptcy proceeding or liquidation proceeding or proceed against any collateral.
Our future success depends on our ability to continually obtain new sources of natural gas supply, and any decrease in supplies of natural gas could adversely affect our revenues and operating income.
Our gathering and transmission pipeline systems are connected to natural gas reserves and wells, for which the production will naturally decline over time, which means that our cash flows associated with these wells will also decline over time. To maintain or increase throughput levels on our pipeline systems and our processing plants, we must continually obtain new natural gas supplies. We may not be able to obtain additional contracts for natural gas supplies. The primary factors affecting our ability to connect new supplies of natural gas and attract new customers to our gathering and transmission lines include: (1) the level of successful drilling activity near our gathering systems and (2) our ability to compete for the commitment of such additional volumes to our systems.
Fluctuations in energy prices can greatly affect production rates and investments by third parties in the development of new natural gas reserves. Drilling activity generally decreases as natural gas prices decrease. We have no control over the level of drilling activity in the areas of our operations, the amount of reserves underlying the wells or the rate at which production from a well will decline. In addition, we have no control over producers or their production decisions, which are affected by, among other things, prevailing and projected energy prices, demand for hydrocarbons, the level of reserves, geological considerations, governmental regulations and the availability and cost of capital.
We face strong competition in acquiring new natural gas supplies. Competitors to our pipeline operations include major interstate and intrastate pipelines, and other natural gas gatherers. Competition for natural gas supplies is primarily based on the location of pipeline facilities, pricing arrangements, reputation, efficiency, flexibility and reliability. Our major competitors for natural gas supplies and markets in our Texas Gulf Coast Pipelines segment include Enterprise Products Partners, L.P., Lobo Pipeline Company (an affiliate of ConocoPhillips), Kinder Morgan Texas Pipeline, L.P. (“KMTP,” an affiliate of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P.), Duke Energy Field Services, Crosstex Energy, L.P., and Houston Pipe Line Company, an affiliate of Energy Transfer Partners, L.P. Our Texas Gulf Coast Processing segment’s primary competitors are Enterprise Products Partners, L.P., ExxonMobil and Duke Energy Field Services. The primary competitors in our Mid-Continent Operations segment include CenterPoint, Duke Energy Field Services, Enogex Inc., an affiliate of OGE Energy Corp., and Enerfin Resources Company. Many of our competitors have greater financial resources than we have.
If we are unable to maintain or increase the throughput on our pipeline systems because of decreased drilling activity in the areas in which we operate, decreased production from the wells connected to our systems or an inability to connect new supplies of gas and attract new customers to our gathering and transmission lines, then our business and financial results or our ability to achieve our growth strategy could be materially adversely affected.
If KMTP’sLaredo-to-Katy pipeline becomes unavailable to transport natural gas to or from our Houston Central Processing Plant for any reason, then our cash flow and revenue could be adversely affected.
Our ability to contract for natural gas supplies in the Texas Gulf Coast region will often depend on our ability to deliver gas to our Houston Central Processing Plant and downstream markets. If we are unable to deliver natural gas to this processing plant or to downstream markets, then our ability to contract for natural gas supplies could be hindered, and our cash flow and revenue would likely be adversely affected. For the year ended December 31, 2005, approximately 51% of the total natural gas delivered by our Texas Gulf Coast pipelines was delivered to KMTP. We
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deliver this natural gas to KMTP in order to transport it to our Houston Central Processing Plant, which straddles KMTP’sLaredo-to-Katy pipeline. Depending on the supply of residue gas at our processing plant and natural gas market conditions, we may sell natural gas to KMTP or to other shippers that transport natural gas through KMTP’sLaredo-to-Katy pipeline. Additionally, we may use KMTP’sLaredo-to-Katy pipeline to transport natural gas to our pipelines located in the Upper Gulf Coast Region of our Texas Gulf Coast Pipelines segment and to downstream markets.
If KMTP’s pipeline were to become unavailable for any reason, the volumes transported to our Houston Central Processing Plant would be reduced substantially, and our cash flows and revenues from our processing business could be adversely affected. In addition, many producers that use our Texas Gulf Coast gathering systems have natural gas containing NGLs that must be conditioned or processed in order to meet downstream market quality specifications. If we were unable to ship such natural gas to our Houston Central Processing Plant for processing or conditioning, and, if required, treating, we would need to arrange for transportation through other pipelines that could provide these services. Alternatively, we might be required to lease smaller conditioning, and possibly treating, facilities in order to deliver natural gas to other pipelines having restrictive natural gas quality specifications.
We generally do not obtain independent evaluations of natural gas reserves dedicated to our pipeline systems; therefore, volumes of natural gas transported on our pipeline systems in the future could be less than we anticipate, which may cause our revenues and operating income to be less than we expect.
We generally do not obtain independent evaluations of natural gas reserves connected to our pipeline systems due to the unwillingness of producers to provide reserve information as well as the cost of such evaluations. Accordingly, we do not have estimates of total reserves dedicated to our systems or the anticipated life of such reserves. If the total reserves or estimated life of the reserves connected to our pipeline systems is less than we anticipate and we are unable to secure additional sources of natural gas, then the volumes of natural gas transported on our pipelines in the future could be less than we anticipate. A decline in the volumes of natural gas transported on our pipeline systems may cause our revenues to be less than we expect.
We are exposed to the credit risk of our customers and counterparties, and a general increase in the nonpayment and nonperformance by our customers could have an adverse impact on our financial condition and results of operations.
Risks of nonpayment and nonperformance by our customers are a major concern in our business. We are subject to risks of loss resulting from nonpayment or nonperformance by our customers. Any increase in the nonpayment and nonperformance by our customers could have an adverse impact on our operating results and could adversely impact our liquidity.
Our profitability depends upon prices and market demand for natural gas and NGLs, which are beyond our control and have been volatile.
Our profitability is affected by prevailing NGL and natural gas prices and we are subject to significant risks due to fluctuations in commodity prices. These risks are based primarily upon two components of our business: (1) processing or conditioning at our processing plants, and (2) purchasing and selling volumes of natural gas at index-related prices.
The profitability of our Texas Gulf Coast Processing segment is affected by the relationship between natural gas prices and NGL prices. When natural gas prices are low relative to NGL prices, it is more profitable for us to process the natural gas than to condition it. When natural gas prices are high relative to NGL prices, we have the flexibility to condition natural gas at the Houston Central Processing Plant rather than fully process it, but the resulting margins are less. Accordingly, if natural gas prices remain high relative to NGL prices for extended periods of time, then our results of operations could be adversely impacted.
The margins we realize from purchasing and selling a portion of the natural gas that we deliver through our Texas Gulf Coast Pipeline systems decrease in periods of low natural gas prices because such gross margins are based primarily on a percentage of the index price. For the year ended December 31, 2005, approximately 96% of
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the natural gas purchased by our Texas Gulf Coast Pipelines segment was purchased with a percentage of relevant index pricing component. Accordingly, a decline in the price of natural gas could have an adverse impact on the results of operations from our Texas Gulf Coast Pipelines business.
The profitability of our Mid-Continent Operations segment is affected primarily by the level of NGL and natural gas prices. Because we generally receive a percentage of the sales proceeds of any NGLs extracted from the natural gas we gather in our Mid-Continent Operations segment as well as a percentage of the sales proceeds of the residue gas remaining after the NGL extraction, our Mid-Continent Operations segment’s profitability increases with higher commodity prices and decreases with a fall in commodity prices.
In the past, the prices of natural gas and NGLs have been extremely volatile, and we expect this volatility to continue. For example, during the year ended December 31, 2005 and the nine months ended September 30, 2006, the Houston Ship Channel, or HSC, natural gas index price ranged from a high of $10.92 per MMBtu to a low of $5.74 per MMBtu and from a high of $8.68 per MMBtu to a low of $5.69 per MMBtu, respectively. A composite of the Oil Price Information Service, or OPIS, Mt. Belvieu monthly average NGL price based upon our average NGL composition during the year ended December 31, 2005 and the nine months ended September 30, 2006 ranged from a high of approximately $1.116 per gallon to a low of approximately $0.729 per gallon and from a high of approximately $1.128 per gallon to a low of approximately $0.866 per gallon, respectively.
We will seek to maintain a position that is substantially balanced between purchases and sales for future delivery obligations. However, we may not be successful in balancing our natural gas purchases and sales. In addition, a producer could fail to deliver contracted volumes or deliver in excess of contracted volumes, or a consumer could take more or less than contracted volumes. Any of these actions could cause an imbalance in our natural gas purchases and sales. If our purchases and sales of natural gas are not balanced, we will face increased exposure to commodity price risks, which could increase the volatility of our operating income.
The markets and prices for natural gas and NGLs depend upon many factors beyond our control. These factors include demand for oil, natural gas and NGLs, which fluctuate with changes in market and economic conditions and other factors, including:
• | the impact of weather on the demand for oil and natural gas; | |
• | the level of domestic oil and natural gas production; | |
• | the availability of imported oil and natural gas; | |
• | actions taken by foreign oil and gas producing nations; | |
• | the availability of local, intrastate and interstate transportation systems; | |
• | the availability and marketing of competitive fuels; | |
• | the impact of energy conservation efforts; and | |
• | the extent of governmental regulation and taxation. |
A change in the characterization of some of our assets by federal, state or local regulatory agencies or a change in policy by those agencies may result in increased regulation of our assets, which may cause our revenues to decline and operating expenses to increase.
Most of our Texas pipelines are gathering systems that have been deemed non-utilities by the Railroad Commission of Texas, or TRRC. Through the ScissorTail Acquisition, we acquired gathering systems in Oklahoma that are not subject to utility regulation by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, or OCC. Under Texas law, non-utilities in Texas are not subject to general rate regulation by the TRRC. Under Oklahoma law, non-utilities in Oklahoma (such as ScissorTail’s gathering systems) are not subject to general rate regulation by the OCC. Should the status of these non-utility assets change, they would become subject to general rate regulation by the TRRC or OCC, which could adversely affect the rates that we are allowed to charge our customers. Some of our intrastate natural gas transmission pipelines are subject to regulation as a common purchaser and as a gas utility by the TRRC. The TRRC’s jurisdiction over these pipelines extends to both rates and pipeline safety. The rates we charge for
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transportation services in Texas are deemed just and reasonable under Texas law unless challenged in a complaint. Should a complaint be filed or should regulation become more active, our business could be adversely affected.
As a natural gas gatherer and intrastate pipeline company, we are exempt from Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC, regulation under the Natural Gas Act of 1938, but FERC regulation still affects our business and the market for our products. FERC’s policies and practices across the range of its natural gas pipeline regulatory activities, including, for example, its policies on open access transportation, ratemaking, capacity release, and market center promotion, indirectly affect intrastate markets. In recent years, FERC has pursued pro-competitive policies in its regulation of interstate natural gas pipelines. However, we cannot assure you that FERC will continue this approach as it considers matters such as pipeline rates and rules and policies that may affect rights of access to natural gas transportation capacity. In addition, the rates, terms and conditions of some of the transportation services we provide on our pipelines are subject to FERC regulation under Section 311 of the Natural Gas Policy Act.
Other state and local regulations also affect our business. Our gathering lines in Texas are subject to ratable take and common purchaser statutes. The gathering facilities we acquired in the ScissorTail Acquisition are likewise subject to ratable take and common purchaser statutes in Oklahoma. Ratable take statutes generally require gatherers to take, without undue discrimination, natural gas production that may be tendered to the gatherer for handling. Similarly, common purchaser statutes generally require gatherers to purchase without undue discrimination as to source of supply or producer. These statutes restrict our right as an owner of gathering facilities to decide with whom we contract to purchase or transport natural gas. Federal law leaves any economic regulation of natural gas gathering to the states. Texas and Oklahoma have adopted complaint-based regulation of natural gas gathering activities, which allows natural gas producers and shippers to file complaints with state regulators in an effort to resolve grievances relating to natural gas gathering access and rate discrimination.
Compliance with pipeline integrity regulations issued by the TRRC and OCC could result in substantial expenditures for testing, repairs and replacement.
The TRRC and OCC regulations require periodic testing of all intrastate pipelines meeting certain size and location requirements. Our costs relating to compliance with the required testing and repairs under the TRRC regulations was $0.8 million and $1.1 million for year ended December 31, 2005 and the nine months ended September 30, 2006, respectively. No costs were incurred relating to the pipeline integrity testing requirements of the OCC for the year ended December 31, 2005 or for the nine months ended September 30, 2006. If our pipelines fail to meet the safety standards mandated by the TRRC or OCC regulations, then we may be required to repair or replace sections of such pipelines, the cost of which cannot be estimated at this time.
Because we handle natural gas and other petroleum products in our pipeline and processing businesses, we may incur significant costs and liabilities in the future resulting from a failure to comply with new or existing environmental regulations or an accidental release of hazardous substances into the environment.
The operation of our gathering systems, plants and other facilities is subject to stringent and complex federal, state and local environmental laws and regulations. These laws and regulations can restrict or impact our business activities in many ways, including restricting the manner in which we dispose of substances, requiring remedial action to remove or mitigate contamination, and requiring capital expenditures to comply with control requirements. Failure to comply with these laws and regulations may trigger a variety of administrative, civil and criminal enforcement measures, including the assessment of monetary penalties, the imposition of remedial requirements, and the issuance of orders enjoining future operations. Certain environmental statutes impose strict, joint and several liability for costs required to clean up and restore sites where substances and wastes have been disposed or otherwise released. Moreover, it is not uncommon for neighboring landowners and other third parties to file claims for personal injury and property damage allegedly caused by the release of hazardous substances or wastes into the environment.
There is inherent risk of the incurrence of environmental costs and liabilities in our business due to our handling of natural gas and other petroleum products, air emissions related to our operations, historical industry operations including releases of substances into the environment, and waste disposal practices. For example, an
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accidental release from one of our pipelines or processing facilities could subject us to substantial liabilities arising from environmental cleanup, restoration costs and natural resource damages, claims made by neighboring landowners and other third parties for personal injury and property damage, and fines or penalties for related violations of environmental laws or regulations. Moreover, the possibility exists that stricter laws, regulations or enforcement policies could significantly increase our compliance costs and the cost of any remediation that may become necessary. We may not be able to recover some or any of these costs from insurance.
Expanding our business by constructing new assets will subject us to risks that projects may not be completed on schedule, the costs associated with the projects may exceed our expectations and additional natural gas supplies may not be available following completion of the projects, which could cause our revenues to be less than anticipated. Our operating cash flows from our capital projects may not be immediate.
One of the ways we may grow our business is through the construction of additions to our existing gathering and transportation systems (including additional compression) and modifications at our existing processing plants. The construction of additions or modifications to our existing gathering and transportation systems and processing and treating facilities, and the construction of new gathering and processing facilities, involve numerous regulatory, environmental, political, legal and operational uncertainties beyond our control and require the expenditure of significant amounts of capital. If we undertake these projects, they may not be completed on schedule or at all or at the budgeted cost. Moreover, our revenues may not increase immediately upon the expenditure of funds on a particular project. For instance, Southern Dome, our non-wholly-owned operating subsidiary, has constructed a processing plant and pipelines to support anticipated future production in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, which were placed in service on April 28, 2006. The cost of the project was born by us and the other member of Southern Dome, with our share of the final construction costs totaling approximately $18.0 million. The development of production dedicated to the Southern Dome processing plant and pipelines may occur over an extended period of time, and we may not receive any material increase in operating cash flow from that project for some time. If we experience unanticipated or extended delays in generating operating cash flow from this or other projects, then we may need to reduce or reprioritize our capital budget to meet our capital requirements. We may also rely on estimates of future production in our decision to construct additions to our gathering and transportation systems, which may prove to be inaccurate because of the numerous uncertainties inherent in estimating quantities of future production. As a result, new facilities may not be able to attract enough throughput to achieve our expected investment return.
If the cost of renewing existingrights-of-way increases, it may have an adverse impact on our profitability. In addition, if we are unable to obtain newrights-of-way, then we may be unable to fully execute our growth strategy.
The construction of additions to our existing gathering and transportation assets may require us to obtain newrights-of-way prior to constructing new pipelines. We may be unable to obtain suchrights-of-way to connect new natural gas supplies to our existing gathering lines or capitalize on other attractive expansion opportunities. Additionally, it may become more expensive for us to obtain newrights-of-way or to renew existingrights-of-way. If the cost of renewing existingrights-of-way increases then our results of operations could be adversely affected. In addition, increasedrights-of-way costs could impair our ability to grow.
Our business involves many hazards and operational risks, some of which may not be fully covered by insurance. If a significant accident or event occurs that is not fully insured, our operations could be temporarily or permanently impaired, and our liabilities and expenses could be significant.
Our operations are subject to the many hazards inherent in the gathering, compression, treating, processing and transportation of natural gas and NGLs, including:
• | damage to pipelines, pipeline blockages and damage to related equipment and surrounding properties caused by hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, fires, extreme weather conditions and other natural disasters and acts of terrorism; |
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• | inadvertent damage from construction and farm equipment; | |
• | leaks of natural gas, NGLs and other hydrocarbons; | |
• | operator error; and | |
• | fires and explosions. |
These risks could result in substantial losses due to personal injuryand/or loss of life, severe damage to and destruction of property and equipment and pollution or other environmental damage and may result in curtailment or suspension of our related operations. In addition, mechanical malfunctions, undetected ruptures in pipelines, faulty measurement or other errors may result in significant costs or lost revenues. Our operations are primarily concentrated in the Texas Gulf Coast region and in central and eastern Oklahoma, and a natural disaster or other hazard affecting any of these areas could have a material adverse effect on our operations. For example, although we did not suffer significant damage, Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita damaged gathering systems, processing facilities, and NGL fractionators along the Gulf Coast in August and September 2005, respectively, which curtailed or suspended the operations of various energy companies with assets in the region. There can be no assurance that insurance will cover all damages and losses resulting from these types of natural disasters. We are not fully insured against all risks incident to our business. In accordance with typical industry practice, we do not have any property insurance on any of our underground pipeline systems that would cover damage to the pipelines. We are not insured against all environmental accidents that might occur, other than those considered to be sudden and accidental. Our business interruption insurance covers only losses arising from physical damage to our Houston Central Processing Plant, our Copano Bay pipeline system, our Paden Plant and other systems without alternative interconnects. If a significant accident or event occurs that is not fully insured, our operations could be temporarily or permanently impaired, and our liabilities and expenses could be significant.
Due to our lack of asset diversification, adverse developments in our gathering, transportation, processing and related businesses would have a significant impact on our results of operations.
Substantially all of our revenues are generated from our gathering, dehydration, treating, conditioning, processing and transportation businesses, and as a result, our financial condition depends upon prices of, and continued demand for, natural gas and NGLs. Furthermore, substantially all of our assets are located in Texas and Oklahoma. Due to our lack of diversification in asset type and location, an adverse development in one of these businesses or in these areas would have a significantly greater impact on our financial condition and results of operations than if we maintained more diverse assets.
If we fail to maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting, we may not be able to accurately report our financial results or prevent fraud. As a result, we may experience materially higher compliance costs.
In early 2005, we began a process to annually document and evaluate our internal control over financial reporting in order to satisfy the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and the related regulations, which require annual management assessments of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting and a report by our independent registered public accounting firm addressing these assessments. In this regard, management has dedicated internal resources, engaged outside consultants and adopted a detailed work plan to (i) assess and document the adequacy of our internal control over financial reporting, (ii) take steps to improve control processes, where appropriate, (iii) validate through testing that controls are functioning as documented and (iv) implement a continuous review and reporting process for internal control over financial reporting. Our efforts to comply with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and the related regulations regarding our assessment of our internal control over financial reporting and our independent registered public accounting firm’s audit of that assessment have resulted, and are likely to continue to result, in increased expenses. We cannot be certain that these measures will ensure that we maintain adequate controls over our financial processes and reporting in the future. Any failure to implement required new controls, or difficulties encountered in their implementation, could harm our operating results or cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations. If compliance with policies or procedures deteriorate and we fail to correct any associated issues in the design or
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operating effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting or fail to prevent fraud, current and potential holders of our securities could lose confidence in our financial reporting, which could harm our business.
Risks Related to the Notes
We have a holding company structure in which our subsidiaries conduct our operations and own our operating assets.
We are a holding company, and our subsidiaries conduct all of our operations and own all of our operating assets. We have no significant assets other than the limited liability company interests and other equity interests in our subsidiaries. As a result, our ability to make required payments on the notes will depend on the performance of our subsidiaries and their ability to distribute funds to us. The ability of the subsidiaries to make distributions to us may be restricted by, among other things, applicable state laws and other laws and regulations. If we are unable to obtain the funds necessary to pay the principal amount at maturity of the notes, or to repurchase the notes upon the occurrence of a change of control, we may be required to adopt one or more alternatives, such as a refinancing of the notes. We cannot assure you that we would be able to refinance the notes.
We require a significant amount of cash to service our indebtedness. Our ability to generate cash depends on many factors beyond our control.
Our ability to make payments on and to refinance our indebtedness, including the notes, and to fund planned capital expenditures depends on our ability to generate cash in the future. This, to a certain extent, is subject to general economic, financial, competitive, legislative, regulatory and other factors that are beyond our control.
We cannot assure you that we will generate sufficient cash flow from operations or that future borrowings will be available to us under the senior secured revolving credit facility or otherwise in an amount sufficient to enable us to pay our indebtedness, including the notes, or to fund our other liquidity needs. We may need to refinance all or a portion of our indebtedness, including the original notes and any future issuance of additional notes, on or before maturity. We cannot assure you that we will be able to refinance any of our indebtedness, including the notes, on commercially reasonable terms or at all.
In the future, not all of our subsidiaries may guarantee the notes. Your right to receive payments on the notes could be adversely affected if any of our non-guarantor subsidiaries declares bankruptcy, liquidates or reorganizes.
All of our subsidiaries that guarantee our indebtedness, including our indebtedness under our senior secured revolving credit facility, will guarantee any additional notes that we may issue. Currently, all of our wholly-owned subsidiaries, other than Copano Energy Finance Corporation, the co-issuer of the notes, guarantee our indebtedness under this facility, and they also guarantee the original notes. Neither Webb Duval nor Southern Dome is considered a subsidiary under the indenture governing the notes and accordingly will not guarantee the notes. Moreover, in the future one or more of our subsidiaries may not be required to guarantee the notes. Please read “Description of Notes — Subsidiary Guarantees.” In the event of a bankruptcy, liquidation or reorganization of any such non-guarantor subsidiary, holders of its indebtedness and its trade creditors would generally be entitled to payment of their claims from its assets before any assets are made available for distribution to us.
Payment of principal and interest on the notes is effectively junior to our senior secured debt to the extent of the value of the assets securing that debt. Further, the guarantees of the notes are effectively subordinated to all our guarantors’ secured indebtedness.
The notes are effectively junior to claims of our secured creditors, and the subsidiary guarantees are effectively junior to the claims of our secured creditors as well as the secured creditors of our subsidiary guarantors. As of September 30, 2006, the notes and the subsidiary guarantees would have been effectively junior to $50 million of outstanding secured indebtedness, and we would have had $150 million of borrowing availability under our senior secured revolving credit facility. Holders of our secured obligations, including obligations under our senior secured revolving credit facility, have claims that are prior to claims of the holders of the notes with respect to the assets securing those obligations. In the event of a liquidation, dissolution, reorganization, bankruptcy or any similar
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proceeding, our assets and those of our subsidiaries will be available to pay obligations on the notes and the guarantees only after holders of our senior secured indebtedness have been paid the value of the assets securing such debt. Although all of our wholly-owned subsidiaries, other than Copano Energy Finance Corporation, the co-issuer of the notes, currently guarantee the notes, in the future, under certain circumstances, the guarantees are subject to release and we may have subsidiaries that are not guarantors. In that case, the notes would be effectively junior to the claims of all creditors, including trade creditors and tort claimants, of our subsidiaries that are not guarantors. In the event of the liquidation, dissolution, reorganization, bankruptcy or similar proceeding of the business of a subsidiary that is not a guarantor, creditors of that subsidiary would generally have the right to be paid in full before any distribution is made to us or the holders of the notes. Accordingly, there may not be sufficient funds remaining to pay amounts due on all or any of the notes.
We distribute all of our available cash to our unitholders after reserves established by our Board of Directors. We are not required to accumulate cash for the purpose of meeting our future obligations to our noteholders, which may limit the cash available to service the notes.
Subject to the limitations on restricted payments contained in the indenture governing the notes and in our senior secured revolving credit facility and any other indebtedness, we will distribute all of our “available cash” each quarter to our unitholders. “Available cash” is defined in our limited liability company agreement, and it generally means, for each fiscal quarter:
• | all cash on hand at the end of the quarter; | |
• | plus all cash on hand on the date of determination of available cash for the quarter resulting from working capital borrowings made after the end of the quarter. Our credit facility does not provide for the type of working capital borrowing that would be eligible, pursuant to our limited liability company agreement, to be considered available cash. | |
• | less the amount of cash that our board of directors determines in its reasonable discretion is necessary or appropriate to: |
• | provide for the proper conduct of our business (including reserves for future capital expenditures and for our future credit needs); | |
• | comply with applicable law, any of our debt instruments, or other agreements or obligations; or | |
• | provide funds for distributions to our unitholders for any one or more of the next four quarters. |
As a result, we may not accumulate significant amounts of cash. If our Board of Directors fails to establish sufficient reserves, these distributions could significantly reduce the cash available to us in subsequent periods to make payments on the notes.
We may not be able to fund a change of control offer.
If a change of control occurs, we would be required, subject to conditions specified in the indenture, to offer to purchase all outstanding notes at a price equal to 101% of the principal amount thereof, plus accrued and unpaid interest thereon to the date of purchase. If a change of control were to occur today, we would not have sufficient funds available to purchase all of the outstanding notes under the indenture were they to be tendered in response to an offer made as a result of a change of control. We cannot assure you that we will be permitted by our other debt instruments to fulfill these obligations upon a change of control in the future. Furthermore, certain change of control events would constitute an event of default under our senior secured revolving credit facility. Please read “Description of Notes — Repurchase at the Option of Holders — Change of Control.”
Many of the covenants contained in the indenture will terminate if the notes are rated investment grade by both Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services and Moody’s Investors Service, Inc.
Although the notes are currently rated below investment grade by both Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s Investors Service, many of the covenants governing the notes will no longer apply to us if the notes are rated investment grade by both Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services and Moody’s Investors Service, Inc., provided at such
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time no default under the indenture has occurred and is continuing. These covenants restrict, among other things, our ability to pay distributions, incur debt and to enter into certain other transactions. There can be no assurance that the notes will ever be rated investment grade, or that if they are rated investment grade, that the notes will maintain such ratings. However, termination of these covenants would allow us to engage in certain transactions that would not be permitted while these covenants were in force. Please read “Description of Notes — Covenant Termination.”
The guarantees of the notes could be deemed fraudulent conveyances under certain circumstances, and a court may try to subordinate or void these subsidiary guarantees.
Under U.S. bankruptcy law and comparable provisions of state fraudulent transfer laws, a guarantee can be voided, or claims under a guarantee may be subordinated to all other debts of that guarantor if, among other things, the guarantor, at the time it incurred the indebtedness evidenced by its guarantee:
• | intended to hinder, delay or defraud any present or future creditor or received less than reasonably equivalent value or fair consideration for the incurrence of the guarantee; | |
• | was insolvent or rendered insolvent by reason of such incurrence; | |
• | was engaged in a business or transaction for which the guarantor’s remaining assets constituted unreasonably small capital; or | |
• | intended to incur, or believed that it would incur, debts beyond its ability to pay those debts as they mature. |
In addition, any payment by that guarantor under a guarantee could be voided and required to be returned to the guarantor or to a fund for the benefit of the creditors of the guarantor. The measures of insolvency for purposes of these fraudulent transfer laws will vary depending upon the law applied in any proceeding to determine whether a fraudulent transfer has occurred. Generally, however, a subsidiary guarantor would be considered insolvent if:
• | the sum of its debts, including contingent liabilities, was greater than the fair saleable value of all of its assets; | |
• | the present saleable value of its assets was less than the amount that would be required to pay its probable liability, including contingent liabilities, on its existing debts as they become absolute and mature; or | |
• | it could not pay its debts as they became due. |
Tax Risks to Noteholders
You should read “Material Tax Consequences” for a more complete discussion of the expected material federal income tax consequences of purchasing the notes.
Our tax treatment depends on our status as a partnership for federal income tax purposes, as well as our not being subject to a material amount of entity-level taxation by individual states. If the IRS were to treat us as a corporation for tax purposes or we were to become subject to a material amount ofentity-level taxation, it could reduce the amount of cash available for payment of principal and interest on the notes.
If we were classified as a corporation for federal income tax purposes, we could be required to pay federal income tax on our taxable income at the corporate tax rate. Treatment of us as a corporation could cause a material reduction in our anticipated cash flow, which could materially and adversely affect our ability to make payments on the notes.
In addition, because of widespread state budget deficits, several states, including Texas, are evaluating ways to subject partnerships and limited liability companies to entity-level taxation through the imposition of state income, franchise or other forms of taxation. For example, beginning in 2008, we will be subject to a new entity-level tax related to the portion of our income that is generated in Texas during our prior tax year. Imposition of such tax on us by Texas, or any other state, will reduce our cash flow.
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This prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference in this prospectus include forward-looking statements. Statements included in this prospectus that are not historical facts, but that address activities, events or developments that we expect or anticipate will or may occur in the future, including things such as references to future goals or intentions or other such references are forward-looking statements.
These statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology including “may,” “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “continue,” or similar words. These statements include statements related to plans for growth of the business, future capital expenditures and competitive strengths and goals. We make these statements based on our past experience and our perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments as well as other considerations we believe are appropriate under the circumstances. Whether actual results and developments in the future will conform to our expectations is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control. Therefore, actual outcomes and results could materially differ from what is expressed, implied or forecast in these statements. Any differences could be caused by a number of factors, including, but not limited to:
• | our ability to successfully integrate any acquired assets or operations; | |
• | the volatility of prices and market demand for natural gas and natural gas liquids; | |
• | our ability to continue to obtain new sources of natural gas supply; | |
• | the ability of key producers to continue to drill and successfully complete and attach new natural gas supplies; | |
• | our ability to retain our key customers; | |
• | general economic conditions; | |
• | the effects of government regulations and policies; and | |
• | other financial, operational and legal risks and uncertainties detailed from time to time in our filings with the SEC. |
Cautionary statements identifying important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations are set forth in this prospectus, including without limitation in conjunction with forward-looking statements that are referred to above. When considering forward-looking statements, you should keep in mind the risk factors and other cautionary statements set forth in this prospectus under “Risk Factors.” All forward-looking statements included in this prospectus and all subsequent written or oral forward-looking statements attributable to us are expressly qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements. The forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made, other than as required by law, and we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements.
Unless we specify otherwise in any prospectus supplement, we will use the net proceeds we receive from the sale of notes covered by this prospectus for general corporate purposes, which may include, among other things:
• | paying or refinancing all or a portion of our indebtedness outstanding at the time; and | |
• | funding working capital, capital expenditures or acquisitions. |
The actual application of proceeds from the sale of any particular offering of notes using this prospectus will be described in the applicable prospectus supplement relating to such offering. The precise amount and timing of the application of these proceeds will depend upon our funding requirements and the availability and cost of other funds.
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Six Months | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ended | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
June 30, | Year Ended December 31, | |||||||||||||||||||||||
2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | |||||||||||||||||||
Ratios of Earnings to Fixed Charges | 2.6 | x | 2.4 | x | — | — | — | 2.7 | x |
For purposes of computing the ratios of earnings to fixed charges, earnings consist of pre-tax income from continuing operations before equity in (earnings) loss from unconsolidated affiliates plus fixed charges, amortization of capitalized interest and distributions from equity investees less capitalized interest and preference equity distributions. Fixed charges consist of interest expensed and capitalized, distributions on preference units and the estimated interest component of rent expense. Earnings were inadequate to cover fixed charges for the years ended December 31, 2004, 2003 and 2002 by $1.3 million, $5.4 million and $3.1 million, respectively.
You can find the definitions of certain terms used in this description under the subheading “— Certain Definitions.” In this description, the term “Company,” “us,” “our” or “we” refers only to Copano Energy, L.L.C. and not to any of its subsidiaries, the term “Finance Corp.” refers to Copano Energy Finance Corporation and the term “Issuers” refers to the Company and Finance Corp.
The 81/8% senior notes due 2016 offered hereby, which we refer to as the “new notes,” are an additional issuance of our 81/8% senior notes due 2016 and will be treated as a single class with the $225 million in aggregate principal amount of such notes, which we refer to as the “existing notes,” originally issued on February 7, 2006. The new notes will be issued under the indenture, dated as of February 7, 2006, among the Issuers, the Guarantors and U.S. Bank National Association, as trustee. The new notes and the existing notes are collectively referred to as the “notes” in this “Description of Notes.” The terms of the notes include those stated in the indenture and those made part of the indenture by reference to the Trust Indenture Act of 1939.
The following description is a summary of the material provisions of the indenture and the registration rights agreement. It does not restate those agreements in their entirety. We urge you to read the indenture and the registration rights agreement because they, and not this description, define your rights as holders of the notes. Certain defined terms used in this description but not defined below under “— Certain Definitions” have the meanings assigned to them in the indenture.
The registered Holder of a note will be treated as the owner of it for all purposes. Only registered Holders will have rights under the indenture.
Brief Description of the Notes and the Subsidiary Guarantees
The Notes. The notes:
• | are general unsecured obligations of the Issuers; | |
• | are equal in right of payment with all existing and future Senior Debt (as defined below) of either of the Issuers; and | |
• | are unconditionally guaranteed by the Guarantors on a senior unsecured basis. |
The Subsidiary Guarantees. On the date of issuance of the new notes, the new notes will be guaranteed by all of the Company’s Subsidiaries that are then guarantors of the existing notes.
Each guarantee of the notes:
• | is a general unsecured obligation of the Guarantor; and | |
• | is equal in right of payment with all existing and future Senior Debt of that Guarantor. |
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As of September 30, 2006, the Company (excluding its subsidiaries) had:
• | total Senior Debt of approximately $375 million, consisting of the existing notes, approximately $50 million of secured Senior Debt outstanding under its senior secured revolving credit facility and our outstanding $100 million senior unsecured term loan; and | |
• | no Indebtedness contractually subordinated to the existing notes. |
On the same date, the Guarantors had:
• | total Senior Debt of approximately $375 million, including their guarantees of the existing notes, approximately $50 million of secured Senior Debt outstanding under the Company’s senior secured revolving credit facility and our outstanding $100 million senior unsecured term loan; and | |
• | no Indebtedness contractually subordinated to their guarantees of the existing notes. |
The indenture permits us and the Guarantors to incur additional Indebtedness, including additional Senior Debt.
Currently, all of our existing Subsidiaries guarantee the existing notes. However, under the circumstances described below under the subheading “— Certain Covenants — Additional Subsidiary Guarantees,” in the future one or more of our newly created or acquired Subsidiaries may not guarantee the notes. In the event of a bankruptcy, liquidation or reorganization of any of these non-guarantor Subsidiaries, the non-guarantor Subsidiaries will pay current outstanding obligations to the holders of their debt and their trade creditors before they will be able to distribute any of their assets to us.
Currently, all of our Subsidiaries are “Restricted Subsidiaries.” However, under the circumstances described below under the subheading “— Certain Covenants — Designation of Restricted and Unrestricted Subsidiaries,” we are permitted to designate certain of our Subsidiaries as “Unrestricted Subsidiaries.” Our Unrestricted Subsidiaries will not be subject to many of the restrictive covenants in the indenture. Our Unrestricted Subsidiaries will not guarantee the notes.
We own majority interests in two unconsolidated affiliates, Webb/Duval Gatherers and Southern Dome, LLC. However, we use the equity method of accounting for our investment in Webb/Duval Gatherers because the terms of its general partnership agreement provide the minority general partners substantive participating rights with respect to its management. For similar reasons, we use the equity method of accounting for our investment in Southern Dome, LLC, which we acquired as part of the ScissorTail Acquisition. Neither Webb/Duval Gatherers nor Southern Dome, LLC is classified as our Subsidiary, and therefore neither will guarantee the notes, so long as we continue to treat it as an unconsolidated affiliate for financial accounting purposes.
Principal, Maturity and Interest
The Issuers issued the existing notes in an aggregate principal amount of $225.0 million and will issue the new notes from time to time in an unlimited aggregate principal amount. The prospectus supplement relating to any offering of new notes will state the aggregate principal amount of the new notes. Any offering of new notes is subject to the covenant described below under the caption “— Certain Covenants — Incurrence of Indebtedness and Issuance of Preferred Stock.” The existing notes and any new notes subsequently issued under the indenture, together with any Exchange Notes, will be treated as a single class for all purposes under the indenture, including, without limitation, waivers, amendments, redemptions and offers to purchase. The Issuers will issue new notes in denominations of $1,000 and integral multiples of $1,000. The notes will mature on March 1, 2016.
Interest on the notes will accrue at the rate of 8.125% per annum and will be payable semi-annually in arrears on March 1 and September 1, commencing on March 1, 2007 in the case of the existing notes and on the date indicated in the related prospectus supplement in the case of any new notes. The Issuers will make each interest payment to the Holders of record on the immediately preceding February 15 and August 15.
Interest on the new notes will accrue from the date indicated in the related prospectus supplement or, if interest has already been paid, from the date it was most recently paid. Interest will be computed on the basis of a360-day year comprised of twelve30-day months.
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Methods of Receiving Payments on the Notes
If a Holder has given wire transfer instructions to the Issuers, the Issuers will pay all principal, interest and premium, if any, on that Holder’s notes in accordance with those instructions. All other payments on notes will be made at the office or agency of the paying agent and registrar within the City and State of New York unless the Issuers elect to make interest payments by check mailed to the Holders at their addresses set forth in the register of Holders.
Paying Agent and Registrar for the Notes
The trustee will initially act as paying agent and registrar. The Issuers may change the paying agent or registrar without prior notice to the Holders of the notes, and the Company or any of its Subsidiaries may act as paying agent or registrar.
Transfer and Exchange
A Holder may transfer or exchange notes in accordance with the indenture. The registrar and the trustee may require a Holder to furnish appropriate endorsements and transfer documents in connection with a transfer of notes. No services charge will be imposed by the Issuers, the trustee or the registrar for any registration of transfer or exchange of notes, but Holders will be required to pay all taxes due on transfer. The Issuers are not required to transfer or exchange any note selected for redemption. Also, the Issuers are not required to transfer or exchange any note for a period of 15 days before a selection of notes to be redeemed.
Subsidiary Guarantees
Currently, all of our existing Subsidiaries, excluding Finance Corp., guarantee the existing notes on a senior unsecured basis. In the future, the Restricted Subsidiaries of the Company will be required to guarantee the notes under the circumstances described under “— Certain Covenants — Additional Subsidiary Guarantees.” These Subsidiary Guarantees are the joint and several obligations of the Guarantors. The obligations of each Guarantor under its Subsidiary Guarantee will be limited as necessary to prevent that Subsidiary Guarantee from constituting a fraudulent conveyance under applicable law. See “Risk Factors — Risks Relating to the Notes — The guarantees of the notes could be deemed fraudulent conveyances under certain circumstances, and a court may try to subordinate or void these subsidiary guarantees.”
A Guarantor may not sell or otherwise dispose of all or substantially all of its properties or assets to, or consolidate with or merge with or into (whether or not such Guarantor is the surviving Person), another Person, other than the Company or another Guarantor, unless:
(1) immediately after giving effect to such transaction, no Default or Event of Default exists; and
(2) either:
(a) the Person acquiring the properties or assets in any such sale or other disposition or the Person formed by or surviving any such consolidation or merger (if other than the Guarantor) unconditionally assumes all the obligations of that Guarantor, pursuant to a supplemental indenture substantially in the form specified in the indenture, under the notes, the indenture and its Subsidiary Guarantee on terms set forth therein; or
(b) the Net Proceeds of such sale or other disposition are applied in accordance with the “Asset Sale” provisions of the indenture.
The Subsidiary Guarantee of a Guarantor will be released:
(1) in connection with any sale or other disposition of all or substantially all of the properties or assets of that Guarantor (including by way of merger or consolidation) to a Person that is not (either before or after giving effect to such transaction) a Restricted Subsidiary of the Company, if the sale or other disposition complies with the “Asset Sale” provisions of the indenture;
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(2) in connection with any sale or other disposition of all of the Capital Stock of that Guarantor to a Person that is not (either before or after giving effect to such transaction) a Restricted Subsidiary of the Company, if the sale or other disposition complies with the “Asset Sale” provisions of the indenture;
(3) if the Company designates any Restricted Subsidiary that is a Guarantor as an Unrestricted Subsidiary in accordance with the applicable provisions of the indenture;
(4) upon Legal Defeasance or Covenant Defeasance as described below under the caption “— Legal Defeasance and Covenant Defeasance” or upon satisfaction and discharge of the indenture as described below under the caption “— Satisfaction and Discharge;” or
(5) at such time as such Guarantor ceases to guarantee any other Indebtedness of either of the Issuers and any Indebtedness of any other Guarantor, provided that it is then no longer an obligor with respect to any Indebtedness under any Credit Facility.
See “— Repurchase at the Option of Holders — Asset Sales.”
Optional Redemption
At any time prior to March 1, 2009, the Issuers may on any one or more occasions redeem up to 35% of the aggregate principal amount of notes issued under the indenture at a redemption price of 108.125% of the principal amount, plus accrued and unpaid interest, if any, to the redemption date (subject to the right of Holders of record on the relevant record date to receive interest due on an interest payment date that is on or prior to the redemption date), with the net cash proceeds of one or more Equity Offerings by the Company, provided that:
(1) at least 65% of the aggregate principal amount of notes issued under the indenture remains outstanding immediately after the occurrence of such redemption (excluding notes held by the Company and its Subsidiaries); and
(2) the redemption occurs within 120 days of the date of the closing of such Equity Offering.
On and after March 1, 2011, the Issuers may redeem all or a part of the notes upon not less than 30 nor more than 60 days’ notice, at the redemption prices (expressed as percentages of principal amount) set forth below, plus accrued and unpaid interest, if any, on the notes redeemed to the applicable redemption date (subject to the right of Holders of record on the relevant record date to receive interest due on an interest payment date that is on or prior to the redemption date), if redeemed during the twelve-month period beginning on March 1 of the years indicated below:
Year | Percentage | |||
2011 | 104.0625% | |||
2012 | 102.7083% | |||
2013 | 101.3542% | |||
2014 and thereafter | 100.0000% |
Prior to March 1, 2011, the Issuers may redeem all or part of the notes upon not less than 30 nor more than 60 days’ notice, at a redemption price equal to the sum of:
(1) the principal amount thereof, plus
(2) accrued and unpaid interest, if any, to the redemption date (subject to the right of Holders of record on the relevant record date to receive interest due on an interest payment date that is on or prior to the redemption date), plus
(3) the Make Whole Premium at the redemption date.
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Selection and Notice
If less than all of the notes are to be redeemed at any time, the trustee will select notes for redemption as follows:
(1) if the notes are listed on any national securities exchange, in compliance with the requirements of the principal national securities exchange on which the notes are listed; or
(2) if the notes are not listed on any national securities exchange, on a pro rata basis.
No notes of $1,000 or less can be redeemed in part. Notices of optional redemption will be mailed by first class mail at least 30 but not more than 60 days before the redemption date to each Holder of notes to be redeemed at its registered address, except that optional redemption notices may be mailed more than 60 days prior to a redemption date if the notice is issued in connection with a defeasance of the notes or a satisfaction and discharge of the indenture. Notices of redemption may not be conditional.
If any note is to be redeemed in part only, the notice of redemption that relates to that note will state the portion of the principal amount of that note that is to be redeemed. A new note in principal amount equal to the unredeemed portion of the original note will be issued in the name of the Holder of notes upon cancellation of the original note. Notes called for redemption become due on the date fixed for redemption. On and after the redemption date, interest ceases to accrue on notes or portions of them called for redemption.
Mandatory Redemption
Except as set forth below under “— Repurchase at the Option of Holders,” neither of the Issuers is required to make mandatory redemption or sinking fund payments with respect to the notes or to repurchase the notes at the option of the Holders.
Repurchase at the Option of Holders
Change of Control
If a Change of Control occurs, each Holder of notes will have the right to require the Company to repurchase all or any part (equal to $1,000 or an integral multiple of $1,000) of that Holder’s notes pursuant to a Change of Control Offer on the terms set forth in the indenture. In the Change of Control Offer, the Company will offer a Change of Control Payment in cash equal to 101% of the aggregate principal amount of notes repurchased plus accrued and unpaid interest, if any, on the notes repurchased, to the date of settlement (the “Change of Control Settlement Date”), subject to the right of Holders of record on the relevant record date to receive interest due on an interest payment date that is on or prior to the Change of Control Settlement Date. Within 30 days following any Change of Control, the Company will mail a notice to each Holder and the trustee describing the transaction or transactions that constitute the Change of Control and offering to repurchase notes as of the Change of Control Purchase Date specified in the notice, which date will be no earlier than 30 days and no later than 60 days from the date such notice is mailed, pursuant to the procedures required by the indenture and described in such notice.
The Company will comply with the requirements ofRule 14e-1 under the Exchange Act and any other securities laws and regulations thereunder to the extent those laws and regulations are applicable in connection with the repurchase of the notes as a result of a Change of Control. To the extent that the provisions of any securities laws or regulations conflict with the Change of Control provisions of the indenture, the Company will comply with the applicable securities laws and regulations and will not be deemed to have breached its obligations under the Change of Control provisions of the indenture by virtue of such conflict.
On the Change of Control Purchase Date, the Company will, to the extent lawful, accept for payment all notes or portions of notes properly tendered pursuant to the Change of Control Offer. Promptly thereafter on the Change of Control Settlement Date, the Company will:
(1) deposit with the paying agent an amount equal to the Change of Control Payment in respect of all notes or portions of notes properly tendered; and
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(2) deliver or cause to be delivered to the trustee the notes properly accepted together with an officers’ certificate stating the aggregate principal amount of notes or portions of notes being purchased by the Company.
On the Change of Control Settlement Date, the paying agent will mail to each Holder of notes properly tendered the Change of Control Payment for such notes (or, if all the notes are then in global form, make such payment through the facilities of DTC), and the trustee will authenticate and mail (or cause to be transferred by book entry) to each Holder a new note equal in principal amount to any unpurchased portion of the notes surrendered, if any; provided, however, that each new note will be in a principal amount of $1,000 or an integral multiple of $1,000. The Company will publicly announce the results of the Change of Control Offer on or as soon as practicable after the Change of Control Payment Date.
The Credit Agreement provides that certain change of control events with respect to the Company would constitute an event of default thereunder, entitling the lenders, among other things, to accelerate the maturity of all Senior Debt outstanding thereunder. Any future credit agreements or other agreements relating to Senior Debt to which the Company or any Guarantor becomes a party may contain similar restrictions and provisions. The indenture provides that, prior to complying with any of the provisions of this “Change of Control” covenant, but in any event no later than the Change of Control Purchase Date, the Company or any Guarantor must either repay all of its other outstanding Senior Debt or obtain the requisite consents, if any, under all agreements governing such Senior Debt to permit the repurchase of notes required by this covenant.
The provisions described above that require the Company to make a Change of Control Offer following a Change of Control will be applicable whether or not any other provisions of the indenture are applicable. Except as described above with respect to a Change of Control, the indenture does not contain provisions that permit the Holders of the notes to require that the Company repurchase or redeem the notes in the event of a takeover, recapitalization or similar transaction.
The Company will not be required to make a Change of Control Offer upon a Change of Control if a third party makes the Change of Control Offer in the manner, at the time and otherwise in compliance with the requirements set forth in the indenture applicable to a Change of Control Offer made by the Company and purchases all notes properly tendered and not withdrawn under the Change of Control Offer.
The definition of Change of Control includes a phrase relating to the direct or indirect sale, lease, transfer, conveyance or other disposition of “all or substantially all” of the properties or assets of the Company and its Restricted Subsidiaries taken as a whole. Although there is a limited body of case law interpreting the phrase “substantially all,” there is no precise established definition of the phrase under applicable law. Accordingly, the ability of a Holder of notes to require the Company to repurchase its notes as a result of a sale, lease, transfer, conveyance or other disposition of less than all of the assets of the Company and its Subsidiaries taken as a whole to another Person or group may be uncertain.
Asset Sales
The Company will not, and will not permit any of its Restricted Subsidiaries to, consummate an Asset Sale unless:
(1) the Company (or the Restricted Subsidiary, as the case may be) receives consideration at the time of the Asset Sale at least equal to the fair market value of the assets or Equity Interests issued or sold or otherwise disposed of;
(2) the fair market value is determined by (a) an executive officer of the Company if the value is less than $10.0 million and evidenced by a officers’ certificate delivered to the trustee, or (b) the Company’s Board of Directors if the value is $10.0 million or more and evidenced by a resolution of the Board of Directors set forth in an officers’ certificate delivered to the trustee; and
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(3) at least 75% of the aggregate consideration received by the Company and its Restricted Subsidiaries in the Asset Sale and all other Asset Sales since the date of the indenture is in the form of cash. For purposes of this provision, each of the following will be deemed to be cash:
(a) any liabilities, as shown on the Company’s or such Restricted Subsidiary’s most recent balance sheet, of the Company or any Subsidiary (other than contingent liabilities and liabilities that are by their terms subordinated to the notes or any Subsidiary Guarantee) that are assumed by the transferee of any such assets pursuant to a customary novation agreement that releases the Company or such Subsidiary from further liability; and
(b) any securities, notes or other obligations received by the Company or any such Restricted Subsidiary from such transferee that are, within 90 days after the Asset Sale, converted by the Company or such Subsidiary into cash, to the extent of the cash received in that conversion.
Within 360 days after the receipt of any Net Proceeds from an Asset Sale, the Company or any such Restricted Subsidiary may apply those Net Proceeds at its option to any combination of the following:
(1) to repay Senior Debt;
(2) to acquire all or substantially all of the properties or assets of a Person primarily engaged in a Permitted Business;
(3) to acquire a majority of the Voting Stock of a Person primarily engaged in a Permitted Business;
(4) to make capital expenditures; or
(5) to acquire other long-term assets that are used or useful in a Permitted Business.
Pending the final application of any Net Proceeds, the Company or any such Restricted Subsidiary may invest the Net Proceeds in any manner that is not prohibited by the indenture. Any Net Proceeds from Asset Sales that are not applied or invested as provided in the preceding paragraph will constitute “Excess Proceeds.”
On the 361st day after the Asset Sale (or, at the Company’s option, any earlier date), if the aggregate amount of Excess Proceeds then exceeds $20.0 million, the Company will make an Asset Sale Offer to all Holders of notes, and all holders of other Indebtedness that is pari passu with the notes containing provisions similar to those set forth in the indenture with respect to offers to purchase or redeem with the proceeds of sales of assets, to purchase the maximum principal amount of notes and such other pari passu Indebtedness that may be purchased out of the Excess Proceeds. The offer price in any Asset Sale Offer will be equal to 100% of principal amount plus accrued and unpaid interest, if any, to the date of settlement, subject to the right of Holders of record on the relevant record date to receive interest due on an interest payment date that is on or prior to the date of settlement, and will be payable in cash. If any Excess Proceeds remain after consummation of an Asset Sale Offer, the Company may use those Excess Proceeds for any purpose not otherwise prohibited by the indenture. If the aggregate principal amount of notes and other pari passu Indebtedness tendered into such Asset Sale Offer exceeds the amount of Excess Proceeds, the trustee will select the notes and such other pari passu Indebtedness to be purchased on a pro rata basis. Upon completion of each Asset Sale Offer, the amount of Excess Proceeds will be reset at zero.
The Company will comply with the requirements ofRule 14e-1 under the Exchange Act and any other securities laws and regulations thereunder to the extent those laws and regulations are applicable in connection with each repurchase of notes pursuant to an Asset Sale Offer. To the extent that the provisions of any securities laws or regulations conflict with the Asset Sale provisions of the indenture, the Company will comply with the applicable securities laws and regulations and will not be deemed to have breached its obligations under the Asset Sale provisions of the indenture by virtue of such conflict.
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Certain Covenants
Restricted Payments
The Company will not, and will not permit any of its Restricted Subsidiaries to, directly or indirectly:
(1) declare or pay any dividend or make any other payment or distribution on account of the Company’s or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries’ Equity Interests (including, without limitation, any payment in connection with any merger or consolidation involving the Company or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries) or to the direct or indirect holders of the Company’s or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries’ Equity Interests in their capacity as such (other than dividends or distributions payable in Equity Interests (other than Disqualified Stock) of the Company or payable to the Company or a Restricted Subsidiary of the Company);
(2) purchase, redeem or otherwise acquire or retire for value (including, without limitation, in connection with any merger or consolidation involving the Company) any Equity Interests of the Company or any direct or indirect parent of the Company;
(3) make any payment on or with respect to, or purchase, redeem, defease or otherwise acquire or retire for value any Indebtedness that is subordinated to the notes or the Subsidiary Guarantees, except a payment of interest or principal at the Stated Maturity thereof; or
(4) make any Restricted Investment (all such payments and other actions set forth in these clauses (1) through (4) above being collectively referred to as “Restricted Payments”),
unless, at the time of and after giving effect to such Restricted Payment, no Default (except a Reporting Default) or Event of Default has occurred and is continuing or would occur as a consequence of such Restricted Payment and either:
(1) if the Fixed Charge Coverage Ratio for the Company’s most recently ended four full fiscal quarters for which internal financial statements are available at the time of such Restricted Payment (the “Trailing Four Quarters”) is not less than 1.75 to 1.0, such Restricted Payment, together with the aggregate amount of all other Restricted Payments made by the Company and its Restricted Subsidiaries (excluding Restricted Payments permitted by clauses (2), (3), (4) and (5) of the next succeeding paragraph) with respect to the quarter for which such Restricted Payment is made, is less than the sum, without duplication, of:
(a) Available Cash from Operating Surplus with respect to the Company’s preceding fiscal quarter, plus
(b) 100% of the aggregate net cash proceeds received by the Company (including the fair market value of any Permitted Business or long-term assets that are used or useful in a Permitted Business to the extent acquired in consideration of Equity Interests of the Company (other than Disqualified Stock)) after the date of the indenture as a contribution to its common equity capital or from the issue or sale of Equity Interests of the Company (other than Disqualified Stock) or from the issue or sale of convertible or exchangeable Disqualified Stock or convertible or exchangeable debt securities of the Company that have been converted into or exchanged for such Equity Interests (other than Equity Interests (or Disqualified Stock or debt securities) sold to a Restricted Subsidiary of the Company), plus
(c) to the extent that any Restricted Investment that was made after the date of the indenture is sold for cash or otherwise liquidated or repaid for cash, the cash return of capital with respect to such Restricted Investment (less the cost of disposition, if any), plus
(d) the net reduction in Restricted Investments resulting from dividends, repayments of loans or advances, or other transfers of assets in each case to the Company or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries from any Person (including, without limitation, Unrestricted Subsidiaries) or from redesignations of Unrestricted Subsidiaries as Restricted Subsidiaries, to the extent such amounts have not been included in Available Cash from Operating Surplus for any period commending on or after the date of the indenture (items (b), (c) and (d) being referred to as “Incremental Funds”), minus
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(e) the aggregate amount of Incremental Funds previously expended pursuant to this clause (1) and clause (2) below; or
(2) if the Fixed Charge Coverage Ratio for the Trailing Four Quarters is less than 1.75 to 1.00, such Restricted Payment, together with the aggregate amount of all other Restricted Payments made by the Company and its Restricted Subsidiaries (excluding Restricted Payments permitted by clauses (2), (3), (4) and (5) of the next succeeding paragraph) with respect to the quarter for which such Restricted Payment is made (such Restricted Payments for purposes of this clause (2) meaning only distributions on common units of the Company), is less than the sum, without duplication, of:
(a) $45.0 million less the aggregate amount of all prior Restricted Payments made by the Company and its Restricted Subsidiaries pursuant to this clause (2)(a) since the date of the indenture, plus
(b) Incremental Funds to the extent not previously expended pursuant to this clause (2) or clause (1) above.
So long as no Default (except a Reporting Default) or Event of Default has occurred and is continuing or would be caused thereby (except with respect to clause (1) below under which the payment of a distribution or dividend is permitted), the preceding provisions will not prohibit:
(1) the payment of any dividend or distribution within 60 days after the date of its declaration, if at the date of declaration the payment would have complied with the provisions of the indenture;
(2) the redemption, repurchase, retirement, defeasance or other acquisition of any subordinated Indebtedness of the Company or any Guarantor or of any Equity Interests of the Company in exchange for, or out of the net cash proceeds of the substantially concurrent (a) contribution (other than from a Restricted Subsidiary of the Company) to the equity capital of the Company or (b) sale (other than to a Restricted Subsidiary of the Company) of, Equity Interests of the Company (other than Disqualified Stock), with a sale being deemed substantially concurrent if such redemption, repurchase, retirement, defeasance or acquisition occurs not more than 120 days after such sale; provided, however, that the amount of any such net cash proceeds that are utilized for any such redemption, repurchase, retirement, defeasance or other acquisition will be excluded or deducted from the calculation of Available Cash from Operating Surplus and Incremental Funds;
(3) the defeasance, redemption, repurchase, retirement or other acquisition of subordinated Indebtedness of the Company or any Guarantor with the net cash proceeds from an incurrence of, or in exchange for, Permitted Refinancing Indebtedness;
(4) the payment of any dividend or distribution by a Restricted Subsidiary of the Company to the holders of its Equity Interests on a pro rata basis; or
(5) the repurchase, redemption or other acquisition or retirement for value of any Equity Interests of the Company or any Restricted Subsidiary of the Company pursuant to any director or employee equity subscription agreement or equity option agreement or other employee benefit plan or to satisfy obligations under any Equity Interests appreciation rights or option plan or similar arrangement; provided, however, that the aggregate price paid for all such repurchased, redeemed, acquired or retired Equity Interests may not exceed $2.0 million in any calendar year, with any portion of such $2.0 million amount that is unused in any calendar year to be carried forward to successive calendar years and added to such amount.
The amount of all Restricted Payments (other than cash) will be the fair market value on the date of the Restricted Payment of the asset(s) or securities proposed to be transferred or issued by the Company or such Restricted Subsidiary, as the case may be, pursuant to the Restricted Payment. The fair market value of any assets or securities that are required to be valued by this covenant will be determined, in the case of amounts under $10.0 million, by an officer of the Company and, in the case of amounts over $10.0 million, by the Board of Directors of the Company, whose determination shall be evidenced by a Board Resolution. Not later than the date of making any Restricted Payment (excluding any Restricted Payment described in the preceding clause (2), (3), (4) or (5)) the Company will deliver to the trustee an officers’ certificate stating that such Restricted Payment is permitted and setting forth the basis upon which the calculations required by this “Restricted Payments” covenant were computed. For purposes of determining compliance with this “Restricted Payments” covenant, in the event that a
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Restricted Payment meets the criteria of more than one of the categories of Restricted Payments described in the preceding clauses (1)-(5), the Company will be permitted to classify (or later classify or reclassify in whole or in part in its sole discretion) such Restricted Payment in any manner that complies with this covenant.
Incurrence of Indebtedness and Issuance of Preferred Stock
The Company will not, and will not permit any of its Restricted Subsidiaries to, directly or indirectly, create, incur, issue, assume, guarantee or otherwise become directly or indirectly liable, contingently or otherwise, with respect to (collectively, “incur”) any Indebtedness (including Acquired Debt), the Company will not issue any Disqualified Stock, and the Company will not permit any of its Restricted Subsidiaries to issue any preferred securities; provided, however, that the Company and any of its Restricted Subsidiaries may incur Indebtedness (including Acquired Debt) or issue Disqualified Stock, if the Fixed Charge Coverage Ratio for the Company’s most recently ended four full fiscal quarters for which internal financial statements are available immediately preceding the date on which such additional Indebtedness is incurred or such Disqualified Stock is issued would have been at least 2.0 to 1.0, determined on a pro forma basis (including a pro forma application of the net proceeds therefrom), as if the additional Indebtedness had been incurred or Disqualified Stock had been issued, as the case may be, at the beginning of such four-quarter period.
The first paragraph of this covenant will not prohibit the incurrence of any of the following items of Indebtedness (collectively, “Permitted Debt”) or the issuance of any preferred securities described in clause (11) below:
(1) the incurrence by the Company or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries of additional Indebtedness (including letters of credit) under one or more Credit Facilities, provided that, after giving effect to any such incurrence, the aggregate principal amount of all Indebtedness incurred under this clause (1) (with letters of credit being deemed to have a principal amount equal to the maximum potential liability of the Company and its Subsidiaries thereunder) and then outstanding does not exceed the greater of (a) $400.0 million or (b) $300.0 million plus 15.0% of the Company’s Consolidated Net Tangible Assets;
(2) the incurrence by the Company or its Restricted Subsidiaries of the Existing Indebtedness;
(3) the incurrence by the Company and the Guarantors of Indebtedness represented by (a) the existing notes and the related Subsidiary Guarantees and (b) the Exchange Notes and the related Subsidiary Guarantees issued pursuant to any registration rights agreement;
(4) the incurrence by the Company or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries of Indebtedness represented by Capital Lease Obligations, mortgage financings or purchase money obligations, in each case, incurred for the purpose of financing all or any part of the purchase price or cost of construction or improvement of property, plant or equipment used in the business of the Company or such Restricted Subsidiary, including all Permitted Refinancing Indebtedness incurred to extend, refinance, renew, replace, defease or refund any Indebtedness incurred pursuant to this clause (4), provided that after giving effect to any such incurrence, the principal amount of all Indebtedness incurred pursuant to this clause (4) and then outstanding does not exceed the greater of (a) $15.0 million or (b) 2.5% of the Company’s Consolidated Net Tangible Assets at such time;
(5) the incurrence by the Company or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries of Permitted Refinancing Indebtedness in exchange for, or the net proceeds of which are used to, extend, refinance, renew, replace, defease or refund Indebtedness that was permitted by the indenture to be incurred under the first paragraph of this covenant or clause (2) or (3) of this paragraph or this clause (5);
(6) the incurrence by the Company or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries of intercompany Indebtedness between or among the Company and any of its Restricted Subsidiaries; provided, however, that:
(a) if the Company is the obligor on such Indebtedness and a Guarantor is not the obligee, such Indebtedness must be expressly subordinated to the prior payment in full in cash of all Obligations with respect to the notes, or if a Guarantor is the obligor on such Indebtedness and neither the Company nor another Guarantor is the obligee, such Indebtedness must be expressly subordinated to the prior payment in full in cash of all Obligations with respect to the Subsidiary Guarantee of such Guarantor; and
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(b) (i) any subsequent issuance or transfer of Equity Interests that results in any such Indebtedness being held by a Person other than the Company or a Restricted Subsidiary of the Company and (ii) any sale or other transfer of any such Indebtedness to a Person that is neither the Company nor a Restricted Subsidiary of the Company will be deemed, in each case, to constitute an incurrence of such Indebtedness by the Company or such Restricted Subsidiary, as the case may be, that was not permitted by this clause (6);
(7) the incurrence by the Company or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries of obligations under Hedging Contracts;
(8) the guarantee by the Company or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries of Indebtedness of the Company or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries that was permitted to be incurred by another provision of this covenant;
(9) the incurrence by the Company or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries of obligations relating to net gas balancing positions arising in the ordinary course of business and consistent with past practice;
(10) the incurrence by the Company or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries of Indebtedness in respect of bid, performance, surety and similar bonds issued for the account of the Company and any of its Restricted Subsidiaries in the ordinary course of business, including guarantees and obligations of the Company or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries with respect to letters of credit supporting such obligations (in each case other than an obligation for money borrowed);
(11) the issuance by any of the Company’s Restricted Subsidiaries to the Company or to any of its Restricted Subsidiaries of any preferred securities; provided, however, that:
(a) any subsequent issuance or transfer of Equity Interests that results in any such preferred securities being held by a Person other than the Company or a Restricted Subsidiary of the Company; and
(b) any sale or other transfer of any such preferred securities to a Person that is not either the Company or a Restricted Subsidiary of the Company
shall be deemed, in each case, to constitute an issuance of such preferred securities by such Restricted Subsidiary that was not permitted by this clause (11);
(12) the incurrence by the Company or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries of liability in respect of the Indebtedness of any Unrestricted Subsidiary of the Company or any Joint Venture but only to the extent that such liability is the result of the Company’s or any such Restricted Subsidiary’s being a general partner of such Unrestricted Subsidiary or Joint Venture and not as guarantor of such Indebtedness and provided that, after giving effect to any such incurrence, the aggregate principal amount of all Indebtedness incurred under this clause (12) and then outstanding does not exceed $25.0 million;
(13) the incurrence by the Company or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries of Acquired Debt in connection with a merger or consolidation meeting either one of the financial tests set forth in clause (4) under the caption “— Merger, Consolidation or Sale of Assets;” and
(14) the incurrence by the Company or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries of additional Indebtedness, provided that, after giving effect to any such incurrence, the aggregate principal amount of all Indebtedness incurred under this clause (14) and then outstanding does not exceed the greater of (a) $25.0 million or (b) 4.0% of the Company’s Consolidated Net Tangible Assets.
For purposes of determining compliance with this “Incurrence of Indebtedness and Issuance of Preferred Stock” covenant, in the event that an item of Indebtedness (including Acquired Debt) meets the criteria of more than one of the categories of Permitted Debt described in clauses (1) through (14) above, or is entitled to be incurred pursuant to the first paragraph of this covenant, the Company will be permitted to classify (or later classify or reclassify in whole or in part in its sole discretion) such item of Indebtedness in any manner that complies with this covenant. Any Indebtedness under Credit Facilities on the date of the indenture shall be considered incurred under the first paragraph of this covenant.
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The accrual of interest, the accretion or amortization of original issue discount, the payment of interest on any Indebtedness in the form of additional Indebtedness with the same terms, and the payment of dividends on Disqualified Stock in the form of additional shares of the same class of Disqualified Stock will not be deemed to be an incurrence of Indebtedness or an issuance of Disqualified Stock for purposes of this covenant, provided, in each such case, that the amount thereof is included in Fixed Charges of the Company as accrued.
Liens
The Company will not and will not permit any of its Restricted Subsidiaries to, create, incur, assume or otherwise cause or suffer to exist or become effective any Lien of any kind (other than Permitted Liens) securing Indebtedness or Attributable Debt upon any of their property or assets, now owned or hereafter acquired, unless the notes or any Subsidiary Guarantee of such Restricted Subsidiary, as applicable, is secured on an equal and ratable basis (or on a senior basis to, in the case of obligations subordinated in right of payment to the notes or such Subsidiary Guarantee, as the case may be) with the obligations so secured until such time as such obligations are no longer secured by a Lien.
Dividend and Other Payment Restrictions Affecting Subsidiaries
The Company will not, and will not permit any of its Restricted Subsidiaries to, directly or indirectly, create or permit to exist or become effective any consensual encumbrance or restriction on the ability of any Restricted Subsidiary to:
(1) pay dividends or make any other distributions on its Capital Stock to the Company or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries, or pay any Indebtedness or other obligations owed to the Company or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries;
(2) make loans or advances to the Company or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries; or
(3) transfer any of its properties or assets to the Company or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries.
However, the preceding restrictions will not apply to encumbrances or restrictions existing under or by reason of:
(1) agreements as in effect on the date of the indenture and any amendments, modifications, restatements, renewals, increases, supplements, refundings, replacements or refinancings of those agreements or the Indebtedness to which they relate, provided that the amendments, modifications, restatements, renewals, increases, supplements, refundings, replacement or refinancings are no more restrictive, taken as a whole, with respect to such dividend, distribution and other payment restrictions than those contained in those agreements on the date of the indenture;
(2) the indenture, the notes and the Subsidiary Guarantees;
(3) applicable law;
(4) any instrument governing Indebtedness or Capital Stock of a Person acquired by the Company or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries as in effect at the time of such acquisition, which encumbrance or restriction is not applicable to any Person, or the properties or assets of any Person, other than the Person, or the property or assets of the Person, so acquired, provided that, in the case of Indebtedness, such Indebtedness was otherwise permitted by the terms of the indenture to be incurred;
(5) customary non-assignment provisions in Hydrocarbon purchase and sale or exchange agreements or similar operational agreements or in licenses or leases, in each case entered into in the ordinary course of business and consistent with past practices;
(6) Capital Lease Obligations, mortgage financings or purchase money obligations, in each case for property acquired in the ordinary course of business that impose restrictions on that property of the nature described in clause (3) of the preceding paragraph;
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(7) any agreement for the sale or other disposition of a Restricted Subsidiary of the Company that restricts distributions by that Restricted Subsidiary pending its sale or other disposition;
(8) Permitted Refinancing Indebtedness, provided that the restrictions contained in the agreements governing such Permitted Refinancing Indebtedness are no more restrictive, taken as a whole, than those contained in the agreements governing the Indebtedness being refinanced;
(9) Liens securing Indebtedness otherwise permitted to be incurred under the provisions of the covenant described above under the caption “— Liens” that limit the right of the debtor to dispose of the assets subject to such Liens;
(10) provisions with respect to the disposition or distribution of assets or property in joint venture agreements, asset sale agreements, stock sale agreements and other similar agreements entered into in the ordinary course of business;
(11) any agreement or instrument relating to any property or assets acquired after the date of the indenture, so long as such encumbrance or restriction relates only to the property or assets so acquired and is not and was not created in anticipation of such acquisitions;
(12) restrictions on cash or other deposits or net worth imposed by customers under contracts entered into in the ordinary course of business; and
(13) any instrument governing Indebtedness of an FERC Subsidiary, provided that such Indebtedness was otherwise permitted by the terms of the indenture to be incurred.
Merger, Consolidation or Sale of Assets
Neither of the Issuers may, directly or indirectly: (1) consolidate or merge with or into another Person (whether or not such Issuer is the survivor); or (2) sell, assign, transfer, lease, convey or otherwise dispose of all or substantially all of its properties or assets in one or more related transactions, to another Person; unless:
(1) either: (a) such Issuer is the survivor; or (b) the Person formed by or surviving any such consolidation or merger (if other than such Issuer) or to which such sale, assignment, transfer, lease, conveyance or other disposition has been made is a Person organized or existing under the laws of the United States, any state of the United States or the District of Columbia; provided, however, that Finance Corp. may not consolidate or merge with or into any Person other than a corporation satisfying such requirement so long as the Company is not a corporation;
(2) the Person formed by or surviving any such consolidation or merger (if other than such Issuer) or the Person to which such sale, assignment, transfer, lease, conveyance or other disposition has been made assumes all the obligations of such Issuer under the notes, the indenture and the registration rights agreement pursuant to agreements reasonably satisfactory to the trustee;
(3) immediately after such transaction no Default or Event of Default exists;
(4) in the case of a transaction involving the Company and not Finance Corp., either
(a) the Company or the Person formed by or surviving any such consolidation or merger (if other than the Company), or to which such sale, assignment, transfer, lease, conveyance or other disposition has been made will, on the date of such transaction after giving pro forma effect thereto and any related financing transactions as if the same had occurred at the beginning of the applicable four-quarter period, be permitted to incur at least $1.00 of additional Indebtedness pursuant to the Fixed Charge Coverage Ratio test set forth in the first paragraph of the covenant described above under the caption “— Incurrence of Indebtedness and Issuance of Preferred Stock;” or
(b) immediately after giving effect to such transaction on a pro forma basis and any related financing transactions as if the same had occurred at the beginning of the applicable four-quarter period, the Fixed Charge Coverage Ratio of the Company or the Person formed by or surviving any such consolidation or merger (if other than the Company), or to which such sale, assignment, transfer, lease,
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conveyance or other disposition has been made, will be equal to or greater than the Fixed Charge Coverage Ratio of the Company immediately before such transactions; and
(5) such Issuer has delivered to the trustee an officers’ certificate and an opinion of counsel, each stating that such consolidation, merger or disposition and such supplemental indenture (if any) comply with the indenture.
Notwithstanding the preceding paragraph, the Company is permitted to reorganize as any other form of entity in accordance with the following procedures provided that:
(1) the reorganization involves the conversion (by merger, sale, contribution or exchange of assets or otherwise) of the Company into a form of entity other than a limited liability company formed under Delaware law;
(2) the entity so formed by or resulting from such reorganization is an entity organized or existing under the laws of the United States, any state thereof or the District of Columbia;
(3) the entity so formed by or resulting from such reorganization assumes all the obligations of the Company under the notes, the indenture and the registration rights agreement pursuant to agreements reasonably satisfactory to the trustee;
(4) immediately after such reorganization no Default or Event of Default exists; and
(5) such reorganization is not materially adverse to the Holders or Beneficial Owners of the notes (for purposes of this clause (5) a reorganization will not be considered materially adverse to the Holders or Beneficial Owners of the notes solely because the successor or survivor of such reorganization (a) is subject to federal or state income taxation as an entity or (b) is considered to be an “includable corporation” of an affiliated group of corporations with the meaning of Section 1504(b)(i) of the Code or any similar state or local law).
Although there is a limited body of case law interpreting the phrase “substantially all,” there is no precise established definition of the phrase under applicable law. Accordingly, in certain circumstances there may be a degree of uncertainty as to whether a particular transaction would involve “all or substantially all” of the properties or assets of a Person.
Transactions with Affiliates
The Company will not, and will not permit any of its Restricted Subsidiaries to, make any payment to, or sell, lease, transfer or otherwise dispose of any of its properties or assets to, or purchase any property or assets from, or enter into or make or amend any transaction, contract, agreement, understanding, loan, advance or guarantee with, or for the benefit of, any Affiliate (each, an “Affiliate Transaction”), unless:
(1) the Affiliate Transaction is on terms that are no less favorable to the Company or the relevant Restricted Subsidiary than those that would have been obtained in a comparable transaction by the Company or such Restricted Subsidiary with an unrelated Person; and
(2) the Company delivers to the trustee:
(a) with respect to any Affiliate Transaction or series of related Affiliate Transactions involving aggregate consideration in excess of $10.0 million, a resolution of the Board of Directors of the Company set forth in an officers’ certificate certifying that such Affiliate Transaction complies with this covenant and that such Affiliate Transaction has been approved by a majority of the disinterested members of the Board of Directors; and
(b) with respect to any Affiliate Transaction or series of related Affiliate Transactions involving aggregate consideration in excess of $25.0 million, a written opinion as to the fairness to the Holders of such Affiliate Transaction from a financial point of view issued by an accounting, appraisal or investment banking firm of national standing.
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The following items will not be deemed to be Affiliate Transactions and, therefore, will not be subject to the provisions of the prior paragraph:
(1) any employment, equity award, equity option or equity appreciation agreement or plan entered into by the Company or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries in the ordinary course of business;
(2) transactions between or among any of the Company and its Restricted Subsidiaries;
(3) transactions with a Person that is an Affiliate of the Company solely because the Company owns an Equity Interest in such Person;
(4) customary compensation, indemnification and other benefits made available to officers, directors or employees of the Company or a Restricted Subsidiary or Affiliate of the Company, including reimbursement or advancement ofout-of-pocket expenses and provisions of officers’ and directors’ liability insurance;
(5) sales of Equity Interests (other than Disqualified Stock) to Affiliates of the Company;
(6) Restricted Payments that are permitted by the provisions of the indenture described above under the caption “— Restricted Payments;”
(7) transactions effected in accordance with the terms of the Administrative and Operating Services Agreement with Copano/Operations, Inc. that are described under “Certain Relationships and Related Transactions-Copano/Operations, Inc.,” as such agreement is in effect on the date of the indenture, and any amendment or extension of such agreement so long as such amendment or extension agreement is no less advantageous to the Company in any material respect than the agreement so amended or extended;
(8) the purchase by the Company or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries of natural gas from John R. Eckel, Jr. or any of his Affiliates and any related transactions, or the gathering or compressing of any natural gas by the Company or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries for the account of John R. Eckel, Jr. or any of his Affiliates and any related transactions, in each case in the ordinary course of business;
(9) the guarantee by ScissorTail of the performance by Southern Dome, LLC of its obligations under the Gas Purchase and Processing Agreement effective as of May 1, 2005 between Southern Dome, LLC and New Dominion, L.L.C., as such agreement is in effect on the date of the indenture, and any amendment or extension of such agreement so long as such amendment or extension agreement is no less advantageous to the Company in any material respect than the agreement so amended or extended;
(10) transactions effected in accordance with the terms of the Management Agreement dated as of August 1, 2005 between Southern Dome, LLC and ScissorTail, as such agreement is in effect on the date of the indenture, and any amendment or extension of such agreement so long as such amendment or extension agreement is no less advantageous to the Company in any material respect than the agreement so amended or extended; and
(11) the transportation of natural gas across the gathering systems of Webb/Duval Gatherers and its Subsidiaries in the ordinary course of business and consistent with past practices.
Designation of Restricted and Unrestricted Subsidiaries
The Board of Directors of the Company may designate any Restricted Subsidiary of the Company to be an Unrestricted Subsidiary if that designation would not cause a Default. If a Restricted Subsidiary of the Company is designated as an Unrestricted Subsidiary, the aggregate fair market value of all outstanding Investments owned by the Company and its Restricted Subsidiaries in the Subsidiary properly designated will be deemed to be an Investment made as of the time of the designation and will reduce the amount available for Restricted Payments under the first paragraph of the covenant described above under the caption “— Restricted Payments” or represent Permitted Investments, as determined by the Company. That designation will only be permitted if the Investment would be permitted at that time and if the Subsidiary so designated otherwise meets the definition of an Unrestricted Subsidiary.
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The Board of Directors of the Company may at any time designate any Unrestricted Subsidiary to be a Restricted Subsidiary, provided that such designation will be deemed to be an incurrence of Indebtedness by a Restricted Subsidiary of the Company of any outstanding Indebtedness of such Unrestricted Subsidiary and such designation will only be permitted if (1) such Indebtedness is permitted under the covenant described above under the caption “— Incurrence of Indebtedness and Issuance of Preferred Stock,” calculated on a pro forma basis as if such designation had occurred at the beginning of the four-quarter reference period, and (2) no Default or Event of Default would be in existence following such designation.
Additional Subsidiary Guarantees
If any Restricted Subsidiary of the Company that is not already a Guarantor guarantees any other Indebtedness of either of the Issuers or any Indebtedness of any Guarantor, or any Domestic Subsidiary, if not then a Guarantor, incurs any Indebtedness under any of the Credit Facilities, then in either case that Subsidiary will become a Guarantor by executing a supplemental indenture and delivering it to the trustee within 20 Business Days of the date on which it guaranteed or incurred such Indebtedness, as the case may be; provided, however, that the preceding shall not apply to Subsidiaries of the Company that have properly been designated as Unrestricted Subsidiaries in accordance with the indenture for so long as they continue to constitute Unrestricted Subsidiaries. Notwithstanding the preceding, any Subsidiary Guarantee of a Restricted Subsidiary that was incurred pursuant to this paragraph as a result of its guarantee of any Indebtedness shall provide by its terms that it shall be automatically and unconditionally released upon the release or discharge of the guarantee that resulted in the creation of such Restricted Subsidiary’s Subsidiary Guarantee, except a discharge or release by, or as a result of payment under, such guarantee.
Sale and Leaseback Transactions
The Company will not, and will not permit any of its Restricted Subsidiaries to, enter into any sale and leaseback transaction; provided, however, that the Company or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries may enter into a sale and leaseback transaction if:
(1) the Company or that Restricted Subsidiary, as applicable, could have (a) incurred Indebtedness in an amount equal to the Attributable Debt relating to such sale and leaseback transaction under the Fixed Charge Coverage Ratio test in the first paragraph of the covenant described above under the caption “— Incurrence of Indebtedness and Issuance of Preferred Stock” and (b) incurred a Lien to secure such Indebtedness pursuant to the covenant described above under the caption “— Liens;”
(2) the gross cash proceeds of that sale and leaseback transaction are at least equal to the fair market value, as determined in good faith by the Board of Directors of the Company and set forth in an officers’ certificate delivered to the trustee, of the property that is the subject of that sale and leaseback transaction; and
(3) the transfer of assets in that sale and leaseback transaction is permitted by, and the Company applies the proceeds of such transaction in compliance with, the covenant described above under the caption “— Repurchase at the Option of Holders — Asset Sales.”
Business Activities
The Company will not, and will not permit any Restricted Subsidiary to, engage in any business other than a Permitted Business, except to such extent as would not be material to the Company and its Restricted Subsidiaries taken as a whole.
Finance Corp. may not incur Indebtedness unless (1) the Company is a co-obligor or guarantor of such Indebtedness or (2) the net proceeds of such Indebtedness are loaned to the Company, used to acquire outstanding debt securities issued by the Company or used to repay Indebtedness of the Company as permitted under the covenant described about under the caption “— Incurrence of Indebtedness and Issuance of Preferred Stock.” Finance Corp. may not engage in any business not related directly or indirectly to obtaining money or arranging financing for the Company or its Restricted Subsidiaries.
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Reports
Whether or not required by the Commission, so long as any notes are outstanding, the Company will file with the Commission for public availability within the time periods specified in the Commission’s rules and regulations (unless the Commission will not accept such a filing), and the Company will furnish to the trustee and, upon its prior request, to any of the Holders or Beneficial Owners of notes, within five Business Days of filing, or attempting to file, the same with the Commission:
(1) all quarterly and annual financial and other information with respect to the Company and its Subsidiaries that would be required to be contained in a filing with the Commission onForms 10-Q and10-K if the Company were required to file such Forms, including a “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and, with respect to the annual information only, a report on the annual financial statements by the Company’s certified independent accountants; and
(2) all current reports that would be required to be filed with the Commission onForm 8-K if the Company were required to file such reports.
If the Company has designated any of its Subsidiaries as Unrestricted Subsidiaries, then, to the extent material, the quarterly and annual financial information required by the preceding paragraph will include a reasonably detailed presentation, either on the face of the financial statements or in the footnotes thereto, and in Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, of the financial condition and results of operations of the Company and its Restricted Subsidiaries separate from the financial condition and results of operations of the Unrestricted Subsidiaries of the Company.
In addition, the Company and the Guarantors have agreed that, for so long as any notes remain outstanding, they will furnish to the Holders and Beneficial Owners of the notes and to securities analysts and prospective investors in the notes, upon their request, the information required to be delivered pursuant to Rule l44A(d)(4) under the Securities Act.
Covenant Termination
If at any time (a) the rating assigned to the notes by both S&P and Moody’s is an Investment Grade Rating and (b) no Default has occurred and is continuing under the indenture, the Company and its Restricted Subsidiaries will no longer be subject to the provisions of the indenture described above under the caption “— Repurchase at the Option of Holders — Asset Sales” and the following provisions of the indenture described above under the caption “— Certain Covenants”:
• | “— Restricted Payments,” | |
• | “— Incurrence of Indebtedness and Issuance of Preferred Stock,” | |
• | “— Dividend and Other Payment Restrictions Affecting Subsidiaries,” | |
• | “— Transactions with Affiliates,” and | |
• | “— Business Activities.” |
However, the Company and its Restricted Subsidiaries will remain subject to the provisions of the indenture described above under the caption “— Repurchase at the Option of Holders — Change of Control,” and the following provisions of the indenture described above under the caption “— Covenants”:
• | “— Liens,” | |
• | “— Merger, Consolidation or Sale of Assets” (other than the financial test set forth in clause (4) of such covenant),” | |
• | “— Designation of Restricted and Unrestricted Subsidiaries,” | |
• | “— Additional Subsidiary Guarantees,” |
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• | “— Sale and Leaseback Transactions” (other than the financial tests set forth in clauses (l)(a) and (3) of such covenant), | |
• | “— Reports,” and | |
• | the covenant respecting payments for consent described below in the last paragraph under the caption “— Amendment, Supplement and Waiver.” |
Events of Default and Remedies
Each of the following is an Event of Default:
(1) default for 30 days in the payment when due of interest on the notes;
(2) default in payment when due of the principal of, or premium, if any, on the notes;
(3) failure by the Company to comply with the provisions described under the captions “— Repurchase at the Option of Holders — Asset Sales,” “— Repurchase at the Option of Holders — Change of Control” or “— Certain Covenants — Merger, Consolidation or Sale of Assets;”
(4) failure by the Company for 90 days after notice to comply with the provisions described under “— Certain Covenants — Reports;”
(5) failure by the Company for 60 days after notice to comply with any of the other agreements in the indenture;
(6) default under any mortgage, indenture or instrument under which there may be issued or by which there may be secured or evidenced any Indebtedness for money borrowed by the Company or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries (or the payment of which is guaranteed by the Company or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries), whether such Indebtedness or guarantee now exists, or is created after the date of the indenture, if that default:
(a) is caused by a failure to pay principal of, or interest or premium, if any, on such Indebtedness prior to the expiration of the grace period provided in such Indebtedness (a “Payment Default”); or
(b) results in the acceleration of such Indebtedness prior to its Stated Maturity,
and, in each case, the principal amount of any such Indebtedness, together with the principal amount of any other such Indebtedness under which there has been a Payment Default or the maturity of which has been so accelerated, aggregates $20.0 million or more; provided, however, that if any such default is cured or waived or any such acceleration rescinded, or such Indebtedness is repaid, within a period of 60 days from the continuation of such default beyond the applicable grace period or the occurrence of such acceleration, as the case may be, such Event of Default and any consequential acceleration of the notes shall be automatically rescinded, so long as such rescission does not conflict with any judgment or decree;
(7) failure by the Company or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries to pay final judgments aggregating in excess of $20.0 million, which judgments are not paid, discharged or stayed for a period of 60 days;
(8) except as permitted by the indenture, any Subsidiary Guarantee shall be held in any judicial proceeding to be unenforceable or invalid or shall cease for any reason to be in full force and effect or any Guarantor, or any Person acting on behalf of any Guarantor, shall deny or disaffirm its obligations under its Subsidiary Guarantee; and
(9) certain events of bankruptcy, insolvency or reorganization described in the indenture with respect to Finance Corp., the Company or any of the Company’s Restricted Subsidiaries that is a Significant Subsidiary or any group of its Restricted Subsidiaries that, taken as a whole, would constitute a Significant Subsidiary of the Company.
In the case of an Event of Default arising from certain events of bankruptcy, insolvency or reorganization, with respect to Finance Corp., the Company, any Restricted Subsidiary of the Company that is a Significant Subsidiary or any group of its Restricted Subsidiaries that, taken together, would constitute a Significant Subsidiary of the
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Company, all outstanding notes will become due and payable immediately without further action or notice. If any other Event of Default occurs and is continuing, the trustee or the Holders of at least 25% in principal amount of the then outstanding notes may declare all the notes to be due and payable immediately.
Holders of the notes may not enforce the indenture or the notes except as provided in the indenture. Subject to certain limitations, Holders of a majority in principal amount of the then outstanding notes may direct the trustee in its exercise of any trust or power. The trustee may withhold notice of any continuing Default or Event of Default from Holders of the notes if it determines that withholding notice is in their interest, except a Default or Event of Default relating to the payment of principal of, or interest or premium, if any, on, the notes.
The Holders of a majority in principal amount of the notes then outstanding by notice to the trustee may on behalf of the Holders of all of the notes waive any existing Default or Event of Default and its consequences under the indenture except a continuing Default or Event of Default in the payment of principal of, or interest or premium, if any, on the notes.
In the case of any Event of Default occurring by reason of any willful action or inaction taken or not taken by or on behalf of an Issuer with the intention of avoiding payment of the premium that the Issuers would have had to pay if the Issuers then had elected to redeem the notes on or after March 1, 2011 pursuant to the optional redemption provisions of the indenture, an equivalent premium will also become and be immediately due and payable to the extent permitted by law upon the acceleration of the notes. If an Event of Default occurs prior to March 1, 2011 by reason of any willful action (or inaction) taken (or not taken) by or on behalf of an Issuer with the intention of avoiding the prohibition on redemption of the notes prior to that date, then the premium specified in the indenture with respect to the first year that the notes may be redeemed at the Issuers’ option (other than with the net cash proceeds of an Equity Offering) will also become immediately due and payable to the extent permitted by law upon the acceleration of the notes.
The Issuers are required to deliver to the trustee annually a statement regarding compliance with the indenture. Upon any officer of the Company or Finance Corp. becoming aware of any Default or Event of Default, the Issuers are required to deliver to the trustee a statement specifying such Default or Event of Default.
No Personal Liability of Directors, Officers, Employees and Unitholders
No director, officer, partner, employee, incorporator, manager or unitholder or other owner of Capital Stock of the Issuers or any Guarantor, as such, will have any liability for any obligations of the Issuers or any Guarantor under the notes, the indenture or the Subsidiary Guarantees, or for any claim based on, in respect of, or by reason of, such obligations or their creation. Each Holder of notes by accepting a note waives and releases all such liability. The waiver and release are part of the consideration for issuance of the notes. The waiver may not be effective to waive liabilities under the federal securities laws.
Legal Defeasance and Covenant Defeasance
The Issuers may, at their option and at any time, elect to have all of their obligations discharged with respect to the outstanding notes and all obligations of the Guarantors discharged with respect to their Subsidiary Guarantees (“Legal Defeasance”), except for:
(1) the rights of Holders of outstanding notes to receive payments in respect of the principal of, and interest or premium, if any, on such notes when such payments are due from the trust referred to below;
(2) the Issuers’ obligations with respect to the notes concerning issuing temporary notes, registration of notes, mutilated, destroyed, lost or stolen notes and the maintenance of an office or agency for payment and money for security payments held in trust;
(3) the rights, powers, trusts, duties and immunities of the trustee, and the Issuers’ obligations in connection therewith; and
(4) the Legal Defeasance provisions of the indenture.
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In addition, the Issuers may, at their option and at any time, elect to have their obligations released with respect to certain covenants that are described in the indenture (“Covenant Defeasance”) and thereafter any omission to comply with those covenants will not constitute a Default or Event of Default with respect to the notes. In the event Covenant Defeasance occurs, certain events (not including non-payment, bankruptcy, insolvency or reorganization events) described under “— Events of Default and Remedies” will no longer constitute an Event of Default with respect to the notes. If the Issuers exercise either their Legal Defeasance or Covenant Defeasance option, each Guarantor will be released and relieved of any obligations under its Subsidiary Guarantee and any security for the notes (other than the trust) will be released.
In order to exercise either Legal Defeasance or Covenant Defeasance:
(1) the Issuers must irrevocably deposit with the trustee, in trust, for the benefit of the Holders of the notes, cash in U.S. dollars, non-callable Government Securities, or a combination of cash in U.S. dollars and non-callable Government Securities, in amounts as will be sufficient, in the opinion of a nationally recognized firm of independent public accountants, to pay the principal of, and interest and premium, if any, on the outstanding notes on the date of fixed maturity or on the applicable redemption date, as the case may be, and the Issuers must specify whether the notes are being defeased to the date of fixed maturity or to a particular redemption date;
(2) in the case of Legal Defeasance, the Issuers have delivered to the trustee an opinion of counsel reasonably acceptable to the trustee confirming that:
(a) the Issuers have received from, or there has been published by, the Internal Revenue Service a ruling; or
(b) since the date of the indenture, there has been a change in the applicable federal income tax law,
in either case to the effect that, and based thereon such opinion of counsel will confirm that, the Holders of the outstanding notes will not recognize income, gain or loss for federal income tax purposes as a result of such Legal Defeasance and will be subject to federal income tax on the same amounts, in the same manner and at the same times as would have been the case if such Legal Defeasance had not occurred;
(3) in the case of Covenant Defeasance, the Issuers have delivered to the trustee an opinion of counsel reasonably acceptable to the trustee confirming that the Holders of the outstanding notes will not recognize income, gain or loss for federal income tax purposes as a result of such Covenant Defeasance and will be subject to federal income tax on the same amounts, in the same manner and at the same times as would have been the case if such Covenant Defeasance had not occurred;
(4) no Default or Event of Default has occurred and is continuing on the date of such deposit (other than a Default or Event of Default resulting from the borrowing of funds to be applied to such deposit) or insofar as Events of Default from bankruptcy, insolvency or reorganization events are concerned, at any time in the period ending on the 91st day after the day of deposit;
(5) such Legal Defeasance or Covenant Defeasance will not result in a breach or violation of, or constitute a default under, any material agreement or instrument (other than the indenture) to which the Company or any of its Subsidiaries is a party or by which the Company or any of its Subsidiaries is bound;
(6) the Issuers must have delivered to the trustee an opinion of counsel to the effect that after the 91st day following the deposit, the trust funds will not be subject to the effect of any applicable bankruptcy, insolvency, reorganization or similar laws affecting creditors’ rights generally;
(7) the Issuers must deliver to the trustee an officers’ certificate stating that the deposit was not made by the Issuers with the intent of preferring the Holders of notes over the other creditors of the Issuers with the intent of defeating, hindering, delaying or defrauding creditors of the Issuers or others; and
(8) the Issuers must deliver to the trustee an officers’ certificate and an opinion of counsel, each stating that all conditions precedent relating to the Legal Defeasance or the Covenant Defeasance have been complied with.
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Amendment, Supplement and Waiver
Except as provided in the next two succeeding paragraphs, the indenture or the notes may be amended or supplemented with the consent of the Holders of at least a majority in principal amount of the then outstanding notes (including, without limitation, consents obtained in connection with a purchase of, or tender offer or exchange offer for, notes), and any existing default or compliance with any provision of the indenture or the notes may be waived with the consent of the Holders of a majority in principal amount of the then outstanding notes (including, without limitation, consents obtained in connection with a purchase of, or tender offer or exchange offer for, notes).
Without the consent of each Holder affected, an amendment, supplement or waiver may not (with respect to any notes held by a non-consenting Holder):
(1) reduce the principal amount of notes whose Holders must consent to an amendment, supplement or waiver;
(2) reduce the principal of or change the fixed maturity of any note or alter the provisions with respect to the redemption or repurchase of the notes (other than provisions relating to the covenants described above under the caption “— Repurchase at the Option of Holders”);
(3) reduce the rate of or change the time for payment of interest on any note;
(4) waive a Default or Event of Default in the payment of principal of, or interest or premium, if any, on the notes (except a rescission of acceleration of the notes by the Holders of at least a majority in principal amount of the notes and a waiver of the payment default that resulted from such acceleration);
(5) make any note payable in currency other than that stated in the notes;
(6) make any change in the provisions of the indenture relating to waivers of past Defaults or the rights of Holders of notes to receive payments of principal of, or interest or premium, if any, on the notes (other than as permitted in clause (7) below);
(7) waive a redemption or repurchase payment with respect to any note (other than a payment required by one of the covenants described above under the caption “— Repurchase at the Option of Holders”);
(8) release any Guarantor from any of its obligations under its Subsidiary Guarantee or the indenture, except in accordance with the terms of the indenture; or
(9) make any change in the preceding amendment, supplement and waiver provisions.
Notwithstanding the preceding, without the consent of any Holder of notes, the Issuers, the Guarantors and the trustee may amend or supplement the indenture or the notes:
(1) to cure any ambiguity, defect or inconsistency;
(2) to provide for uncertificated notes in addition to or in place of certificated notes;
(3) to provide for the assumption of an Issuer’s obligations to Holders of notes in the case of a merger or consolidation or sale of all or substantially all of such Issuer’s properties or assets;
(4) to make any change that would provide any additional rights or benefits to the Holders of notes or that does not adversely affect the legal rights under the indenture of any such Holder, provided that any change to conform the indenture to this prospectus will not be deemed to adversely affect such legal rights;
(5) to secure the notes or the Subsidiary Guarantees pursuant to the requirements of the covenant described above under the subheading “— Certain Covenants — Liens;”
(6) to provide for the issuance of additional notes in accordance with the limitations set forth in the indenture;
(7) to add any additional Guarantor or to evidence the release of any Guarantor from its Subsidiary Guarantee, in each case as provided in the indenture;
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(8) to comply with requirements of the Commission in order to effect or maintain the qualification of the indenture under the Trust Indenture Act; or
(9) to evidence or provide for the acceptance of appointment under the indenture of a successor trustee.
Neither the Company nor any of its Subsidiaries shall, directly or indirectly, pay or cause to be paid any consideration, whether by way of interest, fee or otherwise, to any Beneficial Owner or Holder of any notes for or as an inducement to any consent to any waiver, supplement or amendment of any terms or provisions of the indenture or the notes, unless such consideration is offered to be paid or agreed to be paid to all Beneficial Owners and Holders of the notes which so consent in the time frame set forth in solicitation documents relating to such consent.
Satisfaction and Discharge
The indenture will be discharged and will cease to be of further effect as to all notes issued thereunder (except as to surviving rights of registration of transfer or exchange of the notes and as otherwise specified in the indenture), when:
(1) either:
(a) all notes that have been authenticated, except lost, stolen or destroyed notes that have been replaced or paid and notes for whose payment money has been deposited in trust and thereafter repaid to the Issuers, have been delivered to the trustee for cancellation; or
(b) all notes that have not been delivered to the trustee for cancellation have become due and payable or will become due and payable within one year by reason of the mailing of a notice of redemption or otherwise and the Issuers or any Guarantor has irrevocably deposited or caused to be deposited with the trustee as trust funds in trust solely for the benefit of the Holders, cash in U.S. dollars, non-callable Government Securities, or a combination of cash in U.S. dollars and non-callable Government Securities, in amounts as will be sufficient without consideration of any reinvestment of interest, to pay and discharge the entire indebtedness on the notes not delivered to the trustee for cancellation for principal, premium, if any, and accrued interest to the date of fixed maturity or redemption;
(2) no Default or Event of Default has occurred and is continuing on the date of the deposit or will occur as a result of the deposit and the deposit will not result in a breach or violation of, or constitute a default under, any material agreement or instrument (other than the indenture) to which the Company or any of its Subsidiaries is a party or by which the Company or any of its Subsidiaries is bound;
(3) the Issuers or any Guarantor has paid or caused to be paid all sums payable by it under the indenture; and
(4) the Issuers have delivered irrevocable instructions to the trustee under the indenture to apply the deposited money toward the payment of the notes at fixed maturity or the redemption date, as the case may be.
In addition, the Issuers must deliver an officers’ certificate and an opinion of counsel to the trustee stating that all conditions precedent to satisfaction and discharge have been satisfied.
Concerning the Trustee
If the trustee becomes a creditor of an Issuer or any Guarantor, the indenture limits its right to obtain payment of claims in certain cases, or to realize on certain property received in respect of any such claim as security or otherwise. The trustee will be permitted to engage in other transactions; however, if it acquires any conflicting interest (as defined in the Trust Indenture Act) after a Default has occurred and is continuing, it must eliminate such conflict within 90 days, apply to the Commission for permission to continue or resign.
The Holders of a majority in principal amount of the then outstanding notes will have the right to direct the time, method and place of conducting any proceeding for exercising any remedy available to the trustee, subject to certain exceptions. The indenture provides that in case an Event of Default occurs and is continuing, the trustee will be required, in the exercise of its power, to use the degree of care of a prudent man in the conduct of his own affairs. Subject to such provisions, the trustee will be under no obligation to exercise any of its rights or powers under the
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indenture at the request of any Holder of notes, unless such Holder has offered to the trustee security or indemnity satisfactory to it against any loss, liability or expense.
Governing Law
The indenture, the notes and the Subsidiary Guarantees are governed by, and will be construed in accordance with, the laws of the State of New York.
Additional Information
Anyone who receives this prospectus may obtain a copy of the indenture without charge by writing to Copano Energy, L.L.C., 2727 Allen Parkway, Suite 1200, Houston, Texas 77019, Attention: Chief Financial Officer.
Book-Entry, Delivery and Form
The new notes initially will be represented by one or more permanent global notes in registered form without interest coupons (collectively, the “Global Notes”). The Global Notes will be deposited upon issuance with the trustee as custodian for The Depository Trust Company (“DTC”), in New York, New York, and registered in the name of DTC’s nominee, Cede & Co., in each case for credit to an account of a direct or indirect participant in DTC as described below. Beneficial interests in the Global Notes may be held through the Euroclear System (“Euroclear”) and Clearstream Banking, S.A. (“Clearstream”) (as indirect participants in DTC).
Except as set forth below, the Global Notes may be transferred, in whole but not in part, only to another nominee of DTC or to a successor of DTC or its nominee. Beneficial interests in the Global Notes may not be exchanged for notes in registered, certificated form (“Certificated Notes”) except in the limited circumstances described below. See “— Exchange of Global Notes for Certificated Notes.”
Transfers of beneficial interests in the Global Notes will be subject to the applicable rules and procedures of DTC and its direct or indirect participants (including, if applicable, those of Euroclear and Clearstream), which may change from time to time.
Depository Procedures
The following description of the operations and procedures of DTC, Euroclear and Clearstream are provided solely as a matter of convenience. These operations and procedures are solely within the control of the respective settlement systems and are subject to changes by them. We take no responsibility for these operations and procedures and urge investors to contact the system or their participants directly to discuss these matters.
DTC has advised us that DTC is a limited-purpose trust company created to hold securities for its participating organizations (collectively, the “Participants”) and to facilitate the clearance and settlement of transactions in those securities between Participants through electronic book-entry changes in accounts of its Participants. The Participants include securities brokers and dealers (including the initial purchasers), banks, trust companies, clearing corporations and certain other organizations. Access to DTC’s system is also available to other entities such as banks, brokers, dealers and trust companies that clear through or maintain a custodial relationship with a Participant, either directly or indirectly (collectively, the “Indirect Participants”). Persons who are not Participants may beneficially own securities held by or on behalf of DTC only through the Participants or the Indirect Participants. The ownership interests in, and transfers of ownership interests in, each security held by or on behalf of DTC are recorded on the records of the Participants and Indirect Participants.
DTC has also advised us that, pursuant to procedures established by it:
(1) upon deposit of the Global Notes, DTC will credit the accounts of Participants designated by the underwriters or other initial purchasers of the new notes with portions of the principal amount of the Global Notes; and
(2) ownership of these interests in the Global Notes will be shown on, and the transfer of ownership of these interests will be effected only through, records maintained by DTC (with respect to the Participants) or
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by the Participants and the Indirect Participants (with respect to other owners of beneficial interests in the Global Notes).
Investors in the Global Notes who are Participants in DTC’s system may hold their interests therein directly through DTC. Investors in the Global Notes who are not Participants may hold their interests therein indirectly through organizations (including Euroclear and Clearstream) which are Participants in such system. Euroclear and Clearstream may hold interests in the Global Notes on behalf of their participants through customers’ securities accounts in their respective names on the books of their respective depositories, which are Euroclear Bank S.A./N.V., as operator of Euroclear, and Citibank, N.A., as operator of Clearstream. All interests in a Global Note, including those held through Euroclear or Clearstream, may be subject to the procedures and requirements of DTC. Those interests held through Euroclear or Clearstream may also be subject to the procedures and requirements of such systems.
The laws of some states require that certain Persons take physical delivery in definitive form of securities that they own. Consequently, the ability to transfer beneficial interests in a Global Note to such Persons will be limited to that extent. Because DTC can act only on behalf of Participants, which in turn act on behalf of Indirect Participants, the ability of a Person having beneficial interests in a Global Note to pledge such interests to Persons that do not participate in the DTC system, or otherwise take actions in respect of such interests, may be affected by the lack of a physical certificate evidencing such interests.
Except as described below, owners of an interest in the Global Notes will not have notes registered in their names, will not receive physical delivery of Certificated Notes and will not be considered the registered owners or “Holders” thereof under the indenture for any purpose.
Payments in respect of the principal of, and interest and premium, if any, on a Global Note registered in the name of DTC or its nominee will be payable to DTC in its capacity as the registered Holder under the indenture. Under the terms of the indenture, the Issuers, the Guarantors and the trustee will treat the Persons in whose names the notes, including the Global Notes, are registered as the owners of the notes for the purpose of receiving payments and for all other purposes. Consequently, neither the Issuers, the Guarantors, the trustee nor any agent of an Issuer or the trustee has or will have any responsibility or liability for:
(1) any aspect of DTC’s records or any Participant’s or Indirect Participant’s records relating to or payments made on account of beneficial ownership interests in the Global Notes or for maintaining, supervising or reviewing any of DTC’s records or any Participant’s or Indirect Participant’s records relating to the beneficial ownership interests in the Global Notes; or
(2) any other matter relating to the actions and practices of DTC or any of its Participants or Indirect Participants.
DTC has advised us that its current practice, at the due date of any payment in respect of securities such as the notes, is to credit the accounts of the relevant Participants with the payment on the payment date unless DTC has reason to believe it will not receive payment on such payment date. Each relevant Participant is credited with an amount proportionate to its beneficial ownership of an interest in the principal amount of the notes as shown on the records of DTC. Payments by the Participants and the Indirect Participants to the beneficial owners of notes will be governed by standing instructions and customary practices and will be the responsibility of the Participants or the Indirect Participants and will not be the responsibility of DTC, the trustee or the Issuers. Neither the Issuers nor the trustee will be liable for any delay by DTC or any of its Participants in identifying the beneficial owners of the notes, and the Issuers and the trustee may conclusively rely on and will be protected in relying on instructions from DTC or its nominee for all purposes.
Transfers between Participants in DTC will be effected in accordance with DTC’s procedures, and will be settled in same-day funds, and transfers between participants in Euroclear and Clearstream will be effected in accordance with their respective rules and operating procedures.
Cross-market transfers between the Participants in DTC, on the one hand, and Euroclear or Clearstream participants, on the other hand, will be effected through DTC in accordance with DTC’s rules on behalf of Euroclear or Clearstream, as the case may be, by its depositary; however, such cross-market transactions will require delivery of
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instructions to Euroclear or Clearstream, as the case may be, by the counterparty in such system in accordance with the rules and procedures and within the established deadlines (Brussels time) of such system. Euroclear or Clearstream, as the case may be, will, if the transaction meets its settlement requirements, deliver instructions to its respective depositary to take action to effect final settlement on its behalf by delivering or receiving interests in the relevant Global Note in DTC, and making or receiving payment in accordance with normal procedures for same-day funds settlement applicable to DTC. Euroclear participants and Clearstream participants may not deliver instructions directly to the depositories for Euroclear or Clearstream.
DTC has advised us that it will take any action permitted to be taken by a Holder of notes only at the direction of one or more Participants to whose account DTC has credited the interests in the Global Notes and only in respect of such portion of the aggregate principal amount of the notes as to which such Participant or Participants has or have given such direction. However, if there is an Event of Default under the notes, DTC reserves the right to exchange the Global Notes for Certificated Notes, and to distribute such notes to its Participants.
Although DTC, Euroclear and Clearstream have agreed to the foregoing procedures to facilitate transfers of interests in the Global Notes among participants in DTC, Euroclear and Clearstream, they are under no obligation to perform or to continue to perform such procedures, and may discontinue such procedures at any time. None of the Issuers, the trustee or any of their respective agents will have any responsibility for the performance by DTC, Euroclear or Clearstream or their respective participants or indirect participants of their respective obligations under the rules and procedures governing their operations.
Exchange of Global Notes for Certificated Notes
A Global Note is exchangeable for Certificated Notes in minimum denominations of $1,000 and in integral multiples of $1,000, if:
(1) DTC (a) notifies the Issuers that it is unwilling or unable to continue as depositary for the Global Note or (b) has ceased to be a clearing agency registered under the Exchange Act and in either event the Issuers fail to appoint a successor depositary within 90 days; or
(2) there has occurred and is continuing an Event of Default and DTC notifies the trustee of its decision to exchange the Global Note for Certificated Notes.
In all cases, Certificated Notes delivered in exchange for any Global Note or beneficial interests in Global Notes will be registered in the names, and issued in any approved denominations, requested by or on behalf of the depositary (in accordance with its customary procedures).
Exchange of Certificated Notes for Global Notes
Certificated Notes may not be exchanged for beneficial interests in any Global Note.
Same-Day Settlement and Payment
The Issuers will make payments in respect of the notes represented by the Global Notes (including principal, premium, if any, and interest) by wire transfer of immediately available funds to the accounts specified by the Global Note Holder. The Issuers will make all payments of principal, interest and premium, if any, with respect to Certificated Notes by wire transfer of immediately available funds to the accounts specified by the Holders of the Certificated Notes or, if no such account is specified, by mailing a check to each such Holder’s registered address. Any new notes represented by the Global Notes will be eligible to trade in DTC’s Same-Day Funds Settlement System, and any permitted secondary market trading activity in such notes will, therefore, be required by DTC to be settled in immediately available funds. We expect that secondary trading in any Certificated Notes will also be settled in immediately available funds.
Because of time zone differences, the securities account of a Euroclear or Clearstream participant purchasing an interest in a Global Note from a Participant in DTC will be credited, and any such crediting will be reported to the relevant Euroclear or Clearstream participant, during the securities settlement processing day (which must be a business day for Euroclear and Clearstream) immediately following the settlement date of DTC. DTC has advised us
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that cash received in Euroclear or Clearstream as a result of sales of interests in a Global Note by or through a Euroclear or Clearstream participant to a Participant in DTC will be received with value on the settlement date of DTC but will be available in the relevant Euroclear or Clearstream cash account only as of the business day for Euroclear or Clearstream following DTC’s settlement date.
Certain Definitions
Set forth below are certain defined terms used in the indenture. Reference is made to the indenture for a full disclosure of all such terms, as well as any other capitalized terms used herein for which no definition is provided.
“Acquired Debt” means, with respect to any specified Person:
(1) Indebtedness of any other Person existing at the time such other Person was merged with or into or became a Subsidiary of such specified Person, whether or not such Indebtedness is incurred in connection with, or in contemplation of, such other Person merging with or into, or becoming a Subsidiary of, such specified Person, but excluding Indebtedness which is extinguished, retired or repaid in connection with such Person merging with or becoming a Subsidiary or such specified Person; and
(2) Indebtedness secured by a Lien encumbering any asset acquired by such specified Person.
“Affiliate” of any specified Person means any other Person directly or indirectly controlling or controlled by or under direct or indirect common control with such specified Person. For purposes of this definition, “control,” as used with respect to any Person, means the possession, directly or indirectly, of the power to direct or cause the direction of the management or policies of such Person, whether through the ownership of voting securities, by agreement or otherwise; provided, however, that beneficial ownership of 10% or more of the Voting Stock of a Person will be deemed to be control by the other Person; and further, that any third Person which also beneficially owns 10% or more of the Voting Stock of a specified Person shall not be deemed to be an Affiliate of either the specified Person or the other Person merely because of such common ownership in such specified Person. For purposes of this definition, the terms “controlling,” “controlled by” and “under common control with” have correlative meanings.
“Asset Sale” means:
(1) the sale, lease, conveyance or other disposition of any properties or assets (including by way of a sale and leaseback transaction); provided, however, that the disposition of all or substantially all of the properties or assets of the Company and its Restricted Subsidiaries taken as a whole will be governed by the provisions of the indenture described above under the caption “— Repurchase at the Option of Holders — Change of Control”and/or the provisions described above under the caption “— Certain Covenants — Merger, Consolidation or Sale of Assets” and not by the provisions of the Asset Sale covenant; and
(2) the issuance of Equity Interests in any of the Company’s Restricted Subsidiaries or the sale of Equity Interests in any of its Restricted Subsidiaries:
Notwithstanding the preceding, the following items will not be deemed to be Asset Sales:
(1) any single transaction or series of related transactions that involves properties or assets having a fair market value of less than $10.0 million;
(2) a transfer of assets between or among any of the Company and its Restricted Subsidiaries,
(3) an issuance or sale of Equity Interests by a Restricted Subsidiary to the Company or to another Restricted Subsidiary;
(4) the sale, lease or other disposition of equipment, inventory, accounts receivable or other properties or assets in the ordinary course of business;
(5) the sale or other disposition of cash or Cash Equivalents, Hedging Contracts or other financial instruments in the ordinary course of business;
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(6) a Restricted Payment that is permitted by the covenant described above under the caption “— Certain Covenants — Restricted Payments” or a Permitted Investment;
(7) any trade or exchange by the Company or any Restricted Subsidiary of properties or assets for properties or assets owned or held by another Person, provided that the fair market value of the properties or assets traded or exchanged by the Company or such Restricted Subsidiary (together with any cash) is reasonably equivalent to the fair market value of the properties or assets (together with any cash) to be received by the Company or such Restricted Subsidiary, and provided further that any cash received must be applied in accordance with the provisions described above under the caption “— Repurchase at the Option of Holders — Asset Sales;”
(8) the creation or perfection of a Lien that is not prohibited by the covenant described above under the caption “— Certain Covenants — Liens;”
(9) dispositions in connection with Permitted Liens;
(10) surrender or waiver of contract rights or the settlement, release or surrender of contract, tort or other claims of any kind; and
(11) the grant in the ordinary course of business of any non-exclusive license of patents, trademarks, registrations therefor and other similar intellectual property.
“Attributable Debt” in respect of a sale and leaseback transaction means, at the time of determination, the present value of the obligation of the lessee for net rental payments during the remaining term of the lease included in such sale and leaseback transaction including any period for which such lease has been extended or may, at the option of the lessor, be extended. Such present value shall be calculated using a discount rate equal to the rate of interest implicit in such transaction, determined in accordance with GAAP. As used in the preceding sentence, the “net rental payments” under any lease for any such period shall mean the sum of rental and other payments required to be paid with respect to such period by the lessee thereunder, excluding any amounts required to be paid by such lessee on account of maintenance and repairs, insurance, taxes, assessments, water rates or similar charges. In the case of any lease that is terminable by the lessee upon payment of penalty, such net rental payment shall also include the amount of such penalty, but no rent shall be considered as required to be paid under such lease subsequent to the first date upon which it may be so terminated.
“Available Cash” has the meaning assigned to such term in the LLC Agreement, as in effect on the date of the indenture.
“Beneficial Owner” has the meaning assigned to such term inRule 13d-3 andRule 13d-5 under the Exchange Act, except that in calculating the beneficial ownership of any particular “person” (as that term is used in Section 13(d)(3) of the Exchange Act), such “person” will be deemed to have beneficial ownership of all securities that such “person” has the right to acquire by conversion or exercise of other securities, whether such right is currently exercisable or is exercisable only upon the occurrence of a subsequent condition. The terms “Beneficially Owns” and “Beneficially Owned” have correlative meanings.
“Board of Directors” means:
(1) with respect to Finance Corp., the board of directors of the corporation;
(2) with respect to the Company, the Board of Directors of the Company or any authorized committee thereof; and
(3) with respect to any other Person, the board or committee of such Person serving a similar function.
“Board Resolution” means a copy of a resolution certified by the Secretary or an Assistant Secretary of the applicable Person to have been duly adopted by the Board of Directors of such Person and to be in full force and effect on the date of such certification, and delivered to the trustee.
“Business Day” means each day that is not a Saturday, Sunday or other day on which banking institutions in Houston, Texas or in New York, New York or another place of payment are authorized or required by law to close.
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“Capital Lease Obligation” means, at the time any determination is to be made, the amount of the liability in respect of a capital lease that would at that time be required to be capitalized on a balance sheet in accordance with GAAP.
“Capital Stock” means:
(1) in the case of a corporation, corporate stock;
(2) in the case of an association or business entity, any and all shares, interests, participations, rights or other equivalents (however designated) of corporate stock;
(3) in the case of a partnership or limited liability company, partnership or membership interests (whether general or limited); and
(4) any other interest or participation that confers on a Person the right to receive a share of the profits andlosses of, or distributions of assets of, the issuing Person.
“Cash Equivalents” means:
(1) United States dollars;
(2) securities issued or directly and fully guaranteed or insured by the United States government or any agency or instrumentality of the United States government (provided that the full faith and credit of the United States is pledged in support of those securities) having maturities of not more than six months from the date of acquisition;
(3) certificates of deposit and eurodollar time deposits with maturities of one year or less from the date of acquisition, bankers’ acceptances with maturities not exceeding one year and overnight bank deposits, in each case, with any lender party to the Credit Agreement or with any domestic commercial bank having capital and surplus in excess of $500.0 million and a Thomson Bank Watch Rating of “B” or better;
(4) repurchase obligations with a term of not more than seven days for underlying securities of the types described in clauses (2) and (3) above entered into with any financial institution meeting the qualifications specified in clause (3) above;
(5) commercial paper having the highest rating obtainable from Moody’s or S&P and in each case maturing within six months after the date of acquisition; and
(6) money market funds at least 95% of the assets of which constitute Cash Equivalents of the kinds described in clauses (1) through (5) of this definition.
“Change of Control” means the occurrence of any of the following:
(1) the direct or indirect sale, lease, transfer, conveyance or other disposition (other than by way of merger or consolidation), in one or a series of related transactions, of all or substantially all of the properties or assets (including Capital Stock of the Restricted Subsidiaries) of the Company and its Restricted Subsidiaries taken as a whole, to any “person” (as that term is used in Section 13(d)(3) of the Exchange Act), which occurrence is followed by a Rating Decline within 90 days of the consummation of such transaction;
(2) the adoption of a plan relating to the liquidation or dissolution of the Company;
(3) the consummation of any transaction (including, without limitation, any merger or consolidation) the result of which is that any “person” (as that term is used in Section 13(d)(3) of the Exchange Act), becomes the Beneficial Owner, directly or indirectly, of more than 50% of the Voting Stock of the Company, measured by voting power rather than number of shares, units or the like, which occurrence is followed by a Rating Decline within 90 days thereof; or
(4) the first day on which a majority of the members of the Board of Directors of the Company are not Continuing Directors, which occurrence is followed by a Rating Decline within 90 days thereof.
Notwithstanding the preceding, a conversion of the Company or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries from a limited liability company, corporation, limited partnership or other form of entity to a limited liability company,
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corporation, limited partnership or other form of entity or an exchange of all of the outstanding Equity Interests in one form of entity for Equity Interests for another form of entity shall not constitute a Change of Control, so long as following such conversion or exchange the “persons” (as that term is used in Section 13(d)(3) of the Exchange Act) who Beneficially Owned the Capital Stock of the Company immediately prior to such transactions continue to Beneficially Own in the aggregate more than 50% of the Voting Stock of such entity, or continue to Beneficially Own sufficient Equity Interests in such entity to elect a majority of its directors, managers, trustees or other persons serving in a similar capacity for such entity, and, in either case no “person” Beneficially Owns more than 50% of the Voting Stock of such entity.
“Code” means the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended from time to time, and any successor statute.
“Commission” or“SEC” means the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“Consolidated Cash Flow” means, with respect to any specified Person for any period, the Consolidated Net Income of such Person for such period plus:
(1) an amount equal to any net loss realized by such Person or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries in connection with an Asset Sale, to the extent such losses were deducted in computing such Consolidated Net Income; plus
(2) provision for taxes based on income or profits of such Person and its Restricted Subsidiaries for such period, to the extent that such provision for taxes was deducted in computing such Consolidated Net Income; plus
(3) consolidated interest expense of such Person and its Restricted Subsidiaries for such period, whether paid or accrued and whether or not capitalized (including, without limitation, amortization of debt issuance costs and original issue discount, non-cash interest payments, the interest component of any deferred payment obligations, the interest component of all payments associated with Capital Lease Obligations, imputed interest with respect to Attributable Debt, commissions, discounts and other fees and charges incurred in respect of letter of credit or bankers’ acceptance financings), and net of the effect of all payments made or received pursuant to interest rate Hedging Contracts, to the extent that any such expense was deducted in computing such Consolidated Net Income; plus
(4) depreciation and amortization (including amortization of intangibles but excluding amortization of prepaid cash expenses that were paid in a prior period), impairment and other non-cash expenses (excluding any such non-cash expense to the extent that it represents an accrual of or reserve for cash expenses in any future period or amortization of a prepaid cash expense that was paid in a prior period) of such Person and its Restricted Subsidiaries for such period to the extent that such depreciation and amortization, impairment and other non-cash expenses were deducted in computing such Consolidated Net Income; plus
(5) unrealized non-cash losses resulting from foreign currency balance sheet adjustments required by GAAP to the extent such losses were deducted in computing such Consolidated Net Income; plus
(6) all extraordinary, unusual or non-recurring items of gain or loss, or revenue or expense; minus
(7) non-cash items increasing such Consolidated Net Income for such period, other than items that were accrued in the ordinary course of business,
in each case, on a consolidated basis and determined in accordance with GAAP.
“Consolidated Net Income” means, with respect to any specified Person for any period, the aggregate of the Net Income of such Person and its Restricted Subsidiaries for such period, on a consolidated basis, determined in accordance with GAAP, provided that:
(1) the Net Income (but not loss) of any Person that is not a Restricted Subsidiary or that is accounted for by the equity method of accounting will be included, but only to the extent of the amount of dividends or distributions paid in cash to the specified Person or a Restricted Subsidiary of the Person;
(2) the Net Income of any Restricted Subsidiary will be excluded to the extent that the declaration or payment of dividends or similar distributions by that Restricted Subsidiary of that Net Income is not at the date
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of determination permitted without any prior governmental approval (that has not been obtained) or, directly or indirectly, by operation of the terms of its charter or any judgment, decree, order, statute, rule or governmental regulation applicable to that Restricted Subsidiary or its stockholders, partners or members;
(3) the cumulative effect of a change in accounting principles will be excluded;
(4) unrealized losses and gains under derivative instruments included in the determination of Consolidated Net Income, including, without limitation those resulting from the application of Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 133 will be excluded; and
(5) any nonrecurring charges relating to any premium or penalty paid, write off of deferred finance costs or other charges in connection with redeeming or retiring any Indebtedness prior to its Stated Maturity will be excluded.
“Consolidated Net Tangible Assets” means, with respect to any Person at any date of determination, the aggregate amount of total assets included in such Person’s most recent quarterly or annual consolidated balance sheet prepared in accordance with GAAP less applicable reserves reflected in such balance sheet, after deducting the following amounts: (a) all current liabilities reflected in such balance sheet, and (b) all goodwill, trademarks, patents, unamortized debt discounts and expenses and other like intangibles reflected in such balance sheet.
“Continuing Directors” means, as of any date of determination, any member of the Board of Directors of the Company who:
(1) was a member of such Board of Directors on the date of the indenture; or
(2) was nominated for election or elected to such Board of Directors with the approval of a majority of the Continuing Directors who were members of such Board at the time of such nomination or election.
“Credit Agreement” means that certain Credit Agreement, dated as of August 1, 2005, among the Company, Bank of America, N.A., as Administrative Agent and L/C Issuer, and the other lenders party thereto, including any related notes, guarantees, collateral documents, instruments and agreements executed in connection therewith, and in each case as amended, restated, modified, renewed, refunded, replaced or refinanced from time to time.
“Credit Facilities” means one or more debt facilities (including, without limitation, the Credit Agreement), commercial paper facilities or secured capital markets financings, in each case with banks or other institutional lenders or institutional investors providing for revolving credit loans, term loans, receivables financing (including through the sale of receivables to such lenders or to special purpose entities formed to borrow from such lenders against such receivables), letters of credit or secured capital markets financings, in each case, as amended, restated, modified, renewed, refunded, replaced or refinanced (including refinancing with any capital markets transaction) in whole or in part from time to time.
“Default” means any event that is, or with the passage of time or the giving of notice or both would be, an Event of Default.
“Disqualified Stock” means any Capital Stock that, by its terms (or by the terms of any security into which it is convertible, or for which it is exchangeable, in each case at the option of the holder of the Capital Stock), or upon the happening of any event, matures or is mandatorily redeemable, pursuant to a sinking fund obligation or otherwise, or redeemable at the option of the holder of the Capital Stock, in whole or in part, on or prior to the date that is 91 days after the date on which the notes mature. Notwithstanding the preceding sentence, any Capital Stock that would constitute Disqualified Stock solely because the holders of the Capital Stock have the right to require the Company to repurchase or redeem such Capital Stock upon the occurrence of a change of control or an asset sale will not constitute Disqualified Stock if the terms of such Capital Stock provide that the Company may not repurchase or redeem any such Capital Stock pursuant to such provisions unless such repurchase or redemption complies with the covenant described above under the caption “— Certain Covenants — Restricted Payments.”
“Domestic Subsidiary” means any Restricted Subsidiary of the Company that was formed under the laws of the United States or any state of the United States or the District of Columbia.
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“Equity Interests” means Capital Stock and all warrants, options or other rights to acquire Capital Stock (but excluding any debt security that is convertible into, or exchangeable for, Capital Stock).
“Equity Offering” means any public or private sale of Capital Stock (other than Disqualified Stock) made for cash on a primary basis by the Company after the date of the indenture, provided that at any time on or after Change of Control, any sale of Capital Stock to an Affiliate of the Company shall not be deemed an Equity Offering.
“Existing Indebtedness” means the aggregate principal amount of Indebtedness of the Company and its Restricted Subsidiaries (other than Indebtedness under the Credit Agreement which is considered incurred under the first paragraph under the covenant entitled “Incurrence of Indebtedness and Issuance of Preferred Stock” and other than intercompany Indebtedness) in existence on the date of the indenture, until such amounts are repaid.
“FERC Subsidiary” means a Restricted Subsidiary of the Company that is subject to the regulatory jurisdiction of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (or any successor thereof).
“Fixed Charge Coverage Ratio” means with respect to any specified Person for any four-quarter reference period, the ratio of the Consolidated Cash Flow of such Person for such period to the Fixed Charges of such Person for such period. In the event that the specified Person or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries incurs, assumes, guarantees, repays, repurchases or redeems any Indebtedness (other than ordinary working capital borrowings) or issues, repurchases or redeems preferred stock subsequent to the commencement of the applicable four-quarter reference period and on or prior to the date on which the event for which the calculation of the Fixed Charge Coverage Ratio is made (the “Calculation Date”), then the Fixed Charge Coverage Ratio will be calculated giving pro forma effect to such incurrence, assumption, guarantee, repayment, repurchase or redemption of Indebtedness, or such issuance, repurchase or redemption of preferred stock, and the use of the proceeds therefrom as if the same had occurred at the beginning of such period.
In addition, for purposes of calculating the Fixed Charge Coverage Ratio:
(1) acquisitions that have been made by the specified Person or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries, including through mergers, consolidations or otherwise (including acquisitions of assets used in a Permitted Business), and including in each case any related financing transactions (including repayment of Indebtedness) during the four-quarter reference period or subsequent to such reference period and on or prior to the Calculation Date, will be given pro forma effect as if they had occurred on the first day of the four-quarter reference period, including any Consolidated Cash Flow and any pro forma expense and cost reductions that have occurred or are reasonably expected to occur, in the reasonable judgment of the chief financial or accounting officer of the Company (regardless of whether those cost savings or operating improvements could then be reflected in pro forma financial statements in accordance withRegulation S-X promulgated under the Securities Act or any other regulation or policy of the Commission related thereto);
(2) the Consolidated Cash Flow attributable to discontinued operations, as determined in accordance with GAAP, and operations or businesses disposed of prior to the Calculation Date, will be excluded;
(3) the Fixed Charges attributable to discontinued operations, as determined in accordance with GAAP, and operations or businesses disposed of prior to the Calculation Date, will be excluded, but only to the extent that the obligations giving rise to such Fixed Charges will not be obligations of the specified Person or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries following the Calculation Date; and
(4) interest income reasonably anticipated by such Person to be received during the applicable four-quarter period from cash or Cash Equivalents held by such Person or any Restricted Subsidiary of such Person, which cash or Cash Equivalents exist on the Calculation Date or will exist as a result of the transaction giving rise to the need to calculate the Fixed Charge Coverage Ratio, will be included.
“Fixed Charges” means, with respect to any specified Person for any period, the sum, without duplication, of:
(1) the consolidated interest expense of such Person and its Restricted Subsidiaries for such period, whether paid or accrued (including, without limitation, amortization of debt issuance costs and original issue discount, non-cash interest payments, the interest component of any deferred payment obligations, the interest component of all payments associated with Capital Lease Obligations, imputed interest with respect to
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Attributable Debt, commissions, discounts and other fees and charges incurred in respect of letter of credit or bankers’ acceptance financings), and net of the effect of all payments made or received pursuant to interest rate Hedging Contracts; plus
(2) the consolidated interest expense of such Person and its Restricted Subsidiaries that was capitalized during such period; plus
(3) any interest expense on Indebtedness of another Person that is guaranteed by such Person or one of its Restricted Subsidiaries or secured by a Lien on assets of such Person or one of its Restricted Subsidiaries, whether or not such guarantee or Lien is called upon; plus
(4) all dividends on any series of preferred securities of such Person or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries, whether paid or accrued and whether or not in cash, other than dividends on Equity Interests payable solely in Equity Interests of the Company (other than Disqualified Stock) or to the Company or a Restricted Subsidiary of the Company, in each case, on a consolidated basis and in accordance with GAAP.
“GAAP” means generally accepted accounting principles in the United States, which are in effect on the date of the indenture.
The term“guarantee” means a guarantee other than by endorsement of negotiable instruments for collection in the ordinary course of business, direct or indirect, in any manner including, without limitation, by way of a pledge of assets or through letters of credit or reimbursement agreements in respect thereof, of all or any part of any Indebtedness. When used as a verb, “guarantee” has a correlative meaning.
“Guarantors” means each of:
(1) the Subsidiaries of the Company, other than Finance Corp., executing the indenture as initial Guarantors; and
(2) any other Restricted Subsidiary of the Company that becomes a Guarantor in accordance with the provisions of the indenture;
and their respective successors and assigns.
“Hedging Contracts” means, with respect to any specified Person:
(1) interest rate swap agreements, interest rate cap agreements and interest rate collar agreements entered into with one of more financial institutions and designed to protect the Person or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries entering into the agreement against fluctuations in interest rates with respect to Indebtedness incurred and not for purposes of speculation;
(2) foreign exchange contracts and currency protection agreements entered into with one of more financial institutions and designed to protect the Person or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries entering into the agreement against fluctuations in currency exchanges rates with respect to Indebtedness incurred;
(3) any commodity futures contract, commodity option or other similar agreement or arrangement designed to protect against fluctuations in the price of Hydrocarbons used, produced, processed or sold by that Person or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries at the time; and
(4) other agreements or arrangements designed to protect such Person or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries against fluctuations in interest rates, commodity prices or currency exchange rates,
and in each case are entered into only in the normal course of business and not for speculative purposes.
“Holder” means a Person in whose name a note is registered.
“Hydrocarbons” means crude oil, natural gas, casinghead gas, drip gasoline, natural gasoline, condensate, distillate, liquid hydrocarbons, gaseous hydrocarbons and all constituents, elements or compounds thereof and products refined or processed therefrom.
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“Indebtedness” means, with respect to any specified Person, any indebtedness of such Person, whether or not contingent:
(1) in respect of borrowed money;
(2) evidenced by bonds, notes, debentures or similar instruments or letters of credit (or reimbursement agreements in respect thereof);
(3) in respect of bankers’ acceptances;
(4) representing Capital Lease Obligations;
(5) representing the balance deferred and unpaid of the purchase price of any property, except any such balance that constitutes an accrued expense or trade payable; or
(6) representing any obligations under Hedging Contracts,
if and to the extent any of the preceding items (other than letters of credit and obligations under Hedging Contracts) would appear as a liability upon a balance sheet of the specified Person prepared in accordance with GAAP. In addition, the term “Indebtedness” includes all Indebtedness of others secured by a Lien on any asset of the specified Person (whether or not such Indebtedness is assumed by the specified Person) and, to the extent not otherwise included, the guarantee by the specified Person of any Indebtedness of any other Person. For the avoidance of doubt, the term “Indebtedness” excludes any obligation arising from any agreement providing for indemnities, purchase price adjustments, holdbacks, contingency payment obligations based on the performance of the acquired or disposed assets or similar obligations (other than guarantees of Indebtedness) incurred by the Company or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries in connection with the acquisition or disposition of assets.
The amount of any Indebtedness outstanding as of any date will be:
(1) the accreted value of the Indebtedness, in the case of any Indebtedness issued with original issue discount;
(2) in the case of obligations under any Hedging Contracts, the termination value of the agreement or arrangement giving rise to such obligations that would be payable by such Person at such date; and
(3) the principal amount of the Indebtedness, together with any interest on the Indebtedness that is more than 30 days past due, in the case of any other Indebtedness.
“Investment Grade Rating” means a rating equal to or higher than Baa3 (or the equivalent) by Moody’s and BBB− (or the equivalent) by S&P.
“Investments” means, with respect to any Person, all direct or indirect investments by such Person in other Persons (including Affiliates) in the forms of loans (including guarantees or other obligations), advances or capital contributions (excluding (1) commission, travel and similar advances to officers and employees made in the ordinary course of business and (2) advances to customers in the ordinary course of business that are recorded as accounts receivable on the balance sheet of the lender), purchases or other acquisitions for consideration of Indebtedness, Equity Interests or other securities, together with all items that are or would be classified as investments on a balance sheet prepared in accordance with GAAP. If the Company or any Restricted Subsidiary of the Company sells or otherwise disposes of any Equity Interests of any direct or indirect Restricted Subsidiary of the Company such that, after giving effect to any such sale or disposition, such Person is no longer a Restricted Subsidiary of the Company, the Company will be deemed to have made an Investment on the date of any such sale or disposition in an amount equal to the fair market value of the Equity Interests of such Restricted Subsidiary not sold or disposed of in an amount determined as provided in the final paragraph of the covenant described above under the caption “— Certain Covenants — Restricted Payments.” The acquisition by the Company or any Subsidiary of the Company of a Person that holds an Investment in a third Person will be deemed to be an Investment made by the Company or such Subsidiary in such third Person in an amount equal to the fair market value of the Investment held by the acquired Person in such third Person on the date of any such acquisition in an amount determined as provided in the final paragraph of the covenant described above under the caption “— Certain Covenants — Restricted Payments.”
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“Joint Venture” means any Person that is not a direct or indirect Subsidiary of the Company in which the Company or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries makes any Investment.
“Lien” means, with respect to any asset, any mortgage, lien, pledge, charge, security interest or encumbrance of any kind in respect of such asset, whether or not filed, recorded or otherwise perfected under applicable law, including any conditional sale or other title retention agreement, any lease in the nature thereof, any option or other agreement to sell or give a security interest in and any filing of or agreement to give any financing statement under the Uniform Commercial Code (or equivalent statutes) of any jurisdiction other than a precautionary financing statement respecting a lease not intended as a security agreement.
“LLC Agreement” means the Second Amended and Restated Limited Liability Company Agreement of Copano Energy, L.L.C., dated as of November 15, 2004, as in effect on the date of the indenture and as such may be further amended, modified or supplemented from time to time.
“Make Whole Premium” means, with respect to a note at any time, the excess, if any, of (a) the present value at such time of (i) the redemption price of such note at March 1, 2011 plus (ii) any required interest payments due on such note through March 1, 2011 (except for currently accrued and unpaid interest), computed using a discount rate equal to the Treasury Rate plus 50 basis points, discounted to the redemption date on a semi-annual basis (assuming a360-day year consisting of twelve30-day months), over (b) the principal amount of such note.
“Moody’s” means Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. or any successor to the rating agency business thereof.
“Net Income” means, with respect to any specified Person, the net income (loss) of such Person, determined in accordance with GAAP and before any reduction in respect of preferred stock dividends, excluding, however:
(1) any gain (but not loss), together with any related provision for taxes on such gain (but not loss), realized in connection with: (a) any Asset Sale; or (b) the disposition of any securities by such Person or the extinguishment of any Indebtedness of such Person; and
(2) any extraordinary gain (but not loss), together with any related provision for taxes on such extraordinary gain (but not loss).
“Net Proceeds” means the aggregate cash proceeds received by the Company or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries in respect of any Asset Sale (including, without limitation, any cash received upon the sale or other disposition of any non-cash consideration received in any Asset Sale), net of:
(1) the direct costs relating to such Asset Sale, including, without limitation, legal, accounting and investment banking fees, and sales commissions, and any relocation expenses incurred as a result of the Asset Sale,
(2) taxes paid or payable as a result of the Asset Sale, in each case, after taking into account any available tax credits or deductions and any tax sharing arrangements,
(3) amounts required to be applied to the repayment of Indebtedness secured by a Lien on the properties or assets that were the subject of such Asset Sale, and
(4) any amounts to be set aside in any reserve established in accordance with GAAP or any amount placed in escrow, in either case for adjustment in respect of the sale price of such properties or assets or for liabilities associated with such Asset Sale and retained by the Company or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries until such time as such reserve is reversed or such escrow arrangement is terminated, in which case Net Proceeds shall include only the amount of the reserve so reversed or the amount returned to the Company or its Restricted Subsidiaries from such escrow arrangement, as the case may be.
“Non-Recourse Debt” means Indebtedness:
(1) as to which neither the Company nor any of its Restricted Subsidiaries (a) provides credit support of any kind (including any undertaking, agreement or instrument that would constitute Indebtedness), (b) is directly or indirectly liable as a guarantor or otherwise, or (c) is the lender;
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(2) no default with respect to which (including any rights that the holders of the Indebtedness may have to take enforcement action against an Unrestricted Subsidiary) would permit upon notice, lapse of time or both any holder of any other Indebtedness (other than the notes) of the Company or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries to declare a default on such other Indebtedness or cause the payment of the Indebtedness to be accelerated or payable prior to its Stated Maturity; and
(3) as to which the lenders have been notified in writing that they will not have any recourse to the stock or assets of the Company or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries except as contemplated by clause (9) of the definition of Permitted Liens.
For purposes of determining compliance with the covenant described under “— Certain Covenants — Incurrence of Indebtedness and Issuance of Preferred Stock” above, in the event that any Non-Recourse Debt of any of the Company’s Unrestricted Subsidiaries ceases to be Non-Recourse Debt of such Unrestricted Subsidiary, such event will be deemed to constitute an incurrence of Indebtedness by a Restricted Subsidiary of the Company.
“Obligations” means any principal, premium, if any, interest (including interest accruing on or after the filing of any petition in bankruptcy or for reorganization, whether or not a claim for post-filing interest is allowed in such proceeding), penalties, fees, charges, expenses, indemnifications, reimbursement obligations, damages, guarantees, and other liabilities or amounts payable under the documentation governing any Indebtedness or in respect thereto.
“Operating Surplus” has the meaning assigned to such term in the LLC Agreement, as in effect on the date of the indenture.
“Permitted Business” means either (1) gathering, transporting, treating, processing, marketing, distributing, storing or otherwise handling Hydrocarbons, or activities or services reasonably related or ancillary thereto including entering into Hedging Contracts to support these businesses, or (2) any other business that generates gross income that constitutes “qualifying income” under Section 7704(d) of the Code.
“Permitted Business Investments” means Investments by the Company or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries in any Unrestricted Subsidiary of the Company or in any Joint Venture, provided that:
(1) either (a) at the time of such Investment and immediately thereafter, the Company could incur $1.00 of additional Indebtedness under the Fixed Charge Coverage Ratio test set forth in the first paragraph of the covenant described under “— Certain Covenants — Incurrence of Indebtedness and Issuance of Preferred Stock” above or (b) such Investment does not exceed the aggregate amount of Incremental Funds (as defined in the covenant described under “— Certain Covenants — Restricted Payments”) not previously expended at the time of making such Investment;
(2) if such Unrestricted Subsidiary or Joint Venture has outstanding Indebtedness at the time of such Investment, either (a) all such Indebtedness is Non-Recourse Debt or (b) any such Indebtedness of such Unrestricted Subsidiary or Joint Venture that is recourse to the Company or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries (which shall include, without limitation, all Indebtedness of such Unrestricted Subsidiary or Joint Venture for which the Company or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries may be directly or indirectly, contingently or otherwise, obligated to pay, whether pursuant to the terms of such Indebtedness, by law or pursuant to any guarantee, including, without limitation, any “claw-back,” “make-well” or “keep-well” arrangement) could, at the time such Investment is made, be incurred at that time by the Company and its Restricted Subsidiaries under the Fixed Charge Coverage Ratio test set forth in the first paragraph of the covenant described under “— Certain Covenants — Incurrence of Indebtedness and Issuance of Preferred Stock;” and
(3) such Unrestricted Subsidiary’s or Joint Venture’s activities are not outside the scope of the Permitted Business.
“Permitted Investments” means:
(1) any Investment in the Company or in a Restricted Subsidiary of the Company;
(2) any Investment in Cash Equivalents;
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(3) any Investment by the Company or any Restricted Subsidiary of the Company in a Person, if as a result of such Investment:
(a) such Person becomes a Restricted Subsidiary of the Company; or
(b) such Person is merged, consolidated or amalgamated with or into, or transfers or conveys substantially all of its properties or assets to, or is liquidated into, the Company or a Restricted Subsidiary of the Company;
(4) any Investment made as a result of the receipt of non-cash consideration from:
(a) an Asset Sale that was made pursuant to and in compliance with the covenant described above under the caption “— Repurchase at the Option of Holders — Asset Sales;” or
(b) pursuant to clause (7) of the items deemed not to be Asset Sales under the definition of “Asset Sale;”
(5) any Investment in any Person solely in exchange for the issuance of Equity Interests (other than Disqualified Stock) of the Company;
(6) any Investments received in compromise of obligations of trade creditors or customers that were incurred in the ordinary course of business, including pursuant to any plan of reorganization or similar arrangement upon the bankruptcy or insolvency of any trade creditor or customer, or as a result of a foreclosure by the Company or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries with respect to any secured Investment in default;
(7) Hedging Contracts;
(8) Permitted Business Investments; and
(9) other Investments in any Person having an aggregate fair market value (measured on the date each such Investment was made and without giving effect to subsequent changes in value), when taken together with all other Investments made pursuant to this clause (9) that are at the time outstanding, not to exceed the greater of $25.0 million or 4.0% of the Company’s Consolidated Net Tangible Assets.
“Permitted Liens” means:
(1) Liens securing any Indebtedness under any of the Credit Facilities;
(2) Liens in favor of the Company or the Guarantors;
(3) Liens on property of a Person existing at the time such Person is merged with or into or consolidated with the Company or any Restricted Subsidiary of the Company, provided that such Liens were in existence prior to the contemplation of such merger or consolidation and do not extend to any assets other than those of the Person merged into or consolidated with the Company or the Restricted Subsidiary;
(4) Liens on property existing at the time of acquisition of the property by the Company or any Restricted Subsidiary of the Company, provided that such Liens were in existence prior to the contemplation of such acquisition;
(5) any interest or title of a lessor to the property subject to a Capital Lease Obligation;
(6) Liens on any property or asset acquired, constructed or improved by the Company or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries (a “Purchase Money Lien”), which (a) are in favor of the seller of such property or assets, in favor of the Person developing, constructing, repairing or improving such asset or property, or in favor of the Person that provided the funding for the acquisition, development, construction, repair or improvement cost, as the case may be, of such asset or property, (b) are created within 360 days after the acquisition, development, construction, repair or improvement, (c) secure the purchase price or development, construction, repair or improvement cost, as the case may be, of such asset or property in an amount up to 100% of the fair market value (as determined by the Board of Directors of the Company if such fair market value is $15.0 million or more) of such acquisition, construction or improvement of such asset or property, and
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(d) are limited to the asset or property so acquired, constructed or improved (including the proceeds thereof, accessions thereto and upgrades thereof);
(7) Liens existing on the date of the indenture other than Liens securing the Credit Facilities;
(8) Liens to secure the performance of tenders, bids, statutory obligations, surety or appeal bonds, government contracts, performance bonds or other obligations of a like nature incurred in the ordinary course of business;
(9) Liens on and pledges of the Equity Interests of any Unrestricted Subsidiary or any Joint Venture owned by the Company or any Restricted Subsidiary of the Company to the extent securing Non-Recourse Debt or other Indebtedness of such Unrestricted Subsidiary or Joint Venture;
(10) Liens on pipelines or pipeline facilities that arise by operation of law;
(11) Liens arising under operating agreements, joint venture agreements, partnership agreements, oil and gas leases, farmout agreements, division orders, contracts for sale, transportation or exchange of crude oil and natural gas, unitization and pooling declarations and agreements, area of mutual interest agreements and other agreements arising in the ordinary course of business of the Company and its Restricted Subsidiaries that are customary in the Permitted Business;
(12) Liens upon specific items of inventory, receivables or other goods or proceeds of the Company or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries securing such Person’s obligations in respect of bankers’ acceptances or receivables securitizations issued or created for the account of such Person to facilitate the purchase, shipment or storage of such inventory, receivables or other goods or proceeds and permitted by the covenant “— Certain Covenants — Incurrence of Indebtedness and Issuance of Preferred Stock;”
(13) Liens securing Obligations of the Issuers or any Guarantor under the notes or the Subsidiary Guarantees, as the case may be;
(14) Liens securing any Indebtedness equally and ratably with all Obligations due under the notes or any Subsidiary Guarantee pursuant to a contractual covenant that limits Liens in a manner substantially similar to the covenant described above under “— Certain Covenants — Liens;”
(15) Liens to secure performance of Hedging Contracts of the Company or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries;
(16) Liens incurred in the ordinary course of business of the Company or any Restricted Subsidiary of the Company, provided that, after giving effect to any such incurrence, the aggregate principal amount of all Indebtedness then outstanding and secured by any Liens incurred pursuant to this clause (16) does not exceed the greater of $15.0 million or 2.5% of the Company’s Consolidated Net Tangible Assets; and
(17) any Lien renewing, extending, refinancing or refunding a Lien permitted by clauses (1) through (15) above, provided that (a) the principal amount of the Indebtedness secured by such Lien is not increased and (b) no assets encumbered by any such Lien other than the assets permitted to be encumbered immediately prior to such renewal, extension, refinance or refund are encumbered thereby.
After termination of the covenants referred to in the first paragraph of “— Certain Covenants — Covenant Termination”, for purposes of complying with the “Liens” covenant, the Liens described in clauses (1) and (16) of this definition of “Permitted Liens” will be Permitted Liens only to the extent those Liens secure Indebtedness not exceeding, at the time of determination, 10% of the Consolidated Net Tangible Assets of the Company. Once effective, this 10% limitation on Permitted Liens will continue to apply during any later period in which the notes do not have an Investment Grade Rating by both rating agencies.
“Permitted Refinancing Indebtedness” means any Indebtedness of the Company or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries issued in exchange for, or the net proceeds of which are used to extend, refinance, renew, replace,
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defease or refund other Indebtedness of the Company or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries (other than intercompany Indebtedness), provided that:
(1) the principal amount of such Permitted Refinancing Indebtedness does not exceed the principal amount of the Indebtedness being extended, refinanced, renewed, replaced, defeased or refunded (plus all accrued interest on the Indebtedness and the amount of all expenses and premiums incurred in connection therewith);
(2) such Permitted Refinancing Indebtedness has a final maturity date later than the final maturity date of, and has a Weighted Average Life to Maturity equal to or greater than the Weighted Average Life to Maturity of, the Indebtedness being extended, refinanced, renewed, replaced, defeased or refunded;
(3) if the Indebtedness being extended, refinanced, renewed, replaced, defeased or refunded is subordinated in right of payment to the notes or the Subsidiary Guarantees, such Permitted Refinancing Indebtedness is subordinated in right of payment to the notes or the Subsidiary Guarantees on terms at least as favorable to the Holders of notes as those contained in the documentation governing the Indebtedness being extended, refinanced, renewed, replaced, defeased or refunded; and
(4) such Indebtedness is not incurred by a Restricted Subsidiary of the Company if the Company is the obligor on the Indebtedness being extended, refinanced, renewed, replaced, defeased or refunded.
Notwithstanding the preceding, any Indebtedness incurred under Credit Facilities pursuant to the covenant “Incurrence of Indebtedness and Issuance of Preferred Stock” shall be subject only to the refinancing provision in the definition of Credit Facilities and not pursuant to the requirements set forth in the definition of Permitted Refinancing Indebtedness.
“Person” means any individual, corporation, partnership, joint venture, association, joint-stock company, trust, unincorporated organization, limited liability company or government or other entity.
“Rating Category” means:
(1) with respect to S&P, any of the following categories: AAA, AA, A, BBB, BB, B, CCC, CC, C and D (or equivalent successor categories); and
(2) with respect to Moody’s, any of the following categories: Aaa, Aa, A, Baa, Ba, B, Caa, Ca, C and D (or equivalent successor categories).
“Rating Decline” means a decrease in the rating of the notes by either Moody’s or S&P by one or more gradations (including gradations within Rating Categories as well as between Rating Categories). In determining whether the rating of the notes has decreased by one or more gradations, gradations within Rating Categories, namely + or — for S&P, and 1, 2, and 3 for Moody’s, will be taken into account; for example, in the case of S&P, a rating decline either from BB+ to BB or BB — to B+ will constitute a decrease of one gradation.
“Reporting Default” means a Default described in clause (4) under “— Events of Default and Remedies.”
“Restricted Investment” means an Investment other than a Permitted Investment.
“Restricted Subsidiary” of a Person means any Subsidiary of the referent Person that is not an Unrestricted Subsidiary. Notwithstanding anything in the indenture to the contrary, Finance Corp. shall be a Restricted Subsidiary of the Company.
“S&P” refers to Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., or any successor to the rating agency business thereof.
“Senior Debt” means
(1) all Indebtedness of the Company or any Restricted Subsidiary outstanding under Credit Facilities and all obligations under Hedging Contracts with respect thereto;
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(2) any other Indebtedness of the Company or any Restricted Subsidiary permitted to be incurred under the terms of the indenture, unless the instrument under which such Indebtedness is incurred expressly provides that it is subordinated in right of payment to the notes or any Subsidiary Guarantee; and
(3) all Obligations with respect to the items listed in the preceding clauses (1) and (2).
Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the preceding sentence, Senior Debt will not include:
(a) any intercompany Indebtedness of the Company or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries to the Company or any of its Affiliates; or
(b) any Indebtedness that is incurred in violation of the indenture.
For the avoidance of doubt, “Senior Debt” will not include any trade payables or taxes owed or owing by the Company or any Restricted Subsidiary.
“Significant Subsidiary” means any Subsidiary that would be a “significant subsidiary” as defined in Article 1,Rule 1-02 ofRegulation S-X, promulgated pursuant to the Securities Act, as such Regulation is in effect on the date of the indenture.
“Stated Maturity” means, with respect to any installment of interest or principal on any series of Indebtedness, the date on which the payment of interest or principal was scheduled to be paid in the original documentation governing such Indebtedness, and will not include any contingent obligations to repay, redeem or repurchase any such interest or principal prior to the date originally scheduled for the payment thereof.
“Subsidiary” means, with respect to any specified Person:
(1) any corporation, association or other business entity (other than a partnership or limited liability company) of which more than 50% of the total voting power of Voting Stock is at the time owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by that Person or one or more of the other Subsidiaries of that Person (or a combination thereof); and
(2) any partnership (whether general or limited) or limited liability company (a) the sole general partner or member of which is such Person or a Subsidiary of such Person, or (b) if there is more than a single general partner or member, either (x) the only managing general partners or managing members of which are such Person or one or more Subsidiaries of such Person (or any combination thereof) or (y) such Person owns or controls, directly or indirectly, a majority of the outstanding general partner interests, member interests or other Voting Stock of such partnership or limited liability company, respectively, plus in the case of both subclauses (x) and (y) of this clause (b) it consolidates the financial results of such partnership or limited liability company with its own financial results in accordance with GAAP.
“Subsidiary Guarantee” means any guarantee by a Guarantor of the Issuers’ Obligations under the indenture and on the notes.
“Treasury Rate” means the yield to maturity at the time of computation of United States Treasury securities with a constant maturity (as compiled and published in the most recent Federal Reserve Statistical Release H.15(519) which has become publicly available at least two Business Days prior to the date fixed for redemption (or, if such Statistical Release is no longer published, any publicly available source of similar market data)) most nearly equal to the period from the redemption date to March 1, 2011; provided, however, that if such period is not equal to the constant maturity of a United States Treasury security for which a weekly average yield is given, the Company shall obtain the Treasury Rate by linear interpolation (calculated to the nearest one-twelfth of a year) from the weekly average yields of United States Treasury securities for which such yields are given, except that if the period from the redemption date to March 1, 2011 is less than one year, the weekly average yield on actually traded United States Treasury securities adjusted to a constant maturity of one year shall be used. The Company will (a) calculate the Treasury Rate on the second Business day preceding the applicable redemption date and (b) prior to such redemption date file with the trustee an officers’ certificate setting forth the Make Whole Premium and the Treasury Rate and showing the calculation of each in reasonable detail.
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“Unrestricted Subsidiary” means any Subsidiary of the Company (other than Finance Corp.) that is designated by the Board of Directors of the Company as an Unrestricted Subsidiary pursuant to a Board Resolution, but only to the extent that such Subsidiary:
(1) except to the extent permitted by subclause (2)(b) of the definition of “Permitted Business Investments,” has no Indebtedness other than Non-Recourse Debt owing to any Person other than the Company or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries;
(2) is not party to any agreement, contract, arrangement or understanding with the Company or any Restricted Subsidiary of the Company unless the terms of any such agreement, contract, arrangement or understanding are no less favorable to the Company or such Restricted Subsidiary than those that might be obtained at the time from Persons who are not Affiliates of the Company;
(3) is a Person with respect to which neither the Company nor any of its Restricted Subsidiaries has any direct or indirect obligation (a) to subscribe for additional Equity Interests or (b) to maintain or preserve such Person’s financial condition or to cause such Person to achieve any specified levels of operating results; and
(4) has not guaranteed or otherwise directly or indirectly provided credit support for any Indebtedness of the Company or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries.
Any designation of a Subsidiary of the Company as an Unrestricted Subsidiary will be evidenced to the trustee by filing with the trustee a Board Resolution giving effect to such designation and an officers’ certificate certifying that such designation complied with the preceding conditions and was permitted by the covenant described above under the caption “— Certain Covenants — Restricted Payments.” If, at any time, any Unrestricted Subsidiary would fail to meet the preceding requirements as an Unrestricted Subsidiary, it will thereafter cease to be an Unrestricted Subsidiary for purposes of the indenture and any Indebtedness of such Subsidiary will be deemed to be incurred by a Restricted Subsidiary of the Company as of such date and, if such Indebtedness is not permitted to be incurred as of such date under the covenant described under the caption “— Certain Covenants — Incurrence of Indebtedness and Issuance of Preferred Stock,” the Company will be in default of such covenant.
“Voting Stock” of any Person as of any date means the Capital Stock of such Person that is at the time entitled (without regard to the occurrence of any contingency) to vote in the election of the Board of Directors of such Person.
“Weighted Average Life to Maturity” means, when applied to any Indebtedness at any date, the number of years obtained by dividing:
(1) the sum of the products obtained by multiplying (a) the amount of each then remaining installment, sinking fund, serial maturity or other required payments of principal, including payment at final maturity, in respect of the Indebtedness, by (b) the number of years (calculated to the nearest one-twelfth) that will elapse between such date and the making of such payment; by
(2) the then outstanding principal amount of such Indebtedness.
The following discussion summarizes the material U.S. federal income tax considerations and, in the case of anon-U.S. holder (as defined below), certain U.S. federal estate tax considerations, that may be relevant to the acquisition, ownership and disposition of the notes and, unless otherwise noted, is the opinion of Vinson & Elkins L.L.P., counsel to us, insofar as it relates to United States federal income tax law. This discussion is based upon the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), applicable Treasury Regulations promulgated thereunder, judicial authority and administrative interpretations, as of the date of this prospectus, all of which are subject to change, possibly with retroactive effect, or are subject to different interpretations. We cannot assure you that the Internal Revenue Service, or IRS, will not challenge one or more of the tax consequences described in this discussion, and we have not obtained, nor do we intend to obtain, a ruling from the IRS or an opinion of counsel with respect to the U.S. federal tax consequences of acquiring, holding or disposing of the notes.
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In this discussion, we do not purport to address all tax considerations that may be important to a particular holder in light of the holder’s circumstances, or to certain categories of investors that may be subject to special rules, such as financial institutions, insurance companies, regulated investment companies, tax-exempt organizations, dealers in securities or currencies, U.S holders whose functional currency is not the U.S. dollar, U.S. expatriates, or persons who hold the notes as part of a hedge, conversion transaction, straddle or other risk reduction transaction. This discussion is limited to holders who purchase the notes in this offering and who hold the notes as capital assets (within the meaning of section 1221 of the Code). This discussion also does not address the tax considerations arising under the laws of any foreign, state, local, or other jurisdiction.
Investors considering the purchase of notes are urged to consult their own tax advisors regarding the application of the U.S. federal income tax laws to their particular situations and the applicability and effect of state, local or foreign tax laws and tax treaties.
Tax Consequences to U.S. Holders
You are a “U.S. holder” for purposes of this discussion if you are a beneficial owner of a note and you are for U.S. federal income tax purposes:
• | an individual who is a U.S. citizen or U.S. resident alien; | |
• | a corporation, or other entity taxable as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes, that was created or organized in or under the laws of the United States, any state thereof or the District of Columbia; | |
• | an estate whose income is subject to U.S. federal income taxation regardless of its source; or | |
• | a trust if a court within the United States is able to exercise primary supervision over the administration of the trust and one or more United States persons have the authority to control all substantial decisions of the trust, or that has a valid election in effect under applicable U.S. Treasury Regulations to be treated as a United States person. |
If a partnership, including any entity or arrangement treated as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes, holds notes, the tax treatment of a partner generally will depend upon the status of the partner and the activities of the partnership. If you are a partner of a partnership acquiring the notes, you are urged to consult your own tax advisor about the U.S. federal income tax consequences of acquiring, holding and disposing of the notes.
Interest on the Notes
Our indenture prohibits us from issuing additional notes with “original issue discount” for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Accordingly, you will generally be required to recognize as ordinary income any interest paid or accrued on the notes, in accordance with your regular method of accounting for federal income tax purposes.
Under certain circumstances, we may be required or entitled to redeem all or a portion of the notes. The Treasury regulations contain special rules for determining the payment schedule and the yield to maturity of a debt instrument in the event the debt instrument provides for a contingency that could result in the acceleration or deferral of one or more payments. We do not intend to treat the possibility of our redemption of the notes as affecting the determination of the yield to maturity of the notes or giving rise to any accrual of original issue discount or recognition of ordinary income upon redemption, repurchase, sale or exchange of the notes.
Disposition of the Notes
You will generally recognize capital gain or loss on the sale, redemption, exchange, retirement or other taxable disposition of a note. This gain or loss will equal the difference between your adjusted tax basis in the note and the proceeds you receive, excluding any proceeds attributable to accrued interest which will be taxable as ordinary interest income to the extent you have not previously included the accrued interest in income. The proceeds you receive will include the amount of any cash and the fair market value of any other property received for the note. Your adjusted tax basis in the note will generally equal the amount you paid for the note less any principal payments received. The gain or loss will be long-term capital gain or loss if you held the note for more than one year. Long-
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term capital gains of individuals, estates and trusts currently are taxed at a maximum rate of 15%. The deductibility of capital losses may be subject to limitation.
Information Reporting and Backup Withholding
Information reporting will apply to payments of interest and principal on, or the proceeds of the sale or other disposition of, notes held by you, and backup withholding (currently at a rate of 28%) may apply to payments of interest unless you provide the appropriate intermediary with a taxpayer identification number, certified under penalties of perjury, as well as certain other information or otherwise establish an exemption from backup withholding. Any amount withheld under the backup withholding rules is allowable as a credit against your U.S. federal income tax liability, if any, and a refund may be obtained if the amounts withheld exceed your actual U.S. federal income tax liability and you provide the required information or appropriate claim form to the IRS.
Tax Consequences toNon-U.S. Holders
You are a“non-U.S. holder” for purposes of this discussion if you are a beneficial owner of notes and you are not a U.S. holder or a partnership (including an entity or arrangement treated as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes).
Interest on the Notes
If you are anon-U.S. holder, payments of interest on the notes generally will be exempt from withholding of U.S. federal income tax under the “portfolio interest” exemption if the interest is not effectively connected with your conduct of a U.S. trade or business, you properly certify as to your foreign status as described below, and:
• | you do not own, actually or constructively, 10% or more of our capital or profits interests; | |
• | you are not a “controlled foreign corporation” that is related to us; and | |
• | you are not a bank whose receipt of interest on the notes is in connection with an extension of credit made pursuant to a loan agreement entered into in the ordinary course of business. |
The portfolio interest exemption and several of the special rules fornon-U.S. holders described below generally apply only if you appropriately certify as to your foreign status. You can generally meet this certification requirement by providing a properly executed IRSForm W-8BEN or appropriate substitute form to us or our paying agent. If you hold the notes through a financial institution or other agent acting on your behalf, you may be required to provide appropriate certifications to the agent. Your agent will then generally be required to provide appropriate certifications to us or our paying agent, either directly or through other intermediaries. Special rules apply to foreign partnerships, estates and trusts, and in certain circumstances certifications as to foreign status of partners, trust owners or beneficiaries may have to be provided to us or our paying agent. In addition, special rules apply to qualified intermediaries that enter into withholding agreements with the IRS.
If you cannot satisfy the requirements described above, payments of interest made to you will be subject to the 30% U.S. federal withholding tax, unless you provide us with a properly executed IRSForm W-8BEN (or successor form) claiming an exemption from (or a reduction of) withholding under the benefit of a tax treaty, or the payments of interest are effectively connected with your conduct of a trade or business in the United States and you meet the certification requirements described below. Please read “— Income or Gain Effectively Connected With a U.S. Trade or Business.”
Disposition of Notes
You generally will not be subject to U.S. federal income tax on any gain realized on the sale, redemption, exchange, retirement or other taxable disposition of a note unless:
• | the gain is effectively connected with the conduct by you of a U.S. trade or business (and if a tax treaty applies to you, is attributable to your permanent establishment in the United States); |
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• | you are an individual who has been present in the United States for 183 days or more in the taxable year of disposition and certain other requirements are met; or | |
• | you were a citizen or resident of the United States and are subject to special rules that apply to certain expatriates. |
Income or Gain Effectively Connected with a U.S. Trade or Business
The preceding discussion of the tax consequences of the purchase, ownership and disposition of notes by you generally assumes that you are not engaged in a U.S. trade or business. If any interest on the notes or gain from the sale, exchange or other taxable disposition of the notes is effectively connected with a U.S. trade or business conducted by you, (and, if a tax treaty applies to you, is attributable to your permanent establishment in the United States) then the income or gain will be subject to U.S. federal income tax at regular graduated income tax rates, but will not be subject to withholding tax if certain certification requirements are satisfied. You can generally meet the certification requirements by providing a properly executed IRSForm W-8ECI or appropriate substitute form to us, or our paying agent. If you are a corporation, that portion of your earnings and profits that is effectively connected with your U.S. trade or business (and, if a tax treaty applies to you, is attributable to your permanent establishment in the United States) also may be subject to a “branch profits tax” at a 30% rate, although an applicable tax treaty may provide for a lower rate.
U.S. Federal Estate Tax
If you are an individual and are not a resident of the United States (as specially defined for U.S. estate tax purposes) at the time of your death, the notes will not be included in your estate for U.S. federal estate tax purposes unless, at the time of your death, interest on the notes does not qualify for the portfolio interest exemption.
Information Reporting and Backup Withholding
Payments tonon-U.S. holders of interest on a note, and amounts withheld from such payments, if any, generally will be required to be reported to the IRS and to you.
United States backup withholding tax generally will not apply to payments of interest and principal on a note to anon-U.S. holder if the statement described in “— Tax Consequences toNon-U.S. Holders — Interest on the Notes” is duly provided by the holder or the holder otherwise establishes an exemption, provided that we do not have actual knowledge or reason to know that the holder is a United States person.
Payment of the proceeds of a disposition of a note effected by the U.S. office of a U.S. or foreign broker will be subject to information reporting requirements and backup withholding unless you properly certify under penalties of perjury as to your foreign status and certain other conditions are met or you otherwise establish an exemption. Information reporting requirements and backup withholding generally will not apply to any payment of the proceeds of the disposition of a note effected outside the United States by a foreign office of a broker. However, unless such a broker has documentary evidence in its records that you are anon-U.S. holder and certain other conditions are met, or you otherwise establish an exemption, information reporting will apply to a payment of the proceeds of the disposition of a note effected outside the United States by such a broker if it:
• | is a United States person; | |
• | derives 50% or more of its gross income for certain periods from the conduct of a trade or business in the United States; | |
• | is a controlled foreign corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes; or | |
• | is a foreign partnership that, at any time during its taxable year, has more than 50% of its income or capital interests owned by United States persons or is engaged in the conduct of a U.S. trade or business. |
Any amount withheld under the backup withholding rules may be credited against your U.S. federal income tax liability and any excess may be refundable if the proper information is provided to the IRS.
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The preceding discussion of material U.S. federal income tax considerations is for general information only and is not tax advice. We urge each prospective investor to consult its own tax advisor regarding the particular federal, state, local and foreign tax consequences of purchasing, holding, and disposing of our notes, including the consequences of any proposed change in applicable laws.
In connection with particular offerings of additional notes in the future, and if stated in the applicable prospectus supplement, the validity of those notes may be passed upon for us by Vinson & Elkins L.L.P. and for any underwriters or agents by counsel named in the applicable prospectus supplement.
The consolidated financial statements and management’s report on the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting incorporated in this prospectus by reference from the Copano Energy, L.L.C. Annual Report onForm 10-K have been audited by Deloitte & Touche LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, as stated in their reports, which are incorporated herein by reference, and have been so incorporated in reliance upon the reports of such firm given upon their authority as experts in accounting and auditing.
The financial statements of ScissorTail Energy, LLC as of December 31, 2004 and 2003 and for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2004 incorporated by reference in this prospectus have been audited by Grant Thornton LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, as stated in their report with respect thereto, and are incorporated by reference herein in reliance upon the authority of said firm as experts in accounting and auditing.
We file annual, quarterly and other reports and other information electronically with the SEC. You may read and copy any document we file with the SEC at the SEC’s public reference room at Room 1580, 100 F. Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549. Please call the SEC at1-800-732-0330 for information on the public reference room. You can also find our filings on the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov. We also make available free of charge on our website, at http:/ /www.copanoenergy.com, all materials that we file electronically with the SEC, including our annual report onForm 10-K, quarterly reports onForm 10-Q, current reports onForm 8-K, Section 16 reports and amendments to these reports as soon as reasonably practicable after such materials are electronically filed with, or furnished to, the SEC. Information contained on our website is not part of this prospectus, unless specifically so designated and filed with the SEC.
We have filed with the SEC a registration statement onForm S-3 relating to the securities covered by this prospectus. This prospectus is a part of the registration statement and does not contain all the information in the registration statement. Whenever a reference is made in this prospectus to a contract or other document of Copano Energy, L.L.C., the reference is only a summary and you should refer to the exhibits that are a part of the registration statement for a copy of the contract or other document. You may review a copy of the registration statement at the SEC’s public reference room in Washington, D.C., as well as through the SEC’s website.
We “incorporate by reference” information into this prospectus, which means that we disclose important information to you by referring you to another document filed separately with the SEC. The information incorporated by reference is deemed to be part of this prospectus, except for any information superseded by information contained expressly in this prospectus, and the information we file later with the SEC will automatically supersede this information. You should not assume that the information in this prospectus is current as of any date other than the date on the front page of this prospectus.
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Any information that we file under Sections 13(a), 13(c), 14 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and that is deemed “filed,” with the SEC will automatically update and supersede this information. We incorporate by reference the documents listed below:
• | Our Annual Report onForm 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2005; | |
• | Our Quarterly Reports onForm 10-Q for the quarterly periods ended March 31, 2006 and June 30, 2006; and | |
• | Our Current Reports onForm 8-K filed on August 3, 2005; January 3, 2006; January 19, 2006; January 20, 2006 (Items 8.01 and 9.01); February 3, 2006; February 8, 2006; February 21, 2006; April 6, 2006; April 7, 2006; April 19, 2006; May 30, 2006; June 1, 2006; July 20, 2006 and October 5, 2006. |
You may obtain any of the documents incorporated by reference in this prospectus from the SEC through the SEC’s web site at the address provided above. You also may request a copy of any document incorporated by reference in this prospectus (including exhibits to those documents specifically incorporated by reference in this document), at no cost, by visiting our internet website at www.copanoenergy.com, or by writing or calling us at the following address:
Copano Energy, L.L.C.
Investor Relations
2727 Allen Parkway, Suite 1200
Houston, Texas 77019
(713) 621-9547
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