As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 15, 2014
Registration No. 333-195477
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
Amendment No. 1
to
FORM F-1
REGISTRATION STATEMENT
UNDER
THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933
Dynagas LNG Partners LP
(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)
Republic of the Marshall Islands | 4400 | N/A | ||
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) |
(Primary Standard Industrial Classification Code Number) |
(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.) |
Dynagas LNG Partners LP 97 Poseidonos Avenue & 2 Foivis Street Glyfada, 16674, Greece 011 30 210 8917 260 (Address and telephone number of Registrants principal executive offices) |
Seward & Kissel LLP Attention: Gary J. Wolfe, Esq. One Battery Park Plaza New York, New York 10004 (212) 574-1200 (Name, address and telephone number of agent for service) |
Copies to:
Gary J. Wolfe, Esq. Robert E. Lustrin, Esq. Seward & Kissel LLP One Battery Park Plaza New York, New York 10004 (212) 574-1200 (telephone number) (212) 480-8421 (facsimile number) |
Sean T. Wheeler Latham & Watkins LLP 811 Main Street, Suite 3700 Houston, Texas 77002 (713) 546-5400 (telephone number) (713) 546-5401 (facsimile number) |
Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public: As soon as practicable after this Registration Statement becomes effective.
If any of the securities being registered on this Form are being offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act, check the following box. ¨
If this Form is filed to register additional securities for an offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, please check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ¨
If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ¨
If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(d) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ¨
CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE
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Title of Each Class of Securities to be Registered |
Proposed Maximum Aggregate Offering Price(1)(2) |
Amount of Registration Fee | ||
Common units representing limited partner interests |
$138,000,000 | $17,775(3) | ||
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(1) | Estimated solely for the purpose of calculating the registration fee pursuant to Rule 457(o) under the Securities Act of 1933. |
(2) | Includes common units that the underwriters have the option to purchase. |
(3) | Previously paid. |
The Registrant hereby amends this Registration Statement on such date or dates as may be necessary to delay its effective date until the Registrant shall file a further amendment which specifically states that this Registration Statement shall thereafter become effective in accordance with Section 8(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 or until the Registration Statement shall become effective on such date as the Commission, acting pursuant to said Section 8(a), may determine.
The information in this Prospectus is not complete and may be changed. We may not sell these securities until the registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission is effective. This Prospectus is not an offer to sell these securities and it is not soliciting an offer to buy these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted.
SUBJECT TO COMPLETION, DATED MAY 15, 2014
PRELIMINARY PROSPECTUS
Dynagas LNG Partners LP
Common Units
Representing Limited Partner Interests
We are selling of our common units. The last reported sales price of our common units on May 14, 2014 was $22.99. Although we are organized as a partnership, we have elected to be treated as a corporation solely for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Our common units are listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market and trade under the symbol DLNG.
The underwriters have an option to purchase a maximum of additional common units from us.
We are an emerging growth company as that term is used in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (the JOBS Act). Investing in our common units involves risks. See Risk Factors beginning on page 25. These risks include the following:
| We may not have sufficient cash from operations following the establishment of cash reserves and payment of fees and expenses to enable us to pay the minimum quarterly distribution on our common units, subordinated units and General Partner units. |
| Our Initial Fleet consists of three LNG carriers. Any limitation in the availability or operation of these vessels could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition and could significantly reduce or eliminate our ability to pay the minimum quarterly distribution on our common units and subordinated units. |
| The pending Arctic Aurora Acquisition may not close as anticipated or it may close with adjusted terms. |
| We may be unable to realize expected benefits from the Arctic Aurora Acquisition, and the acquisition may harm our business, financial condition and operating results. |
| We derive all our revenue and cash flow from two charterers and the loss of either of these charterers could cause us to suffer losses or otherwise adversely affect our business. |
| The amount of our debt could limit our liquidity and flexibility in obtaining additional financing and in pursuing other business opportunities. |
| Our Sponsor, our General Partner and their respective affiliates own a controlling interest in us and have conflicts of interest and limited duties to us and our common unitholders, which may permit them to favor their own interests to your detriment. |
| Demand for LNG shipping could be significantly affected by volatile natural gas prices and the overall demand for natural gas. |
| Unitholders have limited voting rights, and our Partnership Agreement restricts the voting rights of our unitholders that own more than 4.9% of our common units. |
| We are a holding company, and our ability to make cash distributions to our unitholders will be limited by the value of investments we currently hold and by the distribution of funds from our subsidiaries. |
| United States tax authorities could treat us as a passive foreign investment company, which would have adverse United States federal income tax consequences to United States unitholders |
If at any time our General Partner and its affiliates own more than 80% of the outstanding common units, our General Partner has the right, but not the obligation, to purchase all, but not less than all, of the remaining common units, as provided in the Partnership Agreement. Please see The Partnership AgreementLimited Call Right.
Price per Common Unit |
Total | |||
Public offering price |
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Underwriting discounts(1) |
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Proceeds to Dynagas LNG Partners LP (before expenses) |
(1) | We refer you to Underwriting beginning on page 187 of this Prospectus for additional information regarding underwriting compensation. |
Delivery of the common units will be made on or about , 2014.
Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission 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.
Credit Suisse |
BofA Merrill Lynch | Morgan Stanley | ||
Deutsche Bank Securities | Barclays | |||
ABN AMRO |
DNB Markets |
The date of this prospectus is , 2014.
The Ob River, one of our LNG carriers, traversing the Northern Sea Route, which is a shipping lane from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean that is entirely in Arctic waters.
The Clean Energy, one of our LNG carriers.
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SUMMARY HISTORICAL CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL AND OPERATING DATA |
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OUR CASH DISTRIBUTION POLICY AND RESTRICTIONS ON DISTRIBUTIONS |
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SELECTED HISTORICAL CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL AND OPERATING DATA |
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MANAGEMENTS DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS |
76 | |||
THE INTERNATIONAL LIQUEFIED NATURAL GAS (LNG) SHIPPING INDUSTRY |
106 | |||
120 | ||||
144 | ||||
SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS AND MANAGEMENT |
148 | |||
149 | ||||
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F-1 |
You should rely only on information contained in this prospectus. We have not, and the underwriters have not, authorized anyone to give any information or to make any representations other than those contained in this prospectus. Do not rely upon any information or representations made outside of this prospectus. This prospectus is not an offer to sell, and it is not soliciting an offer to buy, (1) any securities other than our common units or (2) our common units in any circumstances in which such an offer or solicitation is unlawful. The information contained in this prospectus may change after the date of this prospectus. Do not assume after the date of this prospectus that the information contained in this prospectus is still correct.
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This section summarizes material information that appears later in this prospectus and is qualified in its entirety by the more detailed information and financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus. This summary may not contain all of the information that may be important to you. As an investor or prospective investor, you should carefully review the entire prospectus, including the risk factors and the more detailed information that appears later.
Unless otherwise indicated, references to Dynagas LNG Partners, the Partnership, we, our and us or similar terms refer to Dynagas LNG Partners LP and its wholly-owned subsidiaries, including Dynagas Operating LP. Dynagas Operating LP owns, directly or indirectly, a 100% interest in the entities that own the LNG carriers the Clean Energy, the Ob River and the Clean Force, collectively, our Initial Fleet. References in this prospectus to our General Partner refer to Dynagas GP LLC, the general partner of Dynagas LNG Partners LP. References in this prospectus to our Sponsor are to Dynagas Holding Ltd. and its subsidiaries other than us or our subsidiaries and references to our Manager refer to Dynagas Ltd., which is wholly owned by the chairman of our board of directors, Mr. George Prokopiou. References in this prospectus to the Prokopiou Family are to our Chairman, Mr. George Prokopiou, and members of his family.
All references in this prospectus to us for periods prior to our initial public offering, or IPO, on November 18, 2013 refer to our predecessor companies and their subsidiaries, which are former subsidiaries of our Sponsor that have interests in the vessels in our Initial Fleet, or the Sponsor Controlled Companies.
All references in this prospectus to BG Group, Gazprom and Statoil refer to BG Group Plc, Gazprom Global LNG Limited, and Statoil ASA, respectively, and certain of each of their subsidiaries that are our customers. Unless otherwise indicated, all references to U.S. dollars, dollars and $ in this prospectus are to the lawful currency of the United States. We use the term LNG to refer to liquefied natural gas and we use the term cbm to refer to cubic meters in describing the carrying capacity of our vessels.
Except where we or the context otherwise indicate, the information in this prospectus assumes no exercise of the underwriters option to purchase additional common units described on the cover page of this prospectus.
Overview
We are a growth-oriented limited partnership focused on owning and operating LNG carriers. Our vessels are employed on multi-year time charters, which we define as charters of two years or more, with international energy companies such as BG Group and Gazprom, providing us with the benefits of stable cash flows and high utilization rates. We intend to leverage the reputation, expertise, and relationships of our Sponsor and Dynagas Ltd., our Manager, in maintaining cost-efficient operations and providing reliable seaborne transportation services to our customers. In addition, we intend to make further vessel acquisitions from our Sponsor and from third parties. There is no guarantee that we will grow the size of our fleet or the per unit distributions that we intend to pay or that we will be able to make further vessel acquisitions from our Sponsor or third parties.
Our Initial Fleet
Our Initial Fleet consists of the Clean Energy, the Ob River and the Clean Force, three LNG carriers that are employed under multi-year charters with BG Group and Gazprom with an average remaining charter term of approximately 6.8 years. Of these vessels, the Clean Force and the Ob River have been assigned with Lloyds Register Ice Class notation 1A FS, or Ice Class, designation for hull and machinery and are fully winterized, which means that they are designed to call at ice-bound and harsh environment terminals and to withstand temperatures up to minus 30 degrees Celsius.
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According to Drewry Consultants Ltd., or Drewry, only six LNG carriers, representing 1.6% of the LNG vessels in the global LNG fleet, have an Ice Class designation or equivalent rating, and, upon consummation of the Arctic Aurora Acquisition, we will own and operate three of them, the Clean Force, the Ob River and the Arctic Aurora. Moreover, we are the only company in the world that is currently transiting the Northern Sea Route, which is a shipping lane from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean entirely in Arctic waters, with LNG carriers. In addition, we believe that each of the vessels in our Initial Fleet is optimally sized with a carrying capacity of approximately 150,000 cbm, which allows us to maximize operational flexibility as such medium-to-large size LNG vessels are compatible with most existing LNG terminals around the world. We believe that these specifications enhance our trading capabilities and future employment opportunities because they provide greater diversity in the trading routes available to our charterers.
The following table sets forth additional information about our Initial Fleet as of May 14, 2014:
Vessel Name |
Shipyard | Year Built |
Capacity (cbm) |
Ice Class |
Flag State |
Charterer | Charter Commencement Date |
Earliest Charter Expiration |
Latest Charter Expiration Including Non-Exercised Options | |||||||||||||
Clean Energy |
HHI | 2007 | 149,700 | No | Marshall Islands |
BG Group | February 2012 | April 2017 | August 2020(1) | |||||||||||||
Ob River |
HHI | 2007 | 149,700 | Yes | Marshall Islands |
Gazprom | September 2012 | September 2017 | May 2018(2) | |||||||||||||
Clean Force |
HHI | 2008 | 149,700 | Yes | Marshall Islands |
BG Group Gazprom |
October 2010 Expected July 2015 |
June 2015 June 2028 |
July 2015(3) August 2028(4) |
* | As used in this prospectus, HHI refers to Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Ltd., the shipyard where the ships in our Initial Fleet are built. |
(1) | BG Group has the option to extend the duration of the charter for an additional three-year term until August 2020 at an escalated daily rate, upon notice to us before January 2016. |
(2) | Gazprom has the option to extend the duration of the charter until May 2018 on identical terms, upon notice to us before March 2017. |
(3) | On January 2, 2013, BG Group exercised its option to extend the duration of the charter by an additional three-year term at an escalated daily rate, commencing on October 5, 2013. |
(4) | In anticipation of entering a new contract, we agreed with BG Group, at no cost to us, to amend the expiration date of the existing charter, which changed the vessel redelivery date from the third quarter of 2016 to end of the second quarter of 2015 or beginning of the third quarter of 2015. On April 17, 2014, we entered into a new 13-year time-charter contract with Gazprom. The new Gazprom charter is expected to commence in July 2015 shortly after the early expiration of the current charter with BG Group at a rate in excess of the current time charter rate under the BG Group charter. |
The Arctic Aurora Acquisition
Overview of the Arctic Aurora Acquisition
We have entered into a Share Purchase Agreement to purchase from our Sponsor, following the closing of this offering, 100% of the ownership interests in the entity that owns and operates the Arctic Aurora, a fully winterized, Ice Class LNG carrier, for an aggregate purchase price of $235.0 million. We are purchasing only the Arctic Aurora and the related time charter. All of the other assets and liabilities relating to the Sponsor entity that owns the Arctic Aurora will remain with our Sponsor and do not form part of the purchase price. We will have the right to purchase the Arctic Aurora and the related time charter under this agreement until June 30, 2014. We refer to this transaction as the Arctic Aurora Acquisition.
The Arctic Aurora was constructed by HHI and delivered to our Sponsor in the third quarter of 2013. The Arctic Aurora is currently operating under a five year time charter with Statoil, the initial term of which expires
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between July and October 2018. Statoil has the right to extend the charter for a period of twelve months in direct continuation of the initial five year charter period on a revolving basis. We expect this charter to provide us with total contracted revenue of approximately $117.2 million based on an expected delivery date of May 30, 2014, excluding options to extend and assuming full utilization for 4.1 years, which is the remaining term of the charter based on the earliest contract expiration date in July 2018.
We believe that the key characteristics of the Arctic Aurora include the following:
| assigned with an Ice Class designation for hull and machinery and fully winterized; |
| carrying capacity of approximately 155,000 cbm; |
| a membrane containment system featuring insulation built directly into the hull of the vessel with a membrane coating inside the tanks that uses the vessels hull to directly support the pressure of the LNG cargo, reducing the required principal dimensions of the vessel and resulting in higher fuel efficiency and smaller quantities of LNG required for cooling down vessels tanks as described further in The International Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Shipping IndustryThe LNG Fleet; |
| a tri-fuel diesel electric propulsion system, which is expected to reduce both fuel costs and emissions; and |
| double-hull construction, based on the current LNG shipping industry standard. |
The Arctic Aurora Acquisition and the purchase price were approved by our Board of Directors and the conflicts committee of our Board of Directors, or the conflicts committee. The conflicts committee retained an outside legal advisor and an independent financial advisor to assist it in evaluating the Arctic Aurora Acquisition.
We have agreed to the Arctic Aurora Acquisition for the following reasons:
| the long-term, fixed-rate charter with Statoil fits our objective of generating stable cash flows; |
| the acquisition will further diversify our operations and client base; |
| the Arctic Aurora is compatible with and has similar characteristics to the vessels in our Initial Fleet; |
| the acquisition is expected to increase our financial strength and flexibility by increasing our cash flow; and |
| the acquisition is expected to increase our cash available for distribution to our unitholders. |
We estimate that the Arctic Aurora Acquisition will generate annual gross revenues of approximately $28.3 million, assuming full utilization for the full term of the charter, and annual net cash from operations of approximately $21.7 million.
The following table provides information about the Arctic Aurora:
Vessel Name |
Shipyard |
Year |
Capacity |
Ice |
Flag State |
Charterer |
Charter |
Earliest |
Latest | |||||||||||||
Arctic Aurora |
HHI | 2013 | 155,000 | Yes | Marshall Islands |
Statoil | August 2013 | July 2018 | Renewal Options(1) |
(1) | Statoil may renew its charter for consecutive additional one-year periods each year following the initial five year period. |
On March 26, 2014, we entered into a binding commitment letter with an affiliate of Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, or Credit Suisse, for a new $340 million senior secured revolving credit facility to refinance $214.1 million currently outstanding under our existing senior secured revolving facility, or our 2013 Senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility, and to fund a portion of the purchase price for the Arctic Aurora
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Acquisition. We refer to this facility throughout this prospectus as our New Senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility. This facility will be secured by a first priority or preferred cross-collateralized mortgage on each of the Clean Force, Ob River and Clean Energy and, when delivered, the Arctic Aurora, a specific assignment of the existing charters and a first assignment of earnings and insurances in relation to the vessels. The facility will bear interest at LIBOR plus a margin and is payable in 17 consecutive equal quarterly payments of $5.0 million each and a balloon payment of $255.0 million at maturity in September 2018, which may be extended, subject to certain conditions, to a date no later than March 2021. We expect that this facility will have customary financial and restrictive covenants that are consistent with our 2013 Senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility. Please see Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of OperationsLiquidity and Capital Resources for a description of our 2013 Senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility. The closing of the New Senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility is subject to usual and customary conditions precedent, including the negotiation and execution of final documentation.
We intend to use all of the proceeds of this offering to fund a portion of the purchase price for the Arctic Aurora Acquisition. The remainder of the purchase price will be financed with a portion of the amount we expect to draw down under our New Senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility. The Arctic Aurora Acquisition is subject to our obtaining the funds necessary to pay the purchase price.
We expect the Arctic Aurora Acquisition to close following the closing of this offering, subject to customary closing conditions; however, the Arctic Aurora Acquisition may not close as anticipated or it may close with adjusted terms. Please read Risk FactorsRisks Relating to our PartnershipThe pending Arctic Aurora Acquisition may not close as anticipated or it may close with adjusted terms. This offering is not conditioned on the closing of the Arctic Aurora Acquisition.
If the Arctic Aurora Acquisition is consummated, our management intends to recommend to our Board of Directors an increase in our quarterly cash distribution of between $0.0225 and $0.0275 (an annualized increase of between $0.09 and $0.11 per unit), which would become effective on a pro-rata basis giving effect to the Arctic Aurora Acquisition for our distribution with respect to the quarter ending June 30, 2014. Any such increase would be conditioned upon, among other things, the closing of the Arctic Aurora Acquisition, the approval of such increase by our Board of Directors and the absence of any material adverse developments or potentially attractive opportunities that would make such an increase inadvisable.
Our Relationship with Our Sponsor and Members of the Prokopiou Family
We believe that one of our principal strengths is our relationships with our Sponsor, our Manager and members of the Prokopiou Family, including Mr. George Prokopiou, the Chairman of our Board of Directors, and his daughters Elisavet Prokopiou, Johanna Prokopiou, Marina Kalliope Prokopiou and Maria Eleni Prokopiou, (who in addition to Mr. Prokopiou, own 100% of the interests in our Sponsor), which provide us access to their long-standing relationships with major energy companies and shipbuilders and their technical, commercial and managerial expertise. As of May 14, 2014, our Sponsors LNG carrier fleet consisted of three newbuilding LNG carriers that were delivered in the third and fourth quarters of 2013 and four newbuildings on order with expected deliveries in 2014 and 2015. While our Sponsor intends to utilize us as its primary growth vehicle to pursue the acquisition of LNG carriers employed on time charters of four or more years, we can provide no assurance that we will realize any benefits from our relationship with our Sponsor or the Prokopiou Family and there is no guarantee that their relationships with major energy companies and shipbuilders will continue. Our Sponsor, our Manager and other companies controlled by members of the Prokopiou Family are not prohibited from competing with us pursuant to the terms of the Omnibus Agreement that we have entered into with our Sponsor and our General Partner. Our General Partner, which is wholly-owned by our Sponsor, owns 100% of the 30,000 general partner units, representing a 0.1% general partner interest in us, or the General
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Partner Units, and 100% of the incentive distribution rights. Please see Summary of Conflicts of Interest and Fiduciary Duties below and the section entitled Conflicts of Interest and Fiduciary Duties which appears later in this prospectus.
Positive Industry Fundamentals
We believe that the following factors collectively present positive industry fundamental prospects for us to execute our business plan and grow our business:
Natural gas and LNG are vital and growing components of global energy sources. According to Drewry natural gas accounted for 25% of the worlds primary energy consumption in 2013. Over the last two decades, natural gas has been one of the worlds fastest growing energy sources, increasing at twice the rate of oil consumption over the same period. We believe that LNG, which accounted for approximately 46% of overall cross-border trade of natural gas in 2013, according to Drewry, will continue to increase its share in the mid-term future. A cleaner burning fuel than both oil and coal, natural gas has become an increasingly attractive fuel source in the last decade.
Demand for LNG shipping is experiencing growth. The growing distances between the location of natural gas reserves and the nations that consume natural gas have caused an increase in the percentage of natural gas traded between countries. This has resulted in an increase in the portion of natural gas that is being transported in the form of LNG, which provides greater flexibility and generally lowers capital costs of shipping natural gas, as well as a reduction in the environmental impact compared to transportation by pipeline. Increases in planned capacity of liquefaction and regasification terminals are anticipated to increase export capacity significantly, requiring additional LNG carriers to facilitate transportation activity. According to Drewry, based on the current projections of liquefaction terminals that are planned or under construction, liquefaction capacity is expected to increase by approximately 105% to 610 million tonnes. Approximately one million tonnes of LNG export capacity creates demand for approximately one to two LNG carriers with carrying capacity of 160,000 to 165,000 cbm each. According to Drewry, as of February 2014, global liquefaction capacity was 297 million tonnes, and an additional 121 million tonnes of liquefaction capacity was under construction and scheduled to be available by the end of 2016. Over the past three years, global LNG demand has continued to rise, but at a slower pace than previously predicted. Drewry estimates that LNG trade decreased by 0.4% in 2013 primarily due to supply disruptions. Based primarily on current construction projects in Australia and the United States, LNG supply is expected to increase, and to have a beneficial impact on demand for shipping capacity, however, continued economic uncertainty and continued acceleration of unconventional natural gas production could have an adverse effect on our business.
A limited newbuilding orderbook and high barriers to entry should restrict the supply of new LNG carriers. According to Drewry, the current orderbook of LNG carriers represents 37% of current LNG carrier fleet carrying capacity. As of February 2014, 126 LNG carriers, with an aggregate carrying capacity of 20.6 million cbm, were on order for delivery for the period between 2014 to 2017, while the existing fleet consisted of 368 vessels with an aggregate capacity of 55.0 million cbm. We believe that the current orderbook is limited due to constrained construction capacity at high-quality shipyards and the long lead-time required for the construction of LNG carriers. While we believe this has restricted additional supply of new LNG carriers in the near-term, any increase in LNG carrier supply may place downward pressure on charter rates. In addition, we believe that there are significant barriers to entry in the LNG shipping sector, which also limit the current orderbook due to large capital requirements, limited availability of qualified vessel personnel, and the high degree of technical management required for LNG vessels.
Stringent customer certification standards favor established, high-quality operators. Major energy companies have developed stringent operational, safety and financial standards that LNG operators generally are
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required to meet in order to qualify for employment in their programs. Based on our Managers track record and long established operational standards, we believe that these rigorous and comprehensive certification standards will be a barrier to entry for less qualified and less experienced vessel operators and will provide us with an opportunity to establish relationships with new customers.
Increasing ownership of the global LNG carrier fleet by independent owners. According to Drewry, as of March 31, 2014, 74% of the LNG fleet was owned by independent shipping companies, 14% was owned by LNG producers and 13% was owned by energy majors and end-users, respectively. We believe that private and state-owned energy companies will continue to seek high-quality independent owners, such as ourselves, for their growing LNG shipping needs in the future, driven in part by large capital requirements, and level of expertise necessary, to own and operate LNG vessels.
We can provide no assurance that the industry dynamics described above will continue or that we will be able to capitalize on these opportunities. Please see Risk Factors and The International Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Shipping Industry.
Competitive Strengths
We combine a number of features that we believe distinguish us from other LNG shipping companies.
Management
Broad based Sponsor experience. Under the leadership of Mr. George Prokopiou, our founder and Chairman, we, through our Sponsor and Manager, have developed an extensive network of relationships with major energy companies, leading LNG shipyards, and other key participants throughout the shipping industry. Although we were formed in May 2013, we believe that these longstanding relationships with shipping industry participants, including chartering brokers, shipbuilders and financial institutions, should provide us with profitable vessel acquisition and employment opportunities in the LNG sector, as well as access to financing that we will need to grow our Partnership. Since entering the shipping business in 1974, Mr. Prokopiou has founded and controlled various companies, including Dynacom Tankers Management Ltd., or Dynacom Tankers Management, a Liberian company engaged in the management and operation of crude oil tankers and refined petroleum product tankers, Sea Traders S.A., or Sea Traders, a Panamanian company that manages and operates drybulk carriers and container vessels, and our Manager. Please see BusinessOur Relationship with our Sponsor and members of the Prokopiou Family.
Strong management experience in the LNG shipping sector. Our management has managed and operated LNG carriers since 2004, and we believe that, through our Sponsor and Manager, we have acquired significant experience in the operation and ownership of LNG carriers. Our senior executives and our Chairman have an average of 25 years of shipping experience, including experience in the LNG sector. In addition, one of the vessels in our Initial Fleet, the Ob River, while operated by our Manager, became the worlds first LNG carrier to complete an LNG shipment via the Northern Sea Route, which is a shipping lane from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean entirely in Arctic waters, demonstrating its extensive Ice Class capabilities. During this voyage, it achieved a significant reduction in navigation time, compared to the alternative route through the Suez Canal, and accordingly, generated significant cost savings for its charterer, Gazprom. We believe this expertise, together with our reputation and track record in LNG shipping, positions us favorably to capture additional commercial opportunities in the LNG industry.
Cost-competitive and efficient operations. Our Manager provides the technical and commercial management of our fleet and we expect it will provide the same services for any other vessels we may acquire in
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the future, including the Arctic Aurora. We believe that our Manager, through comprehensive preventive maintenance programs and by retaining and training qualified crew members, is and will continue to be able to manage our vessels efficiently, safely and at a competitive cost.
Demonstrated access to financing. Our Sponsor funded the construction of its seven identified LNG Carriers that we have the right to purchase pursuant to the terms and subject to the conditions of the Omnibus Agreement, or the Optional Vessels, through debt financing as well as equity provided by entities owned and controlled by members of the Prokopiou Family. Should we exercise our right to purchase any of the seven Optional Vessels, our Sponsor may novate to us the loan agreements secured by the Optional Vessels, subject to each respective lenders consent. We believe that our access to financing will improve our ability to capture future market opportunities and make further acquisitions, which we expect will increase the minimum quarterly distribution to our unitholders. In addition, in connection with the closing of our IPO in November 2013, our Sponsor provided us with a $30.0 million revolving credit facility, which we may at anytime utilize for general partnership purposes, including working capital. This facility is interest free and has a term of five years, which commenced on the closing of our IPO. We currently have maximum borrowing capacity under this facility. As of December 31, 2013, we had outstanding borrowings of $214.1 million under our 2013 Senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility.
Fleet
Modern and high specification fleet. Two of the three vessels in our Initial Fleet, the Clean Force and the Ob River, have been assigned with the Ice Class designation, or its equivalent, for hull and machinery and are fully winterized, which means that they are designed to call at ice-bound and harsh environment terminals and to withstand temperatures up to minus 30 degrees Celsius. In addition, all of the Optional Vessels, including the Arctic Aurora, have been and are being constructed with the same characteristics and all of the Optional Vessels have or are expected to have upon their delivery the Ice Class designation, or its equivalent. We believe that these attractive characteristics should provide us with a competitive advantage in securing future charters with customers and enhance our vessels earnings potential. According to Drewry, only six LNG carriers, representing 1.6% of the LNG vessels in the global LNG fleet, have an Ice Class designation or equivalent rating, and, upon consummation of the Arctic Aurora Acquisition, we will own and operate three of them, the Clean Force, the Ob River and the Arctic Aurora. Moreover, we are the only company in the world that is currently transiting the Northern Sea Route with LNG carriers. We believe that these specifications enhance our trading capabilities and future employment opportunities because they provide greater flexibility in the trading routes available to our charterers. In addition, each of the Optional Vessels is being constructed with an efficient tri-fuel diesel electric propulsion system, which is expected to reduce both fuel costs and emissions. There is no guarantee that we will ever purchase the Optional Vessels and for so long as we do not own these vessels, we will be in competition with these vessels.
Sister vessel efficiencies. The seven Optional Vessels consist of two series of sister vessels, vessels of the same type and specification, and our Initial Fleet of three LNG carriers are also sister vessels, which we believe will enable us to benefit from more chartering opportunities, economies of scale and operating and cost efficiencies in ship construction, crew training, crew rotation and shared spare parts. We believe that more chartering opportunities will be available to us because many charterers prefer sister vessels due to their interchangeability and ease of cargo scheduling associated with the use of sister vessels.
Built-in opportunity for fleet growth. We have the right to purchase the Optional Vessels from our Sponsor. We believe the staggered delivery dates of the seven Optional Vessels will facilitate a smooth integration of these vessels into our fleet if we purchase and take delivery of the vessels. Additionally, we have the right to acquire from our Sponsor any LNG carrier it owns and employs under a charter with an initial term of four or more years. We believe these acquisition opportunities will provide us with a way to grow our cash distributions per
7
unit. While we intend to acquire one of the Optional Vessels, the Arctic Aurora, using the net proceeds we expect to receive in this offering, together with a portion of the amount we expect to draw down under the New Senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility, we can make no assurances regarding our ability to acquire the Arctic Aurora or other vessels from our Sponsor or our ability to increase cash distributions per unit as a result of any such acquisition. As of the date of this prospectus, we have not secured any financing in connection with the potential acquisition of any of the other Optional Vessels, since it is uncertain if and when such purchase options will be exercised. Please see Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of OperationsLiquidity and Capital Resources and Certain Relationships and Related Party TransactionsOmnibus Agreement.
Commercial
Capitalize on growing demand for LNG shipping. We believe our Sponsors and our Managers industry reputation and relationships position us well to further expand our Initial Fleet to meet the growing demand for LNG shipping. We intend to leverage the relationships that we, our Sponsor and our Manager have with a number of major energy companies beyond our current customer base and explore relationships with other leading energy companies, with an aim to supporting their growth programs.
Pursue a multi-year chartering strategy. We currently focus on, and have entered into, multi-year time charters with international energy companies, which provide us with the benefits of stable cash flows and high utilization rates. All of the vessels in our Initial Fleet are currently time chartered on multi-year contracts, which should result in 100% of our calendar days being under charter coverage in 2014, 2015 and 2016 and 67% of our calendar days in 2017 and, as of May 14, 2014, are expected to provide us with total contracted revenue of $535.0 million, including the recently executed Clean Force charter with Gazprom that is expected to commence in July 2015 and excluding options to extend and assuming full utilization for the full term of the charter. The Arctic Aurora, which we expect to acquire, is employed under a five year charter with Statoil with consecutive renewal options following the initial term. We expect this charter to provide us with total contracted revenue of approximately $117.2 million based on an expected delivery date of May 30, 2014, excluding options to extend and assuming full utilization for 4.1 years, which is the remaining term of the charter based on the earliest contract expiration date in July 2018. The actual amount of revenues earned and the actual periods during which revenues are earned may differ from the amounts and periods described above due to, for example, off-hire for maintenance projects, downtime, scheduled or unscheduled dry-docking and other factors that result in lower revenues than our average contract backlog per day. In the LNG sector, shipowners generally tend to employ their vessels on multi-year charters for steady and secure returns. Charterers also want to have access to vessels for secured supply of cargoes at pre-determined charter rates which can meet their contractual sale and purchase commitments.
Strengthen relationships with customers. We, through our Sponsor and our Manager, have, over time, established relationships with several major LNG industry participants. The vessels in our Initial Fleet have, in the past, been chartered to numerous major international energy companies and conglomerates, in addition to our current charterers, BG Group and Gazprom. We expect that BG Group and Gazprom will further expand their LNG operations, and that their demand for additional LNG shipping capacity will also increase. While we cannot guarantee that BG Group and Gazprom will further expand their LNG operations or that they will use our services, we believe we are well positioned to support them in executing their growth plans if their demand for LNG carriers and services increases in the future. We intend to continue to adhere to the highest standards with regard to reliability, safety and operational excellence.
8
Our Corporate Structure
Dynagas LNG Partners LP was organized as a limited partnership in the Republic of the Marshall Islands on May 30, 2013. Our Sponsor currently owns 4.1% of our outstanding common units and all of our outstanding subordinated units.
We own (i) a 100% limited partner interest in Dynagas Operating LP, which owns a 100% interest in our Initial Fleet through intermediate holding companies and (ii) the non-economic general partner interest in Dynagas Operating LP through our 100% ownership of its general partner, Dynagas Operating GP LLC.
9
The following diagram provides a summary of our corporate and ownership structure after giving effect to this offering and the Arctic Aurora Acquisition, assuming no exercise of the underwriters option to purchase additional common units.
10
Vessel Management
Our Manager provides us with commercial and technical management services for our fleet and certain corporate governance and administrative and support services, pursuant to three identical agreements with our three wholly-owned vessel owning subsidiaries, or the Management Agreements. Our Manager is wholly-owned by our Chairman, Mr. George Prokopiou and has been providing these services for the vessels in our Initial Fleet for over nine years. In addition, our Manager performs the commercial and technical management of each of the Optional Vessels, including the Arctic Aurora, which also includes the supervision of the construction of these vessels. It is our expectation that our Manager will continue to provide these vessel management services for the Arctic Aurora following our purchase of such vessel, which is subject to important conditions. Through our Manager, we have had a presence in LNG shipping for over nine years, and during that time we believe our Manager has established a track record for efficient, safe and reliable operation of LNG carriers.
We currently pay our Manager a technical management fee of $2,575 per day for each vessel, pro-rated for the calendar days we own each vessel, for providing the relevant vessel owning subsidiaries with services, including engaging and providing qualified crews, maintaining the vessel, arranging supply of stores and equipment, arranging and supervising periodic dry-docking, cleaning and painting and ensuring compliance with applicable regulations, including licensing and certification requirements.
In addition, we pay our Manager a commercial management fee equal to 1.25% of the gross charter hire, ballast bonus which is the amount paid to the ship owner as compensation for all or a part of the cost of positioning the vessel to the port where the vessel will be delivered to the charterer, or other income earned during the course of the employment of our vessels, during the term of the management agreements, for providing the relevant vessel-owning subsidiary with services, including chartering, managing freight payment, monitoring voyage performance, and carrying out other necessary communications with the shippers, charterers and others. In addition to such fees, we pay for any capital expenditures, financial costs, operating expenses and any general and administrative expenses, including payments to third parties, in accordance with the Management Agreements.
We paid an aggregate of approximately $3.7 million to our Manager in connection with the management of our Initial Fleet under the Management Agreements for the year ended December 31, 2013.
The term of the Management Agreements with our Manager will expire on December 31, 2020, and will renew automatically for successive eight-year terms thereafter unless earlier terminated. The technical management fee of $2,500 per day for each vessel was fixed until December 31, 2013 and thereafter increases annually by 3%, subject to further annual increases to reflect material unforeseen costs of providing the management services, by an amount to be agreed between us and our Manager, which amount will be reviewed and approved by our conflicts committee.
Under the terms of the Management Agreements, we may terminate the Management Agreements upon written notice if our Manager fails to fulfill its obligations to us under the Management Agreements. The Management Agreements terminate automatically following a change of control in us. If the Management Agreements are terminated as a result of a change of control in us, then we will have to pay our Manager a termination penalty. For this purpose a change of control means (i) the acquisition of fifty percent or more by any individual, entity or group of the beneficial ownership or voting power of the outstanding shares of us or our vessel owning subsidiaries, (ii) the consummation of a reorganization, merger or consolidation of us and/or our vessel owning subsidiaries or the sale or other disposition of all or substantially all of our assets or those of our vessel owning subsidiaries and (iii) the approval of a complete liquidation or dissolution of us and/or our vessel owning subsidiaries. Additionally, the Management Agreements may be terminated by our Manager with immediate effect if, among other things, (i) we fail to meet our obligations and/or make due payments within ten business days from receipt of invoices, (ii) upon a sale or total loss of a vessel (with respect to that vessel), or (iii) if we file for bankruptcy.
11
Pursuant to the terms of the Management Agreements, liability of our Manager to us is limited to instances of negligence, gross negligence or willful default on the part of our Manager. Further, we are required to indemnify our Manager for liabilities incurred by our Manager in performance of the Management Agreements, except in instances of negligence, gross negligence or willful default on the part of our Manager.
Additional LNG carriers that we acquire in the future may be managed by our Manager or other unaffiliated management companies.
Implications of Being an Emerging Growth Company
We had less than $1.0 billion in revenue during our last fiscal year, we have not issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt and we are not a large accelerated filer, which means that we qualify as an emerging growth company as defined in the JOBS Act. An emerging growth company may take advantage of specified reduced reporting and other burdens that are otherwise applicable generally to public companies. These provisions include, among other things:
| exemption from the auditor attestation requirement in the assessment of the emerging growth companys internal controls over financial reporting, for so long as a company qualifies as an emerging growth company; |
| exemption from new or revised financial accounting standards applicable to public companies until such standards are also applicable to private companies; and |
| exemption from compliance with any new requirements adopted by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, or the PCAOB, requiring mandatory audit firm rotation or a supplement to our auditors report in which the auditor would be required to provide additional information about the audit and our financial statements. |
We may take advantage of these provisions until the end of the fiscal year following the fifth anniversary of our IPO or such earlier time that we are no longer an emerging growth company. We will cease to be an emerging growth company if, among other things, we have more than $1.0 billion in total annual gross revenues during the most recently completed fiscal year, we become a large accelerated filer with market capitalization of more than $700 million, or as of any date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt over the three year period to such date. We may choose to take advantage of some, but not all, of these reduced burdens. For as long as we take advantage of the reduced reporting obligations, the information that we provide to our unitholders may be different from information provided by other public companies.
Summary of Conflicts of Interest and Fiduciary Duties
Our General Partner and our directors have a legal duty to manage us in a manner beneficial to our unitholders, subject to the limitations described under Conflicts of Interest and Fiduciary Duties. This legal duty is commonly referred to as a fiduciary duty. Our directors also have fiduciary duties to manage us in a manner beneficial to us, our General Partner and our limited partners. As a result of these relationships, conflicts of interest may arise between us and our unaffiliated limited partners on the one hand, and our Sponsor and its affiliates, including our General Partner, on the other hand. The resolution of these conflicts may not be in the best interest of us or our unitholders. In particular:
| certain of our directors and officers may also serve as officers of our Sponsor or its affiliates and as such have fiduciary duties to our Sponsor or its affiliates that may cause them to pursue business strategies that disproportionately benefit our Sponsor or its affiliates or which otherwise are not in the best interests of us or our unitholders; |
12
| our Partnership Agreement permits our General Partner to make a number of decisions in its individual capacity, as opposed to in its capacity as our General Partner, which entitles our General Partner to consider only the interests and factors that it desires, and it has no duty or obligations to give any consideration to any interest of or factors affecting us, our affiliates or any unitholder; when acting in its individual capacity, our General Partner may act without any fiduciary obligation to us or the unitholders whatsoever; |
| our Sponsor and its affiliates may compete with us, subject to the restrictions contained in the Omnibus Agreement and could own and operate LNG carriers under time charters that may compete with our vessels, including charters with an initial term of four or more years if we do not acquire such vessels when they are offered to us pursuant to the terms and conditions of the Omnibus Agreement; |
| any agreement between us, on the one hand, and our General Partner and its affiliates, on the other, will not grant to the unitholders, separate and apart from us, the right to enforce the obligations of our General Partner and its affiliates in our favor; |
| borrowings by us and our affiliates may constitute a breach of any duty owed by our General Partner or our directors to our unitholders, including borrowings that have the purpose or effect of: (i) enabling our General Partner or its affiliates to receive distributions on any subordinated units held by them or the incentive distribution rights or (ii) hastening the expiration of the subordination period; |
| our General Partner, as the holder of the incentive distribution rights, has the right to reset the minimum quarterly distribution and the cash target distribution levels, upon which the incentive distributions payable to our General Partner would be based without the approval of unitholders or the conflicts committee of our Board of Directors at any time when there are no subordinated units outstanding and we have made cash distributions to the holders of the incentive distribution rights at the highest level of incentive distribution for each of the prior four consecutive fiscal quarters, and in connection with such resetting and the corresponding relinquishment by our General Partner of incentive distribution payments based on the cash target distribution levels prior to the reset, our General Partner would be entitled to receive a number of newly issued common units and General Partner Units based on a predetermined formula described under Our Cash Distribution Policy and Restrictions on DistributionsGeneral Partners Right to Reset Incentive Distribution Levels; and |
| we have entered into agreements, and may enter into additional agreements, with our General Partner and our Sponsor and certain of its subsidiaries, relating to the purchase of additional vessels, the provision of certain services to us by our Manager and its affiliates and other matters. In the performance of their obligations under these agreements, our Sponsor and its subsidiaries, other than our General Partner, are not held to a fiduciary duty standard of care to us, our General Partner or our limited partners, but rather to the standard of care specified in these agreements. |
For a more detailed description of our management structure, please see ManagementDirectors and Senior Management and Certain Relationships and Related Party Transactions.
Although a majority of our directors will over time be elected by our common unitholders, our General Partner has influence on decisions made by our Board of Directors. Our Board of Directors has a conflicts committee comprised of certain of our independent directors. Our Board of Directors may, but is not obligated to, seek approval of the conflicts committee for resolutions of conflicts of interest that may arise as a result of the relationships between our Sponsor and its affiliates, including our General Partner, on the one hand, and us and our unaffiliated limited partners, on the other. There can be no assurance that a conflict of interest will be resolved in favor of us.
13
Company Information
The address of our principal executive offices is 97 Poseidonos Avenue & 2 Foivis Street, Glyfada, 16674 Greece. Our telephone number at that address is 011 30 210 8917 260. We maintain a website at www.dynagaspartners.com. Information contained on our website does not constitute part of this prospectus.
We own our vessels through separate wholly-owned subsidiaries that are incorporated in the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Republic of Liberia and the Island of Nevis.
Recent and Other Developments
On February 14, 2014, we paid a partial cash distribution for the fourth quarter of 2013 of $5.2 million, or $0.1746 per unit, pro-rated from the IPO closing date through December 31, 2013 to all unitholders on record as of February 10, 2014, based on the Board of Directors decision made on January 31, 2014. This distribution corresponds to a quarterly distribution of $0.365 per outstanding unit, or $1.46 per outstanding unit on an annualized basis.
On March 26, 2014, we entered into a binding commitment letter with Credit Suisse for our New Senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility. This facility will be secured by a first priority or preferred cross-collateralized mortgage on each of the Clean Force, OB River, Clean Energy and, when delivered, the Arctic Aurora, a specific assignment of the existing charters and a first assignment of earnings and insurances in relation to the vessels. The facility will bear interest at LIBOR plus a margin and is payable in 17 consecutive equal quarterly payments of $5.0 million each and a balloon payment of $255.0 million at maturity. We intend to utilize a portion of the amount we expect to draw down under this facility to finance a portion of the Arctic Aurora Acquisition and the balance to refinance our 2013 Senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility. We expect that this facility will have customary financial and restrictive covenants that are consistent with our 2013 Senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility. The closing of the New Senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility is subject to usual and customary conditions precedent, including the negotiation and execution of final documentation.
In anticipation of entering into a new contract, we entered into an agreement with BG Group, the current charterer of the Clean Force, to amend, at no cost to the Partnership, the vessel re-delivery date of the current time-charter contract from the third quarter of 2016 to the end of the second quarter or early third quarter of 2015, when the new Gazprom charter (described below) is expected to commence. On April 17, 2014, we entered into a new 13-year time charter with Gazprom for the Clean Force. As of May 14, 2014, assuming no early expiration or termination, the Gazprom charter is expected to increase the Partnerships (i) average remaining charter term to approximately 6.8 years from an average of approximately 2.9 years and (ii) average time charter equivalent rate, calculated for a period of twelve months following the commencement of the new charter to an average of approximately $78,200 per day per vessel from an average of approximately $76,150 per day per vessel based on our existing three vessels. Please see Summary of Historical Consolidated Financial and Operating DataFootnote (5) for a discussion of how we calculate our time charter equivalent rate. The Clean Force is expected to be renamed Amur River prior to its scheduled delivery to Gazprom.
On May 12, 2014, we paid a cash distribution for the first quarter of 2014 of $0.365 per unit to all unitholders of record as of May 5, 2014.
The tables below set forth our unaudited interim consolidated statements of income, our unaudited interim consolidated balance sheets and our unaudited interim consolidated statements of cash flows for the three months ended March 31, 2014 and 2013. The interim financial data is not necessarily indicative of future results and should be read in conjunction with our annual audited consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this prospectus.
14
DYNAGAS LNG PARTNERS LP
Unaudited Interim Consolidated Statements of Income
(Expressed in thousands of U.S. Dollarsexcept for unit data)
Three Months
Ended March 31, |
||||||||
2014 | 2013 | |||||||
REVENUES |
||||||||
Voyage revenues |
$ | 21,009 | $ | 21,168 | ||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
EXPENSES |
||||||||
Voyage expenses |
(175 | ) | (176 | ) | ||||
Voyage expenses-related party |
(264 | ) | (244 | ) | ||||
Vessel operating expenses |
(3,124 | ) | (3,203 | ) | ||||
General and administrative expenses |
(580 | ) | (23 | ) | ||||
Management fees |
(695 | ) | (675 | ) | ||||
Depreciation |
(3,348 | ) | (3,348 | ) | ||||
Operating income |
12,823 | 13,499 | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Interest and finance costs, net |
(1,944 | ) | (2,326 | ) | ||||
Other, net |
150 | 34 | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Net Income |
$ | 11,029 | $ | 11,207 | ||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Earnings per unit, basic and diluted |
||||||||
Common unit (basic and diluted) |
0.37 | 0.52 | ||||||
Subordinated unit (basic and diluted) |
0.37 | 0.52 | ||||||
General Partner unit (basic and diluted) |
0.37 | 0.52 | ||||||
Weighted average number of units outstanding, basic and diluted (1): |
||||||||
Common units |
14,985,000 | 6,735,000 | ||||||
Subordinated units |
14,985,000 | 14,985,000 | ||||||
General Partner units |
30,000 | 30,000 |
(1) | On October 29, 2013, the Partnership issued i) to Dynagas Holding Ltd. 6,735,000 common units and 14,985,000 subordinated units and ii) to Dynagas GP LLC (the General Partner), a company owned and controlled by Dynagas Holding Ltd., 30,000 general partner units (the General Partner Units, together with the issued common units and subordinated units, represent all of the outstanding interests in the Partnership). The unit and per unit data included this section have been restated to reflect the issuance of the above units for the period ended March 31, 2013. |
15
DYNAGAS LNG PARTNERS LP
Unaudited Interim Consolidated Balance Sheets
(Expressed in thousands of U.S. Dollarsexcept for unit data)
March 31, 2014 (unaudited) |
December 31, 2013 (audited) | |||||||||
ASSETS |
||||||||||
CURRENT ASSETS: |
||||||||||
Cash and cash equivalents |
$ | 8,768 | $ | 5,677 | ||||||
Restricted cash |
| | ||||||||
Due from related party |
1,447 | 1,456 | ||||||||
Other current assets |
806 | 473 | ||||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||||
Total current assets |
11,021 | 7,606 | ||||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||||
FIXED ASSETS, NET: |
||||||||||
Vessels, net |
449,827 | 453,175 | ||||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||||
Total fixed assets, net |
449,827 | 453,175 | ||||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||||
OTHER NON CURRENT ASSETS: |
||||||||||
Restricted Cash |
22,000 | 22,000 | ||||||||
Due from related party |
675 | 675 | ||||||||
Deferred revenue and other deferred charges |
4,847 | 5,279 | ||||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||||
Total assets |
$ | 488,370 | $ | 488,735 | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||||
LIABILITIES AND PARTNERS EQUITY |
||||||||||
CURRENT LIABILITIES: |
||||||||||
Current portion of long-term debt |
$ | | $ | | ||||||
Trade payables |
3,324 | 3,743 | ||||||||
Loan from related party |
| 5,500 | ||||||||
Due to related party |
273 | | ||||||||
Accrued liabilities and other payables |
803 | 1,041 | ||||||||
Unearned revenue |
4,500 | 4,619 | ||||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||||
Total current liabilities |
8,900 | 14,903 | ||||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||||
Deferred revenue |
1,895 | 2,048 | ||||||||
Long-Term Debt, net of current portion |
214,085 | 214,085 | ||||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||||
Total non-current liabilities |
215,980 | 216,133 | ||||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||||
PARTNERS EQUITY: |
||||||||||
General partner: 30,000 units issued and outstanding as at March 31, 2014 and December 31, 2013 |
155 | 150 | ||||||||
Common unitholders: 14,985,000 units issued and outstanding as at March 31, 2014 and December 31, 2013 |
185,862 | 182,969 | ||||||||
Subordinated unitholders: 14,985,000 units issued and outstanding as at March 31, 2014 and December 31, 2013 |
77,473 | 74,580 | ||||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||||
Total partners equity |
263,490 | 257,699 | ||||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||||
Total liabilities and partners equity |
$ | 488,370 | $ | 488,735 | ||||||
|
|
|
|
16
DYNAGAS LNG PARTNERS LP
Unaudited Interim Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows
(Expressed in thousands of U.S. Dollars)
Three Months
Ended March 31, | ||||||||||
2014 (unaudited) |
2013 (unaudited) | |||||||||
Cash flows from Operating Activities: |
||||||||||
Net income: |
$ | 11,029 | $ | 11,207 | ||||||
Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities: |
||||||||||
Depreciation |
3,348 | 3,348 | ||||||||
Amortization of deferred financing fees |
118 | 135 | ||||||||
Deferred revenue |
161 | (1,422 | ) | |||||||
Changes in operating assets and liabilities: |
||||||||||
Trade receivables |
20 | (129 | ) | |||||||
Prepayments and other assets |
(353 | ) | (77 | ) | ||||||
Due from/ to related party |
282 | (483 | ) | |||||||
Trade payables |
281 | (1,175 | ) | |||||||
Accrued liabilities and other payables |
(238 | ) | (452 | ) | ||||||
Unearned revenue |
(119 | ) | (4,155 | ) | ||||||
Net cash provided by Operating Activities |
14,529 | 6,797 | ||||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||||
Net cash provided by Investing Activities |
| | ||||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||||
Cash flows from/ (used in) Financing Activities: |
||||||||||
Decrease/ (increase) in restricted cash |
| 4,038 | ||||||||
Payment of IPO issuance costs |
(700 | ) | | |||||||
Repayment of loan to related party |
(5,500 | ) | | |||||||
Distributions paid |
(5,238 | ) | | |||||||
Repayment of long-term debt |
| (10,835 | ) | |||||||
Net cash used in Financing Activities |
(11,438 | ) | (6,797 | ) | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||||
Net increase in cash and cash equivalents |
3,091 | | ||||||||
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of the period |
5,677 | | ||||||||
Cash and cash equivalents at end of the period |
$ | 8,768 | $ | | ||||||
|
|
|
|
17
THE OFFERING
Common units offered to the public by us |
common units. |
common units if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase an additional common units |
Common units and subordinated units outstanding immediately after this offering |
common units and 14,985,000 subordinated units, representing a % and % limited partner interest in us, respectively. |
common units if the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional common units in full. |
Option to purchase additional common units |
We will grant the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to additional common units. |
Use of proceeds from sale of common units offered to the public by us |
We expect to receive net proceeds of approximately $ million from the sale of common units offered by this prospectus, based on a public offering price of $ per common unit, after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and paying estimated offering expenses. We intend to use the net proceeds from this offering, together with a portion of the proceeds from our New Senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility, to finance the Arctic Aurora Acquisition. In the event that the Arctic Aurora Acquisition is not consummated, the net proceeds from this offering will be used for general partnership purposes. See Use of Proceeds. |
General Partner Units |
At the closing of the offering, we will receive $ from our General Partner for General Partner Units to allow it to maintain its 0.1% general partner interest in us (or $ if the underwriters exercise their option in full to purchase additional common units.) The sale of General Partner Units is not part of this offering. |
Material U.S. Federal Income Tax Considerations |
Although we are organized as a partnership, we have elected to be treated as a corporation solely for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Consequently, all or a portion of the distributions you receive from us will constitute dividends for such purposes. The remaining portion of such distributions will be treated first as a non-taxable return of capital to the extent of your tax basis in your common units and, thereafter, as capital gain. For a discussion of material U.S. federal income tax consequences that may be relevant to prospective unitholders who are individual citizens or residents of the United States, see Material U.S. Federal Income Tax |
18
ConsiderationsU.S. Federal Income Taxation of U.S. Holders and for a discussion of material U.S. federal income tax consequences that may be relevant to prospective unitholders who are non-U.S. citizens or residents, see Material U.S. Federal Income Tax ConsiderationsU.S. Federal Income Taxation of Non-U.S. Holders. Please also see Risk FactorsTax Risks. |
Exchange listing |
Our common units are listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol DLNG. |
Risk factors |
Investing in our common units involves substantial risks. You should carefully consider all the information in this prospectus prior to investing in our common units. In particular, we urge you to consider carefully the factors set forth in the section of this prospectus entitled Risk Factors beginning on page 21. |
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SUMMARY HISTORICAL CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL AND OPERATING DATA
The following table summarizes our summary historical consolidated financial and other operating data. Our historical consolidated financial statements have been prepared according to a transaction that constitutes a reorganization of companies under common control and has been accounted for in a manner similar to a pooling of interests, as the Sponsor Controlled Companies were indirectly wholly-owned by the Prokopiou family prior to the transfer of ownership of these companies to us. Accordingly, our financial statements have been presented, giving retroactive effect to the transaction described above, using consolidated financial historical carrying costs of the assets and liabilities of Dynagas LNG Partners and the Sponsor Controlled Companies as if Dynagas LNG Partners and the Sponsor Controlled Companies were consolidated for all periods presented.
The summary historical consolidated financial data in the table as of December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011 and for the years then ended are derived from our audited consolidated financial statements which have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (U.S. GAAP). The following financial data should be read in conjunction with Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, and our consolidated financial statements and the notes thereto included elsewhere in this prospectus.
Our financial position, results of operations and cash flows could differ from those that would have resulted if we operated autonomously or as an entity independent of our Sponsor in the periods prior to our IPO for which historical financial data are presented below, and such data may not be indicative of our future operating results or financial performance.
Three Months Ended March 31, |
Year Ended December 31, | |||||||||||||||||||
2014 | 2013 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | ||||||||||||||||
(In thousands of U.S. Dollars, except for unit and per unit data) |
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Income Statement Data |
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Voyage revenues |
$ | 21,009 | $ | 21,168 | $ | 85,679 | $ | 77,498 | $ | 52,547 | ||||||||||
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Voyage expenses(1) |
(439 | ) | (420 | ) | (1,686 | ) | (3,468 | ) | (1,353 | ) | ||||||||||
Vessel operating expenses |
(3,124 | ) | (3,203 | ) | (11,909 | ) | (15,722 | ) | (11,350 | ) | ||||||||||
General and administrative expenses |
(580 | ) | (23 | ) | (387 | ) | (278 | ) | (54 | ) | ||||||||||
Management fees |
(695 | ) | (675 | ) | (2,737 | ) | (2,638 | ) | (2,529 | ) | ||||||||||
Depreciation |
(3,348 | ) | (3,348 | ) | (13,579 | ) | (13,616 | ) | (13,579 | ) | ||||||||||
Dry-docking and special survey costs |
| | | (2,109 | ) | | ||||||||||||||
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Operating income |
$ | 12,823 | $ | 13,499 | $ | 55,381 | $ | 39,667 | $ | 23,682 | ||||||||||
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Interest income |
| | | 1 | 4 | |||||||||||||||
Interest and finance costs |
(1,944 | ) | (2,326 | ) | (9,732 | ) | (9,576 | ) | (3,977 | ) | ||||||||||
Loss on derivative financial instruments |
| | | (196 | ) | (824 | ) | |||||||||||||
Other, net |
150 | 34 | (29 | ) | (60 | ) | (65 | ) | ||||||||||||
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Net Income |
$ | 11,029 | $ | 11,207 | $ | 45,620 | $ | 29,836 | $ | 18,820 | ||||||||||
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Earnings per unit (basic and diluted): |
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Common Units (basic and diluted) |
$ | 0.37 | $ | 0.52 | $ | 2.95 | $ | 1.37 | $ | 0.87 | ||||||||||
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Subordinated Units (basic and diluted) |
$ | 0.37 | $ | 0.52 | $ | 1.52 | $ | 1.37 | $ | 0.87 | ||||||||||
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General Partner Units (basic and diluted): |
$ | 0.37 | $ | 0.52 | $ | 1.52 | $ | 1.37 | $ | 0.87 | ||||||||||
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Weighted average number of units outstanding (basic and diluted): |
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Common units |
14,985,000 | 6,735,000 | 7,729,521 | 6,735,000 | 6,735,000 | |||||||||||||||
Subordinated units |
14,985,000 | 14,985,000 | 14,985,000 | 14,985,000 | 14,985,000 | |||||||||||||||
General Partner units |
30,000 | 30,000 | 30,000 | 30,000 | 30,000 | |||||||||||||||
Cash distributions per unit |
$ | 0.365 | | $ | 0.1746 | (2) | $ | | $ | |
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Three Months Ended March 31, |
Year Ended December 31, | |||||||||||||||||||
2014 | 2013 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | ||||||||||||||||
(In thousands of U.S. Dollars, except for unit and per unit data) |
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Balance Sheet Data: |
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Total current assets |
$ | 11,021 | $ | 7,606 | $ | 8,981 | $ | 3,453 | ||||||||||||
Vessels, net |
449,827 | 453,175 | 466,754 | 480,370 | ||||||||||||||||
Total assets |
488,370 | 488,735 | 476,275 | 484,363 | ||||||||||||||||
Total current liabilities |
8,900 | 14,903 | 398,434 | 439,024 | ||||||||||||||||
Total long term debt, including current portion |
214,085 | 219,585 | 380,715 | 402,189 | ||||||||||||||||
Total partners equity |
263,490 | 257,699 | 75,175 | 45,339 | ||||||||||||||||
Cash Flow Data: |
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Net cash provided by operating activities |
$ | 14,529 | $ | 6,797 | $ | 44,204 | $ | 27,902 | $ | 28,974 | ||||||||||
Net cash provided by investing activities |
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Net cash used in financing activities |
(11,438 | ) | (6,797 | ) | (38,527 | ) | (27,902 | ) | (28,974 | ) | ||||||||||
Fleet Data: |
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Number of vessels at the end of the year/period |
3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | |||||||||||||||
Average number of vessels in operation(3) |
3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | |||||||||||||||
Average age of vessels in operation at end of period (years) |
6.7 | 5.7 | 6.4 | 5.4 | 4.4 | |||||||||||||||
Available days(4) |
270 | 270 | 1,095 | 1,056 | 1,095 | |||||||||||||||
Time Charter Equivalent(5) |
$ | 76,185 | $ | 76,844 | $ | 76,706 | $ | 70,104 | $ | 46,753 | ||||||||||
Fleet utilization(6) |
100 | % | 100 | % | 100 | % | 99.5 | % | 99.5 | % | ||||||||||
Other Financial Data: |
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Adjusted EBITDA(7) |
$ | 16,321 | $ | 16,881 | $ | 68,931 | $ | 53,223 | $ | 37,196 |
(1) | Voyage expenses include commissions of 1.25% paid to our Manager and third party ship brokers. |
(2) | Corresponds to a prorated fourth quarter distribution for the period beginning on November 18, 2013 and ending on December 31, 2013. The prorated cash distribution was declared on January 31, 2013 and paid on February 14, 2014. |
(3) | Represents the number of vessels that constituted our fleet for the relevant period, as measured by the sum of the number of days each vessel was a part of our fleet during the period divided by the number of calendar days in the period. |
(4) | Available days are the total number of calendar days our vessels were in our possession during a period, less the total number of scheduled off-hire days during the period associated with major repairs, or drydockings. |
(5) | Time charter equivalent rates, or TCE rates, is a measure of the average daily revenue performance of a vessel. For time charters, this is calculated by dividing total voyage revenues, less any voyage expenses, by the number of Available days during that period. Under a time charter, the charterer pays substantially all of the vessel voyage related expenses. However, we may incur voyage related expenses when positioning or repositioning vessels before or after the period of a time charter, during periods of commercial waiting time or while off-hire during dry-docking or due to other unforeseen circumstances. The TCE rate is not a measure of financial performance under U.S. GAAP (non-GAAP measure), and should not be considered as an alternative to voyage revenues, the most directly comparable GAAP measure, or any other measure of financial performance presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP. However, TCE rate is standard shipping industry performance measure used primarily to compare period-to-period changes in a companys performance and assists our management in making decisions regarding the deployment and use of our vessels and in evaluating their financial performance. Our calculation of TCE rates may not be comparable to that reported by other companies. The following table reflects the calculation of our TCE rates for the three month periods ended March 31, 2014 and 2013 and for the years ended December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011 (amounts in thousands of U.S. dollars, except for TCE rates, which are expressed in U.S. dollars and Available days): |
Three Months Ended March 31, |
Year Ended December 31, | |||||||||||||||||||
2014 | 2013 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | ||||||||||||||||
(In thousands of U.S. Dollars) |
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Voyage revenues |
$ | 21,009 | $ | 21,168 | $ | 85,679 | $ | 77,498 | $ | 52,547 | ||||||||||
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Voyage expenses |
(439 | ) | (420 | ) | (1,686 | ) | (3,468 | ) | (1,353 | ) | ||||||||||
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Time charter equivalent revenues |
20,570 | 20,748 | 83,993 | 74,030 | 51,194 | |||||||||||||||
Total Available days |
270 | 270 | 1,095 | 1,056 | 1,095 | |||||||||||||||
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Time charter equivalent (TCE) rate |
$ | 76,185 | $ | 76,844 | $ | 76,706 | $ | 70,104 | $ | 46,753 | ||||||||||
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(6) | We calculate fleet utilization by dividing the number of our revenue earning days, which are the total number of Available days of our vessels net of unscheduled off-hire days, during a period, by the number of our Available days during that period. The shipping industry uses fleet utilization to measure a companys efficiency in finding employment for its vessels and minimizing the amount of days that its vessels are offhire for reasons other than scheduled off-hires for vessel upgrades, drydockings or special or intermediate surveys. |
(7) | Adjusted EBITDA is defined as earnings before interest and finance costs, net of interest income, gains/losses on derivative financial instruments, taxes (when incurred), depreciation and amortization (when incurred). Adjusted EBITDA is used as a supplemental financial measure by management and external users of financial statements, such as our investors, to assess our operating performance. We believe that Adjusted EBITDA assists our management and investors by providing useful information that increases the comparability of our performance operating from period to period and against the operating performance of other companies in our industry that provide Adjusted EBITDA information. This increased comparability is achieved by excluding the potentially disparate effects between periods or companies of interest, other financial items, depreciation and amortization and taxes, which items are affected by various and possibly changing financing methods, capital structure and historical cost basis and which items may significantly affect net income between periods. We believe that including Adjusted EBITDA as a measure of operating performance benefits investors in (a) selecting between investing in us and other investment alternatives and (b) monitoring our ongoing financial and operational strength in assessing whether to continue to hold common units. |
Adjusted EBITDA is not a measure of financial performance under U.S. GAAP, does not represent and should not be considered as an alternative to net income, operating income, cash flow from operating activities or any other measure of financial performance presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Adjusted EBITDA excludes some, but not all, items that affect net income and these measures may vary among other companies. Therefore, Adjusted EBITDA as presented below may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies. The following table reconciles Adjusted EBITDA to net income, the most directly comparable U.S. GAAP financial measure, for the periods presented:
Three Months Ended March 31, |
Year Ended December 31, | |||||||||||||||||||
2014 | 2013 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | ||||||||||||||||
(In thousands of U.S. Dollars) |
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Reconciliation to Net Income |
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Net Income |
$ | 11,029 | $ | 11,207 | $ | 45,620 | $ | 29,836 | $ | 18,820 | ||||||||||
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Net interest expense (including loss from derivative instruments) |
1,826 | 2,191 | 8,682 | 9,181 | 4,697 | |||||||||||||||
Depreciation |
3,348 | 3,348 | 13,579 | 13,616 | 13,579 | |||||||||||||||
Amortization and write-off of deferred finance fees |
118 | 135 | 1,050 | 590 | 100 | |||||||||||||||
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Adjusted EBITDA |
$ | 16,321 | $ | 16,881 | $ | 68,931 | $ | 53,223 | $ | 37,196 | ||||||||||
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Statements included in this prospectus which are not historical facts (including statements concerning plans and objectives of management for future operations or economic performance, or assumptions related thereto) are forward-looking statements. In addition, we and our representatives may from time to time make other oral or written statements which are also forward-looking statements. Our disclosure and analysis in this prospectus pertaining to our operations, cash flows and financial position, including, in particular, the likelihood of our success in developing and expanding our business, include forward-looking statements. Statements that are predictive in nature, that depend upon or refer to future events or conditions, or that include words such as expects, anticipates, intends, plans, believes, estimates, projects, forecasts, may, should and similar expressions are forward-looking statements.
All statements in this prospectus that are not statements of either historical or current facts are forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements appear in a number of places and include statements with respect to, among other things:
| LNG market trends, including charter rates, factors affecting supply and demand, and opportunities for the profitable operations of LNG carriers; |
| our anticipated growth strategies; |
| the effect of the worldwide economic slowdown; |
| turmoil in the global financial markets; |
| fluctuations in currencies and interest rates; |
| general market conditions, including fluctuations in charter hire rates and vessel values; |
| changes in our operating expenses, including drydocking and insurance costs and bunker prices; |
| forecasts of our ability to make cash distributions on the units or any increases in our cash distributions; |
| our future financial condition or results of operations and our future revenues and expenses; |
| the repayment of debt and settling of interest rate swaps; |
| our ability to make additional borrowings and to access debt and equity markets; |
| planned capital expenditures and availability of capital resources to fund capital expenditures; |
| our ability to maintain long-term relationships with major LNG traders; |
| our ability to leverage our Sponsors relationships and reputation in the shipping industry; |
| our ability to realize the expected benefits from acquisitions; |
| our ability to purchase vessels from our Sponsor in the future, including the Optional Vessels; |
| our continued ability to enter into long-term time charters; |
| our ability to maximize the use of our vessels, including the re-deployment or disposition of vessels no longer under long-term time charters; |
| future purchase prices of newbuildings and secondhand vessels and timely deliveries of such vessels; |
| our ability to compete successfully for future chartering and newbuilding opportunities; |
| acceptance of a vessel by its charterer; |
| termination dates and extensions of charters; |
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| the expected cost of, and our ability to comply with, governmental regulations, maritime self-regulatory organization standards, as well as standard regulations imposed by our charterers applicable to our business; |
| availability of skilled labor, vessel crews and management; |
| our anticipated incremental general and administrative expenses as a publicly traded limited partnership and our fees and expenses payable under the fleet management agreements and the administrative services agreement with our Manager; |
| the anticipated taxation of our partnership and distributions to our unitholders; |
| estimated future maintenance and replacement capital expenditures; |
| our ability to retain key employees; |
| customers increasing emphasis on environmental and safety concerns; |
| potential liability from any pending or future litigation; |
| potential disruption of shipping routes due to accidents, political events, piracy or acts by terrorists; |
| future sales of our common units in the public market; |
| our business strategy and other plans and objectives for future operations; and |
| other factors detailed in this prospectus and from time to time in our periodic reports. |
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Limited partner interests are inherently different from the capital stock of a corporation, although many of the business risks to which we are subject are similar to those that would be faced by a corporation engaged in a similar business. You should consider carefully the following risk factors, as well as the other information contained in this prospectus, before making an investment in our common units. Any of the risk factors described below could significantly and negatively affect our business, financial condition or operating results, which may reduce our ability to pay distributions and lower the trading price of our common units. You may lose part or all of your investment.
Risks Relating to Our Partnership
Our Initial Fleet consists of three LNG carriers. Any limitation in the availability or operation of these vessels could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition and could significantly reduce or eliminate our ability to pay the minimum quarterly distribution on our common units and subordinated units.
Our Initial Fleet consists of only three LNG carriers. If any of our vessels are unable to generate revenues as a result of off-hire time, early termination of the applicable time charter or otherwise, our business, results of operations financial condition and ability to make minimum quarterly distributions to unitholders could be materially adversely affected.
We currently derive all our revenue and cash flow from two charterers and the loss of either of these charterers could cause us to suffer losses or otherwise adversely affect our business.
We currently derive all of our revenue and cash flow from two charterers, BG Group and Gazprom. For the year ended December 31, 2013, BG Group accounted for 61% and Gazprom accounted for 39% of our total revenue. All of the charters for our Initial Fleet, in addition to the charter for the Arctic Aurora which we expect to acquire, have fixed terms, but may be terminated early due to certain events, such as a charterers failure to make charter payments to us because of financial inability, disagreements with us or otherwise. The ability of each of our counterparties to perform its obligations under a charter with us will depend on a number of factors that are beyond our control and may include, among other things, general economic conditions, the condition of the LNG shipping industry, prevailing prices for natural gas and the overall financial condition of the counterparty. Should a counterparty fail to honor its obligations under an agreement with us, we may be unable to realize revenue under that charter and could sustain losses, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and ability to pay minimum quarterly distribution to our unitholders.
In addition, a charterer may exercise its right to terminate the charter if, among other things:
| the vessel suffers a total loss or is damaged beyond repair; |
| we default on our obligations under the charter, including prolonged periods of vessel off-hire; |
| war or hostilities significantly disrupt the free trade of the vessel; |
| the vessel is requisitioned by any governmental authority; or |
| a prolonged force majeure event occurs, such as war or political unrest, which prevents the chartering of the vessel. |
In addition, the charter payments we receive may be reduced if the vessel does not perform according to certain contractual specifications. For example, charter hire may be reduced if the average vessel speed falls below the speed we have guaranteed or if the amount of fuel consumed to power the vessel exceeds the guaranteed amount.
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If any of our charters are terminated, we may be unable to re-deploy the related vessel on terms as favorable to us as our current charters, or at all. If we are unable to re-deploy a vessel for which the charter has been terminated, we will not receive any revenues from that vessel, and we may be required to pay ongoing expenses necessary to maintain the vessel in proper operating condition. Any of these factors may decrease our revenue and cash flows. Further, the loss of any of our charterers, charters or vessels, or a decline in charter hire under any of our charters, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and ability to make minimum quarterly distributions to our unitholders.
We are subject to certain risks with respect to our contractual counterparties, and failure of such counterparties to perform their obligations under such contracts could cause us to sustain significant losses, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
We have entered into, and may enter in the future, contracts, charters, conversion contracts with shipyards, credit facilities with banks, interest rate swaps, foreign currency swaps and equity swaps. Such agreements subject us to counterparty risks. The ability of each of our counterparties to perform its obligations under a contract with us will depend on a number of factors that are beyond our control and may include, among other things, general economic conditions and the overall financial condition of the counterparty. Should a counterparty fail to honor its obligations under agreements with us, we could sustain significant losses, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
We may not have sufficient cash from operations following the establishment of cash reserves and payment of fees and expenses to enable us to pay the minimum quarterly distribution on our common units, subordinated units and General Partner units.
We may not have sufficient cash from operations to pay the minimum quarterly distribution of $0.365 per unit on our common units, subordinated units and General Partner units. The amount of cash we can distribute on our units principally depends upon the amount of cash we generate from our operations, which may fluctuate from quarter to quarter based on the risks described in this section, including, among other things:
| the rates we obtain from our charters; |
| the level of our operating costs, such as the cost of crews and insurance; |
| the continued availability of natural gas production; |
| demand for LNG; |
| supply of LNG carriers; |
| prevailing global and regional economic and political conditions; |
| currency exchange rate fluctuations; and |
| the effect of governmental regulations and maritime self-regulatory organization standards on the conduct of our business. |
In addition, the actual amount of cash available for distribution to our unitholders will depend on other factors, including:
| the level of capital expenditures we make, including for maintaining or replacing vessels, building new vessels, acquiring secondhand vessels and complying with regulations; |
| the number of unscheduled off-hire days for our fleet and the timing of, and number of days required for, scheduled drydocking of our vessels; |
| our debt service requirements and restrictions on distributions contained in our debt instruments; |
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| the level of debt we will incur to fund future acquisitions, including if we exercise our option to purchase any or all of the seven identified LNG Carriers of our Sponsor, which we refer to as the Optional Vessels that we have the right to purchase pursuant to the terms and subject to the conditions of the Omnibus Agreement. See Certain Relationships and Related Party TransactionsOmnibus Agreement; |
| fluctuations in interest rates; |
| fluctuations in our working capital needs; |
| variable tax rates; |
| our ability to make, and the level of, working capital borrowings; and |
| the amount of any cash reserves established by our Board of Directors. |
The amount of cash we generate from our operations may differ materially from our profit or loss for the period, which will be affected by non-cash items. As a result of this and the other factors mentioned above, we may make cash distributions during periods when we record losses and may not make cash distributions during periods when we record net income.
Our future growth depends on our ability to expand relationships with existing customers, establish relationships with new customers and obtain new time charter contracts, for which we will face substantial competition from established companies with significant resources and potential new entrants.
We will seek to enter into additional multi-year time charter contracts upon the expiration or early termination of our existing charter arrangements, and we may also seek to enter into additional multi-year time charter contracts in connection with an expansion of our fleet. The process of obtaining multi-year charters for LNG carriers is highly competitive and generally involves an intensive screening procedure and competitive bids, which often extends for several months. We believe LNG carrier time charters are awarded based upon a variety of factors relating to the ship and the ship operator, including:
| size, age, technical specifications and condition of the ship; |
| efficiency of ship operation; |
| LNG shipping experience and quality of ship operations; |
| shipping industry relationships and reputation for customer service; |
| technical ability and reputation for operation of highly specialized ships; |
| quality and experience of officers and crew; |
| safety record; |
| the ability to finance ships at competitive rates and financial stability generally; |
| relationships with shipyards and the ability to get suitable berths; |
| construction management experience, including the ability to obtain on-time delivery of new ships according to customer specifications; and |
| competitiveness of the bid in terms of overall price. |
We expect substantial competition for providing marine transportation services for potential LNG projects from a number of experienced companies, including other independent ship owners as well as state-sponsored entities and major energy companies that own and operate LNG carriers and may compete with independent owners by using their fleets to carry LNG for third parties. Some of these competitors have significantly greater financial resources and larger fleets than we have. A number of marine transportation companiesincluding companies with strong reputations and extensive resources and experiencehave entered the LNG transportation
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market in recent years, and there are other ship owners and managers who may also attempt to participate in the LNG market in the future. This increased competition may cause greater price competition for time charters. As a result of these factors, we may be unable to expand our relationships with existing customers or to obtain new customers on a profitable basis, if at all, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows, including cash available for distributions to our unitholders.
We will be required to make substantial capital expenditures to expand the size of our fleet. Depending on whether we finance our expenditures through cash from operations or by issuing debt or equity securities, our ability to make cash distributions may be diminished, our financial leverage could increase or our unitholders could be diluted.
We will be required to make substantial capital expenditures to expand the size of our fleet. We may be required to make significant installment payments for retrofitting of LNG carriers and acquisitions of LNG carriers. If we choose to purchase any other LNG carriers, we plan to finance the cost either through cash from operations, borrowings or debt or equity financings.
Use of cash from operations to expand our fleet will reduce cash available for distribution to unitholders. Our ability to obtain bank financing or to access the capital markets may be limited by our financial condition at the time of any such financing or offering as well as by adverse market conditions resulting from, among other things, general economic conditions, changes in the LNG industry and contingencies and uncertainties that are beyond our control. Our failure to obtain the funds for future capital expenditures could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition and on our ability to make cash distributions. Even if we are successful in obtaining necessary funds, the terms of any debt financings could limit our ability to pay cash distributions to unitholders. In addition, incurring additional debt may significantly increase our interest expense and financial leverage, and issuing additional equity securities may result in significant unitholder dilution and would increase the aggregate amount of cash required to pay the minimum quarterly distribution to unitholders, which could have a material adverse effect on our ability to make cash distributions.
The pending Arctic Aurora Acquisition may not close as anticipated or it may close with adjusted terms.
We expect the Arctic Aurora Acquisition to complete following the closing of this offering, subject to customary closing conditions. If these conditions are not satisfied or waived, we will not complete the Arctic Aurora Acquisition. Certain of the conditions that remain to be satisfied include, but are not limited to:
| obtaining the required consents to the transaction from lenders; |
| the successful completion of customary surveys, tests and inspections; |
| obtaining required permits; |
| the continued accuracy of the representations and warranties contained in the purchase agreement; |
| the performance by each party of its obligations under the purchase agreement; |
| the execution of the New Senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility and certain other agreements related to the consummation of the Arctic Aurora Acquisition. |
We cannot assure you that the pending Arctic Aurora Acquisition will close on our expected timeframe, or at all, or close without adjustment of material terms. In addition, the closing of this common units offering is not conditioned on the closing of the Arctic Aurora Acquisition. Accordingly, if you decide to purchase common units in this offering, you should be willing to do so whether or not we complete the Arctic Aurora Acquisition.
We may be unable to realize expected benefits from the Arctic Aurora Acquisition, and the acquisition may harm our business, financial condition and operating results.
Similar to any acquisition of any vessel, the Arctic Aurora Acquisition may not result in anticipated profitability or generate cash flow sufficient to justify our investment. In addition, our acquisition exposes us to
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risks that may harm our business, financial condition and operating results. In particular, the Arctic Aurora Acquisition includes risks that we may:
| fail to realize anticipated benefits, such as increased cash flows; |
| fail to obtain the benefits of the Statoil charter if the charterer fails to make charter payments because of its financial inability, disagreements with us or otherwise; |
| fail to obtain the benefits of the Statoil charter if the charterer exercises certain rights to terminate the charter; |
| be subject to changes in the production or consumption of LNG that would impact the expected future growth in the LNG markets; |
| decrease our borrowing capacity to finance further acquisitions; |
| incur or assume unanticipated liabilities, losses or costs; or |
| incur other significant charges, such as asset devaluation or restructuring charges. |
We may be unable to make or realize expected benefits from acquisitions, which could have an adverse effect on our expected plans for growth.
Any acquisition of a vessel or business may not be profitable to us at or after the time we acquire it and may not generate cash flow sufficient to justify our investment. In addition, our acquisition growth strategy exposes us to risks that may harm our business, financial condition and operating results, including risks that we may:
| fail to realize anticipated benefits, such as new customer relationships, cost-savings or cash flow enhancements; |
| be unable to hire, train or retain qualified shore and seafaring personnel to manage and operate our growing business and fleet; |
| decrease our liquidity by using a significant portion of our available cash or borrowing capacity to finance acquisitions; |
| significantly increase our interest expense or financial leverage if we incur additional debt to finance acquisitions; |
| incur or assume unanticipated liabilities, losses or costs associated with the business or vessels acquired; or |
| incur other significant charges, such as impairment of goodwill or other intangible assets, asset devaluation or restructuring charges. |
If we acquire secondhand vessels, as opposed to newbuildings, we may be exposed to additional risks. Unlike newbuildings, secondhand vessels typically do not carry warranties as to their condition. While we generally inspect secondhand vessels prior to purchase, such an inspection would normally not provide us with as much knowledge of a vessels condition as we would possess if it had been built for us and operated by us during its life. Repairs and maintenance costs for secondhand vessels are difficult to predict and may be substantially higher than for vessels we have operated since they were built. These costs could decrease our cash flow and reduce our liquidity and could have an adverse effect on our expected plans for growth.
The amount of our debt could limit our liquidity and flexibility in obtaining additional financing and in pursuing other business opportunities.
As of December 31, 2013, we had total outstanding long-term debt of $214.1 million (excluding $5.5 million that was outstanding under our revolving credit facility with our Sponsor which was repaid in January 2014). We expect that a large portion of our cash flow from operations will be used to repay the principal and interest on our bank debt.
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Our current indebtedness and future indebtedness that we may incur could affect our future operations, as a portion of our cash flow from operations will be dedicated to the payment of interest and principal on such debt and will not be available for other purposes. Covenants contained in our debt agreements may affect our flexibility in planning for, and reacting to, changes in our business or economic conditions, limit our ability to dispose of assets or place restrictions on the use of proceeds from such dispositions, withstand current or future economic or industry downturns and compete with others in our industry for strategic opportunities, and limit our ability to obtain additional financing for working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions, general corporate and other purposes and our ability to make minimum quarterly distributions to our unitholders.
Our ability to service our debt will depend upon, among other things, our future financial and operating performance, which will be affected by prevailing economic conditions and financial, business, regulatory and other factors, some of which are beyond our control. If our operating results are not sufficient to service our current or future indebtedness, we will be forced to take actions such as reducing or eliminating distributions to our unitholders, reducing or delaying our business activities, acquisitions, investments or capital expenditures, selling assets, restructuring or refinancing our debt, or seeking additional equity capital or bankruptcy protection. We may not be able to effect any of these remedies on satisfactory terms, or at all.
We may be unable to comply with covenants in our credit facilities or any future financial obligations that impose operating and financial restrictions on us.
Certain of our existing and future credit facilities, which are secured by mortgages on our vessels, impose and will impose certain operating and financial restrictions on us, mainly to ensure that the market value of the mortgaged vessel under the applicable credit facility does not fall below a certain percentage of the outstanding amount of the loan, which we refer to as the asset coverage ratio. In addition, certain of our credit facilities require us to satisfy certain other financial covenants, including maintenance of minimum cash liquidity levels.
The operating and financial restrictions contained in our credit facilities prohibit or otherwise limit our ability to, among other things:
| obtain additional financing, if necessary, for working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions or other purposes on favorable terms, or at all; |
| make distributions to unitholders when an event of default exists, as applicable; |
| incur additional indebtedness, create liens or issue guarantees; |
| charter our vessels or change the terms of our existing charter agreements; |
| sell, transfer or lease our assets or vessels or the shares of our vessel-owning subsidiaries; |
| make investments and capital expenditures; |
| reduce our share capital; and |
| undergo a change in ownership or Manager. |
As at December 31, 2012 and for the period ending on November 1, 2013, we were not in compliance with certain restrictive and financial covenants contained in our credit facilities. On October 29, 2013 and November 1, 2013, our lenders provided us with consents and waivers, the result of which was that our credit facilities were no longer callable by our lenders effective November 15, 2013. On November 18, 2013, in connection with the closing of our IPO, all of these credit facilities were repaid in full with a portion of the net proceeds from our IPO and the proceeds of our 2013 Senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility.
A violation of any of the financial covenants contained in our existing or future credit facilities may constitute an event of default under such credit facility, which, unless cured or waived or modified by our lenders, provides our lenders with the right to, among other things, require us to post additional collateral,
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enhance our equity and liquidity, increase our interest payments, pay down our indebtedness to a level where we are in compliance with our loan covenants, sell vessels in our fleet, reclassify our indebtedness as current liabilities and accelerate our indebtedness and foreclose their liens on our vessels and the other assets securing the credit facilities, which would impair our ability to continue to conduct our business.
Our Sponsor may be unable to service its debt requirements and comply with the provisions contained in the credit agreements secured by the Optional Vessels. If our Sponsor fails to perform its obligations under its loan agreements, our business and expected plans for growth may be materially affected.
Our Sponsor may be unable to service its debt requirements and comply with the provisions contained in the credit agreements secured by the Optional Vessels. Failure on behalf of our Sponsor to perform its obligations under its credit agreements, including paying scheduled installments and complying with certain covenants, may constitute an event of default under these secured loan agreements. If an event of default occurs under these loan agreements, our Sponsors lenders could accelerate the outstanding loans and declare all amounts borrowed due and payable. In this case, if our Sponsor is unable to obtain a waiver or amendment or does not otherwise have enough cash on hand to repay the outstanding borrowings, its lenders may, among other things, foreclose their liens on the Optional Vessels. In this case, we may not be able to exercise our rights under the Omnibus Agreement to acquire the Optional Vessels, which would likely have a material adverse effect on our business and our expected plans for growth.
In addition, since our Sponsor is a private company and there is little or no publicly available information about it, we or an investor could have little advance warning of potential financial or other problems that might affect our Sponsor that could have a material adverse effect on us.
We are dependent on our affiliated Manager for the management of our fleet.
We have entered into the Management Agreements with our affiliated Manager for the commercial and technical management of our fleet, including crewing, maintenance and repair. The loss of our Managers services or its failure to perform its obligations to us could materially and adversely affect the results of our operations. In addition, our Manager provides us with significant management, administrative, financial and other support services. Our operational success and ability to execute our growth strategy will depend significantly upon the satisfactory performance of these services. Our business will be harmed if our Manager fails to perform these services satisfactorily, if they cancel their agreements with us or if they stop providing these services to us.
Our Sponsor, our General Partner and their respective affiliates own a controlling interest in us and have conflicts of interest and limited duties to us and our common unitholders, which may permit them to favor their own interests to your detriment.
Members of the Prokopiou Family control our Sponsor, our Manager and our General Partner. Our Sponsor owns 610,000 of our common units and all of our subordinated units, representing approximately 52% of the outstanding common and subordinated units in aggregate, and our General Partner owns a 0.1% General Partner interest in us and 100% of our incentive distribution rights and therefore may have considerable influence over our actions. The interests of our Sponsor and the members of the Prokopiou family may be different from your interests and the relationships described above could create conflicts of interest. We cannot assure you that any conflicts of interest will be resolved in your favor.
Conflicts of interest may arise between our Sponsor and its affiliates on the one hand, and us and our unitholders, on the other hand. As a result of these conflicts, our Sponsor and its affiliates may favor their own interests over the interests of our unitholders. Although a majority of our directors will over time be elected by our common unitholders, our General Partner will have influence on decisions made by our Board of Directors. Our Board of Directors has a conflicts committee comprised of independent directors. Our Board of Directors
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may, but is not obligated to, seek approval of the conflicts committee for resolutions of conflicts of interest that may arise as a result of the relationships between our Sponsor and its affiliates, on the one hand, and us and our unaffiliated limited partners, on the other. There can be no assurance that a conflict of interest will be resolved in favor of us.
These conflicts include, among others, the following situations:
| neither our Partnership Agreement nor any other agreement requires our Sponsor or our General Partner or their respective affiliates to pursue a business strategy that favors us or utilizes our assets, and their officers and directors have a fiduciary duty to make decisions in the best interests of their respective unitholders, which may be contrary to our interests; |
| our Partnership Agreement provides that our General Partner may make determinations or take or decline to take actions without regard to our or our unitholders interests. Specifically, our General Partner may exercise its call right, pre-emptive rights, registration rights or right to make a determination to receive common units in exchange for resetting the target distribution levels related to the incentive distribution rights, consent or withhold consent to any merger or consolidation of the company, appoint any directors or vote for the election of any director, vote or refrain from voting on amendments to our Partnership Agreement that require a vote of the outstanding units, voluntarily withdraw from the Partnership, transfer (to the extent permitted under our Partnership Agreement) or refrain from transferring its units, the General Partner interest or incentive distribution rights or vote upon the dissolution of the Partnership; |
| our General Partner and our directors and officers have limited their liabilities and any fiduciary duties they may have under the laws of the Marshall Islands, while also restricting the remedies available to our unitholders, and, as a result of purchasing common units, unitholders are treated as having agreed to the modified standard of fiduciary duties and to certain actions that may be taken by the General Partner and our directors and officers, all as set forth in the Partnership Agreement; |
| our General Partner and our Manager are entitled to reimbursement of all reasonable costs incurred by them and their respective affiliates for our benefit; our Partnership Agreement does not restrict us from paying our General Partner and our Manager or their respective affiliates for any services rendered to us on terms that are fair and reasonable or entering into additional contractual arrangements with any of these entities on our behalf; |
| our General Partner may exercise its right to call and purchase our common units if it and its affiliates own more than 80% of our common units; and is not obligated to obtain a fairness opinion regarding the value of the common units to be repurchased by it upon the exercise of its limited call right. |
| Although a majority of our directors will over time be elected by common unitholders, our General Partner will likely have substantial influence on decisions made by our Board of Directors. |
The control of our General Partner may be transferred to a third party without unitholder consent.
Our General Partner may transfer its General Partner interest to a third party in a merger or in a sale of all or substantially all of its assets without the consent of the unitholders. In addition, our Partnership Agreement does not restrict the ability of the members of our General Partner from transferring their respective membership interests in our General Partner to a third party.
Our Sponsor and its affiliates may compete with us.
Pursuant to the Omnibus Agreement with our Sponsor and our General Partner, our Sponsor and its affiliates (other than us, and our subsidiaries) generally have agreed not to acquire, own, operate or contract for any LNG carriers acquired or placed under contracts with an initial term of four or more years. The Omnibus Agreement, however, contains significant exceptions that may allow our Sponsor or any of its affiliates to compete with us, which could harm our business. Our Sponsor and its affiliates may compete with us, subject to
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the restrictions will be contained in the Omnibus Agreement, and could own and operate LNG carriers under charters of four years or more that may compete with our vessels if we do not acquire such vessels when they are offered to us pursuant to the terms of the Omnibus Agreement. See Certain Relationships and Related Party TransactionsAgreements Governing the TransactionsOmnibus AgreementNoncompetition.
Mr. Tony Lauritzen, our Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Michael Gregos, our Chief Financial Officer, and certain other officers will not devote all of their time to our business, which may hinder our ability to operate successfully.
Mr. Tony Lauritzen, our Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Michael Gregos, our Chief Financial Officer and certain other officers, will be involved in other business activities with our Sponsor and its affiliates, which may result in their spending less time than is appropriate or necessary to manage our business successfully. Based solely on the anticipated relative sizes of our fleet and the fleet owned by our Sponsor and its affiliates over the next twelve months, we estimate that Mr. Lauritzen, Mr. Gregos, and certain other officers may spend a substantial portion of their monthly business time on our business activities and their remaining time on the business of our Sponsor and its affiliates. However, the actual allocation of time could vary significantly from time to time depending on various circumstances and needs of the businesses, such as the relative levels of strategic activities of the businesses. This could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
Unitholders have limited voting rights, and our Partnership Agreement restricts the voting rights of our unitholders that own more than 4.9% of our common units.
Unlike the holders of common stock in a corporation, holders of common units have only limited voting rights on matters affecting our business. We will hold a meeting of the limited partners every year to elect one or more members of our Board of Directors that are eligible for reelection and to vote on any other matters that are properly brought before the meeting. Common unitholders will be entitled to elect only three of the five members of our Board of Directors. The elected directors will be elected on a staggered basis and will serve for three year terms. Our General Partner has the right to appoint the remaining two directors and set the terms for which those directors will serve. The Partnership Agreement also contains provisions limiting the ability of unitholders to call meetings or to acquire information about our operations, as well as other provisions limiting the unitholders ability to influence the manner or direction of management. Unitholders have no right to elect our General Partner, and our General Partner may not be removed except by a vote of the holders of at least 66 2/3% of the outstanding common units and subordinated units, including any units owned by our General Partner, our Sponsor and their respective affiliates, voting together as a single class.
Our Partnership Agreement further restricts unitholders voting rights by providing that if any person or group owns beneficially more than 4.9% of any class of units then outstanding, any such units owned by that person or group in excess of 4.9% may not be voted on any matter and will not be considered to be outstanding when sending notices of a meeting of unitholders, calculating required votes (except for purposes of nominating a person for election to our board), determining the presence of a quorum or for other similar purposes under our Partnership Agreement, unless required by law. The voting rights of any such unitholders in excess of 4.9% will effectively be redistributed pro rata among the other common unitholders holding less than 4.9% of the voting power of all classes of units entitled to vote. Our General Partner, its affiliates and persons who acquired common units with the prior approval of our Board of Directors will not be subject to this 4.9% limitation except with respect to voting their common units in the election of the elected directors.
Our Partnership Agreement limits the duties our General Partner and our directors and officers may have to our unitholders and restricts the remedies available to unitholders for actions taken by our General Partner or our directors and officers.
Our Partnership Agreement provides that our Board of Directors has the authority to oversee and direct our operations, management and policies on an exclusive basis. The Marshall Islands Revised Limited Partnership
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Act, or the Partnership Act, states that a member or managers duties and liabilities may be expanded or restricted by provisions in the Partnership Agreement. As permitted by the Partnership Act, our Partnership Agreement contains provisions that reduce the standards to which our General Partner and our directors and our officers may otherwise be held by Marshall Islands law. For example, our Partnership Agreement:
| provides that our General Partner may make determinations or take or decline to take actions without regard to our or our unitholders interests. Our General Partner may consider only the interests and factors that it desires, and it has no duty or obligation to give any consideration to any interest of, or factors affecting us, our affiliates or our unitholders. Decisions made by our General Partner will be made by its sole owner. Specifically, our General Partner may decide to exercise its right to make a determination to receive common units in exchange for resetting the target distribution levels related to the incentive distribution rights, call right, pre-emptive rights or registration rights, consent or withhold consent to any merger or consolidation of the Partnership, appoint any directors or vote for the election of any director, vote or refrain from voting on amendments to our Partnership Agreement that require a vote of the outstanding units, voluntarily withdraw from the Partnership, transfer (to the extent permitted under our Partnership Agreement ) or refrain from transferring its units, the general partner interest or incentive distribution rights or vote upon the dissolution of the Partnership; |
| provides that our directors and officers are entitled to make other decisions in good faith, meaning they reasonably believe that the decision is in our best interests; |
| generally provides that affiliated transactions and resolutions of conflicts of interest not approved by our conflicts committee of our Board of Directors and not involving a vote of unitholders must be on terms no less favorable to us than those generally being provided to or available from unrelated third parties or be fair and reasonable to us and that, in determining whether a transaction or resolution is fair and reasonable, our Board of Directors may consider the totality of the relationships between the parties involved, including other transactions that may be particularly advantageous or beneficial to us; and |
| provides that neither our General Partner nor our officers or our directors will be liable for monetary damages to us, our members or assignees for any acts or omissions unless there has been a final and non-appealable judgment entered by a court of competent jurisdiction determining that our General Partner, our directors or officers or those other persons engaged in actual fraud or willful misconduct. |
In order to become a member of our partnership, a common unitholder is required to agree to be bound by the provisions in the Partnership Agreement, including the provisions discussed above. See Conflicts of Interest and Fiduciary DutiesFiduciary Duties.
Fees and cost reimbursements, which our Manager will determine for services provided to us, will be substantial, will be payable regardless of our profitability and will reduce our cash available for distribution to you.
Our Manager which is wholly-owned by Mr. George Prokopiou, is responsible for the commercial and technical management of the vessels in our fleet pursuant to the Management Agreements. We currently pay our Manager a fee of $2,575 per day for each vessel for providing our ship owning subsidiaries with technical, commercial, insurance, accounting, financing, provisions, crewing, bunkering services and general administrative services. In addition, we pay our Manager a commercial management fee equal to 1.25% of the gross charter hire and the ballast bonus, which is the amount paid to the shipowner as compensation for all or part of the cost of positioning the vessel to the port where the vessel will be delivered to the charterer. We paid an aggregate of approximately $3.7 million to our Manager in connection with the management of our Initial Fleet for the year ended December 31, 2013. Pursuant to the Management Agreement, our Manager also provides us with certain administrative and support services.
The management fee increases by 3% annually unless otherwise agreed, between us, with approval of our conflicts committee, and our Manager. In addition we will pay Dynagas Ltd. a commercial management fee
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equal to 1.25% of the gross freight, demurrage and charter hire collected from the employment of our vessels. The management fees payable for the vessels may be further increased if our Manager has incurred material unforeseen costs of providing the management services, by an amount to be agreed between us and our Manager, which amount will be reviewed and approved by our conflicts committee.
For a description of our Management Agreements, see Certain Relationships and Related Party TransactionsVessel Management Agreements. The fees and expenses payable pursuant to the management agreement will be payable without regard to our financial condition or results of operations. The payment of fees to could adversely affect our ability to pay cash distributions to you.
Our Partnership Agreement contains provisions that may have the effect of discouraging a person or group from attempting to remove our current management or our General Partner and even if public unitholders are dissatisfied, they will be unable to remove our General Partner without our Sponsors consent, unless our Sponsors ownership interest in us is decreased; all of which could diminish the trading price of our common units.
Our Partnership Agreement contains provisions that may have the effect of discouraging a person or group from attempting to remove our current management or our General Partner.
| The unitholders are unable to remove our General Partner without its consent because our General Partner and its affiliates, including our Sponsor, own sufficient units to be able to prevent its removal. The vote of the holders of at least 66 2/3% of all outstanding common and subordinated units voting together as a single class is required to remove our General Partner. Our Sponsor owns 610,000 of our common units and all of our subordinated units, representing approximately 52% of the outstanding common and subordinated units. |
| If our General Partner is removed without cause during the subordination period and units held by our General Partner and our Sponsor are not voted in favor of that removal, all remaining subordinated units will automatically convert into common units, any existing arrearages on the common units will be extinguished, and our General Partner will have the right to convert its incentive distribution rights into common units or to receive cash in exchange for those interests based on the fair market value of those interests at the time. A removal of our General Partner under these circumstances would adversely affect the common units by prematurely eliminating their distribution and liquidation preference over the subordinated units, which would otherwise have continued until we had met certain distribution and performance tests. Any conversion of our General Partners interest or incentive distribution rights would be dilutive to existing unitholders. Furthermore, any cash payment in lieu of such conversion could be prohibitively expensive. Cause is narrowly defined to mean that a court of competent jurisdiction has entered a final, non-appealable judgment finding our General Partner liable for actual fraud or willful or wanton misconduct. Cause does not include most cases of charges of poor business decisions, such as charges of poor management of our business by the directors appointed by our General Partner, so the removal of our General Partner because of the unitholders dissatisfaction with our General Partners decisions in this regard would most likely result in the termination of the subordination period. |
| Common unitholders will be entitled to elect only three of the five members of our Board of Directors. Our General Partner in its sole discretion will appoint the remaining two directors. |
| Election of the three directors elected by unitholders is staggered, meaning that the members of only one of three classes of our elected directors will be selected each year. In addition, the directors appointed by our General Partner will serve for terms determined by our General Partner. |
| Our Partnership Agreement contains provisions limiting the ability of unitholders to call meetings of unitholders, to nominate directors and to acquire information about our operations as well as other provisions limiting the unitholders ability to influence the manner or direction of management. |
| Unitholders voting rights are further restricted by the Partnership Agreement provision providing that if any person or group owns beneficially more than 4.9% of any class of units then outstanding, any such |
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units owned by that person or group in excess of 4.9% may not be voted on any matter and will not be considered to be outstanding when sending notices of a meeting of unitholders, calculating required votes (except for purposes of nominating a person for election to our board), determining the presence of a quorum or for other similar purposes under our Partnership Agreement, unless required by law. The voting rights of any such unitholders in excess of 4.9% will effectively be redistributed pro rata among the other common unitholders holding less than 4.9% of the voting power of all classes of units entitled to vote. Our General Partner, its affiliates and persons who acquired common units with the prior approval of our Board of Directors will not be subject to this 4.9% limitation except with respect to voting their common units in the election of the elected directors. |
| There are no restrictions in our Partnership Agreement on our ability to issue additional equity securities. |
The effect of these provisions may be to diminish the price at which the common units will trade.
You may not have limited liability if a court finds that unitholder action constitutes control of our business.
As a limited partner in a partnership organized under the laws of the Marshall Islands, you could be held liable for our obligations to the same extent as a General Partner if you participate in the control of our business. Our General Partner generally has unlimited liability for the obligations of the partnership, such as its debts and environmental liabilities, except for those contractual obligations of the partnership that are expressly made without recourse to our General Partner. In addition, the limitations on the liability of holders of limited partner interests for the obligations of a limited partnership have not been clearly established in some jurisdictions in which we do business. See The Partnership AgreementLimited Liability for a discussion of the implications of the limitations on liability of a unitholder.
We can borrow money to pay distributions, which would reduce the amount of credit available to operate our business.
Our Partnership Agreement allows us to make working capital borrowings to pay distributions. Accordingly, if we have available borrowing capacity, we can make distributions on all our units even though cash generated by our operations may not be sufficient to pay such distributions. Any working capital borrowings by us to make distributions will reduce the amount of working capital borrowings we can make for operating our business. For more information, see Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of OperationsLiquidity and Capital Resources.
We depend on our Manager to assist us in operating and expanding our business.
We subcontract the commercial and technical management of our fleet, including crewing, maintenance and repair, to our Manager; the loss of our Managers services or its failure to perform its obligations to us could materially and adversely affect the results of our operations.
Our operational success and ability to execute our growth strategy will depend significantly upon the satisfactory performance of these services. Our business will be harmed if our service providers fail to perform these services satisfactorily, if they cancel their agreements with us or if they stop providing these services to us.
Our ability to enter into new charters and expand our customer relationships will depend largely on our ability to leverage our relationship with our Manager and its reputation and relationships in the shipping industry. If our Manager suffers material damage to its reputation or relationships, it may harm our ability to:
| renew existing charters upon their expiration; |
| obtain new charters; |
| successfully interact with shipyards; |
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| obtain financing on commercially acceptable terms; |
| maintain access to capital under the Sponsor credit facility; or |
| maintain satisfactory relationships with suppliers and other third parties. |
Our current time charters and our 2013 Senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility prevent us from changing our Manager.
Our ability to change our Manager with another affiliated or third-party Manager, is prohibited by provisions in our current time charters with BG Group and Gazprom and our 2013 Senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility, without the prior consent of BG Group, Gazprom and our lenders. In addition, we cannot assure you that future debt agreements or time charter contracts with our existing or new lenders or charterers, respectively, will not contain similar provisions.
Since our Manager is a privately held company and there is little or no publicly available information about it, an investor could have little advance warning of potential financial and other problems that might affect our Manager that could have a material adverse effect on us.
The ability of our Manager to continue providing services for our benefit will depend in part on its own financial strength. Circumstances beyond our control could impair our Managers financial strength, and because it is privately held, it is unlikely that information about its financial strength would become public unless our Manager began to default on its obligations. As a result, an investor in our common units might have little advance warning of problems affecting our Manager, even though these problems could have a material adverse effect on us.
We may be unable to attract and retain key management personnel in the LNG industry, which may negatively impact the effectiveness of our management and our results of operation.
Our success depends to a significant extent upon the abilities and the efforts of our senior executives. While we believe that we have an experienced management team, the loss or unavailability of one or more of our senior executives for any extended period of time could have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations.
A shortage of qualified officers and crew could have an adverse effect on our business and financial condition.
LNG carriers require a technically skilled officer staff with specialized training. As the world LNG carrier fleet continues to grow, the demand for technically skilled officers and crew has been increasing, which has led to a shortfall of such personnel. Increases in our historical vessel operating expenses have been attributable primarily to the rising costs of recruiting and retaining officers for our fleet. If we or our third-party ship Managers are unable to employ technically skilled staff and crew, we will not be able to adequately staff our vessels. A material decrease in the supply of technically skilled officers or an inability of our Manager to attract and retain such qualified officers could impair our ability to operate, or increase the cost of crewing our vessels, which would materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and significantly reduce our ability to pay minimum quarterly distributions to our unitholders.
The derivative contracts we may enter into, in the future, to hedge our exposure to fluctuations in interest rates could result in higher than market interest rates and charges against our income.
As of December 31, 2013, we had total outstanding long-term debt of $214.1 million (excluding $5.5 million that was outstanding under our revolving credit facility with our Sponsor which was repaid in January 2014), which in its entirety is exposed to a floating interest rate. In order to manage our current or future exposure to interest rate fluctuations, we may use interest rate swaps to effectively fix a part of our floating rate
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debt obligations. As of December 31, 2013, we had not entered into interest rate swap agreements to fix the interest rate on our floating rate bank debt. Any future hedging strategies, however, may not be effective and we may incur substantial losses if interest rates move materially differently from our expectations.
We are a holding company, and our ability to make cash distributions to our unitholders will be limited by the value of investments we currently hold and by the distribution of funds from our subsidiaries.
We are a holding company whose assets mainly consist of equity interests in our subsidiaries. As a result, our ability to make cash distributions to our unitholders will depend on the performance of our operating subsidiaries. If we are not able to receive sufficient funds from our subsidiaries, we will not be able to pay distributions unless we obtain funds from other sources. We may not be able to obtain the necessary funds from other sources on terms acceptable to us.
We are an emerging growth company and we cannot be certain if the reduced disclosure requirements applicable to emerging growth companies will make our common units less attractive to investors.
We are an emerging growth company as defined in the JOBS Act. We have elected to take advantage of the reduced reporting obligations, including the extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards under Section 102 of the JOBS Act, and as a result of this election, our financial statements may not be comparable to companies that comply with public company effective dates. In addition, as an emerging growth company we are exempt from having our independent auditor assess our internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. We cannot predict if investors will find our common units less attractive because we may rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our common units less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our common units and our share price may be more volatile.
Our ability to grow and to meet our financial needs may be adversely affected by our cash distribution policy.
Our cash distribution policy, which is consistent with our Partnership Agreement, requires us to distribute all of our available cash (as defined in our Partnership Agreement) each quarter. Accordingly, our growth may not be as fast as businesses that reinvest their available cash to expand ongoing operations.
In determining the amount of cash available for distribution, our Board of Directors approves the amount of cash reserves to set aside, including reserves for future maintenance and replacement capital expenditures, working capital and other matters. We also rely upon external financing sources, including commercial borrowings, to fund our capital expenditures. Accordingly, to the extent we do not have sufficient cash reserves or are unable to obtain financing, our cash distribution policy may significantly impair our ability to meet our financial needs or to grow.
If capital expenditures are financed through cash from operations or by issuing debt or equity securities, our ability to make cash distributions may be diminished, our financial leverage could increase or our unitholders may be diluted.
Use of cash from operations to expand or maintain our fleet will reduce cash available for distribution to unitholders. Our ability to obtain bank financing or to access the capital markets for future offerings may be limited by our financial condition at the time of any such financing or offering as well as by adverse market conditions resulting from, among other things, general economic conditions and contingencies and uncertainties that are beyond our control. Our failure to obtain the funds for future capital expenditures could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and ability to make cash distributions to our unitholders. Even if we are successful in obtaining necessary funds, the terms of such financings could limit our ability to pay cash distributions to unitholders. In addition, incurring additional debt may significantly
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increase our interest expense and financial leverage, and issuing additional equity securities may result in significant unitholder dilution and would increase the aggregate amount of cash required to maintain our current level of quarterly distributions to unitholders, both of which could have a material adverse effect on our ability to make cash distributions.
Due to our lack of diversification, adverse developments in our LNG shipping business could reduce our ability to make distributions to our unitholders.
We rely exclusively on the cash flow generated from our LNG carriers. Due to our lack of diversification, an adverse development in the LNG shipping industry could have a significantly greater impact on our financial condition and results of operations than if we maintained more diverse assets or lines of businesses.
We may experience operational problems with vessels that reduce revenue and increase costs.
LNG carriers are complex and their operation technically challenging. Marine transportation operations are subject to mechanical risks and problems. Operational problems may lead to loss of revenue or higher than anticipated operating expenses or require additional capital expenditures. Any of these results could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and ability to make cash distributions to our unitholders.
Upon the expiration of the subordination period, the subordinated units will convert into common units and will then participate pro rata with other common units in distributions of available cash.
During the subordination period, which we define elsewhere in this prospectus, the common units will have the right to receive distributions of available cash from operating surplus in an amount equal to the minimum quarterly distribution of $0.365 per unit, plus any arrearages in the payment of the minimum quarterly distribution on the common units from prior quarters, before any distributions of available cash from operating surplus may be made on the subordinated units. Distribution arrearages do not accrue on the subordinated units. The purpose of the subordinated units is to increase the likelihood that during the subordination period there will be available cash from operating surplus to be distributed on the common units. Upon the expiration of the subordination period, the subordinated units will convert into common units and will then participate pro rata with other common units in distributions of available cash. See Our Cash Distribution Policy and Restrictions on DistributionsSubordination Period, Distributions of Available Cash From Operating Surplus During the Subordination Period and Distributions of Available Cash From Operating Surplus After the Subordination Period.
Because the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board is not currently permitted to inspect our independent accounting firm, you may not benefit from such inspections.
Auditors of U.S. public companies are required by law to undergo periodic Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, or PCAOB, inspections that assess their compliance with U.S. law and professional standards in connection with performance of audits of financial statements filed with the SEC. Certain European Union countries, including Greece, do not currently permit the PCAOB to conduct inspections of accounting firms established and operating in such European Union countries, even if they are part of major international firms. Accordingly, unlike for most U.S. public companies, the PCAOB is prevented from evaluating our auditors performance of audits and its quality control procedures, and, unlike shareholders of most U.S. public companies, we and our unitholders are deprived of the possible benefits of such inspections.
We may be adversely affected by the introduction of new accounting rules for leasing.
International and U.S. accounting standard-setting boards (the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB)) have issued new exposure drafts in their joint project that would require lessees to record most leases on their balance sheets as lease assets and liabilities.
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Entities would still classify leases, but classification would be based on different criteria and would serve a different purpose than it does today. Lease classification would determine how entities recognize lease-related revenue and expense, as well as what lessors record on the balance sheet. Classification would be based on the portion of the economic benefits of the underlying asset expected to be consumed by the lessee over the lease term proposed changes to the accounting for operating and finance leases. If the proposals are adopted, they would be expected generally to have the effect of bringing most off-balance sheet leases onto a lessees balance sheet as liabilities which would also change the income and expense recognition patterns of those items. Financial statement metrics such as leverage and capital ratios, as well as EBITDA, may also be affected, even when cash flow and business activity have not changed. This may in turn affect covenant calculations under various contracts (e.g., loan agreements) unless the affected contracts are modified. The IASBs and FASBs deliberations on certain topics is expected to extend through much of 2014 and an effective date has not yet been determined to reconsider their original proposals to address concerns raised by constituents and expect to issue revised proposals in the first quarter of 2013. Accordingly, the timing and ultimate effect of those proposals on the Partnership is uncertain.
Risks Relating to Our Industry
Our future growth and performance depends on continued growth in LNG production and demand for LNG and LNG shipping.
A complete LNG project includes production, liquefaction, storage, regasification and distribution facilities, in addition to the marine transportation of LNG. Increased infrastructure investment has led to an expansion of LNG production capacity in recent years, but material delays in the construction of new liquefaction facilities could constrain the amount of LNG available for shipping, reducing ship utilization. While global LNG demand has continued to rise, it has risen at a slower pace than previously predicted and the rate of its growth has fluctuated due to several factors, including the global economic crisis and continued economic uncertainty, fluctuations in the price of natural gas and other sources of energy, the continued acceleration in natural gas production from unconventional sources in regions such as North America and the highly complex and capital intensive nature of new or expanded LNG projects, including liquefaction projects. Continued growth in LNG production and demand for LNG and LNG shipping could be negatively affected by a number of factors, including:
| increases in interest rates or other events that may affect the availability of sufficient financing for LNG projects on commercially reasonable terms; |
| increases in the cost of natural gas derived from LNG relative to the cost of natural gas generally; |
| increases in the production levels of low-cost natural gas in domestic natural gas consuming markets, which could further depress prices for natural gas in those markets and make LNG uneconomical; |
| increases in the production of natural gas in areas linked by pipelines to consuming areas, the extension of existing, or the development of new pipeline systems in markets we may serve, or the conversion of existing non-natural gas pipelines to natural gas pipelines in those markets; |
| decreases in the consumption of natural gas due to increases in its price, decreases in the price of alternative energy sources or other factors making consumption of natural gas less attractive; |
| any significant explosion, spill or other incident involving an LNG facility or carrier; |
| infrastructure constraints such as delays in the construction of liquefaction facilities, the inability of project owners or operators to obtain governmental approvals to construct or operate LNG facilities, as well as community or political action group resistance to new LNG infrastructure due to concerns about the environment, safety and terrorism; |
| labor or political unrest or military conflicts affecting existing or proposed areas of LNG production or regasification; |
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| decreases in the price of LNG, which might decrease the expected returns relating to investments in LNG projects; |
| new taxes or regulations affecting LNG production or liquefaction that make LNG production less attractive; or |
| negative global or regional economic or political conditions, particularly in LNG consuming regions, which could reduce energy consumption or its growth. |
Reduced demand for LNG and LNG shipping or any reduction or limitation in LNG production capacity, could have a material adverse effect on our ability to secure future multi-year time charters upon expiration or early termination of our current charter arrangements, or for any new ships we acquire, which could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows, including cash available for distribution to our unitholders.
Fluctuations in overall LNG demand growth could adversely affect our ability to secure future time charters.
Over the past three years, global LNG demand has continued to rise, but at a slower pace than previously predicted. Preliminary estimates by Drewry suggest that global LNG trade in 2013 was at a level similar to 2012, in part because of supply disruptions in Nigeria and the shutdown of one LNG production train in Qatar. Continued economic uncertainty and the continued acceleration of unconventional natural gas production could have an adverse effect on our ability to secure future term charters.
Demand for LNG shipping could be significantly affected by volatile natural gas prices and the overall demand for natural gas.
Gas prices are volatile and are affected by numerous factors beyond our control, including but not limited to the following:
| worldwide demand for natural gas; |
| the cost of exploration, development, production, transportation and distribution of natural gas; |
| expectations regarding future energy prices for both natural gas and other sources of energy; |
| the level of worldwide LNG production and exports; |
| government laws and regulations, including but not limited to environmental protection laws and regulations; |
| local and international political, economic and weather conditions; |
| political and military conflicts; and |
| the availability and cost of alternative energy sources, including alternate sources of natural gas in gas importing and consuming countries. |
Seasonality in demand, peak-load demand, and other short-term factors such as pipeline gas disruptions and maintenance schedules of utilities affect charters of less than two years and rates. In general, reduced demand for LNG, LNG carriers or LNG shipping would have a material adverse effect on our future growth and could harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Hire rates for LNG carriers are not generally publicly available and may fluctuate substantially. If rates are lower when we are seeking a new charter, our revenues and cash flows may decline.
Our ability from time to time to charter or re-charter any ship at attractive rates will depend on, among other things, the prevailing economic conditions in the LNG industry. Hire rates for LNG carriers are not generally
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publicly available and may fluctuate over time as a result of changes in the supply-demand balance relating to current and future ship capacity. This supply-demand relationship largely depends on a number of factors outside our control. The LNG charter market is connected to world natural gas prices and energy markets, which we cannot predict. A substantial or extended decline in demand for natural gas or LNG could adversely affect our ability to re-charter our vessels at acceptable rates or to acquire and profitably operate new ships. Hire rates for newbuildings are correlated with the price of newbuildings. Hire rates at a time when we may be seeking new charters may be lower than the hire rates at which our vessels are currently chartered. If hire rates are lower when we are seeking a new charter, our revenues and cash flows, including cash available for distributions to our unitholders, may decline, as we may only be able to enter into new charters at reduced or unprofitable rates or we may have to secure a charter in the spot market, where hire rates are more volatile. Prolonged periods of low charter hire rates or low ship utilization could also have a material adverse effect on the value of our assets.
Vessel values may fluctuate substantially and, if these values are lower at a time when we are attempting to dispose of vessels, we may incur a loss.
Factors that influence vessel values include:
| prevailing economic conditions in the natural gas and energy markets; |
| a substantial or extended decline in demand for LNG; |
| increases in the supply of vessel capacity; |
| the size and age of a vessel; and |
| the cost of retrofitting or modifying secondhand vessels, as a result of technological advances in vessel design or equipment, changes in applicable environmental or other regulations or standards, customer requirements or otherwise. |
As our vessels age, the expenses associated with maintaining and operating them are expected to increase, which could have an adverse effect on our business and operations if we do not maintain sufficient cash reserves for maintenance and replacement capital expenditures. Moreover, the cost of a replacement vessel would be significant. If a charter terminates, we may be unable to re-deploy the affected vessels at attractive rates and, rather than continue to incur costs to maintain and finance them, we may seek to dispose of them. Our inability to dispose of vessels at a reasonable value could result in a loss on their sale and adversely affect our ability to purchase a replacement vessel, results of operations and financial condition and ability to pay minimum quarterly distributions to our unitholders.
An oversupply of ships or delays or abandonment of planned projects may lead to a reduction in the charter hire rates we are able to obtain when seeking charters in the future.
Due to an increase in LNG production capacity, the market supply of LNG carriers has been increasing as a result of the construction of new ships. According to Drewry, during the period from 2007 to 2014, the global fleet of LNG carriers grew from 250 vessels to 368 vessels due to the construction and delivery of new LNG carriers and low levels of vessel demolition. Although the global newbuilding orderbook dropped steeply in 2009 and 2010, according to Drewry, orders for 64 newbuilding LNG carriers were placed during 2012 and 2013. As of February 2014, 126 LNG carriers, with an aggregate carrying capacity of 20.6 million cbm, were on order for delivery for the period between 2014 to 2017, while the existing fleet consisted of 368 vessels with an aggregate capacity of 55.0 million cbm.
If charter hire rates are lower when we are seeking new time charters upon expiration or early termination of our current charter arrangements, or for any new vessels we acquire beyond our contracted newbuildings, our revenues and cash flows, including cash available for distributions to our unitholders, may decline.
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We may have more difficulty entering into multi-year time charters in the future if an active spot LNG shipping market continues to develop.
One of our principal strategies is to enter into additional LNG carrier time charters of four years or more. Most shipping requirements for new LNG projects continue to be provided on a multi-year basis, though the level of spot voyages and time charters of less than 24 months in duration has grown in the past few years. If an active spot market continues to develop, we may have increased difficulty entering into multi-year time charters upon expiration or early termination of our current charters or for any vessels that we acquire in the future, and, as a result, our cash flow may be less stable. In addition, an active spot LNG market may require us to enter into charters based on changing market prices, as opposed to contracts based on a fixed rate, which could result in a decrease in our cash flow in periods when the market price for shipping LNG is depressed or insufficient funds are available to cover our financing costs for related vessels.
Further technological advancements and other innovations affecting LNG carriers could reduce the charter hire rates we are able to obtain when seeking new employment and this could adversely impact the value of our assets.
The charter rates, asset value and operational life of an LNG carrier are determined by a number of factors, including the ships efficiency, operational flexibility and physical life. Efficiency includes speed and fuel economy. Flexibility includes the ability to enter harbors, utilize related docking facilities and pass through canals and straits. Physical life is related to the original design and construction, the ongoing maintenance and the impact of operational stresses on the asset. If more advanced ship designs are developed in the future and new ships are built that are more efficient or more flexible or have longer physical lives than ours, competition from these more technologically advanced LNG carriers could adversely affect the charter hire rates we will be able to secure when we seek to re-charter our vessels upon expiration or early termination of our current charter arrangements and could also reduce the resale value of our vessels. This could adversely affect our revenues and cash flows, including cash available for distributions to you.
Operating costs and capital expenses will increase as our vessels age.
In general, capital expenditures and other costs necessary for maintaining a ship in good operating condition increase as the age of the ship increases. Accordingly, it is likely that the operating costs of our vessels will increase in the future.
Reliability of suppliers may limit our ability to obtain supplies and services when needed.
We rely, and will in the future rely, on a significant supply of consumables, spare parts and equipment to operate, maintain, repair and upgrade our fleet of ships. Delays in delivery or unavailability of supplies could result in off-hire days due to consequent delays in the repair and maintenance of our fleet. This would negatively impact our revenues and cash flows. Cost increases could also negatively impact our future operations.
Exposure to currency exchange rate fluctuations will result in fluctuations in our cash flows and operating results.
Historically our revenue has been generated in U.S. Dollars, but we incur capital, operating and administrative expenses in multiple currencies, including, among others, the Euro. If the U.S. Dollar weakens significantly, we would be required to convert more U.S. Dollars to other currencies to satisfy our obligations, which would cause us to have less cash available for distribution. Because we report our operating results in U.S. Dollars, changes in the value of the U.S. Dollar also result in fluctuations in our reported revenues and earnings. In addition, under U.S. GAAP, all foreign currency-denominated monetary assets and liabilities such as cash and cash equivalents, accounts receivable, restricted cash and accounts payable are revalued and reported based on the prevailing exchange rate at the end of the reporting period. This revaluation may cause us to report significant non-monetary foreign currency exchange gains and losses in certain periods.
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An increase in operating expenses, dry-docking costs or bunker costs could materially and adversely affect our financial performance.
Our operating expenses and dry-dock capital expenditures depend on a variety of factors including crew costs, provisions, deck and engine stores and spares, lubricating oil, insurance, maintenance and repairs and shipyard costs, many of which are beyond our control and affect the entire shipping industry. Also, while we do not bear the cost of fuel (bunkers) under our time charters, fuel is a significant expense in our operations when our vessels are, for example, moving to or from dry-dock or when off-hire. The price and supply of fuel is unpredictable and fluctuates based on events outside our control, including geopolitical developments, supply and demand for oil and gas, actions by OPEC and other oil and gas producers, war and unrest in oil-producing countries and regions, regional production patterns and environmental concerns. These may increase vessel operating and dry-docking costs further. If costs continue to rise, they could materially and adversely affect our results of operations.
The operation of LNG carriers is inherently risky, and an incident involving significant loss of or environmental consequences involving any of our vessels could harm our reputation and business.
Our vessels and their cargoes are at risk of being damaged or lost because of events such as:
| marine disasters; |
| piracy; |
| environmental accidents |
| bad weather; |
| mechanical failures; |
| grounding, fire, explosions and collisions; |
| human error; and |
| war and terrorism. |
An accident involving any of our vessels could result in any of the following:
| death or injury to persons, loss of property or environmental damage; |
| delays or failure in the delivery of cargo; |
| loss of revenues from or termination of charter contracts; |
| governmental fines, penalties or restrictions on conducting business; |
| spills, pollution and the liability associated with the same; |
| higher insurance rates; and |
| damage to our reputation and customer relationships generally. |
Any of these events could result in a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results. If our vessels suffer damage, they may need to be repaired. The costs of vessel repairs are unpredictable and can be substantial. We may have to pay repair costs that our insurance policies do not cover. The loss of earnings while these vessels are being repaired, as well as the actual cost of these repairs, would decrease our results of operations. If any of our vessels is involved in an accident with the potential risk of environmental consequences, the resulting media coverage could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and cash flows, which in turn could weaken our financial condition and negatively affect our ability to pay minimum quarterly distributions to our unitholders.
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Our insurance may be insufficient to cover losses that may occur to our property or result from our operations.
The operation of LNG carriers is inherently risky. Although we carry protection and indemnity insurance consistent with industry standards, all risks may not be adequately insured against, and any particular claim may not be paid. Any claims covered by insurance would be subject to deductibles, and since it is possible that a large number of claims may be brought, the aggregate amount of these deductibles could be material. Certain of our insurance coverage is maintained through mutual protection and indemnity associations, and as a member of such associations we may be required to make additional payments over and above budgeted premiums if member claims exceed association reserves. We may be unable to procure adequate insurance coverage at commercially reasonable rates in the future. For example, more stringent environmental regulations have led in the past to increased costs for, and in the future may result in the lack of availability of, insurance against risks of environmental damage or pollution. A marine disaster could exceed our insurance coverage, which could harm our business, financial condition and operating results. Any uninsured or underinsured loss could harm our business and financial condition. In addition, our insurance may be voidable by the insurers as a result of certain of our actions, such as our vessels failing to maintain certification with applicable maritime self-regulatory organizations.
Changes in the insurance markets attributable to terrorist attacks may also make certain types of insurance more difficult for us to obtain. In addition, upon renewal or expiration of our current policies, the insurance that may be available to us may be significantly more expensive than our existing coverage.
Our vessels may suffer damage and we may face unexpected costs and off-hire days.
In the event of damage to our owned vessels, the damaged ship would be off-hire while it is being repaired, which would decrease our revenues and cash flows, including cash available for distributions to our unitholders. In addition, the costs of ship repairs are unpredictable and can be substantial. In the event of repair costs that are not covered by our insurance policies, we may have to pay such repair costs, which would decrease our earnings and cash flows.
The current state of global financial markets and current economic conditions may adversely impact our ability to obtain financing or refinance our future credit facilities on acceptable terms, which may hinder or prevent us from operating or expanding our business.
Global financial markets and economic conditions have been, and continue to be, volatile. These issues, along with significant write-offs in the financial services sector, the re-pricing of credit risk and the current weak economic conditions, have made, and will likely continue to make, it difficult to obtain additional financing. The current state of global financial markets and current economic conditions might adversely impact our ability to issue additional equity at prices which will not be dilutive to our existing unitholders or preclude us from issuing equity at all.
Also, as a result of concerns about the stability of financial markets generally and the solvency of counterparties specifically, the cost of obtaining money from the credit markets has increased as many lenders have increased interest rates, enacted tighter lending standards, refused to refinance existing debt at all or on terms similar to current debt and reduced, and in some cases ceased, to provide funding to borrowers. Due to these factors, we cannot be certain that financing will be available to the extent required, or that we will be able to refinance our future credit facilities, on acceptable terms or at all. If financing or refinancing is not available when needed, or is available only on unfavorable terms, we may be unable to meet our obligations as they come due or we may be unable to enhance our existing business, complete the acquisition of our newbuildings and additional vessel acquisitions or otherwise take advantage of business opportunities as they arise.
As of the date of this prospectus, we have not secured any financing in connection with the potential acquisition of the Optional Vessels other than the Arctic Aurora, since it is uncertain if and when such purchase
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options will be exercised. Our Sponsor has entered into loan agreements in connection with the seven Optional Vessels. In the event we acquire the Optional Vessels in the future, we may enter into agreements with our Sponsor to novate these loan agreements to us. Any such novation would be subject to each respective lenders consent.
In addition, volatility and uncertainty concerning current global economic conditions may cause our customers to defer projects in response to tighter credit, decreased capital availability and declining customer confidence, which may negatively impact the demand for our vessels and services and could also result in defaults under our current charters. A tightening of the credit markets may further negatively impact our operations by affecting the solvency of our suppliers or customers which could lead to disruptions in delivery of supplies such as equipment for conversions, cost increases for supplies, accelerated payments to suppliers, customer bad debts or reduced revenues.
Compliance with safety and other requirements imposed by classification societies may be very costly and may adversely affect our business.
The hull and machinery of every commercial LNG carrier must be classed by a classification society. The classification society certifies that the ship has been built and maintained in accordance with the applicable rules and regulations of that classification society. Moreover, every ship must comply with all applicable international conventions and the regulations of the ships flag state as verified by a classification society. Finally, each ship must successfully undergo periodic surveys, including annual, intermediate and special surveys performed under the classification societys rules.
If any ship does not maintain its class, it will lose its insurance coverage and be unable to trade, and the ships owner will be in breach of relevant covenants under its financing arrangements. Failure to maintain the class of one or more of our vessels could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows, including cash available for distributions to our unitholders.
The LNG shipping industry is subject to substantial environmental and other regulations, which may significantly limit our operations or increase our expenses.
Our operations are materially affected by extensive and changing international, national, state and local environmental laws, regulations, treaties, conventions and standards which are in force in international waters, or in the jurisdictional waters of the countries in which our vessels operate and in the countries in which our vessels are registered. These requirements relate to equipping and operating ships, providing security and to minimizing or addressing impacts on the environment from ship operations. We have incurred, and expect to continue to incur, substantial expenses in complying with these requirements, including expenses for ship modifications and changes in operating procedures. We also could incur substantial costs, including cleanup costs, civil and criminal penalties and sanctions, the suspension or termination of operations and third-party claims as a result of violations of, or liabilities under, such laws and regulations.
In addition, these requirements can affect the resale value or useful lives of our vessels, require a reduction in cargo capacity, necessitate ship modifications or operational changes or restrictions or lead to decreased availability of insurance coverage for environmental matters. They could further result in the denial of access to certain jurisdictional waters or ports or detention in certain ports. We are required to obtain governmental approvals and permits to operate our vessels. Delays in obtaining such governmental approvals may increase our expenses, and the terms and conditions of such approvals could materially and adversely affect our operations.
Additional laws and regulations may be adopted that could limit our ability to do business or increase our operating costs, which could materially and adversely affect our business. For example, new or amended legislation relating to ship recycling, sewage systems, emission control (including emissions of greenhouse gases) as well as ballast water treatment and ballast water handling may be adopted. The United States has
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enacted legislation and regulations that require more stringent controls of air and water emissions from ocean-going ships. Such legislation or regulations may require additional capital expenditures or operating expenses (such as increased costs for low-sulfur fuel) in order for us to maintain our vessels compliance with international and/or national regulations. We also may become subject to additional laws and regulations if we enter new markets or trades.
We also believe that the heightened environmental, quality and security concerns of insurance underwriters, regulators and charterers will generally lead to additional regulatory requirements, including enhanced risk assessment and security requirements as well as greater inspection and safety requirements on all LNG carriers in the marine transportation market. These requirements are likely to add incremental costs to our operations, and the failure to comply with these requirements may affect the ability of our vessels to obtain and, possibly, collect on, insurance or to obtain the required certificates for entry into the different ports where we operate.
Some environmental laws and regulations, such as the U.S. Oil Pollution Act of 1990, or OPA, provide for potentially unlimited joint, several, and/or strict liability for owners, operators and demise or bareboat charterers for oil pollution and related damages. OPA applies to discharges of any oil from a ship in U.S. waters, including discharges of fuel and lubricants from an LNG carrier, even if the ships do not carry oil as cargo. In addition, many states in the United States bordering on a navigable waterway have enacted legislation providing for potentially unlimited strict liability without regard to fault for the discharge of pollutants within their waters. We also are subject to other laws and conventions outside the United States that provide for an owner or operator of LNG carriers to bear strict liability for pollution, such as the Convention on Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims of 1976, or the London Convention.
Some of these laws and conventions, including OPA and the London Convention, may include limitations on liability. However, the limitations may not be applicable in certain circumstances, such as where a spill is caused by a ship owners or operators intentional or reckless conduct. In addition, in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the U.S. Congress is currently considering a number of bills that could potentially modify or eliminate the limits of liability under OPA.
Compliance with OPA and other environmental laws and regulations also may result in ship owners and operators incurring increased costs for additional maintenance and inspection requirements, the development of contingency arrangements for potential spills, obtaining mandated insurance coverage and meeting financial responsibility requirements.
Climate change and greenhouse gas restrictions may adversely impact our operations and markets.
Due to concern over the risks of climate change, a number of countries and the International Maritime Organization, or IMO, have adopted, or are considering the adoption of, regulatory frameworks to reduce greenhouse gas emission from ships. These regulatory measures may include adoption of cap and trade regimes, carbon taxes, increased efficiency standards and incentives or mandates for renewable energy. Although emissions of greenhouse gases from international shipping currently are not subject to the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or the Kyoto Protocol, a new treaty may be adopted in the future that includes additional restrictions on shipping emissions to those already adopted under the International Convention for the Prevention of Marine Pollution from Ships (MARPOL), and some countries have made voluntary pledges to control the emissions of greenhouse gasses. The IMO has already approved two sets of mandatory requirements to address greenhouse gases from ships: the Energy Efficiency Design Index and the Ship Energy Efficiency Management plan, discussed in detail in Business Regulation of Greenhouse Gases. Compliance with future changes in laws and regulations relating to climate change could increase the costs of operating and maintaining our vessels and could require us to install new emission controls, as well as acquire allowances, pay taxes related to our greenhouse gas emissions or administer and manage a greenhouse gas emissions program. Revenue generation and strategic growth opportunities may also be adversely affected.
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Adverse effects upon the oil and gas production industry relating to climate change, including growing public concern about the environmental impact of climate change, may also have an effect on demand for our services. For example, increased regulation of greenhouse gases or other concerns relating to climate change may reduce the demand for oil and gas in the future or create greater incentives for use of alternative energy sources. Any long-term material adverse effect on the oil and gas production industry could have significant financial and operational adverse impacts on our business that we cannot predict with certainty at this time.
We operate our vessels worldwide, which could expose us to political, governmental and economic instability that could harm our business.
Because we operate our vessels worldwide in the geographic areas where our customers do business, our operations may be affected by economic, political and governmental conditions in the countries where our vessels operate, where they are registered, or where our customers are located. Any disruption caused by these factors could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. In particular, our vessels frequent LNG terminals in countries including Egypt, Equatorial Guinea and Trinidad as well as transit through the Gulf of Aden and the Strait of Malacca. In addition, we, either directly or indirectly through our customer Gazprom, an international energy company based in Russia, may be affected by increased political tension in Europe due to Russias recent annex of Crimea. Economic, political and governmental conditions in these and other regions have from time to time resulted in military conflicts, terrorism, attacks on ships, mining of waterways, piracy and other efforts to disrupt shipping. Future hostilities or other political instability in the geographic regions where we operate or may operate could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows, including cash available for distributions to our unitholders. In addition, our business could also be harmed by tariffs, trade embargoes and other economic sanctions by the United States or other countries against countries in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Russia or elsewhere as a result of terrorist attacks, hostilities or diplomatic or political pressures that limit trading activities with those countries.
Failure to comply with the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and other anti-bribery legislation in other jurisdictions could result in fines, criminal penalties, contract terminations and an adverse effect on our business.
We may operate in a number of countries throughout the world, including countries known to have a reputation for corruption. We are committed to doing business in accordance with applicable anti-corruption laws and have adopted a code of business conduct and ethics which is consistent and in full compliance with the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977. We are subject, however, to the risk that we, our affiliated entities or our or their respective officers, directors, employees and agents may take actions determined to be in violation of such anti-corruption laws, including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Any such violation could result in substantial fines, sanctions, civil and/or criminal penalties, curtailment of operations in certain jurisdictions, and might adversely affect our business, results of operations or financial condition. In addition, actual or alleged violations could damage our reputation and ability to do business. Furthermore, detecting, investigating, and resolving actual or alleged violations is expensive and can consume significant time and attention of our senior management.
Terrorist attacks, international hostilities and piracy could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
Terrorist attacks such as the attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001 and more recent attacks in other parts of the world, as well as the continuing response of the United States and other countries to these attacks and the threat of future terrorist attacks, continue to cause uncertainty in the world financial markets and may affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows, including cash available for distributions to our unitholders. The current turmoil in Iran and the uncertainty surrounding the Strait of Hormuz, as well as tension in Afghanistan, North Korea, Russia and the Ukraine, and the continuing hostilities in the
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Middle East, may lead to additional acts of terrorism, further regional conflicts and other armed actions around the world, which may contribute to further instability in the global financial markets. These uncertainties could also adversely affect our ability to obtain additional financing on terms acceptable to us, or at all or impact the shipyards constructing our Sponsors seven LNG carrier newbuildings.
In the past, political conflicts have also resulted in attacks on ships, mining of waterways and other efforts to disrupt international shipping, particularly in the Arabian Gulf region. Acts of terrorism and piracy have also affected ships trading in regions such as the South China Sea and the Gulf of Aden. Since 2008, the frequency of piracy incidents against commercial shipping vessels has increased significantly, particularly in the Gulf of Aden and off the coast of Somalia. In 2012 M/T Smyrni, a vessel managed by an affiliated company, was hijacked by pirates and was released after almost one year in captivity. Any terrorist attacks targeted at our ships may in the future negatively materially affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows and could directly impact our vessels or our customers. We may not be adequately insured to cover losses from these incidents. In addition, crew costs, including those due to employing onboard security guards, could increase in such circumstances.
In addition, LNG facilities, shipyards, ships, pipelines and gas fields could be targets of future terrorist attacks or piracy. Any such attacks could lead to, among other things, bodily injury or loss of life, as well as damage to the ships or other property, increased ship operating costs, including insurance costs, reductions in the supply of LNG and the inability to transport LNG to or from certain locations. Terrorist attacks, war or other events beyond our control that adversely affect the production, storage or transportation of LNG to be shipped by us could entitle our customers to terminate our charter contracts in certain circumstances, which would harm our cash flows and our business.
Terrorist attacks, or the perception that LNG facilities and LNG carriers are potential terrorist targets, could materially and adversely affect expansion of LNG infrastructure and the continued supply of LNG. Concern that LNG facilities may be targeted for attack by terrorists has contributed significantly to local community and environmental group resistance to the construction of a number of LNG facilities, primarily in North America. If a terrorist incident involving an LNG facility or LNG carrier did occur, in addition to the possible effects identified in the previous paragraph, the incident may adversely affect the construction of additional LNG facilities and could lead to the temporary or permanent closing of various LNG facilities currently in operation.
The vessels we own or manage could be required by our charterers instructions to call on ports located in countries that are subject to restrictions imposed by the United States and other governments.
Although no vessels operated by us have called on ports located in countries subject to sanctions and embargoes imposed by the U.S. government and countries identified by the U.S. government as state sponsors of terrorism, such as Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria, in the future our vessels may call on ports in these countries from time to time on our charterers instructions. The U.S. sanctions and embargo laws and regulations vary in their application, as they do not all apply to the same covered persons or proscribe the same activities, and such sanctions and embargo laws and regulations may be amended or strengthened over time. In 2010, the U.S. enacted the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions Accountability and Divestment Act, or CISADA, which expanded the scope of the Iran Sanctions Act. Among other things, CISADA expands the application of the prohibitions to companies such as ours and introduces limits on the ability of companies and persons to do business or trade with Iran when such activities relate to the investment, supply or export of refined petroleum or petroleum products. In addition, in 2012, President Obama signed Executive Order 13608 which prohibits foreign persons from violating or attempting to violate, or causing a violation of any sanctions in effect against Iran or facilitating any deceptive transactions for or on behalf of any person subject to U.S. sanctions. Any persons found to be in violation of Executive Order 13608 will be deemed a foreign sanctions evader and will be banned from all contacts with the United States, including conducting business in U.S. dollars. Also in 2012, President Obama signed into law the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012, or the Iran Threat Reduction Act, which created new sanctions and strengthened existing sanctions. Among other things, the Iran Threat
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Reduction Act intensifies existing sanctions regarding the provision of goods, services, infrastructure or technology to Irans petroleum or petrochemical sector. The Iran Threat Reduction Act also includes a provision requiring the President of the United States to impose five or more sanctions from Section 6(a) of the Iran Sanctions Act, as amended, on a person the President determines is a controlling beneficial owner of, or otherwise owns, operates, or controls or insures a vessel that was used to transport crude oil from Iran to another country and (1) if the person is a controlling beneficial owner of the vessel, the person had actual knowledge the vessel was so used or (2) if the person otherwise owns, operates, or controls, or insures the vessel, the person knew or should have known the vessel was so used. Such a person could be subject to a variety of sanctions, including exclusion from U.S. capital markets, exclusion from financial transactions subject to U.S. jurisdiction, and exclusion of that persons vessels from U.S. ports for up to two years.
Although we believe that we have been in compliance with all applicable sanctions and embargo laws and regulations, and intend to maintain such compliance, there can be no assurance that we will be in compliance in the future, particularly as the scope of certain laws may be unclear and may be subject to changing interpretations. Any such violation could result in fines, penalties or other sanctions that could severely impact our ability to access U.S. capital markets and conduct our business, and could result in some investors deciding, or being required, to divest their interest, or not to invest, in us. In addition, certain institutional investors may have investment policies or restrictions that prevent them from holding securities of companies that have contracts with countries identified by the U.S. government as state sponsors of terrorism. The determination by these investors not to invest in, or to divest from, our common units may adversely affect the price at which our common units trade. Moreover, our charterers may violate applicable sanctions and embargo laws and regulations as a result of actions that do not involve us or our vessels, and those violations could in turn negatively affect our reputation. In addition, our reputation and the market for our securities may be adversely affected if we engage in certain other activities, such as entering into charters with individuals or entities in countries subject to U.S. sanctions and embargo laws that are not controlled by the governments of those countries, or engaging in operations associated with those countries pursuant to contracts with third parties that are unrelated to those countries or entities controlled by their governments. Investor perception of the value of our common units may be adversely affected by the consequences of war, the effects of terrorism, civil unrest and governmental actions in these and surrounding countries. In addition, charterers and other parties that we have previously entered into contracts with regarding our vessels may be affiliated with persons or entities that are now or may soon be the subject of sanctions imposed by the Obama administration and/or the European Union or other international bodies in 2014 in response to recent events relating to Russia, Crimea and the Ukraine. If we determine that such sanctions require us to terminate existing contracts or if we are found to be in violation of such sanctions, we may suffer reputational harm and our results of operations may be adversely affected.
Governments could requisition our vessels during a period of war or emergency, resulting in loss of earnings.
The government of a jurisdiction where one or more of our vessels are registered could requisition for title or seize our vessels. Requisition for title occurs when a government takes control of a ship and becomes its owner. Also, a government could requisition our vessels for hire. Requisition for hire occurs when a government takes control of a ship and effectively becomes the charterer at dictated charter rates. Generally, requisitions occur during a period of war or emergency, although governments may elect to requisition ships in other circumstances. Although we would expect to be entitled to government compensation in the event of a requisition of one or more of our vessels, the amount and timing of payments, if any, would be uncertain. A government requisition of one or more of our vessels would result in off-hire days under our time charters and may cause us to breach covenants in our credit facilities, and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows, including cash available for distribution to our unitholders.
Maritime claimants could arrest our vessels, which could interrupt our cash flows.
Crew members, suppliers of goods and services to a vessel, shippers of cargo and other parties may be entitled to a maritime lien against a vessel for unsatisfied debts, claims or damages. In many jurisdictions, a
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claimant may seek to obtain security for its claim by arresting a vessel through foreclosure proceedings. The arrest or attachment of one or more of our vessels could interrupt our cash flow and require us to pay large sums of money to have the arrest or attachment lifted. In addition, in some jurisdictions, such as South Africa, under the sister ship theory of liability, a claimant may arrest both the vessel which is subject to the claimants maritime lien and any associated vessel, which is any vessel owned or controlled by the same owner. Claimants could attempt to assert sister ship liability against a vessel in our fleet for claims relating to another of our vessels.
We may be subject to litigation that could have an adverse effect on us.
We may in the future be involved from time to time in litigation matters. These matters may include, among other things, contract disputes, personal injury claims, environmental claims or proceedings, toxic tort claims, employment matters and governmental claims for taxes or duties as well as other litigation that arises in the ordinary course of our business. We cannot predict with certainty the outcome of any claim or other litigation matter. The ultimate outcome of any litigation matter and the potential costs associated with prosecuting or defending such lawsuits, including the diversion of managements attention to these matters, could have an adverse effect on us and, in the event of litigation that could reasonably be expected to have a material adverse effect on us, could lead to an event of default under our credit facilities.
Risks Relating to the Offering
The price of our common units after this offering may be volatile.
The price of our common units after this offering may be volatile and may fluctuate due to factors including:
| our payment of cash distributions to our unitholders; |
| actual or anticipated fluctuations in quarterly and annual results; |
| fluctuations in the seaborne transportation industry, including fluctuations in the LNG carrier market; |
| mergers and strategic alliances in the shipping industry; |
| changes in governmental regulations or maritime self-regulatory organization standards; |
| shortfalls in our operating results from levels forecasted by securities analysts; announcements concerning us or our competitors; |
| the failure of securities analysts to publish research about us after this offering, or analysts making changes in their financial estimates; |
| general economic conditions; |
| terrorist acts; |
| future sales of our units or other securities; |
| investors perception of us and the LNG shipping industry; |
| the general state of the securities market; and |
| other developments affecting us, our industry or our competitors. |
Securities markets worldwide are experiencing significant price and volume fluctuations. The market price for our common units may also be volatile. This market volatility, as well as general economic, market or political conditions, could reduce the market price of our common units in spite of our operating performance. Consequently, you may not be able to sell our common units at prices equal to or greater than those that you pay in this offering.
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Increases in interest rates may cause the market price of our common units to decline.
An increase in interest rates may cause a corresponding decline in demand for equity investments in general. Any such increase in interest rates or reduction in demand for our common units resulting from other relatively more attractive investment opportunities may cause the trading price of our common units to decline.
Unitholders may have liability to repay distributions.
Under some circumstances, unitholders may have to repay amounts wrongfully returned or distributed to them. Under the Marshall Islands Limited Partnership Act, or the Marshall Islands Act, we may not make a distribution to you if the distribution would cause our liabilities to exceed the fair value of our assets. Marshall Islands law provides that for a period of three years from the date of the impermissible distribution, limited partners who received the distribution and who knew at the time of the distribution that it violated Marshall Islands law will be liable to the limited partnership for the distribution amount. Assignees who become substituted limited partners are liable for the obligations of the assignor to make contributions to the partnership that are known to the assignee at the time it became a limited partner and for unknown obligations if the liabilities could be determined from the Partnership Agreement. Liabilities to partners on account of their partnership interest and liabilities that are non-recourse to the partnership are not counted for purposes of determining whether a distribution is permitted.
We have been organized as a limited partnership under the laws of the Marshall Islands, which does not have a well-developed body of partnership law.
We are organized in the Republic of the Marshall Islands, which does not have a well-developed body of case law or bankruptcy law and, as a result, unitholders may have fewer rights and protections under Marshall Islands law than under a typical jurisdiction in the United States. Our partnership affairs are governed by our Partnership Agreement and by the Marshall Islands Act. The provisions of the Marshall Islands Act resemble the limited partnership laws of a number of states in the United States, most notably Delaware. The Marshall Islands Act also provides that it is to be applied and construed to make it uniform with the Delaware Revised Uniform Partnership Act and, so long as it does not conflict with the Marshall Islands Act or decisions of the Marshall Islands courts, interpreted according to the non-statutory law (or case law) of the State of Delaware. There have been, however, few, if any, court cases in the Marshall Islands interpreting the Marshall Islands Act, in contrast to Delaware, which has a fairly well-developed body of case law interpreting its limited partnership statute. Accordingly, we cannot predict whether Marshall Islands courts would reach the same conclusions as the courts in Delaware. For example, the rights of our unitholders and the fiduciary responsibilities of our General Partner under Marshall Islands law are not as clearly established as under judicial precedent in existence in Delaware. As a result, unitholders may have more difficulty in protecting their interests in the face of actions by our General Partner and its officers and directors than would unitholders of a similarly organized limited partnership in the United States. Further, the Republic of the Marshall Islands does not have a well-developed body of bankruptcy law. As such, in the case of a bankruptcy of our Partnership, there may be a delay of bankruptcy proceedings and the ability of unitholders and creditors to receive recovery after a bankruptcy proceeding.
We are a foreign private issuer under NASDAQ Global Select Market rules, and as such we are entitled to exemption from certain corporate governance standards of the NASDAQ Global Select Market applicable to domestic companies, and holders of our common units may not have the same protections afforded to shareholders of companies that are subject to all of NASDAQ Global Select Market corporate governance requirements.
We are a foreign private issuer under the securities laws of the United States and the rules of NASDAQ Global Select Market, or NASDAQ. Under the securities laws of the United States, foreign private issuers are subject to different disclosure requirements than U.S. domiciled registrants, as well as different financial reporting requirements. Under NASDAQ rules, a foreign private issuer is subject to less stringent corporate governance requirements. Subject to certain exceptions, the rules of NASDAQ permit a foreign private issuer to follow its home country practice in lieu of the listing requirements of NASDAQ.
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A majority of our directors qualify as independent under the independence requirement of NASDAQ Listing Rule 5605(C)(2)(A)(ii). However, we cannot assure you that we will continue to maintain an independent board in the future. In addition, we may have one or more non-independent directors serving as committee members on our compensation committee. As a result, non-independent directors may among other things, participate in fixing the compensation of our management, making share and option awards and resolving governance issues regarding our Partnership.
Accordingly, in the future, holders of our common units may not have the same protections afforded to shareholders of companies that are subject to all of NASDAQ corporate governance requirements.
For a description of our corporate governance practices, please see ManagementCorporate Governance Practices.
Because we are organized under the laws of the Marshall Islands, it may be difficult to serve us with legal process or enforce judgments against us, our directors or our management.
We are organized under the laws of the Marshall Islands, and substantially all of our assets are located outside of the United States. In addition, our directors and officers generally are or will be non-residents of the United States, and all or a substantial portion of the assets of these non-residents are located outside the United States. As a result, it may be difficult or impossible for you to bring an action against us or against these individuals in the United States if you believe that your rights have been infringed under securities laws or otherwise. Even if you are successful in bringing an action of this kind, the laws of the Marshall Islands and of other jurisdictions may prevent or restrict you from enforcing a judgment against our assets or the assets of our directors or officers. For more information regarding the relevant laws of the Marshall Islands, see Service of Process and Enforcement of Civil Liabilities.
Our Partnership Agreement designates the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware as the sole and exclusive forum, unless otherwise provided for by Marshall Islands law, for certain litigation that may be initiated by our unitholders, which could limit our unitholders ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with the Partnership.
Our Partnership Agreement provides that, unless otherwise provided for by Marshall Islands law, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will be the sole and exclusive forum for any claims that:
| arise out of or relate in any way to the Partnership Agreement (including any claims, suits or actions to interpret, apply or enforce the provisions of the Partnership Agreement or the duties, obligations or liabilities among limited partners or of limited partners to us, or the rights or powers of, or restrictions on, the limited partners or us); |
| are brought in a derivative manner on our behalf; |
| assert a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any director, officer or other employee of us or our General Partner, or owed by our General Partner, to us or the limited partners; |
| assert a claim arising pursuant to any provision of the Partnership Act; or |
| assert a claim governed by the internal affairs doctrine |
regardless of whether such claims, suits, actions or proceedings sound in contract, tort, fraud or otherwise, are based on common law, statutory, equitable, legal or other grounds, or are derivative or direct claims. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in our common units shall be deemed to have notice of and to have consented to the provisions described above. This forum selection provision may limit our unitholders ability to obtain a judicial forum that they find favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers or other employees or unitholders.
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Substantial future sales of our common units could cause the market price of our common units to decline.
Sales of a substantial number of our common units in the public market following this offering, or the perception that these sales could occur, may depress the market price for our common units. These sales could also impair our ability to raise additional capital through the sale of our equity securities in the future.
The issuance by us of additional common units or other equity securities would have the following effects:
| our existing unitholders proportionate ownership interest in us will decrease; |
| the distribution amount payable per unit on our common units may be lower; |
| the relative voting strength of each previously outstanding common share may be diminished; and |
| the market price of our common units may decline. |
Our unitholders also may elect to sell large numbers of common units held by them from time to time. The number of our common units available for sale in the public market will be limited by restrictions applicable under securities laws and under agreements that we and our executive officers, directors and existing unitholders have entered into with the underwriters of this offering. Subject to certain exceptions, the agreements entered into with the underwriters of this offering generally restrict us and our executive officers, directors and certain of our existing unitholders from directly or indirectly offering, selling, pledging, hedging or otherwise disposing of our equity securities, including common units that will be issued and outstanding.
Provisions in our organizational documents may have anti-takeover effects.
Our Partnership Agreement contains provisions that could make it more difficult for a third party to acquire us without the consent of our Board of Directors. These provisions require approval of our Board of Directors and prior consent of our General Partner. Please see The Partnership AgreementMerger, Sale, Conversion or Other Disposition of Assets.
These provisions could also make it difficult for our unitholders to replace or remove our current Board of Directors or could have the effect of discouraging, delaying or preventing an offer by a third party to acquire us, even if the third partys offer may be considered beneficial by many unitholders. As a result, unitholders may be limited in their ability to obtain a premium for their common units.
Tax Risks
In addition to the following risk factors, you should read Material U.S. Federal Income Tax Considerations and Non-United States Tax Considerations for a more complete discussion of the material Marshall Islands and United States federal income tax consequences of owning and disposing of our common units.
We will be subject to taxes, which will reduce our cash available for distribution to our unitholders.
We and our subsidiaries may be subject to tax in the jurisdictions in which we are organized or operate, reducing the amount of cash available for distribution. In computing our tax obligation in these jurisdictions, we are required to take various tax accounting and reporting positions on matters that are not entirely free from doubt and for which we have not received rulings from the governing authorities. We cannot assure you that upon review of these positions the applicable authorities will agree with our positions. A successful challenge by a tax authority could result in additional tax imposed on us or our subsidiaries, further reducing the cash available for distribution. In addition, changes in our operations or ownership could result in additional tax being imposed on us or our subsidiaries in jurisdictions in which operations are conducted. Please see Material U.S. Federal Income Tax Considerations.
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We may have to pay tax on United States-source income, which would reduce our earnings and cash flow.
Under the Code, the United States source gross transportation income of a ship-owning or chartering corporation, such as ourselves, generally is subject to a 4% United States federal income tax without allowance for deduction, unless that corporation qualifies for exemption from tax under a tax treaty or Section 883 of the Code and the Treasury Regulations promulgated thereunder. U.S. source gross transportation income consists of 50% of the gross shipping income that is attributable to transportation that begins or ends, but that does not both begin and end, in the United States.
Based on advice we received from Seward & Kissel LLP, our United States counsel, we believe we currently qualify for this statutory tax exemption and we intend to take this position for United States federal income tax reporting purposes. However, there are factual circumstances beyond our control that could cause us to lose the benefit of this tax exemption and thereby become subject to the 4% United States federal income tax described above. For example, if the holders of 5% or more of the voting power and value of our common units, or 5% Unitholders, were to come to own 50% or more of our common units, then we would not qualify for exemption under Section 883. It is noted that holders of our common units are limited to owning 4.9% of the voting power of such common units. Assuming that such limitation is treated as effective for purposes of determining voting power under Section 883, then we would not have any 5% Unitholders to own 50% or more of our common units. If contrary to these expectations, our 5% Unitholders were to own 50% or more of the common units, then we would not qualify for exemption under Section 883 unless we could establish that among the closely-held group of 5% Unitholders, there are sufficient 5% Unitholders that are qualified stockholders for purposes of Section 883 to preclude non-qualified 5% Unitholders in the closely-held group from owning 50% or more of our common units for more than half the number of days during the taxable year. In order to establish this, sufficient 5% Unitholders that are qualified stockholders would have to comply with certain documentation and certification requirements designed to substantiate their identity as qualified stockholders. These requirements are onerous and there can be no assurance that we would be able to satisfy them. The imposition of this taxation could have a negative effect on our business and would result in decreased earnings available for distribution payments to our unitholders. For a more detailed discussion, see Material U.S. Federal Income Tax Considerations.
United States tax authorities could treat us as a passive foreign investment company, which would have adverse United States federal income tax consequences to United States unitholders.
A non-U.S. entity treated as a corporation for United States federal income tax purposes will be treated as a passive foreign investment company (or PFIC) for U.S. federal income tax purposes if at least 75% of its gross income for any taxable year consists of passive income or at least 50% of the average value of its assets produce, or are held for the production of, passive income. For purposes of these tests, passive income includes dividends, interest, gains from the sale or exchange of investment property, and rents and royalties other than rents and royalties that are received from unrelated parties in connection with the active conduct of a trade or business. For purposes of these tests, income derived from the performance of services does not constitute passive income. U.S. shareholders of a PFIC are subject to a disadvantageous United States federal income tax regime with respect to the income derived by the PFIC, the distributions they receive from the PFIC, and the gain, if any, they derive from the sale or other disposition of their interests in the PFIC. Based on our current and projected method of operation, and on an opinion of our United States counsel, Seward & Kissel LLP, we believe that we were not a PFIC in the year ended December 31, 2013 and will not be a PFIC for any future taxable year. We have received an opinion of our United States counsel in support of this position that concludes that the income our subsidiaries earned from certain of our time-chartering activities should not constitute passive income for purposes of determining whether we are a PFIC. In addition, we have represented to our United States counsel that we expect that more than 25% of our gross income for the year ended December 31, 2013 and each future year will arise from such time-chartering activities or other income which does not constitute passive income, and more than 50% of the average value of our assets for each such year will be held for the production of such nonpassive income. Assuming the composition of our income and assets is consistent with these expectations, and assuming the accuracy of other representations we have made to our United States counsel for
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purposes of their opinion, our United States counsel is of the opinion that we should not be a PFIC for the year ended December 31, 2013 year or any future year. This opinion is based and its accuracy is conditioned on representations, valuations and projections provided by us regarding our assets, income and charters to our United States counsel. While we believe these representations, valuations and projections to be accurate, the shipping market is volatile and no assurance can be given that they will continue to be accurate at any time in the future.
While Seward & Kissel LLP, our United States counsel, has provided us with an opinion in support of our position, the conclusions reached are not free from doubt, and it is possible that the United States Internal Revenue Service, or the IRS, or a court could disagree with this position. In addition, although we intend to conduct our affairs in a manner to avoid being classified as a PFIC with respect to each taxable year, we cannot assure you that the nature of our operations will not change in the future and that we will not become a PFIC in any taxable year. If the IRS were to find that we are or have been a PFIC for any taxable year (and regardless of whether we remain a PFIC for subsequent taxable years), our U.S. unitholders would face adverse United States federal income tax consequences. See Material U.S. Federal Income Tax ConsiderationsU.S. Federal Income Taxation of U.S. HoldersPFIC Status and Significant Tax Consequences.
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We expect to receive net proceeds of approximately $ million from the sale of common units offered by this prospectus (including proceeds from the sale of General Partner Units to our General Partner to maintain its 0.1% interest in us), based on a public offering price of $ per common unit and after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and paying estimated offering expenses. We intend to use the net proceeds from this offering together with a portion of the proceeds from our New Senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility, to finance the Arctic Aurora Acquisition. In the event that the Arctic Aurora Acquisition is not consummated, the net proceeds from this offering will be used for general partnership purposes.
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The following table sets forth our consolidated capitalization as of March 31, 2014:
| On an actual basis; |
| On an as adjusted basis as of May 14, 2014, to give effect to a cash distribution of $0.365 per unit on May 12, 2014 for the three months ended March 31, 2014 that was payable to unitholders of record on May 5, 2014; |
| On an as further adjusted basis to give effect to the issuance and sale of common units in this offering at the public offering price of $ per unit and the capital contribution by our general partner to maintain its 0.1% general partner interest in us, assuming no exercise of the underwriters option to purchase additional units. |
There have been no significant adjustments to our capitalization since March 31, 2014, as so adjusted. You should read this table in conjunction with the annual audited consolidated financial statements and the related notes, Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations and Use of Proceeds included elsewhere in this prospectus.
As of March 31, 2014 | ||||||||||||
Actual | As adjusted | As further adjusted |
||||||||||
(in thousands of U.S. dollars) | ||||||||||||
Debt: |
||||||||||||
2013 Senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility |
$ | 214,085 | $ | 214,085 | $ | |||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
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Total debt obligations (including current portion): |
$ | 214,085 | $ | 214,085 | $ | |||||||
|
|
|
|
|
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Partners Equity: |
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Common unitholders: 14,985,000 units issued and outstanding as at March 31, 2014 and as adjusted and units issued and outstanding as further adjusted |
$ | 185,862 | $ | 180,392 | $ | |||||||
Subordinated unitholders: 14,985,000 units issued and outstanding as at March 31, 2014 and as adjusted and 14,985,000 units issued and outstanding as further adjusted |
77,473 | 72,003 | ||||||||||
General partner: 30,000 units issued and outstanding as at March 31, 2014, and as adjusted and units issued and outstanding as further adjusted |
155 | 145 | ||||||||||
Total Partners Equity: |
$ | 263,490 | $ | 252,540 | $ | |||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
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Total capitalization |
$ | 477,575 | $ | 466,625 | $ | |||||||
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|
|
|
|
* | The above capitalization table does not include (a) the Arctic Aurora Acquisition which is expected to be accounted for as a transaction between entities under common control, with any differences between the purchase price and the historical value at the date of acquisition be recorded in partners equity and (b) the New Senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility to be entered into at or after the closing of this offering to refinance the $214.1 million currently outstanding under our 2013 Senior Secured Revolving Facility and to fund a portion of the purchase price for the Arctic Aurora Acquisition. |
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PRICE RANGE OF OUR COMMON UNITS
Our common units started trading on NASDAQ under the symbol DLNG on November 13, 2013. The following table sets forth the high and low prices for the common units on the NASDAQ since the date of listing for the periods indicated.
For the Year Ended |
High (US$) | Low (US$) | ||||||
December 31, 2013* |
23.79 | 16.75 |
* | For the period beginning November 13, 2013 |
For the Quarter Ended: |
High (US$) | Low (US$) | ||||||
December 31, 2013* |
23.79 | 16.75 | ||||||
March 31, 2014 |
22.77 | 20.71 |
* | For the period beginning November 13, 2013 |
Most Recent Six Months: |
High (US$) | Low (US$) | ||||||
November 2013 (beginning on November 13, 2013) |
18.85 | 16.75 | ||||||
December 2013 |
23.79 | 18.25 | ||||||
January 2014 |
22.77 | 20.71 | ||||||
February 2014 |
22.74 | 20.87 | ||||||
March 2014 |
22.50 | 20.82 | ||||||
April 2014 |
22.40 | 20.85 | ||||||
May 2014 (through and including May 14, 2014) |
23.90 | 21.09 |
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OUR CASH DISTRIBUTION POLICY AND RESTRICTIONS ON DISTRIBUTIONS
You should read the following discussion of our cash distribution policy and restrictions on distributions in conjunction with specific assumptions included in this section. In addition, you should read Forward-Looking Statements and Risk Factors for information regarding statements that do not relate strictly to historical or current facts and certain risks inherent in our business.
General
Rationale for Our Cash Distribution Policy
Our cash distribution policy reflects a judgment that our unitholders will be better served by our distributing our available cash rather than retaining it because, in general, we plan to finance any expansion capital expenditures from external financing sources. Our cash distribution policy is consistent with the terms of our Partnership Agreement, which requires that we distribute all of our available cash quarterly. Available cash is generally defined to mean, for each quarter cash generated from our business less the amount of cash reserves established by our Board of Directors at the date of determination of available cash for the quarter to provide for the proper conduct of our business (including reserves for our future capital expenditures and anticipated future credit needs subsequent to that quarter), comply with applicable law, any of our debt instruments or other agreements; and provide funds for distributions to our unitholders and to our General Partner for any one or more of the next four quarters, plus, if our Board of Directors so determines, all or any portion of the cash on hand on the date of determination of available cash for the quarter resulting from working capital borrowings made subsequent to the end of such quarter.
Limitations on Cash Distributions and Our Ability to Change Our Cash Distribution Policy
There is no guarantee that unitholders will receive quarterly distributions from us. Our cash distribution policy is subject to certain restrictions and may be changed at any time. Set forth below are certain factors that influence our cash distribution policy:
| Our unitholders have no contractual or other legal right to receive distributions other than the obligation under our Partnership Agreement to distribute available cash on a quarterly basis, which is subject to the broad discretion of our Board of Directors to establish reserves and other limitations. |
| We are subject to restrictions on distributions under our existing financing arrangements as well as under any new financing arrangements that we may enter into in the future. Our financing arrangements contain financial and other covenants that must be satisfied prior to paying distributions in order to declare and pay such distributions. If we are unable to satisfy the requirements contained in any of our financing arrangements or are otherwise in default under any of those agreements, it could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and our ability to make cash distributions to you notwithstanding our cash distribution policy. See Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of OperationsLiquidity and Capital Resources for a discussion of the financial and other covenants contained in our debt agreements. |
| We are required to make substantial capital expenditures to maintain and replace our fleet. These expenditures may fluctuate significantly over time, particularly as our vessels near the end of their useful lives. In order to minimize these fluctuations, our Partnership Agreement requires us to deduct estimated, as opposed to actual, maintenance and replacement capital expenditures from the amount of cash that we would otherwise have available for distribution to our unitholders. In years when estimated maintenance and replacement capital expenditures are higher than actual maintenance and replacement capital expenditures, the amount of cash available for distribution to unitholders will be lower than if actual maintenance and replacement capital expenditures were deducted. |
| Although our Partnership Agreement requires us to distribute all of our available cash, our Partnership Agreement, including provisions contained therein requiring us to make cash distributions may be |
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amended. During the subordination period, with certain exceptions, our Partnership Agreement may not be amended without the approval of non-affiliated common unitholders. After the subordination period has ended, our Partnership Agreement may be amended with the approval of a majority of the outstanding common units, including those held by our Sponsor . Our Sponsor owns approximately 4.1% of our common units and all of our subordinated units. See The Partnership AgreementAmendment of the Partnership Agreement . |
| Even if our cash distribution policy is not modified or revoked, the amount of distributions we pay under our cash distribution policy and the decision to make any distribution is determined by our Board of Directors, taking into consideration the terms of our Partnership Agreement. |
| Under Section 57 of the Marshall Islands Act, we may not make a distribution to you if the distribution would cause our liabilities to exceed the fair value of our assets. |
| We may lack sufficient cash to pay distributions to our unitholders due to decreases in total operating revenues, decreases in hire rates, the loss of a vessel or increases in operating or general and administrative expenses, principal and interest payments on outstanding debt, taxes, working capital requirements, maintenance and replacement capital expenditures, or anticipated cash needs. See Risk Factors for a discussion of these factors. |
Our ability to make distributions to our unitholders depends on the performance of our subsidiaries and their ability to distribute cash to us. The ability of our subsidiaries to make distributions to us may be restricted by, among other things, the provisions of existing and future indebtedness, applicable limited partnership and limited liability company laws in the Marshall Islands and other laws and regulations.
Distributions of Available Cash
General
Within 45 days after the end of each quarter, we will distribute all of our available cash (defined below) to unitholders of record on the applicable record date.
Definition of Available Cash
Available cash generally means, for each fiscal quarter, all cash on hand at the end of the quarter (including our proportionate share of cash on hand of certain subsidiaries we do not wholly own):
| less, the amount of cash reserves established by our Board of Directors at the date of determination of available cash for the quarter to: |
| provide for the proper conduct of our business (including reserves for our future capital expenditures and anticipated future credit needs subsequent to that quarter); |
| comply with applicable law, any of our debt instruments or other agreements; and |
| provide funds for distributions to our unitholders and to our General Partner for any one or more of the next four quarters; |
| plus, all cash on hand (including our proportionate share of cash on hand of certain subsidiaries we do not wholly own) on the date of determination of available cash for the quarter resulting from (1) working capital borrowings made after the end of the quarter and (2) cash distributions received after the end of the quarter from any equity interest in any person (other than a subsidiary of us), which distributions are paid by such person in respect of operations conducted by such person during such quarter. Working capital borrowings are generally borrowings that are made under a revolving credit facility and in all cases are used solely for working capital purposes or to pay distributions to partners. |
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Intent to Distribute the Minimum Quarterly Distribution
We intend to distribute to the holders of common units and subordinated units on a quarterly basis at least the minimum quarterly distribution of $0.365 per unit, or $1.46 per unit on an annualized basis, to the extent we have sufficient cash from our operations after the establishment of cash reserves and the payment of costs and expenses, including reimbursements of expenses to our General Partner.
If the Arctic Aurora Acquisition is consummated, our management intends to recommend to our Board of Directors an increase in our quarterly cash distribution of between $0.0225 and $0.0275 (an annualized increase of between $0.09 and $0.11 per unit), which would become effective on a pro-rata basis giving effect to the Arctic Aurora Acquisition for our distribution with respect to the quarter ending June 30, 2014. Any such increase would be conditioned upon, among other things, the closing of the Arctic Aurora Acquisition, the approval of such increase by our Board of Directors and the absence of any material adverse developments or potentially attractive opportunities that would make such an increase inadvisable.
There is no guarantee that we will pay the minimum quarterly distribution on the common units and subordinated units in any quarter. Even if our cash distribution policy is not modified or revoked, the amount of distributions paid under our policy and the decision to make any distribution is determined by our Board of Directors, taking into consideration the terms of our Partnership Agreement. We are prohibited from making any distributions to unitholders if it would cause an event of default, or an event of default then exists, under our financing arrangements. See Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of OperationsLiquidity and Capital Resources for a discussion of the restrictions contained in our credit facilities that may restrict our ability to make distributions.
Operating Surplus and Capital Surplus
General
All cash distributed to unitholders will be characterized as either operating surplus or capital surplus. We treat distributions of available cash from operating surplus differently than distributions of available cash from capital surplus.
Definition of Operating Surplus
Operating surplus for any period generally means:
| $27,000,000; plus |
| all of our cash receipts (including our proportionate share of cash receipts of certain subsidiaries we do not wholly own; and provided, that cash receipts from the termination of an interest rate, currency or commodity hedge contract prior to its specified termination date will be included in operating surplus in equal quarterly installments over the remaining scheduled life of such hedge contract), excluding cash from (1) borrowings, other than working capital borrowings, (2) sales of equity and debt securities, (3) sales or other dispositions of assets outside the ordinary course of business, (4) capital contributions or (5) corporate reorganizations or restructurings; plus |
| working capital borrowings (including our proportionate share of working capital borrowings for certain subsidiaries we do not wholly own) made after the end of a quarter but before the date of determination of operating surplus for the quarter; plus |
| interest paid on debt incurred (including periodic net payments under related hedge contracts) and cash distributions paid on equity securities issued (including the amount of any incremental distributions made to the holders of our incentive distribution rights and our proportionate share of such interest and cash distributions paid by certain subsidiaries we do not wholly own), in each case, to finance all or any |
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portion of the construction, replacement or improvement of a capital asset (such as a vessel) in respect of the period from such financing until the earlier to occur of the date the capital asset is put into service or the date that it is abandoned or disposed of; plus |
| interest paid on debt incurred (including periodic net payments under related hedge contracts) and cash distributions paid on equity securities issued (including the amount of any incremental distributions made to the holders of our incentive distribution rights and our proportionate share of such interest and cash distributions paid by certain subsidiaries we do not wholly own), in each case, to pay the construction period interest on debt incurred (including periodic net payments under related interest rate swap agreements), or to pay construction period distributions on equity issued, to finance the construction projects described in the immediately preceding bullet; less |
| all of our operating expenditures (which includes estimated maintenance and replacement capital expenditures and is further described below) of us and our subsidiaries (including our proportionate share of operating expenditures by certain subsidiaries we do not wholly own); less |
| the amount of cash reserves (including our proportionate share of cash reserves for certain subsidiaries we do not wholly own) established by our Board of Directors to provide funds for future operating expenditures; less |
| any cash loss realized on dispositions of assets acquired using investment capital expenditures; less |
| all working capital borrowings (including our proportionate share of working capital borrowings by certain subsidiaries we do not wholly own) not repaid within twelve months after having been incurred. |
If a working capital borrowing, which increases operating surplus, is not repaid during the 12-month period following the borrowing, it will be deemed repaid at the end of such period, thus decreasing operating surplus at such time. When such working capital borrowing is in fact repaid, it will not be treated as a reduction in operating surplus because operating surplus will have been previously reduced by the deemed repayment.
As described above, operating surplus includes a provision that will enable us, if we choose, to distribute as operating surplus up to $27,000,000 of cash we receive in the future from non-operating sources, such as asset sales, issuances of securities and long-term borrowings, that would otherwise be distributed as capital surplus. In addition, the effect of including, as described above, certain cash distributions on equity securities or interest payments on debt in operating surplus would be to increase operating surplus by the amount of any such cash distributions or interest payments. As a result, we may also distribute as operating surplus up to the amount of any such cash distributions or interest payments of cash we receive from non-operating sources.
Operating expenditures generally means all of our cash expenditures, including, but not limited to taxes, employee and director compensation, reimbursement of expenses to our General Partner, repayment of working capital borrowings, debt service payments and payments made under any interest rate, currency or commodity hedge contracts (provided that payments made in connection with the termination of any hedge contract prior to the expiration of its stipulated settlement or termination date shall be included in operating expenditures in equal quarterly installments over the remaining scheduled life of such hedge contract), provided that operating expenditures will not include:
| deemed repayments of working capital borrowings deducted from operating surplus pursuant to the last bullet point of the definition of operating surplus above when such repayment actually occurs; |
| payments (including prepayments and payment penalties) of principal of and premium on indebtedness, other than working capital borrowings; |
| expansion capital expenditures, investment capital expenditures or actual maintenance and replacement capital expenditures (which are discussed in further detail under Capital Expenditures below); |
| payment of transaction expenses (including taxes) relating to interim capital transactions; or |
| distributions to partners. |
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Capital Expenditures
For purposes of determining operating surplus, maintenance and replacement capital expenditures are those capital expenditures required to maintain over the long-term the operating capacity of or the revenue generated by our capital assets, and expansion capital expenditures are those capital expenditures that increase the operating capacity of or the revenue generated by our capital assets. In our Partnership Agreement, we refer to these maintenance and replacement capital expenditures as maintenance capital expenditures. To the extent, however, that capital expenditures associated with acquiring a new vessel or improving an existing vessel increase the revenues or the operating capacity of our fleet, those capital expenditures would be classified as expansion capital expenditures.
Investment capital expenditures are those capital expenditures that are neither maintenance and replacement capital expenditures nor expansion capital expenditures. Investment capital expenditures largely will consist of capital expenditures made for investment purposes. Examples of investment capital expenditures include traditional capital expenditures for investment purposes, such as purchases of equity securities, as well as other capital expenditures that might be made in lieu of such traditional investment capital expenditures, such as the acquisition of a capital asset for investment purposes.
Examples of maintenance and replacement capital expenditures include capital expenditures associated with dry-docking, modifying an existing vessel or acquiring a new vessel to the extent such expenditures are incurred to maintain the operating capacity of or the revenue generated by our fleet. Maintenance and replacement capital expenditures will also include interest (and related fees) on debt incurred and distributions on equity issued (including the amount of any incremental distributions made to the holders of our incentive distribution rights) to finance the construction of a replacement vessel and paid in respect of the construction period, which we define as the period beginning on the date that we enter into a binding construction contract and ending on the earlier of the date that the replacement vessel commences commercial service or the date that the replacement vessel is abandoned or disposed of. Debt incurred to pay or equity issued to fund construction period interest payments, and distributions on such equity (including the amount of any incremental distributions made to the holders of our incentive distribution rights), will also be considered maintenance and replacement capital expenditures.
Because our maintenance and replacement capital expenditures can be very large and vary significantly in timing, the amount of our actual maintenance and replacement capital expenditures may differ substantially from period to period, which could cause similar fluctuations in the amounts of operating surplus, adjusted operating surplus, and available cash for distribution to our unitholders if we subtracted actual maintenance and replacement capital expenditures from operating surplus each quarter. Accordingly, to eliminate the effect on operating surplus of these fluctuations, our Partnership Agreement requires that an amount equal to an estimate of the average quarterly maintenance and replacement capital expenditures necessary to maintain the operating capacity of or the revenue generated by our capital assets over the long-term be subtracted from operating surplus each quarter, as opposed to the actual amounts spent. In our Partnership Agreement, we refer to these estimated maintenance and replacement capital expenditures to be subtracted from operating surplus as estimated maintenance capital expenditures. The amount of estimated maintenance and replacement capital expenditures deducted from operating surplus is subject to review and change by our Board of Directors at least once a year, provided that any change must be approved by our conflicts committee. The estimate will be made at least annually and whenever an event occurs that is likely to result in a material adjustment to the amount of our maintenance and replacement capital expenditures, such as a major acquisition or the introduction of new governmental regulations that will affect our fleet. For purposes of calculating operating surplus, any adjustment to this estimate will be prospective only. For a discussion of the amounts we have allocated toward estimated maintenance and replacement capital expenditures, see Our Cash Distribution Policy and Restrictions on Distributions.
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The use of estimated maintenance and replacement capital expenditures in calculating operating surplus has the following effects:
| reduces the risk that actual maintenance and replacement capital expenditures in any one quarter will be large enough to make operating surplus less than the minimum quarterly distribution to be paid on all the units for that quarter and subsequent quarters; |
| it may reduce the need for us to borrow to pay distributions; |
| it may be difficult for us to raise our distribution above the minimum quarterly distribution and pay incentive distributions to our General Partner; and |
| it reduces the likelihood that a large maintenance and replacement capital expenditure in a period will prevent our Sponsor from being able to convert some or all of its subordinated units into common units since the effect of an estimate is to spread the expected expense over several periods, mitigating the effect of the actual payment of the expenditure on any single period. |
Definition of Capital Surplus
Capital surplus generally will be generated only by:
| borrowings other than working capital borrowings; |
| sales of debt and equity securities; and |
| sales or other dispositions of assets for cash, other than inventory, accounts receivable and other current assets sold in the ordinary course of business or non-current assets sold as part of normal retirements or replacements of assets. |
Characterization of Cash Distributions
We treat all available cash distributed on our common and subordinated units as coming from operating surplus until the sum of all available cash distributed since we began operations equals the operating surplus as of the most recent date of determination of available cash. We treat any amount distributed in excess of operating surplus, regardless of its source, as capital surplus. As described above, operating surplus does not reflect actual cash on hand that is available for distribution to our unitholders. For example, it includes a provision that enables us, if we choose, to distribute as operating surplus up to $27,000,000 of cash we receive in the future from non-operating sources, such as asset sales, issuances of securities and long-term borrowings, that would otherwise be distributed as capital surplus. We do not anticipate that we will make any distributions from capital surplus.
Subordination Period
General
During the subordination period, the common units will have the right to receive distributions of available cash from operating surplus in an amount equal to the minimum quarterly distribution of $0.365 per unit, plus any arrearages in the payment of the minimum quarterly distribution on the common units from prior quarters, before any distributions of available cash from operating surplus may be made on the subordinated units. Distribution arrearages do not accrue on the subordinated units. The purpose of the subordinated units is to increase the likelihood that during the subordination period there will be available cash from operating surplus to be distributed on the common units.
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Definition of Subordination Period
The subordination period will extend until the second business day following the distribution of available cash from operating surplus in respect of any quarter, ending on or after December 31, 2016, that each of the following tests are met:
| distributions of available cash from operating surplus on each of the outstanding common units and subordinated units equaled or exceeded the minimum quarterly distribution for each of the three consecutive, non-overlapping four-quarter periods immediately preceding that date; |
| the adjusted operating surplus (as defined below) generated during each of the three consecutive, non-overlapping four-quarter periods immediately preceding that date equaled or exceeded the sum of the minimum quarterly distributions on all of the outstanding common units and subordinated units during those periods on a fully diluted weighted average basis and the related distribution on the 0.1% General Partner interest during those periods; and |
| there are no outstanding arrearages in payment of the minimum quarterly distribution on the common units. |
If the unitholders remove our General Partner without cause, the subordination period may end before December 31, 2016.
For purposes of determining whether the tests in the bullets above have been met, the three consecutive four-quarter periods for which the determination is being made may include one or more quarters with respect to which arrearages in the payment of the minimum quarterly distribution on the common units have accrued, provided that all such arrearages have been repaid prior to the end of each such four-quarter period. If the expiration of the subordination period occurs as a result of us having met the tests described above, each outstanding subordinated unit will convert into one common unit and will then participate pro rata with the other common units in distributions of available cash.
In addition, at any time on or after December 31, 2016, provided that there are no outstanding arrearages in payment of the minimum quarterly distribution on the common units and subject to approval by our conflicts committee, the holder or holders of a majority of our outstanding subordinated units will have the option to convert each subordinated unit into a number of common units determined by multiplying the number of outstanding subordinated units to be converted by a fraction, (i) the numerator of which is equal to the aggregate amount of distributions of available cash from operating surplus (not to exceed adjusted operating surplus) on the outstanding subordinated units (historical distributions) for the four fiscal quarters preceding the date of conversion (the measurement period) and (ii) the denominator of which is equal to the aggregate amount of distributions that would have been required during the measurement period to pay the minimum quarterly distribution on all outstanding subordinated units during such four-quarter period; provided, that if the forecasted distributions to be paid from forecasted operating surplus (not to exceed forecasted adjusted operating surplus) on the outstanding subordinated units for the four fiscal quarter period immediately following the measurement period (forecasted distributions), as determined by our conflicts committee, is less than historical distributions, then the numerator shall be forecasted distributions; provided, further, however, that the subordinated units may not convert into common units at a ratio that is greater than one-to-one. If the option to convert the subordinated units into common units is exercised as described above, the outstanding subordinated units will convert into the prescribed number of common units and will then participate pro rata with other common units in distributions of available cash.
Definition of Adjusted Operating Surplus
Operating surplus for any period generally means:
| operating surplus generated with respect to that period (excluding any amounts attributable to the item described in the first bullet point under Operating Surplus and Capital SurplusDefinition of Operating Surplus above); less |
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| the amount of any net increase in working capital borrowings (including our proportionate share of any changes in working capital borrowings of certain subsidiaries we do not wholly own) with respect to that period; less |
| the amount of any net reduction in cash reserves for operating expenditures (including our proportionate share of cash reserves of certain subsidiaries we do not wholly own) over that period not relating to an operating expenditure made during that period; plus |
| the amount of any net decrease in working capital borrowings (including our proportionate share of any changes in working capital borrowings of certain subsidiaries we do not wholly own) with respect to that period; plus |
| the amount of any net increase in cash reserves for operating expenditures (including our proportionate share of cash reserves of certain subsidiaries we do not wholly own) over that period required by any debt instrument for the repayment of principal, interest or premium; plus |
| the amount of any net decrease made in subsequent periods to cash reserves for operating expenditures initially established with respect to such period to the extent such decrease results in a reduction in adjusted operating surplus in subsequent periods |
Adjusted operating surplus is intended to reflect the cash generated from operations during a particular period and therefore excludes net increases in working capital borrowings and net drawdowns of reserves of cash generated in prior periods.
Effect of Removal of Our General Partner on the Subordination Period
If the unitholders remove our General Partner other than for cause and units held by our General Partner and its affiliates are not voted in favor of such removal:
| the subordination period will end and each subordinated unit will immediately convert into one common unit and will then participate pro rata with the other common units in distributions of available cash; |
| any existing arrearages in payment of the minimum quarterly distribution on the common units will be extinguished; and |
| our General Partner will have the right to convert its General Partner interest and its incentive distribution rights into common units or to receive cash in exchange for that interest. |
Distributions of Available Cash From Operating Surplus During the Subordination Period
We will make distributions of available cash from operating surplus for any quarter during the subordination period in the following manner:
| first, 99.9% to the common unitholders, pro rata, and 0.1% to our General Partner, until we distribute for each outstanding common unit an amount equal to the minimum quarterly distribution for that quarter; |
| second, 99.9% to the common unitholders, pro rata, and 0.1% to our General Partner, until we distribute for each outstanding common unit an amount equal to any arrearages in payment of the minimum quarterly distribution on the common units for any prior quarters during the subordination period; |
| third, 99.9% to the subordinated unitholders, pro rata, and 0.1% to our General Partner, until we distribute for each subordinated unit an amount equal to the minimum quarterly distribution for that quarter; and |
| thereafter, in the manner described in General Partner Interest and Incentive Distribution Rights below. |
The preceding paragraph is based on the assumption that our General Partner maintains its 0.1% General Partner interest and that we do not issue additional classes of equity securities.
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Distributions of Available Cash From Operating Surplus After the Subordination Period
We will make distributions of available cash from operating surplus for any quarter after the subordination period in the following manner:
| first, 99.9% to all unitholders, pro rata, and 0.1% to our General Partner, until we distribute for each outstanding unit an amount equal to the minimum quarterly distribution for that quarter; and |
| thereafter, in the manner described in General Partner Interest and Incentive Distribution Rights below. |
The preceding paragraph is based on the assumption that our General Partner maintains its 0.1% General Partner interest and that we do not issue additional classes of equity securities.
General Partner Interest
Our Partnership Agreement provides that our General Partner initially will be entitled to 0.1% of all distributions that we make prior to our liquidation. Our General Partner has the right, but not the obligation, to contribute a proportionate amount of capital to us to maintain its 0.1% General Partner interest if we issue additional units. Our General Partners 0.1% interest, and the percentage of our cash distributions to which it is entitled, will be proportionately reduced if we issue additional units in the future and our General Partner does not contribute a proportionate amount of capital to us in order to maintain its 0.1% General Partner interest. Our General Partner will be entitled to make a capital contribution in order to maintain its 0.1% General Partner interest in the form of the contribution to us of common units based on the current market value of the contributed common units.
Incentive Distribution Rights
Incentive distribution rights represent the right to receive an increasing percentage of quarterly distributions of available cash from operating surplus after the minimum quarterly distribution and the target distribution levels have been achieved. Our General Partner currently holds the incentive distribution rights. The incentive distribution rights may be transferred separately from our General Partner interest, subject to restrictions in the Partnership Agreement. Except for transfers of incentive distribution rights to an affiliate or another entity as part of our General Partners merger or consolidation with or into, or sale of substantially all of its assets to such entity, the approval of a majority of our common units (excluding common units held by our General Partner and its affiliates), voting separately as a class, generally is required for a transfer of the incentive distribution rights to a third party prior to December 31, 2016. See The Partnership AgreementTransfer of Incentive Distribution Rights. Any transfer by our General Partner of the incentive distribution rights would not change the percentage allocations of quarterly distributions with respect to such rights.
If for any quarter:
| we have distributed available cash from operating surplus to the common and subordinated unitholders in an amount equal to the minimum quarterly distribution; and |
| we have distributed available cash from operating surplus on outstanding common units in an amount necessary to eliminate any cumulative arrearages in payment of the minimum quarterly distribution; |
then, we will distribute any additional available cash from operating surplus for that quarter among the unitholders and our General Partner in the following manner:
| first, 99.9% to all unitholders, pro rata, and 0.1% to our General Partner, until each unitholder receives a total of $0.420 per unit for that quarter (the first target distribution); |
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| second, 85.0% to all unitholders, pro rata, 0.1% to our General Partner and 14.9% to the holders of the incentive distribution rights, pro rata, until each unitholder receives a total of $0.456 per unit for that quarter (the second target distribution); |
| third, 75.0% to all unitholders, pro rata, 0.1% to our General Partner and 24.9% to the holders of the incentive distribution rights, pro rata, until each unitholder receives a total of $0.548 per unit for that quarter (the third target distribution); and |
| thereafter, 50.0% to all unitholders, pro rata, 0.1% to our General Partner and 49.9% to the holders of the incentive distribution rights, pro rata. |
In each case, the amount of the target distribution set forth above is exclusive of any distributions to common unitholders to eliminate any cumulative arrearages in payment of the minimum quarterly distribution. The percentage interests set forth above assume that our General Partner maintains its 0.1% General Partner interest and that we do not issue additional classes of equity securities.
Percentage Allocations of Available Cash From Operating Surplus
The following table illustrates the percentage allocations of the additional available cash from operating surplus among the unitholders, our General Partner and the holders of the incentive distribution rights up to the various target distribution levels. The amounts set forth under Marginal Percentage Interest in Distributions are the percentage interests of the unitholders, our General Partner and the holders of the incentive distribution rights in any available cash from operating surplus we distribute up to and including the corresponding amount in the column Total Quarterly Distribution Target Amount, until available cash from operating surplus we distribute reaches the next target distribution level, if any. The percentage interests shown for the unitholders, our General Partner and the holders of the incentive distribution rights for the minimum quarterly distribution are also applicable to quarterly distribution amounts that are less than the minimum quarterly distribution. The percentage interests shown for our General Partner include its 0.1% General Partner interest only and assume that our General Partner has contributed any capital necessary to maintain its 0.1% General Partner interest.
Marginal Percentage Interest in Distributions |
||||||||||||||
Total Quarterly |
Unitholders | General Partner |
Holders of IDRs |
|||||||||||
Minimum Quarterly Distribution |
$0.365 | 99.9 | % | 0.1 | % | 0.0 | % | |||||||
First Target Distribution |
up to $0.420 | 99.9 | % | 0.1 | % | 0.0 | % | |||||||
Second Target Distribution |
above $0.420 up to $0.456 | 85.0 | % | 0.1 | % | 14.9 | % | |||||||
Third Target Distribution |
Above $0.456 up to $0.548 | 75.0 | % | 0.1 | % | 24.9 | % | |||||||
Thereafter |
above $0.548 | 50.0 | % | 0.1 | % | 49.9 | % |
General Partners Right to Reset Incentive Distribution Levels
Our General Partner, as the initial holder of all of our incentive distribution rights, has the right under our Partnership Agreement to elect to relinquish the right of the holders of our incentive distribution rights to receive incentive distribution payments based on the initial cash target distribution levels and to reset, at higher levels, the minimum quarterly distribution amount and cash target distribution levels upon which the incentive distribution payments to our General Partner would be set. Our General Partners right to reset the minimum quarterly distribution amount and the target distribution levels upon which the incentive distributions payable to our General Partner are based may be exercised, without approval of our unitholders or the conflicts committee of our Board of Directors, at any time when there are no subordinated units outstanding and we have made cash distributions to the holders of the incentive distribution rights at the highest level of incentive distribution for each of the prior four consecutive fiscal quarters. If at the time of any election to reset the minimum quarterly distribution amount and the target distribution levels our General Partner and its affiliates are not the holders of a
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majority of the incentive distribution rights, then any such election to reset shall be subject to the prior written concurrence of our General Partner that the conditions described in the immediately preceding sentence have been satisfied. The reset minimum quarterly distribution amount and target distribution levels will be higher than the minimum quarterly distribution amount and the target distribution levels prior to the reset such that there will be no incentive distributions paid under the reset target distribution levels until cash distributions per unit following this event increase as described below. We anticipate that our General Partner would exercise this reset right in order to facilitate acquisitions or internal growth projects that would otherwise not be sufficiently accretive to cash distributions per common unit, taking into account the existing levels of incentive distribution payments being made to our General Partner.
In connection with the resetting of the minimum quarterly distribution amount and the target distribution levels and the corresponding relinquishment by our General Partner of incentive distribution payments based on the target cash distributions prior to the reset, our General Partner will be entitled to receive a number of newly issued common units based on a predetermined formula described below that takes into account the cash parity value of the average cash distributions related to the incentive distribution rights received by our General Partner for the two quarters prior to the reset event as compared to the average cash distributions per common unit during this period. We will also issue an additional amount of General Partner Units in order to maintain the General Partners ownership interest in us relative to the issuance of the additional common units.
The number of common units that our General Partner would be entitled to receive from us in connection with a resetting of the minimum quarterly distribution amount and the target distribution levels then in effect would be equal to (x) the average amount of cash distributions received by our General Partner in respect of its incentive distribution rights during the two consecutive fiscal quarters ended immediately prior to the date of such reset election divided by (y) the average of the amount of cash distributed per common unit during each of these two quarters. The issuance of the additional common units will be conditioned upon approval of the listing or admission for trading of such common units by the national securities exchange on which the common units are then listed or admitted for trading.
Following a reset election, the minimum quarterly distribution amount will be reset to an amount equal to the average cash distribution amount per unit for the two fiscal quarters immediately preceding the reset election (such amount is referred to as the reset minimum quarterly distribution) and the target distribution levels will be reset to be correspondingly higher such that we would distribute all of our available cash from operating surplus for each quarter thereafter as follows:
| first, 99.9% to all unitholders, pro rata, and 0.1% to our General Partner, until each unitholder receives an amount equal to 115.0% of the reset minimum quarterly distribution for that quarter; |
| second, 85.0% to all unitholders, pro rata, 0.1% to our General Partner and 14.9% to the holders of the incentive distribution rights, pro rata, until each unitholder receives an amount per unit equal to 125.0% of the reset minimum quarterly distribution for the quarter; |
| third, 75.0% to all unitholders, pro rata, 0.1% to our General Partner, and 24.9% to the holders of the incentive distribution rights, pro rata, until each unitholder receives an amount per unit equal to 150% of the reset minimum quarterly distribution for the quarter; and |
| thereafter, 50.0% to all unitholders, pro rata, 0.1% to our General Partner and 49.9% to the holders of the incentive distribution rights, pro rata. |
Assuming that it continues to hold a majority of our incentive distribution rights, our General Partner will be entitled to cause the minimum quarterly distribution amount and the target distribution levels to be reset on more than one occasion, provided that it may not make a reset election except at a time when the holders of the incentive distribution rights have received incentive distributions for the prior four consecutive fiscal quarters based on the highest level of incentive distributions that the holders of incentive distribution rights are entitled to receive under our Partnership Agreement.
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Distributions From Capital Surplus
How Distributions From Capital Surplus Will Be Made
We will make distributions of available cash from capital surplus, if any, in the following manner:
| first, 99.9% to all unitholders, pro rata, and 0.1% to our General Partner, until the minimum quarterly distribution is reduced to zero, as described below; |
| second, 99.9% to the common unitholders, pro rata, and 0.1% to our General Partner, until we distribute for each common unit, an amount of available cash from capital surplus equal to any unpaid arrearages in payment of the minimum quarterly distribution on the common units; and |
| thereafter, we will make all distributions of available cash from capital surplus as if they were from operating surplus. |
The preceding paragraph is based on the assumption that our General Partner maintains its 0.1% General Partner interest and that we do not issue additional classes of equity securities.
Effect of a Distribution from Capital Surplus
The Partnership Agreement treats a distribution of capital surplus as the repayment of the consideration for the issuance of the units, which is a return of capital. Each time a distribution of capital surplus is made, the minimum quarterly distribution and the target distribution levels will be reduced in the same proportion as the distribution had to the fair market value of the common units prior to the announcement of the distribution. Because distributions of capital surplus will reduce the minimum quarterly distribution, after any of these distributions are made, it may be easier for our General Partner to receive incentive distributions and for the subordinated units to convert into common units. However, any distribution of capital surplus before the minimum quarterly distribution is reduced to zero cannot be applied to the payment of the minimum quarterly distribution or any arrearages.
Once we reduce the minimum quarterly distribution and the target distribution levels to zero, we will then make all future distributions 50% to the holders of units, 0.1% to our General Partner and 49.9% to the holders of the incentive distribution rights (initially, our General Partner). The 0.1% interests shown for our General Partner assumes that our General Partner maintains its 0.1% General Partner interest.
Adjustment to the Minimum Quarterly Distribution and Target Distribution Levels
In addition to adjusting the minimum quarterly distribution and target distribution levels to reflect a distribution of capital surplus, if we combine our units into fewer units or subdivide our units into a greater number of units, we will proportionately adjust:
| the minimum quarterly distribution; |
| the target distribution levels; and |
| the initial unit price. |
For example, if a two-for-one split of the common and subordinated units should occur, the minimum quarterly distribution, the target distribution levels and the initial unit price, would each be reduced to 50% of its initial level. If we combine our common units into a lesser number of units or subdivide our common units into a greater number of units, we will combine our subordinated units or subdivide our subordinated units, using the same ratio applied to the common units. We will not make any adjustment by reason of the issuance of additional units for cash or property.
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Distributions of Cash Upon Liquidation
If we dissolve in accordance with the Partnership Agreement, we will sell or otherwise dispose of our assets in a process called liquidation. We will apply the proceeds of liquidation in the manner set forth below. If, as of the date three trading days prior to the announcement of the proposed liquidation, the average closing price for our common units for the preceding 20 trading days (or the current market price) is greater than the sum of:
| any arrearages in payment of the minimum quarterly distribution on the common units for any prior quarters during the subordination period; |
| the minimum quarterly distribution; |
then the proceeds of the liquidation will be applied as follows:
| first, 99.9% to the common unitholders, pro rata, and 0.1% to our General Partner, until we distribute for each outstanding common unit an amount equal to the current market price of our common units; |
| second, 99.9% to the subordinated unitholders, pro rata, and 0.1% to our General Partner, until we distribute for each subordinated unit an amount equal to the current market price of our common units; and |
| thereafter, 50.0% to all unitholders, pro rata, 49.9% to holders of incentive distribution rights and 0.1% to our General Partner. |
If, as of the date three trading days prior to the announcement of the proposed liquidation, the current market price of our common units is equal to or less than the sum of:
| any arrearages in payment of the minimum quarterly distribution on the common units for any prior quarters during the subordination period; plus |
| the initial unit price (less any prior capital surplus distributions and any prior cash distributions made in connection with a partial liquidation); |
then the proceeds of the liquidation will be applied as follows:
| first, 99.9% to the common unitholders, pro rata, and 0.1% to our General Partner, until we distribute for each outstanding common unit an amount equal to the initial unit price (less any prior capital surplus distributions and any prior cash distributions made in connection with a partial liquidation); |
| second, 99.9% to the common unitholders, pro rata, and 0.1% to our General Partner, until we distribute for each outstanding common unit an amount equal to any arrearages in payment of the minimum quarterly distribution on the common units for any prior quarters during the subordination period; |
| third, 99.9% to the subordinated unitholders and 0.1% to our General Partner, until we distribute for each outstanding subordinated unit an amount equal to the initial unit price (less any prior capital surplus distributions and any prior cash distributions made in connection with a partial liquidation); and |
| thereafter, 50.0% to all unitholders, pro rata, 49.9% to holders of incentive distribution rights and 0.1% to our General Partner. |
The immediately preceding paragraph is based on the assumption that our General Partner maintains its 0.1% General Partner interest and that we do not issue additional classes of equity securities.
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SELECTED HISTORICAL CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL AND OPERATING DATA
The following table summarizes our selected historical consolidated financial and other operating data. Our historical consolidated financial statements have been prepared according to a transaction that constitutes a reorganization of companies under common control and has been accounted for in a manner similar to a pooling of interests, as the Sponsor Controlled Companies were indirectly wholly-owned by the Prokopiou family prior to the transfer of ownership of these companies to us. Accordingly, our financial statements have been presented, giving retroactive effect to the transaction described above, using consolidated financial historical carrying costs of the assets and liabilities of Dynagas LNG Partners and the Sponsor Controlled Companies as if Dynagas LNG Partners and the Sponsor Controlled Companies were consolidated for all periods presented.
The selected historical consolidated financial data in the table as of December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011 and for the years then ended are derived from our audited consolidated financial statements which have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (U.S. GAAP). The following financial data should be read in conjunction with Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, and our consolidated financial statements and the notes thereto included elsewhere in this prospectus.
Our financial position, results of operations and cash flows could differ from those that would have resulted if we operated autonomously or as an entity independent of our Sponsor in the periods prior to our IPO for which historical financial data are presented below, and such data may not be indicative of our future operating results or financial performance.
Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||
2013 | 2012 | 2011 | ||||||||||
(In thousands of U.S. Dollars, except for unit and per unit data) |
||||||||||||
Income Statement Data |
||||||||||||
Voyage revenues |
$ | 85,679 | $ | 77,498 | $ | 52,547 | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||
Voyage expenses(1) |
(1,686 | ) | (3,468 | ) | (1,353 | ) | ||||||
Vessel operating expenses |
(11,909 | ) | (15,722 | ) | (11,350 | ) | ||||||
General and administrative expenses |
(387 | ) | (278 | ) | (54 | ) | ||||||
Management fees |
(2,737 | ) | (2,638 | ) | (2,529 | ) | ||||||
Depreciation |
(13,579 | ) | (13,616 | ) | (13,579 | ) | ||||||
Dry-docking and special survey costs |
| (2,109 | ) | | ||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
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Operating income |
$ | 55,381 | $ | 39,667 | $ | 23,682 | ||||||
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|
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|
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Interest income |
| 1 | 4 | |||||||||
Interest and finance costs |
(9,732 | ) | (9,576 | ) | (3,977 | ) | ||||||
Loss on derivative financial instruments |
| (196 | ) | (824 | ) | |||||||
Other, net |
(29 | ) | (60 | ) | (65 | ) | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
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Net Income |
$ | 45,620 | $ | 29,836 | $ | 18,820 | ||||||
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|
|
|
|
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Earnings per unit (basic and diluted): |
||||||||||||
Common Units (basic and diluted) |
$ | 2.95 | $ | 1.37 | $ | 0.87 | ||||||
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|
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|
|
|
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Subordinated Units (basic and diluted) |
$ | 1.52 | $ | 1.37 | $ | 0.87 | ||||||
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|
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General Partner Units (basic and diluted): |
$ | 1.52 | $ | 1.37 | $ | 0.87 | ||||||
|
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|
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Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||
2013 | 2012 | 2011 | ||||||||||
(In thousands of U.S. Dollars, except for unit and per unit data) |
||||||||||||
Weighted average number of units outstanding (basic and diluted): |
||||||||||||
Common units |
7,729,521 | 6,735,000 | 6,735,000 | |||||||||
Subordinated units |
14,985,000 | 14,985,000 | 14,985,000 | |||||||||
General Partner units |
30,000 | 30,000 | 30,000 | |||||||||
Cash distributions per unit(2) |
$ | 0.1746 | $ | | $ | | ||||||
Balance Sheet Data: |
||||||||||||
Total current assets |
$ | 7,606 | $ | 8,981 | $ | 3,453 | ||||||
Vessels, net |
453,175 | 466,754 | 480,370 | |||||||||
Total assets |
488,735 | 476,275 | 484,363 | |||||||||
Total current liabilities |
14,903 | 398,434 | 439,024 | |||||||||
Total long term debt, including current portion |
219,585 | 380,715 | 402,189 | |||||||||
Total partners equity |
257,699 | 75,175 | 45,339 | |||||||||
Cash Flow Data: |
||||||||||||
Net cash provided by operating activities |
$ | 44,204 | $ | 27,902 | $ | 28,974 | ||||||
Net cash provided by investing activities |
| | | |||||||||
Net cash used in financing activities |
(38,527 | ) | (27,902 | ) | (28,974 | ) | ||||||
Fleet Data: |
||||||||||||
Number of vessels at the end of the year |
3 | 3 | 3 | |||||||||
Average number of vessels in operation(3) |
3 | 3 | 3 | |||||||||
Average age of vessels in operation at end of period (years) |
6.4 | 5.4 | 4.4 | |||||||||
Available days(4) |
1,095 | 1,056 | 1,095 | |||||||||
Time Charter Equivalent(5) |
$ | 76,706 | $ | 70,104 | $ | 46,753 | ||||||
Fleet utilization(6) |
100 | % | 99.5 | % | 99.5 | % | ||||||
Other Financial Data: |
||||||||||||
Adjusted EBITDA(7) |
$ | 68,931 | $ | 53,223 | $ | 37,196 |
(1) | Voyage expenses include commissions of 1.25% paid to our Manager and third party ship brokers. |
(2) | Corresponds to a prorated fourth quarter distribution for the period beginning on November 18, 2013 and ending on December 31, 2013. The prorated cash distribution was declared on January 31, 2013 and paid on February 14, 2014. |
(3) | Represents the number of vessels that constituted our fleet for the relevant period, as measured by the sum of the number of days each vessel was a part of our fleet during the period divided by the number of calendar days in the period. |
(4) | Available days are the total number of calendar days our vessels were in our possession during a period, less the total number of scheduled off-hire days during the period associated with major repairs, or drydockings. |
(5) | Time charter equivalent rates, or TCE rates, is a measure of the average daily revenue performance of a vessel. For time charters, this is calculated by dividing total voyage revenues, less any voyage expenses, by the number of Available days during that period. Under a time charter, the charterer pays substantially all of the vessel voyage related expenses. However, we may incur voyage related expenses when positioning or repositioning vessels before or after the period of a time charter, during periods of commercial waiting time or while off-hire during dry-docking or due to other unforeseen circumstances. The TCE rate is not a measure of financial performance under U.S. GAAP (non-GAAP measure), and should not be considered as an alternative to voyage revenues, the most directly comparable GAAP measure, or any other measure of financial performance presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP. However, TCE rate is standard shipping industry performance measure used primarily to compare period-to-period changes in a companys performance and assists our management in making decisions regarding the deployment and use of our vessels and in evaluating their financial performance. Our calculation of TCE rates may not be comparable to that reported by other companies. The following table reflects the calculation of our TCE rates for the |
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years ended December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011 (amounts in thousands of U.S. dollars, except for TCE rates, which are expressed in U.S. dollars and Available days): |
Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||
2013 | 2012 | 2011 | ||||||||||
(In thousands of U.S. Dollars) | ||||||||||||
Voyage revenues |
$ | 85,679 | $ | 77,498 | $ | 52,547 | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||
Voyage expenses |
(1,686 | ) | (3,468 | ) | (1,353 | ) | ||||||
Time charter equivalent revenues |
83,993 | 74,030 | 51,194 | |||||||||
Total Available days |
1,095 | 1,056 | 1,095 | |||||||||
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|
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Time charter equivalent (TCE) rate |
$ | 76,706 | $ | 70,104 | $ | 46,753 | ||||||
|
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|
(6) | We calculate fleet utilization by dividing the number of our revenue earning days, which are the total number of Available days of our vessels net of unscheduled off-hire days, during a period, by the number of our Available days during that period. The shipping industry uses fleet utilization to measure a companys efficiency in finding employment for its vessels and minimizing the amount of days that its vessels are offhire for reasons other than scheduled off-hires for vessel upgrades, drydockings or special or intermediate surveys. |
(7) | Adjusted EBITDA is defined as earnings before interest and finance costs, net of interest income, gains/losses on derivative financial instruments, taxes (when incurred), depreciation and amortization (when incurred). Adjusted EBITDA is used as a supplemental financial measure by management and external users of financial statements, such as our investors, to assess our operating performance. We believe that Adjusted EBITDA assists our management and investors by providing useful information that increases the comparability of our performance operating from period to period and against the operating performance of other companies in our industry that provide Adjusted EBITDA information. This increased comparability is achieved by excluding the potentially disparate effects between periods or companies of interest, other financial items, depreciation and amortization and taxes, which items are affected by various and possibly changing financing methods, capital structure and historical cost basis and which items may significantly affect net income between periods. We believe that including Adjusted EBITDA as a measure of operating performance benefits investors in (a) selecting between investing in us and other investment alternatives and (b) monitoring our ongoing financial and operational strength in assessing whether to continue to hold common units. |
Adjusted EBITDA is not a measure of financial performance under U.S. GAAP, does not represent and should not be considered as an alternative to net income, operating income, cash flow from operating activities or any other measure of financial performance presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Adjusted EBITDA excludes some, but not all, items that affect net income and these measures may vary among other companies. Therefore, Adjusted EBITDA as presented below may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies. The following table reconciles Adjusted EBITDA to net income, the most directly comparable U.S. GAAP financial measure, for the periods presented:
Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||
2013 | 2012 | 2011 | ||||||||||
(In thousands of U.S. Dollars) | ||||||||||||
Reconciliation to Net Income |
||||||||||||
Net Income |
$ | 45,620 | $ | 29,836 | $ | 18,820 | ||||||
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Net interest expense (including loss from derivative instruments) |
8,682 | 9,181 | 4,697 | |||||||||
Depreciation |
13,579 | 13,616 | 13,579 | |||||||||
Amortization and write-off of deferred finance fees |
1,050 | 590 | 100 | |||||||||
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Adjusted EBITDA |
$ | 68,931 | $ | 53,223 | $ | 37,196 | ||||||
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75
MANAGEMENTS DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND
RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
The following managements discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with the Selected Historical Consolidated Financial and Operating Data and the accompanying audited consolidated financial statements and the related notes included elsewhere in this prospectus. Amounts relating to percentage variations in periodonperiod comparisons shown in this section are derived from the actual numbers in our books and records. The following discussion contains forward-looking statements that reflect our future plans, estimates, beliefs and expected performance. The forward-looking statements are dependent upon events, risks and uncertainties that may be outside our control. Our actual results could differ materially from those discussed in these forward-looking statements. See Risk Factors and Forward-Looking Statements. In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the forward-looking events discussed may not occur.
Our Business
We are a growth-oriented limited partnership focused on owning and operating LNG carriers. Our vessels are employed on multi-year time charters, which we define as charters of two years or more, with international energy companies such as BG Group and Gazprom, providing us with the benefits of stable cash flows and high utilization rates. We intend to leverage the reputation, expertise, and relationships of our Sponsor and Dynagas Ltd., our Manager, in maintaining cost-efficient operations and providing reliable seaborne transportation services to our customers. In addition, we intend to make further vessel acquisitions from our Sponsor and from third parties. There is no guarantee that we will grow the size of our fleet or the per unit distributions that we intend to pay or that we will be able to make further vessel acquisitions from our Sponsor or third parties.
On October 29, 2013, we acquired from our Sponsor three LNG carriers, the Clean Energy, the Ob River and the Clean Force, which we refer to as our Initial Fleet, in exchange for 6,735,000 of our common units and all of our subordinated units. The LNG carriers that comprise our Initial Fleet have an average age of 6.8 years and are under time charters with an average remaining term of 6.8 years, as of May 14, 2014.
On November 18, 2013, we completed our underwritten initial public offering of 8,250,000 common units, together with 4,250,000 common units offered by our Sponsor, at $18.00 per common unit, and in December 2013, the underwriters in the IPO exercised in full their option to purchase an additional 1,875,000 common units from our Sponsor. Our common units trade on the NASDAQ under the symbol DLNG.
In connection with the closing of our IPO, we entered into the following agreements: (i) an Omnibus Agreement with our Sponsor and our General Partner that provides us with the right to purchase up to seven LNG carrier vessels from our Sponsor, which we refer to as the Optional Vessels, within 24 months of their delivery to our Sponsor at a purchase price to be determined pursuant to the terms and conditions of the Omnibus Agreement; (ii) a $30 million revolving credit facility with our Sponsor to be used for general partnership purposes; and (iii) the 2013 Senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility.
We used borrowings of $214.1 million under our 2013 Senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility to fully repay the outstanding indebtedness under our $150 million Clean Energy and our $128 million Clean Force Credit Facilities, and for general partnership purposes. As at December 31, 2013, we had a borrowing capacity of $72.5 million under our 2013 Senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility and our revolving credit facility with our Sponsor. See Liquidity and Capital ResourcesOur Borrowing Activities2013 Senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility.
Our fleet is managed by our Manager, Dynagas Ltd., a company controlled by Mr. George Prokopiou. See Certain Relationships and Related Party Transactions.
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On February 14, 2014, we paid a partial cash distribution for the fourth quarter of 2013 of $0.1746 per unit, prorated from the IPO closing date through December 31, 2013. This distribution corresponds to a quarterly distribution of $0.365 per outstanding unit, or $1.46 per outstanding unit on an annualized basis, which is consistent with the partnerships minimum quarterly distribution.
On May 12, 2014, we paid a cash distribution for the first quarter of 2014 of $0.365 per unit to all unitholders of record as of May 5, 2014.
Our Initial Fleet
Our Initial Fleet consists of the Clean Energy, the Ob River and the Clean Force, three LNG carriers that are employed under multi-year charters with BG Group and Gazprom with an average remaining charter term of approximately 6.8 years. Of these vessels, the Clean Force and the Ob River have been assigned with Lloyds Register Ice Class notation 1A FS, or Ice Class, designation for hull and machinery and are fully winterized, which means that they are designed to call at ice-bound and harsh environment terminals and to withstand temperatures up to minus 30 degrees Celsius. According to Drewry, only six LNG carriers, representing 1.6% of the LNG vessels in the global LNG fleet, have an Ice Class designation or equivalent rating, and, upon consummation of the Arctic Aurora Acquisition, we will own and operate three of them, the Clean Force, the Ob River and the Arctic Aurora. Moreover, we are the only company in the world that is transiting the Northern Sea Route, which is a shipping lane from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean entirely in Arctic waters, with LNG carriers. In addition, we believe that each of the vessels in our Initial Fleet is optimally sized with a carrying capacity of approximately 150,000 cbm, which allows us to maximize operational flexibility as such medium-to-large size LNG vessels are compatible with most existing LNG terminals around the world. We believe that these specifications enhance our trading capabilities and future employment opportunities because they provide greater diversity in the trading routes available to our charterers.
We believe that the key characteristics of each of the vessels in our Initial Fleet include the following:
| optimal sizing with a carrying capacity of approximately 150,000 cbm (which is a medium- to large-size class of LNG carrier) that maximizes operational flexibility as such vessel is compatible with most existing LNG terminals around the world; |
| each vessel is a sister vessel, which are vessels built at the same shipyard, or HHI, that share (i) a near-identical hull and superstructure layout, (ii) similar displacement, and (iii) roughly comparable features and equipment; |
| utilization of a membrane containment system that uses insulation built directly into the hull of the vessel with a membrane covering inside the tanks designed to maintain integrity and that uses the vessels hull to directly support the pressure of the LNG cargo, which we refer to as a membrane containment system (see The International Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Shipping IndustryThe LNG Fleet for a description of the types of LNG containment systems); and |
| double-hull construction, based on the current LNG shipping industry standard. |
According to Drewry, there are only 39 LNG carriers currently in operation, including the vessels in our Initial Fleet, with a carrying capacity of between 149,000 and 155,000 cbm and a membrane containment system, representing 8.8% of the global LNG fleet and a total of 127 LNG carriers on order of which 5 are being constructed with these specifications.
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The following table sets forth additional information about our Initial Fleet as of May 14, 2014:
Vessel Name |
Shipyard | Year Built |
Capacity (cbm) |
Ice Class |
Flag State |
Charterer | Charter Commencement Date |
Earliest Charter Expiration |
Latest Charter Expiration Including Non-Exercised Options | |||||||||||||
Clean Energy |
HHI | 2007 | 149,700 | No | Marshall Islands |
BG Group | February 2012 | April 2017 | August 2020(1) | |||||||||||||
Ob River |
HHI | 2007 | 149,700 | Yes | Marshall Islands |
Gazprom | September 2012 | September 2017 | May 2018(2) | |||||||||||||
Clean Force |
HHI | 2008 | 149,700 | Yes | Marshall Islands |
BG Group Gazprom |
October 2010 Expected July 2015 |
June 2015 June 2028 |
July 2015(3) August 2028(4) |
(1) | BG Group has the option to extend the duration of the charter for an additional three-year term until August 2020 at an escalated daily rate, upon notice to us before January 2016. |
(2) | Gazprom has the option to extend the duration of the charter until May 2018 on identical terms, upon notice to us before March 2017. |
(3) | On January 2, 2013, BG Group exercised its option to extend the duration of the charter by an additional three-year term at an escalated daily rate, commencing on October 5, 2013. |
(4) | In anticipation of entering a new contract, we agreed with BG Group, at no cost to us, to amend the expiration date of the existing charter, which changed the vessel redelivery date from the third quarter of 2016 to end of the second quarter of 2015 or beginning of the third quarter of 2015. On April 17, 2014, we entered into a new 13 year time-charter contract with Gazprom. The new Gazprom charter is expected to commence in July 2015 shortly after the early expiration of the current charter with BG Group at a rate in excess of the current time charter rate under the BG Group charter. |
Our Charters
We principally deploy our vessels on multi-year, fixed-rate time charters to take advantage of the stable cash flows and high utilization rates typically associated with multi-year time charters. We have secured multi-year fixed rate time charter contracts for the three LNG carriers in our Initial Fleet. The following table summarizes our current time charters for the vessels in our Initial Fleet and the expirations and extension options, as of May 14, 2014:
Vessel Name |
Charterer | Contract Backlog (in millions) |
Charter Commencement Date |
Earliest Charter Expiration Date |
Latest Charter Expiration Including Non-Exercised Options | |||||||
Clean Energy |
BG Group | $ | 90.6 | February 2012 | April 2017 | August 2020(1) | ||||||
Ob River |
Gazprom | $ | 105.4 | September 2012 | September 2017 | May 2018(2) | ||||||
Clean Force |
BG Group Gazprom |
$ $ |
26.0 313.0 |
|
October 2010 Expected July 2015 |
June 2015 June 2028 |
July 2015(3) August 2028(4) |
(1) | BG Group has the option to extend the duration of the charter for an additional three-year term until August 2020 at an escalated daily rate, upon notice to us before January 2016. |
(2) | Gazprom has the option to extend the duration of the charter until May 2018 on identical terms, upon notice to us before March 2017. |
(3) | On January 2, 2013, BG Group exercised its option to extend the duration of the charter by an additional three-year term at an escalated daily rate, commencing on October 5, 2013. |
(4) | In anticipation of entering a new contract, we agreed with BG Group, at no cost to us, to amend the expiration date of the existing charter, which changed the vessel redelivery date from the third quarter of 2016 to end of the second quarter of 2015 or beginning of the third quarter of 2015. On April 17, 2014, we entered into a new 13 year time-charter contract with Gazprom. The new Gazprom charter is expected to commence in July 2015 shortly after the early expiration of the current charter with BG Group at a rate in excess of the current time charter rate under the BG Group charter. |
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The following table summarizes our contracted charter revenues and contracted days for the vessels in our Initial Fleet as of May 14, 2014, assuming the earliest redelivery dates possible under our charters and 365 revenue days per annum per ship and assuming charterers do not exercise any options to extend the time charters of the Clean Force, the Clean Energy and the Ob River.
2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | |||||||||||||
No. of Vessels whose contracts expire(1) |
| | | 2 | ||||||||||||
Contracted Time Charter Revenues (in millions of U.S. Dollars)(1) |
$ | 54.3 | $ | 85.9 | $ | 87.0 | $ | 56.1 | ||||||||
Contracted Days |
693 | 1,095 | 1,095 | 733 | ||||||||||||
Available Days |
693 | 1,095 | 1,095 | 1,051 | (2) | |||||||||||
Contracted/Available Days |
100 | % | 100 | % | 100 | % | 70 | % |
(1) | Annual revenue calculations are based on: (a) an assumed 365 revenue days per vessel per annum, (b) the earliest redelivery dates possible under our LNG carrier charters, (c) no exercise of any option to extend the terms of those charters except for the option regarding the Clean Force exercised on January 2, 2013, and (d) taking into account the Clean Force charter with Gazprom dated April 17, 2014. |
(2) | Reflects 22 scheduled drydocking days for each of the Clean Energy and the OB River in 2017. |
Although these expected revenues are based on contracted charter rates, any contract is subject to various risks, including performance by the counterparties or an early termination of the contract pursuant to its terms. If the charterers are unable to make charter payments to us, if we agree to renegotiate charter terms at the request of a charterer or if contracts are prematurely terminated for any reason, our results of operations and financial condition may be materially adversely affected. Historically, we have had no defaults or early terminations by charterers. For these reasons, the contracted charter revenue information presented is an estimate and should not be relied upon as being necessarily indicative of future results. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on this information. Neither our independent auditors, nor any other independent accountants, have compiled, examined or performed any procedures with respect to the information presented in the table, nor have they expressed any opinion or any other form of assurance on such information or its achievability, and assume no responsibility for, and disclaim any association with, the information in the table.
In the year ended December 31, 2013, we received all of our revenues from two charterers, which individually accounted for 61% and 39% of our revenues, respectively, as compared to three charterers in the same period in 2012 which individually accounted for 58%, 16% and 26%, respectively, of our revenues in 2012.
Items You Should Consider When Evaluating Our Historical Financial Performance and Assessing Our Future Prospects
We were formed on May 30, 2013 by our Sponsor as a new LNG carrier subsidiary focused on owning and operating LNG carriers that are employed on multi-year time charters with international energy companies. On October 29, 2013, we acquired the Sponsor Controlled Companies from our Sponsor. Our historical consolidated financial statements have been prepared according to a transaction that constitutes a reorganization of companies under common control and has been accounted for in a manner similar to a pooling of interests, as the Sponsor Controlled Companies were indirectly wholly-owned by the Prokopiou family prior to the transfer of ownership of these companies to us. Accordingly, our financial statements have been presented, giving retroactive effect to the transaction described above, using consolidated financial historical carrying costs of the assets and liabilities of the Partnership and the Sponsor Controlled Companies as if the Partnership and the Sponsor Controlled Companies were consolidated for all periods presented.
In addition, we have entered into a Share Purchase Agreement to purchase from our Sponsor, following the closing of this offering, 100% of the ownership interests in the entity that owns and operates the Arctic Aurora, which is currently operating under a time charter with Statoil with an initial term of five years, for an aggregate purchase price of $235.0 million. We are purchasing only the Arctic Aurora and the related time charter. All of the other assets and liabilities relating to the Sponsor entity that owns the Arctic Aurora will remain with our Sponsor
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and do not form part of the purchase price. We will have the right to purchase the Arctic Aurora and the related time charter under this agreement until June 30, 2014. We expect the Statoil charter to provide us with total contracted revenue of approximately $117.2 million based on an expected delivery date of May 30, 2014, excluding options to extend and assuming full utilization for 4.1 years, which is the remaining term of the charter based on the earliest contract expiration date in July 2018. We intend to use all of the proceeds of this offering to fund a portion of the purchase price for the Arctic Aurora Acquisition. The remainder of the purchase price will be financed with a portion of the proceeds of the New Senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility that we expect to enter into at or after the closing of this offering. The Arctic Aurora Acquisition is subject to our obtaining the funds necessary to pay the purchase price, including the proceeds we expect to receive from the New Senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility.
You should consider the following facts when evaluating our historical results of operations and assessing our future prospects:
| We intend to increase the size of our fleet by making other acquisitions. Our growth strategy focuses on expanding our fleet through the acquisition of LNG carriers under multi-year time charters. For example, pursuant to the Omnibus Agreement that we have entered into with our Sponsor and our General Partner, we have the right but not the obligation to purchase each of the seven Optional Vessels, including the Arctic Aurora, comprising our Sponsors LNG fleet at any time up to 24 months following their respective deliveries from the shipyard. We expect that we will purchase the Optional Vessels if we are able to reach an agreement with our Sponsor regarding the purchase price of the vessels. In order to acquire these vessels or any additional vessels, we may need to issue additional equity or incur additional indebtedness. |
| We expect continued inflationary pressure on crew costs. Due to the specialized nature of operating LNG carriers, the increase in size of the worldwide LNG carrier fleet and the limited pool of qualified officers, we believe that crewing and labor related costs will experience significant increases. |
| Our historical results of operations reflect allocated administrative costs that may not be indicative of future administrative costs. The administrative costs included in our historical results of operations may not be indicative of our future administrative costs, which may include additional costs associated with being an Exchange Act reporting company. We have entered into the Management Agreements pursuant to which our Manager provides us certain administrative services, and our Management Agreements allow management fees to be increased if our Manager has incurred material unforeseen costs of providing the management services. |
Principal Factors Affecting Our Results of Operations
The principal factors which have affected our results and are expected to affect our future results of operations and financial position, include:
| Number of Vessels in Our Fleet. The number of vessels in our fleet is a key factor in determining the level of our revenues. Aggregate expenses also increase as the size of our fleet increases. As of December 31, 2013, our fleet consisted of the same three LNG carriers we acquired from our Sponsor in connection with the closing of our IPO; |
| Charter Rates. Our revenue is dependent on the charter rates we are able to obtain on our vessels. Charter rates on our vessels are based primarily on demand for and supply of LNG carrier capacity at the time we enter into the charters for our vessels, which is influenced by demand and supply for natural gas and in particular LNG as well as the supply of LNG carriers available for employment. The charter rates we obtain are also dependent on whether we employ our vessels under multi-year charters or charters with initial terms of less than two years. The vessels in our Initial Fleet are currently employed under multiyear time charters with staggered maturities, which will make us less susceptible to cyclical fluctuations in charter rates than vessels operated on charters of less than two years. However, we will be exposed to |
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fluctuations in prevailing charter rates when we seek to recharter our vessels upon the expiry of their respective current charters and when we seek to charter vessels that we may acquire in the future. |
| Utilization of Our Fleet. Historically, our Initial Fleet has had a limited number of unscheduled off-hire days. In the years ended December 31, 2013 and 2012 our fleet utilization was 100% and 99.5%, respectively. However, an increase in annual off-hire days would reduce our utilization. The efficiency with which suitable employment is secured, the ability to minimize off-hire days and the amount of time spent positioning vessels also affects our results of operations. If the utilization pattern of our fleet changes, our financial results would be affected; |
| The level of our vessel operating expenses, including crewing costs, insurance and maintenance costs. Our ability to control our vessel operating expenses also affects our financial results. These expenses include commission expenses, crew wages and related costs, the cost of insurance, expenses for repairs and maintenance, the cost of spares and consumable stores, lubricating oil costs, tonnage taxes and other miscellaneous expenses. In addition, factors beyond our control, such as developments relating to market premiums for insurance and the value of the U.S. dollar compared to currencies in which certain of our expenses, primarily crew wages, are paid, can cause our vessel operating expenses to increase; |
| The timely delivery of the Optional Vessels (four of which are currently under construction and three of which were delivered in 2013) to our Sponsor and our ability to exercise the options to purchase the seven Optional Vessels, including the Arctic Aurora; |
| The timely delivery of the vessels we may acquire in the future; |
| Our ability to maintain solid working relationships with our existing charterers and our ability to increase the number of our charterers through the development of new working relationships; |
| The performance of our charterers obligations under their charter agreements; |
| The effective and efficient technical management of the vessels under our management agreements; |
| Our ability to obtain acceptable debt financing to fund our capital commitments; |
| The ability of our Sponsor to fund its capital commitments and take delivery of the Optional Vessels under construction; |
| Our ability to obtain and maintain regulatory approvals and to satisfy technical, health, safety and compliance standards that meet our charterers requirements; |
| Economic, regulatory, political and governmental conditions that affect shipping and the LNG industry, which includes changes in the number of new LNG importing countries and regions, as well as structural LNG market changes impacting LNG supply that may allow greater flexibility and competition of other energy sources with global LNG use; |
| Our ability to successfully employ our vessels at economically attractive rates, as our charters expire or are otherwise terminated; |
| Our access to capital required to acquire additional ships and/or to implement our business strategy; |
| Our level of debt, the related interest expense and the timing of required payments of principal; |
| The level of our general and administrative expenses, including salaries and costs of consultants; |
| Our charterers right for early termination of the charters under certain circumstances; |
| Performance of our counterparties and our charterers ability to make charter payments to us; and |
| The level of any distribution on our common and subordinated units. |
See Risk Factors for a discussion of certain risks inherent in our business.
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Important Financial and Operational Terms and Concepts
We use a variety of financial and operational terms and concepts when analyzing our performance. These include the following:
Time Charter Revenues. Our time charter revenues are driven primarily by the number of vessels in our fleet, the amount of daily charter hire that our LNG carriers earn under time charters and the number of revenue earning days during which our vessels generate revenues. These factors are, in turn, affected by our decisions relating to vessel acquisitions, the amount of time that our LNG carriers spend dry-docked undergoing repairs, maintenance and upgrade work, the age, condition and specifications of our vessels and the levels of supply and demand in the LNG carrier charter market. Our revenues will also be affected if any of our charterers cancel a time charter or if we agree to renegotiate charter terms during the term of a charter resulting in aggregate revenue reduction. Our time charter arrangements have been contracted in varying rate environments and expire at different times. We recognize revenues from time charters over the term of the charter as the applicable vessel operates under the charter. Under time charters, revenue is not recognized during days a vessel is off-hire. Revenue is recognized from delivery of the vessel to the charterer, until the end of the time charter period. Under time charters, we are responsible for providing the crewing and other services related to the vessels operations, the cost of which is included in the daily hire rate, except when off-hire.
Off-hire (Including Commercial Waiting Time). When a vessel is off-hireor not available for servicethe charterer generally is not required to pay the time charter hire rate and we are responsible for all costs. Prolonged off-hire may lead to vessel substitution or termination of a time charter. Our vessels may be out of service, that is, off-hire, for several reasons: scheduled dry-docking, special survey, vessel upgrade or maintenance or inspection, which we refer to as scheduled off-hire; days spent waiting for a charter, which we refer to as commercial waiting time; and unscheduled repairs, maintenance, operational efficiencies, equipment breakdown, accidents, crewing strikes, certain vessel detentions or similar problems, or our failure to maintain the vessel in compliance with its specifications and contractual standards or to provide the required crew, which we refer to as unscheduled off-hire. We have obtained loss of hire insurance to protect us against loss of income in the event one of our vessels cannot be employed due to damage that is covered under the terms of our hull and machinery insurance. Under our loss of hire policies, our insurer generally will pay us the hire rate agreed in respect of each vessel for each day in excess of 14 days and with a maximum period of 120 days.
Voyage Expenses. Voyage expenses primarily include port and canal charges, bunker (fuel) expenses and agency fees which are paid for by the charterer under our time charter arrangements or by us during periods of off-hire except for commissions, which are always paid for by us. All voyage expenses are expensed as incurred, except for commissions. Commissions paid to brokers are deferred and amortized over the related charter period to the extent revenue has been deferred since commissions are earned as our revenues are earned. We may incur voyage related expenses when positioning or repositioning vessels before or after the period of a time charter, during periods of commercial waiting time or while off-hire during a period of dry-docking. Voyage expenses can be higher when vessels trade on charters with initial terms of less than two years due to fuel consumption during idling, cool down requirements, commercial waiting time in between charters and positioning and repositioning costs. From time to time, in accordance with industry practice, we pay commissions ranging up to 1.25% of the total daily charter rate under the charters to unaffiliated ship brokers, depending on the number of brokers involved with arranging the charter. These commissions do not include the fees we pay to our Manager, which are described below under Management Fees.
Available Days. Available days are the total number of calendar days our vessels were in our possession during a period, less the total number of scheduled off-hire days during the period associated with major repairs, or dry-dockings.
Average Number of Vessels. Average number of vessels is the number of vessels that constituted our fleet for the relevant period, as measured by the sum of the number of days each vessel was a part of our fleet during the period divided by the number of calendar days in the period.
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Fleet utilization. We calculate fleet utilization by dividing the number of our revenue earning days, which are the total number of Available Days of our vessels net of unscheduled off-hire days, during a period, by the number of our Available Days during that period. The shipping industry uses fleet utilization to measure a companys efficiency in finding employment for its vessels and minimizing the amount of days that its vessels are off-hire for reasons such as unscheduled repairs but excluding scheduled off-hires for vessel upgrades, drydockings or special or intermediate surveys.
Vessel Operating Expenses. Vessel operating expenses include crew wages and related costs, the cost of insurance, expenses for repairs and maintenance, the cost of spares and consumable stores, lubricant costs, statutory and classification expenses, forwarding and communications expenses and other miscellaneous expenses. Vessel operating expenses also include all peripheral expenses incurred while vessels perform their classification special survey and dry-docking such as spare parts, port dues, tugs, service engineer attendance etc.
Vessel operating expenses are paid by the ship-owner under time charters and are recognized when incurred. We expect that insurance costs, dry-docking and maintenance costs will increase as our vessels age. Factors beyond our control, some of which may affect the shipping industry in generalfor instance, developments relating to market premiums for insurance and changes in the market price of lubricants due to increases in oil pricesmay also cause vessel operating expenses to increase. In addition, a substantial portion of our vessel operating expenses, primarily crew wages, are in currencies other than the U.S. dollar, and may increase or decrease as a result of fluctuation of the U.S. dollar against these currencies.
Dry-docking. We must periodically drydock each of our vessels for inspection, repairs and maintenance and any modifications required to comply with industry certification or governmental requirements. In accordance with industry certification requirements, we drydock our vessels at least every 60 months until the vessel is 15 years old, after which dry-docking takes place at least every 30 months thereafter as required for the renewal of certifications required by classification societies. Special survey and dry-docking costs (mainly shipyard costs, paints and class renewal expense) are expensed as incurred. The number of dry-dockings undertaken in a given period and the nature of the work performed determine the level of dry-docking expenditures. We expense costs related to routine repairs and maintenance performed during dry-docking or as otherwise incurred. All three vessels in our Initial Fleet completed their scheduled special survey and dry-docking repairs in 2012.
Depreciation. We depreciate our LNG carriers on a straight-line basis over their remaining useful economic lives which we estimate to be 35 years from their initial delivery from the shipyard. Vessel residual value is estimated as 12% of the initial vessel cost and represents Managements best estimate of the current selling price assuming the vessels are already of age and condition expected at the end of its useful life. The assumptions made reflect our experience, market conditions and the current practice in the LNG industry; however they required more discretion since there is a lack of historical references in scrap prices of similar types of vessels.
Interest and Finance Costs. We incur interest expense on outstanding indebtedness under our existing credit facilities which we include in interest and finance costs. Interest expense depends on our overall level of borrowings and may significantly increase when we acquire or refinance ships. Interest expense may also change with prevailing interest rates, although interest rate swaps or other derivative instruments may reduce the effect of these changes. We also incur financing and legal costs in connection with establishing credit facilities, which are deferred and amortized to interest and finance costs using the effective interest method. We will incur additional interest expense in the future on our outstanding borrowings and under future borrowings. For a description of our existing credit facilities, please see Our Borrowing Activities.
Vessels Lives and Impairment. Vessels are reviewed for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of an asset may not be recoverable. If circumstances require a long-lived asset or asset group to be tested for possible impairment, we first compare the undiscounted cash flows expected to be generated by that asset or asset group to its carrying value. If the carrying value of the long lived asset is not recoverable on an undiscounted cash flow basis, impairment is recognized to the extent that the carrying
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value exceeds its fair value. Fair value is determined through various valuation techniques including discounted cash flow models, quoted market values and third party independent appraisals as considered necessary. As of December 31, 2013 and 2012, there were no events or changes in circumstances indicating that the carrying amount of the vessels may not be recoverable and, accordingly, no impairment loss was recorded these years.
Insurance
Hull and Machinery Insurance. We have obtained hull and machinery insurance on all our vessels to insure against marine and war risks, which include the risks of damage to our vessels, salvage and towing costs, and also insures against actual or constructive total loss of any of our vessels. However, our insurance policies contain deductible amounts for which we will be responsible. We have also arranged additional total loss coverage for each vessel. This coverage, which is called hull interest and freight interest coverage, provides us additional coverage in the event of the total loss or the constructive total loss of a vessel. The agreed deductible on each vessel averages $500,000.
Loss of Hire Insurance. We have obtained loss of hire insurance to protect us against loss of income in the event one of our vessels cannot be employed due to damage that is covered under the terms of our hull and machinery insurance. Under our loss of hire policies, our insurer will pay us the hire rate agreed in respect of each vessel for each day, in excess of a certain number of deductible days, for the time that the vessel is out of service as a result of damage, for a maximum of 120 days. The number of deductible days for the vessels in our Initial Fleet is 14 days per vessel.
Protection and Indemnity Insurance. Protection and indemnity insurance, which covers our third-party legal liabilities in connection with our shipping activities, is provided by a mutual protection and indemnity association, or P&I club. This includes third-party liability and other expenses related to the injury or death of crew members, passengers and other third-party persons, loss or damage to cargo, claims arising from collisions with other vessels or from contact with jetties or wharves and other damage to other third-party property, including pollution arising from oil or other substances, and other related costs, including wreck removal. Our current protection and indemnity insurance coverage is unlimited, except for pollution, which is limited to $1 billion per vessel per incident.
Critical Accounting Policies and estimates
The discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations is based upon our consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP. We are an emerging growth company, as defined in the JOBS Act. We have elected to take advantage of the reduced reporting obligations, including the extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards under Section 102 of the JOBS Act, and as such, the information that we provide to our unitholders may be different from information provided by other public companies and our financial statements may not be comparable to companies that comply with public company effective dates. The preparation of those financial statements requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, revenues and expenses and related disclosure at the date of our financial statements. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions and conditions.
Critical accounting policies are those that reflect significant judgments of uncertainties and potentially result in materially different results under different assumptions and conditions. For a description of all our significant accounting policies, see Note 2 to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus.
Time Charter Revenues
We recognize revenues from time charters over the term of the charter as the applicable vessel operates under the charter. Under time charters, revenue is not recognized during days a vessel is off-hire. Revenue is recognized from delivery of the vessel to the charterer, until the end of the time charter period. Under time
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charters, we are responsible for providing the crewing and other services related to vessels operations, the cost of which is included in the daily hire rate, except when off-hire. Revenues are affected by hire-rates and the number of days a vessel operates.
Our time charter revenues are driven primarily by the number of vessels in our fleet, the amount of daily charter hire that our vessels earn under time charters and the number of revenue earning days during which our vessels generate revenues. These factors are, in turn, affected by our decisions relating to vessel acquisitions, the amount of time that we spend positioning our vessels, the amount of time that our vessels spend in drydock undergoing repairs, maintenance and upgrade work, the age, condition and specifications of our vessels and the levels of supply and demand in the LNG carrier charter market.
Our LNG carriers are employed through multi-year time charter contracts, which for accounting purposes are considered as operating leases and are thus recognized on a straight line basis as the average minimum lease revenue over the rental periods of such charter agreements, as service is performed. Revenues under our time charters are recognized when services are performed, revenue is earned and the collection of the revenue is reasonably assured. The charter hire revenue is recognized on a straight-line basis over the term of the relevant time charter.
Advance payments under time charter contracts are classified as liabilities until such time as the criteria for recognizing the revenue are met. Our revenues will be affected by the acquisition of any additional vessels in the future subject to time charters. Our revenues will also be affected if any of our charterers cancel a time charter or if we agree to renegotiate charter terms during the term of a charter resulting in aggregate revenue reduction or increase. Our time charter arrangements have been contracted in varying rate environments and expire at different times. Rates payable in the market for LNG carriers have been uncertain and volatile as has the supply and demand for LNG carriers
Vessels Lives and Impairment
The carrying value of a vessel represents its historical acquisition or construction cost, including capitalized interest, supervision, technical and delivery cost, net of accumulated depreciation and impairment loss, if any. Expenditures for subsequent conversions and major improvements are capitalized provided that such costs increase the earnings capacity or improve the efficiency or safety of the vessels.
We depreciate the original cost, less an estimated residual value, of our LNG carriers on a straight-line basis over each vessels estimated useful life. The carrying values of our vessels may not represent their market value at any point in time because the market prices of second-hand vessels tend to fluctuate with changes in hire rates and the cost of newbuilds. Both hire rates and newbuild costs tend to be cyclical in nature.
We review vessels for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate the carrying value of an asset may not be recoverable, which occurs when the assets carrying value is greater than the future undiscounted cash flows the asset is expected to generate over its remaining useful life. We determine undiscounted projected net operating cash flows for each vessel and compare it to the vessels carrying value. In developing estimates of future cash flows, we must make assumptions about future charter rates, vessel operating expenses, fleet utilization, and the estimated remaining useful life of the vessels. These assumptions are based on historical trends as well as future expectations. The projected net operating cash flows are determined by considering the charter revenues from existing time charters for the fixed fleet days and the five-year historical average of charter rates for the unfixed days. If the estimated future undiscounted cash flows of an asset exceed the assets carrying value, no impairment is recognized even though the fair value of the asset may be lower than its carrying value. If the estimated future undiscounted cash flows of an asset is less than the assets carrying value and the fair value of the asset is less than its carrying value, the asset is written down to its fair value. Historically, there was no indication of impairment for any of the three vessels in our Initial Fleet. Our impairment test exercise is sensitive to variances in the time charter rates. The use of the most recent three and one year historical average rates to determine the charter revenues for the unfixed days would not result to impairment.
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We determine the fair value of our vessels based on our estimates and assumptions and by making use of available market data and taking into consideration third party valuations. As of December 31, 2013, the aggregate charter-free market value of our vessels substantially exceeded their aggregate carrying value as of the same date. A decrease of the estimated fair market value by 10% would not result in any impairment loss as of December 31, 2013. We employ our LNG carriers on fixed-rate charters with major companies. These charters typically have original terms of two or more years in length. Consequently, while the market value of a vessel may decline below its carrying value, the carrying value of a vessel may still be recoverable based on the future undiscounted cash flows the vessel is expected to obtain from servicing its existing and future charters.
Depreciation on our LNG carriers is calculated using an estimated useful life of 35 years, commencing at the date the vessel was originally delivered from the shipyard. However, the actual life of a vessel may be different than the estimated useful life, with a shorter actual useful life resulting in an increase in the depreciation and potentially resulting in an impairment loss. The estimated useful life of our LNG carriers takes into account design life, commercial considerations and regulatory restrictions. Our estimates of future cash flows involve assumptions about future hire rates, vessel utilization, operating expenses, dry-docking expenditures, vessel residual values and the remaining estimated life of our vessels. Our estimated hire rates are based on rates under existing vessel charters and the five-year average historical charter rates for the unfixed periods. Our estimates of vessel utilization, including estimated off-hire time are based on historical experience of trading our vessels and our projections of future chartering prospects. Our estimates of operating expenses and dry-docking expenditures are based on our historical operating and dry-docking costs and our expectations of future inflation and operating requirements. Vessel residual values are based on our estimation over our vessels sale price at the end of their useful life, being a product of a vessels lightweight tonnage and an estimated scrap rate and the estimated resale price of certain equipment and material. The remaining estimated lives of our vessels used in our estimates of future cash flows are consistent with those used in the calculation of depreciation.
Certain assumptions relating to our estimates of future cash flows are more predictable by their nature in our experience, including estimated revenue under existing charter terms, on-going operating costs and remaining vessel life. Certain assumptions relating to our estimates of future cash flows require more discretion and are inherently less predictable, such as future hire rates beyond the firm period of existing charters and vessel residual values, due to factors such as the volatility in vessel hire rates and the lack of historical references in scrap prices of similar type of vessels. We believe that the assumptions used to estimate future cash flows of our vessels are reasonable at the time they are made. We can make no assurances, however, as to whether our estimates of future cash flows, particularly future vessel hire rates or vessel values, will be accurate.
If we conclude that a vessel is impaired, we recognize a loss in an amount equal to the excess of the carrying value of the asset over its fair value at the date of impairment. The fair value at the date of the impairment becomes the new cost basis and will result in a lower depreciation expense than for periods before the vessel impairment.
The table set forth below indicates (i) the historical acquisition cost of our vessels and (ii) the carrying value of each of our vessels as of December 31, 2013 and December 31, 2012.
Vessel |
Capacity (cbm) |
Year Purchased |
Acquisition Cost |
Carrying Value (in millions of U.S. dollars) |
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December 31, 2013 |
December 31, 2012 |
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LNG |
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Clean Energy |
149,700 | 2007 | $ | 178.2 | $ | 147.5 | $ | 152.0 | ||||||||||||
Ob River |
149,700 | 2007 | 176.0 | 147.3 | 151.7 | |||||||||||||||
Clean Force |
149,700 | 2008 | 186.3 | 158.4 | 163.1 | |||||||||||||||
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TOTAL Capacity |
449,100 | $ | 540.5 | $ | 453.2 | $ | 466.8 |
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The market value of each vessel individually and in the aggregate substantially exceeds the respective carrying value of each vessel as of December 31, 2013 and December 31, 2012. As such, the Partnership is not required to perform an impairment test. We refer you to the risk factor entitled Vessel values may fluctuate substantially and, if these values are lower at a time when we are attempting to dispose of vessels, we may incur a loss and the discussion herein under the heading Risks relating to our Partnership.
Our estimates of basic market value assume that our vessels are all in good and seaworthy condition without need for repair and if inspected would be certified in class without notations of any kind. Our estimates are based on information available from various industry sources, including:
| reports by industry analysts and data providers that focus on our industry and related dynamics affecting vessel values; |
| news and industry reports of similar vessel sales; |
| news and industry reports of sales of vessels that are not similar to our vessels where we have made certain adjustments in an attempt to derive information that can be used as part of our estimates; |
| approximate market values for our vessels or similar vessels that we have received from shipbrokers, whether solicited or unsolicited, or that shipbrokers have generally disseminated; |
| offers that we may have received from potential purchasers of our vessels; and |
| vessel sale prices and values of which we are aware through both formal and informal communications with ship-owners, shipbrokers, industry analysts and various other shipping industry participants and observers. |
As we obtain information from various industry and other sources, our estimates of basic market value are inherently uncertain. In addition, vessel values are highly volatile; as such, our estimates may not be indicative of the current or future basic market value of our vessels or prices that we could achieve if we were to sell them.
Depreciation
We depreciate our LNG carriers on a straight-line basis over their remaining useful economic lives which we estimate to be 35 years from their initial delivery from the shipyard. A vessels residual value is estimated as 12% of the initial vessel cost, being approximate to vessels light weight multiplied by the then estimated scrap price per metric ton adjusted to reflect the premium from the value of stainless steel material and represents managements best estimate of the current selling price assuming the vessel is already of age and condition expected at the end of its useful life. The assumptions made reflect our experience, market conditions and the current practice in the LNG industry. However such assumptions required more discretion since there is a lack of historical references in scrap prices of similar type of vessels. A decrease of 10% in estimated scrap price would result to $0.2 million of increase in depreciation cost in the year ended December 31, 2013.
We depreciate our vessels on a straight-line basis over their estimated useful lives, after considering their estimated residual values, based on the assumed value of the scrap steel available for recycling after demolition. A decrease in the useful life of a vessel or in its residual value would have the effect of increasing the annual depreciation charge. When regulations place limitations over the ability of a vessel to trade on a worldwide basis, its remaining useful life is adjusted at the date such regulations become effective.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
There are no recent accounting pronouncements issued in 2013, whose adoption would have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements in the current year or are expected to have a material impact in future years.
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Results of Operations
Year ended December 31, 2013 compared to the year ended December 31, 2012
During the years ended December 31, 2013 and 2012, we had an average of three vessels in our fleet. In the year ended December 31, 2013 our fleet Available Days totaled 1,095 days as compared to 1,056 days in the year ended December 31, 2012. The increase of 3.7% is attributable to the lack of dry-docking repairs in 2013 since all three LNG carriers in our fleet completed their initial scheduled special survey and dry-docking repairs in 2012. Revenue earning days are the primary driver of voyage revenue and vessel operating expenses.
Revenues. The following table sets forth details of our time charter revenues for the years ended December 31, 2013 and 2012:
Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||||||
2013 | 2012 | Change | % Change | |||||||||||||
(in thousands of U.S. dollars) | ||||||||||||||||
Time charter revenues |
$ | 85,679 | $ | 77,498 | $ | 8,181 | 10.6 | % |
Total revenues increased by 10.6%, or $8.2 million, to $85.7 million during the year ended December 31, 2013, from $77.5 million during the year ended December 31, 2012. The increase in revenues was primarily attributable to the escalated time charter rate earned by the LNG carrier Clean Force, following the exercise by the Charterer of a minimum three year extension period under its current time charter contract as well as the higher charter rate earned by the LNG Carrier Ob River, soon after entering its current five year time charter contract in September, 2012.
Voyage Expenses. The following table sets forth details of our voyage expenses, not including voyage expenses set forth under Voyage Expensesrelated Party for the years ended December 31, 2013 and 2012:
Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||||||
2013 | 2012 | Change | % Change | |||||||||||||
(in thousands of U.S. dollars) | ||||||||||||||||
Commissions |
618 | 819 | (201 | ) | (24.5 | %) | ||||||||||
Bunkers |
| 1,361 | (1,361 | ) | (100 | %) | ||||||||||
Port Expenses |
57 | 307 | (250 | ) | (81.4 | %) | ||||||||||
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Voyage Expenses |
$ | 675 | $ | 2,487 | $ | (1,812 | ) | (72.9 | %) | |||||||
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Voyage expenses decreased by 72.9%, or $1.8 million, to $0.7 million during the year ended December 31, 2013 from $2.5 million during the year ended December 31, 2012. The decrease was mainly attributable to the lack of dry-dock related voyage expenses in 2013. During the year ended December 31, 2012, all of our three vessels underwent their mandatory initial special survey and dry-docking survey and as a result incurred $1.4 million in bunker expenses and $0.2 million in port expenses in connection with positioning the vessels to the shipyards compared to nil bunker expenses and negligible port expenses in 2013. The decrease was also attributable to $0.2 million of fewer commissions charged by third party brokers in the year ended December 31, 2013, pursuant to the Ob River charter agreement discussed above, that provides for no third party brokerage commission charges.
Voyage Expensesrelated party. The following table sets forth details of our voyage expenses charged by our Manager for commercial services. For the years ended December 31, 2013 and 2012 pursuant to the management agreements under which Dynagas Ltd. earned a 1.25% commission on gross time charter income:
Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||||||
2013 | 2012 | Change | % Change | |||||||||||||
(in thousands of U.S. dollars) |