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Organization and Basis of Presentation
3 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2013
Organization and Basis of Presentation  
Organization and Basis of Presentation

 

 

1. Organization and Basis of Presentation

 

Organization

 

Niska Gas Storage Partners LLC (“Niska Partners” or the “Company”) is a publicly-traded Delaware limited liability company (NYSE:NKA) which independently owns and/or operates natural gas storage assets in North America. The Company operates the Countess and Suffield gas storage facilities (collectively, the AECO Hub™) in Alberta, Canada, and the Wild Goose and Salt Plains gas storage facilities in California and Oklahoma, respectively. Each of these facilities markets natural gas storage services in addition to optimizing storage capacity with its own proprietary gas purchases.

 

On April 2, 2013, Niska Partners completed an equity restructuring with affiliates of Carlyle/Riverstone Global Energy and Power Fund II, L.P. and Carlyle/Riverstone Global Energy and Power Fund III, L.P. (collectively the “Carlyle/Riverstone Funds”).  In the restructuring, all of the Company’s 33.8 million subordinated units and previous incentive distribution rights (all of which were owned by the Carlyle/Riverstone Funds) were combined into and restructured as a new class of incentive distribution rights (“new IDRs”).   The equity restructuring, which did not require any further consents or approvals, was effective as of the same day.  The transaction was unanimously approved by the Company’s Board of Directors, on the unanimous approval and recommendation of its Conflicts Committee, which is composed solely of independent directors.

 

The restructuring permanently eliminated all of the Company’s subordinated units and previous incentive distribution rights in return for the new IDRs.  Prior to completion of the restructuring, the Company would have been required to pay the full minimum quarterly distribution of $0.35 per unit on the subordinated units (requiring additional distributions of approximately $12 million per quarter) prior to increasing the quarterly distribution on common units. Quarterly distributions on the subordinated units had not been paid since the quarter ended September 30, 2011.

 

The new IDRs entitle the Carlyle/Riverstone Funds to receive 48% of any quarterly cash distributions after Niska Partners’ common unit holders have received the full minimum quarterly distribution ($0.35 per unit) for each quarter plus any arrearages from prior quarters (of which there are currently none).  The previous incentive distribution rights entitled the Carlyle/Riverstone Funds to receive increasing percentages (ranging from 13% to 48%) of incremental cash distributions after the unit holders (both common and subordinated) exceeded quarterly distributions ranging from $0.4025 per unit to $0.5250 per unit.  In addition, for a period of five years, and provided that the Carlyle/Riverstone Funds continue to own a majority of both the managing member and the new IDRs, the Carlyle Riverstone Funds will be deemed to own 33.8 million “Notional Subordinated Units” in connection with votes to remove and replace the managing member.  These Notional Subordinated Units are not entitled to distributions, but preserve the Carlyle/Riverstone Fund’s voting rights with respect to removal of the managing member.

 

At June 30, 2013, Niska Partners had 34,492,245 common units outstanding. Of this amount, 16,992,245 common units are owned by the Carlyle/Riverstone Funds, along with a 1.98% Managing Member’s interest in the Company and all of the Company’s new IDRs. Including all of the common units owned by the Carlyle/Riverstone Funds, along with the 1.98% Managing Member’s interest, the Carlyle/Riverstone Funds have a 50.27% ownership interest in the Company, excluding the IDRs, which are a variable interest. The remaining 17,500,000 common units, representing a 49.73% ownership interest in the Company excluding the IDRs, are owned by the public.

 

Basis of Presentation

 

The accounting  policies applied in these unaudited interim financial statements are consistent with the policies applied in the consolidated financial statements of Niska Partners and notes thereto included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2013.

 

In the opinion of management, the accompanying consolidated financial statements of Niska Partners, which are unaudited except the balance sheet at March 31, 2013 which is derived from audited financial statements, include all adjustments necessary to present fairly Niska Partners’ financial position as of June 30, 2013, along with the results of Niska Partners’ operations and its cash flows for the three months ended June 30, 2013 and 2012. The results of operations for the three months ended June 30, 2013 are not necessarily representative of the results to be expected for the full fiscal year ending March 31, 2014.  The optimization of proprietary gas purchases is seasonal with the majority of the revenues and costs associated with the physical sale of proprietary gas generally occurring during the third and fourth fiscal quarters, when demand for natural gas is typically the strongest.

 

Pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), the unaudited consolidated financial statements do not include all of the information and notes normally included with financial statements prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”). These consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements of Niska Partners and notes thereto included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2013.