XML 94 R20.htm IDEA: XBRL DOCUMENT v2.4.0.6
LOANS PAYABLE
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2012
Debt Disclosure [Abstract]  
LOANS PAYABLE

14. LOANS PAYABLE

 

Collective Capital Trust Plan

 

On December 3, 2009, the Company and Beijing International Trust Co., Ltd. (“Beijing Trust”) formed a Low Carbon Fortune-Energy Recycling No. 1 Collective Capital Trust Plan (“Plan”) pursuant to the Capital Trust Loan Agreement (the “Agreement”) entered into by Erdos TCH Energy Saving Development Co., Ltd and Beijing Trust dated November 19, 2009. All amounts raised under the Plan were loaned to Erdos TCH in connection with its waste heat power generation projects Phase II and Phase III construction and operation.

 

Under the Agreement, the annual base interest rate was 9.94% for A1 preferred trust fund units with a term of two years, 11% for A2 preferred trust fund units with a term of three years, 12.05% for A3 preferred trust fund units and 8.35% for the category B secondary trust fund units, each with a term of four years. Erdos TCH provided a lien on its equipment, assets and accounts receivable to guarantee the loans under the Agreement. Xi’an TCH and Mr. Guohua Ku, the CEO, the Chairman of the Company’s Board of Directors and a major shareholder, provided unconditional and irrevocable joint liability guarantees to Beijing Trust for Erdos TCH’s performance under the Agreement. Erdos (the minority shareholder and customer of Erdos TCH) provided a commitment letter on minimum power purchase from Erdos TCH.

 

The Trust Plan raised $44.1 million (RMB 300,000,000) through a series of capital raises in 2009 and 2010, of which, 13,750,000 B1 units ($2.0 million) were purchased by the management of Erdos TCH; 1,600,000 ($235,600) A1 units and 46,250,000 B2 units ($7.4 million) were purchased by Xi’an TCH, the amount was considered as an investment by Xi’an TCH into Erdos TCH and, accordingly, was eliminated in the consolidated financial statements. Portion of category A units (RMB 35,250,000) were due and paid in full on December 3, 2011, of which, RMB 1,600,000 was purchased by Xi’an TCH. As of December 31, 2012, the entire outstanding trust loan is due within one year. The net loan payable under this trust plan was $31.4 million (RMB 197,500,000) and $34.6 million (RMB 218,500,000) as of December 31, 2012 and 2011.

 

In addition to the above, under the Loan Agreement, Erdos TCH must pay a management incentive benefit to Beijing Trust upon maturity of the category A3 and category B trust units in December 2013 if the ratio of Erdos TCH’s profit to its registered capital exceeds a base amount. If this criterion is met, the amount of the management incentive benefit is calculated based on a formula tied to Erdos TCH’s net profit and the average registered capital for the 2012 fiscal year. Under this formula the management incentive benefit could range between 0% and 100% of the net profit of Erdos TCH in the 2012 fiscal year.

 

The management incentive benefit was structured to provide an incentive to management to make the joint venture profitable. Under the Plan, Beijing Trust will distribute the entire amount of the management incentive benefit it receives to the holders of the category B trust units. As previously disclosed, the holders of the category B trust units are the management of Erdos TCH and Xi’an TCH. Category B trust units receive a lower base interest rate than the category A trust units but the economic return to the holders of category B trust units will be enhanced by any management incentive benefit.

 

For the year ended December 31, 2012, Erdos TCH incurred a net loss both under PRC GAAP and US GAAP (See note 10).

 

Erdos TCH also will share the benefits from Clean Development Mechanism ("CDM") under the Kyoto Protocol equally with Beijing Trust during the term of the loan. Any benefit received from CDM will be paid to Erdos Metallurgy first.  Under the agreement with Xi’an TCH, Erdos Metallurgy agrees to deliver to Xi’an TCH 50% of the benefit Erdos Metallurgy receives. Xi’an TCH agrees to share 50% of the benefit it receives from Erdos Metallurgy with Erdos TCH. Under the Capital Trust Loan Agreement between Erdos TCH and Beijing Trust, Erdos TCH agrees that 50% of any benefit it receives will be delivered to Beijing Trust. Pursuant to the Plan, Beijing Trust will distribute 70% of the CDM benefit it receives to the holders of the category B trust units. The receipt of any CDM benefit is subject to a process of evaluation and certification of the project by the CDM Executive Board and is under the guidance of the Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The first stages of the certification process have been completed successfully.

 

Bank Long Term Loans - Industrial Bank

 

Xi’an TCH entered into an agreement with Industrial Bank Co., Ltd., Xi’an Branch (the “Lender”) for a loan designed for energy saving and emission reduction projects, whereby the Lender agreed to loan $4.74 million (RMB 30,000,000) to Xi’an TCH for three years from April 6, 2010 to April 6, 2013. The proceeds of the loan are required to be used in payment for equipment for Xi’an TCH’s energy saving and emission reduction projects. The loan has a floating interest rate that resets at the beginning of each quarter at 110% of the national base interest rate for the same term and same level loan (then 6.77%).  Under the loan, Xi’an TCH is required to make quarterly interest payments and, beginning six months after the date of the release of the funds, to make minimum quarterly principal payments of $477,000 (RMB 3,000,000). The loan agreement contains standard representations, warranties and covenants, and is guaranteed by Xi’an TCH, Shaanxi Shengwei Construction Material Group and Mr. Guohua Ku. As of December 31, 2012, this loan had outstanding balance of $0.48 million which was to be repaid within one year, and was classified as a current liability.

 

The loan had the following covenants: (i) maintain the current assets and net assets at not less than $79 million (RMB 500 million); (ii) assets to liability ratio must not be less than 80%; and (iii) the current ratio must not be less than 2.5. On March 28, 2011, the Company received a waiver letter from the Lender waiving all covenants.

 

Xi’an TCH entered another loan agreement with the same Industrial Bank for energy saving and emission reduction projects, whereby the Lender agreed to loan $4.77 million (RMB 30,000,000) to Xi’an TCH for three years to March 30, 2014. The proceeds of the loan are required to be used in payment for construction and equipment purchase for Xi’an TCH’s energy saving and emission reduction projects. The loan agreement has a floating interest rate that resets at the beginning of each quarter at 115% of the national base interest rate for the same term and same level loan (then 7.07%).  Under the loan, Xi’an TCH is required to make quarterly interest payments and, beginning six months after the date of the release of the funds, to make minimum quarterly principal payments of $477,000 (RMB 3,000,000). The loan agreement contains standard representations, warranties and covenants, and the loan is guaranteed by Xi’an TCH, Mr. Guohua Ku and Ms. Chaoying Zhang. As of December 31, 2012, this loan had an outstanding balance of $2.86 million, of which, $1.91 million was to be repaid within one year and was classified as current liability, and $0.95 million will be repaid after one year and was classified as noncurrent liability.

 

The loan was originally pledged with the system and revenue of the project ZhongBao. In June 2011, the system of the project ZhongBao was sold to and leased back from Cinda Financial Leasing Co., Ltd. (the “Cinda Financial”), the Company engaged a third party guarantee company as the guarantor for the loan, which was approved by the Industrial Bank in July 1, 2011. The loan had the following covenants: (i) maintain the current assets and net assets not less than $79 million (RMB 500 million); (ii) assets to liability ratio not less than 80%; and (iii) the current ratio not less than 1. In the first quarter of 2011, the Company received a waiver letter from the Lender waiving all covenants.

 

On November 8, 2011, Xi’an TCH entered the third loan agreement with the same Industrial Bank for energy saving and emission reduction projects, whereby the Lender agreed to loan $20.68 million (RMB 130,000,000) to Xi’an TCH for four years to November 27, 2015. The proceeds of the loan are required to be used in payment for construction and equipment purchase for Xi’an TCH’s energy saving and emission reduction projects. The loan agreement has a floating interest rate that resets at the beginning of each quarter at 115% of the national base interest rate for the same term and same level loan (then 7.36%).  Under the loan, Xi’an TCH is required to make quarterly interest payments and, beginning nine months after the date of the release of the funds, to make minimum quarterly principal payments of $1,590,963 (RMB 10,000,000). For the first nine months, the loan was in a grace period and there was no repayment requirement. The loan is guaranteed by accounts receivable of Xi’an TCH, Pucheng and Shenqiu BMPG systems and Mr. Guohua Ku. As of December 31, 2012, this loan had outstanding balance of $17.50 million, of which, $6.36 million was to be repaid within one year and was classified as current liability, and $11.14 million will be repaid after one year and was classified as noncurrent liability. 

 

Bank Loan – Bank of Xi’an

 

During the first quarter of 2012, Xi’an TCH entered into an agreement with Bank of Xi’an, whereby Bank of Xi’an agreed to loan $4.77 million (RMB 30,000,000) to Xi’an TCH for one year with maturity on March 1, 2013. The proceeds of the loan are required to be used in payment for power generation equipment purchases. The monthly interest rate of the Loan is 0.60133%. Under the terms of the loan, Xi’an TCH is required to make monthly interest payments and the principal is to be repaid at maturity. The Company repaid all principle at maturity. The loan is guaranteed by a third party guarantee company and Mr. Guohua Ku. The Company paid a third party $119,322 (RMB 750,000) as a re-guarantee service fee.

 

As of December 31, 2012, the future minimum repayment of all the bank loans to be made by years is as follows:

 

2013   $ 13,523,188  
2014     7,318,431  
2015     4,772,890  
Total   $ 25,614,509  

 

Financing Agreement- - Sale Lease-Back Transaction (Long Term Payable)

 

On June 28, 2011, Xi’an TCH entered into a Financing Agreement (the “Agreement”) with Cinda Financial Leasing Co., Ltd. (the “Cinda Financial”), an affiliate of China Cinda (HK) Asset Management Co., Ltd. (the “Cinda HK”).

 

Under the Agreement, Xi’an TCH transferred its ownership of a set of 7MW steam turbine waste heat power generation system (the “WHPG system currently used by Zhongbao”) and four furnaces and ancillary apparatus (the “Assets”) to Cinda Financial for $6.72 million (RMB 42.50 million), and Cinda Financial leased the Assets to Xi’an TCH for 5 years for $8.15 million (RMB 51.54 million) based upon the transfer cost and the benchmark interest rate for five year loans by People’s Bank of China (“PBOC”) (then 6.65%) plus 15% of that rate (7.6475%).  The interest rate will increase if the five-year benchmark interest rate of PBOC increases but will remain the same if the benchmark rate decreases in the future.  Xi’an TCH shall make pro rata quarterly payments to Cinda Financial for the leasing fees. Upon the completion of the lease term and full payment of all leasing fees and other fees, Xi’an TCH can pay $676 (RMB 4,250) to acquire the ownership of the Assets from Cinda Financial. The quarterly minimum leasing payment to Cinda Financial is $412,855 (RMB 2,594,998).

 

In addition to the leasing fees, Xi’an TCH prepaid a one-time non-refundable leasing service charge of $405,696 (RMB 2,550,000) and a refundable security deposit of $338,079 (RMB 2,125,000) to Cinda Financial. The prepaid leasing service fee: amortized over five years. For the years ended December 31, 2012 and 2011, $80,792 (RMB 510,000) and $39,481 (RMB 255,000) was amortized. The unamortized portion was recorded as prepaid loan fees of $81,139 and $202,848 into current and non-current portions, respectively, as of December 31, 2012.

 

In accordance with ASC 840-10-25-4, since CREG retains substantially all of the benefits and risks relating to the property, this transaction was a financing and was recorded as such. The proceeds of this financing were not received prior to June 30, 2011; therefore, this transaction was recorded in the third quarter of 2011. As of December 31, 2012, the Company made repayments of $2,476,828 to Cinda Financial.

 

As of December 31, 2012, the future minimum payment to be made by years is as follows: 

 

2013   $ 1,651,419  
2014     1,651,419  
2015     1,651,419  
2016     825,709  
         
Total   $ 5,779,966  
Unamortized interest     (776,123 )
Total long term payable     5,003,843  
Current portion     1,292,185  
Noncurrent portion   $ 3,711,658