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Discontinued Operations
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2012
Discontinued Operations and Disposal Groups [Abstract]  
Discontinued Operations
Discontinued Operations
EME Chapter 11 Filing
On the Petition Date, EME and certain of its subsidiaries, filed voluntary petitions for relief under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the Bankruptcy Court. On December 16, 2012, Edison International, EME and certain of EME's senior unsecured noteholders entered into a Transaction Support Agreement (the "Support Agreement"), that, subject to further documentation, Bankruptcy Court approval and certain other conditions, provides that:
Edison International will cease to own EME when EME emerges from bankruptcy pursuant to a plan or reorganization.
The tax allocation agreements with respect to EME will be extended through the earlier of the effective date of a plan of reorganization or December 31, 2014, and EME will remain bound to perform its obligations under such agreements.
Edison International and EME will continue to provide ongoing shared services to each other in the ordinary course, consistent with the same terms and conditions on which those services have been provided in the past.
Upon effectiveness of EME's plan of reorganization, Edison International will assume certain of EME's employee retirement related liabilities.
Edison International, EME and the noteholders who have signed the Support Agreement will exchange releases of claims, and EME and Edison International will cross-indemnify one another against liabilities arising from the conduct of their separate businesses.
Under the Support Agreement, within 150 days following the Petition Date, EME will seek authority from the Bankruptcy Court to enter into the Settlement Transaction, which must be obtained within 210 days following the Petition Date or the Support Agreement is subject to termination. There can be no assurance that the Bankruptcy Court will approve the Settlement Transaction, and even if it is approved, there can be no assurance that the conditions to the effectiveness of the Settlement Transaction will be satisfied. In addition, EME is entitled to terminate the Support Agreement and consider alternative transactions in accordance with its fiduciary duties.
Deconsolidation
EME and those subsidiaries in Chapter 11 proceedings retain control of their assets and are authorized to operate their businesses as debtors-in-possession under the jurisdiction of the Bankruptcy Court. Effective December 17, 2012, Edison International no longer consolidates the earnings and losses of EME or its subsidiaries and has reflected its ownership interest in EME utilizing the cost method of accounting prospectively, under which Edison International's investment in EME is reflected as a single amount on the consolidated balance sheet of Edison International at December 31, 2012. Furthermore, Edison International has recorded a full impairment of the investment in EME as a result of the deconsolidation of EME, recognition of losses previously deferred in accumulated other comprehensive income, a provision for losses from the EME bankruptcy and estimated tax impacts related to the expected future tax deconsolidation and separation of EME from Edison International. The aggregate impact of these matters resulted in an after tax charge of $1.3 billion during the fourth quarter of 2012.
Edison International will not be affected by changes in EME's future financial results, other than those changes related to the tax allocation agreements. Edison International has evaluated the continuing cash flows with EME and determined that these cash flows generated are indirect and immaterial. Edison International's continuing cash flows will not include any significant revenue-producing and cost-generating activities of EME. The ongoing shared services support that Edison International and EME will continue to provide each other is not expected to be material to Edison International's cash flows.
Edison International considers EME to be an abandoned asset under generally accepted accounting principles, and, as a result, the operations of EME prior to December 17, 2012 and for all prior years, are reflected as discontinued operations in the consolidated financial statements.
Summarized results of discontinued operations:
(in millions)
351 days ended December 16, 2012
 
Year Ended December 31, 2011
 
Year Ended December 31, 2010
Operating revenues
$
1,242

 
$
2,172

 
$
2,413

Income (loss) before income taxes
(2,013
)
 
(1,934
)
 
183


Before Edison International classified EME as discontinued operations, Edison International had accounted for EME's Homer City as a discontinued operation. The operating results shown above reflect the operating results of Homer City through December 14, 2012. On December 14, 2012, Homer City and an affiliate of GECC completed the Homer City Master Transaction Agreement ("MTA") between EME Homer City Generation L.P. and General Electric Capital Corporation for the divestiture by Homer City of substantially all of its remaining assets and certain specified liabilities. In the third quarter of 2012, EME recorded a $113 million charge ($68 million after tax) to write down assets held for sale to net realizable value during the third quarter of 2012. The charge was reduced to $89 million ($53 million after tax) when the transaction closed. In the fourth quarter of 2011, EME recorded an impairment charge of $1.03 billion related to Homer City's long-lived assets.
The assets and liabilities associated with the discontinued operations are segregated on the consolidated balance sheets at December 31, 2011. The carrying amount of the major components of asset and liabilities of discontinued operations at December 31, 2011 are summarized below. The information for these balance sheet components at December 31, 2012 were excluded from the table below as the fair value of Edison International's investment in EME was zero.
(in millions)
December 31,
2011
Current:
 
Cash and cash equivalents
$
1,300

Other current assets
641

Total current assets
1,941

Long-term:
 
Property, plant and equipment, net
4,472

Other long-term assets
1,609

Total long-term assets
6,081

Total assets of discontinued operations
$
8,022

 
 
Total current liabilities
$
359

Long-term:
 
Long-term debt
4,855

Deferred income taxes1
331

Other long-term liabilities
1,008

Total long-term liabilities
6,194

Total liabilities of discontinued operations
$
6,553

1
Deferred income taxes is primarily comprised of deferred tax liabilities related to basis differences in property.
Contingencies
Edison International Parent has not guaranteed the obligations of EME, however, under the Internal Revenue Code and applicable state statutes, Edison International Parent is jointly liable for qualified retirement plans and Federal and specific state tax liabilities. As a result of the deconsolidation and the existence of joint liabilities, Edison International has recorded liabilities at December 31, 2012 of $80 million for qualified retirement plans related to plan participants of EME and $183 million of liabilities related to joint tax liabilities. Under the qualified plan documents and tax allocation agreements, EME is obligated to pay for such liabilities and, accordingly, Edison International has recorded receivables of $229 million from EME net of amounts recorded in accumulated other comprehensive income of $34 million (related to actuarial losses under the qualified retirement plans).
If the Support Agreement is approved and implemented, Edison International Parent would not be entitled to receive reimbursement of the net receivable of $46 million and would be obligated to assume certain other retirement liabilities as specified in such agreement (currently estimated at $104 million). If the Support Agreement is not approved, then Edison International Parent would seek recovery of such joint liabilities as part of the EME bankruptcy proceeding. The outcome of the EME bankruptcy proceeding is uncertain. Management judgment was required to assess the collectability of the receivables recorded and outcome of the bankruptcy proceeding. Management concluded that, based on the Support Agreement, it is probable that a loss would be incurred and estimated a loss of $150 million based on the net receivable from the qualified retirement plans and the estimated amounts for specified additional retirement liabilities. The outcome of the EME bankruptcy could result in losses different than the amounts recorded by Edison International and such amounts could be material.
For a discussion of other contingencies related to EME, see Tax Disputes discussed in Note 7.