Discontinued Operations

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2018

Discontinued Operations and Disposal Groups [Abstract]

Discontinued Operations

NOTE 4—Discontinued Operations

On April 21, 2016, the Company announced that it decided to cease operations of its GridSense subsidiary and initiate the liquidation of the GridSense assets. As a result of this decision, GridSense is being reported as a discontinued operation. Following the decision to cease GridSense operations, the Company wrote down all GridSense assets to their estimated realizable values at the time and accrued for estimated severance costs of $140 and lease commitments of $100 in GridSense’s first 2016 quarter results.

On July 12, 2016, the Company and its GridSense subsidiary completed the sale of the GridSense assets to Franklin Fueling Systems, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Franklin Electric Co., Inc. for a gross sales price of $1,000 of which $100 was set aside as an indemnity escrow. In the second quarter of 2017, $50 of the escrow was released to GridSense. These funds were used to settle claims by both Acorn and OmniMetrix following the cessation of settlements with outside creditors (see below). The remaining $50 escrow balance was released in July 2017.

With the proceeds from the July 2016 sale, GridSense paid off approximately $240 of previously accrued severance and other payroll costs. GridSense recorded a gain of $944 (net of transaction costs) on this transaction as the value of the GridSense assets sold had previously been written down to nearly zero. Such gain was included in discontinued operations in the third quarter of 2016.

Also, following the sale, GridSense engaged a third-party liquidation officer to satisfy, to the extent of the funds available from the remaining proceeds, the claims of GridSense creditors, including Acorn which is GridSense’s largest creditor. Through December 31, 2016, the third-party liquidator settled approximately $459 of outside creditor claims while disbursing approximately $47 to those creditors. At December 31, 2016, GridSense had approximately $19 of cash available (excluding escrow amounts) for satisfaction of remaining creditor claims of approximately $314.

During the nine months ended September 30, 2017, the liquidator settled $70 of claims while disbursing $7 to outside creditors. These settlements occurred in the first quarter of 2017 with no settlements with outside creditors being made subsequent to the first quarter of 2017.

On September 25, 2017 (the “Liquidation Date”), the Board of Directors of GridSense Inc. decided to dissolve and wind up the affairs of GridSense Inc. and adopted a Plan of Liquidation and Dissolution (the “Plan”). In accordance with the Plan, which was adopted on the same date, GridSense Inc. filed and executed Articles of Dissolution of the Corporation with the State of Colorado and established a liquidating trust to which all assets and liabilities of GridSense Inc. were transferred to in order to implement the winding up of the business. In addition, GridSense Pty Ltd. (“GPL”), the parent company of GridSense’s former operating company in Australia, has been deregistered by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (“ASIC”). As a result of the deregistration, which is akin to a Chapter 7 bankruptcy in the US, (i) GPL has ceased to exist as a legal entity and its property is deemed vested in ASIC, (ii) the former officers and directors of GPL no longer have the right to deal with property registered in GPL’s name and (iii) legal proceedings against GPL cannot be commenced or continued.

Accordingly, following the two aforementioned events, GridSense (GridSense Inc. and GPL) has been deconsolidated from the books of the Company. The Company recorded a gain on the deconsolidation of GridSense comprised of the elimination of the net liabilities of GridSense of $914 (see below) and the Accumulated Other Comprehensive Loss of $254 associated with GridSense.

Assets and liabilities related to the discontinued operations of GridSense are as follows:

	As of the Liquidation Date*
Cash	$	10
Other current assets and non-current assets		—
Total assets	$	10
Accounts payable	$	430
Accrued payroll, payroll taxes and social benefits		90
Other current and non-current liabilities		404
Total liabilities	$	924
Net liabilities	$	914

* Just prior to the deconsolidation

GridSense’s operating results for the period from January 1, 2017 to the Liquidation Date are included in “Income (loss) from discontinued operations, net of income taxes” in the Company’s Consolidated Statements of Operations. Selected financial information for GridSense’s operations for those periods are presented below:

	Year ended December 31, 2017
Net income (loss)	$	38
Gain on deconsolidation		660
Income (loss) from discontinued operations, net of income taxes	$	698