On February 11, 2020, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company entered into a Purchase and Sale Agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) and an Equipment Lease Agreement (the “Lease”) with Crestmark Equipment Finance, a division of MetaBank (“Crestmark”). Under these agreements, the Company’s subsidiary, Central CA Fuel Cell 2, LLC (“CCFC2”), sold the 2.8 MW fuel cell power plant (the “Plant”) located at the Tulare wastewater treatment plant in Tulare, California to Crestmark and then leased the Plant back from Crestmark through this sale-leaseback transaction. The Plant was designed, manufactured and installed by the Company, and commercial operations began on December 27, 2019. In operating the Plant, CCFC2 purchases biogas from the City of Tulare and will sell the power produced by the Plant to Southern California Edison under a twenty year PPA under the California Bioenergy Market Adjusting Tariff, which was separately entered into on April 20, 2018 (the “Tulare PPA”).

Under the terms of the Purchase Agreement, Crestmark paid CCFC2 an aggregate purchase price of $14.4 million. A portion of these proceeds were used by CCFC2 to make a down payment and an initial rental payment under the Lease totaling $2.9 million to Crestmark, and to pay taxes, to pay transaction costs and to fund a debt service reserve totaling approximately $1.0 million, resulting in net proceeds to CCFC2 of approximately $10.5 million. These net proceeds (also discussed under “Third Amendment to Orion Credit Agreement” below) were allocated as follows:

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Approximately $6.5 million of the net proceeds were deposited into the Project Proceeds Account (restricted cash on the Company’s Consolidated Balance Sheet) under the Orion Credit Agreement. These proceeds may be used to repay amounts outstanding under the Orion Credit Agreement or redeployed, subject to the approval of the Orion Lenders and the Agent, to other financing transactions for the Company’s projects. These net proceeds will be classified as restricted cash on the Consolidated Balance Sheet.

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Approximately $1.2 million of the net proceeds were deposited into a module reserve account and debt services reserve account under the Orion Credit Agreement. These net proceeds will be classified as restricted cash on the Consolidated Balance Sheet.

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The balance of the net proceeds, totaling $2.8 million, were used to fund the quarterly cash interest payment due to the Orion Lenders under the Orion Credit Agreement and the dividend payments on the Company’s Series B Preferred Stock and the Series 1 Preferred Shares of FCE Ltd. required to be paid in the second quarter of fiscal 2020.

The Lease has an initial term of ten years but may be extended at the option of CCFC2. As noted above, an initial rental down payment and one month’s rent totaling $2.9 million was paid using the proceeds from the sale of the Plant. Rental payments are due on a monthly basis in the amount of $0.1 million. Lease payments are expected to be funded with proceeds from the sale of power under the Tulare PPA. Following the sale-leaseback transaction, the remaining rental payments due over the term of the Lease total approximately $8.5 million.

CCFC2 and Crestmark entered into an Assignment Agreement on February 11, 2020 (the “Assignment Agreement”) and FuelCell Finance (the direct parent of CCFC2) and Crestmark entered into a Pledge Agreement on February 11, 2020 (the “Pledge Agreement”) pursuant to which collateral was provided to Crestmark to secure CCFC2’s obligations under the Lease. Specifically, CCFC2 and FuelCell Finance have granted Crestmark a security interest in (i) certain agreements relating to the sale-leaseback transaction, (ii) the revenues CCFC2 receives with respect to the Plant, (iii) two fuel cell modules to be maintained by CCFC2 as replacement modules for the Plant, and (iv) FuelCell Finance’s equity interest in CCFC2. CCFC2 and the Company also entered into a Technology License and Access Agreement with Crestmark on February 11, 2020, which provides Crestmark with certain intellectual property license rights to have access to the Company’s proprietary fuel cell technology, but only for the purpose of maintaining and servicing the project in certain circumstances where the Company is not satisfying its obligations under its service agreement with regard to the maintenance and servicing of the Plant.

Pursuant to the Lease, CCFC2 has an obligation to indemnify Crestmark for the amount of any actual reduction in the U.S. Investment Tax Credit anticipated to be realized by Crestmark in connection with the foregoing sale-leaseback transaction. Such obligations would arise as a result of reductions to the value of the underlying fuel cell project as assessed by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”). The Company does not believe that any such obligation is likely based on the facts known as of March 16, 2020. The maximum potential future payments that CCFC2 could have to make under these obligations would depend on the difference between the fair values of the fuel cell projects sold or financed and the values the IRS would determine as the fair value for the systems for purposes of claiming the Investment Tax Credit. The value of the Investment Tax Credit in the sale-leaseback agreements is based on guidelines provided by the statutory regulations from the IRS. The Company and Crestmark used fair values determined with the assistance of an independent third-party appraisal.

The Purchase Agreement and the Lease contain representations and warranties, affirmative and negative covenants, and customary events of default that entitle Crestmark to cause CCFC2’s indebtedness under the Lease to become immediately due and payable.

Pursuant to a Guaranty Agreement executed on February 11, 2020 by the Company for the benefit of Crestmark (the “Guaranty”), the Company has guaranteed the payment and performance of CCFC2’s obligations under the Lease.

In order to obtain the Orion Lenders’ consent to the Crestmark sale-leaseback transaction described above and to the use of certain proceeds from the Crestmark sale-leaseback transaction (the “Crestmark Proceeds”) as described below, the Company, the Agent, the Orion Lenders and the other loan parties entered into the Third Amendment to the Orion Credit Agreement (the “Third Orion Amendment”) dated February 11, 2020, and a Consent and Waiver dated February 11, 2020 (the “Consent and Waiver”). Pursuant to the Third Orion Amendment, TRS Fuel Cell, LLC was added as an Additional Covered Project Company (as defined in the Orion Credit Agreement), requiring the Company to pledge all of the assets of TRS Fuel Cell, LLC under the Orion Credit Agreement. In addition, pursuant to the Orion Credit Agreement (as modified by the Third Orion Amendment), all of the proceeds received by the Company from the Crestmark sale-leaseback transaction described above, after the payment of transaction costs, were deposited in the Company’s Project Proceeds Account, which account is restricted, with withdrawals permitted only with consent of the Agent for use to (i) prepay the loans under the Orion Credit Agreement or (ii) fund (x) construction costs, inventory or other capital expenditures for an Additional Covered Project (as defined in the Orion Credit Agreement) whose contracted cash flows (as determined in the Orion Lenders’ sole discretion) meet or exceed a coverage ratio acceptable to the Orion Lenders, and (y) inventory, working capital and other costs required in connection with the performance of purchase orders, service agreements and other binding customer agreements (as determined in the Orion Lenders’ sole discretion); provided, however, that, pursuant to the Third Orion Amendment, certain portions of the funds deposited in the Project Proceeds Account were used as follows: (a) $1.1 million of the Crestmark Proceeds were transferred to the Module Reserve Account (as defined in the Orion Credit Agreement) to fund module replacement costs for Covered Projects (as defined in the Orion Credit Agreement); (b) $0.1 million of the Crestmark Proceeds were transferred to the Debt Reserve Account; (c) $1.7 million of the Crestmark Proceeds were used to fund the quarterly cash interest due to the Orion Lenders under the Orion Credit Agreement; and (d) $1.1 million of the Crestmark Proceeds were used to fund the aggregate amount of the dividends on the Company’s Series B Preferred Stock and the Series 1 Preferred Shares of FCE Ltd. required to be paid in the second quarter of fiscal 2020. The remaining approximately $6.5 million of the Crestmark Proceeds will remain as restricted cash in the Project Proceeds Account and the Company expects to request the Orion Lenders’ consent to draw down all or a portion of such amount for future projects as permitted under the Orion Credit Agreement or use the funds to repay principal due under the Orion Credit Agreement over time. Pursuant to the Consent and Wavier, subject to the terms and conditions described above in the Third Orion Amendment, the Orion Lenders consented to the release of liens on those assets that were the subject of the Crestmark sale-leaseback transaction and to the Company’s entering into the Guaranty.