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Note 6 - Investment in Westinghouse and Related Agreements
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3 Months Ended |
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Nov. 30, 2012
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| Equity Method Investments And Variable Interest Entities |
Note 6 —
Investment in Westinghouse and Related Agreements
Investment
in Westinghouse
On
October 16, 2006, two newly-formed companies, Toshiba
Nuclear Energy Holdings (US), Inc. and its subsidiaries and
Toshiba Nuclear Energy Holdings (UK), Ltd. and its
subsidiaries (the Acquisition Companies) acquired BNFL USA
Group Inc. (also referred to as Westinghouse Electric Company
LLC) and Westinghouse Electric UK Limited and their
subsidiaries (collectively Westinghouse or WEC) from British
Nuclear Fuels plc (BNFL). Westinghouse was owned and
capitalized to a total of $5.4 billion, 77% provided by
Toshiba, 20% by our wholly owned special purpose subsidiary
Nuclear Energy Holdings LLC (NEH) and 3% by
Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co., Ltd (IHI). In
October 2007, Toshiba reduced its ownership to 67% by selling
10% of Westinghouse to National Atomic Company Kazatomprom, a
major supplier of uranium based in the Republic of
Kazakhstan. Our total cost of the equity investment
(Westinghouse Equity) and the related agreements, including
related acquisition costs, was approximately
$1.1 billion. We obtained financing for our equity
investment through the Japanese private placement market by
issuing, at a discount, 128.98 billion JPY (equivalent to
approximately $1.08 billion at the time of issuance) face
amount of limited recourse bonds (the Westinghouse
Bonds).
Put
Option Agreements
In
connection and concurrent with the acquisition of our
Investment in Westinghouse, we entered into JPY-denominated
Put Option Agreements (Put Options) that provide us an option
to sell all or part of our 20% equity interest in
Westinghouse to Toshiba for approximately 97% of the original
JPY-equivalent purchase price, approximately
124.7 billion JPY. Under its terms, the Put Options are
exercisable through February 28, 2013, but covenants under
the Westinghouse Bonds required us to exercise the Put Option
on the date that is 160 days prior to March 15,
2013, (October 6, 2012) if, by such date, the Westinghouse
Bonds have not been repaid. The Put Options provided
financial support to NEH to issue the Westinghouse Bonds on a
non-recourse basis to us (except NEH) as the Westinghouse
Bonds are collateralized exclusively by the security
addressed below in the section “Westinghouse
Bonds.” If, due to legal reasons or other regulatory
constraints, Toshiba cannot take possession of the shares
upon our exercise of the Put Options, Toshiba is required to
provide security for the Westinghouse Bonds for a period of
time and may delay the transfer of ownership and settlement
of the Westinghouse Bonds by NEH. The Put Options may only be
exercised once, and any proceeds received from the Put
Options must be used to repay the Westinghouse Bonds.
On
October 6, 2012, NEH exercised its Put Options to sell the
Westinghouse Equity to Toshiba. Under the terms of the put
option agreements, the Put Options will be cash settled 90
days thereafter, on January 4, 2013, with the proceeds
deposited in trust to fund retirement of the Westinghouse
Bonds on March 15, 2013.
The
Put Options exercise price is JPY-denominated, so the trust
will receive approximately 124.7 billion JPY. The Put
Options, along with the Principal LC (defined below),
substantially mitigate the risk to the holders of the
Westinghouse Bonds that the JPY to U.S. dollar exchange
rate changes could result in a shortfall of proceeds upon
exercise of the Put Options for repayment of the Westinghouse
Bonds.
Under
U.S. GAAP, the Put Options are not considered free-standing
financial instruments or derivative instruments, and,
therefore, have not been separated from our equity investment
in Westinghouse. The Put Options are JPY-denominated and do
not require or permit net settlement. Therefore, neither the
Put Options nor the foreign currency component meet the
definition of a derivative instrument under ASC 815 and,
therefore, are not separated from the host contract (the
hybrid equity investment in Westinghouse with a
JPY-denominated put option).
Commercial
Relationship Agreement
In
connection and concurrent with the acquisition of our
investment in Westinghouse, we executed a commercial
relationship agreement (Westinghouse CRA) that provided us
with certain exclusive opportunities to bid on projects where
we would perform engineering, procurement and construction
services on future Westinghouse advanced passive AP 1000
nuclear power plants, along with other commercial
opportunities, such as the supply of piping for those units.
We concluded that, for accounting purposes, no value should
be allocated to the Westinghouse CRA and that it should not
be recognized as a separate asset. The Westinghouse CRA
terminated upon exercise of the Put Options on October 6,
2012.
Shareholder
Agreement and Dividend Policy
On
October 4, 2006, NEH entered into shareholder agreements
with respect to the Acquisition Companies setting forth
certain agreements regarding the capitalization, management,
control and other matters relating to the Acquisition
Companies. Under the shareholder agreements, the Acquisition
Companies will distribute agreed percentages, no less than
65%, but not to exceed 100%, of the net income of
Westinghouse to its shareholders as dividends. The shares
owned by NEH will be entitled to limited preferences with
respect to dividends to the extent that targeted minimum
dividends are not distributed. The intent of this policy is
that for each year of the first six years we hold our 20%
equity investment in Westinghouse we expect to receive a
minimum of approximately $24.0 million in dividends. To
the extent the targeted dividend amount during this period is
not paid or an amount less than the target is paid, we retain
the right to receive any annual shortfall to the extent
Westinghouse earns net income equal to or exceeding the
targeted income in the future. Our right to receive any
shortfalls between the targeted dividends to which we are
entitled and those actually paid by Westinghouse during the
first six years of our investment (or such shorter period in
the event of earlier termination) survives the exercise or
expiration of the Put Options or the sale of our Westinghouse
Investment, although this right is dependent on Westinghouse
earning net income equal to or exceeding the target income at
some future time. NEH has received dividends totaling
approximately $119.4 million to date. Dividends received are
accounted for as a reduction of NEH’s Investment in
Westinghouse carrying value. Shortfalls in target minimum
Westinghouse dividends are not recorded in our financial
statements until declared by Westinghouse. We will be
entitled to receive dividends associated with our
Westinghouse investment until the settlement of the Put
Option, January 4, 2013. However, any dividend shortfall will
continue to be payable to us. At November 30, 2012, the
dividend shortfall totaled approximately $12.6
million.
Westinghouse
Bonds
The
proceeds from the issuance of the Westinghouse Bonds was
approximately $1.0 billion, net of original issue
discount. The Westinghouse Bonds are non-recourse to us and
our subsidiaries, except NEH, and are secured by the assets
of and 100% of our ownership in NEH, its Westinghouse Equity,
the Put Options, a letter of credit for approximately $52.4
million at November 30, 2012, established by us for the
benefit of NEH related to the principal on the Westinghouse
Bonds (the Principal LC) and the additional letters of
credit for approximately $18.2 million at November 30,
2012, for the benefit of NEH related to interest on the
Westinghouse Bonds (the Interest LC). The Interest LC
automatically renewed in declining amounts equal to the
interest remaining to be paid over the life of the
Westinghouse Bonds, until we exercised the Put Options on
October 6, 2012, which requires the payment of the
Westinghouse Bonds. The Westinghouse Bonds were issued in two
tranches, a floating-rate tranche and a fixed-rate tranche,
and will mature March 15, 2013. We entered into
contracts to fix the JPY-denominated interest payments on the
floating rate tranche. (See Note 9 — Debt and
Revolving Lines of Credit for additional discussion of the
accounting for these contracts.) Other than the Principal LC
and the Interest LC delivered at the closing of the
Westinghouse Bonds and an agreement to reimburse Toshiba for
amounts related to possible changes in tax treatment, we are
not required to provide any additional letters of credit or
cash to or for the benefit of NEH.
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