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| DEBT |
NOTE E – DEBT The table below summarizes our notes payable and long-term debt at December 31, 2021 and at December 31, 2020:
Senior Credit Facility and Bridge Loan: On May 4, 2020, in order to fund the purchase of the Bakersfield Renewable Fuels, LLC, BKRF OCB, LLC, a subsidiary of the Company, entered into a senior secured credit agreement with a group of lenders (the “Senior Lenders'') pursuant to which the Senior Lenders agreed to provide a $300.0 million senior secured term loan facility to BKRF OCB to pay the costs of retooling the Bakersfield Renewable Fuels Refinery . Through various amendments throughout 2020 and 2021, the commitments under the Senior Credit Facility have subsequently been increased to $337.6 million. Outstanding term loans under the Senior Credit Facility bear interest at the rate of 12.5% per annum, payable quarterly, provided that the borrower may defer up to 2.5% interest to the extent it does not have sufficient cash to pay the interest, such deferred interest being added to principal. The principal of the senior loans matures in , provided that BKRF OCB, LLC must offer to prepay the senior loans with any proceeds of such asset dispositions, borrowings other than permitted borrowings, proceeds from damage or losses at the refinery , and excess net cash flow. BKRF OCB, LLC may also prepay the senior loan in whole or in part with the payment of a prepayment premium. As additional consideration for the senior loans, the Senior Lenders are issued Class B Units in BKRF HCP, LLC, an indirect parent company of BKRF OCB, LLC, as the Company draws on the Senior Credit Facility. The fair value of the Class B Units are initially recognized at fair value and subsequently re-measured at fair value each reporting period with changes recognized in earnings. The Class B Units are discussed further below. On July 1, 2020, Amendment No. 1 to the Senior Credit Facility was made effective, which, among other things, waived certain events of default and extended specified target dates for such events. On October 12, 2020, Amendment No. 2 to the Senior Credit Facility was made effective, which, among other things, increased Tranche B commitments by $13.2 million to $313.2 million. On March 26, 2021, Amendment No. 3 to the Senior Credit Facility was made effective to more accurately reflect the updated scope and cost estimates of the Bakersfield
Renewable Fuels Refinery and to establish a contingency reserve account to fund the costs of the additional capabilities and equipment and to fund possible cost overruns. Concurrently, Consent No. 2 and Amendment No. 2 to the Senior Credit Agreement were made effective, which, among other things, established a consent premium equal to 1.00% of the aggregate commitments (“Consent Premium”), to be paid in the form of equity or cash to the Lenders, subject to whether the Company raises capital of $35 million prior to July 31, 2021. On May 19, 2021, Amendment No. 4 to the Senior Credit Facility was made effective to replace the Engineering, Procurement and Construction Agreement dated April 30, 2020 with ARB, Inc. (the “ARB EPC Agreement”), effective immediately with a Engineering, Procurement and Construction Agreement with CTCI Americas, Inc. (the “CTCI EPC Agreement”). The subcontracts for the Bakersfield Renewable Fuels Refinery will remain in effect and are being subsumed in the CTCI EPC Agreement. Accordingly, the subcontractors will continue to provide their services for the Bakersfield Renewable Fuels Refinery through CTCI.On July 29, 2021, Amendment No. 5 to the Senior Credit Facility was made effective to increase the amount of funding available under the Senior Credit Facility by $4.4 million, to $317.6 million. In addition, under Amendment No. 4 and Amendment No. 5 , the parties agreed to change the date by which the borrowers under the two credit agreements (the Company’s BKRF OCB, LLC and BKRF HCB, LLC subsidiaries) had to establish an additional cash contingency reserve of at least $35 million from July 31, 2021 to September 15, 2021. Further, with respect to the Consent Premium established on March 26, 2021, Amendment No. 5 constituted that the Consent Premium will be payable by the Company issuing warrants to purchase shares of the Company’s common stock. The warrants were to be issued on the earlier of September 15, 2021 or the closing of an equity raise in which the Company sells at least $10 million of its common stock. The Company subsequently received a waiver extending equity raise target date to November 19, 2021 and again in November 2021, based on further discussion with Senior Lenders, was waived until the December 20, 2021 amendment discussed below. On December 20, 2021, Amendment No. 6 to Senior Credit Facility was made effective, which, among other things, increased the amount of funding available under the Senior Credit Facility by $20.0 million to $337.6 million and to provide a new Bridge Loan facility in an aggregate principal amount of $20.0 million. The Bridge Loan bears interest at the rate of 12.5% per annum and has a stated maturity date of January 31, 2022. The Bridge
Loan is subject to the same prepayment provisions as the Senior Credit Facility . As of December 31, 2021, the Company had $12.0 million outstanding under the Bridge Loan.Further, on December 20, 2021, the Company entered into Forbearance and Conditional Waiver Agreement and Consent No. 5, Forbearance and Conditional Waiver Agreement. Under the respective forbearance agreements, the Senior Lenders agreed to forbear from exercising their rights and remedies under the Senior Credit Agreement, the Mezzanine Credit Agreement, and the related Financing Documents with respect to all Defaults and Events of Default thereunder. The respective agreements to forbear commence on December 20, 2021 and continue until January 15, 2022; provided that such date will be extended until January 31, 2022 if the administrative agent receives written confirmation that the binding MOU with ExxonMobil were reasonably expected to close and fund consistent with the terms thereof. Such Defaults and Events of Default will be waived upon the consummation of the transactions contemplated by the MOU and the payment of a cash equity contribution to the senior borrower in an amount not less than $115 million has been deposited into Senior Lenders’ construction account under the Senior Credit Facility. Also, on December 20, 2021, the Company entered into an amendment to the Senior Credit Facility whereby GCEH committed to the Senior Lenders to issue warrants covering 5,017,008 shares of common stock of GCEH at an exercise price to be determined based on a market pricing mechanism upon the completion of the Series C Financing for a term of five years from that date (the “Warrant Commitment Liability”). The Warrant Commitment Liability was in consideration for i) the Consent Premium payable from an earlier amendment to the Senior and Mezzanine Credit Facilities, ii) the Bridge Loan, and iii) as additional creditor fees for forbearance to the Senior Lenders and Mezzanine Lenders. On January 7, 2022, the Company borrowed an incremental $8.0 million on the Bridge Loan, and the total outstanding at that time was $20.0 million. On February 2, 2022, Amendment No. 7 to Senior Credit Facility was made effective, which, among other things, extended the forbearance period and each respective deadline to satisfy the conditions precedent for the conditional waivers to become permanent waivers were extended from January 31, 2022 to February 23, 2022. Additionally, the maturity date of the Bridge Loan was extended from January 31, 2022 to February 23, 2022. On February 23, 2022, the Company settled the Warrant Commitment Liability through the issuance of five-year warrants (the “GCEH Warrants”) to purchase up to an aggregate of 5,017,008 shares of our Common Stock at an exercise price of $2.25 per share. Additionally, the $20.0 million Bridge Loan, plus accrued interest, was paid in full. On February 23, 2022, Amendment No. 8 modified a previous provision whereby the Bakersfield Renewable Fuels Refinery needs to achieve Substantial Completion, as defined under the Senior Credit Facility, no later than August 31, 2022, or an event of default occurs and the Senior Lenders have the right to accelerate the loan for immediate payment of all principal and interest accrued to that date. However, the Substantial Completion date of August 31, 2022 can be extended on a day-for-day basis depending on the number of days that the ExxonMobil Offtake Agreement commercial target date of October 15, 2022 is also extended, up to a total extension of 90 days. The amendment also requires a quarterly principal prepayment amount to achieve an agreed-upon end-of-quarter targeted debt balance designed to meet the full payment of the Senior Credit Facility by November 4, 2026. The Company is only obligated to pay this quarterly principal amount to achieve these targeted debt balances to the extent there is available cash under the specific calculations required in the Senior Credit Facility. Irrespective of the cash available from the Bakersfield Renewable Fuels Refinery operations, the full amount of the loan matures and is due on November 4, 2026. Additionally, the $35 million reserve requirement from Amendment No. 3 was eliminated by Amendment No. 8 in conjunction with the Series C Preferred Financing. Effective as of February 23, 2022, the Senior Credit Facility was further amended to permit the Loan Parties to defer up to 3.50% per annum of the interest until the earlier of September 30, 2022 or the final completion of the retooling of the Bakersfield Renewable Fuels Refinery, with all deferred interest being added to principal. In addition, effective as of February 23, 2022, the parties agreed to various amendments to the representations and warranties, affirmative and negative covenants and events of default in the senior loan facility, including (i) the Company’s loan subsidiaries may enter into working capital facilities in an amount of up to $125 million without the Senior Lenders’ consent, and the Company agreed to use its commercially reasonable efforts to enter into a permitted working capital facility on or before June 30, 2022; (ii) the retooling of the Bakersfield Renewable Fuels Refinery must be substantially complete by August 31, 2022 (subject to extension for up to 90 days as described above); and (iii) the final completion of the retooling of the Bakersfield Renewable Fuels Refinery must be achieved by January 31, 2023. Mezzanine Credit Facility On May 4, 2020, BKRF HCB, LLC, the indirect parent of BKRF OCB, LLC, entered into a the Mezzanine Credit Facility with a group of Mezzanine Lenders who agreed to provide a $65 million secured term loan facility to be used to pay the costs of repurposing and starting up the Bakersfield Renewable Fuels Refinery. Subsequently, the Mezzanine Credit Facility was increased to $67.4 million. As of December 31, 2021, BKRF HCB, LLC has not drawn down on the Mezzanine Credit Facility. The Mezzanine Credit Facility bears interest at the rate of 15.0% per annum on amounts borrowed, payable quarterly, provided that the borrower may defer up to 2.5% interest to the extent it does not have sufficient cash to pay the interest. Such deferred interest is added to principal. As additional consideration for the Mezzanine Credit Facility, the Mezzanine Lenders will be issued Class C Units in BKRF HCP, LLC at such times as advances are made under the Mezzanine Credit Facility. The Mezzanine Credit Facility will be secured by all of the assets of BKRF HCP, LLC, including all of the outstanding membership interest in BKRF HCB, LLC. The Mezzanine Credit Facility matures in November 2027. The Mezzanine Credit Facility was assigned to, and assumed by GCEH on February 23, 2022 and GCEH has fully funded the $67.4 million loan under the Mezzanine Credit Facility to BKRF HCB, LLC. Therefore, the Mezzanine Credit Facility between GCEH and BKRF HCB, LLC is now an intercompany creditor agreement.
Fixed Payment Obligation As described in Note A, under “Fair Value Measurements and Fair Value of Financial Instruments”, the Company amended a derivative forward contract during the quarter ended March 31, 2020, with the counterparty. The amendment terminated the derivative forward contract and replaced it with a fixed payment obligation. Under the terms of the fixed payment obligation, the Company agreed to pay the counterparty a total of $23.1 million, which included a payment of $5.5 million in April 2020, and six equal installment payments in 2022 totaling $17.6 million. Under the subsequent revised terms of the fixed payment obligation in April 2020, the Company agreed to pay the counterparty a total of $24.8 million, which included a payment of $4.5 million in June 2020
(which was paid), and six equal monthly installment payments beginning in May 2022. For financial reporting purposes, the fixed payment obligation has been recorded at the present value of future payments, using a discount rate of 14.8%. Other Notes Payable Included in “other notes” as of December 31, 2021, in the above table, is a note, that is due upon demand related to the Company’s business activities prior to 2019, in the principal amount of $1.3 million and an interest rate of 18% per annum. Also included in other notes above, is a note payable that was used to finance the Company’s insurance policies. Upon the acquisition of the Bakersfield Renewable Fuels Refinery in May 2020, the Company purchased numerous insurance contracts to cover its corporate, ownership and construction risks primarily to provide financial protection against various risks and to satisfy certain lender requirements. The Company paid 35% of the total premiums and financed the balance at 3.8% annual interest rate. The Company is obligated to make seventeen equal monthly payments totaling approximately $4.5 million beginning in July 2020. The insurance policies cover various periods from 12 to 60 months beginning in May 2020. As of December 31, 2021, the Company had nine payments remaining for a total of approximately $0.5 million. In May, 2021, the Company entered into new insurance policies to replace the policies that were expiring in May 2021. The Company paid 8.5% of the total premiums and financed the balance at a 3.85% annual interest rate. The Company is obligated to make 11 equal monthly payments totaling approximately $0.5 million beginning in June 2021. In March 2021, we entered into a promissory note with MUFG Union Bank, N.A. (“Union Bank”) effective March 29, 2021, that provided for a loan in the amount of $0.6 million (the “PPP Loan”) pursuant to the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) established under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”). The PPP Loan was subject to forgiveness under the PPP upon our request to the extent that the proceeds were used to pay expenses permitted by the PPP, including payroll costs, covered rent and mortgage obligations, and covered utility payments. The PPP Loan was to mature on March 29, 2026, five years from the commencement date and bore interest at a rate of 1% per annum. In December 2021, the Company submitted an application for forgiveness of the entire $0.6 million due on the PPP Loan and is awaiting a response from the bank. Convertible Note Payable to Executive Officer On October 16, 2018, Richard Palmer, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and President, entered into a new employment agreement with the Company and concurrently agreed to defer $1 million of his accrued unpaid salary and bonus for two years. In order to evidence the deferral, the Company and Mr. Palmer entered into a $1 million convertible promissory note (the “Convertible Note”). The Convertible Note accrues simple interest on the outstanding principal balance of the note at the annual rate of five percent (5%) and became due and payable on October 15, 2020, its maturity date. Under its existing credit agreements, the Company is restricted from repaying Mr. Palmer’s loan and, accordingly, was in default under the Convertible Note. The Company accrued interest expense of $50,000 on this note in the year ended December 31, 2021. The Company had recorded accrued interest payable of approximately $160,000 and $110,000 as of December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020 respectively. Under the Convertible Note, Mr. Palmer has the right, exercisable at any time until the Convertible Note is fully paid, to convert all or any portion of the outstanding principal balance and accrued and unpaid interest into shares of the Company’s Common Stock at an exercise price of $0.154 per share. On February 23, 2022, the Company amended Mr. Palmer's note to extend the term to the latter of 2 years to February 23, 2024 or upon the redemption of the Series C Preferred shares. The convertible note will only bear interest at 5% per annum beginning as of February 23, 2022 and the total number of shares that the note can be converted into is a maximum of 7,616,305. Convertible Notes Payable The Company had several notes that were convertible into shares of the Company or the Company’s subsidiaries at different prices: ranging from $0.30 per share into the Company’s stock and up to $1.48 per share into Susoils’s common stock. These notes have passed their original maturity date and they continue to accrue interest at varying rates, from 8% to 10%. On March 26, 2021, we issued 1,586,786 shares of the Company’s common stock to the holder of a convertible promissory note upon the conversion of the entire outstanding balance, principal and accrued interest, for that note. During June 2021, the Company paid the remaining notes and the accrued interest either by an agreed cash settlement or through the issuance of common shares at an agreed price of $5.75 per share. As of December 31, 2021, there are no remaining convertible notes payable to third parties. The following table summarizes the minimum required payments of notes payable and long-term debt as of December 31, 2021:
Class B Units As described above, during the year ended December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020, the Company issued or had issuable 186.1 million and 151.5 million, respectively, Class B Units of its subsidiary, BKRF HCB, LLC, to its Senior Lenders. To the extent that there is distributable cash, the Company is obligated to make certain distribution payments to holders of Class B Units, and after the distributions reach a certain limit the units will no longer require further distributions and will be considered fully redeemed. The Class B unit holders may receive a portion of the distributable cash, as defined under the Senior Credit Facility, available to BKRF HCB, LLC, but generally only up to 25% of the available cash after the required interest and principal payments, operating expenses and ongoing capital requirements have been paid. Such payments commence once the Bakersfield Renewable Fuels Refinery begins operations and will continue through the later of five years after operations of the refinery begins or until the cumulative distributions reach a certain threshold defined in the operating agreement of BKRF HCB, LLC. The aggregate total payments (including distributions to the Class B Units, all interest and principal payments) to the Senior Lenders cannot exceed two times the amount of the borrowings under the Senior Credit Facility, or approximately $675.2 million. As of December 31, 2021, 337.6 million Class B Units have been issued and the aggregate fair value of such units on the date of their issuances totaled approximately $13.5 million which were recorded as debt discount. The aggregate fair value of the earned units as of December 31, 2021 was approximately $21.6 million.
It is expected that the fair value will increase as the Company continues to de-risk the project through ongoing retooling activities. The fair value is largely based on the present value of the expected distributions that will be made to the Class B Unit holders, which consider various risk factors, including a market risk premium, project size, the uniqueness and age of the refinery, the volatility of the feedstock and refinery inputs, operational costs, environmental costs and compliance, effective tax rates, illiquidity of the units, and the timing of the cash flows to the unit holders. The value assumes the completion of the refinery in the second half of 2022, annual volatility of 76. 1 % and a risk free rate of 1.52 %. The value was derived by utilizing a Monte Carlo Simulation and taking the average over 100,000 iterations. As completion of retrofitting the refinery progresses, the fair value is expected to increase, and further increases in fair value are expected when the refinery becomes operational and begins generating revenues. The Class B Units meet the definition of a mandatorily redeemable financial instrument under ASC 480 because BKRF HCB, LLC has an unconditional obligation to redeem the Class B Units by transferring assets at a specified time. Pursuant to ASC 825-10, the Company has elected the fair value option for the Class B Units. Accordingly, at each borrowing the Company will initially recognize the Class B Unit liability based on the issuance date fair value with an offset to the discount on the Senior Credit Agreement. The Company measures their Class B Units at fair value at each reporting date with changes recognized in other income/expense. |
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