Table of Contents
As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 4, 2013
Registration No. 333-
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
Form S-3
REGISTRATION STATEMENT
UNDER
THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933
RENTECH NITROGEN PARTNERS, L.P.
RENTECH NITROGEN FINANCE CORPORATION
(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in its Charter)
Delaware | 2870 | 45-2714747 | ||
(State or Other Jurisdiction of Incorporation or Organization) | (Primary Standard Industrial Classification Code Number) | (I.R.S. Employer Identification Number) |
10877 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 600
Los Angeles, CA 90024
(310) 571-9800
(ADDRESS, INCLUDING ZIP CODE,AND TELEPHONE NUMBER, INCLUDING AREA CODE,OF REGISTRANT’S PRINCIPAL EXECUTIVE OFFICES)
D. Hunt Ramsbottom
10877 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 600
Los Angeles, CA 90024
(310) 571-9800
(NAME, ADDRESS, INCLUDING ZIP CODE,AND TELEPHONE NUMBER, INCLUDING AREA CODE,OF AGENTFOR SERVICE)
With copies to:
Colin M. Morris, Esq. Rentech 10877 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 600 Los Angeles, CA 90024 Tel: (310) 571-9800 | Anthony J. Richmond, Esq. Latham & Watkins LLP 140 Scott Drive Menlo Park, CA 94025 Tel: (650) 328-4600 |
Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public: From time to time after the effective date of this Registration Statement.
If the only securities being registered on this Form are being offered pursuant to dividend or interest reinvestment plans, please check the following box. ¨
If any of the securities being registered on this Form are to be offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933, other than securities offered only in connection with dividend or interest reinvestment plans, check the following box. x
If this Form is filed to register additional securities for an offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, please check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ¨
If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ¨
If this Form is a registration statement pursuant to General Instruction I.D. or a post-effective amendment thereto that shall become effective upon filing with the Commission pursuant to Rule 462(e) under the Securities Act, check the following box. x
If this Form is a post-effective amendment to a registration statement filed pursuant to General Instruction I.D. filed to register additional securities or additional classes of securities pursuant to Rule 413(b) under the Securities Act, check the following box. ¨
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):
Large accelerated filer | ¨ | Accelerated filer | x | |||
Non-accelerated filer | ¨ (Do not check if a smaller reporting company) | Smaller reporting company | ¨ |
Table of Contents
CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE
| ||||||||
Title of Securities to be Registered | Amount to be Registered | Proposed Maximum Offering Price per Unit | Proposed Maximum Offering Price | Amount of Registration Fee | ||||
Common Units representing Limited Partner Interests (1), Debt Securities(1), and Guarantees of DebtSecurities(2) | (3) | (3) | $500,000,000(4) | $68,200(4) | ||||
| ||||||||
|
(1) | Subject to notes (3) and (4) below, an indeterminate initial offering price, principal amount or number of the securities of each identified class of securities is being registered for possible offering in primary or secondary offerings from time to time at indeterminate prices or upon conversion, exchange or exercise of securities registered hereunder to the extent any such securities are, by their terms, convertible into, or exchangeable for, such securities. The securities registered hereunder may be offered in units of more than one such security. Separate consideration may or may not be received for securities that are issuable on conversion, exchange or exercise of other securities or that are offered in units. |
(2) | No separate consideration will be received for any guarantee of debt securities; accordingly, pursuant to Rule 457(n) under the Securities Act, no separate registration fee is required. See the following page for a list of subsidiary guarantors. |
(3) | Omitted pursuant to Form S-3 General Instruction II.E. |
(4) | Estimated solely for the purpose of calculating the registration fee pursuant to Rule 457(o). In no event will the aggregate initial offering price of all securities offered from time to time pursuant to the prospectus included as a part of this Registration Statement exceed $500,000,000. |
Table of Contents
TABLE OF ADDITIONAL REGISTRANT GUARANTORS
The following are additional registrants that may guarantee the debt securities registered hereby:
Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter* | State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization | I.R.S. Employer Identification No. | ||
Rentech Nitrogen, LLC | Delaware | 36-3536929 | ||
Rentech Nitrogen Pasadena Holdings, LLC | Delaware | 35-2402963 | ||
Rentech Nitrogen Pasadena, LLC | Delaware | 30-0164117 |
* | The address for each additional registrant guarantor’s principal executive office is 10877 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 600, Los Angeles, CA 90024 and the telephone number for each additional registrant guarantor’s principal executive office is (310) 571-9800. |
Table of Contents
PROSPECTUS
$500,000,000
Rentech Nitrogen Partners, L.P.
Common Units Representing Limited Partner Interests
Debt Securities
Guarantees
We or any selling securityholder may from time to time, in one or more offerings, offer and sell up to $500,000,000 in aggregate initial offering price of common units representing limited partner interests in Rentech Nitrogen Partners, L.P. or debt securities described in this prospectus. The debt securities may be issued by Rentech Nitrogen Partners, L.P. and co-issued by Rentech Nitrogen Finance Corporation, and may be guaranteed by one or more of our subsidiaries. We refer to the common units and the debt securities collectively as the “securities.”
This prospectus describes only the general terms of these securities and the general manner in which we or any selling securityholder will offer the securities. The specific terms of any securities offered hereby will be included in a supplement to this prospectus. The prospectus supplement will describe the specific manner in the securities will be offered and also may add, update or change information contained in this prospectus. You should carefully read this prospectus and the applicable prospectus supplement before you invest in any of our securities.
The securities may be offered and sold in amounts, at prices and on terms to be determined by market conditions and other factors at the time of the offering. No securities may be sold without delivery of this prospectus and the applicable prospectus supplement describing the method and terms of the offering of such securities.
Our common units are traded on the New York Stock Exchange, or the NYSE, under the symbol “RNF”.
Investing in our securities involves risks. You should carefully consider the factors described under “Risk Factors” beginning on page 2 of this prospectus and any similar section contained in the applicable prospectus supplement before you make an investment in our securities.
Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved these securities or determined if this prospectus is truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.
The date of this prospectus is April 4, 2013.
Table of Contents
Page | ||||
ii | ||||
WHERE YOU CAN FIND MORE INFORMATION; INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE | iii | |||
v | ||||
1 | ||||
2 | ||||
3 | ||||
4 | ||||
5 | ||||
DESCRIPTION OF DEBT SECURITIES AND GUARANTEES OF DEBT SECURITIES | 7 | |||
15 | ||||
18 | ||||
31 | ||||
33 | ||||
49 | ||||
51 | ||||
51 |
In making your investment decision, you should rely only on the information contained or incorporated by reference in this prospectus. We have not authorized anyone to provide you with any other information. If anyone provides you with different or inconsistent information, you should not rely on it.
You should not assume that the information contained in this prospectus is accurate as of any date other than the date on the front cover of this prospectus. You should not assume that the information contained in the documents incorporated by reference in this prospectus is accurate as of any date other than the respective dates of those documents. Our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may have changed since those dates.
i
Table of Contents
This prospectus is part of a registration statement on Form S-3 that we have filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC, as a “well-known seasoned issuer” as defined in Rule 405 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, utilizing a “shelf” registration process or continuous offering process. Under this shelf registration process, we or a selling securityholder may, from time to time, sell up to $500,000,000 in aggregate initial offering price of the securities described in this prospectus in one or more offerings.
This prospectus provides you with a general description of Rentech Nitrogen Partners, L.P. and the securities that are registered hereunder that may be offered by us or any selling securityholder. Each time we sell any securities offered by this prospectus, we will provide a prospectus supplement that will contain specific information about the terms of that offering and the securities being offered. To the extent information in this prospectus is inconsistent with the information contained in a prospectus supplement, you should rely on the information in the prospectus supplement.
A prospectus supplement may include additional risk factors or other special considerations applicable to those securities and may also add, update or change information in this prospectus. Additional information, including our financial statements and the notes thereto, is incorporated in this prospectus by reference to our reports filed with the SEC. Please read “Where You Can Find More Information; Incorporation by Reference.” You are urged to read carefully this prospectus and any attached prospectus supplements relating to the securities offered to you, together with the additional information described under the heading “Where You Can Find More Information; Incorporation by Reference,” before investing in our common units or debt securities.
References in this prospectus to “the Partnership,” “we,” “our,” “us” and like terms refer to Rentech Nitrogen Partners, L.P. and our subsidiaries, unless the context otherwise requires or where otherwise indicated. References in this report to “Rentech” refer to Rentech, Inc. and its subsidiaries other than us, unless the context otherwise requires or where otherwise indicated. References to “our operating companies” refer to Rentech Nitrogen, LLC and Rentech Nitrogen Pasadena, LLC.
ii
Table of Contents
WHERE YOU CAN FIND MORE INFORMATION; INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE
Available Information
We have filed a registration statement with the SEC under the Securities Act that registers the securities offered by this prospectus. The registration statement, including the attached exhibits, contains additional relevant information about us. The rules and regulations of the SEC allow us to omit some information included in the registration statement from this prospectus.
In addition, we file annual, quarterly and other reports and other information with the SEC. You may read and copy any document we file at the SEC’s public reference room at 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549. Please call the SEC at 1-800-732-0330 for further information on the operation of the SEC’s public reference room. Our SEC filings are available on the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov. We also make available free of charge on our website at http://www.rentechnitrogen.com, all materials that we file electronically with the SEC, including our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, Section 16 reports and amendments to these reports as soon as reasonably practicable after such materials are electronically filed with, or furnished to, the SEC. The information on our web site, however, is not, and should not be deemed to be, a part of this prospectus.
This prospectus and any prospectus supplement are part of a registration statement that we filed with the SEC and do not contain all of the information in the registration statement. The full registration statement may be obtained from the SEC or us, as provided below. Forms of the indenture and other documents establishing the terms of the offered securities are or may be filed as exhibits to the registration statement. Statements in this prospectus or any prospectus supplement about these documents are summaries and each statement is qualified in all respects by reference to the document to which it refers. You should refer to the actual documents for a more complete description of the relevant matters. You may inspect a copy of the registration statement at the SEC’s Public Reference Room in Washington, D.C. or through the SEC’s website, as provided above.
Incorporation by Reference
The SEC allows us to “incorporate by reference” the information we have filed with the SEC. This means that we can disclose important information to you without actually including the specific information in this prospectus by referring you to other documents filed separately with the SEC. These other documents contain important information about us, our financial condition and our results of operations. The information incorporated by reference is an important part of this prospectus. Information that we file later with the SEC will automatically update and may replace information in this prospectus and information previously filed with the SEC.
We incorporate by reference the documents listed below and any future filings we make with the SEC under Sections 13(a), 13(c), 14 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, excluding any information in those documents that is deemed by the rules of the SEC to be furnished not filed, until the termination of the registration statement:
• | our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012; |
• | our Current Reports on Form 8-K or Form 8-K/A filed on January 14, 2013 and April 3, 2013 (only the second report); and |
• | the description of our common units contained in our registration statement on Form 8-A (File No. 001-35334) filed on November 1, 2011. |
You may obtain any of the documents incorporated by reference in this prospectus from the SEC through the SEC’s website at the address provided above. You also may request a copy of any document incorporated by
iii
Table of Contents
reference in this prospectus, at no cost, by visiting our internet website at http://www.rentechnitrogen.com, or by writing or calling us at the address below. Exhibits to the filings will not be sent, however, unless those exhibits have specifically been incorporated by reference in this prospectus and any accompanying prospectus supplement.
Rentech Nitrogen Partners, L.P.
Investor Relations
10877 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 600
Los Angeles, California 90024
(310) 571-9800
iv
Table of Contents
Certain statements and information included in this prospectus, any prospectus supplement and the information incorporated by reference in this prospectus or any prospectus supplement contain or may contain forward-looking statements. Statements that are predictive in nature, that depend upon or refer to future events or conditions or that include the words “will,” “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “estimate” and other expressions that are predictions of or indicate future events and trends and that do not relate to historical matters identify forward-looking statements. Our forward-looking statements include statements about our business strategy, our industry, our expected revenues, our future profitability, our expected capital expenditures (including for maintenance or expansion projects and environmental expenditures) and the impact of such expenditures on our performance, and the costs of operating as a publicly traded limited partnership. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, including the factors described under “Risk Factors” in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, that may cause our actual results and performance to be materially different from any future results or performance expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, among other things:
• | our ability to make cash distributions on our common units; |
• | the volatile nature of our business, our ability to remain profitable and the variable nature of our cash distributions; |
• | a decline in demand for crops such as corn, soy beans, potatoes, cotton, canola, alfalfa and wheat or their prices or the use of nitrogen fertilizer for agricultural purposes; |
• | adverse weather conditions, which can affect demand for, and delivery and production of, our products; |
• | any interruption in the supply, or rise in the price levels, of natural gas and other essential raw materials; |
• | our ability to identify and consummate acquisitions in related businesses, and the risk that any such acquisitions do not perform as anticipated; |
• | intense competition from other nitrogen fertilizer producers; |
• | planned or unplanned shutdowns, or any operational difficulties, at our facilities; |
• | environmental liabilities and costs we may incur, including if we become financially obligated to close the phosphogypsum stacks located at our facility in Pasadena, Texas or as a result of contamination at such facility; |
• | our ability to obtain debt financing on acceptable terms or at all; |
• | any loss of Agrium Inc., or Agrium, as a distributor or customer of our nitrogen fertilizer products, loss of storage rights at Agrium’s terminal in Niota, Illinois or decline in sales of products through or to Agrium; |
• | any loss of Interoceanic Corporation, or Interoceanic, as a distributor of our ammonium sulfate fertilizer products or decline in sales of products through Interoceanic; |
• | potential operating hazards from accidents, fire, severe weather, floods or other natural disasters; |
• | the risk associated with governmental policies affecting the agricultural industry; |
• | capital expenditures and potential liabilities arising from existing and proposed environmental laws and regulations, including those relating to climate change, alternative energy or fuel sources and the end-use and application of fertilizers; |
• | the conflicts of interest faced by our senior management team and our general partner; |
v
Table of Contents
• | limitations on the fiduciary duties owed by our general partner which are included in our partnership agreement; |
• | the inability of our public unitholders to influence our operating decisions or elect our general partner or our general partner’s board of directors; |
• | changes in our treatment as a partnership for U.S. federal income or state tax purposes; and |
• | risks associated with the expansion and other projects at our facilities, including any disruption to operations at our facilities during construction and our ability to sell the incremental products resulting from such projects. |
You should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. Although forward-looking statements reflect our good faith beliefs, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from anticipated future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, changed circumstances or otherwise, unless required by law.
vi
Table of Contents
ABOUT RENTECH NITROGEN PARTNERS, L.P.
We are a Delaware limited partnership formed in July 2011 by Rentech, a publicly traded entity on the NYSE MKT under the symbol “RTK,” to own, operate and expand our fertilizer business. We own and operate two fertilizer facilities: our East Dubuque Facility and our Pasadena Facility. Our East Dubuque Facility is located in East Dubuque, Illinois, and produces primarily ammonia and urea ammonium nitrate solution, or UAN, using natural gas as the primary feedstock. Our Pasadena Facility, which we acquired in November 2012, is located in Pasadena, Texas, and produces ammonium sulfate, ammonium thiosulfate and sulfuric acid, using ammonia and sulfur as the primary feedstocks.
Our general partner, Rentech Nitrogen GP, LLC, is a Delaware limited liability company. We are managed by our general partner.
We own 100% of Rentech Nitrogen Finance Corporation. Rentech Nitrogen Finance Corporation was organized for the purpose of co-issuing our debt securities and has no material assets or liabilities. Its activities will be limited to co-issuing our debt securities and engaging in activities related thereto.
Rentech Nitrogen, LLC, Rentech Nitrogen Pasadena Holdings, LLC and/or Rentech Nitrogen Pasadena, LLC may fully and unconditionally guarantee any series of debt securities offered by this prospectus, subject to customary automatic release provisions, as set forth in an applicable prospectus supplement. As used in this prospectus, the term “subsidiary guarantors” mean the subsidiaries that unconditionally guarantee any such series of debt securities.
Our principal executive offices are located at 10877 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 600, Los Angeles, California 90024, and our telephone number is (310) 571-9800.
1
Table of Contents
An investment in our securities involves risks. Before you invest in our securities, you should carefully consider the risk factors included in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K, and those that may be included in any applicable prospectus supplement, as well as risks described in “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and cautionary notes regarding forward-looking statements included or incorporated by reference herein, together with all of the other information included or incorporated by reference in this prospectus, any prospectus supplement and the documents we incorporate by reference.
If any of these risks were to materialize, our business, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition could be materially adversely affected. In that case, our ability to make distributions to our unitholders may be reduced, the trading price of our securities could decline and you could lose all or part of your investment.
2
Table of Contents
Unless otherwise indicated to the contrary in an applicable prospectus supplement, we will use the net proceeds from the sale of the securities covered by this prospectus for general partnership purposes, which may include future acquisitions, capital expenditures, debt repayment and additions to working capital.
Any allocation of the net proceeds of an offering of securities to a specific purpose will be determined at the time of the offering and will be described in a prospectus supplement.
We will not receive any of the net proceeds from the sale of securities by any selling securityholders.
3
Table of Contents
RATIO OF EARNINGS TO FIXED CHARGES
The following table sets forth our historical consolidated ratio of earnings to fixed charges for the periods indicated.
Calendar Year Ended December 31, | Three Months Ended December 31, | Fiscal Years Ended September 30, | ||||||||||||||||||
2012 | 2011 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | ||||||||||||||||
Ratio of Earnings to Fixed Charges | 73.24x | 6.37x | 2.81x | 1.51x | 4.32x |
For purposes of calculating the ratio of earnings to fixed charges:
• | “earnings” represent the aggregate of income from continuing operations (before adjustment for equity earnings), fixed charges and distributions from equity investment, less capitalized interest; and |
• | “fixed charges” represent interest expense (including amounts capitalized), amortization of debt costs and the portion of rental expense representing the interest factor. |
4
Table of Contents
DESCRIPTION OF OUR COMMON UNITS
The following description of our common units is not complete and may not contain all the information you should consider before investing in our common units. This description is summarized from, and qualified in its entirety by reference to, our partnership agreement, which has been publicly filed with the SEC. See “Where You Can Find More Information; Incorporation by Reference.”
Common Units
The common units represent limited partner interests in us. The holders of common units are entitled to participate in partnership distributions and exercise the rights and privileges provided to limited partners under our partnership agreement. For a description of the rights and privileges of holders of our common units to partnership distributions, see “How We Make Cash Distributions.” For a description of the rights and privileges of limited partners under our partnership agreement, including voting rights, see “The Partnership Agreement.” As of March 31, 2013, 38,839,033 common units were outstanding.
Transfer Agent and Registrar
Duties. Computershare Trust Company, N.A. serves as registrar and transfer agent for the common units. We pay all fees charged by the transfer agent for transfers of common units, except the following, which must be paid by unitholders:
• | surety bond premiums to replace lost or stolen certificates, taxes and other governmental charges; |
• | special charges for services requested by a holder of a common unit; and |
• | other similar fees or charges. |
There will be no charge to unitholders for disbursements of our cash distributions. We will indemnify the transfer agent, its agents and each of their stockholders, directors, officers and employees against all claims and losses that may arise out of acts performed or omitted for its activities in that capacity, except for any liability due to any gross negligence or intentional misconduct of the indemnified person or entity.
Resignation or Removal. The transfer agent may resign, by notice to us, or be removed by us. The resignation or removal of the transfer agent will become effective upon our appointment of a successor transfer agent and registrar and its acceptance of the appointment. If a successor has not been appointed or has not accepted its appointment within 30 days after notice of the resignation or removal, our general partner may act as the transfer agent and registrar until a successor is appointed.
Transfer of Common Units
By transfer of common units in accordance with our partnership agreement, each transferee of common units shall be admitted as a limited partner with respect to the common units transferred when such transfer and admission is reflected in our books and records. Each transferee:
• | represents that the transferee has the capacity, power and authority to become bound by our partnership agreement; |
• | automatically agrees to be bound by the terms and conditions of, and is deemed to have executed, our partnership agreement; and |
• | gives the consents and approvals contained in our partnership agreement. |
5
Table of Contents
A transferee will become a substituted limited partner of our partnership for the transferred common units automatically upon the recording of the transfer on our books and records. Our general partner will cause any transfers to be recorded on our books and records from time to time as necessary.
We may, at our discretion, treat the nominee holder of a common unit as the absolute owner. In that case, the beneficial owner’s rights are limited solely to those that it has against the nominee holder as a result of any agreement between the beneficial owner and the nominee holder.
Common units are securities and are transferable according to the laws governing transfers of securities. In addition to other rights acquired upon transfer, the transferor gives the transferee the right to become a substituted limited partner in our partnership for the transferred common units.
Until a common unit has been transferred on our books, we and the transfer agent may treat the record holder of the common unit as the absolute owner for all purposes, except as otherwise required by law or stock exchange regulations.
Listing
Our common units are listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “RNF”.
6
Table of Contents
DESCRIPTION OF DEBT SECURITIES AND GUARANTEES OF DEBT SECURITIES
The following description, together with the additional information we include in any applicable prospectus supplement, summarizes certain general terms and provisions of the debt securities that we may offer under this prospectus. When we offer to sell a particular series of debt securities, we will describe the specific terms of the series in a supplement to this prospectus. We will also indicate in the supplement to what extent the general terms and provisions described in this prospectus apply to a particular series of debt securities. To the extent the information contained in the prospectus supplement differs from this summary description, you should rely on the information in the prospectus supplement.
We may issue debt securities either separately, or together with, or upon the conversion or exercise of or in exchange for, other securities described in this prospectus. Debt securities may be our senior, senior subordinated or subordinated obligations and, unless otherwise specified in a supplement to this prospectus, the debt securities will be our direct, unsecured obligations and may be issued in one or more series. The debt securities may be fully and unconditionally guaranteed on a secured or unsecured senior or subordinated basis by one or more guarantors, if any. The obligations of any guarantor under its guarantee will be limited as necessary to prevent that guarantee from constituting a fraudulent conveyance under applicable law. In the event that any series of debt securities and guarantees will be subordinated to other indebtedness that we have outstanding or may incur, the terms of the subordination will be set forth in the prospectus supplement relating to the subordinated debt securities or guarantees.
The debt securities and any guarantees will be issued under an indenture among us, the subsidiary guarantors, if any, and Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., as trustee. We have summarized select portions of the indenture below. The summary is not complete. The indenture has been filed as an exhibit to the registration statement and you should read the indenture for provisions that may be important to you. In the summary below, we have included references to the section numbers of the indenture so that you can easily locate these provisions. Capitalized terms used in the summary and not defined herein have the meanings specified in the indenture.
As used in this section only, references to “the Partnership” refer only to Rentech Nitrogen Partners, L.P., and the words “we,” “us” or “our” refer only to the Partnership and, in the event it acts as co-issuer of the debt securities, Rentech Nitrogen Finance Corporation, but it does not refer to any of our other subsidiaries or, in the event that Rentech Nitrogen Finance Corporation does not act as co-issuer of the debt securities, Rentech Nitrogen Finance Corporation.
General
The terms of each series of debt securities and guarantees will be established by or pursuant to a resolution of our board of directors and set forth or determined in the manner provided in a resolution of our board of directors, in an officer’s certificate or by a supplemental indenture. (Section 2.2) The particular terms of each series of debt securities and guarantees will be described in a prospectus supplement relating to such series (including any pricing supplement or term sheet).
We can issue an unlimited amount of debt securities under the indenture that may be in one or more series with the same or various maturities, at par, at a premium, or at a discount. (Section 2.1) We will set forth in a prospectus supplement (including any pricing supplement or term sheet) relating to any series of debt securities being offered, the aggregate principal amount and the following terms of the debt securities, if applicable:
• | whether Rentech Nitrogen Finance Corporation is acting as co-issuer; |
• | the title and ranking of the debt securities (including the terms of any subordination provisions); |
• | the price or prices (expressed as a percentage of the principal amount) at which we will sell the debt securities; |
• | any limit on the aggregate principal amount of the debt securities; |
7
Table of Contents
• | the date or dates on which the principal of the securities of the series is payable; |
• | the rate or rates (which may be fixed or variable) per annum or the method used to determine the rate or rates (including any commodity, commodity index, stock exchange index or financial index) at which the debt securities will bear interest, the date or dates from which interest will accrue, the date or dates on which interest will commence and be payable and any regular record date for the interest payable on any interest payment date; |
• | the place or places where principal of, and interest, if any, on the debt securities will be payable (and the method of such payment), where the securities of such series may be surrendered for registration of transfer or exchange, and where notices and demands to us in respect of the debt securities may be delivered; |
• | the period or periods within which, the price or prices at which and the terms and conditions upon which we may redeem the debt securities; |
• | any obligation we have to redeem or purchase the debt securities pursuant to any sinking fund or analogous provisions or at the option of a holder of debt securities and the period or periods within which, the price or prices at which and in the terms and conditions upon which securities of the series shall be redeemed or purchased, in whole or in part, pursuant to such obligation; |
• | the dates on which and the price or prices at which we will repurchase debt securities at the option of the holders of debt securities and other detailed terms and provisions of these repurchase obligations; |
• | the denominations in which the debt securities will be issued, if other than denominations of $1,000 and any integral multiple thereof; |
• | whether the debt securities will be issued in the form of certificated debt securities or global debt securities; |
• | the portion of principal amount of the debt securities payable upon declaration of acceleration of the maturity date, if other than the principal amount; |
• | the currency of denomination of the debt securities, which may be United States Dollars or any foreign currency, and if such currency of denomination is a composite currency, the agency or organization, if any, responsible for overseeing such composite currency; |
• | the designation of the currency, currencies or currency units in which payment of principal of, premium and interest on the debt securities will be made; |
• | if payments of principal of, premium or interest on the debt securities will be made in one or more currencies or currency units other than that or those in which the debt securities are denominated, the manner in which the exchange rate with respect to these payments will be determined; |
• | the manner in which the amounts of payment of principal of, premium, if any, or interest on the debt securities will be determined, if these amounts may be determined by reference to an index based on a currency or currencies other than that in which the debt securities are denominated or designated to be payable or by reference to a commodity, commodity index, stock exchange index or financial index; |
• | any provisions relating to any security provided for the debt securities or the guarantees; |
• | any addition to, deletion of or change in the Events of Default described in this prospectus or in the indenture with respect to the debt securities and any change in the acceleration provisions described in this prospectus or in the indenture with respect to the debt securities; |
8
Table of Contents
• | any addition to, deletion of or change in the covenants described in this prospectus or in the indenture with respect to the debt securities; |
• | any depositaries, interest rate calculation agents, exchange rate calculation agents or other agents with respect to the debt securities; |
• | the provisions, if any, relating to conversion or exchange of any debt securities of such series, including if applicable, the conversion or exchange price and period, provisions as to whether conversion or exchange will be mandatory, the events requiring an adjustment of the conversion or exchange price and provisions affecting conversion or exchange; |
• | any other terms of the debt securities, which may supplement, modify or delete any provision of the indenture as it applies to that series, including any terms that may be required under applicable law or regulations or advisable in connection with the marketing of the securities; and |
• | the terms, if any, of any guarantee of the principal of and interest on the debt securities (including the identity of any guarantor), whether any such guarantee shall be made on a senior or subordinated basis and, if applicable, a description of the subordination terms of any such guarantee. (Section 2.2) |
We may issue debt securities that provide for an amount less than their stated principal amount to be due and payable upon declaration of acceleration of their maturity pursuant to the terms of the indenture. We will provide you with information on the federal income tax considerations and other special considerations applicable to any of these debt securities in the applicable prospectus supplement.
If we denominate the purchase price of any of the debt securities in a foreign currency or currencies or a foreign currency unit or units, or if the principal of and any premium and interest on any series of debt securities is payable in a foreign currency or currencies or a foreign currency unit or units, we will provide you with information on the restrictions, elections, general tax considerations, specific terms and other information with respect to that issue of debt securities and such foreign currency or currencies or foreign currency unit or units in the applicable prospectus supplement.
Transfer and Exchange
Each debt security will be represented by either one or more global securities registered in the name of The Depository Trust Company, or the Depositary, or a nominee of the Depositary (we will refer to any debt security represented by a global debt security as a “book-entry debt security”), or a certificate issued in definitive registered form (we will refer to any debt security represented by a certificated security as a “certificated debt security”) as set forth in the applicable prospectus supplement. Except as set forth under the heading “Global Debt Securities and Book-Entry System” below, book-entry debt securities will not be issuable in certificated form.
Certificated Debt Securities. You may transfer or exchange certificated debt securities at any office we maintain for this purpose in accordance with the terms of the indenture. (Section 2.4) No service charge will be made for any transfer or exchange of certificated debt securities, but we may require payment of a sum sufficient to cover any tax or other governmental charge payable in connection with a transfer or exchange. (Section 2.7)
You may effect the transfer of certificated debt securities and the right to receive the principal of, premium and interest on certificated debt securities only by surrendering the certificate representing those certificated debt securities and either reissuance by us or the trustee of the certificate to the new holder or the issuance by us or the trustee of a new certificate to the new holder.
Global Debt Securities and Book-Entry System. Each global debt security representing book-entry debt securities will be deposited with, or on behalf of, the Depositary, and registered in the name of the Depositary or a nominee of the Depositary. Please see “Global Securities.”
9
Table of Contents
Covenants
We will set forth in the applicable prospectus supplement any restrictive covenants applicable to any issue of debt securities. (Article IV)
No Protection in the Event of a Change of Control
Unless we state otherwise in the applicable prospectus supplement, the debt securities will not contain any provisions which may afford holders of the debt securities protection in the event we have a change in control or in the event of a highly leveraged transaction (whether or not such transaction results in a change in control) which could adversely affect holders of debt securities.
Consolidation, Merger and Sale of Assets
We may not consolidate with or merge with or into, or convey, transfer or lease all or substantially all of our properties and assets to any person (a “successor person”) unless:
• | we are the surviving entity or the successor person (if other than us) is a corporation, limited liability company, partnership, trust or other entity organized and validly existing under the laws of any U.S. domestic jurisdiction and expressly assumes our obligations on the debt securities and under the indenture; |
• | immediately after giving effect to the transaction, no Default or Event of Default, shall have occurred and be continuing; |
• | if we are not the successor person, each guarantor, unless it has become the successor person, confirms that its guarantee shall continue to apply to the obligations under the debt securities and the indenture to the same extent as prior to such merger, conveyance, transfer or lease, as applicable; and |
• | certain other conditions are met. |
Notwithstanding the above, any of our subsidiaries may consolidate with, merge into or transfer all or part of its properties to us. (Section 5.1)
Events of Default
“Event of Default” means with respect to any series of debt securities, any of the following:
• | default in the payment of any interest upon any debt security of that series when it becomes due and payable, and continuance of such default for a period of 30 days (unless the entire amount of the payment is deposited by us with the trustee or with a paying agent prior to the expiration of the 30-day period); |
• | default in the payment of principal of any security of that series at its maturity; |
• | default in the performance or breach of any other covenant or warranty by us in the indenture (other than a covenant or warranty that has been included in the indenture solely for the benefit of a series of debt securities other than that series), which default continues uncured for a period of 60 days after we receive written notice from the trustee, or we and the trustee receive written notice from the holders of not less than 25% in principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of that series as provided in the indenture; |
• | certain voluntary or involuntary events of bankruptcy, insolvency or reorganization of us; |
• | any other Event of Default provided with respect to debt securities of that series that is described in the applicable prospectus supplement. (Section 6.1) |
10
Table of Contents
No Event of Default with respect to a particular series of debt securities (except as to certain events of bankruptcy, insolvency or reorganization) necessarily constitutes an Event of Default with respect to any other series of debt securities. (Section 6.1) The occurrence of certain Events of Default or an acceleration under the indenture may constitute an event of default under certain indebtedness of ours or our subsidiaries outstanding from time to time.
We will provide the trustee written notice of any Default or Event of Default within 30 days of becoming aware of the occurrence of such Default or Event of Default, which notice will describe in reasonable detail the status of such Default or Event of Default and what action we are taking or propose to take in respect thereof. (Section 6.1)
If an Event of Default with respect to debt securities of any series at the time outstanding occurs and is continuing, then the trustee or the holders of not less than 25% in principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of that series may, by a notice in writing to us (and to the trustee if given by the holders), declare to be due and payable immediately the principal of (or, if the debt securities of that series are discount securities, that portion of the principal amount as may be specified in the terms of that series) and accrued and unpaid interest, if any, on all debt securities of that series. In the case of an Event of Default resulting from certain events of bankruptcy, insolvency or reorganization, the principal (or such specified amount) of and accrued and unpaid interest, if any, on all outstanding debt securities will become and be immediately due and payable without any declaration or other act on the part of the trustee or any holder of outstanding debt securities. At any time after a declaration of acceleration with respect to debt securities of any series has been made, but before a judgment or decree for payment of the money due has been obtained by the trustee, the holders of a majority in principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of that series may rescind and annul the acceleration if all Events of Default, other than the non-payment of accelerated principal and interest, if any, with respect to debt securities of that series, have been cured or waived as provided in the indenture. (Section 6.2) We refer you to the prospectus supplement relating to any series of debt securities that are discount securities for the particular provisions relating to acceleration of a portion of the principal amount of such discount securities upon the occurrence of an Event of Default.
The indenture provides that the trustee will be under no obligation to exercise any of its rights or powers under the indenture unless the trustee receives indemnity reasonably satisfactory to it against any cost, liability or expense which might be incurred by it in exercising such right of power. (Section 7.1(e)) Subject to certain rights of the trustee, the holders of a majority in principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of any series will have the right to direct the time, method and place of conducting any proceeding for any remedy available to the trustee or exercising any trust or power conferred on the trustee with respect to the debt securities of that series. (Section 6.12)
No holder of any debt security of any series will have any right to institute any proceeding, judicial or otherwise, with respect to the indenture or for the appointment of a receiver or trustee, or for any remedy under the indenture, unless:
• | that holder has previously given to the trustee written notice of a continuing Event of Default with respect to debt securities of that series; and |
• | the holders of not less than 25% in principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of that series have made written request, and offered indemnity or security reasonably satisfactory to the trustee, to the trustee to institute the proceeding as trustee, and the trustee has not received from the holders of not less than a majority in principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of that series a direction inconsistent with that request and has failed to institute the proceeding within 60 days. (Section 6.7) |
Notwithstanding any other provision in the indenture, the holder of any debt security will have an absolute and unconditional right to receive payment of the principal of, premium and any interest on that debt security on or after the due dates expressed in that debt security and to institute suit for the enforcement of payment. (Section 6.8)
The indenture requires us, within 120 days after the end of our fiscal year, to furnish to the trustee a statement as to compliance with the indenture. (Section 4.3) If a Default or Event of Default occurs and is continuing with respect to the securities of any series and if it is known to a responsible officer of the trustee, the trustee shall mail to
11
Table of Contents
each Securityholder of the securities of that series notice of a Default or Event of Default within 90 days after it occurs. The indenture provides that the trustee may withhold notice to the holders of debt securities of any series of any Default or Event of Default (except in payment on any debt securities of that series) with respect to debt securities of that series if the trustee determines in good faith that withholding notice is in the interest of the holders of those debt securities. (Section 7.5)
Modification and Waiver
We and the trustee may modify and amend the indenture or the debt securities of any series without the consent of any holder of any debt security:
• | to cure any ambiguity, defect or inconsistency; |
• | to comply with covenants in the indenture described above under the heading “Consolidation, Merger and Sale of Assets”; |
• | to provide for uncertificated securities in addition to or in place of certificated securities; |
• | to surrender any of our rights or powers under the indenture; |
• | to add covenants or events of default for the benefit of the holders of debt securities of any series; |
• | to comply with the applicable procedures of the applicable depositary; |
• | to make any change that does not adversely affect the rights of any holder of debt securities; |
• | to provide for the issuance of and establish the form and terms and conditions of debt securities of any series as permitted by the indenture; |
• | to effect the appointment of a successor trustee with respect to the debt securities of any series and to add to or change any of the provisions of the indenture to provide for or facilitate administration by more than one trustee; |
• | to comply with requirements of the SEC in order to effect or maintain the qualification of the indenture under the Trust Indenture Act; |
• | to reflect the release of a guarantor of the debt securities in accordance with the terms of the indenture; or |
• | to add guarantors with respect to any or all of the debt securities or to secure any or all of the debt securities or the guarantees. (Section 9.1) |
We may also modify and amend the indenture with the consent of the holders of at least a majority in principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of each series affected by the modifications or amendments. We may not make any modification or amendment without the consent of the holders of each affected debt security then outstanding if that amendment will:
• | reduce the amount of debt securities whose holders must consent to an amendment, supplement or waiver; |
• | reduce the rate of or extend the time for payment of interest (including default interest) on any debt security; |
12
Table of Contents
• | reduce the principal of or premium on or change the fixed maturity of any debt security or reduce the amount of, or postpone the date fixed for, the payment of any sinking fund or analogous obligation with respect to any series of debt securities; |
• | reduce the principal amount of discount securities payable upon acceleration of maturity; |
• | waive a default or Event of Default in the payment of the principal of, premium or interest on any debt security (except a rescission of acceleration of the debt securities of any series by the holders of at least a majority in aggregate principal amount of the then outstanding debt securities of that series and a waiver of the payment default that resulted from such acceleration); |
• | make the principal of or premium or interest on any debt security payable in currency other than that stated in the debt security; |
• | make any change to certain provisions of the indenture relating to, among other things, the right of holders of debt securities to receive payment of the principal of, premium and interest on those debt securities and to institute suit for the enforcement of any such payment and to waivers or amendments; or |
• | waive a redemption payment with respect to any debt security; or |
• | if the debt securities of that series are entitled to the benefit of a guarantee, release any guarantor of such series other than as provided in the indenture or modify the guarantee in any manner adverse to the holders. (Section 9.3) |
Except for certain specified provisions, the holders of at least a majority in principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of any series may on behalf of the holders of all debt securities of that series waive our compliance with provisions of the indenture. (Section 9.2) The holders of a majority in principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of any series may on behalf of the holders of all the debt securities of such series waive any past default under the indenture with respect to that series and its consequences, except a default in the payment of the principal of, premium or any interest on any debt security of that series; provided, however, that the holders of a majority in principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of any series may rescind an acceleration and its consequences, including any related payment default that resulted from the acceleration. (Section 6.13)
Defeasance of Debt Securities and Certain Covenants in Certain Circumstances
Legal Defeasance. The indenture provides that, unless otherwise provided by the terms of the applicable series of debt securities, we may be discharged from any and all obligations in respect of the debt securities of any series (subject to certain exceptions). We will be so discharged upon the deposit with the trustee, in trust, of money and/or U.S. government obligations or, in the case of debt securities denominated in a single currency other than U.S. Dollars, government obligations of the government that issued or caused to be issued such currency, that, through the payment of interest and principal in accordance with their terms, will provide money or U.S. government obligations in an amount sufficient in the opinion of a nationally recognized firm of independent public accountants or investment bank to pay and discharge each installment of principal, premium and interest on and any mandatory sinking fund payments in respect of the debt securities of that series on the stated maturity of those payments in accordance with the terms of the indenture and those debt securities.
This discharge may occur only if, among other things, we have delivered to the trustee an opinion of counsel stating that we have received from, or there has been published by, the United States Internal Revenue Service a ruling or, since the date of execution of the indenture, there has been a change in the applicable United States federal income tax law, in either case to the effect that, and based thereon such opinion shall confirm that, the holders of the debt securities of that series will not recognize income, gain or loss for United States federal income tax purposes as a result of the deposit, defeasance and discharge and will be subject to United States federal income tax on the same amounts and in the same manner and at the same times as would have been the case if the deposit, defeasance and discharge had not occurred. (Section 8.3)
13
Table of Contents
Defeasance of Certain Covenants. The indenture provides that, unless otherwise provided by the terms of the applicable series of debt securities, upon compliance with certain conditions:
• | we may omit to comply with the covenant described under the heading “Consolidation, Merger and Sale of Assets” and certain other covenants set forth in the indenture, as well as any additional covenants which may be set forth in the applicable prospectus supplement; and |
• | any omission to comply with those covenants will not constitute a Default or an Event of Default with respect to the debt securities of that series (“covenant defeasance”). |
The conditions include:
• | depositing with the trustee money and/or U.S. government obligations or, in the case of debt securities denominated in a single currency other than U.S. Dollars, government obligations of the government that issued or caused to be issued such currency, that, through the payment of interest and principal in accordance with their terms, will provide money in an amount sufficient in the opinion of a nationally recognized firm of independent public accountants or investment bank to pay and discharge each installment of principal of, premium and interest on and any mandatory sinking fund payments in respect of the debt securities of that series on the stated maturity of those payments in accordance with the terms of the indenture and those debt securities; and |
• | delivering to the trustee an opinion of counsel to the effect that the holders of the debt securities of that series will not recognize income, gain or loss for United States federal income tax purposes as a result of the deposit and related covenant defeasance and will be subject to United States federal income tax on the same amounts and in the same manner and at the same times as would have been the case if the deposit and related covenant defeasance had not occurred. (Section 8.4) |
Covenant Defeasance and Events of Default. In the event we exercise our option to effect covenant defeasance with respect to any series of debt securities and the debt securities of that series are declared due and payable because of the occurrence of any Event of Default, the amount of money and/or U.S. government obligations or foreign government obligations on deposit with the trustee will be sufficient to pay amounts due on the debt securities of that series at the time of their stated maturity but may not be sufficient to pay amounts due on the debt securities of that series at the time of the acceleration resulting from the Event of Default. However, we shall remain liable for those payments. (Section 8.4).
No Personal Liability of Directors, Officers, Employees, Partners or Stockholders
None of our past, present or future directors, officers, employees, partners or stockholders, as such, will have any liability for any of our obligations under the debt securities, the guarantee or the indenture or for any claim based on, or in respect or by reason of, such obligations or their creation. By accepting a debt security, each holder waives and releases all such liability. This waiver and release is part of the consideration for the issue of the debt securities. However, this waiver and release may not be effective to waive liabilities under U.S. federal securities laws, and it is the view of the SEC that such a waiver is against public policy.
Governing Law
The indenture and the debt securities, including any claim or controversy arising out of or relating to the indenture or the securities, will be governed by the laws of the State of New York (without regard to the conflicts of laws provisions thereof other than Section 5-1401 of the General Obligations Law). (Section 10.10)
14
Table of Contents
Book-Entry, Delivery and Form
Unless we indicate differently in a prospectus supplement, the securities initially will be issued in book-entry form and represented by one or more global notes or global securities, or, collectively, global securities. The global securities will be deposited with, or on behalf of, The Depository Trust Company, New York, New York, as depositary, or DTC, and registered in the name of Cede & Co., the nominee of DTC. Unless and until it is exchanged for individual certificates evidencing securities under the limited circumstances described below, a global security may not be transferred except as a whole by the depositary to its nominee or by the nominee to the depositary, or by the depositary or its nominee to a successor depositary or to a nominee of the successor depositary.
DTC has advised us that it is:
• | a limited-purpose trust company organized under the New York Banking Law; |
• | a “banking organization” within the meaning of the New York Banking Law; |
• | a member of the Federal Reserve System; |
• | a “clearing corporation” within the meaning of the New York Uniform Commercial Code; and |
• | a “clearing agency” registered pursuant to the provisions of Section 17A of the Exchange Act. |
DTC holds securities that its participants deposit with DTC. DTC also facilitates the settlement among its participants of securities transactions, such as transfers and pledges, in deposited securities through electronic computerized book-entry changes in participants’ accounts, thereby eliminating the need for physical movement of securities certificates. “Direct participants” in DTC include securities brokers and dealers, including underwriters, banks, trust companies, clearing corporations and other organizations. DTC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, or DTCC. DTCC is the holding company for DTC, National Securities Clearing Corporation and Fixed Income Clearing Corporation, all of which are registered clearing agencies. DTCC is owned by the users of its regulated subsidiaries. Access to the DTC system is also available to others, which we sometimes refer to as indirect participants, that clear through or maintain a custodial relationship with a direct participant, either directly or indirectly. The rules applicable to DTC and its participants are on file with the SEC.
Purchases of securities under the DTC system must be made by or through direct participants, which will receive a credit for the securities on DTC’s records. The ownership interest of the actual purchaser of a security, which we sometimes refer to as a beneficial owner, is in turn recorded on the direct and indirect participants’ records. Beneficial owners of securities will not receive written confirmation from DTC of their purchases. However, beneficial owners are expected to receive written confirmations providing details of their transactions, as well as periodic statements of their holdings, from the direct or indirect participants through which they purchased securities. Transfers of ownership interests in global securities are to be accomplished by entries made on the books of participants acting on behalf of beneficial owners. Beneficial owners will not receive certificates representing their ownership interests in the global securities, except under the limited circumstances described below.
To facilitate subsequent transfers, all global securities deposited by direct participants with DTC will be registered in the name of DTC’s partnership nominee, Cede & Co., or such other name as may be requested by an authorized representative of DTC. The deposit of securities with DTC and their registration in the name of Cede & Co. or such other nominee will not change the beneficial ownership of the securities. DTC has no knowledge of the actual beneficial owners of the securities. DTC’s records reflect only the identity of the direct participants to whose accounts the securities are credited, which may or may not be the beneficial owners. The participants are responsible for keeping account of their holdings on behalf of their customers.
So long as the securities are in book-entry form, you will receive payments and may transfer securities only through the facilities of the depositary and its direct and indirect participants. We will maintain an office or agency
15
Table of Contents
in the location specified in the prospectus supplement for the applicable securities, where notices and demands in respect of the securities and the indenture may be delivered to us and where certificated securities may be surrendered for payment, registration of transfer or exchange.
Conveyance of notices and other communications by DTC to direct participants, by direct participants to indirect participants and by direct participants and indirect participants to beneficial owners will be governed by arrangements among them, subject to any legal requirements in effect from time to time.
Redemption notices will be sent to DTC. If less than all of the securities of a particular series are being redeemed, DTC’s practice is to determine by lot the amount of the interest of each direct participant in the securities of such series to be redeemed.
Neither DTC nor Cede & Co. (or such other DTC nominee) will consent or vote with respect to the securities. Under its usual procedures, DTC will mail an omnibus proxy to us as soon as possible after the record date. The omnibus proxy assigns the consenting or voting rights of Cede & Co. to those direct participants to whose accounts the securities of such series are credited on the record date, identified in a listing attached to the omnibus proxy.
So long as securities are in book-entry form, we will make payments on those securities to the depositary or its nominee, as the registered owner of such securities, by wire transfer of immediately available funds. If securities are issued in definitive certificated form under the limited circumstances described below, we will have the option of making payments by check mailed to the addresses of the persons entitled to payment or by wire transfer to bank accounts in the United States designated in writing to the applicable trustee or other designated party at least 15 days before the applicable payment date by the persons entitled to payment, unless a shorter period is satisfactory to the applicable trustee or other designated party.
Redemption proceeds, distributions and dividend payments on the securities will be made to Cede & Co., or such other nominee as may be requested by an authorized representative of DTC. DTC’s practice is to credit direct participants’ accounts upon DTC’s receipt of funds and corresponding detail information from us on the payment date in accordance with their respective holdings shown on DTC records. Payments by participants to beneficial owners will be governed by standing instructions and customary practices, as is the case with securities held for the account of customers in bearer form or registered in “street name.” Those payments will be the responsibility of participants and not of DTC or us, subject to any statutory or regulatory requirements in effect from time to time. Payment of redemption proceeds, distributions and dividend payments to Cede & Co., or such other nominee as may be requested by an authorized representative of DTC, is our responsibility, disbursement of payments to direct participants is the responsibility of DTC, and disbursement of payments to the beneficial owners is the responsibility of direct and indirect participants.
Except under the limited circumstances described below, purchasers of securities will not be entitled to have securities registered in their names and will not receive physical delivery of securities. Accordingly, each beneficial owner must rely on the procedures of DTC and its participants to exercise any rights under the securities and the indenture.
The laws of some jurisdictions may require that some purchasers of securities take physical delivery of securities in definitive form. Those laws may impair the ability to transfer or pledge beneficial interests in securities.
DTC may discontinue providing its services as securities depositary with respect to the securities at any time by giving reasonable notice to us. Under such circumstances, in the event that a successor depositary is not obtained, securities certificates are required to be printed and delivered.
As noted above, beneficial owners of a particular series of securities generally will not receive certificates representing their ownership interests in those securities. However, if:
• | DTC notifies us that it is unwilling or unable to continue as a depositary for the global security or securities representing such series of securities or if DTC ceases to be a clearing agency registered under the Exchange Act at a time when it is required to be registered and a successor depositary is not appointed within 90 days of the notification to us or of our becoming aware of DTC’s ceasing to be so registered, as the case may be; |
16
Table of Contents
• | we determine, in our sole discretion, not to have such securities represented by one or more global securities; or |
• | an Event of Default has occurred and is continuing with respect to such series of securities, |
we will prepare and deliver certificates for such securities in exchange for beneficial interests in the global securities. Any beneficial interest in a global security that is exchangeable under the circumstances described in the preceding sentence will be exchangeable for securities in definitive certificated form registered in the names that the depositary directs. It is expected that these directions will be based upon directions received by the depositary from its participants with respect to ownership of beneficial interests in the global securities.
We have obtained the information in this section and elsewhere in this prospectus concerning DTC and DTC’s book-entry system from sources that are believed to be reliable, but we take no responsibility for the accuracy of this information.
17
Table of Contents
The following is a summary of the material provisions of our partnership agreement. We will provide prospective investors with a copy of this agreement upon request at no charge.
We summarize the following provisions of our partnership agreement elsewhere:
• | with regard to distributions of available cash, please read “How We Make Cash Distributions”; |
• | with regard to the fiduciary duties of our general partner, you should read the risk factors included in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K, and those that may be included in the applicable prospectus supplement; |
• | with regard to the transfer of common units, please read “Description of Our Common Units — Transfer of Common Units”; and |
• | with regard to allocations of taxable income and taxable loss, please read “Material Income Tax Consequences.” |
Organization and Duration
We were organized on July 8, 2011 and will have a perpetual existence unless terminated pursuant to the terms of our partnership agreement.
Purpose
Our purpose under our partnership agreement is limited to engaging directly or indirectly in any business activity that is approved by our general partner and that lawfully may be conducted by a limited partnership organized under Delaware law.
Although our general partner has the ability to cause us and our subsidiaries to engage in activities other than those related to the nitrogen fertilizer business and activities now or hereafter customarily conducted in conjunction with this business, our general partner may decline to do so free of any fiduciary duty or obligation whatsoever to us or the limited partners, including any duty to act in good faith or in the best interests of us or our limited partners. In general, our general partner is authorized to perform all acts it determines to be necessary or appropriate to carry out our purposes and to conduct our business.
Capital Contributions
Common unitholders are not obligated to make additional capital contributions, except as described below under “— Limited Liability.” For a discussion of our general partner’s right to contribute capital to maintain its and its affiliates’ percentage interest if we issue partner interests, see “— Issuance of Additional Partner Interests.”
Voting Rights
The following is a summary of the unitholder vote required for the matters specified below. Matters requiring the approval of a “unit majority” require the approval of a majority of the common units.
In voting their common units, our general partner and its affiliates will have no fiduciary duty or obligation whatsoever to us or our limited partners, including any duty to act in good faith or in the best interests of us and our limited partners. The holders of a majority of the common units (including common units held by our general partner and its affiliates) represented in person or by proxy shall constitute a quorum at a meeting of such common unitholders, unless any such action requires approval by holders of a greater percentage of such units in which case the quorum shall be such greater percentage.
18
Table of Contents
The following is a summary of the vote requirements specified for certain matters under our partnership agreement:
Issuance of additional units | No approval rights. See “— Issuance of Additional Partner Interests.” | |
Amendment of our partnership agreement | Certain amendments may be made by our general partner without the approval of our limited partners. Other amendments generally require the approval of a unit majority. Please read “— Amendment of Our Partnership Agreement.” | |
Merger of the Partnership or the sale of all or substantially all of our assets | Unit majority in certain circumstances. Please read “— Merger, Sale or Other Disposition of Assets.” | |
Dissolution of the Partnership | Unit majority. Please read “— Termination and Dissolution.” | |
Continuation of the Partnership upon dissolution | Unit majority. Please read “— Termination and Dissolution.” | |
Withdrawal of our general partner | Under most circumstances, the approval of a majority of the common units, excluding common units held by our general partner and its affiliates, is required for the withdrawal of our general partner prior to October 31, 2021. Please read “— Withdrawal or Removal of Our General Partner.” | |
Removal of our general partner | Not less than 66 2/3% of the outstanding common units, including common units held by our general partner and its affiliates. Please read “— Withdrawal or Removal of Our General Partner.” | |
Transfer of general partner interest | Our general partner may transfer all, but not less than all, of its general partner interest in us without a vote of our unitholders to an affiliate or another person in connection with its merger or consolidation with or into, or sale of all or substantially all of its assets to, such person. The approval of a majority of the common units, excluding common units held by our general partner and its affiliates, is required in other circumstances for a transfer of the general partner interest to a third party prior to October 31, 2021. Please read “— Transfer of Ownership Interests in our General Partner Interest.” | |
Transfer of ownership interests in our general partner | No approval rights at any time. Please read “— Transfer of Ownership Interests in Our General Partner.” |
If any person or group other than our general partner and its affiliates acquires beneficial ownership of 20% or more of any class of our units then outstanding, that person or group will lose voting rights on all of such units. This loss of voting rights does not apply to any person or group that acquires the units from our general partner or its affiliates and any transferees of that person or group approved by our general partner or to any person or group who acquires the units with the specific approval of our general partner.
Applicable Law; Forum, Venue and Jurisdiction
Our partnership agreement is governed by Delaware law. Subject to certain limited exceptions, our partnership agreement requires that any claims, suits, actions or proceedings:
• | arising out of or relating in any way to the partnership agreement (including any claims, suits or actions to interpret, apply or enforce the provisions of the partnership agreement or the duties, obligations or liabilities among limited partners or of limited partners to us, or the rights or powers of, or restrictions on, the limited partners or us); |
• | brought in a derivative manner on our behalf; |
• | asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any director, officer or other employee of us or our general partner, or owed by our general partner, to us or the limited partners; |
19
Table of Contents
• | asserting a claim arising pursuant to or to interpret and enforce any provision of the Delaware Revised Uniform Limited Partnership Act, or Delaware Act; or |
• | asserting a claim governed by the internal affairs doctrine |
shall be exclusively brought in the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware (or, if such court does not have subject matter jurisdiction thereof, any other court located in the State of Delaware with subject matter jurisdiction), regardless of whether such claims, suits, actions or proceedings sound in contract, tort, fraud or otherwise, are based on common law, statutory, equitable, legal or other grounds, or are derivative or direct claims. By purchasing a common unit, a limited partner is irrevocably consenting to these limitations and provisions regarding claims, suits, actions or proceedings and submitting to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware in connection with any such claims, suits, actions or proceedings.
Limited Liability
Assuming that a limited partner does not participate in the control of our business within the meaning of the Delaware Act and that it otherwise acts in conformity with the provisions of our partnership agreement, its liability under the Delaware Act will be limited, subject to possible exceptions, to the amount of capital it is obligated to contribute to us for its common units plus its share of any undistributed profits and assets. If it were determined, however, that the right, or exercise of the right, by the limited partners as a group:
• | to remove or replace our general partner; |
• | to approve some amendments to our partnership agreement; or |
• | to take other action under our partnership agreement |
constituted “participation in the control” of our business for the purposes of the Delaware Act, then the limited partners could be held personally liable for our obligations under the laws of Delaware to the same extent as our general partner. This liability would extend to persons who transact business with us who reasonably believe that the limited partner is a general partner. Neither our partnership agreement nor the Delaware Act specifically provides for legal recourse against our general partner if a limited partner were to lose limited liability through any fault of our general partner. While this does not mean that a limited partner could not seek legal recourse, we know of no precedent for such a claim in Delaware case law.
Under the Delaware Act, a limited partnership may not make a distribution to a partner if, after the distribution, all liabilities of the limited partnership, other than liabilities to partners on account of their partner interests and liabilities for which the recourse of creditors is limited to specific property of the partnership, would exceed the fair value of the assets of the limited partnership. For the purpose of determining the fair value of the assets of a limited partnership, the Delaware Act provides that the fair value of property subject to liability for which recourse of creditors is limited shall be included in the assets of the limited partnership only to the extent that the fair value of that property exceeds the nonrecourse liability. The Delaware Act provides that a limited partner who receives a distribution and knew at the time of the distribution that the distribution was in violation of the Delaware Act shall be liable to the limited partnership for the amount of the distribution for three years. Under the Delaware Act, a substituted limited partner of a limited partnership is liable for the obligations of his assignor to make contributions to the partnership, except that such person is not obligated for liabilities unknown to him at the time he became a limited partner and that could not be ascertained from the partnership agreement.
Certain of our subsidiaries conduct business in Illinois and Texas. Our subsidiaries may conduct business in other states in the future. Maintenance of our limited liability as a member of our operating companies may require compliance with legal requirements in the jurisdictions in which our operating companies conduct business, including qualifying our subsidiaries to do business there.
Limitations on the liability of limited partners for the obligations of a limited partnership have not been clearly established in many jurisdictions. If, by virtue of our member interest in our operating companies or otherwise, it were determined that we were conducting business in any state without compliance with the applicable limited partnership or liability company statute, or that the right, or exercise of the right by the limited partners as a group, to remove or replace our general partner, to approve some amendments to our partnership agreement, or to
20
Table of Contents
take other action under our partnership agreement constituted “participation in the control” of our business for purposes of the statutes of any relevant jurisdiction, then the limited partners could be held personally liable for our obligations under the law of that jurisdiction to the same extent as our general partner under the circumstances. We will operate in a manner that our general partner considers reasonable and necessary or appropriate to preserve the limited liability of the limited partners.
Issuance of Additional Partner Interests
Our partnership agreement authorizes us to issue an unlimited number of additional partner interests for the consideration and on the terms and conditions determined by our general partner without the approval of our unitholders.
It is possible that we will fund acquisitions through the issuance of additional common units or other partner interests. Holders of any additional common units we issue will be entitled to share equally with the then-existing holders of common units in our cash distributions. In addition, the issuance of additional common units or other partner interests may dilute the value of the interests of the then-existing holders of common units in our net assets.
In accordance with Delaware law and the provisions of our partnership agreement, we may also issue additional partner interests that, as determined by our general partner, have special voting rights to which the common units are not entitled or are senior in right of distribution to the common units. In addition, our partnership agreement does not prohibit the issuance by our subsidiaries of equity interests, which may effectively rank senior to the common units.
Our general partner has the right, which it may from time to time assign in whole or in part to any of its affiliates, to purchase common units, whenever, and on the same terms that, we issue those interests to persons other than our general partner and its affiliates, to the extent necessary to maintain its and its affiliates’ percentage interest, including such interest represented by common units, that existed immediately prior to each issuance. The holders of common units do not have preemptive rights under our partnership agreement to acquire additional common units or other partner interests.
Supplemental Unit
On October 31, 2012, the Partnership entered into a Membership Interest Purchase Agreement, or the MIPA, with Agrifos Holdings, Inc., or the Seller, to acquire 100% of the membership interest of Agrifos LLC, the indirect owner of the Pasadena Facility. On November 1, 2012, the acquisition was completed in accordance with the MIPA and Agrifos LLC became a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Partnership and changed its name to Rentech Nitrogen Pasadena Holdings, LLC. In connection with the acquisition, we amended and restated our partnership agreement, among other things, to create a supplemental unit representing limited partner interests in the Partnership. The purchase price for the transaction includes potential earn-out consideration of up to $50.0 million to be paid in common units or cash at the Partnership’s option. The earn-out consideration was initially satisfied through the delivery of the supplemental unit to the Seller and will be calculated based on the amount by which the Pasadena Facility’s two-year Adjusted EBITDA, as defined in the MIPA, exceeds certain Adjusted EBITDA thresholds. After April 30, 2015 and the completion of the relevant calculations, the supplemental unit will convert into a number of common units arrived at by dividing the dollar amount of earn-out consideration payable under the MIPA, if any, by the volume-weighted average sales price for the common units on the NYSE for the 30 consecutive trading days immediately preceding December 31, 2014. Upon conversion of the supplemental unit into common units, the Partnership may elect to redeem such common units for their cash value. In addition, prior to the conversion of the supplemental unit into common units, the Partnership may elect to redeem the supplemental unit for $50.0 million in cash or to convert the supplemental unit into a number of common units arrived at by dividing $50.0 million by the volume-weighted average sales price for the common units on the NYSE for the 30 consecutive trading days immediately preceding the date of the Partnership’s notice to exercise such conversion option.
21
Table of Contents
In addition to the conversion and redemption provisions described above, our partnership agreement sets forth the other terms of the supplemental unit, which include, among others:
• | except upon dissolution or liquidation of the Partnership, the holder of the supplemental unit is not entitled to any right to receive distributions in respect of the supplemental unit; |
• | to the maximum extent permitted by law, the holder of the supplemental unit is not entitled to vote on any matter involving or relating to the Partnership, whether arising under the partnership agreement, under the Delaware Act, at law, in equity or otherwise, in respect of the supplemental unit, or to call or attend any meeting of the limited partners; |
• | the supplemental unit is not considered to be outstanding when sending notices of a meeting of limited partners to vote on any matter, calculating required votes, determining the presence of a quorum or for other similar purposes under the partnership agreement; and |
• | the holder of the supplemental unit may not transfer the supplemental unit to any person without the prior written consent of our general partner, which will not be unreasonably withheld. |
Amendment of Our Partnership Agreement
General
Amendments to our partnership agreement may be proposed only by our general partner. However, our general partner will have no duty or obligation to propose any amendment and may decline to do so free of any fiduciary duty or obligation whatsoever to us or any partner, including any duty to act in good faith or in the best interests of us or the limited partners. In order to adopt a proposed amendment, other than the amendments discussed below under “— No Unitholder Approval,” our general partner is required to seek written approval of the holders of the number of common units required to approve the amendment or call a meeting of the limited partners to consider and vote upon the proposed amendment. Except as described below, an amendment must be approved by a unit majority.
Prohibited Amendments
No amendment may be made that would:
(1) | enlarge the obligations of any limited partner or general partner without its consent, unless approved by at least a majority of the type or class of partner interests so affected; |
(2) | enlarge the obligations of, restrict in any way any action by or rights of, or reduce in any way the amounts distributable, reimbursable or otherwise payable by us to our general partner or any of its affiliates without the consent of our general partner, which consent may be given or withheld in its sole discretion; |
(3) | change certain of the terms under which we can be dissolved; or |
(4) | change the term of the Partnership. |
The provision of our partnership agreement preventing the amendments having the effects described in any of the clauses above can be amended upon the approval of the holders of at least 90% of the outstanding common units, voting together as a single class (including common units held by our general partner and its affiliates). As of March 31, 2013, affiliates of our general partner owned approximately 59.9% of the outstanding common units.
No Unitholder Approval
Our general partner may generally make amendments to our partnership agreement without the approval of any other partner to reflect:
• | a change in our name, the location of our principal place of business, our registered agent or our registered office; |
22
Table of Contents
• | the admission, substitution, withdrawal or removal of partners in accordance with our partnership agreement; |
• | a change that our general partner determines to be necessary or appropriate for us to qualify or to continue our qualification as a limited partnership or a partnership in which the limited partners have limited liability under the laws of any state or to ensure that neither we nor our subsidiaries will be treated as an association taxable as a corporation or otherwise taxed as an entity for United States federal income tax purposes (to the extent not already so treated or taxed); |
• | an amendment that is necessary, in the opinion of our counsel, to prevent us or our general partner or its directors, officers, agents, or trustees from in any manner being subjected to the provisions of the Investment Company Act of 1940, the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, or “plan asset” regulations adopted under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, or ERISA, whether or not substantially similar to plan asset regulations currently applied or proposed; |
• | an amendment that our general partner determines to be necessary or appropriate for the creation, authorization, or issuance of additional partner interests or rights to acquire partner interests, as otherwise permitted by our partnership agreement; |
• | any amendment expressly permitted in our partnership agreement to be made by our general partner acting alone; |
• | an amendment effected, necessitated or contemplated by a merger agreement that has been approved under the terms of our partnership agreement; |
• | any amendment that our general partner determines to be necessary or appropriate for the formation by us of, or our investment in, any corporation, partnership or other entity, as otherwise permitted by our partnership agreement; |
• | a change in our fiscal year or taxable year and related changes; |
• | mergers with or conveyances or conversions to another limited liability entity that is newly formed and has no assets, liabilities or operations at the time of the merger, conveyance or conversion other than those it receives by way of the merger, conveyance or conversion; or |
• | any other amendments substantially similar to any of the matters described above. |
In addition, our general partner may make amendments to our partnership agreement without the approval of any partner if our general partner determines that those amendments:
• | do not adversely affect in any material respect the partners considered as a whole or any particular class of partnership interests as compared to other classes of partnership interests; |
• | are necessary or appropriate to satisfy any requirements, conditions, or guidelines contained in any opinion, directive, order, ruling, or regulation of any federal or state agency or judicial authority or contained in any federal or state statute; |
• | are necessary or appropriate to facilitate the trading of limited partner interests or to comply with any rule, regulation, guideline, or requirement of any securities exchange on which the limited partner interests are or will be listed for trading; |
• | are necessary or appropriate for any action taken by our general partner relating to splits or combinations of common units under the provisions of our partnership agreement; or |
• | are required to effect the intent expressed in the prospectus filed as part of our initial registration statement on Form S-1 or the intent of the provisions of our partnership agreement or are otherwise contemplated by our partnership agreement. |
23
Table of Contents
Opinion of Counsel and Unitholder Approval
For amendments of the type not requiring unitholder approval, our general partner will not be required to obtain an opinion of counsel that an amendment will not result in a loss of limited liability to the limited partners or result in our being treated as an entity for United States federal income tax purposes in connection with any of the amendments. No other amendments to our partnership agreement will become effective without the approval of holders of at least 90% of the outstanding common units voting as a single class unless we first obtain an opinion of counsel to the effect that the amendment will not affect the limited liability under Delaware law of any of our limited partners.
Any amendment that would have a material adverse effect on the rights or preferences of any type or class of outstanding common units in relation to other classes of units will require the approval of at least a majority of the type or class of common units so affected. Any amendment that would reduce the percentage of units required to take any action, other than to remove the general partner or call a meeting of unitholders must be approved by the affirmative vote of partners whose aggregate outstanding units constitute not less than the percentage sought to be reduced.
Merger, Sale or Other Disposition of Assets
A merger or consolidation or conversion of us requires the prior consent of our general partner. However, our general partner will have no duty or obligation to consent to any merger or consolidation and may decline to do so free of any fiduciary duty or obligation whatsoever to us or other partners, including any duty to act in good faith or in the best interest of us or the other partners.
In addition, our partnership agreement generally prohibits our general partner, without the prior approval of the holders of a unit majority, from causing us to sell, exchange or otherwise dispose of all or substantially all of our assets in a single transaction or a series of related transactions, including by way of merger, consolidation or other combination. Our general partner may, however, mortgage, pledge, hypothecate or grant a security interest in all or substantially all of our assets without that approval. Our general partner may also sell all or substantially all of our assets under a foreclosure or other realization upon those encumbrances without that approval.
Finally, our general partner may consummate any merger without the prior approval of our unitholders if we are the surviving entity in the transaction, our general partner has received an opinion of counsel regarding limited liability and tax matters, the transaction would not result in a material amendment to the partnership agreement (other than an amendment that the general partner could adopt without the consent of other partners), each of our common units will be an identical unit of the Partnership following the transaction and the Partnership securities to be issued do not exceed 20% of our outstanding partner interests immediately prior to the transaction.
If the conditions specified in our partnership agreement are satisfied, our general partner may convert us or any of our subsidiaries into a new limited liability entity or merge us or any of our subsidiaries into, or convey all of our assets to, a newly formed entity, if the sole purpose of that conversion, merger or conveyance is to effect a mere change in our legal form into another limited liability entity, we have received an opinion of counsel regarding limited liability and tax matters and the governing instruments of the new entity provide the limited partners and our general partner with the same rights and obligations as contained in our partnership agreement. Our unitholders are not entitled to dissenters’ rights of appraisal under our partnership agreement or applicable Delaware law in the event of a conversion, merger or consolidation, a sale of substantially all of our assets or any other similar transaction or event.
Termination and Dissolution
We will continue as a limited partnership until terminated under our partnership agreement. We will dissolve upon:
(1) the election of our general partner to dissolve us, if approved by the holders of common units representing a unit majority;
(2) there being no limited partners, unless we are continued without dissolution in accordance with applicable Delaware law;
24
Table of Contents
(3) the entry of a decree of judicial dissolution of the Partnership; or
(4) the withdrawal or removal of our general partner or any other event that results in its ceasing to be our general partner other than by reason of a transfer of its general partner interest in accordance with our partnership agreement or withdrawal or removal following approval and admission of a successor.
Upon a dissolution under clause (4), the holders of a unit majority may also elect, within specific time limitations, to continue our business on the same terms and conditions described in our partnership agreement by appointing as a successor general partner an entity approved by the holders of common units representing a unit majority, subject to our receipt of an opinion of counsel to the effect that:
• | the action would not result in the loss of limited liability under Delaware law of any limited partner; and |
• | neither the Partnership nor our subsidiaries would be treated as an association taxable as a corporation or otherwise be taxable as an entity for United States federal income tax purposes upon the exercise of that right to continue (to the extent not already so treated or taxed). |
Liquidation and Distribution of Proceeds
Upon our dissolution, unless our business is continued, the liquidator authorized to wind up our affairs will, acting with all of the powers of our general partner that are necessary or appropriate, liquidate our assets and apply the proceeds of the liquidation as set forth in our partnership agreement. The liquidator may defer liquidation or distribution of our assets for a reasonable period of time or distribute assets to partners in kind if it determines that a sale would be impractical or would cause undue loss to our partners.
Withdrawal or Removal of Our General Partner
Except as described below, our general partner has agreed not to withdraw voluntarily as our general partner prior to October 31, 2021 without obtaining the approval of the holders of at least a majority of the outstanding common units excluding common units held by our general partner and its affiliates (including Rentech), and by giving 90 days’ written notice and furnishing an opinion of counsel regarding limited liability and tax matters. On or after October 31, 2021, our general partner may withdraw as general partner without first obtaining approval of any unitholder by giving 90 days’ written notice, and that withdrawal will not constitute a violation of our partnership agreement. Notwithstanding the information above, our general partner may withdraw without unitholder approval upon 90 days’ notice to the unitholders if at least 50% of the outstanding common units are held or controlled by one person and its affiliates other than our general partner and its affiliates. In addition, our partnership agreement permits our general partner in some instances to sell or otherwise transfer all of its general partner interest without the approval of the unitholders. See “— Transfer of General Partner Interest.”
Upon withdrawal of our general partner under any circumstances, other than as a result of a transfer by our general partner of all or a part of its general partner interest in us, the holders of a majority of the outstanding classes of common units voting as a single class may select a successor to that withdrawing general partner. If a successor is not elected, or is elected but an opinion of counsel regarding limited liability and tax matters cannot be obtained, we will be dissolved, wound up and liquidated, unless within a specified period of time after that withdrawal, the holders of a unit majority agree in writing to continue our business and to appoint a successor general partner. See “— Termination and Dissolution.”
Our general partner may not be removed unless that removal is approved by the vote of the holders of not less than 66 2/3% of the outstanding common units, voting together as a single class, including common units held by our general partner and its affiliates, and we receive an opinion of counsel regarding limited liability and tax matters. Any removal of our general partner is also subject to the approval of a successor general partner by the vote of the holders of a majority of the outstanding common units. The ownership of more than 33 1/3% of the outstanding common units by our general partner and its affiliates (including Rentech) gives them the ability to prevent our general partner’s removal. As of March 31, 2013, affiliates of our general partner owned approximately 59.9% of the outstanding common units.
In the event of removal of our general partner under circumstances where cause exists or withdrawal of our general partner where that withdrawal violates our partnership agreement, a successor general partner will have the
25
Table of Contents
option to purchase the general partner interest of the departing general partner for a cash payment equal to the fair market value of the general partner interest. Under all other circumstances where our general partner withdraws or is removed, the departing general partner will have the option to require the successor general partner to purchase the general partner interest of the departing general partner for its fair market value. In each case, this fair market value will be determined by agreement between the departing general partner and the successor general partner. If no agreement is reached, an independent investment banking firm or other independent expert selected by the departing general partner and the successor general partner will determine the fair market value or, if the departing general partner and the successor general partner cannot agree upon an expert, then an expert chosen by agreement of the experts selected by each of them will determine the fair market value.
If the option described above is not exercised by either the departing general partner or the successor general partner, the departing general partner’s general partner interest will automatically convert into common units equal to the fair market value of those interests as determined by an investment banking firm or other independent expert selected in the manner described in the preceding paragraph.
In addition, we are required to reimburse the departing general partner for all amounts due to the general partner, including, without limitation, all employee-related liabilities, including severance liabilities, incurred for the termination of any employees employed by the departing general partner or its affiliates for our benefit.
Transfer of Ownership Interests in Our General Partner Interest
Except for the transfer by our general partner of all, but not less than all, of its general partner interest in the Partnership to:
• | an affiliate of our general partner (other than an individual), or |
• | another entity as part of the merger or consolidation of our general partner with or into another entity or the transfer by our general partner of all or substantially all of its assets to another entity, |
our general partner may not transfer all or any part of its general partner interest to another person prior to October 31, 2021 without the approval of the holders of at least a majority of the outstanding common units, excluding common units held by our general partner and its affiliates. On or after October 31, 2021, the general partner interest will be freely transferable. As a condition of any transfer, the transferee must, among other things, assume the rights and duties of our general partner, agree to be bound by the provisions of our partnership agreement and furnish an opinion of counsel regarding limited liability and tax matters.
Our general partner and its affiliates may at any time transfer common units to one or more persons, without unitholder approval.
Transfer of Ownership Interests in Our General Partner
At any time, the owners of our general partner may sell or transfer all or part of their ownership interests in our general partner to an affiliate or a third party without the approval of our unitholders.
Change of Management Provisions
Our partnership agreement contains specific provisions that are intended to discourage a person or group from attempting to remove Rentech Nitrogen GP, LLC as our general partner or otherwise change management. See “— Withdrawal or Removal of Our General Partner” for a discussion of certain consequences of the removal of our general partner. If any person or group other than our general partner and its affiliates acquires beneficial ownership of 20% or more of any class of common units, that person or group loses voting rights on all of its common units. This loss of voting rights does not apply in certain circumstances. See “— Meetings; Voting.”
Call Right
If at any time our general partner and its affiliates own more than 80% of the then-issued and outstanding limited partner interests of any class, our general partner will have the right, which it may assign in whole or in part to any of its affiliates or to us, to purchase all, but not less than all, of the limited partner interests of the class held by public unitholders, as of a record date to be selected by our general partner, on at least 10 but not more than 60 days’ notice. As of March 31, 2013, affiliates of our general partner owned approximately 59.9% of the outstanding common units.
26
Table of Contents
The purchase price in the event of such an acquisition will be the greater of:
(1) the highest price paid by our general partner or any of its affiliates for any limited partner interests of the class purchased within the 90 days preceding the date on which our general partner first mails notice of its election to purchase those limited partner interests; and
(2) the average of the daily closing prices of the limited partner interests over the 20 trading days preceding the date three days before notice of exercise of the call right is first mailed.
As a result of our general partner’s right to purchase outstanding common units, a holder of common units may have its common units purchased at an undesirable time or at a price that may be lower than market prices at various times prior to such purchase or lower than a unitholder may anticipate the market price to be in the future. The United States federal income tax consequences to a unitholder of the exercise of this call right are the same as a sale by that unitholder of his common units in the market. See “Material Income Tax Consequences — Disposition of Common Units.”
Non-Citizen Assignees; Redemption
If our general partner, with the advice of counsel, determines we are subject to United States federal, state or local laws or regulations that create a substantial risk of cancellation or forfeiture of any property that we have an interest in because of the nationality, citizenship or other related status of any limited partner, then our general partner may adopt such amendments to our partnership agreement as it determines necessary or advisable to:
• | obtain proof of the nationality, citizenship or other related status of our limited partner (and their owners, to the extent relevant); and |
• | permit us to redeem the common units held by any person whose nationality, citizenship or other related status creates substantial risk of cancellation or forfeiture of any property or who fails to comply with the procedures instituted by the board to obtain proof of the nationality, citizenship or other related status. The redemption price in the case of such redemption will be the average of the daily closing prices per unit for the 20 consecutive trading days immediately prior to the date set for redemption. The redemption price will be paid in cash or by delivery of a promissory note, as determined by our general partner. |
Non-Taxpaying Assignees; Redemption
To avoid any adverse effect on the maximum applicable rates chargeable to customers by us under certain laws or regulations that may be applicable to our future businesses or operations, or in order to reverse an adverse determination that has occurred regarding such maximum rate, our partnership agreement provides our general partner the power to amend the agreement. If our general partner, with the advice of counsel, determines that our not being treated as an association taxable as a corporation or otherwise taxable as an entity for United States federal income tax purposes, coupled with the tax status (or lack of proof thereof) of one or more of our partners, has, or is reasonably likely to have, a material adverse effect on any maximum applicable rates chargeable to customers by our subsidiaries at such time, then our general partner may adopt such amendments to our partnership agreement as it determines necessary or advisable to:
• | obtain proof of the United States federal income tax status of our partner (and their owners, to the extent relevant); and |
• | permit us to redeem the common units held by any person whose tax status has or is reasonably likely to have a material adverse effect on the maximum applicable rates or who fails to comply with the procedures instituted by the general partner to obtain proof of the United States federal income tax status. The redemption price in the case of such redemption will be the average of the daily closing prices per unit for the 20 consecutive trading days immediately prior to the date set for redemption. The redemption price will be paid in cash or by delivery of a promissory note, as determined by our general partner. |
27
Table of Contents
Meetings; Voting
Except as described below regarding a person or group owning 20% or more of any class of units then outstanding, unitholders who are record holders of common units on the record date will be entitled to notice of, and to vote at, meetings of our unitholders and to act upon matters for which approvals may be solicited. Our general partner does not anticipate that any meeting of unitholders will be called in the foreseeable future. Any action that is required or permitted to be taken by the unitholders may be taken either at a meeting of the unitholders or without a meeting if consents in writing describing the action so taken are signed by holders of the number of units necessary to authorize or take that action at a meeting. Meetings of the unitholders may be called by our general partner or by unitholders owning at least 20% of the outstanding units of the class for which a meeting is proposed. Unitholders may vote either in person or by proxy at meetings. The holders of a majority of the outstanding units of the class or classes for which a meeting has been called, represented in person or by proxy, will constitute a quorum unless any action by the unitholders requires approval by holders of a greater percentage of the units, in which case the quorum will be the greater percentage.
Each record holder of a unit has a vote according to his percentage interest in us, although additional limited partner interests having special voting rights could be issued. See “— Issuance of Additional Partner Interests.” However, if at any time any person or group, other than our general partner and its affiliates, a direct or subsequently approved transferee of our general partner or their affiliates, or, upon the approval by the general partner, any other unitholder, acquires, in the aggregate, beneficial ownership of 20% or more of any class of units then outstanding, that person or group will lose voting rights on all of its units and the units may not be voted on any matter and will not be considered to be outstanding when sending notices of a meeting of unitholders, calculating required votes, determining the presence of a quorum, or for other similar purposes. Common units held in nominee or street name account will be voted by the broker or other nominee in accordance with the instruction of the beneficial owner unless the arrangement between the beneficial owner and his nominee provides otherwise.
Any notice, demand, request, report, or proxy material required or permitted to be given or made to record holders of common units under our partnership agreement will be delivered to the record holder by us or by the transfer agent.
Status as Limited Partner or Assignee
Except as described above under “— Limited Liability,” the common units will be fully paid, and unitholders will not be required to make additional contributions. By transfer of common units in accordance with our partnership agreement, each transferee of common units will be admitted as a limited partner with respect to the common units transferred when such transfer and admission is reflected in our books and records.
Indemnification
Under our partnership agreement we will indemnify the following persons in most circumstances, to the fullest extent permitted by law, from and against all losses, claims, damages, liabilities, joint or several, expenses (including legal fees and expenses), judgments, fines, penalties, interest, settlements or other amounts arising from any and all threatened, pending or completed claims, demands, actions, suits or proceedings:
(1) our general partner;
(2) any departing general partner;
(3) any person who is or was a director, officer, partner, manager or managing member of us or our subsidiary, our general partner, any departing general partner or any of their respective affiliates;
(4) any person who is or was serving as a director, officer, fiduciary, trustee, manager or managing member of another person owing a fiduciary duty to us or our subsidiary at the request of a general partner or any departing general partner;
(5) any person who controls our general partner; or
(6) any person designated by our general partner.
28
Table of Contents
Any indemnification under these provisions will only be out of our assets. Unless they otherwise agree, our general partner will not be personally liable for, or have any obligation to contribute or loan funds or assets to us to enable us to effectuate, indemnification. We may purchase insurance against liabilities asserted against and expenses incurred by persons for our activities, regardless of whether we would have the power to indemnify the person against liabilities under our partnership agreement.
Reimbursement of Expenses
Our partnership agreement requires us to reimburse our general partner for (1) all direct and indirect expenses it incurs or payments it makes on our behalf (including salary, bonus, incentive compensation and other amounts paid to any person, including affiliates of our general partner, to perform services for us or for the general partner in the discharge of its duties to us but excluding any share-based compensation) and (2) all other expenses reasonably allocable to us or otherwise incurred by our general partner in connection with operating our business (including expenses allocated to our general partner by its affiliates). Our general partner is entitled to determine the expenses that are allocable to us.
Books and Reports
Our general partner is required to keep appropriate books of our business at our principal offices. The books will be maintained for both tax and financial reporting purposes on an accrual basis. For tax reporting and fiscal reporting purposes, our fiscal year is the calendar year.
We will furnish or make available to record holders of our common units, within 105 days after the close of each fiscal year, an annual report containing audited financial statements and a report on those financial statements by our independent public accountants. Except for our fourth quarter, we will also furnish or make available a report containing our unaudited financial statements within 50 days after the close of each quarter. We will be deemed to have made any such report available if we file such report with the SEC on EDGAR or make the report available on a publicly available website which we maintain.
We will furnish each record holder of a unit with tax information reasonably required for federal and state income tax reporting purposes within 90 days after the close of each calendar year. This information is expected to be furnished in summary form so that some complex calculations normally required of partners can be avoided. Our ability to furnish this summary information to unitholders will depend on the cooperation of unitholders in supplying us with specific information. Every unitholder will receive information to assist him in determining his federal and state tax liability and filing his federal and state income tax returns, regardless of whether he supplies us with information.
In addition, Rentech has full and complete access to any records relating to our business, and our general partner will cause its officers and independent accountants to be available to discuss our business and affairs with Rentech’s officers, agents and employees.
Right to Inspect Our Books and Records
Our partnership agreement provides that a limited partner can, for a purpose reasonably related to his/her interest as a limited partner, upon reasonable demand and at his own expense, have furnished to him:
(1) a current list of the name and last known address of each record holder;
(2) copies of our partnership agreement, our certificate of limited partnership, related amendments and powers of attorney under which they have been executed (provided that this obligation shall be satisfied to the extent that true and correct copies of such documents are publicly available with the SEC via its EDGAR system);
(3) information regarding the status of our business and financial condition (provided that this obligation shall be satisfied to the extent the limited partner is furnished our most recent annual report and any subsequent quarterly or periodic reports required to be filed (or which would be required to be filed) with the SEC pursuant to Section 13 of the Exchange Act); and
(4) any other information regarding our affairs that our general partner in its sole discretion determines is just and reasonable.
29
Table of Contents
Our general partner may, and intends to, keep confidential from the limited partners’ trade secrets or other information the disclosure of which our general partner believes in good faith is not in our best interests or that we are required by law or by agreements with third parties to keep confidential. In addition, the partners do not have a right to receive information from us for the purpose of determining whether to pursue litigation or assist in pending litigation against us except pursuant to applicable rules of discovery.
Registration Rights
Under our partnership agreement, we have agreed to register for resale under the Securities Act and applicable state securities laws any units sold by our general partner or any of its affiliates (other than individuals) if an exemption from the registration requirements is not otherwise available. We are not required to effect more than three registrations pursuant to this provision in the aggregate and no more than one registration in any 12-month period, and our general partner can defer filing a registration statement for up to six months if it determines that this would be in, or not opposed to, our best interests due to a pending transaction, investigation or other event. If we at any time propose to file a registration statement for an offering of partner interests for cash, we will use all commercially reasonable efforts to include such number of partner interests in such registration statement as any of our general partner or any of its affiliates shall request. We are obligated to pay all expenses incidental to these registrations, other than underwriting discounts and commissions. The registration rights in our partnership agreement are applicable with respect to our general partner and its affiliates after it ceases to be a general partner for up to two years following the effective date of such cessation.
30
Table of Contents
HOW WE MAKE CASH DISTRIBUTIONS
General
Our Cash Distribution Policy
Our policy is to distribute all of the cash available for distribution we generate each quarter. Within 45 days after the end of each quarter, we will make distributions, as determined by the board of directors of our general partner, to unitholders of record on the applicable record date. Cash available for distribution for each quarter generally equals the cash we generate during the quarter, less cash needed for maintenance capital expenditures, debt service and other contractual obligations, and reserves for future operating or capital needs that the board of directors of our general partner deems necessary or appropriate. We do not maintain excess distribution coverage for the purpose of maintaining stability or growth in our quarterly distribution or otherwise to reserve cash for distributions, nor do we incur debt to pay quarterly distributions. We expect to finance substantially all of our growth externally, either by debt issuances or additional issuances of equity.
Because our policy is to distribute all cash available for distribution each quarter, without reserving cash for future distributions or borrowing to pay distributions during periods of low cash flow from operations, our unitholders have direct exposure to fluctuations in the amount of cash generated by our business. The amount of our quarterly distributions, if any, varies based on our operating cash flow during each quarter. Our cash distributions, if any, are not stable and varies from quarter to quarter as a direct result of, among other things, variations in our operating performance and cash flow caused by fluctuations in the price of nitrogen fertilizers and our feedstocks, as well as the amount of forward and product sales pursuant to prepayment contracts that we make. These variations may be significant. We may change our distribution policy at any time and from time to time. Our partnership agreement does not require us to pay cash distributions on a quarterly or other basis.
From time to time we make product sales pursuant to prepayment contracts, whereby we receive cash during one quarter in respect of product to be produced and sold in a future quarter, but we do not record revenue in respect of the cash received until the quarter when product is delivered.
Limitations on Cash Distributions; Our Ability to Change Our Cash Distribution Policy
There is no guarantee that unitholders will receive cash distributions from us. Our distribution policy may be changed at any time and is subject to certain restrictions, including:
• | Our unitholders have no contractual or other legal right to receive cash distributions from us on a quarterly or other basis. Our policy is to distribute to our unitholders each quarter all of the cash available for distribution we generate each quarter, as determined quarterly by the board of directors of our general partner, but it may change this policy at any time. |
• | Our business performance is more seasonal and volatile, and our cash flows are less stable, than the business performance and cash flows of most publicly traded partnerships. As a result, our cash distributions can be volatile and vary quarterly and annually. Unlike most publicly traded limited partnerships, we do not have a minimum quarterly distribution or employ structures intended to consistently maintain or increase quarterly distributions over time. Furthermore, none of our limited partner interests, including those held by Rentech Nitrogen Holdings, Inc., are subordinate in right of distribution payment to the common units sold in this offering. |
• | The amount of cash available for distribution, the distributions we pay under our cash distribution policy and the decision to make any distribution will be determined by the board of directors of our general partner. Our partnership agreement does not provide for any minimum quarterly distributions. |
• | Under Section 17-607 of the Delaware Act, we may not make a distribution to our limited partners if the distribution would cause our liabilities to exceed the fair value of our assets. |
31
Table of Contents
• | Our distribution policy is subject to restrictions on distributions under our revolving credit facility. |
• | We may lack sufficient cash to make distributions to our unitholders due to a number of factors that would adversely affect us, including but not limited to decreases in revenues or increases in operating expenses, principal and interest payments on debt, working capital requirements, capital expenditures or anticipated cash needs. See “Risk Factors” in the documents incorporated by reference in this prospectus and any applicable prospectus supplement for information regarding these factors. |
We intend to pay our distributions on or about the 15th day of each February, May, August and November to holders of record on or about the 1st day of each such month.
Common Units Eligible for Distribution
Each common unit will be allocated a portion of our income, gain, loss, deduction and credit on a pro-rata basis, and each common unit will be entitled to receive distributions (including upon liquidation) in the same manner as each other unit.
Method of Distributions
We will make distributions pursuant to our general partner’s determination of the amount of cash available for distribution for the applicable quarter, which we will then distribute to our unitholders, pro rata; provided, however, that we may change this policy at any time and our partnership agreement allows us to issue an unlimited number of additional equity interests of equal or senior rank as to distributions. Our partnership agreement permits us to borrow to make distributions, but we are not required and do not intend to borrow to pay quarterly distributions. Accordingly, there is no guarantee that we will pay any distribution on the units in any quarter. We do not have a legal obligation to pay distributions, and the amount of distributions paid and the decision to make any distribution is determined by the board of directors of our general partner.
General Partner Interest
Our general partner owns a non-economic general partner interest and therefore is not entitled to receive cash distributions. However, Rentech Nitrogen Holdings, Inc., which owns all of the outstanding member interests in our general partner, owned 23,250,000 of our common units as of March 31, 2013 and may acquire additional of our common units and other equity interests in the future, and is entitled to receive pro rata distributions therefrom.
Adjustments to Capital Accounts Upon Issuance of Additional Common Units
We will make adjustments to capital accounts upon the issuance of additional common units. In doing so, we will generally allocate any unrealized and, for tax purposes, unrecognized gain or loss resulting from the adjustments to our unitholders prior to such issuance on a pro rata basis, so that after such issuance, the capital account balances attributable to all common units are equal.
Pursuant to the MIPA, at the election of our general partner, with respect to any taxable period ending upon, or after, the conversion of the supplemental unit, but prior to the time that any of the common units into which the supplemental unit is converted may be sold in accordance with the MIPA, all or a portion of the items of Partnership gain for such taxable period shall be allocated 100% to the holder of the supplemental unit, until such holder has been allocated an amount of gross income or gain that increases the capital account maintained with respect to the supplemental unit to an amount that after taking into account the other allocations of income, gain, loss and deduction to be made with respect to such taxable period will equal the product of (i) the number of common units into which the supplemental unit is to be converted and (ii) the capital account underlying a common unit held by a person other than our general partner of any of our affiliates. The purpose of this allocation is to establish uniformity between the capital accounts underlying the supplemental unit and the capital accounts underlying common units immediately prior to the conversion of such supplemental unit into common units. See “The Partnership Agreement — Supplemental Unit.”
32
Table of Contents
MATERIAL INCOME TAX CONSEQUENCES
This section is a summary of the material tax considerations that may be relevant to prospective unitholders who are individual citizens or residents of the United States and, unless otherwise noted in the following discussion, is the opinion of Latham & Watkins LLP, counsel to our general partner and us, insofar as it relates to legal conclusions with respect to matters of U.S. federal income tax law. This section is based upon current provisions of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Internal Revenue Code”), existing and proposed Treasury regulations promulgated under the Internal Revenue Code (the “Treasury Regulations”) and current administrative rulings and court decisions, all of which are subject to change. Later changes in these authorities may cause the tax consequences to vary substantially from the consequences described below. Unless the context otherwise requires, references in this section to “us,” “we” or “our company” are references to Rentech Nitrogen Partners, L.P. and our operating subsidiaries.
The following discussion does not comment on all federal income tax matters affecting us or our unitholders. Moreover, the discussion focuses on unitholders who are individual citizens or residents of the United States and has only limited application to corporations, estates, entities treated as partnerships for U.S. federal income tax purposes, trusts, nonresident aliens, U.S. expatriates and former citizens or long-term residents of the United States or other unitholders subject to specialized tax treatment, such as banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions, tax-exempt institutions, foreign persons (including, without limitation, controlled foreign corporations, passive foreign investment companies and non-U.S. persons eligible for the benefits of an applicable income tax treaty with the United States), IRAs, real estate investment trusts (REITs) or mutual funds, dealers in securities or currencies, traders in securities, U.S. persons whose “functional currency” is not the U.S. dollar, persons holding their units as part of a “straddle,” “hedge,” “conversion transaction” or other risk reduction transaction, and persons deemed to sell their units under the constructive sale provisions of the Internal Revenue Code. In addition, the discussion only comments, to a limited extent, on state, local, and foreign tax consequences. Accordingly, we encourage each prospective unitholder to consult his own tax advisor in analyzing the state, local and foreign tax consequences particular to him of the ownership or disposition of common units and potential changes in applicable laws.
No ruling has been or will be requested from the IRS regarding our characterization as a partnership for tax purposes. Instead, we will rely on opinions of Latham & Watkins LLP. Unlike a ruling, an opinion of counsel represents only that counsel’s best legal judgment and does not bind the IRS or the courts. Accordingly, the opinions and statements made herein may not be sustained by a court if contested by the IRS. Any contest of this sort with the IRS may materially and adversely impact the market for the common units and the prices at which common units trade. In addition, the costs of any contest with the IRS, principally legal, accounting and related fees, will result in a reduction in cash available for distribution to our unitholders and thus will be borne indirectly by our unitholders. Furthermore, our tax treatment, or the tax treatment of an investment in our company, may be significantly modified by future legislative or administrative changes or court decisions. Any modifications may or may not be retroactively applied.
All statements as to matters of federal income tax law and legal conclusions with respect thereto, but not as to factual matters, contained in this section, unless otherwise noted, are the opinion of Latham & Watkins LLP and are based on the accuracy of the representations made by us.
For the reasons described below, Latham & Watkins LLP has not rendered an opinion with respect to the following specific federal income tax issues: (i) the treatment of a unitholder whose common units are loaned to a short seller to cover a short sale of common units (please read “— Tax Consequences of Unit Ownership — Treatment of Short Sales”); (ii) whether our monthly convention for allocating taxable income and losses is permitted by existing Treasury Regulations (please read “— Disposition of Common Units — Allocations Between Transferors and Transferees”); (iii) whether our method for taking into account Section 743 adjustments is sustainable in certain cases (please read “— Tax Consequences of Unit Ownership — Section 754 Election” and “— Disposition of Common Units — Uniformity of Units”); and (iv) the availability or extent of the Section 199 deduction to our unitholders.
33
Table of Contents
Partnership Status
A partnership is not a taxable entity and incurs no federal income tax liability. Instead, each partner of a partnership is required to take into account his share of items of income, gain, loss and deduction of the partnership in computing his federal income tax liability, regardless of whether cash distributions are made to him by the partnership. Distributions by a partnership to a partner are generally not taxable to the partnership or the partner unless the amount of cash distributed to him is in excess of the partner’s adjusted basis in his partnership interest. Section 7704 of the Internal Revenue Code provides that publicly traded partnerships will, as a general rule, be taxed as corporations. However, an exception, referred to as the “Qualifying Income Exception,” exists with respect to publicly traded partnerships of which 90% or more of the gross income for every taxable year consists of “qualifying income.” Qualifying income includes income and gains derived from the production, marketing and transportation of fertilizer, and the production, transportation, processing, storage and marketing of crude oil, natural gas and products thereof. Other types of qualifying income include interest (other than from a financial business), dividends, gains from the sale of real property and gains from the sale or other disposition of capital assets held for the production of income that otherwise constitutes qualifying income. We estimate that less than 4% of our current gross income is not qualifying income; however, this estimate could change from time to time. Based upon and subject to this estimate, the factual representations made by us and our general partner and a review of the applicable legal authorities, Latham & Watkins LLP is of the opinion that at least 90% of our current gross income constitutes qualifying income. The portion of our income that is qualifying income may change from time to time.
The IRS has made no determination as to our status or the status of our operating subsidiaries for federal income tax purposes or whether our operations generate “qualifying income” under Section 7704 of the Internal Revenue Code. Instead, we will rely on the opinion of Latham & Watkins LLP on such matters. It is the opinion of Latham & Watkins LLP that, based upon the Internal Revenue Code, its regulations, published revenue rulings and court decisions and the representations described below that:
• | We will be classified as a partnership for federal income tax purposes; and |
• | Our operating subsidiaries will be disregarded as an entity separate from us for federal income tax purposes. |
In rendering its opinion, Latham & Watkins LLP has relied on factual representations made by us and our general partner. The representations made by us and our general partner upon which Latham & Watkins LLP has relied include:
• | Neither we nor our operating subsidiaries have elected or will elect to be treated as a corporation; and |
• | For each taxable year, more than 90% of our gross income has been and will be income of the type that Latham & Watkins LLP has opined or will opine is “qualifying income” within the meaning of Section 7704(d) of the Internal Revenue Code. |
We believe that these representations have been true in the past and expect that these representations will continue to be true in the future.
If we fail to meet the Qualifying Income Exception, other than a failure that is determined by the IRS to be inadvertent and that is cured within a reasonable time after discovery (in which case the IRS may also require us to make adjustments with respect to our unitholders or pay other amounts), we will be treated as if we had transferred all of our assets, subject to liabilities, to a newly formed corporation, on the first day of the year in which we fail to meet the Qualifying Income Exception, in return for stock in that corporation, and then distributed that stock to the unitholders in liquidation of their interests in us. This deemed contribution and liquidation should be tax-free to unitholders and us so long as we, at that time, do not have liabilities in excess of the tax basis of our assets. Thereafter, we would be treated as a corporation for federal income tax purposes.
If we are treated as an association taxable as a corporation in any taxable year, either as a result of a failure to meet the Qualifying Income Exception or otherwise, our items of income, gain, loss and deduction would be reflected only on our tax return rather than being passed through to our unitholders, and our net income would be taxed to us at corporate rates. In addition, any distribution made to a unitholder would be treated as taxable dividend
34
Table of Contents
income, to the extent of our current and accumulated earnings and profits, or, in the absence of earnings and profits, a nontaxable return of capital, to the extent of the unitholder’s tax basis in his common units, or taxable capital gain, after the unitholder’s tax basis in his common units is reduced to zero. Accordingly, taxation as a corporation would result in a material reduction in a unitholder’s cash flow and after-tax return and thus would likely result in a substantial reduction of the value of the units.
The discussion below is based on Latham & Watkins LLP’s opinion that we will be classified as a partnership for federal income tax purposes.
Limited Partner Status
Unitholders of Rentech Nitrogen Partners, L.P. will be treated as partners of Rentech Nitrogen Partners, L.P. for federal income tax purposes. Also, unitholders whose common units are held in street name or by a nominee and who have the right to direct the nominee in the exercise of all substantive rights attendant to the ownership of their common units will be treated as partners of Rentech Nitrogen Partners, L.P. for federal income tax purposes. A beneficial owner of common units whose units have been transferred to a short seller to complete a short sale would appear to lose his status as a partner with respect to those units for federal income tax purposes. Please read “— Tax Consequences of Unit Ownership — Treatment of Short Sales”.
Income, gain, deductions or losses would not appear to be reportable by a unitholder who is not a partner for federal income tax purposes, and any cash distributions received by a unitholder who is not a partner for federal income tax purposes would therefore appear to be fully taxable as ordinary income. These holders are urged to consult their tax advisors with respect to their tax consequences of holding common units in Rentech Nitrogen Partners, L.P. The references to “unitholders” in the discussion that follows are to persons who are treated as partners in Rentech Nitrogen Partners, L.P. for federal income tax purposes.
Tax Consequences of Unit Ownership
Flow-Through of Taxable Income. Subject to the discussion below under “— Entity-Level Collections,” we will not pay any federal income tax. Instead, each unitholder will be required to report on his income tax return his share of our income, gains, losses and deductions without regard to whether we make cash distributions to him. Consequently, we may allocate income to a unitholder even if he has not received a cash distribution. Each unitholder will be required to include in income his allocable share of our income, gains, losses and deductions for our taxable year ending with or within his taxable year. Our taxable year ends on December 31.
Treatment of Distributions. Distributions by us to a unitholder generally will not be taxable to the unitholder for federal income tax purposes, except to the extent the amount of any such cash distribution exceeds his tax basis in his common units immediately before the distribution. Our cash distributions in excess of a unitholder’s tax basis generally will be considered to be gain from the sale or exchange of the common units, taxable in accordance with the rules described under “— Disposition of Common Units.” Any reduction in a unitholder’s share of our liabilities for which no partner bears the economic risk of loss, known as “nonrecourse liabilities,” will be treated as a distribution by us of cash to that unitholder. To the extent our distributions cause a unitholder’s “at-risk” amount to be less than zero at the end of any taxable year, he must recapture any losses deducted in previous years. Please read the discussion below under “— Limitations on Deductibility of Losses.”
A decrease in a unitholder’s percentage interest in our company because of our issuance of additional common units will decrease his share of our nonrecourse liabilities, and thus will result in a corresponding deemed distribution of cash. This deemed distribution may constitute a non-pro rata distribution. A non-pro rata distribution of money or property may result in ordinary income to a unitholder, regardless of his tax basis in his common units, if the distribution reduces the unitholder’s share of our “unrealized receivables,” including depreciation recapture, depletion recapture and/or substantially appreciated “inventory items,” each as defined in the Internal Revenue Code, and collectively, “Section 751 Assets.” To that extent, the unitholder will be treated as having been distributed his proportionate share of the Section 751 Assets and then having exchanged those assets with us in return for the non-pro rata portion of the actual distribution made to him. This latter deemed exchange will generally result in the unitholder’s realization of ordinary income, which will equal the excess of (i) the non-pro rata portion of that distribution over (ii) the unitholder’s tax basis (often zero) for the share of Section 751 Assets deemed relinquished in the exchange.
35
Table of Contents
Basis of Common Units. A unitholder’s initial tax basis for his common units will be the amount he paid for the common units plus his share of our nonrecourse liabilities. That basis will be increased by his share of our income and by any increases in his share of our nonrecourse liabilities. That basis will be decreased, but not below zero, by distributions from us, by the unitholder’s share of our losses, by any decreases in his share of our nonrecourse liabilities and by his share of our expenditures that are not deductible in computing taxable income and are not required to be capitalized. A unitholder will generally have a share of our nonrecourse liabilities based on his share of our profits. Please read “— Disposition of Common Units — Recognition of Gain or Loss.”
Limitations on Deductibility of Losses. The deduction by a unitholder of his share of our losses will be limited to the tax basis in his units and, in the case of an individual unitholder, estate, trust, or corporate unitholder (if more than 50% of the value of the corporate unitholder’s stock is owned directly or indirectly by or for five or fewer individuals or some tax-exempt organizations) to the amount for which the unitholder is considered to be “at risk” with respect to our activities, if that is less than his tax basis. A common unitholder subject to these limitations must recapture losses deducted in previous years to the extent that distributions cause his at-risk amount to be less than zero at the end of any taxable year. Losses disallowed to a unitholder or recaptured as a result of these limitations will carry forward and will be allowable as a deduction to the extent that his at-risk amount is subsequently increased, provided such losses do not exceed such common unitholder’s tax basis in his common units. Upon the taxable disposition of a unit, any gain recognized by a unitholder can be offset by losses that were previously suspended by the at-risk limitation but may not be offset by losses suspended by the basis limitation. Any loss previously suspended by the at-risk limitation in excess of that gain would no longer be utilizable.
In general, a unitholder will be at risk to the extent of the tax basis of his units, excluding any portion of that basis attributable to his share of our nonrecourse liabilities, reduced by (i) any portion of that basis representing amounts otherwise protected against loss because of a guarantee, stop loss agreement or other similar arrangement and (ii) any amount of money he borrows to acquire or hold his units, if the lender of those borrowed funds owns an interest in us, is related to the unitholder or can look only to the units for repayment. A unitholder’s at-risk amount will increase or decrease as the tax basis of the unitholder’s units increases or decreases, other than tax basis increases or decreases attributable to increases or decreases in his share of our nonrecourse liabilities.
In addition to the basis and at-risk limitations on the deductibility of losses, the passive loss limitations generally provide that individuals, estates, trusts and some closely-held corporations and personal service corporations can deduct losses from passive activities, which are generally trade or business activities in which the taxpayer does not materially participate, only to the extent of the taxpayer’s income from those passive activities. The passive loss limitations are applied separately with respect to each publicly traded partnership. Consequently, any passive losses we generate will only be available to offset our passive income generated in the future and will not be available to offset income from other passive activities or investments, including our investments or a unitholder’s investments in other publicly traded partnerships, or the unitholder’s salary or active business income. Passive losses that are not deductible because they exceed a unitholder’s share of income we generate may be deducted in full when he disposes of his entire investment in us in a fully taxable transaction with an unrelated party. The passive loss limitations are applied after other applicable limitations on deductions, including the at-risk rules and the basis limitation.
A unitholder’s share of our net income may be offset by any of our suspended passive losses, but it may not be offset by any other current or carryover losses from other passive activities, including those attributable to other publicly traded partnerships.
Limitations on Interest Deductions. The deductibility of a non-corporate taxpayer’s “investment interest expense” is generally limited to the amount of that taxpayer’s “net investment income.” Investment interest expense includes:
(a) | interest on indebtedness properly allocable to property held for investment; |
(b) | our interest expense attributed to portfolio income; and |
(c) | the portion of interest expense incurred to purchase or carry an interest in a passive activity to the extent attributable to portfolio income. |
36
Table of Contents
The computation of a unitholder’s investment interest expense will take into account interest on any margin account borrowing or other loan incurred to purchase or carry a unit. Net investment income includes gross income from property held for investment and amounts treated as portfolio income under the passive loss rules, less deductible expenses, other than interest, directly connected with the production of investment income, but generally does not include gains attributable to the disposition of property held for investment or (if applicable) qualified dividend income. The IRS has indicated that the net passive income earned by a publicly traded partnership will be treated as investment income to its unitholders. In addition, the unitholder’s share of our portfolio income will be treated as investment income.
Entity-Level Collections. If we are required or elect under applicable law to pay any federal, state, local or foreign income tax on behalf of any unitholder or any former unitholder, we are authorized to pay those taxes from our funds. That payment, if made, will be treated as a distribution of cash to the unitholder on whose behalf the payment was made. If the payment is made on behalf of a person whose identity cannot be determined, we are authorized to treat the payment as a distribution to all current unitholders. We are authorized to amend our partnership agreement in the manner necessary to maintain uniformity of intrinsic tax characteristics of units and to adjust later distributions, so that after giving effect to these distributions, the priority and characterization of distributions otherwise applicable under our partnership agreement is maintained as nearly as is practicable. Payments by us as described above could give rise to an overpayment of tax on behalf of an individual unitholder in which event the unitholder would be required to file a claim in order to obtain a credit or refund.
Allocation of Income, Gain, Loss and Deduction. In general, our items of income, gain, loss and deduction will be allocated among the unitholders in accordance with their percentage interests in us. Although we do not expect that our operations will result in the creation of negative accounts, if negative capital accounts nevertheless result, items of our income and gain will be allocated in an amount and manner sufficient to eliminate the negative balance as quickly as possible.
Specified items of our income, gain, loss and deduction will be allocated to account for any difference between the tax basis and fair market value of any property contributed to us at the time of such contribution referred to in this discussion as the “Contributed Property.” The effect of these allocations, referred to as Section 704(c) Allocations, to a unitholder purchasing common units from us in an offering will be essentially the same as if the tax bases of our assets were equal to their fair market values at the time of the offering. In the event we issue additional common units or engage in certain other transactions in the future, “reverse Section 704(c) Allocations,” similar to the Section 704(c) Allocations described above, will be made to all of our unitholders immediately prior to such issuance or other transactions to account for the difference between the “book” basis for purposes of maintaining capital accounts and the fair market value of all property held by us at the time of such issuance or future transaction. In addition, items of recapture income will be allocated to the extent possible to the unitholder who was allocated the deduction giving rise to the treatment of that gain as recapture income in order to minimize the recognition of ordinary income by some unitholders.
An allocation of items of our income, gain, loss or deduction, other than an allocation required by the Internal Revenue Code to eliminate the difference between a partner’s “book” capital account, credited with the fair market value of Contributed Property, and “tax” capital account, credited with the tax basis of Contributed Property, referred to in this discussion as the “Book-Tax Disparity,” will generally be given effect for federal income tax purposes in determining a partner’s share of an item of income, gain, loss or deduction only if the allocation has “substantial economic effect.” In any other case, a partner’s share of an item will be determined on the basis of his interest in us, which will be determined by taking into account all the facts and circumstances, including:
(a) | his relative contributions to us; |
(b) | the interests of all the partners in profits and losses; |
(c) | the interest of all the partners in cash flow; and |
(d) | the rights of all the partners to distributions of capital upon liquidation. |
Latham & Watkins LLP is of the opinion that, with the exception of the issues described in “— Section 754 Election” and “— Disposition of Common Units — Allocations Between Transferors and Transferees,” allocations under our partnership agreement will be given effect for federal income tax purposes in determining a partner’s share of an item of income, gain, loss or deduction.
37
Table of Contents
Treatment of Short Sales. A unitholder whose units are loaned to a “short seller” to cover a short sale of units may be considered as having disposed of those units. If so, he would no longer be treated for tax purposes as a partner with respect to those units during the period of the loan and may recognize gain or loss from the disposition.
As a result, during this period:
(a) | any of our income, gain, loss or deduction with respect to those units would not be reportable by the unitholder; |
(b) | any cash distributions received by the unitholder as to those units would be fully taxable; and |
(c) | while not entirely free from doubt, all of these distributions would appear to be ordinary income. |
Because there is no direct or indirect controlling authority on the issue relating to partnership interests, Latham & Watkins LLP has not rendered an opinion regarding the tax treatment of a unitholder whose common units are loaned to a short seller to cover a short sale of common units; therefore, unitholders desiring to assure their status as partners and avoid the risk of gain recognition from a loan to a short seller are urged to consult a tax advisor to discuss whether it is advisable to modify any applicable brokerage account agreements to prohibit their brokers from borrowing and loaning their units. The IRS has previously announced that it is studying issues relating to the tax treatment of short sales of partnership interests. Please also read “— Disposition of Common Units — Recognition of Gain or Loss.”
Alternative Minimum Tax. Each unitholder will be required to take into account his distributive share of any items of our income, gain, loss or deduction for purposes of the alternative minimum tax. The current minimum tax rate for noncorporate taxpayers is 26% on the first $179,500 of alternative minimum taxable income in excess of the exemption amount and 28% on any additional alternative minimum taxable income. Prospective unitholders are urged to consult with their tax advisors as to the impact of an investment in units on their liability for the alternative minimum tax.
Tax Rates. Under current law, the highest marginal U.S. federal income tax rate applicable to ordinary income of individuals is 39.6% and the highest marginal U.S. federal income tax rate applicable to long-term capital gains (generally, capital gains on certain assets held for more than twelve months) of individuals is 20%. However, these rates are subject to change by new legislation at any time.
A 3.8% Medicare tax applies to certain net investment income earned by individuals, estates and trusts for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2012. For these purposes, net investment income generally includes a unitholder’s allocable share of our income and gain realized by a unitholder from a sale of units. In the case of an individual, the tax will be imposed on the lesser of (i) the unitholder’s net investment income or (ii) the amount by which the unitholder’s modified adjusted gross income exceeds $250,000 (if the unitholder is married and filing jointly or a surviving spouse), $125,000 (if the unitholder is married and filing separately) or $200,000 (in any other case). In the case of an estate or trust, the tax will be imposed on the lesser of (i) undistributed net investment income, or (ii) the excess adjusted gross income over the dollar amount at which the highest income tax bracket applicable to an estate or trust begins.
Section 754 Election. We have made the election permitted by Section 754 of the Internal Revenue Code. That election is irrevocable without the consent of the IRS unless there is a constructive termination of the partnership. Please read “— Disposition of Common Units — Constructive Termination.” The election will generally permit us to adjust a common unit purchaser’s tax basis in our assets (“inside basis”) under Section 743(b) of the Internal Revenue Code to reflect his purchase price. This election does not apply with respect to a person who purchases common units directly from us. The Section 743(b) adjustment belongs to the purchaser and not to other unitholders. For purposes of this discussion, the inside basis in our assets with respect to a unitholder will be considered to have two components: (i) his share of our tax basis in our assets (“common basis”) and (ii) his Section 743(b) adjustment to that basis.
38
Table of Contents
We have adopted the remedial allocation method as to all our properties. Where the remedial allocation method is adopted, the Treasury Regulations under Section 743 of the Internal Revenue Code require a portion of the Section 743(b) adjustment that is attributable to recovery property that is subject to depreciation under Section 168 of the Internal Revenue Code and whose book basis is in excess of its tax basis to be depreciated over the remaining cost recovery period for the property’s unamortized Book-Tax Disparity. Under Treasury Regulation Section 1.167(c)-1(a)(6), a Section 743(b) adjustment attributable to property subject to depreciation under Section 167 of the Internal Revenue Code, rather than cost recovery deductions under Section 168, is generally required to be depreciated using either the straight-line method or the 150% declining balance method. Under our partnership agreement, our general partner is authorized to take a position to preserve the uniformity of units even if that position is not consistent with these and any other Treasury Regulations. Please read “— Disposition of Common Units — Uniformity of Units.”
We intend to depreciate the portion of a Section 743(b) adjustment attributable to unrealized appreciation in the value of Contributed Property, to the extent of any unamortized Book-Tax Disparity, using a rate of depreciation or amortization derived from the depreciation or amortization method and useful life applied to the property’s unamortized Book-Tax Disparity, or treat that portion as non-amortizable to the extent attributable to property which is not amortizable. This method is consistent with the methods employed by other publicly traded partnerships but is arguably inconsistent with Treasury Regulation Section 1.167(c)-1(a)(6), which is not expected to directly apply to a material portion of our assets. To the extent this Section 743(b) adjustment is attributable to appreciation in value in excess of the unamortized Book-Tax Disparity, we will apply the rules described in the Treasury Regulations and legislative history. If we determine that this position cannot reasonably be taken, we may take a depreciation or amortization position under which all purchasers acquiring units in the same month would receive depreciation or amortization, whether attributable to common basis or a Section 743(b) adjustment, based upon the same applicable rate as if they had purchased a direct interest in our assets. This kind of aggregate approach may result in lower annual depreciation or amortization deductions than would otherwise be allowable to some unitholders. Please read “— Disposition of Common Units — Uniformity of Units.” A unitholder’s tax basis for his common units is reduced by his share of our deductions (whether or not such deductions were claimed on an individual’s income tax return) so that any position we take that understates deductions will overstate the common unitholder’s basis in his common units, which may cause the unitholder to understate gain or overstate loss on any sale of such units. Please read “— Disposition of Common Units — Recognition of Gain or Loss.” Latham & Watkins LLP is unable to opine as to whether our method for taking into account Section 743 adjustments is sustainable for property subject to depreciation under Section 167 of the Internal Revenue Code or if we use an aggregate approach as described above, as there is no direct or indirect controlling authority addressing the validity of these positions. Moreover, the IRS may challenge our position with respect to depreciating or amortizing the Section 743(b) adjustment we take to preserve the uniformity of the units. If such a challenge were sustained, the gain from the sale of units might be increased without the benefit of additional deductions.
A Section 754 election is advantageous if the transferee’s tax basis in his units is higher than the units’ share of the aggregate tax basis of our assets immediately prior to the transfer. In that case, as a result of the election, the transferee would have, among other items, a greater amount of depreciation deductions and less gain or more loss on a sale of our assets. Conversely, a Section 754 election is disadvantageous if the transferee’s tax basis in his units is lower than those units’ share of the aggregate tax basis of our assets immediately prior to the transfer. Thus, the fair market value of the units may be affected either favorably or unfavorably by the election. A basis adjustment is required regardless of whether a Section 754 election is made in the case of a transfer of an interest in us if we have a substantial built-in loss immediately after the transfer, or if we distribute property and have a substantial basis reduction. Generally, a built-in loss or a basis reduction is substantial if it exceeds $250,000.
The calculations involved in the Section 754 election are complex and will be made on the basis of assumptions as to the value of our assets and other matters. For example, the allocation of the Section 743(b) adjustment among our assets must be made in accordance with the Internal Revenue Code. The IRS could seek to reallocate some or all of any Section 743(b) adjustment allocated by us to our tangible assets to goodwill instead. Goodwill, as an intangible asset, is generally nonamortizable or amortizable over a longer period of time or under a less accelerated method than our tangible assets. We cannot assure you that the determinations we make will not be successfully challenged by the IRS and that the deductions resulting from them will not be reduced or disallowed altogether. Should the IRS require a different basis adjustment to be made, and should, in our opinion, the expense of compliance exceed the benefit of the election, we may seek permission from the IRS to revoke our Section 754 election. If permission is granted, a subsequent purchaser of units may be allocated more income than he would have been allocated had the election not been revoked.
39
Table of Contents
Tax Treatment of Operations
Accounting Method and Taxable Year. We use the year ending December 31 as our taxable year and the accrual method of accounting for federal income tax purposes. Each unitholder will be required to include in income his share of our income, gain, loss and deduction for our taxable year ending within or with his taxable year. In addition, a unitholder who has a taxable year ending on a date other than December 31 and who disposes of all of his units following the close of our taxable year but before the close of his taxable year must include his share of our income, gain, loss and deduction in income for his taxable year, with the result that he will be required to include in income for his taxable year his share of more than twelve months of our income, gain, loss and deduction. Please read “— Disposition of Common Units — Allocations Between Transferors and Transferees.”
Deduction for U.S. Production Activities.Subject to the limitations on the deductibility of losses discussed above and the limitation discussed below, a unitholder will be entitled to a deduction, herein referred to as the Section 199 deduction, equal to nine percent of his qualified production activities income, but not to exceed 50% of the Form W-2 wages actually or deemed paid by him during the taxable year and allocable to domestic production gross receipts.
Qualified production activities income is generally equal to gross receipts from domestic production activities reduced by cost of goods sold allocable to those receipts, other expenses directly associated with those receipts, and a share of other deductions, expenses and losses that are not directly allocable to those receipts or another class of income. The products produced must be manufactured, produced, grown or extracted in whole or in significant part by the taxpayer in the United States.
For a partnership, the Section 199 deduction is determined at the partner level. To determine his Section 199 deduction, a unitholder will aggregate his share of the qualified production activities income allocated to him by us with his qualified production activities income from other sources. A unitholder must take into account his distributive share of the expenses allocated to him from our qualified production activities regardless of whether we otherwise have taxable income. However, our expenses that otherwise would be taken into account for purposes of computing the Section 199 deduction are taken into account only if and to the extent that a unitholder’s share of losses and deductions from all of our activities is not disallowed by the tax basis rules, the at risk rules, or the passive activity loss rules. Please read “— Tax Consequences of Common Unit Ownership — Limitations on Deductibility of Losses.”
The amount of a unitholder’s Section 199 deduction for each year is limited to 50% of the IRS Form W-2 wages actually or deemed paid by such unitholder during the calendar year that are deducted in arriving at qualified production activities income. Unitholders are treated as having been allocated IRS Form W-2 wages from us equal to such unitholder’s allocable share of our wages that are deducted in arriving at qualified production activities income for that taxable year.
This discussion of the Section 199 deduction does not purport to be a complete analysis of the complex legislation and Treasury authority relating to the calculation of domestic production gross receipts, qualified production activities income, or IRS Form W-2 wages, or how such items are allocated by us to unitholders. Further, because the Section 199 deduction is required to be computed separately by each unitholder, no assurance can be given, and Latham & Watkins LLP is unable to express any opinion, as to the availability or extent of the Section 199 deduction to our unitholders. Each prospective unitholder is encouraged to consult his tax advisor to determine whether the Section 199 deduction would be available to him. It is not anticipated that we or our subsidiaries will pay material wages that will be allocated to our unitholders, and thus a unitholder’s ability to claim the Section 199 deduction may be limited.
Initial Tax Basis, Depreciation and Amortization. The tax basis of our assets will be used for purposes of computing depreciation and cost recovery deductions and, ultimately, gain or loss on the disposition of these assets. The federal income tax burden associated with the difference between the fair market value of our assets and their
40
Table of Contents
tax basis immediately prior to an offering will be borne by our unitholders holding interests in us prior to any such offering. Please read “— Tax Consequences of Unit Ownership — Allocation of Income, Gain, Loss and Deduction.”
To the extent allowable, we may elect to use the depreciation and cost recovery methods, including bonus depreciation to the extent available, that will result in the largest deductions being taken in the early years after assets subject to these allowances are placed in service. Please read “— Disposition of Common Units — Uniformity of Units.” Property we subsequently acquire or construct may be depreciated using accelerated methods permitted by the Internal Revenue Code.
If we dispose of depreciable property by sale, foreclosure or otherwise, all or a portion of any gain, determined by reference to the amount of depreciation previously deducted and the nature of the property, may be subject to the recapture rules and taxed as ordinary income rather than capital gain. Similarly, a unitholder who has taken cost recovery or depreciation deductions with respect to property we own will likely be required to recapture some or all of those deductions as ordinary income upon a sale of his interest in us. Please read “— Tax Consequences of Unit Ownership — Allocation of Income, Gain, Loss and Deduction” and “— Disposition of Common Units — Recognition of Gain or Loss.”
The costs we incur in selling our units (called “syndication expenses”) must be capitalized and cannot be deducted currently, ratably or upon our termination. There are uncertainties regarding the classification of costs as organization expenses, which may be amortized by us, and as syndication expenses, which may not be amortized by us. The underwriting discounts and commissions we incur will be treated as syndication expenses.
Valuation and Tax Basis of Our Properties. The federal income tax consequences of the ownership and disposition of units will depend in part on our estimates of the relative fair market values, and the initial tax bases, of our assets. Although we may from time to time consult with professional appraisers regarding valuation matters, we will make many of the relative fair market value estimates ourselves. These estimates and determinations of basis are subject to challenge and will not be binding on the IRS or the courts. If the estimates of fair market value or basis are later found to be incorrect, the character and amount of items of income, gain, loss or deductions previously reported by unitholders might change, and unitholders might be required to adjust their tax liability for prior years and incur interest and penalties with respect to those adjustments.
Disposition of Common Units
Recognition of Gain or Loss. Gain or loss will be recognized on a sale of units equal to the difference between the amount realized and the unitholder’s tax basis for the units sold. A unitholder’s amount realized will be measured by the sum of the cash or the fair market value of other property received by him plus his share of our nonrecourse liabilities. Because the amount realized includes a unitholder’s share of our nonrecourse liabilities, the gain recognized on the sale of units could result in a tax liability in excess of any cash received from the sale.
Prior distributions from us that in the aggregate were in excess of cumulative net taxable income for a common unit and, therefore, decreased a unitholder’s tax basis in that common unit will, in effect, become taxable income if the common unit is sold at a price greater than the unitholder’s tax basis in that common unit, even if the price received is less than his original cost.
Except as noted below, gain or loss recognized by a unitholder, other than a “dealer” in units, on the sale or exchange of a unit will generally be taxable as capital gain or loss. Capital gain recognized by an individual on the sale of units held for more than twelve months will generally be taxed at the U.S. federal income tax rate applicable to long-term capital gains. However, a portion of this gain or loss will be separately computed and taxed as ordinary income or loss under Section 751 of the Internal Revenue Code to the extent attributable to assets giving rise to “unrealized receivables” or to “inventory items” we own. The term “unrealized receivables” includes potential recapture items, including depreciation recapture. Ordinary income attributable to unrealized receivables, inventory items and depreciation recapture may exceed net taxable gain realized upon the sale of a unit and may be recognized even if there is a net taxable loss realized on the sale of a unit. Thus, a unitholder may recognize both ordinary income and a capital loss upon a sale of units. Capital losses may offset capital gains and no more than $3,000 of ordinary income, in the case of individuals, and may only be used to offset capital gains in the case of corporations.
41
Table of Contents
The IRS has ruled that a partner who acquires interests in a partnership in separate transactions must combine those interests and maintain a single adjusted tax basis for all those interests. Upon a sale or other disposition of less than all of those interests, a portion of that tax basis must be allocated to the interests sold using an “equitable apportionment” method, which generally means that the tax basis allocated to the interest sold equals an amount that bears the same relation to the partner’s tax basis in his entire interest in the partnership as the value of the interest sold bears to the value of the partner’s entire interest in the partnership. Treasury Regulations under Section 1223 of the Internal Revenue Code allow a selling unitholder who can identify common units transferred with an ascertainable holding period to elect to use the actual holding period of the common units transferred. Thus, according to the ruling discussed above, a common unitholder will be unable to select high or low basis common units to sell as would be the case with corporate stock, but, according to the Treasury Regulations, he may designate specific common units sold for purposes of determining the holding period of units transferred. A unitholder electing to use the actual holding period of common units transferred must consistently use that identification method for all subsequent sales or exchanges of common units. A unitholder considering the purchase of additional units or a sale of common units purchased in separate transactions is urged to consult his tax advisor as to the possible consequences of this ruling and application of the Treasury Regulations.
Specific provisions of the Internal Revenue Code affect the taxation of some financial products and securities, including partnership interests, by treating a taxpayer as having sold an “appreciated” partnership interest, one in which gain would be recognized if it were sold, assigned or terminated at its fair market value, if the taxpayer or related persons enter(s) into:
(a) | a short sale; |
(b) | an offsetting notional principal contract; or |
(c) | a futures or forward contract; |
in each case, with respect to the partnership interest or substantially identical property.
Moreover, if a taxpayer has previously entered into a short sale, an offsetting notional principal contract or a futures or forward contract with respect to the partnership interest, the taxpayer will be treated as having sold that position if the taxpayer or a related person then acquires the partnership interest or substantially identical property. The Secretary of the Treasury is also authorized to issue regulations that treat a taxpayer that enters into transactions or positions that have substantially the same effect as the preceding transactions as having constructively sold the financial position.
Allocations Between Transferors and Transferees. In general, our taxable income and losses will be determined annually, will be prorated on a monthly basis and will be subsequently apportioned among the unitholders in proportion to the number of units owned by each of them as of the opening of the applicable exchange on the first business day of the month, which we refer to in this prospectus as the “Allocation Date.” However, gain or loss realized on a sale or other disposition of our assets other than in the ordinary course of business will be allocated among the unitholders on the Allocation Date in the month in which that gain or loss is recognized. As a result, a unitholder transferring units may be allocated income, gain, loss and deduction realized after the date of transfer.
Although simplifying conventions are contemplated by the Internal Revenue Code and most publicly traded partnerships use similar simplifying conventions, the use of this method may not be permitted under existing Treasury Regulations as there is no direct or indirect controlling authority on this issue. Recently, the Department of the Treasury and the IRS issued proposed Treasury Regulations that provide a safe harbor pursuant to which a publicly traded partnership may use a similar monthly simplifying convention to allocate tax items among transferor and transferee unitholders, although such tax items must be prorated on a daily basis. Existing publicly traded partnerships are entitled to rely on these proposed Treasury Regulations; however, they are not binding on the IRS and are subject to change until final Treasury Regulations are issued. Accordingly, Latham & Watkins LLP is unable to opine on the validity of this method of allocating income and deductions between transferor and transferee unitholders because the issue has not been finally resolved by the IRS or the courts. If this method is not allowed under the Treasury Regulations, or only applies to transfers of less than all of the unitholder’s interest, our taxable income or losses might be reallocated among the unitholders. We are authorized to revise our method of allocation between transferor and transferee unitholders, as well as unitholders whose interests vary during a taxable year, to
42
Table of Contents
conform to a method permitted under future Treasury Regulations. A unitholder who owns units at any time during a quarter and who disposes of them prior to the record date set for a cash distribution for that quarter will be allocated items of our income, gain, loss and deductions attributable to that quarter but will not be entitled to receive that cash distribution.
Notification Requirements. A unitholder who sells any of his units is generally required to notify us in writing of that sale within 30 days after the sale (or, if earlier, January 15 of the year following the sale). A purchaser of units who purchases units from another unitholder is also generally required to notify us in writing of that purchase within 30 days after the purchase. Upon receiving such notifications, we are required to notify the IRS of that transaction and to furnish specified information to the transferor and transferee. Failure to notify us of a purchase may, in some cases, lead to the imposition of penalties. However, these reporting requirements do not apply to a sale by an individual who is a citizen of the United States and who effects the sale or exchange through a broker who will satisfy such requirements.
Constructive Termination. We will be considered to have been terminated for tax purposes if there are sales or exchanges which, in the aggregate, constitute 50% or more of the total interests in our capital and profits within a twelve-month period. For purposes of measuring whether the 50% threshold is reached, multiple sales of the same interest are counted only once. A constructive termination results in the closing of our taxable year for all unitholders. In the case of a unitholder reporting on a taxable year other than a fiscal year ending December 31, the closing of our taxable year may result in more than twelve months of our taxable income or loss being includable in his taxable income for the year of termination. A constructive termination occurring on a date other than December 31 will result in us filing two tax returns (and unitholders could receive two Schedules K-1 if the relief discussed below is not available) for one fiscal year and the cost of the preparation of these returns will be borne by all common unitholders. We would be required to make new tax elections after a termination, including a new election under Section 754 of the Internal Revenue Code, and a termination would result in a deferral of our deductions for depreciation. A termination could also result in penalties if we were unable to determine that the termination had occurred. Moreover, a termination might either accelerate the application of, or subject us to, any tax legislation enacted before the termination. The IRS has announced a publicly traded partnership technical termination relief procedure whereby if a publicly traded partnership that has technically terminated requests publicly traded partnership technical termination relief and the IRS grants such relief, among other things, the partnership will only have to provide one Schedule K-1 to unitholders for the year notwithstanding two partnership tax years.
Uniformity of Units. Because we cannot match transferors and transferees of units, we must maintain uniformity of the economic and tax characteristics of the units to a purchaser of these units. In the absence of uniformity, we may be unable to completely comply with a number of federal income tax requirements, both statutory and regulatory. A lack of uniformity can result from a literal application of Treasury Regulation Section 1.167(c)-1(a)(6). Any non-uniformity could have a negative impact on the value of the units. Please read “— Tax Consequences of Unit Ownership — Section 754 Election” above. We intend to depreciate the portion of a Section 743(b) adjustment attributable to unrealized appreciation in the value of Contributed Property, to the extent of any unamortized Book-Tax Disparity, using a rate of depreciation or amortization derived from the depreciation or amortization method and useful life applied to the property’s unamortized Book-Tax Disparity, or treat that portion as nonamortizable, to the extent attributable to property the common basis of which is not amortizable, consistent with the regulations under Section 743 of the Internal Revenue Code, even though that position may be inconsistent with Treasury Regulation Section 1.167(c)-1(a)(6), which is not expected to directly apply to a material portion of our assets. Please read “— Tax Consequences of Unit Ownership — Section 754 Election” above. To the extent that the Section 743(b) adjustment is attributable to appreciation in value in excess of the unamortized Book-Tax Disparity, we will apply the rules described in the Treasury Regulations and legislative history. If we determine that this position cannot reasonably be taken, we may adopt a depreciation and amortization position under which all purchasers acquiring units in the same month would receive depreciation and amortization deductions, whether attributable to common basis or a Section 743(b) adjustment, based upon the same applicable rate as if they had purchased a direct interest in our assets. If this position is adopted, it may result in lower annual depreciation and amortization deductions than would otherwise be allowable to some unitholders and risk the loss of depreciation and amortization deductions not taken in the year that these deductions are otherwise allowable. This position will not be adopted if we determine that the loss of depreciation and amortization deductions will have a material adverse effect on the unitholders. If we choose not to utilize this aggregate method, we may use any other reasonable depreciation and amortization method to preserve the uniformity of the intrinsic tax characteristics of any
43
Table of Contents
units that would not have a material adverse effect on the unitholders. In either case, and as stated above under “— Tax Consequences of Unit Ownership — Section 754 Election,” Latham & Watkins LLP has not rendered an opinion with respect to these methods. Moreover, the IRS may challenge any method of depreciating the Section 743(b) adjustment described in this paragraph. If this challenge were sustained, the uniformity of units might be affected, and the gain from the sale of units might be increased without the benefit of additional deductions. Please read “— Recognition of Gain or Loss” above.
Tax-Exempt Organizations and Other Investors
Ownership of units by employee benefit plans, other tax-exempt organizations, non-resident aliens, foreign corporations and other foreign persons raises issues unique to those investors and, as described below to a limited extent, may have substantially adverse tax consequences to them. If you are a tax-exempt entity or a non-U.S. person, you should consult your tax advisor before investing in our common units. Employee benefit plans and most other organizations exempt from federal income tax, including individual retirement accounts and other retirement plans, are subject to federal income tax on unrelated business taxable income. Virtually all of our income allocated to a unitholder that is a tax-exempt organization will be unrelated business taxable income and will be taxable to it.
Non-resident aliens and foreign corporations, trusts or estates that own units will be considered to be engaged in business in the United States because of the ownership of units. As a consequence, they will be required to file federal tax returns to report their share of our income, gain, loss or deduction and pay federal income tax at regular rates on their share of our net income or gain. Moreover, under rules applicable to publicly traded partnerships, distributions to foreign unitholders will be subject to withholding at the highest applicable effective tax rate. Each foreign unitholder must obtain a taxpayer identification number from the IRS and submit that number to our transfer agent on a Form W-8BEN or applicable substitute form in order to obtain credit for these withholding taxes. A change in applicable law may require us to change these procedures.
In addition, because a foreign corporation that owns units will be treated as engaged in a U.S. trade or business, that corporation may be subject to the U.S. branch profits tax at a rate of 30%, in addition to regular federal income tax, on its share of our earnings and profits, as adjusted for changes in the foreign corporation’s “U.S. net equity,” that is effectively connected with the conduct of a U.S. trade or business. That tax may be reduced or eliminated by an income tax treaty between the United States and the country in which the foreign corporate unitholder is a “qualified resident.” In addition, this type of unitholder is subject to special information reporting requirements under Section 6038C of the Internal Revenue Code.
A foreign unitholder who sells or otherwise disposes of a common unit will be subject to U.S. federal income tax on gain realized from the sale or disposition of that unit to the extent the gain is effectively connected with a U.S. trade or business of the foreign unitholder. Under a ruling published by the IRS, interpreting the scope of “effectively connected income,” a foreign unitholder would be considered to be engaged in a trade or business in the United States by virtue of the U.S. activities of the partnership, and part or all of that unitholder’s gain would be effectively connected with that unitholder’s indirect U.S. trade or business. Moreover, under the Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act, a foreign common unitholder generally will be subject to U.S. federal income tax upon the sale or disposition of a common unit if (i) he owned (directly or constructively applying certain attribution rules) more than 5% of our common units at any time during the five-year period ending on the date of such disposition and (ii) 50% or more of the fair market value of all of our assets consisted of U.S. real property interests at any time during the shorter of the period during which such unitholder held the common units or the five-year period ending on the date of disposition. Currently, more than 50% of our assets consist of U.S. real property interests and we do not expect that to change in the foreseeable future. Therefore, foreign unitholders may be subject to federal income tax on gain from the sale or disposition of their units.
Recent changes in law may affect certain foreign unitholders. Please read “— Administrative Matters — Additional Withholding Requirements.”
Administrative Matters
Information Returns and Audit Procedures. We intend to furnish to each unitholder, within 90 days after the close of each calendar year, specific tax information, including a Schedule K-1, which describes his share of our income, gain, loss and deduction for our preceding taxable year. In preparing this information, which will not be
44
Table of Contents
reviewed by counsel, we will take various accounting and reporting positions, some of which have been mentioned earlier, to determine each unitholder’s share of income, gain, loss and deduction. We cannot assure you that those positions will yield a result that conforms to the requirements of the Internal Revenue Code, Treasury Regulations or administrative interpretations of the IRS. Neither we nor Latham & Watkins LLP can assure prospective unitholders that the IRS will not successfully contend in court that those positions are impermissible. Any challenge by the IRS could negatively affect the value of the units.
The IRS may audit our federal income tax information returns. Adjustments resulting from an IRS audit may require each unitholder to adjust a prior year’s tax liability, and possibly may result in an audit of his return. Any audit of a unitholder’s return could result in adjustments not related to our returns as well as those related to our returns.
Partnerships generally are treated as separate entities for purposes of federal tax audits, judicial review of administrative adjustments by the IRS and tax settlement proceedings. The tax treatment of partnership items of income, gain, loss and deduction are determined in a partnership proceeding rather than in separate proceedings with the partners. The Internal Revenue Code requires that one partner be designated as the “Tax Matters Partner” for these purposes. Our partnership agreement names Rentech Nitrogen Holdings, Inc. as our Tax Matters Partner.
The Tax Matters Partner has made and will make some elections on our behalf and on behalf of unitholders. In addition, the Tax Matters Partner can extend the statute of limitations for assessment of tax deficiencies against unitholders for items in our returns. The Tax Matters Partner may bind a unitholder with less than a 1% profits interest in us to a settlement with the IRS unless that unitholder elects, by filing a statement with the IRS, not to give that authority to the Tax Matters Partner. The Tax Matters Partner may seek judicial review, by which all the unitholders are bound, of a final partnership administrative adjustment and, if the Tax Matters Partner fails to seek judicial review, judicial review may be sought by any unitholder having at least a 1% interest in profits or by any group of unitholders having in the aggregate at least a 5% interest in profits. However, only one action for judicial review will go forward, and each unitholder with an interest in the outcome may participate. The Tax Matters Partner may select the forum for judicial review, and if the Tax Matters Partner selects the Court of Federal Claims or a District Court, rather than the Tax Court, unitholders may be required to pay any deficiency asserted by the IRS before judicial review is available.
A unitholder must file a statement with the IRS identifying the treatment of any item on his federal income tax return that is not consistent with the treatment of the item on our return. Intentional or negligent disregard of this consistency requirement may subject a unitholder to substantial penalties.
Additional Withholding Requirements. Withholding taxes may apply to certain types of payments made to “foreign financial institutions” (as specially defined in the Internal Revenue Code) and certain other non-U.S. entities. Specifically, a 30% withholding tax may be imposed on interest, dividends and other fixed or determinable annual or periodical gains, profits and income from sources within the United States (“FDAP Income”), or gross proceeds from the sale or other disposition of any property of a type which can produce interest or dividends from sources within the United States (“Gross Proceeds”) paid to a foreign financial institution or to a “non-financial foreign entity” (as specially defined in the Internal Revenue Code), unless (i) the foreign financial institution undertakes certain diligence and reporting, (ii) the non-financial foreign entity either certifies it does not have any substantial U.S. owners or furnishes identifying information regarding each substantial U.S. owner or (iii) the foreign financial institution or non-financial foreign entity otherwise qualifies for an exemption from these rules. If the payee is a foreign financial institution and is subject to the diligence and reporting requirements in clause (i) above, it must enter into an agreement with the U.S. Treasury requiring, among other things, that it undertake to identify accounts held by certain U.S. persons or U.S.-owned foreign entities, annually report certain information about such accounts, and withhold 30% on payments to noncompliant foreign financial institutions and certain other account holders.
These rules generally will apply to payments of FDAP Income made on or after January 1, 2014 and to payments of relevant Gross Proceeds made on or after January 1, 2017. Thus, to the extent we have FDAP Income or Gross Proceeds after these dates that are not treated as effectively connected with a U.S. trade or business (please read “—Tax-Exempt Organizations and Other Investors”), unitholders who are foreign financial institutions or certain other non-U.S. entities may be subject to withholding on distributions they receive from us, or their distributive share of our income, pursuant to the rules described above.
Prospective investors should consult their own tax advisors regarding the potential application of these withholding provisions to their investment in our common units.
45
Table of Contents
Nominee Reporting. Persons who hold an interest in us as a nominee for another person are required to furnish to us:
(a) | the name, address and taxpayer identification number of the beneficial owner and the nominee; |
(b) | whether the beneficial owner is: |
1. | a person that is not a United States person; |
2. | a foreign government, an international organization or any wholly owned agency or instrumentality of either of the foregoing; or |
3. | a tax-exempt entity; |
(c) | the amount and description of units held, acquired or transferred for the beneficial owner; and |
(d) | specific information including the dates of acquisitions and transfers, means of acquisitions and transfers, and acquisition cost for purchases, as well as the amount of net proceeds from dispositions. |
Brokers and financial institutions are required to furnish additional information, including whether they are U.S. persons and specific information on units they acquire, hold or transfer for their own account. A penalty of $100 per failure, up to a maximum of $1,500,000 per calendar year, is imposed by the Internal Revenue Code for failure to report that information to us. The nominee is required to supply the beneficial owner of the units with the information furnished to us.
Accuracy-Related Penalties. An additional tax equal to 20% of the amount of any portion of an underpayment of tax that is attributable to one or more specified causes, including negligence or disregard of rules or regulations, substantial understatements of income tax and substantial valuation misstatements, is imposed by the Internal Revenue Code. No penalty will be imposed, however, for any portion of an underpayment if it is shown that there was a reasonable cause for that portion and that the taxpayer acted in good faith regarding that portion.
For individuals, a substantial understatement of income tax in any taxable year exists if the amount of the understatement exceeds the greater of 10% of the tax required to be shown on the return for the taxable year or $5,000 ($10,000 for most corporations). The amount of any understatement subject to penalty generally is reduced if any portion is attributable to a position adopted on the return:
(a) | for which there is, or was, “substantial authority”; or |
(b) | as to which there is a reasonable basis and the pertinent facts of that position are disclosed on the return. |
If any item of income, gain, loss or deduction included in the distributive shares of unitholders might result in that kind of an “understatement” of income for which no “substantial authority” exists, we must disclose the pertinent facts on our return. In addition, we will make a reasonable effort to furnish sufficient information for unitholders to make adequate disclosure on their returns and to take other actions as may be appropriate to permit unitholders to avoid liability for this penalty. More stringent rules apply to “tax shelters,” which we do not believe includes us, or any of our investments, plans or arrangements.
A substantial valuation misstatement exists if (a) the value of any property, or the adjusted basis of any property, claimed on a tax return is 150% or more of the amount determined to be the correct amount of the valuation or adjusted basis, (b) the price for any property or services (or for the use of property) claimed on any such return with respect to any transaction between persons described in Internal Revenue Code Section 482 is 200% or more (or 50% or less) of the amount determined under Section 482 to be the correct amount of such price, or (c) the net Internal Revenue Code Section 482 transfer price adjustment for the taxable year exceeds the lesser of $5 million or 10% of the taxpayer’s gross receipts. No penalty is imposed unless the portion of the underpayment attributable to a substantial valuation misstatement exceeds $5,000 ($10,000 for most corporations). If the valuation claimed on a return is 200% or more than the correct valuation or certain other thresholds are met, the penalty imposed increases to 40%. We do not anticipate making any valuation misstatements.
46
Table of Contents
In addition, the 20% accuracy-related penalty also applies to any portion of an underpayment of tax that is attributable to transactions lacking economic substance. To the extent that such transactions are not disclosed, the penalty imposed is increased to 40%. Additionally, there is no reasonable cause defense to the imposition of this penalty to such transactions.
Reportable Transactions. If we were to engage in a “reportable transaction,” we (and possibly you and others) would be required to make a detailed disclosure of the transaction to the IRS. A transaction may be a reportable transaction based upon any of several factors, including the fact that it is a type of tax avoidance transaction publicly identified by the IRS as a “listed transaction” or that it produces certain kinds of losses for partnerships, individuals, S corporations, and trusts in excess of $2 million in any single year, or $4 million in any combination of six successive tax years. Our participation in a reportable transaction could increase the likelihood that our federal income tax information return (and possibly your tax return) would be audited by the IRS. Please read “— Information Returns and Audit Procedures” above.
Moreover, if we were to participate in a reportable transaction with a significant purpose to avoid or evade tax, or in any listed transaction, you may be subject to the following additional consequences:
(a) | accuracy-related penalties with a broader scope, significantly narrower exceptions, and potentially greater amounts than described above at “— Accuracy-Related Penalties;” |
(b) | for those persons otherwise entitled to deduct interest on federal tax deficiencies, nondeductibility of interest on any resulting tax liability; and |
(c) | in the case of a listed transaction, an extended statute of limitations. |
We do not expect to engage in any “reportable transactions.”
Recent Legislative Developments
The present federal income tax treatment of publicly traded partnerships, including us, or an investment in our common units may be modified by administrative, legislative or judicial interpretation at any time. For example, members of the U.S. Congress have considered substantive changes to the existing federal income tax laws that affect publicly traded partnerships. Any proposed legislation could potentially affect us and may, if enacted, be applied retroactively. We are unable to predict whether any such changes will ultimately be enacted. Any such changes could negatively impact the value of an investment in our units.
State, Local, Foreign and Other Tax Considerations
In addition to federal income taxes, you likely will be subject to other taxes, such as state, local and foreign income taxes, unincorporated business taxes, and estate, inheritance or intangible taxes that may be imposed by the various jurisdictions in which we do business or own property or in which you are a resident. Although an analysis of those various taxes is not presented here, each prospective unitholder should consider their potential impact on his investment in us. We currently own property or do business in the States of Illinois and Texas. The State of Illinois imposes a personal income tax on individuals and an income tax on corporations and other entities. The State of Texas does not currently impose an income tax on individuals, although it does impose a franchise tax on corporations and other entities. We may also own property or do business in other jurisdictions in the future. Although you may not be required to file a return and pay taxes in some jurisdictions because your income from that jurisdiction falls below the filing and payment requirement, you will be required to file income tax returns and to pay income taxes in many of these jurisdictions in which we do business or own property and may be subject to penalties for failure to comply with those requirements. In some jurisdictions, tax losses may not produce a tax benefit in the year incurred and may not be available to offset income in subsequent taxable years. Some of the jurisdictions may require us, or we may elect, to withhold a percentage of income from amounts to be distributed to a unitholder who is not a resident of the jurisdiction. Withholding, the amount of which may be greater or less than a particular unitholder’s income tax liability to the jurisdiction, generally does not relieve a nonresident unitholder from the obligation to file an income tax return. Amounts withheld will be treated as if distributed to unitholders for purposes of determining the amounts distributed by us. Please read “— Tax Consequences of Unit Ownership — Entity-Level Collections” above. Based on current law and our estimate of our future operations, our general partner anticipates that any amounts required to be withheld will not be material.
47
Table of Contents
It is the responsibility of each unitholder to investigate the legal and tax consequences, under the laws of pertinent states, localities and foreign jurisdictions, of his investment in us. Accordingly, each prospective unitholder is urged to consult his own tax counsel or other advisor with regard to those matters. Further, it is the responsibility of each unitholder to file all state, local and foreign, as well as U.S. federal tax returns, that may be required of him. Latham & Watkins LLP has not rendered an opinion on the state, local or foreign tax consequences of an investment in us.
Tax Consequences of Ownership of Debt Securities
A description of the material federal income tax consequences of the acquisition, ownership and disposition of debt securities will be set forth in the prospectus supplement relating to the offering of debt securities.
48
Table of Contents
INVESTMENT IN THE PARTNERSHIP BY EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLANS
An investment in us by an employee benefit plan is subject to additional considerations because the investments of these plans are subject to the fiduciary responsibility and prohibited transaction provisions of Title I of the ERISA and the restrictions imposed by Section 4975 of the Internal Revenue Code, and may be subject to additional provisions under federal, state, local, non-U.S. or other laws or regulations that are similar to such provisions of the Internal Revenue Code or ERISA. For these purposes, the term “employee benefit plan” includes, but is not limited to, qualified pension, profit-sharing and stock bonus plans, Keogh plans, simplified employee pension plans and tax deferred annuities or individual retirement accounts or annuities, or individual retirement accounts (“IRAs”), established or maintained by an employer or employee organization, and entities whose underlying assets are considered to include “plan assets” of such plans, accounts and arrangements. Among other things, consideration should be given to:
• | whether the investment is prudent under Section 404(a)(1)(B) of ERISA; |
• | whether in making the investment, that plan will satisfy the diversification requirements of Section 404(a)(l)(C) of ERISA; and |
• | whether the investment will result in recognition of unrelated business taxable income by the plan and, if so, the potential after-tax investment return. Please read “Material Income Tax Consequences — Tax-Exempt Organizations and Other Investors” beginning on page 34; and |
• | whether making such an investment will comply with the delegation of control and prohibited transaction provisions of ERISA, the Internal Revenue Code and any other applicable laws or regulations that are similar to such provisions of the Internal Revenue Code or ERISA. |
The person with investment discretion with respect to the assets of an employee benefit plan, often called a fiduciary, should determine whether an investment in us is authorized by the appropriate governing instrument and is a proper investment for the plan.
Section 406 of ERISA and Section 4975 of the Internal Revenue Code prohibit employee benefit plans, and IRAs that are not considered part of an employee benefit plan, from engaging in specified transactions involving “plan assets” with parties whom, with respect to the plan or IRA, are “parties in interest” under ERISA or “disqualified persons” under the Internal Revenue Code, unless an exemption is available. A party in interest or disqualified person who engages in a non-exempt prohibited transaction may be subject to excise taxes and other penalties and liabilities under ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code. In addition, the fiduciary of the ERISA plan that engaged in such a non-exempt prohibited transaction may be subject to penalties and liabilities under ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code.
In addition to considering whether the purchase of common units would constitute a prohibited transaction, a fiduciary should consider whether the plan will, by investing in us, be deemed to own an undivided interest in our assets, with the result that our general partner would become a fiduciary of such plan and our operations would become subject to the regulatory restrictions of ERISA, including its prohibited transaction rules, as well as the prohibited transaction rules of the Internal Revenue Code, ERISA and any other applicable laws or regulations that are similar to the Internal Revenue Code or ERISA.
The Department of Labor regulations provide guidance with respect to whether, in certain circumstances, the assets of an entity in which employee benefit plans acquire equity interests would be deemed “plan assets.” Under these regulations, an entity’s assets would not be considered to be “plan assets” if, among other things:
(a) the equity interests acquired by the employee benefit plan are publicly offered securities — i.e., the equity interests are widely held by 100 or more investors independent of the issuer and each other, are freely transferable and are registered under certain provisions of the federal securities laws;
(b) the entity is an “operating company,”— i.e., it is primarily engaged in the production or sale of a product or service, other than the investment of capital, either directly or through a majority-owned subsidiary or subsidiaries; or
(c) there is no significant investment by benefit plan investors, meaning that less than 25% of the value of each class of its equity interests is held by employee benefit plans of the type described above that are subject to ERISA and IRAs and other similar vehicles that are subject to Section 4975 of the Internal Revenue Code.
49
Table of Contents
Our assets should not be considered “plan assets” under these regulations because we expect to satisfy the requirements in (a) and (b) above. However, in light of the serious penalties imposed on persons who engage in prohibited transactions or other violations of applicable law, plan fiduciaries contemplating a purchase of common units should consult with their own counsel regarding the consequences of such investment under ERISA, the Internal Revenue Code and other laws or regulations that are similar to the Internal Revenue Code or ERISA.
50
Table of Contents
The validity of the securities offered by this prospectus will be passed upon for us by Latham & Watkins LLP, Los Angeles, California. Latham & Watkins LLP will also render an opinion on the material income tax consequences regarding such securities. The underwriters’ own legal counsel will advise them about other issues relating to any offering in which they participate.
The financial statements and management’s assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting (which is included in Management’s Annual Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting) incorporated in this prospectus by reference to our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012 have been so incorporated in reliance on the report of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, given on the authority of said firm as experts in auditing and accounting.
The audited historical financial statements of Agrifos Fertilizer L.L.C. incorporated in this prospectus by reference to Exhibit 99.1 of our Current Report on Form 8-K/A dated October 31, 2012 have been so incorporated in reliance on the report (which contains an explanatory paragraph relating to the Agrifos Fertilizer L.L.C.’s restatement of its financial statements as described in Note 3 to the financial statements) of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, given on the authority of said firm as experts in auditing and accounting.
SUBSIDIARY GUARANTORS
Each subsidiary guarantor of the notes is exempt from reporting under the Exchange Act pursuant to Rule 12h-5 under the Exchange Act. We have no independent assets or operations, the guarantees of our subsidiary guarantors are joint and several and full and unconditional, subject to customary automatic release provisions. Our subsidiaries other than our subsidiary guarantors are minor and there are no significant restrictions on our ability or the ability of any subsidiary guarantor to obtain funds from its subsidiaries.
51
Table of Contents
PART II
INFORMATION NOT REQUIRED IN PROSPECTUS
Item 14. | Other Expenses of Issuance and Distribution |
Set forth below are the expenses (other than underwriting discounts and commissions) expected to be incurred in connection with the issuance and distribution of the securities registered hereby.
SEC registration fee | $ | 68,200 | ||
FINRA filing fee | $ | 75,500 | ||
Legal fees and expenses | ** | |||
Accounting fees and expenses | ** | |||
Printing and engraving expenses | ** | |||
Transfer Agent fees | ** | |||
Miscellaneous | ** | |||
|
| |||
Total | ** | |||
|
|
* | Pursuant to Rules 456(b) and 457(r) under the Securities Act, the SEC registration fee will be paid at the time of any particular offering of securities under the registration statement, and is therefore not currently determinable. |
** | These fees are calculated based on the number of issuances and amount of securities to be offered, and accordingly cannot be estimated at this time. |
Item 15. | Indemnification of Directors and Officers |
The section of the prospectus entitled “The Partnership Agreement — Indemnification” is incorporated herein by reference and discloses that the registrant will generally indemnify the directors and officers of its general partner and Rentech to the fullest extent permitted by law against all losses, claims, damages or similar events. Subject to any terms, conditions or restrictions set forth in the partnership agreement, Section 17-108 of the Delaware Revised Uniform Limited Partnership Act empowers a Delaware limited partnership to indemnify and hold harmless any partner or other person from and against all claims and demands whatsoever.
Section 18-108 of the Delaware Limited Liability Company Act provides that a Delaware limited liability company may indemnify and hold harmless any member or manager or other person from and against any and all claims and demands whatsoever. The limited liability company agreement of Rentech Nitrogen GP, LLC, the registrant’s general partner, provides for the indemnification of its directors and officers against liabilities they incur in their capacities as such. The registrant has entered or intends to enter into indemnification agreements with each of the current directors and executive officers of its general partner to give these directors and executive officers additional contractual assurances regarding indemnification and to provide additional procedural protections.
The underwriting agreement that the registrant expects to enter into with the underwriters, to be filed as Exhibit 1.1 to this registration statement, will contain indemnification and contribution provisions.
Item 16. | Exhibits |
(a) The exhibits to this prospectus are listed on the Exhibit Index on pages II-14 through II-15 hereof, which is incorporated by reference in this Item 16.
II-1
Table of Contents
Item 17. | Undertakings |
(a) The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes:
(1) To file, during any period in which offers or sales are being made, a post-effective amendment to this registration statement:
(i) To include any prospectus required by Section 10(a)(3) of the Securities Act;
(ii) To reflect in the prospectus any facts or events arising after the effective date of this registration statement (or the most recent post-effective amendment thereof) which, individually or in the aggregate, represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in this registration statement. Notwithstanding the foregoing, any increase or decrease in volume of securities offered (if the total dollar value of securities offered would not exceed that which was registered) and any deviation from the low or high end of the estimated maximum offering range may be reflected in the form of the prospectus filed with the Commission pursuant to Rule 424(b) if, in the aggregate, the changes in volume and price represent no more than a 20% change in the maximum aggregate offering price set forth in the “Calculation of Registration Fee” table in the effective registration statement;
(iii) To include any material information with respect to the plan of distribution not previously disclosed in this registration statement or any material change to the information in this registration statement;
provided, however, that paragraphs (i), (ii) and (iii) above do not apply if the information required to be included in a post-effective amendment by those paragraphs is contained in reports filed with or furnished to the SEC by the registrant pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act that are incorporated by reference in this registration statement, or is contained in a form of prospectus filed pursuant to Rule 424(b) that is part of the registration statement.
(2) That, for the purpose of determining any liability under the Securities Act, each of the post-effective amendments shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of the securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initialbona fide offering thereof.
(3) To remove from registration by means of a post-effective amendment any of the securities being registered which remain unsold at the termination of the offering.
(4) That, for the purpose of determining liability under the Securities Act to any purchaser:
(i) Each prospectus filed by the registrant pursuant to Rule 424(b)(3) shall be deemed to be part of the registration statement as of the date the filed prospectus was deemed part of and included in the registration statement; and
(ii) Each prospectus required to be filed pursuant to Rule 424(b)(2), (b)(5), or (b)(7) as part of a registration statement in reliance on Rule 430B relating to an offering made pursuant to Rule 415(a)(1)(i), (vii), or (x) for the purpose of providing the information required by section 10(a) of the Securities Act shall be deemed to be part of and included in the registration statement as of the earlier of the date such form of prospectus is first used after effectiveness or the date of the first contract of sale of securities in the offering described in the prospectus. As provided in Rule 430B, for liability purposes of the issuer and any person that is at that date an underwriter, such date shall be deemed to be a new effective date of the registration statement relating to the securities in the registration statement to which that prospectus relates, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initialbona fide offering thereof. Provided, however, that no statement made in a registration statement or prospectus that is part of the registration statement or made in a document incorporated or deemed incorporated by reference into the registration statement or prospectus that is part of the registration statement will, as to a purchaser with a time of contract of sale prior to such effective date, supersede or modify any statement that was made in the registration statement or prospectus that was part of the registration statement or made in any such document immediately prior to such effective date.
II-2
Table of Contents
(5) That, for the purpose of determining liability of the registrant under the Securities Act to any purchaser in the initial distribution of the securities, the undersigned registrant undertakes that, in a primary offering of securities of the undersigned registrant pursuant to this registration statement, regardless of the underwriting method used to sell the securities to the purchaser, if the securities are offered or sold to such purchaser by means of any of the following communications, the undersigned registrant will be a seller to the purchaser and will be considered to offer or sell such securities to the purchaser:
(i) Any preliminary prospectus or prospectus of the undersigned registrant relating to the offering required to be filed pursuant to Rule 424;
(ii) Any free writing prospectus relating to the offering prepared by or on behalf of the undersigned registrant or used or referred to by the undersigned registrant;
(iii) The portion of any other free writing prospectus relating to the offering containing material information about the undersigned registrant or its securities provided by or on behalf of the undersigned registrant; and
(iv) Any other communication that is an offer in the offering made by the undersigned registrant to the purchaser.
(b) The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes that, for purposes of determining any liability under the Securities Act, each filing of the registrant’s annual report pursuant to Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act (and, where applicable, each filing of an employee benefit plan’s annual report pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act) that is incorporated by reference in this registration statement shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered herein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initialbona fide offering thereof.
(c) Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act may be permitted to directors, officers, and controlling persons of the registrant pursuant to the provisions described in Item 15 above, or otherwise, the registrant has been advised that, in the opinion of the SEC, indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for indemnification against any liability (other than the payment by the registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer, or controlling person of the registrant in the successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by a director, officer, or controlling person in connection with the securities being registered, the registrant will, unless in the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and will be governed by the final adjudication of the issue.
(d) The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes that:
(1) For purposes of determining any liability under the Securities Act of 1933, the information omitted from the form of prospectus filed as part of this registration statement in reliance upon Rule 430A and contained in a form of prospectus filed by the registrant pursuant to Rule 424(b) (1) or (4) or 497(h) under the Securities Act shall be deemed to be part of this registration statement as of the time it was declared effective.
(2) For the purpose of determining any liability under the Securities Act of 1933, each post-effective amendment that contains a form of prospectus shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initialbona fide offering thereof.
II-3
Table of Contents
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, each of the signatories hereto certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all of the requirements for filing this Registration Statement on Form S-3 and has duly caused this Registration Statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.
Date: April 4, 2013
RENTECH NITROGEN PARTNERS, L.P. | ||||
By: | RENTECH NITROGEN GP, LLC, its general partner | |||
By: | /s/ D. Hunt Ramsbottom | |||
D. Hunt Ramsbottom | ||||
Chief Executive Officer |
Each person whose signature appears below appoints D. Hunt Ramsbottom, Dan J. Cohrs and Colin M. Morris, and each of them, any of whom may act without the joinder of the others, as his true and lawful attorneys-in-fact and agents, with full power of substitution and resubstitution, for him and in his name, place and stead, in any and all capacities, to sign any and all amendments (including post-effective amendments) to this Registration Statement and any Registration Statement (including any amendment thereto) for this offering that is to be effective upon filing pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act of 1933 and to file the same, with all exhibits thereto, and all other documents in connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, granting unto said attorneys-in-fact and agents full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing requisite and necessary to be done, as fully to all intents and purposes as he might or would do in person, hereby ratifying and confirming all that said attorneys-in-fact and agents or either of them or their or his substitute and substitutes, may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.
II-4
Table of Contents
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, this Registration Statement has been signed below by the following persons in their indicated capacities on April 4, 2013.
Signature | Title | Date | ||
/s/ D. Hunt Ramsbottom | Chief Executive Officer and Director of Rentech Nitrogen GP, LLC (Principal Executive Officer) | April 4, 2013 | ||
D. Hunt Ramsbottom | ||||
/s/ Dan J. Cohrs | Chief Financial Officer of Rentech Nitrogen GP, LLC (Principal Financial Officer) | April 4, 2013 | ||
Dan J. Cohrs | ||||
/s/ Jeffrey R. Spain | Senior Vice President and Treasurer of Rentech Nitrogen GP, LLC (Principal Accounting Officer) | April 4, 2013 | ||
Jeffrey R. Spain | ||||
/s/ John H. Diesch | President and Director of Rentech Nitrogen GP, LLC | April 4, 2013 | ||
John H. Diesch | ||||
/s/ Halbert S. Washburn | Director of Rentech Nitrogen GP, LLC | April 4, 2013 | ||
Halbert S. Washburn | ||||
/s/ Michael S. Burke | Director of Rentech Nitrogen GP, LLC | April 4, 2013 | ||
Michael S. Burke | ||||
/s/ James F. Dietz | Director of Rentech Nitrogen GP, LLC | April 4, 2013 | ||
James F. Dietz | ||||
/s/ Keith B. Forman | Director of Rentech Nitrogen GP, LLC | April 4, 2013 | ||
Keith B. Forman | ||||
/s/ Michael F. Ray | Director of Rentech Nitrogen GP, LLC | April 4, 2013 | ||
Michael F. Ray |
II-5
Table of Contents
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, each of the signatories hereto certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all of the requirements for filing this Registration Statement on Form S-3 and has duly caused this Registration Statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.
Date: April 4, 2013
RENTECH NITROGEN FINANCE CORPORATION | ||
By: | /s/ D. Hunt Ramsbottom | |
D. Hunt Ramsbottom | ||
Chief Executive Officer |
Each person whose signature appears below appoints D. Hunt Ramsbottom, Dan J. Cohrs and Colin M. Morris, and each of them, any of whom may act without the joinder of the others, as his true and lawful attorneys-in-fact and agents, with full power of substitution and resubstitution, for him and in his name, place and stead, in any and all capacities, to sign any and all amendments (including post-effective amendments) to this Registration Statement and any Registration Statement (including any amendment thereto) for this offering that is to be effective upon filing pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act of 1933 and to file the same, with all exhibits thereto, and all other documents in connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, granting unto said attorneys-in-fact and agents full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing requisite and necessary to be done, as fully to all intents and purposes as he might or would do in person, hereby ratifying and confirming all that said attorneys-in-fact and agents or either of them or their or his substitute and substitutes, may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.
II-6
Table of Contents
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, this Registration Statement has been signed below by the following persons in their indicated capacities on April 4, 2013.
Signature | Title | Date | ||
/s/ D. Hunt Ramsbottom | President | April 4, 2013 | ||
D. Hunt Ramsbottom | ||||
/s/ Dan J. Cohrs | Treasurer | April 4, 2013 | ||
Dan J. Cohrs | ||||
/s/ Colin M. Morris | Secretary | April 4, 2013 | ||
Colin M. Morris |
II-7
Table of Contents
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, each of the signatories hereto certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all of the requirements for filing this Registration Statement on Form S-3 and has duly caused this Registration Statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.
Date: April 4, 2013
RENTECH NITROGEN, LLC | ||||||
By: | RENTECH NITROGEN PARTNERS, L.P., its sole member | |||||
By: | RENTECH NITROGEN GP, LLC, its general partner | |||||
By: | /s/ D. Hunt Ramsbottom | |||||
D. Hunt Ramsbottom | ||||||
Chief Executive Officer |
Each person whose signature appears below appoints D. Hunt Ramsbottom, Dan J. Cohrs and Colin M. Morris, and each of them, any of whom may act without the joinder of the others, as his true and lawful attorneys-in-fact and agents, with full power of substitution and resubstitution, for him and in his name, place and stead, in any and all capacities, to sign any and all amendments (including post-effective amendments) to this Registration Statement and any Registration Statement (including any amendment thereto) for this offering that is to be effective upon filing pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act of 1933 and to file the same, with all exhibits thereto, and all other documents in connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, granting unto said attorneys-in-fact and agents full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing requisite and necessary to be done, as fully to all intents and purposes as he might or would do in person, hereby ratifying and confirming all that said attorneys-in-fact and agents or either of them or their or his substitute and substitutes, may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.
II-8
Table of Contents
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, this Registration Statement has been signed below by the following persons in their indicated capacities on April 4, 2013.
Signature | Title | Date | ||
/s/ D. Hunt Ramsbottom | Chief Executive Officer and Director of Rentech Nitrogen GP, LLC (Principal Executive Officer) | April 4, 2013 | ||
D. Hunt Ramsbottom | ||||
/s/ Dan J. Cohrs | Chief Financial Officer of Rentech Nitrogen GP, LLC (Principal Financial Officer) | April 4, 2013 | ||
Dan J. Cohrs | ||||
/s/ Jeffrey R. Spain | Senior Vice President and Treasurer of Rentech Nitrogen GP, LLC (Principal Accounting Officer) | April 4, 2013 | ||
Jeffrey R. Spain | ||||
/s/ John H. Diesch | President and Director of Rentech Nitrogen GP, LLC | April 4, 2013 | ||
John H. Diesch | ||||
/s/ Halbert S. Washburn | Director of Rentech Nitrogen GP, LLC | April 4, 2013 | ||
Halbert S. Washburn | ||||
/s/ Michael S. Burke | Director of Rentech Nitrogen GP, LLC | April 4, 2013 | ||
Michael S. Burke | ||||
/s/ James F. Dietz | Director of Rentech Nitrogen GP, LLC | April 4, 2013 | ||
James F. Dietz | ||||
/s/ Keith B. Forman | Director of Rentech Nitrogen GP, LLC | April 4, 2013 | ||
Keith B. Forman | ||||
/s/ Michael F. Ray | Director of Rentech Nitrogen GP, LLC | April 4, 2013 | ||
Michael F. Ray |
II-9
Table of Contents
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, each of the signatories hereto certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all of the requirements for filing this Registration Statement on Form S-3 and has duly caused this Registration Statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.
Date: April 4, 2013
RENTECH NITROGEN PASADENA HOLDINGS, LLC | ||||||
By: | RENTECH NITROGEN PARTNERS, L.P., its sole member | |||||
By: | RENTECH NITROGEN GP, LLC, its general partner | |||||
By: | /s/ D. Hunt Ramsbottom | |||||
D. Hunt Ramsbottom | ||||||
Chief Executive Officer |
Each person whose signature appears below appoints D. Hunt Ramsbottom, Dan J. Cohrs and Colin M. Morris, and each of them, any of whom may act without the joinder of the others, as his true and lawful attorneys-in-fact and agents, with full power of substitution and resubstitution, for him and in his name, place and stead, in any and all capacities, to sign any and all amendments (including post-effective amendments) to this Registration Statement and any Registration Statement (including any amendment thereto) for this offering that is to be effective upon filing pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act of 1933 and to file the same, with all exhibits thereto, and all other documents in connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, granting unto said attorneys-in-fact and agents full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing requisite and necessary to be done, as fully to all intents and purposes as he might or would do in person, hereby ratifying and confirming all that said attorneys-in-fact and agents or either of them or their or his substitute and substitutes, may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.
II-10
Table of Contents
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, this Registration Statement has been signed below by the following persons in their indicated capacities on April 4, 2013.
Signature | Title | Date | ||
/s/ D. Hunt Ramsbottom | Chief Executive Officer and Director of Rentech Nitrogen GP, LLC (Principal Executive Officer) | April 4, 2013 | ||
D. Hunt Ramsbottom | ||||
/s/ Dan J. Cohrs | Chief Financial Officer of Rentech Nitrogen GP, LLC (Principal Financial Officer) | April 4, 2013 | ||
Dan J. Cohrs | ||||
/s/ Jeffrey R. Spain | Senior Vice President and Treasurer of Rentech Nitrogen GP, LLC (Principal Accounting Officer) | April 4, 2013 | ||
Jeffrey R. Spain | ||||
/s/ John H. Diesch | President and Director of Rentech Nitrogen GP, LLC | April 4, 2013 | ||
John H. Diesch | ||||
/s/ Halbert S. Washburn | Director of Rentech Nitrogen GP, LLC | April 4, 2013 | ||
Halbert S. Washburn | ||||
/s/ Michael S. Burke | Director of Rentech Nitrogen GP, LLC | April 4, 2013 | ||
Michael S. Burke | ||||
/s/ James F. Dietz | Director of Rentech Nitrogen GP, LLC | April 4, 2013 | ||
James F. Dietz | ||||
/s/ Keith B. Forman | Director of Rentech Nitrogen GP, LLC | April 4, 2013 | ||
Keith B. Forman | ||||
/s/ Michael F. Ray | Director of Rentech Nitrogen GP, LLC | April 4, 2013 | ||
Michael F. Ray |
II-11
Table of Contents
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, each of the signatories hereto certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all of the requirements for filing this Registration Statement on Form S-3 and has duly caused this Registration Statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.
Date: April 4, 2013
RENTECH NITROGEN PASADENA, LLC | ||||||||
By: | RENTECH NITROGEN PASADENA HOLDINGS, LLC, its sole member | |||||||
By: | RENTECH NITROGEN PARTNERS, L.P., its sole member | |||||||
By: | RENTECH NITROGEN GP, LLC, its general partner | |||||||
By: | /s/ D. Hunt Ramsbottom | |||||||
D. Hunt Ramsbottom | ||||||||
Chief Executive Officer |
Each person whose signature appears below appoints D. Hunt Ramsbottom, Dan J. Cohrs and Colin M. Morris, and each of them, any of whom may act without the joinder of the others, as his true and lawful attorneys-in-fact and agents, with full power of substitution and resubstitution, for him and in his name, place and stead, in any and all capacities, to sign any and all amendments (including post-effective amendments) to this Registration Statement and any Registration Statement (including any amendment thereto) for this offering that is to be effective upon filing pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act of 1933 and to file the same, with all exhibits thereto, and all other documents in connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, granting unto said attorneys-in-fact and agents full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing requisite and necessary to be done, as fully to all intents and purposes as he might or would do in person, hereby ratifying and confirming all that said attorneys-in-fact and agents or either of them or their or his substitute and substitutes, may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.
II-12
Table of Contents
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, this Registration Statement has been signed below by the following persons in their indicated capacities on April 4, 2013.
Signature | Title | Date | ||
/s/ D. Hunt Ramsbottom | Chief Executive Officer and Director of Rentech Nitrogen GP, LLC (Principal Executive Officer) | April 4, 2013 | ||
D. Hunt Ramsbottom | ||||
/s/ Dan J. Cohrs | Chief Financial Officer of Rentech Nitrogen GP, LLC (Principal Financial Officer) | April 4, 2013 | ||
Dan J. Cohrs | ||||
/s/ Jeffrey R. Spain | Senior Vice President and Treasurer of Rentech Nitrogen GP, LLC (Principal Accounting Officer) | April 4, 2013 | ||
Jeffrey R. Spain | ||||
/s/ John H. Diesch | President and Director of Rentech Nitrogen GP, LLC | April 4, 2013 | ||
John H. Diesch | ||||
/s/ Halbert S. Washburn | Director of Rentech Nitrogen GP, LLC | April 4, 2013 | ||
Halbert S. Washburn | ||||
/s/ Michael S. Burke | Director of Rentech Nitrogen GP, LLC | April 4, 2013 | ||
Michael S. Burke | ||||
/s/ James F. Dietz | Director of Rentech Nitrogen GP, LLC | April 4, 2013 | ||
James F. Dietz | ||||
/s/ Keith B. Forman | Director of Rentech Nitrogen GP, LLC | April 4, 2013 | ||
Keith B. Forman | ||||
/s/ Michael F. Ray | Director of Rentech Nitrogen GP, LLC | April 4, 2013 | ||
Michael F. Ray |
II-13
Table of Contents
INDEX TO EXHIBITS
Exhibit | ||
1.1** | Form of Underwriting Agreement | |
3.1 | Certificate of Limited Partnership of Rentech Nitrogen Partners, L.P. (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.1 to the Form S-1 filed by the Registrant on August 5, 2011) | |
3.2 | Third Amended and Restated Agreement of Limited Partnership of Rentech Nitrogen Partners, L.P. dated November 1, 2012 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.1 of the Current Report on Form 8-K filed by the Registrant on November 5, 2012) | |
3.3 | Certificate of Formation of Rentech Nitrogen GP, LLC (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.3 to the Form S-1 filed by the Registrant on August 5, 2011) | |
3.4 | Second Amended and Restated Limited Liability Company Agreement of Rentech Nitrogen GP, LLC, dated November 9, 2011 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.2 to the Current Report on Form 8-K filed by the Registrant on November 9, 2011) | |
3.5 | Amended and Restated Limited Liability Company Agreement of Rentech Nitrogen, LLC, dated February 9, 2012 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.1 to the Current Report on Form 8-K filed by the Registrant on Februray 10, 2012) | |
3.6* | Certificate of Formation of Rentech Nitrogen, LLC dated November 3, 2011 | |
3.7* | Certificate of Formation of Rentech Nitrogen Pasadena Holdings, LLC (formerly Agrifos LLC) dated February 23, 2011 | |
3.8* | Certificate of Amendment to the Certificate of Formation of Rentech Nitrogen Pasadena Holdings, LLC (formerly Agrifos LLC) dated November 2, 2012 | |
3.9* | Second Amended and Restated Limited Liability Company Agreement of Rentech Nitrogen Pasadena Holdings, LLC, dated November 15, 2012 | |
3.10* | Certificate of Formation of Rentech Nitrogen Pasadena, LLC (formerly Agrifos Fertilizer L.L.C.) dated December 23, 2008 | |
3.11* | Certificate of Amendment to the Certificate of Formation of Rentech Nitrogen Pasadena, LLC (formerly Agrifos Fertilizer L.L.C.) dated November 2, 2012 | |
3.12* | Second Amended and Restated Limited Liability Company Agreement of Rentech Nitrogen Pasadena, LLC dated November 15, 2012 | |
3.13* | Certificate of Incorporation of Rentech Nitrogen Finance Corporation dated February 26, 2013 | |
3.14* | Bylaws of Rentech Nitrogen Finance Corporation dated February 26, 2013 | |
4.1* | Indenture, dated as of April 4, 2013, by and among Rentech Nitrogen Partners, L.P., the guarantors party thereto and Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., as trustee | |
4.2** | Form of Debt Security | |
5.1* | Opinion of Latham & Watkins LLP as to the validity of the securities being registered |
II-14
Table of Contents
8.1* | Opinion of Latham & Watkins LLP relating to tax matters | |
12.1* | Calculation of Ratios of Earnings to Fixed Charges | |
23.1* | Consent of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP | |
23.2* | Consent of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP | |
23.3* | Consent of Latham & Watkins LLP (included in Exhibit 5.1) | |
23.4* | Consent of Latham & Watkins LLP (included in Exhibit 8.1) | |
24.1* | Powers of Attorney (included on the signature page) | |
25.1* | Statement of Eligibility on Form T-1 under the Trust Indenture Act of 1939, as amended, of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., as trustee under the indenture filed as Exhibit 4.1 above |
* | Filed herewith. |
** | To be filed by amendment or as an exhibit to a Current Report on Form 8-K. |
II-15