In 2012, we received $7,350,000 in policy benefits and recognized $6,283,000 of revenue therefrom. In addition, we recognized revenue of $11,154,000 from the change in fair value of our life insurance policies, net of premiums and carrying costs. Interest expense, including amortization of the deferred financing costs, was $10,879,000 for the twelve months ended December 31, 2012, and selling, general and administrative expenses for the twelve months ended December 31, 2012 were $6,467,000. Income tax expense for the twelve months ended December 31, 2012 was $1,193,000. Our net loss in 2012 was $1,013,000.
Our primary business involves the purchasing and financing of life insurance policies. As such, we account for the purchase of life insurance policies in accordance with ASC 325-30, Investments in Insurance Contracts, which requires us to use either the investment method or the fair value method. The election is made on an instrument-by-instrument basis and is irrevocable. We have elected to account for these life insurance policies as investments using the fair value method.
We initially record our purchase of life insurance policies at the transaction price, which is the amount paid for the policy, inclusive of all fees and costs associated with the acquisition. The fair value of the investment in insurance policies is evaluated at the end of each reporting period. Changes in the fair value of the life insurance policies are based on periodic evaluations and are recorded as changes in fair value of life insurance policies in our consolidated and combined statement of operations. The fair value is determined as the net present value of the life insurance portfolio’s future expected cash flows that incorporates current life expectancy and discount rate assumptions.
In addition to reporting our results of operations and financial condition based on the fair value of our life insurance policies as required by GAAP, management also makes calculations based on the weighted average expected internal rate of return of the policies. See “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” below.
On April 5, 2012, the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, or JOBS Act, was enacted. Section 107 of the JOBS Act provides that an “emerging growth company” can take advantage of the extended transition period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act of 1933 for complying with new or revised accounting standards. This means that an “emerging growth company” can make an election to delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would apply to private companies. We have elected to delay such adoption of new or revised accounting standards and, as a result, we may not comply with new or revised accounting standards at the same time as other public reporting companies that are not “emerging growth companies.” This exemption will apply for a period of five years following our first sale of common equity securities under an effective registration statement or until we no longer qualify as an “emerging growth company” as defined under the JOBS Act, whichever is earlier.
A valuation allowance is required to be recognized to reduce deferred tax assets to an amount that is more likely than not to be realized. Realization of deferred tax assets depends upon having sufficient past or future taxable income in periods to which the deductible temporary differences are expected to be recovered or within any applicable carryback or carryforward periods. We believe that it is more likely than not that we will be able to realize all deferred tax assets other than that which is expected to result in a capital loss.
We have provided a valuation allowance against the deferred tax asset related to a note receivable because we believes that, when realized for tax purposes, it will result in a capital loss that will not be utilized because we have no expectation of generating a capital gain within the applicable carry-forward period. Therefore, we do not believe that it is more likely than not that the deferred tax asset will be realized.
Financing costs incurred to obtain financing under the revolving credit facility have been capitalized and are amortized using the straight-line method over the term of the revolving credit facility. The Series I Secured note obligations are reported net of issuance costs, sales commissions and other direct expenses, which are amortized using the interest method over the term of each respective borrowing. The Renewable Secured Debentures are reported net of issuance costs, sales commissions and other direct expenses, which are amortized using the interest method over the term of each respective borrowing. The Series A preferred stock is reported net of issuance costs, sales commissions, including the fair value of warrants issued, and other direct expenses, which are amortized using the interest method as interest expense over the three year redemption period.
Forward-looking statements can generally be identified by the use of words like “believes,” “could,” “possibly,” “probably,” “anticipates,” “estimates,” “projects,” “expects,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “seek,” “intend,” “plan,” “expect” or “consider,” or the negative of these expressions or other variations, or by discussions of strategy that involve risks and uncertainties. All forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual transactions, results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future transactions, results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.
Sale of a Life Insurance Policy or a Portfolio of Life Insurance Policies. In an event of a sale of a policy the Company recognizes gain or loss as the difference between the sale price and the carrying value of the policy on the date of the receipt of payment on such sale.
Interest Expense. We recognize and record interest expenses associated with the costs of financing our life insurance portfolio for the current period. These expenses include interest paid to our senior lender under our revolving credit facility, as well as all interest paid on our debentures and other outstanding indebtedness such as our subsidiary secured notes and dividends on convertible, redeemable preferred stock. When we issue long-term indebtedness, we amortize the issuance costs associated with such indebtedness over the outstanding term of the financing, and classify it as interest expense.
Expenses. Interest expense, including amortization of the deferred financing costs as well as preferred stock dividends, was $10,879,000 during 2012 compared to $7,860,000 during 2011, an increase of $3,019,000. The increase was due to increased average debt outstanding, increased Series A preferred stock, and increased issuance cost paid being amortized during 2012. Selling, general, and administrative expenses were $6,467,000, and $8,523,000 for 2012 and 2011, respectively; a decrease of $2,056,000. This decrease is mostly due to $3,595,000 one time investment banking fee paid in the third quarter of 2011 offset by increase in compensation, printing, travel and marketing costs during 2012.
Income tax expense was $1,193,000 in 2012. The effective tax rate for the twelve months ended December 31, 2012, was 696.6%, compared to a statutory rate of 40.5%. In 2012 there is a significant permanent difference between income before income taxes and taxable income. This permanent difference results from the inclusion of convertible redeemable preferred stock dividends as an interest expense, however the dividends are not deductible for income tax reporting purposes. The dividends charged to interest expense were $2,227,000 and $335,000 in 2012 and 2011, respectively. Excluding the impact of the dividends and other permanent differences, the effective tax rate for the twelve months ended December 31, 2012 would have been 40.5%.
The most significant temporary differences between GAAP net income and tax net income are the treatment of interest costs, premium payments and revenue recognition on the portfolio of life insurance policies.
We finance our business through a combination of policy benefit revenues, origination fees, equity offerings, debt offerings, and a credit facility. We have used our debt offerings and credit facility primarily for policy acquisition, policy servicing and portfolio related financing expenditures. We charge an intercompany origination fee in the amount of one to four percent of the face value of a life insurance policy’s benefit when we acquire the related life insurance policy. The origination fee we charge is included in the total purchase price we pay for a life insurance policy for our purposes and of our valuation and expected internal rate of return calculations, but is not netted against the purchase price we pay to a seller of an insurance policy. We generated cash flows of $2,539,000 and $2,430,000 from origination fees in 2012 and 2011 respectively. Profit from intra-company origination fees for life insurance policies retained by the Company are eliminated from our consolidated statements of operations. As such, the origination fees collected under our life insurance policy financing arrangements are reflected in our consolidated statements of cash flows as cash flows from financing activities as they are paid in the form of borrowings used to finance the acquisition. Our revolving bank line allows GWG DLP Funding II to borrow the funds necessary to pay origination fees to GWG Life Settlements, LLC. Our borrowing agreements allow us to use net proceeds of the renewable secured debentures for policy acquisition, which includes origination fees. If the policy acquisition is not financed, no fees are included in the consolidated cash flows. See “-Cash Flows” below for further information. We determine the purchase price of life insurance policies in accordance with ASC 325-30, Investments in Insurance Contracts, using the fair value method. Under the fair value method, the initial investment is recorded at the transaction price. Since the origination fees are paid from a wholly owned subsidiary to the parent company, these fees are not included in the transaction price for our consolidated financial statements. For further discussion on our accounting policies for life settlements, please refer to note 1 to our consolidated financial statements.
As of December 31, 2012, we had approximately $42.5 million in combined available cash and available borrowing base surplus capacity under our revolving credit facility for the purpose of purchasing additional life insurance policies, paying premiums on existing policies, paying portfolio servicing expenses, and paying principal and interest on our outstanding financing obligations.
In September 2012, we concluded a Series A preferred stock offering, receiving an aggregate $24.6 million in subscriptions for our Series A preferred stock. These subscriptions consisted of $14.0 million in conversions of outstanding Series I subsidiary secured notes and $10.6 million of new investments. We have used the proceeds from the sale of our Series A preferred stock, together with the origination fees we received to purchase and finance life insurance policies to fund our operational expenditures.
The Renewable Secured Debentures and Series I subsidiary secured notes are secured by all our assets, and are subordinate to our revolving credit facility with Autobahn/DZ Bank. The Renewable Secured Debentures and Series I subsidiary secured notes are pari-passu with respect to our assets pursuant to an inter-creditor agreement, (see notes 7 and 8 to our consolidated financial statements).
On January 29, 2013, GWG Holdings entered into an Amended and Restated Credit and Security Agreement with Autobahn Funding Company LLC, as the conduit lender, and DZ Bank AG Deutsche Zentral-Genossenschaftsbank, as the committed lender and as the agent on behalf of secured parties under such agreement. The Amended and Restated Credit and Security Agreement extends the maturity date of borrowings made by the Company’s subsidiary, GWG DLP Funding II, LLC, to December 31, 2014, and removes certain GWG-related parties to the original Credit and Security Agreement dated June 15, 2008. In connection with the Amended and Restated Credit and Security Agreement, GWG Holdings and its subsidiaries entered into certain other agreements and amendments and restatement of earlier agreements entered into in connection with the original Credit and Security Agreement. Included among these other agreements was a Reaffirmation and Modification Agreement that reaffirms the performance guaranty that GWG Holdings earlier provided in connection with the original Credit and Security Agreement to DZ Bank AG Deutsche Zentral-Genossenschaftsbank, as agent.
The actual use of proceeds from the sale of Renewable Secured Debentures from January 31, 2012 to December 31, 2012 is as follows:
Most of the insurance policies owned by our wholly owned subsidiary, GWG DLP Funding II, are subject to a collateral arrangement with the agent to our revolving credit lender, as described in note 6 to the consolidated financial statements. Under this arrangement, collection and escrow accounts are used to fund purchases and premiums of the insurance policies and to pay interest and other charges under our revolving credit facility. The lender and its agent must authorize all disbursements from these accounts, including any distributions to GWG Life or Holdings. Distributions are limited to an amount that would result in the borrowers (GWG DLP Funding II, LLC, GWG Life Settlements, LLC, and GWG Holdings, Inc.) realizing an annualized rate of return on the equity funded amount for such assets of not more than 18%, as determined by the agent. After such amount is reached, the credit agreement requires that excess funds be used to fund repayments or a reserve account in a certain amount before any additional distributions may be made. In the future, these arrangements may restrict the cash flows available for payment of principal and interest on our debt obligations.
We review the credit risk associated with our portfolio of life insurance policies when estimating its fair value. In evaluating the policies’ credit risk we consider insurance company solvency, credit risk indicators, economic conditions, ongoing credit evaluations, and company positions. We attempt to manage our credit risk related to life insurance policies typically by purchasing policies issued only from companies with an investment grade credit rating by either Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s, or A.M. Best Company. As of December 31, 2012, 99.05% of our life insurance policies, by face value benefits, were issued by companies that maintained an investment grade rating (BBB- or better) by Standard & Poor’s.
Our credit facility is floating-rate financing. In addition, our ability to offer interest rates that attract capital (including in the offer and sale of Renewable Secured Debentures) is generally impacted by prevailing interest rates. Furthermore, while our other indebtedness provides us with fixed-rate financing, our debt coverage ratio is calculated in relation to our total cost of financing. Therefore, fluctuations in interest rates impact our business by increasing our borrowing costs, and reducing availability under our debt financing arrangements. Furthermore, we calculate our portfolio earnings based upon the spread generated between the return on our life insurance portfolio and the cost of our financing. As a result, increases in interest rates will reduce the earnings we expect to achieve from our investments in life insurance policies.
We must maintain an annual positive consolidated net income, calculated on a non-GAAP basis, to maintain compliance with our revolving credit facility with DZ Bank/Autobahn.
Below is a full non-GAAP statement of operations in the form that we prepare and use internally to assess our performance, and that we provide to Autobahn/DZ Bank in satisfaction of certain covenants under our revolving credit facility.
Accrual of cumulative actuarial gain at expected internal rate of return based on investment cost basis.
We must maintain a total adjusted non-GAAP tangible net worth of $5 million to maintain compliance with our revolving credit facility with DZ Bank/Autobahn.
Excess Spread. Our revolving credit facility requires us to maintain a 2.00% “excess spread” between our weighted-average expected internal rate of return of our portfolio of life insurance policies and the credit facility’s interest rate. A presentation of our excess spread and our total excess spread is set forth below. Management uses the “total excess spread” to gauge expected profitability of our investments, and uses the “excess spread” to monitor compliance with our borrowing
This represents the weighted-average expected internal rate of return of the life insurance policies as of the measurement date based upon our investment cost basis of the insurance policies and the expected cash flows from the life insurance portfolio. The expected internal rate of return as of December 31, 2012 includes an adjustment to increase, by an average of 8.67%, any life expectancy provided by 21st Services. As a result of this adjustment, our expected internal rate of return at December 31, 2012 decreased from 14.27% to 12.84%. Our investment cost basis is calculated as our cash investment in the life insurance policies, without regard to GAAP-based fair value measurements, and is set forth below:
This is the full cash investment cost basis in life insurance policies from which our expected internal rate of return is calculated.
We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States). Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement. The Company is not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of its internal control over financial reporting. Our audit included consideration of internal control over financial reporting as a basis for designing audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion. An audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. An audit also includes assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.
Nature of business - GWG Holdings, Inc. (Holdings) (previously GWG Holdings, LLC) and Subsidiaries, located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, facilitates the purchase of life insurance policies for its own investment portfolio through its wholly owned subsidiary, GWG Life Settlements, LLC (GWG Life), and its subsidiaries, GWG Trust, LLC (Trust), GWG DLP Funding II, LLC (DLP II) and its wholly owned subsidiary, GWG DLP Master Trust II (the Trust II). Holdings converted from a limited liability company into a corporation effective June 10, 2011 and as a result of this change all member units were converted into common stock. Holdings finances the acquisition of life insurance policies, and pays policy premiums through funds available on its line of credit and the issuance of other debt and equity securities. GWG Member, LLC a wholly owned subsidiary formed November 2010 to facilitate the acquisition of policies, has not commenced operations as of December 31, 2012. The entities were legally organized in Delaware and are collectively referred herein to as GWG, or the Company.
The Company’s Operating Agreement, with the consent of its unit holders, was amended effective March 31, 2011 to eliminate the put and call option held by the Class B unit holder and the Company, respectively. As a result, the accumulated loss attributable to the Class B units of $509,126 was reclassified as a component of equity.
Deposits and initial direct costs advanced on unsettled policy acquisitions are recorded as other assets until policy ownership has been transferred to the Company. Such deposits and direct cost advances were $785,000 and $0 at December 31, 2012 and 2011 respectively.
Income taxes - The Company was a pass through entity for federal income tax purposes through June 10, 2011. No income tax provision has been included through that date in these consolidated financial statements as income or loss of the Company was required to be reported by the respective members on their income tax returns.
As a result of the Company’s change in legal structure from a limited liability company (filing tax returns as a pass through entity) to a corporation effective June 10, 2011, the Company files and pays taxes based on its reported income. Subsequent to the Company’s conversion to a corporation it files a combined return with the subsidiaries.
Deferred taxes are provided on a liability method whereby deferred tax assets are recognized for deductible temporary differences and operating loss carryforwards and deferred tax liabilities are recognized for taxable temporary differences. Temporary differences are the differences between the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and their tax basis. Deferred tax assets are reduced by a valuation allowance when, in the opinion of management, it is more likely than not that some portion or all of the deferred tax assets will not be realized. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are adjusted for the effects of changes in tax laws and rates on the date enacted.
Recently adopted pronouncements - In May 2011, the FASB issued ASU No. 2011-04, “Fair Value Measurement (Topic 820): Amendments to Achieve Common Fair Value Measurement and Disclosure Requirements in U.S. GAAP and IFRS”, which amends disclosure requirements related to categorization within the fair value hierarchy. This update results in common principles and requirements for measuring fair value and disclosing information about fair value measurements in accordance with GAAP and International Financial Reporting Standards. The guidance became effective for the annual period beginning January 1, 2012. The adoption of this guidance did not have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.
Other pronouncements issued by the FASB or other authoritative accounting standards groups with future effective dates are either not applicable or are not expected to be significant to the Company.
The Company is required by its lenders to maintain collection and escrow accounts. These accounts are used to fund the acquisition, pay annual premiums of insurance policies, pay interest and other charges under the revolving credit facility, and collect policy benefits. DZ Bank AG, as agent for Autobahn Funding Company, LLC, the lender for the revolving credit facility as described in note 6, authorizes the disbursements from these accounts. At December 31, 2012 and December 31, 2011 there was a balance of $2,093,000, and $4,794,000, respectively, maintained in these restricted cash accounts.
The life insurance policies (Level 3 fair value measurements) are valued based on unobservable inputs that are significant to the overall fair value measurement. Changes in the fair value of these instruments are recorded in gain or loss on life insurance policies in the consolidated statements of operations (net of the cash premiums paid on the policies). The fair value is determined on a discounted cash flow basis that incorporates life expectancy assumptions. Life expectancy reports have been obtained from widely accepted life expectancy providers. The discount rate incorporates current information about market interest rates, the credit exposure to the insurance company that issued the life insurance policy and our estimate of the risk premium an investor in the policy would require. As a result of management’s analysis, discount rates of 12.08% and 13.41% were applied to the portfolio as of December 31, 2012 and December 31, 2011, respectively.
The estimated expected premium payments to maintain the above life insurance policies in force for the next five years, assuming no mortalities, are as follows:
Management anticipates funding the estimated premium payments as noted above with proceeds from the DZ Bank revolving credit facility and through additional debt and equity financing as well as from cash proceeds from maturities of life insurance policies. The proceeds of these capital sources are also intended to be used for the purchase, financing, and maintenance of additional life insurance policies.
The hierarchy is broken down into three levels based on the observability of inputs as follows:
The estimated fair value of the Company’s life settlements are determined on a quarterly basis by the Company’s portfolio management committee, taking into consideration changes in discount rate assumptions, estimated premium payments and life expectancy assumptions, as well as any changes in economic and other relevant conditions. These inputs are then used to estimate the discounted cash flows using the MAPS probabilistic portfolio pricing model, which estimates the cash flows using various different probabilities and scenarios. The valuation process includes a review by senior management as of each valuation date. Management will also engage a third party expert to independently test the accuracy of the valuations using the inputs provided by management.
Life insurance policies represent financial instruments recorded at fair value on a recurring basis. The following table reconciles the beginning and ending fair value of the Company’s Level 3 investments in life insurance policies for the years ending December 31, as follows:
The amount outstanding under this facility as of December 31, 2012 and December 31, 2011, was $71,000,000 and $60,000,000, respectively.
amending the Company’s certificate of incorporation or bylaws, making any loans or advances to, investments in, or paying any dividends to, any person unless both before and after any such loan, advance, investment or dividend there exists no actual event of default, potential event of default or termination event;
In addition, the Company has agreed to maintain (i) a positive consolidated net income (as defined and calculated under the Agreement) for each complete fiscal year and (ii) a tangible net worth (again, as defined and calculated under the Agreement) of not less than $5 million, and (iii) maintain a borrowing base surplus or cash cushion sufficient to pay three to twelve months (increasing throughout 2013) of premiums and facility fees.
On November 1, 2011, GWG entered into a Third Amended and Restated Note Issuance and Security Agreement with Lord Securities Corporation after receiving majority approval from the holders of Series I secured notes. Among other things, the amended and restated agreement modified the use of proceeds and certain provisions relating to the distribution of collections and subordination of cash flow. Under the amended and restated agreement, GWG is no longer restricted as to its use of proceeds or subject to restrictions on certain distributions of collections and subordination of cash flows.
The Company has registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission, effective January 2012, the offer and sale of $250,000,000 of secured debentures. Renewable Secured Debentures have maturity dates ranging from six months to seven years with fixed interest rates varying from 4.75% to 9.50% depending on the term of the note. Interest is payable monthly, annually or at maturity depending on the terms of the debenture. At December 31, 2012, the weighted average interest rate of Renewable Secured Debentures was 7.65%. The debentures are secured by assets of GWG Life and GWG Holdings. The amount outstanding under these Renewable Secured Debentures was $57,609,000 at December 31, 2012. The difference between the amount outstanding on the Renewable Secured Debentures and the carrying amount on the consolidated balance sheet is due to netting of unamortized deferred issuance costs and cash receipts for new issuances in process at December 31, 2012. Amortization of deferred issuance costs was $506,000 in 2012. Future expected amortization of deferred financing costs is $2,735,000. Subsequent to December 31, 2012, the Company has issued approximately an additional $23,023,000 in principal amount of these Renewable Secured Debentures.
The Company entered into an Indenture effective October 19, 2011 with Holdings as obligor, GWG Life as guarantor, and Bank of Utah as trustee for the benefit of the debenture holders. The Indenture has certain financial and nonfinancial covenants. The Company was in compliance with these covenants at December 31, 2012 and 2011.
The Company began offering 3,333,333 shares of convertible redeemable preferred stock (Series A preferred stock) for sale to accredited investors in a private placement on July 31, 2011. The offering of Series A preferred stock concluded on September 2, 2012 and resulted in 3,278,000 shares being issued for gross consideration of $24,582,000. As of December 31, 2012, 83,000 shares have been issued as a result of conversion of $584,000 in dividends into shares of Series A preferred stock. The Series A preferred stock was sold at an offering price of $7.50 per share. Series A preferred stock has a preferred yield of 10% per annum, and each share has the right to convert into 1.5 shares of the Company’s common stock. The Company may elect to automatically convert the Series A preferred stock to common stock as described below. Series A preferred shareholders also received three-year warrants to purchase, at an exercise price per share of $6.25, one share of common stock for every 20 shares of Series A preferred stock purchased. The warrants are exercisable immediately. In the Certificate of Designations for the Series A preferred stock dated July 31, 2011, the Company has agreed to permit preferred shareholders to sell their shares back to the Company for the stated value of $7.50 per share, plus accrued dividends, according to the following schedule:
At the election of the Company, the Series A preferred shares may be automatically converted into the common stock of the Company in the event of either (1) a registered offering of the Company’s common stock with the SEC aggregating gross proceeds of at least $5.0 million at a price equal to or greater than $5.50 per share of common stock, or (2) the consent of shareholders holding at least a majority of the then-outstanding shares of Series A preferred stock. As of December 31, 2012, the Company had issued 3,361,000 preferred shares resulting in gross consideration of $25,166,000 (including cash proceeds, conversion of Series I Secured notes and accrued interest on Series I notes, and conversion of preferred dividends payable). The Company incurred Series A preferred stock issuance costs of $2,838,000, of which $1,578,000 was amortized to additional paid in capital as of December 31, 2012, resulting in a carrying amount of $23,906,000.
The Company declared and accrued dividends of $2,227,000 and $349,000 during the years ended December 31, 2012 and 2011, respectively, pursuant to a board resolution declaring the dividend. 81,000 and 2,000 shares of Series A preferred stock were issued in lieu of cash dividends in 2012 and 2011, respectively. The shares issued in lieu of cash dividends were issued at $7.00 per share. As of December 31, 2012, Holdings has $629,000 of accrued preferred dividends which were paid or converted to shares of Series A preferred stock on January 15, 2013.
At December 31, 2012 and 2011, the Company had federal net operating loss (NOL) carryforwards of $4,129,000 and $2,337,000, respectively, which will begin to expire in 2031. Future utilization of NOL carryforwards is subject to limitation under Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code. This section generally relates to a more than 50 percent change in ownership over a three-year period. We currently do not believe that any issuance of common stock has resulted in an ownership change under Section 382.
ASC 740, Income Taxes, requires the reporting of certain tax positions which do not meet a threshold of "more-likely-than-not" to be recorded as uncertain tax benefits. It is management's responsibility to determine whether it is "more-likely-than-not" that a tax position will be sustained upon examination, including resolution of any related appeals or litigation, based upon the technical merits of the position. Management has reviewed all income tax positions taken or expected to be taken for all open years and determined that the income tax positions are appropriately stated and supported. The Company does not anticipate that the total unrecognized tax benefits will significantly change prior to December 31, 2013.
Under the Company’s accounting policies, interest and penalties on unrecognized tax benefits, as well as interest received from favorable tax settlements are recognized as components of income tax expense. At December 31, 2012 and 2011, the Company has recorded no accrued interest or penalties related to uncertain tax positions.
The Company began issuing Series A preferred stock September, 1, 2011, as described in note 9. The Series A preferred stock is anti-dilutive to the earnings per share calculation at December 31, 2012 and 2011. The Company has also issued warrants to purchase common stock in conjunction with the sale of convertible preferred stock, as discussed in note 9. The warrants are also anti-dilutive at December 31, 2012 and 2011 and have not been included in the fully diluted earnings per share calculation.
The Company entered into an office lease with U.S. Bank National Association as the landlord. The lease was effective April 22, 2012 with a term through August 31, 2015. The lease is for 8,881 square feet of office space located at 220 South Sixth Street, Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Company is obligated to pay base rent plus common area maintenance and a share of the building operating costs. Rent expenses under this and previous agreements were $162,000 and $170,000 in years ended December 31, 2012 and 2011, respectively. Minimum lease payments under the lease agreement effective April 22, 2012 are as follows:
Opportunity Finance, LLC, owned by Jon Sabes and Steven Sabes, is subject to litigation clawback claims by the bankruptcy trustee for third-party matters for payments that may have been deemed preference payments. In addition, Jon Sabes and Steven Sabes are subject to litigation clawback claims by the bankruptcy trustee for third-party matters for payments received from Opportunity Finance that may have been deemed preference payments. If the parties are unsuccessful in defending against these claims, their equity ownership in the Company may be sold or transferred to other parties to satisfy such claims. In addition, the Company loaned $1,000,000 to Opportunity Finance, LLC, and was repaid in full plus interest of $177,000. This investment amount may also be subject to clawback claims by the bankruptcy court. These matters may also distract management and reduce the time and attention that they are able to devote to the Company’s operations.
Holdings has registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission the offer and sale $250,000,000 of secured debentures as described in note 8. The secured debentures are secured by the assets of Holdings as described in note 8 and a pledge of all the common stock by the largest shareholders. Obligations under the debentures are guaranteed by Holding’s subsidiary GWG Life. This guarantee involves the grant of a security interest in all the assets of GWG Life. GWG Life is a wholly owned subsidiary of Holdings and the payment of principal and interest on the secured debentures is fully and unconditionally guaranteed by GWG Life. The majority of the Company’s life insurance policies are held by DLP II, a wholly owned subsidiary of GWG Life, however, the policies held by DLP II are not collateral for the debenture obligations as such policies are collateral for the credit facility.
The consolidating financial statements are presented in lieu of separate financial statements and other related disclosures of the subsidiary guarantors and issuer because management does not believe that separate financial statements and related disclosures would be material to investors. There are currently no significant restrictions on the ability of Holdings or GWG Life, the guarantor subsidiary, to obtain funds from its subsidiaries by dividend or loan, except as follows. DLP II is a borrower under a credit agreement with Autobahn, with DZ Bank AG as agent, as described in note 6. The significant majority of insurance policies owned by the Company are subject to a collateral arrangement with DZ Bank AG described in notes 3 and 6. Under this arrangement, collection and escrow accounts are used to fund purchases and premiums of the insurance policies and to pay interest and other charges under its revolving credit facility. DZ Bank AG and Autobahn must authorize all disbursements from these accounts, including any distributions to GWG Life. Distributions are limited to an amount that would result in the borrowers (GWG DLP Funding II, LLC, GWG Life Settlements, LLC, and GWG Holdings, Inc.) realizing an annualized rate of return on the equity funded amount for such assets of not more than 18%, as determined by DZ Bank AG. After such amount is reached, the credit agreement requires that excess funds be used for repayments of borrowings before any additional distributions may be made.
* - percentage does not exceed 10% of the total face value.