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Related Party Transactions
12 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2013
Related Party Transactions

NOTE 3 — RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS:

From time to time, Emerson engages in business transactions with its controlling shareholder, The Grande Holdings Limited (Provisional Liquidators Appointed) (“Grande”), and one or more of Grande’s direct and indirect subsidiaries. Set forth below is a summary of such transactions.

Controlling Shareholder

The Grande Holdings Limited (Provisional Liquidators Appointed) (“Grande”), a Bermuda corporation, has, together with S&T International Distribution Limited (“S&T”), a subsidiary of Grande, and Grande N.A.K.S. Ltd., a subsidiary of Grande (together with Grande, the “Reporting Persons”), filed, on April 29, 2013, a Schedule 13D/A with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) stating that, as of the filing date, the Reporting Persons had the shared power to vote and direct the disposition of 15,243,283 shares, or approximately 56.2%, of the outstanding common stock of Emerson which, pursuant to an agreement between S&T and Deutsche Bank AG (“Deutsche Bank”) on March 26, 2013, are no longer subject to the rights granted to Deutsche Bank pursuant to a security agreement entered into between S&T and Deutsche Bank on January 20, 2010.

On April 10, 2013, Deutsche Bank filed a Form 4 with the SEC disclosing the redemption and release, as of April 2, 2013, of 3,380,079 shares of common stock (the “Remaining Pledged Shares”) of Emerson to S&T, Emerson’s largest shareholder. On May 9, 2013, a Schedule 13G was filed with the SEC by Deutsche Bank AG stating that it had no voting or dispositive power over any of the outstanding common stock of Emerson. As a result, Deutsche Bank no longer claims beneficial ownership of any of the Remaining Pledged Shares. Furthermore, because S&T has regained control of a majority of the outstanding shares of common stock of Emerson, Emerson is once again a Controlled company, as defined in Section 801(a) of the NYSE MKT Rules.

On May 31, 2011, upon application of a major creditor, the High Court of Hong Kong appointed Fok Hei Yu (who is also known by the anglicized name Vincent Fok), a current director of the Company, and Roderick John Sutton, both of FTI Consulting (Hong Kong) Limited (“FTI”), as Joint and Several Provisional Liquidators over Grande. Accordingly, as of May 31, 2011, the directors of Grande no longer have the ability to exercise control over Grande or the power to direct the voting and disposition of the 15,243,283 shares beneficially owned by Grande. Instead, Mr. Fok, as a Provisional Liquidator over Grande, has such power (see Item 1A “Risk Factors — Business Related Risks — “Uncertain Impact of Appointment of Provisional Liquidators for Grande, Emerson’s Controlling Shareholder”). In addition, on March 20, 2013, the Provisional Liquidators informed Emerson that they are obligated to liquidate the 15,243,283 shares beneficially owned by Grande. The Company can make no assurances regarding whether or to what extent such shares will be liquidated or retained by Grande, the timing, prices or amounts of any sales of shares or the impact, if any, on the Company, its other shareholders or the trading price of its common stock of any actual or anticipated dispositions of shares by the Provisional Liquidators.

Related Party Transactions

Rented Office Space in Hong Kong

The Company is billed for service charges from Brighton Marketing Limited, a subsidiary of Grande, in connection with the Company’s rented office space in Hong Kong. These charges totaled approximately $5,000 for the twelve month period ended March 31, 2013 and approximately $31,000 for the twelve month period ended March 31, 2012. Emerson owed Brighton Marketing Limited nil at both March 31, 2013 and March 31, 2012 pertaining to these charges.

During the twelve months ended March 31, 2013 and the twelve months ended March 31, 2012, the Company was also billed for service charges from The Grande Properties Management Limited, a related party to Christopher Ho, in connection with the Company’s rented office space in Hong Kong, in the amount of approximately $41,000 and approximately $32,000, respectively. During the twelve months ended March 31, 2012, the Company was billed for service charges from Asia Manufacturing Services Limited (formerly known as The Grande Group (Hong Kong) Ltd., a related party to Christopher Ho, in connection with the Company’s rented office space in Hong Kong, in the amount of approximately $19,000. The Company owed nil to The Grande Properties Management Limited related to these charges at both March 31, 2013 and March 31, 2012, and the Company owed approximately $1,000 to Asia Manufacturing Services Limited related to these charges at March 31, 2012.

Beginning July 3, 2012, the Company entered into a rental agreement with Lafe Strategic Services Limited (“Lafe”), which is a related party to Christopher Ho, whereby the Company is leasing out excess space within its rented office space in Hong Kong to Lafe. The rental agreement is on a month-by-month basis, cancellable by either the Company or Lafe on one month’s written notice. During the twelve months ended March 31, 2013, the Company earned rental income of approximately $27,000 from this arrangement. At March 31, 2013, Lafe owed Emerson nil in rental payable from this arrangement, and Emerson owed Lafe an amount of approximately $6,000 for a security deposit paid to the Company by Lafe at the inception of the agreement.

 

Consulting Services Provided to Emerson by one of its Directors

During the twelve months ended March 31, 2013 and March 31, 2012, Emerson paid consulting fees of approximately $110,000 and $60,000, respectively, to Mr. Eduard Will, a director of Emerson, for work performed by Mr. Will related to strategy for the Kayne Litigation as more fully described in Note 9 – “Legal Proceedings – Kayne Litigation” and merger and acquisition research. In addition, during the twelve months ended March 31, 2013 and March 31, 2012, Emerson paid expense reimbursements and advances, in the aggregate, of approximately $23,000 and approximately $21,000, respectively, to Mr. Will, related to this consulting work and his service as a director of Emerson.

At March 31, 2013 and March 31, 2012, respectively, the Company owed Mr. Will nil and approximately $10,000, respectively, related to these activities.

Dividend-Related Issues with S&T

On March 2, 2010, the Board declared an extraordinary dividend of $1.10 per common share, which was paid on March 24, 2010. In connection with the Company’s determination as to the taxability of the dividend, the Board relied upon information and research provided to it by the Company’s tax advisors and, in reliance on the “stock-for-debt” exception in the Internal Revenue Code Sections 108(e)(8) and (e)(10), concluded that 4.9% of such dividend paid was taxable to the recipients.

In August 2012, the Company received a Form 886-A from the IRS which challenges the Company’s conclusions and determines that the Company does not qualify for the above-referenced exception. Accordingly, the IRS has concluded that 100% of the dividend paid was taxable to the recipients. The Company is defending its position and calculations and is contesting the position asserted by the IRS. The Company prepared and, on October 25, 2012, delivered its rebuttal to the IRS contesting the IRS determination. There can be no assurance that the Company will be successful in defending its position.

In the event that the Company is not successful in establishing with the IRS that the Company calculations were correct, then the shareholders who received the dividend likely will be subject to and liable for an assessment of additional taxes due. Moreover, the Company may be contingently liable for taxes due by certain of its shareholders resulting from the dividend paid by the Company.

Initially, the Company withheld from the dividend paid to foreign shareholders an amount equal to the tax liability associated with such dividend. On April 7, 2010, upon a request made to the Company by its foreign controlling shareholder, S&T, the Company entered into an agreement with S&T (the “Agreement”), whereby the Company returned to S&T on April 7, 2010 that portion of the funds withheld for taxes from the dividend paid on March 24, 2010 to S&T, which the Company believes is not subject to U.S. tax based on the Company’s good-faith estimate of its accumulated earnings and profits. The Agreement includes provisions pursuant to which S&T agreed to indemnify the Company for any liability imposed on it as a result of the Company’s agreement not to withhold such funds for S&T’s possible tax liability and a pledge of stock as collateral. The Company continues to assert that such dividend is largely not subject to U.S. tax based on the Company’s good-faith estimate of its accumulated earnings and profits. In addition, the Company also continues to assert that this transaction results in an off-balance sheet arrangement and a possible contingent tax liability of the Company, which, if recognized, would be offset in part by the calling by the Company on S&T of the indemnification provisions of the Agreement.

Per the terms of the Agreement, Emerson invoiced S&T in June 2010 approximately $42,000 for reimbursement of legal fees incurred by Emerson with regard to the Agreement and approximately $33,000 as a transaction fee for having entered into the Agreement. In January 2011, Emerson agreed, upon the request of S&T, to waive approximately $5,000 of the legal charges that had been invoiced to S&T in June 2010. S&T paid the full amount owed to Emerson of approximately $70,000 in February 2011.

In February 2011, upon the request of S&T to the Company, the Company and S&T agreed that the collateral pledged as a part of the Agreement would no longer be required and such collateral was returned by the Company to S&T in March 2011 and the Agreement was amended and restated to remove the collateral requirement but retain the indemnification provisions. The Agreement, as amended (the “Amended Agreement”), remains in effect as of today. In the event that (i) the Company is not successful in establishing with the IRS that the Company’s calculations were correct and (ii) S&T is unable or unwilling to pay the additional taxes due or indemnify the Company under the terms of the Amended Agreement, the Company may be liable to pay such additional taxes which would have a material adverse effect on the Company’s financial condition and results of operations.

Other

During each of the twelve months ended March 31, 2013 and March 31, 2012, Emerson invoiced Vigers Appraisal & Consulting Ltd. (“Vigers”), a related party of Christopher Ho, approximately $4,000 for usage of telephone and data lines maintained by Emerson. Vigers owed Emerson approximately $1,000 at both March 31, 2013 and March 31, 2012 related to this activity.