Note 8 - Notes Payable

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2020

Notes to Financial Statements

Debt Disclosure [Text Block]

8. Notes Payable

Paycheck Protection Program

The CARES Act was passed in the United States and signed into law on March 7, 2020 and was amended on June 5, 2020 through the enactment of the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act. On April 27, 2020, TransEnterix Surgical, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, received funding under a promissory note dated April 18, 2020 (the “Promissory Note”), evidencing an unsecured non-recourse loan in the principal amount of $2,815,200 under the PPP provisions of the CARES Act. The PPP is administered by the U.S. Small Business Administration (the “SBA”). The Promissory Note was made through City National Bank of Florida, a national banking association (the “Lender”). The Company elected to account for the PPP loan as debt and included the principal amount within notes payable on the condensed consolidated balance sheet.

The Promissory Note has a two-year term, maturing on April 27, 2022, and bears interest at 1.00% per annum. If the Promissory Note is not forgiven, payments can be deferred until 10 months after the date that is 24 weeks after the Promissory Note was originated or December 31, 2020 (the “covered period”). The Promissory Note contains customary events of default relating to, among other things, payment defaults, and breach of representations and warranties, or other provisions of the Promissory Note. The Promissory Note may be forgiven partially or fully if the proceeds are used for covered payroll, rent and utility costs incurred during the twenty-four week period that commenced on the date of funding and if at least 60% of the proceeds are used for covered payroll costs. All or a portion of the Promissory Note may be forgiven by the SBA upon application by the Company and documentation of expenditures in accordance with the SBA requirements. The Company intends to use the proceeds for such covered purposes. While the Company believes, because the period of use of the funds was extended from the original eight weeks to 24 weeks, that it will be more likely to use the funds for covered purposes, it can provide no assurance that it will obtain forgiveness in whole.

Any forgiveness of the Promissory Note will be subject to approval by the SBA and the Lender. The Company recognizes that its restructuring activities unrelated to COVID-19 led to a decrease in the number of employees and, the Company may not be able to comply with the available safe harbor and savings provisions of the CARES Act, therefore, not all of the Promissory Note may be eligible for forgiveness.

Hercules Loan Agreement

On May 23, 2018, the Company and its domestic subsidiaries, as co-borrowers, entered into a Loan and Security Agreement (the “Hercules Loan Agreement”) with several banks and other financial institutions or entities from time to time party to the Loan Agreement (collectively, the “Lender”) and Hercules Capital, Inc., as administrative agent and collateral agent (the “Agent”). The Hercules Loan Agreement was modified on two separate occasions in 2019.

The term loans bore interest at a rate equal to the greater of (i) 10.05% per annum (the “Fixed Rate”) and (ii) the Fixed Rate plus the prime rate (as reported in The Wall Street Journal) minus 5.00%. On the Initial Funding Date, the Company was obligated to pay a facility fee of $0.4 million, recorded as a debt discount. The Company also incurred other debt issuance costs totaling $1.1 million in conjunction with its entry into the Hercules Loan Agreement. In addition, the Company was permitted to prepay the term loans in full at any time, with a prepayment fee of 3.0% of the outstanding principal amount of the loan in the first year after the Initial Funding Date, 2.0% if the prepayment occurred in the second year after the Initial Funding Date and 1.0% thereafter. Upon prepayment of the term loans in full or repayment of the terms loans at the maturity date or upon acceleration, the Company was required to pay a final fee of 6.95% of the aggregate principal amount of term loans funded. The final payment fee was accreted to interest expense over the life of the term loan and included within notes payable on the condensed consolidated balance sheet.

The Company’s obligations under the Hercules Loan Agreement were guaranteed by all current and future material foreign subsidiaries of the Company and were secured by a security interest in all of the assets of the Company and their current and future domestic subsidiaries and all of the assets of their current and future material foreign subsidiaries, including a security interest in the intellectual property. The Hercules Loan Agreement contained customary representations and covenants that, subject to exceptions, restricted the Company’s and its subsidiaries’ ability to do the following, among other things: declare dividends or redeem or repurchase equity interests; incur additional indebtedness and liens; make loans and investments; engage in mergers, acquisitions, and asset sales; transact with affiliates; undergo a change in control; add or change business locations; and engage in businesses that were not related to its existing business. Under the terms of the Hercules Loan Agreement, the Company was required to maintain cash and/or investment property in accounts which perfected the Agent’s first priority security interest in such accounts in an amount equal to the lesser of (i) (x) 120% of the then-outstanding principal balance of the term loans, including accrued interest and any other fees payable under the agreement to the extent accrued and payable plus (y) an amount equal to the then-outstanding accounts payable of the Company on a consolidated basis that were more than 90 days past due and (ii) 80% of the aggregate cash of the Company and its consolidated subsidiaries. The Agent was granted the option to invest up to $2.0 million in any future equity offering broadly marketed by the Company to investors on the same terms as the offering to other investors.

On November 4, 2019, the Company entered into a payoff letter with the Agent pursuant to which the Company terminated the Hercules Loan Agreement, as amended. The Company determined it was in the best interests of the Company to pay down the debt and terminate the Hercules Agreement to simplify the Company's balance sheet and provide additional flexibility as the Board of Directors continues to explore strategic and financial alternatives for the Company. Under the payoff letter, the Company repaid all amounts owed under the Hercules Loan Agreement totaling approximately $16.4 million, which included end of term fees of $1.4 million, and Hercules released all security interests held on the assets of the Company and its subsidiaries, including, without limitation, on the intellectual property assets of the Company. The Company recognized a loss of $1.0 million on the extinguishment of notes payable, which is included in interest expense on the condensed consolidated statement of operations and comprehensive loss for the year ended December 31, 2019.