Evidences of indebtedness of companies incorporated in the United States and, directly or indirectly, engaged in manufacturing, extraction, merchandising, or commercial financing and in bonds of authorities established pursuant to the California Industrial Development Financing Act (Title 10 (commencing with Section 91500) of the Government Code), to which those institutions are obligated with respect to payment, provided:

(a) Any unsecured evidences of indebtedness shall be issued by a company substantially all of whose property is free of mortgage and shall carry a covenant by the obligor that they will be secured equally with any mortgage bond, except a purchase money mortgage, which may be later issued.

(b) The company is of such size as to attract at least statewide interest in its publicly held securities and its gross income shall have averaged not less than ten million dollars ($10,000,000) and its net income shall have averaged not less than one million dollars ($1,000,000) for the five fiscal years preceding the investment and its gross income was not less than one million dollars ($1,000,000) for at least three of those five fiscal years.

(c) Working capital as measured by consolidated current assets less consolidated current liabilities as shown in the latest published balance sheet shall exceed 150 percent of the total of consolidated debt due in longer than one year and “minority interest” (i.e., any outstanding interest in a subsidiary having a prior claim on the earnings of the subsidiary), except that the foregoing ratio requirement shall not apply in the case of evidences of indebtedness of any corporation whose consolidated gross assets less any valuation reserves exceed five hundred million dollars ($500,000,000) and whose consolidated current assets exceed consolidated current liabilities by at least one hundred million dollars ($100,000,000) as shown by the latest published balance sheet. When new financing is involved, the changes in gross assets, capital structure, and working capital shall be considered and reliance may be placed on the representations made in the official prospectus prepared under the rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission as to the application of the proceeds of that financing.

(d) The total consolidated debt of the company including current liabilities and “minority interest” (i.e. any outstanding interest in a subsidiary having a prior claim on the earnings of the subsidiary), as shown on the latest published balance sheet, does not exceed 331/3 percent of its gross assets less valuation reserves.

(e) The consolidated annual net income for the five fiscal years next preceding the investment, before deductions of state and federal taxes imposed on or measured by income or profits but after deducting all charges (including reserves, regularly recurring charges for amortization of discount, and expense allocable to funded debt) (1) shall have averaged not less than six times the annual consolidated interest charges existing at the time the investment is made; (2) in at least three of those five fiscal years shall have been at least four times the annual consolidated interest charges for the same year; and (3) for the fiscal year next preceding the investment shall have been not less than six times the consolidated interest charges for that year and not less than six times the annual consolidated charges on the funded debt outstanding at the time of the investment.

(Added by Stats. 1988, Ch. 718, Sec. 14.)