4. PARTNERSHIP EQUITY AND DISTRIBUTIONS

Outstanding Units

As of December 31, 2015, our general partner interests consisted of 429,365 general partner units. As of December 31, 2015, the Partnership had common units outstanding of 13,044,654 and subordinated units outstanding of 8,724,545. Azure owned 100% of the interest in our General Partner, representing a 1.93% general partner interest, 255,319 common units representing a 1.2% limited partner interest and 90% of our IDR Units. As of December 31, 2015, NuDevco owned: (i) 1,939,265 of our outstanding common units, representing an 8.9% limited partner interest; (ii) all of our subordinated units, representing a 40.1% limited partner interest; and (iii) 10% of our IDR Units. As of December 31, 2015, the public owned 10,850,070 of our common units, representing a 49.8% limited partner interest.

Distributable Cash and Distributions

The Partnership Agreement, which was amended and restated for the second time on February 27, 2015 for, among other things, the Transactions, requires that within 45 days after the end of each quarter, we distribute all of our available cash to unitholders of record on the applicable record date, as determined by our General Partner. We intend to make at least the minimum quarterly distribution of $0.35 per unit, or $1.40 per unit on an annual basis, to holders of our common and subordinated units, to the extent we have sufficient cash from our operations after the establishment of cash reserves and the payment of costs and expenses, including reimbursement of expenses to our General Partner and its affiliates.

On February 1, 2016, the Partnership announced a temporary suspension of the distributions for the quarterly period ended December 31, 2015. Should the distributions be reinstated, the common unitholders will be entitled to receive the minimum quarterly distribution of $0.35 per unit in arrears for each quarter as to which the distributions were suspended. Payment of any such amount in arrears will be subject to board of directors approval and compliance with the terms of our Partnership Agreement and the agreements governing our indebtedness. Our ability to pay distributions also is reliant on our ability to comply with restrictions contained in the agreements governing our debt. However, there is no guarantee that we will pay the minimum quarterly distribution on our units in any quarter.

The Partnership declared the following cash distributions to its unitholders of record for the periods presented:


	Total Quarterly
	Distribution per		Total Cash		Date of
Quarter ended:	Unit		Distribution (1)		Distribution
December 31, 2015 (2)	$	—		—
September 30, 2015	$	0.370	$	8,213	November 13, 2015
June 30, 2015	$	0.370	$	8,187	August 14, 2015
March 31, 2015	$	0.370	$	6,763	May 15, 2015
December 31, 2014	$	0.365	$	6,593	February 11, 2015
September 30, 2014	$	0.365	$	6,593	November 4, 2014
June 30, 2014	$	0.360	$	6,469	August 5, 2014
March 31, 2014	$	0.355	$	6,375	May 6, 2014

(1)

Total distribution amount includes the distributions paid to our General Partner and does not include the payment associated with the distribution equivalent rights that accrue on all unvested phantom units that have been issued under our long-term incentive plan.

(2)

On February 1, 2016, the Partnership announced a temporary suspension of the distribution for the quarterly period ended December 31, 2015.

General Partner Interest

As of December 31, 2015, Azure owned 100% of our general partner interest. If we issue additional units, our General Partner has the right, but not the obligation, to contribute a proportionate amount of capital to us in order to maintain its general partner interest. The general partner interest, and the percentage of our cash distributions to which our General Partner is entitled from such interest, will be proportionately reduced if we issue additional units in the future (other than the issuance of common units upon conversion of outstanding subordinated units or the issuance of common units upon a reset of the incentive distribution rights) and our General Partner does not contribute a proportionate amount of capital to the Partnership in order to maintain its general partner interest. As of December 31, 2015, the general partner interest was the equivalent of 1.93%. This is a result of our General Partner electing not to make a contribution in connection with the previous issuances of common units related to the vesting of awards under the Marlin Midstream Partners, LP 2013 Long-Term Incentive Plan (“LTIP”) (See Note 12), and due to the issuance of 255,319 common units to Azure in connection with the contribution of Azure ETG.

Incentive Distribution Rights

As of December 31, 2015, Azure owned 90 of our IDR Units and NuDevco owned 10 of our IDR Units. The IDR Units entitle the holder to receive an increasing percentage, 13%, 23% and 48%, of quarterly distributions of available cash from operating surplus after the minimum quarterly distribution and certain target distribution levels have been achieved. The target distribution levels are defined within the Partnership Agreement as: (i) the First Target Distribution of $0.4025 per unit per quarter; (ii) the Second Target Distribution of $0.4375 per unit per quarter; and (iii) the Third Target Distribution of $0.5250 per unit per quarter. The maximum distribution of 48% does not include any distributions that our General Partner, Azure or NuDevco may receive on common, subordinated or general partner units that they own.

Common Units

Our common units represent limited partner interests in us. The holders of our common units are entitled to participate in distributions and are entitled to exercise the rights and privileges available to limited partners under our Partnership Agreement. Our Partnership Agreement provides that, during the Subordination Period, as defined in the Partnership Agreement, the common units have the right to receive distributions of available cash from operating surplus each quarter in an amount that is at least equal to $0.35 per common unit before any distributions of available cash from operating surplus may be made on the subordinated units.

As previously disclosed, the Partnership temporarily suspended distributions for the fourth quarter of 2015. Should the distributions be reinstated, the common unitholders will be entitled to receive the minimum quarterly distribution of $0.35 per unit in arrears for each quarter as to which the distributions were suspended. Payment of any such amount in arrears will be subject to board of directors approval and compliance with the terms of our Partnership Agreement and the agreements governing our indebtedness.

Subordinated Units

Our subordinated units represent limited partner interests in us and convert to common units at the end of the Subordination Period, as defined within the Partnership Agreement. The principal difference between our common units and our subordinated units is that in any quarter during the Subordination Period, holders of the subordinated units are not entitled to receive any distribution of available cash until the common units have received the minimum quarterly distribution plus any arrearages in the payment of the minimum quarterly distribution from prior quarters. Subordinated units do not accrue arrearages.