MDH Acquisition Corp. - Annual Report: 2021 (Form 10-K)
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549
FORM 10-K
☒ ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021
OR
☐ TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
FOR THE TRANSITION PERIOD FROM TO
COMMISSION FILE NUMBER 001-39967
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter) |
Delaware |
| 85-2568803 |
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) |
| (I.R.S. Employer Identification Number) |
600 N. Carroll Ave., Suite 100 | 76092 | |
(Address of principal executive offices) | (Zip Code) |
(415) 968-4444 |
(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code) |
Not applicable (Former name, former address and former fiscal year, if changed since last report) |
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
Title of each class |
| Trading Symbol(s) |
| Name of each exchange on which registered |
Units, each consisting of one share of Class A common stock and one-half of one redeemable warrant |
| MDH.U |
| New York Stock Exchange |
Class A common stock, par value $0.0001 per share |
| MDH |
| New York Stock Exchange |
Redeemable Warrants, each whole warrant exercisable for one share of Class A common stock, each at an exercise price of $11.50 per share |
| MDH.WS |
| New York Stock Exchange |
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☐ No ☒
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐ No ☒
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports) and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports) and has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):
Large accelerated filer ☐ |
| Accelerated filer ☐ |
| Non-accelerated filer ☒ |
| Smaller reporting company ☒ |
| | | Emerging growth company ☒ |
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). Yes ☒ No ☐
The registrant’s units began trading on The New York Stock Exchange on February 2, 2021. The aggregate market value of the Registrant’s shares of Class A common stock outstanding, other than shares held by persons who may be deemed affiliates of the Registrant, computed by reference to the closing price for the Class A common stock as of the last business day of the Registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter ($9.64 as of June 30, 2021), as reported on the New York Stock Exchange, was $266,064,000.
As of April 5, 2022, the Registrant had 27,600,000 shares of its Class A common stock, $0.0001 par value per share, and 6,900,000 shares of its Class B common stock, $0.0001 par value per share, outstanding.
DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE
None.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
Some of the statements contained in this report may constitute “forward-looking statements” for purposes of the federal securities laws. Our forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our or our management team’s expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future. In addition, any statements that refer to projections, forecasts or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. The words “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “would” and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. Forward-looking statements in this report may include, for example, statements about:
● | our ability to select an appropriate target business or businesses; |
● | our ability to complete our initial business combination; |
● | our expectations around the performance of the prospective target business or businesses; |
● | our success in retaining or recruiting, or changes required in, our officers, key employees or directors following our initial business combination; |
● | our officers and directors allocating their time to other businesses and potentially having conflicts of interest with our business or in approving our initial business combination; |
● | our potential ability to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination; |
● | our pool of prospective target businesses; |
● | our ability to consummate an initial business combination due to the uncertainty resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic; |
● | the ability of our officers and directors to generate a number of potential business combination opportunities; |
● | our public securities’ potential liquidity and trading; |
● | the lack of a market for our securities; |
● | the use of proceeds not held in the Trust Account or available to us from interest income on the Trust Account balance; |
● | the Trust Account not being subject to claims of third parties; or |
● | our financial performance following our Public Offering. |
The forward-looking statements contained in this report are based on our current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects on us. There can be no assurance that future developments affecting us will be those that we have anticipated. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties (some of which are beyond our control) or other assumptions that may cause actual results or performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those factors described under the heading “Risk Factors”. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of our assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary in material respects from those projected in these forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.
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SUMMARY OF RISK FACTORS
An investment in our securities involves a high degree of risk. The occurrence of one or more of the events or circumstances described in the section titled “Risk Factors,” alone or in combination with other events or circumstances, may materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results. In that event, the trading price of our securities could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment. Such risks include, but are not limited to:
● | We are a blank check company with no operating history and no revenues, and you have no basis on which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective. |
● | Our public stockholders may not be afforded an opportunity to vote on our proposed initial business combination, which means we may complete our initial business combination even though a majority of our public stockholders do not support such a combination. |
● | Your only opportunity to effect your investment decision regarding a potential business combination may be limited to the exercise of your right to redeem your shares from us for cash. |
● | If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, our initial stockholders and management team have agreed to vote in favor of such initial business combination, regardless of how our public stockholders vote. |
● | The ability of our public stockholders to redeem their shares for cash may make our financial condition unattractive to potential business combination targets, which may make it difficult for us to enter into a business combination with a target. |
● | The ability of our public stockholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our shares may not allow us to complete the most desirable business combination or optimize our capital structure. |
● | The requirement that we complete our initial business combination within 24 months after the closing of the Public Offering may give potential target businesses leverage over us in negotiating a business combination and may limit the time we have in which to conduct due diligence on potential business combination targets, in particular as we approach our dissolution deadline, which could undermine our ability to complete our initial business combination on terms that would produce value for our stockholders. |
● | Our search for a business combination, and any target business with which we ultimately consummate a business combination, may be materially adversely affected by the recent coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and other events and the status of debt and equity markets. |
● | If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may elect to purchase shares or warrants from public stockholders, which may influence a vote on a proposed business combination and reduce the public “float” of our securities. |
● | If a stockholder fails to receive notice of our offer to redeem our public shares in connection with our initial business combination, or fails to comply with the procedures for submitting or tendering its shares, such shares may not be redeemed. |
● | You will not have any rights or interests in funds from the Trust Account, except under certain limited circumstances. Therefore, to liquidate your investment, you may be forced to sell your public shares or warrants, potentially at a loss. |
● | The NYSE may delist our securities from trading on its exchange, which could limit investors’ ability to make transactions in our securities and subject us to additional trading restrictions. |
● | You will not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors of many other blank check companies. |
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● | Because of our limited resources and the significant competition for business combination opportunities, it may be more difficult for us to complete our initial business combination. If we have not completed our initial business combination within the required time period, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on our redemption of their shares, and our warrants will expire worthless |
● | If the net proceeds of the Public Offering and the sale of the private placement warrants not being held in the Trust Account are insufficient to allow us to operate for at least the 24 months following the closing of the Public Offering, it could limit the amount of cash available to fund our search for a target business or businesses and complete our initial business combination, and we will depend on loans from our sponsor or management team to fund our search and to complete our initial business combination |
● | Past performance by our management team and their affiliates, including investments and transactions in which they have participated and businesses with which they have been associated, may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in the company. |
● | Unlike some other similarly structured special purpose acquisition companies, our initial stockholders will receive additional shares of Class A common stock if we issue certain shares to consummate an initial business combination. |
● | We may reincorporate in another jurisdiction in connection with our initial business combination and such reincorporation may result in taxes imposed on stockholders or warrant holders. |
● | Our warrants may have an adverse effect on the market price of our shares of Class A common stock and make it more difficult to effectuate our initial business combination. |
● | We have identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting. If we are unable to develop and maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting, we may not be able to accurately report our financial results in a timely manner, which may adversely affect investor confidence in us and materially and adversely affect our business and operating results. |
● | Our independent registered public accounting firm’s report contains an explanatory paragraph that expresses substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a “going concern”. |
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PART I
References in this report to “we,” “us” or the “Company” refer to MDH Acquisition Corp. References to our “management” or our “management team” refer to our officers and directors, and references to the “sponsor” refer to MDIH Sponsor LLC, a Delaware limited liability company.
ITEM 1. BUSINESS
Introduction
We are a blank check company incorporated in July 2020 as a Delaware corporation formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses. We have neither engaged in any operations nor generated any revenue to date. Based on our business activities, the Company is a “shell company” as defined under the Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”) because we have no operations and nominal assets consisting almost entirely of cash.
On February 4, 2021, we consummated our initial public offering (“Public Offering”) of 27,600,000 units, including the issuance of 3,600,000 units as a result of the underwriters’ full exercise of their over-allotment option. Each unit consists of one share of Class A common stock and one-half of one redeemable warrant. Each whole warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one share of Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share. The units were sold at an offering price of $10.00 per unit, generating gross proceeds, before expenses, of $276,000,000.
On August 17, 2020, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 5,750,000 founder shares (“Founder Shares”) for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000, or approximately $0.004 per share. On February 1, 2021, in connection with the Public Offering, we effected a 1.2-for-1 stock split of our Class B common stock, resulting in an aggregate of 6,900,000 Founder Shares outstanding. The number of Founder Shares outstanding was determined based on the Company’s expectation that the total size of the Public Offering would be a maximum of 27,600,000 units if the underwriters’ over-allotment option was exercised in full, and therefore that such Founder Shares would represent 20% of the outstanding shares after the Public Offering. Prior to our sponsor’s initial investment of $25,000, the Company had no assets, tangible or intangible.
Simultaneously with the closing of the Public Offering, pursuant to the Private Placement Warrants Purchase Agreement, the Company completed the private sale of an aggregate of 6,550,000 warrants (the “Private Placement Warrants”) to the sponsor at a purchase price of $1.00 per Private Placement Warrant, generating gross proceeds to the Company of $6,550,000, a portion of which was added to the proceeds from the Public Offering held in the Trust Account (as defined below). No underwriting discounts or commissions were paid with respect to such sale. The issuance of the Private Placement Warrants was made pursuant to the exemption from registration contained in Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.
The Private Placement Warrants are identical to the Warrants sold in the Public Offering, except that the Private Placement Warrants, so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees, (i) are not redeemable by the us, (ii) may not (including the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of such Private Placement Warrants), subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by such holders until 30 days after the completion of the Company’s initial business combination, (iii) may be exercised by the holders on a cashless basis and (iv) are entitled to registration rights. If the Private Placement Warrants are held by holders other than our sponsor or its permitted transferees, the Private Placement Warrants will be redeemable by us. If the Company does not consummate its initial business combination within 24 months from the closing the Public Offering, the Private Placement Warrants will expire worthless.
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Upon the closing of the Public Offering and the Private Placement, $276,000,000 was placed in a trust account with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee (the “Trust Account”). We are not permitted to withdraw any of the principal or interest held in the Trust Account, except for the withdrawal of interest to pay our taxes and up to $100,000 of interests to pay dissolution expenses, as applicable, if any, until the earliest of (i) the completion of our initial business combination, (ii) the redemption of our public shares if we are unable to complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of the Public Offering, subject to applicable law, or (iii) the redemption of our public shares properly submitted in connection with a stockholder vote to approve an amendment to our second amended and restated certificate of incorporation (“Charter”) (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we have not consummated our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering or (B) with respect to any other provisions relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity. The proceeds held in the Trust Account may only be invested in United States “government securities” within the meaning of Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”), having a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 promulgated under the Investment Company Act which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations.
After the payment of underwriting discounts and commissions (excluding the deferred portion of $9,660,000 in underwriting discounts and commissions payable upon consummation of our initial business combination if consummated) and approximately $430,000 in expenses relating to the Public Offering, approximately $1,300,000 of the net proceeds of the Public Offering and Private Placement was not deposited into the Trust Account and was initially available to us for working capital purposes. The net proceeds deposited into the Trust Account remain on deposit in the Trust Account earning interest. As of December 31, 2021 there was $276,029,717 in investments and cash held in the Trust Account.
Effecting Our Initial Business Combination
General
We are not presently engaged in, and we will not engage in, any operations for an indefinite period of time following the Public Offering. We intend to effectuate our initial business combination using cash from the proceeds of the Public Offering and the private placement of the Private Placement Warrants, the proceeds of the sale of our shares in connection with our initial business combination, shares issued to the owners of the target, debt issued to bank or other lenders or the owners of the target, or a combination of the foregoing.
While we may pursue an acquisition opportunity in any business, industry, sector or geographical location, we intend to focus on industries that complement our management team’s background in transportation and logistics, telecommunications, financial services and professional services, and to capitalize on the ability of our management team to identify and acquire a business. Given the operational experience of our management team, we also intend to focus geographically by pursuing opportunities located in the Heartland, which we describe as the region bounded by the Rockies to the west, the eastern seaboard to the east, the Rust Belt to the north, and the Gulf of Mexico to the south.
Businesses Strategy
Our acquisition and value creation strategy is to identify, acquire and, after our initial business combination, build a company, in an industry or sector that complements the experience of our management team and can benefit from our operational expertise. We will have a generalist approach to industry sectors, but with particular emphasis on industries where we have core competencies and experiences, or industries in which we can leverage the resources and synergistic collaboration our management team’s ecosystem of businesses and relationships. We will target specific niches (i) that have attractive growth characteristics, as well as strong cash flow profiles, (ii) where we can consistently produce proprietary deal flow, and (iii) that can provide the acquired company’s operating management team with access to primary sources of market intelligence.
Our strategy is to focus on the following strategic themes:
● | Companies located in the Heartland of the United States. We intend to search for an initial business combination in the Heartland. We believe many markets located in the Heartland are underserved by the capital markets, possess strong economic growth and as a result create better potential acquisition opportunities. We believe there will be many strong investment opportunities in this area, and our management team’s background and experience make us well positioned to source transactions and build businesses in this growth region. |
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● | Knowledgeable management teams with relevant industry experience and capabilities to lead a public company. We aim to target businesses with expert management teams that have specialized knowledge of their sectors and are active leaders in developing solutions to meet the challenges within the sector they operate. The target’s management team should possess a forward looking and visionary mindset that focuses on growth. We plan to assist the management team in navigating the processes of operating a public company, which include implementing strong corporate governance, financial and accounting controls and reporting. |
● | Companies exposed to attractive end-market trends. We will target companies that are positioned in end-markets with size, stability, competition, profitability and attractive macroeconomic growth drivers. Our management team’s broad investment and operational experience include sectors such as transportation and logistics, telecommunications, financial services and professional services, many of which have niches benefiting from strong underlying market growth. |
● | Companies that have a track record of resilient revenue and earnings. We will seek to acquire businesses that generate consistent and resilient free cash flow. We expect gross margins and contribution margins to be above, or at least in line with, relevant competitors. We view businesses with high gross margins and contribution margins favorably as these businesses typically have a defensible market position that will lead to resilient earnings. Furthermore, we will seek to acquire businesses that have either experienced strong historical growth or have the potential for robust future growth, which would allow for additional operating leverage. |
● | Benefit from being a public company. We intend to acquire a company that will benefit from being publicly traded and can effectively utilize the broader access to capital and public profile resulting from being a publicly traded company. We will also help craft the most efficient capital structure in order to maximize the benefits of being a public company. We would expect to use this efficient cost of capital and greater access to equity capital coupled with our network of sourcing relationships to help the target company look actively at mergers and acquisition opportunities. Our management team’s direct public company experience from the C-Suite to the Board of Directors will be a source of value-add to the operators of the acquired company. |
These criteria are not intended to be exhaustive. Any evaluation relating to the merits of a particular initial business combination may be based, to the extent relevant, on these general guidelines as well as other considerations, factors and criteria that our management may deem relevant.
Sourcing and Evaluation of Business Combination Targets
We utilize the networks and industry experience of our management team and independent directors, as well as investment market participants, private equity groups, investment banking firms, family offices, lenders, attorneys, consultants, accounting firms, large business enterprises and other trusted advisors, to identify potential business combination targets. While we do not presently anticipate engaging the services of professional firms or other individuals that specialize in business acquisitions on any formal basis, we may engage these firms or other individuals in the future, in which event we may pay a finder’s fee, consulting fee or other compensation to be determined in an arm’s length negotiation based on the terms of the transaction. However, in no event will our sponsor or any of our existing officers or directors, or any of their respective affiliates, be paid any finder’s fee, consulting fee or other compensation by us prior to, or for any services they render in order to effectuate, the completion of our initial business combination.
In evaluating a prospective target business, we expect to conduct a due diligence review which may encompass, among other things, meetings with incumbent management, document reviews, interviews of customers and suppliers, inspection of facilities, as applicable, as well as a review of financial, operational, legal and other information which will be made available to us. If we determine to move forward with a particular target, we will proceed to structure and negotiate the terms of the business combination transaction. The time required to select and evaluate a target business and to structure and complete our initial business combination, and the costs associated with this process, are not currently ascertainable with any degree of certainty. Any costs incurred with respect to the identification and evaluation of, and negotiation with, a prospective target business with which our initial business combination is not ultimately completed will result in our incurring losses and will reduce the funds we can use to complete another business combination. The company will not pay any consulting fees to members of our management team, or any of their respective affiliates, for services rendered to or in connection with our initial business combination.
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We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a business combination target that is affiliated with our sponsor, management team or independent directors, or from completing the business combination through a joint venture or other form of shared ownership with our sponsor, officers or independent directors. If we seek to complete our initial business combination with a target that is affiliated with our sponsor, management team or independent directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, would obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA or a valuation or appraisal firm that such an initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view. We are not required to obtain such an opinion in any other context.
Members of our management team and our independent directors directly or indirectly own Founder Shares and/or private placement warrants and, accordingly, may have a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target business is an appropriate business with which to effectuate our initial business combination. Further, each of our officers and directors may have a conflict of interest with respect to evaluating a particular business combination if the retention or resignation of any such officers and directors is included by a target business as a condition to any agreement with respect to our initial business combination.
Each of our officers and directors presently has, and any of them in the future may have, additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to another entity pursuant to which such officer or director is or may be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entity. Accordingly, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for an entity to which he or she has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she will honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such business combination opportunity to such other entity, subject to their fiduciary duties under Delaware law. Our Charter provides that we renounce our interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any director or officer unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of the company and it is an opportunity that we are able to complete on a reasonable basis. However, we do not believe that the fiduciary duties or contractual obligations of our officers or directors will materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination.
In addition, our sponsor and our officers and directors may pursue other business or investment ventures during the period in which we are seeking an initial business combination. Any such companies, businesses or investments may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an initial business combination. However, the members of our management team have agreed not to participate in the formation of, or become an officer or director of, any other special purpose acquisition company with a class of securities registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, until we have entered into a definitive agreement regarding our initial business combination or we have failed to complete our initial business combination within 24 months after the closing of this offering. We do not believe that any such potential conflicts would materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination.
Initial Business Combination
The rules of the NYSE and our Charter require that we consummate an initial business combination with one or more operating businesses or assets with a fair market value equal to at least 80% of the net assets held in the Trust Account (excluding the amount of any deferred underwriting discount held in trust) at the time of our signing a definitive agreement in connection with our initial business combination. Our board of directors will make the determination as to the fair market value of our initial business combination. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of our initial business combination (including with the assistance of financial advisors), we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (“FINRA”) or a valuation or appraisal firm with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. While we consider it likely that our board of directors will be able to make an independent determination of the fair market value of our initial business combination, it may be unable to do so if it is less familiar or experienced with the business of a particular target or if there is a significant amount of uncertainty as to the value of the target’s assets or prospects.
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We anticipate structuring our initial business combination so that the post-transaction company in which our public stockholders own shares will own or acquire 100% of the equity interests or assets of the target business or businesses. However, we may structure our initial business combination such that the post-transaction company owns or acquires less than 100% of such interests or assets of the target business in order to meet certain objectives of the target management team or stockholders or for other reasons, but we will only complete such business combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. Even if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our stockholders prior to the business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post-transaction company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the business combination. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock, shares or other equity securities of a target. In this case, we would acquire a 100% controlling interest in the target.
However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new shares, our stockholders immediately prior to our initial business combination could own less than a majority of our issued and outstanding shares subsequent to our initial business combination. If less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses are owned or acquired by the post-transaction company, the portion of such business or businesses that is owned or acquired is what will be taken into account for purposes of the 80% of net assets test described above. If the business combination involves more than one target business, the 80% of net assets test will be based on the aggregate value of all of the target businesses.
Redemption Rights for Holders of Public Shares Upon Consummation of Our Initial Business Combination
We will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their public shares upon the completion of our initial business combination at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the Trust Account calculated as of two business days prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable), divided by the number of then issued and outstanding public shares, subject to the limitations and on the conditions described herein. The redemption rights will include the requirement that any beneficial owner on behalf of which a redemption right is being exercised must identify itself in order to validly redeem its shares. There will be no redemption rights upon the completion of our initial business combination with respect to our warrants. Our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to their Founder Shares and any public shares they may acquire after the Public Offering in connection with the completion of our initial business combination.
If a stockholder vote is not required and we do not decide to hold a stockholder vote for business or other legal reasons, we will, pursuant to our Charter: (a) conduct the redemptions pursuant to Rule 13e-4 and Regulation 14E under the Exchange Act, which regulate issuer tender offers; and (b) file tender offer documents with the SEC prior to completing our initial business combination which contain substantially the same financial and other information about the initial business combination and the redemption rights as is required under Regulation 14A under the Exchange Act, which regulates the solicitation of proxies.
Resources and Competition
Our Charter provides that we will have only 24 months from the closing of the Public Offering to complete our initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination within such 24-month period, we will (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the Trust Account, including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable and up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then issued and outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidation distributions, if any) and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject, in the case of clauses (ii) and (iii), to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and in all cases subject to the other requirements of applicable law.
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In identifying, evaluating and selecting a target business for our initial business combination, we may encounter competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours, including other special purpose acquisition companies, private equity groups and leveraged buyout funds, public companies and operating businesses seeking strategic acquisitions. Many of these entities are well established and have extensive experience identifying and effecting business combinations directly or through affiliates. Moreover, many of these competitors possess similar or greater financial, technical, human and other resources than us. Our ability to acquire larger target businesses will be limited by our available financial resources. This inherent limitation gives others an advantage in pursuing the acquisition of a target business. Furthermore, our obligation to pay cash in connection with our public stockholders who exercise their redemption rights may reduce the resources available to us for our initial business combination and our issued and outstanding warrants, and the future dilution they potentially represent, may not be viewed favorably by certain target businesses. Either of these factors may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating an initial business combination.
Facilities
We currently utilize office space at 600 N. Carroll Ave., Suite 100, Southlake, TX 76092 from our sponsor and the members of our management team as our executive offices. We consider our current office space adequate for our current operations.
Employees
We currently have four officers: Franklin McLarty, Jim Wilkinson, Beau Blair and Brent Whittington. These individuals are not obligated to devote any specific number of hours to our matters but they intend to devote as much of their time as they deem necessary to our affairs until we have completed our initial business combination. The amount of time they will devote in any time period will vary based on whether a target business has been selected for our initial business combination and the stage of the business combination process we are in. We do not intend to have any full-time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination.
Available Information
We are required to file Annual Reports on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q with the SEC on a regular basis, and are required to disclose certain material events (e.g., changes in corporate control, acquisitions or dispositions of a significant amount of assets other than in the ordinary course of business and bankruptcy) in a Current Report on Form 8-K. The SEC maintains an Internet website that contains reports, proxy and information statements and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC. The SEC’s Internet website is located at http://www.sec.gov. In addition, the Company will provide copies of these documents without charge upon request from us in writing at 600 N. Carroll Ave., Suite 100, Southlake, TX 76092 or by telephone at (415) 968-4444.
We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), as modified by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the “JOBS Act”). As such, we are eligible to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a non-binding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. In addition, Section 107 of the JOBS Act also 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 for complying with new or revised accounting standards. In other words, an “emerging growth company” can delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of (1) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following the fifth anniversary of the completion of the Public Offering, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion, or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our Class A common stock that are held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30, and (2) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities during the prior three-year period. References herein to “emerging growth company” have the meaning associated with it in the JOBS Act.
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Additionally, we are a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Item 10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K. Smaller reporting companies may take advantage of certain reduced disclosure obligations, including, among other things, providing only two years of audited financial statements. We will remain a smaller reporting company until the last day of the fiscal year in which (1) the market value of our Common Stock held by non-affiliates is equal to or exceeds $250 million as of the prior June 30th and (2) our annual revenues were equal to or exceeded $100 million during such completed fiscal year and the market value of our Common Stock held by non-affiliates is equal to or exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30th.
ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
An investment in our securities involves a high degree of risk. You should consider carefully all of the risks described below, together with the other information contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K and the prospectus associated with our Public Offering, before making a decision to invest in our securities. If any of the following events occur, our business, financial condition and operating results may be materially adversely affected. In that event, the trading price of our securities could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment.
Risks Relating to our Search for, and Consummation of or Inability to Consummate, a Business Combination
Our public stockholders may not be afforded an opportunity to vote on our proposed initial business combination, and even if we hold a vote, holders of our Founder Shares will participate in such vote, which means we may complete our initial business combination even though a majority of our public stockholders do not support such a combination.
We may choose not to hold a stockholder vote to approve our initial business combination unless the business combination would require stockholder approval under applicable law or stock exchange listing requirements. In such case, the decision as to whether we will seek stockholder approval of a proposed business combination or will allow stockholders to sell their shares to us in a tender offer will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on a variety of factors, such as the timing of the transaction and whether the terms of the transaction would otherwise require us to seek stockholder approval. Even if we seek stockholder approval, the holders of our Founder Shares will participate in the vote on such approval. Accordingly, we may complete our initial business combination even if holders of a majority of our public stockholders do not approve of the business combination we complete.
Your only opportunity to effect your investment decision regarding a potential business combination may be limited to the exercise of your right to redeem your shares from us for cash.
Since our board of directors may complete a business combination without seeking stockholder approval, public stockholders may not have the right or opportunity to vote on the business combination, unless we seek such stockholder vote. Accordingly, your only opportunity to effect your investment decision regarding our initial business combination may be limited to exercising your redemption rights within the period of time (which will be at least 20 business days) set forth in our tender offer documents mailed to our public stockholders in which we describe our initial business combination.
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, our initial stockholders and management team have agreed to vote in favor of such initial business combination, regardless of how our public stockholders vote.
Our initial stockholders own 20% of our issued and outstanding shares of Common Stock. Our initial stockholders and management team also may from time to time purchase shares of Class A common stock prior to our initial business combination. Our Charter provides that, if we seek stockholder approval of an initial business combination, such initial business combination will be approved if we receive the affirmative vote of a majority of the shares voted at such meeting, including the Founder Shares. As a result, in addition to our initial stockholders’ Founder Shares, we would need 10,350,001, or 37.5%, of the 27,600,000 public shares sold in the Public Offering to be voted in favor of an initial business combination in order to have our initial business combination approved. Accordingly, if we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, the agreement by our initial stockholders and management team to vote in favor of our initial business combination will increase the likelihood that we will receive the requisite stockholder approval for such initial business combination.
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The ability of our public stockholders to redeem their shares for cash may make our financial condition unattractive to potential business combination targets, which may make it difficult for us to enter into a business combination with a target.
We may seek to enter into a business combination transaction agreement with a minimum cash requirement for (i) cash consideration to be paid to the target or its owners, (ii) cash for working capital or other general corporate purposes or (iii) the retention of cash to satisfy other conditions. If too many public stockholders exercise their redemption rights, we would not be able to meet such closing condition and, as a result, would not be able to proceed with the business combination. Furthermore, in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001. Consequently, if accepting all properly submitted redemption requests would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 or such greater amount necessary to satisfy a condition as described above, we would not proceed with such redemption and the related business combination and may instead search for an alternate business combination. Prospective targets will be aware of these risks and, thus, may be reluctant to enter into a business combination transaction with us.
The ability of our public stockholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our shares may not allow us to complete the most desirable business combination or optimize our capital structure.
At the time we enter into an agreement for our initial business combination, we will not know how many stockholders may exercise their redemption rights, and therefore will need to structure the transaction based on our expectations as to the number of shares that will be submitted for redemption. If our initial business combination agreement requires us to use a portion of the cash in the Trust Account to pay the purchase price, or requires us to have a minimum amount of cash at closing, we will need to reserve a portion of the cash in the Trust Account to meet such requirements, or arrange for third party financing. In addition, if a larger number of shares are submitted for redemption than we initially expected, we may need to restructure the transaction to reserve a greater portion of the cash in the Trust Account or arrange for third party financing. Raising additional third-party financing may involve dilutive equity issuances or the incurrence of indebtedness at higher than desirable levels. Furthermore, this dilution would increase to the extent that the anti-dilution provision of the Class B Common Stock results in the issuance of shares of Class A common stock on a greater than one-to-one basis upon conversion of the shares of Class B Common Stock at the time of our initial business combination. In addition, the amount of the deferred underwriting commissions payable to the underwriters will not be adjusted for any shares that are redeemed in connection with an initial business combination. The per share amount we will distribute to stockholders who properly exercise their redemption rights will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting commission and after such redemptions, the amount held in trust will continue to reflect our obligation to pay the entire deferred underwriting commissions. The above considerations may limit our ability to complete the most desirable business combination available to us or optimize our capital structure.
The ability of our public stockholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our shares could increase the probability that our initial business combination would be unsuccessful and that you would have to wait for liquidation in order to redeem your shares.
If our initial business combination agreement requires us to use a portion of the cash in the Trust Account to pay the purchase price, or requires us to have a minimum amount of cash at closing, the probability that our initial business combination would be unsuccessful is increased. If our initial business combination is unsuccessful, you would not receive your pro rata portion of the Trust Account until we liquidate the Trust Account. If you are in need of immediate liquidity, you could attempt to sell your shares in the open market; however, at such time our shares may trade at a discount to the pro rata amount per share in the Trust Account. In either situation, you may suffer a material loss on your investment or lose the benefit of funds expected in connection with your exercise of redemption rights until we liquidate or you are able to sell your shares in the open market.
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The requirement that we complete our initial business combination within 24 months after the closing of the Public Offering may give potential target businesses leverage over us in negotiating a business combination and may limit the time we have in which to conduct due diligence on potential business combination targets, in particular as we approach our dissolution deadline, which could undermine our ability to complete our initial business combination on terms that would produce value for our stockholders.
Any potential target business with which we enter into negotiations concerning a business combination will be aware that we must complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of the Public Offering. Consequently, such target business may obtain leverage over us in negotiating a business combination, knowing that if we do not complete our initial business combination with that particular target business, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination with any target business. This risk will increase as we get closer to the timeframe described above. In addition, we may have limited time to conduct due diligence and may enter into our initial business combination on terms that we would have rejected upon a more comprehensive investigation.
Our search for a business combination, and any target business with which we ultimately consummate a business combination, may be materially adversely affected by the recent coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and the status of debt and equity markets.
Since it was first reported to have emerged in December 2019, a novel strain of coronavirus, which causes COVID-19, has spread across the world, including the United States. The COVID-19 outbreak has resulted in, and a significant outbreak of other infectious diseases could result in, a widespread health crisis adversely affecting the economies and financial markets worldwide, potentially including the business of any potential target business with which we intend to consummate a business combination. Furthermore, we may be unable to complete a business combination at all if concerns relating to COVID-19 continue to restrict travel, limit the ability to have meetings with potential investors or make it impossible or impractical to negotiate and consummate a transaction with the target company’s personnel, vendors and service providers in a timely manner, if at all. The extent to which COVID-19 impacts our search for a business combination will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, including new information that may emerge concerning the severity of COVID-19 and the actions to contain COVID-19 or its impact, among others. If the disruptions posed by COVID-19 or other matters of global concern continue for an extensive period of time, our ability to consummate a business combination, or the operations of a target business with which we ultimately consummate a business combination, may be materially adversely affected.
In addition, our ability to consummate a transaction may be dependent on the ability to raise equity and debt financing, which may be impacted by COVID-19 and other events, including as a result of increased market volatility, decreased market liquidity and third-party financing being unavailable on terms acceptable to us or at all.
We may not be able to complete our initial business combination within 24 months after the closing of the Public Offering, in which case we would cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up and we would redeem our public shares and liquidate.
We may not be able to find a suitable target business and complete our initial business combination within 24 months after the closing of the Public Offering. Our ability to complete our initial business combination may be negatively impacted by general market conditions, volatility in the capital and debt markets and the other risks described herein. If we have not completed our initial business combination within such time period, we will (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the Trust Account, including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable and up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then issued and outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidation distributions, if any) and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in the case of clauses (ii) and (iii), to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and in all cases subject to the other requirements of applicable law.
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If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor, initial stockholders, directors, officers, advisors and their affiliates may elect to purchase shares or public warrants from public stockholders, which may influence a vote on a proposed business combination and reduce the public “float” of our Class A common stock.
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase shares or public warrants in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination, although they are under no obligation to do so. There is no limit on the number of shares our initial stockholders, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase in such transactions, subject to compliance with applicable law and the NYSE rules. However, they have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such transactions. None of the funds in the Trust Account will be used to purchase shares or public warrants in such transactions. Such purchases may include a contractual acknowledgment that such stockholder, although still the record holder of our shares, is no longer the beneficial owner thereof and therefore agrees not to exercise its redemption rights.
In the event that our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates purchase shares in privately negotiated transactions from public stockholders who have already elected to exercise their redemption rights, such selling stockholders would be required to revoke their prior elections to redeem their shares. The purpose of any such purchases of shares could be to vote such shares in favor of the business combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining stockholder approval of the business combination or to satisfy a closing condition in an agreement with a target that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash at the closing of our initial business combination, where it appears that such requirement would otherwise not be met. The purpose of any such purchases of public warrants could be to reduce the number of public warrants outstanding or to vote such warrants on any matters submitted to the warrant holders for approval in connection with our initial business combination. Any such purchases of our securities may result in the completion of our initial business combination that may not otherwise have been possible. Any such purchases will be reported pursuant to Section 13 and Section 16 of the Exchange Act to the extent such purchasers are subject to such reporting requirements.
In addition, if such purchases are made, the public “float” of our Class A common stock or public warrants and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, possibly making it difficult to obtain or maintain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange.
If a stockholder fails to receive notice of our offer to redeem our public shares in connection with our initial business combination, or fails to comply with the procedures for submitting or tendering its shares, such shares may not be redeemed.
We will comply with the proxy rules or tender offer rules, as applicable, when conducting redemptions in connection with our initial business combination. Despite our compliance with these rules, if a stockholder fails to receive our proxy materials or tender offer documents, as applicable, such stockholder may not become aware of the opportunity to redeem its shares. In addition, proxy materials or tender offer documents, as applicable, that we will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination will describe the various procedures that must be complied with in order to validly tender or submit public shares for redemption. For example, we intend to require our public stockholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” to, at the holder’s option, either deliver their share certificates to our transfer agent, or to deliver their shares to our transfer agent electronically prior to the date set forth in the proxy materials or tender offer documents, as applicable. In the case of proxy materials, this date may be up to two business days prior to the scheduled vote on the proposal to approve the initial business combination. In addition, if we conduct redemptions in connection with a stockholder vote, we intend to require a public stockholder seeking redemption of its public shares to also submit a written request for redemption to our transfer agent two business days prior to the scheduled vote in which the name of the beneficial owner of such shares is included. In the event that a stockholder fails to comply with these or any other procedures disclosed in the proxy or tender offer materials, as applicable, its shares may not be redeemed.
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You will not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors of many other blank check companies.
Since the net proceeds of the Public Offering and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants are intended to be used to complete an initial business combination with a target business that has not been selected, we may be deemed to be a “blank check” company under the United States securities laws. However, because we had net tangible assets in excess of $5,000,000 upon the completion of the Public Offering and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants and filed a Current Report on Form 8-K, including an audited balance sheet demonstrating this fact, we are exempt from rules promulgated by the SEC to protect investors in blank check companies, such as Rule 419. Accordingly, investors will not be afforded the benefits or protections of those rules. Among other things, this means our units were immediately tradable and we have a longer period of time to complete our initial business combination than do companies subject to Rule 419.
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, and if you or a “group” of stockholders are deemed to hold in excess of 15% of our shares of Class A common stock, you will lose the ability to redeem all such shares in excess of 15% of our shares of Class A common stock.
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our Charter provides that a public stockholder, together with any affiliate of such stockholder or any other person with whom such stockholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined in Section 13 of the Exchange Act ), will be restricted from seeking redemption rights with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in the Public Offering without our prior consent, which we refer to as the “Excess Shares.” However, we would not be restricting our stockholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our initial business combination. Our stockholders’ inability to redeem the Excess Shares will reduce our stockholders influence over our ability to complete our initial business combination and stockholders could suffer a material loss on your investment in us if you sell Excess Shares in open-market transactions. Additionally, you will not receive redemption distributions with respect to the Excess Shares if we complete our initial business combination. And as a result, our stockholders will continue to hold that number of shares exceeding 15% and, in order to dispose of such shares, would be required to sell their shares in open-market transactions, potentially at a loss.
Because of our limited resources and the significant competition for business combination opportunities, it may be more difficult for us to complete our initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only their pro rata portion of the funds in the Trust Account that are available for distribution to public stockholders, and our warrants will expire worthless.
We expect to encounter competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours, including private investors (which may be individuals or investment partnerships), other blank check companies and other entities, domestic and international, competing for the types of businesses we intend to acquire. Many of these individuals and entities are well-established and have extensive experience in identifying and effecting, directly or indirectly, acquisitions of companies operating in or providing services to various industries. Many of these competitors possess similar or greater technical, human and other resources to ours or more local industry knowledge than we do and our financial resources will be relatively limited when contrasted with those of many of these competitors. While we believe there are numerous target businesses we could potentially acquire with the net proceeds of the Public Offering and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants, our ability to compete with respect to the acquisition of certain target businesses that are sizable will be limited by our available financial resources. This inherent competitive limitation gives others an advantage in pursuing the acquisition of certain target businesses. Furthermore, we are obligated to offer holders of our public shares the right to redeem their shares for cash at the time of our initial business combination in conjunction with a stockholder vote or via a tender offer. Target companies will be aware that this may reduce the resources available to us for our initial business combination. Any of these obligations may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating a business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only their pro rata portion of the funds in the Trust Account that are available for distribution to public stockholders, and our warrants will expire worthless.
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If the net proceeds of the Public Offering and the sale of the private placement warrants not being held in the Trust Account are insufficient to allow us to operate for 24 months from the closing of the Public Offering, it could limit the amount available to fund our search for a target business or businesses and complete our initial business combination, and we will depend on loans from our sponsor or management team to fund our search and to complete our initial business combination.
Of the net proceeds of the Public Offering, only approximately $1,340,391 was available to us initially outside the Trust Account to fund our working capital requirements. We believe that the funds available to us outside of the Trust Account will be sufficient to allow us to operate for 24 months from the closing of the Public Offering; however, we cannot assure you that our estimates of our working capital requirements are accurate. We could use a portion of the funds as a down payment or to fund a “no-shop” provision (a provision in letters of intent or merger agreements designed to keep target businesses from “shopping” around for transactions with other companies or investors on terms more favorable to such target businesses) with respect to a particular proposed business combination, although we do not have any current intention to do so. If we entered into a letter of intent or merger agreement where we paid for the right to receive exclusivity from a target business and were subsequently required to forfeit such funds (whether as a result of our breach or otherwise), we might not have sufficient funds to continue searching for, or conduct due diligence with respect to, a target business.
If we are required to seek additional capital, we would need to borrow funds from our sponsor, management team or other third parties to operate or may be forced to liquidate. Neither our sponsor, members of our management team nor any of their affiliates is under any obligation to advance funds to us in such circumstances. Any such advances would be repaid only from funds held outside the Trust Account or from funds released to us upon completion of our initial business combination. Our sponsor has advanced us approximately $535,000 as of April 5, 2022.
Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into private placement warrants of the post-business combination entity at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender. Such warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants. Prior to the completion of our initial business combination, we do not expect to seek loans from parties other than our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor as we do not believe third parties will be willing to loan such funds and provide a waiver against any and all rights to seek access to funds in our Trust Account. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination because we do not have sufficient funds available to us, we will be forced to cease operations and liquidate the Trust Account. Consequently, our public stockholders may only receive an estimated $10.00 per share, or possibly less, on our redemption of our public shares, and our warrants will expire worthless.
If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the Trust Account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.00 per share.
The funds in the Trust Account may not protect those funds from third party claims against us. Although we will seek to have all vendors, service providers, prospective target businesses and other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the Trust Account for the benefit of our public stockholders, such parties may not execute such agreements, or even if they execute such agreements they may not be prevented from bringing claims against the Trust Account, including, but not limited to, fraudulent inducement, breach of fiduciary responsibility or other similar claims, as well as claims challenging the enforceability of the waiver, in each case in order to gain advantage with respect to a claim against our assets, including the funds held in the Trust Account. If any third party refuses to execute an agreement waiving such claims to the monies held in the Trust Account, our management will consider whether competitive alternatives are reasonably available to us and will only enter into an agreement with such third party if management believes that such third party’s engagement would be in the best interests of the company under the circumstances. Marcum LLP, our independent registered public accounting firm, and Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Inc. and Oppenheimer & Co., Inc, the underwriters of the Public Offering, will not execute agreements with us waiving such claims to the monies held in the Trust Account.
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Examples of possible instances where we may engage a third party that refuses to execute a waiver include the engagement of a third-party consultant whose particular expertise or skills are believed by management to be significantly superior to those of other consultants that would agree to execute a waiver or in cases where management is unable to find a service provider willing to execute a waiver. In addition, there is no guarantee that such entities will agree to waive any claims they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any negotiations, contracts or agreements with us and will not seek recourse against the Trust Account for any reason. Upon redemption of our public shares, if we are unable to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed timeframe, or upon the exercise of a redemption right in connection with our initial business combination, we will be required to provide for payment of claims of creditors that were not waived that may be brought against us within the 10 years following redemption. Accordingly, the per-share redemption amount received by public stockholders could be less than the $10.00 per public share initially held in the Trust Account, due to claims of such creditors. Pursuant to the letter agreement the form of which is filed as an exhibit to the registration statement relating to the Public Offering, our sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a third party for services rendered or products sold to us, or a prospective target business with which we have entered into a written letter of intent, confidentiality or other similar agreement or business combination agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the Trust Account to below the lesser of (i) $10.00 per public share and (ii) the actual amount per public share held in the Trust Account as of the date of the liquidation of the Trust Account, if less than $10.00 per share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, less taxes payable, provided that such liability will not apply to any claims by a third party or prospective target business who executed a waiver of any and all rights to the monies held in the Trust Account (whether or not such waiver is enforceable) nor did it apply to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of the Public Offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. However, we have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such indemnification obligations, nor have we independently verified whether our sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and we believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our company. Therefore, we cannot assure you that our sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations. As a result, if any such claims were successfully made against the Trust Account, the funds available for our initial business combination and redemptions could be reduced to less than $10.00 per public share. In such event, we may not be able to complete our initial business combination, and you would receive such lesser amount per share in connection with any redemption of your public shares. None of our officers or directors will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses.
Our directors may decide not to enforce the indemnification obligations of our sponsor, resulting in a reduction in the amount of funds in the Trust Account available for distribution to our public stockholders.
In the event that the proceeds in the Trust Account are reduced below the lesser of (i) $10.00 per share and (ii) the actual amount per public share held in the Trust Account as of the date of the liquidation of the Trust Account if less than $10.00 per share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case less taxes payable, and our sponsor asserts that it is unable to satisfy its obligations or that it has no indemnification obligations related to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether to take legal action against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations. While we currently expect that our independent directors would take legal action on our behalf against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations to us, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment and subject to their fiduciary duties may choose not to do so in any particular instance if, for example, the cost of such legal action is deemed by the independent directors to be too high relative to the amount recoverable or if the independent directors determine that a favorable outcome is not likely. If our independent directors choose not to enforce these indemnification obligations, the amount of funds in the Trust account available for distribution to our public stockholders may be reduced below $10.00 per share.
If, after we distribute the proceeds in the Trust Account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy or insolvency petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or insolvency petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, a bankruptcy court may seek to recover such proceeds, and the members of our board of directors may be viewed as having breached their fiduciary duties to our creditors, thereby exposing the members of our board of directors and us to claims of punitive damages.
If, after we distribute the proceeds in the Trust Account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy or insolvency petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or insolvency petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, any distributions received by stockholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or bankruptcy laws as either a “preferential transfer” or a “fraudulent conveyance.” As a result, a bankruptcy court could seek to recover some or all amounts received by our stockholders. In addition, our board of directors may be viewed as having breached its fiduciary duty to our creditors and/or having acted in bad faith, thereby exposing itself and us to claims of punitive damages, by paying public stockholders from the Trust Account prior to addressing the claims of creditors.
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If, before distributing the proceeds in the Trust Account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy or insolvency petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or insolvency petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the claims of creditors in such proceeding may have priority over the claims of our stockholders and the per- share amount that would otherwise be received by our stockholders in connection with our liquidation may be reduced.
If, before distributing the proceeds in the Trust Account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy or insolvency petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or insolvency petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the proceeds held in the Trust Account could be subject to applicable bankruptcy law, and may be included in our bankruptcy estate and subject to the claims of third parties with priority over the claims of our stockholders. To the extent any bankruptcy claims deplete the Trust Account, the per-share amount that would otherwise be received by our stockholders in connection with our liquidation may be reduced.
If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, we may be required to institute burdensome compliance requirements and our activities may be restricted, which may make it difficult for us to complete our initial business combination.
If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, our activities may be restricted, including:
● | restrictions on the nature of our investments; and |
● | restrictions on the issuance of securities, |
each of which may make it difficult for us to complete our initial business combination. In addition, we may have imposed upon us burdensome requirements, including:
● | registration as an investment company; |
● | adoption of a specific form of corporate structure; and |
● | reporting, record keeping, voting, proxy and disclosure requirements and other rules and regulations. |
In order not to be regulated as an investment company under the Investment Company Act, unless we can qualify for an exclusion, we must ensure that we are engaged primarily in a business other than investing, reinvesting or trading of securities and that our activities do not include investing, reinvesting, owning, holding or trading “investment securities” constituting more than 40% of our assets (exclusive of U.S. government securities and cash items) on an unconsolidated basis. Our business is to identify and complete a business combination and thereafter to operate the post-transaction business or assets for the long term. We do not plan to buy businesses or assets with a view to resale or profit from their resale. We do not plan to buy unrelated businesses or assets or to be a passive investor.
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We do not believe that our principal activities subject us to the Investment Company Act. To this end, the proceeds held in the Trust Account may only be invested in United States “government securities” within the meaning of Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act having a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 promulgated under the Investment Company Act that invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations. Pursuant to the trust agreement, the trustee is not permitted to invest in other securities or assets. By restricting the investment of the proceeds to these instruments, and by having a business plan targeted at acquiring and growing businesses for the long term (rather than on buying and selling businesses in the manner of a merchant bank or private equity fund), we intend to avoid being deemed an “investment company” within the meaning of the Investment Company Act. The Trust Account is a holding place for funds pending the earliest to occur of either: (i) the completion of our initial business combination; (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly submitted in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our Charter (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of the Public Offering or (B) with respect to any other provisions relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity; or (iii) absent an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of the Public Offering, our return of the funds held in the Trust Account to our public stockholders as part of our redemption of the public shares. If we do not invest the proceeds as discussed above, we may be deemed to be subject to the Investment Company Act. If we were deemed to be subject to the Investment Company Act, compliance with these additional regulatory burdens would require additional expenses for which we have not allotted funds and may hinder our ability to complete a business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may only receive their pro rata portion of the funds in the Trust Account that are available for distribution to public stockholders, and our warrants will expire worthless.
Changes in laws or regulations, or a failure to comply with any laws and regulations, may adversely affect our business, including our ability to negotiate and complete our initial business combination, and results of operations.
We are subject to laws and regulations enacted by national, regional and local governments. In particular, we will be required to comply with certain SEC and other legal requirements. Compliance with, and monitoring of, applicable laws and regulations may be difficult, time consuming and costly. Those laws and regulations and their interpretation and application may also change from time to time and those changes could have a material adverse effect on our business, investments and results of operations. In addition, a failure to comply with applicable laws or regulations, as interpreted and applied, could have a material adverse effect on our business, including our ability to negotiate and complete our initial business combination, and results of operations.
Our stockholders may be held liable for claims by third parties against us to the extent of distributions received by them upon redemption of their shares.
Under the Delaware General Corporation Law (“DGCL”), stockholders may be held liable for claims by third parties against a corporation to the extent of distributions received by them in a dissolution. The pro rata portion of our Trust Account distributed to our public stockholders upon the redemption of our public shares in the event we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of the Public Offering may be considered a liquidating distribution under Delaware law. If a corporation complies with certain procedures set forth in Section 280 of the DGCL intended to ensure that it makes reasonable provision for all claims against it, including a 60-day notice period during which any third-party claims can be brought against the corporation, a 90-day period during which the corporation may reject any claims brought, and an additional 150-day waiting period before any liquidating distributions are made to stockholders, any liability of stockholders with respect to a liquidating distribution is limited to the lesser of such stockholder’s pro rata share of the claim or the amount distributed to the stockholder, and any liability of the stockholder would be barred after the third anniversary of the dissolution. However, it is our intention to redeem our public shares as soon as reasonably possible following the 12th month from the closing of the Public Offering (or following the 18th month from the closing of the Public Offering if we extend the period of time to consummate a business combination by the full amount of time) in the event we do not complete our initial business combination and, therefore, we do not intend to comply with the foregoing procedures.
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Because we will not comply with Section 280, Section 281(b) of the DGCL requires us to adopt a plan, based on facts known to us at such time that will provide for our payment of all existing and pending claims or claims that may be potentially brought against us within the 10 years following our dissolution. However, because we are a blank check company, rather than an operating company, and our operations are limited to searching for prospective target businesses to acquire, the only likely claims to arise would be from our vendors (such as lawyers, investment bankers, etc.) or prospective target businesses. If our plan of distribution complies with Section 281(b) of the DGCL, any liability of stockholders with respect to a liquidating distribution is limited to the lesser of such stockholder’s pro rata share of the claim or the amount distributed to the stockholder, and any liability of the stockholder would likely be barred after the third anniversary of the dissolution. We cannot assure you that we will properly assess all claims that may be potentially brought against us. As such, our stockholders could potentially be liable for any claims to the extent of distributions received by them (but no more) and any liability of our stockholders may extend beyond the third anniversary of such date. Furthermore, if the pro rata portion of our Trust Account distributed to our public stockholders upon the redemption of our public shares in the event we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of the Public Offering is not considered a liquidating distribution under Delaware law and such redemption distribution is deemed to be unlawful (potentially due to the imposition of legal proceedings that a party may bring or due to other circumstances that are currently unknown), then pursuant to Section 174 of the DGCL, the statute of limitations for claims of creditors could then be six years after the unlawful redemption distribution, instead of three years, as in the case of a liquidating distribution.
We may not hold an annual meeting of stockholders until after the consummation of our initial business combination, which could delay the opportunity for our stockholders to appoint directors.
In accordance with the NYSE corporate governance requirements, we are not required to hold an annual meeting of stockholders until no later than one year after our first fiscal year end following our listing on the NYSE. Under Section 211(b) of the DGCL, we are, however required to hold an annual meeting of stockholders for the purposes of electing directors in accordance with our bylaws unless such election is made by written consent in lieu of such a meeting. We may not hold an annual meeting of stockholders to elect new directors prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, and thus we may not be in compliance with Section 211(b) of the DGCL, which requires an annual meeting. Therefore, if our stockholders want us to hold an annual meeting prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, they may attempt to force us to hold one by submitting an application to the Delaware Court of Chancery in accordance with Section 211(c) of the DGCL.
Because we neither are limited to evaluating a target business in a particular industry sector nor have selected any target businesses with which to pursue our initial business combination, you will be unable to ascertain the merits or risks of any particular target business’s operations.
Our efforts to identify a prospective initial business combination target will not be limited to a particular industry, sector or geographic region. While we may pursue an initial business combination opportunity in any industry or sector, we intend to capitalize on the ability of our management team to identify and acquire a business or businesses that can benefit from our management team’s established global relationships and operating experience. Our Charter prohibits us from effectuating a business combination with another blank check company or similar company with nominal operations. To the extent we complete our initial business combination, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in the business operations with which we combine. For example, if we combine with a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of sales or earnings, we may be affected by the risks inherent in the business and operations of a financially unstable or a development stage entity. Although our officers and directors will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we cannot assure you that we will properly ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors or that we will have adequate time to complete due diligence. Furthermore, some of these risks may be outside of our control and leave us with no ability to control or reduce the chances that those risks will adversely impact a target business. We also cannot assure you that an investment in our units will ultimately prove to be more favorable to investors than a direct investment, if such opportunity were available, in a business combination target. Accordingly, any stockholders who choose to remain stockholders following the business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such stockholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value unless they are able to successfully claim that the reduction was due to the breach by our officers or directors of a duty of care or other fiduciary duty owed to them, or if they are able to successfully bring a private claim under securities laws that the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, relating to the business combination contained an actionable material misstatement or material omission.
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Although we have identified general criteria and guidelines that we believe are important in evaluating prospective target businesses, we may enter into our initial business combination with a target that does not meet such criteria and guidelines, and as a result, the target business with which we enter into our initial business combination may not have attributes entirely consistent with our general criteria and guidelines.
Although we have identified general criteria and guidelines for evaluating prospective target businesses, it is possible that a target business with which we enter into our initial business combination will not have all of these positive attributes. If we complete our initial business combination with a target that does not meet some or all of these guidelines, such combination may not be as successful as a combination with a business that does meet all of our general criteria and guidelines. In addition, if we announce a prospective business combination with a target that does not meet our general criteria and guidelines, a greater number of stockholders may exercise their redemption rights, which may make it difficult for us to meet any closing condition with a target business that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. In addition, if stockholder approval of the transaction is required by law, or we decide to obtain stockholder approval for business or other reasons, it may be more difficult for us to attain stockholder approval of our initial business combination if the target business does not meet our general criteria and guidelines. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may only receive their pro rata portion of the funds in the Trust Account that are available for distribution to public stockholders, and our warrants will expire worthless.
We are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or from a valuation or appraisal firm, and consequently, you may have no assurance from an independent source that the price we pay in our initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view.
Unless we complete our initial business combination with an affiliated entity or our board of directors cannot independently determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses (including with the assistance of financial advisors), we are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or from a valuation or appraisal firm that the price we are paying is fair to our company from a financial point of view. If no opinion is obtained, our stockholders will be relying on the judgment of our board of directors, who will determine fair market value based on standards generally accepted by the financial community. Such standards used will be disclosed in our proxy materials or tender offer documents, as applicable, related to our initial business combination.
We may issue notes or other debt securities, or otherwise incur substantial debt, to complete a business combination, which may adversely affect our leverage and financial condition and thus negatively impact the value of our stockholders’ investment in us.
We may choose to issue any notes or other debt securities, or to otherwise incur substantial debt to complete our initial business combination. We and our officers have agreed that we will not incur any indebtedness unless we have obtained from the lender a waiver of any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to the monies held in the Trust Account. As such, no issuance of debt will affect the per share amount available for redemption from the Trust Account. Nevertheless, the incurrence of debt could have a variety of negative effects, including:
● | default and foreclosure on our assets if our operating revenues after an initial business combination are insufficient to repay our debt obligations; |
● | acceleration of our obligations to repay the indebtedness even if we make all principal and interest payments when due if we breach certain covenants that require the maintenance of certain financial ratios or reserves without a waiver or renegotiation of that covenant; |
● | our immediate payment of all principal and accrued interest, if any, if the debt security is payable on demand; |
● | our inability to obtain necessary additional financing if the debt security contains covenants restricting our ability to obtain such financing while the debt security is outstanding; |
● | our inability to pay dividends on our Class A common stock; |
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● | using a substantial portion of our cash flow to pay principal and interest on our debt, which will reduce the funds available for dividends on our Class A common stock if declared, expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions and other general corporate purposes; |
● | limitations on our flexibility in planning for and reacting to changes in our business and in the industry in which we operate; |
● | increased vulnerability to adverse changes in general economic, industry and competitive conditions and adverse changes in government regulation; and |
● | limitations on our ability to borrow additional amounts for expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions, debt service requirements, execution of our strategy and other purposes and other disadvantages compared to our competitors who have less debt. |
We may only be able to complete one business combination with the proceeds of the Public Offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, which will cause us to be solely dependent on a single business which may have a limited number of products or services. This lack of diversification may negatively impact our operations and profitability. The net proceeds from the Public Offering and sale of the private placement of warrants provided us with $266,340,000 that we may use to complete our initial business combination (after taking into account $9,660,000 of deferred underwriting commissions being held in the Trust Account).
We may effectuate our initial business combination with a single target business or multiple target businesses simultaneously or within a short period of time. However, we may not be able to effectuate our initial business combination with more than one target business because of various factors, including the existence of complex accounting issues and the requirement that we prepare and file pro forma financial statements with the SEC that present operating results and the financial condition of several target businesses as if they had been operated on a combined basis. By completing our initial business combination with only a single entity, our lack of diversification may subject us to numerous economic, competitive and regulatory developments. Further, we would not be able to diversify our operations or benefit from the possible spreading of risks or offsetting of losses, unlike other entities which may have the resources to complete several business combinations in different industries or different areas of a single industry. Accordingly, the prospects for our success may be:
● | solely dependent upon the performance of a single business, property or asset; or |
● | dependent upon the development or market acceptance of a single or limited number of products, processes or services. |
This lack of diversification may subject us to numerous economic, competitive and regulatory risks, any or all of which may have a substantial adverse impact upon the particular industry in which we may operate subsequent to our initial business combination.
We may attempt to simultaneously complete business combinations with multiple prospective targets, which may hinder our ability to complete our initial business combination and give rise to increased costs and risks that could negatively impact our operations and profitability.
If we determine to simultaneously acquire several businesses that are owned by different sellers, we will need for each of such sellers to agree that our purchase of its business is contingent on the simultaneous closings of the other business combinations, which may make it more difficult for us, and delay our ability, to complete our initial business combination. With multiple business combinations, we could also face additional risks, including additional burdens and costs with respect to possible multiple negotiations and due diligence investigations (if there are multiple sellers) and the additional risks associated with the subsequent assimilation of the operations and services or products of the acquired companies in a single operating business. If we are unable to adequately address these risks, it could negatively impact our profitability and results of operations.
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We may seek business combination opportunities in industries or sectors that may be outside of our management’s areas of expertise.
We will consider a business combination outside of our management’s areas of expertise if a business combination candidate is presented to us and we determine that such candidate offers an attractive business combination opportunity for our company. Although our management will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in any particular business combination candidate, we cannot assure you that we will adequately ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors. We also cannot assure you that an investment in our units will not ultimately prove to be less favorable to investors in the Public Offering than a direct investment, if an opportunity were available, in a business combination candidate. In the event that we elect to pursue a business combination outside of the areas of our management’s expertise, our management’s expertise may not be directly applicable to its evaluation or operation, and information regarding the areas of our management’s expertise would not be relevant to an understanding of the business that we elect to acquire. As a result, our management may not be able to ascertain or assess adequately all of the relevant risk factors. Accordingly, any stockholders who choose to remain stockholders following our initial business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their shares. Such stockholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.
We may attempt to complete our initial business combination with a private company about which little information is available, which may result in a business combination with a company that is not as profitable as we suspected, if at all.
In pursuing our business combination strategy, we may seek to effectuate our initial business combination with a privately held company. Very little public information generally exists about private companies, and we could be required to make our decision on whether to pursue a potential initial business combination on the basis of limited information, which may result in a business combination with a company that is not as profitable as we suspected, if at all.
We do not have a specified maximum redemption threshold. The absence of such a redemption threshold may make it possible for us to complete our initial business combination with which a substantial majority of our stockholders do not agree.
Our Charter provides that in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001. In addition, our proposed initial business combination may impose a minimum cash requirement for (i) cash consideration to be paid to the target or its owners, (ii) cash for working capital or other general corporate purposes or (iii) the retention of cash to satisfy other conditions. As a result, we may be able to complete our initial business combination even though a substantial majority of our public stockholders do not agree with the transaction and have redeemed their shares or, if we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, have entered into privately negotiated agreements to sell their shares to our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or any of their affiliates. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all shares of our Class A common stock that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed business combination exceed the aggregate amount of cash available to us, we will not complete the business combination or redeem any shares, all shares of our Class A common stock submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof, and we instead may search for an alternate business combination.
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In order to effectuate an initial business combination, special purpose acquisition companies have, in the recent past, amended various provisions of their charters and other governing instruments, including their warrant agreements. We cannot assure you that we will not seek to amend our Charter or governing instruments in a manner that will make it easier for us to complete our initial business combination and that our stockholders may not support.
In order to effectuate a business combination, special purpose acquisition companies have, in the recent past, amended various provisions of their charters and governing instruments, including their warrant agreements. For example, special purpose acquisition companies have amended the definition of business combination, increased redemption thresholds and extended the time to consummate an initial business combination and, with respect to their warrants, amended their warrant agreements to require the warrants to be exchanged for cash and/or other securities. Amending our Charter requires the approval of holders of 65% of our common stock, and amending our warrant agreement requires a vote of holders of at least 50% of the public warrants and, solely with respect to any amendment to the terms of the private placement warrants or any provision of the warrant agreement with respect to the private placement warrants, 50% of the number of the then outstanding private placement warrants. In addition, our Charter will require us to provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares for cash if we propose an amendment to our Charter to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete an initial business combination within 24 months of the closing of the Public Offering or with respect to any other material provisions relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity. To the extent any of such amendments would be deemed to fundamentally change the nature of the securities offered through this registration statement relating to the Public Offering, we would register, or seek an exemption from registration for, the affected securities. We cannot assure you that we will not seek to amend our Charter or governing instruments or extend the time to consummate an initial business combination in order to effectuate our initial business combination.
If we are unable to consummate our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of the Public Offering, our public stockholders may be forced to wait beyond 24 months before redemption from our Trust Account can occur.
If we are unable to consummate our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of the Public Offering, the proceeds then on deposit in the Trust Account, including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable and up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), will be used to fund the redemption of our public shares, as further described herein. Any redemption of public stockholders from the Trust Account will be effected automatically by function of our Charter prior to any voluntary winding up. If we are required to wind up, liquidate the Trust Account and distribute such amount therein, pro rata, to our public stockholders, as part of any liquidation process, such winding up, liquidation and distribution must comply with the applicable provisions of the DGCL. In that case, investors may be forced to wait beyond 24 months from the closing of the Public Offering before the redemption proceeds of our Trust Account become available to them, and they receive the return of their pro rata portion of the proceeds from our Trust Account. We have no obligation to return funds to investors prior to the date of our redemption or liquidation unless we consummate our initial business combination prior thereto and only then in cases where investors have sought to redeem their shares of Class A common stock. Only upon our redemption or any liquidation will public stockholders be entitled to distributions if we are unable to complete our initial business combination.
The provisions of our Charter that relate to our pre-business combination activity (and corresponding provisions of the agreement governing the release of funds from our Trust Account) may be amended with the approval of holders of 65% of our common stock, which is a lower amendment threshold than that of some other special purpose acquisition companies. It may be easier for us, therefore, to amend our Charter to facilitate the completion of an initial business combination that some of our stockholders may not support.
Our Charter provides that any of its provisions related to pre- business combination activity (including the requirement to deposit proceeds of the Public Offering and the private placement of warrants into the Trust Account and not release such amounts except in specified circumstances, and to provide redemption rights to public stockholders as described herein) may be amended if approved by holders of 65% of our common stock entitled to vote thereon, and corresponding provisions of the trust agreement governing the release of funds from our Trust Account may be amended if approved by holders of 65% of our common stock entitled to vote thereon. In all other instances, our Charter may be amended by holders of a majority of our outstanding common stock entitled to vote thereon, subject to applicable provisions of the DGCL or applicable stock exchange rules. Our initial stockholders, who collectively beneficially own 20% of our common stock, may participate in any vote to amend our Charter and/or trust agreement and will have the discretion to vote in any manner they choose. As a result, we may be able to amend the provisions of our Charter which govern our pre-business combination behavior more easily than some other special purpose acquisition companies, and this may increase our ability to complete a business combination with which you do not agree. Our stockholders may pursue remedies against us for any breach of our Charter.
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Our sponsor, executive officers, directors and director nominees have agreed, pursuant to written agreements with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our Charter to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of the Public Offering or with respect to any other material provisions relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, unless we provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their Class A common stock upon approval of any such amendment at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the Trust Account, including interest earned on the funds held in the Trust Account (net of permitted withdrawals), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares. Our stockholders are not parties to, or third-party beneficiaries of, these agreements and, as a result, will not have the ability to pursue remedies against our sponsor, executive officers, directors or director nominees for any breach of these agreements. As a result, in the event of a breach, our stockholders would need to pursue a stockholder derivative action, subject to applicable law.
Our letter agreement with our sponsor, officers and directors may be amended without stockholder approval.
Our letter agreement with our sponsor, officers and directors contain provisions relating to transfer restrictions of our Founder Shares and private placement warrants, indemnification of the Trust Account, waiver of redemption rights and participation in liquidating distributions from the Trust Account. The letter agreement may be amended without stockholder approval (although releasing the parties from the restriction not to transfer the Founder Shares for 185 days following the date of the prospectus relating to the Public Offering will require the prior written consent of the underwriters). While we do not expect our board to approve any amendment to the letter agreement prior to our initial business combination, it may be possible that our board, in exercising its business judgment and subject to its fiduciary duties, chooses to approve one or more amendments to the letter agreement. Any such amendments to the letter agreement would not require approval from our stockholders and may have an adverse effect on the value of an investment in our securities.
We may be unable to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination or to fund the operations and growth of a target business, which could compel us to restructure or abandon a particular business combination.
We are targeting businesses with enterprise values that are greater than we could acquire with the net proceeds of the Public Offering and the sale of the private placement warrants. As a result, if the cash portion of the purchase price exceeds the amount available from the Trust Account, net of amounts needed to satisfy any redemption by public stockholders, we may be required to seek additional financing to complete such proposed initial business combination. We cannot assure you that such financing will be available on acceptable terms, if at all. To the extent that additional financing proves to be unavailable when needed to complete our initial business combination, we would be compelled to either restructure the transaction or abandon that particular business combination and seek an alternative target business candidate. Further, we may be required to obtain additional financing in connection with the closing of our initial business combination for general corporate purposes, including for maintenance or expansion of operations of the post-transaction businesses, the payment of principal or interest due on indebtedness incurred in completing our initial business combination, or to fund the purchase of other companies. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may only receive their pro rata portion of the funds in the Trust Account that are available for distribution to public stockholders, and our warrants will expire worthless. In addition, even if we do not need additional financing to complete our initial business combination, we may require such financing to fund the operations or growth of the target business. The failure to secure additional financing could have a material adverse effect on the continued development or growth of the target business. None of our officers, directors or stockholders is required to provide any financing to us in connection with or after our initial business combination.
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Our initial stockholders control a substantial interest in us and thus may exert a substantial influence on actions requiring a stockholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support.
Our initial stockholders own 20% of our issued and outstanding shares of Common Stock. Accordingly, they may exert a substantial influence on actions requiring a stockholder vote, potentially in a manner that our stockholders do not support, including amendments to our Charter. Factors that would be considered in making such additional purchases would include consideration of the current trading price of our Class A common stock. In addition, our board of directors, whose members were appointed by our sponsor, is and will be divided into three classes, each of which will generally serve for a term of three years with only one class of directors being appointed in each year. We may not hold an annual meeting of stockholders to appoint new directors prior to the completion of our initial business combination, in which case all of the current directors will continue in office until at least the completion of the business combination. If there is an annual meeting of stockholders, as a consequence of our “staggered” board of directors, only a minority of the board of directors will be considered for appointment and our initial stockholders, because of their ownership position, will have considerable influence regarding the outcome. Accordingly, our initial stockholders will continue to exert control at least until the completion of our initial business combination.
Because we must furnish our stockholders with target business financial statements, we may lose the ability to complete an otherwise advantageous initial business combination with some prospective target businesses.
The federal proxy rules require that the proxy statement with respect to the vote on an initial business combination include historical and pro forma financial statement disclosure. We will include the same financial statement disclosure in connection with our tender offer documents, whether or not they are required under the tender offer rules. These financial statements may be required to be prepared in accordance with, or be reconciled to, accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”) and the historical financial statements may be required to be audited in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (“PCAOB”). These financial statement requirements may limit the pool of potential target businesses we may acquire because some targets may be unable to provide such financial statements in time for us to disclose such statements in accordance with federal proxy rules and complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame.
Compliance obligations under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may make it more difficult for us to effectuate our initial business combination, require substantial financial and management resources, and increase the time and costs of completing an initial business combination.
Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires that we evaluate and report on our system of internal controls beginning with our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021. Only in the event that we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer or an accelerated filer, and no longer qualify as an emerging growth company, will we be required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement on our internal control over financial reporting. Further, for as long as we remain an emerging growth company, we will not be required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement on our internal control over financial reporting. The fact that we are a blank check company makes compliance with the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act particularly burdensome on us as compared to other public companies because a target business with which we seek to complete our initial business combination may not be in compliance with the provisions of the Sarbanes- Oxley Act regarding adequacy of its internal controls. The development of the internal controls of any such entity to achieve compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may increase the time and costs necessary to complete any such business combination.
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Risks Relating to the Post-Business Combination Company
Subsequent to our completion of our initial business combination, we may be required to take write-downs or write-offs, restructuring and impairment or other charges that could have a significant negative effect on our financial condition, our results of operations and our share price, which could cause you to lose some or all of your investment.
Even if we conduct due diligence on a target business with which we combine, we cannot assure you that this diligence will identify all material issues that may be present within a particular target business, that it would be possible to uncover all material issues through a customary amount of due diligence, or that factors outside of the target business and outside of our control will not later arise. As a result of these factors, we may be forced to later write down or write off assets, restructure our operations, or incur impairment or other charges that could result in our reporting losses. Even if our due diligence successfully identifies certain risks, unexpected risks may arise and previously known risks may materialize in a manner not consistent with our preliminary risk analysis. Even though these charges may be non-cash items and not have an immediate impact on our liquidity, the fact that we report charges of this nature could contribute to negative market perceptions about us or our securities. In addition, charges of this nature may cause us to violate net worth or other covenants to which we may be subject as a result of assuming pre-existing debt held by a target business or by virtue of our obtaining debt financing to partially finance the initial business combination or thereafter. Accordingly, any stockholders who choose to remain stockholders following the business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such stockholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value unless they are able to successfully claim that the reduction was due to the breach by our officers or directors of a duty of care or other fiduciary duty owed to them, or if they are able to successfully bring a private claim under securities laws that the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, relating to the business combination contained an actionable material misstatement or material omission.
Resources could be expended in researching business combinations that are not completed, which could materially adversely affect subsequent attempts to locate and acquire or merge with another business. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may only receive their pro rata portion of the funds in the Trust Account that are available for distribution to public stockholders, and our warrants will expire worthless.
We anticipate that the investigation of each specific target business and the negotiation, drafting and execution of relevant agreements, disclosure documents and other instruments will require substantial management time and attention and substantial costs for accountants, attorneys, consultants and others. If we decide not to complete a specific initial business combination, the costs incurred up to that point for the proposed transaction likely would not be recoverable. Furthermore, if we reach an agreement relating to a specific target business, we may fail to complete our initial business combination for any number of reasons including those beyond our control. Any such event will result in a loss to us of the related costs incurred which could materially adversely affect subsequent attempts to locate and acquire or merge with another business. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may only receive their pro rata portion of the funds in the Trust Account that are available for distribution to public stockholders, and our warrants will expire worthless.
Our ability to successfully effect our initial business combination and to be successful thereafter will be dependent upon the efforts of our key personnel, some of whom may join us following our initial business combination. The loss of key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business.
Our ability to successfully effect our initial business combination is dependent upon the efforts of our key personnel. However, the role of our key personnel in the target business cannot presently be ascertained.
Although some of our key personnel may remain with the target business in senior management or advisory positions following our initial business combination, it is likely that some or all of the management of the target business will remain in place. While we intend to closely scrutinize any individuals we engage after our initial business combination, we cannot assure you that our assessment of these individuals will prove to be correct. These individuals may be unfamiliar with the requirements of operating a company regulated by the SEC, which could cause us to have to expend time and resources helping them become familiar with such requirements.
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Our key personnel may negotiate employment or consulting agreements with a target business in connection with a particular business combination, and a particular business combination may be conditioned on the retention or resignation of such key personnel. These agreements may provide for them to receive compensation following our initial business combination and as a result, may cause them to have conflicts of interest in determining whether a particular business combination is the most advantageous.
Our key personnel may be able to remain with our company after the completion of our initial business combination only if they are able to negotiate employment or consulting agreements in connection with the business combination. Such negotiations would take place simultaneously with the negotiation of the business combination and could provide for such individuals to receive compensation in the form of cash payments and/or our securities for services they would render to us after the completion of the business combination. Such negotiations also could make such key personnel’s retention or resignation a condition to any such agreement. The personal and financial interests of such individuals may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business, subject to their fiduciary duties under Delaware law.
We may have a limited ability to assess the management of a prospective target business and, as a result, may effect our initial business combination with a target business whose management may not have the skills, qualifications or abilities to manage a public company.
When evaluating the desirability of effecting our initial business combination with a prospective target business, our ability to assess the target business’s management may be limited due to a lack of time, resources or information. Our assessment of the capabilities of the target business’s management, therefore, may prove to be incorrect and such management may lack the skills, qualifications or abilities we suspected. Should the target business’s management not possess the skills, qualifications or abilities necessary to manage a public company, the operations and profitability of the post-combination business may be negatively impacted. Accordingly, any stockholders who choose to remain stockholders following the business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their shares. Such stockholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value unless they are able to successfully claim that the reduction was due to the breach by our officers or directors of a duty of care or other fiduciary duty owed to them, or if they are able to successfully bring a private claim under securities laws that the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, relating to the business combination contained an actionable material misstatement or material omission.
The officers and directors of an acquisition candidate may resign upon completion of our initial business combination. The loss of a business combination target’s key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business.
The role of an acquisition candidate’s key personnel upon the completion of our initial business combination cannot be ascertained at this time. Although we contemplate that certain members of an acquisition candidate’s management team will remain associated with the acquisition candidate following our initial business combination, it is possible that members of the management of an acquisition candidate will not wish to remain in place, which could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post- combination business.
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Our management may not be able to maintain control of a target business after our initial business combination. We cannot provide assurance that, upon loss of control of a target business, new management will possess the skills, qualifications or abilities necessary to profitably operate such business.
We may structure our initial business combination so that the post-transaction company in which our public stockholders own shares will own less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business, but we will only complete such business combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target sufficient for us not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. We will not consider any transaction that does not meet such criteria. Even if the post-transaction company owns 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our stockholders prior to the business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post-business combination company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the business combination. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares of our Class A common stock in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock, shares or other equity securities of a target. In this case, we would acquire a 100% interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new shares of our Class A common stock, our stockholders immediately prior to such transaction could own less than a majority of our issued and outstanding shares of our Class A common stock subsequent to such transaction. In addition, other minority stockholders may subsequently combine their holdings resulting in a single person or group obtaining a larger share of the company’s shares than we initially acquired. Accordingly, this may make it more likely that our management will not be able to maintain control of the target business. We cannot provide assurance that, upon loss of control of a target business, new management will possess the skills, qualifications or abilities necessary to profitably operate such business.
Risks Relating to our Management Team
We may not have sufficient funds to satisfy indemnification claims of our directors and officers.
We have agreed to indemnify our officers and directors to the fullest extent permitted by law. However, our officers and directors have agreed to waive any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies in the Trust Account and to not seek recourse against the Trust Account for any reason whatsoever. Accordingly, any indemnification provided will be able to be satisfied by us only if (i) we have sufficient funds outside of the Trust Account or (ii) we consummate an initial business combination. Our obligation to indemnify our officers and directors may discourage stockholders from bringing a lawsuit against our officers or directors for breach of their fiduciary duty. These provisions also may have the effect of reducing the likelihood of derivative litigation against our officers and directors, even though such an action, if successful, might otherwise benefit us and our stockholders. Furthermore, a stockholder’s investment may be adversely affected to the extent we pay the costs of settlement and damage awards against our officers and directors pursuant to these indemnification provisions.
Past performance by our management team and their affiliates, including investments and transactions in which they have participated and businesses with which they have been associated, may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in the Company.
Information regarding our management team and their affiliates, including investments and transactions in which they have participated and businesses with which they have been associated, is presented for informational purposes only. Any past experience and performance by our management team and their affiliates and the businesses with which they have been associated, is not a guarantee that we will be able to successfully identify a suitable candidate for our initial business combination, that we will be able to provide positive returns to our stockholders, or of any results with respect to any initial business combination we may consummate. You should not rely on the historical experiences of our management team and their affiliates, including investments and transactions in which they have participated and businesses with which they have been associated, as indicative of the future performance of an investment in us or as indicative of every prior investment by each of the members of our management team or their affiliates. The market price of our securities may be influenced by numerous factors, many of which are beyond our control, and our stockholders may experience losses on their investment in our securities.
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Our officers and directors will allocate their time to other businesses thereby causing conflicts of interest in their determination as to how much time to devote to our affairs. This conflict of interest could have a negative impact on our ability to complete our initial business combination.
Our officers and directors are not required to, and will not, commit their full time to our affairs, which may result in a conflict of interest in allocating their time between our operations and our search for a business combination and their other businesses. We do not intend to have any full-time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination. Each of our officers is engaged in other business endeavors for which he may be entitled to substantial compensation, and our officers are not obligated to contribute any specific number of hours per week to our affairs. Our independent directors also serve as officers and board members for other entities. If our officers’ and directors’ other business affairs require them to devote substantial amounts of time to such affairs in excess of their current commitment levels, it could limit their ability to devote time to our affairs which may have a negative impact on our ability to complete our initial business combination.
Our officers and directors presently have, and any of them in the future may have, additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities and, accordingly, may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented.
Until we consummate our initial business combination, we intend to engage in the business of identifying and combining with a single business. Each of our officers and directors presently has, and any of them in the future may have, additional fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities pursuant to which such officer or director is or may be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entity. Accordingly, they may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented. These conflicts may not be resolved in our favor and a potential target business may be presented to another entity prior to its presentation to us, subject to their fiduciary duties under Delaware law. Our Charter provides that we renounce our interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any director or officer unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of the company and it is an opportunity that we are able to complete on a reasonable basis.
In addition, our sponsor and our officers and directors pursue other business or investment ventures during the period in which we are seeking an initial business combination. Any such companies, businesses or investments may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an initial business combination. However, the members of our management team have agreed not to participate in the formation of, or become an officer or director of, any other special purpose acquisition company with a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act, until we have entered into a definitive agreement regarding our initial business combination or we have failed to complete our initial business combination within 24 months after the closing of the Public Offering. We do not believe that any such potential conflicts would materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination.
Our officers, directors, security holders and their respective affiliates may have competitive pecuniary interests that conflict with our interests.
We have not adopted a policy that expressly prohibits our directors, officers, security holders or affiliates from having a direct or indirect pecuniary or financial interest in any investment to be acquired or disposed of by us or in any transaction to which we are a party or have an interest. In fact, we may enter into a business combination with a target business that is affiliated with our sponsor, our directors or officers, although we do not intend to do so. We do not have a policy that expressly prohibits any such persons from engaging for their own account in business activities of the types conducted by us. Accordingly, such persons or entities may have a conflict between their interests and ours.
The personal and financial interests of our directors and officers may influence their motivation in timely identifying and selecting a target business and completing a business combination. Consequently, our directors’ and officers’ discretion in identifying and selecting a suitable target business may result in a conflict of interest when determining whether the terms, conditions and timing of a particular business combination are appropriate and in our stockholders’ best interest. If this were the case, it would be a breach of their fiduciary duties to us as a matter of Delaware law and we or our stockholders might have a claim against such individuals for infringing on our stockholders’ rights. However, we might not ultimately be successful in any claim we may make against them for such reason.
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We are dependent upon our officers and directors and their loss could adversely affect our ability to operate.
Our operations are dependent upon a relatively small group of individuals and, in particular, our officers and directors and the members of our advisory board. We believe that our success depends on the continued service of our officers, directors and members of our advisory board, at least until we have completed our initial business combination. In addition, our officers and directors are not required to commit any specified amount of time to our affairs and, accordingly, will have conflicts of interest in allocating their time among various business activities, including identifying potential business combinations and monitoring the related due diligence. We do not have an employment agreement with, or key-man insurance on the life of, any of our directors or officers. The unexpected loss of the services of one or more of our directors or officers could have a detrimental effect on us.
We may engage in a business combination with one or more target businesses that have relationships with entities that may be affiliated with our sponsor, officers, independent directors or existing holders which may raise potential conflicts of interest.
In light of the involvement of our sponsor, officers and directors with other entities, we may decide to acquire one or more businesses affiliated with our sponsor, officers, independent directors or existing holders. Our directors also serve as officers and board members for other entities. Such entities may compete with us for business combination opportunities. Our sponsor, officers and directors are not currently aware of any specific opportunities for us to complete our initial business combination with any entities with which they are affiliated, and there have been no substantive discussions concerning a business combination with any such entity or entities. Although we will not be specifically focusing on, or targeting, any transaction with any affiliated entities, we would pursue such a transaction if we determined that such affiliated entity met our criteria for a business combination and such transaction was approved by a majority of our independent and disinterested directors. Despite our agreement to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA or a valuation or appraisal firm regarding the fairness to our company from a financial point of view of a business combination with one or more domestic or international businesses affiliated with our sponsor, officers, independent directors or existing holders, potential conflicts of interest still may exist and, as a result, the terms of the business combination may not be as advantageous to our public stockholders as they would be absent any conflicts of interest.
Since our sponsor, officers and directors will lose their entire investment in us if our initial business combination is not completed (other than with respect to public shares they may acquire after the Public Offering), a conflict of interest may arise in determining whether a particular business combination target is appropriate for our initial business combination.
On August 17, 2020, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 5,750,000 Founder Shares for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000, or approximately $0.004 per share. Prior to the initial investment in the company of $25,000 by the sponsor, the company had no assets, tangible or intangible. On February 1, 2021, in connection with the Public Offering, we effected a 1.2-for-1 stock split of our Class B common stock, resulting in an aggregate of 6,900,000 Founder Shares outstanding. The number of Founder Shares outstanding was determined based on the expectation that the total size of the Public Offering would be a maximum of 27,600,000 units if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full, and therefore that such Founder Shares would represent 20% of the outstanding shares after the Public Offering. The Founder Shares will be worthless if we do not complete an initial business combination. In addition, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 6,550,000 private placement warrants for an aggregate purchase price of $6,550,000, or $1.00 per warrant simultaneously with the consummation of the Public Offering. The private placement warrants will also be worthless if we do not complete our initial business combination. Our officers and directors own directly or indirectly an interest in our sponsor. The personal and financial interests of our officers and directors may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business combination, completing an initial business combination and influencing the operation of the business following the initial business combination. This risk may become more acute as the date that is 24 months after the closing of the Public Offering nears, which is the deadline for our completion of an initial business combination.
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Risks Relating to our Securities
You will not have any rights or interests in funds from the Trust Account, except under certain limited circumstances. Therefore, to liquidate your investment, you may be forced to sell your public shares or warrants, potentially at a loss.
Our public stockholders will be entitled to receive funds from the Trust Account only upon the earliest to occur of: (i) our completion of an initial business combination, and then only in connection with those shares of Class A common stock that such stockholder properly elected to redeem, subject to the limitations and on the conditions described herein; (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly submitted in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our Charter (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of the Public Offering or (B) with respect to any other provisions relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity; and (iii) the redemption of our public shares if we are unable to complete an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of the Public Offering, subject to applicable law and as further described herein. In no other circumstances will a public stockholder have any right or interest of any kind in the Trust Account. Holders of warrants will not have any right to the proceeds held in the Trust Account with respect to the warrants. Accordingly, to liquidate your investment, you may be forced to sell your public shares or warrants, potentially at a loss.
The NYSE may delist our securities from trading on its exchange, which could limit investors’ ability to make transactions in our securities and subject us to additional trading restrictions.
Our units are listed on the NYSE. Our Class A common stock and warrants are separately listed on the NYSE. Although following the Public Offering, we meet, on a pro forma basis, the minimum initial listing standards set forth in the NYSE listing standards, we cannot assure you that our securities will be, or will continue to be, listed on the NYSE in the future or prior to our initial business combination. In order to continue listing our securities on the NYSE prior to our initial business combination, we must maintain certain financial, distribution and share price levels. Generally, following our initial public offering, we must maintain a minimum amount of stockholders’ equity (generally $2,500,000) and a minimum number of holders of our securities (generally 300 public holders). Additionally, in connection with our initial business combination, we will be required to demonstrate compliance with the NYSE’s initial listing requirements, which are more rigorous than the NYSE’s continued listing requirements, in order to continue to maintain the listing of our securities on the NYSE. For instance, our share price would generally be required to be at least $4.00 per share and our stockholders’ equity would generally be required to be at least $5.0 million. We cannot assure you that we will be able to meet those initial listing requirements at that time.
If the NYSE delists our securities from trading on its exchange and we are not able to list our securities on another national securities exchange, we expect our securities could be quoted on an over-the-counter market. If this were to occur, we could face significant material adverse consequences, including:
● | a limited availability of market quotations for our securities; |
● | reduced liquidity for our securities; |
● | a determination that our shares of Class A common stock are a “penny stock,” which will require brokers trading in our shares of Class A common stock to adhere to more stringent rules and possibly result in a reduced level of trading activity in the secondary trading market for our securities; |
● | a limited amount of news and analyst coverage; and |
● | decreased ability to issue additional securities or obtain additional financing in the future. |
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The National Securities Markets Improvement Act of 1996, which is a federal statute, prevents or preempts the states from regulating the sale of certain securities, which are referred to as “covered securities.” Because our Class A common stock and warrants were listed on the NYSE, in connection with the Public Offering, our units, Class A common stock and warrants will qualify as covered securities under the statute. Although the states are preempted from regulating the sale of our securities, the federal statute does allow the states to investigate companies if there is a suspicion of fraud, and, if there is a finding of fraudulent activity, then the states can regulate or bar the sale of covered securities in a particular case. While we are not aware of a state having used these powers to prohibit or restrict the sale of securities issued by blank check companies, other than the State of Idaho, certain state securities regulators view blank check companies unfavorably and might use these powers, or threaten to use these powers, to hinder the sale of securities of blank check companies in their states. Further, if we were no longer listed on the NYSE, our securities would not qualify as covered securities under the statute and we would be subject to regulation in each state in which we offer our securities.
We are not registering the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants under the Securities Act or any state securities laws at this time, and such registration may not be in place when an investor desires to exercise warrants, thus precluding such investor from being able to exercise its warrants except on a cashless basis and potentially causing such warrants to expire worthless.
We are not registering the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants under the Securities Act or any state securities laws at this time. However, under the terms of the warrant agreement, we have agreed that, as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 15 business days, after the closing of our initial business combination, we will use commercially reasonable efforts to file with the SEC a registration statement covering the registration under the Securities Act of the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants and thereafter will use commercially reasonable efforts to cause the same to become effective within 60 business days following our initial business combination and to maintain a current prospectus relating to the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants until the expiration of the warrants in accordance with the provisions of the warrant agreement. We cannot assure you that we will be able to do so if, for example, any facts or events arise which represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in the registration statement or prospectus, the financial statements contained or incorporated by reference therein are not current or correct or the SEC issues a stop order.
If the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants are not registered under the Securities Act, under the terms of the warrant agreement, holders of warrants who seek to exercise their warrants will not be permitted to do so for cash and, instead, will be required to do so on a cashless basis in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act or another exemption from registration.
In no event will warrants be exercisable for cash or on a cashless basis, and we are not obligated to issue any shares to holders seeking to exercise their warrants, unless the issuance of the shares upon such exercise is registered or qualified under the securities laws of the state of the exercising holder, or an exemption from registration or qualification is available.
If our shares of Class A common stock are at the time of any exercise of a warrant not listed on a national securities exchange such that they satisfy the definition of “covered securities” under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act, we may, at our option, not permit holders of warrants who seek to exercise their warrants to do so for cash and, instead, require them to do so on a cashless basis in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act. In the event we so elect, we are not be required to file or maintain in effect a registration statement or register or qualify the shares underlying the warrants under applicable state securities laws, and in the event we do not so elect, we will use commercially reasonable efforts to register or qualify the shares underlying the warrants under applicable state securities laws to the extent an exemption is not available. Exercising the warrants on a cashless basis could have the effect of reducing the potential “upside” of the holder’s investment in our company because the warrant holder will hold a smaller number of shares of Class A common stock upon a cashless exercise of the warrants they hold than upon a cash exercise.
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In no event will we be required to net cash settle any warrant, or issue securities (other than upon a cashless exercise as described above) or other compensation in exchange for the warrants in the event that we are unable to register or qualify the shares underlying the warrants under the Securities Act or applicable state securities laws. If the issuance of the shares upon exercise of the warrants is not so registered or qualified or exempt from registration or qualification, the holder of such warrant will not be entitled to exercise such warrant and such warrant may have no value and expire worthless. In such event, holders who acquired their warrants as part of a purchase of units will have paid the full unit purchase price solely for the shares of Class A common stock included in the units. There may be a circumstance in which an exemption from registration exists for holders of our private placement warrants to exercise their warrants while a corresponding exemption does not exist for holders of the public warrants included as part of units sold in the Public Offering. In such an instance, our sponsor and its permitted transferees (which may include our directors and executive officers) would be able to exercise their warrants and sell the shares of Class A common stock underlying their warrants while holders of our public warrants would not be able to exercise their warrants and sell the underlying shares of Class A common stock. If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may exercise our redemption right even if we are unable to register or qualify the underlying shares of Class A common stock for sale under all applicable state securities laws. As a result, we may redeem the warrants as set forth above even if the holders are otherwise unable to exercise their warrants.
The warrants may become exercisable and redeemable for a security other than the shares of Class A common stock, and you do not have any information regarding such other security at this time.
In certain situations, including if we are not the surviving entity in our initial business combination, the warrants may become exercisable for a security other than the shares of Class A common stock. As a result, if the surviving company redeems your warrants for securities pursuant to the warrant agreement, you may receive a security in a company about which you do not have information at this time. Pursuant to the warrant agreement, the surviving company will be required to use commercially reasonable efforts to register the issuance of the security underlying the warrants within 20 business days of the closing of an initial business combination.
The grant of registration rights to our initial stockholders and holders of our private placement warrants may make it more difficult to complete our initial business combination, and the future exercise of such rights may adversely affect the market price of our shares of Class A common stock.
Pursuant to an agreement to be entered into concurrently with the issuance and sale of the securities in the Public Offering, our initial stockholders and their permitted transferees can demand that we register the shares of Class A common stock into which Founder Shares are convertible, holders of our private placement warrants and their permitted transferees can demand that we register the private placement warrants and the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the private placement warrants, and holders of warrants that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans may demand that we register the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of such warrants. We will bear the cost of registering these securities. The registration and availability of such a significant number of securities for trading in the public market may have an adverse effect on the market price of our Class A common stock. In addition, the existence of the registration rights may make our initial business combination more costly or difficult to conclude. This is because the stockholders of the target business may increase the equity stake they seek in the combined entity or ask for more cash consideration to offset the negative impact on the market price of our Class A common stock that is expected when the shares of common stock owned by our initial stockholders, holders of our private placement warrants or holders of our working capital loans or their respective permitted transferees are registered.
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We may issue additional shares of Class A common stock or shares of Preferred Stock to complete our initial business combination or under an employee incentive plan after completion of our initial business combination. We may also issue shares of Class A common stock upon the conversion of the Founder Shares at a ratio greater than one-to-one at the time of our initial business combination as a result of the anti-dilution provisions contained therein. Any such issuances would dilute the interest of our stockholders and likely present other risks.
Our Charter authorized the issuance of up to 200,000,000 shares of Class A common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, 12,000,000 Shares of Class B Common Stock, par value $0.0001 per share, and 1,000,000 shares of Preferred Stock, par value $0.0001 per share. Immediately after the Public Offering, there were 172,400,000 and 5,100,000 authorized but unissued shares of Class A common stock and shares of Class B Common Stock, respectively, available for issuance which amount does not take into account shares reserved for issuance upon exercise of outstanding warrants or shares issuable upon conversion of the shares of Class B Common Stock. The shares of Class B Common Stock are automatically convertible into shares of Class A common stock at the time of the consummation of our initial business combination, initially at a one-for-one ratio but subject to adjustment as set forth herein and in our Charter, including in certain circumstances in which we issue shares of Class A common stock or equity-linked securities related to our initial business combination. Immediately after the Public Offering, there were no shares of Preferred Stock issued and outstanding.
We may issue a substantial number of additional shares of Class A common stock or shares of Preferred Stock to complete our initial business combination or under an employee incentive plan after completion of our initial business combination. We may also issue shares of Class A common stock upon conversion of the shares of Class B Common Stock at a ratio greater than one- to-one at the time of our initial business combination as a result of the anti-dilution provisions as set forth therein. However, our Charter provides, among other things, that prior to our initial business combination, we may not issue additional shares that would entitle the holders thereof to (i) receive funds from the Trust Account or (ii) vote as a class with our public shares on any initial business combination. These provisions of our Charter, like all provisions of our Charter, may be amended with a stockholder vote. The issuance of additional shares of Common Stock or shares of Preferred Stock:
● | may significantly dilute the equity interest of investors in the Public Offering; |
● | may subordinate the rights of holders of Class A common stock if shares of Preferred Stock are issued with rights senior to those afforded our Class A common stock; |
● | could cause a change in control if a substantial number of shares of Class A common stock are issued, which may affect, among other things, our ability to use our net operating loss carry forwards, if any, and could result in the resignation or removal of our present officers and directors; and |
● | may adversely affect prevailing market prices for our units, Class A common stock and/or warrants. |
We may reincorporate in another jurisdiction in connection with our initial business combination and such reincorporation may result in taxes imposed on stockholders.
We may, in connection with our initial business combination and subject to requisite stockholder approval by special resolution under the DGCL, reincorporate in the jurisdiction in which the target company or business is located or in another jurisdiction. The transaction may require a stockholder to recognize taxable income in the jurisdiction in which the stockholder is a tax resident or in which its members are resident if it is a tax transparent entity. We do not intend to make any cash distributions to stockholders to pay such taxes. Stockholders may be subject to withholding taxes or other taxes with respect to their ownership of us after the reincorporation.
After our initial business combination, it is possible that a majority of our directors and officers will live outside the United States and all of our assets will be located outside the United States; therefore, investors may not be able to enforce federal securities laws or their other legal rights.
It is possible that after our initial business combination, a majority of our directors and officers will reside outside of the United States and all of our assets will be located outside of the United States. As a result, it may be difficult, or in some cases not possible, for investors in the United States to enforce their legal rights, to effect service of process upon all of our directors or officers or to enforce judgments of United States courts predicated upon civil liabilities and criminal penalties on our directors and officers under United States laws.
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We may amend the terms of the warrants in a manner that may be adverse to holders of public warrants with the approval by the holders of at least a majority of the then outstanding public warrants. As a result, the exercise price of your warrants could be increased, the exercise period could be shortened and the number of shares of our Class A common stock purchasable upon exercise of a warrant could be decreased, all without your approval.
Our warrants have been issued in registered form under a warrant agreement between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as warrant agent, and us. The warrant agreement provides that the terms of the warrants may be amended without the consent of any holder to cure any ambiguity or correct any defective provision, but requires the approval by the holders of at least a majority of the then outstanding public warrants to make any change that adversely affects the interests of the registered holders of public warrants. Accordingly, we may amend the terms of the public warrants in a manner adverse to a holder of public warrants if holders of at least a majority of the then outstanding public warrants approve of such amendment. Although our ability to amend the terms of the public warrants with the consent of at least a majority of the then outstanding public warrants is unlimited, examples of such amendments could be amendments to, among other things, increase the exercise price of the warrants, convert the warrants into cash or shares, shorten the exercise period or decrease the number of shares of Class A common stock purchasable upon exercise of a warrant.
A provision of our warrant agreement may make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination.
If (i) we issue additional shares of Class A common stock or equity-linked securities for capital raising purposes in connection with the closing of our initial business combination at a newly issued price of less than $9.20 per share of Class A common stock, (ii) the aggregate gross proceeds from such issuances represent more than 60% of the total equity proceeds, and interest thereon, available for the funding of our initial business combination on the date of the consummation of our initial business combination (net of redemptions), and (iii) the market value of our shares of Class A common stock is below $9.20 per share, then the exercise price of the warrants will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 115% of the higher of the market value and the newly issue price, and the $18.00 per share redemption trigger price will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 180% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price.
We may redeem your unexpired warrants prior to their exercise at a time that is disadvantageous to you, thereby making your warrants worthless.
We have the ability to redeem outstanding warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.01 per warrant, provided that the closing price of our Class A common stock equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (subject to certain for adjustments) for any 20 trading days within a 30-trading day period ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which we send proper notice of such redemption to the warrants holders and provided certain other conditions are met. If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may exercise our redemption right even if we are unable to register or qualify the underlying securities for sale under all applicable state securities laws. As a result, we may redeem the warrants as set forth above even if the holders are otherwise unable to exercise the warrants. Redemption of the outstanding warrants could force you to (i) exercise your warrants and pay the exercise price therefor at a time when it may be disadvantageous for you to do so, (ii) sell your warrants at the then-current market price when you might otherwise wish to hold your warrants or (iii) accept the nominal redemption price which, at the time the outstanding warrants are called for redemption, is likely to be substantially less than the market value of your warrants. None of the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us.
Our warrants may have an adverse effect on the market price of our shares of Class A common stock and make it more difficult to effectuate our initial business combination.
We issued 13,800,000 warrants to purchase 6,900,000 of our shares of Class A common stock as part of the units offered by the prospectus relating to the Public Offering and, simultaneously with the closing of the Public Offering, we issued in a private placement an aggregate of 6,550,000 private placement warrants, at $1.00 per warrant. Our sponsor has the option to make any working capital loans, which would convert those loans into up to an additional 1,500,000 private placement warrants, at the price of $1.00 per warrant. We may issue shares of Class A common stock in connection with our redemption of our warrants.
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To the extent we issue shares of Common Stock to effectuate a business transaction, the potential for the issuance of a substantial number of additional shares of Class A common stock upon exercise of these warrants could make us a less attractive acquisition vehicle to a target business. Such warrants, when exercised, will increase the number of issued and outstanding shares of Class A common stock and reduce the value of the shares of Class A common stock issued to complete the business transaction. Therefore, our warrants may make it more difficult to effectuate a business transaction or increase the cost of acquiring the target business.
General Risk Factors
We are a blank check company with no operating history and no revenues, and you have no basis on which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective.
We are a blank check company incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware with no operating results, and we will not commence operations until obtaining funding through the Public Offering. Because we lack an operating history, you have no basis upon which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective of completing our initial business combination. We have no plans, arrangements or understandings with any prospective target business concerning a business combination and may be unable to complete our initial business combination. If we fail to complete our initial business combination, we will never generate any operating revenues.
We are an emerging growth company and a smaller reporting company within the meaning of the Securities Act, and if we take advantage of certain exemptions from disclosure requirements available to emerging growth companies or smaller reporting companies, this could make our securities less attractive to investors and may make it more difficult to compare our performance with other public companies.
We are an “emerging growth company” within the meaning of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act, and we may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies, including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor internal controls attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. As a result, our stockholders may not have access to certain information they may deem important. We could be an emerging growth company for up to five years, although circumstances could cause us to lose that status earlier, including if the market value of our Class A common stock held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of any June 30 before that time, in which case we would no longer be an emerging growth company as of the following December 31. We cannot predict whether investors will find our securities less attractive because we will rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result of our reliance on these exemptions, the trading prices of our securities may be lower than they otherwise would be, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the trading prices of our securities may be more volatile.
Further, Section 102(b)(1) of the JOBS Act exempts emerging growth companies from being required to comply with new or revised financial accounting standards until private companies (that is, those that have not had a Securities Act registration statement declared effective or do not have a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act) are required to comply with the new or revised financial accounting standards. The JOBS Act provides that a company can elect to opt out of the extended transition period and comply with the requirements that apply to non-emerging growth companies but any such an election to opt out is irrevocable. We have elected not to opt out of such extended transition period which means that when a standard is issued or revised and it has different application dates for public or private companies, we, as an emerging growth company, can adopt the new or revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new or revised standard. This may make comparison of our financial statements with another public company which is neither an emerging growth company nor an emerging growth company which has opted out of using the extended transition period difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accounting standards used.
Additionally, we are a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Item 10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K. Smaller reporting companies may take advantage of certain reduced disclosure obligations, including, among other things, providing only two years of audited financial statements. We will remain a smaller reporting company until the last day of the fiscal year in which (1) the market value of our Common Stock held by non-affiliates equals or exceeds $250 million as of the prior June 30th, and (2) our annual revenues equaled or exceeded $100 million during such completed fiscal year and the market value of our Common Stock held by non-affiliates equals or exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30th. To the extent we take advantage of such reduced disclosure obligations, it may also make comparison of our financial statements with other public companies difficult or impossible.
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Our independent registered public accounting firm’s report contains an explanatory paragraph that expresses substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a “going concern.”
As of December 31, 2021, the Company had $92,993 of cash in its operating bank accounts, $276,029,717 in securities held in the Trust Account to be used for a Business Combination or to repurchase or redeem its common stock in connection therewith and a working capital deficit of $2,885,123 (excluding $29,717 payable for franchise and income taxes).
Until the consummation of a Business Combination, we will be using the funds not held in the Trust Account for identifying and evaluating prospective acquisition candidates, performing due diligence on prospective target businesses, paying for travel expenditures, selecting the target business to acquire, and structuring, negotiating and consummating the Business Combination.
We may need to raise additional capital through loans or additional investments from our Sponsor, shareholders, officers, directors, or third parties. Our officers, directors and Sponsor may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds, from time to time or at any time, in whatever amount they deem reasonable in their sole discretion, to meet our working capital needs. Accordingly, we may not be able to obtain additional financing. If we are unable to raise additional capital, we may be required to take additional measures to conserve liquidity, which could include, but not necessarily be limited to, curtailing operations, suspending the pursuit of a potential transaction, and reducing overhead expenses. We cannot provide any assurance that new financing will be available to us on commercially acceptable terms, if at all. These conditions raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern for a reasonable period of time, which is considered to be one year from the issuance date of the financial statements. The financial statements contained elsewhere in this Annual Report do not include any adjustments relating to the recovery of the recorded assets or the classification of the liabilities that might be necessary should we be unable to continue as a going concern.
Provisions in our Charter and Delaware law may inhibit a takeover of us, which could limit the price investors might be willing to pay in the future for our shares of Class A common stock and could entrench management.
Our Charter contains provisions that may discourage unsolicited takeover proposals that stockholders may consider to be in their best interests. These provisions include a staggered board of directors and the ability of the board of directors to designate the terms of and issue new series of shares of Preferred Stock, which may make the removal of management more difficult and may discourage transactions that otherwise could involve payment of a premium over prevailing market prices for our securities.
We are also subject to anti-takeover provisions under Delaware law, which could delay or prevent a change of control. Together these provisions may make the removal of management more difficult and may discourage transactions that otherwise could involve payment of a premium over prevailing market prices for our securities.
Provisions in our Charter and Delaware law may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors and officers.
Our Charter requires, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, that (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf, (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any director, officer or other employee to us or our stockholders, (iii) any action asserting a claim against us, our directors, officers or employees arising pursuant to any provision of the DGCL or our Charter or bylaws, or (iv) any action asserting a claim against us, our directors, officers or employees governed by the internal affairs doctrine may be brought only in the Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware, except any claim (A) as to which the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware determines that there is an indispensable party not subject to the jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery (and the indispensable party does not consent to the personal jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery within ten days following such determination), (B) which is vested in the exclusive jurisdiction of a court or forum other than the Court of Chancery, (C) for which the Court of Chancery does not have subject matter jurisdiction, or (D) any action arising under the Securities Act, as to which the Court of Chancery and the federal district court for the District of Delaware shall have concurrent jurisdiction. If an action is brought outside of Delaware, the stockholder bringing the suit will be deemed to have consented to service of process on such stockholder’s counsel. Although we believe this provision benefits us by providing increased consistency in the application of Delaware law in the types of lawsuits to which it applies, a court may determine that this provision is unenforceable, and to the extent it is enforceable, the provision may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors and officers, although our stockholders will not be deemed to have waived our compliance with federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder.
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Notwithstanding the foregoing, our Charter provides that the exclusive forum provision will not apply to suits brought to enforce a duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction. Section 27 of the Exchange Act creates exclusive federal jurisdiction over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or the rules and regulations thereunder. Although we believe this provision benefits us by providing increased consistency in the application of Delaware law in the types of lawsuits to which it applies, the provision may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors and officers.
Cyber incidents or attacks directed at us could result in information theft, data corruption, operational disruption or financial loss.
We depend on digital technologies, including information systems, infrastructure and cloud applications and services, including those of third parties with which we may deal. Sophisticated and deliberate attacks on, or security breaches in, our systems or infrastructure, or the systems or infrastructure of third parties or the cloud, could lead to corruption or misappropriation of our assets, proprietary information and sensitive or confidential data. As an early stage company without significant investments in data security protection, we may not be sufficiently protected against such occurrences. We may not have sufficient resources to adequately protect against, or to investigate and remediate any vulnerability to, cyber incidents. It is possible that any of these occurrences, or a combination of them, could have adverse consequences on our business and lead to financial loss.
We are subject to changing law and regulations regarding regulatory matters, corporate governance and public disclosure that have increased both our costs and the risk of non-compliance.
We are subject to rules and regulations by various governing bodies, including, for example, the Securities and Exchange Commission, which are charged with the protection of investors and the oversight of companies whose securities are publicly traded, and to new and evolving regulatory measures under applicable law. Our efforts to comply with new and changing laws and regulations have resulted in and are likely to continue to result in, increased general and administrative expenses and a diversion of management time and attention from revenue-generating activities to compliance activities.
Moreover, because these laws, regulations and standards are subject to varying interpretations, their application in practice may evolve over time as new guidance becomes available. This evolution may result in continuing uncertainty regarding compliance matters and additional costs necessitated by ongoing revisions to our disclosure and governance practices. If we fail to address and comply with these regulations and any subsequent changes, we may be subject to penalty and our business may be harmed.
ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
None.
ITEM 2. PROPERTIES
Our executive offices are located at 600 N. Carroll Ave., Suite 100, Southlake, TX 76092. We consider our current office space adequate for our current operations.
ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
As of December 31, 2021, to the knowledge of our management, there was no material litigation, arbitration or governmental proceeding pending against us or any members of our management team in their capacity as such, and we and the members of our management team have not been subject to any such proceeding.
ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES
Not applicable.
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PART II
ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES
Market Information
Our units, Class A common stock and warrants are listed on the NYSE under the symbols “MDH.U,” “MDH” and “MDH.WS,” respectively.
Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities; Use of Proceeds from Registered Offerings
Unregistered Sales
The sales of the Founder Shares and Private Placement Warrants to our Sponsor and our initial stockholders as described herein were deemed to be exempt from registration under the Securities Act, in reliance on Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act as transactions by an issuer not involving a public offering.
Use of Proceeds
On February 1, 2021, our registration statement on Form S-l (File No. 333-252107) was declared effective by the SEC, and on February 4, 2021 we consummated our initial public offering of 27,600,000 units, including the issuance of 3,600,000 units as a result of the underwriters’ full exercise of their over-allotment option, at an offering price to the public of $10.00 per unit for an aggregate offering price of $276,000,000. Each unit consisting of one share of Class A common stock and one-half of one Warrant. Each whole Warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one share of Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share.
A total of $276,000,000, comprised of $269,450,000 of the proceeds from the Public Offering (which amount includes the deferred underwriting fee of $9,660,000) and $6,550,000 of the proceeds of the sale of the Private Placement Warrants, was placed in a Trust Account maintained by Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, acting as trustee. In addition, the Underwriters agreed to defer approximately $9,600,000 in underwriting discounts, which amount will be payable when and if a business combination is consummated. No payments were made by us to directors, officers or persons owning ten percent or more of our common stock or to their associates, or to our affiliates. There has been no material change in the planned use of proceeds from the Public Offering as described in our final prospectus dated February 14, 2021, which was filed with the SEC.
ITEM 6. RESERVED
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ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
The following discussion and analysis of the Company’s financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our audited financial statements and the notes related thereto which are included in Item 15. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Certain information contained in the discussion and analysis set forth below includes forward-looking statements. Our actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of many factors, including those set forth under “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements,” “Item 1A. Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Overview
We are a blank check company formed under the laws of the State of Delaware on July 9, 2020, for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or other similar business combination with one or more businesses. We intend to effectuate our Business Combination using cash from the proceeds of the Initial Public Offering and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants, our capital stock, debt or a combination of cash, stock and debt.
We expect to continue to incur significant costs in the pursuit of our acquisition plans. We cannot assure you that our plans to raise capital or to complete our initial Business Combination will be successful.
Recent Developments
As previously disclosed, the Company, entered into that certain Business Combination Agreement, dated as of July 21, 2021, as amended by that certain Amendment No. 1 to the Business Combination Agreement, dated as of December 30, 2021 (as amended, supplemented or otherwise modified from time to time, the “Business Combination Agreement”), by and among (i) Company, (ii) OP Group Holdings, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (“OP Group”), (iii) Paylink Holdings Inc., a Delaware corporation (“Blocker”), (iv) Normandy Holdco LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (“Blocker Owner”), (v) Olive Ventures Holdings, Inc., a Delaware corporation and wholly-owned subsidiary of Blocker (“PubCo”), (vi) Milestone Merger Sub Inc., a Delaware corporation and wholly-owned subsidiary of PubCo (“Milestone Merger Sub”), (vii) MDH Merger Sub Inc., a Delaware corporation and wholly-owned subsidiary of PubCo (“MDH Merger Sub”), and (viii) CF OMS LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (“CF OMS”, and collectively, the “Contracting Parties”).
On April 1, 2022, the Company and OP Group entered into a Termination of Business Combination Agreement (the “Termination Agreement”) pursuant to which the Company and OP Group mutually agreed to terminate the Business Combination Agreement.
As a result of the termination of the Business Combination Agreement, the Business Combination Agreement is of no further force and effect and none of the Contracting Parties shall have any further liability thereunder, with the exception of (i) the agreements contained in Section 9.9(a) (Communications; Press Release; SEC Filings), Section 9.10 (Expenses), Section 13.2 (Effect of Termination) and Article XIV (Miscellaneous) of the Business Combination Agreement, (ii) any corresponding definitions to the foregoing clause (i) set forth in Section 1.1 (Certain Definitions) of the Business Combination Agreement and (iii) the Confidentiality Agreement, dated as of February 8, 2021, by and between the Company and OP Group, each of which shall each survive the termination of the Business Combination Agreement and continue in full force and effect in accordance with their respective terms. Neither party will be required to pay the other a termination fee as a result of the mutual decision to enter into the Termination Agreement.
The termination of the Business Combination Agreement also terminates and makes void the Transaction Support Agreement (as defined in the Business Combination Agreement) and the Sponsor Letter Agreement (as defined in the Business Combination Agreement), each of which were executed concurrently with the Business Combination Agreement.
The foregoing descriptions of the Business Combination Agreement, the Termination Agreement, the Transaction Support Agreement, and the Sponsor Letter Agreement are not complete and are qualified in their entirety by reference to and the terms and conditions of, respectively, (i) the Business Combination Agreement, a copy of which was previously filed as Exhibit 2.1 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K on July 21, 2021, (ii) Amendment No. 1 to Business Combination Agreement, a copy of which was previously filed as Exhibit 2.1 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K on December 30, 2021, (iii) the Termination Agreement, a copy of which is filed with this Current Report on Form 8-K as Exhibit 10.1, and the terms of which are incorporated by reference herein, (iv)
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the Transaction Support Agreement, a copy of which was previously filed as Exhibit 10.2 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K on July 21, 2021, and (v) the Sponsor Letter Agreement, a copy of which was previously filed as Exhibit 10.3 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K on July 21, 2021.
Results of Operations
We have neither engaged in any operations nor generated any operating revenues to date. Our only activities from inception through December 31, 2021 were organizational activities, those necessary to prepare for the Initial Public Offering, described below, and, subsequent to the Initial Public Offering, identifying a target company for a Business Combination and activities in connection with the proposed acquisition of Blocker and OP Group. We do not expect to generate any operating revenues until after the completion of our initial Business Combination. We generate non-operating income in the form of interest income on marketable securities held in the Trust Account. We incur expenses as a result of being a public company (for legal, financial reporting, accounting and auditing compliance), as well as for due diligence expenses in connection with searching for, and completing, a Business Combination.
For the year ended December 31, 2021, we had a net income of $5,258,009, which consisted of a change in fair value of warrant liabilities of $9,492,000 and income earned on our marketable securities held in the Trust Account of $29,717, partially offset by transaction costs allocable to warrant liabilities of $727,230 and operational costs of $3,536,478
For the period from July 9, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, we had a net loss of $1,000, which consisted of formation and operational costs.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
On February 4, 2021, we consummated the Initial Public Offering of 27,600,000 Units, at a price of $10.00 per Unit, which included the full exercise by the underwriters of their over-allotment option in the amount of 3,600,000 Units, generating gross proceeds of $276,000,000. Simultaneously with the closing of the Initial Public Offering, we consummated the sale of 6,550,000 Private Placement Warrants to the Sponsor at a price of $1.00 per Private Placement Warrant generating gross proceeds of $6,550,000.
For the year ended December 31, 2021, cash used in operating activities was $907,188. Net income of $5,258,009 was affected by interest earned on marketable securities held in the Trust Account of $29,717, the change in fair value of warrant liabilities of $9,492,000 and transaction costs incurred in connection with warrant liabilities of $727,230. Changes in operating assets and liabilities provided $2,629,290 of cash for operating activities.
For the period from July 9, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, cash used in operating activities was $0. Net loss of $1,000 was affected by the changes in operating assets and liabilities.
Following the Initial Public Offering, the full exercise of the over-allotment option, and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants, a total of $276,000,000 was placed in the Trust Account. We incurred $15,612,362 in transaction costs, including $5,520,000 of underwriting fees, $9,660,000 of deferred underwriting fees and $432,362 of other offering costs.
As of December 31, 2021, we had $276,029,717 of marketable securities held in the Trust Account. We intend to use substantially all of the funds held in the Trust Account, including any amounts representing interest earned on the Trust Account (less deferred underwriting commissions and income taxes payable), to complete our Business Combination. To the extent that our capital stock or debt is used, in whole or in part, as consideration to complete our Business Combination, the remaining proceeds held in the Trust Account will be used as working capital to finance the operations of the target business or businesses, make other acquisitions and pursue our growth strategies.
As of December 31, 2021, we had $92,993 of cash held outside of the Trust Account.
In order to fund working capital deficiencies or finance transaction costs in connection with a Business Combination, our Sponsor or an affiliate of our Sponsor or certain of our officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds as may be required. If we complete a Business Combination, we may repay such loaned amounts out of the proceeds of the Trust Account released to us. In the event that a Business Combination does not close, we may use a portion of the working capital held outside the Trust Account to repay such loaned amounts, but no proceeds from our Trust Account would be used for such repayment. Up to a mutually agreed amount of
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such loans may be convertible into warrants, at a price of $1.00 per warrant, at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the Private Placement Warrants. As of December 31, 2021, the Sponsor advances amounted to $377,543 and subsequently an additional $157,000 for an aggregate amount of $535,000, which are currently due on demand.
Going Concern
We will need to raise additional capital through loans or additional investments from our Sponsor, stockholders, officers, directors, or third parties. Our officers, directors and Sponsor may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds, from time to time or at any time, in whatever amount they deem reasonable in their sole discretion, to meet our working capital needs. Accordingly, we may not be able to obtain additional financing. If we are unable to raise additional capital, we may be required to take additional measures to conserve liquidity, which could include, but not necessarily be limited to, curtailing operations, suspending the pursuit of a potential transaction, and reducing overhead expenses. We cannot provide any assurance that new financing will be available to us on commercially acceptable terms, if at all. The Company has until February 4, 2023 to consummate a Business Combination. It is uncertain that the Company will be able to consummate a Business Combination by this time. If a Business Combination is not consummated by this date, there will be a mandatory liquidation and subsequent dissolution of the Company. Management has determined that the mandatory liquidation, should a Business Combination not occur, and potential subsequent dissolution raises substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. No adjustments have been made to the caring amounts of assets or liabilities should the Company be required to liquidate after February 4, 2023. These conditions raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern for at least one year from the date that the financial statements are issued.
Off-Balance Sheet Financing Arrangements
We have no obligations, assets or liabilities, which would be considered off-balance sheet arrangements as of December 31, 2021. We do not participate in transactions that create relationships with unconsolidated entities or financial partnerships, often referred to as variable interest entities, which would have been established for the purpose of facilitating off-balance sheet arrangements. We have not entered into any off-balance sheet financing arrangements, established any special purpose entities, guaranteed any debt or commitments of other entities, or purchased any non-financial assets.
Contractual Obligations
We do not have any long-term debt, capital lease obligations, operating lease obligations or long-term liabilities, other than an agreement to pay an affiliate of the Sponsor a monthly fee of $10,000 for office space, utilities, secretarial and administrative support services. We began incurring these fees on January 28, 2021 and will continue to incur these fees monthly until the earlier of the completion of the Business Combination and our liquidation.
The underwriters are entitled to a deferred fee of $0.35 per Unit, or $9,660,000 in the aggregate. The deferred fee will become payable to the underwriters from the amounts held in the Trust Account solely in the event that the Company completes a Business Combination, subject to the terms of the underwriting agreement.
Critical Accounting Policies
The preparation of financial statements and related disclosures in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements, and income and expenses during the periods reported. Actual results could materially differ from those estimates. We have identified the following critical accounting policies:
Warrant Liabilities
We account for the Warrants in accordance with the guidance contained in ASC 815-40 under which the Warrants do not meet the criteria for equity treatment and must be recorded as liabilities. Accordingly, we classify the Warrants as liabilities at their fair value and adjust the Warrants to fair value at each reporting period. This liability is subject to re-measurement at each balance sheet date until exercised, and any change in fair value is recognized in the statements of operations.
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Class A Common Stock Subject to Possible Redemption
We account for our Class A common stock subject to possible conversion in accordance with the guidance in Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 480 “Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity.” Shares of Class A common stock subject to mandatory redemption is classified as a liability instrument and measured at fair value. Conditionally redeemable common stock (including common stock that features redemption rights that are either within the control of the holder or subject to redemption upon the occurrence of uncertain events not solely within our control) is classified as temporary equity. At all other times, common stock is classified as stockholders’ equity. Our Class A common stock features certain redemption rights that are considered to be outside of our control and subject to occurrence of uncertain future events. Accordingly, all Class A common stock subject to possible redemption is presented at redemption value as temporary equity, outside of the stockholders’ equity section of our balance sheets.
We recognize changes in redemption value immediately as they occur and adjust the carrying value of redeemable common stock to equal the redemption value at the end of each reporting period. Increases or decreases in the carrying amount of redeemable common stock are affected by charges against additional paid- in capital and accumulated deficit.
Net Income Per Common Share
Net income (loss) per common share is computed by dividing net income (loss) by the weighted average number of common stock outstanding for the period. Shares subject to forfeiture are not included in basic and diluted weighted average shares outstanding until the forfeiture restrictions lapse. Remeasurement associated with the redeemable shares of Class A common stock is excluded from income (loss) per common share as the redemption value approximates fair value.
The calculation of diluted income (loss) per common share does not consider the effect of the warrants issued in connection with the (i) Initial Public Offering, and (ii) the private placement since the exercise of the warrants is contingent upon the occurrence of future events. The warrants are exercisable to purchase 20,350,000 Class A common stock in the aggregate. As of December 31, 2021 and 2020, the Company did not have any dilutive securities or other contracts that could, potentially, be exercised or converted into common stock and then share in the earnings of the Company.
Recent Accounting Standards
In August 2020, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2020-06, Debt — Debt with Conversion and Other Options (Subtopic 470-20) and Derivatives and Hedging — Contracts in Entity’s Own Equity (Subtopic 815-40) (“ASU 2020-06”) to simplify accounting for certain financial instruments. ASU 2020-06 eliminates the current models that require separation of beneficial conversion and cash conversion features from convertible instruments and simplifies the derivative scope exception guidance pertaining to equity classification of contracts in an entity’s own equity. The new standard also introduces additional disclosures for convertible debt and freestanding instruments that are indexed to and settled in an entity’s own equity. ASU 2020-06 amends the diluted earnings per share guidance, including the requirement to use the if-converted method for all convertible instruments. ASU 2020-06 is effective January 1, 2024 and should be applied on a full or modified retrospective basis, with early adoption permitted beginning on January 1, 2021. We early adopted ASU 2020-06 on January 1, 2021. The adoption of ASU 2020-06 did not have an impact on our financial statements.
Management does not believe that any other recently issued, but not yet effective, accounting standards, if currently adopted, would have a material effect on our financial statements.
Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk
Not applicable for smaller reporting companies.
Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data
This information appears following Item 15 of this Report and is included herein by reference.
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Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure
None.
Item 9A. Controls and Procedures.
Disclosure controls and procedures are controls and other procedures that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in our reports filed or submitted under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms. Disclosure controls and procedures include, without limitation, controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in our reports filed or submitted under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.
Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
As required by Rules 13a-15 and 15d-15 under the Exchange Act, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer carried out an evaluation of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures as of December 31, 2021. Based upon their evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act) were not effective, due solely to the material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting related to the Company’s accounting for complex financial instruments.
Management has identified a material weakness in internal controls related to the accounting for complex financial instruments. While we have processes to identify and appropriately apply applicable accounting requirements, we plan to continue to enhance our system of evaluating and implementing the accounting standards that apply to our financial statements, including through enhanced analyses by our personnel and third-party professionals with whom we consult regarding complex accounting applications. The elements of our remediation plan can only be accomplished over time, and we can offer no assurance that these initiatives will ultimately have the intended effects.
Management’s Report on Internal Controls Over Financial Reporting
As required by SEC rules and regulations implementing Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting. Our internal control over financial reporting is designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of our financial statements for external reporting purposes in accordance with GAAP. Our internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that:
(1) | pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of our company, |
(2) | provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with GAAP, and that our receipts and expenditures are being made only in accordance with authorizations of our management and directors, and |
(3) | provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition of our assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements. |
Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect errors or misstatements in our financial statements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree or compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate. Management assessed the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting at December 31, 2021. In making these assessments, management used the criteria set forth by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013). Based on our assessments and those criteria, management determined that we did not maintain effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2021.
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Management has implemented remediation steps to improve our internal control over financial reporting. Specifically, we expanded and improved our review process for complex securities and related accounting standards. We plan to further improve this process by enhancing access to accounting literature, identification of third-party professionals with whom to consult regarding complex accounting applications and consideration of additional staff with the requisite experience and training to supplement existing accounting professionals.
This Annual Report on Form 10-K does not include an attestation report of our independent registered public accounting firm due to our status as an emerging growth company under the JOBS Act.
Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting
During the fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2021, other than noted below, there has been no change in our internal control over financial reporting that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting. Management has identified a material weakness in internal controls related to the accounting for complex financial instruments as described above. While we have processes to identify and appropriately apply applicable accounting requirements, we plan to enhance our system of evaluating and implementing the accounting standards that apply to our financial statements, including through enhanced analyses by our personnel and third-party professionals with whom we consult regarding complex accounting applications. The elements of our remediation plan can only be accomplished over time, and we can offer no assurance that these initiatives will ultimately have the intended effects.
ITEM 9B. OTHER INFORMATION
None.
ITEM 9C. DISCLOSURE REGARDING FOREIGN JURISDICTIONS THAT PREVENT INSPECTIONS
Not applicable.
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PART III
ITEM 10. DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
Directors and Executive Officers
Our directors and executive officers are as follows:
Name |
| Age |
| Position |
|
Franklin McLarty | 47 | Executive Chairman and Director | |||
Jim Wilkinson | 51 | Vice Chairman and Director | |||
Donald “Beau” Blair | 49 | Chief Executive Officer | |||
Brent Whittington | 50 | Chief Financial Officer | |||
Yavor Efremov | 49 | Director | |||
Chad Estis | 50 | Director | |||
Michael Maroone | 68 | Director | |||
Tim Russi | 59 | Director | |||
Darrin Williams | 53 | Director |
Franklin McLarty, Executive Chairman and Director
Franklin McLarty is our Executive Chairman and Director. Mr. McLarty is the co-founder of McLarty Capital Partners, a private markets investment manager founded in June 2012; CapRocq, a real estate investment firm founded in September 2012 with significant experience as an owner-operator of high-quality office, mixed-use properties and automotive retail properties located in secondary and tertiary markets across the Southeast, Southcentral and Midwest regions otherwise known as the Heartland; and Southern United Automotive Group, a growing automotive retail platform founded in June 2016 focused on the southeastern U.S. In addition, he was a founding executive of RML Automotive, where he served a tenure as CEO. Earlier in his career, Mr. McLarty worked in hotel-related private equity with McKibbon Hotel Group and The Seaway Group. Mr. McLarty has served on numerous advisory boards and boards of directors including PAM Transportation (NASDAQ: PTSI), Tire Group International, Palo Verde Holdings, The McLarty Companies and The Seaway Group. Mr. McLarty also serves on the board of, and was lead investor in, XTR, a premium documentary production company in Los Angeles. Mr. McLarty also sits on the Vital Voices Solidarity Council. In 2007, Mr. McLarty was appointed by then Governor Mike Beebe to the Arkansas Economic Development Commission.
Jim Wilkinson, Vice Chairman and Director
Jim Wilkinson is our Vice Chairman and Director. Mr. Wilkinson is the founder and has served as the CEO of TrailRunner International, an international communications firm, since May 2016. Prior to founding TrailRunner, starting in May 2014, Jim served as SVP, Head of International Corporate Affairs for Alibaba Group, the world’s largest online and mobile marketplace. Prior to joining Alibaba Group, starting in April 2012, Jim served as Executive Vice President, Communications for PepsiCo, a global food and beverage leader with net revenues of more than $65 billion. Jim joined PepsiCo from Brunswick Group, where he served in San Francisco as Managing Partner for International Business and Financial Strategy, providing strategic counsel on global corporate mandates spanning international operations, corporate and financial communications, corporate reputation, investor relations, crisis management, and litigation. Prior to Brunswick Group, Jim served as Chief of Staff for U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Henry M. Paulson, serving as Paulson’s senior strategist and counselor, and working on matters of financial policy and crisis management. Prior to his work for the Treasury, Jim served as Senior Advisor to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and worked with Rice in the White House as Deputy National Security Advisor for Communications. From 2002 to 2003, Jim was Director of Strategic Communications for General Tommy R. Franks at U.S. Central Command, and from 2000-2001 served in the White House as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of Communications. Prior to working in the White House, Jim spent several years working in the U.S. Congress for House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-TX) and the National Republican Congressional Committee. Jim served as an officer in the U.S. Navy Reserves, and also taught international communications at The Johns Hopkins University. He also serves as a national board member for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and on the Board of Trustees for The Women’s Sports Foundation. Jim holds degrees from the University of Texas at Arlington (BBA, Finance) and The Johns Hopkins University (MA), and he is a graduate of the Yale University School of Management Global Executive Leadership Program.
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Donald “Beau” Blair, Chief Executive Officer
Beau Blair is our Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Blair has worked closely with Mr. McLarty and the McLarty family for over a decade. Starting in April 2012, Mr. Blair co-founded McLarty Capital Partners’ Small Business Fund I as a general partner and served on the investment committee. Mr. Blair is the COO and EVP of McLarty Diversified Holdings, Co-Founder and Director of CapRocq Core REIT and CapRocq Automotive LLC. Mr. Blair was a Co-Founder and Director of GDV Imports Mexico S.A.P.I de C.V., the exclusive wholesale distributor of Jaguar Land Rover in Mexico. Mr. Blair served as a Director of Paqui Tortilla Chips prior to its sale to TA Associate’s SkinnyPop Popcorn pre-IPO. Previously, Mr. Blair served as an Executive Director of global investment banking at J.P. Morgan in New York. Mr. Blair began his professional career at Stephens Inc. and Alltel Information Services. Mr. Blair earned a B.A. from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and an M.B.A from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas in Austin. Mr. Blair has served on numerous profit and non-profit boards and was the Co-Chair of the Catholic High School for Boys steering committee. Mr. Blair currently serves as Chairman of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Advisory Board and serves as a Director and Executive Committee member of the University of Arkansas Foundation Board.
Brent Whittington, Chief Financial Officer
Brent Whittington is our Chief Financial Officer. Since September 2015, Mr. Whittington has served as the owner of Moots Cycles, a premium bicycle manufacturing company that has been hand building for 40 years some of the most sought after gravel, road and mountain bikes that are sold all over the world. Prior to that, starting in December 2005, Mr. Whittington worked as the Chief Financial Officer and then Chief Operating Officer at Windstream Holdings Inc., a Fortune 500 telecommunications company. Previously, he served as senior vice president of operations for Windstream’s predecessor company Alltel Corp. Mr. Whittington is currently a Board member at RigNet and has served as Chair of the Audit Committee and is on the Compensation Committee. He joined the Board of Directors when the company went public in 2010. Additionally, he is on the Board of Directors at Great Plains Communications. Mr. Whittington attended the University of Arkansas, Little Rock, where he received his B.S. in Accounting.
Yavor Efremov, Director
Yavor Efremov is one of our independent directors. From April 2019 to November 2019, Mr. Efremov was the CEO of Motorsport Network, a global company with 630 employees, and was responsible for restructuring the company, hiring a management team, developing a vision for the company going forward and executing on that vision. In the 8 months Mr. Efremov was at the helm of the company, he hired a management team implemented a global financial and CRM system and technology solutions to drive data analytics, productivity and accountability. Mr. Efremov re-organized the company into business segments and began the integration process of entities that were previously acquired, but never integrated. He replaced the top-down business planning procedures with a bottoms-up process and brought in the talent necessary to put together a proper budget and business plan. In addition, Mr. Efremov has 18 years of corporate finance and M&A experience with emphasis on sourcing, structuring and execution of complex financial transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, carve-outs, divestitures, restructurings and debt/equity financings. Prior to Motorsport Network, he spent 5 years at Liberty Media as SVP, Corporate Development. Prior to that, Mr. Efremov spent 8 years in the Technology, Media and Telecom group of Goldman, Sachs & Co. in New York and, prior to that, he was an M&A lawyer with Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton for 5 years, also in New York. Mr. Efremov holds a J.D. from the Yale Law School, a Ph.D. in Economics from Yale, B.S. (Mathematics) and B.A. (Economics) from Furman University.
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Chad Estis, Director
Chad Estis is one of our independent directors. As Executive Vice President of Business Operations for the Dallas Cowboys and AT&T Stadium, Estis works with the business leadership team to grow and strengthen the businesses. His area of expertise includes corporate partnerships, stadium suites and ticket sales, media, branding and third party events. His numerous contributions include a successful stadium suite and seat license sales campaign, a newly developed tour and catered event business, as well as several new business concepts for a professional sports organization. Mr. Estis leads the organization’s new headquarters and world training facility project “The Star” in Frisco, Texas. In addition to his role with the Cowboys, Mr. Estis serves as Executive Vice President of Legends, a premium experiences company for legendary brands. Mr. Estis focuses on the development of large-scale projects, while remaining involved in day-to-day Global Sales partnerships. Under his leadership, Legends created and grew the Global Sales division to become one of the most influential in the sports and hospitality industry. Before joining the Cowboys organization, Estis served as Executive Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Quicken Loans Arena from 2006 to 2007. In this role, Mr. Estis oversaw all sales, marketing, community relations, communications, website and game operations. Mr. Estis became VP of Sales and Business Development for the Cavaliers in 2001. Before the Cavaliers, Mr. Estis was the Vice President of Sales for the Tampa Bay Lightning. Mr. Estis began his executive career in sales management for Palace Sports & Entertainment in Detroit. Mr. Estis received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Ohio University. Mr. Estis was a four-year letter winner on Ohio’s basketball team and captained the 1994 MAC Championship team.
Michael Maroone, Director
Michael Maroone is one of our independent directors. Mr. Maroone is an entrepreneur, investor and second-generation auto retailer. Beginning in May 2017, Maroone USA, where he serves as CEO, acquired four automotive franchises in Colorado Springs followed by acquisitions in West Palm Beach (Florida) and Longmont (Colorado). Spanning more than four decades, his career in auto retail began with the Maroone Automotive Group (1975-1997), which, under his leadership as president, grew to nine franchises in six locations with 900 associates. From 1997 to 2015, Mr. Maroone served as president, chief operating officer and director of AutoNation, Inc., a Fortune 500 automotive retailer. He was responsible for all retail operations of 280 franchises representing 32 manufacturer brands in 15 states with over 20,000 associates including: the field organization; sales; service; parts; collision; marketing; e-commerce; corporate real estate; strategy; industry relations; information technology; corporate development; and internal communications. As owner of Maroone Enterprises since 1997, Mr. Maroone works both independently and in partnership in multiple ventures. His business interests include automotive, healthcare, aviation, insurance and real estate where his investments include commercial centers, office buildings, cold storage, apartments, town homes and land. Mr. Maroone serves as the lead director of Carvana, the nation’s fastest growing auto retailer. He is a member of the Cleveland Clinic enterprise board of directors and chairman of the board of Cleveland Clinic Florida and serves on both the investment and philanthropy committees. Mr. Maroone received a BS in Small Business Management from the University of Colorado Boulder.
Tim Russi, Director
Tim Russi is one of our independent directors. Mr. Russi was Vice Chairman of Auto Finance at Ally, the company’s primary profit center with over $115 billion in assets and $4 billion in net revenue. He was responsible for successfully transforming Ally’s auto finance business from a manufacturer-owned captive, formerly GMAC, to an independent, market-leading financial services organization. Mr. Russi’s leadership was instrumental in directing the auto team of more than 6,000 associates to effectively execute on its transformational strategies and tactics. Under Mr. Russi’s leadership, the auto finance unit grew to become Ally’s largest business unit and revenue driver, critical to Ally’s successful IPO in 2014. Mr. Russi actively advocates for and invests in digital, ecommerce, and fintech platforms designed to grow and evolve the auto business. He successfully championed the acquisition of an emerging fintech lender, BlueYield (now known as Clearlane) in 2016 and made Ally a go-to financial services partner for the most innovative digital disruptors in the auto retail space including Carvana, Vroom and Carmax. Mr. Russi has a comprehensive set of skills developed through several unique work experiences in functional and operational roles. He has served as a CFO for global operating units, an executive search professional, and an audit consultant with Ernst & Young. Prior to joining Ally, Mr. Russi led the Dealer Financial Services business at Bank of America and served on its management council.
Currently, Mr. Russi is a board member or senior advisor to companies in the following areas: technology-based loss mitigation, digital content and signage, auto retail, machine learning, work flow processing, digital vehicle buying, auto finance and non-profit family home for youths. Mr. Russi received his CPA from the State of California and a BS in Managerial Economics from the University of California, Davis.
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Darrin Williams, Director
Darrin Williams is one of our independent directors. Mr. Williams currently serves as the CEO of Southern Bancorp, Inc., overseeing the strategic direction and operations of each of Southern’s three Community Development Financial Institutions: Southern Bancorp, Inc., a bank holding company; Southern Bancorp Bank, one of America’s largest rural development banks; and Southern Bancorp Community Partners, a 501(c)(3) development finance and lending organization. Under Mr. Williams’ leadership, Southern has experienced unprecedented profitability and growth, attracting $40 million in equity capital from new and existing shareholders, including international investors. Prior to leading Southern, Mr. Williams served as managing partner at the law firm of Carney, Williams, Bates & Pulliam, PLLC, (Carney Williams). Carney Williams’ practice focused on representing aggrieved investors and consumers in class action litigations against some of the nation’s largest publicly traded companies. In addition to his professional work, Darrin is also an active public servant. First elected to the Arkansas General Assembly in 2008, he served as the Speaker Pro Tempore of the Arkansas House of Representatives during the 89th General Assembly and as Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee during the 88th General Assembly. He was recently named to the Bloomberg 50 List of most influential thought leaders of 2020. Mr. Williams received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Hendrix College in Conway, Ark, his Juris Doctorate degree from Vanderbilt University School of Law in Nashville, Tennessee, and his Master of Laws degree in Securities and Financial Regulation from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C.
Number and Terms of Office of Officers and Directors
Our board of directors consists of seven members and is divided into three classes with only one class of directors being appointed in each year, and with each class (except for those directors appointed prior to our first annual meeting) serving a three-year term. In accordance with the NYSE corporate governance requirements, we are not required to hold an annual meeting until one year after our first fiscal year end following our listing on the NYSE. The term of office of the first class of directors, consisting of Messrs. Efremov and Estis will expire at our first annual meeting. The term of office of the second class of directors, consisting of Messrs. Russi and Williams, will expire at the second annual meeting of stockholders. The term of office of the third class of directors, consisting of Messrs. McLarty, Wilkinson and Maroone, will expire at the third annual meeting of stockholders.
Our officers are appointed by the board of directors and serve at the discretion of the board of directors, rather than for specific terms of office. Our board of directors is authorized to appoint officers as it deems appropriate pursuant to our amended and restated certificate Charter.
Director Independence
The rules of the NYSE require that a majority of our board of directors be independent within one year of the Public Offering. An “independent director” is defined generally as a person who, in the opinion of the company’s board of directors, has no material relationship with the listed company (either directly or as a partner, stockholder or officer of an organization that has a relationship with the company). Our board of directors has determined that each of Messrs. Efremov, Estis, Maroone, Russi and Williams is an “independent director” as defined in the NYSE listing standards and applicable SEC rules. Our independent directors will have regularly scheduled meetings at which only independent directors are present.
Board Committees
Our board of directors has three standing committees: an audit committee, a compensation committee and a nominating and corporate governance committee. Our audit committee, compensation committee and nominating and corporate governance committee are composed solely of independent directors. Subject to phase-in rules, the rules of the NYSE and Rule 10A-3 under the Exchange Act require that the audit committee of a listed company be comprised solely of independent directors, and the rules of the NYSE require that the compensation committee and the nominating and corporate governance committee of a listed company be comprised solely of independent directors. Each committee operates pursuant to a charter approved by our board and have the composition and responsibilities described below. The charter of each committee is available on our website.
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Audit Committee
We established an audit committee of the board of directors. Messrs. Efremov, Maroone and Russi serve as members of our audit committee, and Mr. Efremov chairs the audit committee. Under the NYSE listing standards and applicable SEC rules, we are required to have at least three members of the audit committee, all of whom must be independent. Each of Messrs. Efremov, Maroone and Russi meet the independent director standard under the NYSE listing standards and under Rule 10A-3(b)(l) under the Exchange Act.
Each member of the audit committee is financially literate and our board of directors has determined that each of Messrs. Efremov, Maroone and Russi qualifies as an “audit committee financial expert” as defined in applicable SEC rules and has accounting or related financial management expertise.
We have adopted an audit committee charter, detailing the principal functions of the audit committee, including:
● | assisting board oversight of (1) the integrity of our financial statements, (2) our compliance with legal and regulatory requirements, (3) our independent registered public accounting firm’s qualifications and independence, and (4) the performance of our internal audit function and independent auditors; the appointment, compensation, retention, replacement, and oversight of the work of the independent auditors and any other independent registered public accounting firm engaged by us; |
● | pre-approving all audit and non-audit services to be provided by the independent auditors or any other registered public accounting firm engaged by us, and establishing pre-approval policies and procedures; reviewing and discussing with the independent auditors all relationships the auditors have with us in order to evaluate their continued independence; |
● | setting clear policies for audit partner rotation in compliance with applicable laws and regulations; obtaining and reviewing a report, at least annually, from the independent registered public accounting firm describing (1) the independent auditor’s internal quality-control procedures and (2) any material issues raised by the most recent internal quality-control review, or peer review, of the audit firm, or by any inquiry or investigation by governmental or professional authorities, within the preceding five years respecting one or more independent audits carried out by the firm and any steps taken to deal with such issues; |
● | meeting to review and discuss our annual audited financial statements and quarterly financial statements with management and the independent auditor, including reviewing our specific disclosures under “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” reviewing and approving any related party transaction required to be disclosed pursuant to Item 404 of Regulation S-K promulgated by the SEC prior to us entering into such transaction; and |
● | reviewing with management, the independent auditors, and our legal advisors, as appropriate, any legal, regulatory or compliance matters, including any correspondence with regulators or government agencies and any employee complaints or published reports that raise material issues regarding our financial statements or accounting policies and any significant changes in accounting standards or rules promulgated by the Financial Accounting Standards Board, the SEC or other regulatory authorities. |
Compensation Committee
We established a compensation committee of the board of directors. Messrs. Efremov and Russi serve as members of our compensation committee, and Mr. Russi chairs the compensation committee. Under the NYSE listing standards and applicable SEC rules, we are required to have at least two members of the compensation committee, all of whom must be independent. Messrs. Efremov and Russi are independent.
We have adopted a compensation committee charter, detailing the principal functions of the compensation committee, including:
● | reviewing and approving on an annual basis the corporate goals and objectives relevant to our chief executive officer’s compensation, evaluating our chief executive officer’s performance in light of such goals and objectives and determining and approving the remuneration (if any) of our chief executive officer based on such evaluation; |
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● | reviewing and making recommendations to our board of directors with respect to the compensation, and any incentive compensation and equity based plans that are subject to board approval of all of our other officers; |
● | reviewing our executive compensation policies and plans; |
● | implementing and administering our incentive compensation equity-based remuneration plans; |
● | assisting management in complying with our proxy statement and annual report disclosure requirements; |
● | approving all special perquisites, special cash payments and other special compensation and benefit arrangements for our officers and employees; |
● | producing a report on executive compensation to be included in our annual proxy statement; and |
● | reviewing, evaluating and recommending changes, if appropriate, to the remuneration for directors. |
The charter also provides that the compensation committee may, in its sole discretion, retain or obtain the advice of a compensation consultant, independent legal counsel or other adviser and will be directly responsible for the appointment, compensation and oversight of the work of any such adviser. However, before engaging or receiving advice from a compensation consultant, external legal counsel or any other adviser, the compensation committee will consider the independence of each such adviser, including the factors required by the NYSE and the SEC.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, as indicated above, other than the payment to an affiliate of our sponsor of $10,000 per month, for office space, utilities and secretarial and administrative support and reimbursement of expenses, no compensation of any kind, including finders, consulting or other similar fees, will be paid to any of our sponsor, officers, directors or any of their respective affiliates, prior to, or for any services they render in order to effectuate the consummation of an initial business combination. Accordingly, it is likely that prior to the consummation of an initial business combination, the compensation committee will only be responsible for the review and recommendation of any compensation arrangements to be entered into in connection with such initial business combination.
Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee
We established a nominating and corporate governance committee of the board of directors. The members of our nominating and corporate governance are Messrs. Williams and Mr. Estis. Mr. Williams chairs the nominating and corporate governance committee.
We have adopted a nominating and corporate governance committee charter detailing the purpose and responsibilities of the nominating and corporate governance committee, including:
● | identifying, screening and reviewing individuals qualified to serve as directors, consistent with criteria approved by the board, and recommending to the board of directors candidates for nomination for appointment at the annual meeting or to fill vacancies on the board of directors; |
● | developing and recommending to the board of directors and overseeing implementation of our corporate governance guidelines; |
● | coordinating and overseeing the annual self-evaluation of the board of directors, its committees, individual directors and management in the governance of the company; and |
● | reviewing on a regular basis our overall corporate governance and recommending improvements as and when necessary. |
The charter also provides that the nominating and corporate governance committee may, in its sole discretion, retain or obtain the advice of, and terminate, any search firm to be used to identify director candidates, and will be directly responsible for approving the search firm’s fees and other retention terms.
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We have not formally established any specific, minimum qualifications that must be met or skills that are necessary for directors to possess. In general, in identifying and evaluating nominees for director, the board of directors considers educational background, diversity of professional experience, knowledge of our business, integrity, professional reputation, independence, wisdom, and the ability to represent the best interests of our stockholders. Prior to our initial business combination, holders of our public shares will not have the right to recommend director candidates for nomination to our board of directors.
Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation
None of our officers currently serves, or in the past year has served, as a member of the compensation committee of any entity that has one or more officers serving on our board of directors.
Code of Ethics and Committee Charters
We have adopted a Code of Business Conduct and Ethics applicable to our directors, officers and employees. We will file a copy of our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics as an exhibit to the registration statement relating to the Public Offering. You may review this document by accessing our public filings at the SEC’s web site at www.sec.gov. In addition, a copy of the Code of Business Conduct and Ethics and the charters of the committees of our board of directors will be provided without charge upon request from us. If we make any amendments to our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics other than technical, administrative or other non-substantive amendments, or grant any waiver, including any implicit waiver, from a provision of the Code of Business Conduct and Ethics applicable to our principal executive officer, principal financial officer, principal accounting officer or controller or persons performing similar functions requiring disclosure under applicable SEC or NYSE rules, we will disclose the nature of such amendment or waiver on our website.
ITEM 11. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
None of our executive officers or directors has received any cash compensation for services rendered. We will reimburse an affiliate of our sponsor for office space, secretarial and administrative services provided to members of our management team in an amount not to exceed $10,000 per month in the event such space and/or services are utilized and we do not pay directly for such services. Upon completion of our initial business combination or our liquidation, we will cease making these payments. In addition, our sponsor, executive officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made to our sponsor, officers or directors, or our or their affiliates. Other than these payments and reimbursements, no compensation of any kind, including finder’s and consulting fees, will be paid to the sponsor, executive officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates, prior to completion of our initial business combination.
It is possible that some or all of our officers and directors may negotiate employment or consulting arrangements with the post-transaction company after our initial business combination. Any such arrangements will be disclosed in the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, furnished to our stockholders in connection with a proposed business combination, to the extent they are known at such time.
The existence or terms of any such employment or consulting arrangements may influence our management’s motivation in identifying or selecting a target business, but we do not believe that such arrangements will be a determining factor in our decision to proceed with any potential business combination.
ITEM 12. SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS AND MANAGEMENT AND RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS
● | The following table presents the number of shares and percentage of our common stock owned by our initial stockholders after the Public Offering: each person known by us to be the beneficial owner of more than 5% of our issued and outstanding shares of Common Stock; |
● | each of our officers, directors and director nominees; and |
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● | all our officers and directors as a group. |
Unless otherwise indicated, we believe that all persons named in the table have sole voting and investment power with respect to all of our Common Stock beneficially owned by them. The following table does not reflect record or beneficial ownership of the private placement warrants as these warrants are not exercisable within 60 days following the Public Offering.
Class A Common | Class B Common |
| |||||||||
Stock | Stock | Percentage |
| ||||||||
Number of | Number of | of |
| ||||||||
Shares | Percent | Shares | Percent | Outstanding |
| ||||||
Beneficially | of | Beneficially | of | Common |
| ||||||
Name and Address of Beneficial Owner(1) |
| Owned |
| Class |
| Owned(2) |
| Class |
| Stock | |
MDIH Sponsor LLC(3) |
| — |
| — |
| 6,900,000 |
| 100 | % | 20.0 | % |
McLarty Diversified Intermediate Holdings LLC(3) |
| — |
| — |
| 6,900,000 |
| 100 | % | 20.0 | % |
Franklin McLarty(3) |
| — |
| — |
| 6,900,000 |
| 100 | % | 20.0 | % |
Donald “Beau” Blair(3) |
| — |
| — |
| 6,900,000 |
| 100 | % | 20.0 | % |
Jim Wilkinson |
| — |
| — |
| — |
| — |
| — | |
Brent Whittington |
| — |
| — |
| — |
| — |
| — | |
Yavor Efrenov |
| — |
| — |
| — |
| — |
| — | |
Chad Estis |
| — |
| — |
| — |
| — |
| — | |
Michael Maroone |
| — |
| — |
| — |
| — |
| — | |
Tim Russi |
| — |
| — |
| — |
| — |
| — | |
Darrin Williams |
| — |
| — |
| — |
| — |
| — | |
Kenneth Griffin(4) |
| 1,536,883 |
| 5.6 | % | — |
| — |
| 5.6 | % |
All officers, directors and director nominees as a group (nine individuals) |
|
| 6,900,000 | 100 | % | 20.0 | % |
* | Less than one percent |
(1) | Unless otherwise noted, the business address of each of the following entities or individuals is c/o MDH Acquisition Corp., 600 N. Carroll Ave., Suite 100, Southlake, TX 76092. |
(2) | Interests shown consist solely of Founder Shares, classified as shares of Class B common stock. Such shares will automatically convert into shares of Class A common stock at the time of our initial business combination on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment, as described elsewhere herein. |
(3) | Our sponsor is the record holder of such shares. Our sponsor is managed by its sole member, McLarty Diversified Intermediate Holdings LLC. Messrs. McLarty and Blair are members and managers of McLarty Diversified Intermediate Holdings LLC, and as such, may be deemed to have shared beneficial ownership of the common stock held directly by our sponsor. Each such person disclaims any beneficial ownership of the reported shares other than to the extent of any pecuniary interest they may have therein, directly or indirectly. |
(4) | Information regarding Mr. Kenneth Griffin is based solely on the Schedule 13G filed jointly filed by Citadel Advisors LLC, Citadel Advisors Holdings LP, Citadel GP LLC, Citadel Securities LLC, CALC IV LP, Citadel Securities GP LLC and Mr. Kenneth Griffin with the SEC on February 12, 2021 for the year ended December 31, 2020. Mr. Griffin has the shared power to vote or direct the vote of 1,536,883 shares of Class A common stock and the shared power to dispose or to direct the disposition of 1,536,883 shares of Class A common stock. The address of Mr. Griffin is 31 S. Dearborn Street, 32nd Floor, Chicago, Illinois 60603. |
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ITEM 13. CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS, AND DIRECTOR INDEPENDENCE
On August 17, 2020, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 5,750,000 Founder Shares for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000, or approximately $0.004 per share. On February 1, 2021, in connection with the Public Offering, we effected a 1.2-for-1 stock split of our Class B common stock, resulting in an aggregate of 6,900,000 Founder Shares outstanding. The number of Founder Shares outstanding was determined based on the expectation that the total size of the Public Offering would be a maximum of 27,600,000 units if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full, and therefore that such Founder Shares would represent 20% of the outstanding shares after the Public Offering.
Our sponsor purchase an aggregate of 6,550,000 private placement warrants, each exercisable to purchase one share of Class A common stock at $11.50 per share, at a price of $1.00 per warrant, or $6,550,000 in the aggregate, in a private placement that closed simultaneously with the closing of the Public Offering. The private placement warrants are identical to the warrants sold in the Public Offering except that the private placement warrants, so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees, (i) will not be redeemable by us, (ii) may not (including the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of these warrants), subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by the holders until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination, (iii) may be exercised by the holders on a cashless basis and (iv) will be entitled to registration rights. The private placement warrants (including the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise thereof) may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by the holder.
No compensation of any kind, including finder’s and consulting fees, will be paid by the company to our sponsor, officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates, for services rendered prior to or in connection with the completion of an initial business combination. However, these individuals will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made to our sponsor, officers, directors or our or their affiliates.
In addition, in order to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds as may be required on a non-interest basis. If we complete an initial business combination, we would repay such loaned amounts. In the event that the initial business combination does not close, we may use a portion of the working capital held outside the Trust Account to repay such loaned amounts but no proceeds from our Trust Account would be used for such repayment. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into private placement warrants of the post-business combination entity at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender. Such warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants. As of December 31, 2021, advances amounted to $377,543 and for 2022 $157,000 for an aggregate amount of $535,000, which are currently due on demand.
Any of the foregoing payments to our sponsor or repayments of working capital loans prior to our initial business combination will be made using funds held outside the Trust Account.
After our initial business combination, members of our management team who remain with us may be paid consulting, management or other fees from the combined company with any and all amounts being fully disclosed to our stockholders, to the extent then known, in the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, furnished to our stockholders. It is unlikely the amount of such compensation will be known at the time of distribution of such tender offer materials or at the time of a stockholder meeting held to consider our initial business combination, as applicable, as it will be up to the directors of the post-combination business to determine executive and director compensation.
Registration Rights
The holders of Founder Shares and Private Placement Warrants will be entitled to registration rights pursuant to a registration rights agreement signed on November 24, 2020. The holders of these securities are entitled to make up to three demands, excluding short form demands, that the Company register such securities. In addition, the holders have certain “piggy-back” registration rights with respect to registration statements filed subsequent to our completion the Company’s initial business combination. The Company will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such registration statements.
54
Administrative Services
We will reimburse our sponsor and its affiliates for office space, secretarial and administrative services provided to members of the Company’s management team in an amount not to exceed $10,000 per month in the event such space and/or services are utilized and the Company does not pay a third party directly for such services, from the date of closing of the Public Offering. Upon completion of a business combination or the Company’s liquidation, the Company will cease paying these monthly fees.
Item 14. Principal Accountant Fees and Services.
The following is a summary of fees paid or to be paid to Marcum LLP, or Marcum, for services rendered.
Audit Fees. Audit fees consist of fees billed for professional services rendered for the audit of our year-end financial statements and services that are normally provided by Marcum in connection with regulatory filings. The aggregate fees billed by Marcum for professional services rendered for the audit of our annual financial statements, review of the financial information included in our Forms 10-Q for the respective periods and other required filings with the SEC for the year ended December 31, 2021 and for the period from July 9, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2021 totaled $252,000 and $25,000, respectively. The above amounts include interim procedures and audit fees, as well as attendance at audit committee meetings.
Audit-Related Fees. Audit-related services consist of fees billed for assurance and related services that are reasonably related to performance of the audit or review of our financial statements and are not reported under “Audit Fees.” These services include attest services that are not required by statute or regulation and consultations concerning financial accounting and reporting standards. We did not pay Marcum for consultations concerning financial accounting and reporting standards for the year ended December 31, 2021 and for the period from July 9, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2021.
Tax Fees. We did not pay Marcum for tax planning and tax advice for the year ended December 31, 2021 and for the period from July 9, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2021.
All Other Fees. We did not pay Marcum for other services for the year ended December 31, 2021 and for the period from July 9, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2021.
Pre-Approval Policy
Our audit committee was formed upon the consummation of our Initial Public Offering. As a result, the audit committee did not pre-approve all of the foregoing services, although any services rendered prior to the formation of our audit committee were approved by our board of directors. Since the formation of our audit committee, and on a going-forward basis, the audit committee has and will pre-approve all auditing services and permitted non-audit services to be performed for us by our auditors, including the fees and terms thereof (subject to the de minimis exceptions for non-audit services described in the Exchange Act which are approved by the audit committee prior to the completion of the audit).
55
PART IV
ITEM 15. EXHIBITS, FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES
(a) | The following documents are filed as part of this report: |
(1) | Financial Statements |
Page | |
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm (PCAOB ID # 688) | F-2 |
F-3 | |
F-4 | |
F-5 | |
F-6 | |
F-7 |
(2) | Financial Statement Schedule |
None
(3) | Exhibits |
We hereby file as part of this Report the exhibits listed in the attached Exhibit Index. Exhibits which are incorporated herein by reference can be inspected and copied at the public reference facilities maintained by the SEC, 100 F Street, N.E., Room 1580, Washington, D.C. 20549. Copies of such material can also be obtained from the Public Reference Section of the SEC, 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549, at prescribed rates or on the SEC website at www.sec.gov.
Exhibit |
| Description |
3.1 | ||
3.2 | ||
4.1 | ||
4.2 | ||
4.3 | ||
4.4 | ||
4.5 | Description of Securities | |
10.1 | ||
10.2 | ||
10.3 |
56
10.4 | ||
10.5 | ||
14.1 | ||
31.1 | ||
31.2 | ||
32.1 | ||
32.2 | ||
101.INS | Inline XBRL Instance Document | |
101.SCH | Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document | |
101.CAL | Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase Document | |
101.DEF | Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase Document | |
101.LAB | Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Label Linkbase Document | |
101.PRE | Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase Document | |
104 | Cover Page Interactive Data File (formatted as inline XBRL and contained in Exhibit 101) |
57
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.
April 5, 2022 | ||
MDH ACQUISITION CORP. | ||
By: | /s/ Beau Blair | |
Name: Beau Blair | ||
Title: Chief Executive Officer |
POWER OF ATTORNEY
The undersigned directors and officers of MDH Acquisition Corp. hereby constitute and appoint Michael Nessim, with the power to act without the others and with full power of substitution and resubstitution, our hue and lawful attorney-in-fact and agent with full power to execute in our name and behalf in the capacities indicated below any and all amendments to this report and to file the same, with all exhibits and other documents relating thereto and hereby ratify and confirm all that such attorney-in-fact, or such attorney-in-fact’s substitute, may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, this report has been signed below by the following persons in the capacities and on the dates indicated below.
Name |
| Title |
| Date |
/s/ Franklin McLarty | Executive Chairman and Director | April 5, 2022 | ||
/s/ Beau Blair | Chief Executive Officer (Principal Executive Officer) | April 5, 2022 | ||
/s/ Brent Whittington | Chief Financial Officer (Principal Financial Officer and Principal Accounting Officer) | April 5, 2022 | ||
/s/ Jim Wilkinson | Vice Chairman and Director | April 5, 2022 | ||
/s/ Yavor Efremov | Director | April 5, 2022 | ||
/s/ Chad Estis | Director | April 5, 2022 | ||
/s/ Michael Maroone | Director | April 5, 2022 | ||
/s/ Tim Russi | Director | April 5, 2022 | ||
/s/ Darrin Williams | Director | April 5, 2022 |
58
INDEX TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Page | |
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm (PCAOB ID # 688) | F-2 |
F-3 | |
F-4 | |
F-5 | |
F-6 | |
F-7 |
F-1
REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
To the Stockholders and Board of Directors of
MDH Acquisition Corp.
Opinion on the Financial Statements
We have audited the accompanying balance sheets of MDH Acquisition Corp. (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, the related statements of operations, changes in stockholders’ (deficit) equity and cash flows for the year ended December 31, 2021 and for the period from July 9, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year ended December 31, 2021 and for the period from July 9, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.
Explanatory Paragraph – Going Concern
The accompanying financial statements have been prepared assuming that the Company will continue as a going concern. As discussed in Note 1 to the financial statements, the Company’s business plan is dependent on the completion of a business combination by February 4, 2023 and the Company’s cash and working capital as of December 31, 2021 are not sufficient to complete its planned activities. If the Company is unable to complete a Business Combination by February 4, 2023, the Company will cease all operations except for the purpose of liquidating. These conditions raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. Management’s plans in regard to these matters are also described in Note 1. The financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.
Basis for Opinion
These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (the “PCAOB”) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.
We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audits to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. The Company is not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of its internal control over financial reporting. As part of our audits, we are required to obtain an understanding of internal control over financial reporting 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.
Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.
/S/ Marcum LLP
Marcum LLP
We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2020.
New York, NY
April 5, 2022
F-2
MDH ACQUISITION CORP.
BALANCE SHEETS
| December 31, 2021 |
| December 31, 2020 | |||
ASSETS | ||||||
Current assets | ||||||
Cash | $ | 92,993 | $ | 25,000 | ||
Prepaid expenses |
| 112,296 |
| — | ||
Total Current Assets | 205,289 | 25,000 | ||||
|
|
| ||||
Deferred offering costs | — | 197,764 | ||||
Marketable securities held in Trust Account | 276,029,717 | — | ||||
TOTAL ASSETS | $ | 276,235,006 | $ | 222,764 | ||
LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ (DEFICIT) EQUITY |
|
|
|
| ||
Current liabilities | ||||||
Accounts payable and accrued expenses (See Note 5) | $ | 2,742,586 | $ | 1,000 | ||
Accrued offering costs | — | 170,314 | ||||
Advances from related party | 377,543 | 27,450 | ||||
Total Current Liabilities | 3,120,129 | 198,764 | ||||
Warrant liabilities | 9,426,500 | — | ||||
Deferred underwriting fee payable |
| 9,660,000 |
| — | ||
TOTAL LIABILITIES |
| 22,206,629 |
| 198,764 | ||
|
|
|
| |||
Commitments and Contingencies |
|
|
|
| ||
Class A common stock subject to possible redemption, 27,600,000 shares at redemption value as of December 31, 2021 | 276,000,000 | — | ||||
|
|
|
| |||
Stockholders’ (Deficit) Equity |
|
|
|
| ||
Preferred stock, $0.0001 par value; 1,000,000 shares authorized; no shares issued and outstanding |
|
| ||||
Class A common stock; $0.0001 par value; 200,000,000 shares authorized no shares issued and outstanding (excluding 27,600,000 shares classified as redeemable, as of December 31, 2021) |
|
| ||||
Class B common stock, $0.0001 par value; 12,000,000 shares authorized; 6,900,000 shares issued and outstanding |
| 690 |
| 690 | ||
Additional paid-in capital |
| — |
| 24,310 | ||
Accumulated deficit |
| (21,972,313) |
| (1,000) | ||
Total Stockholders’ (Deficit) Equity | (21,971,623) |
| 24,000 | |||
TOTAL LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ (DEFICIT) EQUITY | $ | 276,235,006 | $ | 222,764 |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of the financial statements.
F-3
MDH ACQUISITION CORP.
STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
For the Period | ||||||
from July 9, | ||||||
2020 (Inception) | ||||||
Year Ended | through | |||||
December 31, | December 31, | |||||
| 2021 |
| 2020 | |||
Operating and formation costs | $ | 3,536,478 | $ | 1,000 | ||
Loss from operations | (3,536,478) | (1,000) | ||||
|
| |||||
Other income (expense): |
| |||||
Interest earned on investments held in Trust Account | 29,717 | — | ||||
Change in fair value of warrant liabilities | 9,492,000 | — | ||||
Transaction costs allocated to warrant liabilities | (727,230) | — | ||||
Other income, net | 8,794,487 | — | ||||
Net income (loss) | $ | 5,258,009 | $ | (1,000) | ||
|
| |||||
Weighted average shares outstanding of Class A common stock | 25,029,041 | — | ||||
Basic and diluted income (loss) per share, Class A common stock | 0.17 | $ | — | |||
Basic weighted average shares outstanding, Class B common stock | 6,816,164 | 6,150,000 | ||||
Basic and diluted net income (loss) per share, Class B common stock | 0.17 | — |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of the financial statements.
F-4
MDH ACQUISITION CORP.
STATEMENTS OF CHANGES IN STOCKHOLDERS’ (DEFICIT) EQUITY
Class A | Class B | Additional | Total | ||||||||||||||||
Common Stock | Common Stock | Paid-in | Accumulated | Stockholders’ | |||||||||||||||
| Shares |
| Amount |
| Shares |
| Amount |
| Capital |
| Deficit |
| Equity (Deficit) | ||||||
Balance — July 9, 2020 (Inception) | — | $ | — | — | $ | — | $ | — | $ | — | $ | — | |||||||
Issuance of Class B common stock to Sponsor | — | — | 6,900,000 | 690 | 24,310 | — | 25,000 | ||||||||||||
Net loss | — | — | — | — | — | (1,000) | (1,000) | ||||||||||||
Balance – December 31, 2020 | — | — | 6,900,000 | 690 | 24,310 | (1,000) | 24,000 | ||||||||||||
Remeasurement of Class A Common Stock Subject to Redemption | — | — | — | — | (351,810) | (27,229,322) | (27,581,132) | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
Proceeds received in excess of fair value for Private Placement Warrants | — | — | — | — | 327,500 | — | 327,500 | ||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
| |
| |||||||||||||
Net income |
| — |
| — | — | — |
| — |
| 5,258,009 |
| 5,258,009 | |||||||
Balance – December 31, 2021 | — | $ | — | 6,900,000 | $ | 690 | $ | — | $ | (21,972,313) | $ | (21,971,623) |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of the financial statements.
F-5
MDH ACQUISITION CORP.
STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
For the | ||||||
Period from | ||||||
July 9, | ||||||
2020 (Inception) | ||||||
Year Ended | through | |||||
December 31, | December 31, | |||||
| 2021 |
| 2020 | |||
Cash Flows from Operating Activities: |
| |||||
Net income (loss) | $ | 5,258,009 | $ | (1,000) | ||
Adjustments to reconcile net income (loss) to net cash used in operating activities: |
|
| ||||
Change in fair value of warrant liabilities | (9,492,000) | — | ||||
Interest earned on investments held in Trust Account | (29,717) | — | ||||
Transaction costs allocated to warrant liabilities | 727,230 | — | ||||
Changes in operating assets and liabilities: |
|
| ||||
Prepaid expenses | (112,296) | — | ||||
Accounts payable and accrued expenses |
| 2,741,586 | 1,000 | |||
Net cash used in operating activities |
| (907,188) | — | |||
Cash Flows from Investing Activities: | ||||||
Investment of cash in Trust Account | (276,000,000) | — | ||||
Net cash used in investing activities | (276,000,000) | — | ||||
|
| |||||
Cash Flows from Financing Activities: |
|
| ||||
Proceeds from issuance of Class B common stock to Sponsor |
| — | 25,000 | |||
Proceeds from sale of Units, net of underwriting discounts paid | 270,480,000 | — | ||||
Proceeds from sale of Private Placement Warrants | 6,550,000 | — | ||||
Advances from related party |
| 373,268 | 27,450 | |||
Repayment of advances from related party | (23,175) | — | ||||
Proceeds from due to sponsor | 600,000 | — | ||||
Repayment due to sponsor |
| (600,000) | — | |||
Payment of offering costs |
| (404,912) | (27,450) | |||
Net cash provided by financing activities |
| 276,975,181 | 25,000 | |||
|
| |||||
Net Change in Cash |
| 67,993 | 25,000 | |||
Cash — Beginning |
| 25,000 | — | |||
Cash — Ending | $ | 92,993 | $ | 25,000 | ||
|
|
| ||||
Non-cash investing and financing activities: |
|
| ||||
Offering costs included in accrued offering costs | $ | 5,000 | $ | 170,314 | ||
Allocation of proceeds to warrant liabilities | $ | 18,918,500 | $ | — | ||
Remeasurement of Class A common stock subject to redemption | $ | 27,581,132 | $ | — | ||
Deferred underwriting fee payable | $ | 9,660,000 | $ | — |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of the financial statements.
F-6
MDH ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
DECEMBER 31, 2021
NOTE 1. DESCRIPTION OF ORGANIZATION AND BUSINESS OPERATIONS
MDH Acquisition Corp. (the “Company”) was incorporated in Delaware on July 9, 2020. The Company was formed for the purpose of entering into a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or other similar business combination with one or more businesses (the “Business Combination”).
The Company is not limited to a particular industry or geographic region for purposes of consummating a Business Combination. The Company is an early stage and emerging growth company and, as such, the Company is subject to all of the risks associated with early stage and emerging growth companies.
As of December 31, 2021, the Company had not commenced any operations. All activity through December 31, 2021 relates to the Company’s formation, its initial public offering (the “Initial Public Offering”), which is described below, and subsequent to the Initial Public Offering, identifying a target company for a Business Combination and activities in connection with the proposed acquisition of Paylink Holdings Inc., a Delaware corporation (“Blocker”) and OP Group Holdings, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (“OP Group”) which subsequently expired on March 31, 2022 (see Note 6). The Company will not generate any operating revenues until after the completion of a Business Combination, at the earliest. The Company generates non-operating income in the form of interest income from the marketable securities held in the Trust Account (as defined below), and non-operating income or expenses from the changes in fair value of warrant liabilities.
The registration statements for the Company’s Initial Public Offering were declared effective on February 1, 2021. On February 4, 2021, the Company consummated the Initial Public Offering of 27,600,000 units (the “Units” and, with respect to the shares of Class A common stock included in the Units sold, the “Public Shares”), which includes the full exercise by the underwriter of its over-allotment option in the amount of 3,600,000 Units, at $10.00 per Unit, generating gross proceeds of $276,000,000, which is described in Note 3.
Simultaneously with the closing of the Initial Public Offering, the Company consummated the sale of 6,550,000 warrants (each, a “Private Placement Warrant” and, collectively, the “Private Placement Warrants” and together with Public Warrants, the “Warrants”) at a price of $1.00 per Private Placement Warrant in a private placement to MDIH Sponsor LLC (the “Sponsor”), generating gross proceeds of $6,550,000, which is described in Note 4.
Transaction costs amounted to $15,612,362, consisting of $5,520,000 of underwriting fees, $9,660,000 of deferred underwriting fees and $432,362 of other offering costs.
Following the closing of the Initial Public Offering on February 4, 2021, an amount of $276,000,000 ($10.00 per Unit) from the net proceeds of the sale of the Units in the Initial Public Offering and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants was placed in a trust account (the “Trust Account”), located in the United States and invested only in U.S. government securities, within the meaning set forth in Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”), with a maturity of 185 days or less or in any open-ended investment company that holds itself out as a money market fund selected by the Company meeting the conditions of Rule 2a-7 of the Investment Company Act, as determined by the Company, until the earlier of: (i) the completion of a Business Combination and (ii) the distribution of the funds held in the Trust Account, as described below.
The Company’s management has broad discretion with respect to the specific application of the net proceeds of the Initial Public Offering and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants, although substantially all of the net proceeds are intended to be applied generally toward consummating a Business Combination. The Company must complete a Business Combination with one or more target businesses that together have an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the value of the Trust Account (excluding the deferred underwriting commissions and interest income earned on the Trust Account to pay taxes) at the time of the agreement to enter into an initial Business Combination. The Company will only complete a Business Combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. There is no assurance that the Company will be able to complete a Business Combination successfully.
F-7
The Company will provide holders of its outstanding Public Shares (the “public stockholders”) with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their Public Shares upon the completion of a Business Combination either (i) in connection with a stockholder meeting called to approve the Business Combination or (ii) by means of a tender offer. The decision as to whether the Company will seek stockholder approval of a Business Combination or conduct a tender offer will be made by the Company, solely in its discretion. The public stockholders will be entitled to redeem their Public Shares for a pro rata portion of the amount then in the Trust Account (initially $10.00 per Public Share, plus any pro rata interest earned on the funds held in the Trust Account and not previously released to the Company to pay its tax obligations). There will be no redemption rights upon the completion of a Business Combination with respect to the Company’s warrants.
The Company will proceed with a Business Combination only if the Company has net tangible assets of at least $5,000,001 either prior to or upon such consummation of a Business Combination and, if the Company seeks stockholder approval, a majority of the shares voted are voted in favor of the Business Combination. If a stockholder vote is not required by law and the Company does not decide to hold a stockholder vote for business or other reasons, the Company will, pursuant to its Second Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation (the “Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation”), conduct the redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and file tender offer documents with the SEC prior to completing a Business Combination. If, however, stockholder approval of the transaction is required by law, or the Company decides to obtain stockholder approval for business or other reasons, the Company will offer to redeem shares in conjunction with a proxy solicitation pursuant to the proxy rules and not pursuant to the tender offer rules. If the Company seeks stockholder approval in connection with a Business Combination, the Sponsor has agreed to vote its Founder Shares (as defined in Note 5) and any Public Shares purchased during or after the Initial Public Offering in favor of approving a Business Combination. Additionally, each public stockholder may elect to redeem their Public Shares, without voting, and if they do vote, irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed Business Combination.
Notwithstanding the above, if the Company seeks stockholder approval of a Business Combination and it does not conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, the Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation provides that a public stockholder, together with any affiliate of such stockholder or any other person with whom such stockholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”)), will be restricted from redeeming its shares with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% or more of the Public Shares, without the prior consent of the Company.
The Sponsor has agreed (a) to waive its redemption rights with respect to its Founder Shares and Public Shares held by it in connection with the completion of a Business Combination, (b) to waive its liquidation rights with respect to the Founder Shares if the Company fails to complete a Business Combination by February 4, 2023 and (c) not to propose an amendment to the Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation (i) to modify the substance or timing of the Company’s obligation to allow redemption in connection with the Company’s initial Business Combination or to redeem 100% of its Public Shares if the Company does not complete a Business Combination or (ii) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, unless the Company provides the public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their Public Shares in conjunction with any such amendment. However, if the Sponsor acquires Public Shares in or after the Initial Public Offering, such Public Shares will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the Trust Account if the Company fails to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period (as defined below).
The Company will have until February 4, 2023 to complete a Business Combination (the “Combination Period”). If the Company is unable to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period, the Company will (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than
business days thereafter, redeem the Public Shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the Trust Account including interest earned on the funds held in the Trust Account and not previously released to the Company to pay its tax obligations (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses and net of taxes payable), divided by the number of then outstanding Public Shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any), and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of the Company’s remaining stockholders and the Company’s board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to the Company’s obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to the Company’s warrants, which will expire worthless if the Company fails to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period.F-8
The Sponsor has agreed to waive its liquidation rights with respect to the Founder Shares if the Company fails to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period. However, if the Sponsor acquires Public Shares in or after the Initial Public Offering, such Public Shares will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the Trust Account if the Company fails to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period. The underwriters have agreed to waive their rights to their deferred underwriting commission (see Note 6) held in the Trust Account in the event the Company does not complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period and, in such event, such amounts will be included with the other funds held in the Trust Account that will be available to fund the redemption of the Public Shares. In the event of such distribution, it is possible that the per share value of the assets remaining available for distribution will be less than the Initial Public Offering price per Unit ($10.00).
In order to protect the amounts held in the Trust Account, the Sponsor has agreed to be liable to the Company if and to the extent any claims by a third party for services rendered or products sold to the Company, or a prospective target business with which the Company has discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the Trust Account to below (1) $10.00 per Public Share or (2) the actual amount per Public Share held in the Trust Account as of the date of the liquidation of the Trust Account due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest which may be withdrawn to pay our taxes. This liability will not apply with respect to any claims by a third party who executed a waiver of any and all rights to seek access to the Trust Account and except as to any claims under the Company’s indemnity of the underwriters of the Initial Public Offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”). Moreover, in the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, the Sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third-party claims. The Company will seek to reduce the possibility that the Sponsor will have to indemnify the Trust Account due to claims of creditors by endeavoring to have all vendors, service providers (except the Company’s independent auditors), prospective target businesses or other entities with which the Company does business, execute agreements with the Company waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to monies held in the Trust Account.
Risks and Uncertainties
Management continues to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and has concluded that while it is reasonably possible that the virus could have a negative effect on the Company’s financial position, results of its operations and/or search for a target company, the specific impact is not readily determinable as of the date of the financial statements. The financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.
Liquidity and Going Concern
As of December 31, 2021, the Company had $92,993 of cash in its operating bank accounts, $276,029,717 in securities held in the Trust Account to be used for a Business Combination or to repurchase or redeem its common stock in connection therewith and a working capital deficit of $2,885,123 (excluding $29,717 payable for franchise and income taxes). As of December 31, 2021, $29,717 of the amount on deposit in the Trust Account represented interest income, which is available for certain working capital needs, such as payment for tax obligations (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses). Through December 31, 2021, the Company had not withdrawn any amounts from the Trust Account for such needs.
Until the consummation of a Business Combination, the Company will be using the funds not held in the Trust Account for identifying and evaluating prospective acquisition candidates, performing due diligence on prospective target businesses, paying for travel expenditures, selecting the target business to acquire, and structuring, negotiating and consummating the Business Combination.
The Company will need to raise additional capital through loans or additional investments from its Sponsor, stockholders, officers, directors, or third parties. The Company’s officers, directors and Sponsor may, but are not obligated to, loan the Company funds, from time to time or at any time, in whatever amount they deem reasonable in their sole discretion, to meet the Company’s working capital needs. As of the date of filing, the Sponsor advanced an additional $157,000, resulting in aggregate of $534,543 outstanding. Accordingly, the Company may not be able to obtain additional financing. If the Company is unable to raise additional capital, it may be required to take additional measures to conserve liquidity, which could include, but not necessarily be limited to, curtailing operations, suspending the pursuit of a potential transaction, and reducing overhead expenses. The Company cannot provide any assurance that new financing will be available to it on commercially acceptable terms, if at all. As stated above, the Company has until February 4, 2023 to consummate a Business Combination. It is uncertain that the Company will be able to consummate a Business Combination by this time. If a Business Combination is not consummated by this date, there will be a mandatory liquidation and subsequent dissolution of the Company. These conditions raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern for at least one year
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from the date that the financial statements are issued. No adjustments have been made to the carrying amounts of assets or liabilities should the Company be required to liquidate after February 4, 2023.
NOTE 2. SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES
Basis of Presentation
The accompanying financial statements are presented in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”) and pursuant to the rules and regulations of the SEC.
Emerging Growth Company
The Company is an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act, as modified by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the “JOBS Act”), and it may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in its periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved.
Further, Section 102(b)(1) of the JOBS Act exempts emerging growth companies from being required to comply with new or revised financial accounting standards until private companies (that is, those that have not had a Securities Act registration statement declared effective or do not have a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act) are required to comply with the new or revised financial accounting standards. The JOBS Act provides that a company can elect to opt out of the extended transition period and comply with the requirements that apply to non-emerging growth companies but any such election to opt out is irrevocable. The Company has elected not to opt out of such extended transition period which means that when a standard is issued or revised and it has different application dates for public or private companies, the Company, as an emerging growth company, can adopt the new or revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new or revised standard. This may make comparison of the Company’s financial statement with another public company which is neither an emerging growth company nor an emerging growth company which has opted out of using the extended transition period difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accounting standards used.
Use of Estimates
The preparation of the financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires the Company’s management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of income and expenses during the reporting period.
Making estimates requires management to exercise significant judgment. It is at least reasonably possible that the estimate of the effect of a condition, situation or set of circumstances that existed at the date of the financial statements, which management considered in formulating its estimate, could change in the near term due to one or more future confirming events. One of the more significant accounting estimates included in these financial statements is the determination of the fair value of the warrant liabilities. Such estimates may be subject to change as more current information becomes available and accordingly the actual results could differ significantly from those estimates.
Cash and Cash Equivalents
The Company considers all short-term investments with an original maturity of three months or less when purchased to be cash equivalents. The Company did not have any cash equivalents as of December 31, 2021 and 2020.
Marketable Securities Held in Trust Account
At December 31, 2021, the assets held in the Trust Account were substantially held in money market funds, which primarily invest in U.S. Treasury securities.
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Class A Common Stock Subject to Possible Redemption
The Company accounts for its Class A common stock subject to possible redemption in accordance with the guidance in Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 480, “Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity.” Shares of Class A common stock subject to mandatory redemption are classified as a liability instrument and are measured at fair value. Conditionally redeemable common stock (including common stock that features redemption rights that is either within the control of the holder or subject to redemption upon the occurrence of uncertain events not solely within the Company’s control) is classified as temporary equity. At all other times, common stock is classified as stockholders’ equity. The Company’s Class A common stock features certain redemption rights that are considered to be outside of the Company’s control and subject to occurrence of uncertain future events. Accordingly, at December 31, 2021, Class A common stock subject to possible redemption is presented at redemption value as temporary equity, outside of the stockholders’ equity section of the Company’s balance sheets.
The Company recognizes changes in redemption value immediately as they occur and adjusts the carrying value of redeemable common stock to equal the redemption value at the end of each reporting period. Increases or decreases in the carrying amount of redeemable common stock are affected by charges against additional paid-in capital (to the extend available) and accumulated deficit.
At December 31, 2021, the Class A common stock subject to possible redemption reflected in the balance sheet is reconciled in the following table:
Gross proceeds |
| $ | 276,000,000 |
Less: |
| ||
Proceeds allocated to Public Warrants |
| (12,696,000) | |
Class A common stock issuance costs |
| (14,885,132) | |
Plus: |
|
| |
Remeasurement of carrying value to redemption value |
| 27,581,132 | |
Class A common stock subject to possible redemption | $ | 276,000,000 |
Offering Costs
Offering costs consisted of legal, accounting and other expenses incurred through the Initial Public Offering that were directly related to the Initial Public Offering. Offering costs were allocated to the separable financial instruments issued in the Initial Public Offering based on the residual method, compared to total proceeds received. Offering costs allocated to warrant liabilities were expensed as incurred in the statements of operations. Offering costs allocated to the Class A common stock issued were charged to temporary equity and then adjusted to Class A common stock subject to redemption upon the completion of the Initial Public Offering.
Warrant Liabilities
The Company accounts for warrants as either equity-classified or liability-classified instruments based on an assessment of the warrant’s specific terms and applicable authoritive guidance in Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 480, Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity (“ASC 480”) and ASC 815, Derivatives and Hedging (“ASC 815”). The assessment considers whether the warrants are freestanding financial instruments pursuant to ASC 480, meet the definition of a liability pursuant to ASC 480, and whether the warrants meet all the requirements for equity classification under ASC 815, including whether the warrants are indexed to the Company’s own common stock, among other conditions for equity classification. This assessment, which requires the use of professional judgement, is conducted at the time of warrant issuance and as of each subsequent quarterly period end date while the warrants are outstanding.
The Company accounts for the Public Warrants (as defined in Note 3) and the Private Placement Warrants (collectively, with the Public Warrants, the “Warrants”) in accordance with the guidance contained in ASC 815-40 under which the Warrants do not meet the criteria for equity treatment and must be recorded as liabilities. Accordingly, the Company classifies the Warrants as liabilities at their fair value and adjust the Warrants to fair value at each reporting period. This liability is subject to re-measurement at each balance sheets date until exercised, and any change in fair value is recognized in the statements of operations. The Private Placement Warrants for periods where no observable traded price was available are valued using a Modified Black-Scholes Option Pricing Model. The Public Warrants (as defined below) for periods where no observable traded price was available are valued using a Monte Carlo simulation model. For periods
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subsequent to the detachment of the Public Warrants from the Units, which occurred on March 26, 2021, the Public Warrant quoted market price was used as the fair value as of each relevant date.
Income Taxes
The Company follows the asset and liability method of accounting for income taxes under ASC 740, “Income Taxes.” Deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized for the estimated future tax consequences attributable to differences between the financial statements carrying amounts of existing assets and liabilities and their respective tax bases. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using enacted tax rates expected to apply to taxable income in the years in which those temporary differences are expected to be recovered or settled. The effect on deferred tax assets and liabilities of a change in tax rates is recognized in income in the period that included the enactment date. Valuation allowances are established, when necessary, to reduce deferred tax assets to the amount expected to be realized.
ASC 740 prescribes a recognition threshold and measurement process for financial statement recognition and measurement of a tax position taken or expected to be taken in a tax return. For those benefits to be recognized, a tax position must be more -likely -than -not to be sustained upon examination by taxing authorities. The Company recognizes accrued interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits as income tax expense. There were no unrecognized tax benefits and no amounts accrued for interest and penalties as of December 31, 2021 and 2020. The Company is currently not aware of any issues under review that could result in significant payments, accruals or material deviation from its position. The Company is subject to income tax examinations by major taxing authorities since inception.
Net income (Loss) per Common Share
The Company complies with accounting and disclosure requirements of FASB ASC Topic 260, “Earnings Per Share”. Net income (loss) per common share is computed by dividing net income (loss) by the weighted average number of common stock outstanding for the period. Shares subject to forfeiture are not included in the basic and diluted weighted average shares outstanding until the forfeiture restrictions lapse. Remeasurement associated with the redeemable shares of Class A common stock is excluded from income (loss) per common share as the redemption value approximates fair value.
The calculation of diluted income (loss) per common share does not consider the effect of the warrants issued in connection with the (i) Initial Public Offering, and (ii) the private placement since the exercise of the warrants is contingent upon the occurrence of future events. The warrants are exercisable to purchase 20,350,000 Class A common stock in the aggregate. As of December 31, 2021 and 2020, the Company did not have any dilutive securities or other contracts that could, potentially, be exercised or converted into common stock and then share in the earnings of the Company.
The following table reflects the calculation of basic and diluted net income (loss) per common share (in dollars, except per share amounts):
For the Period from July 9, | ||||||||||||
Year Ended |
| 2020 (Inception) Through | ||||||||||
December 31, 2021 |
| December 31, 2020 | ||||||||||
| Class A |
| Class B |
| Class A |
| Class B | |||||
Basic and diluted net income (loss) per share of common stock |
|
| ||||||||||
Numerator: | ||||||||||||
Allocation of net income (loss) | 4,132,582 | 1,125,427 | — | (1,000) | ||||||||
Denominator: | ||||||||||||
Basic and diluted weighted average shares outstanding | 25,029,041 | 6,816,164 | — | 6,150,000 | ||||||||
Basic and diluted net income (loss) per share of common stock | 0.17 | 0.17 | — | — |
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Concentration of Credit Risk
Financial instruments that potentially subject the Company to concentrations of credit risk consist of cash accounts in a financial institution, which, at times may exceed the Federal Depository Insurance Coverage of $250,000. The Company has
experienced losses on this account and management believes the Company is not exposed to significant risks on such account.Fair Value of Financial Instruments
The fair value of Company’s warrant liabilities does not approximate their carrying amount and, as such, the warrant liabilities are recorded at fair value on the Company’s balance sheets. The fair value of the Company’s assets and other liabilities, which qualify as financial instruments under ASC Topic 820, “Fair Value Measurement,” approximates the carrying amounts represented in the accompanying balance sheets, primarily due to their short-term nature, expect for the Warrants (see Note 10).
Recent Accounting Standards
In August 2020, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2020-06, Debt — Debt with Conversion and Other Options (Subtopic 470-20) and Derivatives and Hedging — Contracts in Entity’s Own Equity (Subtopic 815-40) (“ASU 2020-06”) to simplify accounting for certain financial instruments. ASU 2020-06 eliminates the current models that require separation of beneficial conversion and cash conversion features from convertible instruments and simplifies the derivative scope exception guidance pertaining to equity classification of contracts in an entity’s own equity. The new standard also introduces additional disclosures for convertible debt and freestanding instruments that are indexed to and settled in an entity’s own equity. ASU 2020-06 amends the diluted earnings per share guidance, including the requirement to use the if-converted method for all convertible instruments. ASU 2020-06 is effective January 1, 2024 and should be applied on a full or modified retrospective basis, with early adoption permitted beginning on January 1, 2021. The Company early adopted ASU 2020-06 on January 1, 2021. The adoption of ASU 2020-06 did not have an impact on the Company’s financial statements.
Management does not believe that any other recently issued, but not yet effective, accounting standards, if currently adopted, would have a material effect on the Company’s financial statements.
NOTE 3. INITIAL PUBLIC OFFERING
Pursuant to the Initial Public Offering, the Company sold 27,600,000 Units which includes a full exercise by the underwriters of their over-allotment option in the amount of 3,600,000 Units at a purchase price of $10.00 per Unit. Each Unit consists of one share of Class A common stock and
-half of one redeemable warrant (“Public Warrant” and, collectively, the “Public Warrants”). Each whole Public Warrant entitles the holder to purchase one share of Class A common stock at an exercise price of $11.50 per share (see Note 8).NOTE 4. PRIVATE PLACEMENT
Simultaneously with the closing of the Initial Public Offering, the Sponsor purchased an aggregate of 6,550,000 Private Placement Warrants, at a price of $1.00 per private Placement Warrant, for an aggregate purchase price of $6,550,000, in a private placement. Each Private Placement Warrant is exercisable to purchase one share of Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share. A portion of the proceeds from the Private Placement Warrants were added to the proceeds from the Initial Public Offering held in the Trust Account. If the Company does not complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period, the proceeds of the sale of the Private Placement Warrants will be used to fund the redemption of the Public Shares (subject to the requirements of applicable law) and the Private Placement Warrants will expire worthless. There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions from the Trust Account with respect to the Private Placement Warrants. The proceeds of the sale of the Private Placement Warrants exceeded the initial fair value (see Note 10) of the Private Placement Warrants by $327,500, which amount is reflected in the accompanying statements of changes in stockholders’ (deficit) equity.
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NOTE 5. RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS
Founder Shares
On August 17, 2020, the Company issued an aggregate of 5,750,000 shares of Class B common stock (the “Founder Shares”) to the Sponsor for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000 in cash. On February 1, 2021, the Company effected a 1.2-for-1 stock split of its Class B common stock, resulting in an aggregate of 6,900,000 Founder Shares outstanding, which was retroactively reflected in the 2020 financial statements presented herein. Commencing on the date of the Initial Public Offering, the Founder Shares included an aggregate of up to 900,000 shares of Class B common stock subject to forfeiture by the Sponsor to the extent that the underwriters’ over-allotment option was not exercised in full or in part, so that the Sponsor would own, on an as-converted basis, 20% of the Company’s issued and outstanding shares after the Initial Public Offering (assuming the Sponsor did not purchase any Public Shares in the Initial Public Offering). As a result of the underwriters’ election to fully exercise their over-allotment option on February 4, 2021, no Founder Shares are currently subject to forfeiture.
The Sponsor has agreed that, subject to certain limited exceptions, not to transfer, assign or sell any of the Founder Shares until the earlier of (A) one year after the completion of a Business Combination and (B) subsequent to a Business Combination, (x) if the closing price of the Class A common stock equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after a Business Combination, or (y) the date on which the Company completes a liquidation, merger, stock exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction that results in all of the Company’s stockholders having the right to exchange their shares of Class A common stock for cash, securities or other property.
Advances from Related Party
Through December 31, 2020, the Sponsor paid for certain offering costs on behalf of the Company in connection with the Initial Public Offering. As of December 31, 2021 and 2020, advances amounting to $377,543 and $27,450 were outstanding, respectively, which are currently due on demand.
Due to Sponsor
At the closing of the Initial Public Offering, on February 4, 2021, the Sponsor over-funded the Company’s operating account in the amount of $600,000. These funds were returned to the Sponsor on
.Administrative Services Agreement
The Company entered into an agreement, commencing on February 4, 2021 through the earlier of the Company’s consummation of a Business Combination and its liquidation, to pay the Sponsor a total of up to $10,000 per month for office space, utilities, secretarial and administrative support services. For the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company incurred $110,000 in fees for such services, which is included in operating and formation costs in the accompanying statements of operarations, and of which $110,000 is included in the accrued expenses in the accompanying balance sheet at December 31, 2021. For the period from July 9, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, the Company did not incur any fees from these services.
Related Party Loans
In order to finance transaction costs in connection with a Business Combination, the initial stockholders or an affiliate of the initial stockholders or certain of the Company’s directors and officers may, but are not obligated to, loan the Company funds as may be required (“Working Capital Loans”). If the Company completes a Business Combination, the Company would repay the Working Capital Loans out of the proceeds of the Trust Account released to the Company. Otherwise, the Working Capital Loans would be repaid only out of funds held outside the Trust Account. In the event that a Business Combination does not close, the Company may use a portion of proceeds held outside the Trust Account to repay the Working Capital Loans, but no proceeds held in the Trust Account would be used to repay the Working Capital Loans. Except for the foregoing, the terms of such Working Capital Loans, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. The Working Capital Loans would either be repaid upon consummation of a Business Combination, without interest, or, at the lender’s discretion, up to a mutually agreed upon amount of such Working Capital Loans may be convertible into warrants of the post-Business Combination entity at a price of $1.00 per warrant. The warrants would be
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identical to the Private Placement Warrants. As of December 31, 2021 and 2020, there were
amounts outstanding under the Working Capital Loans.NOTE 6. COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES
Registration Rights
Pursuant to a registration rights agreement entered into on February 1, 2021, the holders of the Founder Shares, Private Placement Warrants and warrants that may be issued upon conversion of Working Capital Loans (and any Class A common stock issuable upon the exercise of the Private Placement Warrants and warrants issued upon conversion of the Working Capital Loans) of the Initial Public Offering, will have registration rights requiring the Company to register a sale of any of the securities held by them. The holders of these securities are entitled to make up to three demands, excluding short form demands, that the Company register such securities. In addition, the holders have certain “piggy-back” registration rights with respect to registration statements filed subsequent to completion of a Business Combination. The registration rights agreement does not contain liquidating damages or other cash settlement provisions resulting from delays in registering the Company’s securities. The Company will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such registration statements.
Underwriting Agreement
The underwriters are entitled to a deferred fee of $0.35 per Unit, or $9,660,000 in the aggregate, which is reflected in the accompanying balance sheet as of December 31, 2021. The deferred fee will become payable to the underwriters from the amounts held in the Trust Account solely in the event that the Company completes a Business Combination, subject to the terms of the underwriting agreement.
Business Combination Agreement
On April 1, 2022, the Company and OP Group entered into a Termination of Business Combination Agreement (the “Termination Agreement”) pursuant to which the Company and OP Group mutually agreed to terminate the Business Combination Agreement.
NOTE 7. STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY
Preferred Stock — The Company is authorized to issue 1,000,000 shares of preferred stock with a par value of $0.0001 per share with such designations, voting and other rights and preferences as may be determined from time to time by the Company’s board of directors. At December 31, 2021 and 2020, there were no shares of preferred stock issued or outstanding.
Class A Common Stock — The Company is authorized to issue 200,000,000 shares of Class A common stock with a par value of $0.0001 per share. Holders of Class A common stock are entitled to one vote for each share. At December 31, 2021, there were 27,600,000 shares of Class A common stock issued and , all of which are presented as temporary equity. At December 31, 2020, there were shares of Class A common stock or outstanding.
Class B Common Stock — The Company is authorized to issue up to 12,000,000 shares of Class B, $0.0001 par value common stock. Holders of the Company’s common stock are entitled to one vote for each share. At December 31, 2021 and 2020, there were 6,900,000 shares of Class B common stock issued and outstanding.
Holders of Class A common stock and Class B common stock will vote together as a single class on all other matters submitted to a vote of stockholders, except as required by law.
The shares of Class B common stock will automatically convert into shares of Class A common stock at the time of the consummation of a Business Combination on a
basis, subject to adjustment. In the case that additional shares of Class A common stock, or equity-linked securities, are issued or deemed issued in connection with a Business Combination, the number of shares of Class A common stock issuable upon conversion of all Founder Shares will equal, in the aggregate, 20% of the total number of shares of Class A common stock outstanding after such conversion (after giving effect to any redemptions of shares of Class A common stock by public stockholders), including the total number of shares of Class A common stock issued, or deemed issued or issuable upon conversion or exercise of any equity-linked securities or rights issued or deemed issued, by the Company in connection with or in relation to the consummation of a Business Combination, excluding any shares of Class A common stock or equity-linked securities or rightsF-15
exercisable for or convertible into shares of Class A common stock issued, or to be issued, to any seller in the Business Combination and any Private Placement Warrants issued to the Sponsor, officers or directors upon conversion of working capital loans, provided that such conversion of Founder Shares will never occur on a less than one-for-one basis.
NOTE 8. WARRANTS
As of December 31, 2021, there were 13,800,000 Public Warrants outstanding. There were
Public Warrants outstanding as of December 31, 2020. Public Warrants may only be exercised for a whole number of shares. No fractional shares will be issued upon exercise of the Public Warrants. The Public Warrants will become exercisable on the later of (a) 30 days after the completion of a Business Combination or (b) 12 months from the closing of the Initial Public Offering. The Public Warrants will expire five years after the completion of a Business Combination or earlier upon redemption or liquidation.The Company will not be obligated to deliver any Class A common stock pursuant to the exercise of a warrant and will have no obligation to settle such warrant exercise unless a registration statement under the Securities Act with respect to the Class A common stock underlying the warrants is then effective and a prospectus relating thereto is current, subject to the Company satisfying its obligations with respect to registration, or a valid exemption from registration is available. No warrant will be exercisable and the Company will not be obligated to issue a share of Class A common stock upon exercise of a warrant unless the share of Class A common stock issuable upon such warrant exercise has been registered, qualified or deemed to be exempt under the securities laws of the state of residence of the registered holder of the warrants.
The Company has agreed that as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 15 business days after the closing of a Business Combination, the Company will use its best efforts to file with the SEC a registration statement for the registration, under the Securities Act, of the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants. The Company will use its best efforts to cause the same to become effective and to maintain the effectiveness of such registration statement, and a current prospectus relating thereto, until the expiration of the warrants in accordance with the provisions of the warrant agreement. If a registration statement covering the issuance of the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants is not effective by the 60th business day after the closing of a Business Combination, warrant holders may, until such time as there is an effective registration statement and during any period when the Company will have failed to maintain an effective registration statement, exercise warrants on a “cashless basis” in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act or another exemption. In addition, if the Class A common stock is at the time of any exercise of a warrant not listed on a national securities exchange such that they satisfy the definition of a “covered security” under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act, the Company may, at its option, require holders of Public Warrants who exercise their warrants to do so on a “cashless basis” in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act and, in the event the Company elects to do so, it will not be required to file or maintain in effect a registration statement, but it will use its best efforts to register or qualify the shares under applicable blue sky laws to the extent an exemption is not available.
Once the Public Warrants become exercisable, the Company may redeem the Public Warrants:
● | in whole and not in part; |
● | at a price of $0.01 per warrant; |
● | upon a minimum of 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption to each warrant holder; and |
● | if, and only if, the closing price of the Class A common stock equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted) for any 20 trading days within a 30-trading day period ending on the third trading day prior to the date the Company sends the notice of redemption to the warrant holders. |
If and when the warrants become redeemable by the Company, the Company may exercise its redemption right even if the Company is unable to register or qualify the underlying securities for sale under all applicable state securities laws.
If the Company calls the Public Warrants for redemption, management will have the option to require any holders that wish to exercise the Public Warrants to do so on a “cashless basis,” as described in the warrant agreement. The exercise price and number of shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the Warrants may be adjusted in certain circumstances including in the event of a stock dividend, or recapitalization, reorganization, merger or consolidation. However, except as described below, the Warrants will not be
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adjusted for issuance of Class A common stock at a price below its exercise price. Additionally, in no event will the Company be required to net cash settle the Warrants. If the Company is unable to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period and the Company liquidates the funds held in the Trust Account, holders of Warrants will not receive any of such funds with respect to their Warrants, nor will they receive any distribution from the Company’s assets held outside of the Trust Account with the respect to such Warrants. Accordingly, the Warrants may expire worthless.
In addition, if (x) the Company issues additional shares of Class A common stock or equity-linked securities for capital raising purposes in connection with the closing of a Business Combination at an issue price or effective issue price of less than $9.20 per Class A common stock (with such issue price or effective issue price to be determined in good faith by the Company’s board of directors and, in the case of any such issuance to the Sponsor or its affiliates, without taking into account any Founder Shares held by the Sponsor or such affiliates, as applicable, prior to such issuance) (the “Newly Issued Price”), (y) the aggregate gross proceeds from such issuances represent more than 60% of the total equity proceeds, and interest thereon, available for the funding of a Business Combination on the date of the consummation of a Business Combination (net of redemptions), and (z) the volume weighted average trading price of the Company’s Class A common stock during the 10 trading day period starting on the trading day prior to the day on which the Company consummates a Business Combination (such price, the “Market Value”) is below $9.20 per share, the exercise price of the warrants will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 115% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, and the $18.00 per share redemption trigger prices will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 180% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price.
As of December 31, 2021, there were 6,550,000 Private Placement Warrants outstanding. There were
Private Placement Warrants outstanding as of December 31, 2020. The Private Placement Warrants are identical to the Public Warrants underlying the Units sold in the Initial Public Offering, except that the Private Placement Warrants and the Class A common stock issuable upon the exercise of the Private Placement Warrants will not be transferable, assignable or saleable until 30 days after the completion of a Business Combination, subject to certain limited exceptions. Additionally, the Private Placement Warrants will be exercisable on a cashless basis and be non-redeemable so long as they are held by the initial purchasers or their permitted transferees. If the Private Placement Warrants are held by someone other than the initial purchasers or their permitted transferees, the Private Placement Warrants will be redeemable by the Company and exercisable by such holders on the same basis as the Public Warrants.NOTE 9. INCOME TAX
The Company’s net deferred tax assets (liability) at December 31, 2021 and 2020 are as follows:
| December 31, 2021 |
| December 31, 2020 | |||
Deferred tax assets (liability) |
|
| ||||
Net operating loss carryforward | $ | 36,331 | $ | — | ||
Startup/Organization Expenses |
| 233,334 | 210 | |||
Total deferred tax assets (liability) | 269,665 | 210 | ||||
Valuation Allowance |
| (269,665) | (210) | |||
Deferred tax assets (liability) | $ | — | $ | — |
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The income tax provision for the year ended December 31, 2021 and for the period from July 9, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020 consists of the following:
For the Period | ||||||
from July 9, | ||||||
2020 (Inception) | ||||||
through | ||||||
| December 31, 2021 |
| December 31, 2020 | |||
Federal | ||||||
Current | $ | — | $ | — | ||
Deferred | (269,455) | (210) | ||||
State and Local | ||||||
Current | — | — | ||||
Deferred | — | — | ||||
Change in valuation allowance | 269,455 | 210 | ||||
Income tax provision | $ | — | $ | — |
As of December 31, 2021 and 2020, the Company had a total of $172,007 and $0, respectively, of U.S. federal net operating loss carryovers available to offset future taxable income. The federal net operating loss can be carried forward indefinitely. As of December 31, 2021 and 2020, the Company had did not have any state net operating loss carryovers available to offset future taxable income.
In assessing the realization of the deferred tax assets, management considers whether it is more likely than not that some portion of all of the deferred tax assets will not be realized. The ultimate realization of deferred tax assets is dependent upon the generation of future taxable income during the periods in which temporary differences representing net future deductible amounts become deductible. Management considers the scheduled reversal of deferred tax liabilities, projected future taxable income and tax planning strategies in making this assessment. After consideration of all of the information available, management believes that significant uncertainty exists with respect to future realization of the deferred tax assets and has therefore established a full valuation allowance. For the year ended December 31, 2021, the change in the valuation allowance was $269,455. For the period from July 9, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, the change in the valuation allowance was $210.
A reconciliation of the federal income tax rate to the Company’s effective tax rate for the year ended December 31, 2021 and for the period from July 9, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020 is as follows:
For the Period | |||||
from July 9, | |||||
2020 (Inception) | |||||
through | |||||
| December 31, 2021 |
| December 31, 2020 | ||
Statutory federal income tax rate | | 21.0 | % | 21.0 | % |
Change in fair value of Warrant Liabilities | (37.9) | % | 0.0 | % | |
Transaction costs - warrants | 2.9 | % | 0.0 | % | |
Business combination expenses | 8.9 | % | — | % | |
Valuation allowance | 5.1 | % | (21.0) | % | |
Income tax provision | 0.0 | % | 0.0 | % |
The Company files income tax returns in the U.S. federal jurisdiction and is subject to examination by the various taxing authorities. The Company’s tax returns for the year ended December 31, 2021 and for the period from July 9, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020 remain open and subject to examination. The Company considers Texas to be a significant state tax jurisdiction.
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NOTE 10. FAIR VALUE MEASUREMENTS
The Company follows the guidance in ASC 820 for its financial assets and liabilities that are re-measured and reported at fair value at each reporting period, and non-financial assets and liabilities that are re-measured and reported at fair value at least annually.
The fair value of the Company’s financial assets and liabilities reflects management’s estimate of amounts that the Company would have received in connection with the sale of the assets or paid in connection with the transfer of the liabilities in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. In connection with measuring the fair value of its assets and liabilities, the Company seeks to maximize the use of observable inputs (market data obtained from independent sources) and to minimize the use of unobservable inputs (internal assumptions about how market participants would price assets and liabilities). The following fair value hierarchy is used to classify assets and liabilities based on the observable inputs and unobservable inputs used in order to value the assets and liabilities:
Level 1: Quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities. An active market for an asset or liability is a market in which transactions for the asset or liability occur with sufficient frequency and volume to provide pricing information on an ongoing basis.
Level 2: Observable inputs other than Level 1 inputs. Examples of Level 2 inputs include quoted prices in active markets for similar assets or liabilities and quoted prices for identical assets or liabilities in markets that are not active.
Level 3: Unobservable inputs based on the Company’s assessment of the assumptions that market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability.
At December 31, 2021, assets held in the Trust Account were comprised of $276,029,717 in money market funds which are invested primarily in U.S. Treasury Securities. Through December 31, 2021, the Company has
withdrawn any of interest earned on the Trust Account.The following table presents information about the Company’s assets and liabilities that are measured at fair value on a recurring basis at December 31, 2021 and indicates the fair value hierarchy of the valuation inputs the Company utilized to determine such fair value.
Description |
| Level |
| December 31, 2021 | |
Assets: |
|
|
|
| |
Marketable securities held in Trust Account |
| 1 | $ | 276,029,717 | |
Liabilities: |
|
|
|
| |
Warrant Liability - Public Warrants | 1 | 6,348,000 | |||
Warrant Liability - Private Placement Warrants |
| 3 | 3,078,500 |
The Warrants are accounted for as liabilities in accordance with ASC 815-40 and are presented within warrant liabilities in the accompanying balance sheets. The warrant liabilities are measured at fair value at inception and on a recurring basis, with changes in fair value presented within the statements of operations.
The Private Placement Warrants were valued on the initial measurement date and as of December 31, 2021, using a Modified Black Scholes Option Pricing Model, which is considered to be a Level 3 fair value measurement. The Modified Black Scholes Option Pricing Model’s primary unobservable input utilized in determining the fair value of the Private Placement Warrants is the expected volatility of the common stock. The expected volatility as of the Initial Public Offering date was derived from observable public warrant pricing on comparable ‘blank-check’ companies without an identified target. The Public Warrants were initially measured at fair value using a Monte Carlo simulation implementing the Black Scholes Option Pricing Model that is modified to capture the redemption features of the Public Warrants. The primary unobservable inputs utilized in determining the fair value of the Private Placement Warrants are the expected volatility of the common stock and the stock price on December 31, 2021.
The subsequent measurements of the Public Warrants after the detachment of the Public Warrants from the Units are classified as Level 1 due to the use of an observable market quote in an active market. For periods subsequent to the detachment of the Public Warrants from the Units, the close price of the Public Warrant price was used as the fair value as of each relevant date.
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The following table presents the quantitative information regarding Level 3 fair value measurements:
February 4, 2021 | |||||||
(Initial | |||||||
| Measurement) |
| December 31, 2021 | ||||
Stock price | $ | 9.43 | $ | 9.80 | |||
Exercise Price | $ | 11.50 | $ | 11.50 | |||
Term (in years) | 5.0 | 5.0 | |||||
Volatility | % | % | |||||
Risk-free rate | 0.75 | % | 1.34 | % | |||
Dividend yield | 0.0 | % | 0.0 | % |
The following table presents the changes in the fair value of Level 3 warrant liabilities:
| Private Placement |
| Public |
| Warrant Liabilities | ||||
Fair value as of January 1, 2021 | $ | — |
| $ | — |
| $ | — | |
Initial measurement on February 4, 2021 |
| 6,222,500 |
| 12,696,000 |
| 18,918,500 | |||
Transfer to Level 1 |
| — |
| (12,696,000) |
| (12,696,000) | |||
Change in fair value |
| (3,144,000) |
| — |
| (3,144,000) | |||
Fair value as of December 31, 2021 | $ | 3,078,500 |
| $ | — |
| $ | 3,078,500 |
Transfers to/from Levels 1, 2 and 3 are recognized at the end of the reporting period in which a change in valuation technique or methodology occurs.
NOTE 11. SUBSEQUENT EVENTS
The Company evaluated subsequent events and transactions that occurred after the balance sheet date up to the date that the financial statements were issued. Based upon this review, other than noted below, the Company did not identify any subsequent events that would have required adjustment or disclosure in the financial statements.
As of the date of this filing, the Sponsor (see Note 5) advanced an additional $157,000, resulting in an aggregate of $534,543, which are currently due on demand.
On April 1, 2022, the Company and OP Group entered into a Termination of Business Combination Agreement (the “Termination Agreement”) pursuant to which the Company and OP Group mutually agreed to terminate the Business Combination Agreement.
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