Romeo Power, Inc. - Annual Report: 2019 (Form 10-K)
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 10-K
(Mark One)
x ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(D) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019
¨ 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: 001-38795
RMG ACQUISITION CORP.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
Delaware | 83-2289787 | |
(State or other jurisdiction of |
(I.R.S. Employer |
1411 Broadway, 16th Floor |
10018 | |
(Address of principal executive offices) | (Zip Code) |
Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (212) 220-9503
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
Title of Each Class: | Name of Each Exchange on Which Registered: | |
Units, each consisting of one Class A common stock, $0.0001 par value, and one-third of one warrant to purchase one Class A common stock |
New York Stock Exchange | |
Class A common stock, par value $0.0001 per share | New York Stock Exchange | |
Warrants to purchase Class A common stock | 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 x
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act. Yes ¨ No x
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 x No ¨
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes x 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 definition of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
Large accelerated filer | ¨ | Accelerated filer | x |
Non-accelerated filer | ¨ | Smaller reporting company | x |
Emerging growth company | x |
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. x
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes x No ¨
As of June 30, 2019, the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter, the aggregate market value of the common stock outstanding, other than shares held by persons who may be deemed affiliates of the registrant, computed by reference to the closing sales price for the common stock on June 30, 2019, as reported on the New York Stock Exchange, was approximately $224.7 million (based on the closing sales price of the ordinary shares on June 30, 2019 of $9.77).
At March 13, 2020, there were 23,000,000 shares of Class A common stock, $0.0001 par value, and 5,750,000 shares of Class B common stock, $0.0001 par value, issued and outstanding.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Unless otherwise stated in this annual report on Form 10-K, references to:
· | “we,” “us,” “company” or “our company” are to RMG Acquisition Corp.; |
· | “Advisory Board” refers to our advisory board, which will assist us in sourcing and evaluating transaction opportunities; |
· | “Anchor Investors” are to certain funds and accounts managed by subsidiaries of BlackRock, Inc. and Alta Fundamental Advisers LLC, who have purchased an aggregate of 2,530,000 units in our initial public offering; |
· | “Board” refers to our board of directors; |
· | “common stock” are to our Class A common stock and our Class B common stock, collectively; |
· | “equity-linked securities” are to any securities of our company which are convertible into or exchangeable or exercisable for, common stock of our company; |
· | “founder shares” are to shares of our Class B common stock initially purchased by our sponsor and the Anchor Investors in private placements prior to our initial public offering, and the shares of our Class A common stock issued upon the conversion thereof as provided herein; |
· | “initial stockholders” are to our sponsor, the Anchor Investors and any other holders of our founder shares prior to our initial public offering; |
· | “management” or our “management team” are to our three executive offıcers, Mr. Carpenter, our Chairman, Mr. Mancini, our Chief Executive Officer, and Mr. Kassin, our President and Chief Operating Officer; |
· | “private placement warrants” are to the warrants issued to our sponsor and the Anchor Investors in a private placement simultaneously with the closing of our initial public offering; |
2
· | “public shares” are to shares of our Class A common stock sold as part of the units in our initial public offering (whether they were purchased in the initial public offering or thereafter in the open market); |
· | “public stockholders” are to the holders of our public shares, including our initial stockholders and members of our management team, Board and Advisory Board to the extent any of them purchases public shares, provided that each such initial stockholder’s and individual’s status as a “public stockholder” shall only exist with respect to such public shares; |
· | “public warrants” are to our warrants sold as part of the units in our initial public offering (whether they were purchased in our initial public offering or thereafter in the open market) and to any private placement warrants or warrants issued upon conversion of working capital loans that are sold to third parties that are not initial purchasers or officers or directors (or permitted transferees) following the consummation of our initial business combination; |
· | “Riverside Management Group” refers to Riverside Management Group, LLC, an entity of which our Chairman is the founder and serves as a Senior Managing Director and the Chief Executive Officer; |
· | “specified future issuance” are to an issuance of a class of equity or equity-linked securities to specified purchasers that we may determine to make in connection with financing our initial business combination; |
· | “sponsor” are to RMG Sponsor, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, in which each of our officers, directors and certain members of our Advisory Board is, directly or indirectly, a member; and |
· | “warrants” are to our warrants, which includes the public warrants as well as the private placement warrants. |
CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This report, including, without limitation, statements under the heading “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, or the Exchange Act. These forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including the words “believes,” “estimates,” “anticipates,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “may,” “will,” “potential,” “projects,” “predicts,” “continue,” or “should,” or, in each case, their negative or other variations or comparable terminology. There can be no assurance that actual results will not materially differ from expectations. Such statements include, but are not limited to, any statements relating to our ability to consummate any acquisition or other business combination and any other statements that are not statements of current or historical facts. These statements are based on management’s current expectations, but actual results may differ materially due to various factors, including, but not limited to:
· | our ability to select an appropriate target business or businesses in the diversified resources and industrial materials sectors, including the chemicals, energy services and alternatives, environmental services, metals and power sectors; |
· | our ability to complete our initial business combination; |
· | 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, as a result of which they would then receive expense reimbursements; |
· | our potential ability to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination; |
· | our pool of prospective target businesses in the diversified resources and industrial materials sectors; |
· | failure to maintain the listing on, or the delisting of our securities from, the New York Stock Exchange (the “NYSE”) or an inability to have our securities listed on NYSE or another national securities exchange following our initial business combination; |
· | the ability of our officers and directors to generate a number of potential investment opportunities; |
· | our public securities’ potential liquidity and trading; |
· | the lack of a market for our securities; |
· | the use of the proceeds that are not held in the trust account or that become 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. |
3
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. Future developments affecting us may not be those that we have anticipated. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties (some of which are beyond our control) and 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. These risks and others described under “Risk Factors” may not be exhaustive.
By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that may or may not occur in the future. We caution you that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and that our actual results of operations, financial condition and liquidity, and developments in the industry in which we operate may differ materially from those made in or suggested by the forward-looking statements contained in this report. In addition, even if our results or operations, financial condition and liquidity, and developments in the industry in which we operate are consistent with the forward-looking statements contained in this report, those results or developments may not be indicative of results or developments in subsequent periods.
Item 1. | Business |
Overview
We are an early stage blank check company incorporated on October 22, 2018 as a Delaware corporation and 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, which we refer to throughout this report as our initial business combination. We intend to capitalize on the ability of our management team to identify, acquire and operate a business in the diversified resources and industrial materials sectors, including the chemicals, energy services and alternatives, environmental services, metals and power sectors, that may provide opportunities for attractive long-term risk-adjusted returns, though we reserve the right to pursue an acquisition opportunity in any business or industry.
Significant Activities Since Inception
On February 12, 2019, the Company consummated its initial public offering of 20,000,000 units (the “initial units”). On February 19, 2019, we consummated the full exercise of the underwriters’ 3,000,000 unit over-allotment option (the “over-allotment units” collectively with the initial units, the “units”). Each unit consists of one share of Class A common stock, $0.0001 par value per share (“Class A common stock”), and one-third of one warrant (“public warrant”), each whole warrant entitling the holder to purchase one share of Class A common stock at $11.50 per share. The units were sold at an offering price of $10.00 per unit, generating gross proceeds of $230,000,000. Simultaneously with the consummation of the initial public offering and the sale of the units, the Company consummated the private placement (“private placement”) of an aggregate of 4,600,000 warrants (“private placement warrants”) to our sponsor and the Anchor Investors at a price of $1.50 per private placement warrant, generating total proceeds of $6,900,000.
A total of $230 million of the net proceeds from our initial public offering (including the over-allotment) and the private placement with the sponsor and the Anchor Investors were deposited in a trust account established for the benefit of the Company’s public stockholders.
Our units began trading on February 8, 2019 on the NYSE under the symbol RMG.U. On April 1, 2019, the securities comprising the units began separate trading. The common stock and warrants trade on the NYSE under the symbols “RMG” and “RMG.WS,” respectively.
4
Business Strategy
Our business strategy is to utilize the investment identification and evaluation experience of our management, members of our Board and Advisory Board and Riverside Management Group, an entity of which our Chairman is the founder and serves as a Senior Managing Director and the Chief Executive Officer, to identify and complete our initial business combination with a company that we believe, with proper utilization of their network and experience, has compelling potential for value creation. Over the course of their careers, the members of our management team, Board and Advisory Board and their affiliates (including Riverside Management Group) have developed a broad network of contacts and corporate relationships that we believe will serve as a useful source of acquisition opportunities. This network has been developed through the extensive experience of our management team, members of our Board and Advisory Board and Riverside Management Group in both investing in and operating chemicals, energy services and alternatives, environmental services, metals and power companies and assets. We expect these networks will provide us with a robust flow of acquisition opportunities among lower middle-market and middle-market companies with overall transaction values between $750 million and $2.5 billion. To the extent the purchase price for any acquisition to be paid in cash exceeds the net proceeds available to us, we may issue debt or equity to consummate the acquisition. Such additional financing may come in the form of bank financings or preferred equity, common equity or debt offerings or a combination of the foregoing. We believe our management’s experience and track record are particularly differentiated, and will enable us to successfully identify and execute an initial business combination.
Our management team has experience in:
· | Operating companies, setting and changing strategies, and identifying, mentoring and recruiting exceptional talent; |
· | Developing and growing companies, both organically and through strategic transactions and acquisitions, and expanding the product range and geographic footprint of a number of target businesses; |
· | Investing in leading private and public diversified resources and industrial materials companies to accelerate their growth and maturation; |
· | Sourcing, structuring, acquiring, and selling businesses; |
· | Accessing the capital markets, including financing businesses and helping companies transition to public ownership; and |
· | Fostering relationships with sellers, capital providers and target management teams. |
Acquisition Criteria
We will seek to identify companies that have compelling growth potential and a combination of the following characteristics. We will use these criteria and guidelines in evaluating acquisition opportunities, but we may decide to enter our initial business combination with a target business that does not meet these criteria and guidelines. We intend to acquire companies or assets that we believe have the following attributes:
· | Network utilization. We will focus on companies that can utilize and leverage the extensive networks and insights that we, members of our Board and our Advisory Board and Riverside Management Group have built in the diversified resources and industrial materials sectors; |
· | Large and growing market. We will focus on investments in industry segments that we believe demonstrate attractive long-term growth prospects and reasonable overall size or potential; |
· | Attractive, profitable business. We will seek to invest in companies that we believe possess not only established business models but sustainable competitive advantages as well; |
· | Strong management teams. We will spend significant time assessing a company’s leadership and personnel and evaluating what we can do to augment or upgrade the team over time if needed; |
· | Opportunity for operational improvements. We will seek to identify businesses that we believe are stable but at an inflection point and would benefit from our additional management expertise, ability to drive improvements in the company’s production processes, research and development, go-to-market strategy, products or service offerings, sales and marketing efforts, geographical presence and/or leadership team; |
· | Opportunity for financial improvements. We will seek to identify businesses that we believe would benefit from our management’s ability to improve and optimize a company’s capital structure, including by assisting the company in accessing the capital markets and any other financing sources; |
· | Differentiated products or services. We will focus on businesses whose products or services are differentiated or where we see an opportunity to create value by implementing best practices; |
· | Unrecognized value. We will seek to identify business that we believe exhibit unrecognized value or other characteristics, desirable returns on capital, and a need for capital to achieve the company’s growth strategy, and that we believe have been misevaluated by the marketplace based on our analysis and due diligence review; |
· | Minimal technology risk. We will seek to invest in companies that do not depend on experimental technology; and |
· | Appropriate valuations. We will seek to be a disciplined and valuation-centric investor that will invest on terms that we believe provide significant upside potential with limited downside risk. |
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.
5
Our Management Team, Board and Advisors
Our Management Team
Our management team is led by our Chairman, D. James Carpenter, our Chief Executive Officer, Robert S. Mancini, and our President and Chief Operating Officer, Philip Kassin, who combined have over 80 years of experience in advising and investing in private and public companies in the diversified resources and industrial materials sectors. Mr. Carpenter is a Senior Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Riverside Management Group, and former Chief Executive Officer of Horsehead Industries Inc. Mr. Mancini is a former partner and Managing Director at The Carlyle Group and the former co-head of Carlyle Power Partners, and prior to that was a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs and most recently was head of the power and commodity principal investment businesses and Chief Executive Officer of Cogentrix Energy Power Management LLC. Mr. Kassin is the former Head of M&A and Financing at Access Industries and M-III Partners, and has also held senior investment banking roles at Evercore, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch and AIG.
Messrs. Carpenter, Mancini and Kassin played a major role in over 85 investments with total transaction values in excess of $55 billion and more than $20 billion of invested equity, and were involved in investments across numerous geographies, through a variety of different structures and amidst diverse economic cycles. These investments included some of the largest and most complex private equity deals in the diversified resources and industrial materials sectors. Success at this level requires the highest degree of diligence, financial and market analyses, process management, structuring abilities, operational knowhow and investment acumen.
Our management team has extensive experience in corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, and equity and debt capital markets transactions. Additionally, our management team has been responsible for developing bank relationships with banks worldwide that have provided billions of dollars of committed capital to their companies. Our team has experience investing across a variety of commodity price cycles and a track record of identifying high-quality assets and businesses with significant resources, capital and optimization potential.
Our management team has an extensive history of partnering with other management teams and operators to successfully create greater value. Our team has consistently brought in management teams to enhance the value of assets, while providing expertise in public equity and debt markets, and mergers and acquisitions. It has been a differentiating strength of our management team in finding acquisitions and growth opportunities to be flexible in partnering with other management teams and companies.
Our Board
In addition to Messrs. Carpenter, Mancini and Kassin, our Board is comprised of W. Grant Gregory, Craig Broderick, W. Thaddeus Miller and Steven P. Buffone.
Mr. Gregory is the founder and Chairman of Gregory & Hoenemeyer, Inc., a financial advisory firm providing mergers and acquisitions and strategic services to firms, including private equity firms. Mr. Gregory has served successfully in numerous leadership roles as chairman of the board, chief executive officer, investment banker, merchant banker and director of public, private and nonprofit corporations, including serving on the board of directors of Touche Ross & Co. (Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu), where he worked for 24 years, Chrysler Corporation, MCI and Renaissance Hotels Inc. Mr. Broderick is a Senior Director of Goldman, Sachs & Co., from which he retired as an active employee in January 2018 after 32 years. He was most recently Goldman’s Chief Risk Officer, a member of its Management Committee, and chair or co-chair of key risk committees. Mr. Broderick also currently serves as a Director of the Bank of Montreal and is a Senior Advisor to Stone Point Capital, a private equity firm primarily investing in the global financial services industry. Mr. Miller currently serves as Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Legal Officer of Calpine Corporation, and has decades of legal and energy industry experience. Mr. Buffone currently is founder of Kenilworth Advisors, LLC, a legal and business consulting firm, and previously a partner at the law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LL, where he served as a member of the Executive Committee and as co-chair of the firm’s Corporate Transactions Practice Group and Energy and Infrastructure Practice Group.
6
Our Advisory Board
Our Advisory Board is comprised of Steven J. Gilbert and Edward Forst, each of whom has expertise in diversified resources and industrial materials companies. Mr. Gilbert is the founder and Chairman of the Board of Gilbert Global Equity Partners, L.P., an institutional investment firm established in 1997. In addition, Mr. Gilbert also founded Soros Capital, Commonwealth Capital Partners, and Chemical Venture Partners. He currently serves on the boards of several public companies, and has served on the boards of more than 25 companies over the span of his career. Mr. Forst previously served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Cushman & Wakefield, Inc., a commercial real estate firm operating in over 60 countries. Prior to that, he was a partner at Goldman Sachs, where during his career he held numerous executive roles. We anticipate that our Advisory Board will contribute to our efforts in sourcing and evaluating transaction opportunities.
Riverside Management Group
Riverside Management Group, an entity of which our Chairman is the founder and serves as a Senior Managing Director and the Chief Executive Officer, is a merchant banking boutique founded in 1996. Through its team of approximately 40 professionals, including the broader Riverside Management Group platform of more than 20 senior finance professionals, Riverside Management Group provides capital placement, principal investments and mergers and acquisitions advisory services to companies, funds and entrepreneurs. Additionally, Riverside Management Group’s advisory board includes nine former or current “C-level” executives of world leading companies in the diversified resources and industrial materials sectors. As a result, Riverside Management Group has an active and highly robust network of deal flow through personal relationships with companies and management teams leading to proprietary opportunities. We expect to leverage the exceptional industry expertise and executive and operational management skills of Riverside Management Group and its senior advisors and employees to assist us in identifying, evaluating and performing due diligence on a target, as well as structuring, financing and completing our initial business combination.
Riverside Management Group’s advisory board includes Dr. Heinz C. Schimmelbusch, Mark R. White, Nils A. Kindwall, William Smelas and Ronald J. Statile. These advisory board members have significant experience as founders, owners, directors and/or executive officers of companies such as Horsehead Holding Corporation, one of the largest zinc recyclers and producers in the U.S., Great Lakes Carbon Corp., the world’s largest producer of calcined petroleum products, AMG Advanced Metallurgical Group, a global leading producer of critical materials for carbon dioxide reduction and Freeport-McMoran, a leading producer of copper, gold and molybdenum and SAP, the global leader in enterprise software.
The past performance of our management team, members of our Board and Advisory Board and Riverside Management Group are not a guarantee either (i) that we will be able to identify a suitable candidate for our initial business combination or (ii) of success with respect to any business combination we may consummate. Certain of our officers, directors and advisors have had management and successful deal execution experience with special purpose acquisition corporations in the past. You should not rely on the historical record of performance of our management, members of our Board and Advisory Board and Riverside Management Group as indicative of our future performance.
7
Initial Business Combination
Our initial business combination must occur with one or more target businesses that together have an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the assets held in the trust account (excluding the deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on the income earned on the trust account) at the time of the agreement to enter into the initial business combination. If our Board is not able to independently determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) or an independent accounting firm with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. Our stockholders may not be provided with a copy of such opinion, nor will they be able to rely on such opinion.
Any party may co-invest with us in the target business at the time of our initial business combination, or we could raise additional proceeds to complete the acquisition by issuing to such parties a class of equity or equity-linked securities. We refer to this potential future issuance, or a similar issuance to other specified purchasers, as a “specified future issuance”. The amount and other terms and conditions of any such specified future issuance would be determined at the time thereof. We are not obligated to make any specified future issuance and may determine not to do so. Pursuant to the anti-dilution provisions of our Class B common stock, any such specified future issuance would result in an adjustment to the conversion ratio such that our initial stockholders and their permitted transferees, if any, would retain their aggregate percentage ownership at 20% of the sum of the total number of all shares of common stock outstanding plus all shares issued in the specified future issuance, unless the holders of a majority of the then-outstanding shares of Class B common stock agreed to waive such adjustment with respect to the specified future issuance at the time thereof. We cannot determine at this time whether a majority of the holders of our Class B common stock at the time of any such specified future issuance would agree to waive such adjustment to the conversion ratio. If such adjustment is not waived, the specified future issuance would not reduce the percentage ownership of holders of our Class B common stock, but would reduce the percentage ownership of holders of our Class A common stock. If such adjustment is waived, the specified future issuance would reduce the percentage ownership of holders of both classes of our common stock.
Our Acquisition Process
In evaluating a prospective initial business combination, we expect to conduct a thorough diligence review that will encompass, among other things, meetings with incumbent management and employees, document reviews, inspection of assets and facilities and financial analyses, as well as a review of other information that will be made available to us.
We believe that we are well positioned to identify attractive risk-adjusted returns in the marketplace and that our contacts and transaction sources, ranging from industry executives, private owners, private equity funds, and investment bankers, in addition to the reach of Riverside Management Group, which is further supported by the broader Riverside Management Group platform and its advisory board, will enable us to pursue a broad range of opportunities.
We will seek to capitalize on the industry expertise and relationships of members of our Board and Advisory Board and Riverside Management Group to source and complete an initial business combination. Members of our Board and Advisory Board, as well as the Riverside Management Group’s team and advisors, who will assist us in sourcing potential target companies and evaluating management teams, have an extensive track record of identifying high-quality assets, businesses and management teams with significant resources, capital and optimization potential.
We believe that conducting comprehensive due diligence on prospective investments is particularly important within the diversified resources and industrial materials sectors. We will utilize the diligence, rigor, and expertise of our management and members of our Board and Advisory Board, as well as Riverside Management Group’s platform, to evaluate potential targets’ strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities to identify the relative risk and return profile of any potential target for our initial business combination. Given our management team’s extensive tenure investing in natural resources companies, we will often be familiar with the prospective target’s end-market, competitive landscape and business model.
8
Certain of our officers and directors are employed by or affiliated with various investment funds. Such funds and individuals are continuously made aware of potential investment opportunities, one or more of which we may desire to pursue for a business combination.
We may, at our option, pursue an opportunity with an entity to which an officer or director has a fiduciary or contractual obligation. Any such entity may co-invest with us in the target business at the time of our initial business combination, or we could raise additional proceeds to complete the acquisition by making a specified future issuance to any such entity. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation 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 our company and such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue.
Our officers and certain directors have agreed not to 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 (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 by the date that is 24 months after the closing of our initial public offering (February 12, 2021).
Status as a Public Company
We believe our structure will make us an attractive business combination partner to target businesses. As an existing public company, we offer a target business an alternative to the traditional initial public offering through a merger or other business combination. In this situation, the owners of the target business would exchange their shares of stock in the target business for shares of our stock or for a combination of shares of our stock and cash, allowing us to tailor the consideration to the specific needs of the sellers. Although there are various costs and obligations associated with being a public company, we believe target businesses will find this method a more certain and cost effective method to becoming a public company than the typical initial public offering. In a typical initial public offering, there are additional expenses incurred in marketing, road show and public reporting efforts that may not be present to the same extent in connection with a business combination with us.
Furthermore, once a proposed business combination is completed, the target business will have effectively become public, whereas an initial public offering is always subject to the underwriters’ ability to complete the offering, as well as general market conditions, which could delay or prevent the offering from occurring or could have negative valuation consequences. Once public, we believe the target business would then have greater access to capital and an additional means of providing management incentives consistent with stockholders’ interests. It can offer further benefits by augmenting a company’s profile among potential new customers and vendors and aid in attracting talented employees.
We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act, as modified by 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, 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. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the prices of our securities may be more volatile.
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 do not intend to take advantage of the benefits of this extended transition period and our election to opt out is irrevocable.
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 our initial 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 is held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30th, 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.
9
Effecting our Initial Business Combination
We are not presently engaged in, and we will not engage in, any operations until we consummate our initial business combination. We intend to complete our initial business combination using cash from the proceeds of our initial public offering and the private placement of the private placement warrants, our capital stock, debt or a combination of these as the consideration to be paid in our initial business combination. We may seek to complete our initial business combination with a company or business that may be financially unstable or in its early stages of development or growth, which would subject us to the numerous risks inherent in such companies and businesses.
If our initial business combination is paid for using equity or debt securities, or not all of the funds released from the trust account are used for payment of the consideration in connection with our business combination or used for redemptions of our Class A common stock, we may apply the balance of the cash released to us from the trust account for general corporate purposes, including for maintenance or expansion of operations of the post-transaction company, the payment of principal or interest due on indebtedness incurred in completing our initial business combination, to fund the purchase of other assets, companies or for working capital.
We may seek to raise additional funds through a private offering of debt or equity securities in connection with the completion of our initial business combination (which may include a specified future issuance), and we may complete our initial business combination using the proceeds of such offering rather than using the amounts held in the trust account. Subject to compliance with applicable securities laws, we would expect to complete such financing only simultaneously with the completion of our business combination. In the case of an initial business combination funded with assets other than the trust account assets, our tender offer documents or proxy materials disclosing the business combination would disclose the terms of the financing and, only if required by law, we would seek stockholder approval of such financing. There are no prohibitions on our ability to raise funds privately, including pursuant to any specified future issuance, or through loans in connection with our initial business combination. At this time, we are not a party to any arrangement or understanding with any third party with respect to raising any additional funds through the sale of securities or otherwise.
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 a prospective target business with which our 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.
Sources of Target Businesses
We expect to receive a number of proprietary transaction opportunities to originate as a result of the business relationships, direct outreach, and deal sourcing activities of our officers, directors and Advisory Board members. In addition to the proprietary deal flow, we anticipate that target business candidates will be brought to our attention from various unaffiliated sources, including investment banking firms, consultants, accounting firms, private equity groups, large business enterprises, and other market participants. These sources may also introduce us to target businesses in which they think we may be interested on an unsolicited basis. Our officers, directors and Advisory Board members, as well as their affiliates, may also bring to our attention target business candidates that they become aware of through their business contacts as a result of formal or informal inquiries or discussions they may have, as well as attending trade shows or conventions. Some of our officers, directors and Advisory Board members may enter into employment or consulting agreements with the post-transaction company following our initial business combination. The presence or absence of any such fees or arrangements will not be used as a criterion in our selection process of an acquisition candidate. In no event will our sponsor or any of our existing officers or directors, or any entity with which they are affiliated, be paid any finder’s fee, consulting fee or other compensation prior to, or for any services they render in order to effectuate, the completion of our initial business combination (regardless of the type of transaction that it is). However, in connection with the successful completion of our initial business combination, we may determine to provide a payment to our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or our or their affiliates, which payment would not be made from the proceeds of our initial public offering held in the trust account. We currently do not have any agreement or arrangement with our sponsor, any of our officers, directors, advisors or our or their affiliates to make any such payments.
10
We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a business combination target that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers, directors or Advisory Board members or making the acquisition through a joint venture or other form of shared ownership with our sponsor, officers or directors. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with a business combination target that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, would obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm which is a member of FINRA or an independent accounting 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. If any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity that falls within the line of business of any entity to which he or she has pre-existing fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she may be required to present such business combination opportunity to such entity prior to presenting such business combination opportunity to us. Any such entity may co-invest with us in the target business at the time of our initial business combination, or we could raise additional proceeds to complete the acquisition by making a specified future issuance to any such entity.
Lack of Business Diversification
For an indefinite period of time after the completion of our initial business combination, the prospects for our success may depend entirely on the future performance of a single business. Unlike other entities that have the resources to complete business combinations with multiple entities in one or several industries, it is probable that we will not have the resources to diversify our operations and mitigate the risks of being in a single line of business. By completing our business combination with only a single entity, our lack of diversification may:
· | subject us to negative economic, competitive and regulatory developments, any or all of which may have a substantial adverse impact on the particular industry in which we operate after our initial business combination, and |
· | cause us to depend on the marketing and sale of a single product or limited number of products or services. |
Limited Ability to Evaluate the Target’s Management Team
Although we intend to closely scrutinize the management of a prospective target business when evaluating the desirability of effecting our business combination with that business, our assessment of the target business’ management may not prove to be correct. In addition, the future management may not have the necessary skills, qualifications or abilities to manage a public company. Furthermore, the future role of members of our management team or of our Board, if any, in the target business cannot presently be stated with any certainty. While it is possible that one or more of our directors will remain associated in some capacity with us following our business combination, it is presently unknown if any of them will devote their full efforts to our affairs subsequent to our business combination. Moreover, we cannot assure you that members of our management team will have significant experience or knowledge relating to the operations of the particular target business. The determination as to whether any members of our Board will remain with the combined company will be made at the time of our initial business combination.
Following a business combination, to the extent that we deem it necessary, we may seek to recruit additional managers to supplement the incumbent management team of the target business. We cannot assure you that we will have the ability to recruit additional managers, or that additional managers will have the requisite skills, knowledge or experience necessary to enhance the incumbent management.
11
Stockholders May Not Have the Ability to Approve our Initial Business Combination
We may conduct redemptions without a stockholder vote pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC. However, we will seek stockholder approval if it is required by law or applicable stock exchange rule, or we may decide to seek stockholder approval for business or other legal reasons. Presented in the table below is a graphic explanation of the types of initial business combinations we may consider and whether stockholder approval is currently required under Delaware law for each such transaction.
Type of Transaction | Whether Stockholder Approval is Required | |
Purchase of assets | No | |
Purchase of stock of target not involving a merger with the company | No | |
Merger of target into a subsidiary of the company | No | |
Merger of the company with a target | Yes |
Under NYSE’s listing rules, stockholder approval would be required for our initial business combination if, for example:
· | we issue shares of Class A common stock that will be equal to or in excess of 20% of the number of shares of our Class A common stock then outstanding; |
· | any of our directors, officers or substantial security holders (as defined by NYSE rules) has a 5% or greater interest, directly or indirectly, in the target business or assets and if the number of shares of common stock to be issued, or if the number of shares of common stock into which the securities may be convertible or exercisable, exceeds either (a) 1% of the number of shares of common stock or 1% of the voting power outstanding before the issuance in the case of any of our directors and officers or (b) 5% of the number of shares of common stock or 5% of the voting power outstanding before the issuance in the case of any substantial security holders; or |
· | the issuance or potential issuance of common stock will result in our undergoing a change of control. |
Permitted Purchases of Our Securities
In the event we seek stockholder approval of our business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase shares in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination. 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 in such transactions. They will not make any such purchases when they are in possession of any material non-public information not disclosed to the seller or if such purchases are prohibited by Regulation M under the Exchange Act. Such a purchase may include a contractual acknowledgement 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. We do not currently anticipate that such purchases, if any, would constitute a tender offer subject to the tender offer rules under the Exchange Act or a going-private transaction subject to the going-private rules under the Exchange Act; however, if the purchasers determine at the time of any such purchases that the purchases are subject to such rules, the purchasers will comply with such rules.
The purpose of such purchases would be to (i) vote such shares in favor of the business combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining stockholder approval of the business combination or (ii) 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 business combination, where it appears that such requirement would otherwise not be met. This may result in the completion of our business combination that may not otherwise have been possible.
In addition, if such purchases are made, the public “float” of our common stock may be reduced and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, which may make it difficult to maintain or obtain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange.
12
Our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors and/or their affiliates anticipate that they may identify the stockholders with whom our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or their affiliates may pursue privately negotiated purchases by either the stockholders contacting us directly or by our receipt of redemption requests submitted by stockholders following our mailing of proxy materials in connection with our initial business combination. To the extent that our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or their affiliates enter into a private purchase, they would identify and contact only potential selling stockholders who have expressed their election to redeem their shares for a pro rata share of the trust account or vote against the business combination. Our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or their affiliates will only purchase shares if such purchases comply with Regulation M under the Exchange Act and the other federal securities laws.
Any purchases by our sponsor, officers, directors and/or their affiliates who are affiliated purchasers under Rule 10b-18 under the Exchange Act will only be made to the extent such purchases are able to be made in compliance with Rule 10b-18, which is a safe harbor from liability for manipulation under Section 9(a)(2) and Rule 10b-5 of the Exchange Act. Rule 10b-18 has certain technical requirements that must be complied with in order for the safe harbor to be available to the purchaser. Our sponsor, officers, directors and/or their affiliates will not make purchases of common stock if the purchases would violate Section 9(a)(2) or Rule 10b-5 of the Exchange Act.
Redemption Rights for Public Stockholders upon Completion of our Initial Business Combination
We will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their shares of Class A common stock 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 as of two business days prior to the consummation of the initial business combination including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our franchise and income taxes as well as expenses relating to the administration of the trust account, divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, subject to the limitations described herein. The amount in the trust account is approximately $10.00 per public share as of the date of this report. The per-share amount we will distribute to investors who properly redeem their shares will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting commissions we will pay to the underwriters. Our sponsor, officers and certain directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and any public shares held by them in connection with the completion of our business combination. In addition, each of the Anchor Investors has agreed with us that if, at the time of any stockholder vote with respect to an initial business combination or the business day immediately prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, such Anchor Investor does not own a number of public shares equal to the number of shares purchased by it in the initial public offering, then such Anchor Investor will forfeit to us all of the founder shares that it purchased prior to the initial public offering.
Manner of Conducting Redemptions
We will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their shares of Class A common stock upon the completion of our initial 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 we will seek stockholder approval of a proposed business combination or conduct 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 require us to seek stockholder approval under the law or stock exchange listing requirement. Asset acquisitions and stock purchases would not typically require stockholder approval while direct mergers with our company where we do not survive and any transactions where we issue more than 20% of our outstanding common stock or seek to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation would require stockholder approval. If we structure a business combination transaction with a target company in a manner that requires stockholder approval, we will not have discretion as to whether to seek a stockholder vote to approve the proposed business combination. We intend to conduct redemptions without a stockholder vote pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC unless stockholder approval is required by law or stock exchange listing requirements or we choose to seek stockholder approval for business or other legal reasons. So long as we maintain a listing for our securities on the NYSE, we will be required to comply with such rules.
13
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 amended and restated certificate of incorporation:
· | conduct the redemptions pursuant to Rule 13e-4 and Regulation 14E of the Exchange Act, which regulate issuer tender offers, and |
· | 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 of the Exchange Act, which regulates the solicitation of proxies. |
Upon the public announcement of our business combination, we or our sponsor will terminate any plan established in accordance with Rule 10b5-1 to purchase shares of our Class A common stock in the open market if we elect to redeem our public shares through a tender offer, to comply with Rule 14e-5 under the Exchange Act.
In the event that we conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, our offer to redeem will remain open for at least 20 business days, in accordance with Rule 14e-1(a) under the Exchange Act, and we will not be permitted to complete our initial business combination until the expiration of the tender offer period. In addition, the tender offer will be conditioned on public stockholders not tendering more than a specified number of public shares which are not purchased by our sponsor, which number will be based on the requirement that we may not redeem public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 upon completion of our initial business combination (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. If public stockholders tender more shares than we have offered to purchase, we will withdraw the tender offer and not complete the initial business combination.
If, however, stockholder approval of the transaction is required by law or stock exchange listing requirement, or we decide to obtain stockholder approval for business or other legal reasons, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation:
· | conduct the redemptions in conjunction with a proxy solicitation pursuant to Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act, which regulates the solicitation of proxies, and not pursuant to the tender offer rules, and |
· | file proxy materials with the SEC. |
In the event that we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, we will distribute proxy materials and, in connection therewith, provide our public stockholders with the redemption rights described above upon completion of the initial business combination.
If we seek stockholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if a majority of the outstanding shares of common stock voted are voted in favor of the business combination. A quorum for such meeting will consist of the holders present in person or by proxy of shares of outstanding capital stock of the company representing a majority of the voting power of all outstanding shares of capital stock of the company entitled to vote at such meeting. Our sponsor will count toward this quorum and has agreed to vote its founder shares and any public shares purchased during or after our initial public offering in favor of our initial business combination. For purposes of seeking approval of the majority of our outstanding shares of common stock voted, non-votes will have no effect on the approval of our initial business combination once a quorum is obtained. As a result, in addition to our sponsor’s founder shares, we would need 9,200,001, or 40%, of the 23,000,000 public shares sold in our initial public offering to be voted in favor of a transaction (assuming all outstanding shares are voted) in order to have our initial business combination approved. We intend to give approximately 30 days (but not less than 10 days nor more than 60 days) prior written notice of any such meeting, if required, at which a vote shall be taken to approve our initial business combination. These quorum and voting thresholds, and the voting agreement of our sponsor, may make it more likely that we will consummate our initial business combination. Each public stockholder may elect to redeem its public shares irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation 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 (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. For example, the proposed business combination may require: (i) cash consideration to be paid to the target or its owners, (ii) cash to be transferred to the target for working capital or other general corporate purposes or (iii) the retention of cash to satisfy other conditions in accordance with the terms of the proposed business combination. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all shares of 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, and all shares of Class A common stock submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof.
14
Limitation on Redemption upon Completion of our Initial Business Combination if we Seek Stockholder Approval
Notwithstanding the foregoing, if we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our 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 Exchange Act), will be restricted from seeking redemption rights with respect to more than an aggregate of 20% of the shares sold in our initial public offering (the “Excess Shares”). We believe this restriction will discourage stockholders from accumulating large blocks of shares, and subsequent attempts by such holders to use their ability to exercise their redemption rights against a proposed business combination as a means to force us or our management to purchase their shares at a significant premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. Absent this provision, a public stockholder holding more than an aggregate of 20% of the shares sold in our initial public offering could threaten to exercise its redemption rights if such holder’s shares are not purchased by us or our management at a premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. By limiting our stockholders’ ability to redeem no more than 20% of the shares sold in our initial public offering, we believe we will limit the ability of a small group of stockholders to unreasonably attempt to block our ability to complete our business combination, particularly in connection with a business combination with a target that requires as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. However, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation does not restrict our stockholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our business combination.
Tendering Stock Certificates in Connection with a Tender Offer or Redemption Rights
We may require our public stockholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” to either tender their certificates to our transfer agent prior to the date set forth in the tender offer documents, or up to two business days prior to the vote on the proposal to approve the business combination in the event we distribute proxy materials, or to deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically using the Depository Trust Company’s DWAC (Deposit/Withdrawal At Custodian) System, at the holder’s option. The tender offer or proxy materials, as applicable, that we will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination will indicate whether we are requiring public stockholders to satisfy such delivery requirements. Accordingly, a public stockholder would have from the time we send out our tender offer materials until the close of the tender offer period, or up to two days prior to the vote on the business combination if we distribute proxy materials, as applicable, to tender its shares if it wishes to seek to exercise its redemption rights. Given the relatively short exercise period, it is advisable for stockholders to use electronic delivery of their public shares.
There is a nominal cost associated with the above-referenced tendering process and the act of certificating the shares or delivering them through the DWAC System. The transfer agent will typically charge the tendering broker $80.00 and it would be up to the broker whether or not to pass this cost on to the redeeming holder. However, this fee would be incurred regardless of whether or not we require holders seeking to exercise redemption rights to tender their shares. The need to deliver shares is a requirement of exercising redemption rights regardless of the timing of when such delivery must be effectuated.
The foregoing is different from the procedures used by many blank check companies. In order to perfect redemption rights in connection with their business combinations, many blank check companies would distribute proxy materials for the stockholders’ vote on an initial business combination, and a holder could simply vote against a proposed business combination and check a box on the proxy card indicating such holder was seeking to exercise his or her redemption rights. After the business combination was approved, the company would contact such stockholder to arrange for him or her to deliver his or her certificate to verify ownership. As a result, the stockholder then had an “option window” after the completion of the business combination during which he or she could monitor the price of the company’s stock in the market. If the price rose above the redemption price, he or she could sell his or her shares in the open market before actually delivering his or her shares to the company for cancellation. As a result, the redemption rights, to which stockholders were aware they needed to commit before the stockholder meeting, would become “option” rights surviving past the completion of the business combination until the redeeming holder delivered its certificate. The requirement for physical or electronic delivery prior to the meeting ensures that a redeeming holder’s election to redeem is irrevocable once the business combination is approved.
15
Any request to redeem such shares, once made, may be withdrawn at any time up to the date set forth in the tender offer materials or the date of the stockholder meeting set forth in our proxy materials, as applicable. Furthermore, if a holder of a public share delivered its certificate in connection with an election of redemption rights and subsequently decides prior to the applicable date not to elect to exercise such rights, such holder may simply request that the transfer agent return the certificate (physically or electronically). It is anticipated that the funds to be distributed to holders of our public shares electing to redeem their shares will be distributed promptly after the completion of our business combination.
If our initial business combination is not approved or completed for any reason, then our public stockholders who elected to exercise their redemption rights would not be entitled to redeem their shares for the applicable pro rata share of the trust account. In such case, we will promptly return any certificates delivered by public holders who elected to redeem their shares.
If our initial proposed business combination is not completed, we may continue to try to complete a business combination with a different target until February 12, 2021.
Redemption of Public Shares and Liquidation if no Initial Business Combination
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that we will have only until February 12, 2021 to complete our initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our business combination by February 12, 2021, 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 earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our franchise and income taxes as well as expenses relating to the administration of the trust account (less up to $100,000 of interest released to us to pay dissolution expenses), 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), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our Board, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. Although we have no present intention to do so, at some point in the future we may ask our shareholders to approve an amendment to our charter that would extend the length of the Combination Period, but there are no assurances that such extension will be granted. There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to our warrants, which will expire worthless if we fail to complete our business combination within the prescribed time period.
Our sponsor, officers and certain directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have waived their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any founder shares held by them if we fail to complete our initial business combination by February 12, 2021. However, if our sponsor, officers or directors acquire public shares in or after our initial public offering, they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to such public shares if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time period.
Our sponsor, officers and certain directors have agreed, pursuant to a letter agreement with us (filed as an exhibit to this annual report), that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation that would modify the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination by February 12, 2021, unless we provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their shares of 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 and not previously released to us to pay our franchise and income taxes as well as expenses relating to the administration of the trust account divided by the number of then outstanding public shares. However, we may not redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 upon completion of our initial business combination (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules). If this optional redemption right is exercised with respect to an excessive number of public shares such that we cannot satisfy the net tangible asset requirement (described above) we would not proceed with the amendment or the related redemption of our public shares.
16
We expect that all costs and expenses associated with implementing our plan of dissolution, as well as payments to any creditors, will be funded from proceeds held outside the trust account, although we cannot assure you that there will be sufficient funds for such purpose. However, if those funds are not sufficient to cover the costs and expenses associated with implementing our plan of dissolution, to the extent that there is any interest accrued in the trust account not required to pay franchise and income taxes as well as expenses relating to the administration of the trust account on interest income earned on the trust account balance, we may request the trustee to release to us an amount of up to $100,000 of such accrued interest to pay those costs and expenses.
If we were to expend all of the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, other than the proceeds deposited in the trust account, and without taking into account interest, if any, earned on the trust account, the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders upon our dissolution would be approximately $10.00. The proceeds deposited in the trust account could, however, become subject to the claims of our creditors which would have higher priority than the claims of our public stockholders. We cannot assure you that the actual per-share redemption amount received by stockholders will not be substantially less than $10.00. Under Section 281(b) of the DGCL, our plan of dissolution must provide for all claims against us to be paid in full or make provision for payments to be made in full, as applicable, if there are sufficient assets. These claims must be paid or provided for before we make any distribution of our remaining assets to our stockholders. While we intend to pay such amounts, if any, we cannot assure you that we will have funds sufficient to pay or provide for all creditors’ claims.
Although we will seek to have all vendors, service providers (other than our independent auditors), prospective target businesses or other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest and claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the trust account for the benefit of our public stockholders, there is no guarantee that they will execute such agreements or even if they execute such agreements that they would 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 an 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 perform an analysis of the alternatives available to it and will only enter into an agreement with a third party that has not executed a waiver if management believes that such third party’s engagement would be significantly more beneficial to us than any alternative. 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. Our sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a third party (other than our independent auditors) for services rendered or products sold to us, or a prospective target business with which we have discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the trust account to below (i) $10.00 per public share or (ii) such lesser amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account, due to reductions in value of the trust assets, in each case net of the amount of interest which may be withdrawn to pay taxes as well as expenses relating to the administration of the trust account, except as 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 our indemnity of the underwriters of our initial public offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. In the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, then our sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third party claims We have not independently verified whether our sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our company. We have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such indemnification obligations. 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 will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses.
17
In the event that the proceeds in the trust account are reduced below (i) $10.00 per public share or (ii) such lesser amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account, due to reductions in value of the trust assets, in each case net of the amount of interest which may be withdrawn to pay taxes as well as expenses relating to the administration of the trust account, and our sponsor asserts that it is unable to satisfy its indemnification 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 may choose not to do so 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. We have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such indemnification obligations and we cannot assure you that our sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations. Accordingly, we cannot assure you that due to claims of creditors the actual value of the per-share redemption price will not be less than $10.00 per public share.
We will seek to reduce the possibility that our sponsor will have to indemnify the trust account due to claims of creditors by endeavoring to have all vendors, service providers (other than our independent auditors), prospective target businesses or other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to monies held in the trust account. Our sponsor will also not be liable as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of our initial public offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. We may have access to amounts held outside of the trust account to pay any such potential claims (including costs and expenses incurred in connection with our liquidation, currently estimated to be no more than approximately $100,000) but these amounts may be spent on expenses incurred as a result of being a public company or due diligence expenses on prospective business combination candidates. In the event that we liquidate and it is subsequently determined that the reserve for claims and liabilities is insufficient, stockholders who received funds from our trust account could be liable for claims made by creditors.
Under the 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 business combination by February 12, 2021 may be considered a liquidating distribution under Delaware law. If the 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.
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 business combination by February 12, 2021, is not considered a liquidating distribution under Delaware law and such redemption distribution is deemed to be unlawful, 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. If we are unable to complete our business combination by February 12, 2021, 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 earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our franchise and income taxes as well as expenses relating to the administration of the trust account (less up to $100,000 of interest released to us to pay dissolution expenses), 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), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our Board, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. Accordingly, it is our intention to redeem our public shares as soon as reasonably possible following February 12, 2021 and, therefore, we do not intend to comply with those procedures. 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 well beyond the third anniversary of such date.
18
Because we will not be complying 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 subsequent 10 years. However, because we are a blank check company, rather than an operating company, and our operations will be 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. As described above, pursuant to the obligation contained in our underwriting agreement, we will seek to have all vendors, service providers (other than our independent auditors), prospective target businesses or 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. As a result of this obligation, the claims that could be made against us are significantly limited and the likelihood that any claim that would result in any liability extending to the trust account is remote. Further, our sponsor may be liable only to the extent necessary to ensure that the amounts in the trust account are not reduced below (i) $10.00 per public share or (ii) such lesser amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account, due to reductions in value of the trust assets, in each case net of the amount of interest withdrawn to pay taxes and will not be liable as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of our initial public offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. In the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, our sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third-party claims.
If we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy 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, we cannot assure you we will be able to return $10.00 per share to our public stockholders. Additionally, if we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy 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. Furthermore, our Board may be viewed as having breached its fiduciary duty to our creditors and/or may have acted in bad faith, thereby exposing itself and our company to claims of punitive damages, by paying public stockholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors. We cannot assure you that claims will not be brought against us for these reasons.
Our public stockholders will be entitled to receive funds from the trust account only (i) in the event of the redemption of our public shares if we do not complete our business combination by February 12, 2021, subject to applicable law, (ii) in connection with a stockholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our public shares if we have not consummated an initial business combination by February 12, 2021 or (iii) our completion of an initial business combination, and then only in connection with those shares of our common stock that such stockholder properly elected to redeem, subject to the limitations described in this annual report. In no other circumstances will a stockholder have any right or interest of any kind to or in the trust account. In the event we seek stockholder approval in connection with our initial business combination, a stockholder’s voting in connection with the business combination alone will not result in a stockholder’s redeeming its shares to us for an applicable pro rata share of the trust account. Such stockholder must have also exercised its redemption rights as described above.
Competition
In identifying, evaluating and selecting a target business for our business combination, we may encounter intense competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours, including other blank check companies, private equity groups and leveraged buyout funds, 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 greater financial, technical, human and other resources than we do. 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 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.
19
Employees
We currently have five employees, including our three officers. Members of our management team 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 that any such person will devote in any time period will vary based on whether a target business has been selected for our initial business combination and the current stage of the business combination process.
Periodic Reporting and Financial Information
We have registered our units, Class A common stock and warrants under the Exchange Act and have reporting obligations, including the requirement that we file annual, quarterly and current reports with the SEC. In accordance with the requirements of the Exchange Act, our annual reports will contain financial statements audited and reported on by our independent registered public accountants. The SEC maintains an Internet site that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC at: http://www.sec.gov. Our annual, quarterly and current reports, and any amendments to any of those reports, that we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission are available free of charge as soon as reasonably practicable through our corporate website address at www.rmgacquisition.com. The contents of these websites are not incorporated into this filing. Further, our references to the uniform resource locators, or URLs, for these websites are intended to be inactive textual references only.
We will provide stockholders with audited financial statements of the prospective target business as part of the tender offer materials or proxy solicitation materials sent to stockholders to assist them in assessing the target business. In all likelihood, these financial statements will need to be prepared in accordance with GAAP. We cannot assure you that any particular target business selected by us as a potential acquisition candidate will have financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP or that the potential target business will be able to prepare its financial statements in accordance with GAAP. To the extent that this requirement cannot be met, we may not be able to acquire the proposed target business. While this may limit the pool of potential acquisition candidates, we do not believe that this limitation will be material.
We are required to evaluate our internal control procedures for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2019. Only in the event we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer or an accelerated filer will we be required to have our internal control procedures audited. A target company may not be in compliance with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act regarding adequacy of their 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 acquisition.
Item 1A. | Risk Factors |
You should carefully consider all of the risks described below, together with the other information contained in this report, including the financial statements. If any of the following risks occur, our business, financial condition or operating results may be materially and adversely affected. In that event, the trading price of our securities could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment. The risk factors described below are not necessarily exhaustive and you are encouraged to perform your own investigation with respect to us and our business.
20
We are an early stage 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 an early stage company with limited operating results. Because we lack significant operating history, you have little basis upon which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective of completing our initial business combination with one or more target businesses. We may be unable to complete our business combination. If we fail to complete our business combination, we will never generate any operating revenues.
Our public stockholders may not be afforded an opportunity to vote on our proposed 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.
We may not 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 or if we decide to hold a stockholder vote for business or other legal reasons. Except as required by law, 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. Accordingly, we may complete our initial business combination even if holders of a majority of our public shares do not approve of the business combination we complete. Please see the section of this report entitled “Business—Stockholders May Not Have the Ability to Approve our Initial Business Combination” for additional information.
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor has agreed to vote in favor of such initial business combination, regardless of how our public stockholders vote.
Unlike many other blank check companies in which the initial stockholders agree to vote their founder shares in accordance with the majority of the votes cast by the public stockholders in connection with an initial business combination, our sponsor agreed to vote its founder shares, as well as any public shares purchased during or after our initial public offering, in favor of our initial business combination. As a result, in addition to our sponsors’ founder shares, we would need 9,200,001, or 40%, of the 23,000,000 public shares sold in our initial public offering to be voted in favor of a transaction (assuming all outstanding shares are voted) in order to have our initial business combination approved. Our sponsor owns shares representing 18% of our outstanding shares of common stock as of the date of this report. Accordingly, if we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, it is more likely that the necessary stockholder approval will be received than would be the case if our sponsor agreed to vote its founder shares in accordance with the majority of the votes cast by our public stockholders.
Your only opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding a potential business combination will be limited to the exercise of your right to redeem your shares from us for cash, unless we seek stockholder approval of the business combination.
You may not be provided with an opportunity to evaluate the specific merits or risks of one or more target businesses. Since our Board 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, if we do not seek stockholder approval, your only opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding a potential 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.
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 prospective target that requires as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. 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 upon completion of our initial business combination (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement that may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. Consequently, if accepting all properly submitted redemption requests would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 upon completion of our initial business combination or such greater amount necessary to satisfy a closing 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.
21
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 public 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 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. The above considerations may limit our ability to complete the most desirable business combination available to us or optimize our capital structure. The amount of the deferred underwriting commissions payable to the underwriters will not be adjusted for any shares that are redeemed in connection with a 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 per-share value of shares held by non-redeeming stockholders will reflect our obligation to pay the deferred underwriting commissions.
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 stock.
If our 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 stock in the open market; however, at such time our stock 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 our redemption until we liquidate or you are able to sell your stock in the open market.
The requirement that we complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame may give potential target businesses leverage over us in negotiating a business combination and may decrease our ability to conduct due diligence on potential business combination targets as we approach our dissolution deadline, which could undermine our ability to complete our 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 by February 12, 2021. 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.
22
We may not be able to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame, in which case we would cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up and we would redeem our public shares and liquidate, in which case our public stockholders may only receive $10.00 per share, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, and our warrants will expire worthless.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that we must complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering (February 12, 2021). We may not be able to find a suitable target business and complete our initial business combination within such time period. 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 earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our franchise and income taxes as well as expenses relating to the administration of the trust account (less up to $100,000 of interest released to us to pay dissolution expenses), 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), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our Board, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. In such case, our public stockholders may only receive $10.00 per share and our warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public stockholders may receive less than $10.00 per share on the redemption of their shares.
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors and their affiliates may elect to purchase shares 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 business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase shares 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. Such a purchase may include a contractual acknowledgement 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 such purchases 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 business combination, where it appears that such requirement would otherwise not be met. This may result in the completion of our business combination that may not otherwise have been possible.
In addition, if such purchases are made, the public “float” of our Class A common stock 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 business combination, or fails to comply with the procedures for tendering its shares, such shares may not be redeemed.
We will comply with the tender offer rules or proxy rules, as applicable, when conducting redemptions in connection with our business combination. Despite our compliance with these rules, if a stockholder fails to receive our tender offer or proxy materials, as applicable, such stockholder may not become aware of the opportunity to redeem its shares. In addition, the tender offer documents or proxy materials, 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 redeem public shares. For example, we may require our public stockholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” to either tender their certificates to our transfer agent prior to the date set forth in the tender offer documents or proxy materials mailed to such holders, or up to two business days prior to the vote on the proposal to approve the business combination in the event we distribute proxy materials, or to deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically. In the event that a stockholder fails to comply with these or any other procedures, its shares may not be redeemed. See the section of this report entitled “Business—Redemption Rights for Public Stockholders upon Completion of our Initial Business Combination—Tendering Stock Certificates in Connection with a Tender Offer or Redemption Rights.”
23
You will not have any rights or interests in funds from the trust account, except under certain limited circumstances. To liquidate your investment, therefore, 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 our common stock that such stockholder properly elected to redeem, subject to the limitations described in this annual report, (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly submitted in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation 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 our initial public offering 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 our initial public offering, subject to applicable law and as further described herein. In addition, if we are unable to complete an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering for any reason, compliance with Delaware law may require that we submit a plan of dissolution to our then-existing stockholders for approval prior to the distribution of the proceeds held in our trust account. In that case, public stockholders may be forced to wait beyond 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering before they receive funds from our trust account. In no other circumstances will a public stockholder have any right or interest of any kind in the trust account. 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, Class A common stock and warrants are listed on the NYSE. 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 stock price levels. Generally, we must maintain a minimum amount in stockholders’ equity and a minimum number of holders of our securities. On August 15, 2019, we received written notice from the NYSE that we are not compliant with Section 802.01B of the NYSE Listed Company Manual, which requires us to maintain a minimum of 300 public stockholders on a continuous basis. We have submitted a business plan to the NYSE to resolve compliance with this standard, which the NYSE has accepted. We will be subject to quarterly monitoring for compliance with the plan.
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 stock price would generally be required to be at least $4.00 per share. We cannot assure you that we will be able to meet those initial listing requirements at that time.
24
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 Class A common stock is a “penny stock” which will require brokers trading in our 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 | |
· | a decreased ability to issue additional securities or obtain additional financing in the future. |
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 units are listed on the NYSE, and eventually our Class A common stock and warrants will be listed on the NYSE, our units, Class A common stock and warrants are or will be covered securities. 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 be covered securities and we would be subject to regulation in each state in which we offer our securities.
Our stockholders will not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors of many other blank check companies.
Since the net proceeds of our initial 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 currently have net tangible assets in excess of $5,000,000, 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 are tradable and we have a longer period of time to complete our business combination than do companies subject to Rule 419. Moreover that rule would prohibit the release of any interest earned on funds held in the trust account to us unless and until the funds in the trust account were released to us in connection with our completion of an initial business combination.
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 20% of our Class A common stock, you will lose the ability to redeem all such shares in excess of 20% 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 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 Exchange Act), will be restricted from seeking redemption rights with respect to more than an aggregate of 20% of the shares sold in our initial public offering, which we refer to as the “Excess Shares.” However, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation does not restrict our stockholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our business combination. Your inability to redeem the Excess Shares will reduce your influence over our ability to complete our business combination and you 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 business combination. As a result, you will continue to hold that number of shares exceeding 20% and, in order to dispose of such shares, would be required to sell your stock in open market transactions, potentially at a loss.
25
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 approximately $10.00 per share on our redemption of our public shares, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, and our warrants will expire worthless.
We expect to encounter intense 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 greater technical, human and other resources 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 our initial 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, because we are obligated to pay cash for the shares of Class A common stock which our public stockholders redeem in connection with our initial business combination, target companies will be aware that this may reduce the resources available to us for our initial business combination. This 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 approximately $10.00 per share on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public stockholders may receive less than $10.00 per share upon our liquidation.
If the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants not being held in the trust account are insufficient to allow us to operate until February 12, 2021, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination, in which case our public stockholders may only receive $10.00 per share, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, and our warrants will expire worthless.
The funds available to us outside of the trust account may not be sufficient to allow us to operate until February 12, 2021, assuming that our initial business combination is not completed during that time. We cannot assure you that, the funds available to us outside of the trust account will be sufficient to allow us to operate until February 12, 2021. We plan to use a portion of the funds available to us to pay fees to consultants to assist us with our search for a target business. We could also 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 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 unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public stockholders may receive less than $10.00 per share upon our liquidation.
Funds available to us outside of the trust account 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 for a business combination. If we are unable to obtain these loans, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination.
As of the date of this report, we have approximately $1.2 million held outside the trust account that is available to us. If we are required to seek additional capital, we would need to withdraw interest from the trust account as described elsewhere in this annual report (i.e. for our franchise and income taxes as well as expenses relating to the administration of the trust account) and/or borrow funds from our sponsor, management team or other third parties to operate, or we may be forced to liquidate. None of 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. 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 obtain these loans, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination. 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 approximately $10.00 per share on our redemption of our public shares, and our warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public stockholders may receive less than $10.00 per share upon our liquidation.
26
Subsequent to the 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, results of operations and our stock price, which could cause you to lose some or all of your investment.
Even if we conduct extensive due diligence on a target business with which we combine, we cannot assure you that this diligence will surface all material issues that may be present inside 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 post-combination debt financing. 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.
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.
Our placing of 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 (other than our independent auditors), prospective target businesses or 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 perform an analysis of the alternatives available to it and will only enter into an agreement with a third party that has not executed a waiver if management believes that such third party’s engagement would be significantly more beneficial to us than any alternative. Making such a request of potential target businesses may make our acquisition proposal less attractive to them and, to the extent prospective target businesses refuse to execute such a waiver, it may limit the field of potential target businesses that we might pursue.
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 business combination within the prescribed timeframe, or upon the exercise of a redemption right in connection with our 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 share initially held in the trust account, due to claims of such creditors. Our sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a vendor for services rendered or products sold to us, or a prospective target business with which we have discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the trust account to below (i) $10.00 per public share or (ii) such lesser 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 taxes as well as expenses relating to administration of the trust account. 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 our indemnity of the underwriters of our initial public offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. Moreover, in the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, then our sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third party claims. We have not independently verified whether our sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our company. We have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such indemnification obligations. 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 will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses.
27
Our independent 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 public share or (ii) such lesser amount per 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 taxes as well as expenses relating to administration of the trust account, 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 may choose not to do so 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.
We may not have sufficient funds to satisfy indemnification claims of our directors, executive officers and Advisory Board members.
We have agreed to indemnify our directors, executive officers and Advisory Board members to the fullest extent permitted by law. However, our directors, executive officers and Advisory Board members 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 directors, executive officers and Advisory Board members may discourage stockholders from bringing a lawsuit against our directors, executive officers and Advisory Board members for breach of their fiduciary duties. These provisions also may have the effect of reducing the likelihood of derivative litigation against our directors, executive officers and Advisory Board members, 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 directors, executive officers and Advisory Board members pursuant to these indemnification provisions.
If, after we distribute the proceeds in the trust account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, a bankruptcy court may seek to recover such proceeds, and we and our Board may be exposed to claims of punitive damages.
If, after we distribute the proceeds in the trust account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy 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 all amounts received by our stockholders. In addition, our Board 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.
28
If, before distributing the proceeds in the trust account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy 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 petition or an involuntary bankruptcy 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 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 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 total assets (exclusive of U.S. government securities and cash items) on an unconsolidated basis. Our business will be 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.
We do not believe that our principal activities will 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 180 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. 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 intended as a holding place for funds pending the earliest to occur of: (i) the completion of our primary business objective, which is a business combination; (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly submitted in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation 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 our initial public offering; or (iii) absent a business combination, 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 receive only approximately $10.00 per share on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public stockholders may receive less than $10.00 per share upon our liquidation.
29
Changes in laws or regulations, or a failure to comply with any laws and regulations, may adversely affect our business, investments 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 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 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 our initial 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 24 month anniversary from the closing of our initial public offering in the event we do not complete our business combination and, therefore, we do not intend to comply with the foregoing procedures.
Because we will not be complying 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 will be 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 our initial public offering is not considered a liquidating distribution under Delaware law and such redemption distribution is deemed to be unlawful, 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.
30
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 elect directors.
In accordance with the NYSE corporate governance requirements, we are not required to hold an annual meeting 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.
We have not registered 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 have not registered 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 will use our reasonable best efforts to file, and within 60 business days following our initial business combination to have declared effective, a registration statement under the Securities Act covering such shares and maintain a current prospectus relating to the 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 issuable upon exercise of the warrants are not registered under the Securities Act, we will be required to permit holders to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis. However, no warrant will be exercisable for cash or on a cashless basis, and we will not be 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 is available. Notwithstanding the above, if our Class A common stock is at the time of any exercise of a warrant not listed on a national securities exchange such that it satisfies the definition of a “covered security” under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act, we may, at our 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 we so elect, we will not be required to file or maintain in effect a registration statement, but we will be required to use our best efforts to register or qualify the shares under applicable blue sky laws to the extent an exemption is not available. In no event will we be required to net cash settle any warrant. 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 shall 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. 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.
The grant of registration rights to our initial stockholders 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 Class A common stock.
Pursuant to the agreement entered into concurrently with the issuance and sale of the securities in our initial public offering, our initial stockholders and their permitted transferees can demand that we register their founder shares, after those shares convert to our Class A common stock at the time of our initial business combination. In addition, holders of our private placement warrants and their permitted transferees can demand that we register the private placement warrants and the 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 such warrants or the 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 shareholders 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 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.
31
Because we are not limited to a particular industry, sector or any specific 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’ operations.
Although we expect to focus our search for a target business in the diversified resources and industrial materials sectors, we may seek to complete a business combination with an operating company in any industry or sector. However, are not, under our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, permitted to complete our business combination with another blank check company or similar company with nominal operations. There is no basis to evaluate the possible merits or risks of any particular target business’s operations, results of operations, cash flows, liquidity, financial condition or prospects. To the extent we complete our 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 revenues 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 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 shares. Such stockholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.
Because we intend to seek a business combination with a target business in the diversified resources and industrial materials sectors, we expect our future operations to be subject to risks associated with this sector.
We intend to focus our search for a target business in the diversified resources and industrial materials sectors, including the chemicals, energy services and alternatives, environmental services, metals and power sectors. Risks inherent in investments in the diversified resources and industrial materials sectors include, but are not limited to, the following:
· | volatility of commodity prices; | |
· | significant federal, state and local regulation, taxation and regulatory approval processes as well as changes in applicable laws and regulations; | |
· | denial or delay of receiving requisite regulatory approvals and/or permits; | |
· | the speculative nature of and high degree of risk involved in investments in the diversified resources and industrial materials sectors; | |
· | exploration and development risks, which could lead to environmental damage, injury and loss of life or the destruction of property; | |
· | proximity and capacity of transportation and support infrastructure to production facilities; | |
· | availability of key inputs, such as strategic consumables and raw materials; | |
· | changes in global supply and demand and prices for commodities; | |
· | impact of energy conservation efforts; | |
· | technological advances affecting energy production and consumption; | |
· | overall domestic and global economic conditions; | |
· | availability of, and potential disputes with, independent contractors; | |
· | adverse weather conditions, natural disasters or other events (such as equipment malfunctions, explosions, fires or spills); | |
· | value of U.S. dollar relative to the currencies of other countries; and | |
· | terrorist acts. |
32
Past performance by our management team, members of our Board and Advisory Board and Riverside Management Group may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in us.
Information regarding performance by, or businesses associated with, our management team, members of our Board and Advisory Board and Riverside Management Group is presented for informational purposes only. Past performance by such individuals and Riverside Management Group is not a guarantee either (i) of success with respect to any business combination we may consummate or (ii) that we will be able to locate a suitable candidate for our initial business combination. Certain of our officers, directors and advisors have had management and deal execution experience with special purpose acquisition corporations in the past. You should not rely on the historical record of performance of our management team, members of our Board and Advisory Board and Riverside Management Group as indicative of our future performance of an investment in us or the returns we will, or are likely to, generate going forward. Additionally, in the course of their respective careers, members of our management team, Board and Advisory Board have been involved in businesses and deals that were unsuccessful.
We may seek acquisition opportunities in industries or sectors which may or may not be outside of our management’s area of expertise.
We will consider a business combination outside of our management’s area of expertise if a business combination candidate is presented to us and we determine that such candidate offers an attractive acquisition 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 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 than a direct investment, if an opportunity were available, in a business combination candidate. In the event we elect to pursue an acquisition outside of the areas of our management’s expertise, our management’s expertise may not be directly applicable to its evaluation or operation, and the information contained in this annual report 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 adequately ascertain or assess all the significant risk factors. Accordingly, any stockholders who choose to remain stockholders following our 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.
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 criteria and 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 legal 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 receive only approximately $10.00 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public stockholders may receive less than $10.00 per share upon our liquidation.
We may seek acquisition opportunities with an early stage company, a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of revenue or earnings, which could subject us to volatile revenues or earnings or difficulty in retaining key personnel.
To the extent we complete our initial business combination with an early stage company, a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of revenues or earnings, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in the operations of the business with which we combine. These risks include investing in a business without a proven business model and with limited historical financial data, volatile revenues or earnings and difficulties in obtaining and retaining key personnel. Although our officers and directors will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we may not be able to properly ascertain or assess all the significant risk factors and we may not 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.
33
We are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or from an independent accounting firm, and consequently, you may have no assurance from an independent source that the price we are paying for the business is fair to our company from a financial point of view.
Unless we complete our business combination with an affiliated entity or our Board cannot independently determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses, we are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA or from an independent accounting 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, who will determine fair market value based on standards generally accepted by the financial community. Such standards used will be disclosed in our proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, related to our initial business combination.
We may issue additional shares of common stock or preferred stock to complete our initial business combination, and may issue shares of common stock to redeem the warrants or issue shares of common stock or preferred stock 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 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 contained in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. Any such issuances would dilute the interest of our stockholders and likely present other risks.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation authorizes the issuance of up to 100,000,000 shares of Class A common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, 10,000,000 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. As of the date of this report, there are 77,000,000 and 4,250,000 authorized but unissued shares of Class A common stock and Class B common stock, respectively, available for issuance, which amount does not take into account the shares of Class A common stock reserved for issuance upon exercise of any outstanding warrants or the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon conversion of Class B common stock. There are no shares of preferred stock issued and currently outstanding. Shares of Class B common stock are convertible into shares of our Class A common stock initially at a one-for-one ratio but subject to adjustment as set forth herein, including in certain circumstances in which we issue Class A common stock or equity-linked securities related to our initial business combination.
We may issue a substantial number of additional shares of common or preferred stock to complete our initial business combination (including pursuant to a specified future issuance). After the completion of our initial business combination, we may issue a substantial number of additional shares of common stock to redeem the warrants as described herein or shares of common or preferred stock under an employee incentive plan. We may also issue shares of Class A common stock upon conversion of the 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 contained in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. However, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides, among other things, that prior to our initial business combination, we may not issue additional shares of capital stock that would entitle the holders thereof to (i) receive funds from the trust account or (ii) vote on any initial business combination. The issuance of additional shares of common or preferred stock:
· | may significantly dilute the equity interest of investors in our public offering; | |
· | may subordinate the rights of holders of common stock if preferred stock is issued with rights senior to those afforded our common stock; | |
· | could cause a change of control if a substantial number of shares of our 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. |
34
Resources could be wasted in researching acquisitions 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 receive only approximately $10.00 per share, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account 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 and others. The cost incurred up to the point that we decide not to complete a specific initial business combination 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 receive only approximately $10.00 per share on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public stockholders may receive less than $10.00 per share on the redemption of their shares.
Our ability to successfully complete our initial business combination and to be successful thereafter will be totally dependent upon the efforts of members of our management team and Advisory Board, some of whom may not join us following our initial business combination. The loss of such people could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business.
Our ability to successfully complete our business combination is dependent upon the efforts of members of our management team and Advisory Board. The role of members of our management team and Advisory Board in the target business, however, cannot presently be ascertained. Although some members of our management team and Advisory Board may remain with the target business in senior management or advisory positions following our 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.
In addition, the officers and directors of an acquisition candidate may resign upon completion of our initial business combination. The departure 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. The loss of key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business.
Members of our management team or Advisory Board may negotiate employment or consulting agreements with a target business in connection with a particular business combination. These agreements may provide for them to receive compensation following our 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.
Members of our management team or Advisory Board may be able to remain with the company after the completion of our business combination only if they are able to negotiate employment or consulting agreements in connection with the business combination. Such negotiations could 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. The personal and financial interests of such individuals may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business. However, we believe the ability of such individuals to remain with us after the completion of our business combination will not be the determining factor in our decision as to whether or not we will proceed with any potential business combination. There is no certainty, however, that any members of our management team or Advisory Board will remain with us after the completion of our business combination. We cannot assure you that any members of our management team or Advisory Board will remain in senior management or advisory positions with us. The determination as to whether any members of our management team or Advisory Board will remain with us will be made at the time of our initial business combination.
35
We may have a limited ability to assess the management of a prospective target business and, as a result, may complete our initial business combination with a target business whose management may not have the skills, qualifications or abilities to manage a public company, which could, in turn, negatively impact the value of our stockholders’ investment in us.
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’s management, therefore, may prove to be incorrect and such management may lack the skills, qualifications or abilities we suspected. Should the target’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.
The officers and directors of an acquisition candidate may resign upon completion of our initial business combination. The departure 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.
Our officers and directors may 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. Each of our officers is engaged in several other business endeavors for which he or she may be entitled to substantial compensation and our officers are not obliged to contribute any specific number of hours per week to our affairs. 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.
Certain of our officers and directors are now, and all of them may in the future become, affiliated with entities engaged in business activities similar to those intended to be conducted by us and, accordingly, may have conflicts of interest in allocating their time and determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented.
Following the completion of our initial public offering and until we consummate our initial business combination, we intend to engage in the business of identifying and combining with one or more businesses. Our sponsor and officers and directors are, and may in the future become, affiliated with entities (such as operating companies or investment vehicles) that are engaged in a similar business.
Our officers and directors also may become aware of business opportunities which may be appropriate for presentation to us and the other entities in the future to which they owe certain fiduciary or contractual duties. 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. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation 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 our company and such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue.
36
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 (subject to certain approvals and consents) 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.
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, 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 or directors. Our directors also serve as officers and board members for other entities. Such entities may compete with us for business combination opportunities. 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 disinterested directors. Despite our agreement to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA, or from an independent accounting 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 officers, 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 will lose its entire investment in us if our business combination is not completed and our officers, directors and Advisory Board members may have differing personal and financial interests than you, a conflict of interest may arise in determining whether a particular business combination target is appropriate for our initial business combination.
As of the date of this report, our sponsor owns an aggregate of 5,175,000 shares of Class B common stock, which it acquired for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000. Such founder shares will be worthless if we do not complete an initial business combination. In addition, our sponsor has purchased an aggregate of 3,766,667 warrants, each exercisable for one share of our Class A common stock at $11.50 per share, for a purchase price of approximately $5,650,000.50 or $1.50 per whole warrant, which will also be worthless if we do not complete a business combination. Our sponsor has agreed (A) to vote any shares owned by it in favor of any proposed business combination and (B) not to redeem any founder shares in connection with a stockholder vote to approve a proposed initial business combination. In addition, we may obtain loans from our sponsor, affiliates of our sponsor or an officer or director. 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. The personal and financial interests of our Advisory Board members may also influence the advice they provide to the Board regarding identifying and selecting a target business.
37
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.
Although we have no commitments as of the date of this report to issue any notes or other debt securities, or to otherwise incur outstanding debt, we may choose to incur substantial debt to complete our business combination. We 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 common stock; |
· | 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 common stock if declared, our ability to pay expenses, make capital expenditures and acquisitions, and fund 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; |
· | limitations on our ability to borrow additional amounts for expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions, debt service requirements, and execution of our strategy; 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 our initial 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.
As of the date of this report, approximately $234 million is available in our trust account for completing our business combination and pay related fees and expenses (which includes up to approximately $8,050,000 for the payment of deferred underwriting commissions). We may complete our 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 complete our 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. In addition, we intend to focus our search for an initial business combination in 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 developments, any or all of which may have a substantial adverse impact upon the particular industry in which we may operate subsequent to our business combination.
38
We may attempt to simultaneously complete business combinations with multiple prospective targets, which may hinder our ability to complete our 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.
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 acquisition strategy, we may seek to complete 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.
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 a 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 an interest in the target sufficient for the post-transaction company 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 transaction. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares of Class A common stock in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock 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 common stock, our stockholders immediately prior to such transaction could own less than a majority of our outstanding shares of 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 stock than we initially acquired. Accordingly, this may make it more likely that our management will not be able to maintain our 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.
We do not have a specified maximum redemption threshold. The absence of such a redemption threshold may make it possible for us to complete a business combination with which a substantial majority of our stockholders do not agree.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation does not provide a specified maximum redemption threshold, except 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 upon completion of our initial business combination (such that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules). As a result, we may be able to complete our 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 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 their affiliates. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all shares of 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 Class A common stock submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof, and we instead may search for an alternate business combination.
39
The exercise price for the public warrants is higher than in many similar blank check company offerings in the past, and, accordingly, the warrants are more likely to expire worthless.
The exercise price of the public warrants is higher than has been typical in many similar blank check companies in the past. Historically, the exercise price of a warrant was generally a fraction of the purchase price of the units in the initial public offering. The exercise price for our public warrants is $11.50 per share. As a result, the warrants are less likely to ever be in the money and more likely to expire worthless.
In order to complete our initial business combination, we may seek to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or other governing instruments, including our warrant agreement, in a manner that will make it easier for us to complete our initial business combination but that our stockholders or warrant holders may not support.
In order to complete a business combination, blank check companies have, in the recent past, amended various provisions of their charters and governing instruments, including their warrant agreement. For example, blank check companies have amended the definition of business combination, increased redemption thresholds, changed industry focus and, with respect to their warrants, amended their warrant agreements to require the warrants to be exchanged for cash and/or other securities. We cannot assure you that we will not seek to amend our charter or other governing instruments or change our industry focus in order to complete our initial business combination.
The provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation 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 blank check companies. It may be easier for us, therefore, to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and the trust agreement to facilitate the completion of an initial business combination that some of our stockholders may not support.
Some other blank check companies have a provision in their charter that prohibits the amendment of certain of its provisions, including those which relate to a company’s pre-business combination activity, without approval by a certain percentage of the company’s stockholders. In those companies, amendment of these provisions requires approval by between 90% and 100% of the company’s public stockholders. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that any of its provisions related to pre-business combination activity (including the requirement to deposit proceeds of our initial 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 amended and restated certificate of incorporation 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. We may not issue additional securities that can vote on amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or in our initial business combination. Our initial stockholders, who collectively beneficially own 20% of our common stock, will participate in any vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation 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 amended and restated certificate of incorporation that govern our pre-business combination behavior more easily than some other blank check 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 amended and restated certificate of incorporation.
Our sponsor, officers and certain directors have agreed, pursuant to a letter agreement with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation that would affect 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 our initial public offering, unless we provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their shares of 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 (which interest shall be net of amounts released to us to pay taxes and expenses related to the administration of the trust account), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares. Our stockholders are not parties to, or third-party beneficiaries of, this letter agreement and, as a result, will not have the ability to pursue remedies against our sponsor, officers or directors 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.
40
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.
Although we believe that the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants will be sufficient to allow us to complete our initial business combination, because we have not yet selected any prospective target business we cannot ascertain the capital requirements for any particular transaction. If the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants prove to be insufficient, either because of the size of our initial business combination, the depletion of the available net proceeds in search of a target business, the obligation to repurchase for cash a significant number of shares from stockholders who elect redemption in connection with our initial business combination or the terms of negotiated transactions to purchase shares in connection with our initial business combination, we may be required to seek additional financing or to abandon the proposed 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. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share plus any pro rata interest earned on the funds held in the trust account (and not previously released to us to pay our franchise and income taxes as well as expenses relating to the administration of the trust account) on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. In addition, even if we do not need additional financing to complete our 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. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may only receive approximately $10.00 per share on the liquidation of our trust account, and our warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public stockholders may receive less than $10.00 per share on the redemption of their shares.
Our initial stockholders may exert a substantial influence on actions requiring a stockholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support.
Our initial stockholders own shares representing 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 you do not support, including amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and approval of major corporate transactions. If our initial stockholders purchase any additional shares of common stock in the aftermarket or in privately negotiated transactions, this would increase their control. 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, whose members were elected by our initial stockholders or appointed by the other members of the Board, 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 elected in each year. We may not hold an annual meeting of stockholders to elect new directors prior to the completion of our 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, as a consequence of our “staggered” Board, only a minority of the Board will be considered for election 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 business combination.
41
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 50% 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 are issued in registered form under a warrant agreement between American 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 50% 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 if holders of at least 50% 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 50% 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 stock, shorten the exercise period or decrease the number of shares of our Class A common stock purchasable upon exercise of a warrant.
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 for cash at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.01 per warrant, provided that the last reported sales price of our Class A common stock equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within a 30 trading-day period ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which we give proper notice of such redemption 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. Redemption of the outstanding warrants could force you (i) to exercise your warrants and pay the exercise price therefor at a time when it may be disadvantageous for you to do so, (ii) to sell your warrants at the then-current market price when you might otherwise wish to hold your warrants or (iii) to 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. In addition, we may redeem your warrants after they become exercisable for a number of shares of Class A common stock determined based on the redemption date and the fair market value of our Class A common stock. Any such redemption may have similar consequences to a cash redemption described above. In addition, such redemption may occur at a time when the warrants are “out-of-the-money,” in which case you would lose any potential embedded value from a subsequent increase in the value of the Class A common stock had your warrants remained outstanding.
Our warrants and founder shares may have an adverse effect on the market price of our Class A common stock and make it more difficult to complete our business combination.
We have issued warrants to purchase 7,666,666 shares of our Class A common stock as part of the units offered in our initial public offering. In connection with the closing of our initial public offering and the underwriters’ full exercise of their over-allotment option, we issued in a private placement warrants to purchase an aggregate of 4,600,000 shares of Class A common stock at $11.50 per share. Our initial stockholders currently own 5,750,000 founder shares. The founder shares are convertible into shares of Class A common stock on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment as set forth in our amended and restated articles of incorporation. In addition, if our sponsor makes any working capital loans, up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be converted into warrants, at the price of $1.50 per warrant at the option of the lender. Such warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants, including as to exercise price, exercisability and exercise period.
To the extent we issue shares of Class A common stock to complete a business combination, the potential for the issuance of a substantial number of additional shares of Class A common stock upon exercise of these warrants and conversion rights could make us a less attractive acquisition vehicle to a target business. Any such issuance will increase the number of issued and outstanding shares of our Class A common stock and reduce the value of the shares of Class A common stock issued to complete the business combination. Therefore, our warrants and founder shares may make it more difficult to complete a business combination or increase the cost of acquiring the target business.
42
The private placement warrants are identical to the warrants sold as part of the units in our initial public offering except that, so long as they are held by our sponsor, the Anchor Investors or their permitted transferees, (i) they will not be redeemable by us for cash, (ii) they (including the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of these warrants) may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by our sponsor until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination and (iii) they may be exercised by the holders on a cashless basis.
A provision of our warrant agreement may make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination.
Unlike most blank check companies, if we issue additional shares of 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 common stock, then the exercise price of the warrants will be adjusted to be equal to 115% of the newly issued price. This may make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination with a target business.
A market for our securities may not fully develop or be sustained, which would adversely affect the liquidity and price of our securities.
The price of our securities may vary significantly due to one or more potential business combinations and general market or economic conditions. Furthermore, an active trading market for our securities may not be sustained. You may be unable to sell your securities unless a market can be fully developed and sustained.
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 a proxy statement with respect to a vote on a business combination meeting certain financial significance tests include target historical and/or 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, or GAAP, or international financial reporting standards as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board, or IFRS, depending on the circumstances 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), or 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 financial statements in accordance with federal proxy rules and complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame.
We are an emerging growth company within the meaning of the Securities Act, and if we take advantage of certain exemptions from disclosure requirements available to emerging growth 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 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.
43
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 to irrevocably 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 will adopt the new or revised standard at the time public companies adopt the new or revised standard. This may make comparison of our financial statements with another emerging growth company that has not opted out of using the extended transition period difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accountant standards used.
Compliance obligations under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may make it more difficult for us to complete our initial business combination, require substantial financial and management resources, and increase the time and costs of completing an acquisition.
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 ending December 31, 2019. Only in the event we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer or an accelerated filer 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 company with which we seek to complete our 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 control of any such entity to achieve compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may increase the time and costs necessary to complete any such acquisition.
Provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation 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 Class A common stock and could entrench management.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation contains provisions that may discourage unsolicited takeover proposals that stockholders may consider to be in their best interests. These provisions include a staggered Board and the ability of the Board to designate the terms of and issue new series of preferred shares, 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.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation designates the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers, Advisory Board members, employees or agents.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware (“Court of Chancery”) will, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, be the sole and exclusive forum for (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 of our directors, officers, Advisory Board members, employees or stockholders to us or our stockholders, (iii) any action asserting a claim arising pursuant to any provision of the DGCL, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or bylaws or as to which the DGCL confers jurisdiction on the Court of Chancery or (iv) any action asserting a claim against us, our directors, officers, Advisory Board members, or employees that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine, in each such case except for such claims as to which (a) the Court of Chancery determines that it does not have personal jurisdiction over an indispensable party, (b) exclusive jurisdiction is vested in a court or forum other than the Court of Chancery, or (c) the Court of Chancery does not have subject matter jurisdiction. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring or holding any interest in shares of our common stock will be deemed to have notice of, and consented to, the provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation described in the preceding sentence. This choice of forum provision may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers, Advisory Board members, employees or agents, which may discourage such lawsuits against us and such persons. Alternatively, if a court were to find these provisions of our certificate of incorporation inapplicable to, or unenforceable in respect of, one or more of the specified types of actions or proceedings, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters in other jurisdictions, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.
44
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that the exclusive forum provision will be applicable to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law. 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 and Section 22 of the Securities Act creates concurrent jurisdiction for federal and state courts over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Securities Act or the rules and regulations thereunder. As a result, the exclusive forum provision will not apply to suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act, the Securities Act, or any other claim for which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction.
If we complete our initial business combination with a company with operations or opportunities outside of the United States, we would be subject to a variety of additional risks that may negatively impact our operations.
If we complete our initial business combination with a company with operations or opportunities outside of the United States, we would be subject to any special considerations or risks associated with companies operating in an international setting, including any of the following:
· | higher costs and difficulties inherent in managing cross-border business operations and complying with different commercial and legal requirements of overseas markets; |
· | rules and regulations regarding currency redemption; |
· | complex corporate withholding taxes on individuals; |
· | laws governing the manner in which future business combinations may be effected; |
· | tariffs and trade barriers; |
· | regulations related to customs and import/export matters; |
· | longer payment cycles and challenges in collecting accounts receivable; |
· | tax issues, such as tax law changes and variations in tax laws as compared to the United States; |
· | currency fluctuations and exchange controls; |
· | rates of inflation; |
· | cultural and language differences; |
· | employment regulations; |
· | crime, strikes, riots, civil disturbances, terrorist attacks, natural disasters and wars; |
· | deterioration of political relations with the United States; and |
· | government appropriations of assets. |
We may not be able to adequately address these additional risks. If we were unable to do so, our operations might suffer, which may adversely impact our results of operations and financial condition.
45
Item 1B. | Unresolved Staff Comments |
Not applicable.
Item 2. | Properties |
We do not own any real estate or other physical properties materially important to our operation. Our executive office is located at 1411 Broadway, 16th Floor, New York, New York 10018. We consider our current office space adequate for our current operations.
Item 3. | Legal Proceedings |
To the knowledge of our management, there is no litigation currently pending or contemplated against us, any of our officers or directors in their capacity as such or against any of our property.
Item 4. | Mine Safety Disclosures |
Not applicable.
Item 5. | Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters, and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities |
Market Information
Our units trade on the NYSE under the symbol RMG.U. The common stock and warrants trade on the NYSE under the symbols “RMG” and “RMG.WS,” respectively.
Holders
On March 13, 2020, there was 1 holder of record of our units, 1 holder of record of our Class A common stock, 6 holders of record of our Class B common stock and 7 holders of record of our warrants.
Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans.
None.
Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities; Use of Proceeds from Registered Offerings.
On February 12, 2019, we sold 4,000,000 private placement warrants to the sponsor and the Anchor Investors at $1.50 per warrant, generating gross proceeds of $6.0 million. On February 19, 2019 we completed an additional private sale, in connection with the full exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option under the initial public offering, of 600,000 private placement warrants to the sponsor and the Anchor Investors at $1.50 per warrant, generating gross proceeds of $900,000. Each private placement warrant is exercisable to purchase one share of Class A common stock at $11.50 per share.
On February 12, 2019, we consummated our initial public offering of 20,000,000 units at $10.00 per unit, generating gross proceeds of $200 million. On February 19, 2019, the underwriters fully exercised their over-allotment option to purchase 3,000,000 additional units to cover over-allotments at $10.00 per unit, which generated additional gross proceeds of $30.0 million. Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. served as the sole book-running manager for the offering, and Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated served as co-manager. The securities sold in the initial public offering were registered under the Securities Act on a registration statement on Form S-1 (No. 333-228849) that became effective on February 4, 2019.
We paid a total of $4,600,000 in underwriting discounts and commissions and $802,706 for other costs and expenses related to the initial public offering. The underwriters agreed to defer an additional $8,050,000 in underwriting discounts and commissions, payable upon consummation of our initial business combination. After deducting the underwriting discounts and commissions (excluding the deferred portion of $8,050,000 in underwriting discounts and commissions, which will be released from the trust account upon consummation of initial business combination, if consummated) and incurred offering costs, the total net proceeds from our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants was $231,497,294, of which $230,000,000 (or $10.00 per unit sold in the initial public offering) was placed in the trust account. We reimbursed our sponsor and certain officers and directors to cover expenses related to the initial public offering. Other than as described above, 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.
46
Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers
None.
Item 6. | Selected Financial Data |
The following table sets forth selected historical financial information derived from our audited financial statements included elsewhere in this report for the year ended December 31, 2019 and for the period from October 22, 2018 (inception) through December 31, 2018. You should read the following selected financial data in conjunction with “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and the financial statements and the related notes appearing elsewhere in this report.
For the period from | ||||||||
For the year ended | October 22, 2018 (date of inception) to | |||||||
December 31, 2019 | December 31, 2018 | |||||||
Statement of Operations Data: | ||||||||
Loss from operations | $ | (1,093,066 | ) | $ | (2,565 | ) | ||
Interest income | 12,602 | 10 | ||||||
Interest earned on restricted cash equivalents held in Trust Account | 398,809 | |||||||
Gain on marketable securities (net), and dividends held in Trust Account | 3,565,051 | - | ||||||
Income tax expense | (797,313 | ) | - | |||||
Net income (loss) | $ | 2,086,083 | $ | (2,555 | ) | |||
Weighted average shares outstanding of Class A common stock | 22,934,985 | - | ||||||
Basic and diluted net income per share, Class A | $ | 0.13 | $ | - | ||||
Weighted average shares outstanding of Class B common stock | 5,750,000 | 5,000,000 | ||||||
Basic and diluted net loss per share, Class B | $ | (0.15 | ) | $ | (0.00 | ) | ||
Cash Flow Data: | ||||||||
Net cash used in operating activities | (1,222,818 | ) | (80 | ) | ||||
Net cash provided by investing activities | 3,565,051 | - | ||||||
Net cash provided by financing activities | 232,028,660 | 37,124 |
December 31, | ||||||||
2019 | 2018 | |||||||
Balance Sheet Data: | ||||||||
Cash | $ | 1,175,207 | $ | 37,044 | ||||
Restricted cash equivalents held in Trust Account | $ | 233,232,730 | $ | - | ||||
Total assets | $ | 234,584,340 | $ | 481,144 | ||||
Total liabilities | $ | 8,971,619 | $ | 458,699 | ||||
Class A common stock, $0.0001 par value; 22,061,272 and -0- shares subject to possible redemption at $10 per share at December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively | $ | 220,612,720 | $ | - | ||||
Preferred stock, $0.0001 par value; 1,000,000 shares authorized; none issued and outstanding | $ | - | $ | - | ||||
Class A common stock, $0.0001 par value; 100,000,000 shares authorized; 938,728 and -0- shares issued and outstanding (excluding 22,061,272 and -0- shares subject to possible redemption) at December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively | $ | 94 | $ | - | ||||
Class B common stock, $0.0001 par value; 10,000,000 shares authorized; 5,750,000 shares issued and outstanding at December 31, 2019 and 2018 (1) | $ | 575 | $ | 575 | ||||
Additional paid-in capital | $ | 4,749,168 | $ | 24,425 | ||||
Retained earnings (Accumulated deficit) | $ | 250,164 | $ | (2,555 | ) | |||
Total stockholders' equity | $ | 5,000,001 | $ | 22,445 |
47
Item 7. | Management’s Discussion And Analysis Of Financial Condition And Results Of Operations |
References to the “Company,” “our,” “us” or “we” refer to RMG Acquisition Corp. The following discussion and analysis of the Company’s financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with the financial statements and the notes thereto contained elsewhere in this report. Certain information contained in the discussion and analysis set forth below includes forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This Annual Report on Form 10-K includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). We have based these forward-looking statements on our current expectations and projections about future events. These forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions about us that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “may,” “should,” “could,” “would,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “continue,” or the negative of such terms or other similar expressions. Factors that might cause or contribute to such a discrepancy include, but are not limited to, those described in our other Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) filings.
Overview
We are a blank check company incorporated in Delaware on October 22, 2018 (date of inception) for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses (the “initial business combination”). While we may pursue an acquisition opportunity in any business, industry, sector or geographical location, it intends to focus our search for a target business in the diversified resources and industrial materials sectors. We are an emerging growth company and, as such, we are subject to all of the risks associated with emerging growth companies. Our sponsor is RMG Sponsor, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (the “sponsor”).
On February 12, 2019, we consummated our initial public offering (“initial public offering”) of 20,000,000 units (“units” and, with respect to the Class A common stock included in the units being offered, the “public shares”) at $10.00 per unit, generating gross proceeds of $200 million. On February 19, 2019, the underwriters fully exercised their over-allotment option to purchase 3,000,000 additional units to cover over-allotments at $10.00 per unit, which generated additional gross proceeds of $30.0 million. We incurred offering costs of approximately $13.4 million, inclusive of $8.05 million in deferred underwriting commissions.
Simultaneously with the closing of the initial public offering, we consummated the private placement (“private placement”) of 4,000,000 warrants (each, a “private placement warrant” and collectively, the “private placement warrants”) at a price of $1.50 per private placement warrant in a private placement to the sponsor and the certain funds and accounts managed by subsidiaries of BlackRock, Inc. and certain funds and accounts managed by Alta Fundamental Advisers LLC (together, the “Anchor Investors”), generating gross proceeds of $6.0 million. In connection with the full exercise of the over-allotment option by the underwriters, the sponsor and the Anchor Investors purchased an additional 600,000 private placement warrants at a price of $1.50 per private placement warrant, which generated additional gross proceeds of $900,000.
Upon the closing of the initial public offering and private placement (including the exercise of the over-allotment option), $230.0 million ($10.00 per unit) of the net proceeds of the sale of the units in the initial public offering and the private placement was placed in a trust account (the “Trust Account”), located at Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas, with American Stock Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee, and were invested 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 180 days or less, until the earlier of: (i) the completion of an initial business combination and (ii) the distribution of the Trust Account as described below.
48
If we are unable to complete an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of the initial public offering, or February 12, 2021 (the “Combination 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 earned on the funds held in the Trust Account and not previously released to us to pay our franchise and income taxes as well as expenses relating to the administration of the Trust Account (less up to $100,000 of interest released to us to pay dissolution expenses), 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), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and its Board, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. Although we have no present intention to do so, at some point in the future we may ask our shareholders to approve an amendment to our charter that would extend the length of the Combination Period, but there are no assurances that such extension will be granted. There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to the warrants, which will expire worthless if we fail to complete the initial business combination within the prescribed time period.
Results of Operations
Our entire activity since inception was in preparation for our initial public offering, and since such offering, our activity has been limited to the search for a prospective initial business combination, and we will not be generating any operating revenues until the closing and completion of our initial business combination. We have neither engaged in any operations nor generated any revenues to date. We will not generate any operating revenues until after completion of our initial business combination. We will generate non-operating income in the form of interest income on cash and cash equivalents. We expect to incur increased expenses as a result of being a public company (for legal, financial reporting, accounting and auditing compliance), as well as for due diligence expenses.
For the year ended December 31, 2019, we had net income of approximately $2.1 million, which consisted of approximately $3.6 million in gain on money market funds and marketable securities (net), dividends and interest held in Trust Account, approximately $411,000 in interest income (of which approximately $399,000 was for interest earned on restricted cash equivalents held in Trust Account), offset by approximately $893,000 in general and administrative expenses, $200,000 in franchise tax expenses and approximately $797,000 in income tax expenses.
For the period from October 22, 2018 through December 31, 2018, we had net loss of approximately $2,600, which consisted mainly of general and administrative expenses.
Going Concern Consideration
In connection with our assessment of going concern considerations in accordance with Financial Accounting Standard Board’s Accounting Standards Updated (“ASU”) 2014-15, “Disclosure of Uncertainties about an Entity’s Ability to Continue as a Going Concern”, management has determined that the mandatory liquidation and subsequent dissolution related to the Combination Period described above raises substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. No adjustments have been made to the carrying amounts of assets or liabilities should we be required to liquidate after February 12, 2021.
As of December 31, 2019, we had approximately $1.2 million in our operating bank account held outside of the Trust Account, and approximately $3.2 million of investment income earned on money market funds and marketable securities held in the Trust Account available to pay franchise tax and income tax obligations. We will use the funds available outside of the Trust Account primarily to meet our operating cash flow and working capital needs.
Through December 31, 2019, our liquidity needs have been satisfied through receipt of a $25,000 capital contribution from our sponsor in exchange for the issuance of the founder shares, approximately $153,000 received from our sponsor under Expenses Reimbursement arrangement, and the proceeds from the consummation of the private placement not held in the Trust Account. We fully repaid the loans from our sponsor in 2019. We intend to use substantially all of the funds held in the Trust Account, including any amounts representing investment income earned on the Trust Account (less amounts released to us for taxes payable, expenses relating to the administration of the Trust Account and deferred underwriting commissions) to complete the Initial Business Combination.
49
Related Party Transactions
Founder Shares
On November 6, 2018, the sponsor purchased 7,187,500 shares (the “founder shares”) of the Company’s Class B common stock, par value $0.0001 per share (the “Class B common stock”), for an aggregate price of $25,000. On December 17, 2018, the Company effectuated an 0.8-for-1 reverse split of the founder shares, resulting in an aggregate outstanding amount of 5,750,000 founder shares. In January 2019, the sponsor forfeited to the Company 575,000 founder shares and the Anchor Investors purchased from the Company 575,000 founder shares for cash consideration of approximately $2,300. Additionally, the sponsor had agreed to forfeit up to 750,000 founder shares to the extent that the over-allotment option is not exercised in full by the underwriters. On February 19, 2019, the underwriters fully exercised their over-allotment option; thus, these founder shares were no longer subject to forfeiture.
The founder shares will automatically convert into Class A common stock on a one-for-one basis at the time of the Company’s initial business combination and are subject to certain transfer restrictions.
Related Party Reimbursements and Loans
The sponsor agreed to cover expenses related to our formation and the initial public offering (“expenses reimbursement”), and expected to be reimbursed upon the completion of the initial public offering. We borrowed approximately $153,000 under the expenses reimbursement and fully repaid this amount to the related parties in 2019.
In addition, in order to finance transaction costs in connection with an initial business combination, the sponsor or an affiliate of the sponsor, or certain of our officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds as may be required (“working capital loans”). If we complete an initial business combination, we would repay the working capital loans out of the proceeds held in the Trust Account released to us. Otherwise, the working capital loans would be repaid only out of funds held outside the Trust Account. In the event that an initial business combination is not completed, we may use a portion of the 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 an initial business combination, without interest, or, at the lender’s discretion, up to $1.5 million of such working capital loans may be convertible into warrants of the post initial business combination entity at a price of $1.50 per warrant. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants. 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.
Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements; Commitments and Contractual Obligations; Quarterly Results
As of December 31, 2019, we did not have any off-balance sheet arrangements as defined in Item 303(a)(4)(ii) of Regulation S-K and did not have any commitments or contractual obligations other than obligations disclosed herein. No unaudited quarterly operating data is included in this annual report, as we have conducted no operations to date.
Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates
The preparation of financial statements and related disclosures in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States 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. The Company has identified the following as its critical accounting policies:
50
Fair Value of Financial Instruments
Fair value measurements are based on the premise that fair value is an exit price representing the amount that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants. As such, fair value is a market-based measurement that should be determined based on assumptions that market participants would use in pricing an asset or liability. As a basis for considering such assumptions, the following three-tier fair value hierarchy has been used in determining the inputs used in measuring fair value:
Level 1 | – | Quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities on the reporting date. | ||
Level 2 | – | Pricing inputs are based on quoted prices for similar instruments in active markets, quoted prices for identical or similar instruments in markets that are not active and model-based valuation techniques for which all significant assumptions are observable in the market or can be corroborated by observable market data for substantially the full term of the assets or liabilities. | ||
Level 3 | – | Pricing inputs are generally unobservable and include situations where there is little, if any, market activity for the investment. The inputs into the determination of fair value require management’s judgment or estimation of assumptions that market participants would use in pricing the assets or liabilities. The fair values are therefore determined using factors that involve considerable judgment and interpretations, including but not limited to private and public comparables, third-party appraisals, discounted cash flow models, and fund manager estimates. |
As of December 31, 2019 and 2018, the recorded values of cash and restricted cash equivalents held in the Trust Account, prepaid expenses, accounts payable, and accrued expenses approximate the fair values due to the short-term nature of the instruments.
Class A Common Stock Subject to Possible Redemption
Class A common stock subject to mandatory redemption (if any) are classified as liability instruments and are measured at fair value. Conditionally redeemable Class A common stock (including Class A common stock that feature 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) are classified as temporary equity. At all other times, Class A common stock are classified as stockholders’ equity. Our Class A common stock feature certain redemption rights that are considered to be outside of our control and subject to the occurrence of uncertain future events. Accordingly, at December 31, 2019, 22,061,272 shares of Class A common stock subject to possible redemption are presented as temporary equity, outside of the stockholders’ equity section of our balance sheet.
Net Income Per Common Stock
Net income per share is computed by dividing net income (loss) by the weighted average number of shares of common stock outstanding during the period. We have not considered the effect of the warrants sold in the Initial Public Offering and Private Placement to purchase an aggregate of 12,266,666 Class A common stock in the calculation of diluted earnings per share, since their inclusion would be anti-dilutive under the treasury stock method. As a result, diluted earnings per ordinary share is the same as basic earnings per ordinary share for the periods presented.
Our statements of operations include a presentation of income per share for common stock subject to redemption in a manner similar to the two-class method of income per share. Net income per common stock, basic and diluted for Class A common stock is calculated by dividing the interest income earned on the Trust Account, by the weighted average number of Class A common stock outstanding for the period. Net loss per common stock, basic and diluted for Class B common stock is calculated by dividing the net income, less income attributable to Class A common stock and any working capital loans, by the weighted average number of Class B common stock outstanding for the periods presented.
51
Offering Costs
Offering costs consist of legal, accounting, underwriting fees and other costs incurred of approximately $13.4 million that are directly related to the Initial Public Offering. These costs were charged to stockholder's equity upon the completion of the Initial Public Offering in February 2019.
JOBS Act
On April 5, 2012, the JOBS Act was signed into law. The JOBS Act contains provisions that, among other things, relax certain reporting requirements for qualifying public companies. 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 to irrevocably 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 will adopt the new or revised standard at the time public companies adopt the new or revised standard. This may make comparison of our financial statements with another emerging growth company that has not opted out of using the extended transition period difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accountant standards used.
Additionally, we are in the process of evaluating the benefits of relying on the other reduced reporting requirements provided by the JOBS Act. Subject to certain conditions set forth in the JOBS Act, if, as an “emerging growth company”, we choose to rely on such exemptions we may not be required to, among other things, (i) provide an auditor’s attestation report on our system of internal controls over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404, (ii) provide all of the compensation disclosure that may be required of non-emerging growth public companies under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, (iii) comply with any requirement that may be adopted by the PCAOB regarding mandatory audit firm rotation or a supplement to the auditor’s report providing additional information about the audit and the financial statements (auditor discussion and analysis), and (iv) disclose certain executive compensation related items such as the correlation between executive compensation and performance and comparisons of the CEO’s compensation to median employee compensation. These exemptions will apply for a period of five years following the completion of our initial public offering or until we are no longer an “emerging growth company,” whichever is earlier.
Item 7A. | Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk |
The net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants held in the trust account are invested in U.S. government treasury obligations. Due to the short-term nature of these investments, we believe there will be no associated material exposure to interest rate risk.
Item 8. | Financial Statements and Supplementary Data |
Reference is made to Pages F-1 through F-14 comprising a portion of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Item 9. | Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure. |
None.
Item 9A. | Controls and Procedures. |
Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
Under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our Chief Executive Officer (the “Certifying Officer”), we carried out an evaluation of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act. Based on the foregoing, our Certifying Officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were effective as of the end of the period covered by this report.
Disclosure controls and procedures are controls and other procedures 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 management, including our Certifying Officer, or persons performing similar functions, as appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.
52
Management’s Report on Internal Controls over Financial Reporting
Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting. Internal control over financial reporting is defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act as a process designed by, or under the supervision of, the Company’s principal executive and principal financial officer and effected by the Company’s board of directors, management and other personnel, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles and includes those policies and procedures that:
● | pertain to the maintenance of records that in reasonable detail accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the Company; |
● | provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the Company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the Company; and |
● | provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition of the Company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements. |
Under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our principal executive and principal financial officer, we conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting based on the framework in Internal Control - Integrated Framework, issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (2013 Framework). Based on our evaluation, our management concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was effective as of December 31, 2019.
Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect all misstatements. Projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risks that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.
This Annual Report on Form 10-K does not include an attestation report of our independent registered public accounting firm due to a transition period established by rules of the SEC for “emerging growth companies”.
Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting
There were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting (as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) of the Exchange Act) during the most recent fiscal quarter that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.
Item 9B. | Other Information |
None.
53
Item 10. | Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance |
Directors and Executive Officers
As of the date of this report, our directors and officers are as follows:
Name | Age | Position | ||
D. James Carpenter | 52 | Chairman | ||
Robert S. Mancini | 62 | Chief Executive Officer and Director | ||
Philip Kassin | 62 | President and Chief Operating Officer and Director | ||
W. Grant Gregory | 79 | Director | ||
Craig Broderick | 59 | Director | ||
W. Thaddeus Miller | 69 | Director | ||
Steven P. Buffone | 61 | Director |
D. James Carpenter has been our Chairman since inception. Mr. Carpenter is the Founder and has been a Senior Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Riverside Management Group, LLC (“Riverside”) for 22 years. Riverside is a merchant bank with approximately 40 senior professionals and advisors who have completed billions of dollars of transactions as advisors, principal investors and as management. From 2002 to 2004, Mr. Carpenter served as the CEO of Horsehead Industries (renamed American Zinc Recycling), one of the largest zinc recyclers and producers in the U.S. Mr. Carpenter was a founding investor and has served as a longtime advisor, and since 2016 has served as a board member of Allied Resource Corp, a clean water and clean energy company. He is a founder of Mohegan Energy where he led the capital formation for the acquisition of Met Resources, a company with over 40 million tons of steel making coal reserves. Mr. Carpenter earned his B.A. from Boston University in 1989. He also has FINRA Series 24, 63 and 79 licenses. Mr. Carpenter is well qualified to serve on our Board due to his extensive management, investment banking, M&A advisory and investing experience.
Robert S. Mancini has been our Chief Executive Officer and a director since inception. From June 2018 to December 2018, Mr. Mancini served as a Senior Advisor to Carlyle Power Partners and was a Partner and a Managing Director with The Carlyle Group and head or co-head of Carlyle’s power investment business from December 2012 until June 2018. Prior to joining Carlyle, from June 1993 to December 2012, Mr. Mancini was an employee of Goldman Sachs & Co., and from November 1999 through December 2012 was a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs & Co. From December 2003 to December 2012, Mr. Mancini led or co-led Goldman Sach’s on-balance sheet power asset investment business. During that period Goldman Sachs conducted most of its power asset investment business through its wholly owned subsidiary, Cogentrix Energy LLC, where Mr. Mancini served in various capacities, including as the President, co-President and Chief Executive Officer and serving as a member of the board of directors. Mr. Mancini was instrumental in the formation of and Goldman’s entry into the power asset investment business in 2003 and he was also responsible for the creation of Goldman’s proprietary Commodities Principal Investment business in 2006, where he led investments on Goldman’s behalf in companies involved in the processing, production and logistics for a broad range of commodities including base, precious and specialty metals, oil, gas, coal and other energy related raw materials, as well as CO2 offsets and mitigation. Prior to 2003, Mr. Mancini was a member of the legal department where he eventually became the Deputy General Counsel of the Securities Division. During his tenure at Goldman, Mr. Mancini sat on several committees including the firm-wide Risk Committee, Operational Risk Committee, and Divisional Risk Committee, as well as several portfolio company boards. Prior to joining Goldman, Mr. Mancini spent nine years in private practice as a lawyer with Debevoise and Plimpton, where he established that firm’s derivatives practice. Mr. Mancini received his J.D. from New York University School of Law in 1984, where he was a member of Law Review, and received his B.A. degree from Binghamton University in 1980. Mr. Mancini is well qualified to serve on our Board due to his extensive investment experience in the power and broader commodities industries, his many years of management and leadership experience, as well as his service on several boards and committees throughout his career.
Philip Kassin has been our President and Chief Operating Officer and a director since inception. From August 2016 to October 2016, Mr. Kassin was a Managing Director and Head of M&A and Financing at M-III Partners and has over 35 years of experience as both an advisor and investor in public and private equity. At M-III Partners, he completed a $345 million SPAC transaction for M-III Acquisition Corp., successfully acquiring Infrastructure and Energy Alternatives (NASDAQ: IEA) from Oaktree Capital Management, and serving on its Board from March 2018 to September 2018. Prior to joining M-III Partners, Mr. Kassin was a Senior Managing Director at Evercore from July 2010 to April 2016, specializing in chemicals and energy. Prior to Evercore, from September 2005 to July 2010, Mr. Kassin was the Head of M&A and Financing for Access Industries, a privately held industrial group which focused on natural resources and chemicals, media and telecommunications, technology and e-commerce and real estate. Mr. Kassin also served as a Supervisory Board Member of Basell Polyolefins from 2005 to 2007 and as a Supervisory Board Member of LyondellBasell Industries from 2007 to 2010, where he also served as Chairman of the Finance and Investment Committee and Chairman of the Audit Committee. Earlier in his career, Mr. Kassin held senior investment banking roles at Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch and AIG. He was also a Partner at PwC where he was responsible for its energy M&A consulting practice. Mr. Kassin started his career as a utilities analyst at Standard & Poor’s. Mr. Kassin earned an M.P.A. from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University and a B.A, in Policy Studies from Syracuse University. He also has FINRA Series 24, 63 and 79 Qualifications. Mr. Kassin is well-qualified to serve on our Board due to his extensive principal investment expertise in the diversified resources and industrial materials sectors, investment banking, M&A, capital markets and publicly listed company director experience.
54
W. Grant Gregory has served as one of our directors since February 2019. Mr. Gregory is the founder, and since December 1987 has served as the Chairman of, Gregory & Hoenemeyer, Inc., a financial advisory firm providing mergers and acquisitions and strategic services to firms, including private equity firms. Mr. Gregory’s expertise includes corporate governance and ethical business practices, mergers and acquisitions and tax policy. Mr. Gregory has served successfully in numerous leadership roles as chairman of the board, chief executive officer, investment banker, merchant banker and director of public, private and nonprofit corporations. Mr. Gregory previously served as a corporate director of NYSE member companies, including Chrysler Corporation until 2007, MCI until 2006 and Renaissance Hotels Inc. until 1997, and he has served as the chairman of the audit, governance and compensation committees for a number of NYSE member companies. Mr. Gregory has also served as chairman of Special Independent Directors Committees for numerous NYSE member companies. He was Vice Chairman of Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. from 2005 until 2011. Mr. Gregory is also a founder of DoubleClick Inc. Mr. Gregory was previously Chairman of the Board of Touche Ross & Co. (Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu), where he worked for 24 years until 1987. Mr. Gregory has served as Executive Co-Chairman of the United States Privatization Council and the U.S. Trade Representative’s Advisory Committee on International Trade in Services. He currently serves as Chairman Emeritus of the National Forest Foundation, Director Emeritus of the Wyoming Wildlife Foundation, Director Emeritus of The National Board of Directors of Junior Achievement, and Director of the Neely Center for Ethical Leadership and Decision Making at the University of Southern California. Mr. Gregory graduated with distinction from the University of Nebraska in 1964, where he was later awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters, as well as The Builder Award, the University’s highest non-academic recognition. Mr. Gregory is well-qualified to serve on our Board due to his extensive mergers and acquisitions experience and his publicly listed company director experience.
Craig Broderick has served as one of our directors since February 2019. Mr. Broderick is a Senior Director of Goldman, Sachs & Co., from which he retired as an active employee in January 2018 after 32 years. He was most recently Goldman’s Chief Risk Officer, a member of its Management Committee, and chair or co-chair of key risk committees. Mr. Broderick reported to the firm’s CEO and was responsible for managing the firm’s Risk Division, which oversees control of the firm’s credit, market, liquidity, operational, model and insurance risks. Prior to his tenure at Goldman, Mr. Broderick was a lending officer at the Chase Manhattan Bank. Mr. Broderick also currently serves as a Director of the Bank of Montreal and is a Senior Advisor to Stone Point Capital, a private equity firm primarily investing in the global financial services industry. Mr. Broderick previously served for nine years as a Trustee of the William and Mary Foundation and was chair of its Investment Committee. Mr. Broderick graduated with a BA in Economics from the College of William and Mary. Mr. Broderick is well-qualified to serve as a member of the Board due to his extensive experience with risk management and his finance background.
W. Thaddeus Miller is a member of our Advisory Board. W. Thaddeus Miller currently serves as Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Legal Officer of Calpine Corporation, one of the largest independent power producers (IPP) in the U.S. He joined Calpine in 2008 and helped lead its post-bankruptcy transition, numerous corporate and asset acquisitions and divestitures, and the recent public-to-private merger sale of Calpine to a private equity group, one of the largest take-private transaction in U.S. history. Mr. Miller has decades of legal and energy industry experience, including substantial experience over the last two decades in power sector mergers and acquisitions, operations and regulatory oversight. In 2006-7, as Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer of Texas Genco Inc., he helped lead the merger sale of a large privately held IPP to a public company, having also helped lead the acquisition of Texas Genco a year earlier by five major private equity firms, the largest private equity “club” transaction at the time. From 2002 to 2005, Mr. Miller was a consultant to Texas Pacific Group (now TPG), a private equity firm. From 1998 to 2002, he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer of Orion Power, an IPP majority owned by Goldman Sachs, that acquired over 90 power plants in various transactions which he helped lead, as well the company’s IPO and subsequent merger sale. From 1994 to 1998, Mr. Miller was Vice President of Goldman Sachs & Co., where he focused on wholesale electric and other energy commodity trading. Before joining Goldman Sachs & Co., Mr. Miller was a partner with a New York law firm. Mr. Miller earned his Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Merchant Marine Academy, where he has served on the board of directors of the alumni association and foundation, and his Juris Doctor from St. John’s School of Law. In addition, he was an officer in the United States Coast Guard. Mr. Miller is well-qualified to serve as a member of the Board due to his extensive experience in mergers and acquisitions and public company management experience.
55
Steven P. Buffone is the Founder and Managing Director of Kenilworth Advisors, LLC, a legal and business consulting firm. From October 1984 until December 2017 Mr. Buffone served as an associate (through 1992) and then a partner at the Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP law firm, working in the Firm’s Los Angeles, London and New York offices. He is a member of the New York and California bars and was active in Gibson Dunn’s management, having previously served as Co-Partner in Charge of the New York office, as a member of the Firm’s Executive Committee and as Co-Chair of the Firm’s Corporate Transactions Practice Group and Energy and Infrastructure Practice Group. Mr. Buffone is a corporate transactional lawyer who has represented clients in a wide variety of industries (over 40 different industries, from electric power and waste management to luxury goods and life sciences) in mergers and acquisitions, bank financings, public and private issuances of debt and equity securities, venture capital financings, corporate restructurings and bankruptcies, corporate governance matters and general corporate counseling. Mr. Buffone is a member of the Board of Directors of VOYANT, an automated brand activation marketplace and of CryptoTax, a cryptocurrency tax preparation platform. He is also on the Board of Advisors of Own The Room, a leader in learning and development training programs. He previously served on the Members Advisory Committee of Exclusive Resorts. Mr. Buffone is the Chairman of the Board of Advisors of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, a member of Georgetown’s Board of Regents and a former member of Georgetown’s Board of Governors. Mr. Buffone is also on the Board of Directors of the not-for-profits Do Something.Org, Echoing Green and Blink Now. He is a Life Member of the Council of Foreign Relations. Mr. Buffone earned his B.S.F.S. in international economics, cum laude, from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and his J.D., cum laude, from the Cornell and Stanford Law Schools. Mr. Buffone is well-qualified to serve as a member of the Board due to his extensive experience in corporate governance and corporate transactions.
Advisory Board
Our current Advisory Board members are as follows:
Steven J. Gilbert is a member of our Advisory Board. Mr. Gilbert has 48 years of experience in private equity investing, investment banking and law, and has been involved as the Managing Principal in the purchase, financing, operations and sale of over 180 businesses. He is currently Chairman of the Board of Gilbert Global Equity Partners, L.P., a billion dollar private equity fund. He also currently serves as Vice Chairman of the Executive Board of MidOcean Equity Partners, LP, Co-Chairman of Birch Grove Capital, Chairman of CPM Holdings, a manufacturer of process equipment used for oilseed processing and animal feed production, Oaktree Capital Group (NYSE: OAK), Chairman of the Board of TRI Pointe Group, Inc. (NYSE: TPH), Lead Independent Director of The Empire State Realty Trust (NYSE: ESRT), a Director of Florida Food Products, Inc., an Advisory Board Member of the Fairholme Partnership, L.P. and a Director of The Fairholme Fund (Nasdaq: FAIRX). Mr. Gilbert was also recently Chairman of the Board of Dura Automotive Systems, Inc., the largest independent designer and manufacturer of automotive drive control systems, Co-Chairman of Stone Tower Capital Partners, a director of J. O. Hambro Capital Management Group and the Asian Infrastructure Fund. Until 2009, Mr. Gilbert was Senior Managing Director and Chairman of Sun Group (USA). From 1992 to 1997 he was the Founder and Managing General Partner of Soros Capital L.P., the principal venture capital and leveraged transaction entity of Quantum Group Funds, and a principal advisor to Quantum Industrial Holdings Ltd. From 1988 through 1992, he was the Managing Director of Commonwealth Capital Partners, L.P., a private equity investment firm. From 1984 to 1988, Mr. Gilbert was the Managing General Partner of Chemical Venture Partners (now CCMP), which he founded. From 1980 through 1984, he was the principal owner, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of Lion’s Gate Films, Inc. Mr. Gilbert is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Global Agenda Council on Capital Flows of the World Economic Forum, a Trustee of the Wharton School and is currently a member of the Board of Governors of the Lauder Institute of Management and International Studies. He received a B.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, a J.D. from the Harvard Law School and a M.B.A. from the Harvard Graduate School of Business.
56
Edward “Ed” Forst is a member of our Advisory Board. Mr. Forst currently serves on the board of or as an advisor to several not-for-profits, a family investment office and certain start-up companies, including as a Director of a leading nationwide provider of drone services to various industries. From 2014 to 2015, Mr. Forst served as President, Chief Executive Officer and a board member of Cushman & Wakefield, Inc. and was responsible for leading the commercial real estate services firm across more than 60 countries. Prior to his employment at Cushman & Wakefield, Inc., Mr. Forst was a partner and senior executive at Goldman Sachs, where he spent 16 years. Mr. Forst held several senior management positions, including Global Head and Co-CEO of Goldman’s Asset Management Division, Global Chief Administrative Officer and Co-Head of Global Credit Markets, and served on several key committees, including the Firmwide Management Committee, the Firmwide Business Planning and Budget Committee and the Firmwide Global Debt Underwriting Committee, on which he served as Chairman. Prior to his tenure at Goldman, Mr. Forst was a Managing Director at Bankers Trust for more than 12 years, where he held several roles including Head of U.S. Loan Sales and Trading. During his career, Mr. Forst also served as Executive Vice President and Principal Operating Officer of Harvard University, where he was responsible for the major non-academic affairs of the university, was a board member of the Harvard Management Company, and served as a special advisor to Secretary of Treasury Henry Paulson during the 2008 financial crisis. Mr. Forst earned his B.A. in economics, cum laude, from Harvard University in 1982, and a Master in Business Administration from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1988.
We currently expect our Advisory Board members to (i) assist us in sourcing potential business combination targets, (ii) provide their business insights when we assess potential business combination targets and (iii) upon our request, provide their business insights as we work to create additional value in the businesses that we acquire. In this regard, they will fulfill some of the same functions as our board members. However, our Advisory Board members will not perform board or committee functions, nor will they have any voting or decision making capacity on our behalf. They will also not be subject to the fiduciary requirements to which our board members are subject. We may modify or expand our roster of Advisory Board members as we source potential business combination targets or create value in businesses that we may acquire.
Number and Terms of Office of Officers and Directors
We currently have seven directors. Our Board is divided into three classes with only one class of directors being elected in each year and each class (except for those directors appointed prior to our first annual meeting of stockholders) serving a three-year term. The term of office of the first class of directors, consisting of Mr. Buffone, will expire at our first annual meeting of stockholders. The term of office of the second class of directors, consisting of W. Grant Gregory, W. Thaddeus Miller and Craig Broderick, will expire at the second annual meeting of stockholders. The term of office of the third class of directors, consisting of D. James Carpenter, Robert S. Mancini and Philip Kassin, will expire at the third annual meeting of stockholders.
Under our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, holders of our founder shares will have the right to elect all of our directors prior to consummation of our initial business combination and holders of our public shares will not have the right to vote on the election of directors during such time. These provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation may only be amended if approved by holders of at least 90% of our outstanding common stock entitled to vote thereon. Subject to any other special rights applicable to the shareholders, any vacancies on our Board may be filled by the affirmative vote of a majority of the directors present and voting at the meeting of our Board or by a majority of the holders of our founder shares.
Our officers are appointed by the Board and serve at the discretion of the Board, rather than for specific terms of office. Our Board is authorized to appoint persons to the offices set forth in our bylaws as it deems appropriate. Our bylaws provide that our officers may consist of one or more Chairmen of the Board, one or more Chief Executive Officers, a President, a Chief Financial Officer, Vice Presidents, Secretary, Treasurer and such other offices as may be determined by the Board.
57
Director Independence
The NYSE listing standards require that a majority of our Board be independent. An “independent director” is defined generally as a person who 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 has determined that W. Grant Gregory, W. Thaddeus Miller, Steven P. Buffone and Craig Broderick are “independent directors” as defined by the NYSE listing standards and applicable SEC rules.
Committees of the Board of Directors
Our Board has three standing committees: an audit committee, a compensation committee and a nominating and corporate governance committee. Each committee operates under a charter approved by our Board with the composition and responsibilities described below. The charter of each committee is available on our website.
Audit Committee
We have established an audit committee of the Board. Steven P. Buffone, W. Grant Gregory and Craig Broderick serve as members of our 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. Under NYSE listing standards and applicable SEC rules, our audit committee must have one independent member at the time of listing, a majority of independent members within 90 days of listing, and consist of all independent members within one year of listing. Messrs. Gregory, Buffone and Broderick each meet the independent director standard under the NYSE’s listing standard and under Rule 10A-3(b)(1) of the Exchange Act.
Each member of the audit committee is financially literate and our Board has determined that Mr. Gregory qualifies as an “audit committee financial expert” as defined in applicable SEC rules.
We have adopted an audit committee charter, which details the principal functions of the audit committee, including:
· | 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 permitted 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 hiring policies for employees or former employees of the independent auditors; |
· | 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 auditors describing (i) the independent auditor’s internal quality-control procedures and (ii) 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; |
· | 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. |
58
Compensation Committee
We have established a compensation committee of the Board. Craig Broderick and W. Grant Gregory serve as members of our compensation committee. Under NYSE listing standards and applicable SEC rules our compensation committee must have one independent member at the time of listing, a majority of independent members within 90 days of listing, and consist of all independent members within one year of listing. Mr. Gregory and Mr. Broderick meet the independent director standard under the NYSE listing standard, and Mr. Gregory serves as chairman of the compensation committee.
We have adopted a compensation committee charter, which details 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; |
· | reviewing and approving on an annual basis the compensation of all of our other officers; |
· | reviewing on an annual basis 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; |
· | if required, 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. |
Notwithstanding the foregoing, as indicated above, no compensation of any kind, including finder’s, consulting or other similar fees, will be paid to any of our existing stockholders, officers, directors or any of their respective affiliates, prior to, or for any services they render in order to complete the consummation of a 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.
The charter also provides that the compensation committee may, in its sole discretion, retain or obtain the advice of a compensation consultant, 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.
Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee
We have established a nominating and corporate governance committee of the Board. Craig Broderick and W. Thaddeus Miller serve as members of our nominating and corporate governance committee. Under NYSE listing standards and applicable SEC rules our nominating and corporate governance committee must have one independent member at the time of listing, a majority of independent members within 90 days of listing, and consist of all independent members within one year of listing. Mr. Broderick and Mr. Miller meet the independent director standard under the NYSE listing standard, and Mr. Miller serves as chairman of the nominating and corporate governance committee.
The primary purposes of our nominating and corporate governance committee is to assist the Board in:
· | identifying, screening and reviewing individuals qualified to serve as directors and recommending to the Board candidates for nomination for election at the annual meeting of stockholders or to fill vacancies on the Board; |
· | developing, recommending to the Board and overseeing implementation of our corporate governance guidelines; |
59
· | coordinating and overseeing the annual self-evaluation of the Board, 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 nominating and corporate governance committee is governed by a charter that complies with the rules of the NYSE.
Director Nominations
Our nominating and corporate governance committee will recommend to the Board candidates for nomination for election at the annual meeting of the stockholders. Prior to our initial business combination, the Board will also consider director candidates recommended for nomination by holders of our founder shares during such times as they are seeking proposed nominees to stand for election at an annual meeting of stockholders (or, if applicable, a special meeting of 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.
Our nominating and corporate governance committee will recommend to the Board candidates for nomination who have a high level of personal and professional integrity, strong ethics and values and the ability to make mature business judgments. In general, in identifying and evaluating nominees for director, our Board considers experience in corporate management such as serving as an officer or former officer of a publicly held company, experience as a board member of another publicly held company, professional and academic experience relevant to our business, leadership skills, experience in finance and accounting or executive compensation practices, whether candidate has the time required for preparation, participation and attendance at Board meetings and committee meetings, if applicable, independence and the ability to represent the best interests of our stockholders.
Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation
None of our officers currently serves, and in the past year none of them has served, as a member of the compensation committee of any entity that has one or more officers serving on our Board.
Code of Ethics
We have adopted a Code of Ethics applicable to our directors, officers and employees. The Code of Ethics is available on our website at https://www.rmgacquisition.com. We will also post any amendments to or waivers of our Code of Ethics on our website.
Section 16(a) Beneficial Ownership Reporting Compliance
Section 16(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, requires our officers, directors and persons who beneficially own more than ten percent of our common stock to file reports of ownership and changes in ownership with the SEC. These reporting persons are also required to furnish us with copies of all Section 16(a) forms they file. Based solely upon a review of such forms, we believe that during the year ended December 31, 2019, there were no delinquent filers except as follows: RMG Sponsor, LLC, which beneficially owns more than ten percent of our common stock, filed one late Form 4 reporting the acquisition of 4,898 warrants.
Corporate Governance Guidelines
Our Board has adopted corporate governance guidelines in accordance with the corporate governance rules of the NYSE that serve as a flexible framework within which our Board and its committees operate. These guidelines cover a number of areas including board membership criteria and director qualifications, director responsibilities, board agenda, roles of the Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer and presiding director, meetings of independent directors, committee responsibilities and assignments, board member access to management and independent advisors, director communications with third parties, director compensation, director orientation and continuing education, evaluation of senior management and management succession planning. A copy of our corporate governance guidelines is posted on our website.
60
Item 11. | Executive Compensation |
Compensation Discussion and Analysis
None of our officers or directors has received any cash compensation for services rendered to us. No compensation of any kind, including finder’s and consulting fees, will be paid to our sponsor, officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates, including Messrs. Carpenter, Mancini and Kassin, for services rendered prior to or in connection with the completion of our 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. Additionally, in connection with the successful completion of our initial business combination, we may determine to provide a payment to our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or our or their affiliates; however any such payment would not be made from the amounts held in the trust account and we currently do not have any agreement or arrangement with any such party to do so. Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were or are to be made to our sponsor, officers or directors, or our or their affiliates.
After the completion of our initial business combination, directors or members of our management team who remain with us may be paid consulting or management fees from the combined company. All of these fees will be fully disclosed to stockholders, to the extent then known, in the tender offer materials or proxy solicitation materials furnished to our stockholders in connection with a proposed business combination. We have not established any limit on the amount of such fees that may be paid by the combined company to our directors or members of management. It is unlikely the amount of such compensation will be known at the time of the proposed business combination, because the directors of the post-combination business will be responsible for determining officer and director compensation. Any compensation to be paid to our officers will be determined, or recommended to the Board for determination, either by a compensation committee constituted solely by independent directors or by a majority of independent directors on our Board.
Following a business combination, to the extent we deem it necessary, we may seek to recruit additional managers to supplement the incumbent management team of the target business. We cannot assure you that we will have the ability to recruit additional managers, or that additional managers will have the requisite skills, knowledge or experience necessary to enhance the incumbent management.
Item 12. | Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters |
The following table sets forth information regarding the beneficial ownership of our common stock as of March 13, 2020 based on information obtained from the persons named below, with respect to the beneficial ownership of shares of our common stock, by:
· | each person known by us to be the beneficial owner of more than 5% of our outstanding shares of common stock; |
· | each of our officers and directors that beneficially owns shares of our common stock |
· | each of our Advisory Board members; and |
· | all our officers and directors as a group. |
In the table below, percentage ownership is based on 23,000,000 shares of our Class A common stock, which includes Class A common stock underlying the units sold in our initial public offering, and 5,750,000 shares of our Class B common stock outstanding as of March 13, 2020. Voting power represents the combined voting power of Class A common stock and Class B common stock owned beneficially by such person. On all matters to be voted upon, the holders of the Class A common stock and the Class B common stock vote together as a single class. Currently, all of the shares of Class B common stock are convertible into shares of Class A common stock on a one-for-one basis. The table below does not include the shares of Class A common stock underlying the private placement warrants held or to be held by our officers or sponsor because these securities are not exercisable within 60 days of this report.
61
Unless otherwise indicated, we believe that all persons named in the table have sole voting and investment power with respect to all shares of common stock beneficially owned by them.
Class A Common Stock |
Class B Common Stock |
Approximate Percentage |
||||||||||||||||||
Name and Address of Beneficial Owner(1) |
Number of Shares Beneficially Owned |
Approximate Percentage of Class |
Number of Shares Beneficially Owned |
Approximate Percentage of Class |
of Outstanding Common Stock |
|||||||||||||||
RMG Sponsor, LLC (our sponsor)(2)(3) | — | — | 5,175,000 | 90 | % | 18 | % | |||||||||||||
BlackRock, Inc. (4) | 2,070,000 | 9.0 | % | 383,333 | 6.6 | % | 8.5 | % | ||||||||||||
Glazer Capital, LLC (5) | 1,819,363 | 7.9 | % | — | — | 6.3 | % | |||||||||||||
Periscope Capital Inc. (6) | 1,718,300 | 7.5 | % | — | — | 6.0 | % | |||||||||||||
Deutsche Bank AG (7) | 1,691,700 | 7.4 | % | — | — | 5.9 | % | |||||||||||||
AQR Capital Management, LLC (8) | 1,449,896 | 6.3 | % | — | — | 5.0 | % | |||||||||||||
D. James Carpenter(2) | — | — | 5,175,000 | 90 | % | 18 | % | |||||||||||||
Robert S. Mancini(2) | — | — | 5,175,000 | 90 | % | 18 | % | |||||||||||||
Philip Kassin(2) | — | — | 5,175,000 | 90 | % | 18 | % | |||||||||||||
W. Grant Gregory | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||
W. Thaddeus Miller | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||
Craig Broderick | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||
Steven P. Buffone | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||
Steven J. Gilbert | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||
Edward Forst | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||
All directors, officers and Advisory Board members as a group (9 individuals)(2) | — | — | 5,175,000 | 90 | % | 18 | % |
* | less than 1% |
1) | Unless otherwise noted, the business address of each of the following entities or individuals is c/o RMG Acquisition Corp., 1411 Broadway, 16th Floor, New York, NY 10018. |
2) | Interests shown consist solely of founder shares, classified as shares of Class B common stock. Such shares are convertible into shares of Class A common stock on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment. |
3) | RMG Sponsor, LLC is the record holder of the shares reported herein. Each of our officers, directors and certain members of our Advisory Board is directly or indirectly, a member of RMG Sponsor, LLC. MKC Investments LLC is the sole managing member of RMG Sponsor, LLC, and Messrs. Carpenter, Mancini and Kassin are the managing members of MKC Investments LLC. As such, they may be deemed to have or share beneficial ownership of the Class B common stock held directly by RMG Sponsor, LLC. 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. |
62
4) | The registered holders of the referenced shares are funds and accounts under management by investment adviser subsidiaries of BlackRock, Inc. BlackRock, Inc. is the ultimate parent holding company of such investment adviser entities. On behalf of such investment adviser entities, the applicable portfolio managers, as managing directors of such entities, have voting and investment power over the shares held by the funds and accounts which are the registered holders of the referenced shares. Such portfolio managers expressly disclaim beneficial ownership of all shares held by such funds and accounts. The address of such funds and accounts, such investment adviser subsidiaries and such portfolio managers is 55 East 52nd Street, New York, NY 10055. |
5) | According to a Schedule 13G filed with the SEC on February 14, 2020, Glazer Capital, LLC and Paul J. Glazer share voting and dispositive power with respect to 1,819,363 shares of Class A common stock held by certain funds and managed accounts to which Glazer Capital, LLC serves as investment manager. Paul J. Glazer serves as Managing Member of Glazer Capital, LLC. The business address of each stockholder is 333 Bay Street, Suite 1240, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5H 2R2. |
6) | According to a Schedule 13G filed with the SEC on February 14, 2020, Periscope Capital Inc., which is the beneficial owner of 1,223,500 shares of Class A common stock, acts as investment manager of, and exercises investment discretion with respect to, certain private investment funds that collectively directly own 494,800 shares of Class A common stock. The business address of each stockholder is 50 West 55th Street, Suite 30A, New York, New York 10019. |
7) | According to a Schedule 13G filed with the SEC on February 13, 2020, Deutsche Bank AG and Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. share voting and dispositive power over 1,691,700 shares of Class A common stock of the Company. The business address of each stockholder is Taunusanlage 12, 60325 Frankfurt am Main, Federal Republic of Germany. | |
8) | According to a Schedule 13G/A filed with the SEC on February 18, 2020, AQR Capital Management, LLC, AQR Capital Management Holdings, LLC and CNH Partners, LLC share voting and dispositive power over 1,449,896 shares of Class A common stock of the Company. AQR Absolute Return Master Account, L.P. and AQR Principal Global Asset Allocation, LLC share voting and dispositive power over 949,898 of such shares of Class A common stock of the Company. AQR Capital Management, LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of AQR Capital Management Holdings, LLC. CNH Partners, LLC is deemed to be controlled by AQR Capital Management, LLC. AQR Capital Management, LLC, and CNH Partners, LLC act as investment manager to AQR Absolute Return Master Account, L.P. AQR Principal Global Asset Allocation, LLC is the general partner of AQR Absolute Return Master Account, L.P. The business address of each stockholder is Two Greenwich Plaza, Greenwich, CT 06830. |
The table above does not include the shares of common stock underlying the private placement warrants held or to be held by our officers or sponsor because these securities are not exercisable within 60 days of this report.
Changes in Control
None.
63
Item 13. | Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence |
Certain Relationships and Related Transactions
In November 2018, our sponsor acquired 7,187,500 founder shares for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000. On December 17, 2018, the Company effectuated an 0.8-for-1 reverse split of the founder shares, resulting in an aggregate outstanding amount of 5,750,000 founder shares. In January 2019, the sponsor forfeited to the Company 575,000 founder shares and the Anchor Investors purchased from the Company 575,000 founder shares for cash consideration of approximately $2,300. Prior to the initial investment in the company of $25,000 by our sponsor, the company had no assets, tangible or intangible. The number of founder shares issued was determined based on the expectation that such founder shares would represent 20% of the outstanding shares upon completion of our initial public offering. Additionally, the sponsor had agreed to forfeit up to 750,000 founder shares to the extent that the over-allotment option is not exercised in full by the underwriters. On February 19, 2019, the underwriters fully exercised their over-allotment option; thus, these founder shares were no longer subject to forfeiture.
In February 2019, our sponsor purchased 3,766,667 private placement warrants and the Anchor Investors purchased 833,333 private placement warrants. Each private placement warrant entitles the holder to purchase one share of our Class A common stock at $11.50 per share. Our sponsor and the Anchor Investors are permitted to transfer the private placement warrants held by them to certain permitted transferees, including our officers, directors and Advisory Board members and other persons or entities affiliated with or related to it, but the transferees receiving such securities will be subject to the same agreements with respect to such securities as the sponsor. Otherwise, these warrants are, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferable or salable until 30 days after the completion of our business combination. So long as the private placement warrants are held by our sponsor, the Anchor Investors or their permitted transferees, the private placement warrants will not be redeemable by us for cash. The private placement warrants may also be exercised by the sponsor, the Anchor Investors or their permitted transferees for cash or on a cashless basis. Otherwise, the private placement warrants have terms and provisions that are identical to those of the warrants that are part of the units, including as to exercise price, exercisability and exercise period, and may be redeemed by us for shares of Class A common stock as described herein.
Our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or any of their respective affiliates, will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf, including with respect to our formation and initial public offering and to identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. Additionally, in connection with the successful completion of our initial business combination, we may determine to provide a payment to our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors, or our or their affiliates; however, any such payment would not be made from the amounts held in the trust account and we currently do not have any arrangement or agreement with our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors, or our or their affiliates, to do so. Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made or are to be made to our sponsor, officers, directors, Advisory Board members, or our or their affiliates and will determine which expenses and the amount of expenses that will be reimbursed. There is no cap or ceiling on the reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses incurred by such persons in connection with activities on our behalf.
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. If we complete our initial business combination, we would repay such loaned amounts. In the event that our 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 warrants, at a price of $1.50 per warrant at the option of the lender. Such warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants, including as to exercise price, exercisability and exercise period. The terms of such loans by our officers and directors, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. 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.
64
Each of the Anchor Investors has agreed with us that if, at the time of any stockholder vote with respect to an initial business combination or the business day immediately prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, such Anchor Investor does not own a number of public shares equal to the number of shares purchased by it in the initial public offering, then such Anchor Investor will forfeit to us all of the founder shares that it purchased prior to our initial public offering. As a result of the founder shares and private placement warrants that the Anchor Investors may hold, they may have different interests with respect to a vote on an initial business combination than other public stockholders.
Pursuant to a registration rights agreement with our initial stockholders, we may be required to register certain securities for sale under the Securities Act. These holders, and holders of warrants issued upon conversion of working capital loans, if any, are entitled under the registration rights agreement to make up to three demands that we register certain of our securities held by them for sale under the Securities Act and to have the securities covered thereby registered for resale pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act. In addition, these holders have the right to include their securities in other registration statements filed by us. However, the registration rights agreement provides that we will not permit any registration statement filed under the Securities Act to become effective until the securities covered thereby are released from their lock-up restrictions, as described herein. We will bear the costs and expenses of filing any such registration statements.
Item 14. | Principal Accountant Fees and Services. |
The following is a summary of fees paid or to be paid to Grant Thornton LLP, or Grant Thornton, for services rendered.
Audit Fees. Audit fees consist of fees for professional services rendered for the audit of our year-end financial statements and services that are normally provided by Grant Thornton in connection with regulatory filings. The aggregate fees of Grant Thornton related to audit and review services in connection with our initial public offering and regulatory filings totaled approximately $80,000 and $38,000 for the year ended December 31, 2019 and for the period from October 22, 2018 (date of inception) to December 31, 2018.
Audit-Related Fees. Audit-related fees 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. During the year ended December 31, 2019 and for the period from October 22, 2018 (date of inception) to December 31, 2018, we did not pay Grant Thornton any audit-related fees.
Tax Fees. We paid $10,600 and $0 to Grant Thornton for tax return services, planning and tax advice for the year ended December 31, 2019 and for the period from October 22, 2018 (date of inception) to December 31, 2018.
All Other Fees. We did not pay Grant Thornton for any other services for the year ended December 31, 2019 and for the period from October 22, 2018 (date of inception) to December 31, 2018.
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. 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).
65
Item 15. | Exhibits, Financial Statements and Financial Statement Schedules |
(a) | The following documents are filed as part of this Report: |
(1) | Financial Statements |
(2) | Financial Statements Schedule |
All financial statement schedules are omitted because they are not applicable or the amounts are immaterial and not required, or the required information is presented in the financial statements and notes thereto in is Item 15 of Part IV below.
(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 obtained on the SEC website at www.sec.gov.
66
RMG ACQUISITION CORP.
INDEX TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
Board of Directors and Stockholders
RMG Acquisition Corp.
Opinion on the financial statements
We have audited the accompanying balance sheets of RMG Acquisition Corp. (a Delaware corporation) (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2019 and 2018, the related statements of operations, changes in stockholders’ equity, and cash flows for the year ended December 31, 2019 and the period from October 22, 2018 (date of inception) through December 31, 2018, 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, 2019 and 2018, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year ended December 31, 2019 and the period from October 22, 2018 (date of inception) through December 31, 2018, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.
Going concern
The accompanying financial statements have been prepared assuming the Company will continue as a going concern. As discussed in Note 1 to the financial statements, the Company will cease all operations, except for the purpose of winding up, redeeming all public shares outstanding and dissolving and liquidating in the event that the Company does not consummate an initial business combination by February 12, 2021. This condition raises substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. Management’s plans in regards to this matter 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) (“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 audit 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 supporting 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/ GRANT THORNTON LLP
We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2018.
New York, New York
March 16, 2020
F-1
BALANCE SHEETS
December 31, |
||||||||
2019 | 2018 | |||||||
Assets: | ||||||||
Current assets: | ||||||||
Cash | $ | 1,175,207 | $ | 37,044 | ||||
Prepaid expenses and other assets | 176,403 | 32,152 | ||||||
Total current assets | 1,351,610 | 69,196 | ||||||
Restricted cash equivalents held in Trust Account | 233,232,730 | - | ||||||
Deferred offering costs associated with the initial public offering | - | 411,948 | ||||||
Total Assets | $ | 234,584,340 | $ | 481,144 | ||||
Liabilities, Redeemable Class A Common Stock and Stockholders' Equity: | ||||||||
Current liabilities: | ||||||||
Accounts payable | $ | 133,562 | $ | 21,218 | ||||
Accrued expenses | 50,000 | 22,100 | ||||||
Due to related parties | - | 115,381 | ||||||
Franchise tax payable | 200,000 | - | ||||||
Income tax payable | 88,057 | - | ||||||
Total current liabilities | 471,619 | 158,699 | ||||||
Deferred legal fees | 450,000 | 300,000 | ||||||
Deferred underwriting commissions | 8,050,000 | - | ||||||
Total liabilities | 8,971,619 | 458,699 | ||||||
Commitments and contingencies | ||||||||
Class A common stock, $0.0001 par value; 22,061,272 and -0- shares subject to possible redemption at $10 per share at December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively | 220,612,720 | - | ||||||
Stockholders' Equity: | ||||||||
Preferred stock, $0.0001 par value; 1,000,000 shares authorized; none issued and outstanding | - | - | ||||||
Class A common stock, $0.0001 par value; 100,000,000 shares authorized; 938,728 and -0- shares issued and outstanding (excluding 22,061,272 and -0- shares subject to possible redemption) at December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively | 94 | - | ||||||
Class B common stock, $0.0001 par value; 10,000,000 shares authorized; 5,750,000 shares issued and outstanding at December 31, 2019 and 2018 (1) | 575 | 575 | ||||||
Additional paid-in capital | 4,749,168 | 24,425 | ||||||
Retained earnings (Accumulated deficit) | 250,164 | (2,555 | ) | |||||
Total stockholders' equity | 5,000,001 | 22,445 | ||||||
Total Liabilities, Redeemable Class A Common Stock and Stockholders' Equity | $ | 234,584,340 | $ | 481,144 |
(1) This number includes up to 750,000 Class B common stock subject to forfeiture if the over-allotment option is not exercised in full or in part by the underwriters. On February 19, 2019, the over-allotment was exercised in full; thus, these shares were no longer subject to forfeiture.
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
F-2
STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
For the period from | ||||||||
October 22, 2018 (date of inception) | ||||||||
For the year ended December 31, 2019 | through December 31, 2018 | |||||||
General and administrative expenses | $ | 893,066 | $ | 2,565 | ||||
Franchise tax expense | 200,000 | - | ||||||
Loss from operations | (1,093,066 | ) | (2,565 | ) | ||||
Interest income | 12,602 | 10 | ||||||
Interest earned on restricted cash equivalents held in Trust Account | 398,809 | - | ||||||
Gain on marketable securities (net), and dividends held in Trust Account | 3,565,051 | - | ||||||
Income (loss) before income tax expense | 2,883,396 | (2,555 | ) | |||||
Income tax expense | 797,313 | - | ||||||
Net income (loss) | $ | 2,086,083 | $ | (2,555 | ) | |||
Weighted average shares outstanding of Class A common stock | 22,934,985 | - | ||||||
Basic and diluted net income per share, Class A | $ | 0.13 | $ | - | ||||
Weighted average shares outstanding of Class B common stock | 5,750,000 | 5,000,000 | ||||||
Basic and diluted net loss per share, Class B | $ | (0.15 | ) | $ | (0.00 | ) |
(1) This number excludes an aggregate of up to 750,000 Class B common stock subject to forfeiture if the over-allotment option is not exercised in full or in part by the underwriters. On February 19, 2018, the over-allotment was exercised in full; thus, these shares were no longer subject to forfeiture.
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
F-3
STATEMENTS OF CHANGES IN STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY
Common Stock | Retained Earnings | Total | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Class A | Class B | Additional
Paid-In | (Accumulated | Stockholders' | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Shares | Amount | Shares | Amount | Capital | Deficit) | Equity | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Balance - October 22, 2018 (inception) | - | $ | - | - | $ | - | $ | - | $ | - | $ | - | ||||||||||||||||
Issuance of Class B common stock to Sponsor (1) | - | - | 5,750,000 | 575 | 24,425 | - | 25,000 | |||||||||||||||||||||
Net loss | - | - | - | - | - | (2,555 | ) | (2,555 | ) | |||||||||||||||||||
Balance - December 31, 2018 | - | $ | - | 5,750,000 | $ | 575 | $ | 24,425 | $ | (2,555 | ) | $ | 22,445 | |||||||||||||||
Issuance of Class B common stock to Anchor Investors | - | - | 575,000 | 58 | 2,255 | - | 2,313 | |||||||||||||||||||||
Forfeiture of Class B common stock from Sponsor | - | - | (575,000 | ) | (58 | ) | 58 | - | - | |||||||||||||||||||
Sale of units in initial public offering, gross | 23,000,000 | 2,300 | - | - | 229,997,700 | - | 230,000,000 | |||||||||||||||||||||
Offering costs | - | - | - | - | (13,398,120 | ) | - | (13,398,120 | ) | |||||||||||||||||||
Sale of private placement warrants to Sponsor and Anchor Investors in private placement | - | - | - | - | 6,900,000 | - | 6,900,000 | |||||||||||||||||||||
Class A common stock subject to possible redemption | (22,061,272 | ) | (2,206 | ) | - | - | (218,777,150 | ) | (1,833,364 | ) | (220,612,720 | ) | ||||||||||||||||
Net income | - | - | - | - | - | 2,086,083 | 2,086,083 | |||||||||||||||||||||
Balance - December 31, 2019 | 938,728 | 94 | 5,750,000 | 575 | 4,749,168 | 250,164 | 5,000,001 |
(1) This number includes up to 750,000 Class B common stock subject to forfeiture if the over-allotment option is not exercised in full or in part by the underwriters. On February 19, 2019, the over-allotment was exercised in full; thus, these shares were no longer subject to forfeiture.
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
F-4
STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
For the period from | ||||||||
October 22, 2018 (date of inception) | ||||||||
For the year ended December 31, 2019 | through December 31, 2018 | |||||||
Cash Flows from Operating Activities: | ||||||||
Net income (loss) | $ | 2,086,083 | $ | (2,555 | ) | |||
Gain on marketable securities (net), and dividends held in Trust Account | (3,565,051 | ) | - | |||||
Changes in operating assets and liabilities: | ||||||||
Prepaid expenses | (144,251 | ) | (3,246 | ) | ||||
Accounts payable | 112,344 | 5,721 | ||||||
Franchise tax payable | 200,000 | - | ||||||
Income tax payable | 88,057 | - | ||||||
Net cash used in operating activities | (1,222,818 | ) | (80 | ) | ||||
Cash Flows from Investing Activities | ||||||||
Purchase of marketable securities held in Trust Account | (575,947,949 | ) | - | |||||
Proceeds received from sales, redemptions and maturities of marketable securities held in Trust Account | 579,513,000 | - | ||||||
Net cash provided by investing activities | 3,565,051 | - | ||||||
Cash Flows from Financing Activities: | ||||||||
Proceeds received under loans from related parties | 38,501 | 75,000 | ||||||
Repayment of amounts due to related parties | (153,882 | ) | - | |||||
Proceeds from issuance of Class B common stock to Sponsor | - | 25,000 | ||||||
Proceeds from issuance of Class B common stock to anchor investors | 2,313 | - | ||||||
Proceeds received from initial public offering, gross | 230,000,000 | - | ||||||
Proceeds received from private placement | 6,900,000 | - | ||||||
Offering costs paid | (4,758,272 | ) | (62,876 | ) | ||||
Net cash provided by financing activities | 232,028,660 | 37,124 | ||||||
Net increase in cash and cash equivalents | 234,370,893 | 37,044 | ||||||
Cash - beginning of the period | 37,044 | - | ||||||
Cash and restricted cash equivalents held in Trust Account - end of the period | $ | 234,407,937 | $ | 37,044 | ||||
Supplemental disclosure of noncash investing and financing activities: | ||||||||
Offering costs included in accrued expenses | $ | 50,000 | $ | 22,100 | ||||
Offering costs included in accounts payable | $ | - | $ | 15,497 | ||||
Offering costs included in loans from related parties | $ | - | $ | 11,475 | ||||
Prepaid and other expenses included in loans from related parties | $ | - | $ | 28,906 | ||||
Forfeiture of Class B common stock from Sponsor | $ | 58 | $ | - | ||||
Deferred underwriting commissions in connection with the initial public offering | $ | 8,050,000 | $ | - | ||||
Deferred legal fees in connection with the initial public offering | $ | 150,000 | $ | 300,000 | ||||
Reclassification of deferred offering costs to equity upon completion of the initial public offering | $ | 461,948 | $ | - | ||||
Value of common stock subject to possible redemption | $ | 220,612,720 | $ | - | ||||
Supplemental cash flow disclosure: | ||||||||
Cash paid for income taxes | $ | 709,257 | $ | - |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
F-5
Note 1 — Description of Organization, Business Operations and Basis of Presentation
RMG Acquisition Corp. (the “Company”) is a blank check company incorporated in Delaware on October 22, 2018 (date of inception) for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses (the “Business Combination”). While the Company may pursue an acquisition opportunity in any business, industry, sector or geographical location, it intends to focus its search for a target business in the diversified resources and industrial materials sectors. The Company is an emerging growth company and, as such, the Company is subject to all of the risks associated with emerging growth companies.
As of December 31, 2019, the Company had not commenced any operations. All activity for the period from October 22, 2018 (date of inception) through December 31, 2019 relates to the Company’s formation, the preparation for the initial public offering (“Initial Public Offering”), and since the Initial Public Offering, the search for a target for a Business Combination. The Company will not generate any operating revenues until after the completion of its initial Business Combination, at the earliest. The Company has selected December 31 as its fiscal year end.
The Company’s sponsor is RMG Sponsor, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (the “Sponsor”). The Company’s ability to commence operations is contingent upon obtaining adequate financial resources. The registration statement for the Company’s Initial Public Offering was declared effective on February 12, 2019. On February 12, 2019, the Company consummated its Initial Public Offering of 20,000,000 units (“Units” and, with respect to the Class A common stock included in the Units being offered, the “Public Shares”), and on February 19, 2019, the underwriters fully exercised their over-allotment option to purchase 3,000,000 additional Units to cover over-allotments at $10.00 per Unit, generating aggregate gross proceeds of $230 million, and incurring offering costs of approximately $13.4 million, inclusive of $8.05 million in deferred underwriting commissions (Note 6).
Simultaneously with the closing of the Initial Public Offering, the Company consummated the private placement (“Private Placement”) of 4,000,000 warrants (each, a “Private Placement Warrant” and collectively, the “Private Placement Warrants”) at a price of $1.50 per Private Placement Warrant in a private placement to the Sponsor and the Anchor Investors (as defined in Note 3), generating gross proceeds of $6.0 million (Note 4). In connection with the full exercise of the over-allotment option by the underwriters, the Sponsor and the Anchor Investors purchased an additional 600,000 Private Placement Warrants at a price of $1.50 per Private Placement Warrant, which generated additional gross proceeds of $900,000.
Upon the closing of the Initial Public Offering and Private Placement, $230 million ($10.00 per Unit) of the net proceeds of the sale of the Units in the Initial Public Offering and the Private Placement was placed in a trust account (the “Trust Account”), located at Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas, with American Stock Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee, and were invested 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 180 days or less, until the earlier of: (i) the completion of a Business Combination and (ii) the distribution of 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 Private Placement Warrants, although substantially all of the net proceeds are intended to be applied generally toward consummating a Business Combination. There is no assurance that the Company will be able to complete a Business Combination successfully. The Company must complete one or more initial Business Combinations having an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the assets held in the Trust Account (as defined below) (excluding the deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on income earned on the Trust Account) at the time of the agreement to enter into the initial Business Combination. However, 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.
F-6
The Company will provide its holders of the outstanding Class A common stock, par value $0.0001, sold in the Initial Public Offering (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 at $10.00 per Public Share). The per-share amount to be distributed to public stockholders who redeem their Public Shares will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting commissions the Company will pay to the underwriters (as discussed in Note 6). These Public Shares were recorded at a redemption value and classified as temporary equity upon the completion of the Initial Public Offering. In such case, the Company will proceed with a Business Combination if the Company has net tangible assets of at least $5,000,001 upon such consummation of a Business Combination and 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 legal reasons, the Company will, pursuant to its 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 transactions is required by law, or the Company decides to obtain stockholder approval for business or legal 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. Additionally, each public stockholder may elect to redeem their Public Shares irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction. If the Company seeks stockholder approval in connection with a Business Combination, the Sponsor has agreed to vote its Founder Shares (as defined below in Note 5) and any Public Shares purchased during or after the Initial Public Offering in favor of a Business Combination. In addition, the Sponsor has agreed to waive its redemption rights with respect to their Founder Shares and Public Shares in connection with the completion of a Business Combination.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Company’s 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 20% or more of the Class A common stock sold in the Initial Public Offering, without the prior consent of the Company.
The Sponsor and the Company’s officers and certain directors have agreed not to propose an amendment to the Company’s amended and restated certificate of incorporation that would affect the substance or timing of the Company’s obligation to redeem 100% of its Public Shares if the Company does not complete a Business Combination, unless the Company provides the public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their Class A common stock in conjunction with any such amendment.
If the Company is unable to complete a Business Combination within 24 months from the closing of the Initial Public Offering, or February 12, 2021 (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 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 earned on the funds held in the Trust Account and not previously released to the Company to pay its franchise and income taxes as well as expenses relating to the administration of the Trust Account (less up to $100,000 of interest released to the Company to pay dissolution expenses), 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), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of the Company’s remaining stockholders and its Board, 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 warrants, which will expire worthless if the Company fails to complete its Business Combination within the prescribed time period.
F-7
The Sponsor, officers and certain directors have agreed to waive their 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, officers or directors acquire Public Shares in or after the Initial Public Offering, they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the Trust Account with respect to such Public Shares if the Company fails to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period. The underwriters of the Initial Public Offering have agreed to waive their rights to its deferred underwriting commission (see Note 6) held in the Trust Account in the event the Company does not complete a Business Combination within in 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 residual assets remaining available for distribution (including Trust Account assets) will be only $10.00 per share initially held in the Trust Account. 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. This liability will not apply with respect to any claims by a third party who executed a waiver of any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the Trust Account or 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, 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.
Basis of Presentation
The accompanying balance sheet is presented in U.S. dollars in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”) and pursuant to the rules and regulations of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Emerging Growth Company
The Company is 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”), 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 auditor 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 an emerging growth 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 irrevocably elected 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, will adopt the new or revised standard at the time public companies adopt the new or revised standard. This may make comparison of the Company’s financial statements with another emerging growth company which has not opted out of using the extended transition period difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accounting standards used.
F-8
Going Concern Consideration
In connection with the Company’s assessment of going concern considerations in accordance with Financial Accounting Standard Board’s Accounting Standards Updated (“ASU”) 2014-15, “Disclosure of Uncertainties about an Entity’s Ability to Continue as a Going Concern”, management has determined that the mandatory liquidation and subsequent dissolution related to the Combination Period described above raises substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. No adjustments have been made to the carrying amounts of assets or liabilities should the Company be required to liquidate after February 12, 2021.
As of December 31, 2019, the Company had approximately $1.2 million in our operating bank account held outside of the Trust Account, and approximately $3.2 million of investment income earned on money market funds and marketable securities held in the Trust Account available to pay franchise tax and income tax obligations. The Company will use the funds available outside of the Trust Account primarily to meet the Company's operating cash flow and working capital needs.
Through December 31, 2019, the Company’s liquidity needs have been satisfied through receipt of a $25,000 capital contribution from the Sponsor in exchange for the issuance of the Founder Shares (as defined in Note 5), approximately $153,000 received from the Sponsor under Expenses Reimbursement arrangement, and the proceeds from the consummation of the Private Placement not held in the Trust Account. The Company fully repaid the loans from the Sponsor in 2019. The Company intends to use substantially all of the funds held in the Trust Account, including any amounts representing investment income earned on the Trust Account (less amounts released to the Company for taxes payable, expenses relating to the administration of the Trust Account and deferred underwriting commissions) to complete the Initial Business Combination.
Note 2 — Summary of Significant Accounting Policies
Net Income per Common Stock
Net income per share is computed by dividing net income (loss) by the weighted average number of shares of common stock outstanding during the period. The Company has not considered the effect of the warrants sold in the Initial Public Offering and Private Placement to purchase an aggregate of 12,266,666 Class A common stock in the calculation of diluted earnings per share, since their inclusion would be anti-dilutive under the treasury stock method. As a result, diluted earnings per ordinary share is the same as basic earnings per ordinary share for the periods presented.
The Company’s statements of operations include a presentation of income per share for common stock subject to redemption in a manner similar to the two-class method of income per share. Net income per common stock, basic and diluted for Class A common stock is calculated by dividing the interest income earned on the Trust Account, by the weighted average number of Class A common stock outstanding for the period. Net loss per common stock, basic and diluted for Class B common stock is calculated by dividing the net income, less income attributable to Class A common stock and any working capital loans, by the weighted average number of Class B common stock outstanding for the periods presented.
F-9
The Company’s net income is adjusted for the portion of income that is attributable to Class A common stock subject to redemption, as these shares only participate in the earnings of the Trust Account (less applicable taxes) and not the income or losses of the Company. Accordingly, basic and diluted income per Class A common stock is calculated as follows:
For the period from | ||||||||
For the year ended | October 22, 2018 (date of inception) | |||||||
December 31, 2019 | to December 31, 2018 | |||||||
Interest income on restricted cash equivalents held in Trust Account | $ | 398,809 | $ | - | ||||
Gain on marketable securities (net), and dividends held in Trust Account | 3,565,051 | - | ||||||
Expenses available to be paid with interest income from Trust | (997,313 | ) | - | |||||
Net income available to holders of Class A common stock | 2,966,547 | - | ||||||
Net income (loss) | 2,086,083 | $ | (2,555 | ) | ||||
Less: Income attributable to Class A common stock | (2,966,547 | ) | - | |||||
Net loss attributable to holders of Class B common stock | $ | (880,464 | ) | $ | (2,555 | ) | ||
Weighted average shares outstanding of Class A common stock | 22,934,985 | - | ||||||
Basic and diluted net income per share, Class A | $ | 0.13 | $ | - | ||||
Weighted average shares outstanding of Class B common stock | 5,750,000 | 5,000,000 | ||||||
Basic and diluted net loss per share, Class B | $ | (0.15 | ) | $ | (0.00 | ) |
Use of Estimates
The preparation of the financial statements in conformity with U.S. 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. Actual results could differ from those estimates.
Concentration of Credit Risk
Financial instruments that potentially subject the Company to credit risk consist principally of cash, restricted cash equivalents held in the Trust Account, and marketable securities held in the Trust Account. Cash and restricted cash equivalents are maintained in accounts with financial institutions, which, at times may exceed the Federal depository insurance coverage of $250,000. The Company has not experienced losses on these accounts and management believes, based upon the quality of the financial institutions, that the credit risk with regard to these deposits is not significant. As of December 31, 2019, the balance of restricted cash equivalents held in the Trust Account are comprised entirely of an investment in a single money market fund which invests all of its assets in cash, U.S. Treasury bills, notes, and other obligations issued or guaranteed as to principal and interest by the U.S. Treasury. As of December 31, 2019, the Company had no investments in marketable securities.
F-10
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 had approximately $233.2 million and $0 in restricted cash equivalents held in the Trust Account as of December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively.
The following table provides a reconciliation of cash and cash equivalents reported within the financial statements:
December 31, | ||||||||
2019 | 2018 | |||||||
Cash | $ | 1,175,207 | $ | 37,044 | ||||
Restricted cash equivalents held in Trust Account | 233,232,730 | - | ||||||
Total cash and restricted cash equivalents held in Trust Account shown in the statement of cash flows | $ | 234,407,937 | $ | 37,044 |
Marketable Securities Held in the Trust Account
At times, the Company invests in U.S. government securities, within the meaning set forth in Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act, with a maturity of 180 days or less, classified as trading securities. Trading securities are presented on the balance sheets at fair value at the end of each reporting period. Gains and losses resulting from the change in fair value of these securities is included in gain on marketable securities (net), dividends and interest, held in the Trust Account in the accompanying statements of operations. The estimated fair values of marketable securities held in the Trust Account are determined using available market information. As of December 31, 2019, the Company had no investments in marketable securities.
Fair Value of Financial Instruments
Fair value measurements are based on the premise that fair value is an exit price representing the amount that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants. As such, fair value is a market-based measurement that should be determined based on assumptions that market participants would use in pricing an asset or liability. As a basis for considering such assumptions, the following three-tier fair value hierarchy has been used in determining the inputs used in measuring fair value (see Note 8):
Level 1 | – | Quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities on the reporting date. | ||
Level 2 | – | Pricing inputs are based on quoted prices for similar instruments in active markets, quoted prices for identical or similar instruments in markets that are not active and model-based valuation techniques for which all significant assumptions are observable in the market or can be corroborated by observable market data for substantially the full term of the assets or liabilities. | ||
Level 3 | – | Pricing inputs are generally unobservable and include situations where there is little, if any, market activity for the investment. The inputs into the determination of fair value require management’s judgment or estimation of assumptions that market participants would use in pricing the assets or liabilities. The fair values are therefore determined using factors that involve considerable judgment and interpretations, including but not limited to private and public comparables, third-party appraisals, discounted cash flow models, and fund manager estimates. |
F-11
As of December 31, 2019 and 2018, the recorded values of cash and restricted cash equivalents held in the Trust Account, prepaid expenses, accounts payable, and accrued expenses approximate the fair values due to the short-term nature of the instruments.
Offering Costs
Offering costs consist of legal, accounting, underwriting fees and other costs incurred of approximately $13.4 million that are directly related to the Initial Public Offering. These costs were charged to stockholders’ equity upon the completion of the Initial Public Offering in February 2019. As of December 31, 2019 and 2018, the Company had $50,000 and $22,100 of accrued offering costs in the accompanying balance sheets.
Income Taxes
The Company follows the asset and liability method of accounting for 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. Management has determined that a full valuation allowance on the deferred tax asset (related to start up costs) is appropriate at this time after consideration of all available positive and negative evidence related to the realization of the deferred tax asset.
FASB ASC 740 prescribes a recognition threshold and a measurement attribute for the financial statement recognition and measurement of tax positions 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. There were no unrecognized tax benefits as of December 31, 2019 and 2018. The Company recognizes accrued interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits as income tax expense. No amounts were accrued for the payment of interest and penalties as of December 31, 2019 and 2018. 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.
Class A Common Stock Subject to Possible Redemption
Class A common stock subject to mandatory redemption (if any) are classified as liability instruments and are measured at fair value. Conditionally redeemable Class A common stock (including Class A common stock that feature redemption rights that are either within the control of the holder or subject to redemption upon the occurrence of uncertain events not solely within the Company’s control) are classified as temporary equity. At all other times, Class A common stock are classified as stockholders’ equity. The Company’s Class A common stock feature certain redemption rights that are considered to be outside of the Company’s control and subject to the occurrence of uncertain future events. Accordingly, at December 31, 2019, 22,061,272 shares of Class A common stock subject to possible redemption are presented as temporary equity, outside of the stockholders’ equity section of the Company’s balance sheet.
F-12
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
In December 2019, the FASB issued ASU No. 2019-12, “Income Taxes (Topic 740): Simplifying the Accounting for Income Taxes” (“ASU 2019-12”), which is intended to simplify various aspects related to accounting for income taxes. ASU 2019-12 removes certain exceptions to the general principles in Topic 740 and also clarifies and amends existing guidance to improve consistent application. This guidance is effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2020, with early adoption permitted. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of this standard on its consolidated financial statements and related disclosures.
In July 2017, the FASB issued ASU 2017-11, Earnings Per Share (Topic 260); Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity (Topic 480); Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815): (Part I) Accounting for Certain Financial Instruments with Down Round Features, (Part II) Replacement of the Indefinite Deferral for Mandatorily Redeemable Financial Instruments of Certain Nonpublic Entities and Certain Mandatorily Redeemable Noncontrolling Interests with a Scope Exception. The ASU allows companies to exclude a down round feature when determining whether a financial instrument (or embedded conversion feature) is considered indexed to the entity’s own stock. As a result, financial instruments (or embedded conversion features) with down round features may no longer be required to be accounted classified as liabilities. A company will recognize the value of a down round feature only when it is triggered and the strike price has been adjusted downward. For equity-classified freestanding financial instruments, such as warrants, an entity will treat the value of the effect of the down round, when triggered, as a dividend and a reduction of income available to common shareholders in computing basic earnings per share. For convertible instruments with embedded conversion features containing down round provisions, entities will recognize the value of the down round as a beneficial conversion discount to be amortized to earnings. The guidance in ASU 2017-11 is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018, and interim periods within those fiscal years. The Company adopted this guidance in the current quarter, effective January 1, 2019. As a result, the warrants issued in February 2019, in connection with the Initial Public Offering and Private Placement, were equity-classified.
The Company’s management does not believe that any other recently issued, but not yet effective, accounting pronouncements, if currently adopted, would have a material effect on the Company’s financial statements.
Note 3 — Initial Public Offering
On February 12, 2019, the Company sold 20,000,000 Units at a purchase price of $10.00 per Unit in the Initial Public Offering. Each Unit consists of one share of Class A common stock and one-third of one redeemable warrant (“Public Warrant”). On February 19, 2019, the underwriters fully exercised their over-allotment option to purchase 3,000,000 additional Units to cover over-allotments at $10.00 per Unit, generating additional gross proceeds of $30.0 million. Each whole Public Warrant will entitle the holder to purchase one Class A common stock at an exercise price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment (see Note 7).
Of the Units sold in the Initial Public Offering, an aggregate of 2,530,000 Units were purchased by certain funds and accounts managed by subsidiaries of BlackRock, Inc. and certain funds and accounts managed by Alta Fundamental Advisers LLC (together, the “Anchor Investors”).
F-13
Note 4 — Private Placement
On February 12, 2019, the Company sold 4,000,000 Private Placement Warrants to the Sponsor and the Anchor Investors at $1.50 per warrant, generating gross proceeds of $6.0 million in the Private Placement. On February 19, 2019, in connection with the full exercise of the over-allotment option by the underwriters, the Sponsor and the Anchor Investors purchased 600,000 additional Private Placement Warrants, which generated additional gross proceeds of $900,000.
Each Private Placement Warrant is exercisable to purchase one share of Class A common stock at $11.50 per share. A portion of the net proceeds from the Private Placement was 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 Private Placement Warrants will expire worthless.
Note 5 — Related Party Transactions
Founder Shares
On November 6, 2018, the Sponsor purchased 7,187,500 shares (the “Founder Shares”) of the Company’s Class B common stock, par value $0.0001 per share (the “Class B common stock”), for an aggregate price of $25,000. On December 17, 2018, the Company effectuated an 0.8-for-1 reverse split of the Founder Shares, resulting in an aggregate outstanding amount of 5,750,000 Founder Shares. In January 2019, the Sponsor forfeited to the Company 575,000 Founder Shares and the Anchor Investors purchased from the Company 575,000 Founder Shares for cash consideration of approximately $2,300. Additionally, the Sponsor had agreed to forfeit up to 750,000 Founder Shares to the extent that the over-allotment option is not exercised in full by the underwriters. On February 19, 2019, the underwriters fully exercised its over-allotment option; thus, these shares were no longer subject to forfeiture.
The Founder Shares will automatically convert into Class A common stock on a one-for-one basis at the time of the Company’s initial Business Combination and are subject to certain transfer restrictions.
Related Party Reimbursements and Loans
The Sponsor and the management agreed to cover for certain general and administrative expenses and offering costs in connection with the Initial Public Offering (“Expenses Reimbursement”), and expected to be reimbursed upon the completion of the Initial Public Offering. The Company borrowed approximately $153,000 under the Expenses Reimbursement and fully repaid this amount to the related parties in 2019.
In addition, in order to finance transaction costs in connection with a Business Combination, the Sponsor or an affiliate of the Sponsor, or certain of the Company’s officers and directors 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 held in 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 is not completed, the Company may use a portion of the 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 $1.5 million of such Working Capital Loans may be convertible into warrants of the post Business Combination entity at a price of $1.50 per warrant. The warrants would be identical to the Private Placement Warrants. 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.
F-14
Note 6 — Commitments & Contingencies
Registration Rights
The holders of Founder Shares, Private Placement Warrants and warrants that may be issued upon conversion of Working Capital Loans, if any, will be entitled to registration rights (in the case of the Founder Shares, only after conversion of such shares to Class A common stock) pursuant to a registration and shareholder rights agreement. These holders will be entitled to certain demand and “piggyback” registration rights. However, the registration and shareholder rights agreement provides that the Company will not permit any registration statement filed under the Securities Act to become effective until the termination of the applicable lock-up period for the securities to be registered. The Company will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such registration statements.
Underwriting Agreement
The Company granted the underwriters a 45-day option from the date of the final prospectus relating to the Initial Public Offering to purchase up to 3,000,000 additional Units to cover over-allotments, if any, at $10.00 per Unit, less underwriting discounts and commissions. On February 19, 2019, the underwriters fully exercised its over-allotment option.
The underwriters were entitled to an underwriting discount of $0.20 per unit, or $4.6 million in the aggregate, paid upon the closing of the Initial Public Offering. In addition, $0.35 per unit, or $8.05 million in the aggregate will be payable to the underwriters for deferred underwriting commissions. The deferred underwriting commissions 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.
Lease Agreement
In November 2018, the Company entered into a lease agreement for its office space in New York starting in January 2019, which called for a monthly rent of $10,000 and a security deposit of $20,000. Effective December 2019, the Company entered into an annual lease agreement for its new office space. The agreement called for a security deposit of approximately $12,000 and a monthly rent of approximately $8,000.
As of December 31, 2019 and 2018, approximately $32,000 related to the security deposit was recorded in Prepaid expenses and other assets. For the year ended December 31, 2019, the Company recorded rent expense of approximately $105,000 in the accompanying statements of operations.
Deferred legal fees
The Company entered into an engagement letter to obtain legal advisory services, pursuant to which the legal counsel agreed to defer all fees until the closing of a Business Combination. As of December 31, 2019 and 2018, the Company recorded an aggregate of $450,000 and $300,000 in connection with such arrangement in deferred legal fees in the accompanying balance sheet, respectively.
Litigations
To our knowledge, there is no litigation currently pending or contemplated against the Company, any of its officers or directors in their capacity as such or against any of the Company’s property. From time to time, the Company could become involved in disputes and various litigation matters that arise in the normal course of business. These may include disputes and lawsuits related to intellectual property, licensing, contract law and employee relations matters. Periodically, the Company reviews the status of significant matters, if any exist, and assesses its potential financial exposure. If the potential loss from any claim or legal claim is considered probable and the amount can be estimated, the Company accrues a liability for the estimated loss. Legal proceedings are subject to uncertainties, and the outcomes are difficult to predict. Because of such uncertainties, accruals are based on the best information available at the time. As additional information becomes available, the Company reassesses the potential liability, if any, related to pending claims and litigation.
F-15
Note 7 — Stockholder’s Equity
Common stock
Class A Common stock — The Company is authorized to issue 100,000,000 shares of Class A common stock with a par value of $0.0001 per share. There were no shares of Class A common stock issued and outstanding as of December 31, 2018. As of December 31, 2019, there were 23,000,000 shares of Class A common stock issued or outstanding, including 22,061,272 share of Class A common stock subject to possible redemption.
Class B Common stock — The Company is authorized to issue 10,000,000 shares of Class B common stock with a par value of $0.0001 per share. On December 17, 2018, the Company effectuated an 0.8-for-1 reverse split of the Founder Shares, resulting in an aggregate outstanding amount of 5,750,000 Founder Shares. As of December 31, 2018, there were 5,750,000 shares of Class B common stock outstanding. Of the 5,750,000 Class B common stock outstanding, up to 750,000 shares were subject to forfeiture to the Company by the Sponsor for no consideration to the extent that the underwriters’ over-allotment option was not exercised in full or in part, so that the holders of the Company’s Class B common stock would have collectively owned 20.0% of the Company’s issued and outstanding common stock after the Initial Public Offering. On February 19, 2019, the underwriters fully exercised its over-allotment option; thus, 750,000 shares of Class B common stock were no longer subject to forfeiture. As a result, there were 5,750,000 shares of Class B common stock outstanding as of December 31, 2019.
Common stockholders of record are entitled to one vote for each share held on all matters to be voted on by stockholders. Holders of the Class A common stock and holders of the Class B common stock will vote together as a single class on all matters submitted to a vote of the Company’s stockholders, except as required by law.
The Class B common stock will automatically convert into Class A common stock at the time of the initial Business Combination on a one-for-one basis (subject to adjustment for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like), and subject to further adjustment.
Preferred Stock — The Company is authorized to issue 1,000,000 shares of preferred stock, with such designations, voting and other rights and preferences as may be determined from time to time by the Company’s board of directors. As of December 31, 2019 and 2018, there were no shares of preferred stock issued or outstanding.
Warrants — Upon the closing of the Initial Public Offering and Private Placement, the Company issued the Public Warrants and the Private Placement Warrants. Public Warrants may only be exercised for a whole number of shares. No fractional Public Warrants will be issued. 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; provided in each case that the Company has an effective registration statement under the Securities Act covering the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the Public Warrants and a current prospectus relating to them is available (or the Company permits holders to exercise their Public Warrants on a cashless basis and such cashless exercise is exempt from registration under the Securities Act). 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 Public 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 Public Warrants in accordance with the provisions of the warrant agreement. If a registration statement covering the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants is not effective by the sixtieth (60th) day after the closing of the initial 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. The Public Warrants will expire five years after the completion of a Business Combination or earlier upon redemption or liquidation.
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 exercise of the Private Placement Warrants will not be transferable, assignable or salable until 30 days after the completion of a Business Combination, subject to certain limited exceptions. Additionally, the Private Placement Warrants will be non-redeemable so long as they are held by the initial purchasers or such purchasers’ permitted transferees. If the Private Placement Warrants are held by someone other than the Sponsor and the Company’s officers and directors 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.
F-16
The Company may call the Public Warrants for redemption (except with respect to the Private Placement 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; and |
· | if, and only if, the last reported last sale price of the Class A common stock equals or exceeds $18.00 per share for any 20 trading days within a 30-trading day period ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which the Company sends the notice of redemption to the warrant holders. |
Additionally, commencing ninety days after the Public Warrants become exercisable, the Company may redeem the outstanding Public Warrants (except with respect to the Private Placement Warrants) in whole and not in part, for the number of Class A common stock determined by reference to the table set forth in the Company’s prospectus relating to the Initial Public Offering based on the redemption date and the “fair market value” of the Class A common stock, upon a minimum of 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption and if, and only if, the last sale price of the Class A common stock equals or exceeds $10.00 per share (as adjusted per share splits, share dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) on the trading day prior to the date on which the Company sends the notice of redemption to the Public Warrant holders. The “fair market value” of the Class A common stock is the average last reported sale price of the Class A common stock for the 10 trading days ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which the notice of redemption is sent to the holders of Public Warrants.
If the Company calls the Public Warrants for redemption, management will have the option to require all 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 Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants may be adjusted in certain circumstances including in the event of a share capitalization, or recapitalization, reorganization, merger or consolidation. If, in connection with the closing of the initial Business Combination, the Company issues additional shares of common stock or securities convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for shares of common stock for capital raising purposes at an issue price or effective issue price of less than $9.20 per share, the warrant exercise price will be adjusted to be equal to 115% of the price received in the new issuance. The Company adopted the provisions of ASU 2017-11 effective January 1, 2019. As a result, this exercise price reset provision was excluded from the assessment of whether the warrants are considered indexed to the Company’s own stock. The warrants otherwise meet the requirements for equity classification, as such were initially classified in stockholder’s equity. The Company will recognize the value of the exercise price reset provision if and when it becomes triggered, by recognizing the value of the effect of the exercise price reset as a deemed dividend and a reduction of income available to common shareholders in computing basic earnings per share.
Additionally, in no event will the Company be required to net cash settle the warrants shares. 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.
Note 8 — Fair Value Measurements
The following table presents information about the Company’s assets that are measured at fair value on a recurring basis as of December 31, 2019 and indicates the fair value hierarchy of the valuation techniques that the Company utilized to determine such fair value.
F-17
Quoted Prices in Active Markets | Significant Other Observable Inputs | Significant Other Unobservable Inputs | ||||||||||
Description | (Level 1) | (Level 2) | (Level 3) | |||||||||
Assets held in Trust: | ||||||||||||
U.S. Treasury Securities | $ | - | $ | - | $ | - | ||||||
Cash equivalents - money market funds | 233,232,730 | - | - | |||||||||
$ | 233,232,730 | $ | - | $ | - |
Transfers to/from Levels 1, 2, and 3 are recognized at the end of the reporting period. There were no transfers between levels for the year ended December 31, 2019.
Level 1 instruments include investments in money market funds and U.S. Treasury securities. The Company uses inputs such as actual trade data, benchmark yields, quoted market prices from dealers or brokers, and other similar sources to determine the fair value of its investments.
Note 9 — Income Taxes
The income tax provision (benefit) consists of the following:
For the period from | ||||||||
For the year ended | October 22, 2018 (date of inception) | |||||||
December 31, 2019 | to December 31, 2018 | |||||||
Current | ||||||||
Federal | $ | 793,057 | $ | - | ||||
State | - | - | ||||||
Deferred | ||||||||
Federal | - | - | ||||||
State | - | - | ||||||
Valuation allowance | - | - | ||||||
Income tax provision | $ | 793,057 | $ | - |
The Company’s net deferred tax assets are as follows:
December 31, | ||||||||
2019 | 2018 | |||||||
Deferred tax assets: | ||||||||
StartUp/Organization Costs | $ | 185,966 | $ | 539 | ||||
Total deferred tax assets | 185,966 | 539 | ||||||
Valuation allowance | (185,966 | ) | (539 | ) | ||||
Deferred tax asset, net of allowance | $ | - | $ | - |
In assessing the realization of deferred tax assets, management considers whether it is more likely than not that some portion or 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 assets, 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 years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, the valuation allowance was approximately $186,000 and $500, respectively.
F-18
A reconciliation of the statutory federal income tax rate (benefit) to the Company’s effective tax rate is as follows:
December 31, | ||||||||
2019 | 2018 | |||||||
Statutory Federal income tax rate | 21.0 | % | 21.0 | % | ||||
Meals & entertainment | 0.1 | % | 0.0 | % | ||||
Change in fair value of warrant liabilities | 0.0 | % | 0.0 | % | ||||
Change in Valuation Allowance | 6.4 | % | (21.0 | )% | ||||
Income Taxes Provision (Benefit) | 27.5 | % | 0.0 | % |
F-19
EXHIBIT INDEX
* | Filed herewith |
** | Furnished herewith |
(1) | Incorporated by reference to the Company’s Form 8-K, filed with the SEC on February 12, 2019. |
(2) | Incorporated by reference to the Company’s Form S-1, initially filed with the SEC on December 17, 2018. |
(3) | Incorporated by reference to the Company’s Form 8-K, filed with the SEC on February 19, 2019. | |
(4) | Incorporated by reference to the Company’s Form 8-K, filed with the SEC on December 30, 2019. |
(5) | Incorporated by reference to the Company’s Form 8-K, filed with the SEC on February 6, 2020. |
Item 16. | Form 10-K Summary |
None.
87
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.
March 16, 2020 | RMG Acquisition Corp. | |
By: | /s/ Robert S. Mancini | |
Name: | Robert S. Mancini | |
Title: | Chief Executive Officer | |
(Principal Executive Officer) |
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, this Report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated.
Name | Position | Date | ||
/s/ D. James Carpenter | Chairman of the Board | March 16, 2020 | ||
D. James Carpenter | ||||
Chief Executive Officer and Director | ||||
/s/ Robert S. Mancini | (Principal Executive Officer, Principal Financial | March 16, 2020 | ||
Robert S. Mancini | Officer and Principal Accounting Officer) | |||
/s/ Philip Kassin | President, Chief Operating Officer and Director | March 16, 2020 | ||
Philip Kassin | ||||
/s/ Steven P. Buffone | Director | March 16, 2020 | ||
Steven P. Buffone | ||||
/s/ W. Grant Gregory | Director | March 16, 2020 | ||
W. Grant Gregory | ||||
/s/ W. Thaddeus Miller | Director | March 16, 2020 | ||
W. Thaddeus Miller | ||||
/s/ Craig Broderick | Director | March 16, 2020 | ||
Craig Broderick |
88