Item 1. Business
Overview
We are a newly organized, blank check company incorporated 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. While we may pursue an initial business combination target in any stage of its corporate evolution or in any industry or sector, we have focused our search on the value-added distribution, industrial specialty services, and differentiated manufacturing sectors. Our management team has extensive experience investing in and managing companies in these sectors.
Initial Public Offering
On October 29, 2020, we consummated our initial public offering of 11,000,000 units (the “units”). Each unit consists of one share of common stock of the Company, par value $0.0001 per share (the “Common Stock”), and one redeemable warrant of the Company (“warrant”), with each warrant entitling the holder thereof to purchase one-half of one share of Common Stock for $11.50 per whole share. The units were sold at a price of $10.00 per unit, generating gross proceeds to the Company of $110,000,000.
Simultaneously with the closing of the initial public offering, we completed the private sale of an aggregate of 10,000,000 warrants (the “private placement warrants”) to our sponsor at a purchase price of $0.50 per private placement warrant, generating gross proceeds of $5,000,000.
A total of $111,100,000, comprised of $110,000,000 of the net proceeds of the sale of the units in the initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, was placed in a U.S.-based trust account (the “trust account”) maintained by Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, acting as trustee.
Acquisition Criteria and Business Strategy
Our management team draws on its 30-plus years of private equity experience with the goal of creating strong risk-adjusted returns for our stockholders. They use a disciplined approach to target an operating business where they believe they can affect change and accelerate growth.
Sourcing of Opportunities. Our management team has developed extensive relationships during their years in the private equity industry with business brokers, private equity funds, operating managers, wealth managers and other intermediaries. We expect these networks will provide our management team with a robust flow of acquisition opportunities. In addition, we anticipate that target business candidates will be brought to our attention from unaffiliated sources. Members of our management team are communicating with their networks of relationships to articulate the search parameters for a potential business combination target and to pursue and review potentially interesting leads.
Our areas of focus for an acquisition includes value-added distribution, industrial specialty services, and differentiated manufacturing with an enterprise value of $300 million to $500 million. Our management team carefully considers each target’s business model given the extreme ongoing disruption of traditional business models by internet-based commerce platforms.
Value-added Distribution. Potentially advantageous attributes of value-added distributor targets might include:
● Established, longer-term customers
● Proprietary, consumable products
● Proprietary sourcing relationships
● Exclusive territory rights
● High switching costs
Industrial Specialty Services. Potentially advantageous attributes of specialty services targets might include:
● Offerings that drive regular servicing or visits
● Sticky customer relationships
● Differentiated business models
● High customer dependency on the service
● High ratio of value to cost of the service
Differentiated Manufacturing. Potentially advantageous attributes of differentiated manufacturing targets might include:
●Processes that provide the business with significantly lower production costs, such as locations, materials sourcing relationships, or other factors.
●Products protected by patents or that have relatively low competition from directly substitutable products.
Investment Criteria. Our management team reviews opportunities through four distinct lenses.
●Seasoned Management. We seek to partner with a seasoned management team that we can coach and further develop, and that is economically and philosophically aligned with us.
●Stability of Earnings. We are seeking a target company that has long-term, sustainable competitive advantages with consistent profitability, as opposed to a start-up company or a company with recurring, negative free cash flow.
●Growth Potential. We seek a target company with a proven ability to grow organically, as well as through add-on acquisitions.
●Readiness for the Public Capital Markets. We are seeking a target that will benefit from being publicly traded and will use its broader access to capital markets to pursue further growth opportunities and that has public market management experience and information systems in place.
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 team may deem relevant. In the event that we decide to enter into our initial business combination with a target business that does not meet the above criteria and guidelines, we will disclose that the target business does not meet the above criteria in our stockholder communications related to our initial business combination, which, as discussed in this report, would be in the form of tender offer documents or proxy solicitation materials that we would file with the SEC.
Closing the Acquisition. Our management team has been involved with the acquisition of more than 100 primary and add-on companies. They have strong expertise in evaluating, negotiating, structuring and closing M&A transactions. Further, our management team is well-versed in the capital markets, having raised hundreds of millions of dollars in financing during their private equity tenures. More importantly, they have a philosophy of structuring acquisition transactions that closely align the desires of the sellers and the buyers.
In evaluating a prospective acquisition candidate, we expect to conduct a thorough due diligence review which will encompass, among other things, meetings with incumbent management, investors and employees, document reviews, inspection of facilities, and review of scientific, regulatory, operational, financial, legal and other information which will be made available to us.
We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor, our officers, or our directors, or any of their respective affiliates, subject to certain approvals and consents. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors, or any of their affiliates, we, or a committee of independent directors, will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm which is a member of FINRA or an independent accounting firm that our initial business combination is fair to us from a financial point of view. Currently, we are not aware of an affiliate of such parties that would make a suitable target for our initial business combination. Additionally, pursuant to Nasdaq rules, any initial business combination must be approved by a majority of our independent directors.
Value Creation. After consummation of our initial business combination, we expect to create value by combining the target company’s management’s knowledge of its business and industry with our management team’s expertise in creating equity value. We expect to transform the target company by leveraging our management team’s experience and prior successes to implement core initiatives in the areas of:
●Strategic planning. We believe that private companies may not invest sufficient time and attention to develop operating plans and budgets, or to hold regular strategy sessions and board meetings. We have experience in these areas and will encourage and assist the target business in all of these areas. Specifically we expect to:
●Develop budgeting processes
●Define operational and reporting cadences
●Develop the team and the organization
●Implement board and strategy meetings on a regular basis
●Leadership development. We expect to recruit missing talent in the C-suite and coach existing talent. Specific leadership initiatives might include:
●Broadening and strengthening the C-suite
●Developing the middle management bench across all disciplines
●Developing a long term succession and emergency plan
●Implementing executive coaching
●Infrastructure investment. We expect to invest in or replace information technology and enterprise resource planning systems that are inadequate to support desired growth or that do not provide needed metrics. Individual focus areas might also include:
●Institutionalizing financial and operating reporting
●Increasing professional oversight around audit, tax, insurance and real estate
●Developing and implementing best-in-class cyber security
●Add-on acquisitions. Analysis and planning, sourcing, underwriting, closing and integration of acquisitions are all areas that we believe our management team can provide to the target business. Add-on acquisitions may:
●Expand product and/or service offerings
●Increase geographic reach
●Increase the customer breadth
●Seek to dilute excessive customer concentration
Our philosophy will be to seek multiple potential paths to increase the target business’s capabilities and scalability in order to generate outperformance for our stakeholders.
Management Overview
Our management team is led by our Chief Executive Officer, P. Jeffrey Leck, and our Chief Financial Officer, John F. Kirtley, who combined have over 60 years of experience investing in private companies in the value-added distribution, industrial specialty services, and differentiated manufacturing sectors. Moreover, they have worked closely together as partners since 1987, a span of over 30 years. Their last three private equity funds were Small Business Investment Companies, licensed by the United States Small Business Administration, investing in private equity control positions in the lower middle market. Their private equity funds prior to those were institutional private equity funds that included investments from limited partners including major universities and units of international banks. We believe our management team is well positioned to identify unique opportunities within the value-added distribution, industrial specialty services, and differentiated manufacturing sectors and has the requisite skills to identify, evaluate, negotiate, structure, finance, close, monitor and build value in a target business. They have strong experience in developing relationships with target company managers that emphasize alignment of objectives, economic incentives, and ethical business practices. Certain members of our management team have spent significant portions of their careers working with businesses in the value-added distribution, industrial specialty services, and differentiated manufacturing sectors, and have developed a wide network of professional services contacts and business relationships in that industry. Our selection process leverages our relationships with business brokers, private equity funds, operating managers, wealth managers and other intermediaries, which we believe provides us with a key competitive advantage in sourcing potential business combination targets. Given our profile and dedicated industry approach, we anticipate that target business candidates may be brought to our attention from various unaffiliated sources, and in particular investors in other private and public companies in our networks. Our management team also proactively searches for unique opportunities that are best positioned for our initial business combination. We also believe that our management team’s reputations, experience and track record of making investments in the value-added distribution, industrial specialty services, and differentiated manufacturing space will make us a preferred partner for these potential targets.
Each of our directors and officers may, directly or indirectly, own founder shares and/or private placement warrants and, accordingly, may have a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target business is an appropriate business with which to effectuate our initial business combination. Further, such directors and officers may have a conflict of interest with respect to evaluating a particular business combination if the retention or resignation of any such directors and officers was included by a target business as a condition to any agreement with respect to our initial business combination.
Certain of our officers and directors presently has, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity. Accordingly, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for an entity to which he or she has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she will honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such opportunity to such entity. Our management team is continuously made aware of potential investment opportunities, one or more of which we may desire to pursue for a business combination.
No members of our management team have any obligation to present us with any opportunity for a potential business combination of which they become aware, unless presented to such member specifically in his or her capacity as an officer or a director of the company. Members of our management team may be required to present potential business combinations to other entities to whom they have fiduciary duties before they present such opportunities to us. Any knowledge or presentation of such opportunities may therefore present conflicts of interest.
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, and to the extent the director or officer is permitted to refer that opportunity to us without violating another legal obligation.
Our officers 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, or the Exchange Act, until we have entered into a definitive agreement regarding our initial business combination or we have failed to complete our initial business combination on or before April 29, 2022.
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 discounts 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 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. Additionally, pursuant to Nasdaq rules, any initial business combination must be approved by a majority of our independent directors.
We anticipate structuring our initial business combination so that the post-transaction company in which our public stockholders own shares will own or acquire 100% of the equity interests or assets of the target business or businesses. We may, however, structure our initial business combination such that the post-transaction company owns or acquires less than 100% of such interests or assets of the target business in order to meet certain objectives of the target management team or stockholders or for other reasons. However, 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 or assets sufficient for the post-transaction company not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, or the Investment Company Act. Even if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our stockholders prior to the business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post-transaction company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the business combination transaction. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock of a target. In this case, we would acquire a 100% controlling interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new shares, our stockholders immediately prior to our initial business combination could own less than a majority of our outstanding shares subsequent to our initial business combination. If less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses are owned or acquired by the post-transaction company, the portion of such business or businesses that is owned or acquired is what will be valued for purposes of the 80% of net assets test. If the business combination involves more than one target business, the 80% of net assets test will be based on the aggregate value of all of the target businesses and we will treat the target businesses together as the initial business combination for purposes of a tender offer or for seeking stockholder approval, as applicable.
Status as a Public Company
We believe our structure makes 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 intend to take advantage of the benefits of this extended transition period.
We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of (1) the last day of the fiscal year (a) ending on December 31, 2025, (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 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.
Additionally, we are a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Rule 10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K. Smaller reporting companies may take advantage of certain reduced disclosure obligations, including, among other things, providing only two years of audited financial statements. We will remain a smaller reporting company until the last day of the fiscal year in which (1) the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates exceeds $250 million as of the end of the prior June 30th, or (2) our annual revenues exceeded $100 million during such completed fiscal year and the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30th.
Financial Position
With funds in the trust account available for a business combination initially in the amount of $111,100,000, before fees and expenses associated with our initial business combination, we offer a target business a variety of options such as creating a liquidity event for its owners, providing capital for the potential growth and expansion of its operations or strengthening its balance sheet by reducing its debt or leverage ratio. Because we are able to complete our business combination using our cash, debt or equity securities, or a combination of the foregoing, we have the flexibility to use the most efficient combination that will allow us to tailor the consideration to be paid to the target business to fit its needs and desires. However, we have not taken any steps to secure third party financing and there can be no assurance it will be available to us.
Effecting our Initial Business Combination
We are not presently engaged in any operations. 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 instruments, 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 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, 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 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 management team. 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, since many of these sources will have read our prospectus filed in connection with our initial public offering will and know what types of businesses we are targeting. Our management team, 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 and directors 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 and directors, or any entity with which they are affiliated, be paid any finder’s fee, consulting fee, advisory 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) although we may consider cash or other compensation to officers or advisors we may hire hereafter to be paid either prior to or in connection with our initial business combination. We have agreed to reimburse our sponsor for any out-of-pocket expenses related to identifying, investigating and completing an initial business combination.
We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a business combination target that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers and directors or making the acquisition through a joint venture or other form of shared ownership with our 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.
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. In addition, we intend to focus our search for an initial business combination in a single industry. 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 of directors 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.
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.
Under Nasdaq’s listing rules, stockholder approval would be required for our initial business combination if, for example:
●we issue shares of common stock that will be equal to or in excess of 20% of the number of shares of our common stock then outstanding;
●any of our directors, officers or substantial stockholders (as defined by Nasdaq rules) has a 5% or greater interest (or such persons collectively have a 10% or greater interest), directly or indirectly, in the target business or assets to be acquired or otherwise and the present or potential issuance of common stock could result in an increase in outstanding common shares or voting power of 5% or more; 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 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 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.
Our sponsor, officers, directors and/or their affiliates anticipate that they may identify the stockholders with whom our sponsor, officers, directors 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 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 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 public shares upon the completion of our initial business combination at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account 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 taxes, divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, subject to the limitations described herein. The amount in the trust account was initially $10.10 per public share. The per-share amount we will distribute to investors who properly redeem their shares will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting discounts we will pay to the underwriters. Our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and any public shares held by them in connection with the completion of our business combination.
Manner of Conducting Redemptions
We will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their public shares upon the completion of our initial business combination 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 obtain and maintain a listing for our securities on Nasdaq, we will be required to comply with such rules.
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 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 will only redeem our public shares so long as (after such redemption) our net tangible assets will be at least $5,000,001 either immediately prior to or upon consummation of our initial business combination and after payment of underwriters’ fees and commissions (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, officers and directors will count toward this quorum and have agreed to vote their 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. 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 agreements of our sponsor, officers and directors, 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 will provide that we will only redeem our public shares so long as (after such redemption) our net tangible assets will be at least $5,000,001 either immediately prior to or upon consummation of our initial business combination and after payment of underwriters’ fees and commissions (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 public shares 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 public shares submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof.
Limitation on Redemption upon Completion of 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 will provide 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 15% of the shares sold in our initial public offering, which we refer to as 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 15% 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 15% 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 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 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.
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 delivers 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 April 29, 2022.
Redemption of Public Shares and Liquidation if no Initial Business Combination
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that we will have only 18 months from the closing of our initial public offering or April 29, 2022 to complete our initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our business combination by April 29, 2022, 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 taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest 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 of directors, 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. 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 by April 29, 2022.
Our sponsor, officers and directors 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 April 29, 2022. 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 allotted 18-month time period.
Our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed, pursuant to a letter agreement with us (filed as an exhibit to the registration statement in connection with our initial public offering), that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (i) that would modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination by April 29, 2022, or (ii) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, unless we provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares 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 taxes divided by the number of then outstanding public shares. However, we will only redeem our public shares so long as (after such redemption) our net tangible assets will be at least $5,000,001 either immediately prior to or upon consummation of our initial business combination and after payment of underwriters’ fees and commissions (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.
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 amounts remaining out of the proceeds of our IPO 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 taxes on interest income earned on the trust account balance, we may request the trustee to release to us an additional 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 $10.10. 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 $10.10. 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, 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. Marcum LLP, our independent registered public accounting firm will not execute agreements with us waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account.
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 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) $10.10 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, 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 $10.10 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.
In the event that the proceeds in the trust account are reduced below (i) $10.10 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, 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 $10.10 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, 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 will have access to certain proceeds of our initial public offering with which to pay any such potential claims. 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 on or before April 29, 2022 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 April 29, 2022 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 April 29, 2022, 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 taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest 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 of directors, 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 April 29, 2022 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.
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 are limited to searching for prospective target businesses to acquire, the only likely claims to arise would be from our vendors (such as lawyers, investment bankers, etc.) or prospective target businesses. As described above, pursuant to the obligation contained in our underwriting agreement, we will seek to have all vendors, service providers, 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) $10.10 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 $10.10 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 of directors 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 April 29, 2022, subject to applicable law, (ii) (a) 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 allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we have not consummated an initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of our initial public offering or (b) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity or (iii) our completion of an initial business combination, and then only in connection with those public shares that such stockholder properly elected to redeem, subject to the limitations described in this 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.
Facilities
Our executive offices are located at 19701 Bethel Church Road, Suite 302, Cornelius, NC 28031 and our telephone number is (813) 407-0444. Our executive offices are provided to us by our sponsor at no charge. We consider our current office space adequate for our current operations.
Employees
We currently have two officers. These individuals are not obligated to devote any specific number of hours to our matters but they intend to devote as much of their time as they deem necessary to our affairs until we have completed our initial business combination. The amount of time they devote in any time period varies based on the stage of the initial business combination process we are in. We do not intend to have any full time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination.
Periodic Reporting and Financial Information
Our units, common stock and warrants are registered under the Exchange Act and we 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.
Prior to the date of our initial public offering, we filed a Registration Statement on Form 8-A with the SEC to voluntarily register our securities under Section 12 of the Exchange Act. As a result, we are subject to the rules and regulations promulgated under the Exchange Act. We have no current intention of filing a Form 15 to suspend our reporting or other obligations under the Exchange Act prior or subsequent to the consummation of our business combination.
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 will be required to evaluate our internal control procedures for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2021 as required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. 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.
Item 1A. Risk Factors
As a smaller reporting company, we are not required to include risk factors in this Report. However, below is a partial list of material risks, uncertainties and other factors that could have a material effect on the Company and its operations:
●we are an early stage company with no revenue or basis to evaluate our ability to select a suitable business target;
● our independent registered public accounting firm's report contains an explanatory paragraph that expresses substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern;
●we may not be able to select an appropriate target business or businesses and complete our initial business combination in the prescribed time frame;
●our expectations around the performance of a prospective target business or businesses may not be realized;
●we may not be successful in retaining or recruiting required officers, key employees or directors following our initial business combination;
●our officers and directors may have difficulties allocating their time between the Company and other businesses and may potentially have conflicts of interest with our business or in approving our initial business combination;
●we may not obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination or reduce the number of shareholders requesting redemption;
●we may issue our shares to investors in connection with our initial business combination at a price that is less than the prevailing market price of our shares at that time;
●you may not be given the opportunity to choose the initial business target or to vote on the initial business combination;
●trust account funds may not be protected against third party claims or bankruptcy;
●an active market for our public securities' may not develop and you will have limited liquidity and trading;
●the availability to us of funds from interest income on the trust account balance may be insufficient to operate our business prior to the business combination;
●our financial performance following a business combination with an entity may be negatively affected by their lack an established record of revenue, cash flows and experienced management.
For the complete list of risks relating to our operations, see the section titled “Risk Factors” contained in our Registration Statement.
Item 1B.
Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments
Not applicable.
Item 2.
Item 2. Properties
Our executive offices are located at 19701 Bethel Church Road, Suite 302, Cornelius, NC 2803 and our telephone number is (813) 407-0444. Our executive offices are provided to us by our sponsor at no charge. We consider our current office space adequate for our current operations.
Item 3.
Item 3. Legal Proceedings
To the knowledge of our management team, 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.
Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures
Not applicable.
PART II
Item 5.
Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters, and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
(a) Market Information
Our units, common stock and warrants are each traded on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbols “MACUU,” “MACU” and “MACUW”, respectively. Our units commenced public trading on October 27, 2020, and our common stock and warrants commenced public trading separately on November 27, 2020.
(b) Holders
On April 21, 2021, there was one holder of record of our units, two holders of record of our shares of common stock and two holders of record of our warrants.
(c) Dividends
We have not paid any cash dividends on our common stock to date and do not intend to pay cash dividends prior to the completion of our initial business combination. The payment of cash dividends in the future will be dependent upon our revenues and earnings, if any, capital requirements and general financial condition subsequent to completion of our initial business combination. The payment of any cash dividends subsequent to our initial business combination will be within the discretion of our board of directors at such time. In addition, our board of directors is not currently contemplating and does not anticipate declaring any stock dividends in the foreseeable future. Further, if we incur any indebtedness in connection with our initial business combination, our ability to declare dividends may be limited by restrictive covenants we may agree to in connection therewith.
(d) Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans.
None.
(e) Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities
None.
(f) Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers
None.
(g) Use of Proceeds from the Initial Public Offering
On October 29, 2020, the Company consummated its initial public offering (the “IPO”) of 11,000,000 units (the “Units”). Each Unit consists of one share of common stock of the Company, par value $0.0001 per share (“Common Stock”), and one redeemable warrant of the Company (“Warrant”), with each Warrant entitling the holder thereof to purchase one-half of one share of Common Stock for $11.50 per whole share. The Units were sold at a price of $10.00 per Unit, generating gross proceeds to the Company of $110,000,000.
A total of $111,100,000 of the proceeds from the IPO (which amount includes $3,850,000 of the underwriters’ deferred discount) and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants, was placed in a U.S.-based trust account maintained by Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, acting as trustee. The proceeds held in the trust account may be invested by the trustee only in U.S. government securities with a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds investing solely in U.S. government treasury obligations and meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended.
Item 6.
Item 6. Reserved
Item 7.
Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
References to the “Company,” “us,” “our” or “we” refer Mallard Acquisition Corp. The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our audited financial statements and related notes included herein.
The following discussion and analysis of the Company’s financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our audited financial statements and the notes related thereto which are included in “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Certain information contained in the discussion and analysis set forth below includes forward-looking statements. Our actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of many factors, including those set forth under “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements,” “Item 1A. Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Overview
We are a blank check company formed under the laws of the State of Delaware on February 26, 2020, for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or other similar business combination with one or more businesses. We intend to effectuate our Business Combination using cash from the proceeds of the Initial Public Offering and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants, our capital stock, debt or a combination of cash, stock and debt.
We expect to continue to incur significant costs in the pursuit of our acquisition plans. We cannot assure you that our plans to raise capital or to complete our initial Business Combination will be successful.
Results of Operations
We have neither engaged in any operations nor generated any operating revenues to date. Our only activities from inception through December 31, 2020 were organizational activities and those necessary to prepare for the Initial Public Offering, described below. We do not expect to generate any operating revenues until after the completion of our initial Business Combination. We expect to generate non-operating income in the form of interest income on investments held after the Initial Public Offering. We expect that we will 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 in connection with searching for, and completing, a Business Combination.
For the period from February 26, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, we had net income of $1,285,220, which consisted of formation and operating costs of $236,698 offset by a change in fair value of derivative liability of $1,520,000 and interest income on investments held in the Trust Account of $1,918.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
On October 29, 2020, we consummated the Initial Public Offering of 11,000,000 Units, at a price of $10.00 per Unit, generating gross proceeds of $110,000,000. Simultaneously with the closing of the Initial Public Offering, we consummated the sale of 10,000,000 Private Placement Warrants to the Sponsor at a price of $0.50 per Private Placement Warrant generating gross proceeds of $5,000,000.
Following the Initial Public Offering and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants, a total of $111,100,000 was placed in the Trust Account. We incurred $6,569,054 in transaction costs, including $2,200,000 of underwriting fees, $3,850,000 of deferred underwriting fees and $519,054 of other costs.
For the period from February 26, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, cash used in operating activities was $423,009. Net income of $1,285,220 was affected by a change in fair value of derivative liability of $1,520,000, interest earned on investments held in the Trust Account of $1,918 and changes in operating assets and liabilities, which used $186,311 of cash from operating activities.
As of December 31, 2020, we had investments held in the Trust Account of $111,101,918 (including approximately $1,918 of interest income) consisting of securities held in a money market fund that invests in U.S. Treasury securities with a maturity of 185 days or less. Interest income on the balance in the Trust Account may be used by us to pay taxes. Through December 31, 2020, we did not withdraw any interest earned on the Trust Account to pay our taxes. We intend to use substantially all of the funds held in the Trust Account, including any amounts representing interest earned on the Trust Account, which interest shall be net of taxes payable and excluding deferred underwriting commissions, to complete our Business Combination. We may withdraw interest from the Trust Account to pay taxes, if any. To the extent that our share capital or debt is used, in whole or in part, as consideration to complete a Business Combination, the remaining proceeds held in the Trust Account will be used as working capital to finance the operations of the target business or businesses, make other acquisitions and pursue our growth strategies.
As of December 31, 2020, we had cash outside of the investments held in Trust Account of $782,937. We intend to use the funds held outside the Trust Account primarily to identify and evaluate target businesses, perform business due diligence on prospective target businesses, travel to and from the offices, plants or similar locations of prospective target businesses or their representatives or owners, review corporate documents and material agreements of prospective target businesses, structure, negotiate and complete a Business Combination.
In order to fund working capital deficiencies or finance transaction costs in connection with a Business Combination, our Sponsor or an affiliate of our Sponsor or certain of our officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds as may be required. If we complete a Business Combination, we may repay such loaned amounts out of the proceeds of the Trust Account released to us. In the event that a Business Combination does not close, we may use a portion of the working capital held outside the Trust Account to repay such loaned amounts, but no proceeds from our Trust Account would be used for such repayment. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants of the post Business Combination entity, at a price of $0.50 per warrant, at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the Private Placement Warrants.
We monitor the adequacy of our working capital in order to meet the expenditures required for operating our business prior to our initial Business Combination. However, if our estimates of the costs of identifying a target business, undertaking in-depth due diligence and negotiating an initial Business Combination are less than the actual amount necessary to do so, we may have insufficient funds available to operate our business prior to our Business Combination. Moreover, we may need to obtain additional financing either to complete our Business Combination or because we become obligated to redeem a significant number of our public shares upon completion of our Business Combination, in which case we may issue additional securities or incur debt in connection with such 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.
The Company may need to raise additional capital through loans or additional investments from its Sponsor, stockholders, officers, directors, or third parties. The Company’s officers, directors and Sponsor may, but are not obligated to, loan the Company funds, from time to time or at any time, in whatever amount they deem reasonable in their sole discretion, to meet the Company’s working capital needs. Accordingly, the Company may not be able to obtain additional financing. If the Company is unable to raise additional capital, it may be required to take additional measures to conserve liquidity, which could include, but not necessarily be limited to, curtailing operations, suspending the pursuit of a potential transaction, and reducing overhead expenses. The Company cannot provide any assurance that new financing will be available to it on commercially acceptable terms, if at all. These conditions raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern if a Business Combination is not consummated.
Off-Balance Sheet Financing Arrangements
We have no obligations, assets or liabilities, which would be considered off-balance sheet arrangements as of December 31, 2020. We do not participate in transactions that create relationships with unconsolidated entities or financial partnerships, often referred to as variable interest entities, which would have been established for the purpose of facilitating off-balance sheet arrangements. We have not entered into any off-balance sheet financing arrangements, established any special purpose entities, guaranteed any debt or commitments of other entities, or purchased any non-financial assets.
Contractual Obligations
We do not have any long-term debt, capital lease obligations, operating lease obligations or long-term liabilities, other than described below.
The underwriters are entitled to a deferred fee of $0.35 per Unit, or $3,850,000 in the aggregate.
Critical Accounting Policies
The preparation of financial statements and related disclosures in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements, and income and expenses during the periods reported. Actual results could materially differ from those estimates. We have identified the following critical accounting policies:
Warrant Liability
We account for the private and public warrants issued in connection with our Initial Public Offering in accordance with the guidance contained in ASC 815-40-15-7D under which the warrants do not meet the criteria for equity treatment and must be recorded as liabilities. Accordingly, we classify the warrants as liabilities at their fair value and adjust the warrants to fair value at each reporting period. This liability is subject to re-measurement at each balance sheet date until exercised, and any change in fair value is recognized in our statement of operations. The fair value of the warrants was estimated by using both a probability adjusted Black-Scholes option pricing model and a Monte Carlo simulation approach.
Common Stock Subject to Possible Redemption
We account for our common stock subject to possible conversion in accordance with the guidance in Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 480 “Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity.” Common stock subject to mandatory redemption is classified as a liability instrument and measured at fair value. Conditionally redeemable common stock (including common stock that features redemption rights that are either within the control of the holder or subject to redemption upon the occurrence of uncertain events not solely within our control) is classified as temporary equity. At all other times, common stock is classified as stockholders’ equity. Our common stock features certain redemption rights that are considered to be outside of our control and subject to occurrence of uncertain future events. Accordingly, common stock subject to possible redemption is presented at redemption value as temporary equity, outside of the stockholders’ equity section of our balance sheet.
Net Income per Common Share
We apply the two-class method in calculating earnings per share. Net income per common share, basic and diluted for common stock subject to possible redemption is calculated by dividing the interest income earned on the Trust Account, net of applicable taxes, if any, by the weighted average number of shares of common stock subject to possible redemption outstanding for the period. Net income per common share, basic and diluted for and non-redeemable common stock is calculated by dividing net income less income attributable to common stock subject to possible redemption, by the weighted average number of shares of non-redeemable common stock outstanding for the period presented.
Recent Accounting Standards
Management does not believe that any other recently issued, but not yet effective, accounting standards, if currently adopted, would have a material effect on our financial statements.
Item 7A.
Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk
Following the consummation of our Initial Public Offering, the net proceeds of our Initial Public Offering, including amounts in the Trust Account, have been invested in U.S. government treasury bills, notes or bonds with a maturity of 185 days or less or in certain money market funds that invest solely in US treasuries. Due to the short-term nature of these investments, we believe there will be no associated material exposure to interest rate risk.
Item 8.
Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data
This information appears following Item 15 of this Report and is included herein by reference.
Item 9.
Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure.
None.
Item 9A.
Item 9A. Controls and Procedures.
Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
Disclosure controls are procedures that are designed with the objective of ensuring that information required to be disclosed in our reports filed under the Exchange Act, such as this Report, is recorded, processed, summarized, and reported within the time period specified in the SEC’s rules and forms. Disclosure controls are also designed with the objective of ensuring that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including the chief executive officer and chief financial officer, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure. Our management evaluated, with the participation of our current chief executive officer and chief financial officer (our “Certifying Officers”), the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures as of December 31, 2020, pursuant to Rule 13a-15(b) under the Exchange Act. Based upon that evaluation, our Certifying Officers concluded that, solely due to the Company’s restatement of its financial statements to reclassify the Company’s Warrants as described herein, our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective as of December 31, 2020.
We do not expect that our disclosure controls and procedures will prevent all errors and all instances of fraud. Disclosure controls and procedures, no matter how well conceived and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of the disclosure controls and procedures are met. Further, the design of disclosure controls and procedures must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints, and the benefits must be considered relative to their costs. Because of the inherent limitations in all disclosure controls and procedures, no evaluation of disclosure controls and procedures can provide absolute assurance that we have detected all our control deficiencies and instances of fraud, if any. The design of disclosure controls and procedures also is based partly on certain assumptions about the likelihood of future events, and there can be no assurance that any design will succeed in achieving its stated goals under all potential future conditions.
Management’s Report on Internal Controls Over Financial Reporting
This Annual Report on Form 10-K does not include a report of management’s assessment regarding internal control over financial reporting or an attestation report of our independent registered public accounting firm due to a transition period established by rules of the SEC for newly public companies.
Restatement of Previously Issued Financial Statements
On April 22, 2021, we revised our prior position on accounting for warrants and concluded that our previously issued financial statements as of October 29, 2020 should not be relied on because of a misapplication in the guidance on warrant accounting. However, the non-cash adjustments to the financial statements do not impact the amounts previously reported for our cash and cash equivalents, or total assets.
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.
Item 9B. Other Information
None.
PART III
Item 10.
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:
The experience of our directors and executive officers are as follows:
P. Jeffrey Leck, our Chief Executive Officer, President and a Director since inception, has more than 30 years of experience acquiring businesses. From June 2019 until present, Mr. Leck has been evaluating various potential private equity investments in conjunction with our Chief Financial Officer, John Kirtley. Until June 2019, he was a Special Advisor with KLH Capital Fund III, LP, a managing general partner with KLH Capital Fund II, LP, and a managing general partner with KLH Capital, LP. Each of these KLH Capital Funds I, II and III are/were Small Business Investment Companies, licensed by the United States Small Business Administration, investing in private equity control positions in the lower middle market. He co-founded KLH Capital in 2005. Prior to KLH Capital, he was a managing general partner of FCP Investors Funds I-V, LP, institutionally backed private equity funds investing in private equity control positions in the lower middle market. He co-founded Florida Capital Partners, which invested in lower middle market private companies, in 1989 with Mr. Kirtley. Prior to 1989, he held positions as a General Partner, Vice President and Associate at Chemical Venture Partners, the private equity and venture capital arm of Chemical Bank and as a financial analyst at Drexel Burnham Lambert. He is currently a Director of MyWorkChoice LLC, a tech-enabled contract staffing company (since January 2020), Hudson & Canal Corp., a designer, importer and distributor of home furnishings to the eCommerce trade (since 2017) and Educational Symposia, Inc., a continuing medical education company (since 2001), and has served as a Director of numerous portfolio companies of the KLH Capital Funds and FCP Investors Funds described above. He also serves as an Advisor to KLH Capital (since July 2019); TFX Capital (since 2015); Arcus Ventures (since 2011) and Hanover Partners (since 1994). Mr. Leck received his Bachelor of Science degree in Commerce from the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia. Mr. Leck is well-qualified to serve as a Director due to his extensive investment and board experience in the private equity industry.
John F. Kirtley, our Chief Financial Officer, Secretary, Treasurer, and a Director since inception, has more than 30 years of experience acquiring businesses. From June 2019 until present, Mr. Kirtley has been evaluating various potential private equity investments in conjunction with our Chief Executive Officer, P. Jeffrey Leck. Until June 2019, he was a Special Advisor with KLH Capital Fund III, LP, a managing general partner with KLH Capital Fund II, LP, and a managing general partner with KLH Capital, LP. Each of these KLH Capital Funds I, II and III are/were Small Business Investment Companies, licensed by the United States Small Business Administration, investing in private equity control positions in the lower middle market. He co-founded KLH Capital in 2005. Prior to KLH Capital, he was a managing general partner of FCP Investors Funds I-V, LP, institutionally backed private equity funds investing in private equity control positions in the lower middle market. He co-founded Florida Capital Partners in 1989 with Mr. Leck. Prior to Florida Capital Partners, he held positions as a General Partner, Associate and Financial Analyst at Chemical Venture Partners, the private equity and venture capital arm of Chemical Bank. He is currently a Director of Hudson & Canal Corp., a designer, importer and distributor of home furnishings to the eCommerce trade (since 2017) and Educational Symposia, Inc., a continuing medical education company (since 2001), and has served as a Director of numerous portfolio companies of the KLH Capital Funds and FCP Investors Funds described above. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Commerce from the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia. Mr. Kirtley is well-qualified to serve as a Director due to his extensive organizational, investment and board experience in the private equity industry.
Marc Sculler has served as one of our directors since October 2020. From July 2017 until present, Mr. Sculler has been President and Chief Executive Officer of Hudson & Canal, a designer, importer and distributor of home furnishings to the eCommerce trade. From 2014 to November 2016, he held positions of President and Senior Vice President of Twin-Star International, an enhanced distributor of TV/media furniture, electric fireplaces, portable heaters and consumer electronic accessories with operations in USA and China. From 2002 to 2014 he held the positions of Chief Executive Officer and Vice President of Bell’O International, an enhanced distributor of TV/media furniture and consumer electronic accessories. From 1996 to 2001, he was Chief Executive Officer and President of M&R Marking Systems a manufacturer of custom hand held marking products to the office products industry. Mr. Sculler holds a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Rider University. He is well-qualified to serve as a Director due to his extensive experience in operations, manufacturing, and finance.
William Weatherford has served as one of our directors since October 2020. Since 2015, Mr. Weatherford has been Managing Partner of Weatherford Capital, a private equity firm headquartered in Tampa, Florida. Mr. Weatherford was a member of the Florida House of Representatives from 2006 to 2014. From 2012 to 2014 he was the 84th Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives. He currently serves on the private boards of TECO Energy (a West Florida electric utility) and PayIt (a payment platform for government services). He currently serves on the advisory boards of Kitson & Partners (a Florida real estate development company) and MBF Healthcare Partners (a healthcare-focused private equity firm). Previously, Mr. Weatherford served as a Director at Florida Traditions Bank from 2008 to 2014, and Sunshine Bancorp Inc. (Nasdaq:SBPC) from 2015 to 2018. Mr. Weatherford earned his Bachelors of Science degree in International Business from Jacksonville University’s Davis College of Business. He is well-qualified to serve as a director due to his extensive experiences in management, finance, investing and public service.
Jennifer Paul has served as one of our directors since October 2020. Ms. Paul is the Founder and Managing Director at Minerva Investment Partners, LLC a private investment firm founded in 2018, which seeks to make investments in privately-held companies through the U.S. with EBITDA less than $10 million. She is responsible for sourcing, structuring, closing and monitoring its investments post-close. Prior to founding Minerva, Ms. Paul served as Vice President at Third Lake Capital, LLC, a single-family office managing the capital for the Wanek family, the founders and owners of Ashley Furniture. Her main responsibilities surrounded executing the firm’s private equity strategy including sourcing, structuring, due diligence and ongoing portfolio management, and as a member of the investment committee, she was also involved in areas within the firm including alternative investments, private fund investments and direct real estate investment strategy. She served as the Vice Chairman and Operating Partner of WingHouse Bar & Grill from 2016 until the business was exited in October 2019. Prior to joining Third Lake in 2013, she was an associate with Hyde Park Capital Advisors, LLC a middle-market investment bank, supporting its mergers and acquisitions, private capital raising, fairness opinions and corporate finance efforts. Ms. Paul joined Hyde Park Capital in 2009, where she worked with both public and private companies in a variety of industries including healthcare, industrials, technology, business and financial services. She attended The University of Tampa, where she was the recipient of the President’s Scholarship and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Finance with a concentration in Accounting. Ms. Paul is well-qualified to serve as a Director due to her extensive experiences within private equity as well as management.
Scott Yearwood has served as one of our directors since October 2020. Mr. Yearwood most recently served as co-founder and co-President of Energy Hardware LLC from 2002 to 2013. Energy Hardware is a distributor of high quality, close tolerance electro-mechanical hardware and fasteners to industrial OEM manufacturers, subcontractors and repair operations around the world, primarily within the global power generation industry. It was quickly recognized as an industry leader earning multiple supplier awards by providing best in class quality products and creative inventory management solutions such as kitting and in-house stores. In 1998 Mr. Yearwood became Director of Marketing for Pentacon Aerospace Group, and subsequently Director of GE Global Business Development for Pentacon, Inc. (NYSE:JIT), a Texas-based company, until he co-founded Energy Hardware LLC in 2002. He graduated from Brevard Community College with an Associate’s degree in Business Administration. He is well-qualified to serve as a Director due to his extensive experience in operations and manufacturing.
Number and Terms of Office of Officers and Directors
Our board of directors consists of six directors and 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 Messrs. Weatherford and Yearwood will expire at our first annual meeting of stockholders. The term of office of the second class of directors, consisting of Mr. Sculler and Ms. Paul, will expire at the second annual meeting of stockholders. The term of office of the third class of directors, consisting of Messrs. Kirtley and Leck, will expire at the third annual meeting of stockholders. We may not hold an annual meeting of stockholders until after we consummate our initial business combination. As a result, you will not have any influence over the election of directors prior to our initial business combination.
Our officers are appointed by the board of directors and serve at the discretion of the board of directors, rather than for specific terms of office. Our board of directors is authorized to appoint 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 of directors.
Committees of the Board of Directors
Our board of directors has two standing committees: an audit committee and a compensation committee. Subject to phase-in rules and a limited exception, the rules of Nasdaq and Rule 10A-3 of the Exchange Act require that the audit committee of a listed company be comprised solely of independent directors, and the rules of Nasdaq require that the compensation committee of a listed company be comprised solely of independent directors. Each committee operates under a charter that complies with Nasdaq rules, has been approved by our board of directors and has the composition and responsibilities described below.
Audit Committee
We have established an audit committee of the board directors. Messrs. Sculler, Yearwood and Ms. Paul serve as members of our audit committee and Mr. Sculler serves as the Chairman of the audit committee. Under the Nasdaq 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, subject to certain phase-in provisions. Each member of our audit committee meets the independent director standard under Nasdaq listing standards and under Rule 10-A-3(b)(1) of the Exchange Act.
Each member of the audit committee is financially literate and our board of directors has determined that Mr. Sculler qualifies as an “audit committee financial expert” as defined in applicable SEC rules.
We 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.
Compensation Committee
We have established a compensation committee of the board of directors. Mr. Sculler and Ms. Paul serve as the members of our compensation committee and Ms. Paul serves as the chairman of the compensation committee. Under the Nasdaq listing standards and applicable SEC rules, we are required to have at least two members of the compensation committee, all of whom must be independent, subject to certain phase-in provisions. Each member of our compensation committee meets the independent director standard under Nasdaq listing standards applicable to members of the compensation committee.
We 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, other than reimbursement of expenses, no compensation of any kind, including finders, 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 although we may consider cash or other compensation to officers or advisors we may hire hereafter to be paid either prior to or in connection with our initial business combination. Accordingly, it is likely that prior to the consummation of an initial business combination, the compensation committee will only be responsible for the review and recommendation of any compensation arrangements to be entered into in connection with such initial business combination.
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 Nasdaq and the SEC.
Director Nominations
We do not have a standing nominating committee. In accordance with Rule 5605(e)(2) of the Nasdaq Rules, a majority of the independent directors may recommend a director nominee for selection by the board of directors. The board of directors believes that the independent directors can satisfactorily carry out the responsibility of properly selecting or approving director nominees without the formation of a standing nominating committee. As there is no standing nominating committee, we do not have a nominating committee charter in place.
The board of directors will also consider director candidates recommended for nomination by our stockholders during such times as they are seeking proposed nominees to stand for election at the next annual meeting of stockholders (or, if applicable, a special meeting of stockholders). Our stockholders that wish to nominate a director for election to our board of directors should follow the procedures set forth in our bylaws.
We have not formally established any specific, minimum qualifications that must be met or skills that are necessary for directors to possess. In general, in identifying and evaluating nominees for director, our board of directors considers educational background, diversity of professional experience, knowledge of our business, integrity, professional reputation, independence, wisdom, and the ability to represent the best interests of our stockholders.
Code of Ethics
We have adopted a Code of Ethics applicable to our directors, officers and employees. We filed a copy of our Code of Ethics and our audit and compensation committee charters as exhibits to this Report. You will be able to review these documents by accessing our public filings at the SEC’s web site at www.sec.gov. We intend to disclose any amendments to or waivers of certain provisions of our Code of Ethics in a Current Report on Form 8-K.
Item 11.
Item 11. Executive Compensation
Compensation Discussion and Analysis
Officer and Director Compensation
None of our officers or directors has received any cash compensation for services rendered to us. Other than as set forth elsewhere in this Report, no compensation of any kind, including finder’s and consulting fees, will be paid to our sponsor, existing officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates, for services rendered prior to or in connection with the completion of our initial business combination although we may consider cash or other compensation to officers or advisors we may hire hereafter to be paid either prior to or in connection with our initial business combination. In addition, our officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made to our sponsor, officers or directors, or our or their affiliates.
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 of directors for determination, either by a compensation committee constituted solely by independent directors or by a majority of the independent directors on our board of directors.
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.
The Compensation Committee has reviewed and discussed the Compensation Discussion and Analysis with management and, based upon its review and discussions, the Compensation Committee recommended to the board of directors that the Compensation Discussion and Analysis be included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020.
Item 12.
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 December 31, 2020 based on information obtained from the persons named below, with respect to the beneficial ownership of common stock, by:
● each person known by us to be the beneficial owner of more than 5% of our outstanding common stock;
● each of our executive officers and directors that beneficially owns our common stock; and
● all our executive officers and directors as a group.
In the table below, percentage ownership is based on 13,750,000 shares of our common stock issued and outstanding as of the date of this report.
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. The following table does not reflect record or beneficial ownership of the private placement warrants as these warrants are not exercisable within 60 days of the date of this Report.
*less than 1%.
(1)Unless otherwise noted, the business address of each of the following entities or individuals is c/o Mallard Acquisition Corp., 19701 Bethel Church Road, Suite 302, Cornelius, NC 28031.
(2)Our sponsor is the record holder of the founder shares reported herein. Mr. Leck, our Chief Executive Officer, and Mr. Kirtley, our Chief Financial Officer, are the managing members of our sponsor. Consequently, such persons may be deemed the beneficial owner of the shares held by our sponsor and have voting and dispositive control over such securities. Such persons disclaim beneficial ownership of any shares other than to the extent he may have a pecuniary interest therein, directly or indirectly. In addition, each of our officers and directors is a member of our sponsor. Each such person disclaims any beneficial ownership of the reported shares other than to the extent of any pecuniary interest they may have therein, directly or indirectly.
(3)According to a Schedule 13G filed October 29, 2020, CVI Investments, Inc. (“CVI”) owns the indicated shares beneficially and of record. Heights Capital Management, Inc. (“HCM”) is the investment manager of CVI and may exercise voting and dispositive control with respect to such shares. Accordingly, HCM may be deemed a beneficial owner of such shares. The address of CVI is P.O. Box 309GT, Ugland House, South Church Street, George Town, Grand Cayman, KY1-1104, Cayman Islands; the address of HCM is 101 California Street, Suite 3250, San Francisco, California 94111.
(4)According to a Schedule 13G filed November 4, 2020, the shares are held by Boothbay Absolute Return Strategies LP, a Delaware limited partnership (the “Fund”), which is managed by Boothbay Fund Management, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (the “Adviser”). The Adviser, in its capacity as the investment manager of the Fund, has the power to vote and the power to direct the disposition of all shares held by the Fund. Ari Glass is the Managing Member of the Adviser. Accordingly, the Fund and the Adviser and Mr. Glass may be deemed to beneficially own an aggregate of 1,000,000 Shares. The address of all reporting persons is 140 East 45th Street, 14th Floor, New York, NY 10017.
(5)According to a Schedule 13G filed November 5, 2020, beneficial ownership of these securities may be attributed to Shawn Kimel Investments, Inc., an Ontario corporation (“SKI“), The K2 Principal Fund, L.P., an Ontario limited partnership (the “Fund“), K2 Genpar 2017 Inc., an Ontario corporation and the General Partner to the Fund (“Genpar 2017“), and K2 & Associates Investment Management Inc., an Ontario corporation (“K2 & Associates“). Mr. Gosselin is Vice president of SKI, Secretary of Genpar 2017, and President of K2 & Associates. K2 & Associates is a direct 66.5% owned subsidiary of SKI, and is the investment manager of the Fund. The business address of each of the reporting entities or individuals is 2 Bloor St West, Suite 801, Toronto, Ontario, M4W 3E2.
Securities Authorized for Issuance under Equity Compensation Table
None.
Changes in Control
None.
Item 13.
Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence
In February 2020, our sponsor acquired 2,875,000 founder shares for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000. On October 20, 2020, we effectuated a stock dividend for 0.1 share for each of our outstanding shares of common stock, resulting in our sponsor holding an aggregate of 3,162,500 founder shares, up to 412,500 shares of which were subject to forfeiture if the underwriters’ over-allotment option was not exercised in full. 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. 412,500 shares were forfeited when the underwriters did not exercise the over-allotment option. The founder shares may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by the holder.
Our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 10,000,000 private placement warrants at a price of $0.50 per warrant ($5,000,000 in the aggregate) in a private placement that occurred simultaneously with the closing of our initial public offering. Each private placement warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one-half of one share of our common stock at a price of $11.50 per whole share. The private placement warrants (including the warrants that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans and the common stock issuable upon exercise of such warrants) may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by the holder.
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 then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she will honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such opportunity to such entity. Our officers and directors currently have certain relevant fiduciary duties or contractual obligations to other entities that may take priority over their duties to us. No compensation of any kind, including finder’s and consulting fees, will be paid to our sponsor, existing officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates, for services rendered prior to or in connection with the completion of an initial business combination although we may consider cash or other compensation to officers or advisors we may hire hereafter to be paid either prior to or in connection with our initial business combination. In addition, these individuals will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made to our sponsor, officers, directors, or our or their affiliates 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.
Our sponsor agreed to loan us up to $300,000 to be used for a portion of the expenses of our initial public offering. This loan was non-interest bearing, unsecured and was due at the earlier of December 31, 2020 or the closing of our initial public offering. The Company repaid the outstanding balance of $285,392 under the loan on November 2, 2020.
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 an initial business combination, we would repay such loaned amounts. In the event that the initial business combination does not close, we may use a portion of the working capital held outside the trust account to repay such loaned amounts but no proceeds from our trust account would be used for such repayment. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants at a price of $0.50 per warrant at the option of the lender. The 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. After our initial business combination, members of our management team who remain with us may be paid consulting, management or other fees from the combined company with any and all amounts being fully disclosed to our stockholders, to the extent then known, in the tender offer or proxy solicitation materials, as applicable, furnished to our stockholders. It is unlikely the amount of such compensation will be known at the time of distribution of such tender offer materials or at the time of a stockholder meeting held to consider our initial business combination, as applicable, as it will be up to the directors of the post-combination business to determine executive and director compensation.
We entered into a registration rights agreement with respect to the private placement warrants, the warrants (and underlying common stock) issuable upon conversion of working capital loans (if any), which was filed with the SEC in connection with our initial public offering.
Director Independence
Nasdaq listing standards require that a majority of our board of directors be independent. An “independent director” is defined generally as a person other than an officer or employee of the company or its subsidiaries or any other individual having a relationship which in the opinion of the company’s board of directors, would interfere with the director’s exercise of independent judgment in carrying out the responsibilities of a director. Our board of directors has determined that Messrs. Sculler, Weatherford, Yearwood and Ms. Paul are “independent directors” as defined in the Nasdaq listing standards and applicable SEC rules. Our audit committee is entirely composed of independent directors meeting Nasdaq’s additional requirements applicable to members of the audit committee. Our independent directors will have regularly scheduled meetings at which only independent directors are present.
Item 14.
Item 14. Principal Accountant Fees and Services
The following is a summary of fees paid or to be paid to Marcum LLP, or Marcum, for services rendered.
Audit Fees. Audit fees consist of fees billed for professional services rendered for the audit of our year-end financial statements and services that are normally provided by Marcum in connection with regulatory filings. The aggregate fees billed by Marcum for professional services rendered for the audit of our annual financial statements and other required filings with the SEC for the period from February 26, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020 totaled $78,795. The above amounts include interim procedures and audit fees, as well as attendance at audit committee meetings.
Audit-Related Fees. Audit-related services consist of fees billed for assurance and related services that are reasonably related to performance of the audit or review of our financial statements and are not reported under “Audit Fees.” These services include attest services that are not required by statute or regulation and consultations concerning financial accounting and reporting standards. We did not pay Marcum for consultations concerning financial accounting and reporting standards for the period from February 26, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020.
Tax Fees. We did not pay Marcum for tax planning and tax advice for the period from February 26, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020.
All Other Fees. We did not pay Marcum for other services for the period from February 26, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020.
Pre-Approval Policy
Our audit committee was formed upon the consummation of our Initial Public Offering. As a result, the audit committee did not pre-approve all of the foregoing services, although any services rendered prior to the formation of our audit committee were approved by our board of directors. Since the formation of our audit committee, and on a going-forward basis, the audit committee has and will pre-approve all auditing services and permitted non-audit services to be performed for us by our auditors, including the fees and terms thereof (subject to the de minimis exceptions for non-audit services described in the Exchange Act which are approved by the audit committee prior to the completion of the audit).
PART IV
Item 15.
Item 15. Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules
(a) The following documents are filed as part of this Form 10-K:
(1) Financial Statements:
(2) Financial Statement Schedules:
None.
(3) Exhibits
We hereby file as part of this Report the exhibits listed in the attached Exhibit Index. Copies of such material can be obtained on the SEC website at www.sec.gov.
Item 16. Form 10-K Summary
Not applicable.
MALLARD ACQUISITION CORP.
REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
To the Shareholders and the Board of Directors of
Mallard Acquisition Corp.
Opinion on the Financial Statements
We have audited the accompanying balance sheet of Mallard Acquisition Corp. (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2020, the related statements of operations, changes in stockholders’ equity and cash flows for the period from February 26, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2020, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the period from February 26, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.
Going Concern
The accompanying financial statements have been prepared assuming that the Company will continue as a going concern. As discussed in Note 1 to the financial statements, the Company may need to raise additional cash in order to complete its planned activities for a reasonable period of time, which is considered to be one year from the issuance date of the financial statements. These conditions raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. Management’s plans in regard to these matters are also described in Note 1. The financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.
Basis for Opinion
These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s financial statements based on our audit. 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 audit 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 audit, 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 audit included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audit 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 audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.
/s/ Marcum LLP
Marcum LLP
We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2020.
Houston, TX
April 22, 2021
MALLARD ACQUISITION CORP.
BALANCE SHEET
DECEMBER 31, 2020
The accompanying notes are an integral part of the financial statements.
MALLARD ACQUISITION CORP.
STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS
FOR THE PERIOD FROM FEBRUARY 26, 2020 (INCEPTION) THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2020
The accompanying notes are an integral part of the financial statements.
MALLARD ACQUISITION CORP.
STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY
FOR THE PERIOD FROM FEBRUARY 26, 2020 (INCEPTION) THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2020
The accompanying notes are an integral part of the financial statements.
MALLARD ACQUISITION CORP.
STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS
FOR THE PERIOD FROM FEBRUARY 26, 2020 (INCEPTION) THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2020
The accompanying notes are an integral part of the financial statements.
NOTE 1. DESCRIPTION OF ORGANIZATION AND BUSINESS OPERATIONS
Mallard Acquisition Corp. (the “Company”) was incorporated in Delaware on February 26, 2020. The Company was formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses (the “Business Combination”).
Although the Company is not limited to a particular industry or sector for purposes of consummating a Business Combination, the Company intends to focus its search on companies in the value-added distribution, industrial specialty services, and differentiated manufacturing sectors. The Company is an early stage and emerging growth company and, as such, the Company is subject to all of the risks associated with early stage and emerging growth companies.
As of December 31, 2020, the Company had not commenced any operations. All activity for the period from February 26, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020 relates to the Company’s formation and the initial public offering (“Initial Public Offering”), which is described below. The Company will not generate any operating revenues until after the completion of its initial Business Combination, at the earliest. The Company will generate non-operating income in the form of interest income from the proceeds derived from the Initial Public Offering.
The registration statement for the Company’s Initial Public Offering was declared effective on October 27, 2020. On October 29, 2020, the Company consummated the Initial Public Offering of 11,000,000 units (the “Units” and, with respect to the shares of common stock included in the Units sold, the “Public Shares”), at $10.00 per Unit, generating gross proceeds of $110,000,000, which is described in Note 4.
Simultaneously with the closing of the Initial Public Offering, the Company consummated the sale of 10,000,000 warrants (the “Private Placement Warrants”) at a price of $0.50 per Private Placement Warrant in a private placement to Mallard Founders Holdings LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (the “Sponsor”), generating gross proceeds of $5,000,000, which is described in Note 5.
Transaction costs amounted to $6,569,054 consisting of $2,200,000 of underwriting fees, $3,850,000 of deferred underwriting fees and $519,054 of other offering costs.
Following the closing of the Initial Public Offering on October 29, 2020, an amount of $111,100,000 ($10.10 per Unit) from the net proceeds of the sale of the Units in the Initial Public Offering and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants was placed in a trust account (the “Trust Account”) located in the United States and invested only in U.S. government securities, within the meaning set forth in Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”), with a maturity of 185 days or less or in any open-ended investment company that holds itself out as a money market fund selected by the Company meeting the conditions of Rule 2a-7 of the Investment Company Act, as determined by the Company, until the earlier of: (i) the completion of a Business Combination and (ii) the distribution of the funds in the Trust Account, as described below.
The Company’s management has broad discretion with respect to the specific application of the net proceeds of the Initial Public Offering and the sale of 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 a Business Combination 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 interest earned on the Trust Account) at the time of the agreement to enter into a Business Combination. The Company will only complete a Business Combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act.
The Company will provide its holders of the outstanding Public Shares (the “Public Stockholders”) with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their Public Shares upon the completion of a Business Combination either (i) in connection with a stockholder meeting called to approve the Business Combination or (ii) by means of a tender offer. The decision as to whether the Company will seek stockholder approval of a Business Combination or conduct a tender offer will be made by the Company, solely in its discretion. The Public Stockholders will be entitled to redeem their Public Shares for a pro rata portion of the amount then in the Trust Account (initially $10.10 per Public Share, plus any pro rata interest earned on the funds held in the Trust Account and not previously released to the Company to pay its tax obligations). 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 7). There will be no redemption rights upon the completion of a Business Combination with respect to the Company’s warrants.
The Company will proceed with a Business Combination if the Company has net tangible assets of at least $5,000,001 immediately prior to or upon consummation of a Business Combination and, if the Company seeks stockholder approval, a majority of the shares voted are voted in favor of the Business Combination. If a stockholder vote is not required by law and the Company does not decide to hold a stockholder vote for business or other legal reasons, the Company will, pursuant to its Certificate of Incorporation (the “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. If the Company seeks stockholder approval in connection with a Business Combination, the Company’s Sponsor has agreed to vote its Founder Shares (as defined in Note 5) and any Public Shares purchased during or after the Initial Public Offering in favor of approving a Business Combination. Additionally, each Public Stockholder may elect to redeem their Public Shares irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction.
If the Company seeks stockholder approval of a Business Combination and it does not conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, the Certificate of Incorporation provides that a Public Stockholder, together with any affiliate of such stockholder or any other person with whom such stockholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”)), will be restricted from redeeming its shares with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% or more of the Public Shares, without the prior consent of the Company.
The Sponsor has agreed (a) to waive its redemption rights with respect to any Founder Shares and Public Shares held by it in connection with the completion of a Business Combination and (b) not to propose an amendment to the Certificate of Incorporation (i) that would modify 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 within 18 months from the closing of the Initial Public Offering or (ii) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, unless the Company provides the Public Stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their Public Shares in conjunction with any such amendment.
The Company will have until April 29, 2022 to complete a Business Combination (the “Combination Period”). If the Company is unable to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period, the Company will (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than 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 tax obligations (less up to $100,000 of interest 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 the Company’s board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to the Company’s obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to the Company’s warrants, which will expire worthless if the Company fails to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period.
The Sponsor has agreed to waive its liquidation rights with respect to the Founder Shares if the Company fails to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period. However, if the Sponsor or any of its respective affiliates acquire Public Shares after the Initial Public Offering, such Public Shares will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the Trust Account if the Company fails to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period. The underwriters have agreed to waive their rights to their deferred underwriting commission (see Note 7) held in the Trust Account in the event the Company does not complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period and, in such event, such amounts will be included with the other funds held in the Trust Account that will be available to fund the redemption of the Public Shares. In the event of such distribution, it is possible that the per share value of the assets remaining available for distribution will be less than the amount initially funded in the Trust Account ($10.10 per share).
In order to protect the amounts held in the Trust Account, the Sponsor has agreed to be liable to the Company if and to the extent any claims by a third party for services rendered or products sold to the Company, or a prospective target business with which the Company has discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the Trust Account to below (i) $10.10 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. This liability will not apply with respect to any claims by a third party who executed a waiver of any and all rights to seek access to the Trust Account and except as to any claims under the Company’s indemnity of the underwriters of the Initial Public Offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”). Moreover, in the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, the Sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third-party claims. The Company will seek to reduce the possibility that the Sponsor will have to indemnify the Trust Account due to claims of creditors by endeavoring to have all vendors, service providers (except the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm), 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.
Liquidity and Going Concern
As of December 31, 2020, the Company had $782,937 in its operating bank accounts, $111,101,918 in securities held in the Trust Account to be used for a Business Combination or to repurchase or redeem its common stock in connection therewith and working capital of $1,059,654.
Until the consummation of a Business Combination, the Company will be using the funds not held in the Trust Account for identifying and evaluating prospective acquisition candidates, performing due diligence on prospective target businesses, paying for travel expenditures, selecting the target business to acquire, and structuring, negotiating and consummating the Business Combination.
The Company may need to raise additional capital through loans or additional investments from its Sponsor, stockholders, officers, directors, or third parties. The Company’s officers, directors and Sponsor may, but are not obligated to, loan the Company funds, from time to time or at any time, in whatever amount they deem reasonable in their sole discretion, to meet the Company’s working capital needs. Accordingly, the Company may not be able to obtain additional financing. If the Company is unable to raise additional capital, it may be required to take additional measures to conserve liquidity, which could include, but not necessarily be limited to, curtailing operations, suspending the pursuit of a potential transaction, and reducing overhead expenses. The Company cannot provide any assurance that new financing will be available to it on commercially acceptable terms, if at all. These conditions raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern through one year from the date of these financial statements if a Business Combination is not consummated. These financial statements do not include any adjustments relating to the recovery of the recorded assets or the classification of the liabilities that might be necessary should the Company be unable to continue as a going concern.
Risks and Uncertainties
Management continues to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and has concluded that while it is reasonably possible that the virus could have a negative effect on the Company’s financial position, results of its operations and/or search for a target company, the specific impact is not readily determinable as of the date of the financial statements. The financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.
NOTE 2 - RESTATEMENT OF PREVIOUSLY ISSUED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
The Company previously accounted for its outstanding Public Warrants (as defined in Note 4) and Private Placement Warrants issued in connection with its Initial Public Offering as components of equity instead of as derivative liabilities. The warrant agreement governing the warrants includes a provision that provides for potential changes to the settlement amounts dependent upon the characteristics of the holder of the warrant. In addition, the warrant agreement includes a provision that in the event of a tender or exchange offer made to and accepted by holders of more than 50% of the outstanding shares of a single class of common stock, all holders of the warrants would be entitled to receive cash for their warrants (the “tender offer provision”).
In connection with the audit of the Company’s financial statements for the period ended December 31, 2020, the Company’s management further evaluated the warrants under ASC Subtopic 815-40, Contracts in Entity’s Own Equity. ASC Section 815-40-15 addresses equity versus liability treatment and classification of equity-linked financial instruments, including warrants, and states that a warrant may be classified as a component of equity only if, among other things, the warrant is indexed to the issuer’s common stock. Under ASC Section 815-40-15, a warrant is not indexed to the issuer’s common stock if the terms of the warrant require an adjustment to the exercise price upon a specified event and that event is not an input to the fair value of the warrant. Based on management’s evaluation, the Company’s audit committee, in consultation with management and after discussion with the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm, concluded that the Company’s Private Placement Warrants are not indexed to the Company’s common stock in the manner contemplated by ASC Section 815-40-15 because the holder of the instrument is not an input into the pricing of a fixed-for-fixed option on equity shares. In addition, based on management’s evaluation, the Company’s audit committee, in consultation with management and after discussion with the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm, concluded the tender offer provision included in the warrant agreement fails the “classified in shareholders’ equity” criteria as contemplated by ASC Section 815-40-25.
As a result of the above, the Company should have classified the warrants as derivative liabilities in its previously issued balance sheet issued on October 27, 2020. Under this accounting treatment, the Company is required to measure the fair value of the warrants at the end of each reporting period and recognize changes in the fair value from the prior period in the Company’s operating results for the current period.
The Company’s accounting for the warrants as components of equity instead of as derivative liabilities did not have any effect on the Company’s previously reported assets. The impact of the restatement of the Company’s audited balance sheet as of October 27, 2020 is reflected in the following table:
NOTE 3 - SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES
Basis of Presentation
The accompanying financial statements are presented in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”) and pursuant to the rules and regulations of the SEC.
Emerging Growth Company
The Company is an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act, as modified by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the “JOBS Act”), and it may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in its periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved.
Further, Section 102(b)(1) of the JOBS Act exempts emerging growth companies from being required to comply with new or revised financial accounting standards until private companies (that is, those that have not had a Securities Act registration statement declared effective or do not have a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act) are required to comply with the new or revised financial accounting standards. The JOBS Act provides that a company can elect to opt out of the extended transition period and comply with the requirements that apply to non-emerging growth companies but any such election to opt out is irrevocable. The Company has elected not to opt out of such extended transition period which means that when a standard is issued or revised and it has different application dates for public or private companies, the Company, as an emerging growth company, can adopt the new or revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new or revised standard. This may make comparison of the Company’s financial statements with another public company which is neither an emerging growth company nor an emerging growth company which has opted out of using the extended transition period difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accounting standards used.
Use of Estimates
The preparation of the financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of expenses during the reporting period.
Making estimates requires management to exercise significant judgment. It is at least reasonably possible that the estimate of the effect of a condition, situation or set of circumstances that existed at the date of the financial statements, which management considered in formulating its estimate, could change in the near term due to one or more future confirming events. Accordingly, the actual results could differ significantly from those estimates.
Cash and Cash Equivalents
The Company considers all short-term investments with an original maturity of three months or less when purchased to be cash equivalents. The Company did not have any cash equivalents as of December 31, 2020.
Investments Held in Trust Account
At December 31, 2020, substantially all of the assets held in the Trust Account were held in U.S. Treasury securities.
Common Stock Subject to Possible Redemption
The Company accounts for its common stock subject to possible redemption in accordance with the guidance in Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 480 “Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity.” Common stock subject to mandatory redemption is classified as a liability instrument and is measured at fair value. Conditionally redeemable common stock (including common stock that features redemption rights that is either within the control of the holder or subject to redemption upon the occurrence of uncertain events not solely within the Company’s control) is classified as temporary equity. At all other times, common stock is classified as stockholders’ equity. The Company’s common stock features certain redemption rights that are considered to be outside of the Company’s control and subject to occurrence of uncertain future events. Accordingly, at December 31, 2020, common stock subject to possible redemption is presented at redemption value as temporary equity, outside of the stockholders’ equity section of the Company’s balance sheet.
Offering Costs
Offering costs consist of legal, accounting and other costs incurred through the balance sheet date that are directly related to the Initial Public Offering. Offering costs amounting to $6,569,054 were charged to stockholders’ equity upon the completion of the Initial Public Offering (see Note 1).
Warrant Liability
The Company accounts for warrants as either equity-classified or liability-classified instruments based on an assessment of the warrant’s specific terms and applicable authoritative guidance in ASC 480, Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity (“ASC 480”) and ASC 815, Derivatives and Hedging (“ASC 815”). The assessment considers whether the warrants are freestanding financial instruments pursuant to ASC 480, meet the definition of a liability pursuant to ASC 480, and whether the warrants meet all of the requirements for equity classification under ASC 815, including whether the warrants are indexed to the Company’s own shares and whether the warrant holders could potentially require “net cash settlement” in a circumstance outside of the Company’s control, among other conditions for equity classification. This assessment, which requires the use of professional judgment, is conducted at the time of warrant issuance and as of each subsequent quarterly period end date while the warrants are outstanding.
For issued or modified warrants that meet all of the criteria for equity classification, the warrants are required to be recorded as a component of additional paid-in capital at the time of issuance. For issued or modified warrants that do not meet all the criteria for equity classification, the warrants are required to be recorded at their initial fair value on the date of issuance, and each balance sheet date thereafter. Changes in the estimated fair value of the warrants are recognized as a non-cash gain or loss on the statements of operations. The fair value of the warrants was estimated using both a probability adjusted Black-Scholes option pricing model and a Monte Carlo simulation approach (see Note 10).
Income Taxes
The Company follows the asset and liability method of accounting for income taxes under ASC Topic 740, “Income Taxes.” Deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized for the estimated future tax consequences attributable to differences between the financial statements carrying amounts of existing assets and liabilities and their respective tax bases. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using enacted tax rates expected to apply to taxable income in the years in which those temporary differences are expected to be recovered or settled. The effect on deferred tax assets and liabilities of a change in tax rates is recognized in income in the period that included the enactment date. Valuation allowances are established, when necessary, to reduce deferred tax assets to the amount expected to be realized.
ASC Topic 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. The Company recognizes accrued interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits as income tax expense. There were no unrecognized tax benefits and no amounts accrued for interest and penalties as of December 31, 2020. The Company is currently not aware of any issues under review that could result in significant payments, accruals or material deviation from its position. The Company is subject to income tax examinations by major taxing authorities since inception.
On March 27, 2020, the CARES Act was enacted in response to COVID-19 pandemic. Under ASC 740, the effects of changes in tax rates and laws are recognized in the period which the new legislation is enacted. The CARES Act made various tax law changes including among other things (i) increasing the limitation under Section 163(j) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “IRC”) for 2019 and 2020 to permit additional expensing of interest (ii) enacting a technical correction so that qualified improvement property can be immediately expensed under IRC Section 168(k), (iii) making modifications to the federal net operating loss rules including permitting federal net operating losses incurred in 2018, 2019, and 2020 to be carried back to the five preceding taxable years in order to generate a refund of previously paid income taxes and (iv) enhancing the recoverability of alternative minimum tax credits. Given the Company’s full valuation allowance position and capitalization of all costs, the CARES Act did not have an impact on the financial statements.
Net Income Per Share
Net income per share is computed by dividing net income by the weighted-average number of shares of common stock outstanding during the period, excluding shares of common stock forfeited. The Company has not considered the effect of the warrants sold in the Initial Public Offering and private placement to purchase an aggregate of 10,500,000 shares in the calculation of diluted loss per share, since the exercise of the warrants are contingent upon the occurrence of future events and the inclusion of such warrants would be anti-dilutive.
The Company’s statement of operations includes a presentation of loss per share for common shares subject to possible redemption in a manner similar to the two-class method of loss per share. Net income per common share, basic and diluted, for Common stock subject to possible redemption is calculated by dividing the proportionate share of income or loss on marketable securities held by the Trust Account, net of applicable franchise and income taxes, by the weighted average number of Common stock subject to possible redemption outstanding since original issuance.
Net income per share, basic and diluted, for non-redeemable common stock is calculated by dividing the net income, adjusted for income or loss on marketable securities attributable to Common stock subject to possible redemption, by the weighted average number of non-redeemable common stock outstanding for the period.
Non-redeemable common stock includes Founder Shares and non-redeemable shares of common stock as these shares do not have any redemption features. Non-redeemable common stock participates in the income or loss on marketable securities based on non-redeemable shares’ proportionate interest.
The following table reflects the calculation of basic and diluted net income per common share (in dollars, except per share amounts):
Concentration of Credit Risk
Financial instruments that potentially subject the Company to concentrations of credit risk consist of a cash account in a financial institution which, at times may exceed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation coverage limit of $250,000. The Company has not experienced losses on this account and management believes the Company is not exposed to significant risks on such account.
Fair Value of Financial Instruments
The fair value of the Company’s assets and liabilities, which qualify as financial instruments under ASC Topic 820, “Fair Value Measurement,” approximates the carrying amounts represented in the accompanying balance sheet, primarily due to their short-term nature.
Recent Accounting Standards
Management does not believe that any recently issued, but not yet effective, accounting standards, if currently adopted, would have a material effect on the accompanying financial statements.
NOTE 4. INITIAL PUBLIC OFFERING
Pursuant to the Initial Public Offering, the Company sold 11,000,000 Units at a price of $10.00 per Unit. Each Unit consists of one share of common stock and one redeemable warrant (“Public Warrant”). Each Public Warrant entitles the holder to purchase one-half of one share of common stock at a price of $11.50 per whole share, subject to adjustment (see Note 8).
NOTE 5. PRIVATE PLACEMENT
Simultaneously with the closing of the Initial Public Offering, the Sponsor purchased an aggregate of 10,000,000 Private Placement Warrants at a price of $0.50 per Private Placement Warrant, for an aggregate purchase price of $5,000,000. The Sponsor agreed to purchase up to an additional 900,000 Private Placement Warrants at a price of $0.50 per Private Placement Warrant, or an aggregate of $450,000, to the extent the underwriters exercise their over-allotment option in full or in part. However, the over-allotment option was not exercised and expired in December 2020. Each Private Placement Warrant is exercisable to purchase one-half of one share of common stock at a price of $11.50 per whole share. A portion of the proceeds from the Private Placement Warrants were added to the proceeds from the Initial Public Offering held in the Trust Account. If the Company does not complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period, the proceeds of the sale of the Private Placement Warrants will be used to fund the redemption of the Public Shares (subject to the requirements of applicable law), and the Private Placement Warrants will expire worthless. There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions from the Trust Account with respect to the Placement Warrants.
NOTE 6. RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS
Founder Shares
On February 26, 2020, the Sponsor purchased 2,875,000 shares (the “Founder Shares”) of the Company’s common stock for an aggregate consideration of $25,000. On October 20, 2020, the Company effectuated a stock dividend of 0.1 share for each share of its outstanding common stock resulting in an aggregate of 3,162,500 Founder Shares outstanding. The Founder Shares included an aggregate of up 412,500 shares subject to forfeiture to the extent that the underwriters’ over-allotment option was not exercised in full or in part, so that the Sponsor would own, on an as-converted basis, 20% of the Company’s issued and outstanding shares after the Initial Public Offering (assuming the Sponsor does not purchase any Public Shares in the Initial Public Offering). In December 2020, the underwriters’ election to exercise their over-allotment option expired unexercised, resulting in the forfeiture of 412,500 shares. Accordingly, 2,750,000 Founder Shares remain issued and outstanding.
The Sponsor has agreed, subject to limited exceptions, not to transfer, assign or sell (A) with respect to 50% of the Founder Shares, for a period ending on the earlier to occur of the six-month anniversary of the completion of a Business Combination or the date on which the closing price of the common stock exceeds $12.50 for any 20 trading days within a 30-day trading period following the closing of a Business Combination; (B) with respect to the remaining 50% of the Founder Shares, for a period ending on the six-month anniversary of the closing of a Business Combination or (C) in each case, subsequent to a Business Combination, the date on which the Company completes a liquidation, merger, capital stock exchange or other similar transaction that results in all of the Public Stockholders having the right to exchange their shares of common stock for cash, securities or other property.
Promissory Note - Related Party
On February 26, 2020, the Sponsor agreed to loan the Company an aggregate of up to $300,000 to cover expenses related to the Initial Public Offering (the “Promissory Note”). The Promissory Note was non-interest bearing and payable on the earlier of December 31, 2020 or the consummation of the Initial Public Offering. The Company repaid the entire outstanding balance of $285,392 under the Promissory Note on November 2, 2020.
Advance from Sponsor
As of October 29, 2020, the Sponsor advanced $450,000 to the Company in anticipation of the amount to be paid for the purchase of additional Private Placement Warrants in the event the underwriters’ exercised their over-allotment option. The advance was due on demand should the over-allotment option not be exercised by the underwriters. The Company repaid the $450,000 advance from the Sponsor on November 4, 2020.
Related Party Loans
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 of the Trust Account released to the Company. Otherwise, the Working Capital Loans would be repaid only out of funds held outside the Trust Account. In the event that a Business Combination does not close, the Company may use a portion of proceeds held outside the Trust Account to repay the Working Capital Loans but no proceeds held in the Trust Account would be used to repay the Working Capital Loans. Except for the foregoing, the terms of such Working Capital Loans, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. The Working Capital Loans would either be repaid upon consummation of a Business Combination, without interest, or, at the lender’s discretion, up to $1,500,000 of such Working Capital Loans may be convertible into warrants of the post Business Combination entity at a price of $0.50 per warrant. The warrants would be identical to the Private Placement Warrants.
NOTE 7. COMMITMENTS
Registration Rights
Pursuant to a registration rights agreement entered into on October 27, 2020, the holders of the Founder Shares, Private Placement Warrants and warrants that may be issued upon conversion of Working Capital Loans (and any shares of common stock issuable upon the exercise of the Private Placement Warrants and warrants that may be issued upon conversion of Working Capital Loans) will be entitled to registration rights requiring the Company to register such securities for resale. The holders of the majority of these securities will be entitled to make up to three demands, excluding short form demands, that the Company register such securities. In addition, the holders have certain “piggy-back” registration rights with respect to registration statements filed subsequent to the completion of a Business Combination and rights to require the Company to register for resale such securities pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act. The registration rights agreement will not contain liquidating damages or other cash settlement provisions resulting from delays in registering the Company’s securities. The Company will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such registration statements.
Underwriting Agreement
The underwriters are entitled to a deferred fee of $0.35 per Unit, or $3,850,000 in the aggregate.
Right of First Refusal
Subject to certain conditions, the Company granted Chardan Capital Markets, LLC, for a period of 15 months after the date of the consummation of a Business Combination, a right of first refusal to act as lead underwriters or minimally as a co-manager, with at least 30% of the economics; or, in the case of a three-handed deal 20% of the economics, for any and all future public and private equity and debt offerings. In accordance with FINRA Rule 5110(f)(2)(E)(i), such right of first refusal shall not have a duration of more than three years from the effective date of the Initial Public Offering.
Anchor Investment
In connection with the closing of the Initial Public Offering, certain qualified institutional buyers or institutional accredited investors not affiliated with any member of the Company’s management (the “anchor investors”) purchased an aggregate of 10,370,000 Units. Separately, each of the anchor investors entered into a separate agreement with the Sponsor pursuant to which such investors purchased membership interests in the Sponsor representing indirect beneficial interests in up to 60,500 Founder Shares and 224,490 Private Placement Warrants upon closing of the Initial Public Offering.
Neither the membership interests in the Sponsor nor the Founder Shares or Private Placement Warrants to be indirectly owned by such investors will be subject to forfeiture without their consent.
The price paid by the anchor investors for the preceding Founder Share and Private Placement Warrant membership interests is approximately the same, proportionally, as that paid by the other members of the Sponsor, collectively, for the rest of such membership interests.
There can be no assurance as to the number of Units the anchor investors will retain, if any, prior to or upon the consummation of a Business Combination. In the event that the anchor investors purchase such Units and vote them in favor of a Business Combination, a smaller portion of affirmative votes from other public stockholders would be required to approve a Business Combination.
NOTE 8. STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY
Preferred Stock - The Company is authorized to issue 1,000,000 shares of preferred stock with a par value of $0.0001 per share with such designations, voting and other rights and preferences as may be determined from time to time by the Company’s board of directors. At December 31, 2020, there were no shares of preferred stock issued or outstanding.
Common Stock - The Company is authorized to issue 100,000,000 shares of common stock with a par value of $0.0001 per share. Holders of common stock are entitled to one vote for each share. At December 31, 2020, there were 5,777,608 shares of common stock issued or outstanding, excluding 7,972,392 shares of common stock subject to possible redemption.
Warrants - The Public Warrants will become exercisable on the later of (a) 30 days after the completion of a Business Combination or (b) 12 months from the closing of the Initial Public Offering. The Public Warrants will expire five years after the completion of a Business Combination or earlier upon redemption or liquidation.
The Company will not be obligated to deliver any shares of common stock pursuant to the exercise of a warrant and will have no obligation to settle such warrant exercise unless a registration statement under the Securities Act with respect to the shares of common stock underlying the warrants is then effective and a prospectus relating thereto is current, subject to the Company satisfying its obligations with respect to registration. No warrant will be exercisable and the Company will not be obligated to issue any shares of common stock upon exercise of a warrant unless common stock issuable upon such warrant exercise has been registered, qualified or deemed to be exempt under the securities laws of the state of residence of the registered holder of the warrants.
The Company has agreed that as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 15 business days, after the closing of a Business Combination, the Company will use its reasonable best efforts to file, and within 60 business days following a Business Combination to have declared effective, a registration statement for the registration, under the Securities Act, of the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants. The Company will use its reasonable best efforts to maintain the effectiveness of such registration statement, and a current prospectus relating thereto, until the expiration of the warrants in accordance with the provisions of the warrant agreement. Notwithstanding the above, if the 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, the Company may, at its option, require holders of Public Warrants who exercise their warrants to do so on a “cashless basis” in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act and, in the event the Company so elects, the Company will not be required to file or maintain in effect a registration statement, but will be required to use its best efforts to register or qualify the shares under applicable blue sky laws to the extent an exemption is not available.
Once the warrants become exercisable, the Company may redeem the Public Warrants:
● in whole and not in part;
● at a price of $0.01 per warrant;
● if, and only if, the reported last sale price of the Company’s common stock equals or exceeds $16.50 per share for any 20 trading days within a 30-trading day period ending three business days before the Company sends the notice of redemption to each warrant holder.
If and when the warrants become redeemable by the Company, the Company may exercise its redemption right even if it is unable to register or qualify the underlying securities for sale under all applicable state securities laws.
If the Company calls the Public Warrants for redemption, management will have the option to require 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 shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants may be adjusted in certain circumstances including in the event of a stock dividend, or recapitalization, reorganization, merger or consolidation. However, except as described below, the warrants will not be adjusted for issuances of common stock at a price below its exercise price. Additionally, in no event will the Company be required to net cash settle the warrants. If the Company is unable to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period and the Company liquidates the funds held in the Trust Account, holders of warrants will not receive any of such funds with respect to their warrants, nor will they receive any distribution from the Company’s assets held outside of the Trust Account with the respect to such warrants. Accordingly, the warrants may expire worthless.
In addition, if (x) the Company issues additional shares of common stock or equity-linked securities for capital raising purposes in connection with the closing of a Business Combination at an issue price or effective issue price of less than $9.20 per share of common stock (with such issue price or effective issue price to be determined in good faith by the Company’s board of directors and, in the case of any such issuance to the Sponsor or its affiliates, without taking into account any Founder Shares held by the Sponsor or such affiliates, as applicable, prior to such issuance) (the “Newly Issued Price”), (y) the aggregate gross proceeds from such issuances represent more than 60% of the total equity proceeds, and interest thereon, available for the funding of a Business Combination on the date of the consummation of a Business Combination (net of redemptions), and (z) the volume weighted average trading price of the Company’s common stock during the 20 trading day period starting on the trading day prior to the day on which the Company consummates a Business Combination (such price, the “Market Value”) is below $9.20 per share, then the exercise price of the warrants will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 115% of the greater of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, and the $16.50 per share redemption trigger price will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 165% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price.
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 common stock issuable upon the 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 exercisable on a cashless basis and be non-redeemable so long as they are held by the initial purchasers or their permitted transferees. If the Private Placement Warrants are held by someone other than the initial purchasers or their permitted transferees, the Private Placement Warrants will be redeemable by the Company and exercisable by such holders on the same basis as the Public Warrants.
NOTE 9 - INCOME TAX
The Company’s net deferred tax asset at December 31, 2020 is as follows:
The income tax provision for the period from February 26, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020 consists of the following:
As of December 31, 2020, the Company had an approximate $235,000 U.S. federal net operating loss carryover available to offset future taxable income.
In assessing the realization of the deferred tax assets, management considers whether it is more likely than not that some portion of all of the deferred tax assets will not be realized. The ultimate realization of deferred tax assets is dependent upon the generation of future taxable income during the periods in which temporary differences representing net future deductible amounts become deductible. Management considers the scheduled reversal of deferred tax liabilities, projected future taxable income and tax planning strategies in making this assessment. After consideration of all of the information available, management believes that significant uncertainty exists with respect to future realization of the deferred tax assets and has therefore established a full valuation allowance. For the period from February 26, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, the change in the valuation allowance was $49,304.
A reconciliation of the federal income tax rate to the Company’s effective tax rate at December 31, 2020 is as follows:
The Company files income tax returns in the U.S. federal jurisdiction and is subject to examination by the various taxing authorities. The Company's tax returns since inception remain open to examination by the taxing authorities.
NOTE 10 - FAIR VALUE MEASUREMENTS
The Company follows the guidance in ASC 820 for its financial assets and liabilities that are re-measured and reported at fair value at each reporting period, and non-financial assets and liabilities that are re-measured and reported at fair value at least annually.
The fair value of the Company’s financial assets and liabilities reflects management’s estimate of amounts that the Company would have received in connection with the sale of the assets or paid in connection with the transfer of the liabilities in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. In connection with measuring the fair value of its assets and liabilities, the Company seeks to maximize the use of observable inputs (market data obtained from independent sources) and to minimize the use of unobservable inputs (internal assumptions about how market participants would price assets and liabilities). The following fair value hierarchy is used to classify assets and liabilities based on the observable inputs and unobservable inputs used in order to value the assets and liabilities:
Level 1: Quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities. An active market for an asset or liability is a market in which transactions for the asset or liability occur with sufficient frequency and volume to provide pricing information on an ongoing basis.
Level 2: Observable inputs other than Level 1 inputs. Examples of Level 2 inputs include quoted prices in active markets for similar assets or liabilities and quoted prices for identical assets or liabilities in markets that are not active.
Level 3: Unobservable inputs based on our assessment of the assumptions that market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability.
At December 31, 2020, investments held in the Trust Account were comprised of $111,101,918 in money market funds which are invested primarily in U.S. Treasury Securities. During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company did not withdraw any interest income from the Trust Account. The following table presents information about the Company’s assets that are measured at fair value on a recurring basis at December 31, 2020, and indicates the fair value hierarchy of the valuation inputs the Company utilized to determine such fair value:
At December 31, 2020, there were 11,000,000 Public Warrants and 10,000,000 Private Placement Warrants outstanding.
The following table presents information about the Company’s assets that are measured at fair value on a recurring basis at December 31, 2020 and indicates the fair value hierarchy of the valuation inputs the Company utilized to determine such fair value.
The fair value of the Private Placement Warrants was estimated using a probability adjusted Black-Scholes option pricing model. The assumptions under the model include the underlying stock price, strike price, risk-free interest rate, estimated volatility, the expected term, and probability of an expected acquisition. Expected stock price volatility is based on the actual historical volatility of a group of comparable publicly traded companies observed over a historical period equal to the expected remaining life of the Private Placement Warrants. The fair value of the underlying shares is the published closing market price on the Nasdaq Capital Market as of each reporting date, as adjusted for significant results, as necessary. The risk-free interest rate is based on the U.S. Treasury yield curve in effect on the date of valuation equal to the remaining expected life of the Private Placement Warrants. The dividend yield percentage is zero because the Company does not currently pay dividends, nor does it intend to do so during the expected term of the Private Placement Warrants. The fair value of the Public Warrants was determined using the close price as of the reporting date.
The fair value of the Private Placement Warrants was estimated at December 31, 2020 using the Black-Scholes model and the following assumptions:
NOTE 11 - SUBSEQUENT EVENTS
The Company evaluated subsequent events and transactions that occurred after the balance sheet date up to the date that the financial statements were issued. Based upon this review, except as discussed above, the Company did not identify any subsequent events that would have required adjustment or disclosure in the financial statements.
EXHIBIT INDEX
*Filed herewith.
**Furnished herewith.
(1) Incorporated by reference to the Company’s Form S-1, originally filed with the SEC on September 21, 2020 (File No. 333-248939), as amended.
(2) Incorporated by reference to the Company’s Form 8-K, filed with the SEC on October 30, 2020.
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of Section13 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.
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/ P. Jeffrey Leck
Chief Executive Officer, President and Director
April 22, 2021
P. Jeffrey Leck
(Principal Executive Officer)
/s/ John F. Kirtley
Chief Financial Officer, Secretary, Treasurer and Director
April 22, 2021
John F. Kirtley
(Principal Financial and Accounting Officer)
/s/ Marc S. Sculler
Director
April 22, 2021
Marc S. Sculler
/s/ William Weatherford
Director
April 22, 2021
William Weatherford
/s/ Jennifer Paul
Director
April 22, 2021
Jennifer Paul
/s/ Scott Yearwood
Director
April 22, 2021
Scott Yearwood