Item 1. Business
Introduction
New Beginnings Acquisition Corp. (the “Company”) was 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 (“Business Combination” or referred to throughout this Annual Report on Form 10-K (“Report”) as our initial business combination) on August 20, 2020.
The Company is an emerging growth company and, as such, the Company is subject to all of the risks associated with emerging growth companies. As of December 31, 2020, the Company had not yet commenced operations. All activity for the period from August 20, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020 relates to the Company’s formation and the initial public offering (“Initial Public Offering” or “IPO”), 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 net proceeds derived from Initial Public Offering. The Company has selected December 31 as its fiscal year end.
The Company’s sponsor is New Beginnings Sponsor, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (the “Sponsor”).
The registration statement for the Company’s Initial Public Offering was declared effective by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on October 29, 2020. On November 3, 2020, the Company consummated the IPO of 10,000,000 units (the “Units” and, with respect to the shares of common stock included in the Units being offered, including the Over-Allotment Units, the “Public Shares”), at $10.00 per Unit, generating gross proceeds of $100,000,000.
Simultaneously with the closing of the IPO, the Company consummated the sale of 500,000 private units (the “Placement Units”) at a price of $10.00 per Placement Unit in a private placement to our Sponsor.
Transaction costs amounted to $6,731,655 consisting of $2,300,000 of underwriting discount, $4,025,000 of deferred underwriting discount, and $406,655 of other offering costs.
The Company granted the underwriters in the IPO a 45-day option to purchase up to 1,500,000 additional Units to cover over-allotments. On November 9, 2020, the underwriters partially exercised the over-allotment option to purchase 1,000,000 Units (the “Over-Allotment Units”), and on November 12, 2020, the underwriters fully exercised the over-allotment option to purchase the remaining 500,000 Over-Allotment Units, generating an aggregate of gross proceeds of $15,000,000, and incurred $300,000 in deferred underwriting fees.
On November 9, 2020, simultaneously with the closing of the first exercise in part of the over-allotment option, the Company completed the private sale of an aggregate of 30,000 Placement Units to our Sponsor, at a purchase price of $10.00 per Placement Unit, generating gross proceeds of $300,000. On November 12, 2020, simultaneously with the closing of the second exercise in part of the over-allotment option, the Company completed the private sale of an aggregate of 15,000 Placement Units to our Sponsor, at a purchase price of $10.00 per Placement Unit, generating gross proceeds of $150,000.
Following the closing of the IPO on November 3, 2020, an amount of $101,000,000 ($10.10 per Unit) from the net proceeds of the sale of the Units in the IPO and the sale of the Placement Units was placed in a trust account (“Trust Account”). Following the closing of the sale of the 45,000 Placement Units and 1,500,000 Over-Allotment Units, an additional $15,150,000 was placed in the Trust Account, bringing the aggregate proceeds held in the Trust Account to $116,150,000. The funds in the Trust Account can only be invested in United States (“U.S.”) “government securities” within the meaning of Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”), having a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions of Rule 2a-7 promulgated under the Investment Company Act which invest only on direct U.S. government treasury obligations. Except with respect to interest earned on the funds held in the Trust Account that may be released to the Company to pay its tax obligations and up to $100,000 of interest for its dissolution expenses, the IPO proceeds held in the Trust Account will not be released from the Trust Account until the earliest to occur of (a) the completion of an initial business combination, (b) the redemption of any Public Shares properly submitted in connection with a stockholder vote to amend the Company’s amended and restated certificate of incorporation, and (c) the redemption of the Company’s Public Shares if the Company is unable to complete the initial business combination within 12 months (or up to 18 months if the Company extends the period of time to consummate an initial business combination) from November 3, 2020 (the “Combination Period”), the closing of the IPO.
The Company’s initial business combination must be with one or more target businesses that together have a fair market value equal to at least 80% of the balance in the Trust Account (net of taxes payable) at the time of the signing an agreement to enter into an initial business combination. However, the Company will only complete an initial business combination if the post-Initial business combination company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. There is no assurance that the Company will be able to successfully effect an initial business combination.
The Company will provide its public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their shares of common stock upon the completion of the initial business combination either (i) in connection with a stockholder meeting called to approve the initial business combination or (ii) by means of a tender offer. The decision as to whether the Company will seek stockholder approval of a proposed initial business combination or conduct a tender offer will be made by the Company, solely in its discretion. The stockholders will be entitled to redeem their shares for a pro rata share of the aggregate amount then on deposit in the Trust Account (initially approximately $10.10 per 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 shares of common stock subject to redemption will be recorded at a redemption value and classified as temporary equity upon the completion of the Initial Public Offering, in accordance with Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 480 “Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity.” In such case, the Company will proceed with an initial business combination if the Company has net tangible assets of at least $5,000,001 upon such consummation of an initial business combination and, if the Company seeks stockholder approval, a majority of the issued and outstanding shares voted are voted in favor of the initial business combination.
The Company will have 12 months (or up to 18 months) from the closing of the Initial Public Offering to consummate an initial business combination. However, if the Company is unable to complete an initial business combination within the Combination Period, the Company will redeem 100% of 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 taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding Public Shares, subject to applicable law and as further described in registration statement with respect to the IPO, and then seek to dissolve and liquidate.
Our Sponsor, officers and directors have agreed to (i) waive their redemption rights with respect to their Founder Shares (as defined below), any Placement Shares and any Public Shares held by them in connection with the completion of the initial business combination, (ii) waive their redemption rights with respect to their Founder Shares, any Placement Shares and Public Shares in connection with a stockholder vote to approve an amendment to the Company’s amended and restated certificate of incorporation, and (iii) waive their rights to liquidating distributions from the Trust Account with respect to their Founder Shares and Placement Shares if the Company fails to complete the initial business combination within the Combination Period.
Our Sponsor has agreed that it will 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 entered into a written letter of intent, confidentiality or similar agreement or initial business combination agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the Trust Account to below the lesser of (i) $10.10 per Public Share and (ii) the actual amount per public share held in the Trust Account as of the date of the liquidation of the Trust Account, if less than $10.10 per share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, less taxes payable, provided that such liability will not apply to any claims by a third party or prospective target business who executed a waiver of any and all rights to the monies held in the Trust Account (whether or not such waiver is enforceable) nor will it apply to any claims under the Company’s indemnity of the underwriters of in the IPO against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, (the “Securities Act”). However, the Company has not asked its Sponsor to reserve for such indemnification obligations, nor has the Company independently verified whether its Sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and believe that Our Sponsor’s only assets are securities of the Company. Therefore, the Company believes it is unlikely that its Sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations.
Pending Business Combination
On March 8, 2021, the company and Airspan Networks Inc., a Delaware corporation (the “Airspan”), jointly issued a press release announcing the execution of a business combination agreement (the “Business Combination Agreement”) among the company, Airspan, and Artemis Merger Sub Corp., a Delaware corporation and wholly-owned subsidiary of the company (“Merger Sub”), pursuant to which Merger Sub will merge with and into Airspan, with Airspan surviving the Merger as a wholly-owned direct subsidiary of the company (the “Business Combination,” together with the other transactions related thereto, the “Pending Business Combination”).
Airspan is a US-based 5G end-to-end, Open RAN hardware and software provider with a product portfolio spanning 150 patents granted and 94 patents pending. The company is headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida and has global offices in London, Tel Aviv, Mumbai, and Tokyo.
Each share of capital stock of Airspan that is issued and outstanding immediately prior to the effective time of the Business Combination (except as specified in the Business Combination Agreement) shall automatically be converted into and become the right to receive shares of our common stock and warrants to purchase shares of our common stock, as further described in, and subject to the terms of, the Business Combination Agreement. It is estimated that, at the consummation of the Business Combination, holders of outstanding shares of Airspan’s common stock as of immediately prior to such time will receive approximately 5.5 shares of our common stock as well as warrants to purchase additional shares of our common stock for each share of Airspan’s common stock held prior to the consummation of the Business Combination.
Consummation of the transactions contemplated by the Business Combination Agreement is subject to customary conditions, representations, warranties and covenants in the Business Combination Agreement, including, among others, approval by our stockholders, the effectiveness of a registration statement on Form S-4 (the “Form S-4”) to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) in connection with the Pending Business Combination, and other customary closing conditions, including the receipt of certain regulatory approvals. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2021.
In connection with the execution of the Business Combination Agreement, we entered into certain common stock subscription agreements (the “Subscription Agreements”) with certain investment funds (the “PIPE Investors”) pursuant to which we have agreed to issue and sell to the PIPE Investors, in the aggregate, $75,000,000 of common stock (the “PIPE Investment”) at a purchase price of $10.00 per share. The closing of the PIPE Investment is conditioned on all conditions set forth in the Business Combination Agreement having been satisfied or waived and other customary closing conditions, and it is expected that the Pending Business Combination will be consummated immediately following the closing of the PIPE Investment.
Concurrently with the execution of the Business Combination Agreement, we and the Key Company Stockholders (as defined in the Business Combination Agreement) entered into that certain Stockholder Support Agreement (the “Stockholder Support Agreement”) in which such Key Company Stockholders agreed, among other things, subject to the terms and conditions of the Stockholder Support Agreement, to vote all of their shares of Airspan’s capital stock in favor of the approval and adoption of the Business Combination Agreement and approval of the Pending Business Combination and the other related transactions and (d) not directly or indirectly (i) solicit, initiate, knowingly facilitate or knowingly encourage (including by way of furnishing non-public information), whether publicly or otherwise, any inquiries, offers or proposals with respect to, or the making of, any Company Acquisition Proposal (as defined in the Stockholder Support Agreement), (ii) engage in any negotiations or discussions concerning, or provide access to or furnish non-public information regarding, the Airspan’s or any of its properties, assets, personnel, books or records or any confidential information or data to, any person relating to a Company Acquisition Proposal or (iii) enter into, engage in or maintain discussions or negotiations with respect to any Company Acquisition Proposal (or inquiries, proposals or offers or other communications that would reasonably be expected to lead to any Company Acquisition Proposal) or otherwise cooperate with or assist or participate in, or knowingly facilitate any such inquiries, proposals, offers, efforts, discussions or negotiations.
Concurrently with the execution of the Business Combination Agreement, the Sponsor, Airspan and we entered into that certain Sponsor Support Agreement (the “Sponsor Support Agreement”) in which the Sponsor agreed, among other things, subject to the terms and conditions of the Sponsor Support Agreement, (a) to forfeit 125,000 shares of our common stock held by the Sponsor immediately prior to the Effective Time (as defined in the Business Combination Agreement), (b) to vote all shares of our common stock held by the Sponsor at such time in favor of the approval and adoption of the Business Combination Agreement and approval of the Pending Business Combination, (c) to abstain from exercising any redemption rights with respect to any shares of our common stock held by Sponsor, (d) that it shall not directly or indirectly sell, assign, transfer, pledge, dispose of or otherwise encumber any of the shares of our common stock held by the Sponsor or otherwise agree to do any of the foregoing, except pursuant to the Sponsor Support Agreement and (e) that it shall not directly or indirectly take any action to solicit, initiate, continue or engage in discussions or negotiations with, or enter into any agreement with, or knowingly encourage, respond, provide information to or commence due diligence with respect to, any person (other than Airspan, its stockholders or any of their affiliates or representatives), concerning, relating to or which is intended or would reasonably be expected to give rise to or result in, a Business Combination Proposal (as defined in the Business Combination Agreement), other than with the Company, its stockholders and their respective affiliates and representatives.
The Business Combination Agreement and related agreements are further described in the Current Report on Form 8-K filed by the Company on March 12, 2021.
Other than as specifically discussed, this report does not assume the closing of the Pending Business Combination or the transactions contemplated by the Business Combination Agreement.
Management Expertise
We are led by an experienced team of managers, operators and investors who have played important roles in helping build and grow profitable public and private businesses, both organically and through acquisitions, to create value for stockholders. Our team has experience operating and investing in a wide range of industries, bringing us a diversity of experiences as well as valuable expertise and perspective.
Russell W. Galbut, our Chairman, has over 34 years of experience in the urban mixed-use real estate sector, which has included fostering relationships with complementary retail, hospitality, and food and beverage brands. Mr. Galbut co-founded in 1989, and currently serves as the Managing Principal of, Crescent Heights (“Crescent Heights”), one of America’s largest residential developers of quality apartments and condominiums, which has been active in over 15 markets from coast-to-coast and has developed over 40,000 residential units, including pioneering the condo hotel concept. Crescent Heights is led by its three principals, Sonny Kahn, Russell Galbut and Bruce Menin, who directly invest in the projects through tax efficient, special purpose vehicles, thus making each project separate and distinct from one another. Prior to founding Crescent Heights, Mr. Galbut was a real estate consultant, working as a senior consultant at Laventhal and Horwath from 1974 to 1976. Subsequent to this and prior to 1989 Mr. Galbut developed and owned a number of development, hospitality and medical businesses. Mr. Galbut currently serves as the chairman of the board of directors of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: NCLH), for which he has served as an independent director since November 2015. Mr. Galbut is also a member of the compensation committee of Norwegian Cruise Line and previously served as a member of the Board of Directors of Prestige Cruises International, Inc. and its predecessor from September 2005 until Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd.’s acquisition of Prestige in November 2014. Mr. Galbut currently serves on the Dean’s Advisory Board for the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration.
Michael S. Liebowitz, our Chief Executive Officer and Director, is a seasoned business executive with extensive experience founding, acquiring, and monetizing businesses in the insurance and financial industries. Mr. Liebowitz served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Harbor Group Consulting LLC, an insurance and risk management consulting firm, from its formation in 1995 to 2018. Mr. Liebowitz currently serves as a Managing Director and Executive Vice President of Alliant Insurance Services, Inc., and President of the Harbor Group Division of Alliant Insurance Services Inc., which acquired Harbor Group Consulting in 2018. Mr. Liebowitz served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Innova Risk Management, a boutique real-estate insurance firm, which he acquired in 2006 in a joint venture with Douglas Elliman Real Estate and was subsequently sold in 2019. Innova is a leading provider of property and casualty insurance in the co-op and condominium markets in the New York area. In 2017, Mr. Liebowitz founded High Street Valuations, a firm that specializes in providing insurable value calculations for banks, capital market lenders, owners, and property management companies, for which he served as President since its founding. Mr. Liebowitz served on the board of Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services Inc., the parent company of Ladenburg Thalmann, from January 2019 to February 2020 and the board of The Hilb Group, a leading middle market insurance agency headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, from 2011 to 2013. Since 2008, Mr. Liebowitz has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Hallman & Lorber Associates, Inc., a firm that provides consultancy and actuarial services to qualified pension plans. In 1999, Mr. Liebowitz was a founding principal of National Financial Partners Corp. (NYSE: NFP), which was taken public in 2003 and was acquired by a controlled affiliate of Madison Dearborn Partners, LLC in 2013, and is now one of the largest insurance brokers in the world. Mr. Liebowitz has acted as an advisor to many of the largest companies around the globe including Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Starwood, Apollo, UBS, HSBC, Deutsche Bank and many others on their complex insurance matters within their investment banking/M&A groups. He was special consultant to GMAC for the World Trade Center financing prior to and after 9/11 and its claims and litigation process and strategy and advised the US Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs in the depths of the financial crisis in the newly created TALF lending program. Mr. Liebowitz is the managing member of M2AFO, LLC a family office vehicle he created in 2018. M2AFO, LLC is active in several investments and continues to invest in innovative businesses, including the Mondrian South Beach Hotel.
Benjamin Garrett, a member of our board of directors, is an experienced mergers & acquisitions advisor and has led billions of dollars of completed transactions. He has sourced, completed and been involved in the financing of numerous transactions, and has actively advised publicly listed companies on M&A strategy. Mr. Garrett currently serves as a Managing Director at Torreya Partners LLC a global investment banking boutique providing mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, and licensing advisory services to life sciences companies. Mr. Garrett joined Torreya in 2008 and became the youngest Managing Director at the firm in 2017.
Frank A. Del Rio, a member of our board of directors, has over 10 years managerial and operational experience in the cruise line industry. From 2008 to 2014 Mr. Del Rio served as Senior Vice President of Prestige Cruises International, Inc., until its acquisition by Norwegian Cruise Line, for which Mr. Del Rio served as a Senior Vice President from 2014 to 2018. In 2018 Mr. Del Rio founded Divinus Life LLC, a specialty provider of skin and wellness products and for which he currently serves as Chief Executive Officer.
Kate Walsh, PhD, a member of our board of directors, has over 35 years of experience in the hospitality industry, having previously worked for Loews Corporation as an internal auditor, and Nikko Hotels International as the Corporate Director of Training and Development and subsequently, Corporate Director of Human Resources. For the past 20 years, she has been a member of the faculty at the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University, and for the past four years, has served as its Dean and Professor of Management. Dean Walsh has assembled a board of advisors for the School of Hotel Administration that includes top leaders in the hospitality industry representing the real estate development, owner, brand operator, cruise line and restaurant sectors. Dean has been an outspoken leader for the lodging and travel industries throughout her career and is acquainted with many of the significant players in the industry.
Perry Weitz, a member of our board of directors, is a co-founding member of Weitz & Luxenberg, P.C., one of the United States’ largest mass tort and personal injury litigation law firms which was founded in 1989. Over the past three decades, Weitz & Luxenberg has obtained approximately $17 billion of verdicts. Mr. Weitz has extensive experience with jury trials, complex litigation settlements and bankruptcy trusts. Since 2000, Mr. Weitz has served on the board of the American Association for Justice, New York State Trial Lawyers Association, Trial Lawyers for Public Justice, Legal Aid Society and Jewish Lawyer Guild.
The past performance of our management team, or their respective affiliates, is not a guarantee either (i) that we will be able to identify a suitable candidate for our initial business combination or (ii) of success with respect to any initial business combination we may consummate. No member of our management team has been an officer or director of a special purpose acquisition corporation in the past. You should not rely on the historical record of our management team’s or their respective affiliates’ performance as indicative of our future performance.
Business Strategy
Our business strategy is to identify and complete our initial business combination with a company that can benefit from (i) the managerial and operational experience of our management team, (ii) additional capital and (iii) access to public securities markets. Our acquisition selection process will leverage our management team’s network of potential transaction sources, ranging from owners and directors of private and public companies, private equity funds, investment bankers, lenders, attorneys, accountants and other advisors across various sectors. Over the course of their careers, the members of our management team have developed a broad network of contacts and corporate relationships that we believe will serve as a useful source of acquisition opportunities. We plan to utilize the network and industry experience of our management team in seeking an initial business combination and employing our initial business combination strategy. This network has been developed through our management team’s:
●extensive experience in both investing in and operating in a variety of industries;
●managerial experience marketing and growing businesses;
●experience in sourcing, structuring, acquiring, operating, developing, growing, financing and selling businesses;
●relationships with sellers, financing providers and target management teams; and
●experience in executing transactions in a variety of industries under varying economic and financial market conditions.
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 various unaffiliated sources, including private equity groups, investment banking firms, family offices, consultants, accounting firms and large business enterprises. Members of our management team communicate with their networks of relationships to articulate the parameters for our search for a target company and a potential initial business combination and are in the process of pursuing and reviewing potentially interesting leads.
Acquisition Criteria
Consistent with our business strategy, we have identified the following general criteria and guidelines that we believe are important in evaluating prospective target businesses. We will use these criteria and guidelines in evaluating acquisition opportunities, but we may decide to enter into our initial business combination with a target business that does not meet these criteria and guidelines. We intend to seek candidates with an enterprise value of between $400 million and $600 million, and we intend to seek to acquire companies that we believe:
●have a defensible market position, with demonstrated advantages when compared to their competitors and which create barriers to entry against new competitors;
●are at an inflection point or are able to take advantage of public currency in order to drive improved financial performance;
●have a diversified customer base better positioned to endure economic downturns and changes in the industry landscape;
●have strong, experienced management teams, or a platform that will allow us to assemble an effective management team with a track record of driving growth and profitability;
●provide a scalable platform for add-on acquisitions, which we believe will be an opportunity for our management team to deliver incremental stockholder value post-acquisition;
●generate attractive returns on capital and have a compelling use for capital to achieve their growth strategy;
●exhibit unrecognized value or other characteristics that we believe have been overlooked by the marketplace based on our analysis and due diligence review; and
●can benefit from being publicly-traded, are prepared to be a publicly-traded company, are capable of generating consistent returns in excess of cost of capital, and can effectively utilize access to the capital markets.
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,
Initial business combination
We will have up to 12 months from the closing of the IPO to consummate an initial business combination. However, if we anticipate that we may not be able to consummate our initial business combination by that date, we may, by resolution of our board if requested by our Sponsor, extend the period of time to consummate an initial business combination up to two times, each by an additional three months (for a total of up to 18 months to complete an initial business combination), subject to our Sponsor depositing additional funds into the Trust Account as set out below. Our shareholders will not be entitled to vote or redeem their shares in connection with any such extension. Pursuant to the terms of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, in order for the time available for us to consummate our initial business combination to be extended, our Sponsor or its affiliates or designees, upon five days advance notice prior to the applicable deadline, must deposit into the Trust Account $1,150,000 on or prior to the date of the applicable deadline, for each three-month extension. Any such payments would be made in the form of a non-interest bearing loan and would be repaid, if at all, from funds released to us upon completion of our initial business combination. In the event that we receive notice from our Sponsor five days prior to the applicable deadline of its wish for us to effect an extension, we intend to issue a press release announcing such intention at least three days prior to the applicable deadline. In addition, we intend to issue a press release the day after the applicable deadline announcing whether or not the funds had been timely deposited. Our Sponsor and its affiliates or designees are not obligated to fund the Trust Account to extend the time for us to complete our initial business combination. If we are unable to consummate an initial business combination within such time period, we will redeem 100% of our issued and outstanding Public Shares for a pro rata portion of the funds held in the Trust Account, 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, subject to applicable law and as further described herein, and then seek to dissolve and liquidate.
As required by NYSE American rules, our initial business combination will be approved by a majority of our independent directors. The NYSE American rules also require that we must complete our initial business combination with one or more businesses that together have an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the net assets held in the Trust Account (excluding the deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable) at the time of our signing a definitive agreement in connection with our initial business combination. We refer to this as the 80% fair market value test. Our board of directors will make the determination as to the fair market value of our initial business combination. The fair market value of the target or targets will be determined by our board of directors based upon one or more standards generally accepted by the financial community (such as actual and potential sales, earnings, cash flow and/or book value). Even though our board of directors will rely on generally accepted standards, our board of directors will have discretion to select the standards employed. In addition, the application of the standards generally involves a substantial degree of judgment. Accordingly, investors will be relying on the business judgment of the board of directors in evaluating the fair market value of the target or targets. The proxy solicitation materials or tender offer documents used by us in connection with any proposed transaction will provide public stockholders with our analysis of our satisfaction of the 80% fair market value test, as well as the basis for our determinations. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of our initial business combination, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent entity that commonly renders valuation opinions with respect to the satisfaction of the 80% fair market value test. While we consider it unlikely that our board of directors will not be able to make an independent determination of the fair market value of our initial business combination, it may be unable to do so if it is less familiar or experienced with the business of a particular target or if there is a significant amount of uncertainty as to the value of a target’s assets or prospects.
We anticipate structuring our initial business combination either (i) in such a way 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, or (ii) in such a way so 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 an initial 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 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 initial business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post-transaction company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the initial business combination. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock 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 taken into account for purposes of the NYSE American’s 80% fair market value test. If the initial business combination involves more than one target business, the 80% fair market value test will be based on the aggregate value of all of the transactions 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.
Competition
We expect to encounter intense competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours, including private investors (which may be individuals or investment partnerships), other blank check companies and other entities competing for the types of businesses we intend to acquire. Many of these individuals and entities are well-established and have extensive experience in identifying and effecting, directly or indirectly, acquisitions of companies operating in or providing services to various industries. Many of these competitors possess greater technical, human and other resources or more industry knowledge than we do, and our financial resources will be relatively limited when contrasted with those of many of these competitors. While we believe there are numerous target businesses we could potentially acquire, our ability to compete with respect to the acquisition of certain target businesses that are sizable will be limited by our available financial resources. This inherent competitive limitation gives others an advantage in pursuing the acquisition of certain target businesses. Furthermore, because we are obligated to pay cash for the shares of common stock which our public stockholders redeem in connection with our initial business combination, target companies will be aware that this may reduce the resources available to us for our initial business combination. This may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating an initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.10 per share on the liquidation of our Trust Account and our warrants will expire worthless.
Employees
We currently have one officer, our Chief Executive Officer. This individual is not obligated to devote any specific number of hours to our matters but he intends to devote as much of his time as he deems necessary, in the exercise of his business judgement, to our affairs until we have completed our initial business combination. The amount of time he will devote in any time period will vary based on whether a target business has been selected for our initial business combination and the stage of the 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. We do not have an employment agreement with any member of our management team.
Our Website
Our corporate website address is https://www.nbaspac.com/home/default.aspx. The information contained on or accessible through our corporate website or any other website that we may maintain is not incorporated by reference into this report.
Periodic Reporting and Audited Financial Statements
We have registered our Units, common stock and Public Warrants under the Exchange Act and have reporting obligations, including the requirement that we file annual, quarterly and current reports with the SEC. In accordance with the requirements of the Exchange Act, our annual reports will contain financial statements audited and reported on by our independent registered public accountants.
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, or reconciled to, GAAP, or IFRS, depending on the circumstances, and the historical financial statements may be required to be audited in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. These financial statement requirements may limit the pool of potential targets we may conduct an initial business combination with because some targets may be unable to provide such statements in time for us to disclose such statements in accordance with federal proxy rules and complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame. We cannot assure you that any particular target business identified by us as a potential initial business combination 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 the requirements outlined above. To the extent that these requirements cannot be met, we may not be able to acquire the proposed target business. While this may limit the pool of potential initial business combination 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.
Item 1A.
Item 1A. Risk Factors
Summary of Risk Factors
An investment in our securities involves a high degree of risk. The occurrence of one or more of the events or circumstances described in this section “Risk Factors,” alone or in combination with other events or circumstances, may materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results. In that event, the trading price of our securities could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment. Such risks include, but are not limited to:
●The Pending Business Combination is subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions, which may not be satisfied on a timely basis, if at all.
●Our public stockholders may not be afforded an opportunity to vote on our proposed initial business combination, and even if we hold a vote, holders of our Founder Shares will participate in such vote, which means we may complete our initial business combination even though a majority of our public stockholders do not support such a combination.
●If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, our Sponsor, officers and directors have agreed to vote in favor of such initial business combination, regardless of how our public stockholders vote.
●Your only opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding a potential business combination may be limited to the exercise of your right to redeem your shares from us for cash, unless we seek stockholder approval of the business combination.
●The ability of our public stockholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our shares may not allow us to complete the most desirable business combination or optimize our capital structure.
●The ability of our public stockholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our shares could increase the probability that our initial business combination would be unsuccessful and that you would have to wait for liquidation in order to redeem your stock
●The requirement that we complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame may give potential target businesses leverage over us in negotiating a business combination and may decrease our ability to conduct due diligence on potential business combination targets as we approach our dissolution deadline, which could undermine our ability to complete our business combination on terms that would produce value for our stockholders
●We may not be able to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame, in which case we would cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up and we would redeem our Public Shares and liquidate.
●If a stockholder fails to receive notice of our offer to redeem our Public Shares in connection with our business combination, or fails to comply with the procedures for tendering its shares, such shares may not be redeemed.
●We may engage in a business combination with one or more target businesses that have relationships with entities that may be affiliated with our Sponsor, executive officers and directors which may raise potential conflicts of interest.
●Our executive officers and directors will allocate their time to other businesses thereby causing conflicts of interest in their determination as to how much time to devote to our affairs. This conflict of interest could have a negative impact on our ability to complete our initial business combination.
Risks Relating to our Search for, Consummation of, or Inability to Consummate,
a Business Combination and Post-Business Combination Risks
The Pending Business Combination is subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions, which may not be satisfied on a timely basis, if at all.
The consummation of the Pending Business Combination is subject to customary closing conditions for transactions involving special purpose acquisition companies, including, among others:
●approval of several proposals by our and Airspan’s respective stockholders;
●the expiration or termination of the waiting period under the HSR Act;
●receipt of other required regulatory approvals;
●no order, statute, rule or regulation enjoining or prohibiting the consummation of the Pending Business Combination being in effect;
●the Company having at least $5,000,001 of net tangible assets as of the closing of the Pending Business Combination;
●the Form S-4 having become effective and no stop order being in effect; and
●customary bring down conditions.
Additionally, the obligations of Airspan to consummate the Pending Business Combination are conditioned upon, among other things, (i) an amount of cash held by us of at least $135,000,000 as of the closing of the Business Combination, (ii) delivery of the Stockholders Agreement (as defined in the Business Combination Agreement), (iii) delivery of the Registration Rights and Lock-Up agreement (as defined in the Business Combination Agreement), (iv) our common stock constituting the Merger Consideration (as defined in the Business Combination Agreement) and the common stock to be issued in connection with the transactions contemplated by the Subscription Agreements, shall have been approved for listing on NYSE American or the New York Stock Exchange and (v) that the Pending Business Combination is consummated by July 15, 2021, subject to certain extensions and conditions.
Our public stockholders may not be afforded an opportunity to vote on our proposed initial business combination, which means we may complete our initial business combination even though a majority of our public stockholders do not support such a combination.
We may choose not to hold a stockholder vote to approve our initial business combination unless the initial business combination would require stockholder approval under applicable law or stock exchange listing requirements or if we decide to hold a stockholder vote for business or other legal reasons. Except as required by law, the decision as to whether we will seek stockholder approval of a proposed initial business combination or will allow stockholders to sell their shares to us in a tender offer will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on a variety of factors, such as the timing of the transaction and whether the terms of the transaction would otherwise require us to seek stockholder approval. Accordingly, we may complete our initial business combination even if holders of a majority of our Public Shares do not approve of the initial business combination we complete.
Your only opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding a potential business combination may be limited to the exercise of your right to redeem your shares from us for cash if we do not seek stockholder approval of the initial business combination.
Since our board of directors may complete an initial business combination without seeking stockholder approval, public stockholders may not have the right or opportunity to vote on the initial business combination, unless we seek such stockholder vote. Accordingly, if we do not seek stockholder approval, your only opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding a potential business combination may be limited to exercising your redemption rights within the period of time (which will be at least 20 business days) set forth in our tender offer documents mailed to our public stockholders in which we describe our initial business combination.
The ability of our public stockholders to redeem their shares for cash may make our financial condition unattractive to potential business combination targets, which may make it difficult for us to enter into an initial business combination with a target.
We may seek to enter into an initial business combination agreement with a prospective target that requires as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. If too many public stockholders exercise their redemption rights, we would not be able to meet such closing condition and, as a result, would not be able to proceed with the initial business combination. Furthermore, 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 (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. Consequently, if accepting all properly submitted redemption requests would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 or such greater amount necessary to satisfy a closing condition, each as described above, we would not proceed with such redemption and the related business combination and may instead search for an alternate business combination. Prospective targets will be aware of these risks and, thus, may be reluctant to enter into an initial business combination with us.
The ability of our public stockholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our shares may not allow us to complete the most desirable business combination or optimize our capital structure.
At the time we enter into an agreement for our initial business combination, we will not know how many stockholders may exercise their redemption rights, and therefore will need to structure the transaction based on our expectations as to the number of shares that will be submitted for redemption. If our initial business combination agreement requires us to use a portion of the cash in the Trust Account to pay the purchase price, or requires us to have a minimum amount of cash at closing, we will need to reserve a portion of the cash in the Trust Account to meet such requirements, or arrange for third party financing. In addition, if a larger number of shares are submitted for redemption than we initially expected, we may need to restructure the transaction to reserve a greater portion of the cash in the Trust Account or arrange for additional third party financing. Raising additional third party financing may involve dilutive equity issuances or the incurrence of indebtedness at higher than desirable levels. The above considerations may limit our ability to complete the most desirable business combination available to us or optimize our capital structure. The amount of the deferred underwriting commissions payable to the underwriters will not be adjusted for any shares that are redeemed in connection with a business combination. The per-share amount we will distribute to stockholders who properly exercise their redemption rights will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting commission and after such redemptions, the per-share value of shares held by non-redeeming stockholders will reflect our obligation to pay the deferred underwriting commissions.
The ability of our public stockholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our shares could increase the probability that our initial business combination would not be consummated and that you would have to wait for liquidation in order to redeem your stock.
If our initial business combination agreement requires us to use a portion of the cash in the Trust Account to pay the purchase price, or requires us to have a minimum amount of cash at closing, the probability that our initial business combination would not be consummated is increased. If our initial business combination is not consummated, you would not receive your pro rata portion of the Trust Account until we liquidate the Trust Account.
If you are in need of immediate liquidity, you could attempt to sell your stock in the open market; however, at such time our stock may trade at a discount to the pro rata amount per share in the Trust Account. In either situation, you may suffer a material loss on your investment or lose the benefit of funds expected in connection with our redemption until we liquidate or you are able to sell your stock in the open market.
The requirement that we complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame may give potential target businesses leverage over us in negotiating an initial business combination as we approach our dissolution deadline, which could undermine our ability to complete our initial business combination on terms that would produce value for our stockholders.
Any potential target business with which we enter into negotiations concerning an initial business combination will be aware that we must complete our initial business combination within 12 months (or up to 18 months) from the closing of our IPO. Consequently, such target business may obtain leverage over us in negotiating an initial business combination, knowing that if we do not complete our initial business combination with that particular target business, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination with any target business. This risk will increase as we get closer to the timeframe described above.
We may not be able to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame, in which case we would cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up and we would redeem our Public Shares and liquidate, in which case our public stockholders may only receive $10.10 per share, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, and our warrants will expire worthless.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that we must complete our initial business combination within 12 months (or up to 18 months) from the closing of our IPO. We may not be able to find a suitable target business and complete our initial business combination within such time period. Our ability to complete our initial business combination may be negatively impacted by general market conditions, volatility in the capital and debt markets and the other risks described herein. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to grow both in the U.S. and globally and, while the extent of the impact of the outbreak on us will depend on future developments, it could limit our ability to complete our initial business combination, including as a result of increased market volatility, decreased market liquidity and third-party financing being unavailable on terms acceptable to us or at all. If we have not completed our initial business combination within such time period, we will: (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the Public Shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the Trust Account including interest earned on the funds held in the Trust Account and not previously released to us to pay our 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 the case of clauses (ii) and (iii) above to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. In such case, our public stockholders may only receive $10.10 per share, and our warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public stockholders may receive less than $10.10 per share on the redemption of their shares. See “- If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the Trust Account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.10 per share” and other risk factors below.
Because of our limited resources and the significant competition for business combination opportunities, it may be more difficult for us to complete our initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.10 per share on our redemption of our Public Shares, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, and our warrants will expire worthless.
We expect to encounter intense competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours, including private investors (which may be individuals or investment partnerships), other blank check companies and other entities competing for the types of businesses we intend to acquire. Many of these individuals and entities are well-established and have extensive experience in identifying and effecting, directly or indirectly, acquisitions of companies operating in or providing services to various industries. Many of these competitors possess greater technical, human and other resources or more industry knowledge than we do, and our financial resources will be relatively limited when contrasted with those of many of these competitors. While we believe there are numerous target businesses we could potentially acquire with the net proceeds of our IPO and the sale of the Placement Units, our ability to compete with respect to the acquisition of certain target businesses that are sizable will be limited by our available financial resources. This inherent competitive limitation gives others an advantage in pursuing the acquisition of certain target businesses. Furthermore, because we are obligated to pay cash for the shares of common stock which our public stockholders redeem in connection with our initial business combination, target companies will be aware that this may reduce the resources available to us for our initial business combination. This may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating an initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.10 per share on the liquidation of our Trust Account and our warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public stockholders may receive less than $10.10 per share upon our liquidation. See “- If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the Trust Account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.10 per share” and other risk factors below.
If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, we may be required to institute burdensome compliance requirements and our activities may be restricted, which may make it difficult for us to complete our initial business combination.
If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, our activities may be restricted, including:
●restrictions on the nature of our investments; and
●restrictions on the issuance of securities, each of which may make it difficult for us to complete our initial business combination.
In addition, we may have imposed upon us burdensome requirements, including:
●registration as an investment company;
●adoption of a specific form of corporate structure; and
●reporting, record keeping, voting, proxy and disclosure requirements and other rules and regulations.
In order not to be regulated as an investment company under the Investment Company Act, unless we can qualify for an exclusion, we must ensure that we are engaged primarily in a business other than investing, reinvesting or trading in securities and that our activities do not include investing, reinvesting, owning, holding or trading “investment securities” constituting more than 40% of our total assets (exclusive of U.S. government securities and cash items) on an unconsolidated basis. Our business will be to identify and complete an initial business combination and thereafter to operate the post-transaction business or assets for the long term. We do not plan to buy businesses or assets with a view to resale or profit from their resale. We do not plan to buy unrelated businesses or assets or to be a passive investor.
We do not believe that our anticipated principal activities will subject us to the Investment Company Act. To this end, the proceeds held in the Trust Account may only be invested in United States “government securities” within the meaning of Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act having a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 promulgated under the Investment Company Act which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations. Pursuant to the trust agreement, the trustee is not permitted to invest in other securities or assets. By restricting the investment of the proceeds to these instruments, and by having a business plan targeted at acquiring and growing businesses for the long term (rather than on buying and selling businesses in the manner of a merchant bank or private equity fund), we intend to avoid being deemed an “investment company” within the meaning of the Investment Company Act. The Trust Account is intended as a holding place for funds pending the earliest to occur of: (i) the completion of our initial business combination; (ii) the redemption of any Public Shares properly submitted in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or amendments to our charter prior thereto or to redeem 100% of our Public Shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 12 months (or up to 18 months) from the closing of our IPO or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity; or (iii) absent an initial business combination within 12 months (or up to 18 months) from the closing of our IPO, our return of the funds held in the Trust Account to our public stockholders as part of our redemption of the Public Shares. If we do not invest the proceeds as discussed above, we may be deemed to be subject to the Investment Company Act. If we were deemed to be subject to the Investment Company Act, compliance with these additional regulatory burdens would require additional expenses for which we have not allotted funds and may hinder our ability to complete an initial business combination or may result in our liquidation. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.10 per share on the liquidation of our Trust Account and our warrants will expire worthless.
The grant of registration rights to our initial stockholders may make it more difficult to complete our initial business combination, and the future exercise of such rights may adversely affect the market price of our common stock.
Pursuant to an agreement that was entered into concurrently with the issuance and sale of the securities in our IPO, our initial stockholders and their permitted transferees can demand that we register the Placement Warrants, the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the Placement Warrants, the shares of common stock included in the Placement Units and holders of unit that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans may demand that we register such common stock, warrants or the common stock issuable upon exercise of such Units and warrants. We will bear the cost of registering these securities. The registration and availability of such a significant number of securities for trading in the public market may have an adverse effect on the market price of our common stock. In addition, the existence of the registration rights may make our initial business combination more costly or difficult to conclude. This is because the stockholders of the target business may increase the equity stake they seek in the combined entity or ask for more cash consideration to offset the negative impact on the market price of our common stock that is expected when the securities owned by our initial stockholders or holders of working capital loans or their respective permitted transferees are registered.
Because we are neither limited to evaluating a target business in a particular industry sector nor have we selected any specific target businesses with which to pursue our initial business combination, you will be unable to ascertain the merits or risks of any particular target business’s operations.
We will not, under our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, be permitted to effectuate our initial business combination with another blank check company or similar company with nominal operations. Because we have not yet selected or approached any specific target business with respect to a business combination, there is no basis to evaluate the possible merits or risks of any particular target business’s operations, results of operations, cash flows, liquidity, financial condition or prospects. To the extent we complete our initial business combination, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in the business operations with which we combine. For example, if we combine with a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of sales or earnings, we may be affected by the risks inherent in the business and operations of a financially unstable or a development stage entity. Although our officers and directors will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we cannot assure you that we will properly ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors or that we will have adequate time to complete due diligence. Furthermore, some of these risks may be outside of our control and leave us with no ability to control or reduce the chances that those risks will adversely impact a target business. We also cannot assure you that an investment in our Units will ultimately prove to be more favorable to investors than a direct investment, if such opportunity were available, in a business combination target. Accordingly, any stockholders who choose to remain stockholders following our initial business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such stockholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value unless they are able to successfully claim that the reduction was due to the breach by our officers or directors of a duty of care or other fiduciary duty owed to them, or if they are able to successfully bring a private claim under securities laws that the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, relating to the business combination contained an actionable material misstatement or material omission.
We may seek business combination opportunities in industries or sectors which may or may not be outside of our management’s area of expertise.
We may consider an initial business combination outside of our management’s area of expertise if an initial business combination candidate is presented to us and we determine that such candidate offers an attractive business combination opportunity for our company or we are unable to identify a suitable candidate in this sector after having expanded a reasonable amount of time and effort in an attempt to do so. Although our management will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in any particular business combination candidate, we cannot assure you that we will adequately ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors. We also cannot assure you that an investment in our Units will not ultimately prove to be less favorable than a direct investment, if an opportunity were available, in an initial business combination candidate. In the event we elect to pursue a business combination outside of the areas of our management’s expertise, our management’s expertise may not be directly applicable to its evaluation or operation, and the information contained in this Report regarding the areas of our management’s expertise would not be relevant to an understanding of the business that we elect to acquire. As a result, our management may not be able to adequately ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors. Accordingly, any stockholders who choose to remain stockholders following our initial business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their shares. Such stockholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.
Although we have identified general criteria and guidelines that we believe are important in evaluating prospective target businesses, we may enter into our initial business combination with a target that does not meet such criteria and guidelines, and as a result, the target business with which we enter into our initial business combination may not have attributes entirely consistent with our general criteria and guidelines.
Although we have identified general criteria and guidelines for evaluating prospective target businesses, it is possible that a target business with which we enter into our initial business combination will not have all of these positive attributes. If we complete our initial business combination with a target that does not meet some or all of these guidelines, such combination may not be as successful as a combination with a business that does meet all of our general criteria and guidelines. In addition, if we announce a prospective business combination with a target that does not meet our general criteria and guidelines, a greater number of stockholders may exercise their redemption rights, which may make it difficult for us to meet any closing condition with a target business that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. In addition, if stockholder approval of the transaction is required by law, or we decide to obtain stockholder approval for business or other legal reasons, it may be more difficult for us to attain stockholder approval of our initial business combination if the target business does not meet our general criteria and guidelines. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.10 per share on the liquidation of our Trust Account and our warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public stockholders may receive less than $10.10 per share on the redemption of their shares. See “- If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the Trust Account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.10 per share” and other risk factors set forth herein.
We may seek business combination opportunities with a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of revenue, cash flow or earnings, which could subject us to volatile revenues, cash flows or earnings or difficulty in retaining key personnel.
To the extent we complete our initial business combination with a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of revenues or earnings, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in the operations of the business with which we combine. These risks include volatile revenues or earnings and difficulties in obtaining and retaining key personnel. Although our officers and directors will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we may not be able to properly ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors and we may not have adequate time to complete due diligence. Furthermore, some of these risks may be outside of our control and leave us with no ability to control or reduce the chances that those risks will adversely impact a target business.
We are not required to obtain a fairness opinion and consequently, you may have no assurance from an independent source that the price we are paying for the business is fair to our company from a financial point of view.
Unless we complete our initial business combination with an affiliated entity or our board cannot independently determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses, we are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent entity that commonly renders valuation opinions that the price we are paying is fair to our company from a financial point of view. If no opinion is obtained, our stockholders will be relying on the judgment of our board of directors, who will determine fair market value based on standards generally accepted by the financial community. Such standards used will be disclosed in our proxy materials or tender offer documents, as applicable, related to our initial business combination.
Resources could be wasted in researching business combinations that are not completed, which could materially adversely affect subsequent attempts to locate and acquire or merge with another business. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.10 per share, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our Trust Account and our warrants will expire worthless.
We anticipate that the investigation of each specific target business and the negotiation, drafting and execution of relevant agreements, disclosure documents and other instruments will require substantial management time and attention and substantial costs for accountants, attorneys, consultants and others. If we decide not to complete a specific initial business combination, the costs incurred up to that point for the proposed transaction likely would not be recoverable. Furthermore, if we reach an agreement relating to a specific target business, we may fail to complete our initial business combination for any number of reasons including those beyond our control. Any such event will result in a loss to us of the related costs incurred which could materially adversely affect subsequent attempts to locate and acquire or merge with another business. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.10 per share on the liquidation of our Trust Account and our warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public stockholders may receive less than $10.10 per share on the redemption of their shares. See “- If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the Trust Account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.10 per share” and other risk factors set forth herein.
Our ability to successfully effect our initial business combination and to be successful thereafter will be totally dependent upon the efforts of our key personnel, some of whom may join us following our initial business combination. The loss of key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business.
Our ability to successfully effect our initial business combination is dependent upon the efforts of our key personnel. The role of our key personnel in the target business, however, cannot presently be ascertained. Although some of our key personnel may remain with the target business in senior management or advisory positions following our initial business combination, it is likely that some or all of the management of the target business will remain in place. While we intend to closely scrutinize any individuals we employ after our initial business combination, we cannot assure you that our assessment of these individuals will prove to be correct. These individuals may be unfamiliar with the requirements of operating a company regulated by the SEC, which could cause us to have to expend time and resources helping them become familiar with such requirements. In addition, the officers and directors of an initial business combination candidate may resign upon completion of our initial business combination. The departure of an initial business combination target’s key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business. The role of an initial business combination candidate’s key personnel upon the completion of our initial business combination cannot be ascertained at this time. Although we contemplate that certain members of an initial business combination candidate’s management team will remain associated with the initial business combination candidate following our initial business combination, it is possible that members of the management of an initial business combination candidate will not wish to remain in place. The loss of key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business.
We may have a limited ability to assess the management of a prospective target business and, as a result, may effect our initial business combination with a target business whose management may not have the skills, qualifications or abilities to manage a public company, which could, in turn, negatively impact the value of our stockholders’ investment in us.
When evaluating the desirability of effecting our initial business combination with a prospective target business, our ability to assess the target business’s management may be limited due to a lack of time, resources or information. Our assessment of the capabilities of the target’s management, therefore, may prove to be incorrect and such management may lack the skills, qualifications or abilities we suspected. Should the target’s management not possess the skills, qualifications or abilities necessary to manage a public company, the operations and profitability of the post-combination business may be negatively impacted. Accordingly, any stockholders who choose to remain stockholders following the initial business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their shares. Such stockholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.
We may only be able to complete one business combination, which will cause us to be solely dependent on a single business which may have a limited number of services and limited operating activities. This lack of diversification may negatively impact our operating results and profitability.
Of the net proceeds from our IPO and the sale of the Placement Units, $116,150,000 is available to complete our initial business combination and pay related fees and expenses.
We may effectuate our initial business combination with a single target business or multiple target businesses simultaneously or within a short period of time. However, we may not be able to effectuate our initial business combination with more than one target business because of various factors, including the existence of complex accounting issues and the requirement that we prepare and file pro forma financial statements with the SEC that present operating results and the financial condition of several target businesses as if they had been operated on a combined basis. By completing our initial business combination with only a single entity, our lack of diversification may subject us to numerous economic, competitive and regulatory developments. Further, we would not be able to diversify our operations or benefit from the possible spreading of risks or offsetting of losses, unlike other entities which may have the resources to complete several business combinations in different industries or different areas of a single industry. In addition, we intend to focus our search for an initial business combination in a single industry. Accordingly, the prospects for our success may be:
●solely dependent upon the performance of a single business, property or asset, or
●dependent upon the development or market acceptance of a single or limited number of products, processes or services.
This lack of diversification may subject us to numerous economic, competitive and regulatory risks, any or all of which may have a substantial adverse impact upon the particular industry in which we may operate subsequent to our initial business combination.
We may attempt to simultaneously complete business combinations with multiple prospective targets, which may hinder our ability to complete our initial business combination and give rise to increased costs and risks that could negatively impact our operations and profitability.
If we determine to simultaneously acquire several businesses that are owned by different sellers, we will need for each of such sellers to agree that our purchase of its business is contingent on the simultaneous closings of the other business combinations, which may make it more difficult for us, and delay our ability, to complete our initial business combination. We do not, however, intend to purchase multiple businesses in unrelated industries in conjunction with our initial business combination. With multiple business combinations, we could also face additional risks, including additional burdens and costs with respect to possible multiple negotiations and due diligence investigations (if there are multiple sellers) and the additional risks associated with the subsequent assimilation of the operations and services or products of the acquired companies in a single operating business. If we are unable to adequately address these risks, it could negatively impact our profitability and results of operations.
We do not have a specified maximum redemption threshold. The absence of such a redemption threshold may make it possible for us to complete an initial business combination with which a substantial majority of our stockholders do not agree.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation does not provide a specified maximum redemption threshold, except 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 (such 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. As a result, we may be able to complete our initial business combination even though a substantial majority of our public stockholders do not agree with the transaction and have redeemed their shares or, if we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, have entered into privately negotiated agreements to sell their shares to our Sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or their affiliates. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all shares of common stock that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed initial business combination exceed the aggregate amount of cash available to us, we will not complete the initial business combination or redeem any shares, all shares of common stock submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof, and we instead may search for an alternate business combination.
In order to effectuate an initial business combination, blank check companies have, in the recent past, amended various provisions of their charters and other governing instruments, including their warrant agreements. We cannot assure you that we will not seek to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or governing instruments in a manner that will make it easier for us to complete our initial business combination that our stockholders may not support.
In order to effectuate an initial business combination, blank check companies have, in the recent past, amended various provisions of their charters and modified governing instruments, including their warrant agreements. For example, blank check companies have amended the definition of business combination, increased redemption thresholds and extended the time to consummate an initial business combination and, with respect to their warrants, amended their warrant agreements to require the warrants to be exchanged for cash and/or other securities. Amending our amended and restated certificate of incorporation requires the approval of holders of 50.1% of our common stock, and amending our warrant agreement will require a vote of holders of at least a majority of the Public Warrants (which may include Public Warrants acquired by our Sponsor or its affiliates in the open market). In addition, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation requires us to provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their Public Shares for cash if we propose an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or amendments to our charter prior thereto or to redeem 100% of our Public Shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 12 months (or up to 18 months) from the closing of our IPO or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity.
To the extent any such amendments would be deemed to fundamentally change the nature of any securities offered through this registration statement, we would register, or seek an exemption from registration for, the affected securities. We cannot assure you that we will not seek to amend our charter or governing instruments or extend the time to consummate an initial business combination in order to effectuate our initial business combination.
We may be unable to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination or to fund the operations and growth of a target business, which could compel us to restructure or abandon a particular business combination.
We intend to target businesses larger than we could acquire with the net proceeds of our IPO and the sale of the Placement Units. As a result, we may be required to seek additional financing to complete such proposed initial business combination. We cannot assure you that such financing will be available on acceptable terms, if at all. To the extent that additional financing proves to be unavailable when needed to complete our initial business combination, we would be compelled to either restructure the transaction or abandon that particular business combination and seek an alternative target business candidate. Further, the amount of additional financing we may be required to obtain could increase as a result of future growth capital needs for any particular transaction, the depletion of the available net proceeds in search of a target business, the obligation to repurchase for cash a significant number of shares from stockholders who elect redemption in connection with our initial business combination and/or the terms of negotiated transactions to purchase shares in connection with our initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.10 per share plus any pro rata interest earned on the funds held in the Trust Account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes on the liquidation of our Trust Account and our warrants will expire worthless. In addition, even if we do not need additional financing to complete our initial business combination, we may require such financing to fund the operations or growth of the target business. The failure to secure additional financing could have a material adverse effect on the continued development or growth of the target business. None of our officers, directors or stockholders is required to provide any financing to us in connection with or after our initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may only receive approximately $10.10 per share on the liquidation of our Trust Account, and our warrants will expire worthless. Furthermore, as described in the risk factor entitled “If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the Trust Account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.10 per share,” under certain circumstances our public stockholders may receive less than $10.10 per share upon the liquidation of the Trust Account.
A provision of our warrant agreement may make it more difficult for use to consummate an initial business combination.
If:
(i)we issue additional shares of common stock or equity-linked securities for capital raising purposes in connection with the closing of our initial business combination at a Newly Issued Price of less than $9.20 per share;
(ii)the aggregate gross proceeds from such issuances represent more than 60% of the total equity proceeds, and interest thereon, available for the funding of our initial business combination on the date of the consummation of our initial business combination (net of redemptions), and
(iii)the Market Value is below $9.20 per share, then the exercise price of the warrants will be adjusted to be equal to 115% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, and the $18.00 per share redemption trigger price will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 180% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price. This may make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination with a target business.
Because we must furnish our stockholders with target business financial statements, we may lose the ability to complete an otherwise advantageous initial business combination with some prospective target businesses.
The federal proxy rules require that a proxy statement with respect to a vote on an initial business combination meeting certain financial significance tests include historical and/or pro forma financial statement disclosure in periodic reports. We will include the same financial statement disclosure in connection with our tender offer documents, whether or not they are required under the tender offer rules. These financial statements may be required to be prepared in accordance with, or be reconciled to, accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, or GAAP, or international financial reporting standards as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board, or IFRS, depending on the circumstances and the historical financial statements may be required to be audited in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States), or PCAOB. These financial statement requirements may limit the pool of potential target businesses we may acquire because some targets may be unable to provide such financial statements in time for us to disclose such statements in accordance with federal proxy rules and complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame.
If we effect our initial business combination with a company with operations or opportunities outside of the United States, we would be subject to a variety of additional risks that may negatively impact our operations.
If we effect our initial business combination with a company with operations or opportunities outside of the United States, we would be subject to any special considerations or risks associated with companies operating in an international setting, including any of the following:
●higher costs and difficulties inherent in managing cross-border business operations and complying with different commercial and legal requirements of overseas markets;
●rules and regulations regarding currency redemption;
●complex corporate withholding taxes on individuals;
●laws governing the manner in which future business combinations may be effected;
●tariffs and trade barriers;
●regulations related to customs and import/export matters;
●longer payment cycles and challenges in collecting accounts receivable;
●tax issues, including but not limited to tax law changes and variations in tax laws as compared to the United States;
●currency fluctuations and exchange controls;
●rates of inflation;
●cultural and language differences;
●employment regulations;
●crime, strikes, riots, civil disturbances, terrorist attacks, natural disasters and wars;
●deterioration of political relations with the United States; and
●government appropriations of assets.
We may not be able to adequately address these additional risks. If we were unable to do so, our operations might suffer, which may adversely impact our results of operations and financial condition.
Our search for a business combination, and any target business with which we ultimately consummate a business combination, may be materially adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a widespread health crisis that has adversely affected the economies and financial markets worldwide, and the business of any potential target business with which we consummate a business combination could be materially and adversely affected. Furthermore, we may be unable to complete a business combination if continued concerns relating to COVID-19 restrict travel, limit the ability to have meetings with potential investors or the target company’s personnel, vendors and services providers are unavailable to negotiate and consummate a transaction in a timely manner. The extent to which COVID-19 impacts our search for a business combination will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, including new information which may emerge concerning the severity of COVID-19 and the actions to contain COVID-19 or treat its impact, among others. If the disruptions posed by COVID-19 or other matters of global concern continue for an extensive period of time, our ability to consummate a business combination, or the operations of a target business with which we ultimately consummate a business combination, may be materially adversely affected.
Risks Relating to our Sponsor and Management Team
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, our initial stockholders have agreed to vote in favor of such initial business combination, regardless of how our public stockholders vote.
Pursuant to the letter agreement, our Sponsor, officers, directors and director nominees have agreed to vote their Founder Shares and Placement Shares, and any Public Shares purchased during or after our IPO (including in open market and privately negotiated transactions), in favor of our initial business combination. As a result, in addition to our initial stockholders’ Founder Shares and Placement Shares, we would need only 4,040,001, or approximately 35%, of the 11,500,000 Public Shares sold to be voted in favor of an initial business combination (assuming all outstanding shares are voted) in order to have our initial business combination approved. Our initial stockholders own shares representing approximately 23% of our outstanding shares of common stock. Accordingly, if we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, the agreement by our initial stockholders to vote in favor of our initial business combination will increase the likelihood that we will receive the requisite stockholder approval for such initial business combination.
Our initial stockholders may exert a substantial influence on actions requiring a stockholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support.
Our initial stockholders own shares representing approximately 23% of our issued and outstanding shares of common stock. Accordingly, they may exert a substantial influence on actions requiring a stockholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support, including amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and approval of major corporate transactions. If our initial stockholders purchase any additional shares of common stock in the aftermarket or in privately negotiated transactions, this would increase their control. Factors that would be considered in making such additional purchases would include consideration of the current trading price of our common stock. In addition, our board of directors, whose members were elected by our initial stockholders, is and will be divided into two classes, each of which will generally serve for a term of two years with only one class of directors being elected in each year. We may not hold an annual meeting of stockholders to elect new directors prior to the completion of our initial business combination, in which case all of the current directors will continue in office until at least the completion of the initial business combination. If there is an annual meeting, as a consequence of our “staggered” board of directors, only a minority of the board of directors will be considered for election and our initial stockholders, because of their ownership position, will have considerable influence regarding the outcome. Accordingly, our initial stockholders will continue to exert control at least until the completion of our initial business combination.
Our Sponsor has the right to extend the term we have to consummate our initial business combination, without providing our stockholders with redemption rights.
We will have until 12 months from the closing of our IPO to consummate our initial business combination. However, if we anticipate that we may not be able to consummate our initial business combination within 12 months, we may, by resolution of our board if requested by our Sponsor, extend the period of time to consummate a business combination up to two times, each by an additional three months (for a total of up to 18 months to complete a business combination), subject to our Sponsor depositing additional funds into the Trust Account as set out below. Our shareholders will not be entitled to vote or redeem their shares in connection with any such extension. In order for the time available for us to consummate our initial business combination to be extended, our Sponsor or its affiliates or designees must deposit into the Trust Account $1,150,000 ($0.10 per unit), up to an aggregate of $2,300,000 ($0.20 per unit) on or prior to the date of the applicable deadline, for each three month extension.
Any such payments would be made in the form of a non-interest bearing loan and would be repaid, if at all, from funds released to us upon completion of our initial business combination. The obligation to repay any such loans may reduce the amount available to us to pay as purchase price in our initial business combination, and/or may reduce the amount of funds available to the combined company following the initial business combination. This feature is different than the traditional special purpose acquisition company structure, in which any extension of the company’s period to complete a business combination requires a vote of the company’s shareholders and shareholders have the right to redeem their Public Shares in connection with such vote, and which do not provide our Sponsor with the right to loan funds to the company to fund extension payments.
Our Sponsor paid an aggregate of $25,000 for the Founder Shares, or approximately $0.009 (as adjusted) per founder share. In addition, we may pay our Sponsor or its affiliates, partners or employees, a fee for financial advisory services in connection with our initial business combination. As a result, our Sponsor, its affiliates and our management team stand to make a substantial profit even if an initial business combination subsequently declines in value or is unprofitable for our public stockholders, and may have an incentive to recommend such an initial business combination to our stockholders.
As a result of the low acquisition cost of our Founder Shares, our Sponsor, its affiliates and our management team could make a substantial profit even if we select and consummate an initial business combination with an acquisition target that subsequently declines in value or is unprofitable for our public stockholders. In addition, we may pay our Sponsor or its affiliates, partners or employees, a fee for financial advisory services in connection with our initial business combination. Thus, such parties may have more of an economic incentive for us to enter into an initial business combination with a riskier, weaker-performing or financially unstable business, or an entity lacking an established record of revenues or earnings, than would be the case if such parties had paid the full offering price for their Founder Shares, or if such a fee were not potentially payable.
Our Sponsor may decide not to extend the term we have to consummate our initial business combination, in which case we would cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up and we would redeem our Public Shares and liquidate, and the rights and warrants will be worthless.
We will have until 12 months from the closing of our IPO to consummate our initial business combination. However, if we anticipate that we may not be able to consummate our initial business combination within 12 months, we may, by resolution of our board if requested by our Sponsor, extend the period of time to consummate a business combination up to two times, each by an additional three months (for a total of up to 18 months to complete a business combination), subject to our Sponsor depositing additional funds into the Trust Account as described elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Our Sponsor and its affiliates or designees are not obligated to fund the Trust Account to extend the time for us to complete our initial business combination. If we are unable to consummate our initial business combination within the applicable time period, we will, as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than five business days thereafter, redeem the Public Shares for a pro rata portion of the funds held in the Trust Account and as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining shareholders 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. In such event, the rights and warrants will be worthless.
Past performance by our management team, our Sponsor or their respective affiliates may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in us.
Information regarding performance by, or businesses associated with, our management team and their respective affiliates is presented for informational purposes only. Past performance by our management team and their respective affiliates is not a guarantee either (i) that we will be able to locate a suitable candidate for our initial business combination or (ii) of success with respect to any business combination we may consummate. Our officers and directors have not had management experience with special purpose acquisition corporations in the past. You should not rely on the historical performance of our management team and their respective affiliates as an indication of the future performance of an investment in our company or the returns we will, or are likely to, generate going forward. In addition, an investment in our company is not an investment in any other entities affiliated with our management team. Our management team has no experience in operating special purpose acquisition companies.
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, our Sponsor, directors, officers, advisors and their affiliates may elect to purchase shares or warrants from public stockholders, which may influence a vote on a proposed initial business combination and reduce the public “float” of our common stock.
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our Sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase shares or Public Warrants or a combination thereof in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination, although they are under no obligation to do so. However, they have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such transactions. None of the funds in the Trust Account will be used to purchase shares or Public Warrants in such transactions.
Such a purchase may include a contractual acknowledgement that such stockholder, although still the record holder of our shares is no longer the beneficial owner thereof and therefore agrees not to exercise its redemption rights. In the event that our Sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates purchase shares in privately negotiated transactions from public stockholders who have already elected to exercise their redemption rights, such selling stockholders would be required to revoke their prior elections to redeem their shares. The purpose of such purchases could be to vote such shares in favor of the initial business combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining stockholder approval of the initial business combination, or to satisfy a closing condition in an agreement with a target that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash at the closing of our initial business combination, where it appears that such requirement would otherwise not be met. The purpose of any such purchases of Public Warrants could be to reduce the number of Public Warrants outstanding or to vote such warrants on any matters submitted to the warrant holders for approval in connection with our initial business combination. Any such purchases of our securities may result in the completion of our initial business combination that may not otherwise have been possible. Any such purchases will be reported pursuant to Section 13 and Section 16 of the Exchange Act to the extent such purchasers are subject to such reporting requirements.
In addition, if such purchases are made, the public “float” of our common stock or Public Warrants and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, possibly making it difficult to obtain or maintain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange.
Involvement of members of our management and companies with which they are affiliated in civil disputes and litigation, governmental investigations or negative publicity unrelated to our business affairs could materially impact our ability to consummate an initial business combination.
Members of our management team and companies with which they are affiliated have been, and in the future will continue to be, involved in a wide variety of business affairs, including transactions, such as sales and purchases of real estate, and ongoing operations. As a result of such involvement, members of our management and companies with which they are affiliated in have been, and may in the future be, involved in civil disputes, litigation, governmental investigations and negative publicity relating to their business affairs. For example, a lawsuit was recently filed by a group of condominium unit holders of the Mondrian South Beach Hotel against the condominium association and certain related and non-related entities to Mr. Galbut and Mr. Liebowitz, alleging violations of the Florida Securities and Investor Protection Act and other claims relating to the sale of condominium units to such holders. Mr Galbut and Mr. Liebowitz, while not being parties to such lawsuits, believe such claims to be without merit and intend to have any related entities vigorously defend the lawsuit. Regardless of the outcome, any such claims, investigations, lawsuits or negative publicity may be detrimental to our reputation and could negatively affect our ability to identify and complete an initial business combination in a material manner and may have an adverse effect on the price of our securities.
Our directors may decide not to enforce the indemnification obligations of our Sponsor, resulting in a reduction in the amount of funds in the Trust Account available for distribution to our public stockholders.
In the event that the proceeds in the Trust Account are reduced below the lesser of (i) $10.10 per share and (ii) the actual amount per share held in the Trust Account as of the date of the liquidation of the Trust Account if less than $10.10 per share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest which may be withdrawn to pay taxes, and our Sponsor asserts that it is unable to satisfy its obligations or that it has no indemnification obligations related to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether to take legal action against our Sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations.
While we currently expect that our independent directors would take legal action on our behalf against our Sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations to us, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment and subject to their fiduciary duties may choose not to do so in any particular instance if, for example, the cost of such legal action is deemed by the independent directors to be too high relative to the amount recoverable or if the independent directors determine that a favorable outcome is not likely. If our independent directors choose not to enforce these indemnification obligations, the amount of funds in the Trust Account available for distribution to our public stockholders may be reduced below $10.10 per share.
We may not have sufficient funds to satisfy indemnification claims of our directors and executive officers.
We have agreed to indemnify our officers and directors to the fullest extent permitted by law. However, our officers and directors have agreed to waive any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies in the Trust Account and to not seek recourse against the Trust Account for any reason whatsoever. Accordingly, any indemnification provided will be able to be satisfied by us only if (i) we have sufficient funds outside of the Trust Account or (ii) we consummate an initial business combination. Our obligation to indemnify our officers and directors may discourage stockholders from bringing a lawsuit against our officers or directors for breach of their fiduciary duty. These provisions also may have the effect of reducing the likelihood of derivative litigation against our officers and directors, even though such an action, if successful, might otherwise benefit us and our stockholders. Furthermore, a stockholder’s investment may be adversely affected to the extent we pay the costs of settlement and damage awards against our officers and directors pursuant to these indemnification provisions.
We are dependent upon our executive officers and directors and their departure could adversely affect our ability to operate.
Our operations are dependent upon a relatively small group of individuals and, in particular, our executive officers and directors. We believe that our success depends on the continued service of our executive officers and directors, at least until we have completed our initial business combination. We do not have an employment agreement with, or key-man insurance on the life of, any of our directors or executive officers. The unexpected loss of the services of one or more of our directors or executive officers could have a detrimental effect on us.
Our key personnel may negotiate employment or consulting agreements with a target business in connection with a particular business combination. These agreements may provide for them to receive compensation following our initial business combination and as a result, may cause them to have conflicts of interest in determining whether a particular business combination is the most advantageous.
Our key personnel may be able to remain with the company after the completion of our initial business combination only if they are able to negotiate employment or consulting agreements in connection with the initial business combination. Such negotiations would take place simultaneously with the negotiation of the initial business combination and could provide for such individuals to receive compensation in the form of cash payments and/or our securities for services they would render to us after the completion of the initial business combination. The personal and financial interests of such individuals may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business. However, we believe the ability of such individuals to remain with us after the completion of our initial business combination will not be the determining factor in our decision as to whether or not we will proceed with any potential business combination. There is no certainty, however, that any of our key personnel will remain with us after the completion of our initial business combination. We cannot assure you that any of our key personnel will remain in senior management or advisory positions with us. The determination as to whether any of our key personnel will remain with us will be made at the time of our initial business combination.
Our officers and directors will allocate their time to other businesses thereby causing conflicts of interest in their determination as to how much time to devote to our affairs. This conflict of interest could have a negative impact on our ability to complete our initial business combination.
Our officers and directors are not required to, and will not, commit their full time to our affairs, which may result in a conflict of interest in allocating their time between our operations and our search for an initial business combination and their other businesses. We do not intend to have any full-time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination. Each of our officers is engaged in other business endeavors for which he may be entitled to substantial compensation and our officers are not obligated to contribute any specific number of hours per week to our affairs. Our independent directors may also serve as officers or board members for other entities. If our officers’ and directors’ other business affairs require them to devote substantial amounts of time to such affairs in excess of their current commitment levels, it could limit their ability to devote time to our affairs which may have a negative impact on our ability to complete our initial business combination.
Certain of our officers and directors are now, and all of them may in the future become, affiliated with entities engaged in business activities similar to those intended to be conducted by us and, accordingly, may have conflicts of interest in allocating their time and determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented.
Until we consummate our initial business combination, we intend to engage in the business of identifying and combining with one or more businesses. Our Sponsor and officers and directors are, and may in the future become, affiliated with entities (such as operating companies or investment vehicles) that are engaged in a similar business, including other special purpose acquisition companies with a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act.
Our officers and directors also may become aware of business opportunities which may be appropriate for presentation to us and the other entities to which they owe certain fiduciary or contractual duties.
Accordingly, they may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented. These conflicts may not be resolved in our favor and a potential target business may be presented to another entity prior to its presentation to us. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide 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, directors, security holders and their respective affiliates may have competitive pecuniary interests that conflict with our interests.
We have not adopted a policy that expressly prohibits our directors, officers, security holders or affiliates from having a direct or indirect pecuniary or financial interest in any investment to be acquired or disposed of by us or in any transaction to which we are a party or have an interest. In fact, we may enter into an initial business combination with a target business that is affiliated with our Sponsor, our directors or officers, although we do not intend to do so. We do not have a policy that expressly prohibits any such persons from engaging for their own account in business activities of the types conducted by us. Accordingly, such persons or entities may have a conflict between their interests and ours.
We may engage in an initial business combination with one or more target businesses that have relationships with entities that may be affiliated with our Sponsor, officers, directors or existing holders which may raise potential conflicts of interest.
In light of the involvement of our Sponsor, officers and directors with other entities, we may decide to acquire one or more businesses affiliated with our Sponsor, officers or directors. Our directors also serve as officers and board members for other entities. Such entities may compete with us for business combination opportunities. Our Sponsor, officers and directors are not currently aware of any specific opportunities for us to complete our initial business combination with any entities with which they are affiliated, and there have been no preliminary discussions concerning an initial business combination with any such entity or entities. Although we will not be specifically focusing on, or targeting, any transaction with any affiliated entities, we would pursue such a transaction if we determined that such affiliated entity met our criteria for an initial business combination and such transaction was approved by a majority of our disinterested directors. Despite our agreement to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent entity that commonly renders valuation opinions, regarding the fairness to our stockholders from a financial point of view of an initial business combination with one or more businesses affiliated with our officers, directors or existing holders, potential conflicts of interest still may exist and, as a result, the terms of the initial business combination may not be as advantageous to our public stockholders as they would be absent any conflicts of interest.
Since our Sponsor, officers and directors will lose their entire investment in us if our initial business combination is not completed, a conflict of interest may arise in determining whether a particular business combination target is appropriate for our initial business combination.
In September 2020, our Sponsor subscribed for 2,156,250 Founder Shares for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000, or approximately $0.012 per share. On October 20, 2020, we effected a stock dividend resulting in our Sponsor holding an aggregate of 2,875,000 Founder Shares, representing an adjusted purchase price of approximately $0.009 per share. The number of Founder Shares issued was determined based on the expectation that such Founder Shares would represent 20% of the outstanding shares upon the closing of our IPO (excluding the Placement Units and underlying securities). The Founder Shares will be worthless if we do not complete an initial business combination. Our Sponsor has agreed to purchase an aggregate of 545,000 Placement Units at a price of $10.00 per unit, for an aggregate purchase price of $5,450,000. Each placement unit consists of one share of common stock and one warrant exercisable to purchase one whole share of common stock at $11.50 per share. These securities will also be worthless if we do not complete an initial business combination. Holders of Founder Shares have agreed (A) to vote any shares owned by them in favor of any proposed initial business combination and (B) not to redeem any Founder Shares in connection with a stockholder vote to approve a proposed initial business combination. In addition, we may obtain loans from our Sponsor, affiliates of our Sponsor or an officer or director. The personal and financial interests of our officers and directors may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business combination, completing an initial business combination and influencing the operation of the business following the initial business combination.
Our management may not be able to maintain control of a target business after our initial business combination.
We may structure an initial business combination so that the post-transaction company in which our public stockholders own shares will own less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business, but we will only complete such business combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target sufficient for us not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. We will not consider any transaction that does not meet such criteria. Even if the post-transaction company owns 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our stockholders prior to the initial business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post business combination company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the initial business combination. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares of common stock in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock of a target. In this case, we would acquire a 100% interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new shares of common stock, our stockholders immediately prior to such transaction could own less than a majority of our outstanding shares of common stock subsequent to such transaction. In addition, other minority stockholders may subsequently combine their holdings resulting in a single person or group obtaining a larger share of the company’s stock than we initially acquired. Accordingly, this may make it more likely that our management will not be able to maintain our control of the target business. We cannot provide assurance that, upon loss of control of a target business, new management will possess the skills, qualifications or abilities necessary to profitably operate such business.
The provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation that relate to our pre-business combination activity (and corresponding provisions of the agreement governing the release of funds from our Trust Account), including an amendment to permit us to withdraw funds from the Trust Account such that the per share amount investors will receive upon any redemption or liquidation is substantially reduced or eliminated, may be amended with the approval of holders of 50.1% of our common stock, which is a lower amendment threshold than that of some other blank check companies. It may be easier for us, therefore, to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and the trust agreement to facilitate the completion of an initial business combination that some of our stockholders may not support.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that any of its provisions related to pre-initial business combination activity (including the requirement to deposit proceeds of our IPO and the private placement of warrants into the Trust Account and not release such amounts except in specified circumstances, and to provide redemption rights to public stockholders as described herein and including to permit us to withdraw funds from the Trust Account such that the per share amount investors will receive upon any redemption or liquidation is substantially reduced or eliminated) may be amended if approved by holders of 50.1% of our common stock entitled to vote thereon, and corresponding provisions of the trust agreement governing the release of funds from our Trust Account may be amended if approved by holders of 50.1% of our common stock entitled to vote thereon. In all other instances, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation may be amended by holders of a majority of our outstanding common stock entitled to vote thereon, subject to applicable provisions of the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware, which we refer to as the DGCL, or applicable stock exchange rules. We may not issue additional securities that can vote on amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. Our initial stockholders, who collectively beneficially own approximately 23% of our common stock, will participate in any vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and/or trust agreement and will have the discretion to vote in any manner they choose. As a result, we may be able to amend the provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation which govern our pre-initial business combination behavior more easily than some other blank check companies, and this may increase our ability to complete an initial business combination with which you do not agree. Our stockholders may pursue remedies against us for any breach of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation.
Our Sponsor, officers and directors have agreed, pursuant to a written agreement with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (i) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or amendments to our charter prior thereto or to redeem 100% of our Public Shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 12 months (or up to 18 months) from the closing of our IPO 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 shares of common stock upon approval of any such amendment at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the Trust Account, divided by the number of then outstanding Public Shares. These agreements are contained in a letter agreement that we have entered into with our Sponsor, officers, directors and director nominees. Our stockholders are not parties to, or third-party beneficiaries of, these agreements and, as a result, will not have the ability to pursue remedies against our Sponsor, officers or directors for any breach of these agreements. As a result, in the event of a breach, our stockholders would need to pursue a stockholder derivative action, subject to applicable law.
Risks Relating to Our Securities
Our stockholders may be held liable for claims by third parties against us to the extent of distributions received by them upon redemption of their shares.
Under the DGCL, stockholders may be held liable for claims by third parties against a corporation to the extent of distributions received by them in a dissolution. The pro rata portion of our Trust Account distributed to our public stockholders upon the redemption of our Public Shares in the event we do not complete our initial business combination within 12 months (or up to 18 months) from the closing of our IPO may be considered a liquidating distribution under Delaware law. If a corporation complies with certain procedures set forth in Section 280 of the DGCL intended to ensure that it makes reasonable provision for all claims against it, including a 60-day notice period during which any third-party claims can be brought against the corporation, a 90-day period during which the corporation may reject any claims brought, and an additional 150-day waiting period before any liquidating distributions are made to stockholders, any liability of stockholders with respect to a liquidating distribution is limited to the lesser of such stockholder’s pro rata share of the claim or the amount distributed to the stockholder, and any liability of the stockholder would be barred after the third anniversary of the dissolution. However, it is our intention to redeem our Public Shares as soon as reasonably possible following the 18th month from the closing of our IPO in the event we do not complete our initial business combination and, therefore, we do not intend to comply with the foregoing procedures.
Because we will not be complying with Section 280, Section 281(b) of the DGCL requires us to adopt a plan, based on facts known to us at such time that will provide for our payment of all existing and pending claims or claims that may be potentially brought against us within the 10 years following our dissolution. However, because we are a blank check company, rather than an operating company, and our operations will be limited to searching for prospective target businesses to acquire, the only likely claims to arise would be from our vendors (such as lawyers, investment bankers, etc.) or prospective target businesses. If our plan of distribution complies with Section 281(b) of the DGCL, any liability of stockholders with respect to a liquidating distribution is limited to the lesser of such stockholder’s pro rata share of the claim or the amount distributed to the stockholder, and any liability of the stockholder would likely be barred after the third anniversary of the dissolution. We cannot assure you that we will properly assess all claims that may be potentially brought against us. As such, our stockholders could potentially be liable for any claims to the extent of distributions received by them (but no more) and any liability of our stockholders may extend beyond the third anniversary of such date. Furthermore, if the pro rata portion of our Trust Account distributed to our public stockholders upon the redemption of our Public Shares in the event we do not complete our initial business combination within 12 months (or up to 18 months) from the closing of our IPO is not considered a liquidating distribution under Delaware law and such redemption distribution is deemed to be unlawful (potentially due to the imposition of legal proceedings that a party may bring or due to other circumstances that are currently unknown), then pursuant to Section 174 of the DGCL, the statute of limitations for claims of creditors could then be six years after the unlawful redemption distribution, instead of three years, as in the case of a liquidating distribution.
If you exercise your Public Warrants on a “cashless basis,” you will receive fewer shares of common stock from such exercise than if you were to exercise such warrants for cash.
There are circumstances in which the exercise of the Public Warrants may be required or permitted to be made on a cashless basis. First, if a registration statement covering the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants is not effective by the 60th business day after the closing of our initial business combination, warrant-holders may, until such time as there is an effective registration statement, exercise warrants on a cashless basis in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act or another exemption. Second, if we call the Public Warrants for redemption, our management will have the option to require all holders that wish to exercise warrants to do so on a cashless basis. In the event of an exercise on a cashless basis, a holder would pay the warrant exercise price by surrendering the warrants for that number of shares of common stock equal to the quotient obtained by dividing (x) the product of the number of shares of common stock underlying the warrants, multiplied by the difference between the exercise price of the warrants and the “fair market value” (as defined in the next sentence) by (y) the fair market value. The “fair market value” is the average reported last sale price of the common stock for the 10 trading days ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which the notice of exercise is received by the warrant agent or on which the notice of redemption is sent to the holders of warrants, as applicable. As a result, you would receive fewer shares of common stock from such exercise than if you were to exercise such warrants for cash.
We have not registered the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants under the Securities Act or any state securities laws, and such registration may not be in place when an investor desires to exercise warrants, thus precluding such investor from being able to exercise its warrants except on a cashless basis. If the issuance of the shares upon exercise of warrants is not registered, qualified or exempt from registration or qualification, the holder of such warrant will not be entitled to exercise such warrant and such warrant may have no value and expire worthless.
We have not registered the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants under the Securities Act or any state securities laws. However, under the terms of the warrant agreement, we have agreed that as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 15 business days after the closing of our initial business combination, we will use our best efforts to file with the SEC a registration statement for the registration under the Securities Act of the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants and thereafter will use our best efforts to cause the same to become effective within 60 business days following our initial business combination and to maintain a current prospectus relating to the common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants, until the expiration of the warrants in accordance with the provisions of the warrant agreement. We cannot assure you that we will be able to do so if, for example, any facts or events arise which represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in the registration statement or prospectus, the financial statements contained or incorporated by reference therein are not current or correct or the SEC issues a stop order. If the shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants are not registered under the Securities Act, we will be required to permit holders to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis. However, no warrant will be exercisable for cash or on a cashless basis, and we will not be obligated to issue any shares to holders seeking to exercise their warrants, unless the issuance of the shares upon such exercise is registered or qualified under the securities laws of the state of the exercising holder, or an exemption from registration is available. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if a registration statement covering the common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants is not effective within the specified period following the consummation of our initial business combination, warrant holders may, until such time as there is an effective registration statement and during any period when we shall have failed to maintain an effective registration statement, exercise warrants on a cashless basis pursuant to the exemption provided by Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act, provided that such exemption is available. If that exemption, or another exemption, is not available, holders will not be able to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis. We will use our best efforts to register or qualify the shares under applicable blue sky laws to the extent an exemption is not available. In no event will we be required to net cash settle any warrant, or issue securities or other compensation in exchange for the warrants in the event that we are unable to register or qualify the shares underlying the warrants under applicable state securities laws and there is no exemption available. If the issuance of the shares upon exercise of the warrants is not so registered or qualified or exempt from registration or qualification, the holder of such warrant will not be entitled to exercise such warrant and such warrant may have no value and expire worthless. In such event, holders who acquired their warrants as part of a purchase of Units will have paid the full Unit purchase price solely for the shares of common stock included in the Units. If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may not exercise our redemption right if the issuance of shares of common stock upon exercise of the warrants is not exempt from registration or qualification under applicable state blue sky laws or we are unable to effect such registration or qualification. We will use our best efforts to register or qualify such shares of common stock under the blue sky laws of the state of residence in those states in which the warrants were offered by us in our IPO. However, there may be instances in which holders of our Public Warrants may be unable to exercise such Public Warrants but holders of our Placement Warrants may be able to exercise such Placement Warrants.
If a stockholder fails to receive notice of our offer to redeem our Public Shares in connection with our initial business combination, or fails to comply with the procedures for tendering its shares, such shares may not be redeemed.
We will comply with the tender offer rules or proxy rules, as applicable, when conducting redemptions in connection with our initial business combination. Despite our compliance with these rules, if a stockholder fails to receive our tender offer or proxy materials, as applicable, such stockholder may not become aware of the opportunity to redeem its shares. In addition, proxy materials or tender offer documents, as applicable, that we will furnish to holders of our Public Shares in connection with our initial business combination will describe the various procedures that must be complied with in order to validly tender or redeem Public Shares. For example, we may require our public stockholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” to either tender their certificates to our transfer agent prior to the date set forth in the tender offer documents mailed to such holders, or up to two business days prior to the vote on the proposal to approve the initial business combination in the event we distribute proxy materials, or to deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically. In the event that a stockholder fails to comply with these or any other procedures, its shares may not be redeemed.
You will not have any rights or interests in funds from the Trust Account, except under certain limited circumstances. To liquidate your investment, therefore, you may be forced to sell your Public Shares or warrants, potentially at a loss.
Our public stockholders will be entitled to receive funds from the Trust Account only upon the earliest to occur of: (i) our completion of an initial business combination, and then only in connection with those shares of common stock that such stockholder properly elected to redeem, subject to the limitations described herein, (ii) the redemption of any Public Shares properly submitted in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or amendments to our charter prior thereto or to redeem 100% of our Public Shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 12 months (or up to 18 months) from the closing of our IPO or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity and (iii) the redemption of our Public Shares if we are unable to complete an initial business combination within 12 months (or up to 18 months) from the closing of our IPO, subject to applicable law and as further described herein. In no other circumstances will a public stockholder have any right or interest of any kind in the Trust Account. Holders of warrants will not have any right to the proceeds held in the Trust Account with respect to the warrants. Accordingly, to liquidate your investment, you may be forced to sell your Public Shares or warrants, potentially at a loss.
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, and if you or a “group” of stockholders are deemed to hold in excess of 15% of the shares sold in our IPO, you will lose the ability to redeem all such shares in excess of 15% of the shares sold in our IPO.
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation 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 IPO without our prior consent, which we refer to as the “Excess Shares.” However, we would not be restricting our stockholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our initial business combination. Your inability to redeem the Excess Shares will reduce your influence over our ability to complete our initial business combination and you could suffer a material loss on your investment in us if you sell Excess Shares in open market transactions. Additionally, you will not receive redemption distributions with respect to the Excess Shares if we complete our initial business combination. And as a result, you will continue to hold that number of shares exceeding 15% and, in order to dispose of such shares, would be required to sell your stock in open market transactions, potentially at a loss.
We may issue additional common stock or preferred stock to complete our initial business combination or under an employee incentive plan after completion of our initial business combination. Any such issuances would dilute the interest of our stockholders and likely present other risks.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation authorizes the issuance of up to 100,000,000 shares of common stock, par value $0.0001 per share and 1,000,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $0.0001 per share. Immediately after our IPO, there were 85,080,000 authorized but unissued shares of common stock available for issuance, which amount does not take into account the shares of common stock reserved for issuance upon exercise of outstanding warrants. No shares of preferred stock are issued and outstanding.
We may issue a substantial number of additional shares of common or preferred stock to complete our initial business combination or under an employee incentive plan after completion of our initial business combination (although our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that we may not issue securities that can vote with common stockholders on matters related to our pre-initial business combination activity). However, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide, among other things, that prior to our initial business combination, we may not issue additional shares of capital stock that would entitle the holders thereof to (i) receive funds from the Trust Account or (ii) vote on any initial business combination. These provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, like all provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, may be amended with the approval of our stockholders. However, our executive officers, directors and director nominees have agreed, pursuant to a written agreement with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or amendments to our charter prior thereto or to redeem 100% of our Public Shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 12 months (or up to 18 months) from the closing of our IPO or (B) 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 shares of common stock upon approval of any such amendment at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the Trust Account, including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable), divided by the number of then outstanding Public Shares.
The issuance of additional shares of common or preferred stock:
●may significantly dilute the equity interest of our investors;
●may subordinate the rights of holders of common stock if preferred stock is issued with rights senior to those afforded our common stock;
●could cause a change of control if a substantial number of shares of our common stock are issued, which may affect, among other things, our ability to use our net operating loss carry forwards, if any, and could result in the resignation or removal of our present officers and directors; and
●may adversely affect prevailing market prices for our Units, common stock and/or warrants.
We may issue notes or other debt securities, or otherwise incur substantial debt, to complete an initial business combination, which may adversely affect our leverage and financial condition and thus negatively impact the value of our stockholders’ investment in us.
Although we have no commitments as of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K to issue any notes or other debt securities, or to otherwise incur outstanding debt, we may choose to incur substantial debt to complete our initial business combination. We have agreed that we will not incur any indebtedness unless we have obtained from the lender a waiver of any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to the monies held in the Trust Account. As such, no issuance of debt will affect the per-share amount available for redemption from the Trust Account. Nevertheless, the incurrence of debt could have a variety of negative effects, including:
●default and foreclosure on our assets if our operating revenues after an initial business combination are insufficient to repay our debt obligations;
●acceleration of our obligations to repay the indebtedness even if we make all principal and interest payments when due if we breach certain covenants that require the maintenance of certain financial ratios or reserves without a waiver or renegotiation of that covenant;
●our immediate payment of all principal and accrued interest, if any, if the debt security is payable on demand;
●our inability to obtain necessary additional financing if the debt security contains covenants restricting our ability to obtain such financing while the debt security is outstanding;
●our inability to pay dividends on our common stock;
●using a substantial portion of our cash flow to pay principal and interest on our debt, which will reduce the funds available for dividends on our common stock if declared, our ability to pay expenses, make capital expenditures and acquisitions, and fund other general corporate purposes;
●limitations on our flexibility in planning for and reacting to changes in our business and in the industry in which we operate;
●increased vulnerability to adverse changes in general economic, industry and competitive conditions and adverse changes in government regulation;
●limitations on our ability to borrow additional amounts for expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions, debt service requirements, and execution of our strategy; and
●other disadvantages compared to our competitors who have less debt.
We may amend the terms of the warrants in a manner that may be adverse to holders of Public Warrants with the approval by the holders of at least a majority of the then outstanding Public Warrants. As a result, the exercise price of your warrants could be increased, the exercise period could be shortened and the number of shares of our common stock purchasable upon exercise of a warrant could be decreased, all without your approval.
Our warrants are issued in registered form under a warrant agreement between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as warrant agent, and us. The warrant agreement provides that the terms of the warrants may be amended without the consent of any holder to cure any ambiguity or correct any defective provision, but requires the approval by the holders of at least a majority of the then outstanding Public Warrants to make any change that adversely affects the interests of the registered holders of Public Warrants (which may include Public Warrants acquired by our Sponsor or its affiliates in the open market). Accordingly, we may amend the terms of the Public Warrants in a manner adverse to a holder if holders of at least a majority of the then outstanding Public Warrants approve of such amendment. Although our ability to amend the terms of the Public Warrants with the consent of at least a majority of the then outstanding Public Warrants is unlimited, examples of such amendments could be amendments to, among other things, increase the exercise price of the warrants, convert the warrants into cash or stock, shorten the exercise period or decrease the number of shares of our common stock purchasable upon exercise of a warrant.
We may redeem your unexpired warrants prior to their exercise at a time that is disadvantageous to you, thereby making your warrants worthless.
We have the ability to redeem outstanding warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.01 per warrant, provided that the last reported sales price of our common stock equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within a 30 trading-day period commencing once the warrants become exercisable and ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which we give proper notice of such redemption and provided certain other conditions are met. If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may not exercise our redemption right if the issuance of shares of common stock upon exercise of the warrants is not exempt from registration or qualification under applicable state blue sky laws or we are unable to effect such registration or qualification. We will use our best efforts to register or qualify such shares of common stock under the blue sky laws of the state of residence in those states in which the warrants were offered by us in our IPO. Redemption of the outstanding warrants could force you (i) to exercise your warrants and pay the exercise price therefor at a time when it may be disadvantageous for you to do so, (ii) to sell your warrants at the then-current market price when you might otherwise wish to hold your warrants or (iii) to accept the nominal redemption price which, at the time the outstanding warrants are called for redemption, is likely to be substantially less than the market value of your warrants. None of the Placement Warrants will be redeemable by us so long as they are held by our Sponsor or its permitted transferees.
Our warrants and Founder Shares may have an adverse effect on the market price of our common stock and make it more difficult to effectuate our initial business combination.
We have issued warrants to purchase 11,500,000 shares of our common stock and have issued 545,000 Placement Warrants. Our initial stockholders currently own an aggregate of 2,875,000 Founder Shares. In addition, if our Sponsor makes any non-interest bearing working capital loans, up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into units, at a price of $10.00 per unit at the option of the lender, upon consummation of our initial business combination. The units would be identical to the Placement Units.
To the extent we issue shares of common stock to effectuate an initial business combination, the potential for the issuance of a substantial number of additional shares of common stock upon exercise of the Placement Warrants could make us a less attractive business combination vehicle to a target business. Any such issuance will increase the number of issued and outstanding shares of our common stock and reduce the value of the shares of common stock issued to complete the initial business combination. Therefore, our warrants and Founder Shares may make it more difficult to effectuate an initial business combination or increase the cost of acquiring the target business.
The Placement Warrants included in the Placement Units are identical to the warrants sold as part of the Units in our IPO except that, so long as they are held by our Sponsor or its permitted transferees, (i) they will not be redeemable by us, (ii) they (including the common stock issuable upon exercise of these warrants) may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by our Sponsor until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination and (iii) they may be exercised by the holders on a cashless basis.
Provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and Delaware law may inhibit a takeover of us, which could limit the price investors might be willing to pay in the future for our common stock and could entrench management.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation contains provisions that may discourage unsolicited takeover proposals that stockholders may consider to be in their best interests. These provisions include a staggered board of directors and the ability of the board of directors to designate the terms of and issue new series of preferred shares, which may make the removal of management more difficult and may discourage transactions that otherwise could involve payment of a premium over prevailing market prices for our securities.
We are also subject to anti-takeover provisions under Delaware law, which could delay or prevent a change of control. Together these provisions may make the removal of management more difficult and may discourage transactions that otherwise could involve payment of a premium over prevailing market prices for our securities.
General Risk Factors
We are a recently incorporated company with no operating history and no revenues, and you have no basis on which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective.
We are a recently incorporated company under the laws of the State of Delaware with a limited history of operating results. Because we have a limited operating history, you have a limited basis upon which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective of completing our initial business combination with one or more target businesses. We have a Pending Business Combination and but may be unable to consummate the transaction. If we do not complete our initial business combination, we will never generate any operating revenues.
We may not hold an annual meeting of stockholders until after the completion of our initial business combination.
In accordance with the NYSE American corporate governance requirements, we are not required to hold an annual meeting until no later than one year after our first fiscal year end following our listing on the NYSE American. Under Section 211(b) of the DGCL, we are, however, required to hold an annual meeting of stockholders for the purposes of electing directors in accordance with our bylaws unless such election is made by written consent in lieu of such a meeting. We may not hold an annual meeting of stockholders to elect new directors prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, and thus we may not be in compliance with Section 211(b) of the DGCL, which requires an annual meeting. Therefore, if our stockholders want us to hold an annual meeting prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, they may attempt to force us to hold one by submitting an application to the Delaware Court of Chancery in accordance with Section 211(c) of the DGCL.
The NYSE American may delist our securities from trading on its exchange, which could limit investors’ ability to make transactions in our securities and subject us to additional trading restrictions.
Our Units, common stock, and warrants are listed on the NYSE American. Although we expect to meet, on a pro forma basis, the minimum initial listing standards set forth in the NYSE American listing standards, we cannot assure you that our securities will continue to be listed on the NYSE American in the future or prior to our initial business combination. In order to continue listing our securities on the NYSE American prior to our initial business combination, we must maintain certain financial, distribution and share price levels. Generally, we must maintain a minimum market capitalization (generally $50,000,000) and a minimum number of holders of our securities (generally 400 public holders).
Additionally, our Units will not be traded after completion of our initial business combination and, in connection with our initial business combination, we will be required to demonstrate compliance with the NYSE American’s initial listing requirements, which are more rigorous than the NYSE American’s continued listing requirements, in order to continue to maintain the listing of our securities on the NYSE American. For instance, our share price would generally be required to be at least $4.00 per share and our stockholders’ equity would generally be required to be at least $4.0 million. We cannot assure you that we will be able to meet those initial listing requirements at that time.
If the NYSE American delists our securities from trading on its exchange and we are not able to list our securities on another national securities exchange, we expect our securities could be quoted on an over-the-counter market. If this were to occur, we could face significant material adverse consequences, including:
●a limited availability of market quotations for our securities;
●reduced liquidity for our securities;
●a determination that our common stock is a “penny stock” which will require brokers trading in our common stock to adhere to more stringent rules and possibly result in a reduced level of trading activity in the secondary trading market for our securities;
●a limited amount of news and analyst coverage; and
●a decreased ability to issue additional securities or obtain additional financing in the future.
The National Securities Markets Improvement Act of 1996, which is a federal statute, prevents or preempts the states from regulating the sale of certain securities, which are referred to as “covered securities.” Because our Units, common stock, and warrants are listed on the NYSE American, our Units, common stock, and warrants will qualify as covered securities under the statute. Although the states are preempted from regulating the sale of our securities, the federal statute does allow the states to investigate companies if there is a suspicion of fraud, and, if there is a finding of fraudulent activity, then the states can regulate or bar the sale of covered securities in a particular case. Further, if we were no longer listed on the NYSE American, our securities would not qualify as covered securities under the statute, and we would be subject to regulation in each state in which we offer our securities.
Subsequent to the completion of our initial business combination, we may be required to take write-downs or write-offs, restructuring and impairment or other charges that could have a significant negative effect on our financial condition, results of operations and our stock price, which could cause you to lose some or all of your investment.
Even if we conduct extensive due diligence on a target business with which we combine, we cannot assure you that this diligence will surface all material issues that may be present inside a particular target business, that it would be possible to uncover all material issues through a customary amount of due diligence, or that factors outside of the target business and outside of our control will not later arise. As a result of these factors, we may be forced to later write-down or write-off assets, restructure our operations, or incur impairment or other charges that could result in our reporting losses. Even if our due diligence successfully identifies certain risks, unexpected risks may arise and previously known risks may materialize in a manner not consistent with our preliminary risk analysis. Even though these charges may be non-cash items and not have an immediate impact on our liquidity, the fact that we report charges of this nature could contribute to negative market perceptions about us or our securities. In addition, charges of this nature may cause us to violate net worth or other covenants to which we may be subject as a result of assuming pre-existing debt held by a target business or by virtue of our obtaining debt financing to partially finance the initial business combination. Accordingly, any stockholders who choose to remain stockholders following the initial business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their shares. Such stockholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value unless they are able to successfully claim that the reduction was due to the breach by our officers or directors of a duty of care or other fiduciary duty owed to them, or if they are able to successfully bring a private claim under securities laws that the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, relating to the initial business combination constituted an actionable material misstatement or omission.
If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the Trust Account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.10 per share.
Our placement of funds in the Trust Account may not protect those funds from third-party claims against us. Although we seek to have all vendors, service providers, prospective target businesses and other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the Trust Account for the benefit of our public stockholders, such parties may not execute such agreements, or even if they execute such agreements they may not be prevented from bringing claims against the Trust Account, including, but not limited to, fraudulent inducement, breach of fiduciary responsibility or other similar claims, as well as claims challenging the enforceability of the waiver, in each case in order to gain advantage with respect to a claim against our assets, including the funds held in the Trust Account. If any third party refuses to execute an agreement waiving such claims to the monies held in the Trust Account, our management will 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. Marcum LLP, our independent registered public accounting firm, and the underwriters of our IPO, will not execute agreements with us waiving such claims to the monies held in the Trust Account.
Examples of possible instances where we may engage a third party that refuses to execute a waiver include the engagement of a third party consultant whose particular expertise or skills are believed by management to be significantly superior to those of other consultants that would agree to execute a waiver or in cases where management is unable to find a service provider willing to execute a waiver. In addition, there is no guarantee that such entities will agree to waive any claims they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any negotiations, contracts or agreements with us and will not seek recourse against the Trust Account for any reason. Upon redemption of our Public Shares, if we are unable to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed timeframe, or upon the exercise of a redemption right in connection with our initial business combination, we will be required to provide for payment of claims of creditors that were not waived that may be brought against us within the 10 years following redemption. Accordingly, the per-share redemption amount received by public stockholders could be less than the $10.10 per share initially held in the Trust Account, due to claims of such creditors. Pursuant to the letter agreement, our Sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a third party for services rendered or products sold to us, or a prospective target business with which we have entered into a written letter of intent, confidentiality or similar agreement or business combination agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the Trust Account to below the lesser of (i) $10.10 per public share and (ii) the actual amount per public share held in the Trust Account as of the date of the liquidation of the Trust Account, if less than $10.10 per share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, less taxes payable, provided that such liability will not apply to any claims by a third party or prospective target business who executed a waiver of any and all rights to the monies held in the Trust Account (whether or not such waiver is enforceable) nor will it apply to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of our IPO against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. However, we have not asked our Sponsor to reserve for such indemnification obligations, nor have we independently verified whether our Sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and believe that our Sponsor’s only assets are securities of our company. Therefore, we believe it is unlikely that our Sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations. None of our officers or directors will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses.
If, before distributing the proceeds in the Trust Account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the claims of creditors in such proceeding may have priority over the claims of our stockholders and the per-share amount that would otherwise be received by our stockholders in connection with our liquidation may be reduced.
If, before distributing the proceeds in the Trust Account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the proceeds held in the Trust Account could be subject to applicable bankruptcy law, and may be included in our bankruptcy estate and subject to the claims of third parties with priority over the claims of our stockholders. To the extent any bankruptcy claims deplete the Trust Account, the per-share amount that would otherwise be received by our stockholders in connection with our liquidation may be reduced.
The securities in which we invest the funds held in the Trust Account could bear a negative rate of interest, which could reduce the value of the assets held in trust such that the per-share redemption amount received by public stockholders may be less than $10.10 per share.
The proceeds held in the Trust Account will be invested only in U.S. government treasury obligations with a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act, which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations. While short-term U.S. government treasury obligations currently yield a positive rate of interest, they have briefly yielded negative interest rates in recent years. Central banks in Europe and Japan pursued interest rates below zero in recent years, and the Open Market Committee of the Federal Reserve has not ruled out the possibility that it may in the future adopt similar policies in the United States. In the event that we are unable to complete our initial business combination or make certain amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, our public stockholders are entitled to receive their pro-rata share of the proceeds held in the Trust Account, plus any interest income, net of taxes paid or payable (less, in the case we are unable to complete our initial business combination, $100,000 of interest). Negative interest rates could reduce the value of the assets held in trust such that the per-share redemption amount received by public stockholders may be less than $10.10 per share.
We are an emerging growth company and a smaller reporting company within the meaning of the Securities Act, and if we take advantage of certain exemptions from disclosure requirements available to emerging growth companies and smaller reporting companies, this could make our securities less attractive to investors and may make it more difficult to compare our performance with other public companies.
We are an “emerging growth company” within the meaning of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act, and we may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. As a result, our stockholders may not have access to certain information they may deem important. We could be an emerging growth company for up to five years, although circumstances could cause us to lose that status earlier, including if the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates equals or exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30 before that time, in which case we would no longer be an emerging growth company as of the following December 31. We cannot predict whether investors will find our securities less attractive because we will rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result of our reliance on these exemptions, the trading prices of our securities may be lower than they otherwise would be, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the trading prices of our securities may be more volatile.
Further, Section 102(b)(1) of the JOBS Act exempts emerging growth companies from being required to comply with new or revised financial accounting standards until private companies (that is, those that have not had a Securities Act registration statement declared effective or do not have a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act) are required to comply with the new or revised financial accounting standards. The JOBS Act provides that a company can elect to opt out of the extended transition period and comply with the requirements that apply to non-emerging growth companies but any such an election to opt out is irrevocable. We have elected not to opt out of such extended transition period, which means that when a standard is issued or revised and it has different application dates for public or private companies, we, as an emerging growth company, can adopt the new or revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new or revised standard. This may make comparison of our financial statements with another public company which is neither an emerging growth company nor an emerging growth company which has opted out of using the extended transition period difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accountant standards used.
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 30, 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 equals or exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30. To the extent we take advantage of such reduced disclosure obligations, it may also make comparison of our financial statements with other public companies difficult or impossible.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation requires, to the fullest extent permitted by law, that derivative actions brought in our name, actions against our directors, officers, other employees or stockholders for breach of fiduciary duty and certain other actions may be brought only in the Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware and, if brought outside of Delaware, the stockholder bringing the suit will, subject to certain exceptions, be deemed to have consented to service of process on such stockholder’s counsel, which may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors, officers, other employees or stockholders.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation requires, to the fullest extent permitted by law, that derivative actions brought in our name, actions against our directors, officers, other employees or stockholders for breach of fiduciary duty and certain other actions may be brought only in the Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware and, if brought outside of Delaware, the stockholder bringing the suit will be deemed to have consented to service of process on such stockholder’s counsel except any action (A) as to which the Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware determines that there is an indispensable party not subject to the jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery (and the indispensable party does not consent to the personal jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery within ten days following such determination), (B) which is vested in the exclusive jurisdiction of a court or forum other than the Court of Chancery or (C) for which the Court of Chancery does not have subject matter jurisdiction. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in shares of our capital stock shall be deemed to have notice of and consented to the forum provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. This choice of forum provision may limit or make more costly a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or any of our directors, officers, other employees or stockholders, which may discourage lawsuits with respect to such claims. Alternatively, if a court were to find the choice of forum provision contained in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could harm our business, operating results and financial condition.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that the exclusive forum provision will be applicable to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, subject to certain exceptions. Section 27 of the Exchange Act creates exclusive federal jurisdiction over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or the rules and regulations thereunder. As a result, the exclusive forum provision will not apply to suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction. In addition, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the federal district courts of the United States of America shall, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be the exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder. We note, however, that there is uncertainty as to whether a court would enforce this provision and that investors cannot waive compliance with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. Section 22 of the Securities Act creates concurrent jurisdiction for state and federal courts over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Securities Act or the rules and regulations thereunder.
Cyber incidents or attacks directed at us could result in information theft, data corruption, operational disruption and/or financial loss.
We depend on digital technologies, including information systems, infrastructure and cloud applications and services, including those of third parties with which we may deal. Sophisticated and deliberate attacks on, or security breaches in, our systems or infrastructure, or the systems or infrastructure of third parties or the cloud, could lead to corruption or misappropriation of our assets, proprietary information and sensitive or confidential data. As an early stage company without significant investments in data security protection, we may not be sufficiently protected against such occurrences. We may not have sufficient resources to adequately protect against, or to investigate and remediate any vulnerability to, cyber incidents. It is possible that any of these occurrences, or a combination of them, could have adverse consequences on our business and lead to financial loss.
Item 1B.
Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments
Not applicable.
Item 2.
Item 2. Properties
We currently maintain our executive offices at 800 1st Street, Unit 1, Miami, FL 33139. We consider our current office space adequate for our current operations.
Item 3.
Item 3. Legal Proceedings
There is no material litigation, arbitration, governmental proceeding or any other legal proceeding currently pending or known to be contemplated against us or any members of our management team in their capacity as such.
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
Our equity securities trade on the NYSE. Each of our Units consists of one Public Share and one-half of one Public Warrant and, commencing on October 20, 2020, trades on the NYSE under the symbol “NBA.U.” The Public Shares and Public Warrants underlying our Units began trading separately on the NYSE under the symbols “NBA” and “NBA WS,” respectively, on November 30, 2020.
Holders of Record
On March 5, 2020, there was one holder of record of our Units, five holders of record of our Public Shares and one holder of record of our Public Warrants. Such numbers do not include beneficial owners holding our securities through nominee names.
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. 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. The payment of any cash dividends subsequent to an initial business combination will be within the discretion of our board of directors at such time.
Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities
Simultaneously with the consummation of the IPO and the full exercise of the over-allotment, we consummated a private placement of an aggregate of 500,000 Placement Units at a price of $10.00 per Placement Unit in a private placement to our Sponsor, generating total proceeds of $5,000,000. Such securities were issued pursuant to the exemption from registration contained in Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act.
The Placement Units are identical to the public units sold in the IPO (the “Units”), except the placement units and their component securities will not be transferable, assignable or salable until 30 days after the consummation of our initial business combination (subject to limited exceptions) and the Public Warrants included in the Placement Units will be non-redeemable so long as they are held by our Sponsor or its permitted transferees.
On November 9, 2020, simultaneously with the closing of the first exercise in part of the underwriters’ over-allotment option, the Company completed the private sale of an aggregate of 30,000 Placement Units to our Sponsor, at a purchase price of $10.00 per Private Unit, generating gross proceeds of $300,000. On November 12, 2020, simultaneously with the closing of the second exercise in part of the underwriters’ over-allotment option, the Company completed the private sale of an aggregate of 15,000 Placement Units to our Sponsor, at a purchase price of $10.00 per Private Unit, generating gross proceeds of $150,000.
Use of Proceeds from our Initial Public Offering
On November 3, 2020, we consummated our IPO of 10,000,000 Units, at an offering price of $10.00 per Unit, generating total gross proceeds of $100,000,000. Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. Inc. and EarlyBirdCapital, Inc. served as joint book-running managers. The securities sold in the offering were registered under the Securities Act on a registration statement on Form S-1 (No. 333-248944). The SEC declared the registration statement effective on October 29, 2020.
On November 9, 2020, the underwriters partially exercised the over-allotment option to purchase 1,000,000 Units (the “Over-Allotment Units”), and on November 12, 2020, the underwriters fully exercised the over-allotment option to purchase the remaining 500,000 Over-Allotment Units, generating an aggregate of gross proceeds of $15,000,000, and incurred $300,000 in deferred underwriting fees.
Of the gross proceeds received from the IPO (including the Over-Allotment Units) and the private placements of Placement Units, $116,150,000 was placed in the Trust Account, with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee.
We paid a total of $2,300,000 in underwriting discounts and approximately $406,655 for other offering costs and expenses related to the IPO. In addition, the underwriters agreed to defer $4,025,000 in underwriting discounts and commissions.
Item 6.
Item 6. Selected Financial Data
Not applicable.
Item 7.
Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with the financial statements and the notes thereto contained elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Certain information contained in the discussion and analysis set forth below includes forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. 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 August 20, 2020 for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, recapitalization, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses. We intend to effectuate our initial business combination using cash from the proceeds of the Initial Public Offering and the sale of the Placement Units, our securities, debt or a combination of cash, securities and debt. Our efforts to identify a prospective target business will not be limited to a particular geographic region or industry.
The issuance of additional shares in connection with an initial business combination to the owners of the target or other investors:
● may significantly dilute the equity interest of investors;
● may subordinate the rights of holders of our common stock if preferred stock is issued with rights senior to those afforded our common stock;
● could cause a change in control if a substantial number of shares of our common stock is issued, which may affect, among other things, our ability to use our net operating loss carry forwards, if any, and could result in the resignation or removal of our present officers and directors;
● may have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control of us by diluting the stock ownership or voting rights of a person seeking to obtain control of us; and
● may adversely affect prevailing market prices for our common stock and/or Public Warrants.
Similarly, if we issue debt securities or otherwise incur significant debt to bank or other lenders or the owners of a target, it could result in:
● default and foreclosure on our assets if our operating revenues after an initial business combination are insufficient to repay our debt obligations;
● acceleration of our obligations to repay the indebtedness even if we make all principal and interest payments when due if we breach certain covenants that require the maintenance of certain financial ratios or reserves without a waiver or renegotiation of that covenant;
● our immediate payment of all principal and accrued interest, if any, if the debt security is payable on demand;
● our inability to obtain necessary additional financing if the debt security contains covenants restricting our ability to obtain such financing while the debt security is outstanding;
● our inability to pay dividends on our common stock;
● using a substantial portion of our cash flow to pay principal and interest on our debt, which will reduce the funds available for dividends on our common stock if declared, our ability to pay expenses, make capital expenditures and acquisitions, and fund other general corporate purposes;
● limitations on our flexibility in planning for and reacting to changes in our business and in the industry in which we operate;
● increased vulnerability to adverse changes in general economic, industry and competitive conditions and adverse changes in government regulation;
● limitations on our ability to borrow additional amounts for expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions, debt service requirements, and execution of our strategy; and
● other purposes and other disadvantages compared to our competitors who have less debt.
We expect to continue to incur significant costs in the pursuit of our initial business combination plans. We cannot assure you that our plans to raise capital or to complete our initial business combination will be successful.
Recent Developments
On March 8, 2021, we entered into the Business Combination Agreement by and among the among the company, Airspan, and Merger Sub, pursuant to which Merger Sub will merge with and into Airspan, with Airspan surviving the Merger as a wholly-owned direct subsidiary of the company. The Business Combination Agreement contains customary representations and warranties, covenants, closing conditions and termination fee provisions.
The consideration to be paid to the pre-closing equityholders of Airspan and the pre-closing equityholders at the closing of the Business Combination (the “Closing”) will be equity consideration, pursuant to which each issued and outstanding share of Airspan’s capital stock shall automatically be converted into and become the right to receive, in accordance with the Payment Spreadsheet (as defined in the Business Combination Agreement), the number of shares of our common stock and newly issued warrants s set forth in the Payment Spreadsheet. We shall assume the Company Equity Plan (as defined in the Business Combination Agreement), and all outstanding options and restricted stock units shall be converted into a right to receive our securities as set forth on the Payment Spreadsheet. The participants in Airspan’s Management Incentive Plan will be entitled to receive a mis of cash consideration and equity consideration as set forth on the Payment Spreadsheet.
The Business Combination will be consummated subject to the deliverables and provisions as further described in the Business Combination Agreement.
Results of Operations
We have neither engaged in any operations nor generated any revenues to date. Our only activities from August 20, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020 were organizational activities and those necessary to prepare for the Initial Public Offering, described below, and, after our Initial Public Offering, identifying a target company for an initial business combination. We do not expect to generate any operating revenues until after the completion of our initial business combination. We generate non-operating income in the form of interest income on marketable securities held in the Trust Account. We are incurring expenses as a result of being a public company (for legal, financial reporting, accounting and auditing compliance), as well as for due diligence expenses.
For the period ended December 31, 2020, we had net loss of $202,686, which consisted of interest income earned on marketable securities held in our Trust Account of $12,473, offset by operating costs of $215,159.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
On November 3, 2020, we consummated the Initial Public Offering of 10,000,000 Units, which includes the sale of 500,000 Placement Units, at $10.00 per Unit, generating gross proceeds of $105 million. On November 9, 2020, simultaneously with the closing of the first exercise in part of the underwriters’ over-allotment option for 1,000,000 Units, the Company completed the private sale of an aggregate of 30,000 Placement Units to our Sponsor, at a purchase price of $10.00 per Placement Unit, generating gross proceeds of $10,300,000. On November 12, 2020, simultaneously with the closing of the second exercise in part of the underwriters’ over-allotment option for 500,000 Units, the Company completed the private sale of an aggregate of 15,000 Placement Units to our Sponsor, at a purchase price of $10.00 per Placement Unit, generating gross proceeds of $5,150,000.
Transaction costs amounted to $6,731,655 consisting of $2,300,000 of underwriting discount, $4,025,000 of deferred underwriting discount, and $406,655 of other offering costs.
For the year ended December 31, 2020, cash used in operating activities was $434,130. Net loss of $202,686 was affected by interest earned on marketable securities held in the Trust Account of $12,473. Changes in operating assets and liabilities used $218,971 of cash.
As of December 31, 2020, we had cash and marketable securities held in the Trust Account of $116,150,000 consisting of U.S. Treasury Bills with a maturity of 185 days or less. We intend to use substantially all of the funds held in the Trust Account, including any amounts representing interest earned on the Trust Account (less deferred underwriting commissions) to complete an initial business combination. We may withdraw interest to pay taxes. To the extent that our capital stock or debt is used, in whole or in part, as consideration to complete an initial business combination, the remaining proceeds held in the Trust Account will be used as working capital to finance the operations of the target business.
As of December 31, 2020, we had cash of $1,184,215 held outside the Trust Account. We intend to use the funds held outside the Trust Account primarily to identify and evaluate prospective acquisition candidates, perform business due diligence on prospective target businesses, travel to and from the offices, plants or similar locations of prospective target businesses, review corporate documents and material agreements of prospective target businesses, select the target business to acquire and structure, negotiate and complete an initial business combination.
In order to fund working capital deficiencies or finance transaction costs in connection with an initial business combination, our initial stockholders, officers and directors or their affiliates may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds from time to time or at any time, as may be required. If we complete an initial business combination, we would repay such loaned amounts out of the proceeds of the Trust Account released to us. In the event that an 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 to repay such loaned amounts. Up to $1.5 million of such loans may be convertible into units, at a price of $10.00 per unit at the option of the lender, upon consummation of our initial business combination. Such private units would be identical to the Placement Units.
We do not believe we will need to raise additional funds in order to meet the expenditures required for operating our business. However, if our estimate of the costs of identifying a target business, undertaking in-depth due diligence and negotiating an initial business combination are less than the actual amounts necessary to do so, we may have insufficient funds available to operate our business prior to our initial business combination. Moreover, we may need to obtain additional financing either to complete our initial business combination or because we become obligated to redeem a significant number of our Public Shares upon completion of our initial business combination, in which case we may issue additional securities or incur debt in connection with such initial business combination. Subject to compliance with applicable securities laws, we would only complete such financing simultaneously with the completion of our initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination because we do not have sufficient funds available to us, we will be forced to cease operations and liquidate the Trust Account. In addition, following our initial business combination, if cash on hand is insufficient, we may need to obtain additional financing in order to meet our obligations.
Contractual obligations
We do not have any long-term debt, capital lease obligations, operating lease obligations or long-term liabilities, other than an agreement to pay an affiliate of the Sponsor a monthly fee of $10,000 for office space, utilities and secretarial and administrative services. We began incurring these fees on October 29, 2020 and will continue to incur these fees monthly until the earlier of the completion of an initial business combination and the Company’s liquidation.
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.
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 (if any) is classified as a liability instrument and is measured at fair value. Conditionally redeemable common stock (including common stock that feature redemption rights that are either within the control of the holder or subject to redemption upon the occurrence of uncertain events not solely within the Company’s control) is classified as temporary equity. At all other times, common stock is classified as stockholders’ equity. The Company’s common stock feature certain redemption rights that is considered to be outside of the Company’s control and subject to the occurrence of uncertain future events. Accordingly, as of December 31, 2020, 10,748,854 shares of common stock subject to possible redemption are presented at redemption value as temporary equity, outside of the stockholders’ equity section of the Company’s balance sheet.
Net Loss Per Common Share
Net loss per share is computed by dividing net loss by the weighted-average number of common stock outstanding during the period. An aggregate of 10,746,599 shares of common stock subject to possible redemption at December 31, 2020 was excluded from the calculation of basic loss per share of common stock since such shares, if redeemed, only participate in their pro rata share of the Trust Account earnings. The Company has not considered the effect of the warrants sold in the IPO and Private Placement to purchase an aggregate of 12,045,000 shares of the Company’s common stock in the calculation of diluted loss per share, since they are not yet exercisable.
Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements
As of December 31, 2020, we did not have any off-balance sheet arrangements as defined in Item 303(a)(4)(ii) of Regulation S-K.
JOBS Act
The Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the “JOBS Act”) contains provisions that, among other things, relax certain reporting requirements for qualifying public companies. We qualify as an “emerging growth company” and under the JOBS Act are allowed to comply with new or revised accounting pronouncements based on the effective date for private (not publicly traded) companies. We are electing to delay the adoption of new or revised accounting standards, and as a result, we may not comply with new or revised accounting standards on the relevant dates on which adoption of such standards is required for non-emerging growth companies. As a result, the financial statements may not be comparable to companies that comply with new or revised accounting pronouncements as of public company effective dates.
Additionally, we are in the process of evaluating the benefits of relying on the other reduced reporting requirements provided by the JOBS Act. Subject to certain conditions set forth in the JOBS Act, if, as an “emerging growth company,” we choose to rely on such exemptions we may not be required to, among other things, (i) provide an auditor’s attestation report on our system of internal controls over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404, (ii) provide all of the compensation disclosure that may be required of non-emerging growth public companies under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, (iii) comply with any requirement that may be adopted by the PCAOB regarding mandatory audit firm rotation or a supplement to the auditor’s report providing additional information about the audit and the financial statements (auditor discussion and analysis) and (iv) disclose certain executive compensation related items such as the correlation between executive compensation and performance and comparisons of the CEO’s compensation to median employee compensation. These exemptions will apply for a period of five years following the completion of our Initial Public Offering or until we are no longer an “emerging growth company,” whichever is earlier.
Item 7A.
Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk
Following the consummation of our Initial Public Offering, the net proceeds of the Initial Public Offering, including amounts in the Trust Account, may be invested in U.S. government treasury bills, with a maturity of 185 days or less or in certain money market funds that invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations. Due to the short-term nature of these investments, we believe there will be no associated material exposure to interest rate risk.
Item 8.
Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data
The financial statements required by this item are set forth following Item 15 of this Report and are incorporated 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 and procedures are controls and other procedures that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in our reports filed or submitted under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported, within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms. Disclosure controls and procedures include, without limitation, controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in our reports filed or submitted under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to our Chief Executive Officer as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.
Under the supervision and with the participation of our Chief Executive Officer, we conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures as of the end of the fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2020, as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act. Based on this evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer (who serves as our principal executive officer and principal financial officer) has concluded that during the period covered by this report, our disclosure controls and procedures were effective.
Disclosure controls and procedures are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by us in our Exchange Act reports is recorded, processed, summarized, and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms, and that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer or persons performing similar functions, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.
Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
There was no change in our internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the quarter ended of December 31, 2020 covered by this Annual Report on Form 10-K that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.
Management’s Report on Internal Control 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.
Item 9B.
Item 9B. Other Information
Not applicable.
PART III
Item 10.
Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance
Our current directors and executive officers are as follows:
Russell W. Galbut, our Chairman since inception, has over 34 years of experience in the urban mixed-use real estate sector, which has included fostering relationships with complementary retail, hospitality, and food and beverage brands. Mr. Galbut co-founded in 1989, and currently serves as the Managing Principal of, Crescent Heights (“Crescent Heights”), one of America’s largest residential developers of quality apartments and condominiums, which has been active in over 15 markets from coast-to-coast and has developed over 40,000 residential units, including pioneering the condo hotel concept. Crescent Heights is led by its three principals, Sonny Kahn, Russell Galbut and Bruce Menin, who directly invest in the projects through tax efficient, special purpose vehicles, thus making each project separate and distinct from one another. Prior to founding Crescent Heights, Mr. Galbut was a real estate consultant, working as a senior consultant at Laventhal and Horwath from 1974 to 1976. Subsequent to this and prior to 1989 Mr. Galbut developed and owned a number of development, hospitality and medical businesses. Mr. Galbut currently serves as the chairman of the board of directors of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: NCLH), for which he has served as an independent director since November 2015. Mr. Galbut is also a member of the compensation committee of Norwegian Cruise Line and previously served as a member of the Board of Directors of Prestige Cruises International, Inc. and its predecessor from September 2005 until Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd.’s acquisition of Prestige in November 2014. Mr. Galbut currently serves on the Dean’s Advisory Board for the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration. Mr. Galbut received his J.D. degree from the University of Miami School of Law.
Michael S. Liebowitz, our Chief Executive Officer since inception, is a seasoned business executive with extensive experience founding, acquiring, and monetizing businesses in the insurance and financial industries. Mr. Liebowitz served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Harbor Group Consulting LLC, an insurance and risk management consulting firm, from its formation in 1995 to 2018, including as President and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Liebowitz currently serves as a Managing Director and Executive Vice President of Alliant Insurance Services, Inc., and President of the Harbor Group Division of Alliant Insurance Services Inc. Mr. Liebowitz served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Innova Risk Management, a boutique real-estate insurance firm, which he acquired in 2006 in a joint venture with Douglas Elliman Real Estate and was subsequently sold in 2019. Innova is a leading provider of property and casualty insurance in the co-op and condominium markets in the New York area. In 2017, Mr. Liebowitz founded High Street Valuations, a firm that specializes in providing insurable value calculations for banks, capital market lenders, owners, and property management companies, for which he served as President since its founding. Mr. Liebowitz served on the board of Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services Inc., the parent company of Ladenburg Thalmann, from January 2019 to February 2020 and the board of The Hilb Group, a leading middle market insurance agency headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, from 2011 to 2013. Since 2008, Mr. Liebowitz has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Hallman & Lorber Associates, Inc., a firm that provides consultancy and actuarial services to qualified pension plans. In 1999, Mr. Liebowitz was a founding principal of National Financial Partners Corp. (NYSE: NFP), which was taken public in 2003 and was acquired by a controlled affiliate of Madison Dearborn Partners, LLC in 2013, and is now one of the largest insurance brokers in the world. Mr. Liebowitz has acted as an advisor to many of the largest companies around the globe including Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Starwood, Apollo, UBS, HSBC, Deutsche Bank and many others on their complex insurance matters within their investment banking/M&A groups. He was special consultant to GMAC for the World Trade Center financing prior to and after 9/11 and its claims and litigation process and strategy and advised the US Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs in the depths of the financial crisis in the newly created TALF lending program. Mr. Liebowitz is the managing member of M2AFO, LLC a family office vehicle he created in 2018. M2AFO, LLC is active in several investments and continues to invest in innovative businesses, including the Mondrian South Beach Hotel. Mr. Liebowitz graduated from CW Post College-LI University with a B.S. in Finance.
Benjamin Garrett, one of our independent directors, is an experienced mergers & acquisitions advisor and has led billions of dollars of completed transactions. He has sourced, completed and been involved in the financing of numerous transactions, and has actively advised publicly listed companies on M&A strategy. Mr. Garrett currently serves as a Managing Director at Torreya a global investment banking boutique providing mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, and licensing advisory services to life sciences companies. Mr. Garrett joined Torreya in 2008 and became the youngest Managing Director at the firm in 2017. He is a graduate of NYU’s Stern School of Business.
Frank A. Del Rio, one of our independent directors, has over 10 years managerial and operational experience in the cruise line industry. From 2008 to 2014 Mr. Del Rio served as Senior Vice President of Prestige Cruises International, Inc., until its acquisition by Norwegian Cruise Line, for which Mr. Del Rio served as a Senior Vice President from 2014 to 2018. In 2018 Mr. Del Rio founded Divinus Life LLC, a specialty provider of skin and wellness products and for which he currently serves as Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Del Rio graduated from University of Florida with a B.A. in Economics and a B.S. in Finance.
Kate Walsh, PhD, one of our independent directors, has over 35 years of experience in the hospitality industry, having previously worked for Loews Corporation as an internal auditor, and Nikko Hotels International as the Corporate Director of Training and Development and subsequently, Corporate Director of Human Resources. For the past 20 years, she has been a member of the faculty at the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University, and for the past four years, has served as its Dean and Professor of Management. Dean Walsh has assembled a board of advisors for the School of Hotel Administration that includes top leaders in the hospitality industry representing the real estate development, owner, brand operator, cruise line and restaurant sectors. Dean has been an outspoken leader for the lodging and travel industries throughout her career and is acquainted with many of the significant players in the industry. Dean Walsh holds an B.S. degree in accounting from Fairfield University, a M.A. in hospitality from Cornell and a PhD in organization studies from Boston College. Dr. Walsh is also a former New York State certified C.P.A.
Perry Weitz, one of our independent directors, is a co-founding member of Weitz & Luxenberg, P.C., one of the United States’ largest mass tort and personal injury litigation law firms which was founded in 1989. Over the past three decades, Weitz & Luxenberg has obtained approximately $17 billion of verdicts. Mr. Weitz has extensive experience with jury trials, complex litigation settlements and bankruptcy trusts. Since 2000, Mr. Weitz has served on the board of the American Association for Justice, New York State Trial Lawyers Association, Trial Lawyers for Public Justice, Legal Aid Society and Jewish Lawyer Guild. Mr. Weitz graduated from George Washington University with a B.A. and from Hofstra University School of Law with a J.D.
Family Relationships
Mr. Garrett is the father to two of Mr. Galbut’s grandchildren.
Number and Terms of Office of Officers and Directors
We have six directors and our board of directors is divided into two 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 two-year term. In accordance with the NYSE American corporate governance requirements, we are not required to hold an annual meeting until one year after our first fiscal year end following our listing on the NYSE American. The term of office of the first class of directors, consisting of Russell W. Galbut, Michael S. Liebowitz and Benjamin Garrett, will expire at our first annual meeting of stockholders. The term of office of the second class of directors, consisting of Frank A. Del Rio, Perry Weitz and Kate Walsh, will expire at the second annual meeting of stockholders.
Our officers are appointed by the board of directors and serve at the discretion of the board of directors, rather than for specific terms of office. Our board of directors is authorized to appoint persons to the offices set forth in our bylaws as it deems appropriate. Our bylaws provide that our officers may consist of a Chairman of the Board, a Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, President, Vice Presidents, Secretary, Treasurer, Assistant Secretaries and such other offices as may be determined by the board of directors.
Committees of the Board of Directors
Our board of directors has three standing committees: an audit committee, a compensation committee and a nominating and corporate governance committee. Subject to phase-in rules and a limited exception, the NYSE American rules 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 NYSE American rules require that the compensation committee and nominating and corporate governance committee of a listed company each be comprised solely of independent directors. Each committee operates under a charter, approved by our board of directors, that complies with the NYSE American rules and has the composition and responsibilities described below.
Audit Committee
Mr. Benjamin Garrett, Mr. Frank A. Del Rio, Mr. Perry Weitz and Dean Kate Walsh serve as members of our audit committee. Under the NYSE American listing standards and applicable SEC rules, we are required to have at least three members of the audit committee, all of whom must be independent. Each of Mr. Benjamin Garrett, Mr. Frank A. Del Rio and Dean Kate Walsh meet the independent director standard under NYSE American listing standards and under Rule 10-A-3(b)(1) of the Exchange Act. Mr. Frank A. Del Rio serves as chair of the audit committee.
Each member of the audit committee is financially literate and our board of directors has determined that Mr. Frank A. Del Rio qualifies as an “audit committee financial expert” as defined in applicable SEC rules.
We have adopted an audit committee charter, which details the principal functions of the audit committee, including:
●the appointment, compensation, retention, replacement, and oversight of the work of the independent registered public accounting firm engaged by us;
●pre-approving all audit and permitted non-audit services to be provided by the independent registered public accounting firm engaged by us, and establishing pre-approval policies and procedures;
●setting clear hiring policies for employees or former employees of the independent registered public accounting firm, including but not limited to, as required by applicable laws and regulations;
●setting clear policies for audit partner rotation in compliance with applicable laws and regulations;
●obtaining and reviewing a report, at least annually, from the independent registered public accounting firm describing (i) the independent registered public accounting firm’s internal quality-control procedures, (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 and (iii) all relationships between the independent registered public accounting firm and us to assess the independent registered public accounting firm’s independence;
●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 registered public accounting firm, 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.
Our Audit Committee Charter is available on our corporate website. The information contained on or accessible through our corporate website or any other website that we may maintain is not incorporated by reference into this report.
Compensation Committee
Mr. Benjamin Garrett, Mr. Frank A. Del Rio, Mr. Perry Weitz and Dean Kate Walsh serve as members of our compensation committee. Under the NYSE American 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. Mr. Benjamin Garrett, Mr. Frank A. Del Rio, Mr. Perry Weitz and Dean Kate Walsh are independent. Mr. Benjamin Garrett serves as chair of the compensation committee.
We have adopted a compensation committee charter, which details the principal functions of the compensation committee, including:
●reviewing and approving on an annual basis the corporate goals and objectives relevant to our Chief Executive Officer’s compensation, if any is paid by us, 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, if any is paid by us, 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 the payment to an affiliate of our Sponsor of $10,000 per month for office space, utilities and secretarial and administrative support, reimbursement of expenses, and payment to our Sponsor and/or any of its affiliates, partners or employees, including our Sponsor or its affiliates, partners or employees, of a fee for financial advisory services rendered in connection with our initial business combination, 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 effectuate the consummation of an initial business combination. Accordingly, it is likely that prior to the consummation of an initial business combination, the compensation committee will only be responsible for the review and recommendation of any compensation arrangements to be entered into in connection with such initial business combination.
The charter also provides that the compensation committee may, in its sole discretion, retain or obtain the advice of a compensation consultant, legal counsel or other adviser and will be directly responsible for the appointment, compensation and oversight of the work of any such adviser. However, before engaging or receiving advice from a compensation consultant, external legal counsel or any other adviser, the compensation committee will consider the independence of each such adviser, including the factors required by the NYSE American and the SEC.
Our Compensation Committee Charter is available on our corporate website. The information contained on or accessible through our corporate website or any other website that we may maintain is not incorporated by reference into this report.
Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee
Mr. Benjamin Garrett, Mr. Frank A. Del Rio, Mr. Perry Weitz and Dean Kate Walsh will serve as members of our nominating and corporate governance committee. Under the NYSE American listing standards, all members of the nominating and corporate governance committee must be independent. Mr. Benjamin Garrett, Mr. Frank A. Del Rio, Mr. Perry Weitz and Dean Kate Walsh are independent. Mr. Perry Weitz serves as chair of the nominating and corporate governance committee.
We have adopted a nominating and corporate governance committee charter, which details the principal functions of the nominating and corporate governance committee, including:
●identifying, screening and reviewing individuals qualified to serve as directors and recommending to the board of directors candidates for nomination for election at the annual meeting of stockholders or to fill vacancies on the board of directors;
●developing and recommending to the board of directors and overseeing implementation of our corporate governance guidelines;
●coordinating and overseeing the annual self-evaluation of the board of directors, its committees, individual directors and management in the governance of the company; and
●reviewing on a regular basis our overall corporate governance and recommending improvements as and when necessary.
The charter also provides that the nominating and corporate governance committee may, in its sole discretion, retain or obtain the advice of, and terminate, any search firm to be used to identify director candidates, and will be directly responsible for approving the search firm’s fees and other retention terms
Director Nominations
Our nominating and corporate governance committee will recommend to the board of directors candidates for nomination for election at the annual meeting of the stockholders. We have not formally established any specific minimum qualifications that must be met or skills that are necessary for directors to possess. In general, in identifying and evaluating nominees for director, the board of directors considers educational background, diversity of professional experience, knowledge of our business, integrity, professional reputation, independence, wisdom, and the ability to represent the best interests of our stockholders.
Code of Ethics, Corporate Governance Guidelines and Committee Charters
We have adopted a code of ethics applicable to our directors, officers and employees in accordance with applicable federal securities laws. We have filed a copy of our code of ethics, our audit committee charter, our compensation committee charter and our nominating and corporate governance committee charter as exhibits to our registration statement for our Initial Public Offering. You may review these documents by accessing our public filings at the SEC’s web site at www.sec.gov. In addition, a copy of our code of ethics will be provided without charge upon request from us.
Our board of directors has also adopted corporate governance guidelines in accordance with the corporate governance rules of the NYSE that serve as a flexible framework within which our board of directors and its committees operate. Copies of our corporate governance guidelines, our code of ethics, our audit committee charter, our compensation committee charter and our nominating and corporate governance committee charter are available on our corporate website. The information contained on or accessible through our corporate website or any other website that we may maintain is not incorporated by reference into this report.
Item 11.
Item 11. Executive Compensation
None of our officers has received any cash compensation for services rendered to us. From the date of the Initial Public Offering, we have agreed to pay an affiliate of our Sponsor a total of $10,000 per month for office space, utilities and secretarial and administrative support. Upon completion of our initial business combination or our liquidation, we will cease paying these monthly fees. We may reimburse the Sponsur and our officers and directors for any out-of-pocket expenses related to identifying, investigating and completing an initial business combination. We may repay non-interest bearing loans which may be made by our Sponsor or an affiliate of our Sponsor or certain of our officers and directors to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, the terms of which have not been determined nor have any written agreements been executed with respect thereto. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into units, at a price of $10.00 per unit at the option of the lender, upon consummation of our initial business combination. The units would be identical to the Placement Units. Except as set above in this paragraph, no compensation of any kind, including any finder’s fee, reimbursement, consulting fee or monies in respect of any payment of a loan, will be paid by us to our Sponsor, officers, directors or any affiliate of our Sponsor, officers or directors, prior to, or in connection with any services rendered in order to effectuate, the consummation of our initial business combination (regardless of the type of transaction that it is) except that we may pay our Sponsor or its affiliates, partners or employees, a fee for financial advisory services rendered in connection with our identification, negotiation and consummation of our initial business combination; the amount of any fee we pay to our Sponsor or its affiliates, partners or employees, will be based upon the prevailing market for similar services for such transactions at such time, and will be subject to the review of our audit committee pursuant to the audit committee’s policies and procedures relating to transactions that may present conflicts of interest. Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made to our Sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or our or their affiliates. Any such payments prior to an initial business combination will be made using funds held outside the Trust Account. Other than quarterly audit committee review of such payments, we do not expect to have any additional controls in place governing our reimbursement payments to our directors and executive officers for their out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with identifying and consummating an initial business combination.
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 the public stockholders, to the extent then known, in the tender offer materials or proxy solicitation materials furnished to our stockholders in connection with a proposed initial 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 initial 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.
We do not intend to take any action to ensure that members of our management team maintain their positions with us after the consummation of our initial business combination, although it is possible that some or all of our officers and directors may negotiate employment or consulting arrangements to remain with us after our initial business combination. The existence or terms of any such employment or consulting arrangements to retain their positions with us may influence our management’s motivation in identifying or selecting a target business but we do not believe that the ability of our management to remain with us after the consummation of our initial business combination will be a determining factor in our decision to proceed with any potential initial business combination. We are not party to any agreements with our officers and directors that provide for benefits upon termination of employment.
Item 12.
Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters
The following table presents the number of shares and percentage of our common stock beneficially owned as of the by each person, or group of persons, known to us who beneficially owns more than 5% of our capital stock, each named executive officer, each of our directors and all directors and executive officers as a group.
Unless otherwise indicated, we believe that all persons named in the table have sole voting and investment power with respect to all shares of common stock beneficially owned by them.
*
Less than 1%
(1)The business address of each of these entities and individuals is at 800 1st Street, Unit 1, Miami, FL 33139.
(2)New Beginnings Sponsor, LLC, our Sponsor, is the record holder of the shares reported herein. Mr. Galbut and Mr. Liebowitz are the managing members of our Sponsor. Consequently, such individuals may be deemed the beneficial owner of the shares held by our Sponsor and have voting and dispositive control over such securities. Each such person disclaims beneficial ownership of any shares other than to the extent he may have a pecuniary interest therein, directly or indirectly. Mr. Weitz is a direct or indirect member of our Sponsor.
(3)Based solely on the Schedule 13G jointly filed with the SEC on February 10, 2021 by Polar Asset Management Partners Inc., a company incorporated under the laws of Ontario, Canada, which serves as the investment advisor to Polar Multi-Strategy Master Fund, a Cayman Islands exempted company ("PMSMF") with respect to the shares directly held by PMSMF. The address of the business office of the Reporting Person is 401 Bay Street, Suite 1900, PO Box 19, Toronto, Ontario M5H 2Y4, Canada.
(4)Based solely on the Schedule 13G jointly filed with the SEC on March 19, 2021 by Weiss Asset Management LP, BIP GP LLC, WAM GP LLC, and Mr. Andrew M. Weiss (“Mr. Weiss”). The reported shares include shares beneficially owned by a private investment partnership (the “Partnership”) of which BIP GP is the sole general partner. Weiss Asset Management LP is the sole investment manager to the Partnership. WAM GP LLC is the sole general partner of Weiss Asset Management LP. Mr. Weiss is the managing member of WAM GP LLC and the Partnership. Shares reported for WAM GP LLC, Mr. Weiss, and Weiss Asset Management LP include shares beneficially owned by the Partnership. The address of the business office of each of the reporting persons is 222 Berkeley St., 16th Floor, Boston, MA 02116.
(5)Based solely on the Schedule 13G jointly filed with the SEC on February 10, 2021 by Hudson Bay Capital Management LP (the "Investment Manager") and Mr. Sander Gerber ("Mr. Gerber"). The Investment Manager serves as the investment manager to HB Strategies LLC, in whose name the securities reported herein are held. As such, the Investment Manager may be deemed to be the beneficial owner of all securities held by HB Strategies LLC. Mr. Gerber serves as the managing member of Hudson Bay Capital GP LLC, which is the general partner of the Investment Manager. Mr. Gerber disclaims beneficial ownership of these securities. The address of the business office of each of the reporting persons is 777 Third Avenue, 30th Floor, New York, NY 10017.
(6)Based solely on the Schedule 13G jointly filed with the SEC on March 10, 2021 by Basso SPAC Fund LLC (“Basso SPAC”), Basso Management, LLC (“Basso Management”), Basso Capital Management, L.P. (“BCM”), Basso GP, LLC (“Basso GP”); and Howard I. Fischer (“Mr. Fischer”). Basso Management is the manager of Basso SPAC. BCM serves as the investment manager of Basso SPAC. Basso GP is the general partner of BCM. Mr. Fischer is the principal portfolio manager for Basso SPAC, the Chief Executive Officer and a Founding Managing Partner of BCM, and a member of each of Basso Management and Basso GP. Accordingly, each of Basso Management, BCM, Basso GP and Mr. Fischer may be deemed to indirectly beneficially own the Shares reported herein. The address of the principal business office of each of the reporting persons is 1266 East Main Street, Fourth Floor, Stamford, Connecticut 06902.
Item 13.
Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence
Founder Shares
In September 2020, our Sponsor purchased 2,156,250 shares of common stock for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000, or approximately $0.012 per share (the “Founder Shares”). On October 20, 2020, the Company effected a stock dividend resulting in its Sponsor holding 2,875,000 Founder Shares, representing an adjusted purchase price of approximately $0.009 per share. The Founder Shares, after given effect to the stock dividend, included an aggregate of up to 375,000 shares subject to forfeiture if the over-allotment option is not exercised by the underwriters in full. In connection with the underwriters’ full exercise of their over-allotment option on November 9, 2020 and November 12, 2020, the 375,000 shares were no longer subject to forfeiture.
Our Sponsor has agreed not to transfer, assign or sell their Founder Shares until the earlier of (i) one year after the date of the consummation of the initial business combination or (ii) the date on which the closing price of the Company’s shares of common stock equals or exceeds $12.50 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing after the initial business combination, or earlier, in either case, if, subsequent to the initial business combination, the Company consummates a subsequent liquidation, merger, stock exchange or other similar transaction which results in all of its stockholders having the right to exchange their shares of common stock for cash, securities or other property.
Promissory Note - Related Party
In September 2020, the Company issued an unsecured promissory note to our Sponsor, pursuant to which the Company may borrow up to an aggregate principal amount of $200,000 to be used for a portion of the expenses of the IPO. This loan is non-interest bearing, unsecured and due at the earlier of December 31, 2020 or the closing of the IPO. The loan would be repaid upon the closing of the IPO out of the offering proceeds not held in the Trust Account. As of September 30, 2020, the Company had drawn down $100,000 under the promissory notes. The borrowings outstanding under the notes in the amount of $120,000 were repaid on November 2, 2020.
Related Party Loans
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 the Company’s officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, provide non-interest-bearing loans to the Company as may be required (the “Working Capital Loans”). If the Company completes an initial business combination, the Company would repay the Working Capital Loans out of the proceeds of the Trust Account. In the event that an initial business combination does not close, the Company may use a portion of the working capital held outside the Trust Account to repay the Working Capital Loans but no proceeds from the Trust Account would be used to repay the Working Capital Loans. Up to $1,500,000 of such Working Capital Loans may be convertible into units at a price of $10.00 per unit at the option of the lender. The units would be identical to the Placement Units. As of December 31, 2020, no such Working Capital Loans were outstanding.
Related Party Extension Loans
The Company will have up to 12 months from the closing of the IPO to consummate an initial business combination. However, if the Company anticipates that it may not be able to consummate its initial business combination within 12 months, the Company may, by resolution of its board if requested by our Sponsor, extend the period of time to consummate an initial business combination up to two times, each by an additional three months (for a total of up to 18 months to complete an initial business combination), subject to our Sponsor depositing additional funds into the Trust Account. The Company’s public stockholders will not be entitled to vote or redeem their shares in connection with any such extension. Pursuant to the terms of the Company’s amended and restated certificate of incorporation and the trust agreement entered into between the Company and Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, in order for any such extension, our Sponsor or its affiliates or designees, upon five days advance notice prior to the applicable deadline, must deposit into the Trust Account $1,000,000, or $1,150,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full ($0.10 per unit in either case, up to an aggregate of $2,000,000 or $2,300,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) on or prior to the date of the applicable deadline, for each three month extension. Any such payments would be made in the form of a non-interest-bearing loan. Our Sponsor and its affiliates or designees are not obligated to fund the Trust Account to extend the time for the Company to complete its initial business combination. If the Company is unable to consummate an initial business combination within such time period, it will redeem 100% of its issued and outstanding Public Shares for a pro rata portion of the funds held in the Trust Account, 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 taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding Public Shares, subject to applicable law, and then seek to dissolve and liquidate.
Administrative Service Fee
The Company has agreed to pay an affiliate of our Sponsor, commencing on October 29, 2020, a total of $10,000 per month for office space, utilities and secretarial and administrative support. Upon completion of the Company’s Initial business combination or its liquidation, the Company will cease paying these monthly fees.
Related Party Policy
We have a code of ethics requiring us to avoid, wherever possible, all conflicts of interests, except under guidelines or resolutions approved by our board of directors (or the appropriate committee of our board) or as disclosed in our public filings with the SEC. Under our code of ethics, conflict of interest situations will include any financial transaction, arrangement or relationship (including any indebtedness or guarantee of indebtedness) involving the company.
In addition, our audit committee, pursuant to its written charter, is responsible for reviewing and approving related party transactions to the extent that we enter into such transactions. An affirmative vote of a majority of the members of the audit committee present at a meeting at which a quorum is present will be required in order to approve a related party transaction. A majority of the members of the entire audit committee constitutes a quorum. Without a meeting, the unanimous written consent of all of the members of the audit committee will be required to approve a related party transaction. We also require each of our directors and executive officers to complete a directors’ and officers’ questionnaire that elicits information about related party transactions.
These procedures are intended to determine whether any such related party transaction impairs the independence of a director or presents a conflict of interest on the part of a director, employee or officer.
To further minimize conflicts of interest, we have agreed not to consummate an initial business combination with an entity that is affiliated with any of our Sponsor, officers or directors unless we, or a committee of independent directors, have obtained an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent entity that commonly renders valuation opinions that our initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view. Furthermore, no finder’s fees, reimbursements, consulting fee, monies in respect of any payment of a loan or other compensation will be paid by us to our Sponsor, officers, directors or any affiliate of our Sponsor, officers, directors prior to, for services rendered to us prior to, or in connection with any services rendered in order to effectuate, the consummation of our initial business combination (regardless of the type of transaction that it is). However, the following payments will be made to our Sponsor, officers, directors or our or their affiliates, none of which will be made from the proceeds of the Initial Public Offering held in the Trust Account prior to the completion of our initial business combination:
●repayment of up to an aggregate of $200,000 in loans made to us by our Sponsor to cover offering-related and organizational expenses;
●payment to an affiliate of our Sponsor of $10,000 per month for office space, utilities and secretarial and administrative support beginning on October 29, 2020;
●we may pay our Sponsor or its affiliates, partners or employees, a fee for financial advisory services rendered in connection with our identification, negotiation and consummation of our initial business combination; the amount of any fee we pay our Sponsor or its affiliates, partners or employees, will be based upon the prevailing market for similar services for such transactions at such time, and will be subject to the review of our audit committee pursuant to the audit committee’s policies and procedures relating to transactions that may present conflicts of interest;
●reimbursement for any out-of-pocket expenses related to identifying, investigating and completing an initial business combination; and
●repayment of non-interest bearing loans which may be made by our Sponsor or an affiliate of our Sponsor or certain of our officers and directors to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, the terms of which have not been determined nor have any written agreements been executed with respect thereto. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into units, at a price of $10.00 per unit at the option of the lender, upon consummation of our initial business combination. The units would be identical to the Placement Units.
Our audit committee reviews on a quarterly basis all payments that were made to our Sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or our or their affiliates.
Director Independence
NYSE American 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 Mr. Benjamin Garrett, Mr. Frank A. Del Rio, Mr. Perry Weitz and Dean Kate Walsh are “independent directors” as defined in the NYSE American listing standards and applicable SEC rules. Our independent directors have regularly scheduled meetings at which only independent directors are present.
Item 14.
Item 14. Principal Accounting Fees and Services
The following is a summary of fees paid or to be paid to Marcum LLP, or Marcum, for services rendered.
Audit Fees. Audit fees consist of fees billed for professional services rendered for the audit of our year-end financial statements and services that are normally provided by Marcum in connection with regulatory filings. The aggregate fees billed by Marcum for professional services rendered for the audit of our annual financial statements, review of the financial information included in our Forms 10-Q for the respective periods and other required filings with the SEC for the period from August 20, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020 totaled $66,950. 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 August 20, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020.
Tax Fees. We did not pay Marcum for tax planning and tax advice for the period from August 20, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020.
All Other Fees. We did not pay Marcum for other services for the period from August 20, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020.
PART IV
Item 15.
Item 15. Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules
The following documents are filed as part of this report:
(1)Financial Statements
The financial statements and notes thereto which are attached hereto have been included by reference into Item 8 of this part of the annual report on Form 10-K. See the Index to Financial Statements.
(2)Financial Statement Schedules
None.
(3)Exhibits: Exhibits not incorporated by reference to a prior filing are designated by an asterisk (*); all exhibits not so designated are incorporated by reference to a prior SEC filing as indicated.
*Filed herewith.
**Furnished herewith.
***XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) information is furnished and not filed or a part of a registration statement or prospectus for purposes of Sections 11 or 12 of the Securities Act of 1933, is deemed not filed for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and otherwise is not subject to liability under these sections.
(1)Incorporated by reference to an exhibit to the Registrant’s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-39679), filed with the SEC on November 2, 2020.
(2)Incorporated by reference to an exhibit to the Registrant’s Form S-1 (File No. 333-248944), filed with the SEC on October 22, 2020.
(3)Incorporated by reference to an exhibit to the Registrant’s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-39679), filed with the SEC on March 12, 2021.
Item 16. Form 10-K Summary
None.
New beginnings ACQUISITION CORP.
REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
To the Shareholders and Board of Directors of
New Beginnings Acquisition Corp.
Opinion on the Financial Statements
We have audited the accompanying balance sheet of New Beginnings 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 August 20, 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 August 20, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.
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
March 31, 2021
NEW BEGINNINGS ACQUISITION CORP.
BALANCE SHEET AS OF DECEMBER 31, 2020
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
NEW BEGINNINGS ACQUISITION CORP.
STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS
FOR THE PERIOD FROM AUGUST 20, 2020 (INCEPTION) THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2020
The accompanying notes are an integral part of the condensed financial statements.
NEW BEGINNINGS ACQUISITION CORP.
STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY
FOR THE PERIOD FROM AUGUST 20, 2020 (INCEPTION) THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2020
The accompanying notes are an integral part of the condensed financial statements.
NEW BEGINNINGS ACQUISITION CORP.
STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS
FOR THE PERIOD FROM AUGUST 20, 2020 (INCEPTION) THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2020
The accompanying notes are an integral part of the condensed financial statements.
NEW BEGINNINGS ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
AS OF AND FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2020
NOTE 1 - ORGANIZATION AND BUSINESS OPERATIONS
Organization and General
New Beginnings Acquisition Corp. (the “Company”) is a newly organized blank check company incorporated as a Delaware corporation on August 20, 2020. The Company was 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 (“Business Combination”). The Company is an “emerging growth company”, as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the Securities Act”), as modified by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the “JOBS Act”). The Company’s efforts to identify a prospective target business will not be limited to a particular industry or geographic location.
The Company has selected December 31 as its fiscal year end.
As of December 31, 2020, the Company had not yet commenced any operations. All activity for the period from August 20, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020 relates to the Company’s formation and the Initial Public Offering (“IPO”) 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 on cash and cash equivalents from the proceeds derived from the IPO.
Financing
The registration statement for the Company’s IPO was declared effective on October 29, 2020 (the “Effective Date”). On November 3, 2020, the Company consummated the IPO of 10,000,000 units (the “Units” and, with respect to the shares of common stock included in the Units being offered, the “Public Shares”), at $10.00 per Unit, generating gross proceeds of $100,000,000, which is discussed in Note 3.
Simultaneously with the closing of the IPO, the Company consummated the sale of 500,000 private units (the “Private Units”) at a price of $10.00 per Private Unit in a private placement to New Beginnings Sponsor, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (the “Sponsor”), generating gross proceeds of $5,000,000, which is described in Note 4.
The Company granted the underwriters in the IPO a 45-day option to purchase up to 1,500,000 additional Units to cover over-allotments, if any. On November 9, 2020, the underwriters partially exercised the over-allotment option to purchase 1,000,000 Units (the “Over-Allotment Units”), and on November 12, 2020, the underwriters fully exercised the over-allotment option to purchase the remaining 500,000 Over-Allotment Units, generating an aggregate of gross proceeds of $15,000,000, and incurred $300,000 in cash underwriting fees.
Simultaneously with the closing of the exercise of the overallotment option, the Company completed the private sale of an aggregate of 45,000 Private Units to the Sponsor, at a purchase price of $10 per Private Units, generating gross proceeds of $450,000.
Upon closing of the IPO, the Private Placement, and the sale of the Over-Allotment Units, a total of $116,150,000 ($10.10 per Unit) was placed in the Trust Account (as defined below).
Transaction costs amounted to $6,731,655 consisting of $2,300,000 of underwriting fee, $4,025,000 of deferred underwriting fee, and $406,655 of other offering costs.
Trust Account
Following the closing of the IPO on November 3, 2020 and the exercise of the over-allotment option, $116,150,000 ($10.10 per Unit) from the net proceeds of the sale of the Units in the IPO and the sale of the Private Units was placed in a Trust Account, which can only be invested in United States “government securities” within the meaning of Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act having a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions of Rule 2a-7 promulgated under the Investment Company Act which invest only on direct U.S. government treasury obligations. Except with respect to interest earned on the funds held in the Trust Account that may be released to the Company to pay its tax obligations and up to $100,000 of interest for its dissolution expenses, the proceeds from the IPO and the sale of the Private Units will not be released from the Trust Account until the earliest to occur of (a) the completion of a Business Combination, (b) the redemption of any Public Shares properly submitted in connection with a stockholder vote to amend the Company’s amended and restated certificate of incorporation, and (c) the redemption of the Company’s Public Shares if the Company is unable to complete the initial Business Combination within 12 months (or up to 18 months if the Company extends the period of time to consummate a Business Combination) from November 3, 2020 (the “Combination Period”), the closing of the IPO.
Initial Business Combination
The Company’s Business Combination must be with one or more target businesses that together have a fair market value equal to at least 80% of the balance in the Trust Account (net of taxes payable) at the time of the signing an agreement to enter into a Business Combination. However, the Company will only complete a Business Combination if the post-Business Combination company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. There is no assurance that the Company will be able to successfully effect a Business Combination.
The Company will provide its public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their shares of common stock upon the completion of the initial Business Combination either (i) in connection with a stockholder meeting called to approve the initial Business Combination or (ii) by means of a tender offer. The decision as to whether the Company will seek stockholder approval of a proposed initial Business Combination or conduct a tender offer will be made by the Company, solely in its discretion. The stockholders will be entitled to redeem their shares for a pro rata share of the aggregate amount then on deposit in the Trust Account (initially approximately $10.10 per 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).
If the Company is unable to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period, the Company will redeem 100% of 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 taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, subject to applicable law and as further described in registration statement, and then seek to dissolve and liquidate.
The Sponsor, officers and directors have agreed to (i) waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares, any placement shares and any public shares held by them in connection with the completion of the initial Business Combination, (ii) waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares, any placement shares and public shares in connection with a stockholder vote to approve an amendment to the Company’s amended and restated certificate of incorporation, and (iii) waive their rights to liquidating distributions from the Trust Account with respect to their founder shares and placement shares if the Company fails to complete the initial Business Combination within the Combination Period.
On March 8, 2021, the Company (“Parent”), and Airspan Networks Inc., a Delaware corporation (“Airspan”), jointly issued a press release announcing the execution of a Business Combination agreement (the “Agreement”) among the Company, Airspan, and Artemis Merger Sub Corp., a Delaware corporation and wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company (“Merger Sub”), pursuant to which Merger Sub will merge with and into Airspan, with Airspan surviving the Merger as a wholly-owned direct subsidiary of the Company (the “Business Combination,” together with the other transactions related thereto, the “Proposed Transaction”).
Liquidity and Capital Resources
As of December 31, 2020, the Company had cash outside the Trust Account of $1,184,215 available for working capital needs. All remaining cash held in the Trust Account are generally unavailable for the Company’s use, prior to an initial Business Combination, and is restricted for use either in a Business Combination or to redeem common stock. As of December 31, 2020, none of the amount in the Trust Account was available to be withdrawn as described above.
Through December 31, 2020, the Company’s liquidity needs were satisfied through receipt of $25,000 from the sale of the founder shares, advances from the Sponsor in an aggregate amount of $120,000 which were repaid upon the IPO (as described in Note 5) and the remaining net proceeds from the IPO, the sale of the Over-allotment Units and the sale of Private Units (as described in Note 3 and 4).
The Company anticipates that the $1,184,215 outside of the Trust Account as of December 31, 2020, will be sufficient to allow the Company to operate for at least the next 12 months, assuming that a Business Combination is not consummated during that time. Until consummation of its Business Combination, the Company will be using the funds not held in the Trust Account, and any additional Working Capital Loans (as defined in Note 5) from the initial stockholders, the Company’s officers and directors, or their respective affiliates (which is described in Note 5), for identifying and evaluating prospective acquisition candidates, performing business due diligence on prospective target businesses, traveling to and from the offices, plants or similar locations of prospective target businesses, reviewing corporate documents and material agreements of prospective target businesses, selecting the target business to acquire and structuring, negotiating and consummating the Business Combination.
The Company does not believe it will need to raise additional funds in order to meet the expenditures required for operating its business. However, if the Company’s estimates of the costs of undertaking in-depth due diligence and negotiating Business Combination is less than the actual amount necessary to do so, the Company may have insufficient funds available to operate its business prior to the Business Combination. Moreover, the Company will need to raise additional capital through loans from its Sponsor, officers, directors, or third parties. None of the Sponsor, officers or directors are under any obligation to advance funds to, or to invest in, the Company. 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 its business plan, 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.
NOTE 2 - SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES
Basis of Presentation
The accompanying financial statements of the Company are presented in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“US GAAP”) and pursuant to the rules and regulations of the SEC. In the opinion of management, all adjustments (consisting of normal recurring adjustments) have been made that are necessary to present fairly the financial position, and the results of its operations and its cash flows.
Emerging Growth Company
The Company is an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, (the “Securities Act”), as modified by the Jumpstart our Business Startups Act of 2012, (the “JOBS Act”), and it may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in its periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved.
Further, Section 102(b)(1) of the JOBS Act exempts emerging growth companies from being required to comply with new or revised financial accounting standards until private companies (that is, those that have not had a Securities Act registration statement declared effective or do not have a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act) are required to comply with the new or revised financial accounting standards. The JOBS Act provides that a company can elect to opt out of the extended transition period and comply with the requirements that apply to non-emerging growth companies but any such election to opt out is irrevocable. The Company has elected not to opt out of such extended transition period which means that when a standard is issued or revised and it has different application dates for public or private companies, the Company, as an emerging growth company, can adopt the new or revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new or revised standard. This may make comparison of the Company’s financial statement with another public company which is neither an emerging growth company nor an emerging growth company which has opted out of using the extended transition period difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accounting standards used.
Use of Estimates
The preparation of financial statements in conformity with US 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. Actual results could differ 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.
Investment Held in Trust Account
Investment held in Trust Account consist of United States Treasury securities. The Company classifies its United States Treasury securities as held-to-maturity in accordance with FASB ASC Topic 320 “Investments - Debt and Equity Securities.” Held-to-maturity securities are those securities which the Company has the ability and intent to hold until maturity. Held-to-maturity treasury securities are recorded at amortized cost and adjusted for the amortization or accretion of premiums or discounts.
A decline in the market value of held-to-maturity securities below cost that is deemed to be other than temporary, results in an impairment that reduces the carrying costs to such securities’ fair value. The impairment is charged to earnings and a new cost basis for the security is established. To determine whether an impairment is other than temporary, the Company considers whether it has the ability and intent to hold the investment until a market price recovery and considers whether evidence indicating the cost of the investment is recoverable outweighs evidence to the contrary. Evidence considered in this assessment includes the reasons for the impairment, the severity and the duration of the impairment, changes in value subsequent to year-end, forecasted performance of the investee, and the general market condition in the geographic area or industry the investee operates in.
Premiums and discounts are amortized or accreted over the life of the related held-to-maturity security as an adjustment to yield using the effective-interest method. Such amortization and accretion is included in the “interest income” line item in the statements of operations. Interest income is recognized when earned.
Fair Value Measurements
FASB ASC Topic 820 “Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures” (“ASC 820”) defines fair value, the methods used to measure fair value and the expanded disclosures about fair value measurements. Fair value is the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between the buyer and the seller at the measurement date. In determining fair value, the valuation techniques consistent with the market approach, income approach and cost approach shall be used to measure fair value. ASC 820 establishes a fair value hierarchy for inputs, which represent the assumptions used by the buyer and seller in pricing the asset or liability. These inputs are further defined as observable and unobservable inputs. Observable inputs are those that buyer and seller would use in pricing the asset or liability based on market data obtained from sources independent of the Company. Unobservable inputs reflect the Company’s assumptions about the inputs that the buyer and seller would use in pricing the asset or liability developed based on the best information available in the circumstances.
The fair value hierarchy is categorized into three levels based on the inputs as follows:
Level 1 - Valuations based on unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities that the Company has the ability to access. Valuation adjustments and block discounts are not being applied. Since valuations are based on quoted prices that are readily and regularly available in an active market, valuation of these securities does not entail a significant degree of judgment.
Level 2 - Valuations based on (i) quoted prices in active markets for similar assets and liabilities, (ii) quoted prices in markets that are not active for identical or similar assets, (iii) inputs other than quoted prices for the assets or liabilities, or (iv) inputs that are derived principally from or corroborated by market through correlation or other means.
Level 3 - Valuations based on inputs that are unobservable and significant to the overall fair value measurement.
The fair value of the Company’s certain assets and liabilities, which qualify as financial instruments under ASC 820, “Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures,” approximates the carrying amounts represented in the balance sheet. The fair values of cash, prepaid assets, and accounts payable are estimated to approximate the carrying values as of December 31, 2020 due to the short maturities of such instruments.
The following table presents information about the Company’s assets and liabilities that were measured at fair value on a recurring basis as of December 31, 2020, and indicates the fair value hierarchy of the valuation techniques the Company utilized to determine such fair value.
Concentration of Credit Risk
Financial instruments that potentially subject the Company to concentrations of credit risk consist of cash accounts in a financial institution, which, at times, may exceed the Federal Depository Insurance Coverage of $250,000. At December 31, 2020, the Company has not experienced losses on these accounts and management believes the Company is not exposed to significant risks on such accounts.
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 (if any) is classified as a liability instrument and is measured at fair value. Conditionally redeemable common stock (including common stock that feature redemption rights that are either within the control of the holder or subject to redemption upon the occurrence of uncertain events not solely within the Company’s control) is classified as temporary equity. At all other times, common stock is classified as stockholders’ equity. The Company’s common stock feature certain redemption rights that is considered to be outside of the Company’s control and subject to the occurrence of uncertain future events. Accordingly, as of December 31, 2020, 10,748,854 shares of common stock subject to possible redemption are presented at redemption value as temporary equity, outside of the stockholders’ equity section of the Company’s balance sheet.
Net Loss Per Common Share
Net loss per common stock is computed by dividing net loss by the weighted average number of common stock outstanding for each of the periods. The calculation of diluted loss per common stock does not consider the effect of the warrants issued in connection with the (i) IPO, (ii) exercise of overallotment and (iii) Private Placement 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 warrants are exercisable to purchase 12,045,000 shares of common stock in the aggregate.
The Company’s statement of operations includes a presentation of loss per share for common stock subject to possible redemption in a manner similar to the two-class method of loss per common stock. Net income per common stock, basic and diluted, for redeemable common stock is calculated by dividing the interest income earned on the Trust Account, by the weighted average number of redeemable common stock outstanding since original issuance. Net loss per common stock, basic and diluted, for non-redeemable common stock is calculated by dividing the net loss, adjusted for income attributable to redeemable common stock, by the weighted average number of non-redeemable common stock outstanding for the periods. Non-redeemable common stock includes the founder shares as these common stocks do not have any redemption features and do not participate in the income earned on the Trust Account.
Offering Costs
The Company complies with the requirements of the ASC 340-10-S99-1 and SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin (“SAB”) Topic 5A - “Expenses of Offering”. Offering costs consist principally of professional and registration fees incurred through the balance sheet date that are related to the Public Offering and that were charged to stockholders’ equity upon the completion of the IPO. Accordingly, as of December 31, 2020, offering costs totaling $6,731,655 have been charged to stockholders’ equity (consisting of $2,300,000 in underwriting fee, $4,025,000 in deferred underwriting fee, and approximately $406,655 of other cash expenses).
Income Taxes
The Company accounts for income taxes under ASC 740 Income Taxes (“ASC 740”). ASC 740 requires the recognition of deferred tax assets and liabilities for both the expected impact of differences between the financial statement and tax basis of assets and liabilities and for the expected future tax benefit to be derived from tax loss and tax credit carry forwards. ASC 740 additionally requires a valuation allowance to be established when it is more likely than not that all or a portion of deferred tax assets will not be realized.
ASC 740 also clarifies the accounting for uncertainty in income taxes recognized in an enterprise’s financial statement and prescribes a recognition threshold and measurement process for financial statement recognition and measurement of a tax position taken or expected to be taken in a tax return. For those benefits to be recognized, a tax position must be more-likely-than-not to be sustained upon examination by taxing authorities. ASC 740 also provides guidance on derecognition, classification, interest and penalties, accounting in interim period, disclosure and transition.
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 has identified the United States as its only “major” tax jurisdiction.
The Company may be subject to potential examination by federal and state taxing authorities in the areas of income taxes since inception. These potential examinations may include questioning the timing and amount of deductions, the nexus of income among various tax jurisdictions and compliance with federal and state tax laws. The Company’s management does not expect that the total amount of unrecognized tax benefits will materially change over the next twelve months.
The provision for income taxes was deemed immaterial for the period ending December 31, 2020.
Risks and Uncertainties
On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization (“WHO”) announced a global health emergency because of a new strain of coronavirus (the “COVID-19 outbreak”). In March 2020, the WHO classified the COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic, based on the rapid increase in exposure globally. The full impact of the COVID-19 outbreak continues to evolve. The impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on the Company’s financial position will depend on future developments, including the duration and spread of the outbreak and related advisories and restrictions. These developments and the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on the financial markets and the overall economy are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted. If the financial markets and/or the overall economy are impacted for an extended period, the Company’s financial position may be materially adversely affected. Additionally, the Company’s ability to complete an initial Business Combination may be materially adversely affected due to significant governmental measures being implemented to contain the COVID-19 outbreak or treat its impact, including travel restrictions, the shutdown of businesses and quarantines, among others, which may limit the Company’s ability to have meetings with potential investors or affect the ability of a potential target company’s personnel, vendors and service providers to negotiate and consummate an initial Business Combination in a timely manner. The Company’s ability to consummate an initial Business Combination may also be dependent on the ability to raise additional equity and debt financing, which may be impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak and the resulting market downturn.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
Management does not believe that any recently issued, but not effective, accounting standards, if currently adopted, would have a material effect on the Company’s financial statements.
NOTE 3 - INITIAL PUBLIC OFFERING
Pursuant to the IPO on November 3, 2020, the Company sold 10,000,000 Units, at a purchase price of $10.00 per Unit. Each Unit consists of one share of common stock and one warrant to purchase one share of common stock. Each warrant entitles the holder to purchase one share of common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment. Each warrant will become exercisable on the later of 30 days after the completion of the initial Business Combination or 12 months from the closing of the IPO and will expire five years after the completion of the initial Business Combination, or earlier upon redemption or liquidation (see Note 8).
On November 9, 2020, the underwriters partially exercised the over-allotment option to purchase 1,000,000 Units, and on November 12, 2020, the underwriters fully exercised the over-allotment option to purchase the remaining 500,000 Over-Allotment Units, generating an aggregate of gross proceeds of $15,000,000.
An aggregate of $10.10 per Unit sold in the IPO was held in the Trust Account and only be invested in United States “government securities” within the meaning of Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act having a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions of Rule 2a-7 promulgated under the Investment Company Act which invest only on direct U.S. government treasury obligations. As of December 31, 2020, $116,150,000 of the IPO proceeds was held in the Trust Account.
NOTE 4 - PRIVATE PLACEMENT
Simultaneously with the closing of the IPO, the Sponsor purchased an aggregate of 500,000 Private Units at a price of $10.00 per Private Unit, for an aggregate purchase price of $5,000,000, in a private placement. The proceeds from the Private Units was added to the proceeds from the IPO held in the Trust Account.
Simultaneously with the closing of the exercise of the overallotment option, the Company completed the private sale of an aggregate of 45,000 Private Units to the Sponsor, at a purchase price of $10 per Private Units, generating gross proceeds of $450,000.
Each Private Unit is identical to the Units sold in the IPO, except as described below. There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions from the Trust Account with respect to the placement shares or placement warrants, which will expire worthless if the Company does not consummate a Business Combination within the allotted 12-month period (or 18-month period).
The Company’s Sponsor has agreed to waive redemption rights with respect to the placement shares (i) in connection with the consummation of a Business Combination, (ii) in connection with a stockholder vote to amend its amended and restated certificate of incorporation to modify the substance or timing of the Company’s obligation to allow redemption in connection with the Company’s initial Business Combination or amendments to its certificate of incorporation prior, to redeem 100% of the Public Shares if the Company does not complete its initial Business Combination within the Combination Period or with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial Business Combination activity and (iii) if the Company fails to consummate a Business Combination within the Combination Period or if the Company liquidates prior to the expiration of the Combination Period. However, the initial stockholders will be entitled to redemption rights with respect to any Public Shares held by them if the Company fails to consummate a Business Combination or liquidate within the Combination Period.
NOTE 5 - RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS
Founder Shares
In September 2020, the Sponsor purchased 2,156,250 shares of common stock for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000, or approximately $0.012 per share. On October 20, 2020, the Company effected a stock dividend resulting in its Sponsor holding 2,875,000 founder shares, representing an adjusted purchase price of approximately $0.009 per share. The founder shares, after given effect to the stock dividend, include an aggregate of up to 375,000 shares subject to forfeiture if the over-allotment option is not exercised by the underwriters in full. In connection with the underwriters’ full exercise of their over-allotment option in November 2020, the 375,000 shares were no longer subject to forfeiture.
The Sponsor has agreed not to transfer, assign or sell their founder shares until the earlier of (i) one year after the date of the consummation of the initial Business Combination or (ii) the date on which the closing price of the Company’s shares of common stock equals or exceeds $12.50 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing after the initial Business Combination, or earlier, in either case, if, subsequent to the initial Business Combination, the Company consummates a subsequent liquidation, merger, stock exchange or other similar transaction which results in all of its stockholders having the right to exchange their shares of common stock for cash, securities or other property.
Promissory Note - Related Party
In September 2020, the Company issued an unsecured promissory note to the Sponsor, pursuant to which the Company may borrow up to an aggregate principal amount of $200,000 to be used for a portion of the expenses of the IPO. This loan is non-interest bearing, unsecured and due at the earlier of December 31, 2020 or the closing of the IPO. The loan would be repaid upon the closing of the IPO out of the offering proceeds not held in the Trust Account. On November 2, 2020, the Company repaid $120,000 to the Sponsor. As of December 31, 2020, the Company had not borrowed any amount under the promissory note with the Sponsor.
Related Party Loans
In order to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial 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, provide non-interest bearing loans to the Company 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. In the event that a Business Combination does not close, the Company may use a portion of the working capital held outside the Trust Account to repay the Working Capital Loans but no proceeds from the Trust Account would be used to repay the Working Capital Loans. Up to $1,500,000 of such Working Capital Loans may be convertible into units at a price of $10.00 per unit at the option of the lender. The units would be identical to the Private Units. At December 31, 2020, no such Working Capital Loans were outstanding.
Related Party Extension Loans
The Company will have up to 12 months from the closing of the IPO to consummate an initial Business Combination. However, if the Company anticipates that it may not be able to consummate its initial Business Combination within 12 months, the Company may, by resolution of its board if requested by the Sponsor, extend the period of time to consummate a Business Combination up to two times, each by an additional three months (for a total of up to 18 months to complete a Business Combination), subject to the Sponsor depositing additional funds into the Trust Account. The Company’s stockholders will not be entitled to vote or redeem their shares in connection with any such extension. Pursuant to the terms of the Company’s amended and restated certificate of incorporation and the trust agreement entered into between the Company and Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, in order for the time available for the Company to consummate its initial Business Combination to be extended, the Company’s Sponsor or its affiliates or designees, upon five days advance notice prior to the applicable deadline, must deposit into the Trust Account $1,000,000, or $1,150,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full ($0.10 per unit in either case, up to an aggregate of $2,000,000 or $2,300,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) on or prior to the date of the applicable deadline, for each three month extension. Any such payments would be made in the form of a non-interest bearing loan. The Sponsor and its affiliates or designees are not obligated to fund the Trust Account to extend the time for the Company to complete its initial Business Combination. If the Company is unable to consummate an initial Business Combination within such time period, it will redeem 100% of its issued and outstanding Public Shares for a pro rata portion of the funds held in the Trust Account, 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 taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding Public Shares, subject to applicable law, and then seek to dissolve and liquidate.
Administrative Service Fee
The Company has agreed to pay an affiliate of its Sponsor, commencing on the Effective Date of the registration statement, a total of $10,000 per month for office space, utilities and secretarial and administrative support. For the period from October 29, 2020 to December 31, 2020, the Company incurred $20,000 of administrative services under this arrangement. Upon completion of the initial Business Combination or the Company’s liquidation, the Company will cease paying these monthly fees.
NOTE 6 - INVESTMENT HELD IN TRUST ACCOUNT
As of December 31, 2020, investment in the Company’s Trust Account consisted of $379 in U.S. Money Market and $116,162,094 in U.S. Treasury Securities. The Company classifies its United States Treasury securities as held-to-maturity in accordance with FASB ASC 320 “Investments - Debt and Equity Securities”. Held-to-maturity treasury securities are recorded at amortized cost and adjusted for the amortization or accretion of premiums or discounts. The Company considers all investments with original maturities of more than three months but less than one year to be short-term investments. The carrying value approximates the fair value due to its short-term maturity. The carrying value, excluding gross unrealized holding loss and fair value of held to maturity securities on December 31, 2020 are as follows:
NOTE 7 - COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES
Registration Rights
The holders of the founder shares, Private Units, and Units that may be issued upon conversion of Working Capital Loans will have registration rights to require the Company to register a sale of any of its securities held by them pursuant to a registration rights agreement signed on October 29, 2020. These holders will be entitled to make up to three demands, excluding short form registration demands, that the Company registers such securities for sale under the Securities Act. In addition, these holders will have “piggy-back” registration rights to include their securities in other registration statements filed by the Company.
Underwriters Agreement
The underwriters had a 45-day option beginning October 29, 2020 to purchase up to an additional 1,500,000 units to cover over-allotments, if any.
On November 3, 2020, the Company paid a fixed underwriting discount of $2,000,000. Additionally, the underwriters will be entitled to a deferred underwriting discount of 3.5% of the gross proceeds of the IPO held in the Trust Account, or $3,500,000, upon the completion of the Company’s initial Business Combination subject to the terms of the underwriting agreement.
On November 9, 2020, the underwriters partially exercised the over-allotment option to purchase 1,000,000 Units, and on November 12, 2020, the underwriters fully exercised the over-allotment option to purchase the remaining 500,000 Over-Allotment Units, and paid a fixed underwriting discount of $300,000. Additionally, the underwriters will be entitled to a deferred underwriting discount of 3.5% of the gross proceeds of the IPO held in the Trust Account, or $525,000, upon the completion of the Company’s initial Business Combination subject to the terms of the underwriting agreement.
NOTE 8 - STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY
Preferred Stock - The Company is authorized to issue a total of 1,000,000 preferred shares at par value of $0.0001 each. At December 31, 2020, there were no shares of preferred shares issued or outstanding.
Common Stock - The Company is authorized to issue a total of 100,000,000 shares of common stock at par value of $0.0001 each. As of December 31, 2020, there were 4,173,401 shares of common stock issued and outstanding, excluding 10,746,599 shares of common shares subject to possible redemption.
The Company’s initial stockholders have agreed not to transfer, assign or sell their founder shares until the earlier of (i) one year after the date of the consummation of the initial Business Combination or (ii) the date on which the closing price of the Company’s shares of common stock equals or exceeds $12.50 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing after the initial Business Combination, or earlier, in either case, if, subsequent to the initial Business Combination, the Company consummates a subsequent liquidation, merger, stock exchange or other similar transaction which results in all of its stockholders having the right to exchange their shares of common stock for cash, securities or other property.
Warrants - Each warrant entitles the holder to purchase one share of the Company’s common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as discussed herein. 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 its initial 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 Company’s Sponsor or its affiliates, without taking into account any founder shares held by the Company’s Sponsor or its 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 the initial Business Combination on the date of the consummation of the initial 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 the initial Business Combination (such price, the “Market Value”) is below $9.20 per share, the exercise price of the warrants will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 115% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, and the $18.00 per share redemption trigger price described below under “Redemption of warrants” will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 180% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price.
The warrants will become exercisable on the later of 12 months from the closing of the IPO or 30 days after the completion of its initial Business Combination, and will expire five years after the completion of the Company’s initial Business Combination, at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, 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. No warrant will be exercisable and the Company will not be obligated to issue 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. In no event will the Company be required to net cash settle any warrant. In the event that a registration statement is not effective for the exercised warrants, the purchaser of a unit containing such warrant will have paid the full purchase price for the unit solely for the share of common stock underlying such unit.
Once the warrants become exercisable, the Company may call the warrants for redemption:
● in whole and not in part;
● at a price of $0.01 per warrant;
● upon not less than 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption given after the warrants become exercisable (the “30-day redemption period”) to each warrant holder; and
● if, and only if, the reported last sale price of the common stock equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within a 30-trading day period commencing once the warrants become exercisable and ending three business days before we send the notice of redemption to the warrant-holders.
If the Company calls the warrants for redemption as described above, the management will have the option to require any holders that wishes to exercise its warrant to do so on a “cashless basis.” If the management takes advantage of this option, all holders of warrants would pay the exercise price by surrendering their warrants for that number of shares of common stock equal to the quotient obtained by dividing (x) the product of the number of shares of common stock underlying the warrants, multiplied by the difference between the exercise price of the warrants and the “fair market value” (defined below) by (y) the fair market value. The “fair market value” shall mean the average reported last sale price of the common stock for the 10 trading days ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which the notice of redemption is sent to the holders of warrants.
NOTE 9 - INCOME TAX
The Company’s net deferred tax assets are as follows:
The income tax provision consists of the following:
As of December 31, 2020, the Company has $61,001 of U.S. federal net operating loss carryovers, which do not expire, and no state net operating loss carryovers available to offset future taxable income.
In assessing the realization of the deferred tax assets, management considers whether it is more likely than not that some portion of all of the deferred tax assets will not be realized. The ultimate realization of deferred tax assets is dependent upon the generation of future taxable income during the periods in which temporary differences representing net future deductible amounts become deductible. Management considers the scheduled reversal of deferred tax liabilities, projected future taxable income and tax planning strategies in making this assessment. After consideration of all of the information available, management believes that significant uncertainty exists with respect to future realization of the deferred tax assets and has therefore established a full valuation allowance. For the period from August 20, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, the change in the valuation allowance was $42,564.
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 in Florida and is subject to examination by the various taxing authorities.
NOTE 10 - 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. The Company did not identify any subsequent events that would have required adjustment or disclosure in the financial statements.
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.
new beginnings ACQUISITION CORP.
By: /s/ Michael S. Liebowitz
Name: Michael S. Liebowitz
Title: Chief Executive Officer, Director
Date: March 31, 2021
POWER OF ATTORNEY
KNOW ALL PERSONS BY THESE PRESENTS, that each person whose signature appears below constitutes and appoints Michael S. Liebowitz his attorney-in-fact, each with the full power of substitution, for such person, in any and all capacities, to sign any and all amendments to this Annual Report on Form 10-K, and to file the same, with all exhibits thereto and other documents in connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, granting unto said attorney-in-fact and agent full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing requisite and necessary to be done in connection therewith, as fully to all intents and purposes as he might do or could do in person hereby ratifying and confirming all that each of said attorneys-in-fact and agents, or his substitute, may do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.
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 date indicated.
Signature
Title
Date
/s/ Michael S. Liebowitz
Chief Executive Officer, Director
March 31, 2021
Michael S. Liebowitz
/s/ Russell W. Galbut
Chairman of the Board
March 31, 2021
Russell W. Galbut
/s/ Benjamin Garrett
Independent Director
March 31, 2021
Benjamin Garrett
/s/ Frank A. Del Rio
Independent Director
March 31, 2021
Frank A. Del Rio
/s/ Kate Walsh
Independent Director
March 31, 2021
Kate Walsh
/s/ Perry Weitz
Independent Director
March 31, 2021
Perry Weitz