AEON Biopharma, Inc 10-K/A for FY2022
AEON Biopharma, Inc. (AEON)
About this 10-K/A
AEON Biopharma, Inc filed this 10-K/A on April 10, 2023, covering the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022 (FY2022).
Headline figures
Fiscal year ended December 31, 2022, as reported in this filing, compared with the same period a year earlier where the filing states it.
- Net income
- $6.38M
- down 22.3% from net income of $8.2M a year earlier
UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM
(Amendment No. 2)
(Mark One)
for the fiscal year ended
OR
For the transition period from to .
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(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
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Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:
None
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☐
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files).
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):
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Large accelerated filer | ☐ | | Accelerated filer | ☐ |
☒ (Do not check if a smaller reporting company) | | Smaller reporting company | ||
| | | Emerging growth company |
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.
If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements. ☒
Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incen-tive-based compensation received by any of the registrant’s executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b). ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). Yes
Auditor PCAOB ID Number: | Auditor Name: | Auditor Location: |
As of June 30, 2021 (what would have been the last business day of the registrant’s second fiscal quarter), the aggregate market value of the voting and non-voting common stock held by non-affiliates, computed by reference to the closing sales price of $9.64 reported on Nasdaq, was approximately $
As of February 21, 2023,
DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE
None.
EXPLANATORY NOTE
References throughout this Amendment No. 2 to the Annual Report on Form 10-K/A to “we,” “us,” the “Company” or “our company” are Priveterra Acquisition Corp., unless the context otherwise indicates.
Other than the items mentioned above, no other changes were made to the Form 10-K as previously filed on February 22, 2023 or to the Form 10-K/A as previously filed on April 5, 2023.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
i
CERTAIN TERMS
Unless otherwise stated in this Annual Report on Form 10-K/A (this “Annual Report”), references to:
“we,” “us,” “our,” “company” or “our company” are to Priveterra Acquisition Corp., a Delaware corporation;
“AEON Governing Documents” are to the Fourth Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation of AEON, as amended, and the Amended and Restated Bylaws of AEON;
“AEON Stockholders” are to the holders of AEON common stock (on an as converted basis after taking into effect the conversion of the AEON Warrants, the conversion of the shares of AEON preferred stock into AEON common stock in accordance with the AEON Governing Documents of AEON as of the Effective Time and the conversion of the AEON convertible notes into AEON common stock in accordance with the terms of such AEON convertible notes and the noteholder support agreements, and after giving effect to the issuance of AEON common stock, if any, in connection with the Subsidiary Merger) immediately prior to the Effective Time;
“AEON Warrants” are to the warrant to purchase 342,011 shares of AEON’s Series B Preferred Stock, issued May 27, 2016, at an exercise price of $7.3097 per share;
“Class A Common Stock” are to the Class A Common Stock of the company, par value $0.0001;
“Class B Common Stock” are to the Class B Common Stock of the company, par value $0.0001, which is convertible into shares of Class A Common Stock on a one-for-one basis;
“Combined Company” are to the company subsequent to the Business Combination (also referred to herein as “New AEON”);
“Committed Financing Agreement” are to any of those certain Interim Financing Agreements entered into between Priveterra, AEON and those certain investors on January 6, 2023, to be executed simultaneously with the Closing of the Business Combination;
“Exchange Ratio” shall have the meaning given to such term in the Business Combination Agreement;
“DGCL” are to the Delaware General Corporation Law as the same may be amended from time to time;
“common stock” are to our Class A Common Stock and our Class B Common Stock;
“directors” are to our current directors;
“Exchange Ratio” shall have the meaning given to such term in the Business Combination Agreement;
“founders shares” are to shares of Class B Common Stock initially purchased by our sponsor in a private placement prior to our initial public offering and the shares of Class A Common Stock that will be issued upon the automatic conversion of the shares of Class B Common Stock at the time of our initial business combination as described herein;
“initial stockholders” are to holders of our founder shares prior to our initial public offering;
“Interim Financing Arrangement” are to the financing arrangements contemplated by Section 5.17 of the Business Combination Agreement and any other financing arrangement that AEON and Priveterra expressly designate as an “Interim Financing Arrangement” in an agreement in writing which makes reference to the Business Combination Agreement and has been duly authorized, executed and delivered by each of AEON and Priveterra;
“Interim Financing Agreements” are to any of the definitive agreements entered into by Priveterra or AEON in connection with any Interim Financing Arrangement in connection with the Business Combination;
“Interim Financing Investor” are to any of those certain investors that have entered or will enter into any Interim Financing Agreements with Priveterra and AEON;
ii
“management” or our “management team” are to our executive officers and directors;
“Merger Consideration” are to with respect to each outstanding share of AEON common stock (on an as converted basis after taking into effect the conversion of the AEON preferred stock and the outstanding convertible notes of AEON and after giving effect to the issuance of AEON common stock, if any, in connection with the Subsidiary Merger) a number of shares of New AEON common stock equal to the Exchange Ratio (and with an aggregate value equal to $165,000,000 (minus certain holdback equity closing value) allocated to the AEON Stockholders (on an as converted basis after taking into effect the conversion of the AEON preferred stock and the outstanding convertible notes of AEON and after giving effect to the issuance of New AEON common stock, if any, in connection with the Subsidiary Merger) as set forth on the allocation schedule to the Business Combination Agreement; “New AEON” are to the Combined Company following the consummation of the Business Combination;
“New AEON common stock” are to Class A Common Stock of New AEON following the Business Combination;
“our initial public offering” or “IPO” are to our initial public offering consummated on February 11, 2021;
“private placement warrants” are to the warrants issued to our sponsor in a private placement simultaneously with the closing of our initial public offering;
“public shares” are to shares of Class A Common Stock sold as part of the units in our initial public offering (whether they were purchased in our initial public offering or thereafter in the open market);
“public stockholders” are to the holders of our public shares, including our initial stockholders and management team to the extent our initial stockholders and/or members of our management team purchase public shares, provided that each initial stockholder’s and member of our management team’s status as a “public stockholder” will only exist with respect to such public shares;
“representatives” are to Wells Fargo Securities, LLC and Guggenheim Securities, LLC, the representatives of the underwriters of our initial public offering;
“SEC” are to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission;
“sponsor” are to Priveterra Sponsor, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company;
“Sponsor Forfeiture Amount” shall have the meaning given to such term in the Sponsor Support Agreement;
“Subsidiary Rollover Option” shall have the meaning given to such term in the Business Combination Agreement.
iii
CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS AND RISK FACTOR SUMMARY
Some of the statements contained in this annual report on Form 10-K/A (this “Form 10-K/A”) may constitute “forward-looking statements” for purposes of the federal securities laws. Our forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our or our management team’s expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future. In addition, any statements that refer to projections, forecasts or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. The words “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “would” and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking.
The forward-looking statements contained in this Form 10-K/A are based on our current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects on us. There can be no assurance that future developments affecting us will be those that we have anticipated. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties (some of which are beyond our control) or other assumptions that may cause actual results or performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the following risks, uncertainties and other factors:
| ● | our ability to select an appropriate target business or businesses; |
| ● | our ability to complete our initial business combination; |
| ● | our expectations around the performance of the prospective target business or businesses; |
| ● | our success in retaining or recruiting, or changes required in, our officers, key employees or directors following our initial business combination; |
| ● | our officers and directors allocating their time to other businesses and potentially having conflicts of interest with our business or in approving our initial business combination; |
| ● | our potential ability to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination; |
| ● | our pool of prospective target businesses; |
| ● | our ability to consummate an initial business combination due to the uncertainty resulting from the recent COVID-19 pandemic; |
| ● | the ability of our officers and directors to generate a number of potential business combination opportunities; |
| ● | our public securities’ potential liquidity and trading; |
| ● | the lack of a market for our securities; |
| ● | the use of proceeds not held in the trust account or available to us from interest income on the trust account balance; |
| ● | the trust account not being subject to claims of third parties; or |
| ● | our financial performance following our initial public offering. |
The forward-looking statements contained in this Annual Report are based on our current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects on us. There can be no assurance that future developments affecting us will be those that we have anticipated. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties (some of which are beyond our control) or other assumptions that may cause actual results or performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those factors described under the heading “Risk Factors.” Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of our assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary in material respects from those projected in these forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.
iv
PART I
Item 1. Business
Introduction
We are a blank check company incorporated in November 2020 as a Delaware corporation whose business purpose is to effect a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses, which we refer to throughout this Annual Report as our initial business combination.
While we may pursue an acquisition opportunity in any industry or sector, we intend to focus on the medical technology sector. Our management team and board (collectively referred to as the “team”) possess a synergistic combination of executive, strategic, operational, financial and transactional experience in this sector, and have demonstrated a strong track record of identifying and creating significant stockholder value at leading medical technology companies. We believe that the experience and expertise of our team will make us an attractive partner to potential target businesses, enhance our ability to complete a successful business combination and bring value to the business following our initial business combination.
Our objective is to generate attractive returns for stockholders and enhance value through both operational improvements and new initiatives to expand the target business organically and/or by strategic acquisitions. Given our team’s extensive work and business relationships within the medical technology sector, we have direct visibility into the growth prospects and developmental promise of differentiated medical technology companies. Our team has decades of experience identifying and understanding the key fundamental theses of our targeted businesses and how management teams can better execute on their stated strategies to deliver value. Our team’s past experiences provide a differentiated set of skills that other companies and SPACs may not possess. We believe that our team’s expertise, experience and network in the medical technology sector provide us with a significant advantage in identifying attractive investments and consummating an initial business combination that will be well-received in the public markets.
Company History
On December 17, 2020, the sponsor paid $25,000, or approximately $0.004 per share, to cover certain offering costs in consideration for 5,750,000 founder shares. The number of founder shares outstanding was determined based on the expectation that the total size of our initial public offering would be a maximum of 23,000,000 units if the underwriters’ over-allotment option was exercised in full, and therefore that such founder shares would represent 20% of the outstanding shares after our initial public offering.
On February 8, 2021, as part of an upsizing of the IPO, we effected a stock split in which each issued share of Class B Common Stock that was outstanding was converted into one and two tenths shares of Class B Common Stock, resulting in an aggregate of 6,900,000 shares of Class B Common Stock issued and outstanding. The founder shares are automatically convertible into Class A Common Stock concurrently with or immediately following the consummation of our initial business combination, initially at a one-for-one ratio but subject to adjustment as set forth herein and in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation.
On February 11, 2021, we completed our IPO of 27,600,000 units at a price of $10.00 per unit (the “units”), generating gross proceeds of $276,000,000. Each unit consists of one of share of our Class A Common Stock, par value $0.0001 per share, and one-third of one redeemable warrant. Each whole warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one share of Class A Common Stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to certain adjustments.
Simultaneously with the closing of our initial public offering, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 5,213,333 warrants (the “private placement warrants”) at a price of $1.50 per warrant, or $7,820,000 in the aggregate. A total of $276,000,000, including $9,660,000 of the underwriters’ deferred discount, was placed in a U.S.-based trust account with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, acting as trustee.
1
On February 15, 2021, we issued an unsecured convertible promissory note to our sponsor, pursuant to which we may borrow up to $1,500,000 from our sponsor for ongoing expenses reasonably related to our business and the consummation of our initial business combination. All unpaid principal under the convertible note will be due and payable in full on the earlier of (i) August 11, 2023 and (ii) the effective date of our initial business combination. Our sponsor will have the option, at any time on or prior to such maturity date, to convert any amounts outstanding under the convertible note into warrants to purchase shares of our Class A Common Stock, par value $0.0001 per share, at a conversion price of $1.50 per warrant, with each warrant entitling the holder to purchase one share of our Class A Common Stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to the same adjustments applicable to the private placement warrants sold concurrently with our initial public offering (“working capital warrants”). On June 28, 2021, our sponsor elected to convert $100,000 of outstanding principal under this unsecured convertible promissory note into, and we issued, 66,667 working capital warrants. As of December 31, 2021, the company had no borrowings under this unsecured convertible promissory note.
On March 25, 2021, we announced that, commencing April 1, 2021, holders of the 27,600,000 units sold in the IPO may elect to separately trade the shares of Class A Common Stock and the warrants included in the units. Those units not separated continued to trade on the Nasdaq under the symbol “PMGMU” and the shares of Class A Common Stock and warrants that were separated trade under the symbols “PMGM” and “PMGMW,” respectively.
Business Combination
Initial Business Combination
Nasdaq rules require that we must complete one or more business combinations having an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the value of the assets held in the trust account (excluding the deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on the interest earned on the trust account). We refer to this as the 80% of net assets test. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA or from an independent accounting firm, with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. We do not currently intend to purchase multiple businesses in unrelated industries in conjunction with our initial business combination, although there is no assurance that will be the case.
We anticipate structuring our initial business combination so that the post-transaction company in which our public stockholders own shares will own or acquire 100% of the equity interests or assets of the target business or businesses. We may, however, structure our initial business combination such that the post-transaction company owns or acquires less than 100% of such interests or assets of the target business in order to meet certain objectives of the target management team or stockholders or for other reasons, but we will only complete such business combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, or the Investment Company Act. Even if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our stockholders prior to the business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post-transaction company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the business combination transaction. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock of a target. In this case, we would acquire a 100% controlling interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new shares, our stockholders immediately prior to our initial business combination could own less than a majority of our outstanding shares subsequent to our initial business combination. If less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses are owned or acquired by the post-transaction company, the portion of such business or businesses that is owned or acquired is what will be taken into account for purposes of the 80% of net assets test described above. If the business combination involves more than one target business, the 80% of net assets test will be based on the aggregate value of all of the target businesses.
In evaluating a prospective target business, we expect to conduct an extensive due diligence review, which may encompass, as applicable and among other things, meetings with members of the target’s management and other employees, document reviews, interviews of customers and suppliers, inspection of facilities and a review of financial, clinical and other information about the target and its industry. We will call upon Mr. Palmisano, Mr. Malik and Mr. Grodnensky’s own experience, as well as their network of relationships with chief executive officers, board members and members of executive management teams to provide specialized insights into their areas of expertise as well as leverage their operational and capital planning experience.
2
Business Combination Agreement – Proposed Business Combination with AEON Biopharma, Inc.
On December 12, 2022, we entered into a business combination agreement (the “Business Combination Agreement”) with Priveterra Merger Sub, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“Merger Sub”) and AEON Biopharma, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“AEON”). The Business Combination Agreement provides, among other things, that on the terms and subject to the conditions set forth therein, Merger Sub will merge with and into AEON, with AEON surviving as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company (the “Merger”). Upon the closing of the Merger (the “Closing”), the company will change its name to “AEON Biopharma, Inc.” and its ticker symbol on the Nasdaq Capital Market (“Nasdaq”) is expected to change to “AEON”. The date on which the Closing occurs is hereinafter referred to as the “Closing Date.” The proposed business combination with AEON was announced in the company’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on December 12, 2022.
The Business Combination Agreement and the transactions contemplated thereby were approved by the boards of directors of each of the company and AEON. We intend to effectuate our proposed initial business combination with AEON using a combination of cash from the proceeds of our initial public offering (and the concurrent private placement of the private placement warrants), the proceeds of the sale of our shares to private investors in connection with our initial business combination and shares issued to the stockholders of AEON, as described below.
In connection with the execution of the Business Combination Agreement, AEON and the company entered into interim financing letter agreements for an aggregate amount of $20 million (the “Letter Agreements”) with certain investors (the “Investors”), the terms of which provide for the sale and issuance to the Investors of an issued security that will be exchanged or converted at the Closing into Class A Common Stock of the company at a purchase price of $7.00 per the company share. The Letter Agreements will terminate upon the earliest of (a) such date and time as the Business Combination Agreement is validly terminated, (b) upon mutual written agreement of each of the parties to the Letter Agreements, (c) at any time upon the election of the company and AEON at their sole discretion and (d) nine months from the date of the Letter Agreements if the closing of the Business Combination Agreement has not occurred.
Pursuant to the Business Combination Agreement, at the effective time of the Merger (the “Effective Time”), (i) each outstanding share of AEON common stock (on an as converted basis after taking into effect the conversion of the outstanding warrants of AEON exercisable for shares of AEON preferred stock, the conversion of the shares of AEON preferred stock into AEON common stock in accordance with the governing documents of AEON as of the Effective Time, the conversion of the outstanding convertible notes of AEON into AEON common stock in accordance with the terms of such convertible notes and after giving effect to the issuance of AEON common stock, if any, in connection with the subsidiary merger (the time on the Closing Date and immediately prior to the Merger when ABP Sub, Inc. (“ABP Sub”) shall merge with and into AEON being referred to herein as the “Subsidiary Merger”)) will be cancelled and converted into the right to receive a number of shares of New AEON common stock equal to the Merger Consideration; and (ii) each outstanding AEON option (including each Subsidiary Rollover Option) will be converted into an option to purchase a number of shares of New AEON common stock equal to (A) the number of shares of AEON common stock subject to such option immediately prior to the Effective Time, multiplied by (B) the Exchange Ratio, at an exercise price per share equal to the exercise price per share for such option as of immediately prior to the Closing divided by the Exchange Ratio.
3
In addition, upon the achievement of certain clinical development milestones, certain AEON Stockholders will be entitled to receive up to 16,000,000 additional shares of New AEON common stock (the “Earnout Shares”), which will be issued as follows: (i) 1,000,000 shares of New AEON common stock, if, on or before June 30, 2025, AEON has commenced a Phase 3 clinical study for the treatment of chronic or episodic migraine; (ii) 4,000,000 shares of New AEON common stock, if, on or before November 30, 2026, AEON has received from the FDA acceptance for review of the Biologics License Application within the meaning of the rules and regulations of the FDA (the “BLA”) submitted by AEON for the treatment of cervical dystonia; (iii) 4,000,000 shares of New AEON common stock, if, on or before June 30, 2029, AEON has received from the FDA acceptance for review of the BLA submitted by AEON for the treatment of episodic migraine, provided that this number will increase to 11,000,000 shares of New AEON common stock if this milestone is reached prior to FDA acceptance for review of the BLA submitted by AEON for the treatment of chronic migraine; and (iv) 7,000,000 shares of New AEON common stock if, on or before June 30, 2028, AEON has received from the FDA acceptance for review of the BLA submitted by AEON for the treatment of chronic migraine, provided, however, that if AEON has achieved the episodic migraine milestone pursuant to the proviso to the foregoing clause (iii) entitling AEON Stockholders to 11,000,000 shares of New AEON common stock, this contingent consideration will be reduced to 0 shares of New AEON common stock. Additionally, the first payment of any Earnout Shares upon the achievement of the milestones above will include, in addition to such Earnout Shares, a number of the shares of Class B Common Stock initially purchased by the Sponsor and the shares of Class A Common Stock issuable upon conversion thereof (the “Founder Shares”) equal to the Sponsor Forfeiture Amount in accordance with the sponsor support agreement the Sponsor entered into with the company and AEON (the “Sponsor Support Agreement”). These 16,000,000 shares of New AEON common stock are referred to as the “Contingent Consideration.” Subject to certain exceptions, if a change of control of New AEON occurs following the Closing, then any Contingent Consideration that remains unissued as of immediately prior to the consummation of such change of control will immediately become payable and certain of the former holders of shares of AEON preferred stock and AEON common stock will be entitled to receive the unissued Contingent Consideration prior to the consummation of such change of control.
The parties to the Business Combination Agreement have agreed to customary representations and warranties for transactions of this type. In addition, the parties to the Business Combination Agreement agreed to be bound by certain customary covenants for transactions of this type, including, among others, covenants with respect to the conduct of AEON, the company and their respective subsidiaries during the period between execution of the Business Combination Agreement and Closing. The representations, warranties, agreements and covenants of the parties set forth in the Business Combination Agreement will terminate at Closing, except for those covenants and agreements that, by their terms, contemplate performance after Closing, and certain representations and warranties, as noted in the Business Combination Agreement. Each of the parties to the Business Combination Agreement has agreed to use its reasonable best efforts to take or cause to be taken all actions, and to do or cause to be done all things, reasonably necessary to consummate and expeditiously implement the Merger.
Under the Business Combination Agreement, the obligations of the parties to consummate the Merger are subject to the satisfaction or waiver of certain customary closing conditions of the respective parties, including, without limitation: (i) the approval and adoption of the Business Combination Agreement and the transactions contemplated thereby by the requisite vote of the company’s stockholders and AEON’s stockholders; (ii) the expiration or termination of the applicable waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended; (iii) the absence of a continuing Company Material Adverse Effect or AEON Material Adverse Effect (each as defined in the Business Combination Agreement) since the date of the Business Combination Agreement; (iv) after giving effect to the transactions contemplated by the Business Combination Agreement, the company having net tangible assets of at least $5,000,001 upon consummation of the Merger; (v) the company’s initial listing application with Nasdaq in connection with the Merger having been approved and, immediately following the Effective Time, the company having the ability to satisfy the applicable initial and continuing listing requirements of Nasdaq and the shares of the company’s Class A Common Stock have been approved for listing on Nasdaq, subject only to official notice of the issuance thereof; and (vi) the registration statement filed by the company in connection with the transactions contemplated by, and as required by, the Business Combination Agreement, the first draft of which was filed with the SEC on Form S-4 on December 27, 2022 (the “Registration Statement”), has become effective, no stop order has been issued by the SEC and remains in effect with respect to the Registration Statement, and no proceeding seeking such a stop order has been threatened or initiated by the SEC and remains pending. In addition, AEON’s obligation to consummate the Merger is subject to the condition that the Available Closing Cash (as defined in the Business Combination Agreement) shall be greater than or equal to $45,000,000. Because the parties’ obligations to consummate the Merger are subject to the satisfaction or waiver of these (and other) conditions, there is no guarantee that the Merger will be consummated.
4
The foregoing description of the Business Combination Agreement does not purport to be complete and is qualified in its entirety by the terms and conditions of the Business Combination Agreement, a copy of which was exhibited as Exhibit 2.1 to the Current Report on Form 8-K filed by the company with the SEC on December 12, 2022, the terms of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The Business Combination Agreement also contemplates the execution of various additional agreements and instruments on or before the Closing, including, among others, the sponsor support agreement, the AEON stockholder support agreements, the AEON noteholder support agreements and the interim financing agreements, each of which, or the form of which, is described in and exhibited to (whether directly, or as an annexure or exhibit to another document exhibited to) the Current Report on Form 8-K filed by the company with the SEC on December 12, 2022, the terms of each of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Corporate Information
Our executive offices are located at 300 SE 2nd Street, Suite 600, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33301, and our telephone number is 754-220-9229.
We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), as modified by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the “JOBS Act”). As such, we are eligible to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a non-binding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the prices of our securities may be more volatile.
In addition, Section 107 of the JOBS Act also provides that an “emerging growth company” can take advantage of the extended transition period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act for complying with new or revised accounting standards. In other words, an “emerging growth company” can delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We intend to take advantage of the benefits of this extended transition period.
We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of (1) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following the fifth anniversary of the completion of our initial public offering, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion, or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our Class A Common Stock that is held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30, and (2) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities during the prior three-year period. References herein to “emerging growth company” will have the meaning associated with it in the JOBS Act.
Additionally, we are a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Item 10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K. Smaller reporting companies may take advantage of certain reduced disclosure obligations, including, among other things, providing only two years of audited financial statements. We will remain a smaller reporting company until the last day of the fiscal year in which (1) the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates equals or exceeds $250 million as of the prior June 30th, or (2) our annual revenues equaled or exceeded $100 million during such completed fiscal year and the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates equals to or exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30th.
Redemption Rights for Public Stockholders upon Completion of Our Initial Business Combination
We will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their shares of Class A Common Stock upon the completion of our initial business combination at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account calculated as of two business days prior to the consummation of the initial business combination, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account (which interest shall be net of taxes payable), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, subject to the limitations and on the conditions described herein. The amount in the trust account is $10.00 per public share. The per share amount we will distribute to investors who properly redeem their shares will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting commissions we will pay to the underwriters. Our initial stockholders, sponsor, officers and directors have
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entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and public shares they may hold in connection with the completion of our initial business combination.
Manner of Conducting Redemptions
We will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their public shares upon the completion of our initial business combination either (i) in connection with a stockholder meeting called to approve the initial business combination or (ii) without a stockholder vote by means of a tender offer. The decision as to whether we will seek stockholder approval of a proposed initial business combination or conduct a tender offer will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on a variety of factors such as the timing of the transaction and whether the terms of the transaction would require us to seek stockholder approval under applicable law or stock exchange listing requirements. Asset acquisitions and stock purchases would not typically require stockholder approval while direct mergers with our company where we do not survive and any transactions where we issue more than 20% of our outstanding common stock or seek to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation would require stockholder approval. So long as we obtain and maintain a listing for our securities on Nasdaq, we will be required to comply with Nasdaq’s stockholder approval rules.
The requirement that we provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares by one of the two methods listed above is contained in provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and will apply whether or not we maintain our registration under the Exchange Act or our listing on Nasdaq. Such provisions may be amended if approved by holders of 65% of our common stock entitled to vote thereon.
If we provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares in connection with a stockholder meeting, we will:
| ● | conduct the redemptions in conjunction with a proxy solicitation pursuant to Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act, which regulates the solicitation of proxies, and not pursuant to the tender offer rules, and |
| ● | file proxy materials with the SEC. |
If we seek stockholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if a majority of the outstanding shares of common stock voted are voted in favor of the initial business combination. A quorum for such meeting will consist of the holders present in person or by proxy of shares of outstanding capital stock of the company representing a majority of the voting power of all outstanding shares of capital stock of the company entitled to vote at such meeting. Our initial stockholders will count towards this quorum and, pursuant to the letter agreement, our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed to vote any founder shares they hold and any public shares purchased during or after our initial public offering (including in open market and privately-negotiated transactions) in favor of our initial business combination. For purposes of seeking approval of the majority of our outstanding shares of common stock voted, non-votes will have no effect on the approval of our initial business combination once a quorum is obtained. As a result, in addition to our initial stockholders’ founder shares, we would need 10,350,001, or 37.5%, of the 27,600,000 public shares sold in our initial public offering to be voted in favor of an initial business combination in order to have our initial business combination approved (assuming all outstanding shares are voted). These quorum and voting thresholds, and the voting agreements of our initial stockholders, may make it more likely that we will consummate our initial business combination. Each public stockholder may elect to redeem its public shares irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction or whether they were a stockholder on the record date for the stockholder meeting held to approve the proposed transaction.
If a stockholder vote is not required and we do not decide to hold a stockholder vote for business or other legal reasons, we will:
| ● | conduct the redemptions pursuant to Rule 13e-4 and Regulation 14E of the Exchange Act, which regulate issuer tender offers, and |
| ● | file tender offer documents with the SEC prior to completing our initial business combination, which contain substantially the same financial and other information about the initial business combination and the redemption rights as is required under Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act, which regulates the solicitation of proxies. |
In the event we conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, our offer to redeem will remain open for at least 20 business days, in accordance with Rule 14e-1(a) under the Exchange Act, and we will not be permitted to complete our initial business
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combination until the expiration of the tender offer period. In addition, the tender offer will be conditioned on public stockholders not tendering more than a specified number of public shares, which number will be based on the requirement that we may not redeem public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001. If public stockholders tender more shares than we have offered to purchase, we will withdraw the tender offer and not complete the initial business combination.
Upon the public announcement of our initial business combination, if we elect to conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, we or our sponsor will terminate any plan established in accordance with Rule 10b5-1 to purchase shares of our Class A Common Stock in the open market, in order to comply with Rule 14e-5 under the Exchange Act.
We intend to require our public stockholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” to, at the holder’s option, either deliver their stock certificates to our transfer agent or deliver their shares to our transfer agent electronically using The Depository Trust Company’s DWAC (Deposit/Withdrawal At Custodian) system, prior to the date set forth in the proxy materials or tender offer documents, as applicable. In the case of proxy materials, this date may be up to two business days prior to the date on which the vote on the proposal to approve the initial business combination is to be held. In addition, if we conduct redemptions in connection with a stockholder vote, we intend to require a public stockholder seeking redemption of its public shares to also submit a written request for redemption to our transfer agent two business days prior to the vote in which the name of the beneficial owner of such shares is included. The 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 indicate whether we are requiring public stockholders to satisfy such delivery requirements. We believe that this will allow our transfer agent to efficiently process any redemptions without the need for further communication or action from the redeeming public stockholders, which could delay redemptions and result in additional administrative cost. If the proposed initial business combination is not approved and we continue to search for a target company, we will promptly return any certificates or shares delivered by public stockholders who elected to redeem their shares.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001. In addition, our proposed initial business combination may impose a minimum cash requirement for: (i) cash consideration to be paid to the target or its owners, (ii) cash for working capital or other general corporate purposes or (iii) the retention of cash to satisfy other conditions. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all shares of Class A Common Stock that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed initial business combination exceed the aggregate amount of cash available to us, we will not complete the initial business combination or redeem any shares in connection with such initial business combination, and all shares of Class A Common Stock submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof. We may, however, raise funds through the issuance of equity-linked securities or through loans, advances or other indebtedness in connection with our initial business combination, including pursuant to forward purchase agreements or backstop arrangements we may enter into following consummation of our initial public offering, in order to, among other reasons, satisfy such net tangible assets or minimum cash requirements.
Limitation on Redemption Upon Completion of Our Initial Business Combination If We Seek Stockholder Approval
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that a public stockholder, together with any affiliate of such stockholder or any other person with whom such stockholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from seeking redemption rights with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in our initial public offering without our prior consent, which we refer to as the “Excess Shares”, without our prior consent. We believe this restriction will discourage stockholders from accumulating large blocks of shares, and subsequent attempts by such holders to use their ability to exercise their redemption rights against a proposed business combination as a means to force us or our management to purchase their shares at a significant premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. Absent this provision, a public stockholder holding more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in our initial public offering could threaten to exercise its redemption rights if such holder’s shares are not purchased by us, our sponsor or our management at a premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. By limiting our stockholders’ ability to redeem no more than 15% of the shares sold in our initial public offering without our prior consent, we believe we will limit the ability of a small group of stockholders to unreasonably attempt to block our ability to complete our initial business combination, particularly in connection with a business combination with a target that requires as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash.
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Delivering Stock Certificates in Connection with the Exercise of Redemption Rights
As described above, we intend to require our public stockholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” to, at the holder’s option, either deliver their stock certificates to our transfer agent or deliver their shares to our transfer agent electronically using The Depository Trust Company’s DWAC (Deposit/Withdrawal At Custodian) system, prior to the date set forth in the proxy materials or tender offer documents, as applicable. In the case of proxy materials, this date may be up to two business days prior to the date on which the vote on the proposal to approve the initial business combination is to be held. In addition, if we conduct redemptions in connection with a stockholder vote, we intend to require a public stockholder seeking redemption of its public shares to also submit a written request for redemption to our transfer agent two business days prior to the vote in which the name of the beneficial owner of such shares is included. The 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 indicate whether we are requiring public stockholders to satisfy such delivery requirements. Accordingly, a public stockholder would have up to two business days prior to the vote on the initial business combination if we distribute proxy materials, or from the time we send out our tender offer materials until the close of the tender offer period, as applicable, to submit or tender its shares if it wishes to seek to exercise its redemption rights. In the event that a stockholder fails to comply with these or any other procedures disclosed in the proxy or tender offer materials, as applicable, its shares may not be redeemed. Given the relatively short exercise period, it is advisable for stockholders to use electronic delivery of their public shares.
There is a nominal cost associated with the above-referenced process and the act of certificating the shares or delivering them through the DWAC system. The transfer agent will typically charge the broker submitting or tendering shares a fee of approximately $80.00 and it would be up to the broker whether or not to pass this cost on to the redeeming holder. However, this fee would be incurred regardless of whether or not we require holders seeking to exercise redemption rights to submit or tender their shares. The need to deliver shares is a requirement of exercising redemption rights regardless of the timing of when such delivery must be effectuated.
Any request to redeem such shares, once made, may be withdrawn at any time up to the date set forth in the proxy materials or tender offer documents, as applicable. Furthermore, if a holder of a public share delivered its certificate in connection with an election of redemption rights and subsequently decides prior to the applicable date not to elect to exercise such rights, such holder may simply request that the transfer agent return the certificate (physically or electronically). It is anticipated that the funds to be distributed to holders of our public shares electing to redeem their shares will be distributed promptly after the completion of our initial business combination.
If our initial business combination is not approved or completed for any reason, then our public stockholders who elected to exercise their redemption rights would not be entitled to redeem their shares for the applicable pro rata share of the trust account. In such case, we will promptly return any certificates delivered by public holders who elected to redeem their shares.
If our initial proposed initial business combination is not completed, we may continue to try to complete an initial business combination with a different target until 30 months from the closing of our initial public offering.
Redemption of public shares and liquidation if no initial business combination
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that we will have only 30 months from the closing of our initial public offering to complete our initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination within such 24-month period from the closing of our initial public offering or during any Extension 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 (which interest shall be net of taxes payable and up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any), and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to our warrants, which will expire worthless if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the 24-month time period or during any Extension Period.
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Our initial stockholders, sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have waived their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any founder shares they hold if we fail to complete our initial business combination by August 11, 2023 or during any Extension Period. However, if our initial stockholders, sponsor or management team acquire public shares in or after our initial public offering, they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to such public shares if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the allotted 24-month time period.
Our initial stockholders, sponsor, officers and directors have agreed, pursuant to a letter agreement with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination by August 11, 2023 or with respect to any other material provisions relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, unless we provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares upon approval of any such amendment at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account (which interest shall be net of taxes payable), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares. However, we may not redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001. If this optional redemption right is exercised with respect to an excessive number of public shares such that we cannot satisfy the net tangible asset requirement, we would not proceed with the amendment or the related redemption of our public shares at such time.
We expect that all costs and expenses associated with implementing our plan of dissolution, as well as payments to any creditors, will be funded from amounts remaining out of the approximately $1,000,000 of proceeds held outside the trust account, although we cannot assure you that there will be sufficient funds for such purpose. However, if those funds are not sufficient to cover the costs and expenses associated with implementing our plan of dissolution, to the extent that there is any interest accrued in the trust account not required to pay taxes, we may request the trustee to release to us an additional amount of up to $100,000 of such accrued interest to pay those costs and expenses.
If we were to expend all of the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, other than the proceeds deposited in the trust account, and without taking into account interest, if any, earned on the trust account and any tax payments or expenses for the dissolution of the trust, the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders upon our dissolution would be approximately $10.00. The proceeds deposited in the trust account could, however, become subject to the claims of our creditors which would have higher priority than the claims of our public stockholders. We cannot assure you that the actual per-share redemption amount received by stockholders will not be substantially less than $10.00. Under Section 281(b) of the DGCL, our plan of dissolution must provide for all claims against us to be paid in full or make provision for payments to be made in full, as applicable, if there are sufficient assets. These claims must be paid or provided for before we make any distribution of our remaining assets to our stockholders. While we intend to pay such amounts, if any, we cannot assure you that we will have funds sufficient to pay or provide for all creditors’ claims.
Although we will seek to have all vendors, service providers (other than our independent registered public accounting firm), 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, there is no guarantee that they will execute such agreements or even if they execute such agreements that they would be prevented from bringing claims against the trust account including but not limited to fraudulent inducement, breach of fiduciary responsibility or other similar claims, as well as claims challenging the enforceability of the waiver, in each case in order to gain an advantage with respect to a claim against our assets, including the funds held in the trust account. If any third party refuses to execute an agreement waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account, our management will consider whether competitive alternatives are reasonably available to us and will only enter into an agreement with such third party if management believes that such third party’s engagement would be in the best interests of the company under the circumstances. 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. The underwriters of our initial public offering and our independent registered public accounting firm will not execute agreements with us waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account. In addition, there is no guarantee that such entities will agree to waive any claims they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any negotiations, contracts or agreements with us and will not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason. In order to protect the amounts held in the trust account, our sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a third party for services rendered or products sold to us, or a prospective target business with which we have entered into a written letter of intent, confidentiality or other similar agreement or business combination agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the trust account to
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below the lesser of (i) $10.00 per public share and (ii) the actual amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account, if less than $10.00 per public 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 initial public offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. However, we have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such indemnification obligations, nor have we independently verified whether our sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and we believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our company. Therefore, we cannot assure you that our sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations. As a result, if any such claims were successfully made against the trust account, the funds available for our initial business combination and redemptions could be reduced to less than $10.00 per public share. In such event, we may not be able to complete our initial business combination, and you would receive such lesser amount per share in connection with any redemption of your public shares. None of our officers or directors will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses.
In the event that the proceeds in the trust account are reduced below the lesser of (i) $10.00 per public share and (ii) the actual amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account if less than $10.00 per share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case less taxes payable, and our sponsor asserts that it is unable to satisfy its indemnification obligations or that it has no indemnification obligations related to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether to take legal action against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations. While we currently expect that our independent directors would take legal action on our behalf against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations to us, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment may choose not to do so in any particular instance. Accordingly, we cannot assure you that due to claims of creditors the actual value of the per-share redemption price will not be less than $10.00 per share.
We will seek to reduce the possibility that our sponsor will have to indemnify the trust account due to claims of creditors by endeavoring to have all vendors, service providers (other than our independent registered public accounting firm), prospective target businesses or other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to monies held in the trust account. Our sponsor will also not be liable as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of our initial public offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. We will have access to up to approximately $1,000,000 from the proceeds of our initial public offering with which to pay any such potential claims (including costs and expenses incurred in connection with our liquidation, currently estimated to be no more than approximately $100,000). In the event that we liquidate and it is subsequently determined that the reserve for claims and liabilities is insufficient, stockholders who received funds from our trust account could be liable for claims made by creditors.
Under the DGCL, stockholders may be held liable for claims by third parties against a corporation to the extent of distributions received by them in a dissolution. The pro rata portion of our trust account distributed to our public stockholders upon the redemption of our public shares in the event we do not complete our initial business combination by August 11, 2023 may be considered a liquidating distribution under Delaware law. If the corporation complies with certain procedures set forth in Section 280 of the DGCL intended to ensure that it makes reasonable provision for all claims against it, including a 60-day notice period during which any third-party claims can be brought against the corporation, a 90-day period during which the corporation may reject any claims brought, and an additional 150-day waiting period before any liquidating distributions are made to stockholders, any liability of stockholders with respect to a liquidating distribution is limited to the lesser of such stockholder’s pro rata share of the claim or the amount distributed to the stockholder, and any liability of the stockholder would be barred after the third anniversary of the dissolution.
Furthermore, if the pro rata portion of our trust account distributed to our public stockholders upon the redemption of our public shares in the event we do not complete our initial business combination by August 11, 2023, 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 we are unable to complete our initial business combination by August 11, 2023, 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 (which interest shall be net of taxes payable and up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any) and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining
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stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. Accordingly, it is our intention to redeem our public shares as soon as reasonably possible following our 24th month and, therefore, we do not intend to comply with those procedures. As such, our stockholders could potentially be liable for any claims to the extent of distributions received by them (but no more) and any liability of our stockholders may extend well beyond the third anniversary of such date.
Because we will not be complying with Section 280, Section 281(b) of the DGCL requires us to adopt a plan, based on facts known to us at such time that will provide for our payment of all existing and pending claims or claims that may be potentially brought against us within the subsequent 10 years. However, because we are a blank check company, rather than an operating company, and our operations will be limited to searching for prospective target businesses to acquire, the only likely claims to arise would be from our vendors (such as lawyers, investment bankers, etc.) or prospective target businesses. As described above, pursuant to the obligation contained in our underwriting agreement, we will seek to have all vendors, service providers (other than our independent registered public accounting firm), prospective target businesses or other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the trust account. As a result of this obligation, the claims that could be made against us are significantly limited and the likelihood that any claim that would result in any liability extending to the trust account is remote. Further, our sponsor may be liable only to the extent necessary to ensure that the amounts in the trust account are not reduced below (i) $10.00 per public share or (ii) such lesser amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account, due to reductions in value of the trust assets, in each case net of the amount of interest withdrawn to pay taxes and will not be liable as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of our initial public offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. In the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, our sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third-party claims.
If we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the proceeds held in the trust account could be subject to applicable bankruptcy law, and may be included in our bankruptcy estate and subject to the claims of third parties with priority over the claims of our stockholders. To the extent any bankruptcy claims deplete the trust account, we cannot assure you we will be able to return $10.00 per share to our public stockholders. Additionally, if we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, any distributions received by stockholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or bankruptcy laws as either a “preferential transfer” or a “fraudulent conveyance.” As a result, a bankruptcy court could seek to recover some or all amounts received by our stockholders. Furthermore, our board of directors may be viewed as having breached its fiduciary duty to our creditors and/or may have acted in bad faith, and thereby exposing itself and our company to claims of punitive damages, by paying public stockholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors. We cannot assure you that claims will not be brought against us for these reasons.
Our public stockholders will be entitled to receive funds from the trust account only (i) in the event of the redemption of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination by August 11, 2023, (ii) in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination by August 11, 2023 or with respect to any other material provisions relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity or (iii) if they redeem their respective shares for cash upon the completion of our initial business combination. In no other circumstances will a stockholder have any right or interest of any kind to or in the trust account. In the event we seek stockholder approval in connection with our initial business combination, a stockholder’s voting in connection with the business combination alone will not result in a stockholder’s redeeming its shares to us for an applicable pro rata share of the trust account. Such stockholder must have also exercised its redemption rights described above. 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 a stockholder vote.
Conflicts of Interest
We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor, executive officers or directors, or completing the business combination through a joint venture or other form of shared ownership with our sponsor, executive officers or directors. In the event we seek to complete an initial business combination with a target that is affiliated with our sponsor, executive officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, would obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm which is a member of FINRA or a valuation or appraisal firm stating that such an initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view.
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Members of our management team and our independent directors will directly or indirectly own founder shares and/or private placement warrants following our initial public offering and, accordingly, may have a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target business is an appropriate business with which to effectuate our initial business combination. Further, certain of our officers and directors may have a conflict of interest with respect to evaluating a particular business combination if the retention or resignation of any such officers and directors was included by a target business as a condition to any agreement with respect to our initial business combination.
Certain of our officers and directors presently have, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to another entity pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entity. Accordingly, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for an entity to which he or she has then current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she will honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such business combination opportunity to such other entity. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that we renounce our interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any director or officer unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of the 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. We do not believe, however, that the fiduciary duties or contractual obligations of our officers or directors will materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination.
In addition, our sponsor and our officers and directors may sponsor or form other special purpose acquisition companies similar to ours or may pursue other business or investment ventures during the period in which we are seeking an initial business combination. Any such companies, businesses or investments may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an initial business combination. However, we do not believe that any such potential conflicts would materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination.
Facilities
We currently utilize office space at 300 SE 2nd Street, Suite 600, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33301 from our sponsor and the members of our management team. We consider our current office space adequate for our current operations.
Employees
We currently have three executive officers: Robert Palmisano, Vikram Malik and Oleg Grodnensky. These individuals are not obligated to devote any specific number of hours to our matters but they intend to devote as much of their time as they deem necessary to our affairs until we have completed our initial business combination (including the proposed initial business combination with AEON). The amount of time they will devote in any time period will vary based on whether a target business has been selected for our initial business combination and the stage of the business combination process we are in. We do not intend to have any full time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination.
Item 1A. Risk Factors
An investment in our securities involves a high degree of risk. You should consider carefully all of the risks described below, together with the other information contained in this Annual Report, before making a decision to invest in our securities. If any of the following events occur, our business, financial condition and operating results may be materially adversely affected. In that event, the trading price of our securities could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment.
Although we have entered into the Business Combination Agreement and currently intend to consummate our initial business combination with AEON (as discussed in “Part I, Item 1. Business” of this Annual Report), we have not yet consummated the proposed business combination. Accordingly, many of the risks set forth below are relevant to the consummation of our proposed initial business combination with AEON, and certain risks will be relevant if, for any reason, we do not consummate our proposed business combination with AEON and are required to seek a new target business with which to consummate our initial business combination. You should therefore carefully consider all of the risks described below, despite the fact that we currently intend to consummate our initial business combination with AEON.
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Risks Relating to our Search for, and Consummation of or Inability to Consummate, a Business Combination
Our 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.
Although we currently intend to hold a stockholder vote to approve our proposed initial business combination with AEON (as described in “Part I, Item 1. Business” of this Annual Report), we may, in certain circumstances, choose not to hold a stockholder vote to approve another proposed initial business combination (if any) unless that business combination would require stockholder approval under applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement. For instance, Nasdaq rules currently allow us to engage in a tender offer in lieu of a stockholder meeting, but would still require us to obtain stockholder approval if we were seeking to issue more than 20% of our outstanding shares as consideration in any business combination (as is the case for our proposed initial business combination with AEON). Except for as required by applicable law or stock exchange requirement, the decision as to whether we will seek stockholder approval of a proposed business combination (including the proposed business combination with AEON) or will allow stockholders to sell their shares to us in a tender offer will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on a variety of factors, such as the timing of the transaction and whether the terms of the transaction would otherwise require us to seek stockholder approval. Even if we seek stockholder approval, the holders of our founder shares will participate in the vote on such approval. Accordingly, we may complete our initial business combination even if a majority of our public stockholders do not approve of the business combination we complete.
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, our initial stockholders and management team have agreed to vote in favor of such initial business combination, regardless of how our public stockholders vote.
Our initial stockholders own 20% of our outstanding common stock. Our initial stockholders and management team also may from time to time purchase Class A Common Stock prior to our initial business combination. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that, if we seek stockholder approval of an initial business combination, such initial business combination will be approved if we receive the affirmative vote of a majority of the shares voted at such meeting, including the founder shares. As a result, in addition to our initial stockholders’ founder shares, we would need 10,350,001, or 37.5%, of the 27,600,000 public shares sold in our initial public offering to be voted in favor of an initial business combination in order to have our initial business combination approved (assuming all outstanding shares are voted). Accordingly, if we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, the agreement by our initial stockholders and management team to vote in favor of our initial business combination will increase the likelihood that we will receive the requisite stockholder approval for such initial business combination.
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.
At the time of your investment in us, you will not be provided with an opportunity to evaluate the specific merits or risks of our initial business combination. Since our board of directors may complete a business combination without seeking stockholder approval, public stockholders may not have the right or opportunity to vote on the business combination, unless we seek such stockholder vote. Accordingly, your only opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding our initial business combination may be limited to exercising your redemption rights within the period of time (which will be at least 20 business days) set forth in our tender offer documents mailed to our public stockholders in which we describe our initial business combination.
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The ability of our public stockholders to redeem their shares for cash may make our financial condition unattractive to potential business combination targets, which may make it difficult for us to enter into a business combination with a target.
We may seek to enter into a business combination transaction agreement (as is the case with our proposed initial business combination with AEON) with minimum cash requirement for (i) cash consideration to be paid to the target or its owners, (ii) cash for working capital or other general corporate purposes or (iii) the retention of cash to satisfy other conditions. If too many public stockholders exercise their redemption rights, we would not be able to meet such closing condition and, as a result, would not be able to proceed with the business combination. Furthermore, in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001. Consequently, if accepting all properly submitted redemption requests would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 or make us unable to satisfy a minimum cash condition as described above, we would not proceed with such redemption and the related business combination and may instead search for an alternate business combination. Prospective targets will be aware of these risks and, thus, may be reluctant to enter into a business combination transaction with us.
The ability of our public stockholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our shares may not allow us to complete the most desirable business combination or optimize our capital structure.
At the time we enter into an agreement for our initial business combination (including the Business Combination Agreement), we will not (and in the case of the Business Combination Agreement, did 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 (as is the case for our proposed business combination with AEON), 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 is submitted for redemption than we initially expected, we may need to restructure the transaction to reserve a greater portion of the cash in the trust account or arrange for third party financing. In the case of our proposed initial business combination with AEON, however, as noted above, certain of our public stockholders have entered into non-redemption agreements to help us satisfy the minimum cash condition in the Business Combination Agreement. Raising additional third party financing may involve dilutive equity issuances or the incurrence of indebtedness at higher than desirable levels. Furthermore, this dilution would increase to the extent that the anti-dilution provision of the Class B Common Stock results in the issues of shares of Class A Common Stock on a greater than one-to-one basis upon conversion of the shares of Class B Common Stock at the time of our initial business combination. In addition, the amount of the deferred underwriting commissions payable to the representatives of the underwriters will not be adjusted for any shares that are redeemed in connection with an initial business combination. The per share amount we will distribute to stockholders who properly exercise their redemption rights will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting commission and after such redemptions, the amount held in trust will continue to reflect our obligation to pay the entire deferred underwriting commissions. The above considerations may limit our ability to complete the most desirable business combination available to us or optimize our capital structure.
The ability of our public stockholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our shares could increase the probability that our initial business combination would be unsuccessful and that you would have to wait for liquidation in order to redeem your shares.
If our initial business combination agreement requires us to use a portion of the cash in the trust account to pay the purchase price, or requires us to have a minimum amount of cash at closing (as is the case for our proposed business combination with AEON), the probability that our initial business combination would be unsuccessful is increased. In the case of our proposed initial business combination with AEON, however, as noted above, certain of our public stockholders have entered into non-redemption agreements to help us satisfy the minimum cash condition in the Business Combination Agreement. If our initial business combination is unsuccessful, you would not receive your pro rata portion of the trust account until we liquidate the trust account. If you are in need of immediate liquidity, you could attempt to sell your shares in the open market; however, at such time our shares may trade at a discount to the pro rata amount per share in the trust account. In either situation, you may suffer a material loss on your investment or lose the benefit of funds expected in connection with your exercise of redemption rights until we liquidate or you are able to sell your shares in the open market.
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The requirement that we complete our initial business combination by August 11, 2023 may give potential target businesses leverage over us in negotiating a business combination and may limit the time we have in which to conduct due diligence on potential business combination targets, in particular as we approach our dissolution deadline, which could undermine our ability to complete our initial business combination on terms that would produce value for our stockholders.
Any potential target business with which we enter into negotiations concerning a business combination will be aware that we must complete our initial business combination by August 11, 2023. Consequently, such target business may obtain leverage over us in negotiating a business combination, knowing that if we do not complete our initial business combination with that particular target business, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination with any target business. This risk will increase as we get closer to the timeframe described above. In addition, we may have limited time to conduct due diligence and may enter into our initial business combination on terms that we would have rejected upon a more comprehensive investigation.
We may not be able to complete our initial business combination by August 11, 2023, in which case we would cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up and we would redeem our public shares and liquidate.
We may not be able to find a suitable target business and complete our initial business combination by August 11, 2023. Our ability to complete our initial business combination may be negatively impacted by general market conditions, volatility in the capital and debt markets and the other risks described herein. If we have not completed our initial business combination within such 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 (which interest shall be net of taxes payable and up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any), and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in each case, to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law.
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor, initial stockholders, directors, executive officers, advisors and their affiliates may elect to purchase shares or public warrants from public stockholders, which may influence a vote on a proposed business combination and reduce the public “float” of our Class A Common Stock.
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination (including our proposed initial business combination with AEON) and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our sponsor, initial stockholders, directors, executive officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase shares or public warrants in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination, although they are under no obligation to do so. There is no limit on the number of shares our initial stockholders, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase in such transactions, subject to compliance with applicable law and Nasdaq rules. However, other than as expressly stated herein, they have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such transactions. None of the funds in the trust account will be used to purchase shares or public warrants in such transactions. Such purchases may include a contractual acknowledgment that such stockholder, although still the record holder of our shares, is no longer the beneficial owner thereof and therefore agrees not to exercise its redemption rights.
In the event that our sponsor, initial stockholders, directors, executive officers, advisors or their affiliates purchase shares in privately negotiated transactions from public stockholders who have already elected to exercise their redemption rights, such selling stockholders would be required to revoke their prior elections to redeem their shares. The purpose of any such purchases of shares could be to vote such shares in favor of the business combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining stockholder approval of the business combination or to satisfy a closing condition in an agreement with a target that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash at the closing of our initial business combination (as is the case for our proposed business combination with AEON), 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 warrantholders 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. We expect 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.
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In addition, if such purchases are made, the public “float” of our Class A Common Stock or public warrants and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, possibly making it difficult to obtain or maintain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange.
If a stockholder fails to receive notice of our offer to redeem our public shares in connection with our initial business combination, or fails to comply with the procedures for tendering its shares, such shares may not be redeemed.
We will comply with the proxy rules or tender offer rules, as applicable, when conducting redemptions in connection with our initial business combination. Despite our compliance with these rules, if a stockholder fails to receive our proxy materials or tender offer documents, as applicable, such stockholder may not become aware of the opportunity to redeem its shares. In addition, proxy materials or tender offer documents, as applicable, that we will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination will describe the various procedures that must be complied with in order to validly tender or submit public shares for redemption. For example, we intend to require our public stockholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” to, at the holder’s option, either deliver their stock certificates to our transfer agent, or to deliver their shares to our transfer agent electronically prior to the date set forth in the proxy materials or tender offer documents, as applicable. In the case of proxy materials, this date may be up to two business days prior to the vote on the proposal to approve the initial business combination. In addition, if we conduct redemptions in connection with a stockholder vote, we intend to require a public stockholder seeking redemption of its public shares to also submit a written request for redemption to our transfer agent two business days prior to the vote in which the name of the beneficial owner of such shares is included. In the event that a stockholder fails to comply with these or any other procedures disclosed in the proxy or tender offer materials, as applicable, its shares may not be redeemed.
You will not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors of many other blank check companies.
Since the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants are intended to be used to complete an initial business combination with a target business that has not been selected, we may be deemed to be a “blank check” company under the United States securities laws. However, because we had net tangible assets in excess of $5,000,000 upon the completion of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants and filed a Current Report on Form 8-K, including an audited balance sheet demonstrating this fact, we are exempt from rules promulgated by the SEC to protect investors in blank check companies, such as Rule 419. Accordingly, investors will not be afforded the benefits or protections of those rules. Among other things, this means our units will be immediately tradable and we will have a longer period of time to complete our initial business combination than do companies subject to Rule 419. Moreover, if our initial public offering were subject to Rule 419, that rule would prohibit the release of any interest earned on funds held in the trust account to us unless and until the funds in the trust account were released to us in connection with our completion of an initial business combination.
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, and if you or a “group” of stockholders are deemed to hold in excess of 15% of our Class A Common Stock, you will lose the ability to redeem all such shares in excess of 15% of our Class A Common Stock.
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that a public stockholder, together with any affiliate of such stockholder or any other person with whom such stockholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from seeking redemption rights with respect to 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 shares in open market transactions, potentially at a loss.
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Because of our limited resources and the significant competition for business combination opportunities, it may be more difficult for us to complete our initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only their pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account that are available for distribution to public stockholders, and our warrants will expire worthless.
If we do not consummate our proposed initial business combination with AEON, in identifying, evaluating and selecting another target business for our initial business combination, we may encounter competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours, including private investors (which may be individuals or investment partnerships), other blank check companies and other entities, domestic and international, competing for the types of businesses we intend to acquire. Many of these individuals and entities are well-established and have extensive experience in identifying and effecting, directly or indirectly, acquisitions of companies operating in or providing services to various industries. Many of these competitors possess similar or greater technical, human and other resources to ours or more local industry knowledge than we do and our financial resources will be relatively limited when contrasted with those of many of these competitors. While we believe there are numerous target businesses we could potentially acquire with the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, our ability to compete with respect to the acquisition of certain target businesses that are sizable will be limited by our available financial resources. This inherent competitive limitation gives others an advantage in pursuing the acquisition of certain target businesses. Furthermore, we are obligated to offer holders of our public shares the right to redeem their shares for cash at the time of our initial business combination (including the proposed business combination with AEON) in conjunction with a stockholder vote or via a tender offer. Target companies will be aware that this may reduce the resources available to us for our initial business combination. Any of these obligations may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating a business combination, should the proposed initial business combination with AEON not be consummated. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only their pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account that are available for distribution to public stockholders, and our warrants will expire worthless.
If the net proceeds of our initial public offering not being held in the trust account are insufficient to allow us to operate for at least the 30 months following the closing of our initial public offering, it could limit the amount available to fund our search for a target business or businesses (if our proposed initial business combination with AEON is not consummated) and complete our initial business combination, and we will depend on loans from our sponsor or management team to fund our search and to complete our initial business combination.
Of the net proceeds of our initial public offering, only $1,000,000 will be available to us initially outside the trust account to fund our working capital requirements. We believe that the funds available to us outside of the trust account will be sufficient to allow us to operate for at least the 30 months following such closing; however, we cannot assure you that our estimate is accurate. Of the funds available to us, we could use a portion of the funds available to us to pay fees to consultants to assist us with our search for a target business. We could also use a portion of the funds as a down payment or to fund a “no-shop” provision (a provision in letters of intent or merger agreements designed to keep target businesses from “shopping” around for transactions with other companies or investors on terms more favorable to such target businesses) with respect to a particular proposed business combination, although we do not have any current intention to do so. If we entered into a letter of intent or merger agreement where we paid for the right to receive exclusivity from a target business and were subsequently required to forfeit such funds (whether as a result of our breach or otherwise), we might not have sufficient funds to continue searching for, or conduct due diligence with respect to, a target business.
If we are required to seek additional capital, we would need to borrow funds from our sponsor, management team or other third parties to operate or may be forced to liquidate. Neither our sponsor, members of our management team nor any of their affiliates is under any obligation to advance funds to us in such circumstances. Any such advances would be repaid only from funds held outside the trust account or from funds released to us upon completion of our initial business combination. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans under a unsecured promissory note may be convertible into working capital warrants at a price of $1.50 per warrant at the option of the lender On June 28, 2021, our sponsor elected to convert $100,000 of such loans into, and we issued, 66,667 working capital warrants. As of December 31, 2021, the company had no borrowings outstanding under the unsecured convertible promissory note. Prior to the completion of our initial business combination, we do not expect to seek loans from parties other than our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor as we do not believe third parties will be willing to loan such funds and provide a waiver against any and all rights to seek access to funds in our trust account. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination because we do not have sufficient funds available to us, we will be forced to cease operations and liquidate the trust account. Consequently, our public stockholders may only receive an estimated $10.00 per share, or possibly less, on our redemption of our public shares, and our warrants will expire worthless.
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If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.00 per share.
Our placing of funds in the trust account may not protect those funds from third party claims against us. Although we will seek to have all vendors, service providers, prospective target businesses and other entities (except for our Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm) with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the trust account for the benefit of our public stockholders, such parties may not execute such agreements, or even if they execute such agreements they may not be prevented from bringing claims against the trust account, including, but not limited to, fraudulent inducement, breach of fiduciary responsibility or other similar claims, as well as claims challenging the enforceability of the waiver, in each case in order to gain advantage with respect to a claim against our assets, including the funds held in the trust account. If any third party refuses to execute an agreement waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account, our management will consider whether competitive alternatives are reasonably available to us and will only enter into an agreement with such third party if management believes that such third party’s engagement would be in the best interests of the company under the circumstances. Making such a request of potential target businesses may make any acquisition proposal less attractive to them and, to the extent prospective target businesses refuse to execute such a waiver, it may limit the field of potential target businesses that we might pursue (although AEON has, via the Business Combination Agreement, executed such a waiver). The underwriters of our initial public offering as well as our registered independent public accounting firm 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 $10.00 per public share initially held in the trust account, due to claims of such creditors. Pursuant to the letter agreement the form of which was filed as an exhibit to the registration statement for our initial public offering, our sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a third party for services rendered or products sold to us, or a prospective target business with which we have entered into a written letter of intent, confidentiality or other similar agreement or business combination agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the trust account to below the lesser of (i) $10.00 per public share and (ii) the actual amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account, if less than $10.00 per public 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 initial public offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. However, we have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such indemnification obligations, nor have we independently verified whether our sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and we believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our company. Therefore, we cannot assure you that our sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations. As a result, if any such claims were successfully made against the trust account, the funds available for our initial business combination and redemptions could be reduced to less than $10.00 per public share. In such event, we may not be able to complete our initial business combination, and you would receive such lesser amount per share in connection with any redemption of your public shares. None of our officers or directors will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses.
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Our directors may decide not to enforce the indemnification obligations of our sponsor, resulting in a reduction in the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public stockholders.
In the event that the proceeds in the trust account are reduced below the lesser of (i) $10.00 per share and (ii) the actual amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account if less than $10.00 per public share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case less taxes payable, and our sponsor asserts that it is unable to satisfy its obligations or that it has no indemnification obligations related to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether to take legal action against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations. While we currently expect that our independent directors would take legal action on our behalf against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations to us, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment and subject to their fiduciary duties may choose not to do so in any particular instance. If our independent directors choose not to enforce these indemnification obligations, the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public stockholders may be reduced below $10.00 per share.
If, after we distribute the proceeds in the trust account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, a bankruptcy court may seek to recover such proceeds, and the members of our board of directors may be viewed as having breached their fiduciary duties to our creditors, thereby exposing the members of our board of directors and us to claims of punitive damages.
If, after we distribute the proceeds in the trust account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, any distributions received by stockholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or bankruptcy laws as either a “preferential transfer” or a “fraudulent conveyance.” As a result, a bankruptcy court could seek to recover some or all amounts received by our stockholders. In addition, our board of directors may be viewed as having breached its fiduciary duty to our creditors and/or having acted in bad faith, by paying public stockholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors, thereby exposing itself and us to claims of punitive damages.
If, before distributing the proceeds in the trust account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the claims of creditors in such proceeding may have priority over the claims of our stockholders and the per-share amount that would otherwise be received by our stockholders in connection with our liquidation may be reduced.
If, before distributing the proceeds in the trust account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the proceeds held in the trust account could be subject to applicable bankruptcy law, and may be included in our bankruptcy estate and subject to the claims of third parties with priority over the claims of our stockholders. To the extent any bankruptcy claims deplete the trust account, the per-share amount that would otherwise be received by our stockholders in connection with our liquidation may be reduced.
If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, we may be required to institute burdensome compliance requirements and our activities may be restricted, which may make it difficult for us to complete our 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 with the SEC; |
| ● | adoption of a specific form of corporate structure; and |
| ● | reporting, record keeping, voting, proxy and disclosure requirements and other rules and regulations that we are not subject to. |
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In order not to be regulated as an investment company under the Investment Company Act, unless we can qualify for an exclusion, we must ensure that we are engaged primarily in a business other than investing, reinvesting or trading of securities and that our activities do not include investing, reinvesting, owning, holding or trading “investment securities” constituting more than 40% of our assets (exclusive of U.S. government securities and cash items) on an unconsolidated basis. Our business will be to identify and complete a business combination and thereafter to operate the post-transaction business or assets for the long term. We do not plan to buy businesses or assets with a view to resale or profit from their resale. We do not plan to buy unrelated businesses or assets or to be a passive investor.
We do not believe that our 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. Our Class A Common Stock is not intended for persons who are seeking a return on investments in government securities or investment securities. The trust account is intended as a holding place for funds pending the earliest to occur of either: (i) the completion of our initial business combination; (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly tendered in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination by August 11, 2023; and (iii) absent an initial business combination by August 11, 2023 or with respect to any other material provisions relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, our return of the funds held in the trust account to our public stockholders as part of our redemption of the public shares. If we do not invest the proceeds as discussed above, we may be deemed to be subject to the Investment Company Act. If we were deemed to be subject to the Investment Company Act, compliance with these additional regulatory burdens would require additional expenses for which we have not allotted funds and may hinder our ability to complete a business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may only receive their pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account that are available for distribution to public stockholders, and our warrants will expire worthless.
Changes in laws or regulations, or a failure to comply with any laws and regulations, may adversely affect our business, including our ability to negotiate and complete our initial business combination, and results of operations.
We are subject to laws and regulations enacted by national, regional and local governments. In particular, we will be required to comply with certain SEC and other legal requirements. Compliance with, and monitoring of, applicable laws and regulations may be difficult, time consuming and costly. Those laws and regulations and their interpretation and application may also change from time to time and those changes could have a material adverse effect on our business, investments and results of operations. In addition, a failure to comply with applicable laws or regulations, as interpreted and applied, could have a material adverse effect on our business, including our ability to negotiate another business combination (if required, should our proposed initial business combination with AEON not be consummated) or complete our initial business combination, and results of operations.
Our stockholders may be held liable for claims by third parties against us to the extent of distributions received by them upon redemption of their shares.
Under the 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 by August 11, 2023 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 24th month from the closing of our initial public offering in the event we do not complete our initial business combination and, therefore, we do not intend to comply with the foregoing procedures.
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Because we will not 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 by August 11, 2023 is not considered a liquidating distribution under Delaware law and such redemption distribution is deemed to be unlawful (potentially due to the imposition of legal proceedings that a party may bring or due to other circumstances that are currently unknown), then pursuant to Section 174 of the DGCL, the statute of limitations for claims of creditors could then be six years after the unlawful redemption distribution, instead of three years, as in the case of a liquidating distribution.
We may not hold an annual meeting of stockholders until after the consummation of our initial business combination, which could delay the opportunity for our stockholders to elect directors.
In accordance with Nasdaq’s 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 Nasdaq. Under Section 211(b) of the DGCL, we are, however, required to hold an annual meeting of stockholders for the purposes of electing directors in accordance with our bylaws unless such election is made by written consent in lieu of such a meeting. We may not hold an annual meeting of stockholders to elect new directors prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, and thus we may not be in compliance with Section 211(b) of the DGCL, which requires an annual meeting. Therefore, if our stockholders want us to hold an annual meeting prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, they may attempt to force us to hold one by submitting an application to the Delaware Court of Chancery in accordance with Section 211(c) of the DGCL.
Because we 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.
Our efforts to identify a prospective initial business combination target will not be limited to a particular industry, sector or geographic region. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation prohibits us from effectuating a business combination with another blank check company or similar company with nominal operations. Because we have not yet selected 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 (including those of AEON, should our proposed initial business combination be consummated). 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 or warrant holders who choose to remain stockholders or warrant holders following the business combination (including our proposed initial business combination with AEON) could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such stockholders or warrant holders 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 materials or tender offer documents, as applicable, relating to the business combination contained an actionable material misstatement or material omission.
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Although we have identified general criteria and guidelines that we believe are important in evaluating prospective target businesses, we may enter into our initial business combination with a target that does not meet such criteria and guidelines, and as a result, the target business with which we enter into our initial business combination may not have attributes entirely consistent with our general criteria and guidelines.
Although we have identified general criteria and guidelines for evaluating prospective target businesses, it is possible that a target business with which we enter into our initial business combination will not have all of these positive attributes. If we complete our initial business combination with a target that does not meet some or all of these guidelines, such combination may not be as successful as a combination with a business that does meet all of our general criteria and guidelines. In addition, if we announce a prospective business combination with a target that does not meet our general criteria and guidelines, a greater number of stockholders may exercise their redemption rights, which may make it difficult for us to meet any closing condition with a target business that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash (as is the case for our proposed initial business combination with AEON). 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 only receive their pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account that are available for distribution to public stockholders, and our warrants will expire worthless.
We 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 an early stage company, a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of revenues or earnings, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in the operations of the business with which we combine. These risks include investing in a business without a proven business model or with limited historic financial data, volatile revenues or earnings, intense competition and difficulties in obtaining and retaining key personnel. 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 an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or from a valuation or appraisal firm, and consequently, you may have no assurance from an independent source that the price we are paying for the business (including AEON) is fair to our stockholders from a financial point of view.
Unless we complete our initial business combination with an affiliated entity (although AEON is not affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors) or our board of directors cannot independently determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses (including with the assistance of financial advisors), we are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm which is a member of FINRA or from a valuation or appraisal firm that the price we are paying is fair to our stockholders 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 only receive their pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account that are available for distribution to public stockholders, and our warrants will expire worthless.
We anticipate that the investigation of each specific target business and the negotiation, drafting and execution of relevant agreements, disclosure documents and other instruments will require substantial management time and attention and substantial costs for accountants, attorneys and others. If we decide not to complete a specific initial business combination (including our proposed initial business combination with AEON), the costs incurred up to that point for the proposed transaction likely would not be recoverable. Furthermore, if we reach an agreement relating to a specific target business, we may fail to complete our initial business combination for any number of reasons including those beyond our control. Any such event will result in a loss to us of the related costs incurred which could materially adversely affect subsequent attempts to locate and acquire or merge with another business. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may only receive their pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account that are available for distribution to public stockholders, and our warrants will expire worthless.
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We may issue notes or other debt securities, or otherwise incur substantial debt, to complete a business combination, which may adversely affect our leverage and financial condition and thus negatively impact the value of our stockholders’ investment in us.
Although we have no commitments as of the date of this Annual Report to issue any notes or other debt securities, or to otherwise incur outstanding debt, we may choose to incur substantial debt to complete our initial business combination. We and our officers have agreed that we will not incur any indebtedness unless we have obtained from the lender a waiver of any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to the monies held in the trust account. As such, no issuance of debt will affect the per share amount available for redemption from the trust account. Nevertheless, the incurrence of debt could have a variety of negative effects, including:
| ● | default and foreclosure on our assets if our operating revenues after an initial business combination are insufficient to repay our debt obligations; |
| ● | acceleration of our obligations to repay the indebtedness even if we make all principal and interest payments when due if we breach certain covenants that require the maintenance of certain financial ratios or reserves without a waiver or renegotiation of that covenant; |
| ● | our immediate payment of all principal and accrued interest, if any, if the debt is payable on demand; |
| ● | our inability to obtain necessary additional financing if the debt contains covenants restricting our ability to obtain such financing while the debt is outstanding; |
| ● | our inability to pay dividends on our Class A 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 Class A Common Stock if declared, expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions and other general corporate purposes; |
| ● | limitations on our flexibility in planning for and reacting to changes in our business and in the industry in which we operate; |
| ● | increased vulnerability to adverse changes in general economic, industry and competitive conditions and adverse changes in government regulation; and |
| ● | limitations on our ability to borrow additional amounts for expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions, debt service requirements, execution of our strategy and other purposes and other disadvantages compared to our competitors who have less debt. |
We may only be able to complete one business combination with the proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, which will cause us to be solely dependent on a single business (such as AEON) which may have a limited number of products or services. This lack of diversification may negatively impact our operations and profitability.
The net proceeds from our initial public offering and the private placement of warrants provided us with $266,340,000 that we may use to complete our initial business combination (after taking into account the $9,660,000 of deferred underwriting commissions being held in the trust account).
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We may effectuate our initial business combination with a single target business or multiple target businesses simultaneously or within a short period of time (as at the date of this Annual Report, we only intend to effectuate a business combination with a single target business, AEON). 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 (such as AEON), 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 have focused and, should we be required to seek another target business if our proposed business combination with AEON is not consummated, 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 (such as AEON), 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.
As at the date of this Annual Report, we only intend to effectuate a business combination with a single target business, AEON. If, however, we determine to simultaneously acquire several businesses that are owned by different sellers, we will need for each of such sellers to agree that our purchase of its business is contingent on the simultaneous closings of the other business combinations, which may make it more difficult for us, and delay our ability, to complete our initial business combination. With multiple business combinations, we could also face additional risks, including additional burdens and costs with respect to possible multiple negotiations and due diligence investigations (if there are multiple sellers) and the additional risks associated with the subsequent assimilation of the operations and services or products of the acquired companies in a single operating business. If we are unable to adequately address these risks, it could negatively impact our profitability and results of operations.
We may attempt to complete our initial business combination with a private company (such as AEON) about which little information is available, which may result in a business combination with a company that is not as profitable as we suspected, if at all.
In pursuing our business combination strategy, we may seek to effectuate our initial business combination with a privately held company, such as AEON. Very little public information generally exists about private companies, and we could be required to make our decision on whether to pursue a potential initial business combination on the basis of limited information, which may result in a business combination with a company that is not as profitable as we suspected, if at all.
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We do not have a specified maximum redemption threshold. The absence of such a redemption threshold may make it possible for us to complete our initial business combination with which a substantial majority of our stockholders or warrant holders do not agree.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation does not provide a specified maximum redemption threshold, except that in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001. In addition, our proposed initial business combination (as is the case for our proposed business combination with AEON) may impose a minimum cash requirement for: (i) cash consideration to be paid to the target or its owners, (ii) cash for working capital or other general corporate purposes or (iii) the retention of cash to satisfy other conditions. As a result, we may be able to complete our initial business combination even though a substantial majority of our public stockholders do not agree with the transaction and have redeemed their shares or, if we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, have entered into privately negotiated agreements to sell their shares to our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or any of their affiliates. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all shares of Class A Common stock that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed business combination exceed the aggregate amount of cash available to us, we will not complete the business combination or redeem any shares in connection with such initial business combination, all shares of Class A Common Stock submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof, and we instead may search for an alternate business combination.
In order to effectuate an initial business combination, special purpose acquisition companies have, in the recent past, amended various provisions of their charters and other governing instruments, including their warrant agreements. We cannot assure you that we will not seek to amend our 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 a business combination, special purpose acquisition companies have, in the recent past, amended various provisions of their charters and governing instruments, including their warrant agreements. For example, special purpose acquisition companies have amended the definition of business combination, increased redemption thresholds and extended the time to consummate an initial business combination and, with respect to their warrants, amended their warrant agreements to require the warrants to be exchanged for cash and/or other securities. Amending our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will require the approval of holders of 65% of our common stock, and amending our warrant agreement will require a vote of holders of at least 50% of the public warrants and, solely with respect to any amendment to the terms of the private placement warrants or any provision of the warrant agreement with respect to the private placement warrants, 50% of the number of the then outstanding private placement warrants. In addition, our 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 to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete an initial business combination by August 11, 2023 or with respect to any other material provisions relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity. To the extent any of such amendments would be deemed to fundamentally change the nature of the securities offered through this registration statement, 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.
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The provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation that relate to our pre-business combination activity (and corresponding provisions of the agreement governing the release of funds from our trust account) may be amended with the approval of holders of 65% of our common stock, which is a lower amendment threshold than that of some other special purpose acquisition companies. It may be easier for us, therefore, to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation 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-business combination activity (including the requirement to deposit proceeds of our initial public offering and the private placement of warrants into the trust account and not release such amounts except in specified circumstances, and to provide redemption rights to public stockholders as described herein) may be amended if approved by holders of 65% of our common stock entitled to vote thereon and corresponding provisions of the trust agreement governing the release of funds from our trust account may be amended if approved by holders of 65% of our common stock entitled to vote thereon. In all other instances, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation may be amended by holders of a majority of our outstanding common stock entitled to vote thereon, subject to applicable provisions of the DGCL or applicable stock exchange rules. Our initial stockholders, who will collectively beneficially own 20% of our common stock upon the closing of our initial public offering (assuming they do not purchase any units in our initial public offering), may 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-business combination behavior more easily than some other special purpose acquisition companies, and this may increase our ability to complete a business combination with which you do not agree. Our stockholders may pursue remedies against us for any breach of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation.
Our sponsor, executive officers and directors have agreed, pursuant to written agreements with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination by August 11, 2023 or with respect to any other material provisions relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, unless we provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their Class A Common Stock upon approval of any such amendment at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account (which interest shall be net of taxes payable), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares. Our stockholders are not parties to, or third-party beneficiaries of, these agreements and, as a result, will not have the ability to pursue remedies against our sponsor, executive officers and 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.
Certain agreements related to our initial public offering may be amended without stockholder approval.
Each of the agreements related to our initial public offering to which we are a party, other than the warrant agreement and the investment management trust agreement, may be amended without stockholder approval. Such agreements are: the underwriting agreement; the letter agreement among us and our initial stockholders, sponsor, officers and directors; the registration rights agreement among us and our initial stockholders; the private placement warrants purchase agreement between us and our sponsor; and the administrative services agreement among us, our sponsor and an affiliate of our sponsor. These agreements contain various provisions that our public stockholders might deem to be material. For example, our letter agreement and the underwriting agreement contain certain lock-up provisions with respect to the founder shares, private placement warrants and other securities held by our initial stockholders, sponsor, officers and directors. Amendments to such agreements would require the consent of the applicable parties thereto and would need to be approved by our board of directors, which may do so for a variety of reasons, including to facilitate our initial business combination. While we do not expect our board of directors to approve any amendment to any of these agreements prior to our initial business combination, it may be possible that our board of directors, in exercising its business judgment and subject to its fiduciary duties, chooses to approve one or more amendments to any such agreement. Any amendment entered into in connection with the consummation of our initial business combination will be disclosed in our proxy materials or tender offer documents, as applicable, related to such initial business combination, and any other material amendment to any of our material agreements will be disclosed in a filing with the SEC. Any such amendments would not require approval from our stockholders, may result in the completion of our initial business combination that may not otherwise have been possible, and may have an adverse effect on the value of an investment in our securities. For example, amendments to the lock-up provision discussed above may result in our initial stockholders selling their securities earlier than they would otherwise be permitted, which may have an adverse effect on the price of our securities.
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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 (including AEON), which could compel us to restructure or abandon a particular business combination.
We have entered into a business combination agreement with AEON, but to the extent that business combination is not consummated, we intend to target businesses with enterprise values that are greater than we could acquire with the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants. As a result, if the cash portion of the purchase price exceeds the amount available from the trust account, net of amounts needed to satisfy any redemption by public stockholders, we may be required to seek additional financing to complete such proposed initial business combination (as is the case for our proposed initial business combination with AEON). We cannot assure you that such financing will be available on acceptable terms, if at all. To the extent that additional financing proves to be unavailable when needed to complete our initial business combination, we would be compelled to either restructure the transaction or abandon that particular business combination and seek an alternative target business candidate. Further, we may be required to obtain additional financing in connection with the closing of our initial business combination for general corporate purposes, including for maintenance or expansion of operations of the post-transaction businesses, the payment of principal or interest due on indebtedness incurred in completing our initial business combination, or to fund the purchase of other companies. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may only receive their pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account that are available for distribution to public stockholders, and our warrants will expire worthless. In addition, even if we do not need additional financing to complete our initial business combination, we may require such financing to fund the operations or growth of the target business. The failure to secure additional financing could have a material adverse effect on the continued development or growth of the target business. None of our officers, directors or stockholders is required to provide any financing to us in connection with or after our initial business combination.
Our initial stockholders control a substantial interest in us and thus may exert a substantial influence on actions requiring a stockholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support.
Our initial stockholders own 20% of our issued and outstanding 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. If our initial stockholders purchase any additional Class A Common Stock in the aftermarket or in privately negotiated transactions, this would increase their control. Neither our initial stockholders nor, to our knowledge, any of our officers or directors, have any current intention to purchase additional securities, other than as disclosed in this Annual Report. Factors that would be considered in making such additional purchases would include consideration of the current trading price of our Class A Common Stock. In addition, our board of directors, whose members were elected by our sponsor, is and will be divided into three classes, each of which will generally serve for a terms for three years with only one class of directors being elected in each year. We may not hold an annual meeting of stockholders to elect new directors prior to the completion of our initial business combination, in which case all of the current directors will continue in office until at least the completion of the business combination. If there is an annual meeting, 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.
Because we must furnish our stockholders with target business financial statements, we may lose the ability to complete an otherwise advantageous initial business combination with some prospective target businesses.
The federal proxy rules require that the proxy statement with respect to the vote on an initial business combination include historical and pro forma financial statement disclosure. We will include the same financial statement disclosure in connection with our tender offer documents, whether or not they are required under the tender offer rules. These financial statements may be required to be prepared in accordance with, or be reconciled to, accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”), or international financial reporting standards as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (“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) (“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.
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Compliance obligations under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may make it more difficult for us to effectuate our initial business combination, require substantial financial and management resources, and increase the time and costs of completing an initial business combination.
Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires that we evaluate and report on our system of internal controls beginning with our Annual Report on Form 10-K/A for the year ending December 31, 2022. Only in the event we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer or an accelerated filer, and no longer qualify as an emerging growth company, will we be required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement on our internal control over financial reporting. Further, for as long as we remain an emerging growth company, we will not be required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement on our internal control over financial reporting. The fact that we are a blank check company makes compliance with the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act particularly burdensome on us as compared to other public companies because a target business with which we seek to complete our initial business combination (including AEON) may not be in compliance with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act regarding adequacy of its internal controls. The development of the internal control of any such entity to achieve compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may increase the time and costs necessary to complete any such business combination.
Risks Relating to the Post-Business Combination Company
Subsequent to our completion of our initial business combination, we may be required to take write-downs or write-offs, restructuring and impairment or other charges that could have a significant negative effect on our financial condition, results of operations and the price of our securities, 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 identify all material issues that may be present with a particular target business (including AEON), that it would be possible to uncover all material issues through a customary amount of due diligence, or that factors outside of the target business and outside of our control will not later arise. As a result of these factors, we may be forced to later write-down or write-off assets, restructure our operations, or incur impairment or other charges that could result in our reporting losses. Even if our due diligence successfully identifies certain risks, unexpected risks may arise and previously known risks may materialize in a manner not consistent with our preliminary risk analysis. Even though these charges may be non-cash items and not have an immediate impact on our liquidity, the fact that we report charges of this nature could contribute to negative market perceptions about us or our securities. In addition, charges of this nature may cause us to violate net worth or other covenants to which we may be subject as a result of assuming pre-existing debt held by a target business or by virtue of our obtaining debt financing to partially finance the initial business combination or thereafter. Accordingly, any stockholders or warrant holders who choose to remain stockholders or warrant holders following the business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such stockholders or warrant holders 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 materials or tender offer documents, as applicable, relating to the business combination contained an actionable material misstatement or material omission.
Our ability to successfully effect our initial business combination and to be successful thereafter will be dependent upon the efforts of our key personnel, some of whom may join us following our initial business combination. The loss of key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business.
Our ability to successfully effect our initial business combination is dependent upon the efforts of our key personnel. The role of our key personnel in the target business (including, if the business combination with AEON is consummated, AEON), 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 engage after our initial business combination, we cannot assure you that our assessment of these individuals will prove to be correct. These individuals may be unfamiliar with the requirements of operating a company regulated by the SEC, which could cause us to have to expend time and resources helping them become familiar with such requirements.
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Our key personnel may negotiate employment or consulting agreements with a target business in connection with a particular business combination, and a particular business combination may be conditioned on the retention or resignation of such key personnel. These agreements may provide for them to receive compensation following our initial business combination and as a result, may cause them to have conflicts of interest in determining whether a particular business combination is the most advantageous.
Our key personnel may be able to remain with our company after the completion of our initial business combination only if they are able to negotiate employment or consulting agreements in connection with the business combination. Such negotiations would take place simultaneously with the negotiation of the business combination and could provide for such individuals to receive compensation in the form of cash payments and/or our securities for services they would render to us after the completion of the business combination. Such negotiations also could make such key personnel’s retention or resignation a condition to any such agreement. The personal and financial interests of such individuals may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business, subject to their fiduciary duties under Delaware law.
We may have a limited ability to assess the management of a prospective target business and, as a result, may effect our initial business combination with a target business whose management may not have the skills, qualifications or abilities to manage a public company.
When evaluating the desirability of effecting our initial business combination with a prospective target business, our ability to assess the target business’s management may be limited due to a lack of time, resources or information. Our assessment of the capabilities of the target business’s management, therefore, may prove to be incorrect and such management may lack the skills, qualifications or abilities we suspected. Should the target business’s management not possess the skills, qualifications or abilities necessary to manage a public company, the operations and profitability of the post-combination business may be negatively impacted. Accordingly, any stockholders or warrant holders who choose to remain stockholders or warrant holders following the business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such stockholders or warrant holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value unless they are able to successfully claim that the reduction was due to the breach by our officers or directors of a duty of care or other fiduciary duty owed to them, or if they are able to successfully bring a private claim under securities laws that the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, relating to the business combination contained an actionable material misstatement or material omission.
The officers and directors of an acquisition candidate may resign upon completion of our initial business combination. The loss of a business combination target’s key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business.
The role of an acquisition candidate’s key personnel upon the completion of our initial business combination cannot be ascertained at this time. Although we contemplate that certain members of an acquisition candidate’s management team will remain associated with the acquisition candidate (including AEON’s management team) following our initial business combination, it is possible that members of the management of an acquisition candidate will not wish to remain in place.
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Our management may not be able to maintain control of a target business after our initial business combination. We cannot provide assurance that, upon loss of control of a target business, new management will possess the skills, qualifications or abilities necessary to profitably operate such business.
We may structure our initial business combination so that the post-transaction company in which our public stockholders own shares will own less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business, but we will only complete such business combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target sufficient for us not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. We will not consider any transaction that does not meet such criteria. Even if the post-transaction company owns 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our stockholders prior to the business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post business combination company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the business combination. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares of Class A Common Stock in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock of a target, or issue a substantial number of new shares to third parties in connection with financing our initial business combination (as is the case, in each case, for our proposed initial business combination with AEON). In these cases, we would acquire a 100% interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new shares of Class A Common Stock, our stockholders immediately prior to such transaction could own less than a majority of our outstanding Class A Common Stock subsequent to such transaction. In addition, other minority stockholders may subsequently combine their holdings resulting in a single person or group obtaining a larger share of the company’s shares than we initially acquired. Accordingly, this may make it more likely that our management will not be able to maintain control of the target business.
Risks Relating to our Management Team
Our Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of our Board of Directors and certain of our directors are party to non-competition agreements that may limit the types of companies that we can target for an initial business combination.
Bob Palmisano, our Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of our Board of Directors and an investor in our sponsor, and certain of our directors (the “Restricted Parties”) are subject to agreements (the “Non-Competition Agreements”) with Stryker (as successor-in- interest to Wright Medical, a global medical device company focused on extremities and select biologics products) that contains non-competition and non-solicitation provisions. Among other things, the Non-Competition Agreements preclude the Restricted Parties from (i) being employed by, providing consultation services to, or engaging or participating as an officer, director, investor, shareholder or otherwise (other than through passive ownership of 1% or less of the outstanding voting securities) of any company that engages in a competitive business with Wright Medical anywhere in the world until November 20, 2021, and (ii) soliciting any person or entity, with respect to any product or service competitive with any products or services of Wright Medical, from whom such Restricted Party or his or her subordinates solicited business or submitted proposals to perform services on behalf of Wright Medical at any time during the three years preceding his or her termination until November 20, 2022.
It is our intention, and the intention of each Restricted Party, to observe all requirements of the Non-Competition Agreements and so our prospects for an initial business combination may be limited, make us a less attractive buyer to certain target companies, or limit any Restricted Party’s role in a post initial business combination company. Further, any potential dispute regarding our business or such non-competition provisions could be time consuming, costly and distract management’s focus from locating suitable acquisition candidates and operating our business.
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.
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Past performance by our management team and their affiliates may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in us.
Information regarding performance by, or businesses associated with, our management team or businesses associated with them is presented for informational purposes only. Past performance by our management team is not a guarantee either (i) of success with respect to any business combination we may consummate (including the proposed initial business combination with AEON) or (ii) that we will be able to locate a suitable candidate for our initial business combination. You should not rely on the historical record of the performance of our management team’s or businesses associated with them as indicative of our future performance of an investment in us or the returns we will, or is likely to, generate going forward.
We may seek business combination opportunities in industries or sectors that may be outside of our management’s areas of expertise.
Although we intend to focus on identifying companies focusing on the medical technology sector, we will, if our proposed business combination with AEON is not consummated, consider a business combination outside of our management’s areas of expertise if a business combination candidate is presented to us and we determine that such candidate offers an attractive business combination opportunity for our company. Although our management will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in any particular business combination candidate, we cannot assure you that we will adequately ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors. We also cannot assure you that an investment in our Class A Common Stock will not ultimately prove to be less favorable to investors in our initial public offering than a direct investment, if an opportunity were available, in a 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 Annual Report regarding the areas of our management’s expertise would not be relevant to an understanding of the business that we elect to acquire. As a result, our management may not be able to ascertain or assess adequately all of the relevant risk factors. Accordingly, any stockholders who choose to remain stockholders following our initial business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their shares. Such stockholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.
We are dependent upon our executive officers and directors and their loss could adversely affect our ability to operate.
Our operations are dependent upon a relatively small group of individuals and, in particular, our executive officers and directors. We believe that our success depends on the continued service of our officers and directors, at least until we have completed our initial business combination. In addition, our executive officers and directors are not required to commit any specified amount of time to our affairs and, accordingly, will have conflicts of interest in allocating their time among various business activities, including identifying potential business combinations and monitoring the related due diligence. We do not have an employment agreement with, or key-man insurance on the life of, any of our directors or 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 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.
Our executive officers and directors are not required to, and will not, commit their full time to our affairs, which may result in a conflict of interest in allocating their time between our operations and our search for a business combination and their other businesses. We do not intend to have any full-time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination. Certain of our executive officers are engaged in several other business endeavors for which he may be entitled to substantial compensation, and our executive officers are not obligated to contribute any specific number of hours per week to our affairs. Our independent directors also serve as officers and board members for other entities. If our executive 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. For a complete discussion of our executive officers’ and directors’ other business affairs, please see “Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance.”
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Certain of our officers and directors presently have, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities and, accordingly, may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented.
Until we consummate our initial business combination, we are primarily engaged in the business of identifying and combining with one or more businesses. Certain of our officers and directors presently have, and any of them in the future may have, additional fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entity. Accordingly, they may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented. These conflicts may not be resolved in our favor and a potential target business may be presented to another entity prior to its presentation to us. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that we renounce our interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any director or officer unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of the 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. In addition, our sponsor and our officers and directors may sponsor or form other special purpose acquisition companies similar to ours or may pursue other business or investment ventures during the period in which we are seeking an initial business combination. Any such companies, businesses or ventures may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an initial business combination. However, we do not believe that any such potential conflicts would materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination.
For a complete discussion of our executive officers’ and directors’ business affiliations and the potential conflicts of interest that you should be aware of, please see “Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance,” “Item 1. Business — Conflicts of Interest” and “Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence.”
Our executive 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, executive officers, security holders or affiliates from having a direct or indirect pecuniary or financial interest in any investment to be acquired or disposed of by us or in any transaction to which we are a party or have an interest. In fact, we may enter into a business combination with a target business that is affiliated with our sponsor, our directors or executive officers, although we do not intend to do so (and AEON is not affiliated with our sponsor, directors or officers). Nor do we have a policy that expressly prohibits any such persons from engaging for their own account in business activities of the types conducted by us. Accordingly, such persons or entities may have a conflict between their interests and ours.
The personal and financial interests of our directors and officers may influence their motivation in timely identifying and selecting a target business and completing a business combination. Consequently, our directors’ and officers’ discretion in identifying and selecting a suitable target business may result in a conflict of interest when determining whether the terms, conditions and timing of a particular business combination are appropriate and in our stockholders’ best interest. If this were the case, it would be a breach of their fiduciary duties to us as a matter of Delaware law and we or our stockholders might have a claim against such individuals for infringing on our stockholders’ rights. However, we might not ultimately be successful in any claim we may make against them for such reason.
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We 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, directors or existing holders which may raise potential conflicts of interest.
In light of the involvement of our sponsor, executive officers and directors with other entities, we may decide to acquire one or more businesses affiliated with our sponsor, executive officers, directors or existing holders (although AEON is not affiliated with our sponsor, our officers or directors). Our directors also serve as officers and board members for other entities, including, without limitation, those described under “Item 1. Business — Conflicts of Interest.” Such entities may compete with us for business combination opportunities. Besides the entered into Business Combination Agreement with AEON, our sponsor, officers and directors are not currently aware of any specific opportunities for us to complete our initial business combination with any entities with which they are affiliated, and there have been no substantive discussions concerning a business combination with any such entity or entities. Although we will not be specifically focusing on, or targeting, any transaction with any affiliated entities, we would pursue such a transaction if we determined that such affiliated entity met our criteria for a business combination as set forth herein and such transaction was approved by a majority of our independent and disinterested directors. Despite our agreement to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm which is a member of FINRA or a valuation or appraisal firm regarding the fairness to our company from a financial point of view of a business combination with one or more domestic or international businesses affiliated with our sponsor, executive officers, directors or existing holders, potential conflicts of interest still may exist and, as a result, the terms of the business combination may not be as advantageous to our public stockholders as they would be absent any conflicts of interest.
Since our sponsor, executive officers and directors will lose their entire investment in us if our initial business combination is not completed (other than with respect to public shares they may acquire during or after our initial public offering), a conflict of interest may arise in determining whether a particular business combination target is appropriate for our initial business combination.
On December 17, 2020, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 5,750,000 founder shares for a purchase price of $25,000, or approximately $0.004 per share. On February 8, 2021, we effected a 1.2 to 1 stock for our Class B Common Stock so that 6,900,000 shares of Class B Common Stock are now outstanding. Prior to the initial investment in the company of $25,000 by the sponsor, the company had no assets, tangible or intangible. The purchase price of the founder shares was determined by dividing the amount of cash contributed to the company by the number of founder shares issued.
The number of founder shares outstanding was determined based on the expectation that the total size of our initial public offering would be 27,600,000 units and therefore that such founder shares would represent 20% of the outstanding shares after our initial public offering. The founder shares will be worthless if we do not complete an initial business combination. In addition, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 5,213,333 private placement warrants, each exercisable for one share of Class A Common stock at $11.50 per share, for an aggregate purchase price of $7,820,000, or $1.50 per warrant, that will also be worthless if we do not complete our initial business combination. The personal and financial interests of our executive officers and directors may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business combination, completing an initial business combination and influencing the operation of the business following the initial business combination. This risk may become more acute as the 30-month anniversary of the closing of our initial public offering nears, which is the deadline for our completion of an initial business combination.
Risks Relating to our Securities
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 shareholders may be less than $10.00 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 memorandum and articles of association, our public shareholders are entitled to receive their pro-rata share of the proceeds held in the trust account, plus any interest income, net of taxes payable and up to $100,000
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of interest to pay dissolution expenses. Negative interest rates could reduce the value of the assets held in trust such that the per-share redemption amount received by public shareholders may be less than $10.00 per share.
You will not have any rights or interests in funds from the trust account, except under certain limited circumstances. Therefore, to liquidate your investment, you may be forced to sell your public shares or warrants, potentially at a loss.
Our public stockholders will be entitled to receive funds from the trust account only upon the earlier to occur of: (i) our completion of an initial business combination, and then only in connection with those shares of Class A Common Stock that such stockholder properly elected to redeem, subject to the limitations described herein, (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly tendered in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination by August 11, 2023 or with respect to any other material provisions relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, and the redemption of our public shares if we are unable to complete an initial business combination by August 11, 2023, subject to applicable law and as further described herein. In addition, if our plan to redeem our public shares if we are unable to complete an initial business combination by August 11, 2023 is not completed for any reason, compliance with Delaware law may require that we submit a plan of dissolution to our then-existing stockholders for approval prior to the distribution of the proceeds held in our trust account. In that case, public stockholders may be forced to wait beyond 30 months from the closing of our initial public offering before they receive funds from our trust account. In no other circumstances will a public stockholder have any right or interest of any kind in the trust account. 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.
Nasdaq 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 Class A Common Stock is listed on Nasdaq and our warrants are expected to trade separately on Nasdaq promptly after the date of this Annual Report. We cannot assure you that our securities will be, or will continue to be, listed on the Nasdaq in the future or prior to our initial business combination. In order to continue listing our securities on the Nasdaq prior to our initial business combination, we must maintain certain financial, distribution and share price levels. Generally, we must maintain a minimum amount in stockholders’ equity (generally $2,500,000) and a minimum number of holders of our securities (generally 300 public holders). Additionally, in connection with our initial business combination, we will be required to demonstrate compliance with Nasdaq’s initial listing requirements, which are more rigorous than Nasdaq’s continued listing requirements, in order to continue to maintain the listing of our securities on Nasdaq. For instance, our share price would generally be required to be at least $4.00 per share and our stockholders’ equity would generally be required to be at least $5.0 million and we would be required to have a minimum of 300 round lot holders of our securities, with at least 50% of such round lot holders holding unrestricted securities with a market value of at least $2,500. We cannot assure you that we will be able to meet those initial listing requirements at that time.
If Nasdaq delists our securities from trading on its exchange and we are not able to list our securities on another national securities exchange, we expect our securities could be quoted on an over-the-counter market. If this were to occur, we could face significant material adverse consequences, including:
| ● | a limited availability of market quotations for our securities; |
| ● | reduced liquidity for our securities; |
| ● | a determination that our Class A Common Stock is a “penny stock” which will require brokers trading in our Class A Common Stock to adhere to more stringent rules and possibly result in a reduced level of trading activity in the secondary trading market for our securities; |
| ● | a limited amount of news and analyst coverage; and |
| ● | a decreased ability to issue additional securities or obtain additional financing in the future. |
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You will not be permitted to exercise your warrants unless we register and qualify the underlying Class A Common Stock or certain exemptions are available.
If the issuance of the Class A Common Stock upon exercise of the warrants is not registered, qualified or exempt from registration or qualification under the Securities Act and applicable state securities laws, holders of warrants will not be entitled to exercise such warrants and such warrants 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 Class A Common Stock included in the units.
We are not registering the Class A Common Stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants under the Securities Act or any state securities laws at this time. However, under the terms of the warrant agreement, we have agreed that, as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 15 business days, after the closing of our initial business combination, we will use our best efforts to file with the SEC a registration statement covering the registration under the Securities Act of the Class A 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 Class A Common Stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants until the expiration of the warrants in accordance with the provisions of the warrant agreement. We cannot assure you that we will be able to do so if, for example, any facts or events arise which represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in the registration statement or prospectus, the financial statements contained or incorporated by reference therein are not current or correct or the SEC issues a stop order.
If the shares of Class A Common Stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants are not registered under the Securities Act, under the terms of the warrant agreement, holders of warrants who seek to exercise their warrants will not be permitted to do so for cash and, instead, will be required to do so on a cashless basis in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act or another exemption.
In no event will warrants 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 or qualification is available.
If our shares of Class A Common Stock are at the time of any exercise of a warrant not listed on a national securities exchange such that they satisfy the definition of “covered securities” under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act, we may, at our option, not permit holders of warrants who seek to exercise their warrants to do so for cash and, instead, require them to do so on a cashless basis in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act; in the event we so elect, we will not be required to file or maintain in effect a registration statement or register or qualify the shares underlying the warrants under applicable state securities laws, and in the event we do not so elect, we will use our best efforts to register or qualify the shares underlying the warrants under applicable state securities 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 (other than upon a cashless exercise as described above) or other compensation in exchange for the warrants in the event that we are unable to register or qualify the shares underlying the warrants under the Securities Act or applicable state securities laws.
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You may only be able to exercise your public warrants on a “cashless basis” under certain circumstances, and if you do so, you will receive fewer shares of Class A Common Stock from such exercise than if you were to exercise such warrants for cash.
The warrant agreement provides that in the following circumstances holders of warrants who seek to exercise their warrants will not be permitted to do for cash and will, instead, be required to do so on a cashless basis in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act: (i) if the shares of Class A Common Stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants are not registered under the Securities Act in accordance with the terms of the warrant agreement; if we have so elected and the shares of Class A Common Stock are at the time of any exercise of a warrant not listed on a national securities exchange such that they satisfy the definition of “covered securities” under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act; and (iii) if we have so elected and we call the public warrants for redemption. If you exercise your public warrants on a cashless basis, you would pay the warrant exercise price by surrendering the warrants for that number of shares of Class A Common Stock equal to the quotient obtained by dividing (x) the product of the number of shares of Class A Common Stock underlying the warrants, multiplied by the excess of the “fair market value” of our shares of Class A Common Stock (as defined in the next sentence) over the exercise price of the warrants by (y) the fair market value. The “fair market value” is the average reported closing price of the shares of Class A 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 Class A Common Stock from such exercise than if you were to exercise such warrants for cash.
The grant of registration rights to our initial stockholders and holders of our private placement warrants may make it more difficult to complete our initial business combination, and the future exercise of such rights may adversely affect the market price of our shares of Class A Common Stock.
Pursuant to an agreement entered into concurrently with the issuance and sale of the securities in our initial public offering, our initial stockholders and their permitted transferees can demand that we register the shares of Class A Common Stock into which founder shares are convertible, holders of our private placement warrants and their permitted transferees can demand that we register the private placement warrants and the Class A Common Stock issuable upon exercise of the private placement warrants and holders of warrants that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans may demand that we register such warrants or the Class A Common Stock issuable upon conversion of such warrants. The registration rights will be exercisable with respect to the founder shares and the private placement warrants and the Class A Common Stock issuable upon exercise of such private placement warrants. We will bear the cost of registering these securities. The registration and availability of such a significant number of securities for trading in the public market may have an adverse effect on the market price of our Class A Common Stock. In addition, the existence of the registration rights may make our initial business combination more costly or difficult to conclude. This is because the stockholders of the target business may increase the equity stake they seek in the combined entity or ask for more cash consideration to offset the negative impact on the market price of our Class A Common Stock that is expected when the shares of common stock owned by our initial stockholders, holders of our private placement warrants or holders of our working capital loans or their respective permitted transferees are registered.
We may issue additional shares of Class A Common Stock or shares of preferred stock to complete our initial business combination (as is the case for our proposed initial business combination with AEON) or under an employee incentive plan after completion of our initial business combination. We may also issue shares of Class A Common Stock upon the conversion of the founder shares at a ratio greater than one-to-one at the time of our initial business combination as a result of the anti-dilution provisions contained in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. Any such issuances would dilute the interest of our stockholders and likely present other risks.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation authorizes the issuance of up to 280,000,000 shares of Class A Common Stock, par value $0.0001 per share, 20,000,000 shares of Class B Common Stock, par value $0.0001 per share, and 1,000,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $0.0001 per share. As of the date of this Annual Report, there are 252,400,000 and 13,100,000 authorized but unissued shares of Class A Common Stock and Class B Common Stock, respectively, available for issuance which amount does not take into account shares reserved for issuance upon exercise of outstanding warrants or shares issuable upon conversion of the Class B Common Stock. The Class B Common Stock is automatically convertible into Class A Common Stock concurrently with or immediately following the consummation of our initial business combination, initially at a one-for-one ratio but subject to adjustment as set forth herein and in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. Currently there are no shares of preferred stock issued and outstanding.
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We may issue a substantial number of additional shares of Class A Common Stock or shares of preferred stock to complete our initial business combination (as is the case for our proposed initial business combination with AEON) or under an employee incentive plan after completion of our initial business combination. We may also issue shares of Class A Common Stock upon conversion of the Class B Common Stock at a ratio greater than one-to-one at the time of our initial business combination as a result of the anti-dilution provisions as set forth therein (although, as noted above, in connection with our proposed initial business combination with AEON, the sponsor has waived its right for this conversion ratio to be adjusted in such a manner). However, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides, among other things, that prior to our initial business combination, we may not issue additional shares that would entitle the holders thereof to (i) receive funds from the trust account or (ii) vote as a class with our public shares (a) on any initial business combination or (b) to approve an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to (x) extend the time we have to consummate a business combination beyond 30 months from the closing of our initial public offering or (y) amend the foregoing provisions. 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 a stockholder vote. The issuance of additional shares of common stock or shares of preferred stock:
| ● | may significantly dilute the equity interest of investors in our initial public offering; |
| ● | may subordinate the rights of holders of Class A Common Stock if shares of preferred stock are issued with rights senior to those afforded our Class A Common Stock; |
| ● | could cause a change in control if a substantial number of shares of Class A Common Stock 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; and |
| ● | may adversely affect prevailing market prices for our units, Class A Common Stock and/or warrants. |
Unlike some other similarly structured special purpose acquisition companies, our initial stockholders will receive additional shares of Class A Common Stock if we issue certain shares to consummate an initial business combination.
The founder shares will automatically convert into shares of Class A Common Stock concurrently with or immediately following the consummation of our initial business combination on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like, and subject to further adjustment as provided herein. In the case that additional shares of Class A Common Stock or equity-linked securities are issued or deemed issued in connection with our initial business combination, the number of shares of Class A Common Stock issuable upon conversion of all founder shares will equal, in the aggregate, on an as-converted basis, 20% of the total number of shares of Class A Common Stock outstanding after such conversion (after giving effect to any redemptions of shares of Class A Common Stock by public stockholders), including the total number of shares of Class A Common Stock issued, or deemed issued or issuable upon conversion or exercise of any equity-linked securities or rights issued or deemed issued, by the company in connection with or in relation to the consummation of the initial business combination, excluding any shares of Class A Common Stock or equity-linked securities or rights exercisable for or convertible into shares of Class A Common Stock issued, or to be issued, to any seller in the initial business combination and any private placement warrants issued to our sponsor, officers or directors upon conversion of working capital loans, provided that such conversion of founder shares will never occur on a less than one-for-one basis. This is different than some other similarly structured special purpose acquisition companies in which the initial stockholders will only be issued an aggregate of 20% of the total number of shares to be outstanding prior to our initial business combination.
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We may amend the terms of the warrants in a manner that may be adverse to holders of public warrants with the approval by the holders of at least 50% of the then outstanding public warrants. As a result, the exercise price of your warrants could be increased, the exercise period could be shortened and the number of shares of Class A Common Stock purchasable upon exercise of a warrant could be decreased, all without your approval.
Our warrants were 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 50% of the then outstanding public warrants to make any change that adversely affects the interests of the registered holders of public warrants. Accordingly, we may amend the terms of the public warrants in a manner adverse to a holder if holders of at least 50% of the then outstanding public warrants approve of such amendment. Although our ability to amend the terms of the public warrants with the consent of at least 50% of the then outstanding public warrants is unlimited, examples of such amendments could be amendments to, among other things, increase the exercise price of the warrants, convert the warrants into cash or stock (at a ratio different than initially provided), shorten the exercise period or decrease the number of shares of Class A Common Stock purchasable upon exercise of a warrant.
We may redeem your unexpired warrants prior to their exercise at a time that is disadvantageous to you, thereby making your warrants worthless.
We have the ability to redeem the outstanding public warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.01 per warrant, provided that the closing price of our Class A Common Stock equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for adjustments to the number of shares issuable upon exercise or the exercise price of a warrant) for any 20 trading days within a 30 trading-day period ending on the third trading day prior to proper notice of such redemption and provided that certain other conditions are met. If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may exercise our redemption right even if we are unable to register or qualify the underlying securities for sale under all applicable state securities laws. As a result, we may redeem the warrants as set forth above even if the holders are otherwise unable to exercise the warrants. Redemption of the outstanding warrants could force you to (i) exercise your warrants and pay the exercise price therefor at a time when it may be disadvantageous for you to do so, (ii) sell your warrants at the then-current market price when you might otherwise wish to hold your warrants or (iii) accept the nominal redemption price which, at the time the outstanding warrants are called for redemption, we expect would be substantially less than the market value of your warrants. None of the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees.
In addition, we have the ability to redeem the outstanding public warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.10 per warrant upon a minimum of 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption provided that the closing price of our Class A Common Stock equals or exceeds $10.00 per share (as adjusted for adjustments to the number of shares issuable upon exercise or the exercise price of a warrant) for any 20 trading days within a 30 trading-day period ending on the third trading day prior to proper notice of such redemption and provided that certain other conditions are met, including that holders will be able to exercise their warrants prior to redemption for a number of shares of Class A Common Stock determined based on the redemption date and the fair market value of our Class A Common Stock. The value received upon exercise of the warrants (i) may be less than the value the holders would have received if they had exercised their warrants at a later time where the underlying share price is higher and (ii) may not compensate the holders for the value of the warrants, including because the number of shares of Class A Common Stock received is capped at 0.361 shares of Class A Common Stock per warrant (subject to adjustment) irrespective of the remaining life of the warrants.
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Our warrants may have an adverse effect on the market price of our shares of Class A Common Stock and make it more difficult to effectuate our initial business combination.
We issued warrants to purchase 9,200,000 shares of our Class A Common Stock as part of the units offered and, simultaneously with the closing of our initial public offering, we issued in a private placement an aggregate of 5,213,333 private placement warrants, each exercisable to purchase one share of Class A Common Stock at $11.50 per share. In addition, if our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our officers and directors makes any working capital loans, such lender may convert those loans into up to 1, 00,000 working capital warrants, at the price of $1.50 per warrant. In June 2021, upon the request of our sponsor, the company had $100,000 of working capital loans outstanding converted into 66,667 working capital warrants. As of December 31, 2021, the company had no borrowings under the unsecured convertible promissory note issued to our sponsor. To the extent we issue common stock to effectuate a business transaction, the potential for the issuance of a substantial number of additional shares of Class A Common Stock upon exercise of these warrants could make us a less attractive acquisition vehicle to a target business. Such warrants, when exercised, will increase the number of issued and outstanding shares of Class A Common Stock and reduce the value of the Class A Common Stock issued to complete the business transaction. Therefore, our warrants may make it more difficult to effectuate a business transaction or increase the cost of acquiring the target business.
Our warrant agreement designates the courts of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by holders of our warrants, which could limit the ability of warrant holders to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with our company.
Our warrant agreement provides that, subject to applicable law, (i) any action, proceeding or claim against us arising out of or relating in any way to the warrant agreement, including under the Securities Act, will be brought and enforced in the courts of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, and (ii) that we irrevocably submit to such jurisdiction, which jurisdiction shall be the exclusive forum for any such action, proceeding or claim. We will waive any objection to such exclusive jurisdiction and that such courts represent an inconvenient forum.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, these provisions of the warrant agreement will not apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal district courts of the United States of America are the sole and exclusive forum. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in any of our warrants shall be deemed to have notice of and to have consented to the forum provisions in our warrant agreement. If any action, the subject matter of which is within the scope the forum provisions of the warrant agreement, is filed in a court other than a court of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (a “foreign action”) in the name of any holder of our warrants, such holder shall be deemed to have consented to: (x) the personal jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in the State of New York in connection with any action brought in any such court to enforce the forum provisions (an “enforcement action”), and (y) having service of process made upon such warrant holder in any such enforcement action by service upon such warrant holder’s counsel in the foreign action as agent for such warrant holder.
This choice-of-forum provision may limit a warrant holder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with our company, which may discourage such lawsuits. Alternatively, if a court were to find this provision of our warrant agreement inapplicable or unenforceable with respect to one or more of the specified types of actions or proceedings, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters in other jurisdictions, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and result in a diversion of the time and resources of our management and board of directors.
General Risk Factors
We are a blank check company with no operating history and no revenues, and you have no basis on which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective.
We are a blank check company incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware with no operating results. Because we lack an operating history, you have no basis upon which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective of completing our initial business combination with one or more target businesses (including our proposed business combination with AEON). We have no plans, arrangements or understandings with any prospective target business concerning a business combination and may be unable to
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complete our initial business combination. If we fail to complete our initial business combination, we will never generate any operating revenues.
Our independent registered public accounting firm’s report contains an explanatory paragraph that expresses substantial doubt about our ability continue as a “going concern.”
As of December 31, 2022, the Company had $67,909.00 in cash held outside of the trust account and a working capital deficit of $2,874,594. Further, we have incurred and expect to continue to incur significant costs in pursuit of our acquisition plans, including in connection with our proposed initial business combination with AEON. Management’s plans to address any need for additional capital are discussed in “Part II, Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.” We cannot assure you that our plans to raise capital (if required) or to consummate an initial business combination (including the proposed initial business combination with AEON) will be successful. These factors, among others, raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. The consolidated financial statements contained elsewhere in this prospectus do not include any adjustments that might result from our inability to continue as a going concern.
We are an emerging growth company and a smaller reporting company within the meaning of the Securities Act, and if we take advantage of certain exemptions from disclosure requirements available to emerging growth companies or smaller reporting companies, this could make our securities less attractive to investors and may make it more difficult to compare our performance with other public companies.
We are an “emerging growth company” within the meaning of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act, and we may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor internal controls attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. As a result, our stockholders may not have access to certain information they may deem important. We could be an emerging growth company for up to five years, although circumstances could cause us to lose that status earlier, including if the market value of our Class A Common Stock held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of any June 30 before that time, in which case we would no longer be an emerging growth company as of the following December 31. We cannot predict whether investors will find our securities less attractive because we will rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result of our reliance on these exemptions, the trading prices of our securities may be lower than they otherwise would be, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the trading prices of our securities may be more volatile.
Further, Section 102(b)(1) of the JOBS Act exempts emerging growth companies from being required to comply with new or revised financial accounting standards until private companies (that is, those that have not had a Securities Act registration statement declared effective or do not have a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act) are required to comply with the new or revised financial accounting standards. The JOBS Act provides that a company can elect to opt out of the extended transition period and comply with the requirements that apply to non-emerging growth companies but any such an election to opt out is irrevocable. We have elected not to opt out of such extended transition period which means that when a standard is issued or revised and it has different application dates for public or private companies, we, as an emerging growth company, can adopt the new or revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new or revised standard. This may make comparison of our financial statements with another public company which is neither an emerging growth company nor an emerging growth company which has opted out of using the extended transition period difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accounting standards used.
Additionally, we are a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Item 10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K. Smaller reporting companies may take advantage of certain reduced disclosure obligations, including, among other things, providing only two years of audited financial statements. We will remain a smaller reporting company until the last day of the fiscal year in which (1) the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates equals or exceeds $250 million as of the prior June 30th, or (2) our annual revenues equaled or exceeded $100 million during such completed fiscal year and the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates equals to or exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30th. To the extent we take advantage of such reduced disclosure obligations, it may also make comparison of our financial statements with other public companies difficult or impossible.
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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 shares of Class A Common Stock and could entrench management.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation contains provisions that may discourage unsolicited takeover proposals that stockholders may consider to be in their best interests. These provisions include a staggered board of directors and the ability of the board of directors to designate the terms of and issue new series of preferred stock, which may make more difficult the removal of management and may discourage transactions that otherwise could involve payment of a premium over prevailing market prices for our securities.
We are also subject to anti-takeover provisions under Delaware law, which could delay or prevent a change of control. Together these provisions may make the removal of management more difficult and may discourage transactions that otherwise could involve payment of a premium over prevailing market prices for our securities.
Provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and Delaware law may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors and officers.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation requires, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, that (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf, (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any director, officer or other employee to us or our stockholders, (iii) any action asserting a claim against us, our directors, officers or employees arising pursuant to any provision of the DGCL or our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or bylaws, or (iv) any action asserting a claim against us, our directors, officers or employees governed by the internal affairs doctrine may be brought only in the Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware, except any claim (A) as to which the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware determines that there is an indispensable party not subject to the jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery (and the indispensable party does not consent to the personal jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery within ten days following such determination), (B) which is vested in the exclusive jurisdiction of a court or forum other than the Court of Chancery, or (C) for which the Court of Chancery does not have subject matter jurisdiction. If an action is brought outside of Delaware, the stockholder bringing the suit will be deemed to have consented to service of process on such stockholder’s counsel. Although we believe this provision benefits us by providing increased consistency in the application of Delaware law in the types of lawsuits to which it applies, a court may determine that this provision is unenforceable, and to the extent it is enforceable, the provision may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors and officers, although our stockholders will not be deemed to have waived our compliance with federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that the exclusive forum provision will not apply to suits brought to enforce a duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction. Section 27 of the Exchange Act creates exclusive federal jurisdiction over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or the rules and regulations thereunder.
Additionally, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the federal courts shall be the exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act against us or any of our directors, officers, other employees or agents. Section 22 of the Securities Act, however, created concurrent jurisdiction for federal and state courts over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Securities Act or the rules and regulations thereunder. Accordingly, there is uncertainty as to whether a court would enforce these exclusive forum provisions, and the enforceability of similar choice of forum provisions in other companies’ charter documents has been challenged in legal proceedings. While the Delaware courts have determined that such exclusive forum provisions are facially valid, a stockholder may nevertheless seek to bring a claim in a venue other than those designated in the exclusive forum provisions, and there can be no assurance that such provisions will be enforced by a court in those other jurisdictions. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in our securities shall be deemed to have notice of and consented to these provisions; however, we note that investors cannot waive compliance with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder.
Although we believe this provision benefits us by providing increased consistency in the application of Delaware law in the types of lawsuits to which it applies, the provision may limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us and may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors and officers.
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Our initial business combination and our structure thereafter may not be tax-efficient to our stockholders and warrant holders. As a result of our business combination, our tax obligations may be more complex, burdensome and uncertain.
Although we will attempt to structure our initial business combination in a tax-efficient manner, tax structuring considerations are complex, the relevant facts and law are uncertain and may change, and we may prioritize commercial and other considerations over tax considerations. For example, in connection with our initial business combination and subject to any requisite stockholder approval, we may structure our business combination in a manner that requires stockholders and/or warrant holders to recognize gain or income for tax purposes, effect a business combination with a target company in another jurisdiction, or reincorporate in a different jurisdiction (although this is not contemplated in the case of our proposed initial business combination with AEON) (including, but not limited to, the jurisdiction in which the target company or business is located). We do not intend to make any cash distributions to stockholders or warrant holders to pay taxes in connection with our business combination or thereafter. Accordingly, a stockholder or a warrant holder may need to satisfy any liability resulting from our initial business combination with cash from its own funds or by selling all or a portion of the shares received. In addition, stockholders and warrant holders may also be subject to additional income, withholding or other taxes with respect to their ownership of us after our initial business combination.
In addition, we may effect a business combination with a target company that has business operations outside of the United States, and possibly, business operations in multiple jurisdictions. If we effect such a business combination, we could be subject to significant income, withholding and other tax obligations in a number of jurisdictions with respect to income, operations and subsidiaries related to those jurisdictions. Due to the complexity of tax obligations and filings in other jurisdictions, we may have a heightened risk related to audits or examinations by U.S. federal, state, local and non-U.S. taxing authorities. This additional complexity and risk could have an adverse effect on our after-tax profitability and financial condition.
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.
We have identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting. If we are unable to develop and maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting, we may not be able to accurately report our financial results in a timely manner, which may adversely affect investor confidence in us and materially and adversely affect our business and operating results.
As described elsewhere in this Form 10-K/A, we have identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting related to the Company’s interpretation and accounting for the extinguishment of a significant contingent obligation. As a result of the material weakness, our management has concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective as of December 31, 2022. See “Note 2-Restatement of Financial Statements” to the accompanying financial statements, as well as Part II. Item 9A. Controls and Procedures included in this Form 10-K/A. We have taken a number of measures to remediate the material weakness described herein. However, if we are unable to remediate our material weakness in a timely manner or we identify additional material weaknesses, we may be unable to provide required financial information in a timely and reliable manner and we may incorrectly report financial information. Likewise, if our financial statements are not filed on a timely basis, we could be subject to sanctions or investigations by the stock exchange on which our securities are quoted, the SEC or other regulatory authorities. The existence of a material weakness in internal control over financial reporting could adversely affect our reputation or investor perceptions of us, which could have a negative effect on the trading price of our securities. We can give no assurance that the measures we have taken and plan to take in the future will remediate the material weakness identified or that any additional material weaknesses or restatements of financial results will not arise in the future due to a failure to implement and maintain adequate internal control over financial reporting or circumvention of these controls. Even if we are successful in strengthening our controls and procedures, in the future those controls and procedures may not be adequate to prevent or identify irregularities or errors or to facilitate the fair presentation of our financial statements.
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A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected and corrected on a timely basis.
Effective internal controls are necessary for us to provide reliable financial reports and prevent fraud. We continue to evaluate steps to remediate the material weakness. These remediation measures may be time consuming and costly and there is no assurance that these initiatives will ultimately have the intended effects.
If we identify any new material weaknesses in the future, any such newly identified material weakness could limit our ability to prevent or detect a misstatement of our accounts or disclosures that could result in a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements. In such case, we may be unable to maintain compliance with securities law requirements regarding timely filing of periodic reports in addition to applicable stock exchange listing requirements, investors may lose confidence in our financial reporting and the price of our securities may decline as a result. We cannot assure you that any measures we may take in the future, will be sufficient to avoid potential future material weaknesses.
We may face litigation and other risks as a result of the material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting.
After consultation with our independent registered public accounting firm, our management and our audit committee concluded that it was appropriate to restate our previously issued audited financial statements as of December 31, 2022. As discussed elsewhere in this Annual Report, we identified a material weakness in our internal controls over financial reporting related to the accounting for a significant and unusual transaction related to the extinguishment of a contingent obligations in November 2022 and January 2023.
As a result of such material weakness, the restatement of our financial statements for the Affected Period, the change in accounting for the extinguishment, and other matters raised or that may in the future be raised by the SEC, we face potential for litigation or other disputes which may include, among others, claims invoking the federal and state securities laws, contractual claims or other claims arising from the restatement and material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting and the preparation of our financial statements. As of the date of this Annual Report, we have no knowledge of any such litigation or dispute. However, we can provide no assurance that such litigation or dispute will not arise in the future. Any such litigation or dispute, whether successful or not, could have a material adverse effect on the business of the combined company and its results of operations and financial condition.
Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments
None.
Item 2. Properties
We currently maintain our executive offices at 300 SE 2nd Street, Suite 600, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33301. The cost for the space is included in the up to $25,000 monthly fee that we pay our sponsor for office space, administrative and support services. We consider our current office space adequate for our current operations.
Item 3. Legal Proceedings
None.
Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures
Not applicable.
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PART II
Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
(a) Market Information
Our units, shares of Class A Common Stock and warrants are each traded on the Nasdaq under the symbols “PMGMU,” “PMGM” and “PMGMW,” respectively. Our units commenced public trading on February 9, 2021. Shares of our Class A common and warrants are expected to begin separate trading on April 1, 2021.
(b) Holders
On March 25, 2022, there was one holder of record of our units, one holder of record of our Class A Common Stock, one holder of our Class B Common Stock and three holders of record of our warrants.
(c) Dividends
We have not paid any cash dividends on our common stock to date and do not intend to pay cash dividends prior to the completion of a 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 a business combination. The payment of any cash dividends subsequent to a business combination will be within the discretion of our board of directors at such time. Further, if we incur any indebtedness, our ability to declare dividends may be limited by restrictive covenants we may agree to in connection therewith. We do not currently intend to incur indebtedness in connection with our proposed initial business combination with AEON.
(d) Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans
None.
(e) Performance Graph
Not applicable.
(f) Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities; Use of Proceeds from Registered Offerings
Unregistered Sales
On December 17, 2020, our sponsor paid $25,000, or approximately $0.004 per share, to cover certain offering costs in consideration for 5,750,000 founder shares. On February 8, 2021, as part of an upsizing of our initial public offering, we effected a stock split in which each issued share of Class B Common Stock that was outstanding was converted into one and two tenths shares of Class B Common Stock, resulting in an aggregate of 6,900,000 shares of Class B Common Stock issued and outstanding. The founder shares will automatically convert into shares of Class A Common Stock concurrently with or immediately following the consummation of our initial business combination on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like, and subject to further adjustment as provided herein. In the case that additional shares of Class A Common Stock or equity-linked securities are issued or deemed issued in connection with our initial business combination, the number of shares of Class A Common Stock issuable upon conversion of all founder shares will equal, in the aggregate, on an as-converted basis, 20% of the total number of shares of Class A Common Stock outstanding after such conversion (after giving effect to any redemptions of shares of Class A Common Stock by public stockholders), including the total number of shares of Class A Common Stock issued, or deemed issued or issuable upon conversion or exercise of any equity-linked securities or rights issued or deemed issued, by the company in connection with or in relation to the consummation of the initial business combination, excluding any shares of Class A Common Stock or equity-linked securities or rights exercisable for or convertible into shares of Class A Common Stock issued, or to be issued, to any seller in the initial business combination and any private placement warrants issued to our sponsor, officers or directors upon conversion of working capital loans, provided that such conversion of founder shares will never occur on a less than one-for-one basis.
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With certain limited exceptions, the founder shares are not transferable, assignable or salable (except to our officers and directors and other persons or entities affiliated with our sponsor, each of whom will be subject to the same transfer restrictions) until the earlier of (A) one year after the completion of our initial business combination or earlier if, subsequent to our initial business combination, the closing price of the Class A Common Stock equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after our initial business combination, and (B) the date following the completion of our initial business combination on which we complete a liquidation, merger, capital stock exchange or other similar transaction that results in all of our stockholders having the right to exchange their Class A Common Stock for cash, securities or other property.
Our sponsor purchased 5,213,333 private placement warrants at a price of $1.50 per warrant in a private placement that occurred concurrently with the closing of our IPO and generated gross proceeds of $7,820,000. Each private placement warrant is exercisable for one share of Class A Common Stock at a price of $11.50 per share. The proceeds from the sale of the private placement warrants were added to the net proceeds from the IPO held in the trust account. If we do not complete a business combination by August 11, 2023, the private placement warrants will expire worthless. The private placement warrants are non-redeemable and exercisable on a cashless basis so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees. The sale of the private placement warrants was made pursuant to the exemption from registration contained in Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act.
On June 28, 2021, our sponsor elected to convert $100,000 of outstanding principal amount under certain working capital loans into, and we issued, certain working capital warrants to purchase 66,667 shares of our Class A Common Stock at a purchase price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as described in the private placement warrants. Such warrants were identical to the private placement warrants issued to the sponsor in connection with our initial public offering. The issuance of such warrants was made pursuant to the exemption from registration contained in Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act.
Use of Proceeds
Of the $283,820,000 in proceeds we received from our IPO and the sale of the private placement warrants, a total of $276,000,000 was placed in a U.S.-based trust account maintained by Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, acting as trustee. The underwriter’s deferred commissions of $9,660,000 will be paid from this $276,000,000.
There has been no material change in the planned use of proceeds from such use as described in the company’s final prospectus (File No. 333-252310), dated February 11, 2021, which was declared effective by the SEC on February 8, 2021.
(g) Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers
None.
Item 6. Selected Financial Data
Not applicable.
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Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
The following discussion and analysis of the Company’s financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with the audited financial statements and the notes related thereto which are included in “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K/A.
Certain information contained in the discussion and analysis set forth below includes forward-looking statements. Our actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of many factors, including those set forth under “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements,” “Item 1A. Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K/A.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This Annual Report on Form 10-K/A includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act. We have based these forward-looking statements on our current expectations and projections about future events. These forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions about us that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “may,” “should,” “could,” “would,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “continue,” or the negative of such terms or other similar expressions. Factors that might cause or contribute to such a discrepancy include, but are not limited to, those described in our other SEC filings.
In this Annual Report Form 10-K/A for the year ended December 31, 2022, we are restating our consolidated financial statements as of, and for the year ended December 31, 2022.
The restatement results from our prior accounting for an extinguishment of a significant contingent obligation. The Company recognized the waiver as an extinguishment, with a resulting non-operating gain recognized in its statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2022. Upon subsequent review and analysis, management concluded that the Company should have recognized the extinguishment of the contingent liability as a reversal in the same relative allocation applied at the initial public offering. Offering costs allocated to the Class A common shares will be reversed against the Class A common shares and the offering costs allocated to the derivative warrant liabilities will be reversed on the statement of operations.
Therefore, our management and the Audit Committee of the Company’s Board of Directors (the “Audit Committee”) concluded that our previously issued consolidated financial statements as of and for the year ended December 31, 2022 (the “Annual Report”) should no longer be relied upon and that it is appropriate to restate the Annual Report. As such, we will restate its financial statements in this Form 10-K/A for our consolidated financial statements as of and for the year ended December 31, 2022.
The change in accounting for the extinguishment did not have any impact on the Company’s liquidity, and cash flows in the period.
In connection with the restatement, our management reassessed the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures for the periods affected by the restatement. As a result of that reassessment, we determined that our disclosure controls and procedures for such periods were not effective with respect to the liability extinguishment. For more information, see Item 9A included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K/A.
The restatement is more fully described in Note 2 of the notes to the financial statements included herein.
Overview
We are a blank check company incorporated in Delaware on November 17, 2020. We were formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses (the “Business Combination”).
Our Sponsor is Priveterra Sponsor, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company. The registration statement for the Initial Public Offering was declared effective on February 8, 2021. On February 11, 2021, we consummated the Initial Public Offering of
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27,600,000 Units, at $10.00 per Unit, generating gross proceeds of $276,000,000, and incurring offering costs of approximately $5,520,000, inclusive of approximately $9,660,000 in deferred underwriting commissions. On November 16, 2022, the Company and one of the underwriters executed a waiver letter confirming the underwriter’s waiver of its deferred fee under the terms of the underwriting agreement. As a result, the Company recognized income of $3,767,400 in relation to the waiver of the deferred underwriter fee allocated to the underwriter in the accompanying consolidated financial statements. As of December 31, 2022 and 2021, the deferred underwriting fee payable is $5,892,600 and $9,660,000, respectively. On January 23, 2023, the Company and a second underwriter executed a waiver letter confirming the underwriter’s waiver of its deferred fee under the terms of the underwriting agreement which represents and additional $4,636,800 of the deferred fee as waived.
Simultaneously with the closing of the Initial Public Offering, we consummated the Private Placement of 5,213,333 Private Placement Warrants, at a price of $1.50 per Private Placement Warrant to our Sponsor, generating gross proceeds to us of approximately $7,820,000.
Upon the closing of the Initial Public Offering and the Private Placement, $276,000,000 ($10.00 per Unit) of the net proceeds of the Initial Public Offering and certain of the proceeds of the Private Placement was placed in the Trust Account and was invested in permitted United States “government securities” within the meaning of Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, having a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 promulgated under the Investment Company Act that invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations.
Our management has broad discretion with respect to the specific application of the net proceeds of the Initial Public Offering and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants, although substantially all of the net proceeds are intended to be applied generally toward consummating a Business Combination.
We will only have 30 months from the closing of the Initial Public Offering, or August 11, 2023, (or such later date as may be approved by Priveterra stockholders in an amendment to the Current Charter) to complete our initial Business Combination (the “Combination Period”). If we do not complete a Business Combination within this period of time, we will (i) cease all operations except for the purposes of winding up; (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible, but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the Public Shares for a per share pro rata portion of the Trust Account, including interest and not previously released to us to fund our working capital requirements (less taxes payable and up to $100,000 of such net interest to pay dissolution expenses) and (iii) as promptly as possible following such redemption, dissolve and liquidate the balance of our net assets to our remaining stockholders, as part of our plan of dissolution and liquidation. Our Sponsor and our executive officers and independent director nominees (the “initial stockholders”) entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have waived their rights to participate in any redemption with respect to their Founder Shares; however, if the initial stockholders or any of our officers, directors or affiliates acquire shares of common stock in or after the Initial Public Offering, they will be entitled to a pro rata share of the Trust Account upon our redemption or liquidation in the event we do not complete a Business Combination within the required time period. In the event of such distribution, it is possible that the per share value of the residual assets remaining available for distribution (including Trust Account assets) will be less than the Initial Public Offering price per Unit in the Initial Public Offering.
On December 12, 2022, the Company entered into a Business Combination Agreement (the “Business Combination Agreement”) by and among the Company, Priveterra Merger Sub, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“Merger Sub”), and AEON Biopharma, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“AEON”). The Business Combination Agreement provides, among other things, that on the terms and subject to the conditions set forth therein, Merger Sub will merge with and into AEON, with AEON surviving as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company (the “Merger”). Upon the closing of the Merger (the “Closing”), the Company will change its name to “AEON Biopharma, Inc.” The date on which the Closing actually occurs is hereinafter referred to as the “Closing Date.”
Pursuant to the Business Combination Agreement, at the effective time of the Merger, each option, whether vested or unvested, exercisable for AEON equity that is outstanding immediately prior to the effective time of the Merger shall be assumed by the Company and continue in full force and effect on the same terms and conditions as are currently applicable to such options, subject to adjustments to exercise price and number of shares of Class A Common Stock issued upon exercise.
Under the Business Combination Agreement, the Company will acquire all of the outstanding equity interests of AEON (including equity interests issued upon conversion of the outstanding convertible notes of AEON) in exchange for shares of the Company’s Class A common stock, par value $0.0001 per share (the “Class A Common Stock”), based on an implied AEON equity value of $165,000,000, to be paid to AEON stockholders at the effective time of the Merger, except that 809,000 shares of the
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Company’s Class A Common Stock otherwise issuable as merger consideration shall be held back to satisfy the exercise of certain of AEON’s convertible notes upon the maturity thereof.
The issuance of additional shares in connection with the Business Combination to the current owners of AEON or other investors:
| ● | may significantly dilute the equity interest of Priveterra stockholders, which dilution would increase if the anti-dilution provisions in the Class B Common Stock resulted in the issuance of shares of Class A Common Stock on a greater than one-to-one basis upon conversion of the Class B Common Stock; |
| ● | may subordinate the rights of holders of Priveterra Common Stock if preferred stock is issued with rights senior to those afforded Priveterra Common Stock; |
| ● | could cause a change in control if a substantial number of shares of Priveterra 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 Class A Common Stock. |
Similarly, if we issue debt securities or otherwise incur significant debt to bank or other lenders or the owners of AEON, it could result in:
| ● | default and foreclosure on our assets if our operating revenues after the 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 is payable on demand; |
| ● | our inability to obtain necessary additional financing if the debt contains covenants restricting our ability to obtain such financing while the debt is outstanding; |
| ● | our inability to pay dividends on Priveterra 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. |
As indicated in the accompanying financial statements, as of December 31, 2022, the balance of the Trust Account was approximately $279,384,429 (excluding $5,892,600 of deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on the income earned on
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the Trust Account). Further, we expect to incur significant costs in the pursuit of the Business Combination. We cannot assure you that our plans to raise capital or to complete the Business Combination will be successful.
Results of Operations
We have neither engaged in any operations nor generated any revenues to date. Our only activities from November 12, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2022 were organizational activities, those necessary to prepare for the initial public offering (defined below), and subsequent to the initial public offering, identifying a target company for a business combination. We do not expect to generate any operating revenues until after the completion of our business combination. We generate non-operating income in the form of interest income on marketable securities held in the trust account. We incur expenses as a result of being a public company (for legal, financial reporting, accounting and auditing compliance), as well as for due diligence expenses in connection with identifying AEON as a target company for our initial business combination.
For the year ended December 31, 2022, we had net income of $6,375,345, which is driven by an unrealized gain of $6,715,041 on our warrants, reduction of underwriting fees of $162,571, and $3,706,667 in interest income from investments held in our Trust Account. Partially offsetting our income is operating costs and of $3,325,605 and provision for income tax of $883,329.
For the year ended December 31, 2021, we had net income of $8,200,831, which is driven by an unrealized gain of $10,712,133 on our warrants and $79,687 in interest income from investments held in our Trust Account. Partially offsetting our income is $1,935,943 in formation and operating costs and warrant issue costs of $655,046.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
As of December 31, 2022, we had $67,909 in our operating bank account and working capital deficit of $2,874,594 (excluding taxes payable which is funded by earnings from the Trust Account).
Prior to the completion of the Initial Public Offering, our liquidity needs have been satisfied through a capital contribution from the Sponsor of $25,000 for the founder shares and loans under an unsecured promissory note from the Sponsor of $73,295. On February 15, 2021, we issued an unsecured convertible promissory note to our Sponsor, pursuant to which we may borrow up to $1,500,000 from our sponsor for ongoing expenses reasonably related to our business and the consummation of an initial business combination. All unpaid principal under the convertible note will be due and payable in full on the earlier of (i) August 11, 2023 and (ii) the effective date of our initial business combination. Our Sponsor will have the option, at any time on or prior to such maturity date, to convert any amounts outstanding under the convertible note into warrants to purchase shares of our Class A Common Stock, par value $0.0001 per share, at a conversion price of $1.50 per warrant, with each warrant entitling the holder to purchase one share of our Class A Common Stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to the same adjustments applicable to the private placement warrants sold concurrently with our initial public offering. In June 2021 we had $100,000 of Working Capital Loans outstanding which were converted into 66,667 Working Capital Warrants. As of December 31, 2022 and 2021, there were no borrowings under the Working Capital Loans.
We have approximately $68,000 in cash and approximately $3,900,000 in current liabilities as of December 31, 2022 and have incurred and expects to incur additional significant costs in pursuit of financing and acquisition plans. Additionally, we have until August 11, 2023 to consummate a Business Combination. In connection with our assessment of going concern considerations in accordance with FASB ASC Topic 205-40, “Presentation of Financial Statements– Going Concern,” we have determined that the liquidity condition and mandatory liquidation, should a Business Combination not occur, and potential subsequent dissolution raises substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. We intend to complete a Business Combination before the mandatory liquidation date. No adjustments have been made to the carrying amounts of assets or liabilities should we be required to liquidate after August 11, 2023 (or such later date as may be approved by Priveterra stockholders in an amendment to the Current Charter).
Management continues to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and has concluded that the specific impact is not readily determinable as of the date of the consolidated balance sheets. The consolidated financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.
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Going Concern
We have approximately $68,000 in cash and approximately $3,900,000 in current liabilities as of December 31, 2022 and have incurred and expects to incur additional significant costs in pursuit of financing and acquisition plans. Additionally, we have until August 11, 2023 to consummate a Business Combination. In connection with our assessment of going concern considerations in accordance with FASB ASC Topic 205-40, “Presentation of Financial Statements– Going Concern,” we have determined that the liquidity condition and mandatory liquidation, should a Business Combination not occur, and potential subsequent dissolution raises substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. We intend to complete a Business Combination before the mandatory liquidation date. No adjustments have been made to the carrying amounts of assets or liabilities should we be required to liquidate after August 11, 2023 (or such later date as may be approved by Priveterra stockholders in an amendment to the Current Charter).
Off-Balance Sheet Financing Arrangements
As of December 31, 2022, we did not have any off-balance sheet arrangements as defined in Item 303(a)(4)(ii) of Regulation S-K.
Inflation
We do not believe that inflation had a material impact on our business, revenues or operating results during the period presented.
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 consolidated 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 Public Company Accounting Oversight Board regarding mandatory audit firm rotation or a supplement to the auditor’s report providing additional information about the audit and the consolidated 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.
Contractual Obligations
Administrative Services Agreement
Commencing on the date that our securities are first listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market, we agreed to pay the Sponsor up to $25,000 per month for administrative and other services, of which $10,000 per month will be paid to the Sponsor for office space and administrative services provided to members of the management team and up to $15,000 will be used to compensate the Company’s Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer and Secretary for a portion of their time spent on the Company’s affairs. Upon completion of the Business Combination or the Company’s liquidation, the Company will cease paying these monthly fees.
Registration Rights
The initial stockholders and holders of the Private Placement Warrants will be entitled to registration rights pursuant to a registration rights agreement. The initial stockholders and holders of the Private Placement Warrants will be entitled to make up to three demands, excluding short form registration demands, that register such securities for sale under the Securities Act. In addition,
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these holders will have “piggy-back” registration rights to include their securities in other registration statements filed by us. We will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such registration statements.
Underwriting Agreement
We granted the underwriters a 45-day option to purchase up to 3,600,000 additional Units to cover any over-allotments, at the initial public offering price less the underwriting discounts and commissions. The warrants that were issued in connection with the 3,600,000 over-allotment Units are identical to the public warrants and have no net cash settlement provisions.
We paid an underwriting discount of 2% of the per Unit offering price, or approximately $5,520,000 million in the aggregate at the closing of the Initial Public Offering, and agreed to pay an additional fee (the “Deferred Underwriting Fees”) of 3.5% of the gross offering proceeds, or approximately $9,660,000 in the aggregate upon the Company’s completion of an Initial Business Combination. The Deferred Underwriting Fees will become payable to the underwriters from the amounts held in the Trust Account solely in the event the Company completes its initial Business Combination. On November 16, 2022, the Company and one of the underwriters executed a waiver letter confirming the underwriter’s waiver of its deferred fee under the terms of the underwriting agreement. As a result, the Company recognized $162,571 of other income and $3,604,829 towards Class A redeemable shares in relation to the waiver of the deferred underwriter fee allocated to the underwriter in the accompanying consolidated financial statements. As of December 31, 2022 and 2021, the deferred underwriting fee payable is $5,892,600 and $9,660,000, respectively. On January 23, 2023, the Company and a second underwriter executed a waiver letter confirming the underwriter’s waiver of its deferred fee under the terms of the underwriting agreement which represents and additional $4,636,800 of the deferred fee as waived.
Critical Accounting Policies
The preparation of consolidated 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 consolidated financial statements, and income and expenses during the periods reported. Actual results could materially differ from those estimates. We have not identified any critical accounting policies.
Derivative Financial Instruments
We evaluate our financial instruments to determine if such instruments are derivatives or contain features that qualify as embedded derivatives in accordance with ASC Topic 815, “Derivatives and Hedging”. Derivative instruments are recorded at fair value on the grant date and re-valued at each reporting date, with changes in the fair value reported in the statements of operations. Derivative assets and liabilities are classified in the balance sheets as current or non-current based on whether or not net-cash settlement or conversion of the instrument could be required within 12 months of the balance sheet date. We have determined the warrants are a derivative instrument.
FASB ASC 470-20, Debt with Conversion and Other Options addresses the allocation of proceeds from the issuance of convertible debt into its equity and debt components. We apply this guidance to allocate IPO proceeds from the Units between Class A Common Stock and warrants, using the residual method by allocating IPO proceeds first to fair value of the warrants and then the Class A Common Stock.
Investments Held in the Trust Account
Our portfolio of investments held in the Trust Account is comprised of U.S. government securities, within the meaning set forth in Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act, with a maturity of 185 days or less, or investments in money market funds that invest in U.S. government securities, or a combination thereof. The investments held in the Trust Account are classified as trading securities. Trading securities are presented on the balance sheets at fair value at the end of each reporting period. Gains and losses resulting from the change in fair value of these securities is included in gain on marketable securities, dividends and interest held in Trust Account in the accompanying statements of operations. The estimated fair values of investments held in the Trust Account were determined using available market information.
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Class A Common Stock Subject to Possible Redemption
We account for Class A Common Stock subject to possible redemption in accordance with the guidance in Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 480 “Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity.” Class A Common Stock subject to mandatory redemption (if any) is classified as a liability instrument and is measured at fair value. Conditionally redeemable Class A Common Stock (including Class A Common Stock that feature redemption rights that are either within the control of the holder or subject to redemption upon the occurrence of uncertain events not solely within the Company’s control) is classified as temporary equity. At all other times, Class A Common Stock is classified as stockholders’ equity. Our Class A Common Stock features certain redemption rights that is considered to be outside of the Company’s control and subject to the occurrence of uncertain future events. Accordingly, Class A Common Stock subject to possible redemption is presented at redemption value as temporary equity, outside of the stockholders’ (deficit) equity section of the balance sheets.
Net Income Per Share
We have two classes of common shares, which are referred to as Class A Common Stock and Class B Common Stock. Earnings and losses are shared pro rata between the two classes of stock. Private and public warrants to purchase 14,480,000 Class A Common Stock at $11.50 per share were issued on February 8, 2021. No warrants were exercised during the period ended December 31, 2022 and 2021. The calculation of diluted income per common share does not consider the effect of the warrants issued in connection with the (i) IPO, (ii) exercise of over-allotment, and (iii) Private Placement since the exercise of the warrants are contingent upon the occurrence of future events. As a result, diluted net income per common share is the same as basic net income per common share for the periods. Accretion associated with the redeemable Class A Common Stock is excluded from earnings per share as the redemption value approximates fair value.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
In June 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2016-13, Financial Instruments-Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments, which requires entities to measure all expected credit losses for financial assets held at the reporting date based on historical experience, current conditions, and reasonable and supportable forecasts. ASU 2016-13 also requires additional disclosures regarding significant estimates and judgments used in estimating credit losses, as well as the credit quality and underwriting standards of an entity’s portfolio. The Company expects to adopt the provisions of this guidance on January 1, 2023. The adoption is not expected to have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.
Besides the above, the Company’s management does not believe that any other recently issued, but not yet effective, accounting standards if currently adopted would have a material effect on the accompanying consolidated financial statements.
ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK
We are a smaller reporting company as defined by Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act and are not required to provide the information otherwise required under this item.
ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA
This information appears following Item 15 of this Report and is included herein by reference.
ITEM 9. CHANGES IN AND DISAGREEMENTS WITH ACCOUNTANTS ON ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE
None.
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ITEM 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES.
Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
Disclosure controls are procedures that are designed with the objective of ensuring that information required to be disclosed in our reports filed under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized, and reported within the time period specified in the SEC’s rules and forms. Disclosure controls are also designed with the objective of ensuring that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including the chief executive officer and chief financial officer, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.
As of December 31, 2022, as required by Rules 13a-15 and 15d-15 under the Exchange Act, our principal executive officer and principal financial and accounting officer carried out an evaluation of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures. Based upon their evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act) were not effective because of a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting. A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the Company’s annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. Specifically, the Company’s management has concluded that our control around the interpretation and accounting for extinguishment of a significant contingent obligation was not effectively designed or maintained. In light of this material weakness, we performed additional analysis as deemed necessary to ensure that our financial statements were prepared in accordance with GAAP. Accordingly, management believes that the financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K/A present fairly in all material respects our financial position, results of operations and cash flows for the period presented.
Management’s Annual Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
As required by SEC rules and regulations implementing Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting. Our internal control over financial reporting is designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of our consolidated financial statements for external reporting purposes in accordance with GAAP. Our internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that:
| (1) | pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of our company, |
| (2) | provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of consolidated financial statements in accordance with GAAP, and that our receipts and expenditures are being made only in accordance with authorizations of our management and directors, and |
| (3) | provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition of our assets that could have a material effect on the consolidated financial statements. |
Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect errors or misstatements in our consolidated financial statements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree or compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate. Management assessed the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting at December 31, 2022. In making these assessments, management used the criteria set forth by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) in Internal Control — Integrated Framework (2013). Based on our assessments and those criteria, management determined that our internal controls over financial reporting were not effective as of December 31, 2022.
This Annual Report on Form 10-K/A does not include an attestation report of our independent registered public accounting firm due to our status as an emerging growth company under the JOBS Act.
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Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
There was no change in our internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the period covered by this Annual Report on Form 10-K/A that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting. The circumstances that led to the material weakness and restatement described above were identified subsequent to December 31, 2022.
Item 9B. OTHER INFORMATION
None.
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PART III
Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance
Directors and Executive Officers
Our officers and directors are as follows:
Name |
| Age |
| Position |
|
Robert Palmisano | | 78 | | Chairman and Chief Executive Officer | |
Vikram Malik | | 60 | | President and Director | |
Oleg Grodnensky | | 45 | | Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Secretary | |
Lance A. Berry | | 50 | | Director | |
James A. Lightman | | 65 | | Director | |
Julie B. Andrews | | 51 | | Director | |
Robert Palmisano, 78, has been our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer since December 2020. Mr. Palmisano has over 40 years of experience in various sectors within the healthcare industry and has been in leadership roles at several prominent global medical technology companies. Mr. Palmisano’s first role as President and Chief Executive Officer in the medical technology sector began in 1997, at Summit Technology Inc. (“Summit Technology”), a manufacturer of ophthalmic laser systems, which he held until 2000 when the company was acquired by Alcon Laboratories Inc. From 2001 to 2003, Mr. Palmisano served as President and Chief Executive Officer of MacroChem Corporation, a specialty pharmaceutical company that develops and commercializes topical pharmaceutical products. In 2003, Mr. Palmisano became the President and Chief Executive Officer of IntraLase Corp. (“IntraLase”), an ophthalmic laser technology company with a post-money valuation of $74 million at the time. Mr. Palmisano guided IntraLase through its initial public offering in 2004, with a post-money valuation of approximately $340 million, until its 2007 acquisition by Advanced Medical Optics, Inc. (“Advanced Medical Optics”) in a transaction valued at approximately $800 million in equity value. Following the sale of IntraLase, Mr. Palmisano became Chief Executive Officer of ev3 Inc. (“ev3”) in 2008, a global endovascular device company, which had a market capitalization of approximately $790 million, and held the role until 2010 when the company was acquired by Covidien plc (“Covidien”) in a transaction valued at approximately $2.6 billion in equity value. Following the sale of ev3, Mr. Palmisano became the President and Chief Executive Officer of Wright Medical Group N.V. (“Wright Medical”) in 2011, which had a market capitalization of approximately $850 million, and held the role until 2020 when the company was acquired by Stryker Corporation (“Stryker”) (NYSE:SYK) in a transaction valued at $4.7 billion in equity value. Mr. Palmisano previously served on the board of directors of Avedro, Inc., ev3 Inc., Osteotech, Inc., (NYSE: MDT) Advanced Medical Optics, Inc., Entellus Medical, Inc. and Bausch & Lomb. We believe Mr. Palmisano is qualified to serve on the Board due to his executive experience with several prominent global medical technology companies.
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Vikram Malik, 60, has been our President and a Director since December 2020. Mr. Malik has 34 years of experience in investment banking, private growth equity investments, business strategy and business development as well as corporate governance through several board positions. Mr. Malik began his investment banking career in 1987 at Swiss Bank Corporation in cross border mergers and acquisitions. After 26 years on Wall Street at various firms such as Chase Manhattan Bank, Dresdner Bank, Credit Suisse First Boston, Banc of America Securities and Bank of America Merrill Lynch, advising on M&A, equity and debt capital raising, leveraged buyouts and private placements, he retired from investment banking as Vice Chairman Investment Banking of Deutsche Bank Securities in 2013. During a very successful career on Wall Street, Mr. Malik led over $100 billion of M&A, equity and debt transactions, including some ground breaking deals such as the creation of the world’s largest dialysis products and services company, Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA (“Fresenius”) (NYSE: FMS), in a complex, $4.2 billion, cross border, Leveraged Reverse Morris Trust transaction in 1996, which was awarded M&A Deal of The Year accolades by The Wall Street Journal. Mr. Malik’s experience also includes the $4 billion acquisition of Renal Care Group, Inc. by Fresenius in 2005, the $4.5 billion acquisition of ophthalmology leader Bausch & Lomb by Warburg Pincus LLC in 2007, and the $2 billion acquisition of a vascular access products company, Arrow International, Inc., by Teleflex Incorporated in 2007, which began its transformation from an industrial conglomerate into a medical products company, today known as Teleflex Medical. Additionally, Mr. Malik participated in the $4.3 billion spin-off of medical products conglomerate CareFusion Corp. (“CareFusion”) from Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH), in 2009. Mr. Malik also played lead roles in the IPOs and listings of many healthcare companies such as Fresenius, AMN Healthcare Services Inc. (NYSE:AMN), Cross Country Healthcare Inc. (Nasdaq: CCRN), IntraLase, Symmetry Medical Inc., NuVasive, Inc. (Nasdaq: NUVA), CareFusion, and Evolus, Inc. (“Evolus”) (Nasdaq: EOLS). We believe Mr. Malik is qualified to serve on the Board due to his financial experience in the healthcare industry.
Oleg Grodnensky, 45, has been our Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer since December 2020 and Secretary of the Board since May 2021. Mr. Grodnensky has over 24 years of experience working in finance, general advisory, business development and operations within the life sciences industry, and brings extensive financial and operational expertise to our company. Mr. Grodnensky began his career on Wall Street in 1998 focusing on leading M&A transactions, restructurings, and equity and debt capital raising in life science sectors. Mr. Grodnensky and Mr. Malik have worked together at Banc of America Securities. Following more than ten years in healthcare investment banking and over 30 advisory roles totaling $17 billion in value, Mr. Grodnensky founded HV Capital, where he provided operational turnaround, strategic business development and buy-side advisory services to global healthcare and private equity firms, and acted as a principal investor in growth and venture opportunities. In September 2020, Mr. Grodnensky founded Priveterra Capital to focus on strategic opportunity investments across life sciences and financial technology sectors. Mr. Grodnensky received his BS in Economics and Mathematics from Duke University in 1998.
Lance A. Berry, 50, has served on the Board since the Initial Public Offering. Mr. Berry has over fifteen years’ experience in senior leadership roles for Wright Medical Group N.V. (Nasdaq: WMGI), a $1 billion global healthcare growth company. From January, 2019 to November, 2020, Mr. Berry was Executive Vice President, Chief Financial and Operations Officer, overseeing all aspects of corporate strategy, finance, tax, accounting, supply chain, manufacturing, digital strategy and execution, business development, information technology and investor relations on a global basis at Wright Medical Group. Working with Mr. Palmisano at Wright Medical, Mr. Berry oversaw many successful mergers and acquisitions, which included a variety of financing transactions. Notable transactions include the approximately $5.4 billion sale of Wright Medical to Stryker Corp. (NYSE: SYK) in 2019, Wright Medical’s $3.4 billion in equity value acquisition of Tornier N.V. in 2014, and the approximately $300 million carve out and sale of Wright Medical’s hip and knee business to Microport in 2014. Mr. Berry has also served on the board of directors of Vapotherm Inc. (NYSE: VAPO) since January 2020 and of Treace Medical Concepts, Inc. Prior to assuming his role as Executive Vice President, Chief Financial and Operations Officer, Mr. Berry was Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Wright Medical from 2009 to January 2019 and Corporate Controller from 2002 to 2009. Mr. Berry and Mr. Palmisano have worked with one another for nine years. Mr. Berry also worked with Mr. Malik during his time as CFO of Wright Medical. We believe Mr. Berry is qualified to serve on the Board due to his M&A experience in the healthcare industry.
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James A. Lightman, 65, has served on the Board since the Initial Public Offering. Mr. Lightman has over two decades of corporate legal experience and brings a diverse skill set in managing complex legal and business matters for public and private healthcare and medical device companies. He has held chief legal officer positions with leading healthcare technology companies including Eyeonics, Inc., IntraLase Corp., Summit Autonomous Inc., Amicore, Inc. and Wright Medical Group, N.V. From 2008 to 2009, Mr. Lightman served as Vice President and Assistant General Counsel at Bausch & Lomb, where he most recently held the position of Vice President, Global Sales Operations until 2011. In 2011, Mr. Lightman joined Wright Medical Group, Inc. as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, a position he held until November, 2020, when Wright was acquired by Stryker Corp. In December, 2020, Mr. Lightman was appointed Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Vapotherm, Inc., the position he currently holds. Mr. Lightman holds a juris doctor degree cum laude from the Boston University School of Law and a bachelor’s degree magna cum laude from the Boston University School of Management. He is a member of the Massachusetts Bar. Over the last twenty two years, Mr. Lightman and Mr. Palmisano have worked together in multiple healthcare technology companies. Mr. Lightman, while acting as General Counsel at IntraLase and Wright, worked with Mr. Malik as well. We believe Mr. Lightman is qualified to serve on the Board due to his corporate legal experience in public and private healthcare technology companies.
‘Julie B. Andrews, 51, has served on the Board since the Initial Public Offering. Ms. Andrews has over 15 years’ experience in senior finance leadership roles with leading medical technology companies and brings a broad skill set in executing strategic initiatives and leading global finance organizations. Ms. Andrews is the Chief Financial Officer for Smart Wires Technology LTD. (Nasdaq 1st North: GOGRID-SDB.ST, a clean technology company focused on digitalizing and modernizing the electrical grid. From August, 2019 to November, 2020, Ms. Andrews held the position of Senior Vice President, Global Finance with Wright Medical Group N.V. (Nasdaq: WMGI) with responsibility for the finance, accounting, tax and treasury functions. During her time at Wright Medical, Ms. Andrews played key leadership roles in several successful mergers and acquisitions. These included leading the divestiture and carve-out of the approximately $300 million sale of the hip and knee business to Microport, providing leadership oversight for Wright Medical’s $3.3 billion in equity value acquisition of Tornier, N.V., and leading the diligence and integration planning of the sale of Wright Medical to Stryker Corp. Ms. Andrews was Vice President, Chief Accounting Officer from October 2015 to August 2019. Prior to joining Wright Medical, Ms. Andrews spent fourteen years at Medtronic, Inc., a global medical device company. During her tenure with Medtronic, Ms. Andrews held numerous key financial positions including Vice President, Finance (Business Unit CFO) for the $3.5 billion Spine and Biologics business. Ms. Andrews began her career working with Thomas & Betts Corporation in Memphis, Tennessee and Thomas Havey, LLP in Chicago, Illinois. Ms. Andrews also serves on the board of directors of RxSight (NASDAQ: RXST) and as the chairperson of the audit committee since August 2021, and as the Chief Financial Officer of Smart Wires Technology Ltd. since September 2021. Ms. Andrews received a BS in Accounting from Indiana University NW in 1993. Ms. Andrews and Mr. Palmisano have worked with one another for eight years. We believe that Ms. Andrews is qualified to serve on the Board due to her financial experience in the healthcare industry.
Director Independence
Nasdaq rules require that a majority of our board of directors be independent within one year of our initial public offering. An “independent director” is defined generally as a person who, in the opinion of the company’s board of directors, has no material relationship with the listed company (either directly or as a partner, stockholder or officer of an organization that has a relationship with the company). Our board of directors has determined that Julie Andrews, James Lightman and Lance Berry are “independent directors” as defined in the Nasdaq listing standards and applicable SEC rules. Our independent directors have regularly scheduled meetings at which only independent directors are present.
Committees of the Board of Directors
Our board of directors has two standing committees: an audit committee and a compensation committee. Subject to phase-in rules and a limited exception, the rules of Nasdaq and Rule 10A-3 of the Exchange Act require that the audit committee of a listed company be comprised solely of independent directors. Subject to phase-in rules and a limited exception, the rules of Nasdaq require that the compensation committee of a listed company be comprised solely of independent directors.
Audit Committee
We have established an audit committee of the board of directors. The members of our audit committee are Ms. Andrews and Messrs. Lightman and Berry. Ms. Andrews chairs the audit committee. All members of our audit committee are independent of and unaffiliated with our sponsor and our underwriters.
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Each member of the audit committee is financially literate and our board of directors has determined that Ms. Andrews qualifies as an “audit committee financial expert” as defined in applicable SEC rules and has accounting or related financial management expertise.
We adopted an audit committee charter, which details the principal functions of the audit committee, including:
| ● | meeting with our independent registered public accounting firm regarding, among other issues, audits, and adequacy of our accounting and control systems; |
| ● | monitoring the independence of the registered public accounting firm; |
| ● | verifying the rotation of the lead (or coordinating) audit partner having primary responsibility for the audit and the audit partner responsible for reviewing the audit as required by law; |
| ● | inquiring and discussing with management our compliance with applicable laws and regulations; |
| ● | pre-approving all audit services and permitted non-audit services to be performed by our registered public accounting firm, including the fees and terms of the services to be performed; |
| ● | appointing or replacing the registered public accounting firm; |
| ● | determining the compensation and oversight of the work of the registered public accounting firm (including resolution of disagreements between management and the registered public accounting firm regarding financial reporting) for the purpose of preparing or issuing an audit report or related work; |
| ● | establishing procedures for the receipt, retention and treatment of complaints received by us regarding accounting, internal accounting controls or reports which raise material issues regarding our financial statements or accounting policies; |
| ● | monitoring compliance on a quarterly basis with the terms of our initial public offering and, if any noncompliance is identified, immediately taking all action necessary to rectify such noncompliance or otherwise causing compliance with the terms of our initial public offering; and |
| ● | reviewing and approving all payments made to our existing stockholders, executive officers or directors and their respective affiliates. Any payments made to members of our audit committee will be reviewed and approved by our board of directors, with the interested director or directors abstaining from such review and approval. |
Compensation Committee
We established a compensation committee of the board of directors. Messrs. Berry and Lightman serve as members of our compensation committee. Mr. Berry chairs the compensation committee.
We adopted a compensation committee charter, which details the principal functions of the compensation committee, including:
| ● | reviewing and approving on an annual basis the corporate goals and objectives relevant to our chief executive officer’s compensation, evaluating our chief executive officer’s performance in light of such goals and objectives and determining and approving the remuneration (if any) of our chief executive officer’s based on such evaluation; |
| ● | reviewing and approving the compensation of all of our other Section 16 executive officers; |
| ● | reviewing our executive compensation policies and plans; |
| ● | implementing and administering our incentive compensation equity-based remuneration plans; |
| ● | assisting management in complying with our proxy statement and annual report disclosure requirements; |
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| ● | approving all special perquisites, special cash payments and other special compensation and benefit arrangements for our executive officers and employees; |
| ● | producing a report on executive compensation to be included in our annual proxy statement; and |
| ● | reviewing, evaluating and recommending changes, if appropriate, to the remuneration for directors. |
Notwithstanding the foregoing, other than those payments and reimbursements described under the heading “Item 11. Executive Compensation” below, 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 (including our proposed initial business combination with AEON). 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, independent legal counsel or other adviser is directly responsible for the appointment, compensation and oversight of the work of any such adviser. However, before engaging or receiving advice from a compensation consultant, external legal counsel or any other adviser, the compensation committee will consider the independence of each such adviser, including the factors required by Nasdaq and the SEC.
Director Nominations
We do not have a standing nominating committee though we intend to form a corporate governance and nominating committee as and when required to do so by law or Nasdaq rules. In accordance with Rule 5605(e)(2) of the Nasdaq rules, a majority of the independent directors may recommend a director nominee for selection by our board of directors. Our board of directors believes that the independent directors can satisfactorily carry out the responsibility of properly selecting or approving director nominees without the formation of a standing nominating committee. The directors who will participate in the consideration and recommendation of director nominees are Ms. Andrews and Messrs. Lightman and Berry. In accordance with Rule 5605(e)(1)(A) of the Nasdaq rules, all such directors are independent. As there is no standing nominating committee, we do not have a nominating committee charter in place.
The board of directors will also consider director candidates recommended for nomination by our stockholders during such times as they are seeking proposed nominees to stand for election at the next annual meeting of stockholders (or, if applicable, a special meeting of stockholders). Our stockholders that wish to nominate a director for election to our board of directors should follow the procedures set forth in our bylaws.
We have not formally established any specific, minimum qualifications that must be met or skills that are necessary for directors to possess. In general, in identifying and evaluating nominees for director, our board of directors considers educational background, diversity of professional experience, knowledge of our business, integrity, professional reputation, independence, wisdom, and the ability to represent the best interests of our stockholders.
Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation
None of our executive officers currently serves, and in the past year has not served, as a member of the compensation committee of any entity that has one or more executive officers serving on our board of directors.
Section 16(a) Beneficial Ownership Reporting Compliance
Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act requires our officers, directors and persons who beneficially own more than 10% of our common stock to file reports of ownership and changes in ownership with the SEC. These reporting persons are also required to furnish us with copies of all Section 16(a) forms they file. Based solely upon a review of such forms, we believe that during the year ended December 31, 2021 there were no delinquent filers.
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Code of Ethics
We have adopted a code of ethics applicable to our directors, officers and employees (“Code of Ethics”). A copy of the Code of Ethics will be provided without charge upon request from us. We intend to disclose any amendments to or waivers of certain provisions of our Code of Ethics in a Current Report on Form 8-K.
Conflicts of Interest
In general, officers and directors of a corporation incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware are required to present business opportunities to a corporation if:
| ● | the corporation could financially undertake the opportunity; |
| ● | the opportunity is within the corporation’s line of business; and |
| ● | it would not be fair to our company and its stockholders for the opportunity not to be brought to the attention of the corporation. |
Certain of our officers and directors presently have, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to another entity pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entity. Accordingly, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for an entity to which he or she has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she will honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such business combination opportunity to such entity. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that we renounce our interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any director or officer unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of the 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. We do not believe, however, that the fiduciary duties or contractual obligations of our officers or directors will materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination.
Below is a table summarizing the entities to which our executive officers and directors currently have fiduciary duties or contractual obligations:
Individual |
| Entity |
| Entity’s Business |
| Affiliation |
|
Robert Palmisano | | Stryker Corporation (as successor-in-interest to Wright Medical) | | Medical technologies | | Former Chief Executive Officer of Wright Medical | |
Vikram Malik | | Evolus, Inc. | | Medical aesthetics | | Chairman | |
| | Strathspey Crown (resigned 2022) | | Growth equity | | Manager | |
| | AEON BioPharma, Inc. | | Biopharmaceuticals | | Director | |
| | AccessElite | | Corporate wellness | | Director | |
| | Alphaeon Credit, Inc. | | Patient financing | | Chairman | |
Lance A. Berry | | Vapotherm Inc. | | Medical devices | | Director | |
| | Stryker Corporation (as successor-in-interest to Wright Medical) | | Medical technologies | | Former Executive Vice President, Chief Financial and Operations Officer of Wright Medical | |
| | Treace Medical Concepts, Inc. | | Medical devices | | Director | |
James A. Lightman | | Vapotherm Inc. | | Medical devices | | Senior Vice President and General Counsel | |
| | Stryker Corporation (as successor-in-interest to Wright Medical) | | Medical technologies | | Former Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Wright Medical | |
Julie B. Andrews | | Stryker Corporation (as successor-in-interest to Wright Medical) | | Medical technologies | | Former Senior Vice President, Global Finance of Wright Medical | |
| | RxSight, Inc. | | Medical technologies | | Director, Chairperson of the Audit Committee | |
| | Smart Wires Technology Ltd. | | Power technologies | | Chief Financial Officer | |
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Potential investors should also be aware of the following other potential conflicts of interest:
| ● | Our executive officers and directors are not required to, and will not, commit their full time to our affairs, which may result in a conflict of interest in allocating their time between our operations and our search for a business combination and their other businesses. We do not intend to have any full-time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination. Certain of our executive officers are engaged in several other business endeavors for which he may be entitled to substantial compensation, and our executive officers are not obligated to contribute any specific number of hours per week to our affairs. |
| ● | Our initial stockholders purchased founder shares and private placement warrants in a transaction that closed simultaneously with the closing of our initial public offering. Our initial stockholders have entered into agreements with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and any public shares they hold in connection with the completion of our initial business combination. The other members of our management team have entered into agreements similar to the one entered into by our initial stockholders with respect to any public shares acquired by them in or after our initial public offering. Additionally, our initial stockholders have agreed to waive their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to their founder shares if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame or during any Extension Period. If we do not complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame, the private placement warrants will expire worthless. Furthermore, our initial stockholders have agreed not to transfer, assign or sell any of their founder shares until the earlier to occur of: (i) one year after the completion of our initial business combination and (ii) the date following the completion of our initial business combination on which we complete a liquidation, merger, capital stock exchange or other similar transaction that results in all of our stockholders having the right to exchange their common stock for cash, securities or other property. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if the closing price of our Class A Common Stock equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after our initial business combination, the founder shares will be released from the lockup. Subject to certain limited exceptions, the private placement warrants will not be transferable until 30 days following the completion of our initial business combination. Because certain of our executive officers and director nominees will own common stock or warrants directly or indirectly, they may have a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target business (including AEON) is an appropriate business with which to effectuate our initial business combination. |
| ● | Our officers and directors may have a conflict of interest with respect to evaluating a particular business combination (including our proposed initial business combination with AEON) if the retention or resignation of any such officers and directors was included by a target business as a condition to any agreement with respect to our initial business combination. |
We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a business combination target that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors or completing the business combination through a joint venture or other form of shared ownership with our sponsor, officers or directors (although AEON is not affiliated with our sponsor, officers, directors or scientific advisor). In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with a business combination target that is affiliated with our sponsor, executive officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, would obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking which is a member of FINRA or a valuation or appraisal firm, that such initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view. We are not required to obtain such an opinion in any other context. Furthermore, other than those payments and reimbursements described under the heading “Item 11. Executive Compensation” below, in no event will our sponsor or any of our existing officers or directors, or any of their respective affiliates, be paid by the company any finder’s fee, consulting fee or other compensation prior to, or for any services they render in order to effectuate, the completion of our initial business combination (regardless of the type of transaction that it is, including the proposed initial business combination with AEON, which is described elsewhere in this Report).
We cannot assure you that any of the above mentioned conflicts will be resolved in our favor.
In the event that we submit our initial business combination to our public stockholders for a vote, our initial stockholders have agreed to vote their founder shares, and they and the other members of our management team have agreed to vote any founder shares they hold and any shares purchased during or after our initial public offering in favor of our initial business combination.
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Limitation on Liability and Indemnification of Officers and Directors
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that our officers and directors are indemnified by us to the fullest extent authorized by Delaware law, as it now exists or may in the future be amended. In addition, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that our directors are not personally liable for monetary damages to us or our stockholders for breaches of their fiduciary duty as directors, unless they violated their duty of loyalty to us or our stockholders, acted in bad faith, knowingly or intentionally violated the law, authorized unlawful payments of dividends, unlawful stock purchases or unlawful redemptions, or derived an improper personal benefit from their actions as directors.
We entered into agreements with our officers and directors to provide contractual indemnification in addition to the indemnification provided for in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. Our bylaws also permit us to secure insurance on behalf of any officer, director or employee for any liability arising out of his or her actions, regardless of whether Delaware law would permit such indemnification. We purchased a policy of directors’ and officers’ liability insurance that insures our officers and directors against the cost of defense, settlement or payment of a judgment in some circumstances and insures us against our obligations to indemnify our officers and directors. Except with respect to any public shares they may acquire in our initial public offering or thereafter (in the event we do not consummate an initial business combination), our officers and directors have agreed to waive (and any other persons who may become an officer or director prior to the initial business combination will also be required to waive) any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies in the trust account, and not to seek recourse against the trust account for any reason whatsoever, including with respect to such indemnification.
These provisions may discourage stockholders from bringing a lawsuit against our directors for breach of their fiduciary duty. These provisions also may have the effect of reducing the likelihood of derivative litigation against 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 officers and directors pursuant to these indemnification provisions.
We believe that these provisions, the directors’ and officers’ liability insurance and the indemnity agreements are necessary to attract and retain talented and experienced officers and directors.
Item 11.Executive Compensation
Commencing on February 11, 2021, the date that our securities were first listed on Nasdaq through the earlier of consummation of our initial business combination and our liquidation, we will pay up to $25,000 per month for administrative and other services, of which $10,000 per month will be paid to our sponsor for office space and administrative services provided to members of our management team and up to $15,000 will be used to compensate our Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer and Chief Legal Officer and Secretary for a portion of their time spent on our affairs. In addition, subject to approval by our audit committee, we may pay members of our board of directors for advisory or consulting services that may be provided to us in connection with our initial business combination and our sponsor, executive officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made to our sponsor, executive officers or directors, or our or their affiliates. Any such payments prior to an initial business combination will be made from 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 our activities on our behalf in connection with identifying and consummating an initial business combination. Other than these payments and reimbursements, no compensation of any kind, including finder’s and consulting fees, will be paid by the company to our sponsor, executive officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates, prior to completion of our 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 stockholders, to the extent then known, in the proxy solicitation materials or tender offer materials furnished to our stockholders in connection with a proposed business combination. We have not established any limit on the amount of such fees that may be paid by the combined company to our directors or members of management. It is unlikely the amount of such compensation will be known at the time of the proposed business combination, because the directors of the post-combination business will be responsible for determining executive officer and director compensation. Any compensation to be paid to our executive officers will be determined, or recommended to the
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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 executive 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 business combination. We are not party to any agreements with our executive officers and directors that provide for benefits upon termination of employment.
Item 12.Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters
The following table sets forth information regarding the beneficial ownership of our common stock as of the date of this Annual Report, and as adjusted to reflect the sale of our Class A Common Stock included in the units offered by this Annual Report, and assuming no purchase of units in our initial public offering, by:
| ● | each person known by us to be the beneficial owner of more than 5% of our outstanding shares of common stock; |
| ● | each of our executive officers, directors and director nominees; and |
| ● | all our executive officers and directors as a group. |
Unless otherwise indicated, we believe that all persons named in the table have sole voting and investment power with respect to all of our common stock beneficially owned by them. The following table does not reflect record or beneficial ownership of the private placement warrants as these warrants are not exercisable within 60 days of the date of this Annual Report. On December 17, 2020, our sponsor subscribed for an aggregate 5,750,000 founder shares for a total subscription price of $25,000, or approximately $0.004 per share. Such shares are fully paid, and the cash amount of the subscription price therefor was received on December 17, 2020. On February 8, 2021, as part of an upsizing of the IPO, we effected a stock split in which each issued share of Class B Common Stock that was outstanding was converted into one and two tenths shares of Class B Common Stock, resulting in an aggregate of 6,900,000 founder shares issued and outstanding. Prior to the initial investment in the company of $25,000 by the sponsor, the company had no assets, tangible or intangible. The purchase price of the founder shares was determined by dividing the amount of cash contributed to the company by the number of founder shares issued. The number of founder shares outstanding was determined based on the total size of our initial public offering of 27,600,000 units, and therefore that such founder shares would represent 20% of the outstanding shares after our initial public offering.
| | Number of | | Approximate Percentage of Outstanding |
| ||
| | Shares Beneficially | | Common Stock |
| ||
Name and Address of Beneficial Owner(1) |
| Owned(2) |
| Before Offering |
| After Offering |
|
Priveterra Sponsor, LLC (our sponsor)(3) |
| 6,900,000 |
| 100.0 | % | 20.0 | % |
Robert Palmisano(3) |
| 6,900,000 |
| 100.0 | % | 20.0 | % |
Vikram Malik(3) |
| 6,900,000 |
| 100.0 | % | 20.0 | % |
Oleg Grodnensky(3) |
| 6,900,000 |
| 100.0 | % | 20.0 | % |
Lance A. Berry |
| — |
| — |
| — | |
James A. Lightman |
| — |
| — |
| — | |
Julie B. Andrews |
| — |
| — |
| — | |
All executive officers and directors as a group (7 individuals) |
| 6,900,000 |
| 100.0 | % | 20.0 | % |
* Less than 1%.
(1) Unless otherwise noted, the business address of each of the following is 300 SE 2nd Street, Suite 600, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33301.
63
(2) Interests shown consist solely of founder shares, classified as Class B Common Stock. Such shares will automatically convert into Class A Common Stock concurrently with or immediately following the consummation of our initial business combination on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment, as described in the section entitled “Description of Securities.”
(3) Our sponsor, Priveterra Sponsor, LLC, is the record holder of the shares reported herein. Each of Messrs. Palmisano, Grodnensky and Malik has voting and investment discretion with respect to the common stock held of record by Priveterra Sponsor, LLC. Each of our officers and directors other than Messrs. Palmisano, Grodnensky and Malik disclaims any beneficial ownership of any shares held by our sponsor.
Our initial stockholders beneficially own 20.0% of our issued and outstanding common stock. Because of this ownership block, our initial stockholders may be able to effectively influence the outcome of all other matters requiring approval by our stockholders, including amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and approval of significant corporate transactions including our initial business combination.
Our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 5,213,333 private placement warrants, at a price of $1.50 per warrant, or $7,820,000 in the aggregate, in a private placement that occurred simultaneously with the closing of our initial public offering. Each private placement warrant entitles the holder to purchase one share of Class A Common Stock at $11.50 per share. A portion of the purchase price of the private placement warrants was added to the proceeds from our initial public offering to be held in the trust account. If we do not complete our initial business combination by August 11, 2023, the private placement warrants will expire worthless. The private placement warrants are subject to the transfer restrictions described below. The private placement warrants will not be redeemable by us so long as they are held by the initial purchasers or their permitted transferees. The initial purchasers, or their permitted transferees, have the option to exercise the private placement warrants on a cashless basis. If the private placement warrants are held by holders other than initial purchasers or their permitted transferees, the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us and exercisable by the holders on the same basis as the warrants included in the units being sold in our initial public offering. Otherwise, the private placement warrants have terms and provisions that are identical to those of the warrants being sold as part of the units in our initial public offering.
Priveterra Sponsor, LLC, our sponsor, and our executive officers are deemed to be our “promoters” as such term is defined under the federal securities laws.
Transfers of Founder Shares and Private Placement Warrants
The founder shares, private placement warrants and any shares of Class A Common Stock issued upon conversion or exercise thereof are each subject to transfer restrictions pursuant to lock-up provisions in the agreements entered into by our initial stockholders and management team. Those lock-up provisions provide that such securities are not transferable or salable (i) in the case of the founder shares, until the earlier of (A) one year after the completion of our initial business combination or earlier if, subsequent to our initial business combination, the closing price of the Class A Common Stock equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after our initial business combination and (B) the date following the completion of our initial business combination on which we complete a liquidation, merger, capital stock exchange or other similar transaction that results in all of our stockholders having the right to exchange their Class A Common Stock for cash, securities or other property and (ii) in the case of the private placement warrants and the respective shares of Class A Common Stock underlying such warrants, until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination except in each case (a) to our officers or directors, any affiliate or family member of any of our officers or directors, any affiliate of our sponsor or to any member of the sponsor or any of their affiliates, (b) in the case of an individual, as a gift to such person’s immediate family or to a trust, the beneficiary of which is a member of such person’s immediate family, an affiliate of such person or to a charitable organization; (c) in the case of an individual, by virtue of laws of descent and distribution upon death of such person; (d) in the case of an individual, pursuant to a qualified domestic relations order; (e) by private sales or transfers made in connection with any forward purchase agreement or similar arrangement or in connection with the consummation of a business combination at prices no greater than the price at which the shares or warrants were originally purchased; (f) by virtue of the laws of the State of Delaware or our Sponsor’s limited liability company agreement upon dissolution of our Sponsor, (g) in the event of our liquidation prior to our consummation of our initial business combination; or (h) in the event that, subsequent to our consummation of an initial business combination, we complete a liquidation, merger, capital stock exchange or other similar transaction which results in all of our stockholders having the right to exchange their Class A Common Stock for cash, securities or other property; provided, however, that in the case of clauses (a) through (f) these permitted transferees must enter into a written agreement agreeing to be bound by these transfer restrictions and the other restrictions contained in the letter agreement.
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Registration Rights
The holders of the (i) founder shares, which were issued in a private placement prior to the closing of our initial public offering, (ii) private placement warrants, which were issued in a private placement simultaneously with the closing of our initial public offering and the shares of Class A Common Stock underlying such private placement warrants and (iii) private placement warrants that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans will have registration rights to require us to register a sale of any of our securities held by them prior to the consummation of our initial business combination pursuant to a registration rights agreement to be signed prior to or on the effective date of our initial public offering. Pursuant to the registration rights agreement and assuming the $1.5 million of working capital loans are converted into private placement warrants, we will be obligated to register up to 13,113,333 shares of Class A Common Stock and 6,213,333 warrants. The number of shares of Class A Common Stock includes (i) 6,900,000 shares of Class A Common Stock to be issued upon conversion of the founder shares, (ii) 5,213,333 shares of Class A Common Stock underlying the private placement warrants and (iii) 1,000,000 shares of Class A Common Stock underlying the private placement warrants issued upon conversion of working capital loans. The number of warrants includes 5,213,333 private placement warrants and 1,000,000 private placement warrants issued upon conversion of working capital loans. The holders of these securities are entitled to make up to three demands, excluding short form demands, that we register such securities. In addition, the holders have certain “piggy-back” registration rights with respect to registration statements filed subsequent to our completion of our initial business combination. We will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such registration statements.
Equity Compensation Plans
As of December 31, 2021, we had no compensation plans (including individual compensation arrangements) under which equity securities were authorized for issuance.
Item 13.Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence
On December 17, 2020 our sponsor subscribed for an aggregate 5,750,000 founder shares for a total subscription price of $25,000, or approximately $0.004 per share. Such shares are fully paid, and the cash amount of the subscription price therefor was received on December 17, 2020. The number of founder shares outstanding was determined based on the expectation that the total size of our initial public offering would be a maximum of 23,000,000 units if the underwriters’ over-allotment option was exercised in full, and therefore that such founder shares would represent 20% of the outstanding shares after our initial public offering. On February 8, 2021, as part of an upsizing of the IPO, we effected a stock split in which each issued share of Class B Common Stock that was outstanding was converted into one and two tenths shares of Class B Common Stock, resulting in an aggregate of 6,900,000 founder shares issued and outstanding, equal to 20% of our issued and outstanding common stock.
Our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 5,213,333 private placement warrants, at a price of $1.50 per warrant, or $7,820,000 in the aggregate, in a private placement that closed simultaneously with the closing of our initial public offering. Each private placement warrant entitles the holder to purchase one share of Class A Common Stock at $11.50 per share. The private placement warrants (including the Class A Common Stock issuable upon exercise of the private placement warrants) may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination.
We currently utilize office space at 300 SE 2nd Street, Suite 600, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33301 from our sponsor. We pay up to $25,000 per month for administrative and other services, of which $10,000 per month is paid to our sponsor for office space and administrative services provided to members of our management team and up to $15,000 is used to compensate our Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Legal Officer and Secretary for a portion of their time spent on our affairs. Upon completion of our initial business combination or our liquidation, we will cease paying these monthly fees.
Subject to approval by our audit committee, we may pay members of our board of directors for advisory or consulting services that may be provided to us in connection with our initial business combination. In addition, our sponsor, executive officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. Other than the foregoing, no compensation of any kind, including finder’s and consulting fees, will be paid by the company to our sponsor, executive officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates, for services rendered prior to or in connection with the completion of an initial business combination. Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made to our sponsor, officers, directors or our or their affiliates.
65
In addition, in order to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds as may be required on a non-interest basis. If we complete an initial business combination, we would repay such loaned amounts. In the event that the initial business combination does not close, we may use a portion of the working capital held outside the trust account to repay such loaned amounts but no proceeds from our trust account would be used for such repayment. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants of the post business combination entity at a price of $1.50 per warrant at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants. In June 2021, the company had $100,000 of Working Capital Loans outstanding which were converted into 66,667 Working Capital Warrants. As of December 31, 2021 and 2020, the company had no borrowings under the Working Capital Loans.
After our initial business combination, members of our management team who remain with us may be paid consulting, management or other fees from the combined company with any and all amounts being fully disclosed to our stockholders, to the extent then known, in the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, furnished to our stockholders. It is unlikely the amount of such compensation will be known at the time of distribution of such tender offer materials or at the time of a stockholder meeting held to consider our initial business combination, as applicable, as it will be up to the directors of the post-combination business to determine executive and director compensation.
We have entered into a registration rights agreement with respect to the founder shares and private placement warrants, which is described under the heading “Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters—Registration Rights.”
Policy for Approval of Related Party Transactions
The audit committee of our board of directors has adopted a policy setting forth the policies and procedures for its review and approval or ratification of “related party transactions.” A “related party transaction” is any consummated or proposed transaction or series of transactions: (i) in which the company was or is to be a participant; (ii) the amount of which exceeds (or is reasonably expected to exceed) the lesser of $120,000 or 1% of the average of the company’s total assets at year end for the prior two completed fiscal years in the aggregate over the duration of the transaction (without regard to profit or loss); and (iii) in which a “related party” had, has or will have a direct or indirect material interest. “Related parties” under this policy will include: (i) our directors, nominees for director or executive officers; (ii) any record or beneficial owner of more than 5% of any class of our voting securities; (iii) any immediate family member of any of the foregoing if the foregoing person is a natural person; and (iv) any other person who maybe a “related person” pursuant to Item 404 of Regulation S-K under the Exchange Act. Pursuant to the policy, the audit committee will consider (i) the relevant facts and circumstances of each related party transaction, including if the transaction is on terms comparable to those that could be obtained in arm’s-length dealings with an unrelated third party, (ii) the extent of the related party’s interest in the transaction, (iii) whether the transaction contravenes our code of ethics or other policies, (iv) whether the audit committee believes the relationship underlying the transaction to be in the best interests of the company and its stockholders and (v) the effect that the transaction may have on a director’s status as an independent member of the board and on his or her eligibility to serve on the board’s committees. Management will present to the audit committee each proposed related party transaction, including all relevant facts and circumstances relating thereto. Under the policy, we may consummate related party transactions only if our audit committee approves or ratifies the transaction in accordance with the guidelines set forth in the policy. The policy will not permit any director or executive officer to participate in the discussion of, or decision concerning, a related person transaction in which he or she is the related party.
Director Independence
Nasdaq rules require that a majority of our board of directors be independent within one year of our initial public offering. An “independent director” is defined generally as a person who, in the opinion of the company’s board of directors, has no material relationship with the listed company (either directly or as a partner, stockholder or officer of an organization that has a relationship with the company). Our board of directors has determined that Julie Andrews, James Lightman and Lance Berry are “independent directors” as defined in the Nasdaq listing standards and applicable SEC rules. Our independent directors have regularly scheduled meetings at which only independent directors are present.
66
Item 14.Principal Accountant Fees and Services.
The firm of WithumSmith+Brown, PC, or Withum, acts as our independent registered public accounting firm. The following is a summary of fees paid to Withum for services rendered.
Audit Fees. For the year ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, fees for our independent registered public accounting firm were approximately $78,988 and $116,415, respectively, for the services Withum performed in connection with our Initial Public Offering and the audit of our December 31, 2022 and 2021 financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K/A.
Tax Fees. For the year ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, fees for our independent registered public accounting firm were approximately $9,152 and $8,320, respectively, for the services Withum performed in connection with our tax filings.
All Other Fees. For the year ended December 31, 2021 and for the period from November 17, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, there were no fees billed for products and services provided by our independent registered public accounting firm other than those set forth above.
Pre-Approval Policy
Our audit committee was formed upon the consummation of our Initial Public Offering. As a result, the audit committee did not pre-approve all of the foregoing services, although any services rendered prior to the formation of our audit committee were approved by our board of directors. Since the formation of our audit committee, and on a going-forward basis, the audit committee has and will pre-approve all auditing services and permitted non-audit services to be performed for us by our auditors, including the fees and terms thereof (subject to the de minimis exceptions for non-audit services described in the Exchange Act which are approved by the audit committee prior to the completion of the audit).
67
PART IV
Item 15.Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules
(a) The following documents are filed as part of this Form 10-K/A:
(1) Financial Statements:
| Page |
F-2 | |
Consolidated Financial Statements: | |
F-3 | |
F-4 | |
Consolidated Statement of Changes in Stockholders’ Deficit (as Restated) | F-5 |
F-6 | |
F-7 to F-24 |
(2) Financial Statement Schedules:
None.
(3) Exhibits:
We hereby file as part of this Annual Report the exhibits listed in the attached Exhibit Index. Exhibits which are incorporated herein by reference can be inspected and copied at the public reference facilities maintained by the SEC, 100 F Street, N.E., Room 1580, Washington, D.C. 20549. Copies of such material can also be obtained from the Public Reference Section of the SEC, 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549, at prescribed rates or on the SEC website at www.sec.gov.
68
Exhibit No. |
| Description |
*1.1 |
| |
**2.1 | | |
*3.1 |
| Second Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation of the Company. |
3.1(a) | | Amendment to the Second Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation. |
*3.2 |
| |
*4.1 |
| |
*10.1 |
| |
***10.1(a) | | |
*10.2 |
| |
*10.3 |
| |
*10.4 |
| |
*10.5 |
| |
*10.6 |
| Convertible Promissory Note, dated as of February 15, 2021, issued to Priveterra Sponsor, LLC. |
31.1 |
| |
31.2 |
| |
32.1 |
| |
32.2 |
| |
101.INS | | Inline XBRL Instance Document |
101.SCH | | Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document |
101.CAL | | Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase Document |
101.DEF | | Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase Document |
101.LAB | | Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Label Linkbase Document |
101.PRE | | Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase Document |
104 | | Cover Page Interactive Data File (formatted as inline XBRL and contained in Exhibit 101) |
* Previously filed as an exhibit to our Form 10-K filed on March 28, 2022.
** Previously filed as an exhibit to our Current Report on Form 8-K filed on December 12, 2022 and incorporated herein by reference.
*** Previously filed as an exhibit to our Current Report on Form 8-K filed on January 11, 2023 and incorporated herein by reference.
Item 16.Form 10-K/A Summary
Not applicable.
69
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Act of 1934, as amended, the registrant has duly caused this Annual Report on Form 10-K/A to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, on April 10, 2023.
| PRIVETERRA ACQUISITION CORP | ||
|
| ||
| By: | /s/ Robert J. Palmisano | |
|
| Name: | /s/ Robert J. Palmisano |
|
| Title: | Chief Executive Officer and Chairman |
70
PRIVETERRA ACQUISITION CORP.
INDEX TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
| F-2 | |
Consolidated Financial Statements: | | |
| F-3 | |
| F-4 | |
Consolidated Statements of Changes in Stockholders’ Deficit (As Restated) | | F-5 |
| F-6 | |
| F-7 to F-24 |
F-1
REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
To the Stockholders and the Board of Directors of
Priveterra Acquisition Corp.:
Opinion on the Financial Statements
We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Priveterra Acquisition Corp. (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2022 and 2021, the related consolidated statements of operations, changes in stockholders’ (deficit), and cash flows for the years then ended 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, 2022 and 2021, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the years then ended in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.
Restatement of Consolidated Financial Statements
As discussed in Note 2 to the consolidated financial statements, the Company previously accounted for its deferred underwriting fee waiver as a forgiveness of debt and recorded a gain on its income statement. Management has since re-evaluated its accounting treatment for the forgiveness and has determined that the forgiveness should have been treated as a reversal in the same relative allocation applied at the initial public offering. Accordingly, the 2022 financial statements have been restated to correct the accounting and related disclosure for the forgiveness of the deferred underwriting fee.
Going Concern
The accompanying financial statements have been prepared assuming that the Company will continue as a going concern. As discussed in Note 1 to the financial statements, if the Company is unable to raise additional funds to alleviate liquidity needs and complete a business combination by August 11, 2023 (originally February 11, 2023; see Note 10) then the Company will cease all operations except for the purpose of liquidating. The liquidity condition and date for mandatory liquidation and subsequent dissolution raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. Management's plans in regard to these matters are also described in Note 1. The financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.
Basis for Opinion
These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company's financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (“PCAOB”) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.
We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audits to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. The Company is not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of its internal control over financial reporting. As part of our audits we are required to obtain an understanding of internal control over financial reporting but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion.
Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.
We have served as the Company's auditor since 2020.
/s/ WithumSmith+Brown, PC
New York, New York
April 5, 2023
PCAOB ID Number 100
F-2
PRIVETERRA ACQUISITION CORP.
CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
AS RESTATED
|
| December 31, | ||||
| | 2022 |
| 2021 | ||
Assets | | | | | | |
Current assets | | | | | | |
Cash | | $ | | | $ | |
Prepaid assets | |
| | |
| |
Total Current Assets | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Prepaid assets – non-current | |
| — | |
| |
Investments held in Trust Account | | | | | | |
Total Assets | | $ | | | $ | |
| | | | | | |
Liabilities, Common Stock Subject to Possible Redemption and Stockholders’ Deficit | |
| | |
| |
Current liabilities: | | | | | | |
Accounts payable and accrued expenses | | $ | | | $ | |
Franchise tax payable | | | | | | |
Promissory Note – Related Party | | | | | | — |
Deferred tax liability | | | | | | — |
Income tax payable | | | | | | — |
Total current liabilities | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Warrant liabilities | |
| | |
| |
Deferred underwriting commission | |
| | |
| |
Total liabilities | |
| | |
| |
| |
| | |
| |
Commitments and Contingencies | |
| | |
| |
| | | | | | |
Class A common stock subject to possible redemption, | | | | | | |
| |
| | |
| |
Stockholders’ Deficit: | |
| | |
| |
Preferred stock, $ | |
| |
| ||
Class A common stock, $ | |
| |
| ||
Class B common stock, $ | |
| | |
| |
Additional paid-in capital | |
| | |
| |
Accumulated deficit | | | ( | | | ( |
Total Stockholders’ Deficit | |
| ( | |
| ( |
Total Liabilities, Common Stock Subject to Possible Redemption and Stockholders’ Deficit | | $ | | | $ | |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.
F-3
PRIVETERRA ACQUISITION CORP.
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
AS RESTATED
| | For the | | For the | ||
| | Year ended | | Year ended | ||
| | December 31, | | December 31, | ||
|
| 2022 |
| 2021 | ||
Operating costs | | $ | | | $ | |
Loss from operations | | | ( | | | ( |
| | | | | | |
Other income | | | | | | |
Unrealized change in fair value of warrants liabilities | | | | | | |
Gain on forgiveness of deferred underwriting fee payable | | | | | | — |
Offering costs allocated to warrant liabilities | | | — | | | ( |
Interest earned on investments held in Trust Account | | | | | | |
Total other income, net | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
Income before provision for income taxes | | | | | | |
Provision for income taxes | | | ( | | | — |
Net Income | | $ | | | $ | |
| |
| | |
| |
Basic and diluted weighted average shares outstanding, Class A common stock subject to possible redemption | |
| | |
| |
Basic and diluted net income per share, Class A common stock subject to possible redemption | | $ | | | $ | |
Basic and diluted weighted average shares outstanding, Class B common stock | |
| | |
| |
Basic and diluted net income per share, Class B common stock | | $ | | | $ | |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.
F-4
PRIVETERRA ACQUISITION CORP.
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CHANGES IN STOCKHOLDERS’ DEFICIT
FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2022 AND 2021
AS RESTATED
| | Class A | | Class B | | Additional | | | | Total | |||||||||
| | Common Stock | | Common Stock | | Paid-in | | Accumulated | | Stockholders’ | |||||||||
|
| Shares |
| Amount |
| Shares |
| Amount |
| Capital |
| deficit |
| Equity (Deficit) | |||||
Balance – December 31, 2020 |
| | $ | | | | $ | | | $ | | | $ | ( | | $ | | ||
Excess cash over fair value for Private Placement Warrants | | — | | | — | | — | | | — | | | | | | | | | |
Accretion of Class A common stock to redemption value | | — | | | — | | — | | | — | | | ( | | | ( | | | ( |
Excess cash received over the fair value of the converted working capital loan | | — | | | — | | — | | | — | | | | | | | | | |
Net income | | — | | | — | | — | | | — | | | | | | | | | |
Balance – December 31, 2021 | | — | | | — | | | | | | | | | | | ( | | | ( |
Accretion of Class A common stock to redemption value | | — | | | — | | — | | | — | | | | | | | | | |
Net income | | — | | | — | | — | | | — | | | | | | | | | |
Balance – December 31, 2022 | | — | | $ | — | | | | $ | | | $ | | | $ | ( | | $ | ( |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.
F-5
PRIVETERRA ACQUISITION CORP.
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
AS RESTATED
| | For the Year Ended December 31, | ||||
| | 2022 |
| 2021 | ||
Cash Flows from Operating Activities: |
| | | |
| |
Net income | | $ | | | $ | |
Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash used in operating activities: | |
| | |
| |
Interest earned on investments held in Trust Account | | | ( | | | ( |
Unrealized change in fair value of warrants liabilities | | | ( | | | ( |
Gain on forgiveness of deferred underwriting fee payable | | | ( | | | — |
Offering costs allocated to warrant liabilities | | | — | | | |
Changes in operating assets and liabilities: | |
| | |
|
|
Prepaid assets | | | | | | ( |
Franchise tax payable | | | | | | |
Deferred tax liability | | | | | | — |
Accrued expenses | | | | | | |
Net cash used in operating activities | |
| ( | |
| ( |
| | | | | | |
Cash Flows from Investing Activities: | | | | | | |
Principal invested into Trust account | | | — | | | ( |
Withdraw from Trust Account | | | | | | — |
Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities | | | | | | ( |
| |
|
| |
|
|
Cash Flows from Financing Activities: | |
|
| |
| |
Proceeds from sale of Units, net of underwriter fee | |
| — | |
| |
Offering costs | | | — | | | ( |
Proceeds from issuance of Private Placement Warrants | | | — | | | |
Proceeds from working capital loans | |
| — | |
| |
Borrowing from promissory note | |
| | |
| |
Repayment of promissory note | |
| — | |
| ( |
Net cash provided by financing activities | |
| | |
| |
| |
|
| |
|
|
Net Change in Cash | |
| ( | |
| |
Cash - Beginning of Year | |
| | |
| — |
Cash - End of Year | | $ | | | $ | |
| |
| | |
| |
Supplemental Disclosure of Non-cash Financing Activities: | |
| | |
| |
Deferred underwriters’ discount payable | | $ | — | | $ | |
Forgiveness of deferred underwriting fee payable allocated to Class A common stock | | $ | | | $ | — |
Conversion of Working Capital Loans to Private Placement Warrants | | $ | — | | $ | |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.
F-6
PRIVETERRA ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
DECEMBER 31, 2022
NOTE 1 — ORGANIZATION AND BUSINESS OPERATION
Organization and General
Priveterra Acquisition Corp. (the “Company”) is a blank check company incorporated in Delaware on November 17, 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
On January 5, 2023, in connection with the Business Combination Proposal, a purposed shareholder of the Company filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, against the Company and its board of directors, alleging that the registration statement on Form S-4 filed on December 27, 2022 with the SEC omitted material information related to the Business Combination. Since the filing of the complaint, several purported shareholders of the Company have also sent demand letters to the Company’s counsel, similarly alleging that the registration statement filed by the Company on December 27, 2022 with the SEC omitted material information related to the Business Combination and demanding that the Company, its board of directors and/or AEON make supplemental corrective disclosures addressing the alleged deficiencies.
On November 15, 2022, the Company entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger (the “Merger Agreement”) with Priveterra Merger Sub Inc., a Delaware corporation and wholly-owned subsidiary of Priveterra Acquisition Corp. The transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement are intended to serve as the Company’s initial Business Combination. See Note 6 for further information.
The Company is an early stage and emerging growth company and, as such, the Company is subject to all of the risks associated with early stage and emerging growth companies.
As of December 31, 2022, the Company had not commenced any operations. All activity for the period from November 17, 2020, the Company’s inception, through December 31, 2022, relates to the Company’s formation and the initial public offering (“IPO”), described below, and identifying a target company for a business combination. The Company will not generate any operating revenues until after the completion of its initial Business Combination, at the earliest. The Company generates non-operating income in the form of interest income from the proceeds derived from the IPO and unrealized gains and losses on the change in fair value of it warrants. The Company has selected December 31 as its fiscal year end.
The Company’s sponsor is Priveterra Sponsor, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (the “Sponsor”).
On November 16, 2022, Guggenheim agreed to waive its entitlement to the deferred underwriting commission of $
On January 23, 2023, Wells Fargo agreed to waive its entitlement to the deferred underwriting commission of $
Financing
The registration statement for the Company’s IPO was declared effective on February 8, 2021 (the “Effective Date”). On February 11, 2021, the Company consummated an IPO of
F-7
PRIVETERRA ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
DECEMBER 31, 2022
Simultaneously with the closing of the IPO, the Company consummated the sale of
Transaction costs of the IPO amounted to $
Trust Account
Following the closing of the IPO on February 11, 2021, $
In connection with the vote at the special meeting of stockholders held on February 10, 2023 (the “Special Meeting”) the holders of
Initial Business Combination
The Company will provide its public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their public shares 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 portion of the amount then on deposit in the Trust Account (initially approximately $
The shares of common stock subject to redemption are recorded at a redemption value and classified as temporary equity upon the IPO, in accordance with Financial Accounting Standards Board’s (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 480 “Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity.” In such case, the Company will proceed with a Business Combination if the Company has net tangible assets of at least $
The Sponsor, officers and directors have agreed to (i) waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and public shares in connection with the completion of the initial Business Combination, (ii) waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and public shares in connection with a stockholder vote to approve an amendment to the Company’s amended and restated
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PRIVETERRA ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
DECEMBER 31, 2022
certificate of incorporation, and (iii) waive their rights to liquidating distributions from the Trust Account with respect to their founder shares if the Company fails to complete the initial Business Combination within the Combination Period.
On December 12, 2022, the Company entered into a Business Combination Agreement (the “Business Combination Agreement”) by and among the Company, Priveterra Merger Sub, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“Merger Sub”), and AEON Biopharma, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“AEON”). The Business Combination Agreement provides, among other things, that on the terms and subject to the conditions set forth therein, Merger Sub will merge with and into AEON, with AEON surviving as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company (the “Merger”). Upon the closing of the Merger (the “Closing”), the Company will change its name to “AEON Biopharma, Inc.” The date on which the Closing actually occurs is hereinafter referred to as the “Closing Date.”
Liquidation
The Company will have
The Company’s 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 business combination agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the Trust Account to below the lesser of (i) $
Liquidity, Capital Resources and Going Concern
The Company’s liquidity needs up to February 11, 2021, the date of the IPO, had been satisfied through a capital contribution from the Sponsor of $
The Company’s IPO was on February 11, 2021. As of December 31, 2022, the Company had $
Additionally, the Company has until August 11, 2023 (originally February 11, 2023; see Note 10) to consummate a Business Combination. In connection with the Company’s assessment of going concern considerations in accordance with FASB ASC Topic 205-40, “Presentation of Financial Statements– Going Concern,” Management has determined that the liquidity condition and mandatory liquidation, should a Business Combination not occur, and potential subsequent dissolution raises substantial doubt about the Company’s
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PRIVETERRA ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
DECEMBER 31, 2022
ability to continue as a going concern. The Company intends to complete a Business Combination before the mandatory liquidation date. No adjustments have been made to the carrying amounts of assets or liabilities
NOTE 2. RESTATEMENT OF PREVIOUSLY ISSUED FINANCIAL STATEMENT
The Company had recognized a liability upon closing of their initial public offering in November 2021 for a portion of the underwriter’s commissions which was contingently payable upon closing of a future business combination, with the offsetting entry resulting in an initial discount to the securities sold in the initial public offering. On November 16, 2022, Guggenheim agreed to waive its entitlement to the deferred underwriting commission of $
Therefore, the Company’s management and the Audit Committee of the Company’s Board of Directors (the “Audit Committee”) concluded that the Company’s previously issued audited financial statements as of December 31, 2022 (the “Annual Report”) should no longer be relied upon and that it is appropriate to restate the Annual Report. As such, the Company will restate its financial statements in this Form 10-K/A for the Company’s audited financial statements included in the Annual Report on the Company’s Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) on February 22, 2023 (the “Original Filing”).
Impact of the Restatement
The impact of the restatement on the consolidated statements of operations, statements of changes in stockholders’ deficit and statements of cash flows for the affected period is presented below. The restatement had no impact on net cash flows from operating, investing or financing activities.
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Statement of Operations |
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Net income |
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Basic and diluted weighted average shares outstanding - Class A ordinary shares |
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Basic and diluted earnings per share - Class A ordinary shares | | $ | | | $ | ( | | $ | |
Basic and diluted weighted average shares outstanding - Class B ordinary shares | |
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Basic and diluted earnings per share - Class B ordinary shares | | $ | | | $ | ( | | $ | |
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PRIVETERRA ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
DECEMBER 31, 2022
Statement of Changes in Stockholders’ Deficit
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Balance – December 31, 2021 | | $ | | | $ | — | | $ | | | $ | ( | | $ | — | | $ | ( |
Net income | | | — | | | — | | | — | | | | | | ( | | | |
Accretion of Class A common stock to redemption value |
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Balance – December 31, 2022 |
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Supplemental disclosure of noncash activities: |
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Forgiveness of deferred underwriting fee payable allocated to Class A common stock |
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NOTE 3. SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES
Basis of Presentation
The accompanying consolidated financial statements are presented in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”) and pursuant to the rules and regulations of the SEC.
As described in Note 2—Restatement of Previously Issued Financial Statements, the Company’s financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2022 (collectively, the “Affected Period”), are restated in this Annual Report on Form 10-K/A (this “Annual Report”) to correct the misapplication of accounting guidance related to the liability extinguishment in the Company’s previously issued audited financial statements for such period. The restated financial statements are indicated as “Restated” in the audited financial statements and accompanying notes, as applicable. See Note 2—Restatement of Previously Issued Financial Statements for further discussion.
Principles of Consolidation
The accompanying consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Company and its wholly-owned subsidiary where the Company has the ability to exercise control.
Emerging Growth Company
The Company is an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act, as modified by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the “JOBS Act”), and it may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in its periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved.
Further, Section 102(b)(1) of the JOBS Act exempts emerging growth companies from being required to comply with new or revised financial accounting standards until private companies (that is, those that have not had a Securities Act registration statement declared effective or do not have a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act) are required to comply with the new or revised financial accounting standards. The JOBS Act provides that a company can elect to opt out of the extended transition period and comply with the
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PRIVETERRA ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
DECEMBER 31, 2022
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 consolidated financial statements with another public company which is neither an emerging growth company nor an emerging growth company which has opted out of using the extended transition period difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accounting standards used.
Use of Estimates
The preparation of the consolidated financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires the Company’s management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the consolidated financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period.
Making estimates requires management to exercise significant judgment. It is at least reasonably possible that the estimate of the effect of a condition, situation or set of circumstances that existed at the date of the consolidated financial statements, which management considered in formulating its estimate, could change in the near term due to one or more future confirming events. Accordingly, the actual results could differ significantly from those estimates.
Cash and Cash Equivalents
The Company considers all short-term investments with an original maturity of three months or less when purchased to be cash equivalents. The Company had approximately $
Investments Held in Trust Account
The Company’s portfolio of investments held in the Trust Account is comprised of U.S. government securities, within the meaning set forth in Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act, with a maturity of
Offering Costs associated with the Initial Public Offering
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. Offering costs are charged to temporary equity or the consolidated statement of operations based on the relative value of the Public Warrants to the proceeds received from the Units sold upon the completion of the IPO. Accordingly, as of December 31, 2022, offering costs totaling $
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 Deposit Insurance Coverage limit of $250,000. The Company has not experienced losses on these accounts and management believes the Company is not exposed to significant risks on such accounts.
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PRIVETERRA ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
DECEMBER 31, 2022
Class A Common Stock Subject to Possible Redemption
The Company accounts for its Class A common stock subject to possible redemption in accordance with the guidance in Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 480 “Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity.” Class A common stock subject to mandatory redemption (if any) is classified as a liability instrument and is measured at fair value. Conditionally redeemable Class A common stock (including Class A common stock that feature redemption rights that are either within the control of the holder or subject to redemption upon the occurrence of uncertain events not solely within the Company’s control) is classified as temporary equity. At all other times, Class A common stock is classified as stockholders’ equity. The Company’s Class A 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, Class A common stock subject to possible redemption is presented at redemption value as temporary equity, outside of the stockholders’ deficit section of the Company’s consolidated balance sheets.
As of December 31, 2022 and 2021, the common stock subject to possible redemption reflected on the consolidated balance sheets are reconciled in the following table:
Gross proceeds from IPO |
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Class A common stock issuance costs | |
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Accretion of carrying value to redemption value | |
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Class A common stock subject to possible redemption, December 31, 2021 | | | |
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Waiver of Class A share issuance costs | | | |
Less: | | | |
Accretion of carrying value to redemption value | | | ( |
Class A common stock subject to possible redemption, December 31, 2022 | | $ | |
See Note 10 for the current amount held in the Trust Account and the ordinary shares currently subject to redemption following the Company’s February 10, 2023 special meeting of shareholders to extend the Business Combination deadline date from February 11, 2023 to August 11, 2023.
Net Income Per Common Share
The Company complies with accounting and disclosure requirements of FASB ASC Topic 260, “Earnings Per Share”. Net income per common share is computed by dividing net income by the weighted average number of shares of common stock outstanding for the period. The Company has two classes of common shares, which are referred to as Class A common stock and Class B common stock. Earnings and losses are shared pro rata between the two classes of stock. Private and public warrants to purchase
F-13
PRIVETERRA ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
DECEMBER 31, 2022
Below is a reconciliation of the net income per share of common stock:
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Fair Value of Financial Instruments
The fair value of the Company’s assets and liabilities, which qualify as financial instruments under FASB ASC 820, “Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures,” approximates the carrying amounts represented in the consolidated balance sheets, primarily due to its short-term nature, other than the derivative warrant liability.
Derivative Financial Instruments
The Company evaluates its financial instruments to determine if such instruments are derivatives or contain features that qualify as embedded derivatives in accordance with ASC Topic 815, “Derivatives and Hedging”. Derivative instruments are recorded at fair value on the grant date and re-valued at each reporting date, with changes in the fair value reported in the consolidated statements of operations. Derivative assets and liabilities are classified in the consolidated balance sheets as current or non-current based on whether or not net-cash settlement or conversion of the instrument could be required within 12 months of the balance sheet date. The Company has determined the warrants are a derivative instrument.
Fair Value Measurements
Fair value is defined as the price that would be received for sale of an asset or paid for transfer of a liability, in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. GAAP establishes a three-tier fair value hierarchy, which prioritizes the inputs used in measuring fair value. The hierarchy gives the highest priority to unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities (Level 1 measurements) and the lowest priority to unobservable inputs (Level 3 measurements). These tiers consist of:
● | Level 1, defined as observable inputs such as quoted prices (unadjusted) for identical instruments in active markets; |
● | Level 2, defined as inputs other than quoted prices in active markets that are either directly or indirectly observable such as quoted prices for similar instruments in active markets or quoted prices for identical or similar instruments in markets that are not active; and |
● | Level 3, defined as unobservable inputs in which little or no market data exists, therefore requiring an entity to develop its own assumptions, such as valuations derived from valuation techniques in which one or more significant inputs or significant value drivers are unobservable. |
Income Taxes
The Company accounts for income taxes under FASB 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 consolidated financial statements 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. As of December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, the Company’s deferred tax asset had a full valuation allowance recorded against it. Our effective tax rate was and
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PRIVETERRA ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
DECEMBER 31, 2022
17, 2020 (inception) to December 31, 2021, respectively. The effective tax rate differs from the statutory tax rate of for the year ended December 31, 2022, due to changes in Merger and Acquisition costs and the valuation allowance on the deferred tax assets.
ASC 740 also clarifies the accounting for uncertainty in income taxes recognized in the Company’s consolidated financial statements and prescribes a recognition threshold and measurement process for consolidated financial statements 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
The Company has identified the United States and Florida State as its only significant tax jurisdictions.
The Company may be subject to potential examination by federal and state taxing authorities in the areas of income taxes. 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.
Risks and Uncertainties
Management continues to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the industry and has concluded that while it is reasonably possible that the virus could have a negative effect on the Company’s financial position, results of its operations and/or search for a target company, the specific impact is not readily determinable as of the date of these consolidated financial statements. The consolidated financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.
In February 2022, the Russian Federation and Belarus commenced a military action with the country of Ukraine. As a result of this action, various nations, including the United States, have instituted economic sanctions against the Russian Federation and Belarus. Further, the impact of this action and related sanctions on the world economy are not determinable as of the date of these consolidated financial statements. The specific impact on the Company’s financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows is also not determinable as of the date of these consolidated financial statements.
Inflation Reduction Act of 2022
On August 16, 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (the “IR Act”) was signed into federal law. The IR Act provides for, among other things, a new U.S. federal 1% excise tax on certain repurchases of stock by publicly traded U.S. domestic corporations and certain U.S. domestic subsidiaries of publicly traded foreign corporations occurring on or after January 1, 2023. The excise tax is imposed on the repurchasing corporation itself, not its shareholders from which shares are repurchased. The amount of the excise tax is generally 1% of the fair market value of the shares repurchased at the time of the repurchase. However, for purposes of calculating the excise tax, repurchasing corporations are permitted to net the fair market value of certain new stock issuances against the fair market value of stock repurchases during the same taxable year. In addition, certain exceptions apply to the excise tax. The U.S. Department of the Treasury (the “Treasury”) has been given authority to provide regulations and other guidance to carry out and prevent the abuse or avoidance of the excise tax.
Any redemption or other repurchase that occurs after December 31, 2022, in connection with a Business Combination, extension vote or otherwise, may be subject to the excise tax. Whether and to what extent the Company would be subject to the excise tax in connection with a Business Combination, extension vote or otherwise would depend on a number of factors, including (i) the fair market value of the redemptions and repurchases in connection with the Business Combination, extension or otherwise, (ii) the structure of a Business Combination, (iii) the nature and amount of any “PIPE” or other equity issuances in connection with a Business Combination (or otherwise issued not in connection with a Business Combination but issued within the same taxable year of a Business Combination) and (iv) the content of regulations and other guidance from the Treasury. In addition, because the excise tax would be payable by the
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PRIVETERRA ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
DECEMBER 31, 2022
Company and not by the redeeming holder, the mechanics of any required payment of the excise tax have not been determined. The foregoing could cause a reduction in the cash available on hand to complete a Business Combination and in the Company’s ability to complete a Business Combination.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
In June 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2016-13, Financial Instruments-Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments, which requires entities to measure all expected credit losses for financial assets held at the reporting date based on historical experience, current conditions, and reasonable and supportable forecasts. ASU 2016-13 also requires additional disclosures regarding significant estimates and judgments used in estimating credit losses, as well as the credit quality and underwriting standards of an entity’s portfolio. The Company expects to adopt the provisions of this guidance on January 1, 2023. The adoption is not expected to have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.
Besides the above, the Company’s management does not believe that any recently issued, but not yet effective, accounting standards, if currently adopted. Would have a material effect on the accompanying consolidated financial statements.
NOTE 4. INITIAL PUBLIC OFFERING
On February 11, 2021, the Company sold
The Company paid underwriting fees at the closing of the IPO of $
Warrants — Each whole warrant entitles the holder to purchase
The warrants will become exercisable on the later of
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PRIVETERRA ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
DECEMBER 31, 2022
The Company has agreed that as soon as practicable, but in no event later than fifteen (
Once the warrants become exercisable, the Company may call the warrants for redemption for cash:
● | in whole and not in part; |
● | at a price of $ |
● | upon not less than |
● | if, and only if, the closing price of the common stock equals or exceeds $ |
● | if the last sale price of the Class A common stock is less than $ |
NOTE 5. PRIVATE PLACEMENT
Simultaneously with the closing of the IPO, the Sponsor purchased an aggregate of
Each Private Placement Warrant was identical to the Public Warrants sold in the IPO, except that the Private Placement Warrants, so long as they are held by the Sponsor or its permitted transferees, (i) will not be redeemable by the Company, (ii) may not (including the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of these warrants), subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by the holders until
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PRIVETERRA ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
DECEMBER 31, 2022
In addition, the Company’s Sponsor has agreed to vote any founder shares held by them and any public shares purchased during or after the Company’s IPO (including in open market and privately negotiated transactions) in favor of the Company’s initial Business Combination.
NOTE 6. RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS
Founder Shares
On December 17, 2020, the Sponsor paid $
The initial stockholders have agreed not to transfer, assign or sell any of their Founder Shares and any Class A common stock issuable upon conversion thereof until the earlier to occur of: (A)
Promissory Note – Related Party
On December 17, 2020, the Sponsor agreed to loan the Company up to $
On November 28, 2022, the Sponsor issued the Promissory Note to the Company, pursuant to which the Company was entitled to borrow up to an aggregate principal amount of $
Working Capital Loans
The Sponsor or an affiliate of the Sponsor, or certain of the Company’s officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan the Company funds as may be required (“Working Capital Loans”). If the Company completes the initial Business Combination, the Company would repay the Working Capital Loans. In the event that the 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 $
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PRIVETERRA ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
DECEMBER 31, 2022
Administrative Service Fee
The Company has agreed, commencing on February 8, 2021, to pay $
NOTE 7. COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES
Underwriters Agreement
The underwriters are entitled to a deferred fee of $
On January 23, 2023, Wells Fargo agreed to waive its entitlement to the deferred underwriting commission of $
Registration Rights
The holders of the founder shares, Private Placement Warrants, and warrants 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 to be signed in connection with the Company’s IPO. These holders will be entitled to make up to
Business Combination Agreement
On December 12, 2022, the Company entered into a business combination agreement (the “Business Combination Agreement”) by and among the Company, Priveterra Merger Sub, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“Merger Sub”), and AEON Biopharma, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“AEON”). The Business Combination Agreement provides, among other things, that on the terms and subject to the conditions set forth therein, Merger Sub will merge with and into AEON, with AEON surviving as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company (the “Merger”). Upon the closing of the Merger (the “Closing”), the Company will change its name to “AEON Biopharma, Inc.” The date on which the Closing actually occurs is hereinafter referred to as the “Closing Date.”
Pursuant to the Business Combination Agreement, at the effective time of the Merger, each option, whether vested or unvested, exercisable for AEON equity that is outstanding immediately prior to the effective time of the Merger shall be assumed by the Company and continue in full force and effect on the same terms and conditions as are currently applicable to such options, subject to adjustments to exercise price and number of shares of Class A Common Stock issued upon exercise.
F-19
PRIVETERRA ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
DECEMBER 31, 2022
Under the Business Combination Agreement, the Company will acquire all of the outstanding equity interests of AEON (including equity interests issued upon conversion of the outstanding convertible notes of AEON) in exchange for shares of the Company’s Class A common stock, par value $
NOTE 8. STOCKHOLDERS’ DEFICIT
Preferred Stock — The Company is authorized to issue a total of
Class A Common Stock—The Company is authorized to issue
Class B Common Stock — The Company is authorized to issue
Holders of Class A common stock and holders of Class B common stock will vote together as a single class on all matters submitted to a vote of the Company’s stockholders except as required by law. Unless specified in the Company’s amended and restated certificate of incorporation, or as required by applicable provisions of the Delaware state law or applicable stock exchange rules, the affirmative vote of a majority of the Company’s shares of common stock that are voted is required to approve any such matter voted on by its stockholders.
The Class B common stock will automatically convert into Class A common stock concurrently with or immediately following the consummation of the initial Business Combination on a
NOTE 9. RECURRING FAIR VALUE MEASUREMENTS
At December 31, 2022 and 2021, the Company’s warrant liability was valued at $
The Company’s warrant liability for the Private Placement Warrants is based on a valuation model utilizing inputs from observable and unobservable markets with less volume and transaction frequency than active markets. The fair value of the Private Warrant liability classified within Level 3 of the fair value hierarchy.
F-20
PRIVETERRA ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
DECEMBER 31, 2022
The Company’s warrant liability for the Public Warrants is based on unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities that the Company has the ability to access. The fair value of the Public Warrant liability is classified within Level 2 of the fair value hierarchy. The Company classifies its U.S. Treasury and equivalent securities as held-to-maturity in accordance with 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 on the accompanying consolidated balance sheets and adjusted for the amortization or accretion of premiums or discounts.
At December 31, 2022, assets held in the Trust Account were comprised of $
At December 31, 2021, assets held in the Trust Account were comprised of $
The following table presents information about the Company’s gross holding gains and fair value of held-to-maturity securities at December 31, 2022 and 2021:
| | | | | | | | | Gross | | | | |
| | | | | | Amortized | | Holding | | | | ||
|
| Held-To-Maturity |
| Level |
| Cost |
| Gain |
| Fair Value | |||
December 31, 2022 |
| U.S. Treasury Bill (Matures on 01/05/2023) |
| 1 | | $ | | | $ | | | $ | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
December 31, 2021 |
| U.S. Treasury Bill (Matures on 01/06/2022) |
| 1 | | $ | | | $ | | | $ | |
The following table presents information about the Company’s liabilities that were measured at fair value on a recurring basis as of December 31, 2022 and indicates the fair value hierarchy of the valuation techniques the Company utilized to determine such fair value.
|
| Level 1 |
| Level 2 |
| Level 3 | |||
Liabilities: | | | | | | | | | |
Private Placement Warrants | | $ | — | | $ | — | | $ | |
Public Warrants | | $ | — | | $ | | | $ | — |
The following table presents information about the Company’s liabilities that were measured at fair value on a recurring basis as of December 31, 2021 and indicates the fair value hierarchy of the valuation techniques the Company utilized to determine such fair value.
|
| Level 1 |
| Level 2 |
| Level 3 | |||
Liabilities: | |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
Private Placement Warrants | | $ | — | | $ | — | | $ | |
Public Warrants | | $ | | | $ | — | | $ | — |
F-21
PRIVETERRA ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
DECEMBER 31, 2022
Measurement
The Company established the initial fair value for the Warrants on February 11, 2021, the date of the consummation of the Company’s IPO using a Monte Carlo simulation model to value the Public Warrants and a modified Black-Scholes model to value the Private Placement Warrants. The Warrants were initially classified within Level 3 of the fair value hierarchy due to the use of unobservable inputs. In April 2021, the Public Warrants began trading in the open market and were reclassified to Level 1. On December 31, 2022 and 2021, the fair value was remeasured. At December 31, 2022 and 2021, the Company used a Monte Carlo simulation and modified Black-Scholes model, respectively, to value the Private Placement Warrants. The Public Warrants were previously classified as Level 3 due to the lack of an observable market price for the warrants and initially valued using the Black-Scholes Option Pricing Model. Public Warrants were transferred to a level 2 due to the lack of an active market as of September 30, 2022 and continue to be included in level 2 as of December 31, 2022, and the presence of observable inputs in surrounding periods for the same instrument.
The Private Placement Warrants were classified within Level 3 of the fair value hierarchy at the measurement date due to the use of unobservable inputs. The Company’s Private Placement Warrant liability is based on a valuation model utilizing management judgment and pricing inputs from observable and unobservable markets with less volume and transaction frequency than active markets. Significant deviations from these estimates and inputs could result in a material change in fair value.
The key inputs into the valuation models was as follows:
| | | | | | | |
|
| December 31, |
| December 31, | | ||
Input |
| 2021 |
| 2022 |
| ||
Risk-free interest rate |
| | | % | | | % |
Expected term (years) |
| | | | | | |
Expected volatility |
| | | % | | | % |
Dividend rate |
| | % | | | % | |
Exercise price | | $ | | | $ | | |
Market implied likelihood of Initial Business Combination | | | — | % | | | % |
The following table provides a reconciliation of changes in fair value of the beginning and ending balances for the Company’s assets and liabilities classified as level 3 for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021.
Fair value at issuance February 11, 2021 |
| $ | |
Public Warrants reclassified to level 1 | |
| ( |
Issuance of Private Placement Warrants upon conversion of Working Capital Loans | |
| |
Change in fair value | |
| ( |
Fair Value at December 31, 2021 | | $ | |
Fair Value at December 31, 2021 |
| $ | |
|
| ( | |
Fair Value at December 31, 2022 | | $ | |
F-22
PRIVETERRA ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
DECEMBER 31, 2022
NOTE 10. INCOME TAXES
The Company’s net deferred tax assets are as follows:
|
| December 31, |
| December 31, | ||
| | 2022 |
| 2021 | ||
Deferred tax assets |
| |
|
| |
|
Net operating loss carryforward | | $ | — | | $ | |
Startup Costs | |
| | |
| |
Unrealized gain/loss - Trust | | | ( | | | — |
Total deferred tax assets | |
| | |
| |
Valuation allowance | |
| ( | |
| ( |
Deferred tax assets, net of allowance | | $ | ( | | $ | — |
The income tax provision for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021 consists of the following:
|
| December 31, | | December 31, | ||
|
| 2022 |
| 2021 | ||
Federal |
| |
|
| |
|
Current | | $ | | | $ | — |
Deferred | |
| ( | |
| ( |
State | |
| | |
| |
Current | | $ | | | $ | |
Deferred | |
| ( | |
| — |
Change in valuation allowance | |
| | |
| |
Provision for income taxes | | $ | | | $ | — |
As of December 31, 2022 and 2021, the Company had $
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 years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, the change in the valuation allowance was $
F-23
PRIVETERRA ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
DECEMBER 31, 2022
A reconciliation of the federal income tax rate to the Company’s effective tax rate at December 31, 2022 and 2021 is as follows:
|
| December 31, |
| ||
|
| 2022 |
| 2021 |
|
| | | | | |
Statutory federal income tax rate |
| | % | | % |
State taxes, net of federal tax benefit | | | % | | % |
State tax credit | | ( | % | | % |
Deferred tax liability change in rate | | ( | % | | % |
Business combination expense | | | % | | % |
Penalties and interest | | | % | | % |
Offering costs |
| | % | | % |
Change in fair value of warrant liability |
| ( | % | ( | % |
Reduction in deferred underwriting fee | | ( | % | | % |
Valuation allowance |
| | % | | % |
Income tax provision |
| | % | | % |
The Company files income tax returns in the U.S. federal jurisdiction in various state and local jurisdictions and is subject to examination by the various taxing authorities.
NOTE 11. SUBSEQUENT EVENTS
The Company evaluated subsequent events and transactions that occurred after the balance sheets date up to the date that the consolidated financial statements were issued. Based upon this review, the Company did not identify any subsequent events that would have required adjustment or disclosure in the consolidated financial statements, other than as described below.
On February 10, 2023, at the special meeting of stockholders of the Company, stockholders of the Company approved the certificate of amendment to the second amended and restated certificate of incorporation to amend the Company’s contractual expiration date of February 11, 2023 by changing the date by which the Company must cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up if it fails to complete a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination from February 11, 2023 to August 11, 2023. In connection with the vote at the special meeting, the holders of
On January 11, 2023, the Company and AEON entered into interim financing letter agreements with certain investors for a total aggregate amount of $
On January 5, 2023, in connection with the Business Combination proposal, a purposed shareholder of the Company filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, against the Company and its board of directors, alleging that the registration statement on Form S-4 filed on December 27, 2022 with the SEC omitted material information related to the Business Combination. Since the filing of the complaint, several purported shareholders of the Company have also sent demand letters to the Company’s counsel, similarly alleging that the registration statement filed by the Company on December 27, 2022 with the SEC omitted material information related to the Business Combination and demanding that the Company, its board of directors and/or AEON make supplemental corrective disclosures addressing the alleged deficiencies.
On January 23, 2023, Wells Fargo agreed to waive its entitlement to the deferred underwriting commission of $
F-24
Exhibit 3.1(a)
CERTIFICATE OF AMENDMENT TO THE
SECOND AMENDED AND RESTATED
CERTIFICATE OF INCORPORATION
OF
PRIVETERRA ACQUISITION CORP.
Priveterra Acquisition Corp. (the “Corporation”), a corporation organized and existing under the by virtue of the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware (the “DGCL”), does hereby certify:
| 1. | The original certificate of incorporation was filed with the Secretary of State of the State of Delaware on November 17, 2020 (the “Original Certificate”). |
| 2. | A second amended and restated certificate of incorporation was filed with the Secretary of State of the State of Delaware on February 8, 2021 (the “Amended and Restated Certificate”). |
| 3. | This Amendment to the Amended and Restated Certificate, which amends the provisions of the Amended and Restated Certificate, was duly adopted in accordance with Sections 228 and 242 of the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware, as amended from time to time (the “DGCL”). |
| 4. | The Corporation’s Certificate of Correction amended all references in the Amended and RestatedCertificate from “18 months” to “24 months” and was filed with the Secretary of State of the State ofDelaware on August 19, 2022. |
| 5. | The text of Section 9.1(b) of Article IX of the Amended and Restated Certificate is here by amended and restated to read in its entirety as follows: |
“Immediately after the Offering, a certain amount of the net offering proceeds received by the Corporation in the Offering (including the proceeds of any exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option) and certain other amounts specified in the Corporation’s registration statement on Form S-1, initially filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on January 21, 2021, as amended (the “Registration Statement”), shall be deposited in a trust account (the “Trust Account”), established for the benefit of the Public Stockholders (as defined below) pursuant to a trust agreement described in the Registration Statement. Except for the withdrawal of interest to pay taxes, none of the funds held in the Trust Account (including the interest earned on the funds held in the Trust Account) will be released from the Trust Account until the earliest to occur of (i) the completion of the initial Business Combination, (ii) the redemption of 100% of the Offering Shares (as defined below) if the Corporation is unable to complete its initial Business Combination within 30 months from the closing of the Offering and (iii) the redemption of shares in connection with a vote seeking to amend such provisions of this Second Amended and Restated Certificate as described in Section 9.7. Holders of shares of Common Stock included as part of the units sold in the Offering (the “Offering Shares”) (whether such Offering Shares were purchased in the Offering or in the secondary market following the Offering and whether or not such holders are the Sponsor or officers or directors of the Corporation, or affiliates of any of the foregoing) are referred to herein as “Public Stockholders.”
6. | The text of Section 9.2(d) of Article IX of the Amended and Restated Certificate is here b yamended and restated to read in its entirety as follows: |
“In the event that the Corporation has not consummated an initial Business Combination within 30 months from the closing of the Offering, the Corporation shall (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 subject to lawfully available funds therefor, redeem 100% of the Offering Shares in consideration of a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the quotient obtained by dividing (A) the aggregate amount then on deposit in the Trust Account, including interest not previously released to the Corporation to pay its working capital requirements (subject to an annual limit of $500,000) (less taxes payable and up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), by (B) the total number of then outstanding Offering Shares, which redemption will completely extinguish rights of the Public Stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of the remaining stockholders and the Board in accordance with applicable law, dissolve and liquidate,
1
subject in each case to the Corporation’s obligations under the DGCL to provide for claims of creditors and other requirements of applicable law.”
| 7. | The text of Section 9.7 of Article IX of the Amended and Restated Certificate is hereby amended and restated to read in its entirety as follows: |
“Section 9.7. Additional Redemption Rights. If, in accordance with Section 9.1(a), any amendment is made to this Second Amended and Restated Certificate (a) to modify the substance or timing of the Corporation’s obligation to redeem 100% of the Offering Shares if the Corporation has not consummated an initial Business Combination within 30 months from the date of the closing of the Offering or (b) with respect to any other material provisions of this Second Amended and Restated Certificate relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial Business Combination activity, the Public Stockholders shall be provided with the opportunity to redeem their Offering Shares upon the 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 not previously released to the Corporation to pay its taxes, divided by the number of then outstanding Offering Shares; provided, however, that any such amendment will be voided, and this Article IX will remain unchanged, if any stockholders who wish to redeem are unable to redeem due to the Redemption Limitation.”
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the Corporation has caused this Certificate of Amendment to the Second Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation to be duly executed in its name and on its behalf by an authorized officer as of February 10, 2023.
| /s/ Robert J. Palmisano |
| Robert J. Palmisano |
| Chief Executive Officer and Chairman |
2
Exhibit 31.1
CERTIFICATION OF THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
PURSUANT TO RULE 13a-14(a)
AS ADOPTED PURSUANT TO
SECTION 302 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002
I, Robert Palmisano, certify that:
1.I have reviewed this annual report on Form 10-K/A of Priveterra Acquisition Corp. (the “Company”);
2.Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;
3.Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the Company as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;
4.The Company’s other certifying officer(s) and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a 15I and 15d 15(e)) and internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a 15(f) and 15d 15(f)) for the Company and have:
a. | Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the Company, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities, particularly during the period in which this report is being prepared; |
b. | [Paragraph intentionally omitted in accordance with SEC Release Nos. 34-47986 and 34-54942]; |
c. | Evaluated the effectiveness of the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and |
d. | Disclosed in this report any change in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the Company’s most recent fiscal quarter (the Company’s fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the Company’s internal control over financial reporting; and |
5.The Company’s other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the Company’s auditors and the audit committee of the Company’s board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):
| a. | All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the Company’s ability to record, process, summarize and report financial information; and |
b. | Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting. |
| |
| |
/s/ Robert J. Palmisano | |
Robert J. Palmisano | |
Chief Executive Officer and Chairman | |
(Principal Executive Officer) | |
Exhibit 31.2
CERTIFICATION OF THE CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
PURSUANT TO RULE 13a-14(a)
AS ADOPTED PURSUANT TO
SECTION 302 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002
I, Oleg Grodnensky, certify that:
1.I have reviewed this annual report on Form 10-K/A of Priveterra Acquisition Corp. (the “Company”);
2.Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;
3.Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the Company as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;
4.The Company’s other certifying officer(s) and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a 15(e) and 15d 15(e)) and internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a 15(f) and 15d 15(f)) for the Company and have:
a. | Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the Company, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities, particularly during the period in which this report is being prepared; |
b. | [Paragraph intentionally omitted in accordance with SEC Release Nos. 34-47986 and 34-54942]; |
c. | Evaluated the effectiveness of the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and |
d. | Disclosed in this report any change in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the Company’s most recent fiscal quarter (the Company’s fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the Company’s internal control over financial reporting; and |
5.The Company’s other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the Company’s auditors and the audit committee of the Company’s board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):
a. | All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the Company’s ability to record, process, summarize and report financial information; and |
b. | Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting. |
| |
Date: April 10, 2023 | |
| |
/s/ Oleg Grodnensky | |
Oleg Grodnensky | |
Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer | |
(Principal Financial Officer) | |
Exhibit 32.1
CERTIFICATION OF THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
PURSUANT TO 18 U.S.C. § 1350
AS ADOPTED PURSUANT TO
SECTION 906 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002
I, Robert Palmisano, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Priveterra Acquisition Corp. (the “Company”), certify, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, that, to my knowledge:
1.The Annual Report of the Company on Form 10-K/A for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022 (the “Annual Report”) fully complies with the requirements of Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934; and
2.The information contained in the Annual Report fairly presents, in all material respects, the financial condition and results of operations of the Company.
Date: April 10, 2023 | |
| |
/s/ Robert J. Palmisano | |
Robert J. Palmisano | |
Chief Executive Officer and Chairman | |
(Principal Executive Officer) | |
This certification accompanies the Report pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and shall not, except to the extent required by such Act, be deemed filed by the Company for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). Such certification will not be deemed to be incorporated by reference into any filing under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Exchange Act, except to the extent that the Company specifically incorporates it by reference.
A signed original of this written statement required by Section 906 has been provided to the Company and will be retained by the Company and furnished to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission or its staff upon request.
Exhibit 32.2
CERTIFICATION OF THE CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
PURSUANT TO 18 U.S.C. § 1350
AS ADOPTED PURSUANT TO
SECTION 906 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002
I, Oleg Grodnensky, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Priveterra Acquisition Corp. (the “Company”), certify, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, that, to my knowledge:
1.The Annual Report of the Company on Form 10-K/A for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022 (the “Annual Report”) fully complies with the requirements of Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934; and
2.The information contained in the Annual Report fairly presents, in all material respects, the financial condition and results of operations of the Company.
Date: April 10, 2023 | |
| |
/s/ Oleg Grodnensky | |
Oleg Grodnensky | |
Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer | |
(Principal Financial Officer) | |
This certification accompanies the Report pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and shall not, except to the extent required by such Act, be deemed filed by the Company for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). Such certification will not be deemed to be incorporated by reference into any filing under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Exchange Act, except to the extent that the Company specifically incorporates it by reference.
A signed original of this written statement required by Section 906 has been provided to the Company and will be retained by the Company and furnished to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission or its staff upon request.