Quetta Acquisition Corp 10-K, filed Mar 25, 2024
Quetta Acquisition Corp (QETA)
About this 10-K
Quetta Acquisition Corp filed this 10-K on March 25, 2024, covering the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023.
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM
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 Exchange Act. Yes ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required 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 every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files).
Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K (§229.405 of this chapter) is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. ☒
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
| Large accelerated filer | ☐ | Accelerated filer | ☐ |
| ☒ | Smaller reporting company | ||
| Emerging Growth Company |
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☐
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. ☐
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Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).
As of June 30, 2023, the last day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter, the aggregate market value of the registrant’s common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant was $
The number of shares outstanding of the Registrant’s shares of common stock as of March 25, 2024 was , including shares of common stock underlying the units and rights, $0.0001 par value per share, issued and outstanding.
Auditor Firm ID: PCAOB ID # 206 Auditor Name: MaloneBailey LLP Auditor Location: Houston, TX
DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE
None.
QUETTA ACQUISITION CORPORATION
Annual Report on Form 10-K for the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2023
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FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS
This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, or the Securities Act, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, or the Exchange Act. The statements contained in this report that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements. Our forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our or our management’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 “anticipates,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “would” and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. Forward-looking statements in this report may include, for example, statements about our:
| ● | ability to complete our initial business combination; |
| ● | success in retaining or recruiting, or changes required in, our officers, key employees or directors following our initial business combination; |
| ● | officers and directors allocating their time to other businesses and potentially having conflicts of interest with our business or in approving our initial business combination, as a result of which they would then receive expense reimbursements; |
| ● | potential ability to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination; |
| ● | pool of prospective target businesses; |
| ● | the ability of our officers and directors to generate a number of potential investment opportunities; |
| ● | potential change in control if we acquire one or more target businesses for stock; |
| ● | the potential liquidity and trading of our securities; |
| ● | the lack of a market for our securities; |
| ● | use of proceeds not held in the trust account or available to us from interest income on the trust account balance; or |
| ● | financial performance following our initial public offering. |
The forward-looking statements contained in this report are based on our current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects on us. There can be no assurance that future developments affecting us will be those that we have anticipated. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties (some of which are beyond our control) or other assumptions that may cause actual results or performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those factors described under the heading “Risk Factors.” Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of our assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary in material respects from those projected in these forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws and/or if and when management knows or has a reasonable basis on which to conclude that previously disclosed projections are no longer reasonably attainable.
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PART I
| ITEM 1. | BUSINESS |
In this Annual Report on Form 10-K (the “Form 10-K”), references to the “Company,” “Quetta” and to “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to Quetta Acquisition Corporation
Introduction
We are a blank check company formed under the laws of the State of Delaware on May 1, 2023 for the purpose of entering into a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, recapitalization, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses or entities, which we refer to throughout this prospectus as our initial business combination. Our efforts to identify a prospective target business will not be limited, although the company intends to prioritize the evaluation of businesses in Asia (excluding China, Hong Kong, and Macau) that operate in the financial technology sector. We shall not undertake our initial business combination with any entity with its principal business operations in China (including Hong Kong and Macau). We do not have any specific business combination under consideration and we have not (nor has anyone on our behalf), directly or indirectly, contacted any prospective target business or had any substantive discussions, formal or otherwise, with respect to such a transaction with our company.
Context and Competitive Advantage
We will seek to leverage our management team’s proprietary network of relationships with corporate executives, private equity, venture and growth capital funds, investment banking firms, consultants, family offices, and large corporations in order to source, acquire, and support the operations of the business combination target. We believe our team’s extensive and applicable experience investing in and operating businesses in Asia and North America will make us a preferred partner and allow us to source high-quality combination targets. Our efforts to identify a prospective target business will not be limited to a particular geographic region or industry, although the Company intends to focus on operating businesses in Asia (excluding China, Hong Kong, and Macau), and we prefer an initial business combination with a digital asset exchange, such as a bitcoin marketplace.
The future development and growth of digital assets such as crypto is subject to a variety of factors that are difficult to predict and evaluate. In fact, crypt asset markets in general are distressed due to recent bankruptcies and financial failure of FTX Trading Ltd. (“FTX”), which may limit our ability to identify perspective target for business combination, affect the attractiveness of prospective target business, or, following consummation of our initial business combination, our financial condition and results of operations. Digital asset exchanges on which cryptocurrencies trade are relatively new and, in most cases, largely unregulated. The legal and regulatory regimes, including the laws, rules, and regulations associated with them, are evolving and will be impacted by the bankruptcy of the FTX Exchange and other regulatory concerns with the industry generally. It is possible the failure of FTX in November 2022 and the resulting market turmoil could lead to increased SEC, CFTC, or criminal investigations, enforcement, and/or other regulatory activity, which may subject our potential business combination to significant legal and regulatory consequences, leading to significant delay or even termination of our initial business combination. For additional discussion regarding our belief about the market risks existing and future regulations pose to our initial business combination, see “Risk Factors” beginning on page 31 of this prospectus.
Our team consists of experienced professionals and senior operating executives who bring a unique background and skill set that will be attractive to leading Asia-based companies. We believe that we will be able to leverage the following competitive strengths in identifying, structuring, and consummating a business combination:
| ● | An extensive network across several industries in Asia; which include longstanding relationships with leading executives, investors, entrepreneurs, and investment bankers in the Asia region and thus will provide us with access to proprietary investment opportunities and strong deal flow in our target sectors; |
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| ● | Structuring and execution capabilities; through their respective careers, our team has extensive experience in identifying, evaluating and executing investments in companies at various stages of their life cycle. We believe that the combined and complementary expertise of our team will allow us to structure and execute a highly attractive transaction; |
| ● | U.S. and Asia cross-border deal experience; cross-border transactions require industry and local regulatory knowledge, rigorous due diligence and structuring creativity. Our team has significant transaction experience completing large-scale domestic and cross-border transactions, involving acquirers and targets located across the U.S. and Asia. |
Our Sponsor is Yocto Investments LLC and our manager is Ms. Chen Chen, who is the wife of our chief executive officer. We will seek to capitalize on the collective deal-making experience and business connections of our management team.
Hui Chen has been our Chief Executive Officer and Chairman since May 2023. He has been serving as the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Yotta Acquisition Corporation (Nasdaq: YOTA) since December 2021. Mr. Chen is a cross-industry expert in computer science and law. Mr. Chen founded Law Offices of Hui Chen & Associates, PC in 2012, a New York-based law firm. Mr. Chen focuses his practice on patent prosecution, copyright infringement, and other general intellectual property matters. Mr. Chen has also been an adjunct professor at Hofstra University since September 2019, where he instructs multiple undergraduate computer science programming courses in Visual C++. Before joining Hofstra University, Mr. Chen was an adjunct associate professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Pace University, Touro College, and Saint Francis College between 2000 and 2018 and was a full-time professor at Technical Career of Institute, College of Technology from December 2011 to December 2017. Before forming his law office in 2012, Mr. Chen worked for multiple Fortune 500 companies. Mr. Chen worked as an Oracle developer at eBay, Inc. from February 2008 to May 2015. Mr. Chen worked at IBM Global Services, where he was a solo back-end developer in designing and building the database and back-end process for DHS Inspection Application, from November 2007 to March 2008, and a programmer analyst between March 1998 and May 2004. Mr. Chen also worked at MultiPlan Inc. between June 2005 and February 2008 as a technical lead where he participated in designing new application systems and partnered with external vendors in coding and implementing new systems by using Java and Oracle PL/SQL. Before that, Mr. Chen worked at Pepsi Cola Inc. from January 2004 to June 2005, where he designed, coded, implemented, and documented a growth forecasting system and developed an automatic purchasing system. Mr. Chen received a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Shanghai Jiaotong University in 1992, a Bachelor’s degree in HVAC from Technical Career Institutes in 1997, a Master of Science degree in Computer Science from Pace University in 2000, and his J.D. degree from Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University in 2010.
Robert L. Labbe has been our Chief Financial Officer since May 2023. He serves as one of our directors as of the date of this prospectus. He has been serving as the Chief Financial Officer and director of Yotta Acquisition Corporation (Nasdaq: YOTA) since December 2021. Mr. Labbe is a real estate veteran and real estate finance attorney licensed in California and New York with over thirty (30) years of experience in real estate. Mr. Labbe also has been a manager of MCAP Realty Advisors, LLC, a real estate advisor company, since January 2010. Mr. Labbe has been the general counsel of Global Premier Development Inc. and Global Premier America, LLC, real estate development companies, from March 2012 to December 2021. Mr. Labbe was a co-founder, general counsel, and managing director of Lenders Direct Capital, a wholesale lender, and its retail affiliate Lenders Republic Financial, a nationwide mortgage banker, from May 2003 to December 2007. Mr. Labbe was also a co-founder and partner at Mazda Butler LLP, a commercial and real estate law firm in California, from January 2003 to December 2007. Mr. Labbe co-founded First Allegiance Financial, a national specialty finance company, where he was the president and chairman from September 1996 to December 1998. First Allegiance Financial was acquired by City Holding Company, a financial holding company, for approximately $22 million in 1997. Mr. Labbe received his Bachelor’s degree in Civil Law (B.C.L.) and Bachelor of Laws degree (LL.B.) from McGill University in 1982 and 1983, respectively. Mr. Labbe also received his Diplome d’Etude Collegiale St. Lawrence College (Quebec) in 1978. Mr. Labbe is a licensed broker with the California Department of Real Estate since 1990. Mr. Labbe also holds the UC Irvine Extension Light Construction and Development Management Program Certificate.
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Brandon Miller has been serving as one of our independent directors since October 2023. He has been serving as a member of the board of directors of Yotta Acquisition Corporation (Nasdaq: YOTA) since April 2022. Mr. Miller has been the managing partner at Aspect Property Management LLC, a property management company in Connecticut, since January 2015. Before joining Aspect Property Management LLC, Mr. Miller spent a decade in the consulting industry at Matté & Company, a private and public sector consulting company from January 2005 to January 2015, where he offered executive recruiting, strategic planning, leadership, and corporate consulting services. Mr. Miller was a corporate controller at Corporate Dining Solutions, a corporate catering company, from 2003 to 2005. Mr. Miller is presently a certified manager of community associations (“CMCA”) and an association management specialist (“AMS”). Mr. Miller received his Bachelor’s degree in Finance from the University of Bridgeport in 1986 and studied in Mechanical Engineering at North Carolina State University from 1980 to 1983.
Daniel M. McCabe has been serving as one of our independent directors since October 2023. He has been serving as a member of the board of directors of Yotta Acquisition Corporation (Nasdaq: YOTA) since April 2022. Mr. McCabe has been admitted to practice before the Courts of the State of Connecticut since 1974. Mr. McCabe’s legal career began as an assistant clerk of the Superior Court at Stamford from 1974 to 1976, and since then he has had his own legal practice, Daniel McCabe LLC, a general practice law firm in Connecticut founded in 1982. His work includes rendering legal advice to individuals and business entities concerning commercial transactions, business organizations, and complex litigation. Mr. McCabe is also an Adjunct Professor of Business Law at Sacred Heart University. Mr. McCabe previously was the Chairman of the Stamford Housing Authority, Co-chair of the Stamford Reapportionment Committee, Member of the Board of Parole for the State of Connecticut, Chairman of the Republican Town Committee of the City of Stamford and Counsel for the Stamford Water Pollution Control Authority. He also served as Corporation Counsel for the City of Stamford where he held the position of chief legal counsel and advisor to Mayor Stanley Esposito of the City of Stamford. Mr. McCabe obtained his Juris Doctor degree from St. John’s University Law School in 1974.
Michael Lazar has been serving as one of our independent directors since October 2023. He has been serving as a member of the board of directors of Yotta Acquisition Corporation (Nasdaq: YOTA) since April 2022. Mr. Lazar has over 14 years of experience in guiding corporate issuers with the filing of their regulatory filings with the SEC. Mr. Lazar founded Empire Filings, a full-service financial printer, in October 2020, and has been the chief executive officer of the company since then. Mr. Lazar acted as the chief executive officer of Adorbs, Inc., an organic apparel company quoted on the OTC market, from April 2019 to October 2020. Prior to that, Mr. Lazar worked at S2 Filings, a full-service financial printer, from August 2016 to October 2020. Mr. Lazar started his career in the financial printer industry at Vintage Filings, a full-service financial printer and a division of PR Newswire, from August 2006 to August 2016. Mr. Lazar obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Brooklyn College in 2004.
Our activities thus far have been limited to the organization of the company and the preparation of our IPO. Our current activities aim to identify a target company and to consummate a business combination with the target. We will not limit our search of potential targets for the initial business combination, although we anticipate that our search will primarily be in the financial technology sector due to the expertise of our management. In particular we are interested in exploring the possibility of establishing a digital assets market in Asia (excluding China, Hong Kong and Macau).
The past performance of our management team, or their respective affiliates, is not a guarantee either (i) of success with respect to any business combination we may consummate or (ii) that we will be able to identify a suitable candidate for our initial business combination. No member of our management team has been an officer or director of a special purpose acquisition corporation in the past. You should not rely on the historical record of our management team’s or their respective affiliates’ performance as indicative of our future performance.
Our officers and directors may become officers or directors of another special purpose acquisition company with a class of securities intended to be registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Exchange Act of 1934, prior to the completion of our initial business combination.
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Our Business Strategy and Acquisition Criteria
We intend to focus our efforts on identifying and completing our initial business combination with a company in a financial technology industry that aligns with our team’s experiences, expertise and network of relationships. Our business strategy is focused on potential acquisition targets that exhibit compelling long-term growth potential and highly defensible market positions. Our experience with Asia is a key differentiator for us compared to other blank check companies, the majority of which we believe are seeking business combinations exclusively in the U.S. We believe this will allow us to generate a truly differentiated pipeline of acquisition opportunities and lead to executing a business combination with an attractive target company more quickly, efficiently, and under better terms than our competitors.
We believe that targeting companies in Asia (excluding China, Hong Kong and Macau) are compelling because there is a significant pool of high-quality private companies that could benefit from going public in the United States. We expect that the financial technology sector will continue to have a strong growth trajectory due to recent trends including increasing digitization, the adoption and advancement of new technology, and changes in consumer habits. We believe Asia in particular represents a compelling market environment with significant growth opportunities and favorable trends within the financial technology industry. We believe that the COVID-19 pandemic and Asia’s growing market has enabled consumer adoption of financial technology to accelerate, creating massive opportunities for our team to capitalize on. Given the high level of business formation and development in Asia, and the number of high-quality emerging companies seeking access to the US capital markets in our network, we believe that we will be able to engage with many leading, Asia-based companies (excluding China, Hong Kong and Macau) interested in a business combination. We shall not undertake our initial business combination with any entity with its principal business operations in China (including Hong Kong and Macau).
We have identified the following general criteria and guidelines as we evaluate prospective target companies.
| ● | Large underpenetrated markets with favorable industry dynamics. We intend to actively look for suitable investment opportunities within the financial technology sector with an enterprise value of approximately $250 million to $1 billion. We will prioritize targets that are already benefiting from or capitalizing on trends found within their respective sectors. |
| ● | Strong management team. The strength of the management team will be an important component in our review process. We will seek to partner with a visionary, experienced and professional management team that can drive growth, strategic decision making and long-term value creation. |
| ● | Defensible market position with sustainable competitive advantage. We intend to favor targets that have a strong competitive advantage or are category leaders in their respective verticals. We will target companies that have strong intellectual property, technology, or brand equity within their respective sectors and that can be further monetized on a global basis. |
| ● | Asia-domiciled but operating on a global basis. We will seek targets that have already established a strong operating history within Asia (excluding China, Hong Kong and Macau), but which possess a competitive edge to expand into new geographic regions where similar needs exist. |
| ● | Benefit from being a public company. We intend to only acquire businesses that would benefit from being publicly traded in the United States, including access to broader sources of capital and expanded market awareness. This improved access to capital could allow the targets to accelerate growth, pursue new projects, retain and hire employees, and expand into new geographies or businesses. |
While we intend to use these criteria in evaluating the attractiveness of potential business combination opportunities, we may ultimately decide to enter into an initial business combination with a target business that does not meet these criteria. In the event that we decide to enter into our initial business combination with a target business that does not meet the above criteria and guidelines, we will disclose that the target business does not meet the above criteria and guidelines in stockholder communications related to our initial business combination, which, as discussed in this prospectus, would be in the form of tender offer documents or proxy solicitation materials that we would file with the SEC.
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In evaluating a prospective target business, we expect to conduct a thorough due diligence review that will encompass, among other things, meetings with incumbent management and employees, document reviews, interviews of customers and suppliers, inspection of facilities, as well as the review of financial and other information which will be made available to us. We will also utilize our operational and capital allocation experience. Our acquisition criteria, due diligence processes, and value creation methods are not intended to be exhaustive. Any evaluation relating to the merits of a particular initial business combination may be based, to the extent relevant, on these general guidelines as well as other considerations, factors, and criteria that our management may deem relevant.
Yotta Acquisition Corporation
On March 8, 2021, our management co-founded Yotta Acquisition Corporation, a Delaware corporation (“Yotta”), a special purpose acquisition company incorporated for the purposes of effecting a business combination. On April 22, 2022, Yotta consummated its initial public offering of 11,500,000 units (including 1,500,000 units issued upon the full exercise of the over-allotment option), each unit consisting of one share of common stock and one-tenth (1/10) of one right, for an offering price of $10.00 per unit. Its units, common stock and rights are currently traded on Nasdaq under symbols “YOTAU”, “YOTA” and “YOTAR,” respectively.
On October 24, 2022, Yotta entered into a certain merger agreement (the “Merger Agreement”) by and among NaturalShrimp Incorporated (“NaturalShrimp”), a Nevada corporation, Yotta, and Yotta Merger Sub, Inc. (“MergerSub”), a Nevada corporation and wholly-owned subsidiary of Yotta. At the closing of the merger in consideration, Yotta will issue 17.5 million shares of its common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, to the former security holders of Yotta. Following the closing of the merger, the former security holders of NaturalShrimp will be entitled to receive up to 10,000,000 additional shares of Yotta’s common stock if, following the closing of the merger, NaturalShrimp meets or exceeds either of two annual revenue thresholds for each of the fiscal years ending on March 31, 2024 and March 31, 2025. After the closing of the merger, if NaturalShrimp meets or exceeds $15,000,000 in revenue (per its audited financial statements) for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2024, then Yotta will issue 5,000,000 shares of Yotta’s common stock to the former security holders of NaturalShrimp. If NaturalShrimp meets or exceeds $30,000,000 in revenue (per its audited financial statements) for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2025, then Yotta will issue 5,000,000 shares of its common stock to the former security holders of NaturalShrimp.
At a special meeting of stockholders held on April 19, 2023, Yotta’s stockholders approved Yotta to enter into an amendment to the Investment Management Trust Agreement with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company (the “Trust Amendment”) dated as of April 19, 2023. Pursuant to the Trust Amendment, Yotta has the right to extend time to complete its business combination (the “Business Combination Period”) under the Trust Agreement for a period of 12 months from April 22, 2023 to April 22, 2024 and to the extent Yotta’s Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation is amended to extend the Business Combination Period, by depositing $120,000 for each such one-month extension into Yotta’s trust account. Yotta filed an amendment to its Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation with the Delaware Secretary of State on April 19, 2023 giving Yotta the right to extend the Business Combination Period from April 22, 2023 to April 22, 2024.
On April 21, 2023, May 17, 2023 and June 20, 2023, Yotta each deposited $120,000 (an aggregate of $360,000) into its trust account in order to extend the period of time it has to complete a business combination for an additional one (1) month period, respectively. The purpose of the extensions is to provide more time for Yotta to complete a business combination.
By a letter dated August 10, 2023 (the “Termination Letter”), Yotta informed NaturalShrimp that it was terminating the Merger Agreement. The termination of the Merger Agreement was due to breaches by NaturalShrimp of its obligations thereunder including, but not limited to, NaturalShrimp’s obligation to share the costs associated with the extension of the deadline by which Yotta must complete an initial business combination. Although the payments were to be shared equally, NaturalShrimp failed to provide its portion despite being notified of its obligation to do so.
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NaturalShrimp has not responded to the Termination Letter but previously sent a notification that it was terminating the Merger Agreement. Yotta rejected that purported termination as it does not believe NaturalShrimp has a legal basis under the Merger Agreement to terminate it. Moreover, pursuant to Section 10.2(b) of the Merger Agreement, NaturalShrimp was not authorized to terminate the Merger Agreement when it was in breach of its terms. Yotta also included in the Termination Letter a demand for the $3 million termination fee due to it under the terms of the Merger Agreement.
Certain member of our management are officers and/or directors of Yotta, including Mr. Hui Chen serves as Chairman and CEO, Mr. Robert L. Labbe serves as the CFO and director, and each of Mr. Brandon Miller, Mr. Daniel M. McCabe and Mr. Michael Lazar serves as an independent director, and each of the foregoing own fiduciary duties under Delaware general corporate law to Yotta. For more details about our management’s conflict of interests, see “Management-Conflicts of Interest” of this annual report on Form 10-K.
Acquisition Process
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 incumbent management and employees, document reviews, interviews of customers and suppliers, inspection of facilities and a review of financial and other information about the target and its industry. We will also utilize our management team’s operational and capital planning experience as a part of our analysis of any potential target.
We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a target that is affiliated with our Sponsor, officers, or directors nor making the initial business combination through a joint venture or other form of shared ownership with our Sponsor, officers, or directors. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with an initial business combination target that is affiliated with our Sponsor, officers, or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, would obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent entity that commonly renders valuation opinions that such an initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view.
Our directors and officers may have a conflict of interest with respect to evaluating a particular business combination if the retention or resignation of any such officers and directors was included by a target business as a condition to any agreement with respect to our initial business combination. More specifically, all of our officers and directors have fiduciary and contractual duties to Yotta Acquisition Corporation (“Yotta”), which executed a definitive merger agreement in connection with its initial business combination on October 24, 2022. The merger agreement was terminated on August 10, 2023. Yotta will have priority over us in connection with potential target businesses identified by its management. These conflicts of interests may limit the number of potential targets that our management presents to us for purposes of completing a business combination. For more details about our management’s conflict of interests, see “Management-Conflicts of Interest” on page 108 of this prospectus. If Yotta decides to pursue any such opportunity, we may be precluded from pursuing such opportunities. Subject to his or her fiduciary duties under Delaware law, none of the members of our management team who are also employed by, or directors of, our sponsor or its affiliates have any obligation to present us with any opportunity for a potential business combination of which they become aware. Our sponsor and directors and officers are also not prohibited from sponsoring, investing or otherwise becoming involved with, any other blank check companies, including in connection with their initial business combinations, prior to us completing our initial business combination. Our management team, in their capacities as directors, officers or employees of our sponsor or its affiliates or in their other endeavors, may choose to present potential business combinations to the related entities described above, current or future entities affiliated with or managed by our sponsor, or third parties, before they present such opportunities to us, subject to his or her fiduciary duties under Delaware law and any other applicable fiduciary duties.
Certain of our directors and officers currently 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 subject to his or her fiduciary duties. If any of our directors or officers becomes aware of a business combination opportunity that falls within the line of business of any entity to which he or she has then-existing fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she may be required to present such business combination opportunity to such entity prior to presenting such business combination opportunity to us.
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No members of our management team have any obligation to present us with any opportunity for a potential business combination of which they become aware, unless presented to such member specifically in his or her capacity as an officer or a director of the company. Members of our management team may be required to present potential business combinations to other entities to whom they have fiduciary duties before they present such opportunities to us. Any knowledge or presentation of such opportunities may therefore present conflicts of interest.
Initial Business Combination
We have 9 months from the closing of our IPO to consummate our initial business combination (“Combination Period”). If we anticipate that we may not be able to consummate our initial business combination within 9 months from the closing of this offering, we may, but are not obligated to, if requested by our sponsor or its affiliates, extend Combination Period up to two times by an additional three months each time for a total of up to 15 months by depositing $600,000 (or $690,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) in connection with each such extension into our trust account (the “Paid Extension Period”). In addition, we will be entitled to an automatic six-month extension to complete a business combination (the “Automatic Extension Period”) if we have executed a letter of intent, agreement in principle or definitive agreement for an initial business combination during the Combination Period or Paid Extension Period. If we are unable to consummate our initial business combination within such time period, we will, as promptly as possible but not more than ten (10) business days thereafter, redeem 100% of our outstanding public shares for a pro rata portion of the funds held in the trust account, including a pro rata portion of any interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us or necessary to pay our taxes, and then seek to liquidate and dissolve. However, we may not be able to distribute such amounts as a result of claims of creditors which may take priority over the claims of our public shareholders. In the event of our liquidation and subsequent dissolution, the public and private rights will expire and will be worthless. Our public stockholders will not be afforded an opportunity to vote on our extensions of time to consummate an initial business combination from 9 months to up to 15 months or redeem their shares in connection with such extensions.
Our initial business combination must occur with one or more target businesses that together have an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the assets held in the trust account (excluding the deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable) at the time of the agreement to enter into the initial business combination. If our board is not able to independently determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA, or an independent accounting firm with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. Our stockholders may not be provided with a copy of such opinion, nor will they be able to rely on such opinion.
We will either (1) seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination at a meeting called for such purpose, at which stockholders may seek to redeem their shares, regardless of whether they vote for or against, or abstain from voting on, the proposed business combination, for their pro rata share of the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account (net of taxes payable), or (2) provide our stockholders with the opportunity to sell their shares to us by means of a tender offer (and thereby avoid the need for a stockholder vote) for an amount equal to their pro rata share of the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account (net of taxes payable), in each case subject to the limitations described herein. The decision as to whether we will seek stockholder approval of our proposed business combination or 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. Any tender offer documents used in connection with a business combination will contain substantially the same financial and other information about the initial business combination as is required under the SEC’s proxy rules.
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Pursuant to the Nasdaq listing rules, our initial business combination must occur with one or more target businesses having an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the value of the trust account (excluding any deferred underwriting discounts and taxes payable on the income earned on the trust account), at the time of the agreement to enter into the initial business combination, which we refer to as the 80% test. We are not required to obtain an opinion from an unaffiliated third party that the target business we select has a fair market value in excess of at least 80% of the balance of the trust account unless our board of directors cannot make such determination on its own. 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 the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) or an independent valuation or appraisal firm with respect to satisfaction of such criteria. Our stockholders may not be provided with a copy of such opinion nor will they be able to rely on such opinion. We do not intend to purchase multiple businesses in unrelated industries in conjunction with our initial business combination. Subject to this requirement, our management will have virtually unrestricted flexibility in identifying and selecting one or more prospective businesses, although we will not be permitted to effectuate our initial business combination with another blank check company or a similar company with nominal operations. Additionally, pursuant to Nasdaq rules, any initial business combination must be approved by a majority of our independent directors.
We anticipate structuring our initial business combination so that the post-transaction company in which our public stockholders own shares will own or acquire 100% of the equity interests or assets of the target business or businesses. We may, however, structure our initial business combination such that the post-transaction company owns 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 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise owns 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 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our stockholders prior to the business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post-transaction company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the business combination transaction. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock of a target. In this case, we would acquire a 100% controlling interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new shares, our stockholders immediately prior to our initial business combination could own less than a majority of our outstanding shares subsequent to our initial business combination. If less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses are owned or acquired by the post-transaction company, the portion of such business or businesses that is owned or acquired is what will be valued for purposes of the 80% test. If the business combination involves more than one target business, the 80% of fair market value test will be based on the aggregate value of all of the target businesses and we will treat the target businesses together as the initial business combination for purposes of a tender offer or for seeking stockholder approval, as applicable.
The net proceeds of our IPO from the trust account upon the closing of our initial business combination may be used as consideration to pay the sellers of a target business with which we complete our initial business combination. If our initial business combination is paid for using equity or debt securities, or not all of the funds released from the trust account are used for payment of the consideration in connection with our initial business combination or used for redemption of our public shares, we may use the balance of the cash released to us from the trust account following the closing 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, to fund the purchase of other companies or for working capital. In addition, we may be required to obtain additional financing in connection with the closing of our initial business combination to be used following the closing for general corporate purposes as described above. There is no limitation on our ability to raise funds through the issuance of equity or equity-linked securities or through loans, advances or other indebtedness in connection with our initial business combination. Subject to compliance with applicable securities laws, we would only complete such financing simultaneously with the completion of our initial business combination. At this time, we are not a party to any arrangement or understanding with any third party with respect to raising any additional funds through the sale of securities or otherwise. None of our Sponsor, officers, directors or stockholders is required to provide any financing to us in connection with or after our initial business combination. We may also obtain financing prior to the closing of our initial business combination to fund our working capital needs and transaction costs in connection with our search for and completion of our initial business combination. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that, following this offering and prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, we are prohibited from issuing additional securities that would entitle the holders thereof to (i) receive funds from the trust account or (ii) vote (a) on any initial business combination or (b) to approve a further amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to (x) extend the time we have to consummate a business combination beyond 9 months from the date of this prospectus (or until 18 months if we extend the period of time to consummate a business combination by the maximum amount) or (y) amend the foregoing provisions, unless (in connection with any such amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation) we offer our public stockholders the opportunity to redeem their public shares.
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Corporate Information
We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, as modified by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, or 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.
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 this offering, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.235 billion, or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our common stock that is held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30th, and (2) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities during the prior three-year period. References herein to “emerging growth company” shall have the meaning associated with it in the JOBS Act.
Additionally, we are a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Rule 10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K. Smaller reporting companies may take advantage of certain reduced disclosure obligations, including, among other things, providing only two years of audited financial statements. We will remain a smaller reporting company until the last day of the fiscal year in which (1) the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates exceeds $250 million as of the prior June 30th, or (2) our annual revenues exceed $100 million during such completed fiscal year and the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the last completed fiscal year.
Facilities
We currently maintain our principal executive offices at 1185 Avenue of the Americas, Suite 301, New York, NY 10036. The cost for this space is included in the $10,000 per-month fee payable to Yocto Investments LLC, for office space, utilities and secretarial services. We consider our current office space, combined with the other office space otherwise available to our executive officers, adequate for our current operations.
Employees
We have two executive officers. They are not obligated to devote any specific number of hours to our matters and intend to devote only as much time as they deem necessary to our affairs. The amount of time they will devote in any time period will vary based on whether a target business has been selected for the business combination and the stage of the business combination process the company is in. We do not intend to have any full time employees prior to the consummation of our initial business combination.
Legal Proceedings
There is no material litigation, arbitration, governmental proceeding or any other legal proceeding currently pending or known to be contemplated against us or any members of our management team in their capacity as such, and we and the members of our management team have not been subject to any such proceeding in the 10 years preceding the date of this annual report on Form 10-K.
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| ITEM 1A. | RISK FACTORS |
As a smaller reporting company, we are not required to make disclosures under this Item.
| ITEM 1B. | UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS |
Not applicable.
| ITEM 1C. | CYBERSECURITY |
We are a special purpose acquisition company with no business operations. Since our IPO, our sole business activity has been identifying and evaluating suitable acquisition transaction candidates. Therefore, we do not consider that we face significant cybersecurity risk.
We have not adopted any cybersecurity risk management program or formal processes for assessing cybersecurity risk. Our management is generally responsible for assessing and managing any cybersecurity threats. If and when any reportable cybersecurity incident arises, our management shall promptly report such matters to our board of directors for further actions, including regarding the appropriate disclosure, mitigation, or other response or actions that the board deems appropriate to take.
As of the date of this report, we have not encountered any cybersecurity incidents since our IPO.
| ITEM 2. | PROPERTIES |
We currently maintain our principal executive offices at 1185 Avenue of the Americas, Suite 301, New York, NY 10036. The cost for this space is included in the $10,000 per-month fee payable to Yocto Investments LLC, for office space, utilities and secretarial services. We consider our current office space, combined with the other office space otherwise available to our executive officers, adequate for our current operations.
| ITEM 3. | LEGAL PROCEEDINGS |
We may be subject to legal proceedings, investigations and claims incidental to the conduct of our business from time to time. We are not currently a party to any material litigation or other legal proceedings brought against us. We are also not aware of any legal proceeding, investigation or claim, or other legal exposure that has a more than remote possibility of having a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.
| 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 |
Our units began to trade on The Nasdaq Global Market, or Nasdaq, under the symbol “QETA” on October 6, 2023. The common stock and rights comprising the units began separate trading on Nasdaq on November 30, 2023, under the symbols “QETA” and “QETAR”, respectively.
Holders of Record
As of December 31, 2023, there were 8,947,045 of our shares of Common Stock issued and outstanding held by six stockholders of record. The number of record holders was determined from the records of our transfer agent and does not include beneficial owners of shares of Common Stock whose shares are held in the names of various security brokers, dealers, and registered clearing agencies.
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 an initial business combination. The payment of cash dividends in the future will be dependent upon our revenues and earnings, if any, capital requirements and general financial condition subsequent to completion of a business combination. The payment of any dividends subsequent to a business combination will be within the discretion of our board of directors at such time. It is the present intention of our board of directors to retain all earnings, if any, for use in our business operations and, accordingly, our board of directors does not anticipate declaring any dividends in the foreseeable future. In addition, our board of directors is not currently contemplating and does not anticipate declaring any share dividends in the foreseeable future. Further, if we incur any indebtedness, our ability to declare dividends may be limited by restrictive covenants we may agree to in connection therewith.
Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans
None.
Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities
None.
Use of Proceeds
On October 11, 2023, the Company consummated its initial public offering of 6,900,000 units (the “Units”), which includes full exercise of the underwriter’s over-allotment option. Each Unit consists of one common stock of the Company, par value $0.0001 per share (the “Common Stock”) and one-tenth (1/10) of one right (“Right”) to receive one share of common stock upon the consummation of an initial business combination. The Units were sold at a price of $10.00 per Unit, generating gross proceeds to the Company of $69,000,000. Simultaneously with the closing of the IPO, the Company consummated a private placement (the “Private Placement”) in which Yocto Investments LLC (the “Sponsor”), purchased 253,045 private units (the “Private Placement Units”) at a price of $10.00 per Private Unit, generating total proceeds of $2,530,450. The Private Units were issued pursuant to Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, as the transactions did not involve a public offering. The Private Units are identical to the Public Units sold in the Initial Public Offering.
A total of $69,690,000 of the proceeds from the IPO and the sale of the Private Placement Units were placed in a trust account established for the benefit of the Company’s public shareholders. We paid a total of $1,380,000 underwriting discounts and commissions and $407,729 for other offering costs and expenses (which excludes $690,000 of representative shares at fair value) related to the Initial Public Offering. In addition, the underwriters agreed to defer $2,415,000 in underwriting discounts and commissions. The underwriters reimbursed $690,000 to us for the IPO related expenses.
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As of December 31, 2023, a total of $70,506,524 was held in the trust account, $69,690,000 of which is the proceeds from the IPO and Private Placement and $816,524 of which was interest income generated by the proceeds in trust.
For a description of the use of the proceeds generated in our initial public offering, see below Part II, Item 7 - Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations of this Form 10-K.
Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers
None.
| ITEM 6. | [RESERVED] |
| ITEM 7. | MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS |
The following discussion and analysis of the Company’s financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our audited financial statements and the notes related thereto which are included in “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Certain information contained in the discussion and analysis set forth below includes forward-looking statements. Our actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of many factors, including those set forth under “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements,” “Item 1A. Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Overview
We are a blank check company incorporated in Delaware on May 1, 2023. 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 or entities, which we refer to herein as our “initial business combination.” Our efforts to identify a prospective target business are not limited to any particular industry or geographic region, although we intend to focus on target businesses in Asia (excluding China, Hong Kong, and Macau) that operate in the financial technology sector. We intend to utilize cash derived from the proceeds of our initial public offering (“IPO” as defined below) and the private placement of Private Units, our securities, debt or a combination of cash, securities and debt, in effecting our initial business combination.
We expect to continue to incur significant costs in the pursuit of our acquisition plans. We cannot assure you that our plans to complete an initial business combination will be successful.
Results of Operations
We have neither engaged in any operations nor generated any operating revenues to date. Our activities from May 1, 2023 (inception) through December 31, 2023 were organizational activities and those necessary to prepare for our IPO, which is described below, and subsequent to the IPO, identifying a target company for an initial business combination. We do not expect to generate any operating revenues until after the completion of our initial business combination.
We expect to generate non-operating income in the form of interest income on marketable securities held after the IPO. We expect that we will incur increased expenses as a result of being a public company (for legal, financial reporting, accounting and auditing compliance), as well as for due diligence expenses in connection with searching for, and completing, a Business Combination.
For the period from May 1, 2023 (inception) through December 31, 2023, we had net income of $535,209, which consisted of general and administrative expenses of $78,045, related party administrative fees of $28,710, franchise tax expense of $14,378 and income tax expense of $170,649, offset by interest income of $826,991.
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Liquidity and Capital Resources
On October 11, 2023, we completed our initial public offering (“IPO”) of 6,900,000 units (the “Public Units’), including the full exercise of the over-allotment option of 900,000 Units granted to the underwriters. The Public Units were sold at an offering price of $10.00 per unit generating gross proceeds of $69,000,000. Each Unit consists of one share of common stock and one-tenth (1/10) of one right (“Public Right”). Each Public Right will convert into one share of common stock upon the consummation of a Business Combination. Simultaneously with the IPO, we sold to our Sponsor 253,045 units at $10.00 per unit (the “Private Units”) in a private placement generating total gross proceeds of $2,530,450. The Private Units are identical to the Public Units except with respect to certain registration rights and transfer restrictions. Each Private Unit consists of one share of common stock (“Private Share”) and one-tenth (1/10) of one right (“Private Right”). Each Private Right will convert into one share of common stock upon the consummation of a Business Combination. Additionally, we issued the underwriters 69,000 shares of common stock for the representative shares, at the closing of the IPO as part of representative compensation.
Upon the closing of the IPO and the private placement on October 11, 2023, a total of $69,690,000 was placed in a trust account (the “Trust Account”) maintained by Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company as a trustee and will be invested only in U.S. government treasury bills 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 of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”), and that invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations.
We intend to use substantially all of the net proceeds of the IPO and the private placement, including the funds held in the Trust Account, in connection with our initial business combination and to pay our expenses relating thereto, including deferred underwriting discounts and commissions payable to the underwriters in the IPO in an amount equal to 3.5% of the total gross proceeds raised in the IPO upon consummation of our initial business combination. To the extent that our capital stock is used in whole or in part as consideration to effect our initial business combination, the remaining proceeds held in the Trust Account as well as any other net proceeds not expended will be used as working capital to finance the operations of the target business. Such working capital funds could be used in a variety of ways including continuing or expanding the target business’ operations, for strategic acquisitions and for marketing, research and development of existing or new products. Such funds could also be used to repay any operating expenses or finders’ fees which we had incurred prior to the completion of our initial business combination if the funds available to us outside of the Trust Account were insufficient to cover such expenses.
As of December 31, 2023, the Company had cash of $610,185 and a working capital (current assets less current liabilities) of $486,406.
The Company has incurred and expects to continue to incur significant professional costs to remain as a publicly traded company and to incur significant transaction costs in pursuit of the consummation of a Business Combination. In connection with the Company’s assessment of going concern considerations in accordance with Financial Accounting Standard Board’s Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2014-15, “Disclosures of Uncertainties about an Entity’s Ability to Continue as a Going Concern,” management has determined that these conditions raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. In addition, if the Company is unable to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period, the Company’s board of directors would proceed to commence a voluntary liquidation and thereby a formal dissolution of the Company. There is no assurance that the Company’s plans to consummate a Business Combination will be successful within the Combination Period. As a result, management has determined that such additional condition also raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. The financial statement does not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.
Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements
We have no obligations, assets or liabilities, which would be considered off-balance sheet arrangements as of December 31, 2023. We do not participate in transactions that create relationships with unconsolidated entities or financial partnerships, often referred to as variable interest entities, which would have been established for the purpose of facilitating off-balance sheet arrangements. We have not entered into any off-balance sheet financing arrangements, established any special purpose entities, guaranteed any debt or commitments of other entities, or purchased any non-financial assets.
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Contractual Obligations
We do not have any long-term debt, capital lease obligations, operating lease obligations or long-term liabilities, other than described below.
Administrative Services Agreement
We have entered into an administrative services agreement pursuant to which we will pay the Sponsor a total of $10,000 per month for office space, utilities, secretarial and administrative support. However, pursuant to the terms of such agreement, the Sponsor agreed to defer the payment of such monthly fee. Any such unpaid amount will accrue without interest and be due and payable no later than the date of the consummation of the initial Business Combination. As of December 31, 2023, the Company has incurred $28,710 in related party fees for the services provided by the Sponsor under this agreement.
Underwriting Agreement
Upon closing of a Business Combination, the underwriters will be entitled to a deferred fee of 3.5% of the gross proceeds of the IPO, or $2,415,000. The deferred fee will become payable to the underwriters from the amounts held in the Trust Account solely in the event that we complete a Business Combination, subject to the terms of the underwriting agreement. Additionally, we issued the underwriters 69,000 shares common stock, or the representative shares, at the closing of the IPO as part of representative compensation.
Critical Accounting Policies
The preparation of financial statements and related disclosures in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements, and income and expenses during the periods reported. Actual results could materially differ from those estimates. The Company’s management has reviewed all estimates used in the preparation of the financial statements and has determined that none reflect both a significant level of estimation uncertainty and a reasonable likelihood of material impact on the Company’s financial condition or results of operations.
| ITEM 7A. | Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk |
As of December 31, 2023, we were not subject to any market or interest rate risk. Following the consummation of our IPO, the net proceeds of our IPO, including amounts in the Trust Account, have been invested in U.S. government treasury obligations with a maturity of 185 days or less or in certain money market funds that invest solely in U.S. treasuries. Due to the short-term nature of these investments, we believe there will be no associated material exposure to interest rate risk.
| ITEM 8. | 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, such as this Report, is recorded, processed, summarized, and reported within the time period specified in the SEC’s rules and forms. Disclosure controls are also designed with the objective of ensuring that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including the chief executive officer and chief financial officer, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure. Our management evaluated, with the participation of our current chief executive officer and chief financial officer (our “Certifying Officers”), the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures as of December 31, 2023, pursuant to Rule 13a-15(b) under the Exchange Act. Based upon that evaluation, our Certifying Officers concluded that, as of December 31, 2023, our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective.
We do not expect that our disclosure controls and procedures will prevent all errors and all instances of fraud. Disclosure controls and procedures, no matter how well conceived and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of the disclosure controls and procedures are met. Further, the design of disclosure controls and procedures must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints, and the benefits must be considered relative to their costs. Because of the inherent limitations in all disclosure controls and procedures, no evaluation of disclosure controls and procedures can provide absolute assurance that we have detected all our control deficiencies and instances of fraud, if any. The design of disclosure controls and procedures also is based partly on certain assumptions about the likelihood of future events, and there can be no assurance that any design will succeed in achieving its stated goals under all potential future conditions.
Management’s Report on Internal Controls Over Financial Reporting
This Annual Report on Form 10-K does not include a report of management’s assessment regarding internal control over financial reporting or an attestation report of our independent registered public accounting firm due to a transition period established by rules of the SEC for newly public companies.
Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting
There were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting during the most recent fiscal quarter that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.
| ITEM 9B. | Other Information. |
None.
| ITEM 9C. | DISCLOSURE REGARDING FOREIGN JURISDICTIONS THAT PREVENT INSPECTIONS |
None.
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PART III
| ITEM 10. | Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance. |
The following table sets forth information about our directors and executive officers as of the date of this annual report.
| Name | Age | Position | ||
| Hui Chen | 52 | Chairman, Chief Executive Officer | ||
| Robert L. Labbe | 64 | Chief Financial Officer, Director | ||
| Brandon Miller | 61 | Independent Director | ||
| Daniel M. McCabe | 74 | Independent Director | ||
| Michael Lazar | 40 | Independent Director |
Hui Chen has been our Chief Executive Officer and Chairman since May 2023. He has been serving as the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Yotta Acquisition Corporation (Nasdaq: YOTA) since December 2021. Mr. Chen is a cross-industry expert in computer science and law. Mr. Chen founded Law Offices of Hui Chen & Associates, PC in 2012, a New York-based law firm. Mr. Chen focuses his practice on patent prosecution, copyright infringement, and other general intellectual property matters. Mr. Chen has also been an adjunct professor at Hofstra University since September 2019, where he instructs multiple undergraduate computer science programming courses in Visual C++. Before joining Hofstra University, Mr. Chen was an adjunct associate professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Pace University, Touro College, and Saint Francis College between 2000 and 2018 and was a full-time professor at Technical Career of Institute, College of Technology from December 2011 to December 2017. Before forming his law office in 2012, Mr. Chen worked for multiple Fortune 500 companies. Mr. Chen worked as an Oracle developer at eBay, Inc. from February 2008 to May 2015. Mr. Chen worked at IBM Global Services, where he was a solo back-end developer in designing and building the database and back-end process for DHS Inspection Application, from November 2007 to March 2008, and a programmer analyst between March 1998 and May 2004. Mr. Chen also worked at MultiPlan Inc. between June 2005 and February 2008 as a technical lead where he participated in designing new application systems and partnered with external vendors in coding and implementing new systems by using Java and Oracle PL/SQL. Before that, Mr. Chen worked at Pepsi Cola Inc. from January 2004 to June 2005, where he designed, coded, implemented, and documented a growth forecasting system and developed an automatic purchasing system. Mr. Chen received a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Shanghai Jiaotong University in 1992, a Bachelor’s degree in HVAC from Technical Career Institutes in 1997, a Master of Science degree in Computer Science from Pace University in 2000, and his J.D. degree from Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University in 2010.
Robert L. Labbe has been our Chief Financial Officer since May 2023. He serves as one of our directors as of the date of this prospectus. He has been serving as the Chief Financial Officer and director of Yotta Acquisition Corporation (Nasdaq: YOTA) since December 2021. Mr. Labbe is a real estate veteran and real estate finance attorney licensed in California and New York with over thirty (30) years of experience in real estate. Mr. Labbe also has been a manager of MCAP Realty Advisors, LLC, a real estate advisor company, since January 2010. Mr. Labbe has been the general counsel of Global Premier Development Inc. and Global Premier America, LLC, real estate development companies, from March 2012 to December 2021. Mr. Labbe was a co-founder, general counsel, and managing director of Lenders Direct Capital, a wholesale lender, and its retail affiliate Lenders Republic Financial, a nationwide mortgage banker, from May 2003 to December 2007. Mr. Labbe was also a co-founder and partner at Mazda Butler LLP, a commercial and real estate law firm in California, from January 2003 to December 2007. Mr. Labbe co-founded First Allegiance Financial, a national specialty finance company, where he was the president and chairman from September 1996 to December 1998. First Allegiance Financial was acquired by City Holding Company, a financial holding company, for approximately $22 million in 1997. Mr. Labbe received his Bachelor’s degree in Civil Law (B.C.L.) and Bachelor of Laws degree (LL.B.) from McGill University in 1982 and 1983, respectively. Mr. Labbe also received his Diplome d’Etude Collegiale St. Lawrence College (Quebec) in 1978. Mr. Labbe is a licensed broker with the California Department of Real Estate since 1990. Mr. Labbe also holds the UC Irvine Extension Light Construction and Development Management Program Certificate.
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Brandon Miller serves as one of our independent directors since October 5, 2023. He has been serving as a member of the board of directors of Yotta Acquisition Corporation (Nasdaq: YOTA) since April 2022. Mr. Miller has been the managing partner at Aspect Property Management LLC, a property management company in Connecticut, since January 2015. Before joining Aspect Property Management LLC, Mr. Miller spent a decade in the consulting industry at Matté & Company, a private and public sector consulting company from January 2005 to January 2015, where he offered executive recruiting, strategic planning, leadership, and corporate consulting services. Mr. Miller was a corporate controller at Corporate Dining Solutions, a corporate catering company, from 2003 to 2005. Mr. Miller is presently a certified manager of community associations (“CMCA”) and an association management specialist (“AMS”). Mr. Miller received his Bachelor’s degree in Finance from the University of Bridgeport in 1986 and studied in Mechanical Engineering at North Carolina State University from 1980 to 1983.
Daniel M. McCabe serves as one of our independent directors since October 5, 2023. He has been serving as a member of the board of directors of Yotta Acquisition Corporation (Nasdaq: YOTA) since April 2022. Mr. McCabe has been admitted to practice before the Courts of the State of Connecticut since 1974. Mr. McCabe’s legal career began as an assistant clerk of the Superior Court at Stamford from 1974 to 1976, and since then he has had his own legal practice, Daniel McCabe LLC, a general practice law firm in Connecticut founded in 1982. His work includes rendering legal advice to individuals and business entities concerning commercial transactions, business organizations, and complex litigation. Mr. McCabe is also an Adjunct Professor of Business Law at Sacred Heart University. Mr. McCabe previously was the Chairman of the Stamford Housing Authority, Co-chair of the Stamford Reapportionment Committee, Member of the Board of Parole for the State of Connecticut, Chairman of the Republican Town Committee of the City of Stamford and Counsel for the Stamford Water Pollution Control Authority. He also served as Corporation Counsel for the City of Stamford where he held the position of chief legal counsel and advisor to Mayor Stanley Esposito of the City of Stamford. Mr. McCabe obtained his Juris Doctor degree from St. John’s University Law School in 1974.
Michael Lazar serves as one of our independent directors since October 5, 2023. He has been serving as a member of the board of directors of Yotta Acquisition Corporation (Nasdaq: YOTA) since April 2022. Mr. Lazar has over 14 years of experience in guiding corporate issuers with the filing of their regulatory filings with the SEC. Mr. Lazar founded Empire Filings, a full-service financial printer, in October 2020, and has been the chief executive officer of the company since then. Mr. Lazar acted as the chief executive officer of Adorbs, Inc., an organic apparel company quoted on the OTC market, from April 2019 to October 2020. Prior to that, Mr. Lazar worked at S2 Filings, a full-service financial printer, from August 2016 to October 2020. Mr. Lazar started his career in the financial printer industry at Vintage Filings, a full-service financial printer and a division of PR Newswire, from August 2006 to August 2016. Mr. Lazar obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Brooklyn College in 2004.
Number and Terms of Office of Officers and Directors
Our board of directors has five members, three of whom are deemed “independent” under SEC and Nasdaq rules. We may not hold an annual meeting of stockholders until after we consummate our initial business combination. Our officers are appointed by the board of directors and serve at the discretion of the board of directors, rather than for specific terms of office. Our board of directors is authorized to appoint persons to the offices set forth in our bylaws as it deems appropriate. Our bylaws provide that our directors may consist of a chairman of the board, and that our officer may consist of chief executive officer, president, chief financial officer, executive vice president(s), vice president(s), secretary, treasurer and such other officers as may be determined by the board of directors.
Director Independence
Nasdaq listing standards require that within one year of the listing of our securities on the Nasdaq Global Market we have at least a majority of independent directors and that a majority of our board of directors be independent. An “independent director” is defined generally as a person other than an officer or employee of the company or its subsidiaries or any other individual having a relationship which in the opinion of the company’s board of directors, would interfere with the director’s exercise of independent judgment in carrying out the responsibilities of a director. Our Board of Directors determined that Mr. McCabe, Mr. Miller, and Mr. Lazar each qualify as an “independent director” as defined in the Nasdaq listing standards and applicable SEC rules.
We will only enter into a business combination if it is approved by a majority of our directors. Additionally, we will only enter into transactions with our officers and directors and their respective affiliates that are on terms no less favorable to us than could be obtained from independent parties. Any related-party transactions must be approved by our audit committee and a majority of disinterested directors.
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Audit Committee
We have established an audit committee of the board of directors, which consists of Mr. Brandon Miller, Mr. Daniel M. McCabe and Mr. Michael Lazar, each of whom is an independent director. Mr. Brandon Miller serves as chairperson of the audit committee. The audit committee’s duties, which are specified in our Audit Committee Charter, include, but are not limited to:
| ● | reviewing and discussing with management and the independent auditor the annual audited financial statements, and recommending to the board whether the audited financial statements should be included in our Form 10-K; |
| ● | discussing with management and the independent auditor significant financial reporting issues and judgments made in connection with the preparation of our financial statements; |
| ● | discussing with management major risk assessment and risk management policies; |
| ● | monitoring the independence of the independent auditor; |
| ● | 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; |
| ● | reviewing and approving all related-party transactions; |
| ● | 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 independent auditor, including the fees and terms of the services to be performed; |
| ● | appointing or replacing the independent auditor; |
| ● | determining the compensation and oversight of the work of the independent auditor (including resolution of disagreements between management and the independent auditor 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; and |
| ● | approving reimbursement of expenses incurred by our management team in identifying potential target businesses. |
Financial Experts on Audit Committee
The audit committee is composed exclusively of “independent directors” who are “financially literate” as defined under the Nasdaq listing standards. The Nasdaq listing standards define “financially literate” as being able to read and understand fundamental financial statements, including a company’s balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement.
In addition, we must certify to Nasdaq that the committee has, and will continue to have, at least one member who has past employment experience in finance or accounting, requisite professional certification in accounting, or other comparable experience or background that results in the individual’s financial sophistication. The board of directors has determined that Mr. Brandon Miller qualifies as an “audit committee financial expert,” as defined under rules and regulations of the SEC.
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Compensation Committee
We have established a compensation committee of the board of directors consisting of Mr. Daniel M. McCabe, Mr. Brandon Miller, and Mr. Michael Lazar, each of whom is an independent director. Mr. Daniel M. McCabe serves as chairman of the compensation committee. We have adopted a compensation committee charter, which details the principal functions of the compensation committee, including:
| ● | reviewing and approving on an annual basis the corporate goals and objectives relevant to our Chief Executive Officer’s compensation, evaluating our Chief Executive Officer’s performance within the context of such goals and objectives, and determining and approving the remuneration (if any) of our Chief Executive Officer based on such evaluation; |
| ● | reviewing and approving the compensation of all of our other 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; |
| ● | 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. |
The charter also provides that the compensation committee may, in its sole discretion, retain or obtain the advice of a compensation consultant, legal counsel, or other adviser and will be directly responsible for the appointment, compensation and oversight of the work of any such adviser. However, before engaging or receiving advice from a compensation consultant, external legal counsel or any other adviser, the compensation committee will consider the independence of each such adviser, including the factors required by NASDAQ and the SEC.
Director Nominations
We do not have a standing nominating committee, though we intend to form a corporate governance and nominating committee as and when required to do so by law or NASDAQ rules.
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 a future annual meeting of stockholders (or, if applicable, a special meeting of stockholders). Our stockholders that wish to nominate a director for election to the Board 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, the board of directors considers education, 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
Any executive compensation matters will be determined by our compensation committee. None of our directors who currently serve as members of our compensation committee is, or has at any time in the past been, one of our officers or employees. None of our executive officers currently serves, or in the past year has served, as a member of the compensation committee of any other entity that has one or more executive officers serving on our board of directors. None of our executive officers currently serves, or in the past year has served, as a member of the board of directors of any other entity that has one or more executive officers serving on our compensation committee.
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Conflicts of Interest
Investors should be aware of the following potential conflicts of interest.
| ● | None of our officers and directors is required to commit their full time to our affairs and, accordingly, they may have conflicts of interest in allocating their time among various business activities. |
| ● | In the course of their other business activities, our officers and directors may become aware of investment and business opportunities which may be appropriate for presentation to our company as well as the other entities with which they are affiliated. Our directors and officers may continue to be involved in the formation of other special purpose acquisition companies in the future. Thus, our officers and directors may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented. |
| ● | Our officers and directors may in the future become affiliated with entities, including other blank check companies, engaged in business activities similar to those intended to be conducted by our company. |
| ● | Unless we consummate our initial business combination, our officers, directors, and other insiders will not receive reimbursement for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred by them to the extent that such expenses exceed the amount of available proceeds not deposited in the trust account. |
| ● | The founder shares beneficially owned by our officers and directors will be released from escrow only if our initial business combination is successfully completed. Additionally, if we are unable to complete an initial business combination within the required time frame, our officers and directors will not be entitled to receive any amounts held in the trust account with respect to any of their founder shares or private units. Furthermore, our Sponsor, Yocto Investments LLC, agreed that the private units will not be sold or transferred by it until after we have completed our initial business combination. For the foregoing reasons, our board may have a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target business is an appropriate business with which to effect our initial business combination. |
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 the corporation and its stockholders for the opportunity not to be brought to the attention of the corporation. |
Accordingly, as a result of multiple business affiliations, our officers and directors may have similar legal obligations relating to presenting business opportunities meeting the above-listed criteria to multiple entities. Furthermore, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that the doctrine of corporate opportunity will not apply with respect to any of our officers or directors in circumstances where the application of the doctrine would conflict with any fiduciary duties or contractual obligations they may have. In order to minimize potential conflicts of interest which may arise from multiple affiliations, our officers and directors (other than our independent directors) have agreed to present to us for our consideration, prior to presentation to any other person or entity except for Yotta Acquisition Corporation, any suitable opportunity to acquire a target business, until the earlier of: (1) our consummation of an initial business combination and (2) up to 21 months from the date of this prospectus (or any other applicable deadline as described in this prospectus). This agreement is, however, subject to any pre-existing fiduciary and contractual obligations such officer or director may from time to time have to another entity. Accordingly, if any of them becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for an entity to which he or she has pre-existing 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, and only present it to us if such entity rejects the opportunity. We do not believe, however, that the pre-existing fiduciary duties or contractual obligations of our officers and directors will materially undermine our ability to complete our business combination because in most cases the affiliated companies are closely held entities controlled by the officer or director or the nature of the affiliated company’s business is such that it is unlikely that a conflict will arise.
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The following table summarizes the current material pre-existing fiduciary or contractual obligations of our officers, and directors:
| Name of Individual | Name of Affiliated Company |
Entity’s Business |
Affiliation | Affiliation with Quetta Acquisition Corporation |
Priority/Preference | |||||
| Hui Chen | Law Offices of Hui Chen & Associates, PC | Law Firm | Partner | |||||||
|
Hofstra University |
Education |
Adjunct Professor |
||||||||
|
Yotta Acquisition Corporation |
Special Purpose Acquisition Company |
Chief Executive Officer and Chairman |
Chairman, Chief Executive Officer |
Yotta Acquisition Corporation will have priority over us. | ||||||
| Robert L. Labbe | MCAP Realty Advisors, LLC | Real Estate Advisory Services | Chief Financial Officer and Director | |||||||
|
Yotta Acquisition Corporation |
Special Purpose Acquisition Company |
Chief Financial Officer, Director |
||||||||
| Brandon Miller | Aspect Property Management LLC | Real Estate | Partner | |||||||
|
Yotta Acquisition Corporation |
Special Purpose Acquisition Company |
Independent Director |
Independent Director |
Yotta Acquisition Corporation will have priority over us. | ||||||
| Daniel M. McCabe | Daniel M. McCabe, LLC | Law Firm | Partner | |||||||
| 1200 Summer Street Association | Real Estate | Managing Partner | ||||||||
|
Yotta Acquisition Corporation |
Special Purpose Acquisition Company |
Independent Director |
Independent Director |
Yotta Acquisition Corporation will have priority over us. | ||||||
| Michael Lazar | Empire Filings | Financial Printer | Chief Executive Officer | |||||||
| Yotta Acquisition Corporation | Special Purpose Acquisition Company | Independent Director | Independent Director | Yotta Acquisition Corporation will have priority over us. |
Our insiders, including our officers and directors, have agreed to vote any shares of common stock held by them in favor of our initial business combination, if permitted by law or regulation. In addition, they have agreed to waive their respective rights to receive any amounts held in the trust account with respect to their founder shares and private units if we do not complete our initial business combination within the required time frame. If they purchase shares of common stock in this offering or in the open market, however, they would be entitled to receive their pro rata share of the amounts held in the trust account if we are unable to complete our initial business combination within the required time frame, but have agreed not to redeem such shares in connection with the consummation of our initial business combination.
All ongoing and future transactions between us and any of our officers and directors or their respective affiliates will be on terms believed by us to be no less favorable to us than are available from unaffiliated third parties. Such transactions will therefore comply with section 144 of the DGCL.
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Limitation on Liability and Indemnification of Directors and Officers
Our certificate of incorporation provides that our directors and officers will be 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 certificate of incorporation provides that our directors will not be personally liable for monetary damages to us 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. Notwithstanding the foregoing, as set forth in our certificate of incorporation, such indemnification will not extend to any claims our insiders may make to us to cover any loss that they may sustain as a result of their agreement to pay debts and obligations to target businesses or vendors or other entities that are owed money by us for services rendered or contracted for or products sold to us as described elsewhere in the Prospectus.
Our bylaws also permits 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 indemnification. We have purchased a policy of directors’ and officers’ liability insurance that insures our directors and officers against the cost of defense, settlement or payment of a judgment in some circumstances and insures us against our obligations to indemnify the directors and officers.
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 directors and officers, 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 directors and officers pursuant to these provisions. We believe that these provisions, the insurance and the indemnity agreements are necessary to attract and retain talented and experienced directors and officers.
Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act may be permitted to our directors, officers and controlling persons pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, we have been advised that in the opinion of the SEC such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is, therefore, unenforceable.
Code of Ethics
We adopted a code of conduct and ethics applicable to our directors, officers and employees in accordance with applicable federal securities laws. The code of ethics codifies the business and ethical principles that govern all aspects of our business.
Section 16(a) Beneficial Ownership Reporting Compliance
Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act requires our executive officers, directors and persons who beneficially own more than 10% of a registered class of our equity securities to file with the SEC initial reports of ownership and reports of changes in ownership of our shares of Common Stock and other equity securities. These executive officers, directors, and greater than 10% beneficial owners are required by SEC regulation to furnish us with copies of all Section 16(a) forms filed by such reporting persons.
Based solely on our review of such forms furnished to us and written representations from certain reporting persons, we believe that all filing requirements applicable to our executive officers, directors and greater than 10% beneficial owners were filed in a timely manner.
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| Item 11. | Executive Compensation. |
Employment Agreements
We have not entered into any employment agreements with our executive officers and have not made any agreements to provide benefits upon termination of employment.
Executive Officers and Director Compensation
No executive officer has received any cash compensation for services rendered to us. We currently pay our sponsor an aggregate fee of $10,000 per month for providing us with office space and certain office and secretarial services. However, this arrangement is solely for our benefit and is not intended to provide our Chief Executive Officer compensation in lieu of a salary.
Our officers and directors will also receive reimbursement for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred by them in connection with activities on our behalf, such as identifying potential target businesses, performing business due diligence on suitable target businesses and business combinations as well as traveling to and from the offices, plants or similar locations of prospective target businesses to examine their operations. There is no limit on the amount of out-of-pocket expenses reimbursable by us provided, however, that to the extent such expenses exceed the available proceeds not deposited in the trust account, such expenses would not be reimbursed by us unless we consummate an initial business combination. Our audit committee will review and approve all reimbursements made to our sponsor, officers, directors or their respective affiliates, with any interested director abstaining from such review and approval.
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 stockholders, to the extent then known, in the proxy solicitation materials furnished to our stockholders. However, the amount of such compensation may not be known at the time of the stockholder meeting held to consider our initial business combination, as it will be up to the directors of the post-combination business to determine executive and director compensation. In this event, such compensation will be publicly disclosed at the time of its determination in a Current Report on Form 8-K or a periodic report, as required by the SEC.
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| ITEM 12. | Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters. |
The following table sets forth as of March 25, 2024 the number of shares of Common Stock beneficially owned by (i) each person who is known by us to be the beneficial owner of more than five percent of our issued and outstanding shares of Common Stock (ii) each of our officers and directors; and (iii) all of our officers and directors as a group. As of March 25, 2024, we had 8,947,045 shares of Common Stock issued and outstanding.
| Name and Address of Beneficial Owner(1) | Number of Shares Beneficially Owned |
Approximate Percentage of Outstanding Common Stock |
||||||
| Hui Chen(2) | 1,970,045 | 22.0 | % | |||||
| Robert L. Labbe | 2,000 | * | ||||||
| Brandon Miller | 2,000 | * | ||||||
| Daniel M. McCabe | 2,000 | * | ||||||
| Michael Lazar | 2,000 | * | ||||||
| All directors and executive officers as a group (5 individuals) | 1,978,045 | 22.1 | % | |||||
| Yocto Investments LLC (our sponsor)(2) | 1,940,800 | 22.0 | % | |||||
| Boothbay Fund Management, LLC(3) | 523,488 | 5.9 | % | |||||
| ATW SPAC Management LLC(4) | 523,488 | 5.9 | % | |||||
| Wealthspring Capital LLC(5) | 1,023,776 | 11.4 | % | |||||
| * | Less than one percent. |
| (1) | Unless otherwise noted, the business address of each of the following entities or individuals is c/o Quetta Acquisition Corp, 1185 Avenue of the Americas, Suite 301, New York, NY. |
| (2) | Shares owned by Yocto Investments LLC, which is controlled solely by Ms. Chen Chen, who is the wife of Hui Chen. |
| (3) | Based on information provided in a Schedule 13G filed on February 13, 2024. Boothbay Fund Management, LLC and Ari Glass (together, the “Reporting Persons”) made certain joint acquisition statement, dated February 13, 2024. Each of the Reporting Persons disclaims beneficial ownership of the Company’s shares of Common Stock except to the extent of that person’s pecuniary interest therein. The address of the principal office of the Reporting Persons is 640 Fifth Avenue, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10019. |
| (4) |
Based on information provided in a Schedule 13G filed on February 13, 2024. ATW SPAC Management LLC, Antonio Ruiz-Gimenez and Kerry Propper (together, the “Reporting Persons”) made certain joint acquisition statement, dated February 13, 2024. Each of the Reporting Persons disclaims beneficial ownership of the Company’s shares of Common Stock except to the extent of that person’s pecuniary interest therein. The address of the principal office of the Reporting Persons is 640 Fifth Avenue, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10019. |
| (5) | Based on information provided in a Schedule 13G filed on January 10, 2024. Wealthspring Capital LLC and Matthew Simpson (together, the “Reporting Persons”) made certain joint acquisition statement, dated January 10, 2024. Each of the Reporting Persons disclaims beneficial ownership of the Company’s shares of Common Stock except to the extent of that person’s pecuniary interest therein. The address of the principal office of the Reporting Persons is 17 State Street, Suite 2130, New York, New York 10004. |
Unless otherwise indicated, we believe that all persons named in the table have sole voting and investment power with respect to all shares of Common Stock beneficially owned by them. The following table does not reflect record of beneficial rights included in the units or the private rights issued pursuant to the Company’s initial public offering as these rights are not convertible until consummation of the Company’s initial business combination.
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All of the founder shares issued pursuant to our IPO are placed in escrow with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as escrow agent, until (1) with respect to 50% of the founder shares, the earlier of one year after the date of the consummation of our initial business combination and the date on which the closing price of our shares of common stock equals or exceeds $12.50 per share (as adjusted for share splits, share capitalizations, reorganizations and recapitalizations) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing after our initial business combination and (2) with respect to the remaining 50% of the founder shares, one year after the date of our consummation of the initial business combination, or earlier, in either case, if, subsequent to the initial business combination, we consummates a liquidation, merger, stock exchange or other similar transaction which results in all of the shareholders having the right to exchange their shares of common stock for cash, securities or other property.
During the escrow period, the holders of these shares will not be able to sell or transfer their securities except for transfers, assignments or sales (i) among our initial stockholders or to our initial stockholders’ members, officers, directors, consultants or their affiliates, (ii) to a holder’s stockholders or members upon its liquidation, (iii) by bona fide gift to a member of the holder’s immediate family or to a trust, the beneficiary of which is the holder or a member of the holder’s immediate family, for estate planning purposes, (iv) by virtue of the laws of descent and distribution upon death, (v) pursuant to a qualified domestic relations order, (vi) to us for no value for cancellation in connection with the consummation of our initial business combination, or (vii) in connection with the consummation of a business combination at prices no greater than the price at which the shares were originally purchased, in each case (except for clause (vi) or with our prior consent) where the transferee agrees to the terms of the escrow agreement and to be bound by these transfer restrictions, but will retain all other rights as our stockholders, including, without limitation, the right to vote their shares of common stock and the right to receive cash dividends, if declared. If dividends are declared and payable in shares of common stock, such dividends will also be placed in escrow. If we are unable to effect a business combination and liquidate, there will be no liquidation distribution with respect to the founder shares.
| ITEM 13. | Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence. |
Insider Shares
On May 17, 2023, the Company issued 1,725,000 shares of common stock (the “Insider Shares”) to the Sponsor for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000. The 1,725,000 Insider Shares included an aggregate of up to 225,000 shares subject to forfeiture by the Sponsor to the extent that the underwriters’ over-allotment was not exercised in full or in part, so that the Sponsor would collectively own 20% of the Company’s issued and outstanding shares after the Initial Public Offering (assuming the Sponsor did not purchase any Public Shares in the Initial Public Offering and excluding the Private Shares). As a result of the underwriters’ election to fully exercise their over-allotment option on October 11, 2023, a total of 225,000 Insider Shares are no longer subject to forfeiture.
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Promissory Note - Related Party
On May 21, 2023, the Sponsor loaned the Company $300,000 to be used, in part, for transaction costs incurred in connection with the IPO (the “Promissory Note”). The Promissory Note is unsecured, interest-free and due after the date on which the Company closes the initial Business Combination. The Company repaid the outstanding balance of $300,000 to the Sponsor on October 11, 2023.
Administrative Support Agreement
The Company agreed, commencing on October 5, 2023, to pay the Sponsor, affiliates, or advisors a total of up to $10,000 per month for office space, utilities, out of pocket expenses, and secretarial and administrative support. The arrangement will terminate upon the earlier of the Company’s consummation of a Business Combination or its liquidation. For the period from May 1, 2023 through December 31, 2023, the Company incurred $28,710 in fees for these services.
Underwriting Agreement
The Company granted the underwriters a 45-day option from the date of the Initial Public Offering to purchase up to 900,000 additional Units to cover over-allotments. On October 11, 2023, the underwriter’s elected to fully exercise the over-allotment option to purchase an additional 900,000 Units at a price of $10.00 per Public Share (see Note 8).
The Company paid an underwriting fee of $0.20 per Unit, or $1,380,000, in total which includes the fee due upon the full exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option.
The underwriters are entitled to a deferred fee of $0.35 per unit, or $2,415,000 due to the option to fully exercise their overallotment on October 11, 2023, in the aggregate will be payable to the underwriters for deferred underwriting commissions. The deferred fee will become payable to the underwriters from the amounts held in the Trust Account solely in the event that the Company completes a Business Combination, subject to the terms of the underwriting agreement.
Representative Shares
On October 11, 2023, the Company issued to the underwriter and/or its designees 69,000 shares of common stock (the “Representative Shares”). The Company accounted for the Representative Shares as an expense of the Initial Public Offering, resulting in a charge directly to stockholder’s equity. The Company estimated the fair value of Representative Shares to be $690,000 based upon the offering price of the shares of $10 per share. The Representative Shares have been deemed compensation by FINRA and are therefore subject to a lock-up for a period of 180 days immediately following the effective date of the registration statement related to the Initial Public Offering pursuant to Rule 5110(g)(1) of FINRA’s NASD Conduct Rules. Pursuant to FINRA Rule 5110(g)(1), these securities will not be the subject of any hedging, short sale, derivative, put or call transaction that would result in the economic disposition of the securities by any person for a period of 180 days immediately following the effective date of the registration statements related to the Initial Public Offering, nor may they be sold, transferred, assigned, pledged or hypothecated for a period of 180 days immediately following the effective date of the registration statements related to the Initial Public Offering except to any underwriter and selected dealer participating in the Initial Public Offering and their bona fide officers or partners.
26
| ITEM 14. | Principal Accountant Fees and Services. |
MaloneBailey, LLP, or “MB”, acts as our independent registered public accounting firm. The following is a summary of fees paid to MB for services rendered.
Audit Fees. Audit fees consist of fees for professional services rendered for the audit of our year-end financial statements and services that are normally provided by MB in connection with regulatory filings. The aggregate fees of MB for professional services rendered for the audit of our annual financial statements, review of the financial information included in our Forms 8-K for the respective periods and other required filings with the SEC totaled $78,750 for the period from May 1, 2023 (inception) through December 31, 2023.
Audit-Related Fees. Audit-related fees consist of fees billed for assurance and related services that are reasonably related to performance of the audit or review of our financial statements and are not reported under “Audit Fees.” These services include attest services that are not required by statute or regulation and consultations concerning financial accounting and reporting standards. We did not pay MB for any audit-related fees for the period from May 1, 2023 (inception) through December 31, 2023.
Tax Fees. We did not pay MB for tax return services, planning and tax advice for the for the period from May 1, 2023 (inception) through December 31, 2023.
All Other Fees. We did not pay MB for any other services for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022.
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).
27
PART IV
| ITEM 15. | Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules |
| (a) | The following documents are filed as part of this Form 10-K: |
| (1) | Financial Statements: |
| (2) | Financial Statement Schedules: |
None.
| (3) | Exhibits |
We hereby file as part of this Report the exhibits listed in the attached Exhibit Index. 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.
28
29
| * | Filed herewith. |
| ** | Furnished herewith. |
| ITEM 16. | FORM 10-K SUMMARY |
Not Applicable.
30
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.
| QUETTA ACQUISITION CORPORATION | ||
| Dated: March 25, 2024 | By: | /s/ Hui Chen |
| Name: | Hui Chen | |
| Title: | Chief Executive Officer | |
| (Principal Executive Officer) | ||
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, this report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated.
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, this report has been signed below by the following persons in the capacities and on the dates indicated.
| Signature | Title | Date | ||
| /s/ Hui Chen | Chief Executive Officer | March 25, 2024 | ||
| Hui Chen | (Principal executive officer), and Chairman | |||
| /s/ Robert L. Labbe | Chief Financial Officer | March 25, 2024 | ||
| Robert L. Labbe | (Principal financial and accounting officer), and Director | |||
| /s/ Brandon Miller | Director | March 25, 2024 | ||
| Brandon Miller | ||||
| /s/ Daniel M. McCabe | Director | March 25, 2024 | ||
| Daniel M. McCabe | ||||
| /s/ Michael Lazar | Director | March 25, 2024 | ||
| Michael Lazar |
31
INDEX TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
| Page(s) | ||
| Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm (PCAOB ID # 206) | F-2 | |
| Financial Statements: | ||
| Balance Sheets | F-3 | |
| Statements of Operations | F-4 | |
| Statements of Changes in Stockholders’ Deficit | F-5 | |
| Statements of Cash Flows | F-6 | |
| Notes to Financial Statements | F-7 |
F-1
REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
To the Shareholders and Board of Directors of
Quetta Acquisition Corporation
Opinion on the Financial Statements
We have audited the accompanying balance sheet of Quetta Acquisition Corporation (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2023, and the related statements of operations, changes in stockholders’ deficit, and cash flows for the period from May 1, 2023 (inception) through December 31, 2023, 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, 2023, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the period from May 1, 2023 (inception) through December 31, 2023, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.
Going Concern Matter
The accompanying financial statements have been prepared assuming that the Company will continue as a going concern. As more fully described in Note 1 to the financial statements, the Company’s business plan is dependent on the completion of a business combination within a prescribed period of time and if not completed will cease all operations except for the purpose of liquidating. The 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 audit. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) ("PCAOB") and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.
We conducted our audit in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. The Company is not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of its internal control over financial reporting. As part of our audit we are required to obtain an understanding of internal control over financial reporting but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion.
Our audit included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audit also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.
/s/
www.malonebailey.com
We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2023.
March 25, 2024
F-2
QUETTA ACQUISITION CORPORATION
BALANCE SHEET
December 31, 2023
| ASSETS | ||||
| Current Assets | ||||
| Cash | $ | |||
| Prepaid expenses and other assets | ||||
| Total Current Assets | ||||
| Investments held in Trust Account | ||||
| Total Assets | $ | |||
| LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ DEFICIT | ||||
| Current Liabilities | ||||
| Due to related party - administrative fee | $ | |||
| Accounts payable and accrued expenses | ||||
| Franchise tax payable | ||||
| Income tax payable | ||||
| Total Current Liabilities | ||||
| Deferred underwriting fee payable | ||||
| Total Liabilities | ||||
| Commitments and Contingencies | ||||
| Common stock subject to possible redemption, $ par value; shares authorized; shares issued and outstanding at redemption value of $ | ||||
| Stockholders’ Deficit | ||||
| Common stock, $ par value; shares authorized; shares issued and outstanding (excluding 6,900,000 shares subject to possible redemption) | ||||
| Additional paid-in capital | ||||
| Accumulated deficit | ( |
) | ||
| Total Stockholders’ Deficit | ( |
) | ||
| TOTAL LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ DEFICIT | $ |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
F-3
QUETTA ACQUISITION CORPORATION
STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS
|
For the Period from May 1, 2023 (inception) to |
||||
| Formation and operational costs | $ | |||
| Related party administrative fees | ||||
| Franchise tax expense | ||||
| Loss from operations | ( |
) | ||
| Other income: | ||||
| Interest income | ||||
| Interest earned on marketable securities held in Trust Account | ||||
| Income (loss) before income taxes | ||||
| Provision for income taxes | ( |
) | ||
| Net income | $ | |||
| Basic and diluted weighted average shares outstanding, common shares subject to possible redemption | ||||
| Basic and diluted net income per share, redeemable common stock | $ | |||
| Basic and diluted weighted average shares outstanding, non-redeemable common stock | ||||
| Basic and diluted net income per share, non-redeemable common stock | $ |
|
||
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
F-4
QUETTA ACQUISITION CORPORATION
STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN STOCKHOLDERS’ DEFICIT
For The Period From May 1, 2023 (Inception) Through December 31, 2023
| Additional | Total | |||||||||||||||||||
| Common Stock | Paid-in | Accumulated | Stockholders’ | |||||||||||||||||
| Shares | Amount | Capital | Deficit | Deficit | ||||||||||||||||
| Balance–May 1, 2023 (Inception) | $ | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||||||||||
| Founder shares issued to initial stockholders | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Proceeds from sale of IPO Units | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Proceeds from sale of Private Placement Units | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Issuance of representative shares | ( |
) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Common stock subject to possible redemption | ( |
) | ( |
) | ( |
) | ( |
) | ||||||||||||
| Underwriter commissions | - | ( |
) | ( |
) | |||||||||||||||
| Offering costs | - | ( |
) | ( |
) | |||||||||||||||
| Accretion of additional paid in capital to accumulated deficit | - | ( |
) | |||||||||||||||||
| Remeasurement of common stock subject to possible redemption | - | ( |
) | ( |
) | |||||||||||||||
| Net income | - | |||||||||||||||||||
| Balance–December 31, 2023 | $ | $ | $ | ( |
) | $ | ( |
) | ||||||||||||
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
F-5
QUETTA ACQUISITION CORPORATION
STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS
| For the Period from May 1, 2023 (inception) through December 31, |
||||
| 2023 | ||||
| Cash Flows from Operating Activities: | ||||
| Net income | $ | |||
| Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash used in operating activities: | ||||
| Interest earned on marketable securities held in Trust Account | ( |
) | ||
| Changes in operating assets and liabilities: | ||||
| Prepaid expenses | ( |
) | ||
| Accrued expenses | ||||
| Income tax payable | ||||
| Franchise tax payable | ||||
| Related party payable - administrative fee | ||||
| Net cash used in operating activities | ( |
) | ||
| Cash Flows from Investing Activities: | ||||
| Investment of cash into Trust Account | ( |
) | ||
| Net cash used in investing activities | ( |
) | ||
| Cash Flows from Financing Activities: | ||||
| Proceeds from issuance of common stock to Sponsor | ||||
| Proceeds from sale of public units | ||||
| Proceeds from sale of Private Placements units | ||||
| Proceeds from promissory note - related party | ||||
| Proceeds from due to related party | ||||
| Repayment of due to related party | ( |
) | ||
| Repayment of promissory note - related party | ( |
) | ||
| Payment of offering costs | ( |
) | ||
| Net cash provided by financing activities | ||||
| Net Changes in Cash | ||||
| Cash - Beginning of period | ||||
| Cash - End of period | $ | |||
| Supplemental Disclosure of Non-cash Financing Activities: | ||||
| Initial classification of common stock subject to possible redemption | $ | |||
| Accretion of additional paid in capital to accumulated deficit | $ | |||
| Change in value of Class A common stock subject to possible redemption | $ | |||
| Deferred underwriting fee payable | $ | |||
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
F-6
QUETTA ACQUISITION CORPORATION
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENT
Note 1 — Description of Organization and Business Operations
Quetta Acquisition Corporation (the “Company”) is a newly organized blank check company incorporated as a Delaware Corporation on May 1, 2023. The Company was formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses or entities (“Business Combination”). The Company intends to focus on target businesses in Asia (excluding China, Hong Kong, and Macau) that operate in the financial technology sector.
As of December 31, 2023, the Company had not commenced any operations. All activities through December 31, 2023 are related to the Company’s formation and the initial public offering (“IPO” as defined below). The Company will not generate any operating revenues until after the completion of a Business Combination, at the earliest. The Company will generate non-operating income in the form of interest income from the proceeds derived from the IPO. The Company has selected December 31 as its fiscal year end. The Company’s sponsor is Yocto Investments LLC (the “Sponsor”), a Delaware limited liability company.
The registration statement for the Company’s IPO became effective on October 5, 2023. On October 11, 2023, the Company consummated the IPO of units (the “Public Units’), including the full exercise of the over-allotment option of Units granted to the underwriters. The Public Units were sold at an offering price of $ per unit generating gross proceeds of $
Transaction costs amounted to $
Upon the closing of the IPO and the private placement on October 11, 2023, a total of $
Pursuant to Nasdaq listing rules, the Company’s initial Business Combination must occur with one or more target businesses having an aggregate fair market value equal to at least
F-7
The Company will provide its holders of the outstanding Public Shares (the “Public Stockholders”) with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their Public Shares upon the completion of a Business Combination either (i) in connection with a stockholder meeting called to approve the Business Combination or (ii) by means of a tender offer. The decision as to whether the Company will seek stockholder approval of a Business Combination or conduct a tender offer will be made by the Company, solely in its discretion. The Public Stockholders will be entitled to redeem their Public Shares for a pro rata portion of the amount then in the Trust Account (initially anticipated to be $ per Public Share, plus any pro rata interest earned on the funds held in the Trust Account and not previously released to the Company to pay its franchise and income tax obligations). The Public Shares subject to redemption will be recorded at a redemption value and classified as temporary equity upon the completion of the Proposed Offering in accordance with the Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 480 “Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity.”
The Company will proceed with a Business Combination if the Company has net tangible assets of at least $
If the Company seeks stockholder approval of a Business Combination and it does not conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, the Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation provides that a public stockholder, together with any affiliate of such stockholder or any other person with whom such stockholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”)), will be restricted from redeeming its shares with respect to more than an aggregate of 20% or more of the Public Shares, without the prior consent of the Company.
The Initial Stockholders have agreed (a) to waive their redemption rights with respect to the Founder Shares, Private Shares, and Public Shares held by them in connection with the completion of a Business Combination and (b) not to propose, or vote in favor of, an amendment to the Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation that would affect the substance or timing of the Company’s obligation to redeem % of its Public Shares if the Company does not complete a Business Combination, unless the Company provides the Public Stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their Public Shares in conjunction with any such amendment.
The Company will have nine months (or 15 months or up to 21 months if it extends such period) from the closing of the IPO to consummate a Business Combination (the “Combination Period”). If the Company anticipates that it may not be able to consummate its initial Business Combination within nine months, it may extend the period of time to consummate a business combination two times by an additional three months each time (for a total of 15 months to complete a business combination). In order to extend the time available for the Company to consummate a Business Combination, the Sponsor or its affiliate or designees must deposit into the Trust Account $
F-8
If the Company is unable to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period, the Company will (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the Public Shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the Trust Account including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable, and less certain amount of interest to pay dissolution expenses) divided by the number of then outstanding Public Shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of the Company’s remaining stockholders and the Company’s board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to the Company’s obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law.
The Sponsor and the other Initial Stockholders have agreed to waive their liquidation rights with respect to the Founder Shares, and Private Shares if the Company fails to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period. However, if the Sponsor or the other Initial Stockholders acquires Public Shares in or after the IPO, such Public Shares will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the Trust Account if the Company fails to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period. The underwriters have agreed to waive their rights to their deferred underwriting commission (see Note 6) held in the Trust Account in the event the Company does not complete a Business Combination within in the Combination Period and, in such event, such amounts will be included with the other funds held in the Trust Account that will be available to fund the redemption of the Public Shares. In the event of such distribution, it is possible that the per share value of the assets remaining available for distribution will be less than $.
In order to protect the amounts held in the Trust Account, the Sponsor has agreed to be liable to the Company if and to the extent any claims by a vendor for services rendered or products sold to the Company, or a prospective target business with which the Company has discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the Trust Account to below $10.10 per Public Share, except as to any claims by a third party who executed a valid and enforceable agreement with the Company waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind they may have in or to any monies held in the Trust Account and except as to any claims under the Company’s indemnity of the underwriters of the IPO against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”). Moreover, in the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, the Sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third party claims.
Going Concern Consideration
At December 31, 2023, the Company had $
The Company has incurred and expects to continue to incur significant professional costs to remain as a publicly traded company and to incur significant transaction costs in pursuit of the consummation of a Business Combination. In connection with the Company’s assessment of going concern considerations in accordance with Financial Accounting Standard Board’s Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2014-15, “Disclosures of Uncertainties about an Entity’s Ability to Continue as a Going Concern,” management has determined that these conditions raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. In addition, if the Company is unable to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period, the Company’s board of directors would proceed to commence voluntary liquidation and thereby a formal dissolution of the Company. There is no assurance that the Company’s plans to consummate a Business Combination will be successful within the Combination Period. As a result, management has determined that such additional condition also raises substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. The financial statement does not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.
F-9
Risks and Uncertainties
As a result of the ongoing Russia/Ukraine, Hamas/Israel conflicts and/or other future global conflicts, the Company’s ability to consummate a Business Combination, or the operations of a target business with which the Company ultimately consummates a Business Combination, may be materially and adversely affected. In addition, the Company’s ability to consummate a transaction may be dependent on the ability to raise equity and debt financing which may be impacted by these events, including as a result of increased market volatility, or decreased market liquidity in third-party financing being unavailable on terms acceptable to the Company or at all. The impact of this action and potential future sanctions on the world economy and the specific impact on the Company’s financial position, results of operations or ability to consummate a Business Combination are not yet determinable. The financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.
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 (including redemptions) of stock by publicly traded domestic (i.e., U.S.) corporations and certain domestic subsidiaries of publicly traded foreign corporations. 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. The IR Act applies only to repurchases that occur after December 31, 2022.
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 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.
At this time, it has been determined that none of the IR Act tax provisions have an impact to the Company’s fiscal 2023 tax provision. The Company will continue to monitor for updates to the Company’s business along with guidance issued with respect to the IR Act to determine whether any adjustments are needed to the Company’s tax provision in future periods.
F-10
Note 2 — Summary of Significant Accounting Policies
Basis of Presentation
The accompanying audited financial statements are presented in U.S. Dollars and in conformity the U.S. GAAP and pursuant to the rules and regulations of the SEC. Accordingly, they include all of the information and footnotes required by the U.S. GAAP. In the opinion of management, all adjustments (consisting of normal accruals) considered for a fair presentation have been included. The audited financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited financial statements and notes thereto for the period from May 1, 2023 (inception) through May 31, 2023 included in a registration statement on Form S-1, as amended, declared effective by the SEC on October 5, 2023 and the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K, as filed with the SEC on October 17, 2023.
Emerging Growth Company
The Company is an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act, as modified by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the “JOBS Act”), and it may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in its periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved.
Further, Section 102(b)(1) of the JOBS Act exempts emerging growth companies from being required to comply with new or revised financial accounting standards until private companies (that is, those that have not had a Securities Act registration statement declared effective or do not have a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act) are required to comply with the new or revised financial accounting standards. The JOBS Act provides that a company can elect to opt out of the extended transition period and comply with the requirements that apply to non-emerging growth companies but any such election to opt out is irrevocable. The Company has elected not to opt out of such extended transition period which means that when a standard is issued or revised and it has different application dates for public or private companies, the Company, as an emerging growth company, can adopt the new or revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new or revised standard. This may make comparison of the Company’s financial statements with another public company that is neither an emerging growth company nor an emerging growth company that has opted out of using the extended transition period difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accounting standards used.
Use of Estimates
In preparing the financial statement in conformity with U.S. GAAP, the Company’s management makes estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported expenses during the reporting period.
Making estimates requires management to exercise significant judgment. It is at least reasonably possible that the estimate of the effect of a condition, situation or set of circumstances that existed at the date of the financial statements, which management considered in formulating its estimate, could change in the near term due to one or more future confirming events. Accordingly, the actual results could differ significantly from those estimates.
Cash and Cash Equivalents
The Company considers all short-term investments with an original maturity of three months or less when purchased to be cash equivalents. The Company had $
F-11
Investment Held in Trust Account
As of December 31, 2023, the Company had $
Investments in money market funds are presented on the balance sheets at fair value at the end of each reporting period. Earnings on investments held in the Trust Account are included in interest earned on investments held in the Trust Account in the accompanying statement of operations. The estimated fair value of investments held in the Trust Account is determined using available market information.
Deferred Offering Costs
The Company complies with the requirements of FASB ASC Topic 340-10-S99-1, “Other Assets and Deferred Costs – SEC Materials” (“ASC 340-10-S99”) and SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin Topic 5A, “Expenses of Offering”. Deferred offering costs were $
Income Taxes
The Company accounts for income taxes under ASC 740, “Income Taxes (“ASC 740”)”. ASC 740 requires the recognition of deferred tax assets and liabilities for both the expected impact of differences between the financial statement and tax basis of assets and liabilities and for the expected future tax benefit to be derived from tax loss and tax credit carry forwards. ASC 740 additionally requires a valuation allowance to be established when it is more likely than not that all or a portion of deferred tax assets will not be realized.
ASC 740 also clarifies the accounting for uncertainty in income taxes recognized in an enterprise’s financial statements and prescribes a recognition threshold and measurement process for financial statement recognition and measurement of a tax position taken or expected to be taken in a tax return. For those benefits to be recognized, a tax position must be more-likely-than-not to be sustained upon examination by taxing authorities. ASC 740 also provides guidance on derecognition, classification, interest and penalties, accounting in interim period, disclosure and transition.
The Company recognizes accrued interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits as income tax expense. There were no unrecognized tax benefits and no amounts accrued for interest and penalties as of December 31, 2023. The Company is currently not aware of any issues under review that could result in significant payments, accruals or material deviation from its position.
The Company has identified the United States and the State of Delaware as its only “major” 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.
Net income (loss) per common is computed by dividing net income (loss) by the weighted average number of shares of common stock outstanding during the period, excluding shares of common stock subject to forfeiture by the Initial Stockholders. At December 31, 2023, the Company did not have any dilutive securities and other contracts that could, potentially, be exercised or converted into shares of common stock and then share in the earnings of the Company. As a result, diluted income (loss) per share is the same as basic income (loss) per share for the period presented.
F-12
The following table reflects the calculation of basic and diluted net income per common share:
| Schedule of of basic and diluted net income (loss) per common share | ||||
|
For the December 31, 2023 |
||||
| Redeemable common stock subject to possible redemption | ||||
| Numerator: | ||||
| Net income attributable to redeemable common stock subject to possible redemption | $ | |||
| Denominator: Weighted average Class A common stock subject to possible redemption | ||||
| Basic and diluted weighted average shares outstanding, common stock subject to possible redemption | ||||
| Basic and diluted net income per share, redeemable common stock | $ | |||
| Non-redeemable common stock | ||||
| Numerator: | ||||
| Net income | $ | |||
| Less: Net income attributable to Class A common stock subject to possible redemption | $ | |||
| Net income attributable to non-redeemable common stock | $ | |||
| Denominator: Weighted average non-redeemable common stock | ||||
| Basic and diluted weighted average shares outstanding, non-redeemable common stock | ||||
| Basic and diluted net income per share, non-redeemable common stock | $ | |||
Concentration of Credit Risk
Financial instruments that potentially subject the Company to concentrations of credit risk consist of a cash account in a financial institution, which, at times, may exceed the Federal Depository Insurance Coverage of $
Fair Value of Financial Instruments
The fair value of the Company’s assets and liabilities, which qualify as financial instruments under ASC 825, “Financial Instruments,” approximates the carrying amounts represented in the accompanying balance sheet, primarily due to their short-term nature.
Common Stock Subject to Possible Redemption
The Company accounts for its common stock subject to possible redemption in accordance with the guidance in ASC Topic 480 “Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity.” Common stock subject to mandatory redemption (if any) are classified as a liability instrument and are measured at fair value. Conditionally redeemable common stock (including common stock that feature redemption rights that is either within the control of the holder or subject to redemption upon the occurrence of uncertain events not solely within the Company’s control) is classified as temporary equity. At all other times, common stock is classified as stockholders’ equity. The Company’s common stock features certain redemption rights that are considered to be outside of the Company’s control and subject to occurrence of uncertain future events. If it is probable that the equity instrument will become redeemable, we have the option to either (i) accrete changes in the redemption value over the period from the date of issuance (or from the date that it becomes probable that the instrument will become redeemable, if later) to the earliest redemption date of the instrument or (ii) recognize changes in the redemption value immediately as they occur and adjust the carrying amount of the instrument to equal the redemption value at the end of each reporting period. The Company has elected to recognize the changes immediately. Accordingly, as of December 31, 2023, shares of common stock were presented at redemption value as temporary equity, outside of the stockholder’s equity section of the Company’s balance sheet. The accretion or remeasurement will be treated as a deemed dividend (i.e., a reduction to retained earnings, or in absence of retained earnings, additional paid-in capital).
F-13
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
In August 2020, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2020-06, Debt — Debt with Conversion and Other Options (Subtopic 470-20) and Derivatives and Hedging — Contracts in Entity’s Own Equity (Subtopic 815-40) (“ASU 2020-06”) to simplify accounting for certain financial instruments. ASU 2020-06 eliminates the current models that require separation of beneficial conversion and cash conversion features from convertible instruments and simplifies the derivative scope exception guidance pertaining to equity classification of contracts in an entity’s own equity. The new standard also introduces additional disclosures for convertible debt and freestanding instruments that are indexed to and settled in an entity’s own equity. ASU 2020-06 amends the diluted earnings per share guidance, including the requirement to use the if-converted method for all convertible instruments. ASU 2020-06 is effective January 1, 2024 for the Company and should be applied on a full or modified retrospective basis, with early adoption permitted beginning on January 1, 2021. The Company adopted ASU 2020-06 as of the Company’s date of inception. Adoption of the ASU did not impact the Company’s financial position, results of operations or cash flows.
Management does not believe that any recently issued, but not yet effective, accounting pronouncements, if currently adopted, would have a material effect on the Company’s financial statements.
Note 3 — Initial Public Offering
On October 11, 2023, the Company sold Units at a price of $ per Unit (including the full exercise of the over-allotment option of Units granted to the underwriters), generating gross proceeds of $
Note 4 — Private Placement
Simultaneously with the closing of the IPO, The Sponsor purchased an aggregate of Private Units at a price of $ per Private Unit for an aggregate purchase price of $
Note 5 — Related Party Transactions
Founder Shares
On May 17, 2023, the Company issued shares of common stock to the Initial Stockholders (the “Founder Shares”) for an aggregated consideration of $
F-14
The Initial Stockholders have agreed, subject to certain limited exceptions, not to transfer, assign or sell any of their Founder Shares until, with respect to 50% of the Founder Shares, the earlier of six months after the consummation of a Business Combination and the date on which the closing price of the common stock equals or exceeds $12.50 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within a 30-trading day period commencing after a Business Combination and, with respect to the remaining 50% of the Founder Shares, until the six months after the consummation of a Business Combination, or earlier, in either case, if, subsequent to a Business Combination, the Company completes a liquidation, merger, stock exchange or other similar transaction which results in all of the Company’s stockholders having the right to exchange their shares of common stock for cash, securities or other property.
Due to Related Party
Prior to the inception of the Company, the Sponsor formed a blank check company (which was dissolved in April 2023) and paid professional fees totaling $
Promissory Note — Related Party
On May 21, 2023, the Sponsor loaned the Company $
Related Party Loans
In addition, in order to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial Business Combination, the Initial Stockholders or their affiliates may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds as may be required. If the Company completes an initial Business Combination, it will repay such loaned amounts. 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 such loaned amounts but no proceeds from the Trust Account would be used for such repayment. Certain amount of such loans may be converted into private at $
Administrative Support Agreement
The Company entered into an agreement, commencing on the October 5, 2023 through the earlier of the Company’s consummation of a Business Combination and its liquidation, to pay the Sponsor a total of $
Other
Mr. Michael Lazar, who serves as an independent director of the board beginning October 5, 2023, also is the Chief Executive Officer of Empire Filings, LLC (“Empire”), which is engaged by the Company to provide print and filing services. The Company paid a total of $
F-15
Note 6 — Commitments and Contingency
Registration Rights
The holders of the Founder Shares issued and outstanding on October 5, 2023, as well as the holders of the private units and any shares of the Company’s insiders, officers, directors or their affiliates may be issued in payment of working capital loans and extension loans made to the Company (and any shares of common stock issuable upon conversion of the underlying the private rights), will be entitled to registration rights pursuant to an agreement to be signed prior to or on the effective date of the IPO. The holders of a majority of these securities are entitled to make up to two demands that we register such securities. The holders of the majority of the Founder Shares can elect to exercise these registration rights at any time commencing three months prior to the date on which these shares of common stock are to be released from escrow. The holders of a majority of the private units and units issued in payment of working capital loans made to us can elect to exercise these registration rights at any time commencing on the date that the Company consummate an initial business combination. In addition, the holders have certain “piggy-back” registration rights with respect to registration statements filed subsequent to the consummation of an initial business combination. The Company will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such registration statements.
Underwriting Agreement
The Company granted EF Hutton, the representative of the underwriters, a
The underwriters were paid a cash underwriting discount of
Additionally, the Company issued the underwriters shares of common stock for the representative shares, at the closing of the IPO as part of representative compensation. As of December 31, 2023, representative shares were issued.
Note 7 — Stockholders’ Deficit
Common Stock — The Company is authorized to issue shares of common stock with a par value of $ per share. Holders of common stock are entitled to one vote for each share. As of December 31, 2023, there were shares of common stock issued and outstanding (excluding 6,900,000 shares subject to possible redemption). As a result of the underwriters’ full exercise of the over-allotment option on October 11, 2023, there are no Founder Share subject to forfeiture.
Rights — Each holder of a right will receive one share of common stock upon consummation of a Business Combination, even if the holder of such right redeemed all shares held by it in connection with a Business Combination. No fractional shares will be issued upon conversion of the rights. No additional consideration will be required to be paid by a holder of rights in order to receive its additional shares upon consummation of a Business Combination, as the consideration related thereto has been included in the Unit purchase price paid for by investors in the IPO. If the Company enters into a definitive agreement for a Business Combination in which the Company will not be the surviving entity, the definitive agreement will provide for the holders of rights to receive the same per share consideration the holders of the common stock will receive in the transaction on an as-converted into common stock basis and each holder of a right will be required to affirmatively covert its rights in order to receive one share underlying each right (without paying additional consideration). The shares issuable upon conversion of the rights will be freely tradable (except to the extent held by affiliates of the Company).
If the Company is unable to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period and the Company liquidates the funds held in the Trust Account, holders of rights will not receive any of such funds with respect to their rights, nor will they receive any distribution from the Company’s assets held outside of the Trust Account with respect to such rights, and the rights will expire worthless. Further, there are no contractual penalties for failure to deliver securities to the holders of the rights upon consummation of a Business Combination. Additionally, in no event will the Company be required to net cash settle the rights. Accordingly, holders of the rights might not receive the shares of common stock underlying the rights.
F-16
Note 8 — Fair Value Measurements
The fair value of the Company’s financial assets and liabilities reflects management’s estimate of amounts that the Company would have received in connection with the sale of the assets or paid in connection with the transfer of the liabilities in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. In connection with measuring the fair value of its assets and liabilities, the Company seeks to maximize the use of observable inputs (market data obtained from independent sources) and to minimize the use of unobservable inputs (internal assumptions about how market participants would price assets and liabilities). The following fair value hierarchy is used to classify assets and liabilities based on the observable inputs and unobservable inputs used in order to value the assets and liabilities:
| Level 1: | Quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities. An active market for an asset or liability is a market in which transactions for the asset or liability occur with sufficient frequency and volume to provide pricing information on an ongoing basis. | |
| Level 2: | Observable inputs other than Level 1 inputs. Examples of Level 2 inputs include quoted prices in active markets for similar assets or liabilities and quoted prices for identical assets or liabilities in markets that are not active. | |
| Level 3: | Unobservable inputs based on our assessment of the assumptions that market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability. |
The following table presents information about the Company’s assets that are measured at fair value on a recurring basis as of December 31, 2023 and indicates the fair value hierarchy of the valuation inputs the Company utilized to determine such fair value.
| Schedule of fair value hierarchy of the valuation inputs | ||||||||||||||||
| December 31, 2023 |
Quoted Prices in Active Markets (Level 1) |
Significant Other Observable Inputs (Level 2) |
Significant Other Unobservable Inputs (Level 3) |
|||||||||||||
| Assets | ||||||||||||||||
| Investments held in Trust Account | $ | $ | ||||||||||||||
Note 10 — Income Taxes
The Company’s net deferred tax assets are as follows:
| Schedule of net deferred tax assets | ||||
|
For the December 31, 2023 |
||||
| Deferred tax asset | ||||
| Net operating loss carryforward | $ | |||
| Startup/Organization Expenses | ||||
| Total deferred tax asset | ||||
| Valuation allowance | ( |
) | ||
| Deferred tax asset, net of allowance | $ | |||
F-17
The income tax provision consists of the following:
| Schedule of income tax provision | ||||
|
For the December 31, 2023 |
||||
| Federal | ||||
| Current | $ | |||
| Deferred | ( |
) | ||
| State | ||||
| Current | $ | |||
| Deferred | ||||
| Change in valuation allowance | ||||
| Income tax provision | $ | |||
A reconciliation of the Company’s statutory income tax rate to the Company’s effective income tax rate is as follows (in thousands):
| Schedule of effective income tax rate | ||||
|
For the December 31, 2023 |
||||
| Income at U.S. statutory rate | % | |||
| State taxes, net of federal benefit | % | |||
| Valuation allowance | % | |||
| % | ||||
As of December 31, 2023, the Company did not have any U.S. federal and state net operating loss carryovers available to offset future taxable income.
In assessing the realization of the deferred tax assets, management considers whether it is more likely than not that some portion of all of the deferred tax assets will not be realized. The ultimate realization of deferred tax assets is dependent upon the generation of future taxable income during the periods in which temporary differences representing net future deductible amounts become deductible. Management considers the scheduled reversal of deferred tax liabilities, projected future taxable income and tax planning strategies in making this assessment. After consideration of all of the information available, management believes that significant uncertainty exists with respect to future realization of the deferred tax assets and has therefore established a full valuation allowance. The change in the valuation allowance was $
The provision for U.S. federal income tax was $
Note 11 — Subsequent Events
The Company evaluated subsequent events and transactions that occurred after the balance sheet date up the date that the financial statement was issued. Based on the review, management did not identify any material subsequent events that require disclosure in the financial statement.
F-18
Exhibit 4.5
DESCRIPTION OF REGISTRANT’S SECURITIES REGISTERED PURSUANT TO SECTION 12
OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
As of December 31, 2023, the end of the period covered by this Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quetta Acquisition Corporation (the “Company,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) had three classes of securities registered under Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”): the Company’s units, common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, and rights.
The following description of the Company’s capital stock and provisions of the Company’s amended and restated certificate of incorporation, bylaws and the Delaware General Corporation Law are summaries and are qualified in their entirety by reference to the Company’s amended and restated certificate of incorporation and bylaws and the text of the Delaware General Corporation Law. Copies of these documents have been filed with the SEC as exhibits to the Annual Report on Form 10-K to which this description has been filed as an exhibit.
General
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation authorizes the issuance of 20,000,000 shares of common stock, par value $0.0001. As of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, 8,947,045 shares of common stock are issued or outstanding. The following description summarizes all of the material terms of our securities. Because it is only a summary, it may not contain all the information that is important to you. For a complete description you should refer to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and bylaws, which are filed as exhibits to this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Units
Each unit has an offering price of $10.00 and consists of one share of common stock and one-tenth (1/10) of a right. Each right entitles the holder thereof to automatically receive one share of a common stock upon consummation of our initial business combination. In addition, we will not issue fractional shares in connection with an exchange of rights. Fractional shares will either be rounded down to the nearest whole share or otherwise addressed in accordance with the applicable provisions of Delaware Law.
Common Stock
Our holders of record of our common stock are entitled to one vote for each share held on all matters to be voted on by stockholders. In connection with any vote held to approve our initial business combination, our insiders, officers and directors, have agreed to vote their respective shares of common stock owned by them immediately prior to the Company’s IPO, including both the insider shares and the private shares, and any shares acquired in the IPO or in the open market, in favor of the proposed business combination.
We will consummate our initial business combination only if a majority of the outstanding shares of common stock voted are voted in favor of the business combination.
Pursuant to our certificate of incorporation, if we do not consummate our initial business combination within 9 months from the closing of our initial public offering (or 15 or 21 months, as applicable), 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 100% of the outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidation distributions, if any), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject (in the case of (ii) and (iii) above) to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. Our insiders have agreed to waive their rights to share in any distribution with respect to their insider shares and private shares. However, If we anticipate that we may not be able to consummate our initial business combination within 9 months from the closing of this offering, we may, but are not obligated to, if requested by our sponsor or its affiliates, extend Combination Period up to two times by an additional three months each time for a total of up to 15 months
by depositing $600,000 (or $690,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) in connection with each such extension into our trust account (the “Paid Extension Period”). In addition, we will be entitled to an automatic six-month extension to complete a business combination (the “Automatic Extension Period”) if we have executed a letter of intent, agreement in principle or definitive agreement for an initial business combination during the Combination Period or Paid Extension Period.
Our stockholders have no conversion, preemptive or other subscription rights and there are no sinking fund or redemption provisions applicable to the shares of common stock, except that public stockholders have the right to sell their shares to us in any tender offer or have their shares of common stock converted to cash equal to their pro rata share of the trust account if they vote on the proposed business combination and the business combination is completed. If we hold a stockholder vote to amend any provisions of our certificate of incorporation relating to stockholder’s rights or pre-business combination activity (including the substance or timing within which we have to complete a business combination), we will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their shares of common stock upon approval of any such amendment at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our franchise and income taxes, divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, in connection with any such vote. In either of such events, converting stockholders would be paid their pro rata portion of the trust account promptly following consummation of the business combination or the approval of the amendment to the certificate of incorporation. If the business combination is not consummated or the amendment is not approved, stockholders will not be paid such amounts.
Rights included as part of units
Except in cases where we are not the surviving company in a business combination, each holder of a whole right will automatically receive one share of common stock upon consummation of our initial business combination, even if the holder of a public right converted all shares of common stock held by him, her or it in connection with the initial business combination or an amendment to our certificate of incorporation with respect to our pre-business combination activities. In the event we will not be the surviving company upon completion of our initial business combination, each holder of one whole right will be required to affirmatively convert his, her or its rights in order to receive one share underlying each right upon consummation of the business combination.
We will not issue fractional shares in connection with an exchange of rights. Fractional shares will either be rounded down to the nearest whole share or otherwise addressed in accordance with the applicable provisions of the Delaware General Corporation Law. As a result, you must hold rights in multiples of 10 in order to receive shares for all of your rights upon closing of a business combination. If we are unable to complete an initial business combination within the required time period and we liquidate the funds held in the trust account, holders of rights will not receive any of such funds with respect to their rights, nor will they receive any distribution from our assets held outside of the trust account with respect to such rights, and the rights will expire worthless. Further, there are no contractual penalties for failure to deliver securities to the holders of the rights upon consummation of an initial business combination. Additionally, in no event will we be required to net cash settle the rights. Accordingly, the rights may expire worthless.
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. In addition, our board of directors is not currently contemplating and does not anticipate declaring any stock dividends in the foreseeable future, except if we increase the size of the offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, in which case we will effect a stock dividend immediately prior to the consummation of the offering in such amount as to maintain the number of insider shares at 20.0% of our issued and outstanding shares of our common stock upon the consummation of our initial public offering. Further, if we incur any indebtedness, our ability to declare dividends may be limited by restrictive covenants we may agree to in connection therewith.
Our Transfer Agent and Warrant Agent
The transfer agent for our securities and warrant agent for our warrants is Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, 1 State Street, New York, New York 10004.
2
Listing of our Securities
Our units, common stock and rights trade separately on Nasdaq under the symbols “QETAU,” “QETA” and “QETAR,” respectively.
Certain Anti-Takeover Provisions of Delaware Law and our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and By-Laws
We are subject to the provisions of Section 203 of Delaware General Corporation Law, or the DGCL, regulating corporate takeovers upon completion of our initial public offering. This statute prevents certain Delaware corporations, under certain circumstances, from engaging in a “business combination” with:
| ● | a stockholder who owns 10% or more of our outstanding voting stock (otherwise known as an “interested stockholder”); |
| ● | an affiliate of an interested stockholder; or |
| ● | an associate of an interested stockholder, for three years following the date that the stockholder became an interested stockholder. |
A “business combination” includes a merger or sale of more than 10% of our assets. However, the above provisions of Section 203 do not apply if:
| ● | our board of directors approves the transaction that made the stockholder an “interested stockholder,” prior to the date of the transaction; |
| ● | after the completion of the transaction that resulted in the stockholder becoming an interested stockholder, that stockholder owned at least 85% of our voting stock outstanding at the time the transaction commenced, other than statutorily excluded shares of common stock; or |
| ● | on or subsequent to the date of the transaction, the business combination is approved by our board of directors and authorized at a meeting of our stockholders, and not by written consent, by an affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of the outstanding voting stock not owned by the interested stockholder. |
Exclusive Forum Selection
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation requires, to the fullest extent permitted by law, that unless the Corporation consents in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware shall be the sole and exclusive forum for any stockholder (including a beneficial owner) to bring (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on behalf of the Corporation, (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any director, officer or other employee of the Corporation to the Corporation or the Corporation’s stockholders, (iii) any action asserting a claim against the Corporation, its directors, officers or employees arising pursuant to any provision of the GCL or this Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation or the Bylaws, or (iv) any action asserting a claim against the Corporation, its directors, officers or employees governed by the internal affairs doctrine, except for, as to each of (i) through (iv) above, (a) any claim as to which the Court of Chancery 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), which is vested in the exclusive jurisdiction of a court or forum other than the Court of Chancery, or for which the Court of Chancery does not have subject matter jurisdiction, and (b) any action or claim arising under the Exchange Act or Securities Act of 1933, as amended.
Section 27 of the Exchange Act creates exclusive federal jurisdiction over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or the rules and regulations thereunder. As a result, the exclusive forum provision will not apply to suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction.
Special meeting of stockholders
Our bylaws provide that special meetings of our stockholders may be called only by resolution of the board of directors, or by the Chairman or the President.
3
Exhibit 31.1
CERTIFICATION OF CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
PURSUANT TO RULE 13A-14(A) UNDER THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934,
AS ADOPTED PURSUANT TO SECTION 302 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002
I, Hui Chen, certify that:
| 1. | I have reviewed this Annual Report on Form 10-K of Quetta Acquisition Corporation; | |
| 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 registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report; | |
| 4. | The registrant’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 registrant and have: |
| a) | Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under my supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the registrant, 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; and |
| b) | Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or caused such internal control over financial reporting to be designed under my supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles; and |
| c) | Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant’s disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report my 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 registrant’s internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the registrant’s most recent fiscal quarter that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting; and |
| 5. | The registrant’s other certifying officer(s) and I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the registrant’s auditors and the audit committee of the registrant’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 registrant’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 registrant’s internal control over financial reporting. |
| Date: March 25, 2024 | |
| /s/ Hui Chen | |
| Hui Chen | |
| Chief Executive Officer | |
| (Principal executive officer) |
Exhibit 31.2
CERTIFICATION OF CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
PURSUANT TO RULE 13A-14(A) UNDER THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934,
AS ADOPTED PURSUANT TO SECTION 302 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002
I, Robert L. Labbe, certify that:
| 1. | I have reviewed this Annual Report on Form 10-K of Quetta Acquisition Corporation; |
| 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 registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report; |
| 4. | The registrant’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 registrant and have: |
| a) | Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under my supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the registrant, 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; and |
| b) | Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or caused such internal control over financial reporting to be designed under my supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles; and |
| c) | Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant’s disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report my 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 registrant’s internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the registrant’s most recent fiscal quarter that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting; and |
| 5. | The registrant’s other certifying officer(s) and I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the registrant’s auditors and the audit committee of the registrant’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 registrant’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 registrant’s internal control over financial reporting. |
| Date: March 25, 2024 | |
| /s/ Robert L. Labbe | |
| Robert L. Labbe | |
| Chief Financial Officer | |
| (Principal financial and accounting officer) |
Exhibit 32.1
CERTIFICATION PURSUANT TO
18 U.S.C. SECTION 1350,
AS ADOPTED PURSUANT TO
SECTION 906 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002
In connection with the Annual Report of Quetta Acquisition Corporation (the “Company”) on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023 as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Report”), I, Hui Chen, Chief Executive Officer of the Company, hereby certify pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, that:
| 1. | The Report fully complies with the requirements of Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934; and |
| 2. | The information contained in the Report fairly presents, in all material respects, the financial condition and results of operation of the Company. |
| Date: March 25, 2024 | |
| /s/ Hui Chen | |
| Hui Chen | |
| Chief Executive Officer | |
| (Principal executive officer) |
Exhibit 32.2
CERTIFICATION PURSUANT TO
18 U.S.C. SECTION 1350,
AS ADOPTED PURSUANT TO
SECTION 906 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002
In connection with the Annual Report of Quetta Acquisition Corporation (the “Company”) on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023 as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Report”), I, Robert L. Labbe, Chief Financial Officer of the Company, hereby certify pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, that:
| 1. | The Report fully complies with the requirements of Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934; and |
| 2. | The information contained in the Report fairly presents, in all material respects, the financial condition and results of operation of the Company. |
| Date: March 25, 2024 | |
| /s/ Robert L. Labbe | |
| Robert L. Labbe | |
| Chief Financial Officer | |
| (Principal financial and accounting officer) |
Exhibit 97.1
QUETTA ACQUISITION CORPORATION (the “Company”)
CLAWBACK POLICY
Introduction
The Board of Directors of the Company (the “Board”) believes that it is in the best interests of the Company and its stockholders to create and maintain a culture that emphasizes integrity and accountability and that reinforces the Company’s pay-for-performance compensation philosophy. The Board has therefore adopted this policy which provides for the recoupment of certain executive compensation received in the event of an accounting restatement resulting from material noncompliance with financial reporting requirements under the federal securities laws (the “Policy”). This Policy is designed to comply with Section 10D of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”), the rules and amendments adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) to implement the aforementioned legislation, and the listing standards of the national securities exchange on which the Company’s securities are listed.
Administration
This Policy shall be administered by the Board or, if so designated by the Board, the Compensation Committee, in which case references herein to the Board shall be deemed references to the Compensation Committee. Any determinations made by the Board shall be final and binding on all affected individuals.
Covered Executives
This Policy applies to the Company’s current and former executive officers, as determined by the Board in accordance with Section 10D of the Exchange Act and the listing standards of the national securities exchange on which the Company’s securities are listed, and such other senior executives/employees who may from time to time be deemed subject to the Policy by the Board (“Covered Executives”).
Recoupment; Accounting Restatement
In the event the Company is required to prepare an accounting restatement of its financial statements due to the Company’s material noncompliance with any financial reporting requirement under the securities laws, the Board will require reimbursement or forfeiture of any excess Incentive Compensation (as defined below) received by any Covered Executive during the three completed fiscal years immediately preceding the date on which the Company is required to prepare an accounting restatement.
Incentive Compensation
For purposes of this Policy, Incentive Compensation means any of the following; provided that such compensation is granted, earned, or vested based wholly or in part on the attainment of a financial reporting measure:
| ● | Annual cash bonuses and other short- and long-term cash incentives |
| ● | Stock options |
| ● | Stock appreciation rights |
| ● | Restricted stock |
| ● | Restricted stock units |
| ● | Performance shares |
| ● | Performance units |
Financial reporting measures are measures that are determined and presented in accordance with the accounting principles used in preparing the Company’s financial statements, and any measures that are derived wholly or in part from such measures and may include, among other things, any of the following:
| ● | Company stock price |
| ● | Total stockholder return |
| ● | Revenues |
| ● | Net income |
| ● | Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) |
| ● | Liquidity measures such as working capital or operating cash flow |
| ● | Earnings measures such as earnings per share |
| ● | “Non-GAAP financial measures” for purposes of Exchange Act Regulation G and 17CFR 229.10 |
Excess Incentive Compensation: Amount Subject to Recovery
The amount to be recovered will be the excess of the Incentive Compensation paid to the Covered Executive based on the erroneous data over the Incentive Compensation that would have been paid to the Covered Executive had it been based on the restated results, as determined by the Board.
If the Board cannot determine the amount of excess Incentive Compensation received by the Covered Executive directly from the information in the accounting restatement, then it will make its determination based on a reasonable estimate of the effect of the accounting restatement on the applicable measure.
Method of Recoupment
The Board will determine, in its sole discretion, the method for recouping Incentive Compensation hereunder which may include, without limitation:
| ● | requiring reimbursement of cash Incentive Compensation previously paid; |
| ● | seeking recovery of any gain realized on the vesting, exercise, settlement, sale, transfer, or other disposition of any equity-based awards; |
| ● | offsetting the recouped amount from any compensation otherwise owed by the Company to the Covered Executive; |
| ● | cancelling outstanding vested or unvested equity awards; and/or |
| ● | taking any other remedial and recovery action permitted by law, as determined by the Board. |
No Indemnification
The Company shall not indemnify any Covered Executives against the loss of any incorrectly awarded Incentive Compensation.
Interpretation
The Board is authorized to interpret and construe this Policy and to make all determinations necessary, appropriate, or advisable for the administration of this Policy. It is intended that this Policy be interpreted in a manner that is consistent with the requirements of Section 10D of the Exchange Act and applicable rules or standards adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission or any national securities exchange on which the Company’s securities are listed.
Effective Date
This Policy shall apply to any excess Incentive Compensation received by Covered Executives during the three immediately completed fiscal years preceding the date on which a company is required to prepare an accounting restatement. Notwithstanding the foregoing, this Policy shall be effective as of October 2, 2023 (the “Effective Date”) and shall apply to Incentive Compensation that is approved, awarded or granted to Covered Executives on or after that date.
Amendment; Termination
The Board may amend this Policy from time to time in its discretion and shall amend this Policy as it deems necessary to reflect final regulations adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission under Section 10D of the Exchange Act and to comply with the rules and standards adopted by the SEC and the listing standards of any national securities exchange on which the Company’s securities are listed. The Board may terminate this Policy at any time.
Other Recoupment Rights
The Board intends that this Policy will be applied to the fullest extent of the law. The Board may require that any employment agreement, equity award agreement, or similar agreement entered into on or after the Effective Date shall, as a condition to the grant of any benefit thereunder, require a Covered Executive to agree to abide by the terms of this Policy. Any right of recoupment under this Policy is in addition to, and not in lieu of, any other remedies or rights of recoupment that may be available to the Company pursuant to the terms of any similar policy in any employment agreement, equity award agreement, or similar agreement and any other legal remedies available to the Company.
Impracticability
The Board shall recover any excess Incentive Compensation in accordance with this Policy unless such recovery would be impracticable, as determined by the Board in accordance with Rule 10D-1 of the Exchange Act and any applicable rules or standards adopted by the SEC and the listing standards of any national securities exchange on which the Company’s securities are listed.
Successors
This Policy shall be binding and enforceable against all Covered Executives and their beneficiaries, heirs, executors, administrators or other legal representatives.