Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.
We are a blank check company incorporated as a Delaware corporation and formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses. We have not identified any business combination target. We intend to effectuate our initial business combination using cash from the proceeds from our IPO and the Private Placement, our capital stock, debt or a combination of cash, capital stock and debt.
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On December 14, 2021, we completed our IPO of 23,000,000 units (including 3,000,000 units pursuant to the exercise in full of the underwriter’s over-allotment option) and the Private Placement of an aggregate of 11,700,000 private placement warrants. An aggregate of $234,600,000 in proceeds from our IPO and the Private Placement has been placed in the Trust Account.
Except with respect to interest earned on the funds held in the Trust Account that may be released to us to pay our tax obligations (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), the proceeds deposited in the Trust Account will not be released from the Trust Account until the earliest of (a) the completion of our initial business combination, (b) the redemption of any public shares properly submitted in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (i) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide our public stockholders the right to have their public shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination by December 14, 2024 or during any extended time we have to consummate our initial business combination beyond December 14, 2024 as a result of a stockholder vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (an “Extension Period”) or (ii) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, and (c) the redemption of all of our public shares if we are unable to complete our initial business combination by December 14, 2024 or during any Extension Period, subject to applicable law. The proceeds held in the Trust Account may only be invested in U.S. government securities with a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act, which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations.
On June 9, 2023, the Company’s stockholders approved a proposal to amend the Company’s amended and restated certificate of incorporation to extend the time that the Company has to consummate its initial business combination from June 14, 2023 to September 14, 2023 and to allow the board of directors of the Company, without another stockholder vote, to elect to further extend the date to consummate an initial business combination after September 14, 2023 up to six times, by an additional month each time, up to March 14, 2024, providing the Company a 21-month period (or up to 27-month period) from the closing of the IPO to consummate its initial business combination. In connection with the Special Meeting, the holders of 18,849,935 shares of Class A common stock properly exercised their right to redeem their shares for cash, resulting in 4,150,065 shares of Class A common stock issued and outstanding and subject to possible redemption. Accordingly, at December 31, 2023 and 2022, there were 8,350,065 and 23,000,000 shares of Class A common stock issued and outstanding, including 4,150,065 and 23,000,000 shares of Class A common stock subject to possible redemption, respectively.
In advance of the Special Meeting, on May 25, 2023, the Company entered into non-redemption agreements with unaffiliated third parties in exchange for each such party agreeing not to redeem public shares held by them in connection with such meeting. In exchange for the foregoing commitments not to redeem public shares, the sponsor agreed to transfer to such third parties an aggregate of up to 1,499,996 founder shares. In addition, in advance of the Special Meeting and the entry into the non-redemption agreements, on May 25, 2023, pursuant to the terms of our charter, the sponsor converted 4,200,000 founder shares held by it on a one-for-one basis into Public Shares.
Prior to December 31, 2023, the board of directors of the Company approved four monthly extensions from September 14, 2023 to January 14, 2024.
As described in Note 11 to the financial statements (Subsequent Events), in January and February 2024, the board approved two further monthly extensions up to March 14, 2024. In connection with each of the monthly extensions, the sponsor transferred 166,666 shares of the Company’s Class B common stock held by the sponsor to unaffiliated third parties in accordance with those certain voting and non-redemption agreements previously entered into between the sponsor and such third parties. In addition, on March 14, 2024, the Company’s stockholders approved a proposal to amend the Company’s amended and restated certificate of incorporation to further extend the time that the Company has to consummate its initial business combination from March 14, 2024 to December 14, 2024.
In connection with the vote to extend the time that the Company has to consummate its initial business combination from March 14, 2024 to December 14, 2024, the holders of 2,986,952 shares of Class A common stock properly exercised their right to redeem their shares for an aggregate redemption amount of $32,214,591, resulting in 1,163,113 shares of Class A common stock issued and outstanding and subject to possible redemption.
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As of December 31, 2023, we had not yet commenced any operations. All activity from inception through December 31, 2023 relates to our formation, our IPO and our pursuit of a target company with which to effect our initial business combination. The Company has selected December 31 as its fiscal year end.
For the year ended December 31, 2023, we had net income of $2,729,602, which consisted of dividend income of $6,707,678 on marketable securities held in trust, offset by operating expenses of $1,670,440, a provision for income tax of $1,319,280, a $934,906 financing expense, and a $53,450 loss on the change in fair value of the warrant liability. In comparison, for the year ended December 31, 2022, we had net income of $18,132,948, which consisted of dividend income of $3,383,823 on marketable securities held in trust and a $16,668,950 gain on the change in fair value of the warrant liability, offset by operating expenses of $1,577,543 and a provision for income tax of $362,282. The provision for income taxes increased $956,998 as a result of the Company’s effective tax rate increasing from 1.96% as of December 31, 2022 to 32.58% as of December 31, 2023 largely due to changes in the fair value of warrant liabilities and the valuation allowance.
Results of Operations and Known Trends or Future Events
We did not commence operations until after the closing of our IPO in December 2021, and we have not engaged in any significant operations nor generated any operating revenues to date. We will not generate any operating revenues until after completion of our initial business combination. We will generate non-operating income in the form of interest income on cash and cash equivalents. There has been no material adverse change in our financial condition since the date of our audited financial statements. We have incurred and expect to continue to incur increased expenses as a result of being a public company (for legal, financial reporting, accounting and auditing compliance), as well as for due diligence expenses.
Liquidity, Capital Resources and Going Concern
As of December 31, 2023, we had $2,171,553 in operating cash and a working capital deficit of $2,808,465, compared to $50,858 in operating cash and working capital of $929,527 as of December 31, 2022.
Until the completion of the initial public offering, our only source of liquidity was an initial purchase of founder shares by our sponsor for $25,000 and up to $350,000 in loans from our sponsor.
On December 14, 2021, we completed the initial public offering of 23,000,000 units, at $10.00 per unit, which included the full exercise by the underwriter of its over-allotment option in the amount of 3,000,000 units, generating gross proceeds of $230,000,000.
Simultaneously with the closing of the initial public offering, we completed the private sale of an aggregate of 11,700,000 private placement warrants to our sponsor at a purchase price of $1.00 per private placement warrants, generating gross proceeds to the Company of $11,700,000.
A total of $234,600,000 of the proceeds from the initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants was placed in a U.S.-based Trust Account at JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. maintained by Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, acting as trustee. In connection with the Special Meeting, the holders of 18,849,935 shares of Class A common stock properly exercised their right to redeem their shares for an aggregate redemption amount of $197,694,657, resulting in 4,150,065 shares of Class A common stock issued and outstanding and subject to possible redemption. Accordingly, at December 31, 2023, there were 8,350,065 shares of Class A common stock issued and outstanding, including 4,150,065 shares of Class A common stock subject to possible redemption. Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company (the “Trustee”) processed the redemptions and withdrew the $197,694,657 payable to the holders redeeming 18,849,935 shares of Class A common stock on July 7, 2023.
Transaction costs of the initial public offering amounted to $13,935,218, consisting of $4,600,000 of underwriting discount, $8,050,000 of deferred underwriting discount, and $1,285,218 of actual offering costs. Of these amounts, $13,325,704 was recorded to additional paid-in capital and $609,514 included in accumulated deficit as an allocation for public warrants and the private placement warrants. On August 22, 2022, the underwriter delivered a letter to the Company pursuant to which the underwriter waived its entitlement to the payment of the deferred underwriting fee.
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For the year ended December 31, 2023, net cash provided by operating activities was $5,542,225. Net income of $2,729,602 was increased by a $53,450 gain on the change in fair value of the warrant liability, $934,906 of financing expense, and $2,022,686 of changes in operating assets and liabilities, offset by accrued dividends on marketable securities held in trust of $198,419.
As of December 31, 2023, we had marketable securities held in the Trust Account of $44,709,805, consisting of securities held in a money market fund that invests in U.S. Treasury securities with a maturity of 185 days or less.
As of December 31, 2023, we had cash of $2,171,553 held outside the Trust Account. We intend to use the funds held outside the Trust Account primarily to identify and evaluate target businesses, perform business due diligence on prospective target businesses, travel to and from the offices, plants or similar locations of prospective target businesses or their representatives or owners, review corporate documents and material agreements of prospective target businesses, and structure, negotiate and complete a business combination.
The sponsor has committed to making capital contributions to the Company in order to fund its search for and consummation of an initial business combination. The sponsor has provided cash contributions of $800,000 and $0 for the years ended December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022, respectively.
We do not believe we will have sufficient funds in order to meet the expenditures required for operating our business prior to our initial business combination. We expect to incur significant costs related to identifying a target business, undertaking in-depth due diligence and negotiating an initial business combination. These conditions raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern for a period of time within one year after the date that the financial statements are issued. In order to fund working capital deficiencies or finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds as may be required. If we complete our initial business combination, we would repay such loaned amounts. In the event that our initial business combination does not close, we may use a portion of the working capital held outside the Trust Account to repay such loaned amounts but no proceeds from our Trust Account would be used for such repayment. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants of the post-business combination entity at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants. The terms of such loans, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. Prior to the completion of our initial business combination, we do not expect to seek loans from parties other than our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor as we do not believe third parties will be willing to loan such funds and provide a waiver against any and all rights to seek access to funds in our Trust Account.
Off-Balance Sheet Financing Arrangements
We have no obligations, assets or liabilities, which would be considered off-balance sheet arrangements as of December 31, 2023 and 2022. We do not participate in transactions that create relationships with unconsolidated entities or financial partnerships, often referred to as variable interest entities, which would have been established for the purpose of facilitating off-balance sheet arrangements. We have not entered into any off-balance sheet financing arrangements, established any special purpose entities, guaranteed any debt or commitments of other entities, or purchased any non-financial assets.
Contractual Obligations
We do not have any long-term debt, capital lease obligations, operating lease obligations or long-term liabilities as of December 31, 2023 or 2022.
Pursuant to the underwriting agreement for our IPO, the underwriter was entitled to a deferred fee of $0.35 per unit sold, or $8,050,000 in the aggregate, payable to the underwriter from the amounts held in the Trust Account solely in the event that we complete a business combination within the prescribed time period. However, on August 22, 2022, the underwriter delivered a letter to the Company pursuant to which the underwriter waived its entitlement to the payment of the deferred underwriting fee.
We have entered into a letter agreement with our sponsor pursuant to which we are required to pay our sponsor a total of $15,000 per month for office space, utilities, and secretarial and administrative services, commencing on December 10, 2021, the date that our securities were first listed on the NYSE, through the earlier of our initial business combination and our liquidation.
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Commitments and Contingencies
Registration rights
The holders of the founder shares (and public shares issued upon conversion thereof), Private Placement Warrants and any warrants that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans (and in each case holders of the underlying securities thereof, as applicable) are entitled to registration rights pursuant to a registration rights agreement signed on December 9, 2021, requiring the Company to register such securities for resale (in the case of the founder shares, only after conversion to our Class A common stock). The holders of these securities are entitled to make up to three demands, excluding short form registration demands, that the Company register such securities. In addition, the holders have certain “piggy-back” registration rights with respect to registration statements filed subsequent to the Company’s consummation of a Business Combination and rights to require the Company to register for resale such securities pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”). However, the registration rights agreement provides that the Company is not required to effect or permit any registration or cause any registration statement to become effective until termination of the applicable lock-up period with respect to such securities. The Company will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such registration statements.
Underwriting Agreement
We granted the underwriter a 45-day option from the date of our IPO to purchase up to 3,000,000 additional Units to cover over-allotments, if any, at the IPO price less the underwriting discount. On December 13, 2021, the underwriter exercised the option in full, closing the sale of the 3,000,000 additional Units on December 14, 2021. The underwriter was paid an underwriting commission of $4,600,000 upon the closing of our IPO. In addition, the underwriter was entitled to a deferred fee of $0.35 per unit, or $8,050,000 in the aggregate, payable to the underwriter from the amounts held in the Trust Account solely in the event that we complete an initial business combination, subject to the terms of the underwriting agreement.
On August 22, 2022, the underwriter delivered a letter to the Company pursuant to which the underwriter waived its entitlement to the payment of the deferred underwriting fee. The $8,050,000 waived fee was recorded to accumulated deficit.
Non-redemption Agreements
On May 25, 2023, the Company and the sponsor entered into Non-Redemption Agreements with unaffiliated third parties in exchange for such third parties agreeing (i) not to redeem an aggregate of 4,000,000 shares of Class A common stock sold in its initial public offering (the “Non-Redeemed Shares”) in connection with the Special Meeting and (ii) to vote in favor of the Extension Amendment Proposal and the Extension at the Special Meeting (other than with respect to certain shares acquired or to be acquired pursuant to the Non-Redemption Agreements). In exchange for the foregoing commitments, the sponsor agreed to transfer to such third parties an aggregate of up to 1,499,996 shares of Class B common stock held by the sponsor, with 500,000 of such shares to be transferred to such third parties promptly upon consummation of the Extension, and an additional 166,666 shares to be transferred to such third parties monthly beginning on September 14, 2023 and up to, and including, February 14, 2024, if the board of directors of the Company elects to further extend the deadline to consummate an initial business combination at or prior to such date, in each case, if such third parties continue to hold such Non-Redeemed Shares through the Special Meeting. As of December 31, 2023, the Company had extended the deadline to complete the business combination four times, to January 14, 2024, resulting in an aggregate of 666,664 additional shares of Class B common stock held by the sponsor being transferred to such third parties. As discussed in Note 11 to the financial statements (Subsequent Events), in January and February 2024, the Company further extended the deadline to March 14, 2024, resulting in the full amount of 1,499,996 shares of Class B common stock being transferred to such third parties.
The Company accounted for the Non-Redemption Agreements in accordance with Staff Accounting Bulletin Topic 5T (“SAB Topic 5T”). The Company considered the sponsor’s transfer of Class B common stock to the unaffiliated third parties in exchange for the Non-Redemption Agreements as a capital contribution by the sponsor and recognized the excess fair value of the transferred Class B common stock as a financing expense on the statements of operations. The Company determined the excess fair value of the 1,166,664 shares of Class B common stock transferred to such third parties upon the consummation of the Extension to be $934,906.
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Critical Accounting Estimates
The preparation of financial statements and related disclosures in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements, and income and expenses during the periods reported. Actual results could materially differ from those estimates. We have not identified any critical accounting estimates as of December 31, 2023.
Recent Accounting Standards
Refer to Note 2. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies of the Notes to the Financial Statements.
Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk.
The net proceeds from our IPO and the Private Placements held in the Trust Account are invested in U.S. government securities with a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations. Due to the short-term nature of these investments, we believe there will be no associated material exposure to interest rate risk.
Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.
Reference is made to the financial information beginning on Page F-1 comprising a portion of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements With Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure.
None.
Item 9A. Controls and Procedures.
Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
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 Chief Executive Officer, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure. Our management evaluated, with the participation of our current Chief Executive Officer who also acts as our principal accounting officer, 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 Chief Executive Officer who also acts as our principal accounting officer concluded that, as of December 31, 2023, our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective due to the material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting described below.
As previously disclosed in Part II, Item 9A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, as of December 31, 2022, we identified a material weakness related to the fact that we have not yet designed and maintained effective controls relating to the presentation of our statement of cash flows, which continues to exist as of December 31, 2023. Additionally, we identified a material weakness related to the fact that we had not yet designed and maintained effective controls relating to the recognition of excise tax liability within our financial statements. Specifically, we did not establish an excise tax liability in connection with the stockholders’ redemption of Class A common stock.
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
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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
Management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting. Our internal control over financial reporting is designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America. Our internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that: (i) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the Company; (ii) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America, and that receipts and expenditures of the Company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the Company; and (iii) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition of the Company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.
Any system of internal control, no matter how well designed, has inherent limitations, including the possibility that a control can be circumvented or overridden and misstatements due to error or fraud may occur and not be detected in a timely manner. Also, because of changes in conditions, internal control effectiveness may vary over time. Accordingly, even an effective system of internal control will provide only reasonable assurance with respect to financial statement preparation.
Management assessed the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023. In making this assessment, management used the criteria set forth in 2013 by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (“COSO”) in “Internal Control-Integrated Framework.” Based on management’s assessment using the COSO criteria, management has concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was not effective as of December 31, 2023 as a result of the material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting described above.
This Annual Report does not include an attestation report of our registered public accounting firm regarding internal control over financial reporting. Management’s report was not subject to attestation by our registered public accounting firm pursuant to the rules of the SEC that permit us to provide only management’s report in this Annual Report.
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Remediation Plan
As previously disclosed in Part II, Item 9A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, we implemented a remediation plan to address the material weakness identified as of December 31, 2022. Our Chief Executive Officer will continue to perform additional post-closing review procedures including consulting with subject matter experts related to the accounting for marketable securities and stockholder redemptions. Additionally, we implemented a remediation plan to address the material weakness identified as of December 31, 2023. Our Chief Executive Officer will continue to perform additional post-closing review procedures including consulting with tax and legal subject matter experts related to the accounting for stockholder redemptions. The Company’s management has expended, and will continue to expend, a substantial amount of effort and resources for the remediation and improvement of our internal control over financial reporting. While we have processes to properly identify and evaluate the appropriate accounting technical pronouncements, we have improved, and will continue to improve, these processes to ensure that transactions are effectively evaluated in the context of the increasingly complex accounting standards. We plan to continue to enhance our review procedures of evaluating and implementing the accounting standards that apply to our financial statements, including additional analyses by our personnel and third-party professionals with whom we consult regarding complex accounting, tax and legal matters. The elements of our remediation plan can only be accomplished over time, and we can offer no assurance that these initiatives will ultimately have the intended effects.
Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
Other than the matter discussed above, there were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting (as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) of the Exchange Act) during the most recent fiscal quarter that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.
Item 9B. Other Information.
Notapplicable.
Item 9C. Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions That Prevent Inspections.
Not applicable.
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PART III
Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance.
Directors and Executive Officers
Our directors and executive officers are as follows:
Name Age Title
Jeb Spencer 55 Chief Executive Officer and Director
Jared Stone 53 Chairman
Sigmund Anderman 82 Director
Matthew Hansen 45 Director
Jennifer Nuckles 49 Director
Cathleen Schreiner Gates 69 Director
David Winfield 72 Director
Jeb Spencer is our Chief Executive Officer and has served as a member of our board of directors since May 2021. He is the co-founder and managing partner of TVC Capital, a software focused, growth equity fund, a position he has held since 2006. He has been a chief executive officer, investor and board member of SaaS companies and currently serves on the board of directors of two software companies—SmartAction (since 2018) and MediaPlatform (since 2015)—and as observer on the board of directors of Dama Financial (since 2022). Mr. Spencer previously served on the board of directors of 10 other software companies, including SimpleNexus (2018 – 2022); Levels Beyond (2012-2021); ReverseVision (2012-2022); Docupace Technologies (2016 to 2020); EdgeWave (2014 to 2019); Accordent Technologies (2006 to 2011) and Ellie Mae, Inc. (previously NYSE: ELLI) (2011 to 2019). At Ellie Mae, a leading provider of automation software for the mortgage industry which is now a subsidiary of Intercontinental Exchange, Inc (NYSE: ICE), Mr. Spencer also served as the Chair of the board’s M&A Committee. Mr. Spencer was formerly the chief executive officer of Del Mar Datatrac, Inc., a provider of mortgage origination software to the mid-market that was sold to Fiserv (NASDAQ: FISV) in 2005 and to Ellie Mae in 2011. As managing partner of TVC Capital, he was involved in a $20 million Series A financing and a $108 million Series B financing in 2018 and January 2021, respectively, in which TVC Capital invested alongside Insight Partners in SimpleNexus, a homeownership software company that was acquired by nCino, Inc. (NASDAQ: NCNO) in January 2022 in a stock and cash transaction valued at approximately $1.2 billion. SimpleNexus operates a digital platform for loan officers, borrowers and real estate agents that unites the people, systems and stages of the home buying process into a single end-to-end experience. The SimpleNexus platform serves independent mortgage banks, banks and credit unions, and loan originators in the United States. Mr. Spencer holds a B.A in Political Science from Boston College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
We believe that Mr. Spencer’s extensive experience with software focused companies, including his experience as a board member of a number of these companies (including a former public company) and as a chief executive officer of certain of these companies, his business experience in investing in private companies, as well as experience with sales of private companies qualify him to serve on our board.
Jared Stone has served as Chairman of our board of directors since May 2021. He is an investor in private and public companies with over 27 years of experience leading investments on behalf of institutional and family investors. From 2001 to 2015, he was a co-founder, managing director and member of the investment committee of Northgate Capital, a global private equity investment firm, where he and his partners raised and invested approximately $4.5 billion in private equity capital. Mr. Stone co-led an investment in Del Mar Datatrac, a provider of mortgage origination software to the mid-market that was sold to Fiserv (NASDAQ: FISV) in 2005 and to Ellie Mae in 2011. Since 2014, he has served on the board of directors of Centage Corporation, a cloud planning, budgeting and forecasting software company. Prior to graduate school, Mr. Stone began his career at McKinsey & Company and then worked at Onex Corporation, Greenwich Street Capital Partners and Bain Capital. He holds a B.A. in Honors Economics from Brigham Young University, an MBA from Harvard Business School and a J.D. from Yale Law School.
We believe that Mr. Stone’s vast experience with investing in private and public companies, including a mortgage software company, as well as his experience as a board member qualify him to serve on our board.
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Sigmund “Sig” Anderman has served as a member of our board of directors since May 2021. He is an entrepreneur who has founded, run, invested in and advised many real estate and mortgage services and financial technology companies over a 50-year career. In 1997, he founded Ellie Mae, Inc. (previously NYSE: ELLI). At Ellie Mae, Mr. Anderman served as chief executive officer and chairman of the board of directors from 1997 through January 2015 and as executive chairman of the board of directors from February 2015 until April 2019 when Ellie Mae was acquired by Thoma Bravo, a private equity firm that subsequently sold Ellie Mae to Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE). Mr. Anderman co-founded American Home Shield Corporation, a home warranty company, in 1973, and served as its general counsel until 1979 and as its chief executive officer from 1979 to 1982. Mr. Anderman founded CompuFund, Inc., a computerized mortgage banking company, in 1982 and served as its chief executive officer until 1991. Mr. Anderman founded Inspectech Corporation, a computerized home inspection company, in 1991 and served as its chief executive officer until 1998. Mr. Anderman was named one of the “Ten Most Influential People in the Mortgage Industry” in 2005 by Inman News and received the Distinguished Career Award from the Executive Roundtable for Mortgage Finance in 2019. Mr. Anderman serves on the boards of several nonprofit institutions, including Natural Resources Defense Council Action Fund (since 2014), the Anderman Foundation (President since 2012) and the Springboard Initiative (Chairman and President since 2015). Mr. Anderman holds a B.A. in Education from City College of New York and a J.D. from New York University Law School.
We believe that Mr. Anderman’s broad experience as an entrepreneur and chief executive officer, his years of experience as the chairman of the board of directors of a public company, as well as his experience with mergers and acquisitions qualify him to serve on our board.
Matthew Hansen has served as a member of our board of directors since January 2022. Matthew is currently the chief product officer for nCino, Inc. He is the founder and a former chief executive officer of SimpleNexus, a nCino Company. SimpleNexus is a homeownership software company with a digital platform for loan officers, borrowers and real estate agents. SimpleNexus was acquired by nCino, Inc. (NASDAQ: NCNO) in January 2022. Mr. Hansen founded SimpleNexus in 2011 and served as its chief executive officer until May 2021. Mr. Hansen has over 20 years of software development experience. Prior to founding SimpleNexus, Mr. Hansen designed and led the implementation of enterprise software systems for multiple companies. From 2009 to 2014, Mr. Hansen led core development at Simplifile, a company that primarily facilitates the electronic recording of land-records documents to counties. Prior to Simplifile, Mr. Hansen was the development team lead at Amirsys, Inc. from 2005 to 2009. At Amirsys, Inc., he led a team of software engineers to build STATdx, an imaging diagnostic tool for radiologists. Mr. Hansen also developed a point-of-sale system software for Micron, built software to manage training for unions, and built a point-of-sale system for motorsports and recreational vehicle dealerships.
We believe that Mr. Hansen’s decades of experience in developing enterprise software/SaaS, including FinTech, as well as his years of experience as the founder and chief executive officer of a mortgage software focused company qualify him to serve on our board.
Jennifer Nuckles has served as a member of our board of directors since January 2022. She currently serves as Chief Executive Officer and member of the board of directors of R-Zero, a biosafety technology company. Prior to joining R-Zero, Ms. Nuckles was an Executive Vice President and the Group Business Unit Leader – Enterprise, Content, and Insights at SoFi Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: SOFI)(“SoFi”), a digital personal finance company, from March 2020 to September 2022, and Business Unit Leader – Marketplace, Enterprise, Partnerships and Content at SoFi from June 2019 to March 2020. Prior to joining SoFi, she was the Chief Marketing Officer of several consumer technology companies, including Doctor on Demand (2016 – 2019) and Zynga (NASDAQ: ZNGA) (2014 – 2016). Ms. Nuckles spent almost a decade in leadership positions at The Clorox Company, running well-known household-name brands. She began her career in consulting covering consumer and media at Arthur Andersen. Ms. Nuckles holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.A. from the University of California. She is a Certified Public Accountant.
We believe that Ms. Nuckles’ years of experience as a marketing executive in the consumer technology industry, her current experience as a senior executive of a digital personal finance company, as well as her experience as a board member qualify her to serve on our board.
Cathleen Schreiner Gates has served as a member of our board of directors since May 2021. She was the chief executive officer of SimpleNexus from May 2021 to July 2022. SimpleNexus is a homeownership software company with a digital platform for loan officers, borrowers, and real estate agents. SimpleNexus was acquired by nCino, Inc. (NASDAQ: NCNO) in January 2022. Ms. Schreiner Gates was also a member of the board of directors of SimpleNexus from March 2020 until January 2022. She served as the
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President of SimpleNexus from August 2020 until she became the company’s chief executive officer. Prior to SimpleNexus, she was the executive vice president of Sales and Marketing at Ellie Mae, Inc. (previously NYSE: ELLI), now a subsidiary of Intercontinental Exchange, Inc (NYSE: ICE), from March 2015 to July 2019 and was senior vice president of Sales and Client Services at Ellie Mae from February 2012 to March 2015. Ms. Schreiner Gates is the chief executive officer of Trifecta Consulting LLC, a Go-To-Market consulting company she founded in 2019. She has spent the last 10 years in the mortgage FinTech sector and has over 30 years of experience in enterprise software/SaaS, spanning multiple industries and ranging from venture-backed, early-stage companies to larger public companies, all with a high-growth focus. Ms. Schreiner Gates has been a speaker at industry events and is an active supporter of women-in-leadership organizations. She holds a B.A. in French Literature and an MBA from Rutgers University.
We believe that Ms. Schreiner Gates’s decades of experience in enterprise software/SaaS, her experience in various executive officer roles at a mortgage software focused company, including her current role as the chief executive officer of a mortgage software company, as well as her experience as a board member qualify her to serve on our board.
David Winfield has served as a member of our board of directors since May 2021. He is currently an advisor to the Executive Director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, a position he has held since 2013. He is a former MLB player with broad experiences in professional sports, business, media and philanthropy. In his 22 year MLB career following his collegiate baseball career at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Mr. Winfield won a World Series Championship, appeared in 12 All-Star Games and was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. Subsequent to his baseball career, in 1995, he established Winfield & Winfield, Ltd., a personal services corporation that provides business development, consulting and advocacy services for corporate, sports, education and government entities, where he has served as President since its inception. In addition, Mr. Winfield created and headed the Winfield Foundation, a foundation which provided health and education services to youth and communities nationwide from 1975 to 1997.
We believe that Mr. Winfield’s years of business experience in providing various services to a range of entities, his experience as an officer of a private company, as well as his extensive experience in an advisory role for a major sports association qualify him to serve on our board.
Number and Terms of Office of Officers and Directors
Our board of directors consists of seven members. Only holders of our founder shares have the right to elect and to remove our directors prior to consummation of our initial business combination, and holders of our public shares will not have the right to vote on the election or removal of directors during such time. These provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation may only be amended if approved by the holders of a majority of the outstanding shares of our Class B common stock. Approval of our initial business combination will require the affirmative vote of a majority of our board directors. The term of office of our initial directors will expire at our first annual meeting of stockholders. We may not hold an annual meeting of stockholders until after we consummate our initial business combination. Any vacancy on our board of directors, including a vacancy resulting from an enlargement of our board of directors, may be filled by vote of a majority of our directors then in office.
Our officers are appointed by the board of directors and serve at the discretion of the board of directors, rather than for specific terms of office. Our board of directors is authorized to appoint persons to the offices set forth in our bylaws as it deems appropriate. Our bylaws provide that our officers may consist of a Chief Executive Officer, a President, a Chief Financial Officer, Vice Presidents, a Secretary, Assistant Secretaries, a Treasurer and such other offices as may be determined by the board of directors.
Committees of the Board of Directors
Our board of directors has one standing committee: an audit committee. Because we are a “controlled company” under applicable rules of the NYSE, we are not required to have a compensation committee composed of independent directors, nor do we have a nominating and corporate governance committee.
Audit Committee
We have established an audit committee of our board of directors. The members of our audit committee are Sigmund Anderman, Jennifer Nuckles and David Winfield, with Jennifer Nuckles serving as chair of the audit committee. The audit committee held five meetings during 2023.
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Each member of the audit committee is financially literate. In addition, our board of directors has determined that each of Sigmund Anderman, Jennifer Nuckles and David Winfield qualifies as an “audit committee financial expert” as defined in applicable SEC rules and has accounting or related financial management expertise. Our board of directors has also determined that Sigmund Anderman, Jennifer Nuckles and David Winfield are independent directors under applicable NYSE rules and Rule 10A-3 under the Exchange Act.
We have adopted an audit committee charter, which details the purpose and principal functions of the audit committee, including:
You will be able to review the audit committee charter by accessing our public filings at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.
Director Nominations
We do not have a standing nominating committee, although we intend to form a corporate governance and nominating committee as and when required to do so by law or by the rules of the NYSE. Our board of directors believes that the independent directors can satisfactorily carry out the responsibility of properly selecting or approving director nominees without the formation of a standing nominating committee. As there is no standing nominating committee, we do not have a nominating committee charter in place.
The board of directors will also consider director candidates recommended for nomination by our stockholders during such times as they are seeking proposed nominees to stand for election at the next annual meeting of stockholders (or, if applicable, a
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special meeting of stockholders). Our stockholders that wish to nominate a director for election to our board of directors should follow the procedures set forth in our bylaws.
We have not formally established any specific, minimum qualifications that must be met or skills that are necessary for directors to possess. In general, in identifying and evaluating nominees for director, our board of directors considers educational background, diversity of professional experience, knowledge of our business, integrity, professional reputation, independence, wisdom, and the ability to represent the best interests of our stockholders.
Code of Ethics
We have adopted a Code of Ethics applicable to our directors, officers and employees. You will be able to review this document by accessing our public filings at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. In addition, a copy of our Code of Ethics will be provided without charge upon request from us. We intend to disclose any amendments to or waivers of certain provisions of our Code of Ethics in a Current Report on Form 8-K.
Conflicts of Interest
Each of our officers and directors presently has, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity. Accordingly, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for an entity to which he or she has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she will honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such opportunity to such entity. We do not believe, however, that the fiduciary duties or contractual obligations of our officers or directors will materially affect our ability to complete our business combination. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation contains a waiver of the corporate opportunity doctrine, which provides that we renounce our interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any director or officer unless (i) such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of our Company, (ii) such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue and (iii) the director or officer is permitted to refer the opportunity to us without violating another legal obligation. The purpose for the surrender of corporate opportunities is to allow officers, directors or other representatives with multiple business affiliations to continue to serve as an officer of our Company or on our board of directors. Our officers and directors may from time to time be presented with opportunities that could benefit both another business affiliation and us. In the absence of the “corporate opportunity” waiver in our charter, certain candidates would not be able to serve as an officer or director. We believe we substantially benefit from having representatives, who bring significant, relevant and valuable experience to our management, and, as a result, the inclusion of the “corporate opportunity” waiver in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides us with greater flexibility to attract and retain the officers and directors that we feel are the best candidates.
However, the personal and financial interests of our directors and officers may influence their motivation in timely identifying and selecting a target business and completing a business combination. The different timelines of competing business combinations could cause our directors and officers to prioritize a different business combination over finding a suitable acquisition target for our business combination. Consequently, our directors’ and officers’ discretion in identifying and selecting a suitable target business may result in a conflict of interest when determining whether the terms, conditions and timing of a particular business combination are appropriate and in our stockholders’ best interest, which could negatively impact the timing for a business combination.
In addition, our sponsor, officers and directors may participate in the formation of, or become an officer or director of, any other blank check company prior to completion of our initial business combination. As a result, our sponsor, officers or directors could have conflicts of interest in determining whether to present business combination opportunities to us or to any other blank check company with which they may become involved. Although we have no formal policy in place for vetting potential conflicts of interest, our board of directors will review any potential conflicts of interest on a case-by-case basis.
Investors should be aware of the following potential conflicts of interest:
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The conflicts described above may not be resolved in our favor.
Under Delaware law, officers and directors owe the following fiduciary duties:
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
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
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directors in circumstances where the application of the doctrine would conflict with any fiduciary duties or contractual obligations they may have, and none of our directors or officers will be required to offer any such corporate opportunity of which he or she may become aware to us.
We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with such a company, we, or a committee of independent directors, would obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm which is a member of FINRA, or from an independent accounting firm, that such an initial business combination is fair to our Company from a financial point of view.
In the event that we submit our initial business combination to our public stockholders for a vote, our sponsor, directors and officers have agreed to vote any founder shares held by them and any public shares purchased during or after the offering in favor of our initial business combination.
Item 11. Executive Compensation.
Executive Officer and Director Compensation
None of our officers or directors have received any compensation for services rendered to us. Commencing on December 10, 2021, the date that our units were first listed on the NYSE, through the earlier of consummation of our initial business combination and our liquidation, we will pay our sponsor a total of $15,000 per month for office space, utilities, and secretarial and administrative services. In addition, our sponsor, officers, directors and their respective affiliates will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made by us to our sponsor, officers, directors or our or any of their respective affiliates.
After the completion of our initial business combination, officers and directors who remain with us may be paid consulting, management or other compensation from the post-transaction company. All compensation will be fully disclosed to stockholders, to the extent then known, in the tender offer materials or proxy solicitation materials furnished to our stockholders in connection with a proposed business combination. It is unlikely that the amount of such compensation will be known at the time, because the directors of the post-transaction company will be responsible for determining executive officer and director compensation. Any compensation to be paid to our officers after the completion of our initial business combination will be determined by a compensation committee constituted solely by independent directors or by a majority of independent directors of the post-transaction company.
We are not party to any agreements with our officers and directors that provide for benefits upon termination of employment. The existence or terms of any such employment or consulting arrangements may influence our management’s motivation in identifying or selecting a target business, and we do not believe that the ability of our management to remain with us after the consummation of our initial business combination should be a determining factor in our decision to proceed with any potential business combination.
Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation
In the past year, Jeb Spencer, who serves, and in the past year served, as our Chief Executive Officer, served as a member of the board of directors of SimpleNexus, a company in which Cathleen Schreiner Gates, one of the members of our board of directors, currently serves, and in the past year served as chief executive officer, and in which Matthew Hansen, another member of our board of directors, served as chief executive officer in the past year.
Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters.
The following table sets forth information regarding the beneficial ownership of our common stock as of April 1, 2024, based on information obtained from the persons named below, with respect to the beneficial ownership of shares of our common stock, by:
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● each of our executive officers and directors; and
● all our executive officers and directors as a group.
Unless otherwise indicated, we believe that all persons named in the table have sole voting and investment power with respect to all shares of common stock beneficially owned by them. The following table does not reflect record or beneficial ownership of the private placement warrants as these warrants are not exercisable within 60 days of the date of this report.
Class A common stock Class B common stock
Number of Approximate Number of Approximate
Shares Percentage Shares Percentage
Beneficially of Beneficially of
Name of Beneficial Owners(3) Owned Class(1) Owned Class(2)
5% or Greater Beneficial Owners:
Directors and Executive Officers:
Sigmund Anderman* — — — —
Matthew Hansen* — — — —
Jennifer Nuckles* — — — —
Cathleen Schreiner Gates* — — — —
David Winfield* — — — —
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As of April 1, 2024, our sponsor holds 50,004 of our founder shares and 4,200,000 of our public shares issued in connection with the Conversion. Holders of our founder shares have the right to elect and to remove all of our directors prior to the consummation of our initial business combination. Holders of our public shares do not have the right to elect any directors to our board of directors prior to our initial business combination. In addition, because our sponsor holds 42.9% of our outstanding common stock, our sponsor may be able to effectively influence the outcome of all matters requiring approval by our stockholders, including amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and approval of significant corporate transactions.
Our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 11,700,000 private placement warrants in the Private Placement. Each private placement warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one share of our Class A common stock at $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment. If we do not complete our initial business combination by December 14, 2024, or during any Extension Period, the funds in the Trust Account, which includes a portion of the proceeds from the Private Placement, will be used to fund the redemption of our public shares, and the private placement warrants will expire worthless. The private placement warrants are subject to the transfer restrictions and are entitled to registration rights, in each case, described below. The private placement warrants will not be redeemable by us except in certain redemption scenarios and will be exercisable on a cashless basis so long as they are held by our management team or our sponsor or their permitted transferees. If the private placement warrants are held by holders other than our management team or our sponsor or their permitted transferees, the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us in all redemption scenarios and exercisable by the holders on the same basis as the warrants included in the units sold in our IPO. Otherwise, the private placement warrants have terms and provisions that are identical to those of the warrants sold in our IPO.
Our sponsor, officers and directors are deemed to be our “promoter” as such term is defined under the federal securities laws. Please see “Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence” for additional information regarding our relationships with our promoters.
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Transfers of Founder Shares and Private Placement Warrants
The founder shares, private placement warrants and any warrants issued upon conversion of working capital loans and any shares of Class A common stock issued upon conversion or exercise thereof are each subject to transfer restrictions pursuant to lock-up provisions in letter agreements between us and our sponsor, officers and directors. Those lock-up provisions provide that such securities are not transferable or salable (1) in the case of the founder shares, until the earlier of (A) one year after the completion of our initial business combination and (B) subsequent to our initial business combination, (x) if the closing price of the Class A common stock equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after our initial business combination, or (y) the date following the completion of our initial business combination on which we complete a liquidation, merger, stock exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction that results in all of our stockholders having the right to exchange their shares of common stock for cash, securities or other property, and (2) in the case of the private placement warrants, any warrants issued upon conversion of working capital loans and the respective Class A common stock underlying such warrants, until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination, except in each case (a) to our officers or directors, any affiliates or family members of any of our officers or directors, our sponsor or any members of our sponsor, or any of its affiliates; (b) in the case of an individual, by gift to a member of the individual’s immediate family or to a trust, the beneficiary of which is a member of the individual’s immediate family or an affiliate of such person, or to a charitable organization; (c) in the case of an individual, by virtue of laws of descent and distribution upon death of the individual; (d) in the case of an individual, pursuant to a qualified domestic relations order; (e) transfers by private sales or transfers made in connection with consummation of our initial business combination at prices no greater than the price at which the securities were originally purchased; (f) in the event of our liquidation prior to our completion of our initial business combination; (g) by virtue of the laws of Delaware or our sponsor’s limited liability company agreement, as amended, upon dissolution of our sponsor; or (h) in the event of our completion of a liquidation, merger, stock exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction which results in all of our stockholders having the right to exchange their shares of common stock for cash, securities or other property subsequent to our completion of our initial business combination; or (i) to a nominee or custodian of a person or entity to whom a disposition or transfer would be permissible under clauses (a) through (h) above, provided, however, that in the case of clauses (a) through (e) and (i), these permitted transferees must enter into a written agreement agreeing to be bound by these transfer restrictions and the other restrictions contained in the letter agreement.
Registration Rights
The holders of the founder shares (including public shares issued upon conversion thereof), private placement warrants and warrants that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans (and any shares of common stock issuable upon the exercise of the private placement warrants or warrants issued upon conversion of the working capital loans and upon conversion of the founder shares) are entitled to registration rights pursuant to a registration rights agreement requiring us to register such securities for resale (in the case of the founder shares, only after conversion to shares of Class A common stock). The holders of these securities are entitled to make up to three demands, excluding short form registration demands, that we register such securities. In addition, the holders have certain “piggy-back” registration rights with respect to registration statements filed subsequent to our completion of our initial business combination and rights to require us to register for resale such securities pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act. However, the registration rights agreement provides that we are not required to effect or permit any registration or cause any registration statement to become effective until termination of the applicable lock-up period as described above under “—Transfers of Founder Shares and Private Placement Warrants.” We will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such registration statements.
Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence.
On May 27, 2021, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 7,187,500 founder shares for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000. On November 24, 2021, our sponsor surrendered 1,437,500 founder shares for no consideration, thereby reducing the aggregate number of founder shares outstanding to 5,750,000, resulting in an effective purchase price paid for the founder shares of approximately $0.004 per share, and reducing the aggregate number of founder shares owned by our sponsor to 5,750,000.
Our sponsor has purchased an aggregate of 11,700,000 private placement warrants for a purchase price of $1.00 per warrant in the Private Placement. As such, our sponsor’s at-risk capital in this transaction is valued at $11,700,000. Each private placement warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one share of Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as provided herein. The private placement warrants (including the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the private
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placement warrants) may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by our sponsor or its permitted transferees until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination.
In connection with the Special Meeting and the entry into the Non-Redemption Agreements, on May 25, 2023, pursuant to the terms of the amended and restated certificate of incorporation of the Company, the sponsor converted 4,200,000 shares of the Company’s Class B common stock held by it on a one-for-one basis into shares of the Company’s Class A common stock. After giving effect to the Conversion, the Company had an aggregate of 27,200,000 shares of Class A common stock issued and outstanding, comprised of 4,200,000 shares held by the sponsor and not subject to possible redemption and 23,000,000 shares of Class A common stock subject to possible redemption, and 1,550,000 shares of Class B common stock issued and outstanding.
If any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for an entity to which he or she has then-current fiduciary or contractual duties or obligations to present the opportunity to such entity, he or she will honor these duties or obligations to present such business combination opportunity to such entity prior to presenting such opportunity to us. Our officers and directors currently have other relevant fiduciary or contractual duties or obligations that may take priority over their duties or obligations to us, and even when they do not have such fiduciary or contractual duties or obligations, may choose to present business combination opportunities to other entities before presenting them to us if they are not prohibited by our amended and restated certificate of incorporation from doing so.
Our sponsor, officers and directors or any of their respective affiliates will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made by us to our sponsor, officers, directors or our or any of their respective affiliates and will determine which expenses and the amount of expenses that will be reimbursed. There is no cap or ceiling on the reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses incurred by such persons in connection with activities on our behalf.
We have entered into a letter agreement with our sponsor pursuant to which we are required to pay our sponsor a total of $15,000 per month for office space, utilities, and secretarial and administrative services, commencing on December 10, 2021, the date that our securities were first listed on the NYSE. Upon the earlier of consummation of our initial business combination and our liquidation, we will cease paying these monthly fees. Accordingly, assuming the consummation of our initial business combination takes until December 14, 2024, our sponsor will be paid a total of $411,500 for these services.
Our sponsor loaned us $350,000 under an unsecured promissory note to be used for a portion of the expenses of our IPO. These loans were non-interest bearing, unsecured and were due at the earlier of May 31, 2022 and the closing of the IPO. These loans were repaid upon completion of the IPO out of the $2,500,000 of offering proceeds that was allocated for the payment of offering expenses (other than underwriting fees) and amounts not to be held in the Trust Account.
In order to fund working capital deficiencies or finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, our management team and our sponsor and any of their respective affiliates may, but none of them is obligated to, loan us funds as may be required. If we complete our initial business combination, we would repay such loaned amounts out of the proceeds of the Trust Account released to us. In the event that our initial business combination is not completed by March 14, 2024 or during any Extension Period, we 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. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants. The terms of such loans, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. Prior to our initial business combination, we do not expect to seek loans from parties other than our management team or our sponsor or any of their respective affiliates, if any, as we do not believe third parties will be willing to loan such funds and provide a waiver against any and all rights to seek access to funds in the Trust Account.
After our initial business combination, members of our management team who remain with us, if any, may be paid consulting, management or other fees from the post-transaction company with any and all amounts being fully disclosed to our stockholders, to the extent then known, in the tender offer or proxy solicitation materials, as applicable, furnished to our stockholders. It is unlikely the amount of such compensation will be known at the time of distribution of such tender offer materials or at the time of a stockholder meeting held to consider our initial business combination, as applicable, as it will be up to the directors of the post-transaction company to determine executive officer and director compensation.
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We have entered into a registration rights agreement with respect to the founder shares, private placement warrants and warrants issued upon conversion of working capital loans (if any) and shares of our Class A common stock issuable for conversion or exercise thereof, which is described under the heading “Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters — Registration Rights.”
Refer to Note 5 of our financial statements for more information regarding our related party transactions.
Related Party Policy
We have not yet adopted a formal policy for the review, approval or ratification of related party transactions. Accordingly, the transactions discussed above were not reviewed, approved or ratified in accordance with any such policy.
We have adopted a Code of Ethics requiring us to avoid, wherever possible, all conflicts of interests, except under guidelines or resolutions approved by our board of directors (or the appropriate committee of our board) or as disclosed in our public filings with the SEC. Under our Code of Ethics, conflict of interest situations include any financial transaction, arrangement or relationship (including any indebtedness or guarantee of indebtedness) involving our Company.
In addition, our audit committee, pursuant to its written charter, is responsible for reviewing and approving related party transactions to the extent that we enter into such transactions. An affirmative vote of a majority of the members of the audit committee present at a meeting at which a quorum is present will be required in order to approve a related party transaction. A majority of the members of the entire audit committee will constitute a quorum. Without a meeting, the unanimous written consent of all of the members of the audit committee will be required to approve a related party transaction. Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made by us to our sponsor, officers or directors, or our or any of their respective affiliates.
These procedures are intended to determine whether any such related party transaction impairs the independence of a director or presents a conflict of interest on the part of a director, officer or employee.
To further minimize conflicts of interest, we have agreed not to consummate an initial business combination with an entity that is affiliated with our sponsor, directors or officers unless we, or a committee of independent directors, have obtained an opinion from an independent investment banking firm which is a member of FINRA or an independent accounting firm that our initial business combination is fair to our Company from a financial point of view. There will be no finder’s fees, reimbursement, consulting fee, monies in respect of any payment of a loan or other compensation paid by us to our sponsor, officers or directors or our or any of their respective affiliates, for services rendered to us prior to or in connection with the completion of our initial business combination (regardless of the type of transaction that it is). However, the following payments may be made to our sponsor, officers or directors, or our or their affiliates, and, if made prior to our initial business combination will be made from funds held outside the Trust Account:
These payments may be funded using, if any, the net proceeds from our IPO and the Private Placement not held in the Trust Account or, upon completion of the initial business combination, from any amounts remaining from the proceeds of the Trust Account, if any, released to us in connection therewith.
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Director Independence
We are a “controlled company” within the meaning of the rules of the NYSE prior to the consummation of our initial business combination. As a controlled company, we will not be required to comply with the rules of the NYSE that require that a majority of our board of directors be independent. An “independent director” is defined generally as a person that, in the opinion of the Company’s board of directors, has no material relationship with the listed company (either directly or as a partner, stockholder or officer of an organization that has a relationship with the Company). Our board has determined that each of Sigmund Anderman, Jennifer Nuckles and David Winfield is an independent director under applicable NYSE rules, and that each of Sigmund Anderman, Matthew Hansen, Jennifer Nuckles, Cathleen Schreiner Gates and David Winfield is an independent director under Rule 10A-3 under the Exchange Act. Our independent directors will have regularly scheduled meetings at which only independent directors are present.
Item 14. Principal Accountant Fees and Services.
The following is a summary of fees paid or to be paid to BDO USA, P.C., for services rendered in 2023 and 2022:
Year Ended Year Ended
December 31, December 31,
Audit-Related Fees $ — $ —
Tax Fees $ — $ —
All Other Fees $ — $ —
Pre-Approval Policy
The audit committee is responsible for pre-approving all auditing services and permitted non-audit services to be performed for us by our auditors, including the fees and terms thereof (subject to the de minimis exceptions for non-audit services described in the Exchange Act which are approved by the audit committee prior to the completion of the audit).
PART IV
Item 15. Exhibit and Financial Statement Schedules.
(a)The following documents are filed as part of this report:
(1)Financial Statements
(2)Financial Statements Schedules
All financial statement schedules are omitted because they are not applicable or the amounts are immaterial and not required, or the required information is presented in the financial statements and notes thereto in Item 15 of Part IV below.
(3)Exhibits
We hereby file as part of this report the exhibits listed in the attached Exhibit Index. Copies of such material can be obtained on the SEC website at www.sec.gov.
Item 16. Form 10-K Summary.
Not applicable.
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EXHIBIT INDEX
Exhibit Description
3.1 Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation of the Company(2)
3.2 Amended and Restated Bylaws of the Company(2)
4.1 Specimen Unit Certificate(1)
4.2 Specimen Class A Common Stock Certificate(1)
4.3 Specimen Warrant Certificate (included in Exhibit 4.4)(2)
4.5 Description of Securities(3)
10.8 Form of Indemnity Agreement(1)
101.INS XBRL Instance Document
101.SCH XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema
101.CAL XBRL Taxonomy Calculation Linkbase
101.LAB XBRL Taxonomy Label Linkbase
101.PRE XBRL Definition Linkbase Document
101.DEF XBRL Definition Linkbase Document
* Filed herewith
** Furnished herewith
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SOUTHPORT ACQUISITION CORP.
INDEX TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Financial Statements:
Statements of Operations for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022 F-4
Statements of Cash Flows for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022 F-6
Notes to Financial Statements F-7
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Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
Shareholders and Board of Directors
Southport Acquisition Corporation
Del Mar, California
Opinion on the Financial Statements
We have audited the accompanying balance sheets of Southport Acquisition Corporation (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, the related statements of operations, changes in common stock subject to possible redemption and stockholders’ deficit, and cash flows for each of the years then ended, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, and the results of its operations and cash flows for each of the years then ended, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.
Going Concern Uncertainty
The accompanying financial statements have been prepared assuming that the Company will continue as a going concern. As discussed in Note 1 to the financial statements, the Company does not have sufficient cash and working capital to sustain its operations and the Company’s ability to execute its business plan is dependent upon its successful completion of the proposed business combination described in Note 1 to the financial statements. These conditions raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. Management’s plans in regard to these matters are also described in Note 1. The financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.
Basis for Opinion
These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (“PCAOB”) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.
We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audits to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. The Company is not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of its internal control over financial reporting. As part of our audits, we are required to obtain an understanding of internal control over financial reporting but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion.
Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.
/s/ BDO USA, P.C.
We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2021.
April 1, 2024
New York, NY
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SOUTHPORT ACQUISITION CORPORATION
BALANCE SHEETS
ASSETS
Current assets:
Non-current assets:
Current liabilities:
Administrative support fee – related party 231,500 —
Excise tax liability 1,976,947 —
Non-Current liabilities:
Commitments and Contingencies (Note 8)
Stockholders’ Deficit
Additional paid-in capital 760,971 —
The accompanying notes are an integral part of the financial statements.
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SOUTHPORT ACQUISITION CORPORATION
STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
For the Year
Ended
December 31,
Operating costs:
Administrative expenses – related party 231,500 —
Other income (expense):
Change in fair value of warrant liability (53,450) 16,688,950
Financing expense (934,906) —
The accompanying notes are an integral part of the financial statements.
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SOUTHPORT ACQUISITION CORPORATION
STATEMENTS OF CHANGES IN COMMON STOCK SUBJECT TO POSSIBLE REDEMPTION AND STOCKHOLDERS’ DEFICIT
For the Year Ended December 31, 2023
Class A common stock
Subject to possible Additional Total
Shares Amount Shares Amount Shares Amount Capital Deficit Deficit
Net income — — — — — — — 2,729,602 2,729,602
For the Year Ended December 31, 2022
Class A common stock
Subject to possible Additional Total
Shares Amount Shares Amount Shares Amount Capital Deficit Deficit
The accompanying notes are an integral part of the financial statements.
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SOUTHPORT ACQUISITION CORPORATION
STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
For the Year
Ended
December 31,
Cash Flows from Operating Activities:
Sponsor capital contribution for non-redemption agreements 934,906 —
Changes in operating assets and liabilities:
Administrative support fee – related party 231,500 —
Due to related party (8,317) —
Accrued offering costs — (611,443)
Cash Flows from Investing Activities:
Cash Flows from Financing Activities:
Payment to Class A common stockholders for redemptions (197,694,657) —
Cash capital contribution from Sponsor 800,000 —
Payments made by related party on behalf of the Company — 244,550
Receipt of amounts due from related party — 83,581
Net cash (used in)provided by financing activities (196,894,657) 328,131
Supplemental disclosure of non-cash financing activities:
Trust Account withdrawal for tax payments $ (2,287,729) $ —
Excise tax liability $ 1,976,947 $ —
Gain on waiver of deferred underwriting fee $ — $ 8,050,000
The accompanying notes are an integral part of the financial statements.
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SOUTHPORT ACQUISITION CORPORATION
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Note 1.Description of Organization and Business Operations
Southport Acquisition Corporation. (the “Company”) is a blank check company formed in Delaware on April 13, 2021. The Company was formed for the purpose of effectuating a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or other similar business combination with one or more businesses (the “Business Combination”). The Company is an early stage and emerging growth company and, as such, the Company is subject to all of the risks associated with early stage and emerging growth companies.
As of December 31, 2023, the Company had not yet commenced any operations. All activity from inception through December 31, 2023 relates to the Company’s formation, initial public offering (the “IPO”), and pursuit of a target company to effect a Business Combination.
The registration statement for the Company’s IPO was declared effective on December 9, 2021. On December 14, 2021, the Company consummated the IPO, which involved the Company’s sale of 23,000,000 units (the “Units”) at $10.00 per Unit, generating gross proceeds of $230,000,000, which is discussed in Note 3. The 23,000,000 Units sold by the Company include 3,000,000 Units purchased by the underwriter for the IPO pursuant to the full exercise of its option to purchase up to 3,000,000 additional Units to cover over-allotments. Simultaneously with the closing of the IPO, the Company consummated the private sale of an aggregate of 11,700,000 warrants (the “Private Placement Warrants”) to Southport Acquisition Sponsor LLC (the “Sponsor”) at a price of $1.00 per Private Placement Warrant, generating proceeds to the Company of $11,700,000.
Following the closing of the IPO on December 14, 2021, $234,600,000 ($10.20 per Unit) from the net proceeds of the sale of the Units in the IPO and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants was placed in a trust account (the “Trust Account”) located in the United States, which will be invested in U.S. government securities, within the meaning set forth in Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”), with a maturity of 185 days or less or in any open-ended investment company that holds itself out as a money market fund meeting the conditions of Rule 2a-7 of the Investment Company Act, as determined by the Company, until the earlier of: (i) the completion of a Business Combination, (ii) the redemption of any Public Shares (as defined in Note 3) properly submitted in connection with a stockholder vote to amend the Company’s amended and restated certificate of incorporation (a) to modify the substance or timing of the Company’s obligation to provide its public stockholders the right to have their Public Shares redeemed in connection with an initial Business Combination or to redeem 100% of the Public Shares if the Company does not complete the initial Business Combination within the Combination Period (as defined below) or (b) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial Business Combination activity, and (iii) the redemption of the Company’s Public Shares if the Company is unable to complete the initial Business Combination within 18 months from December 14, 2021 or during any extended time that the Company has to consummate its initial Business Combination beyond such 18-month period (the “Combination Period”).
On June 9, 2023 (the “Special Meeting”), the Company’s stockholders approved a proposal to amend the Company’s amended and restated certificate of incorporation (the “Extension Amendment Proposal”) to extend the time that the Company has to consummate its initial Business Combination (the “Extension”) from June 14, 2023 to September 14, 2023 and to allow the board of directors of the Company, without another stockholder vote, to elect to further extend the date to consummate an initial Business Combination after September 14, 2023 up to six times, by an additional month each time, up to March 14, 2024, providing the Company a 21-month period (or up to 27-month period) from the closing of the IPO to consummate its initial Business Combination.
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Prior to the Special Meeting, on May 25, 2023, the Company and the Sponsor entered into voting and non-redemption agreements (the “Non-Redemption Agreements”) with unaffiliated third parties in exchange for such third parties agreeing (i) not to redeem an aggregate of 4,000,000 shares of Class A common stock sold in its initial public offering (the “Non-Redeemed Shares”) in connection with the Special Meeting and (ii) to vote in favor of the Extension Amendment Proposal and the Extension at the Special Meeting (other than with respect to certain shares acquired or to be acquired pursuant to the Non-Redemption Agreements). In exchange for the foregoing commitments, the Sponsor agreed to transfer to such third parties an aggregate of up to 1,499,996 shares of Class B common stock held by the Sponsor, with 500,000 of such shares to be transferred to such third parties promptly upon consummation of the Extension, and an additional 166,666 shares to be transferred to such third parties monthly beginning on September 14, 2023 and up to, and including, February 14, 2024, if the board of directors of the Company elects to further extend the deadline to consummate an initial Business Combination at or prior to such date, in each case, if such third parties continue to hold such Non-Redeemed Shares through the Special Meeting.
In connection with the Special Meeting and the entry into the Non-Redemption Agreements, on May 25, 2023, pursuant to the terms of the amended and restated certificate of incorporation of the Company, the Sponsor converted 4,200,000 shares of the Company’s Class B common stock held by it on a one-for-one basis into shares of the Company’s Class A common stock (the “Conversion”). After giving effect to the Conversion, the Company had an aggregate of 27,200,000 shares of Class A common stock issued and outstanding, comprised of 4,200,000 shares held by the Sponsor and not subject to possible redemption and 23,000,000 shares of Class A common stock subject to possible redemption, and 1,550,000 shares of Class B common stock issued and outstanding. In connection with the Special Meeting, the holders of 18,849,935 shares of Class A common stock properly exercised their right to redeem their shares for an aggregate redemption amount of $197,694,657, resulting in 4,150,065 shares of Class A common stock issued and outstanding and subject to possible redemption. Accordingly, at December 31, 2023, there were 8,350,065 shares of Class A common stock issued and outstanding, including 4,150,065 shares of Class A common stock subject to possible redemption. Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company (the “Trustee”) processed the redemptions and withdrew the $197,694,657 payable to the holders redeeming 18,849,935 shares of Class A common stock on July 7, 2023.
Prior to December 31, 2023, the board of directors of the Company approved four monthly extensions to extend the time the Company had to consummate an initial Business Combination from September 14, 2023 to January 14, 2024.
As described in Note 11 to the financial statements (Subsequent Events), in January and February 2024, the board approved two further monthly extensions up to March 14, 2024. In connection with each of the monthly extensions, the Sponsor transferred 166,666 shares of the Company’s Class B common stock held by the sponsor to unaffiliated third parties in accordance with those certain voting and non-redemption agreements previously entered into between the sponsor and such third parties. In addition, on March 14, 2024, the Company’s stockholders approved a proposal to amend the Company’s amended and restated certificate of incorporation to further extend the time that the Company has to consummate its initial Business Combination from March 14, 2024 to December 14, 2024.
In connection with the vote to extend the time that the Company has to consummate its initial Business Combination from March 14, 2024 to December 14, 2024, the holders of 2,986,952 shares of Class A common stock properly exercised their right to redeem their shares for an aggregate redemption amount of $32,214,591, resulting in 1,163,113 shares of Class A common stock issued and outstanding and subject to possible redemption.
Risks and Uncertainties
Management is currently evaluating the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war, the war in Israel, interest rate fluctuations and increased inflation, and the recently adopted SEC rules and amendments affecting special purpose acquisition corporations like the Company, and has concluded that while it is reasonably possible that such matters could have a negative effect on the Company’s financial position, cash flows, results of its operations and/or search for a target company, the specific impacts are not readily determinable as of December 31, 2023. The financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.
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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 stockholders from whom 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 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.
On July 7, 2023, 18,849,935 shares of Class A common stock were redeemed by the Company’s stockholders for a total of $197,694,657 in connection with the stockholder vote to approve the Company’s Extension Amendment Proposal. The Company evaluated the classification and accounting of the stock redemption under ASC 450, “Contingencies”. ASC 450 states that when a loss contingency exists, the likelihood that the future events will confirm the loss or impairment of an asset or the incurrence of a liability can range from probable to remote. A contingent liability must be reviewed at each reporting period to determine appropriate treatment. The Company evaluated the current status and probability of completing an initial Business Combination as of December 31, 2023 and determined that a contingent liability should be calculated and recorded. As of December 31, 2023, the Company recorded $1,976,947 of excise tax liability calculated as 1% of shares redeemed.
Going Concern
As of December 31, 2023 and 2022, the Company had cash of $2,171,553 and $50,858, respectively, and a working capital deficit of $2,808,465 and $929,527, respectively. The Company has incurred and expects to continue to incur significant costs in pursuit of its financing and acquisition plans. These conditions raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of time within one year after the date that these financial statements are issued. Management plans to address this uncertainty through working capital loans whereby, the Sponsor, an affiliate of the Sponsor, or the Company’s officers and directors can, but are not obligated to, loan the Company funds as may be required (see Note 5). However, there is no assurance that the Company’s plans to raise capital or to consummate a Business Combination will be successful or successful within the Extended Combination Period. The financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.
Note 2.Summary of Significant Accounting Policies
Basis of Presentation
The accompanying financial statements are presented in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”) and pursuant to the rules and regulations of the SEC.
Emerging Growth Company
The Company is an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act, as modified by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the “JOBS Act”), and it may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, 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.
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Further, Section 102(b)(1) of the JOBS Act exempts emerging growth companies from being required to comply with new or revised financial accounting standards until private companies (that is, those that have not had a Securities Act registration statement declared effective or do not have a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act) are required to comply with the new or revised financial accounting standards. The JOBS Act provides that a company can elect to opt out of the extended transition period and comply with the requirements that apply to non-emerging growth companies but any such election to opt out is irrevocable. The Company has elected not to opt out of such extended transition period, which means that when a standard is issued or revised and it has different application dates for public or private companies, the Company, as an emerging growth company, can adopt the new or revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new or revised standard. This may make comparison of the Company’s financial statements with another public company, which is neither an emerging growth company nor an emerging growth company which has opted out of using the extended transition period difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accounting standards used.
Use of Estimates
The preparation of the financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period.
Making estimates requires management to exercise significant judgment. It is at least reasonably possible that the estimate of the effect of a condition, situation or set of circumstances that existed at the date of the 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 $2,171,553 and $50,858 of cash and no cash equivalents as of December 31, 2023 and 2022.
Marketable Securities Held in Trust Account
Following the closing of the IPO on December 14, 2021, an amount of $234,600,000 from the net proceeds of the sale of the Units in the IPO and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants was placed in the Trust Account and may be invested only in U.S. government securities with a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations. The Trust Account is intended as a holding place for funds pending the earliest to occur of: (i) the completion of the initial Business Combination; (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly tendered in connection with a stockholder vote to amend the Company’s amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of the Company’s obligation to provide its public stockholders the right to have their Public Shares redeemed in connection with an initial Business Combination or to redeem 100% of the Public Shares if the Company does not complete the initial Business Combination by December 14, 2024 or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial Business Combination activity; and (iii) the redemption of the Company’s Public Shares if the Company is unable to complete the initial Business Combination by December 14, 2024.
In connection with the Special Meeting, the holders of 18,849,935 shares of Class A common stock properly exercised their right to redeem their shares for an aggregate redemption amount of $197,694,657, resulting in 4,150,065 shares of Class A common stock issued and outstanding and subject to possible redemption. Accordingly, at December 31, 2023, there were 8,350,065 shares of Class A common stock issued and outstanding, including 4,150,065 shares of Class A common stock subject to possible redemption. Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company (the “Trustee”) processed the redemptions and withdrew the $197,694,657 payable to the holders redeeming 18,849,935 shares of Class A common stock on July 7, 2023.
Fair Value of Financial Instruments
The fair value of the Company’s assets and liabilities, which qualify as financial instruments under ASC 820, “Fair Value Measurement” (“ASC 820”), approximates the carrying amounts represented in the accompanying balance sheets, primarily due to their short-term nature.
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Fair Value Measurements
Fair value is defined as the price that would be received for sale of an asset or paid to transfer a liability, in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. GAAP establishes a three-tier fair value hierarchy, which prioritizes the inputs used in measuring fair value. The hierarchy gives the highest priority to unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities (Level 1 measurements) and the lowest priority to unobservable inputs (Level 3 measurements). These tiers include:
Derivative Financial Instruments
The Company evaluates its financial instruments to determine if such instruments are derivatives or contain features that qualify as embedded derivatives in accordance with ASC Topic 815, “Derivatives and Hedging”. For derivative financial instruments that are accounted for as liabilities, the derivative instrument is initially recorded at its fair value on the grant date and is then re-valued at each reporting date, with changes in the fair value reported in the statements of operations. The classification of derivative instruments, including whether such instruments should be recorded as liabilities or as equity, is evaluated at the end of each reporting period. Derivative liabilities are classified in the balance sheet as current or non-current based on whether or not net-cash settlement or conversion of the instrument could be required within 12 months of the balance sheet date. As of December 31, 2023 and 2022, derivative liabilities are comprised of the warrant liability of $580,500 and $527,050, respectively.
Warrant Liability
The Company accounts for warrants for the Company’s common stock that are not indexed to its own shares as liabilities at fair value on the balance sheet. The warrants are subject to remeasurement at each balance sheet date and any change in fair value is recognized as a component of other income (expense), net on the statement of operations. The Company will continue to adjust the liability for changes in fair value until the earlier of the exercise or expiration of the common stock warrants. At that time, the portion of the warrant liability related to the common stock warrants will be reclassified to additional paid-in capital.
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) is classified as a liability instrument and is measured at fair value. Conditionally redeemable common stock (including common stock that feature redemption rights that are either within the control of the holder or subject to redemption upon the occurrence of uncertain events not solely within the Company’s control) is classified as temporary equity. At all other times, common stock is classified as stockholders’ equity. The Company’s common stock features certain redemption rights that are considered to be outside of the Company’s control and subject to the occurrence of uncertain future events. Accordingly, at December 31, 2023 and 2022, 4,150,065 and 23,000,000 shares of Class A common stock subject to possible redemption, respectively, is presented, at redemption value, as temporary equity, outside of the stockholders’ equity section of the Company’s balance sheet.
The Company recognizes changes in redemption value immediately as they occur and adjusts the carrying value of redeemable common stock to equal the redemption value at the end of each reporting period. Such changes are reflected in additional paid-in capital, or in the absence of additional capital, in accumulated deficit. For the year ended December 31, 2023, the Company has recorded accretion of $6,707,678 to remeasure the value of Class A common stock subject to possible redemption value of $44,709,805.
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As of December 31, 2023 and 2022, the Class A common stock, classified as temporary equity in the balance sheets reconciled in the following table:
Remeasurement of Class A common stock subject to possible redemption 6,707,678
Trust Account withdrawal for tax payments (2,287,729)
Income taxes
The Company complies with the accounting and reporting requirements of ASC Topic 740, “Income Taxes,” which requires an asset and liability approach to financial accounting and reporting for income taxes. Deferred income tax assets and liabilities are computed for differences between the financial statement and tax bases of assets and liabilities that will result in future taxable or deductible amounts, based on enacted tax laws and rates applicable to the periods in which the differences are expected to affect taxable income. Valuation allowances are established, when necessary, to reduce deferred tax assets to the amount expected to be realized.
ASC Topic 740 prescribes a recognition threshold and a measurement attribute for the financial statement recognition and measurement of tax positions taken or expected to be taken in a tax return. For those benefits to be recognized, a tax position must be more-likely-than-not to be sustained upon examination by taxing authorities. The Company recognizes accrued interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits, if any, as income tax expense. The Company is currently not aware of any issues under review that could result in significant payments, accruals or material deviation from its position, other than penalties and interest of $22,062 and $0 related to late filing of the Company’s 2022 federal and state tax returns, which could result in significant payments, accruals or material deviations from its position as of December 31, 2023 and 2022.
Net Income (Loss) Per Common Stock
The Company complies with accounting and disclosure requirements of ASC Topic 260, “Earnings Per Share”. The statements of operations include a presentation of income per Class A redeemable common stock and income (loss) per non-redeemable common stock following the two-class method of income per common stock. In order to determine the net income (loss) attributable to both the Class A redeemable common stock and non-redeemable common stock, the Company first considered the total income allocable to both sets of stock. This is calculated using the total net income less any dividends paid. For purposes of calculating net income (loss) per share, any remeasurement of the Class A common stock subject to possible redemption was treated as dividends paid to the public stockholders. Subsequent to calculating the total income (loss) allocable to both sets of stock, the Company split the amount to be allocated using the weighted average shares outstanding ratio for the Class A redeemable common stock and for the non-redeemable Class A and Class B common stock for the year ended December 31, 2023 as a result of shareholder redemptions. For the year ended December 31, 2022, the Company split the amount to be allocated using a ratio of 80% for the Class A redeemable common stock and 20% for the non-redeemable common stock, reflective of the respective participation rights.
The following table reflects the calculation of basic and diluted net income per common stock (in dollars, except per share amounts):
For the Year Ended
Plus: Trust Account withdrawals for tax payments 2,287,729
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For the Year Ended
Class A Class A and Class B
Redeemable Shares Non-redeemable Shares Total
Weighted average shares ratio 68 % 32 % 100 %
Basic and diluted net income (loss) per share $ 0.26 $ (0.09)
For the Year Ended