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UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 10-K
☒ ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023
or
☐ TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
For the transition period from _____________ to ________________
Commission file number: 001-41784
99 ACQUISITION GROUP INC.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
| Delaware | 88-2992752 | |
| (State or other jurisdiction of | (I.R.S. Employer | |
| incorporation or organization) | Identification No.) |
|
14 Noblewood Ct, Gaithersburg, MD | 20878 | |
| (Address of principal executive offices) | (Zip Code) |
Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (703) 371-4260
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
| Title of each class | Trading Symbol(s) | Name of each exchange on which registered | ||
| Units | NNAGU | The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC | ||
| Common Stock | NNAG | The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC | ||
| Redeemable Warrants | NNAGW | The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC | ||
| Rights | NNAGR | The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC |
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None.
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. ☐ Yes ☒ No
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act. ☐ Yes ☒ No
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. ☒ Yes ☐ No
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). ☒ Yes ☐ No
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
| Large accelerated filer | ☐ | Accelerated filer | ☐ |
| Non-accelerated filer | ☒ | Smaller reporting company | ☒ |
| Emerging Growth Company | ☒ |
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☐
If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant’s executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b). ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). ☒ Yes ☐ No
As of June 30, 2023, the aggregate market value of the registrant’s common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant was $0.
As of April 4, 2024, there were 7,575,000 shares of Class A common stock, par value $0.0001, and 2,500,000 shares of Class B common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, issued and outstanding.
DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE
None.
99 ACQUISITION GROUP INC.
Annual Report on Form 10-K for the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2023
CERTAIN TERMS
References to “the Company,” “NNAG,” “our,” “us” or “we” refer to 99 Acquisition Group Inc., a blank check company incorporated in Delaware on June 14, 2022. References to our “Sponsor” refer to 99 Acquisition Sponsor LLC, a Delaware limited liability company. References to our “IPO” refer to the initial public offering of 99 Acquisition Group Inc., which closed on August 22, 2023.
SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, or the Securities Act, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, or the Exchange Act. The statements contained in this report that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements. Our forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our or our management’s expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future. In addition, any statements that refer to projections, forecasts or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. The words “anticipates,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “would” and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. Forward-looking statements in this report may include, for example, statements about our:
| ● | ability to complete our initial business combination; |
| ● | success in retaining or recruiting, or changes required in, our officers, key employees or directors following our initial business combination; |
| ● | officers and directors allocating their time to other businesses and potentially having conflicts of interest with our business or in approving our initial business combination, as a result of which they would then receive expense reimbursements; |
| ● | potential ability to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination; |
| ● | pool of prospective target businesses; |
| ● | the ability of our officers and directors to generate a number of potential investment opportunities; |
| ● | potential change in control if we acquire one or more target businesses for stock; |
| ● | the potential liquidity and trading of our securities; |
| ● | the lack of a market for our securities; |
| ● | use of proceeds not held in the trust account or available to us from interest income on the trust account balance; or |
| ● | financial performance following our IPO. |
The forward-looking statements contained in this report are based on our current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects on us. There can be no assurance that future developments affecting us will be those that we have anticipated. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties (some of which are beyond our control) or other assumptions that may cause actual results or performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those factors described under the heading “Risk Factors.” Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of our assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary in material respects from those projected in these forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws and/or if and when management knows or has a reasonable basis on which to conclude that previously disclosed projections are no longer reasonably attainable.
PART I
ITEM 1. BUSINESS
Introduction
We are a newly organized blank check company incorporated June 14, 2022 as a Delaware corporation whose business purpose is to effect a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses, which we refer to as our initial business combination. To date, our efforts have been limited to organizational activities as well as activities related to the IPO. We have not selected any specific business combination target and we have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, engaged in any substantive discussions, directly or indirectly, with any business combination target with respect to an initial business combination with us.
On August 22, 2023, we consummated the Initial Public Offering of 7,500,000 units (the “public units”), each Public Unit consisting of one share of common stock, $0.0001 par value (“Common Stock”), one redeemable warrant entitling the holder thereof to purchase one share of Common Stock at a price of $11.50 per share and one right to receive one-fifth (1/5) of a share of Common Stock upon the consummation of an initial business combination. The public units were sold at an offering price of $10.00 per public unit, generating gross proceeds of $75,000,000.
Simultaneously with the closing of the IPO, the Company consummated the private placement (the “Private Placement”) with the Sponsor of the Company of 2,865,500 warrants (the “Private Warrants”), generating total proceeds of $2,865,500. The Private Warrants are identical to the warrants sold as part of the public Units in the IPO except that the Sponsor was granted certain demand and piggyback registration rights in connection with the purchase of the Private Warrants. The Private Warrants were issued pursuant to Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, as the transactions did not involve a public offering.
Upon the closing of the IPO and the sale of Private Warrants on August 22, 2023, a total of $75,750,000 was placed in a trust account (the “trust account”) located in the United States with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company as a trustee, and invested only in U.S. “government securities,” within the meaning set forth in Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act, with a maturity of one hundred eighty-five (185) days or less, or in money market funds meeting the conditions of Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act, which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations, as determined by the Company. These funds will not be released until the earlier of the completion of the initial business combination and the distribution of the trust account as otherwise permitted under our amended and restated certificate of incorporation.
We have until May 22, 2024 to consummate an initial business combination. In addition, if we anticipate that we may not be able to consummate an initial business combination by such date, our sponsor or its affiliates may extend the period of time to consummate a business combination two times by an additional three-month period each time (for a total of 15 months to complete a business combination) (the “combination period”). In order to extend the time available for us to consummate an initial business combination, our sponsor or its affiliates or designees, upon five days advance notice prior to the applicable deadline, must deposit into the trust account $800,000 for each three-month extension.
If we are unable to complete an initial business combination within the combination period, we will (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable, and less certain amount of interest to pay dissolution expenses) divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of the Company’s remaining stockholders and the Company’s board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to the Company’s obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law.
Our Company
We seek to capitalize on the significant experience and contacts of our management team in consummating an initial business combination. Although we may pursue an initial business combination opportunity in any business, industry, sector or geographical location, we currently intend to focus on identifying businesses in the real estate industry, including construction, homebuilding, real estate owners and operators, arrangers of financing, insurance, and other services for real estate, and adjacent businesses and technologies targeting the real estate space. Leveraging our management team and directors’ deep and global real estate expertise and extensive network of relationships, we intend to identify innovative companies that have the potential to disrupt different aspects of the real estate industry or related industries and to transform how stakeholders relate to real estate in the future. Our management team has a proven track record in identifying opportunities in the real estate industry that have generated attractive risk-adjusted returns.
Our Management Team
Our management team is led by Hiren Patel, our Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board. Our board members have extensive experience, having served as directors or officers for publicly-listed and privately-owned companies. Our directors have experience with acquisitions, divestitures and corporate strategy and implementation, which we believe will significantly benefit us as we evaluate potential acquisition or merger candidates as well following the completion of our initial business combination.
We believe our management team is well positioned to take advantage of the growing set of acquisition opportunities focused on businesses in the real estate industry, including construction, homebuilding, real estate owners and operators, and other services for real estate, targeting the real estate space, and that our contacts and relationships, ranging from owners and management teams of private and public companies, private equity funds, investment bankers, attorneys, to accountants and business brokers will allow us to generate an attractive transaction for our stockholders.
The past performance of the members of our management team or their affiliates is not a guarantee that we will be able to identify a suitable candidate for our initial business combination or of success with respect to any business combination we may consummate. You should not rely on the historical record of the performance of our management team or any of its affiliates’ performance as indicative of our future performance.
Investment Thesis and Strategy
Our business strategy is to identify and complete our initial business combination with a company that complements the experience of our management team. Our selection process will leverage our management teams’ broad and deep relationship network, industry experiences and proven deal sourcing capabilities to access a broad spectrum of differentiated opportunities. We intend to seek businesses that offer innovative hardware, software, products, operations or services that are technologically equipped to improve property ownership; property financing; property transactions; property valuation; property operations; property management; leasing; property insurance; real estate asset management and investment management; and/or design, construction and development. Our management team will seek to leverage their access to proprietary deal flow, sourcing capabilities and network of industry contacts to generate business combination opportunities.
Consistent with this strategy, we have identified the following general criteria and guidelines that we believe are important in evaluating prospective targets. We will use these criteria and guidelines in evaluating acquisition opportunities, but we may decide to enter into our initial business combination with a target business that does not meet these criteria and guidelines.
| ● | Value Creation. We intend to focus our efforts on identifying one or more cash-flow positive targets that have been in business for more than 10 years that we believe have significant potential for attractive risk-adjusted returns for stockholders, weighing potential growth opportunities and operational improvements in the target business against any identified downside risks. |
| ● | Growth Potential. We will seek to acquire one or more businesses that have the potential for significant revenue and earnings growth through a combination of organic growth, potential to leverage competitive advantages and innovation through our expertise and scale as a vertically integrated real estate platform. |
| ● | Competitive Position. We will seek to acquire one or more businesses that demonstrate advantages when compared to their competitors, including the potential to disrupt the market through technology driven transformation, defensible proprietary technology, and low or manageable risks of technological obsolescence. |
| ● | Management Team. We will seek to invest in one or more businesses that have proven management teams with a compelling strategy of selling their products or services and recruiting talent. |
| ● | Benefit from Being a Public Company. We intend to invest in one or more businesses that will benefit from being publicly listed and can effectively utilize the broader access to capital and the public profile to grow and accelerate stockholder value creation. |
These criteria are not intended to be exhaustive. Any evaluation relating to the merits of a particular initial business combination may be based, to the extent relevant, on these general guidelines as well as other considerations, factors and criteria that our management may deem relevant. In the event that we decide to enter into our initial business combination with a target business that does not meet the above criteria and guidelines, we will disclose that the target business does not meet the above criteria in our stockholder communications related to our initial business combination, which, as discussed in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, would be in the form of tender offer documents or proxy solicitation materials that we would file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”).
Competitive Strengths
We intend to capitalize on the following competitive advantages in our pursuit of a target company or companies:
| ● | Leadership of an Experienced Management Team. |
We believe our management team will provide us with a significant pipeline of opportunities from which to evaluate potential business combinations. Our management team provides a combination of a proprietary sourcing network and deep industry, mergers and acquisition, and capital markets expertise.
Our management team is led by Hiren Patel, who has over 20 years of experience in real estate due diligence, mergers and acquisitions, and real estate management. He has previously served as the Founder & CEO of Intelvative. We believe that his business acumen and experience, which demonstrate his ability to identify opportunities and enhance value, will help facilitate our business acquisition strategy.
| ● | Established Deal Sourcing Network. We believe the strong track record of our management team will provide access to quality initial business combination partners. In addition, through our management team, we believe we have contacts and sources from which to generate acquisition opportunities and possibly seek complementary follow-on business arrangements. These contacts and sources include those in private and public companies, private equity and venture capital funds, investment bankers, attorneys and accountants. |
| ● | Status as a Publicly Listed Acquisition Company. We believe our structure will make us an attractive business combination partner to prospective target businesses. As a publicly listed company, we will offer a target business an alternative to the traditional initial public offering process. We believe that some target businesses will favor this alternative, which we believe is less expensive, while offering greater certainty of execution, than the traditional initial public offering process. During an initial public offering, there are typically underwriting fees and marketing expenses, which would be costlier than a business combination with us. Furthermore, once a proposed business combination is approved by our stockholders (if applicable) and the transaction is consummated, the target business will have effectively become public, whereas an initial public offering is always subject to the underwriter’s ability to complete the offering, as well as general market conditions that could prevent the offering from occurring. Once public, we believe our target business would have greater access to capital and additional means of creating management incentives that are better aligned with stockholders’ interests than it would as a private company. |
Industry Opportunity
While we may acquire a business or businesses in any industry, our focus will be on companies in the real estate industry, including construction, homebuilding, real estate owners and operators, arrangers of financing, insurance, and other services for real estate, and adjacent businesses and technologies targeting the real estate space. We believe that our target industry is attractive for a number of reasons, including the following:
| ● | Large Addressable Market. Real estate investment represents a significant segment of the global economy. Global real estate was worth over $280 trillion (by asset value), larger than equity, debt, or gold (combined), and more than 3.5 times the total global gross domestic product in 2017, according to Savills Inc. According to Forbes, real estate contributed $3.5 trillion to the U.S. gross domestic product in 2018. We believe the acquisition of one or more real estate businesses can serve as a platform for expansion, both organically and through further acquisitions. |
| ● | Current Market Trends. Rising mortgage rates and inflation are impacting the home building industry and decreasing valuations. Participants in the housing market have continued to be cautious with respect to operations. The current market conditions present an opportunity for an acquisition at the low end of the market. |
| ● | Broad Universe of Potential Targets. We currently intend to focus our investment effort broadly across real estate businesses, although we may pursue an acquisition opportunity in any industry or geographic region. We believe that our investment and operating expertise in the real estate industry and across multiple asset classes and geographies will offer us a large, addressable universe of potential targets. The diversity of the target universe and the number of largely uncorrelated sub-sectors maximizes the likelihood that our management team will identify and execute an attractive transaction. |
Acquisition Criteria
Consistent with our strategy, we have identified the following general criteria and guidelines that we believe are important in evaluating prospective target businesses. We will use these criteria and guidelines in evaluating acquisition opportunities, but we may decide to enter into our initial business combination with a target business that does not meet these criteria and guidelines. We intend to focus on companies that we believe:
| ● | have market leadership positions in the real estate industry and can benefit from the extensive networks and insights we have built; |
| ● | have an attractive risk profile, including revenues under long-term contracts and/or a strong backlog of business; |
| ● | have attractive organic and inorganic growth opportunities which may be accelerated with our expertise and/or access to a public listing; |
| ● | can benefit from an improved capital structure or streamlined ownership structure; |
| ● | would benefit from a relationship with a public company; and |
| ● | offer an attractive risk-adjusted return for our stockholders. |
We intend to seek targets with an aggregate combined enterprise value of approximately $75 million to $150 million, based upon widely accepted valuation standards and methodologies. We believe targeting companies in this “middle market” will provide the greatest number of opportunities for investment.
These criteria are not intended to be exhaustive. Any evaluation relating to the merits of a particular initial business combination may be based, to the extent relevant, on these general guidelines as well as other considerations, factors and criteria that from time to time our management may deem relevant. In evaluating a prospective target business, we expect to conduct a thorough due diligence review that will encompass, among other things, meetings with incumbent management and employees, document reviews and inspection of facilities, as applicable, as well as a review of financial and other information that will be made available to us.
Sourcing of potential business combination targets
We believe that the operational and transactional experience of our management team and the relationships they have developed as a result of such experience, will provide us with a substantial number of potential business combination targets. These individuals and entities have developed a broad network of contacts and corporate relationships around the world. This network has grown through sourcing, acquiring and financing businesses and maintaining relationships with sellers, financing sources and target management teams. Our management team members have significant experience in executing transactions under varying economic and financial market conditions. We believe that these networks of contacts and relationships and this experience will provide us with important sources of investment opportunities. In addition, we anticipate that target business candidates may be brought to our attention from various unaffiliated sources, including investment market participants, private equity funds and large business enterprises seeking to divest noncore assets or divisions.
We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a business combination target that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors or making the acquisition through a joint venture or other form of shared ownership with our sponsor, officers or directors. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent firm that commonly renders valuation opinions for the type of company we are seeking to acquire or an independent accounting firm that our initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view. We are not required to obtain such an opinion in any other context. If any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity that falls within the line of business of any entity to which he or she has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she may be required to present such business combination opportunity to such entity prior to presenting such business combination opportunity to us, subject to his or her fiduciary duties. Our officers and directors currently have certain relevant fiduciary duties or contractual obligations that may take priority over their duties to us. Any such entity may co-invest with us in the target business at the time of our initial business combination, or we could raise additional proceeds to complete the acquisition by making a specified future issuance to any such entity.
Other acquisition considerations
Unless we complete our initial business combination with an affiliated entity, or our Board of Directors cannot independently determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses, we are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm, another independent firm that commonly renders valuation opinions for the type of company we are seeking to acquire or from an independent accounting firm that the price we are paying for a target is fair to our company from a financial point of view. If no opinion is obtained, our stockholders will be relying on the business judgment of our Board of Directors, which will have significant discretion in choosing the standard used to establish the fair market value of the target or targets, and different methods of valuation may vary greatly in outcome from one another. Such standards used will be disclosed in our tender offer documents or proxy solicitation materials, as applicable, related to our initial business combination.
Members of our management team may directly or indirectly own shares of our common stock and/or private placement warrants following the IPO, and, accordingly, may have a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target business is an appropriate business with which to effectuate our initial business combination. Further, each of our officers and directors may have a conflict of interest with respect to evaluating a particular business combination if the retention or resignation of any such officers and directors was included by a target business as a condition to any agreement with respect to our initial business combination.
Each of our directors and officers presently has, and in the future any of our directors and our officers may have additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present acquisition opportunities to such entity. Accordingly, subject to his or her fiduciary duties, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination which is suitable for an entity to which he or she has then current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she will need to honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such business combination to such entity, and only present it to us if such entity rejects the opportunity. In addition, we may, at our option, pursue an affiliated joint business combination with an entity to which an officer or director has a fiduciary or contractual obligation. Any such entity may co-invest with us in the target business at the time of our initial business combination, or we could raise additional proceeds to complete the acquisition by making a specified future issuance to any such entity. A director shall be at liberty to vote in respect of any contract or transaction in which he is interested provided that the nature of such interest shall be disclosed at or prior to its consideration or any vote thereon by the board of directors. We do not believe, however, that any fiduciary duties or contractual obligations of our directors or officers would materially undermine our ability to complete our business combination.
Initial Business Combination
We have 9 months from the closing of the IPO to consummate an initial business combination. However, if we anticipate that we may not be able to consummate our initial business combination within 9 months, we may, by resolution of our board if requested by our sponsor, extend the period of time to consummate a business combination by an additional three months on two occasions (for a total of up to 15 months to complete a business combination), subject to our sponsor depositing additional funds into the trust account, upon five days advance notice prior to the applicable deadline, $800,000 for each of the available three month extensions, providing a total possible business combination period of 15 months at a total payment value of $1,600,000 (each such extension period being hereinafter referred to as an “Extension Period”). Any such payments would be made in the form of non-interest bearing loans. If we complete our initial business combination, we will, at the option of our sponsor, repay such loaned amounts out of the proceeds of the trust account released to us or convert a portion or all of the total loan amount into warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant, which warrants will be identical to the private placement warrants. If we do not complete a business combination, we will repay such loans only from funds held outside of the trust account. Our stockholders will not be entitled to vote or redeem their shares in connection with any such extension. However, our stockholders will be entitled to vote and redeem their shares in connection with a stockholder meeting held to approve an initial business combination or in a tender offer undertaken in connection with such an initial business combination if we propose such a business combination during any three-month extension period. If we are unable to consummate our initial business combination within such time period, we will, as promptly as possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem 100% of our outstanding public shares for a pro rata portion of the funds held in the trust account, including a pro rata portion of any interest earned on the funds held in the trust account, net of taxes payable and liquidation expenses of up to $100,000, and then seek to dissolve and liquidate. However, we may not be able to distribute such amounts as a result of claims of creditors which may take priority over the claims of our public stockholders. In the event of our dissolution and liquidation, the private placement warrants, and rights will expire and will be worthless.
Nasdaq rules require that we must complete one or more business combinations having an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the value of the assets held in the trust account (excluding the deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on the interest earned on the trust account) at the time of our signing a definitive agreement in connection with our initial business combination. Our board of directors will make the determination as to the fair market value of our initial business combination. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of our initial business combination, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA or an independent accounting firm with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. While we consider it unlikely that our board of directors will not be able to make an independent determination of the fair market value of our initial business combination, it may be unable to do so if it is less familiar or experienced with the business of a particular target or if there is a significant amount of uncertainty as to the value of a target’s assets or prospects. Additionally, pursuant to Nasdaq rules, any initial business combination must be approved by a majority of our independent directors.
We anticipate structuring our initial business combination either (i) in such a way so that the post-transaction company in which our public stockholders own shares will own or acquire 100% of the equity interests or assets of the target business or businesses, or (ii) in such a way so that the post-transaction company owns or acquires less than 100% of such interests or assets of the target business in order to meet certain objectives of the target management team or stockholders, or for other reasons. However, we will only complete an initial business combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, or the “Investment Company Act”. Even if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our stockholders prior to the initial business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post-transaction company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the initial business combination. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock of a target. In this case, we would acquire a 100% controlling interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new shares, our stockholders immediately prior to our initial business combination could own less than a majority of our outstanding shares subsequent to our initial business combination. If less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses are owned or acquired by the post-transaction company, the portion of such business or businesses that is owned or acquired is what will be taken into account for purposes of Nasdaq’s 80% of net assets test. If the initial business combination involves more than one target business, the 80% of net assets test will be based on the aggregate value of all of the transactions and we will treat the target businesses together as the initial business combination for purposes of a tender offer or for seeking stockholder approval, as applicable.
Our Business Combination Process
In evaluating prospective business combinations, we expect to conduct a thorough due diligence review process that will encompass, among other things, a review of historical and projected financial and operating data, meetings with management and their advisors (if applicable), on-site inspection of facilities and assets, discussion with customers and suppliers, legal reviews and other reviews as we deem appropriate.
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 a company that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that 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.
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 has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations to present the opportunity to such entity, he will honor his fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such opportunity to such entity. We believe, however, that the fiduciary duties or contractual obligations of our officers or directors will not materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination. Our second amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that we renounce our interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any director or officer unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his capacity as a director or officer of our company and such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue, and to the extent the director or officer is permitted to refer that opportunity to us without violating another legal obligation.
Status as a Public Company
We believe our structure will make us an attractive business combination partner to target businesses. As a public company, we offer a target business an alternative to the traditional initial public offering through a merger or other business combination with us. Following an initial business combination, we believe the target business would have greater access to capital and additional means of creating management incentives that are better aligned with stockholders’ interests than it would as a private company. A target business can further benefit by augmenting its profile among potential new customers and vendors and aid in attracting talented employees. In a business combination transaction with us, the owners of the target business may, for example, exchange their shares of stock in the target business for our shares of Class A common stock (or shares of a new holding company) or for a combination of our shares of Class A common stock and cash, allowing us to tailor the consideration to the specific needs of the sellers.
Although there are various costs and obligations associated with being a public company, we believe target businesses will find this method a more expeditious and cost effective method to becoming a public company than the typical initial public offering. The typical initial public offering process takes a significantly longer period of time than the typical business combination transaction process, and there are significant expenses in the initial public offering process, including underwriting discounts and commissions, marketing and road show efforts that may not be present to the same extent in connection with an initial business combination with us.
Furthermore, once a proposed initial business combination is completed, the target business will have effectively become public, whereas an initial public offering is always subject to the underwriters’ ability to complete the offering, as well as general market conditions, which could delay or prevent the offering from occurring or could have negative valuation consequences. Following an initial business combination, we believe the target business would then have greater access to capital and an additional means of providing management incentives consistent with stockholders’ interests and the ability to use its shares as currency for acquisitions. Being a public company can offer further benefits by augmenting a company’s profile among potential new customers and vendors and aid in attracting talented employees.
While we believe that our structure and our management team’s backgrounds will make us an attractive business partner, some potential target businesses may view our status as a blank check company, such as our lack of an operating history and our ability to seek stockholder approval of any proposed initial business combination, negatively.
We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act. As such, we are eligible to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a non-binding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the prices of our securities may be more volatile.
In addition, Section 107 of the JOBS Act also provides that an “emerging growth company” can take advantage of the extended transition period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act for complying with new or revised accounting standards. In other words, an “emerging growth company” can delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We intend to take advantage of the benefits of this extended transition period.
We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of (1) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following the fifth anniversary of the completion of the IPO, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion, or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our Class A common stock that is held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30th, and (2) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities during the prior three-year period.
Additionally, we are a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Rule 10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K. Smaller reporting companies may take advantage of certain reduced disclosure obligations, including, among other things, providing only two years of audited financial statements. We will remain a smaller reporting company until the last day of the fiscal year in which (1) the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates exceeds $250 million as of the end of the prior June 30th, or (2) our annual revenues exceeded $100 million during such completed fiscal year and the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30th.
Financial Position
With funds available in the trust account for an initial business combination initially in the amount of $73,125,000, after payment of $2,625,000 of deferred underwriting fees but before fees and expenses associated with our initial business combination, we offer a target business a variety of options such as creating a liquidity event for its owners, providing capital for the potential growth and expansion of its operations or strengthening its balance sheet by reducing its debt or leverage ratio. Because we are able to complete our initial business combination using our cash, debt or equity securities, or a combination of the foregoing, we have the flexibility to use the most efficient combination that will allow us to tailor the consideration to be paid to the target business to fit its needs and desires. However, we have not taken any steps to secure third party financing and there can be no assurance it will be available to us.
Effecting Our Initial Business Combination
We are not presently engaged in, and we will not engage in, any operations for an indefinite period of time following the IPO. We intend to effectuate our initial business combination using cash from the proceeds of the IPO and the private placement of the private placement warrants, the proceeds of the sale of our shares in connection with our initial business combination (including pursuant to forward purchase agreements or backstop agreements we may enter into following the consummation of the IPO or otherwise), shares issued to the owners of the target, debt issued to bank or other lenders or the owners of the target, or a combination of the foregoing. We may seek to complete our initial business combination with a company or business that may be financially unstable or in its early stages of development or growth, which would subject us to the numerous risks inherent in such companies and businesses.
If our initial business combination is paid for using equity or debt securities, or not all of the funds released from the trust account are used for payment of the consideration in connection with our initial business combination or used for redemptions of our Class A common stock, we may apply the balance of the cash released to us from the trust account for general corporate purposes, including for maintenance or expansion of operations of the post-transaction company, the payment of principal or interest due on indebtedness incurred in completing our initial business combination, to fund the purchase of other companies or for working capital.
We may seek to raise additional funds through a private offering of debt or equity securities in connection with the completion of our initial business combination, and we may effectuate our initial business combination using the proceeds of such offering rather than using the amounts held in the trust account. In addition, we intend to target businesses larger than we could acquire with the net proceeds of the IPO and the sale of the private placement warrants, and may as a result be required to seek additional financing to complete such proposed initial business combination. Subject to compliance with applicable securities laws, we would expect to complete such financing only simultaneously with the completion of our initial business combination. In the case of an initial business combination funded with assets other than the trust account assets, our proxy materials or tender offer documents disclosing the initial business combination would disclose the terms of the financing and, only if required by law, we would seek stockholder approval of such financing. There are no prohibitions on our ability to raise funds privately, or through loans in connection with our initial business combination. At this time, we are not a party to any arrangement or understanding with any third party with respect to raising any additional funds through the sale of securities or otherwise.
Sources of Target Businesses
We anticipate that target business candidates will be brought to our attention from various unaffiliated sources, including investment bankers and investment professionals. Target businesses may be brought to our attention by such unaffiliated sources as a result of being solicited by us by calls or mailings. These sources may also introduce us to target businesses in which they think we may be interested on an unsolicited basis. Our officers and directors, as well as our sponsor and their affiliates, may also bring to our attention target business candidates that they become aware of through their business contacts as a result of formal or informal inquiries or discussions they may have, as well as attending trade shows or conventions. In addition, we expect to receive a number of proprietary deal flow opportunities that would not otherwise necessarily be available to us as a result of the business relationships of our officers and directors and our sponsor and their affiliates. While we do not presently anticipate engaging the services of professional firms or other individuals that specialize in business acquisitions on any formal basis, we may engage these firms or other individuals in the future, in which event we may pay a finder’s fee, consulting fee, advisory fee or other compensation to be determined in an arm’s length negotiation based on the terms of the transaction. We will engage a finder only to the extent our management determines that the use of a finder may bring opportunities to us that may not otherwise be available to us or if finders approach us on an unsolicited basis with a potential transaction that our management determines is in our best interest to pursue. Payment of finder’s fees is customarily tied to completion of a transaction, in which case any such fee will be paid out of the funds held in the trust account. In no event, however, will our sponsor or any of our existing officers or directors, or any entity with which our sponsor or officers are affiliated, be paid any finder’s fee, reimbursement, consulting fee, monies in respect of any payment of a loan or other compensation by the company prior to, or in connection with any services rendered for any services they render in order to effectuate, the completion of our initial business combination (regardless of the type of transaction that it is). None of our sponsor, executive officers or directors, or any of their respective affiliates, will be allowed to receive any compensation, finder’s fees or consulting fees from a prospective business combination target in connection with a contemplated initial business combination. Some of our officers and directors may enter into employment or consulting agreements with the post-transaction company following our initial business combination. The presence or absence of any such fees or arrangements will not be used as a criterion in our selection process of an initial business combination candidate.
We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with an initial business combination target that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors or making the initial business combination through a joint venture or other form of shared ownership with our sponsor, officers or directors. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with an initial business combination target that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, would obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm which is a member of FINRA or an independent accounting firm that such an initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view. We are not required to obtain such an opinion in any other context.
If any of our officers or directors becomes aware of an initial business combination opportunity that falls within the line of business of any entity to which he has pre-existing fiduciary or contractual obligations, he may be required to present such business combination opportunity to such entity prior to presenting such business combination opportunity to us. Our officers and directors currently have certain relevant fiduciary duties or contractual obligations that may take priority over their duties to us.
Selection of a Target Business and Structuring of our Initial Business Combination
Nasdaq rules require that we must complete one or more business combinations having an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the value of the assets held in the trust account (excluding the deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on the interest earned on the trust account) at the time of our signing a definitive agreement in connection with our initial business combination. The fair market value of our initial business combination will be determined by our board of directors based upon one or more standards generally accepted by the financial community, such as discounted cash flow valuation, a valuation based on trading multiples of comparable public businesses or a valuation based on the financial metrics of M&A transactions of comparable businesses. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of our initial business combination, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA or an independent accounting firm with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. While we consider it unlikely that our board of directors will not be able to make an independent determination of the fair market value of our initial business combination, it may be unable to do so if it is less familiar or experienced with the business of a particular target or if there is a significant amount of uncertainty as to the value of a target’s assets or prospects. We do not intend to purchase multiple businesses in unrelated industries in conjunction with our initial business combination. Subject to this requirement, our management will have virtually unrestricted flexibility in identifying and selecting one or more prospective target businesses, although we will not be permitted to effectuate our initial business combination with another blank check company or a similar company with nominal operations.
In any case, we will only complete an initial business combination in which we own or acquire 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquire a controlling interest in the target sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. If we own or acquire less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses, the portion of such business or businesses that are owned or acquired by the post-transaction company is what will be taken into account for purposes of Nasdaq’s 80% of net assets test. There is no basis for investors in the IPO to evaluate the possible merits or risks of any target business with which we may ultimately complete our initial business combination.
To the extent we effect our initial business combination with a company or business that may be financially unstable or in its early stages of development or growth we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in such company or business. Although our management will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we cannot assure you that we will properly ascertain or assess all significant risk factors.
In evaluating a prospective business target, we expect to conduct a thorough due diligence review, which may encompass, among other things, meetings with incumbent management and employees, document reviews, interviews of customers and suppliers, inspection of facilities, as well as a review of financial and other information that will be made available to us.
The time required to select and evaluate a target business and to structure and complete our initial business combination, and the costs associated with this process, are not currently ascertainable with any degree of certainty. Any costs incurred with respect to the identification and evaluation of a prospective target business with which our initial business combination is not ultimately completed will result in our incurring losses and will reduce the funds we can use to complete another business combination.
Competition
In identifying, evaluating and selecting a target business for our initial business combination, we may encounter intense competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours, including other blank check companies, private equity groups and leveraged buyout funds, and operating businesses seeking strategic business combinations. Many of these entities are well established and have extensive experience identifying and effecting business combinations directly or through affiliates. Moreover, many of these competitors possess greater financial, technical, human and other resources than we do. Our ability to acquire larger target businesses will be limited by our available financial resources. This inherent limitation gives others an advantage in pursuing the initial business combination of a target business. Furthermore, our obligation to pay cash in connection with our public stockholders who exercise their redemption rights may reduce the resources available to us for our initial business combination and our outstanding warrants, and the future dilution they potentially represent, may not be viewed favorably by certain target businesses. Either of these factors may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating an initial business combination.
Human Capital
We currently have two officers. Our officers are not obligated to devote any specific number of hours to our matters, but they intend to devote as much of their time as they deem necessary to our affairs until we have completed our initial business combination. The amount of time our officers will devote in any time period will vary based on whether a target business has been selected for our initial business combination and the stage of the initial business combination process we are in. We do not intend to have any full-time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination.
For additional discussion of the general development of our business, see our final IPO prospectus filed with the SEC on August 21, 2023.
ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
As a smaller reporting company, we are not required to make disclosures under this Item.
ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
Not applicable.
ITEM 1C. CYBERSECURITY
We are a SPAC with no business operations. Since our IPO, our sole business activity has been identifying and evaluating suitable acquisition transaction candidates. Therefore, we do not consider that we face significant cybersecurity risk and have not adopted any cybersecurity risk management program or formal processes for assessing cybersecurity risk. Our board of directors is generally responsible for the oversight of risks from cybersecurity threats, if there is any. We have not encountered any cybersecurity incidents since our IPO.
ITEM 2. PROPERTIES
Our executive offices are located at 14 Noblewood Ct, Gaithersburg, MD 20878. Our executive offices are provided to us by our sponsor. The cost for this space is included in the $10,000 per month fee we pay to 99 Acquisition Sponsor LLC. We consider our current office space, combined with the other office space otherwise available to our executive officers, adequate for our current operations.
ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
We may be subject to legal proceedings, investigations and claims incidental to the conduct of our business from time to time. We are not currently a party to any material litigation or other legal proceedings brought against us. We are also not aware of any legal proceeding, investigation or claim, or other legal exposure that has a more than remote possibility of having a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.
ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES
Not Applicable.
PART II
ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES
NNAG’s units, Class A common stock, public warrants and rights trade on Nasdaq under the symbols “NNAGU,” “NNAG,” “NNAGW,” and “NNAGR,” respectively. The NNAG units commenced trading on Nasdaq on August 18, 2023, and NNAG’s Class A common stock, public warrants and rights commenced separate trading from the units on October 9, 2023.
Holders of Record
As of April 4, 2024, there were 4 holders of record of NNAG’s Class A common stock and 1 holder of record of NNAG’s Class B common stock. The number of holders of record does not include a substantially greater number of “street name” holders or beneficial holders whose securities are held of record by banks, brokers and other financial institutions.
Dividends
We have not paid any cash dividends on our common stock to date and do not intend to pay cash dividends prior to the completion of our initial business combination. The payment of cash dividends subsequent to the completion of our initial business combination will be dependent upon our revenues and earnings, if any, capital requirements and general financial condition subsequent to completion of our initial business combination. The payment of any dividends subsequent to our initial business combination will be within the discretion of our board of directors at such time. It is the present intention of our board of directors to retain all earnings, if any, for use in our business operations and, accordingly, our board of directors does not anticipate declaring any dividends in the foreseeable future. In addition, our board of directors is not currently contemplating and does not anticipate declaring any stock dividends in the foreseeable future. Further, if we incur any indebtedness in connection with our initial business combination, our ability to declare dividends may be limited by restrictive covenants we may agree to in connection therewith.
Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans
None.
Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities
There were no unregistered securities to report which have not been previously included in a Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q or a Current Report on Form 8-K.
Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers
None.
ITEM 6. [RESERVED]
ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
References in this report (the “Annual Report”) to “we,” “us” or the “Company” or “NNAG” refer to 99 Acquisition Group Inc. References to our “management” or our “management team” refer to our officers and directors, and references to the “Sponsor” refer to 99 Acquisition Sponsor LLC. The following discussion and analysis of the Company’s financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with the financial statements and the notes thereto contained elsewhere in this Annual Report. Certain information contained in the discussion and analysis set forth below includes forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This Annual Report includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”) and Section 21E of the Exchange Act that are not historical facts, and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expected and projected. All statements, other than statements of historical fact included in this Form 10-K including, without limitation, statements in this “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” regarding the Company’s financial position, business strategy and the plans and objectives of management for future operations, are forward-looking statements. Words such as “expect,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “estimate,” “seek” and variations and similar words and expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements relate to future events or future performance, but reflect management’s current beliefs, based on information currently available. A number of factors could cause actual events, performance or results to differ materially from the events, performance and results discussed in the forward-looking statements. For information identifying important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements, please refer to “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” and “Risk Factors” contained elsewhere in this Annual Report. The Company’s securities filings can be accessed on the EDGAR section of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC”) website at www.sec.gov. Except as expressly required by applicable securities law, the Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Overview
99 Acquisition Group Inc. (the “Company”) is a blank check company incorporated in Delaware on June 14, 2022. The Company was formed for the purpose of merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, recapitalization, reorganization or other similar business combination with one or more businesses or entities (“Business Combination”).
We intend to effectuate our Business Combination using cash from the proceeds of our initial public offering that was completed on August 22, 2023 (the “IPO”) and the sale of warrants in a private placement (the “Private Placement”) that occurred simultaneously with the completion of the IPO (the “Private Placement Warrants”), our capital stock, debt or a combination of cash, stock and debt.
The issuance of additional shares of our stock in a Business Combination:
| ● | may significantly dilute the equity interest of our stockholders; |
| ● | may subordinate the rights of holders of our common stock if preferred stock is issued with rights senior to those afforded our common stock; |
| ● | could cause a change in control if a substantial number of shares of our common stock is issued, which may affect, among other things, our ability to use our net operating loss carry forwards, if any, and could result in the resignation or removal of our present officers and directors; |
| ● | may have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control of us by diluting the stock ownership or voting rights of a person seeking to obtain control of us; and |
| ● | may adversely affect prevailing market prices for our Class A common stock and/or warrants. |
Similarly, if we issue debt securities or incur other indebtedness to finance our initial Business Combination, it could result in:
| ● | default and foreclosure on our assets if our operating revenues after an initial Business Combination are insufficient to repay our debt obligations; |
| ● | acceleration of our obligations to repay the indebtedness even if we make all principal and interest payments when due if we breach certain covenants that require the maintenance of certain financial ratios or reserves without a waiver or renegotiation of that covenant; |
| ● | our immediate payment of all principal and accrued interest, if any, if the debt security is payable on demand; |
| ● | our inability to obtain necessary additional financing if the debt security or other indebtedness contains covenants restricting our ability to obtain such financing while the debt security or other indebtedness is outstanding; |
| ● | our inability to pay dividends on our common stock; |
| ● | using a substantial portion of our cash flow to pay principal and interest on our debt, which will reduce the funds available for dividends on our common stock if declared, or limit our ability to pay expenses, make capital expenditures and acquisitions and fund other general corporate purposes; |
| ● | limitations on our flexibility in planning for and reacting to changes in our business and in the industry in which we operate; |
| ● | increased vulnerability to adverse changes in general economic, industry and competitive conditions and adverse changes in government regulation; |
| ● | limitations on our ability to borrow additional amounts for expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions, debt service requirements, execution of our strategy and other purposes; and |
| ● | other disadvantages compared to our competitors who have less debt. |
As of December 31, 2023, we had $321,463 in cash. We expect to incur significant costs in the pursuit of an initial Business Combination and we cannot assure you that our plans to complete an initial Business Combination will be successful.
Recent Developments
On February 12, 2024, the Company entered into a Merger Agreement (the “Merger Agreement”), by and among the Company, Nava Health MD, Inc., a Maryland corporation (“Nava”), and NNAG Merger Sub, Inc., a Maryland corporation and wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company (“Merger Sub”), which, among other things, provides for the merger of Merger Sub with and into Nava, with Nava surviving such merger as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company (the “Merger,” and the transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement, the “Transactions”). Following the consummation of the Transactions, the Company will change its name to Nava Health MD, Inc.
Results of Operations
As of December 31, 2023, the Company had not yet commenced any operations. All activity through December 31, 2023 relates to the Company’s formation, its IPO and its search for an initial Business Combination. The Company will not generate any operating revenues until after the completion of its initial Business Combination, at the earliest. The Company generates nonoperating income in the form of interest income from the proceeds derived from the IPO. The Company has selected December 31 as its fiscal year end.
Our normal operating costs include costs associated with our search for a Business Combination, costs associated with our governance and public reporting and state franchise taxes, and a charge of $10,000 per month from our Sponsor for administrative services (which commenced upon completion of the IPO). In addition, since our operating costs are not expected to be deductible for federal income tax purposes, we are subject to federal income taxes on the income from the Company’s trust account into which the proceeds from the IPO were deposited for the benefit of public stockholders (the “Trust Account”) less taxes. However, we are permitted to withdraw interest earned from the Trust Account for the payment of taxes. We expect our future costs to increase from our historical costs incurred to date for two reasons: (1) ongoing operations as a public company and (2) increased professional and consulting fees and travel associated with evaluating various Business Combination candidates. Further, now that we have identified a Business Combination candidate (see “Merger Agreement” above), our costs are expected to increase significantly in connection with negotiating and executing the Merger Agreement and related agreements as well as additional professional, due diligence and consulting fees and travel costs that will be required in connection with a Business Combination.
Our IPO and Private Placement closed on August 22, 2023, as more fully described in “Liquidity and Capital Resources” below. The proceeds in the Trust Account were initially invested in a money market fund that invests solely in direct U.S. government obligations meeting the applicable conditions of Rule 2a-7 of the Investment Company Act of 1940. At the interest rate earned on the current portfolio in the Trust Account, it is unlikely that the income on the trust assets will be sufficient to fund the tax and working capital payments that are permitted from the trust.
For the year ended December 31, 2023 and the period from June 14, 2022 (inception) through December 31, 2022, the Company had net income of $756,057 and net loss of $3,451, respectively. The net income is primarily due to the unrealized gain on marketable securities held in the Trust Account, partially offset by formation and operational costs, franchise tax, related party administrative fees and income taxes.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
On August 22, 2023, the Company consummated the IPO of 7,500,000 units (the “Units”). Each Unit consists of one share of Class A common stock, $0.0001 par value (“Common Stock”), one right entitling the holder thereof to receive one-fifth (1/5) of one share of Common Stock upon the consummation of an initial Business Combination, and one warrant entitling the holder thereof to purchase one share of Common Stock at a price of $11.50 per whole share. The Units were sold at an offering price of $10.00 per Unit, generating gross proceeds of $75,000,000. The Company granted the underwriters a 45-day option to purchase up to 1,125,000 additional Units to cover over-allotments, if any, which option expired unexercised on October 1, 2023.
Simultaneously with the closing of the IPO, the Company consummated Private Placement with the Sponsor of the Company of 2,865,500 Private Placement Warrants, generating total proceeds of $2,865,500.
As of August 22, 2023, a total of $75,750,000 of the net proceeds from the IPO and the Private Placement were deposited in a Trust Account established for the benefit of the Company’s public stockholders.
Until the consummation of the IPO, the Company’s only sources of liquidity were an initial purchase of shares of our common stock for approximately $25,000 by the Sponsor, advances from a related party of $29,001 and a total of $102,610 loaned by the Sponsor against the issuance of an unsecured promissory note.
For the year ended December 31, 2023 and the period from June 14, 2022 (inception) through December 31, 2022, net cash used in operating activities was $365,216 and $3,531, respectively.
We do not believe we will need to raise additional funds in order to meet the expenditures required for operating our business. However, if our estimate of the costs of identifying a target business, undertaking in-depth due diligence and negotiating a Business Combination are less than the actual amount necessary to do so, we may have insufficient funds available to operate our business prior to our initial Business Combination.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that we must complete our initial Business Combination within 9 months from the closing of the IPO (or up to 15 months from the closing of the IPO if we extend the period of time to consummate a Business Combination). If we have not completed our initial Business Combination within such time period, we will: (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the Trust Account including interest earned on the funds held in the Trust Account and not previously released to us to pay our franchise and income taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law.
The Company has incurred and expects to continue to incur significant professional costs to remain as a publicly traded company and to incur significant transaction costs in pursuit of the consummation of a Business Combination. In connection with the Company’s assessment of going concern considerations in accordance with Financial Accounting Standard Board’s Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2014-15, “Disclosures of Uncertainties about an Entity’s Ability to Continue as a Going Concern,” management has determined that these conditions raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. In addition, as described above, if the Company is unable to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period, the Company’s board of directors would proceed to commence a voluntary liquidation and thereby a formal dissolution of the Company. There is no assurance that the Company’s plans to consummate a Business Combination (including the potential Merger disclosed in “Recent Developments” above) will be successful within the Combination Period. As a result, management has determined that such additional condition also raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. The financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.
Off-Balance Sheet Arrangement
We have no obligations, assets, or liabilities, which would be considered off-balance sheet arrangements as of December 31, 2023.
Contractual Obligations
At December 31, 2023, we did not have any long-term debt, capital lease obligations, operating lease obligations or long-term liabilities. In connection with the IPO, we entered into an Administrative Support Agreement with an affiliate of our Sponsor, pursuant to which the Company is obligated to pay that affiliate $10,000 per month for office space, utilities and secretarial and administrative support. Upon completion of the initial Business Combination or the Company’s liquidation, the Company will cease paying or accruing these monthly fees.
In connection with identifying its initial Business Combination candidate, the Company has entered into engagement letters or agreements with various consultants, advisors, professionals and others in connection with an initial Business Combination. The services under these engagement letters and agreements are likely to be material in amount and in some instances include contingent or success fees. Contingent or success fees (but not deferred underwriting compensation) would be charged to operations in the quarter that an initial Business Combination is consummated. In most instances (except with respect to our independent registered public accounting firm), these engagement letters and agreements are expected to specifically provide that such counterparties waive their rights to seek repayment from the funds in the Trust Account.
Critical Accounting Policies
The preparation of financial statements and related disclosures in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements, and income and expenses during the periods reported. Actual results could materially differ from those estimates. As of December 31, 2023, there were no critical accounting policies.
ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK
Not required for smaller reporting companies.
ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA
This information appears following Item 15 of this Report and is included herein by reference.
ITEM 9. CHANGES IN AND DISAGREEMENTS WITH ACCOUNTANTS ON ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE
None.
ITEM 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES.
Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
Disclosure controls are procedures that are designed with the objective of ensuring that information required to be disclosed in our reports filed under the Exchange Act, such as this Report, is recorded, processed, summarized, and reported within the time period specified in the SEC’s rules and forms. Disclosure controls are also designed with the objective of ensuring that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including the chief executive officer and chief financial officer, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure. Our management evaluated, with the participation of our current chief executive officer and chief financial officer (our “Certifying Officers”), the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures as of December 31, 2023, pursuant to Rule 13a-15(b) under the Exchange Act. Based upon that evaluation, our Certifying Officers concluded that, as of December 31, 2023, our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective.
We do not expect that our disclosure controls and procedures will prevent all errors and all instances of fraud. Disclosure controls and procedures, no matter how well conceived and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of the disclosure controls and procedures are met. Further, the design of disclosure controls and procedures must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints, and the benefits must be considered relative to their costs. Because of the inherent limitations in all disclosure controls and procedures, no evaluation of disclosure controls and procedures can provide absolute assurance that we have detected all our control deficiencies and instances of fraud, if any. The design of disclosure controls and procedures also is based partly on certain assumptions about the likelihood of future events, and there can be no assurance that any design will succeed in achieving its stated goals under all potential future conditions.
Management’s Report on Internal Controls Over Financial Reporting
This Annual Report on Form 10-K does not include a report of management’s assessment regarding internal control over financial reporting or an attestation report of our independent registered public accounting firm due to a transition period established by rules of the SEC for newly public companies.
Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting
There were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting (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
None.
ITEM 9C. DISCLOSURE REGARDING FOREIGN JURISDICTIONS THAT PREVENT INSPECTIONS
Not applicable.
PART III
ITEM 10. DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
NNAG’s directors and officers are as follows:
| NAME | AGE | POSITION | ||
| Hiren Patel | 48 | Chairman and Chief Executive Officer | ||
| Eric Crowe | 49 | Director | ||
| Anil Patibandla | 53 | Director | ||
| Mike Barwis | 50 | Director | ||
| Mike Battle | 63 | Director | ||
| Tim Wertner | 57 | Director | ||
| Bill Rucker | 48 | Director |
Hiren Patel. Hiren Patel is the Chief Executive Officer of the Company and has been the Chairman of the Board of Directors since inception. Since November 2010, Mr. Patel has served as the Chief Executive Officer of Intelvative, a firm he founded in 2009 with a focus on three lines of business: ecommerce, government contracting and real estate consulting.
Under the management of Hiren Patel, Intelvative’s government division worked with Microsoft, AWS, Department of Energy, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Lockheed Martin and many others. Mr. Patel also served as the Chief Executive Officer of CyberSmoke, a subsidiary of Intelvative, from October 2011 to June 2019, prior to the sale of CyberSmoke to MeriTalk.
Intelvative also launched ConnectSO.com, an ecommerce platform that uses the concept of Social Commerce (which is the “So” in ConnectSo) to put the power of raising money for schools in the hands of teachers, schools and parents. Prior to founding Intelvative, Mr. Patel held various leadership positions with several government contracting firms, including ICS Nett, Inc., ASRC Federal, and USM Business Systems Mr. Patel has also actively participated in the real estate business taking a hands on approach in projects that have required new construction, renovation, and the buying, selling and rental of various properties. Mr. Patel graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Finance and Marketing from West Virginia University. We believe that Mr. Patel’s background as a serial entrepreneur and his expertise in operations and finance will enable him to contribute significantly to our management team and board of directors.
Eric Crowe. Eric Crowe has been a director of the Company since inception. Mr. Crowe has been the Chief Financial Officer of BRMi, an end-to-end information technology services company, since May 2013. He previously serves as Chief Financial Officer of Innoviss, Inc. from February 2007 to February 2013. From April 2001 to February 2007, Mr. Crowe was the Director of Business Operations at ManTech International; and from January 1997 to April 2001, Mr. Crowe was a Business Operations Manager at Affiliated Computer Services, Government Solutions Group. Mr. Crowe has demonstrated success in streamlining business operations that drive growth, increased efficiency, and bottom-line results. Mr. Crowe obtained a Bachelor of Science in Business from Shepherded University in 1997 and an MBA from Webster University in 2002. We believe that Mr. Crowe’s extensive experience in the evaluation and integration of mergers and acquisitions opportunities and his background in finance and operations bring important and valuable skills to our board of directors.
Anil Patibandla. Anil Patibandla has been a director of the Company since inception. Since June 2017, Mr. Patibandla has served as the President of Harmonia Holdings Group, LLC, a software development company based in Blacksburg, Virginia. Mr. Patibandla has over 20 years of experience in commercial, higher education, international and US public sector (DoD, Federal Civilian, State & Local) markets. Most recently, from August 2015 to June 2017, Mr. Patibandla was Chief Strategy Officer at CMCI, where he was responsible for corporate growth, including M&A. Prior to CMCI, Mr. Patibandla held senior executive roles at leading companies such as Camber Corporation, Avaya Government Solutions, Suh’dutsing, a Tribally owned 8(a), and Goldstone. Mr. Patibandla is an active member of the management of VBeech Properties LLC, a real estate investment and development company. Mr. Patibandla currently serves on the board of the Professional Services Council (PSC). Mr. Patibandla graduated with a Master of Science in Engineering from South Dakota State University in 1994 and a Bachelor of Technology in Civil Engineering from GPREC, India. We believe Mr. Patibandla’s extensive background in the real estate business and executive experience make him well qualified to serve on our board of directors.
Mike Barwis. Mike Barwis has been a director of the Company since inception. Since July 2011, Mr. Barwis has served as the founder and CEO of the Barwis Companies, which is a group of companies focused on human performance. Mr. Barwis has been the Director of Sports Science and Human Performance for the Detroit Red Wings since June 2011. From Mar 2014 to February 2021, he also served as the Senior Advisor of Strength and Conditioning to the New York Mets. Between 2014 and 2015, Mr. Mr. Barwis served as a sports science consultant to the Miami Dolphins. Mr. Barwis has coached 32 National Strength and Conditioning (NSCA) All-Americans since 1999, and was one of 10 coaches to receive the 2002 Bronze Award from the NSCA certification commission. He has trained over 500 Olympic and professional athletes in over 40 sporting events. In addition, Mr. Barwis has been published in numerous journals, magazines, newspapers, written several books, and produced several videos. Mr. Barwis earned his undergraduate degree in Exercise Physiology from the School of Medicine at West Virginia University and his Master’s Degree in Athletic Coaching with an emphasis in strength and conditioning. We believe that Mr. Barwis’s extensive background in operations make him well qualified to serve on our board of directors.
Mike Battle. Mike Battle has been a director of the Company since inception. Mr. Battle founded BRMi, an IT services and consulting firm that provides technology solutions for both government and commercial clients, in 2004 and has since served as its President and CEO of BRMi Holdings. Prior to founding BRMi, for 20 years, Mr. Battle led organizations in operations management, sales and sales management, marketing and business strategy in government and commercial information technology. Mr. Battle obtained a Bachelor of Science in Communication Arts from James Madison University (JMU) in 1981 and an M.B.A. in 1984. He is a current member of boards for the Center for Adoption Support and Education, TechFrederick, James Madison University Federal Affinity Group, and is a past gubernatorial appointee to the JMU Board of Advisors. We believe that Mr. Battle’s extensive experience in operations management, supply chain optimization, sales and sales management, marketing, and business strategy make him well qualified to serve on our board of directors.
Tim Wertner. Tim Wertner has been a director of the Company since inception. Since June 2018, Mr. Wertner has served as Senior Vice President (SVP) U.S. Operations at FedEx Express (NYSE: FDX). As a member of the company’s executive leadership team, Mr. Wertner oversees the pick-up, transportation, and delivery of Express volume. In this role, Mr. Wertner leads over 50,000 employees, oversees dispatch, customer experience, and audit & compliance for the Express operations as well as the pickup and delivery of 3 million packages daily, and is responsible for a $5 billion yearly operating budget. Prior to his role as Senior Vice President U.S. Operations, Mr. Wertner served in several other roles at Fedex Express since 1995, including Vice President and Senior Vice President positions in various operational roles, including Vice President of the Memphis World Hub, the centerpiece of FedEx’s logistic center, Senior Vice President of the U.S. Express Operations, responsible for 665 facilities through the U.S., and Senior Vice President of Air Ground Freight Service, leading the flight transportation of FedEx volume on over 350 flights daily.
Throughout Mr. Wertner’s career he has served on various councils at FedEx, including Express Strategic Portfolio Council, Express Compliance Committee, Diversity Council and Talent Review Committee. Mr. Wertner is a member of the board of directors of Intelative (2019 - present) and Direct Relief (2021 - present). From 2019 to 2021, Tim served as a member of the board of directors of Safe Kids Worldwide.
Mr. Wertner received his MBA from the University of California, Irvine, CA in 2003 and his Bachelor of Science from La Verne University, La Verne, CA in 1995. We believe Mr. Wertner’s public company experience and his deep background in operations and management make him well qualified to serve on our board of directors.
Bill Rucker. Bill Rucker has been a director of the Company since inception. Since September 2015, Mr. Rucker has served as President of Trustwave Government Solutions, a cybersecurity and managed security services firm. Prior to his tenure as President, Mr. Rucker was a Vice President at Trustwave Government Solutions from March 2010 to September 2015. In addition to 18 years of experience in public sector sales, Mr. Rucker brings more than 20 years of business and industry expertise gained from executive-level sales positions within the IT and information security industries, including leadership positions at Finjan Software and Santa Cruz Operation. Mr. Rucker holds a B.B.A from the Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University and is an active member of numerous government-related groups and organizations, including AFCEA, ACT/IAC, AFFIRM and ATARC (formerly GITEC). Mr. Rucker’s extensive executive experience makes him a valuable addition to our board of directors.
Director Independence
The rules of the Nasdaq require that a majority of the NNAG Board be independent. An “independent director” is defined generally as a person other than an officer or employee of the company or its subsidiaries or any other individual having a relationship which in the opinion of the company’s board of directors, would interfere with the director’s exercise of independent judgment in carrying out the responsibilities of a director. Our board of directors has determined that Eric Crowe, Anil Patibandla, Mike Barwis, Mike Battle, Tim Wertner and Bill Rucker are “independent directors” as defined in the Nasdaq listing standards and applicable SEC rules. Our independent directors have regularly scheduled meetings at which only independent directors are present.
Number and Terms of Office of Officers and Directors
The NNAG Board consists of seven members. The NNAG Board is divided into three classes with only one class of directors being elected in each year and each class (except for those directors appointed prior to our first annual meeting of stockholders) serving a three-year term. The term of office of the first class of directors, consisting of Mike Battle and Bill Rucker, will expire at our first annual meeting of stockholders. The term of office of the second class of directors, consisting of Anil Patibandla and Eric Crowe, will expire at the second annual meeting of stockholders. The term of office of the third class of directors, consisting of Hiren Patel, Mike Barwis and Tim Wertner, will expire at the third annual meeting of stockholders. We may not hold an annual meeting of stockholders until after we consummate our initial business combination.
NNAG’s officers are appointed by the NNAG Board and serve at the discretion of the NNAG Board, rather than for specific terms of office. The NNAG Board is authorized to appoint persons to the offices set forth in NNAG’s bylaws as it deems appropriate. NNAG’s bylaws provide that officers may consist of a Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, President, Vice Presidents, Secretary, Treasurer, Assistant Secretaries and such other offices as may be determined by the NNAG Board.
Committees of the Board of Directors
The NNAG Board has two standing committees: an audit committee and a compensation committee. Both our audit committee and our compensation committee are composed solely of independent directors. Subject to phase-in rules, the rules of Nasdaq and Rule 10A-3 of the Exchange Act require that the audit committee of a listed company be comprised solely of independent directors, and the rules of Nasdaq require that the compensation committee and the nominating and corporate governance committee of a listed company be comprised solely of independent directors. Each committee operates under a charter that was approved by the NNAG Board and has the composition and responsibilities described below. The charter of each committee is available on our website.
Audit Committee
The members of our audit committee are Eric Crowe, Anil Patibandla and Mike Battle, and Eric Crowe serves as chair of the audit committee. Each member of the audit committee is financially literate and the NNAG Board has determined that Eric Crowe qualifies as an “audit committee financial expert” as defined in applicable SEC rules and has accounting or related financial management expertise.
We have adopted an audit committee charter, which details the purpose and principal functions of the audit committee, including:
| ● | the appointment, compensation, retention, replacement, and oversight of the work of the independent registered public accounting firm engaged by us; |
| ● | pre-approving all audit and permitted non-audit services to be provided by the independent registered public accounting firm engaged by us, and establishing pre-approval policies and procedures; |
| ● | setting clear hiring policies for employees or former employees of the independent registered public accounting firm, including but not limited to, as required by applicable laws and regulations; |
| ● | setting clear policies for audit partner rotation in compliance with applicable laws and regulations; |
| ● | obtaining and reviewing a report, at least annually, from the independent registered public accounting firm describing (i) the independent registered public accounting firm’s internal quality-control procedures, (ii) any material issues raised by the most recent internal quality-control review, or peer review, of the audit firm, or by any inquiry or investigation by governmental or professional authorities within the preceding five years respecting one or more independent audits carried out by the firm and any steps taken to deal with such issues and (iii) all relationships between the independent registered public accounting firm and us to assess the independent registered public accounting firm’s independence; |
| ● | reviewing and approving any related party transaction required to be disclosed pursuant to Item 404 of Regulation S-K promulgated by the SEC prior to us entering into such transaction; and |
| ● | reviewing with management, the independent registered public accounting firm, and our legal advisors, as appropriate, any legal, regulatory or compliance matters, including any correspondence with regulators or government agencies and any employee complaints or published reports that raise material issues regarding our financial statements or accounting policies and any significant changes in accounting standards or rules promulgated by the Financial Accounting Standards Board, the SEC or other regulatory authorities. |
Compensation Committee
The NNAG Board has established a compensation committee. The members of our Compensation Committee are Tim Wertner, Bill Rucker and Mike Barwis, and Tim Wertner serves as chair of the compensation committee.
We have adopted a compensation committee charter, which details the purpose and responsibility of the compensation committee, including:
| ● | reviewing and approving on an annual basis the corporate goals and objectives relevant to our Chief Executive Officer’s compensation, if any is paid by us, evaluating our Chief Executive Officer’s performance in light of such goals and objectives and determining and approving the remuneration (if any) of our Chief Executive Officer based on such evaluation; |
| ● | reviewing and approving on an annual basis the compensation, if any is paid by us, of all of our other officers; |
| ● | reviewing on an annual basis our executive compensation policies and plans; |
| ● | implementing and administering our incentive compensation equity-based remuneration plans; |
| ● | assisting management in complying with our proxy statement/prospectus and annual report disclosure requirements; |
| ● | approving all special perquisites, special cash payments and other special compensation and benefit arrangements for our officers and employees; |
| ● | if required, producing a report on executive compensation to be included in our annual proxy statement/prospectus; and |
| ● | reviewing, evaluating and recommending changes, if appropriate, to the remuneration for directors. |
The compensation committee charter also provides that the compensation committee may, in its sole discretion, retain or obtain the advice of a compensation consultant, independent legal counsel or other adviser and will be directly responsible for the appointment, compensation and oversight of the work of any such adviser. However, before engaging or receiving advice from a compensation consultant, external legal counsel or any other adviser, the compensation committee will consider the independence of each such adviser, including the factors required by the Nasdaq and the SEC.
Director Nominations
We do not have a standing nominating committee, though we intend to form a corporate governance and nominating committee as and when required to do so by law or Nasdaq rules. In accordance with Rule 5605 of the Nasdaq rules, a majority of the independent directors may recommend a director nominee for selection by the board of directors. The board of directors believes that the independent directors can satisfactorily carry out the responsibility of properly selecting or approving director nominees without the formation of a standing nominating committee. The directors who will participate in the consideration and recommendation of director nominees are Eric Crowe, Anil Patibandla, Mike Barwis, Mike Battle, Tim Wertner and Bill Rucker. In accordance with Rule 5605 of the Nasdaq rules, all such directors are independent. As there is no standing nominating committee, we do not have a nominating committee charter in place.
The board of directors will also consider director candidates recommended for nomination by our stockholders during such times as they are seeking proposed nominees to stand for election at the next annual meeting of stockholders (or, if applicable, a special meeting of stockholders). Our stockholders that wish to nominate a director for election to our board of directors should follow the procedures set forth in our bylaws.
We have not formally established any specific, minimum qualifications that must be met or skills that are necessary for directors to possess. In general, in identifying and evaluating nominees for director, the board of directors considers educational background, diversity of professional experience, knowledge of our business, integrity, professional reputation, independence, wisdom, and the ability to represent the best interests of our stockholders.
Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation
None of our officers currently serves, and in the past year has not served, as a member of the board of directors or compensation committee of any entity that has one or more officers serving on the NNAG Board.
Code of Ethics
We have adopted a Code of Ethics applicable to our directors, officers and employees. You can review these documents by accessing our public filings SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. In addition, a copy of the Code of Ethics will be provided without charge upon request from us.
Section 16(a) Beneficial Ownership Reporting Compliance
Section 16(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, requires our executive officers, directors and persons who beneficially own more than 10% of a registered class of our equity securities to file with the Securities and Exchange Commission initial reports of ownership and reports of changes in ownership of our shares of common stock and other equity securities. These executive officers, directors, and greater than 10% beneficial owners are required by SEC regulation to furnish us with copies of all Section 16(a) forms filed by such reporting persons.
Based solely on our review of such forms furnished to us and written representations from certain reporting persons, we believe that all filing requirements applicable to our executive officers, directors and greater than 10% beneficial owners were filed in a timely manner.
ITEM 11. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
Employment Agreements
We have not entered into any employment agreements with our executive officers and have not made any agreements to provide benefits upon termination of employment.
Executive Officers and Director Compensation
No executive officer has received any cash compensation for services rendered to us. Other than the monthly administrative expenses of $10,000 as described in this Report, no compensation of any kind, including finders, consulting or other similar fees, will be paid to any of our existing stockholders, including our directors, or any of their respective affiliates, prior to, or for any services they render in order to effectuate, the consummation of a business combination. However, such individuals will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. There is no limit on the amount of these out-of-pocket expenses and there will be no review of the reasonableness of the expenses by anyone other than our board of directors and audit committee, which includes persons who may seek reimbursement, or a court of competent jurisdiction if such reimbursement is challenged.
Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation
None of our officers currently serves, or in the past year has served, as a member of the compensation committee of any entity that has one or more officers serving on our board of directors.
ITEM 12. SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS AND MANAGEMENT AND RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS
The following table sets forth as of March 25, 2024, the number of shares of common stock beneficially owned by (i) each person who is known by us to be the beneficial owner of more than five percent of our issued and outstanding shares of common stock; (ii) each of our officers and directors; and (iii) all of our officers and directors as a group. As of March 25, 2024, we had 7,500,000 shares of Class A common stock and 2,500,000 shares of Class B common stock issued and outstanding.
Unless otherwise indicated, we believe that all persons named in the table have sole voting and investment power with respect to all shares of common stock beneficially owned by them. The following table does not reflect record of beneficial ownership of any shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants or conversion of the rights, as the warrants are not exercisable and the rights are not convertible within 60 days of March 25, 2024.
| Number of | ||||||||
| Shares | Percentage of | |||||||
| Beneficially | Outstanding | |||||||
| Name and Address of Beneficial Owner(1) | Owned | Shares | ||||||
| Hiren Patel(2) | 2,500,000 | 25 | % | |||||
| Eric Crowe | - | * | ||||||
| Anil Patibandla | - | * | ||||||
| Mike Barwis | - | * | ||||||
| Mike Battle | - | * | ||||||
| Tim Wertner | - | |||||||
| Bill Rucker | - | |||||||
| All officers and directors as a group (7 individuals) | 2,500,000 | 25 | % | |||||
| 99 Acquisition Sponsor LLC(2) | 2,500,000 | 25 | % | |||||
| * | Less than one percent. |
| (1) | Unless otherwise indicated, the business address of each of the individuals is c/o 99 Acquisition Group Inc., 14 Noblewood Ct, Gaithersburg, MD 20878. |
| (2) | 99 Acquisition Sponsor LLC, our sponsor, is the record holder of the securities reported herein. Hiren Patel is the manager of our sponsor. By virtue of this relationship, Mr. Patel may be deemed to have beneficial ownership of the securities held of record by our sponsor. Mr. Patel disclaims any such beneficial ownership except to the extent of his pecuniary interests. |
ITEM 13. CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS, AND DIRECTOR INDEPENDENCE
On August 16, 2022, NNAG issued an aggregate of 2,156,250 shares of NNAG’s Class B common stock to the Sponsor for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000 in cash, or approximately $0.01 per share. In connection with the increase in the size of the NNAG IPO, on February 8, 2023, NNAG declared a 42.22% share dividend on each share of NNAG’s Class B common stock, thereby increasing the number of issued and outstanding shares of NNAG’s Class B common stock to 3,066,667. On August 17, 2023, the Sponsor forfeited for no consideration 191,667 founder shares, which NNAG cancelled, resulting in a decrease in the total number of founder shares outstanding from 3,066,667 shares to 2,875,000 shares. The number of founder shares issued was determined based on the expectation that the founder shares would represent 20% of the outstanding shares of common stock upon completion of NNAG IPO. The Company granted the underwriters in the NNAG IPO a 45-day option to purchase up to 1,125,000 additional Units to cover over-allotments, if any, which option expired unexercised on October 1, 2023. As a result, the Sponsor forfeited for no consideration 375,000 shares of NNAG’s Class B common stock, which NNAG cancelled, resulting in a decrease in the total number of shares of NNAG’s Class B common stock outstanding from 2,875,000 shares to 2,500,000 shares.
The Sponsor also purchased an aggregate of 2,865,500 private placement warrants for a purchase price of $1.00 per warrant in a private placement that occurred simultaneously with the closing of NNAG IPO. As such, the Sponsor’s interest in the NNAG IPO was valued at $2,865,500, based on the number of private placement warrants purchased. Each private placement warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one share of NNAG’s Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment.
All of the directors and officers of NNAG have an indirect economic interest in the founder shares and private placement warrants, as applicable, purchased by the Sponsor, as a result of their membership interests in the Sponsor.
On August 16, 2022, the Sponsor agreed to loan the Company an aggregate of up to $300,000 to cover expenses related to the Initial Public Offering pursuant to a promissory note (the “Note”). The Note is non-interest bearing and is payable on the earlier of the consummation of a Business Combination or the liquidation of the Company on or before the 9-month anniversary of the completion of the Initial Public Offering (or up to the 15-month anniversary if the Company extends the period of time to consummate a Business Combination) or such later liquidation date as may be approved by the Company’s stockholders (a “Liquidation”). Upon maturity, the Note would be repaid, without interest or, at the lender’s discretion, the Note may be converted into warrants (the “Conversion Warrants”), at a price of $1.00 per warrant. The Conversion Warrants would be identical to the Private Placement Warrants. As of December 31, 2023, the Company had the Company had an outstanding balance of $102,610 under the Note, with $197,390 available to draw.
From time to time, affiliates of the Sponsor advance funds to NNAG or pay expenses on behalf of NNAG for formation and operating costs. These advances are due on demand and are non-interest bearing. As of December 31, 2023, the outstanding balance due was $29,001.
NNAG entered into an Administrative Services Agreement pursuant to which it pays an affiliate of the Sponsor a total of $10,000 per month for office space, administrative and support services. Upon completion of our initial business combination or our liquidation, we will cease paying these monthly fees. As of December 31, 2023, NNAG recorded $43,226 of expenses related to the agreement.
The 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 its behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. NNAG’s audit committee reviews all payments that were made by NNAG to its Sponsor, officers, directors or its or any of their respective affiliates and determines 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 NNAG’s behalf.
In addition, in order to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds as may be required. If we complete an initial business combination, we would repay such loaned amounts. In the event that the initial business combination does not close, we may use a portion of the working capital held outside the trust account to repay such loaned amounts but no proceeds from our trust account would be used for such repayment. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants, including as to exercise price, exercisability and exercise period. The terms of such loans by our officers and directors, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. As of December 31, 2023, no such working capital loans were outstanding.
General
No compensation or fees of any kind, including finder’s fees, consulting fees, or other similar compensation, will be paid to our insiders or any of the members of our management team, for services rendered to us prior to, or in connection with the consummation of our initial business combination (regardless of the type of transaction that it is). However, such individuals will receive reimbursement for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred by them in connection with activities on our behalf, such as identifying potential target businesses, performing business due diligence on suitable target businesses and business combinations as well as traveling to and from the offices, plants or similar locations of prospective target businesses to examine their operations. There is no limit on the amount of out-of-pocket expenses reimbursable by us; provided, however, that to the extent such expenses exceed the available proceeds not deposited in the trust account and the interest income earned on the amounts held in the trust account, such expenses would not be reimbursed by us unless we consummate an initial business combination.
All ongoing and future transactions between us and any of our officers and directors or their respective affiliates will be on terms believed by us to be no less favorable to us than are available from unaffiliated third parties. Such transactions will require prior approval by our audit committee and a majority of our uninterested independent directors, in either case who had access, at our expense, to our attorneys or independent legal counsel. We will not enter into any such transaction unless our audit committee and a majority of our disinterested independent directors determine that the terms of such transaction are no less favorable to us than those that would be available to us with respect to such a transaction from unaffiliated third parties.
Related Party Policy
Our Code of Ethics requires us to avoid, wherever possible, all related party transactions that could result in actual or potential conflicts of interests, except under guidelines approved by the board of directors (or the audit committee). Related-party transactions are defined as transactions in which (1) the aggregate amount involved will or may be expected to exceed $120,000 in any calendar year, (2) we or any of our subsidiaries is a participant, and (3) any (a) executive officer, director or nominee for election as a director, (b) greater than 5% beneficial owner of our shares of common stock, or (c) immediate family member, of the persons referred to in clauses (a) and (b), has or will have a direct or indirect material interest (other than solely as a result of being a director or a less than 10% beneficial owner of another entity). A conflict of interest situation can arise when a person takes actions or has interests that may make it difficult to perform his or her work objectively and effectively. Conflicts of interest may also arise if a person, or a member of his or her family, receives improper personal benefits as a result of his or her position.
We also require each of our directors and executive officers to annually complete a directors’ and officers’ questionnaire that elicits information about related party transactions.
Our audit committee, pursuant to its written charter, will be responsible for reviewing and approving related-party transactions to the extent we enter into such transactions. All ongoing and future transactions between us and any of our officers and directors or their respective affiliates will be on terms believed by us to be no less favorable to us than are available from unaffiliated third parties. Such transactions will require prior approval by our audit committee and a majority of our uninterested “independent” directors, or the members of our board who do not have an interest in the transaction, in either case who had access, at our expense, to our attorneys or independent legal counsel. We will not enter into any such transaction unless our audit committee and a majority of our disinterested “independent” directors determine that the terms of such transaction are no less favorable to us than those that would be available to us with respect to such a transaction from unaffiliated third parties.
These procedures are intended to determine whether any such related party transaction impairs the independence of a director or presents a conflict of interest on the part of a director, employee or officer.
To further minimize potential conflicts of interest, we have agreed not to consummate a business combination with an entity which is affiliated with any of our insiders unless we obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that the business combination is fair to our unaffiliated stockholders from a financial point of view. Furthermore, in no event will any of our existing officers, directors or insiders, or any entity with which they are affiliated, be paid any finder’s fee, consulting fee or other compensation prior to, or for any services they render in order to effectuate, the consummation of a business combination.
ITEM 14. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTANT FEES AND SERVICES.
The firm of MaloneBailey, LLP, or MaloneBailey, acts as our independent registered public accounting firm. The following is a summary of fees paid to MaloneBailey for services rendered.
Audit Fees. For the year ended December 31, 2023 and the period from June 14, 2022 (inception) through December 31, 2022, fees for our independent registered public accounting firm were approximately $107,500 and $30,000, respectively, for the services MaloneBailey performed in connection with the audit of our December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022 financial statements.
Audit-Related Fees. For the year ended December 31, 2023 and the period from June 14, 2022 (inception) through December 31, 2022, our independent registered public accounting firm did not render assurance and related services related to the performance of the audit or review of financial statements.
Tax Fees. For the year ended December 31, 2023 and the period from June 14, 2022 (inception) through December 31, 2022, our independent registered public accounting firm did not render services in connection with tax compliance, tax advice and tax planning.
All Other Fees. For the year ended December 31, 2023 and the period from June 14, 2022 (inception) through December 31, 2022, there were no fees billed for products and services provided by our independent registered public accounting firm other than those set forth above.
Pre-Approval Policy
Our audit committee was formed upon the consummation of our Initial Public Offering. As a result, the audit committee did not pre-approve all of the foregoing services, although any services rendered prior to the formation of our audit committee were approved by our board of directors. Since the formation of our audit committee, and on a going-forward basis, the audit committee has and will pre-approve all auditing services and permitted non-audit services to be performed for us by our auditors, including the fees and terms thereof (subject to the de minimis exceptions for non-audit services described in the Exchange Act which are approved by the audit committee prior to the completion of the audit).
PART IV
ITEM 15. EXHIBITS AND FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES
| (a) | The following documents are filed as part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K: |
| (1) | Financial Statements: |
| (2) | Financial Statement Schedules: |
None.
| (3) | Exhibits |
The following exhibits are filed with this report. Exhibits which are incorporated herein by reference can be obtained from the SEC’s website at sec.gov.
EXHIBIT INDEX
| ** | Furnished herewith. This certification is being furnished solely to accompany this report pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, and is not being filed for purposes of Section 18 of the Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and is not to be incorporated by reference into any filings of the Registrant, whether made before or after the date hereof, regardless of any general incorporation language in such filing. |
ITEM 16. FORM 10-K SUMMARY Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.
Not applicable.
SIGNATURES
Dated: April 4, 2024
| 99 ACQUISITION GROUP INC. |
| By: | /s/ Hiren Patel | |
| Name: | Hiren Patel | |
| Title: | Chief Executive Officer |
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, this amendment to this Registration Statement has been signed below by the following persons in the capacities and on the dates indicated.
| Signature | Title | Date | ||
| /s/ Hiren Patel | Chief Executive Officer | April 4, 2024 | ||
| Hiren Patel | (principal executive officer and principal financial and accounting officer) | |||
| /s/ Michael Barwis | Director | April 4, 2024 | ||
| Michael Barwis | ||||
| /s/ Mike Battle | Director | April 4, 2024 | ||
| Mike Battle | ||||
| /s/ Eric Crowe | Director | April 4, 2024 | ||
| Eric Crowe | ||||
| /s/ William Rucker | Director | April 4, 2024 | ||
| William Rucker | ||||
| /s/ Anil Patibandla | Director | April 4, 2024 | ||
| Anil Patibandla | ||||
| /s/ Tim Wertner | Director | April 4, 2024 | ||
| Tim Wertner |
99 ACQUISITION GROUP INC.
INDEX TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
F-
REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
To the Shareholders and Board of Directors of
99 Acquisition Group Inc
Opinion on the Financial Statements
We have audited the accompanying balance sheets of 99 Acquisition Group Inc (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2023 and 2022 and the related statements of operations, changes in stockholders’ equity , and cash flows for the year ended December 31,2023 and the period from June 14, 2022 (inception) through December 31, 2022, 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 its cash flows for the year ended December 31, 2023 and for the period June 14, 2022 (inception) through December 31, 2022, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.
Going Concern Matter
The accompanying financial statements have been prepared assuming that the Company will continue as a going concern. As more fully described in Note 1 to the financial statements, the Company’s business plan is dependent on the completion of a business combination within a prescribed period of time and if not completed will cease all operations except for the purpose of liquidating. The date for mandatory liquidation and subsequent dissolution raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. Management's evaluation of the events and conditions and management’s plans regarding 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. Our opinion is not modified with respect to that matter.
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/ MaloneBailey, LLP
www.malonebailey.com
We have served as the Company's auditor since 2022.
Houston, Texas
April 1, 2024
F-
99 ACQUISITION GROUP INC.
BALANCE SHEETS
| December 31, 2023 |
December 31, 2022 |
|||||||
| ASSETS | ||||||||
| Current Assets | ||||||||
| Cash | $ | 321,463 | $ | 11,470 | ||||
| Prepaid expenses | 211,332 | 80 | ||||||
| Total Current Assets | 532,795 | 11,550 | ||||||
| Trust account | 77,225,243 | |||||||
| Deferred offering costs | 97,438 | |||||||
| Total Assets | $ | 77,758,038 | $ | 108,988 | ||||
| LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ (DEFICIT) EQUITY | ||||||||
| Current Liabilities | ||||||||
| Accounts payable and accrued expenses | $ | 155,514 | $ | |||||
| Accrued offering costs | 75,000 | 23,438 | ||||||
| Advances from related party | 29,001 | 29,001 | ||||||
| Due to Sponsor | 35,000 | |||||||
| Related party payable – administrative fee | 43,226 | |||||||
| Promissory note – related party | 102,610 | |||||||
| Franchise tax payable | 71,739 | |||||||
| Total Current Liabilities | 477,090 | 87,439 | ||||||
| Deferred tax liability | 294,743 | |||||||
| Deferred underwriting fee payable | 2,625,000 | |||||||
| Total Liabilities | 3,396,833 | 87,439 | ||||||
| Commitments and Contingencies | ||||||||
| 76,858,761 | ||||||||
| Stockholders’ (Deficit) Equity | ||||||||
| Preferred stock, $0.0001 par value; 1,000,000 shares authorized; none issued and outstanding at December 31, 2023 and 2022 | ||||||||
| 8 | ||||||||
| Class B common stock, $0.0001 par value; 10,000,000 shares authorized; 2,500,000 and 2,875,000 shares issued and outstanding at December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively(1)(2) | 250 | 288 | ||||||
| Additional paid in capital | 24,712 | |||||||
| Accumulated deficit | (2,497,814 | ) | (3,451 | ) | ||||
| Total Stockholders’ (Deficit) Equity | (2,497,556 | ) | 21,549 | |||||
| TOTAL LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ (DEFICIT) EQUITY | $ | 77,758,038 | $ | 108,988 | ||||
| (1) | Balance at December 31, 2022 includes 375,000 shares of Class B common stock that were subject to forfeiture if the over-allotment option was not exercised in full or in part by the underwriters. On October 1, 2023, the option expired unexercised, such that 375,000 shares of Class B common stock were forfeited by the Sponsor (see Notes 5 and 7). |
| (2) | Gives retroactive effect to the 42.22% share dividend declared on February 8, 2023 and the forfeiture of 191,667 shares on August 17, 2023 (see Notes 5 and 7). |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of the financial statements.
F-
99 ACQUISITION GROUP INC.
STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
| Year Ended | Period from June 14, 2022 (inception) through |
|||||||
| December 31, | ||||||||
| 2023 | 2022 | |||||||
| Formation and operational costs | $ | 309,510 | $ | 3,451 | ||||
Franchise tax |
71,739 |
|||||||
| Related party administrative fees | 43,226 | |||||||
| Loss from operations | (424,475 | ) | (3,451 | ) | ||||
| Other income: | ||||||||
| Interest income | 32 | |||||||
| Unrealized investment income on marketable securities held in Trust Account | 1,475,243 | |||||||
| Other income, net | 1,475,275 | |||||||
| Income (loss) before provision for income taxes | 1,050,800 | (3,451 | ) | |||||
| Provision for income taxes | (294,743 | ) | ||||||
| Net income (loss) | $ | 756,057 | $ | (3,451 | ) | |||
| 2,712,329 | ||||||||
| $ | 0.14 | $ | ||||||
| Basic and diluted weighted average shares outstanding, non-redeemable common stock(1)(2) | 2,527,123 | 1,716,418 | ||||||
| $ | 0.14 | $ | (0.00 | ) | ||||
| (1) | Excludes 375,000 shares of Class B common stock that were subject to forfeiture if the over-allotment option was not exercised in full or in part by the underwriters. On October 1, 2023, the option expired unexercised, such that 375,000 shares of Class B common stock were forfeited by the Sponsor (see Notes 5 and 7). |
| (2) | Gives retroactive effect to the 42.22% share dividend declared on February 8, 2023 and the forfeiture of 191,667 shares on August 17, 2023 (see Notes 5 and 7). |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of the financial statements.
F-
99 ACQUISITION GROUP INC.
STATEMENTS OF CHANGES IN STOCKHOLDER’S EQUITY (DEFICIT)
For the Year Ended December 31, 2023
| Class A Common Stock |
Class B Common Stock(1)(2) |
Additional Paid in |
Accumulated | Total Stockholders’ Equity |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Shares | Amount | Shares | Amount | Capital | Deficit | (Deficit) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Balance - January 1, 2023 | $ | 2,875,000 | $ | 288 | $ | 24,712 | $ | (3,451 | ) | $ | 21,549 | |||||||||||||||||
| Sale of IPO Units | 7,500,000 | 750 | — | 74,999,250 | 75,000,000 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sale of Private Placement Warrants | — | — | 2,865,500 | 2,865,500 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Offering and Underwriting Costs | — | — | (4,281,901 | ) | (4,281,901 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Common shares subject to possible redemption | (7,500,000 | ) | (750 | ) | — | (75,749,250 | ) | (75,750,000 | ) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Issuance of representative shares | 75,000 | 8 | — | (8 | ) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Forfeiture of Class B common stock by Sponsor | — | (375,000 | ) | (38 | ) | 38 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Accretion of additional paid in capital to accumulated deficit | — | — | 2,141,659 | (2,141,659 | ) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Remeasurement of Class A common stock subject to possible redemption | — | — | (1,108,761 | ) | (1,108,761 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Net income | — | — | 756,057 | 756,057 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Balance - December 31, 2023 | 75,000 | $ | 8 | 2,500,000 | $ | 250 | $ | $ | (2,497,814 | ) | $ | (2,497,556 | ) | |||||||||||||||
For the Period from June 14, 2022 (Inception) through December 31, 2022
| Class A Common Stock |
Class B Common Stock(1)(2) |
Additional Paid |
Accumulated | Total Stockholders’ Equity |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Shares | Amount | Shares | Amount | in Capital | Deficit | (Deficit) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Balance - June 14, 2022 (Inception) | $ | $ | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Issuance of Class B common stock to Sponsor | — | 2,875,000 | 288 | 24,712 | $ | 25,000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Net loss | — | — | (3,451 | ) | (3,451 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Balance - December 31, 2022 | $ | 2,875,000 | $ | 288 | $ | 24,712 | $ | (3,451 | ) | $ | 21,549 | |||||||||||||||||
| (1) | Includes 375,000 shares of Class B common stock that were subject to forfeiture if the over-allotment option was not exercised in full or in part by the underwriters. On October 1, 2023, the option expired unexercised, such that 375,000 shares of Class B common stock were forfeited by the Sponsor (see Notes 5 and 7). |
| (2) | Gives retroactive effect to the 42.22% share dividend declared on February 8, 2023 and the forfeiture of 191,667 shares on August 17, 2023 (see Notes 5 and 7). |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of the financial statements.
F-
99 ACQUISITION GROUP INC.
STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
| Year Ended December 31, |
Period from June 14, 2022 (inception) through December 31, |
|||||||
| 2023 | 2022 | |||||||
| Cash Flows from Operating Activities: | ||||||||
| Net income (loss) | $ | 756,057 |
$ | (3,451 | ) | |||
| Adjustments to reconcile net income (loss) to net cash used in operating activities: | ||||||||
| Unrealized gain on marketable securities held in Trust Account | (1,475,243 | ) | ||||||
| Deferred tax provision | 294,743 | |||||||
| Changes in operating assets and liabilities: | ||||||||
| Prepaid expenses | (211,252 | ) | (80 | ) | ||||
| Accrued expenses | 155,514 | |||||||
| Franchise tax payable | 71,739 | |||||||
| Related party payable - administrative fee | 43,226 | |||||||
| Net cash used in operating activities | (365,216 | ) | (3,551 | ) | ||||
| Cash Flows from Investing Activities: | ||||||||
| Investment of cash into Trust Account | (75,750,000 | ) | ||||||
| Net cash used in investing activities | (75,750,000 | ) | ||||||
| Cash Flows from Financing Activities: | ||||||||
| Proceeds from issuance of Class B common stock to Sponsor | 25,000 | |||||||
| Proceeds from sale of Units, net of underwriting discounts paid | 74,149,500 | |||||||
| Proceeds from sale of Private Placements Warrants | 2,865,500 | |||||||
| Advances from related party | 4,001 | |||||||
| Due to Sponsor | 35,000 | |||||||
| Proceeds from promissory note - related party | 67,610 | |||||||
| Payment of offering costs | (657,401 | ) | (49,000 | ) | ||||
| Net cash provided by financing activities | 76,425,209 | 15,001 | ||||||
| Net Changes in Cash | 309,993 | 11,470 | ||||||
| Cash - Beginning of period | 11,470 | |||||||
| Cash - End of period | $ | 321,463 | $ | 11,470 | ||||
| Non-cash investing and financing activities: | ||||||||
| Deferred offering costs included in accrued offering costs | $ | 75,000 | $ | 23,438 | ||||
| Offering costs paid from due from related party | $ | $ | 25,000 | |||||
| Issuance of representative shares | $ | 8 | $ | |||||
| Initial classification of Class A common stock subject to possible redemption | $ | 75,750,000 | $ | |||||
| Accretion of additional paid in capital to accumulated deficit | $ | 2,141,659 | $ | |||||
| Change in value of Class A common stock subject to possible redemption | $ | 1,108,761 | $ | |||||
| Deferred underwriting fee payable | $ | 2,625,000 | $ | |||||
| Conversion of due to Sponsor to promissory note – related party | $ | 35,000 | $ | |||||
| Forfeiture of Founder Shares | $ | 38 | $ | |||||
The accompanying notes are an integral part of the financial statements.
F-
99 ACQUISITION GROUP INC.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
NOTE 1 — DESCRIPTION OF ORGANIZATION AND BUSINESS OPERATIONS
99 Acquisition Group Inc. (the “Company”) is a newly organized blank check company incorporated in Delaware on June 14, 2022. The Company was formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses (a “Business Combination”).
The Company is not limited to a particular industry or sector for purposes of consummating a 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 commenced any operations. All activity for the period from June 14, 2022 (inception) through December 31, 2023 relates to the Company’s formation and the Initial Public Offering (as defined below). The Company will not generate any operating revenues until after the completion of a Business Combination, at the earliest. The Company will generate non-operating income in the form of interest income from the proceeds derived from the Initial Public Offering. The Company has selected December 31 as its fiscal year end.
The registration statement for the Company’s Initial Public Offering was declared effective on August 14, 2023. On August 22, 2023, the Company consummated its Initial Public Offering of 7,500,000 units (the “Units” and, with respect to the Class A common stock included in the Units being offered, the “Public Shares”) at $10.00 per Unit, generating gross proceeds of $75,000,000 (the “Initial Public Offering”), which is discussed in Note 3, and incurring offering costs of $4,281,901, of which $2,625,000 was for deferred underwriting commissions (see Note 5). The underwriters had a 45-day option from the date of the prospectus to purchase up to an additional 1,125,000 units to cover over-allotments, if any, which option expired unexercised on October 1, 2023 (see Note 3).
Additionally, the Company completed the sale of 2,865,500 warrants (the “Private Placement Warrants”) at a price of $1.00 per Private Placement Warrant, generating gross proceeds of $2,865,500, in a private placement to 99 Acquisition Sponsor LLC (the “Sponsor”) that closed simultaneously with the Initial Public Offering (see Note 4).
The Company’s management has broad discretion with respect to the specific application of the net proceeds of the Initial Public Offering and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants, although substantially all of the net are intended to be applied generally toward consummating a Business Combination. Nasdaq rules provide that the Business Combination must be with one or more target businesses that together have a fair market value equal to at least 80% of the balance in the Trust Account (less any deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on interest earned on the Trust Account) at the time of the signing a definitive agreement to enter a Business Combination. The Company will only complete a Business Combination if the post-Business Combination company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”). There is no assurance that the Company will be able to successfully effect a Business Combination.
Upon the closing of the Initial Public Offering on August 22, 2023, an amount equal to $75,750,000 ($10.10 per Unit sold in the Initial Public Offering), including the proceeds from the sale of the Private Placement Warrants, was placed in a trust account with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, a U.S.-based company, acting as trustee (the “Trust Account”). The funds in the Trust Account will be invested only in U.S. government treasury bills with a maturity of 180 days or less or in money market funds investing solely in U.S. Treasuries and meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act until the earlier of: (i) the completion of a Business Combination and (ii) the distribution of the funds in the Trust Account to the Company’s stockholders, as described below.
F-
The Company will provide its holders of the outstanding public shares (the “public stockholders”) with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their Public Shares upon the completion of a Business Combination either (i) in connection with a stockholder meeting called to approve the Business Combination or (ii) by means of a tender offer. The decision as to whether the Company will seek stockholder approval of a Business Combination or conduct a tender offer will be made by the Company. The public stockholders will be entitled to redeem their shares for a pro rata portion of the amount held in the Trust Account (initially $10.10 per share), calculated as of two business days prior to the completion of a Business Combination, including interest. The per-share amount to be distributed to the public stockholders who redeem their shares will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting commissions the Company will pay to the underwriters (as discussed in Note 6). There will be no redemption rights upon the completion of a Business Combination with respect to the Company’s warrants. The Public Shares will be recorded at redemption value and classified as temporary equity upon the completion of the Initial Public Offering, in accordance with Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 480, “Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity.”
The Company will proceed with a Business Combination only if a majority of the shares voted are voted in favor of the Business Combination. If a stockholder vote is not required by law and the Company does not decide to hold a stockholder vote for business or other reasons, the Company will, pursuant to its Second Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation (the “Second Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation”), conduct the redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and file tender offer documents with the SEC prior to completing a Business Combination. If, however, stockholder approval of the transaction is required by law, or the Company decides to obtain stockholder approval for business or other reasons, the Company will offer to redeem shares in conjunction with a proxy solicitation pursuant to the proxy rules and not pursuant to the tender offer rules. If the Company seeks stockholder approval in connection with a Business Combination, the Sponsor has agreed to vote its Founder Shares (as defined in Note 5) and any Public Shares purchased during or after the Initial Public Offering in favor of approving a Business Combination. Additionally, each public stockholder may elect to redeem their Public Shares irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction or don’t vote at all.
Notwithstanding the above, if the Company seeks stockholder approval of a Business Combination and it does not conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, the Second Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation provides that a public stockholder, together with any affiliate of such stockholder or any other person with whom such stockholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”)), will be restricted from redeeming its shares with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% or more of the Public Shares, without the prior consent of the Company.
The Sponsor has agreed (a) to waive its redemption rights with respect to its Founder Shares and Public Shares held by it in connection with the completion of a Business Combination, (b) to waive its liquidation rights with respect to the Founder Shares if the Company fails to complete a Business Combination within 9 months from the closing of the Initial Public Offering or up to 15 months from the closing of the offering if the Company extends the period of time to consummate a business combination for up to three months on two occasions, as described in more detail in the Company’s prospectus, and (c) not to propose an amendment to the Second Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation (i) to modify the substance or timing of the Company’s obligation to allow redemption in connection with the Company’s initial Business Combination or to redeem 100% of its Public Shares if the Company does not complete a Business Combination or (ii) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, unless the Company provides the public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their Public Shares in conjunction with any such amendment.
The Company has 9 months (or 15 months, as applicable) from the closing of the Initial Public Offering (as such period may be extended pursuant to the Company’s Second Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation) to complete a Business Combination (the “Combination Period”). If the Company is unable to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period, the Company will (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the Public Shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the Trust Account including interest earned on the funds held in the Trust Account and not previously released to the Company to pay its tax obligations (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding Public Shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any), and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of the Company’s remaining stockholders and the Company’s board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to the Company’s obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to the Company’s warrants or rights, which will expire worthless if the Company fails to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period.
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The Sponsor has agreed to waive its liquidation rights with respect to the Founder Shares if the Company fails to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period. However, if the Sponsor acquires Public Shares in or after the Initial Public Offering, such Public Shares will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the Trust Account if the Company fails to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period. The underwriters have agreed to waive their rights to their deferred underwriting commission (see Note 6) held in the Trust Account in the event the Company does not complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period and, in such event, such amounts will be included with the other funds held in the Trust Account that will be available to fund the redemption of the Public Shares. In the event of such distribution, it is possible that the per share value of the assets remaining available for distribution will be less than the Initial Public Offering price per Unit ($10.00).
In order to protect the amounts held in the Trust Account, the Sponsor has agreed to be liable to the Company if and to the extent any claims by a third party for services rendered or products sold to the Company, or a prospective target business with which the Company has discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the Trust Account to below the lesser of (1) $10.10 per Public Share and (2) the actual amount per Public Share held in the Trust Account as of the date of the liquidation of the Trust Account due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest which may be withdrawn to pay our taxes. This liability will not apply with respect to any claims by a third party who executed a waiver of any and all rights to seek access to the Trust Account and except as to any claims under the Company’s indemnity of the underwriters of the Initial Public Offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”). Moreover, in the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, the Sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third-party claims. The Company will seek to reduce the possibility that the Sponsor will have to indemnify the Trust Account due to claims of creditors by endeavoring to have all vendors, service providers (except the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm), prospective target businesses or other entities with which the Company does business, execute agreements with the Company waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to monies held in the Trust Account.
Going Concern Consideration
The Company has incurred and expects to continue to incur significant professional costs to remain as a publicly traded company and to incur significant transaction costs in pursuit of the consummation of a Business Combination. In connection with the Company’s assessment of going concern considerations in accordance with Financial Accounting Standard Board’s Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2014-15, “Disclosures of Uncertainties about an Entity’s Ability to Continue as a Going Concern,” management has determined that these conditions raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. In addition, if the Company is unable to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period, the Company’s board of directors would proceed to commence a voluntary liquidation and thereby a formal dissolution of the Company. There is no assurance that the Company’s plans to consummate a Business Combination (including the potential Merger disclosed in Note 9) will be successful within the Combination Period. As a result, management has determined that such additional condition also raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. The financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.
Risks and Uncertainties
Management continues to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and has concluded that while it is reasonably possible that the virus could have a negative effect on the Company’s financial position, results of its operations and/or search for a target company, the specific impact is not readily determinable as of the date of the financial statements. The financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.
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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.
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.
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 cash of $321,463 and $11,470 as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively, and no cash equivalents as of December 31, 2023 or 2022.
Marketable Securities Held in Trust Account
As of December 31, 2023, substantially all of the assets held in the Trust Account were held in cash and money market funds. Total account value as of December 31, 2023 and 2022 was $77,225,243 and $0, respectively.
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Offering Costs Associated with the Initial Public Offering
Offering costs consist of legal, accounting and other costs incurred through the date of the Initial Public Offering that are directly related to the Initial Public Offering. Upon completion of the Initial Public Offering, these offering costs, together with the underwriter discount of $850,500, associated with the common stock and the warrants have been charged to stockholders’ equity since both the public and private warrants qualify for equity classification.
Common Stock Subject to Possible Redemption
The Company accounts for its common stock subject to possible redemption in accordance with the guidance in Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 480, “Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity.” Shares of common stock subject to mandatory redemption are classified as a liability instrument and are measured at fair value. Shares of conditionally redeemable common stock (including common stock that features redemption rights that are either within the control of the holder or subject to redemption upon the occurrence of uncertain events not solely within the Company’s control) are classified as temporary equity. At all other times, common stock is classified as a component of stockholder’s equity. The Company’s Class A common stock features certain redemption rights that are considered to be outside of the Company’s control and subject to occurrence of uncertain future events. Accordingly, on December 31, 2023, 7,500,000 shares of Class A common stock are presented at redemption value as temporary equity, outside of the stockholder’s equity section of the Company’s balance sheet.
The shares of Class B common stock are classified as a component of stockholder’s equity since they are not subject to possible redemption outside of the Company’s control.
Income Taxes
The Company accounts for income taxes under ASC 740, “Income Taxes” (“ASC 740”). ASC 740 requires the recognition of deferred tax assets and liabilities for both the expected impact of differences between the financial statement and tax basis of assets and liabilities and for the expected future tax benefit to be derived from tax loss and tax credit carry forwards. ASC 740 additionally requires a valuation allowance to be established when it is more likely than not that all or a portion of deferred tax assets will not be realized.
ASC 740 also clarifies the accounting for uncertainty in income taxes recognized in an enterprise’s financial statements and prescribes a recognition threshold and measurement process for financial statement recognition and measurement of a tax position taken or expected to be taken in a tax return. For those benefits to be recognized, a tax position must be more-likely-than-not to be sustained upon examination by taxing authorities. The Company recognizes accrued interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits as income tax expense. There were no unrecognized tax benefits and no amounts accrued for interest and penalties as of December 31, 2023 or 2022. The Company is currently not aware of any issues under review that could result in significant payments, accruals or material deviation from its position. The Company is subject to income tax examinations by major taxing authorities since inception.
Concentration of Credit Risk
Financial instruments that potentially subject the Company to concentrations of credit risk consist of a cash account in a financial institution, which, at times, may exceed the Federal Depository Insurance Coverage of $250,000. The Company has not experienced losses on this account and management believes the Company is not exposed to significant risks on such account.
Net Income (Loss) Per Common Share
Net income (loss) per common share is computed by dividing net income (loss) by the weighted average number of shares of common stock outstanding during the period, excluding shares of common stock subject to forfeiture. Accretion associated with the redeemable shares of Class A common stock is excluded from income (loss) per share as the redemption value approximates fair value. Weighted average shares were reduced for the effect of an aggregate of 375,000 shares of Class B common stock that were subject to forfeiture if the over-allotment option was not exercised by the underwriters. On October 1, 2023, the option expired unexercised, such that 375,000 shares of Class B common stock were forfeited by the Sponsor (see Notes 5 and 7). At December 31, 2023 and 2022, the Company did not have any dilutive securities and other contracts that could, potentially, be exercised or converted into shares of common stock and then share in the earnings of the Company. As a result, diluted income (loss) per common share is the same as basic income (loss) per common share for the periods presented.
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The following table reflects the calculation of basic and diluted net income (loss) per common share:
| Year Ended | Period from June 14, 2022 (inception) through |
|||||||
| December 31, | ||||||||
| 2023 | 2022 | |||||||
| Class A common stock subject to possible redemption | ||||||||
| Numerator: | ||||||||
| Net income attributable to Class A common stock subject to possible redemption | $ | 391,391 | $ | |||||
| Denominator: Weighted average Class A common stock subject to possible redemption | ||||||||
| 2,712,329 | ||||||||
| $ | 0.14 | $ | ||||||
| Non-redeemable common stock | ||||||||
| Numerator: | ||||||||
| Net income (loss) | $ | 756,057 | $ | (3,451 | ) | |||
| Less: Net income (loss) attributable to Class A common stock subject to possible redemption | $ | (391,391 | ) | $ | ||||
| Net income (loss) attributable to non-redeemable common stock | $ | 364,666 | $ | (3,451 | ) | |||
| Denominator: Weighted average non-redeemable common stock | ||||||||
| 2,527,123 | 1,716,418 | |||||||
| $ | 0.14 | $ | (0.00 | ) | ||||
Fair Value Measurements
Fair value is defined as the price that would be received for sale of an asset or paid for transfer of a liability, in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. GAAP establishes a three-tier fair value hierarchy, which prioritizes the inputs used in measuring fair value. The hierarchy gives the highest priority to unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities (Level 1 measurements) and the lowest priority to unobservable inputs (Level 3 measurements). These tiers include:
| ● | Level 1, defined as observable inputs such as quoted prices (unadjusted) for identical instruments in active markets; |
| ● | Level 2, defined as inputs other than quoted prices in active markets that are either directly or indirectly observable such as quoted prices for similar instruments in active markets or quoted prices for identical or similar instruments in markets that are not active; and |
| ● | Level 3, defined as unobservable inputs in which little or no market data exists, therefore requiring an entity to develop its own assumptions, such as valuations derived from valuation techniques in which one or more significant inputs or significant value drivers are unobservable. |
In some circumstances, the inputs used to measure fair value might be categorized within different levels of the fair value hierarchy. In those instances, the fair value measurement is categorized in its entirety in the fair value hierarchy based on the lowest level input that is significant to the fair value measurement.
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Derivative Financial Instruments
The Company evaluates its financial instruments to determine if such instruments are derivatives or contain features that qualify as embedded derivatives in accordance with ASC Topic 815, “Derivatives and Hedging”. Derivative instruments are initially recorded at fair value on the issuance date and re-valued at each reporting date, with changes in the fair value reported in the statement of operations. Derivative assets and 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.
Fair Value of Financial Instruments
The fair value of the Company’s assets and liabilities, which qualify as financial instruments under FASB (as defined below) ASC Topic 820, “Fair Value Measurement,” approximates the carrying amounts represented in the accompanying balance sheets, primarily due to their short-term nature. As of December 31, 2023 and 2022, the Trust Account had a fair value of $77,225,243 and $0, respectively.
Warrants
The Company is required to account for its warrants as either equity-classified or liability-classified instruments based on an assessment of the warrant’s specific terms and applicable authoritative guidance in FASB (as defined below) ASC 480, “Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity” (“ASC 480”) and ASC 815, “Derivatives and Hedging” (“ASC 815”). The assessment considers whether the warrants are freestanding financial instruments pursuant to ASC 480, meet the definition of a liability pursuant to ASC 480, and whether the warrants meet all of the requirements for equity classification under ASC 815, including whether the warrants are indexed to the Company’s own common shares and whether the warrant holders could potentially require “net cash settlement” in a circumstance outside of the Company’s control, among other conditions for equity classification. This assessment, which requires the use of professional judgment, is conducted at the time warrant issuance and as of each subsequent quarterly period end date while the warrants are outstanding. For issued or modified warrants that meet all of the criteria for equity classification, the warrants are required to be recorded as a component of additional paid-in capital at the time of issuance. For issued or modified warrants that do not meet all of the criteria for equity classification, the warrants are required to be recorded at their initial fair value on the date of issuance, and each balance sheet date thereafter. Based on its assessment, the Company accounts for its warrants as equity-classified.
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NOTE 3 — INITIAL PUBLIC OFFERING
On August 22, 2023, the Company consummated its Initial Public Offering of 7,500,000 Units at a purchase price of $10.00 per Unit, generating gross proceeds of $75,000,000. The underwriters had a 45-day option from August 17, 2023 (the date of the prospectus) to purchase up to an additional 1,125,000 units to cover over-allotments, if any. On October 1, 2023, the over-allotment option period expired, with the underwriters not exercising their over-allotment option.
Each Unit consists of one share of Class A common stock of the Company, one redeemable warrant (“Public Warrant”) and one right. Each Public Warrant entitles the holder to purchase one share of Class A common stock at an exercise price of $11.50 per whole share (see Note 7). Each right entitles the holder thereof to receive one-fifth (1/5) of one share of Class A common stock upon the consummation of an initial business combination (see Note 7).
As of December 31, 2023, the Company incurred offering costs of $4,281,901, of which $2,625,000 was for deferred underwriting commissions.
NOTE 4 — PRIVATE PLACEMENT
The Sponsor purchased an aggregate of 2,865,500 warrants at a price of $1.00 per Private Placement Warrant, for an aggregate purchase price of $2,865,500, in a private placement that occurred simultaneously with the closing of the Initial Public Offering. The Sponsor was committed to purchase up to an additional 240,075 warrants to the extent the underwriters’ over-allotment option was exercised, which option expired unexercised on October 1, 2023 (see Note 3). Each Private Placement Warrant is exercisable to purchase one share of Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment (see Note 7). A portion of the proceeds from the Private Placement Warrants was added to the proceeds from the Initial Public Offering held in the Trust Account. If the Company does not complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period, the proceeds from the sale of the Private Placement Warrants will be used to fund the redemption of the Public Shares (subject to the requirements of applicable law) and the Private Placement Warrants will expire worthless.
NOTE 5 — RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS
Founder Shares
On August 16, 2022, the Company approved the acquisition by transfer of an aggregate of 2,156,250 shares of Class B common stock of the Company (the “Founder Shares”) to the Sponsor for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000 in cash, or approximately $0.01 per share. In connection with a planned increase in the size of the Initial Public Offering, on February 8, 2023, the Company declared a 42.22% share dividend on each Founder Share, thereby increasing the number of issued and outstanding Founder Shares to 3,066,667. On August 17, 2023, the Sponsor forfeited an aggregate of 191,667 Founder Shares for no consideration, resulting in the Sponsor holding an aggregate of 2,875,000 Founder Shares, including an aggregate of 375,000 Founder Shares subject to forfeiture by the Sponsor to the extent the underwriters’ over-allotment option was not exercised in full or in part. All share amounts presented have been retroactively restated to reflect the share dividend and forfeiture. The number of Founder Shares issued was determined so that the Sponsor will collectively own, on an as-converted basis, 25% of the Company’s issued and outstanding shares after the Initial Public Offering (assuming the Sponsor does not purchase any Public Shares in the Initial Public Offering). On October 1, 2023, in connection with the underwriters not exercising their over-allotment option (see Note 3), the Sponsor forfeited an aggregate of 375,000 Founder Shares.
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The Sponsor has agreed, subject to certain limited exceptions, not to transfer, assign or sell any of the Founder Shares until the earlier to occur of: (i) one year after the completion of a Business Combination, and (ii) subsequent to the Business Combination, (A) if the last reported sale 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 a Business Combination, or (B) the date on which the Company completes a liquidation, merger, capital stock exchange or other similar transaction that results in all of the Company’s stockholders having the right to exchange their common stock for cash, securities or other property.
Administrative Services Agreement
The Company entered into an agreement upon the completion of the Initial Public Offering to pay the Sponsor a total of up to $10,000 per month for business and administrative support services. Upon completion of the Business Combination or the Company’s liquidation, the Company will cease paying these monthly fees. As of December 31, 2023, the Company has incurred $43,226 in related party fees for the services provided by the Sponsor under this agreement.
Promissory Note — Related Party
On August 16, 2022, the Sponsor agreed to loan the Company an aggregate of up to $300,000 to cover expenses related to the Initial Public Offering pursuant to a promissory note (the “Note”). The Note is non-interest bearing and is payable on the earlier of the consummation of a Business Combination or the liquidation of the Company on or before the 9-month anniversary of the completion of the Initial Public Offering (or up to the 15-month anniversary if the Company extends the period of time to consummate a Business Combination) or such later liquidation date as may be approved by the Company’s stockholders (a “Liquidation”). Upon maturity, the Note would be repaid, without interest or, at the lender’s discretion, the Note may be converted into warrants (the “Conversion Warrants”), at a price of $1.00 per warrant. The Conversion Warrants would be identical to the Private Placement Warrants. As of December 31, 2022, the Company had no borrowings outstanding under the Note.
During the year ended December 31, 2023, the Company borrowed $67,610 under the Note to pay for vendor invoices and converted the remaining balance due to the Sponsor of $35,000 (see below) through a draw under the Note. As of December 31, 2023, the Company had an outstanding balance of $102,610 under the Note, with $197,390 available to draw.
Related Party Loans
In order to finance transaction costs in connection with a Business Combination, the Sponsor or an affiliate of the Sponsor or certain of the Company’s directors and officers may, but are not obligated to, loan the Company funds as may be required (“Working Capital Loans”). If the Company completes a Business Combination, the Company would repay the Working Capital Loans out of the proceeds of the Trust Account released to the Company.
Otherwise, the Working Capital Loans would be repaid only out of funds held outside the Trust Account. In the event that a Business Combination does not close, the Company may use a portion of proceeds held outside the Trust Account to repay the Working Capital Loans, but no proceeds held in the Trust Account would be used to repay the Working Capital Loans. Except for the foregoing, the terms of such Working Capital Loans, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. The Working Capital Loans would be repaid upon consummation of a Business Combination, without interest or, at the lender’s discretion, up to $1,500,000 of such Working Capital Loans may be converted into warrants, at a price of $1.00 per warrant. These warrants would be identical to the Private Placement Warrants. Except for the foregoing, the terms of such Working Capital Loans, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. As of December 31, 2023 and 2022, no Working Capital Loans were outstanding.
Advances from Related Party
An affiliate of the Sponsor paid certain formation, deferred offering and operating costs totaling $29,001 on behalf of the Company during the period from June 14, 2022 (inception) through December 31, 2022. These advances are non-interest bearing and payable on demand. As of December 31, 2023 and 2022, $29,001 was due to the related party.
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Due to Sponsor
During the period from June 14, 2022 (inception) through December 31, 2022, the Company received funds totaling $400,000 from various investors on behalf of the Sponsor. These monies represent advances paid to the Sponsor for purchase of Private Placement Warrants upon successful completion of the Proposed Public Offering. The monies should have been deposited into the Sponsor’s bank account instead of the Company’s bank account. These amounts are non-interest bearing and payable on demand. During the period from June 14, 2022 (inception) through December 31, 2022, the Company repaid $365,000 of the balance due to the Sponsor related to investments it had collected on behalf of the Sponsor, resulting in a balance of $35,000 due to the Sponsor as of December 31, 2022. During the year ended December 31, 2023, the Company converted the remaining balance of $35,000 due to the Sponsor through a draw under the Note (see above).
NOTE 6 — COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES
Registration Rights
The holders of the Founder Shares, Private Placement Warrants, Conversion Warrants and warrants that may be issued upon conversion of Working Capital Loans (and any shares of Class A common stock issuable upon the exercise of the Private Placement Warrants, Conversion Warrants and warrants that may be issued upon conversion of the Working Capital Loans and Founder Shares) are entitled to registration rights pursuant to a registration rights agreement requiring the Company to register such securities for resale (in the case of the Founder Shares, only after conversion to the Class A common stock). The holders of these securities are entitled to make up to three demands, excluding short form demands, that the Company register such securities. In addition, the holders have certain “piggy-back” registration rights with respect to registration statements filed subsequent to the completion of a Business Combination and rights to require the Company to register for resale such securities pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act. However, the registration rights agreement provides that the Company will not be required to effect or permit any registration or cause any registration statement to become effective until termination of the applicable lock-up period. The Company will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such registration statements.
Underwriting Agreement
The Company granted the underwriters a 45-day option to purchase up to 1,125,000 additional Units to cover over-allotments at the Initial Public Offering price, less the underwriting discounts and commissions, which option expired unexercised on October 1, 2023 (see Note 3).
The underwriters are entitled to a cash underwriting discount of $0.1134 per Unit, or $850,500 in the aggregate, payable upon the closing of the Initial Public Offering. The underwriters are entitled to a deferred fee of $0.35 per Unit, or $2,625,000 in the aggregate. The deferred fee will become payable to the underwriters from the amounts held in the Trust Account solely in the event that the Company completes a Business Combination, subject to the terms of the underwriting agreement.
In addition to the underwriting discount, the Company reimbursed the underwriters $69,050 for certain of their out-of-pocket expenses related to the Initial Public Offering, including, but not limited to “road show” expenses, expenses of the underwriters’ legal counsel and diligence and background checks on our directors, director nominees and executive.
Representative Shares
The Company issued to the underwriters 75,000 shares of Class A common stock upon the consummation of the Initial Public Offering. The Company was to issue to the underwriters up to an additional 11,250 shares to the extent the underwriters’ over-allotment option was exercised, which option expired unexercised on October 1, 2023 (see Note 3). The underwriters have agreed not to transfer, assign or sell any such shares until the completion of our initial business combination. In addition, the underwriters have agreed (i) to waive their redemption rights with respect to such shares in connection with the completion of our initial business combination and (ii) to waive their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to such shares if we fail to complete our initial business combination within 9 months from the closing of the Initial Public Offering (or up to 15 months from the consummation of the Initial Public Offering if we extend the period of time for up to three months on two occasions to consummate a business combination, as described in more detail in the prospectus). The representative shares have resale registration rights including one demand and unlimited “piggy-back” rights for periods of five and seven years, respectively, from the commencement of sales of the Initial Public Offering. In compliance with FINRA Rule 5110(g)(8), registration rights granted to the underwriters are limited to demand and “piggy back” rights for periods of five and seven years, respectively, from the effective date of the registration statement of which the prospectus forms a part and such demand rights may be exercised on only one occasion.
The shares have been deemed compensation by FINRA and are therefore subject to a lock-up for a period of 180 days immediately following the commencement of sales of the IPO. Pursuant to FINRA Rule 5110(e)(1), these securities may not be sold, transferred, assigned, pledged or hypothecated nor may they be the subject of any hedging, short sale, derivative, put or call transaction that would result in the economic disposition of the securities by any person for a period of 180 days immediately following the commencement of sales of the IPO except to any underwriter and selected dealer participating in the offering and their officers or partners, registered persons or affiliates or as otherwise permitted under FINRA Rule 5110(e)(2).
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NOTE 7 — STOCKHOLDER’S EQUITY
Preferred Shares — The Company is authorized to issue up to 1,000,000 preferred stock with a par value of $0.0001 per share, with such designations, voting and other rights and preferences as may be determined from time to time by the Company’s board of directors. At December 31, 2023 and 2022, there were no shares of preferred stock issued or outstanding.
Class A Common Stock — The Company is authorized to issue up to 100,000,000 shares of Class A common stock, par value $0.0001 per share. Holders of the Company’s Class A common stock are entitled to one vote per share. At December 31, 2023, as a result of the Closing of the Initial Public Offering, there were 75,000 shares of Class A common stock issued and outstanding, excluding 7,500,000 shares of the Company’s Class A common stock that are considered conditionally redeemable shares and classified as temporary equity in accordance with guidance under ASC 480. As of December 31, 2022, there were no shares of Class A common stock issued or outstanding.
Class B Common Stock — The Company is authorized to issue up to 10,000,000 Class B common stock, par value $0.0001 per share. Holders of the Company’s Class B common stock are entitled to one vote per share. At December 31, 2022, after giving effect to the share dividend and forfeiture described in Note 5, there were 2,875,000 shares of Class B common stock issued and outstanding, of which an aggregate of up to 375,000 shares were subject to forfeiture to the extent the underwriters’ over-allotment option was not exercised in full or in part. All share amounts presented have been retroactively restated to reflect the share dividend and forfeiture. On October 1, 2023, in connection with the underwriters not exercising their over-allotment option (see Note 3), the Sponsor forfeited an aggregate of 375,000 shares of Class B common stock, resulting in 2,500,000 shares issued and outstanding at December 31, 2023.
Holders of Class A common stock and Class B common stock will vote together as a single class on all matters submitted to a vote of stockholders, except as required by law.
The shares of Class B common stock will automatically convert into shares of Class A common stock at the time of a Business Combination, or earlier at the option of the holder, at a ratio such that the number of Class A common stock issuable upon conversion of all Class B common stock will equal, in the aggregate, on an as-converted basis, 25% of the sum of the total number of all shares of common stock outstanding upon completion of the Initial Public Offering plus all Class A shares of common stock issued, or deemed issued or issuable upon conversion or exercise of any equity-linked securities or rights issued or deemed issued, by the Company in connection with or in relation to the consummation of a Business Combination (excluding any Class A common stock or equity-linked securities exercisable for or convertible into Class A shares of common stock issued, or to be issued, to any seller in a Business Combination). In no event will the shares of Class B common stock convert into shares of Class A common stock at a rate of less than one-to-one.
Warrants — Public Warrants may only be exercised for a whole number of shares. No fractional shares will be issued upon exercise of the Public Warrants. The Public Warrants will become exercisable on the later of (a) 30 days after the consummation of a Business Combination or (b) 12 months from the closing of the Initial Public Offering. The Public Warrants will expire five years from the consummation of a Business Combination or earlier upon redemption or liquidation.
The Company will not be obligated to deliver any shares of Class A common stock pursuant to the exercise of a Public Warrant and will have no obligation to settle such Public Warrant exercise unless a registration statement under the Securities Act covering the issuance of the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the Public Warrants is then effective and a prospectus relating thereto is current, subject to the Company satisfying its obligations with respect to registration. No warrant will be exercisable and the Company will not be obligated to issue shares of Class A common stock upon exercise of a warrant unless the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon such warrant exercise have been registered, qualified or deemed to be exempt under the securities laws of the state of residence of the registered holder of the warrants.
F-
The Company has agreed that as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 15 business days after the closing of a Business Combination, it will use its commercially reasonable efforts to file with the SEC a registration statement covering the issuance, under the Securities Act, of the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants. The Company will use its commercially reasonable efforts to cause the same to become effective within 60 business days after the closing of a Business Combination and to maintain the effectiveness of such registration statement, and a current prospectus relating thereto, until the expiration of the warrants in accordance with the provisions of the warrant agreement. If any such registration statement has not been declared effective by the 60th business day following the closing of a Business Combination, holders of the warrants will have the right, during the period beginning on the 61st business day after the closing of a Business Combination and ending upon such registration statement being declared effective by the SEC, and during any other period when the company fails to have maintained an effective registration statement covering the issuance of the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants, to exercise such warrants on a “cashless basis.” Notwithstanding the above, if the Class A common stock is, at the time of any exercise of a warrant, not listed on a national securities exchange such that it satisfies the definition of a “covered security” under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act, the Company may, at its option, require holders of Public Warrants who exercise their warrants to do so on a “cashless basis” in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act and, in the event the Company so elect, the Company will not be required to file or maintain in effect a registration statement, but will use its commercially reasonable efforts to register or qualify the shares under applicable blue sky laws to the extent an exemption is not available.
Redemption of Public Warrants when the price per share of Class A common stock equals or exceeds $18.00: Once the warrants become exercisable, the Company may redeem the outstanding Public Warrants:
| ● | in whole and not in part; |
| ● | at a price of $0.01 per warrant; |
| ● | upon a minimum of 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption, which we refer to as the 30-day redemption period; and |
| ● | if, and only if, the last sale price of our Class A common stock equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) on each of 20 trading days within a 30-trading day period ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which we send the notice of redemption to the warrant holders if, and only if, there is a current registration statement in effect with respect to the shares of Class A common stock underlying such warrants. |
If the Company calls the Public Warrants for redemption, management will have the option to require all holders that wish to exercise the Public Warrants to do so on a “cashless basis,” as described in the warrant agreement. The exercise price and number of shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants may be adjusted in certain circumstances including in the event of a share dividend, or recapitalization, reorganization, merger or consolidation. However, except as described below, the warrants will not be adjusted for the issuance of Class A common stock at a price below its exercise price. Additionally, in no event will the Company be required to net cash settle the warrants. If the Company is unable to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period and the Company liquidates the funds held in the Trust Account, holders of warrants will not receive any of such funds with respect to their warrants, nor will they receive any distribution from the Company’s assets held outside of the Trust Account with the respect to such warrants. Accordingly, the warrants may expire worthless.
The Company will not redeem the warrants unless a registration statement under the Securities Act covering the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants is effective and a current prospectus relating to those shares of Class A common stock is available throughout the 30-day redemption period, except if the warrants may be exercised on a cashless basis and such cashless exercise is exempt from registration under the Securities Act.
F-
In addition, if (x) the Company issues additional shares of Class A common stock or equity-linked securities for capital raising purposes in connection with the closing of our initial business combination at an issue price or effective issue price of less than $9.20 per share of Class A common stock (with such issue price or effective issue price to be determined in good faith by our board of directors and, in the case of any such issuance to our sponsor or its affiliates, without taking into account any founder shares held by our sponsor or its affiliates, prior to such issuance) (the “Newly Issued Price”), (y) the aggregate gross proceeds from such issuances represent more than 60% of the total equity proceeds, and interest thereon, available for the funding of our initial business combination on the date of the consummation of our initial business combination (net of redemptions), and (z) the volume weighted average reported sale price of our common stock during the 10 trading days ending on the third trading day prior to the day on which we consummate our initial business combination (such price, the “Market Value”) is below $9.20 per share, the exercise price of the warrants will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 115% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, and the $18.00 per share redemption trigger price described below under “Redemption of warrants” will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 180% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price.
The Private Placement Warrants are identical to the Public Warrants underlying the Units sold in the Initial Public Offering, except that the Private Placement Warrants and the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon the exercise of the Private Placement Warrants will not be transferable, assignable or saleable until 30 days after the completion of a Business Combination, subject to certain limited exceptions, and will be entitled to registration rights.
The Company accounts for the 10,365,500 warrants issued in connection with the Initial Public Offering (including 7,500,000 Public Warrants and 2,865,500 Private Placement Warrants) in accordance with the guidance contained in ASC 815-40. Such guidance provides that because the warrants meet the criteria for equity treatment thereunder, each warrant must be recorded within equity.
Rights — Except in cases where the Company is not the surviving entity upon completion of a Business Combination, each holder of a right will automatically receive one-fifth (1/5) of one share of Class A common stock upon consummation of a Business Combination, even if the holder of a right converted all shares held by him, her or it in connection with the Business Combination or an amendment to the Company’s amended and restated certificate of incorporation with respect to its pre-business combination activities. In the event that the Company will not be the surviving entity upon completion of a Business Combination, each holder of a right will be required to affirmatively convert his, her or its rights in order to receive the one-fifth (1/5) share underlying each right (without paying additional consideration) upon consummation of the Business Combination.
If the Company is unable to complete a Business Combination within the required time period and it liquidates the funds held in the Trust Account, holders of rights will not receive any of such funds with respect to their rights, nor will they receive any distribution from assets held outside of the Trust Account with respect to such rights, and the rights will expire worthless.
The Company will not issue fractional shares upon conversion of any rights. Fractional shares will either be rounded down to the nearest whole share or otherwise addressed in accordance with applicable law. As a result, the holders of the rights must hold rights in multiples of five in order to receive shares for all of the holders’ rights upon the consummation of a Business Combination.
NOTE 8 — INCOME TAX
The Company’s deferred tax liability, net of allowance, consisted of the following as of December 31, 2023 and 2022:
| 2023 | 2022 | |||||||
| Deferred tax asset (liability) | ||||||||
| Net operating loss carryforward | $ | 15,037 | $ | |||||
| Startup/organization expenses | 74,799 | 725 | ||||||
| Unrealized gain/loss | (309,780 | ) | ||||||
| Total deferred tax assets | (219,944 | ) | 725 | |||||
| Valuation allowance | (74,799 | ) | (725 | ) | ||||
| Deferred tax liability, net of allowance | $ | (294,743 | ) | $ | ||||
F-
The Company’s provision (benefit) for income taxes is as follows for the year ended December 31, 2023 and the period from June 14, 2022 (inception) through December 31, 2022:
| 2023 | 2022 | |||||||
| Federal | ||||||||
| Current expense/(benefit) | $ | $ | ||||||
| Deferred expense/(benefit) | 220,669 | (725 | ) | |||||
| State and Local | — | — | ||||||
| Current | ||||||||
| Deferred | ||||||||
| Change in valuation allowance | 74,074 |
725 | ||||||
| Income tax provision expense/(benefit) | $ | 294,743 | $ | |||||
In assessing the realization of the deferred tax assets, management considers whether it is more likely than not that some portion of all of the deferred tax assets will not be realized. The ultimate realization of deferred tax assets is dependent upon the generation of future taxable income during the periods in which temporary differences representing net future deductible amounts become deductible. Management considers the scheduled reversal of deferred tax liabilities, projected future taxable income and tax planning strategies in making this assessment. After consideration of all of the information available, management believes that significant uncertainty exists with respect to future realization of the deferred tax assets and has therefore established a full valuation allowance. For the year ended December 31, 2023 and the period from June 14, 2022 (inception) through December 31, 2022, the change in the valuation allowance was $74,074 and $725, respectively.
A reconciliation of the federal income tax rate to the Company’s effective tax rate is as follows for the year ended December 31, 2023 and the period from June 14, 2022 (inception) through December 31, 2022:
| 2023 | 2022 | |||||||
| Statutory federal income tax rate | 21.0 | % | 21.0 | % | ||||
| State taxes, net of federal tax benefit | 0.0 | % | 0.0 | % | ||||
| Transaction costs warrants | 0.0 | % | 0.0 | % | ||||
| Meals & entertainment | 0.0 | % | 0.0 | % | ||||
| Valuation allowance | 7.1 | % | 0.0 | % | ||||
| Effective tax rate | 28.1 | % | 21.0 | % | ||||
NOTE 9 — SUBSEQUENT EVENTS
The Company evaluated subsequent events and transactions that occurred after the balance sheet date through the date that the financial statements were available to be issued. Based upon this review, the Company did not identify any subsequent events that would have required adjustment or disclosure in the financial statements other than those described below.
Merger Agreement
On February 12, 2024, the Company entered into a Merger Agreement (the “Merger Agreement”), by and among the Company, Nava Health MD, Inc., a Maryland corporation (“Nava”), and NNAG Merger Sub, Inc., a Maryland corporation and wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company (“Merger Sub”), which, among other things, provides for the merger of Merger Sub with and into Nava, with Nava surviving such merger as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company (the “Merger,” and the transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement, the “Transactions”). Following the consummation of the Transactions, the Company will change its name to Nava Health MD, Inc.
F-
Exhibit 4.7
DESCRIPTION OF SECURITIES
Pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, our authorized capital stock consists of 100,000,000 shares of Class A common stock, $0.0001 par value, 10,000,000 shares of Class B common stock, $0.0001 par value, and 1,000,000 shares of undesignated preferred stock, $0.0001 par value. The following description summarizes the material terms of our capital stock. Because it is only a summary, it may not contain all the information that is important to you.
Units
Each unit has an offering price of $10.00 and consists of one share of Class A common stock, one redeemable warrant and one right. Only whole warrants are exercisable. Each whole warrant entitles the holder to purchase one share of common stock. Pursuant to the warrant agreement, a warrant holder may exercise his, her or its warrants only for a whole number of shares of Class A common stock. This means that only a whole warrant may be exercised at any given time by a warrant holder. No fractional warrants will be issued upon separation of the units and only whole warrants will trade.
We expect the Class A common stock, warrants, and rights comprising the units will begin separate trading on the 52nd day following the closing of this offering unless EF Hutton informs us of its decision to allow earlier separate trading, subject to our having filed the Current Report on Form 8-K described below and having issued a press release announcing when such separate trading will begin. Once the shares of Class A common stock, warrants, and rights commence separate trading, holders will have the option to continue to hold units or separate their units into the component securities. Holders will need to have their brokers contact our transfer agent in order to separate the units into shares of Class A common stock, warrants, and rights.
Common Stock
Upon the closing of this offering, 10,075,000 shares of our common stock will be outstanding (assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option and the corresponding forfeiture of 375,000 founder shares by our sponsor), consisting of:
| ● | 7,500,000 shares of our Class A common stock underlying the units being offered in this offering; |
| ● | 75,000 representative shares issued to EF Hutton or its designees; and |
| ● | 2,500,000 shares of Class B common stock held by our initial stockholders. |
If we increase or decrease the size of the offering, we will effect a stock dividend or a share contribution back to capital or other appropriate mechanism, as applicable, with respect to our Class B common stock immediately prior to the consummation of the offering in such amount as to maintain the ownership of our initial stockholders at 25% of the issued and outstanding shares of our common stock upon the consummation of this offering.
Common stockholders of record are entitled to one vote for each share held on all matters to be voted on by stockholders. Holders of the Class A common stock and holders of the Class B common stock will vote together as a single class on all matters submitted to a vote of our stockholders, except as required by law. Unless specified in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or bylaws, or as required by applicable provisions of the DGCL or applicable stock exchange rules, the affirmative vote of a majority of our shares of common stock that are voted is required to approve any such matter voted on by our stockholders. Our board of directors will be divided into three classes, each of which will generally serve for a term of three years with only one class of directors being elected in each year. There is no cumulative voting with respect to the election of directors, with the result that the holders of more than 50% of the shares voted for the election of directors can elect all of the directors. Our stockholders are entitled to receive ratable dividends when, as and if declared by the board of directors out of funds legally available therefor.
Because our amended and restated certificate of incorporation authorizes the issuance of up to 100,000,000 shares of Class A common stock, if we were to enter into an initial business combination, we may (depending on the terms of such an initial business combination) be required to increase the number of shares of Class A common stock which we are authorized to issue at the same time as our stockholders vote on the initial business combination to the extent we seek stockholder approval in connection with our initial business combination.
In accordance with Nasdaq corporate governance requirements, we are not required to hold an annual meeting until no later than one year after our first fiscal year end following our listing on Nasdaq. Under Section 211(b) of the DGCL, we are, however, required to hold an annual meeting of stockholders for the purposes of electing directors in accordance with our bylaws, unless such election is made by written consent in lieu of such a meeting. We may not hold an annual meeting of stockholders to elect new directors prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, and thus we may not be in compliance with Section 211(b) of the DGCL, which requires an annual meeting. Therefore, if our stockholders want us to hold an annual meeting prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, they may attempt to force us to hold one by submitting an application to the Delaware Court of Chancery in accordance with Section 211(c) of the DGCL.
We will provide our stockholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their public shares upon the completion of our initial business combination at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account as of two business days prior to the consummation of our initial business combination including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our franchise and income taxes, divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, subject to the limitations described herein. The amount in the trust account is initially anticipated to be approximately $10.10 per public share, without taking into account any interest earned on such funds or additional funds, if any, deposited into the trust account in connection with extensions of the period of time to consummate a business combination. The per-share amount we will distribute to investors who properly redeem their shares will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting commissions we will pay to the underwriters. Our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and any public shares held by them in connection with the completion of our initial business combination. Unlike many blank check companies that hold stockholder votes and conduct proxy solicitations in conjunction with their initial business combinations and provide for related redemptions of public shares for cash upon completion of such initial business combinations even when a vote is not required by law, if a stockholder vote is not required by law and we do not decide to hold a stockholder vote for business or other legal reasons, we will, pursuant to our second amended and restated certificate of incorporation, conduct the redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC, and file tender offer documents with the SEC prior to completing our initial business combination. Our second amended and restated certificate of incorporation will require these tender offer documents to contain substantially the same financial and other information about the initial business combination and the redemption rights as is required under the SEC’s proxy rules. If, however, a stockholder approval of the transaction is required by law, or we decide to obtain stockholder approval for business or other legal reasons, we will, like many blank check companies, offer to redeem shares in conjunction with a proxy solicitation pursuant to the proxy rules and not pursuant to the tender offer rules. If we seek stockholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if a majority of the outstanding shares of common stock voted are voted in favor of the initial business combination. A quorum for such meeting will consist of the holders present in person or by proxy of shares of outstanding capital stock of the company representing a majority of the voting power of all outstanding shares of capital stock of the company entitled to vote at such meeting.
However, the participation of our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or their affiliates in privately-negotiated transactions, if any, could result in the approval of our initial business combination even if a majority of our public stockholders vote, or indicate their intention to vote, against such business combination. For purposes of seeking approval of the majority of our outstanding shares of common stock voted, non-votes will have no effect on the approval of our initial business combination once a quorum is obtained. We intend to give approximately 30 days (but not less than 10 days nor more than 60 days) prior written notice of any such meeting, if required, at which a vote shall be taken to approve our initial business combination. These quorums and voting thresholds, and the voting agreements of our initial stockholders, may make it more likely that we will consummate our initial business combination.
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that a public stockholder, together with any affiliate of such stockholder or any other person with whom such stockholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from redeeming its shares with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares of common stock sold in this offering, which we refer to as the Excess Shares. However, we would not be restricting our stockholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our initial business combination. Our stockholders’ inability to redeem the Excess Shares will reduce their influence over our ability to complete our initial business combination, and such stockholders could suffer a material loss in their investment if they sell such Excess Shares on the open market. Additionally, such stockholders will not receive redemption distributions with respect to the Excess Shares if we complete the initial business combination. And, as a result, such stockholders will continue to hold that number of shares exceeding 15% and, in order to dispose such shares would be required to sell their stock in open market transactions, potentially at a loss.
If we seek stockholder approval in connection with our initial business combination, pursuant to the letter agreement our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed to vote their founder shares and any public shares purchased during or after this offering (including in open market and privately negotiated transactions) in favor of our initial business combination. As a result, in the event that only the minimum number of shares representing a quorum is present at a shareholders’ meeting held to vote on our initial business combination, aside from our initial stockholders’ founder shares and representative shares, we would not need any public shares to be voted in favor of an initial business combination in order to have our initial business combination approved (assuming the over-allotment option is not exercised). Additionally, each public stockholder may elect to redeem its public shares irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction (subject to the limitation described in the preceding paragraph).
Pursuant to our second amended and restated certificate of incorporation, if we are unable to complete our initial business combination within 9 months from the closing of this offering (or up to 15 months from the closing of this offering if we extend the period of time to consummate a business combination), we will (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but no more than ten business days thereafter subject to lawfully available funds therefor, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our franchise and income taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. Our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any founder shares held by them if we fail to complete our initial business combination within 9 months from the closing of this offering (or up to 15 months from the closing of this offering if we extend the period of time to consummate a business combination by up to three months on up to two occasions). However, if our initial stockholders acquire public shares in or after this offering, they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to such public shares if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time period.
In the event of a liquidation, dissolution or winding up of the company after an initial business combination, our stockholders are entitled to share ratably in all assets remaining available for distribution to them after payment of liabilities and after provision is made for each class of stock, if any, having preference over the common stock. Our stockholders have no preemptive or other subscription rights. There are no sinking fund provisions applicable to the common stock, except that we will provide our stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares for cash equal to their pro rata share of the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, upon the completion of our initial business combination, subject to the limitations described herein.
Founder Shares
The founder shares are identical to the shares of Class A common stock included in the units being sold in this offering, and holders of founder shares have the same stockholder rights as public stockholders, except that (i) the founder shares are subject to certain transfer restrictions, as described in more detail below, (ii) our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed (A) to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and any public shares held by them in connection with the completion of our initial business combination, (B) to waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and public shares in connection with a stockholder vote to approve an amendment to our second amended and restated certificate of incorporation (x) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 9 months from the closing of this offering (or up to 15 months from the closing of this offering if we extend the period of time to consummate a business combination by up to three months on up to two occasions) or (y) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity and (C) to waive their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any founder shares held by them if we fail to complete our initial business combination within 9 months from the closing of this offering (or up to 15 months from the closing of this offering if we extend the period of time to consummate a business combination by up to three months on up to two occasions), although they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any public shares they hold if we fail to complete our initial business combination within such time period, (iii) the founder shares are shares of our Class B common stock that will automatically convert into shares of our Class A common stock at the time of our initial business combination, on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment as described herein, and (iv) are entitled to registration rights. If we submit our initial business combination to our public stockholders for a vote, our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed pursuant to the letter agreement to vote any founder shares held by them and any public shares purchased during or after this offering (including in open market and privately negotiated transactions) in favor of our initial business combination.
The shares of Class B common stock will automatically convert into shares of Class A common stock at the time of our initial business combination on a one-for-one basis (subject to adjustment for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like), and subject to further adjustment as provided herein. In the case that additional shares of Class A common stock, or equity-linked securities, are issued or deemed issued in excess of the amounts offered in the Company’s initial public offering and related to the closing of the initial business combination, the ratio at which shares of Class B common stock shall convert into shares of Class A common stock will be adjusted (unless the holders of a majority of the outstanding shares of Class B common stock agree to waive such adjustment with respect to any such issuance or deemed issuance) so that the number of shares of Class A common stock issuable upon conversion of all shares of Class B common stock will equal, in the aggregate, on an as-converted basis, 25% of the sum of the total number of all shares of common stock outstanding upon completion of this offering plus all shares of Class A common stock and equity-linked securities issued or deemed issued in connection with the initial business combination (excluding any shares or equity-linked securities issued, or to be issued, to any seller in the initial business combination, any private placement-equivalent securities issued to our sponsor or its affiliates upon conversion of loans made to us). We cannot determine at this time whether a majority of the holders of our Class B common stock at the time of any future issuance would agree to waive such adjustment to the conversion ratio. They may waive such adjustment due to (but not limited to) the following: (i) closing conditions which are part of the agreement for our initial business combination; (ii) negotiation with Class A stockholders on structuring an initial business combination; or (iii) negotiation with parties providing financing which would trigger the anti-dilution provisions of the Class B common stock. If such adjustment is not waived, the issuance would not reduce the percentage ownership of holders of our Class B common stock, but would reduce the percentage ownership of holders of our Class A common stock. If such adjustment is waived, the issuance would reduce the percentage ownership of holders of both classes of our common stock. Holders of founder shares may also elect to convert their shares of Class B common stock into an equal number of shares of Class A common stock, subject to adjustment as provided above, at any time. The term “equity-linked securities” refers to any debt or equity securities that are convertible, exercisable or exchangeable for shares of Class A common stock issues in a financing transaction in connection with our initial business combination, including but not limited to a private placement of equity or debt. Securities could be “deemed issued” for purposes of the conversion rate adjustment if such shares are issuable upon the conversion or exercise of convertible securities, warrants or similar securities.
Our initial stockholders have agreed not to transfer, assign or sell any of their founder shares until the earlier to occur of (i) one year after the date of the consummation of our initial business combination or (ii) the date on which we consummate a liquidation, merger, stock exchange or other similar transaction which results in all of our stockholders having the right to exchange their shares of Class A common stock for cash, securities or other property. Any permitted transferees will be subject to the same restrictions and other agreements of our initial stockholders with respect to any founder shares. All holders of our founder shares have agreed, and any of their permitted transferees will agree, to a waiver of any and all rights to the monies held in the trust account. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if the closing price of our shares of 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 150 days after our initial business combination, the founder shares will no longer be subject to such transfer restrictions.
Preferred Stock
Our second amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that shares of preferred stock may be issued from time to time in one or more series. Our board of directors will be authorized to fix the voting rights, if any, designations, powers, preferences, the relative, participating, optional or other special rights and any qualifications, limitations and restrictions thereof, applicable to the shares of each series. Our board of directors will be able to, without stockholder approval, issue preferred stock with voting and other rights that could adversely affect the voting power and other rights of the holders of the common stock and could have anti-takeover effects. The ability of our board of directors to issue preferred stock without stockholder approval could have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a change of control of us or the removal of existing management. We have no preferred stock outstanding at the date hereof. Although we do not currently intend to issue any shares of preferred stock, we cannot assure you that we will not do so in the future. No shares of preferred stock are being issued or registered in this offering.
Redeemable Warrants
Public Stockholders’ Warrants
Each whole warrant entitles the registered holder to purchase one share of our Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as discussed below, at any time commencing on the later of 12 months from the date that the registration statement we filed in connection with this offering was declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the completion of our initial business combination. Pursuant to the warrant agreement, a warrant holder may exercise its warrants only for a whole number of shares of Class A common stock. This means that only a whole warrant may be exercised at any given time by a warrant holder. No fractional warrants will be issued upon separation of the units and only whole warrants will trade. Accordingly, unless you purchase at least two units, you will not be able to receive or trade a whole warrant.
We will not be obligated to deliver any shares of Class A common stock pursuant to the exercise of a warrant and will have no obligation to settle such warrant exercise unless a registration statement under the Securities Act with respect to the shares of Class A common stock underlying the warrants is then effective and a prospectus relating thereto is current, subject to our satisfying our obligations described below with respect to registration. No warrant will be exercisable and we will not be obligated to issue shares of Class A common stock upon exercise of a warrant unless Class A common stock issuable upon such warrant exercise has been registered, qualified or deemed to be exempt under the securities laws of the state of residence of the registered holder of the warrants. In the event that the conditions in the two immediately preceding sentences are not satisfied with respect to a warrant, the holder of such warrant will not be entitled to exercise such warrant and such warrant may have no value and expire worthless, in which case the purchaser of a unit containing such warrants shall have paid the full purchase price for the unit solely for the shares of Class A common stock underlying such unit. In no event will we be required to net cash settle any warrant.
We are not registering the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants at this time. However, we have agreed that as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 15 business days after the closing of our initial business combination, we will use our best efforts to file with the SEC a registration statement covering the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants, to cause such registration statement to become effective and to maintain the effectiveness of such registration statement, and a current prospectus relating to those shares of Class A common stock until the warrants expire, as specified in the warrant agreement. If a registration statement covering the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants is not effective by the 60th business day after the closing of our initial business combination, warrant holders may, during the period beginning on the 61st business day after the closing of our initial business combination and ending upon such registration statement being declared effective by the SEC and during any other period when we will have failed to maintain an effective registration statement, exercise warrants on a “cashless basis” in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act or another exemption. Notwithstanding the above, if our Class A common stock is at the time of any exercise of a warrant not listed on a national securities exchange such that it satisfies the definition of a “covered security” under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act, we may, at our option, require holders of public warrants who exercise their warrants to do so on a “cashless basis” in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act and, in the event we so elect, we will not be required to file or maintain in effect a registration statement, and in the event we do not so elect, we will use our best efforts to register or qualify the shares under applicable blue sky laws to the extent an exemption is not available.
Once the warrants become exercisable, we may call the warrants for redemption (excluding the private placement warrants):
| ● | in whole and not in part; |
| ● | at a price of $0.01 per warrant; |
| ● | upon not less than 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption (the “30-day redemption period”) to each warrant holder; and |
| ● | if, and only if, the reported last sale price of the Class A common stock equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) on each of 20 trading days within a 30-trading day period ending on the third business day before we send the notice of redemption to the warrant holders. |
If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may not exercise our redemption right if the issuance of shares of common stock upon exercise of the warrants is not exempt from registration or qualification under applicable state blue sky laws or we are unable to effect such registration or qualification. We will use our best efforts to register or qualify such shares of common stock under the blue sky laws of the state of residence in those states in which the warrants were offered by us in this offering.
We have established the last of the redemption criterion discussed above to prevent a redemption call unless there is at the time of the call a significant premium to the warrant exercise price. If the foregoing conditions are satisfied and we issue a notice of redemption of the warrants, each warrant holder will be entitled to exercise its warrant prior to the scheduled redemption date. However, the price of the Class A common stock may fall below the $18.00 redemption trigger price (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) as well as the $11.50 warrant exercise price after the redemption notice is issued.
If we call the warrants for redemption as described above, our management will have the option to require any holder that wishes to exercise its warrant to do so on a “cashless basis.” In determining whether to require all holders to exercise their warrants on a “cashless basis,” our management will consider, among other factors, our cash position, the number of warrants that are outstanding and the dilutive effect on our stockholders of issuing the maximum number of shares of Class A common stock issuable upon the exercise of our warrants. If our management takes advantage of this option, all holders of warrants would pay the exercise price by surrendering their warrants for that number of shares of Class A common stock equal to the quotient obtained by dividing (x) the product of the number of shares of Class A common stock underlying the warrants, multiplied by the difference between the exercise price of the warrants and the “fair market value” (defined below) by (y) the fair market value. The “fair market value” shall mean the average reported last sale price of the Class A common stock for the 10 trading days ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which the notice of redemption is sent to the holders of warrants. If our management takes advantage of this option, the notice of redemption will contain the information necessary to calculate the number of shares of Class A common stock to be received upon exercise of the warrants, including the “fair market value” in such case. Requiring a cashless exercise in this manner will reduce the number of shares to be issued and thereby lessen the dilutive effect of a warrant redemption. We believe this feature is an attractive option to us if we do not need the cash from the exercise of the warrants after our initial business combination. If we call our warrants for redemption and our management does not take advantage of this option, our sponsor and its permitted transferees would still be entitled to exercise their private placement warrants for cash or on a cashless basis using the same formula described above that other warrant holders would have been required to use had all warrant holders been required to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis, as described in more detail below.
A holder of a warrant may notify us in writing in the event it elects to be subject to a requirement that such holder will not have the right to exercise such warrant, to the extent that after giving effect to such exercise, such person (together with such person’s affiliates), to the warrant agent’s actual knowledge, would beneficially own in excess of 4.9% or 9.8% (or such other amount as a holder may specify) of the shares of Class A common stock outstanding immediately after giving effect to such exercise.
If the number of outstanding shares of Class A common stock is increased by a stock dividend payable in shares of Class A common stock, or by a split-up of shares of Class A common stock or other similar event, then, on the effective date of such stock dividend, split-up or similar event, the number of shares of Class A common stock issuable on exercise of each warrant will be increased in proportion to such increase in the outstanding shares of Class A common stock. A rights offering to holders of Class A common stock entitling holders to purchase shares of Class A common stock at a price less than the fair market value will be deemed a stock dividend of a number of shares of Class A common stock equal to the product of (i) the number of shares of Class A common stock actually sold in such rights offering (or issuable under any other equity securities sold in such rights offering that are convertible into or exercisable for Class A common stock) and (ii) one (1) minus the quotient of (x) the price per share of Class A common stock paid in such rights offering divided by (y) the fair market value. For these purposes (i) if the rights offering is for securities convertible into or exercisable for Class A common stock, in determining the price payable for Class A common stock, there will be taken into account any consideration received for such rights, as well as any additional amount payable upon exercise or conversion and (ii) fair market value means the average reported last sale price of the Class A common stock for the ten (10) trading days ending on the third trading day prior to the first date on which the shares of Class A common stock trade on the applicable exchange or in the applicable market, regular way, without the right to receive such rights.
In addition, if we, at any time while the warrants are outstanding and unexpired, pay a dividend or make a distribution in cash, securities or other assets to the holders of Class A common stock on account of such shares of Class A common stock (or other shares of our capital stock into which the warrants are convertible), other than (a) as described above, (b) certain ordinary cash dividends, (c) to satisfy the redemption rights of the holders of Class A common stock in connection with a proposed initial business combination, (d) as a result of our repurchase of shares of Class A common stock if a proposed business combination is presented to the stockholders for approval, (e) to satisfy the redemption rights of the holders of Class A common stock in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our second amended and restated certificate of incorporation to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our Class A common stock if we do not complete our initial business combination within 9 months from the closing of this offering (or up to 15 months from the closing of this offering if we extend the period of time to consummate a business combination by up to three months on up to two occasions), or (f) in connection with the redemption of our public shares upon our failure to complete our initial business combination and any subsequent distribution of its assets upon its liquidation, then the warrant exercise price will be decreased, effective immediately after the effective date of such event, by the amount of cash and/or the fair market value of any securities or other assets paid on each share of Class A common stock in respect of such event.
If the number of outstanding shares of our Class A common stock is decreased by a consolidation, combination, reverse stock split or reclassification of shares of Class A common stock or other similar event, then, on the effective date of such consolidation, combination, reverse stock split, reclassification or similar event, the number of shares of Class A common stock issuable on exercise of each warrant will be decreased in proportion to such decrease in outstanding shares of Class A common stock.
Whenever the number of shares of Class A common stock purchasable upon the exercise of the warrants is adjusted, as described above, the warrant exercise price will be adjusted by multiplying the warrant exercise price immediately prior to such adjustment by a fraction (x) the numerator of which will be the number of shares of Class A common stock purchasable upon the exercise of the warrants immediately prior to such adjustment, and (y) the denominator of which will be the number of shares of Class A common stock so purchasable immediately thereafter.
In case of any reclassification or reorganization of the outstanding shares of Class A common stock (other than those described above or that solely affects the par value of such shares of Class A common stock), or in the case of any merger or consolidation of us with or into another corporation (other than a consolidation or merger in which we are the continuing corporation and that does not result in any reclassification or reorganization of our outstanding shares of Class A common stock), or in the case of any sale or conveyance to another corporation or entity of the assets or other property of us as an entirety or substantially as an entirety in connection with which we are dissolved, the holders of the warrants will thereafter have the right to purchase and receive, upon the basis and upon the terms and conditions specified in the warrants and in lieu of the shares of our Class A common stock immediately theretofore purchasable and receivable upon the exercise of the rights represented thereby, the kind and amount of shares of stock or other securities or property (including cash) receivable upon such reclassification, reorganization, merger or consolidation, or upon a dissolution following any such sale or transfer, that the holder of the warrants would have received if such holder had exercised their warrants immediately prior to such event.
The warrants will be issued in registered form under a warrant agreement between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as warrant agent, and us. You should review a copy of the warrant agreement, which was filed as an exhibit to the registration statement we filed in connection with this offering, for a complete description of the terms and conditions applicable to the warrants. The warrant agreement provides that the terms of the warrants may be amended without the consent of any holder to cure any ambiguity or correct any defective provision, but requires the approval by the holders of a majority of the then outstanding public warrants to make any change that adversely affects the interests of the registered holders of public warrants.
The warrants may be exercised upon surrender of the warrant certificate on or prior to the expiration date at the offices of the warrant agent, with the exercise form on the reverse side of the warrant certificate completed and executed as indicated, accompanied by full payment of the exercise price (or on a cashless basis, if applicable), by certified or official bank check payable to us, for the number of warrants being exercised. The warrant holders do not have the rights or privileges of holders of Class A common stock and any voting rights until they exercise their warrants and receive shares of Class A common stock. After the issuance of shares of Class A common stock upon exercise of the warrants, each holder will be entitled to one (1) vote for each share held of record on all matters to be voted on by stockholders.
In addition, if (x) we issue additional shares of Class A common stock or equity-linked securities for capital raising purposes in connection with the closing of our initial business combination at a Newly Issued Price of less than $9.20 per share of Class A common stock (with such issue price or effective issue price to be determined in good faith by our board of directors and, in the case of any such issuance to our sponsor or its affiliates, without taking into account any founder shares held by our sponsor or such affiliates, as applicable, prior to such issuance), (y) the aggregate gross proceeds from such issuances represent more than 60% of the total equity proceeds, and interest thereon, available for the funding of our initial business combination on the date of the consummation of our initial business combination (net of redemptions), and (z) the Market Value is below $9.20 per share, the exercise price of the warrants will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 115% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, and the $18.00 per share redemption trigger price described above will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 180% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price. As used herein, “Market Value” means the average reported last sale price of the Common Stock for the 10 trading days ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which the Company consummates the initial business combination.
No fractional shares will be issued upon exercise of the warrants. If, upon exercise of the warrants, a holder would be entitled to receive a fractional interest in a share, we will, upon exercise, round down to the nearest whole number of shares of Class A common stock to be issued to the warrant holder.
We have agreed that, subject to applicable law, any action, proceeding or claim against us arising out of or relating in any way to the warrant agreement will be brought and enforced in the courts of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, and we irrevocably submit to such jurisdiction, which jurisdiction will be the exclusive forum for any such action, proceeding or claim. See “Each of our warrant agreement and rights agreement will designate the courts of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by holders of our warrants or rights, which could limit the ability of warrant holders and rights holders to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with our company.” This provision applies to claims under the Securities Act but does not apply to claims under the Exchange Act or any claim for which the federal district courts of the United States of America are the sole and exclusive forum.
Private Placement Warrants
The private placement warrants (including the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the private placement warrants) will not be transferable, assignable or saleable until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination, except, among other things, to our officers and directors and other persons or entities affiliated with our sponsor or the underwriters. Except as described above, the private placement warrants have terms and provisions that are identical to those of the warrants being sold as part of the units in this offering, including as to exercise price, exercisability and exercise period.
In order to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds as may be required. Up to $1,500,000 of such working capital loans may be convertible into private placement-equivalent warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant (which, for example, would result in the holders being issued 1,500,000 warrants if $1,500,000 of notes were so converted), at the option of the lender. Such warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants, including as to exercise price, exercisability and exercise period. The terms of such working capital loans by our sponsor or its affiliates, or our officers and directors, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans.
In addition, holders of our private placement warrants are entitled to certain registration rights.
Our sponsor has agreed not to transfer, assign or sell any of the private placement warrants (including the underlying securities and the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of any of the private placement warrants) until the date that is 30 days after the date we complete our initial business combination, except that, among other limited exceptions, transfers made to our officers and directors and other persons or entities affiliated with our sponsor.
Dividends
We have not paid any cash dividends on our common stock to date and do not intend to pay cash dividends prior to the completion of an initial business combination. The payment of cash dividends in the future will be dependent upon our revenues and earnings, if any, capital requirements and general financial conditions subsequent to completion of an initial business combination. The payment of any cash dividends subsequent to an initial business combination will be within the discretion of our board of directors at such time. If we increase or decrease the size of the offering, we will effect a stock dividend or a share contribution back to capital or other appropriate mechanism, as applicable, with respect to our Class B common stock immediately prior to the consummation of the offering in such amount as to maintain the ownership of our initial stockholders at 25% of the issued and outstanding shares of our common stock upon the consummation of this offering (excluding the representative shares). Further, if we incur any indebtedness, our ability to declare dividends may be limited by restrictive covenants we may agree to in connection therewith.
Our Transfer Agent and Warrant Agent
The transfer agent for our common stock and the warrant agent for our warrants is Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company. We have agreed to indemnify Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company in its roles as transfer agent and warrant agent, its agents and each of its stockholders, directors, officers and employees against all claims and losses that may arise out of acts performed or omitted for its activities in that capacity, except for any liability due to any gross negligence, willful misconduct or bad faith of the indemnified person or entity.
Our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation
Our second amended and restated certificate of incorporation will contain certain requirements and restrictions relating to this offering that will apply to us until the completion of our initial business combination. These provisions cannot be amended without the approval of the holders of a majority of our common stock. Our initial stockholders, who will collectively beneficially own 25% of our common stock upon the closing of this offering (assuming they do not purchase any units in this offering and excluding the representative shares), will participate in any vote to amend our second amended and restated certificate of incorporation and will have the discretion to vote in any manner they choose. Specifically, our second amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides, among other things, that:
| ● | If we are unable to complete our initial business combination within 9 months from the closing of this offering (or up to 15 months from the closing of this offering if we extend the period of time to consummate a business combination by up to three months on up to two occasions), we will (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter subject to lawfully available funds therefor, redeem 100% of the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our franchise and income taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law; |
| ● | Prior to our initial business combination, we may not issue additional shares of capital stock that would entitle the holders thereof to (i) receive funds from the trust account or (ii) vote on any initial business combination; |
| ● | Although we do not intend to enter into an initial business combination with a target business that is affiliated with our sponsor, our directors or our officers, we are not prohibited from doing so. In the event we enter into such a transaction, we, or a committee of independent directors, will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA or an independent accounting firm that such an initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view; |
| ● | If a stockholder vote on our initial business combination is not required by law and we do not decide to hold a stockholder vote for business or other legal reasons, we will offer to redeem our public shares pursuant to Rule 13e-4 and Regulation 14E of the Exchange Act, and will file tender offer documents with the SEC prior to completing our initial business combination which contain substantially the same financial and other information about our initial business combination and the redemption rights as is required under Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act; whether or not we maintain our registration under the our Exchange Act or our listing on Nasdaq, we will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares by one of the two methods listed above; |
| ● | So long as we maintain a listing for our securities on Nasdaq, Nasdaq rules require that we must complete one or more business combinations having an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the value of the assets held in the trust account (excluding the deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on the interest earned on the trust account) at the time of our signing a definitive agreement in connection with our initial business combination; |
| ● | If our stockholders approve an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (i) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 9 months from the closing of this offering (or up to 15 months from the closing of this offering if we extend the period of time to consummate a business combination by up to three months on up to two occasions), or (ii) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-business combination activity, we will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their shares of Class A common stock upon such approval at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our franchise and income taxes, divided by the number of then outstanding public shares; and |
| ● | We will not effectuate our initial business combination with another blank check company or a similar company with nominal operations. |
Certain Anti-Takeover Provisions of Delaware Law and our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws
We will be subject to the provisions of Section 203 of the DGCL regulating corporate takeovers upon completion of this offering. This statute prevents certain Delaware corporations, under certain circumstances, from engaging in a “business combination” with:
| ● | a stockholder who owns 15% or more of our outstanding voting stock (otherwise known as an “interested stockholder”); |
| ● | an affiliate of an interested stockholder; or |
| ● | an associate of an interested stockholder, for three years following the date that the stockholder became an interested stockholder. |
A “business combination” includes a merger or sale of more than 10% of our assets. However, the above provisions of Section 203 do not apply if:
| ● | our board of directors approves the transaction that made the stockholder an “interested stockholder,” prior to the date of the transaction; |
| ● | after the completion of the transaction that resulted in the stockholder becoming an interested stockholder, that stockholder owned at least 85% of our voting stock outstanding at the time the transaction commenced, other than statutorily excluded shares of common stock; or |
| ● | on or subsequent to the date of the transaction, the initial business combination is approved by our board of directors and authorized at a meeting of our stockholders, and not by written consent, by an affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of the outstanding voting stock not owned by the interested stockholder. |
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that our board of directors will be classified into three classes of directors. As a result, in most circumstances, a person can gain control of our board only by successfully engaging in a proxy contest at three or more annual meetings.
Our authorized but unissued common stock and preferred stock are available for future issuances without stockholder approval and could be utilized for a variety of corporate purposes, including future offerings to raise additional capital, acquisitions and employee benefit plans. The existence of authorized but unissued and unreserved common stock and preferred stock could render more difficult or discourage an attempt to obtain control of us by means of a proxy contest, tender offer, merger or otherwise.
Exclusive forum for certain lawsuits
Our second amended and restated certificate of incorporation requires, to the fullest extent permitted by law, that derivative actions brought in our name, actions against directors, officers and employees for breach of fiduciary duty and certain other actions may be brought only in the Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware, except any action (A) as to which the Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware determines that there is an indispensable party not subject to the jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery (and the indispensable party does not consent to the personal jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery within ten days following such determination), (B) which is vested in the exclusive jurisdiction of a court or forum other than the Court of Chancery or (C) for which the Court of Chancery does not have subject matter jurisdiction. If an action is brought outside of Delaware, the stockholder bringing the suit will be deemed to have consented to service of process on such stockholder’s counsel. Although we believe this provision benefits us by providing increased consistency in the application of law in the types of lawsuits to which it applies, a court may determine that this provision is unenforceable, and to the extent it is enforceable, the provision may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors and officers.
Our second amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that the exclusive forum provision will be applicable to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, subject to certain exceptions. Section 27 of the Exchange Act creates exclusive federal jurisdiction over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or the rules and regulations thereunder. As a result, the exclusive forum provision will not apply to suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction. In addition, our second amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the federal district courts of the United States of America shall, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be the exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder. We note, however, that there is uncertainty as to whether a court would enforce this provision and that investors cannot waive compliance with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. Section 22 of the Securities Act creates concurrent jurisdiction for state and federal courts over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Securities Act or the rules and regulations thereunder.
Rights
Each right represents the right to receive one-fifth (1/5) of one share of Class A common stock upon the consummation of our initial business combination, so each holder of five rights will receive one share of Class A common stock upon consummation of our initial business combination, whether or not we will be the surviving entity and even if the holder of such right redeemed all common stock held by him, her or it in connection with the initial business combination or an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation with respect to our pre-business combination activities. No fractional shares will be issued upon conversion of any rights, so holders must hold rights in denominations of five in order to receive a share of our common stock at the closing of our initial business combination. No additional consideration will be required to be paid by a holder of rights in order to receive his, her or its additional common stock upon consummation of an initial business combination as the consideration related thereto has been included in the unit purchase price paid for by investors in this offering. The shares issuable upon exchange of the rights will be freely tradable (except to the extent held by affiliates of ours).
As soon as practicable upon the occurrence of our initial business combination, we will direct holders of the rights to return their rights certificates to Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, in its capacity as rights agent. Upon receipt of the rights certificate, in a business combination in which we will be the surviving entity, we will issue to the registered holder of such rights the number of full shares of our common stock to which the holder is entitled.
If we enter into a definitive agreement for a business combination in which we will not be the surviving entity, the definitive agreement will provide for the holders of rights to receive the same per share consideration the holders of the Class A common stock will receive in the transaction on an as-converted into common stock basis, and each holder of a right will be required to affirmatively convert his, her or its rights in order to receive the one-fifth (1/5) share underlying each right (without paying any additional consideration) upon consummation of the business combination. More specifically, the right holder will be required to indicate his, her or its election to convert the rights into underlying shares as well as to return the original rights certificates to us.
If we are unable to complete an initial business combination within the required time period and we liquidate the funds held in the trust account, holders of rights will not receive any of such funds with respect to their rights, nor will they receive any distribution from our assets held outside of the trust account with respect to such rights, and the rights will expire worthless.
Promptly upon the consummation of our initial business combination, we will direct registered holders of the rights to return their rights to our rights agent. Upon receipt of the rights, the rights agent will issue to the registered holder of such right(s) the number of full shares of Class A common stock to which he, she or it is entitled. We will notify registered holders of the rights to deliver their rights to the rights agent promptly upon consummation of such business combination and have been informed by the rights agent that the process of exchanging their rights for Class A common stock should take no more than a matter of days. The foregoing exchange of rights is solely ministerial in nature and is not intended to provide us with any means of avoiding our obligation to issue the shares underlying the rights upon consummation of our initial business combination. Other than confirming that the rights delivered by a registered holder are valid, we will have no ability to avoid delivery of the shares underlying the rights. Nevertheless, there are no contractual penalties for failure to deliver securities to the holders of the rights upon consummation of an initial business combination. Additionally, in no event will we be required to net cash settle the rights. Accordingly, the rights may expire worthless.
We will not issue any fractional shares upon conversions of the rights once the units separate, and no cash will be payable in lieu thereof. As a result, a holder must have five rights to receive one share of Class A common stock at the closing of the initial business combination. In the event that any holder would otherwise be entitled to any fractional share upon exchange of his, her or its rights, we will reserve the option, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, to deal with any such fractional entitlement at the relevant time as we see fit, which would include the rounding down of any entitlement to receive Class A common stock to the nearest whole share (and in effect extinguishing any fractional entitlement), or the holder being entitled to hold any remaining fractional entitlement (without any share being issued) and to aggregate the same with any future fractional entitlement to receive shares in the company until the holder is entitled to receive a whole number. Any rounding down and extinguishment may be done with or without any in lieu cash payment or other compensation being made to the holder of the relevant rights, such that value received on exchange of the rights may be considered less than the value that the holder would otherwise expect to receive. All holders of rights shall be treated in the same manner with respect to the issuance of shares upon conversions of the rights.
We have agreed that, subject to applicable law, any action, proceeding or claim against us arising out of or relating in any way to the rights agreement will be brought and enforced in the courts of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, and we irrevocably submit to such jurisdiction, which jurisdiction will be the exclusive forum for any such action, proceeding or claim. See “Risk Factors — Each of our warrant agreement and rights agreement will designate the courts of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by holders of our warrants or rights, which could limit the ability of warrant holders and rights holders to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with our company.” This provision applies to claims under the Securities Act but does not apply to claims under the Exchange Act or any claim for which the federal district courts of the United States of America are the sole and exclusive forum.
Special meeting of stockholders
Our bylaws provide that special meetings of our stockholders may be called only by a majority vote of our board of directors, by our Chief Executive Officer or by our Chairman.
Advance notice requirements for stockholder proposals and director nominations
Our bylaws provide that stockholders seeking to bring business before our annual meeting of stockholders, or to nominate candidates for election as directors at our annual meeting of stockholders, must provide timely notice of their intent in writing. To be timely, a stockholder’s notice will need to be received by the company secretary at our principal executive offices not later than the close of business on the 90th day nor earlier than the opening of business on the 120th day prior to the anniversary date of the immediately preceding annual meeting of stockholders. Pursuant to Rule 14a-8 of the Exchange Act, proposals seeking inclusion in our annual proxy statement must comply with the notice periods contained therein. Our bylaws also specify certain requirements as to the form and content of a stockholders’ meeting. These provisions may preclude our stockholders from bringing matters before our annual meeting of stockholders or from making nominations for directors at our annual meeting of stockholders.
Action by written consent
Subsequent to the consummation of the offering, any action required or permitted to be taken by our common stockholders must be effected by a duly called annual or special meeting of such stockholders and may not be effected by written consent of the stockholders other than with respect to our Class B common stock.
Classified Board of Directors
Our board of directors will initially be divided into three classes, Class I, Class II and Class III, with members of each class serving staggered three-year terms. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that the authorized number of directors may be changed only by resolution of the board of directors. Subject to the terms of any preferred stock, any or all of the directors may be removed from office at any time, but only for cause and only by the affirmative vote of holders of a majority of the voting power of all then outstanding shares of our capital stock entitled to vote generally in the election of directors, voting together as a single class. Any vacancy on our board of directors, including a vacancy resulting from an enlargement of our board of directors, may be filled only by vote of a majority of our directors then in office.
Class B Common Stock Consent Right
For so long as any shares of Class B common stock remain outstanding, we may not, without the prior vote or written consent of the holders of a majority of the shares of Class B common stock then outstanding, voting separately as a single class, amend, alter or repeal any provision our certificate of incorporation, whether by merger, consolidation or otherwise, if such amendment, alteration or repeal would alter or change the powers, preferences or relative, participating, optional or other or special rights of the Class B common stock. Any action required or permitted to be taken at any meeting of the holders of Class B common stock may be taken without a meeting, without prior notice and without a vote, if a consent or consents in writing, setting forth the action so taken, shall be signed by the holders of the outstanding Class B common stock having not less than the minimum number of votes that would be necessary to authorize or take such action at a meeting at which all shares of Class B common stock were present and voted.
Securities Eligible for Future Sale
Immediately after the consummation of this offering (assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option) we will have 10,075,000 (or 11,586,250 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) shares of common stock outstanding. Of these shares, the 7,500,000 shares (or 8,625,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) sold in this offering and the 75,000 representative shares (or 86,250 representative shares if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) will be freely tradable without restriction or further registration under the Securities Act, except for any shares purchased by one of our affiliates within the meaning of Rule 144 under the Securities Act. The 2,500,000 shares of Class B common stock (or 2,875,000 shares if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) are restricted securities under Rule 144, in that they were issued in private transactions not involving a public offering. In addition, the shares of Class B common stock are subject to certain transfer restrictions. These restricted securities will be entitled to registration rights as more fully described below under “— Registration Rights.”
Rule 144
Pursuant to Rule 144, a person who has beneficially owned restricted shares of our common stock, warrants or rights for at least six months would be entitled to sell their securities provided that (i) such person is not deemed to have been one of our affiliates at the time of, or at any time during the three months preceding, a sale and (ii) we are subject to the Exchange Act periodic reporting requirements for at least three months before the sale and have filed all required reports under Section 13 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act during the 12 months (or such shorter period as we were required to file reports) preceding the sale.
Persons who have beneficially owned restricted shares of our common stock, warrants, or rights for at least six months but who are our affiliates at the time of, or at any time during the three months preceding, a sale, would be subject to additional restrictions, by which such person would be entitled to sell within any three-month period only a number of securities that does not exceed the greater of:
| ● | 1% of the total number of shares of Class A common stock then outstanding, which will equal 75,750 shares immediately after this offering (or 87,112 shares if the underwriters exercise their over-allotment option in full); or |
| ● | the average weekly reported trading volume of the common stock during the four calendar weeks preceding the filing of a notice on Form 144 with respect to the sale. |
Sales by our affiliates under Rule 144 are also limited by manner of sale provisions and notice requirements and to the availability of current public information about us.
Restrictions on the Use of Rule 144 by Shell Companies or Former Shell Companies
Rule 144 is not available for the resale of securities initially issued by shell companies (other than business combination related shell companies) or issuers that have been at any time previously a shell company. However, Rule 144 also includes an important exception to this prohibition if the following conditions are met:
| ● | the issuer of the securities that was formerly a shell company has ceased to be a shell company; |
| ● | the issuer of the securities is subject to the reporting requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act; |
| ● | the issuer of the securities has filed all Exchange Act reports and materials required to be filed, as applicable, during the preceding 12 months (or such shorter period that the issuer was required to file such reports and materials), other than Current Reports on Form 8-K; and |
| ● | at least one year has elapsed from the time that the issuer filed current Form 10 type information with the SEC reflecting its status as an entity that is not a shell company. |
As a result, our initial stockholders will be able to sell their founder shares and private placement warrants, and the securities underlying the foregoing, as applicable, pursuant to Rule 144 without registration one year after we have completed our initial business combination.
Registration Rights
The holders of the founder shares (and any shares of Class A common stock issuable upon conversion of the founder shares), private placement warrants (and any shares of Class A common stock issuable upon conversion of the private placement rights or upon the exercise of the private placement warrants), and securities that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans (and any securities that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans) will be entitled to registration rights, requiring us 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 the majority of these securities are entitled to make up to three demands, excluding short form demands, that we register such securities. In addition, the holders have certain “piggy-back” registration rights with respect to registration statements filed subsequent to our completion of our initial business combination 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 will not permit any registration statement filed under the Securities Act to become effective until termination of the applicable lock-up period as described here. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the underwriters may not exercise their demand and “piggyback” registration rights after five (5) and seven (7) years after the effective date of the registration statement we filed in connection with this offering and may not exercise their demand rights on more than one occasion. We will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such registration statements.
Listing of Securities
Our units, Class A common stock, warrants and rights are listed on Nasdaq under the symbols “NNAGU,” “NNAG,” “NNAGW,” and “NNAGR” respectively.
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Exhibit 31.1
CERTIFICATION OF CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
PURSUANT TO RULE 13A-14(A) UNDER THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934,
AS ADOPTED PURSUANT TO SECTION 302 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002
I, Hiren Patel, certify that:
| 1. | I have reviewed this Annual Report on Form 10-K of 99 Acquisition Group Inc.; |
| 2. | Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this report; |
| 3. | Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report; |
| 4. | The registrant’s other certifying officer(s) and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for the registrant and internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the registrant and have: |
| a) | Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under my supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the registrant, is made known to us by others within those entities, particularly during the period in which this report is being prepared; and | |
| b) | (Paragraph omitted pursuant to SEC Release Nos. 33-8238/34-47986 and 33-8392/34-49313); | |
| c) | Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant’s disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report my conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and | |
| d) | Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the registrant’s most recent fiscal quarter (the registrant’s fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting; and |
| 5. | The registrant’s other certifying officer(s) and I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the registrant’s auditors and the audit committee of the registrant’s board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions): |
| a) | All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant’s ability to record, process, summarize and report financial information; and | |
| b) | Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting. |
| Date: April 4, 2024 | |
| /s/ Hiren Patel | |
| Hiren Patel | |
| Chief Executive Officer | |
| (Principal Executive Officer) |
Exhibit 31.2
CERTIFICATION OF CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
PURSUANT TO RULE 13A-14(A) UNDER THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934,
AS ADOPTED PURSUANT TO SECTION 302 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002
I, Hiren Patel, certify that:
| 1. | I have reviewed this Annual Report on Form 10-K of 99 Acquisition Group Inc.; |
| 2. | Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this report; |
| 3. | Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report; |
| 4. | The registrant’s other certifying officer(s) and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for the registrant and internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the registrant and have: |
| a) | Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under my supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the registrant, is made known to us by others within those entities, particularly during the period in which this report is being prepared; and | |
| b) | (Paragraph omitted pursuant to SEC Release Nos. 33-8238/34-47986 and 33-8392/34-49313); | |
| c) | Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant’s disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report my conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and | |
| d) | Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the registrant’s most recent fiscal quarter (the registrant’s fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting; and |
| 5. | The registrant’s other certifying officer(s) and I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the registrant’s auditors and the audit committee of the registrant’s board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions): |
| a) | All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant’s ability to record, process, summarize and report financial information; and | |
| b) | Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting. |
| Date: April 4, 2024 | |
| /s/ Hiren Patel | |
| Hiren Patel | |
| Chief Financial Officer | |
| (Principal Financial and Accounting Officer) |
Exhibit 32.1
CERTIFICATION PURSUANT TO
18 U.S.C. SECTION 1350
AS ADOPTED PURSUANT TO
SECTION 906 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002
In connection with the Annual Report on Form 10-K of 99 Acquisition Group Inc. (the “Company”) for the year ended December 31, 2023, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Report”), I, Hiren Patel, Chief Executive Officer of the Company, certify, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §1350, as added by §906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, that:
| 1. | The Report fully complies with the requirements of Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934; and |
| 2. | To my knowledge, the information contained in the Report fairly presents, in all material respects, the financial condition and results of operations of the Company as of and for the period covered by the Report. |
| Date: April 4, 2024 | |
| /s/ Hiren Patel | |
| Hiren Patel | |
| Chief Executive Officer | |
| (Principal Executive Officer) |
Exhibit 32.2
CERTIFICATION PURSUANT TO
18 U.S.C. SECTION 1350
AS ADOPTED PURSUANT TO
SECTION 906 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002
In connection with the Annual Report on Form 10-K of 99 Acquisition Group Inc. (the “Company”) for the year ended December 31, 2023, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Report”), I, Hiren Patel, Chief Financial Officer of the Company, certify, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §1350, as added by §906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, that:
| 1. | The Report fully complies with the requirements of Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934; and |
| 2. | To my knowledge, the information contained in the Report fairly presents, in all material respects, the financial condition and results of operations of the Company as of and for the period covered by the Report. |
| Date: April 4, 2024 | |
| /s/ Hiren Patel | |
| Hiren Patel | |
| Chief Financial Officer | |
| (Principal Accounting and Financial Officer) |
Exhibit 97.1
99 ACQUISITION GROUP INC.
(the “Company”)
CLAWBACK POLICY
Introduction
The Board of Directors of the Company (the “Board”) believes that it is in the best interests of the Company and its stockholders to create and maintain a culture that emphasizes integrity and accountability and that reinforces the Company’s pay-for-performance compensation philosophy. The Board has therefore adopted this policy which provides for the recoupment of certain executive compensation received in the event of an accounting restatement resulting from material noncompliance with financial reporting requirements under the federal securities laws (the “Policy”). This Policy is designed to comply with Section 10D of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”), the rules and amendments adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) to implement the aforementioned legislation, and the listing standards of the national securities exchange on which the Company’s securities are listed.
Administration
This Policy shall be administered by the Board or, if so designated by the Board, the Compensation Committee, in which case references herein to the Board shall be deemed references to the Compensation Committee. Any determinations made by the Board shall be final and binding on all affected individuals.
Covered Executives
This Policy applies to the Company’s current and former executive officers, as determined by the Board in accordance with Section 10D of the Exchange Act and the listing standards of the national securities exchange on which the Company’s securities are listed, and such other senior executives/employees who may from time to time be deemed subject to the Policy by the Board (“Covered Executives”).
Recoupment; Accounting Restatement
In the event the Company is required to prepare an accounting restatement of its financial statements due to the Company’s material noncompliance with any financial reporting requirement under the securities laws, the Board will require reimbursement or forfeiture of any excess Incentive Compensation (as defined below) received by any Covered Executive during the three completed fiscal years immediately preceding the date on which the Company is required to prepare an accounting restatement.
Incentive Compensation
For purposes of this Policy, Incentive Compensation means any of the following; provided that such compensation is granted, earned, or vested based wholly or in part on the attainment of a financial reporting measure:
| ● | Annual cash bonuses and other short- and long-term cash incentives |
| ● | Stock options |
| ● | Stock appreciation rights |
| ● | Restricted stock |
| ● | Restricted stock units |
| ● | Performance shares |
| ● | Performance units |
Financial reporting measures are measures that are determined and presented in accordance with the accounting principles used in preparing the Company’s financial statements, and any measures that are derived wholly or in part from such measures and may include, among other things, any of the following:
| ● | Company stock price |
| ● | Total stockholder return |
| ● | Revenues |
| ● | Net income |
| ● | Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) |
| ● | Liquidity measures such as working capital or operating cash flow |
| ● | Earnings measures such as earnings per share |
| ● | “Non-GAAP financial measures” for purposes of Exchange Act Regulation G and 17CFR 229.10 |
Excess Incentive Compensation: Amount Subject to Recovery
The amount to be recovered will be the excess of the Incentive Compensation paid to the Covered Executive based on the erroneous data over the Incentive Compensation that would have been paid to the Covered Executive had it been based on the restated results, as determined by the Board.
If the Board cannot determine the amount of excess Incentive Compensation received by the Covered Executive directly from the information in the accounting restatement, then it will make its determination based on a reasonable estimate of the effect of the accounting restatement on the applicable measure.
Method of Recoupment
The Board will determine, in its sole discretion, the method for recouping Incentive Compensation hereunder which may include, without limitation:
| ● | requiring reimbursement of cash Incentive Compensation previously paid; |
| ● | seeking recovery of any gain realized on the vesting, exercise, settlement, sale, transfer, or other disposition of any equity-based awards; |
| ● | offsetting the recouped amount from any compensation otherwise owed by the Company to the Covered Executive; |
| ● | cancelling outstanding vested or unvested equity awards; and/or |
| ● | taking any other remedial and recovery action permitted by law, as determined by the Board. |
No Indemnification
The Company shall not indemnify any Covered Executives against the loss of any incorrectly awarded Incentive Compensation.
Interpretation
The Board is authorized to interpret and construe this Policy and to make all determinations necessary, appropriate, or advisable for the administration of this Policy. It is intended that this Policy be interpreted in a manner that is consistent with the requirements of Section 10D of the Exchange Act and applicable rules or standards adopted by the SEC or any national securities exchange on which the Company's securities are listed.
Effective Date
This Policy shall be effective as of the date it is adopted by the Board (the “Effective Date”) and shall apply to Incentive Compensation that is approved, awarded or granted to Covered Executives on or after October 2, 2023. This Policy shall apply to any excess Incentive Compensation received by Covered Executives during the three immediately completed fiscal years preceding the date on which a company is required to prepare an accounting restatement.
Amendment; Termination
The Board may amend this Policy from time to time in its discretion and shall amend this Policy as it deems necessary to reflect final regulations adopted by the SEC under Section 10D of the Exchange Act and to comply with the rules and standards adopted by the SEC and the listing standards of any national securities exchange on which the Company’s securities are listed. The Board may terminate this Policy at any time.
Other Recoupment Rights
The Board intends that this Policy will be applied to the fullest extent of the law. The Board may require that any employment agreement, equity award agreement, or similar agreement entered into on or after the Effective Date shall, as a condition to the grant of any benefit thereunder, require a Covered Executive to agree to abide by the terms of this Policy. Any right of recoupment under this Policy is in addition to, and not in lieu of, any other remedies or rights of recoupment that may be available to the Company pursuant to the terms of any similar policy in any employment agreement, equity award agreement, or similar agreement and any other legal remedies available to the Company.
Impracticability
The Board shall recover any excess Incentive Compensation in accordance with this Policy unless such recovery would be impracticable, as determined by the Board in accordance with Rule 10D-1 of the Exchange Act and any applicable rules or standards adopted by the SEC and the listing standards of any national securities exchange on which the Company’s securities are listed.
Successors
This Policy shall be binding and enforceable against all Covered Executives and their beneficiaries, heirs, executors, administrators or other legal representatives.
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