NOTE 4 – Shareholders’ Equity (cont.)
In addition, on any date on which the Company submits a Purchase Notice to Aspire Capital in an amount of 150,000 ADSs, the Company also has the right, in its sole discretion, to present Aspire Capital with a volume-weighted average price purchase notice (each, a “VWAP Purchase Notice”) directing Aspire Capital to purchase an amount of ADSs equal to up to 30% of the aggregate shares of the Company’s ADSs traded on its principal market on the next trading day (the “VWAP Purchase Date”), subject to a maximum number of 250,000 ADSs. The purchase price per share pursuant to such VWAP Purchase Notice is generally 97% of the volume-weighted average price for the Company’s ADSs traded on its principal market on the VWAP Purchase Date.
The Purchase Price will be adjusted for any reorganization, recapitalization, non-cash dividend, stock split, or other similar transaction occurring during the period(s) used to compute the Purchase Price. The Company may deliver multiple Purchase Notices and VWAP Purchase Notices to Aspire Capital from time to time during the term of the Purchase Agreement, so long as the most recent purchase has been completed.
The 2020 Purchase Agreement provides that the Company and Aspire Capital shall not effect any sales under the Purchase Agreement on any purchase date where the closing sale price of the Company’s ADSs is less than $0.25. Additionally, governing law in the United Kingdom, where the Company is incorporated, requires a minimum payment per ADS to be issued pursuant to a purchase notice equal to the nominal value of an ADS (i.e., $0.0001). There are no trading volume requirements or restrictions under the Purchase Agreement, and the Company will control the timing and amount of sales of the Company’s ADSs to Aspire Capital. Aspire Capital has no right to require any sales by the Company, but is obligated to make purchases from the Company as directed by the Company in accordance with the Purchase Agreement. There are no limitations on use of proceeds, financial or business covenants, restrictions on future fundings, rights of first refusal, participation rights, penalties or liquidated damages in the Purchase Agreement.
In accordance with ASC 815-40-15, Determining Whether an Instrument (or Embedded Feature) Is Indexed to an Entity’s Own Stock, since the ultimate floor price, which is effectively the nominal value of the ADS which was denominated in GBP at the time of entering into the 2020 Purchase Agreement prior to the 2020 Redenomination, the number of shares issuable under the contract was impacted by foreign currency, therefore ASC 815-40-15-7I precluded the Purchase Agreements from being indexed to the Company’s own stock. The Company determined that the right to sell shares to Aspire Capital under the Purchase Agreements represents a freestanding put option that met the criteria of a derivative pursuant to ASC 815 Derivatives and Hedging. Since the purchase price per share pursuant to the Purchase Agreements is at the market, the Company concluded that the put option has a fair value of zero, and therefore no additional accounting related to the put option was required.
In consideration for entering into the 2020 Purchase Agreement, the Company issued to Aspire Capital 40,760,900 ordinary shares of the Company (the “2020 Commitment Shares”) which had a fair value of approximately $900,000. Since the Company has determined that the 2020 Purchase Agreement was considered a freestanding put option derivative in accordance with ASC 815 Derivatives and Hedging when entering into the agreement, the Company recorded the value of the 2020 Commitment Shares in General and administrative expenses in the Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Loss. The 2020 Purchase Agreement may be terminated by the Company at any time, at its discretion, without any cost to the Company. Aspire Capital has agreed that neither it nor any of its agents, representatives and affiliates shall engage in any direct or indirect short-selling or hedging of the Company’s securities during any time prior to the termination of the 2020 Purchase Agreement. Any proceeds the Company receives under the 2020 Purchase Agreement are expected to be used for working capital and general corporate purposes.
During the twelve months ended December 31, 2020, the Company sold to Aspire Capital 460,758,800 ordinary shares of the Company for gross proceeds of approximately $6,000,000. During the twelve months ended December 31, 2021, the Company sold to Aspire Capital 117,647,100 ordinary shares of the Company for gross proceeds of $2,000,001. As of June 30, 2022, approximately $22 million of the original purchase commitment of $30 million remains available under the facility.