UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549
FORM 10-K
x ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018
OR
o 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: 001-38399
DFB HEALTHCARE ACQUISITIONS CORP.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
Delaware |
| 82-3677704 |
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) |
| (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.) |
780 Third Avenue, New York, NY |
| 10017 |
(Address of principal executive offices) |
| (Zip Code) |
Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (212) 551-1600
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
Title of each class |
| Name of each exchange on which registered |
Units, each consisting of one share of Common Stock and one-third of one Warrant |
| The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC |
Common Stock, par value $0.0001 per share |
| The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC |
Warrants, each whole warrant exercisable for one share of Common Stock at an exercise price of $11.50 |
| 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 o No x
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 o No x
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 x No o
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 x No o
Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K (§ 229.405 of this chapter) is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. x
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 |
| o |
| Accelerated filer |
| o |
Non-accelerated filer |
| x |
| Smaller reporting company |
| x |
|
|
|
| Emerging growth company |
| x |
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. o
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes x No o
As of June 29, 2018 (the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter), the aggregate market value of the common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant was approximately $240,500,000 (based on the closing sales price of the common stock on June 29, 2018 of $9.62, as reported on the Nasdaq Capital Market).
As of March 29, 2019, 31,250,000 shares of the registrant’s common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, were issued and outstanding.
Documents Incorporated by Reference: None.
DFB HEALTHCARE ACQUISITIONS CORP.
ANNUAL REPORT ON FORM 10-K
CERTAIN TERMS
Unless otherwise stated in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, references to:
· “we,” “us,” “company” or “our company” are to DFB Healthcare Acquisitions Corp., a Delaware corporation;
· “common stock” are to our common stock, par value $0.0001 per share;
· “public shares” are to shares of our common stock which were sold as part of the units in our initial public offering (whether purchased in our initial public offering or thereafter in the open market);
· “public warrants” are to our redeemable warrants which were sold as part of the units in our initial public offering (whether purchased in our initial public offering or thereafter in the open market) and to any private placement warrants or warrants issued upon conversion of working capital loans that are sold to third parties that are not initial purchasers or executive officers or directors (or permitted transferees) following the consummation of our initial business combination;
· “warrants” are to the public warrants and private placement warrants;
· “Deerfield Funds” are to domestic private pooled investment vehicles managed by Deerfield Management and its affiliates;
· “Deerfield Management” are to Deerfield Management Company, L.P., a Delaware series limited partnership (Series C) and its affiliates;
· “public stockholders” are to the holders of our public shares, including our initial stockholders and members of our management team to the extent our initial stockholders and/or members of our management team purchase public shares, provided that each initial stockholder’s and member of our management team’s status as a “public stockholder” shall only exist with respect to such public shares;
· “management” or our “management team” are to our officers and directors;
· “sponsor” are to Deerfield/RAB Ventures, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company;
· “founder shares” refer to shares of our common stock initially purchased by our sponsor in a private placement prior to our initial public offering;
· “private placement warrants” are to the warrants which were issued to our sponsor in a private placement simultaneously with the closing of our initial public offering; and
· “initial stockholders” are to holders of our founder shares prior to our initial public offering.
CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
Certain of the statements contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K constitute “forward-looking statements” for purposes of federal securities laws. Our forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our or our management team’s expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future. In addition, any statements that refer to projections, forecasts or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. The words “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “would” and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. 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;
· expectations regarding the time during which we will be an “emerging growth company” under the Jumpstart Our
Business Startups Act of 2012 (the “JOBS Act”);
· use of proceeds not held in the trust account or available to us from interest income on the trust account balance; or
· financial performance.
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. Future developments affecting us may not 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” elsewhere in this report. 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.
Overview
We are a blank check company incorporated in November 2017 as a Delaware corporation formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses, which we refer to throughout this report as our initial business combination. To date, our efforts have been limited to organizational activities as well as activities related to our initial public offering. We have generated no operating revenues to date and we do not expect that we will generate operating revenues until we consummate our initial business combination.
While we may pursue an acquisition opportunity in any business, industry, sector or geographical location, we have initially focused our search on industries that complement our management team’s background in healthcare or healthcare related industries.
Our strategy is to identify, acquire and, after our initial business combination, build, a healthcare or healthcare related business. We intend to focus our investment effort broadly across the entire healthcare industry, which encompasses services, therapeutics, devices, diagnostics and animal health.
The company was jointly founded by our management team and Deerfield Management, a healthcare investment firm with $10.07 billion in regulatory assets under management as of December 31, 2018. We believe that the experience of our management team and our relationship with Deerfield Management will allow us to source, identify and execute an attractive transaction for our shareholders.
Our management team is led by Richard Barasch, our President and Chief Executive Officer, who has more than 30 years of experience in healthcare services, health insurance, and related industries. Mr. Barasch was Chief Executive Officer of Universal American Corp., a publicly-traded health insurance company focused on the senior health market, from 1995 until Universal American’s acquisition by WellCare Health Plans in April 2017. Mr. Barasch has a track record of value creation for shareholders through both organic growth and acquisitions. In 1988, Mr. Barasch and his team invested in Universal American and acquired operating control of a small health insurance company. Including a number of special dividends and proceeds from the sale to WellCare, the shareholders of Universal American ultimately received over $2.5 billion. Universal American’s revenue grew from less than $100 million to over $5.5 billion during his tenure as CEO. Under Mr. Barasch’s leadership, Universal American evolved from a life and health insurance company to a diversified health services provider focused on the senior market, Medicare and Medicaid. Universal American pioneered a physician partnership and engagement model designed to lower costs while improving quality and outcomes. Mr. Barasch also has significant merger and acquisition experience, as Universal American executed over 20 acquisitions and divestitures during his tenure as CEO. This acquisition experience includes the purchase of MemberHealth, a Part D Prescription Drug company, in September 2007, and the subsequent sale of Universal’s Part D Prescription Drug business to CVS Caremark for approximately $1.4 billion in April 2011, in a structured transaction that unlocked substantial value for shareholders.
Our co-founder, Deerfield Management, is an investment firm with over $10.07 billion of regulatory assets under management as of December 31, 2018. Since its launch in 1994, Deerfield Management has focused exclusively on the healthcare industry. Deerfield Management’s investment activity spans both public and private securities, offering an investment flexibility as well as access to investment opportunities across all stages of a company’s life cycle and operating history. Deerfield Management invests broadly across all healthcare sectors, with no restrictions on the size of the company or type of security, and typically has in excess of 100 positions at any given time. In addition to public capital market and private equity investing experience, Deerfield Management has an operational team that provides varying levels of support to Deerfield Management’s portfolio companies. The operational team’s capabilities complement Deerfield Management’s private transactions group which custom designs transactions to accommodate long-term structured investments in healthcare companies. The private transaction group has dedicated fundamental teams with deep product expertise in numerous healthcare sectors, including biotechnology, pharmaceutical devices and healthcare services, as well as a range of corporate finance, accounting and tax resources to source and structure attractive transactions. Deerfield Management also benefits from its in-house research institute, which provides market research and extensive scientific expertise to both the investment team and portfolio companies. These attributes combine to allow Deerfield Management to identify and structure tailored investments that can create growth opportunities for targeted companies. In 2017, Deerfield Management consummated over 50 transactions involving new and existing portfolio companies. We believe that we will benefit from Deerfield Management’s diverse capabilities. Deerfield is represented on our board of directors by Steven Hochberg, who is one of the leaders of Deerfield’s private transactions group and has over 20 years of healthcare investing experience. The Deerfield Funds invested in Universal American and Deerfield Management has a long-standing relationship with Mr. Barasch.
Our management team also includes Christopher Wolfe, our Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Wolfe was a partner of Capital Z Partners Management, a middle-market private equity fund that has invested $3 billion in over 50 transactions since 1990. Capital Z first invested in Universal American in 1998 and has a long-standing relationship with Mr. Barasch.
We have also assembled a group of independent directors who bring us public company governance, executive leadership, operations oversight, private equity investment management and capital markets experience. The members of our board of directors have extensive
experience, having served as directors or officers for numerous 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 as 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 the healthcare industry and that our contacts and relationships, ranging from owners of private and public companies, private equity funds, investment bankers, attorneys, accountants and business brokers will allow us to generate an attractive transaction for our shareholders.
The past performance of the members of our management team, Deerfield Management 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, Deerfield Management or any of its affiliates’ performance as indicative of our future performance. In addition, Deerfield Management and certain of its personnel have been the subject of SEC proceedings. Such proceedings and/or any additional SEC or other governmental actions may harm our ability to complete an initial business combination, including by making prospective target companies less likely to consummate a business combination with us. In addition, if any future SEC or other governmental actions were to preclude Deerfield Management from making further investments, or otherwise curtail Deerfield Management’s operations, Deerfield Management’s ability to purchase shares of our common stock in a private placement in connection with our initial business combination could be impaired.
Competitive Advantages
We intend to capitalize on the following competitive advantages in our pursuit of a target company:
Proactive and Proprietary Transaction Sourcing. Our management team believes that its leading market reputation, proactive approach to sourcing transactions, and extensive network of relationships will provide proprietary investment opportunities. Deerfield Management’s deep industry expertise across all numerous parts of the healthcare spectrum and throughout the capital structure often make them a viable option for healthcare companies seeking capital solutions. Our sponsor believes that they have an established record of generating proprietary investment opportunities resulting from original research. Within targeted sub-sectors, our sponsor analyzes current trends, develops investment theses and creates strategies for originating and evaluating investment opportunities. This research-oriented, data-intensive process allows us to proactively identify trends, find opportunities and execute transactions ahead of potential competitors. Additionally, given Richard Barasch’s long track record and reputation in the healthcare services sector as well as his broad and diverse network, there will be significant potential for Mr. Barasch to source new opportunities that may not be broadly marketed.
Execution and Structuring Capability. Our management team believes that its industry expertise and reputation allow them to source and complete transactions possessing structural attributes that create an attractive investment thesis. These types of transactions are typically complex and require creativity, industry knowledge and expertise, rigorous due diligence, and extensive negotiation and documentation. Deerfield Management’s private transactions group has experience investing in healthcare assets throughout a company’s life cycle. For example, companies that are majority-owned or controlled by the Deerfield Funds range from de novo startups to enterprises having thousands of employees. In addition, complexity associated with healthcare payment mechanics are also well understood by the management team and provide for a broader opportunity set. Our sponsor believes that by focusing its investment activities on these types of transactions, it is able to generate investment opportunities that have attractive risk/reward profiles based on their valuations, structural characteristics and relatively low levels of financial leverage.
Broad Experience Across Public and Private Markets. Our management team and Deerfield Management combine experience in public market investing and private equity transactions. Mr. Barasch was the CEO of a public company for over 22 years, and Mr. Wolfe has extensive experience in sourcing and structuring private equity transactions. Deerfield Management has experience across both public and private markets, with over half of their assets dedicated for investment in privately negotiated transactions. We believe that this versatility of experience and understanding of both public and private markets will allow our sponsor to identify companies that could make successful public market candidates, and prepare them to make the transition to strong publicly-traded companies.
Significant Value-Add Capability. The sector expertise and broad network of relationships of our management team will allow them to add significant value after consummation of an initial transaction. We anticipate that our management team will be involved with a target company in a number of capacities, including: (i) assisting in setting strategic direction and priorities; (ii) designing specific performance improvement projects; (iii) helping to identify and recruit managers; (iv) advising on acquisition and financing transactions; (v) contributing market information; and (vi) developing a targeted investor relations program. Furthermore, our management team is also experienced in navigating complex reimbursement and regulatory issues that many companies in healthcare manage over time. Our management believes that its ability to identify and implement value creation initiatives has been an essential driver of past performance and will remain central to its acquisition strategy.
Industry Opportunity
While we may acquire a business in any industry, we have initially focused our search on the healthcare industry in the United States and other developed countries. We believe the healthcare industry is attractive for a number of reasons:
Large Target Market. The healthcare industry represents an enormous target market. Total U.S. national health expenditure exceeds $3
trillion, and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services has estimated that total healthcare spending will approach 20% of total U.S. Gross Domestic Product over the coming years. The number of private companies in the healthcare industry is significant, with over 30,000 firms focused on various sub-sectors of the healthcare value chain in the United States alone. The market dynamics are similar in Europe and other developed countries.
Broad Universe of Potential Targets. We intend to focus our investment effort broadly across the healthcare industry, which encompasses services, therapeutics, devices, diagnostics and animal health. We believe that our investment and operating expertise in healthcare across multiple industry verticals will give us a large, addressable universe of potential targets. The diversity of the target universe and the number of largely uncorrelated sub-sectors maximizes that likelihood that the management team will be able to identify and execute an attractive transaction.
Limited Competition. Our management team believes that the complexity of the healthcare industry acts as a barrier to entry, requiring investors to have significant sector-specific knowledge and expertise to identify and appropriately analyze investment opportunities. Technical and scientific knowledge, an understanding of the reimbursement environment and regulatory landscape, complex valuation methodologies, specialized accounting treatments, and regulatory and political considerations may deter competition from generalist firms.
Favorable Trends. Total global healthcare expenditure has grown at a pace substantially above the rate of inflation in the recent past, and this growth is projected to continue over the years to come, including an aging population, increased prevalence of chronic disease and improved access to healthcare. While the size of healthcare spending has grown and will continue to grow, this expense has put significant pressure on payors, including federal and state governments as well as individuals. This dynamic has offered opportunities to services companies that can both control cost and improve the overall quality of healthcare, and Mr. Barasch has specialized in identifying these opportunities throughout his career.
The Deerfield Funds have indicated an interest to purchase up to an aggregate of $100,000,000 of our shares of common stock in a private placement that would occur concurrently with the consummation of our initial business combination. However, because indications of interest are not binding agreements or commitments to purchase, the Deerfield Funds may determine not to purchase any such shares, or to purchase fewer shares than they have indicated an interest in purchasing. Furthermore, we are not under any obligation to sell any such shares. If we sell shares to the Deerfield Funds (or any other investor) in connection with our initial business combination, the equity interest of our public stockholders in the combined company may be diluted and the market prices for our securities may be adversely affected. In addition, if the per share trading price of our common stock is greater than the price per share paid in the private placement, the private placement will result in value dilution to you.
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.
· Middle-Market Businesses. We believe that the middle market segment provides the greatest number of opportunities for investment and is consistent with our sponsor’s historical investment history. This segment is where we believe we also have the strongest network to identify the greatest number of attractive opportunities and we believe the larger market capitalization and public float of the resulting company will be more attractive to our investors.
· Established Companies with Proven Track Records. We will seek to acquire one or more established companies with consistent historical financial performance. We will typically focus on companies with a history of strong operating and financial results and strong fundamentals. We do not intend to acquire start-up companies or companies without a path to long-term profitability.
· Companies with Recurring and Embedded Revenue and Earnings Growth or Potential for Revenue and Earnings Growth. We will seek to acquire one or more businesses that have achieved or have the potential for significant revenue and earnings growth through a combination of organic growth, synergistic add-on acquisitions, new product markets and geographies, increased production capacity, expense reduction and increased operating leverage.
· Companies with, or with the Potential for, Strong Free Cash Flow Generation. We will seek to acquire one or more businesses that already have, or have the potential to generate, consistent, stable and recurring free cash flow. We will focus on one or more businesses that have predictable revenue streams with high visibility.
· Strong Competitive Position. We intend to focus on acquisition targets that have a leading, growing or niche market position in their respective industries. We will analyze the strengths and weaknesses of target businesses relative to their competitors. We will seek to acquire one or more businesses that demonstrate advantages when compared to their competitors, which may help to protect their market position and profitability.
· Experienced Management Team. We will seek to acquire one or more businesses with a complete, experienced management team that provides a platform for us to further develop the acquired business’s management capabilities. We will seek to partner with a potential target’s management team and expect that the operating and financial abilities of our executive team and board of directors will complement their own capabilities.
· Benefit from Being a Public Company. We intend to acquire one or more businesses that will benefit from being publicly traded and can effectively utilize the broader access to capital and the public profile that are associated with being a publicly traded company.
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.
Initial Business Combination
Our initial business combination must occur 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) at the time of our signing a definitive agreement in connection with our initial business combination. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or FINRA, or a qualified independent accounting firm with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. Our stockholders may not be provided with a copy of such opinion, nor will they be able to rely on such opinion.
We anticipate structuring our initial business combination so that the post-transaction company in which our public stockholders’ own shares will own or acquire 100% of the equity interests or assets of the target business or businesses. We may, however, structure our initial business combination such that the post-transaction company owns or acquires less than 100% of such interests or assets of the target business in order to meet certain objectives of the target management team or stockholders or for other reasons, but we will only complete such business combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, or the Investment Company Act. Even if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our stockholders prior to the business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post-transaction company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the business combination transaction. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock of a target. In this case, we would acquire a 100% controlling interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new shares, our stockholders immediately prior to our initial business combination could own less than a majority of our outstanding shares subsequent to our initial business combination. If less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses are owned or acquired by the post-transaction company, the portion of such business or businesses that is owned or acquired is what will be valued for purposes of the 80% of net assets test. If the business combination involves more than one target business, the 80% of net assets test will be based on the aggregate value of all of the target businesses.
Acquisition Process
In evaluating a prospective target business, we expect to conduct a thorough due diligence review which will encompass, among other things, meetings with incumbent management and employees, document reviews, inspection of facilities, as well as a review of financial, operational, legal and other information which will be made available to us.
We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with 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 which is a member of FINRA or a qualified independent accounting firm that our initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view.
Members of our management team may directly or indirectly own our common stock and warrants, 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 officers and directors presently has, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to another entity pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entity. Accordingly, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for an entity to which he or she has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she will honor these obligations to present such business combination opportunity to such entities, and may only decide to present it to us if such entities reject the opportunity and consummating the same would not violate any restrictive covenants to which they are subject. Such officers or directors shall also have
the right in the absence of such fiduciary or contractual obligations to offer certain business opportunities to such entities before presenting them to us and, in some instances, may be required to present such opportunities to such other entities before having the ability to offer of such opportunities to us. We do not believe, however, that the fiduciary duties or contractual obligations or other rights of our officers or directors will materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that we renounce our interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any director or officer unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of our company and such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue.
Our sponsor, executive officers and directors have agreed, pursuant to a written letter agreement, not to participate in the formation of, or become an officer or director of, any other special purpose acquisition companies with a class of securities registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, until we have entered into a definitive agreement regarding our initial business combination or we have failed to complete our initial business combination by February 21, 2020.
Our Management Team
Members of our management team 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 that any member of our management team will devote in any time period will vary based on whether a target business has been selected for our initial business combination and the current stage of the business combination process.
We believe our management team’s operating and transaction experience and relationships with companies will provide us with a substantial number of potential business combination targets. Certain members of our management team have spent significant portions of their careers working with businesses in the healthcare industry and have developed a wide network of professional services contacts and business relationships in that industry. The members of our board of directors also have significant executive management and public company experience with healthcare and healthcare related companies.
Status as a Public Company
We believe our structure will make us an attractive business combination partner to target businesses. As an existing public company, we offer a target business an alternative to the traditional initial public offering through a merger or other business combination. In this situation, the owners of the target business would exchange their shares of stock in the target business for shares of our stock or for a combination of shares of our 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 process a more certain method to becoming a public company than the typical initial public offering.
Furthermore, once a proposed 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 prevent the offering from occurring. Once public, we believe the target business would then have greater access to capital and an additional means of providing management incentives consistent with stockholders’ interests. It 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 have a negative view of us since we are a blank check company, without an operating history, and there is uncertainty relating to our ability to obtain stockholder approval of our proposed initial business combination and retain sufficient funds in our trust account in connection therewith.
We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the JOBS Act. We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of (1) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following the fifth anniversary of the completion of our initial public offering, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion, or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our 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 during the prior three-year period.
Financial Position
As of December 31, 2018, we had funds available for a business combination in the amount of approximately $245.1 million, assuming no redemptions and after payment of up to approximately $7,875,000 of deferred underwriting fees. With these funds we can 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 ratio. Because we are able to complete our 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, there can be no assurance that third party financing will be available to us.
Significant Activities Since Inception
In December 2017, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 7,187,500 founder shares for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000. In December 2017 and January 2018, our sponsor transferred 100,000 founder shares to Mr. Wolfe and 30,000 founder shares to each of our independent directors. Following the expiration of the underwriters’ over-allotment option on April 2, 2018, the initial stockholders forfeited an aggregate of 937,500 founder shares, so that the founder shares would represent 20.0% of our issued and outstanding shares after our initial public offering.
The registration statement for our initial public offering was declared effective on February 15, 2018. On February 21, 2018, we consummated our initial public offering of 25,000,000 units at $10.00 per unit, generating gross proceeds of $250,000,000. Simultaneously with the closing of our initial public offering, we consummated the sale of 4,333,333 private placement warrants at a price of $1.50 per warrant in a private placement to our sponsor, generating gross proceeds of $6,500,000.
A total of $250,000,000 of the net proceeds from our initial public offering and the private placement were deposited in a trust account established for the benefit of our public stockholders.
Our units began trading on February 16, 2018 on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbol “DFBHU.” Commencing on April 16, 2018, the common stock and warrants comprising the units began separate trading on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbols “DFBH” and “DFBHW,” respectively. Those units not separated continue to trade on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbol “DFBHU.”
Effecting our Initial Business Combination
We are not presently engaged in, and we will not engage in, any operations until we consummate our initial business combination. We intend to effectuate our initial business combination using cash from the proceeds of our initial public offering and the private placement warrants, our capital stock, debt or a combination of these as the consideration to be paid in our initial business combination. 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 business combination or used for redemptions of purchases of our 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.
Although our management will assess the risks inherent in a particular target business with which we may combine, we cannot assure you that this assessment will result in our identifying all risks that a target business may encounter. Furthermore, some of those risks may be outside of our control, meaning that we can do nothing to control or reduce the chances that those risks will adversely impact a target business.
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. Subject to compliance with applicable securities laws, we would complete such financing only simultaneously with the completion of our business combination. In the case of an initial business combination funded with assets other than the trust account assets, our tender offer documents or proxy materials disclosing the 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.
Origination and Sourcing of Target Business Opportunities
Certain members of our management team have spent significant portions of their careers working with businesses in the healthcare industry, and have developed a wide network of professional services contacts and business relationships in that industry. The members of our board of directors also have significant executive management and public company experience with healthcare and healthcare related companies.
This network has provided our management team with a flow of referrals that have resulted in numerous transactions. We believe that the network of contacts and relationships of our management team will provide us with an important source of acquisition opportunities. In addition, we anticipate that target business candidates will be brought to our attention from various unaffiliated sources, including investment market participants, private equity groups, investment banks, consultants, accounting firms and large business enterprises.
We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor, executive officers or directors, or making the acquisition through a joint venture or other form of shared ownership with our sponsor, executive officers or directors. In the event we seek to complete an initial business combination with a target that is affiliated with our sponsor, executive officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, would obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking
which is a member of FINRA or a qualified 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 executive officers becomes aware of a business combination opportunity that falls within the line of business of any entity, including public and private funds under management of Deerfield management, to which he or she has pre-existing fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she may be required to present such business combination opportunity to such entity prior to presenting such business combination opportunity to us. All of our executive officers currently have certain relevant fiduciary duties or contractual obligations that may take priority over their duties to us. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that we renounce our interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any director or officer unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of our company and such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue.
We anticipate that target business candidates will also be brought to our attention from various unaffiliated sources, including investment bankers, private investment funds and other intermediaries. Target businesses may be brought to our attention by such unaffiliated sources as a result of being solicited by us through calls or mailings. These sources may also introduce us to target businesses in which they think we may be interested on an unsolicited basis, since many of these sources will know what types of businesses we are targeting. Our officers and directors, as well as 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 opportunities that would not otherwise necessarily be available to us as a result of the track record and business relationships of our officers and directors.
Selection of a Target Business and Structuring of Our Initial Business Combination
Our initial 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) at the time of our signing a definitive agreement in connection with our initial business combination. The fair market value of the target or targets 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 or value of comparable businesses. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses, we will obtain an opinion from independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA or a qualified independent accounting firm with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. 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 us 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 valued for purposes of the 80% of net assets test. There is no basis for our public stockholders to evaluate the possible merits or risks of any target business with which we may ultimately complete our business combination.
To the extent we effect our 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 target business, we expect to conduct a thorough due diligence review which will encompass, among other things, meetings with incumbent management and employees, document reviews, inspection of facilities, as well as a review of financial and other information which 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 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.
Lack of business diversification
For an indefinite period of time after the completion of our initial business combination, the prospects for our success may depend entirely on the future performance of a single business. Unlike other entities that have the resources to complete business combinations with multiple entities in one or several industries, it is probable that we will not have the resources to diversify our operations and mitigate the risks of being in a single line of business. By completing our business combination with only a single entity, our lack of diversification may:
· subject us to negative economic, competitive and regulatory developments, any or all of which may have a substantial adverse impact on the particular industry in which we operate after our initial business combination, and
· cause us to depend on the marketing and sale of a single product or limited number of products or services.
Limited ability to evaluate the target’s management team
Although we intend to closely scrutinize the management of a prospective target business when evaluating the desirability of effecting our business combination with that business, our assessment of the target business’s management may not prove to be correct. In addition, the future management may not have the necessary skills, qualifications or abilities to manage a public company. Furthermore, the future role of members of our management team, if any, in the target business cannot presently be stated with any certainty. While it is possible that one or more of our directors will remain associated in some capacity with us following our business combination, it is unlikely that any of them will devote their full efforts to our affairs subsequent to our business combination. Moreover, members of our management team may not have significant experience or knowledge relating to the operations of the particular target business.
Following a business combination, we may seek to recruit additional managers to supplement the incumbent management of the target business. We cannot assure you that we will have the ability to recruit additional managers, or that the additional managers will have the requisite skills, knowledge or experience necessary to enhance the incumbent management.
Stockholders may not have the ability to approve our initial business combination
We may conduct redemptions without a stockholder vote pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC. However, we will seek stockholder approval if it is required by law or applicable stock exchange rule, or we may decide to seek stockholder approval for business or other legal reasons. Presented in the table below is a graphic explanation of the types of initial business combinations we may consider and whether stockholder approval is currently required under Delaware law for each such transaction.
Type of Transaction |
| Whether Stockholder |
Purchase of assets |
| No |
Purchase of stock of target not involving a merger with the company |
| No |
Merger of target into a subsidiary of the company |
| No |
Merger of the company with a target |
| Yes |
Under Nasdaq’s listing rules, stockholder approval would be required for our initial business combination if, for example:
· we issue common stock that will be equal to or in excess of 20% of the number of shares of our common stock then outstanding;
· any of our directors, officers or substantial stockholders (as defined by Nasdaq rules) has a 5% or greater interest (or such persons collectively have a 10% or greater interest), directly or indirectly, in the target business or assets to be acquired or otherwise and the present or potential issuance of common stock could result in an increase in outstanding shares of common stock or voting power of 5% or more; or
· the issuance or potential issuance of common stock will result in our undergoing a change of control.
Permitted purchases of our securities
In the event we seek stockholder approval of our business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase shares in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination. However, they have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such transactions. None of the funds in the trust account will be used to purchase shares in such transactions. They will not make any such purchases when they are in possession of any material non-public information not disclosed to the sellers or if such purchases are prohibited by Regulation M under the Exchange Act. Such a purchase may include a contractual acknowledgement that such stockholder, although still the record holder of our shares is no longer the beneficial owner thereof and therefore agrees not to exercise its redemption rights. Our insiders must: (i) refrain from purchasing shares during certain blackout periods and when they are in possession of any material non-public information and (ii) to clear all trades with our legal counsel prior to execution. We cannot currently determine whether our insiders will make such purchases pursuant to a Rule 10b5-1 plan, as it will be dependent upon several factors, including but not limited to, the timing and size of such purchases. Depending on such circumstances, our insiders may either make such purchases pursuant to a Rule 10b5-1 plan or determine that such a plan is not necessary.
In the event that our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates purchase shares in privately negotiated transactions from public stockholders who have already elected to exercise their redemption rights, such selling stockholders would be required to revoke
their prior elections to redeem their shares. We do not currently anticipate that such purchases, if any, would constitute a tender offer subject to the tender offer rules under the Exchange Act or a going-private transaction subject to the going-private rules under the Exchange Act; however, if the purchasers determine at the time of any such purchases that the purchases are subject to such rules, the purchasers will comply with such rules.
The purpose of such purchases would be to (i) vote such shares in favor of the business combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining stockholder approval of the business combination or (ii) to satisfy a closing condition in an agreement with a target that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash at the closing of our business combination, where it appears that such requirement would otherwise not be met. This may result in the completion of our business combination that may not otherwise have been possible.
In addition, if such purchases are made, the public “float” of our common stock may be reduced and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, which may make it difficult to maintain or obtain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange.
Our sponsor, officers, directors and/or their affiliates anticipate that they may identify the stockholders with whom our sponsor, officers, directors or their affiliates may pursue privately negotiated purchases by either the stockholders contacting us directly or by our receipt of redemption requests submitted by stockholders following our mailing of proxy materials in connection with our initial business combination. To the extent that our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or their affiliates enter into a private purchase, they would identify and contact only potential selling stockholders who have expressed their election to redeem their shares for a pro rata share of the trust account or vote against the business combination. Our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or their affiliates will only purchase shares if such purchases comply with Regulation M under the Exchange Act and the other federal securities laws.
Any purchases by our sponsor, officers, directors and/or their affiliates who are affiliated purchasers under Rule 10b-18 under the Exchange Act will only be made to the extent such purchases are able to be made in compliance with Rule 10b-18, which is a safe harbor from liability for manipulation under Section 9(a)(2) and Rule 10b-5 of the Exchange Act. Rule 10b-18 has certain technical requirements that must be complied with in order for the safe harbor to be available to the purchaser. Our sponsor, officers, directors and/or their affiliates will not make purchases of common stock if the purchases would violate Section 9(a)(2) or Rule 10b-5 of the Exchange Act.
Redemption rights for public stockholders upon completion of our initial business combination
We will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their shares of common stock upon the completion of our initial business combination at a per-share price which is payable in cash and equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account as of two business days prior to the consummation of the initial business combination, including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable by us and any amounts released to us to fund working capital requirements, subject to an annual limit of $250,000) divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, subject to the limitations described elsewhere in this report. The amount in the trust account is $250,000,000, excluding any interest, which is equal to $10.00 per public share. The per-share amount we will distribute to investors who properly redeem their shares will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting commissions we will pay to the underwriters. Our initial stockholders have entered into letter agreements with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and any public shares they may hold in connection with the completion of our business combination.
Manner of Conducting Redemptions
We will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their shares of common stock upon the completion of our initial 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 we will seek stockholder approval of a proposed business combination or conduct a tender offer will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on a variety of factors such as the timing of the transaction and whether the terms of the transaction would require us to seek stockholder approval under the law or stock exchange listing requirement. Asset acquisitions and stock purchases would not typically require stockholder approval while direct mergers with our company where we do not survive and any transactions where we issue more than 20% of our outstanding common stock or seek to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation would require stockholder approval. We intend to conduct redemptions without a stockholder vote pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC unless stockholder approval is required by law or stock exchange listing requirement or we choose to seek stockholder approval for business or other legal reasons.
If a stockholder vote is not required and we do not decide to hold a stockholder vote for business or other legal reasons, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation:
· conduct the redemptions pursuant to Rule 13e-4 and Regulation 14E of the Exchange Act, which regulate issuer tender offers, and
· file tender offer documents with the SEC prior to completing our initial business combination which contain substantially the same financial and other information about the initial business combination and the redemption rights as is required under
Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act, which regulates the solicitation of proxies.
Upon the public announcement of our business combination, we or our sponsor will terminate any plan established in accordance with Rule 10b5-1 to purchase shares of our common stock in the open market if we elect to redeem our public shares through a tender offer, to comply with Rule 14e-5 under the Exchange Act.
In the event we conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, our offer to redeem will remain open for at least 20 business days, in accordance with Rule 14e-1(a) under the Exchange Act, and we will not be permitted to complete our initial business combination until the expiration of the tender offer period. In addition, the tender offer will be conditioned on public stockholders not tendering more than a specified number of public shares which are not purchased by our sponsor, which number will be based on the requirement that we may not redeem public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 upon consummation of our initial business combination (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. If public stockholders tender more shares than we have offered to purchase, we will withdraw the tender offer and not complete the initial business combination.
If, however, stockholder approval of the transaction is required by law or stock exchange listing requirement, or we decide to obtain stockholder approval for business or other legal reasons, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation:
· conduct the redemptions in conjunction with a proxy solicitation pursuant to Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act, which regulates the solicitation of proxies, and not pursuant to the tender offer rules, and
· file proxy materials with the SEC.
In the event that we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, we will distribute proxy materials and, in connection therewith, provide our public stockholders with the redemption rights described above upon completion of the initial business combination.
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 business combination. Subject to the Deerfield Funds’ approval right regarding the initial business combination, our initial stockholders have agreed to vote their founder shares and any public shares purchased during or after our initial public offering in favor of our initial business combination. These voting agreements may make it more likely that we will consummate our initial business combination. Each public stockholder may elect to redeem their public shares irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction. In addition, our initial stockholders have entered into letter agreements with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and any public shares purchased during or after our initial public offering in connection with the completion of our business combination, and the Deerfield Funds have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to the public shares it purchased in our initial public offering.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 upon consummation of our initial business combination (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules). Redemptions of our public shares may also be subject to a higher net tangible asset test or cash requirement pursuant to an agreement relating to our initial business combination. For example, the proposed business combination may require: (i) cash consideration to be paid to the target or its owners, (ii) cash to be transferred to the target for working capital or other general corporate purposes or (iii) the retention of cash to satisfy other conditions in accordance with the terms of the proposed business combination. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all shares of common stock that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed business combination exceed the aggregate amount of cash available to us, we will not complete the business combination or redeem any shares, and all shares of common stock submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof.
Limitation on redemption upon completion of our initial business combination if we seek stockholder approval
Notwithstanding the foregoing, if we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that a public stockholder, together with any affiliate of such stockholder or any other person with whom such stockholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from seeking redemption rights with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in our initial public offering, which we refer to as the “Excess Shares.”. We believe this restriction will discourage stockholders from accumulating large blocks of shares, and subsequent attempts by such holders to use their ability to exercise their redemption rights against a proposed business combination as a means to force us or our management to purchase their shares at a significant premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. Absent this provision, a public stockholder holding more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in our initial public offering could threaten to exercise its redemption rights if such holder’s shares are not purchased by us or our management at a premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. By limiting our stockholders’ ability to redeem no more than 15% of the shares sold in our initial public offering, we believe we will limit the ability of a small group of stockholders to unreasonably attempt to block our ability to complete our business combination, particularly in connection with a business combination with a target that requires as a closing
condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. However, we would not be restricting our stockholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our business combination.
Tendering stock certificates in connection with a tender offer or redemption rights
We may require our public stockholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” to either tender their certificates to our transfer agent prior to the date set forth in the tender offer documents, or up to two business days prior to the vote on the proposal to approve the business combination in the event we distribute proxy materials, or to deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically using Depository Trust Company’s DWAC (Deposit/Withdrawal At Custodian) System, at the holder’s option. The tender offer or proxy materials, as applicable, that we will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination will indicate whether we are requiring public stockholders to satisfy such delivery requirements. Accordingly, a public stockholder would have from the time we send out our tender offer materials until the close of the tender offer period, or up to two days prior to the vote on the business combination if we distribute proxy materials, as applicable, to tender its shares if it wishes to seek to exercise its redemption rights. Given the relatively short exercise period, it is advisable for stockholders to use electronic delivery of their public shares.
There is a nominal cost associated with the above-referenced tendering process and the act of certificating the shares or delivering them through the DWAC System. The transfer agent will typically charge the tendering broker $80.00 and it would be up to the broker whether or not to pass this cost on to the redeeming holder. However, this fee would be incurred regardless of whether or not we require holders seeking to exercise redemption rights to tender their shares. The need to deliver shares is a requirement of exercising redemption rights regardless of the timing of when such delivery must be effectuated.
The foregoing is different from the procedures used by some other blank check companies. In order to perfect redemption rights in connection with their business combinations, some other blank check companies would distribute proxy materials for the stockholders’ vote on an initial business combination, and a holder could simply vote against a proposed business combination and check a box on the proxy card indicating such holder was seeking to exercise his or her redemption rights. After the business combination was approved, the company would contact such stockholder to arrange for him or her to deliver his or her certificate to verify ownership. As a result, the stockholder then had an “option window” after the completion of the business combination during which he or she could monitor the price of the company’s stock in the market. If the price rose above the redemption price, the stockholder could sell its shares in the open market before actually delivering its shares to the company for cancellation. As a result, the redemption rights, to which stockholders were aware they needed to commit before the stockholder meeting, became “option” rights surviving past the completion of the business combination until the redeeming holder delivered its certificate. The requirement for physical or electronic delivery prior to the meeting ensures that a redeeming holder’s election to redeem is irrevocable once the business combination is approved.
Any request to redeem such shares, once made, may be withdrawn at any time up to the date set forth in the tender offer materials or the commencement of the meeting of stockholders held to approve the initial business combination, as applicable. Furthermore, if a holder of a public share delivered its certificate in connection with an election of redemption rights and subsequently decides prior to the applicable date not to elect to exercise such rights, such holder may simply request that the transfer agent return the certificate (physically or electronically). It is anticipated that the funds to be distributed to holders of our public shares electing to redeem their shares will be distributed promptly after the completion of our business combination.
If our initial business combination is not approved or completed for any reason, then our public stockholders who elected to exercise their redemption rights would not be entitled to redeem their shares for the applicable pro rata share of the trust account. In such case, we will promptly return any certificates delivered by public holders who elected to redeem their shares.
If our initial proposed business combination is not completed, we may continue to try to complete a business combination with a different target until February 21, 2020.
Redemption of public shares and liquidation if no initial business combination
We will have only until February 21, 2020 to complete our initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our 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 which is payable in cash and equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (less up to $50,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses, which interest shall be net of taxes payable by us and any amounts released to us to fund working capital requirements, subject to an annual limit of $250,000) 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 liquidation distributions, if any), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to our warrants, which will expire worthless if we fail to complete our business combination within the 24-month time period.
Our initial stockholders have entered into letter agreements with us, pursuant to which they have waived their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to their founder shares if we fail to complete our initial business combination by
February 21, 2020. However, if our initial stockholders acquire public shares in or after our initial public offering, they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to such public shares if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the allotted 24-month time period.
Our sponsor, executive officers and directors have agreed, pursuant to a written letter agreement with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation that would affect the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination by February 21, 2020, unless we provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their shares of common stock upon approval of any such amendment at a per-share price which is payable in cash and equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable by us and any amounts released to us to fund working capital requirements, subject to an annual limit of $250,000) divided by the number of then outstanding public shares. However, we may not redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 upon consummation of our initial business combination (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules). If this optional redemption right is exercised with respect to an excessive number of public shares such that we cannot satisfy the net tangible asset requirement (described above), we would not proceed with the amendment or the related redemption of our public shares at such time. Prior to acquiring any securities from our initial stockholders, permitted transferees must enter into a written agreement with us agreeing to be bound by the same restriction.
We expect that all costs and expenses associated with implementing our plan of dissolution, as well as payments to any creditors, will be funded from amounts remaining out of proceeds held outside the trust account, which were approximately $947,000 as of December 31, 2018, although we cannot assure you that there will be sufficient funds for such purpose. However, if those funds are not sufficient to cover the costs and expenses associated with implementing our plan of dissolution, to the extent that there is any interest accrued in the trust account not required to pay taxes, we may request the trustee to release to us an additional amount of up to $50,000 of such accrued interest to pay those costs and expenses.
If we were to expend all of the net proceeds of our initial public offering, other than the proceeds deposited in the trust account, and without taking into account interest, if any, earned on the trust account, the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders upon our dissolution would be approximately $10.00. The proceeds deposited in the trust account could, however, become subject to the claims of our creditors which would have higher priority than the claims of our public stockholders. We cannot assure you that the actual per-share redemption amount received by stockholders will not be substantially less than $10.00. Under Section 281(b) of the DGCL, our plan of dissolution must provide for all claims against us to be paid in full or make provision for payments to be made in full, as applicable, if there are sufficient assets. These claims must be paid or provided for before we make any distribution of our remaining assets to our stockholders. While we intend to pay such amounts, if any, we cannot assure you that we will have funds sufficient to pay or provide for all creditors’ claims.
Although we have sought and will continue to seek to have all vendors, service providers, except our independent registered accounting firm, prospective target businesses or other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the trust account for the benefit of our public stockholders, there is no guarantee that they will execute such agreements or even if they execute such agreements that they would be prevented from bringing claims against the trust account including but not limited to fraudulent inducement, breach of fiduciary responsibility or other similar claims, as well as claims challenging the enforceability of the waiver, in each case in order to gain an advantage with respect to a claim against our assets, including the funds held in the trust account. If any third-party refuses to execute an agreement waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account, our management will perform an analysis of the alternatives available to it and will only enter into an agreement with a third party that has not executed a waiver if management believes that such third party’s engagement would be significantly more beneficial to us than any alternative. Examples of possible instances where we may engage a third party that refuses to execute a waiver include the engagement of a third-party consultant whose particular expertise or skills are believed by management to be significantly superior to those of other consultants that would agree to execute a waiver or in cases where management is unable to find a service provider willing to execute a waiver. In addition, there is no guarantee that such entities will agree to waive any claims they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any negotiations, contracts or agreements with us and will not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason. In order to protect the amounts held in the trust account, our sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a vendor for services rendered or products sold to us, or a prospective target business with which we have discussed entering into a definitive agreement for a business combination, reduce the amount of funds in the trust account to below (i) $10.00 per public share or (ii) such lesser amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account, due to reductions in value of the trust assets other than due to the failure to obtain such waiver, in each case net of the amount of interest which may be withdrawn to pay taxes, except as 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 our indemnity of the underwriters of our initial public offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. In the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, then our sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third-party claims. We cannot assure you, however, that our sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations. None of our officers will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses.
In the event that the proceeds in the trust account are reduced below (i) $10.00 per public share or (ii) such lesser amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account, due to reductions in value of the trust assets other than due to the failure to obtain such waiver, in each case net of the amount of interest which may be withdrawn to pay taxes, and our sponsor asserts that it is unable to satisfy its indemnification obligations or that it has no indemnification obligations related to a particular
claim, our independent directors would determine whether to take legal action against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations. While we currently expect that our independent directors would take legal action on our behalf against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations to us, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment may choose not to do so in any particular instance. Accordingly, we cannot assure you that due to claims of creditors the actual value of the per-share redemption price will not be substantially less than $10.00 per share.
We have sought and will continue to seek to reduce the possibility that our sponsor will have to indemnify the trust account due to claims of creditors by endeavoring to have all vendors, service providers, prospective target businesses or other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to monies held in the trust account. Our sponsor will also not be liable as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of our initial public offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. As of December 31, 2018, we have access to approximately $947,000 from the proceeds of our initial public offering with which to pay any such potential claims (including costs and expenses incurred in connection with our liquidation, currently estimated to be no more than approximately $50,000). In the event that we liquidate and it is subsequently determined that the reserve for claims and liabilities is insufficient, stockholders who received funds from our trust account could be liable for claims made by creditors.
Under the DGCL, stockholders may be held liable for claims by third parties against a corporation to the extent of distributions received by them in a dissolution. The pro rata portion of our trust account to be distributed to our public stockholders upon the redemption of our public shares in the event we do not complete our business combination by February 21, 2020 may be considered a liquidation distribution under Delaware law. If the corporation complies with certain procedures set forth in Section 280 of the DGCL intended to ensure that it makes reasonable provision for all claims against it, including a 60-day notice period during which any third-party claims can be brought against the corporation, a 90-day period during which the corporation may reject any claims brought, and an additional 150-day waiting period before any liquidating distributions are made to stockholders, any liability of stockholders with respect to a liquidating distribution is limited to the lesser of such stockholder’s pro rata share of the claim or the amount distributed to the stockholder, and any liability of the stockholder would be barred after the third anniversary of the dissolution.
Furthermore, if the pro rata portion of our trust account distributed to our public stockholders upon the redemption of our public shares in the event we do not complete our business combination by February 21, 2020 is not considered a liquidation distribution under Delaware law and such redemption distribution is deemed to be unlawful (potentially due to the imposition of legal proceedings that a party may bring or due to other circumstances that are currently unknown), then pursuant to Section 174 of the DGCL, the statute of limitations for claims of creditors could then be six years after the unlawful redemption distribution, instead of three years, as in the case of a liquidation distribution. If we are unable to complete our business combination by February 21, 2020, 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 which is payable in cash and equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (net of the amount of interest which may be withdrawn to pay taxes and less up to $50,000 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 liquidation distributions, if any), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. Accordingly, it is our intention to redeem our public shares as soon as reasonably possible following February 21, 2020, and, therefore, we do not intend to comply with those procedures. As such, our stockholders could potentially be liable for any claims to the extent of distributions received by them (but no more) and any liability of our stockholders may extend well beyond the third anniversary of such date.
Because we will not be complying with Section 280, Section 281(b) of the DGCL requires us to adopt a plan, based on facts known to us at such time that will provide for our payment of all existing and pending claims or claims that may be potentially brought against us within the subsequent 10 years. However, because we are a blank check company, rather than an operating company, and our operations will be limited to searching for prospective target businesses to acquire, the only likely claims to arise would be from our vendors (such as lawyers, investment bankers, etc.) or prospective target businesses. As described above, pursuant to the obligation contained in our underwriting agreement, we have sought and will continue to seek to have all vendors, service providers, prospective target businesses or other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the trust account.
As a result of this obligation, the claims that could be made against us are significantly limited and the likelihood that any claim that would result in any liability extending to the trust account is remote. Further, our sponsor may be liable only to the extent necessary to ensure that the amounts in the trust account are not reduced below (i) $10.00 per public share or (ii) such lesser amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account, due to reductions in value of the trust assets other than due to the failure to obtain such waiver, in each case net of the amount of interest withdrawn to pay taxes or working capital expenses and less any per-share amounts distributed from our trust account to our public stockholders in the event we are unable to complete our business combination by February 21, 2020 and will not be liable as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of our initial public offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. In the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, our sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third-party claims.
If we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the proceeds held in the
trust account could be subject to applicable bankruptcy law, and may be included in our bankruptcy estate and subject to the claims of third parties with priority over the claims of our stockholders. To the extent any bankruptcy claims deplete the trust account, we cannot assure you we will be able to return $10.00 per share to our public stockholders. Additionally, if we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, any distributions received by stockholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or bankruptcy laws as either a “preferential transfer” or a “fraudulent conveyance.” As a result, a bankruptcy court could seek to recover all amounts received by our stockholders. Furthermore, our board of directors may be viewed as having breached its fiduciary duty to our creditors and/or may have acted in bad faith, and thereby exposing itself and our company to claims of punitive damages, by paying public stockholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors. We cannot assure you that claims will not be brought against us for these reasons.
Our public stockholders will be entitled to receive funds from the trust account only upon the earlier to occur of: (i) the completion of our initial business combination, (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly tendered in connection with a stockholder vote to amend any provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, and (iii) the redemption of all of our public shares if we are unable to complete our business combination by February 21, 2020, subject to applicable law. In no other circumstances will a stockholder have any right or interest of any kind to or in the trust account. In the event we seek stockholder approval in connection with our initial business combination, a stockholder’s voting in connection with the business combination alone will not result in a stockholder’s redeeming its shares to us for an applicable pro rata share of the trust account. Such stockholder must have also exercised its redemption rights described above.
Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation contains certain requirements and restrictions relating to our initial public offering that apply to us until the consummation of our initial business combination. If we seek to amend any provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, we will provide dissenting public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares in connection with any such vote. Our initial stockholders have agreed to waive any redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and public shares in connection with the completion of our initial business combination. Specifically, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides, among other things, that:
· prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, we shall either (1) seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination at a meeting called for such purpose at which stockholders may seek to redeem their shares, regardless of whether they vote for or against the proposed business combination, into their pro rata share of the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable by us and any amounts released to us to fund working capital requirements, subject to an annual limit of $250,000) or (2) provide our stockholders with the opportunity to tender their shares to us by means of a tender offer (and thereby avoid the need for a stockholder vote) for an amount equal to their pro rata share of the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable by us and any amounts released to us to fund working capital requirements, subject to an annual limit of $250,000) in each case subject to the limitations described elsewhere in this report;
· we will consummate our initial business combination only if we have net tangible assets of at least $5,000,001 upon consummation of our initial business combination and, solely if we seek stockholder approval, a majority of the outstanding shares of common stock voted are voted in favor of the business combination;
· if our initial business combination is not consummated by February 21, 2020, then our existence will terminate and we will distribute all amounts in the trust account; and
· 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.
These provisions cannot be amended without the approval of holders of 65% of our common stock. In the event we seek stockholder approval in connection with our initial business combination, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that we may consummate our initial business combination only if approved by a majority of the shares of common stock voted by our stockholders at a duly held stockholders meeting.
Competition
In identifying, evaluating and selecting a target business for our 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 acquisitions. 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 us. 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 acquisition 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.
Employees
We currently have two executive officers. Members of our management team 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 that Mr. Barasch and Mr. Wolfe or any other members of our management team will devote in any time period will vary based on whether a target business has been selected for our initial business combination and the current stage of the business combination process, but we expect that Mr. Barasch and Mr. Wolfe will devote a substantial portion of their professional time to our affairs. We do not intend to have any full-time employees prior to the completion of our business combination.
Periodic Reporting and Financial Information
We have registered our units, common stock and warrants under the Exchange Act and have reporting obligations, including the requirement that we file annual, quarterly and current reports with the SEC. In accordance with the requirements of the Exchange Act, our annual reports will contain financial statements audited and reported on by our independent registered public accounting firm. These filings are available to the public via the Internet at the SEC’s website located at http://www.sec.gov. You may also read and copy any document that we file with the SEC at the SEC’s public reference room located at 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549. For more information, please call the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. You may request a copy of our filings with the SEC (excluding exhibits) at no cost by writing or telephoning us at the following address or telephone number:
DFB Healthcare Acquisitions Corp.
780 Third Avenue
New York, NY 10017
Tel: (212) 551-1600
We will provide stockholders with audited financial statements of the prospective target business as part of the tender offer materials or proxy solicitation materials sent to stockholders to assist them in assessing the target business. In all likelihood, these financial statements will need to be prepared in accordance with, or be reconciled to, accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, or GAAP, or international financial reporting standards, or IFRS, depending on the circumstances. We cannot assure you that any particular target business selected by us as a potential acquisition candidate will have the necessary financial statements. To the extent that this requirement cannot be met, we may not be able to acquire the proposed target business. While this may limit the pool of potential acquisition candidates, we do not believe that this limitation will be material.
We will be required to evaluate our internal control procedures for the year ending December 31, 2019 as required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. As long as we maintain our status as an emerging growth company, we will not be required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement on our internal control over financial reporting. A target company may not be in compliance with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act regarding adequacy of their internal controls. The development of the internal controls of any such entity to achieve compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may increase the time and costs necessary to complete any such acquisition.
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 auditor 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 of 1933, as amended, or 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:
· �� the last day of the fiscal year:
· following the fifth anniversary of the completion of our initial public offering,
· in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion, or
· in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our common stock that is held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30th; and
· the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt during the prior three-year period.
References in this report to “emerging growth company” shall have the meaning associated with it in the JOBS Act.
RISK FACTORS
Ownership of our securities involves a high degree of risk. You should consider carefully all of the risks described below, together with the other information contained in this report, including the financial statements. If any of the following events occur, our business, financial condition and operating results may be materially adversely affected. In that event, the trading price of our securities could decline, and a holder of our securities could lose all or part of its investment. This report also contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements as a result of specific factors, including the risks described below.
Risks Relating to Our Business
We are a blank check company with no operating history and no revenues, and you have no basis on which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective.
We are a blank check company with no operating results to date. Because we lack an operating history, you have no basis upon which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective of completing our initial business combination with one or more target businesses. We may be unable to complete our business combination. If we fail to complete our business combination, we will never generate any operating revenues.
The financial statements included in this report do not take into account the consequences of a failure to complete our initial business combination by February 21, 2020, including our ability to continue as a going concern.
The financial statements included in this report have been prepared assuming that we would continue as a going concern. As discussed in Note 1 to the financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2018, we will cease all operations, except for the purpose of winding up, redeeming all public shares outstanding and dissolving and liquidating in the event that we do not consummate an initial business combination by February 21, 2020. The possibility of our initial business combination not being consummated raises some doubt as to our ability to continue as a going concern and the financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.
Our public stockholders may not be afforded an opportunity to vote on our proposed business combination, which means we may complete our initial business combination even though a majority of our public stockholders do not support such a combination.
We may not hold a stockholder vote to approve our initial business combination unless the business combination would require stockholder approval under applicable state law or stock exchange listing requirements or if we decide to hold a stockholder vote for business or other reasons. For instance, the Nasdaq rules currently allow us to engage in a tender offer in lieu of a stockholder meeting but would still require us to obtain stockholder approval if we were seeking to issue more than 20% of our outstanding shares to a target business as consideration in any business combination. Therefore, if we were structuring a business combination that required us to issue more than 20% of our outstanding shares, we would seek stockholder approval of such business combination. However, except as required by law, the decision as to whether we will seek stockholder approval of a proposed business combination or will allow stockholders to sell their shares to us in a tender offer will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on a variety of factors, such as the timing of the transaction and whether the terms of the transaction would otherwise require us to seek stockholder approval. Accordingly, we may consummate our initial business combination even if holders of a majority of the outstanding shares of our common stock do not approve of the business combination we consummate.
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, our initial stockholders have agreed to vote in favor of such initial business combination, regardless of how our public stockholders vote.
Unlike some other blank check companies in which the initial stockholders agree to vote their founder shares in accordance with the majority of the votes cast by the public stockholders in connection with an initial business combination, our initial stockholders have agreed to vote their founder shares, as well as any public shares purchased during or after our initial public offering, in favor of our initial business combination, and the Deerfield Funds have agreed to vote the public shares they purchased in our initial public offering in favor of our initial business combination, subject to Deerfield Management’s consent right with respect to our initial business combination, described elsewhere in this report. We expect that our initial stockholders and their permitted transferees will own approximately 20.1% of our outstanding shares of common stock at the time of any such vote, and the Deerfield Funds will own approximately 8.0% of our outstanding shares of common stock at the time of any such vote. Accordingly, if we seek stockholder
approval of our initial business combination, it is more likely that the necessary stockholder approval will be received than would be the case if our initial stockholders agreed to vote their founder shares in accordance with the majority of the votes cast by our public stockholders.
Public stockholders may experience dilution if the Deerfield Funds purchase shares of our common stock in connection with the consummation of our initial business combination.
The Deerfield Funds have indicated an interest to purchase up to an aggregate of $100,000,000 of our shares of common stock in a private placement that would occur concurrently with the consummation of our initial business combination. If we sell shares to the Deerfield Funds (or any other investor) in connection with our initial business combination, the equity interest of our public stockholders in the combined company may be diluted and the market prices for our securities may be adversely affected. In addition, if the per share trading price of our common stock is greater than the price per share paid in the private placement, the private placement will result in value dilution to you.
Your only opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding a potential business combination will be limited to the exercise of your right to redeem your shares from us for cash, unless we seek stockholder approval of the business combination.
You may not be provided with an opportunity to evaluate the specific merits or risks of one or more target businesses. Since we may complete a business combination without seeking stockholder approval (unless stockholder approval is required by law or stock exchange listing requirement, or we decide to obtain stockholder approval for business or other legal reasons), public stockholders may not have the right or opportunity to vote on the business combination, unless we seek such stockholder vote. Accordingly, if we do not seek stockholder approval, your only opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding a potential business combination may be limited to exercising your redemption rights within the period of time (which will be at least 20 business days) set forth in our tender offer documents mailed to our public stockholders in which we describe our initial business combination.
The ability of our public stockholders to redeem their shares for cash may make our financial condition unattractive to potential business combination targets, which may make it difficult for us to enter into a business combination with a target.
We may seek to enter into a definitive agreement for a business combination with a prospective target that requires as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. If too many public stockholders exercise their redemption rights, we would not be able to meet such closing condition and, as a result, would not be able to proceed with the business combination. Furthermore, in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 upon consummation of our initial business combination (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. Consequently, if accepting all properly submitted redemption requests would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 upon consummation of our initial business combination or such greater amount necessary to satisfy a closing condition as described above, we would not proceed with such redemption and the related business combination and may instead search for an alternate business combination. Prospective targets will be aware of these risks and, thus, may be reluctant to enter into a business combination transaction with us.
The ability of our public stockholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our shares may not allow us to complete the most desirable business combination or optimize our capital structure.
At the time we enter into a definitive agreement for our initial business combination, we will not know how many stockholders may exercise their redemption rights, and therefore will need to structure the transaction based on our expectations as to the number of shares that will be submitted for redemption. If our definitive agreement for our initial business combination requires us to use a portion of the cash in the trust account to pay the purchase price, or requires us to have a minimum amount of cash at closing, we will need to reserve a portion of the cash in the trust account to meet such requirements, or arrange for third party financing. In addition, if a larger number of shares are submitted for redemption than we initially expected, we may need to restructure the transaction to reserve a greater portion of the cash in the trust account or arrange for third party financing. Raising additional third-party financing may involve dilutive equity issuances or the incurrence of indebtedness at higher than desirable levels. The above considerations may limit our ability to complete the most desirable business combination available to us or optimize our capital structure.
The ability of our public stockholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our shares could increase the probability that our initial business combination would be unsuccessful and that you would have to wait for liquidation in order to redeem your stock.
If the definitive agreement for our initial business combination requires us to use a portion of the cash in the trust account to pay the purchase price, or requires us to have a minimum amount of cash at closing, the probability that our initial business combination would be unsuccessful is increased. If our initial business combination is not consummated, you would not receive your pro rata portion of the trust account until we liquidate the trust account. If you are in need of immediate liquidity, you could attempt to sell your stock in the open market; however, at such time our stock may trade at a discount to the pro rata amount per share in the trust account. In either situation, you may suffer a material loss on your investment or lose the benefit of funds expected in connection with our redemption until we liquidate or you are able to sell your stock in the open market.
The requirement that we complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame may give potential target businesses leverage over us in negotiating a business combination and may decrease our ability to conduct due diligence on potential business combination targets as we approach our dissolution deadline, which could undermine our ability to complete our business combination on terms that would produce value for our stockholders.
Any potential target business with which we enter into negotiations concerning a business combination will be aware that we must complete our initial business combination by February 21, 2020. Consequently, such target business may obtain leverage over us in negotiating a business combination, knowing that if we do not complete our initial business combination with that particular target business, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination with any target business. This risk will increase as we get closer to the deadline described above. In addition, we may have limited time to conduct due diligence and may enter into our initial business combination on terms that we would have rejected upon a more comprehensive investigation.
We may not be able to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame, in which case we would cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up and we would redeem our public shares and liquidate.
We must complete our initial business combination by February 21, 2020. We may not be able to find a suitable target business and complete our initial business combination within such time period. 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 which is payable in cash and equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable by us and any amounts released to us to fund working capital requirements, subject to an annual limit of $250,000, and less up to $50,000 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 liquidation distributions, if any), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law.
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor, directors, executive officers, advisors and their affiliates may elect to purchase shares from public stockholders, which may influence a vote on a proposed business combination and reduce the public “float” of our common stock.
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our sponsor, directors, executive officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase shares in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination, although they are under no obligation to do so. Such a purchase may include a contractual acknowledgement that such stockholder, although still the record holder of our shares is no longer the beneficial owner thereof and therefore agrees not to exercise its redemption rights. In the event that our sponsor, directors, executive officers, advisors or their affiliates purchase shares in privately negotiated transactions from public stockholders who have already elected to exercise their redemption rights, such selling stockholders would be required to revoke their prior elections to redeem their shares. The purpose of such purchases could be to vote such shares in favor of the business combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining stockholder approval of the business combination or to satisfy a closing condition in an agreement with a target that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash at the closing of our business combination, where it appears that such requirement would otherwise not be met. This may result in the completion of our business combination that may not otherwise have been possible.
In addition, if such purchases are made, the public “float” of our common stock and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, possibly making it difficult to maintain or obtain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange.
If a public stockholder fails to receive notice of our offer to redeem our public shares in connection with our business combination, or fails to comply with the procedures for tendering its shares, such shares may not be redeemed.
We will comply with the tender offer rules or proxy rules, as applicable, when conducting redemptions in connection with our business combination. Despite our compliance with these rules, if a public stockholder fails to receive our tender offer or proxy materials, as applicable, such stockholder may not become aware of the opportunity to redeem its shares. In addition, the tender offer documents or proxy materials, as applicable, that we will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination will describe the various procedures that must be complied with in order to validly tender or redeem public shares. In the event that a public stockholder fails to comply with these procedures, its shares may not be redeemed.
You will not have any rights or interests in funds from the trust account, except under certain limited circumstances. To liquidate your investment, therefore, you may be forced to sell your public shares or warrants, potentially at a loss.
Our public stockholders will be entitled to receive funds from the trust account only upon the earlier to occur of: (i) our completion of an initial business combination, and then only in connection with those shares of our common stock that such stockholder properly
elected to redeem, subject to the limitations described elsewhere in this report, (ii) the redemption of our public shares in connection with a stockholder vote to amend any provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity or (iii) the redemption of our public shares if we are unable to complete an initial business combination by February 21, 2020, subject to applicable law and as further described elsewhere in this report. In addition, if our plan to redeem our public shares if we are unable to complete an initial business combination by February 21, 2020 is not completed for any reason, compliance with Delaware law may require that we submit a plan of dissolution to our then-existing stockholders for approval prior to the distribution of the proceeds held in our trust account. In that case, public stockholders may be forced to wait beyond February 21, 2020 before they receive funds from our trust account. In no other circumstances will a public stockholder have any right or interest of any kind in the trust account. Accordingly, to liquidate your investment, you may be forced to sell your public shares or warrants, potentially at a loss.
Nasdaq may delist our securities from trading on its exchange, which could limit investors’ ability to make transactions in our securities and subject us to additional trading restrictions.
Our units, common stock and warrants are currently listed on Nasdaq. We cannot assure you that our securities will continue to be listed on Nasdaq in the future or prior to our initial business combination. In order to continue listing our securities on Nasdaq prior to our initial business combination, we must maintain certain financial, distribution and stock price levels. Generally, we must maintain a minimum amount in stockholders’ equity (generally $2,500,000) and a minimum number of holders of our securities (generally 300 round-lot holders). Additionally, in connection with our initial business combination, we will be required to demonstrate compliance with Nasdaq’s initial listing requirements, which are more rigorous than Nasdaq’s continued listing requirements, in order to continue to maintain the listing of our securities on Nasdaq. For instance, our stock price would generally be required to be at least $4.00 per share and our stockholders’ equity would generally be required to be at least $5,000,000. We may not be able to meet those initial listing requirements at that time.
If Nasdaq delists our securities from trading on its exchange and we are not able to list our securities on another national securities exchange, we expect our securities could be quoted on an over-the-counter market. If this were to occur, we could face significant material adverse consequences, including:
· a limited availability of market quotations for our securities;
· reduced liquidity for our securities;
· a determination that our common stock is a “penny stock” which will require brokers trading in our common stock to adhere to more stringent rules and possibly result in a reduced level of trading activity in the secondary trading market for our securities;
· a limited amount of news and analyst coverage; and
· a decreased ability to issue additional securities or obtain additional financing in the future.
The National Securities Markets Improvement Act of 1996, which is a federal statute, prevents or preempts the states from regulating the sale of certain securities, which are referred to as “covered securities.” Because our units, common stock and warrants are listed on Nasdaq, our units, common stock and warrants are covered securities. Although the states are preempted from regulating the sale of our securities, the federal statute does allow the states to investigate companies if there is a suspicion of fraud, and, if there is a finding of fraudulent activity, then the states can regulate or bar the sale of covered securities in a particular case. While we are not aware of a state having used these powers to prohibit or restrict the sale of securities issued by blank check companies, other than the State of Idaho, certain state securities regulators view blank check companies unfavorably and might use these powers, or threaten to use these powers, to hinder the sale of securities of blank check companies in their states. Further, if we were no longer listed on Nasdaq and not then listed on another national stock exchange, our securities would not be covered securities and we would be subject to regulation in each state in which we offer our securities.
Our stockholders will not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors of many other blank check companies.
Since the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants are intended to be used to complete an initial business combination with a target business that has not been selected, we may be deemed to be a “blank check” company under the United States securities laws. However, because we currently have net tangible assets in excess of $5,000,000, we are exempt from rules promulgated by the SEC to protect investors in blank check companies, such as Rule 419. Accordingly, investors will not be afforded the benefits or protections of those rules. Among other things, this means our units are tradable and we have a longer period of time to complete our business combination than do companies subject to Rule 419. Moreover, Rule 419 would prohibit the release of any interest earned on funds held in the trust account to us unless and until the funds in the trust account were released to us in connection with our completion of an initial business combination.
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, and if you or a “group” of stockholders are deemed to hold in excess of 15% of our common stock, you will lose the ability to redeem all such shares in excess of 15% of our common stock.
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that a public stockholder, together with any affiliate of such stockholder or any other person with whom such stockholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from seeking redemption rights with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in our initial public offering, which we refer to as the “Excess Shares.” However, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation does not restrict our stockholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our business combination. Your inability to redeem the Excess Shares will reduce your influence over our ability to complete our business combination and you could suffer a material loss on your investment in us if you sell Excess Shares in open market transactions. Additionally, you will not receive redemption distributions with respect to the Excess Shares if we complete our business combination. And as a result, you will continue to hold that number of shares exceeding 15% and, in order to dispose of such shares, would be required to sell your stock in open market transactions, potentially at a loss.
Because of our limited resources and the significant competition for business combination opportunities, it may be more difficult for us to complete our initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share, on our redemption, and our warrants will expire worthless.
We expect to encounter intense competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours, including private investors (which may be individuals or investment partnerships), other blank check companies and other entities, domestic and international, competing for the types of businesses we intend to acquire. Many of these individuals and entities are well-established and have extensive experience in identifying and effecting, directly or indirectly, acquisitions of companies operating in or providing services to various industries. Many of these competitors possess greater technical, human and other resources or more local industry knowledge than we do and our financial resources will be relatively limited when contrasted with those of many of these competitors. While we believe there are numerous target businesses we could potentially acquire with the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, our ability to compete with respect to the acquisition of certain target businesses that are sizable will be limited by our available financial resources. This inherent competitive limitation gives others an advantage in pursuing the acquisition of certain target businesses. Furthermore, if we are obligated to pay cash for the shares of common stock redeemed and, in the event we seek stockholder approval of our business combination, we make purchases of our common stock, potentially reducing the resources available to us for our initial business combination. Any of these obligations may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating a business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share upon the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. Furthermore, as described in the risk factor entitled “If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.00 per share,” under certain circumstances our public stockholders may receive less than $10.00 per share upon the liquidation of the trust account.
If the net proceeds of our initial public offering not being held in the trust account are insufficient to allow us to operate until February 21, 2020, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination.
The funds available to us outside of the trust account may not be sufficient to allow us to operate until February 21, 2020, assuming that our initial business combination is not completed during that time. We believe that the funds available to us outside of the trust account will be sufficient to allow us to operate until February 21, 2020. Of the funds available to us, we could use a portion of the funds available to us to pay fees to consultants to assist us with our search for a target business. We could also use a portion of the funds as a down payment or to fund a “no-shop” provision (a provision in letters of intent designed to keep target businesses from “shopping” around for transactions with other companies on terms more favorable to such target businesses) with respect to a particular proposed business combination, although we do not have any current intention to do so. If we entered into a letter of intent where we paid for the right to receive exclusivity from a target business and were subsequently required to forfeit such funds (whether as a result of our breach or otherwise), we might not have sufficient funds to continue searching for, or conduct due diligence with respect to, a target business. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share upon the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. Furthermore, as described in the risk factor entitled “If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.00 per share,” under certain circumstances our public stockholders may receive less than $10.00 per share upon the liquidation of the trust account.
If the net proceeds of our initial public offering not being held in the trust account are insufficient, it could limit the amount available to fund our search for a target business or businesses and complete our initial business combination and we will depend on loans from our sponsor or management team to fund our search, to pay our taxes and to complete our business combination.
As of December 31, 2018, we have approximately $947,000 held outside the trust account to fund our working capital requirements. If we are required to seek additional capital, we would need to borrow funds from our sponsor, management team or other third parties to operate or may be forced to liquidate. Neither our sponsor, members of our management team nor any of their affiliates is under any obligation to advance funds to us in such circumstances. Any such advances would be repaid only from funds held outside the trust account or from funds released to us upon completion of our initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial
business combination because we do not have sufficient funds available to us, we will be forced to cease operations and liquidate the trust account. Consequently, our public stockholders may only receive approximately $10.00 per share on our redemption of our public shares, and our warrants will expire worthless. Furthermore, as described in the risk factor entitled “If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.00 per share,” under certain circumstances our public stockholders may receive less than $10.00 per share upon the liquidation of the trust account.
Subsequent to our completion of our initial business combination, we may be required to subsequently take write-downs or write-offs, restructuring and impairment or other charges that could have a significant negative effect on our financial condition, results of operations and our stock price, which could cause you to lose some or all of your investment.
Even if we conduct extensive due diligence on a target business with which we combine, our diligence may not surface all material issues that may be present inside a particular target business, that it would be possible to uncover all material issues through a customary amount of due diligence, or that factors outside of the target business and outside of our control will not later arise. As a result of these factors, we may be forced to later write-down or write-off assets, restructure our operations, or incur impairment or other charges that could result in our reporting losses. Even if our due diligence successfully identifies certain risks, unexpected risks may arise and previously known risks may materialize in a manner not consistent with our preliminary risk analysis. Even though these charges may be non-cash items and would not have an immediate impact on our liquidity, the fact that we report charges of this nature could contribute to negative market perceptions about us or our securities. In addition, charges of this nature may cause us to violate net worth or other covenants to which we may be subject as a result of assuming pre-existing debt held by a target business or by virtue of our obtaining post-combination debt financing. Accordingly, any stockholders who choose to remain stockholders following the business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their shares. Such stockholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value unless they are able to successfully claim that the reduction was due to the breach by our officers or directors of a duty of care or other fiduciary duty owed to them, or if they are able to successfully bring a private claim under securities laws that the tender offer materials or proxy statement relating to the business combination contained an actionable material misstatement or material omission.
If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.00 per share.
Our placing of funds in the trust account may not protect those funds from third-party claims against us. Although we have sought and will continue to seek to have all vendors, service providers, prospective target businesses or other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the trust account for the benefit of our public stockholders, such parties may not execute such agreements, or even if they execute such agreements they may not be prevented from bringing claims against the trust account, including, but not limited to, fraudulent inducement, breach of fiduciary responsibility or other similar claims, as well as claims challenging the enforceability of the waiver, in each case in order to gain advantage with respect to a claim against our assets, including the funds held in the trust account. If any third-party refuses to execute an agreement waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account, our management will perform an analysis of the alternatives available to it and will only enter into an agreement with a third party that has not executed a waiver if management believes that such third party’s engagement would be significantly more beneficial to us than any alternative. We are not aware of any product or service providers who have not or will not provide such waiver other than the underwriters of our initial public offering and our independent registered public accounting firm.
Examples of possible instances where we may engage a third party that refuses to execute a waiver include the engagement of a third-party consultant whose particular expertise or skills are believed by management to be significantly superior to those of other consultants that would agree to execute a waiver or in cases where management is unable to find a service provider willing to execute a waiver. In addition, there is no guarantee that such entities will agree to waive any claims they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any negotiations, contracts or agreements with us and will not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason. Upon redemption of our public shares, if we are unable to complete our business combination within the prescribed time frame, or upon the exercise of a redemption right in connection with our business combination, we will be required to provide for payment of claims of creditors that were not waived that may be brought against us within the 10 years following redemption. Accordingly, the per-share redemption amount received by public stockholders could be less than the $10.00 per share initially held in the trust account, due to claims of such creditors. Our sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a vendor for services rendered or products sold to us, or a prospective target business with which we have discussed entering into a definitive agreement for a business combination, reduce the amount of funds in the trust account to below (i) $10.00 per public share or (ii) such lesser amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest which may be withdrawn to pay taxes, except as 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 our indemnity of the underwriters of our initial public offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. Moreover, in the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, our sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third-party claims. We have not independently verified whether our sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations. We have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such eventuality. We believe the likelihood of our sponsor having to indemnify the trust account is limited because we have and will continue to endeavor to have all vendors and prospective target businesses as well as other entities execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to monies held in the trust account.
Our independent directors may decide not to enforce the indemnification obligations of our sponsor, resulting in a reduction in the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public stockholders.
In the event that the proceeds in the trust account are reduced below the lesser of (i) $10.00 per share or (ii) other than due to the failure to obtain such waiver such lesser amount per 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 taxes, and our sponsor asserts that it is unable to satisfy its obligations or that it has no indemnification obligations related to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether to take legal action against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations. While we currently expect that our independent directors would take legal action on our behalf against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations to us, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment may choose not to do so in any particular instance. If our independent directors choose not to enforce these indemnification obligations, the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public stockholders may be reduced below $10.00 per share.
If, after we distribute the proceeds in the trust account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, a bankruptcy court may seek to recover such proceeds, and the members of our board of directors may be viewed as having breached their fiduciary duties to our creditors, thereby exposing the members of our board of directors and us to claims of punitive damages.
If, after we distribute the proceeds in the trust account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, any distributions received by stockholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or bankruptcy laws as either a “preferential transfer” or a “fraudulent conveyance.” As a result, a bankruptcy court could seek to recover all amounts received by our stockholders. In addition, our board of directors may be viewed as having breached its fiduciary duty to our creditors and/or having acted in bad faith, thereby exposing itself and us to claims of punitive damages, by paying public stockholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors.
If, before distributing the proceeds in the trust account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the claims of creditors in such proceeding may have priority over the claims of our stockholders and the per-share amount that would otherwise be received by our stockholders in connection with our liquidation may be reduced.
If, before distributing the proceeds in the trust account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the proceeds held in the trust account could be subject to applicable bankruptcy law, and may be included in our bankruptcy estate and subject to the claims of third parties with priority over the claims of our stockholders. To the extent any bankruptcy claims deplete the trust account, the per-share amount that would otherwise be received by our stockholders in connection with our liquidation may be reduced.
If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, we may be required to institute burdensome compliance requirements and our activities may be restricted, which may make it difficult for us to complete our business combination.
If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, our activities may be restricted, including:
· restrictions on the nature of our investments, and
· restrictions on the issuance of securities,
each of which may make it difficult for us to complete our business combination.
In addition, we may have imposed upon us burdensome requirements, including:
· registration as an investment company;
· adoption of a specific form of corporate structure; and
· reporting, record keeping, voting, proxy and disclosure requirements and other rules and regulations.
We do not believe that our principal activities will subject us to the Investment Company Act. The proceeds held in the trust account may be invested by the trustee only in United States government treasury bills with a maturity of 180 days or less or in money market funds investing solely in United States government treasury obligations and meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act. Because the investment of the proceeds will be restricted to these instruments, we believe we meet the requirements for the exemption provided in Rule 3a-1 promulgated under the Investment Company Act. If we were deemed to be subject to the Investment Company Act, compliance with these additional regulatory burdens would require additional expenses for which we have not allotted funds and may hinder our ability to complete a business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business
combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share upon the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. Furthermore, as described in the risk factor entitled “If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.00 per share,” under certain circumstances our public stockholders may receive less than $10.00 per share upon the liquidation of the trust account.
Changes in laws or regulations, or a failure to comply with any laws and regulations, may adversely affect our business, investments and results of operations.
We are subject to laws and regulations enacted by national, regional and local governments. In particular, we will be required to comply with certain SEC and other legal requirements. Compliance with, and monitoring of, applicable laws and regulations may be difficult, time consuming and costly. Those laws and regulations and their interpretation and application may also change from time to time and those changes could have a material adverse effect on our business, investments and results of operations. In addition, a failure to comply with applicable laws or regulations, as interpreted and applied, could have a material adverse effect on our business, investments and results of operations.
Our stockholders may be held liable for claims by third parties against us to the extent of distributions received by them upon redemption of their shares.
Under the Delaware General Corporation Law, or DGCL, stockholders may be held liable for claims by third parties against a corporation to the extent of distributions received by them in a dissolution. The pro rata portion of our trust account to be distributed to our public stockholders upon the redemption of our public shares in the event we do not complete our initial business combination by February 21, 2020 may be considered a liquidation distribution under Delaware law. If a corporation complies with certain procedures set forth in Section 280 of the DGCL intended to ensure that it makes reasonable provision for all claims against it, including a 60-day notice period during which any third-party claims can be brought against the corporation, a 90-day period during which the corporation may reject any claims brought, and an additional 150-day waiting period before any liquidating distributions are made to stockholders, any liability of stockholders with respect to a liquidating distribution is limited to the lesser of such stockholder’s pro rata share of the claim or the amount distributed to the stockholder, and any liability of the stockholder would be barred after the third anniversary of the dissolution. However, it is our intention to redeem our public shares as soon as reasonably possible after February 21, 2020 in the event we do not complete our business combination and, therefore, we do not intend to comply with those procedures.
Because we will not be complying with Section 280, Section 281(b) of the DGCL requires us to adopt a plan, based on facts known to us at such time that will provide for our payment of all existing and pending claims or claims that may be potentially brought against us within the 10 years following our dissolution. However, because we are a blank check company, rather than an operating company, and our operations will be limited to searching for prospective target businesses to acquire, the only likely claims to arise would be from our vendors (such as lawyers, investment bankers, etc.) or prospective target businesses. If our plan of distribution complies with Section 281(b) of the DGCL, any liability of stockholders with respect to a liquidating distribution is limited to the lesser of such stockholder’s pro rata share of the claim or the amount distributed to the stockholder, and any liability of the stockholder would likely be barred after the third anniversary of the dissolution. We may not properly assess all claims that may be potentially brought against us. As such, our stockholders could potentially be liable for any claims to the extent of distributions received by them (but no more) and any liability of our stockholders may extend beyond the third anniversary of such date. Furthermore, if the pro rata portion of our trust account distributed to our public stockholders upon the redemption of our public shares in the event we do not complete our initial business combination by February 21, 2020 is not considered a liquidation distribution under Delaware law and such redemption distribution is deemed to be unlawful (potentially due to the imposition of legal proceedings that a party may bring or due to other circumstances that are currently unknown), then pursuant to Section 174 of the DGCL, the statute of limitations for claims of creditors could then be six years after the unlawful redemption distribution, instead of three years, as in the case of a liquidation distribution.
We may not hold an annual meeting of stockholders until after the consummation of our initial business combination, which could delay the opportunity for our stockholders to elect directors.
In accordance with Nasdaq 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 (or until December 31, 2019). 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 have not registered the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants under the Securities Act or any state securities laws at this time, and such registration may not be in place when an investor desires to exercise warrants, thus precluding such investor from being able to exercise its warrants and causing such warrants to expire worthless.
We have not registered the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants under the Securities Act or any state securities laws at this time. However, under the terms of the warrant agreement, we have agreed, as soon as practicable, but in no event later than fifteen (15) business days after the closing of our initial business combination, to use our best efforts to file a registration statement under the Securities Act covering such shares and maintain a current prospectus relating to the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants, until the expiration of the warrants in accordance with the provisions of the warrant agreement. We may not be able to do so if, for example, any facts or events arise which represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in the registration statement or prospectus, the financial statements contained or incorporated by reference therein are not current or correct or the SEC issues a stop order. If the shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants are not registered under the Securities Act, we will be required to permit holders to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis. However, no warrant will be exercisable for cash or on a cashless basis, and we will not be obligated to issue any shares to holders seeking to exercise their warrants, unless the issuance of the shares upon such exercise is registered or qualified under the securities laws of the state of the exercising holder, or an exemption is available. Notwithstanding the above, if our 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, but 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. In no event will we be required to net cash settle any warrant, nor will we be required to issue securities or other compensation in exchange for the warrants in the event that we are unable to register or qualify the shares including the warrants under applicable state securities laws. If the issuance of the shares upon exercise of the warrants is not so registered or qualified or exempt from registration or qualification, the holder of such warrant shall not be entitled to exercise such warrant and such warrant may have no value and expire worthless. In such event, holders who acquired their warrants as part of a purchase of units will have paid the full unit purchase price solely for the common stock included in the units. If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may exercise our redemption right even if we are unable to register or qualify the underlying shares of common stock for sale under all applicable state securities laws.
The grant of registration rights to our initial stockholders and holders of our private placement warrants may make it more difficult to complete our initial business combination, and the future exercise of such rights may adversely affect the market price of our common stock.
Pursuant to the agreement entered into concurrently with the issuance and sale of the securities in our initial public offering, our initial stockholders and their permitted transferees can demand that we register the founder shares, holders of our private placement warrants and their permitted transferees can demand that we register the private placement warrants and the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the private placement warrants. We will bear the cost of registering these securities. The registration and availability of such a significant number of securities for trading in the public market may have an adverse effect on the market price of our common stock. In addition, the existence of the registration rights may make our initial business combination more costly or difficult to conclude. This is because the stockholders of the target business may increase the equity stake they seek in the combined entity or ask for more cash consideration to offset the negative impact on the market price of our common stock that is expected when the securities owned by our initial stockholders, holders of our private placement warrants or their respective permitted transferees are registered.
Because we are not limited to a particular industry or any specific target businesses with which to pursue our initial business combination, you will be unable to ascertain the merits or risks of any particular target business’s operations.
We have initially sought to complete a business combination with an operating company in the healthcare industry in the United States (which may include a company based in the United States which has operations or opportunities outside the United States) or other developed countries, but we may also pursue acquisition opportunities in other industries, except that we will not, under our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, be permitted to effectuate our business combination with another blank check company or similar company with nominal operations. Because we have not yet selected any specific target business with respect to a business combination, there is no basis to evaluate the possible merits or risks of any particular target business’s operations, results of operations, cash flows, liquidity, financial condition or prospects. To the extent we complete our business combination, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in the business operations with which we combine. For example, if we combine with a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of sales or earnings, we may be affected by the risks inherent in the business and operations of a financially unstable or a development stage entity. Although our officers and directors will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we may not properly ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors or that we will have adequate time to complete due diligence. Furthermore, some of these risks may be outside of our control and leave us with no ability to control or reduce the chances that those risks will adversely impact a target business. An investment in our units may not ultimately prove to be more favorable to investors than a direct investment, if such opportunity were available, in a potential business combination target. Accordingly, any stockholders who choose to remain stockholders following the business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their shares. Such stockholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value unless they are able to successfully claim that the reduction was due to the breach by our officers or directors of a duty of care or other fiduciary duty owed to them, or if they are able to successfully bring a private claim under securities laws that the tender offer materials or proxy statement relating to the business combination contained an actionable material misstatement or material omission.
We may seek acquisition opportunities in industries outside of the healthcare industry (which industries may or may not be outside of our management’s area of expertise).
Although we have initially focused on identifying business combination candidates in the healthcare industry in the United States (including candidates based in the United States which may have operations or opportunities outside the United States) or other developed countries, and we have not actively sought to identify business combination candidates in other industries (which industries may be outside our management’s area of expertise), we will consider a business combination outside of the healthcare industry if a business combination candidate is presented to us and we determine that such candidate offers an attractive acquisition opportunity for our company or we are unable to identify a suitable candidate in the healthcare industry after having expended a reasonable amount of time and effort in an attempt to do so. Although our management will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in any particular business combination candidate, we may not adequately ascertain or assess all of the risks. An investment in our units may ultimately prove to be less favorable to investors in our initial public offering than a direct investment, if an opportunity were available, in a business combination candidate.
In the event we elect to pursue an investment outside of the healthcare industry, our management’s expertise may not be directly applicable to its evaluation or operation, and the information contained in this report regarding the healthcare industry would not be relevant to an understanding of the business that we elect to acquire.
Because we intend to seek a business combination with a target business in the healthcare industry, we expect our future operations to be subject to risks associated with this industry.
Healthcare related companies are generally subject to greater governmental regulation than most other industries at the U.S. state and federal levels, and internationally. In recent years, both local and national governmental budgets have come under pressure to reduce spending and control healthcare costs, which could both adversely affect regulatory processes and public funding available for healthcare products, services and facilities. In March 2010, comprehensive healthcare reform legislation was enacted in the United States through the Health Care Reform Act. These laws are intended to increase health insurance coverage through individual and employer mandates, subsidies offered to lower income individuals, tax credits available to smaller employers and broadening of Medicaid eligibility.
While one intent of healthcare reform is to expand health insurance coverage to more individuals, it may also involve additional regulatory mandates and other measures designed to constrain medical costs, including coverage and reimbursement for healthcare services. The Health Care Reform Act has had a significant impact on the healthcare sector in the U.S. and consequently has the ability to affect the companies within the healthcare industry. The ultimate effects of federal healthcare reform or any future legislation or regulation, or healthcare initiatives, if any, on the healthcare sector, whether implemented at the federal or state level, or internationally, cannot be predicted with certainty and such reform, legislation, regulation or initiatives, including the Health Care Reform Act or any successor legislation, may adversely affect the performance of a potential business combination.
Changes in governmental policies may have a material effect on the demand for or costs of certain products and services. A healthcare related company must receive government approval before introducing new drugs and medical devices or procedures. This process may delay the introduction of these products and services to the marketplace, resulting in increased development costs, delayed cost recovery and loss of competitive advantage to the extent that rival companies have developed competing products or procedures, adversely affecting the company’s revenues and profitability. Failure to obtain governmental approval of a key drug or device or other regulatory action could have a material adverse effect on the business of a portfolio company. Additionally, expansion of facilities by healthcare related providers is subject to “determinations of need” by the appropriate government authorities. This process not only increases the time and cost involved in these expansions, but also makes expansion plans uncertain, limiting the revenue and profitability growth potential of healthcare related facilities operators.
Certain healthcare related companies depend on the exclusive rights or patents for the products they develop and distribute. Patents have a limited duration and, upon expiration, other companies may market substantially similar “generic” products that are typically sold at a lower price than the patented product, causing the original developer of the product to lose market share and/or reduce the price charged for the product, resulting in lower profits for the original developer. As a result, the expiration of patents may adversely affect the profitability of these companies. The profitability of healthcare related companies may also be affected, among other factors, by restrictions on government reimbursement for medical expenses, rising or falling costs of medical products and services, pricing pressure, an increased emphasis on outpatient services, a limited product offering, industry innovation, changes in technologies and other market developments. Finally, because the products and services of healthcare related companies affect the health and well-being of many individuals, these companies are especially susceptible to product liability lawsuits.
The healthcare industry spends heavily on research and development. Research findings (e.g., regarding side effects or comparative benefits of one or more particular treatments, services or products) and technological innovation (together with patent expirations) may make any particular treatment, service or product less attractive if previously unknown or underappreciated risks are revealed, or if a more effective, less costly or less risky solution is or becomes available. Any such development could have a material adverse effect on the companies that are target businesses for investment.
Although we have identified general criteria and guidelines that we believe are important in evaluating prospective target businesses, we may enter into our initial business combination with a target that does not meet such criteria and guidelines, and as a result, the target business with which we enter into our initial business combination may not have attributes entirely consistent with our general criteria and guidelines.
Although we have identified general criteria and guidelines for evaluating prospective target businesses, it is possible that a target business with which we enter into our initial business combination will not have all of these positive attributes. If we complete our initial business combination with a target that does not meet some or all of these guidelines, such combination may not be as successful as a combination with a business that does meet all of our general criteria and guidelines. In addition, if we announce a prospective business combination with a target that does not meet our general criteria and guidelines, a greater number of stockholders may exercise their redemption rights, which may make it difficult for us to meet any closing condition with a target business that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. In addition, if stockholder approval of the transaction is required by law, or we decide to obtain stockholder approval for business or other legal reasons, it may be more difficult for us to attain stockholder approval of our initial business combination if the target business does not meet our general criteria and guidelines. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share upon the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. Furthermore, as described in the risk factor entitled “If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.00 per share,” under certain circumstances our public stockholders may receive less than $10.00 per share upon the liquidation of the trust account.
We may seek acquisition opportunities with a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of revenue or earnings.
To the extent we complete our initial business combination with a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of sales or earnings, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in the operations of the business with which we combine. These risks include volatile revenues or earnings and difficulties in obtaining and retaining key personnel. Although our officers and directors will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we may not be able to properly ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors and we may not have adequate time to complete due diligence. Furthermore, some of these risks may be outside of our control and leave us with no ability to control or reduce the chances that those risks will adversely impact a target business.
We are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking or accounting firm, and consequently, you may have no assurance from an independent source that the price we are paying for the business is fair to our company from a financial point of view.
Unless we complete our business combination with an affiliated entity, we are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking or accounting firm that the price we are paying is fair to our company from a financial point of view. If no opinion is obtained, our stockholders will be relying on the judgment of our board of directors, who will determine fair market value based on standards generally accepted by the financial community. Such standards used will be disclosed in our tender offer documents or proxy solicitation materials, as applicable, related to our initial business combination.
We may issue additional common or preferred shares to complete our initial business combination or under an employee incentive plan after completion of our initial business combination, any one of which would dilute the interest of our stockholders and likely present other risks.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation authorizes the issuance of up to 200,000,000 shares of common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, and 1,000,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $0.0001 per share. As of December 31, 2018, there are 162,333,333 authorized but unissued shares of common stock available for issuance, which amount takes into account shares reserved for issuance upon exercise of outstanding warrants, and no shares of preferred stock issued and outstanding.
We may issue a substantial number of additional shares of common or preferred stock to complete our initial business combination or under an employee incentive plan after completion of our initial business combination (although our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that we may not issue securities that can vote with common stockholders on matters related to our pre-initial business combination activity). However, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides, among other things, that prior to our initial business combination, we may not issue additional shares 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. These provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, like all provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, may be amended with the approval of our stockholders. However, our executive officers and directors have agreed, pursuant to a written agreement with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination by February 21, 2020 or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, unless we provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their shares of common stock upon approval of any such amendment at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares.
The issuance of additional shares of common or preferred stock:
· may significantly dilute the equity interest of investors in our initial public offering;
· may subordinate the rights of holders of 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 common stock is issued, which may affect, among other things, our ability to use our net operating loss carry forwards, if any, and could result in the resignation or removal of our present officers and directors; and
· may adversely affect prevailing market prices for our units, common stock and/or warrants.
Resources could be wasted in researching acquisitions that are not completed, which could materially adversely affect subsequent attempts to locate and acquire or merge with another business. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share upon the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.
The investigation of each specific target business and the negotiation, drafting and execution of relevant agreements, disclosure documents and other instruments requires substantial management time and attention and substantial costs for accountants, attorneys and others. If we decide not to complete a specific initial business combination, the costs incurred up to that point for the proposed transaction likely would not be recoverable. Furthermore, if we reach an agreement relating to a specific target business, we may fail to complete our initial business combination for any number of reasons including those beyond our control. Any such event will result in a loss to us of the related costs incurred which could materially adversely affect subsequent attempts to locate and acquire or merge with another business. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share upon the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. Furthermore, as described in the risk factor entitled “If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.00 per share,” under certain circumstances our public stockholders may receive less than $10.00 per share upon the liquidation of the trust account.
We are dependent upon our executive officers and directors and their departure could adversely affect our ability to operate.
Our operations are dependent upon a relatively small group of individuals and, in particular, our executive officers and directors. We believe that our success depends on the continued service of our executive officers and directors, at least until we have completed our business combination. In addition, our executive officers and directors are not required to commit any specified amount of time to our affairs and, accordingly, will have conflicts of interest in allocating management time among various business activities, including identifying potential business combinations and monitoring the related due diligence. We do not have an employment agreement with, or key-man insurance on the life of, any of our directors or executive officers. The unexpected loss of the services of one or more of our directors or executive officers could have a detrimental effect on us.
Our ability to successfully effect our initial business combination and to be successful thereafter will be totally dependent upon the efforts of our key personnel, some of whom may join us following our initial business combination. The loss of key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business.
Our ability to successfully effect our business combination is dependent upon the efforts of our key personnel. The role of our key personnel in the target business, however, cannot presently be ascertained. Although some of our key personnel may remain with the target business in senior management or advisory positions following our business combination, it is likely that some or all of the management of the target business will remain in place. While we intend to closely scrutinize any individuals we engage after our business combination, our assessment of these individuals may not prove to be correct. These individuals may be unfamiliar with the requirements of operating a company regulated by the SEC, which could cause us to have to expend time and resources helping them become familiar with such requirements and take time away from oversight of our operations.
Our key personnel may negotiate employment or consulting agreements with a target business in connection with a particular business combination. These agreements may provide for them to receive compensation following our business combination and as a result, may cause them to have conflicts of interest in determining whether a particular business combination is the most advantageous.
Our key personnel may be able to remain with the company after the completion of our business combination only if they are able to negotiate employment or consulting agreements in connection with the business combination. Such negotiations would take place simultaneously with the negotiation of the business combination and could provide for such individuals to receive compensation in the form of cash payments and/or our securities for services they would render to us after the completion of the business combination. The personal and financial interests of such individuals may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business. However, we believe the ability of such individuals to remain with us after the completion of our business combination will not be the
determining factor in our decision as to whether or not we will proceed with any potential business combination. There is no certainty, however, that any of our key personnel will remain with us after the completion of our business combination. Our key personnel may not remain in senior management or advisory positions with us. The determination as to whether any of our key personnel will remain with us will be made at the time of our initial business combination.
We may have a limited ability to assess the management of a prospective target business and, as a result, may effect our initial business combination with a target business whose management may not have the skills, qualifications or abilities to manage a public company.
When evaluating the desirability of effecting our initial business combination with a prospective target business, our ability to assess the target business’s management may be limited due to a lack of time, resources or information. Our assessment of the capabilities of the target’s management, therefore, may prove to be incorrect and such management may lack the skills, qualifications or abilities we suspected. Should the target’s management not possess the skills, qualifications or abilities necessary to manage a public company, the operations and profitability of the post-combination business may be negatively impacted. Accordingly, any stockholders who choose to remain stockholders following the business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their shares. Such stockholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value unless they are able to successfully claim that the reduction was due to the breach by our officers or directors of a duty of care or other fiduciary duty owed to them, or if they are able to successfully bring a private claim under securities laws that the tender offer materials or proxy statement relating to the business combination contained an actionable material misstatement or material omission.
The officers and directors of an acquisition candidate may resign upon completion of our initial business combination. The departure of a potential business combination target’s key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business. The role of an acquisition candidates’ key personnel upon the completion of our initial business combination cannot be ascertained at this time. Although we contemplate that certain members of an acquisition candidate’s management team will remain associated with the acquisition candidate following our initial business combination, it is possible that members of the management of an acquisition candidate will not wish to remain in place.
Our executive officers and directors will allocate their time to other businesses thereby causing conflicts of interest in their determination as to how much time to devote to our affairs. This conflict of interest could have a negative impact on our ability to complete our initial business combination.
Our executive officers and directors are not required to, and will not, commit their full time to our affairs, which may result in a conflict of interest in allocating their time between our operations and our search for a business combination and their other businesses. We do not intend to have any full-time employees prior to the completion of our business combination. Each of our executive officers is engaged in several other business endeavors for which he may be entitled to substantial compensation and our executive officers are not obligated to contribute any specific number of hours per week to our affairs. Our independent directors also serve as officers and board members for other entities. If our executive officers’ and directors’ other business affairs require them to devote substantial amounts of time to such affairs in excess of their current commitment levels, it could limit their ability to devote time to our affairs which may have a negative impact on our ability to complete our initial business combination.
Certain of our executive officers and directors are now, and all of them may in the future become, affiliated with entities engaged in business activities similar to those intended to be conducted by us and, accordingly, may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented.
Following the completion of our initial public offering and until we consummate our initial business combination, we intend to engage in the business of identifying and combining with one or more businesses. Our executive officers and directors are, or may in the future become, affiliated with entities (such as operating companies or investment vehicles) that are engaged in a similar business, although they may not participate in the formation of, or become an officer or director of, any other special purpose acquisition companies with a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act until we have entered into a definitive agreement regarding our initial business combination or we have failed to complete our initial business combination by February 21, 2020.
Our officers and directors also may become aware of business opportunities which may be appropriate for presentation to us and the other entities, including public and private funds under management of Deerfield Management, to which they owe certain fiduciary or contractual duties. In addition, existing and future funds managed by Deerfield Management may compete with us for acquisition opportunities and if such opportunities are pursued by Deerfield Management, we may be precluded from pursuing such opportunities. None of the members of our management team who are also employed by Deerfield Management have any obligation to present us with acquisition opportunities. Accordingly, they may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented, to our company or to another entity. These conflicts may not be resolved in our favor and a potential target business may be presented to another entity prior to its presentation to us. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that we renounce our interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any director or officer unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of our company and such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue. Members of our management team may directly or indirectly own our common stock and warrants, 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.
In addition, Mr. Barasch is a member of our sponsor and Messrs. Barasch and Hochberg are managers of our sponsor. As such, Messrs. Barasch and Hochberg may have interests that are different from or in addition to your interests as a stockholder.
Deerfield Management and certain of its personnel have been the subject of SEC proceedings.
In September 2013, Deerfield Management voluntarily agreed to settle an SEC inquiry relating to six alleged violations of Rule 105 of Regulation M under the Exchange Act, without admitting or denying the SEC’s allegations. The violations allegedly occurred between December 2010 and January 2013. Rule 105 generally prohibits purchasing an equity security in a registered offering if the purchaser sold short the same security during a restricted period (generally defined as five business days before the pricing of the offering). Rule 105’s prohibition applies irrespective of any intent to violate the rule. The settlement involved the payment by the Firm of disgorgement, prejudgment interest and a civil money penalty in the aggregate amount of $1,902,224.
On May 24, 2017, the United States Attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York arrested two partners of Deerfield Management (who are on leave of absence) and charged them with conspiracy to convert property of the United States, to commit securities fraud and to defraud the United States; conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud; conversion of property of the United States; securities fraud; and wire fraud in connection with recommending trading in certain shares allegedly on the basis of material nonpublic information during 2012 and 2013. On the same day, the SEC filed a complaint against one of those individuals, alleging that he recommended trading in shares of certain securities during 2012 on the basis of material nonpublic information, in violation of Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5 thereunder and Section 17(a)(1) of the Securities Act. Deerfield Management was not named in either proceeding.
On August 21, 2017, Deerfield Management voluntarily agreed to settle an SEC administrative proceeding relating to alleged violations of Section 204A of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (the “Advisers Act”), without admitting or denying the SEC’s allegations, pursuant to an order under Section 203(e) and 203(k) of the Advisers Act (the “Order”). The Order, which was entered on August 21, 2017, resolved the SEC’s allegations that Deerfield Management, from 2012 through 2014, failed to establish, maintain, and enforce policies and procedures reasonably designed to prevent the misuse of material, nonpublic information, particularly taking into consideration the nature of Deerfield Management’s business. The Order alleged that, as part of Deerfield Management’s research in the healthcare sector, the Firm engaged third party consultants and research firms, including firms that specialized in providing “political intelligence” regarding upcoming regulatory and legislative decisions, that Deerfield Management employees based trading recommendations on such information, and that hedge funds advised by Deerfield Management then made those trades. Based on the foregoing conduct, the SEC alleged that Deerfield Management violated Section 204A of the Advisers Act, which requires investment advisers to establish, maintain, and enforce written policies and procedures reasonably designed, taking into consideration the nature of the investment adviser’s business, to prevent the misuse of material, nonpublic information by such investment adviser or any person associated with such investment adviser. The Order required Deerfield Management to cease and desist from committing or causing any violations and any future violations of Section 204A of the Advisers Act, censured Deerfield Management and required that Deerfield Management pay disgorgement of $714,110, prejudgment interest of $97,585 and a civil money penalty of $3,946,267.
These actions and/or any additional SEC or other governmental actions may harm our ability to complete an initial business combination, including by making prospective target companies less likely to consummate a business combination with us. In addition, if any future SEC or other governmental actions were to preclude Deerfield Management from making further investments, or otherwise curtail Deerfield Management’s operations, Deerfield Management’s ability to purchase shares of our common stock in a private placement in connection with our initial business combination could be impaired.
Our executive officers, directors, security holders and their respective affiliates may have competitive pecuniary interests that conflict with our interests.
We have not adopted a policy that expressly prohibits our directors, executive officers, security holders or affiliates from having a direct or indirect pecuniary or financial interest in any investment to be acquired or disposed of by us or in any transaction to which we are a party or have an interest. In fact, we may enter into a business combination with a target business that is affiliated with our sponsor, our directors or executive officers, although we do not intend to do so. Nor do we have a policy that expressly prohibits any such persons from engaging for their own account in business activities of the types conducted by us. Accordingly, such persons or entities may have a conflict between their interests and ours.
We may engage in a business combination with one or more target businesses that have relationships with entities that may be affiliated with our executive officers, directors or existing holders which may raise potential conflicts of interest.
In light of the involvement of our sponsor, executive officers and directors with other entities, we may decide to acquire one or more businesses affiliated with our sponsor, executive officers and directors. Our directors also serve as officers and board members for other entities. Such entities may compete with us for business combination opportunities. Our sponsor, officers and directors are not currently aware of any specific opportunities for us to complete our business combination with any entities with which they are affiliated, and
there have been no preliminary discussions concerning a business combination with any such entity or entities. Although we will not be specifically focusing on, or targeting, any transaction with any affiliated entities, we would pursue such a transaction if we determined that such affiliated entity met our criteria for a business combination and such transaction was approved by a majority of our disinterested directors. Despite our agreement to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm regarding the fairness to our company from a financial point of view of a business combination with one or more domestic or international businesses affiliated with our executive officers, directors or existing holders, potential conflicts of interest still may exist and, as a result, the terms of the business combination may not be as advantageous to our public stockholders as they would be absent any conflicts of interest.
Since our sponsor, executive officers and directors will lose their entire investment in us if our business combination is not completed, a conflict of interest may arise in determining whether a particular business combination target is appropriate for our initial business combination.
In December 2017, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 7,187,500 founder shares for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000, or approximately $0.003 per share. The number of founder shares issued was determined based on the expectation that such founder shares would represent 20.0% of the outstanding shares upon completion of our initial public offering. In December 2017 and January 2018, our sponsor transferred 100,000 founder shares to Mr. Wolfe and 30,000 founder shares to each of our independent directors. Following the expiration of the underwriters’ over-allotment option on April 2, 2018, the initial stockholders forfeited an aggregate of 937,500 founder shares, so that the founder shares would represent 20.0% of our issued and outstanding shares after our initial public offering. In addition, simultaneously with the consummation of our initial public offering, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 4,333,333 private placement warrants, each exercisable for one share of our common stock at $11.50 per share, for a purchase price of $6,500,000, or $1.50 per warrant, that will also be worthless if we do not complete a business combination.
The founder shares are identical to the shares of common stock included in the units sold in our initial public offering. However, the holders have agreed (A) to vote any shares owned by them in favor of any proposed business combination and (B) not to redeem any shares in connection with a stockholder vote to approve a proposed initial business combination.
The personal and financial interests of our executive officers and directors may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business combination, completing an initial business combination and influencing the operation of the business following the initial business combination.
A conflict of interest may arise from the need to obtain the consent of Deerfield Management, which owns a significant interest in our sponsor, to our business combination.
We have entered into an agreement pursuant to which we agreed not to complete a business combination without the consent of Deerfield Management, which owns a significant interest in our sponsor, which consent Deerfield Management has indicated it does not intend to provide if our proposed business combination is with a target that is not in the healthcare industry. As a consequence, interests of affiliates of our sponsor may conflict with those of the rest of our stockholders if Deerfield Management does not wish to proceed with a business combination.
Since our sponsor, executive officers and directors will not be eligible to be reimbursed for their out-of-pocket expenses or collect any deferred amounts owed to them if our business combination is not completed, a conflict of interest may arise in determining whether a particular business combination target is appropriate for our initial business combination.
At the closing of our initial business combination, our sponsor, executive officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates, will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. There is no cap or ceiling on the reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf. Furthermore, certain of our executive officers will be owed deferred amounts that are payable only if we consummate our initial business combination. These financial interests of our sponsor, executive officers and directors may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business combination and completing an initial business combination.
We may issue notes or other debt securities, or otherwise incur substantial debt, to complete a business combination, which may adversely affect our leverage and financial condition and thus negatively impact the value of our stockholders’ investment in us.
Although we have no commitments as of the date of this report to issue any notes or other debt securities, or to otherwise incur outstanding debt, we may choose to incur substantial debt to complete our business combination. We have agreed that we will not incur any indebtedness unless we have obtained from the lender a waiver of any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to the monies held in the trust account. As such, no issuance of debt will affect the per-share amount available for redemption from the trust account. Nevertheless, the incurrence of debt could have a variety of negative effects, including:
· default and foreclosure on our assets if our operating revenues after an initial business combination are insufficient to repay our debt obligations;
· acceleration of our obligations to repay the indebtedness even if we make all principal and interest payments when due if we
breach certain covenants that require the maintenance of certain financial ratios or reserves without a waiver or renegotiation of that covenant;
· our immediate payment of all principal and accrued interest, if any, if the debt security is payable on demand;
· our inability to obtain necessary additional financing if the debt security contains covenants restricting our ability to obtain such financing while the debt security 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, expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions and other general corporate purposes;
· limitations on our flexibility in planning for and reacting to changes in our business and in the industry in which we operate;
· increased vulnerability to adverse changes in general economic, industry and competitive conditions and adverse changes in government regulation; and
· limitations on our ability to borrow additional amounts for expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions, debt service requirements, execution of our strategy and other purposes and other disadvantages compared to our competitors who have less debt.
We may only be able to complete one business combination with the proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, which will cause us to be solely dependent on a single business which may have a limited number of products or services. This lack of diversification may negatively impact our operations and profitability.
As of December 31, 2018, approximately $245.1 million was available in our trust account for completing our business combination (excluding up to approximately $7,875,000 of deferred underwriting commissions being held in the trust account).
We may effectuate our business combination with a single target business or multiple target businesses simultaneously or within a short period of time. However, we may not be able to effectuate our business combination with more than one target business because of various factors, including the existence of complex accounting issues and the requirement that we prepare and file pro forma financial statements with the SEC that present operating results and the financial condition of several target businesses as if they had been operated on a combined basis. By completing our initial business combination with only a single entity our lack of diversification may subject us to numerous economic, competitive and regulatory risks. Further, we would not be able to diversify our operations or benefit from the possible spreading of risks or offsetting of losses, unlike other entities which may have the resources to complete several business combinations in different industries or different areas of a single industry. Accordingly, the prospects for our success may be:
· solely dependent upon the performance of a single business, property or asset, or
· dependent upon the development or market acceptance of a single or limited number of products, processes or services.
This lack of diversification may subject us to numerous economic, competitive and regulatory risks, any or all of which may have a substantial adverse impact upon the particular industry in which we may operate subsequent to our business combination.
We may attempt to simultaneously complete business combinations with multiple prospective targets, which may hinder our ability to complete our business combination and give rise to increased costs and risks that could negatively impact our operations and profitability.
If we determine to simultaneously acquire several businesses that are owned by different sellers, we will need for each of such sellers to agree that our purchase of its business is contingent on the simultaneous closings of the other business combinations, which may make it more difficult for us, and delay our ability, to complete our initial business combination. With multiple business combinations, we could also face additional risks, including additional burdens and costs with respect to possible multiple negotiations and due diligence investigations (if there are multiple sellers) and the additional risks associated with the subsequent assimilation of the operations and services or products of the acquired companies in a single operating business. If we are unable to adequately address these risks, it could negatively impact our profitability and results of operations.
We may attempt to complete our initial business combination with a private company about which little information is available, which may result in a business combination with a company that is not as profitable as we suspected, if at all.
In pursuing our acquisition strategy, we may seek to effectuate our initial business combination with a privately held company. By definition, very little public information exists about private companies, and we could be required to make our decision on whether to pursue a potential initial business combination on the basis of limited information, which may result in a business combination with a
company that is not as profitable as we suspected, if at all.
Our management may not be able to maintain control of a target business after our initial business combination. We cannot provide assurance that, upon loss of control of a target business, new management will possess the skills, qualifications or abilities necessary to profitably operate such business.
We may structure a business combination so that the post-transaction company in which our public stockholders own shares will own less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business, but we will only complete such business combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target sufficient for us not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. We will not consider any transaction that does not meet such criteria. Even if the post-transaction company owns 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our stockholders prior to the business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post business combination company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the business combination transaction. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares of common stock in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock of a target. In this case, we would acquire a 100% interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new shares of common stock, our stockholders immediately prior to such transaction could own less than a majority of our outstanding shares of common stock subsequent to such transaction. In addition, other minority stockholders may subsequently combine their holdings resulting in a single person or group obtaining a larger share of the company’s stock than we initially acquired. Accordingly, this may make it more likely that our management will not be able to maintain our control of the target business.
We do not have a specified maximum redemption threshold. The absence of such a redemption threshold may make it possible for us to complete a business combination with which a substantial majority of our stockholders do not agree.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation does not provide a specified maximum redemption threshold, except that in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 upon consummation of our initial business combination (such that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. As a result, we may be able to complete our business combination even though a substantial majority of our public stockholders do not agree with the transaction and have redeemed their shares or, if we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and do not conduct redemptions in connection with our business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, have entered into privately negotiated agreements to sell their shares to our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or their affiliates. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all shares of common stock that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed business combination exceed the aggregate amount of cash available to us, we will not complete the business combination or redeem any shares, all shares of common stock submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof, and we instead may search for an alternate business combination.
The exercise price for the public warrants is higher than in some similar blank check company offerings in the past, and, accordingly, the warrants are more likely to expire worthless.
The exercise price of the public warrants is higher than is typical in some similar blank check companies in the past. Historically, the exercise price of a warrant was generally a fraction of the purchase price of the units in the initial public offering. The exercise price for our public warrants is $11.50 per whole share. As a result, the warrants are less likely to ever be in the money and more likely to expire worthless.
In order to effectuate an initial business combination, blank check companies have amended various provisions of their charters and governing instruments. We may seek to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or governing instruments in a manner that will make it easier for us to complete our initial business combination that our stockholders may not support.
In order to effectuate a business combination, blank check companies have amended various provisions of their charters and governing instruments. For example, blank check companies have amended the definition of business combination, increased redemption thresholds and extended the period of time during which they could consummate an initial business combination. We may seek to amend our charter or governing instruments in order to effectuate our initial business combination.
The provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation that relate to our pre-initial business combination activity (and corresponding provisions of the agreement governing the release of funds from our trust account) may be amended with the approval of holders of 65% of our common stock, which is a lower threshold than that of some other blank check companies. It may be easier for us, therefore, to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to facilitate the completion of an initial business combination that some of our stockholders may not support.
Some other blank check companies have provisions in their charters which prohibit the amendment of certain of its provisions, including those which relate to a company’s pre-initial business combination activity, without approval by a certain percentage of the company’s stockholders. In those companies, amendment of these provisions requires approval by holders of between 90% and 100% of the company’s public stockholders. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that any of its provisions (other than amendments relating to the redemption rights of our public stockholders, which require the approval of the holders of all (100%) of our common stock), including those related to pre-initial business combination activity, such as an amendment to permit us to withdraw funds from the trust account such that the per share amount investors will receive upon any redemption or liquidation is substantially reduced or eliminated, may be amended if approved by holders of 65% of our common stock, and corresponding provisions of the trust agreement governing the release of funds from our trust account may be amended if approved by holders of 65% of our common stock. In all other instances, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation may be amended by holders of a majority of our common stock, subject to applicable provisions of the DGCL or applicable stock exchange rules. We may not issue additional securities that can vote on amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. Our initial stockholders, who collectively beneficially own approximately 20.1% of our common stock, will participate in any vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and/or trust agreement and will have the discretion to vote in any manner they choose. As a result, we may be able to amend the provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation which govern our pre-initial business combination behavior more easily than some other blank check companies, and this may increase our ability to complete a business combination with which you do not agree. Our stockholders may pursue remedies against us for any breach of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation.
Our sponsor, executive officers and directors have agreed, pursuant to a written agreement with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation that would affect the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination by February 21, 2020, unless we provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their shares of common stock upon approval of any such amendment at a per-share price which is payable in cash and equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (net of the interest which may be withdrawn to pay taxes) divided by the number of then outstanding public shares. These agreements are contained in letter agreements that we have entered into with our sponsor, executive officers and directors. Prior to acquiring any securities from our initial stockholders, permitted transferees must enter into a written agreement with us agreeing to be bound by the same restriction. Our stockholders are not parties to, or third-party beneficiaries of, these agreements and, as a result, will not have the ability to pursue remedies against our sponsor, executive officers or directors for any breach of these agreements. As a result, in the event our sponsor, executive officers or directors breach these agreements, our stockholders would need to pursue a stockholder derivative action, subject to applicable law.
Certain agreements related to our initial public offering may be amended without stockholder approval.
Certain agreements, including the underwriting agreement relating to our initial public offering, the investment management trust agreement between us and Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, the letter agreement among us and our sponsor, officers, and directors, the registration rights agreement among us and our initial stockholders and the administrative services agreement between us and our sponsor, may be amended without stockholder approval. These agreements contain various provisions that our public stockholders might deem to be material. For example, the underwriting agreement related to our initial public offering contains (i) a representation that we will not consummate any public or private equity or debt financing prior to the consummation of a business combination, unless all investors in such financing expressly waive, in writing, any rights in or claims against the trust account and (ii) a covenant that the target company that we acquire must have a fair market value equal to at least 80% of the balance in the trust account at the time of signing the definitive agreement for the transaction with such target business (excluding the deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on the income earned on the trust account) so long as we obtain and maintain a listing for our securities on Nasdaq. While we do not expect our board of directors to approve any amendment to any of these agreements prior to our initial business combination, it may be possible that our board of directors, in exercising its business judgment and subject to its fiduciary duties, chooses to approve one or more amendments to any such agreement in connection with the consummation of our initial business combination. Any such amendment may have an adverse effect on the value of an investment in our securities.
We may be unable to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination or to fund the operations and growth of a target business, which could compel us to restructure or abandon a particular business combination.
If the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants prove to be insufficient, either because of the size of our initial business combination, the depletion of the available net proceeds in search of a target business, the obligation to repurchase for cash a significant number of shares from stockholders who elect redemption in connection with our initial business combination or the terms of negotiated transactions to purchase shares in connection with our initial business combination, we may be required to seek additional financing or to abandon the proposed business combination. Such financing may not be available on acceptable terms, if at all. To the extent that additional financing proves to be unavailable when needed to complete our initial business
combination, we would be compelled to either restructure the transaction or abandon that particular business combination and seek an alternative target business candidate. In addition, even if we do not need additional financing to complete our business combination, we may require such financing to fund the operations or growth of the target business. The failure to secure additional financing could have a material adverse effect on the continued development or growth of the target business. None of our officers, directors or stockholders is required to provide any financing to us in connection with or after our business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may only receive approximately $10.00 per share upon the liquidation of our trust account, and our warrants will expire worthless. Furthermore, as described in the risk factor entitled “If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.00 per share,” under certain circumstances our public stockholders may receive less than $10.00 per share upon the liquidation of the trust account.
Our initial stockholders control a substantial interest in us and thus may exert a substantial influence on actions requiring a stockholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support.
Our initial stockholders own approximately 20.1% of our issued and outstanding shares of common stock. Accordingly, they may exert a substantial influence on actions requiring a stockholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support, including amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. If our initial stockholders purchase any additional shares of common stock in the aftermarket or in privately negotiated transactions, their influence will increase. Factors that would be considered in making such additional purchases would include consideration of the current trading price of our common stock. In addition, our board of directors, whose members were elected by our sponsor, is and will be divided into two classes, each of which will generally serve for a term of two years with only one class of directors being elected in each year. We may not hold an annual meeting of stockholders to elect new directors prior to the completion of our business combination, in which case all of the current directors will continue in office until at least the completion of the business combination. If there is an annual meeting, as a consequence of our “staggered” board of directors, only a portion of the board of directors will be considered for election and our initial stockholders, because of their ownership position, will have considerable influence regarding the outcome. Accordingly, our initial stockholders will continue to exert control at least until the completion of our business combination.
We may amend the terms of the warrants in a manner that may be adverse to holders with the approval by the holders of at least 65% of the then outstanding public warrants.
Our warrants are issued in registered form under a warrant agreement between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as warrant agent, and us. The warrant agreement provides that the terms of the warrants may be amended without the consent of any holder to cure any ambiguity or correct any defective provision, but requires the approval by the holders of at least 65% of the then outstanding public warrants to make any change that adversely affects the interests of the registered holders. Accordingly, we may amend the terms of the warrants in a manner adverse to a holder if holders of at least 65% of the then outstanding public warrants approve of such amendment. Although our ability to amend the terms of the warrants with the consent of at least 65% of the then outstanding public warrants is unlimited, examples of such amendments could be amendments to, among other things, increase the exercise price of the warrants, shorten the exercise period or decrease the number of shares of our common stock purchasable upon exercise of a warrant.
We may redeem your unexpired warrants prior to their exercise at a time that is disadvantageous to you, thereby making your warrants worthless.
We have the ability to redeem outstanding warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.01 per warrant, provided that the last reported sales price of our common stock equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for share splits, share dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within a 30 trading-day period ending on the third trading day prior to the date we send the notice of such redemption to the warrant holders. If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may exercise our redemption right even if we are unable to register or qualify the underlying securities for sale under all applicable state securities laws. Redemption of the outstanding warrants could force you (i) to exercise your warrants and pay the exercise price therefor at a time when it may be disadvantageous for you to do so, (ii) to sell your warrants at the then-current market price when you might otherwise wish to hold your warrants or (iii) to accept the nominal redemption price which, at the time the outstanding warrants are called for redemption, is likely to be substantially less than the market value of your warrants. In addition, we may redeem your warrants after they become exercisable for a number of shares of common stock determined based on the redemption date and the fair market value of our common stock. Any such redemption may have similar consequences to a cash redemption described above. In addition, such redemption may occur at a time when the warrants are “out-of-the-money,” in which case you would lose any potential embedded value from a subsequent increase in the value of the common stock had your warrants remained outstanding.
In addition, we may redeem your warrants after they become exercisable for a number of shares of common stock determined based on the redemption date and the fair market value of our common stock. Any such redemption may have similar consequences to a cash redemption described above. In addition, such redemption may occur at a time when the warrants are “out-of-the-money,” in which case you would lose any potential embedded value from a subsequent increase in the value of the common stock had your warrants remained outstanding. None of the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees.
Our warrants may have an adverse effect on the market price of our common stock and make it more difficult to effectuate our business combination.
We have issued warrants to purchase 8,333,333 shares of our common stock as part of the units offered in our initial public offering and, simultaneously with the closing of our initial public offering, we issued in a private placement an aggregate of 4,333,333 private placement warrants, each exercisable to purchase one share of common stock at $11.50 per share. Only whole warrants may be exercised. To the extent we issue shares of common stock to effectuate a business transaction, the potential for the issuance of a substantial number of additional shares of common stock upon exercise of these warrants could make us a less attractive acquisition vehicle to a target business. Such warrants, when exercised, will increase the number of issued and outstanding shares of our common stock and reduce the value of the shares of common stock issued to complete the business transaction. Therefore, our warrants may make it more difficult to effectuate a business transaction or increase the cost of acquiring the target business.
The private placement warrants are identical to the warrants sold as part of the units in our initial public offering except that, so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees, (i) they will not be redeemable by us, (ii) they (including the common stock issuable upon exercise of these warrants) may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by our sponsor until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination and (iii) they may be exercised by the holders on a cashless basis.
A market for our securities may not fully develop or be sustained, which would adversely affect the liquidity and price of our securities.
The price of our securities may vary significantly due to one or more potential business combinations and general market or economic conditions. Furthermore, an active trading market for our securities may not be sustained. You may be unable to sell your securities unless a market can be fully developed and sustained.
Because we must furnish our stockholders with target business financial statements, we may lose the ability to complete an otherwise advantageous initial business combination with some prospective target businesses.
The federal proxy rules require that a proxy statement with respect to a vote on a business combination meeting certain financial significance tests include historical and/or pro forma financial statement disclosure. We will include the same financial statement disclosure in connection with our tender offer documents, whether or not they are required under the tender offer rules. These financial statements may be required to be prepared in accordance with, or be reconciled to, GAAP or IFRS, depending on the circumstances, and the historical financial statements will likely be required to be audited in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States), or the PCAOB. These financial statement requirements may limit the pool of potential target businesses we may acquire because some targets may be unable to provide such statements in time for us to disclose such statements in accordance with federal proxy rules and complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame.
We are an emerging growth company within the meaning of the Securities Act, and if we take advantage of certain exemptions from disclosure requirements available to emerging growth companies, this could make our securities less attractive to investors and may make it more difficult to compare our performance with other public companies.
We are an “emerging growth company” within the meaning of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act, and we may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. As a result, our stockholders may not have access to certain information they may deem important. We could be an emerging growth company for up to five years, although circumstances could cause us to lose that status earlier, including if the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of any June 30 before that time, in which case we would no longer be an emerging growth company as of the following December 31. We cannot predict whether investors will find our securities less attractive because we will rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result of our reliance on these exemptions, the trading prices of our securities may be lower than they otherwise would be, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the trading prices of our securities may be more volatile.
Further, Section 102(b)(1) of the JOBS Act exempts emerging growth companies from being required to comply with new or revised financial accounting standards until private companies (that is, those that have not had a Securities Act registration statement declared effective or do not have a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act) are required to comply with the new or revised financial accounting standards. The JOBS Act provides that a company can elect to opt out of the extended transition period and comply with the requirements that apply to non-emerging growth companies but any such an election to opt out is irrevocable. We have elected not to opt out of such extended transition period which means that when a standard is issued or revised and it has different application dates for public or private companies, we, as an emerging growth company, can adopt the new or revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new or revised standard. This may make comparison of our financial statements with another public company which is neither an emerging growth company nor an emerging growth company which has opted out of using the extended transition period difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accounting standards used.
Compliance obligations under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may make it more difficult for us to effectuate our business combination, require substantial financial and management resources, and increase the time and costs of completing an acquisition.
Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires that we evaluate and report on our system of internal controls beginning with our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ending December 31, 2019. As long as we maintain our status as an emerging growth company, we will not be required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement on our internal control over financial reporting. The fact that we are a blank check company makes compliance with the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act particularly burdensome on us as compared to other public companies because a target company with which we seek to complete our business combination may not be in compliance with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act regarding adequacy of its internal controls. The development of the internal control of any such entity to achieve compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may increase the time and costs necessary to complete any such acquisition.
Provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and Delaware law may inhibit a takeover of us, which could limit the price investors might be willing to pay in the future for our common stock and could entrench management.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation contains provisions that may discourage unsolicited takeover proposals that stockholders may consider to be in their best interests. These provisions include a staggered board of directors and the ability of the board of directors to designate the terms of, and issue new series of, preferred stock, which may make more difficult the removal of management and may discourage transactions that otherwise could involve payment of a premium over prevailing market prices for our securities.
Provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and Delaware law may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors and officers.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation requires, 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 other similar actions may be brought only in the Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware and, if brought outside of the State of Delaware, the stockholder bringing such suit will be deemed to have consented to service of process on such stockholder’s counsel. These provisions may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors and officers.
If we effect our initial business combination with a company located in the United States but with operations or opportunities outside of the United States, we would be subject to a variety of additional risks that may negatively impact our operations.
If we effect our initial business combination with a company located in the United States but with operations or opportunities outside of the United States, we would be subject to any special considerations or risks associated with companies operating in an international setting, including any of the following:
· costs and difficulties inherent in managing cross-border business operations;
· rules and regulations regarding currency redemption;
· complex corporate withholding taxes on individuals;
· laws governing the manner in which future business combinations may be effected;
· tariffs and trade barriers;
· regulations related to customs and import/export matters;
· longer payment cycles;
· tax issues, such as tax law changes and variations in tax laws as compared to the United States;
· currency fluctuations and exchange controls;
· rates of inflation;
· challenges in collecting accounts receivable;
· cultural and language differences;
· employment regulations;
· crime, strikes, riots, civil disturbances, terrorist attacks and wars; and
· deterioration of political relations with the United States.
We may not be able to adequately address these additional risks. If we were unable to do so, our operations might suffer, which may adversely impact our results of operations and financial condition.
ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
None.
We currently maintain our principal executive offices at 780 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017. The cost for this space is included in the $10,000 per month fee our sponsor began charging us for office space, utilities and secretarial and administrative services on February 16, 2018, pursuant to a letter agreement between us and our sponsor. We consider our current office space adequate for our current operations.
There is no material litigation, arbitration, governmental proceeding or any other legal proceeding currently pending or known to be contemplated against us or any members of our management team in their capacity as such.
ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES
Not applicable.
ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES
Our equity securities trade on the Nasdaq Capital Market. Each of our units consists of one share of common stock and one-third of one redeemable warrant and, commencing on February 16, 2018, trades on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbol “DFBHU.” The common stock and warrants underlying our units began trading separately on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbols “DFBH” and “DFBHW,” respectively, on April 16, 2018. Each whole warrant entitles the holder to purchase one share of common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as described in our registration statement. Only whole warrants are exercisable and only whole warrants will trade. The warrants will expire on the fifth anniversary of our completion of an initial business combination, at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, or earlier upon redemption or liquidation.
Holders of Record
As of March 29, 2019, there was approximately one holder of record of our units, seven holders of record of our common stock and two holders of record of our warrants. Such numbers do not include beneficial owners holding our securities through nominee names.
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 in the future 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 cash dividends subsequent to our initial business combination will be within the discretion of our board of directors at such time. In addition, our board of directors is not currently contemplating and does not anticipate declaring any stock dividends in the foreseeable future. Further, if we incur any indebtedness in connection with our business combination, our ability to declare dividends may be limited by restrictive covenants we may agree to in connection therewith.
Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities
In December 2017, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 7,187,500 founder shares for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000. In December 2017 and January 2018, our sponsor transferred 100,000 founder shares to Mr. Wolfe and 30,000 founder shares to each of our independent directors. Following the expiration of the underwriters’ over-allotment option on April 2, 2018, the initial stockholders forfeited an aggregate of 937,500 founder shares, so that the founder shares would represent 20.0% of our issued and outstanding shares after our initial public offering.
Simultaneously with the consummation of our initial public offering, we consummated a private placement of 4,333,333 private placement warrants at a price of $1.50 per private placement warrant, generating total proceeds of $6,500,000. The private placement warrants purchased in the private placement are identical to the warrants included in the units sold in our initial public offering, except that the private placement warrants and the common stock issuable upon exercise of the private placement warrants will not be transferable, assignable or salable until 30 days after the consummation of our initial business combination, subject to certain limited exceptions. Additionally, the private placement warrants will be exercisable on a cashless basis and be non-redeemable so long as they are held by our sponsor or any of its permitted transferees. If the private placement warrants are held by holders other than our sponsor or its permitted transferees, the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us and exercisable by the holders on the same basis as the warrants included in the units sold in our initial public offering. Such securities were issued pursuant to the exemption from registration contained in Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act. Our sponsor, as purchaser, is an accredited investor for purposes of Rule 501 of Regulation D.
Use of Proceeds from our Initial Public Offering
On February 21, 2018, we consummated our initial public offering of 25,000,000 units, with each unit consisting of one share of common stock and one-third of one redeemable warrant. Each whole warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one share of common stock at an exercise price of $11.50 per share. Each warrant will become exercisable 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination and will expire on the fifth anniversary of our completion of an initial business combination, or earlier upon redemption or liquidation. No fractional warrants will be issued upon separation of the units and only whole warrants will trade.
The units in our initial public offering were sold at an offering price of $10.00 per unit, generating total gross proceeds of $250,000,000. Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. acted as joint book runners and Leerink Partners acted as co-manager of our initial public offering. The securities sold in our initial public offering were registered under the Securities Act on our registration statement on Form S-1, as amended (File No. 333-222376). The SEC declared the registration statement effective on February 15, 2018.
We paid a total of $4,500,000 in underwriting discounts and commissions and approximately $686,000 for other costs and expenses related to our initial public offering. In addition, Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. agreed to defer $7,875,000 in underwriting discounts and commissions, which amount will be payable upon consummation of our initial business combination, if consummated. Concurrent with the closing of our initial public offering, we repaid our sponsor $270,531 in satisfaction of an outstanding loan.
After deducting the underwriting discounts and commissions (excluding the deferred portion of $7,875,000 in underwriting discounts and commissions, which amount will be payable upon consummation of our initial business combination, if consummated) and the offering expenses, the total net proceeds from our initial public offering and the private placement was $256,500,000, of which $250,000,000 (or $10.00 per unit sold in our initial public offering) was placed in the trust account. There has been no material change in the planned use of proceeds from our initial public offering as described in our final prospectus, filed with the SEC on February 16, 2018.
ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA
Not applicable.
ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
The following discussion should be read in conjunction with our financial statements and related notes thereto included elsewhere in this report. Certain information contained in the discussion set forth below includes forward-looking statements. Our actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of many factors, including those set forth under “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements,” “Item 1A. Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this report.
Overview
We are a blank check company incorporated as a Delaware corporation and formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses. Although we are not limited to a particular industry or sector for purposes of consummating a business combination, we have initially focused our search on the healthcare or healthcare related industries. Our sponsor is Deerfield/RAB Ventures, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company.
The registration statement for our initial public offering was declared effective on February 15, 2018. On February 21, 2018, we consummated our initial public offering of 25,000,000 units sold to the public at the price of $10.00 per unit, generating gross proceeds of $250,000,000. Each unit consists of one share of common stock and one-third of one redeemable warrant which entitles the holder to purchase one share of common stock at an exercise price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment. The underwriters were granted a 45-day option to purchase up to 3,750,000 additional units to cover over-allotments, if any, at $10.00 per unit. The over-allotment option was not exercised prior to its expiration on April 2, 2018.
Simultaneously with the consummation of our initial public offering, we consummated a private placement of 4,333,333 warrants at a price of $1.50 per private placement warrant, generating total proceeds of $6,500,000. In the private placement, our sponsor purchased 4,333,333 private placement warrants. Following our initial public offering and the private placement, and after deducting offering expenses, $250,000,000 (including $7,875,000 of deferred underwriting commissions) were placed in a trust account located in the United States at J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, N.A., with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee.
If we are unable to complete a business combination by February 21, 2020, 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 (less up to $50,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses, which interest shall be net of taxes payable by us and any amounts released to us to fund working capital requirements, which such working capital is subject to an annual limit of $250,000), 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.
Results of Operations
Our entire activity since November 22, 2017 (inception) through December 31, 2018 was in preparation for our initial public offering, and since our initial public offering, our activity has been limited to the search for a prospective initial business combination. We will not be generating any operating revenues until the closing and completion of our initial business combination. We have increased expenses as a result of being a public company (for legal, financial reporting, accounting and auditing compliance), as well as for due diligence expenses. We expect our expenses to increase substantially after this period.
For the year ended December 31, 2018, we had net income of approximately $2.1 million, which consisted of approximately $4.1 million in interest income, offset by approximately $1.0 million in general and administrative costs, $198,000 in franchise tax expense, and $830,000 in income tax expense.
For the year ended December 31, 2017, we had net loss of $693, which consisted solely of general and administrative costs.
Liquidity and Going Concern
As indicated in the accompanying financial statements, as of December 31, 2018, we had approximately $947,000 in our operating bank account, a working capital of approximately $406,000, and approximately $3.0 million of interest income available (which interest shall be net of taxes payable and any amounts, subject to an annual limit of $250,000 released to us to fund working capital requirements).
Through December 31, 2018, our liquidity needs have been satisfied through receipt of a $25,000 capital contribution from our sponsor in exchange for the issuance of the founder shares to our sponsor, $270,531 in loans from our sponsor, the proceeds from the consummation of the private placement not held in the trust account, and interest withdrawn from the trust account of approximately $1.1 million during the year ended December 31, 2018 to pay for tax purposes only. We fully repaid the loans from our sponsor on February 21, 2018.
Following our initial public offering and the private placement, $250,000,000 was placed in the trust account, including $7,875,000 of deferred underwriting commissions. We intend to use substantially all of the funds held in the trust account, including any amounts representing interest earned on the trust account (which interest shall be net of taxes payable by us and any amounts released to us to fund working capital requirements, subject to an annual limit of $250,000 and excluding deferred underwriting commissions) to complete our initial business combination. We may withdraw interest to pay taxes and fund working capital requirements (subject to an annual limit of $250,000 for withdrawals to fund working capital requirements). To the extent that our equity or debt is used, in whole or in part, as consideration to complete our initial business combination, the remaining proceeds held in the trust account will be used as working capital to finance the operations of the target business or businesses, make other acquisitions and pursue our growth strategies.
In connection with our management’s assessment of going concern considerations in accordance with FASB’s Accounting Standards Update 2014-15, “Disclosures of Uncertainties about an Entity’s Ability to Continue as a Going Concern,” our management has determined that the mandatory liquidation and subsequent dissolution raises substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. No adjustments have been made to the carrying amounts of assets or liabilities should we be required to liquidate after February 21, 2020.
Related Party Transactions
Founder Shares
In December 2017, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 7,187,500 founder shares for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000. In
December 2017 and January 2018, our sponsor transferred 100,000 founder shares to Mr. Wolfe and 30,000 founder shares to each of our independent directors. Following the expiration of the underwriters’ over-allotment option on April 2, 2018, the initial stockholders forfeited an aggregate of 937,500 founder shares, so that the founder shares would represent 20.0% of our issued and outstanding shares after our initial public offering.
The initial stockholders agreed, subject to limited exceptions, not to transfer, assign or sell any of their founder shares until the earlier to occur of: (A) one year after the completion of the initial business combination or (B) subsequent to the initial business combination, (x) if the last sale price of the 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 the initial Business Combination, or (y) the date on which we complete a liquidation, merger, capital stock exchange or other similar transaction that results in all of our stockholders having the right to exchange their shares of common stock for cash, securities or other property.
Private Placement Warrants
Concurrently with the closing of our initial public offering, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 4,333,333 private placement warrants at a price of $1.50 per private placement warrant, generating gross proceeds of $6,500,000 in the private placement. Our sponsor had agreed that if the over-allotment option was exercised, our sponsor would have purchased up to an additional 500,000 private placement warrants at a price of $1.50 per private placement warrant, for additional gross proceeds of $750,000.
Each private placement warrant is exercisable for one share of common stock at a price of $11.50 per share. The proceeds from the private placement warrants were added to the proceeds from our initial public offering held in the trust account. If we do not complete a business combination by February 21, 2020, the private placement warrants will expire worthless. The private placement warrants are non-redeemable and exercisable on a cashless basis so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees.
Our sponsor and our officers and directors agreed, subject to limited exceptions, not to transfer, assign or sell any of their private placement warrants until 30 days after the completion of the initial business combination.
An affiliate of Deerfield Management, which is a significant owner of our sponsor, purchased 2,500,000 units in our initial public offering at $10.00 per unit. The underwriters did not receive any underwriting discounts or commissions on the units purchased by Deerfield Management’s affiliate. In addition, Deerfield Management has indicated an interest to purchase up to an aggregate of $100,000,000 of our shares of common stock in a private placement that would occur concurrently with the consummation of the initial business combination. The funds from such private placement would be used as part of the consideration to the sellers in the initial business combination, and any excess funds from such private placement would be used for working capital in the post-transaction company. However, because indications of interest are not binding agreements or commitments to purchase, Deerfield Management may determine not to purchase any such shares, or to purchase fewer shares than they have indicated an interest in purchasing. Furthermore, we are not under any obligation to sell any such shares.
Related Party Loans
Our sponsor loaned us an aggregate of $270,531 to cover expenses related to our initial public offering and working capital needs. The loan was non-interest bearing. We repaid this loan on February 21, 2018.
In addition, in order to finance transaction costs in connection with a 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 a business combination, we would repay the working capital loans out of the proceeds of the trust account released to us. 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, we 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 either 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 convertible into warrants of the post-business combination entity at a price of $1.50 per warrant. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants. To date, we have had no borrowings under the working capital loans.
Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates
This management’s discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations is based on our financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with GAAP. The preparation of these financial statements requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities in our financial statements. On an ongoing basis, we evaluate our estimates and judgments, including those related to fair value of financial instrument and accrued expenses. We base our estimates on historical experience, known trends and events and various other factors that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions. We have identified the following critical accounting policy:
Common Stock Subject to Possible Redemption
We account for our common stock subject to possible redemption in accordance with the guidance in Accounting Standards Codification Topic 480 “Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity.” Shares of common stock subject to mandatory redemption (if any) are classified as liability instruments and are measured at fair value. Conditionally redeemable shares of common stock (including shares of common stock that feature redemption rights that are either within the control of the holder or subject to redemption upon the occurrence of uncertain events not solely within our control) are classified as temporary equity. At all other times, shares of common stock are classified as stockholders’ equity. Our common stock features certain redemption rights that are considered to be outside of our control and subject to the occurrence of uncertain future events. Accordingly, shares of common stock subject to possible redemption are presented at redemption value as temporary equity, outside of the stockholders’ equity section of our balance sheet.
Recent accounting pronouncements
In August 2018, the SEC adopted the final rule under SEC Release No. 33-10532, “Disclosure Update and Simplification,” amending certain disclosure requirements that were redundant, duplicative, overlapping, outdated or superseded. In addition, the amendments expanded the disclosure requirements on the analysis of stockholders’ equity for financial statements. Under the amendments, an analysis of changes in each caption of stockholders’ equity presented in the balance sheet must be provided in a note or separate statement. The analysis should present a reconciliation of the beginning balance to the ending balance of each period for which a statement of income is required to be filed. We anticipate the first presentation of the revised presentation of changes in stockholders’ equity will be included in our Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2019.
Management does not believe that there are any other recently issued, but not yet effective, accounting standards, if currently adopted, would have a material effect on our financial statements.
Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements
As of December 31, 2018 and 2017, we did not have any off-balance sheet arrangements as defined in Item 303(a)(4)(ii) of Regulation S-K. We do not participate in transactions that create relationships with unconsolidated entities or financial partnerships, often referred to as variable interest entities, which would have been established for the purpose of facilitating off-balance sheet arrangements. We have not entered into any off-balance sheet financing arrangements, established any special purpose entities, guaranteed any debt or commitments of other entities, or purchased any non-financial assets.
Contractual Obligations
We do not have any long-term debt obligations, capital lease obligations, operating lease obligations, purchase obligations or long-term liabilities, other than an agreement to pay our sponsor a monthly fee of $10,000 for office space, utilities and administrative support and an agreement to pay $7,500 per month to Mr. Wolfe for his services prior to the consummation of the initial business combination. We began incurring these fees on February 16, 2018 and will continue to incur these fees until the earlier of the completion of our initial business combination or our liquidation.
JOBS Act
On April 5, 2012, the JOBS Act was signed into law. The JOBS Act contains provisions that, among other things, relax certain reporting requirements for qualifying public companies. We qualify as an “emerging growth company” and under the JOBS Act are allowed to comply with new or revised accounting pronouncements based on the effective date for private (not publicly traded) companies. We are electing to delay the adoption of new or revised accounting standards, and as a result, we may not comply with new or revised accounting standards on the relevant dates on which adoption of such standards is required for non-emerging growth companies. As a result, our financial statements may not be comparable to companies that comply with new or revised accounting pronouncements as of public company effective dates.
Additionally, we are in the process of evaluating the benefits of relying on the other reduced reporting requirements provided by the JOBS Act. Subject to certain conditions set forth in the JOBS Act, if, as an “emerging growth company”, we choose to rely on such exemptions we may not be required to, among other things, (i) provide an auditor’s attestation report on our system of internal controls over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404, (ii) provide all of the compensation disclosure that may be required of non-emerging growth public companies under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, (iii) comply with any requirement that may be adopted by the PCAOB regarding mandatory audit firm rotation or a supplement to the auditor’s report providing additional information about the audit and the financial statements (auditor discussion and analysis), and (iv) disclose certain executive compensation related items such as the correlation between executive compensation and performance and comparisons of the chief executive officer’s compensation to median employee compensation. These exemptions will apply for a period of five years following the completion of our initial public offering or until we are no longer an “emerging growth company,” whichever is earlier.
ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK
As of December 31, 2018, we were not subject to any market or interest rate risk. Following the consummation of our initial public offering, the net proceeds of our initial public offering, including amounts in the trust account, were invested in U.S. government treasury bills, notes or bonds with a maturity of 180 days or less or in certain money market funds that invest solely in U.S. treasuries. Due to the short-term nature of these investments, we do not believe that there will be an associated material exposure to interest rate risk.
ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA
This information appears following Item 15 of this report and is incorporated 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
Under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial and accounting officer, we conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures as of the end of the fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2018, as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act. Based on this evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer have concluded that, during the period covered by this report, our disclosure controls and procedures were effective.
Disclosure controls and procedures are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by us in our Exchange Act reports is recorded, processed, summarized, and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms, and that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial and accounting officer or persons performing similar functions, as appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.
Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting
There was no change in our internal control over financial reporting, as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act, that occurred during the fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2018 that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.
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.
None.
ITEM 10. DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
Directors and Executive Officers
Our directors and officers are as follows:
Name |
| Age |
| Title |
Richard Barasch |
| 65 |
| President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman |
Christopher Wolfe |
| 39 |
| Chief Financial Officer |
Steven Hochberg |
| 57 |
| Director |
Dr. Mohit Kaushal |
| 40 |
| Director |
Dr. Gregory Sorensen |
| 56 |
| Director |
Dr. Susan Weaver |
| 58 |
| Director |
Richard Barasch has served as our President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman since our formation. Mr. Barasch was Chief
Executive Officer of Universal American Corp., a publicly-traded health insurance company focused on the senior market, from 1995 until the Universal American’s acquisition by WellCare Health Plans in April 2017. He has served as a Senior Advisor at Vestar Capital Partners, a private equity firm, since April 2017. He served as a director of Universal’s American Progressive Life and Health Insurance Company of New York subsidiary since 1991. Mr. Barasch has developed an extensive network of contacts throughout the healthcare industry and speaks regularly at industry conferences as a healthcare services expert. He has served on a number of healthcare and charity boards of directors. Mr. Barasch graduated from Swarthmore College and Columbia University Law School.
Christopher Wolfe has served as our Chief Financial Officer since our formation. Mr. Wolfe was a partner of Capital Z Partners, a middle market private equity firm, from June 2003 until December 2017. He was responsible for sourcing, structuring, execution and monitoring of private equity transactions across a variety of verticals. Mr. Wolfe served on the board of directors of Universal American Corp. from 2009 to 2014. Prior to joining Capital Z in 2003, Mr. Wolfe worked in the mergers and acquisitions group at Credit Suisse First Boston. Mr. Wolfe graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College.
Steven Hochberg has served as a director since February 2018. As one of the leaders of the private transactions group at Deerfield Management, Mr. Hochberg joined Deerfield Management in 2013 to work on structured transactions. Mr. Hochberg has been a co-founder and manager of many healthcare companies and led the merger of two New York City based hospital systems, which created a healthcare delivery system in New York City with revenues in excess of $5 billion. Mr. Hochberg has also led investments in more than 50 healthcare companies including rollups of companies within the services and the medtech sectors. Since 2004, Mr. Hochberg has managed Ascent Biomedical Ventures, a leading venture capital firm he co-founded focused on early stage investment and development of biomedical companies. Since 2011, Mr. Hochberg had been the Chairman of the Board of Continuum Health Partners until its merger with Mount Sinai in 2013, where he is the Senior Vice Chairman of the Mount Sinai Health System, a non-profit healthcare integrated delivery system in New York City with over $5 billion in annual revenues. Mr. Hochberg serves on the board of Solar Capital and Solar Senior Capital, two publicly-traded business development companies. Mr. Hochberg is also a member of the Board of the Cardiovascular Research Foundation, an organization focused on advancing new technologies and education in the field of cardiovascular medicine. Mr. Hochberg graduated from the University of Michigan and earned his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
Dr. Mohit Kaushal has served as a director since February 2018. He has had an extensive career within investing, clinical medicine and public policy. Dr. Kaushal has served as a special advisor to General Atlantic since 2015. He was a partner in Aberdare Ventures from 2013 to 2014. During his time in the Obama administration, he was a member of the White House Health IT task force; a cross agency team implementing the technology aspects of the ACA and testified to Congress on the application of technology and payment reform to the Medicare population. He also built and led the first dedicated health care team at the Federal Communications Commission, where his team initiated collaboration with the Food and Drug Administration for the regulatory streamlining of converged telecommunications, data analytics and medical devices leading to the release of the mobile medical applications guidance by the FDA. In addition, his team reformed the Rural Healthcare fund to create the Healthcare Connect Fund, which aligned the funding mechanism with wider health care payment policy and technology reform. Dr. Kaushal is a lead investor, board member or advisor to numerous transformational healthcare companies. Dr. Kaushal is an emergency room physician, holds an MBA from Stanford and an MD with distinction from Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London. He is an Adjunct Professor at Stanford University with a joint position within the newly created Biomedical Data Science Department and the medical school’s Clinical Excellence Research Center.
Dr. Gregory Sorensen has served as a director since February 2018. He served as the president and CEO of Siemens Healthcare North America from June 2011 to September 2015. Prior to Siemens, he served as Professor of Radiology and Health Sciences & Technology at Harvard Medical School; a faculty member of the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology; and co-director of the A.A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital, as well as a visiting Professor of Neuroradiology at Oxford University. Leading up to his appointment with Siemens, Greg was a practicing Neuroradiologist and active researcher with significant experience in clinical care, clinical trials, and translational research. His research and techniques are utilized by numerous centers throughout the world in phase II and III trials in cancer, stroke, and other illnesses. He holds a B.S. in biology from California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, a M.S. in computer science from Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, and a medical degree from Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass. Dr. Sorensen has served as the Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors for IMRIS, Inc., the leader in image guided therapy solutions, the President and Chief Executive Officer of DeepHealth, Inc. since April 2017, the Chairman of Fusion Healthcare Staffing, LLC, and a member of the board of directors of Inviero LLC since December 2017.
Dr. Susan Weaver has served as a director since February 2018. She has served as the Chief Executive Officer of C 3 HealthcareRX, a healthcare and pharmacy services company, since July 2016, and as the Founder and President of Transformation Health Partners, LLC since September 2015. Dr. Weaver was the Chief Medical Officer for Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina from 2014 to 2015 after serving as the Vice President, Health Delivery Redesign from December 2012 to early 2014. Prior to joining Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, Dr. Weaver was the Executive Vice President, Medical Affairs for WakeMed Health & Hospital from September 2011 to December 2012 and the Senior Vice President, Medical Affairs and Physician Practices from January 2009 to September 2011. Dr. Weaver also served as an Executive Director and Physician and founding member for Alliance Medical Ministry, a 501(c)(3) providing medical care to the working uninsured of Wake County, North Carolina. She holds an M.D. from Duke University School of Medicine and a B.S. in Psychology from Duke University.
Number and Terms of Office of Officers and Directors
Our board of directors is divided into two 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 two-year term. The term of office of the first class of directors, consisting of Drs. Kaushal and Sorensen, will expire at our first annual meeting of stockholders. The term of office of the second class of directors, consisting of Messrs. Barasch and Hochberg, will expire at the second annual meeting of stockholders. We may not hold an annual meeting of stockholders until after we consummate our initial business combination.
Our officers are elected by the board of directors and serve at the discretion of the board of directors, rather than for specific terms of office. Our board of directors is authorized to appoint persons to the offices set forth in our bylaws as it deems appropriate. Our bylaws provide that our officers may consist of a Chief Executive Officer, President, Chief Financial Officer, Vice Presidents, Secretary, Assistant Secretaries, Treasurer and such other offices as may be determined by the board of directors.
Committees of the Board of Directors
Our board of directors has two standing committees: an audit committee and a compensation committee. Both our audit committee and our compensation committee are composed solely of independent directors.
Audit Committee
Our audit committee consists of Dr. Weaver, Dr. Kaushal and Dr. Sorensen. Dr. Sorensen serves as chairman of the audit committee. Under Nasdaq listing standards and applicable SEC rules, we are required to have at least three members of the audit committee, all of whom must be independent. Dr. Weaver, Dr. Kaushal and Dr. Sorensen are each independent under Nasdaq listing standards and applicable SEC rules.
Each member of the audit committee is financially literate and our board of directors has determined that Dr. Sorensen qualifies as an “audit committee financial expert” as defined in applicable SEC rules.
We have adopted an audit committee charter, which details the principal functions of the audit committee, including:
· the appointment, compensation, retention, replacement, and oversight of the work of the independent registered accounting firm and any other independent registered public accounting firm engaged by us;
· pre-approving all audit and non-audit services to be provided by the independent registered accounting firm or any other registered public accounting firm engaged by us, and establishing pre-approval policies and procedures;
· reviewing and discussing with the independent registered accounting firm all relationships the auditors have with us in order to evaluate their continued independence;
· setting clear hiring policies for employees or former employees of the independent registered accounting firm;
· 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 accounting firm describing (i) the independent registered accounting firm’s internal quality-control procedures and (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;
· 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 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
Our compensation committee consists of Dr. Weaver, Dr. Kaushal and Dr. Sorensen. Dr. Kaushal serves as chairman of the compensation committee. Under the Nasdaq listing standards and applicable SEC rules, we are required to have at least two members of the compensation committee, all of whom must be independent. Dr. Weaver, Dr. Kaushal and Dr. Sorensen are each independent under Nasdaq listing standards and applicable SEC rules. We have adopted a compensation committee charter, which details the principal functions of the compensation committee, including:
· reviewing and approving on an annual basis the corporate goals and objectives relevant to our Chief Executive Officer’s compensation, evaluating our Chief Executive Officer’s performance in light of such goals and objectives and determining and approving the remuneration (if any) of our Chief Executive Officer based on such evaluation in executive session at which the Chief Executive Officer is not present;
· reviewing and approving the compensation of all of our other executive officers;
· reviewing our executive compensation policies and plans;
· implementing and administering our equity-based remuneration plans;
· assisting management in complying with our SEC filings;
· approving all special perquisites, special cash payments and other special compensation and benefit arrangements for our executive officers and employees;
· producing a report on executive compensation to be included in our annual proxy statement; and
· reviewing, evaluating and recommending changes, if appropriate, to the remuneration for directors.
The charter will also provide that the compensation committee may, in its sole discretion, retain or obtain the advice of a compensation consultant, legal counsel or other adviser and will be directly responsible for the appointment, compensation and oversight of the work of any such adviser. However, before engaging or receiving advice from a compensation consultant, external legal counsel or any other adviser, the compensation committee will consider the independence of each such adviser, including the factors required by Nasdaq and the SEC.
Director Nominations
We do not have a standing nominating committee. In accordance with Rule 5605(e)(2) of the Nasdaq rules, a majority of the independent directors may recommend a director nominee for selection by 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. As there is no standing nominating committee, we do not have a nominating committee charter in place.
The board of directors will also consider director candidates recommended for nomination by our stockholders during such times as they are seeking proposed nominees to stand for election at the next annual meeting of stockholders (or, if applicable, a special meeting of stockholders). Our stockholders that wish to nominate a director for election to our board of directors should follow the procedures set forth in our bylaws.
We have not formally established any specific, minimum qualifications that must be met or skills that are necessary for directors to possess. In general, in identifying and evaluating nominees for director, our board of directors considers educational background, diversity of professional experience, knowledge of our business, integrity, professional reputation, independence, wisdom, and the ability to represent the best interests of our stockholders.
Code of Ethics and Committee Charters
We have adopted a Code of Ethics applicable to our directors, officers and employees. We have filed a copy of our Code of Ethics, our audit committee charter and our compensation committee charter as exhibits to our registration statement. You will be able to review these documents by accessing our public filings at the SEC’s web site at www.sec.gov. In addition, a copy of our Code of Ethics will be provided without charge upon request from us. We intend to disclose any amendments to or waivers of certain provisions of our Code of Ethics in a Current Report on Form 8-K.
Section 16(a) Beneficial Ownership Reporting Compliance
Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act requires our officers, directors and persons who own more than ten percent of a registered class of our equity securities to file reports of ownership and changes in ownership with the SEC. Officers, directors and ten percent stockholders are required by regulation to furnish us with copies of all Section 16(a) forms they file. Based solely on copies of such forms received, we believe that, during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018, all filing requirements applicable to our officers, directors and greater than ten percent beneficial owners were complied with.
ITEM 11. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
Commencing on February 16, 2018 through the earlier of the consummation of our initial business combination and our liquidation, we
are obligated to (i) pay our sponsor a total of $10,000 per month for office space, utilities and secretarial support and (ii) pay $7,500 per month to Mr. Wolfe for his services prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, subject to the terms of an administrative services agreement and a strategic services agreement, respectively. None of our other executive officers or directors have received any cash (or non-cash) compensation for services rendered to us. Our sponsor, executive officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates, will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. Our independent directors will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made to our sponsor, officers, directors or our or their affiliates.
After the completion of our initial business combination, directors or members of our management team who remain with us may be paid consulting, management or other fees from the combined company. All of these fees will be fully disclosed to stockholders, to the extent then known, in the tender offer materials or proxy solicitation materials furnished to our stockholders in connection with a proposed business combination. It is unlikely the amount of such compensation will be known at the time, because the directors of the post-combination business will be responsible for determining executive officer and director compensation. Any compensation to be paid to our officers will be determined by a compensation committee constituted solely of independent directors.
We do not intend to take any action to ensure that members of our management team maintain their positions with us after the consummation of our initial business combination, although it is possible that some or all of our executive officers and directors may negotiate employment or consulting arrangements to remain with us after the initial business combination. The existence or terms of any such employment or consulting arrangements to retain their positions with us may influence our management’s motivation in identifying or selecting a target business but we do not believe that the ability of our management to remain with us after the consummation of our initial business combination will be a determining factor in our decision to proceed with any potential business combination. We are not party to any agreements with our executive officers and directors that provide for benefits upon termination of employment.
ITEM 12. SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS AND MANAGEMENT AND RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS
The following table sets forth information regarding the beneficial ownership of our common stock as of March 29, 2019, by:
· each person known by us to be the beneficial owner of more than 5% of our outstanding shares of common stock;
· each of our executive officers and directors that beneficially owns shares of our common stock; and
· all our executive officers and directors as a group.
Unless otherwise indicated, we believe that all persons named in the table have sole voting and investment power with respect to all shares of common stock beneficially owned by them. The following table does not reflect record or beneficial ownership of the private placement warrants as these warrants are not exercisable within 60 days of the date of this report.
We have based our calculation of the percentage of beneficial ownership on 31,250,000 shares of our common stock issued and outstanding on March 29, 2019.
Name and Address of Beneficial Owner(1) |
| Amount and |
| Approximate |
|
Deerfield/RAB Ventures, LLC(2) |
| 6,045,652 |
| 19.3 | % |
Richard Barasch(2) |
| 6,045,652 |
| 19.3 | % |
Steven Hochberg(2) |
| 6,071,739 |
| 19.4 | % |
Christopher Wolfe |
| 100,000 |
| * |
|
Dr. Mohit Kaushal |
| 26,087 |
| * |
|
Dr. Gregory Sorensen |
| 56,087 |
| * |
|
Dr. Susan Weaver |
| 26,087 |
| * |
|
All directors and executive officers as a group (6 individuals) |
| 6,280,000 |
| 20.1 | % |
Highbridge Capital Management, LLC(3) |
| 1,999,998 |
| 6.4 | % |
Deerfield Management Company, L.P.(4) |
| 8,571,739 |
| 27.4 | % |
* Less than one percent.
(1) Unless otherwise noted, the business address of each of the following entities or individuals is 780 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017.
(2) Represents 6,045,652 shares held directly by Deerfield/RAB Ventures, LLC, our sponsor, and, in the case of Mr. Hochberg, 26,087 shares held directly by Mr. Hochberg. RAB Ventures (DFB) LLC and Deerfield Private Design Fund IV, L.P. constitute the members of our sponsor and Messrs. Barasch and Hochberg constitute the managers of our sponsor. Consequently, Messrs. Barasch and Hochberg may be deemed to share voting and dispositive control over the securities held by our sponsor, and thus to share beneficial ownership in such securities. Each of Messrs. Barasch and Hochberg disclaims beneficial ownership over any securities owned by our sponsor in which he does not have any pecuniary interest.
(3) According to a Schedule 13G/A filed with the SEC on February 14, 2019, on behalf of Highbridge Capital Management, LLC and 1992 MSF International Ltd. As the trading manager of 1992 MSF International Ltd., Highbridge Capital Management, LLC may be deemed to beneficially own all of the shares, which are held directly by 1992 MSF International Ltd. The business address of this stockholder is 40 West 57th Street, 32nd Floor, New York, New York 10019.
(4) According to a Schedule 13D filed with the SEC on March 5, 2018 and a Schedule 13D/A filed with the SEC on April 4, 2018, on behalf of Deerfield Mgmt IV, L.P. (“Deerfield Mgmt IV”), Deerfield Private Design Fund IV, L.P. (“Deerfield Private Design Fund IV”), Deerfield Management Company, L.P. (“Deerfield Management”), James E. Flynn and Mr. Hochberg, each of which share voting and dispositive power with respect to certain of the reported shares. Mr. Flynn is the sole member of the general partner of each of Deerfield Mgmt IV and Deerfield Management. Deerfield Mgmt IV is the general partner, and Deerfield Management is the investment manager, of Deerfield Private Design Fund IV. Mr. Hochberg, an employee of Deerfield Management, also serves as a manager of our sponsor. The business address of this stockholder is 780 Third Avenue, 37th Floor, New York, New York 10017.
ITEM 13. CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS, AND DIRECTOR INDEPENDENCE
In December 2017, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 7,187,500 founder shares for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000, or approximately $0.003 per share. The number of founder shares issued was determined based on the expectation that such founder shares would represent 20.0% of our issued and outstanding shares upon completion of our initial public offering. Prior to the initial investment in the company of $25,000 by our sponsor, the company had no assets, tangible or intangible. The purchase price of the founder shares was determined by dividing the amount of cash contributed to the company by the number of founder shares issued. In December 2017 and January 2018, our sponsor transferred 100,000 founder shares to Mr. Wolfe and 30,000 founder shares to each of our independent directors. Following the expiration of the underwriters’ over-allotment option on April 2, 2018, the initial stockholders forfeited an aggregate of 937,500 founder shares, so that the founder shares would represent 20.0% of our issued and outstanding shares after our initial public offering.
Simultaneously with the closing of our initial public offering, we consummated the sale of 4,333,333 private placement warrants at a price of $1.50 per warrant in a private placement to our sponsor, generating gross proceeds of $6,500,000. Each private placement warrant entitles the holder to purchase one share of our common stock at $11.50 per share. The private placement warrants (including the common stock issuable upon exercise of the private placement warrants) may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by our sponsor until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination.
The Deerfield Funds purchased 2,500,000 units in our initial public offering at the initial public offering price. The underwriters did not receive any underwriting discounts or commissions on the units purchased by the Deerfield Funds. In addition, the Deerfield Funds have indicated an interest to purchase up to an aggregate of $100,000,000 of our shares of common stock in a private placement that would occur concurrently with the consummation of our initial business combination. The funds from such private placement would be used as part of the consideration to the sellers in our initial business combination, and any excess funds from such private placement would be used for working capital in the post-transaction company. However, because indications of interest are not binding agreements or commitments to purchase, the Deerfield Funds may determine not to purchase any such shares, or to purchase fewer shares than they have indicated an interest in purchasing. Furthermore, we are not under any obligation to sell any such shares. Such investment would be made on terms and conditions determined at the time of the business combination.
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. Our executive officers and directors currently have certain relevant fiduciary duties or contractual obligations that may take priority over their duties to us.
Commencing on February 16, 2016, we began paying a total of (i) $10,000 per month for office space, utilities and secretarial support pursuant to an administrative services agreement with our sponsor and (ii) $7,500 per month to Mr. Wolfe for his services prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, subject to the terms of a strategic services agreement that we entered into with Mr. Wolfe. Upon completion of our initial business combination or our liquidation, we will cease paying these monthly fees.
Our sponsor, executive officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates, will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. Our audit committee reviews on a quarterly basis all payments that were made to our sponsor, officers,
directors or our or their affiliates and will determine which expenses and the amount of expenses that will be reimbursed. There is no cap or ceiling on the reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses incurred by such persons in connection with activities on our behalf.
Our sponsor loaned us an aggregate of $270,531 to cover expenses related to our initial public offering and working capital needs. The loan was non-interest bearing and repaid in full on February 21, 2018 out of the proceeds from our initial public offering not held in the trust account.
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 of the post-business combination entity at a price of $1.50 per warrant at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants. 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.
After our initial business combination, members of our management team who remain with us may be paid consulting, management or other fees from the combined company with any and all amounts being fully disclosed to our stockholders, to the extent then known, in the tender offer or proxy solicitation materials, as applicable, furnished to our stockholders. It is unlikely the amount of such compensation will be known at the time of distribution of such tender offer materials or at the time of a stockholder meeting held to consider our initial business combination, as applicable, as it will be up to the directors of the post-combination business to determine executive and director compensation.
We have entered into a registration rights agreement with respect to the founder shares and private placement warrants.
Our audit committee must review and approve any related person transaction we propose to enter into. Our Audit Committee Charter details the policies and procedures relating to transactions that may present actual, potential or perceived conflicts of interest and may raise questions as to whether such transactions are consistent with the best interest of our company and our stockholders. A summary of such policies and procedures is set forth below.
Any potential related party transaction that is brought to the audit committee’s attention will be analyzed by the audit committee, in consultation with outside counsel or members of management, as appropriate, to determine whether the transaction or relationship does, in fact, constitute a related party transaction. At its meetings, the audit committee will be provided with the details of each new, existing or proposed related party transaction, including the terms of the transaction, the business purpose of the transaction and the benefits to us and to the relevant related party.
In determining whether to approve a related party transaction, the audit committee must consider, among other factors, the following factors to the extent relevant:
· whether the terms of the transaction are fair to us and on the same basis as would apply if the transaction did not involve a related party;
· whether there are business reasons for us to enter into the transaction;
· whether the transaction would impair the independence of an outside director; and
· whether the transaction would present an improper conflict of interest for any director or executive officer.
Any member of the audit committee who has an interest in the transaction under discussion must abstain from any voting regarding the transaction, but may, if so requested by the chairman of the audit committee, participate in some or all of the audit committee’s discussions of the transaction. Upon completion of its review of the transaction, the audit committee may determine to permit or to prohibit the transaction.
Director Independence
Nasdaq listing standards require that a majority of our board of directors be independent. An “independent director” is defined generally as a person other than an officer or employee of the company or its subsidiaries or any other individual having a relationship which in the opinion of the company’s board of directors, would interfere with the director’s exercise of independent judgment in carrying out the responsibilities of a director. Our board of directors has determined that Mr. Hochberg, Dr. Weaver, Dr. Kaushal and Dr. Sorensen 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.
ITEM 14. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTANT FEES AND SERVICES
The firm of WithumSmith+Brown, PC, or Withum, acts as our independent registered public accounting firm. The following is a summary of fees paid to Withum for services rendered.
Audit Fees
Audit fees consist of fees billed for professional services rendered for the audit of our year-end financial statements and services that are normally provided by Withum in connection with regulatory filings. During the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017, audit fees paid to Withum were $94,500 and $0, respectively.
Audit-Related Fees
Audit-related services consist of fees billed for assurance and related services that are reasonably related to performance of the audit or review of our financial statements and are not reported under “Audit Fees.” These services include attest services that are not required by statute or regulation and consultations concerning financial accounting and reporting standards. During the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017, we did not pay Withum any audit-related fees.
Tax Fees
During the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017, we did not pay Withum any fees for tax services.
All Other Fees
During the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017, we did not pay Withum any fees for other services.
Pre-Approval Policy
Our audit committee was formed on the effective date of our registration statement. 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 independent registered public accounting firm, 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).
ITEM 15. EXHIBITS, FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES
The following documents are filed as part of this report:
(1) Financial Statements
(2) Financial Statement Schedules
None.
(3) Exhibits: Exhibits not incorporated by reference to a prior filing are designated by an asterisk (*) and are filed herewith; all exhibits not so designated are incorporated by reference to a prior SEC filing as indicated.
Exhibit |
| Description |
1.1(1) |
| |
3.1(1) |
| Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation of the Registrant. |
3.2(2) |
| |
4.1(2) |
| |
4.2(2) |
|
4.3(2) |
| |
4.4(1) |
| |
10.1(1) |
| |
10.2(1) |
| |
10.3(1) |
| |
10.4(1) |
| |
10.5(1) |
| |
10.6(3) |
| |
10.7(3) |
| Promissory Note, dated December 18, 2017, issued to Deerfield/RAB Ventures, LLC. |
10.8(1) |
| Strategic Services Agreement, dated February 15, 2018, between the Registrant and Christopher Wolfe |
10.9(2) |
| |
10.10(1) |
| |
14(2) |
| |
99.5(2) |
| |
99.6(2) |
| |
31.1* |
| Certification of the Principal Executive Officer required by Rule 13a-14(a) or Rule 15d-14(a). |
31.2* |
| |
32.1** |
| |
32.2** |
| |
101.INS*** |
| XBRL Instance Document |
101.SCH*** |
| XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema |
101.CAL*** |
| XBRL Taxonomy Calculation Linkbase |
101.LAB*** |
| XBRL Taxonomy Label Document |
101.PRE*** |
| XBRL Definition Linkbase Document |
101.DEF*** |
| XBRL Definition Linkbase Document |
* Filed herewith.
** Furnished herewith.
*** XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) information is furnished and not filed or a part of a registration statement or prospectus for purposes of Sections 11 or 12 of the Securities Act of 1933, is deemed not filed for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and otherwise is not subject to liability under these sections.
(1) Incorporated by reference to an exhibit to the Registrant’s Current Report on Form 8-K, filed with the SEC on February 22, 2018.
(2) Incorporated by reference to an exhibit to the Registrant’s Form S-1/A, filed with the SEC on February 12, 2018.
(3) Incorporated by reference to an exhibit to the Registrant’s Form S-1, filed with the SEC on December 29, 2017.
DFB HEALTHCARE ACQUISITIONS CORP.
INDEX TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
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REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
To the Stockholders and the Board of Directors of
DFB Healthcare Acquisitions Corp.
Opinion on the Financial Statements
We have audited the accompanying balance sheets of DFB Healthcare Acquisitions Corp. (the ‘‘Company’’) as of December 31, 2018 and 2017, and the related statements of operations, changes in stockholders’ equity and cash flows for the year ended December 31, 2018 and for the period from November 22, 2017 (inception) through December 31, 2017, 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, 2018 and 2017, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year ended December 31, 2018 and for the period from November 22, 2017 (inception) through December 31, 2017, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.
Going Concern
The accompanying financial statements have been prepared assuming that the Company will continue as a going concern. As discussed in Note 1 to the financial statements, if the Company does not complete a business combination by February 21, 2020, then the Company will cease all operations except for the purpose of winding down and liquidating. This mandatory liquidation and subsequent dissolution raises 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.
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 entity’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/ WithumSmith+Brown, PC
We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2017.
New York, New York
March 28, 2019
PART I - FINANCIAL INFORMATION
DFB HEALTHCARE ACQUISITIONS CORP.
|
| December 31, |
| ||||
|
| 2018 |
| 2017 |
| ||
Assets |
|
|
|
|
| ||
Current assets: |
|
|
|
|
| ||
Cash |
| $ | 947,098 |
| $ | 119,821 |
|
Prepaid expenses |
| 158,005 |
| — |
| ||
Total current assets |
| 1,105,103 |
| 119,821 |
| ||
Deferred offering costs associated with initial public offering |
| — |
| 190,795 |
| ||
Cash and marketable securities held in Trust Account |
| 253,019,179 |
| — |
| ||
Total assets |
| $ | 254,124,282 |
| $ | 310,616 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ||
Liabilities and Stockholders’ Equity |
|
|
|
|
| ||
Current liabilities: |
|
|
|
|
| ||
Accounts payable |
| $ | 40,774 |
| $ | 60,506 |
|
Accrued expenses |
| 500,379 |
| 51,563 |
| ||
Franchise tax payable |
| 158,240 |
| — |
| ||
Notes payable - related parties |
| — |
| 174,240 |
| ||
Total current liabilities |
| 699,393 |
| 286,309 |
| ||
Deferred underwriting commissions |
| 7,875,000 |
| — |
| ||
Total liabilities |
| 8,574,393 |
| 286,309 |
| ||
|
|
|
|
|
| ||
Commitments and Contingencies |
|
|
|
|
| ||
Common stock, $0.0001 par value; 24,054,988 and -0- shares subject to possible redemption at December 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively |
| 240,549,880 |
| — |
| ||
|
|
|
|
|
| ||
Stockholders’ Equity: |
|
|
|
|
| ||
Preferred stock, $0.0001 par value; 1,000,000 shares authorized; none issued and outstanding |
| — |
| — |
| ||
Common stock, $0.0001 par value; 200,000,000 and 100,000,000 shares authorized at December 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively; 7,195,012 and 7,187,500 shares issued and outstanding (excluding 24,054,988 and -0- shares subject to possible redemption) at December 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively |
| 720 |
| 719 |
| ||
Additional paid-in capital |
| 2,913,888 |
| 24,281 |
| ||
Retained earnings (accumulated deficit) |
| 2,085,401 |
| (693 | ) | ||
Total stockholders’ equity |
| 5,000,009 |
| 24,307 |
| ||
Total Liabilities and Stockholders’ Equity |
| $ | 254,124,282 |
| $ | 310,616 |
|
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
DFB HEALTHCARE ACQUISITIONS CORP.
|
|
|
| For the period from |
| ||
|
| For the year ended |
| November 22, 2017 (inception) |
| ||
|
| December 31, 2018 |
| through December 31, 2017 |
| ||
|
|
|
|
|
| ||
General and administrative expenses |
| $ | 1,036,124 |
| $ | 693 |
|
State franchise taxes |
| 197,592 |
| — |
| ||
Loss from operations |
| (1,233,716 | ) | (693 | ) | ||
Interest income |
| 4,149,617 |
| — |
| ||
Income (loss) before income tax expense |
| 2,915,901 |
| (693 | ) | ||
Income tax expense |
| 829,807 |
| — |
| ||
Net income (loss) |
| $ | 2,086,094 |
| $ | (693 | ) |
|
|
|
|
|
| ||
Basic and diluted weighted average Public Shares (Note 3) outstanding |
| 25,000,000 |
| — |
| ||
Basic and diluted net income (loss) per Public Share |
| $ | 0.11 |
| $ | — |
|
Basic and diluted weighted average Founder Shares (Note 4) outstanding |
| 6,250,000 |
| 6,250,000 |
| ||
Basic and diluted net loss per share |
| $ | (0.13 | ) | $ | (0.00 | ) |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
DFB HEALTHCARE ACQUISITIONS CORP.
STATEMENTS OF CHANGES IN STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY
|
|
|
|
|
| Additional |
| Retained Earnings |
| Total |
| ||||
|
| Common Stock |
| Paid-in |
| (Accumulated |
| Stockholders’ |
| ||||||
|
| Shares |
| Amount |
| Capital |
| Deficit) |
| Equity |
| ||||
Balance - November 22, 2017 (inception) |
| — |
| $ | — |
| $ | — |
| $ | — |
| $ | — |
|
Issuance of common stock to Sponsor |
| 7,187,500 |
| 719 |
| 24,281 |
| — |
| 25,000 |
| ||||
Net loss |
| — |
| — |
| — |
| (693 | ) | (693 | ) | ||||
Balance - December 31, 2017 |
| 7,187,500 |
| 719 |
| 24,281 |
| (693 | ) | 24,307 |
| ||||
Sale of units in initial public offering |
| 25,000,000 |
| 2,500 |
| 249,997,500 |
| — |
| 250,000,000 |
| ||||
Offering costs |
| — |
| — |
| (13,060,512 | ) | — |
| (13,060,512 | ) | ||||
Sale of private placement warrants to Sponsor in private placement |
| — |
| — |
| 6,500,000 |
| — |
| 6,500,000 |
| ||||
Founder shares forfeited |
| (937,500 | ) | (94 | ) | 94 |
| — |
| — |
| ||||
Common stock subject to possible redemption |
| (24,054,988 | ) | (2,405 | ) | (240,547,475 | ) | — |
| (240,549,880 | ) | ||||
Net income |
| — |
| — |
| — |
| 2,086,094 |
| 2,086,094 |
| ||||
Balance - December 31, 2018 |
| 7,195,012 |
| $ | 720 |
| $ | 2,913,888 |
| $ | 2,085,401 |
| $ | 5,000,009 |
|
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
DFB HEALTHCARE ACQUISITIONS CORP.
|
|
|
| For the period from |
| ||
|
| For the year ended |
| November 22, 2017 (inception) |
| ||
|
| December 31, 2018 |
| through December 31, 2017 |
| ||
|
|
|
|
|
| ||
Cash Flows from Operating Activities: |
|
|
|
|
| ||
Net income (loss) |
| $ | 2,086,094 |
| $ | (693 | ) |
Adjustments to reconcile net income (loss) to net cash used in operating activities: |
|
|
|
|
| ||
Interest income in cash and marketable securities held in Trust Account |
| (4,149,617 | ) | — |
| ||
Changes in operating assets and liabilities: |
|
|
|
|
| ||
Prepaid expenses |
| (158,005 | ) | — |
| ||
Accounts payable |
| (19,732 | ) | 506 |
| ||
Accrued expenses |
| 448,816 |
| 187 |
| ||
Franchise tax payable |
| 158,240 |
| — |
| ||
Net cash used in operating activities |
| (1,634,204 | ) | — |
| ||
|
|
|
|
|
| ||
Cash Flows from Investing Activities |
|
|
|
|
| ||
Principal deposited in Trust Account |
| (250,000,000 | ) | — |
| ||
Interest released from Trust Account |
| 1,130,438 |
| — |
| ||
Net cash used in investing activities |
| (248,869,562 | ) | — |
| ||
|
|
|
|
|
| ||
Cash Flows from Financing Activities: |
|
|
|
|
| ||
Proceeds from issuance of common stock to Sponsor |
| — |
| 25,000 |
| ||
Proceeds from notes payable to related parties |
| 96,291 |
| 94,821 |
| ||
Repayment of notes payable to related parties |
| (270,531 | ) | — |
| ||
Proceeds received from initial public offering |
| 250,000,000 |
| — |
| ||
Payment of offering costs |
| (4,994,717 | ) | — |
| ||
Proceeds received from private placement |
| 6,500,000 |
| — |
| ||
Net cash provided by financing activities |
| 251,331,043 |
| 119,821 |
| ||
|
|
|
|
|
| ||
Net increase in cash |
| 827,277 |
| 119,821 |
| ||
|
|
|
|
|
| ||
Cash - beginning of the period |
| 119,821 |
| — |
| ||
Cash - end of the period |
| $ | 947,098 |
| $ | 119,821 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ||
Supplemental disclosure of noncash investing and financing activities: |
|
|
|
|
| ||
Deferred underwriting commissions charged to equity in connection with the initial public offering |
| $ | 7,875,000 |
| $ | — |
|
Deferred offering costs charged to equity upon completion of the initial public offering |
| $ | 190,795 |
| $ | — |
|
Change in value of common stock subject to possible redemption |
| $ | 240,549,880 |
| $ | — |
|
Founder shares forfeited |
| $ | 94 |
| $ | — |
|
Deferred offering costs included in accrued expenses |
| $ | — |
| $ | 51,376 |
|
Deferred offering costs included in accounts payable |
| $ | — |
| $ | 60,000 |
|
Deferred offering costs paid by Sponsor |
| $ | — |
| $ | 79,419 |
|
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
DFB HEALTHCARE ACQUISITIONS CORP.
Note 1—Description of Organization and Business Operations
DFB Healthcare Acquisitions Corp. (the “Company”) was incorporated in Delaware on November 22, 2017. The Company was formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses (the “Business Combination”). Although the Company is not limited to a particular industry or sector for purposes of consummating a Business Combination, the Company intends to focus its search on the healthcare or healthcare related industries. The Company is an emerging growth company and, as such, the Company is subject to all of the risks associated with emerging growth companies.
As of December 31, 2018, the Company had not commenced any operations. All activity for the period from November 22, 2017 (inception) through December 31, 2018 relates to the Company’s formation, the Company’s initial public offering (the “Initial Public Offering”), and, since the closing of the Initial Public Offering, the search for a prospective 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 will generate non-operating income in the form of interest income on cash and cash equivalents from the proceeds derived from the Initial Public Offering.
The Company’s sponsor is Deerfield/RAB Ventures, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (the “Sponsor”). The registration statement for the Company’s Initial Public Offering was declared effective on February 15, 2018. On February 21, 2018, the Company consummated its Initial Public Offering of 25,000,000 units (each, a “Unit” and collectively, the “Units”) sold to the public at the price of $10.00 per Unit, generating gross proceeds of $250 million and incurring offering costs of approximately $13.06 million, inclusive of $7.875 million in deferred underwriting commissions (Note 5). The underwriter was granted a 45-day option from the date of the final prospectus relating to the Initial Public Offering to purchase up to 3,750,000 additional Units to cover over-allotments, if any, at $10.00 per Unit. The over-allotment option was not exercised prior to its expiration on April 2, 2018.
Simultaneously with the closing of the Initial Public Offering, the Company consummated the private placement (the “Private Placement”) of 4,333,333 warrants (each, a “Private Placement Warrant” and collectively, the “Private Placement Warrants”), at a price of $1.50 per Private Placement Warrant in a private placement to the Sponsor, generating gross proceeds of $6.5 million (Note 4). The Sponsor had agreed that, had the over-allotment option been exercised, the Sponsor would have purchased up to an additional 500,000 Private Placement Warrants at a price of $1.50 per Private Placement Warrant.
Upon the closing of the Initial Public Offering and the Private Placement, $250 million ($10.00 per Unit) of the net proceeds of the sale of the Units in the Initial Public Offering and the Private Placement was placed in a trust account (the “Trust Account”), located in the United States at J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, N.A., with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee, and invested only in U.S. government securities, within the meaning set forth in Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act (as defined below), with a maturity of 180 days or less or in any open-ended investment company that holds itself out as a money market fund selected by the Company meeting the conditions of paragraphs (d)(2), (d)(3) and (d)(4) of Rule 2a-7 of the Investment Company Act (as defined below), as determined by the Company, until the earlier of: (i) the completion of a Business Combination and (ii) the distribution of the Trust Account as described below.
At December 31, 2018, the Company had approximately $947,000 in cash held outside of the Trust Account. 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 proceeds are intended to be applied generally toward consummating a Business Combination. There is no assurance that the Company will be able to complete a Business Combination successfully. The Company must complete one or more initial Business Combinations having an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the assets held in the Trust Account (excluding the deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on income earned on the Trust Account) at the time of the agreement to enter into the initial Business Combination. However, the Company will only complete a 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 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”).
The Company will provide its holders of the outstanding shares of its common stock, par value $0.0001, sold in the Initial Public Offering (the “public stockholders”) with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their Public Shares (as defined below in Note 3) upon the completion of a Business Combination either (i) in connection with a stockholder meeting called to approve the Business Combination or (ii) by means of a tender offer. The decision as to whether the Company will seek stockholder approval of a Business Combination or conduct a tender offer will be made by the Company, solely in its discretion. The public stockholders will be entitled to redeem their Public Shares for a pro rata portion of the amount then in the Trust Account (initially at $10.00 per Public Share). The per-share amount to be distributed to public stockholders who redeem their Public Shares will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting commissions the Company will pay to the underwriters (as discussed in Note 5). These Public Shares are recorded at a redemption value and classified as temporary equity in accordance with the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s (“FASB”) Accounting Standards
Codification (“ASC”) Topic 480 “Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity.” In such case, the Company will proceed with a Business Combination if the Company has net tangible assets of at least $5,000,001 upon such consummation of a Business Combination and 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 decides not to hold a stockholder vote for business or other legal reasons, the Company will, pursuant to its Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation (the “Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation”), conduct the redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) and file tender offer documents with the SEC prior to completing a Business Combination. If, however, stockholder approval of the transactions is required by law, or the Company decides to obtain stockholder approval for business or legal 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. Additionally, each public stockholder may elect to redeem their Public Shares irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction. If the Company seeks stockholder approval in connection with a Business Combination, the initial stockholders (as defined below) agreed to vote their Founder Shares (as defined below in Note 4) and any Public Shares purchased during or after the Initial Public Offering in favor of a Business Combination. The Company’s insiders must: (i) refrain from purchasing shares during certain blackout periods and when they are in possession of any material non-public information and (ii) to clear all trades with the Company’s legal counsel prior to execution. In addition, the initial stockholders agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to their Founder Shares and Public Shares in connection with the completion of a Business Combination.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation provides that a public stockholder, together with any affiliate of such stockholder or any other person with whom such stockholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”)), will be restricted from redeeming its shares with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% or more of the common stock sold in the Initial Public Offering, without the prior consent of the Company.
The Company’s Sponsor, officers and directors (the “initial stockholders”) agreed not to propose an amendment to the Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation that would affect the substance or timing of the Company’s obligation to redeem 100% of its Public Shares if the Company does not complete a Business Combination, unless the Company provides the public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their shares of common stock in conjunction with any such amendment.
If the Company is unable to complete a Business Combination within 24 months from the closing of the Initial Public Offering, or February 21, 2020, (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 (less up to $50,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses, which interest shall be net of taxes payable by the Company and any amounts released to the Company to fund working capital requirements, subject to an annual limit of $250,000), divided by the number of then outstanding Public Shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of the Company’s remaining stockholders and the Company’s board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to the Company’s obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law.
The initial stockholders agreed to waive their liquidation rights with respect to the Founder Shares if the Company fails to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period. However, if the initial stockholders should acquire Public Shares in or after the Initial Public Offering, they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the Trust Account with respect to such Public Shares if the Company fails to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period. The underwriters agreed to waive their rights to their deferred underwriting commission (see Note 5) held in the Trust Account in the event the Company does not complete a Business Combination within in the Combination Period and, in such event, such amounts will be included with the other funds held in the Trust Account that will be available to fund the redemption of the Public Shares. In the event of such distribution, it is possible that the per share value of the residual assets remaining available for distribution (including Trust Account assets) will be only $10.00 per share initially held in the Trust Account. In order to protect the amounts held in the Trust Account, the Sponsor has agreed to be liable to the Company if and to the extent any claims by a vendor for services rendered or products sold to the Company, or a prospective target business with which the Company has discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the Trust Account. This liability will not apply with respect to any claims by a third party who executed a waiver of any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the Trust Account or 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 has sought and will continue to 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, 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.
Liquidity and Going Concern
As of December 31, 2018, the Company had approximately $947,000 in its operating bank account, a working capital of approximately $406,000, and approximately $3.0 million of interest income available to fund a Business Combination (which interest shall be net of taxes payable and any amounts, subject to an annual limit of $250,000 released to the Company to fund working capital requirements). 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 officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan the Company funds as may be required (“Working Capital Loans”) (see Note 4).
Through December 31, 2018, the Company’s liquidity needs have been satisfied through receipt of a $25,000 capital contribution from the Sponsor in exchange for the issuance of the Founder Shares (Note 5) to the Sponsor, $270,531 in loans from the Sponsor, the proceeds from the consummation of the Private Placement not held in the Trust Account, and interest withdrawn from the Trust Account of approximately $1.1 million during the year ended December 31, 2018 for working capital and taxes purposes. The Company fully repaid the loans from the Sponsor on February 21, 2018.
In connection with the Company’s assessment of going concern considerations in accordance with FASB’s Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2014-15, “Disclosures of Uncertainties about an Entity’s Ability to Continue as a Going Concern,” the Company’s management has determined that the mandatory liquidation and subsequent dissolution raises substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. No adjustments have been made to the carrying amounts of assets or liabilities should the Company be required to liquidate after February 21, 2020.
Note 2—Summary of Significant Accounting Policies
Basis of Presentation
The Company’s financial statements have been prepared in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”) pursuant to the rules and regulations of the SEC.
Emerging Growth Company
Section 102(b)(1) of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (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 an emerging growth company can elect to opt out of the extended transition period and comply with the requirements that apply to non-emerging growth companies but any such an election to opt out is irrevocable. The Company has elected not to opt out of such extended transition period, which means that when a standard is issued or revised and it has different application dates for public or private companies, the Company, as an emerging growth company, can adopt the new or revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new or revised standard.
This may make comparison of the Company’s financial statements with another public company that is neither an emerging growth company nor an emerging growth company that has opted out of using the extended transition period difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accounting standards used.
Concentration of Credit Risk
Financial instruments that potentially subject the Company to concentrations of credit risk consist of cash accounts in a financial institution, which, at times, may exceed the Federal Depository Insurance Coverage of $250,000. At December 31, 2018 and 2017, the Company has not experienced losses on these accounts and management believes the Company is not exposed to significant risks on such accounts.
Financial Instruments
The fair value of the Company’s assets and liabilities, which qualify as financial instruments under the FASB ASC 820, “Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures,” approximates the carrying amounts represented on the balance sheets.
Use of Estimates
The preparation of the financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires the Company’s management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of expenses during the reporting periods. Actual results could differ from those estimates.
Offering Costs
Offering costs, which consist of legal, accounting, underwriting fees and other costs that were directly related to the Initial Public Offering, totaled approximately $13.06 million, inclusive of $7.875 million in deferred underwriting commissions. Offering costs were charged to stockholders’ equity upon the completion of the Initial Public Offering.
Common Stock Subject to Possible Redemption
The Company accounts for its common stock subject to possible redemption in accordance with the guidance in ASC Topic 480 “Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity.” Shares of common stock subject to mandatory redemption (if any) are classified as liability instruments and are measured at fair value. Conditionally redeemable shares of common stock (including shares of common stock that feature redemption rights that are either within the control of the holder or subject to redemption upon the occurrence of uncertain events not solely within the Company’s control) are classified as temporary equity. At all other times, shares of common stock are classified as stockholders’ equity. The Company’s common stock features certain redemption rights that are considered to be outside of the Company’s control and subject to the occurrence of uncertain future events. Accordingly, at December 31, 2018, 24,054,988 shares of common stock subject to possible redemption at the redemption amount are presented as temporary equity, outside of the stockholders’ equity section of the Company’s balance sheet.
Net Income (Loss) per Share
Net income (loss) per share is computed by dividing net income by the weighted-average number of ordinary shares outstanding during the periods. The Company has not considered the effect of the warrants sold in the Initial Public Offering (including the consummation of the over-allotment) and the Private Placement to purchase an aggregate of 12,666,666 shares of the Company’s common stock in the calculation of diluted income per share, since their inclusion would be anti-dilutive under the treasury stock method.
The Company’s statements of operations include a presentation of income per share for common stock subject to redemption in a manner similar to the two-class method of income per share. Net income per common share, basic and diluted for Public Shares is calculated by dividing the interest income earned on the Trust Account of approximately $4.2 million, net of applicable taxes and funds available to be withdrawn from the Trust Account for working capital purposes (subject to an annual limit of $250,000), resulting in a total of approximately $2.9 million, by the weighted average number of Public Shares outstanding for the periods. Net income per common share, basic and diluted for Founder Shares for year ended December 31, 2018 is calculated by dividing the net income, less income attributable to Public Shares by the weighted average number of Founder Shares outstanding for the periods.
Net loss per share is computed by dividing net loss by the weighted average number of shares of common stock outstanding during the period. At December 31, 2017, 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 loss per share is the same as basic loss per share for the period from November 22, 2017 (inception) through December 31, 2017.
Income Taxes
The Company follows the asset and liability method of accounting for income taxes under FASB ASC 740, “Income Taxes.” Deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized for the estimated future tax consequences attributable to differences between the financial statements carrying amounts of existing assets and liabilities and their respective tax bases. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using enacted tax rates expected to apply to taxable income in the years in which those temporary differences are expected to be recovered or settled. The effect on deferred tax assets and liabilities of a change in tax rates is recognized in income in the period that included the enactment date. Valuation allowances are established, when necessary, to reduce deferred tax assets to the amount expected to be realized.
FASB ASC 740 prescribes a recognition threshold and a measurement attribute for the financial statement recognition and measurement of tax positions taken or expected to be taken in a tax return. For those benefits to be recognized, a tax position must be more likely than not to be sustained upon examination by taxing authorities. There were no unrecognized tax benefits as of December 31, 2018 and 2017. The Company recognizes accrued interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits as income tax expense. The Company is currently not aware of any issues under review that could result in significant payments, accruals or material deviation from its position. The Company is subject to income tax examinations by major taxing authorities since inception.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
In August 2018, the SEC adopted the final rule under SEC Release No. 33-10532, “Disclosure Update and Simplification,” amending certain disclosure requirements that were redundant, duplicative, overlapping, outdated or superseded. In addition, the amendments expanded the disclosure requirements on the analysis of stockholders’ equity for financial statements. Under the amendments, an analysis of changes in each caption of stockholders’ equity presented in the balance sheet must be provided in a note or separate statement. The analysis should present a reconciliation of the beginning balance to the ending balance of each period for which a statement of income is required to be filed. The Company anticipates its first presentation of the revised presentation of changes in
stockholders’ equity will be included in its Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2019.
The Company’s management does not believe that there are any other recently issued, but not yet effective, accounting pronouncements, that, if currently adopted, would have a material effect on the Company’s financial statements.
Note 3—Public Offering
On February 21, 2018, the Company sold 25,000,000 Units at a price of $10.00 per Unit in the Initial Public Offering. Each Unit consists of one share of common stock (such shares of common stock included in the Units being offered, the “Public Shares”), and one-third of one redeemable warrant (each, a “Public Warrant”). Each Public Warrant entitles the holder to purchase one share of common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment (see Note 6).
Note 4—Related Party Transactions
Founder Shares
On December 15, 2017, the Sponsor purchased 7,187,500 shares (the “Founder Shares”) of the Company’s common stock, par value $0.0001 for an aggregate price of $25,000. In December 2017 and January 2018, the Sponsor transferred 100,000 Founder Shares to Christopher Wolfe, the Company’s Chief Financial Officer, and 30,000 Founder Shares to each of Steven Hochberg, Dr. Susan Weaver, Dr. Mohit Kaushal and Dr. Gregory Sorensen, the Company’s independent directors. The initial stockholders agreed to forfeit up to 937,500 Founder Shares to the extent that the over-allotment option was not exercised in full by the underwriters. The forfeiture was to be adjusted to the extent that the over-allotment option was not exercised in full by the underwriters so that the Founder Shares would represent 20.0% of the Company’s issued and outstanding shares after the Initial Public Offering. On April 2, 2018, the over-allotment option expired and an aggregate of 937,500 shares were subsequently forfeited by the initial stockholders.
The initial stockholders agreed, subject to limited exceptions, not to transfer, assign or sell any of their Founder Shares until the earlier to occur of: (A) one year after the completion of the initial Business Combination or (B) subsequent to the initial Business Combination, (x) if the last sale price of the 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 the initial Business Combination, or (y) 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 shares of common stock for cash, securities or other property.
Private Placement Warrants
Concurrently with the closing of the Initial Public Offering, the Sponsor purchased an aggregate of 4,333,333 Private Placement Warrants at a price of $1.50 per Private Placement Warrant, generating gross proceeds of $6.5 million in the Private Placement. The Sponsor had agreed that if the over-allotment option was exercised, the Sponsor would have purchased up to an additional 500,000 Private Placement Warrants at a price of $1.50 per Private Placement Warrant, for additional gross proceeds of $750,000.
Each Private Placement Warrant is exercisable for one share of common stock at a price of $11.50 per share. The proceeds from the Private Placement Warrants will be added to the proceeds from the Initial Public Offering to be held in the Trust Account. If the Company does not complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period, the Private Placement Warrants will expire worthless. The Private Placement Warrants will be non-redeemable and exercisable on a cashless basis so long as they are held by the Sponsor or its permitted transferees.
The Sponsor and the Company’s officers and directors agreed, subject to limited exceptions, not to transfer, assign or sell any of their Private Placement Warrants until 30 days after the completion of the initial Business Combination.
An affiliate of Deerfield Management Company, L.P, a Delaware series limited partnership (“Deerfield Management”), which is a significant owner of the Sponsor, purchased 2,500,000 Units in the Initial Public Offering at $10.00 per Unit. The underwriters did not receive any underwriting discounts or commissions on the Units purchased by Deerfield Management’s affiliate. In addition, Deerfield Management has indicated an interest to purchase up to an aggregate of $100 million of the Company’s shares of common stock in a private placement that would occur concurrently with the consummation of the initial Business Combination. The funds from such private placement would be used as part of the consideration to the sellers in the initial Business Combination, and any excess funds from such private placement would be used for working capital in the post-transaction company. However, because indications of interest are not binding agreements or commitments to purchase, Deerfield Management may determine not to purchase any such shares, or to purchase fewer shares than they have indicated an interest in purchasing. Furthermore, the Company is not under any obligation to sell any such shares.
Related Party Loans
The Sponsor loaned the Company an aggregate of $270,531 to cover expenses related to the Initial Public Offering and working capital needs. The loan was non-interest bearing. The Company repaid this loan on February 21, 2018.
In addition, 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 officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan the Company funds as may be required (the “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 either be repaid upon consummation of a Business Combination, without interest, or, at the lender’s discretion, up to $1.5 million of such Working Capital Loans may be convertible into warrants of the post Business Combination entity at a price of $1.50 per warrant. The warrants would be identical to the Private Placement Warrants. To date, the Company had no borrowings under the Working Capital Loans.
Note 5—Commitments & Contingencies
Registration Rights
The holders of Founder Shares, Private Placement Warrants and warrants that may be issued upon conversion of Working Capital Loans, if any, will be entitled to registration rights (in the case of the Founder Shares, only after conversion of such shares to shares of common stock) pursuant to a registration rights agreement entered into on February 15, 2018. These holders will be entitled to certain demand and “piggyback” registration rights. However, the registration rights agreement provides that the Company will not permit any registration statement filed under the Securities Act to become effective until the termination of the applicable lock-up period for the securities to be registered. The Company will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such registration statements.
Administrative Services Agreement
The Company entered into an agreement, commencing on February 16, 2018 through the earlier of the Company’s consummation of a Business Combination and its liquidation, to pay the Sponsor a total of $10,000 per month for office space, utilities and secretarial and administrative support.
The Company is obligated to pay $7,500 per month to Mr. Wolfe, the Company’s Chief Financial Officer, for his services prior to the consummation of the initial Business Combination, subject to the terms of the strategic services agreement.
The Sponsor, executive officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates, will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on the Company’s behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable Business Combinations. The Company’s audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made to the Sponsor, officers, directors or their affiliates and will determine which expenses and the amount of expenses that will be reimbursed. There is no cap or ceiling on the reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses incurred by such persons in connection with activities on the Company’s behalf.
The Company recorded an aggregate of $183,000 and $0 in general and administrative expenses in connection with the related agreements in the accompanying statements of operations during the year ended December 31, 2018 and for the period from November 22, 2017 (inception) through December 31, 2017, respectively.
Underwriting Agreement
The Company granted the underwriters a 45-day option from the date of the final prospectus relating to the Initial Public Offering to purchase up to 3,750,000 additional Units to cover over-allotments, if any, at the Initial Public Offering price less the underwriting discounts and commissions. The option expired on April 2, 2018.
The underwriters were entitled to an underwriting discount of $0.20 per Unit, or $4.5 million in the aggregate, paid upon the closing of the Initial Public Offering. In addition, $0.35 per Unit, or $7.875 million in the aggregate will be payable to the underwriters for deferred underwriting commissions. The deferred fee will become payable to the underwriters from the amounts held in the Trust Account solely in the event that the Company completes a Business Combination, subject to the terms of the underwriting agreement.
The underwriters did not receive any underwriting discounts or commissions on the 2,500,000 Units purchased by Deerfield Management in the Initial Public Offering.
Note 6—Stockholders’ Equity
Common Stock—On February 15, 2018, the Company filed its Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation to increase its number of authorized common stock to 200,000,000 shares with a par value of $0.0001 per share. Holders of common stock are entitled to one vote for each share. As of December 31, 2017, there were 7,187,500 shares of common stock outstanding, including 937,500 shares subject to forfeiture to the Company by the Sponsor for no consideration to the extent that the underwriters’ over-allotment option is not exercised in full or in part. On April 2, 2018, the over-allotment option expired, and 937,500 shares were forfeited accordingly. As of December 31, 2018, there were 31,250,000 shares of common stock outstanding, including 24,054,988 shares of common stock subject to possible redemption.
Preferred Stock—The Company is authorized to issue 1,000,000 shares of preferred stock with such designations, voting and other rights and preferences as may be determined from time to time by the Company’s board of directors. As of December 31, 2018 and 2017, there were no shares of preferred stock issued or outstanding.
Warrants—Public Warrants may only be exercised for a whole number of shares. No fractional Public Warrants will be issued upon separation of the Units and only whole Public Warrants will trade. The Public Warrants will become exercisable 30 days after the completion of a Business Combination; provided that the Company has an effective registration statement under the Securities Act covering the common stock issuable upon exercise of the Public Warrants and a current prospectus relating to them is available (or the Company permits holders to exercise their Public Warrants on a cashless basis and such cashless exercise is exempt from registration under the Securities Act). The Company has agreed that as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 20 business days, after the closing of a Business Combination, the Company will use its best efforts to file with the SEC a registration statement for the registration, under the Securities Act, of the common stock issuable upon exercise of the Public Warrants. The Company will use its best efforts to cause the same to become effective and to maintain the effectiveness of such registration statement, and a current prospectus relating thereto, until the expiration of the Public Warrants in accordance with the provisions of the warrant agreement. If a registration statement covering the common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants is not effective by the sixtieth (60th) day after the closing of the initial Business Combination, warrant holders may, until such time as there is an effective registration statement and during any period when the Company 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. The Public Warrants will expire five years after the completion of a Business Combination or earlier upon redemption or liquidation.
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 common stock issuable upon exercise of the Private Placement Warrants will not be transferable, assignable or salable until 30 days after the completion of a Business Combination, subject to certain limited exceptions. Additionally, the Private Placement Warrants will be non-redeemable so long as they are held by the initial purchasers or such purchasers’ permitted transferees. If the Private Placement Warrants are held by someone other than the initial stockholders or their permitted transferees, the Private Placement Warrants will be redeemable by the Company and exercisable by such holders on the same basis as the Public Warrants.
The Company may call the Public Warrants for redemption (except with respect to the Private Placement 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; and
· if, and only if, the last reported closing price of the ordinary shares equals or exceeds $18.00 per share for any 20 trading days within a 30-trading day period ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which the Company sends the notice of redemption to the warrant holders.
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 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, the warrants will not be adjusted for issuance of common stock at a price below its exercise price. Additionally, in no event will the Company be required to net cash settle the warrant shares. 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.
Note 7—Fair Value Measurements
The following table presents information about the Company’s assets that are measured on a recurring basis as of December 31, 2018 and indicates the fair value hierarchy of the valuation techniques that the Company utilized to determine such fair value.
|
| Quoted Prices |
| Significant Other |
| Significant Other |
| |
|
| in Active Markets |
| Observable Inputs |
| Unobservable Inputs |
| |
Description |
| (Level 1) |
| (Level 2) |
| (Level 3) |
| |
Cash and marketable securities held in Trust Account |
| $ | 253,019,179 |
|
|
|
|
|
Approximately $906 of the balance in the Trust Account was held in cash as of December 31, 2018.
Note 8 — Income Taxes
The income tax provision (benefit) consists of the following:
|
| December 31 |
| ||||
|
| 2018 |
| 2017 |
| ||
Current |
|
|
|
|
| ||
Federal |
| $ | 829,807 |
| $ | — |
|
State |
| — |
| — |
| ||
Deferred |
|
|
|
|
| ||
Federal |
| 217,349 |
| 146 |
| ||
State |
| — |
| — |
| ||
Change in valuation allowance |
| (217,349 | ) | (146 | ) | ||
Income tax provision expense |
| $ | 829,807 |
| $ | — |
|
The Company’s net deferred tax assets are as follows:
|
| December 31 |
| ||||
|
| 2018 |
| 2017 |
| ||
Deferred tax asset |
|
|
|
|
| ||
Startup/Organizational Costs |
| $ | 217,494 |
| $ | 145 |
|
Total deferred tax assets |
| 217,494 |
| 145 |
| ||
Valuation Allowance |
| (217,494 | ) | (145 | ) | ||
Deferred tax asset, net of allowance |
| $ | — |
| $ | — |
|
In assessing the realization of deferred tax assets, management considers whether it is more likely than not that some portion or 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 assets, 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, 2018, the valuation allowance was approximately $217,000.
A reconciliation of the statutory federal income tax rate (benefit) to the Company’s effective tax rate is as follows:
|
| December 31 |
| ||
|
| 2018 |
| 2017 |
|
Statutory federal income tax rate |
| 21.0 | % | (21.0 | )% |
State taxes, net of federal tax benefit |
| 0.0 | % | 0.0 | % |
Meals & entertainment |
| 0.0 | % | 0.0 | % |
Valuation allowance |
| 7.5 | % | 21.0 | % |
Income tax provision expense |
| 28.5 | % | 0.0 | % |
SIGNATURES
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.
| DFB HEALTHCARE ACQUISITIONS CORP. | |
|
| |
| /s/ Richard Barasch | |
| Name: | Richard Barasch |
| Title: | Chief Executive Officer |
|
| (Principal Executive Officer) |
|
|
|
| /s/ Christopher Wolfe | |
| Name: | Christopher Wolfe |
| Title: | Chief Financial Officer |
|
| (Principal Financial and Accounting Officer) |
Date: March 29, 2019
POWER OF ATTORNEY
KNOW ALL PERSONS BY THESE PRESENTS, that each person whose signature appears below constitutes and appoints Richard Barasch and Christopher Wolfe, jointly and severally, his attorney-in-fact, each with the full power of substitution, for such person, in any and all capacities, to sign any and all amendments to this Annual Report on Form 10-K, and to file the same, with all exhibits thereto and other documents in connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, granting unto said attorney-in-fact and agent full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing requisite and necessary to be done in connection therewith, as fully to all intents and purposes as he might do or could do in person hereby ratifying and confirming all that each of said attorneys-in-fact and agents, or his substitute, may do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, this report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the registrant and in the capacities and on the date indicated.
Signature |
| Title |
| Date |
|
|
|
|
|
/s/ Richard Barasch |
| President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman (Principal Executive Officer) |
| March 29, 2019 |
Richard Barasch |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
/s/ Christopher Wolfe |
| Chief Financial Officer (Principal Financial and Accounting Officer) |
| March 29, 2019 |
Christopher Wolfe |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
/s/ Steven Hochberg |
| Director |
| March 29, 2019 |
Steven Hochberg |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
/s/ Dr. Mohit Kaushal |
| Director |
| March 29, 2019 |
Dr. Mohit Kaushal |
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|
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|
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|
|
/s/ Dr. Gregory Sorensen |
| Director |
| March 29, 2019 |
Dr. Gregory Sorensen |
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|
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|
|
|
|
/s/ Dr. Susan Weaver |
| Director |
| March 29, 2019 |
Dr. Susan Weaver |
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|