NATURE OF OPERATIONS AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION | NOTE 1 – NATURE OF OPERATIONS AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION Nature of Operations Business Combination Agreement The Company is focused on genetically engineering human immune cells to fight cancer. The Predecessor focused on developing the CERo therapeutic platform and had not yet begun clinical development or product commercialization. The Company’s efforts will focus on continued product development, including clinical development, to support regulatory approval to commercialize and subsequent product commercialization. The BCA was amended on February 5, 2024 and again on February 13, 2024. The Merger closed on February 14, 2024 (the “Closing”), at which time the following occurred: 1. The outstanding shares of Predecessor’s Preferred Stock were converted into 4,415,495 shares of Common Stock, par value $0.0001 per share (the “Common Stock”), valued at $21,635,926. 2. The outstanding shares of Predecessor’s common stock were converted into 584,505 shares of Common Stock, valued at $2,864,074. 3. Each holder of Predecessor’s common stock received a pro rata portion of up to 1.2 million earnout shares of restricted Common Stock (the “BCA Earnout shares”), valued at $5,880,000, 1,000,000 of which are subject to vesting upon the achievement of certain stock price-based earnout targets and 200,000 of which are subject to vesting upon a change of control, respectively. 4. Certain holders of Predecessor’s common stock received a pro rata portion of 875,000 earnout shares of Common Stock (the “Reallocation shares”), valued at $4.29 million, which became fully vested upon the Closing. 5. Certain holders of Predecessor’s common stock and convertible bridge notes received a pro rata portion of 1.0 million earnout shares (the “IND Earnout shares”) of restricted Common Stock, valued at $4,900,000, which vested when the Company filed an investigational new drug (“IND”) application with the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”). The earning of these shares were accompanied by a forfeiture of 1,000,000 restricted shares of Common Stock held by the sponsor following receipt of an acknowledgement notice by the Sponsor. 6. Each outstanding Predecessor option was converted into an option to purchase a number of shares of Common Stock, equal to the Predecessor’s common stock underlying the option multiplied by the Exchange Ratio, at an exercise price per share equal to the Predecessor option exercise price divided by the Exchange Ratio. 7. Each warrant to purchase the Predecessor’s preferred stock was converted into a warrant to acquire a number of shares of Common Stock obtained by dividing the warrant as-if-exercised liquidation preference by $10.00, with the exercise price equal to the total Predecessor warrant exercise amount divided by the number of shares of Common Stock issuable upon exercise. 8. The Predecessor’s bridge notes automatically converted into shares of the Company’s Series A Preferred Stock, par value $0.0001 per share (the “Series A Preferred Stock”), at a conversion price equal to $750 per share of Series A Preferred Stock. The Company issued, transferred from the Sponsor, or reserved for issuance an aggregate of 8.4 million shares of Common Stock to the holders of Predecessor common stock and Predecessor preferred stock or reserved for issuance upon exercise of rollover (from Predecessor to Successor) options and warrants as consideration in the Merger. Asset Acquisition Method of Accounting Costs incurred in obtaining technology licenses are charged to research and development expense as IPR&D if the technology licensed has not reached technological feasibility and has no alternative future use. The IPR&D recorded at the Closing of $45.6 million is reflected “on the line” in the Company’s opening accumulated deficit. To estimate the value of the acquired IPR&D, the Company used the avoided cost method, which calculates a present value of a 45% return on research and development effort applied to research and development expenditures over the life of Predecessor. The determination of the fair value requires management to make a significant estimate of the return on research and development expenditures. Changes in these assumptions could have a significant impact on the fair value of the IPR&D. The estimate of the return on research and development expenditures was based on multiple published studies analyzing actual returns of research and development expenditures. The following is a summary of the purchase price calculation (unaudited). Number of shares of Common Stock 5,000,000 Multiplied by PBAX’s share price, as of the Closing $ 5.85 Total $ 29,250,000 Fair value of PBAX founder’s shares converted to shares of Common Stock and transferred to Predecessor stockholders $ 5,118,750 Fair value of contingent Common Stock consideration $ 12,870,000 Total Common Stock consideration $ 47,238,750 Assumed liabilities 3,311,153 Total purchase price $ 50,549,903 The allocation of the purchase price was as follows (unaudited). Cash $ 963,855 Net working capital (excluding cash and cash equivalents) (1,819,514 ) Fixed assets 929,346 Acquired in-process research and development 45,640,000 Net assets acquired 45,713,687 Loss on consolidation of VIE 4,836,216 Total purchase price $ 50,549,903 In connection with the Merger, the transactions that occurred concurrently with the closing date of the Merger were reflected “on the line”. “On the line” describes those transactions triggered by the consummation of the Merger that are not recognized in the consolidated financial statements of the Predecessor nor the Company as they are not directly attributable to either period but instead were contingent on the Merger. The opening cash balance in the condensed consolidated statement of cash flow of $1.88 million consists of $0.92 million from PBAX and $0.96 million from Predecessor. The number of shares of Common Stock issued and amounts recorded on the line within stockholders’ deficit are reflected below to arrive at the opening consolidated balance sheet of the Company. Convertible Series A Additional Stock Series A Common Stock Paid-in Subscription Accumulated Shares Amount Shares Amount Capital Receivable Deficit Total PBAX Closing Equity as of February 13, 2024 - $ - 5,481,250 $ 547 $ - $ - $ (12,709,426 ) $ (12,708,879 ) Forfeiture of founders shares - - (875,000 ) (88 ) 88 - - - Adjusted shares outstanding - - 4,606,250 459 88 - (12,709,426 ) (12,708,879 ) Shares issued as consideration in the Merger - - 8,075,000 808 47,237,942 - - 47,238,750 Loss on VIE consolidation - - - - - - (4,836,215 ) (4,836,215 ) Expense IPR&D - - - - - - (45,640,000 ) (45,640,000 ) Reclassification of public shares - - 82,047 8 911,349 - - 911,357 Issuance of common stock as payment to vendors - - 1,649,500 165 3,182,385 - - 3,182,550 Elimination of deferred underwriting fees - - - - 5,690,000 - - 5,690,000 Reclassification of earnout liability - - - - (4,900,000 ) - - (4,900,000 ) Conversion of CERo bridge notes and accrued interest into Series A preferred stock 630 627,154 - - - - - 627,154 Conversion of working capital loan into Series A preferred stock 1,555 1,555,000 - - - - - 1,555,000 Issuance of Series A shares sold to investors 7,854 6,755,698 - - (856,663 ) - - 5,899,035 Issuance of Series A Warrants - - - - 2,000,000 (2,000,000 ) - - Issuance of common shares to Keystone Capital LLC for equity line of credit - - 119,050 12 633,333 - - 633,345 Opening Equity at February 14, 2024 (Successor) 10,039 $ 8,937,852 14,531,847 $ 1,452 $ 53,898,434 $ (2,000,000 ) $ (63,185,641 ) $ (2,347,903 ) Going concern Risks and uncertainties The Company’s research also requires approvals from the FDA prior to beginning clinical trials and prior to product commercialization. There can be no assurance that the Company’s current ongoing research and future clinical development will result in the granting of these required approvals. If the Company is denied such approvals or such approvals are substantially delayed, they could have a material adverse effect upon the Company’s future financial results and cash flows. |