On October 20, 2023, the Reporting Person, together with other stockholders of the Issuer, Erich Spangenberg and ELS 1960 Family, L.P. (“ELS”), sent a letter to the board of directors of the Issuer (the “Board of Directors”) formally requesting that the Board of Directors (i) take immediate action to extend an invitation to the Reporting Person to join the Board of Directors and (ii) thereafter, appoint the Reporting Person as a director of the Board of Directors (the “Letter”). The foregoing description of the Letter does not purport to be complete and is qualified in its entirety by the full text of the Letter, which is incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 99.3 of this Schedule 13D. In addition, the Reporting Person has in the past, and may in the future, engage in discussions with the Issuer’s management, Board of Directors, and/or other shareholders covering a broad range of subjects, including relative to performance, strategic direction, capital allocation, shareholder value, composition of the Board of Directors, and governance of the Issuer. For example, the Reporting Person, together with Mr. Spangenberg and ELS, intends to propose (i) increasing the number of directors serving on the Board of Directors in order to bring additional skill sets and relationships to the Board of Directors, (ii) creating additional specialized standing committees of the Board of Directors, including, in addition to an executive committee, committees focused on finance, regulatory approvals, technology, and commercialization, (iii) identifying and nominating certain candidates to serve on the Board of Directors in addition to those, at the current time, up to four individuals currently serving on the Board of Directors, and (iv) seeking additional distinguished members to serve on the Board of Directors to further support the Issuer.
The Reporting Person intends to review his investment in the Issuer on a continuing basis taking into consideration various factors, including the Issuer’s business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects, general economic and industry conditions, the securities markets in general and those for shares of Common Stock of the Issuer, in particular, as well as other developments and other investment opportunities. Based upon such review, the Reporting Person will take such actions in the future as the Reporting Person may deem appropriate in light of the circumstances existing from time to time, which may include further acquisitions of shares of Common Stock of the Issuer or disposal of some or all of the shares of Common Stock of the Issuer owned by the Reporting Person or otherwise acquired by the Reporting Person, either in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions.
Any open market or privately negotiated purchases or sales, acquisition recommendations or proposals or other transactions concerning the Issuer may be made at any time without prior notice. Any alternative may depend upon a variety of factors, including, without limitation, current and anticipated future trading prices of the securities, the financial condition, results of operations and prospects of the Issuer and general industry conditions, the availability, form and terms of financing, other investment and business opportunities, general stock market and economic conditions, tax considerations and other factors. Although this Item 4 reflects plans and proposals presently contemplated by the Reporting Person with respect to the Issuer, the information herein is subject to change at any time and dependent upon contingencies and assumed and speculative conditions, and there can be no assurance that any of the actions set forth herein will be taken.
Depending upon each factor discussed above and any other factor (which may be unknown at this time) that is, or may become relevant, the Reporting Person may consider, among other things: (a) the acquisition by the Reporting Person of additional securities of the Issuer, the disposition of securities of the Issuer, or the exercise of convertible securities of the Issuer; (b) an extraordinary corporate transaction, such as a merger, reorganization or liquidation, involving the Issuer or any of its subsidiaries; (c) a sale or transfer of a material amount of assets of the Issuer or any of its subsidiaries; (d) changes in the present Board of Directors or management of the Issuer; (e) a material change in the present capitalization or dividend policy of the Issuer; (f) any other material change in the Issuer’s business or corporate structure; (g) changes in the Issuer’s certificate of incorporation, bylaws or instruments corresponding thereto or other actions which may impede the acquisition of control of the Issuer by any person; (h) causing any class of the Issuer’s securities to be delisted from a national securities exchange or to cease to be authorized to be quoted in an inter-dealer quotation system of a registered national securities association; (i) a class of equity securities of the Issuer becoming eligible for termination of registration pursuant to Section 12(g)(4) of the Act; or (j) any action similar to those enumerated above.
Except to the extent that the foregoing may be deemed to be a plan or proposal, the Reporting Person currently has no plans or proposals that relate to or would result in any of the actions specified in clause (a) through (j) of Item 4 of Schedule 13D. Depending upon the foregoing factors and to the extent deemed advisable in light of his overall investment portfolio and strategies, or other factors, the Reporting Person may, at any time and from time to time, formulate other purposes, plans or proposals regarding the Issuer or the shares of Common Stock of the Issuer, or any other actions that could involve one or more of the types of transactions or have one or more of the results described in paragraphs (a) through (j) of Item 4 of Schedule 13D. The foregoing is subject to change at any time, and there can be no assurance that the Reporting Person will take any of the actions set forth above.
Item 5. | Interest in Securities of the Issuer. |
| (a) | The aggregate number and percentage of the class of securities identified pursuant to Item 1 beneficially owned by the Reporting Person is stated in Items 11 and 13 on the cover page(s) hereto. |
The Reporting Person acknowledges and agrees that it is acting as a “group” with other stockholders of the Issuer, Erich Spangenberg and ELS, within the meaning of Section 13(d) of the Act. Based in part on information provided by or on behalf of Mr. Spangenberg and ELS, as of October 26, 2023, such a “group” would be deemed to beneficially own an aggregate of 7,215,184 shares of Common Stock of the Issuer, or 49.8% of the total number of shares of Common Stock of the Issuer outstanding. Mr. Spangenberg and ELS separately make a joint Schedule 13D filing reporting their beneficial ownership of shares of Common Stock of the Issuer.
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