UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549
FORM 10-K
(Mark One)
☒ ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
For the fiscal year ended December 31,2023
☐ TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
For the transition period from ___________ to ___________
Commission File Number001-41168
(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)
| Delaware | 86-2170416 |
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| (State or Other Jurisdiction of Incorporation or Organization) | (I.R.S. Employer Identification Number) |
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| 2929 Arch Street, Suite 1703, Philadelphia, PA | 19104 |
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| (Address of Principal Executive Offices) | (Zip Code) |
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(215) 701-9555
(Registrant’s Telephone Number, Including Area Code)
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
| Title of each class | Trading Symbol(s) | Name of each exchange on which registered |
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| Class A common stock, par value $0.0001 per share | EMLD | Nasdaq Global Market |
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| Redeemable warrants, each whole warrant exercisable for one share of Class A common stock | EMLDW | Nasdaq Global Market |
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| Units, each consisting of one share of Class A common stock and one- half of one redeemable warrant | EMLDU | Nasdaq Global Market |
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Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:
None
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☐No ☒
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act. Yes ☐No ☒
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the 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 requirement for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
| Large accelerated filer | ☐ | Accelerated filer | ☐ |
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| Non-accelerated filer | ☒ | Smaller reporting company | ☒ |
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| Emerging growth company | ☒ | |
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report.☐
If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements.☐
Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant’s executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b). ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). Yes☒ No ☐
As of June 30, 2023, the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter, the aggregate market value of the registrant’s voting securities held by non-affiliates was approximately $257.4 million, based on the number of shares held by non-affiliates and the last reported sales price of the registrant’s Class A common stock as of that date.
As of March 22, 2024, there were 14,349,106 shares of Class A common stock andno shares of Class B common stock of the registrant issued and outstanding.
Documents Incorporated by Reference: None.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
| PART I |
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| Item 1 | Business | 1 |
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| Item 1A. | Risk Factors | 20 |
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| Item 1B. | Unresolved Staff Comments | 53 |
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| Item 1C. | Cybersecurity | 53 |
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| Item 2. | Properties | 53 |
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| Item 3. | Legal Proceedings | 53 |
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| Item 4. | Mine Safety Disclosure | 53 |
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| PART II |
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| Item 5. | Market For Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities | 54 |
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| Item 6. | [RESERVED] | 55 |
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| Item 7. | Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations | 55 |
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| Item 7A. | Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk | 61 |
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| Item 8. | Financial Statements and Supplementary Data | 61 |
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| Item 9. | Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure | 62 |
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| Item 9A. | Controls and Procedures | 62 |
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| Item 9B. | Other Information | 62 |
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| Item 9C. | Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections | 62 |
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| PART III |
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| Item 10. | Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance | 63 |
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| Item 11. | Executive Compensation | 68 |
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| Item 12. | Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters | 68 |
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| Item 13. | Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence | 71 |
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| Item 14. | Principal Accountant Fees and Services | 76 |
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| PART IV |
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| Item 15. | Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules | 77 |
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i
GLOSSARY OF TERMS
Unless otherwise provided in this Annual Report on Form 10-K:
| ● | references to “we,” “us,” “company” or “our company” refer to FTAC Emerald Acquisition Corp.; |
| ● | references to our “sponsor” refer collectively to Emerald ESG Sponsor, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, and Emerald ESG Advisors, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company. The manager of each entity is Betsy Cohen; |
| ● | references to “CCM” are to Cohen & Company Capital Markets, a division of J.V.B. Financial Group, LLC. CCM is a broker dealer subsidiary of Cohen & Company Inc., a company of which our Chairman’s son is also Chairman of the Board and a controlling stockholder. Affiliates of CCM also have and manage investment vehicles with a passive investment in our sponsor; |
| ● | references to “completion window” are to the period following the closing of the offering at the end of which, if we have not completed our initial business combination, we will redeem 100% of the public shares at a per share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (net of permitted withdrawals and up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, subject to applicable law and certain conditions and as further described herein; the completion window ends December 20, 2024; |
| ● | references to “initial holders” or “initial stockholders” are to our sponsor and any other holders of our founder shares immediately prior to our initial public offering; |
| ● | references to “founder shares” are to, prior to the Class B Conversion, 8,615,141 shares of our Class B common stock and after the Class B Conversion, 8,615,141 shares of our Class A common stock, issued by us to our initial stockholders; |
| ● | references to our “initial public offering” or “public offering” means the initial public offering of 24,869,342 of our units, each unit consisting of one share of our Class A common stock and one-half of one warrant, where each whole warrant entitles the holder to purchase one share of our Class A common stock, which was consummated on December 20, 2021 (22,000,000 units) and January 14, 2022 (2,869,342 units); |
| ● | references to our “management” or our “management team” refer to our officers; |
| ● | references to our “public shares” are to shares of our Class A common stock sold as part of the units in our initial public offering (whether they were purchased in the initial public offering or thereafter in the open market); |
| ● | references to “public stockholders” refer to the holders of our public shares, which may include our initial holders and members of our management team if and to the extent they have purchased public shares, provided that any such holder’s status as a “public stockholder” shall only exist with respect to such public shares; |
| ● | references to “private placement” refer to the private placement of 976,081 units purchased by our sponsor, which was consummated simultaneously with the completion of our initial public offering, at a purchase price of $10.00 per unit for a total purchase price of $9.8 million; |
| ● | references to “placement units” are to the 976,081 units purchased by our sponsor in the private placement, each placement unit consisting of one placement share and one-half of one placement warrant; |
| ● | references to “placement shares” are to an aggregate of 976,081 shares of our Class A common stock included within the placement units purchased by our sponsor in the private placement; |
| ● | references to “placement warrants” are to warrants to purchase an aggregate of 488,041 shares of our Class A common stock included within the placement units purchased by our sponsor in the private placement; |
| ● | references to “Target Sectors” are to businesses with a core commitment to providing social, financial, and environmental value operating in sectors such as: clean/renewable energy; water sustainability; agricultural technology; shared economy software; and next generation mobility; and |
| ● | references to “trust account” are to the trust account into which $251,180,354 of the net proceeds of the initial public offering and private placement were initially deposited for the benefit of the public stockholders. |
ii
CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
Certain statements contained in this Annual Report, which reflect our current views with respect to future events and financial performance, and any other statements of a future or forward-looking nature, constitute “forward-looking statements” for the purposes of federal securities laws. Our forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our or our management’s expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future. In addition, any statements that refer to projections, forecasts or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. The words “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intends,” “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 Annual Report may include, for example, statements about:
| ● | the ability of our officers and directors to generate potential investment opportunities; |
| ● | our ability to complete our initial business combination; |
| ● | our success in retaining or recruiting, or changes required in, our officers, key employees or directors following our initial business combination; |
| ● | the allocation by our officers and directors of their time to other businesses and their potential conflicts of interest with our business or in approving our initial business combination; |
| ● | our potential ability to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination; |
| ● | our pool of prospective target businesses; |
| ● | failure to maintain the listing on, or the delisting of our securities from, NASDAQ or an inability to have our securities listed on NASDAQ or another national securities exchange following our initial business combination; |
| ● | potential changes in control if we acquire one or more target businesses for stock; |
| ● | our public securities’ potential liquidity and trading; |
| ● | the lack of a market for our securities; |
| ● | the use of proceeds not held in the trust account or available to us from interest income on the trust account balance; or |
| ● | our financial performance. |
The forward-looking statements contained in this Annual Report are based on our current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects on us. There can be no assurance that future developments affecting us will be those that we have anticipated. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties (some of which are beyond our control) or other assumptions that may cause actual results or performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those factors described under the heading “Risk Factors”. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of our assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary in material respects from those projected in these forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.
iii
Our business is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, including those highlighted in the section title “Risk Factors,” that represent challenges that we face in connection with the successful implementation of our strategy. The occurrence of one or more of the events or circumstances described in the section titled “Risk Factors,” alone or in combination with other events or circumstances, may adversely affect our ability to effect a business combination, and may have an adverse effect on our business, cash flows, financial condition and results of operations. Such risks include, but are not limited to:
| ● | newly formed company without an operating history; |
| ● | delay in receiving distributions from the trust account; |
| ● | lack of opportunity to vote on our proposed business combination; |
| ● | lack of protections afforded to investors of blank check companies; |
| ● | deviation from acquisition criteria; |
| ● | issuance of equity and/or debt securities to complete a business combination; |
| ● | lack of working capital; |
| ● | third-party claims reducing the per-share redemption price; |
| ● | our stockholders being held liable for claims by third parties against us; |
| ● | failure to enforce our sponsor’s indemnification obligations; |
| ● | warrant holders limited to exercising warrants only on a “cashless basis;” |
| ● | the ability of warrant holders to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with our company; |
| ● | dependence on key personnel; |
| ● | conflicts of interest of our sponsor, officers and directors; |
| ● | the delisting of our securities by NASDAQ; |
| ● | dependence on a single target business with a limited number of products or services; |
| ● | our stockholders’ inability to vote or redeem their shares in connection with our extensions; |
| ● | shares being redeemed and warrants becoming worthless; |
| ● | our competitors with advantages over us in seeking business combinations; |
| ● | ability to obtain additional financing; |
| ● | our initial stockholders controlling a substantial interest in us; |
iv
| ● | warrants adverse effect on the market price of our common stock; |
| ● | disadvantageous timing for redeeming warrants; |
| ● | registration rights’ adverse effect on the market price of our common stock; |
| ● | impact of COVID-19 and related risks; |
| ● | business combination with a company located in a foreign jurisdiction; |
| ● | changes in laws or regulations; |
| ● | tax consequences to business combinations; and |
| ● | exclusive forum provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. |
v