Item 1. Business
Item 1. Business.
In this Annual Report on Form 10-K (this “Annual Report”), references to the “Company” and to “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to LMF Acquisition Opportunities, Inc.
We are a blank check company incorporated in Delaware in October 2020 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 Annual Report on Form 10-K as our initial business combination.
As of December 31, 2021, the Company had not yet commenced any operations. All activity for the period from October 28, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2021 relates to the Company's formation and the initial public offering ("IPO") described below. 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 IPO and unrealized gains or losses from the revaluation of the warrant liability.
The registration statement for the Company’s IPO was declared effective on January 25, 2021 (the “Effective Date”). On January 28, 2021, the Company consummated the IPO of 10,350,000 units (the “Units” and, with respect to the shares of Class A common stock included in the Units sold, the “Public Shares”), at $10.00 per Unit, generating gross proceeds of $103,500,000, which is described in Note 2.
Simultaneously with the closing of the IPO, the Company consummated the sale of 5,738,000 warrants (the “Private Placement Warrants”) at a price of $1.00 per Private Placement Warrant in a private placement to LMFAO Sponsor LLC, a Florida limited liability company (the “Sponsor”), generating gross proceeds of $5,738,000.
Transaction costs for the IPO amounted to $6,211,902 consisting of $2,070,000 of underwriting discount, $3,622,500 of deferred underwriting fee, the fair value of the shares issued to the underwriters of $1,000 deemed as underwriters’ compensation, and $518,402 of other offering costs. In addition, $974,009 of cash was held outside of the Trust Account (as defined below) as of the date of the IPO and became available for working capital purposes at such time.
Following the closing of the IPO on January 28, 2021, an amount of $105,570,000 ($10.20 per Unit) from the net proceeds of the sale of the Units in the IPO and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants was placed in a trust account (“Trust Account”) and was invested in U.S. government securities, within the meaning set forth in Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act, with a maturity of 185 days or less or in any open-ended investment company that holds itself out as a money market fund meeting the conditions of Rule 2a-7 of the Investment Company Act, as determined by the Company. Except with respect to interest earned on the funds held in the Trust Account that may be released to the Company to pay its franchise and income tax obligations (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), the proceeds from the IPO and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants will not be released from the Trust Account until the earliest of (a) the completion of the Company’s initial business combination, (b) the redemption of any Public Shares properly submitted in connection with a stockholder vote to amend the Company’s amended and restated certificate of incorporation, and (c) the redemption of the Company’s Public Shares if the Company is unable to complete the initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of the IPO (or up to 21 months from the closing of the IPO if the Company extends the period of time to consummate a business combination, as described in more detail in the prospectus for the IPO), subject to applicable law. The proceeds deposited in the Trust Account could become subject to the claims of the Company’s creditors, if any, which could have priority over the claims of the Company’s public stockholders.
We have not selected any specific business combination target and we have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, initiated any substantive discussions, directly or indirectly, with any business combination target. We may pursue an initial business combination target in any industry or sector, but we expect to focus on acquiring a business combination target within the financial services industry and related sectors, including potentially the FinTech sector, with an enterprise value of approximately $100 million to $950 million. Our management believes that this relative size of target opportunities will enable us to pursue companies that are the most attractive from a return standpoint and are less pursued by larger, more established sources of capital .
We intend to capitalize on the seasoned operating experience of our management team, including Bruce Rodgers, our President and Chief Executive Officer, and Richard Russell, our Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer, Secretary, and a director. Our management team has extensive experience in leadership roles and financial services-related entrepreneurship, venture capital, and private equity. Mr. Rodgers spent several years as a business transactions lawyer for several prominent firms and businesses, including in management positions, and he has a background in engineering as well as military service in the United States Navy. Mr. Russell serves and has served in several executive management positions, including CEO and CFO
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positions, as well as corporate boards, leveraging his advanced degrees and certifications in tax and accounting. While we may pursue an initial business combination target in any industry, our investment strategy will focus our efforts in the financial services industry, specifically within alternative lending, asset management, business process outsourcing, housing and commercial real estate finance, insurance , and tech-enabled business opportunities.
Our sponsor, LMFAO Sponsor, LLC, is a majority-owned and controlled subsidiary of LM Funding America, Inc. (“LMFA”). LMFA is a specialty finance company that provides funding to nonprofit community associations primarily located in the state of Florida.
Past performance by the members of our management team in their other endeavors or the other entities with which they are or have been affiliated is not a guarantee of future success. We cannot assure you that we will be able to locate a suitable candidate for our initial business combination or that any business combination we consummate will be successful. You should not rely on the historical record of our management team’s performance, or the performance of any other entities with which our management team is or has been affiliated, as indicative of our future performance or how an investment in our company will perform or the returns our company will, or is likely to, generate going forward.
Business Strategy
Our initial business combination and value creation strategy will be to identify, acquire and, after our initial business combination, implement an operating strategy with a view of creating value for our stockholders through operational improvements, capital infusion, or future acquisitions. We intend to source initial business combination opportunities through our management team’s broad network of investors in the financial services industry, board members, company executives, lawyers, accountants, and brokers.
With respect to our investment strategy, we intend to focus our efforts on assets and businesses with the following aspects, or within the following sectors, of the financial services industry, in search of value-oriented and opportunistic transaction opportunities:
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Asset Management : non-correlated asset classes and non-traditional asset management models; innovative manufacturers of financial assets; administrators, servicers, and special servicers;
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Bankruptcy and Distressed Real Estate : businesses that are either in financial distress or have completed and emerged from a financial restructuring, which may have included a Chapter 11 bankruptcy court protection filing; fundamentally sound businesses handling or investing in real estate that have become distressed, including due to COVID-19’s impact on the economy or due to pre-existing financial troubles, which can often occur through excessive leverage, challenging industry conditions, material litigation, regulatory shifts, macroeconomic events, performance disruptions, lack of management execution, or any combination thereof;
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Commercial Real Estate Tech and Services : fee-based services creating efficiency to the burdensome and expensive transaction life cycle; businesses focused on property management, operational efficiency, and tenant experience;
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Consumer and Business Lending : businesses with advanced capabilities in data modeling, risk management, and asset management; differentiated and defendable customer acquisition and risk management strategies; consumer finance and commercial finance businesses with responsible lending models;
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FinTech and Business Process Outsourcing : businesses providing critical workflow to financial institutions, including data aggregation and analytics, risk management, and compliance, as well as open banking, including third-party providers and account service information providers;
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“InsurTech” and Insurance Services : business models with unique products and/or customer acquisition strategies, including, but not limited to, businesses with specialized product design focused on regulatory capital arbitrage, with roll-up opportunities among niche brokerage and agencies;
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Mortgage Origination, Housing Services, and Technology : businesses with disruptive and scalable mortgage platforms, with competitive advantages in customer acquisition, origination, and servicing cost; businesses providing housing-related lead generation, alternative home ownership and rental models, and community association property management (and other ancillary services providers to community associations); businesses leveraging technology to offer contemporary and cutting-edge home-purchase and home-sale options, such as iBuyer investment models, as well as other opportunities for equity monetization; and
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Regulated Industries : businesses in certain regulated industries that may presently have less, or no, options for lending or financial services, including the cannabis industry .
Business Combination Criteria
Our business combination criteria will not be limited to a particular industry or geographic sector, but given the experience of our management team, we expect to focus on acquiring a business combination target within the financial services industry, like the FinTech sector or a related sector, with an enterprise value of approximately $250 million to $500 million. Our management team will look to identify business combination targets which are in need of strategic growth capital, will benefit from becoming a publicly listed company, may require creative business approaches to unlock additional value, or may need to repurchase debt, target strategic acquisitions or require working capital.
Aligned with our business and investment strategies, we have identified the following criteria that we believe are important and that we intend to use in evaluating initial business combination opportunities. While we intend to utilize these criteria in evaluating business combination opportunities, we expect that no individual criterion will entirely determine a decision to pursue a particular opportunity. Further, any particular initial business combination opportunity that we ultimately determine to pursue may not meet one or more of these criteria. In assessing prospective target companies, we may consider various criteria, including whether such prospects:
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are fundamentally sound businesses that have a sustainable business model with the ability to successfully navigate the ebbs and flows of an economic downturn, and changes in the industry landscape and regulatory environment;
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can benefit from the vast network, experience, and guidance of our management team;
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have a defensible market position and demonstrate differentiated competitive advantages with high barriers to entry against new competitors;
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have recurring, predictable revenues and the history of, or the near-term potential to, generate stable and sustainable free cash flow;
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exhibit unrecognized value, desirable returns on capital, and a need for capital to achieve the company’s growth strategy;
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are able to structure around or ring fence exposure to legacy assets to the extent desirable to enhance stockholder returns or reduce volatility of such returns;
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have the potential for strong and continued growth both organically and through add-on acquisitions;
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are at an inflection point and would benefit from a catalyst such as incremental capital, innovation through new operational practices, and application of innovative FinTech, product creation, or additional management expertise;
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have publicly traded comparable companies that operate in a similar industry sector or which have similar operating metrics which may help establish that the valuation of our initial business combination is attractive relative to such public peers; and
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are positioned to be publicly traded and can benefit from being publicly traded, with access to broader and more efficient capital markets, to drive improved financial performance and achieve key business strategies.
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. In the event that we decide to enter into our initial business combination with a target business that does not meet the above criteria and guidelines, we will disclose that the target business does not meet the above criteria in our stockholder communications related to our initial business combination, which, as discussed in this Annual Report, would be in the form of proxy solicitation materials or tender offer documents that we would file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”).
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Competitive Strengths
We believe the sourcing, valuation, diligence, and execution capabilities of our management team will provide us with a significant pipeline of opportunities from which to evaluate and select a business that will benefit from our expertise.
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Strong Management Team . We will leverage the extensive experience of our management team, all of whom have been involved at various levels in acquisitions, financings, and advisory transactions, totaling millions in transaction value, and have significant experience investing in a variety of economic cycles, with a track record of identifying high-quality assets with opportunities for optimization. We believe our management team’s ability to originate, effectively diligence, and creatively and thoughtfully structure transactions will generate attractive risk-adjusted returns for investors. We believe we will benefit from our management team’s successful track record in corporate finance, including Mr. Rodgers’s and Mr. Russell’s experiences serving as corporate executives and board members for various companies, both public and private, as well as their respective backgrounds in transactional law practice and tax and accounting practice.
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Broad Sourcing Channels and Leading Industry Relationships . We believe the capabilities and relationships associated with our management team will provide us with a differentiated pipeline of attractive business combination opportunities that would be difficult for other market participants to replicate.
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Underwriting, Execution, and Structuring Capabilities . Our management team will apply to our acquisition targets a rigorous analytical review and diligence process that its individual members apply or have applied in their current or past professional experiences. The sensitivity of financial and operational drivers to external factors is a key component of evaluating investment opportunities and pricing risk. Our investment discipline will allow us to identify opportunities where our management team can create stockholder value, which may include operational or capital structure improvements, as well as the introduction of new technologies and/or products to drive growth.
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Public Company Operating Expertise. As a result of serving as executive officers and directors of publicly traded companies, our management team has substantial experience in navigating the challenges of operating as a public company. In addition, Mr. Rodgers is a former business lawyer who has the ability to guide issuers through the “going public” process. We anticipate that one or more members of our management team or board, would remain on the board of the company post business combination. In addition, some of the potential acquisition targets we consider may operate within a regulated industry. We believe that the expertise within our management team around regulated financial services industries will be advantageous when evaluating certain acquisition targets.
Initial Business Combination
Nasdaq rules require that we must complete one or more business combinations having an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the value of the assets held in the trust account (excluding the deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on the interest earned on the trust account) at the time of our signing a definitive agreement in connection with our initial business combination. Our board of directors will make the determination as to the fair market value of our initial business combination. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of our initial business combination, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA or an independent accounting firm with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. While we consider it unlikely that our board of directors will not be able to make an independent determination of the fair market value of our initial business combination, it may be unable to do so if it is less familiar or experienced with the business of a particular target or if there is a significant amount of uncertainty as to the value of a target’s assets or prospects. Additionally, pursuant to Nasdaq rules, any initial business combination must be approved by a majority of our independent directors.
We will have until 18 months from the closing of our offering to consummate an initial business combination. However, if we anticipate that we may not be able to consummate our initial business combination within 18 months, we will, by resolution of our board if requested by our sponsor, extend the period of time to consummate a business combination by an additional three months (for a total of 21 months to complete a business combination), subject to the sponsor depositing additional funds into the trust account as set out below. Pursuant to the terms of our certificate of incorporation and the trust agreement to be entered into between us and Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company on the date of this prospectus, in order to extend the time available for us to consummate our initial business combination, our sponsor or its affiliates or designees must deposit into the trust account $900,000, or up to $1,035,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full ($0.10 per share in either case) on or prior to the date of the deadline. We will issue a press release
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announcing the extension, at least three days prior to the deadline. In addition, we will issue a press release the day after the deadline, announcing whether the funds have been timely deposited. Our sponsor and its affiliates or designees are obligated to fund the trust account in order to extend the time for us to complete our initial business combination, but our sponsor will not be obligated to extend such time.
We anticipate structuring our initial business combination either: (i) in such a way 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; or (ii) in such a way so 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. However, we will only complete an initial 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 initial business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post-transaction company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the initial business combination. 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 taken into account for purposes of Nasdaq’s 80% of net assets test. If the initial 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 transactions and we will treat the target businesses together as the initial business combination for purposes of a tender offer or for seeking stockholder approval, as applicable.
Our Initial Business Combination Process
In evaluating prospective business combinations, we expect to conduct a thorough due diligence review process that will encompass, among other things, a review of historical and projected financial and operating data, meetings with management and their advisors (if applicable), on-site inspection of facilities and assets, discussion with customers and suppliers, legal reviews and other reviews as we deem appropriate.
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 that is a member of FINRA or an independent accounting firm that our initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view.
Members of our management team will directly or indirectly own founder shares and/or private placement warrants following our offering 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 were to be included by a target business as a condition to any agreement with respect to our initial business combination.
Members of our management team are employed by or otherwise work with our sponsor or with entities affiliated with it or with other entities. Our sponsor and these other entities and their respective affiliates are continuously made aware of potential business opportunities, one or more of which we may desire to pursue for an initial business combination; we have not, however, selected any specific business combination target and we have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, initiated any substantive discussions, directly or indirectly, with any business combination target.
Our sponsor and each of our officers and directors presently have, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity. 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 his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such business combination opportunity to such other entity. We do not believe, however, that any fiduciary duties or contractual obligations of our sponsor and our officers or directors will materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination. Our 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
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reasonable for us to pursue, and to the extent the director or officer is permitted to refer that opportunity to us without violating another legal obligation. Please see the section of this Annual Report entitled “Management—Conflicts of Interest” for additional information.
COVID-19 Update
Although COVID-19 is currently not material to our results of operations, there is uncertainty relating to the potential future impact on our business. While our employees currently have the ability and are encouraged to work remotely, such measures have and may continue to have an impact on employee attendance or productivity, which, along with the possibility of employees’ illness, may adversely affect our operations. In addition to encouraging employees to work remotely, the Company has increased sanitation of its offices, provided hand gel and masks to its employees and has closed the offices during identified periods of high contagion.
The extent to which COVID-19 impacts our operations, or our ability to obtain financing should we require it, will depend on future developments which are uncertain and cannot be predicted, including new information which may emerge concerning the severity of COVID-19 and the actions taken by governments and private businesses to contain COVID-19 to treat its impact, among others. If the disruptions posed by COVID-19 continue for an extended period of time, financial markets may not be available to the Company for raising capital in order to fund future growth. Should the Company not be able to obtain financing when required, in the amounts necessary or under terms which are economically feasible, we may be required to reduce planned future growth and/or the scope of our operations.
Competition
In identifying, evaluating and selecting a target business for our initial 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 business combinations. 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 we do. 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 initial business combination 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 officers. These individuals 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 they will devote in any time period will vary based on whether a target business has been selected for our initial business combination and the stage of the initial business combination process we are in. We do not intend to have any full time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination.
Where you can Find More Information
We are required to file annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and other information, including our proxy statement, with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). The public can obtain copies of these materials by accessing the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov. In addition, as soon as reasonably practicable after these materials are filed with or furnished to the SEC, we will make copies available to the public free of charge through our website, https://www.lmfacquisitions.com. The information on our website is not incorporated into, and is not part of, this Annual Report on Form 10-K or our other filings with the SEC.
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Text extracted from the filing as submitted to EDGAR. Formatting, tables and exhibits are simplified for reading; the original document is authoritative for anything you rely on.