As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 8, 2021
Registration No. -
UNITED
STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM
S-1
REGISTRATION STATEMENT
UNDER
THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933
EOS ENERGY ENTERPRISES, INC.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
Delaware | 3690 | 84-4290188 | ||
(State
or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) |
(Primary
Standard Industrial Classification Code Number) |
(I.R.S.
Employer Identification No.) |
3920
Park Avenue
Edison, New Jersey 08820
(732) 27225-8400
(Address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of registrant’s principal executive offices)
Joe
Mastrangelo
Chief Executive Officer
Eos Energy Enterprises, Inc.
3920 Park Avenue
Edison, New Jersey 08820
Tel: (732) 27225-8400
(Name, address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)
Copies to:
Anthony
M. Saur
David P. LaGalia
Zachary Jacobs
Morrison Cohen LLP
909 Third Avenue, 27th Floor
New York, New York 10022
Tel: (212) 735-8600
Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public: From time to time after this Registration Statement becomes effective.
If any of the securities being registered on this Form are to be offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933 check the following box: ☒
If this form is filed to register additional securities for an offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ☐
If this form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ☐
If this form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(d) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, 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 | ☐ |
Non-accelerated filer | ☒ | Smaller reporting company | ☒ |
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 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act. ☐
CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE
Title of Securities to be Registered(1) | Amount to be Registered(2) | Proposed Maximum Offering Price per Share(3) | Proposed Maximum Aggregate Offering Price | Amount of Registration Fee(4) | ||||||||||||
Common stock, par value $0.0001 per share | 2,074,465 | (5) | $ | 18.13 | $ | 37,610,050.45 | (3) | $ | 4,103.26 | |||||||
Common stock, par value $0.0001 per share | 98,882 | (6) | $ | 29.58 | (7) | $ | 2,924,929.56 | $ | 319.11 | |||||||
Total | $ | 40,534,980.1 | $ | 4,422.37 | (8) |
(1) | The securities are being registered solely in connection with the resale of shares of common stock by the selling securityholders named in this registration statement. |
(2) | Pursuant to Rule 416 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), the registrant is also registering an indeterminate number of additional securities that may become issuable as a result of any stock dividend, stock split, recapitalization or other similar transaction. |
(3) | Estimated solely for the purpose of calculating the registration fee in accordance with Rule 457(c) and Rule 457(g) under the Securities Act, based on the average of the high and low prices of the registrant’s common stock on March 4, 2021, as reported on The Nasdaq Capital Market, which was approximately $18.13 per share. |
(4) | Calculated by multiplying the proposed maximum aggregate offering price of securities to be registered by 0.0001091. |
(5) | The Registrant is hereby registering 2,074,457 shares of common stock for sale by the selling securityholders named in this registration statement, which includes (i) up to 1,994,171 shares issued to certain of the selling securityholders pursuant to the terms of the Merger Agreement (defined below) upon the achievement of certain earnout targets, (ii) up to 79,546 shares issued or issuable to Joe Mastrangelo, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and a director, upon vesting of restricted stock units granted to him under the Eos Energy Enterprises, Inc. Amended and Restated 2012 Equity Incentive Plan, and (ii) up to 748 shares of common stock issuable to Mack Treece, the Company’s Chief Strategic Alliances Officer, upon satisfaction of certain vesting terms set forth in previously issued restricted stock units held by Mr. Treece. |
(6) | Represents up to 98,882 shares issuable upon exercise of options granted under the Eos Energy Enterprises, Inc. Amended and Restated 2012 Equity Incentive Plan. |
(7) | Estimated solely for purposes of determining the registration fee in accordance with Rules 457(c) and (h) under the Securities Act, on the basis of the weighted average exercise price of options outstanding under the plan. |
(8) | Pursuant to Rule 429 under the Securities Act and as further described below under the heading “Statement Pursuant to Rule 429(b),” the prospectus contained in this Registration Statement covers (i) 43,744,680 shares of common stock and (ii) 325,000 warrants to purchase common stock previously registered under the registrant’s Registration Statement on Form S-1 filed by the registrant on January 12, 2021 (File No. 333-251243) which was declared effective on January 21, 2021, and 2,853,750 shares of common stock previously registered under the registrant’s Registration Statement on Form S-1 filed by the registrant on November 13, 2020 (File No. 333-249713) which was declared effective on November 16, 2020 (the “Prior Registration Statements”). These shares have not yet been sold by the selling securityholders described in the Prior Registration Statements and are included in the prospectus contained in this Registration Statement. See “Statement Pursuant to Rule 429(b)” below. |
STATEMENT PURSUANT TO RULE 429(b)
This registration statement also acts as a post-effective amendment to the registrant’s registration statements on (i) Form S-1 (333-251243) related to the resale of up to 43,744,680 shares of common stock and 325,000 warrants to purchase common stock by selling securityholders, and (ii) Form S-1 (333-249713) related to the resale of up to 2,853,750 of common stock by selling securityholders. The registrant is filing a single prospectus in this registration statement, pursuant to Rule 429 under the Securities Act, in order to satisfy the requirements of the Securities Act for the offering in its Registration Statement on Form S-1 (No. 333-251243) and on Form S-1 (File No. 333-249713) (together, the “Prior Registration Statements”). The prospectus in this Registration Statement is a combined prospectus for (i) 2,173,339 shares of common stock being newly registered hereunder, (ii) 43,744,680 shares of common stock and 325,000 warrants to purchase common stock remaining for resale under the Form S-1 (333-251243) and (iii) 2,853,750 shares of common stock remaining for resale under the Form S-1 (333-249713). The combined prospectus in this registration statement constitutes a post-effective amendment to the prior Registration Statements, which shall hereafter become effective concurrently with the effectiveness of this registration statement. The post-effective amendments are being filed by the Registrant to (i) reflect that 1,146,250 shares of common stock were previously sold by selling securityholders named in the Prior Registration Statement on Form S-1 (333-249713), (ii) add its financial statements for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020, (iii) update the related management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations for the year ended December 31, 2020, and (iv) update unaudited pro forma financial information for the year ended December 31, 2020. If any securities previously registered under the Prior Registration Statements are offered and sold before the effective date of this registration statement, the amount of previously registered securities so sold will not be included in the prospectus that is a part of this registration statement.
Pursuant to Rule 416, this Registration Statement also covers additional securities that may be offered as a result of anti-dilution provisions regarding stock splits, stock dividends, or similar transactions relating to the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of warrants covered by this registration statement.
The Registrant previously paid a registration fee of $68,151.93 in connection with the filing of the registration statement on Form S-1 (No. 333-251243) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 12, 2020, to register the 43,744,680 shares of common stock and 325,000 warrants to purchase common stock. The Registrant previously paid a registration fee of $4,355.27 in connection with the filing of the registration statement on Form S-1 (No. 333-249713) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on October 28, 2020 to register 4,000,000 shares of common stock. The Registrant is paying concurrently herewith the registration fee of $4,422.37 in connection with the registration of 2,173,339 shares of common stock.
The registrant hereby amends this registration statement on such date or dates as may be necessary to delay its effective date until the registrant shall file a further amendment which specifically states that this registration statement shall thereafter become effective in accordance with Section 8(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or until this registration statement shall become effective on such date as the Securities and Exchange Commission, acting pursuant to said Section 8(a), may determine.
EXPLANATORY NOTE
On November 16, 2020, in connection with the consummation of our business combination with Eos Energy Storage LLC (“EES LLC”), we entered in to a registration rights agreement with the former members of EES LLC pursuant to which we are obligated to register all shares of common stock issued to such holders in connection with the business combination. On December 10, 2020 we filed a registration statement on Form S-1 which included 29,644,680 shares of common stock issued upon the consummation of the business combination, as required by the registration rights agreement. Such registration statement was declared effective as of January 21, 2021. The registration statement also covered resales of up to 14,100,000 shares of common stock and warrants to purchase 325,000 shares of common stock, which were registered pursuant to obligations set forth in a registration rights agreement and warrant agreement entered into upon the consummation of our initial public offering.
On January 21, 2021 the Company achieved certain milestones set forth in the merger agreement governing the terms of the business combination, resulting in the issuance of an additional 1,994,171 shares of our common stock to former members of EES LLC (the “Earnout Shares”) on February 11, 2021. Pursuant to the terms of the registration rights agreement, we are also obligated to register the resale of the Earnout Shares and, accordingly, this registration statement contains a prospectus (the “Reoffer Prospectus”) that covers the offering by the selling securityholders of up to 1,994,171 Earnout Shares. The inclusion of the Earnout Shares in the Reoffer Prospectus is in satisfaction of our obligations under the registration rights agreement. The inclusion of persons listed as selling securityholders as required under the registration rights agreement does not necessarily represent a present intention on the part of such persons to sell any or all of such Earnout Shares.
The Reoffer Prospectus also covers the offer and resale of (i) up to 79,531 shares of common stock that have been issued to Joe Mastrangelo, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and a director, upon vesting of restricted stock units granted to him under the Eos Energy Enterprises, Inc. Amended and Restated 2012 Equity Incentive Plan, (ii) up to 5,015 shares of common stock issuable to Mr. Mastrangelo upon issuance of the Earnout Shares, (iii) up to 748 shares of common stock issuable to Mack Treece, the Company’s Chief Strategic Alliances Officer, upon satisfaction of certain vesting terms set forth in previously issued restricted stock units held by Mr. Treece, and (iv) up to 98,882 shares of common stock that have been or may be issued to certain of the selling securityholders upon exercise of options granted under such plan (together, the “Restricted Shares”). The Restricted Shares are included in the Reoffer Prospectus to allow the holders thereof to reoffer and resell such Restricted Shares on a continuous or delayed basis in the future irrespective of their classification as “restricted securities” (as such term is defined in Rule 144 of the Securities Act). The inclusion of persons listed as selling securityholders does not necessarily represent a present intention on the part of such persons to sell any or all of such Restricted Shares.
Finally, as noted above in the “Statement Pursuant to Rule 429(b),” the Reoffer Prospectus will also cover the offer and resale of up to 46,598,430 shares of common stock and 325,000 warrants to purchase common stock that are subject to currently effective registration statements. The inclusion of these securities in the Reoffer Prospectus under Rule 429(b) is for administrative convenience and does not represent the resale of any additional shares beyond what is covered by currently effective registration statements. The inclusion of persons listed as selling securityholders with respect to such shares and warrants, either in the currently effective registration statements or the Reoffer Prospectus, does not necessarily represent a present intention on the part of such persons to sell any or all of such securities.
The information in this prospectus is not complete and may be changed. We may not sell these securities until the registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission is effective. This prospectus is not an offer to sell these securities and it is not soliciting an offer to buy these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted.
SUBJECT TO COMPLETION, DATED MARCH 8, 2021
PRELIMINARY PROSPECTUS
EOS ENERGY ENTERPRISES, INC.
48,771,777
Shares of Common Stock
325,000 Warrants to Purchase Common Stock
The selling securityholders named in this prospectus may offer and sell from time to time up to 48,771,777 shares of our common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, and warrants to purchase up to 325,000 shares of common stock, consisting of:
● | up to 1,994,171 shares issued to former members of EES LLC upon achievement of certain earnout milestones set forth in the Merger Agreement; |
● | up to (i) 74,531 shares of common stock issued to Joe Mastrangelo, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and a director, upon vesting of restricted stock units granted to him under the Eos Energy Enterprises, Inc. Amended and Restated 2012 Equity Incentive Plan (the “Plan”), and (ii) 5,015 shares of common stock issuable to Mr. Mastrangelo in connection with the achievement of the earnout milestones; |
● | up to 748 shares of common stock issuable Mack Treece, the Company’s Chief Strategic Alliances Officer, upon satisfaction of certain vesting terms set forth in previously issued restricted stock units held by Mr. Treece; |
● | up to 98,882 shares of common stock issuable to certain of the selling securityholders upon exercise of options granted under the Plan; |
● | up to 2,853,750 shares of common stock issued in a private placement in connection with the business combination pursuant to the terms of the equity commitment letter and subscription agreements; |
● | up to 4,375,000 shares of common stock originally issued in a private placement to the Sponsor and subsequently distributed in part to certain BMRG directors and members of the Sponsor; |
● | up to 325,000 private placement warrants issued in a private placement to the Sponsor; |
● | up to 29,644,680 shares of common stock held by other selling securityholders of the Company; and |
● | up to 650,000 shares of common stock that were a constituent part of the private placement units. |
In addition, this prospectus relates to the offer and sale of up to 8,750,000 shares of common stock that are issuable by us upon the exercise of the public warrants, which were previously registered, and up to 325,000 shares of common stock underlying private placement warrants issued in a private placement to the Sponsor.
The selling securityholders may offer, sell or distribute all or a portion of the securities hereby registered publicly or through private transactions at prevailing market prices or at negotiated prices. We will not receive any of the proceeds from such sales of the shares of common stock. We will bear all costs, expenses and fees in connection with the registration of these securities, including with regard to compliance with state securities or “blue sky” laws. The selling securityholders will bear all commissions and discounts, if any, attributable to their sale of shares of common stock. The inclusion of persons listed as selling securityholders does not necessarily represent a present intention on the part of such persons to sell any or all of the securities hereby registered. See “Plan of Distribution” beginning on page 92 of this prospectus.
We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), as modified by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (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. This prospectus complies with the requirements that apply to an issuer that is an emerging growth company.
Our common stock and warrants are listed on The Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbols “EOSE” and “EOSEW”, respectively. On March 4, 2021, the last reported sales price of our common stock was $18.13 per share and the last reported sales price of our warrants was $6.48 per warrant.
Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk. You should review carefully the risks and uncertainties described under the heading “Risk Factors” beginning on page 6 of this prospectus, and under similar headings in any amendment or supplements to this prospectus. Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or passed upon the adequacy or accuracy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.
The date of this prospectus is , 2021.
Table of Contents
You should rely only on the information contained in this prospectus. No one has been authorized to provide you with information that is different from that contained in this prospectus. This prospectus is dated as of the date set forth on the cover hereof. You should not assume that the information contained in this prospectus is accurate as of any date other than that date.
We have proprietary rights to trademarks, trade names and service marks appearing in this prospectus that are important to our business. Solely for convenience, the trademarks, trade names and service marks may appear in this prospectus without the ® and ™ symbols, but any such references are not intended to indicate, in any way, that we forgo or will not assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, our rights or the rights of the applicable licensors to these trademarks, trade names and service marks. All trademarks, trade names and service marks appearing in this prospectus are the property of their respective owners. We do not intend our use or display of other parties’ trademarks, trade names or service marks to imply, and such use or display should not be construed to imply, a relationship with, or endorsement or sponsorship of us by, these other parties.
For investors outside the United States: We have not done anything that would permit this offering or possession or distribution of this prospectus in any jurisdiction where action for that purpose is required, other than in the United States. Persons outside the United States who come into possession of this prospectus must inform themselves about, and observe any restrictions relating to, the offering of the shares of common stock and the distribution of this prospectus outside the United States.
i
Unless otherwise stated or unless the context otherwise requires, the terms “Company,” “we,” “us,” “our,” and “Eos” refer to Eos Energy Enterprises, Inc., a Delaware corporation, the term “BMRG” refers to the Company prior to the consummation of the business combination. In this prospectus:
● | “AltEnergy” means AltEnergy Storage VI, LLC. |
● | “BRFBR” means B. Riley Securities, Inc. |
● | “B. Riley Financial” means B. Riley Financial, Inc. |
● | “BRPI” means B. Riley Principal Investments, LLC. |
● | “BMRG” means B. Riley Principal Merger Corp. II. |
● | “business combination” means the acquisitions and transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement, which were consummated as of November 16, 2020. |
● | “Charter” means the third amended and restated certificate of incorporation of the Company. |
● | “Class A common stock” means the Class A common stock of BMRG, par value $0.0001 per share. |
● | “Class B common stock” means the Class B common stock of BMRG, par value $0.0001 per share. |
● | “Closing” means the closing of the business combination. |
● | “Code” means the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. |
● | “common stock” means the common stock of the Company, par value $0.0001 per share. |
● | “DGCL” means the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware. |
● | “Director Nomination Agreement” means the director nomination agreement entered into at Closing between BMRG, the Sponsor, and certain of our equityholders. |
● | “EES LLC” means Eos Energy Storage LLC. |
● | “Equity Commitment Letter” means the Equity Commitment Letter, dated September 7, 2020, by and between BMRG and B. Riley Financial. |
● | “Exchange Act” means the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. |
● | “founder shares” means the shares of Class B common stock purchased by BMRG’s initial stockholders. |
● | “GAAP” means United States generally accepted accounting principles, consistently applied, as in effect from time to time. |
● | “IPO” means the Company’s initial public offering, consummated on May 22, 2020, through the sale of 17,500,000 units at $10.00 per unit. |
● | “Merger Agreement” means the agreement and plan of merger, dated September 7, 2020, by and among BMRG, Merger Sub I, Merger Sub II, Eos, Newco and AltEnergy. |
● | “Merger Sub I” means BMRG Merger Sub, LLC. |
● | “Merger Sub II” means BMRG Merger Sub II, LLC. |
ii
● | “Nasdaq” means The Nasdaq Capital Market. |
● | “Newco” means New Eos Energy LLC. |
● | “PIPE Investment” means the private placement pursuant to which certain stockholders collectively subscribed for 4,000,000 shares of common stock at $10.00 per share, for an aggregate purchase price of $40,000,000. |
● | “private placement” means the private sale of the private placement units simultaneously with the closing of the IPO. |
● | “private placement shares” means the shares of common stock included in the private placement units. |
● | “private placement units” means the 650,000 units at $10.00 per private placement unit purchased by the Sponsor in the private placement, each of which consists of one share of common stock and one-half of one private placement warrant. |
● | “private placement warrants” means the warrants underlying the private placement units issued in the private placement, each of which is exercisable for one share of common stock at $11.50 per share. |
● | “public warrants” means the 8,750,000 redeemable warrants sold as part of the units in the IPO. |
● | “SEC” means the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. |
● | “Securities Act” means the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. |
● | “Sponsor” means B. Riley Principal Sponsor Co. II, LLC. |
● | “Subscription Agreements” means the subscription agreements between BMRG and certain other institutional investors related to the issuance of Class A common stock. |
● | “transfer agent” means Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company. |
● | “trust account” means the trust account established in connection with the IPO. |
● | “units” means the units of the Company, each consisting of one share of common stock and one-half of one redeemable warrant of the Company, with each such warrant entitling the holder thereof to purchase one share of common stock at a price of $11.50 per share. |
● | “warrants” means the private placement warrants and public warrants. |
iii
CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This prospectus contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-looking statements provide our current expectations or forecasts of future events. Forward-looking statements include statements about our expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, intentions, assumptions and other statements that are not historical facts. The words “anticipates,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intends,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “predicts,” “project,” “should,” “will,” “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. There can be no assurance the 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. Forward-looking statements in this prospectus may include, but are not limited to, statements about:
● | the ability to maintain the listing of our common stock on Nasdaq; |
● | our ability to raise financing in the future; |
● | our success in retaining or recruiting, or changes required in, our officers, key employees or directors; |
● | our public securities’ potential liquidity and trading; |
● | changes adversely affecting the business in which we are engaged; |
● | unfavorable conditions or disruptions in the capital and credit markets; |
● | our ability to forecast trends accurately; |
● | our ability to generate cash, service indebtedness and incur additional indebtedness; |
● | our ability to develop efficient manufacturing processes to scale and to forecast related costs and efficiencies accurately; |
● | restrictive covenants that may limit our business and our ability to engage in certain corporate and financial transactions; |
● | our ability to obtain capital on commercially reasonable terms; |
● | fluctuations in our revenue and operating results; |
● | competition from existing or new competitors; |
● | risks associated with security breaches in our information technology systems; |
● | risks related to legal proceedings or claims, including liability claims; |
● | risks related to labor disputes; |
● | risks associated with changes in federal, state, or local laws; |
● | risks associated with potential costs of regulatory compliance; |
● | risks associated with changes to U.S. trade policies; |
● | risks resulting from the impact of global pandemics, including the novel coronavirus, COVID-19; |
● | general economic conditions; and |
● | other factors detailed under the section entitled “Risk Factors” herein. |
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.
iv
This summary highlights selected information from this prospectus and does not contain all of the information that is important to you in making an investment decision. This summary is qualified in its entirety by the more detailed information included in this prospectus. Before making your investment decision with respect to our securities, you should carefully read this entire prospectus, including the information under “Risk Factors,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” and the financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus.
Unless otherwise indicated or the context otherwise requires, references in this prospectus to “Company”, “we,” “our,” “us” and other similar terms refer to Eos Energy Enterprises, Inc. and our consolidated subsidiaries. All references to “BMRG” refer to the Company before the Closing.
General
We design, manufacture and deploys reliable, sustainable, safe and scalable low-cost battery storage solutions for the electric utility industry. Founded in 2008, we are focused on accelerating the growth of clean energy in the United States by deploying all sizes of stationary battery storage solutions that deliver reliable and cost-competitive power in a safe and environmentally sustainable way. Our flagship product, the Eos Znyth® DC battery system (“Eos Znyth® systems”), is designed to meet the requirements of the grid-scale energy storage market, is commercially available and scalable, and is manufactured in the United States. Zinc hybrid cathode (“Znyth®”) technology requires just five core commodity materials that are derived from non-rare earth and non-conflict minerals, in addition to being fully recyclable. Our battery is non-flammable and does not require any moving parts or pumps, which allows for simple upkeep and market-leading low-cost operations.
BMRG was incorporated in Delaware in June 2019 as a blank check company under the name B. Riley Principal Merger Corp. II. On November 16, 2020, BMRG, EES LLC, BMRG Merger Sub, LLC (“Merger Sub I”), BMRG Merger Sub II, LLC (“Merger Sub II”), New Eos Energy LLC (“Eos HoldCo”) and AltEnergy Storage VI, LLC (“AltEnergy”) consummated the transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement, following the approval at the special meeting of the stockholders of BMRG held on October 15, 2020. At the Closing, (1) Merger Sub I merged with and into Eos HoldCo, with Eos HoldCo continuing as the surviving company and a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, and (2) Eos HoldCo then merged with and into Merger Sub II, with Merger Sub II continuing as the surviving company and a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company. In connection with the Closing, the registrant changed its name from B. Riley Merger Corp. II to Eos Energy Enterprises, Inc., and Merger Sub II changed its name from BMRG Merger Sub II, LLC to Eos Energy Enterprises Intermediate Holdings, LLC.
The mailing address of our principal executive office is 3920 Park Avenue, Edison, NJ 08820, and our phone number is (732) 225-8400. Our corporate website address is www.eosenergystorage.com. Information contained on or accessible through our website is not a part of this prospectus, and the inclusion of our website address in this prospectus is an inactive textual reference only.
Summary Risk Factors
Investing in our securities involves risks. You should carefully consider the risks described in “Risk Factors” beginning on page 6 before making a decision to invest in our common stock. If any of these risks actually occurs, our business, financial condition and results of operations would likely be materially adversely affected. In such case, the trading price of our securities would likely decline, and you may lose all or part of your investment. Set forth below is a summary of some of the principal risks we face:
Risks Related to Our Business and Industry
● | We have a history of losses and have to deliver significant business growth to achieve sustained, long-term profitability and long-term commercial success. |
● | We identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting at December 31, 2020 and 2019, and we may identify additional material weaknesses in the future that may cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations or result in material misstatements of our financial statements. If we fail to remediate these material weaknesses or if we otherwise fail to establish and maintain effective control over financial reporting, our ability to accurately and timely report our financial results could be adversely affected. |
1
● | The relatively recent commercialization of our products makes it difficult to evaluate our future prospects. |
● | If demand for low-cost energy storage solutions does not continue to grow or grows at a slower rate than we anticipate, our business and results of operations may be impacted. |
● | Failure to deliver the benefits offered by our technologies, or the emergence of improvements to competing technologies, could reduce demand for our products and harm our business. |
● | As we endeavor to expand our business, we will incur significant costs and expenses, which could outpace our cash reserves. Unfavorable conditions or disruptions in the capital and credit markets may adversely impact business conditions and the availability of credit. |
● | The loss of one or more members of our senior management team or other key personnel or our failure to attract additional qualified personnel may adversely affect our business and our ability to achieve our anticipated level of growth. |
● | The failure or breach of our IT systems could affect our sales and operations. |
● | We are exposed to various risks related to legal proceedings or claims that could adversely affect our operating results. The nature of our business exposes us to various liability claims, which may exceed the level of our insurance coverage resulting in us not being fully protected. |
Risks Related to our Products and Manufacturing
● | We must obtain environmental, health and safety certifications for our Gen 2.3 product. |
● | Compared to traditional energy storage technologies, our products have less power density and round-trip efficiency and may be considered inferior to competitors’ products. |
● | We rely on our contract manufacturer and its respective business practices to manufacture our products. |
● | We may experience difficulties in establishing manufacturing capacity to scale and estimating potential cost savings and efficiencies from anticipated improvements to our manufacturing capabilities. |
● | We may experience delays, disruptions, or quality control problems in our manufacturing operations. |
● | We may not have sufficient insurance coverage to cover business continuity. |
● | Defects or performance problems in our products could result in loss of customers, and decreased revenue, as well as warranty, indemnity, and product liability claims. |
● | If we elect to expand our production capacity by constructing one or more new manufacturing facilities, we may encounter challenges relating to the construction, management and operation of such facilities. |
Risks Related to our Future Growth
● | If we fail to manage our recent and future growth effectively, we may be unable to execute our business plan, maintain high levels of customer service, or adequately address competitive challenges. |
● | We will require additional financing to achieve our goals and a failure to obtain this capital on acceptable terms, or at all, may adversely impact our ability to support our business growth strategy. |
● | Our planned expansion into new geographic markets or new product lines or services could subject us to additional business, financial, and competitive risks. |
2
● | Our results of operations may fluctuate from quarter to quarter, which could make our future performance difficult to predict and could cause our results of operations for a particular period to fall below expectations, resulting in a decline in the price of our common stock. |
● | Forecasts of market growth in this prospectus may not be accurate. |
Risks Related to our United States and Foreign Operations
● | The reduction, elimination or expiration of government subsidies and economic incentives related to renewable energy solutions could reduce demand for our technologies and harm our business. |
● | Changes in the U.S. trade environment, including the recent imposition of import tariffs, could adversely affect the amount or timing of our revenues, results of operations or cash flows. |
● | Changes in applicable law, regulations or requirements, or our material failure to comply with any of them, can increase our costs and have other negative impacts on our business. |
● | We could be adversely affected by any violations of the FCPA, the U.K. Bribery Act, and other foreign anti-bribery laws, as well as violations against export controls and economic embargo regulations. |
Risks Related to Intellectual Property
● | If we fail to protect, or incur significant costs in defending, our intellectual property and other proprietary rights, then our business and results of operations could be materially harmed. |
● | Third parties may assert that we are infringing upon their intellectual property rights, which could divert management’s attention, cause us to incur significant costs, and prevent us from selling or using the technology to which such rights relate. |
Risk Related to Our Securities
● | Provisions in our Charter 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. |
● | Future resales of common stock may cause the market price of our securities to drop significantly, even if our business is doing well. |
● | We may redeem the public warrants prior to their exercise at a time that is disadvantageous to such warrant holders, thereby making your public warrants worthless. |
● | Our stock price may be volatile and may decline regardless of our operating performance. |
● | There can be no assurance that the warrants will be in the money at the time they become exercisable, and they may expire worthless. |
● | There can be no assurance that our common stock will be able to comply with the continued listing standards of Nasdaq. |
● | We are currently an emerging growth company and a smaller reporting company within the meaning of the Securities Act, and that status could make our securities less attractive to investors. |
3
THE OFFERING
Securities offered by the selling securityholders | We are registering the resale by the selling securityholders named in this prospectus, or their permitted transferees, of an aggregate of 48,771,777 shares of common stock and warrants to purchase 325,000 shares of common stock, which includes: |
● | up to 1,994,171 shares issued to former members of EES LLC upon achievement of certain milestones set forth in the Merger Agreement; |
● | up to (i) 74,531 shares of common stock issued to Joe Mastrangelo, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and a director, upon vesting of restricted stock units granted to him under the Plan, and (ii) 5,015 shares of common stock issuable to Mr. Mastrangelo in connection with the achievement of the earnout milestones; |
● | up to 748 shares of common stock issuable Mack Treece, the Company’s Chief Strategic Alliances Officer, upon satisfaction of certain vesting terms set forth in previously issued restricted stock units held by Mr. Treece; |
● | up to 98,882 shares of common stock issuable to certain of the selling securityholders upon exercise of options granted under the Plan; |
● | up to 2,853,750 shares of common stock issued in a private placement in connection with the business combination pursuant to the terms of the equity commitment letter and subscription agreements; |
● | up to 4,375,000 shares of common stock originally issued in a private placement to the Sponsor and subsequently distributed in part to certain BMRG directors and members of the Sponsor; |
● | up to 325,000 private placement warrants issued in a private placement to the Sponsor; |
● | up to 29,644,680 shares of common stock held by other selling securityholders of the Company; and |
● | up to 650,000 shares of common stock that were a constituent part of the private placement units. |
In addition, we are registering up to 8,750,000 shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the public warrants that were previously registered and up to 325,000 shares of common stock underlying private placement warrants issued in a private placement to the Sponsor. | ||
Terms of the Offering |
The selling securityholders will determine when and how they will dispose of the shares of common stock and warrants registered under this prospectus for resale. | |
Shares
outstanding prior to the |
As of March 4, 2021, we had 51,801,259 shares of common stock issued and outstanding. | |
Shares outstanding after the offering(1)
|
60,975,825 shares of common stock (assuming (i) the exercise for cash of options to purchase 98,882 shares of common stock, (ii) the issuance of 748 shares of common stock to Mr. Treece, and (iii) the exercise for cash of warrants to purchase 9,075,000 shares of common stock). |
4
Use of proceeds
|
We will not receive any of the proceeds from the sale of the warrants or shares of common stock by the selling securityholders except with respect to amounts received by us due to the exercise of the warrants or options. We expect to use the proceeds received from the exercise of the warrants or options, if any, for working capital and general corporate purposes. | |
Nasdaq ticker symbol |
Our common stock and warrants are listed on Nasdaq under the symbols “EOSE” and “EOSEW.” |
(1) | The number of shares of our common stock to be outstanding prior to and after this offering is based on shares of our common stock outstanding as of March 4, 2021, and excludes: |
● | 2,143,636 shares of our common stock issuable upon the exercise of stock options outstanding as of March 4, 2021, at a weighted-average exercise price of $9.19 per share; and |
● | 3,843,727 additional shares of our common stock reserved for future issuance under our 2020 Incentive Plan, or our Amended and Restated 2012 Equity Incentive Plan, as well as any automatic increases in the number of shares of our common stock reserved for future issuance under our 2020 Incentive Plan; and |
● | 9,075,000 shares of our common stock issuable upon the exercise of warrants to purchase common stock outstanding as of March 4, 2020, at an exercise price of $11.50 per share. |
Unless otherwise indicated, this prospectus reflects and assumes no exercise of outstanding options or warrants after March 4, 2021.
5
An investment in our securities involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the risks described below before making an investment decision. Our business, prospects, financial condition, or operating results could be harmed by any of these risks, as well as other risks not known to us or that we consider immaterial as of the date of this prospectus. The trading price of our securities could decline due to any of these risks, and, as a result, you may lose all or part of your investment.
Risks Related to Our Business and Industry
We have a history of losses and have to deliver significant business growth to achieve sustained, long-term profitability and long-term commercial success.
We have had net losses on a GAAP basis in each fiscal quarter since inception of our business. For the year ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, we had $68.8 million and $79.5 million in net losses, respectively. Although our available capital has increased substantially with our Merger with BMRG, we continue to have limited resources relative to certain of our competitors, especially certain Li-ion manufacturers that have a longer history, are part of large multinational corporations and are already operating at a profit. In order to achieve profitability as well as long-term commercial success, we must continue to execute our plan to expand our business, which will require us to deliver on our existing global sales pipeline in a timely manner, increase our production capacity, grow demand for our products, continue to decrease the cost of our products, and seize new market opportunities by leveraging our proprietary technology and its manufacturing processes for novel solutions. Failure to do one or more of these things could prevent us from achieving sustained, long-term profitability.
As we transition from our research and development and our system pilot phase and into a full commercial phase, we expect, based on our sales pipeline, to grow revenues. However, our revenue may not grow as expected for a number of reasons, many of which are outside of our control, including a decline in global demand for battery storage products, increased competition, or our failure to continue to capitalize on growth opportunities. If we are not able to sustain revenue growth and continue to raise the capital necessary to support operations, we may be unable to continue as a going concern.
We identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting at December 31, 2020 and 2019, and we may identify additional material weaknesses in the future that may cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations or result in material misstatements of our financial statements. If we fail to remediate these material weaknesses or if we otherwise fail to establish and maintain effective control over financial reporting, our ability to accurately and timely report our financial results could be adversely affected.
As a public company, we are required to comply with the SEC’s rules implementing Sections 302 and 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which requires management to certify financial and other information in our quarterly and annual reports and provide an annual management report on the effectiveness of controls over financial reporting. Though we are required to disclose changes made in our internal controls and procedures on a quarterly basis, we will not be required to make our first annual assessment of our internal control over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404 until the year following our first annual report required to be filed with the SEC, which will be the year ended December 31, 2021. Further, as an emerging growth company, our independent registered public accounting firm will not be required to formally attest to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404 until the later of the year following our first annual report required to be filed with the SEC and the year in which revenues are $100 million or greater, or the date we no longer are an emerging growth company. At such time, our independent registered public accounting firm may issue a report with an adverse opinion on our internal controls over financial reporting in the event our controls are not effective.
6
Notwithstanding the foregoing, in connection with the audits of our financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, we and our auditors identified certain control deficiencies in the design and operation of our internal control over financial reporting that constituted material weaknesses. A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.
The material weaknesses resulted from our lack of (i) a formalized internal control framework, (ii) segregation of duties in the financial reporting process, (iii) review and approval of journal entries, and (iv) management review controls. These remain material weaknesses as of the date of this report. Although these material weaknesses have not been remediated, we have taken and will continue to take steps to strengthen our accounting function and plan to hire additional professionals to accommodate the expansion of our business. In addition, we are in the process of implementing, and plan to continue to implement, new controls, processes and technologies to improve our internal controls over financial reporting. We cannot provide any assurances that the measures that we have taken and are planning to take to remediate these material weaknesses will be sufficient to prevent future material weaknesses from occurring. We also cannot assure you that we have identified all of our existing material weaknesses.
In light of the control deficiencies and the resulting material weaknesses that were identified, we believe that it is possible that, had we and our registered public accounting firm performed an assessment or audit, respectively, of our internal control over financial reporting in accordance with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, additional material weaknesses may have been identified.
When evaluating our internal control over financial reporting, we may identify material weaknesses that we may not be able to remediate in time to meet the applicable deadline for compliance with the requirements of Section 404. If we are unable to remediate our existing material weaknesses or identify additional material weaknesses and are unable to comply with the requirements of Section 404 in a timely manner or assert that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, or if our independent registered public accounting firm is unable to express an opinion as to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting once we are no longer an emerging growth company, investors may lose confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports and the market price of our common stock could be negatively affected, and we could become subject to investigations by the stock exchange on which our securities are listed, the SEC or other regulatory authorities, which could require additional financial and management resources.
The relatively recent commercialization of our products makes it difficult to evaluate our future prospects.
Since our inception, we sold only ten (10) Eos Znyth® DC battery systems to our customers. We began commercializing our products in mid-2018, and while our research and development activities successfully established the efficiency of our chemistry we struggled to incorporate our proven technologies into an effective manufacturing design prior to 2018. Although the relatively long research and development runway has given us the time to refine our designs and optimize our technologies, the latest generation of our products have been brought to market only recently.
Our success will depend on our ability to manufacture products at scale and low cost while timely meeting customers’ demands, and overcome any negative perception in the market related to our historical manufacturing challenges, and we may not be able to generate sufficient customer confidence in our latest designs and ongoing product improvements and lower the cost due to economies of scale. Our inability to predict the extent of customer adoption of our proprietary technologies in the already-established traditional energy storage market makes it difficult to evaluate our profitability and future prospects.
7
If demand for low-cost energy storage solutions does not continue to grow or grows at a slower rate than we anticipate, our business and results of operations may be impacted.
Our flagship product, the Eos Znyth® system, is a Znyth® battery that can be used as an alternative to lithium-ion (“Li-ion”) batteries. Our products are being piloted by eight blue chip utilities and commercial and industrial (“C&I”) end users. The pilots are being used on several use cases including solar shifting, peak shaving, price arbitrage, utility ancillary services and microgrids. We cannot provide any assurances that utilities or C&I users will adopt our products as alternative energy storage solutions at levels sufficient to grow our business.
The viability and demand for our products, may be affected by many factors outside of our control, including:
● | cost competitiveness, reliability and performance of our products compared to Li-ion products; |
● | levels of investment by end users of energy storage products, which may decrease when economic growth or energy demand slows resulting in a reduction in battery purchases generally; |
● | expansion of electricity use across the global economy, including growth of the electric vehicle market. If electric vehicles sales slow, thus diminishing the demand for Li-ion, then Li-ion competitors could move capacity to the stationary battery storage market to avoid shutting factories, which could put pressures on pricing in the market; |
● | strength of the renewable energy industry and associated integration opportunities for our products; |
● | a favorable regulatory landscape, including: full adoption by the states in the US of FERC Order 841, which mandates that battery storage can participate in the demand response and ancillary markets; incentives for the implementation of battery storage by state regulators; and adoption by Congress of an investment tax credit for standalone battery storage; and |
● | the emergence, continuance or success of other alternative energy storage technologies and products. |
If we do not manage these risks and overcome these potential difficulties outside of our control successfully, our business and results of operations may suffer.
Failure to deliver the benefits offered by our technologies, or the emergence of improvements to competing technologies, could reduce demand for our products and harm our business.
We believe that, compared to Li-ion batteries, our energy storage solutions offer significant benefits, including the use of widely-available and low-cost materials with no rare earth components, full recyclability at end-of-life, a fifteen (15) to thirty (30) year product life requiring minimal maintenance, and a wide thermal operating range that eliminates the need for fire suppression and HVAC, which would otherwise be required for use with Li-ion batteries.
However, if our manufacturing costs increase, or if our expectations regarding the operation, performance, maintenance and disposal of our products are not realized, we could have difficulty marketing our products as a superior alternative to already-established technologies and impact the market reputation and adaptability of our products. In addition, developments of existing and new technologies could improve their cost and usability profile, reducing any relative benefits currently offered by our products which would negatively impact the likelihood of our products gaining market acceptance.
8
As we endeavor to expand our business, we will incur significant costs and expenses, which could outpace our cash reserves. Unfavorable conditions or disruptions in the capital and credit markets may adversely impact business conditions and the availability of credit.
We expect to incur additional costs and expenses in the future related to the continued development and expansion of our business, including in connection with expanding our manufacturing capabilities to significantly increase production capacity, developing our products, maintaining and enhancing our research and development operations, expanding our sales, marketing, and business development activities in the United States and internationally, and growing our project management, field services and overall operational capabilities for delivering projects. We do not know whether our revenues will grow rapidly enough to absorb these costs or the extent of these expenses or their impact on our results of operations.
Disruptions in the global capital and credit markets as a result of an economic downturn, economic uncertainty, changing or increased regulation, or failures of significant financial institutions could adversely affect our customers’ ability to access capital and could adversely affect our access to liquidity needed for business in the future. Our business could be hurt if we are unable to obtain additional capital as required, resulting in a decrease in our revenues and profitability.
The loss of one or more members of our senior management team or other key personnel or our failure to attract additional qualified personnel may adversely affect our business and our ability to achieve our anticipated level of growth.
We depend on the continued services of our senior management team, including our chief executive officer, chief strategic alliance officer, chief commercial officer and chief financial officer, and other key personnel, each of whom would be difficult to replace. The loss of any such personnel could have a material adverse effect on our business and our ability to implement our business strategy. All of our employees, including our senior management, are free to terminate their employment relationships with us at any time. We do not maintain key-person insurance for any of our employees, including senior management.
Additionally, our ability to attract qualified personnel, including senior management and key technical personnel, is critical to the execution of our growth strategy. Competition for qualified senior management personnel and highly skilled individuals with technical expertise is extremely intense. We face and are likely to continue to face challenges identifying, hiring, and retaining qualified personnel in all areas of our business. In addition, integrating new employees into our team could prove disruptive to our operations, require substantial resources and management attention, and ultimately prove unsuccessful. Our failure to attract and retain qualified senior management and other key technical personnel could limit or delay our strategic efforts, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects.
Third parties might attempt to gain unauthorized access to our network or seek to compromise our products and services.
From time to time, we may face attempts by others to gain unauthorized access through the Internet or to introduce malicious software to our IT systems. We or our products may be a target of computer hackers, organizations or malicious attackers who attempt to:
● | gain access to our network or data centers or those of our customers; |
● | steal proprietary information related to our business, products, employees, and customers; |
● | or interrupt our systems or those of our customers. |
From time to time, we encounter intrusions or attempts at gaining unauthorized access to our network and we routinely run intrusion checks. To date, none has resulted in any material adverse impact to our business or operations; however, there can be no guarantee that such intrusions will not be material in the future. While we seek to detect and investigate all unauthorized attempts and attacks against our network and products, and to prevent their recurrence where practicable through changes to our internal processes and tools and/or changes to our products, we remain potentially vulnerable to additional known or unknown threats. In addition to intentional third-party cyber-security breaches, the integrity and confidentiality of company and customer data may be compromised as a result of human error, product defects, or technological failures. Cybersecurity breaches, whether successful or unsuccessful, and other IT system interruptions, including those resulting from human error and technological failures, could result in us incurring significant costs related to, for example, rebuilding internal systems, reduced inventory value, providing modifications to our products and services, defending against litigation, responding to regulatory inquiries or actions, paying damages, or taking other remedial steps with respect to third parties.
9
The failure or breach of our IT systems could affect our sales and operations.
Our email and collaboration tools are outsourced to a managed services provider, Delval Technology Solutions (“DTS”). While we regularly review the cyber security tools and other security protection provided by DTS and DTS regularly runs intrusion and other security tests on services provided to us, there can be no guarantee that a failure or breach of such systems will not occur. We operate a number of IT systems throughout our business that could fail for a variety of reasons, including the threats of unauthorized intrusions and attackers. If such failures were to occur, we may not be able to sufficiently recover to avoid the loss of data or any adverse impact on our operations that are dependent on such IT systems. This could result in lost sales as we may not be able to meet the demands for our product.
Furthermore, because our IT systems are essential for the exchange of information both internally and in communicating with third parties, including our suppliers and manufacturers, cyber-security breaches could potentially lead to the unauthorized release of sensitive, confidential or personal data or information, improper use of our systems, or, unauthorized access, use, disclosure, modification or destruction of information or defective products. If these cyber-security breaches continue, our operations and ability to communicate both internally and with third parties may be negatively impacted. Additionally, if we try to remediate our cyber-security problems, we could face significant unplanned capital investments and any damage or interruption could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial condition, and results of operations.
We may not be able to identify or complete transactions with attractive acquisition candidates. Future acquisitions may result in significant transaction expenses and we may incur significant costs. We may experience integration and consolidation risks associated with these future acquisitions.
We may from time to time selectively pursue on an opportunistic basis acquisitions of additional businesses that complement our existing business and footprint. The success of any such growth strategy would depend, in part, on selecting strategic acquisition candidates at attractive prices and effectively integrating their businesses into our own, including with respect to financial reporting and regulatory matters. There can be no assurance that we will be able to identify attractive acquisition candidates or complete the acquisition of any identified candidates at favorable prices and upon advantageous terms and conditions, including financing alternatives.
We may not have sufficient management, financial and other resources to integrate and consolidate any future acquisitions. Any significant diversion of management’s attention or any major difficulties encountered in the integration of the businesses we acquire could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations, which could decrease our profitability and make it more difficult for us to grow our business. Among other things, these integration risks could include:
● | the loss of key employees; |
● | the disruption of operations and business; |
● | the retention or transition of customers and vendors; |
● | the integration of corporate cultures and maintenance of employee morale; |
● | inability to maintain and increase competitive presence; |
● | customer loss and revenue loss; |
● | possible inconsistencies in standards, control procedures and policies; |
● | problems with the assimilation of new operations, sites or personnel, which could divert resources from our regular operations; |
● | integration of financial reporting and regulatory reporting functions; and/or |
● | potential unknown liabilities. |
10
In addition, general economic conditions or unfavorable capital and credit markets could affect the timing and extent to which we can successfully acquire or integrate new businesses, which could limit our revenues and profitability.
We are exposed to various risks related to legal proceedings or claims that could adversely affect our operating results. The nature of our business exposes us to various liability claims, which may exceed the level of our insurance coverage resulting in us not being fully protected.
We are a party to lawsuits in the normal course of our business. Litigation can be expensive, lengthy and disruptive to normal business operations. Moreover, the results of complex legal proceedings are difficult to predict. Responding to lawsuits brought against us, or legal actions that we may initiate, can be expensive and time-consuming. Unfavorable outcomes from these claims and/or lawsuits could adversely affect our business, results of operations, or financial condition, and we could incur substantial monetary liability and/or be required to change our business practices.
Our business may expose us to claims for personal injury, death or property damage resulting from the use of our products or from employee related matters. Additionally, we could be subject to potential litigation associated with compliance with various laws and governmental regulations at the federal, state or local levels, such as those relating to the protection of persons with disabilities, employment, health, safety, security and other regulations under which we operate.
As disclosed at the time of the Merger Agreement, prior to the execution and delivery of the Merger Agreement, a former director and unitholder of EES asserted claims against another director and affiliated investors questioning the dilutive effect of certain historical security issuances on the former EES common unitholders. Since these allegations and claims relate to a historical dispute between the former EES unitholders regarding their relative ownership amounts of EES prior to the business combination, we do not believe these allegations implicate the Company. Consistent with the intra-unitholder nature of this dispute, and as was disclosed at the time of the Merger Agreement, the Merger Agreement requires the former EES unitholders to indemnify the Company and EES for any losses related to such potential claims. These indemnification obligations are secured by a pledge and grant to the Company of a first priority lien on forty percent (40%) of the shares of Company common stock that each former EES unitholder became eligible to receive under the Merger Agreement at closing.
As part of the Merger Agreement, the Company agreed to advance up to $5,000,000 of defense costs that may be incurred on behalf of the former EES unitholders in connection with the investigation, defense or settlement of any such potential claims. The first $2,000,000 of any such defense costs are to be borne by the Company, and any additional advance amounts are to be reimbursed by the former unitholders of EES on a pro-rata basis. We will continue to monitor this dispute and its potential implications to our business and personnel.
We carry comprehensive insurance, subject to deductibles, at levels we believe are sufficient to cover existing and future claims made during the respective policy periods. However, we may be exposed to multiple claims, and, as a result, could incur significant out-of-pocket costs before reaching the deductible amount, which could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. In addition, the cost of such insurance policies may increase significantly upon renewal of those policies as a result of general rate increases for the type of insurance we carry as well as our historical experience and experience in our industry. Although we have not experienced any material losses that were not covered by insurance, our existing or future claims may exceed the coverage level of our insurance, and such insurance may not continue to be available on economically reasonable terms, or at all. If we are required to pay significantly higher premiums for insurance, are not able to maintain insurance coverage at affordable rates or must pay amounts in excess of claims covered by our insurance, then we could experience higher costs that could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.
Labor disputes could disrupt our ability to serve our customers and/or lead to higher labor costs.
As of December 31, 2020, we had eighty-four (84) employees with eighty-three (83) full-time employees and one (1) part-time employee, none of whom are represented by unions or covered by collective bargaining agreements. If a union sought to organize any of our employees, such organizing efforts or collective bargaining negotiations could potentially lead to work stoppages and/or slowdowns or strikes by certain of our employees, which could adversely affect our ability to serve our customers. Further, settlement of actual or threatened labor disputes or an increase in the number of our employees covered by collective bargaining agreements can have unknown effects on our labor costs, productivity and flexibility.
11
Risks Related to our Products and Manufacturing
We must obtain environmental, health and safety certifications for its Gen 2.3 product.
While our engineering is working closely with the Underwriters Laboratories (“UL”) and Technischer Überwachungsverein (“TÜV”) certification agencies to certify its Gen 2.3 product against all applicable safety standards, there is no guarantee that such certification shall be obtained. Based on these North American certifications, we also intend to expand our Gen 2.3 product certification to other national standards such as European Conformity (“CE”) marking in the European Union and the international certification of the International Electrotechnical Commission (“IEC”). Failure to obtain UL, IEC or CE certification would have a significant impact on our revenues, as such certifications are required by most of our customers. As Battery Storage is a relatively new market segment, additional rules will be introduced and regulation changes will occur. We must continue to adapt and ensure conformity to new standards and regulations introduced in the market.
Compared to traditional energy storage technologies, our products have less power density and roundtrip efficiency and may be considered inferior to competitors’ products.
Traditional Li-ion batteries offer higher power density and a lower self-discharge rate than our batteries. If customers were to place greater value on power density and efficient power delivery over the numerous other advantages of our technologies, including the widely-available and low-cost materials with no rare earth components, full recyclability at end-of-life, a fifteen (15) to thirty (30) year product life requiring minimal maintenance, and a wide thermal operating range that eliminates the need for fire suppression and HVAC, then we could have difficulty positioning our batteries as a viable alternative to traditional Li-ion batteries and our business would suffer.
We rely on our contract manufacturer and its respective business practices to manufacture our products.
On August 21, 2019, we entered into a joint venture agreement with Holtec Power, Inc (“Holtec”) and formed HI-POWER, LLC (“HI-POWER”), which is owned 51% by Holtec and 49% by us. While we are free to either establish our own manufacturing capability, form a joint venture with another party, or hire a contract manufacturing partner to manufacture batteries and products delivered outside of North America, HI-POWER has exclusive rights to manufacture batteries sold and delivered in North America by us, provided that HI-POWER meets cost, quality and delivery “performance metrics” as defined by HI-POWER’s board of directors and the applicable joint venture arrangements between Holtec and us. HI-POWER’s board of directors is comprised of two members designated by Holtec and two members designated by us. Actions of the board must generally be approved by a majority of the directors, except for certain actions that require unanimous approval.
We rely on HI-POWER’s board of directors’ oversight, including that of the two members designated by us who are also executives of EOS, to ensure that HI-POWER follows ethical business practices such as fair wage practices and compliance with environmental, safety, and other local laws. A lack of demonstrated compliance could lead us to seek alternative manufacturers, which could increase our costs and result in delayed delivery of our products, product shortages, or other disruptions of our operations. Violation of labor or other laws by HI-POWER or the divergence of a manufacturer’s labor or other practices from those generally accepted as ethical in the United States or other markets in which we do business could also attract negative publicity for us and harm our business.
12
We may experience difficulties in establishing manufacturing capacity to scale and estimating potential cost savings and efficiencies from anticipated improvements to our manufacturing capabilities.
To date, our Joint Venture has only manufactured batteries in limited quantities primarily for R&D activities and to a limited extend for commercial customers. The output achieved to date is a fraction of what the Company expects will be necessary for full commercialization and to meet the demand we see in the market for our product. The manufacturing process for commercial scale is still being refined and improved. There are risks associated with scaling up manufacturing to commercial volumes including, among others, technical or other problems with process scale-up, process reproducibility, stability issues, quality consistency, timely availability of raw materials and cost overruns. There is no assurance that the Company’s manufacturer will be successful in establishing a larger-scale commercial manufacturing process that achieves our objectives for manufacturing capacity and cost per battery, in a timely manner or at all. If we are unable to produce sufficient quantities of product for commercialization on a timely basis and in a cost-effective manner, the Company’s commercialization efforts would be impaired which could materially affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.
We may experience delays, disruptions, or quality control problems in our manufacturing operations.
Our current manufacturing and testing processes do not require significant technological or production process expertise. However, any change in our processes could cause one or more production errors, requiring a temporary suspension or delay in our production line until the errors can be researched, identified, and properly addressed and rectified. This may occur particularly as we introduce new products, modify our engineering and production techniques, and/or expand our capacity. In addition, our failure to maintain appropriate quality assurance processes could result in increased product failures, loss of customers, increased warranty reserve, decreased production, and logistical costs and delays. Any of these developments could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has caused significant uncertainty in the United States and global economies as well as the markets we serve and could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.
The Covid-19 pandemic continues to spread throughout the United States and in various parts of the world and has resulted in authorities implementing numerous measures to contain the virus, including travel bans and restrictions, quarantines, shelter-in-place orders, and business limitations and shutdowns. We remain unable to accurately predict the full impact that Covid-19 will have on our results of operations, financial condition, liquidity and cash flows due to numerous uncertainties, including the duration and severity of the pandemic and containment measures. Our compliance with containment and mitigation measures has not yet materially impacted our day-to-day operations, but there can be no guaranty that the pandemic will not disrupt our business and operations or impair our ability to implement our business plan successfully.
To support the health and well-being of our employees, customers, partners and communities, since approximately March 19, 2020 all of our non-essential employees have been working remotely. This represents approximately 78% of our workforce. In addition, we understand that the employees of many of our customers are working remotely, which may delay the timing of some orders as well as shipments and cash collections. There can be no guaranty that disruptions, such as staff not being allowed to enter our manufacturing facility or our supply chain being disrupted, to our operations caused by Covid-19 will not result in inefficiencies, delays and additional costs in our product development, sales, marketing, and customer service efforts that we cannot fully mitigate through remote or other alternative work arrangements. For example, Covid-19 caused a several week delay in completing the UL certification of the Gen 2.3 product due to the certification company being delayed in completing the in-person witness tests.
13
More generally, the pandemic raises the possibility of an extended global economic downturn and has caused volatility in financial markets, which could affect demand for our products and services and impact our results and financial condition even after the pandemic is contained and the shelter-in-place orders are lifted. For example, we may be unable to collect receivables from those customers significantly impacted by Covid-19. Also, a decrease in orders in a given period could negatively affect our revenues in future periods, particularly if experienced on a sustained basis. The pandemic may also have the effect of heightening many of the other risks described in these “Risk Factors”, particularly those risks associated with our customers and supply chain.
We may not have sufficient insurance coverage to cover business continuity.
We rely on a single-source joint venture manufacturer. As a result, a sustained or repeated interruption in the manufacturing of our products by HI-POWER due to labor shortage, fire, flood, war, pandemic or natural disasters may interfere with our ability to manufacture our products and fulfil customers’ demands in a timely manner. Failure to manufacture our products and meet customer demands would impair our ability to generate revenues which would adversely affect our financial results.
Defects or performance problems in our products could result in loss of customers, reputational damage, and decreased revenue, facing warranty, indemnity, and product liability claims that may arise from defective products.
Since our inception, our business objectives have been focused on producing a safe, low-cost grid-scale energy storage solution to meet the increasing demand for and adoption of renewable energy generation assets. The current Gen 2.3 battery design has after years of research and prototype development resulted in robust control of cell-to-cell spacing using a method which can easily be scaled for mass manufacturing at low cost.
Although our latest Gen 2.3 products meet its stringent quality requirements, they may contain undetected errors or defects, especially when first introduced or when new generations of products are released. Errors, defects, or poor performance can arise due to design flaws, defects in raw materials or components or manufacturing difficulties, which can affect the quality of our products. Any actual or perceived errors, defects, or poor performance in our products could result in the replacement or recall of our products, shipment delays, rejection of our products, damage to our reputation, lost revenue, diversion of our engineering personnel from our product development efforts, and increases in customer service and support costs, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Furthermore, defective components may give rise to warranty, indemnity, or product liability claims against us that exceed any revenue or profit we receive from the affected products. HI-POWER provides us with a two (2) year manufacturing warranty, which we pass to our customers based on the use case of the customer and normal system degradation expected from such use case. We also offer customers an extended performance warranty of up to twenty (20) years at an additional cost to the customer. The price charged for any such extended warranty is based on the use case of the customer and the additional performance that such customer wishes to ensure. For extended warranties, this may require system augmentation or battery replacements, which would be provided at no additional charge beyond the price of the extended warranty paid by such customer.
14
We, in turn, provide a two (2) year design warranty to HI-POWER, which warrants that the DC battery design will be free of design defects for the two-year warranty period. As a result, we effectively bear the risk of design warranty claims for two (2) years after we or Holtec has sold any products manufactured by HI-POWER (or much longer, in the case of any extended performance warranty purchased by our customers). We also bear the full risk of any manufacturing warranty claims under its extended warranty after the initial two (2) year period covered by HI-POWER has expired. While we accrued reserves for warranty claims, our estimated warranty costs for previously sold products may change to the extent future products are not compatible with earlier generation products under warranty. Our warranty accruals are based on various assumptions, which are based on a short operating history. As a result, these assumptions could prove to be materially different from the actual performance of our systems, causing us to incur substantial unanticipated expense to repair or replace defective products in the future or to compensate customers for defective products. Our failure to accurately predict future claims could result in unexpected volatility in, and have a material adverse effect on, our financial condition.
If one of our products were to cause injury to someone or cause property damage, including as a result of product malfunctions, defects, or improper installation, we could be exposed to product liability claims. We could incur significant costs and liabilities if we are sued and if damages are awarded against us. Further, any product liability claim we face could be expensive to defend and could divert management’s attention. The successful assertion of a product liability claim against us could result in potentially significant monetary damages, penalties or fines, subject us to adverse publicity, damage our reputation and competitive position, and adversely affect sales of our products. In addition, product liability claims, injuries, defects, or other problems experienced by other companies in the battery industry could lead to unfavorable market conditions for the industry as a whole and may have an adverse effect on our ability to attract new customers, thus harming our growth and financial performance.
If we elect to expand our production capacity by constructing one or more new manufacturing facilities, we may encounter challenges relating to the construction, management and operation of such facilities.
HI-POWER will maintain its exclusive rights to manufacture the batteries for our products sold and delivered in North America if it continues to meet the quality, cost and delivery timelines set by its board of directors and as further specified in the applicable joint venture arrangements between us and Holtec. However, if HI-POWER fails to meet these required performance metrics, we would be free to establish our own manufacturing operations for North America, either directly or through other partnerships. Under these circumstances, we would have the right to transfer manufacturing processes, technology and know-how from HI-POWER to any such new facility. In addition, for sales outside of North America, we are free to establish our own manufacturing facilities or to partner with other companies to manufacture our products.
Accordingly, we may, in the future, seek to construct one or more manufacturing facilities designed to meet our product supply needs. Although we currently believe that we could build a new one (1) gigawatt-hour (“GWh”) manufacturing facility in less than eight months, we cannot provide any assurances that we would be able to successfully establish or operate our manufacturing facility in a timely or profitable manner, or at all, or within any budget that might be forecasted for such a project. The construction of any such facility would require significant capital expenditures and result in significantly increased fixed costs. If we are unable to transition manufacturing operations to any such new facilities in a cost-efficient and timely manner, then we may experience disruptions in operations, which could negatively impact our business and financial results. Further, if the demand for our products decreases or if we do not produce the expected output after any such new facility is operational, we may not be able to spread a significant amount of our fixed costs over the production volume, thereby increasing our per product fixed cost, which would have a negative impact on our financial condition and results of operations.
Our ability to expand our manufacturing capacity would also greatly depend on our ability to hire, train and retain an adequate number of manufacturing employees, in particular employees with the appropriate level of knowledge, background and skills. Should we be unable to hire such employees, our business and financial results could be negatively impacted.
15
Risks Related to our Future Growth
If we fail to manage our recent and future growth effectively, we may be unable to execute our business plan, maintain high levels of customer service, or adequately address competitive challenges.
We have experienced significant growth in recent periods and intend to continue to expand our business significantly within existing and new markets. This growth has placed, and any future growth may place, a significant strain on our management, operational, and financial infrastructure. In particular, we will be required to expand, train, and manage our growing employee base and scale and otherwise improve our information technology (“IT”) infrastructure in tandem with that headcount growth. Our management will also be required to maintain and expand our relationships with customers, suppliers, and other third parties and attract new customers and suppliers, as well as manage multiple geographic locations.
Our current and planned operations, personnel, customer support, IT, information systems, and other systems and procedures might be inadequate to support future growth and may require us to make additional unanticipated investments in its infrastructure. Our success and ability to further scale our business will depend, in part, on our ability to manage these changes in a cost-effective and efficient manner. If we cannot manage our growth, we may be unable to take advantage of market opportunities, execute our business strategies, or respond to competitive pressures. This could also result in declines in quality or customer satisfaction, increased costs, difficulties in introducing new offerings, or other operational difficulties. Any failure to effectively manage growth could adversely impact our business and reputation.
Our growth prospects depend on our ability to capitalize on market opportunities.
We believe that a number of market opportunities could help fuel our growth prospects, including the following:
● | the pervasiveness of electric grid congestion, creating an opportunity to deploy batteries to reduce the peak energy usage of a customer in specific locations where infrastructure constraints create a need for transmission and/or distribution upgrades; |
● | the demand for co-location of battery assets on solar or wind farms to store off-peak intermittent renewable energy production and provide on-peak energy at the higher price of alternative energy; |
● | C&I end users’ adoption of alternative energy generation technologies to supplement or replace on-the-grid energy usage; and |
● | carbon reduction targets and lower prices from renewables may be forcing earlier retirement of conventional energy sources and drive demand for energy storage. |
If these expected market opportunities do not materialize, or if we fail to capitalize on them, then we may not be able to meet our growth projections.
We require additional financing to achieve our goals and a failure to obtain this capital on acceptable terms, or at all, may adversely impact our ability to support our business growth strategy.
We intend to continue to make investments to support our business and will require additional funds. In particular, we will require additional funds to develop new products and enhance existing products, expand our operations, including our sales and marketing organizations and our presence outside of the United States, improve our infrastructure or acquire complementary businesses, technologies, products and other assets. Accordingly, we anticipate that equity or debt financings to secure additional funds will be necessary and we intend to pursue such financing to support our business strategy. If we raise additional funds through future issuances of equity or convertible debt securities, our stockholders could suffer significant dilution, and any new equity securities we issue could have rights, preferences and privileges superior to those of holders of our common stock. Any debt financing that we may secure in the future could involve restrictive covenants relating to our capital raising activities and other financial and operational matters, which may make it more difficult for us to obtain additional capital and to pursue business opportunities. We may not be able to obtain additional financing on terms favorable to us, if at all. If we are unable to obtain adequate financing when we require it, our ability to continue to support our business growth, scale our infrastructure, develop product enhancements and to respond to business challenges could be significantly impaired, and our business, results of operations and financial condition may be adversely affected.
16
Our planned expansion into new geographic markets or new product lines or services could subject us to additional business, financial, and competitive risks.
In the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, we sold our products in a number of different countries, including the United States, India, Brazil and the United Kingdom. We have in the past, and may in the future, evaluate opportunities to expand into new geographic markets and introduce new product offerings and services that are a natural extension of our existing business. We also may from time to time engage in acquisitions of businesses or product lines with the potential to strengthen our market position, enable us to enter attractive markets, expand our technological capabilities, or provide synergy opportunities.
Our success operating in these new geographic or product markets, or in operating any acquired business, will depend on a number of factors, including our ability to develop solutions to address the requirements of the electric utility industry and C&I end users, our timely qualification and certification of new products, our ability to manage increased manufacturing capacity and production, and our ability to identify and integrate any acquired businesses.
Further, any additional markets that we may enter could have different characteristics from the markets in which we currently sell products, and our success will depend on our ability to adapt properly to these differences. These differences may include regulatory requirements, including tax laws, trade laws, labor regulations, tariffs, export quotas, customs duties, or other trade restrictions, limited or unfavorable intellectual property protection, international, political or economic conditions, restrictions on the repatriation of earnings, longer sales cycles, warranty expectations, product return policies and cost, performance and compatibility requirements. In addition, expanding into new geographic markets will increase our exposure to presently existing and new risks, such as fluctuations in the value of foreign currencies and difficulties and increased expenses in complying with United States and foreign laws, regulations and trade standards, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended (the “FCPA”).
Failure to develop and introduce these new products successfully into the market, to successfully integrate acquired businesses or to otherwise manage the risks and challenges associated with our potential expansion into new product and geographic markets, could adversely affect our revenues and our ability to sustain profitability.
Our results of operations may fluctuate from quarter to quarter, which could make our future performance difficult to predict and could cause our results of operations for a particular period to fall below expectations, resulting in a decline in the price of our common stock.
Revenue from our battery sales is primarily recorded upon transfer of ownership of the product to the customer. Under our customer contracts, this transfer typically takes place upon shipment of the battery from our manufacturing facility but, in some instances, occurs upon delivery to a customer site or, even more infrequently, at the time of commercial operation. Because our revenues are generally derived from sales of hardware that may take many months to manufacture and prepare for delivery, such revenue can come in peaks and troughs based on the underlying customer arrangements. As a result, our quarterly results of operations are difficult to predict and may fluctuate significantly in the future based on the timing of product deliveries.
Forecasts of market growth in this prospectus may not be accurate.
Market opportunity estimates and growth forecasts included in this prospectus are subject to significant uncertainty and are based on assumptions and estimates that may not prove to be accurate. The forecasts and estimates in this prospectus relating to the expected size and growth of the markets for energy storage and other markets in which we participate may prove to be inaccurate. Even if these markets experience the forecasted growth described in this prospectus, we may not grow our business at similar rates, or at all. Our future growth is subject to many factors, including market adoption of our products, which is subject to many risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, the forecasts and estimates of market size and growth described in this prospectus should not be taken as indicative of our future growth. In addition, these forecasts do not take into account the impact of the current global Covid-19 pandemic, and we cannot assure you that these forecasts will not be materially and adversely affected as a result.
17
Risks Related to our United States and Foreign Operations
The reduction, elimination or expiration of government subsidies and economic incentives related to renewable energy solutions could reduce demand for our technologies and harm our business.
To promote renewable energy generation and consumption, federal, state, local and foreign government bodies provide incentives to owners, end users, distributors, system integrators and manufacturers of alternative energy systems in the form of rebates, tax credits and other financial incentives such as system performance payments, payments of renewable energy credits associated with renewable energy generation and exclusion of certain renewable energy systems from property tax assessments.
Our business relies, in part, on the co-location of battery assets with solar and wind technologies. The market for on-grid applications, where solar or wind power is used to supplement a customer’s electricity purchased from the utility network or sold to a utility under tariff, often depends in large part on the availability and size of government and economic incentives that vary by geographic market. The reduction, elimination or expiration of government subsidies and economic incentives for on-grid solar electricity may negatively affect the competitiveness of alternative electricity generation relative to conventional and non-solar renewable sources of electricity and could harm or halt the growth of the alternative electricity industries. Because our C&I end user sales are generally expected to be made into the on-grid market, these changes could harm our business. For example, in 2015 the U.S Congress passed a multi-year extension to the solar Investment Tax Credit (“ITC”), which extension helped grow the U.S solar market. As of January 1, 2020, the ITC is being gradually reduced from thirty percent (30%) to twenty-six percent (26%) for both residential and commercial in 2020 and is expected to reach ten percent (10%) for commercial only in 2022. In December 2020, the Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 which extended the 26% credit for two years until January 1, 2023 and the applicability of the 22% credit for another year until January 1, 2024. If the ITC would not be extended any further, the reduction in the ITC could reduce the demand for solar energy solutions in the United States, which would have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
In general, subsidies and incentives may expire on a particular date, end when the allocated funding is exhausted or be reduced or terminated as solar energy adoption rates increase or as a result of legal challenges, the adoption of new statutes or regulations or the passage of time. These reductions or terminations often occur without warning.
In addition, several jurisdictions have adopted renewable portfolio standards, which mandate that a certain portion of electricity delivered by utilities to customers come from a set of eligible renewable energy resources by a certain compliance date. Some programs further specify that a portion of the renewable energy quota must be from solar electricity. Under some programs, a utility can receive a “credit” for renewable energy produced by a third party by either purchasing the electricity directly from the producer or paying a fee to obtain the right to renewable energy generated but used by the generator or sold to another party. A renewable energy credit allows the utility to add this electricity to its renewable portfolio requirement total without actually expending the capital for generating facilities. However, there can be no assurances that such policies will continue. For example, in December 2015, Nevada’s Public Utilities Commission increased the fixed service charge for net-metered solar customers and lowered compensation for net excess solar generation proposals to extend compliance deadlines, reduce targets or repeal standards which have also been introduced in a number of states.
If the foregoing or any other subsidies and incentives applicable to alternative energy implementation or usage are reduced or eliminated, or the regulatory landscape otherwise becomes less favorable, then there could be reduced demand for alternative energy solutions, which could have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
18
Changes in the U.S. trade environment, including the recent imposition of import tariffs, could adversely affect the amount or timing of our revenues, results of operations or cash flows.
We currently procure the felt required for our batteries and the electrical cables for the battery container from China, as we believe that the materials procured from our Chinese suppliers currently have the best overall performance and price compared to domestic alternatives. Escalating trade tensions between the United States and China have recently led to certain increased tariffs and trade restrictions. There can be no guarantee that these developments will not negatively impact the price of the felt used in our products. We believe we could obtain a similar performing felt and electrical cabling in the United States, but such sources would likely also charge a higher cost than our current suppliers, which would negatively impact our gross margins. It is difficult to predict what further trade-related actions governments may take, which may include additional or increased tariffs and trade restrictions, and we may be unable to quickly and effectively react to such actions, which could result in supply shortages and increased costs.
We could be subject to foreign exchange risk.
Our international sales are typically denominated in U.S. dollars or Euros. As a result, we do not have significant direct exposure to currency valuation exchange rate fluctuations. However, because our products are sold internationally, to the extent that the U.S. dollar strengthens against the foreign currency of a customer or potential customer, we may find our products at a price disadvantage as compared with other non-U.S. suppliers. This could lead to our receiving lower prices or being unable to compete for that specific customer’s business. Consequently, currency fluctuations could adversely affect the competitiveness of our products in international markets.
We have operations in the United States, which exposes us to multiple federal, state and local regulations. Changes in applicable law, regulations or requirements, or our material failure to comply with any of them, can increase our costs and have other negative impacts on our business.
Applicable laws and requirements address multiple aspects of our operations, such as worker safety, consumer rights, privacy, employee benefits and more, and can often have different requirements in different jurisdictions. Changes in these requirements, or any material failure to comply with them, could increase our costs, affect our reputation, limit our business, drain management’s time and attention or otherwise, generally impact our operations in adverse ways.
We could be adversely affected by any violations of the FCPA, the U.K. Bribery Act, and other foreign anti-bribery laws, as well as violations against export controls and economic embargo regulations.
The FCPA prohibits companies and their intermediaries from making improper payments to foreign government officials for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business. Other countries in which we operate also have anti-bribery laws, some of which prohibit improper payments to government and non-government persons and entities. Our policies mandate compliance with these anti-bribery laws. However, we currently operate in and intend to further expand into, many parts of the world that have experienced governmental corruption to some degree and, in certain circumstances, strict compliance with anti-bribery laws may conflict with local customs and practices. In addition, due to the level of regulation in our industry and related energy industries, our entry into certain jurisdictions may require substantial government contact where norms can differ from U.S. standards. Although we expect to maintain strict internal control policies and procedures designed to guard against improper conduct, there can be no guarantee that our employees, agents, and business partners will not take actions in violation of our internal control policies. In the event that we believe or have reason to believe that our employees or agents have or may have violated applicable laws, including anti-corruption laws, we may be required to investigate or have outside counsel investigate the relevant facts and circumstances, and detecting, investigating and resolving actual or alleged violations can be expensive and require significant time and attention from senior management. Any violation of U.S. federal and state and non-U.S. laws, regulations and policies could result in substantial fines, sanctions, civil and/or criminal penalties, and curtailment of operations in the United States or other applicable jurisdictions. In addition, actual or alleged violations could damage our reputation and ability to do business. Any of the foregoing could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
19
Furthermore, we are subject to the export controls and economic embargo rules and regulations of the United States, including, but not limited to, the Export Administration Regulations and trade sanctions against embargoed countries, which are administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control within the Department of the Treasury, as well as the laws and regulations administered by the Department of Commerce. These regulations limit our ability to market, sell, distribute or otherwise transfer our products or technology to prohibited countries or persons. While we do not conduct business with sanctioned and embargoed countries and we expect to maintain strict internal control policies and procedures designed to guard against improper conduct, a determination that we have failed to comply, whether knowingly or inadvertently, may result in substantial penalties, including fines and enforcement actions and civil and/or criminal sanctions, the disgorgement of profits and the imposition of a court-appointed monitor, as well as the denial of export privileges, and may have an adverse effect on our reputation.
Risks Related to Intellectual Property
If we fail to protect, or incur significant costs in defending, our intellectual property and other proprietary rights, then our business and results of operations could be materially harmed.
Our success depends to a significant degree on our ability to protect our intellectual property and other proprietary rights. We rely on a combination of patent, trademark, copyright, trade secret, and unfair competition laws, as well as confidentiality and other contractual provisions with our customers, suppliers, employees, and others, to establish and protect our intellectual property and other proprietary rights. Our ability to enforce these rights is subject to general litigation risks, as well as uncertainty as to the enforceability of our intellectual property rights in various countries. When we seek to enforce our rights, we may be subject to claims that our intellectual property rights are invalid or not enforceable. Our assertion of intellectual property rights may result in another party seeking to assert claims against us, which could harm our business. Our inability to enforce intellectual property rights under any of these circumstances would likely harm our competitive position and business.
We applied for patents in the United States, Europe, Africa, South America, Asia and Australia, some of which have been issued. We cannot guarantee that any of our pending applications will be approved or that our existing and future intellectual property rights will be sufficiently broad to protect our proprietary technology, and any failure to obtain such approvals or finding that our intellectual property rights are invalid or unenforceable could force us to, among other things, rebrand or re-design our affected products. In countries where we have not applied for patent protection or where effective intellectual property protection is not available to the same extent as in the United States, we may be at greater risk that our proprietary rights will be misappropriated, infringed, or otherwise violated.
Our intellectual property may be stolen or infringed upon. Despite our implementation of security measures, our IT systems and those of our service providers are vulnerable to circumstances beyond our reasonable control which may lead to the theft of our intellectual property, trade secrets or business disruption, including inappropriate retention or disclosure of trade secrets by current or former employees. To the extent that any disruption or security breach results in a loss or damage to our data or an inappropriate disclosure of confidential information, it could cause significant damage to our reputation, affect our relationships with our customers, suppliers and employees and lead to claims against the company. Any lawsuits that we may initiate to protect our significant investment in our intellectual property also may consume management and financial resources for long periods of time and may not result in favorable outcomes, which may adversely affect our business, results of operations or financial condition.
20
Third parties may assert that we are infringing upon their intellectual property rights, which could divert management’s attention, cause us to incur significant costs, and prevent us from selling or using the technology to which such rights relate.
Our competitors and other third parties hold numerous patents related to technology used in our industry. From time to time, we may be subject to claims of intellectual property right infringement and related litigation, and, if we gain greater recognition in the market, we will face a higher risk of being the subject of claims that we have violated others’ intellectual property rights. While we believe that our products and technology do not infringe in any material respect upon any valid intellectual property rights of third parties, we cannot be certain that we would be successful in defending against any such claims. If we do not successfully defend or settle intellectual property claims, we could be liable for significant monetary damages and could be prohibited from continuing to use certain technology, business methods, content, or brands. To avoid a prohibition, we could seek a license from the applicable third party, which could require us to pay significant royalties, increasing our operating expenses. If a license is not available at all or not available on reasonable terms, then we may be required to develop or license a non-violating alternative, either of which could require significant effort and expense. If we cannot license or develop a non-violating alternative, we would be forced to limit or stop sales of our offerings and may be unable to effectively compete. Any of these results would adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
We may be required to 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 stock price, which could cause you to lose some or all of your investment.
Unexpected risks may arise that cause us to write-down or write-off assets, restructure our operations, or incur impairment or other charges that could result in losses. Even though these charges may be non-cash items and 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. Accordingly, our stockholders could suffer a reduction in the value of their shares.
Risk Related to Our Securities
Our stock price may be volatile and may decline regardless of our operating performance
Fluctuations in the price of our common stock could contribute to the loss of all or part of your investment. The trading price of our common stock could be volatile and subject to wide fluctuations in response to various factors, some of which are beyond our control. Any of the factors listed below could have a material adverse effect on your investment in our common stock and our common stock may trade at prices significantly below the price you paid for it. In such circumstances, the trading price of our common stock may not recover and may experience a further decline.
Factors affecting the trading price of our common stock may include:
● | actual or anticipated fluctuations in our quarterly financial results or the quarterly financial results of companies perceived to be similar to us; |
● | changes in the market’s expectations about our operating results; |
● | success of competitors; |
● | our operating results failing to meet the expectation of securities analysts or investors in a particular period; |
● | changes in financial estimates and recommendations by securities analysts concerning us or the industries in which we operate in general; |
● | operating and stock price performance of other companies that investors deem comparable to us; |
21
● | our ability to market new and enhanced products on a timely basis; |
● | changes in laws and regulations affecting our business; |
● | commencement of, or involvement in, litigation involving us; |
● | changes in our capital structure, such as future issuances of securities or the incurrence of additional debt; |
● | the volume of shares of our common stock available for public sale; |
● | any major change in our board of directors or management; |
● | sales of substantial amounts of our common stock by our directors, executive officers or significant stockholders or the perception that such sales could occur; and |
● | general economic and political conditions such as recessions, interest rates, fuel prices, international currency fluctuations and acts of war or terrorism. |
Broad market and industry factors may materially harm the market price of our securities irrespective of our operating performance. The stock market in general, and Nasdaq, have experienced price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of the particular companies affected. The trading prices and valuations of these stocks, and of our securities, may not be predictable. A loss of investor confidence in the market for the stocks of other companies that investors perceive to be similar to us could depress our stock price regardless of our business, prospects, financial conditions, or results of operations. A decline in the market price of our securities also could adversely affect our ability to issue additional securities and our ability to obtain additional financing in the future.
To the extent that any shares of common stock are issued upon exercise of any of the warrants, the number of shares eligible for resale in the public market would increase.
We have 9,075,000 outstanding warrants to purchase 9,075,000 shares of common stock at an exercise price of $11.5 per share, which will become exercisable on May 22, 2021.
To the extent that any shares of common stock are issued upon exercise of any of the warrants to purchase shares of common stock, there will be an increase in the number of shares of common stock eligible for resale in the public market. Sales of a substantial number of such shares in the public market could adversely affect the market price of common stock.
Provisions in our Charter and Delaware law may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors and officers.
Our Charter requires, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, that (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf, (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any director, officer or other employee to us or our stockholders, (iii) any action asserting a claim against us, our directors, officers or employees arising pursuant to any provision of the DGCL or our Charter or our bylaws, or (iv) any action asserting a claim against us or our directors, officers or employees governed by the internal affairs doctrine may be brought only in the Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware, except any claim (A) as to which the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware determines that there is an indispensable party not subject to the jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery (and the indispensable party does not consent to the personal jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery within ten days following such determination), (B) which is vested in the exclusive jurisdiction of a court or forum other than the Court of Chancery, (C) for which the Court of Chancery does not have subject matter jurisdiction, or (D) any action arising under the Securities Act, as to which the Court of Chancery and the federal district court for the District of Delaware shall have concurrent jurisdiction. If an action is brought outside of Delaware, the stockholder bringing the suit will be deemed to have consented to service of process on such stockholder’s counsel. Although we believe this provision benefits us by providing increased consistency in the application of Delaware law in the types of lawsuits to which it applies, a court may determine that this provision is unenforceable, and to the extent it is enforceable, the provision may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors and officers, although our stockholders will not be deemed to have waived our compliance with federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder.
22
Notwithstanding the foregoing, our Charter provides that the exclusive forum provision will not apply to suits brought to enforce a duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction. Section 27 of the Exchange Act creates exclusive federal jurisdiction over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or the rules and regulations thereunder. Although we believe this provision benefits us by providing increased consistency in the application of Delaware law in the types of lawsuits to which it applies, the provision may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors and officers.
Provisions in our Charter 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 Charter contains provisions that may hinder unsolicited takeover proposals that stockholders may consider to be in their best interests. We are also subject to anti-takeover provisions under Delaware law, which could delay or prevent a change of control. Together these provisions 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. These provisions include:
● | no cumulative voting in the election of directors, which limits the ability of minority stockholders to elect director candidates; |
● | a classified board of directors with three-year staggered terms, which could delay the ability of stockholders to change the membership of a majority of the Board; |
● | the right of our Board to elect a director to fill a vacancy created by the expansion of our Board or the resignation, death or removal of a director in certain circumstances, which prevents stockholders from being able to fill vacancies on our Board; |
● | a prohibition on stockholder action by written consent, which forces stockholder action to be taken at an annual or special meeting of our stockholders; |
● | advance notice procedures that stockholders must comply with in order to nominate candidates to our Board or to propose matters to be acted upon at a meeting of stockholders, which may discourage or deter a potential acquirer from conducting a solicitation of proxies to elect the acquirer’s own slate of directors or otherwise attempting to obtain control of the Company; and |
● | the requirement that a meeting of stockholders may only be called by members of our Board or the stockholders holding a majority of our shares, which may delay the ability of our stockholders to force consideration of a proposal or to take action, including the removal of directors. |
Future resales of common stock may cause the market price of our securities to drop significantly, even if our business is doing well.
The Sponsor’s founder shares, private placement units, private placement shares, private placement warrants, and any shares of common stock issued upon conversion or exercise thereof are each subject to transfer restrictions pursuant to lock-up provisions in a letter agreement, dated May 19, 2020, between us and the Sponsor. Likewise, the shareholders who have received common stock in connection with the business combination are contractually restricted from selling or transferring any shares of our common stock they received pursuant to the lock-up provisions contained therein. However, following the expiration of these lockup-up periods, neither such shareholders nor the Sponsor are restricted from selling their shares of our common stock, other than by applicable securities laws. Additionally, the investors are not restricted from selling any of their shares of our common stock following the Closing, other than by applicable securities laws. A resale prospectus covering 43,744,680 shares and 325,000 warrants held by the shareholders and warrant holders and the Sponsor was declared effective by the SEC on January 21, 2021, which may be utilized to sell such securities for so long as it remains effective. A resale prospectus covering 4,000,000 shares held by the PIPE investors was declared effective by the SEC on November 16, 2020, which may be utilized to sell such securities for so long as it remains effective.
23
As such, sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market could occur at any time irrespective of the Company’s performance. These sales, or the perception in the market that the holders of a large number of shares intend to sell shares, could reduce the market price of our common stock. Such sales may occur based upon individual investor liquidity requirements or other factors outside of our control. Upon completion of the business combination, the Sponsor, the shareholders of the common stock issued in connection with the Merger, and the investors collectively owned approximately 83.3% of the outstanding shares of our common stock.
As restrictions on resale end and registration statements are available for use, the sale or possibility of sale of shares by the Sponsor, shareholders who received common stock in connection with the business combination, and the investors could have the effect of increasing the volatility in our share price or the market price of our common stock could decline if the holders of currently restricted shares sell them or are perceived by the market as intending to sell them.
We may redeem the public warrants prior to their exercise at a time that is disadvantageous to such warrant holders, thereby making your public warrants worthless.
We will have the ability to redeem outstanding public warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.01 per warrant, provided that the closing price of our common stock equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, share dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any twenty (20) trading days within a thirty (30) trading-day period ending on the third (3rd) trading day prior to proper notice of such redemption. 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 holders (i) to exercise the warrants and pay the exercise price therefor at a time when it may be disadvantageous to do so, (ii) to sell the warrants at the then-current market price when the holder might otherwise wish to hold their 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 the warrants. The private placement warrants are not redeemable by us so long as they are held by the Sponsor or its permitted transferees.
There can be no assurance that the warrants will be in the money at the time they become exercisable, and they may expire worthless.
The exercise price for the outstanding warrants is $11.50 per share of common stock. There can be no assurance that the warrants will be in the money following the time they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, and as such, the warrants may expire worthless.
There can be no assurance that our common stock will be able to comply with the continued listing standards of Nasdaq.
The shares of our common stock and warrants are listed on Nasdaq. If Nasdaq delists the common stock from trading on its exchange for failure to meet the listing standards, we and our stockholders could face significant material adverse consequences including:
● | a limited availability of market quotations 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, possibly resulting in a reduced level of trading activity in the secondary trading market for our common stock; |
● | a limited amount of analyst coverage; and |
● | a decreased ability to issue additional securities or obtain additional financing in the future. |
We do not currently intend to pay dividends on our common stock and, consequently, your ability to achieve a return on your investment will depend on appreciation in the price of our common stock.
We have never declared or paid cash dividends on our common stock. We currently do not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. Any future determination to declare cash dividends will be made at the discretion of our board of directors, subject to applicable laws, and will depend on our financial condition, results of operations, capital requirements, general business conditions and other factors that our board of directors may deem relevant.
24
Risks Related our Status as a Public Company
The obligations associated with being a public company involve significant expenses and will require significant resources and management attention, which may divert from our business operations.
As a public company, we are subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, as amended (“SOX”). The Exchange Act requires the filing of annual, quarterly and current reports with respect to a public company’s business and financial condition. SOX requires, among other things, that a public company establish and maintain effective internal control over financial reporting. As a result, we incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses that we did not incur prior to the business combination. Our entire management team and many of our other employees devote substantial time to compliance, and may not effectively or efficiently manage our transition into a public company.
We are currently an emerging growth company and a smaller reporting company within the meaning of the Securities Act, and to the extent we have taken advantage of certain exemptions from disclosure requirements available to emerging growth companies or smaller reporting 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,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act, as modified by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, as amended (the “JOBS Act”), and we may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other 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 SOX, 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 information they may deem important that we may have been required to disclose if we were not an emerging growth company and smaller reporting company. 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. We intend to take advantage of the benefits of this extended transition period. This may make comparison of our financial statements with certain other public companies difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accounting standards used.
We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of (i) 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 (as adjusted for inflation pursuant to SEC rules from time to time), or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our shares of common stock that are held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30th, and (ii) the date on which we issued more than $1.00 billion in non-convertible debt during the prior three-year period. Accordingly, if the market value of our shares of common stock held by non-affiliates continues to exceed $700 million as of June 30, 2021, we will cease to qualify as an emerging growth company or smaller reporting company as of January 1, 2022. If we are thereafter not able to implement the requirements of Section 404 of SOX, including any additional requirements once we are no longer an emerging growth company, in a timely manner or with adequate compliance, we may not be able to assess whether our internal controls over financial reporting are effective, which may subject us to adverse regulatory consequences and could harm investor confidence and the market price of our securities.
25
All of the shares of common stock offered by the selling securityholders pursuant to this prospectus will be sold by the selling securityholders for their respective amounts. We will not receive any of the proceeds from these sales.
We will receive up to an aggregate of approximately $2,925,107 from the exercise of the options, and up to an aggregate of approximately $104,362,500 from the exercise of the warrants, assuming the exercise in full of all such options and warrants for cash. We expect to use the net proceeds from the exercise of the options and warrants for general corporate purposes, which may include acquisitions and other business opportunities and the repayment of indebtedness. Our management will have broad discretion over the use of proceeds from the exercise of the options and warrants.
There is no assurance that the holders of the options or warrants will elect to exercise any or all of the options or warrants. To the extent that the options or warrants are exercised on a “cashless basis,” the amount of cash we would receive from the exercise of the options and warrants will decrease.
26
UNAUDITED PRO FORMA COMBINED FINANCIAL INFORMATION
On November 16, 2020 (the “Closing Date”), Eos Energy Enterprises, Inc. (formerly known as B. Riley Principal Merger Corp. II), a Delaware corporation (the “Company”), consummated its acquisition of Eos Energy Storage, LLC., a Delaware limited liability company (“Eos”), pursuant to the Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated as of September 7, 2020 (the “Merger Agreement”). The transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement are referred to herein as the “Business Combination.”
In connection with the closing of the Business Combination (the “Closing”), the Company changed its name from “B. Riley Principal Merger Corp II” to “Eos Energy Enterprises, Inc.”, (“EOSE”).
On November 12, 2020, the Business Combination was approved by the stockholders of the Company at a special meeting (the “Special Meeting”). The Business Combination was completed on November 16, 2020. In connection with the Business Combination, 6,442,195 shares of the Company’s common stock were redeemed at a per share price of approximately $10.10. Upon the Closing, the Company had 49,802,417 shares of common stock outstanding, 32,421,362 of which were held by non-affiliates of the Company.
For purposes of the unaudited pro forma combined financial information, the aggregate consideration for the Business Combination was $300 million or 30 million shares.
Immediately prior to the Closing, pursuant to subscription agreements (the “Subscription Agreements”) with certain institutional and accredited investors (“PIPE investors”), the Company issued an aggregate of 4 million shares of common stock for $10.00 per share, for an aggregate purchase price of $40 million.
Introduction
The following unaudited pro forma combined financial statements present the combination of the financial information of the Company and Eos, adjusted to give effect to the Business Combination and the equity financing provided by the Equity Commitment Letter and Subscription Agreements with PIPE investors. The following unaudited pro forma combined financial information has been prepared in accordance with Article 11 of Regulation S-X.
The following unaudited pro forma combined statement of operations for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020 gives pro forma effect to the Business Combination and equity financing as if they had been completed on January 1, 2020.
The unaudited pro forma combined financial statements have been presented for illustrative purposes only and do not necessarily reflect what the Company’s financial condition or results of operations would have been had the Business Combination occurred on the date indicated. Further, the unaudited pro forma combined financial information also may not be useful in predicting the future financial condition and results of operations of the Company. The actual results of operations may differ significantly from the pro forma amounts reflected herein due to a variety of factors. The unaudited pro forma adjustments represent management’s estimates based on information available as of the date of these unaudited pro forma combined financial statements.
This information has been developed from and should be read together with Eos’s audited and unaudited financial statements and related notes included in this prospectus, “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and other financial information included herein and the sections titled “BMRG’s Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” incorporated in the Company’s amended registration statement filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on November 13, 2020.
27
The Business Combination is accounted for under the scope of the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 805, business combinations (“ASC 805”), as a reverse recapitalization, with no goodwill or other intangible assets recorded, in accordance with GAAP. Eos has been determined to be the accounting acquirer based on the evaluation of the following facts and circumstances:
● | Eos’s senior management comprises the senior management of the combined company, |
● | Eos has greater influence in putting forth the relative majority of the members of the initial Board of Directors, |
● | Eos’s operations comprises the ongoing operations of the combined company; and |
● | The relative size of BMRG is larger based on assets |
ASC 805 provides that in identifying the acquiring entity in a transaction effected through an exchange of equity interests, all pertinent facts and circumstances must be considered, including: the relative voting rights of the stockholders of the constituent companies in the combined company; the existence of a large minority voting interest in the combined entity (if no other owner or organized group of owners has a significant voting interest); the composition of the board of directors and senior management of the combined company; the relative size of each company; and the terms of the exchange of equity securities in the transaction, including payments of any premium. The preponderance of the evidence discussed above supports the conclusion that Eos is the accounting acquirer in the Business Combination. Under this method of accounting, BMRG has been treated as the “acquired” company for financial reporting purposes. Accordingly, for accounting purposes, the Business Combination was treated as the equivalent of Eos issuing stock for the net assets of BMRG, accompanied by a recapitalization. The net assets of BMRG was stated at historical cost, with no goodwill or other intangible assets recorded.
Description of the Business Combination
At Closing Eos’s security holders received aggregate consideration with a value equal to $300 million.
In the Business Combination, the Company merged with and into Eos, and Eos became a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company. Upon the Closing, the Company changed its name to “Eos Energy Enterprises, Inc.”
Financing for the business combination and for related transaction expenses consisted of:
● | $176.7 million of proceeds from the Company’s IPO on deposit in the trust account (plus any interest income accrued thereon since the IPO), net of $65.1 million in redemptions of shares of Class A common stock in connection with the business combination; and |
● | $40 million of proceeds from the Equity Commitment Letter and Subscription Agreements with PIPE investors. |
The unaudited pro forma combined financial information has been prepared after giving effect to the Business Combination, and the redemption rights exercised by the Company’s public stockholders, where 6,442,195 public shares were redeemed. As the business combination has been reflected in our balance sheet as of December 31, 2020, no pro forma balance sheet is provided in accordance with Article 11 of Regulation S-X.
28
EOS
ENERGY ENTERPRISES, INC. UNAUDITED PRO FORMA
COMBINED STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS FOR THE
YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2020
B. Riley Principal Merger Corp. II (Historical) | EOS Energy Enterprise, Inc. (Historical) | Transaction Accounting Adjustments | Pro Forma Combined | |||||||||||||
Revenues: | ||||||||||||||||
Total revenues | $ | — | $ | 219 | $ | — | $ | 219 | ||||||||
Costs and expenses: | ||||||||||||||||
Cost of sales | 5,509 | 5,509 | ||||||||||||||
Research and development expenses | 13,983 | 13,983 | ||||||||||||||
General and administrative expenses | 2,887 | 18,883 | 21,770 | |||||||||||||
Grant expense (income), net | 913 | 913 | ||||||||||||||
Total costs and expenses | 2,887 | 39,288 | — | 42,175 | ||||||||||||
Operating loss | (2,887 | ) | (39,069 | ) | — | (41,956 | ) | |||||||||
Other income (expense): | ||||||||||||||||
Income from equity in unconsolidated joint venture | 127 | 127 | ||||||||||||||
Interest income (expense), net | 29 | (115 | ) | (86 | ) | |||||||||||
Interest expense – related party | (23,706 | ) | 23,706 | (1) | — | |||||||||||
Change in fair value, embedded derivative | 2,092 | (2,092 | )(1) | — | ||||||||||||
Change in fair value, Sponsor Earnout Shares | (8,083 | ) | (8,083 | ) | ||||||||||||
Income (loss) before income tax expense | (2,858 | ) | (68,754 | ) | 21,614 | (49,998 | ) | |||||||||
Income tax expense | ||||||||||||||||
Net income (loss) | $ | (2,858 | ) | $ | (68,754 | ) | $ | 21,614 | $ | (49,998 | ) | |||||
Earnings per Share | ||||||||||||||||
Weighted average shares outstanding, basic and diluted | 9,408,841 | 48,053,632 | (2) | |||||||||||||
Basic and diluted net loss per share | $ | (7.31 | ) | $ | (1.04 | )(2) |
29
NOTES
TO UNAUDITED PRO FORMA
COMBINED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Note 1 — Description of the Business Combination
Basis of presentation
The pro forma financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Article 11 of Regulation S-X as amended by the final rule, Release No. 33-10786, “Amendments to Financial Disclosures about Acquired and Disposed Businesses”. The historical financial information of BMRG and EES has been adjusted in the unaudited pro forma combined financial information to reflect transaction accounting adjustments related to the Business Combination in accordance with U.S. GAAP. The transaction accounting adjustments are prepared to illustrate the estimated effect of the Business Combination and certain other adjustments.
The Company’s historical results reflect the audited consolidated statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2020. BMRG’s historical results reflect their unaudited statement of operations for the period ended November 16, 2020 under GAAP.
Description of the Business Combination
As previously mentioned, Eos Energy Enterprises, Inc. (formerly known as B. Riley Principal Merger Corp. II), a Delaware corporation (the “Company”), consummated its previously announced acquisition of Eos Energy Storage, LLC., a Delaware corporation (“EES”), on November 16, 2020 (the “Closing Date”), pursuant to the Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated as of September 7, 2020 (the “Merger Agreement”). The transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement are referred to herein as the “Business Combination.”
Under applicable accounting standards, EES is the accounting acquirer in the Business Combination, which has been treated as a reverse recapitalization. Accordingly, the accounting for the transaction is similar to that of a capital infusion to EES. Net assets of the Company have been stated at historical cost, with no goodwill or intangible assets recorded.
For purposes of the unaudited pro forma combined financial information, the table below represents the sources and uses of funds as it relates to the Business Combination:
Sources and Uses (in thousands) | ||||||||||
Sources | Uses | |||||||||
BMRG Cash Held in Trust(1) | $ | 176,655 | Stock Consideration | 300,000 | ||||||
Issuance of Shares | 300,000 | Fees and Expenses(3) | 21,893 | |||||||
PIPE(2) | 40,000 | Cash to facilitate growth(4) | 129,696 | |||||||
Cash to redeeming shareholders(5) | 65,066 | |||||||||
Total Sources | $ | 516,655 | Total Uses | $ | 516,655 |
(1) | Represents the amount of the restricted investments and cash held in the Trust account upon consummation of the Business Combination at Closing. |
(2) | Represents the issuance, in a private placement to be consummated concurrently with the Closing, to third-party investors of 4,000,000 shares of Class A common stock. |
(3) | Represents the total fees and expenses incurred as part of the acquisition paid at the Closing. |
(4) | Represents remaining cash that will be used to fund operations/growth and working capital needs of the Company after the Closing. |
(5) | Represents the redemption of 36.8% of the Company’s public shares through the exercise of the shareholders’ redemption rights. |
30
Basis of the Pro Forma Presentation
As a result of the consummation of the Business Combination, the Company adopted EES’s accounting policies.
Note 2 — Accounting Transaction Adjustments
(a) Adjustments to the Unaudited Pro Forma Combined Statements of Operations for the year ended December 31, 2020
The pro forma adjustments included in the unaudited pro forma combined statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2020 are as follows:
(1) Reflects the adjustment to interest expense and change in fair value associated with the conversion of EES’s convertible notes payable — related party to the common stock of the Company.
(2) Reflects pro forma net loss per share based on 48,053,632 weighted average shares outstanding of $(1.04).
(b) Other Non-recurring Costs
The unaudited pro forma combined statement of operations includes certain non-recurring expense including, among other things, costs related to legal, accounting and other professional fees totaling approximately $4.7 million that we do not expect to recur in the next 12 months.
31
MANAGEMENT’S
DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF
FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
The following discussion should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements and related notes thereto included elsewhere in this prospectus. In addition to historical information, this discussion contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from management’s expectations. Factors that could cause such differences are discussed in “Forward-Looking Statements” and “Risk Factors.”
Overview
We design, manufacture, and deploy reliable, sustainable, safe and scalable low-cost battery storage solutions for the electric utility industry.
The Company was originally incorporated in Delaware on June 3, 2019 as a special purpose acquisition company under the name B. Riley Principal Merger Corp. II., in order to acquire, through a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination one or more businesses.
On November 16, 2020, the Company consummated the transactions contemplated by an Agreement and Plan of Merger (the “Merger Agreement”), dated as of September 7, 2020, by and among BMRG Merger Sub, LLC, our wholly-owned subsidiary and a Delaware limited liability company (“Merger Sub I”), BMRG Merger Sub II, LLC, our wholly-owned subsidiary and a Delaware limited liability company (“Merger Sub II”), Eos Energy Storage LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (“EES”), New Eos Energy LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of EES and a Delaware limited liability company (“Newco”) and AltEnergy Storage VI, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (“AltEnergy”). Pursuant to the Merger Agreement, (1) Merger Sub I merged with and into Newco (the “First Merger”), whereupon the separate existence of Merger Sub I ceased, and Newco continued as the surviving company (such company, in its capacity as the surviving company of the First Merger, is sometimes referred to as the “First Surviving Company”) and became our wholly owned subsidiary; and (2) immediately following the First Merger and as part of the same overall transaction as the First Merger, the First Surviving Company merged with and into Merger Sub II, whereupon the separate existence of the First Surviving Company ceased, and Merger Sub II continued as the surviving company and our wholly owned subsidiary.
Upon the closing of the business combination (the “Closing”), the Company changed its name to “Eos Energy Enterprises, Inc.”
The business combination is accounted for as a reverse recapitalization. EES is deemed the accounting predecessor and the combined entity is the successor SEC registrant, meaning that EES’ financial statements for previous periods are disclosed in the registrant’s future periodic reports filed with the SEC. Under this method of accounting, BMRG is treated as the acquired company for financial statement reporting purposes.
As a SEC-registered and NASDAQ-listed company, we are required to implement procedures and processes to address public company regulatory requirements and customary practices and have and continue to hire additional personnel in this context. We expect to incur additional annual expenses as a public company for, among other things, directors’ and officers’ liability insurance, director fees, and additional internal and external accounting, legal, and administrative resources, including increased personnel costs, audit and other professional service fees.
32
Key Factors Affecting Operating Results
Commercialization
We began full commercial production of our Eos Gen 2.3 125|500 DC Battery System and delivering first shipments to customers in January 2021. Our testing of Gen 2.3 batteries produced in limited quantities during 2020 has indicated performance at expected levels pending movement into commercial production. While we expect the performance to be the same as we further scale commercial production, the manufacturing line for this battery system has not been fully tested. If performance of the battery system does not meet our specifications, we may need to reduce the speed of production to ensure we have quality batteries that meet our performance specifications. Any delay in production could affect the delivery of batteries to our customers.
We are also in the process of getting a third-party product safety certification from Underwriter Laboratories (UL) for the Eos Gen 2.3 125|500 DC Battery System. While we anticipate receiving UL Certification, the certification has been delayed due to Covid-19 and is expected in the second quarter of 2021.
Our growth strategy contemplates increasing sales of a commercial battery system through our direct sales team and sales channel partners. We anticipate our customers to include utilities, project developers, independent power producers and commercial and industrial companies. As we intend to expand our sales both in volume and geography, we have started discussions with several companies in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia about partnering on selling our product in these regions. For some of these potential partners we have begun discussions ranging from being a reseller of our product to being a joint venture partner in the manufacturing of our battery systems. We expect to continue expanding the direct sales force in North America, adding direct sales people outside North America, and entering into strategic alliances to advance our sales growth globally.
Integration of Alliance Partners
We may in the future seek to construct one or more manufacturing facilities, thereby expanding our manufacturing footprint to meet customer demand. Provided the arrangement with our joint venture partner HI-POWER continues to meet the quality, cost and delivery timelines set by the HI-POWER Board of Directors, HI-POWER would maintain its exclusivity to manufacture the batteries for products sold and delivered in North America. If HI-POWER fails to meet required performance metrics, we can establish our own manufacturing for North America either directly or through other partnerships.
For sales outside of North America, we may establish our own manufacturing facilities or may partner with other companies to manufacture our products. The construction of any such facility would require significant capital expenditures and result in significantly increased fixed costs. If we establish our own manufacturing facility, we have the right to transfer the manufacturing processes, technology and know-how from the HI-POWER JV to any new facility.
We commission and provide for the operation and maintenance of our battery storage systems deployed to date, and for those battery storage systems sold throughout the life of their operations. In addition, we also offer extended product warranties to supplement the life of these assets. As our sales expand in volume and geography, we have engaged third parties to perform this function on our behalf.
Market Trends and Competition
According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance (“BNEF”) the global energy storage market is expected to grow to a cumulative 1,095 gigawatts (“GW”), attracting an estimated $660 billion in future investment by 2040. With approximately 3.3 GW of energy storage commissioned globally in 2019, it is expected to increase to 4.7 GW in 2020. It is expected the global energy storage market will grow at a 53% compound annual growth rate from 6,480 megawatt hours (“MWh”) in 2019 to approximately 83,000 MWh by 2025.
33
Based on BNEF, the United States would represent over 15% of this global market. The percentage of renewable energy in total electricity generation in the United States will change from 18% in 2019 to 36% by 2030 and solar energy is estimated to contribute 20% to the total electricity supply. Favorable regulatory conditions such as the recent court decision validating FERC Order 841, along with state sponsored incentives in New York, California, Massachusetts and other states coupled with the rapid growth of solar PV plus storage applications throughout the United States are expected to grow the utility-scale energy storage market from 172 megawatts (“MW”) / 345 MWh in 2019 to 6,631 MW / 17,563 MWh by 2025. We estimate 1,250 GW of additional capacity from renewables to be delivered to the grid by 2024, leading to an increased demand for energy storage.
Factors affecting customers to make decision when choosing from different battery storage systems in the market include:
● | product performance and features; |
● | safety and sustainability; |
● | total lifetime cost of ownership; |
● | total product lifespan; |
● | power and energy efficiency; |
● | duration of the batteries storage; |
● | customer service and support; and |
● | U.S. based manufacturing and sourced materials. |
Lithium-ion currently has 95% or more market share for the stationary battery industry. We believe we are the first commercially available battery system that does not have a lithium-ion chemistry. We anticipate our battery system using Znyth® technology will gradually take some market share of the battery industry. This considers its unique operating characteristics, including a 100% discharge capability, flattened degradation curve and a 3-12 hour duration, as well as other characteristics related to safety and the cost of operating and maintaining our battery system. Our ability to successfully deploy our battery system technology and gain market share in the energy storage market will be important to the growth of our business.
Regulatory Landscape
In North America, geographic distribution of energy storage deployment has been driven by regulatory policy with both federal and state level programs contributing to stable revenue streams for energy storage. Refer to the Business section for a description of these programs and the impact on our business.
Covid-19
We have implemented operational and protective measures to ensure the safety, health and welfare of our employees and stakeholders. This includes implementing work from home policies for non-essential employees, which constitutes 78% of our workforce. We have also ensured that all employees and visitors that visit our office have access to personal protective equipment and we strictly enforce social distancing. We will maintain these precautions and procedures until Covid-19 is under adequate control. To-date, Covid-19 caused a several week delay in completing the UL certification of the Gen 2.3 product due to the certification company being delayed in completing the in-person witness tests. In addition, it caused the delay for us to deliver products to one of our customers. Other than this, Covid-19 did not have a material impact on our operations or financial condition.
34
The full impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on our financial condition and results of operations will depend on future developments, such as the ultimate duration and scope of the pandemic, its impact on our employees, customers, and vendors, in addition to how quickly normal economic conditions and operations resume and whether the pandemic impacts other risks disclosed in “Risk Factors” within this prospectus. Even after the pandemic has subsided, we may continue to experience adverse impacts to our business from any economic recession or depression that may occur as a result of the pandemic. Therefore, we cannot reasonably estimate the impact at this time. We continue to actively monitor the pandemic and may determine to take further actions that alter our business operations as may be required by federal, state, or local authorities or that we determine to be in the best interests of our employees, customers, vendors, and shareholders.
Components of Results of Operations
As the Merger is accounted for as reverse recapitalization, the operating results included in this discussion reflect the historical operating results of EES prior to the Merger and the combined results of Eos following the closing of the Merger. The assets and liabilities of the Company are stated at their historical cost.
Revenue
We have primarily generated revenues from limited sales as we recently launched our next generation energy storage solution Gen 2.3 that is scalable and can be used for a variety of commercial use cases. We expect revenues to increase as we scale our production to meet demand for the next generation of our product.
Cost of sales
In August 2019, we established a joint venture, HI-POWER, that manufactures the Gen 2.3 battery system on our behalf. Our cost of sales for the Gen 2.3 battery system includes the purchase of the manufactured system from Hi-Power, the joint venture which produces the Gen 2.3 battery system. Cost of sales also includes the provision for excess, obsolete and slow-moving inventories, the reserve for losses on firm purchase commitments, cost of products sold directly by the Company to our customers, depreciation of manufacturing plant and equipment, warranty accruals, as well as shipping, logistics and facility related costs. We expect our cost of sales to exceed revenues in the near term as we continue to scale our business.
Before launching commercial production of our Gen 2.3 battery system, we manufactured our battery systems ourselves and our cost of sales included material, labor, and other direct costs related to the manufacture of energy storage product for sale to customers. Other items contributing to cost of sales were manufacturing overhead such as engineering expense, equipment maintenance, environmental health and safety, quality and production control and procurement.
Research and development expenses
Research and development expenses consist primarily of salaries and personnel-related costs as well as products, materials, third party services, and depreciation on equipment and facilities used in our research and development process. We expect our research and development costs to increase for the foreseeable future as we continue to invest in research and development activities that are necessary to achieve our technology and product roadmap goals.
General and administrative expenses
General and administrative expenses consist mainly of personnel-related expenses including corporate, executive, finance, and other administrative functions, expenses for outside professional services, including legal, audit and accounting services, as well as expenses for facilities, depreciation, amortization, travel, and marketing costs. We expect general, and administrative expenses to increase for the foreseeable future as we scale our headcount with the growth of our business, and as a result of operating as a public company, including compliance with the rules and regulations of the SEC, legal, audit, additional insurance expenses, investor relations activities, and other administrative and professional services.
35
Grant expense (income), net
Grant expense (income), net includes our expenses net of reimbursement related to grants provided by the California Energy Commission (“CEC”).
Sale of tax attributes
The sale of tax attributes represents the benefit recorded from the sale of our State of New Jersey net operating loss carryforwards and R&D tax credits to third parties.
Income (loss) on equity in unconsolidated joint venture
The income (loss) on equity in unconsolidated joint venture represents our proportionate share of the income (loss) from our investment in HI-POWER LLC, a joint venture established with Holtec Power, Inc.
Interest expense
Interest expense consists primarily of interest incurred on our convertible notes payable before the Merger, including the accretion of interest on convertible notes that contained embedded features that permit holders to demand immediate repayment of principal and interest. All convertible notes were converted to common stock in connection with Merger and no balance outstanding as of December 31, 2020
Change in fair value, embedded derivative
The convertible notes issued during 2019 and 2020 contained an embedded derivative feature that could accelerate the repayment of the convertible notes upon a qualified financing event not within our control. This embedded derivative resulted in the recording of a premium or discount on convertible notes that were recognized in earnings upon their issuance. In connection with the Merger, all convertible notes were converted to common stock and the embedded derivative fair value was zero as of December 31, 2020.
36
Results of Operations
Comparison of Year Ended December 31, 2020 to Year Ended December 31, 2019
The following table sets forth our operating results for the periods indicated:
Year Ended December 31, | $ | % | ||||||||||||||
($ in thousands) | 2020 | 2019 | Change | Change | ||||||||||||
Revenue | $ | 219 | $ | 496 | $ | (277 | ) | (56 | ) | |||||||
Cost and expenses: | ||||||||||||||||
Cost of sales | 5,509 | 8,332 | (2,823 | ) | (34 | ) | ||||||||||
Research and development expenses | 13,983 | 11,755 | 2,228 | 19 | ||||||||||||
General and administrative expenses | 18,883 | 7,710 | 11,173 | 145 | ||||||||||||
Grant expense (income), net | 913 | (469 | ) | 1,382 | (295 | ) | ||||||||||
Operating loss | (39,069 | ) | (26,832 | ) | (12,237 | ) | 46 | |||||||||
Other income (expense) | ||||||||||||||||
Sale of state tax attributes | — | 4,060 | (4,060 | ) | (100 | ) | ||||||||||
Interest income (expense), net | (115 | ) | 2 | (117 | ) | (5850 | ) | |||||||||
Interest expense – related party | (23,706 | ) | (49,708 | ) | 26,002 | (52 | ) | |||||||||
Loss on extinguishment of convertible notes – related party | — | (6,111 | ) | 6,111 | (100 | ) | ||||||||||
Change in fair value, embedded derivative | 2,092 | (716 | ) | 2,808 | (392 | ) | ||||||||||
Change in fair value, Sponsor Earnout Shares | (8,083 | ) | — | (8,083 | ) | NM | ||||||||||
Income (loss) from equity in unconsolidated joint venture | 127 | (178 | ) | 305 | (171 | ) | ||||||||||
Net loss | $ | (68,754 | ) | $ | (79,483 | ) | $ | 10,729 | (13 | ) | ||||||
Basic and diluted loss per share attributable to common shareholders | ||||||||||||||||
Basic and Diluted | $ | (7.31 | ) | $ | (20.22 | ) | $ | 12.91 | (64 | %) |
Revenue
Revenue was $0.2 million and $0.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively, related to sales of our initial energy storage solution for specific customer application. Revenue decreased between 2019 and 2020 as Eos transitioned its business to launch its next generation of energy storage solution, Gen 2.3, in the second half of 2020.
Cost of Sales
Cost of sales decreased by $2.8 million or 34% from $8.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2019 to $5.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. The decrease results primarily from a decrease of $3.0 million for manufacturing costs incurred during the year ended December 31, 2019. In August 2019 (and as amended in August 2020), the Company entered into an agreement with Holtec Power, Inc (“Holtec”) to form the unconsolidated joint venture, HI-POWER LLC (“Hi-Power” or “JV”). The JV manufactures the products for all of the Company’s projects in North America. For the year ended December 31, 2019, $0.9 million impairment loss from manufacturing property and equipment were charged to cost of sales. For 2020, the Company incurred $1.1 million increases in losses resulting from inventory reserves related to excess and obsolescence, lower of cost or market adjustments and reserves for losses on firm inventory purchase commitment, compared to 2019.
37
Research and Development
Research and development costs increased by $2.2 million or 19% from $11.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2019 to $14.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. The increase results primarily from $3.9 million increase of expenses for material and supplies as well as leases, related to R&D activities associated with our Gen 2.3 battery system, offset by reductions in payroll expenses and personnel related cost of $0.5 million, $0.4 million in outside service, $0.7 million decrease in impairment loss for R&D property and equipment from 2019 to 2020, and $0.2 million in facility cost. As the Company transitioned its efforts from research and development activities to focus on the commercial production of its next generation energy storage solution, it reduced its R&D headcount.
General and Administrative Expenses
General and administrative expenses increased by $11.2 million or 145% from $7.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2019 to $18.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. Included in this is an increase of stock-based compensation for employees and service providers by $ 5 million in 2020. Vesting of certain stock options and performance-based options was accelerated in accordance with terms of the related award agreement at the Merger. The increase of General and administrative expenses was further due to a $4.1 million increase in payroll and personnel cost for the year ended December 31, 2020 as well as $2.5 million higher professional fees and marketing expenses related to our public listing efforts. As the Company is commercializing the Gen 2.3 battery storage solution, as well as since becoming a public company in November 2020, we incurred significantly higher legal, accounting and other expenses.
Grant expense (income), net
Grant expense (income), net increased by $1.4 million or (295)% from $ (0.5) million for the year ended December 31, 2019 to $0.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. The increase results from lower grant income earned for the year ended December 31, 2020 and level of research and development activity related to its grants from the California Energy Commission.
Sale of state tax attributes
We recognized income of $— million and $4.1 million during the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively related to the sale of our state net operating losses and research and development credit carryforwards under the New Jersey Economic Development Authority Technology Business Tax Certificate Transfer Program. The Company has been approved for selling more state tax attributes for the year ended December 31, 2019 in 2020 and is still working to find matching purchaser in the market.
Income (loss) on equity in unconsolidated joint venture
The income (loss) on equity in unconsolidated joint venture results from our portion of HI-POWER LLC’s income and loss incurred. The joint venture was established in August 2019 and incurred initial losses in 2019. The joint venture turned a profit for the year ended December 31, 2020.
38
Interest expense — related party
Interest expense - related party decreased by $26.0 million from $49.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2019 to $23.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. Eos’s convertible notes issued during 2019 and 2020 included an embedded feature that permits holders to demand immediate repayment of all outstanding principal and interest resulting in the immediate accretion of interest expense. During the year ended December 31, 2019, proceeds allocated to the issuance of convertible notes was $19.3 million and Eos recorded $49.7 million of interest expense related to these convertible notes that include a demand feature that could require repayment of principal and interest during 2019. During the twelve months ended December 31, 2020, proceeds allocated to the issuance of convertible notes was $9.0 million, and Eos recorded $23.7 million of interest expense related to these convertible notes.
Loss on extinguishment of convertible notes — related party
The loss on extinguishment of convertible notes of $6.1 million in 2019 was the result of the modification in April 2019 of convertible notes issued during 2018 and January 2019.
Change in fair value, embedded derivative
The change in fair value of $2.1 million and $(0.7) for the years ended December 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019 reflect the change in fair value of the embedded derivative feature on our convertible notes that was recorded through earnings.
Change in fair value, Sponsor Earnout Shares
The change in fair value of $(8.1) million for the years ended December 31, 2020 reflects the change in fair value of the Sponsor Earnout Shares classified as liability as of the Merger date through the date they were released from restriction and reclassified into equity on December 16, 2020.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
As of December 31, 2020, we had cash and cash equivalents of $121.9 million. Since our inception, we have financed our operations primarily through funding received from the private placement of convertible notes and the issuance of common and preferred units. In November 2020, we received $142.3 million in connection with the consummation of the Merger and the private placement upon the Closing.
We expect capital expenditures and working capital requirements to increase as we seek to execute on our growth strategy. We currently anticipate that total capital expenditures for fiscal 2021 will be approximately $35 to $40 million which will be used primarily for additional equipment, automation, and implementation to increase our capacity and efficiency to meet our customer’s needs. Our capital expenditure and working capital requirements in the foreseeable future may change depending on many factors, including but not limited to the overall performance of existing equipment, our sales pipeline, our operating results and any adjustments in our operating plan needed in response to industry conditions, competition or unexpected events. We believe that our existing cash, together with cash from operations, will be sufficient to meet our capital expenditure and working capital requirements for the foreseeable future.
39
The following table summarizes our cash flows from operating, investing and financing activities for the periods presented.
Fiscal Year Ended | ||||||||
($ in thousands) | 2020 | 2019 | ||||||
Net cash used in operating activities | $ | (26,559 | ) | $ | (23,834 | ) | ||
Net cash used in investing activities | (6,625 | ) | (2,900 | ) | ||||
Net cash provided by financing activities | 154,175 | 22,098 |
Cash flows from operating activities:
Our cash flows used in operating activities to date have been primarily comprised of costs related to research and development, manufacturing of our initial energy storage products, and other general and administrative activities. As we continue and expand commercial production, we expect our expenses related to personnel, manufacturing, research and development and general and administrative activities to increase.
Net cash used in operating activities was $26.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 which is comprised of our net loss of $68.8 million, adjusted for non-cash interest expense on convertible debt of $23.7 million and other non-cash charges that includes stock-based compensation of $5.1 million, depreciation and amortization of $1.6 million, change in fair value of embedded derivative of $(2.1) million, change in fair value of Sponsor Earnout Shares of $8.1 million, provision for firm purchase commitment of $1.6 million. The net cash flows inflow from to changes in operating assets and liabilities was $4.4 million for year ended December 31, 2020, primarily driven by a decrease in accounts receivable from the sale of state tax attributes of $4.1 million and an increase in accounts payable and accrued expenses of $3.0 million, offset by the increase of prepaid expense and other expense of $1.6 million.
Net cash used in operating activities was $23.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2019, which is comprised of our net loss of $79.5 million, adjusted for non-cash interest expense on convertible debt of $49.7 million and other non-cash charges that includes depreciation and amortization of $2.1 million, change in fair value of embedded derivative of $0.7 million, impairment of property and equipment of $1.6 million loss on extinguishment of convertible notes — related party of $6.1 million and other non-cash charges of $0.2 million. The net cash outflow from changes in operating assets and liabilities was $4.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2019 primarily related to an increase in accounts receivable from the sale of state tax attributes of $4.1 million and a decrease in accounts payable and accrued expenses of $1.1 million.
Cash flows from investing activities:
Our cash flows from investing activities have been comprised primarily of purchases of property and equipment of $3.6 million and $2.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, respectively, as well as investments in joint venture.
In August 2019, we began to make investments in the HI-POWER joint venture, which has the exclusive rights to manufacture our battery storage systems in North America, subject to meeting certain performance targets. Our initial financial commitment to this joint venture was $4.1 million in the form of cash and special purpose manufacturing equipment. The special purpose manufacturing equipment continues to be classified as property and equipment on our balance sheet until it is fully commissioned and operational and has produced the first ten megawatts per hour of commercial product. During the latter half of 2019, the Company made cash contributions of $0.6 million to HI-POWER. In the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company made additional contributions of $3.0 million. The increase of the contribution was a result of the shorter period of time for Hi-POWER’s operation in 2019, which only included four months, compared to a full year of operation in 2020, as well as increasing production at the JV.
40
Cash flows from financing activities:
Through December 31, 2020, we have raised capital from the Merger with BMRG and financed our operations through the sale of common and preferred units and convertible notes.
Net cash provided by financing activities was $154.2 million in the year ended December 31, 2020 and included $142.3 proceeds from the Merger with BMRG, with $10.3 million paid for direct incremental transaction cost, and proceeds from a Paycheck Protection Program loan of $1.3 million. Prior to the Merger, the Company additionally received $11.8 million from issuance of contingent redeemable preferred units and $9.0 million from issuance of convertible notes.
Net cash provided by financing activities was $22.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2019 and included proceeds from the issuance of convertible notes payable — related party of $21.1 million, and proceeds of $2.0 million attributable to the issuance of contingently redeemable preferred units. These proceeds were partially offset by a cash outflow related to the repayment of short-term notes payable of $1.0 million.
We have certain obligations and commitments to make future payments under contracts. The following table sets forth our estimates of future payments at December 31, 2020. See Note 7 — Investment in Unconsolidated Joint Venture, Note 8 — Commitment and contingencies and Note 13 — Long term debt for a further description of these obligations and commitments.
($ in thousands) | Total | Less
than 1 year | 1-3 years | 3-5 years | More than 5 years | |||||||||||||||
Paycheck Protection Program Loan | $ | 1,258 | 978 | 280 | — | — | ||||||||||||||
Operating and capital lease | $ | 4,823 | 699 | 1,584 | 1,861 | 679 | ||||||||||||||
Firm purchase commitment | $ | 2,504 | 2,504 | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||
Other loans | $ | 93 | 93 | — | — | |||||||||||||||
Total | $ | 8,678 | 4,274 | 1,864 | 1,861 | 679 |
At December 31, 2020, we had an agreement to provide a loan commitment to one of our customer for $1 million. $0.1 million were drawn on that commitment as of December 31, 2020.
Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements
On January 10, 2020, the Company entered into a one-year invoice securitization facility (the “LSQ Invoice Purchase Agreement Facility”) pursuant to (i) an Invoice Purchase Agreement (the “IPA”), as sellers, (the “Seller”), and LSQ Funding Group, L.C. (“LSQ”), as purchaser (the “Purchaser”). Under the terms of the IPA, the Company contributes certain invoices, related collections and security interests (collectively, the “Invoices”) to LSQ on a revolving basis. Under the terms of the IPA, the Company issues to the Purchasers an ownership interest in the Invoices for up to $3.5 million in cash proceeds. This facility was terminated in September 2020. During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company sold $4.1 million of receivables from sales of state tax attributes and $1.5 million of grant receivables. Costs incurred on the sale was $0.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. These amounts are recorded in interest expense in the statements of operations.
As of December 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, we did not have any off balance sheet receivables outstanding nor did we incur any costs associated with off-balance sheet arrangements. We did not have any other material off-balance sheet arrangements as of December 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019.
41
Critical Accounting Policies and Use of Estimates
Our consolidated financial statements are prepared in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. In preparing our consolidated financial statements, we make assumptions, judgments, and estimates on historical experience and various other factors that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. Actual results could differ materially from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions. We regularly reevaluate our assumptions, judgments, and estimates.
Our significant accounting policies are described in Note 1, “Nature of Operations and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies,” in the Notes to the audited financial statements. Our most significant accounting policies, which reflect significant management estimates and judgment in determining amounts reported in our audited financial statements were as follows:
Principles of Consolidation and Reverse Acquisition
The Merger was accounted for as a reverse recapitalization in accordance with ASC 805 Business combination. Under this method of accounting, BMRG has been treated as acquiree and EES is treated as acquirer for financial reporting purposes. This determination was primarily based on current shareholders of EES having a relative majority of the voting power of the combined entity, the operations of EES prior to the acquisition comprising the only ongoing operations of the combined entity, and senior management of EES comprising the majority of the senior management of the combined entity. Accordingly, for accounting purposes, the financial statements of the combined entity represent a continuation of the financial statements of EES with the acquisition being treated as the equivalent of EES issuing stock for the net assets of BMRG, accompanied by a recapitalization. The net assets of BMRG were recognized at historical cost as of the date of the Merger, with no goodwill or other intangible assets recorded.
Inventory Valuation
Inventory is stated at the lower of cost or net realizable value. The Company capitalizes inventory costs when, based on management’s judgment, future commercialization is considered probable and the future economic benefit is expected to be realized; otherwise, such costs are expensed as research and development. Inventory is evaluated for impairment periodically for excess, obsolescence and for instances where cost of the inventory is in excess of its estimated net realizable value. In estimating a provision for excess, obsolete and slow-moving inventory, we consider such factors as competitor offerings, market conditions and the life cycle of the product. If inventory on-hand is determined to be excess, obsolete or has a carrying amount that exceeds its net realizable value, we will reduce the carrying amount to its estimated net realizable value.
In preparation with the launch of our next generation energy storage solution, we will begin building inventory levels based on our forecast for demand. A significant decrease in demand could result in an increase in the amount of excess inventory on hand, which could lead to additional charges for excess and obsolete inventory.
The Company assesses whether losses on purchase commitments should be accrued. Losses that are expected to arise from firm, non-cancellable, commitments for future purchases are recognized unless recoverable. The recognized loss on purchase commitments is reduced as inventory items are received and the remaining purchase commitment decreases.
42
Fair Value Measurement
The Company estimated the original fair value of the contingently issuable common stock (refer to Note 2 of the financial statement) that is contingently issuable based on a Monte Carlo Stimulation pricing model considering stock price of the Company, risk free rate of 0.41% and volatility of 60% utilizing a peer group based on five year term.
The fair values of the Sponsor Earnout Shares on the Closing date were estimated using a Monte Carlo simulation based on stock price of the Company, a risk free rate of 0.41% and volatility of 60% utilizing a peer group based on a five year term. The fair value of the first tranche of Sponsor Earnout Shares that vested on December 16, 2020 was based on the closing share price of the Company’s publicly traded stock on that date.
Stock-based compensation is estimated at the grant date based on the fair value of the awards and is recognized as expense over the service period. We estimate the fair value of stock options and stock purchase warrants using the Black-Scholes option pricing model.
Refer to “Fair Value of Financial Instruments” in Note 1 in our “Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements” for additional information about fair value measurements.
Convertible Notes Payable
We record conventional convertible debt in accordance with ASC 470-20, Debt with Conversion and Other Options. Conventional convertible debt is a financial instrument in which the holder may only realize the value of the conversion option by exercising the option and receiving the entire proceeds in a fixed number of shares or the equivalent amount of cash. Convertible instruments that are not bifurcated as a derivative, and not accounted for as a separate equity component under the cash conversion guidance are evaluated to determine whether their conversion prices create an embedded beneficial conversion feature at inception, or may become beneficial in the future due to potential adjustments. A beneficial conversion feature is deemed to be a nondetachable conversion feature that is “in-the-money” at the commitment date. The in-the-money portion, also known as the intrinsic value of the option, is recorded in equity, with an offsetting discount to the carrying amount of convertible debt to which it is attached. The intrinsic value of the beneficial conversion feature within its convertible debt, including amortization of the debt discount recorded in connection with a beneficial conversion feature, was not material to our audited financial statements.
The convertible notes issued during 2019 and 2020 contained an embedded derivative feature that could accelerate the repayment of the convertible notes upon either a qualified financing event or the note holders’ put exercise. For the year ended December 31, 2020, embedded derivative assets with initial fair value of $411 was recognized. Embedded derivative assets with initial fair value of $181 and embedded derivative liabilities with initial fair value of $1,145 were recognized during 2019. As of December 31, 2019, the embedded derivatives were classified as current liabilities on the consolidated balance sheet and had fair values of $1,681. The embedded derivatives were fair valued through the Merger date. During the year ended December 31, 2020 a gain from the change in fair value of embedded derivative of $2,092 was recognized, while for the year ended December 31, 2019 a loss of $716 was recorded. The fair value of the embedded derivative was zero as of December 31, 2020 as a result of the conversion of the notes in connection with the Merger.
43
Business Combination
Eos Energy Enterprises, Inc. (the “Company” or “Eos”), a Delaware corporation, was incorporated under its prior name B. Riley Merger Corp. II as a blank check company on June 3, 2019. On September 7, 2020, the Company entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger (the “Merger Agreement”) with BMRG Merger Sub, LLC, our wholly-owned subsidiary and a Delaware limited liability company (“Merger Sub I”), BMRG Merger Sub II, LLC, our wholly-owned subsidiary and a Delaware limited liability company (“Merger Sub II”), Eos Energy Storage LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (“EES”), New Eos Energy LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of EES and a Delaware limited liability company (“Newco”) and AltEnergy Storage VI, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (“AltEnergy”).
On November 16, 2020, the transactions described above were consummated. In connection with the business combination (the “Business Combination”): (1) Merger Sub I merged with and into Newco (the “First Merger”), whereupon the separate existence of Merger Sub I ceased, and Newco continued as the surviving company (such company, in its capacity as the surviving company of the First Merger, is sometimes referred to as the “First Surviving Company”) and became our wholly owned subsidiary; and (2) immediately following the First Merger and as part of the same overall transaction as the First Merger, the First Surviving Company merged with and into Merger Sub II, whereupon the separate existence of the First Surviving Company ceased, and Merger Sub II continued as the surviving company and our wholly owned subsidiary.
Upon the closing of the business combination (the “Closing”), the Company changed its name to “Eos Energy Enterprises, Inc.” The business combination is accounted for as a reverse recapitalization. EES is deemed the accounting predecessor and the combined entity is the successor SEC registrant. The historical financial statements of EES became the historical financial statement of the combined entities that are disclosed in the registrant’s future periodic reports filed with the SEC.
Business Overview
We design, manufacture, and deploy safe, scalable, efficient and sustainable, low-total cost of ownership battery storage solutions for the electricity industry. Our flagship technology is the proprietary Eos Znyth aqueous zinc battery, the core of the Eos DC energy storage system (the “Eos Znyth® system”), with both front-of-the-meter and behind-the-meter applications, particularly those with three to twelve-hour use cases. The Eos Znyth® system is a first non lithium-ion stationary battery energy storage system (“BESS”) that is competitive in both price and performance, fully recyclable, does not require any rare earth or conflict materials, and is commercially available and scalable. Stationary BESS’s are used to store energy for many purposes, including stabilizing and reducing congestion of the power grid and reducing peak energy usage. When coupled with renewable energy sources such as solar photovoltaic (“PV”) and wind generation, the Eos Znyth® system can store energy that the renewable source produces and discharge it when the source is not producing energy, thus reducing the intermittency and increasing the value of the renewable energy source. Additionally, storage is used by commercial and industrial customers to save energy costs by reducing their peak usage, thus reducing the demand charges from utilities. We believe that scalable energy storage serves as a central catalyst for modernizing and creating a more reliable and resilient, efficient, sustainable, and affordable grid and that utilities are especially eager for a reliable, sustainable, safe, low-cost and scalable battery storage solution.
44
EES was founded in 2008 under the name Grid Storage Technologies, initially focusing on developing the chemistry of its proprietary electrolyte-based battery technology and improving mechanical design and system performance. Our products, which are manufactured and developed in the United States, have the ability to play a pivotal role in the transition to a more sustainable, resilient and low carbon energy future. We have transformed from an organization that focused primarily on research and development to one focused on commercialization of our energy storage solution and a scaled manufacturing platform. We produced our first proof of concept with generation 1 of the Eos Znyth® system in 2015 (“Gen 1”) and began commercial shipments of our generation 2 Eos Znyth® system in 2018 (“Gen 2”). As of December 31, 2020, we have delivered approximately ten Eos Znyth® systems comprised of over 2,500 Znyth® batteries or approximately 5 megawatt hours (“MWh”). We started the process of delivering Generation 2.3 Eos Znyth® systems (“Gen 2.3”) to customers in December 2020. Each Gen 2.3 container is comprised of 144 batteries, which are connected to, and monitored through, our proprietary battery management system. Each system is individually designed with the appropriate number of containers to achieve the end user’s desired energy needs.
Our competitive advantage is our Znyth® battery technology, which employs a unique zinc-halide oxidation/reduction cycle packaged in a sealed, flooded, bipolar battery. Our patented aqueous zinc-powered battery technology offers a safe, scalable, fully recyclable and sustainable alternative to lithium-ion battery power. The Znyth® technology requires just five core commodity materials derived from non-rare earth and non-conflict minerals that are abundantly available and fully recyclable. The Eos Znyth® system is also non-flammable and does not require any moving parts or pumps, allowing for simple maintenance and low-cost operation.
The Eos Znyth® system offers an alternative to Li-ion at a cost per kilowatt hour (“kWh”) that is competitive. Unlike Li-ion, and due to its wide operating temperature range, our commodity-based aqueous zinc chemistry does not require high-cost heating, ventilation, air conditioning (“HVAC”), or fire suppression equipment. Eos Znyth® is manufactured with no toxic chemicals, which limits risk of catastrophic failure. Where Li-ion batteries have a history of explosions and fires, our systems do not face this issue due to the stable, non-combustible chemistry used in our battery. Our raw materials and components are readily available commodities with fewer supply constraints than competing technologies and are environmentally benign. Li-ion batteries use scarce, toxic rare earth materials that can be in short supply due to their use in electric vehicles, mobile phones and an array of other electronics. Li-ion batteries can themselves be, and in recent months have been, in short supply. Our technology is highly scalable, easily installed and integrated into new or existing electric infrastructure. It also includes our proprietary battery management system, which optimizes our battery performance and protects the health and longevity of the battery. Our products are currently manufactured in the United States using a highly automated assembly line which requires a fraction of the capital expenditure of equivalent Li-ion manufacturing processes. Our scalable manufacturing platform can be localized anywhere in the world in fewer than twelve months. Our technology is protected by a robust patent portfolio. With over 220 patent applications filed, we have more than 140 patents pending, issued or published in thirty-three (33) countries.
We sell our products through our direct sales force and through sales channels to developers, power producers, large utilities and commercial and industrial companies. Our sales focus is on use cases that require three (3) to twelve (12) hours of battery storage, although our battery can be used for shorter durations as well. We are establishing a global sales presence by leveraging our sales channels and direct sales team. We work with customers to understand the use case for each battery storage project and propose the best solution to maximize the economics for the end user. Examples of customers and use cases for our systems include:
● | Solar developers that combine battery storage with solar fields to time shift energy by charging the battery during the day and then using the battery during peak hours, just after sundown. |
● | Industrial customers that use battery storage to improve power quality and improve the efficiency of other energy sources. |
45
● | Commercial and industrial customers utilize battery storage to safely reduce demand charges from their utility and participate in utility programs to improve grid operations. In the event of a loss of electricity from the grid, our battery can be used to provide resilience, such as running emergency systems in the building including elevators and fire alarms. |
● | Utilities that use battery storage systems to offset or postpone capital expenditures and to provide congestion relief, which improves the reliability of the power grid. |
Our customers include renewable power producers and developers like EnerSmart Storage LLC (“EnerSmart”), Renew Akshay Urja PVT. LTD (“ReNew Power”), Carson Hybrid Energy Storage (“CHES”) and International Electric Power, LLC (“IEP”), industrial companies such as Motor Oil Corinth Refineries S.A. (“Motor Oil”), utilities companies such as Duke Energy Corporation (“Duke”) and San Diego Gas & Electric Company (“SDG&E”) as well as microgrid developers like Verdant Microgrid LLC (“Verdant”), Nayo Tropical Technology LTD (“Nayo”) and Charge Bliss, Inc. (“Charge Bliss”).
We have formed a joint venture with Holtec Power, Inc (“Holtec”), a multi-billion dollar supplier to the nuclear power industry that is looking to “repower” decommissioned nuclear plants with renewable energy sources and battery storage. By using wind and solar energy sources combined with storage they create baseload capable energy resources that provide electricity to be sold to the utilities. In addition, we are in discussions with other partners to do the same for coal plants that are in the process of closing. Repowering such plants requires a BESS with a flexible discharge duration of three to twelve hours, the ability to cycle daily, a 100% depth of discharge and a usable energy capacity of the system that does not degrade below 70% during its product lifetime. The Eos Znyth® system meets all such requirements and we believe is well suited for this application.
Industry Overview
We believe that energy storage is on the verge of global wide scale deployment. As batteries increasingly become economical on a levelized cost of energy basis, we believe that utility-scale battery technology will be increasingly beneficial for a variety of solutions, including solar PV-plus-storage, peaking capacity, grid congestion and wind generation plus storage. We anticipate rapid increases in utility scale, co-located renewable energy-plus-storage projects, especially in the United States, with most near and medium-term installations qualifying as utility scale. By combining a battery with an intermittent renewable energy source, such as wind or solar, the energy stored in the battery can be used when the intermittent source is not available, for example if the wind is not blowing or the sun is not shining.
According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance (“BNEF”) the global energy storage market is expected to grow to a cumulative 1,095 gigawatts (“GW”), attracting an estimated $660 billion in future investment by 2040. With approximately 3.3 GW of energy storage commissioned globally in 2019, BNEF anticipated an increase to 4.7 GW in 2020. We expect the global energy storage market to grow at a 53% compound annual growth rate from 6,480 MWh in 2019 to approximately 83,000 MWh by 2025.
46
Based on BNEF, the United States would represent over 15% of this global market. The percentage of renewable energy in total electricity generation in the United States will change from 18% in 2019 to 36% by 2030 and solar energy is estimated to contribute 20% to the total electricity supply. Favorable regulatory conditions such as the recent court decision validating Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Order 841, along with state sponsored incentives in New York, California, Massachusetts and other states coupled with the rapid growth of solar PV plus storage applications throughout the United States are expected to grow the utility-scale energy storage market from 172 megawatts (“MW”) / 345 MWh in 2019 to 6,631 MW / 17,563 MWh by 2025. It is estimated that 1,250 GW of additional capacity from renewables will be delivered to the grid by 2024, leading to an increased demand for energy storage. Below is a demonstration of the projected energy storage global market and the projected annual investment in the energy storage global market by region:
Limitations of Existing Technologies
Li-ion is the most prevalent incumbent energy storage technology, historically used in consumer electronics, electric vehicles and select transportation industries, and is the primary competitor to our systems. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Li-ion accounted for 93% of all new energy storage capacity in the United States since 2012, growing at an annual rate of 55%. According to the Lazard Levelized Cost of Storage Version 4.0 Final report (“Lazard LCOS 4.0 Report”), Li-ion has an optimal power capacity of between 5 kiloWatts (“kW”) — 100 Megawatts (“MW”) and an anticipated useful life of ten (10) years. The two primary ingredients for Li-ion batteries are lithium and cobalt.
Due to the factors described below, we believe that even though lithium supplies are generally forecasted to accommodate the global increase in demand in the near term, supply chains will likely become strained over time. Additionally, cobalt faces significant supply chain uncertainty that may constrain Li-ion battery growth.
● | Lithium Supply. The lithium supply chain is highly concentrated, and according to an article by McKinsey & Company titled “Lithium and Cobalt: A tale of two commodities” (“McKinsey Article”) only eight (8) countries are producing lithium globally, of which Chile, Australia and China accounted for 85% of production in 2017. Only four companies — Talison Lithium Pty Ltd, Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile S.A., Albemarle Corporation and FMC Corporation — control the majority of the global mining output. Without the addition of new lithium mining projects and with growing lithium demand, especially in the electric vehicle space, demand may soon exceed supply, thus hindering the growth of lithium based products. |
47
● | Cobalt Supply. According to the McKinsey Article, while the top three producers of cobalt comprise only 40% of the global cobalt supply, regional suppliers are more monopolistic. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (“DRC”) represented approximately 70% of global output in 2019, a share that is projected to increase further. The DRC historically experienced supply disruptions and is currently revising mining laws, with additional concerns regarding child labor, potentially threatening the market’s overall growth. Additionally, approximately 90% of the global cobalt supply is produced as a by-product from either copper or nickel mining, making cobalt expansion projects closely tied to the economics of these markets. Global forecasts for cobalt production show supply shortages arising as early as 2022, which would likely slow Li-ion battery growth. |
● | Electric Vehicle (“EV”) Demand. Both the lithium and cobalt markets have been largely driven by battery demand, primarily from consumer electronics, representing 40% and 25% of demand in 2017, respectively. Lithium and cobalt could face supply constraints due to the demand for these materials in batteries for the EV industry. As the global EV market expands, we expect global demand for both materials to increase. EVs represented 1.3% of global vehicle sales in 2017, but BNEF forecasted that EVs will hit 10% of global passenger vehicle sales in 2025, with that number rising to 28% in 2030 and 58% in 2040. The proportion of Li-ion batteries consumed by the EV industry was 64% in 2019 and is forecasted to grow to 80% by 2030. |
Li-ion also suffers from certain inherent technological limitations. The life cycle of Li-ion batteries can be limited under demanding conditions, due to the need for HVAC to keep the battery temperatures around 25C. Because of this, Li-ion is challenging to pair with solar in areas where the grid is not stable, which limits usage in many locations around the world. Li-ion can be susceptible to overheating, explosions and related safety issues, as the April 2019 lithium battery explosion near Phoenix Arizona demonstrated. Most urban areas restrict the use of commercial size Li-ion batteries in buildings. Finally, Li-ion technology is difficult to recycle and dispose because it contains toxic materials.
There are a number of additional battery technologies utilized in the energy storage industry, such as:
● | Flow Battery. Flow batteries store energy by chemically changing the electrolyte (vanadium) or by plating zinc (zinc bromide). According to the Lazard LCOS 4.0 Report, flow batteries have an optimal power capacity of between 25 kW — 100 MW and an anticipated useful life of twenty (20) years. While flow batteries typically have minimal storage capacity degradation and limited potential for fire, they require expensive components and have a comparatively high balance of system costs. Specifically, the raw materials are expensive, and the cost of operation and maintenance are very high. Flow batteries also have reduced efficiency due to high mechanical losses, and high maintenance requirements. They require massive scale to reach competitive cost points which, along with the above, limits applications to niche markets. |
● | Lead-Acid. Lead-acid batteries are the most commonly utilized battery storage technology, and are the primary battery utilized in automotive vehicles. The Lazard LCOS 4.0 Report notes that they have an optimal power capacity of 1 — 100+ MW and an anticipated useful life of between three and five years. Furthermore, while lead-acid batteries are relatively low cost and can be utilized for multiple purposes, they have a poor depth of discharge, short lifespan, low energy density and a large footprint as compared to other technologies. |
48
Our Solution
Our battery storage systems offer a safe, sustainable and scalable alternative to Li-ion at a lower Levelized Cost of Storage (“LCOS”). Our solution consists of the Eos Znyth® system, which integrates Eos Znyth® batteries in a modular, outdoor-rated enclosure, in our large-scale system or in modular, configurable racks for indoor urban storage.
(1) | Image-rendering. |
The key benefits of our solution include:
● | Peak Shifting and Demand Management. Our multi-cycle DC Znyth® system shifts power to peak hours, with repeated constant power performance down to 100% depth of discharge without increased degradation. Li-ion typically limits the depth of discharge to 80-90% due to the impact on accelerating the lithium battery degradation. Additionally, based on our research estimates, even at 80% depth of discharge Li-ion battery is expected to lose 2.5% of energy storage capacity per year over its lifetime, compared with 1-1.5% for our product, resulting in a more favorable degradation curve with estimated operating expense savings at $3/kWh per year. Utilities and end customers can use our batteries to efficiently store excess base-load generation and renewable energy produced during off peak hours. By discharging during peak hours, we eliminate the need for new fossil based fuel and inefficient peaking generation, thereby reducing carbon emissions drastically. Boundless Impact Research & Analytics performed a climate impact study in November 2020 comparing Eos batteries to traditional battery chemistries such as Lithium-Ion, Lead-Acid, Sodium Sulfur and Vanadium Redox. Eos’s technology achieved the lowest GHG emissions compared to all of the other technologies with notable showing an 84% lower GHG emissions footprint compared to Li-Ion from a life-cycle assessment perspective. Additionally, utilities can use the peak shifted energy to postpone or eliminate capital investment, and the end user can reduce their demand charges from the utility. |
● | Low Maintenance and Minimal Auxiliary Load. Our battery system does not require an HVAC or fire suppression system, resulting in significantly lower expenses associated with operation and maintenance of the battery. This in turn brings significant cost savings to our customers, resulting in a meaningfully improved return on investment for our storage product and up to approximately 30% reduction in levelized cost of storage. HVAC systems usually represent 8% of delivered energy for Li-ion storage systems, compared with 1.5% for our product to run the cooling fans for the batteries, resulting in operating expense savings from cooling the batteries of $2/kWh per year, based on our estimates. Additionally, given that our battery does not require an auxiliary electricity load to support HVAC and fire suppression systems, it is able to ride through grid outages, resulting in more reliable energy storage. Comparatively, Li-ion often cannot operate without grid power due to its large auxiliary load needed for HVAC systems. |
49
● | Solar/Wind Integration and Shifting. Renewable energy sources such as wind and solar are intermittent, potentially introducing instability into the electric grid and limiting their viability as a firm, dispatchable power source. Our batteries allow utilities and consumers to smooth production and time shift the produced energy. Through the use of our batteries, solar electricity produced at noon can be stored and deployed as a stable power source at peak demand later in the afternoon. Similarly, wind energy produced during night time can be used to level out peaks in the morning. |
● | Ancillary Services. Our batteries can be used to bring revenue to our commercial and industrial customers through their participation in the demand response and ancillary markets. The demand response markets are used by utilities to offset grid congestion at certain locations by paying end users for reducing their energy use during congested periods. The ancillary markets are used to stabilize and keep the grid in balance, and end users are paid to either inject energy into the grid or receive power from the grid, thus providing the balance. Our batteries are eligible for entry into demand response and ancillary electricity markets that provide stability to the power grid. |
● | Performs Across Wide Temperature Range. Our system’s performance is stable from - 20º to 50ºC without HVAC and has a unique ability to recover from temperatures as high as 70º to 90ºC, which would cause other battery technologies such as Li-ion to experience thermal runaway and potential fire or explosion. Data from our cell, battery and system testing shows that round trip efficiency (“RTE”) is stable within 75%+/- 3% across - 11º to 41ºC. (round trip efficiency is the ratio of energy put in (in kWh) to energy retrieved from storage (in kWh)). Below is a demonstration of the wide temperature operating range of our battery technology based on data from deployed systems: |
50
● | Resilient system recovering after extreme temperature abuse as high as 90ºC. This is a significant differentiator to Li-ion which requires HVAC and fire suppression, thus increasing capital expenditures required for maintenance, as Li-ion must be kept within a narrow temperature range (25 °C +/- 3 °C) to mitigate the risk of thermal runaway, leading to fire or explosion. Based on our estimates, our low maintenance capabilities results in approximately $1/kWh per year operating expense savings. Below is a demonstration of our battery that was subjected to temperatures exceeding 90ºC while being operated. After the battery was allowed to cool to room temperature, the battery was able to return to its pre-abuse performance. |
● | Upside Opportunities. Given that raw materials represent a high percentage of the Eos Znyth® system’s total cost, we expect the salvage value of the raw materials will offset the cost of system removal and decommissioning at the end of life for our customers. We continue to evaluate and refine recycling cost and estimate that our battery system will still have 50% of its original capacity after thirty (30) years of use. We anticipate development of a secondary, after-life market for our batteries in approximately 10 years, which may generate additional revenue for customers or offset other costs. |
51
Our Competitive Strengths
Our key competitors are traditional Li-ion battery manufacturers, such as Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, LG Chem, Ltd., Sungrow and Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited. We believe the following strengths of our business distinguish us from our competitors and position us to capitalize on the expected continued growth in the energy storage market:
● | Differentiated Product. Lithium cells must be kept within a narrow temperature range (25 °C +/- 3 °C), otherwise they are at risk of thermal runaway, potentially leading to fire or explosion. The Eos Znyth® system has a significantly wider thermal operating range (-20 °C to 50 °C), which eliminates the need for costly thermal management measures such as HVAC and fire suppression systems. Our battery system is able to charge and discharge at different durations, covering a wide range of use cases; for Li-ion, the charge and discharge rates are fixed, and the life of a battery can degrade if it is not charged or discharged at the rate for which it was designed. |
● | Minimal Supply Chain Constraints. All materials for producing our Eos Znyth® system are widely available commodities with no supply chain constraints and no competition with EVs. No rare earths or conflict materials are used in the production of our batteries. Additionally, all materials are fully recyclable at end of product life and the recycled material can be sold, which results in net present value savings of $4/kWh versus lithium. |
● | Proven Technology Solution in the Growing Energy Storage Market. We delivered 4,900 kWh worth of our systems to customers since inception. As we launched the Znyth® Gen 2.3 product and are ramping manufacturing up to gigawatt-hours (“GWh”) scale, we believe that we will benefit from the overall growth of the energy storage market, which as projected by BNEF, is expected to reach 1,095 GWh by 2040. |
● | Experienced Technology Team Focused on Continuous Innovation. We have successfully introduced three generations of energy storage systems in six years (Gen 1, Gen 2, and Gen 2.3) and plan to release new generations in the coming years. Gen 1 and Gen 2 were pilot systems that provided us with the experience to optimize the performance and design of Gen 2.3. Our research and development team is responsible for our portfolio of fourteen (14) patent families with over 220 patent applications filed, more than 140 pending, issued or published in thirty-three (33) countries, protecting our technology and system architecture. We believe that our continued investment in Research and Development will enable us to continue to increase efficiency, energy density, functionality, and reliability while reducing the cost of our battery solution. |
● | Established Global Sales Channels Anchored with Top Tier Customers. We sell products directly to the electric utility industry and through sales channel partners to the commercial and industrial market. As we are building our pipeline, during fiscal year 2020, we built relationships with new customers and entered into agreements to provide battery solutions to several customers within and outside of the United States. |
● | Strong management team. We have assembled an executive team focused on accelerating the commercialization of the next-generation Eos Znyth® solution. With decades of diverse experience in the energy industry and deep expertise in manufacturing, battery storage and executing complex power and energy projects around the world, our management team is able to develop, manufacture and deliver systems at scale to meet the growing demands of the global storage market. |
Our Products
The Eos Znyth® system is designed to meet a wide range of requirements in the battery storage industry, including large grid-scale energy storage projects, large and small solar storage projects, commercial or industrial projects, in-building urban projects and eventually the residential market. With a three (3) to twelve (12) hour discharge capability, immediate response time, and modular construction, the Eos Znyth® system can be scaled and configured to reduce cost and maximize profitability in a wide range of battery storage projects. While the Eos Znyth® system can be implemented in any configuration required, we offer three standard configurations: the Energy BlockTM (“Energy Block”), the large-scale system and customized racking configurations.
52
Our innovative Energy Block packaging comprises a twenty (20) foot standard International Organization for Standardization shipping container which enables flexible options for system installation while significantly lowering the installation cost and accelerating permitting and installation time. The Energy Block is shipped with batteries and all electrical equipment integrated and factory tested into a standard twenty (20) foot intermodal shipping container for drop and play convenience. Each sub-system includes pre-integrated strings of Eos Znyth® batteries with DC wiring, DC system protection, support structure, enclosure and Eos battery management system. The Energy Block system integrates Eos Znyth® batteries in a modular, outdoor-rated enclosure capable of delivering three (3) to twelve (12) hours of continuous discharge at specified power. Each DC system is made-up of a containerized Energy Block integrating 144 Znyth® Batteries and a DC control section. Our proprietary battery management system monitors the voltage and temperature of each battery in the system, isolates faulty battery strings and provides real time visibility of battery operating limits. The Block is typically purchased by commercial industrial customers, solar developers and is ideal for 40MWh and smaller battery systems, but can be used for larger systems as well.
The large-scale system is designed for large battery storage projects by allowing for what we believe to be the highest power density on the smallest footprint overall. The large-scale system is a pole barn type structure with a racking system that allows the modular Znyth® batteries to be stacked in a tall multilevel configuration, thus providing increased power density. Because the Znyth® battery does not require HVAC or fire suppression systems and is simpler to install, operate and maintain as compared to Li-ion, we believe the large-scale system provides a cost-effective way to implement large Znyth® battery storage systems. Furthermore, the large-scale system is typically purchased by utilities, independent power producers, solar and wind developers, and is an ideal solution for larger systems above 40MWh.
Our Urban customized and modular racking solution is offered primarily for indoor battery storage projects but could be used in a wide range of projects. The safety and modular nature of the Znyth® battery allows for implementations in basements, on rooftops, or any number of other locations in a building. Customized racks are typically purchased by commercial and industrial customers, as well as system integrators, and are typically used for indoor systems that require a modular configuration.
Our Strategy
Since our founding in 2008, we have been on a mission to accelerate the shift to clean energy with positively ingenious solutions that transform how the world stores power. Key elements of our strategy include:
● | Continue to innovate and advance our solutions. We intend to continue to innovate our energy storage systems by developing new and enhanced technologies and solutions. Our innovation also extends to our manufacturing ability, which includes a proprietary equipment and process design. We entered into a partnership with Holtec to launch HI-POWER, a joint-venture manufacturing facility in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with an annual manufacturing capacity of 1 GWh and with sufficient space to expand the existing factory to manufacture 3.5 GWh. We believe that our future technology will continue to reduce cost and improve the efficiency and competitiveness of our offerings. We plan to continue to introduce new generations of our technology to increase the adoption of our energy storage systems worldwide. |
● | Further expand our products and services. We offer remote asset monitoring and optimization services to track the performance and health of our batteries and to proactively identify future system performance. We intend to continue to expand the software functionality by including an onsite controller that integrates with the power control system (inverter) which can be remotely controlled and managed to ensure that the battery system is optimized for performance and the best economic return. Specifically, we plan on incorporating machine learning, artificial intelligence, data science and optimization algorithms to enable use cases and create the greatest value to the end user. |
53
● | Further expand project related services. We offer to customers the following project related services: |
1. Project management. We offer customers project management services to ensure the process of implementing our battery system is managed in conjunction with the overall project plans. We will oversee the entire project from end to end. We charge the customer depending on the scope of our involvement.
2. Commissioning of the battery system. We commission our battery system and charge the customer for the commissioning services. The commissioning service ensures that our battery is providing the performance and operations that were committed to the customer.
3. Operations and Maintenance (“O&M”). We offer to our customers operational and maintenance plans to keep our battery in top performance. This consists of both remote monitoring of the battery health and performance as well as periodic onsite visits to perform routine maintenance.
We plan to expand our O&M resources and capabilities to meet our customers’ needs. This expansion will include adding employees to perform the work, as well as contracting and certifying qualified third parties to perform the commissioning, operations and maintenance services.
● | Leverage our partnerships to produce Znyth® batteries at scale. We partnered with Holtec to produce Znyth® batteries and Znyth® DC battery systems at GWh scale as part of the HI-POWER joint venture. As the U.S. market grows, HI-POWER expects to expand its manufacturing capacity at Holtec’s Manufacturing Division facility near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We may also establish additional manufacturing facilities in partnership with Holtec at additional U.S. locations and/or in international locations with Holtec or other potential partners. |
● | Implement near-term cost reduction. We intend to optimize manufacturing for Gen 2.3 by insourcing selected services and implement further automation of the manufacturing process. Through our continued research and development efforts, we also believe we can continue to reduce the amount and cost of material required to manufacture the batteries. We further plan to substitute new materials to reduce cost. We also believe we will achieve lower prices for certain materials through volume purchasing. |
Our Customers
Our customers include renewable power producers and developers like EnerSmart Storage LLC (“EnerSmart”), Renew Akshay Urja PVT. LTD (“ReNew Power”), Carson Hybrid Energy Storage (“CHES”) and International Electric Power, LLC (“IEP”), industrial companies such as Motor Oil Corinth Refineries S.A. (“Motor Oil”), utilities companies such as Duke Energy Corporation (“Duke”) and San Diego Gas & Electric Company (“SDG&E”) as well as microgrid developers like Verdant Microgrid LLC (“Verdant”), Nayo Tropical Technology LTD (“Nayo”) and Charge Bliss, Inc. (“Charge Bliss”). Our largest customer in fiscal year 2019 was Duke Energy, which accounted for 26.1% of our revenues in fiscal 2019. For fiscal year 2020, our revenue primarily resulted from recognition of amounts previously recorded as deferred revenue.
54
Intellectual Property
The success of our business depends, in part, on our ability to maintain and protect our proprietary technology, information, processes and know-how. We rely primarily on patent, trademark, copyright and trade secrets laws in the United States and similar laws in other countries, confidentiality agreements and procedures and other contractual arrangements. We are in the process of filing, or have recently filed, certain patents relative to our Gen 2.3 product that are subject to United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) approval. A majority of our patents relate to cell chemistry, architecture and battery mechanical design, system packaging and battery management systems. We continually assess opportunities to seek patent protection for those aspects of our technology, design, methodologies and processes that we believe provide significant competitive advantages. As of December 31, 2020, we had fourteen (14) patent families with over 220 patent applications filed, more than 140 patents pending, issued, or published in thirty-three (33) countries, protecting our technology and system architecture. Our key issued patents are scheduled to expire between years 2035 and 2036.
We rely on trade secret protection and confidentiality agreements to safeguard our interests with respect to proprietary know-how that is not patentable and processes for which patents are difficult to enforce. We believe that many key elements of our manufacturing processes involve proprietary know-how, technology or data that are not covered by patents or patent applications, including technical processes, test equipment designs, algorithms and procedures.
All of our research and development personnel have entered into confidentiality and proprietary information agreements with us. These agreements address intellectual property protection issues and require our employees to assign to us all of the inventions, designs and technologies that our personnel develop during the course of their employment.
We also require our customers and business partners to enter into confidentiality agreements before we disclose any sensitive aspects of our technology or business plans.
Competition
The markets for our products are competitive, and we compete with manufacturers of traditional Li-ion and other battery storage systems. Factors affecting customers to make decision when choosing from different battery storage systems in the market include:
● | product performance and features; |
● | safety and sustainability; |
● | total lifetime cost of ownership; |
● | total product lifespan; |
● | power and energy efficiency; |
● | duration of the batteries storage; |
● | customer service and support; and |
● | U.S. based manufacturing and sourced materials. |
Our Znyth® system competes with products from traditional Li-ion battery manufacturers and solution providers such as Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, LG Chem, Ltd., Sungrow and Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited. We believe that our Znyth® battery based system offers significant technology, safety and cost advantages that reflect a competitive differentiation over lithium energy storage technologies.
55
Regulatory Policy
The United States is one of almost 200 nations that, in December 2015, agreed to an international climate change agreement in Paris, France, that calls for countries to set their own greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions targets and be transparent about the measures each country will use to achieve these targets (“Paris Agreement”). The Paris Agreement was signed by the United States in April 2016 and came into force on November 4, 2016. However, the Paris Agreement does not impose any binding obligations on its participants. In August 2017, the U.S. Department of State officially informed the United Nations of the United States’ intent to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, with such withdrawal becoming effective in November 2020. On January 20, 2021, in one of his first post-inauguration actions, President Biden notified the United Nations of the United States’ intention to rejoin the Paris Agreement, which became effective on February 19, 2021.
Legislation or regulations that may be adopted to address climate change could make lower GHG emitting energy sources, such as solar and wind, more desirable than higher GHG emitting energy sources, such as coal and fuel oil. As a result, such climate change regulatory and legislative initiatives with more stringent limitations on GHG emissions would potentially increase the demand for energy storage systems.
In the United States and Puerto Rico, geographic distribution of energy storage deployment has been driven by regulatory policy with both federal and state level programs contributing to stable revenue streams for energy storage. Such policies include:
● | Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. FERC Order 841 requires eligibility for energy storage in wholesale, capacity and ancillary services markets. FERC Order 841 allows each regional transmission organization and independent system operator to establish its own rules and guidelines for integrating energy storage resources, but does specify that the guidelines must allow storage resources to provide and be compensated for all the services it is technically capable of providing. According to BNEF, markets being enabled by FERC Order 841 may spur the United States back to the top of global storage deployments |
● | California. California is expected to lead front-of-the-meter energy storage deployments through 2023, mainly driven by Assembly Bill 2514 procurement targets and investor-owned utilities procuring storage for capacity applications. The California Public Utilities Commission mandated utilities to procure up to 500 MW of behind the meter (“BTM”) storage. Further, growth in California is driven by the Demand Response Auction Mechanism, which creates economic incentives for distributed energy resources to offer their services to utilities and grid energy markets. The California independent systems operator allows wholesale market participation for BTM storage assets which can earn capacity payments and provide ancillary services. |
● | Massachusetts. Massachusetts set an energy storage procurement target of 1,000 MWh by 2025. The Advancing Commonwealth Energy Storage program awarded $20 million in grants which directly supported 32 MW of BTM storage capacity to date. The Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target program calls for 1,600 MW of PV, and includes significant incentives paid to solar system owners if paired with storage. The Peak Demand Reduction Grant Program is a $4.7 million Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources initiative designed to test strategies for reducing Massachusetts’ energy usage at times of peak demand. The Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources also published the Clean Peak Energy Standard which is designed to provide incentives to clean energy technologies that can supply electricity or reduce demand during seasonal peak demand periods established by the Department of Energy Resources. |
● | New York. New York set an energy storage target of 1,500 MW by 2025 (3,000 MW by 2030), 500 MW of which will be commercial and industrial. $400 million in state funding is available for energy storage projects. The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority must distribute $350 million in market acceleration incentives for energy storage, including for solar plus storage projects to jump start activity and allow projects to access federal tax credits in the near term. NY Green Bank has announced $200 million in financing support for energy storage. |
56
● | Other. The Midwest, New England, Pacific Northwest states and Puerto Rico have taken the early charge on front-of-the-meter energy storage adoption in the “all others” market category, although we anticipate that states such as Minnesota and Florida, as well as areas in the Southwest Power Pool and the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, will emerge further over the next five years. Puerto Rico, with its latest draft integrated resource plan, could lead this market over the next four years if it moves forward with its mini-grid proposal. Still in the proposal phase, Arizona’s commissioner chose a 3 GW energy storage target to be achieved by 2030 and also called for a Clean Peak Target which increases clean resources deployed during peak times by 1.5% per year until 2030. Under Executive Order 28, the New Jersey Energy Master Plan calls for 600 MW of energy storage by 2021 and 2,000 MW by 2030. In Nevada, Senate Bill 204 requires the public utilities commission of Nevada to investigate and establish targets for certain electric utilities to procure energy storage systems while Senate Bill 145 establishes an incentive program for behind-the-meter energy storage within the state’s solar program. In Hawaii, Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc. recently announced 262 MW of storage across three islands, further establishing its position as a leading market. Missouri and Louisiana are also expected to issue orders supporting new utility demand response programs. |
Government Incentives
The U.S. Congress is considering a variety of proposals for tax incentives that will benefit the energy storage industry, including in the form of tax credits. IRS private letter ruling 201809003 clarified that energy storage is eligible for federal tax credits if charged primarily by qualifying renewable resources. In December 2020, the U.S. Congress passed a spending bill that includes $35 billion in energy research and development programs, a two-year extension of the Investment Tax Credit for solar power, a one-year extension of the Production Tax Credit for wind power projects, and an extension through 2025 for offshore wind tax credits. Proposals that have or are being considered by Congress include: (i) the establishment of an investment tax credit for standalone energy storage; (ii) the creation of a 30% investment tax credit for refueling costs and qualified nuclear power plant capital expenditures for each taxable year through 2023, thereafter declining each year until it reaches 10% in 2026; (iii) extension of the federal solar energy investment tax credit for ten (10) more years, keeping the credit at 30% through 2029; (iv) the consolidation of forty-four (44) federal energy tax incentives into three provisions to award credits for clean electricity, lower-emitting transportation fuels and energy efficient offices and homes; (v) the allowance of renewable electricity production and investment tax credits to be transferred on a limited basis to any entity involved in a renewable energy project, regardless of whether they have taxable income; and (vi) the extension of the production tax credit for energy produced from closed and open-loop biomass, geothermal, landfill gas, trash, qualified hydro, marine and hydrokinetic facilities to facilities that began construction by the end of 2019. There can be no assurance that all or any of the above proposals will be adopted by the U.S. Congress.
Employees
As of December 31, 2020, we had eighty-four (84) employees with eighty-three (83) full-time employees and one (1) part-time employee. Of these full-time employees, thirty-eight (38) were engaged in research and development, ten (10) in sales and marketing, seventeen (17) in operations and support and eighteen (18) in general and administrative capacities.
None of our employees are represented by a labor union. We have not experienced any employment-related work stoppages, and we consider relations with our employees to be good.
Facilities
Our corporate headquarters are located in Edison, New Jersey, in an office consisting of approximately 63,000 square feet of office, testing and product design space. We have a ten (10) year lease on our corporate headquarters, which expires on September 14, 2026.
We believe that our existing properties are in good condition and are sufficient and suitable for the conduct of our business for the foreseeable future. To the extent we need to increase our footprint as our business grows, we expect that additional space and facilities will be available.
57
Management and Board of Directors
Our principal officers are Joe Mastrangelo, Chief Executive Officer, Mack Treece, Chief Strategic Alliances Officer and Sagar Kurada, Chief Financial Officer. In addition, following the business combination, Russ Stidolph will serve as Chairman of the Company’s board of directors.
The board of directors of the Company is comprised of seven directors, of which, in accordance with the terms of the Director Nomination Agreement, Daniel Shribman, Mimi Walters and Alex Dimitrief have been nominated by the Sponsor and Russell Stidolph, Joseph Mastrangelo, Krishna Singh and Audrey Zibelman have been nominated by the Seller, respectively.
The following persons with ages as of March 4, 2021 are the executive officers and directors of the Company:
Name | Age | Position | ||
Joe Mastrangelo | 52 | Chief Executive Officer | ||
Sagar Kurada | 42 | Chief Financial Officer | ||
Mack Treece | 62 | Chief Strategic Alliances Officer | ||
Dr. Balakrishnan G. Iyer | 46 | Chief Commercial Officer | ||
Daniel Shribman | 37 | Director | ||
Russ Stidolph | 45 | Director | ||
Dr. Krishna Singh | 73 | Director | ||
Alex Dimitrief | 61 | Director | ||
Audrey Zibelman | 63 | Director | ||
Marian “Mimi” Walters | 58 | Director |
Joe Mastrangelo, 52, joined EES LLC as a board advisor in March 2018 and assumed the role of Chief Executive Officer from August, 2019 until the closing of the business combination. Mr. Mastrangelo has served as a director and the Chief Executive Officer since the closing of the business combination. Before coming to Eos, Mr. Mastrangelo was president and chief executive officer of Gas Power Systems since September 2015. As an energy industry leader for the past two decades, Mr. Mastrangelo has extensive experience leading diverse teams to develop and deploy commercial scale projects around the world. Mr. Mastrangelo has broad operating experience across the energy value chain including serving as Chief Executive Officer of GE’s Power Conversion business, applying science and systems of power conversion to increase the efficiency of the world’s energy infrastructure. Mr. Mastrangelo spent ten years with GE Oil & Gas, in leadership roles in finance, quality, and commercial operations, culminating in being named a GE Corporate Officer in 2008. Joe began his career with GE in the company’s Financial Management Program and then joined GE’s Corporate Audit Staff. Originally from New York, Mr. Mastrangelo earned a Bachelor of Science in Finance from Clarkson University and an Associate of Science, Business Administration and Management from Westchester Community College.
Sagar C. Kurada, 42, joined EES LLC as as Chief Financial Officer in July 2020 and continued to serve our Chief Financial Officer following the closing of the business combination. In this position, Mr. Kurada is responsible for the overall financial strategy and direction at Eos, overseeing all financial functions, he guides the controller, treasury, shareholder relations, accounting, tax, financial planning and internal audit functions to pursue the Eos’s aggressive growth strategy and meet its clients’ and investors’ expectations. Prior to joining Eos, Mr. Kurada acted as Chief Financial Officer of HighTower Advisors from August 2016 to November 2019. Mr. Kurada also served as Chief Executive Officer of multiple GE operating entities, and worked in the private equity consulting practice at FCM from July 2014 to July 2016. Throughout his 20-year career in financial strategy, planning, accounting, auditing, Mr. Kurada has established a reputation for building world-class teams and for aligning financial and business interests to support business strategy and high-growth. Sagar has led multiple equity and debt financings and raised in excess of $1 billion of capital to support business growth. Mr. Kurada holds a BS in Finance and Technology from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and MBA from Columbia Business School.
58
Mack Treece, 62, joined EES LLC as a consultant in March 2019 and assumed the role of Chief Financial Officer in March 2019. In June, 2020 Mr. Treece was appointed Chief Strategic Alliances Officer EES LLC and continued serving in such position following the closing of the business combination. Prior to Eos, Mack served as the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Viridity Energy since November 2012, where he was responsible for all day-to-day operations, including sales, marketing, operations and finance. Mr. Treece has over 25 years of experience in senior management positions, with a specific focus on successfully scaling young companies into dominant market positions. Previously, Mr. Treece was the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of ConnectFN and was responsible for the overall management and strategic direction of the company. Prior to ConnectFN, Mr. Treece served as President for Teliris where he led the telepresence provider’s Global Sales, Marketing, Finance and Operations. Mr. Treece also held several executive positions with increasing responsibility at Orange Business Services (formerly Equant). Mr. Treece began his career with Bell Atlantic, where he last held the position of Global Chief Financial Officer for Bell Atlantic International Wireless (BAIW) and Senior Vice President for Asia. Mr. Treece has lived and worked abroad as part of global organizations for more than 25 years. He has a B.S. in Finance and Marketing from the University of Virginia and a MBA in International Finance from Widener University.
Dr. Balakrishnan G. Iyer, 46, Dr. Iyer joined EES LLC as a director on April 19th, 2020 and continued to serve in such position following the closing of the business combination. Prior to Eos, Dr. Iyer was Co-founder and Chief Growth Officer of Utopus Insights since April 2017, a New York-based global renewable energy analytics company, recently acquired by Vestas. Dr. Iyer is a seasoned energy and utilities industry management professional, with rich experience driving business development for global conglomerates. Dr. Iyer successfully steered three startups from inception to exit, with investments from some of the largest utilities and financial investors worldwide. Dr. Iyer began his career at Schlumberger in June 1996 and previously served as Chief Operating Officer of Enel Green Power as part of their acquisition of BLP where he worked from July 2012 till April 2017 and as VP, Business Development at GE, where he drove technology developments for renewable energy and smart grid. He worked in GE in various roles from July 2000 till June 2012. Dr. Iyer earned a Master’s in Engineering from Binghamton University in New York, an MBA from New York University (NYU) Stern, and Joint Undergraduate and Master’s Degrees in Mechanical Engineering & Science from Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) in India. In 2019, Dr. Iyer was conferred with an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science by his alma mater, Binghamton University, for his contributions to the fields of sustainable energy and inclusive education.
Daniel Shribman, 37, served as the Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer and a director of BMRG from its inception until the closing of the business combination and has served as our director since the closing of the business combination. Mr. Shribman served as chief investment officer of B. Riley Financial (Nasdaq: RILY) and as president of B. Riley Principal Investments, LLC since September 2019 and September 2018, respectively. Mr. Shribman helps oversee the asset base of B. Riley Financial alongside chief executive officer Bryant Riley. This asset base consists of several cash flow generating operating businesses in addition to cash and investments of roughly $750 million. The investment portfolio includes bilateral loans and small cap equity positions in both public and private markets. In virtually all investments, B. Riley Financial is involved at the board level and active in business and capital allocation decisions. Mr. Shribman has served as a member of the board of directors of Alta Equipment Group Inc. (NYSE: ALTG) since February 2020, when it completed its business combination with B. Riley Principal Merger Corp., where Mr. Shribman was chief financial officer. Mr. Shribman brings experience in both public and private equity to us. Prior to joining B. Riley, Mr. Shribman was a Portfolio Manager at Anchorage Capital Group, L.L.C., a special situation asset manager, from 2010 to 2018. During Mr. Shribman’s tenure at Anchorage Capital Group, L.L.C., he led investments in dozens of public and private opportunities across the general industrial, transportation, automotive, aerospace, gaming, hospitality and real estate industries. These investments ranged from public equities and bonds to deeply distressed securities, par bank debt, minority owned private equity and majority owned private equity. Mr. Shribman worked in close collaboration with management teams and boards to maximize shareholder value in the form of both operational turnarounds, capital market financing and capital deployment initiatives. Prior to Anchorage Capital Group, L.L.C., Mr. Shribman worked at Tinicum Capital Partners, a private equity firm, and in the restructuring advisory group at Lazard (NYSE: LAZ).
59
Russell Stidolph, 45, has served as a director of EES LLC since 2014 and the chairman of the board of EES LLC since 2018, and continued in both positions following the closing of the business combination. Mr. Stidolph is the founder AltEnergy, LLC a private equity firm focused on alternative energy investing, where he has served as Managing Director since 2006. Prior to forming AltEnergy, Mr. Stidolph was a Principal at J.H. Whitney & Co., LLC a middle-market private equity firm based in New Canaan, Connecticut. While at J.H. Whitney Mr. Stidolph was responsible for starting and developing the firm’s alternative energy investing practice where he was responsible for Hawkeye Renewables, LLC and Iowa Winds, LLC. Mr. Stidolph was both the Chief Financial Officer and Vice Chairman of Hawkeye Renewables, LLC before it was sold in 2006 to Thomas H. Lee Partners, LP. Prior to joining J.H. Whitney, Mr. Stidolph was a member of the corporate finance group at PaineWebber, Inc., that was responsible for high yield and leverage finance origination. Mr. Stidolph also acted as Senior Vice President and the Chief Financial Officer of Tres Amigas, LLC and he still sits on the Company’s Board of Directors, and was Chairman of the board of directors of Viridity Energy, Inc before it was sold to Ormat Technologies in 2017. Russell received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Dartmouth College.
Dr. Krishna Singh, 73, has served as our director since the closing of the business combination. Dr. Singh is the founder of Holtec International, a diversified energy technology company with nine major operations centers in seven countries on five continents, where he has served as president and chief executive officer since 1986. Dr. Singh has been active in the nuclear power industry since 1971 and is a widely-published author in with over 70 technical papers, one textbook and numerous symposia volumes. He is a prolific inventor with and a prolific inventor (119 patents granted, many pending). In addition to Holtec International, Dr. Singh serves on numerous advisory boards in the energy industry including the Nuclear Energy Institute and the University of California Nuclear Engineering Department. Dr. Singh also serves as a member of the board of overseers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Science and a director of the Washington DC Atlantic Counsel. Dr. Singh received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (1972), a M.S. in Engineering Mechanics also from Penn (1969), and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from BIT Sindri (Ranchi University), India (1967).
Alex Dimitrief, 61, has served as our director since the closing of the business combination. Mr. Dimitrief is an experienced director, Chief Executive Officer, C-suite leader and general counsel who has steered varied energy-related and other global businesses through a wide range of complex commercial, legal and organizational challenges. He has previously served as a director of both public and non-public companies including The We Company, Synchrony Financial (NYSE: SF) and GE Capital Bank and presently sits on the Advisory Board of Cresset Capital Management. As President and Chief Executive Officer of General Electric’s Global Growth Organization, Mr. Dimitrief was responsible for driving GE’s growth in more than 180 countries. Under Mr. Dimitrief’s watch in 2018, GE achieved $76 billion in international orders and secured billions in financing for many of GE’s emerging market customers. As GE’s General Counsel, Mr. Dimitrief served as the principal executive advisor to GE’s Board and led a global team responsible for GE’s legal matters, compliance, SEC reporting, government affairs and environmental safety programs. In previous roles at GE, Mr. Dimitrief was a leader of the transformation of GE Capital (including the IPO/split-off of Synchrony Financial) and led joint venture negotiations for GE Energy in China and Russia. In announcing Mr. Dimitrief’s retirement from GE in January 2019, Chief Executive Officer Larry Culp described Mr. Dimitrief as “one of the most respected leaders at GE” who “effectively represented GE before governments, regulators and customers throughout the world and is widely recognized as a compelling champion of integrity, transparency and the rule of law.” In 2007, Mr. Dimitrief came to GE from after 20 years as a senior partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP, where he “first chaired” and regularly advised Boards about securities, restructuring, intellectual property, product liability, environmental, governance and commercial disputes. Mr. Dimitrief earned his B.A. from Yale College and his J.D. from Harvard Law School.
Marian “Mimi” Walters, 58, has served as our director since the closing of the business combination. Ms. Walters has served as Chief Commercial Officer for Leading Edge Power Solutions, LLC since November 2019. She is a former Member of the U.S. House of Representatives (the “House”) from California’s 45th District where she worked on key legislation, business and policy initiatives related to energy, technology, environmental and healthcare and served from 2015 to 2019. Ms. Walters was a member of House Leadership and served on the influential Energy and Commerce Committee. She was a member of the Communications and Technology, Digital Commerce and Consumer Protection, and Oversight and Investigations subcommittees. Prior to her election to Congress, Ms. Walters was a member of the California State Senate, from 2008 to 2014, where she served on the Banking and Financial Institutions Committee and was Vice Chair of the Appropriations Committee. She previously served in the California State Assembly and was mayor and council member for the City of Laguna Niguel. Prior to her career in public service, Ms. Walters was an investment professional at Drexel Burnham Lambert and Kidder, Peabody & Co. She earned a B.A. in political science from the University of California, Los Angeles.
60
Audrey Zibelman, 63, has served as our director since the closing of the business combination. Ms. Zibelman is Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Energy Market Operator (“AEMO”), responsible for overseeing AEMO’s strategy, operations and administrative functions. In addition to taking on role as Chief Executive Officer of AEMO, Ms. Zibelman also serves on the CSIRO Energy Advisory Committee, the Melbourne Energy Institute’s Advisory Board, and as a Director of the Melbourne Recital Centre and the Advanced Energy Economy Institute. Ms. Zibelman has extensive experience in the public, private and not-for profit energy and electricity sectors in the United States. Prior to joining AEMO in March 2017, her roles included Chair of the New York State Public Service Commission (“NYPSC”), from August 2013 to March 2018, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of system operator PJM from January 2008 to February 2013, executive roles with Xcel Energy, from 1992 to 2004, one of the United States largest integrated gas and electricity utilities and served on a number of energy industry advisory groups and Boards. During her tenure at the NYPSC, Ms. Zibelman led the design and implementation of extensive regulatory and retail market changes to modernize and transform the state’s electricity industry under New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s ‘Reforming the Energy Vision’ plan. A recognized national and international expert in energy policy, markets and Smart Grid innovation, Ms. Zibelman is a Founder and past President and CEO of Viridity Energy, Inc., which she formed after more than 25 years of electric utility industry leadership experience in both the public and private sectors. Previously, Ms. Zibelman was the Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of GO15 member organization, PJM, a regional transmission organization responsible for operating the power grid and wholesale power market which serves fourteen states across the eastern United States. Ms. Zibelman also held legal and executive positions at Xcel Energy, served as General Counsel to the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission, and was Special Assistant Attorney General in the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office. During her career, Ms. Zibelman has served on numerous industry-related and non-profit boards, including, but not limited to the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic Reliability Councils. Ms. Zibelman’s board experience also includes Advisor to Secretary of Energy for the U.S. Department of Energy and Advisory Council, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, the New York State Planning Board and the New York State Emergency Planning Council. Ms. Zibelman received her B.A. from Penn State University, her Executive MBA from University of Minnesota — Carlson School of Management and her J.D. from Hamline University of Law.
Board Composition
Our business affairs are managed under the direction of our board of directors, which consists of seven members.
Our Charter provides that the number of directors, which is fixed at seven members, may be increased or decreased from time to time by a resolution of our board of directors. Our board of directors is divided into three (3) classes with only one class of directors being elected in each year and each class serving a three (3) year term. The directors hold their office for a term of three (3) years or until their respective successors are elected and qualified, subject to such director’s earlier death, resignation, disqualification or removal. The term of office of the Class I directors, consisting of Marian “Mimi Walters” and Audrey Zibelman, will expire at the Company’s annual meeting of stockholders in 2021. The term of office of the Class II directors, consisting of Joe Mastrangelo and Alex Dimitrief, will expire at expires at the Company’s annual meeting of stockholders in 2022. The term of office of the Class III directors, consisting of Russ Stidolph, Krishna P. Singh and Daniel Shribman, will expire at the Company’s annual meeting of stockholders in 2023.
Director Independence
The size of the Company’s board of directors is seven directors, five of whom qualify as independent within the meaning of the independent director guidelines of Nasdaq. Alex Dimitrief, Audrey Zibelman, Marian “Mimi” Walters, Daniel Shribman, Russ Stidolph are “independent directors” as defined in the rules of Nasdaq and applicable SEC rules.
Nasdaq rules require that a majority of our board of directors be independent. An “independent director” is defined generally as a person other than an executive officer or employee of a listed company or any other individual having a relationship which, in the opinion of a listed company’s board of directors, would interfere with the exercise of independent judgment in carrying out the responsibilities of a director.
61
Committees of the Board of Directors
Our board of directors established the following committees: an audit committee, a compensation committee, and a nominating and corporate governance committee. The composition and responsibilities of each committee are described below. Members will serve on these committees until their resignation or until otherwise determined by our board of directors.
Audit Committee | Compensation Committee | Nominating
and Corporate Governance Committee | ||
Alex Dimitrief | Audrey Zibelman | Alex Dimitrief* | ||
Audrey Zibelman | Mimi Walters | Russ Stidolph | ||
Daniel Shribman* | Russ Stidolph* | Mimi Walters |
* | Denotes chairman |
Audit Committee
The Company’s audit committee oversees the Company’s corporate accounting and financial reporting process. Among other matters, the audit committee:
● | appoints our independent registered public accounting firm; |
● | evaluates the independent registered public accounting firm’s qualifications, independence and performance; |
● | determines the engagement of the independent registered public accounting firm; |
● | reviews and approves the scope of the annual audit and the audit fee; |
● | discusses with management and the independent registered public accounting firm the results of the annual audit and the review of the Company’s quarterly financial statements; |
● | approves the retention of the independent registered public accounting firm to perform any proposed permissible non-audit services; |
● | monitors the rotation of partners of the independent registered public accounting firm on the Company’s engagement team in accordance with requirements established by the SEC; |
● | is responsible for reviewing our financial statements and our management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations to be included in our annual and quarterly reports to be filed with the SEC; |
● | reviews our critical accounting policies and estimates; and |
● | reviews the audit committee charter and the committee’s performance at least annually. |
The members of the audit committee are Alex Dimitrief and Audrey Zibelman, with Daniel Shribman serving as the chair of the committee. Under the rules of the SEC, members of the audit committee must also meet heightened independence standards. All of the members of the audit committee are independent directors as defined under the applicable rules and regulations of the SEC and Nasdaq with respect to audit committee membership. Daniel Shribman qualifies as our “audit committee financial expert,” as such term is defined in Item 407(d)(5)(ii) of Regulation S-K. Our board of directors adopted a written charter for the audit committee that satisfies the applicable SEC and Nasdaq rules and regulations, and is available on our website at https://investors.eose.com.
62
Compensation Committee
Our compensation committee reviews and recommends policies relating to compensation and benefits of our officers and employees. Among other matters, the compensation committee:
● | reviews and recommends corporate goals and objectives relevant to compensation of our chief executive officer and other executive officers; |
● | evaluates the performance of these officers in light of those goals and objectives and recommend to our board of directors the compensation of these officers based on such evaluations; |
● | recommends to our board of directors the issuance of stock options and other awards under our stock plans; and |
● | reviews and evaluates, at least annually, the performance of the compensation committee and its members, including compliance by the compensation committee with its charter. |
The members of our Company’s compensation committee are Audrey Zibelman and Mimi Walters, with Russ Stidolph serving as the chair of the committee. Each of the members of the Company’s compensation committee are independent under the applicable rules of Nasdaq, and each is a “non-employee director” as defined in Rule 16b-3 promulgated under the Exchange Act. Our board of directors adopted a written charter for the compensation committee that satisfies the applicable SEC and Nasdaq rules and regulations, and is available on our website at https://investors.eose.com.
Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee
The nominating and corporate governance committee is responsible for making recommendations to our board of directors regarding candidates for directorships and the size and composition of our board of directors. In addition, the nominating and corporate governance committee is responsible for overseeing our corporate governance policies and reporting and making recommendations to our board of directors concerning governance matters.
The members of the Company’s nominating and corporate governance committee are Russ Stidolph and Mimi Walters, with Alex Dimitrief serving as the chair of the committee. Each of the members of our nominating and corporate governance committee is an independent director under the applicable rules of Nasdaq relating to nominating and corporate governance committee independence. Our board of directors adopted a written charter for the nominating and corporate governance committee that satisfies the applicable SEC and Nasdaq rules and regulations, and is available on our website at https://investors.eose.com.
Code of Ethics
Our board of directors has adopted a Code of Business Conduct and Ethics that applies to all officers, directors and employees, which is available on our website at (investors.eose.com) under “Governance Documents”. We intend to satisfy the disclosure requirement under Item 5.05 of Form 8-K regarding amendments to, or waiver from, a provision of our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics and by posting such information on the website address and location specified above.
Limitation on Liability and Indemnification Matters
The Charter contains provisions that limit the liability of our directors for monetary damages to the fullest extent permitted by Delaware law. Consequently, our directors will not be personally liable to us or our stockholders for monetary damages for any breach of fiduciary duties as directors, except liability for:
● | any breach of the director’s duty of loyalty to us or our stockholders; |
● | any act or omission not in good faith or that involves intentional misconduct or a knowing violation of law; |
63
● | unlawful payments of dividends or unlawful stock repurchases or redemptions as provided in Section 174 of the DGCL; or |
● | any transaction from which the director derived an improper personal benefit. |
The Charter and our bylaws provide that we are required to indemnify our directors and officers, in each case to the fullest extent permitted by Delaware law. Our bylaws also provide that we are obligated to advance expenses incurred by a director or officer in advance of the final disposition of any action or proceeding, and permit us to secure insurance on behalf of any officer, director, employee or other agent for any liability arising out of his or her actions in that capacity regardless of whether we would otherwise be permitted to indemnify him or her under Delaware law. We entered into agreements to indemnify our directors, executive officers and other employees as determined by our board of directors. With specified exceptions, these agreements provide for indemnification for related expenses including, among other things, attorneys’ fees, judgments, fines and settlement amounts incurred by any of these individuals in any action or proceeding. We believe that these bylaws provisions and indemnification agreements are necessary to attract and retain qualified persons as directors and officers. The Company also maintains directors’ and officers’ liability insurance.
The limitation of liability and indemnification provisions in the Charter and bylaws may discourage stockholders from bringing a lawsuit against our directors and officers for breach of their fiduciary duty. They may also reduce the likelihood of derivative litigation against our directors and officers, even though an action, if successful, might benefit us and our stockholders. Further, a stockholder’s investment may be adversely affected to the extent that we pay the costs of settlement and damage.
64
The following disclosure covers the material components of the compensation for our principal executive officer and other most highly compensated executive officer, who are referred to in this section as “named executive officers,” for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020. This section should be read in conjunction with our financial statements and related notes appearing elsewhere in this prospectus, along with the section entitled “Certain Relationships and Related Party Transactions.” Compensation information included in the following section is presented in actual dollar amounts. This section provides information in accordance with the scaled SEC disclosure rules available to “emerging growth companies.”
As an emerging growth company, we have opted to comply with the executive compensation disclosure rules applicable to “smaller reporting companies,” as such term is defined under the Securities Act, which require compensation disclosure for (i) all individuals who served as our principal executive officer or in a similar capacity during fiscal year ended December 31, 2020, (ii) our two most highly compensated executive officers other than our principal executive officer who were serving as executive officers as of the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020, and (ii) up to two additional individuals for whom disclosure would have been provided pursuant to clause (ii), but for the fact that the individual was not serving as an executive officer as of the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020. We refer to these executive officers collectively as the named executive officers (“NEOs”). This section should be read in conjunction with our financial statements and related notes appearing elsewhere in this prospectus, along with the section entitled “Certain Relationships and Related Party Transactions.” Compensation information included in the following section is presented in actual dollar amounts. For fiscal year ended December 31, 2020, the NEOs were:
● | Joe Mastrangelo, Chief Executive Officer; |
● | Sagar Kurada, Chief Financial Officer; |
● | Mack Treece, Chief Strategic Alliances Officer; |
Mr. Treece was appointed Chief Financial Officer effective March 5, 2019. Effective as of June 1, 2020, Mr. Treece also assumed the title of Chief Strategic Alliances Officer. As of July 6, 2020, Sagar Kurada assumed the office of Chief Financial Officer from Mr. Treece.
Summary Compensation Table
The following table presents summary information regarding the total compensation paid to, earned by and awarded to each of Eos’s NEOs for 2020.
Name and Principal Position | Year | Salary ($) | Bonus ($) | Stock Awards(1) ($) | Option Awards(2) ($) | Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Earnings ($) | All Other Compensation ($) | Total ($) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Joe Mastrangelo(3), Chief Executive Officer | 2020 | $ | 357,692 | $ | 400,000 | $ | 801,724 | $ | 2,328,197 | - | $ | 87,246 | (4) | $ | 3,974,859 | |||||||||||||||
Sagar Kurada(5), Chief Financial Officer | 2020 | $ | 171,154 | $ | 450,000 | - | $ | 47,214 | - | $ | 0 | $ | 668,368 | |||||||||||||||||
Mack Treece, Chief Strategic Alliances Officer | 2020 | $ | 312,583 | $ | 325,000 | 13,814 | $ | 65,983 | - | $ | 8,735 | (6) | $ | 726,116 |
(1) | Represents the restricted stock unit award expense recorded based on the fair value of restricted stock unit granted to our named executive officers on the grant date and the vesting period per restricted stock unit award agreements, as estimated pursuant to FASB ASC Topic 718. For a discussion of the valuation methodology used, see Note 1, “Stock-Based Compensation” of the notes to Eos Energy Enterprises, Inc. consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus. |
65
(2) | Represents the option award expense recorded based on the fair value of stock options granted to our named executive officers on the grant date and the vesting period per option agreements, as estimated pursuant to FASB ASC Topic 718. Grant date fair value is calculated based on the Black-Scholes option pricing model. For information regarding the assumptions used in determining the grant date fair value, see Note 1, “Stock-Based Compensation” of the notes to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus. These amounts do not necessarily correspond to the actual value that may be realized from the option awards by the maned executive officers. |
(3) | Mr. Mastrangelo does not receive compensation for his service as a director. |
(4) | For fiscal 2020, Mr. Mastrangelo received a car allowance of $8,668, $54,900 in residential expenses and $23,678 in business travel expense reimbursement. |
(5) | Mr. Kurada was appointed Chief Financial Officer on July 6, 2020. |
(6) | For fiscal 2020, Mr. Treece received $8,735 in business travel expense reimbursement. |
Employment Agreements
Employment Offer Letter with Mr. Mastrangelo
In connection with the engagement of Mr. Mastrangelo as a board advisor, we entered into an employment offer letter dated as of July 26, 2018.
The employment offer letter contained the following material compensation terms:
● | base compensation consisting of a $25,000 monthly consulting fee, which increased to $400,000 per year upon appointment as full time Chief Executive Officer on August 1, 2019; and |
● | participation in the Company’s health insurance and other employee benefits Eos also maintains, and an annual car allowance of $7,796. |
Mr. Mastrangelo’s employment offer letter was terminated and replaced with an employment agreement effective as of June 22, 2020, as further described below.
2020 Employment Agreement with Mr. Mastrangelo
Effective as of June 22, 2020 Eos entered into an Employment Agreement with Mr. Mastrangelo, which replaced and terminated Mr. Mastrangelo’s employment offer letter.
The employment agreement contains the following material compensation terms:
● | base compensation of $400,000 per year based on full-time employment; |
● | annual performance-based incentive bonus with an annual target payout of 50% to 100% of base compensation, payable in cash, to be prorated for the 2020 fiscal year; |
● | participation in the Company’s health insurance and other employee benefits Eos also maintains, along with reimbursement for reasonable travel, lodging, meal and other business-related expenses; |
● | an initial option grant of 12,000,000 common units with an exercise price of $0.50 per unit, vesting in equal amounts annually over three years; and |
● | an additional option grant of 6,000,000 common units with an exercise price of $0.50 per unit, vesting in full upon the successful completion of an equity financing transaction occurring prior to June 23, 2023. |
Mr. Mastrangelo’s 2020 Employment Agreement was terminated and replaced with a new employment agreement effective as of February 24, 2021, as further described below.
66
2021 Employment Agreement with Mr. Mastrangelo
Effective as of February 24, 2021, the Company entered into an Employment Agreement with Mr. Mastrangelo, which replaced and terminated Mr. Mastrangelo’s June 22, 2020 employment agreement.
The employment agreement contains the following material compensation terms:
● | base salary of $650,000 per year based on full-time employment; |
● | annual performance-based incentive bonus with an annual target payout of 100% of base salary, payable in cash; |
● | participation in the Company’s health insurance and other employee benefits the Company maintains; provided, that if Mr. Mastrangelo elects not to participate in the Company’s medical and other health benefit plans, the Company will pay for Mr. Mastrangelo and his family’s current medical and other health benefit plans in Italy, in an amount not to exceed a cumulative maximum of $17,000 per calendar year; | |
|
● | reimbursement for reasonable travel, lodging, meal and other business-related expenses; and |
● | a grant of 750,000 restricted stock units, vesting in equal amounts annually over three years, and fully vesting upon a change in control. |
If Mr. Mastrangelo is terminated without “cause” or resigns for “good reason” he will be entitled to (i) continued payment of his annual base salary for twenty-four months, (ii) a pro-rated annual bonus for the year of termination, if the applicable performance targets are achieved, and (iii) full vesting of any then-unvested equity awards, in each case, subject to his execution and non-revocation of a release of claims against the Company and continued compliance with certain restrictive covenants.
Consulting Agreement with Mr. Treece
In connection with the engagement of Mr. Treece as a consultant, we entered into a consulting agreement dated as of March 5, 2019.
The consulting agreement contains the following material compensation terms:
● | base compensation consisting of a $15,000 monthly consulting fee; |
● | accrued cash compensation of $8,000 per month, payable upon the closing of an equity financing by the Company; |
● | monthly grants of equity units of the Company, valued at $7,000 per month; and |
● | services-related expense reimbursement. |
Mr. Treece’s consulting agreement was terminated and replaced with an employment agreement effective as of June 1, 2020, as further described below.
Employment Agreement with Mr. Treece
Effective as of June 1, 2020 we entered into an Employment Agreement with Mr. Treece, which replaced and terminated Mr. Treece’s consulting agreement.
67
The employment agreement contains the following material compensation terms:
● | base compensation of $325,000 per year based on full-time employment; |
● | annual performance-based incentive bonus with an annual target payout of 50% to 100% of base compensation, payable in cash, beginning in the calendar year Eos successfully closes an equity financing; |
● | participation in our health insurance and other employee benefits we also maintain, along with reimbursement for reasonable travel, lodging, meal and other business-related expenses; |
● | an initial option grant of 1,000,000 common units with an exercise price of $0.50 per unit, vesting in equal amounts annually over three years; and |
● | an additional option grant of 1,000,000 common units with an exercise price equal to the then-current fair market value of unit, to be granted upon the successful completion of an equity financing transaction prior to termination of employment for any reason, which will vest in equal amounts annually over three years after grant. |
If Mr. Treece is terminated without “cause” or resigns for “good reason” he will be entitled to (i) a lump sum cash payment equal to six months base compensation, and (ii) a prorated amount of any annual bonus otherwise payable during the calendar year of termination, each subject to his execution and non-revocation of a release of claims against Eos and continued compliance with certain restrictive covenants.
Outstanding Equity Awards at Fiscal Year-End
Option Awards | Stock Awards | |||||||||||||||||||||
Name | Number of Securities Underlying Unexercised Options (#) Exercisable | Number of Securities Underlying Unexercised Options (#) Unexercisable | Option Exercise Price ($) | Option Expiration Date | Number of shares or units of stock that have not vested (#) | Market value of shares of units of stock that have not vested ($) | ||||||||||||||||
Joe Mastrangelo | - | 1,037,484 | (1) | $ | 8.67 | 10/23/2030 | - | - | ||||||||||||||
Sagar Kurada | - | 86,457 | (2) | $ | 8.67 | 06/30/2030 | - | - | ||||||||||||||
Mack Treece | - | 115,276 | (3) | $ | 8.67 | 6/01/2030 | 11,130 | (4) | $ | 231,949 | (5) |
(1) | Beginning on October 23, 2020, so long as Mr. Mastrangelo remains in service, 691,691 of the shares of common stock subject to this option will vest as to 33.33% on each of the first three anniversaries of June 22, 2020; provided, that such shares shall vest in full upon the consummation of a change in control of the Company. The remaining number of shares subject to this option will vest, provided that Mr. Mastrangelo remains in service, on the day the Board determines that the Company has successfully closed an equity financing transaction prior to June 22, 2023. If no such transaction is consummated by June 22, 2023, any unvested portion of the option shall immediately terminate. |
(2) | For so long as Mr. Kurada remains in service, the shares of common stock subject to this option will vest as to 25% on June 30, 2021, with the remaining vesting in equal annual installments over a three year period. |
(3) | For so long as Mr. Treece remains in service, the shares of common stock subject to this option will vest as to 33% on June 30, 2021, with the remaining vesting in equal annual installments over a two year period; provided, however, that the shares will vest in full upon a change in control of the Company. |
(4) | Represents restricted stock units which vest in full on December 16, 2021, provided that Mr. Treece remains in service. The restricted stock units will also vest in full if, prior to such vesting date, Mr. Treece is terminated without cause. |
(5) | The market value is calculated by multiplying the closing price ($20.84) of our common stock on the NASDAQ Capital Market on December 31, 2020, the last trading day of fiscal 2020, by the number of restricted stock units that had not vested. |
Health and Retirement Benefits
We provide medical, dental, vision, life insurance and disability benefits to all eligible employees. The NEOs are eligible to participate in these benefits on the same basis as all other employees.
Director
Compensation
The compensation committee determines the annual compensation to be paid to the members of our board of directors.
68
Authorized and Outstanding Stock
The Charter authorizes the issuance of 201,000,000 shares of capital stock, consisting of (x) 200,000,000 authorized shares of common stock and (y) 1,000,000 authorized shares of preferred stock, par value $0.0001 per share. As of March 4, 2020 there were 51,801,259 shares of common stock outstanding, and no shares of preferred stock outstanding. There is no cumulative voting with respect to the election of directors.
Common Stock
Voting Power
Except as otherwise required by law or as otherwise provided in any certificate of designation for any series of preferred stock, the holders of common stock possess all voting power for the election of our directors and all other matters requiring stockholder action and will at all times vote together as one class on all matters submitted to a vote of the stockholders. Holders of common stock are entitled to one vote per share on matters to be voted on by stockholders.
Dividends
Holders of common stock are entitled to receive such dividends and other distributions, if any, as may be declared from time to time by our board of directors in its discretion out of funds legally available therefor and shall share equally on a per share basis in such dividends and distributions.
Liquidation, Dissolution and Winding Up
In the event of our voluntary or involuntary liquidation, dissolution, distribution of assets or winding-up, the holders of common stock will be entitled to receive an equal amount per share of all of our assets of whatever kind available for distribution to stockholders, after the rights of the holders of the preferred stock have been satisfied and after payment or provision for payment of our debts and other liabilities.
Preemptive or Other Rights
Our stockholders have no preemptive or other subscription rights and there is no sinking fund or redemption provisions applicable to common stock.
Election of Directors
The Company’s board of directors are classified into three (3) classes, designated as Class I, Class II and Class II. The directors first elected to Class I hold office for a term expiring at the first annual meeting of stockholders following the Closing; the directors first elected to Class II will hold office for a term expiring at the second annual meeting of stockholders following the Closing; and the directors first elected to Class III will hold office for a term expiring at the third annual meeting of stockholders following the Closing. At each succeeding annual meeting of the stockholders of the Company, the successors to the class of directors whose term expires at that meeting will be elected by plurality vote of all votes cast at such meeting to hold office for a term expiring at the annual meeting of stockholders held in the second year following the year of their election.
69
Preferred Stock
Our Charter provides that shares of preferred stock may be issued from time to time in one or more series. Our board of directors is authorized to fix the voting rights, if any, designations, powers, preferences, the relative, participating, optional or other special rights and any qualifications, limitations and restrictions thereof, applicable to the shares of each series. Our board of directors may, without stockholder approval, issue preferred stock with voting and other rights that could adversely affect the voting power and other rights of the holders of the common stock and could have anti-takeover effects. The ability of our board of directors to issue preferred stock without stockholder approval could have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a change of control of the Company or the removal of existing management. We have no preferred stock outstanding at the date hereof. Although we do not currently intend to issue any shares of preferred stock, we cannot assure you that we will not do so in the future.
Warrants
Public Warrants
Each whole warrant entitles the registered holder to purchase one share of our common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as discussed below, at any time following May 22, 2021. Pursuant to the warrant agreement, a warrant holder may exercise its warrants only for a whole number of shares of common stock. The warrants will expire November 16, 2025, at 5:00 PM, Eastern Time, or earlier upon redemption or liquidation.
We will not be obligated to deliver any shares of common stock pursuant to the exercise of a warrant and will have no obligation to settle such warrant exercise unless a registration statement under the Securities Act with respect to the shares of common stock underlying the warrants is then effective and a prospectus relating thereto is current, subject to our satisfying our obligations described below with respect to registration. No warrant will be exercisable and we will not be obligated to issue shares of common stock upon exercise of a warrant unless common stock issuable upon such warrant exercise has been registered, qualified or deemed to be exempt under the securities laws of the state of residence of the registered holder of the warrants. In the event that the conditions in the two (2) immediately preceding sentences are not satisfied with respect to a warrant, the holder of such warrant will not be entitled to exercise such warrant and such warrant may have no value and expire worthless. In no event will we be required to net cash settle any warrant. In the event that a registration statement is not effective for the exercised warrants, the purchaser of a unit containing such warrant will have paid the full purchase price for the unit solely for the share of common stock underlying such unit.
Under the Warrant Agreement, we agreed that as soon as practicable, but in no event later than fifteen (15) business days after the Closing, we will use our best efforts to file with the SEC this registration statement covering the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants, to cause such registration statement to become effective within sixty (60) business days following the business combination and to maintain a current prospectus relating to those shares of common stock until the warrants expire or are redeemed, as specified in the warrant agreement. We filed a registration statement on Form S-1 covering such shares on December 10, 2020, and it was declared effective as of January 21, 2021. 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, and in the event we do not so elect, 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.
Once the warrants become exercisable, the Company may call the warrants for redemption:
● | in whole and not in part; |
● | at a price of $0.01 per warrant; |
● | upon not less than thirty (30) days’ prior written notice of redemption (the “30-day redemption period”) to each warrant holder; and |
70
● | if, and only if, the reported last sale price of the common stock equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any twenty (20) trading days within a thirty (30) trading day period ending three (3) business days before we send the notice of redemption to the warrant holders. |
If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may not exercise our redemption right if the issuance of shares of common stock upon exercise of the warrants is not exempt from registration or qualification under applicable state blue sky laws or we are unable to effect such registration or qualification. We will use our best efforts to register or qualify such shares of common stock under the blue sky laws of the state of residence in those states in which the warrants were offered by us in the IPO.
We established the last of the redemption criterion discussed above to prevent a redemption call unless there is at the time of the call a significant premium to the warrant exercise price. If the foregoing conditions are satisfied and we issue a notice of redemption of the warrants, each warrant holder will be entitled to exercise its warrant prior to the scheduled redemption date. However, the price of the common stock may fall below the $18.00 redemption trigger price (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) as well as the $11.50 warrant exercise price after the redemption notice is issued.
If we call the warrants for redemption as described above, our management will have the option to require any holder that wishes to exercise its warrant to do so on a “cashless basis.” In determining whether to require all holders to exercise their warrants on a “cashless basis,” our management will consider, among other factors, our cash position, the number of warrants that are outstanding and the dilutive effect on our stockholders of issuing the maximum number of shares of common stock issuable upon the exercise of our warrants. If our management takes advantage of this option, all holders of warrants would pay the exercise price by surrendering their warrants for that number of shares of common stock equal to the quotient obtained by dividing (x) the product of the number of shares of common stock underlying the warrants, multiplied by the excess of the “fair market value” (defined below) of the common stock over the exercise price of the warrants by (y) the fair market value. The “fair market value” shall mean the average reported last sale price of the common stock for the ten (10) trading days ending on the third (3rd) trading day prior to the date on which the notice of redemption is sent to the holders of warrants. If the Company’s management takes advantage of this option, the notice of redemption will contain the information necessary to calculate the number of shares of common stock to be received upon exercise of the warrants, including the “fair market value” in such case. Requiring a cashless exercise in this manner will reduce the number of shares to be issued and thereby lessen the dilutive effect of a warrant redemption. The Company believes this feature is an attractive option to it if it does not need the cash from the exercise of the warrants after the business combination. If we call our warrants for redemption and our management does not take advantage of this option, the Sponsor and its permitted transferees would still be entitled to exercise their private placement warrants for cash or on a cashless basis using the same formula described above that other warrant holders would have been required to use had all warrant holders been required to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis, as described in more detail below.
A holder of a warrant may notify us in writing in the event it elects to be subject to a requirement that such holder will not have the right to exercise such warrant, to the extent that after giving effect to such exercise, such person (together with such person’s affiliates), to the warrant agent’s actual knowledge, would beneficially own in excess of 4.9% or 9.8% (or such other amount as a holder may specify) of the shares of common stock outstanding immediately after giving effect to such exercise.
If the number of outstanding shares of common stock is increased by a stock dividend payable in shares of common stock, or by a split-up of shares of common stock or other similar event, then, on the effective date of such stock dividend, split-up or similar event, the number of shares of common stock issuable on exercise of each warrant will be increased in proportion to such increase in the outstanding shares of common stock. A rights offering to holders of common stock entitling holders to purchase shares of common stock at a price less than the fair market value will be deemed a stock dividend of a number of shares of common stock equal to the product of (i) the number of shares of common stock actually sold in such rights offering (or issuable under any other equity securities sold in such rights offering that are convertible into or exercisable for common stock) and (ii) one (1) minus the quotient of (x) the price per share of common stock paid in such rights offering divided by (y) the fair market value. For these purposes (i) if the rights offering is for securities convertible into or exercisable for common stock, in determining the price payable for common stock, there will be taken into account any consideration received for such rights, as well as any additional amount payable upon exercise or conversion and (ii) fair market value means the volume weighted average price of common stock as reported during the ten (10) trading day period ending on the trading day prior to the first date on which the shares of common stock trade on the applicable exchange or in the applicable market, regular way, without the right to receive such rights.
71
In addition, if the Company, at any time while the warrants are outstanding and unexpired, pay a dividend or make a distribution in cash, securities or other assets to the holders of common stock on account of such shares of common stock (or other shares of the Company’s capital stock into which the warrants are convertible), other than (a) as described above, or (b) certain ordinary cash dividends, then the warrant exercise price will be decreased, effective immediately after the effective date of such event, by the amount of cash and/or the fair market value of any securities or other assets paid on each share of common stock in respect of such event.
If the number of outstanding shares of common stock is decreased by a consolidation, combination, reverse stock split or reclassification of shares of common stock or other similar event, then, on the effective date of such consolidation, combination, reverse stock split, reclassification or similar event, the number of shares of common stock issuable on exercise of each warrant will be decreased in proportion to such decrease in outstanding shares of common stock.
Whenever the number of shares of common stock purchasable upon the exercise of the warrants is adjusted, as described above, the warrant exercise price will be adjusted by multiplying the warrant exercise price immediately prior to such adjustment by a fraction (x) the numerator of which will be the number of shares of common stock purchasable upon the exercise of the warrants immediately prior to such adjustment, and (y) the denominator of which will be the number of shares of common stock so purchasable immediately thereafter.
In case of any reclassification or reorganization of the outstanding shares of common stock (other than those described above or that solely affects the par value of such shares of common stock), or in the case of any merger or consolidation of us with or into another corporation (other than a consolidation or merger in which we are the continuing corporation and that does not result in any reclassification or reorganization of our outstanding shares of common stock), or in the case of any sale or conveyance to another corporation or entity of the assets or other property of us as an entirety or substantially as an entirety in connection with which we are dissolved, the holders of the warrants will thereafter have the right to purchase and receive, upon the basis and upon the terms and conditions specified in the warrants and in lieu of the shares of our common stock immediately theretofore purchasable and receivable upon the exercise of the rights represented thereby, the kind and amount of shares of stock or other securities or property (including cash) receivable upon such reclassification, reorganization, merger or consolidation, or upon a dissolution following any such sale or transfer, that the holder of the warrants would have received if such holder had exercised their warrants immediately prior to such event. If less than 70% of the consideration receivable by the holders of common stock in such a transaction is payable in the form of common stock in the successor entity that is listed for trading on a national securities exchange or is quoted in an established over-the-counter market, or is to be so listed for trading or quoted immediately following such event, and if the registered holder of the warrant properly exercises the warrant within thirty (30) days following public disclosure of such transaction, the warrant exercise price will be reduced as specified in the warrant agreement based on the Black-Scholes value (as defined in the warrant agreement) of the warrant. The purpose of such exercise price reduction is to provide additional value to holders of the warrants when an extraordinary transaction occurs during the exercise period of the warrants pursuant to which the holders of the warrants otherwise do not receive the full potential value of the warrants in order to determine and realize the option value component of the warrant. This formula is to compensate the warrant holder for the loss of the option value portion of the warrant due to the requirement that the warrant holder exercise the warrant within thirty (30) days of the event. The Black-Scholes model is an accepted pricing model for estimating fair market value where no quoted market price for an instrument is available.
The warrants have been issued in registered form under the Warrant Agreement, which was filed as Exhibit 4.1 to our Current Report on Form 8-K filed on May 22, 2020 with the SEC File No. 001-39291) for a complete description of the terms and conditions applicable to the warrants.
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, and that all other modifications or amendments will require the vote or written consent of the holders of at least 50% of the then outstanding public warrants and, solely with respect to any amendment to the terms of the private placement warrants, a majority of the then outstanding private placement warrants.
The warrants may be exercised upon surrender of the warrant certificate on or prior to the expiration date at the offices of the warrant agent, with the exercise form on the reverse side of the warrant certificate completed and executed as indicated, accompanied by full payment of the exercise price (or on a cashless basis, if applicable), by certified or official bank check payable to us, for the number of warrants being exercised. The warrant holders do not have the rights or privileges of holders of common stock and any voting rights until they exercise their warrants and receive shares of common stock. After the issuance of shares of common stock upon exercise of the warrants, each holder will be entitled to one (1) vote for each share held of record on all matters to be voted on by stockholders.
72
No fractional shares will be issued upon exercise of the warrants. If, upon exercise of the warrants, a holder would be entitled to receive a fractional interest in a share, we will, upon exercise, round down to the nearest whole number of shares of common stock to be issued to the warrant holder.
Private
Placement Warrants
The private placement warrants (including the shares issuable upon exercise of such warrants) are not be redeemable by the Company so long as they are held by members of the Sponsor or its permitted transferees. Otherwise, the private placement warrants are identical to the warrants sold in the IPO except that the private placement warrants, so long as they are held by the Sponsor or its permitted transferees, (i) are redeemable by us, (ii) may be exercised by the holders on a cashless basis, (iii) are entitled to registration rights and (iv) for so long as they are held by the Sponsor, are not exercisable more than five (5) years from the effective date of the IPO registration statement in accordance with FINRA Rule 5110(f)(2)(G)(i).
If holders of the private placement warrants elect to exercise them on a cashless basis, they would pay the exercise price by surrendering their warrants for that number of shares of common stock equal to the quotient obtained by dividing (x) the product of the number of shares of common stock underlying the warrants, multiplied by the excess of the “fair market value” (defined below) of the common stock over the exercise price of the warrants by (y) the fair market value. The “fair market value” shall mean the average reported last sale price of the common stock for the ten (10) trading days ending on the third (3rd) trading day prior to the date on which the notice of warrant exercise is sent to the warrant agent.
Dividends
The Company has not paid any cash dividends on our common stock to date. The payment of cash dividends in the future will be dependent upon our revenues and earnings, if any, capital requirements and general financial conditions subsequent to the Closing. The payment of any cash dividends subsequent to a business combination will be within the discretion of our board of directors at such time. Further, if we incur any indebtedness, our ability to declare dividends may be limited by restrictive covenants we may agree to in connection therewith.
Registration
Rights Agreement
The holders of founder shares, private placement shares, private placement warrants, and shares of common stock underlying the private placement warrants have registration rights to require us to register a sale of any of our securities held by them pursuant to a registration rights agreement signed on the effective date of the IPO. These holders are entitled to make up to three demands, excluding short form registration demands, that we register such securities for sale under the Securities Act. In addition, these holders have “piggy-back” registration rights to include their securities in other registration statements filed by us. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Sponsor may not exercise its demand and “piggyback” registration rights after five (5) and seven (7) years, respectively, after the effective date of the IPO registration statement and may not exercise its demand rights on more than one occasion.
In connection with the Closing, we entered into the Registration Rights Agreement with the Securityholders (as defined therein) (the “Registration Rights Agreement”). Under the Registration Rights Agreement, we have certain obligations to the Registrable Securities. We are required to maintain an effective registration statement registering the resale of the Registrable Securities. Holders of the Registrable Securities will also have certain “piggy-back” registration rights with respect to registration statements and rights to us to register for resale such securities pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act. We will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such registration statements. The registration rights agreement will not contemplate the payment of penalties or liquidated damages as a result of a failure to register, or delays with respect to the registration of, the Registrable Securities.
Certain Anti-Takeover Provisions of Delaware Law, the Company’s Charter and Bylaws
The Charter, bylaws and the DGCL contain provisions that could have the effect of rendering more difficult, delaying, or preventing an acquisition deemed undesirable by our board of directors. These provisions could also make it difficult for stockholders to take certain actions, including electing directors who are not nominated by the members of our board of directors or taking other corporate actions, including effecting changes in our management. For instance, our board of directors will be empowered to elect a director to fill a vacancy created by the expansion of the board of directors or the resignation, death, or removal of a director in certain circumstances; and our advance notice provisions in our bylaws will require that stockholders must comply with certain procedures in order to nominate candidates to our board of directors or to propose matters to be acted upon at a stockholders’ meeting.
73
Our authorized but unissued common stock and preferred stock will be available for future issuances without stockholder approval and could be utilized for a variety of corporate purposes, including future offerings to raise additional capital, acquisitions and employee benefit plans. The existence of authorized but unissued and unreserved common stock and preferred stock could render more difficult or discourage an attempt to obtain control of us by means of a proxy contest, tender offer, merger or otherwise.
Rule 144
Pursuant to Rule 144, a person who has beneficially owned restricted shares of our common stock or warrants for at least six months would be entitled to sell their securities provided that (i) such person is not deemed to have been one of our affiliates at the time of, or at any time during the three months preceding, a sale and (ii) we are subject to the Exchange Act periodic reporting requirements for at least three months before the sale and have filed all required reports under Section 13 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act during the 12 months (or such shorter period as we were required to file reports) preceding the sale.
Persons who have beneficially owned restricted shares of our common stock or warrants for at least six months but who are our affiliates at the time of, or at any time during the three months preceding, a sale, would be subject to additional restrictions, by which such person would be entitled to sell within any three-month period only a number of securities that does not exceed the greater of:
● | 1% of the total number of shares of common stock then outstanding (as of March 4, 2021, there were 51,801,259 shares of our common stock outstanding); or |
● | the average weekly reported trading volume of the common stock during the four calendar weeks preceding the filing of a notice on Form 144 with respect to the sale. |
Sales by our affiliates under Rule 144 are also limited by manner of sale provisions and notice requirements and to the availability of current public information about us.
Restrictions on the Use of Rule 144 by Shell Companies or Former Shell Companies
Rule 144 is not available for the resale of securities initially issued by shell companies (other than business combination related shell companies) or issuers that have been at any time previously a shell company. However, Rule 144 also includes an important exception to this prohibition if the following conditions are met:
● | the issuer of the securities that was formerly a shell company has ceased to be a shell company; |
● | the issuer of the securities is subject to the reporting requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act; |
● | the issuer of the securities has filed all Exchange Act reports and materials required to be filed, as applicable, during the preceding 12 months (or such shorter period that the issuer was required to file such reports and materials), other than Current Reports on Form 8-K; and |
● | at least one year has elapsed from the time that the issuer filed current Form 10 type information with the SEC reflecting its status as an entity that is not a shell company. |
As a result, our stockholders are able to sell their shares pursuant to Rule 144 without registration one year after we completed our initial business combination.
We are no longer a shell company following the Closing, and so, once the conditions set forth in the exceptions listed above are satisfied, Rule 144 will become available for the resale of the above noted restricted securities.
74
BENEFICIAL
OWNERSHIP OF SECURITIES
The following table sets forth information regarding the beneficial ownership of shares of our common stock by:
● | each person who is, or is expected to be, the beneficial owner of more than 5% of the outstanding shares of any series of our voting common stock; | |
● | each of our current executive officers and directors; | |
● | all executive officers and directors of the Company, as a group, upon the closing of the Business Combination. |
The beneficial ownership of common stock of the Company is based on 51,801,259 shares of common stock issued and outstanding as of March 4, 2021.
Beneficial ownership is determined according to the rules of the SEC, which generally provide that a person has beneficial ownership of a security if he, she or it possesses sole or shared voting or investment power over that security, including options and warrants that are currently exercisable or exercisable within sixty (60) days.
Unless otherwise indicated, we believe that all persons named in the table have sole voting and investment power with respect to all shares of our common stock beneficially owned by them.
Number
of | Percentage
of | |||||||
Name and Address of Beneficial Owners Executive Officers and Directors | ||||||||
Joe Mastrangelo(1) | 79,546 | * | % | |||||
Mack Treece(1)(2) | 11,130 | * | % | |||||
Sagar Kurada(1) | - | - | % | |||||
Dr. Balakrishnan G. Iyer(1) | - | - | % | |||||
Russell Stidolph(3)(4) | 7,312,805 | 14.3 | % | |||||
Daniel Shribman | 993,750 | 1.9 | % | |||||
Dr. Krishna Singh(5)(6) | 2,708,252 | 5.2 | % | |||||
Alex Dimitrief(1) | 20,000 | * | % | |||||
Audrey Zibelman(1) | - | - | % | |||||
Marian “Mimi” Walters(1) | - | - | % | |||||
All Executive Officers and Directors as a Group (Ten Individuals) | 11,232,288 | 21.6 | % | |||||
5% Holders: | ||||||||
AltEnergy, LLC(4)(7) | 7,135,109 | 13.9 | % | |||||
B. Riley Financial, Inc.(8) | 6,881,279 | 13.3 | % |
* | Less than 1%. |
(1) | The business address of each of these entities or individuals is c/o 3920 Park Avenue Edison, New Jersey 08820. |
(2) | Includes shares of common stock underlying restricted stock units. |
75
(3) | Represents (i) 192,126 shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of vested options held by Mr. Stidolph and (ii) 7,227,484 shares of common stock in which Mr. Stidoloph has a pecuniary interest in that are held directly by AltEnergy LLC, or AltEnergy, AltEnergy Storage LLC, or AltEnergy I, AltEnergy Storage II LLC, or AltEnergy II, AltEnergy Storage V LLC, or AltEnergy V, AltEnergy VI LLC, or AltEnergy VI, AltEnergy Storage Bridge LLC, or Bridge, AltEnergy Transmission LLC, or Transmission, AltEnergy Storage Bridge Phase II LLC, or Bridge II (collectively, the “AltEnergy Shares”). Mr. Stidolph is the managing director of AltEnergy, the managing member of each of AltEnergy I, AltEnergy II, AltEnergy VI, AltEnergy V, Bridge, Transmission and Bridge II, and has voting and dispositive power with respect to the AltEnergy Shares. Mr. Stidolph disclaims beneficial ownership of these shares, except to the extent of his pecuniary interest therein. The address of Mr. Stidolph and each of the above referenced entities is 137 Rowayton Avenue, Rowayton, CT 06853. |
(4) | 2,711,170 of these shares are pledged to us for the benefit of certain indemnitees and may not be transferred until the date that is the earlier of (i) September 7, 2022; and (ii) the date on which the specified indemnified matters pursuant to the Merger Agreement have been finally resolved, and either (x) no obligations are due and payable as a result thereof, or (y) all obligations have been paid to the indemnitees in full. |
(5) | 277,238 of these shares are pledged to us for the benefit of certain indemnitees and may not be transferred until the date that is the earlier of (i) September 7, 2022; and (ii) the date on which the specified indemnified matters pursuant to the Merger Agreement have been finally resolved, and either (x) no obligations are due and payable as a result thereof, or (y) all obligations have been paid to the indemnitees in full.
|
(6) | The amount includes (i) shares of common stock held directly by Holtec International, (ii) shares of common stock held directly by Singh Real Estate Enterprises Inc., (iii) shares of common stock held directly by Tequesta Properties Inc. and shares of common stock held directly by HI-MED, LLC. Mr. Singh holds direct and/or indirect ownership of these entities and holds the full voting and dispositive power with respect to shares held by Holtec International, Tequesta Properties, Inc. and HI-MED, LLC. The address of Mr. Singh and each of the above referenced entities is 1 Holtec Blvd, Camden, NJ 08104. |
(7) | Represents securities held directly by AltEnergy LLC, or AltEnergy, AltEnergy Storage LC, or AltEnergy I, AltEnergy Storage II LLC, or AltEnergy II, AltEnergy Storage V LLC, or AltEnergy V, AltEnergy VI LLC, or AltEnergy VI, AltEnergy Storage Bridge LLC, or Bridge, AltEnergy Transmission LLC, or Transmission, AltEnergy Storage Bridge Phase II, or Bridge II. Mr. Stidolph is the managing director of AltEnergy, the managing member of each of AltEnergy I, AltEnergy II, AltEnergy VI, AltEnergy V, Bridge, Transmission and Bridge II, and has voting and dispositive power with respect to the AltEnergy Shares. Mr. Stidolph disclaims beneficial ownership of these shares, except to the extent of his pecuniary interest therein. |
(8) | The amount includes (i) shares of common stock held by BRC Partners Opportunity Fund, L.P. (“BRC”), (ii) shares of common stock underlying public warrants held by BRC, (iii) 2,550,750 shares of common stock held by the Sponsor, (iv) shares of common stock underlying private placement warrants held by the Sponsor, (v) shares of common stock held by B. Riley Securities, Inc. (“BRS”), (vi) shares of common stock held by B. Riley Principal Investments, LLC (“BRPI”), and (vii) shares of common stock that are subject to earnout restrictions under the Sponsor Earnout Letter. BRPI is the sole member of the Sponsor and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of B. Riley Financial, Inc. BRC Partners Management GP, LLC (“BRPGP”) is the general partner of BRC and B. Riley Capital Management, LLC (“BRCM”) is the parent company of BRPGP and B. Riley Financial is the parent company of each of BRCM and BRS. B. Riley Financial has voting and dispositive power over the securities held by each of BRPI, BRS and BRC. Bryant Riley is the Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer of B. Riley Financial and has voting and dispositive power over the securities held by B. Riley Financial. Each of BRPI and Mr. Riley disclaims beneficial ownership over any securities directly held by the Sponsor, BRS, BRPGP, BRCM or BRC other than to the extent of any pecuniary interest he or it may have therein, directly or indirectly. The address for this stockholder is 11100 Santa Monica Blvd, Suite 800, Los Angeles, CA 90025. |
76
Pursuant to the terms of the Merger Agreement, on February 11, 2021 we issued 1,994,171 shares of our common stock to former members of EES LLC upon achievement of certain milestones (the “Earnout Shares”). We are obligated to register the resale of the Earnout Shares pursuant to the terms of the registration rights agreement and, accordingly, this prospectus covers the offer and resale, from time to time, by the selling securityholders of any or all of the Earnout Shares.
This prospectus also covers the offer and resale, from time to time, of (i) up to 74,531 shares of common stock that have been issued to Joe Mastrangelo, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and a director, upon vesting of restricted stock units granted to him under the Plan, (ii) up to 5,015 shares of common stock issuable to Mr. Mastrangelo in connection with the achievement of the earnout milestones, (iii) up to 748 shares of common stock issuable Mack Treece, the Company’s Chief Strategic Alliances Officer, upon satisfaction of certain vesting terms set forth in previously issued restricted stock units held by Mr. Treece, (iv) up to 98,882 shares of common stock issuable to certain of the selling securityholders upon exercise of options granted under the Plan; (v) up to 2,853,750 shares of common stock issued in a private placement in connection with the business combination pursuant to the terms of the equity commitment letter and subscription agreements, (vi) up to 4,375,000 shares of common stock originally issued in a private placement to the Sponsor and subsequently distributed in part to certain BMRG directors and members of the Sponsor, (vii) up to 325,000 private placement warrants issued in a private placement to the Sponsor; (viii) up to 29,644,680 shares of common stock held by other selling securityholders of the Company; and (ix) up to 650,000 shares of common stock that were a constituent part of the private placement units.
In addition, this prospectus relates to the offer and sale of up to 8,750,000 shares of common stock that are issuable by us upon the exercise of the public warrants, which were previously registered, and up to 325,000 shares of common stock underlying private placement warrants issued in a private placement to the Sponsor.
The term “selling securityholders” includes the securityholders listed in the table below and their permitted transferees.
The table below provides, as of the date of this prospectus, information regarding the beneficial ownership of our common stock of each selling securityholder, the number of shares of common stock that may be sold by each selling securityholder under this prospectus and that each selling securityholder will beneficially own after this offering. We have based percentage ownership on 51,801,259 shares of common stock outstanding as of March 4, 2021.
Because each selling securityholder may dispose of all, none or some portion of their securities, no estimate can be given as to the number of securities that will be beneficially owned by a selling securityholder upon termination of this offering. For purposes of the table below, however, we have assumed that after termination of this offering none of the securities covered by this prospectus will be beneficially owned by the selling securityholder and further assumed that the selling securityholders will not acquire beneficial ownership of any additional securities during the offering. In addition, the selling securityholders may have sold, transferred or otherwise disposed of, or may sell, transfer or otherwise dispose of, at any time and from time to time, our securities in transactions exempt from the registration requirements of the Securities Act after the date on which the information in the table is presented.
77
Shares of Common Stock | Warrants to Purchase Common Stock | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Name | Number Beneficially Owned Prior to Offering | Number Registered for Sale Hereby | Number Beneficially Owned After Offering | Percent Owned After Offering | Number Beneficially Owned Prior to Offering | Number Registered for Sale Hereby | Number Beneficially Owned After Offering | Percent Owned After Offering | |||||||||||||||||||||||
ACE Energy Efficiency SPC | 918,438 | 918,438 | - | * | - | - | - | * | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Acme Engineering, Inc.(1) | 10,000 | 10,000 | - | * | - | - | - | * | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Acme Operating Company(1) | 58,440 | 58,440 | - | * | - | - | - | * | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Adelaro US Limited(2) | 115,678 | 115,678 | - | * | - | - | - | * | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Agile Energy Limited(3) | 922 | 922 | - | * | - | - | - | * | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Alekpar Safarov | 20,000 | 20,000 | - | * | - | - | - | * | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Alina LLC(4) | 105,807 | 105,807 | - | * | - | - | - | * | |||||||||||||||||||||||
AltEnergy, LLC(5) | 7,135,109 | 7,135,109 | - | * | - | - | - | * | |||||||||||||||||||||||
AME Cloud Ventures(6) | 92,520 | 92,520 | - | * | - | - | - | * | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Andrew Kelleher | < |