10-K

Large accelerated filer

Accelerated filer

Non-accelerated filer

Smaller reporting company

Emerging growth company

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FOR

10-K

☒	ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021

☐	TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from

H.I.G. ACQUISITION CORP.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)


Cayman Islands	001-39639	98-1556204
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation)	(Commission File Number)	(IRS Employer Identification No.)

1450 Brickell Avenue, 31st Floor

Miami, FL 33131

(Address of principal executive offices, including zip code)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code:

(305) 379-2322

Not Applicable

(Former name or former address, if changed since last report)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:


Title of each class	Trading Symbol(s)	Name of each exchange on which registered
Units, each consisting of one Class A ordinary share, $0.0001 par value, and one-third of one redeemable warrant	HIGA.U	New York Stock Exchange
Class A ordinary shares included as part of the units	HIGA	New York Stock Exchange
Redeemable warrants included as part of the units	HIGA WS	New York Stock Exchange

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☐ No ☒

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act. Yes ☐ No ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation

S-T

(§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a

non-accelerated

filer, 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.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule

12b-2

of the Exchange Act). Yes ☒ No ☐

The aggregate market value of the Class A ordinary shares held by

non-affiliates

of the registrant, based on the closing price of the Class A ordinary shares on The New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) on June 30, 2021, the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter, was approximately $353,390,595.

As of March 29, 2022, 36,394,500 Class A ordinary shares, par value $0.0001, and 9,098,625 Class B ordinary shares, par value $0.0001, were issued and outstanding.

Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS


		Page
CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS AND RISK FACTOR SUMMARY			1

PART I			4
Item 1.	Business		4
Item 1A.	Risk Factors		26
Item 1B.	Unresolved Staff Comments		63
Item 2.	Properties		63
Item 3.	Legal Proceedings		63
Item 4.	Mine Safety Disclosures		63

PART II			64
Item 5.	Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Shareholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities		64
Item 6.	Reserved		64
Item 7.	Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations		65
Item 7A.	Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk		68
Item 8.	Financial Statements and Supplementary Data		68
Item 9.	Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure		68
Item 9A.	Controls and Procedures		69
Item 9B.	Other Information		71
Item 9C.	Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections		71

PART III			71
Item 10.	Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance		71
Item 11.	Executive Compensation		81
Item 12.	Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Shareholder Matters		81
Item 13.	Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence		83
Item 14.	Principal Accountant Fees and Services		85

PART IV
Item 15.	Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules		F-1

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CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

AND RISK FACTOR SUMMARY

This Report, including, without limitation, statements under the heading “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, (the “Securities Act”) and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, (the “Exchange Act”). Our forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our or our management team’s and board of director’s expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future. In addition, any statements that refer to projections, forecasts or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. The words “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intends,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “would” and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. Forward-looking statements in this Report may include, for example, statements about:

•

our ability to select an appropriate target business or businesses;

•

our ability to complete our initial business combination;

•

our expectations around the performance of a prospective target business or businesses;

•

our success in retaining or recruiting, or changes required in, our officers, key employees or directors following our initial business combination;

•

our officers and directors allocating their time to other businesses and potentially having conflicts of interest with our business or in approving our initial business combination;

•

our potential ability to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination;

•

our pool of prospective target businesses;

•

our ability to consummate an initial business combination due to the uncertainty resulting from the

COVID-19

pandemic;

•

the ability of our officers and directors to generate a number of potential business combination opportunities;

•

our public securities’ potential liquidity and trading;

•

the lack of a market for our securities;

•

the use of proceeds not held in the trust account or available to us from interest income on the trust account balance;

•

the trust account not being subject to claims of third parties; and

•

or our financial performance following our initial public offering.

The forward-looking statements contained in this Report are based on our current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects on us. There can be no assurance that future developments affecting us will be those that we have anticipated. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties (some of which are beyond our control) or other assumptions that may cause actual results or performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those factors described under the heading “Risk Factors.” Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of our assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary in material respects from those projected in these forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.

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Risk Factor Summary

We are a blank check company that has conducted no operations and has generated no revenues. Until we complete our initial business combination, we will have no operations and will generate no operating revenues. In making your decision whether to invest in our securities, you should take into account not only the background of our management team, but also the special risks we face as a blank check company. You should carefully consider these and the other risks set forth in the section entitled “Risk Factors” of this Report. Such risks include, but are not limited to:

•

We are a recently incorporated company with no operating history and no revenues, and you have no basis on which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective.

•

Past performance by H.I.G. Capital, our management team, our board of directors or their respective affiliates may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in us.

•

Our shareholders may not be afforded an opportunity to vote on our proposed initial business combination, which means we may complete our initial business combination even though a majority of our shareholders do not support such a combination.

•

Your only opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding a potential business combination may be limited to the exercise of your right to redeem your shares from us for cash.

•

If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor and members of our management team have agreed to vote in favor of such initial business combination, regardless of how our public shareholders vote.

•

The ability of our public shareholders to redeem their shares for cash may make our financial condition unattractive to potential business combination targets, which may make it difficult for us to enter into a business combination with a target.

•

The ability of our public shareholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our shares may not allow us to complete the most desirable business combination or optimize our capital structure.

•

The ability of our public shareholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our shares could increase the probability that our initial business combination would be unsuccessful and that you would have to wait for liquidation in order to redeem your shares.

•

We may engage the underwriters or one of their affiliates to provide additional services to us. The underwriters are entitled to receive deferred commissions from our initial public offering that will be released from the trust only on the completion of an initial business combination. These financial incentives may cause the underwriters to have potential conflicts of interest in rendering any such additional services to us.

•

The requirement that we consummate an initial business combination within 24 months after the closing of our initial public offering may give potential target businesses leverage over us in negotiating a business combination and may limit the time we have in which to conduct due diligence on potential business combination targets, in particular as we approach our dissolution deadline, which could undermine our ability to complete our initial business combination on terms that would produce value for our shareholders.

•

Changes in the market for directors and officers liability insurance could make it more difficult and more expensive for us to negotiate and complete an initial business combination.

•

Our search for a business combination, and any target business with which we ultimately consummate a business combination, may be materially adversely affected by the coronavirus

(COVID-19)

outbreak and the status of debt and equity markets.

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•

We may not be able to consummate an initial business combination within 24 months after the closing of our initial public offering, in which case we would cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up and we would redeem our public shares and liquidate.

•

If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor, directors, executive officers, advisors and their affiliates may elect to purchase public shares or warrants, which may influence a vote on a proposed business combination and reduce the public “float” of our Class A ordinary shares or public warrants.

•

If a shareholder fails to receive notice of our offer to redeem our public shares in connection with our initial business combination, or fails to comply with the procedures for tendering its shares, such shares may not be redeemed.

•

You will not have any rights or interests in funds from the trust account, except under certain limited circumstances. Therefore, to liquidate your investment, you may be forced to sell your public shares or warrants, potentially at a loss.

•

NYSE may delist our securities from trading on its exchange, which could limit investors’ ability to make transactions in our securities and subject us to additional trading restrictions.

•

You will not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors of many other blank check companies.

•

If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, and if you or a “group” of shareholders are deemed to hold in excess of 15% of our Class A ordinary shares, you will lose the ability to redeem all such shares in excess of 15% of our Class A ordinary shares.

•

Because of our limited resources and the significant competition for business combination opportunities, it may be more difficult for us to complete our initial business combination.

•

If we have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.

•

If the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants not being held in the trust account are insufficient to allow us to operate for the 24 months following the closing of our initial public offering, it could limit the amount available to fund our search for a target business or businesses and our ability to complete our initial business combination, and we will depend on loans from our sponsor, its affiliates or members of our management team to fund our search and to complete our initial business combination.

•

The other risks and uncertainties discussed in Item 1A. Risk Factors and elsewhere in this Report.

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PART I

Item 1. Business

Overview

We are a blank check company recently incorporated as a Cayman Islands exempted company and formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses, which we refer to throughout this Report as our initial business combination. We have not entered into any definitive acquisition agreement with any potential business combination target.

Our sponsor is an affiliate of H.I.G. Capital, a leading global alternative asset manager active in private equity, growth equity, credit and real asset strategies. Through our affiliation with H.I.G. Capital, we intend to capitalize on the ability of H.I.G. Capital’s multi-sector platform. Given H.I.G. Capital’s global reach and experience across industries, we believe our team has the required investment, operational, diligence and capital raising expertise, as well as relationships with financing, deal sourcing and advisory counterparties to effect a business combination with an attractive target and to position it for long-term success in the public markets.

We intend to identify and acquire a business that complements the experience and expertise of our management team, our board of directors and H.I.G. Capital. We believe that we are well positioned to capitalize on the significant volume of transaction opportunities that H.I.G. Capital consistently generates but is not currently pursuing via its existing strategies and vehicles. H.I.G. Capital has in the past declined to pursue potential investment opportunities that offered attractive risk-adjusted returns that would have been relevant to our acquisition strategy because those opportunities were not within size parameters of H.I.G. Capital’s existing funds. H.I.G. Capital’s deep industry experience and historical success of value creation in businesses position us well to identify, evaluate, and manage these larger businesses. By leveraging management’s and our board of director’s extensive operating expertise, we believe we can identify critical “value creation” drivers needed to help companies realize their full potential.

H.I.G. Capital was founded in 1993 by Sami Mnaymneh and Tony Tamer, each of whom are currently

Co-CEOs

of H.I.G. Capital. As of March 1, 2022, H.I.G. Capital managed approximately $47 billion of capital under management, or aggregate capital commitments of private funds and accounts, across multiple investment fund strategies, including private equity, growth equity, credit and real assets. With offices in the U.S. (Miami, New York, Boston, Los Angeles, Stamford, San Francisco, Dallas, Chicago and Atlanta), Europe (London, Paris, Hamburg, Luxembourg, Madrid and Milan) and Latin America (Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paolo and Bogota), H.I.G. Capital’s approximately 500 dedicated investment professionals bring a depth of experience and skills across a broad range of industries and transaction types.

Since its founding in 1993, H.I.G. Capital has executed over 1,000 investments and managed more than 380 companies worldwide. Over its

29-year

history, H.I.G. Capital has maintained a successful investment track record across multiple investment cycles and changing macroeconomic environments, including the September 11 attacks and the financial crisis of 2008. H.I.G. Capital identifies intrinsic “value creation” drivers needed to help companies realize their full potential, including implementing impactful operational efficiency improvements, significantly scaling the business through acquisitions, strategically repositioning the business, and investing capital and other resources to increase capabilities and expand market penetration. By identifying, executing and integrating accretive acquisitions and financing them efficiently, H.I.G. Capital’s investment professionals work to help businesses further cement their market leadership position. H.I.G. Capital’s investment professionals collaborate with management to optimize the

go-to-market

strategy and cost structure, assist in diversifying into ancillary products and markets and divest

non-core

businesses. H.I.G. Capital’s investment professionals collaborate with management to streamline and prioritize strategic initiatives and establish detailed and consistent frameworks to track the progress of such initiatives.

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H.I.G. Capital’s strong multi-decade track

SEC Form 10-K filed by H.I.G. Acquisition Corp.