CORRESP 1 filename1.htm amao_corresp
 
Joan S. Guilfoyle
Senior Counsel
901 New York Avenue NW
3rd Floor East
Washington, DC 20001-4432
Direct 202.524.8467
Main 202.618.5000
Fax 202.618.5001
jguilfoyle@loeb.com
 
 
March 6, 2023
 
Jeffrey Gabor
Division of Corporation Finance
Office of Real Estate & Construction
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
100 F Street, N.E.
Washington, D.C. 20549  
 
Re:
American Acquisition Opportunity Inc.
Preliminary Proxy Statement
Filed February 17, 2023
 
 
Dear Mr. Gabor:
 
On behalf of our client, American Acquisition Opportunity Inc., a Delaware corporation (the “Company”), we submit to the staff (the “Staff”) of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) this letter setting forth the proposed revised disclosure to be included in the proxy materials to be sent to stockholders of the Company seeking approval of an extension of time to complete its business combination. This revised disclosure is in response to the oral comment you conveyed to me. In response to your comment, we are proposing to include a Risk Factors section in the form attached as Exhibit A hereto.
 
Please note that the Company is trying to finalize its proxy materials by March 8, 2023 so any further comments or clearance as soon as possible would be appreciated.
 
Sincerely,
/s/ Joan S. Guilfoyle
 
Joan S. Guilfoyle
Senior Counsel
 
 
 
 
 
 Exhibit A
RISK FACTORS
 
 
You should consider carefully all of the risks described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC and in the other reports we file with the SEC before making a decision to invest in our securities. Furthermore, if any of the following events occur, our business, financial condition and operating results may be materially adversely affected or we could face liquidation. In that event, the trading price of our securities could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment. The risks and uncertainties described in the aforementioned filings and below are not the only ones we face. Additional risks and uncertainties that we are unaware of, or that we currently believe are not material, may also become important factors that adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results or result in our liquidation.
 
There are no assurances that the Extension Amendment will enable us to complete the Business Combination.
 
Approving the Extension Amendment involves a number of risks. Even if the Extension Amendment is approved, the Company can provide no assurances that the Business Combination will be consummated prior to the Extended Date. Our ability to consummate the Business Combination is dependent on a variety of factors, many of which are beyond our control. We are required to offer stockholders the opportunity to redeem shares in connection with the Extension Amendment and we will be required to offer stockholders redemption rights again in connection with the stockholder vote to approve the Business Combination. Even if the Extension Amendment and the Business Combination are approved by our stockholders, it is possible that redemptions will leave us with insufficient cash to consummate the Business Combination on commercially acceptable terms, or at all. The fact that we will have separate redemption periods in connection with the Extension Amendment and the Business Combination vote could exacerbate these risks.
 
The Company may be subject to the excise tax included in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 in connection with redemptions of our common stock after December 31, 2022.
 
On August 16, 2022, President Biden signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (the “IR Act”), which, among other things, imposes a 1% excise tax on any publicly traded domestic corporation that repurchases its stock after December 31, 2022 (the “Excise Tax”). The Excise Tax is imposed on the fair market value of the repurchased stock, with certain exceptions. Because we are a Delaware corporation and our securities are trading on Nasdaq, we will be a “covered corporation” within the meaning of the IR Act. While not free from doubt, absent any further guidance from the U.S. Department of the Treasury (the “Treasury”), who has been given authority to provide regulations and other guidance to carry out and prevent the abuse or avoidance of the Excise Tax, the Excise Tax may apply to any redemptions of our common stock after December 31, 2022, including redemptions in connection with an initial business combination, extension vote or otherwise, unless an exemption is available. The Excise Tax would be payable by the Company and not by the redeeming holders. Generally, issuances of securities by us in connection with our initial business combination transaction (including any PIPE transaction at the time of our initial business combination), as well as any other issuances of securities not in connection with our initial business combination, would be expected to reduce the amount of the Excise Tax in connection with redemptions occurring in the same calendar year.
 
 
 
 
Whether and to what extent the Company would be subject to the Excise Tax in connection with a business combination, extension vote or otherwise would depend on a number of factors, including (i) the fair market value of the redemptions and repurchases in connection with the business combination, extension vote or otherwise, (ii) the structure of a business combination, (iii) the nature and amount of any “PIPE” or other equity issuances in connection with a business combination (or otherwise issued not in connection with a business combination but issued within the same taxable year of a business combination) and (iv) the content of regulations and other guidance from the Treasury. Consequently, the Excise Tax may make a transaction with us less appealing to potential business combination targets. Finally, based on recently issued interim guidance from the Internal Revenue Service and Treasury in Notice 2023-2, subject to certain exceptions, the Excise Tax should not apply in the event of our liquidation.
 
Changes to laws or regulations or in how such laws or regulations are interpreted or applied, or a failure to comply with any laws, regulations, interpretations or applications, may adversely affect our business, including our ability to complete the Business Combination.
 
 We are subject to the laws and regulations, and interpretations and applications of such laws and regulations, of national, regional, state and local governments. In particular, we are required to comply with certain SEC and other legal and regulatory requirements, and our consummation of an initial Business Combination may be contingent upon our ability to comply with certain laws, regulations, interpretations and applications and any post-Business Combination company may be subject to additional laws, regulations, interpretations and applications. Compliance with, and monitoring of, the foregoing may be difficult, time consuming and costly. Those laws and regulations and their interpretation and application may also change from time to time, and those changes could have a material adverse effect on our business, including our ability to negotiate and complete an initial Business Combination. A failure to comply with applicable laws or regulations, as interpreted and applied, could have a material adverse effect on our business, including our ability to negotiate and complete an initial Business Combination. The SEC has, in the past year, adopted certain rules and may, in the future adopt other rules, which may have a material effect on our activities and on our ability to consummate an initial Business Combination, including the SPAC Proposed Rules (as defined below) described below.
 
 
 
 
 
The SEC has recently issued proposed rules to regulate special purpose acquisition companies. Certain of the procedures that we, a Business Combination target, or others may determine to undertake in connection with such proposals may increase our costs and the time needed to complete a Business Combination and may constrain the circumstances under which we could complete a Business Combination. The need for compliance with the SPAC Proposed Rules may cause us to liquidate the funds in the Trust Account or liquidate the Company at an earlier time than we might otherwise choose.
 
On March 30, 2022, the SEC issued the SPAC Rule Proposals relating, among other items, to disclosures in business combination transactions between SPACs such as us and private operating companies; the condensed financial statement requirements applicable to transactions involving shell companies; the use of projections by SPACs in SEC filings in connection with proposed business combination transactions; the potential liability of certain participants in proposed business combination transactions; and the extent to which SPACs could become subject to regulation under the Investment Company Act, including a proposed rule that would provide SPACs a safe harbor from treatment as an investment company if they satisfy certain conditions that limit a SPAC’s duration, asset composition, business purpose and activities. The SPAC Proposed Rules have not yet been adopted, and may be adopted in the proposed form or in a different form that could impose additional regulatory requirements on SPACs. Certain of the procedures that we, a Business Combination target, or others may determine to undertake in connection with the SPAC Rule Proposals, or pursuant to the SEC’s views expressed in the SPAC Rule Proposals, may increase the costs of negotiating and completing a Business Combination and the time required to consummate a transaction, and may constrain the circumstances under which we could complete a Business Combination. The need for compliance with the SPAC Proposed Rules may cause us to liquidate the funds in the Trust Account or liquidate the Company at an earlier time than we might otherwise choose. Were we to liquidate, our warrants would expire worthless, and our securityholders would lose the investment opportunity associated with an investment in the combined company, including any potential price appreciation of our securities.
 
If we are deemed to be an investment company for purposes of the Investment Company Act, we would be required to institute burdensome compliance requirements and our activities would be severely restricted. As a result, in such circumstances, unless we are able to modify our activities so that we would not be deemed an investment company, we may abandon our efforts to complete an initial Business Combination and instead liquidate the Company.
 
As described further above, the SPAC Proposed Rules relate, among other matters, to the circumstances in which SPACs such as the Company could potentially be subject to the Investment Company Act and the regulations thereunder. The SPAC Proposed Rules would provide a safe harbor for such companies from the definition of “investment company” under Section 3(a)(1)(A) of the Investment Company Act, provided that a SPAC satisfies certain criteria, including a limited time period to announce and complete a de-SPAC transaction. Specifically, to comply with the safe harbor, the SPAC Proposed Rules would require a company to file a report on Form 8-K announcing that it has entered into an agreement with a target company for a Business Combination no later than 18 months after the effective date of its registration statement for its initial public offering (the “IPO Registration Statement”). The Company would then be required to complete its initial Business Combination no later than the 24-month anniversary of the closing of the IPO.
 
 
 
 
If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, our activities would be severely restricted. In addition, we would be subject to burdensome compliance requirements. We do not believe that our principal activities will subject us to regulation as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. However, if we are deemed to be an investment company and subject to compliance with and regulation under the Investment Company Act, we would be subject to additional regulatory burdens and expenses for which we have not allotted funds. As a result, unless we are able to modify our activities so that we would not be deemed an investment company, we may abandon our efforts to complete an initial Business Combination and instead liquidate the Company. Were we to liquidate, our warrants would expire worthless, and our securityholders would lose the investment opportunity associated with an investment in the combined company, including any potential price appreciation of our securities.
 
To mitigate the risk that we might be deemed to be an investment company for purposes of the Investment Company Act, we currently intend, prior to the 24-month anniversary of the closing of the IPO, to instruct the trustee to liquidate the investments held in the Trust Account and instead to hold the funds in the Trust Account in cash in an interest-bearing demand deposit account until the earlier of the consummation of our initial Business Combination or our liquidation. As a result, following the liquidation of investments in the Trust Account, we would likely receive minimal interest on the funds held in the Trust Account, which would reduce the dollar amount our public stockholders would receive upon any redemption or liquidation of the Company.
 
The funds in the Trust Account have, since our initial public offering, been held only in U.S. government treasury obligations with a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds investing solely in U.S. government treasury obligations and meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act. However, to mitigate the risk of us being deemed to be an unregistered investment company (including under the subjective test of Section 3(a)(1)(A) of the Investment Company Act) and thus subject to regulation under the Investment Company Act, we intend to, prior to the 24-month anniversary of the closing of the IPO, instruct Continental (as defined below), the trustee with respect to the Trust Account, to liquidate the U.S. government treasury obligations or money market funds held in the Trust Account and thereafter to maintain the funds in the Trust Account in cash in an interest-bearing demand deposit account at a bank until the earlier of the consummation of our initial Business Combination and liquidation of the Company. Interest on such deposit account is currently approximately 2.5 – 3.0% per annum, but such deposit account carries a variable rate and the Company cannot assure you that such rate will not decrease or increase significantly. Following such liquidation, we would likely receive minimal interest on the funds held in the Trust Account. However, interest previously earned on the funds held in the Trust Account still may be released to us to pay our taxes, if any. As a result, any decision to liquidate the investments held in the Trust Account and thereafter to hold all funds in the Trust Account in cash in an interest-bearing demand deposit account would reduce the dollar amount our public stockholders would receive upon any redemption or liquidation of the Company.
 
In addition, even prior to the 24-month anniversary of the closing of the IPO, we may be deemed to be an investment company. The longer that the funds in the Trust Account are held in short-term U.S. government treasury obligations or in money market funds invested exclusively in such securities, even prior to the 24-month anniversary of the closing of the IPO, the greater the risk that we may be considered an unregistered investment company, in which case we may be required to liquidate the Company. Accordingly, we may determine, in our discretion, to liquidate the securities held in the Trust Account at any time, even prior to the 24-month anniversary of the closing of the IPO, and instead hold all funds in the Trust Account in cash in an interest-bearing demand deposit account which would further reduce the dollar amount our public stockholders would receive upon any redemption or liquidation of the Company. Were we to liquidate, our warrants would expire worthless, and our securityholders would lose the investment opportunity associated with an investment in the combined company, including any potential price appreciation of our securities.