Business description of Accel-Entertainment-Inc from last 10-k form

isk Factors

An investment in our securities involves a high degree of risk. You should consider carefully all of the risks described below, together with the other information contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including our financial statements and related notes, before making a decision to invest in our securities. If any of the following events occur, our business, financial condition and operating results may be materially adversely affected. 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 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.

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

We are a recently formed blank check company incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands with no operating results, and we will not commence operations until completing a Business Combination. Because we lack an operating history, you have no basis upon which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective of completing our initial Business Combination with one or more target businesses. We have no plans, arrangements or understandings with any prospective target business concerning a Business Combination and may be unable to complete our initial Business Combination. If we fail to complete our initial Business Combination, we will never generate any operating revenues.

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

We may not hold a shareholder vote to approve our initial Business Combination unless the Business Combination would require shareholder approval under applicable Cayman Islands law or the rules of the NYSE or if we decide to hold a shareholder vote for business or other reasons. For instance, the NYSE rules currently allow us to engage in a tender offer in lieu of a shareholder meeting but would still require us to obtain shareholder approval if we were seeking to issue more than 20% of our outstanding shares to a target business as consideration in any Business Combination. Therefore, if we were structuring a Business Combination that required us to issue more than 20% of our outstanding shares, we would seek shareholder approval of such Business Combination. However, except as required by law, the decision as to whether we will seek shareholder approval of a proposed Business Combination or will allow shareholders to sell their shares to us in a tender offer will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on a variety of factors, such as the timing of the transaction and whether the terms of the transaction would otherwise require us to seek shareholder approval. Accordingly, we may consummate our initial Business Combination even if holders of a majority of the outstanding ordinary shares do not approve of the Business Combination we consummate. Please see the section entitled “Item 1. Business - Shareholders May Not Have the Ability to Approve Our Initial Business Combination” for additional information.

If we seek shareholder approval of our initial Business Combination, our Initial Shareholders, officers and directors have agreed to vote in favor of such initial Business Combination, regardless of how our public shareholders vote.

Unlike many other blank check companies in which the initial shareholders agree to vote their founder shares in accordance with the majority of the votes cast by the public shareholders in connection with an initial Business Combination, our Initial Shareholders, officers and directors have agreed (and their permitted transferees will agree), pursuant to the terms of a letter agreement entered into with us, to vote any Founder Shares held by them, as well as any Public Shares purchased during or after our Public Offering, in favor of our initial Business Combination. As a result, in addition to our Initial Shareholders’ Founder Shares, we would need 16,875,001, or approximately 37.5%, of 45,000,000 Public Shares to be voted in favor of a transaction (assuming all outstanding shares are voted) in order to have an initial Business Combination approved (or, if the applicable rules of the NYSE then in effect require approval by a majority of the votes cast by public shareholders, we would need 22,500,001 Public Shares to be voted in favor of a transaction (assuming all outstanding shares are voted) in order to have an initial Business Combination approved). We expect that our Initial Shareholders and their permitted transferees will own at least 20% of our outstanding ordinary shares at the time of any such shareholder vote. Accordingly, if we seek shareholder approval of our initial Business Combination, it is more likely that the necessary shareholder approval will be received than would be the case if such persons agreed to vote their Founder Shares in accordance with the majority of the votes cast by our public shareholders.  

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Your only opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding a potential Business Combination will be limited to the exercise of your right to redeem your shares from us for cash, unless we seek shareholder approval of the Business Combination.

At the time of your investment in us, you will not be provided with an opportunity to evaluate the specific merits or risks of one or more target businesses. Since our board of directors may complete a Business Combination without seeking shareholder approval, public shareholders may not have the right or opportunity to vote on the Business Combination, unless we seek such shareholder approval. Accordingly, if we do not seek shareholder approval, your only opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding a potential Business Combination may be limited to exercising your redemption rights within the period of time (which will be at least 20 business days) set forth in our tender offer documents mailed to our public shareholders in which we describe our initial Business Combination.

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.

We may seek to enter into a Business Combination transaction agreement with a prospective target that requires as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. If too many public shareholders exercise their redemption rights, we would not be able to meet such closing condition and, as a result, would not be able to proceed with the Business Combination. Furthermore, in no event will we redeem our Public Shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets, after payment of the deferred underwriting commissions, to be less than $5,000,001 (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial Business Combination. Consequently, if accepting all properly submitted redemption requests would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 or such greater amount necessary to satisfy a closing condition as described above, we would not proceed with such redemption and the related Business Combination and may instead search for an alternate Business Combination. Prospective targets will be aware of these risks and, thus, may be reluctant to enter into a Business Combination transaction with us.

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.

At the time we enter into an agreement for our initial Business Combination, we will not know how many shareholders may exercise their redemption rights, and therefore we will need to structure the transaction based on our expectations as to the number of shares that will be submitted for redemption. If our initial Business Combination agreement requires us to use a portion of the cash in the Trust Account to pay the purchase price, or requires us to have a minimum amount of cash at closing, we will need to reserve a portion of the cash in the Trust Account to meet such requirements, or arrange for third party financing. In addition, if a larger number of shares are submitted for redemption than we initially expected, we may need to restructure the transaction to reserve a greater portion of the cash in the Trust Account or arrange for third party financing. Raising additional third party financing may involve dilutive equity issuances or the incurrence of indebtedness at higher than desirable levels. The above considerations may limit our ability to complete the most desirable Business Combination available to us 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.

If our initial Business Combination agreement requires us to use a portion of the cash in the Trust Account to pay the purchase price, or requires us to have a minimum amount of cash at closing, the probability that our initial Business Combination would be unsuccessful is increased. If our initial Business Combination is unsuccessful, you would not receive your pro rata portion of the Trust Account until we liquidate the Trust Account. If you are in need of immediate liquidity, you could attempt to sell your shares in the open market; however, at such time our shares may trade at a discount to the pro rata amount per share in the Trust Account. In either situation, you may suffer a material loss on your investment or lose the benefit of funds expected in connection with our redemption until we liquidate or you are able to sell your shares in the open market.

The requirement that we complete our initial Business Combination within the prescribed time frame may give potential target businesses leverage over us in negotiating a Business Combination and may decrease our ability to conduct due diligence on potential Business Combination targets 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.

Any potential target business with which we enter into negotiations concerning a Business Combination will be aware that we must complete our initial Business Combination within 24 months from the Close Date (or 27 months from the Close Date if we have executed a letter of intent, agreement in principle or definitive agreement for an initial Business Combination within 24 months from

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the Close Date but have not completed the initial Business Combination within such 24-month period). Consequently, such target business may obtain leverage over us in negotiating a Business Combination, knowing that if we do not complete our initial Business Combination with that particular target business, we may be unable to complete our initial Business Combination with any target business. This risk will increase as we get closer to the deadline described above. In addition, we may have limited time to conduct due diligence and may enter into our initial Business Combination on terms that we would have rejected upon a more comprehensive investigation.

We may not be able to complete our initial Business Combination within the prescribed time frame, in which case we would cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up and we would redeem our Public Shares and liquidate, in which case our public shareholders may only receive $10.00 per share, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, and our Warrants will expire worthless.

Our Sponsor, officers and directors have agreed that we must complete our initial Business Combination within 24 months from the Close Date (or 27 months, as applicable). We may not be able to find a suitable target business and complete our initial Business Combination within such time period. If we have not completed our initial Business Combination within such time period, we will: (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the Public Shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the Trust Account, including interest earned on the funds held in the Trust Account and not previously released to us to fund our working capital requirements, subject to an annual limit of $750,000, and/or to pay our taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding Public Shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public shareholders’ rights as shareholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining shareholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law, in which case our public shareholders may only receive $10.00 per share, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, and our Warrants will expire worthless.

If we seek shareholder approval of our initial Business Combination, our Sponsor, directors, officers, advisors and their affiliates may elect to purchase shares from public shareholders, which may influence a vote on a proposed Business Combination and reduce the public “float” of our ordinary shares.

If we seek shareholder approval of our initial Business Combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial Business Combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our Sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase shares in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial Business Combination, although they are under no obligation to do so. Such a purchase may include a contractual acknowledgement that such shareholder, although still the record holder of our shares is no longer the beneficial owner thereof and therefore agrees not to exercise its redemption rights. In the event that our Sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates purchase shares in privately negotiated transactions from public shareholders who have already elected to exercise their redemption rights, such selling shareholders would be required to revoke their prior elections to redeem their shares. The purpose of such purchases could be to vote such shares in favor of the initial Business Combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining shareholder approval of the initial Business Combination or to satisfy a closing condition in an agreement with a target that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash at the closing of our initial Business Combination, where it appears that such requirement would otherwise not be met. This may result in the completion of our initial Business Combination that may not otherwise have been possible.

In addition, if such purchases are made, the public “float” of our Public Shares and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, possibly making it difficult to maintain or obtain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange.

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.

We will comply with the tender offer rules or proxy rules, as applicable, when conducting redemptions in connection with our initial Business Combination. Despite our compliance with these rules, if a shareholder fails to receive our tender offer or proxy materials, as applicable, such shareholder may not become aware of the opportunity to redeem its shares. In addition, the tender offer documents or proxy materials, as applicable, that we will furnish to holders of our Public Shares in connection with our initial Business Combination will describe the various procedures that must be complied with in order to validly tender or redeem Public Shares. In the event that a shareholder fails to comply with these procedures, its shares may not be redeemed. See “Item 1. Business - Tendering share certificates in connection with a tender offer or redemption rights.”

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You will not have any rights or interests in funds from the Trust Account, except under certain limited circumstances. To liquidate your investment, therefore, you may be forced to sell your Public Shares or Warrants, potentially at a loss.

Our public shareholders will be entitled to receive funds from the Trust Account only upon the earliest to occur of: (i) the completion of our initial Business Combination, (ii) the redemption of any Public Shares properly submitted in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our Public Shares if we do not complete an initial Business Combination within 24 months from the Close Date (or 27 months, as applicable), and (iii) the redemption of all of our Public Shares if we are unable to complete our initial Business Combination within 24 months from the Close Date (or 27 months, as applicable), subject to applicable law and as further described herein. In no other circumstances will a public shareholder have any right or interest of any kind in the Trust Account. Accordingly, to liquidate your investment, you may be forced to sell your Public Shares or Warrants, potentially at a loss.

The 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.

We cannot assure you that our securities will continue to be listed on the NYSE in the future or prior to our initial Business Combination. In order to continue listing our securities on the NYSE prior to our initial Business Combination, we must maintain certain financial, distribution and share price levels. Generally, we must maintain a minimum number of holders of our securities (300 round lot holders). Additionally, in connection with our initial Business Combination, we will be required to demonstrate round lot compliance with the NYSE’s initial listing requirements, which are more rigorous than the NYSE’s continued listing requirements, in order to continue to maintain the listing of our securities on the NYSE. For instance, our share price would generally be required to be at least $4.00 per share. We cannot assure you that we will be able to meet those initial listing requirements at that time.

If the NYSE delists our securities from trading on its exchange and we are not able to list our securities on another national securities exchange, we expect our securities could be quoted on an over-the-counter market. If this were to occur, we could face significant material adverse consequences, including:

 

a limited availability of market quotations for our securities;

 

reduced liquidity for our securities;

 

a determination that our Public Shares are a “penny stock” which will require brokers trading in our Public Shares to adhere to more stringent rules and possibly result in a reduced level of trading activity in the secondary trading market for our securities;

 

a limited amount of news and analyst coverage; and

 

a decreased ability to issue additional securities or obtain additional financing in the future.

The National Securities Markets Improvement Act of 1996, which is a federal statute, prevents or preempts the states from regulating the sale of certain securities, which are referred to as “covered securities.” Because our Units, Public Shares and Warrants are listed on the NYSE, our Units, Public Shares and Warrants are covered securities. Although the states are preempted from regulating the sale of our securities, the federal statute does allow the states to investigate companies if there is a suspicion of fraud, and, if there is a finding of fraudulent activity, then the states can regulate or bar the sale of covered securities in a particular case. While we are not aware of a state having used these powers to prohibit or restrict the sale of securities issued by blank check companies, other than the state of Idaho, certain state securities regulators view blank check companies unfavorably and might use these powers, or threaten to use these powers, to hinder the sale of securities of blank check companies in their states. Further, if we were no longer listed on the NYSE, our securities would not be covered securities and we would be subject to regulation in each state in which we offer our securities.

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

Because we have net tangible assets in excess of $5,000,000 and timely filed a Current Report on Form 8-K after the Close Date, including an audited balance sheet demonstrating this fact, we are exempt from rules promulgated by the SEC to protect investors in blank check companies, such as Rule 419. Accordingly, investors are not afforded the benefits or protections of those rules. Among other things, this means our Units were immediately tradable at the Close Date and we will have a longer period of time to complete our initial Business Combination than do companies subject to Rule 419. Moreover, if we were subject to Rule 419, that rule would prohibit the release of any interest earned on funds held in the Trust Account to us unless and until the funds in the Trust Account were released to us in connection with our completion of an initial Business Combination.  

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 Public Shares, you will lose the ability to redeem all such shares in excess of 15% of our Public Shares.

If we seek shareholder approval of our initial Business Combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial Business Combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provides that a public shareholder, together with any affiliate of such shareholder or any other person with whom such shareholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from seeking redemption rights with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the Public Shares, which we refer to as the “Excess Shares.” However, we would not be restricting our shareholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our initial Business Combination. Your inability to redeem the Excess Shares will reduce your influence over our ability to complete our initial Business Combination and you could suffer a material loss on your investment in us if you sell Excess Shares in open market transactions. Additionally, you will not receive redemption distributions with respect to the Excess Shares if we complete our initial Business Combination. And as a result, you will continue to hold that number of shares exceeding 15% and, in order to dispose of such shares, would be required to sell your shares in open market transactions, potentially at a loss.

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 are unable to complete our initial Business Combination, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on our redemption, and our Warrants will expire worthless.

We expect to encounter intense competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours, including private investors (which may be individuals or investment partnerships), other blank check companies and other entities, domestic and international, competing for the types of businesses we intend to acquire. Many of these individuals and entities are well-established and have extensive experience in identifying and effecting, directly or indirectly, acquisitions of companies operating in or providing services to various industries. Many of these competitors possess greater technical, human and other resources or more local industry knowledge than we do and our financial resources will be relatively limited when contrasted with those of many of these competitors. While we believe there are numerous target businesses we could potentially acquire, our ability to compete with respect to the acquisition of certain target businesses that are sizable will be limited by our available financial resources. This inherent competitive limitation gives others an advantage in pursuing the acquisition of certain target businesses. Furthermore, if we are obligated to pay cash for the Class A ordinary shares redeemed and, in the event we seek shareholder approval of our initial Business Combination, we make purchases of our Public Shares, potentially reducing the resources available to us for our initial Business Combination. Any of these obligations may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating a Business Combination. If we are unable to complete our initial Business Combination, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share on the liquidation of the Trust Account and our Warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public shareholders may receive less than $10.00 per share on the redemption of their shares. See “—If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the Trust Account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by shareholders may be less than $10.00 per share” and other risk factors herein.