LOAK Live Oak Acquisition Corp

Investing in our securities involves risks. In addition to the risks and uncertainties discussed above under “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements,” you should carefully consider the specific risks set forth herein. If any of these risks actually occur, it may materially harm our business, financial condition, liquidity, and results of operations. As a result, the market price of our securities could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently believe to be immaterial may become material and adversely affect our business. The following discussion should be read in conjunction with the Consolidated Financial Statements and Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Report.

Risks Related to the Company

We have a history of net losses and our future profitability is uncertain.

We have recorded a loss for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020, and our future profitability is uncertain. At December 31, 2020, our accumulated deficit was approximately $62.5 million. Since our inception, we have been engaged primarily in research and development and early-stage commercial activities. Because we have a limited history of commercial operations and we operate in a rapidly evolving industry, we cannot be certain that we will generate sufficient revenue to operate our business and become profitable.

Our ability to generate revenues in the near-term is highly dependent on the successful commercialization of our biopolymer products, which is subject to many risks and uncertainties as described below. We expect that it will take time for our PHA production to ramp up to an economical scale while the market for our products expands. As a result, we expect to have significant losses and negative cash flow for at least the next several years, as we incur additional costs and expenses for the continued development and expansion of our business, including the costs of establishing manufacturing capacity and ongoing expenses of research and product development. The amount we spend will impact our ability to become profitable and this will depend, in part, on the number of new products that we attempt to develop. We may not achieve any or all of these goals and, thus, we cannot provide assurances that we will ever be profitable or achieve significant revenues.

Even if we can successfully manufacture and sell our products, whether we will be able to generate a profit on any of these products is highly uncertain and depends on a number of factors including the cost of production, the price we are able to charge for these products, and the emergence of competing products.

Our operating results may fluctuate significantly as a result of a variety of factors, many of which are outside of our control.

We are subject to, among other things, the following factors that may negatively affect our operating results:

As a result of our limited operating history and the nature of the markets in which we compete, it is difficult for us to forecast our revenues or earnings accurately. We have based our anticipated future expense levels largely on our investment plans and estimates of future events, although certain of our expense levels will, to a large extent, become fixed. As a strategic response to changes in the competitive environment, we may from time to time make certain decisions concerning expenditures, pricing, service or marketing that could have a material and adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. Due to the foregoing factors, our revenues and operating results are difficult to forecast.

We will need to secure additional funding and may be unable to raise additional capital on favorable terms, if at all.

We expect that we will have sufficient capital to fund our planned operations through the completion of Phase II of the production capacity buildout at the Kentucky Facility and to fund a significant portion of our anticipated Greenfield plant.  Thereafter, we will need to raise additional capital to continue to scale and expand our manufacturing capability. If we issue equity or debt securities to raise additional funds, (i) we may incur fees associated with such issuance, (ii) our existing stockholders will experience dilution from the issuance of new equity securities, (iii) we may incur ongoing interest expense and be required to grant a security interest in our assets in connection with any debt issuance and (iv) the new equity or debt securities may have rights, preferences and privileges senior to those of our existing stockholders. In addition, utilization of our net operating loss and research and development credit carryforwards may be subject to significant annual limitations under Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”) due to ownership changes resulting from future equity financing transactions. If we raise additional funds through collaboration, licensing or other similar arrangements, it may be necessary to relinquish valuable rights to our potential products or proprietary technologies or grant licenses on terms that are not favorable to us. In the event we are unable to obtain additional financing, we may be unable to successfully implement our business plan, which could have a material and adverse impact on our business, including you losing your entire investment.

Our biopolymer products may not achieve market success.

Some prospective customers are currently evaluating and testing our products prior to making large-scale purchase decisions. The successful commercialization of our biopolymers is also dependent on our customers’ ability to commercialize the end-products that they make from our biopolymers, which may never gain market acceptance.

Market acceptance of our products will depend on numerous factors, many of which are outside of our control, including among others:

We produce bio-based products from renewable resources, whose pricing and availability may be impacted by factors out of our control.

Pricing and availability of raw materials, including renewable resources, for use in our businesses can be volatile due to numerous factors beyond our control, including general, domestic and international economic conditions, labor costs, production levels, competition, and consumer demand. Drought, pestilence, severe weather or other “acts of God” may limit our ability to procure raw materials if crops are lost. This volatility can significantly affect the availability and cost of raw materials for us and may therefore have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition.

We sell formulated resins which include raw materials purchased from third parties, including PLA. We currently source all of our PLA from two suppliers, NatureWorks LLC and Total Corbion PLA. Due to the high rate of growth in the biopolymer market, the demand for PLA and other raw materials used in our products may outpace supply, which could result in price increases and deficits in the supply necessary to meet customer demand. If we are unable to secure the required quantities of PLA and other third-party raw materials, we may not be able to achieve our financial forecasts and fulfill customer demand.

If our products and product candidates do not gain market acceptance among key market participants, we may be unable to generate significant revenues, if any.

Even if we obtain regulatory approval for our product candidates, they may not gain market acceptance among plastics manufacturers or other plastic users. Market acceptance will depend on our ability to demonstrate the benefits of our approved products in terms of safety, efficacy, convenience, biodegradability and environmental friendliness, ease of administration and cost effectiveness. In addition, we believe market acceptance depends on the effectiveness of our marketing strategy and the pricing of our approved products. 

We have limited experience producing PHA in large commercial quantities.

We have limited experience in producing large quantities of PHA. While we have succeeded in producing smaller amounts of PHA in our pilot plant for customer trials and testing purposes, we only recently commenced the production of PHA in a large commercial plant with a capacity sufficient to meet the anticipated needs of prospective customers. We may not be able to cost effectively produce PHA at a scale consistent with customer demand in a timely or economical manner, or that the quality of the commercial product will be acceptable on a consistent basis. Further, if the Kentucky Facility is not able to meet customer demands, we will have to expand our facility, which will disrupt production and deplete our resources.

Some of our PHA products may never become commercially marketable.

Although we do currently sell commercial quantities of compostable PLA-based resins, we only recently commenced producing commercially viable quantities of PHA. Limited research and testing have been completed on some of the products that we may produce using PHA. For some applications, we will have to go through extensive research and testing to develop specific products and to determine or demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of their proposed use. Although we have already received food contact approval for some grades of PHA, some of our product candidates and our proposed testing of those products will require additional regulatory approvals and clearances. Accordingly, not all of the products we intend to pursue are presently marketable in the fields of use for which we hope to develop them, and it is possible (or even probable) that some or all of them may never become legally and commercially marketable. The development and testing of our proposed products is difficult, time-consuming and expensive, and the successful development of any products based on innovative technologies is subject to inherent uncertainties and risks of failure. These risks include the possibilities that any or all of the proposed products or procedures may be found to be ineffective, or may otherwise fail to receive necessary regulatory clearances; that the proposed products or procedures may be uneconomical to produce and market or may never achieve broad market acceptance; that third parties may hold proprietary rights that preclude us from marketing our intended products or procedures; or that third parties may develop and market superior or equivalent products and procedures.

We may be unable to obtain certifications required by certain customers.

Many of our customers require biopolymer formulations to undergo biodegradability testing to address physical property deterioration in specific environmental conditions. Biodegradation certification is important for our customers to ensure those products can be effectively marketed and sold and meet customer demands on environmental protection. If our new PHA based resins to be sold out of the Kentucky Facility do not achieve the required certifications in a timely manner, we may experience a delay in going to market. Such a delay could result in us not achieving our financial forecasts and not fulfilling customer demand.

We may be unable to manage rapid growth effectively.

Our failure to manage growth effectively could have a material and adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition. We anticipate that a period of significant expansion will be required to address potential growth and to handle licensing and research activities. This expansion will place a significant strain on our management, operational and financial resources. To manage the expected growth of our operations and personnel, we must establish appropriate and scalable operational and financial systems, procedures and controls and must establish a qualified finance, administrative and operations staff. Our management may be unable to hire, train, retain and manage the necessary personnel or to identify, manage and exploit potential strategic relationships and market opportunities.

We may be delayed in or unable to procure necessary capital equipment.

While the equipment we use to produce PHA and our other products is currently widely available, we must rely on outside companies to continue to manufacture the equipment necessary to produce our products. If our suppliers of capital equipment are unable or unwilling to provide us with necessary capital equipment to manufacture our products or if we experience significant delays in obtaining the necessary manufacturing equipment, our business, results of operations, and financial condition could be adversely affected.

Our success will be influenced by the price of petroleum relative to the price of bio-based feedstocks.

Our success may be influenced by the cost of our products relative to petroleum-based polymers. The cost of petroleum-based polymers is in part based on the price of petroleum. To date, our PHA biopolymers have been primarily manufactured using canola oil, an agricultural feedstock. As the price of biobased feedstocks increases and/or the price of petroleum decreases, our biobased products may be less competitive relative to petroleum-based polymers. A material decrease in the cost of conventional petroleum-based polymers may require a reduction in the prices of our products for them to remain attractive in the marketplace and/or reduce the size of our addressable market.

Certain contracts granting exclusivity rights to customers may limit our ability to sell products in certain markets.

We have entered into certain agreements with customers, which, subject to the terms therein, grant these customers the exclusive right to purchase certain products and, in some cases, in certain fields and/or territories from us. For example, certain clam-shell food cases we produce can only be sold to a single customer; certain stirrers and straw products can only be sold to several end-users, subject to the purchaser maintaining minimum purchase requirements; one customer has an exclusive on water bottles, while another customer has an exclusive on bottles containing certain alcohol products. These exclusivity arrangements will expire between 2021 and 2026. These agreements could prevent us from selling products to certain prospective customers or entering certain markets, which could have a material and adverse impact on our potential revenues and our ability more generally to expand our customer base and product lines.

The loss of one or more of our significant customers, a significant reduction in their orders, their inability to perform under their contracts, or a significant deterioration in their financial condition could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition.

A few significant customers have in the past, and may in the future, account for a significant portion of our revenues in any one year or over a period of several consecutive years. For example, for the year ended December 31, 2020, we had three customers that individually accounted for more than 10% of our revenue each and collectively accounted for approximately 58% of our revenue, and for the year ended December 31, 2019, we had four customers that individually accounted for more than 10% of our revenue each and collectively accounted for approximately 65% of our total revenue. The loss of one or more of our significant customers, a substantial reduction in their orders, their inability to perform under their contracts, or a significant deterioration in their financial condition could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition.

We may rely heavily on future collaborative partners.

We may enter into strategic partnerships to develop and commercialize our current and future research and development programs with other companies to accomplish one or more of the following:

We may not be successful in establishing or maintaining suitable partnerships, and we may not be able to negotiate collaboration agreements having terms satisfactory to us or at all. Failure to make or maintain these arrangements or a delay or failure in a collaborative partner’s performance under any such arrangements could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition.

We face and will face substantial competition.

We face and will face substantial competition from a variety of companies in the biodegradable, renewable resource-based plastic segment, as well as from companies in the conventional, non-biodegradable petroleum-based industry segment. Some of their products are suitable for use in a range of products at a price that may be lower than our product offerings. Many of these companies have longer operating histories, greater name recognition, larger customer bases and significantly greater financial, sales and marketing, manufacturing, distribution, technical and other resources than us. Our competitors may be able to adapt more quickly to new or emerging technologies, changes in customer requirements and changes in laws and regulations. In addition, current and potential competitors have established or may establish financial or strategic relationships among themselves or with existing or potential customers or other third parties. Accordingly, new competitors or alliances among competitors could emerge and rapidly acquire significant market share. There can be no assurance that we can develop products that are more effective or achieve greater market acceptance than competitive products, or that our competitors will not succeed in developing products and technologies that are more effective than those being developed by us and that would therefore render our products and technologies less competitive or even obsolete. We cannot assure you that we will be able to compete successfully against current or new competitors.

We may not be able to complete the proposed production capacity buildout at our Kentucky Facility.

In December 2018, we consummated the acquisition of the Kentucky Facility, including the equipment, machinery and other personal property located at such facility for a purchase price of $23 million, and simultaneously entered into a sale and leaseback transaction with a large, diversified commercial property REIT pursuant to which we sold the Kentucky Facility and certain of our facilities located in Bainbridge, Georgia to the REIT and leased-back the same properties from the REIT under a net-lease for an initial term of 20 years with renewal terms up to an additional 20 years at our option. The assets available at the Kentucky Facility permitted us to embark on a two-phase commissioning strategy, and we commenced production of commercial volumes of PHA in December 2019. We had completed several components of the first phase of the production capacity buildout by the end of the third quarter of 2020. As of December 31, 2020, we had invested $54.7 million since the acquisition of the Kentucky Facility, excluding capitalized interest. Of this total, $7 million in real-estate improvements for the Kentucky Facility were reimbursed by the REIT in May 2020. Once Phase I of the Kentucky Facility production capacity is operating at scale, we expect to produce approximately 20 million pounds of finished product per year. We believe that the capacity of the plant can be expanded by another 45 million additional pounds of finished product, bringing total plant capacity up to approximately 65 million pounds per year, by investing another $100 million in the future for the Phase II production capacity buildout at such facility. There can be no assurances, though, that we will be able to achieve such production capacity or raise the additional financing required to complete Phase II of the production capacity buildout.

We may not be able to identify additional facilities and assets or secure the funding necessary to acquire them.

Aside from the Kentucky Facility, we may need to identify other facilities and assets that would be beneficial to our production of PHA at the commercial scale or our growth in general. We cannot provide assurances that we will be successful in identifying such facilities and assets or, if we do, securing the funding necessary to acquire them.

Climate Change may impact the availability of our facilities and, in addition, we may incur substantial costs to comply with climate change legislation and related regulatory initiatives.

Changing weather patterns and the increase in frequency of severe storms such as hurricanes and tornadoes could cause disruptions or the complete loss of our facilities. In addition, climate change concerns, and changes in the regulation of such concerns, including greenhouse gas emissions, could also subject us to additional costs and restrictions, including increased energy and raw materials costs which could negatively impact our financial condition and results of operations. The effects of climate change can have an adverse effect not only to our operations, but also that of our suppliers and customers, and can lead to increased regulations and changes in consumer preferences, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations, and financial condition.

We may be subject to product liability claims that may not be covered by insurance and could require us to pay substantial sums.

If we are successful in obtaining regulatory approval for our products and/or otherwise begin marketing them, we will become subject to an inherent risk of, and adverse publicity associated with, product liability and other liability claims, whether or not such claims are valid. We intend to obtain product liability insurance coverage in amounts and scope that we believe will be adequate once we begin marketing any products. However, product liability insurance may not be available on commercially acceptable terms, or at all. Even if such insurance is available, product liability or other claims may exceed our insurance coverage limits. A successful product liability claim that exceeds our insurance coverage limits could require us to pay substantial sums and could have a material adverse effect on us.

Changes in government regulations encouraging the use of biodegradable alternatives to plastic products may have an adverse effect on our business.

We anticipate one of the key markets for our products being compostable and biodegradable substitutes for non-biodegradable plastics, which are created in part by laws, regulations and policies designed to encourage or mandate the increased use of compostable and biodegradable alternatives to plastics. Several countries and other political subdivisions of countries have enacted or are considering enacting such laws and regulations. Failure to implement these or similar laws and regulations and changes to existing laws and regulations may adversely affect the demand for our product candidates in the future.

We may not be able to protect adequately our patents and other intellectual property assets, which could adversely affect our competitive position and reduce the value of our products, and litigation to protect our patents and intellectual property assets may be costly.

Our commercial success may depend in part on our ability to obtain patent protection for technologies and products we develop, to preserve trade secrets and to operate without infringing the proprietary rights of others. There can be no assurance that any patents or patent applications that we own, obtain or file or are able to obtain or license from third parties will afford any competitive advantages or will not be challenged or circumvented by third parties. Furthermore, there can be no assurance that others will not independently develop similar technologies or duplicate any technology developed by us. Because of the extensive time required for development, testing and regulatory review of a potential product, it is possible that before any of our potential products can be commercialized, any related patents may expire or may have only a brief remaining life span following commercialization, thus reducing any advantage of the patents.

If we are not able to obtain patent coverage or defend the patent protection for our technologies, then we will not be able to exclude competitors from developing or marketing competing technologies, and we may not generate enough revenues from product sales to justify the cost of development of our technologies and to achieve or maintain profitability. The patents currently in the portfolio have expiration dates ranging from 2022 to 2040 and any patents resulting from pending patent applications are expected to have durations that will expire between 2038 and 2041.

Our patent position involves complex legal and factual questions. Accordingly, we cannot predict the breadth of claims that may be allowed or enforced in our patents or in third-party patents. Patents may not be issued for any pending or future pending patent applications owned by or licensed to us, and claims allowed under any issued patent or future issued patent owned or licensed by us may not be valid or sufficiently broad to protect our technologies. Moreover, we may be unable to protect certain of our intellectual property in the United States or in foreign countries. Foreign jurisdictions may not afford the same protections as U.S. law, and we cannot ensure that foreign patent applications will have the same scope as the U.S. patents. There will be many countries in which we will choose not to file or maintain patents because of the costs involved. Competitors may also design around our technology or develop competing technologies.

Additionally, any issued patents owned by or licensed to us now or in the future may be challenged, invalidated or circumvented. To the extent competitors or other third parties develop and market products or procedures that we believe infringe our patents and proprietary rights, we may be compelled to initiate lawsuits to protect and enforce our intellectual property rights. Such litigation is typically expensive, time-consuming and uncertain as to outcome, and may involve opponents who have much more extensive financial resources than we do. An unfavorable outcome of any such litigation could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

Third parties may claim that we infringe on their proprietary rights and may prevent us from commercializing and selling our products.

There has been substantial litigation in the manufacturing industry with respect to the manufacture, use, and sale of new products. These lawsuits often involve claims relating to the validity of patents supporting the new products and/or the validity and alleged infringement of patents or proprietary rights of third parties. We may be required to defend against challenges to the validity of our patents and against claims relating to the alleged infringement of patent or proprietary rights of third parties.

Litigation initiated by a third party claiming patent invalidity or patent infringement could:

Although patent and intellectual property disputes within the biopolymer industry have often been settled through licensing or similar arrangements, costs associated with these arrangements may be substantial and could include the long-term payment of royalties. Furthermore, the required licenses may not be made available to us on acceptable terms. Accordingly, an adverse determination in a judicial or administrative proceeding or a failure to obtain necessary licenses could prevent us from manufacturing and selling our products or increase our costs to market our products.

We rely in part on trade secrets to protect our technology, and our failure to obtain or maintain trade secret protection could limit our ability to compete.

We rely on trade secrets to protect some of our technology and proprietary information, especially where we believe patent protection is not appropriate or obtainable. However, trade secrets are difficult to protect. Litigating a claim that a third party had illegally obtained and was using our trade secrets would be expensive and time consuming, and the outcome would be unpredictable. Moreover, if our competitors independently develop similar knowledge, methods and know-how, it will be difficult for us to enforce our rights and our business could be harmed.

We may not be able to generate sufficient cash to service our debt and operating lease obligations, and we may be forced to take other actions to satisfy our obligations under our debt and operating lease obligations, which may not be successful.

Our ability to make scheduled payments on or to refinance our debt and operating lease obligations and other obligations depends on our ability to generate cash in the future and our financial condition and operating performance, which are subject to prevailing economic and competitive conditions and to certain financial, business and other factors beyond our control. We cannot assure you that we will maintain a level of cash flows from operating activities sufficient to permit us to pay the principal, premium, if any, and interest on our debt, or to pay our operating lease obligations.

If our cash flows and capital resources are insufficient to fund our debt service, operating lease obligations and other obligations, we may be forced to reduce or delay investments and capital expenditures, or to sell assets, seek additional capital or restructure or refinance our debt.  These alternative measures may not be successful and may not permit us to meet our scheduled debt obligations.  If our operating results and available cash are insufficient to meet our debt service, operating lease obligations and other obligations, we could face substantial liquidity problems and might be required to dispose of material assets or operations to meet our debt service and other obligations.  We may not be able to consummate those dispositions or to obtain the proceeds sought from them, and these proceeds may not be adequate to meet any debt service or other obligations then due.  Further, we may need to refinance all or a portion of our debt on or before maturity, and we cannot assure you that we will be able to refinance any of our debt on commercially reasonable terms or at all. Additionally, if we are unable to service our operating lease payments for our facilities in Bainbridge, Georgia and Winchester, Kentucky, which we lease pursuant to a sale-leaseback transaction that was entered into in 2018 with a commercial property REIT, we could lose the ability to occupy and operate those facilities.

We may incur more debt in the future, which could further exacerbate the risks of leverage, including the ability to service our indebtedness.

We may need to incur additional debt in the future to complete acquisitions of facilities, equipment, machinery and other assets or capital projects or for working capital. Although the covenants contained in our current indebtedness instruments impose limits on our ability to incur new debt, these agreements may permit the incurrence of significant additional debt if we satisfy certain conditions, or such debt instruments may be amended in the future to do so. If we incur new debt, we could face risks related to being in a highly leveraged company, including our ability to service such indebtedness.

We are subject to a number of restrictive debt covenants under our loan agreements.

Many of our loan agreements contain certain restrictive covenants, which restrict our ability to, among other things, incur additional indebtedness, incur certain liens on our assets or sell assets, make investments, make capital expenditures, pay dividends and make other restricted payments. Many of our loan agreements also require us to maintain specified financial ratios under certain conditions and satisfy financial condition tests, including a consolidated senior leverage ratio and consolidated fixed charge coverage ratio.

Our ability to meet those financial ratios and tests and otherwise comply with our financial covenants may be affected by the factors described herein and other factors outside our control, and we may not be able to meet those ratios, tests and covenants. Our ability to generate sufficient cash from operations to meet our debt obligations will depend upon our future operating performance, which will be affected by general economic, financial, competitive, business and other factors beyond our control. A breach of any of these covenants, ratios, tests or restrictions, as applicable, or any inability to pay interest on, or principal of, our outstanding debt as it becomes due could result in an event of default. Upon an event of default, if not waived by our lenders, our lenders may declare all amounts outstanding as due and payable. Such an acceleration of the maturity of our indebtedness may, among other things, prevent or limit us from engaging in transactions that benefit us, including responding to changing business and economic conditions and taking advantage of attractive business opportunities.

We may not be able to satisfy the requirements of our participation in a New Markets Tax Credit (“NMTC”) program for funding our plant expansions.

We have entered into several arrangements under the NMTC program with various third-party financial institutions (the “Investors”) to help fund various phases of plant expansions at our Bainbridge, Georgia, and Winchester, Kentucky locations. In connection with the NMTC transactions we received proceeds which were restricted for use on approved capital expenditures and working capital needs at specific subsidiaries. The NMTCs are subject to 100% recapture of the tax credit for a period of seven years as provided in the Code. We are required to be in compliance with various regulations and contractual provisions that apply to the NMTC arrangements. we have agreed to indemnify the Investors for any loss or recapture of the NMTCs until such time as our obligation to deliver tax benefits is relieved. The maximum potential amount of future payments under this indemnification could be up to the face amount of the related debt, net of certain leverage loans receivable in connection with the NMTC transactions, which amount totaled $7.6 million as of December 31, 2020. Our obligation to deliver tax benefits is relieved in various stages from April 2026 through November 2026. Non-compliance with applicable requirements could result in projected tax benefits not being realized by an Investor and our being required to indemnify such Investor, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations or liquidity.

We may be unable to obtain forgiveness of the PPP Loan, in whole or in part, in accordance with the provisions of the CARES Act, which could adversely affect our financial condition.

In April 2020, we entered into a promissory note with Truist Bank (“Truist”), under the Paycheck Protection Program of the CARES Act pursuant to which Truist made a loan to us in the amount of approximately $1.8 million (the “PPP Loan”). The PPP Loan matures in April 2022, bears interest at a rate of 1.0% per annum. Monthly principal and interest payments are deferred for six months after the date of disbursement.

The PPP Loan is unsecured and guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (“SBA”). Under the terms of the PPP Loan, the principal amount of the loan may be forgiven to the extent it is used for qualifying expenses as described in the CARES Act and we otherwise request forgiveness in accordance with the terms of the PPP Loan and the requirements of the SBA. While we expect that all of the principal amount of the PPP Loan will be forgiven and to comply with all corresponding requirements, we cannot guarantee that we will be successful in obtaining forgiveness of all or any part of such principal amount. We will be required to repay any principal amount of the PPP Loan that is not forgiven, together with accrued and unpaid interest. In connection with the closing of the Business Combination, we deposited funds in an escrow account in an amount to repay the outstanding principal and accrued interest on the PPP loan.

Our ability to use net operating losses to offset future taxable income will be subject to certain limitations as a result of the Business Combination, PIPE and past transactions.

As of December 31, 2020, we had federal net operating loss carryforwards of $65 million of which $40.6 million will begin to expire in 2028 and $24.4 million can be carried forward indefinitely. As of December 31, 2020, we had state net operating loss carryforwards of $65 million which begin to expire in various amounts in 2028.  A portion of these net operating loss carryforwards could expire unused and be unavailable to offset future income tax liabilities. In addition, in general, under Section 382 of the Code, a corporation that undergoes an “ownership change” is subject to limitations on our ability to utilize our pre-change net operating losses (“NOLs”) to offset future taxable income or taxes. For these purposes, an ownership change generally occurs where the aggregate stock ownership of one or more stockholders or groups of stockholders who owns at least 5% of a corporation’s stock increases its ownership by more than 50 percentage points over its lowest ownership percentage within a specified testing period. A portion of our existing NOLs is subject to limitations arising from previous ownership changes in 2014. In addition, the Business Combination and the PIPE is expected to constitute an ownership change under Section 382 of the Code. Our NOLs may also be impaired under state law. A portion of our existing NOLs is also subject to the so called separate-return-limitation-year (“SRLY”) rules that may apply to consolidated tax groups. Although depending on applicable law and particular computations, it is expected that the amount of our NOLs that we will be able to utilize per year could be only up to $9.7 million per year. Accordingly, we may not be able to utilize a material portion of our NOLs.

Our ability to utilize our NOLs is also conditioned upon our attaining profitability and generating U.S. federal and state taxable income. We have incurred significant net losses in the past, and it is anticipated that we will continue to incur significant losses for the foreseeable future; therefore, we do not know whether or when we will generate the U.S. federal or state taxable income necessary to utilize our NOL carryforwards, even to the extent they are not subject to limitation by Section 382 of the Code or the SRLY rules.

We face various risks related to the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and similar public health crises, which may have material adverse effects on our business, financial position, results of operations and liquidity.

We face various risks related to health epidemics, pandemics and similar outbreaks, including the global outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (“COVID-19”). Such risks include disruptions or restrictions on our employees’ ability to work effectively, as well as temporary closures of our facilities or the facilities of our customers or suppliers.

It is possible that the continued spread of COVID-19 could also further cause disruption in our supply chain; cause delay or limit the ability of other customers to perform, including in making timely payments to us; and cause other unpredictable events. In addition, the continued spread of COVID-19 has led to disruption and volatility in the global capital markets, which increases the cost of capital and adversely impacts access to capital.

We continue to work with our stakeholders (including customers, employees, suppliers and local communities) to responsibly address this global pandemic. Our management is focused on mitigating the impact of the pandemic, which has required and will continue to require a substantial investment of time and resources across Danimer and could delay other value-added initiatives. We continue to monitor the situation, to assess further possible implications to our business, supply chain and customers, and to take actions in an effort to mitigate adverse consequences.

The situation surrounding COVID-19 remains fluid and the ongoing impact on our business and results of operations, financial condition, expected cash flows and liquidity increases the longer the virus impacts activity levels in the United States and globally, both during the initial outbreak, as well as if additional outbreaks occur at a later date. For this reason, we cannot reasonably estimate with any degree of certainty the future impact COVID-19 may have on our results of operations, financial position, and liquidity. The extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic may impact our business, operating results, financial condition and liquidity will depend on future developments and numerous and evolving factors that are highly uncertain, vary by market and cannot be accurately predicted or quantified at this time, including the duration and spread of the outbreak; new information concerning its transmission and severity; government mandated restrictions and regulations; business and workforce disruptions; impact on demand for our products, and the effectiveness of actions taken to contain and treat the disease; actions taken or that might be taken by governments, businesses or individuals to contain or reduce its repercussions and mitigate its economic implications; evolving macroeconomic factors, including general economic uncertainty, unemployment rates and recessionary pressures; decreased consumer spending levels; reduction or changes in customer demand for our products and services; our ability to manufacture, sell and provide our products and services, including as a result of travel restrictions, closed borders, operating restrictions imposed on our facilities or reduced ability of our employees to continue to work efficiently; increased operating costs (whether as a results of changes to our supply chain or increases in employee costs or otherwise); collectibility of customer accounts; additional and prolonged devaluation of other countries’ currencies relative to the dollar; and the general impact of the pandemic on our customers, employees, suppliers, vendors and other stakeholders. Additionally, customers might defer decision making, delay orders or seek to renegotiate or terminate existing agreements.

The continuing global pandemic may also result in delays in our ability to apply for and obtain further regulatory approval for our products in various jurisdictions.

The impact of COVID-19 may also exacerbate other risks discussed herein, any of which could have a material effect on us. This situation is changing rapidly, and additional impacts may arise that we are not aware of currently.

We depend on key personnel.

We depend greatly on our executive officers and other employees. Our success will depend, in part, upon our ability to attract and retain additional skilled personnel, which will require substantial additional funds. There can be no assurance that we will be able to find, attract and retain additional qualified employees, directors, and advisors having the skills necessary to operate, develop and grow our business. Our inability to hire qualified personnel, the loss of services of any of our executive officers, or the loss of services of other key employees, or advisors that may be hired in the future, may have a material and adverse effect on our business.

If we experience a significant disruption in our information technology systems, including security breaches, or if we fail to implement new systems and software successfully, our business operations and financial condition could be adversely affected.

We depend on information technology systems throughout Danimer to, among other functions, control our manufacturing processes, process orders and bill, collect and make payments, interact with customers and suppliers, manage inventory and otherwise conduct business. We also depend on these systems to respond to customer inquiries, contribute to our overall internal control processes, maintain records of our property, plant and equipment and record and pay amounts due to vendors and other creditors. The failure of our information technology systems to perform as we anticipate could disrupt our business and could result in transaction errors, processing inefficiencies and the loss of sales and customers. As we upgrade or change systems, we may also experience interruptions in service, loss of data or reduced functionality and other unforeseen material issues that could adversely impact our ability to provide quotes, take customer orders and otherwise run our business in a timely manner. In addition, if our new systems fail to provide accurate and increased visibility into pricing and cost structures, it may be difficult to improve or maximize our profit margins. As a result, our results of operations could be adversely affected.

In addition, cyber-attacks or security breaches could compromise confidential, business critical information, cause a disruption in our operations or harm our reputation. Our information technology systems are subject to potential disruptions, including significant network or power outages, cyberattacks, computer viruses, other malicious codes and/or unauthorized access attempts, any of which, if successful, could result in data leaks or otherwise compromise our confidential or proprietary information and disrupt our operations. Despite our efforts to protect sensitive information and comply with and implement data security measures, there can be no assurance that any controls and procedures that we have in place will be sufficient to protect us. Further, as cyber threats are continually evolving, our controls and procedures may become inadequate and we may be required to devote additional resources to modify or enhance our systems in the future. We may also be required to expend resources to remediate cyber-related incidents or to enhance and strengthen our cyber security. Any such disruptions to our information technology systems, breaches or compromises of data, and/or misappropriation of information could result in violation of privacy and other laws, litigation, fines, negative publicity, lost sales or business delays, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Government regulation of our business is extensive and regulatory approvals are uncertain, expensive and time-consuming.

Our research, development, testing, manufacturing and marketing of most of our intended products are subject to an extensive regulatory approval process by the FDA and other regulatory agencies in the U.S. and abroad. The process of obtaining FDA and other required regulatory approvals is lengthy, expensive and uncertain. There can be no assurance that, even after such time and expenditures, we will be able to obtain necessary regulatory approvals for the manufacturing or marketing of any products. Even if regulatory clearance is obtained, a marketed product is subject to continual review, and later discovery of previously unknown safety issues or failure to comply with the applicable regulatory requirements may result in restrictions on a product’s marketing or withdrawal of the product from the market, as well as possible civil or criminal sanctions.

Changes in sentiment regarding and laws and regulations relating to plastic products could reduce demand for our products and/or increase the cost of producing our products and have an adverse effect on our business.

Plastic products have recently faced increasingly negative public sentiment and scrutiny. In addition, state and local governments have increasingly proposed, or in some cases implemented, restrictions or bans on plastic-based products, including single-use plastics, plastic straws and utensils. Notwithstanding the fact that our bio-plastic products are intended to address many of the concerns regarding traditional petroleum-based plastics, increased regulation of, or prohibition on, the use of plastics generally, as well as negative public sentiment regarding such products, could increase the costs incurred by our customers to use such products or otherwise limit the use of these products, and could lead to a decrease in demand for the products we make or an increase in the cost of production of such products. Such a decrease in demand could adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.

Risks Related to our Common Stock

An active trading market for our Common Stock may not be available on a consistent basis to provide stockholders with adequate liquidity. Our stock price may be extremely volatile, and our stockholders could lose a significant part of their investment.

An active trading market for shares of our Common Stock may not be sustained on a consistent basis. The public trading price for our Common Stock will be affected by a number of factors, including:

As a result of these factors, our stockholders may not be able to resell their shares of Common Stock at, or above, their purchase price. In addition, the stock prices of many technology companies have experienced wide fluctuations that have often been unrelated to the operating performance of those companies. Any negative change in the public’s perception of the prospects of industrial biotechnology or “clean technology” companies could depress our stock price regardless of our results of operations. These factors may have a material adverse effect on the market price of our Common Stock.

Concentration of ownership among our existing executive officers, directors and their affiliates may prevent new investors from influencing significant corporate decisions.

Our executive officers and directors as a group beneficially own approximately 23.5% of our outstanding Common Stock. As a result, these shareholders will be able to exercise a significant level of control over all matters requiring stockholder approval, including the election of directors, any amendment of the amended and restated certificate of incorporation and approval of significant corporate transactions. This control could have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control or changes in management and will make the approval of certain transactions difficult or impossible without the support of these shareholders.

We do not expect to declare any dividends in the foreseeable future.

We do not anticipate declaring any cash dividends to holders of our common stock in the foreseeable future. Consequently, investors may need to rely on sales of their shares after price appreciation, which may never occur, as the only way to realize any future gains on their investment.

There can be no assurance that we will be able to comply with the continued listing standards of the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”).

If NYSE delists our securities from trading on its exchange for failure to meet the listing standards, we and our securityholders could face significant material adverse consequences including:

We may be required to take write-downs or write-offs, or we may be subject to restructuring, impairment or other charges that could have a significant negative effect on our financial condition, results of operations and the price of Common Stock, which could cause you to lose some or all of your investment.

Factors outside of our control may, at any time, arise. As a result of these factors, we may be forced to later write-down or write-off assets, restructure our operations or incur impairment or other charges that could result in us reporting losses.

Even though these charges may be non-cash items and therefore 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 be unable to obtain future financing on favorable terms or at all.

If we do not meet the expectations of investors or securities analysts, the market price of our securities may decline.

Fluctuations in the price of our securities could contribute to the loss of all or part of your investment. If an active market for our securities develops and continues, the trading price of our securities following 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 securities and our securities may trade at prices significantly below the price you paid for them. In such circumstances, the trading price of our securities may not recover and may experience a further decline.

Factors affecting the trading price of our securities may include:

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 NYSE in particular, 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 stocks or the stocks of other companies which investors perceive to be similar to ours could depress our share 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.

We will incur significant increased expenses and administrative burdens as a public company, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We will face increased legal, accounting, administrative and other costs and expenses as a public company that we did not incur as a private company. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (the “Sarbanes-Oxley Act”), including the requirements of Section 404, as well as rules and regulations subsequently implemented by the SEC, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 and the rules and regulations promulgated and to be promulgated thereunder, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (“PCAOB”) and the securities exchanges, impose additional reporting and other obligations on public companies. Compliance with public company requirements will increase costs and make certain activities more time-consuming. A number of those requirements will require us to carry out activities we have not done previously. For example, we have created new board committees and will adopt new internal controls and disclosure controls and procedures. In addition, expenses associated with SEC reporting requirements will be incurred. Furthermore, if any issues in complying with those requirements are identified (for example, if the auditors identify a material weakness or significant deficiency in the internal control over financial reporting), we could incur additional costs rectifying those issues, and the existence of those issues could adversely affect our reputation or investor perceptions of us. It may also be more expensive to obtain director and officer liability insurance. Risks associated with our status as a public company may make it more difficult to attract and retain qualified persons to serve on our board of directors or as executive officers. The additional reporting and other obligations imposed by these rules and regulations will increase legal and financial compliance costs, and the costs of related legal, accounting and administrative activities. These increased costs may require us to commit a significant amount of money that could otherwise have been used to expand the business and achieve strategic objectives. Advocacy efforts by stockholders and third parties may also prompt additional changes in governance and reporting requirements, which could further increase costs.

Our failure to timely and effectively implement controls and procedures required by Section 404(a) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act could have a material adverse effect on our business.

The standards required for a public company under Section 404(a) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act are significantly more stringent than those required of us as a privately-held company. Management may not be able to effectively and timely implement controls and procedures that adequately respond to the increased regulatory compliance and reporting requirements. If we are not able to implement the additional requirements of Section 404(a) 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.

We qualify as an “emerging growth company” within the meaning of the Securities Act, and if we take advantage of certain exemptions from disclosure requirements available to emerging growth companies, it could make our securities less attractive to investors and may make it more difficult to compare our performance to the performance of other public companies. 

We qualify as an “emerging growth company” as defined in Section 2(a)(19) of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act. As such, we are eligible for and intend to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies for as long as we continue to be an emerging growth company, including (a) the exemption from the auditor attestation requirements with respect to internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, (b) the exemptions from say-on-pay, say-on-frequency and say-on-golden parachute voting requirements and (c) reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements. We will remain an emerging growth company until the earliest of (i) the last day of the fiscal year in which the market value of Common Stock that are held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of June 30 of that fiscal year, (ii) the last day of the fiscal year in which we have total annual gross revenue of $1.07 billion or more during such fiscal year (as indexed for inflation), (iii) the date on which we have issued more than $1 billion in non-convertible debt in the prior three-year period or (iv) the last day of the fiscal year following the fifth anniversary of the date of the first sale of Common Stock in the initial public offering of units of Live Oak Acquisition Corp., our predecessor, consummated on May 5, 2020. In addition, Section 107 of the JOBS Act also provides that an emerging growth company can take advantage of the exemption from complying with new or revised accounting standards provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act as long as we are an emerging growth company. An emerging growth company can therefore delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We have elected not to opt out of such extended transition period and, therefore, we may not be subject to the same new or revised accounting standards as other public companies that are not emerging growth companies. Investors may find our Common Stock less attractive because we will rely on these exemptions, which may result in a less active trading market for our Common Stock and its price may be more volatile.

Our management has limited experience in operating a public company.

Our executive officers have limited experience in the management of a publicly traded company. Our management team may not successfully or effectively manage our transition to a public company that will be subject to significant regulatory oversight and reporting obligations under federal securities laws. Their limited experience in dealing with the increasingly complex laws pertaining to public companies could be a significant disadvantage in that it is likely that an increasing amount of their time may be devoted to these activities which will result in less time being devoted to our management and growth. We may not have adequate personnel with the appropriate level of knowledge, experience and training in the accounting policies, practices or internal controls over financial reporting required of public companies in the United States. The development and implementation of the standards and controls necessary for us to achieve the level of accounting standards required of a public company in the United States may require costs greater than expected. It is possible that we will be required to expand our employee base and hire additional employees to support our operations as a public company which will increase our operating costs in future periods.

The loss of certain key personnel could negatively impact the operations and financial results of our business.

Our ability to successfully operate our business is dependent upon the efforts of certain key personnel of ours and there can be no assurance that they will be able to do so. It is possible that we will lose some key personnel, the loss of which could negatively impact our operations and profitability. Furthermore, certain of our key personnel may be unfamiliar with the requirements of operating a company regulated by the SEC, which could cause us to have to expend time and resources helping them become familiar with such requirements.

We may issue additional shares of common stock or preferred shares under an employee incentive plan which would dilute the interest of our stockholders.

Our Fourth Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation authorizes the issuance of 200,000,000 shares of Common Stock, and 10,000,000 shares of preferred stock, in each case, par value $0.0001 per share. We may issue a substantial number of additional shares of common stock or shares of preferred stock under an employee incentive plan. The issuance of additional common stock or preferred shares:

Our Fourth Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation will provide, subject to limited exceptions, that the courts of the State of Delaware will be the sole and exclusive forum for certain stockholder litigation matters, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers, employees or stockholders.

Our Fourth Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation requires, to the fullest extent permitted by law, that derivative actions brought in our name, actions against directors, officers and employees for breach of fiduciary duty and other similar actions may be brought in the state courts in the State of Delaware or, if no state court located within the State of Delaware has jurisdiction, the federal district court for the District of Delaware. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in shares of our capital stock shall be deemed to have notice of and consented to the forum provisions in our Fourth Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation. In addition, our Fourth Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation provides that this choice of forum does not apply to any complaint asserting a cause of action under the Securities Act and the Exchange Act. Finally, our Fourth Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation provides that federal district courts of the United States will be the exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act.

In March 2020, the Delaware Supreme Court issued a decision in Salzburg et al. v. Sciabacucchi, which found that an exclusive forum provision providing for claims under the Securities Act to be brought in federal court is facially valid under Delaware law. It is unclear whether this decision will be appealed, or what the final outcome of this case will be. We intend to enforce this provision, but we do not know whether courts in other jurisdictions will agree with this decision or enforce it.

This choice of forum provision may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or any of our directors, officers, other employees or stockholders, which may discourage lawsuits with respect to such claims. Alternatively, if a court were to find the choice of forum provision contained in the Fourth Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could harm our business, operating results, and financial condition.

Because we have no current plans to pay cash dividends on Common Stock for the foreseeable future, you may not receive any return on investment unless you sell Common Stock for a price greater than that which you paid for it.

We may retain future earnings, if any, for future operations, expansion and debt repayment and have no current plans to pay any cash dividends for the foreseeable future. Any decision to declare and pay dividends as a public company in the future will be made at the discretion of our board of directors and will depend on, among other things, our results of operations, financial condition, cash requirements, contractual restrictions, and other factors that our board of directors may deem relevant. In addition, our ability to pay dividends may be limited by covenants of any existing and future outstanding indebtedness we or our subsidiaries incur. As a result, you may not receive any return on an investment in Common Stock unless you sell Common Stock for a price greater than that which you paid for it.

If securities or industry analysts do not publish or cease publishing research or reports about us, our business, or our market, or if they change their recommendations regarding our securities adversely, the price and trading volume of our securities could decline.

The trading market for our securities will be influenced by the research and reports that industry or securities analysts may publish about us, our business, market, or competitors. If no additional securities or industry analysts commence coverage of our share price and trading volume may be negatively impacted. If any of the analysts who may cover us change their recommendation regarding our shares of common stock adversely, or provide more favorable relative recommendations about our competitors, the price of our shares of common stock would likely decline. If any analyst who may cover us were to cease coverage of us or fail to regularly publish reports on us, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which in turn could cause our share price or trading volume to decline.