Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)

STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY

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STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2022
STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY  
STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY

NOTE O - STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY

The Consolidated Statements of Stockholders’ Equity reflect the Reverse Recapitalization as defined in Note B as of December 22, 2020. As AerSale Aviation was deemed the accounting acquirer in the Reverse Recapitalization with Monocle, all periods prior to the consummation date reflect the balances and activity of AerSale Aviation. The common stock and per share amounts in the Consolidated Statements of Stockholders’ Equity as of December 31, 2019, from the previously reported audited consolidated financial statements of AerSale Aviation, were retroactively adjusted using the recapitalization exchange ratio of 74.0%.

8.65% Cumulative Preferred Shares

The preferred stock was issued at a purchase price of $1,000 per share and ranked senior to common stock. The preferred stock had an initial liquidation preference equal to its $1,000 per share purchase price, and accrued dividends at an annual rate of 8.65%.

Upon the consummation of the Merger, the liquidation preference of the preferred stock was triggered. All outstanding principal of $200 million and cumulative unpaid dividends of $21.2 million were settled in cash of $13.1 million with the remaining balance converted to the Company’s common stock at $10.00 per share.

Common Stock

Upon the consummation of the Merger, holders of AerSale Aviation’s common stock received shares of the Company’s common stock at $10.00 per share as merger consideration. The Company’s common stock consist of $0.0001 par value, 200,000,000 shares authorized, of which 51,189,461 and 51,673,099 shares were issued and outstanding as of December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively.

Effective November 8, 2022, the Board of Directors approved the repurchase, directly from the selling stockholders, 1,500,000 shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, at a price of $14.8025 per share for a total of $22,203,750.

Stock Appreciation Rights (“SARs”)

Prior to the Merger, AerSale Aviation granted stock appreciation rights to certain of its executives. These awards entitled the holders to compensation in the Company’s stock from the date of grant to when the award is exercised. The awards were only exercisable upon a change in control and subject to the holder’s continuing employment.

On December 22, 2020, the exercise feature was triggered, and the awards were exercised. The Company’s accounting policy is to reflect compensation expense when a change in control is deemed probable based on the grant date fair value of the award. As of the date of the Merger, the holder of in-the-money SARs were issued shares of the Company’s common stock valued at $1.0 million and cash, recognizing executive compensation in the amount of $1.4 million.

Earn-Out Shares

Upon consummation of the Merger, the pre-closing holders of AerSale Aviation’s common stock and the holders of in-the-money SARs received a contingent right to receive up to 3,000,000 additional shares of the Company’s common stock. Additionally, certain pre-closing holders of AerSale Aviation’s common stock received a contingent right to receive 746,876 shares of the Company’s common stock, in the aggregate (the ‘‘Earn-out Shares’’), subject to the following:

Prior to the fifth anniversary of the Merger, if the closing price per share of the Company’s common stock is greater than $13.50 for any period of 20 trading days out of 30 consecutive trading days, the holders will be entitled to receive 50% of the Earn-out Shares in the aggregate (“Minimum Target Earn-out Shares”); and

Prior to the fifth anniversary of the Merger, if the closing price per share of the Company’s common stock is greater than $15.00 for any period of 20 trading days out of 30 consecutive trading days, the holders will be entitled to receive all of the remaining Earn-out Shares not yet issued in the aggregate.

Effective February 8, 2021, the contingency event related to the Minimum Target Earn-out Shares was met and 1,855,634 shares were issued. Effective October 22, 2021, the contingency event related to the Maximum Target Earn-out Shares was met and 1,854,169 shares were issued. The remaining shares pursuant to the contingent rights were withheld to cover employee taxes.

We determined the Earn-out Shares to be classified as equity under ASC Topic 815, “Accounting for Derivative Financial Instruments Indexed to, and Potentially Settled in a Company’s Own Stock” as the contingent right is indexed to the Company’s stock and accordingly, the accrual of the Earn-Out shares had no impact on our consolidated financial statements.

Unvested Founder Shares

Upon the Merger, certain pre-closing holders of AerSale Corporation’s common stock agreed to defer the vesting of an aggregate of 700,000 shares (the “Unvested Founder Shares”), half of which will vest at such time as the Minimum Target (as defined in the Merger Agreement) and the other half of which will vest at the Maximum Target (as defined in the Merger Agreement). The Unvested Founder Shares will also vest upon the occurrence of a Liquidity Event on or prior to the fifth anniversary of the date of the Amended and Restated Founder Shares Agreement, solely to the extent the Liquidity Event Consideration (as defined in the Merger Agreement) is greater than (i) $13.50, in which case half of the Unvested Founder Shares which will vest, or (ii) $15.00, in which case the other half of the Unvested Founder Shares will also vest.

Effective February 8, 2021, the contingency event related to the Minimum Target was met and half of the Unvested Founder Shares vested. Effective October 22, 2021, the contingent event related to the Maximum Target was met and the other half of the Unvested Founder Shares vested.

Public Warrants

On November 29, 2021, the Company provided notice to the then holders of all of our 16,442,886 outstanding Public Warrants to purchase shares of our common stock that were issued under the warrant agreement as part of the units sold in our initial public offering, that we would be redeeming all of the Public Warrants for a redemption price of $0.01 per Public Warrant on December 29, 2021 (the “Redemption”). In accordance with the warrant agreement, following delivery of notice of the Redemption, all of our Public Warrants could only be exercised on a cashless basis in lieu of being redeemed. On December 29, 2021, we completed the Redemption and the Public Warrants ceased trading on Nasdaq. A total of 16,357,872 Public Warrants were exercised on a cashless basis in lieu of being redeemed, resulting in net issuances of 6,079,966 shares of our common stock under such Public Warrants. The remaining 85,014 unredeemed Public Warrants were redeemed for a redemption price of $0.01 per Public Warrant effective January 2022. The Private Warrants that are still held by the initial holders or their permitted transferees were not subject to the Redemption.

2020 Equity Incentive Plan

The Company maintains a 2020 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2020 Plan”) and has registered 4,200,000 shares of common stock issuable under the Plan. The 2020 Plan authorizes discretionary grants of incentive stock options to employees of the Company and its qualifying subsidiaries. The 2020 Plan also authorizes discretionary grants of non-qualified stock options, stock appreciation rights, restricted stock, restricted stock units, dividend equivalents or other equity or cash-based awards to employees and consultants of the Company and its subsidiaries and to members of the Board of Directors of the Company. To the extent that an award under the 2020 Plan expires, is cancelled, forfeited, terminated, settled in cash or is otherwise settled without issuance of the full number of shares to which it relates, will become or again be available for awards under the 2020 Plan. The 2020 Plan is administered by the Company's Compensation Committee. The Compensation Committee has complete, full and final authority to: designate participants;

determine the types of awards to be granted; determine the terms of awards; interpret and administer the 2020 Plans and any agreements and awards thereunder.

Restricted stock unit activity under the 2020 Plan for the year ended December 31, 2022 was as follows:

Weighted Average

Weighted Average

Remaining Contractual

    

Amount

    

Grant Date Fair Value

    

Life (Years)

Outstanding at December 31, 2021

1,669,300

$

10.10

$

2.02

Granted

278,473

 

14.80

2.24

Forfeited

(15,080)

 

13.69

2.10

Vested (1)

(558,310)

10.80

-

Outstanding December 31, 2022

1,374,383

$

10.72

$

2.88

(1) Includes 531,667 performance units that vested at the 200% vesting target effective December 22, 2022, for which 167,007 shares of common stock underlying vested RSUs were withheld to cover tax obligations. The shares withheld are again available for issuance under the plan.

The Company’s restricted stock units include 1,073,736 performance-based awards that have vesting provisions subject to both time vesting and the achievement of certain performance milestones at 100% and 200% vesting targets, while the remaining 300,647 awards vest over a period ranging from one to three years.

For the restricted stock unit awards granted under the 2020 Plan containing both service and performance conditions, the Company recognizes compensation expense when the awards are considered probable of vesting.  Restricted stock units are considered granted, and the service inception date begins, when a mutual understanding of the key terms and conditions between the Company and the employee have been established.  The fair value of these awards is determined based on the closing price of the shares on the grant date. The probability of restricted share awards granted with future performance conditions is evaluated at each reporting period and compensation expense is adjusted based on the probability assessment.

For the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, the Company recognized share-based compensation expense for certain performance-based awards of $14.2 million and $12.1 million, respectively, given that the achievement of the performance milestones at the 200% vesting target have been deemed probable for accounting purposes.

2020 Employee Stock Purchase Plan

The Company also maintains a 2020 Employee Stock Purchase Plan (the “ESPP”) and has registered 500,000 shares of common stock issuable under the ESPP. For the year ended December 31, 2022 the Company issued 46,726 shares pursuant to the ESPP and 453,274 shares remain available for future issuance.