Item 1.01 Entry into a Material Agreement.
Executive Employment Agreement
On October 28, 2022, Vivakor, Inc. (the "Company") entered into an executive
employment agreement with James Ballengee (the "Employment Agreement") with
respect to the Company's appointment of Mr. Ballengee as Chief Executive Officer
and Chairman of the Board of Directors (the "Board"). Pursuant to the Employment
Agreement, Mr. Ballengee will receive annual compensation of $1,000,000 payable
in shares of the Company's common stock, priced at the volume weighted average
price (VWAP) for the five trading days preceding the date of the Employment
Agreement and each anniversary thereof (the "CEO Compensation"). The CEO
Compensation shall be subject to satisfaction of Nasdaq rules, the provisions of
the Company's equity incentive plan and other applicable requirements and shall
be accrued if such issuance is due prior to satisfaction of such requirements.
Additionally, Mr. Ballengee shall be eligible for a discretionary performance
bonus. The Employment Agreement may be terminated by either party for any or no
reason, by providing a five days' notice of termination.
Pursuant to the Employment Agreement, Mr. Ballengee is granted the right to
nominate two additional directors for appointment to the Board in his sole
discretion, as well as a third additional director upon issuance of the Note
Payment Shares (defined below), subject to such directors passing a background
check.
Membership Interest Purchase Agreement - Note Amendment
As previously disclosed in the Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on June 22, 2022, the Company
entered into a Membership Interest Purchase Agreement (the "MIPA"), with Jorgan
Development, LLC, a Louisiana limited liability company ("Jorgan") and JBAH
Holdings, LLC, a Texas limited liability company ("JBAH" and, together with
Jorgan, the "Sellers"), as the equity holders of Silver Fuels Delhi, LLC, a
Louisiana limited liability company ("SFD") and White Claw Colorado City, LLC, a
Texas limited liability company ("WCCC" ). As previously disclosed in the
Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on August 5, 2022, the transaction
documented by the MIPA closed on August 1, 2022 and, as a result, the Company
acquired all of the issued and outstanding membership interests in each of SFD
and WCCC (the "Membership Interests"), making SFD and WCCC wholly-owned
subsidiaries of the Company. The purchase price for the Membership Interests was
approximately $37.4 million, subject to post-closing adjustments, payable by the
Company in a combination of shares of the Company's common stock, secured
three-year promissory notes made by the Company in favor of the Sellers (the
"Notes"), and the assumption of certain liabilities of SFD and WCCC. The shares
of the Company's common stock and the Notes will have an aggregate value of
approximately $32,942,939.
On October 28, 2022, in connection with the Employment Agreement, the Company
and the Sellers entered into an agreement amending the Notes (the "Note
Amendment"), whereby, as soon as is practicable, following and subject to the
approval of the Company's shareholders, and provided there are no applicable
prohibitions under the rules of The Nasdaq Capital Market or other restrictions,
the Company will issue 7,042,254 restricted shares of the Company's common stock
(the "Note Payment Shares") in exchange for the forgiveness and cancellation of
$10,000,000 of principal under the Notes on a pro rata basis, reflecting a
conversion price of $1.42 per share (the "Note Payment"). 6,971,831 shares will
be issued to Jorgan and $9,900,000 of principal owed to Jorgan will be cancelled
and 70,423 shares will be issued to JBAH and $100,000 of principal owed to JBAH
will be cancelled.
No later than thirty (30) days following the date the Note Payment and the Note
Payment Shares are approved by the Company's shareholders, the Company shall use
its reasonable best efforts to prepare and file with the SEC, a registration
statement on Form S-1 or any other available form (the "Registration Statement")
for an offering to be made on a continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 of the
Securities Act or any successor thereto registering the resale from time to time
all of the Note Payment Shares. The Company shall use its reasonable best
efforts to cause the Registration Statement to be declared effective by the SEC
as soon as possible after filing (the date on which the Registration Statement
becomes effective, the "Effectiveness Date"). The Company shall further use its
reasonable best efforts to keep the Registration Statement continuously
effective and to be supplemented and amended to the extent necessary to ensure
that such Registration Statement is available. Once the Registration Statement
is declared effective by the SEC, the Note Payment will count against the
Threshold Payment Amount, as defined in the Notes and the MIPA.
The foregoing description of the Employment Agreement, the MIPA, the Notes and
the Note Amendment do not purport to be complete and are qualified in their
entirety by their full text, the forms of which are filed herewith as Exhibit
10.1, 2.1, 4.1 and 4.2, respectively.
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Item 5.02 Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors;
Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain
Officers.
The information set forth in Item 1.01 of this Current Report on Form 8-K is
incorporated by reference into this Item 5.02.
James Ballengee, 57, Chief Executive Officer and President
Mr. James H. Ballengee combines more than two decades of experience in midstream
oil and gas senior management roles. Previously, he had been involved in two
major private equity portfolio companies holding positions including Chief
Commercial Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Executive Officer, and
Chairman of the Board. From 1997 through 2010, Mr. Ballengee served first as
Chief Financial Officer, then Chief Executive Officer, then Chief Commercial
Officer of Taylor Logistics, LLC, a Halifax Group-backed private equity
portfolio company focused on crude oil marketing and logistics, which he led
through a successful sale to Gibson Energy, Inc. (TSX: GEI). From 2010 to 2013,
he was Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Bridger Group, LLC,
a private crude oil marketing firm. From 2013 to 2015, he was a board member and
Chief Commercial Officer of Bridger, LLC, a Riverstone Holdings-backed private
equity portfolio company focused on crude oil marketing and logistics, which he
led through a successful sale to Ferrellgas Partners, LP (NYSE: FGP). Mr.
Ballengee currently manages an exempt family office, which in turn holds and
manages investments principally in the oil and gas, sports and entertainment,
and real estate sectors. He has an undergraduate degree in accounting from
Louisiana State University-Shreveport.
The Board believes that Mr. Ballengee's experience in management and operations
and his extensive knowledge in the midstream petroleum industry makes him
ideally qualified to help lead the Company towards continued growth and success.
Family Relationships
Mr. Ballengee does not have a family relationship with any of the current
officers or directors of the Company.
Related Party Transactions
Jorgan Development, LLC was the manager of SFD and WCCC at the time the Company
purchased such entities. Mr. Ballengee is the sole manager of Jorgan
Development, LLC and is the principal beneficiary of the trust that owns Jorgan
Development, LLC. As stated above in Item 1.01, the purchase price for the
Membership Interests was approximately $37.4 million.
Item 9.01 Financial Statements and Exhibits.
(d) Exhibits.
In reviewing the agreements included or incorporated by reference as exhibits to
this Current Report on Form 8-K, please remember that they are included to
provide investors with information regarding their terms and are not intended to
provide any other factual or disclosure information about the Company or the
other parties to the agreements. The agreements may contain representations and
warranties by each of the parties to the applicable agreement. These
representations and warranties have been made solely for the benefit of the
parties to the applicable agreement and:
·should not in all instances be treated as categorical statements of fact, but
rather as a way of allocating the risk to one of the parties if those statements
prove to be inaccurate;
·have been qualified by disclosures that were made to the other party in
connection with the negotiation of the applicable agreement, which disclosures
are not necessarily reflected in the agreement;
·may apply standards of materiality in a way that is different from what may be
viewed as material to other investors; and
·were made only as of the date of the applicable agreement or such other date or
dates as may be specified in the agreement and are subject to more recent
developments.
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Accordingly, these representations and warranties may not describe the actual
state of affairs as of the date they were made or at any other time. Additional
information about the Company may be found elsewhere in this Current Report on
Form 8-K and in the Company's other periodic filings which are available without
charge through the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov.
Exhibit No. Exhibit
2.1 Membership Interest Purchase Agreement dated as of June 15, 2022, by
and among the Registrant, Jorgan Development, LLC and JBAH Holdings
LLC (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 2.1 to the Registrant's
Current Report on Form 8-K filed on June 22, 2022)
4.1 Form of Secured Promissory Note (Incorporated by reference to
Exhibit 4.1 to the Registrant's Current Report on Form 8-K filed on
June 22, 2022)
4.2 Form of Note Amendment, dated October 28, 2022
10.1 Executive Employment Agreement, by and between Vivakor, Inc. and
James Ballengee, dated October 28, 2022
104 Cover Page Interactive Data File (embedded within the Inline XBRL
document).
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