Arena Fortify Acquisition Corp.
LIQUIDATION – 12/9/22 – LINK
- Arena Fortify Acquisition Corp. held a special meeting of stockholders on December 8, 2022, at 8:00 a.m., Eastern Time, as a completely virtual meeting, conducted over the internet via live audio webcast with no physical in-person meeting.
- At this Special Meeting, stockholders approved certain amendments to the Company’s amended and restated certificate of incorporation to allow the Company to amend the date by which the Company must consummate a business combination from February 15, 2023, to December 9, 2022 (such date, the “Early Termination Date”).
- On December 8, 2022, following the Special Meeting, the Company filed the Charter Amendment with the Secretary of State of the State of Delaware.
- The last day of trading of the Company’s public shares, warrants, and units on the Nasdaq Stock Market LLC was December 8, 2022.
- Because the Company will not be able to complete an initial business combination by the Early Termination Date, the Company is obligated to redeem the remaining public shares as promptly as possible, but not more than 10 business days after the Early Termination Date.
- The Company expects to complete the Mandatory Redemption on or about December 14, 2022.
- The redemption price per share in connection with the Mandatory Redemption will be approximately $10.27.
- There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to the Company’s warrants, which will expire worthless on the Early Termination Date.
MANAGEMENT & BOARD
Executive Officers
Daniel Zwirn, 50
Chief Executive Officer and Director
Since 2015 Mr. Zwirn has been Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of Arena Investors, LP., a $2.2 billion investment firm with offices in New York, London and San Francisco focusing on global special situations asset and credit investments in corporates, real estate, structured finance, and corporate securities. From 2009 through 2015, he founded and / or led several specialty finance enterprises including Applied Data Finance (a consumer finance company), North Mill Capital (an asset-based lender), North Mill Equipment (an equipment lessor), and Lantern Endowment Partners (an investment fund). From 2001 through 2009, he founded and served as Managing Partner of D.B. Zwirn & Co., a $6 billion global special situations firm originally co-founded by, and spun off from, Highbridge Capital Management, for which he also served as Managing Director. During 2000 and 2001, he founded and created the Special Opportunities Group of MSD Capital, the private investment firm of Michael Dell. He serves on the Board of Trustees of the Brookings Institution, the Executive Board of the University of Pennsylvania’s Jerome Fisher Program in Management & Technology, and the Board of Overseers for the School of Social Policy & Practice at the University of Pennsylvania. He previously served on the Board of Trustees of Barnard College of Columbia University, the Leadership Council of the Robin Hood Foundation and the Board of Trustees of the New York Public Theater. He has an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School as well as a B.S. Econ. and a B.A.S. (C.S.) from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business and Moore School of Electrical Engineering, respectively.
Greg White, 39
President
Mr. White leads the natural resources team for Arena Investors LP’s investment activities in special situations credit, where he is focused on sourcing, originating, and investing in alternative credit opportunities and control and non-control distressed debt across the energy spectrum, including crude oil and natural gas, exploration and production, metals and mining (precious metals, base metals, and ferrous metals), timber, agriculture and other commodity related businesses and assets. Mr. White joined Arena upon its founding in 2015 to establish and personally direct the oil and gas investment platform for the firm while also having a broader, flexible investment mandate across the entire energy and natural resources spectrum. Mr. White serves on numerous private company boards in which Arena currently holds investments including Polaris Production Partners, LLC, Falcon V Holdings, LLC, Buzzards Bench Holdings, LLC, SMPA Holdings, LLC and MD America Energy Holdings, Inc. Mr. White began his investment career in the investment management group at Archon Group, LP, a real estate investment management company located in Dallas, Texas. Mr. White received a BBA from Harding University.
Kieran Goodwin, 51
Chief Financial Officer and Director
Mr. Goodwin founded Panning Capital Management, LP in 2012 and was Co-Managing Partner and Portfolio Manager until 2018. Panning was a long / short credit hedge fund with peak assets under management of $2.5 billion. From 2004 – 2010, he worked at King Street Capital Management where he was one of five partners and four members of the Global Investment Committee. As Head of Trading, Mr. Goodwin was responsible for managing King Street’s trading operations. During his time at King Street, the firm’s assets under management grew from $4 billion to over $20 billion. Mr. Goodwin was previously a Managing Director at both UBS and Merrill Lynch, where he ran proprietary trading books. Currently, Mr. Goodwin invests his own capital in both private and public markets. He is an investor in many early-stage companies and currently serves on the board of Tradewell Technologies, Inc. and Zoomi, Inc. Mr. Goodwin currently also serves as the Chief Financial Officer of Rosecliff Acquisition Sponsor I LLC, a blank check company focused on identifying high growth technology and tech-enabled businesses domestically in industries that are being disrupted by advances in technology and on technology paradigms. Additionally, he serves on the board of Voya Prime Rate Trust, a public closed-end loan fund. Mr. Goodwin received a B.A. in Computer Science, cum laude, from Duke University.
Board of Directors
Franklin S. Edmonds, Jr., 52
Director
Mr. Edmonds served as Co-Managing Partner and Head of Research at Panning Capital Management, L.P. from 2013-2018. From 2002-2012, he was a Senior Research Analyst at King Street Capital Management, where he served as one of five partners and four members of the Global Investment Committee. During his time at King Street, assets under management grew from $2 billion to over $20 billion. Prior to King Street, Frank was a research analyst at Oak Hill Advisors. He serves on the boards of Shane’s Rib Shack, a fast casual barbeque restaurant business with 65 locations in the Southeast, as well as the Darden Graduate School of Business and the Jefferson Scholars Foundation. He is currently the Chair of the Investment Committee at Woodberry Forest School. Frank received a B.A. in History/American Studies from the University of Virginia in 1991 and M.B.A and J.D. degrees from the University of Virginia in 1996.
Marc McCarthy, 50
Director
Mr. McCarthy served as Partner and Senior Managing Director at Wexford Capital, LP from 2008 to 2020. At Wexford, Mr. McCarthy was responsible for developing and managing public and private investment activities within the exploration and production, oil field service, real estate, healthcare, and consumer sectors with an emphasis on high yield and distressed situations. From 1997 to 2008, Mr. McCarthy served as Senior Managing Director covering global emerging market oil & gas, agribusiness equity and debt research at Bear, Stearns & Co. From 1993 to 1997 he conducted oil & gas research at Prudential Securities. Mr. McCarthy has served as Chairman and Director of Mammoth Energy, Director of Penn Virginia, Director of Coronado Midstream, and Chairman and Director of Energy Partners.
James Crockard, 51
Director
Mr. Crockard currently serves as Chief Executive Officer, Co-Founder, and Chairman of the Board at LOLA Energy III, LLC, a private enterprise launched to make acquisitions of distressed oil and gas businesses in the Appalachian Basin. Since 2015, Mr. Crockard has held similar roles at LOLA Energy, LLC and LOLA Energy II, LLC. In 2017, Mr. Crockard founded Muddy Creek Energy Advisors, LLC, a private equity firm, and currently serves as Chief Executive Officer, Co-Founder, and Board Member. Between 2000 and 2014 Mr. Crockard held various roles at EQT Corporation, a Fortune 500 natural gas company, most recently as Senior Vice President with responsibility across business development, land and title operations, strategic planning and process improvement functions. At EQT, Mr. Crockard was involved in the acquisition of over 200,000 acres in the Marcellus and Utica shale plays, expansion of Marcellus drilling program locations, and leadership and review of multi-basin diversification strategies. From 1995 to 2000, Mr. Crockard worked in the tax department of Ernst & Young, LLP. Mr. Crockard currently serves on the Board of Trustees and as Audit Committee Chair for the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the TKE Educational Foundation, and on the Tocqueville Society for the United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania. He has previously held various other leadership roles at the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, West Virginia University College of Law, and EQT Foundation. Mr. Crockard received a J.D. from West Virginia University in 1994 and B.A. in Business Administration from Waynesburg University in 1991. We believe that Mr.Crockard’s industry and investing experience make him well qualified to serve as a member of our Board.