Local Bounti CEO Craig Hurlbert - Controlled Environment Agriculture Will Have Multiple Winners (Video)
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Summary
- Indoor agriculture startup Local Bounti is set to go public through a merger with SPAC Leo Holdings III Corp.
- CEO Craig Hurlbert talks to us about controlled environment agriculture and smart greenhouses.
- Having a maniacal focus on unit economics.
Indoor agriculture startup Local Bounti is set to go public through a merger with SPAC Leo Holdings III Corp. (LIII) in a transaction valued at $1.1 billion. It's the first - and only - company in the space to receive investment from food giant Cargill, for its proprietary Stack & Flow technology. CEO Craig Hurlbert, formerly of GE, talks to us about controlled environment agriculture, its smart greenhouse and the importance of having a maniacal focus on unit economics. Non-GMO, pesticide free, sustainably grown.
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Comments (8)
This is interesting. Travis Joyner and Craig Hurlbert are listed as executives for Grow Bitterroot.
----------In June 2020, we entered into a sale and finance leaseback transaction with Grow Bitterroot, LLC, (“Grow Bitterroot”), a related party, for the Montana Facility. We use the Montana Facility mainly for warehouse and greenhouse space. The original lease for the Montana Facility is for an initial term of 15 years or through May 2035. We also have an option to extend the term of the facility lease for three consecutive terms of five years each, of which we currently reasonably expect to extend the first term. The transaction did not qualify for sale leaseback accounting due to the finance leaseback classification prohibiting sale accounting. Therefore, the assets remain on the consolidated balance sheet and there was a $12.7 million financing obligation as of September 30, 2021. In addition, we manage the facility and perform maintenance in exchange for a management fee under a property maintenance and management services agreement entered into in June 2020. The contractual payments for both the lease agreement and the property maintenance and management agreement are applied as payments of deemed principal and imputed interest. In April 2021, the lease agreement was modified to extend the initial term through October 2040.
----------In June 2020, we entered into a sale and finance leaseback transaction with Grow Bitterroot, LLC, (“Grow Bitterroot”), a related party, for the Montana Facility. We use the Montana Facility mainly for warehouse and greenhouse space. The original lease for the Montana Facility is for an initial term of 15 years or through May 2035. We also have an option to extend the term of the facility lease for three consecutive terms of five years each, of which we currently reasonably expect to extend the first term. The transaction did not qualify for sale leaseback accounting due to the finance leaseback classification prohibiting sale accounting. Therefore, the assets remain on the consolidated balance sheet and there was a $12.7 million financing obligation as of September 30, 2021. In addition, we manage the facility and perform maintenance in exchange for a management fee under a property maintenance and management services agreement entered into in June 2020. The contractual payments for both the lease agreement and the property maintenance and management agreement are applied as payments of deemed principal and imputed interest. In April 2021, the lease agreement was modified to extend the initial term through October 2040.
Revs for first 9 mos of 2021 were $324,000
LOCL got ripped off by their SPAC sponsor. 94% redemptions. "At the Extraordinary General Meeting, holders of 25,798,719 shares of the Class A Common Stock sold in its initial public offering (“public shares”) exercised their right to redeem those shares for cash at a price of approximately $10.00 per share, for an aggregate of approximately $258.0 million. The per share redemption price of $10.00 for public shareholders electing redemption was paid out of the Company’s trust account, which after taking into account the redemption, had a balance immediately prior to the Closing of approximately $17.0 million."
@Go and do likewise this wasn't the sponsor redemption. If you read further into the 8-k, you will see they created ~254k shares for the sponsor fee. This can explain high volume and huge down day, as sponsor likely elected to cash out for whatever reasons. LOCL is down to $6.07 at the moment, -32%. LOCL was trading under $6 today. Quite a shame, really. Wonder what the CEO would elaborate on, especially with them opening the market at the bell on 12.3.21
@Morgan Myrmo Sponsor got paid for virtually nothing. Only 6% of shares were not redeemed. LOCL got way less cash than expected.
@Go and do likewise not really. The sponsor got the PIPE of $150 MM. So the company is funded and publicly traded.
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