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Organization and Business Operation
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2024
Organization and Business Operation [Abstract]  
ORGANIZATION AND BUSINESS OPERATION

NOTE 1 - ORGANIZATION AND BUSINESS OPERATION

 

Zeo Energy Corp. (formerly known as ESGEN Acquisition Corporation or “ESGEN”), collectively with its subsidiaries (the “Company” or “Zeo”) is in the business of marketing, sales and installation, warranty coverage and maintenance of solar panel technology to individual households within the United States. As part of this, the Company may also provide roofing repairs and construction.

 

Zeo Energy Corp. was a blank check company originally incorporated on April 19, 2021 as a Cayman Islands exempted company for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses. On October 22, 2021, ESGEN consummated an initial public offering, after which its securities began trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (“Nasdaq”).

 

Business Combination

 

On March 13, 2024 (the “Closing Date”), the Company consummated its previously announced business combination (the “Closing”), pursuant to that certain Business Combination Agreement, dated as of April 19, 2023 (as amended on January 24, 2024, the “Business Combination Agreement”), by and among Zeo Energy Corp., a Delaware corporation (f/k/a ESGEN Acquisition Corporation, a Cayman Islands exempted company), ESGEN OpCo, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company(“OpCo”), Sunergy Renewables, LLC, a Nevada limited liability company (“Sunergy”), the Sunergy equity holders set forth on the signature pages thereto or joined thereto (collectively, “Sellers” and each, a “Seller”, and collectively with Sunergy, the “Sunergy Parties”), for limited purposes, ESGEN LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (the “Sponsor”), and for limited purposes, Timothy Bridgewater, an individual, in his capacity as the Sellers Representative (collectively, the “Business Combination”). Prior to the Closing, (i) except as otherwise specified in the Business Combination Agreement, each issued and outstanding Class B ordinary share of ESGEN was converted into one Class A ordinary share of ESGEN (the “ESGEN Class A Ordinary Shares” and such conversion, the “ESGEN Share Conversion”); and (ii) ESGEN was domesticated into the State of Delaware so as to become a Delaware corporation (the “Domestication”). In connection with the Closing, the registrant changed its name from “ESGEN Acquisition Corporation” to “Zeo Energy Corp.”

 

Upon the Domestication, each then-outstanding ESGEN Class A Ordinary Share was cancelled and converted into one share of Class A common stock of the Company, par value $0.0001 per share (“Zeo Class A Common Stock”), and each then-outstanding ESGEN Public Warrant was assumed and converted automatically into a warrant of the registrant, exercisable for one share of Zeo Class A Common Stock. Additionally, each outstanding unit of ESGEN was cancelled and converted into one share of Zeo Class A Common Stock and one-half of one warrant of the Company.

 

In accordance with the terms of the Business Combination Agreement, Sunergy caused all holders of any options, warrants or rights to subscribe for or purchase any equity interests of Sunergy or its subsidiaries or securities (including debt securities) convertible into or exchangeable for, or that otherwise confer on the holder any right to acquire, any equity interests of Sunergy or any subsidiary thereof (collectively, the “Sunergy Convertible Interests”) existing immediately prior to the Closing to either exchange or convert all such holder’s Sunergy Convertible Interests into limited liability interests of Sunergy (the “Sunergy Company Interests”) in accordance with the governing documents of Sunergy or the Sunergy Convertible Interests.

 

At the Closing, ESGEN contributed to OpCo (1) all of its assets (excluding its interests in OpCo, but including the amount of cash in ESGEN’s Trust Account (the “Trust Account”) as of immediately prior to the Closing (after giving effect to the exercise of redemption rights by ESGEN stockholders), and (2) a number of newly issued shares of Class V common stock of the registrant, par value $0.0001 per share, which generally have only voting rights (the “Zeo Class V Common Stock”), equal to the number of Seller OpCo Units (as defined in the Business Combination Agreement) (the “Seller Class V Shares”). In exchange, OpCo issued to ESGEN (i) a number of Class A common units of OpCo (the “Manager OpCo Units”) which equaled the number of total shares of the Zeo Class A Common Stock issued and outstanding immediately after the Closing and (ii) a number of warrants to purchase Manager OpCo Units which equaled the number of SPAC Warrants (as defined in the Business Combination Agreement) issued and outstanding immediately after the Closing (the transactions described above in this paragraph, the “ESGEN Contribution”). Immediately following the ESGEN Contribution, (x) the Sellers contributed to OpCo the Sunergy Company Interests and (y) in exchange therefor, OpCo transferred to the Sellers the Seller OpCo Units and the Seller Class V Shares.

 

Prior to the Closing, the Sellers transferred 24.167% of their Sunergy Company Interests (which were thereafter exchanged for Seller OpCo Units and Seller Class V Shares at the Closing, as described above) pro rata to Sun Managers, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (“Sun Managers”), in exchange for Class A Units (as defined in the Sun Managers limited liability company agreement (the “SM LLCA”) in Sun Managers. In connection with such transfer, Sun Managers executed a joinder to, and became a “Seller” for purposes of, the Business Combination Agreement. Sun Managers intends to grant Class B Units (as defined in the SM LLCA) in Sun Managers through the Sun Managers, LLC Management Incentive Plan (the “Management Incentive Plan”) adopted by Sun Managers to certain eligible employees or service providers of OpCo, Sunergy or their subsidiaries, in the discretion of Timothy Bridgewater, as manager of Sun Managers. Such Class B Units may be subject to a vesting schedule, and once such Class B Units become vested, there may be an exchange opportunity through which the grantees may request (subject to the terms of the Management Incentive Plan and the OpCo A&R LLC Agreement (as defined below)) the exchange of their Class B Units into Seller OpCo Units (together with an equal number of Seller Class V Shares), which may then be converted into Zeo Class A Common Stock (subject to the terms of the Management Incentive Plan and the OpCo A&R LLC Agreement). Grants under the Management Incentive Plan will be made after Closing. As of June 30, 2024, no such grants have occurred.

 

As of the Closing Date, upon consummation of the Business Combination, the only outstanding shares of capital stock of the registrant were shares of Zeo Class A Common Stock and Zeo Class V Common Stock.

 

In connection with entering into the Business Combination Agreement, ESGEN and the Sponsor entered into a subscription agreement, dated April 19, 2023, which ESGEN, the Sponsor and OpCo subsequently amended and restated on January 24, 2024 (the “Sponsor Subscription Agreement”), pursuant to which, among other things, the Sponsor agreed to purchase an aggregate of 1,000,000 OpCo preferred units (and be issued an equal number of shares of Zeo Class V Common Stock) (“Convertible OpCo Preferred Units”) concurrently with the Closing at a cash purchase price of $10.00 per unit and up to an additional 500,000 Convertible OpCo Preferred Units (together with the concurrent issuance of an equal number of shares of Zeo Class V Common Stock) during the six months after Closing if called for by Zeo (the “Sponsor PIPE Investment”). Prior to the Closing, ESGEN informed the Sponsor that it wished to call for the additional 500,000 Convertible OpCo Preferred Units at the Closing and, as a result, a total of 1,500,000 Convertible OpCo Preferred Units were issued to Sponsor in return for aggregate consideration of $15,000,000.

 

Accounting for the Business Combination

 

The Business Combination was accounted for as a reverse recapitalization with ESGEN being treated as the acquired company since there was no change in control in accordance with the guidance for common control transactions in Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 805-50, Business Combinations - Related Issues (“ASC 805-50”). Accordingly, the financial statements of the combined entity will represent a continuation of the financial statements of Sunergy with the Business Combination treated as the equivalent of Sunergy issuing stock for the net assets of ESGEN, accompanied by a recapitalization. The net assets of ESGEN were stated at historical cost, with no goodwill or other intangible assets recorded. Operations prior to the Business Combination were those of Sunergy.

 

Sunergy was determined to be the accounting acquirer based on evaluation of the following facts and circumstances;

 

Based upon the evaluation of the OpCo A&R LLC Agreement, OpCo is considered to be a Variable Interest Entity (“VIE”) and ESGEN is considered to be the primary beneficiary through its membership interest and manager powers conferred to it through the Class A Units. For VIEs, the accounting acquirer is always considered to be the primary beneficiary. As such, Zeo will consolidate OpCo and will be considered to the accounting acquirer; however, further consideration of whether the entities are under common control was required in order to determine whether there is an ultimate change in control and the acquisition method of accounting is required under ASC 805.

 

While Sunergy did not control or have common ownership of ESGEN prior to the consummation of the Business Combination, the Company evaluated the ownership of the new entity subsequent to the consummation of the transaction to determine if common control existed. If the business combination is between entities under common control, then the acquisition method of accounting is not applicable and the guidance in ASC 805-50 regarding common control should be applied instead. The Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) ASC does not include a definition of common control. In practice, entities with a common parent entity, as determined under ASC 810, Consolidation, are generally considered to be under common control. Emerging Issues Task force (“EITF”) Issue 02-5, “Definition of ‘Common Control’ in Relation to FASB Statement No. 141 (“EITF Issue 02-5”)”, which was never finalized or codified, has also been applied in practice to determine when entities are under common control. EITF Issue 02-5 indicates that common control would exist in any of the following situations:

 

An individual (including trusts in which the individual is the beneficial owner) or entity holds more than 50 percent of the voting ownership of each entity.

 

Immediate family members hold more than 50 percent of the voting ownership interest of each entity, and there is no evidence that those family members would vote their shares in any way other than in concert. Immediate family members include a married couple and their children, but not the married couple’s grandchildren. Entities might be owned in varying combinations among living siblings and their children. Those situations require careful consideration of the substance of the ownership and voting relationships.

 

group of stockholders holds more than 50 percent of the voting ownership of each entity, and contemporaneous written evidence of an agreement to vote a majority of the entities’ shares in concert exists.

 

Prior to the Business Combination and the contributions to Sun Managers, Sunergy was majority owned by 5 entities (the “Primary Sellers”):

 

Southern Crown Holdings, LLC (wholly owned by Anton Hruby) - 230,000 Common Units (23%)

 

LAMADD LLC (wholly owned by Gianluca Guy) - 230,000 Common Units (23%)

 

JKae Holdings, LLC (wholly owned by Kalen Larsen) - 215,000 Common Units (21.5%)

 

Clarke Capital, LLC (wholly owned by Brandon Bridgewater) - 215,000 Common Units (21.5%)

 

White Horse Energy, LC (wholly owned by Timothy Bridgewater) - 90,000 Common Units (9%)

 

Each of the above parties entered into a Voting Agreement, dated September 7, 2023. The term of the Voting Agreement is for five years from the date of the Voting Agreement. The consummation of the Business Combination with ESGEN occurred within the term of the Voting Agreement.

 

Prior to the Business Combination and the contributions to Sun Managers, the Primary Sellers had 98% ownership in Sunergy. Immediately following the Business Combination, they owned 83.8% of the Common Stock of the registrant through their Zeo Class V Common Stock that have voting interests. The Voting Agreement constitutes contemporaneous written evidence of an agreement to vote a majority of the Primary Sellers’ shares of the registrant in concert. Accordingly, the Primary Sellers retain majority control through the voting of their units in conjunction with the Voting Agreement immediately prior to the Business Combination and their shares following the Business Combination and, therefore, there is no change of control before or after the Business Combination. This conclusion is appropriate even though there was no relationship or common ownership or control between Sunergy and ESGEN prior to the Business Combination. Accordingly, the Business Combination should be accounted for in accordance with the guidance for common control transactions in ASC 805-50.

 

Additional factors that were considered include the following:

 

Since the Business Combination, the Board has been comprised of one individual designated by ESGEN and five individuals designated by Sunergy.

 

Since the Business Combination, management of the Company has been the existing management at Sunergy immediately prior to the Business Combination. The individual that was serving as the chief executive officer and chief financial officer of Sunergy’s management team immediately prior to the Business Combination continues substantially unchanged upon completion of the Business Combination.

 

For common control transactions that include the transfer of a business, the reporting entity is required to account for the transaction in accordance with the procedural guidance in ASC 805-50. The C Corporation (ESGEN) is considered to be a substantive entity, the LLC (OpCo) is a business and VIE, and the C Corporation is considered to be the accounting acquirer since it is the primary beneficiary of the LLC. In a transaction that is a combination of entities under common control, the acquirer (ESGEN) should recognize the acquired entity (OpCo and Sunergy) on the same basis as the entities’ common parent.