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Commitments and Contingencies
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2022
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
Commitments and Contingencies

17. COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

 

Shareholder Derivative Lawsuit

 

On March 31, 2020, a shareholder derivative suit, captioned Johnson (Derivatively on behalf of ADTRAN) v. Stanton, et al., Case No. 5:20-cv-00447, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama against two of the Company’s current executive officers, one of its former executive officers, and certain current and former members of its Board of Directors, alleging, among other things, that the defendants made or caused the Company to make materially false and misleading statements regarding, and/or failed to disclose material adverse facts about, the Company’s business, operations and prospects, specifically relating to the Company’s internal control over financial reporting, excess and obsolete inventory reserves, financial results and demand from certain customers. The plaintiff in the shareholder derivative suit sent a demand letter dated June 29, 2021 to ADTRAN’s Board of Directors. The letter contains similar allegations to those made in the plaintiff’s filed complaint and in the now dismissed securities class action, and it demands, among other things, that the Board of Directors commence an investigation into the alleged wrongdoing. On December 10, 2021, after investigating the allegations in the plaintiff’s demand with the assistance of independent counsel, the independent members of the Board of Directors concluded that pursuing the claims asserted in the demand would not be in the Company's best interests and exercised their business judgment to refuse the demand. The plaintiff subsequently dismissed the case. On February 25, 2022, the Court entered an order on the parties’ joint stipulation dismissing the case without prejudice.

 

Other Legal Matters

 

In addition to the litigation described above, from time to time we are subject to or otherwise involved in various lawsuits, claims, investigations and legal proceedings that arise out of or are incidental to the conduct of our business (collectively, “Legal Matters”), including those relating to employment matters, patent rights, regulatory compliance matters, stockholder claims, and contractual and other commercial disputes. Such Legal Matters, even if not meritorious, could result in the expenditure of significant financial and managerial resources. Additionally, an unfavorable outcome in any legal matter, including in a patent dispute, could require the Company to pay damages, entitle claimants to other relief, such as royalties, or could prevent the Company from selling some of its products in certain jurisdictions. While the Company cannot predict with certainty the results of Legal Matters in which it is currently involved, the Company does not expect that the ultimate outcome of such Legal Matters will individually or in the aggregate have a material adverse effect on its business, results of operations, financial condition or cash flows.

 

Business Combination Agreement

 

On August 30, 2021, the Company and ADVA, entered into a business combination agreement (the “Business Combination Agreement”), pursuant to which both companies agreed to combine their respective businesses and each become subsidiaries of a new holding company, Acorn HoldCo, a Delaware corporation and currently a wholly-owned direct subsidiary of the Company.

 

Under the terms of the Business Combination Agreement, Acorn MergeCo, Inc., a newly formed Delaware corporation and wholly-owned direct subsidiary of Acorn HoldCo (“Merger Sub”), will merge with and into ADTRAN, with ADTRAN surviving the merger (the “Merger”) as a wholly-owned direct subsidiary of Acorn HoldCo. Pursuant to the Merger, each outstanding share of common stock of the Company will be converted into the right to receive one share of common stock of Acorn HoldCo. Acorn HoldCo has also made a public exchange offer to exchange each issued and outstanding no-par value bearer share of ADVA, pursuant to which each ADVA share tendered and accepted for exchange will be exchanged for 0.8244 shares of common stock of Acorn HoldCo (the “Exchange Offer”, and together with the Merger, the “Business Combination”). Upon completion of the Business Combination, and assuming that all of the outstanding ADVA shares are exchanged in the Exchange Offer, former ADTRAN stockholders and former ADVA shareholders will own approximately 54% and 46%, respectively, of the outstanding Acorn HoldCo shares.

 

The Business Combination Agreement was unanimously approved by the Board of Directors of the Company and by the supervisory board and management board of ADVA. On January 6, 2022, the Company's stockholders approved the Business Combination by an overwhelming majority. The end of the ADVA shareholder tender offer acceptance period was on January 26, 2022, which resulted in the acceptance of the Exchange Offer by more than 60% of all shares of ADVA entitled to voting rights existing as of October 31, 2021, thus exceeding the required minimum acceptance threshold. According to the rules of the German Securities Acquisition and Takeover Act, ADVA shareholders who did not tender their shares during the initial acceptance period could do so during a two-week additional acceptance period that began on February 1, 2022 and ended February 14, 2022. This resulted in the acceptance of the Exchange Offer by approximately 66% of all shares of ADVA entitled to voting rights existing as of November 30, 2021. On January 24, 2022, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. ("CFIUS") completed its review of the Business Combination and determined that the transaction was not a “covered transaction” subject to CFIUS’ jurisdiction, satisfying the condition of the Business Combination Agreement related to CFIUS notification. On February 16, 2022, the U.K. Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy completed its review of the Business Combination and determined that the Secretary of State will be taking no further action under the NS&I Act, satisfying the condition of the Business Combination Agreement related to NS&I Act approval. Cooperative proceedings continue with the foreign direct investment authorities in Germany.

 

The Company anticipates the consummation of the Business Combination around the middle of 2022, subject to customary closing conditions, and regulatory approvals from the foreign direct investment authorities in Germany.

 

Additional information about the Business Combination Agreement and proposed Business Combination is set forth in the Company’s filings with the SEC, as well as in the registration statement on Form S-4 that Acorn HoldCo filed with the SEC, which was declared effective December 2, 2021 (the “Acorn HoldCo Registration Statement”).

 

Performance Bonds

 

Certain contracts, customers and jurisdictions in which we do business require us to provide various guarantees of performance such as bid bonds, performance bonds and customs bonds. As of March 31, 2022 and December 31, 2021, we had commitments related to these bonds totaling $20.9 million and $22.9 million, respectively, which expire at various dates through April 2025. In general we would only be liable for the amount of these guarantees in the event of default under each contract, the probability of which we believe is remote.

 

In June 2020, the Company entered into a letter of credit with a bank to guarantee performance obligations under a contract with a certain customer. The obligations under this customer contract will be performed over multiple years. We reached the maximum value of our minimum collateral requirement of $15.0 million during the three months ended March 31, 2021 as the Company reached certain milestones through the first quarter of 2021 as outlined in the customer contract. The letter of credit was secured by a pledge of a portion of the Company’s fixed-income securities, which totaled $18.0 million as of March 31, 2022, of which $0.1 million is included in restricted cash and $17.9 million is included in long-term investments on the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets. This pledged collateral value will fluctuate as the Company changes the mix of the pledged collateral between restricted cash and investments. Any shortfalls in the minimum collateral value are required to be restored by the Company from available cash and cash equivalents, short-term investments and/or long-term investments. The collateral under the letter of credit will be released when all obligations under the customer contract have been met. As of March 31, 2022, the Company believes it was in compliance with all contractual requirements under the letter of credit.

 

Investment Commitment

 

We have committed to invest up to an aggregate of $5.0 million in a private equity fund, of which $4.9 million has been invested as of March 31, 2022.