Fresh Vine to acquire Notes Live in all-stock transaction

Fresh Vine Wine has executed a definitive merger agreement to combine with Notes Live, the Colorado-based live entertainment and hospitality company, that currently operates entertainment campuses in both the Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Atlanta, Georgia metropolitan areas. Notes Live is also in the process of developing its crown-jewel, the Sunset Amphitheater collection, a set of luxury outdoor amphitheaters designed to set a new standard in entertainment. The flagship Sunset amphitheater location in Colorado Springs is in development and scheduled to open in August of 2024. Additional amphitheaters have also been announced by Notes Live in Oklahoma City and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, and it has plans to expand into the North Texas market. The transaction contemplated by the Merger Agreement is anticipated to close in June 2024, subject to approval by Fresh Vine’s stockholders, and the satisfaction of various additional closing conditions. The Transaction will be an all-stock transaction. Specifically, at the closing of the Transaction, Fresh Vine will issue shares of its common stock to Notes Live shareholders pursuant to a formula intended to allocate existing Fresh Vine stockholders and Notes Live shareholders a percentage of the combined company. The respective percentages will be based on agreed upon relative valuations in which Notes Live is being valued at $350 million, plus the amount of gross proceeds raised by Notes Live in its current equity offering of up to $50 million, and Fresh Vine is being valued at $18.0 million. The percentage of the combined company that Fresh Vine stockholders will own upon the closing of the merger is subject to adjustment based on the amount of Fresh Vine’s net cash at the time of closing. Founder Chairman and CEO of Notes Live, JW Roth, will assume the role of Chairman & CEO of the public company at closing. The Merger Agreement contemplates that Fresh Vine will change its name to Notes Live Holdings, Inc., and its NYSE American ticker symbol to “VENU” upon closing. The Merger Agreement sets forth certain conditions precedent to any closing of the Transaction, including among other things, the approval of Fresh Vine’s and Notes Live’s shareholders, the receipt of regulatory approvals that may be required, including approval by the NYSE American for the continued listing of the combined company’s common stock after closing, Fresh Vine satisfying minimum net cash requirements and having no liabilities on its balance sheet or unpaid or unsatisfied obligations that will require a cash expenditure by Fresh Vine after the Effective Time, Fresh Vine completing a sale, license, transfer, disposition, or divestiture, or winding down of Fresh Vine’s current wine production business in a manner reasonably acceptable to Notes Live, the absence of dissenting Notes Live shareholders and the entry by Notes Live into lock-up and leak-out arrangements with its shareholders to its satisfaction. There can be no assurance that the proposed Transaction will be completed as currently contemplated on anticipated timelines, or at all.