v3.20.2
Business Operations and Organization
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2020
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]  
Business Operations and Organization BUSINESS OPERATIONS AND ORGANIZATION
Organization
Greenlane Holdings, Inc. (“Greenlane” and, collectively with the Operating Company (as defined below) and its consolidated subsidiaries, the “Company”, "we", "us", and "our") was formed as a Delaware corporation on May 2, 2018. We are a holding company that was formed for the purpose of completing an underwritten initial public offering (“IPO”) of shares of our Class A common stock (as defined below) and other related Transactions (as defined below) in order to carry on the business of Greenlane Holdings, LLC (the “Operating Company”). The Operating Company was organized under the laws of the state of Delaware on September 1, 2015, and is based in Boca Raton, Florida. Unless the context otherwise requires, references to the “Company” refer to us, and our consolidated subsidiaries, including the Operating Company.
As a result of the IPO and the Transactions described below, we became the sole manager of the Operating Company and our principal asset is Common Units of the Operating Company (“Common Units”). As the sole manager of the Operating Company, we operate and control all of the business and affairs of the Operating Company, and we conduct our business through the Operating Company and its subsidiaries. We have a board of directors and executive officers, but no employees. All of our assets are held and all of the employees are employed by the Operating Company.
We merchandise vaporizers and other products in the United States, Canada and Europe and we distribute to retailers through wholesale operations and to consumers through e-commerce activities and our retail stores.
Although we have a minority economic interest in the Operating Company, we have the sole voting interest in, and control the management of, the Operating Company, and we have the obligation to absorb losses of, and receive benefits from, the Operating Company, that could be significant. We determined that, as a result of the Transactions described below, the Operating Company is a variable interest entity (“VIE”) and that we are the primary beneficiary of the Operating Company. Accordingly, pursuant to the VIE accounting model, beginning in the fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2019, we consolidated the Operating Company in our consolidated financial statements and reported a non-controlling interest related to the Common Units held by the members of the Operating Company (other than the Common Units held by us) on our consolidated financial statements.
The Operating Company has been determined to be our predecessor for accounting purposes and, accordingly, the consolidated financial statements for periods prior to the IPO and the related Transactions have been adjusted to combine the previously separate entities for presentation purposes. Amounts for the period from January 1, 2019 through April 22, 2019 presented in the condensed consolidated financial statements and notes to the condensed financial statements herein represent the historical operations of the Operating Company, and amounts for the period from April 23, 2019 through September 30, 2020 reflect our consolidated operations.
Initial Public Offering and Organizational Transactions
On April 23, 2019, we completed our IPO of shares of Class A common stock at a public offering price of $17.00 per share. Our sale of Class A common stock generated aggregate net proceeds of approximately $79.5 million, after deducting the underwriting discounts and commissions and offering expenses paid by us.
In connection with the closing of the IPO, Greenlane and the Operating Company consummated the following organizational transactions (collectively, the “Transactions”):
●    The Operating Company adopted and approved the Third Amended and Restated Operating Agreement of the Operating Company (the “Operating Agreement”), which converted each member’s existing membership interests in the Operating Company into Common Units, including unvested profits interests into unvested Common Units, and appointed us as the sole manager of the Operating Company;
●    We amended and restated our certificate of incorporation to, among other things, provide for Class A common stock, Class B common stock and Class C common stock;
●    We issued, for nominal consideration, one share of our Class B common stock to our non-founder members for each Common Unit they owned, and issued, for nominal consideration, three shares of Class C common stock to our founder members for each Common Unit they owned;
●    We issued 3,547,776 shares of our Class A common stock upon conversion of the convertible notes at a settlement price equal to 80% of the IPO price;
●    We issued 1,200,000 shares of our Class A common stock to our members upon exchange of an equal number of Common Units, which shares were sold by the members as selling stockholders in the IPO, including 450,000 shares issued pursuant to the partial exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares;
●    We issued and sold 5,250,000 shares of our Class A common stock to the purchasers in the IPO, and we contributed all of the net proceeds to the Operating Company in exchange for a number of Common Units equal to the number of shares of our Class A common stock sold by us in the IPO at a price per Common Unit equal to the IPO price per share of Class A common stock. After giving effect to the IPO and the related Transactions, we owned approximately 23.9% of the Operating Company’s outstanding Common Units;
●    The members of the Operating Company continue to own their Common Units not exchanged for the shares of our Class A common stock sold by them as selling stockholders in the IPO. Common Units are redeemable, subject to contractual restrictions, at the election of such members for newly-issued shares of our Class A common stock on a one-to-one basis (and their shares of our Class B common stock or our Class C common stock, as the case may be, will be canceled on a one-to-one basis in the case of our Class B common stock or three-to-one basis in the case of our Class C common stock upon any such issuance). We also have the option to instead make a cash payment equal to a volume weighted average market price of one share of our Class A common stock for each Common Unit redeemed (subject to customary adjustments, including for stock splits, stock dividends and reclassifications) in accordance with the terms of the Operating Agreement. Our decision to make a cash payment upon a member’s redemption election will be made by our independent directors (within the meaning of the Nasdaq Marketplace Rules) who are disinterested in such proposed redemption; and
●    We entered into (i) a Tax Receivable Agreement (the “TRA”) with the Operating Company and the Operating Company’s members and (ii) a Registration Rights (the “Registration Rights Agreement”) with the Operating Company’s members.
Our corporate structure following the IPO, as described above, is commonly referred to as an “Up-C” structure, which is often used by partnerships and limited liability companies when they undertake an IPO. The Up-C structure allows the members of the Operating Company to continue to realize tax benefits associated with owning interests in an entity that is treated as a partnership, or “pass-through” entity, for income tax purposes following the IPO. One of these benefits is that future taxable income of the Operating Company that is allocated to its members will be taxed on a flow-through basis and therefore will not be subject to corporate taxes at the Operating Company entity level. Additionally, because the members may redeem their Common Units for shares of our Class A common stock on a one-for-one basis, or at our option, for cash, the Up-C structure also provides the members with potential liquidity that holders of non-publicly traded limited liability companies are not typically afforded.
We entered into the TRA with the Operating Company and each of the Operating Company’s members, which provides for the payment by us to the Operating Company’s members of 85.0% of the amount of tax benefits, if any, that we may actually realize (or in some cases, are deemed to realize) as a result of (i) the step-up in tax basis in our share of the Operating Company's assets resulting from the redemption of Common Units under the mechanism described above and (ii) certain other tax benefits attributable to payments made under the TRA.
As a result of the completion of the Transactions, including the IPO, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and the Operating Agreement require that (i) we at all times maintain a ratio of one Common Unit owned by us for each share of our Class A common stock issued by us (subject to certain exceptions), and (ii) the Operating Company at all times maintains (x) a one-to-one ratio between the number of shares of our Class A common stock issued by us and the number of Common Units owned by us, (y) a one-to-one ratio between the number of shares of our Class B common stock owned by the non-founder members of the Operating Company and the number of Common Units owned by the non-founder members of the Operating Company, and (z) a three-to-one ratio between the number of shares of our Class C common stock owned by the founder members of the Operating Company and their affiliates and the number of Common Units owned by the founder members of the Operating Company and their affiliates.
The following table sets forth the economic and voting interests of our common stock holders as of September 30, 2020:
Class of Common Stock (ownership)
Total Shares (1)
Class A Shares (as converted) (2)
Economic Ownership in the Operating Company (3)
Voting Interest in Greenlane (4)
Economic Interest in Greenlane (5)
Class A 13,072,416  13,072,416  31.0  % 14.0  % 100.0  %
Class B (non-founder members) 3,590,909  3,590,909  8.5  % 3.9  % —  %
Class C (founder members) 76,489,218  25,496,406  60.5  % 82.1  % —  %
Total 93,152,543  42,159,731  100.0  % 100.0% 100.0  %
(1) Represents the total number of outstanding shares for each class of common stock as of September 30, 2020.
(2) Represents the number of shares of Class A common stock that would be outstanding assuming the exchange of all outstanding shares of Class B common stock and Class C common stock upon redemption of all related Common Units. Shares of Class B common stock and Class C common stock, as the case may be, would be canceled, without consideration, on a one-to-one basis in the case of Class B common stock and a three-to-one basis in the case of Class C common stock, pursuant to the terms and subject to the conditions of the Operating Agreement.
(3) Represents the indirect economic interest in the Operating Company through the holders' ownership of common stock.
(4) Represents the aggregate voting interest in us through the holders' ownership of common stock. Each share of Class A common stock, Class B common stock and Class C common stock entitles its holder to one vote per share on all matters submitted to a vote of our stockholders.
(5) Represents the aggregate economic interest in us through the holders' ownership of Class A common stock.