Withdrawn
EF HUTTON ACQUISITION CORP.
- Registration2021-10-29 Filed S1
- Withdrawn2022-04-27 Merger Withdrawn
- Raised
- $125M
- CIK
- 1854156
- SPAC Ticker
- EFHTU
- Focus
- Consumer, Retail
SPAC Team
Leadership
Benjamin Piggott has served as our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer since inception. Mr. Piggott has been a partner at EF Hutton since its inception in June 2020. Prior to joining EF Hutton, Mr. Piggott was Head of Corporate Development at Laird Superfood (NYSE AMEX: LSF), a plant-based, omni-channel natural food company based in Sisters, OR. Mr. Piggott had served as an investor in the company and later joined as Head of Corporate Development, assisting in capital raising efforts, including the Company’s IPO on September 23, 2020. While at Laird Superfood, Mr. Piggott built a strong pipeline of acquisition candidates in the natural food and beverage sector by vetting over 100 companies. Mr. Piggott also helped to successfully negotiate the sale of a minority equity stake in the company to Danone S.A. Prior to Laird Superfood, Mr. Piggott spent fifteen years in the investment industry, ten of which were with the Small Cap Team at Fidelity Management & Research Company where he served as both a research analyst and sector portfolio manager. Mr. Piggott also spent two years at Legg Masson Capital Management as a generalist covering small mid-cap companies. During his time on the buy-side, Mr. Piggott has been active in analyzing a number of IPO opportunities. As a result of his fifteen years of experience on the buy-side, Mr. Piggott has strong relationships with participants in the investment community that are active in SPAC IPOs and private investment in PIPEs. During his tenure on the buy-side, Mr. Piggott covered various sectors, both domestically and internationally, including consumer, technology, healthcare, energy, industrials and utilities. We plan to leverage Mr. Piggott’s network and relationships garnered from his experience in corporate development, investment management, and on the buy-side to develop a proprietary pipeline of targets to complete a high quality merger. Mr. Piggott has been a partner at EF Hutton since its inception in June 2020. Prior to joining EF Hutton, Mr. Piggott was Head of Corporate Development at Laird Superfood (NYSE AMEX: LSF), a plant-based, omni-channel natural food company based in Sisters, OR. Mr. Piggott had served as an investor in the company and later joined as Head of Corporate Development, assisting in capital raising efforts, including the Company’s IPO on September 23, 2020. While at Laird Superfood, Mr. Piggott built a strong pipeline of acquisition candidates in the natural food and beverage sector by vetting over 100 companies. Mr. Piggott also helped to successfully negotiate the sale of a minority equity stake in the company to Danone S.A. Prior to Laird Superfood, Mr. Piggott spent fifteen years in the investment industry, ten of which were with the Small Cap Team at Fidelity Management & Research Company where he served as both a research analyst and sector portfolio manager. Mr. Piggott also spent two years at Legg Masson Capital Management as a generalist covering small mid-cap companies. During his time on the buy-side, Mr. Piggott has been active in analyzing a number of IPO opportunities. As a result of his fifteen years of experience on the buy-side, Mr. Piggott has strong relationships with participants in the investment community that are active in SPAC IPOs and private investment in PIPEs. During his tenure on the buy-side, Mr. Piggott covered various sectors, both domestically and internationally, including consumer, technology, healthcare, energy, industrials and utilities. We plan to leverage Mr. Piggott’s network and relationships garnered from his experience in corporate development, investment management, and on the buy-side to develop a proprietary pipeline of targets to complete a high-quality merger. Mr. Piggott received his Bachelor of Science in Finance from Bentley University in 2002 and graduated with honors.
Kevin M. Bush has served as our Chief Financial Officer since inception. Mr. Bush is the Chief Strategy Officer at Fresh Dining Concepts (“FDC”) as well as the Managing Partner of Green Shoot Partners (“GSP”), the majority shareholder of FDC. Mr. Bush founded GSP as an investment firm focused on lower-middle-market private businesses with a concentration in franchising. Mr. Bush also has strong relationships with several of the Limited Partners at GSP who are members of the buy-side community. In 2019, GSP completed its inaugural transaction in the space, purchasing Fresh Dining Concepts. FDC is one of the largest Focus Brands franchisee groups. Through the coronavirus (“COVID-19”) pandemic, FDC’s long track record of successful M&A and development has only accelerated under the ownership of GSP. Prior to founding GSP, Mr. Bush spent nine years at Fidelity Management and Research Company as a research analyst covering numerous sectors including consumer, real estate, technology, media, telecom, industrials, aerospace and emerging markets.
Joseph Rallo has served as our Co-President and a director since inception. Mr. Rallo is the President of EF Hutton since 2020. Mr. Rallo has over fourteen years of investment banking and securities industry experience. He has completed a vast array of transactions across different product types, which include IPOs, Secondaries/Follow-on Offerings, Registered Directs, SPACs, PIPEs, Privates, Fixed Income and Fairness Opinions. His public and private offering transactional experience spans a broad range of industries, having completed over 300 equity and debt transactions representing over $50 billion in aggregate value. Mr. Rallo has also completed diverse Merger & Acquisitions assignments, including serving as strategic advisor to the Special Committees and Board of Directors of many public companies. Prior to joining EF Hutton, Mr. Rallo was Co-Head of Investment Banking/Managing Director at Aegis Capital from 2019 to 2020, a Director in the Investment Banking Group at Maxim Group from 2017 to 2019 and previously, served as Vice President in the Financial Institutions & Real Estate Investment Banking Group at JMP Securities LLC from 2007 to 2017. Mr. Rallo received his BBA in Finance from the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame.
David Boral has served as our Co-President and a director since inception. Mr. Boral is the CEO of EF Hutton since 2020. Mr. Boral has over fourteen years of investment banking and capital markets experience. Mr. Boral has led and participated in transactions including IPOs, Secondaries/Follow-on Offerings, SPACs, PIPEs, Reverse Mergers, M&A, Bankruptcy/Restructurings, Cross Listings and other private and public offerings in the US and abroad. As a direct result of his transactional experience, Mr. Boral has an extensive network of relationships with public company management teams, board of director members and private equity investors. Prior to joining EF Hutton, Mr. Boral was with Aegis Capital Corp. as Co-Head of Investment Banking/Managing Director from 2019 to 2020. Prior to that he was with Maxim Group as a Director in the Investment Banking Division 2017 to 2018. He also served as a Director at Aeon Funds from 2015 to 2016 and served on the Board of Viatar CTC Solutions in 2016. Mr. Boral received a BBA in Finance from the Lubin School of Business at Pace University.
Paul Hodge Jr., is an independent director . Mr. Hodge co-founded Laird Superfood and has served as its President and CEO and a member of its board of directors since its founding in 2015. Prior to founding the company, in 2015, Mr. Hodge founded GolfBoard Inc. In 2014, Mr. Hodge founded GB Leasing, a leasing company designed to lease fleets of GolfBoards. From 2007 to 2011, Mr. Hodge was CEO and founder of Solar Nation, Inc., a vertically-integrated solar systems and equipment company which developed, engineered, constructed and financed commercial and utility scale solar systems.
Stanley Hutton Rumbough is an independent director . Mr. Rumbough is a private investor and philanthropist. Through his family office, SHR Ventures, LLC, Mr. Rumbough pursues investments across a range of businesses spanning real estate and resort development, minerals exploration, and financial technology, including most notably the Adirondack Club & Resort (under development) and HUTN, Inc. (formerly EF Hutton America, Inc.) which was engaged in developing a consumer-oriented digital finance and investment platform. Mr. Rumbough is the grandson of Edward Francis Hutton, noted financier and co-founder of E.F. Hutton & Co., one of the largest and most influential financial firms of the 20th century. The family legacy includes ownership and management of some of mid-century America’s best-known companies including General Foods, Birdseye, and Colgate-Palmolive, as well as E.F. Hutton & Co. Building on generations of investment expertise, his father founded and/or ran more than 40 companies, provided initial investments into the Vail ski resort, and served on U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s White House Staff. Mr. Rumbough’s deeply entrenched investment network should prove invaluable in both vetting and attracting potential targets and partners. Mr. Rumbough served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1970 to 1978. Mr. Rumbough holds a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Denver and a Master of Business Administration from Columbia University.
Thomas Wood is an independent director . Mr. Wood is a serial entrepreneur, having started and taken public three energy services companies over the course of his career. In 2017, Mr. Wood was a sponsor and the CFO of National Energy Services Reunited Corp. (NASDAQ: NESR), a $200 million SPAC, that successfully completed a business acquisition with Gulf Energy SAOC and National Petroleum Services on June 6, 2018. Mr. Wood was instrumental in the IPO raising of the SPAC and the search of merger candidates and remains an active board member of the combined company, which has an enterprise value of approximately $1.7 billion as of June 30, 2021. He has over 35 years of experience in establishing and growing public and private companies that provide or use oil and gas contract drilling services. Since December 1990, he has served as the Chief Executive Officer of Round Up Resource Service Inc., a private investment company. Mr. Wood founded Xtreme Drilling Corp. (TSX: XDC), an onshore drilling and coil tubing technology company, in May 2005 and served as its Executive Chairman until May 2011 and its Chief Executive Officer and Director from May 2011 through August 2016. He is the founder of Savanna Energy Services Corp. (TSE: SVY), a North American energy services provider, where he served as the Chairman from 2001 to March 2005. He also served as Director at various companies engaged in the exploration and production of junior oil and gas, including Wrangler West Energy Corp. from April 2001 to 2014; New Syrus Capital Corporation from 1998 to 2001 and Player Petroleum Corporation from 1997 to 2001. In addition, Mr. Wood served as the President, Drilling and Wellbore Service, of Plains Energy Services Ltd. from 1997 to 2000 and Wrangler Pressure Control from 1998 to 2001. He served as the President of Round-Up Well Servicing Inc. from 1988 to 1997 and Vice President of Shelby Drilling from 1981 to 1987. Mr. Wood holds a BA in Economics from University of Calgary.
Anne Lee is an independent director . Ms. Lee is a former investment banker with Nomura Securities and Stephens Inc. Ms. Lee has over a decade of investment banking experience and has executed numerous transactions focused on M&A, debt & equity raises, spin-offs, IPOs, and SPACs. Ms. Lee has worked alongside CEOs and CFOs and has vast knowledge of private and public markets within the consumer sector. During her investment banking career, Ms. Lee has spearheaded several transactions for Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ referred to herein as “Utz”) including the minority capital raise from Metropoulos & Co. and the acquisition of Inventure Foods, Inc. (formerly Nasdaq:SNAK) through a going-private tender offer that were pivotal amongst other acquisitions for Utz to quickly scale from a private company to a public company and to become the #3 brand platform in U.S. Salty Snacks and one of the fastest growing salty snack platforms of scale. While at Nomura Securities, Ms. Lee advised Collier Creek Holdings on its $1.6 billion SPAC merger with Utz in 2020. Most recently, Ms. Lee also worked as an M&A consultant for Utz Brands, Inc., from 2020 to 2021, where she led the acquisition of Vitner’s snack brand from Snak-King Corp. and helped with the acquisition of Truco Enterprises, a leading seller of tortilla chips, salsa and queso under the ON THE BORDER® brand from Insignia Capital Group and the acquisition of the H.K. Anderson peanut butter-filled pretzel brand from Conagra Brands. Ms. Lee received her Master of Science in Finance from Purdue University and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance and a Bachelor of Science degree in Management from the University of Utah.