UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

______________

FORM 8-K

CURRENT REPORT

PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE

SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported): March 29, 2021

ALLIED ESPORTS ENTERTAINMENT, INC.

(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Charter)

17877 Von Karman Avenue, Suite 300

Irvine, California, 92614

(Address of Principal Executive Offices) (Zip Code)

(949) 265-2600

(Registrant’s Telephone Number, Including Area Code)

Not Applicable

(Former Name or Former Address, if Changed Since Last Report)

Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions (see General Instruction A.2. below):

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an emerging growth company as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act of 1933 (§230.405 of this chapter) or Rule 12b-2 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (§240.12b-2 of this chapter).

Emerging growth company ☒

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐ 

On March 29, 2021, the Board of Directors (“Board”) of Allied Esports Entertainment, Inc. (the “Company”) increased the size of its Board from 10 directors to 11 directors. Yangyang Li was appointed as a director to fill the vacancy created by the Board’s increase in the size of the Board. Mr. Li will serve as a “Class A” director of the Company, and his term will expire at the annual meeting of the Company’s stockholders to be held in 2023. Mr. Li has agreed to recuse himself from any voting by the Board in considering any amendments to the Company’s Amended and Restated Stock Purchase Agreement dated March 19, 2021 (as amended, the “Agreement”) with Element Partners, LLC, with respect to the sale of the Company’s poker-related business and assets, or WPT Business, and any competing proposals with respect to such sale (the “WPT Sale”).

Mr. Li is the current Chairman and acting Chief Executive Officer of Ourgame International Holdings Limited (“Ourgame”), the beneficial owner of Primo Vital Limited, which is the Company’s largest stockholder, beneficially owning approximately 35.8% of the Company’s outstanding common stock. Mr. Li received a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of International Business & Economics in Beijing, China. In 2001, Mr. Li served as Assistant President to China Great Wall Industry Corporation. In 2003, Mr. Li founded Business Media China Group (Frankfurt Stock Exchange: BMC) and served as its CEO in 2005, with a market value at the time in excess of 5 billion RMB. Mr. Li served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Elephant Media Group in 2008. Since 2014, he has served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of World Business Services Union and Choi Shun Investment.

On March 29, 2021, the Board approved the appointment of each of Libing (Claire) Wu and Jingsheng Lu to the Board, to be effective upon the consummation of the WPT Sale, at which time the Board intends to (i) increase the size of the Board as necessary to seat such directors, and (ii) determine into which class such directors will be included.

Libing (Claire) Wu is the Vice President and General Counsel of Asia Pacific Capital, Inc, as well as Senior Counsel at the New York law firm Davidoff Hutcher & Citron LLP. Ms. Wu is a graduate of New York University School of Law, New York, USA (Master of Laws in Corporate Law) and a graduate of China University of Political Science and Law, Beijing, China (Master of Laws in Corporate Law). Ms. Wu received a Bachelor of Science Degree in International Economics from Nankai University, Tianjin, China, and an Advanced Professional Certificate in Law and Business from New York University Leonard N. Stern School of Business. Ms. Wu has over 15 years’ experience as a corporate and securities attorney practicing in New York, with extensive legal and business experience in cross-border transactions, U.S. securities regulation, mergers and acquisitions, capital market transactions, as well as corporate structuring and governance.

Jingsheng Lu has served as an independent director of Ourgame since 2020. Prior to that, he served as a director of Zhejiang Xiangyuan Culture Co., Ltd.,(“Xiangyuan Culture”), which is a main board listed company in China (Code in Shanghai Stock Exchange: 600576), from 2015 to 2017, where he served as co-CEO of Xiamen Xtone Animation Co., Ltd., (“Xtone”), and led the merger of Xtone by Xiangyuan Culture in 2014. He also served as CFO of Beijing International Advertising & Communication Group from 2018 to 2019. He previously served as a senior audit manager at Deloitte China for six years, and at Deloitte US for two years from 2001 to 2010. He is currently a non-practicing certified public accountant in China since 2007, as well as a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants since 2009. He holds a Bachelor of Economics degree from University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, China.

Important Additional Information and Where You Can Find It

AESE has filed with the SEC and mailed to its stockholders a Consent Solicitation Statement in connection with the transactions contemplated by the Original Agreement (as defined in the Agreement), and will file and mail to its stockholders supplemental materials with regards to the Agreement, as amended (collectively, the “Amended Agreement”). The Consent Solicitation Statement, as supplemented, will contain important information about AESE, CSI, the Amended Agreement, and the transactions contemplated thereby (the “Sale Transaction”). Investors and stockholders are urged to read the Consent Solicitation Statement and the supplemental materials carefully before making any decision to invest or consent to the Sale Transaction. Investors and stockholders will be able to obtain free copies of the Consent Solicitation Statement, supplemental materials and other documents filed by AESE with the SEC through the website maintained by the SEC at www.sec.gov or may contact AESE’s solicitor, Regan & Associates, Inc., by telephone (toll-free within North America) at 1-800-737-3426.

Participants in the Solicitation

In addition to Regan & Associates, Inc., AESE, its directors and executive officers may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of consents with respect to the Sale Transaction. Information regarding AESE’s directors and executive officers and their ownership of AESE shares is contained in AESE’s Amended Annual Report on Form 10-K/A for the year ended December 31, 2019 and its definitive consent solicitation statement for the Sale Transaction which was filed with the SEC on February 2, 2021, and is supplemented by other public filings made, and to be made, with the SEC. AESE’s directors and executive officers beneficially own approximately 6.6% of AESE’s common stock. Investors and stockholders may obtain additional information regarding the direct and indirect interests of AESE and its directors and executive officers with respect to the Sale Transaction by reading the Consent Solicitation Statement and other filings referred to above.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This communication contains certain forward-looking statements under federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements may include our statements regarding our goals, beliefs, strategies, objectives, plans, including product and service developments, future financial conditions, results or projections or current expectations. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential” or “continue,” the negative of such terms, or other comparable terminology. For example, when we discuss the impacts of the Sale Transaction, the satisfaction of the closing conditions to the Sale Transaction, the timing of the completion of the Sale Transaction; and our plans following the Sale Transaction, we are using forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to, the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstances that could give rise to the termination of the Amended Agreement or could otherwise cause the Sale Transaction to fail to close; the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against us following the announcement of the Sale Transaction; the inability to complete the Sale Transaction, including due to failure to obtain approval of our stockholders or other conditions to closing; the receipt of an unsolicited offer from another party for an alternative business transaction that could interfere with the Sale Transaction; a change in our plans to retain the net cash proceeds from the Sale Transaction; our inability to enter into one or more future acquisition or strategic transactions using the net proceeds from the Sale Transaction; and a decision not to pursue strategic options for the esports business. Most of these factors are difficult to predict accurately and are generally beyond our control. You should consider the areas of risk described in connection with any forward-looking statements that may be made herein. The business and operations of AESE are subject to substantial risks, which increase the uncertainty inherent in the forward-looking statements contained in this communication. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to release publicly the result of any revision to these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Further information on potential factors that could affect our business is described under “Item 1A. Risk Factors” in our amended Annual Report on Form 10-K/A for the year ended December 31, 2019, as filed with the SEC on March 17, 2020. Readers are also urged to carefully review and consider the various disclosures we made in such amended Annual Report on Form 10-K/A and the Consent Solicitation Statement with respect to the proposed Sale Transaction that we have filed with the SEC and mailed to our stockholders.

SIGNATURE

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.

Dated: April 2, 2021