DEF 14A of Stellar V Capital Corp. (Cayman Islands)
Filed Oct 20, 20260001213900-26-111023
Q. What interests do the Company’s directors and officers have in the approval of the Extension Amendment Proposal?
Q. What interests do the Company’s directors and officers have in the approval of the Extension Amendment Proposal? A. The Company’s directors, officers and their affiliates have interests in the Extension Amendment Proposal that may be different from, or in addition to, your interests as a shareholder. These interests include, but are not limited to, beneficial ownership of insider shares and private warrants that will become worthless if the Extension Amendment Proposal is not approved. See the section entitled “Interests of the Company’s Directors and Officers.”
Interests of the Company’s Directors and Officers
Interests of the Company’s Directors and Officers When you consider the recommendation of our board of directors, you should keep in mind that the Company’s executive officers and members of our board of directors have interests that may be different from, or in addition to, your interests as a shareholder. These interests include, among other things: • If an initial business combination is not completed by October 31, 2026 (unless such date is extended as provided in the Articles), Stellar V will be required to liquidate and dissolve. In such event, 6,059,925 Class B Shares held by the Initial Shareholders which were acquired prior to the IPO for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000, will be worthless because the Initial Shareholders and the Sponsor have agreed to waive their rights to any liquidation distributions. Such shares had an aggregate market value of approximately $64,962,396 based on the closing price of the Public Shares of $10.72 on Nasdaq as of September 25, 2026. • If an initial business combination is not completed by October 31, 2026 (unless such date is extended as provided in the Articles), 555,000 Private Units purchased by the Sponsor and BTIG for a total purchase price of $5,550,000, will be worthless. Such Private Units had an aggregate market value of approximately $5,944,050 based on the closing price of the Public Units of $10.71 on Nasdaq as of September 25, 2026. • If an initial business combination is not completed by October 31, 2026 (unless such date is extended as provided in the Articles), the Sponsor will be liable under certain circumstances described herein to ensure that the proceeds in the Trust Account are not reduced by the claims of target businesses or claims of vendors or other entities that are owed money by Stellar V for services rendered or contracted for or products sold to Stellar V. • The Sponsor and Stellar V’s officers and directors and their affiliates are entitled to reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses incurred by them in connection with certain activities on Stellar V’s behalf, such as identifying and investigating possible business targets and business combinations. However, if an initial business combination is not completed by October 31, 2026 (unless such date is extended as provided in the Articles), they will not have any claim against the Trust Account for reimbursement. Accordingly, Stellar V may not be able to reimburse these expenses if an initial business combination is not completed within the allotted time period. • Stellar V’s officers and directors (or their affiliates) may make loans from time to time to Stellar V to fund certain capital requirements. As of the date of this proxy statement, $100,000 of such loans have been made, but loans may be made after the date of this proxy statement. If a business combination is not consummated, the loans will not be repaid and will be forgiven except to the extent there are funds available to Stellar V outside of the Trust Account. In the event that a business combination is not consummated, the Company may use a portion of proceeds held outside the Trust Account to repay the loans but no proceeds held in the Trust Account would be used to repay the Working Capital Loans. All unpaid amounts would be forfeited. In order to finance transaction costs in connection with a business combination, the Sponsor, members of the Company’s founding team or any of their affiliates may, but are not obligated to, loan the Company funds as may be required (“Working Capital Loans”). If the Company completes a business combination, the Company would repay the Working Capital Loans out of the proceeds of the Trust Account released to the Company. Otherwise, the Working Capital Loans would be repaid only out of funds held outside the Trust Account. In the event that a business combination does not close, the Company may use a portion of proceeds held outside the Trust Account to repay the Working Capital Loans but no proceeds held in the Trust Account would be used to repay the Working Capital Loans. The Working Capital Loans would either be repaid upon consummation of a business combination, without interest, or, at the lender’s discretion, up to $1.5 million of such Working Capital Loans may be converted into private units of the post business combination entity at a price of $10.00 per unit. Except for the foregoing, the terms of such Working Capital Loans, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. As of September 30, 2026, the Company had $100,00 of borrowings under the Working Capital Loans. Additionally, if the Extension Amendment Proposal is approved and the Company consummates an initial business combination, the officers and directors may have additional interests that would be described in the proxy statement for such transaction.
Board Recommendation
Board Recommendation THE COMPANY’S BOARD OF DIRECTORS UNANIMOUSLY RECOMMENDS THAT YOU VOTE “FOR” THE EXTENSION AMENDMENT PROPOSAL, “FOR” THE DIRECTOR RE-ELECTION PROPOSAL, “FOR” THE RATIFICATION OF AUDITORS PROPOSAL AND “FOR” THE ADJOURNMENT PROPOSAL. THE BOARD EXPRESSES NO OPINION AS TO WHETHER YOU SHOULD REDEEM YOUR PUBLIC SHARES.
MANAGEMENT
MANAGEMENT The following table sets forth information about our directors and executive officers:
MANAGEMENT
| Name | Age | Title | | Prokopios (Akis) Tsirigakis | 71 | Co-Chief Executive Officer, Director, President and Chairman of the Board | | Georgios Syllantavos | 62 | Co-Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, Director | | Anastasios (Tassos) Chrysostomidis | 49 | Vice President of Business Development | | Nicolas Bornozis | 71 | Director | | Christopher Thomas | 67 | Director | | Michael Braunstein | 43 | Director |
MANAGEMENT
Below is a summary of the business experience of each our executive officers and directors: Prokopios (Akis) Tsirigakis has served as our Chairman of the Board of Directors, Director, President and Co-Chief Executive Officer since July 2024. Mr. Tsirigakis is currently co-chief executive officer of Nautilus Energy Management Corp. and chief executive officer of SevenSeas Investment Fund (Luxembourg). Mr. Tsirigakis founded four blank check companies, conducted their initial public offerings and successfully closed four business combinations. From December 2019 to February 2022 Mr. Tsirigakis served as chairman and co-chief executive officer of Growth Capital Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: GCAC), a special purpose acquisition company that completed an initial public offering on February 2, 2021. From May 2016 until December 2018, Mr. Tsirigakis served as chairman and co-chief executive officer of Stellar Acquisition III, Inc. (Nasdaq: STLR), a special purpose acquisition company that completed an initial public offering on August 16, 2016. From May 2011 until October 2013, Mr. Tsirigakis served as chairman and co-CEO of Nautilus Marine Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: NMAR), a special purpose acquisition company that completed an initial public offering on July 16, 2011. Mr. Tsirigakis has served as the chief executive officer of Nautilus Offshore Services Inc., an offshore service vessel owner and the successor of Nautilus Marine, since October 2013 and as a vice president of DryShips, Inc. (Nasdaq: DRYS), which acquired Nautilus Offshore Services Inc., since December 2015. From 2011 to 2015, Mr. Tsirigakis served as a director of Ocean Rig UDW Inc. (Nasdaq: ORIG). From May 2005 to November 2007, he co-founded and served as chairman of the board, chief executive officer and president of, Star Maritime (AMEX: SEA), a blank check company. From November 2007 until February 2011, he co-founded and was the president and chief executive officer of, Star Bulk Carriers Corp., (Nasdaq:STLR) a dry-bulk ship-owning company and the successor of Star Maritime. From November 2003 until November 2007, he served as managing director of Oceanbulk Maritime S.A., a company that managed dry bulk vessels. From November 1998 to November 2007, Mr. Tsirigakis established and served as the managing director of Combine Marine Inc., a ship management company. From 1981 to 1998, Mr. Tsirigakis was the vice-president and technical director of Konkar Shipping Agencies S.A. of Athens and of Arkon Shipping Agencies Inc. of New York. Mr. Tsirigakis received his Master’s Degree (1979) and B.Sc. in Naval Architecture from The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA. Georgios Syllantavos has served as our co-Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Secretary and director since July 2024. Mr. Syllantavos was a director of Cepton, Inc. (Nasdaq: CPTN), an innovator in the LiDAR industry, that closed its business combination with Growth Capital in February 2022 until Cepton’s acquisition by Koito Manufacturing (Tokyo: 7276) in January 2025. Since December 2023, Mr. Syllantavos has served as director of Beam Global. (Nasdaq: BEEM), a clean-technology innovation company headquartered in San Diego, California with factories in San Diego, Chicago and Kraljevo, Serbia in Europe. Mr. Syllantavos was also a director of ITHAX Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: ITHX), a special purpose acquisition company that completed an initial public offering on February, 2021 raising $241.5 million until the closing of its business combination with Mondee Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: MOND), in July 2022. Mr. Syllantavos co-founded and served as co-chief executive officer of Growth Capital Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: GCAC), a special purpose acquisition company that completed an initial public offering on February 2, 2021. From May 2016 until December 2018, Mr. Syllantavos co-founded and served as co-chief executive officer of Stellar Acquisition III, Inc. (Nasdaq: STLR), a special purpose acquisition company that completed an initial public offering on August 16, 2016 and that merged in December 2018 with Phunware, Inc. (Nasdaq: PHUN) serving as a director till early December 2021. Mr. Syllantavos co-founded in February 2013, and is chief executive officer of, Nautilus Energy Management Corp. (not affiliated with Nautilus Offshore Services Inc.), a maritime energy services company involved in maritime project business development and ship management focusing on the drybulk and tanker sectors. From May 2011 until February 2013, Mr. Syllantavos co-founded and served as co-chief executive office and chief financial officer of Nautilus Marine Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: NMAR), a special purpose acquisition company that completed an initial public offering on July 16, 2011. He served as the chief financial officer of Nautilus Offshore Services Inc., an offshore service vessel owner and the successor of Nautilus Marine, from February 2013 until April 2014. From November 2007 to August 2011, he served as chief financial officer, secretary and director of Star Bulk Carriers Corp., a dry-bulk ship-owning company (Nasdaq: SBLK). From May 2005 to November 2007, he served as the chief financial officer, secretary and director of Star Maritime (AMEX: SEA), its predecessor, which was a special purpose acquisition company that completed an initial public offering on December 16, 2005 raising $189 million. From May 1999 to December 2007, he was the president and general manager of Vortex Ltd., an aviation consulting firm specializing in strategic analysis, fleet planning and asset management. From January 1998 to April 1999, he served as a financial advisor to Hellenic Telecommunications Organization S.A., where, on behalf of the chief executive officer, he coordinated and led the company’s listing on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: OTE) raising $1.1 billion and had responsibilities for the strategic planning and implementation of multiple acquisitions of fixed-line telecommunications companies. Mr. Syllantavos served as a financial and strategic advisor to both the Greek Ministry of Industry & Energy (from June 1995 to May 1996) and the Greek Ministry of Health (from May 1996 to January 1998), where, in 1997 and 1998, he helped structure the equivalent of a US$700 million bond issuance for the payment of outstanding debts to the suppliers of the Greek National Health System. From 1998 to 2004, he served as a member of the Investment Committee of a merchant banking firm, where he was involved in negotiating, structuring and implementing the acquisition of several small-medium sized manufacturing firms. Before that, he served for almost 5 years as a transportation consultant with an aviation focus specializing in strategic planning, corporate finance and fleet asset management. Mr. Syllantavos has a B.Sc. in Industrial Engineering from Roosevelt University in Chicago and an MBA in Operations Management, International Finance and Transportation Management from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.
MANAGEMENT
Anastasios (Tassos) Chrysostomidis, has served as Vice President of business development since July 2024. Mr. Chrysostomidis has also been business development director of Nautilus Energy Management Corp. since February 2013. From December 2019 to February 2022 Mr. Chrysostomidis served as business development director of Growth Capital Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: GCAC), a special purpose acquisition company that completed an initial public offering on February 2, 2021. From May 2016 until December 2018, Mr. Chrysostomidis and served as business development director of Stellar Acquisition III, Inc. (Nasdaq: STLR), a special purpose acquisition company that completed an initial public offering on August 16, 2016 and merged with Phunware Inc in December 2018. From May 2011 until February 2013, Mr. Chrysostomidis served as market and financial analyst of Nautilus Marine Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: NMAR), a special purpose acquisition company that completed an initial public offering on July 16, 2011. From November 2007 to September 2013, he served as market and financial analyst of Star Bulk Carriers Corp., a dry-bulk ship-owning company (Nasdaq: SBLK). From January 2007 to November 2007, he served as the market and financial analyst of Star Maritime (AMEX: SEA), its predecessor, which was a special purpose acquisition company that completed an initial public offering on December 16, 2005 raising $189 million. From June 2005 to November 2007, he was the market and financial analyst of Oceanbulk SA, a company focused on owning and managing dry bulk vessels. Since 2011 Mr. Chrysostomidis has served as the chairman of the investment committee of Golfam SA, a small family office investment firm. Since September 2007, he is the owner of a solar power station based in Greece. Mr. Chrysostomidis has a B.Sc. in Physics from National and Kapodestrian University of Athens and an MSc in Business Mathematics from the Economic University of Athens. Nicolas Bornozis has served as our director since January 29, 2025. He has over 40 years of experience in the US and European financial and capital markets. Since 1996, he has served as the Founder and President of Capital Link, Inc., an international investor relations and advisory firm, which assists listed companies and capital markets related organizations to develop and maintain access to European and North American investors. Capital Link has a leading position in investor relations for listed shipping companies as well as focuses on U.S. Closed-End Funds and ETFs and international companies accessing the U.S. and European markets. He also established and managed, Alexander Capital, L.P, a US broker-dealer firm, which developed securities brokerage business in North America with the Greek and Egyptian markets and sold the company at the end of 2003. Prior to Capital Link (1988 – 1995), he served as President and CEO of CCF International Finance Corp. (CCF IFC), the US broker/dealer subsidiary of Credit Commercial de France, now part of HSBC. Prior to CCF IFC he worked at the International Department of Bankers Trust Company in New York and then at the Commercial Banking operation of CCF in New York where he was responsible for business development and lending to US multinationals and Wall Street firms with special focus on asset-based financing for shipping and real estate. He obtained an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1982 and a Law Degree from the University of Athens in Greece with specialization in commercial and corporate law in 1979. For ten years he was a Visiting Lecturer on International Banking and Finance at the City University Business School in London, United Kingdom. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Atlantic Bank of New York, a subsidiary of the New York Community Bank. Christopher Thomas has served as our director since January 29, 2025. He has over 40 years of experience in investments, corporate management and capital markets in the areas of energy, transportation/maritime, energy infrastructure and banking. Since May 2022 he is the Chief Financial Officer of TC Holding LLC, which is part of the Tsakos Group of companies located in Athens, Greece. From January 2019 to May 2022, Mr. Thomas served as the Chief Financial Officer of ADNOC Logistics and Services, the dedicated logistics provider and division of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company. Prior to that, from 2015 to 2018 he was an Associate Director, Capital Markets at Berenberg Bank while from 2012 to 2015, he was the Chief Project Director at Dubai Trading Agency. From 2011 to 2012 he worked as an investment consultant for Torm A/S (CPH: TRMD-A, Nasdaq: TRMD), a major global maritime transporter of petroleum products and from 2010 to 2011 he was the Chief Financial Officer of East West Maritime Investments, a maritime assets investment company. From 1994 to 2009 Mr. Thomas served on the Boards and had financial executive positions in a number of private and public entities involved in the transport, logistics and energy infrastructure of both drybulk and petroleum products commodities. Specifically, from 2004 to 2009 Mr. Thomas served on the Board of Directors of Top Ships Inc. (Nasdaq: TOPS) and as Chairman of the Audit and Compensation Committees. From 2006 to 2010 Mr. Thomas served as the Chief Financial Officer of Paragon Shipping Inc. (Nasdaq: PRGN) and from 2001 to 2006 as Chief Financial Officer of DryShips Inc. (Nasdaq: DRYS). Mr. Thomas also served as the Chief Financial Officer of Excel Maritime Carriers Inc. (NYSE: EXM) from 1999 to 2001 and as the Chief Financial Officer of Cardiff Marine Inc. from 1994 to 1999. Earlier in his career he served in various positions within financial services and investments including from 1985 to 1993 as a Relationship Manager for Greyhound Financial Services, a transportation assets lender, from 1983 to 1985 as a Relationship Manager for Grindlays Bank plc (now part of Standard Chartered Bank) and from 1981 to 1983 as a Project Administrator at Hill Samuel & Co. Ltd., a leading UK merchant bank (now part of Lloyds Bank). Mr. Thomas holds a diploma in Business Administration from Crawley College, England. Michael Braunstein has served as our director since February 28, 2026. Mr. Braunstein has been a partner of Braunstein Turkish LLP since September 2009, and the managing member of Sunset Capital 1 LLC and its affiliate entities since November 2025. From January 2024 to November 2025, Mr. Braunstein was the president of Sunset Capital 1 LLC and its affiliate entities. From January 2019 to December 2023, he was the vice president of Sunset Capital 1 LLC and its affiliate entities. Mr. Braunstein is also a director of Sunset Capital 1 LLC. Mr. Braunstein received his bachelor degree in music business from New York University in 2004 and his Juris Doctor degree from Brooklyn Law School in 2009.
Officer and Director Compensation
Officer and Director Compensation None of our officers has received any cash compensation for services rendered to us. No cash finder’s fee, reimbursement, consulting fee or monies in respect of any payment of a loan, will be paid by us to our sponsor, officers and directors, or any affiliate of theirs, for services rendered prior to, or for any services rendered in order to effectuate, the consummation of our initial business combination (regardless of the type of transaction that it is). However, these individuals will be entitled to certain payments including, but not limited to, reimbursement for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. Additionally, these individuals will be eligible to receive a transfer or reallocation of founder shares for any extraordinary services rendered in order to identify or effectuate the consummation of our initial business combination. Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made to our sponsor, officers or directors, or our or their affiliates. Any such payments prior to an initial business combination will be made using funds held outside the trust account. Other than quarterly audit committee review of such payments, we do not expect to have any additional controls in place governing our reimbursement payments to our directors and executive officers for their out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with identifying and consummating an initial business combination. Members of our management team and our independent directors directly or indirectly own founder shares and/or private units and, accordingly, may have a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target business is an appropriate business with which to effectuate our initial business combination. The low price that our sponsor, executive officers and directors (directly or indirectly) paid for the founder shares creates an incentive whereby our officers and directors could potentially make a substantial profit even if we select an acquisition target that subsequently declines in value and is unprofitable for public shareholders. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination within the completion window, the founder shares and private units may expire worthless, except to the extent they receive liquidating distributions from assets outside the trust account, and members of our management team and our independent directors could lose the entire amount that they have invested in private units, which could create an incentive for our sponsor, executive officers and directors to complete a transaction even if we select an acquisition target that subsequently declines in value and is unprofitable for public shareholders. After the completion of our initial business combination, directors or members of our management team who remain with us may be paid consulting or management fees from the combined company. All of these fees will be fully disclosed to shareholders, to the extent then known, in the tender offer materials or proxy solicitation materials furnished to our shareholders in connection with a proposed initial business combination. We have not established any limit on the amount of such fees that may be paid by the combined company to our directors or members of management. It is unlikely the amount of such compensation will be known at the time of the proposed initial business combination, because the directors of the post-combination business will be responsible for determining officer and director compensation. Any compensation to be paid to our officers will be determined, or recommended to the board of directors for determination, either by a compensation committee constituted solely by independent directors or by a majority of the independent directors on our board of directors. We do not intend to take any action to ensure that members of our management team maintain their positions with us after the consummation of our initial business combination, although it is possible that some or all of our officers and directors may negotiate employment or consulting arrangements to remain with us after our initial business combination. The existence or terms of any such employment or consulting arrangements to retain their positions with us may influence our management’s motivation in identifying or selecting a target business but we do not believe that the ability of our management to remain with us after the consummation of our initial business combination will be a determining factor in our decision to proceed with any potential business combination. We are not party to any agreements with our officers and directors that provide for benefits upon termination of employment.
Executive Officers and Director Compensation
Executive Officers and Director Compensation No executive officer has received any cash compensation for services rendered to us and no compensation of any kind, including finders, consulting or other similar fees, will be paid to any of our existing stockholders, including our directors, or any of their respective affiliates, prior to, or for any services they render in order to effectuate, the consummation of a business combination. However, such individuals will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. There is no limit on the amount of these out-of-pocket expenses and there will be no review of the reasonableness of the expenses by anyone other than our board of directors and audit committee, which includes persons who may seek reimbursement, or a court of competent jurisdiction if such reimbursement is challenged.