Company: IPST
Filing Date: 2025-08-18
Form Type: PRE 14A
Source: 0001788230-25-000134
Chunk: 48

Company: Heritage Distilling Holding Company, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-08-18
Form: PRE 14A
Chunk 48
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 of up to 35,000,000 shares of common stock for issuance thereunder, subject to availability to permit us to have adequate shares available for issuance under the 2024 Plan. To the extent that there are no authorized and unreserved shares of common stock available, the awards underlying the 2024 Plan will not be issuable until such time, and from time to time, as shares of common stock are available to be reserved and in such amounts as are available. Assuming all 35,000,000 shares become available and we may issue the full amount of awards under the 2024 Plan, the number of shares available for issuance under the 2024 Plan shall constitute approximately 55.3% of our issued and outstanding shares of common stock as of August 15, 2025, if all Plan Amendment shares were issued and added to our current issued and outstanding shares (7.6% if we include as outstanding shares the shares of common stock underlying our outstanding Pre-Funded Warrants). The Plan Amendment is intended to provide us with a sufficient number of shares to satisfy our equity grant requirements, based on the current scope and structure of our equity incentive programs and the rate at which we expect to grant stock options, restricted stock, and/or other forms of equity compensation.

| Heritage Distilling Holding Company, Inc. |     | 29 |     | Special Meeting Proxy Statement |

Proposal Six

When approving the Plan Amendment, the Board considered a number of factors, including those set forth below:

• Alignment with our Stockholders . Achieving superior, long-term results for our stockholders remains one of our primary objectives. We believe that stock ownership enhances the alignment of the long-term economic interests of our employees and our stockholders.

• Attract, Motivate and Retain Key Employees . We compete for employees in a variety of geographic and talent markets and strive to maintain compensation programs that are competitive in order to attract, motivate, and retain key employees. If we are unable to grant equity as part of our total compensation strategy, our ability to attract and retain all levels of talent we need to operate our business successfully would be significantly harmed.

• Balanced Approach to Compensation . We believe that a balanced approach to compensation - using a mix of salaries, performance-based bonus incentives, and long-term equity incentives (including performance-based equity) encourages management to make decisions that favor long-term stability and profitability, rather than short-term results.

• Burn Rate and Dilution . When deciding to adopt the Plan Amendment, the Board evaluated our projected need for