COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

12 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2023

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Contrail Put/Call Option

Contrail entered into an Operating Agreement in connection with the acquisition of Contrail providing for the governance of and the terms of membership interests in Contrail and including put and call options with the Seller of Contrail. The Contrail Put/Call Option permits the Seller to require Contrail to purchase all of the Seller’s equity membership interests in Contrail commencing on the fifth anniversary of the acquisition, which was on July 18, 2021. The Company has presented this redeemable non-controlling interest in Contrail between the liabilities and equity sections of the accompanying consolidated balance sheets. In addition, the Company has elected to recognize changes in the redemption value immediately as they occur and adjust the carrying amount of the instrument to equal the redemption value at the end of each reporting period. The Contrail RNCI is a Level 3 fair value measurement that is valued at $8.0 million as of March 31, 2023. The change in the redemption value compared to March 31, 2022 is an increase of $0.8 million. The increase was driven by $1.8 million of the net change in fair value, offset by $1.0 million of net loss attributable to the non-controlling interest. As of the date of this filing, neither the Seller nor Air T has indicated an intent to exercise the put and call options. If either side were to exercise the option, the Company anticipates that the price would approximate the fair value of the Contrail RNCI, as determined on the transaction date. The Company currently expects that it would fund any required payment from cash provided by operations.

Contrail Asset Management, LLC and CJVII, LLC

On May 5, 2021, the Company formed an aircraft asset management business called Contrail Asset Management, LLC (“CAM”), and an aircraft capital joint venture called CJVII, LLC (“CJVII”). The new ventures focus on acquiring commercial aircraft and jet engines for leasing, trading and disassembly. The joint venture, CJVII, was formed as a series LLC ("CJVII Series"). It consists of several individual series that target investments in current generation narrow-body aircraft and engines, building on Contrail’s origination and asset management expertise. CAM was formed to serve two separate and distinct functions: 1) to direct the sourcing, acquisition and management of aircraft assets owned by CJVII Series as governed by the Management Agreement between CJVII and CAM (“Asset Management Function”), and 2) to directly invest into CJVII Series alongside other institutional investment partners (“Investment Function”).

CAM has two classes of equity interests: 1) common interests and 2) investor interests. Neither interest votes as the entity is operated by a Board of Directors. The common interests of CAM relate to its Asset Management Function. The investor interests of CAM relate to the Company’s and Mill Road Capital’s (“MRC”) investments through CAM into CJVII (the Investment Function) and ultimately into the individual CJVII Series. With regard to CAM’s common interests, the Company

currently owns 90% of the economic common interests in CAM, and MRC owns the remaining 10%. MRC invested $1.0 million directly into CAM in exchange for 10% of the common interests. For the Asset Management Function, CAM receives origination fees, management fees, consignment fees (where applicable) and a carried interest from the direct investors into each CJVII Series. Such fee income and carried interest will be distributed to the Company and MRC in proportion to their respective common interests.

For its Investment Function, CAM’s initial commitment to CJVII was approximately $51.0 million. The Company and MRC have commitments to CAM in the respective amounts of $7.0 million and $44.0 million. These represent the investor interests of CAM, separate and distinct from the common interests. Any investment returns on CAM’s investor interests are shared pro-rata between the Company and MRC for each individual investment at the CJVII Series. As of March 31, 2023, Air T has fulfilled its Investment Function initial commitment to CAM.

Per its Operating Agreement, CAM is comprised of only two Series: the Onshore and the Offshore Series. Participation in each is determined solely based on whether a potential investment at the CJVII Series is a domestic (Onshore) or international (Offshore) investment. As of March 31, 2023, for its Investment Function, the Company has contributed $6.9 million to CAM’s Offshore Series and $0.6 million to CAM’s Onshore Series.

The Company determined that CAM is a variable interest entity and that the Company is not the primary beneficiary. This is primarily the result of the Company's conclusion that it does not control CAM’s Board of Directors, which has the power to direct the activities that most significantly impact the economic performance of CAM. Accordingly, the Company does not consolidate CAM and has determined to account for this investment using equity method accounting. As of March 31, 2023, the Company's net investment basis in CAM is $5.7 million.

In connection with the formation of CAM, MRC has a fixed price put option of $1.0 million to sell its common equity in CAM to Air T at each of the first three (3) anniversary dates. At the later of (a) five (5) years after execution of the agreement and (b) distributions to MRC per the waterfall equal to their capital contributions, Air T has a call option and MRC has a put option on the MRC common interests in CAM. If either party exercises the option, the exercise price will be fair market value if Air T pays in cash at closing or 112.5% of fair market value if Air T opts to pay in three (3) equal annual installments after exercise. The Company previously recognized $1.0 million within “Other non-current liabilities” with an offset to equity as of March 31, 2022. We subsequently reviewed this accounting treatment and determined that there was no loss contingency that existed under ASC 450 as we did not expect the $1.0 million put option to be exercised in the money to MRC. As such, as of March 31, 2023, the Company reversed the $1.0 million previously recorded. This matter was not material to our consolidated financial statements for any quarterly or annual periods. With respect to the secondary put and call option, as it is priced at fair value, the Company also determined that there is no potential loss or gain upon exercise that would need to be recognized.

Shanwick Put/Call Option

In February 2022, in connection with the Company's acquisition of GdW, a consolidated subsidiary of Shanwick, the Company entered into a shareholder agreement with the 30% non-controlling interest owners of Shanwick, providing for the governance of and the terms of membership interests in Shanwick. The shareholder agreement includes the Shanwick Put/Call Option with regard to the 30% non-controlling interest. The non-controlling interest holders are the executive management of the underlying business. The Shanwick Put/Call Option grants the Company an option to purchase the 30% interest at the call option price that equals to the average EBIT over the 3 Financial Years prior to the exercise of the Call Option multiplied by 8. In addition, the Shanwick Put/Call Option also grants the non-controlling interest owners an option to require Air T to purchase from them their respective ownership interests at the Put Option price, that is equal to the average EBIT over the 3 Financial Years prior to the exercise of the Put Option multiplied by 7.5. The Call Option and the Put Option may be exercised at any time from the fifth anniversary of the shareholder agreement and then only at the end of each fiscal year of Air T.

The Company has presented this redeemable non-controlling interest in Shanwick between the liabilities and equity sections of the accompanying condensed consolidated balance sheets. In addition, the Company has elected to recognize changes in the redemption value immediately as they occur and adjust the carrying amount of the instrument to equal the estimated redemption value at the end of each reporting period. As the Shanwick RNCI will be redeemed at established multiples of EBIT, it is considered redeemable at other than fair value. Changes in its estimated redemption value are recorded on our consolidated statements of operations within non-controlling interests. The Shanwick RNCI's estimated redemption value is $4.7 million as of March 31, 2023, which was comprised of the following (in thousands):


	Shanwick's Redeemable Non-Controlling Interest
Beginning Balance as of April 1, 2022	$	3,584
Contribution from non-controlling members	—
Distribution to non-controlling members	(336)
Net income attributable to non-controlling interests	189
Redemption value adjustments	1,301
Ending Balance as of March 31, 2023	$	4,738