Statement Regarding SPAC Matter

Commissioner Hester M. Peirce

April 15, 2022

Alberton Acquisition Corporation (the "SPAC") filed a Form 8-K yesterday¹ announcing that SolarMax Technology, Inc. ("SolarMax") intends to terminate its merger agreement with the SPAC.² The press release explains that SolarMax reasonably believed that the proposed merger would not be completed by April 26, 2022, the date by which the merger must be completed for the SPAC's securities to remain listed on Nasdaq.³ The press release does not say why meeting Nasdaq's deadline would be problematic. It states only "[a]s of April 13, 2022, the registration statement on Form S-4 . . . with a proxy statement containing information about the Merger was not declared effective by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission . . . ."⁴ (emphasis added). Therein lies the question that troubles me: Why exactly did the SEC not take the routine step-one typically taken on delegated authority by the staff without input from