UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549 FORM 10-K ☒ ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934. For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020 OR ☐ TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934. Commission File No. 001-35210 HC2 HOLDINGS, INC. (Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter) Delaware 54-1708481 (State or other jurisdiction of (I.R.S. Employer incorporation or organization) Identification No.) 450 Park Avenue, 29th Floor, New York, NY 10022 (Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code) (212) 235-2690 (Registrant’s telephone number, including area code) _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act: Title of each class Trading Symbol Name of each exchange on which registered Common Stock, par value $0.001 per share HCHC New York Stock Exchange Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☐ No x Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐ No x Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes x No ☐ Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files). Yes x No ☐ Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of "large accelerated filer", "accelerated filer", "smaller reporting company", and "emerging growth company" in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.: Large accelerated filer ☐ Accelerated filer ☒ Non-accelerated filer ☐ Smaller reporting company ☒ 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. ☐ Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. x Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No ☒ The aggregate market value of HC2’s common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant as of June 30, 2020 was approximately $128,923,569, based on the closing sale price of the Common Stock on such date. As of February 28, 2021, 76,752,805 shares of common stock, par value $0.001, were outstanding. Documents Incorporated by Reference: Portions of the definitive Proxy Statement to be delivered to stockholders in connection with the registrant's 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders are incorporated by reference into Part III. Part I Item 1. Business 2 Item 1A. Risk Factors 18 Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments 51 Item 2. Properties 51 Item 3. Legal Proceedings 51 Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures 52 Part II Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities 53 Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations 53 Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data 77 Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure 77 Item 9A. Controls and Procedures 78 Item 9B. Other Information 78 Part III Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance 79 Item 11. Executive Compensation 79 Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters 79 Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence 79 Item 14. Principal Accountant Fees and Services 79 Part IV Item 15. Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules 80 Item 16. Form 10-K Summary 86 1 PART I ITEM 1. BUSINESS Unless the context otherwise requires, in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, "HC2," means HC2 Holdings, Inc. and the "Company," "we" and "our" mean HC2 together with its consolidated subsidiaries. This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains forward-looking statements. See "Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations - Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements." General HC2 is a diversified holding company that has a portfolio of subsidiaries in a variety of operating segments. We seek to grow these businesses so that they can generate long-term sustainable free cash flow and attractive returns in order to maximize value for all stakeholders. As of December 31, 2020, our four reportable operating segments, plus our Other segment, based on management’s organization of the enterprise included Infrastructure, Life Sciences, Spectrum, Insurance and Other, which includes businesses that do not meet the separately reportable segment thresholds. Our principal operating subsidiaries include the following assets: (i) DBM Global Inc. ("DBMG") (Infrastructure), a family of companies providing fully integrated structural and steel construction services; (ii) Pansend Life Sciences, LLC ("Pansend") (Life Sciences), our subsidiary focused on supporting healthcare and biotechnology product development; (iii) HC2 Broadcasting Holdings Inc. and its subsidiaries ("HC2 Broadcasting") (Spectrum), a strategic acquirer and operator of Over-The-Air ("OTA") broadcasting stations across the United States ("U.S.") and Puerto Rico. In addition, Spectrum, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, HC2 Network Inc. ("Network"), operates Azteca America, a Spanish-language broadcast network offering high quality Hispanic content to a diverse demographic across the United States; and (iv) Continental Insurance Group Ltd. ("CIG") (Insurance), a platform for our run-off long-term care and life and annuity business, through its insurance company, Continental General Insurance Company ("CGI" or the "Insurance Company"); (v) Other, which represents all other businesses or investments that do not meet the definition of a segment individually or in the aggregate. We expect to focus on operating and managing our portfolio of companies and building value in Infrastructure, Life Sciences and Spectrum in the future. We believe these segments are well positioned to take advantage of current trends in today’s economy and that there is opportunity to build value organically and inorganically in these three segments. We will consider opportunities outside of these businesses in the longer term to acquire and invest in businesses with attractive assets that we consider to be undervalued or fairly valued. Overall Business Strategy We evaluate strategic and business alternatives, which may include the following: operating, growing or acquiring additional assets or businesses related to our current or historical operations; or winding down or selling our existing operations (including our Insurance segment), or, in the longer-term, acquiring assets or businesses unrelated to our current or historical operations. We will generally pursue either controlling positions in durable, cash-flow generating businesses, assets that will enhance our current businesses or companies we believe exhibit substantial growth potential in Infrastructure, Life Sciences and Spectrum. We may choose to actively assemble or re-assemble a company’s management team to ensure the appropriate expertise is in place to execute the operating objectives of such business. We view ourselves as strategic and financial partners and seek to align our management teams’ incentives with our goal of delivering sustainable long-term value to our stakeholders. As part of any acquisition strategy, we may raise capital in the form of debt or equity securities (including preferred stock) or a combination thereof. We have broad discretion in selecting a business strategy for the Company. If we elect to pursue an acquisition, while we intend to focus on Infrastructure, Life Science and Spectrum, we have broad discretion in identifying and selecting both the industry and the possible acquisition or business combination opportunity. In connection with evaluating these strategic and business alternatives, we may at any time be engaged in ongoing discussions with respect to possible acquisitions, business combinations and debt or equity securities offerings of widely varying sizes. There can be no assurance that any of these discussions will result in a definitive agreement and if they do, what the terms or timing of any agreement would be. Competition From a strategic perspective, we encounter competition for acquisition and business opportunities from other entities having similar business