SEC Form 10-K filed by Avanti Acquisition Corp.

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

 

FORM

 

(Mark One)

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021

For the transition period from to

 

Avanti Acquisition Corp.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (305)

Not Applicable

(Former name or former address, if changed since last report)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

 

S-T

non-accelerated

12b-2

12b-2

by non-affiliates, computed

As of March 3, 2022

Documents Incorporated by Reference: None.

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS AND RISK FACTOR SUMMARY

PART I

Item 1. Business

Overview

Our Founders / Management Team

diversified, non-disclosed and non-public participations.

with best-in-class management

Joint Experience

Our Advisory Committee

day-to-day

out-of-pocket

Business Strategy

 

 

 

Following the completion of our initial public offering, we communicate with our networks of relationships to articulate the parameters for our search for a target company and a potential business combination and undertake the process of pursuing and reviewing opportunities.

Consistent with our strategy, we have identified the following general criteria and guidelines which we believe are important in evaluating potential target businesses. We intend to seek to acquire companies that we believe:

 

 

 

 

 

Based in part on the above general criteria and guidelines, we do not currently expect to consider target businesses that operate primarily in the following sectors:

 

 

 

 

 

However, while we do not currently expect to consider a business in the above sectors for our initial business combination, we are not prohibited from doing so.

These criteria and guidelines are not intended to be exhaustive. Any evaluation relating to the merits of a particular initial business combination may be based, to the extent relevant, on these general criteria and guidelines as well as other considerations, factors, criteria and guidelines that our management may deem relevant.

In the event that we decide to enter into our initial business combination with a target business that does not meet the above criteria and guidelines, we will disclose that the target business does not meet the above criteria and guidelines in our shareholder communications related to our initial business combination, which, as discussed in this Report, would be in the form of tender offer documents or proxy solicitation materials that we would file with the SEC.

In addition to any potential business candidates we may identify on our own, we anticipate that other target business candidates will be brought to our attention from various unaffiliated sources, including investment market participants, private equity funds and large business enterprises seeking to or divisions.

 

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In evaluating a prospective target business, we expect to conduct an extensive due diligence review which may encompass, as applicable and among other things, meetings with incumbent management and employees, document reviews, reports about the potential target prepared by third parties, interviews of customers and suppliers, inspection of facilities and a review of financial and other information about the target and its industry. We will also utilize our management team’s operational and capital planning experience.

The time required to select and evaluate a target business and to structure and complete our initial business combination, and the costs associated with this process, are not currently ascertainable with any degree of certainty. Any costs incurred with respect to the identification and evaluation of a prospective target business with which our initial business combination is not ultimately completed, will result in our incurring losses and will reduce the funds we can use to complete another business combination.

Over time, our founders have built up significant experience of working efficiently together on specific situations as a result of their common presence in various governance bodies without any formal or informal agreements. Any business combination will require the support of both our founders. This commitment will lead to a straightforward and optimal outcome for us, as it ensures that any business combination proposed to the board has the full backing of the two founders, enhancing the likelihood of success when negotiating with the seller of the asset and, if consummated, ensuring that we fully benefit from both founders’ network and expertise.

The company offers sellers of assets of a potential business combination a differentiated opportunity and transaction structure than those currently available within the NNS Group or Sienna Capital—specifically the offer of a fast-track full NYSE listing facilitating an ability for the seller to roll its existing ownership into the publicly listed entity and retain direct and material involvement in the combined entity, including, potentially, managerial responsibilities, should they wish to do so. The transaction structure we can offer may better take into account and value the growth prospects of the target company. It may also facilitate a greater alignment of interests between us, as the buyer, and the seller due to our ability to combine cash and shares when completing the business combination. These important differences in transaction structure mean that we believe the targets that we will evaluate are generally different from those that are regularly considered by the founders in their existing activities.

Certain of our officers and directors have, or may in the future have, fiduciary or contractual obligations that oblige them, either now or in the future, to present business combination opportunities to such entity (subject to his or her fiduciary duties). As a result, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for an entity to which he or she has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, then, subject to such officer’s and director’s fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands’ law, he or she will need to honor such fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such business combination opportunity to such entity, before we can pursue such opportunity. If these other entities decide to pursue any such opportunity, we may be precluded from pursuing the same. However, we do not expect these duties to materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that we renounce our interest in any business combination opportunity offered to any director or officer unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of the company and it is an opportunity that we are able to complete on a reasonable basis.

Following the consummation of our initial public offering, we adopted a Code of Ethics requiring us to avoid, wherever possible, all conflicts of interests, except under guidelines or resolutions approved by our board of directors (or the appropriate committee of our board) or as disclosed in our public filings with the SEC.

To further minimize conflicts of interest, we will not consummate an initial business combination with an entity that is affiliated with any of our founders, officers or directors unless we, or a committee of independent directors, have obtained an opinion from an independent investment banking firm which is a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or FINRA, or an independent accounting firm that our initial business combination is fair to our Company from a financial point of view.

In addition, our founders, officers and directors may sponsor or form other special purpose acquisition companies similar to ours or may pursue other business or investment ventures during the period in which we are seeking an initial business combination. Any such companies, businesses or investments may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an initial business combination. Our founders, officers and directors are not required to commit any specified amount of time to our affairs, and, accordingly, will have conflicts of interest in allocating management time among various business activities, including identifying potential business combinations and monitoring the related due diligence. However, we do not believe that any such potential conflicts would materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination.

 

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So long as our securities are then listed on the NYSE, our initial business combination must occur with one or more target businesses that together have an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the net assets held in the trust account (excluding the deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on the interest earned on the trust account) at the time of signing a definitive agreement in connection with our initial business combination. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or an independent valuation or appraisal firm with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. While we consider it unlikely that our board will not be able to make an independent determination of the fair market value of a target business or businesses, it may be unable to do so if the board is less familiar or experienced with the target company’s business, there is a significant amount of uncertainty as to the value of the company’s assets or prospects, including if such company is at an early stage of development, operations or growth, or if the anticipated transaction involves a complex financial analysis or other specialized skills and the board determines that outside expertise would be helpful or necessary in conducting such analysis. Since any opinion, if obtained, would merely state that the fair market value of the target business meets the 80% of net assets threshold, unless such opinion includes material information regarding the valuation of a target business or the consideration to be provided, it is not anticipated that copies of such opinion would be distributed to our shareholders. However, if required under applicable law, any proxy statement that we deliver to shareholders and file with the SEC in connection with a proposed transaction will include such opinion.

We anticipate structuring our initial business combination so that the post-business combination company in which our public shareholders own shares will own or acquire 100% of the equity interests or assets of the target business or businesses. We may, however, structure our initial business combination such that the post-business combination company owns or acquires less than 100% of such interests or assets of the target business in order to meet certain objectives of the target management team or shareholders or for other reasons, but we will only complete such business combination if the post-business combination company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”). Even if the post-business combination company owns or acquires 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our shareholders prior to the business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post-business combination company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the business combination. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock, shares or other equity interests of a target. In this case, we would acquire a 100% controlling interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new shares, our shareholders immediately prior to our initial business combination could own less than a majority of our outstanding shares subsequent to our initial business combination. If less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses are owned or acquired by the post-business combination company, the portion of such business or businesses that is owned or acquired is what will be valued for purposes of the 80% of net assets test. If the business combination involves more than one target business, the 80% of net assets test will be based on the aggregate value of all of the target businesses. In addition, we have agreed not to enter into a definitive agreement regarding an initial business combination without the prior consent of our Sponsor. If our securities are not then listed on the NYSE for whatever reason, we would no longer be required to meet the foregoing 80% of net asset test.

To the extent we effect our initial business combination with a company or business that may be financially unstable or in its early stages of development or growth, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in such company or business. Although our management will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we cannot assure you that we will properly ascertain or assess all significant risk factors.

The time required to select and evaluate a target business and to structure and complete our initial business combination, and the costs associated with this process, are not currently ascertainable with any degree of certainty. Any costs incurred with respect to the identification and evaluation of a prospective target business with which our initial business combination is not ultimately completed will result in our incurring losses and will reduce the funds we can use to complete another business combination.

We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our Sponsor, officers or directors. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our Sponsor or any of our officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent entity that commonly renders valuation opinions that such initial business combination is fair to our Company from a financial point of view. We are not required to obtain such an opinion in any other context.

Our management team is regularly made aware of potential business opportunities, one or more of which we may desire to pursue for a business combination, but we have not (nor has anyone on our behalf) contacted any prospective target business or had any substantive discussions, formal or otherwise, with respect to a business combination transaction with our Company. Additionally, we

 

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have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, taken any substantive measure, directly or indirectly, to identify or locate any suitable acquisition candidate for us, nor have we engaged or retained any agent or other representative to identify or locate any such acquisition candidate.

In addition, certain of our officers and directors presently have, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary and contractual duties to other entities. As a result, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for an entity to which he, she or it has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, then, subject to their fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law, he, she or it will need to honor such fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such business combination opportunity to such entity, before we can pursue such opportunity. If these other entities decide to pursue any such opportunity, we may be precluded from pursuing the same. However, we do not expect these duties to materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that we renounce our interest in any business combination opportunity offered to any director or officer unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of the company and it is an opportunity that we are able to complete on a reasonable basis.

Our Sponsor, officers and directors may sponsor, form or participate in other blank check companies similar to ours during the period in which we are seeking an initial business combination. Any such companies may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an acquisition target, particularly in the event there is overlap among investment mandates. However, we do not currently expect that any such other blank check company would materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination. In addition, our Sponsor, officers and directors are not required to commit any specified amount of time to our affairs, and, accordingly, will have conflicts of interest in allocating management time among various business activities, including identifying potential business combinations and monitoring the related due diligence.

We believe our structure makes us an attractive business combination partner to target businesses. As an existing public company, we offer a target business an alternative to the traditional initial public offering through a merger or other business combination with us. In a business combination transaction with us, the owners of the target business may, for example, exchange their shares of stock, shares or other equity interests in the target business for our Class A ordinary shares (or shares of a new holding company) or for a combination of our Class A ordinary shares and cash, allowing us to tailor the consideration to the specific needs of the sellers. We believe target businesses will find this method a more expeditious and cost effective method to becoming a public company than the typical initial public offering. The typical initial public offering process takes a significantly longer period of time than the typical business combination transaction process, and there are significant expenses in the initial public offering process, including underwriting discounts and commissions, that may not be present to the same extent in connection with a business combination with us.

Furthermore, once a proposed business combination is completed, the target business will have effectively become public, whereas an initial public offering is always subject to the underwriters’ ability to complete the offering, as well as general market conditions, which could delay or prevent the offering from occurring or have negative valuation consequences. Once public, we believe the target business would then have greater access to capital, an additional means of providing management incentives consistent with shareholders’ interests and the ability to use its shares as currency for acquisitions. Being a public company can offer further benefits by augmenting a company’s profile among potential new customers and vendors and aid in attracting talented employees. While we believe that our structure and our management team’s backgrounds make us an attractive business partner, some potential target businesses may view our status as a blank check company, such as our lack of an operating history and our ability to seek shareholder approval of any proposed initial business combination, negatively.

We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act. As such, we are eligible to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved, If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the prices of our securities may be more volatile.

In addition, Section 107 of the JOBS Act also provides that an “emerging growth company” can take advantage of the extended transition period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act for complying with new or revised accounting standards. In other words, an “emerging growth company” can delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We intend to take advantage of the benefits of this extended transition period.

 

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We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of (1) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following the fifth anniversary of the completion of our initial public offering, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion, or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our Class A ordinary shares that are held $700 million as of the prior June 30, and (2) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion during the prior three-year period. Additionally, we are a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Item 10(f)(1) of reporting companies may take advantage of certain reduced disclosure obligations, including, among other things, providing only two years of audited financial statements. We will remain a smaller reporting company until the last day of any fiscal year for so long as either (1) the market value of our ordinary shares held not exceed $250 million as of the prior June 30, or (2) our annual revenues did not exceed $100 million during such completed fiscal year and the market value of our ordinary shares held not exceed $700 million as of the prior June 30.

We are currently not engaged, and do not expect to engage for an indefinite period of time in the future, in any operations. We intend to effectuate our initial business combination using cash from the proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, the proceeds of the sale of our shares in connection with our initial business combination (pursuant to the forward purchase agreement or other forward purchase agreements or backstop agreements we may enter into following the consummation of our initial public offering or otherwise), shares issued to the owners of the target, debt issued to bank or other lenders or the owners of the target, or a combination of the foregoing or other sources. We may seek to complete our initial business combination with a company or business that may be financially unstable or in its early stages of development or growth, which would subject us to the numerous risks inherent in such companies and businesses.

If our initial business combination is paid for using equity or debt, or not all of the funds released from the trust account are used for payment of the consideration in connection with our initial business combination or used for redemptions of our Class A ordinary shares, we may apply the balance of the cash released to us from the trust account for general corporate purposes, including for maintenance or expansion of operations of the post-business combination company, the payment of principal or interest due on indebtedness incurred in completing our initial business combination, to fund the purchase of other companies or for working capital.

We may need to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination, either because the transaction requires more cash than is available from the proceeds held in our trust account and the sale of the forward purchase securities, or because we become obligated to redeem a significant number of our public shares upon completion of the business combination or are unable to close the sale of the forward purchase securities, in which case we may issue additional securities or incur debt in connection with such business combination. There are no prohibitions on our ability to issue securities or incur debt in connection with our initial business combination. Other than the forward purchase agreement and the potential availability of the backstop arrangement with our Sponsor, we are not currently a party to any arrangement or understanding with any third party with respect to raising any additional funds through the sale of securities, the incurrence of debt or otherwise.

We anticipate that target business candidates will be brought to our attention from our founders’ connections with European businesses, as well as various unaffiliated sources, including investment market participants, private equity groups, investment banking firms, consultants, accounting firms and large business enterprises. Target businesses may be brought to our attention by such unaffiliated sources as a result of being solicited by us through calls or mailings. These sources may also introduce us to target

 

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businesses in which they think we may be interested on an unsolicited basis, since some of these sources will have read this Report and know what types of businesses we are targeting. Our officers and directors, as well as their affiliates, may also bring to our attention target business candidates that they become aware of through their business contacts as a result of formal or informal inquiries or discussions they may have, as well as attending trade shows or conventions. In addition, we expect to receive a number of proprietary deal flow opportunities that would not otherwise necessarily be available to us as a result of the business relationships of our officers and directors. While we do not presently anticipate engaging the services of professional firms or other individuals that specialize in business acquisitions on any formal basis, we may engage these firms or other individuals in the future, in which event we may pay a finder’s fee, consulting fee or other compensation to be determined in an arm’s length negotiation based on the terms of the transaction. We will engage a finder only to the extent our management determines that the use of a finder may bring opportunities to us that may not otherwise be available to us or if finders approach us on an unsolicited basis with a potential transaction that our management determines is in our best interest to pursue. Payment of finder’s fees is customarily tied to completion of a transaction, in which case any such fee will be paid out of the funds held in the trust account. In no event, however, will our Sponsor or any of our existing officers or directors, or their respective affiliates be paid by us any finder’s fee, consulting fee or other compensation prior to, or for any services they render in order to effectuate, the completion of our initial business combination (regardless of the type of transaction that it is). We may agree to pay an affiliate of our Sponsor a total of up to $10,000 per month for office space, secretarial and administrative support and to reimburse our Sponsor for related to identifying, investigating and completing an initial business combination. Some of our officers and directors may enter into employment or consulting agreements with the post-business combination company following our initial business combination. The presence or absence of any such fees or arrangements will not be used as a criterion in our selection process of an acquisition candidate.

We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our Sponsor, officers or directors. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our Sponsor or any of our officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent entity that commonly renders valuation opinions that such initial business combination is fair to our Company from a financial point of view. We are not required to obtain such an opinion in any other context.

Each of our officers and directors presently has, and any of them in the future may have, additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities, including entities that are affiliates of our Sponsor, pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entity. Accordingly, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for an entity to which he or she has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she will honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such business combination opportunity to such entity, subject to their fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law.

In evaluating a prospective target business, we expect to conduct an extensive due diligence review which may encompass, as applicable and among other things, meetings with incumbent management and employees, document reviews, interviews of customers and suppliers, inspection of facilities and a review of financial and other information about the target and its industry. We will also utilize our management team’s operational and capital planning experience. If we determine to move forward with a particular target, we will proceed to structure and negotiate the terms of the business combination transaction.

The time required to select and evaluate a target business and to structure and complete our initial business combination, and the costs associated with this process, are not currently ascertainable with any degree of certainty. Any costs incurred with respect to the identification and evaluation of, and negotiation with, a prospective target business with which our initial business combination is not ultimately completed will result in our incurring losses and will reduce the funds we can use to complete another business combination. The company will not pay any consulting fees to members of our management team, or their respective affiliates, for services rendered to or in connection with our initial business combination. In addition, we have agreed not to enter into a definitive agreement regarding an initial business combination without the prior consent of our Sponsor.

For an indefinite period of time after the completion of our initial business combination, the prospects for our success may depend entirely on the future performance of a single business. Unlike other entities that have the resources to complete business combinations with multiple entities in one or several industries, it is probable that we will not have the resources to diversify our operations and mitigate the risks of being in a single line of business. By completing our initial business combination with only a single entity, our lack of diversification may:

 

 

 

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Although we intend to closely scrutinize the management of a prospective target business when evaluating the desirability of effecting our initial business combination with that business, our assessment of the target business’s management may not prove to be correct. In addition, the future management may not have the necessary skills, qualifications or abilities to manage a public company. Furthermore, the future role of members of our management team, if any, in the target business cannot presently be stated with any certainty. The determination as to whether any of the members of our management team will remain with the combined company will be made at the time of our initial business combination. While it is possible that one or more of our directors will remain associated in some capacity with us following our initial business combination, it is unlikely that any of them will devote their full efforts to our affairs subsequent to our initial business combination. Moreover, we cannot assure you that members of our management team will have significant experience or knowledge relating to the operations of the particular target business.

We cannot assure you that any of our key personnel will remain in senior management or advisory positions with the combined company. The determination as to whether any of our key personnel will remain with the combined company will be made at the time of our initial business combination.

Following a business combination, we may seek to recruit additional managers to supplement the incumbent management of the target business. We cannot assure you that we will have the ability to recruit additional managers, or that additional managers will have the requisite skills, knowledge or experience necessary to enhance the incumbent management.

We may conduct redemptions without a shareholder vote pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC subject to the provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. However, we will seek shareholder approval if it is required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement, or we may decide to seek shareholder approval for business or other reasons.

Under the NYSE’s listing rules, shareholder approval would typically be required for our initial business combination if, for example:

 

 

 

The decision as to whether we will seek shareholder approval of a proposed business combination in those instances in which shareholder approval is not required by law will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on business and reasons, which include a variety of factors, including, but not limited to:

 

 

 

 

 

If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our Sponsor, directors, executive officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase public shares or warrants in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination. Additionally, at any time at or prior to our initial business combination, subject to applicable securities laws (including with respect to material nonpublic information), our Sponsor, directors, executive officers, advisors or their affiliates may enter into transactions with investors and others to provide them with incentives to acquire public shares, vote their public shares in favor of our initial business combination or not redeem their public shares. However, they have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such

 

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transactions. None of the funds in the trust account will be used to purchase public shares or warrants in such transactions. If they engage in such transactions, they will be restricted from making any such purchases when they are in possession of any not disclosed to the seller or if such purchases are prohibited by Regulation M under the Exchange Act.

In the event that our Sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates purchase shares in privately negotiated transactions from public shareholders who have already elected to exercise their redemption rights or submitted a proxy to vote against our initial business combination, such selling shareholders would be required to revoke their prior elections to redeem their shares and any proxy to vote against our initial business combination. We do not currently anticipate that such purchases, if any, would constitute a tender offer subject to the tender offer rules under the Exchange Act or a going-private transaction subject to the going-private rules under the Exchange Act; however, if the purchasers determine at the time of any such purchases that the purchases are subject to such rules, the purchasers will be required to comply with such rules.

The purpose of any such transaction could be to (i) vote in favor of the business combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining shareholder approval of the business combination, (ii) reduce the number of public warrants outstanding or vote such warrants on any matters submitted to the warrant holders for approval in connection with our initial business combination or (iii) satisfy a closing condition in an agreement with a target that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash at the closing of our initial business combination, where it appears that such requirement would otherwise not be met. Any such purchases of our securities may result in the completion of our initial business combination that may not otherwise have been possible.

In addition, if such purchases are made, the public “float” of our Class A ordinary shares or public warrants may be reduced and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, which may make it difficult to maintain or obtain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange.

Our Sponsor, officers, directors and/or their affiliates may identify the shareholders with whom our Sponsor, officers, directors or their affiliates may pursue privately negotiated transactions by either the shareholders contacting us directly or by our receipt of redemption requests submitted by shareholders (in the case of Class A ordinary shares) following our mailing of tender offer or proxy materials in connection with our initial business combination. To the extent that our Sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or their affiliates enter into a private transaction, they would identify and contact only potential selling or redeeming shareholders who have expressed their election to redeem their shares for a pro rata share of the trust account or vote against our initial business combination, whether or not such shareholder has already submitted a proxy with respect to our initial business combination but only if such shares have not already been voted at the general meeting related to our initial business combination. Our Sponsor, executive officers, directors, advisors or their affiliates will select which shareholders to purchase shares from based on the negotiated price and number of shares and any other factors that they may deem relevant, and will be restricted from purchasing shares if such purchases do not comply with Regulation M under the Exchange Act and the other federal securities laws.

Our Sponsor, officers, directors and/or their affiliates will be restricted from making purchases of shares if the purchases would violate Section 9(a)(2) or the Exchange Act. We expect any such purchases would be reported by such person pursuant to Section 13 and Section 16 of the Exchange Act to the extent such purchasers are subject to such reporting requirements.

We will provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their Class A ordinary shares upon the completion of our initial business combination at payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account calculated as of two business days prior to the consummation of the initial business combination, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our income taxes, if any, divided by the number of then-outstanding public shares, subject to the limitations described herein. The amount in the trust account is initially anticipated to be $10.00 per public share. we will distribute to investors who properly redeem their shares will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting commissions we will pay to the underwriters. The redemption rights will include the requirement that a beneficial holder must identify itself in order to validly redeem its shares. There will be no redemption rights upon the completion of our initial business combination with respect to our warrants. Further, we will not proceed with redeeming our public shares, even if a public shareholder has properly elected to redeem its shares, if a business combination does not close. Our Sponsor and each member of our management team have entered into an agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and public shares held by them in connection with (i) the completion of our initial business combination and (ii) a shareholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) that would modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares.

 

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Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 (so that we do not then become subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules). However, the proposed business combination may require: (i) cash consideration to be paid to the target or its owners, (ii) cash to be transferred to the target for working capital or other general corporate purposes or (iii) the retention of cash to satisfy other conditions in accordance with the terms of the proposed business combination. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all Class A ordinary shares that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed business combination exceed the aggregate amount of cash available to us, we will not complete the business combination or redeem any shares, and all Class A ordinary shares submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof.

We will provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their Class A ordinary shares upon the completion of our initial business combination either (i) in connection with a general meeting called to approve the business combination or (ii) by means of a tender offer. The decision as to whether we will seek shareholder approval of a proposed business combination or conduct a tender offer will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on a variety of factors such as the timing of the transaction and whether the terms of the transaction would require us to seek shareholder approval under applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement or whether we were deemed to be a foreign private issuer (which would require a tender offer rather than seeking shareholder approval under SEC rules). Asset acquisitions and share purchases would not typically require shareholder approval while direct mergers with our Company where we do not survive and any transactions where we issue more than 20% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares or seek to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association would typically require shareholder approval. We currently intend to conduct redemptions in connection with a shareholder vote unless shareholder approval is not required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement or we choose to conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC for business or other reasons. So long as we obtain and maintain a listing for our securities on the NYSE, we will be required to comply with the NYSE rules.

If we held a shareholder vote to approve our initial business combination, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association:

 

 

In the event that we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, we will distribute proxy materials and, in connection therewith, provide our public shareholders with the redemption rights described above upon completion of the initial business combination.

If we seek shareholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if we obtain the approval of an ordinary resolution under Cayman Islands law, being the affirmative vote of a majority of the ordinary shares represented in person or by proxy and entitled to vote thereon and who vote at a general meeting. In such case, our Sponsor and each member of our management team have agreed to vote their founder shares and public shares in favor of our initial business combination. As a result, in addition to our initial shareholders’ founder shares, we would need 22,500,001, or 37.5% (assuming all issued and outstanding shares are voted), or 3,750,001, or 6.25% (assuming only the minimum number of shares representing a quorum are voted), of the 60,000,000 public shares sold in our initial public offering to be voted in favor of an initial business combination in order to have our initial business combination approved. Each public shareholder may elect to redeem their public shares irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction or vote at all. In addition, our Sponsor and each member of our management team have entered into an agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and public shares held by them in connection with (i) the completion of a business combination and (ii) a shareholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) that would modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares.

 

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If we conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association:

 

 

Upon the public announcement of our initial business combination, if we elect to conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, we and our Sponsor will terminate any plan established in accordance with purchase Class A ordinary shares in the open market, in order to comply with the Exchange Act.

In the event we conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, our offer to redeem will remain open for at least 20 business days, in accordance with the Exchange Act, and we will not be permitted to complete our initial business combination until the expiration of the tender offer period. In addition, the tender offer will be conditioned on public shareholders not tendering more than the number of public shares we are permitted to redeem. If public shareholders tender more shares than we have offered to purchase, we will withdraw the tender offer and not complete such initial business combination.

If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that a public shareholder, together with any affiliate of such shareholder or any other person with whom such shareholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from redeeming its shares with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in our initial public offering, which we refer to as “Excess Shares,” without our prior consent. We believe this restriction will discourage shareholders from accumulating large blocks of shares, and subsequent attempts by such holders to use their ability to exercise their redemption rights against a proposed business combination as a means to force us or our management to purchase their shares at a significant premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. Absent this provision, a public shareholder holding more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in our initial public offering could threaten to exercise its redemption rights if such holder’s shares are not purchased by us, our Sponsor or our management at a premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. By limiting our shareholders’ ability to redeem no more than 15% of the shares sold in our initial public offering without our prior consent, we believe we will limit the ability of a small group of shareholders to unreasonably attempt to block our ability to complete our initial business combination, particularly in connection with a business combination with a target that requires as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash.

However, we would not be restricting our shareholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our initial business combination.

Public shareholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” will be required to either tender their certificates (if any) to our transfer agent prior to the date set forth in the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, mailed to such holders, or to deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically using The Depository Trust Company’s DWAC (Deposit/ Withdrawal At Custodian) System, at the holder’s option, in each case up to two business days prior to the initially scheduled vote to approve the business combination. The proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, that we will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination will indicate the applicable delivery requirements, which will include the requirement that a beneficial holder must identify itself in order to validly redeem its shares. Accordingly, a public shareholder would have from the time we send out our tender offer materials until the close of the tender offer period, or up to two business days prior to the initially scheduled vote on the proposal to approve the business combination if we distribute proxy materials, as applicable, to tender its shares if it wishes to seek to exercise its redemption rights. Given the relatively short period in which to exercise redemption rights, it is advisable for shareholders to use electronic delivery of their public shares.

There is a nominal cost associated with the above-referenced tendering process and the act of certificating the shares or delivering them through the DWAC System. The transfer agent will typically charge the tendering broker a fee of approximately $80.00 and it would be up to the broker whether or not to pass this cost on to the redeeming holder. However, this fee would be incurred regardless of whether or not we require holders seeking to exercise redemption rights to tender their shares. The need to deliver shares is a requirement of exercising redemption rights regardless of the timing of when such delivery must be effectuated.

 

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The foregoing is different from the procedures used by many blank check companies. In order to perfect redemption rights in connection with their business combinations, many blank check companies would distribute proxy materials for the shareholders’ vote on an initial business combination, and a holder could simply vote against a proposed business combination and check a box on the proxy card indicating such holder was seeking to exercise his or her redemption rights. After the business combination was approved, the company would contact such shareholder to arrange for him or her to deliver his or her certificate to verify ownership. As a result, the shareholder then had an “option window” after the completion of the business combination during which he or she could monitor the price of the company’s shares in the market. If the price rose above the redemption price, he or she could sell his or her shares in the open market before actually delivering his or her shares to the company for cancellation. As a result, the redemption rights, to which shareholders were aware they needed to commit before the general meeting, would become “option” rights surviving past the completion of the business combination until the redeeming holder delivered its certificate. The requirement for physical or electronic delivery prior to the meeting ensures that a redeeming shareholder’s election to redeem is irrevocable once the business combination is approved.

Any request to redeem such shares, once made, may be withdrawn at any time up to two business days prior to the initially scheduled vote on the proposal to approve the business combination, unless otherwise agreed to by us. Furthermore, if a holder of a public share delivered its certificate in connection with an election of redemption rights and subsequently decides prior to the applicable date not to elect to exercise such rights, such holder may simply request that the transfer agent return the certificate (physically or electronically). It is anticipated that the funds to be distributed to holders of our public shares electing to redeem their shares will be distributed promptly after the completion of our initial business combination.

If our initial business combination is not approved or completed for any reason, then our public shareholders who elected to exercise their redemption rights would not be entitled to redeem their shares for the applicable pro rata share of the trust account. In such case, we will promptly return any certificates delivered by public holders who elected to redeem their shares.

If our initial proposed business combination is not completed, we may continue to try to complete a business combination with a different target until 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering.

Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that we have 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering to consummate an initial business combination. If we have not consummated an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, we will: (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up; (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our income taxes, if any (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses) divided by the number of the then-outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public shareholders’ rights as shareholders (including the right to receive further liquidation distributions, if any); and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining shareholders and our board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in the case of clauses (ii) and (iii) to our obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to our warrants, which will expire worthless if we fail to consummate an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that, if we wind up for any other reason prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, we will follow the foregoing procedures with respect to the liquidation of the trust account as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, subject to applicable Cayman Islands law.

Our Sponsor and each member of our management team have entered into an agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any founder shares they hold if we fail to consummate an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering (although they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any public shares they hold if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame).

Our Sponsor, executive officers and directors have agreed, pursuant to a written agreement with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) that would modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares, unless we provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares upon approval of any such amendment at payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including

 

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interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our income taxes, if any, divided by the number of the then-outstanding public shares. However, we may not redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 (so that we do not then become subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules). If this optional redemption right is exercised with respect to an excessive number of public shares such that we cannot satisfy the net tangible asset requirement, we would not proceed with the amendment or the related redemption of our public shares at such time. This redemption right shall apply in the event of the approval of any such amendment, whether proposed by our Sponsor, any executive officer and director, or any other person.

We expect that all costs and expenses associated with implementing our plan of dissolution, as well as payments to any creditors, will be funded from amounts remaining out of the $67,132 held outside the trust account (as of December 31, 2021) plus up to $100,000 of funds from the trust account available to us to pay dissolution expenses, although we cannot assure you that there will be sufficient funds for such purpose.

If we were to expend all of the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, other than the proceeds deposited in the trust account, and without taking into account interest, if any, earned on the trust account, amount received by shareholders upon our dissolution would be $10.00. The proceeds deposited in the trust account could, however, become subject to the claims of our creditors which would have higher priority than the claims of our public shareholders. We cannot assure you that the amount received by shareholders will not be less than $10.00. While we intend to pay such amounts, if any, we cannot assure you that we will have funds sufficient to pay or provide for all creditors’ claims.

Although we will seek to have all vendors, service providers, prospective target businesses and other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the trust account for the benefit of our public shareholders, there is no guarantee that they will execute such agreements or even if they execute such agreements that they would be prevented from bringing claims against the trust account including, but not limited, to fraudulent inducement, breach of fiduciary responsibility or other similar claims, as well as claims challenging the enforceability of the waiver, in each case in order to gain an advantage with respect to a claim against our assets, including the funds held in the trust account. If any third-party refuses to execute an agreement waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account, our management will perform an analysis of the alternatives available to it and will only enter into an agreement with a third-party that has not executed a waiver if management believes that such third-party’s engagement would be significantly more beneficial to us than any alternative. Examples of possible instances where we may engage a third-party that refuses to execute a waiver include the engagement of a third-party consultant whose particular expertise or skills are believed by management to be significantly superior to those of other consultants that would agree to execute a waiver or in cases where management is unable to find a service provider willing to execute a waiver. In addition, there is no guarantee that such entities will agree to waive any claims they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any negotiations, contracts or agreements with us and will not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason. In order to protect the amounts held in the trust account, our Sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a third-party for services rendered or products sold to us (other than our independent registered public accounting firm), or a prospective target business with which we have discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amounts in the trust account to below the lesser of (i) $10.00 per public share and (ii) the actual amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account if less than $10.00 per public share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest that may be withdrawn to pay our tax obligations, that such liability will not apply to any claims by a third-party or prospective target business that executed a waiver of any and all rights to seek access to the trust account nor will it apply to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of our initial public offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. In the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third-party, our Sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third-party claims. However, we have not asked our Sponsor to reserve for such indemnification obligations, nor have we independently verified whether our Sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and we believe that our Sponsor’s only assets are securities of our Company. Therefore, we cannot assure you that our Sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations. None of our officers or directors will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses.

In the event that the proceeds in the trust account are reduced below the lesser of (i) $10.00 per public share and (ii) the actual amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account if less than $10.00 per public share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the amount of interest which may be withdrawn to pay our income tax obligations, and our Sponsor asserts that it is unable to satisfy its indemnification obligations or that it has no indemnification obligations related to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether to take legal action against our Sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations. While we currently expect that our independent directors would take legal action on our behalf against our Sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations to us, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment may choose not to do so in any particular instance. Accordingly, we cannot assure you that due to claims of creditors the actual value of price will not be less than $10.00 per public share.

 

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We will seek to reduce the possibility that our Sponsor will have to indemnify the trust account due to claims of creditors by endeavoring to have all vendors, service providers, prospective target businesses or other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to monies held in the trust account. Our Sponsor will also not be liable as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of our initial public offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. We have access to up to $67,132 held outside the trust account (as of December 31, 2021) with which to pay any such potential claims (including costs and expenses incurred in connection with our liquidation, currently estimated to be no more than approximately $100,000). In the event that we liquidate and it is subsequently determined that the reserve for claims and liabilities is insufficient, shareholders who received funds from our trust account could be liable for claims made by creditors, however such liability will not be greater than the amount of funds from our trust account received by any such shareholder.

If we file a bankruptcy or an involuntary bankruptcy is filed against us that is not dismissed, the proceeds held in the trust account could be subject to applicable bankruptcy or insolvency law, and may be included in our bankruptcy estate and subject to the claims of third parties with priority over the claims of our shareholders. To the extent any bankruptcy claims deplete the trust account, we cannot assure you we will be able to return $10.00 per public share to our public shareholders. Additionally, if we file a bankruptcy or an involuntary bankruptcy is filed against us that is not dismissed, any distributions received by shareholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or bankruptcy or insolvency laws as either a “preferential transfer” or a “fraudulent conveyance.” As a result, a bankruptcy or insolvency court could seek to recover some or all amounts received by our shareholders. Furthermore, our board of directors may be viewed as having breached its fiduciary duty to our creditors and/or may have acted in bad faith, and thereby exposing itself and our Company to claims of punitive damages, by paying public shareholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors. We cannot assure you that claims will not be brought against us for these reasons.

Our public shareholders are entitled to receive funds from the trust account only (i) in the event of the redemption of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, (ii) in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares, or (iii) if they redeem their respective shares for cash upon the completion of the initial business combination. Public shareholders who redeem their Class A ordinary shares in connection with a shareholder vote described in clause (ii) in the preceding sentence shall not be entitled to funds from the trust account upon the subsequent completion of an initial business combination or liquidation if we have not consummated an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, with respect to such Class A ordinary shares so redeemed. In no other circumstances will a shareholder have any right or interest of any kind to or in the trust account. In the event we seek shareholder approval in connection with our initial business combination, a shareholder’s voting in connection with the business combination alone will not result in a shareholder’s redeeming its shares to us for an applicable pro rata share of the trust account. Such shareholder must have also exercised its redemption rights described above. These provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, like all provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, may be amended with a shareholder vote.

In identifying, evaluating and selecting a target business for our initial business combination, we may encounter intense competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours, including other blank check companies, private equity groups and leveraged buyout funds, public companies, and operating businesses seeking strategic acquisitions. Many of these entities are well established and have extensive experience identifying and effecting business combinations directly or through affiliates. Moreover, many of these competitors possess greater financial, technical, human and other resources than us. Our ability to acquire larger target businesses will be limited by our available financial resources. This inherent limitation gives others an advantage in pursuing the acquisition of a target business. Furthermore, our obligation to pay cash in connection with our public shareholders who exercise their redemption rights may reduce the resources available to us for our initial business combination and our outstanding warrants, and the future dilution they potentially represent, may not be viewed favorably by certain target businesses. Either of these factors may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating an initial business combination.

We currently maintain our executive offices at PO Box 1093, Boundary Hall, Cricket Square, Grand Islands. The cost for our use of this space is included in the $10,000 per month fee we pay to an affiliate of our Sponsor for office space, administrative and support services. We consider our current office space adequate for our current operations.

 

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We currently have two executive officers. These individuals are not obligated to devote any specific number of hours to our matters, but they intend to devote as much of their time as they deem necessary to our affairs until we have completed our initial business combination. The amount of time they will devote in any time period will vary based on whether a target business has been selected for our initial business combination and the stage of the business combination process we are in. We do not intend to have any full time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination.

We have registered our units, Class A ordinary shares and warrants under the Exchange Act and have reporting obligations, including the requirement that we file annual, quarterly and current reports with the SEC. In accordance with the requirements of the Exchange Act, our annual reports will contain financial statements audited and reported on by our independent registered public accountants.

We will provide shareholders with audited financial statements of the prospective target business as part of the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, sent to shareholders. These financial statements may be required to be prepared in accordance with, or reconciled to, GAAP, or IFRS, depending on the circumstances, and the historical financial statements may be required to be audited in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. These financial statement requirements may limit the pool of potential target businesses we may acquire because some targets may be unable to provide such statements in time for us to disclose such statements in accordance with federal proxy rules and complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame. We cannot assure you that any particular target business identified by us as a potential acquisition candidate will have financial statements prepared in accordance with the requirements outlined above, or that the potential target business will be able to prepare its financial statements in accordance with the requirements outlined above. To the extent that these requirements cannot be met, we may not be able to acquire the proposed target business. While this may limit the pool of potential acquisition candidates, we do not believe that this limitation will be material.

We filed a Registration Statement on the SEC to voluntarily register our securities under Section 12 of the Exchange Act. As a result, we are subject to the rules and regulations promulgated under the Exchange Act. We have no current intention of filing a Form 15 to suspend our reporting or other obligations under the Exchange Act prior or subsequent to the consummation of our initial business combination.

We are a Cayman Islands exempted company. Exempted companies are Cayman Islands companies conducting business mainly outside the Cayman Islands and, as such, are exempted from complying with certain provisions of the Companies Act. As an exempted company, we have applied for and received a tax exemption undertaking from the Cayman Islands government that, in accordance with Section 6 of the Tax Concessions Act (As Revised) of the Cayman Islands, for a period of 20 years from the date of the undertaking, no law which is enacted in the Cayman Islands imposing any tax to be levied on profits, income, gains or appreciations will apply to us or our operations and, in addition, that no tax to be levied on profits, income, gains or appreciations or which is in the nature of estate duty or inheritance tax will be payable (i) on or in respect of our shares, debentures or other obligations or (ii) by way of the withholding in whole or in part of a payment of dividend or other distribution of income or capital by us to our shareholders or a payment of principal or interest or other sums due under a debenture or other obligation of us.

We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act. As such, we are eligible to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the prices of our securities may be more volatile.

In addition, Section 107 of the JOBS Act also provides that an “emerging growth company” can take advantage of the extended transition period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act for complying with new or revised accounting standards. In other words, an “emerging growth company” can delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We intend to take advantage of the benefits of this extended transition period.

We will be required to evaluate our internal control procedures for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2021 as required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Only in the event we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer or an accelerated filer and no longer qualify as an emerging growth company, will we not be required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement on our internal control over financial reporting. A target business may not be in compliance with the provisions of the

 

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Sarbanes-Oxley Act regarding adequacy of their internal controls. The development of the internal controls of any such entity to achieve compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may increase the time and costs necessary to complete any such acquisition.

We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of (1) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following the fifth anniversary of the completion of our initial public offering, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion, or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our Class A ordinary shares that are held $700 million as of the prior June 30, and (2) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion during the prior three-year period.

Additionally, we are a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Item 10(f)(1) of reporting companies may take advantage of certain reduced disclosure obligations, including, among other things, providing only two years of audited financial statements, and, if their revenues are less than $100 million, not providing an independent registered public accounting firm attestation on internal control over financial reporting. We will remain a smaller reporting company until the last day of the fiscal year in which (1) the market value of our ordinary shares held or exceeds $250 million as of the prior June 30, or (2) our annual revenues equaled or exceeded $100 million during such completed fiscal year and the market value of our ordinary shares held or exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30.

You should consider carefully all of the risks described below, together with the other information contained in this Report, including the financial statements before making a decision to invest in our securities. If any of the following risks occur, our business, financial condition or results of operations may be materially and adversely affected. The risk factors described below are not necessarily exhaustive and you are encouraged to perform your own investigation with respect to us and our business.

We are a recently incorporated company that has conducted no operations and has generated no revenues. Until we complete our initial business combination, we will have no operations and will generate no operating revenues. In making your decision whether to invest in our securities, you should take into account not only the background of our management team, but also the special risks we face as a blank check company. Our initial public offering is not being conducted in compliance with Rule 419 promulgated under the Securities Act. Accordingly, you will not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors in Rule 419 blank check offerings.

Following this issuance of the SEC Statement, on April 12, 2021, our management and our audit committee concluded that, in light of the SEC Statement, it was appropriate to restate our previously issued audited financial statements as of and for the period ended December 31, 2020. As part of such process, we identified a material weakness in our internal controls over financial reporting.

In addition, as described in more detail in the Amendment No. 2 of the for the period ended December 31, 2020, which was filed on December 21, 2021, we have identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting related to the Company’s application of ASC to its accounting classification of the Public Shares and the restatement of our earnings per share calculation.

A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented, or detected and corrected on a timely basis.

Effective internal controls are necessary for us to provide reliable financial reports and prevent fraud. We continue to evaluate steps to remediate the material weakness. These remediation measures may be time consuming and costly and there is no assurance that these initiatives will ultimately have the intended effects.

If we identify any new material weaknesses in the future, any such newly identified material weakness could limit our ability to prevent or detect a misstatement of our accounts or disclosures that could result in a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements. In such case, we may be unable to maintain compliance with securities law requirements regarding timely filing of periodic reports in addition to applicable stock exchange listing requirements, investors may lose confidence in our financial reporting and our stock price may decline as a result. We cannot assure you that the measures we have taken to date, or any measures we may take in the future, will be sufficient to avoid potential future material weaknesses.

 

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Following the issuance of the SEC Statement, our management and our audit committee concluded that it was appropriate to restate our previously issued audited financial statements as of December 31, 2020 and for the year ended December 31, 2020. As part of the restatement, we identified a material weakness in our internal controls over financial reporting.

As a result of such material weakness, the improper valuation of our Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption at the closing of our initial public offering, the restatement of our earnings per share calculation and the change in accounting for the warrants, and other matters raised or that may in the future be raised by the SEC, we face potential for litigation or other disputes which may include, among others, claims invoking the federal and state securities laws, contractual claims or other claims arising from the restatement and material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting and the preparation of our financial statements. As of the date of this Report, we have no knowledge of any such litigation or dispute. However, we can provide no assurance that such litigation or dispute will not arise in the future. Any such litigation or dispute, whether successful or not, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition or our ability to complete a Business Combination.

We were formed on July 24, 2020 under the laws of the Cayman Islands and have no operating results. Because we lack an operating history, you have no basis upon which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective of completing our initial business combination with one or more target businesses. We may be unable to complete our initial business combination. If we fail to complete our initial business combination, we will never generate any operating revenues.

Information regarding performance is presented for informational purposes only. Any past experience or performance of our management team and their respective affiliates is not a guarantee of either (i) our ability to successfully identify and execute a transaction or (ii) success with respect to any business combination that we may consummate. You should not rely on the historical record of our management team or their respective affiliates as indicative of the future performance of an investment in us or the returns we will, or are likely to, generate going forward. Our management has no experience in operating special purpose acquisition companies.

We may choose not to hold a shareholder vote before we complete our initial business combination if the business combination would not require shareholder approval under applicable law or NYSE rules. For instance, if we were seeking to acquire a target business where the consideration we were paying in the transaction was all cash, we would typically not be required to seek shareholder approval to complete such a transaction. Except for as required by applicable law or NYSE, the decision as to whether we will seek shareholder approval of a proposed business combination or will allow shareholders to sell their shares to us in a tender offer will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on a variety of factors, such as the timing of the transaction and whether the terms of the transaction would otherwise require us to seek shareholder approval. Accordingly, we may complete our initial business combination even if holders of a majority of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares do not approve of the business combination we complete.

At the time of your investment in us, you were not provided with an opportunity to evaluate the specific merits or risks of any target businesses. Since our board of directors may complete a business combination without seeking shareholder approval, public shareholders may not have the right or opportunity to vote on the business combination, unless we seek such shareholder approval. Accordingly, your only opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding a potential business combination may be limited to exercising your redemption rights within the period of time (which will be at least 20 business days) set forth in our tender offer documents mailed to our public shareholders in which we describe our initial business combination.

 

 

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Our initial shareholders own, on 20% of our outstanding ordinary shares immediately following the completion of our initial public offering. Our Sponsor and members of our management team also may from time to time purchase Class A ordinary shares prior to our initial business combination. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that, if we seek shareholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if we obtain the approval of an ordinary resolution under Cayman Islands law, being the affirmative vote of a majority of the ordinary shares, represented in person or by proxy and entitled to vote thereon, voted at a shareholder meeting are voted in favor of the business combination, after approval of our board. As a result, in addition to our initial shareholders’ founder shares, we would need 22,500,001, or 37.5%, or 3,750,001, or 6.25% (assuming only the minimum number of shares representing a quorum are voted), of the 60,000,000 public shares sold in our initial public offering to be voted in favor of an initial business combination, after approval of our board, in order to have our initial business combination approved. Accordingly, if we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, the agreement by our Sponsor and each member of our management team to vote in favor of our initial business combination will increase the likelihood that we will receive the requisite shareholder approval for such initial business combination.

In connection with the consummation of our initial public offering, we entered into a forward purchase agreement with our Sponsor, which provides for the purchase by our Sponsor of up to $100,000,000 of forward purchase units, with each forward purchase unit consisting of one Class A ordinary share and of one warrant to purchase one Class A ordinary share at $11.50 per share, for a purchase price of $10.00 per unit, in a private placement to occur concurrently with the closing of our initial business combination. The proceeds from the sale of these forward purchase units, together with the amounts available to us from the trust account (after giving effect to any redemptions of public shares and the payment of deferred underwriting commissions) and any other equity or debt financing obtained by us in connection with the business combination, will be used to satisfy the cash requirements of the business combination, including funding the purchase price and paying expenses and retaining specified amounts to be used by the post-business combination company for working capital or other purposes. To the extent that the amounts available from the trust account and other financing are sufficient for such cash requirements, our Sponsor may purchase less than 10,000,000 forward purchase units. The forward purchase agreement contains customary closing conditions, the fulfillment of which is a condition for our Sponsor to purchase the forward purchase securities, including that our initial business combination must be consummated concurrently with the purchase of forward purchase securities. If the sale of the forward purchase securities does not close for any reason, including by reason of the failure by our Sponsor to fund the purchase price for its forward purchase securities, we may lack sufficient funds to consummate our initial business combination.

We may seek to enter into a business combination transaction agreement with a prospective target that requires as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. If too many public shareholders exercise their redemption rights, we would not be able to meet such closing condition and, as a result, would not be able to proceed with the business combination. Furthermore, in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 (so that we do not then become subject to the Commission’s “penny stock” rules). Consequently, if accepting all properly submitted redemption requests would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 or such greater amount necessary to satisfy a closing condition as described above, we would not proceed with such redemption and the related business combination and may instead search for an alternate business combination. Prospective targets will be aware of these risks and, thus, may be reluctant to enter into a business combination transaction with us.

At the time we enter into an agreement for our initial business combination, we will not know how many shareholders may exercise their redemption rights, and therefore will need to structure the transaction based on our expectations as to the number of shares that will be submitted for redemption. If a large number of shares are submitted for redemption, we may need to restructure the transaction to reserve a greater portion of the cash in the trust account or arrange for additional third-party financing. Raising additional third-party financing may involve dilutive equity issuances or the incurrence of indebtedness at higher than desirable levels. The above considerations may limit our ability to complete the most desirable business combination available to us or optimize our capital

 

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structure. The amount of the deferred underwriting commissions payable to the underwriters will not be adjusted for any shares that are redeemed in connection with an initial business combination. we will distribute to shareholders who properly exercise their redemption rights will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting commission and after such redemptions, the amount held in trust will continue to reflect our obligation to pay the entire deferred underwriting commissions.

If our initial business combination agreement requires us to use a portion of the cash in the trust account to pay the purchase price, or requires us to have a minimum amount of cash at closing, the probability that our initial business combination would be unsuccessful is increased. If our initial business combination is unsuccessful, you would not receive your pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account until we liquidate the trust account. If you are in need of immediate liquidity, you could attempt to sell your shares in the open market; however, at such time our shares may trade at a discount to the pro rata amount per share in the trust account. In either situation, you may suffer a material loss on your investment or lose the benefit of funds expected in connection with our redemption until we liquidate or you are able to sell your shares in the open market.

Any potential target business with which we enter into negotiations concerning a business combination will be aware that we must consummate an initial business combination by October 6, 2022. Consequently, such target business may obtain leverage over us in negotiating a business combination, knowing that if we do not complete our initial business combination with that particular target business, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination with any target business. This risk will increase as we get closer to the time frame described above. In addition, we may have limited time to conduct due diligence and may enter into our initial business combination on terms that we would have rejected upon a more comprehensive investigation.

In December 2019, a novel strain of coronavirus was reported to have surfaced in Wuhan, China, which has and is continuing to spread throughout parts of the world, including the United States. On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak of the coronavirus “Public Health Emergency of International Concern.” On January 31, 2020, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex M. Azar II declared a public health emergency for the United States to aid the U.S. healthcare community in responding on March 11, 2020 the World Health Organization characterized the outbreak as a “pandemic.” has and a significant outbreak of other infectious diseases could result in a widespread health crisis that could adversely affect the economies and financial markets worldwide, and the business of any potential target business with which we consummate a business combination could be materially and adversely affected. Furthermore, we may be unable to find or evaluate business combination opportunities or complete a business combination if continued concerns relating to restrict travel, limit the ability to have meetings with potential investors or the target company’s personnel, vendors and services providers are unavailable to negotiate and consummate a transaction in a timely manner. The extent to our search for a business combination will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, including new information which may emerge concerning the severity the actions to treat its impact, among others. If the disruptions posed other matters of global concern continue for an extensive period of time, our ability to consummate a business combination, or the operations of a target business with which we ultimately consummate a business combination, may be materially adversely affected.

In addition, our ability to consummate a transaction may be dependent on the ability to raise equity and debt financing which may be impacted other events, including as a result of increased market volatility, decreased market liquidity and third-party financing being unavailable on terms acceptable to us or at all.

Finally, the outbreak also have the effect of heightening many of the other risks described in this “Risk Factors” section, such as those related to the market for our securities and cross-border transactions.

 

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We may not be able to find a suitable target business and consummate an initial business combination by October 6, 2022. Our ability to complete our initial business combination may be negatively impacted by general market conditions, volatility in the capital and debt markets and the other risks described herein. For example, the outbreak to grow both in the U.S. and globally and, while the extent of the impact of the outbreak on us will depend on future developments, it could limit our ability to complete our initial business combination, including as a result of increased market volatility, decreased market liquidity and third-party financing being unavailable on terms acceptable to us or at all. Additionally, the outbreak negatively impact businesses we may seek to acquire. If we have not consummated an initial business combination within such applicable time period, we will: (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up; (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our income taxes, if any (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of the then-outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public shareholders’ rights as shareholders (including the right to receive further liquidation distributions, if any); and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining shareholders and our board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in the case of clauses (ii) and (iii), to our obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that, if we wind up for any other reason prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, we will follow the foregoing procedures with respect to the liquidation of the trust account as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, subject to applicable Cayman Islands law. In either such case, our public shareholders may receive only $10.00 per public share, or less than $10.00 per public share, on the redemption of their shares, and our warrants will expire worthless. See Item 1A “Risk Factors—If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and amount received by shareholders may be less than $10.00 per public share” and other risk factors herein.

If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our Sponsor, directors, executive officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase public shares or warrants in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination, although they are under no obligation to do so. However, they have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such transactions. None of the funds in the trust account will be used to purchase public shares or warrants in such transactions.

In the event that our Sponsor, initial shareholders, directors, executive officers, advisors or their affiliates purchase shares in privately negotiated transactions from public shareholders who have already elected to exercise their redemption rights, such selling shareholders would be required to revoke their prior elections to redeem their shares. The purpose of any such transaction could be to (1) vote in favor of the business combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining shareholder approval of the business combination, (2) reduce the number of public warrants outstanding or vote such warrants on any matters submitted to the warrant holders for approval in connection with our initial business combination or (3) satisfy a closing condition in an agreement with a target that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash at the closing of our initial business combination, where it appears that such requirement would otherwise not be met. Any such purchases of our securities may result in the completion of our initial business combination that may not otherwise have been possible. In addition, if such purchases are made, the public “float” of our Class A ordinary shares or public warrants may be reduced and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, which may make it difficult to maintain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange. Any such purchases will be reported pursuant to Section 13 and Section 16 of the Exchange Act to the extent such purchasers are subject to such reporting requirements. See Item 1 “Business—Permitted Purchases and Other Transactions with Respect to Our Securities” for a description of how our Sponsor, directors, executive officers, advisors or their affiliates will select which shareholders to purchase securities from in any private transaction.

We will comply with the proxy rules or tender offer rules, as applicable, when conducting redemptions in connection with our initial business combination. Despite our compliance with these rules, if a shareholder fails to receive our tender offer documents or proxy materials, as applicable, such shareholder may not become aware of the opportunity to redeem its shares. In addition, the tender offer documents or proxy materials, as applicable, that we will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination will describe the various procedures that must be complied with in order to validly redeem or tender public shares. In the event that a shareholder fails to comply with these procedures, its shares may not be redeemed.

 

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Our public shareholders are entitled to receive funds from the trust account only upon the earliest to occur of: (i) our completion of an initial business combination, and then only in connection with those Class A ordinary shares that such shareholder properly elected to redeem, subject to the limitations described herein, (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly tendered in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination by October 6, 2022 or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares, and (iii) the redemption of our public shares if we have not consummated an initial business combination by October 6, 2022, subject to applicable law and as further described herein. Public shareholders who redeem their Class A ordinary shares in connection with a shareholder vote described in clause (ii) in the preceding sentence shall not be entitled to funds from the trust account upon the subsequent completion of an initial business combination or liquidation if we have not consummated an initial business combination by October 6, 2022, with respect to such Class A ordinary shares so redeemed. In no other circumstances will a public shareholder have any right or interest of any kind in the trust account. Holders of warrants will not have any right to the proceeds held in the trust account with respect to the warrants. Accordingly, to liquidate your investment, you may be forced to sell your public shares or warrants, potentially at a loss.

Our securities are currently listed on NYSE. However, we cannot assure you that our securities will continue to be listed on the NYSE in the future or prior to our initial business combination. In order to continue listing our securities on the NYSE prior to our initial business combination, we must maintain certain financial, distribution and share price levels. Generally, we must maintain a minimum market capitalization (generally $50,000,000) and a minimum number of holders of our securities (generally 300 public holders).

Additionally, our units will not be traded after completion of our initial business combination and, in connection with our initial business combination, we will be required to demonstrate compliance with the NYSE initial listing requirements, which are more rigorous than the NYSE continued listing requirements, in order to continue to maintain the listing of our securities on the NYSE.

For instance, in order for our shares to be listed upon the consummation of our business combination, at such time our share price would generally be required to be at least $4.00 per share, our total market capitalization would generally be required to be at least $200.0 million, the aggregate market value of publicly held shares would be required to be at least $100.0 million and we would be required to have at least 400 round lot shareholders. We may not be able to meet those listing requirements at that time.

If the NYSE delists any of our securities from trading on its exchange and we are not able to list our securities on another national securities exchange, we expect such securities could be quoted on If this were to occur, we could face significant material adverse consequences, including:

a limited availability of market quotations for our securities;

reduced liquidity for our securities;

a determination that our Class A ordinary shares are a “penny stock” which will require brokers trading in our Class A ordinary shares to adhere to more stringent rules and possibly result in a reduced level of trading activity in the secondary trading market for our securities;

a limited amount of news and analyst coverage; and

a decreased ability to issue additional securities or obtain additional financing in the future.

The National Securities Markets Improvement Act of 1996, which is a federal statute, prevents or preempts the states from regulating the sale of certain securities, which are referred to as “covered securities.” Because our units, Class A ordinary shares and warrants are currently listed on the NYSE, our units, Class A ordinary shares and warrants are covered securities under the statute. Although the states are preempted from regulating the sale of covered securities, the federal statute does allow the states to investigate companies if there is a suspicion of fraud, and, if there is a finding of fraudulent activity, then the states can regulate or bar the sale of covered

 

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securities in a particular case. While we are not aware of a state having used these powers to prohibit or restrict the sale of securities issued by blank check companies, other than the State of Idaho, certain state securities regulators view blank check companies unfavorably and might use these powers, or threaten to use these powers, to hinder the sale of securities of blank check companies in their states. Further, if we were no longer listed on the NYSE, our securities would not qualify as covered securities under the statute and we would be subject to regulation in each state in which we offer our securities.

Since the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants are intended to be used to complete an initial business combination with a target business, we are considered to be a “blank check” company under the United States securities laws. However, because we have net tangible assets in excess of $5,000,000, we are exempt from rules promulgated by the SEC to protect investors in blank check companies, such as Rule 419. Accordingly, investors are not afforded the benefits or protections of those rules. Among other things, this means that we will have a longer period of time to complete our initial business combination than do companies subject to Rule 419. Moreover, if our initial public offering were subject to Rule 419, that rule would have prohibited the release of any interest earned on funds held in the trust account to us unless and until the funds in the trust account were released to us in connection with our completion of an initial business combination.

If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provides that a public shareholder, together with any affiliate of such shareholder or any other person with whom such shareholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from redeeming its shares with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in our initial public offering, which we refer to as the “Excess Shares,” without our prior consent. However, we would not be restricting our shareholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our initial business combination. Your inability to redeem the Excess Shares will reduce your influence over our ability to complete our initial business combination and you could suffer a material loss on your investment in us if you sell Excess Shares in open market transactions. Additionally, you will not receive redemption distributions with respect to the Excess Shares if we complete our initial business combination. And as a result, you will continue to hold that number of shares exceeding 15% and, in order to dispose of such shares, would be required to sell your shares in open market transactions, potentially at a loss.

 

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In recent years, the number of special purpose acquisition companies that have been formed has increased substantially, especially in the last six months. Many potential targets for special purpose acquisition companies have already entered into an initial business combination, and there are still many special purpose acquisition companies seeking targets for their initial business combination, as well as many such companies currently in registration. As a result, at times, fewer attractive targets may be available, and it may require more time, more effort and more resources to identify a suitable target and to consummate an initial business combination.

In addition, because there are more special purpose acquisition companies seeking to enter into an initial business combination with available targets, the competition for available targets with attractive fundamentals or business models may increase, which could cause targets companies to demand improved financial terms. Attractive deals could also become scarcer for other reasons, such as economic or industry sector downturns, geopolitical tensions, or increases in the cost of additional capital needed to close business combinations or operate targets post-business combination. This could increase the cost of, delay or otherwise complicate or frustrate our ability to find and consummate an initial business combination, and may result in our inability to consummate an initial business combination on terms favorable to our investors altogether.

We have encountered and expect to encounter intense competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours, including private investors (which may be individuals or investment partnerships), other blank check companies and other entities, domestic and international, competing for the types of businesses we intend to acquire. Many of these individuals and entities are well established and have extensive experience in identifying and effecting, directly or indirectly, acquisitions of companies operating in or providing services to various industries. Many of these competitors possess greater technical, human and other resources or more local industry knowledge than we do and our financial resources are relatively limited when contrasted with those of many of these competitors. While we believe there are numerous target businesses we could potentially acquire with the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, our ability to compete with respect to the acquisition of certain target businesses that are sizable is limited by our available financial resources. This inherent competitive limitation gives others an advantage in pursuing the acquisition of certain target businesses. Furthermore, we are obligated to offer holders of our public shares the right to redeem their shares for cash at the time of our initial business combination in conjunction with a shareholder vote or via a tender offer. Target companies will be aware that this may reduce the resources available to us for our initial business combination. Any of these obligations may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating a business combination. If we have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per public share, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. See Item 1A “Risk Factors—If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and amount received by shareholders may be less than $10.00 per public share” and other risk factors herein.

As of December 31, 2021, we had $67,132 in cash held outside the trust account to fund our working capital requirements. We believe that, upon the closing of our initial public offering, the funds available to us outside of the trust account, together with funds available from loans from our Sponsor, its affiliates or members of our management team will be sufficient to allow us to operate for 24 months following the closing of our initial public offering; however, we cannot assure you that our estimate is accurate, and our Sponsor, its affiliates or members of our management team are under no obligation to advance funds to us in such circumstances. Of the funds available to us, we expect to use a portion of the funds available to us to pay fees to consultants to assist us with our search for a target business. We could also use a portion of the funds as a down payment or to fund (a provision in letters of intent designed to keep target businesses from “shopping” around for transactions with other companies or investors on terms more favorable to such target businesses) with respect to a particular proposed business combination, although we do not have any current intention to do so. If we entered into a letter of intent where we paid for the right to receive exclusivity from a target business and were subsequently required to forfeit such funds (whether as a result of our breach or otherwise), we might not have sufficient funds to continue searching for, or conduct due diligence with respect to, a target business.

 

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If we are required to seek additional capital, we would need to borrow funds from our Sponsor, its affiliates, members of our management team, or other third parties to operate or may be forced to liquidate. Neither our Sponsor, members of our management team nor their affiliates is under any obligation to us in such circumstances. Any such advances may be repaid only from funds held outside the trust account or from funds released to us upon completion of our initial business combination. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants of the post-business combination entity at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants. Prior to the completion of our initial business combination, we do not expect to seek loans from parties other than our Sponsor, its affiliates or members of our management team as we do not believe third parties will be willing to loan such funds and provide a waiver against any and all rights to seek access to funds in our trust account. If we have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period because we do not have sufficient funds available to us, we will be forced to cease operations and liquidate the trust account. Consequently, our public shareholders may only receive an estimated $10.00 per public share, or possibly less, on our redemption of our public shares, and our warrants will expire worthless. See Item 1A “Risk Factors—If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and amount received by shareholders may be less than $10.00 per public share” and other risk factors herein.

Even if we conduct extensive due diligence on a target business with which we combine, we cannot assure you that this diligence will identify all material issues with a particular target business, that it would be possible to uncover all material issues through a customary amount of due diligence, or that factors outside of the target business and outside of our control will not later arise. As a result of these factors, we may be forced to later write-down restructure our operations, or incur impairment or other charges that could result in our reporting losses. Even if our due diligence successfully identifies certain risks, unexpected risks may arise and previously known risks may materialize in a manner not consistent with our preliminary risk analysis. Although these charges may and not have an immediate impact on our liquidity, the fact that we report charges of this nature could contribute to negative market perceptions about us or our securities. In addition, charges of this nature may cause us to violate net worth or other covenants to which we may be subject as a result of held by a target business or by virtue of our obtaining post-combination debt financing. Accordingly, any holders who choose to retain their securities following the business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.

Our placing of funds in the trust account may not protect those funds from third-party claims against us. Although we will seek to have all vendors, service providers, prospective target businesses and other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the trust account for the benefit of our public shareholders, such parties may not execute such agreements, or even if they execute such agreements, they may not be prevented from bringing claims against the trust account, including, but not limited to, fraudulent inducement, breach of fiduciary responsibility or other similar claims, as well as claims challenging the enforceability of the waiver, in each case in order to gain advantage with respect to a claim against our assets, including the funds held in the trust account. If any third-party refuses to execute an agreement waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account, our management will perform an analysis of the alternatives available to it and will only enter into an agreement with a third-party that has not executed a waiver if management believes that such third-party’s engagement would be significantly more beneficial to us than any alternative.

Examples of possible instances where we may engage a third-party that refuses to execute a waiver include the engagement of a third-party consultant whose particular expertise or skills are believed by management to be significantly superior to those of other consultants that would agree to execute a waiver or in cases where management is unable to find a service provider willing to execute a waiver. In addition, there is no guarantee that such entities will agree to waive any claims they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any negotiations, contracts or agreements with us and will not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason. Upon redemption of our public shares, if we have not consummated an initial business combination by October 6, 2022, or upon the exercise of a redemption right in connection with our initial business combination, we will be required to provide for payment of claims of creditors that were not waived that may be brought against us within the ten years following redemption. Accordingly, amount received by public shareholders could be less than the $10.00 per public share initially held in the trust account, due to claims of such creditors. Pursuant to a letter agreement our Sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a third-party (other than our independent auditors) for services rendered or products sold to us, or a prospective target business with which we have discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amounts in the trust account to below the lesser of (i) $10.00 per public share and (ii) the actual amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account if less than $10.00 per public share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each

 

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case net of the interest that may be withdrawn to pay our tax obligations, provided that such liability will not apply to any claims by a third-party or prospective target business that executed a waiver of any and all rights to seek access to the trust account nor will it apply to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of our initial public offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. Moreover, in the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third-party, our Sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third-party claims.

However, we have not asked our Sponsor to reserve for such indemnification obligations, nor have we independently verified whether our Sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and we believe that our Sponsor’s only assets are securities of our Company. Therefore, we cannot assure you that our Sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations. As a result, if any such claims were successfully made against the trust account, the funds available for our initial business combination and redemptions could be reduced to less than $10.00 per public share. In such event, we may not be able to complete our initial business combination, and you would receive such lesser amount per share in connection with any redemption of your public shares. None of our officers or directors will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses.

In the event that the proceeds in the trust account are reduced below the lesser of (i) $10.00 per public share and (ii) the actual amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account if less than $10.00 per public share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest that may be withdrawn to pay our tax obligations, and our Sponsor asserts that it is unable to satisfy its obligations or that it has no indemnification obligations related to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether to take legal action against our Sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations. While we currently expect that our independent directors would take legal action on our behalf against our Sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations to us, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment and subject to their fiduciary duties may choose not to do so in any particular instance. If our independent directors choose not to enforce these indemnification obligations, the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public shareholders may be reduced below $10.00 per public share.

We have agreed to indemnify our officers and directors to the fullest extent permitted by law. However, our officers and directors have agreed to waive any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies in the trust account and to not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason whatsoever (except to the extent they are entitled to funds from the trust account due to their ownership of public shares). Accordingly, any indemnification provided will be able to be satisfied by us only if (i) we have sufficient funds outside of the trust account or (ii) we consummate an initial business combination. Our obligation to indemnify our officers and directors may discourage shareholders from bringing a lawsuit against our officers or directors for breach of their fiduciary duty. These provisions also may have the effect of reducing the likelihood of derivative litigation against our officers and directors, even though such an action, if successful, might otherwise benefit us and our shareholders. Furthermore, a shareholder’s investment may be adversely affected to the extent we pay the costs of settlement and damage awards against our officers and directors pursuant to these indemnification provisions.

The proceeds held in the trust account will be invested only in direct U.S. Treasury obligations having a maturity of 185 days or less, or in certain money market funds which invest only in direct U.S. Treasury obligations. While short-term U.S. Treasury obligations currently yield a positive rate of interest, they have briefly yielded negative interest rates in recent years. Central banks in Europe and Japan pursued interest rates below zero in recent years, and the Open Market Committee of the Federal Reserve has not ruled out the possibility that it may in the future adopt similar policies in the United States. In the event of very low or negative yields, the amount of interest income (which we may withdraw to pay income taxes, if any) would be reduced. In the event that we are unable to complete our initial business combination or make certain amendments to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, our public shareholders are entitled to receive of the proceeds held in the trust account, plus any interest income, net of income taxes paid or payable (less, in the case we are unable to complete our initial business combination, $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses). Negative interest rates could reduce the value of the assets held in trust such that amount received by public shareholders may be less than $10.00 per share.

 

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If, after we distribute the proceeds in the trust account to our public shareholders, we file a bankruptcy or an involuntary bankruptcy is filed against us that is not dismissed, any distributions received by shareholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or bankruptcy or insolvency laws as either a “preferential transfer” or a “fraudulent conveyance.” As a result, a bankruptcy or insolvency court could seek to recover some or all amounts received by our shareholders. In addition, our board of directors may be viewed as having breached its fiduciary duty to our creditors and/or having acted in bad faith, thereby exposing itself and us to claims of punitive damages, by paying public shareholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors.

If, before distributing the proceeds in the trust account to our public shareholders, we file a bankruptcy or an involuntary bankruptcy is filed against us that is not dismissed, the proceeds held in the trust account could be subject to applicable bankruptcy or insolvency law, and may be included in our bankruptcy estate and subject to the claims of third parties with priority over the claims of our shareholders. To the extent any bankruptcy claims deplete the trust account, that would otherwise be received by our shareholders in connection with our liquidation may be reduced.

If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, our activities may be restricted, including:

 

 

each of which may make it difficult for us to complete our initial business combination.

In addition, we may have imposed upon us burdensome requirements, including:

 

 

 

In order not to be regulated as an investment company under the Investment Company Act, unless we can qualify for an exclusion, we must ensure that we are engaged primarily in a business other than investing, reinvesting or trading of securities and that our activities do not include investing, reinvesting, owning, holding or trading “investment securities” constituting more than 40% of our assets (exclusive of U.S. government securities and cash items) on an unconsolidated basis. Our business will be to identify and complete a business combination and thereafter to operate the post-transaction business or assets for the long term. We do not plan to buy businesses or assets with a view to resale or profit from their resale. We do not plan to buy unrelated businesses or assets or to be a passive investor.

We do not believe that our principal activities will subject us to the Investment Company Act. To this end, the proceeds held in the trust account may only be invested in United States “government securities” within the meaning of Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act having a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under under the Investment Company Act which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations. Pursuant to the trust agreement, the trustee is not permitted to invest in other securities or assets. By restricting the investment of the proceeds to these instruments, and by having a business plan targeted at acquiring and growing businesses for the long term (rather than on buying and selling businesses in the manner of a merchant bank or private equity fund), we intend to avoid being deemed an “investment company” within the meaning of the Investment Company Act. The trust account is intended as a holding place for funds pending the earliest to occur of either: (i) the completion of our initial business combination; (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly tendered in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) to

 

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modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination by October 6, 2022 or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares; or (iii) absent our completing an initial business combination by October 6. 2022, our return of the funds held in the trust account to our public shareholders as part of our redemption of the public shares. If we do not invest the proceeds as discussed above, we may be deemed to be subject to the Investment Company Act. If we were deemed to be subject to the Investment Company Act, compliance with these additional regulatory burdens would require additional expenses for which we have not allotted funds and may hinder our ability to complete a business combination. If we have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per public share, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.

We are subject to laws and regulations enacted by national, regional and local governments. In particular, we are required to comply with certain SEC and other legal requirements. Compliance with, and monitoring of, applicable laws and regulations may be difficult, time consuming and costly. Those laws and regulations and their interpretation and application may also change from time to time and those changes could have a material adverse effect on our business, investments and results of operations. In addition, a failure to comply with applicable laws or regulations, as interpreted and applied, could have a material adverse effect on our business, including our ability to negotiate and complete our initial business combination, and results of operations.

If we have not consummated an initial business combination by October 6, 2022, the proceeds then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our income taxes, if any (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), will be used to fund the redemption of our public shares, as further described herein. Any redemption of public shareholders from the trust account will be effected automatically by function of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association prior to any voluntary winding up. If we are required to wind up, liquidate the trust account and distribute such amount therein, pro rata, to our public shareholders, as part of any liquidation process, such winding up, liquidation and distribution must comply with the applicable provisions of the Companies Act. In that case, investors may be forced to wait beyond October 6, 2022 before the redemption proceeds of our trust account become available to them, and they receive the return of their pro rata portion of the proceeds from our trust account. We have no obligation to return funds to investors prior to the date of our redemption or liquidation unless, prior thereto, we consummate our initial business combination or amend certain provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, and only then in cases where investors have sought to redeem their Class A ordinary shares. Only upon our redemption or any liquidation will public shareholders be entitled to distributions if we do not complete our initial business combination and do not amend certain provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that, if we wind up for any other reason prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, we will follow the foregoing procedures with respect to the liquidation of the trust account as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, subject to applicable Cayman Islands law.

If we are forced to enter into an insolvent liquidation, any distributions received by shareholders could be viewed as an unlawful payment if it was proved that immediately following the date on which the distribution was made, we were unable to pay our debts as they fall due in the ordinary course of business. As a result, a liquidator could seek to recover some or all amounts received by our shareholders. Furthermore, our directors may be viewed as having breached their fiduciary duties to us or our creditors and/or may have acted in bad faith, thereby exposing themselves and our Company to claims, by paying public shareholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors. We cannot assure you that claims will not be brought against us for these reasons. We and our directors and officers who knowingly and willfully authorized or permitted any distribution to be paid out of our share premium account while we were unable to pay our debts as they fall due in the ordinary course of business would be guilty of an offence and may be liable for a fine of $18,292.6 and imprisonment for five years in the Cayman Islands.

 

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Prior to our initial business combination, only holders of our founder shares will have the right to vote on the election of directors. Holders of our public shares will not be entitled to vote on the election of directors during such time. In addition, prior to our initial business combination, holders of a majority of our founder shares may remove a member of the board of directors for any reason. Accordingly, you may not have any say in the management of our Company prior to the consummation of an initial business combination.

We have not registered the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants issued in our initial public offering under the Securities Act or any state securities laws at this time. However, under the terms of the warrant agreement, we have agreed that, as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 20 business days after the closing of our initial business combination, we will use commercially reasonable efforts to file with the Commission a registration statement covering the issuance of such shares, and we will use our commercially reasonable efforts to cause the same to become effective within 60 business days after the closing of our initial business combination and to maintain the effectiveness of such registration statement and a current prospectus relating to those Class A ordinary shares until the warrants expire or are redeemed. We may not be able to do so if, for example, any facts or events arise which represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in the registration statement or prospectus relating to our initial public filing, the financial statements contained or incorporated by reference therein are not current, complete or correct or the Commission issues a stop order. If the shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants issued in our initial public offering are not registered under the Securities Act in accordance with the above requirements, we will be required to permit holders to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis, in which case, the number of Class A ordinary shares that you will receive upon cashless exercise will be based on a formula subject to a maximum amount of shares equal to 0.361 Class A ordinary shares per warrant (subject to adjustment). However, no warrant will be exercisable for cash or on a cashless basis, and we will not be obligated to issue any shares to holders seeking to exercise their warrants, unless the issuance of the shares upon such exercise is registered or qualified under the securities laws of the state of the exercising holder, or an exemption from registration is available. Notwithstanding the above, if our Class A ordinary shares are at the time of any exercise of a warrant not listed on a national securities exchange such that they satisfy the definition of a “covered security” under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act, we may, at our option, require holders of public warrants who exercise their warrants to do so on a “cashless basis” in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act and, in the event we so elect, we will not be required to file or maintain in effect a registration statement, but we will use commercially reasonable efforts to register or qualify the shares under applicable blue sky laws to the extent an exemption is not available. Exercising the warrants on a cashless basis could have the effect of reducing the potential “upside” of the holder’s investment in our Company because the warrant holder will hold a smaller number of Class A ordinary shares upon a cashless exercise of the warrants they hold. In no event will we be required to net cash settle any warrant, or issue securities or other compensation in exchange for the warrants in the event that we are unable to register or qualify the shares underlying the warrants under applicable state securities laws and no exemption is available. If the issuance of the shares upon exercise of the warrants is not so registered or qualified or exempt from registration or qualification, the holder of such warrant shall not be entitled to exercise such warrant and such warrant may have no value and expire worthless. In such event, holders who acquired their warrants as part of a purchase of units will have paid the full unit purchase price solely for the Class A ordinary shares included in the units. There may be a circumstance where an exemption from registration exists for holders of our private placement warrants to exercise their warrants while a corresponding exemption does not exist for holders of the public warrants included as part of units sold in our initial public offering. In such an instance, our Sponsor and its permitted transferees (which may include our directors and executive officers) would be able to exercise their warrants and sell the ordinary shares underlying their warrants while holders of our public warrants would not be able to exercise their warrants and sell the underlying ordinary shares. If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may exercise our redemption right even if we are unable to register or qualify the underlying Class A ordinary shares for sale under all applicable state securities laws. As a result, we may redeem the warrants as set forth above even if the holders are otherwise unable to exercise their warrants.

In certain situations, including if we are not the surviving entity in our initial business combination, the warrants may become exercisable for a security other than the Class A ordinary shares. As a result, if the surviving company redeems your warrants for securities pursuant to the warrant agreement, you may receive a security in a company of which you do not have information at this time. Pursuant to the warrant agreement, the surviving company will be required to use commercially reasonable efforts to register the issuance of the security underlying the warrants within twenty business days of the closing of an initial business combination.

 

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Pursuant to an agreement to be entered into on or prior to the closing of our initial public offering, our Sponsor and its permitted transferees can demand that we register the resale of the Class A ordinary shares into which founder shares are convertible, the private placement warrants and the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the private placement warrants, forward purchase securities and warrants that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans, and the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon conversion of such warrants. The registration rights will be exercisable with respect to the founder shares, the forward purchase securities, the private placement warrants and the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of such private placement warrants. We will bear the cost of registering these securities. The registration and availability of such a significant number of securities for trading in the public market may have an adverse effect on the market price of our Class A ordinary shares. In addition, the existence of the registration rights may make our initial business combination more costly or difficult to conclude. This is because the shareholders of the target business may increase the equity stake they seek in the combined entity or ask for more cash consideration to offset the negative impact on the market price of our securities that is expected when the securities owned by our Sponsor or its permitted transferees are registered for resale.

While we intend to focus our search on businesses across various industries in Europe, with a strong U.S. nexus and international reach, we expect to pursue business combination opportunities in any industry or sector and we may pursue business combination opportunities in any sector or geographic area, except that we are not, under our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, permitted to effectuate our initial business combination solely with another blank check company or similar company with nominal operations. Because we have not yet entered into a definitive agreement with any specific target business with respect to a business combination, there is no basis to evaluate the possible merits or risks of any particular target business’s operations, results of operations, cash flows, liquidity, financial condition or prospects. To the extent we complete our initial business combination, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in the business operations with which we combine. For example, if we combine with a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of sales or earnings, we may be affected by the risks inherent in the business and operations of a financially unstable or a development stage entity. Although our officers and directors will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we cannot assure you that we will properly ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors or that we will have adequate time to complete due diligence. Furthermore, some of these risks may be outside of our control and leave us with no ability to control or reduce the chances that those risks will adversely impact a target business. We also cannot assure you that an investment in our securities will ultimately prove to be more favorable to investors than a direct investment, if such opportunity were available, in a business combination target. Accordingly, any holders who choose to retain their securities following the business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.

We will consider a business combination in industries, sectors or geographies outside of our management’s area of expertise if a business combination target is presented to us and we determine that such candidate offers an attractive acquisition opportunity for our Company. Although our management will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in any particular business combination target, we cannot assure you that we will adequately ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors. We also cannot assure you that an investment in our securities will not ultimately prove to be less favorable to investors in our securities than a direct investment, if an opportunity were available, in a business combination target. In the event we elect to pursue an acquisition outside of the areas of our management’s expertise, our management’s expertise may not be directly applicable to its evaluation or operation, and the information contained in this Report regarding the areas of our management’s expertise would not be relevant to an understanding of the business that we elect to acquire. As a result, our management may not be able to adequately ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors. Accordingly, any holders who choose to retain their securities following the business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.

 

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Although we have identified general criteria and guidelines for evaluating prospective target businesses, it is possible that a target business with which we enter into our initial business combination will not have all of these positive attributes. If we complete our initial business combination with a target that does not meet some or all of these guidelines, such combination may not be as successful as a combination with a business that does meet all of our general criteria and guidelines. In addition, if we announce a prospective business combination with a target that does not meet our general criteria and guidelines, a greater number of shareholders may exercise their redemption rights, which may make it difficult for us to meet any closing condition with a target business that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. In addition, if shareholder approval of the transaction is required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirements, or we decide to obtain shareholder approval for business or other reasons, it may be more difficult for us to attain shareholder approval of our initial business combination if the target business does not meet our general criteria and guidelines. If we have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per public share, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.

Unless we complete our initial business combination with an affiliated entity, we are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent entity that commonly renders valuation opinions that the price we are paying is fair to our shareholders from a financial point of view. If no opinion is obtained, our shareholders will be relying on the judgment of our board of directors, who will determine fair market value based on standards generally accepted by the financial community. Such standards used will be disclosed in our proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, related to our initial business combination.

Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association authorize the issuance of up to 500,000,000 Class A ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share, 50,000,000 Class B ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share, and 5,000,000 preference shares, par value $0.0001 per share. There are currently 440,000,000 and 35,000,000 authorized but unissued Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares, respectively, available for issuance which amount does not take into account shares reserved for issuance upon exercise of outstanding warrants or shares issuable upon conversion of the Class B ordinary shares, if any, or any securities issuable pursuant to the forward purchase agreement. The Class B ordinary shares will automatically convert into Class A ordinary shares (which such Class A ordinary shares delivered upon conversion will not have any redemption rights or be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account if we fail to consummate an initial business combination) at the time of our initial business combination or earlier at the option of the holders thereof as described herein and in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. There are no preference shares issued and outstanding.

We may issue a substantial number of additional Class A ordinary shares or preference shares to complete our initial business combination or under an employee incentive plan after completion of our initial business combination. We may also issue Class A ordinary shares in connection with our redeeming the warrants or upon conversion of the Class B ordinary shares at a ratio greater the time of our initial business combination as a result of the anti-dilution provisions as set forth herein. However, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide, among other things, that prior to or in connection with our initial business combination, we may not issue additional shares that would entitle the holders thereof to (i) receive funds from the trust account or (ii) vote on any initial business combination or on any other proposal presented to shareholders prior to or in connection with the completion of an initial business combination. These provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, like all provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, may be amended with a shareholder vote. The issuance of additional ordinary or preference shares, including pursuant to the forward purchase agreement:

 

 

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The founder shares will automatically convert into Class A ordinary shares (which such Class A ordinary shares delivered upon conversion will not have any redemption rights or be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account if we fail to consummate an initial business combination) at the time of our initial business combination or earlier at the option of the holders thereof at a ratio such that the number of Class A ordinary shares issuable upon conversion of all founder shares will equal, in the aggregate, on 20% of the sum of (i) the total number of ordinary shares issued and outstanding upon completion of our initial public offering, plus (ii) the total number of Class A ordinary shares issued or deemed issued or issuable upon conversion or exercise of any equity-linked securities or rights issued or deemed issued, by the Company in connection with or in relation to the consummation of the initial business combination, excluding any Class A ordinary shares or equity-linked securities exercisable for or convertible into Class A ordinary shares issued, deemed issued, or to be issued, to any seller in the initial business combination and any private placement warrants issued to our Sponsor, any of its affiliates or any members of our management team upon conversion of working capital loans. In no event will the Class B ordinary shares convert into Class A ordinary shares at a rate of less is different than some other similarly structured blank check companies in which the initial shareholders will only be issued an aggregate of 20% of the total number of shares to be outstanding prior to the initial business combination.

We anticipate that the investigation of each specific target business and the negotiation, drafting and execution of relevant agreements, disclosure documents and other instruments will require substantial management time and attention and substantial costs for accountants, attorneys and others. If we decide not to complete a specific initial business combination, the costs incurred up to that point for the proposed transaction likely would not be recoverable. Furthermore, if we reach an agreement relating to a specific target business, we may fail to complete our initial business combination for any number of reasons including those beyond our control. Any such event will result in a loss to us of the related costs incurred which could materially adversely affect subsequent attempts to locate and acquire or merge with another business. If we have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per public share, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.

If we are a PFIC for any taxable year (or portion thereof) that is included in the holding period of a beneficial owner of our units, Class A ordinary shares or warrants, the who or that is (i) an individual who is a citizen or resident of the United States as determined for U.S. federal income tax purposes, (ii) a corporation (or other entity taxable as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes) organized in or under the laws of the United States, any state thereof or the District of Columbia, (iii) an estate whose income is subject to U.S. federal income tax regardless of its source, or (iv) a trust, if (a) a court within the United States is able to exercise primary supervision over the administration of the trust and one or more U.S. persons (as defined in the Code) have authority to control all substantial decisions of the trust or (b) it has a valid election in effect under Treasury Regulations to be treated as a U.S. person (a “U.S. Holder”), such U.S. Holder may be subject to adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences and may be subject to additional reporting requirements. Our PFIC status for our current and subsequent taxable years may depend on whether we qualify for the Depending on the particular circumstances the application of may be subject to uncertainty, and there cannot be any assurance that we will qualify for Accordingly, there can be no assurances with respect to our status as a PFIC for our current taxable year or any subsequent taxable year. Our actual PFIC status for any taxable year, however, will not be determinable until after the end of such taxable year. Moreover, if we determine we are a PFIC for any

 

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taxable year, upon written request, we will endeavor to provide to a U.S. Holder such information as the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) may require, including a PFIC Annual Information Statement, in order to enable the U.S. Holder to make and maintain a “qualified electing fund” election, but there can be no assurance that we will timely provide such required information, and such election would be unavailable with respect to our warrants in all cases. We urge U.S. investors to consult their tax advisors regarding the possible application of the PFIC rules.

We may, in connection with our initial business combination and subject to requisite shareholder approval under the Companies Act, reincorporate in the jurisdiction in which the target company or business is located or in another jurisdiction. The transaction may require a shareholder or warrant holder to recognize taxable income in the jurisdiction in which the shareholder or warrant holder is a tax resident or in which its members are resident if it is a tax transparent entity. We do not intend to make any cash distributions to shareholders or warrant holders to pay such taxes. Shareholders or warrant holders may be subject to withholding taxes or other taxes with respect to their ownership of us after the reincorporation.

It is possible that after our initial business combination, a majority of our directors and officers will reside outside of the United States and all of our assets will be located outside of the United States. As a result, it may be difficult, or in some cases not possible, for investors in the United States to enforce their legal rights, to effect service of process upon all of our directors or officers or to enforce judgments of United States courts predicated upon civil liabilities and criminal penalties on our directors and officers under United States laws.

In particular, there is uncertainty as to whether the courts of the Cayman Islands or any other applicable jurisdictions would recognize and enforce judgments of U.S. courts obtained against us or our directors or officers predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the securities laws of the United States or any state in the United States or entertain original actions brought in the Cayman Islands or any other applicable jurisdiction’s courts against us or our directors or officers predicated upon the securities laws of the United States or any state in the United States.

Our operations are dependent upon a relatively small group of individuals and, in particular, our executive officers and directors. We believe that our success depends on the continued service of our officers and directors, at least until we have completed our initial business combination. In addition, our executive officers and directors are not required to commit any specified amount of time to our affairs and, accordingly, will have conflicts of interest in allocating their time among various business activities, including identifying potential business combinations and monitoring the related due diligence. We do not have an employment agreement with, on the life of, any of our directors or executive officers.

The unexpected loss of the services of one or more of our directors or executive officers could have a detrimental effect on us.

Our ability to successfully effect our initial business combination is dependent upon the efforts of our key personnel. The role of our key personnel in the target business, however, cannot presently be ascertained. Although some of our key personnel may remain with the target business in senior management, director or advisory positions following our initial business combination, it is likely that some or all of the management of the target business will remain in place. While we closely scrutinize any individuals we engage after our initial business combination, we cannot assure you that our assessment of these individuals will prove to be correct. These individuals may be unfamiliar with the requirements of operating a company regulated by the SEC, which could cause us to have to expend time and resources helping them become familiar with such requirements.

In addition, the officers and directors of a business combination candidate may resign upon completion of our initial business combination. The departure of a business combination target’s key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business. The role of a business combination candidate’s key personnel upon the completion of our initial business combination cannot be ascertained at this time. Although we contemplate that certain members of a business combination

 

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candidate’s management team will remain associated with the business combination candidate following our initial business combination, it is possible that members of the management of a business combination candidate will not wish to remain in place. The loss of key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business.

Our key personnel may be able to remain with our Company after the completion of our initial business combination only if they are able to negotiate employment or consulting agreements in connection with the business combination. Such negotiations would take place simultaneously with the negotiation of the business combination and could provide for such individuals to receive compensation in the form of cash payments and/or our securities for services they would render to us after the completion of the business combination. Such negotiations also could make such key personnel’s retention or resignation a condition to any such agreement. The personal and financial interests of such individuals may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business. In addition, pursuant to a registration and shareholder rights agreement, our Sponsor, upon and following consummation of an initial business combination, will be entitled to nominate three individuals for election to our board of directors, as long as our Sponsor holds any securities covered by the registration and shareholder rights agreement.

When evaluating the desirability of effecting our initial business combination with a prospective target business, our ability to assess the target business’s management may be limited due to a lack of time, resources or information. Our assessment of the capabilities of the target business’s management, therefore, may prove to be incorrect and such management may lack the skills, qualifications or abilities we suspected. Should the target business’s management not possess the skills, qualifications or abilities necessary to manage a public company, the operations and profitability of the post-combination business may be negatively impacted. Accordingly, any shareholders who choose to retain their securities following the initial business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such shareholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.

The role of an initial business combination candidate’s key personnel upon the completion of our initial business combination cannot be ascertained at this time. Although we contemplate that certain members of an initial business combination candidate’s management team will remain associated with the initial business combination candidate following our initial business combination, it is possible that members of the management of an initial business combination candidate will not wish to remain in place and may resign upon completion of our initial business combination. The loss of an initial business combination target’s key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business.

Our executive officers and directors are not required to, and will not, commit their full time to our affairs, which may result in a conflict of interest in allocating their time between our operations and our search for a business combination and their other businesses. We do not intend to have any full-time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination. Each of our executive officers is engaged in several other business endeavors for which he may be entitled to substantial compensation, and our executive officers are not obligated to contribute any specific number of hours per week to our affairs. Our independent directors also serve as officers and board members for other entities. If our executive officers’ and directors’ other business affairs require them to devote substantial amounts of time to such affairs in excess of their current commitment levels, it could limit their ability to devote time to our affairs which may have a negative impact on our ability to complete our initial business combination. For a complete discussion of our executive officers’ and directors’ other business affairs, please see Item 10 “Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance” and Item 13 “Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence.”

 

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Until we consummate our initial business combination, we will continue to engage in the business of identifying and combining with one or more businesses or entities. Each of our officers and directors presently has, and any of them in the future may have, additional fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entity, subject to his or her fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law. Accordingly, they may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented. These conflicts may not be resolved in our favor and a potential target business may be presented to another entity prior to its presentation to us, subject to their fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law.

In addition, our Sponsor, officers and directors may in the future become affiliated with other blank check companies that may have acquisition objectives that are similar to ours. Accordingly, they may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented. These conflicts may not be resolved in our favor and a potential target business may be presented to such other blank check companies prior to its presentation to us, subject to our officers’ and directors’ fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that we renounce, to the maximum extent permitted by law, our interest in any business combination opportunity offered to any director or officer or about which any of our officers or directors acquires knowledge unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of our Company and such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue. In addition, our amended and restated articles of association contain provisions to exculpate and indemnify, to the maximum extent permitted by law, such persons in respect of any liability, obligation or duty to our Company that may arise as a consequence of such persons becoming aware of any business opportunity or failing to present such business opportunity.

For a complete discussion of our executive officers’ and directors’ business affiliations and the potential conflicts of interest that you should be aware of, please see Item 13 “Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence.”

We have not adopted a policy that expressly prohibits our directors, executive officers, security holders or affiliates from having a direct or indirect pecuniary or financial interest in any investment to be acquired or disposed of by us or in any transaction to which we are a party or have an interest. In fact, we may enter into a business combination with a target business that is affiliated with our Sponsor, our directors or executive officers, although we do not intend to do so. Nor do we have a policy that expressly prohibits any such persons from engaging for their own account in business activities of the types conducted by us. Accordingly, such persons or entities may have a conflict between their interests and ours.

The personal and financial interests of our directors and officers may influence their motivation in timely identifying and selecting a target business and completing a business combination. Consequently, our directors’ and officers’ discretion in identifying and selecting a suitable target business may result in a conflict of interest when determining whether the terms, conditions and timing of a particular business combination are appropriate and in our shareholders’ best interest. If this were the case, it would be a breach of their fiduciary duties to us as a matter of Cayman Islands law and we or our shareholders might have a claim against such individuals for infringing on our shareholders’ rights. However, we might not ultimately be successful in any claim we may make against them for such reason.

In light of the involvement of our Sponsor, executive officers and directors with other entities, we may decide to acquire one or more businesses affiliated with our Sponsor, executive officers, directors or initial shareholders. Our directors also serve as officers and board members for other entities, including, without limitation, those described under Item 13 “Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence.” Our Sponsor, officers and directors may sponsor, form or participate in other blank check companies similar to ours during the period in which we are seeking an initial business combination. Such entities may compete with us for business combination opportunities. Our Sponsor, officers and directors are not currently aware of any specific opportunities for us to complete our initial business combination with any entities with which they are affiliated, and there have been no substantive discussions concerning a business combination with any such entity or entities. Although we are not specifically focusing on, or targeting, any transaction with any affiliated entities, we would pursue such a transaction if we determined that such affiliated entity met our criteria and guidelines for a business combination as set forth in Item 1 “Business—Effecting Our Initial Business Combination—Evaluation of a Target Business and Structuring of Our Initial Business Combination” and such transaction was

 

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approved by a majority of our independent and disinterested directors. Despite our agreement to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent entity that commonly renders valuation opinions regarding the fairness to our Company from a financial point of view of a business combination with one or more domestic or international businesses affiliated with our Sponsor, executive officers, directors or initial shareholders, potential conflicts of interest still may exist and, as a result, the terms of the business combination may not be as advantageous to our public shareholders as they would be absent any conflicts of interest.

On July 25, 2020, affiliates of our Sponsor paid $25,000, or approximately $0.002 per share, to cover certain expenses on our behalf in consideration of 14,375,000 Class B ordinary shares, par value $0.0001. On October 1, 2020, we effected a share capitalization resulting in our initial shareholders holding 17,250,000 Class B ordinary shares (of which 2,250,000 Class B ordinary shares were surrendered to us for no consideration by our Sponsor upon the expiry of the underwriters’ over-allotment option on November 20, 2020). Each of our independent directors currently owns 25,000 of the Class B ordinary shares noted above, which were transferred from our Sponsor to them in September 2020. Prior to the initial investment in the company of $25,000 by our Sponsor, the company had no assets, tangible or intangible.

The per share price of the founder shares was determined by dividing the amount contributed to the company by the number of founder shares issued. The founder shares will be worthless if we do not complete an initial business combination. In addition, our Sponsor purchased an aggregate of 14,000,000 private placement warrants, each exercisable to purchase one Class A ordinary share at $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment, at a price of $1.00 per warrant ($14,000,000 in the aggregate), in a private placement that closed simultaneously with the closing of our initial public offering. If we do not consummate an initial business combination by October 6, 2022, the private placement warrants will expire worthless. The personal and financial interests of our executive officers and directors may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business combination, completing an initial business combination and influencing the operation of the business following the initial business combination. This risk may become more acute as of the closing of our initial public offering nears, which is the deadline for our consummation of an initial business combination.

Although we have no commitments as of the date of this Report to issue any notes or other debt securities, or to otherwise incur outstanding debt, we may choose to incur substantial debt to complete our initial business combination. We and our officers have agreed that we will not incur any indebtedness unless we have obtained from the lender a waiver of any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to the monies held in the trust account. As such, no issuance of debt will affect available for redemption from the trust account. Nevertheless, the incurrence of debt could have a variety of negative effects, including:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The net proceeds from our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants provided us with up to $580,000,000 that we may use to complete our initial business combination (after taking into account the $21,000,000 of deferred underwriting commissions being held in the trust account and the estimated expenses of our initial public offering), which amount, in each case, excludes any proceeds that we may receive pursuant to the forward purchase agreement.

In addition, in connection with the consummation of our initial public offering, we entered into a forward purchase agreement with our Sponsor, which provides for the purchase by our Sponsor of up to $100,000,000 of forward purchase units, with each forward purchase unit consisting of one Class A ordinary share one warrant to purchase one Class A ordinary share at $11.50 per share, for a purchase price of $10.00 per unit, in a private placement to occur concurrently with the closing of our initial business combination. The forward purchase securities will be issued only in connection with the closing of the initial business combination. The proceeds from the sale of these forward purchase units, together with the amounts available to us from the trust account (after giving effect to any redemptions of public shares and the payment of deferred underwriting commissions) and any other equity or debt financing obtained by us in connection with the business combination, will be used to satisfy the cash requirements of the business combination, including funding the purchase price and paying expenses and retaining specified amounts to be used by the post-business combination company for working capital or other purposes. To the extent that the amounts available from the trust account and other financing are sufficient for such cash requirements, our Sponsor may purchase less than 10,000,000 forward purchase units. There can be no assurance that the forward purchase will close.

We may effectuate our initial business combination with a single-target business or multiple-target businesses simultaneously or within a short period of time. However, we may not be able to effectuate our initial business combination with more than one target business because of various factors, including the existence of complex accounting issues and the requirement that we prepare and file pro forma financial statements with the Commission that present operating results and the financial condition of several target businesses as if they had been operated on a combined basis. By completing our initial business combination with only a single entity, our lack of diversification may subject us to numerous economic, competitive and regulatory developments. Further, we would not be able to diversify our operations or benefit from the possible spreading of risks or offsetting of losses, unlike other entities which may have the resources to complete several business combinations in different industries or different areas of a single industry. Accordingly, the prospects for our success may be:

 

 

This lack of diversification may subject us to numerous economic, competitive and regulatory risks, any or all of which may have a substantial adverse impact upon the particular industry in which we may operate subsequent to our initial business combination.

If we determine to simultaneously acquire several businesses that are owned by different sellers, we will need for each of such sellers to agree that our purchase of its business is contingent on the simultaneous closings of the other business combinations, which may make it more difficult for us, and delay our ability, to complete our initial business combination. With multiple business combinations, we could also face additional risks, including additional burdens and costs with respect to possible multiple negotiations and due diligence (if there are multiple sellers) and the additional risks associated with the subsequent assimilation of the operations and services or products of the acquired companies in a single operating business. If we are unable to adequately address these risks, it could negatively impact our profitability and results of operations.

 

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In pursuing our acquisition strategy, we may seek to effectuate our initial business combination with a privately held company. Very little public information generally exists about private companies, and we could be required to make our decision on whether to pursue a potential initial business combination on the basis of limited information, which may result in a business combination with a company that is not as profitable as we suspected, if at all.

We may structure our initial business combination so that the post-business combination company in which our public shareholders own shares will own less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business, but we will only complete such business combination if the post-business combination company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target business sufficient for us not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. We will not consider any transaction that does not meet such criteria. Even if the post-business combination company owns 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our shareholders prior to our initial business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post-business combination company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the business combination. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new Class A ordinary shares in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock, shares or other equity interests of a target. In this case, we would acquire a 100% interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new Class A ordinary shares, our shareholders immediately prior to such transaction could own less than a majority of our outstanding Class A ordinary shares subsequent to such transaction. In addition, other minority shareholders may subsequently combine their holdings resulting in a single person or group obtaining a larger share of the company’s shares than we initially acquired. Accordingly, this may make it more likely that our management will not be able to maintain control of the target business. We cannot provide assurance that, upon loss of control of a target business, new management will possess the skills, qualifications or abilities necessary to profitably operate such business.

We may seek business combination opportunities with large, highly complex companies that we believe would benefit from operational improvements. While we intend to implement such improvements, to the extent that our efforts are delayed or we are unable to achieve the desired improvements, the business combination may not be as successful as we anticipate.

To the extent we complete our initial business combination with a large complex business or entity with a complex operating structure, we may also be affected by numerous risks inherent in the operations of the business with which we combine, which could delay or prevent us from implementing our strategy. Although our management team will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business and its operations, we may not be able to properly ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors until we complete our business combination. If we are not able to achieve our desired operational improvements, or the improvements take longer to implement than anticipated, we may not achieve the gains that we anticipate. Furthermore, some of these risks and complexities may be outside of our control and leave us with no ability to control or reduce the chances that those risks and complexities will adversely impact a target business. Such combination may not be as successful as a combination with a smaller, less complex organization.

Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association do not provide a specified maximum redemption threshold, except that in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 (so that we do not then become subject to the Commission’s “penny stock” rules). As a result, we may be able to complete our initial business combination even if a substantial majority of our public shareholders do not agree with the transaction and have redeemed their shares or, if we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, have entered into privately negotiated agreements to sell their shares to our Sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or their affiliates. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all Class A ordinary shares that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed business combination exceed the aggregate amount of cash available to us, we will not complete the business combination or redeem any shares, all Class A ordinary shares submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof, and we instead may search for an alternate business combination.

 

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In order to effectuate a business combination, blank check companies have, in the recent past, amended various provisions of their charters and governing instruments, including their warrant agreements. For example, blank check companies have amended the definition of business combination, increased redemption thresholds, extended the time to consummate an initial business combination and, with respect to their warrants, amended their warrant agreements to require the warrants to be exchanged for cash and/or other securities. Amending our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association require at least a special resolution of our shareholders as a matter of Cayman Islands law, meaning the approval of holders of at our ordinary shares who attend and vote at a general meeting of the company, and amending our warrant agreement will require a vote of holders of at least 50% of the public warrants and, solely with respect to any amendment to the terms of the private placement warrants or forward purchase warrants or any provision of the warrant agreement with respect to the private placement warrants or forward purchase warrants, 50% of the number of the then-outstanding private placement warrants and forward purchase warrants. In addition, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association require us to provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares for cash if we propose an amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) that would modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination by October 6, 2022 or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares. To the extent any of such amendments would be deemed to fundamentally change the nature of any of the securities offered through our initial public offering, we would register, or seek an exemption from registration for, the affected securities. We cannot assure you that we will not seek to amend our charter or governing instruments or extend the time to consummate an initial business combination in order to effectuate our initial business combination.

Some other blank check companies have a provision in their charter which prohibits the amendment of certain of its provisions, including those which relate to the rights of a company’s shareholders, without approval by a certain percentage of the company’s shareholders. In those companies, amendment of these provisions typically requires approval by between 90% and 100% of the company’s public shareholders.

Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that any of its provisions related to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares (including the requirement to deposit proceeds of our initial public offering and the placement of warrants into the trust account and not release such amounts except in specified circumstances, and to provide redemption rights to public shareholders as described herein) may be amended if approved by special resolution, meaning holders of at our ordinary shares who attend and vote at a general meeting of the company, and corresponding provisions of the trust agreement governing the release of funds from our trust account may be amended if approved by holders of at least 65% of our ordinary shares. Our initial shareholders and their permitted transferees, if any, who will collectively beneficially own, on 20% of our Class A ordinary shares, will participate in any vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association and/or trust agreement and will have the discretion to vote in any manner they choose. As a result, we may be able to amend the provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association which govern behavior more easily than some other blank check companies, and this may increase our ability to complete a business combination with which you do not agree. Our shareholders may pursue remedies against us for any breach of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association.

Our Sponsor, executive officers and directors have agreed, pursuant to agreements with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) that would modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination by October 6, 2022 or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares, unless we provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their Class A ordinary shares upon approval of any such amendment at payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our income taxes, if any, divided by the number of the then-outstanding public

 

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shares. Our shareholders are not parties to, or third-party beneficiaries of, these agreements and, as a result, will not have the ability to pursue remedies against our Sponsor, executive officers or directors for any breach of these agreements. As a result, in the event of a breach, our shareholders would need to pursue a shareholder derivative action, subject to applicable law.

Although we believe that the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants and forward purchase securities are sufficient to allow us to complete our initial business combination, because we have not yet entered into a definitive agreement with any prospective target business we cannot ascertain the capital requirements for any particular transaction. If the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants and forward purchase securities prove to be insufficient, either because of the size of our initial business combination, the depletion of the available net proceeds in search of a target business, the obligation to redeem for cash a significant number of shares from shareholders who elect redemption in connection with our initial business combination or the terms of negotiated transactions to purchase shares in connection with our initial business combination, we may be required to seek additional financing or to abandon the proposed business combination. We cannot assure you that such financing will be available on acceptable terms, if at all. The current economic environment may make it difficult for companies to obtain acquisition financing. To the extent that additional financing proves to be unavailable when needed to complete our initial business combination, we would be compelled to either restructure the transaction or abandon that particular business combination and seek an alternative target business candidate. If we have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per public share, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. In addition, even if we do not need additional financing to complete our initial business combination, we may require such financing to fund the operations or growth of the target business. The failure to secure additional financing could have a material adverse effect on the continued development or growth of the target business. Other than in connection with the forward purchase agreement, none of our officers, directors or shareholders is required to provide any financing to us in connection with or after our initial business combination.

Our Sponsor owns, on 20% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares. Accordingly, it may exert a substantial influence on actions requiring a shareholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support, including appointment of our directors, amendments to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association and approval of significant corporate transactions including our initial business combination. If our Sponsor purchases any additional Class A ordinary shares in the aftermarket or in privately negotiated transactions, this would increase its control. Neither our Sponsor nor, to our knowledge, any of our officers or directors, have any current intention to purchase additional securities, other than as disclosed in this Report. Factors that would be considered in making such additional purchases would include consideration of the current trading price of our Class A ordinary shares. In addition, our board of directors, whose members were elected by our Sponsor, is and will be divided into three classes, each of which will generally serve for a term of three years with only one class of directors being elected in each year. We may not hold an annual general meeting to appoint new directors prior to the completion of our initial business combination, in which case all of the current directors will continue in office until at least the completion of the business combination. If there is an annual meeting, as a consequence of our “staggered” board of directors, only a minority of the board of directors will be considered for election and our Sponsor, because of its ownership position, will control the outcome, as only holders of our Class B ordinary shares will have the right to vote on the election of directors and to remove directors prior to our initial business combination. Accordingly, our Sponsor will continue to exert control at least until the completion of our initial business combination. In addition, we have agreed not to enter into a definitive agreement regarding an initial business combination without the prior consent of our Sponsor.

Our warrants are issued in registered form under a warrant agreement between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as warrant agent, and us. The warrant agreement provides that the terms of the warrants may be amended without the consent of any holder for the purpose of (i) curing any ambiguity or correct any mistake, including to conform the provisions of the warrant agreement to the description of the terms of the warrants and the warrant agreement set forth in this Report, or defective provision (ii) amending the provisions relating to cash dividends on ordinary shares as contemplated by and in accordance with the warrant agreement or (iii) adding or changing any provisions with respect to matters or questions arising under the warrant agreement as the

 

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parties to the warrant agreement may deem necessary or desirable and that the parties deem to not adversely affect the rights of the registered holders of the warrants, provided that the approval by the holders of at least 50% of the then-outstanding public warrants is required to make any change that adversely affects the interests of the registered holders of public warrants. Accordingly, we may amend the terms of the public warrants in a manner adverse to a holder if holders of at least 50% of the then-outstanding public warrants approve of such amendment and, solely with respect to any amendment to the terms of the private placement warrants or forward purchase warrants or any provision of the warrant agreement with respect to the private placement warrants or forward purchase warrants, 50% of the number of the then-outstanding private placement warrants and forward purchase warrants. Although our ability to amend the terms of the public warrants with the consent of at least 50% of the then-outstanding public warrants is unlimited, examples of such amendments could be amendments to, among other things, increase the exercise price of the warrants, convert the warrants into cash, shorten the exercise period or decrease the number of Class A ordinary shares purchasable upon exercise of a warrant.

Our warrant agreement provides that, subject to applicable law, (i) any action, proceeding or claim against us arising out of or relating in any way to the warrant agreement, including under the Securities Act, will be brought and enforced in the courts of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, and (ii) that we irrevocably submit to such jurisdiction, which jurisdiction shall be the exclusive forum for any such action, proceeding or claim. We will waive any objection to such exclusive jurisdiction and that such courts represent an inconvenient forum.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, these provisions of the warrant agreement will not apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal district courts of the United States of America are the sole and exclusive forum. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in any of our warrants shall be deemed to have notice of and to have consented to the forum provisions in our warrant agreement. If any action, the subject matter of which is within the scope of the forum provisions of the warrant agreement, is filed in a court other than a court of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (a “foreign action”) in the name of any holder of our warrants, such holder shall be deemed to have consented to: (x) the personal jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in the State of New York in connection with any action brought in any such court to enforce the forum provisions (an “enforcement action”), and (y) having service of process made upon such warrant holder in any such enforcement action by service upon such warrant holder’s counsel in the foreign action as agent for such warrant holder.

This provision may limit a warrant holder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with our Company, which may discourage such lawsuits. Alternatively, if a court were to find this provision of our warrant agreement inapplicable or unenforceable with respect to one or more of the specified types of actions or proceedings, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters in other jurisdictions, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and result in a diversion of the time and resources of our management and board of directors.

We have the ability to redeem the outstanding public warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.01 per warrant, that the closing price of our Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for adjustments to the number of shares issuable upon exercise or the exercise price of a warrant as described under Exhibit 4.2 of this Report) for any 20 trading days within a ending on the third trading day prior to proper notice of such redemption and that certain other conditions are met. If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may exercise our redemption right even if we are unable to register or qualify the underlying securities for sale under all applicable state securities laws. As a result, we may redeem the warrants as set forth above even if the holders are otherwise unable to exercise the warrants. Redemption of the outstanding warrants could force you to (i) exercise your warrants and pay the exercise price therefor at a time when it may be disadvantageous for you to do so, (ii) sell your warrants at the then-current market price when you might otherwise wish to hold your warrants or (iii) accept the nominal redemption price which, at the time the outstanding warrants are called for redemption, we expect would be substantially less than the market value of your warrants.

In addition, we have the ability to redeem the outstanding public warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.10 per warrant upon a minimum of 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption that the closing price of our Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $10.00 per share (as adjusted for adjustments to the number of shares issuable upon exercise or the exercise price of a warrant as described under Exhibit 4.2 of this Report) for any 20 trading days within a

 

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ending on the third trading day prior to proper notice of such redemption and that certain other conditions are met, including that holders will be able to exercise their warrants prior to redemption for a number of Class A ordinary shares determined based on the redemption date and the fair market value of our Class A ordinary shares. Please see Exhibit 4.2 of this Report. The value received upon exercise of the warrants (1) may be less than the value the holders would have received if they had exercised their warrants at a later time where the underlying share price is higher and (2) may not compensate the holders for the value of the warrants, including because the number of ordinary shares received is capped at 0.361 Class A ordinary shares per warrant (subject to adjustment) irrespective of the remaining life of the warrants.

None of the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us (except as set forth under Exhibit 4.2 of this Report) so long as they are held by our Sponsor or its permitted transferees.

We issued warrants to purchase 30,000,000 of our Class A ordinary shares as part of the units offered in our initial public offering and, simultaneously with the closing of our initial public offering, we issued in a private placement an aggregate of 14,000,000 private placement warrants, each exercisable to purchase one Class A ordinary share at $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment. In addition, if our Sponsor, its affiliates or a member of our management team makes any working capital loans, it may convert up to $1,500,000 of such loans into up to an additional 1,500,000 private placement warrants, at the price of $1.00 per warrant. We may also issue up to 5,000,000 forward purchase warrants pursuant to the forward purchase agreement. We may also issue Class A ordinary shares in connection with our redemption of our warrants.

To the extent we issue ordinary shares for any reason, including to effectuate a business combination, the potential for the issuance of a substantial number of additional Class A ordinary shares upon exercise of these warrants could make us a less attractive acquisition vehicle to a target business. Such warrants, when exercised, will increase the number of issued and outstanding Class A ordinary shares and reduce the value of the Class A ordinary shares issued to complete the business transaction. Therefore, our warrants may make it more difficult to effectuate a business transaction or increase the cost of acquiring the target business.

Each unit one redeemable warrant. Pursuant to the warrant agreement, no fractional warrants will be issued upon separation of the units, and only whole units will trade. If, upon exercise of the warrants, a holder would be entitled to receive a fractional interest in a share, we will, upon exercise, round down to the nearest whole number the number of Class A ordinary shares to be issued to the warrant holder. This is different from other offerings similar to ours whose units include one ordinary share and one whole warrant to purchase one whole share. We have established the components of the units in this way in order to reduce the dilutive effect of the warrants upon completion of a business combination since the warrants will be exercisable in the aggregate the number of shares compared to units that each contain a whole warrant to purchase one whole share, thus making us, we believe, a more attractive merger partner for target businesses. Nevertheless, this unit structure may cause our units to be worth less than if a unit included a warrant to purchase one whole share.

Unlike most blank check companies, if (x) we issue additional Class A ordinary shares or equity-linked securities for capital raising purposes in connection with the closing of our initial business combination at a an issue price or effective issue price of less than $9.20 per ordinary share, (ii (with such issue price or effective issue price to be determined in good faith by us and, (i) in the case of any such issuance to our Sponsor or its affiliates, without taking into account any founder shares held by our Sponsor or such affiliates, as applicable, prior to such issuance, and (ii) to the extent that such issuance is made to our Sponsor or its affiliates, without taking into account the transfer of founder shares or private placement warrants (including if such transfer is effectuated as a surrender to us and subsequent reissuance by us) by our Sponsor in connection with such issuance) (the “Newly Issued Price”), (y) the aggregate gross proceeds from such issuances represent more than 60% of the total equity proceeds, and interest thereon, available for the funding of our initial business combination on the date of the consummation of our initial business combination (net of redemptions), and (z) the volume weighted average trading price of our Class A ordinary shares during the 20 trading day period starting on the trading day prior to the day on which we consummate our initial business combination (such price, the “Market Value”) is below $9.20 per share, then the exercise price of the warrants will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 115% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, and the $18.00 per share redemption trigger price will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 180% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, and the $10.00 per share redemption trigger price will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price. This may make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination with a target business.

 

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As a public company, we are subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act, the Sarbanes Oxley Act, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the listing requirements of NYSE and other applicable securities rules and regulations. Compliance with these rules and regulations increase our legal and financial compliance costs, make some activities more difficult, time-consuming or costly and increase demand on our systems and resources, particularly after we are no longer an “emerging growth company.” The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires, among other things, that we maintain effective disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting. In order to maintain and, if required, improve our disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting to meet this standard, significant resources and management oversight may be required. As a result, management’s attention may be diverted from other business concerns, which could adversely affect our business and operating results. We may need to hire more employees in the future or engage outside consultants to comply with these requirements, which will increase our costs and expenses.

The price of our securities may vary significantly due to one or more potential business combinations and general market or economic conditions, including as a result of Furthermore, an active trading market for our securities may never develop or, if developed, it may not be sustained. You may be unable to sell your securities unless a market can be established and sustained.

The federal proxy rules require that a proxy statement with respect to a vote on a business combination meeting certain financial significance tests include historical and/or pro forma financial statement disclosure in periodic reports. We will include the same financial statement disclosure in connection with our tender offer documents, whether or not they are required under the tender offer rules. These financial statements may be required to be prepared in accordance with, or be reconciled to, accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, or GAAP, or international financial reporting standards as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board, or IFRS, depending on the circumstances and the historical financial statements may be required to be audited in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States), or PCAOB. These financial statements may also be required to be prepared in accordance with GAAP in connection with our current report on Form announcing the closing our initial business combination within four business days following such closing. These financial statement requirements may limit the pool of potential target businesses we may acquire because some targets may be unable to provide such statements in time for us to disclose such statements in accordance with federal proxy rules and complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame.

We are an “emerging growth company” within the meaning of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act, and we may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. As a result, our shareholders may not have access to certain information they may deem important. We could be an emerging growth company for up to five years, although circumstances could cause us to lose that status earlier, including if the market value of our Class A ordinary shares held $700 million as of any June 30 before that time, in which case we would no longer be an emerging growth company as of the following December 31. We cannot predict whether investors will find our securities less attractive because we will rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result of our reliance on these exemptions, the trading prices of our securities may be lower than they otherwise would be, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the trading prices of our securities may be more volatile.

Further, Section 102(b)(1) of the JOBS Act exempts emerging growth companies from being required to comply with new or revised financial accounting standards until private companies (that is, those that have not had a Securities Act registration statement declared effective or do not have a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act) are required to comply with the new or revised financial accounting standards. The JOBS Act provides that a company can elect to opt out of the extended transition period and comply with the requirements that apply companies but any such an election to opt out is irrevocable. We have elected not to opt out of such extended transition period which means that when a standard is issued or revised and it has

 

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different application dates for public or private companies, we, as an emerging growth company, can adopt the new or revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new or revised standard. This may make comparison of our financial statements with another public company which is neither an emerging growth company nor an emerging growth company which has opted out of using the extended transition period difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accounting standards used.

Additionally, we are a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Item 10(f)(1) of reporting companies may take advantage of certain reduced disclosure obligations, including, among other things, providing only two years of audited financial statements. We will remain a smaller reporting company until the last day of the fiscal year in which (1) the market value of our ordinary shares held $250 million as of the prior June 30, or (2) our annual revenues exceeded $100 million during such completed fiscal year and the market value of our ordinary shares held $700 million as of the prior June 30. To the extent we take advantage of such reduced disclosure obligations, it may also make comparison of our financial statements with other public companies difficult or impossible.

Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires that we evaluate and report on our system of internal controls beginning with our Annual Report on the year ending December 31, 2021. Only in the event we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer or an accelerated filer and no longer qualify as an emerging growth company, will we be required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement on our internal control over financial reporting. The fact that we are a blank check company makes compliance with the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act particularly burdensome on us as compared to other public companies because a target business with which we seek to complete our initial business combination may not be in compliance with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act regarding adequacy of its internal controls. The development of the internal control of any such entity to achieve compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may increase the time and costs necessary to complete any such business combination.

We are an exempted company incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands. As a result, it may be difficult for investors to effect service of process within the United States upon our directors or executive officers, or enforce judgments obtained in the United States courts against our directors or officers.

Our corporate affairs will be governed by our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, the Companies Act (as the same may be supplemented or amended from time to time) and the common law of the Cayman Islands. We will also be subject to the federal securities laws of the United States. The rights of shareholders to take action against the directors, actions by minority shareholders and the fiduciary responsibilities of our directors to us under Cayman Islands law are to a large extent governed by the common law of the Cayman Islands. The common law of the Cayman Islands is derived in part from comparatively limited judicial precedent in the Cayman Islands as well as from English common law, the decisions of whose courts are of persuasive authority, but are not binding on a court in the Cayman Islands. The rights of our shareholders and the fiduciary responsibilities of our directors under Cayman Islands law are different from what they would be under statutes or judicial precedent in some jurisdictions in the United States. In particular, the Cayman Islands has a different body of securities laws as compared to the United States, and certain states, such as Delaware, may have more fully developed and judicially interpreted bodies of corporate law. In addition, Cayman Islands companies may not have standing to initiate a shareholders derivative action in a Federal court of the United States.

We have been advised by Maples and Calder, our Cayman Islands legal counsel, that the courts of the Cayman Islands are unlikely (i) to recognize or enforce against us judgments of courts of the United States predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the federal securities laws of the United States or any state; and (ii) in original actions brought in the Cayman Islands, to impose liabilities against us predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the federal securities laws of the United States or any state, so far as the liabilities imposed by those provisions are penal in nature. In those circumstances, although there is no statutory enforcement in the Cayman Islands of judgments obtained in the United States, the courts of the Cayman Islands will recognize and enforce a foreign money judgment of a foreign court of competent jurisdiction without retrial on the merits based on the principle that a judgment of a competent foreign court imposes upon the judgment debtor an obligation to pay the sum for which judgment has been given provided certain conditions are met. For a foreign judgment to be enforced in the Cayman Islands, such judgment must be final and conclusive and for a liquidated sum, and must not be in respect of taxes or a fine or penalty, inconsistent with a Cayman Islands judgment in respect of the same matter, impeachable on the grounds of fraud or obtained in a manner, or be of a kind the enforcement of which is, contrary to natural justice or the public policy of the Cayman Islands (awards of punitive or multiple damages may well be held to be contrary to public policy). A Cayman Islands Court may stay enforcement proceedings if concurrent proceedings are being brought elsewhere.

 

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As a result of all of the above, public shareholders may have more difficulty in protecting their interests in the face of actions taken by management, members of the board of directors or controlling shareholders than they would as public shareholders of a United States company.

Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association contain provisions that may discourage unsolicited takeover proposals that shareholders may consider to be in their best interests. These provisions include a staggered board of directors, the ability of the board of directors to designate the terms of and issue new series of preference shares, and the fact that prior to the completion of our initial business combination only holders of our founder shares are entitled to vote on the election of directors, which may make more difficult the removal of management and may discourage transactions that otherwise could involve payment of a premium over prevailing market prices for our securities.

We depend on digital technologies, including information systems, infrastructure and cloud applications and services, including those of third parties with which we may deal. Sophisticated and deliberate attacks on, or security breaches in, our systems or infrastructure, or the systems or infrastructure of third parties or the cloud, could lead to corruption or misappropriation of our assets, proprietary information and sensitive or confidential data. As an early stage company without significant investments in data security protection, we may not be sufficiently protected against such occurrences. We may not have sufficient resources to adequately protect against, or to investigate and remediate any vulnerability to, cyber incidents. It is possible that any of these occurrences, or a combination of them, could have adverse consequences on our business and lead to financial loss.

If we pursue a target a company with operations or opportunities outside of the United States for our initial business combination, we would be subject to risks associated with cross-border business combinations, including in connection with investigating, agreeing to and completing our initial business combination, conducting due diligence in a foreign jurisdiction, having such transaction approved by any local governments, regulators or agencies and changes in the purchase price based on fluctuations in foreign exchange rates.

If we effect our initial business combination with such a company, we would be subject to any special considerations or risks associated with companies operating in an international setting, including any of the following:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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We may not be able to adequately address these additional risks. If we were unable to do so, we may be unable to complete such initial business combination, or, if we complete such combination, our operations might suffer, either of which may adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Following our initial business combination, our management may resign from their positions as officers or directors of the company and the management of the target business at the time of the business combination will remain in place. Management of the target business may not be familiar with United States securities laws. If new management is unfamiliar with United States securities laws, they may have to expend time and resources becoming familiar with such laws. This could be expensive and time-consuming and could lead to various regulatory issues which may adversely affect our operations.

The economic, political and social conditions, as well as government policies, of the country in which our operations are located could affect our business. Economic growth could be uneven, both geographically and among various sectors of the economy and such growth may not be sustained in the future. If in the future such country’s economy experiences a downturn or grows at a slower rate than expected, there may be less demand for spending in certain industries. A decrease in demand for spending in certain industries could materially and adversely affect our ability to find an attractive target business with which to consummate our initial business combination and if we effect our initial business combination, the ability of that target business to become profitable.

In the event we acquire all revenues and income would likely be received in a foreign currency, and the dollar equivalent of our net assets and distributions, if any, could be adversely affected by reductions in the value of the local currency. The value of the currencies in our target regions fluctuate and are affected by, among other things, changes in political and economic conditions. Any change in the relative value of such currency against our reporting currency may affect the attractiveness of any target business or, following consummation of our initial business combination, our financial condition and results of operations. Additionally, if a currency appreciates in value against the dollar prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, the cost of a target business as measured in dollars will increase, which may make it less likely that we are able to consummate such transaction. Given our geographic focus of potential acquisition targets, our exposure to exchange rate fluctuations and currency policies may be elevated.

 

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In connection with our initial business combination, we may relocate the home jurisdiction of our business from the Cayman Islands to another jurisdiction. If we determine to do this, the laws of such jurisdiction may govern some or all of our future material agreements. The system of laws and the enforcement of existing laws in such jurisdiction may not be as certain in implementation and interpretation as in the United States. The inability to enforce or obtain a remedy under any of our future agreements could result in a significant loss of business, business opportunities or capital.

We are subject to rules and regulations by various governing bodies, including, for example, the SEC, which are charged with the protection of investors and the oversight of companies whose securities are publicly traded, and to new and evolving regulatory measures under applicable law. Our efforts to comply with new and changing laws and regulations have resulted in and are likely to continue to result in, increased general and administrative expenses and a diversion of management time and attention from seeking a business combination target.

Moreover, because these laws, regulations and standards are subject to varying interpretations, their application in practice may evolve over time as new guidance becomes available. This evolution may result in continuing uncertainty regarding compliance matters and additional costs necessitated by ongoing revisions to our disclosure and governance practices. If we fail to address and comply with these regulations and any subsequent changes, we may be subject to penalty and our business may be harmed.

None.

We currently maintain our principal executive offices at PO Box 1093, Boundary Hall, Cricket Square, Grand Islands. The cost for our use of this space is included in the $10,000 per month fee we pay to an affiliate of our Sponsor for office space, administrative and support services. We consider our current office space adequate for our current operations.

There is no material litigation, arbitration or governmental proceeding currently pending against us or any members of our management team in their capacity as such.

Not applicable.

 

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PART II

Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

(a) Market Information

(b) Holders

(c) Dividends

(d) Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans

(e) Performance Graph

(f) Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities; Use of Proceeds from Registered Offerings.

(g) Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers

Item 6. Selected Financial Data.

Item 7. Management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations

References to the “Company,” “us,” “our” or “we” refer to Avanti Acquisition Corp. The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our audited financial statements and related notes included herein.

Overview

Results of Operations

Going Concern and Liquidity

Off-Balance

Contractual Obligations

Critical Accounting Policies

Warrant and Forward Purchase Agreement Liabilities

Class A Ordinary Shares Subject to Possible Redemption

Net Income (Loss) per Ordinary Share

Recent Accounting Standards

Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk

Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data

Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure

Item 9A. Controls and Procedures.

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

Management’s Report on Internal Controls Over Financial Reporting

Other than those described above, there were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting during the most recent fiscal quarter that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

None.

 

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As of the date of this Annual Report on Form our directors and officers are as follows:

 

 is our chairman and chief executive officer. Mr. Sawiris is an industrialist, an entrepreneur and investor with a history of deal making and value creation at public and private companies across the globe. Throughout his career, Mr. Sawiris has operated and invested in a wide-range of industries and sectors, either through his executive positions at OCI N.V. (previously Orascom Construction Industries S.A.E.) and Orascom Construction PLC, the listed companies founded and controlled by the Sawiris family, or as the founder and executive chairman of NNS Group, the single-family office of Mr. Sawiris and his family, and NNS UK Group.

Mr. Sawiris currently serves as the executive chairman of OCI N.V. (since August 2020) and as a member of the supervisory board of adidas (since June 2016). Mr. Sawiris has previously served as the chief executive officer of OCI N.V. (from January 2013 to July 2020) and as its chief executive officer (from March 1998 to January 2013) when it was operating under its previous name, Orascom Construction Industries S.A.E. In addition, Mr. Sawiris has previously served as a director of Holcim (from July 2015 to May 2019), having been a director of Lafarge S.A. prior to its merger with Holcim Ltd in 2015, and as chairman of Orascom Construction PLC (from March 2015 to May 2016), previously Orascom Construction Ltd.

Since 1995, as chief executive officer or chairman of publicly listed companies (OCI N.V., previously Orascom Construction Industries S.A.E., and Orascom Construction PLC), Mr. Sawiris has a track record of creating value for shareholders, returning approximately $15 billion to shareholders through cash and share dividends and share buybacks. During his tenure at OCI N.V., Mr. Sawiris has directed and overseen the transformation of the company from a construction business to cement producer and nitrogen fertilizer and methanol producer. Mr. Sawiris has deep and varied experience in mergers and acquisitions, financial and capital market transactions, executing approximately $55 billion in deal value throughout his career. Transactions executed during his tenure at Orascom Construction Industries S.A.E. include the sale of its cement division to Lafarge for a cash payment of approximately €8.8 billion ($12.9 billion) plus the transfer of approximately $2 billion in debt. During his tenure at OCI N.V., transactions include the joint venture with ADNOC to create the world’s largest export-focus nitrogen fertilizer platform in 2019, the initial public offering of OCI N.V. on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange in 2013 with an initial market capitalization of approximately $8.1 billion, the approximately €310 million acquisition of DSM’s Agro and Melamine assets in 2010 and the acquisition of a 20% stake in Gavilon, a commodity management firm, in 2008, eventually sold in 2013 for approximately $2.7 billion.

As the executive chairman of the NNS Group, Mr. Sawiris has guided the diversification of the group’s assets into new areas focused on long-term growth across numerous sectors in both the public and private markets. The NNS Group has invested in companies operating in consumer brands, chemicals, technology, software and media, sports and real estate, and in other sectors.

Mr. Sawiris’ current mandates include:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 serves as our chief financial officer. Mr. Dumas joined Sienna Capital in October 2018 as chief financial officer. Before joining Sienna Capital S.à r.l., Mr. Dumas was the chief financial officer (from August 2014 to October 2018) and a member of the executive committee (from September 2017 to October 2018) of Quilvest Capital Partners (formerly Quilvest Private Equity), a family-owned global asset manager. Prior to this, Mr. Dumas headed the group finance department of Transcom from January 2010 to January 2012, after spending 8 years at KPMG. Mr. Dumas is a chartered accountant in Luxembourg. He is a graduate of ICN Business School, holds a master in accounting and finance from the University of Nancy and is a graduate of the INSEAD Advanced Management Program.

 is a member of our board of directors. Mr. Hall is also vice-chairman of the board of Sienna Capital. Mr. Hall joined GBL in 2012, and he was appointed as the head of investments in 2016 until 2021. Mr. Hall is currently an investment partner at GBL. In addition to his role at GBL, Mr. Hall was chief executive officer of Sienna Capital from June 2013 until June 2020. Mr. Hall led the development of Sienna Capital since its inception in 2013 and was instrumental to the strategic transformation of Sienna Capital from a fund manager seeding platform to a multi-asset class investment manager with direct investing capability. Since joining GBL, and recently in his capacity as the head of investments, Mr. Hall oversaw significant portfolio asset rotation by GBL. Since 2012, total purchased assets amounted to approximately €12.1 billion and total divestments of assets were approximately €13.0 billion. Over his investment career, Mr. Hall has gained experience as a member of multiple public and private company boards.

Mr. Hall has served on public company boards across Europe including in Germany, France, Spain, Belgium and Switzerland. Mr. Hall has previously served as a board member of Kartesia Management S.A. (from August 2013 to November 2019), Parques ReunidosServicios Centrales S.A. (from April 2017 to April 2019) and Umicore (from April 2016 to April 2019). He currently represents GBL on three public company boards, Imerys (since December 2015), Holcim (since May 2019) and GEA (since November 2018). In addition, Mr. Hall also sits on the board of Webhelp, a European leader in the customer relationship management—business process outsourcing. Mr. Hall began his career working for the Merchant Banking Division of Morgan Stanley in 1995. Between 1997 and 2008, Mr. Hall held various positions within the private equity firm Rhône Group in New York and London. From 2009 to 2011, Mr. Hall was a partner in a hedge fund sponsored by Julian Robertson of Tiger Management. He holds a bachelor of arts degree with high honors from Amherst College and a master of business administration degree from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

 is a member of our board of directors. Mr. Hoberman is and executive chairman of Founders Factory, global venture studios, seed programmes and accelerator programmes (since 2015); Founders Forum, a global community of founders, corporates and tech leaders (since 2006); and firstminute capital, a $300 million seed fund with global remit, backed by over 100 unicorn founders (since 2017). Previously, Mr. Hoberman Made.com in 2010, which went public in 2021 with a valuation of approximately $1.1 billion and lastminute.com in 1998, of which he served as the chief executive officer from its inception, and sold it in 2005 to Sabre based on an equity value of $1.1 billion. Mr. Hoberman has technology businesses that include Karakuri, a provider of robotics, artificial intelligence and automation systems; Founders Intelligence, an entrepreneur-powered consultancy, which was recently acquired by Accenture; EQL:HER, a network taking action to change the underrepresentation of women in technology; Founders Keepers, a technology executive search firm; Founders of the Future, a network that identifies and supports aspiring entrepreneurs; Founders Pledge, a community for entrepreneurs committed to finding and funding solutions to global challenges; Grip., an artificial intelligence powered event networking solution; Framework, a new type of on-demand business school; and most recently 01 Founders, a network of free-to-access coding schools with a job guarantee.

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 is a member of our board of directors. Most recently, Mrs. Krishnan served as the chief executive officer of CarNext B.V. from July 2021 to December 2021. Mrs. Krishnan served as the chief operations officer of WorldRemit in London from November 2019 to 2021 where she was responsible of the company’s growth and operations. She served at Trainline in London from 2016 to 2018, first as General Manager for the division and then for the UK Consumer. She also worked at Egencia, a company of the Expedia Group, as Vice President of Product and Marketing from 2014 to 2016, and as Vice President of Business Development and Strategy from 2012 to 2014 in London and Seattle. She served at Bain & Co. from 2005 to 2011 as a Manager in San Francisco and Paris. She started her career at Investor Growth Capital as an Associate from 1997 to 2002 in London and New York. Mrs. Krishnan holds a double degree from London School of Economics and EDHEC, and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

 is a member of our board of directors. Mr. Mignone founded Bridger Management, LLC in 2000, where he is the Managing Partner with principal responsibility for investments predominantly in public and private global equities, with particular focus in global consumer, technology, healthcare, and leisure sectors. He also Blue Ridge Capital LLC in 1996 as a Partner and Senior Research Analyst with broad responsibility for the firm’s research in public equities. He is a director of Teva Pharmaceuticals, a global pharmaceutical company, where he chairs the Finance Committee and serves on the Governance and Audit committees. Mr. Mignone holds an AB, cum laude degree from Harvard College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Our board of directors is divided into three classes, with only one class of directors being elected in each year, and with each class (except for those directors appointed prior to our first annual general meeting) serving a three-year term. In accordance with the NYSE corporate governance requirements, we are not required to hold an annual meeting until one year after our first fiscal year end following our listing on the NYSE. The term of office of the first class of directors, consisting of Brent Hoberman, will expire at our first annual general meeting. The term of office of the second class of directors, consisting of Sophie Krishnan and Roberto Mignone, will expire at our second annual general meeting. The term of office of the third class of directors, consisting of Nassef Sawiris and Colin Hall, will expire at our third annual general meeting.

Pursuant to an agreement to be entered into on or prior to the closing of our initial public offering, our Sponsor, upon and following consummation of an initial business combination, will be entitled to nominate three individuals for election to our board of directors, as long as our Sponsor holds any securities covered by the registration and shareholder rights agreement.

Our officers are appointed by the board of directors and serve at the discretion of the board of directors, rather than for specific terms of office. Our board of directors is authorized to appoint persons to the offices set forth in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association as it deems appropriate. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that our officers may consist of one or more chairman of the board, chief executive officer, president, chief financial officer, vice presidents, secretary, treasurer and such other offices as may be determined by the board of directors.

NYSE listing standards require that a majority of our board of directors be independent. Our board of directors has determined that Brent Hoberman, Sophie Krishnan and Roberto Mignone are “independent directors” as defined in the NYSE listing standards. Our independent directors will have regularly scheduled meetings at which only independent directors are present.

Our board of directors has three standing committees: an audit committee, a nominating committee and a compensation committee. Subject and a limited exception, the rules of the NYSE and the Exchange Act require that the audit committee of a listed company be comprised solely of independent directors. Subject and a limited exception, the rules of the NYSE require that the compensation committee and the nominating committee of a listed company be comprised solely of independent directors.

 

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We have established an audit committee of the board of directors. Roberto Mignone, Brent Hoberman and Sophie Krishnan serve as members of our audit committee. Our board of directors has determined that each of Roberto Mignone, Brent Hoberman and Sophie Krishnan are independent under the NYSE listing standards and applicable SEC rules. Roberto Mignone will serve as the Chairman of the audit committee. Under the NYSE listing standards and applicable SEC rules, all the directors on the audit committee must be independent. Each member of the audit committee is financially literate and our board of directors has determined that Roberto Mignone, Brent Hoberman and Sophie Krishnan qualify as an “audit committee financial expert” as defined in applicable SEC rules.

The audit committee is responsible for:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have established a nominating committee of our board of directors. The members of our nominating committee are Sophie Krishnan and Roberto Mignone, and Sophie Krishnan will serve as chairman of the nominating committee. Under the NYSE listing standards, we are required to have a nominating committee composed entirely of independent directors. Our board of directors has determined that each of Roberto Mignone and Sophie Krishnan are independent.

The nominating committee is responsible for overseeing the selection of persons to be nominated to serve on our board of directors. The nominating committee considers persons identified by its members, management, shareholders, investment bankers and others.

The guidelines for selecting nominees, which will be specified in a charter to be adopted by us, generally will provide that persons to be nominated:

 

 

 

 

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The nominating committee will consider a number of qualifications relating to management and leadership experience, background and integrity and professionalism in evaluating a person’s candidacy for membership on the board of directors. The nominating committee may require certain skills or attributes, such as financial or accounting experience, to meet specific board needs that arise from time to time and will also consider the overall experience and makeup of its members to obtain a broad and diverse mix of board members. The nominating committee does not distinguish among nominees recommended by shareholders and other persons.

We have established a compensation committee of our board of directors. The members of our compensation committee are Brent Hoberman and Sophie Krishnan, and Brent Hoberman will serve as chairman of the compensation committee.

Under the NYSE listing standards, we are required to have a compensation committee composed entirely of independent directors. Our board of directors has determined that each of Brent Hoberman and Sophie Krishnan are independent. We adopted a compensation committee charter, which details the principal functions of the compensation committee, including:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The charter also provides that the compensation committee may, in its sole discretion, retain or obtain the advice of a compensation consultant, legal counsel or other adviser and will be directly responsible for the appointment, compensation and oversight of the work of any such adviser. However, before engaging or receiving advice from a compensation consultant, external legal counsel or any other adviser, the compensation committee will consider the independence of each such adviser, including the factors required by the NYSE and the SEC.

None of our executive officers currently serves, and in the past year has not served, as a member of the compensation committee of any entity that has one or more executive officers serving on our board of directors.

We have adopted a Code of Ethics applicable to our directors, officers and employees. A copy of the Code of Ethics will be provided without charge upon request from us. We intend to disclose any amendments to or waivers of certain provisions of our Code of Ethics in a Current Report on

Under Cayman Islands law, directors and officers owe the following fiduciary duties:

 

 

 

 

 

 

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In addition to the above, directors also owe a duty of care which is not fiduciary in nature. This duty has been defined as a requirement to act as a reasonably diligent person having both the general knowledge, skill and experience that may reasonably be expected of a person carrying out the same functions as are carried out by that director in relation to the company and the general knowledge skill and experience of that director.

As set out above, directors have a duty not to put themselves in a position of conflict and this includes a duty not to engage in self-dealing, or to otherwise benefit as a result of their position. However, in some instances what would otherwise be a breach of this duty can be forgiven and/or authorized in advance by the shareholders that there is full disclosure by the directors. This can be done by way of permission granted in the amended and restated memorandum and articles of association or alternatively by shareholder approval at general meetings.

Certain of our officers and directors presently have, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary and contractual duties to other entities. As a result, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for an entity to which he or she has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, then, subject to their fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law, he or she will need to honor such fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such business combination opportunity to such entity, before we can pursue such opportunity. If these other entities decide to pursue any such opportunity, we may be precluded from pursuing the same. However, we do not expect these duties to materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that we renounce our interest in any business combination opportunity offered to any director or officer unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of the company and it is an opportunity that we are able to complete on a reasonable basis.

Below is a table summarizing the entities to which our executive officers and directors currently have fiduciary duties, contractual obligations or other material management relationships:

 

 

 

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We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our Sponsor, officers or directors. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our Sponsor or any of our officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent entity that commonly renders valuation opinions that such initial business combination is fair to our Company from a financial point of view. We are not required to obtain such an opinion in any other context.

Furthermore, in no event will our Sponsor or any of our existing officers or directors, or their respective affiliates, be paid by us any finder’s fee, consulting fee or other compensation prior to, or for any services they render in order to effectuate, the completion of our initial business combination. Further, commencing on the date our securities were first listed on the NYSE, we may also reimburse an affiliate of our Sponsor for office space, secretarial and administrative services provided to us in the amount of up to $10,000 per month.

We cannot assure you that any of the above mentioned conflicts will be resolved in our favor.

If we seek shareholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if we obtain the approval of an ordinary resolution under Cayman Islands law, being the affirmative vote of a majority of the ordinary shares represented in person or by proxy and entitled to vote thereon and who vote at a general meeting. In such case, our Sponsor and each member of our management team have agreed to vote their founder shares and public shares in favor of our initial business combination.

Cayman Islands law does not limit the extent to which a company’s memorandum and articles of association may provide for indemnification of officers and directors, except to the extent any such provision may be held by the Cayman Islands courts to be contrary to public policy, such as to provide indemnification against willful default, willful neglect, civil fraud or the consequences of committing a crime. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide for indemnification of our officers and directors to the maximum extent permitted by law, including for any liability incurred in their capacities as such, except through their own actual fraud, willful default or willful neglect. We entered into agreements with our directors and officers to provide contractual indemnification in addition to the indemnification provided for in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. We expect to purchase a policy of directors’ and officers’ liability insurance that insures our officers and directors against the cost of defense, settlement or payment of a judgment in some circumstances and insures us against our obligations to indemnify our officers and directors.

Our officers and directors have agreed to waive any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies in the trust account, and have agreed to waive any right, title, interest or claim of any kind they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any services provided to us and will not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason whatsoever (except to the extent they are entitled to funds from the trust account due to their ownership of public shares). Accordingly, any indemnification provided will only be able to be satisfied by us if (i) we have sufficient funds outside of the trust account or (ii) we consummate an initial business combination.

 

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Our indemnification obligations may discourage shareholders from bringing a lawsuit against our officers or directors for breach of their fiduciary duty. These provisions also may have the effect of reducing the likelihood of derivative litigation against our officers and directors, even though such an action, if successful, might otherwise benefit us and our shareholders. Furthermore, a shareholder’s investment may be adversely affected to the extent we pay the costs of settlement and damage awards against our officers and directors pursuant to these indemnification provisions.

We believe that these provisions, the insurance and the indemnity agreements are necessary to attract and retain talented and experienced officers and directors.

None of our executive officers or directors have received any cash compensation for services rendered to us. Commencing on the date that our securities were first listed on the NYSE through the earlier of consummation of our initial business combination and our liquidation, we may reimburse an affiliate of our Sponsor for office space, secretarial and administrative services provided to us in the amount of up to $10,000 per month. In addition, our Sponsor, executive officers and directors, or their respective affiliates will be reimbursed for incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. Our audit committee reviews on a quarterly basis all payments that were made by us to our Sponsor, executive officers or directors, or their affiliates. Any such payments prior to an initial business combination are made using funds held outside the trust account. Other than quarterly audit committee review of such reimbursements, we do not expect to have any additional controls in place governing our reimbursement payments to our directors and executive officers for incurred in connection with our activities on our behalf in connection with identifying and consummating an initial business combination. Other than these payments and reimbursements, no compensation of any kind, including finder’s and consulting fees, is paid by the company to our Sponsor, executive officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates, prior to completion of our initial business combination.

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 proxy solicitation materials or tender offer materials furnished to our shareholders in connection with a proposed 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 business combination, because the directors of the post-combination business will be responsible for determining executive officer and director compensation. Any compensation to be paid to our executive 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 executive 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 executive officers and directors that provide for benefits upon termination of employment.

The following table sets forth information regarding the beneficial ownership of our ordinary shares as of the date of this Report, and as adjusted to reflect the sale of our Class A ordinary shares included in the units offered by our prospectus, and assuming no purchase of units in our initial public offering, by:

 

 

 

Unless otherwise indicated, we believe that all persons named in the table have sole voting and investment power with respect to all of our ordinary shares beneficially owned by them. The following table does not reflect record or beneficial ownership of the private placement warrants as these warrants are not exercisable within 60 days of the date of this Report.

 

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On July 25, 2020, affiliates of our Sponsor paid $25,000, or approximately $0.002 per share, to cover certain expenses on our behalf in consideration of 14,375,000 Class B ordinary shares, par value $0.0001. Prior to the initial investment in the company of $25,000 by our Sponsor, the company had no assets, tangible or intangible. On October 1, 2020, we effected a share capitalization resulting in our initial shareholders holding 17,250,000 Class B ordinary shares (of which 2,250,000 Class B ordinary shares were surrendered to us for no consideration by our Sponsor upon the expiry of the underwriters’ over-allotment option on November 20, 2020). Each of our independent directors currently owns 25,000 of the Class B ordinary shares noted above, which were transferred from our Sponsor to them in September 2020. The per share price of the founder shares was determined by dividing the amount contributed to the company by the number of founder shares issued. The post-offering percentages in the following table assume that there are 75,000,000 ordinary shares issued and outstanding after the initial public offering.

 

 

 

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Our initial shareholders beneficially own 20% of the then-issued and outstanding ordinary shares. Because of this ownership block, our Sponsor may be able to effectively influence the outcome of all matters requiring approval by our shareholders, including appointment of our directors, amendments to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association and approval of significant corporate transactions including our initial business combination.

Our initial shareholders have agreed (a) to vote any founder shares and public shares held by them in favor of any proposed business combination and (b) not to redeem any founder shares or public shares held by them in connection with a shareholder vote to approve a proposed initial business combination.

In connection with the consummation of our initial public offering, we entered into a forward purchase agreement with our Sponsor, which provides for the purchase by our Sponsor of up to $100,000,000 of forward purchase units, with each forward purchase unit consisting of one Class A ordinary share and of one warrant to purchase one Class A ordinary share at $11.50 per share, for a purchase price of $10.00 per unit, in a private placement to occur concurrently with the closing of our initial business combination.

 

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The proceeds from the sale of these forward purchase units, together with the amounts available to us from the trust account (after giving effect to any redemptions of public shares and the payment of deferred underwriting commissions) and any other equity or debt financing obtained by us in connection with the business combination, will be used to satisfy the cash requirements of the business combination, including funding the purchase price and paying expenses and retaining specified amounts to be used by the post-business combination company for working capital or other purposes. To the extent that the amounts available from the trust account and other financing are sufficient for such cash requirements, our Sponsor may purchase less than 10,000,000 forward purchase units. The forward purchase securities will be issued only in connection with the closing of the initial business combination.

Our Sponsor is deemed to be our “promoter” as such term is defined under the federal securities laws.

The founder shares, private placement warrants and any Class A ordinary shares issued upon conversion or exercise thereof are each subject to transfer restrictions pursuant in the agreement entered into by our Sponsor and management team. Our Sponsor and each member of our management team have agreed not to transfer, assign or sell any of their founder shares until the earliest of (a) one year after the completion of our initial business combination and (b) subsequent to our initial business combination, (x) if the closing price of our Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for share subdivisions, share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for within period commencing at least 150 days after our initial business combination or (y) the date on which we complete a liquidation, merger, share exchange or other similar transaction that results in all of our public shareholders having the right to exchange their Class A ordinary shares for cash, securities or other property. The private placement warrants and the respective Class A ordinary shares underlying such warrants are not transferable or salable until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination. The foregoing restrictions are not applicable to transfer (a) to our officers or directors, any affiliates or family members of any of our officers or directors, any members or partners of our Sponsor or their affiliates, any affiliates of our Sponsor, or any employees of such affiliates; (b) in the case of an individual, by gift to a member of one of the individual’s immediate family or to a trust, the beneficiary of which is a member of the individual’s immediate family, an affiliate of such person or to a charitable organization; (c) in the case of an individual, by virtue of laws of descent and distribution upon death of the individual; (d) in the case of an individual, pursuant to a qualified domestic relations order; (e) by private sales or transfers made in connection with any forward purchase agreement or similar arrangement or in connection with the consummation of a business combination at prices no greater than the price at which the founder shares, private placement warrants or Class A ordinary shares, as applicable, were originally purchased; (f) by virtue of our Sponsor’s organizational documents upon liquidation or dissolution of our Sponsor; (g) to the Company for no value for cancellation in connection with the consummation of our initial business combination; (h) in the event of our liquidation prior to the completion of our initial business combination; or (i) in the event of our completion of a liquidation, merger, share exchange or other similar transaction which results in all of our public shareholders having the right to exchange their Class A ordinary shares for cash, securities or other property subsequent to our completion of our initial business combination;, however, that in the case of clauses (a) through (f) these permitted transferees must enter into a written agreement agreeing to be bound by these transfer restrictions and the other restrictions contained in the letter agreement.

On July 25, 2020, the Sponsor paid $25,000 to cover certain offering costs of the Company in consideration of 14,375,000 Class B ordinary shares, par value $0.0001. On October 1, 2020 the Company effected a share capitalization resulting in 17,250,000 Class B ordinary shares issued and outstanding (the “Founder Shares”). All share and amounts have been retroactively restated to reflect the share capitalization. The Founder Shares include up to 2,250,000 shares that are subject to forfeiture to the extent that the underwriters’ over-allotment option is not exercised in full or in part, so that the number of Founder Shares will equal, on an basis, 20% of the Company’s issued and outstanding shares after the Initial Public Offering. On November 20, 2020, the underwriters’ election to exercise their over-allotment option expired unexercised, resulting in the forfeiture of 2,250,000 Founder Shares. Accordingly, as of December 31, 2020, there are 15,000,000 Founder Shares issued and outstanding.

The initial shareholders have agreed, subject to limited exceptions, not to transfer, assign or sell their Founder Shares until the earlier of (i) one year after the completion of the Company’s Business Combination and (ii) subsequent to a Business Combination, (x) if the closing price of the Company’s Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for share subdivisions, share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any day period commencing at least 150 days after the Company’s Business Combination or (y) the date on which the Company completes a liquidation, merger, share exchange or other similar transaction that results in all of the Company’s Public Shareholders having the right to exchange their Class A ordinary shares for cash, securities or other property.

 

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Simultaneously with the closing of the Initial Public Offering, the Sponsor purchased 14,000,000 Private Placement Warrants at a price of $1.00 per Private Placement Warrant, for an aggregate purchase price of $14,000,000. Each Private Placement Warrant is exercisable to purchase one Class A ordinary share at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment. A portion of the proceeds from the Private Placement Warrants were added to the proceeds from the Initial Public Offering held in the Trust Account. If the Company does not complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period, the proceeds of the sale of the Private Placement Warrants will be used to fund the redemption of the Public Shares (subject to the requirements of applicable law), and the Private Placement Warrants and all underlying securities will expire worthless.

On July 25, 2020, the Company issued an unsecured promissory note (the “2020 Promissory Note”) to the Sponsor, pursuant to which the Company could borrow up to an aggregate principal amount of $300,000. The 2020 Promissory Note was bearing and payable on the earlier of December 31, 2020 and the completion of the Initial Public Offering. The outstanding borrowings of $300,000 under the 2020 Promissory Note was repaid on October 16, 2020.

On December 24, 2021, the Company issued an unsecured promissory note (the “2021 Promissory Note”) to the Sponsor, pursuant to which the Company could borrow up to an aggregate principal amount of $750,000. The 2021 Promissory Note was bearing and payable on the earlier of October 6, 2022 and the completion of the Company’s initial business combination. As of December 31, 2021, there was $468,236 outstanding under the 2021 Promissory Note.

In order to finance transaction costs in connection with a Business Combination, the Sponsor or an affiliate of the Sponsor, or certain of the Company’s officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan the Company funds as may be required (the “Working Capital Loans”). If the Company completes a Business Combination, the Company may repay the Working Capital Loans out of the proceeds of the Trust Account released to the Company. Otherwise, the Working Capital Loans may 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. 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. The Working Capital Loans would either be repaid upon consummation of a Business Combination or, at the lender’s discretion, up to $1,500,000 of such Working Capital Loans may be convertible into warrants of the post-Business Combination entity at a price of $1.00 per warrant. The warrants would be identical to the Private Placement Warrants. As of December 31, 2021 and 2020, the Company had no borrowings under the Working Capital Loans, respectively.

The audit committee of our board of directors will adopt a charter, providing for the review, approval and/or ratification of “related party transactions,” which are those transactions required to be disclosed pursuant to Item 404 of promulgated by the SEC, by the audit committee. At its meetings, the audit committee shall be provided with the details of each new, existing, or proposed related party transaction, including the terms of the transaction, any contractual restrictions that the company has already committed to, the business purpose of the transaction, and the benefits of the transaction to the company and to the relevant related party. Any member of the committee who has an interest in the related party transaction under review by the committee shall abstain from voting on the approval of the related party transaction, but may, if so requested by the chairman of the committee, participate in some or all of the committee’s discussions of the related party transaction. Upon completion of its review of the related party transaction, the committee may determine to permit or to prohibit the related party transaction.

NYSE listing standards require that a majority of our board of directors be independent. Our board of directors has determined that Brent Hoberman, Sophie Krishnan and Roberto Mignone are “independent directors” as defined in the NYSE listing standards. Our independent directors will have regularly scheduled meetings at which only independent directors are present.

The firm of WithumSmith+Brown, PC, or Withum, acts as our independent registered public accounting firm. The following is a summary of fees paid to Withum for services rendered.

 

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. For the year ended December 31, 2021 and for the period from July 24, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, fees for our independent registered public accounting firm were approximately $99,396 and $70,930, for the services Withum performed in connection with our Initial Public Offering and the audit of our December 31, 2021 and 2020 financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form

For the year ended December 31, 2021 and for the period from July 24, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, our independent registered public accounting firm did not render assurance and related services related to the performance of the audit or review of financial statements.

. For the year ended December 31, 2021 and for the period from July 24, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, our independent registered public accounting firm did not render services to us for tax compliance, tax advice and tax planning.

. For the year ended December 31, 2021 and for the period from July 24, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, there were no fees billed for products and services provided by our independent registered public accounting firm other than those set forth above.

Our audit committee was formed upon the consummation of our Initial Public Offering. As a result, the audit committee did not all of the foregoing services, although any services rendered prior to the formation of our audit committee were approved by our board of directors. Since the formation of our audit committee, and on a going-forward basis, the audit committee has and will all auditing services and permitted services to be performed for us by our auditors, including the fees and terms thereof (subject to the de minimis exceptions for services described in the Exchange Act which are approved by the audit committee prior to the completion of the audit).

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PART IV

Item 15. Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules

10-K

SIGNATURES

 

 

F-1

 

We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2020.

New York, New York

 

F-2

 

 

F-3

 

 

F-4