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ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) |
(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.) |
Title of each class |
Trading Symbol(s) |
Name of each exchange on which registered | ||
Class A common stock and one-half of one redeemable public warrant |
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Large accelerated filer | ☐ | Accelerated filer | ☐ | |||
Non-accelerated filer |
☒ | Smaller reporting company | ||||
Emerging growth company |
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CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This Annual Report of Form 10-K (the “Annual Report”) report includes, and oral statements made from time to time by representatives of the Company may include, forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). We have based these forward-looking statements on our current expectations and projections about future events. These forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions about us that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “may,” “should,” “could,” “would,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “continue,” or the negative of such terms or other similar expressions. Such statements include, but are not limited to, possible business combinations and the financing thereof, and related matters, as well as all other statements other than statements of historical fact included in this Annual Report. Factors that might cause or contribute to such a discrepancy include, but are not limited to, those described in our other Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) filings. Forward-looking statements in this Annual Report may include, for example, statements about:
• | our ability to select an appropriate target business or businesses; |
• | our ability to complete our initial business combination; |
• | our expectations around the performance of a prospective target business or businesses; |
• | our success in retaining or recruiting, or changes required in, our officers, key employees or directors following our initial business combination; |
• | our officers and directors allocating their time to other businesses and potentially having conflicts of interest with our business or in approving our initial business combination; |
• | our potential ability to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination; |
• | our pool of prospective target businesses, including the location and industry of such target businesses; |
• | our ability to consummate an initial business combination due to the uncertainty resulting from the recent COVID-19 pandemic and other events (such as terrorist attacks, wars, including the conflict in Ukraine and the surrounding region, natural disasters or a significant outbreak of other infectious diseases); |
• | the ability of our officers, directors and advisors to generate a number of potential business combination opportunities; |
• | our public securities’ potential liquidity and trading; |
• | the lack of a market for our securities; |
• | the use of proceeds not held in the trust account or available to us from interest income on the trust account balance; |
• | the trust account not being subject to claims of third parties; or |
• | our financial performance. |
The forward-looking statements contained in this Annual Report are based on our current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects on us. There can be no assurance that future developments affecting us will be those that we have anticipated. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties (some of which are beyond our control) or other assumptions that may cause actual results or performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those factors described under the heading “Item 1A. Risk Factors.” Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of our assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary in material respects from those projected in these forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.
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PART I
References in this Annual Report to “we,” “us,” “company” or “our company” are to C5 Acquisition Corporation, a Delaware corporation. References to “management” or our “management team” are to our officers and directors. References to our “sponsor” is to C5 Sponsor LLC, a Delaware limited liability company. References to our “initial stockholders” are to the holders of our founder shares prior to our initial public offering.
Item 1. | Business. |
Introduction
We are a blank check company formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or other similar business combination with one or more businesses, which we refer to throughout this Annual Report as our initial business combination. We have reviewed a number of opportunities to enter into a business combination. We have neither engaged in any operations nor generated any revenue to date. Based on our business activities, the Company is a “shell company” as defined under the Exchange Act because we have no operations and nominal assets consisting almost entirely of cash.
Our executive offices are located at 1701 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Ste # 460, Washington, D.C. 20006 and our telephone number is (202) 452-9133. Our corporate website address is http://c5acquisitions.com. Our website and the information contained on, or that can be accessed through, the website is not deemed to be incorporated by reference in, and is not considered part of, this Annual Report. You should not rely on any such information in making your decision whether to invest in our securities.
Company History
In May 2021, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 7,187,500 shares of Class B common stock (the “Class B common stock” or “founder shares”) for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000, or approximately $0.0035 per share. All share and per-share amounts have been retroactively restated to reflect the stock dividends. The number of shares of Class B common stock issued was based on the expectation that the shares of Class B common stock would represent 20% of the outstanding shares of our determined Class A common stock and our Class B common stock (collectively, our “common stock”) upon completion of the initial public offering (the “IPO”).
On January 11, 2022, we completed our IPO of 28,750,000 units at a price of $10.00 per unit (the “units”), generating gross proceeds of $287,500,000. Each unit consists of one of the Company’s shares of Class A common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, and one-half of one redeemable public warrant. Each whole warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one share of Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to certain adjustments.
Concurrently with the completion of the IPO, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 15,035,500 warrants (the “private placement warrants”) at a price of $1.00 per warrant, or $15,035,500 in the aggregate. An aggregate of $293,250,000 from the proceeds of the IPO and the private placement warrants was placed in a trust account (the “trust account”) such that the trust account held $293,250,000 at the time of closing of the IPO. Each whole private placement warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one share of Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to certain adjustments.
On February 25, 2022, we announced that, commencing February 28, 2022, holders of the 28,750,000 units sold in the IPO may elect to separately trade the shares of Class A common stock and the warrants included in the units. Those units not separated continued to trade on the New York Stock Exchange (the “NYSE”) under the symbol “CXAC.U” and the shares of Class A common stock and warrants that were separated trade under the symbols “CXAC” and “CXAC WS”, respectively.
Initial Business Combination
The NYSE rules require that an initial business combination must be with one or more operating businesses or assets with a fair market value equal to at least 80% of the net assets held in the trust account (net of amounts disbursed to management for working capital purposes, if applicable, and excluding the amount of any deferred underwriting discount). We refer to this as the 80% of net assets test. 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 that is a member of FINRA or from an independent accounting firm, with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. We do not currently intend to purchase multiple businesses in unrelated industries in conjunction with our initial business combination, although there is no assurance that will be the case.
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We may structure our initial business combination so that the post-transaction company in which our public stockholders own or acquire shares will own or acquire 100% of the outstanding equity interests or assets of the target business or businesses. We may, however, structure our initial business combination such that the post-transaction 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 stockholders or for other reasons, but we will only complete such business combination if the post-transaction 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 it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, or the Investment Company Act. Even if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target, our stockholders prior to our initial business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post-transaction company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in our initial business combination transaction. 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 of a target, or issue a substantial number of new shares to third parties in connection with financing our initial business combination. In such cases, 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 stockholders 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 outstanding equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses are owned or acquired by the post-transaction company, the portion of such business or businesses that is owned or acquired by us is what will be valued for purposes of the 80% of net assets test. If our initial 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 and we will treat the target businesses together as the initial business combination for the purposes of a tender offer or for seeking stockholder approval, as applicable.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation requires the affirmative vote of a majority of our board of directors, which must include a majority of our independent directors, to approve our initial business combination (or such other vote as the applicable law or stock exchange rules then in effect may require).
Corporate Information
We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, as modified by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, or 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 of 2002, or 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 non-binding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder 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 remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of: (1) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following January 11, 2027, (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 common stock and our Class B common stock (collectively, our “common stock”) that is held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the end of the prior fiscal year’s second fiscal quarter; and (2) the date on which we have issued more than $1.00 billion in non-convertible debt during the prior three-year period. References herein to “emerging growth company” shall have the meaning associated with it in the JOBS Act.
Financial Position
With funds available for a business combination in the amount of $297,414,415 as of December 31, 2022, assuming no redemptions and after payment of $10,062,500 of deferred underwriting fees, we offer a target business a variety of options such as creating a liquidity event for its owners, providing capital for the potential growth and expansion of its operations or strengthening its balance sheet by reducing its debt ratio. Because we are able to complete our initial business combination using our cash, debt or equity securities, or a combination of the foregoing, we have the flexibility to use the most efficient combination that will allow us to tailor the consideration to be paid to the target business to fit its needs and desires. However, we have not taken any steps to secure third party financing and there can be no assurance it will be available to us.
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Lack of Business Diversification
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:
• | subject us to negative economic, competitive and regulatory developments, any or all of which may have a substantial adverse impact on the particular industry in which we operate after our initial business combination; and |
• | dependent upon the development or market acceptance of a single or limited number of products, processes or services. |
Limited Ability to Evaluate the Target’s Management Team
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. 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 highly 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 our initial 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.
Stockholders may not have the ability to approve our initial business combination
We may conduct redemptions without a stockholder vote pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC. However, we will seek stockholder approval if it is required by applicable law or stock exchange rule, or we may decide to seek stockholder approval for business or other reasons.
Under the NYSE’s listing rules, stockholder approval would be required for our initial business combination if, for example:
• | we issue (other than in a public offering for cash) shares of common stock that will either (a) be equal to or in excess of 20% of the number of shares of common stock then outstanding or (b) have voting power equal to or in excess of 20% of the voting power then outstanding; |
• | any of our directors, officers or substantial security holders (as defined by the NYSE rules) has a 5% or greater interest, directly or indirectly, in the target business or assets to be acquired and if the number of shares of common stock to be issued, or if the number of shares of common stock into which the securities may be convertible or exercisable, exceeds either (a) 1% of the number of shares of common stock or 1% of the voting power outstanding before the issuance in the case of any of our directors and officers or (b) 5% of the number of shares of common stock or 5% of the voting power outstanding before the issuance in the case of any substantial security holders; or |
• | the issuance or potential issuance will result in our undergoing a change of control. |
The decision as to whether we will seek stockholder approval of a proposed business combination in those instances in which stockholder approval is not required by applicable law or stock exchange rule 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:
• | the timing of the transaction, including in the event we determine stockholder approval would require additional time and there is either not enough time to seek stockholder approval or doing so would place the company at a disadvantage in the transaction or result in other additional burdens on the company; |
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• | the expected cost of holding a stockholder vote; |
• | the risk that the stockholders would fail to approve the proposed business combination; |
• | other time and budget constraints of the company; and |
• | additional legal complexities of a proposed business combination that would be time-consuming and burdensome to present to stockholders. |
Permitted purchases and other transactions with respect to our securities
In the event we seek stockholder 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, officers, advisors or any of their respective affiliates may purchase public shares or public warrants in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination. There is no limit on the number of securities such persons may purchase. 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, officers, advisors or any of their respective 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 purchases or other transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such purchases or other transactions. None of the funds held in the trust account will be used to purchase public shares or public warrants in such transactions. Such persons will be subject to restrictions in making any such purchases when they are in possession of any material non-public information or if such purchases are prohibited by Regulation M under the Exchange Act. Such a purchase may include a contractual acknowledgement that such stockholder, although still the record holder of our shares, is no longer the beneficial owner thereof and therefore agrees not to exercise its redemption rights. We have adopted an insider trading policy which requires insiders to clear all trades with our legal counsel, our Chief Financial Officer or another officer prior to execution. We cannot currently determine whether our insiders will make such purchases pursuant to a Rule 10b5-1 plan, as it will be dependent upon several factors, including but not limited to, the timing and size of such purchases. Depending on such circumstances, our insiders may either make such purchases pursuant to a Rule 10b5-1 plan or determine that such a plan is not necessary.
In the event that our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their respective affiliates purchase public shares in privately negotiated transactions from public stockholders who have already elected to exercise their redemption rights or submitted a proxy to vote against our initial business combination, such selling stockholders 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 (1) vote such shares in favor of the initial business combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining stockholder approval of the initial business combination, (2) reduce the number of public warrants outstanding or to vote such public warrants on any matters submitted to the public 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 transactions 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 shares of Class A common stock 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, advisors and/or any of their respective affiliates anticipate that they may identify the stockholders with whom our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or any of their respective affiliates may pursue privately negotiated transactions by either the stockholders contacting us directly or by our receipt of redemption requests submitted by stockholders (in the case of public shares) following our mailing of proxy materials in connection with our initial business combination. To the extent that our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or any of their respective affiliates enter into a private transaction, they would identify and contact only potential selling or redeeming stockholders 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. Such persons would select the stockholders from whom to acquire shares based on the number of shares available, the negotiated price per share and such other factors as any such person may deem relevant at the time of purchase. The price per share paid in any such transaction may be different than the amount per share a public stockholder would receive if it elected to redeem its shares in connection with our initial business combination. Our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or any of their respective affiliates shall be restricted from purchasing shares if such purchases do not comply with Regulation M under the Exchange Act and the other federal securities laws.
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Any purchases by our sponsor, officers, directors and/or any of their respective affiliates who are affiliated purchasers under Rule 10b-18 under the Exchange Act shall be restricted unless such purchases are made in compliance with Rule 10b-18, which is a safe harbor from liability for manipulation under Section 9(a)(2) and Rule 10b-5 of the Exchange Act. Rule 10b-18 has certain technical requirements that must be complied with in order for the safe harbor to be available to the purchaser. Our sponsor, officers, directors and/or any of their respective affiliates shall be restricted from making purchases of common stock if such purchases would violate Section 9(a)(2) or Rule 10b-5 of the Exchange Act.
Redemption rights for public stockholders upon completion of our initial business combination
We will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their shares of common stock in connection with our initial business combination at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account as of two business days prior to the consummation of the initial business combination, including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, subject to the limitations described herein. At the time of our business combination, we will be required to purchase any public shares properly delivered for redemption and not withdrawn. The amount in the trust account as of the closing of the IPO was $10.20 per public share. The per share amount we will distribute to investors who properly redeem their public 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 public shares. There will be no redemption rights with respect to our public warrants. Our initial stockholders, officers, directors and advisors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and any public shares held by them in connection with our initial business combination.
Manner of conducting redemptions
We will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their shares of Class A common stock upon the completion of our initial business combination either: (1) in connection with a stockholder meeting called to approve the business combination; or (2) by means of a tender offer. The decision as to whether we will seek stockholder 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 stockholder approval under applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement. Asset acquisitions and stock purchases would not typically require stockholder approval while direct mergers with our company where we do not survive and any transactions where we issue more than 20% of our outstanding common stock or seek to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation would typically require stockholder approval. If we structure a business combination transaction with a target company in a manner that requires stockholder approval, we will not have discretion as to whether to seek a stockholder vote to approve the proposed business combination. We currently intend to conduct redemptions pursuant to a stockholder vote unless stockholder approval is not required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement and we choose to conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC for business or other reasons.
If a stockholder vote is not required and we do not decide to hold a stockholder vote for business or other reasons, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation:
• | conduct the redemptions pursuant to Rule 13e-4 and Regulation 14E of the Exchange Act, which regulate issuer tender offers; and |
• | file tender offer documents with the SEC prior to completing our initial business combination which contain substantially the same financial and other information about the initial business combination and the redemption rights as is required under Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act, which regulates the solicitation of proxies. |
Upon the public announcement of our initial business combination, we and our sponsor will terminate any plan established in accordance with Rule 10b5-1 to purchase shares of our Class A common stock in the open market if we elect to redeem our public shares through a tender offer, to comply with Rule 14e-5 under 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 Rule 14e-1(a) under 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 stockholders not tendering more than a specified number of public shares, which number will be based on the requirement that we may not redeem public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets, after payment of the deferred underwriting commissions, to be less than $5,000,001 or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. If public stockholders tender more shares than we have offered to purchase, we will withdraw the tender offer and not complete such initial business combination, and we instead may search for an alternate business combination (including, potentially, with the same target).
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If, however, stockholder approval of the transaction is required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement, or we decide to obtain stockholder approval for business or other reasons, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation:
• | conduct the redemptions in conjunction with a proxy solicitation pursuant to Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act, which regulates the solicitation of proxies, and not pursuant to the tender offer rules; and |
• | file proxy materials with the SEC. |
We expect that a final proxy statement would be mailed to public stockholders at least 10 days prior to the stockholder vote. However, we expect that a draft proxy statement would be made available to such stockholders well in advance of such time, providing additional notice of redemption if we conduct redemptions in conjunction with a proxy solicitation. Although we are not required to do so, we currently intend to comply with the substantive and procedural requirements of Regulation 14A in connection with any stockholder vote even if we are not able to maintain our NYSE listing or Exchange Act registration.
In the event that we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, we will distribute proxy materials and, in connection therewith, provide our public stockholders with the redemption rights described above upon completion of the initial business combination.
If we seek stockholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if a majority of the outstanding shares of common stock voted are voted in favor of the business combination. A quorum for such meeting will consist of the holders present in person or by proxy of shares of outstanding capital stock of the company representing a majority of the voting power of all outstanding shares of capital stock of the company entitled to vote at such meeting. Our initial stockholders, officers, directors and advisors will count towards this quorum and have agreed to vote any founder shares and any public shares held by them in favor of our initial business combination. These quorum and voting thresholds and agreements, may make it more likely that we will consummate our initial business combination. Each public stockholder may elect to redeem its public shares without voting, and if they do vote, irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction. In addition, our initial stockholders, officers, directors and advisors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and any public shares held by them in connection with the completion of a business combination.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets, after payment of the deferred underwriting commissions, to be less than $5,000,001 or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. For example, the proposed business combination may require: (1) cash consideration to be paid to the target or its owners; (2) cash to be transferred to the target for working capital or other general corporate purposes; or (3) 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 shares of Class A common stock 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 shares of Class A common stock submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof , and we instead may search for an alternate business combination (including, potentially, with the same target).
Limitation on redemption upon completion of our initial business combination if we seek stockholder approval
Notwithstanding the foregoing, if we seek stockholder 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 certificate of incorporation provides that a public stockholder, together with any affiliate of such stockholder or any other person with whom such stockholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from seeking redemption rights with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in the IPO, without our prior consent, which we refer to as the “Excess Shares.” We believe this restriction will discourage stockholders 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 affiliates to purchase their shares at a significant premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. Absent this provision, a public stockholder holding more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in the IPO could threaten to exercise its redemption rights if such holder’s shares are not purchased by us or our sponsor or our affiliates at a premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. By limiting our stockholders’ ability to redeem no more
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than 15% of the shares sold in the IPO, we believe we will limit the ability of a small group of stockholders 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 stockholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our initial business combination.
Tendering stock certificates in connection with a tender offer or redemption rights
We may require our public stockholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” to either tender their certificates to our transfer agent prior to the date set forth in the tender offer documents or proxy materials mailed to such holders, or up to two business days prior to the vote on the proposal to approve the business combination in the event we distribute proxy materials or to deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically using The Depository Trust Company’s DWAC (Deposit/Withdrawal At Custodian) System, rather than simply voting against the initial business combination at the holder’s option. The tender offer or proxy materials, as applicable, that we will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination will indicate whether we are requiring public stockholders to satisfy such delivery requirements, which will include the requirement that any beneficial owner on whose behalf a redemption right is being exercised must identify itself in order to validly redeem its shares. Accordingly, a public stockholder 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 vote on the business combination if we distribute proxy materials, as applicable, to tender its shares if it wishes to seek to exercise its redemption rights. Pursuant to the tender offer rules, the tender offer period will be not less than 20 business days and, in the case of a stockholder vote, a final proxy statement would be mailed to public stockholders at least 10 days prior to the stockholder vote. However, we expect that a draft proxy statement would be made available to such stockholders well in advance of such time, providing additional notice of redemption if we conduct redemptions in conjunction with a proxy solicitation. Given the relatively short exercise period, it is advisable for stockholders 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 Depository Trust Company’s DWAC (Deposit/ Withdrawal At Custodian) System. The transfer agent will typically charge the tendering broker $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.
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 stockholders’ 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 stockholder to arrange for him or her to deliver his or her certificate to verify ownership. As a result, the stockholder 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 stock 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 stockholders were aware they needed to commit before the stockholder 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 holder’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 the date set forth in the tender offer materials or two business days prior to the scheduled date of the stockholder meeting set forth in our proxy materials, as applicable (unless we elect to allow additional withdrawal rights). 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 stockholders 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 15 months from the closing of the IPO or during any Extension Period.
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Redemption of Public Shares and Liquidation if no Initial Business Combination
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that we will have until April 11, 2023, the date that is 15 months from the closing of the IPO to complete our initial business combination. If we have not completed our initial business combination within such period or during any Extension Period, we will: (1) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up; (2) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable, and less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any); and (3) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware 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 public warrants, which will expire worthless if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time period.
Our initial stockholders, officers, directors and advisors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have waived their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any founder shares held by them if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time period. However, if our sponsor or any of officers, directors, advisors acquires public shares after the IPO, it will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to such public shares if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the completion window.
Our sponsor, officers, directors and advisory board members have agreed, pursuant to a written agreement with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemptions 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 15 months from the closing of the IPO or (B) with respect to any other material provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, unless we provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their shares of Class A common stock upon approval of any such amendment at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable), divided by the number of 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.
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 held outside the trust account, although we cannot assure you that there will be sufficient funds for such purpose. However, if those funds are not sufficient to cover the costs and expenses associated with implementing our plan of dissolution, to the extent that there is any interest accrued in the trust account not required to pay taxes, we may request the trustee to release to us an additional amount of up to $100,000 of such accrued interest to pay those costs and expenses.
If we were to expend all of the net proceeds of the IPO 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 and any tax payments or expenses for the dissolution of the trust, the per share redemption amount received by stockholders upon our dissolution would be $10.20. 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 stockholders. We cannot assure you that the actual per share redemption amount received by stockholders will not be substantially less than $10.20. Please see “Item 1A. Risk Factors — If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.20 per share” and other risk factors included herein. Under Section 281(b) of the DGCL, our plan of dissolution must provide for all claims against us to be paid in full or make provision for payments to be made in full, as applicable, if there are sufficient assets. These claims must be paid or provided for before we make any distribution of our remaining assets to our stockholders. 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 (other than our independent registered public accounting firm), 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 stockholders, 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
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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 we are 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, or a prospective target business with which we have discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the trust account to below (1) $10.20 per public share; or (2) such lesser amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account 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 taxes, except as to any claims by a third party who executed a waiver of any and all rights to seek access to the trust account and except as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of the IPO 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. We have not independently verified whether our sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our company and, therefore, our sponsor may not be able to satisfy those obligations. We have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such obligations. 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 $10.20 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: (1) $10.20 per public share; or (2) such lesser amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account 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 taxes, 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 certain instances. For example, the cost of such legal action may be deemed by the independent directors to be too high relative to the amount recoverable or the independent directors may determine that a favorable outcome is not likely. Accordingly, we cannot assure you that due to claims of creditors the actual value of the per-share redemption price will not be substantially less than $10.20 per public share. Please see “Item 1A. Risk Factors — If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.20 per share” and other risk factors included herein.
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 (other than our independent registered public accounting firm), 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 the IPO against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. As of December 31, 2022, we had access to approximately $297.4 million in the trust account 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, stockholders who received funds from our trust account could be liable for claims made by creditors.
Under the DGCL, stockholders may be held liable for claims by third parties against a corporation to the extent of distributions received by them in a dissolution. The pro rata portion of our trust account distributed to our public stockholders upon the redemption of our public shares in the event we do not complete our initial business combination within the completion window may be considered a liquidating distribution under Delaware law. If the corporation complies with certain procedures set forth in Section 280 of the DGCL intended to ensure that it makes reasonable provision for all claims against it, including a 60-day notice period during which any third-party claims can be brought against the corporation, a 90-day period during which the corporation may reject any claims brought, and an additional 150-day waiting period before any liquidating distributions are made to stockholders, any liability of stockholders with respect to a liquidating distribution is limited to the lesser of such stockholder’s pro rata share of the claim or the amount distributed to the stockholder, and any liability of the stockholder would be barred after the third anniversary of the dissolution.
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Furthermore, if the pro rata portion of our trust account distributed to our public stockholders upon the redemption of our public shares in the event we do not complete our initial business combination within the completion window, is not considered a liquidating distribution under Delaware law and such redemption distribution is deemed to be unlawful, then pursuant to Section 174 of the DGCL, the statute of limitations for claims of creditors could then be six years after the unlawful redemption distribution, instead of three years, as in the case of a liquidating distribution. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination within the completion window, we will: (1) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up; (2) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (net of permitted withdrawals and up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any), subject to applicable law; and (3) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. Accordingly, it is our intention to redeem our public shares as soon as reasonably possible following the end of our acquisition period and, therefore, we do not intend to comply with those procedures. As such, our stockholders could potentially be liable for any claims to the extent of distributions received by them (but no more) and any liability of our stockholders may extend well beyond the third anniversary of such date.
Because we will not be complying with Section 280, Section 281(b) of the DGCL requires us to adopt a plan, based on facts known to us at such time that will provide for our payment of all existing and pending claims or claims that may be potentially brought against us within the subsequent ten years. However, because we are a blank check company, rather than an operating company, and our operations will be limited to searching for prospective target businesses to acquire, the only likely claims to arise would be from our vendors (such as lawyers, investment bankers, etc.) or prospective target businesses. As described above, pursuant to the obligation contained in our underwriting agreement, we will seek to have all vendors, service providers (other than our independent registered public accounting firm), 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 any monies held in the trust account.
As a result of this obligation, the claims that could be made against us are significantly limited and the likelihood that any claim that would result in any liability extending to the trust account is remote. Further, our sponsor may be liable only to the extent necessary to ensure that the amounts in the trust account are not reduced below: (1) $10.20 per public share; or (2) such lesser amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account 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 taxes, except as to any claims by a third party who executed a waiver of any and all rights to seek access to the trust account and except as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of the IPO 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.
If we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the proceeds held in the trust account could be subject to applicable bankruptcy law, and may be included in our bankruptcy estate and subject to the claims of third parties with priority over the claims of our stockholders. To the extent any bankruptcy claims deplete the trust account, we cannot assure you we will be able to return $10.20 per share to our public stockholders. Additionally, if we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, any distributions received by stockholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or bankruptcy laws as either a “preferential transfer” or a “fraudulent conveyance.” As a result, a bankruptcy court could seek to recover some or all amounts received by our stockholders. Furthermore, our board 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 stockholders 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. Please see “Item 1A. Risk Factors — If, after we distribute the proceeds in the trust account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, a bankruptcy court may seek to recover such proceeds, and the members of our board of directors may be viewed as having breached their fiduciary duties to our creditors, thereby exposing the members of our board of directors and us to claims of punitive damages.”
A public stockholder will be entitled to receive funds from the trust account only upon the earliest to occur of: (1) the completion of our initial business combination and then, only in connection with those public shares that such stockholder has properly elected to redeem, subject to the limitations described herein; (2) the redemption of any public shares properly submitted in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemptions 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 15 months from the closing of the IPO or (B) with respect to any other material provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity; and (3) the redemption of all of our public shares if we have not completed our initial business combination within 15 months from the closing of the IPO, subject to applicable law. In no other circumstances will a public stockholder have any right or interest of any kind to or in the trust account. In the event we seek stockholder approval in connection with our initial business combination, a stockholder’s voting in connection with our initial business combination alone will not result in a stockholder’s redeeming its shares to us for an applicable pro rata share of the trust account. Such stockholder must have also exercised its redemption rights described above. Holders of public warrants will not have any rights of proceeds held in the trust account with respect to the public warrants.
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Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation contains certain requirements and restrictions relating to the IPO that will apply to us until the consummation of our initial business combination. If we seek to amend any provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemptions 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 15 months from the closing of the IPO or (B) with respect to any other material provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, we will provide public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares in connection with any such vote. Our initial stockholders, officers, directors and advisors have agreed to waive any redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and any public shares held by them in connection with the completion of our initial business combination. Specifically, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides, among other things, that:
• | prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, we shall either: (1) seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination at a meeting called for such purpose, in connection with which, stockholders may seek to redeem their shares without voting, and if they do vote, irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction, into their pro rata share of the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, calculated as of two business days prior to the completion of our initial business combination, including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable); or (2) provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to tender their shares to us by means of a tender offer (and thereby avoid the need for a stockholder vote) for an amount equal to their pro rata share of the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, calculated as of two business days prior to the completion of our initial business combination, including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable), in each case subject to the limitations described herein; |
• | we will not redeem public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination and, if we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, we will proceed with the initial business combination if a majority of the outstanding shares voted are voted in favor of the initial business combination, or such other vote as required by law or stock exchange rule; |
• | if we have not completed our initial business combination within 15 months from the IPO, we will: (1) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up; (2) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable, and less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any), subject to applicable law; and (3) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law; and |
• | prior to our initial business combination, we may not issue additional shares of capital stock that would entitle the holders thereof to (1) receive funds from the trust account or (2) vote pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation on any initial business combination or any amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. |
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These provisions cannot be amended without the approval of holders of 65% of our common stock.
Additionally, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that, prior to our initial business combination, holders of the Class A common stock and holders of the Class B common stock voting together as a single class, shall have the exclusive right to vote for the election of directors and on all other matters properly submitted to a vote of the stockholders and any or all of the directors may be removed from office at any time, with or without cause, by the affirmative vote of holders of a majority of the voting power of all then outstanding shares of common stock entitled to vote generally in the election of directors, voting together as a single class.
Unless specified in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or bylaws, or as required by applicable law or stock exchange rules, the affirmative vote of holders of a majority of the outstanding shares of our common stock that are voted is required to approve any such matter voted on by our stockholders.
Facilities
We currently maintain our executive offices at 1701 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Ste # 460, Washington, D.C. 20006. The cost for this space is included in the $35,000 per month fee that we will pay our sponsor for office space and administrative and support services for up to 15 months. We consider our current office space adequate for our current operations.
Employees
We currently have two officers and do not intend to have any full-time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination. Members of our management team 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 that any such person will devote in any time period to our company will vary based on whether a target business has been selected for our initial business combination and the current stage of the business combination process.
Periodic Reporting and Financial Information
Our units, Class A common stock and warrants are registered under the Exchange Act and we have reporting obligations, including the requirement that we file annual, quarterly and current reports with the SEC. The SEC maintains an internet site at http://www.sec.gov that contains such reports, proxy and information statements and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC. In accordance with the requirements of the Exchange Act, our annual reports contain financial statements audited and reported on by our independent registered public accounting firm.
We will provide stockholders with audited financial statements of the prospective target business as part of the tender offer materials or proxy solicitation materials sent to stockholders to assist them in assessing the target business. These financial statements may be required to be prepared in accordance with, or be reconciled to United States generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) or international financial reporting standards as promulgated by the international accounting standards board (“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 (“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 financial statements in time for us to disclose such financial statements in accordance with federal proxy rules and complete our initial business combination within the completion window. We cannot assure you that any particular target business identified by us as a potential business combination candidate will have financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP 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 business combination candidates, we do not believe that this limitation will be material.
We are required to evaluate our internal control procedures for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2022 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 an emerging growth company will we be required to have our internal control procedures audited. A target business may not be in compliance with the provisions of the 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.
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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 a non-binding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder 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 remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of: (1) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following January 11, 2027, (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 common stock that is held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the end of the prior fiscal year’s second fiscal quarter; and (2) the date on which we have issued more than $1.00 billion in non-convertible debt during the prior three-year period. References herein to “emerging growth company” shall have the meaning associated with it in the JOBS Act.
Legal Proceedings
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, and we and the members of our management team have not been subject to any such proceeding in the 12 months preceding the date hereof.
Item 1A. | Risk Factors. |
An investment in our securities involves a high degree of risk. You should consider carefully all of the risks described below, together with the other information contained in this Annual Report, the prospectus associated with our IPO and the registration statement of which such prospectus forms a part before making a decision to invest in our securities. If any of the following events occur, our business, financial condition and operating results may be materially adversely affected. In that event, the trading price of our securities could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment.
Summary of Risk Factors
Our business is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties. These risks include, but are not limited to, risks associated with:
• | being a newly incorporated company with no operating history and no revenues; |
• | our ability to complete our initial business combination, including risks arising from the uncertainty resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic; |
• | our public stockholders’ ability to exercise redemption rights; |
• | the requirement that we complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame; |
• | the possibility that NYSE may delist our securities from trading on its exchange; |
• | being declared an investment company under the Investment Company Act; |
• | complying with changing laws and regulations; |
• | our ability to continue as a “going concern”; |
• | our ability to select an appropriate target business or businesses; |
• | the performance of the prospective target business or businesses; |
• | the pool of prospective target businesses available to us and the ability of our officers, directors and advisors to generate a number of potential business combination opportunities; |
• | the issuance of additional Class A common stock in connection with a business combination that may dilute the interest of our stockholders; |
• | the incentives to our sponsor, officers and directors to complete a business combination to avoid losing their entire investment in us if our initial business combination is not completed; |
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• | our officers and directors allocating their time to other businesses and potentially having conflicts of interest with our business or in approving our initial business combination; |
• | our success in retaining or recruiting, or changes required in, our officers, key employees or directors following our initial business combination; |
• | our ability to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination; |
• | our ability to amend the terms of public warrants in a manner that may be adverse to the holders of public warrants; |
• | our ability to redeem your unexpired public warrants prior to their exercise; |
• | our public securities’ potential liquidity and trading; and |
• | provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and Delaware law that may have the effect of inhibiting a takeover of us and discouraging lawsuits against our directors and officers. |
Risks Relating to Our Search for, and Consummation of or Inability to Consummate, an Initial Business Combination
Our public stockholders may not be afforded an opportunity to vote on our proposed initial business combination, and even if we hold a vote, holders of our founder shares will participate in such vote, which means we may complete our initial business combination even though a majority of our public stockholders do not support such a combination.
We may not hold a stockholder vote to approve our initial business combination unless the business combination would require stockholder approval under applicable law or stock exchange listing requirements or if we decide to hold a stockholder vote for business or other reasons. For instance, the NYSE rules currently allow us to engage in a tender offer in lieu of a stockholder meeting but would still require us to obtain stockholder approval if we were seeking to issue more than 20% of our outstanding shares to a target business as consideration in any business combination. Therefore, if we were structuring a business combination that required us to issue more than 20% of our outstanding shares, we would seek stockholder approval of such business combination. However, except as required by applicable law or stock exchange rules, the decision as to whether we will seek stockholder approval of a proposed business combination or will allow stockholders 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. Accordingly, we may consummate our initial business combination even if holders of a majority of our outstanding public shares do not approve of the business combination we consummate. Please see “Proposed Business — Stockholders may not have the ability to approve our initial business combination” for additional information.
As the number of special purpose acquisition companies evaluating targets increases, attractive targets may become scarcer and there may be more competition for attractive targets. This could increase the cost of our initial business combination and could even result in our inability to find a target or to consummate an initial business combination.
In recent years, the number of special purpose acquisition companies that have been formed has increased substantially. 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 preparing for an initial public offering or 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, effort and resources to identify and select 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 target 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.
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If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor, officers, directors and advisors have agreed to vote in favor of such initial business combination, regardless of how our public stockholders vote.
Our initial stockholders, officers, directors and advisors have agreed (and their permitted transferees will agree) to vote any founder shares and any public shares held by them in favor of our initial business combination. As a result, in addition to our initial stockholders’ founder shares, we would need 10,781,251, or 37.5% of the 28,750,000 public shares sold in the IPO to be voted in favor of a transaction (assuming all issued and outstanding shares are voted) in order to have such initial business combination approved. We expect that our initial stockholders and their permitted transferees will own at least 20% of our outstanding shares of common stock at the time of any such stockholder vote. Accordingly, if we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, it is more likely that the necessary stockholder approval will be received than would be the case if our initial stockholders and their permitted transferees agreed to vote their founder shares in accordance with the majority of the votes cast by our public stockholders.
Your only opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding a potential business combination will be limited to the exercise of your right to redeem your shares from us for cash, unless we seek stockholder approval of such business combination.
At the time of your investment in us, you will not be provided with an opportunity to evaluate the specific merits or risks of any target businesses. Additionally, since our board of directors may complete a business combination without seeking stockholder approval, public stockholders may not have the right or opportunity to vote on the business combination. Accordingly, if we do not seek stockholder approval, 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 stockholders in which we describe our initial business combination.
The ability of our public stockholders to redeem their shares for cash may make our financial condition unattractive to potential business combination targets, which may make it difficult for us to enter into a business combination with a target.
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 stockholders 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. The amount of the deferred underwriting commissions payable to the underwriters will not be adjusted for any shares that are redeemed in connection with a business combination and such amount of deferred underwriting discount is not available for us to use as consideration in an initial business combination. Furthermore, we will not redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. 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 (including, potentially, with the same target). Prospective targets will be aware of these risks and, thus, may be reluctant to enter into a business combination transaction with us. If we are able to consummate an initial business combination, the per-share value of shares held by non-redeeming stockholders will reflect our obligation to pay the deferred underwriting commissions.
The ability of our public stockholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our shares may not allow us to complete the most desirable business combination or optimize our capital structure.
At the time we enter into an agreement for our initial business combination, we will not know how many stockholders may exercise their redemption rights and, therefore, we will need to structure the transaction based on our expectations as to the number of shares that will be submitted for redemption. 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, we will need to reserve a portion of the cash in the trust account to meet such requirements or arrange for third-party financing. In addition, if a larger number of shares is submitted for redemption than we initially expected, we may need to restructure the transaction to reserve a greater portion of the cash in the trust account or arrange for 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 structure.
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We may engage any of our underwriters or their respective affiliates to provide additional services to us, which may include acting as financial advisor in connection with an initial business combination or as placement agent in connection with any related financing transactions. Our underwriters are entitled to receive deferred commissions that will be released from the trust only upon a completion of an initial business combination. These financial incentives may cause them to have potential conflicts of interest in rendering any such additional services to us, including, for example, in connection with the sourcing and consummation of an initial business combination.
We may engage any of our underwriters or their respective affiliates to provide additional services to us, including, for example, identifying potential targets, providing financial advisory services, acting as a placement agent in a private offering or arranging debt financing. We may pay such underwriters or their respective affiliates fair and reasonable fees or other compensation that would be determined at that time in an arm’s-length negotiation. Our underwriters are also entitled to receive deferred commissions that are conditioned on the completion of an initial business combination. The underwriters’ or their respective affiliates’ financial interests tied to the consummation of a business combination transaction may give rise to potential conflicts of interest in providing any such additional services to us, including potential conflicts of interest in connection with the sourcing and consummation of an initial business combination.
The ability of our public stockholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our shares could increase the probability that our initial business combination would be unsuccessful and that you would have to wait for liquidation in order to redeem your stock.
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 increases. If our initial business combination is unsuccessful, you would not receive your pro rata portion of the trust account until we liquidate the trust account. If you are in need of immediate liquidity, you could attempt to sell your stock in the open market; however, at such time our stock 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 stock in the open market.
Because our trust account contains $10.20 per share of Class A common stock, public stockholders may be more incentivized to redeem their public shares at the time of our initial business combination.
Our trust account contains $10.20 per share of Class A common stock. This is different than some other similarly structured blank check companies for which the trust account will only contain $10.00 per share of Class A common stock. As a result of the additional funds that could be available to public stockholders upon redemption of public shares, our public stockholders may be more incentivized to redeem their public shares and not to hold those shares of Class A common stock through our initial business combination. A higher percentage of redemptions by our public stockholders could make it more difficult for us to complete our initial business combination.
The requirement that we complete our initial business combination within the completion window may give potential target businesses leverage over us in negotiating a business combination and may limit the time we have in which to conduct due diligence on potential business combination targets, in particular as we approach our dissolution deadline, which could undermine our ability to complete our initial business combination on terms that would produce value for our stockholders.
Any potential target business with which we enter into negotiations concerning a business combination will be aware that we must complete our initial business combination within 15 months from the closing of the IPO.
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 timeframe 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.
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We may not be able to complete our initial business combination within the completion window, in which case we would cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up and we would redeem our public shares and liquidate, in which case our public stockholders may receive only $10.20 per share, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, and our warrants will expire worthless.
Our sponsor, officers, directors and advisors have agreed that we must complete our initial business combination within 15 months from the closing of the IPO. We may not be able to find a suitable target business and complete our initial business combination within such time period. 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, including as a result of terrorist attacks, wars, including the conflict in Ukraine and the surrounding region, natural disasters or a significant outbreak of infectious diseases. For example, the outbreak of COVID-19 continues to grow both in the U.S. and globally and, while the extent of the impact of the outbreak on us depends 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 of COVID-19 and other events (such as terrorist attacks, wars, including the conflict in Ukraine and the surrounding region, natural disasters or a significant outbreak of other infectious diseases) may negatively impact businesses we may seek to acquire. Additionally, financial markets may be adversely affected by current or anticipated military conflict, including between Russia and Ukraine, terrorism, sanctions or other geopolitical events globally. It may 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.
If we have not completed our initial business combination within such time period or during any Extension Period, we will: (1) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up; (2) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable, and less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any); and (3) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. In such case, our public stockholders may receive only $10.20 per share, or less than $10.20 per share, on the redemption of their shares, and our public warrants will expire worthless. Please see “If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.20 per share” and other risk factors herein.
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A new 1% U.S. federal excise tax could be imposed on us in connection with redemptions by us of our stock.
On August 16, 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (the “IRA”) was signed into federal law. The IRA provides for, among other things, a new U.S. federal 1% excise tax on certain repurchases (including certain redemptions) of stock by publicly traded U.S. corporations and certain U.S. subsidiaries of publicly traded non-U.S. corporations (each, a “covered corporation”) occurring after December 31, 2022. Because we are a Delaware corporation and our securities are trading on the NYSE, we are a “covered corporation” for this purpose. The excise tax is imposed on the repurchasing corporation itself, not its stockholders from which shares are repurchased. The amount of the excise tax is generally 1% of the fair market value of the shares repurchased at the time of the repurchase. However, for purposes of calculating the excise tax, repurchasing corporations are permitted to net the fair market value of certain new stock issuances against the fair market value of stock repurchases during the same taxable year. In addition, certain exceptions apply to the excise tax. The U.S. Department of the Treasury has authority to provide excise tax regulations and other guidance to carry out, and prevent the abuse or avoidance of, the excise tax. On December 27, 2022, the U.S. Department of the Treasury issued a notice that provides interim operating rules for the excise tax, including rules governing the calculation and reporting of the excise tax, on which taxpayers may rely until the forthcoming proposed Treasury regulations addressing the excise tax are published. Subject to potential exceptions, such notice generally provides that if a publicly traded U.S. corporation completely liquidates and dissolves, distributions in such complete liquidation and other distributions by such corporation in the same taxable year in which the final distribution in complete liquidation and dissolution is made are not subject to the excise tax. Although such notice clarifies certain aspects of the excise tax, the interpretation and operation of other aspects of the excise tax remain unclear, and such interim operating rules are subject to change. It remains uncertain in some respects whether, and/or to what extent, the excise tax could apply to any redemptions of our public shares after December 31, 2022, including any redemptions in connection with an initial business combination, if the deadline for us to complete a business combination is extended or in the event we do not consummate an initial business combination by the appropriate date and liquidate.
Our search for a business combination, and any target business with which we ultimately consummate a business combination, may be materially adversely affected by COVID-19 outbreak and other events and the status of debt and equity markets.
In December 2019, a novel strain of coronavirus was reported to have surfaced, 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 COVID-19 a “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 to COVID-19 and, on March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization characterized the outbreak as a “pandemic.” The COVID-19 outbreak has adversely affected, and other events (such as terrorist attacks, wars, including the conflict in Ukraine and the surrounding region, natural disasters or a significant outbreak of other infectious diseases) could adversely affect, economies and financial markets worldwide, business operations and the conduct of commerce generally, and the business of any potential target business with which we consummate a business combination could be, or may already have been, materially and adversely affected. Furthermore, we may be unable to complete a business combination if concerns relating to COVID-19 continue to restrict travel or 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 which COVID-19 impacts 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 of COVID-19 and the actions to contain COVID-19 or treat its impact, among others. In addition, if any treatment or vaccine for COVID-19 is ineffective or underutilized, any impact on our business may be prolonged. If the disruptions posed by COVID-19 or other events (such as terrorist attacks, wars, including the conflict in Ukraine and the surrounding region, natural disasters or a significant outbreak of other infectious diseases) 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.
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In addition, our ability to consummate a transaction may be dependent on the ability to raise equity and debt financing which may be impacted by COVID-19 and other events (such as terrorist attacks, wars, including the conflict in Ukraine and the surrounding region, natural disasters or a significant outbreak of other infectious diseases), including as a result of increased market volatility and decreased market liquidity and third-party financing being unavailable on terms acceptable to us or at all.
Finally, the outbreak of COVID-19 may 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.
The securities in which we invest the proceeds held in the trust account could bear a negative rate of interest, which could reduce the interest income available for payment of taxes or reduce the value of the assets held in trust such that the per share redemption amount received by public stockholders may be less than $10.20 per share.
The net proceeds of the IPO and certain proceeds from the sale of the private placement warrants, in the amount of $293,250,000, are held in an interest-bearing trust account. The proceeds held in the trust account may only be invested in direct U.S. government securities with 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. government 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, our public stockholders are entitled to receive their share of the proceeds held in the trust account, plus any interest income. If the balance of the trust account is reduced below $293,250,000 as a result of negative interest rates, the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public stockholders may be reduced below $10.20 per share.
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their respective affiliates may elect to purchase shares or warrants from the public, which may influence a vote on a proposed business combination and reduce the public “float” of our securities.
If we seek stockholder 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, officers, advisors or any of their respective affiliates may purchase public shares or public warrants or a combination thereof 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 or other duty to do so. Such a purchase may include a contractual acknowledgement that such public stockholder, although still the record holder of our shares is no longer the beneficial owner thereof and therefore agrees not to exercise its redemption rights. In the event that our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their respective affiliates purchase public shares in privately negotiated transactions from public stockholders who have already elected to exercise their redemption rights, such selling public stockholders would be required to revoke their prior elections to redeem their shares. The price per share paid in any such transaction may be different than the amount per share a public stockholder would receive if it elected to redeem its shares in connection with 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, officers, advisors or any of 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, such persons have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such transactions. The purpose of any such transaction could be to (1) vote such shares in favor of the initial business combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining stockholder approval of the initial business combination, (2) reduce the number of public warrants outstanding or to vote such public warrants on any matters submitted to the public 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 transactions 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 common stock or public warrants and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, possibly making it difficult to maintain or obtain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange.
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If a stockholder fails to receive notice of our offer to redeem our public shares in connection with our initial business combination, or fails to comply with the procedures for tendering its shares, such public shares may not be redeemed.
We will comply with the tender offer rules or proxy rules, as applicable, when conducting redemptions in connection with our initial business combination. Despite our compliance with these rules, if a stockholder fails to receive our tender offer or proxy materials, as applicable, such stockholder 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 tender or redeem public shares. For example, we may require our public stockholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” to either tender their certificates to our transfer agent prior to the date set forth in the tender offer or proxy materials documents mailed to such holders, or up to two business days prior to the vote on the proposal to approve the initial business combination in the event we distribute proxy materials, or to deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically. In the event that a stockholder fails to comply with these procedures, its shares may not be redeemed. You will not have any rights or interests in funds from the trust account, except under certain limited circumstances. To liquidate your investment, therefore, you may be forced to sell your public shares or warrants, potentially at a loss.
Our public stockholders will be entitled to receive funds from the trust account only upon the earlier to occur of: (1) the completion of our initial business combination, and then only in connection with those shares of Class A common stock that such stockholder properly elected to redeem, subject to the limitations described herein; (2) the redemption of any public shares properly submitted in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemptions 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 15 months from the closing of the IPO or (B) with respect to any other material provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity; and (3) the redemption of all of our public shares if we have not completed our initial business combination within 15 months from the closing of the IPO, subject to applicable law and as further described herein. In addition, if we have not completed an initial business combination within the required time period for any reason, compliance with Delaware law may require that we submit a plan of dissolution to our then-existing stockholders for approval prior to the distribution of the proceeds held in our trust account. In that case, public stockholders may be forced to wait beyond the end of such period before they receive funds from our trust account. In no other circumstances will a public stockholder have any right or interest of any kind in or to the trust account. Holders of public warrants will not have any right to the proceeds held in the trust account with respect to the public warrants. Accordingly, to liquidate your investment, you may be forced to sell your public shares or public warrants, potentially at a loss.
Because of our limited resources and the significant competition for business combination opportunities, it may be more difficult for us to complete our initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.20 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on our redemption of their stock, and our warrants will expire worthless.
We 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 will be relatively limited when contrasted with those of many of these competitors. While we believe there will be numerous target businesses, we could potentially acquire with the net proceeds of the IPO and the sale of the private placement warrants, our ability to compete with respect to the acquisition of certain target businesses that are sizable will be limited by our available financial resources. Our sponsor or any of its affiliates may make additional investments in us, although our sponsor and its affiliates have no obligation or other duty to do so. This inherent competitive limitation gives others an advantage in pursuing the acquisition of certain target businesses. Furthermore, our obligation to pay cash in connection with our public stockholders 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 target businesses. Any of these factors may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating and completing an initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.20 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. See “—If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.20 per share” and other risk factors herein.
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If the funds available to us outside of the trust account are insufficient to allow us to operate for at least the 15 months following the closing of the IPO, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination.
The funds available to us outside of the trust account may not be sufficient to allow us to operate for at least the 15 months following the closing of the IPO, assuming that our initial business combination is not completed during that time. We expect to incur significant costs in pursuit of our acquisition plans. Management’s plans to address this need for capital through the IPO and potential loans from certain of our affiliates are discussed under “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.” However, our affiliates are not obligated to make loans to us in the future, and we may not be able to raise additional financing from unaffiliated parties necessary to fund our expenses. Any such event in the future may negatively impact the analysis regarding our ability to continue as a going concern at such time.
We believe that the funds available to us outside of the trust account, will be sufficient to allow us to operate for at least the 15 months following the closing of the IPO; however, we cannot assure you that our estimate is accurate. Of the funds available to us, we could use a portion of the funds available to us to pay commitment fees for financing, director and officer liability insurance premiums, fees to consultants to assist us with our search for a target business or as a down payment or to fund a “no-shop” provision (a provision in letters of intent or merger agreements 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 an agreement 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 prospective target business. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.20 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. See “—If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.20 per share” and other risk factors herein.
If the net proceeds of the IPO and the sale of the private placement warrants not being held in the trust account are insufficient, it could limit the amount available to fund our search for a target business or businesses and complete our initial business combination and we will depend on loans from our sponsor or management team to fund our search, to pay our taxes and to complete our initial business combination. If we are unable to obtain such loans, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination.
If we are required to seek additional capital, we would need to borrow funds from our sponsor, management team or other third parties to operate or may be forced to liquidate. Neither our sponsor, members of our management team nor any of their respective affiliates is under any obligation or other duty to loan funds to, or invest in, us in such circumstances. Any such loans may be repaid only from funds held outside the trust account or from funds released to us upon completion of our initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination because we do not have sufficient funds available to us, we will be forced to cease operations and liquidate the trust account. In such case, our public stockholders may receive only $10.20 per share, or less in certain circumstances, and our warrants will expire worthless. See “—If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.20 per share” and other risk factors herein.
We may issue our shares to investors in connection with our initial business combination at a price that is less than the prevailing market price of our shares at that time.
In connection with our initial business combination, we may issue shares to investors in private placement transactions (so-called PIPE transactions) at a price of $10.00 per share or at a price which approximates the per-share amounts in our trust account at such time. The purpose of such issuances will be to enable us to provide sufficient liquidity to the post-business combination entity and such issuances may be made upon beneficial terms to such investors, which could cause dilution to our existing stockholders. The price of the shares we issue may therefore be less, and potentially significantly less, than the market price for our shares at such time.
Subsequent to our completion of our initial business combination, we may be required to subsequently take write-downs or write-offs, restructuring and impairment or other charges that could have a significant negative effect on our financial condition, results of operations and the price of our securities, which could cause you to lose some or all of your investment.
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 that may be present 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 or write-off assets, 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
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analysis. Even though these charges may be non-cash items 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 assuming pre-existing debt held by a target business or by virtue of our obtaining post-combination debt financing. Accordingly, any stockholders or warrant holders who choose to remain a stockholder or warrant holder following our initial business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such stockholders or warrant holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.
If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.20 per share.
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 (other than our independent registered public accounting firm), 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 any monies held in the trust account for the benefit of our public stockholders, 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. Making such a request of potential target businesses may make our acquisition proposal less attractive to them and, to the extent prospective target businesses refuse to execute such a waiver, it may limit the field of potential target businesses that we might pursue. 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 we are 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 are unable to complete our initial business combination within the completion window, 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 10 years following redemption. Accordingly, the per share redemption amount received by public stockholders could be less than the $10.20 per share initially held in the trust account, due to claims of such creditors.
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, or a prospective target business with which we have discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the trust account to below: (1) $10.20 per public share; or (2) such lesser amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account 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 taxes, except as to any claims by a third party who executed a waiver of any and all rights to seek access to the trust account and except as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of the IPO 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. We have not independently verified whether our sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our company. Our sponsor may not have sufficient funds available to satisfy those obligations. We have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such obligations, and therefore, no funds are currently set aside to cover any such 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 $10.20 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, directors or advisors will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses.
Our independent directors may decide not to enforce the indemnification obligations of our sponsor, resulting in a reduction in the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public stockholders.
In the event that the proceeds in the trust account are reduced below the lesser of: (1) $10.20 per public share; or (2) such lesser amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account 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 taxes, 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
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us, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment may choose not to do so in certain instances. For example, the cost of such legal action may be deemed by the independent directors to be too high relative to the amount recoverable or the independent directors may determine that a favorable outcome is not likely. 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 stockholders may be reduced below $10.20 per share.
If, after we distribute the proceeds in the trust account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, a bankruptcy court may seek to recover such proceeds, and the members of our board of directors may be viewed as having breached their fiduciary duties to our creditors, thereby exposing the members of our board of directors and us to claims of punitive damages.
If, after we distribute the proceeds in the trust account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, any distributions received by stockholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or bankruptcy laws as either a “preferential transfer” or a “fraudulent conveyance.” As a result, a bankruptcy court could seek to recover some or all amounts received by our stockholders. 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 by paying public stockholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors, thereby exposing itself and us to claims of punitive damages.
If, before distributing the proceeds in the trust account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the claims of creditors in such proceeding may have priority over the claims of our stockholders and the per share amount that would otherwise be received by our stockholders in connection with our liquidation may be reduced.
If, before distributing the proceeds in the trust account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the proceeds held in the trust account could be subject to applicable bankruptcy law, and may be included in our bankruptcy estate and subject to the claims of third parties with priority over the claims of our stockholders. To the extent any bankruptcy claims deplete the trust account, the per share amount that would otherwise be received by our public stockholders in connection with our liquidation would be reduced.
Our independent registered public accounting firm’s report contains an explanatory paragraph that expresses substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a “going concern.”
We may not have sufficient liquidity to fund our working capital needs through one year from the issuance of the financial statements contained elsewhere in this Annual Report. In connection with our assessment of going concern considerations in accordance with FASB ASC 205-40, “Basis of Presentation-Going Concern,” if we are not able to consummate a Business Combination before April 11, 2023 (or such later date as may be extended by the Sponsor), we will commence an automatic winding up, dissolution and liquidation. Management has determined that the automatic liquidation, should a Business Combination not occur, and potential subsequent dissolution raises substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. No adjustments have been made to the carrying amounts of assets or liabilities for these facts.
If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, we may be required to institute burdensome compliance requirements and our activities may be restricted, which may make it difficult for us to complete our initial business combination.
If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, our activities may be restricted, including, without limitation, restrictions on the nature of our investments, and restrictions on the issuance of our securities, each of which may make it difficult for us to complete our business combination. In addition, we may have imposed upon us burdensome requirements, including, without limitation, registration as an investment company; adoption of a specific form of corporate structure; and reporting, record keeping, voting, proxy and disclosure requirements and other rules and regulations.
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 in securities and that our activities do not include investing, reinvesting, owning, holding or trading “investment securities” constituting more than 40% of our total 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 anticipated 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 Rule 2a-7 promulgated 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. This IPO is not intended for persons who are seeking a return on investments in government securities or investment securities. The trust account is intended as a holding place for funds pending the earliest to occur of: (i) the completion of our primary business objective, which is a business combination; (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly submitted in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemptions in connection with our initial
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business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 15 months from the IPO or (B) with respect to any other material provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity; and (iii) absent a business combination, our return of the funds held in the trust account to our public stockholders 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 consummate our initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.20 per share on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public stockholders may receive less than $10.20 per share on the redemption of their shares. See “—If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.20 per share” and other risk factors herein.
Changes in laws or regulations, or a failure to comply with any laws and regulations, may adversely affect our business, including our ability to negotiate and complete our initial business combination, and results of operations.
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.
Because we are neither limited to evaluating target businesses in a particular industry nor have we selected any specific target businesses with which to pursue our initial business combination, you will be unable to ascertain the merits or risks of any particular target business’s operations.
We may seek to complete a business combination with an operating company in any industry or sector. However, we will not, under our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, be permitted to effectuate our initial business combination with another blank check company or similar company with nominal operations. Because we have not yet selected or approached 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 units 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 stockholders or warrant holders who choose to remain a stockholder or warrant holder following our initial business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such stockholders or warrant holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.
Although we have identified general criteria and guidelines that we believe are important in evaluating prospective target businesses, we may enter into our initial business combination with a target that does not meet such criteria and guidelines, and as a result, the target business with which we enter into our initial business combination may not have attributes entirely consistent with our general criteria and guidelines.
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 criteria and 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 stockholders 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 stockholder approval of the transaction is required by applicable law or stock exchange rules, or we decide to obtain stockholder approval for business or other reasons, it may be more difficult for us to attain stockholder approval of our initial business combination if the target business does not meet our general criteria and guidelines. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.20 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.
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We may seek acquisition opportunities in acquisition targets that may be outside of our management’s areas of expertise.
We will consider a business combination in sectors which may be outside of our management’s areas of expertise if such business combination candidate is presented to us and we determine that such candidate offers an attractive acquisition opportunity for our company. 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 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 relevant to such acquisition. Accordingly, any stockholders or warrant holders who choose to remain a stockholder or warrant holder following our initial business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such stockholders or warrant holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.
We may seek acquisition opportunities with an early stage company, a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of revenue or earnings, which could subject us to volatile revenues or earnings, intense competition and difficulties in obtaining and retaining key personnel.
To the extent we complete our initial business combination with an early stage company, a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of sales or earnings, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in the operations of the business with which we combine. These risks include investing in a business without a proven business model and with limited historical financial data, volatile revenues or earnings, intense competition and difficulties in obtaining and retaining key personnel. Although our officers and directors will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we may not be able to properly ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors. 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 are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or from an independent accounting firm regarding fairness. Consequently, you may have no assurance from an independent source that the price we are paying for the business is fair to our stockholders from a financial point of view.
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 from an independent accounting firm that the price we are paying is fair to our company from a financial point of view. If no opinion is obtained, our stockholders 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 tender offer documents or proxy solicitation materials, as applicable, related to our initial business combination.
We may issue additional shares of Class A common stock or preferred stock to complete our initial business combination or under an employee incentive plan after completion of our initial business combination. We may also issue shares of Class A common stock upon the conversion of the Class B common stock at a ratio greater than one-to-one at the time of our initial business combination as a result of the anti-dilution provisions described herein. Any such issuances would dilute the interest of our stockholders and likely present other risks.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation authorizes the issuance of up to 500,000,000 shares of Class A common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, and 100,000,000 shares of Class B common stock, par value $0.0001 per share and 1,000,000 shares of undesignated preferred stock, par value $0.0001 per share. There are 475,000,000 and 93,750,000 authorized but unissued shares of Class A and Class B common stock, respectively, available for issuance, which amount takes into account shares reserved for issuance upon exercise of outstanding warrants but not upon the conversion of the Class B common stock. Shares of Class B common stock are automatically convertible into shares of our Class A common stock at the time of our initial business combination, initially at a one-for-one ratio but subject to adjustment as set forth herein. There are no shares of preferred stock issued and outstanding.
We may issue a substantial number of additional shares of Class A common stock, and may issue shares of preferred stock, in order to complete our initial business combination or under an employee incentive plan after completion of our initial business combination. We may also issue shares of Class A common stock to redeem the warrants or upon conversion of the Class B common stock at a ratio greater than one-to-one at the time of our initial business combination as a result of the anti-dilution provisions described herein. However, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides, among other things, that prior to our initial business combination, we may not issue additional shares of capital stock that would entitle the holders thereof to (1) receive funds from the trust account or (2) vote pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation on any initial business combination or any amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. The issuance of additional shares of common or preferred stock:
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• | may significantly dilute the equity interest of investors in the IPO, which dilution would increase if the anti-dilution provisions in the Class B common stock resulted in the issuance of Class A shares on a greater than one-to-one basis upon conversion of the Class B common stock; |
• | may subordinate the rights of holders of common stock if preferred stock is issued with rights senior to those afforded our common stock; |
• | could cause a change of control if a substantial number of shares of our common stock is issued, which may affect, among other things, our ability to use our net operating loss carry forwards, if any, and could result in the resignation or removal of our present officers and directors; |
• | may have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control of us by diluting the stock ownership or voting rights of a person seeking to obtain control of us; |
• | may adversely affect prevailing market prices for our units, Class A common stock and/or public warrants; and |
• | may not result in adjustment to the exercise price of our warrants. |
Resources could be wasted in researching initial business combinations that are not completed, which could materially adversely affect subsequent attempts to locate and acquire or merge with another business. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.20 per share, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.
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 are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.20 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. See “—If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.20 per share” and other risk factors herein.
We may only be able to complete one business combination with the proceeds from the IPO and the sale of the private placement warrants, which will cause us to be solely dependent on a single business which may have a limited number of products or services. This lack of diversification may materially negatively impact our operations and profitability.
The net proceeds from the IPO and the sale of the private placement warrants provides us with $293,250,000 that we may use to complete our initial business combination (which includes $10,062,500 of deferred underwriting commissions being held in the trust account, and excludes offering expenses of $555,761).
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 SEC 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 risks. 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:
• | solely dependent upon the performance of a single business, property or asset; or |
• | dependent upon the development or market acceptance of a single or limited number of products, processes or services. |
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.
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We may attempt to simultaneously complete business combinations with multiple prospective targets, which may hinder our ability to complete our initial business combination and give rise to increased costs and risks that could negatively impact our operations and profitability.
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 investigations (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.
We may attempt to complete our initial business combination with a private company about which little information is available, which may result in a business combination with a company that is not as profitable as we suspected, if at all.
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.
Our management may not be able to maintain control of a target business after our initial business combination. 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 structure our initial business combination so that the post-transaction company in which our public stockholders 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-transaction 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-transaction company owns 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our stockholders 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 our initial business combination. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares of common stock in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock 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 shares of common stock, our stockholders immediately prior to such transaction could own less than a majority of our outstanding shares of common stock subsequent to such transaction. In addition, other minority stockholders may subsequently combine their holdings resulting in a single person or group obtaining a larger share of the company’s stock than we initially acquired. Accordingly, this may make it more likely that our management will not be able to maintain our control of the target business.
We do not have a specified maximum redemption threshold. The absence of such a redemption threshold may make it possible for us to complete our initial business combination with which a substantial majority of our stockholders do not agree.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation does not provide a specified maximum redemption threshold, except that we will not redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. As a result, we may be able to complete our initial business combination even though a substantial majority of our public stockholders do not agree with the transaction and have redeemed their shares or, if we seek stockholder 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 any of their respective affiliates. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all shares of common stock 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 shares of common stock submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof, and we instead may search for an alternate business combination (including, potentially, with the same target).
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The exercise price for the public warrants is higher than in some other blank check company offerings, and, accordingly, the public warrants are more likely to expire worthless.
The exercise price of the public warrants is higher than in some other blank check companies. For example, historically, the exercise price of a warrant was often a fraction of the purchase price of the units in the initial public offering. The exercise price for our public warrants is $11.50 per share, subject to adjustments as provided herein. As a result, the public warrants are less likely to ever be in the money and more likely to expire worthless.
In order to effectuate an initial business combination, blank check companies have, in the recent past, amended various provisions of their charters and modified governing instruments, including their warrant agreements. We cannot assure you that we will not seek to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or governing instruments, including our warrant agreement, in a manner that will make it easier for us to complete our initial business combination that some of our stockholders or warrant holders may not support.
In order to effectuate an initial business combination, blank check companies have, in the recent past, amended various provisions of their charters and modified 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. 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. To the extent any such amendment would be deemed to fundamentally change the nature of any of the securities offered through the registration statement, we would register, or seek an exemption from registration for, the affected securities.
Certain provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation that relate to our pre-business combination activity (and corresponding provisions of the agreement governing the release of funds from our trust account) may be amended with the approval of holders of not less than 65% of our common stock, which is a lower amendment threshold than that of some other blank check companies. It may be easier for us, therefore, to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and the trust agreement to facilitate the completion of an initial business combination that some of our stockholders may not support.
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 a company’s pre-business combination activity, without approval by holders of a certain percentage of the company’s stockholders. In those companies, amendment of these provisions typically requires approval by holders holding between 90% and 100% of the company’s public shares. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that any of its provisions related to pre-business combination activity (including the requirement to deposit proceeds from the IPO and the sale of the private placement warrants into the trust account and not release such amounts except in specified circumstances and to provide redemption rights to public stockholders as described herein) may be amended if approved by holders of at least 65% of our outstanding common stock, 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 outstanding common stock. Unless specified in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or bylaws, or as required by applicable law or stock exchange rules, the affirmative vote of a majority of the outstanding shares of our common stock that are voted is required to approve any such matter voted on by our stockholders, and, prior to our initial business combination, the affirmative vote of holders of a majority of the outstanding shares of our Class B common stock is required to approve the election or removal of directors. We may not issue additional securities that can vote pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation on any initial business combination or any amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. Our initial stockholders, who will beneficially own 20% of our common stock upon the IPO (assuming they do not purchase any units in the IPO), may participate in any vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation 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 certificate of incorporation which will govern our pre-business combination behavior more easily than some other blank check companies, and this may increase our ability to complete our initial business combination with which you do not agree.
Our sponsor, officers, directors and advisors have agreed, pursuant to a written agreement, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemptions 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 15 months from the closing of the IPO or (B) with respect to any other material provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, unless we provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their shares of Class A common stock upon approval of any such amendment at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, divided by the number of then outstanding public shares. These agreements are contained in a letter agreement that we have entered into with our sponsor, officers, directors and advisors. Our public stockholders 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, officers, directors and advisors for any breach of these agreements. As a result, in the event of a breach, our public stockholders would need to pursue a stockholder derivative action, subject to applicable law.
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We may be unable to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination or to fund the operations and growth of a target business, which could compel us to restructure or abandon a particular business combination.
Although we believe that the net proceeds of the IPO and the sale of the private placement warrants will be sufficient to allow us to complete our initial business combination, because we have not selected any specific business combination target and we have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, engaged in any substantive discussions, directly or indirectly, with any business combination target with respect to an initial business combination with us, we cannot ascertain the capital requirements for any particular transaction. If the net proceeds of the IPO and the sale of the private placement warrants 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 stockholders 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 (including pursuant to a specified future issuance) or to abandon the proposed business combination. We cannot assure you that such financing will be available on acceptable terms, if at all. 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. 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. None of our officers, directors, advisors or stockholders is required to provide any financing to us in connection with or after our initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.20 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account, and our public warrants will expire worthless.
Changes in the market for directors and officers liability insurance could make it more difficult and more expensive for us to negotiate and complete an initial business combination.
In recent months, the market for directors and officers liability insurance for special purpose acquisition companies has changed in ways adverse to us and our management team. Fewer insurance companies are offering quotes for directors and officers liability coverage, the premiums charged for such policies have generally increased and the terms of such policies have generally become less favorable. These trends may continue into the future.
The increased cost and decreased availability of directors and officers liability insurance could make it more difficult and more expensive for us to negotiate an initial business combination. In order to obtain directors and officers liability insurance or modify its coverage as a result of becoming a public company, the post-business combination entity might need to incur greater expense or accept less favorable terms, or both. However, any failure to obtain adequate directors and officers liability insurance could have an adverse impact on the post-business combination’s ability to attract and retain qualified officers and directors.
In addition, even after we were to complete an initial business combination, our directors and officers could still be subject to potential liability from claims arising from conduct alleged to have occurred prior to the initial business combination. As a result, in order to protect our directors and officers, the post-business combination entity may need to purchase additional insurance with respect to any such claims (“run-off insurance”). The need for run-off insurance would be an added expense for the post-business combination entity and could interfere with or frustrate our ability to consummate an initial business combination on terms favorable to our investors.
Risks Relating to Our Securities
The NYSE may delist our securities from trading on its exchange, which could limit investors’ ability to make transactions in our securities and subject us to additional trading restrictions.
Our units, Class A common stock and warrants are listed on the NYSE. We cannot assure you that our securities will be, or 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 stock price levels. In general, we must maintain a minimum number of holders of our securities. Additionally, in connection with our initial business combination, we are required to demonstrate compliance with the NYSE’s initial listing requirements, which are more rigorous than the NYSE’s continued listing requirements, in order to continue to maintain the listing of our securities on the NYSE. For instance, our stock price would generally be required to be at least $4 per share, our global market capitalization would be required to be at least $200,000,000, the aggregate market value of publicly-held shares would be required to be at least $100,000,000 and we would be required to have at least 400 round lot holders. We cannot assure you that we will be able to meet those initial listing requirements at that time.
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If the NYSE delists any of our securities from trading on its exchange and we are not able to list such securities on another national securities exchange, we expect such securities could be quoted on an over-the- counter market. 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 common stock is a “penny stock” which will require brokers trading in our Class A common stock 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 we expect that our units and eventually our Class A common stock and warrants will be listed on the NYSE, our units, Class A common stock and warrants will qualify as covered securities under such statute. Although the states are preempted from regulating the sale of our 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 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 such statute and we would be subject to regulation in each state in which we offer our securities.
You will not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors of many other blank check companies.
Since the net proceeds of the IPO and the sale of the private placement warrants are intended to be used to complete an initial business combination with a target business, we may be deemed to be a “blank check” company under the U.S. securities laws. However, since our securities are listed on a national securities exchange, we are exempt from rules promulgated by the SEC to protect investors in blank check companies, such as Rule 419. Accordingly, investors will not be afforded the benefits or protections of those rules. Among other things, this means our units will be immediately tradable and we will have a longer period of time to complete our initial business combination than do companies subject to Rule 419. Moreover, if the IPO were subject to Rule 419, that rule would prohibit 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 our initial business combination.
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, and if you or a “group” of stockholders are deemed to hold in excess of 15% of our Class A common stock, you will lose the ability to redeem all such shares in excess of 15% of our Class A common stock.
If we seek stockholder 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 certificate of incorporation provides that a public stockholder, together with any affiliate of such stockholder or any other person with whom such stockholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from seeking redemption rights with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in the IPO, without our prior consent, which we refer to as the “Excess Shares.” However, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation does not restrict our stockholders’ 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 the Excess Shares and, in order to dispose of such shares, would be required to sell your Excess Shares in open market transactions, potentially at a loss.
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Our stockholders may be held liable for claims by third parties against us to the extent of distributions received by them upon redemption of their shares.
Under the DGCL, stockholders may be held liable for claims by third parties against a corporation to the extent of distributions received by them in a dissolution. The pro rata portion of our trust account distributed to our public stockholders upon the redemption of our public shares in the event we do not complete our initial business combination within the completion window may be considered a liquidating distribution under Delaware law. If a corporation complies with certain procedures set forth in Section 280 of the DGCL intended to ensure that it makes reasonable provision for all claims against it, including a 60-day notice period during which any third-party claims can be brought against the corporation, a 90-day period during which the corporation may reject any claims brought, and an additional 150-day waiting period before any liquidating distributions are made to stockholders, any liability of stockholders with respect to a liquidating distribution is limited to the lesser of such stockholder’s pro rata share of the claim or the amount distributed to the stockholder, and any liability of the stockholder would be barred after the third anniversary of the dissolution. However, it is our intention to redeem our public shares as soon as reasonably possible following the 24th month from the closing of the IPO in the event we do not complete our initial business combination and, therefore, we do not intend to comply with the foregoing procedures.
Because we do not intend to comply with Section 280, Section 281(b) of the DGCL requires us to adopt a plan, based on facts known to us at such time that will provide for our payment of all existing and pending claims or claims that may be potentially brought against us within the 10 years following our dissolution. However, because we are a blank check company, rather than an operating company, and our operations will be limited to searching for prospective target businesses to acquire, the only likely claims to arise would be from our vendors (such as lawyers, investment bankers, consultants, etc.) or prospective target businesses. If our plan of distribution complies with Section 281(b) of the DGCL, any liability of stockholders with respect to a liquidating distribution is limited to the lesser of such stockholder’s pro rata share of the claim or the amount distributed to the stockholder, and any liability of the stockholder would likely be barred after the third anniversary of the dissolution. We cannot assure you that we will properly assess all claims that may be potentially brought against us. As such, our stockholders could potentially be liable for any claims to the extent of distributions received by them (but no more) and any liability of our stockholders may extend beyond the third anniversary of such date. Furthermore, if the pro rata portion of our trust account distributed to our public stockholders upon the redemption of our public shares in the event we do not complete our initial business combination within the completion window is not considered a liquidating distribution under Delaware law and such redemption distribution is deemed to be unlawful, then pursuant to Section 174 of the DGCL, the statute of limitations for claims of creditors could then be six years after the unlawful redemption distribution, instead of three years, as in the case of a liquidating distribution.
We may not hold an annual meeting of stockholders until after we consummate our initial business combination and you will not be entitled to any of the corporate protections provided by such a meeting.
We may not hold an annual meeting of stockholders until after we consummate our initial business combination (unless required by the NYSE) and thus may not be in compliance with Section 211(b) of the DGCL, which requires an annual meeting of stockholders be held for the purposes of electing directors in accordance with a company’s bylaws unless such election is made by written consent in lieu of such a meeting. Therefore, if our stockholders want us to hold an annual meeting prior to our consummation of our initial business combination, they may attempt to force us to hold one by submitting an application to the Delaware Court of Chancery in accordance with Section 211(c) of the DGCL. Until we hold an annual meeting of stockholders, public stockholders may not be afforded the opportunity to discuss company affairs with management. In addition, prior to our business combination (a) as holders of our Class A common stock, our public stockholders will not have the right to vote on the appointment of our directors and (b) holders of a majority of the outstanding shares of our Class B common stock may remove a member of our board of directors for any reason.
We are not registering the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants under the Securities Act or any state securities laws at this time, and such registration may not be in place when an investor desires to exercise warrants, thus precluding such investor from being able to exercise its warrants except on a “cashless basis” and potentially causing such warrants to expire worthless.
We are not registering the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the public warrants under the Securities Act or any state securities laws at this time. However, under the terms of the public warrant agreement, we have agreed that as soon as practicable, but in no event later than twenty business days after the closing of our initial business combination, we will use our commercially reasonable efforts to file with the SEC, and within 60 business days following our initial business combination to have declared effective, a registration statement covering the issuance of the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the public warrants and to maintain a current prospectus relating to those shares of Class A common stock until the public warrants expire or are redeemed. We cannot assure you that we will 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, the financial statements contained or incorporated by reference therein are not current, complete or correct or the SEC issues a stop order. If the shares issuable upon exercise of the public warrants are not registered under the Securities Act, we will be required to permit holders to exercise their
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public warrants on a cashless basis. However, no public 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 public 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 common stock is at the time of any exercise of a public warrant not listed on a national securities exchange such that it satisfies 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 public 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 our commercially reasonable efforts to register or qualify the shares under applicable blue sky laws to the extent an exemption is not available. In no event will we be required to net cash settle any public warrant, or issue securities or other compensation in exchange for the public warrants in the event that we are unable to register or qualify the shares underlying the public warrants under applicable state securities laws and no exemption is available. If the issuance of the shares upon exercise of the public warrants is not so registered or qualified or exempt from registration or qualification, the holder of such public warrant shall not be entitled to exercise such public warrant and such public warrant may have no value and expire worthless. In such event, holders who acquired their public warrants as part of a purchase of units will have paid the full unit purchase price solely for the shares of Class A common stock 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 private placement warrants while a corresponding exemption does not exist for holders of the public warrants included as part of units sold in the IPO. In such an instance, our sponsor and its permitted transferees (which may include our directors, officers and advisors) would be able to exercise their warrants and sell the shares of Class A common stock underlying their private placement warrants while holders of our public warrants would not be able to exercise their warrants and sell the underlying shares of Class A common stock. If and when the public warrants become redeemable by us, we may exercise our redemption right even if we are unable to register or qualify the underlying shares of Class A common stock for sale under all applicable state securities laws. As a result, we may redeem public warrants even if the holders are otherwise unable to exercise their public warrants.
The grant of registration rights to our initial stockholders and their permitted transferees may make it more difficult to complete our initial business combination, and the future exercise of such rights may adversely affect the market price of our Class A common stock.
Pursuant to an agreement entered into concurrently with the issuance and sale of the securities in the IPO, our initial stockholders and their permitted transferees can demand that we register the resale of their founder shares after those shares convert to shares of our Class A common stock at the time of our initial business combination. In addition, our sponsor and its permitted transferees can demand that we register the resale of the private placement warrants and the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the private placement warrants, and holders of warrants that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans may demand that we register the resale of such warrants or the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of such 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 common stock. In addition, the existence of the registration rights may make our initial business combination more costly or difficult to complete. This is because the stockholders 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 Class A common stock that is expected when the common stock owned by our initial stockholders or their permitted transferees, the private placement warrants owned by our sponsor or warrants issued in connection with working capital loans are registered for resale.
We may issue notes or other debt securities, or otherwise incur substantial debt, to complete a business combination, which may adversely affect our leverage and financial condition and thus negatively impact the value of our stockholders’ investment in us.
Although we have no commitments as of the date of this Annual Report to issue any notes or other debt securities, or to otherwise incur outstanding debt following the IPO, we may choose to incur substantial debt to complete our initial business combination. We 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 the per share amount available for redemption from the trust account. Nevertheless, the incurrence of debt could have a variety of negative effects, including:
• | default and foreclosure on our assets if our operating revenues after an initial business combination are insufficient to repay our debt obligations; |
• | acceleration of our obligations to repay the indebtedness even if we make all principal and interest payments when due if we breach certain covenants that require the maintenance of certain financial ratios or reserves without a waiver or renegotiation of that covenant; |
• | our immediate payment of all principal and accrued interest, if any, if the debt is payable on demand; |
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• | our inability to obtain necessary additional financing if the debt contains covenants restricting our ability to obtain such financing while the debt security is outstanding; |
• | our inability to pay dividends on our common stock; |
• | using a substantial portion of our cash flow to pay principal and interest on our debt, which will reduce the funds available for dividends on our common stock if declared, expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions and other general corporate purposes; |
• | limitations on our flexibility in planning for and reacting to changes in our business and in the industry in which we operate; |
• | increased vulnerability to adverse changes in general economic, industry and competitive conditions and adverse changes in government regulation; and limitations on our ability to borrow additional amounts for expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions, debt service requirements, execution of our strategy and other purposes and other disadvantages compared to our competitors who have less debt. |
Our initial stockholders will hold a substantial interest in us. As a result, they may exert a substantial influence on actions requiring a stockholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support.
Neither our initial stockholders nor, to our knowledge, any of our officers, directors or advisors, have any current intention to purchase additional securities, other than as disclosed in this Annual Report. Factors that would be considered in making such additional purchases would include consideration of the current trading price of our Class A common stock. In addition, as a result of their substantial ownership in our company, our initial stockholders may exert a substantial influence on other actions requiring a stockholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support, including amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and approval of major corporate transactions. Furthermore, our board of directors, whose members were appointed 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 appointed 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 general meeting, as a consequence of our “staggered” board of directors, only a minority of the board of directors will be considered for appointment.
Our sponsor contributed $25,000, or approximately $0.0035 per founder share, and, accordingly, you will experience immediate and substantial dilution from the purchase of our Class A common stock.
Our initial stockholders acquired the founder shares at a nominal price, significantly contributing to the dilution of holders of our Class A common stock. This dilution would increase to the extent that the anti-dilution provisions of the Class B common stock result in the issuance of Class A shares on a greater than one-to-one basis upon conversion of the Class B common stock at the time of our initial business combination and would become exacerbated to the extent that public stockholders seek redemptions from the trust. In addition, because of the anti-dilution rights of the founder shares, any equity or equity-linked securities issued or deemed issued in connection with our initial business combination would be disproportionately dilutive to our Class A common stock.
We may amend the terms of the warrants in a manner that may be adverse to holders of public warrants with the approval by the holders of at least 50% of the then outstanding public warrants. As a result, the exercise price of your warrants could be increased, the warrants could be converted into cash or stock (at a ratio different than initially provided), the exercise period could be shortened and the number of shares of our Class A common stock purchasable upon exercise of a warrant could be decreased, all without your approval.
Our public warrants are issued in registered form under a public warrant agreement between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as warrant agent, and us. The public warrant agreement provides that (a) the terms of the public 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 public warrant agreement to the description of the terms of the public warrants and the public warrant agreement set forth therein, or defective provision or (ii) adding or changing any provisions with respect to matters or questions arising under the public warrant agreement as the parties to the public warrant agreement may deem necessary or desirable and that the parties deem to not adversely affect the rights of the registered holders of the public warrants (iii) providing for the delivery of an “Alternative Issuance” (as defined in the public warrant agreement), and (b) all other modifications or amendments require the vote or written consent of at least 50% of the then outstanding public warrants and (b) all other modifications or amendments require the vote or written consent of at least 50% of the then outstanding public warrants and amending our private warrant agreement will require a vote of at least 50% of the then outstanding private placement warrants and at least 50% of the then outstanding 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. Although our ability to amend the terms of the public warrants with the
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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 public warrants, convert the public warrants into cash or stock (at a ratio different than initially provided), shorten the exercise period or decrease the number of shares of our common stock purchasable upon exercise of a public warrant. Furthermore, we will agree to not lower the exercise price of the public warrants or extend the duration of the exercise period of the public warrants without taking the same actions with respect to the private placement warrants and vice versa.
We may redeem your unexpired warrants prior to their exercise at a time that is disadvantageous to you, thereby making your warrants worthless.
We have the ability to redeem outstanding warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.01 per warrant, provided that the closing price of our Class A common stock equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 10 trading days within a 20 trading-day period ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which the notice of redemption is given to the public warrant holders and provided that certain other conditions are met. If and when the public 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 public warrants as set forth above even if the holders are otherwise unable to exercise the warrants. Redemption of the outstanding public warrants could force you to: (1) exercise your public warrants and pay the exercise price therefor at a time when it may be disadvantageous for you to do so; (2) sell your public warrants at the then-current market price when you might otherwise wish to hold your warrants; or (3) 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 public warrants.
Our warrants and founder shares may have an adverse effect on the market price of our Class A common stock and make it more difficult to effectuate our initial business combination.
We issued warrants to purchase 14,375,000 shares of our Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per whole share (subject to adjustment as provided herein), as part of the units offered in the IPO. Simultaneously with the closing of the IPO, we also issued in a private placement an aggregate of 15,035,500 private placement warrants, each exercisable to purchase one share of Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as provided herein. Our initial stockholder currently holds 7,187,500 founder shares. The founder shares are convertible into shares of Class A common stock on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment as set forth herein. In addition, if our sponsor, an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our officers and directors make any working capital loans, up to $2,000,000 of such loans may be converted into warrants, at the price of $1.00 per warrant, at the option of the lender. Such warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants.
To the extent we issue shares of Class A common stock to effectuate a business transaction, the potential for the issuance of a substantial number of additional shares of Class A common stock upon exercise of these warrants or conversion rights could make us a less attractive acquisition vehicle to a target business. Any such issuance will increase the number of outstanding shares of our Class A common stock and reduce the value of the Class A common stock issued to complete the business transaction. Therefore, our warrants and founder shares may make it more difficult to effectuate a business combination or increase the cost of acquiring the target business.
The private placement warrants are identical to the warrants sold as part of the units in the IPO except that, so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees: (1) they will not be redeemable by us; (2) they (including the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of these warrants) may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by our sponsor until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination; (3) our sponsor, or its permitted transferees, may exercise their private placement warrants on a cashless basis; and (4) the holders thereof (including with respect to the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of these warrants) are entitled to registration rights.
Because each unit contains one-half of one redeemable public warrant and only a whole public warrant may be exercised, the units may be worth less than units of other blank check companies.
Each unit contains one-half of one redeemable public warrant. Pursuant to the public warrant agreement, no fractional public warrants will be issued upon separation of the units, and only whole units will trade. This is different from other offerings similar to ours whose units include one share of Class A common stock 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 public warrants upon completion of a business combination since the public warrants will be exercisable in the aggregate for a third of the number of shares compared to units that each contain a whole public warrant to purchase one whole share, thus making us, we believe, a more attractive business combination partner for target businesses. Nevertheless, this unit structure may cause our units to be worth less than if they included a public warrant to purchase one whole share.
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Our warrant agreements designate the courts of the City of New York, County of New York, State of New York, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York or the federal district courts of the United States as the exclusive forums for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by holders of our warrants, which could limit the ability of holders of our warrants to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with our company.
Our warrant agreements provide that, subject to applicable law, (i) any action, proceeding or claim against us arising out of or relating in any way to the warrant agreements shall be brought and enforced in the courts of the City of New York, County of New York, 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 our warrant agreements do not apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Securities Act, the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal district courts of the United States of America shall be 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 agreements. If any action, the subject matter of which is within the scope the forum provisions of our warrant agreements, is filed in a court other than a court of the City of New York, County of New York, 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 of our warrants 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, and (y) having service of process made upon such holder of our warrants in any such action brought in such court to enforce the forum provisions by service upon such holder’s counsel in the foreign action as agent for such holder.
This choice-of-forum provision may limit the ability of a holder of our warrants to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with our company, which may discourage such lawsuits. Warrant holders who are unable to bring their claims in the judicial forum of their choosing may be required to incur additional costs in pursuit of actions which are subject to our choice-of-forum provision. However, the enforceability of similar exclusive forum provisions (including exclusive federal forum provisions for actions, suits or proceedings asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act) in other companies’ organizational documents has been challenged in legal proceedings, and there is uncertainty as to whether courts would enforce the exclusive forum provisions in our warrant agreement. Additionally, our stockholders cannot waive compliance with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. Alternatively, if a court were to find these provisions of our warrant agreements to be 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.
A provision of our warrant agreements may make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination.
Unlike most blank check companies, if (i) we issue additional shares of Class A common stock or equity-linked securities for capital raising purposes in connection with the closing of our initial business combination at a Newly Issued Price of less than $9.20 per share of Class A common stock, (ii) 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 (iii) the Market Value is below $9.20 per share of Class A common stock, then the exercise price of the warrants will be adjusted to be equal to 115% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, and, in the case of the public warrants only, the $18.00 per share redemption trigger prices described under “Description of Securities—Warrants—Public Stockholders’ Warrants—Redemption of public warrants” will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 180% of 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.
The nominal purchase price paid by our sponsor for the founder shares may result in significant dilution to the implied value of your public shares upon the consummation of our initial business combination.
We offered our units at an offering price of $10.00 per unit and the amount in our trust account is initially $10.20 per public share, implying an initial value of $10.20 per public share. However, prior to the IPO, our sponsor paid a nominal aggregate purchase price of $25,000 for the founder shares, or approximately $0.0035 per share. As a result, the value of your public shares may be significantly diluted upon the consummation of our initial business combination, when the founder shares are converted into public shares.
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The value of the founder shares following completion of our initial business combination is likely to be substantially higher than the nominal price paid for them, even if the trading price of our common stock at such time is substantially less than $10.20 per share.
Upon the closing of the IPO, our sponsor invested in us an aggregate of $15,060,500, comprised of the $25,000 purchase price for the founder shares and the $15,035,500 purchase price for the private placement warrants. Assuming a trading price of $10.00 per share upon consummation of our initial business combination, the 6,250,000 founder shares would have an aggregate implied value of $48,250,000. Even if the trading price of our common stock was as low as approximately $1.28 per share, the value of the founder shares would be equal to the sponsor’s initial investment in us. As a result, our sponsor is likely to be able to recoup its investment in us and make a substantial profit on that investment, even if our public shares have lost significant value. Accordingly, our management team, which owns interests in our sponsor, may have an economic incentive that differs from that of the public stockholders to pursue and consummate an initial business combination rather than to liquidate and to return all of the cash in the trust to the public stockholders, even if that business combination were with a riskier or less-established target business. For the foregoing reasons, you should consider our management team’s financial incentive to complete an initial business combination when evaluating whether to redeem your shares prior to or in connection with the initial business combination.
Because we must furnish our stockholders with target business financial statements, we may lose the ability to complete an otherwise advantageous initial business combination with some prospective target businesses.
The federal proxy rules require that a proxy statement with respect to a vote on a business combination include historical and/or pro forma financial statement disclosure. 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 statement requirements may limit the pool of potential target businesses we may acquire because some targets may be unable to provide such financial statements in time for us to disclose such financial statements in accordance with federal proxy rules and complete our initial business combination within the completion window.
Compliance obligations under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may make it more difficult for us to effectuate our initial business combination, require substantial financial and management resources, and increase the time and costs of completing an initial business combination.
Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires that we evaluate and report on our system of internal controls beginning with this Annual Report. 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. Further, for as long as we remain an emerging growth company, we will not 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 initial business combination.
Provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and Delaware law may inhibit a takeover of us, which could limit the price investors might be willing to pay in the future for our Class A common stock and could entrench management.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation contains provisions that may discourage unsolicited takeover proposals that stockholders may consider to be in their best interests. These provisions include a staggered board of directors and the ability of the board of directors to designate the terms of and issue new series of preferred common stock. We are also subject to anti-takeover provisions under Delaware law, which could delay or prevent a change of control. Together these provisions may make more difficult the removal of our management and may discourage transactions that otherwise could involve payment of a premium over prevailing market prices for our securities.
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Risks Relating to Our Management Team
Our officers and directors will allocate their time to other businesses thereby causing conflicts of interest in their determination as to how much time to devote to our affairs. This conflict of interest could have a negative impact on our ability to complete our initial business combination.
Our 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 responsibilities. In addition, while we expect that our advisors will assist us in identifying business combination targets, they have no obligation to do so and may devote a substantial portion of their business time to activities unrelated to us. We do not intend to have any full-time employees prior to the completion of our business combination. Each of our officers, directors and advisors is engaged in several other business endeavors for which he or she may be entitled to substantial compensation and our officers, directors and advisors are not obligated to contribute any specific number of hours per week to our affairs. Our independent directors also serve as officers and/or board members for other entities. If our officers’, directors’ and advisors’ 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.
We are dependent upon our officers and directors and their departure could adversely affect our ability to operate.
Our operations are dependent upon a relatively small group of individuals. 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. We do not have an employment agreement with, or key-man insurance on the life of any of our other directors or officers. The unexpected loss of the services of one or more of our directors or officers could have a detrimental effect on us.
Our ability to successfully effect our initial business combination and to be successful thereafter will be dependent upon the efforts of our key personnel, some of whom may join us following our initial business combination. The loss of key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post- combination business.
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 or advisory positions following our initial business combination, we do not currently expect that any of them will do so. While we intend to 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 an acquisition 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 an acquisition 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 acquisition candidate’s management team will remain associated with the acquisition candidate following our initial business combination, it is possible that members of the management of an acquisition 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 negotiate employment or consulting agreements with a target business in connection with a particular business combination, and a particular business combination may be conditioned on the retention or resignation of such key personnel. These agreements may cause our key personnel to have conflicts of interest in determining whether to proceed with a particular business combination. However, we do not expect that any of our key personnel will remain with us after the completion of our initial business combination.
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 direct and indirect personal and financial interests of such individuals may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business. However, we believe the ability of such individuals to remain with us after the completion of our initial business combination will not be the determining factor in our decision as to whether or not we will proceed with any potential business combination, as we do not expect that any of our key personnel will remain with us after the completion of our initial business combination. The determination as to whether any of our key personnel will remain with us will be made at the time of our initial business combination.
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We may have a limited ability to assess the management of a prospective target business and, as a result, may affect our initial business combination with a target business whose management may not have the skills, qualifications or abilities to manage a public company.
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 stockholders or warrant holders who choose to remain a stockholder or warrant holder following our initial business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities.
Such stockholders or warrant holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.
The officers and directors of an initial 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 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 acquisition 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 acquisition candidate will not wish to remain in place. As a result, we may need to reconstitute the management team of the post-transaction company in connection with our initial business combination, which may adversely impact our ability to complete an initial business combination in a timely manner or at all.
Certain of our officers and directors are now, and all of them may in the future become, affiliated with entities engaged in business activities similar to those intended to be conducted by us and, accordingly, may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity or other transaction should be presented.
Until we consummate our initial business combination, we intend to engage in the business of identifying and combining with one or more businesses. Our sponsor, its members, and our officers and directors are, or may in the future become, affiliated with entities (such as operating companies or investment vehicles) that are engaged in a similar business. We do not have employment contracts with our officers and directors that will limit their ability to work at other businesses.
Our officers and directors, our sponsor and its members presently has, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties to one or more other entities pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entities. Accordingly, if any of our officers or directors, or our sponsor or any of its members, becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for one or more entities to which he or she has fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties, he or she will honor these obligations and duties to present such business combination opportunity to such entities first, and only present it to us if such entities reject the opportunity and he or she determines to present the opportunity to us. These conflicts may not be resolved in our favor and a potential target business opportunity may be presented to another entity prior to its presentation to us. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that we renounce our interest in any corporate 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 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, none of our advisors are officers or directors of our company and, therefore, owe us no fiduciary duties as such. While we expect that they will assist us in identifying business combination targets, they have no obligation to do so and may devote a substantial portion of their business time to activities unrelated to us. Our advisors may have fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties to other organizations to present business combination opportunities to such other organizations rather than to us. Accordingly, if any advisor becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for one or more entities to which such advisor has fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties, such advisor will honor those obligations and duties to present such business combination opportunity to such entities first and only present it to us if such entities reject the opportunity and such advisor determines to present the opportunity to us. These conflicts may not be resolved in our favor and a potential business opportunity may be presented to another entity prior to its presentation to us.
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Members of our management team and board of directors have significant experience as founders, board members, officers, executives or employees of other companies. Certain of those persons have been, may be, or may become, involved in litigation, investigations or other proceedings, including related to those companies or otherwise. The defense or prosecution of these matters could be time-consuming and could divert our management’s attention, and may have an adverse effect on us, which may impede our ability to consummate an initial business combination.
During the course of their careers, members of our management team and board of directors have had significant experience as founders, board members, officers, executives or employees of other companies. As a result of their involvement and positions in these companies, certain of those persons have been, may be or may in the future become involved in litigation, investigations or other proceedings, including relating to the business affairs of such companies, transactions entered into by such companies, or otherwise. Individual members of our management team and board of directors also may become involved in litigation, investigations or other proceedings involving claims or allegations related to or as a result of their personal conduct, either in their capacity as a corporate officer or director or otherwise, and may be personally named in such actions and potentially subject to personal liability. Any such liability may or may not be covered by insurance and/or indemnification, depending on the facts and circumstances. The defense or prosecution of these matters could be time-consuming. Any litigation, investigations or other proceedings and the potential outcomes of such actions may divert the attention and resources of our management team and board of directors away from identifying and selecting a target business or businesses for our initial business combination and may negatively affect our reputation, which may impede our ability to complete an initial business combination.
Our officers, directors, security holders and their respective affiliates may have competitive pecuniary interests that conflict with our interests.
We have not adopted a policy that expressly prohibits our directors, officers, advisors, security holders or their respective affiliates (including our sponsor and the members or our sponsor) 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, any of its members, our directors, officers or advisors, or we may pursue an affiliated joint acquisition opportunity with any such persons. We do not 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.
We may engage in a business combination with one or more target businesses that have relationships with entities that may be affiliated with our officers or directors which may raise potential conflicts of interest.
In light of the involvement of our sponsor, its members and our officers and directors with other businesses, we may decide to acquire one or more businesses affiliated with or competitive with our sponsor, any of its members, our officers or directors and their respective affiliates. Our officers and directors also serve as officers and/or board members for other entities, including, without limitation, those described under “Management—Conflicts of Interest.” Such entities and entities affiliated with our sponsor and its members, may compete with us for business combination opportunities. Our 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 will not be 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 for a business combination and such transaction was approved by a majority of our independent and disinterested directors. Despite our agreement to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or from an independent accounting firm, 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, officers or directors, 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 stockholders as they would be absent any conflicts of interest.
Since our initial stockholders will lose their entire investment in us if our initial business combination is not completed (other than with respect to any public shares they may hold), a conflict of interest may arise in determining whether a particular business combination target is appropriate for our initial business combination.
On May 18, 2021, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 7,187,500 founder shares for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000, resulting in an effective purchase price per founder share of approximately $0.0035. The founder shares will be worthless if we do not complete an initial business combination. Additionally, members of our management team may directly or indirectly own our securities following the IPO, including founder shares, and accordingly, they may have a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target business is an appropriate business with which to effectuate our initial business combination.
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Concurrently with the completion of the IPO, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 15,035,500 warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant, or $15,035,500 in the aggregate. An aggregate of $293,250,000 was placed in a trust account at the time of closing of the IPO. Each whole private placement warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one share of Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to certain adjustments.
The founder shares are identical to the shares of Class A common stock included in the units being sold in the IPO, except that: (1) only holders of the founder shares have the right to vote on the election of directors and holders of a majority of the outstanding shares of our Class B common stock may remove members of our board of directors for any reason; (2) our initial stockholders, officers, directors and advisors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive: (a) their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and any public shares held by them in connection with our initial business combination, (b) their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and public shares held by them in connection with a stockholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (I) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemptions in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we have not consummated our initial business combination within 15 months from the IPO or (II) with respect to any other material provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity; and (c) their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any founder shares held by them if we fail to complete our initial business combination within 15 months from the IPO (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); (3) the founder shares are subject to certain transfer restrictions, as described under “Description of Securities—Founder Shares”; (4) the founder shares are automatically convertible into shares of our Class A common stock at the time of our initial business combination, or earlier at the option of the holder, on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment pursuant to certain anti-dilution rights, as described herein; and (5) the holders of founder shares are entitled to registration rights.
The direct and indirect personal and financial interests of our sponsor, its members, and our officers, directors and advisors 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 the deadline for completing our initial business combination nears.
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Risks Associated with Acquiring and Operating a Business in Foreign Countries
If our management team pursues a company with operations or opportunities outside of the United States for our initial business combination, we may face additional burdens in connection with investigating, agreeing to and completing such combination, and if we effect such initial business combination, we would be subject to a variety of additional risks that may negatively impact our operations.
If our management team pursues 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:
• | costs and difficulties inherent in managing cross-border business operations and complying with commercial and legal requirements of overseas markets; |
• | rules and regulations regarding currency redemption; |
• | complex corporate withholding taxes on individuals; |
• | laws governing the manner in which future business combinations may be effected; |
• | tariffs and trade barriers; |
• | regulations related to customs and import/export matters; |
• | longer payment cycles; |
• | changes in local regulations as part of a response to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak or a significant outbreak of other infectious diseases; |
• | tax consequences; |
• | currency fluctuations and exchange controls; |
• | rates of inflation; |
• | challenges in collecting accounts receivable; |
• | cultural and language differences; |
• | employment regulations; |
• | crime, strikes, riots, civil disturbances, terrorist attacks and wars, including the conflict in Ukraine and the surrounding region; |
• | deterioration of political relations with the United States; |
• | obligatory military service by personnel; and |
• | government appropriation of assets. |
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 initial business combination, our operations might suffer, either of which may adversely impact our business, results of operations and financial condition.
If our management following our initial business combination is unfamiliar with U.S. securities laws, they may have to expend time and resources becoming familiar with such laws, which could lead to various regulatory issues.
Following our initial business combination, any or all of our management could resign from their positions as officers of the Company, and the management of the target business at the time of the business combination could remain in place. Management of the target business may not be familiar with U.S. securities laws. If new management is unfamiliar with U.S. 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.
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We may reincorporate in another jurisdiction in connection with our initial business combination and such reincorporation may result in taxes imposed on our stockholders or warrant holders.
We may, in connection with our initial business combination and subject to requisite stockholder approval under the DGCL, reincorporate in the jurisdiction in which the target company or business is located or in another jurisdiction. The transaction may require a stockholder or warrant holder to recognize taxable income in the jurisdiction in which the stockholder or warrant holder is a tax resident or in which its members are resident if it is a tax transparent entity (or may otherwise result in adverse tax consequences). We do not intend to make any cash distributions to stockholders or warrant holders to pay such taxes. Stockholders or warrant holders may be subject to withholding taxes or other taxes with respect to their ownership of us after the reincorporation.
General Risk Factors
We have no operating history and no revenues, and you have no basis on which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective.
We have no operating results, and we did not commence operations until obtaining funding through the IPO. 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 have not selected any specific business combination target and we have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, engaged in any substantive discussions, directly or indirectly, with any business combination target with respect to an initial business combination with us and 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.
Past performance by members of our management team may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in us.
Information regarding performance by, or businesses associated with, members of our management team is presented for informational purposes only. Any past experience and performance, including related to acquisitions, of members of our management team is not a guarantee either: (1) that we will be able to successfully identify and select a suitable candidate for our initial business combination; or (2) of any results with respect to any initial business combination we may consummate. You should not rely on the historical record and performance of members of our management team as indicative of the future performance of an investment in us or the returns we will, or are likely to, generate going forward.
Certain agreements related to the IPO may be amended without stockholder approval.
Certain agreements, including the letter agreement among us and our sponsor, officers, directors and advisors, and the registration rights agreement among us and our initial stockholders, may be amended without stockholder approval. These agreements contain various provisions, including transfer restrictions on our founder shares, that our public stockholders might deem to be material. For example, our letter agreement and the underwriting agreement contain certain lock-up provisions with respect to the founder shares, private placement warrants and other securities held by our initial stockholders, sponsor, officers and directors. Amendments to such agreements would require the consent of the applicable parties thereto and would need to be approved by our board of directors, which may do so for a variety of reasons, including to facilitate our initial business combination. While we do not expect our board of directors to approve any amendment to any of these agreements prior to our initial business combination, it may be possible that our board of directors, in exercising its business judgment and subject to its fiduciary duties, chooses to approve one or more amendments to any such agreement in connection with the consummation of our initial business combination. Any such amendments would not require approval from our stockholders, may result in the completion of our initial business combination that may not otherwise have been possible, and may have an adverse effect on the value of an investment in our securities.
We are an emerging growth company and a smaller reporting company within the meaning of the Securities Act, and if we take advantage of certain exemptions from disclosure requirements available to emerging growth companies or smaller reporting company, this could make our securities less attractive to investors and may make it more difficult to compare our performance with other public companies.
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 stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. As a result, our stockholders 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 common stock held by non-affiliates exceeds
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$700 million as of the end of any second quarter of a fiscal year, in which case we would no longer be an emerging growth company as of the end of such fiscal year. 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 to non-emerging growth companies but any such 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 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 Regulation S-K. Smaller 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 common stock held by non-affiliates exceeds $250 million as of the end of that year’s second fiscal quarter, or (2) our annual revenues exceeded $100 million during such completed fiscal year and the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the end of that year’s second fiscal quarter. 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.
Since only holders of our founder shares will have the right to vote on the appointment of directors, upon the listing of our shares on the NYSE, the NYSE may consider us to be a “controlled company” within the meaning of the NYSE rules and, as a result, we may qualify for exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements.
After completion of the IPO, only holders of our founder shares will have the right to vote on the appointment of directors. As a result, the NYSE may consider us to be a “controlled company” within the meaning of the NYSE corporate governance standards. Under the NYSE corporate governance standards, a company of which more than 50% of the voting power is held by an individual, group or another company is a “controlled company” and may elect not to comply with certain corporate governance requirements, including the requirements that we have a board that includes a majority of “independent directors,” as defined under the rules of the NYSE.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation designates the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with our company or our company’s directors, officers or other employees.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware shall be the sole and exclusive forum for any (1) derivative action or proceeding brought on behalf of our company, (2) action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any current or former director, officer, or other employee of our company to our company or our stockholders, (3) action asserting a claim against our company or any director, officer or employee of our company arising pursuant to any provision of the DGCL or our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or our bylaws, or (4) action asserting a claim against us or any director or officer of our company governed by the internal affairs doctrine except for, as to each of (1) through (4) above, any claim (a) as to which the Court of Chancery determines that there is an indispensable party not subject to the jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery (and the indispensable party does not consent to the personal jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery within ten days following such determination), (b) which is vested in the exclusive jurisdiction of a court or forum other than the Court of Chancery, (c) for which the Court of Chancery does not have subject matter jurisdiction or (d) any action arising under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, as to which the federal district courts of the United States are the exclusive forum. Notwithstanding the foregoing, these provisions shall not apply to suits brought to enforce a duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in any shares of our capital stock shall be deemed to have notice of and to have consented to the forum provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. If any action the subject matter of which is within the scope the forum provisions is filed in a court other than a court located within the State of Delaware (a “foreign action”) in the name of any stockholder, such stockholder shall be deemed to have consented to: (x) the personal
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jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located within the State of Delaware 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 stockholder in any such enforcement action by service upon such stockholder’s counsel in the foreign action as agent for such stockholder. This forum selection clause may discourage claims or limit stockholders’ ability to submit claims in a judicial forum that they find favorable and may result in additional costs for a stockholder seeking to bring a claim. While we believe the risk of a court declining to enforce this forum selection clause is low, if a court were to determine the forum selection clause to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs in conjunction with our efforts to resolve the dispute in an alternative jurisdiction, which could have a negative impact on our results of operations and financial condition and result in a diversion of the time and resources of our management and board of directors.
An investment in us may result in uncertain or adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences.
An investment in us may result in uncertain or adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences. For instance, because there are no authorities that directly address instruments similar to the units, the allocation an investor makes with respect to the purchase price of a unit between the Class A common stock and the one-half of a public warrant to purchase one Class A common stock included in each unit could be challenged by the IRS or courts. Furthermore, the U.S. federal income tax consequences of a cashless exercise of public warrants are unclear under current law, and the adjustment to the exercise price and/or redemption price of the public warrants could give rise to dividend income to investors without a corresponding payment of cash. Finally, it is unclear whether the redemption rights with respect to our common stock suspend the running of a U.S. Holder’s holding period for purposes of determining whether any gain or loss realized by such U.S. Holder on the sale or exchange of Class A common stock is long-term capital gain or loss and for determining whether any dividend we pay would be considered “qualified dividends” for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Prospective investors are urged to consult their own tax advisors with respect to these and other tax consequences when purchasing, holding or disposing of our securities.
Item 1B. | Unresolved Staff Comments. |
None.
Item 2. | Properties. |
We currently maintain our executive offices at 1701 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Ste # 460, Washington, D.C. 20006. The cost for this space is included in the $35,000 per month fee that we will pay our sponsor for office space, administrative and support services for up to 15 months.
Item 3. | Legal Proceedings. |
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, and we and the members of our management team have not been subject to any such proceeding in the 12 months preceding the date hereof.
Item 4. | Mine Safety Disclosures. |
None.
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PART II
Item 5. | Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities. |
Market Information.
Our units, Class A common stock and warrants are traded on the NYSE under the symbols “CXAC.U”, “CXAC” and “CXAC WS”, respectively.
Holders
Although there are a larger number of beneficial owners, at March 30, 2023, there was one holder of record of our units, one holder of record of our separately traded common stock and two holders of record of our separately traded warrants.
Dividends
We have not paid any cash dividends on our shares of common stock to date and do not intend to pay cash dividends prior to the completion of our initial business combination. The payment of cash dividends in the future will be dependent upon our revenues and earnings, if any, capital requirements and general financial condition subsequent to completion of our initial business combination. The payment of any cash dividends subsequent to our initial business combination will be within the discretion of our board of directors at such time. In addition, our board of directors is not currently contemplating and does not anticipate declaring any share dividends in the foreseeable future. Further, if we incur any indebtedness in connection with our initial business combination, our ability to declare dividends may be limited by restrictive covenants we may agree to in connection therewith.
Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans
None.
Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities; Use of Proceeds from Registered Offerings
In May 2021, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 7,187,500 shares of Class B common stock for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000, or approximately $0.0035 per share. All share and per-share amounts have been retroactively restated to reflect the stock dividends. The number of shares of Class B common stock issued was based on the expectation that the shares of Class B common stock would represent 20% of the outstanding shares of our determined Class A common stock and our Class B common stock upon completion of the IPO.
On January 11, 2022, we completed our IPO of 28,750,000 units at a price of $10.00 per unit, generating gross proceeds of $287,500,000. Each unit consists of one of the Company’s shares of Class A common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, and one-half of one warrant. Each whole warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one share of Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to certain adjustments. Following the closing of the IPO, an aggregate of $293,250,000 was placed in the trust account.
Concurrently with the completion of the IPO, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 15,035,500 warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant, or $15,035,500 in the aggregate. Each whole private placement warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one share of Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to certain adjustments.
On January 11, 2022, the underwriters fully exercised their option to purchase additional units. The exercise of the option generated gross proceeds of $37,500,000 to the Company.
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Item 6. | [Reserved]. |
ITEM 7. | Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations |
The following discussion and analysis of the Company’s financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our audited financial statements and the notes related thereto which are included in “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Annual Report. Certain information contained in the discussion and analysis set forth below includes forward-looking statements. Our actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of many factors, including those set forth under “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements,” “Item 1A. Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Annual Report.
Overview
We are a blank check company formed under the laws of the State of Delaware on March 30, 2021 for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or other similar Business Combination with one or more businesses. We intend to effectuate our Business Combination using cash from the proceeds of the Initial Public Offering and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants, our capital stock, debt or a combination of cash, stock and debt.
We expect to continue to incur significant costs in the pursuit of our acquisition plans. We cannot assure you that our plans to complete a Business Combination will be successful.
Results of Operations
Our only activities from March 30, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2022 were organizational activities, those necessary to prepare for the Initial Public Offering, described below, and the search for a target company for a Business Combination. We do not expect to generate any operating revenues until after the completion of our Business Combination. We expect to generate non-operating income in the form of interest income on marketable securities held after the Initial Public Offering. We incur expenses as a result of being a public company (for legal, financial reporting, accounting and auditing compliance), as well as for due diligence expenses.
For the year ended December 31, 2022, we had net income of $1,516,291, which consisted of investment income earned on the Trust assets of $4,183,071, partially offset by operating expenses of $1,915,927 and income taxes of $750,853.
For the period from March 30, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021, we had a net loss of $21,784, which consists of formation and operating costs.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
On January 11, 2022, we consummated the Initial Public Offering of 28,750,000 Units at a price of $10.00 per Unit, which includes the full exercise by the underwriters of the over-allotment option to purchase an additional 3,750,000 Units, generating gross proceeds of $287,500,000. Simultaneously with the closing of the Initial Public Offering, we consummated the sale of 15,035,500 Private Placement Warrants at a price of $1.00 per Private Placement Warrant in a private placement to our Sponsor, generating gross proceeds of $15,035,500.
Following the Initial Public Offering, the full exercise of the over-allotment option by the underwriters’ and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants, a total of $293,250,000 was placed in the Trust Account and we had $3,377,397 of cash held outside of the Trust Account, after payment of costs related to the Initial Public Offering, and available for working capital purposes. Transaction costs amounted to $16,368,261 consisting of $5,750,000 of underwriting fees, $10,062,500 of deferred underwriting fees payable and $555,761 of other offering costs.
As of December 31, 2022 and 2021, we had marketable securities held in the trust account of $297,415,415 (including approximately $4,183,071 of interest income) and $0 (including approximately $0 of interest income), respectively, consisting of U.S. Treasury Bills with a maturity of 180 days or less. Interest income on the balance in the trust account may be used by us to pay taxes. Through December 31, 2022, we withdrew $17,656 of interest earned on the trust account.
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For the year ended December 31, 2022, cash used in operating activities was $2,083,032. Net income of $1,516,291 was affected by interest earned on marketable securities held in the trust account of $4,183,071, and changes in operating assets and liabilities, which provided $583,748 of cash from operating activities.
For the year ended December 31, 2022, cash used in investing activities was $293,232,344, which primarily relates to the IPO proceeds deposited into the Trust account.
For the year ended December 31, 2022, cash provided by financing activities was $296,040,746, which primarily relates to the IPO.
For the period from March 30, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021, cash used in operating activities was $4,037.
For the period from March 30, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021, cash provided by financing activities was $214,351 and primarily relates to a related party loan.
We intend to use substantially all of the funds held in the Trust Account, including any amounts representing interest earned on the Trust Account to complete our Business Combination. We may withdraw interest to pay franchise and income taxes. To the extent that our capital stock or debt is used, in whole or in part, as consideration to complete our Business Combination, the remaining proceeds held in the Trust Account will be used as working capital to finance the operations of the target business or businesses, make other acquisitions and pursue our growth strategies.
We intend to use the funds held outside the Trust Account primarily to identify and evaluate target businesses, perform business due diligence on prospective target businesses, travel to and from the offices, plants or similar locations of prospective target businesses or their representatives or owners, review corporate documents and material agreements of prospective target businesses, and structure, negotiate and complete a Business Combination.
In order to fund working capital deficiencies or finance transaction costs in connection with a Business Combination, the Sponsor, an affiliate of the Sponsor, or our officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds as may be required. If we complete a Business Combination, we would repay such loaned amounts. In the event that a Business Combination does not close, we may use a portion of the working capital held outside the trust account to repay such loaned amounts but no proceeds from our Trust Account would be used for such repayment. Up to $2,000,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants, at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the Private Placement Warrants, including as to exercise price, exercisability and exercise period. The terms of such loans by our officers and directors, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. The loans would be repaid upon consummation of a Business Combination, without interest.
We do not believe we will need to raise additional funds in order to meet the expenditures required for operating our business. However, if our estimate of the costs of identifying a target business, undertaking in-depth due diligence and negotiating a Business Combination are less than the actual amount necessary to do so, we may have insufficient funds available to operate our business prior to our Business Combination. Moreover, we may need to obtain additional financing either to complete our Business Combination or because we become obligated to redeem a significant number of our public shares upon consummation of our Business Combination, in which case we may issue additional securities or incur debt in connection with such Business Combination. Subject to compliance with applicable securities laws, we would only complete such financing simultaneously with the completion of our Business Combination. If we are unable to complete our Business Combination because we do not have sufficient funds available to us, we will be forced to cease operations and liquidate the Trust Account. In addition, following our Business Combination, if cash on hand is insufficient, we may need to obtain additional financing in order to meet our obligations.
At December 31, 2022, the Company had cash of $935,721 and working capital of $333,831.
In connection with the Company’s assessment of going concern considerations in accordance with Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2014-15, “Disclosures of Uncertainties about an Entity’s Ability to Continue as a Going Concern,” management has determined that the Company currently has less than 12 months from the date these financial statements were issued to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period (initial completion without an extension ends on April 11, 2023), the mandatory liquidation requirement that the Company cease all operations, redeem the public shares and thereafter liquidate and dissolve raises substantial doubt about the ability to continue as a going concern. These conditions raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of time within one year after the date that the financial statements are issued. Management has determined that the Company has funds that are sufficient to fund the working capital needs of the Company until the consummation of an initial business combination or the winding up of the Company as stipulated in the Company’s amended and restated certificate of incorporation. The accompanying financial statements have been prepared in conformity with US GAAP, which contemplate continuation of the Company as a going concern. These unaudited financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.
Off-Balance Sheet Financing Arrangements
We have no obligations, assets or liabilities, which would be considered off-balance sheet arrangements as of December 31, 2022. We do not participate in transactions that create relationships with unconsolidated entities or financial partnerships, often referred to as variable interest entities, which would have been established for the purpose of facilitating off-balance sheet arrangements. We have not entered into any off-balance sheet financing arrangements, established any special purpose entities, guaranteed any debt or commitments of other entities, or purchased any non-financial assets.
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Contractual Obligations
As of December 31, 2022, we do not have any long-term debt, lease obligations, operating lease obligations or long-term liabilities.
Commencing on the date the Units are first listed on the NYSE, the Company has agreed to pay the Sponsor a total of $35,000 per month for office space, utilities and secretarial and administrative support for up to 15 months. Upon completion of the Initial Business Combination or the Company’s liquidation, the Company will cease paying these monthly fees.
The underwriters will be entitled to a deferred fee of $0.35 per Unit, or $10,062,500 in the aggregate. The deferred fee will be waived by the underwriters in the event that we do not complete a Business Combination, subject to the terms of the underwriting agreement.
As of December 31, 2022, the Company had incurred legal fees related to the Initial Public Offering and general corporate services of approximately $195,000. $110,000 of these fees will only become due and payable upon the consummation of a Business Combination. The outstanding balance of the legal fees is in accounts payable and accrued expenses on the balance sheets.
Critical Accounting Estimates and Policies
The preparation of financial statements and related disclosures in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements, and income and expenses during the periods reported. Actual results could materially differ from those estimates. A critical accounting estimate to our financial statements include valuation of warrants and valuation of allowance for taxes. We have identified the following critical accounting policies:
Class A Common Stock Subject to Possible Redemption
We account for our shares of Class A common stock subject to possible redemption in accordance with the guidance in Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 480 “Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity.” Shares of Class A common stock subject to mandatory redemption is classified as a liability instrument and is measured at fair value. Conditionally redeemable common stock (including common stock that features redemption rights that are either within the control of the holder or subject to redemption upon the occurrence of uncertain events not solely within our control) is classified as temporary equity. At all other times, common stock is classified as stockholders’ equity. Our common stock features certain redemption rights that are considered to be outside of our control and subject to occurrence of uncertain future events. Accordingly, the Class A common stock subject to possible redemption is presented as temporary equity, outside of the stockholders’ equity section of our balance sheet.
Warrant Liabilities
We account for warrants as either equity-classified or liability-classified instruments based on an assessment of the warrant’s specific terms and applicable authoritative guidance in Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 480, Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity (“ASC 480”) and ASC 815, Derivatives and Hedging (“ASC 815”). The assessment considers whether the warrants are freestanding financial instruments pursuant to ASC 480, meet the definition of a liability pursuant to ASC 480, and whether the warrants meet all of the requirements for equity classification under ASC 815, including whether the warrants are indexed to our own Class A ordinary shares, among other conditions for equity classification. This assessment, which requires the use of professional judgment, is conducted at the time of warrant issuance and as of each subsequent quarterly period end date while the warrants are outstanding. All of the Company’s warrants have met the criteria for equity treatment.
Offering Costs associated with Initial Public Offering
The Company complies with the requirements of the Financial Accounting Standards Board ASC 340-10-S99-1 and SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin (“SAB”) Topic 5A, “Expenses of Offering.” Offering costs were allocated to the separable financial instruments issued in the Initial Public Offering based on a relative fair value basis, compared to total proceeds received. Offering costs associated with the Units were allocated between temporary equity and the Public Warrants by the relative fair value method. Offering costs of $555,761 consisted principally of costs incurred in connection with preparation for the Initial Public Offering. These offering costs, together with the underwriter fees of $15,812,500, were allocated between temporary equity, the Public Warrants and the Private Warrants in a relative fair value method upon completion of the Initial Public Offering.
Net Income per Common Share
Net income per share is computed by dividing net income by the weighted average number of shares of common stock outstanding during the period, excluding shares of common stock subject to forfeiture. Weighted average shares were reduced for the effect of an aggregate of 937,500 shares of Class B common stock that are subject to forfeiture if the over-allotment option is not exercised by the underwriters. At December 31, 2022, the Company did not have any dilutive securities and other contracts that could, potentially, be exercised or converted into shares of common stock and then share in the earnings of the Company. As a result, diluted loss per share is the same as basic loss per share for the period presented.
Fair Value of Financial Instruments
Fair value is defined as the price that would be received for sale of an asset or paid to transfer of a liability, in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. US GAAP establishes a three-tier fair value hierarchy, which prioritizes the inputs used in measuring fair value. The hierarchy gives the highest priority to unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities
Management does not believe that any recently issued, but not yet effective, accounting standards, if currently adopted, would have a material effect on the Company’s financial statements.
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Item 7A. | Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk |
We are a smaller reporting company as defined by Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act and are not required to provide the information otherwise required under this item.
Item 8. | Financial Statements and Supplementary Data |
This information appears following Item 15 of this Report and is included herein by reference.
Item 9. | Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure |
None.
Item 9A. | Controls and Procedures. |
Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
Disclosure controls are procedures that are designed with the objective of ensuring that information required to be disclosed in our reports filed under the Exchange Act, such as this Report, is recorded, processed, summarized, and reported within the time period specified in the SEC’s rules and forms. Disclosure controls are also designed with the objective of ensuring that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure. Our management evaluated, with the participation of our current Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer (our “Certifying Officers”), the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures as of December 31, 2022, pursuant to Rule 13a-15(b) under the Exchange Act. Based upon that evaluation, our Certifying Officers concluded that, as of December 31, 2022, our disclosure controls and procedures were effective.
We do not expect that our disclosure controls and procedures will prevent all errors and all instances of fraud. Disclosure controls and procedures, no matter how well conceived and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of the disclosure controls and procedures are met. Further, the design of disclosure controls and procedures must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints, and the benefits must be considered relative to their costs. Because of the inherent limitations in all disclosure controls and procedures, no evaluation of disclosure controls and procedures can provide absolute assurance that we have detected all our control deficiencies and instances of fraud, if any. The design of disclosure controls and procedures also is based partly on certain assumptions about the likelihood of future events, and there can be no assurance that any design will succeed in achieving its stated goals under all potential future conditions.
Management’s Annual Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting (as such term is defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for us. Under the supervision and with the participation of our chief executive officer and chief financial officer, our management assessed the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2022 based on criteria specified in Internal Control—Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. Based on our assessment, our management, including our chief executive officer and chief financial officer, concluded that, as of December 31, 2022, our internal control over financial reporting was effective.
Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting
There were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting (as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) of the Exchange Act) during the most recent fiscal quarter that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.
Item 9B. | Other Information. |
None.
Item 9C. | Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections. |
Not Applicable.
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PART III
Item 10. | Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance. |
Our current directors and executive officers are as follows:
Name |
Age | Title | ||
Robert “Rob” Meyerson | 57 | Chief Executive Officer and Director | ||
David Glickman | 60 | Chief Business Development Officer and Chief Financial Officer | ||
Steven J. Demetriou | 64 | Non-Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors | ||
Linda Zecher Higgins | 69 | Director | ||
Jeanne Tisinger | 61 | Director | ||
Arun Gupta | 54 | Director |
Robert “Rob” Meyerson is our Chief Executive Officer and is a Director. Mr. Meyerson is the former President of Blue Origin, an American aerospace company founded and owned by Jeff Bezos. Starting in 2003 and reporting directly to Mr. Bezos, Mr. Meyerson oversaw the transformation of Blue Origin from its founding into a more than 1500-person engineering and development organization executing on government and commercial contracts. Under his leadership, Blue Origin developed and flew the suborbital human-rated launch system, New Shepard; built a liquid rocket engine business including the BE-4 rocket engine which will power the boost stage of United Launch Alliance’s next-generation orbital launch vehicle; and designed its heavy-lift orbital launch vehicle, New Glenn. During this time, Mr. Meyerson led Blue Origin’s growth from a single facility in Seattle, WA, to multiple launch facilities, manufacturing facilities, and sales offices operating in six sites across the U.S. and internationally. Mr. Meyerson is the founder of Interlune, a venture backed company, and Delalune Space, a consulting company focused on the aerospace, mobility, technology and investment sectors. Mr. Meyerson has built relationships with some of the most exciting new companies doing business in the space sector. Mr. Meyerson joined C5 Capital as an Operating Partner in 2020. C5 Capital led a $130M Series B investment in Axiom Space, and Mr. Meyerson now serves on Axiom’s Board of Directors. Earlier in his career, Mr. Meyerson was a Senior Manager at Kistler Aerospace, and an aerospace engineer at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC). He has served as a member of the Board of Directors of Sceye since June 2020, a member of the Board of Advisors of Hermeus, an aerospace engineering company, since 2019, and a member of the Advisory Board of NLX, a communications technology firm, since 2020. He is also a member of the Board of the Museum of Flight, and the University of Michigan College of Engineering Leadership Advisory Board. In 2016, the New Shepard team was awarded the Robert J. Collier Trophy for their accomplishments by the National Aeronautic Association; and in 2017, Mr. Meyerson was awarded the Space Flight Award by the American Astronautical Society. An ally and champion for young professionals and founders, Mr. Meyerson serves as a mentor in the Brooke Owens Fellowship, the Matthew Isakowitz Fellowship, and the Techstars Starburst Space Accelerator. Mr. Meyerson holds a B.S. degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Michigan and a master’s degree in industrial engineering (Engineering Management) from the University of Houston.
David Glickman is our Chief Business Development Officer and Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Glickman will leverage his industry and investment experience to help identify and evaluate acquisition opportunities. Mr. Glickman has been a Partner at Resilience Capital since 2009 after working with the firm for several years on potential co-investments and portfolio company merger proposals. Since 2012, he has been the head of originations. From 2010 to 2012, he was the head of the transactions group and is currently a member of the transactions team. His responsibilities include origination, due diligence and oversight of acquisitions. He has extensive experience sourcing, structuring, executing, managing and exiting a broad spectrum of portfolio companies. Mr. Glickman also served as a General Partner with Sedgewick Venture Capital, a small middle market private equity fund focused on opportunistic investments in Cleveland; as a Senior Vice President of The LCP Group in New York; and as Associate Director with the Principal Activities Group at Bear, Stearns in New York. Prior to private investing, Mr. Glickman was in the Corporate Finance Department of Bear Stearns & Company in New York, Los Angeles and London, engaged in all aspects of public debt and equity transactions. Mr. Glickman has served on the boards of numerous private and public companies including certain institutes of the Cleveland Clinic. He serves as a board observer at Xeeva, a board observer at Hynes Industries, and serves as a director of both Trialon Corp. and Luminance Brands. He graduated from Washington and Jefferson College with a BA in political science, and from the University of Southern California with an MBA.
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Steven J. Demetriou is a Director and serves as Non-Executive Chairman of the Board. Mr. Demetriou is currently the Executive Chair of the Board of Directors of Jacobs, a leading and innovative global solutions leader in renewable energy, cybersecurity, and space intelligence and exploration. Mr. Demetriou joined Jacobs as CEO in August 2015 and the following year was appointed Chair of the Board of Directors. In January 2023, transitioned to Executive Chair. During his tenure as CEO, Steve steered a profound reshaping of Jacobs’ business portfolio, operations and culture. Under his leadership, the company accelerated profitable growth and transformed into the leading, next-generation solutions provider by tackling some of the world’s biggest challenges for thriving cities, resilient environments, mission-critical outcomes, operational advancement, scientific discovery and cutting-edge manufacturing. Steve put culture change at the top of his agenda and personally championed inclusion and diversity across Jacobs. Steve’s broad international business perspectives are the product of more than 35 years in leadership and senior management roles across a wide range of industries. This included President and CEO of Noveon Specialty Chemicals (2001-2004) and Chairman and CEO of Aleris (2004-2015). In addition he has served on the board of nine companies over the course of his distinguished career including FirstEnergy, Kraton Corp, OM Group., Aleris Corp., and Foster Wheeler. In addition to serving on Jacobs’ Board, Steve also serves on the board for FirstEnergy Corp and Arcosa. He is also a member of the Champions of Change Coalition, the U.S. Co-Chair of the U.S. - Saudi Arabian Business Council and a board member of the Dallas Citizens Council. Mr. Demetriou holds a Bachelor of Science degree (B.S.) in Chemical Engineering from Tufts University.
Linda Zecher Higgins is a Director. Ms. Zecher Higgins has served as the CEO & Managing Director of the Barkley Group, a Boutique Consulting firm focused on Digital Transformation of enterprise organizations since 2016. Prior to founding the Barkley Group, Ms. Zecher Higgins served as President, CEO and Director of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH), a global education and learning company from 2011 until 2016. After joining HMH, Ms. Zecher led the company through a successful Chapter 11 bankruptcy restructuring and completed several acquisitions including the Education Technology division of Scholastic. Under Ms. Zecher Higins’s leadership the company completed a public offering and now trades on the Nasdaq. Previously Ms. Zecher Higgins was Corporate Vice President of Microsoft’s Worldwide Public Sector organization. Ms. Zecher Higgins currently is a member of the Hasbro Corporation Board where she serves on the Audit Committee and Chairs the Cyber Security Committee and Tenable Inc., a cybersecurity company (Nasdaq: TENB) where she sits on the Compensation and Nominating committees. She is a former Board member of the John F. Kennedy Library, Cradles to Crayons, The Board of James Madison University and the Intelligence and National Security Association (INSA). Ms. Zecher Higgins holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Ohio State University and an Honorary Doctorate from Bentley University.
Jeanne Tisinger is a Director. Ms. Tisinger is an accomplished global leader with extensive experience delivering the enabling technology and business services for the Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) global operations. As former Deputy Director of CIA for Support (DDS) from 2013 until 2017, she reported to the Director of the CIA and was responsible for cyber/personnel/physical security, infrastructure, finance, supply chain management, real estate acquisition and management, medical, human resources, and associated information technology. Prior to her role as DDS, Ms. Tisinger served as CIA’s Chief Information Officer (CIO), where she held worldwide responsibility for enterprise information technology strategy, architecture development, infrastructure operations, software development, and service delivery. She drove enhancements to the CIA’s resiliency posture and significantly advanced inter- and intra-Agency collaboration capabilities. She constructed and executed the CIA’s acquisition strategy for commercial cloud services, resulting in the partnership with Amazon to provide an Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud for the Top Security Intelligence Community (IC) Marketplace, while concurrently enhancing the IC’s cyber security posture. Ms. Tisinger has served as a senior advisor for cybersecurity to Mastercard since 2017. She also serves as a consultant on technology strategy, cyber defense, shared services and workforce inclusion for a variety of clients including financial services, technology solutions providers, energy, and national defense. Since 2019, Ms. Tisinger has served as lead independent director for Midwest Reliability Organization, which oversees North America’s bulk electric power grid, and Satelles, a secure position, navigation and timing service in which C5 Capital has invested that provides global backup for GPS. Additionally, she has served on the Board of Advisors for Virginia Tech’s Hume Center for National Security and Technology since 2019. Ms. Tisinger was named by Washingtonian magazine as a Top 100 Tech Titan for the National Capital Region, Information Week’s Top 25 Public CIO’s, and FedScoop’s top 10 Most Influential Women in Federal IT. Ms. Tisinger received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management from George Mason University and completed the Executive Leadership Program at Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management.
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Arun Gupta is a Director. Mr. Gupta is an accomplished mission-oriented executive with experience in US and International Venture Capital, Assessing Emerging Technologies, Scaling High-Growth Companies, Teaching Entrepreneurship, and Coordinating National Security & Tech Policy. Mr. Gupta currently is an Adjunct Professor/Senior Advisor to Provost at Georgetown University, Lecturer at Stanford University, and Venture Partner at Columbia Capital. Mr. Gupta maintains very active relationships in the emerging technology, entrepreneurship, public policy, and international finance communities. As a Partner at Columbia Capital, Mr. Gupta’s investment career spanned seventeen years, with a focus on emerging tech-enabled services and infrastructure companies in AI, Cybersecurity, Mobile, Government Services, and SaaS/Cloud infrastructure sectors in the US and India. Prior to joining Columbia Capital in 2000, Mr. Gupta was at Carlyle Venture Partners focused on software investments. Prior to Carlyle, Mr. Gupta held positions in Arthur D. Little’s telecom and technology consulting practice and shared responsibility for establishing ADL’s management consulting operations in Mumbai 1995-98. At Georgetown University, Mr. Gupta also serves on the Georgetown Entrepreneurship Advisory Board, and teaches Entrepreneurial Finance and Venture Capital at McDonough School of Business. Mr. Gupta is actively engaged with initiatives related to Tech & Society, AI/Cybersecurity at the Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET), and the Pivot Program–teaching business skills to returning citizens. At Stanford University, Mr. Gupta serves on the Stanford in Washington (SIW) Advisory Board and currently teaches “Valley Meets Mission: Entrepreneurial Ventures in DC” at Stanford in Washington. The class highlights mission-oriented entrepreneurial opportunities through discussions with leaders at the intersection of the government, mission, technology, and entrepreneurship. As a mission-focused technology angel investor, Mr. Gupta focuses on SaaS, GovTech, and Sustainable Food investments. Mr. Gupta also is a member of the board of directors of LMI. Mr. Gupta received a B.S. degree with Distinction in Electrical Engineering and an M.S. degree in Engineering Economic Systems from Stanford University. He received his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
Number and Terms of Office of Officers and Directors
Our board of directors consists of five members. Our board of directors is divided into three classes with only one class of directors being appointed in each year and each class (except for those directors appointed prior to our first annual meeting of stockholders) serving a three-year term. The term of office of the first class of directors, consisting of Arun Gupta and Linda Zecher Higgins, will expire at our first annual general meeting. The term of office of the second class of directors, consisting of Jeanne Tisinger, will expire at our second annual general meeting. The term of office of the third class of directors, consisting of Steven J. Demetriou and Robert Meyerson, will expire at our third annual general meeting. We may not hold an annual meeting of stockholders until after we consummate our initial business combination. Approval of our initial business combination will require the affirmative vote of a majority of our board directors. Subject to any other special rights applicable to the stockholders, prior to our initial business combination, any vacancies on our board of directors may be filled by the affirmative vote of a majority of the directors present and voting at the meeting of our board of directors that includes any directors representing our sponsor then on our board of directors, or by holders of a majority of the outstanding shares of our Class B common stock.
Our officers are elected 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 bylaws as it deems appropriate. Our bylaws will provide that our officers may consist of a Chief Executive Officer, a President, a Chief Financial Officer, Vice Presidents, a Secretary, Assistant Secretaries, a Treasurer, Assistant Treasurers and such other offices as may be determined by the board of directors (including interim officers as it deems appropriate).
Director Independence
The rules of the NYSE require that a majority of our board of directors be independent within one year of our IPO. Our board of directors has determined that each of Steven J. Demetriou, Arun Gupta and Jeanne Tisinger is an “independent director” under applicable SEC and NYSE rules. Our independent directors have regularly scheduled sessions at which only independent directors are present.
Executive Officer and Director Compensation
None of our officers or directors have received any compensation for services rendered to us. Our sponsor, officers, directors and their respective affiliates will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses 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 will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made by us to our sponsor, officers, directors or our or any of their respective affiliates.
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After the completion of our initial business combination, directors or members of our management team who remain with us may be paid consulting, management or other compensation from the combined company. All compensation will be fully disclosed to stockholders, to the extent then known, in the tender offer materials or proxy solicitation materials furnished to our stockholders in connection with a proposed business combination. It is unlikely the amount of such compensation will be known at the time, 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 officers after the completion of our initial business combination will be determined by a compensation committee constituted solely by independent directors.
We are not party to any agreements with our executive officers and directors that provide for benefits upon termination of employment. The existence or terms of any such employment or consulting arrangements may influence our management’s motivation in identifying or selecting a target business, and we do not believe that the ability of our management to remain with us after the consummation of our initial business combination should be a determining factor in our decision to proceed with any potential business combination.
Committees of the Board of Directors
Our board of directors has three standing committees: an audit committee, a compensation committee and a nominating and corporate governance committee, each of which will be composed solely of independent directors. Subject to phase-in rules, the rules of NYSE and Rule 10A-3 of the Exchange Act require that the audit committee of a listed company be comprised solely of independent directors, and the rules of NYSE require that the compensation committee and the nominating and corporate governance committee of a listed company be comprised solely of independent directors. Each committee operates under a charter that was approved by our board and has the composition and responsibilities described below. The charter of each committee is available on our website.
Audit Committee
The members of our audit committee are Arun Gupta, Jeanne Tisinger and Steven J. Demetriou, and Steven J. Demetriou serves as chair of the audit committee. Our board of directors has determined that each of Arun Gupta, Jeanne Tisinger and Steven J. Demetriou is an independent director under applicable SEC and NYSE rules. Each member of the audit committee is financially literate and our board of directors has determined that Steven J. Demetriou qualifies as an “audit committee financial expert” as defined in applicable SEC rules and has accounting or related financial management expertise.
We have adopted an audit committee charter, which details the purpose and principal functions of the audit committee, including:
• | assisting board oversight of (1) the integrity of our financial statements, (2) our compliance with legal and regulatory requirements, (3) our independent auditor’s qualifications and independence, and (4) the performance of our internal audit function and independent auditors; |
• | the appointment, compensation, retention, replacement, and oversight of the work of the independent auditors and any other independent registered public accounting firm engaged by us; |
• | pre-approving all audit and non-audit services to be provided by the independent auditors or any other registered public accounting firm engaged by us, and establishing pre-approval policies and procedures; |
• | reviewing and discussing with the independent auditors all relationships the auditors have with us in order to evaluate their continued independence; |
• | setting clear hiring policies for employees or former employees of the independent auditors; |
• | setting clear policies for audit partner rotation in compliance with applicable laws and regulations; |
• | obtaining and reviewing a report, at least annually, from the independent auditors describing (1) the independent auditor’s internal quality-control procedures and (2) any material issues raised by the most recent internal quality-control review, or peer review, of the audit firm, or by any inquiry or investigation by governmental or professional authorities, within the preceding five years respecting one or more independent audits carried out by the firm and any steps taken to deal with such issues; |
• | meeting to review and discuss our annual audited financial statements and quarterly financial statements with management and the independent auditor, including reviewing our specific disclosures under “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations”; |
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• | reviewing and approving any related party transaction required to be disclosed pursuant to Item 404 of Regulation S-K promulgated by the SEC prior to us entering into such transaction; and |
• | reviewing with management, the independent auditors, and our legal advisors, as appropriate, any legal, regulatory or compliance matters, including any correspondence with regulators or government agencies and any employee complaints or published reports that raise material issues regarding our financial statements or accounting policies and any significant changes in accounting standards or rules promulgated by the Financial Accounting Standards Board, the SEC or other regulatory authorities. |
The audit committee is governed by a charter that complies with the rules of the NYSE.
Compensation Committee
The members of our compensation committee are Steven J. Demetriou, Arun Gupta and Jeanne Tisinger. Steven J. Demetriou serves as chair of the compensation committee. Our board of directors has determined that each of Steven J. Demetriou, Arun Gupta and Jeanne Tisinger is an “independent director” under applicable SEC and NYSE rules.
We have adopted a compensation committee charter, which details the purpose and responsibility of the compensation committee, including:
• | reviewing and approving on an annual basis the corporate goals and objectives relevant to our Chief Executive Officer’s compensation, evaluating our Chief Executive Officer’s performance in light of such goals and objectives and determining and approving the remuneration (if any) of our Chief Executive Officer based on such evaluation; |
• | reviewing and making recommendations to our board of directors with respect to (or approving, if such authority is so delegated by our board of directors) the compensation, and any incentive-compensation and equity-based plans that are subject to board approval of all of our other officers; |
• | reviewing our executive compensation policies and plans; |
• | implementing and administering our incentive compensation equity-based remuneration plans; |
• | assisting management in complying with our proxy statement and annual report disclosure requirements; |
• | approving all special perquisites, special cash payments and other special compensation and benefit arrangements for our officers and employees; |
• | producing a report on executive compensation to be included in our annual proxy statement; and |
• | reviewing, evaluating and recommending changes, if appropriate, to the remuneration for directors. |
The charter also provides that the compensation committee may, in its sole discretion, retain or obtain the advice of a compensation consultant, independent legal counsel or other adviser and will be directly responsible for the appointment, compensation and oversight of the work of any such adviser. The charter complies with the rules of the NYSE.
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.
Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee
The members of our nominating and corporate governance committee are Steven J. Demetriou, Arun Gupta and Jeanne Tisinger. Arun Gupta serves as chair of the nominating and corporate governance committee. Our board of directors has determined that each of Steven J. Demetriou, Arun Gupta and Jeanne Tisinger is an “independent director” under applicable SEC and NYSE rules.
We adopted a nominating and corporate governance committee charter, which details the purpose and responsibilities of the nominating and corporate governance committee, including:
• | identifying, screening and reviewing individuals qualified to serve as directors, consistent with criteria approved by the board, and recommending to the board of directors candidates for nomination for election at the annual meeting of stockholders or to fill vacancies on the board of directors; |
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• | developing and recommending to the board of directors and overseeing implementation of our corporate governance guidelines; |
• | coordinating and overseeing the annual self-evaluation of the board of directors, its committees, individual directors and management in the governance of the company; and |
• | reviewing on a regular basis our overall corporate governance and recommending improvements as and when necessary. |
The charter also provides that the nominating and corporate governance committee may, in its sole discretion, retain or obtain the advice of, and terminate, any search firm to be used to identify director candidates, and will be directly responsible for approving the search firm’s fees and other retention terms. The charter complies with the rules of the NYSE.
We have not formally established any specific, minimum qualifications that must be met or skills that are necessary for directors to possess. In general, in identifying and evaluating nominees for director, the board of directors considers educational background, diversity of professional experience, knowledge of our business, integrity, professional reputation, independence, wisdom, and the ability to represent the best interests of our stockholders. Prior to our initial business combination, holders of our public shares will not have the right to recommend director candidates for nomination to our board of directors.
Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation
None of our officers currently serves, and in the past year has not served, as a member of the board of directors or compensation committee of any entity that has one or more officers serving on our board of directors.
Section 16(a) Beneficial Ownership Reporting Compliance
Section 16(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, requires our officers, directors and persons who beneficially own more than ten percent of our common stock to file reports of ownership and changes in ownership with the SEC. These reporting persons are also required to furnish us with copies of all Section 16(a) forms they file. Based solely upon a review of such forms, we believe that during the twelve months ended December 31, 2022, there were no delinquent filers.
Code of Ethics
We have adopted a Code of Ethics applicable to our directors, officers and employees.
You will be able to review these documents by accessing our public filings at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. In addition, 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 Form 8-K.
Corporate Governance Guidelines
Our board of directors adopted corporate governance guidelines in accordance with the corporate governance rules of the NYSE that serve as a flexible framework within which our board of directors and its committees operate. These guidelines cover a number of areas including board membership criteria and director qualifications, director responsibilities, board agenda, roles of the chairman of the board, chief executive officer and presiding director, meetings of independent directors, committee responsibilities and assignments, board member access to management and independent advisors, director communications with third parties, director compensation, director orientation and continuing education, evaluation of senior management and management succession planning. A copy of our corporate governance guidelines is posted on our website.
Conflicts of Interest
Our management team is responsible for the management of our affairs. As described above and below, each of our officers and directors presently has, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties to one or more other entities pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entities. Accordingly, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for one or more entities to which he or she has fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties, he or she will honor these obligations and duties to present such business combination opportunity to such entities first, and only present it to us if such entities reject the opportunity and he or she determines to present the opportunity to us (including as described in “Item 1. Business — Sourcing of Potential Business Combination Targets”). 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.
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We do not believe, however, that the fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties of our officers or directors will materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that we renounce our interest in any corporate 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 our company and such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue.
Our sponsor, officers and directors may participate in the formation of, or become an officer or director of, any other blank check company prior to completion of our initial business combination. Potential investors should also be aware of the following other potential conflicts of interest:
• | None of our officers or directors is required to commit his or her full time to our affairs and, accordingly, may have conflicts of interest in allocating his or her time among various business activities. |
• | In the course of their other business activities, our officers and directors may become aware of investment and business opportunities which may be appropriate for presentation to us as well as the other entities with which they are affiliated. Our management may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented. |
• | Our initial stockholders, officers, directors and advisors have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and any public shares held by them in connection with the consummation of our initial business combination. Additionally, our initial stockholders, officers, directors and advisors have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares held by them if we fail to consummate our initial business combination within 15 months after the IPO or during any Extension Period. However, if our initial stockholders or any of our officers, directors, advisors or affiliates acquire public shares in or after the IPO, they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to such public shares if we fail to consummate our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame. If we do not complete our initial business combination within such applicable time period, the proceeds of the sale of the private placement warrants held in the trust account will be used to fund the redemption of our public shares, and the private placement warrants will expire worthless. |
• | With certain limited exceptions, the founder shares will not be transferable, assignable or salable by our initial stockholders until the earlier of: (1) one year after the completion of our initial business combination; and (2) subsequent to our initial business combination, (x) the date on which we consummate a liquidation, merger, stock exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction that results in all of our public stockholders having the right to exchange their shares of common stock for cash, securities or other property and (y) if the last reported sale price of our Class A common stock equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after our initial business combination. With certain limited exceptions, the private placement warrants and the shares of common stock underlying such private placement warrants, will not be transferable, assignable or salable by our sponsor until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination. Since our sponsor, officers, directors and advisors may directly or indirectly own common stock and warrants following the IPO, our officers, directors and advisors may have a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target business is an appropriate business with which to effectuate our initial business combination. |
• | Our key personnel may negotiate employment or consulting agreements with a target business in connection with a particular business combination. These agreements may provide for them to receive compensation following our initial business combination and as a result, may cause them to have conflicts of interest in determining whether to proceed with a particular business combination. |
• | Our key personnel may have a conflict of interest with respect to evaluating a particular business combination if the retention or resignation of any such key personnel was included by a target business as a condition to any agreement with respect to our initial business combination. |
• | The conflicts described above may not be resolved in our favor. |
• | In general, officers and directors of a corporation incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware are required to present business opportunities to a corporation if: |
• | the corporation could financially undertake the opportunity; |
• | the opportunity is within the corporation’s line of business; and |
• | it would not be fair to the corporation and its stockholders for the opportunity not to be brought to the attention of the corporation. |
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Accordingly, as a result of multiple business affiliations, our officers and directors have similar legal obligations and duties relating to presenting business opportunities meeting the above-listed criteria to multiple entities. Furthermore, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that the doctrine of corporate opportunity will not apply with respect to any of our officers or directors in circumstances where the application of the doctrine would conflict with any fiduciary duties or contractual obligations they may have, and there will not be any expectancy that any of our directors or officers will offer any such corporate opportunity of which he or she may become aware to us. Below is a table summarizing the entities to which our officers and directors currently have fiduciary duties or contractual obligations that may present a conflict of interest:
Name of Individual |
Entity Name |
Entity’s Business |
Affiliation | |||
Robert Meyerson | Delalune Space | Management Consulting | Founder and Chief Executive Officer | |||
Axiom Space | Space Services | Director | ||||
NLX Inc. | Communications Technology | Advisor | ||||
Hermeus Corp. | Aerospace Engineering | Advisor | ||||
Sceye | Engineering | Director | ||||
ABL Space | Space Launch | Advisor | ||||
Titan Space | Space Services | Advisor | ||||
Prewitt Ridge | Engineering Software | Advisor | ||||
Interlune | Startup company | Founder and CEO | ||||
David Glickman | Trialon Corp. | Auto sensor testing | Director | |||
Luminance Brands | LED lighting | Director | ||||
Hynes Industries | Manufacturing (steel | Board observer | ||||
Xeeva | Business Services (co-op purchasing) |
Board observer | ||||
Magnum Energy Solutions LLC | Wireless Automation Solutions | Director | ||||
Aero Communications Inc. | Telecom Services | Director and Vice President | ||||
Ohio Mineral Inc. | Aggregates | Director | ||||
Affinity Special Apparel Inc. | Uniforms Business | Director | ||||
Steven J. Demetriou | Jacobs | Space, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure | Executive Chair | |||
FirstEnergy Corp | Electric Utility | Director | ||||
Arcosa | Infrastructure | Director | ||||
Linda Zecher Higgins | Barkley Group | Consulting | Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director | |||
Hasbro Corporation | Toy and Game Manufacturer | Director; Chair of Cyber Security Committee; Member of Audit Committee | ||||
Tenable, Inc.Wealth Holdings Limited | Cybersecurity holding company | Director; Member of Compensation and Nominating Committees |
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Name of Individual |
Entity Name |
Entity’s Business |
Affiliation | |||
Jeanne Tisinger | Mastercard | Payments Processing | Senior Advisor | |||
Midwest Reliability Organization | Electricity Management Oversight | Lead Independent Director | ||||
Satelles | GPS Backup | Lead Independent Director | ||||
Arun Gupta | Columbia Capital | Investment Firm | Partner |
Accordingly, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for one or more entities to which he or she has fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties, he or she will honor these obligations and duties to present such business combination opportunity to such entities first, and only present it to us if such entities reject the opportunity and he or she determines to present the opportunity to us (including as described in “Item 1. Business — Sourcing of Potential Business Combination Targets”). 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.
We do not believe, however, that the fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties of our officers or directors will materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that we renounce our interest in any corporate 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 our company and such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue.
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 business that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent and disinterested directors, will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA or from an independent accounting firm, 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.
In addition, our sponsor or any of its affiliates may make additional investments in the company in connection with the initial business combination, although our sponsor and its affiliates have no obligation or current intention to do so. If our sponsor or any of its affiliates elects to make additional investments, such proposed investments could influence our sponsor’s motivation to complete an initial business combination.
In the event that we submit our initial business combination to our public stockholders for a vote, our initial stockholders, officers and directors have agreed to vote any founder shares and any public shares held by them in favor of our initial business combination, and our officers and directors have also agreed to vote public shares purchased by them (if any) during or after the IPO in favor of our initial business combination.
In addition, none of our advisors are officers or directors of our company and, therefore, owe us no fiduciary duties as such. While we expect that they will assist us in identifying business combination targets, they have no obligation to do so and may devote a substantial portion of their business time to activities unrelated to us. Our advisors may have fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties to other organizations to present business combination opportunities to such other organizations rather than to us. Accordingly, if any advisor becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for one or more entities to which such advisor has fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties, such advisor will honor those obligations and duties to present such business combination opportunity to such entities first and only present it to us if such entities reject the opportunity and such advisor determines to present the opportunity to us. These conflicts may not be resolved in our favor and a potential business opportunity may be presented to another entity prior to its presentation to us. Furthermore, while none of our advisors will have any duty to offer acquisition opportunities to us, they may become aware of a potential transaction that is an attractive opportunity for us, which they may decide to share with us. Conflicts may arise from their affiliation with our company, their provision of services both to us and to third-party clients, as well as from actions undertaken by them for their own account. In performing services for other clients and also when acting for their own account, they may take commercial steps which may have an adverse effect on us. Any of our advisors’ other activities may, individually or in the aggregate, have an adverse effect on us, and the interests of our advisors or their respective clients or counterparties may at times be averse to ours.
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Limitation on Liability and Indemnification of Officers and Directors
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that our officers and directors will be indemnified by us to the fullest extent authorized by Delaware law, as it now exists or may in the future be amended. In addition, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that our directors will not be personally liable for monetary damages to us or stockholders for breaches of their fiduciary duty as directors, except to the extent such exemption from liability or limitation thereof is not permitted by the DGCL.
We entered into agreements with our officers and directors to provide contractual indemnification in addition to the indemnification provided for in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. Our bylaws also permit us to maintain insurance on behalf of any officer, director or employee for any liability arising out of his or her actions, regardless of whether Delaware law would permit such indemnification.
We obtained 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.
These provisions may discourage stockholders from bringing a lawsuit against our directors for breach of their fiduciary duty. These provisions also may have the effect of reducing the likelihood of derivative litigation against directors and officers, even though such an action, if successful, might otherwise benefit us and our stockholders. Furthermore, a stockholder’s investment may be adversely affected to the extent we pay the costs of settlement and damage awards against 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.
In connection with the IPO, we have undertaken that insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act may be permitted to directors, officers or persons controlling us pursuant to the foregoing provisions, we have been informed that in the opinion of the SEC such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is therefore unenforceable.
Item 11. | Executive Compensation. |
None of our executive officers or directors have received any cash compensation for services rendered to us. We pay monthly recurring expenses of $35,000 to our sponsor for office space, administrative and support services. Upon completion of the initial business combination or our liquidation, the Company will cease paying these monthly fees. Accordingly, in the event the consummation of the initial business combination takes the maximum 15 months, our sponsor will be paid a total of $525,000 ($35,000 per month) for office space, administrative and support services and will be entitled to be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses.
Our sponsor, executive officers, directors, or any of their respective affiliates, are reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses 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 will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made to our sponsor, executive officers, directors and our or their affiliates.
After the completion of our business combination, directors or members of our management team who remain with us may be paid consulting, management or other fees from the combined company. All of these fees will be fully disclosed to stockholders, to the extent then known, in the tender offer materials or proxy solicitation materials furnished to our stockholders in connection with a proposed business combination. It is unlikely the amount of such compensation will be known at the time, 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 by a compensation committee constituted solely by independent directors.
We may not 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 officers and directors may negotiate employment or consulting arrangements to remain with us after the 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 officers and directors that provide for benefits upon termination of employment.
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Item 12. | Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters. |
We have no compensation plans under which equity securities are authorized for issuance.
The following table sets forth information regarding the beneficial ownership of our common stock as of the date of this Annual Report, by:
• | each person known by us to be the beneficial owner of more than 5% of our outstanding shares of common stock; |
• | each of our executive officers, directors and advisors; and |
• | all our executive officers, directors and advisors as a group. |
Unless otherwise indicated, we believe that all persons named in the table have sole voting and investment power with respect to all shares of common stock 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 Annual Report.
Name and Address of Beneficial Owner(1) |
Number of Shares Beneficially Owned(2) |
Percentage of Outstanding Common Stock |
||||||
C5 Sponsor LLC (our sponsor)(3) |
7,187,500 | 20 | % | |||||
Steven J. Demetriou |
— | — | ||||||
Robert Meyerson |
— | — | ||||||
David Glickman |
— | — | ||||||
Linda Zecher Higgins |
— | — | ||||||
Jeanne Tisinger |
— | — | ||||||
All directors, executive officers and advisors as a group (6 individuals) |
— | — | ||||||
Saba Capital Management LP(4) |
2,705,954 | 7.5 | % | |||||
Bank of Montreal(5) |
1,672,700 | 4.7 | % | |||||
Periscope Capital Inc.(6) |
1,685,709 | 4.7 | % |
* | Less than one percent. |
(1) | Unless otherwise noted, the business address of each of the following entities or individuals is in care of the Company at 1701 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Ste # 460, Washington, D.C. 20006. |
(2) | Interests shown consist solely of shares of Class B common stock which are referred to herein as founder shares. Such shares will automatically convert into shares of Class A common stock at the time of our initial business combination, or earlier at the option of the holder, on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment, as described under “Description of Securities.” |
(3) | Our sponsor is the record holder of such shares of Class B common stock. C5 Capital USA LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, is the managing member of our sponsor and has voting and investment discretion with respect to the shares of Class B common stock held of record by our sponsor. No single individual has beneficial ownership of C5 Capital USA LLC. |
(4) | According to Schedule 13G, filed on February 14, 2023 by Saba Capital Management, LP, (“Saba Capital”), Saba Capital Management GP, LLC, (“Saba GP”), and Mr. Boaz R. Weinstein (together, the “Saba Parties”), the business address of such parties is 405 Lexington Avenue, 58th Floor, New York, New York 10174. The Saba Parties hold 2,705,954 shares of Class A common stock. Such securities are held through Saba Capital Management, LP, a Delaware limited partnership (“Saba Capital”), Saba Capital Management GP, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (“Saba GP”), and Mr. Boaz R. Weinstein, a United States citizen. |
(5) | According to Schedule 13G, filed on February 1, 2023 by Bank of Montreal, Bank of Montreal Holdings Inc., BMO Nesbitt Burns Holdings Corporation, BMO Nesbitt Burns Holdings Corporation, BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. (BMO Nesbitt Burns”) and Bank of Montreal, NewYork Branch (collectively, the “BMO Parties”), the business address of such parties is 100 King Street West, 21st Floor, Toronto, Ontario, M5X 1A1, Canada. The BMO Parties hold 1,672,700 shares of Class A common stock. |
(6) | According to Schedule 13G, filed on February 13, 2023 by Periscope Capital Inc. (“Periscope”), the business address of such parties is 333 Bay Street, Suite 1240, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Periscope holds 1,511,409 shares of Class A common stock. Periscope acts as investment manager of, and exercises discretion with respect to certain private investment funds (each, a “Periscope Fund”) that collectively and directly own 174,300 shares of Class A common stock. |
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In May 2021, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 7,187,500 shares of Class B common stock for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000, or approximately $0.0035 per share. All share and per-share amounts have been retroactively restated to reflect the stock dividends. The number of shares of Class B common stock issued was based on the expectation that the shares of Class B common stock would represent 20% of the outstanding shares of our determined Class A common stock and our Class B common stock upon completion of the IPO.
Concurrently with the completion of the IPO, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 15,035,500 warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant, or $15,035,500 in the aggregate. An aggregate of $293,250,000 was placed in a trust account at the time of closing of the IPO. Each whole private placement warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one share of Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to certain adjustments.
Our sponsor and our executive officers and directors are deemed to be our “promoters” as such term is defined under the federal securities laws. See “Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence” below for additional information regarding our relationships with our promoters.
Item 13. | Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence. |
In May 2021, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 7,187,500 shares of Class B common stock for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000, or approximately $0.0035 per share. All share and per-share amounts have been retroactively restated to reflect the stock dividends. The number of shares of Class B common stock issued was based on the expectation that the shares of Class B common stock would represent 20% of the outstanding shares of our determined Class A common stock and our Class B common stock upon completion of the IPO. All share and per-share amounts have been retroactively restated to reflect the stock dividends. The number of founder shares issued was determined based on the expectation that the founder shares would represent 20% of the outstanding shares of common stock upon completion of the IPO.
Our sponsor purchased 15,035,500 private placement warrants for a purchase price of $1.00 per warrant in a private placement that occurred simultaneously with the closing of the IPO. As such, our sponsor’s interest in the IPO is valued at $15,035,500. Each private placement warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one share of Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as provided herein. The private placement warrants (including the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the private placement warrants) may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by our sponsor until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination.
As described in “Item 1. Business — Sourcing of Potential Business Combination Targets” and “Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance — Conflicts of Interest.”, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for one or more entities to which he or she has fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties, he or she will honor these obligations and duties to present such business combination opportunity to such entities first, and only present it to us if such entities reject the opportunity and he or she determines to present the opportunity to us. Our officers and directors currently have other relevant fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties that may take priority over their duties to us.
In May 2021, our sponsor agreed to loan us up to $300,000 to cover expenses related to the IPO pursuant to a promissory note. The loan was non-interest bearing, unsecured and due on the earlier of December 31, 2022 or the closing of the IPO. We borrowed $300,000 under this promissory note and repaid the full outstanding balance of the promissory note on January 12, 2022.
We entered into an Administrative Services Agreement pursuant to which we will also pay our sponsor a total of $35,000 per month for office space and administrative and support services. Upon completion of our initial business combination or our liquidation, we will cease paying these monthly fees. Accordingly, in the event the consummation of our initial business combination takes the maximum 15 months, our sponsor will be paid a total of $525,000 ($35,000 per month) for office space and administrative and support services and will be entitled to be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses.
Our sponsor, officers and directors or any of their respective affiliates will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses 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 will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made by us to our sponsor, officers, directors or our or any of their respective affiliates and will determine which expenses and the amount of expenses that will be reimbursed. There is no cap or ceiling on the reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses incurred by such persons in connection with activities on our behalf.
In addition, in order to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, our sponsor, an affiliate of our sponsor or our officers and directors may, but none of them is obligated to, loan us funds as may be required. If we complete our initial business combination, we would repay such loaned amounts out of the proceeds of the trust account released to
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us. In the event that our initial business combination does not close, we may use a portion of the working capital held outside the trust account to repay such loaned amounts but no proceeds from our trust account would be used for such repayment. Up to $2,000,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants issued to our sponsor. The terms of such loans by our sponsor, an affiliate of our sponsor or our officers and directors, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. We do not expect to seek loans from parties other than our sponsor, an affiliate of our sponsor or our officers and directors, if any, 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.
After our initial business combination, members of our management team who remain with us, if any, may be paid consulting, management or other fees from the combined company with any and all amounts being fully disclosed to our stockholders, to the extent then known, in the tender offer or proxy solicitation materials, as applicable, furnished to our stockholders. It is unlikely the amount of such compensation will be known at the time of distribution of such tender offer materials or at the time of a stockholder meeting held to consider our initial business combination, as applicable, as it will be up to the directors of the post-combination business to determine executive officer and director compensation.
We have entered into a letter agreement with our initial stockholders, officers, directors and advisors pursuant to which (x) they have agreed to waive: (1) their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and public shares held by them, as applicable, in connection with our initial business combination; (2) their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and public shares held by them in connection with a stockholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemptions in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we have not consummated our initial business combination within 15 months from the IPO or (B) with respect to any other material provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity; and (3) their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any founder shares they hold if we fail to complete our initial business combination within 15 months from the IPO or during any Extension Period (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), and (y) the founder shares are subject to certain transfer restrictions, as described under “Description of Securities—Founder Shares.”
We have entered into a registration rights agreement with respect to the founder shares, private placement warrants and warrants issued upon conversion of working capital loans (if any). The holders of the founder shares, private placement warrants and warrants that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans (and any shares of common stock issuable upon the exercise of the private placement warrants or warrants issued upon conversion of the working capital loans and upon conversion of the founder shares) will be entitled to registration rights pursuant to a registration rights agreement dated as of January 6, 2022, requiring us to register such securities for resale (in the case of the founder shares, only after conversion to shares of Class A common stock). The holders of these securities will be entitled to make up to three demands, excluding short form registration demands, that we register such securities. In addition, the holders have certain “piggy-back” registration rights with respect to registration statements filed subsequent to our completion of our initial business combination and rights to require us to register for resale such securities pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act. However, the registration rights agreement provides that no sales of these securities will be effected until after the expiration of the applicable lock-up period, as described herein. We will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such registration statements.
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Related Party Policy
We had not yet adopted a formal policy for the review, approval or ratification of related party transactions as of the completion of the IPO. Accordingly, the transactions discussed above were not reviewed, approved or ratified in accordance with any such policy.
Since the completion of the IPO, we have 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. Under our code of ethics, conflict of interest situations will include any financial transaction, arrangement or relationship (including any indebtedness or guarantee of indebtedness) involving the company.
In addition, our audit committee, pursuant to a written charter, is responsible for reviewing and approving related party transactions to the extent that we enter into such transactions. An affirmative vote of a majority of the members of the audit committee present at a meeting at which a quorum is present is required in order to approve a related party transaction. A majority of the members of the entire audit committee constitutes a quorum. Without a meeting, the unanimous written consent of all of the members of the audit committee is required to approve a related party transaction. Our audit committee reviews on a quarterly basis all payments that were made by us to our sponsor, officers or directors, or our or any of their affiliates.
These procedures are intended to determine whether any such related party transaction impairs the independence of a director or presents a conflict of interest on the part of a director, employee or officer.
To further minimize conflicts of interest, we have agreed not to consummate an initial business combination with an entity that is affiliated with any of our sponsor, officers or directors unless we, or a committee of independent and disinterested directors, have obtained an opinion from an independent investment banking firm which is a member of FINRA or an independent accounting firm that our initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view. There will be no finder’s fees, reimbursement, consulting fee, monies in respect of any payment of a loan or other compensation paid by us to our sponsor, officers or directors or our or any of their respective affiliates, for services rendered to us prior to or in connection with the completion of our initial business combination (regardless of the type of transaction that it is). However, the following payments will be, or have been, made to our sponsor, officers or directors, or our or their affiliates, and, if made prior to our initial business combination will be made from (i) funds held outside the trust account or (ii) permitted withdrawals:
• | repayment of $300,000 in loans made to us by our sponsor to cover offering-related and organizational expenses; |
• | payment to our sponsor of a total of $35,000 per month, for up to 15 months, for office space, administrative and support services; |
• | reimbursement for any out-of-pocket expenses related to identifying, investigating and completing an initial business combination; and |
• | repayment of loans which may be made by our sponsor, an affiliate of our sponsor or our officers and directors to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, the terms of which have not been determined nor have any written agreements been executed with respect thereto. Up to $2,000,000 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. |
These payments may be funded using the net proceeds of the IPO and the sale of the private placement warrants not held in the trust account or, upon completion of the initial business combination, from any amounts remaining from the proceeds of the trust account released to us in connection therewith.
Director Independence
The rules of the NYSE require that a majority of our board of directors be independent within one year of our IPO. An “independent director” is defined generally as a person that, in the opinion of the company’s board of directors, has no material relationship with the listed company (either directly or as a partner, stockholder or officer of an organization that has a relationship with the company). We have “independent directors” as defined in the NYSE rules and applicable SEC rules. Our board of directors has determined that each of Steven J. Demetriou, Arun Gupta and Jeanne Tisinger is an “independent director” under applicable SEC and NYSE rules. Our independent directors will have regularly scheduled meetings at which only independent directors are present.
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Item 14. | Principal Accountant Fees and Services. |
The following is a summary of fees paid or to be paid to Marcum LLP, or Marcum, for services rendered.
Audit Fees. Audit fees consist of fees billed for professional services rendered for the audit of our year-end financial statements and services that are normally provided by Marcum in connection with regulatory filings. The aggregate fees billed by Marcum for professional services rendered for the audit of our annual financial statements, review of the financial information included in our Forms 10-Q for the respective periods and other required filings with the SEC, including services in connection with our IPO, for the period from March 30, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021 and for the twelve months ended December 31, 2022 totaled $74,675 and $126,175 respectively. The above amounts include interim procedures and audit fees, as well as attendance at audit committee meetings.
Audit-Related Fees. Audit-related services consist of fees billed for assurance and related services that are reasonably related to performance of the audit or review of our financial statements and are not reported under “Audit Fees.” These services include attest services that are not required by statute or regulation and consultations concerning financial accounting and reporting standards. We did not pay Marcum for consultations concerning financial accounting and reporting standards for twelve months ended December 31, 2022.
Tax Fees. We did not pay Marcum for tax planning and tax advice for the twelve months ended December 31, 2022.
All Other Fees. We did not pay Marcum for other services for the twelve months ended December 31, 2022.
Pre-Approval Policy
Our audit committee was formed upon the consummation of our Initial Public Offering. As a result, the audit committee did not pre-approve 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 pre-approve all auditing services and permitted non-audit services to be performed for us by our auditors, including the fees and terms thereof (subject to the de minimis exceptions for non-audit services described in the Exchange Act which are approved by the audit committee prior to the completion of the audit).
Item 15. | Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules |
(a) | The following documents are filed as part of this Form 10-K: |
(1) | Financial Statements: |
Page | ||||
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm (Marcum LLP, PCAOB ID No. 688) |
F-1 | |||
F-2 | ||||
F-3 | ||||
F-4 | ||||
F-5 | ||||
F-6 |
(2) | Financial Statement Schedules: |
None.
(3) | Exhibits |
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We hereby file as part of this Report the exhibits listed in the attached Exhibit Index. Exhibits which are incorporated herein by reference can be inspected and copied at the public reference facilities maintained by the SEC, 100 F Street, N.E., Room 1580, Washington, D.C. 20549. Copies of such material can also be obtained from the Public Reference Section of the SEC, 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549, at prescribed rates or on the SEC website at www.sec.gov.
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* | Filed herewith. |
** | These certifications are furnished to the SEC pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, as amended, and are deemed not filed for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, nor shall they be deemed incorporated by reference in any filing under the Securities Act, except as shall be expressly set forth by specific reference in such filing. |
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SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, the Registrant has duly caused this Annual Report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in New York City, New York, on the 31st day of March, 2023.
C5 ACQUISITION CORPORATION | ||
By: | /s/ David Glickman | |
Name: | David Glickman | |
Title: | Chief Business Development Officer and Chief Financial Officer (Principal Financial and Accounting Officer) |
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, this Annual Report has been signed below by the following persons in the capacities and on the dates indicated.
Name |
Position |
Date | ||
/s/ Robert Meyerson |
Chief Executive Officer and Director | March 31, 2023 | ||
Robert Meyerson | (Principal Executive Officer) | |||
/s/ David Glickman |
Chief Business Development Officer and Chief Financial Officer |
March 31, 2023 | ||
David Glickman | (Principal Financial and | |||
Accounting Officer) | ||||
/s/ Steven J. Demetriou |
Non-Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors | March 31, 2023 | ||
Steven J. Demetriou | ||||
/s/ Linda Zecher Higgins |
Director | March 31, 2023 | ||
Linda Zecher Higgins | ||||
/s/ Jeanne Tisinger |
Director | March 31, 2023 | ||
Jeanne Tisinger | ||||
/s/ Arun Gupta |
Director | March 31, 2023 | ||
Arun Gupta |
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December 31, 2022 |
December 31, 2021 |
|||||||
ASSETS |
||||||||
Current Assets: |
||||||||
Cash |
$ | $ | ||||||
Prepaid expenses |
— | |||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Total Current Assets |
||||||||
Deferred offering costs |
— | |||||||
Investments held in the Trust Account |
— | |||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Total Assets |
$ | $ | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
LIABILITIES, COMMON STOCK SUBJECT TO POSSIBLE REDEMPTION AND STOCKHOLDER S ’ (DEFICIT) EQUITY |
||||||||
Current Liabilities: |
||||||||
Accounts payable and accrued expenses |
$ | $ | ||||||
Income taxes payable |
|
|
| |||||
Accrued offering costs |
— | |||||||
Note payable – Sponsor |
— | |||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Total Current Liabilities |
||||||||
Deferred underwriting commission |
— | |||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Total liabilities |
||||||||
COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES (Note 6) |
||||||||
Class A common stock subject to possible redemption; |
— | |||||||
Stockholders’ (Deficit) Equity: |
||||||||
Preferred shares, $ |
— | |||||||
Class A common stock, $ |
— | |||||||
Class B common stock, $ (1) |
||||||||
Additional paid-in capital |
— | |||||||
Accumulated deficit |
( |
) | ( |
) | ||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Total Stockholder s ’ (Deficit) Equity |
( |
) | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Total Liabilities, Common Stock Subject to Possible Redemption and Stockholder s ’ (Deficit) Equity |
$ | $ | ||||||
|
|
|
|
(1) | As of December 31, 2021, in cludes an aggregate of up to |
For the Year Ended | For the Period from March 30, 2021 (Inception) Through |
|||||||
December 31, | December 31, | |||||||
2022 | 2021 | |||||||
EXPENSES |
||||||||
Administration fee - related party |
$ | $ | ||||||
General and administrative |
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
TOTAL EXPENSES |
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
OTHER INCOME |
||||||||
Income earned on Investments held in Trust Account |
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
TOTAL OTHER INCOME |
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Income (loss) before provision for income taxes |
( |
) | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Provision for income taxes |
( |
) | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Net income (loss) |
$ | $ | ( |
) | ||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Weighted average number of shares of Class A common stock outstanding, basic and diluted |
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Basic and diluted net income per share of Class A common stock |
$ | $ | ||||||
Weighted average number of shares of Class B common stock outstanding, basic and diluted (1) |
||||||||
Basic and diluted net income per share of Class B common stock |
$ | $ | ( |
) | ||||
|
|
|
|
(1) | As of December 31, 2021, excludes an aggregate of up to |
Class B Common Stock |
Additional Paid-In Capital |
Accumulated Deficit |
Stockholder s ’ (Deficit) Equity |
|||||||||||||||||
Shares | Amount | |||||||||||||||||||
Balance as of March 30, 2021 (inception) |
$ | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||||||||||
Issuance of Class B common stock to Sponsor (1) |
— | |||||||||||||||||||
Net loss |
— | — | — | ( |
) | ( |
) | |||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||
Balance as of December 31, 2021 |
$ | $ | $ | ( |
) | $ | ||||||||||||||
Proceeds Allocated to Public Warrants |
— | — | — | |||||||||||||||||
Proceeds from Private Warrants, net of offering costs |
— | — | — | |||||||||||||||||
Value of transaction costs allocated to the fair value of equity instruments |
— | — | ( |
) | — | ( |
) | |||||||||||||
Remeasurement of Class A common stock to redemption value |
— | — | ( |
) | ( |
) | ( |
) | ||||||||||||
Accretion of Class A common stock to redemption amount |
— | — | — | ( |
) | ( |
) | |||||||||||||
Net income |
— | — | — | |||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||
Balance as of December 31, 2022 |
$ | $ | $ | ( |
) | $ | ( |
) | ||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(1) | |
For the Year Ended December 31, 2022 |
For the Period From March 30, 2021 (Inception) Through December 31, 2021 |
|||||||
Cash Flows From Operating Activities: |
||||||||
Net income (loss) |
$ | $ | ( |
) | ||||
Adjustments to reconcile net income (loss) to net cash used in operating activities: |
||||||||
Income earned on Investments held in Trust Account |
( |
) | — | |||||
Costs paid by Sponsor |
||||||||
Changes in operating assets and liabilities: |
— | |||||||
Prepaid expenses |
( |
) | — | |||||
Income taxes payable |
|
|
| |||||
Accounts payable and accrued expenses |
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Net Cash Used In Operating Activities |
( |
) | ( |
) | ||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Cash Flows From Investing Activities: |
||||||||
Cash deposited into Trust Account |
( |
) | ||||||
Cash withdrawn from Trust Account for taxes |
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Net Cash Used In Investing Activities |
( |
) | ||||||
Cash Flows From Financing Activities: |
||||||||
Sale of Units in the Initial Public Offering, net of underwriting discount |
— | |||||||
Sale of Private Placement Warrants to Sponsor |
— | |||||||
Proceeds from Sponsor promissory note |
— | |||||||
Repayment of Sponsor promissory note |
( |
) | — | |||||
Proceeds from issuance of Class B common stock to Sponsor |
||||||||
Payment of offering costs |
( |
) | ( |
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Net Cash Provided By Financing Activities |
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Net change in cash |
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Cash at beginning of period |
— | |||||||
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Cash at end of period |
$ | $ | ||||||
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Supplemental disclosure of non-cash financing activities: |
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Deferred offering costs included in accrued offering costs |
$ | $ | ||||||
Deferred underwriters’ compensation charged to temporary equity in connection with the Public Offering |
$ | $ | ||||||
Class A Common Stock measurement adjustment |
$ | $ | ||||||
Accretion of Class A common stock to redemption value |
$ | $ |
Year Ended December 31, 2022 |
For the Period from March 30, 2021 (Inception) through December 31, 2021 |
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Class A Common Stock |
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Numerator: Income allocable to Class A Common Stock |
$ | $ | ||||||
Denominator: Basic and diluted weighted average shares outstanding |
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Basic and diluted net income per share, Class A Common Stock |
$ | $ | ||||||
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Class B Common Stock |
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Numerator: Income allocable to Class B Common Stock |
( |
) | ||||||
Denominator: Basic and diluted weighted average shares outstanding |
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Basic and diluted net income per share, Class B Common Stock |
$ | $ | ( |
) | ||||
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• | Level 1, defined as observable inputs such as quoted prices (unadjusted) for identical instruments in active markets; |
• | Level 2, defined as inputs other than quoted prices in active markets that are either directly or indirectly observable such as quoted prices for similar instruments in active markets or quoted prices for identical or similar instruments in markets that are not active; and |
• | Level 3, defined as unobservable inputs in which little or no market data exists, therefore requiring an entity to develop its own assumptions, such as valuations derived from valuation techniques in which one or more significant inputs or significant value drivers are unobservable. |
• | in whole and not in part; |
• | at a price of $ |
• | upon a minimum of 30-day redemption period to each Public Warrant holder; and |
• | if, and only if, the last reported sale price of the Class A common stock has been at least $ |
December 31, 2022 |
December 31, 202 1 |
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Deferred tax assets: |
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Start-up costs |
$ |
$ |
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Total deferred tax assets |
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Valuation Allowance |
( |
) |
( |
) | ||||
Deferred tax asset, net of allowance |
For the Year Ended December 31, 2022 |
For the Period March 30, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021 |
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Federal |
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Current |
$ | $ |
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Deferred |
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State and local |
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Current |
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Deferred |
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Change in valuation allowance |
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Income tax provision |
$ | |
For the Year Ended December 31, 2022 |
For the Period March 30, 2021 (inception) Through December 31, 2021 |
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U.S. federal statutory rate |
( |
)% |
( |
)% | ||||
Valuation allowance |
( |
)% |
% | |||||
Income tax provision |
( |
)% |