Southport Acquisition Corp_ December 31, 2024
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For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024
or
For the transition period from to
Commission file number: 001-41150
Southport Acquisition Corporation
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (917) 503-9722
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act: None
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:
Title of each class TradingSymbol(s) Name of each exchange on whichregistered
Class A common stock, par value $0.0001 per share PORT OTC
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☐No☒
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐No☒
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports) and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes☒No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports) and has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes☒No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):
Large accelerated filer ☐ Accelerated filer ☐
Non-accelerated filer ☒ Smaller reporting company ☒
Emerging growth company ☒
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☐
If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant’s executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b). ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). Yes ☒ No ☐
The aggregate market value of the common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant, computed as of June 30, 2024 (the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter), was $58,404,301.
As of April 15, 2025, there were 4,237,987 shares of Class A common stock and 1,550,000 shares of Class B common stock of the registrant issued and outstanding.
DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE
None.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements 2
Item 1. Business 4
Item 1A. Risk Factors 13
Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments 54
Item 1C. Cybersecurity 54
Item 2. Properties 54
Item 3. Legal Proceedings 54
Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures 54
Item 6. [Reserved] 55
Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk 63
Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data 63
Item 9A. Controls and Procedures 63
Item 9B. Other Information 65
Item 9C. Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections 65
Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance 66
Item 11. Executive Compensation 72
Item 14. Principal Accountant Fees and Services 79
Item 15. Exhibit and Financial Statement Schedules 80
Index to Financial Statements F-1
Signatures 82
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CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This report, including, without limitation, statements under the heading “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” includes forward-looking statements. Those forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our or our management team’s expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future. In addition, any statements that refer to projections, forecasts or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. The words “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intends,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “would” and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not a forward-looking statement. Many factors could cause actual future events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements in this report, including but not limited to:
● the evolution of the markets in which Angel Studios competes;
● the costs related to the proposed transaction with Angel Studios;
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● Angel Studios’ expectations regarding its market opportunities;
● our public securities’ potential liquidity and trading;
● the lack of an active trading market for our securities;
● the Trust Account not being subject to claims of third parties; or
● our financial performance.
The forward-looking statements contained in this 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
Unless otherwise stated or the context otherwise requires, references in this report to: (i) “we,” “us,” “our,” “SAC,” “the Company” or “our Company” are to Southport Acquisition Corporation; (ii) “founder shares” are to shares of our Class B common stock initially purchased by our sponsor in a private placement prior to our IPO (as defined herein), and the shares of our Class A common stock issued upon the conversion thereof; (iii) “initial business combination” has the meaning set forth in the immediately following paragraph; (iv) “management” or our “management team” are to our officers and directors; (v) “permitted withdrawals for tax” are to amounts withdrawn from interest earned on the funds held in the Trust Account (as defined herein) in order to pay our taxes; (vi) “private placement warrants” or “SAC Private Placement Warrants” are to our warrants purchased by our sponsor in the Private Placement (as defined herein); (vii) “public shares” or “SAC Public Shares” are to shares of our Class A common stock included in the units sold in our IPO (whether they were purchased in our IPO or thereafter in the open market); (viii) “public stockholders” are to the holders of our public shares, including our sponsor and management team to the extent our sponsor and/or members of our management team purchase public shares, provided that the status of our sponsor and each member of our management team as a “public stockholder” shall only exist with respect to such public shares; (ix) “public warrants” or “SAC Public Warrants” are to our warrants included in the units sold in our IPO (whether they were purchased in our IPO or thereafter in the open market) and to the private placement warrants if held by third parties other than our sponsor or its permitted transferees; (x) “sponsor” are to Southport Acquisition Sponsor LLC, a Delaware limited liability company; (xi) “underwriter” are to BofA Securities, Inc., the underwriter of our IPO; (xii) “warrants” are to the public warrants and the private placement warrants, (xiii) “SAC Units” or “units” are to the units sold in our IPO; (xiv) “Angel Studios” or “ASI” are to Angel Studios, Inc.; (xv) “Third-Party SAC Investors” are to certain unaffiliated third parties to which the sponsor transferred shares of our Class B common stock in exchange for the commitments made by such third parties in the Non-Redemption Agreements (as defined herein); and (xvi) “Merger Sub” are to Sigma Merger Sub, Inc., a Delaware corporation and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company.
Item 1. Business.
General
Southport Acquisition Corporation is a blank check company incorporated as a Delaware corporation on April 13, 2021 and formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses. SAC has neither engaged in any operations nor generated any revenue to date. Based on SAC’s business activities, it is a “shell company” as defined under the Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”).
On May 27, 2021, our sponsor acquired 7,187,500 shares of our Class B common stock in exchange for a capital contribution of $25,000. Prior to our sponsor’s acquisition of these shares of our Class B common stock, SAC had no assets, tangible or intangible. On November 24, 2021, our sponsor surrendered 1,437,500 shares of our Class B common stock for no consideration, thereby reducing the aggregate number of shares of our Class B common stock outstanding to 5,750,000, resulting in an effective purchase price paid for the shares of our Class B common stock of approximately $0.004 per share. Of the 5,750,000 shares of our Class B common stock then-outstanding, 750,000 were subject to forfeiture by our sponsor depending on the extent to which the underwriter’s over-allotment option was not exercised in the IPO. The number of shares of our Class B common stock outstanding was determined based on the expectation that the shares of our Class B common stock would represent 20% of the outstanding shares of our common stock upon the completion of our initial public offering (the “IPO”).
The registration statement for the IPO was declared effective on December 9, 2021. On December 14, 2021, SAC consummated the IPO, which involved SAC’s sale of 23,000,000 SAC Units at $10.00 per SAC Unit, generating gross proceeds of $230 million. The 23,000,000 SAC Units sold by SAC include 3,000,000 SAC Units purchased by the underwriter for the IPO pursuant to the full exercise of its option to purchase up to 3,000,000 additional SAC Units to cover over-allotments. Accordingly, no shares of our Class B common stock remain subject to forfeiture. Simultaneously with the closing of the IPO, SAC consummated the private sale of an aggregate of 11,700,000 warrants (the “SAC Private Placement Warrants”) to our sponsor at a price of $1.00 per SAC Private Placement Warrant, generating proceeds to SAC of $11.7 million.
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Following the closing of the IPO on December 14, 2021, $234.6 million ($10.20 per SAC Unit) from the net proceeds of the sale of the SAC Units in the IPO and the sale of the SAC Private Placement Warrants was placed in a trust account (the “Trust Account”), located in the United States, which is invested in U.S. government securities, within the meaning set forth in Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”), with a maturity of 185 days or less or in any open-ended investment company that holds itself out as a money market fund meeting the conditions of Rule 2a-7 of the Investment Company Act, as determined by SAC, until the earlier of: (i) the completion of a business combination, (ii) the redemption of any of the SAC 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 SAC’s obligation to provide its public stockholders the right to have their SAC Public Shares redeemed in connection with an initial business combination or to redeem 100% of the SAC Public Shares if SAC does not complete the initial business combination within the Combination Period (as defined below) or (b) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, and (iii) the redemption of SAC Public Shares if SAC is unable to complete the initial business combination within 18 months from December 14, 2021 (the “Combination Period”) or during any extended time that SAC has to consummate its initial Business Combination beyond such 18-month period (an “Extension Period”).
Extensions
On June 9, 2023 (the “First Extension Special Meeting”), SAC’s stockholders approved a proposal to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (the “First Extension Amendment Proposal”) to extend the time that SAC has to consummate its initial business combination (the “First Extension”) from June 14, 2023 to September 14, 2023 and to allow the board of directors of SAC, without another stockholder vote, to elect to further extend the date to consummate an initial business combination after September 14, 2023 up to six times, by an additional month each time, up to March 14, 2024, providing SAC a 21-month period (or up to a 27-month period) from the closing of the IPO to consummate its initial business combination.
Prior to the First Extension Special Meeting, on May 25, 2023, SAC and our sponsor entered into voting and non-redemption agreements (the “Non-Redemption Agreements”) with the Third-Party SAC Investors in exchange for the Third-Party SAC Investors agreeing (i) not to redeem an aggregate of 4,000,000 SAC Public Shares (the “Non-Redeemed Shares”) in connection with the First Extension Special Meeting and (ii) to vote in favor of the First Extension Amendment Proposal and the First Extension at the First Extension Special Meeting (other than with respect to certain shares acquired or to be acquired pursuant to the Non-Redemption Agreements). In exchange for the foregoing commitments, our sponsor agreed to transfer to the Third-Party SAC Investors an aggregate of up to 1,499,996 shares of our Class B common stock held by our sponsor, with 500,000 of such shares to be transferred to the Third-Party SAC Investors promptly upon consummation of the First Extension, and an additional 166,666 shares to be transferred to the Third-Party SAC Investors monthly beginning on September 14, 2023 and up to, and including, February 14, 2024, if the board of directors of SAC elects to further extend the deadline to consummate an initial business combination at or prior to such date, in each case, if the Third-Party SAC Investors continue to hold such Non-Redeemed Shares through the First Extension Special Meeting.
In connection with the First Extension Special Meeting and the entry into the Non-Redemption Agreements, on May 25, 2023, pursuant to the terms of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, our sponsor converted 4,200,000 shares of our Class B common stock held by it on a one-for-one basis into shares of our Class A common stock (the “Conversion”). After giving effect to the Conversion, SAC had an aggregate of 27,200,000 shares of our Class A common stock issued and outstanding, comprised of 4,200,000 shares held by our sponsor and not subject to possible redemption and 23,000,000 shares of our Class A common stock subject to possible redemption, and 1,550,000 shares of our Class B common stock issued and outstanding. In connection with the First Extension Special Meeting, the holders of 18,849,935 shares of our Class A common stock properly exercised their right to redeem their shares for an aggregate redemption amount of $197.7 million, resulting in 4,150,065 shares of our Class A common stock issued and outstanding and subject to possible redemption. The trustee processed the redemptions and withdrew the $197.7 million payable to the holders redeeming 18,849,935 shares of our Class A common stock on July 7, 2023. The board of directors of SAC approved six monthly extensions to extend the time SAC had to consummate an initial business combination from September 14, 2023 to March 14, 2024. In connection with each of the six monthly extensions, our sponsor transferred 166,666 shares of our Class B common stock held by our sponsor to the Third-Party SAC Investors in accordance with the Non-Redemption Agreements.
On March 14, 2024, SAC held a special meeting of stockholders (the “Second Extension Special Meeting”) and obtained approval to further amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to extend the time that SAC has to consummate its initial business combination from March 14, 2024 to December 14, 2024. In connection with the Second Extension Special Meeting,
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the holders of 2,986,952 shares of our Class A common stock properly exercised their right to redeem their shares for an aggregate redemption amount of $32.2 million, resulting in 1,163,113 shares of our Class A common stock issued and outstanding and subject to possible redemption.
On March 21, 2024, SAC received correspondence from the staff of NYSE Regulation of the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) indicating that the staff has determined to commence proceedings to delist our Class A common stock, SAC Public Warrants and SAC Units, because SAC had fallen below the NYSE’s continued listing standard requiring a listed acquisition company to maintain an average aggregate global market capitalization attributable to its publicly held shares over a consecutive 30 trading day period of at least $40 million.
On April 8, 2024, the NYSE filed a Form 25 to delist our Class A common stock, SAC Public Warrants and SAC Units, and to remove such securities from registration under Section 12(b) of the Exchange Act. The delisting became effective ten days after the filing of the Form 25, and the deregistration became effective 90 days after the Form 25 filing. Our Class A common stock, SAC Public Warrants and SAC Units remain registered under Section 12(g) of the Exchange Act, and began trading on the OTC Pink Marketplace on or about March 22, 2024 under the ticker symbols “PORT,” “PORTW” and “PORTU,” respectively.
On October 2, 2024, SAC filed a definitive proxy statement (the “Original Third Extension Proxy Statement”) with respect to a special meeting of stockholders (the “Third Extension Special Meeting”) to obtain the approval of SAC’s stockholders to further amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to extend the time by which SAC must consummate its initial business combination from December 14, 2024 to September 30, 2025 (the “Third Extension Amendment Proposal”). On October 11, 2024, SAC received a redemption report from Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company (“Continental” or the “Trustee”) indicating that, as of October 11, 2024, the holders of 985,170 shares of our Class A common stock had properly exercised their right to redeem their shares for cash at a redemption price of approximately $11.08 per share. On October 14, 2024, SAC determined to postpone the Third Extension Special Meeting originally scheduled for October 15, 2024, to October 22, 2024, to allow additional time for SAC to engage with its stockholders and solicit redemption reversals. On October 21, 2024, SAC cancelled the Third Extension Special Meeting and announced that it intended to file an amendment to the definitive proxy statement to reflect the addition of a new proposal to further amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to eliminate the limitation that SAC may not redeem its outstanding shares of our Class A common stock to the extent that such redemption would result in SAC having net tangible assets (as determined in accordance with Rule 3a51-1(g)(1) of the Exchange Act) of less than $5,000,001, in order to allow SAC to redeem such shares irrespective of whether such redemption would exceed this limitation (the “Redemption Limitation Amendment Proposal”). Accordingly, the redemptions indicated on the October 11, 2024 redemption report from Continental in connection with the Third Extension Special Meeting were not processed.
On October 29, 2024, SAC filed an amendment to the Original Third Extension Proxy Statement that amended and restated the Original Third Extension Proxy Statement to: (1) reschedule the Third Extension Special Meeting originally scheduled for October 15, 2024, and postponed to October 22, 2024, to November 13, 2024 and (2) reflect the addition of the Redemption Limitation Amendment Proposal.
On November 13, 2024, SAC held the Third Extension Special Meeting and obtained approval of SAC’s stockholders of the Third Extension Amendment Proposal and the Redemption Limitation Amendment Proposal. In connection with the Third Extension Special Meeting, the holders of 1,125,126 shares of our Class A common stock properly exercised their right to redeem their shares for an aggregate redemption amount of $12.5 million, resulting in 37,987 shares of our Class A common stock issued and outstanding and subject to possible redemption. Accordingly, following such redemptions, there were 4,237,987 shares of our Class A common stock issued and outstanding (including 37,987 shares of our Class A common stock subject to possible redemption) and approximately $423.5 thousand held in the Trust Account.
On January 15, 2025, certain of the Third-Party SAC Investors transferred an aggregate of 262,502 shares of our Class B common stock back to our sponsor for no additional consideration in connection with the liquidation of certain of such investors’ investment vehicles. Accordingly, as of the date of this joint proxy statement/prospectus, our sponsor holds 4,200,000 shares of our Class A common stock, 312,506 shares of our Class B common stock and 11,700,000 SAC Private Placement Warrants.
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Proposed Business Combination
On September 11, 2024, SAC entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger (the “Merger Agreement”), by and among SAC, Merger Sub, and Angel Studios. The Merger Agreement provides that, among other things and upon the terms and subject to the conditions thereof, (i) at the closing of the transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement (the “Closing”), upon the terms and subject to the conditions thereof, and in accordance with the Delaware General Corporation Law, as amended, Merger Sub will merge with and into Angel Studios, with Angel Studios continuing as the surviving corporation and a wholly owned subsidiary of SAC (the “Business Combination”); (ii) at the Closing, all of the outstanding capital stock of Angel Studios (other than shares subject to Angel Studios options, shares held in treasury and any dissenting shares) will be converted into the right to receive shares of our common stock, in an aggregate amount equal to (x) $1,500,000,000 plus the aggregate gross proceeds of any capital raised by Angel Studios prior to the Closing, divided by (y) $10.00; (iii) at the Closing, all of the outstanding options to acquire capital stock of Angel Studios will be converted into comparable options to acquire shares of our common stock (subject to appropriate adjustments to the number of shares of our common stock underlying such options and the exercise price of such options); (iv) subject to the approval of the holders of SAC Public Warrants, SAC will amend its public warrants so that, immediately prior to the Closing, each of the issued and outstanding public warrants automatically will convert into 0.1 newly issued share of our Class A common stock and such warrants will cease to be outstanding; and (v) at the Closing, SAC will be renamed “Angel Studios, Inc.”
For additional information about the Merger Agreement and the related agreements and transactions, please see the Registration Statement on Form S-4 initially by SAC with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on November 12, 2024, as amended.
As of December 31, 2024, we had not yet commenced any operations. All activity from inception through December 31, 2024 relates to our formation, our IPO and our pursuit of a target company with which to effect our initial business combination. The Company has selected December 31 as its fiscal year end.
Our sponsor, Southport Acquisition Sponsor LLC, is a Delaware limited liability company that is owned by Jeb Spencer, our Chief Executive Officer, and other investors, including certain of our directors. Our sponsor is controlled by Mr. Spencer and Mr. Jared Stone, the Chairman of our board of directors.
Acquisition Criteria
The maturity and judgment of our management team will guide our acquisition process. If the Business Combination is not consummated, when evaluating candidate companies, we expect to use the following non-exclusive guidelines and characteristics for determining opportunities:
1. Competitive Advantage
We will look for mission-critical companies with leading position, technology and product capability. Our focus will be on businesses whose products or services are differentiated which creates strong barriers to entry and opportunity to create value by implementing best practices. We will opportunistically pursue a business with proven technology and market acceptance and that can be scaled for additional growth in the future.
2. Promising Financial Model
We expect to target a business that has historically been an efficient, leading provider of Software-as-a-Service (“SaaS”) technologies. We will look to invest in companies that we believe have a large market opportunity for growth over the next five years driven by a differentiated strategy and a defensible competitive advantage.
3. Experienced Management Team
Our team has an accomplished track record and deep understanding of the financial software industry. We believe our management team’s multifaceted expertise in assessing a target’s technology and potential will be an advantage in this industry. We intend to seek a business whose performance we believe we can improve by leveraging our transactional, financial, managerial and
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investment experience, as well as our extensive networks and insights. We believe our management team has the right skills and capabilities to enhance a target’s results and consolidate its competitive positions in its sectors.
4. Favorable Competitive Environment in an Attractive Growing Market
We will seek companies operating in growing industries with favorable dynamics and potential for consolidation. While we will target businesses with large markets with the potential to grow substantially through organic means, we will prioritize those targets that have platform opportunities to expand their addressable markets. By targeting strategic, product, customer segment and technology acquisitions, we expect our potential target business will be positioned to use its public currency and cash position to ideally generate accretive transactions that benefit shareholders.
5. Attractive Terms
We intend to focus on a target business that gives our investors access to market-leading technologies, exceptional management and a large market opportunity at an attractive price. We believe an initial business combination with us would offer private companies seeking access to the public markets and liquidity for their investors and shareholders an attractive alternative to a traditional initial public offering. By focusing on a partnership with the potential to achieve attractive risk-adjusted returns, we believe we have the potential to be a preferred partner for leading financial software companies.
These guidelines and characteristics are important, but not exhaustive. The merits of any particular initial business combination will be based on these guidelines and characteristics, as well as other considerations that our management team may deem relevant. Ultimately, we believe our management team is well suited to identify and execute on acquisition opportunities that have the potential to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns for our stockholders.
In the event that we decide to enter into our initial business combination with a target business that does not meet the above guidelines and characteristics, we will disclose the same in our stockholder communications related to our initial business combination, which, as discussed in this report, would be in the form of proxy solicitation materials or tender offer documents that we will file with the SEC.
In addition to any potential business candidates we may identify on our own, we anticipate that other target business candidates will be brought to our attention from various unaffiliated sources, including investment market participants, private equity funds, and large business enterprises seeking to divest non-core assets or divisions.
For additional information on our evaluation of the proposed Business Combination with Angel Studios and our board of directors’ reasons for recommending such Business Combination, please refer to our Registration Statement on Form S-4, initially filed with the SEC on November 12, 2024, as amended.
Acquisition Process
If the Business Combination is not consummated, in evaluating a prospective target business, we expect to conduct an extensive due diligence review which will encompass, as applicable and among other things, commercial and industry due diligence, meetings with incumbent management and employees, document reviews, interviews of customers and suppliers, inspection of facilities, and a review of financial and other information about the target and its industry. To help facilitate this evaluation, we will rely on input from our management team, sponsor and directors, including third party diligence providers if and as necessary.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that our initial business combination must occur with one or more businesses or assets with a fair market value equal to at least 80% of the net assets held in the Trust Account (excluding the amount of any deferred underwriting discount held in the Trust Account). We refer to this as the “80% of net assets test.” Our board of directors will make the determination as to the fair market value of our initial business combination. The fair market value of the target businesses or assets will be determined by our board of directors based upon one or more standards generally accepted by the financial community (such as actual and potential sales, earnings, cash flow and/or book value). Even though our board of directors will rely on generally accepted standards, our board of directors will have discretion to select the standards employed. In addition, the application of the standards generally involves a substantial degree of judgment. Accordingly, investors will be relying on the business judgment of our board of directors in evaluating the fair market value of the target businesses or assets. The proxy solicitation
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materials or tender offer documents used by us in connection with any proposed initial business combination will provide public stockholders with our analysis of our satisfaction of the 80% of net assets test, as well as the basis for our determinations. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of the target businesses or assets, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm which is a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) or a valuation or appraisal firm with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. While we consider it unlikely that our board will not be able to make an independent determination of the fair market value of any applicable target business or asset, it may be unable to do so if the board is less familiar or experienced with such target business or asset, there is a significant amount of uncertainty as to the value of the target assets or the prospects of the target business, including if such business is at an early stage of development, operations or growth, or if the anticipated transaction involves a complex financial analysis or other specialized skills and our board determines that outside expertise would be helpful or necessary in conducting such analysis. Since any opinion, if obtained, would merely state that the fair market value of the target businesses or assets meets the 80% threshold, unless such opinion includes material information regarding the valuation of a target business or asset or the consideration to be provided, it is not anticipated that copies of such opinion would be distributed to our stockholders. However, if required under applicable law, any proxy statement that we deliver to stockholders and file with the SEC in connection with a proposed initial business combination will include such opinion.
The structure of the proposed Business Combination is described above under “Proposed Business Combination.” As in the Business Combination, we anticipate structuring our initial business combination so that the post-transaction company in which our public stockholders own shares will own or acquire 100% of the equity interests or assets of the target business or businesses. We may, however, structure our initial business combination such that the post-transaction company owns or acquires less than 100% of such interests or assets of the target business or businesses for the post-transaction company 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 an interest in the target or assets sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. Even if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our stockholders prior to the business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post-transaction company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the business combination. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares of Class A common stock in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock of a target or issue a substantial number of new shares of Class A common stock to third parties in connection with financing our initial business combination. In this case, we would acquire a 100% controlling interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new shares of Class A common stock, our stockholders immediately prior to our initial business combination could own less than a majority of our outstanding shares of Class A common stock subsequent to our initial business combination. If less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses are owned or acquired by the post-transaction company, the portion of such business or businesses that is owned or acquired is what will be valued for purposes of the 80% of net assets test. If the 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.
If our initial business combination is paid for using equity, equity-linked or debt securities or loans or not all of the funds released from the Trust Account are used for the aforementioned purposes or redemption of our public shares, we may apply the balance of the cash released to us from the Trust Account for general corporate purposes, including for maintenance or expansion of operations of post-transaction businesses, for payment of principal of or interest on indebtedness incurred in completing our initial business combination, to fund the purchase of other companies or for working capital.
We may seek to raise additional funds in connection with the completion of our initial business combination through an offering of equity, equity-linked or debt securities or loans, and we may effectuate our initial business combination using the proceeds of such offerings or loans rather than using the amounts held in the Trust Account. Subject to compliance with applicable securities laws, we would expect to complete such financing only simultaneously with the completion of our business combination. In the case of our initial business combination funded with assets other than the Trust Account assets, our tender offer documents or proxy materials disclosing the business combination would disclose the terms of the financing and, only if required by law or we decide to do so for business or other reasons, we would seek stockholder approval of such financing. There are no prohibitions on our ability to raise funds through an offering of equity, equity-linked or debt securities or loans in connection with our initial business combination. At this time, we are not a party to any arrangement or understanding with any third party with respect to raising any additional funds through the sale of securities or otherwise.
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For additional information on the terms and structure of the proposed Business Combination with Angel Studios, please refer to our Registration Statement on Form S-4, initially filed with the SEC on November 12, 2024, as amended.
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 public shares upon the completion of 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 our initial business combination, including interest earned on the funds held in the Trust Account (net of permitted withdrawals for tax), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, subject to the limitations described herein. At completion of our initial business combination, we will be required to purchase any public shares properly delivered for redemption and not withdrawn. The amount in the Trust Account is initially anticipated to be $10.20 per public share. However, the per-share redemption amount received by public stockholders could be less than the $10.20 per public share initially held in the Trust Account due to claims of creditors (see “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 our public stockholders may be less than $10.20 per share” and other risk factors herein). The redemption right 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. There will be no redemption rights upon completion of our initial business combination with respect to our warrants. Our sponsor, directors and officers 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 our initial business combination.
Manner of Conducting Redemptions
The Business Combination requires the approval of our stockholders under the Merger Agreement. However, in the event the Business Combination is not consummated, we will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their public shares 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 business 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 may conduct redemptions of our public shares without a stockholder vote unless stockholder approval is required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement, or we decide to seek stockholder approval 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:
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:
● file proxy materials with the SEC.
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Submission of Our Initial Business Combination to a Stockholder Vote
As with the Business Combination, 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 sponsor, directors and officers 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 sponsor, directors and officers 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.
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 of our public shares 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 public shares, 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 public shares could threaten to exercise its redemption rights if such holder’s shares are not purchased by us 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 than 15% of the public shares, 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 public shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our initial business combination.
Redemption of Public Shares and Liquidation if No Initial Business Combination
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that we will have only until September 30, 2025, unless an Extension Period applies, to complete our initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination within such 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, subject to lawfully available funds therefor, 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 earned on the funds held in the Trust Account (net of permitted withdrawals for tax 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. There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to our warrants, and our warrants will expire worthless if we fail to complete our initial business combination by September 30, 2025 or during any Extension Period.
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Corporate Information
Our offices are located at 268 Post Road, Suite 200, Fairfield, Connecticut 06824, and our telephone number is (917) 503-9722. The information that is or may be contained on or accessible through any website that we may maintain is not part of this report and is not incorporated herein by reference.
We are required to file Annual Reports on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q with the SEC on a regular basis, and are required to disclose certain material events in Current Reports on Form 8-K.
Status as a Public Company
We believe our structure makes us an attractive business combination partner to target businesses. As an existing public company, we offer target businesses an alternative to the traditional initial public offering through a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination. In this situation, the owners of the target business would exchange their shares of stock in the target business for shares of our Class A common stock or for a combination of shares of our Class A common stock and cash, allowing us to tailor the consideration to the specific needs of the sellers. Although there are various costs and obligations associated with being a public company, we believe target businesses will find this method a more certain and cost effective method to becoming a public company than the typical initial public offering. In a typical initial public offering, there are additional expenses incurred in marketing, road show and public reporting efforts that may not be present to the same extent in connection with a business combination with us.
Furthermore, once a proposed business combination is completed, the target business will have effectively become public, whereas an initial public offering is always subject to the underwriter’s ability to complete the offering, as well as general market conditions, which could delay or prevent the offering from occurring. Once public, we believe the target business would then have greater access to capital and an additional means of providing management incentives consistent with stockholders’ interests. It can offer further benefits by augmenting a company’s profile among potential new customers and vendors and aid in attracting talented employees.
We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), as modified by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (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 (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. These exemptions will be available to us for a period of five years following the completion of our IPO or until we are no longer an “emerging growth company,” whichever is earlier. Accordingly, the reports we file with the SEC may not be comparable to those of other public companies and our stockholders may not have access to certain information they may deem important. 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. As a result, our financial statements may not be comparable to companies that comply with new or revised accounting pronouncements as of public company effective dates.
We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of: (1) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following the fifth anniversary of the completion of our IPO, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.235 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 equals or exceeds $700 million as of the end of such fiscal year’s second fiscal quarter, and (2) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities during the prior three-year period. References herein to “emerging growth company” shall have the meaning associated with it in the JOBS Act.
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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 equals or exceeds $250 million as of the end of that year’s second fiscal quarter and (2) our annual revenues equaled or exceeded $100 million during such completed fiscal year or the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates equals or 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.
Competition
In identifying, evaluating and selecting a target business for our initial business combination, we may encounter intense competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours, including other blank check companies, private equity groups and leveraged buyout funds, public companies and operating businesses seeking strategic acquisitions. Many of these entities are well-established and have extensive experience identifying and effecting business combinations directly or through affiliates. Additionally, the number of blank check companies looking for business combination targets has increased significantly in recent years and many of these blank check companies are sponsored by entities or persons that have significant experience with completing business combinations. Moreover, many of these competitors possess greater financial, technical, human and other resources than us. Our ability to acquire larger target businesses will be limited by our available financial resources. This inherent limitation gives others an advantage in pursuing the acquisition of a target business. Furthermore, our obligation to pay cash in connection with our public 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 certain target businesses. Any of these factors may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating an initial business combination.
Facilities
We currently maintain our executive offices at 268 Post Road, Suite 200, Fairfield, Connecticut 06824. We consider our current office space adequate for our current operations.
Employees
We currently have one officer 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. 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.
Item 1A. Risk Factors.
You should carefully consider the following risk factors and all the other information contained in this report, including the financial statements. If any of the following risks occur, our business, financial condition, liquidity or results of operations 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. The risk factors described below are not necessarily exhaustive and you are encouraged to perform your own investigation with respect to us and our business.
Summary of Risk Factors
Our business is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties. These risks include, but are not limited to:
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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 after the closing of our IPO in December 2021. 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 do not yet have any plans, arrangements or understandings with any prospective target business concerning a business combination 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.
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Past performance by our management team may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in us or of the future performance of any business we may acquire.
Information or other references herein 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 our management team or its affiliates or of businesses associated with our management team is not a guarantee: (1) that we will be able to successfully identify a suitable candidate for our initial business combination; (2) of any results with respect to any initial business combination we may consummate; or (3) that we will be able to adequately assess the risks of a potential transaction. You should not rely on the historical record and performance of our management team or its affiliates or of businesses associated 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. Further, our management team has been involved with a number of public and private companies, which have achieved different levels of performance. An investment in us is not an investment in our sponsor or in any other entity in which our sponsor or our management team is affiliated and does not in any way create an advisory relationship between our sponsor, our management team or any such entity, on the one hand, and any of our stockholders, on the other hand.
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.”
As of December 31, 2024, we had $494,974 in cash held outside the Trust Account and a working capital deficit of $3,862,447, respectively. Further, we expect to incur significant costs in pursuit of our acquisition plans. Our plans to raise capital and to consummate our initial business combination may not be successful. In addition, management is currently evaluating the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war, the war in the Middle East, interest rate fluctuations and increased inflation, and the recently adopted SEC rules and amendments affecting special purpose acquisition corporations like the Company, and has concluded that while it is reasonably possible that such matters could have a negative effect on the Company’s financial position, cash flows, results of its operations and/or search for a target company, the specific impacts are not readily determinable as of December 31, 2024.These factors, among others, raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. The financial statements contained elsewhere in this report do not include any adjustments that might result from our inability to continue as a going concern.
Our public stockholders may not be afforded an opportunity to vote on our 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 initial business 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. 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 public shares to us in a tender offer will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on a variety of factors, such as the timing of the transaction and whether the terms of the transaction would otherwise require us to seek stockholder approval. Even if we seek stockholder approval, the holders of our founder shares will participate in the vote on such approval. 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.
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed to vote in favor of such initial business combination, regardless of how our public stockholders vote, and depending on the number of stockholders who vote, our sponsor, officers and directors may have almost enough votes to approve our initial business combination based on the shares held by them.
Our sponsor, directors and officers 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. The founder shares held by our sponsor and the Third-Party SAC Investors and the shares of Class A common stock held by our sponsor as a result of the Conversion, in the aggregate, represent approximately 99% of our issued and outstanding capital stock. As a result, we would not need any of the 37,987 public shares sold in our IPO and not redeemed in connection with the Special Meeting to be voted in favor of a transaction in order to have our initial business combination approved. We expect that our sponsor and its permitted transferees will own at least 99% of our outstanding shares of common stock at the time of any such stockholder vote. Accordingly, if we seek stockholder approval of our
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initial business combination, it is more likely that the necessary stockholder approval will be received than would be the case if our sponsor and its permitted transferees agreed to vote their founder shares in accordance with the majority of the votes cast by our public stockholders. Although none of our sponsor, directors or officers have any current intention to purchase our public shares, they are not restricted from doing so and there is no limit to the number of our public shares they may purchase. If they purchase any of our public shares and retain such shares until any stockholders vote on our initial business combination, the approval of our initial business combination by our stockholders will be even more likely.
Your only opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding our initial business combination will be limited to the exercise of your right to redeem your public shares from us for cash, unless we seek stockholder approval of such initial business combination.
Since our board of directors may complete our initial business combination without seeking stockholder approval, public stockholders may not have the right or opportunity to vote on the initial 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 applicable to the outstanding public shares 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 public shares for cash may make our financial condition and liquidity 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. Prospective targets will be aware of these risks and, thus, may be reluctant to enter into a business combination transaction with us.
The ability of our public stockholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our public 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 public stockholders may exercise their redemption rights and, therefore, we will need to structure the transaction based on our expectations as to the number of public 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 public 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. Furthermore, this dilution would increase to the extent that the anti-dilution provision of the Class B common stock results in the issuance of shares of Class A common stock on a greater than one-to-one basis upon conversion of the Class B common stock at the time of our initial business combination. The above considerations may limit our ability to complete the most desirable business combination available to us or optimize our capital structure.
The ability of our public stockholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our public 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 public shares.
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 be entitled to 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 public shares in the open market; however, at such time our Class A common 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
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to be expended in connection with the redemption of our public shares until we liquidate or you are able to sell your public shares in the open market.
The requirement that we complete our initial business combination by September 30, 2025, unless an Extension Period applies, 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 by September 30, 2025, unless an Extension Period applies. 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.
We may not be able to complete our initial business combination by September 30, 2025 or during any Extension Period, 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 and directors have agreed that we must complete our initial business combination by September 30, 2025, unless an Extension Period applies. If the Business Combination is not consummated, we may not be able to find an alternative suitable target business and complete our initial business combination within the prescribed 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. If we have not completed our initial business combination within such time period, we will: (1) cease all operations, except for the purpose of winding up; (2) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than 10 business days thereafter, subject to lawfully available funds therefor, 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 earned on the funds held in the Trust Account (net of permitted withdrawals for tax 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. 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 public shares, and our 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 our public stockholders may be less than $10.20 per share” and other risk factors herein.
If the net proceeds from our IPO and the Private Placement 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 management team or our sponsor or any of their respective affiliates 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.
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Our search for a business combination, and any target business with which we ultimately consummate a business combination, may be materially adversely affected by current global geopolitical conditions resulting from the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict and the war in the Middle East.
Global markets are experiencing volatility and disruption following the geopolitical instability resulting from the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict and the war in the Middle East. In response to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (“NATO”) deployed additional military forces to eastern Europe, and the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union and other countries have announced various sanctions and restrictive actions against Russia, Belarus and related individuals and entities, including the removal of certain financial institutions from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) payment system. Certain countries, including the United States, have also provided and may continue to provide military aid or other assistance to Ukraine and to Israel, increasing geopolitical tensions among a number of nations. The invasion of Ukraine by Russia and the war in the Middle East and the resulting measures that have been taken, and could be taken in the future, by NATO, the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Israel and its neighboring states and other countries have created global security concerns that could have a lasting impact on regional and global economies. Although the length and impact of the ongoing conflicts are highly unpredictable, they could lead to market disruptions, including significant volatility in energy and other commodity prices, credit and capital markets, as well as supply chain interruptions and increased cyber-attacks against U.S. companies. Additionally, any resulting sanctions could adversely affect the global economy and financial markets and lead to instability and lack of liquidity in capital markets.
Any of the above mentioned factors, or any other negative impact on the global economy, capital markets or other geopolitical conditions resulting from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the war in the Middle East and subsequent sanctions or related actions, could adversely affect our search for a business combination and any target business with which we may ultimately consummate a business combination. The extent and duration of the ongoing conflicts, resulting sanctions and any related market disruptions are impossible to predict, but could be substantial, particularly if current or new sanctions continue for an extended period of time or if geopolitical tensions result in expanded military operations on a global scale. Any such disruptions may also have the effect of heightening many of the other risks described elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. If these disruptions or other matters of global concern continue for an extensive period of time, our ability to consummate a business combination, or the operations of a target business with which we may ultimately consummate a business combination, may be materially adversely affected.
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Our search for a business combination, and any target business with which we ultimately consummate a business combination, may be materially adversely affected by the status of debt and equity markets.
Our ability to consummate a transaction may be dependent on the ability to raise equity and debt financing which may be materially adversely impacted by certain events, including as a result of increased market volatility, decreased market liquidity and third-party financing being available on terms acceptable to us or at all. Such events may also have the effect of heightening many of the other risk factors described in this “Risk Factors” section, such as those related to the market for our securities.
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. If the Business Combination is not consummated, 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, as well as many such companies currently in registration. As a result, at times, fewer attractive targets may be available 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, or the imposition of unattractive covenants to obtain such capital, needed to close business combinations or operate targets post-business combination. If the Business Combination is not consummated, 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.
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 and complete 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 and/or accept less favorable terms. Furthermore, 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, after completion of any initial business combination, our directors and officers could be subject to potential liability from claims arising from conduct alleged to have occurred prior to such 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.
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 public shares or public warrants from the public, which may influence a vote on a proposed business combination and reduce the public “float” of our 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 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
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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 public shares in connection with our initial business combination. The purpose of such purchases could be to vote such shares in favor of the business combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining stockholder approval of our initial business combination or to 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. The purpose of such purchases could be to vote such shares in favor of the business combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining stockholder approval of our initial business combination or to 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. The purpose of any such purchases of public warrants could be to reduce the number of such public warrants outstanding or to vote such public warrants on any matters submitted to the warrant holders for approval in connection with our initial business combination. Any such purchases of our securities may result in the completion of our initial business combination that may not otherwise have been possible. Any such purchases will be reported pursuant to Section 13 and Section 16 of the Exchange Act to the extent such purchasers are subject to such reporting requirements.
In addition, if such purchases are made, the public “float” of our Class A common stock 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.
Further, 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, or officers 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.
If a stockholder fails to receive notice of our offer to redeem our public shares in connection with our initial business combination despite our compliance with the tender offer rules or proxy rules, or fails to comply with the procedures for tendering its shares, such 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 public 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 initially scheduled 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 addition, we will require that beneficial holders identify themselves. 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 public shares 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 to modify the substance or timing of our
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obligation to provide our public stockholders the right to have their public shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to provide for the redemption of our public shares in connection with an initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination by September 30, 2025 or during any Extension Period, or with respect to any other provision relating to stockholder rights or pre-initial business combination activity; and (3) the redemption of all of our public shares if we are unable to complete our initial business combination by September 30, 2025 or during any Extension Period, subject to applicable law and as further described herein. In addition, if we are unable to complete an initial business combination within the prescribed 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 the Trust Account. In that case, public stockholders may be forced to wait beyond September 30, 2025 or longer to the extent there is any applicable Extension Period before they receive funds from the Trust Account. In no other circumstances will a public stockholder have any right or interest of any kind in the Trust Account. Holders of warrants will not have any right to the proceeds held in the Trust Account with respect to such warrants. Accordingly, to liquidate your investment, you may be forced to sell your public shares or warrants, potentially at a loss.
Our securities have been delisted from the NYSE.
On March 21, 2024, we received correspondence from the staff of NYSE Regulation of the NYSE indicating that the staff has determined to commence proceedings to delist our Class A common stock, public warrants and units, because we had fallen below the NYSE’s continued listing standard requiring a listed acquisition company to maintain an average aggregate global market capitalization attributable to its publicly held shares over a consecutive 30 trading day period of at least $40.0 million.
On April 8, 2024, the NYSE filed a Form 25 to delist our Class A common stock, public warrants and units, and to remove such securities from registration under Section 12(b) of the Exchange Act. The delisting became effective ten days after the filing of the Form 25, and the deregistration became effective 90 days after the Form 25 filing. Our Class A common stock, public warrants and units remain registered under Section 12(g) of the Exchange Act, and began trading on the OTC Pink Marketplace on or about March 22, 2024 under the ticker symbols “PORT,” “PORTW” and “PORTU,” respectively.
We and the holders of our securities could be materially adversely impacted due to our securities being delisted from NYSE due to non-compliance with the above rules. The OTC Pink Marketplace is not a national securities exchange, and many companies have experienced limited liquidity when traded through this quotation system. Holders of our securities may, therefore, have difficulty selling their shares, should they decide to do so. In particular:
● we may become subject to stockholder litigation;
● we have lost the interest of institutional investors in our securities;
● we have lost media and analyst coverage; and
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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 public shares, you will lose the ability to redeem all such shares in excess of 15% of our public shares.
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 our public shares, 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. 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.
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 within the prescribed time period, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.20 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of the Trust Account, and our warrants will expire worthless.
If the Business Combination is not consummated, 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. Additionally, the number of blank check companies looking for business combination targets has increased compared to recent years and many of these blank check companies are sponsored by entities or persons that have significant experience with completing business combinations. While we believe there will be numerous target businesses we could potentially acquire with the net proceeds from our IPO and the Private Placement, our ability to compete with respect to the acquisition of certain target businesses that are sizable will be limited by our available financial resources. Although our management team and our sponsor and any of their respective affiliates may invest or further invest, as applicable, in us in the future, they are under 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, in the event we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we are obligated to pay cash for public shares that are redeemed, it will potentially reduce the resources available to us for our initial business combination. Any of these obligations may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating and completing our initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time period, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.20 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of the Trust Account and our 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 our public stockholders may be less than $10.20 per share” and other risk factors herein.
If the funds not being held in the Trust Account are insufficient to allow us to operate until at least September 30, 2025, 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 until at least September 30, 2025, 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 plan to address this need for capital through potential additional loans from certain of our affiliates is discussed in the section of this report titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.” We believe that the funds available to us outside of the Trust Account will be sufficient to allow us to operate until September 30, 2025; 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 fees to consultants to assist us with our search for a target business. We could also use a
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portion of the funds 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 a letter of intent or merger 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 target business. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time period, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.20 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of the Trust Account and our 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 our public stockholders may be less than $10.20 per share” and other risk factors herein.
If the funds 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 management team or our sponsor or any of their respective affiliates 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.
Of the net proceeds from our IPO and the Private Placement, as of December 31, 2024, only $494,974 was available to us outside the Trust Account to fund our working capital requirements. If we are required to seek additional capital, we would need to borrow funds from our management team, sponsor or directors or any of their respective affiliates to operate or may be forced to liquidate. None of our management team or our sponsor or any of their respective affiliates is under any obligation or other duty to loan funds to us in such circumstances. Any such loans would be repaid only from funds held outside the Trust Account or from funds released to us upon completion of our initial business combination by September 30, 2025 or during any Extension Period. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time period 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. 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 our public stockholders may be less than $10.20 per share” and other risk factors herein.
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 stockholders may be less than $10.20 per share.
The funds in the Trust Account may only be invested in direct U.S. Treasury obligations having a maturity of 185 days or less, or in certain money market funds which invest only in direct U.S. Treasury obligations. While short-term U.S. Treasury obligations currently yield a positive rate of interest, they have briefly yielded negative interest rates in recent years. Central banks in Europe and Japan pursued interest rates below zero in recent years, and the Open Market Committee of the Federal Reserve has not ruled out the possibility that it may in the future adopt similar policies in the United States. In the event of very low or negative yields, the amount of interest income (which we may withdraw to pay income taxes, if any) would be reduced. In the event that we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders are entitled to receive their pro-rata share of the proceeds held in the Trust Account, plus any interest income. If the balance of the Trust Account is reduced below $387,467 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.
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Subsequent to our completion of our initial business combination, we may be required to take write-downs or write-offs, restructuring and impairment or other charges that could have a significant negative effect on our financial condition, liquidity, 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 a significant negative effect on our financial condition, liquidity, results of operations and the price of our securities. Even if our due diligence successfully identifies certain risks, unexpected risks may arise and previously known risks may materialize in a manner not consistent with our preliminary risk analysis. 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 we have not completed our initial business combination by September 30, 2025, or during any Extension Period, our public stockholders may be forced to wait beyond such prescribed time period before redemption from the Trust Account.
If we have not completed our initial business combination by September 30, 2025, or during any Extension Period, we will distribute the aggregate amount then on deposit in the Trust Account, including interest (net of permitted withdrawals for tax and less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), pro rata to our public stockholders by way of redemption and cease all operations except for the purposes of winding up of our affairs, as further described herein. Any redemption of public stockholders from the Trust Account shall be effected prior to any voluntary winding up. If we are required to windup, liquidate the Trust Account and distribute such amount therein, pro rata, to our public stockholders, as part of any liquidation process, such winding up, liquidation and distribution are subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. In that case, investors may be forced to wait beyond September 30, 2025 before the redemption proceeds of the Trust Account become available to them and they receive the return of their pro rata portion of the proceeds from the Trust Account. We have no obligation to return funds to investors prior to the redemption of our public shares or our liquidation unless, prior thereto, we consummate our initial business combination or amend certain provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and then only in cases where public stockholders have properly sought to redeem their shares of Class A common stock. Only upon redemption of our public shares or our liquidation will public stockholders be entitled to distributions if we have not completed our initial business combination within the required time period and do not amend certain provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation prior thereto.
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 our public 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
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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 by September 30, 2025, or during any Extension Period, 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 our public stockholders could be less than the $10.20 per public 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 (other than our independent registered public accounting firm) for services rendered or products sold to us, or a prospective target business with which we have discussed entering into a business combination agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the Trust Account to below: (1) $10.20 per public share; or (2) the actual amount per public share held in the Trust Account as of the date of the liquidation of the Trust Account, if less than $10.20 per share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of permitted withdrawals for tax and up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses, except as to any claims by a third party (including such target business) who executed a waiver of any and all rights to the monies held in the Trust Account (whether any such waiver is enforceable) and except as to any claims under our indemnity or contribution of the underwriter against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. We have not independently investigated or verified whether our sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and we believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our Company and, therefore, our sponsor may not be able to satisfy those obligations.
We have also not asked our sponsor to reserve for such indemnification 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 of public shares 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.
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) the actual amount per public share held in the Trust Account as of the date of the liquidation of the Trust Account, if less than $10.20 per share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of permitted withdrawals for tax, and our sponsor asserts that it is unable to satisfy its obligations or that it has no indemnification obligations related to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether to take legal action against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations.
While we currently expect that our independent directors would take legal action on our behalf against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations to us, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment 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.
We may not have sufficient funds to satisfy indemnification claims of our directors and officers, and our obligation to indemnify our directors and officers may have certain adverse consequences.
We have agreed to indemnify our officers and directors to the fullest extent permitted by law. However, our officers and directors have agreed to waive (and any other persons who may become an officer or director prior to the initial business combination will also be required to waive) any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies in the Trust Account and not to seek recourse against the Trust Account for any reason whatsoever (except to the extent they are entitled to funds from the Trust Account due to their ownership of public shares). Accordingly, any indemnification provided will be able to be satisfied by us only if (i) we have sufficient funds outside of the Trust Account or (ii) we consummate an initial business combination by September 30, 2025 or during any Extension Period. Our obligation to indemnify our officers and directors may discourage stockholders from bringing a
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lawsuit against our officers or directors for breach of their fiduciary duty. These provisions also may have the effect of reducing the likelihood of derivative litigation against our officers and directors, even though such an action, if successful, might otherwise benefit us and our stockholders. Furthermore, a stockholder’s investment may be adversely affected to the extent we pay the costs of settlement and damage awards against our officers and directors pursuant to these indemnification provisions.
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 our public 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 public 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, thereby exposing itself and us to claims of punitive damages, by paying public stockholders from the Trust Account prior to addressing the claims of creditors.
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 public stockholders and the per share amount that would otherwise be received by our public 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 public 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.
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:
● restrictions on the nature of our investments;
In addition, we may have imposed upon us burdensome requirements, including:
● adoption of a specific form of corporate structure; and
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In order not to be regulated as an investment company under the Investment Company Act, unless we can qualify for an exclusion, we must ensure that we are engaged primarily in a business other than investing, reinvesting or trading of securities and that our activities do not include investing, reinvesting, owning, holding or trading “investment securities” constituting more than 40% of our total assets (exclusive of U.S. government securities and cash items) on an unconsolidated basis. Our business is 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.
On March 30, 2022, the SEC announced the proposal of new rules and amendments concerning special purpose acquisition companies (“SPACs”) such as the Company that, if adopted, would provide a safe harbor for special purpose acquisition companies from the definition of “investment company” under Section 3(a)(1)(A) of the Investment Company Act, provided that they satisfy certain conditions that limit a special purpose acquisition company’s duration, asset composition, business purpose and activities. The duration component of the proposed safe harbor rule would require a special purpose acquisition company to file a Current Report on Form 8-K with the SEC announcing that it has entered into an agreement with the target company (or companies) to engage in an initial business combination no later than 18 months after the effective date of the special purpose acquisition company’s registration statement for its initial public offering. The special purpose acquisition company would then be required to complete its initial business combination no later than 24 months after the effective date of its registration statement for its initial public offering. However, on January 24, 2024, the SEC adopted the final rules and amendments related to SPACs, and such rules did not include the proposed safe harbor. Instead, the SEC’s adopting release provided guidance describing circumstances in which a SPAC could become subject to regulation under the Investment Company Act, including its duration, asset composition, business purpose, and the activities of the SPAC and its management team in furtherance of such goals. Under the new rules, there is uncertainty as to the applicability of the Investment Company Act to a SPAC.
As we did not enter into a definitive business combination agreement within 18 months after the effective date of our registration statement relating to the Public Offering, and did not complete our business combination within 24 months of such date, it is possible that a claim could be made that we have been operating as an unregistered investment company. If we were deemed to be an investment company for purposes of the Investment Company Act, we might be forced to abandon our efforts to complete an initial business combination and instead be required to liquidate. If we are required to liquidate, our investors would not be able to realize the benefits of owning stock in a successor operating business, including the potential appreciation in the value of our stock and warrants following such a transaction, and our warrants would expire worthless.
We do not believe that our principal activities currently subject us to the Investment Company Act. To this end, the proceeds held in the Trust Account have been invested only 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 do not believe we are an “investment company” within the meaning of the Investment Company Act. The Trust Account is intended as a holding place for funds pending the earliest to occur of: (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 to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide our public stockholders the right to have their public shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to provide for the redemption of our public shares in connection with an initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination by September 30, 2025, or during any Extension Period, or with respect to any other provision relating to stockholder 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. Because we have invested the proceeds only in permitted instruments, we believe we are not an investment company subject to the Investment Company Act.
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Changes in laws or regulations or in how such laws or regulations are interpreted or applied, or a failure to comply with any laws, regulations, interpretations or applications, may materially and adversely affect us, including our ability to negotiate and complete our initial business combination.
We are subject to laws and regulations, and interpretations and applications of such laws and regulations, enacted by national, regional and local governments. In particular, we will be required to comply with certain SEC and other legal requirements, our business combination may be contingent on our ability to comply with certain laws, regulations, interpretations and applications and any post-business combination company may be subject to additional laws, regulations, interpretations and applications. Compliance with, and monitoring of, applicable laws, regulations, interpretations and applications may be difficult, time consuming and costly. Those laws and regulations and their interpretation and application may also change from time to time, including as a result of changes in economic, political, social and governmental policies, and those changes could have a material adverse effect on our business, investments, financial condition, liquidity 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 us, including our ability to negotiate and complete our initial business combination.
For example, on January 24, 2024, the SEC adopted a series of new rules relating to special purpose acquisition companies (“SPACs”) (the “SPAC Rules”) requiring, among other items, (i) additional disclosures relating to SPAC business combination transactions; (ii) additional disclosures relating to dilution and to conflicts of interest involving sponsors and their affiliates in both SPAC initial public offerings and SPAC initial business combinations (the “de-SPAC transactions”); (iii) the use of projections by SPACs in SEC filings in connection with proposed business combination transactions; and (iv) both the SPAC and the target company’s status as co-registrants on de-SPAC transaction registration statements.
In addition, the SEC’s adopting release provided guidance describing circumstances in which a SPAC could become subject to regulation under the Investment Company Act, including its duration, asset composition, business purpose, and the activities of the SPAC and its management team in furtherance of such goals.
Compliance with the SPAC Rules and related guidance may increase the costs and the time needed to negotiate and complete an initial business combination, may constrain the circumstances under which we could complete an initial business combination.
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 the 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 by September 30, 2025, or during any Extension Period, 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 prescribed time period in the event we do not complete our initial business combination and, therefore, we do not intend to comply with the foregoing procedures.
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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 the 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 prescribed time period 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 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 initial business combination, (a) as holders of our Class A common stock, our public stockholders will not have the right to vote on the election of our directors, and (b) only holders of a majority of the issued and outstanding shares of our Class B common stock may remove a member of our board of directors with or without cause.
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Although we included the sale of the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants under the Securities Act in the registration statement for our IPO, that registration statement may not be current or another registration statement covering such sale of the shares of Class A common stock may not be in place when a holder of the warrants desires to exercise the warrants, thus precluding such holder from being able to exercise its warrants except on a “cashless basis.” If the issuance of the shares upon exercise of warrants is not registered, qualified or exempt from registration or qualification, the holder of such warrant will not be entitled to exercise such warrant and such warrant may have no value and expire worthless.
Although we included the sale of the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants in the registration statement for our IPO, because the warrants are not exercisable until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination, we do not currently intend to file a post-effective amendment to the registration statement for our IPO (our “IPO registration statement”) or file a new registration statement covering the sale of the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants until after the initial business combination has been consummated. Under the terms of the warrant agreement, we have agreed that as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 15 business days after the closing of our initial business combination, we will use our commercially reasonable efforts to file a post-effective amendment to our IPO registration statement or a new registration statement, in our discretion, with the SEC and, within 60 business days after such closing, have an effective registration statement covering the sale of the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants and to maintain the effectiveness of such registration statement and a current prospectus relating to those shares of Class A common stock until the 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 sale of the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants are not registered under the Securities Act, we will be required to permit holders to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis, in which case the number of shares of our Class A common stock that you will receive upon cashless exercise will be based on a formula, subject to a maximum number of shares equal to 0.361 of a share of our Class A common stock per whole warrant (subject to adjustment) in the case of such warrant exercise during the 30-day redemption period referred to in the warrant agreement. However, no warrant will be exercisable for cash or on a cashless basis, and we will not be obligated to issue any shares to holders seeking to exercise their warrants, unless the sale of the shares issuable upon such exercise is registered or qualified under the securities laws of the state of the exercising holder or an exemption from registration or qualification is available. Notwithstanding the above, if our Class A common stock is at the time of any exercise of a 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 warrants who exercise their warrants to do so on a “cashless basis” in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act and, in the event we so elect, we will not be required to file or maintain in effect a registration statement or make available a current prospectus, but we will use our commercially reasonable efforts to register or qualify the sale of the shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants under applicable state blue sky laws to the extent an exemption is not available. In no event will we be required to net cash settle any warrant or issue securities or other compensation in exchange for the warrants in the event that we are unable to register or qualify the shares underlying the warrants under applicable state securities laws and no exemption is available. If the sale of the shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants is not so registered or qualified or exempt from registration or qualification, the holder of such warrant shall not be entitled to exercise such warrant and such warrant may have no value and expire worthless. In such event, holders who acquired their warrants as part of a purchase of units will have paid the full unit purchase price solely for the shares of Class A common stock included in those units. There may be a circumstance where an exemption from registration exists for holders of our private placement warrants to exercise their warrants while a corresponding exemption does not exist for holders of our public warrants. In such an instance, our sponsor and its permitted transferees would be able to exercise their warrants and sell the shares of Class A common stock underlying their warrants while holders of our public warrants would not be able to do so. If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may exercise our redemption right even if we are unable to register or qualify the sale of the underlying shares of Class A common stock for sale under all applicable state securities laws. In addition, we have not committed to register or qualify the sale of the shares issuable upon exercise of warrants under any non-U.S. securities laws. As a result, we may redeem the warrants as set forth above even if the holders are otherwise unable to exercise the warrants.
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The warrants may become exercisable and redeemable for a security other than the shares of Class A common stock, and you will not have any information regarding such other security at this time.
In certain situations, including if we are not the surviving entity in our initial business combination, the warrants may become exercisable for a security other than the shares of Class A common stock. As a result, if the surviving company redeems your warrants for securities pursuant to the warrant agreement, you may receive a security in a company of which you do not have information at this time. Pursuant to the warrant agreement, the surviving company will be required to use commercially reasonable efforts to file a registration statement for the sale of the security underlying the warrants within 15 business days of the closing of an initial business combination.
If you exercise your public warrants on a “cashless basis,” you will receive fewer shares of Class A common stock from such exercise than if you were to exercise such warrants for cash.
There are circumstances in which the exercise of the public warrants may be required or permitted to be made on a cashless basis. First, if a registration statement covering the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants is not effective by the 60th business day following the consummation of our initial business combination, warrant holders may, until such time as there is an effective registration statement and during any period when we shall have failed to maintain an effective registration statement or to make available a current prospectus, exercise warrants on a cashless basis pursuant to the exemption provided by Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act, provided that such exemption is available; if that exemption, or another exemption, is not available, holders will not be able to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis.
Second, if we call the warrants for redemption in the circumstances described in Exhibit 4.5 to this report under the caption “Description of Securities—Public Warrants—Redemption of warrants for cash when the price per share of Class A common stock equals or exceeds $18.00,” warrant holders will be able to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis prior to redemption if we require or permit that warrants be exercised on a cashless basis in connection with such redemption. In the event of any such exercise on a cashless basis, a holder would pay the warrant exercise price by surrendering the warrants being exercised for that number of shares of Class A common stock equal to the quotient obtained by dividing (x) the product of the number of shares of Class A common stock underlying the warrants being exercised, multiplied by the excess of the “fair market value” of our Class A common stock (defined above) over the exercise price of the warrants by (y) the fair market value, and the number of shares of our Class A common stock received by a holder upon exercise will be fewer than it would have been had such holder exercised the warrant for cash. For example, if the holder is exercising 875 warrants at $11.50 per share through a cashless exercise when the shares of our Class A common stock have a fair market value of $17.50 per share when there is no effective registration statement, then, upon the cashless exercise, the holder will receive 300 shares of our Class A common stock. The holder would have received 875 shares of our Class A common stock if the exercise price was paid in cash. This will have the effect of reducing the potential “upside” of the holder’s investment in our Company because the warrant holder will hold a smaller number of shares of our Class A common stock upon a cashless exercise of the warrants they hold.
Third, if we call the warrants for redemption in the circumstances described in Exhibit 4.5 to this report under the caption “Description of Securities—Public Warrants—Redemption of warrants for cash when the price per share of Class A common stock equals or exceeds $10.00,” holders who wish to exercise their warrants may do so on a cashless basis. In the event of an exercise on a cashless basis under those circumstances, a holder would receive that number of shares determined by reference to an agreed table based on the redemption date and the “fair market value” of Class A common stock.
In any of these cases, this will have the effect of reducing the potential “upside” of the holder’s investment in our Company because the warrant holder will hold a smaller number of shares of our Class A common stock upon a cashless exercise of the warrants they hold.
Our warrants are accounted for as a warrant liability and were recorded at fair value upon issuance, and any changes in fair value of our warrants in each period will be reported in earnings, which may have an adverse effect on the market price of our securities or may make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination.
We have 23,200,000 warrants outstanding (comprised of the 11,500,000 public warrants and 11,700,000 private placement warrants). We account for these warrants as a warrant liability, which means that we recorded them at fair value upon issuance and that any changes in their fair value in each period will be reported in earnings. Changes in the inputs and assumptions for the valuation
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model we use to determine the fair value of such liability may have a material impact on the estimated fair value of the embedded derivative liability. The share price of our Class A common stock represents the primary underlying variable that impacts the value of the derivative instruments. Additional factors that impact the value of the derivative instruments include the volatility of our stock price, discount rates and stated interest rates. As a result, our results of operations will fluctuate quarterly, based on various factors, such as the share price of our common stock, many of which are outside of our control. In addition, we may change the underlying assumptions used in our valuation model, which could result in significant fluctuations in our results of operations. If our stock price is volatile, we expect that we will recognize non-cash gains or losses on our warrants or any other similar derivative instruments each reporting period and that the amount of such gains or losses could be material. The impact of changes in fair value on earnings may have an adverse effect on the market price of our securities. In addition, potential targets may seek a business combination partner that does not have warrants that are accounted for as a warrant liability, which may make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination with a target business.
The grant of registration rights to our sponsor and its 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 a registration rights agreement that we entered into in connection with our IPO, our sponsor and its 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 sponsor or its permitted transferees, the private placement warrants owned by our sponsor or its permitted transferees or warrants issued in connection with working capital loans are registered for resale.
Because we are not limited to evaluating target businesses in a particular industry, sector or geography, you will be unable to ascertain the merits or risks of any particular target business’s operations.
If the Business Combination is not consummated, we may seek to complete a business combination with an operating company in any industry, sector or geography. 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. 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.
We may seek acquisition opportunities in acquisition targets that may be outside of our management’s areas of expertise.
If the Business Combination is not consummated, 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
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information contained in this report regarding the areas of our management’s expertise would not be relevant to an understanding of the business that we elect to acquire. As a result, our management may not be able to adequately ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors 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 engage one or more financial advisors to provide services to us in the future, which may include acting as an advisor in connection with an initial business combination or as placement agent in connection with a related financing transaction. These financial incentives may cause such advisors to have potential conflicts of interest in rendering any such services, including, for example, in connection with the sourcing and consummation of an initial business combination.