10-K
Table of Contents
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM
10-K
(Mark One)
For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022
OR
For the transition period from
to
Commission File Number
001-41218
ANDRETTI ACQUISITION CORP.
(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its Charter)
7615 Zionsville Road
Indianapolis, Indiana46268
(Address of principal executive offices and zip code)
Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (317)
872-2700
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
Title of each class TradingSymbol(s) Name of each exchangeon which registered
Class A ordinary shares, $0.0001 par value WNNR New York Stock Exchange
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:
None
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 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 has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation
S-T
(§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the Registrant was required to submit such files). 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 definition of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule
12b-2
of the Exchange Act.:
Large accelerated filer ☐ Accelerated filer ☐
Non-accelerated filer ☒ Smaller reporting company ☒
Emerging growth company ☒
If an emerging growth company, indicate by the 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 Exchange Act). YES ☒ NO ☐
The Registrant’s units began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on January 18, 2022 and the Registrant’s Class A ordinary shares began separate trading on the New York Stock Exchange on March 7, 2022. As of June 30, 2022, the last business day of the Registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter, the aggregate market value of the Class A ordinary shares held by
non-affiliates
of the registrant was $229,540,000.
As of March
21
, 2023, there were 23,000,000 Class A ordinary shares, $0.0001 par value, and 5,750,000 shares of Class B ordinary
shares
, $0.0001 par value, issued and outstanding.
Documents Incorporated by Reference: None.
Auditor Firm ID: 688
Auditor Name: Marcum LLP
Auditor Location: Los Angeles, CA
Table of Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS 1
PART I 2
Item 1. Business 2
Item 1A. Risk Factors 13
Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments 47
Item 2. Properties 47
Item 3. Legal Proceedings 47
Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures 47
Item 6. [Reserved] 49
Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk 52
Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data 53
Item 9A. Controls and Procedures 53
Item 9B. Other Information 53
Item 9C. Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections 53
PART III 54
Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance 54
Item 11. Executive Compensation 63
Item 14. Principal Accountant Fees and Services 67
Item 15. Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules 69
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CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This Annual Report of Form 10-K (the “Annual Report”) includes, and oral statements made from time to time by representatives of the Company may include, forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). We have based these forward-looking statements on our current expectations and projections about future events. These forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions about us that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “may,” “should,” “could,” “would,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “continue,” or the negative of such terms or other similar expressions. Such statements include, but are not limited to, possible business combinations and the financing thereof, and related matters, as well as all other statements other than statements of historical fact included in this Annual Report. Factors that might cause or contribute to such a discrepancy include, but are not limited to, those described in our other Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) filings. Forward-looking statements in this Annual Report may include, for example, statements about:
• our ability to select an appropriate target business or businesses;
• our ability to complete our initial business combination;
• our pool of prospective target businesses;
• our public securities’ potential liquidity and trading;
• the lack of a 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 Annual Report are based on our current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects on us. There can be no assurance that future developments affecting us will be those that we have anticipated. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties (some of which are beyond our control) or other assumptions that may cause actual results or performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those factors described under the heading “Item 1A. Risk Factors.” Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of our assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary in material respects from those projected in these forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.
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PART I
References in this Annual Report to “we,” “us,” “company” or “our company” are to Andretti Acquisition Corp., a Cayman Islands exempted company. References to “management” or our “management team” are to our officers and directors. References to our “sponsor” is to Andretti Sponsor LLC, a Delaware limited liability company. References to our “initial shareholders” are to the holders of our founder shares prior to our initial public offering.
Item 1. Business.
Introduction
We are a blank check company incorporated in the Cayman Islands formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, amalgamation, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or other similar business combination with one or more businesses. We have neither engaged in any operations nor generated any revenue to date. Based on our business activities, the Company is a “shell company” as defined under the Exchange Act because we have no operations and nominal assets consisting almost entirely of cash.
We intend to leverage the extensive experience and vast network of our management team to complete our initial business combination. Two key members of our management team are racing legends Mario and Michael Andretti. Mario Andretti is a former Formula One World Champion racecar driver and one of only three drivers to win races in Formula One, IndyCar, World Sportscar Championship and the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (“NASCAR”). He is one of only two drivers to have won both the Daytona 500 and the Indy 500. His son, Michael Andretti, won the PPG IndyCar World Series in 1991 and has tallied 42 race wins throughout his career. As owner of Andretti Autosport, Michael Andretti has led his team to over 200 race wins, including four IndyCar Championships. This legacy has made Andretti a household name with 75% of Americans familiar with the iconic brand, which connotes luxury, lifestyle and performance. Among its many successes, Andretti Autosport has leveraged the popularity of the Andretti brand to undertake sustainability initiatives, including helping underprivileged communities, as well as developing a competitive electric vehicle platform powered by renewable energy. The Andretti brand is complemented by Andretti Technologies, an advanced engineering and innovation arm that has enabled Andretti to raise the bar for automotive performance.
Our executive offices are located at 7615 Zionsville Road, Indianapolis, IN 46268 and our telephone number is (317) 872-2700. Our corporate website address is andrettiacquisition.com. Our website and the information contained on, or that can be access through, the website is not deemed to be incorporated by reference in, and is not considered part of, this Annual Report. You should not rely on such information in making your decision whether to invest in our securities.
Company History
On January 28, 2021, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 7,187,500 Class B ordinary shares (the “Founder Shares”) for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000, or approximately $0.003 per share. On March 2, 2021, the Sponsor transferred 30,000 founder shares to Cassandra S. Lee for the consideration of $104.35 (approximately $0.003 per share) and 25,000 founder shares to each of Zakary C. Brown, James W. Keyes, Gerald D. Putnam and John J. Romanelli, in each case for the consideration of $86.96 (approximately $0.003 per founder share), resulting in the sponsor holding 7,057,500 founder shares. On November 17, 2021, the sponsor surrendered an aggregate of 1,437,500 founder shares for no consideration, thereby reducing the aggregate number of founder shares held by the sponsor to 5,620,000 founder shares. Immediately prior to the IPO, the sponsor forfeited 1,430,923 founder shares in connection with the issuance of founder shares to SOL Verano Blocker 1 LLC, a Delaware limited liability company and a third party institutional accredited investor (the Sponsor Co-Investor”).
The Company entered into agreements with the Sponsor Co-Investor, pursuant to which such Sponsor Co-Investor purchased (i) an aggregate of approximately 25% of the issued and outstanding, or 1,430,923 founder shares, and (ii) an aggregate of 3,450,000 Private Placement Warrants from the sponsor immediately prior to the closing of the IPO. The Sponsor Co-Investor entered into an agreement to vote all of the founder shares it owns in favor of an initial Business Combination and will also agree not to redeem any founder shares it owns in connection with the completion of the initial Business Combination. The Sponsor Co-Investor was not granted any material additional shareholder or other rights, other than the founder shares.
On January 18, 2022, we completed our IPO of 23,000,000 units at a price of $10.00 per unit (the “units”), which included the full exercise by the underwriters of their option to purchase additional units (the “Over-Allotment Option”) in the amount of 3,000,000 units at $10.00 per unit, generating gross proceeds of $230,000,000. Each unit consists of one of the Company’s Class A ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share, and one-half of one public warrant. Each whole public warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one Class A ordinary share at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to certain adjustments.
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Concurrently with the completion of the IPO, our sponsor and sponsor co-investor purchased an aggregate of 13,550,000 warrants (the “private placement warrants”) at a price of $1.00 per warrant, or $13,550,000 in the aggregate. An aggregate of $235,750,000 from the proceeds of the IPO and the private placement warrants was placed in a trust account (the “trust account”) such that the trust account held $235,750,000 at the time of closing of the IPO. Each whole private placement warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one Class A ordinary share at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to certain adjustments.
On March 4, 2022, we announced that, commencing March 7, 2022, holders of the 23,000,000 units sold in the IPO may elect to separately trade the Class A ordinary shares and the warrants included in the units. Those units not separated continued to trade on the New York Stock Exchange (the “NYSE”) under the symbol “WNNR.U” and the Class A ordinary shares and warrants that were separated trade under the symbols “WNNR” and “WNNR WS” respectively.
Initial Business Combination
So long as our securities are then listed on the NYSE, our initial business combination must occur with one or more target businesses that together have an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the net assets held in the trust account (excluding the deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on the interest earned on the trust account) at the time of signing a definitive agreement in connection with our initial business combination. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or an independent valuation or appraisal firm with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. While we consider it unlikely that our board will not be able to make an independent determination of the fair market value of a target business or businesses, it may be unable to do so if the board is less familiar or experienced with the target company’s business, there is an amount of uncertainty as to the value of the company’s assets or prospects, including if such company is at an early stage of development, operations or growth, or if the anticipated transaction involves a complex financial analysis or other specialized skills and the board determines that outside expertise would be helpful or necessary in conducting such analysis. Since any opinion, if obtained, would merely state that the fair market value of the target business meets the 80% of net assets threshold, unless such opinion includes material information regarding the valuation of a target business or the consideration to be provided, it is not anticipated that copies of such opinion would be distributed to our shareholders. However, if required under applicable law, any proxy statement that we deliver to shareholders and file with the SEC in connection with a proposed transaction will include such opinion.
We anticipate structuring our initial business combination so that the post-business combination company in which our public shareholders own shares will own or acquire 100% of the equity interests or assets of the target business or businesses. We may, however, structure our initial business combination such that the post-business combination company owns or acquires less than 100% of such interests or assets of the target business in order to meet certain objectives of the target management team or shareholders or for other reasons, but we will only complete such business combination if the post-business combination company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, or the Investment Company Act. Even if the post-business combination company owns or acquires 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our shareholders prior to the business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post-business combination company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the business combination. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock, shares or other equity interests of a target. In this case, we would acquire a 100% controlling interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new shares, our shareholders immediately prior to our initial business combination could own less than a majority of our outstanding shares subsequent to our initial business combination. If less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses are owned or acquired by the post-business combination company, the portion of such business or businesses that is owned or acquired is what will be valued for purposes of the 80% of net assets test. If the business combination involves more than one target business, the 80% of net assets test will be based on the aggregate value of all of the target businesses. In addition, we have agreed not to enter into a definitive agreement regarding an initial business combination without the prior consent of our sponsor. If our securities are not then listed on the NYSE for whatever reason, we would no longer be required to meet the foregoing 80% of net asset test.
Corporate Information
We are a Cayman Islands exempted company. Exempted companies are Cayman Islands companies conducting business mainly outside the Cayman Islands and, as such, are exempted from complying with certain provisions of the Companies Act. As an exempted company, we have received a tax exemption undertaking from the Cayman Islands government that, in accordance with Section 6 of the Tax Concessions Act (As Revised) of the Cayman Islands, for a period of 20 years from the date of the undertaking, no law which is enacted in the Cayman Islands imposing any tax to be levied on profits, income, gains or appreciations will apply to us or our operations and, in addition, that no tax to be levied on profits, income, gains or appreciations or which is in the nature of estate duty or inheritance tax will be payable (i) on or in respect of our shares, debentures or other obligations or (ii) by way of the withholding in whole or in part of a payment of dividend or other distribution of income or capital by us to our shareholders or a payment of principal or interest or other sums due under a debenture or other obligation of us.
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We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, as modified by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, or the JOBS Act. As such, we are eligible to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a non-binding advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the prices of our securities may be more volatile.
In addition, Section 107 of the JOBS Act also provides that an “emerging growth company” can take advantage of the extended transition period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act for complying with new or revised accounting standards. In other words, an “emerging growth company” can delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We intend to take advantage of the benefits of this extended transition period.
We will 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 the Initial Public Offering, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our Class A ordinary shares that is held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the end of the prior fiscal year’s second fiscal quarter; and (2) the date on which we have issued more than $1.00 billion in non-convertible debt securities during the prior three-year period. References herein to “emerging growth company” shall have the meaning associated with it in the JOBS Act.
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 ordinary shares held by non-affiliates exceeds $250 million as of the prior June 30 or (2) our annual revenues exceeded $100 million during such completed fiscal year and the market value of our ordinary shares held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30.
Financial Position
With funds available for a business combination in the amount of $239,149,736 as of December 31, 2022, assuming no redemptions and after payment of up to $8,050,000 of deferred underwriting fees, we offer a target business a variety of options such as creating a liquidity event for its owners, providing capital for the potential growth and expansion of its operations or strengthening its balance sheet by reducing its debt ratio. Because we are able to complete our initial business combination using our cash, debt or equity securities, or a combination of the foregoing, we have the flexibility to use the most efficient combination that will allow us to tailor the consideration to be paid to the target business to fit its needs and desires. However, we have not taken any steps to secure third party financing and there can be no assurance it will be available to us.
Lack of Business Diversification
For an indefinite period of time after the completion of our initial business combination, the prospects for our success may depend entirely on the future performance of a single business.
Unlike other entities that have the resources to complete business combinations with multiple entities in one or several industries, it is probable that we will not have the resources to diversify our operations and mitigate the risks of being in a single line of business. By completing our initial business combination with only a single entity, our lack of diversification may:
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Limited Ability to Evaluate the Target’s Management Team
Although we intend to closely scrutinize the management of a prospective target business when evaluating the desirability of effecting our initial business combination with that business, our assessment of the target business’s management may not prove to be correct. In addition, the future management may not have the necessary skills, qualifications or abilities to manage a public company. Furthermore, the future role of members of our management team, if any, in the target business cannot presently be stated with any certainty. The determination as to whether any of the members of our management team will remain with the combined company will be made at the time of our initial business combination. While it is possible that one or more of our directors will remain associated in some capacity with us following our initial business combination, it is unlikely that any of them will devote their full efforts to our affairs subsequent to our initial business combination. Moreover, we cannot assure you that members of our management team will have significant experience or knowledge relating to the operations of the particular target business.
We cannot assure you that any of our key personnel will remain in senior management or advisory positions with the combined company. The determination as to whether any of our key personnel will remain with the combined company will be made at the time of our initial business combination.
Following a business combination, we may seek to recruit additional managers to supplement the incumbent management of the target business. We cannot assure you that we will have the ability to recruit additional managers, or that additional managers will have the requisite skills, knowledge or experience necessary to enhance the incumbent management.
Redemption rights for public shareholders upon completion of our initial business combination
We will provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their Class A ordinary shares in connection with our initial business combination at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account calculated as of two business days prior to the consummation of the initial business combination, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes, if any, divided by the number of then-outstanding public shares, subject to the limitations described herein. The amount in the trust account as of December 31, 2022 is $10.40 per public share. The per-share amount we will distribute to investors who properly redeem their public shares will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting commissions we will pay to the underwriters. The redemption rights will include the requirement that a beneficial holder must identify itself in order to validly redeem its public shares. There will be no redemption rights in connection with our initial business combination with respect to our public warrants. Further, we will not proceed with redeeming our public shares, even if a public shareholder has properly elected to redeem its public shares, if a business combination does not close. Our sponsor, sponsor co-investor and each member of our management team have entered into an agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and public shares (if any) held by them in connection with (i) our initial business combination, and (ii) a shareholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) that would modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within the completion window or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares.
Manner of conducting redemptions
We will provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their Class A ordinary shares either (i) in connection with a general meeting called to approve the business combination or (ii) by means of a tender offer. The decision as to whether we will seek shareholder approval of a proposed business combination or conduct a tender offer will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on a variety of factors such as the timing of the transaction and whether the terms of the transaction would require us to seek shareholder approval under applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement or whether we were deemed to be a foreign private issuer (which would require a tender offer rather than seeking shareholder approval under SEC rules). Asset acquisitions and share purchases would not typically require shareholder approval while direct mergers with our company where we do not survive and any transactions where we issue more than 20% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares or seek to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association would typically require shareholder approval. We currently intend to conduct redemptions in connection with a shareholder vote unless shareholder approval is not required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement or we choose to conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC for business or other reasons. So long as we obtain and maintain a listing for our securities on the NYSE, we will be required to comply with the NYSE rules.
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If we held a shareholder vote to approve our initial business combination, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association:
• file proxy materials with the SEC.
In the event that we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, we will distribute proxy materials and, in connection therewith, provide our public shareholders with the redemption rights described above in connection with our initial business combination.
If we seek shareholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if we obtain the approval of an ordinary resolution under Cayman Islands law, being the affirmative vote of a majority of the ordinary shares represented in person or by proxy and entitled to vote thereon and who vote at a general meeting. In such case, our sponsor, our sponsor co-investor and each member of our management team have agreed to vote their founder shares and public shares in favor of our initial business combination. As a result, in addition to our initial shareholders’ founder shares, we would need 8,625,001, or 37.5% of the 23,000,000 public shares sold in the IPO to be voted in favor of an initial business combination in order to have our initial business combination approved. Assuming that only one-third of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares, representing a quorum under our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, are voted, we will not need any public shares in addition to our founder shares to be voted in favor of an initial business combination in order to have an initial business combination approved. Each public shareholder may elect to redeem their public shares irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction or vote at all. In addition, our sponsor, our sponsor co-investor and each member of our management team have entered into an agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and public shares (if any) held by them in connection with (i) our initial business combination, and (ii) a shareholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) that would modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within the completion window or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares.
If we conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association:
Upon the public announcement of our initial business combination, if we elect to conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, we and our sponsor will terminate any plan established in accordance with Rule 10b5-1 to purchase Class A ordinary shares in the open market, in order to comply with Rule 14e-5 under the Exchange Act.
In the event we conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, our offer to redeem will remain open for at least 20 business days, in accordance with Rule 14e-1(a) under the Exchange Act, and we will not be permitted to complete our initial business combination until the expiration of the tender offer period. In addition, the tender offer will be conditioned on public shareholders not tendering more than the number of public shares we are permitted to redeem. If public shareholders tender more shares than we have offered to purchase, we will withdraw the tender offer and not complete such initial business combination.
Limitation on redemption upon completion of our initial business combination if we seek shareholder approval
If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provides that a public shareholder, together with any affiliate of such shareholder or any other person with whom such shareholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from redeeming its shares with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in the IPO, which we refer to as “Excess Shares,” without our prior consent. We believe this restriction will discourage shareholders from accumulating large blocks of shares, and subsequent attempts by such holders to use their ability to exercise their redemption rights against a proposed business combination as a means to force us or our management to purchase their shares at a significant premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. Absent this provision, a public shareholder holding more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in the IPO could threaten to
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exercise its redemption rights if such holder’s shares are not purchased by us, our sponsor or our management at a premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. By limiting our shareholders’ ability to redeem no more than 15% of the shares sold in the IPO without our prior consent, we believe we will limit the ability of a small group of shareholders to unreasonably attempt to block our ability to complete our initial business combination, particularly in connection with a business combination with a target that requires as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash.
However, we would not be restricting our shareholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our initial business combination.
Tendering share certificates in connection with a tender offer or redemption rights
Public shareholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” will be required to either tender their certificates (if any) to our transfer agent prior to the date set forth in the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, mailed to such holders, or to deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically using The Depository Trust Company’s DWAC (Deposit/Withdrawal At Custodian) System, at the holder’s option, in each case up to two business days prior to the initially scheduled vote to approve the business combination. The proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, that we will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination will indicate the applicable delivery requirements, which will include the requirement that a beneficial holder must identify itself in order to validly redeem its shares. Accordingly, a public shareholder would have from the time we send out our tender offer materials until the close of the tender offer period, or up to two business days prior to the initially scheduled vote on the proposal to approve the business combination if we distribute proxy materials, as applicable, to tender its shares if it wishes to seek to exercise its redemption rights. Given the relatively short period in which to exercise redemption rights, it is advisable for shareholders to use electronic delivery of their public shares.
There is a nominal cost associated with the above-referenced tendering process and the act of certificating the shares or delivering them through the DWAC System. The transfer agent will typically charge the tendering broker a fee of approximately $80.00 and it would be up to the broker whether or not to pass this cost on to the redeeming holder. However, this fee would be incurred regardless of whether or not we require holders seeking to exercise redemption rights to tender their shares. The need to deliver shares is a requirement of exercising redemption rights regardless of the timing of when such delivery must be effectuated.
The foregoing is different from the procedures used by many blank check companies. In order to perfect redemption rights in connection with their business combinations, many blank check companies would distribute proxy materials for the shareholders’ vote on an initial business combination, and a holder could simply vote against a proposed business combination and check a box on the proxy card indicating such holder was seeking to exercise his or her redemption rights. After the business combination was approved, the company would contact such shareholder to arrange for him or her to deliver his or her certificate to verify ownership. As a result, the shareholder then had an “option window” after the completion of the business combination during which he or she could monitor the price of the company’s shares in the market. If the price rose above the redemption price, he or she could sell his or her shares in the open market before actually delivering his or her shares to the company for cancellation. As a result, the redemption rights, to which shareholders were aware they needed to commit before the general meeting, would become “option” rights surviving past the completion of the business combination until the redeeming holder delivered its certificate. The requirement for physical or electronic delivery prior to the meeting ensures that a redeeming shareholder’s election to redeem is irrevocable once the business combination is approved.
Any request to redeem such shares, once made, may be withdrawn at any time up to two business days prior to the initially scheduled vote on the proposal to approve the business combination, unless otherwise agreed to by us. Furthermore, if a holder of a public share delivered its certificate in connection with an election of redemption rights and subsequently decides prior to the applicable date not to elect to exercise such rights, such holder may simply request that the transfer agent return the certificate (physically or electronically). It is anticipated that the funds to be distributed to holders of our public shares electing to redeem their shares will be distributed promptly after the completion of our initial business combination.
If our initial business combination is not approved or completed for any reason, then our public shareholders who elected to exercise their redemption rights would not be entitled to redeem their shares for the applicable pro rata share of the trust account. In such case, we will promptly return any certificates delivered by public holders who elected to redeem their shares.
If our initial proposed business combination is not completed, we may continue to try to complete a business combination with a different target until the end of the completion window.
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Redemption of Public Shares and Liquidation if no Initial Business Combination
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provides that we will have only 18 months (or until July 18, 2023) from the closing of the IPO to consummate an initial business combination. However, if we anticipate that we may not be able to consummate our initial business combination within 18 months, which can be extended at our sponsor’s option to up to 24 months (or until January 18, 2024) (the “Completion Window”) subject to our sponsor purchasing additional private placement warrants. If we have not consummated an initial business combination within the completion window, we will: (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up; (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at 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 and not previously released to us to pay our taxes, if any (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses) divided by the number of the then-outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public shareholders’ rights as shareholders (including the right to receive further liquidation distributions, if any); and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining shareholders and our board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in each case to our obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to our public warrants, which will expire worthless if we fail to consummate an initial business combination within the completion window. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provides that, if we wind up for any other reason prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, we will follow the foregoing procedures with respect to the liquidation of the trust account as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, subject to applicable Cayman Islands law.
Our sponsor, sponsor co-investor and each member of our management team have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any founder shares they hold if we fail to consummate an initial business combination within the completion window (although they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any public shares they hold if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame). Our sponsor, sponsor co-investor and each member of our management team have agreed, pursuant to a letter agreement with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) that would modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within the completion window or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares, unless we provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares upon approval of any such amendment at 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 and not previously released to us to pay our taxes, if any, divided by the number of the then-outstanding public shares. However, we may not redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 (so that we do not then become subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement that may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. If this optional redemption right is exercised with respect to an excessive number of public shares such that we cannot satisfy the net tangible asset requirement, we would not proceed with the amendment or the related redemption of our public shares at such time. This redemption right shall apply in the event of the approval of any such amendment, whether proposed by our sponsor, any executive officer, director or director nominee, or any other person. We expect that all costs and expenses associated with implementing our plan of dissolution, as well as payments to any creditors, will be funded from amounts remaining out of the $2,530,472 held outside the trust account plus up to $100,000 of funds from the trust account available to us to pay dissolution expenses, although we cannot assure you that there will be sufficient funds for such purpose. If we were to expend all of the net proceeds of the IPO and the sale of the private placement warrants, other than the proceeds deposited in the trust account, and without taking into account interest, if any, earned on the trust account, the per-share redemption amount received by shareholders upon our dissolution would be $10.25. The proceeds deposited in the trust account could, however, become subject to the claims of our creditors which would have higher priority than the claims of our public shareholders. We cannot assure you that the actual per-share redemption amount received by shareholders will not be less than $10.25. While we intend to pay such amounts, if any, we cannot assure you that we will have funds sufficient to pay or provide for all creditors’ claims.
Although we will seek to have all vendors, service providers (other than our independent registered public accounting firm), prospective target businesses and other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the trust account for the benefit of our public shareholders, there is no guarantee that they will execute such agreements or even if they execute such agreements that they would be prevented from bringing claims against the trust account including, but not limited, to fraudulent inducement, breach of fiduciary responsibility or other similar claims, as well as claims challenging the enforceability of the waiver, in each case in order to gain an advantage with respect to a claim against our assets, including the funds held in the trust account. If any third party refuses to execute an agreement waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account, our management will perform an analysis of the alternatives available to it and will only enter into an agreement with a third party that has not executed a waiver if management believes that such third-party’s engagement would be significantly more beneficial to us than any alternative. Examples of possible instances where we may engage a third party that refuses
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to execute a waiver include the engagement of a third-party consultant whose particular expertise or skills are believed by management to be significantly superior to those of other consultants that would agree to execute a waiver or in cases where management is unable to find a service provider willing to execute a waiver. RBC Capital Markets, LLC will not execute an agreement with us waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account. In addition, there is no guarantee that such entities will agree to waive any claims they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any negotiations, contracts or agreements with us and will not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason. In order to protect the amounts held in the trust account, our sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by (A) a third party for services rendered or products sold to us (other than our independent registered public accounting firm), or (B) a prospective target business with which we have discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amounts in the trust account to below the lesser of (i) $10.25 per public share and (ii) the actual amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account if less than $10.25 per public share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest that may be withdrawn to pay our tax obligations, provided that such liability will not apply to any claims by a third-party or prospective target business that executed a waiver of any and all rights to seek access to the trust account nor will it apply to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of the IPO against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. In the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, our sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third-party claims. However, we have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such indemnification obligations, nor have we independently verified whether our sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and we believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our company. Therefore, we cannot assure you that our sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations. None of our officers or directors will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses.
In the event that the proceeds in the trust account are reduced below the lesser of (i) $10.25 per public share and (ii) the actual amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account if less than $10.25 per public share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the amount of interest which may be withdrawn to pay our tax obligations, and our sponsor asserts that it is unable to satisfy its indemnification obligations or that it has no indemnification obligations related to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether to take legal action against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations. While we currently expect that our independent directors would take legal action on our behalf against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations to us, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment may choose not to do so in any particular instance. Accordingly, we cannot assure you that due to claims of creditors the actual value of the per-share redemption price will not be less than $10.25 per public share.
We will seek to reduce the possibility that our sponsor will have to indemnify the trust account due to claims of creditors by endeavoring to have all vendors, service providers (other than our independent registered public accounting firm), prospective target businesses or other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to monies held in the trust account. Our sponsor will also not be liable as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of the IPO against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. We have access to up to $2,530,472 with which to pay any such potential claims (including costs and expenses incurred in connection with our liquidation, currently estimated to be no more than approximately $100,000). In the event that we liquidate and it is subsequently determined that the reserve for claims and liabilities is insufficient, shareholders who received funds from our trust account could be liable for claims made by creditors, however such liability will not be greater than the amount of funds from our trust account received by any such shareholder.
If we file a bankruptcy or winding-up petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the proceeds held in the trust account could be subject to applicable bankruptcy or insolvency law, and may be included in our bankruptcy or insolvency estate and subject to the claims of third parties with priority over the claims of our shareholders. To the extent any bankruptcy or insolvency claims deplete the trust account, we cannot assure you we will be able to return $10.25 per public share to our public shareholders. Additionally, if we file a bankruptcy or winding-up petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, any distributions received by shareholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or bankruptcy or insolvency laws as either a “preferential transfer” or a “fraudulent conveyance.” As a result, a bankruptcy or insolvency court could seek to recover some or all amounts received by our shareholders. Furthermore, our board of directors may be viewed as having breached its fiduciary duty to our creditors and/or may have acted in bad faith, and thereby exposing itself and our company to claims of punitive damages, by paying public shareholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors. We cannot assure you that claims will not be brought against us for these reasons.
Our public shareholders will be entitled to receive funds from the trust account only (i) in the event of the redemption of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within the completion window, (ii) in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within the
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completion window or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares, or (iii) if they redeem their respective shares for cash in connection with our initial business combination. Public shareholders who redeem their Class A ordinary shares in connection with a shareholder vote described in clause (ii) in the preceding sentence shall not be entitled to funds from the trust account upon the subsequent completion of an initial business combination or liquidation if we have not consummated an initial business combination within the completion window, with respect to such Class A ordinary shares so redeemed. In no other circumstances will a shareholder have any right or interest of any kind to or in the trust account. In the event we seek shareholder approval in connection with our initial business combination, a shareholder’s voting in connection with the business combination alone will not result in a shareholder’s redeeming its shares to us for an applicable pro rata share of the trust account. Such shareholder must have also exercised its redemption rights described above. These provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, like all provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, may be amended with a shareholder vote.
Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association contains certain requirements and restrictions relating to the IPO that will apply to us until the consummation of our initial business combination. If we seek to amend any provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association to modify the substance or timing of our obligation 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 within the completion window or with respect to any other material provisions relating to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares or pre-initial business combination business activity, we will provide public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares in connection with any such vote. Our initial shareholders, officers and directors have agreed to waive any redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and any public shares held by them in connection with the completion of our initial business combination. Specifically, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provides, among other things, that:
These provisions cannot be amended without the approval of holders of 65% of our Class A ordinary shares. In the event we seek shareholder approval in connection with our initial business combination, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provides that, unless otherwise required by applicable law or stock exchange rules, we may consummate our initial business combination only if approved by a majority of the Class A ordinary shares voted by our shareholders at a duly held shareholders meeting.
Certain Potential Conflicts of Interest Relating to Our Officers and Directors
Until we consummate our initial business combination, we intend to engage in the business of identifying and combining with one or more businesses or entities. Each of our officers and directors presently has, and any of them in the future may have, additional fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entity, subject to his or her fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law. Accordingly, they may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented. These conflicts may not be resolved in our favor and a potential target business may be presented to another entity prior to its presentation to us, subject to their fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law.
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Members of our management team, including our officers and directors, will directly or indirectly own our securities following the IPO and, accordingly, may have a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target company is an appropriate business with which to effectuate our initial business combination. Each of our officers and directors, as well as our and our sponsor’s management teams, may have a conflict of interest with respect to evaluating a particular business combination if the retention or resignation of any such officers, directors and management team members was included by a target business as a condition to any agreement with respect to such business combination.
Each of our sponsor co-investor, directors, director nominees and officers, as well as those of our sponsor, presently has, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities pursuant to which such director, director nominee or officer is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity. Accordingly, if any of our or our sponsor’s director, director nominee or officer becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for an entity to which he or she has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she will honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such opportunity to such entity. Our sponsor, sponsor co-investor and their affiliates are engaged in a number of businesses that may compete with us for acquisition opportunities. If these businesses decide to pursue any such opportunity or have existing investments in such opportunity, we may be precluded from pursuing such opportunities. Neither our sponsor, sponsor co-investor or their affiliates nor, subject to their fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law, any member of our management team have any obligation to present us with any opportunity for a potential business combination of which they become aware. Our management team and our sponsor, sponsor co-investor and their affiliates may choose to present potential business combinations to the related entities described above, current or future business venture with which they are or may become involved, or third parties, before they present such opportunities to us.
Our sponsor, sponsor co-investor, officers and directors may sponsor, form or participate in other blank check companies similar to ours during the period in which we are seeking an initial business combination. As a result, our sponsor, sponsor co-investor, officers and directors could have conflicts of interest in determining whether to present business combination opportunities to us or to any other blank check company with which they may become involved. Any such companies may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an acquisition target, particularly in the event there is overlap among investment mandates. In addition, our sponsor, officers and directors are not required to commit any specified amount of time or resources to our affairs and, accordingly, will have conflicts of interest in allocating management time and resources among various business activities, including identifying potential business combinations and monitoring the related due diligence.
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law: (i) no individual serving as a director or an officer shall have any duty, except to the extent expressly assumed by contract, to refrain from engaging directly or indirectly in the same or similar business activities or lines of business as us; and (ii) we renounce any interest or expectancy in, or in being offered an opportunity to participate in, any potential transaction or matter which may be a corporate opportunity for any director or officer, on the one hand, and us, on the other.
Sponsor Indemnity
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 transaction agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the trust account to below: (1) $10.25 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 $10.25 per share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case, net of permitted withdrawals, except as to any claims by a third party that executed a waiver of any and all rights to the monies held in the trust account (whether or not any such waiver is enforceable) and except as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of the IPO against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. We have not independently verified whether our sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our company and, therefore, our sponsor may not be able to satisfy those obligations. We have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such obligations. Therefore, we cannot assure you that our sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations. We believe the likelihood of our sponsor having to indemnify the trust account is limited because we will endeavor to have all vendors and prospective target businesses as well as other entities execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to monies held in the trust account.
Facilities
We currently maintain our executive offices at 7615 Zionsville Road, Indianapolis, Indiana 46268. The cost for our use of this space is included in the $15,000 per month fee we pay to an affiliate of our Sponsor for office space, administrative and support services. We consider our current office space adequate for our current operations.
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Employees
We currently have three officers and do not intend to have any full-time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination. Members of our management team are not obligated to devote any specific number of hours to our matters but they intend to devote as much of their time as they deem necessary to our affairs until we have completed our initial business combination. The amount of time that any such person will devote in any time period to our company will vary based on whether a target business has been selected for our initial business combination and the current stage of the business combination process.
Periodic Reporting and Financial Information
Our units, Class A ordinary shares and warrants are registered under the Exchange Act and we have reporting obligations, including the requirement that we file annual, quarterly and current reports with the SEC. The SEC maintains an internet site at http://www.sec.gov that contains such reports, proxy and information statements and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC. In accordance with the requirements of the Exchange Act, our annual reports contain financial statements audited and reported on by our independent registered public accounting firm.
We will provide shareholders with audited financial statements of the prospective target business as part of the tender offer materials or proxy solicitation materials sent to shareholders to assist them in assessing the target business. These financial statements may be required to be prepared in accordance with, or be reconciled to United States generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) or international financial reporting standards as promulgated by the international accounting standards board (“IFRS”), depending on the circumstances and the historical financial statements may be required to be audited in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (“PCAOB”). These financial statement requirements may limit the pool of potential target businesses we may acquire because some targets may be unable to provide such financial statements in time for us to disclose such financial statements in accordance with federal proxy rules and complete our initial business combination within the completion window. We cannot assure you that any particular target business identified by us as a potential business combination candidate will have financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP or that the potential target business will be able to prepare its financial statements in accordance with the requirements outlined above. To the extent that these requirements cannot be met, we may not be able to acquire the proposed target business. While this may limit the pool of potential business combination candidates, we do not believe that this limitation will be material.
We are required to evaluate our internal control procedures for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2022 as required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Only in the event we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer or an accelerated filer and no longer an emerging growth company will we be required to have our internal control procedures audited. A target business may not be in compliance with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act regarding adequacy of their internal controls. The development of the internal controls of any such entity to achieve compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may increase the time and costs necessary to complete any such acquisition.
We are a Cayman Islands exempted company. Exempted companies are Cayman Islands companies conducting business mainly outside the Cayman Islands and, as such, are exempted from complying with certain provisions of the Companies Act. As an exempted company, we have applied for and received a tax exemption undertaking from the Cayman Islands government that, in accordance with Section 6 of the Tax Concessions Act (As Revised) of the Cayman Islands, for a period of 20 years from the date of the undertaking, no law which is enacted in the Cayman Islands imposing any tax to be levied on profits, income, gains or appreciations will apply to us or our operations and, in addition, that no tax to be levied on profits, income, gains or appreciations or which is in the nature of estate duty or inheritance tax will be payable (i) on or in respect of our shares, debentures or other obligations or (ii) by way of the withholding in whole or in part of a payment of dividend or other distribution of income or capital by us to our shareholders or a payment of principal or interest or other sums due under a debenture or other obligation of us.
We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act. As such, we are eligible to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a non-binding advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the prices of our securities may be more volatile.
In addition, Section 107 of the JOBS Act also provides that an “emerging growth company” can take advantage of the extended transition period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act for complying with new or revised accounting standards. In other words, an “emerging growth company” can delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We intend to take advantage of the benefits of this extended transition period.
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We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of: (1) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following January 18, 2026, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion, or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our ordinary shares that is held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the end of the prior fiscal year’s second fiscal quarter; and (2) the date on which we have issued more than $1.00 billion in non-convertible debt during the prior three-year period. References herein to “emerging growth company” shall have the meaning associated with it in the JOBS Act.
Legal Proceedings
There is no material litigation, arbitration or governmental proceeding currently pending against us or any members of our management team in their capacity as such, and we and the members of our management team have not been subject to any such proceeding in the 12 months preceding the date hereof.
Item 1A. Risk Factors.
An investment in our securities involves a high degree of risk. You should consider carefully all of the risks described below, together with the other information contained in this Annual Report, the prospectus associated with our IPO and the registration statement of which such prospectus forms a part before making a decision to invest in our securities. If any of the following events occur, our business, financial condition and operating results may be materially adversely affected. In that event, the trading price of our securities could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment.
Summary of Risk Factors
Our business is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties. These risks include, but are not limited to, risks associated with:
• being a newly incorporated company with no operating history and no revenues;
• our public shareholders’ ability to exercise redemption rights;
• being declared an investment company under the Investment Company Act;
• complying with changing laws and regulations;
• the performance of the prospective target business or businesses;
• our ability to select an appropriate target business or businesses;
• to generate a number of potential business combination opportunities;
• our ability to redeem your unexpired warrants prior to their exercise;
• our public securities’ potential liquidity and trading; and
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Risks Relating to Our Search for, and Consummation of or Inability to Consummate, an Initial Business Combination
Our shareholders may not be afforded an opportunity to vote on our proposed initial business combination and, even if we hold a vote, holders of our founder shares will participate in such vote, which means we may complete our initial business combination even though a majority of our shareholders do not support such a combination.
We may choose not to hold a shareholder vote before we complete our initial business combination if the business combination would not require shareholder approval under applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement. For instance, if we were seeking to acquire a target business where the consideration we were paying in the transaction was all cash, we would typically not be required to seek shareholder approval to complete such a transaction. Except for as required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement, the decision as to whether we will seek shareholder approval of a proposed business combination or will allow shareholders to sell their shares to us in a tender offer will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on a variety of factors, such as the timing of the transaction and whether the terms of the transaction would otherwise require us to seek shareholder approval. Even if we seek shareholder approval, the holders of our founder shares will participate in the vote. Accordingly, we may complete our initial business combination even if holders of a majority of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares do not approve of the business combination we complete.
If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor and each member of our management team have agreed to vote in favor of such initial business combination, regardless of how our public shareholders vote.
Our initial shareholders will own, on an as-converted basis, 20% of our outstanding ordinary shares. Our sponsor, our sponsor co-investor and each member of our management team also may from time to time purchase Class A ordinary shares prior to our initial business combination. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that, if we seek shareholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if we obtain the approval of an ordinary resolution under Cayman Islands law, being the affirmative vote of a majority of the ordinary shares represented in person or by proxy and entitled to vote thereon and who vote at a general meeting. As a result, in addition to our initial shareholders’ founder shares, we would need 8,625,001, or 37.5% of the 23,000,000 public shares sold in the IPO to be voted in favor of an initial business combination in order to have our initial business combination approved. Assuming that only one-third of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares, representing a quorum under our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, are voted, we will not need any public shares in addition to our founder shares to be voted in favor of an initial business combination in order to have an initial business combination approved. Accordingly, if we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, the agreement by our sponsor, our sponsor co-investor and each member of our management team to vote in favor of our initial business combination will increase the likelihood that we will receive the requisite shareholder approval for such initial business combination.
Your only opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding a potential business combination may be limited to the exercise of your right to redeem your shares from us for cash.
At the time of your investment in us, you will not be provided with an opportunity to evaluate the specific merits or risks of any target businesses. Since our board of directors may complete a business combination without seeking shareholder approval, public shareholders may not have the right or opportunity to vote on the business combination, unless we seek such shareholder approval. Accordingly, your only opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding a potential business combination may be limited to exercising your redemption rights within the period of time (which will be at least 20 business days) set forth in our tender offer documents mailed to our public shareholders in which we describe our initial business combination.
The ability of our public shareholders to redeem their shares for cash may make our financial condition unattractive to potential business combination targets, which may make it difficult for us to enter into a business combination with a target.
We may seek to enter into a business combination transaction agreement with a prospective target that requires as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. If too many public shareholders exercise their redemption rights, we would not be able to meet such closing condition and, as a result, would not be able to proceed with the business combination. Furthermore, we will not redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 (so that we do not then become subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement that may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. Consequently, if accepting all properly submitted redemption requests would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 or such greater amount necessary to satisfy a closing condition as described above, we would not proceed with such redemption and the related business combination and may instead search for an alternate business combination. Prospective targets will be aware of these risks and, thus, may be reluctant to enter into a business combination transaction with us.
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The ability of our public shareholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our shares may not allow us to complete the most desirable business combination or optimize our capital structure.
At the time we enter into an agreement for our initial business combination, we will not know how many shareholders may exercise their redemption rights and therefore will need to structure the transaction based on our expectations as to the number of shares that will be submitted for redemption. If 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 large number of shares are submitted for redemption, we may need to restructure the transaction to reserve a greater portion of the cash in the trust account or arrange for additional third-party financing. Raising additional third-party financing may involve dilutive equity issuances or the incurrence of indebtedness at higher than desirable levels. The above considerations may limit our ability to complete the most desirable business combination available to us or optimize our capital structure. The amount of the deferred underwriting commissions payable to the underwriters will not be adjusted for any shares that are redeemed in connection with an initial business combination. The per-share amount we will distribute to shareholders who properly exercise their redemption rights will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting commission and after such redemptions, the amount held in trust will continue to reflect our obligation to pay the entire deferred underwriting commissions.
The ability of our public shareholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our shares could increase the probability that our initial business combination would be unsuccessful and that you would have to wait for liquidation in order to redeem your 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 is increased. If our initial business combination is unsuccessful, you would not receive your pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account until we liquidate the trust account. If you are in need of immediate liquidity, you could attempt to sell your shares in the open market; however, at such time our shares may trade at a discount to the pro rata amount per share in the trust account. In either situation, you may suffer a material loss on your investment or lose the benefit of funds expected in connection with our redemption until we liquidate or you are able to sell your shares in the open market.
Unlike some other similar blank check companies, we will have only until the end of the completion window to consummate an initial business combination. The requirement that we complete our initial business combination within the completion window may give potential target businesses leverage over us in negotiating a business combination and may limit the time we have in which to conduct due diligence on potential business combination targets, in particular as we approach our dissolution deadline, which could undermine our ability to complete our initial business combination on terms that would produce value for our shareholders.
Unlike some other similar blank check companies, we will have only until the end of the completion window to consummate an initial business combination. Any potential target business with which we enter into negotiations concerning a business combination will be aware that we must complete our initial business combination within the completion window. 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 end of the completion window. 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.
Our sponsor has the right to extend the term we have to consummate our initial business combination to up to 24 months from the closing of the IPO without providing our shareholders with a corresponding redemption right.
We will have until 18 months from the closing of the IPO (or until July 18, 2023) to consummate our initial business combination. However, if we anticipate that we may not be able to consummate our initial business combination within 18 months, we may, by resolution of our board of directors if requested by our sponsor, extend the period of time we will have to consummate an initial business combination up to two times, each by an additional 3 months (for a total of up to 24 months, up until January 18, 2024, from the closing of the IPO), subject to our sponsor purchasing additional private placement warrants. Our shareholders will not be entitled to vote on or redeem their shares in connection with any such extension. Pursuant to the terms of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, our sponsor may elect to extend the completion window. In order to extend the completion window, our sponsor and our sponsor co-investor must purchase an additional 2,300,000 private placement warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant, and deposit the $2,300,000 in proceeds from such purchase of the private placement warrants into the trust account on or prior to the date of the applicable deadline, for each 3-month extension of the completion window. Our sponsor has the option to accelerate its and our sponsor co-investor’s purchase of one or both halves of the up to 4,600,000 private placement warrants at any
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time following the closing of the IPO and prior to the consummation of our initial business combination with the same effect of extending the completion window by three or six months, as applicable. This feature is different than most other special purpose acquisition companies, in which any extension of the completion window would require a vote of a special purpose acquisition company’s shareholders and, in connection with such vote, such special purpose acquisition company’s shareholders would have the right to redeem their public shares.
Unlike some other similar blank check companies, we will have only until the end of the completion window to consummate an initial business combination. We may not be able to complete our initial business combination within the completion window, in which case we would cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up and we would redeem our public shares and liquidate, in which case our public shareholders may receive only $10.25 per share, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, and our warrants will expire worthless.
Our sponsor, sponsor co-investor, officers, directors and special advisor have agreed that we must complete our initial business combination within the completion window. Unlike some other similar blank check companies, we will have only until the end of the completion window to consummate an initial business combination. We may not be able to find a suitable target business and complete our initial business combination within completion window. Our ability to complete our initial business combination may be negatively impacted by general market conditions, volatility in the capital and debt markets and the other risks described herein, including as a result of terrorist attacks, natural disasters or a significant outbreak of infectious diseases. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic continues both in the United States and globally and, while the extent of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on us will depend on future developments, it could limit our ability to complete our initial business combination, including as a result of increased market volatility, decreased market liquidity and third-party financing being unavailable on terms acceptable to us or at all. Additionally, financial markets may be adversely affected by current or anticipated military conflict, including between Russia and Ukraine, terrorism, sanctions or other geopolitical events globally. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic and other events (such as terrorist attacks, natural disasters or a significant outbreak of other infectious diseases) may negatively impact businesses we may seek to acquire. It may also have the effect of heightening many of the other risks described in this “Risk Factors” section, such as those related to the market for our securities and cross-border transactions.
If we have not completed our initial business combination within the completion window, we will: (1) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up; (2) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable, and less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public shareholders’ rights as shareholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any); and (3) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining shareholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. In such case, our public shareholders may receive only $10.25 per share, or less than $10.25 per share, upon the redemption of their public shares, and our warrants will expire worthless. See “—If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by shareholders may be less than $10.25 per share” and other risk factors herein.
Our trust account is expected to contain approximately $10.25 per Class A ordinary share. In the event our sponsor extends the completion window, our trust account is expected to contain approximately $10.35 per Class A ordinary share (if the sponsor extends the completion window to 21 months) or $10.45 per Class A ordinary share (if the sponsor extends the completion window to 24 months), and, as a result, public shareholders may be more incentivized to redeem their public shares at the time of our initial business combination.
Our trust account is expected to contain approximately $10.25 per Class A ordinary share. In the event our sponsor extends the completion window, our trust account is expected to contain approximately $10.35 per Class A ordinary share (if the sponsor extends the completion window to 21 months) or $10.45 per Class A ordinary share (if the sponsor extends the completion window to 24 months), public shareholders may be more incentivized to redeem their public shares at the time of our initial business combination. This is different than some other similarly structured blank check companies with completion windows of 21 months or 24 months for which the trust account will only contain $10.00 per Class A ordinary share. As a result of the additional funds receivable by public shareholders upon redemption of public shares, our public shareholders may be more incentivized to redeem their public shares at the time of our initial business combination.
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The requirement that we consummate an initial business combination within the completion window may give potential target businesses leverage over us in negotiating a business combination and may limit the time we have in which to conduct due diligence on potential business combination targets, in particular as we approach our dissolution deadline, which could undermine our ability to complete our initial business combination on terms that would produce value for our shareholders.
Any potential target business with which we enter into negotiations concerning a business combination will be aware that we must consummate an initial business combination within the completion window.
Consequently, such target business may obtain leverage over us in negotiating a business combination, knowing that if we do not complete our initial business combination with that particular target business, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination with any target business. This risk will increase as we get closer to the time frame described above. In addition, we may have limited time to conduct due diligence and may enter into our initial business combination on terms that we would have rejected upon a more comprehensive investigation.
The securities in which we invest the proceeds held in the trust account could bear a negative rate of interest, which could reduce the interest income available for payment of taxes or reduce the value of the assets held in trust such that the per share redemption amount received by public stockholders may be less than $10.25 per share.
The net proceeds of the Initial Public Offering and certain proceeds from the sale of the private placement warrants, in the amount of $235,750,000, will be held in an interest-bearing trust account. The proceeds held in the trust account may only be invested in direct U.S. government securities with a maturity of 185 days or less, or in certain money market funds which invest only in direct U.S. Treasury obligations. While short-term U.S. government treasury obligations currently yield a positive rate of interest and may rise in the future, these rates are have been low and these obligations have briefly yielded negative interest rates in recent years, central banks in Europe and Japan have 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 adopt similar policies in the United States. In the event of very low or negative yields, the amount of interest income (which we may withdraw to pay income taxes, if any) would be reduced. In the event that we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders are entitled to receive their share of the proceeds held in the trust account, plus any interest income. If the balance of the trust account is reduced below $235,750,000 as a result of negative interest rates, the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public stockholders may be reduced below $10.25 per share.
If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor, initial shareholders, directors, executive officers, advisors or any of their respective affiliates may elect to purchase public shares or warrants, which may influence a vote on a proposed business combination and reduce the public “float” of our Class A ordinary shares or public warrants.
If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our sponsor, initial shareholders, directors, executive officers, advisors or any of their respective affiliates may purchase public shares or warrants in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination, although they are under no obligation to do so. However, they have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such transactions. None of the funds in the trust account will be used to purchase public shares or warrants in such transactions.
In the event that our sponsor, initial shareholders, directors, executive officers, advisors or any of their respective affiliates purchase public shares in privately negotiated transactions from public shareholders who have already elected to exercise their redemption rights, such selling shareholders would be required to revoke their prior elections to redeem their shares. The purpose of any such transaction could be to (1) vote in favor of the business combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining shareholder approval of the business combination, (2) reduce the number of public warrants outstanding or vote such warrants on any matters submitted to the warrant holders for approval in connection with our initial business combination or (3) satisfy a closing condition in an agreement with a target that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash at the closing of our initial business combination, where it appears that such requirement would otherwise not be met. Any such purchases of our securities may result in the completion of our initial business combination that may not otherwise have been possible. In addition, if such purchases are made, the public “float” of our Class A ordinary shares or public warrants may be reduced and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, which may make it difficult to maintain or obtain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange. Any such purchases will be reported pursuant to Section 13 and Section 16 of the Exchange Act to the extent such purchasers are subject to such reporting requirements.
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If a shareholder fails to receive notice of our offer to redeem our public shares in connection with our initial business combination, or fails to comply with the procedures for tendering its shares, such shares may not be redeemed.
We will comply with the proxy rules or tender offer rules, as applicable, when conducting redemptions in connection with our initial business combination. Despite our compliance with these rules, if a shareholder fails to receive our proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, such shareholder may not become aware of the opportunity to redeem its shares. In addition, the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, that we will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination will describe the various procedures that must be complied with in order to validly redeem or tender public shares. For example, we may require our public shareholders 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 proxy solicitation or tender offer materials mailed to such holders, or up to two business days prior to the vote on the proposal to approve the initial business combination in the event we distribute proxy solicitation materials, or to deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically. In the event that a shareholder 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. Therefore, to liquidate your investment, you may be forced to sell your public shares or warrants, potentially at a loss.
Our public shareholders will be entitled to receive funds from the trust account only upon the earliest to occur of (i) our completion of an initial business combination, and then only in connection with those Class A ordinary shares that such shareholder properly elected to redeem, subject to the limitations described herein, (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly tendered in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within the completion window or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares, and (iii) the redemption of our public shares if we have not consummated an initial business combination within the completion window, subject to applicable law and as further described herein. Public shareholders who redeem their Class A ordinary shares in connection with a shareholder vote described in clause (ii) in the preceding sentence shall not be entitled to funds from the trust account upon the subsequent completion of an initial business combination or liquidation if we have not consummated an initial business combination within the completion window, with respect to such Class A ordinary shares so redeemed. In no other circumstances will a public shareholder have any right or interest of any kind in the trust account. Holders of public warrants will not have any right to the proceeds held in the trust account with respect to the public warrants. Accordingly, to liquidate your investment, you may be forced to sell your public shares or public warrants, potentially at a loss.
Because of our limited resources and the significant competition for business combination opportunities, it may be more difficult for us to complete our initial business combination. If we have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.25 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.
We expect to encounter intense competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours, including private investors (which may be individuals or investment partnerships), other blank check companies and other entities, domestic and international, competing for the types of businesses we intend to acquire. Many of these individuals and entities are well established and have extensive experience in identifying and effecting, directly or indirectly, acquisitions of companies operating in or providing services to various industries. Many of these competitors possess greater technical, human and other resources or more local industry knowledge than we do and our financial resources will be relatively limited when contrasted with those of many of these competitors. While we believe there are numerous target businesses we could potentially acquire with the net proceeds of the IPO and the sale of the private placement warrants, our ability to compete with respect to the acquisition of certain target businesses that are sizable will be limited by our available financial resources. This inherent competitive limitation gives others an advantage in pursuing the acquisition of certain target businesses. Furthermore, we are obligated to offer holders of our public shares the right to redeem their shares for cash at the time of our initial business combination in conjunction with a shareholder vote or via a tender offer. Target companies will be aware that this may reduce the resources available to us for our initial business combination. Any of these obligations may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating a business combination. If we have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.25 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.
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If the net proceeds of the Initial Public Offering and the sale of the private placement warrants not being held in the trust account are insufficient to allow us to operate for the completion window, it could limit the amount available to fund our search for a target business or businesses and our ability to complete our initial business combination, and we will depend on loans from our sponsor, its affiliates or members of our management team to fund our search and to complete our initial business combination.
Of the net proceeds of the IPO and the sale of the private placement warrants, only $2,530,472 is available to us initially outside the trust account to fund our working capital requirements. We believe that the funds available to us outside of the trust account, together with funds available from loans from our sponsor, its affiliates or members of our management team are sufficient to allow us to operate for at least the completion window; however, we cannot assure you that our estimate is accurate, and our sponsor, its affiliates or members of our management team are under no obligation to advance funds to us in such circumstances. Of the funds available to us, we expect to use a portion of the funds available to us to pay director and officer liability insurance premiums and fees to consultants to assist us with our search for a target business. We could also use a portion of the funds as a down payment or to fund a “no-shop” provision (a provision in letters of intent designed to keep target businesses from “shopping” around for transactions with other companies or investors on terms more favorable to such target businesses) with respect to a particular proposed business combination, although we do not have any current intention to do so. If we entered into a letter of intent where we paid for the right to receive exclusivity from a target business and were subsequently required to forfeit such funds (whether as a result of our breach or otherwise), we might not have sufficient funds to continue searching for, or conduct due diligence with respect to, a target business.
If we are required to seek additional capital, we would need to borrow funds from our sponsor, its affiliates, members of our management team or other third parties to operate or may be forced to liquidate. Neither our sponsor, members of our management team nor their affiliates is under any obligation to us in such circumstances. Any such advances may be repaid only from funds held outside the trust account or from funds released to us upon completion of our initial business combination. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants of the post-business combination entity at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants. Prior to the completion of our initial business combination, we do not expect to seek loans from parties other than our sponsor, its affiliates or members of our management team as we do not believe third parties will be willing to loan such funds and provide a waiver against any and all rights to seek access to funds in our trust account. If we have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period because we do not have sufficient funds available to us, we will be forced to cease operations and liquidate the trust account. Consequently, our public shareholders may only receive an estimated $10.25 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on our redemption of our public shares, and our warrants will expire worthless.
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, 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 with a particular target business, that it would be possible to uncover all material issues through a customary amount of due diligence, or that factors outside of the target business and outside of our control will not later arise. As a result of these factors, we may be forced to later write-down or write-off assets, restructure our operations, or incur impairment or other charges that could result in our reporting losses. Even if our due diligence successfully identifies certain risks, unexpected risks may arise and previously known risks may materialize in a manner not consistent with our preliminary risk 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 holders who choose to retain their securities following the business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.
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 shareholders may be less than $10.25 per public 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 and other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the trust account for the benefit of our public shareholders, such parties may not execute such agreements, or even if they execute such agreements, they may not be prevented from bringing claims against the trust account, including, but not limited to, fraudulent inducement, breach of fiduciary responsibility or other similar claims, as well as claims challenging the enforceability of the waiver, in each case in order to gain advantage with respect to a claim against our assets, including the funds held in the trust
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account. If any third party refuses to execute an agreement waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account, our management will perform an analysis of the alternatives available to it and will only enter into an agreement with a third party that has not executed a waiver if management believes that such third-party’s engagement would be significantly more beneficial to us than any alternative. Making such a request of potential target businesses may make our acquisition proposal less attractive to them and, to the extent prospective target businesses refuse to execute such a waiver, it may limit the field of potential target businesses that we might pursue.
Examples of possible instances where we may engage a third party that refuses to execute a waiver include the engagement of a third-party consultant whose particular expertise or skills are believed by management to be significantly superior to those of other consultants that would agree to execute a waiver or in cases where management is unable to find a service provider willing to execute a waiver. In addition, there is no guarantee that such entities will agree to waive any claims they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any negotiations, contracts or agreements with us and will not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason. Upon redemption of our public shares, if we have not consummated an initial business combination within the completion window, or upon the exercise of a redemption right in connection with our initial business combination, we will be required to provide for payment of claims of creditors that were not waived that may be brought against us within the ten years following redemption. Accordingly, the per-share redemption amount received by public shareholders could be less than the $10.25 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) a third party (other than our independent registered public accounting firm) for services rendered or products sold to us, or (B) a prospective target business with which we have discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amounts in the trust account to below the lesser of (i) $10.25 per public share and (ii) the actual amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account if less than $10.25 per public share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest that may be withdrawn to pay our tax obligations, provided that such liability will not apply to any claims by a third party or prospective target business that executed a waiver of any and all rights to seek access to the trust account nor will it apply to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of the IPO against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. Moreover, in the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third-party, our sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third-party claims.
However, we have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such indemnification obligations, nor have we independently verified whether our sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and we believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our company. Therefore, we cannot assure you that our sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations. As a result, if any such claims were successfully made against the trust account, the funds available for our initial business combination and redemptions could be reduced to less than $10.25 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 shareholders.
In the event that the proceeds in the trust account are reduced below the lesser of (i) $10.25 per public share and (ii) the actual amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account if less than $10.25 per public share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest that may be withdrawn to pay our tax obligations, and our sponsor asserts that it is unable to satisfy its obligations or that it has no indemnification obligations related to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether to take legal action against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations. While we currently expect that our independent directors would take legal action on our behalf against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations to us, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment and subject to their fiduciary duties may choose not to do so in any particular instance. If our independent directors choose not to enforce these indemnification obligations, the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public shareholders may be reduced below $10.25 per public share.
If, after we distribute the proceeds in the trust account to our public shareholders, we file a bankruptcy or winding-up petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, a bankruptcy or insolvency 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 shareholders, we file a bankruptcy or winding-up petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, any distributions received by shareholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or bankruptcy or insolvency laws as either a “preferential transfer” or a “fraudulent conveyance.” As a result, a bankruptcy or insolvency court could seek to recover some or all amounts received by our shareholders. In addition, our board of directors may be viewed as having breached its fiduciary duty to our creditors and/or having acted in bad faith, thereby exposing itself and us to claims of punitive damages, by paying public shareholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors.
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If, before distributing the proceeds in the trust account to our public shareholders, we file a bankruptcy or winding-up petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the claims of creditors in such proceeding may have priority over the claims of our shareholders and the per share amount that would otherwise be received by our shareholders in connection with our liquidation may be reduced.
If, before distributing the proceeds in the trust account to our public shareholders, we file a bankruptcy or winding-up petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the proceeds held in the trust account could be subject to applicable bankruptcy or insolvency law, and may be included in our bankruptcy or insolvency estate and subject to the claims of third parties with priority over the claims of our shareholders. To the extent any bankruptcy or insolvency claims deplete the trust account, the per-share amount that would otherwise be received by our shareholders in connection with our liquidation may be reduced.
Our independent registered public accounting firm’s report contains an explanatory paragraph that expresses substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a “going concern.”
We may not have sufficient liquidity to fund our working capital needs through one year from the issuance of the financial statements contained elsewhere in this Annual Report. In connection with our assessment of going concern considerations in accordance with FASB ASC 205-40, “Basis of Presentation-Going Concern,” if we are not able to consummate a Business Combination before July 18, 2023 (or such later date as may be extended by the Sponsor), we will commence an automatic winding up, dissolution and liquidation. Management has determined that the automatic liquidation, should a Business Combination not occur, and potential subsequent dissolution raises substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. No adjustments have been made to the carrying amounts of assets or liabilities for these facts.
If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, we may be required to institute burdensome compliance requirements and our activities may be restricted, which may make it difficult for us to complete our initial business combination.
If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, our activities may be restricted, including:
• restrictions on the nature of our investments; and
• restrictions on the issuance of securities,
each of which may make it difficult for us to complete our initial business combination.
In addition, we may have imposed upon us burdensome requirements, including:
• registration as an investment company with the SEC;
• adoption of a specific form of corporate structure; and
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 will be to identify and complete a business combination and thereafter to operate the post-transaction business or assets for the long term. We do not plan to buy businesses or assets with a view to resale or profit from their resale. We do not plan to buy unrelated businesses or assets or to be a passive investor.
We do not believe that our anticipated principal activities will subject us to the Investment Company Act. To this end, the proceeds held in the trust account may only be invested in United States “government securities” within the meaning of Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act having a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 promulgated under the Investment Company Act which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations. Pursuant to the trust agreement, the trustee is not permitted to invest in other securities or assets. By restricting the investment of the proceeds to these instruments, and by having a business plan targeted at acquiring and growing businesses for the long term (rather than on buying and selling businesses in the manner of a merchant bank or private equity fund), we intend to avoid being deemed an “investment company” within the meaning of the Investment Company Act. The Initial Public Offering was not intended for persons who are seeking a return on investments in government securities or investment securities. The trust account is intended as a holding place for funds pending the earliest to occur of either: (i) the completion of our initial business combination; (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly tendered in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of the Initial Public Offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares or pre-business combination activity; or (iii) absent our completing an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of the Initial Public Offering, our return of the funds held in the trust account to our public shareholders as part of our redemption of the public shares. If we do not invest the proceeds as discussed above, we may be deemed to be subject to the Investment Company Act. If we were deemed to be
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subject to the Investment Company Act, compliance with these additional regulatory burdens would require additional expenses for which we have not allotted funds and may hinder our ability to complete a business combination. If we have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.25 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.
Changes in laws or regulations, or a failure to comply with any laws and regulations, may adversely affect our business, including our ability to negotiate and complete our initial business combination, and results of operations.
We are subject to laws and regulations enacted by national, regional and local governments. In particular, we will be required to comply with certain SEC and other legal requirements. Compliance with, and monitoring of, applicable laws and regulations may be difficult, time consuming and costly. Those laws and regulations and their interpretation and application may also change from time to time and those changes could have a material adverse effect on our business, investments and results of operations. In addition, a failure to comply with applicable laws or regulations, as interpreted and applied, could have a material adverse effect on our business, including our ability to negotiate and complete our initial business combination, and results of operations.
Because we are neither limited to evaluating a target business in a particular industry or sector nor have we selected any specific target businesses with which to pursue our initial business combination, you will be unable to ascertain the merits or risks of any particular target business’s operations.
We may pursue business combination opportunities in any industry or sector, except that we will not, under our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, be permitted to effectuate our initial business combination solely with another blank check company or similar company with nominal operations. Because we have not selected any specific business combination target and we have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, engaged in any substantive discussions, directly or indirectly, with any business combination target with respect to an initial business combination with us, there is no basis to evaluate the possible merits or risks of any particular target business’s operations, results of operations, cash flows, liquidity, financial condition or prospects. To the extent we complete our initial business combination, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in the business operations with which we combine. For example, if we combine with a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of sales or earnings, we may be affected by the risks inherent in the business and operations of a financially unstable or a development stage entity. Although our officers and directors will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we cannot assure you that we will properly ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors or that we will have adequate time to complete due diligence. Furthermore, some of these risks may be outside of our control and leave us with no ability to control or reduce the chances that those risks will adversely impact a target business. We also cannot assure you that an investment in our units will ultimately prove to be more favorable to investors than a direct investment, if such opportunity were available, in a business combination target. Accordingly, any holders who choose to retain their securities following the business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.
Although we have identified general criteria and guidelines that we believe are important in evaluating prospective target businesses, we may enter into our initial business combination with a target that does not meet such criteria and guidelines and, as a result, the target business with which we enter into our initial business combination may not have attributes entirely consistent with our general criteria and guidelines.
Although we have identified general criteria and guidelines for evaluating prospective target businesses, it is possible that a target business with which we enter into our initial business combination will not have all of these positive attributes. If we complete our initial business combination with a target that does not meet some or all of these criteria and guidelines, such combination may not be as successful as a combination with a business that does meet all of our general criteria and guidelines. In addition, if we announce a prospective business combination with a target that does not meet our general criteria and guidelines, a greater number of shareholders may exercise their redemption rights, which may make it difficult for us to meet any closing condition with a target business that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. In addition, if shareholder approval of the transaction is required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirements, or we decide to obtain shareholder approval for business or other reasons, it may be more difficult for us to attain shareholder approval of our initial business combination if the target business does not meet our general criteria and guidelines. If we have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.25 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.
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We may seek acquisition opportunities in industries or sectors which may or may not be outside of our management’s area of expertise.
We will consider a business combination outside of our management’s area of expertise if a business combination target is presented to us and we determine that such candidate offers an attractive acquisition opportunity for our company. Although our management will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in any particular business combination target, we cannot assure you that we will adequately ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors. We also cannot assure you that an investment in our Units will not ultimately prove to be less favorable to investors in the Initial Public Offering than a direct investment, if an opportunity were available, in a business combination target. In the event we elect to pursue an acquisition outside of the areas of our management’s expertise, our management’s expertise may not be directly applicable to its evaluation or operation, and the information contained in this Annual Report regarding the areas of our management’s expertise would not be relevant to an understanding of the business that we elect to acquire. As a result, our management may not be able to adequately ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors. Accordingly, any holders who choose to retain their securities following the business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.
We are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent accounting or investment banking firm and, consequently, you may have no assurance from an independent source that the price we are paying for the business is fair to our shareholders from a financial point of view.
Unless we complete our initial business combination with an affiliated entity, we are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent entity that commonly renders valuation opinions that the price we are paying is fair to our shareholders from a financial point of view. If no opinion is obtained, our shareholders will be relying on the judgment of our board of directors, who will determine fair market value based on standards generally accepted by the financial community. Such standards used will be disclosed in our proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, related to our initial business combination.
We may issue additional Class A ordinary shares or preference shares to complete our initial business combination or under an employee incentive plan after completion of our initial business combination. We may also issue Class A ordinary shares upon the conversion of the founder shares at a ratio greater than one-to-one at the time of our initial business combination as a result of the anti-dilution provisions contained in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. Any such issuances would dilute the interest of our shareholders and likely present other risks.
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association authorizes the issuance of up to 500,000,000 Class A ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share, 50,000,000 Class B ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share, and 5,000,000 preference shares, par value $0.0001 per share. There are 477,000,000 and 44,250,000 authorized but unissued Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares, respectively, available for issuance which amount does not take into account shares reserved for issuance upon exercise of outstanding warrants or shares issuable upon conversion of the Class B ordinary shares, if any. The Class B ordinary shares will automatically convert into Class A ordinary shares (which such Class A ordinary shares delivered upon conversion will not have any redemption rights or be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account if we fail to consummate an initial business combination) at the time of our initial business combination or earlier at the option of the holders thereof as described herein and in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. There are no preference shares issued and outstanding.
We may issue a substantial number of additional Class A ordinary shares or preference shares to complete our initial business combination or under an employee incentive plan after completion of our initial business combination. We may also issue Class A ordinary shares in connection with our redeeming the warrants or upon conversion of the Class B ordinary shares at a ratio greater than one-to-one at the time of our initial business combination as a result of the anti-dilution provisions as set forth herein. However, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provides, among other things, that prior to or in connection with our initial business combination, we may not issue additional shares that would entitle the holders thereof to (i) receive funds from the trust account or (ii) vote on any initial business combination or on any other proposal presented to shareholders prior to or in connection with the completion of an initial business combination. These provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, like all provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, may be amended with a shareholder vote. The issuance of additional ordinary or preference shares:
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• may not result in adjustment to the exercise price of our warrants.
Resources could be wasted in researching acquisitions that are not completed, which could materially adversely affect subsequent attempts to locate and acquire or merge with another business. If we have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.25 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.
We anticipate that the investigation of each specific target business and the negotiation, drafting and execution of relevant agreements, disclosure documents and other instruments will require substantial management time and attention and substantial costs for accountants, attorneys and others. If we decide not to complete a specific initial business combination, the costs incurred up to that point for the proposed transaction likely would not be recoverable. Furthermore, if we reach an agreement relating to a specific target business, we may fail to complete our initial business combination for any number of reasons including those beyond our control. Any such event will result in a loss to us of the related costs incurred which could materially adversely affect subsequent attempts to locate and acquire or merge with another business. If we have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.25 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.
We may only be able to complete one business combination with the proceeds of the Initial Public Offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, which will cause us to be solely dependent on a single business which may have a limited number of products or services. This lack of diversification may negatively impact our operations and profitability.
The net proceeds from the Initial Public Offering and the sale of the private placement warrants provided us with $227,700,000 that we may use to complete our initial business combination (after taking into account the $8,050,000 of deferred underwriting commissions being held in the trust account and the expenses of the Initial Public Offering).
We may effectuate our initial business combination with a single-target business or multiple-target businesses simultaneously or within a short period of time. However, we may not be able to effectuate our initial business combination with more than one target business because of various factors, including the existence of complex accounting issues and the requirement that we prepare and file pro forma financial statements with the SEC that present operating results and the financial condition of several target businesses as if they had been operated on a combined basis. By completing our initial business combination with only a single entity, our lack of diversification may subject us to numerous economic, competitive and regulatory developments. Further, we would not be able to diversify our operations or benefit from the possible spreading of risks or offsetting of losses, unlike other entities which may have the resources to complete several business combinations in different industries or different areas of a single industry.
Accordingly, the prospects for our success may be:
This lack of diversification may subject us to numerous economic, competitive and regulatory risks, any or all of which may have a substantial adverse impact upon the particular industry in which we may operate subsequent to our initial business combination.
We may attempt to simultaneously complete business combinations with multiple prospective targets, which may hinder our ability to complete our initial business combination and give rise to increased costs and risks that could negatively impact our operations and profitability.
If we determine to simultaneously acquire several businesses that are owned by different sellers, we will need for each of such sellers to agree that our purchase of its business is contingent on the simultaneous closings of the other business combinations, which may make it more difficult for us, and delay our ability, to complete our initial business combination. With multiple business combinations, we could also face additional risks, including additional burdens and costs with respect to possible multiple negotiations and due diligence investigations (if there are multiple sellers) and the additional risks associated with the subsequent assimilation of the operations and services or products of the acquired companies in a single operating business. If we are unable to adequately address these risks, it could negatively impact our profitability and results of operations.
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We may attempt to complete our initial business combination with a private company about which little information is available, which may result in a business combination with a company that is not as profitable as we suspected, if at all.
In pursuing our acquisition strategy, we may seek to effectuate our initial business combination with a privately held company. Very little public information generally exists about private companies, and we could be required to make our decision on whether to pursue a potential initial business combination on the basis of limited information, which may result in a business combination with a company that is not as profitable as we suspected, if at all.
Our management may not be able to maintain control of a target business after our initial business combination. Upon the loss of control of a target business, new management may not possess the skills, qualifications or abilities necessary to profitably operate such business.
We may structure our initial business combination so that the post-business combination company in which our public shareholders own shares will own less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business, but we will only complete such business combination if the post-business combination company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target business sufficient for us not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. We will not consider any transaction that does not meet such criteria. Even if the post-business combination company owns 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our shareholders prior to our initial business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post-business combination company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the business combination. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new Class A ordinary shares in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock, shares or other equity interests of a target. In this case, we would acquire a 100% interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new Class A ordinary shares, our shareholders immediately prior to such transaction could own less than a majority of our outstanding Class A ordinary shares subsequent to such transaction. In addition, other minority shareholders may subsequently combine their holdings resulting in a single person or group obtaining a larger share of the company’s shares than we initially acquired. Accordingly, this may make it more likely that our management will not be able to maintain control of the target business.
The officers and directors of an acquisition candidate may resign upon completion of our initial business combination. The loss of a business combination target’s key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business.
The role of an acquisition candidate’s key personnel upon the completion of our initial business combination cannot be ascertained at this time. Although we contemplate that certain members of an acquisition candidate’s management team will remain associated with the acquisition candidate following our initial business combination, it is possible that members of the management of an acquisition candidate will not wish to remain in place.
We do not have a specified maximum redemption threshold. The absence of such a redemption threshold may make it possible for us to complete our initial business combination with which a substantial majority of our shareholders do not agree.
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association do not provide a specified maximum redemption threshold, except that we will not redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 (so that we do not then become subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement that may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. As a result, we may be able to complete our initial business combination even though a substantial majority of our public shareholders do not agree with the transaction and have redeemed their shares or, if we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, have entered into privately negotiated agreements to sell their shares to our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or their respective affiliates. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all Class A ordinary shares that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed business combination exceed the aggregate amount of cash available to us, we will not complete the business combination or redeem any shares, all Class A ordinary shares submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof, and we instead may search for an alternate business combination.
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In order to effectuate an initial business combination, blank check companies have, in the recent past, amended various provisions of their charters and other governing instruments, including their warrant agreements. We cannot assure you that we will not seek to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association or governing instruments, including our warrant agreement, in a manner that will make it easier for us to complete our initial business combination that holders of our securities may not support.
In order to effectuate a business combination, blank check companies have, in the recent past, amended various provisions of their charters and governing instruments, including their warrant agreements. For example, blank check companies have amended the definition of business combination, increased redemption thresholds, extended the time to consummate an initial business combination and, with respect to their warrants, amended their warrant agreements to require the warrants to be exchanged for cash and/or other securities. Amending our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association requires at least a special resolution of our shareholders as a matter of Cayman Islands law, meaning the approval of holders of at least two-thirds of our ordinary shares who attend and vote at a general meeting of the company, amending our public warrant agreement will require a vote of holders of at least 50% of the then outstanding public warrants and amending our private warrant agreement will require a vote of holders of at least 50% of the then outstanding private placement warrants and at least 50% of the then outstanding public warrants. Furthermore, we will agree to not lower the exercise price of the public warrants or extend the duration of the exercise period of the public warrants without taking the same actions with respect to the private placement warrants and vice versa. In addition, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association require us to provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares for cash if we propose an amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) that would modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within the completion window or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares. To the extent any of such amendments would be deemed to fundamentally change the nature of any of the securities offered through this registration statement, we would register, or seek an exemption from registration for, the affected securities.
We may be unable to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination or to fund the operations and growth of a target business, which could compel us to restructure or abandon a particular business combination.