Ascendant Digital Acquisition Corp. III - Quarter Report: 2022 September (Form 10-Q)

ASCENDANT DIGITAL ACQUISITION CORP. III

Quarterly Report on Form

10-Q

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ITEM 2. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

References in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q (this “Quarterly Report”) to “we,” “us” or the “Company” refer to Ascendant Digital Acquisition Corp. III References to our “management” or our “management team” refer to our officers and directors, and references to the “Sponsor” refer to Ascendant Sponsor LP III. The following discussion and analysis of the Company’s financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with the financial statements and the notes thereto contained elsewhere in this Quarterly Report. Certain information contained in the discussion and analysis set forth below includes forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties.

Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This Quarterly Report includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Exchange Act that are not historical facts and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expected and projected. All statements, other than statements of historical fact included in this Form 10-Q including, without limitation, statements in this “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” regarding the Company’s financial position, business strategy and the plans and objectives of management for future operations, are forward-looking statements. Words such as “expect,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “estimate,” “seek” and variations and similar words and expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements relate to future events or future performance, but reflect management’s current beliefs, based on information currently available. A number of factors could cause actual events, performance or results to differ materially from the events, performance and results discussed in the forward-looking statements. For information identifying important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements, please refer to the Risk Factors section of the Company’s final prospectus filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). The Company’s securities filings can be accessed on the EDGAR section of the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Except as expressly required by applicable securities law, the Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Overview

Ascendant Digital Acquisition Corp. III was incorporated in the Cayman Islands on February 19, 2021. We were formed for the purpose of entering into a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or other similar business transaction with one or more businesses that we have not yet identified (a “Business Combination”).

We expect to continue to incur significant costs in the pursuit of our acquisition plans. We cannot assure you that our plans to complete a Business Combination will be successful.

Results of Operations

As of September 30, 2022, we had not commenced any operations. All activity through September 30, 2022 relates to our formation and the initial public offering (the “IPO”), and since the offering, the search for a prospective initial Business Combination. We will not generate any operating revenues until after the completion of a Business Combination, at the earliest. We will generate non-operating interest income from the proceeds held in the Trust Account.

For the three months ended September 30, 2022, we had net income of approximately $3.2 million, which primarily consisted of a gain of approximately $2.1 million from the change in fair value of derivative warrant liabilities, approximately $1.5 million in income from investments held in Trust Account and interest income from operating account, which were partially offset by approximately $321,000 in general and administrative expenses and $30,000 of related party administrative fees.

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For the nine months ended September 30, 2022, we had net income of approximately $18.1 million, which primarily consisted of a gain of approximately $17.0 million from the change in fair value of derivative warrant liabilities, approximately $2.0 million in income from investments held in Trust Account and interest income from operating account, which were partially offset by approximately $833,000 in general and administrative expenses and $90,000 of related party administrative fees.

For the three months ended September 30, 2021 and for the period February 19, 2021 (inception) through to September 30, 2021, we had a net loss of $0 and $10,243, respectively, which consisted of general and administrative expenses.

Capital Resources and Going Concern Consideration

The registration statement for our IPO (the “Registration Statement”) was declared effective on November 10, 2021. On November 15, 2021, we consummated the sale of 26,100,000 units (“Units”) with respect to the Class A ordinary shares included in the Units being offered (the “Public Shares”) at $10.00 per Unit generating gross proceeds of $261,000,000.

Simultaneously with the closing of the IPO, we consummated the sale of 10,330,000 warrants (“Private Placement Warrants”) at a price of $1.00 per Private Placement Warrant in a private placement to our sponsor, Ascendant Sponsor LP III (the “Sponsor”) generating gross proceeds of $10,330,000.

Additionally with the closing of the IPO, we consummated the closing of the sale of 3,900,000 additional Units upon receiving notice of the underwriter’s election to partially exercise its overallotment option (“Overallotment Units”), generating additional gross proceeds of $39,000,000. Simultaneously with the exercise of the overallotment, we consummated the Private Placement of an additional 1,170,000 Private Placement Warrants to the Sponsor, generating gross proceeds of $1,170,000.

Offering costs for the IPO and the exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option amounted to $14,026,631, consisting of $3,000,000 of underwriting fees, $10,500,000 of deferred underwriting fees payable (which are held in the Trust Account (defined below)) and $526,631 of other costs. The deferred underwriting fee is contingent upon the consummation of a Business Combination by February 15, 2023, subject to the terms of the underwriting agreement. Following the closing of the IPO and partial exercise of the over-allotment, $306,000,000 ($10.20 per Unit) from the net proceeds of the sale of the Units in the IPO and the Private Placement Warrants was placed in a trust account (“Trust Account”) and invested in U.S. government securities, within the meaning set forth in Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”), with a maturity of 180 days or less or in any open-ended investment company that holds itself out as a money market fund selected by us meeting the conditions of paragraphs (d)(2), (d)(3) and (d)(4) of Rule 2a-7 of the Investment Company Act, as determined by us, until the earlier of (i) the completion of a Business Combination and (ii) the distribution of the Trust Account.

We intend to use substantially all of the funds held in the Trust Account, including any amounts representing interest earned on the Trust Account (less taxes payable), to complete our Business Combination. To the extent that our capital stock or debt is used, in whole or in part, as consideration to complete our Business Combination, the remaining proceeds held in the Trust Account will be used as working capital to finance the operations of the target business or businesses, make other acquisitions and pursue our growth strategies.

In order to finance transaction costs in connection with a Business Combination, our Sponsor or an affiliate of our Sponsor, or certain of our officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds as may be required (“Working Capital Loans”). If we complete a Business Combination, we will repay the Working Capital Loans out of the proceeds of the Trust Account released to us. Otherwise, the Working Capital Loans would be repaid only out of funds held outside the Trust Account. In the event that a Business Combination does not close, we may use a portion of proceeds held outside the Trust Account to repay the Working Capital Loans, but no proceeds held in the Trust Account would be used to repay the Working Capital Loans. Except for the foregoing, the terms of such Working Capital Loans, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. The Working Capital Loans would either be repaid upon consummation of a Business Combination, without interest, or, at the lender’s discretion, up to $1.5 million of such Working Capital Loans may be convertible into warrants of the post Business Combination entity at a price of $1.00 per warrant. The warrants would be identical to the Private Placement Warrants. As of September 30, 2022 and December 31, 2021, there were no Working Capital Loans outstanding.

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As of September 30, 2022, we had cash of $456,000 and working capital surplus of $717,000 In connection with our assessment of going concern considerations in accordance with FASB Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2014-15, “Disclosures of Uncertainties about an Entity’s Ability to Continue as a Going Concern,” our management has determined that the mandatory liquidation and 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 should we be required to liquidate after February 15, 2023. The unaudited condensed financial statements do not include any adjustment that might be necessary if we are unable to continue as a going concern.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

We have no obligations, assets or liabilities, which would be considered off-balance sheet arrangements as of September 30, 2022. We do not participate in transactions that create relationships with entities or financial partnerships, often referred to as variable interest entities, which would have been established for the purpose of facilitating off-balance sheet arrangements. We have not entered into any off-balance sheet financing arrangements, established any special purpose entities, guaranteed any debt or commitments of other entities, or purchased any non-financial assets.

Contractual Obligations

We do not have any long-term debt, capital lease obligations, operating lease obligations or long-term liabilities. The underwriters are entitled to a deferred underwriting commissions of $0.35 per unit, or $10,500,000 from the closing of the IPO. The deferred fee will become payable to the underwriters from the amounts held in the Trust Account solely if the Company completes a Business Combination, subject to the terms of the underwriting agreement.

JOBS Act

On April 5, 2012, the JOBS Act was signed into law. The JOBS Act contains provisions that, among other things, relax certain reporting requirements for qualifying public companies. We will qualify as an “emerging growth company” and under the JOBS Act will be allowed to comply with new or revised accounting pronouncements based on the effective date for private (not publicly traded) companies. We are electing to delay the adoption of new or revised accounting standards, and as a result, we may not comply with new or revised accounting standards on the relevant dates on which adoption of such standards is required for non-emerging growth companies. As such, our unaudited condensed financial statements may not be comparable to companies that comply with public company effective dates.

Additionally, we are in the process of evaluating the benefits of relying on the other reduced reporting requirements provided by the JOBS Act. Subject to certain conditions set forth in the JOBS Act, if, as an “emerging growth company,” we choose to rely on such exemptions we may not be required to, among other things, (i) provide an auditor’s attestation report on our system of internal control over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, (ii) provide all of the compensation disclosure that may be required of non-emerging growth public companies under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, (iii) comply with any requirement that may be adopted by the PCAOB regarding mandatory audit firm rotation or a supplement to the auditor’s report providing additional information about the audit and the financial statements (auditor discussion and analysis) and (iv) disclose certain executive compensation related items such as the correlation between executive compensation and performance and comparisons of executive compensation to median employee compensation. These exemptions will apply for a period of five years following the completion of our IPO or until we are no longer an “emerging growth company,” whichever is earlier.

Critical Accounting Policies

The preparation of unaudited condensed financial statements and related disclosures in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements, and income and expenses during the periods reported. Actual results could materially differ from those estimates. We have identified the following critical accounting policies:

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Ordinary Shares Subject to Possible Redemption

We account for our ordinary shares subject to possible redemption in accordance with the guidance in Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 480, “Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity.” Ordinary shares subject to mandatory redemption are classified as a liability instrument and are measured at fair value. Conditionally redeemable ordinary shares (including ordinary shares that feature redemption rights that are either within the control of the holder or subject to redemption upon the occurrence of uncertain events not solely within our control) are classified as temporary equity. At all other times, ordinary shares are classified as shareholders’ equity. Our ordinary shares feature certain redemption rights that are considered to be outside of our control and subject to occurrence of uncertain future events. Accordingly, ordinary shares subject to possible redemption are presented as temporary equity, outside of the shareholders’ deficit section of our condensed balance sheets. We recognize changes in redemption value immediately as they occur and adjusts the carrying value of redeemable ordinary shares to equal the redemption value at the end of each reporting period. Increases or decreases in the carrying amount of redeemable ordinary shares are affected by charges against additional paid-in capital and accumulated deficit.

Net Income (Loss) Per Ordinary Share

We comply with accounting and disclosure requirements of FASB ASC Topic 260, “Earnings Per Share.” We have two classes of shares, which are referred to as Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares. Income and losses are shared pro rata between the two classes of shares. This presentation assumes a business combination as the most likely outcome. Net income (loss) per ordinary share is calculated by dividing the net loss by the weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding for the respective period.

The calculation of diluted net income (loss) does not consider the effect of the warrants underlying the Units sold in the Initial Public Offering and the Private Placement Warrants to purchase an aggregate of 26,500,000 Class A ordinary shares in the calculation of diluted income (loss) per ordinary share since their exercise is contingent upon future events. As a result, diluted net income (loss) per ordinary share is the same as basic net income (loss) per ordinary share for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2022, for the three months ended September 30, 2021 and for the period from February 19, 2021 (inception) through September 30, 2021. Accretion associated with the redeemable Class A ordinary shares is excluded from earnings per share as the redemption value approximates fair value.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

Management does not believe that any other recently issued, but not yet effective, accounting standards, if currently adopted, would have a material effect on our unaudited condensed financial statements.

Item 3. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk

As of September 30, 2022, we were not subject to any market or interest rate risk. The net proceeds held in the Trust Account have been invested in U.S. government treasury bills, notes or bonds with a maturity of 185 days or less, or in certain money market funds that invest solely in U.S. treasuries. Due to the short-term nature of these investments, we believe there will be no associated material exposure to interest rate risk.

Item 4. Controls and Procedures

Disclosure controls and procedures are controls and other procedures that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in our reports filed or submitted under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms. Disclosure controls and procedures include, without limitation, controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in our reports filed or submitted under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

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Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

As required by Rules 13a-15 and 15d-15 under the Exchange Act, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer carried out an evaluation of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures as of September 30, 2022. Based upon their evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15 (e) and 15d-15 (e) under the Exchange Act) were effective.

Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

During the most recently completed fiscal quarter, there has been no change in our internal control over financial reporting that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

PART II-OTHER INFORMATION

None.

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

Factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those in this Quarterly Report are any of the risks described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K (the “Annual Report”) for the year ended December 31, 2021, filed with the SEC on March 25, 2022. Any of these factors could result in a significant or material adverse effect on our results of operations or financial condition. Additional risk factors not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial may also impair our business or results of operations. As of the date of this Quarterly Report, other than the below, there have been no material changes to the risk factors disclosed in the Annual Report.

If we are deemed to be an investment company for purposes of the Investment Company Act, we may be forced to abandon our efforts to complete an initial business combination and instead be required to liquidate the Company. To mitigate the risk of that result, on or prior to the 24-month anniversary of the effective date of the registration statement relating to our IPO, we may instruct Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company to liquidate the securities held in the trust account and instead hold all funds in the trust account in cash. As a result, following such change, we will likely receive minimal, if any, interest, on the funds held in the trust account, which would reduce the dollar amount that our public shareholders would have otherwise received upon any redemption or liquidation of the Company if the assets in the trust account had remained in U.S. government securities or money market funds.

On March 30, 2022, the SEC issued proposed rules (the “SPAC Rule Proposals”), relating, among other things, to circumstances in which SPACs such as us could potentially be subject to the Investment Company Act and the regulations thereunder. The SPAC Rule Proposals would provide a safe harbor for such companies from the definition of “investment company” under Section 3(a)(1)(A) of the Investment Company Act, provided that a SPAC satisfies certain criteria. To comply with the duration limitation of the proposed safe harbor, a SPAC would have a limited time period to announce and complete a de-SPAC transaction. Specifically, to comply with the safe harbor, the SPAC Rule Proposals would require a company to file a report on Form 8-K announcing that it has entered into an agreement with a target company for an initial business combination no later than 18 months after the effective date of the registration statement for its initial public offering. The company would then be required to complete its initial business combination no later than 24 months after the effective date of the registration statement for its initial public offering. We understand that the SEC has recently been taking informal positions regarding the Investment Company Act consistent with the SPAC Rule Proposals.

There is currently uncertainty concerning the applicability of the Investment Company Act to a SPAC, including a company like ours, that does not complete its initial business combination within the proposed time frame set forth in the proposed safe harbor rule. As indicated above, we completed our IPO on November 15, 2021 and have operated as a blank check company searching for a target business with which to consummate an initial business combination since such time (or approximately 12 months after the effective date of our IPO, as of the date of this Quarterly Report). If we were deemed to be an investment company for purposes of the Investment Company Act, we might be forced to abandon our efforts to complete an initial business combination and instead be required to liquidate the Company. If we are required to liquidate the Company, our investors would not be able to realize the benefits of owning shares in a successor operating business, including the potential appreciation in the value of our shares and warrants following such a transaction, and our warrants would expire worthless.

The funds in the trust account have, since our IPO, been held only in U.S. government treasury obligations with a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds investing solely in U.S. government treasury obligations and meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act. As of September 30, 2022, amounts held in trust account included approximately $2.0 million of accrued interest. To mitigate the risk of us being deemed to have been operating as an unregistered investment company under the Investment Company Act, if we extend the deadline for us to complete our initial business combination, we may, on or prior to the 24-month anniversary of the effective date of the registration statement relating to our IPO, or November 9, 2023, instruct Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, the trustee with respect to the trust account, to liquidate the U.S. government treasury obligations or money market funds held in the trust account and thereafter to hold all funds in the trust account in cash (i.e., in one or more bank accounts) until the earlier of the consummation of a business combination or our liquidation. Following such liquidation of the assets in our trust account, we will likely receive minimal interest, if any, on the funds held in the trust account, which would reduce the dollar amount our public shareholders would have otherwise received upon any redemption or liquidation of the Company if the assets in the trust account had remained in U.S. government securities or money market funds. This means that the amount available for redemption will not increase in the future.

In addition, even prior to the 24-month anniversary of the effective date of the registration statement relating to our IPO, we may be deemed to be an investment company. The longer that the funds in the trust account are held in short-term U.S. government securities or in money market funds invested exclusively in such securities, even prior to the 24-month anniversary, there is a greater risk that we may be considered an unregistered investment company, in which case we may be required to liquidate. Accordingly, we may determine, in our discretion, to liquidate the securities held in the trust account at any time, even prior to the 24-month anniversary, and instead hold all funds in the trust account in cash, which would further reduce the dollar amount our public shareholders would receive upon any redemption or our liquidation.

ITEM 2. UNREGISTERED SALES OF EQUITY SECURITIES AND USE OF PROCEEDS

None.

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ITEM 3. DEFAULTS UPON SENIOR SECURITIES

None.

ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES

Not applicable.

ITEM 5. OTHER INFORMATION

None.

ITEM 6. EXHIBITS

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SIGNATURES

In accordance with the requirements of the Exchange Act, the registrant caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

November 14, 2022

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