Jaws Juggernaut Acquisition Corp - Annual Report: 2021 (Form 10-K)
UNITED
STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 10-K
(Mark One)
☒ ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(D) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021
☐ TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(D) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
For the transition period from to
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
Cayman Islands | 001-40512 | 98-1572844 | ||
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) | (Commission File Number) | (I.R.S. Employer Identification Number) |
1601 Washington Avenue, Suite 800 Miami Beach, FL | 33139 | |
(Address of principal executive offices) | (Zip Code) |
Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (203) 422-7718
Not Applicable
(Former name or former address, if changed since last report)
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
Title of Each Class: | Trading Symbol: | Name of Each Exchange | ||
Units, each consisting of one Class A ordinary share, $0.0001 par value, and one-fourth of one redeemable warrant | JUGGU | The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC | ||
Class A ordinary shares | JUGG | The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC | ||
Warrants, each whole warrant exercisable for one Class A ordinary share at an exercise price of $11.50 | JUGGW | The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC |
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 Section 15(d) of the Exchange 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 if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. ☒
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 definition of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth 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 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. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☒ No ☐
As of June 30, 2021, the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter, the registrant’s units, Class A ordinary shares and warrants were not separately traded. The registrant’s Class A ordinary shares and warrants began separately trading on The Nasdaq Capital Market LLC (“Nasdaq”) on August 9, 2021. The aggregate market value of the ordinary shares outstanding, other than shares held by persons who may be deemed affiliates of the registrant, computed by reference to the closing sales price for the Class A ordinary shares on December 31, 2021, as reported on Nasdaq, was $271,308,000 (based on the closing sales price of the Class A ordinary shares on December 31, 2021 of $9.83).
As of March 28, 2022, 27,600,000 Class A ordinary shares and 6,900,000 Class B ordinary shares were issued and outstanding.
Documents Incorporated by Reference: None.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
i
CERTAIN TERMS
Unless otherwise stated in this Annual Report on Form 10-K (this “Report”), references to:
● | “amended and restated memorandum and article of association” are to the amended and restated memorandum and articles of association that the company adopted prior to the consummation of its initial public offering; |
● | “Companies Act” are to the Companies Act (As Revised) of the Cayman Islands as the same may be amended from time to time; |
● | “co-founders” are to Barry S. Sternlicht, Paul E. Jacobs, Ph.D., Michael Racich, Wilcoln Lee, Matthew Grob, and Derek K. Aberle; |
● | “founder shares” are to Class B ordinary shares initially purchased by our sponsor pursuant to the Securities Purchase Agreement prior to our initial public offering and the Class A ordinary shares that will be issued upon the automatic conversion of the Class B ordinary shares at the time of our initial business combination as described herein; |
● | “initial public offering” are to our initial public offering consummated on June 22, 2021; |
● | “initial shareholders” are to holders of our founder shares prior to our initial public offering; |
● | “management” or our “management team” are to our executive officers and directors; |
● | “ordinary shares” are to our Class A ordinary shares and our Class B ordinary shares; |
● | “private placement warrants” are to the warrants issued to our sponsor pursuant to the Securities Purchase Agreement prior to our initial public offering and that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans, if any; |
● | “public shares” are to our Class A ordinary shares sold as part of the units in our initial public offering (whether they were purchased in our initial public offering or thereafter in the open market); |
● | “public shareholders” are to the holders of our public shares, including our sponsor and management team to the extent our sponsor and/or members of our management team purchase public shares, provided that our sponsor’s and each member of our management team’s status as a “public shareholder” will only exist with respect to such public shares; |
● | “Securities Purchase Agreement” are to the agreement by and between the company and the sponsor, dated as of January 19, 2021, as amended on June 17, 2021, pursuant to which the sponsor purchased the founder shares and the private placement warrants in a private placement; |
● | “sponsor” are to Juggernaut Sponsor LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, which is controlled by our co-founders; |
● | “U.S. Holder” are to a beneficial owner of units, Class A ordinary shares or warrants that is for U.S. federal income tax purposes (i) an individual citizen or resident of the United States; (ii) a corporation (or other entity treated as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes) that is created or organized (or treated as created or organized) in or under the laws of the United States, any state thereof or the District of Columbia; (iii) an estate the income of which is subject to U.S. federal income taxation regardless of its source; or (iv) a trust if (A) a court within the United States is able to exercise primary supervision over the administration of the trust and one or more U.S. persons have the authority to control all substantial decisions of the trust, or (B) it has in effect under applicable U.S. Treasury regulations a valid election to be treated as a U.S. person. |
● | “XCOM Labs” are to a wireless technology company founded in April 2018 by Paul E. Jacobs, Ph.D., our Chief Executive Officer and director, and Derek K. Aberle, our director; and |
● | “we,” “us,” “our,” “company” or “our company” are to JAWS Juggernaut Acquisition Corporation, a Cayman Islands exempted company. |
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CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This Report, including, without limitation, statements under the heading “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, (the “Securities Act”) and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, (the “Exchange Act”). These forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including the words “believes,” “estimates,” “anticipates,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “may,” “will,” “potential,” “projects,” “predicts,” “continue,” or “should,” or, in each case, their negative or other variations or comparable terminology. There can be no assurance that actual results will not materially differ from expectations. Such statements include, but are not limited to, any statements relating to our ability to consummate any acquisition or other business combination and any other statements that are not statements of current or historical facts. These statements are based on management’s current expectations, but actual results may differ materially due to various factors, including, but not limited to:
● | our ability to select an appropriate target business or businesses; |
● | our ability to complete our initial business combination; |
● | our ability to complete a merger with XCOM Labs concurrent with our initial business combination; |
● | our expectations around the performance of a prospective target business or businesses, including XCOM Labs; |
● | our success in retaining or recruiting, or changes required in, our officers, key employees or directors following our initial business combination; |
● | our officers and directors allocating their time to other businesses and potentially having conflicts of interest with our business or in approving our initial business combination, including with respect to XCOM Labs; |
● | our potential ability to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination; |
● | our pool of prospective target businesses; |
● | our ability to consummate an initial business combination due to the uncertainty resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic; |
● | the ability of our officers and directors to generate a number of potential business combination opportunities; |
● | our public securities’ potential liquidity and trading; |
● | the lack of a market for our securities; |
● | the use of proceeds not held in the trust account or available to us from interest income on the trust account balance; |
● | the trust account not being subject to claims of third parties; or |
● | our financial performance following our initial public offering. |
The forward-looking statements contained in this Report are based on our current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects on us. Future developments affecting us may not be those that we have anticipated. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties (some of which are beyond our control) and 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 “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. These risks and others described under “Risk Factors” may not be exhaustive.
By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that may or may not occur in the future. We caution you that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and that our actual results of operations, financial condition and liquidity, and developments in the industry in which we operate may differ materially from those made in or suggested by the forward-looking statements contained in this Report. In addition, even if our results or operations, financial condition and liquidity, and developments in the industry in which we operate are consistent with the forward-looking statements contained in this Report, those results or developments may not be indicative of results or developments in subsequent periods.
iii
SUMMARY OF RISK FACTORS
An investment in our securities involves a high degree of risk. The occurrence of one or more of the events or circumstances described in the section titled “Risk Factors,” alone or in combination with other events or circumstances, may materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results. In that event, the trading price of our securities could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment. Such risks include, but are not limited to:
● | Past performance by our management team or their respective affiliates may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in us. |
● | Our public shareholders may not be afforded an opportunity to vote on our proposed initial business combination, which means we may complete our initial business combination even though a majority of our public shareholders do not support such a 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. |
● | If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor and members of our management team have agreed to vote in favor of such initial business combination, regardless of how our public shareholders vote. |
● | 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. |
● | 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. |
● | 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. |
● | The requirement that we consummate an initial business combination within 24 months after the closing of our initial public offering 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. |
● | Our search for a business combination, and any target business with which we ultimately consummate a business combination, may be materially adversely affected by the recent coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. |
● | We may not be able to consummate an initial business combination within 24 months after the closing of our initial public offering, 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 their pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account that are available for distribution to public shareholders, and our warrants will expire worthless. |
● | If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor, directors, executive officers, advisors and their 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 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. |
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● | 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. |
● | 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 $10.00 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. |
● | If the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the consummation of the Securities Purchase Agreement not being held in the trust account are insufficient to allow us to operate for the 24 months after the closing of our initial public offering, 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 for a business combination, to pay our taxes, and to complete our initial business combination. |
● | As the number of special purpose acquisition companies evaluating targets increases, attractive targets may become scarcer and there may be more competition for attractive targets. This could increase the cost of our initial business combination and could even result in our inability to find a target or to consummate an initial business combination. |
● | If we combine with XCOM Labs concurrent with our initial business combination, we will become subject to risks affecting XCOM Labs’ business. |
● | If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, and if you or a “group” of shareholders are deemed to hold in excess of 15% of our Class A ordinary shares, you will lose the ability to redeem all such shares in excess of 15% of our Class A ordinary shares. |
● | Nasdaq may delist our securities from trading on its exchange, which could limit investors’ ability to make transactions in our securities and subject us to additional trading restrictions. |
● | We have identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting, related to the Company’s accounting for complex financial instruments. If we are unable to develop and maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting, we may not be able to accurately report our financial results in a timely manner, which may adversely affect investor confidence in us and adversely affect our business and operating results. |
● | Our warrants are accounted for as derivative liabilities, which may have an adverse effect on the market price of our securities or may make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination. |
● | We are a recently incorporated blank check company with no operating history and no revenues, and you have no basis on which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective. |
● | The other risks and uncertainties discussed in “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Report. |
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PART I
Item 1. Business
Overview
We are a blank check company incorporated on December 16, 2020 as a Cayman Islands exempted company for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses or entities, which we refer to throughout this Report as our initial business combination. We are an emerging growth company and, as such, we are subject to all of the risks associated with emerging growth companies.
On January 19, 2021, our sponsor purchased 5,750,000 Class B ordinary shares and 3,300,000 private placement warrants for an aggregate purchase price of $6,625,000. On June 17, 2021, the sponsor purchased 460,000 additional private placement warrants, increasing the aggregate purchase price for the Class B ordinary shares and private placement warrants to $7,545,000. Each whole private placement warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one Class A ordinary share at a price of $11.50 per share. In addition, on June 22, 2021, the company effected a share dividend with respect to Class B ordinary shares, resulting in an aggregate of 6,900,000 Class B ordinary shares outstanding. Prior to the initial investment in the company by the sponsor, the company had no assets, tangible or intangible.
On June 22, 2021, the company consummated its initial public offering of 27,600,000 units, which included the full exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase an additional 3,600,000 units to cover over-allotments, at $10.00 per unit, generating aggregate gross proceeds of $276,000,000. Each unit consists of one Class A ordinary share, par value $0.0001, and one-fourth (1/4) of one redeemable warrant. Each whole warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one Class A ordinary share at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to certain adjustments.
As we focus our efforts in identifying prospective target companies, we will seek to capitalize on our co-founders’ multiple decades of combined experience building, growing, operating, and investing in businesses, in both private and public markets. Our co-founders are led by Barry Sternlicht, our Chairman, and Dr. Paul E. Jacobs, our Chief Executive Officer. Our co-founders also include Michael Racich (Chief Financial Officer), Wilcoln Lee (Chief Investment Officer), Derek K. Aberle (a member of our board of directors), and Matthew Grob (Advisor). Mr. Sternlicht has spent his entire career as an operator and investor, managing several multi-billion dollar platforms. Dr. Jacobs is an innovative leader in the field of mobile communications with a track record of operating and growing technology companies. Through their diverse set of experiences, our co-founders have developed a deep, global network across technologists and investors. We will seek to use our co-founders’ complementary skills, diverse experience, and broad network to identify attractive business combination opportunities and to create value post-combination. We do not intend to target industries that are competitive with Starwood Capital Group Holdings, L.P. (“Starwood Capital”), which includes real estate, lodging, oil and gas, and energy infrastructure. We also do not intend to pursue targets that are competitive with companies in which our co-founders’ have a business relationship (except potentially as to XCOM Labs), such as Dropbox (Nasdaq: DBX), a global collaboration platform that enables users to store and share files, as Dr. Jacobs is a member of the Dropbox board of directors. Our co-founders will employ a disciplined and highly selective investment process and expect to add value to a target company through add-on acquisitions, capital structure optimization, and operational improvements. Notwithstanding the foregoing, our efforts on identifying a prospective target company or business will not be limited to a particular industry or geographic region.
We believe that our management team and other co-founders are well-positioned to identify attractive business combination opportunities with a compelling industry backdrop and an opportunity for transformational growth. Our objectives are to generate attractive returns for our shareholders and enhance value through improving operational performance of the acquired company. We expect to favor potential target companies with certain industry and business characteristics. Key industry characteristics include compelling long term growth prospects, attractive competitive dynamics, consolidation opportunities, low risk of technological obsolescence, and strong innovation capabilities. Key business characteristics include high barriers to entry, significant streams of recurring revenue, opportunity for operational improvement, attractive steady-state margins, high incremental margins, and attractive free cash flow characteristics.
With respect to the above, the past experience or performance of our management team and their respective affiliates is not a guarantee of either our ability to successfully identify and execute a transaction or success with respect to any business combination that we may consummate. You should not rely on the historical record of our management team or their respective affiliates as indicative of future performance. Our management team and their respective affiliates have been involved with a large number of private and public companies in addition to those identified above, not all of which have achieved similar performance levels. Each of our directors and officers presently has, and any of them in the future may have, additional fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities, including SPACs.
1
Business Strategy
Our business strategy is to identify and complete our initial business combination with a company that complements the experience of our co-founders and can benefit from their operational, technical and investment expertise. Our selection process leverages Mr. Sternlicht’s, Dr. Jacobs’, and our other co-founders’ broad and deep relationship networks, unique industry experiences, and deal sourcing capabilities to access a broad spectrum of differentiated opportunities. This network has been developed through our co-founders’ demonstrated success developing innovative technologies and products as well as investing in and operating businesses across a variety of industries. Together, they have a distinctive combination of capabilities, including:
● | a track record of creating and growing multi-billion dollar platforms in the public markets; |
● | extensive mergers and acquisitions experience, including driving transformational transactions; |
● | close relationships with key founders, investors, and contacts of venture capital and private equity backed companies, ranging from seed to late stage; |
● | ability to enhance and advise management teams as they transition from private to public markets; |
● | experience driving capital allocation decisions at the corporate level; |
● | understanding of public market performance and requirements; |
● | history of sourcing, structuring, acquiring, operating, developing, growing, financing and selling businesses; |
● | deep relationships with sellers, financing providers and target management teams; and |
● | an extensive history of accessing the capital markets across various business cycles, including financing businesses and assisting companies with transition to public ownership. |
Acquisition Criteria
Consistent with our business strategy, we have identified the following general criteria and guidelines that we believe are important in evaluating prospective target businesses. We use these criteria and guidelines in evaluating acquisition opportunities, but we may decide to enter into our initial business combination with a target business that does not meet these criteria and guidelines. We do not intend to target industries that are competitive with Starwood Capital, which includes real estate, lodging, oil and gas, and energy infrastructure. We also do not intend to pursue targets that are competitive with companies in which our co-founders’ have a business relationship (except potentially as to XCOM Labs), such as Dropbox (Nasdaq: DBX), a global collaboration platform that enables users to store and share files, as Dr. Jacobs is a member of the Dropbox board of directors. We intend to acquire one or more businesses that we believe:
● | are growth-oriented, market-leading companies within their industries; |
● | have a strong and competitive industry position, with demonstrated competitive advantages to maintain barriers to entry, and differentiated technologies that drive social and economic value; |
● | have an exceptional management team that would complement and benefit from our co-founders’ network or expertise, such as additional management expertise, capital structure optimization, technology roadmap optimization, acquisition advice, or operational changes to drive improved financial performance; |
● | are fundamentally sound companies with large market opportunities relative to their current size; |
● | exhibit unrecognized value or other characteristics, desirable returns on capital and a need for capital to achieve the company’s growth strategy, that we believe have been misevaluated by the marketplace based on our analysis and due diligence review; |
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● | will offer an attractive risk-adjusted return for our shareholders, potential upside from growth in the target business and an improved capital structure will be weighed against any identified downside risks; and |
● | can benefit from being a publicly traded, are prepared to be a publicly traded company, and can utilize access to broader capital markets. |
These criteria and guidelines are not intended to be exhaustive. Any evaluation relating to the merits of a particular initial business combination may be based, to the extent relevant, on these general criteria and guidelines as well as other considerations, factors, criteria, and guidelines that our management may deem relevant. In the event that we decide to enter into our initial business combination with a target business that does not meet the above criteria and guidelines, we will disclose that the target business does not meet the above criteria and guidelines in our shareholder communications related to our initial business combination, which, as discussed in this Report, would be in the form of tender offer documents or proxy solicitation materials that we would file with the SEC.
In addition to any potential business candidates we may identify on our own, we anticipate that other target business candidates will be brought to our attention from various unaffiliated sources, including investment market participants, private equity funds, and large business enterprises seeking to divest non-core assets or divisions.
Initial Business Combination
So long as our securities are then listed on Nasdaq, 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 value of 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 is not able to independently determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or an independent valuation or appraisal firm with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. While we consider it unlikely that our board will not be able to make an independent determination of the fair market value of a target business or businesses, it may be unable to do so if the board is less familiar or experienced with the target company’s business, there is a significant amount of uncertainty as to the value of the company’s assets or prospects, including if such company is at an early stage of development, operations or growth, or if the anticipated transaction involves a complex financial analysis or other specialized skills and the board determines that outside expertise would be helpful or necessary in conducting such analysis. Since any opinion, if obtained, would merely state that the fair market value of the target business meets the 80% of value threshold, unless such opinion includes material information regarding the valuation of a target business or the consideration to be provided, it is not anticipated that copies of such opinion would be distributed to our shareholders. However, if required under applicable law, any proxy statement that we deliver to shareholders and file with the SEC in connection with a proposed transaction will include such opinion.
We anticipate structuring our initial business combination so that the post-business combination company in which our public shareholders own shares will own or acquire 100% of the equity interests or assets of the target business or businesses. We may, however, structure our initial business combination such that the post-business combination company owns or acquires less than 100% of such interests or assets of the target business in order to meet certain objectives of the target management team or shareholders or for other reasons, but we will only complete such business combination if the post-business combination company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”). Even if the post-business combination company owns or acquires 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our shareholders prior to the business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post-business combination company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the business combination. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock of a target business, or issue a substantial number of new shares to third-parties in connection with financing our initial business combination. In this case, we would acquire a 100% controlling interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new shares, 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 fair market value test. If our initial business combination involves more than one target business, the 80% of fair market value test will be based on the aggregate value of all of the target businesses and we will treat the target businesses together as the initial business combination for purposes of a tender offer or for seeking stockholder approval, as applicable. Subject to the foregoing, our management will have virtually unrestricted flexibility in identifying and selecting one or more prospective target businesses, although we will not be permitted to effectuate our initial business combination solely with another blank check company or a similar company with nominal operations, or solely with XCOM Labs. Given the affiliation of our sponsor and certain of our officers and directors with XCOM Labs, if we combine with XCOM Labs concurrently with our initial business combination, we will not include the fair market value of XCOM Labs for purposes of satisfying the 80% of fair market value test.
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Concurrently with our initial business combination, we may consider a potential combination with XCOM Labs. We expect that the resulting combined company would inherit our Nasdaq listing and its ordinary stock and warrants would be publicly traded. We will seek to include XCOM Labs if we believe the combination of XCOM Labs and another target business in the wireless communications and related technology/product/service businesses under the XCOM Labs umbrella may allow the resulting combined company to leverage XCOM Labs’ experienced management team and offer significant synergy and long-term value creation opportunities for our investors and serve as a platform for further growth.
We have not entered into any letter of intent or definitive agreement with XCOM Labs, nor have we agreed to valuation or other key terms and conditions with respect to such a possible combination transaction. As a result, even though we may consider a combination with XCOM Labs concurrently with the completion of our initial business combination, we cannot provide any assurance that such a combination with XCOM Labs will occur at all, or, if it does, we cannot provide any assurance as to the terms thereof. We will not, however, complete an initial business combination with only XCOM Labs. Any potential combination with XCOM Labs will close at the same time as the closing of our initial business combination. In addition, we will likely not consummate a business combination with XCOM Labs if the target business with respect to our initial business combination is not within the wireless communications and related technology business. If we pursue a combination with XCOM Labs concurrently with our initial business combination, a committee of our disinterested directors will negotiate the terms and conditions of such merger (including the valuation of XCOM Labs) on our behalf. Such committee of disinterested directors would also obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or an independent valuation or appraisal firm that the potential combination with XCOM Labs is fair to our company and our shareholders from a financial point of view. Our public shareholders will have the same voting and redemption rights with respect to any business combination that is concurrent with a merger with XCOM Labs as are generally applicable to our initial business combination and described elsewhere in this prospectus.
To the extent we effect our initial business combination with a company or business that may be financially unstable or in its early stages of development or growth, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in such company or business. Although our management will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we cannot assure you that we will properly ascertain or assess all significant risk factors.
The time required to select and evaluate a target business and to structure and complete our initial business combination, and the costs associated with this process, are not currently ascertainable with any degree of certainty. Any costs incurred with respect to the identification and evaluation of a prospective target business with which our initial business combination is not ultimately completed will result in our incurring losses and will reduce the funds we can use to complete another business combination.
Other Considerations
We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor, co-founders, officers or directors. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor or any of our co-founders, officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or an independent accounting firm that such initial business combination is fair to our company and our shareholders from a financial point of view. In addition, if we combine with XCOM Labs concurrently with our initial business combination, we will obtain a fairness opinion with respect to such business combination. We are not required to obtain such an opinion in any other context.
In addition, certain of our co-founders, officers and directors presently have, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities, including SPACs. As a result, if any of our co-founders, officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for an entity to which he, she or it has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, then, subject to their fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law, he, she or it will need to honor such fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such business combination opportunity to such entity, before we can pursue such opportunity. If these other entities decide to pursue any such opportunity, we may be precluded from pursuing the same. However, we do not expect these duties to materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law: (i) no individual serving as a director or an officer shall have any duty, except and 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. Any other special purpose acquisition company may also have terms that are the same or different than our terms, including terms that are more favorable to its investors and/or potential target businesses.
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Certain of our co-founders, directors and officers are affiliated with other special purpose acquisition companies and our sponsor and directors and officers are also not prohibited from sponsoring, investing or otherwise becoming involved with, any other blank check companies, including in connection with their initial business combinations, prior to us completing our initial business combination. For example, affiliates of our sponsor are currently sponsoring several other blank check companies, JAWS Mustang Acquisition Corporation (“JAWS Mustang”) and JAWS Hurricane Acquisition Corporation (“JAWS Hurricane”), and such affiliates expect to sponsor additional blank check companies in the future. Any such companies may pursue similar targets and compete with us for business combination opportunities. JAWS Mustang is focusing on North American and/or European companies in any particular industry for a business combination. JAWS Hurricane is focusing on North American consumer technology and related technology businesses for a business combination. However, none of the foregoing blank check companies is limited to a particular industry or geographic region in its search for its own business combination and may seek opportunities with wireless communications and related technology/product/service businesses that have attractive growth-oriented characteristics and strong underlying demand drivers. Additionally, Mr. Sternlicht is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of JAWS Mustang and a member of the Board of Directors of Vesper Healthcare and Mr. Aberle is the Chief Executive Officer of Prospector Capital. Each of Vesper Healthcare and Prospector Capital is a blank check company incorporated for the purpose of effecting its own business combination. On May 5, 2021, Vesper Healthcare announced the completion of its merger with The Beauty Health Company (NASDAQ: SKIN). Prospector Capital is focusing on companies with advanced and highly differentiated solutions for the technology sector in any location for a business combination. Mr. Sternlicht owes fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law to JAWS Mustang and under Delaware law to Vesper Healthcare. Mr. Aberle owes fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law to Prospector Capital. Additionally, Mr. Sternlicht is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of JAWS Hurricane and Mr. Racich is the Chief Financial Officer of JAWS Hurricane. Mr. Sternlicht and Mr. Racich owe fiduciary duties under Delaware law to JAWS Hurricane. Any such companies may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an acquisition target, particularly in the event there is overlap among investment mandates. However, we do not currently expect that any such other blank check company would materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination. In addition, our co-founders, officers and directors, are not required to commit any specified amount of time to our affairs, and, accordingly, will have conflicts of interest in allocating management time among various business activities, including identifying potential business combinations and monitoring the related due diligence. Also, Mr. Sternlicht, as Chairman, shall not have day-to-day control of our affairs and shall not be involved in the day-to-day operations.
Status as a Public Company
We believe our structure makes us an attractive business combination partner to target businesses. As an existing public company, we offer a target business an alternative to the traditional initial public offering through a merger or other business combination with us. In a business combination transaction with us, the owners of the target business may, for example, exchange their shares of stock in the target business for our Class A ordinary shares (or shares of a new holding company) or for a combination of our Class A ordinary shares and cash, allowing us to tailor the consideration to the specific needs of the sellers. We believe target businesses will find this method a more expeditious and cost effective method to becoming a public company than the typical initial public offering. The typical initial public offering process takes a significantly longer period of time than the typical business combination transaction process, and there are significant expenses in the initial public offering process, including underwriting discounts and commissions, that may not be present to the same extent in connection with a business combination with us.
Furthermore, once a proposed business combination is completed, the target business will have effectively become public, whereas an initial public offering is always subject to the underwriters’ ability to complete the offering, as well as general market conditions, which could delay or prevent the offering from occurring or have negative valuation consequences. Once public, we believe the target business would then have greater access to capital, an additional means of providing management incentives consistent with shareholders’ interests and the ability to use its shares as currency for acquisitions. Being a public company can offer further benefits by augmenting a company’s profile among potential new customers and vendors and aid in attracting talented employees.
While we believe that our structure and our management team’s backgrounds makes us an attractive business partner, some potential target businesses may view our status as a blank check company, such as our lack of an operating history and our ability to seek shareholder approval of any proposed initial business combination, negatively.
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We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act, as modified by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the “JOBS Act”). As such, we are eligible to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, 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 our initial public offering, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion, or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our Class A ordinary shares that are held by non-affiliates equals or exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30th, and (2) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt during the prior three-year period.
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 equaled or exceeded $250 million as of the prior June 30, and (2) our annual revenues equaled or exceeded $100 million during such completed fiscal year or the market value of our ordinary shares held by non-affiliates equals or exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30.
Financial Position
With funds available for a business combination in the amount of approximately $266,365,000 as of December 31, 2021, after payment of offering costs, including the $9,660,000 in 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.
Effecting Our Initial Business Combination
General
We are not presently engaged in, and we will not engage in, any operations for an indefinite period of time following our initial public offering. We intend to effectuate our initial business combination using cash from the proceeds of the initial public offering and the consummation of the Securities Purchase Agreement our equity, debt or a combination of these as the consideration to be paid in our initial business combination. We may seek to complete our initial business combination with a company or business that may be financially unstable or in its early stages of development or growth, which would subject us to the numerous risks inherent in such companies and businesses.
If our initial business combination is paid for using equity or debt, or not all of the funds released from the trust account are used for payment of the consideration in connection with our initial business combination or used for redemptions of our Class A ordinary shares, we may apply the balance of the cash released to us from the trust account for general corporate purposes, including for maintenance or expansion of operations of the post-business combination company, the payment of principal or interest due on indebtedness incurred in completing our initial business combination, to fund the purchase of other companies or for working capital.
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We may need to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination, either because the transaction requires more cash than is available from the proceeds held in our trust account, or because we become obligated to redeem a significant number of our public shares upon completion of the business combination, in which case we may issue additional securities or incur debt in connection with such business combination. There are no prohibitions on our ability to issue securities or incur debt in connection with our initial business combination. We are not currently a party to any arrangement or understanding with any third-party with respect to raising any additional funds through the sale of securities, the incurrence of debt or otherwise.
Sources of Target Businesses
Target business candidates are brought to our attention from various unaffiliated sources, including investment market participants, private equity groups, investment banking firms, consultants, accounting firms and large business enterprises. Target businesses may be brought to our attention by such unaffiliated sources as a result of being solicited by us through calls or mailings. These sources may also introduce us to target businesses in which they think we may be interested on an unsolicited basis, since some of these sources will have read this Report and know what types of businesses we are targeting. Our officers and directors, as well as their affiliates, may also bring to our attention target business candidates that they become aware of through their business contacts as a result of formal or informal inquiries or discussions they may have, as well as attending trade shows or conventions. In addition, we expect to receive a number of proprietary deal flow opportunities that would not otherwise necessarily be available to us as a result of the business relationships of our officers and directors. While we do not presently anticipate engaging the services of professional firms or other individuals that specialize in business acquisitions on any formal basis, we may engage these firms or other individuals in the future, in which event we may pay a finder’s fee, consulting fee or other compensation to be determined in an arm’s length negotiation based on the terms of the transaction. We will engage a finder only to the extent our management determines that the use of a finder may bring opportunities to us that may not otherwise be available to us or if finders approach us on an unsolicited basis with a potential transaction that our management determines is in our best interest to pursue. Payment of finder’s fees is customarily tied to completion of a transaction, in which case any such fee will be paid out of the funds held in the trust account. In no event, however, will our sponsor or any of our existing officers or directors, or their respective affiliates paid by us any finder’s fee, consulting fee or other compensation prior to, or for any services they render in order to effectuate, the completion of our initial business combination (regardless of the type of transaction that it is). We have agreed to pay an affiliate of our sponsor a total of $10,000 per month for office space, secretarial and administrative support and to reimburse our sponsor for any out-of-pocket expenses related to identifying, investigating and completing an initial business combination. Some of our officers and directors may enter into employment or consulting agreements with the post-business combination company following our initial business combination. The presence or absence of any such fees or arrangements will not be used as a criterion in our selection process of an acquisition candidate.
We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor, co-founders, officers or directors. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor or any of our co-founders, officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or an independent accounting firm that such initial business combination is fair to our company and our shareholders from a financial point of view. In addition, if we combine with XCOM Labs concurrently with our initial business combination, we will obtain a fairness opinion with respect to such merger. We are not required to obtain such an opinion in any other context.
Certain of our officers and directors presently have, and any of them in the future may have, additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities, including entities that are affiliates of our sponsor, pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entity. Accordingly, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for an entity to which he or she has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she will honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such business combination opportunity to such entity, subject to their fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law.
Evaluation of a Target Business and Structuring of Our Initial Business Combination
In evaluating a prospective target business, we conduct an extensive due diligence review which may encompass, as applicable and among other things, meetings with incumbent management and employees, document reviews, interviews of customers and suppliers, inspection of facilities and a review of financial and other information about the target and its industry. We also utilize our management team’s operational and capital planning experience. If we determine to move forward with a particular target, we will proceed to structure and negotiate the terms of the business combination transaction.
The time required to select and evaluate a target business and to structure and complete our initial business combination, and the costs associated with this process, are not currently ascertainable with any degree of certainty. Any costs incurred with respect to the identification and evaluation of, and negotiation with, a prospective target business with which our initial business combination is not ultimately completed will result in our incurring losses and will reduce the funds we can use to complete another business combination. The company will not pay any consulting fees to members of our management team, or their respective affiliates, for services rendered to or in connection with our initial business combination.
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Lack of Business Diversification
For an indefinite period of time after the completion of our initial business combination, the prospects for our success may depend entirely on the future performance of a single business. Unlike other entities that have the resources to complete business combinations with multiple entities in one or several industries, it is probable that we will not have the resources to diversify our operations and mitigate the risks of being in a single line of business. By completing our initial business combination with only a single entity, our lack of diversification may:
● | subject us to negative economic, competitive and regulatory developments, any or all of which may have a substantial adverse impact on the particular industry in which we operate after our initial business combination; and |
● | cause us to depend on the marketing and sale of a single product or limited number of products or services. |
Limited Ability to Evaluate the Target’s Management Team
Although we intend to closely scrutinize the management of a prospective target business when evaluating the desirability of effecting our initial business combination with that business, our assessment of the target business’s management may not prove to be correct. In addition, the future management may not have the necessary skills, qualifications or abilities to manage a public company. Furthermore, the future role of members of our management team, if any, in the target business cannot presently be stated with any certainty. 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.
Shareholders May Not Have the Ability to Approve Our Initial Business Combination
We may conduct redemptions without a shareholder vote pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC subject to the provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. However, we will seek shareholder approval if it is required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement, or we may decide to seek shareholder approval for business or other reasons.
Under Nasdaq’s listing rules, shareholder approval would typically be required for our initial business combination if, for example:
● | We issue ordinary shares that will be equal to or in excess of 20% of the number of our ordinary shares then-outstanding; |
● | Any of our directors, officers or substantial shareholders (as defined by Nasdaq rules) has a 5% or greater interest (or such persons collectively have a 10% or greater interest), directly or indirectly, in the target business or assets to be acquired or otherwise and the present or potential issuance of ordinary shares could result in an increase in outstanding ordinary shares or voting power of 5% or more; or |
● | The issuance or potential issuance of ordinary shares will result in our undergoing a change of control. |
The decision as to whether we will seek shareholder approval of a proposed business combination in those instances in which shareholder approval is not required by law will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on business and reasons, which include a variety of factors, including, but not limited to:
● | the timing of the transaction, including in the event we determine shareholder approval would require additional time and there is either not enough time to seek shareholder approval or doing so would place the company at a disadvantage in the transaction or result in other additional burdens on the company; |
● | the expected cost of holding a shareholder vote; |
● | the risk that the shareholders would fail to approve the proposed business combination; |
● | other time and budget constraints of the company; and |
● | additional legal complexities of a proposed business combination that would be time-consuming and burdensome to present to shareholders. |
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Permitted Purchases and Other Transactions with Respect to Our Securities
If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our sponsor, directors, executive officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase public shares or warrants in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination. Additionally, at any time at or prior to our initial business combination, subject to applicable securities laws (including with respect to material nonpublic information), our sponsor, directors, executive officers, advisors or their affiliates may enter into transactions with investors and others to provide them with incentives to acquire public shares, vote their public shares in favor of our initial business combination or not redeem their public shares. However, they have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such transactions. None of the funds in the trust account will be used to purchase public shares or warrants in such transactions. If they engage in such transactions, they will be restricted from making any such purchases when they are in possession of any material non-public information not disclosed to the seller or if such purchases are prohibited by Regulation M under the Exchange Act.
In the event that our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates purchase shares in privately negotiated transactions from public shareholders who have already elected to exercise their redemption rights or submitted a proxy to vote against our initial business combination, such selling shareholders would be required to revoke their prior elections to redeem their shares and any proxy to vote against our initial business combination. We do not currently anticipate that such purchases, if any, would constitute a tender offer subject to the tender offer rules under the Exchange Act or a going-private transaction subject to the going-private rules under the Exchange Act; however, if the purchasers determine at the time of any such purchases that the purchases are subject to such rules, the purchasers will be required to comply with such rules.
The purpose of any such transaction could be to (i) vote in favor of the business combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining shareholder approval of the business combination, (ii) reduce the number of public warrants outstanding or vote such warrants on any matters submitted to the warrant holders for approval in connection with our initial business combination or (iii) satisfy a closing condition in an agreement with a target that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash at the closing of our initial business combination, where it appears that such requirement would otherwise not be met. Any such purchases of our securities may result in the completion of our initial business combination that may not otherwise have been possible.
In addition, if such purchases are made, the public “float” of our Class A ordinary shares or public warrants may be reduced and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, which may make it difficult to maintain or obtain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange.
Our sponsor, officers, directors and/or their affiliates anticipate that they may identify the shareholders with whom our sponsor, officers, directors or their affiliates may pursue privately negotiated transactions by either the shareholders contacting us directly or by our receipt of redemption requests submitted by shareholders (in the case of Class A ordinary shares) following our mailing of tender offer or proxy materials in connection with our initial business combination. To the extent that our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or their affiliates enter into a private transaction, they would identify and contact only potential selling or redeeming shareholders who have expressed their election to redeem their shares for a pro rata share of the trust account or vote against our initial business combination, whether or not such shareholder has already submitted a proxy with respect to our initial business combination but only if such shares have not already been voted at the general meeting related to our initial business combination. Our sponsor, executive officers, directors, advisors or their affiliates will select which shareholders to purchase shares from based on the negotiated price and number of shares and any other factors that they may deem relevant, and will be restricted from purchasing shares if such purchases do not comply with Regulation M under the Exchange Act and the other federal securities laws.
Our sponsor, officers, directors and/or their affiliates will be restricted from making purchases of shares if the purchases would violate Section 9(a)(2) or Rule 10b-5 of the Exchange Act. We expect any such purchases would be reported by such person pursuant to Section 13 and Section 16 of the Exchange Act to the extent such purchasers are subject to such reporting requirements.
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 upon the completion of our initial business combination at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account 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 is initially anticipated to be $10.00 per public share. The per-share amount we will distribute to investors who properly redeem their shares will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting commissions we will pay to the underwriters. The redemption rights will include the requirement that a beneficial holder must identify itself in order to validly redeem its shares. There will be no redemption rights upon the completion of our initial business combination with respect to our warrants. Further, we will not proceed with redeeming our public shares, even if a public shareholder has properly elected to redeem its shares, if a business combination does not close. Our sponsor and each member of our management team have entered into an agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and public shares held by them in connection with (i) the completion of our initial business combination and (ii) a shareholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) that would modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares.
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Limitations on Redemptions
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 (so that we do not then become subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules). However, the proposed business combination may require: (i) cash consideration to be paid to the target or its owners, (ii) cash to be transferred to the target for working capital or other general corporate purposes or (iii) the retention of cash to satisfy other conditions in accordance with the terms of the proposed business combination. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all Class A ordinary shares that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed business combination exceed the aggregate amount of cash available to us, we will not complete the business combination or redeem any shares, and all Class A ordinary shares submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof.
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 upon the completion of our initial business combination either (i) in connection with a general meeting called to approve the business combination or (ii) by means of a tender offer. The decision as to whether we will seek shareholder approval of a proposed business combination or conduct a tender offer will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on a variety of factors such as the timing of the transaction and whether the terms of the transaction would require us to seek shareholder approval under applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement or whether we were deemed to be a foreign private issuer (which would require a tender offer rather than seeking shareholder approval under SEC rules). Asset acquisitions and share purchases would not typically require shareholder approval while direct mergers with our company where we do not survive and any transactions where we issue more than 20% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares or seek to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association would typically require shareholder approval. We currently intend to conduct redemptions in connection with a shareholder vote unless shareholder approval is not required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement or we choose to conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC for business or other reasons. So long as we obtain and maintain a listing for our securities on Nasdaq, we will be required to comply with Nasdaq rules.
If we held a shareholder vote to approve our initial business combination, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association:
● | conduct the redemptions in conjunction with a proxy solicitation pursuant to Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act, which regulates the solicitation of proxies, and not pursuant to the tender offer rules; and |
● | file proxy materials with the SEC. |
In the event that we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, we will distribute proxy materials and, in connection therewith, provide our public shareholders with the redemption rights described above upon completion of the initial business combination.
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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, which requires the affirmative vote of a majority of the shareholders who attend and vote at a general meeting of the company, are voted in favor of the business combination. In accordance with our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, shareholders representing at least one-third of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares, present in person or by proxy, will constitute a quorum. Our sponsor and each member of our management team have agreed to vote their founder shares and public shares in favor of our initial business combination. As a result, in addition to our initial purchaser’s founder shares, we would need 10,350,001, or 37.5%, or none (assuming only the minimum number of shares representing a quorum are voted), of the 27,600,000 public shares sold in our initial public offering to be voted in favor of an initial business combination in order to have our initial business combination approved. Each public shareholder may elect to redeem their public shares irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction or vote at all. In addition, our sponsor and each member of our management team have entered into an agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and public shares held by them in connection with (i) the completion of a business combination and (ii) a shareholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) that would modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares.
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:
● | conduct the redemptions pursuant to Rule 13e-4 and Regulation 14E of the Exchange Act, which regulate issuer tender offers; and |
● | file tender offer documents with the SEC prior to completing our initial business combination which contain substantially the same financial and other information about the initial business combination and the redemption rights as is required under Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act, which regulates the solicitation of proxies. |
Upon the public announcement of our initial business combination, 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 provide that a public shareholder, together with any affiliate of such shareholder or any other person with whom such shareholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from redeeming its shares with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in our initial public offering, which we refer to as “Excess Shares,” without our prior consent. We believe this restriction will discourage shareholders from accumulating large blocks of shares, and subsequent attempts by such holders to use their ability to exercise their redemption rights against a proposed business combination as a means to force us or our management to purchase their shares at a significant premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. Absent this provision, a public shareholder holding more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in our initial public offering could threaten to exercise its redemption rights if such holder’s shares are not purchased by us, our sponsor or our management at a premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. By limiting our shareholders’ ability to redeem no more than 15% of the shares sold in our initial public offering without our prior consent, we believe we will limit the ability of a small group of shareholders to unreasonably attempt to block our ability to complete our initial business combination, particularly in connection with a business combination with a target that requires as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash.
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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.
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If our initial proposed business combination is not completed, we may continue to try to complete a business combination with a different target until 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering.
Redemption of Public Shares and Liquidation If No Initial Business Combination
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that we will have only 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering to consummate an initial business combination. If we have not consummated an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, we will: (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up; (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at 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 the case of clauses (ii) and (iii) to our obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to our warrants, which will expire worthless if we fail to consummate an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that, if we wind up for any other reason prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, we will follow the foregoing procedures with respect to the liquidation of the trust account as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, subject to applicable Cayman Islands law.
Our sponsor and each member of our management team have entered into an agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any founder shares they hold if we fail to consummate an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering (although they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any public shares they hold if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame)
Our sponsor, executive officers, directors and director nominees have agreed, pursuant to a written agreement with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) that would modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares, unless we provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares upon approval of any such amendment at 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). 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.
If we were to expend all of the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the consummation of the Securities Purchase Agreement, 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 $10.00. The proceeds deposited in the trust account could, however, become subject to the claims of our creditors which would have higher priority than the claims of our public shareholders. We cannot assure you that the actual per-share redemption amount received by shareholders will not be less than $10.00. While we intend to pay such amounts, if any, we cannot assure you that we will have funds sufficient to pay or provide for all creditors’ claims.
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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 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. Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC did 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 third-party for services rendered or products sold to us (other than our independent registered public accounting firm), or a prospective target business with which we have discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amounts in the trust account to below the lesser of (i) $10.00 per public share and (ii) the actual amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account if less than $10.00 per public share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest that may be withdrawn to pay our tax obligations, provided that such liability will not apply to any claims by a third-party or prospective target business that executed a waiver of any and all rights to seek access to the trust account nor will it apply to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of our initial public offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. In the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third-party, our sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third-party claims. However, we have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such indemnification obligations, nor have we independently verified whether our sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and we believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our company. Therefore, we cannot assure you that our sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations. None of our officers or directors will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses.
In the event that the proceeds in the trust account are reduced below the lesser of (i) $10.00 per public share and (ii) the actual amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account if less than $10.00 per public share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the amount of interest which may be withdrawn to pay our 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 $10.00 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 our initial public offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. As of December 31, 2021, we had cash of approximately $579,000 held outside of the trust account with which to pay any such potential claims (including costs and expenses incurred in connection with our liquidation, currently estimated to be no more than approximately $100,000). In the event that we liquidate, and it is subsequently determined that the reserve for claims and liabilities is insufficient, 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. In the event that our non-reimbursed offering expenses exceed our estimate of $1,000,000, we may fund such excess with funds from the funds not to be held in the trust account. In such case, the amount of funds we intend to be held outside the trust account would decrease by a corresponding amount. Conversely, in the event that the non-reimbursed offering expenses are less than our estimate of $1,000,000, the amount of funds we intend to be held outside the trust account would increase by a corresponding amount.
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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 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 claims deplete the trust account, we cannot assure you we will be able to return $10.00 per public share to our public shareholders. Additionally, if we file a bankruptcy or winding-up petition or an involuntary bankruptcy 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 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, (ii) in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares, or (iii) if they redeem their respective shares for cash upon the completion of the initial business combination. Public shareholders who redeem their Class A ordinary shares in connection with a shareholder vote described in clause (ii) in the preceding sentence shall not be entitled to funds from the trust account upon the subsequent completion of an initial business combination or liquidation if we have not consummated an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, with respect to such Class A ordinary shares so redeemed. In no other circumstances will a shareholder have any right or interest of any kind to or in the trust account. In the event we seek shareholder approval in connection with our initial business combination, a shareholder’s voting in connection with the business combination alone will not result in a shareholder’s redeeming its shares to us for an applicable pro rata share of the trust account. Such shareholder must have also exercised its redemption rights described above. These provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, like all provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, may be amended with a shareholder vote.
Competition
In identifying, evaluating and selecting a target business for our initial business combination, we may encounter intense competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours, including other blank check companies, private equity groups and leveraged buyout funds, public companies, operating businesses seeking strategic acquisitions. Additionally, the number of blank check companies looking for business combination targets has increased compared to recent years and many of these blank check companies are sponsored by entities or persons that have significant experience with completing business combinations. Many of these entities are well established and have extensive experience identifying and effecting business combinations directly or through affiliates. Moreover, many of these competitors possess greater financial, technical, human and other resources than us. Our ability to acquire larger target businesses will be limited by our available financial resources. This inherent limitation gives others an advantage in pursuing the acquisition of a target business. Furthermore, our obligation to pay cash in connection with our public shareholders who exercise their redemption rights may reduce the resources available to us for our initial business combination and our outstanding warrants, and the future dilution they potentially represent, may not be viewed favorably by certain target businesses. Either of these factors may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating an initial business combination.
Facilities
We currently maintain our executive offices at 1601 Washington Avenue, Suite 800, Miami Beach, FL 33139. The cost for our use of this space is included in the $10,000 per month fee we will 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.
Employees
We currently have three executive officers. These individuals are not obligated to devote any specific number of hours to our matters but they intend to devote as much of their time as they deem necessary to our affairs until we have completed our initial business combination. The amount of time they will devote in any time period will vary based on whether a target business has been selected for our initial business combination and the stage of the business combination process we are in. We do not intend to have any full time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination. Also, Mr. Sternlicht, as Chairman, does not have day-to-day control of our affairs and is not involved in our day-to-day operations.
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Periodic Reporting and Financial Information
We have registered our units, Class A ordinary shares and warrants under the Exchange Act and have reporting obligations, including the requirement that we file annual, quarterly and current reports with the SEC. In accordance with the requirements of the Exchange Act, our annual reports will contain financial statements audited and reported on by our independent registered public accountants.
We will provide shareholders with audited financial statements of the prospective target business as part of the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, sent to shareholders. These financial statements may be required to be prepared in accordance with, or reconciled to, GAAP, or IFRS, depending on the circumstances, and the historical financial statements may be required to be audited in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. These financial statement requirements may limit the pool of potential target businesses we may acquire because some targets may be unable to provide such statements in time for us to disclose such statements in accordance with federal proxy rules and complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame. We cannot assure you that any particular target business identified by us as a potential acquisition candidate will have financial statements prepared in accordance with the requirements outlined above, or that the potential target business will be able to prepare its financial statements in accordance with the requirements outlined above. To the extent that these requirements cannot be met, we may not be able to acquire the proposed target business. While this may limit the pool of potential acquisition candidates, we do not believe that this limitation will be material.
We will be 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 qualify as an emerging growth company, will we not be required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement on our internal control over financial reporting. A target business may not be in compliance with the provisions of the 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 filed a Registration Statement on Form 8-A with the SEC to voluntarily register our securities under Section 12 of the Exchange Act. As a result, we are subject to the rules and regulations promulgated under the Exchange Act. We have no current intention of filing a Form 15 to suspend our reporting or other obligations under the Exchange Act prior or subsequent to the consummation of our initial business combination.
We are a Cayman Islands exempted company. Exempted companies are Cayman Islands companies conducting business mainly outside the Cayman Islands and, as such, are exempted from complying with certain provisions of the Companies Act. As an exempted company, we have applied for and received a tax exemption undertaking from the Cayman Islands government that, in accordance with Section 6 of the Tax Concessions Law (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. We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of (1) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following the fifth anniversary of the completion of our initial public offering, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion, or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our Class A ordinary shares that are held by non-affiliates equals or exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30th, and (2) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt during the prior three-year period. References herein to “emerging growth company” 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 equaled or exceeded $250 million as of the prior June 30, and (2) our annual revenues equaled or exceeded $100 million during such completed fiscal year or the market value of our ordinary shares held by non-affiliates equals or exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30.
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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 Report and the prospectus associated with our initial public offering, 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.
Risks Relating to our Search for, Consummation of, or Inability to Consummate, a Business Combination and Post-Business Combination Risks.
Past performance by our management team or their respective affiliates may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in us.
Information regarding performance is presented for informational purposes only. Any past experience or performance of our management team and their respective affiliates is not a guarantee of either (i) our ability to successfully identify and execute a transaction or (ii) success with respect to any business combination that we may consummate. You should not rely on the historical record of our management team or their respective affiliates as indicative of the future performance of an investment in us or the returns we will, or are likely to, generate going forward.
Our shareholders may not be afforded an opportunity to vote on our proposed initial business combination, 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. 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.
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.
If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor and members 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 own, on an as-converted basis, approximately 20% of our outstanding ordinary shares. Our sponsor and members of our management team also may from time to time purchase Class A ordinary shares prior to our initial business combination. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that, if we seek shareholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if we obtain the approval of an ordinary resolution under Cayman Islands law, which requires the affirmative vote of a majority of the shareholders who attend and vote at a general meeting of the company where a quorum is present. In accordance with our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, shareholders representing at least one-third of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares, present in person or by proxy will constitute a quorum which shall include our sponsors and members of our management team. As a result, in addition to our initial shareholders’ founder shares, we would need 10,350,001, or 37.5%, or none (assuming only the minimum number of shares representing a quorum are voted), of the 27,600,000 public shares sold in our initial public offering to be voted in favor of an initial business combination in order to have our initial business combination approved. Accordingly, if we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, the agreement by our sponsor and each member of our management team to vote in favor of our initial business combination and our quorum threshold will increase the likelihood that we will receive the requisite shareholder approval for such initial business combination.
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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, in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 (so that we do not then become subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules). 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.
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 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 underwriter 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.
The requirement that we consummate an initial business combination within 24 months after the closing of our initial public offering 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 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering. 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.
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Our search for a business combination, and any target business with which we ultimately consummate a business combination, may be materially adversely affected by current or anticipated military conflict, including between Russia and Ukraine, terrorism, sanctions or other geopolitical events globally, the COVID 19 pandemic, including new variant strains of the underlying virus, and the status of debt and equity markets.
Our ability to consummate a business combination may be dependent on our ability to raise equity and debt financing which may be impacted by current or anticipated military conflict, including between Russia and Ukraine, terrorism, sanctions, the COVID-19 pandemic and other events, including as a result of increased market volatility, decreased market liquidity and third-party financing being unavailable on terms acceptable to us or at all. Economic uncertainty in various global markets caused by political instability may result in weakened demand for products sold by potential target businesses and difficulty in forecasting financial results on which we rely in the evaluation of potential target businesses. Global conflicts, including the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine, as well as economic sanctions implemented by the United States and European Union against Russia in response thereto, may negatively impact markets, increase energy and transportation costs and cause weaker macro-economic conditions. Political developments impacting government spending, and international trade, including inflation or raising interest rates, may also negatively impact markets and cause weaker macro-economic conditions. The effect of any or all of these events could adversely impact our ability to find a suitable business combination, as it may affect demand for potential target companies’ products or the cost of manufacturing thereof, harm their operations and weaken their financial results.
Additionally, the COVID-19 outbreak has resulted, and a significant outbreak of other infectious diseases could result, in a widespread health crisis that has affected, or could adversely affect, the economies and financial markets worldwide, and the business of any potential target business with which we consummate a business combination could be materially and adversely affected. The extent to which COVID-19 impacts our search for a business combination will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, including new variant strains of the underlying disease that may develop, new information which may emerge concerning the severity of COVID-19 and the actions to contain COVID-19 or treat its impact, among others. If the disruptions posed by COVID-19 or other matters of global concern continue for an extensive period of time, our ability to consummate a business combination or the operations of a target business with which we ultimately consummate a business combination, may be materially adversely affected. If the disruptions posed by COVID-19 or other matters of global concern continue for an extensive period of time, our ability to consummate a business combination, or the operations of a target business with which we ultimately consummate a business combination, may be materially adversely affected.
We may not be able to consummate an initial business combination within 24 months after the closing of our initial public offering, 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 their pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account that are available for distribution to public shareholders, and our warrants will expire worthless.
We may not be able to find a suitable target business and consummate an initial business combination within 24 months after the closing of our initial public offering. Our ability to complete our initial business combination may be negatively impacted by general market conditions, volatility in the capital and debt markets and the other risks described herein. For example, while the extent of the impact of the outbreak of COVID-19 on us will depend on future developments, it could limit our ability to complete our initial business combination, including as a result of increased market volatility, decreased market liquidity and third-party financing being unavailable on terms acceptable to us or at all. Additionally, the outbreak of COVID-19 may negatively impact businesses we may seek to acquire. If we have not consummated an initial business combination within such applicable time period, we will: (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up; (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at 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 the case of clauses (ii) and (iii), to our obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that, if we wind up for any other reason prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, we will follow the foregoing procedures with respect to the liquidation of the trust account as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, subject to applicable Cayman Islands law. In either such case, our public shareholders may receive only $10.00 per public share, or less than $10.00 per public share, on the redemption of their shares, and our warrants will expire worthless. See “— 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 $10.00 per public share” and other risk factors herein.
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If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor, directors, executive officers, advisors and their 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, directors, executive officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase public shares or warrants in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination, although they are under no obligation to do so. However, they have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such transactions. None of the funds in the trust account will be used to purchase public shares or warrants in such transactions.
In the event that our sponsor, directors, executive officers, advisors or their affiliates purchase shares in privately negotiated transactions from public shareholders who have already elected to exercise their redemption rights, such selling shareholders would be required to revoke their prior elections to redeem their shares. The purpose of any such transaction could be to (1) vote in favor of the business combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining shareholder approval of the business combination, (2) reduce the number of public warrants outstanding or vote such warrants on any matters submitted to the warrant holders for approval in connection with our initial business combination or (3) satisfy a closing condition in an agreement with a target that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash at the closing of our initial business combination, where it appears that such requirement would otherwise not be met. Any such purchases of our securities may result in the completion of our initial business combination that may not otherwise have been possible. In addition, if such purchases are made, the public “float” of our Class A ordinary shares or public warrants may be reduced and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, which may make it difficult to maintain 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.
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. 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 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares, and (iii) the redemption of our public shares if we have not consummated an initial business within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, 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 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, with respect to such Class A ordinary shares so redeemed. In no other circumstances will a public shareholder have any right or interest of any kind in the trust account. Holders of warrants will not have any right to the proceeds held in the trust account with respect to the warrants. Accordingly, to liquidate your investment, you may be forced to sell your public shares or warrants, potentially at a loss.
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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 $10.00 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. Additionally, the number of blank check companies looking for business combination targets has increased compared to recent years and many of these blank check companies are sponsored by entities or persons that have significant experience with completing business combinations. While we believe there are numerous target businesses we could potentially acquire with the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the consummation of the Securities Purchase Agreement, 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 $10.00 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. See “— If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by shareholders may be less than $10.00 per public share” and other risk factors herein.
If the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the consummation of the Securities Purchase Agreement not being held in the trust account are insufficient to allow us to operate for the 24 months following the closing of our initial public offering, 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 our initial public offering and the consummation of the Securities Purchase Agreement, as of December 31, 2021, approximately $579,000 is available to us 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 will be sufficient to allow us to operate for at least the 24 months following the closing of our initial public offering; however, we cannot assure you that our estimate is accurate, and our sponsor, its affiliates or members of our management team are under no obligation to advance funds to us in such circumstances. Of the funds available to us, we expect to use a portion of the funds available to us to pay fees to consultants to assist us with our search for a target business. We could also use a portion of the funds as a down payment or to fund a “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.
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If we are required to seek additional capital, we would need to borrow funds from our sponsor, its affiliates, members of our management team or other third parties to operate or may be forced to liquidate. Neither our sponsor, members of our management team nor their affiliates is under any obligation to us in such circumstances. Any such advances may be repaid only from funds held outside the trust account or from funds released to us upon completion of our initial business combination. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants of the post-business combination entity at a price of $2.00 per warrant at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants. Prior to the completion of our initial business combination, we do not expect to seek loans from parties other than our sponsor, its affiliates or members of our management team as we do not believe third parties will be willing to loan such funds and provide a waiver against any and all rights to seek access to funds in our trust account. If we have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period because we do not have sufficient funds available to us, we will be forced to cease operations and liquidate the trust account. Consequently, our public shareholders may only receive an estimated $10.00 per public share, or possibly less, on our redemption of our public shares, and our warrants will expire worthless. See “— 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 $10.00 per public share” and other risk factors herein.
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 $10.00 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 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.
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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 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, 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 $10.00 per public share initially held in the trust account, due to claims of such creditors. Pursuant to the letter agreement that we have entered into with our sponsor, officers and directors, 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 amounts in the trust account to below the lesser of (i) $10.00 per public share and (ii) the actual amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account if less than $10.00 per public share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest that may be withdrawn to pay our tax obligations, 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 underwriter of our initial public offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. Moreover, in the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third-party, our sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third-party claims.
However, we have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such indemnification obligations, nor have we independently verified whether our sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and we believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our company. Therefore, we cannot assure you that our sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations. As a result, if any such claims were successfully made against the trust account, the funds available for our initial business combination and redemptions could be reduced to less than $10.00 per public share. In such event, we may not be able to complete our initial business combination, and you would receive such lesser amount per share in connection with any redemption of your public shares. None of our officers or directors will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses.
Our 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) $10.00 per public share and (ii) the actual amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account if less than $10.00 per public share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest that may be withdrawn to pay our tax obligations, and our sponsor asserts that it is unable to satisfy its obligations or that it has no indemnification obligations related to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether to take legal action against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations. While we currently expect that our independent directors would take legal action on our behalf against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations to us, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment and subject to their fiduciary duties may choose not to do so in any particular instance. If our independent directors choose not to enforce these indemnification obligations, the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public shareholders may be reduced below $10.00 per public share.
We may not have sufficient funds to satisfy indemnification claims of our directors and executive officers.
We have agreed to indemnify our officers and directors to the fullest extent permitted by law. However, our officers and directors have agreed to waive any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies in the trust account and to not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason whatsoever (except to the extent they are entitled to funds from the trust account due to their ownership of public shares). Accordingly, any indemnification provided will be able to be satisfied by us only if (i) we have sufficient funds outside of the trust account or (ii) we consummate an initial business combination. Our obligation to indemnify our officers and directors may discourage shareholders from bringing a lawsuit against our officers or directors for breach of their fiduciary duty. These provisions also may have the effect of reducing the likelihood of derivative litigation against our officers and directors, even though such an action, if successful, might otherwise benefit us and our shareholders. Furthermore, a shareholder’s investment may be adversely affected to the extent we pay the costs of settlement and damage awards against our officers and directors pursuant to these indemnification provisions.
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Changes in the market for directors and officers liability insurance could make it more difficult and more expensive for us to negotiate and complete an initial business combination.
In recent months, the market for directors and officers liability insurance for special purpose acquisition companies has changed in ways adverse to us and our management team. Fewer insurance companies are offering quotes for directors and officers liability coverage, the premiums charged for such policies have generally increased and the terms of such policies have generally become less favorable. These trends may continue into the future.
The increased cost and decreased availability of directors and officers liability insurance could make it more difficult and more expensive for us to negotiate an initial business combination. In order to obtain directors and officers liability insurance or modify its coverage as a result of becoming a public company, the post-business combination entity might need to incur greater expense, accept less favorable terms or both. However, any failure to obtain adequate directors and officers liability insurance could have an adverse impact on the post-business combination’s ability to attract and retain qualified officers and directors.
In addition, even after we were to complete an initial business combination, our directors and officers could still be subject to potential liability from claims arising from conduct alleged to have occurred prior to the initial business combination. As a result, in order to protect our directors and officers, the post-business combination entity may need to purchase additional insurance with respect to any such claims (“run-off insurance”). The need for run-off insurance would be an added expense for the post-business combination entity, and could interfere with or frustrate our ability to consummate an initial business combination on terms favorable to our investors.
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.
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 estate and subject to the claims of third parties with priority over the claims of our shareholders. To the extent any bankruptcy claims deplete the trust account, the per-share amount that would otherwise be received by our shareholders in connection with our liquidation may be reduced.
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Our shareholders may be held liable for claims by third parties against us to the extent of distributions received by them upon redemption of their shares.
If we are forced to enter into an insolvent liquidation, any distributions received by shareholders could be viewed as an unlawful payment if it was proved that immediately following the date on which the distribution was made, we were unable to pay our debts as they fall due in the ordinary course of business. As a result, a liquidator could seek to recover some or all amounts received by our shareholders. Furthermore, our directors may be viewed as having breached their fiduciary duties to us or our creditors and/or may have acted in bad faith, thereby exposing themselves and our company to claims, by paying public shareholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors. We cannot assure you that claims will not be brought against us for these reasons. We and our directors and officers who knowingly and willfully authorized or permitted any distribution to be paid out of our share premium account while we were unable to pay our debts as they fall due in the ordinary course of business would be guilty of an offence and may be liable for a fine of $18,292.68 and imprisonment for five years in the Cayman Islands.
We may not hold an annual general meeting until after the consummation of our initial business combination.
In accordance with Nasdaq corporate governance requirements, we are not required to hold a general meeting until one year after our first fiscal year end following our listing on Nasdaq. There is no requirement under the Companies Act for us to hold annual or extraordinary general meetings to elect directors. Until we hold an annual general meeting, public shareholders may not be afforded the opportunity to elect directors and to discuss company affairs with management. Our board of directors is divided into three classes with only one class of directors being elected in each year and each class (except for those directors appointed prior to our first general meeting) serving a three-year term.
Because we are neither limited to evaluating a target business in a particular industry, sector or geographic area 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, sector or geographic area, 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 yet selected or approached any specific target business with respect to a business combination, there is no basis to evaluate the possible merits or risks of any particular target business’s operations, results of operations, cash flows, liquidity, financial condition or prospects. If our target business or businesses with respect to our initial business combination is not within the wireless communication and adjacent industries, we will likely not consummate a combination with XCOM Labs. To the extent we complete our initial business combination, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in the business operations with which we combine. For example, if we combine with a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of sales or earnings, we may be affected by the risks inherent in the business and operations of a financially unstable or a development stage entity. Although our officers and directors will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we cannot assure you that we will properly ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors or that we will have adequate time to complete due diligence. Furthermore, some of these risks may be outside of our control and leave us with no ability to control or reduce the chances that those risks will adversely impact a target business. We also cannot assure you that an investment in our securities will ultimately prove to be more favorable to investors than a direct investment, if such opportunity were available, in a business combination target. Accordingly, any holders who choose to retain their securities following the business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.
As the number of special purpose acquisition companies evaluating targets increases, attractive targets may become scarcer and there may be more competition for attractive targets. This could increase the cost of our initial business combination and could even result in our inability to find a target or to consummate an initial business combination.
In recent years, the number of special purpose acquisition companies that have been formed has increased substantially. Many potential targets for special purpose acquisition companies have already entered into an initial business combination, and there are still many special purpose acquisition companies seeking targets for their initial business combination, as well as many such companies currently in registration. As a result, at times, fewer attractive targets may be available to consummate an initial business combination.
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In addition, because there are more special purpose acquisition companies seeking to enter into an initial business combination with available targets, the competition for available targets with attractive fundamentals or business models may increase, which could cause targets companies to demand improved financial terms. Attractive deals could also become scarcer for other reasons, such as economic or industry sector downturns, geopolitical tensions including between the U.S. and China and Russia and Ukraine, or increases in the cost of additional capital needed to close business combinations or operate targets post-business combination. This could increase the cost of, delay or otherwise complicate or frustrate our ability to find and consummate an initial business combination, and may result in our inability to consummate an initial business combination on terms favorable to our investors altogether.
We 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 our 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 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.
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 guidelines, such combination may not be as successful as a combination with a business that does meet all of our general criteria and guidelines. In addition, if we announce a prospective business combination with a target that does not meet our general criteria and guidelines, a greater number of shareholders may exercise their redemption rights, which may make it difficult for us to meet any closing condition with a target business that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. In addition, if shareholder approval of the transaction is required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirements, or we decide to obtain shareholder approval for business or other reasons, it may be more difficult for us to attain shareholder approval of our initial business combination if the target business does not meet our general criteria and guidelines. If we have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.
We may not necessarily be required to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or from an independent entity that commonly renders valuation opinions, and consequently, you may have no assurance from an independent source that the price we are paying for the business is fair to our company and our shareholders from a financial point of view.
Unless we complete our initial business combination with an affiliated entity (including, concurrently with our initial business combination, a business combination with XCOM Labs), we are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or from an independent entity that commonly renders valuation opinions that the price we are paying is fair to our company and 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 tender offer documents or proxy solicitation materials, as applicable, related to our initial business combination.
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Financial incentives may cause the underwriter from our initial public offering to have potential conflicts of interest in rendering any additional services to us after our initial public offering, including, for example, in connection with the sourcing and consummation of an initial business combination.
We may engage the underwriter from our initial public offering or one of its respective affiliates to provide additional services to us after our initial public offering, including, for example, identifying potential targets, providing financial advisory services, acting as a placement agent in a private offering or arranging debt financing. We may pay the underwriter from our initial public offering or its affiliates fair and reasonable fees or other compensation that would be determined at that time in an arm’s length negotiation; provided that no agreement will be entered into with the underwriter from our initial public offering or its affiliates and no fees or other compensation for such services will be paid to the underwriter from our initial public offering or its affiliates prior to the date that is 60 days from the date of our final prospectus, unless such payment would not be deemed underwriter’s compensation in connection with our initial public offering. The underwriter from our initial public offering is also entitled to receive deferred commissions that are conditioned on the completion of an initial business combination. The fact that the underwriter from our initial public offering or its affiliates’ financial interests are tied to the consummation of a business combination transaction may give rise to potential conflicts of interest in providing any such additional services to us, including potential conflicts of interest in connection with the sourcing and consummation of an initial business combination.
The size of our initial public offering may not provide you with an estimate of the potential size of our initial business combination due to our potential combination with XCOM Labs to occur concurrently with our initial business combination.
Nasdaq rules require that we must complete one or more business combinations having an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the assets held in the trust account (excluding the deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on the interest earned on the trust account). If we combine with XCOM Labs concurrently with our initial business combination, we will not include the fair market value of XCOM Labs for purposes of satisfying the 80% of fair market value test. As a result, the size of our initial public offering may not provide an indication of the size of our initial business combination that includes XCOM Labs and one or more target businesses.
Even though we may consider combining with XCOM Labs concurrent with the completion of our initial business combination, we cannot provide any assurance that such a business combination with XCOM Labs will occur at all, or, if it does, we cannot provide any assurance as to the terms thereof.
Concurrently with our initial business combination, we may combine with XCOM Labs. We expect that the resulting combined company would inherit our Nasdaq listing and its ordinary stock and warrants would be publicly traded. We would anticipate that the combined company may be managed by our existing management team (some of whom also serve as members of the senior management team of XCOM Labs). We have not entered into any letter of intent or definitive agreement with XCOM Labs, nor have we agreed to valuation or other key terms and conditions with respect to such a possible combination transaction. As a result, even though we may consider a combination with XCOM Labs concurrent with the completion of our initial business combination, we cannot provide any assurance that such a business combination with XCOM Labs will occur at all, or, if it does, we cannot provide any assurance as to the terms thereof. We will not, however, complete an initial business combination with only XCOM Labs. Any potential combination with XCOM Labs will close at the same time as the closing of our initial business combination.
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In addition, we will likely not consummate a business combination with XCOM Labs if the target business with respect to our initial business combination is not within the wireless communications and adjacent industries. If we pursue a business combination with XCOM Labs concurrent with our initial business combination, a committee of our disinterested directors will negotiate the terms and conditions of such business combination (including the valuation of XCOM Labs) on our behalf. Such committee of disinterested directors would also obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or an independent valuation or appraisal firm that the proposed business combination with XCOM Labs is fair to our company and our shareholders from a financial point of view. Our public shareholders will have the same voting and redemption rights with respect to any business combination that is concurrent with a merger with XCOM Labs as are applicable to our initial business combination and described elsewhere in this prospectus.
Because we must furnish our shareholders with target business financial statements, we may lose the ability to complete an otherwise advantageous initial business combination with some prospective target businesses.
The federal proxy rules require that a proxy statement with respect to a vote on a business combination meeting certain financial significance tests include historical and/or pro forma financial statement disclosure in periodic reports. We will include the same financial statement disclosure in connection with our tender offer documents, whether or not they are required under the tender offer rules. These financial statements may be required to be prepared in accordance with, or be reconciled to, accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, or GAAP, or international financial reporting standards as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board, or IFRS, depending on the circumstances and the historical financial statements may be required to be audited in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States), or PCAOB. These financial statement requirements may limit the pool of potential target businesses we may acquire because some targets may be unable to provide such statements in time for us to disclose such statements in accordance with federal proxy rules and complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame.
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 $10.00 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 $10.00 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.
Compliance obligations under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may make it more difficult for us to effectuate a business combination, require substantial financial and management resources, and increase the time and costs of completing an acquisition.
Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires that we evaluate and report on our system of internal controls beginning with our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ending December 31, 2022. Only in the event we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer or an accelerated filer and no longer qualify as an emerging growth company, will we not be required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement on our internal control over financial reporting. The fact that we are a blank check company makes compliance with the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act particularly burdensome on us as compared to other public companies because a target business with which we seek to complete our initial business combination may not be in compliance with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act regarding adequacy of its internal controls. The development of the internal control of any such entity to achieve compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may increase the time and costs necessary to complete any such acquisition.
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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 in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 (so that we do not then become subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules). 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 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.
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 in a manner that will make it easier for us to complete our initial business combination that our shareholders 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 will require 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, and amending our warrant agreement will require a vote of holders of at least 65% of the public warrants and, solely with respect to any amendment to the terms of the private placement warrants or any provision of the warrant agreement with respect to the private placement warrants, 65% of the number of the then outstanding private placement warrants. In addition, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association require us to provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares for cash if we propose an amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) that would modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares. To the extent any of such amendments would be deemed to fundamentally change the nature of any of the securities offered through the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, we would register, or seek an exemption from registration for, the affected securities.
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The provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association that relate to our pre-business combination activity (and corresponding provisions of the agreement governing the release of funds from our trust account) may be amended with the approval of a special resolution which requires the approval of the holders of at least two-thirds of our ordinary shares who attend and vote at a general meeting of the company, which is a lower amendment threshold than that of some other blank check companies. It may be easier for us, therefore, to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association to facilitate the completion of an initial business combination that some of our shareholders may not support.
Some other blank check companies have a provision in their charter which prohibits the amendment of certain of its provisions, including those which relate to a company’s pre-business combination activity, without approval by a certain percentage of the company’s shareholders. In those companies, amendment of these provisions typically requires approval by between 90% and 100% of the company’s shareholders. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that any of its provisions related to pre-business combination activity (including the requirement to deposit proceeds of our initial public offering and the private placement of warrants into the trust account and not release such amounts except in specified circumstances, and to provide redemption rights to public shareholders as described herein) may be amended if approved by special resolution, meaning holders of at least two-thirds of our ordinary shares who attend and vote at a general meeting of the company, and corresponding provisions of the trust agreement governing the release of funds from our trust account may be amended if approved by holders of at least 65% of our ordinary shares; provided that the provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association governing the appointment or removal of directors prior to our initial business combination may only be amended by a special resolution passed by not less than two-thirds of our ordinary shares who attend and vote at our general meeting which shall include the affirmative vote of a simple majority of our Class B ordinary shares. Our sponsor and its permitted transferees, if any, who will collectively beneficially own, on an as-converted basis, 20% of our Class A ordinary shares upon the closing of our initial public offering, will participate in any vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association and/or trust agreement and will have the discretion to vote in any manner they choose. As a result, we may be able to amend the provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association which govern our pre-business combination behavior more easily than some other blank check companies, and this may increase our ability to complete a business combination with which you do not agree. Our shareholders may pursue remedies against us for any breach of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association.
Our sponsor, executive officers and directors have agreed, pursuant to agreements with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) that would modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares, unless we provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their Class A ordinary 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. Our shareholders are not parties to, or third-party beneficiaries of, these agreements and, as a result, will not have the ability to pursue remedies against our sponsor, executive officers or directors for any breach of these agreements. As a result, in the event of a breach, our shareholders would need to pursue a shareholder derivative action, subject to applicable law.
Certain agreements related to our initial public offering may be amended without shareholder approval.
Each of the agreements related to our initial public offering to which we are a party, other than the warrant agreement and the investment management trust agreement, may be amended without shareholder approval. Such agreements are: the underwriting agreement; the letter agreement among us and our initial shareholders, sponsor, officers and directors; the registration and shareholder rights agreement among us and our initial shareholders; the private placement warrants purchase agreement between us and our sponsor; and the administrative services agreement between us and our sponsor. These agreements contain various provisions that our public shareholders might deem to be material. For example, our letter agreement and the underwriting agreement contain certain lock-up provisions with respect to the founder shares, private placement warrants and other securities held by our initial shareholders, sponsor, officers and directors. Amendments to such agreements would require the consent of the applicable parties thereto and would need to be approved by our board of directors, which may do so for a variety of reasons, including to facilitate our initial business combination. While we do not expect our board of directors to approve any amendment to any of these agreements prior to our initial business combination, it may be possible that our board of directors, in exercising its business judgment and subject to its fiduciary duties, chooses to approve one or more amendments to any such agreement. Any amendment entered into in connection with the consummation of our initial business combination will be disclosed in our proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, related to such initial business combination, and any other material amendment to any of our material agreements will be disclosed in a filing with the SEC. Any such amendments would not require approval from our shareholders, may result in the completion of our initial business combination that may not otherwise have been possible, and may have an adverse effect on the value of an investment in our securities. For example, amendments to the lock-up provision discussed above may result in our initial shareholders selling their securities earlier than they would otherwise be permitted, which may have an adverse effect on the price of our securities.
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We may be unable to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination or to fund the operations and growth of a target business, which could compel us to restructure or abandon a particular business combination. If we have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.
Although we believe that the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the consummation of the Securities Purchase Agreement will be sufficient to allow us to complete our initial business combination, because we have not yet selected any prospective target business we cannot ascertain the capital requirements for any particular transaction. If the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the consummation of the Securities Purchase Agreement prove to be insufficient, either because of the size of our initial business combination, the depletion of the available net proceeds in search of a target business, the obligation to redeem for cash a significant number of shares from shareholders who elect redemption in connection with our initial business combination or the terms of negotiated transactions to purchase shares in connection with our initial business combination, we may be required to seek additional financing or to abandon the proposed business combination. We cannot assure you that such financing will be available on acceptable terms, if at all. The current economic environment may make it difficult for companies to obtain acquisition financing. To the extent that additional financing proves to be unavailable when needed to complete our initial business combination, we would be compelled to either restructure the transaction or abandon that particular business combination and seek an alternative target business candidate. If we have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. In addition, even if we do not need additional financing to complete our initial business combination, we may require such financing to fund the operations or growth of the target business. The failure to secure additional financing could have a material adverse effect on the continued development or growth of the target business. None of our officers, directors or shareholders is required to provide any financing to us in connection with or after our initial business combination.
We may seek business combination opportunities with a high degree of complexity that require significant operational improvements, which could delay or prevent us from achieving our desired results.
We may seek business combination opportunities with large, highly complex companies that we believe would benefit from operational improvements. While we intend to implement such improvements, to the extent that our efforts are delayed or we are unable to achieve the desired improvements, the business combination may not be as successful as we anticipate.
To the extent we complete our initial business combination with a large complex business or entity with a complex operating structure, we may also be affected by numerous risks inherent in the operations of the business with which we combine, which could delay or prevent us from implementing our strategy. Although our management team will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business and its operations, we may not be able to properly ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors until we complete our business combination. If we are not able to achieve our desired operational improvements, or the improvements take longer to implement than anticipated, we may not achieve the gains that we anticipate. Furthermore, some of these risks and complexities may be outside of our control and leave us with no ability to control or reduce the chances that those risks and complexities will adversely impact a target business. Such combination may not be as successful as a combination with a smaller, less complex organization.
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We may have a limited ability to assess the management of a prospective target business and, as a result, may affect our initial business combination with a target business whose management may not have the skills, qualifications or abilities to manage a public company.
When evaluating the desirability of effecting our initial business combination with a prospective target business, our ability to assess the target business’s management may be limited due to a lack of time, resources or information. Our assessment of the capabilities of the target business’s management, therefore, may prove to be incorrect and such management may lack the skills, qualifications or abilities we suspected. Should the target business’s management not possess the skills, qualifications or abilities necessary to manage a public company, the operations and profitability of the post-combination business may be negatively impacted. Accordingly, any 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 may issue notes or other debt securities, or otherwise incur substantial debt, to complete a business combination, including with respect to any business combination that is concurrent with a merger with XCOM Labs, which may adversely affect our leverage and financial condition and thus negatively impact the value of our shareholders’ investment in us.
Although we have no commitments as of the date of this Report to issue any notes or other debt securities, or to otherwise incur outstanding debt following our initial public offering, we may choose to incur substantial debt to complete our initial business combination, including with respect to any business combination that is concurrent with a merger with XCOM Labs. We and our officers have agreed that we will not incur any indebtedness unless we have obtained from the lender a waiver of any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to the monies held in the trust account. As such, no issuance of debt will affect the per-share amount available for redemption from the trust account. Nevertheless, the incurrence of debt could have a variety of negative effects, including:
● | default and foreclosure on our assets if our operating revenues after an initial business combination, including with respect to any business combination that is concurrent with a merger with XCOM Labs, are insufficient to repay our debt obligations; |
● | acceleration of our obligations to repay the indebtedness even if we make all principal and interest payments when due if we breach certain covenants that require the maintenance of certain financial ratios or reserves without a waiver or renegotiation of that covenant; |
● | our immediate payment of all principal and accrued interest, if any, if the debt is payable on demand; |
● | our inability to obtain necessary additional financing if the debt contains covenants restricting our ability to obtain such financing while the debt is outstanding; |
● | our inability to pay dividends on our Class A ordinary shares; |
● | using a substantial portion of our cash flow to pay principal and interest on our debt, which will reduce the funds available for dividends on our Class A ordinary shares if declared, expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions and other general corporate purposes; |
● | limitations on our flexibility in planning for and reacting to changes in our business and in the industry in which we operate; |
● | increased vulnerability to adverse changes in general economic, industry and competitive conditions and adverse changes in government regulation; and |
● | limitations on our ability to borrow additional amounts for expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions, debt service requirements, execution of our strategy and other purposes and other disadvantages compared to our competitors who have less debt. |
In addition, because we may consider a potential merger with XCOM Labs concurrently with the closing of our initial business combination, we may need to raise additional funds through third party debt financing. Such additional financing may be larger than the amount of funds we expect to raise for any business combination that occurs without a concurrent merger with XCOM Labs, and as a result, such additional financing could further limit our ability to optimize our capital structure.
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We may only be able to complete one business combination with the proceeds of our initial public offering and the consummation of the Securities Purchase Agreement, 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.
Of the net proceeds from our initial public offering and the consummation of the Securities Purchase Agreement, as of December 31, 2021, approximately $266,365,000 is available to complete our initial business combination (after taking into account the $9,660,000 of deferred underwriting commissions being held in the trust account).
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:
● | solely dependent upon the performance of a single business, property or asset; or |
● | dependent upon the development or market acceptance of a single or limited number of products, processes or services. |
This lack of diversification may subject us to numerous economic, competitive and regulatory risks, any or all of which may have a substantial adverse impact upon the particular industry in which we may operate subsequent to our initial business combination.
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 (if there are multiple sellers) and the additional risks associated with the subsequent assimilation of the operations and services or products of the acquired companies in a single operating business. If we are unable to adequately address these risks, it could negatively impact our profitability and results of operations.
We may attempt to complete our initial business combination with a private company about which little information is available, which may result in a business combination with a company that is not as profitable as we suspected, if at all.
In pursuing our acquisition strategy, we may seek to effectuate our initial business combination with a privately held company. Very little public information generally exists about private companies, and we could be required to make our decision on whether to pursue a potential initial business combination on the basis of limited information, which may result in a business combination with a company that is not as profitable as we suspected, if at all.
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If we combine with XCOM Labs concurrent with our initial business combination, we will become subject to risks affecting XCOM Labs’ business.
Although we may combine with XCOM Labs concurrent with the closing of our initial business combination, we cannot provide any assurance that we will combine with XCOM Labs.
XCOM Labs is a nascent company. Its technology and products are still in the development phase and there are no assurances that the technologies or products in development will ultimately be successful. The research and development of new and innovative, technologically advanced products, as well as upgrades to current products and new generations of technologies, is a complex and uncertain process requiring high levels of innovation and investment, in addition to accurate anticipation of technological, regulatory and market trends. XCOM Labs may focus its resources on products and technologies that do not become widely accepted or ultimately prove unviable. If we successfully complete a business combination with XCOM Labs in addition to the risks associated with other businesses that are part of our initial business combination, we will become subject to risks affecting XCOM Labs’ business, including, without limitation, the following:
● | XCOM Labs has incurred significant losses in the past and may not be able to achieve or sustain profitability. There are no assurances that XCOM Labs will have access to financing on attractive terms, or at all. |
● | The wireless technology infrastructure market is highly concentrated. A company of XCOM Labs’ size may find it difficult to have the scale and capital to directly compete and thus may need to identify a wireless infrastructure provider that finds value in XCOM Labs’ solutions for its own products. These companies may also offer competing solutions to XCOM Labs. |
● | Advanced wireless communications is a highly regulated space; laws and regulations, including for spectrum allocation, export control and with respect to non-U.S. investment in XCOM Labs, may inhibit demand for XCOM Labs’ products or otherwise restrict XCOM Labs’ ability to partner with or provide products to certain industry participants. |
● | XCOM Labs’ future growth and revenue opportunities may be impacted by delays in the speed of adoption of 5G technology by wireless service providers. |
● | XCOM Labs’ future growth and revenue opportunities may be impacted by delays in the speed of adoption of unlicensed mmW technology by wireless service and application providers. |
● | Contracts for large capacity deployments of XCOM Labs’ technologies will generally involve a lengthy and complex selection and trial process, and XCOM Labs’ ability to obtain particular contracts is inherently difficult to predict. The timing and scope of these opportunities and the pricing and margins associated with any eventual contract award are difficult to forecast, and may vary substantially from transaction to transaction. |
● | XCOM Labs’ ability to benefit from intellectual property rights, which are critical to its business, may be limited by changes in regulation relating to patents, inability to prevent infringement, the loss of licenses to or from third-parties, infringement claims brought against it by competitors and others and changes in the area of open standards. |
In addition, Nasdaq rules require that we must complete one or more business combinations having an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the assets held in the trust account (excluding the deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on the interest earned on the trust account). If we combine with XCOM Labs concurrently with our initial business combination, we will not include the fair market value of XCOM Labs for purposes of satisfying the 80% of fair market value test. In such case in order to satisfy this test, the aggregate fair market value of our initial business combination that is concurrent with a merger with XCOM Labs will need to be larger than otherwise required to comply with this test.
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The information included in this Report with respect to XCOM Labs is very limited and is subject to change and, accordingly, your evaluation of XCOM Labs and ability make an investment decision may be limited.
We may combine with XCOM Labs concurrent with the closing of our initial business combination. The information with respect to XCOM Labs included in this Report is very limited and subject to change and does not include all of the disclosures that would be required if XCOM Labs were pursuing an initial public offering of its ordinary stock or in a proxy statement relating to a potential merger with XCOM Labs. If, as part of our initial business combination, we pursue a combination with XCOM Labs, the proxy statement relating to our initial business combination and potential merger with XCOM Labs will include all required and SEC-compliant disclosures with respect to XCOM Labs. As a result, investors should not place undue reliance on the XCOM Labs disclosures included herein and refer instead to the proxy statement we subsequently file in connection with our initial business combination, assuming that we decide to pursue a combination with XCOM Labs in connection with our initial business combination.
Risks Relating to our Securities
The securities in which we invest the funds held in the trust account could bear a negative rate of interest, which could reduce the value of the assets held in trust such that the per-share redemption amount received by public shareholders may be less than $10.00 per share.
The proceeds held in the trust account will be invested only in U.S. government treasury obligations with a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act, which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations. While short-term U.S. government treasury obligations currently yield a positive rate of interest, they have briefly yielded negative interest rates in recent years. Central banks in Europe and Japan pursued interest rates below zero in recent years, and the Open Market Committee of the Federal Reserve has not ruled out the possibility that it may in the future adopt similar policies in the United States. In the event that we are unable to complete our initial business combination or make certain amendments to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, our public shareholders are entitled to receive their pro-rata share of the proceeds held in the trust account, plus any interest income, net of taxes paid or payable (less, in the case we are unable to complete our initial business combination, $100,000 of interest). Negative interest rates could reduce the value of the assets held in trust such that the per-share redemption amount received by public shareholders may be less than $10.00 per share.
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 |
● | reporting, record keeping, voting, proxy and disclosure requirements and other rules and regulations that we are currently not subject to. |
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In order not to be regulated as an investment company under the Investment Company Act, unless we can qualify for an exclusion, we must ensure that we are engaged primarily in a business other than investing, reinvesting or trading of securities and that our activities do not include investing, reinvesting, owning, holding or trading “investment securities” constituting more than 40% of our assets (exclusive of U.S. government securities and cash items) on an unconsolidated basis. Our business is to identify and complete a business combination and thereafter to operate the post-transaction business or assets for the long term. We do not plan to buy businesses or assets with a view to resell or profit from their resale. We do not plan to buy unrelated businesses or assets or to be a passive investor.
We do not believe that our principal activities 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. Our initial public offering is not intended for persons who are seeking a return on investments in government securities or investment securities. The trust account is intended as a holding place for funds pending the earliest to occur of 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 our initial public offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares; or (iii) absent our completing an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our 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 subject to the Investment Company Act, compliance with these additional regulatory burdens would require additional expenses for which we have not allotted funds and may hinder our ability to complete a business combination. If we have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.
If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, and if you or a “group” of shareholders are deemed to hold in excess of 15% of our Class A ordinary shares, you will lose the ability to redeem all such shares in excess of 15% of our Class A ordinary shares.
If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that a public shareholder, together with any affiliate of such shareholder or any other person with whom such shareholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from redeeming its shares with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in our initial public offering, which we refer to as the “Excess Shares,” without our prior consent. However, we would not be restricting our shareholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our initial business combination. Your inability to redeem the Excess Shares will reduce your influence over our ability to complete our initial business combination and you could suffer a material loss on your investment in us if you sell Excess Shares in open market transactions. Additionally, you will not receive redemption distributions with respect to the Excess Shares if we complete our initial business combination. And as a result, you will continue to hold that number of shares exceeding 15% and, in order to dispose of such shares, would be required to sell your shares in open market transactions, potentially at a loss.
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Nasdaq may delist our securities from trading on its exchange, which could limit investors’ ability to make transactions in our securities and subject us to additional trading restrictions.
Our securities are currently listed on Nasdaq. However, we cannot assure you that our securities will continue to be listed on Nasdaq in the future or prior to our initial business combination. In order to continue listing our securities on Nasdaq prior to our initial business combination, we must maintain certain financial, distribution and share price levels. Generally, we must maintain a minimum market capitalization (generally $50,000,000) and a minimum number of holders of our securities (generally 300 public holders).
Additionally, our units will not be traded after completion of our initial business combination and, in connection with our initial business combination, we will be required to demonstrate compliance with Nasdaq initial listing requirements, which are more rigorous than Nasdaq continued listing requirements, in order to continue to maintain the listing of our securities on Nasdaq. For instance, in order for our shares to be listed upon the consummation of our business combination, at such time our share price would generally be required to be at least $4.00 per share and at least 300 round lot holders at such time. We cannot assure you that we will be able to meet those listing requirements at that time.
If Nasdaq delists any of our securities from trading on its exchange and we are not able to list our securities on another national securities exchange, we expect such securities could be quoted on an over-the-counter market. If this were to occur, we could face significant material adverse consequences, including:
● | a limited availability of market quotations for our securities; |
● | reduced liquidity for our securities; |
● | a determination that our Class A ordinary shares are a “penny stock” which will require brokers trading in our Class A ordinary shares to adhere to more stringent rules and possibly result in a reduced level of trading activity in the secondary trading market for our securities; |
● | a limited amount of news and analyst coverage; and |
● | a decreased ability to issue additional securities or obtain additional financing in the future. |
The National Securities Markets Improvement Act of 1996, which is a federal statute, prevents or preempts the states from regulating the sale of certain securities, which are referred to as “covered securities.” Because our units, Class A ordinary shares and warrants are listed on Nasdaq, our units, Class A ordinary shares and warrants qualify as covered securities under the statute. Although the states are preempted from regulating the sale of covered securities, the federal statute does allow the states to investigate companies if there is a suspicion of fraud, and, if there is a finding of fraudulent activity, then the states can regulate or bar the sale of covered securities in a particular case. While we are not aware of a state having used these powers to prohibit or restrict the sale of securities issued by blank check companies, other than the State of Idaho, certain state securities regulators view blank check companies unfavorably and might use these powers, or threaten to use these powers, to hinder the sale of securities of blank check companies in their states. Further, if we were no longer listed on Nasdaq, our securities would not qualify as covered securities under the statute and we would be subject to regulation in each state in which we offer our securities.
We may issue additional Class A ordinary shares or preference shares to complete our initial business combination, including with respect to any business combination that is concurrent with a merger with XCOM Labs, 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 300,000,000 Class A ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share, 30,000,000 Class B ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share, and 1,000,000 preference shares, par value $0.0001 per share. There are 272,400,000 and 23,100,000 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 at the time of our initial business combination as described herein and in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. There are no preference shares issued and outstanding.
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We may issue a substantial number of additional Class A ordinary shares or preference shares to complete our initial business combination, including with respect to any business combination that is concurrent with a merger with XCOM Labs, 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 provide, among other things, that prior to or in connection with our initial business combination, we may not issue additional shares that would entitle the holders thereof to (i) receive funds from the trust account or (ii) vote on any initial business combination or on any other proposal presented to shareholders prior to or in connection with the completion of an initial business combination. These provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, like all provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, may be amended with a shareholder vote. The issuance of additional ordinary or preference shares:
● | may significantly dilute the equity interest of investors in our initial public offering, which dilution would increase if the anti-dilution provisions in the Class B ordinary shares resulted in the issuance of Class A ordinary shares on a greater than one-to-one basis upon conversion of the Class B ordinary shares; |
● | may subordinate the rights of holders of Class A ordinary shares if preference shares are issued with rights senior to those afforded our Class A ordinary shares; |
● | could cause a change in control if a substantial number of Class A ordinary shares are issued, which may affect, among other things, our ability to use our net operating loss carry forwards, if any, and could result in the resignation or removal of our present officers and directors; |
● | may have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control of us by diluting the share ownership or voting rights of a person seeking to obtain control of us; |
● | may adversely affect prevailing market prices for our units, Class A ordinary shares and/or warrants; and |
● | may not result in adjustment to the exercise price of our warrants. |
In addition, because we may consider a potential merger with XCOM Labs concurrently with the closing of our initial business combination, we may need to raise additional funds through additional equity issuances. Such additional financing may be larger than the amount of funds we expect to raise for any business combination that occurs without a concurrent merger with XCOM Labs, and as a result, such additional financing could be further dilutive to our investors.
Unlike some other similarly structured blank check companies, our sponsor will receive additional Class A ordinary shares if we issue shares to consummate an initial business combination.
The founder shares will automatically convert into our Class A ordinary shares at the time of our initial business combination at a ratio such that the number of Class A ordinary shares issuable upon conversion of all founder shares will equal, in the aggregate, on an as-converted basis, 20% of the sum of (i) the total number of ordinary shares issued and outstanding upon completion of our initial public offering, plus (ii) the total number of Class A ordinary shares issued or deemed issued or issuable upon conversion or exercise of any equity-linked securities or rights issued or deemed issued, by the company in connection with or in relation to the consummation of the initial business combination, excluding any Class A ordinary shares or equity-linked securities exercisable for or convertible into Class A ordinary shares issued, deemed issued, or to be issued, to any seller in the initial business combination and any private placement warrants issued to our sponsor, any of its affiliates or any members of our management team upon conversion of working capital loans. In no event will the Class B ordinary shares convert into Class A ordinary shares at a rate of less than one-to-one. This is different than some other similarly structured blank check companies in which the initial shareholders will only be issued an aggregate of 20% of the total number of shares to be outstanding prior to the initial business combination.
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We are not registering the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants under the Securities Act or any state securities laws at this time, and such registration may not be in place when an investor desires to exercise warrants, thus precluding such investor from being able to exercise its warrants and causing such warrants to expire worthless.
We are not registering the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants under the Securities Act or any state securities laws at this time. However, under the terms of the warrant agreement, we have agreed that, as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 20 business days after the closing of our initial business combination, we will use our commercially reasonable efforts to file with the SEC a registration statement covering the issuance of such shares, and we will use our commercially reasonable efforts to cause the same to become effective within 60 business days after the closing of our initial business combination and to maintain the effectiveness of such registration statement and a current prospectus relating to those Class A ordinary shares until the warrants expire or are redeemed. We cannot assure you that we will be able to do so if, for example, any facts or events arise which represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in the registration statement or prospectus relating to our initial public offering, the financial statements contained or incorporated by reference therein are not current, complete or correct or the SEC issues a stop order. If the shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants are not registered under the Securities Act in accordance with the above requirements, we will be required to permit holders to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis, in which case, the number of Class A ordinary shares that you will receive upon cashless exercise will be based on a formula subject to a maximum amount of shares equal to 0.361 Class A ordinary shares per warrant (subject to adjustment). However, no warrant will be exercisable for cash or on a cashless basis, and we will not be obligated to issue any shares to holders seeking to exercise their warrants, unless the issuance of the shares upon such exercise is registered or qualified under the securities laws of the state of the exercising holder, or an exemption from registration is available. Notwithstanding the above, if our Class A ordinary shares are at the time of any exercise of a warrant not listed on a national securities exchange such that they satisfy the definition of a “covered security” under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act, we may, at our option, require holders of public warrants who exercise their warrants to do so on a “cashless basis” in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act and, in the event we so elect, we will not be required to file or maintain in effect a registration statement, but we will use our commercially reasonable efforts to register or qualify the shares under applicable blue sky laws to the extent an exemption is not available. Exercising the warrants on a cashless basis could have the effect of reducing the potential “upside” of the holder’s investment in our company because the warrant holder will hold a smaller number of Class A ordinary shares upon a cashless exercise of the warrants they hold. In no event will we be required to net cash settle any warrant, or issue securities or other compensation in exchange for the warrants in the event that we are unable to register or qualify the shares underlying the warrants under applicable state securities laws and no exemption is available. If the issuance of the shares upon exercise of the warrants is not so registered or qualified or exempt from registration or qualification, the holder of such warrant shall not be entitled to exercise such warrant and such warrant may have no value and expire worthless. In such event, holders who acquired their warrants as part of a purchase of units will have paid the full unit purchase price solely for the Class A ordinary shares included in the units. There may be a circumstance where an exemption from registration exists for holders of our private placement warrants to exercise their warrants while a corresponding exemption does not exist for holders of the public warrants included as part of units sold in our initial public offering. In such an instance, our sponsor and its permitted transferees (which may include our directors and executive officers) would be able to exercise their warrants and sell the ordinary shares underlying their warrants while holders of our public warrants would not be able to exercise their warrants and sell the underlying ordinary shares. If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may exercise our redemption right even if we are unable to register or qualify the underlying Class A ordinary shares for sale under all applicable state securities laws. As a result, we may redeem the warrants as set forth above even if the holders are otherwise unable to exercise their warrants.
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We may amend the terms of the warrants in a manner that may be adverse to holders of public warrants with the approval by the holders of at least 50% of the then-outstanding public warrants. As a result, the exercise price of your warrants could be increased, the exercise period could be shortened and the number of our Class A ordinary shares purchasable upon exercise of a warrant could be decreased, all without your approval.
Our warrants were issued in registered form under a warrant agreement between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as warrant agent, and us. The warrant agreement provides that the terms of the warrants may be amended without the consent of any holder for the purpose of (i) curing any ambiguity or correct any mistake, including to conform the provisions of the warrant agreement to the description of the terms of the warrants and the warrant agreement set forth in this prospectus, or defective provision, (ii) amending the provisions relating to cash dividends on ordinary shares as contemplated by and in accordance with the warrant agreement, (iii) making any amendments that are necessary in the good faith determination of our board of directors (taking into account then existing market precedents for initial public offerings of special purpose acquisition companies underwritten by bulge bracket investment banks) to allow for the warrants to be classified as equity in our financial statements; provided that this clause (iii) will not allow any modification or amendment to the warrant agreement that would adversely affect the rights of the registered holders of the public warrants, including by increasing the exercise price of the warrants or shortening the exercise period, which shall require the vote or consent as described below, (iv) removing any cap on the number of ordinary shares issuable upon a “cashless exercise,” or amending the terms of the private placement warrants, to provide that the terms of the private placement warrants will not change if transferred to persons other than permitted transferees or to conform the provisions of the private placement warrants to the terms of the public warrants or (v) adding or changing any provisions arising under the warrant agreement as the parties to the warrant agreement may deem necessary or desirable and that the parties deem to not adversely affect the rights of the registered holders of the warrants in any material respect, provided that the approval by the holders of at least 50% of the then-outstanding public warrants to make any change that adversely affects the interests of the registered holders of public warrants. Accordingly, we may amend the terms of the public warrants in a manner adverse to a holder if holders of at least 50% of the then-outstanding public warrants approve of such amendment and, with respect to any amendment to the terms of the private placement warrants, 50% of the number of the then outstanding private placement warrants. Although our ability to amend the terms of the public warrants with the consent of at least 50% of the then-outstanding public warrants is unlimited, examples of such amendments could be amendments to, among other things, increase the exercise price of the warrants, convert the warrants into cash, shorten the exercise period or decrease the number of Class A ordinary shares purchasable upon exercise of a warrant.
Our warrant agreement designates the courts of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by holders of our warrants, which could limit the ability of warrant holders to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with our company.
Our warrant agreement provides that, subject to applicable law, (i) any action, proceeding or claim against us arising out of or relating in any way to the warrant agreement, including under the Securities Act, will be brought and enforced in the courts of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, and (ii) that we irrevocably submit to such jurisdiction, which jurisdiction shall be the exclusive forum for any such action, proceeding or claim. We will waive any objection to such exclusive jurisdiction and that such courts represent an inconvenient forum.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, these provisions of the warrant agreement will not apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal district courts of the United States of America are the sole and exclusive forum. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in any of our warrants shall be deemed to have notice of and to have consented to the forum provisions in our warrant agreement. If any action, the subject matter of which is within the scope of the forum provisions of the warrant agreement, is filed in a court other than a court of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (a “foreign action”) in the name of any holder of our warrants, such holder shall be deemed to have consented to: (x) the personal jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in the State of New York in connection with any action brought in any such court to enforce the forum provisions (an “enforcement action”), and (y) having service of process made upon such warrant holder in any such enforcement action by service upon such warrant holder’s counsel in the foreign action as agent for such warrant holder.
This choice-of-forum provision may limit a warrant holder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with our company, which may discourage such lawsuits. Alternatively, if a court were to find this provision of our warrant agreement inapplicable or unenforceable with respect to one or more of the specified types of actions or proceedings, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters in other jurisdictions, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and result in a diversion of the time and resources of our management and board of directors.
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We may redeem your unexpired warrants prior to their exercise at a time that is disadvantageous to you, thereby making your warrants worthless.
We have the ability to redeem the outstanding public warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.01 per warrant, provided that the closing price of our Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for adjustments to the number of shares issuable upon exercise or the exercise price of a warrant) for any 20 trading days within a 30 trading-day period ending on the third trading day prior to proper notice of such redemption and provided that certain other conditions are met. If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may exercise our redemption right even if we are unable to register or qualify the underlying securities for sale under all applicable state securities laws. As a result, we may redeem the warrants as set forth above even if the holders are otherwise unable to exercise the warrants. Redemption of the outstanding warrants could force you to (i) exercise your warrants and pay the exercise price therefor at a time when it may be disadvantageous for you to do so, (ii) sell your warrants at the then-current market price when you might otherwise wish to hold your warrants or (iii) accept the nominal redemption price which, at the time the outstanding warrants are called for redemption, we expect would be substantially less than the market value of your warrants.
In addition, we have the ability to redeem the outstanding public warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.10 per warrant upon a minimum of 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption provided that the closing price of our Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $10.00 per share (as adjusted for adjustments to the number of shares issuable upon exercise or the exercise price of a warrant) for any 20 trading days within a 30 trading-day period ending on the third trading day prior to proper notice of such redemption and provided that certain other conditions are met, including that holders will be able to exercise their warrants prior to redemption for a number of Class A ordinary shares determined based on the redemption date and the fair market value of our Class A ordinary shares. The value received upon exercise of the warrants (1) may be less than the value the holders would have received if they had exercised their warrants at a later time where the underlying share price is higher and (2) may not compensate the holders for the value of the warrants, including because the number of ordinary shares received is capped at 0.361 Class A ordinary shares per warrant (subject to adjustment) irrespective of the remaining life of the warrants.
None of the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us as so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees.
Our warrants may have an adverse effect on the market price of our Class A ordinary shares and make it more difficult to effectuate our initial business combination.
We issued warrants to purchase 6,900,000 Class A ordinary shares as part of the units offered by our initial public offering and, upon the closing of our initial public offering, we issued 3,760,000 private placement warrants, each exercisable to purchase one Class A ordinary share at $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment. In addition, if the sponsor, its affiliates or a member of our management team makes any working capital loans, it may convert up to $1,500,000 of such loans into up to an additional 750,000 private placement warrants, at the price of $2.00 per warrant. We may also issue Class A ordinary shares in connection with our redemption of our warrants.
To the extent we issue ordinary shares for any reason, including to effectuate a business combination, the potential for the issuance of a substantial number of additional Class A ordinary shares upon exercise of these warrants could make us a less attractive acquisition vehicle to a target business. Such warrants, when exercised, will increase the number of issued and outstanding Class A ordinary shares and reduce the value of the Class A ordinary shares issued to complete the business transaction. Therefore, our warrants may make it more difficult to effectuate a business transaction or increase the cost of acquiring the target business.
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Our warrants are accounted for as derivative liabilities and were recorded at fair value upon issuance with changes in fair value each period included in earnings, which may have an adverse effect on the market price of our securities or may make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination.
We issued 6,900,000 warrants as part of the units offered in our initial public offering and, have issued 3,760,000 private placement warrants, each exercisable to purchase one Class A ordinary share at $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment. We currently account for the private placement warrants and expect to account for the warrants underlying the units offered in our initial public offering as a warrant liability. At each reporting period (1) the accounting treatment of the warrants will be re-evaluated for proper accounting treatment as a liability or equity and (2) the fair value of the liability of the public warrants and private placement warrants will be remeasured and the change in the fair value of the liability will be recorded as other income (expense) in our income statement. Changes in the inputs and assumptions for the valuation model we use to determine the fair value of such liability may have a material impact on the estimated fair value of the embedded derivative liability. The share price of our ordinary shares represents the primary underlying variable that impacts the value of the derivative instruments. Additional factors that impact the value of the derivative instruments include the volatility of our share price, discount rates and stated interest rates. As a result, our consolidated financial statements and results of operations will fluctuate quarterly, based on various factors, such as the share price of our ordinary shares, many of which are outside of our control. In addition, we may change the underlying assumptions used in our valuation model, which could in result in significant fluctuations in our results of operations. If our share price is volatile, we expect that we will recognize non-cash gains or losses on our warrants or any other similar derivative instruments each reporting period and that the amount of such gains or losses could be material. The impact of changes in fair value on earnings may have an adverse effect on the market price of our securities. In addition, potential targets may seek a special purpose acquisition company that does not have warrants that are accounted for as a warrant liability, which may make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination with a target business.
A provision of our warrant agreement may make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination.
If (i) we issue additional Class A ordinary shares or equity-linked securities for capital raising purposes in connection with the closing of our initial business combination at a Newly Issued Price of less than $9.20 per Class A ordinary share, (ii) the aggregate gross proceeds from such issuances represent more than 60% of the total equity proceeds, and interest thereon, available for the funding of our initial business combination on the date of the consummation of our initial business combination (net of redemptions), and (iii) the Market Value of our Class A ordinary shares is below $9.20 per share, then the exercise price of the warrants will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 115% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, the $18.00 per share redemption trigger price will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 180% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price to be equal to the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price. This may make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination with a target business.
We have identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting, related to the Company’s accounting for complex financial instruments. If we are unable to develop and maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting, we may not be able to accurately report our financial results in a timely manner, which may adversely affect investor confidence in us and adversely affect our business and operating results.
We have identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting related to the Company’s accounting for complex financial instruments. Our management re-evaluated our application of ASC 480-10-S99-3A to our accounting classification of public shares as described in Note 2 to our audited financial statements contained herein. Our management and our audit committee concluded that it was appropriate to restate previously issued financial statements for the Affected Periods, respectively, to classify all public shares subject to possible redemption in temporary equity and to restate earnings per shares.
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As a result, our management concluded that our internal control over financial reporting related to the Company’s accounting for complex financial instruments was not effective for the Affected Periods. This material weakness resulted in a restatement of our audited balance sheet as of June 22, 2021, and interim financial statements reported in Form 10-Q filings for the periods ended June 30, 2021 and September 30, 2021 (as it relates to footnote 2).
A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. Effective internal controls are necessary for us to provide reliable financial reports and prevent fraud. We continue to evaluate steps to remediate the material weakness. These remediation measures may be time consuming and costly and there is no assurance that these initiatives will ultimately have the intended effects. If we are unable to develop and maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting, we may not be able to accurately report our financial results in a timely manner, which may adversely affect investor confidence in us and materially and adversely affect our business and operating results.
Provisions in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association may inhibit a takeover of us, which could limit the price investors might be willing to pay in the future for our Class A ordinary shares and could entrench management.
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association contain provisions that may discourage unsolicited takeover proposals that shareholders may consider to be in their best interests. These provisions include a staggered board of directors and the ability of the board of directors to designate the terms of and issue new series of preference shares, which may make more difficult the removal of management and may discourage transactions that otherwise could involve payment of a premium over prevailing market prices for our securities.
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that the courts of the Cayman Islands will be the exclusive forums for certain disputes between us and our shareholders, which could limit our shareholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for complaints against us or our directors, officers or employees.
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the courts of the Cayman Islands will, to the fullest extent permitted by the law, have exclusive jurisdiction over any claim or dispute arising out of or in connection with our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association or otherwise related in any way to each shareholder’s shareholding in us, including but not limited to (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf, (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of any fiduciary or other duty owed by any of our current or former director, officer or other employee to us or our shareholders, (iii) any action asserting a claim arising pursuant to any provision of the Companies Act or our amended and restated memorandum that each shareholder irrevocably submits to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of the Cayman Islands over all such claims or disputes. The forum selection provision in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will not apply to actions or suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Securities Act, Exchange Act or any claim for which the federal district courts of the United States of America are, as a matter of the laws of the United States, the sole and exclusive forum for determination of such a claim.
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association also provide that, without prejudice to any other rights or remedies that we may have, each of our shareholders acknowledges that damages alone would not be an adequate remedy for any breach of the selection of the courts of the Cayman Islands as exclusive forum and that accordingly we shall be entitled, without proof of special damages, to the remedies of injunction, specific performance or other equitable relief for any threatened or actual breach of the selection of the courts of the Cayman Islands as exclusive forum.
This choice of forum provision may increase a shareholder’s cost and limit the shareholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers or other employees, which may discourage lawsuits against us and our directors, officers and other employees. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any of our shares or other securities, whether by transfer, sale, operation of law or otherwise, shall be deemed to have notice of and have irrevocably agreed and consented to these provisions. There is uncertainty as to whether a court would enforce such provisions, and the enforceability of similar choice of forum provisions in other companies’ charter documents has been challenged in legal proceedings. It is possible that a court could find this type of provisions to be inapplicable or unenforceable, and if a court were to find this provision in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving the dispute in other jurisdictions, which could have adverse effect on our business and financial performance.
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An investment in our securities may result in uncertain or adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences.
An investment in our securities may result in uncertain U.S. federal income tax consequences. For instance, because there are no authorities that directly address instruments similar to the units we are issued in our initial public offering, the allocation an investor makes with respect to the purchase price of a unit between the Class A ordinary shares and the one-fourth of a warrant to purchase one Class A ordinary share included in each unit could be challenged by the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) or courts. Furthermore, the U.S. federal income tax consequences of a cashless exercise of warrants included in the units we are issued in our initial public offering is unclear under current law and an adjustment to the exercise price and/or redemption price of the warrants could give rise to dividend income to investors without a corresponding payment of cash. Finally, it is unclear whether the redemption rights with respect to our ordinary shares suspend the running of a U.S. Holder’s holding period for purposes of determining whether any gain or loss realized by such holder on the sale or exchange of Class A ordinary shares is long-term capital gain or loss and for determining whether any dividend we pay would be considered “qualified dividends” for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Prospective investors are urged to consult their tax advisors with respect to these and other tax consequences when purchasing, holding or disposing of our securities.
Because we are incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands, you may face difficulties in protecting your interests, and your ability to protect your rights through the U.S. federal courts may be limited.
We are an exempted company incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands. As a result, it may be difficult for investors to effect service of process within the United States upon our directors or executive officers, or enforce judgments obtained in the United States courts against our directors or officers.
Our corporate affairs are governed by our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, the Companies Act (as the same may be supplemented or amended from time to time) and the common law of the Cayman Islands. We are also subject to the federal securities laws of the United States. The rights of shareholders to take action against the directors, actions by minority shareholders and the fiduciary responsibilities of our directors to us under Cayman Islands law are to a large extent governed by the common law of the Cayman Islands. The common law of the Cayman Islands is derived in part from comparatively limited judicial precedent in the Cayman Islands as well as from English common law, the decisions of whose courts are of persuasive authority, but are not binding on a court in the Cayman Islands. The rights of our shareholders and the fiduciary responsibilities of our directors under Cayman Islands law are different from what they would be under statutes or judicial precedent in some jurisdictions in the United States. In particular, the Cayman Islands has a different body of securities laws as compared to the United States, and certain states, such as Delaware, may have more fully developed and judicially interpreted bodies of corporate law. In addition, Cayman Islands companies may not have standing to initiate a shareholders derivative action in a Federal court of the United States.
We have been advised by Maples and Calder (Cayman) LLP, our Cayman Islands legal counsel, that the courts of the Cayman Islands are unlikely (i) to recognize or enforce against us judgments of courts of the United States predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the federal securities laws of the United States or any state; and (ii) in original actions brought in the Cayman Islands, to impose liabilities against us predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the federal securities laws of the United States or any state, so far as the liabilities imposed by those provisions are penal in nature. In those circumstances, although there is no statutory enforcement in the Cayman Islands of judgments obtained in the United States, the courts of the Cayman Islands will recognize and enforce a foreign money judgment of a foreign court of competent jurisdiction without retrial on the merits based on the principle that a judgment of a competent foreign court imposes upon the judgment debtor an obligation to pay the sum for which judgment has been given provided certain conditions are met. For a foreign judgment to be enforced in the Cayman Islands, such judgment must be final and conclusive and for a liquidated sum, and must not be in respect of taxes or a fine or penalty, inconsistent with a Cayman Islands judgment in respect of the same matter, impeachable on the grounds of fraud or obtained in a manner, or be of a kind the enforcement of which is, contrary to natural justice or the public policy of the Cayman Islands (awards of punitive or multiple damages may well be held to be contrary to public policy). A Cayman Islands Court may stay enforcement proceedings if concurrent proceedings are being brought elsewhere.
As a result of all of the above, public shareholders may have more difficulty in protecting their interests in the face of actions taken by management, members of the board of directors or controlling shareholders than they would as public shareholders of a United States company.
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The warrants may become exercisable and redeemable for a security other than the Class A ordinary shares, and you will not have any information regarding such other security at this time.
In certain situations, including if we are not the surviving entity in our initial business combination, the warrants may become exercisable for a security other than the Class A ordinary shares. As a result, if the surviving company redeems your warrants for securities pursuant to the warrant agreement, you may receive a security in a company of which you do not have information at this time. Pursuant to the warrant agreement, the surviving company will be required to use commercially reasonable efforts to register the issuance of the security underlying the warrants within twenty business days of the closing of an initial business combination.
The grant of registration rights to our sponsor may make it more difficult to complete our initial business combination, and the future exercise of such rights may adversely affect the market price of our Class A ordinary shares.
Pursuant to an agreement entered into on the closing of our initial public offering, our sponsor and its permitted transferees can demand that we register the resale of the Class A ordinary shares into which founder shares are convertible, the private placement warrants and the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the private placement warrants, and warrants that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans and the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon conversion of such warrants. The registration and availability of such a significant number of securities for trading in the public market may have an adverse effect on the market price of our Class A ordinary shares. In addition, the existence of the registration rights may make our initial business combination more costly or difficult to conclude. This is because the shareholders of the target business may increase the equity stake they seek in the combined entity or ask for more cash consideration to offset the negative impact on the market price of our securities that is expected when the securities owned by our sponsor or its permitted transferees are registered for resale.
Our initial business combination or reincorporation may result in taxes imposed on shareholders or warrant holders.
We may, subject to requisite shareholder approval under the Companies Act, effect a business combination with a target company in another jurisdiction, reincorporate in the jurisdiction in which the target company or business is located, or reincorporate in another jurisdiction. The transaction may require a shareholder or warrant holder to recognize taxable income in the jurisdiction in which the shareholder or warrant holder is a tax resident or in which its members are resident if it is a tax transparent entity. We do not intend to make any cash distributions to shareholders or warrant holders to pay such taxes. Shareholders or warrant holders may be subject to withholding taxes or other taxes with respect to their ownership of us after the reincorporation.
Risks Relating to our Sponsor and Management Team
Our ability to successfully effect our initial business combination and to be successful thereafter will be totally dependent upon the efforts of our key personnel, some of whom may join us following our initial business combination. The loss of key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business.
Our ability to successfully effect our initial business combination is dependent upon the efforts of our key personnel. The role of our key personnel in the target business, however, cannot presently be ascertained. Although some of our key personnel may remain with the target business in senior management, director or advisory positions following our initial business combination, it is likely that some or all of the management of the target business will remain in place. While we intend to closely scrutinize any individuals we engage after our initial business combination, we cannot assure you that our assessment of these individuals will prove to be correct. These individuals may be unfamiliar with the requirements of operating a company regulated by the SEC, which could cause us to have to expend time and resources helping them become familiar with such requirements.
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Our key personnel may negotiate employment or consulting agreements with a target business in connection with a particular business combination, and a particular business combination may be conditioned on the retention or resignation of such key personnel. These agreements may provide for them to receive compensation following our initial business combination and as a result, may cause them to have conflicts of interest in determining whether a particular business combination is the most advantageous.
Our key personnel may be able to remain with our company after the completion of our initial business combination only if they are able to negotiate employment or consulting agreements in connection with the business combination. Such negotiations would take place simultaneously with the negotiation of the business combination and could provide for such individuals to receive compensation in the form of cash payments and/or our securities for services they would render to us after the completion of the business combination. Such negotiations also could make such key personnel’s retention or resignation a condition to any such agreement. The personal and financial interests of such individuals may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business. In addition, pursuant to an agreement entered into on the closing of our initial public offering, our sponsor, upon and following consummation of an initial business combination, will be entitled to nominate three individuals for appointment to our board of directors, as long as the sponsor holds any securities covered by the registration and shareholder rights agreement.
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.
Our executive officers and directors will allocate their time to other businesses thereby causing conflicts of interest in their determination as to how much time to devote to our affairs. This conflict of interest could have a negative impact on our ability to complete our initial business combination.
Our executive officers and directors are not required to, and will not, commit their full time to our affairs, which may result in a conflict of interest in allocating their time between our operations and our search for a business combination and their other businesses. We do not intend to have any full-time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination. Each of our executive officers is engaged in several other business endeavors for which he may be entitled to substantial compensation, and our executive officers are not obligated to contribute any specific number of hours per week to our affairs. Our independent directors also serve as officers and board members for other entities. Also, Mr. Sternlicht, as Chairman, shall not have day-to-day control of our affairs and shall not be involved in our day-to-day operations. If our executive officers’ and directors’ other business affairs require them to devote substantial amounts of time to such affairs in excess of their current commitment levels, it could limit their ability to devote time to our affairs which may have a negative impact on our ability to complete our initial business combination.
Certain of our co-founders, directors and officers presently have, and certain of them expect in the future to have, additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities, including other special purpose acquisition companies, and, accordingly, may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented.
Until we consummate our initial business combination, we intend to engage in the business of identifying and combining with one or more businesses or entities. Each of our officers and directors presently has, and certain of them expect in the future to have, additional fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities, including the special purpose acquisition companies noted below and any other special purpose acquisition companies they may become involved with, 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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Certain of our co-founders, directors and officers are affiliated with other special purpose acquisition companies and our sponsor and directors and officers are also not prohibited from sponsoring, investing or otherwise becoming involved with, any other blank check companies, including in connection with their initial business combinations, prior to us completing our initial business combination. For example, affiliates of our sponsor are currently sponsoring several other blank check companies, JAWS Mustang and JAWS Hurricane, and such affiliates expect to sponsor additional blank check companies in the future. Any such companies may pursue similar targets and compete with us for business combination opportunities. JAWS Mustang is focusing on North American and/or European companies in any particular industry for a business combination. JAWS Hurricane is focusing on North American consumer technology and related technology businesses for a business combination. However, none of the foregoing blank check companies is limited to a particular industry or geographic region in its search for its own business combination and may seek opportunities with wireless communications and related technology/product/service businesses that have attractive growth-oriented characteristics and strong underlying demand drivers. Additionally, Mr. Sternlicht is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of JAWS Mustang and a member of the Board of Directors of Vesper Healthcare, and Mr. Aberle is the Chief Executive Officer of Prospector Capital. Each of Vesper Healthcare and Prospector Capital is a blank check company incorporated for the purpose of effecting its own business combination. On May 5, 2021, Vesper Healthcare announced the closing of its merger with The Beauty Health Company (NASDAQ: SKIN). Prospector Capital is focusing on companies with advanced and highly differentiated solutions for the technology sector in any location for a business combination. Mr. Sternlicht owes fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law to JAWS Mustang and under Delaware law to Vesper Healthcare. Mr. Aberle owes fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law to Prospector Capital. Additionally, Mr. Sternlicht is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of JAWS Hurricane and Mr. Racich is the Chief Financial Officer of JAWS Hurricane. Mr. Sternlicht and Mr. Racich owe fiduciary duties under Delaware law to JAWS Hurricane. Any such companies may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an acquisition target, particularly in the event there is overlap among investment mandates. Accordingly, our officers and directors may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented. These conflicts may not be resolved in our favor and a potential target business may be presented to such other blank check companies prior to its presentation to us, subject to our officers’ and directors’ fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law: (i) no individual serving as a director or an officer shall have any duty, except and 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. Any other special purpose acquisition company may also have terms that are the same or different than our terms, including terms that are more favorable to its investors and/or potential target businesses.
Our executive officers, directors, security holders and their respective affiliates may have competitive pecuniary interests that conflict with our interests.
We have not adopted a policy that expressly prohibits our directors, executive officers, security holders or affiliates from having a direct or indirect pecuniary or financial interest in any investment to be acquired or disposed of by us or in any transaction to which we are a party or have an interest. In fact, we may enter into a business combination with a target business that is affiliated with our sponsor, our directors or executive officers, although we do not intend to do so. Nor do we have a policy that expressly prohibits any such persons from engaging for their own account in business activities of the types conducted by us. Accordingly, such persons or entities may have a conflict between their interests and ours.
The personal and financial interests of our directors and officers may influence their motivation in timely identifying and selecting a target business and completing a business combination. Consequently, our directors’ and officers’ discretion in identifying and selecting a suitable target business may result in a conflict of interest when determining whether the terms, conditions and timing of a particular business combination are appropriate and in our shareholders’ best interest. If this were the case, it would be a breach of their fiduciary duties to us as a matter of Cayman Islands law and we or our shareholders might have a claim against such individuals for infringing on our shareholders’ rights.
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We may engage in a business combination with one or more target businesses that have relationships with entities that may be affiliated with our sponsor, executive officers, directors or initial shareholders which may raise potential conflicts of interest.
In light of the involvement of our sponsor, executive officers and directors with other entities, we may decide to acquire one or more businesses affiliated with our sponsor, executive officers, directors or initial shareholders. Our directors also serve as officers and board members for other entities. Our sponsor, officers and directors may sponsor, invest or otherwise become involved with other blank check companies similar to ours, including in connection with initial business combinations, during the period in which we are seeking an initial business combination. Such entities may compete with us for business combination opportunities. Our sponsor, officers and directors are not currently aware of any specific opportunities for us to complete our initial business combination with any entities with which they are affiliated, and there have been no substantive discussions concerning a business combination with any such entity or entities. Although we will not be specifically focusing on, or targeting, any transaction with any affiliated entities, we would pursue such a transaction if we determined that such affiliated entity met our criteria and guidelines for a business combination and such transaction was approved by a majority of our independent and disinterested directors. Despite our agreement to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or an independent accounting firm regarding the fairness to our company from a financial point of view of a business combination with one or more domestic or international businesses affiliated with our sponsor, executive officers, directors or initial shareholders, potential conflicts of interest still may exist and, as a result, the terms of the business combination may not be as advantageous to our public shareholders as they would be absent any conflicts of interest.
Since our sponsor, executive officers and directors will lose their entire investment in us if our initial business combination is not completed (other than with respect to public shares they may acquire during or after our initial public offering), a conflict of interest may arise in determining whether a particular business combination target is appropriate for our initial business combination.
On January 19, 2021, our sponsor purchased founder shares and private placement warrants pursuant to the Securities Purchase Agreement. On June 17, 2021, our sponsor purchased additional private placement warrants, and on June 22, 2021, we effected a share dividend with respect to our Class B ordinary shares. At the closing of our initial public offering, our sponsor held an aggregate of 6,900,000 Class B ordinary shares and 3,760,000 private placement warrants, each exercisable to purchase one Class A ordinary share at $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment. Prior to the initial investment in the company by the sponsor, the company had no assets, tangible or intangible.
If we do not consummate an initial business within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, the founder shares will be worthless and the private placement warrants will expire worthless. The personal and financial interests of our executive officers and directors may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business combination, completing an initial business combination and influencing the operation of the business following the initial business combination. This risk may become more acute as the 24-month anniversary of the closing of our initial public offering nears, which is the deadline for our consummation of an initial business combination.
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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 business, or issue a substantial number of new shares to third-parties in connection with financing our initial business combination. In this case, we would acquire a 100% controlling interest in the 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.
Our sponsor controls a substantial interest in us and thus may exert a substantial influence on actions requiring a shareholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support.
Our sponsor owns, on an as-converted basis, 20% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares. Accordingly, it may exert a substantial influence on actions requiring a shareholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support, including amendments to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association and approval of significant corporate transactions including our initial business combination. If our sponsor purchases any additional Class A ordinary shares in the aftermarket or in privately negotiated transactions, this would increase its control. Neither our sponsor nor, to our knowledge, any of our officers or directors, have any current intention to purchase additional securities. Factors that would be considered in making such additional purchases would include consideration of the current trading price of our Class A ordinary shares. In addition, our board of directors, whose members were elected by our sponsor, is divided into three classes, each of which will generally serve for a term of three years with only one class of directors being elected in each year. We may not hold general meeting to elect new directors prior to the completion of our initial business combination, in which case all of the current directors will continue in office until at least the completion of the business combination. If there is an annual meeting, as a consequence of our “staggered” board of directors, only a minority of the board of directors will be considered for appointment. Accordingly, our sponsor will continue to exert control at least until the completion of our initial business combination.
After our initial business combination, it is possible that a majority of our directors and officers will live outside the United States and all of our assets will be located outside the United States; therefore investors may not be able to enforce federal securities laws or their other legal rights.
It is possible that after our initial business combination, a majority of our directors and officers will reside outside of the United States and all of our assets will be located outside of the United States. As a result, it may be difficult, or in some cases not possible, for investors in the United States to enforce their legal rights, to effect service of process upon all of our directors or officers or to enforce judgments of United States courts predicated upon civil liabilities and criminal penalties on our directors and officers under United States laws.
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We are dependent upon our executive officers and directors and their loss could adversely affect our ability to operate.
Our operations are dependent upon a relatively small group of individuals and, in particular, our executive officers and directors. We believe that our success depends on the continued service of our officers and directors, at least until we have completed our initial business combination. In addition, our executive officers and directors are not required to commit any specified amount of time to our affairs and, accordingly, will have conflicts of interest in allocating their time among various business activities, including identifying potential business combinations and monitoring the related due diligence. Also, Mr. Sternlicht, as Chairman, does not have day-to-day control of our affairs and is not involved in our day-to-day operations. We do not have an employment agreement with, or key-man insurance on the life of, any of our directors or executive officers.
The unexpected loss of the services of one or more of our directors or executive officers could have a detrimental effect on us.
Members of our management team and affiliated companies have been, and may in the future be, involved in civil disputes or governmental investigations unrelated to our business.
Members of our management team have been involved in a wide variety of businesses. Such involvement has, and may lead to, media coverage and public awareness. As a result, members of our management team and affiliated companies have been, and may in the future be, involved in civil disputes or governmental investigations unrelated to our business. For example, Dr. Jacobs and Mr. Aberle are co-defendants in an ongoing federal securities class action filed in 2017 related to their time at Qualcomm which Dr. Jacobs and Mr. Aberle believe is without merit and is being vigorously defended. Any such claims or investigations may be detrimental to our reputation and could negatively affect our ability to identify and complete an initial business combination and may have an adverse effect on the price of our securities.
Risks Associated with Acquiring and Operating a Business in Foreign Countries
If we pursue a target company with operations or opportunities outside of the United States for our initial business combination, we may face additional burdens in connection with investigating, agreeing to and completing such initial business combination, and if we effect such initial business combination, we would be subject to a variety of additional risks that may negatively impact our operations.
If we pursue a target a company with operations or opportunities outside of the United States for our initial business combination, we would be subject to risks associated with cross-border business combinations, including in connection with investigating, agreeing to and completing our initial business combination, conducting due diligence in a foreign jurisdiction, having such transaction approved by any local governments, regulators or agencies and changes in the purchase price based on fluctuations in foreign exchange rates.
If we effect our initial business combination with such a company, we would be subject to any special considerations or risks associated with companies operating in an international setting, including any of the following:
● | costs and difficulties inherent in managing cross-border business operations; |
● | rules and regulations regarding currency redemption; |
● | complex corporate withholding taxes on individuals; |
● | laws governing the manner in which future business combinations may be effected; |
● | exchange listing and/or delisting requirements; |
● | tariffs and trade barriers; |
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● | regulations related to customs and import/export matters; |
● | local or regional economic policies and market conditions; |
● | unexpected changes in regulatory requirements; |
● | longer payment cycles; |
● | tax issues, such as tax law changes and variations in tax laws as compared to the United States; |
● | currency fluctuations and exchange controls; |
● | rates of inflation; |
● | challenges in collecting accounts receivable; |
● | cultural and language differences; |
● | employment regulations; |
● | underdeveloped or unpredictable legal or regulatory systems; |
● | corruption; |
● | protection of intellectual property; |
● | social unrest, crime, strikes, riots and civil disturbances; |
● | regime changes and political upheaval; |
● | terrorist attacks, natural disasters and wars; and |
● | deterioration of political relations with the United States. |
We may not be able to adequately address these additional risks. If we were unable to do so, we may be unable to complete such initial business combination, or, if we complete such combination, our operations might suffer, either of which may adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.
If our management following our initial business combination is unfamiliar with United States securities laws, they may have to expend time and resources becoming familiar with such laws, which could lead to various regulatory issues.
Following our initial business combination, our management may resign from their positions as officers or directors of the company and the management of the target business at the time of the business combination will remain in place. Management of the target business may not be familiar with United States securities laws. If new management is unfamiliar with United States securities laws, they may have to expend time and resources becoming familiar with such laws. This could be expensive and time-consuming and could lead to various regulatory issues which may adversely affect our operations.
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After our initial business combination, substantially all of our assets may be located in a foreign country and substantially all of our revenue may be derived from our operations in any such country. Accordingly, our results of operations and prospects will be subject, to a significant extent, to the economic, political and social conditions and government policies, developments and conditions in the country in which we operate.
The economic, political and social conditions, as well as government policies, of the country in which our operations are located could affect our business. Economic growth could be uneven, both geographically and among various sectors of the economy and such growth may not be sustained in the future. If in the future such country’s economy experiences a downturn or grows at a slower rate than expected, there may be less demand for spending in certain industries. A decrease in demand for spending in certain industries could materially and adversely affect our ability to find an attractive target business with which to consummate our initial business combination and if we effect our initial business combination, the ability of that target business to become profitable.
Exchange rate fluctuations and currency policies may cause a target business’ ability to succeed in the international markets to be diminished.
In the event we acquire a non-U.S. target, all revenues and income would likely be received in a foreign currency, and the dollar equivalent of our net assets and distributions, if any, could be adversely affected by reductions in the value of the local currency. The value of the currencies in our target regions fluctuate and are affected by, among other things, changes in political and economic conditions. Any change in the relative value of such currency against our reporting currency may affect the attractiveness of any target business or, following consummation of our initial business combination, our financial condition and results of operations. Additionally, if a currency appreciates in value against the dollar prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, the cost of a target business as measured in dollars will increase, which may make it less likely that we are able to consummate such transaction.
We may reincorporate in another jurisdiction in connection with our initial business combination, and the laws of such jurisdiction may govern some or all of our future material agreements and we may not be able to enforce our legal rights.
In connection with our initial business combination, we may relocate the home jurisdiction of our business from the Cayman Islands to another jurisdiction. If we determine to do this, the laws of such jurisdiction may govern some or all of our future material agreements. The system of laws and the enforcement of existing laws in such jurisdiction may not be as certain in implementation and interpretation as in the United States. The inability to enforce or obtain a remedy under any of our future agreements could result in a significant loss of business, business opportunities or capital.
We are subject to changing law and regulations regarding regulatory matters, corporate governance and public disclosure that have increased both our costs and the risk of non-compliance.
We are subject to rules and regulations by various governing bodies, including, for example, the SEC, which are charged with the protection of investors and the oversight of companies whose securities are publicly traded, and to new and evolving regulatory measures under applicable law. Our efforts to comply with new and changing laws and regulations have resulted in and are likely to continue to result in, increased general and administrative expenses and a diversion of management time and attention from seeking a business combination target.
Moreover, because these laws, regulations and standards are subject to varying interpretations, their application in practice may evolve over time as new guidance becomes available. This evolution may result in continuing uncertainty regarding compliance matters and additional costs necessitated by ongoing revisions to our disclosure and governance practices. If we fail to address and comply with these regulations and any subsequent changes, we may be subject to penalty and our business may be harmed.
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General Risk Factors
We are a recently incorporated company with no operating history and no revenues, and you have no basis on which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective.
We are a company recently incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands with no operating results. Because we lack an operating history, you have no basis upon which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective of completing our initial business combination with one or more target businesses. We may be unable to complete our initial business combination. If we fail to complete our initial business combination, we will never generate any operating revenues.
Cyber incidents or attacks directed at us could result in information theft, data corruption, operational disruption and/or financial loss.
We depend on digital technologies, including information systems, infrastructure and cloud applications and services, including those of third parties with which we may deal. Sophisticated and deliberate attacks on, or security breaches in, our systems or infrastructure, or the systems or infrastructure of third parties or the cloud, could lead to corruption or misappropriation of our assets, proprietary information and sensitive or confidential data. As an early stage company without significant investments in data security protection, we may not be sufficiently protected against such occurrences. We may not have sufficient resources to adequately protect against, or to investigate and remediate any vulnerability to, cyber incidents. It is possible that any of these occurrences, or a combination of them, could have adverse consequences on our business and lead to financial loss.
Changes in laws or regulations, or a failure to comply with any laws and regulations, may adversely affect our business, including our ability to negotiate and complete our initial business combination, and results of operations.
We are subject to laws and regulations enacted by national, regional and local governments. In particular, we are required to comply with certain SEC and other legal requirements. Compliance with, and monitoring of, applicable laws and regulations may be difficult, time consuming and costly. Those laws and regulations and their interpretation and application may also change from time to time and those changes could have a material adverse effect on our business, investments and results of operations. In addition, a failure to comply with applicable laws or regulations, as interpreted and applied, could have a material adverse effect on our business, including our ability to negotiate and complete our initial business combination, and results of operations.
We may be a passive foreign investment company, or “PFIC,” which could result in adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences to U.S. investors.
If we are a PFIC for any taxable year (or portion thereof) that is included in the holding period of a U.S. Holder of our Class A ordinary shares or warrants, the U.S. Holder may be subject to adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences and may be subject to additional reporting requirements. Our PFIC status for our current and subsequent taxable years may depend on whether we qualify for the PFIC start-up exception. Depending on the particular circumstances the application of the start-up exception may be subject to uncertainty, and there cannot be any assurance that we will qualify for the start-up exception. Accordingly, there can be no assurances with respect to our status as a PFIC for our current taxable year or any subsequent taxable year. Our actual PFIC status for any taxable year, moreover, will not be determinable until after the end of such taxable year. If we determine we are a PFIC for any taxable year, upon written request, we will endeavor to provide to a U.S. Holder such information as the IRS may require, including a PFIC Annual Information Statement, in order to enable the U.S. Holder to make and maintain a “qualified electing fund” election, but there can be no assurance that we will timely provide such required information, and such election would be unavailable with respect to our warrants in all cases. We urge U.S. investors to consult their tax advisors regarding the possible application of the PFIC rules.
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We are an emerging growth company and a smaller reporting company within the meaning of the Securities Act, and if we take advantage of certain exemptions from disclosure requirements available to “emerging growth companies” or “smaller reporting companies,” this could make our securities less attractive to investors and may make it more difficult to compare our performance with other public companies.
We are an “emerging growth company” within the meaning of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act, and we may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. As a result, our shareholders may not have access to certain information they may deem important. We could be an emerging growth company for up to five years, although circumstances could cause us to lose that status earlier, including if the market value of our Class A ordinary shares held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of any June 30 before that time, in which case we would no longer be an emerging growth company as of the following December 31. We cannot predict whether investors will find our securities less attractive because we will rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result of our reliance on these exemptions, the trading prices of our securities may be lower than they otherwise would be, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the trading prices of our securities may be more volatile.
Further, Section 102(b)(1) of the JOBS Act exempts emerging growth companies from being required to comply with new or revised financial accounting standards until private companies (that is, those that have not had a Securities Act registration statement declared effective or do not have a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act) are required to comply with the new or revised financial accounting standards. The JOBS Act provides that a company can elect to opt out of the extended transition period and comply with the requirements that apply to non-emerging growth companies but any such an election to opt out is irrevocable. We have elected not to opt out of such extended transition period which means that when a standard is issued or revised and it has different application dates for public or private companies, we, as an emerging growth company, can adopt the new or revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new or revised standard. This may make comparison of our financial statements with another public company which is neither an emerging growth company nor an emerging growth company which has opted out of using the extended transition period difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accounting standards used.
Additionally, we are a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Item 10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K. Smaller reporting companies may take advantage of certain reduced disclosure obligations, including, among other things, providing only two years of audited financial statements. We will remain a smaller reporting company until the last day of the fiscal year in which (1) the market value of our ordinary shares held by non-affiliates equals or exceeds $250 million as of the prior June 30, and (2) our annual revenues equaled or exceeded $100 million during such completed fiscal year or the market value of our ordinary shares held by non-affiliates equals or exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30. To the extent we take advantage of such reduced disclosure obligations, it may also make comparison of our financial statements with other public companies difficult or impossible.
Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments
None.
Item 2. Properties
We currently maintain our executive offices at 1601 Washington Avenue, Suite 800, Miami Beach, FL 33139. The cost for our use of this space is included in the $10,000 per month fee we pay to an affiliate of our sponsor for office space, administrative and support services. We consider our current office space adequate for our current operations.
Item 3. Legal Proceedings
There is no material litigation, arbitration or governmental proceeding currently pending against us or any members of our management team in their capacity as such.
Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures
Not applicable.
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PART II
Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
(a) Market Information
Our units, ordinary shares, and warrants are each traded on Nasdaq under the symbols “JUGGU,” “JUGG,” and “JUGGW,” respectively. Our units commenced public trading on June 18, 2021. Our Class A ordinary shares and warrants began separate trading on August 9, 2021.
(b) Holders
As of December 31, 2021, there was one holder of record of our units, two holders of record of our Class A ordinary shares, one holder of record of our Class B ordinary shares and two holders of record of our warrants.
(c) Dividends
We have not paid any cash dividends on our ordinary shares to date and do not intend to pay cash dividends prior to the completion of our initial business combination. The payment of cash dividends in the future will be dependent upon our revenues and earnings, if any, capital requirements and general financial condition subsequent to completion of our initial business combination. The payment of any cash dividends subsequent to our initial business combination will be within the discretion of our board of directors at such time. If we incur any indebtedness in connection with a business combination, our ability to declare dividends may be limited by restrictive covenants we may agree to in connection therewith.
(d) Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans
None.
(e) Performance Graph
Not applicable.
(f) Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities; Use of Proceeds from Registered Offerings.
On January 19, 2021, pursuant to a Securities Purchase Agreement, our sponsor purchased 5,750,000 Class B ordinary shares and 3,300,000 private placement warrants for $6,625,000. On June 22, 2021, we effected a share dividend with respect to our Class B ordinary shares of 1,150,000 shares thereof. At the closing of our initial public offering the sponsor held an aggregate of 6,900,000 Class B ordinary shares. On June 17, 2021, the sponsor purchased an additional 460,000 private placement warrants, resulting in the sponsor holding an aggregate of 3,760,000 private placement warrants.
Our sponsor is an accredited investor for purposes of Rule 501 of Regulation D. Each of the equity holders in our sponsor is an accredited investor under Rule 501 of Regulation D. The sole business of our sponsor was to act as the company’s sponsor in connection with our initial offering.
On June 22, 2021, we consummated our initial public offering of 27,600,000 units, which included the exercise in full of the underwriter’s option to purchase an additional 3,600,000 units at the initial public offering price to cover over-allotments, at an offering price of $10.00 per unit, generating gross proceeds to the company of $276,000,000. Each unit consisted of one Class A ordinary share of the company, par value $0.0001 per share, and one-fourth of one redeemable warrant of the company.
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The private placement warrants are identical to the warrants underlying the units sold in our initial public offering, except that the private placement warrants are not transferable, assignable or salable until after the completion of a business combination, subject to certain limited exceptions.
We incurred offering costs of approximately $11.4 million, of which approximately $9,660,000 was for deferred underwriting commissions, and $406,000 was offering costs allocated to the derivative warrant liabilities.
Use of Proceeds
For a description of the use of the proceeds generated in our initial public offering, see Item 7 of this Report.
(g) Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers
None.
Item 6. Reserved
Not applicable.
Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.
Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.
References to the “Company,” “JAWS Juggernaut Acquisition Corporation, “our,” “us” or “we” refer to JAWS Juggernaut Acquisition Corporation. 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 report. Certain information contained in the discussion and analysis set forth below includes forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This Annual Report on Form 10-K includes 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 Form 10-K. 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.
Overview
We are a blank check company incorporated as a Cayman Islands exempted company on December 16, 2020. We were incorporated for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses (the “Business Combination”) that we have not yet identified. We are an emerging growth company and, as such, we are subject to all of the risks associated with emerging growth companies.
Our sponsor is Juggernaut Sponsor LLC, a Delaware limited liability company and an affiliate of JAWS Estates Capital (the “Sponsor”). The registration statement for our Initial Public Offering was declared effective on June 17, 2021. On June 22, 2021, we consummated our initial public offering (the “Initial Public Offering”) of 27,600,000 units (the “Units” and, with respect to the Class A ordinary shares included in the Units being offered, the “Public Shares”), which included the full exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase an additional 3,600,000 Units to cover over-allotments, at $10.00 per Unit, generating gross proceeds of $276.0 million. As of December 31, 2021, offering costs totaled approximately $15,286,000 (consisting of approximately $5,220,000 of underwriting fees, net of approximately $300,000 reimbursed from the underwriters, approximately $9,660,000 of deferred underwriting fees and approximately $406,000 of other offering costs), of which approximately $761,000 was charged to the statement of operations upon the completion of the IPO and approximately $14,526,000 was charged to shareholders’ deficit.
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Prior to the closing of the Initial Public Offering, we sold an aggregate of 6,900,000 Class B ordinary shares and 3,760,000 private placement warrants (“Private Placement Warrants”) to our Sponsor generating gross proceeds of $7,545,000.
Upon the closing of the Initial Public Offering and the Private Placement, $276.0 million ($10.00 per Unit) of the net proceeds of the sale of the Units in the Initial Public Offering and of the Private Placement Warrants in the Private Placement were placed in a trust account (“Trust Account”) and were invested in U.S. government securities, within the meaning set forth in Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act, with a maturity of 185 days or less, or in any open-ended investment company that holds itself out as a money market fund investing solely in U.S. Treasuries and meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”), as determined by the Company, until the earliest of: (i) the completion of a Business Combination and (ii) the distribution of the funds in the Trust Account to the Company’s shareholders, as described below.
Our management has broad discretion with respect to the specific application of the net proceeds of the Initial Public Offering and the sale of Private Placement Units, although substantially all of the net proceeds are intended to be applied generally toward consummating a Business Combination. There is no assurance that we will be able to complete a Business Combination successfully. We must complete one or more initial Business Combinations having an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the net assets held in the Trust Account (excluding the amount of deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on the interest earned on the Trust Account) at the time of the signing of the agreement to enter into the initial Business Combination. However, we will only complete a Business Combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act.
If we are unable to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period, we will (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up; (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem 100% of 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 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 then issued and outstanding Public Shares, which redemption will completely extinguish the rights of the Public Shareholders as shareholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any), and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining Public 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 warrants, which will expire worthless if we fail to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
As of December 31, 2021, the Company had approximately $579,000 in its operating bank account and working capital of approximately $720,000.
Our liquidity needs to date have been satisfied through a contribution of $25,000 from Sponsor in exchange for the issuance of the Founder Shares, and Private Placement Warrants, and loan from the Sponsor of approximately $174,000 under the promissory note dated as of January 19, 2021 (the “Note”). The Company repaid the Note in full on June 23, 2021, at which time the Note was terminated. Subsequent to the consummation of the Initial Public Offering, the Company’s liquidity has been satisfied through the net proceeds from the consummation of the Initial Public Offering and the Private Placement held outside of the Trust Account. In addition, in order to finance transaction costs in connection with a Business Combination, the Sponsor or an affiliate of the Sponsor, or certain of the Company’s officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, provide the Company Working Capital Loans. As of December 31, 2021, there were no outstanding Working Capital Loans.
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Based on the foregoing, management believes that the Company will have sufficient working capital and borrowing capacity to meet its needs through the earlier of the consummation of a Business Combination or one year from this filing. Over this time period, the Company will be using the funds held outside of the Trust Account for paying existing accounts payable, identifying and evaluating prospective initial Business Combination candidates, performing due diligence on prospective target businesses, paying for travel expenditures, selecting the target business to merge with or acquire, and structuring, negotiating and consummating the Business Combination.
Management continues to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the industry and has concluded that while it is reasonably possible that the virus could have a negative effect on our financial position, results of our operations and/or search for a target company, the specific impact is not readily determinable as of the date of the financial statements. The financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.
Results of Operations
Our entire activity since inception up to December 31, 2021, was in preparation for our formation and the Initial Public Offering. We will not be generating any operating revenues until the closing and completion of our initial Business Combination.
For the year ended December 31, 2021, we had net income of approximately $8.8 million, which consisted of an approximately $10.4 million non-operating gain resulting from the change in fair value of derivative liabilities and income from investments held in the Trust Account of approximately $25,000, partly offset by approximately $825,000 in general and administrative expense, approximately $761,000 of offering costs associated with derivative warrant liabilities, and approximately $63,000 in in general and administrative expenses -related party.
Contractual Obligations
Administrative Support Agreement
Commencing on the effective date of our registration statement, the Company agreed to pay the Sponsor a total of $10,000 per month for office space, secretarial and administrative services provided to us. Upon completion of the initial Business Combination or the Company’s liquidation, we will cease paying these monthly fees.
For the year ended December 31, 2021, we incurred approximately $63,000 in such fees, included as general and administrative fees - related party on the statement of operations. As of December 31, 2021, there were no amounts payable for such fees.
Registration and Shareholder Rights
The holders of the Founder Shares, Private Placement Warrants and any warrants that may be issued upon conversion of Working Capital Loans (and any Class A ordinary shares issuable upon the exercise of the Private Placement Warrants and warrants that may be issued upon conversion of the Working Capital Loans) have registration rights to require the Company to register a sale of any of the securities held by them pursuant to a registration rights agreement signed upon the effective date of the Initial Public Offering. The holders of these securities are entitled to make up to three demands, excluding short form demands, that we register such securities. In addition, the holders have certain “piggy-back” registration rights with respect to registration statements filed subsequent to the completion of a Business Combination. The registration rights agreement does not contain liquidating damages or other cash settlement provisions resulting from delays in registering our securities. We will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such registration statements.
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Underwriting Agreement
We granted the underwriter a 45-day option from the final prospectus relating to the Initial Public Offering to purchase up to 3,600,000 additional Units to cover over-allotments, if any, at the Initial Public Offering price less the underwriting discounts and commissions. The underwriter fully exercised the over-allotment option on June 22, 2021.
The underwriter was entitled to an underwriting discount of $0.20 per unit, or $5.5 million in the aggregate, paid upon the closing of the Initial Public Offering. In addition, $0.35 per unit, or approximately $9.7 million in the aggregate will be payable to the underwriter for deferred underwriting commissions. The deferred fee will become payable to the underwriter from the amounts held in the Trust Account solely in the event that we complete a Business Combination, subject to the terms of the underwriting agreement.
Critical Accounting Policies
Derivative Warrant Liabilities
We do not use derivative instruments to hedge exposures to cash flow, market, or foreign currency risks. We evaluate all of our financial instruments, including issued warrants to purchase shares, to determine if such instruments are derivatives or contain features that qualify as embedded derivatives, pursuant to ASC 480 and FASB ASC Topic 815, “Derivatives and Hedging” (“ASC 815”). The classification of derivative instruments, including whether such instruments should be recorded as liabilities or as equity, is re-assessed at the end of each reporting period.
The warrants issued in connection with the Initial Public Offering (the “Public Warrants”) and the Private Placement Warrants are recognized as derivative liabilities in accordance with ASC 815. Accordingly, we recognize the warrant instruments as liabilities at fair value and adjust the instruments to fair value at each reporting period. The liabilities are subject to re-measurement at each balance sheet date until exercised, and any change in fair value is recognized in our statement of operations. The fair value of the Public Warrants issued in connection with the Public Offering and Private Placement Warrants were initially measured at fair value using a Black-Scholes Option Pricing Method (the “BSM”). As of December 31, 2021, the fair value of the Public Warrants is based on their listed trading price and the fair value of the Private Placement Warrants is measured by reference to the listed trading price of the Public Warrants. The determination of the fair value of the warrant liability may be subject to change as more current information becomes available and accordingly the actual results could differ significantly. Derivative warrant liabilities are classified as non-current liabilities as their liquidation is not reasonably expected to require the use of current assets or require the creation of current liabilities.
Offering Costs Associated with the Initial Public Offering
Offering costs consisted of legal, accounting, underwriting fees and other costs incurred through the Initial Public Offering that were directly related to the Initial Public Offering. Offering costs are allocated to the separable financial instruments issued in the Initial Public Offering based on a relative fair value basis, compared to total proceeds received. Offering costs associated with warrant liabilities are expensed as incurred and presented as non-operating expenses in the statement of operations. Offering costs associated with the Public Share were charged to the carrying value of the Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption upon the completion of the Initial Public Offering. We classify deferred underwriting commissions as non-current liabilities as their liquidation is not reasonably expected to require the use of current assets or require the creation of current liabilities.
Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption
We account for Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption in accordance with the guidance in ASC 480. Class A ordinary shares subject to mandatory redemption (if any) are classified as liability instruments and are measured at fair value. Conditionally redeemable Class A ordinary shares (including Class A 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, Class A ordinary shares are classified as shareholders’ equity. Our Class A ordinary shares feature certain redemption rights that are considered to be outside of our control and subject to the occurrence of uncertain future events. Accordingly, 27,600,000 Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption are presented as temporary equity, outside of the shareholders’ equity section of the Company’s balance sheet. There were no Class A ordinary shares issued or outstanding at December 31, 2020.
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Under ASC 480-10-S99, we have elected to recognize changes in the redemption value immediately as they occur and adjust the carrying value of the security to equal the redemption value at the end of the reporting period. This method would view the end of the reporting period as if it were also the redemption date of the security. Effective with the closing of the Initial Public Offering, we recognized the accretion from initial book value to redemption amount, which resulted in charges against additional paid-in capital (to the extent available) 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. Net income (loss) per ordinary share is calculated by dividing the net income (loss) by the weighted average shares of ordinary shares outstanding for the respective period.
The calculation of diluted net income (loss) per ordinary shares does not consider the effect of the warrants issued in connection with the Initial Public Offering (including exercise of the over-allotment option) and the Private Placement to purchase an aggregate of 10,660,000 Class A ordinary shares since their exercise is contingent upon future events. We have considered the effect of Class B ordinary shares that were excluded from the weighted average number of basic shares outstanding as they were contingent on the exercise of the over-allotment option by the underwriters. Since the contingency was satisfied, we have included these shares in the weighted average number as of the beginning of the period to determine the dilutive impact of these shares. 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
In August 2020, the FASB issued ASU No. 2020-06, Debt-Debt with Conversion and Other Options (Subtopic 470-20) and Derivatives and Hedging-Contracts in Entity’s Own Equity (Subtopic 815-40): Accounting for Convertible Instruments and Contracts in an Entity’s Own Equity (“ASU 2020-06”), which simplifies accounting for convertible instruments by removing major separation models required under current GAAP. The ASU also removes certain settlement conditions that are required for equity-linked contracts to qualify for the derivative scope exception, and it simplifies the diluted earnings per share calculation in certain areas. The Company adopted ASU 2020-06 on January 1, 2021. Adoption of the ASU did not impact the Company’s financial position, results of operations or cash flows.
Our management does not believe that any other recently issued, but not yet effective, accounting standards updates, if currently adopted, would have a material effect on the accompanying financial statement.
Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements
As of December 31, 2021, we did not have any off-balance sheet arrangements as defined in Item 303(a)(4)(ii) of Regulation S-K.
JOBS Act
The Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the “JOBS Act”) contains provisions that, among other things, relax certain reporting requirements for qualifying public companies. We qualify as an “emerging growth company” and under the JOBS Act are 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 a result, the financial statements may not be comparable to companies that comply with new or revised accounting pronouncements as of public company effective dates.
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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 controls over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404, (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 the CEO’s compensation to median employee compensation. These exemptions will apply for a period of five years following the completion of our Initial Public Offering or until we are no longer an “emerging growth company,” whichever is earlier.
Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk.
We are a smaller reporting company as defined by Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act and are not required to provide the information otherwise required under this item.
Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.
Reference is made to Pages F-1 through F-19 comprising a portion of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure.
None.
Item 9A. Controls and Procedures
Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
As of December 31, 2021, as required by Rules 13a-15 and 15d-15 under the Exchange Act, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer carried out an evaluation of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures. Based upon their evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act) were not effective as of December 31, 2021 because of a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting. A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the Company’s annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. Specifically, the Company’s management has concluded that our control around the interpretation and accounting for certain complex financial instruments issued by us was not effectively designed or maintained. In light of this material weakness, we performed additional analysis as deemed necessary to ensure that our financial statements were prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. Accordingly, management believes that the financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K present fairly in all material respects our financial position, results of operations and cash flows for the period presented.
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 company reports filed or submitted under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.
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We do not expect that our disclosure controls and procedures will prevent all errors and all instances of fraud. Disclosure controls and procedures, no matter how well conceived and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of the disclosure controls and procedures are met. Further, the design of disclosure controls and procedures must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints, and the benefits must be considered relative to their costs. Because of the inherent limitations in all disclosure controls and procedures, no evaluation of disclosure controls and procedures can provide absolute assurance that we have detected all our control deficiencies and instances of fraud, if any. The design of disclosure controls and procedures also is based partly on certain assumptions about the likelihood of future events, and there can be no assurance that any design will succeed in achieving its stated goals under all potential future conditions.
Management’s Report on Internal Controls Over Financial Reporting
This Annual Report on Form 10-K does not include an attestation report of internal controls from our independent registered public accounting firm due to our status as an emerging growth company under the JOBS Act.
Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting
There were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting (as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) of the Exchange Act) during the most recent fiscal quarter that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting except for the below.
Our control around the interpretation and accounting for certain complex features of the Class A ordinary shares issued by the Company was not effectively designed or maintained resulting in the misclassification of Class A ordinary shares as permanent equity instead of temporary equity and changes to the Company’s net income (loss) per share calculations.
The Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer performed additional accounting and financial analyses and other post-closing procedures including consulting with subject matter experts related to the accounting for certain complex financial instruments. The Company’s management has expended, and will continue to expend, a substantial amount of effort and resources for the remediation and improvement of our internal control over financial reporting. While we have processes to properly identify and evaluate the appropriate accounting technical pronouncements and other literature for all significant or unusual transactions, we have expanded and will continue to improve these processes to ensure that the nuances of such transactions are effectively evaluated in the context of the increasingly complex accounting standards. The elements of our remediation plan can only be accomplished over time, and we can offer no assurance that these initiatives will ultimately have the intended effects.
Item 9B. Other Information
None.
Item 9C. Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections
Not applicable.
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Part III
Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance
Directors and Executive Officers
As of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, our directors and officers are as follows:
Name | Age | Position | ||
Barry S. Sternlicht | 61 | Chairman | ||
Paul E. Jacobs, Ph.D. | 59 | Chief Executive Officer and Director | ||
Derek K. Aberle | 52 | Director | ||
Wilcoln Lee | 46 | Chief Investment Officer | ||
Michael Racich | 50 | Chief Financial Officer | ||
David E. Wise | 56 | Director | ||
Cory Gardner | 47 | Director |
Barry S. Sternlicht serves as the Chairman of the board of directors of JAWS Juggernaut Acquisition Corporation and is a well-known entrepreneur and operator with an extensive deal-making history. He founded Starwood Capital in 1991 and currently serves as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Starwood Capital is a private alternative investment firm focused on global real estate, hotel management, oil and gas, and energy infrastructure with $115 billion of assets under management, as of January 31, 2022. Through the Starwood Capital platform, Mr. Sternlicht has created several multi-billion dollar public market companies, ranging from traditional real estate to branded hospitality. He has also executed several marquee public market transactions to enhance the scale of his core platform — including the creation and expansion of Starwood Property Trust (NYSE: STWD), the consolidation of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide (formerly NYSE: HOT), the spin-off and growth of Invitation Homes (NYSE: INVH), and the formation of Equity Residential (NYSE: EQR). Similarly, he has been involved in numerous private market consumer businesses as an early investor.
Mr. Sternlicht currently serves as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of STWD, a leading, diversified real estate finance company with $7 billion in market capitalization; and one of the first mortgage REITs launched post-crisis. Since inception in 2009, Mr. Sternlicht has guided STWD through a steady evolution with $83 billion in deployed capital, evolving from a pure-play commercial lender to a diversified commercial REIT with residential lending, commercial mortgage servicing, property ownership, and infrastructure lending. Mr. Sternlicht also has deep operating expertise, serving as the Chairman, from January 1995 through May 2005, and as the Chief Executive Officer, from January 1995 through September 2004, of HOT; a period in which the share price appreciated at a compound annual growth rate of approximately 16%. Over his tenure as Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Sternlicht grew the total market capitalization of HOT to approximately $10 billion. As Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Sternlicht executed several key acquisitions, including Westin Hotels, Patriot American, and ITT Corp., and led the development of the W Hotel concept.
Additionally, Mr. Sternlicht currently serves as Chairman of two public SPACs, JAWS Mustang (NYSE: JWSM), which successfully conducted its initial public offering in February 2021, and JAWS Hurricane (Nasdaq: HCNE), which successfully conducted its initial public offering in June 2021. Mr. Sternlicht previously served as Chairman of JAWS Acquisition, through its business combination with Cano Health Inc., which closed on June 3, 2021. Mr. Sternlicht is currently a member of the board of directors of Cano Health. Cano Health is a primary care-centric, technology-powered healthcare delivery and population health platform. The combined company operates as Cano Health, and is listed on the NYSE under the new ticker symbol “CANO”. Mr. Sternlicht also previously served as Chairman of JAWS Spitfire Acquisition Corporation (“JAWS Spitfire”), through its business combination with Velo3D, which closed on September 29, 2021. Upon closing of the business combination, Mr. Sternlicht resigned as the Chairman of the board of directors. Velo3D, Inc. is a leader in additive manufacturing for high value metal parts. The combined company operates as Velo3D and is listed on the NYSE under the ticker symbol “VLD”. Mr. Sternlicht also served as Director of Vesper Healthcare Acquisition Corp. which, on May 4, 2021, consummated a business combination with Hydrafacial and changed its name to The Beauty Health Company (Nasdaq: SKIN). Mr. Sternlicht is also a member of the board of directors of INVH, The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE: EL), and A.S. Roma S.p.A. (MIB: ASR).
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Outside of his public market experience, Mr. Sternlicht has made a variety of investments in the consumer sector. Most notably, he has created a number of independent hotel brands, including Baccarat Hotels, 1 Hotels and Treehouse Hotels, which are operated by SH Hotels & Resorts, a hotel brand management company and an affiliate of Starwood Capital. In addition to these investments, Mr. Sternlicht has invested in various consumer facing companies, including ThirdLove, a women’s clothing brand, Lyft, a ride share application, 2ndMD, which offers medical second opinions with virtual online consultations, Bonobos, an e-commerce-driven apparel company, Palantir, which specializes in big data analytics, Parachute Home, a premium home essentials brand, Little Spoon, a direct-to-consumer organic baby food, Away, a modern travel brand, and Wish, a mobile e-commerce platform. ThirdLove, Parachute Home, Little Spoon, and Away are women-led companies. We believe Mr. Sternlicht’s experience makes him well qualified to serve as a member of our board of directors.
Paul E. Jacobs, Ph.D. is the Chief Executive Officer of JAWS Juggernaut Acquisition Corporation and serves on our board of directors. Dr. Jacobs has over three decades of leadership experience in mobile communications and is currently the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of XCOM Labs, a wireless technology company he founded in April 2018. XCOM Labs includes an experienced team of wireless systems engineers and professionals that develop advanced wireless technology solutions, including ones that enable high-performance 5G use cases. From 1990 to 2018, Dr. Jacobs held numerous engineering and leadership positions at Qualcomm, Inc. (Nasdaq: QCOM), a semiconductor and telecommunications equipment company, including Executive Chairman, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Jacobs served as Qualcomm’s Executive Chairman from March 2014 to March 2018; Chairman of the board of directors from March 2009 to March 2018; and Chief Executive Officer from July 2005 to March 2014. As Chief Executive Officer of Qualcomm, Dr. Jacobs spearheaded the company’s efforts to develop and commercialize mobile technology breakthroughs that significantly contributed to the growth of both the company and the industry. During his tenure as Chief Executive Officer, Qualcomm’s revenue more than quadrupled from approximately $5.7 billion in 2005 to approximately $26.5 billion in 2014.
Dr. Jacobs currently serves as an advisor and member of the board of directors for a number of other companies and organizations, both public and private. Since 2016, Dr. Jacobs has been a member of the board of directors of Dropbox. He has been the Chairman of Heal, a market leader in doctor house calls, since 2019. Dr. Jacobs is an alternate Governor of the NBA and Executive Vice Chairman of the Sacramento Kings. He is the Co-Chair of the UC Berkeley Board of Visitors; the Co-Chair of the advisory board of the UCB College of Engineering; a member of the Cornell Tech Council; a member of the National Academy of Engineering; and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Jacobs holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, an M.S. in Electrical Engineering, and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley.
Michael Racich is the Chief Financial Officer of JAWS Juggernaut Acquisition Corporation. Mr. Racich is also the Chief Financial Officer of JAWS Hurricane and JAWS Mustang. Since 2010, Mr. Racich has served as the Chief Financial officer of JAWS Estates Capital LLC. Mr. Racich previously served as the Chief Financial Officer of JAWS Acquisition from December 27, 2019 until the completion of its business combination with Cano Health on June 3, 2021 and also served as the Chief Financial Officer of JAWS Spitfire until the completion of its business combination with Velo3D on September 29, 2021. Previously, Mr. Racich was a director at Frydland Stevens LLC from 2007 to 2014 and also worked for JAWS Estates Capital LLC from 2005 to 2007. While at Frydland Stevens LLC, Mr. Racich advised JAWS Estates Capital LLC on tax related issues and was responsible for preparing JAWS Estates Capital LLC’s tax filings. Mr. Racich graduated from Villanova University in 1994 with a Bachelor of Science in Accountancy.
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Wilcoln Lee is the Chief Investment Officer of JAWS Juggernaut Acquisition Corporation. Mr. Lee has served as Portfolio Manager of JAWS Estates Capital LLC since 2008. Mr. Lee directs the public market strategy of JAWS Estates Capital LLC with a particular emphasis on technology, media, and telecom. He also directed JAWS Estates Capital LLC’s private investments in Pivotal Commware and XCOM Labs. Prior to joining JAWS Estates Capital LLC, Mr. Lee was Director of Research at Scout Capital Management, a New York based hedge fund. Before Scout Capital, Mr. Lee was an analyst at Flatiron Partners, a New York based venture capital firm. He began his career as an analyst in the Mergers & Acquisitions group of Donaldson, Lufkin, & Jenrette. Mr. Lee received a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University.
Derek K. Aberle is a member of the board of directors of JAWS Juggernaut Acquisition Corporation. Mr. Aberle currently serves as Executive Vice Chairman and director of XCOM Labs, which he co-founded with Paul E. Jacobs, Ph.D. in 2018. He also is CEO and member of the board of directors of Prospector Capital Corp. (Nasdaq: PRSRU), a SPAC which successfully conducted its initial public offering in January 2021. Mr. Aberle served as President and Chief Operating Officer of XCOM Labs from July 2018 to November 2020. Prior to XCOM Labs, Mr. Aberle spent 17 years at Qualcomm, including as President of Qualcomm from March 2014 to January 2018. He was an officer and member of Qualcomm’s Executive Committee and Qualcomm Ventures Investment Committee from 2008 until January 2018. As President and Group President, he led many of Qualcomm’s growth strategies and oversaw both Qualcomm’s earlier stage and mature businesses, including the semiconductor, technology and IP licensing (“QTL”), data center, display, wireless charging, augmented reality, and healthcare businesses. While Mr. Aberle was leading QTL, annual revenue more than doubled from approximately $3.6 billion to approximately $7.9 billion in 2015 and accounted for approximately two-thirds of Qualcomm’s earnings before taxes during that period. Prior to Qualcomm, Mr. Aberle was an attorney with the international law firms Pillsbury Winthrop and Heller Ehrman. We believe Mr. Aberle’s experience makes him well qualified to serve as a member of our board of directors.
David E. Wise is a member of the board of directors of JAWS Juggernaut Acquisition Corporation. Mr. Wise served in various positions at Qualcomm Inc. (Nasdaq: QCOM) for nearly 24 years. From April 2019 to August 2019 Mr. Wise served as Senior Vice President and Interim Chief Financial Officer of Qualcomm Inc. and from December 2015 to April 2019, Mr. Wise served as Senior Vice President of Finance and Treasurer of Qualcomm Inc. Prior to joining Qualcomm Inc., Mr. Wise was an associate at Dean Witter Reynolds, an investment banking firm from June 1994 to January 1997. Mr. Wise received an MBA from the Darden School of Management at University of Virginia and a B.A. in Economics from Bates College. We believe Mr. Wise’s significant management and investment experience make him well qualified to serve as a member of our board of directors.
Cory Gardner is a member of the board of JAWS Juggernaut Acquisition Corporation. Mr. Gardner is a former senator and representative from Yuma, Colorado. Mr. Gardner served as a member of the Colorado state house of representatives from 2005 to 2010 and was elected as a U.S. representative for Colorado from 2011 to 2015. Mr. Gardner was elected to the United States Senate in 2014, and he served as a senator from 2015-2021, which included serving as the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee from 2017-2018. Mr. Gardner holds a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Colorado State University and a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Colorado. We believe Mr. Gardner’s experience makes him well qualified to serve as a member of our board of directors.
Number and Terms of Office of Officers and Directors
Our board of directors is divided into three classes, with only one class of directors being elected in each year, and with each class (except for those directors appointed prior to our first annual general meeting) serving a three-year term. In accordance with Nasdaq corporate governance requirements, we are not required to hold an annual general meeting until one year after our first fiscal year end following our listing on Nasdaq. The term of office of the first class of directors, consisting of David Wise, will expire at our first annual general meeting. The term of office of the second class of directors, consisting of Derek K. Aberle and Cory Gardner, will expire at our second annual meeting of shareholders. The term of office of the third class of directors, consisting of Barry S. Sternlicht and Paul E. Jacobs, Ph.D., will expire at our third annual meeting of shareholders.
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Our sponsor, upon and following consummation of an initial business combination, will be entitled to nominate three individuals for appointment to our board of directors, as long as the sponsor holds any securities covered by the registration and shareholder rights agreement. Approval of our initial business combination will require the affirmative vote of a majority of our board directors, which must include a majority of our independent directors.
Our officers are appointed by the board of directors and serve at the discretion of the board of directors, rather than for specific terms of office. Our board of directors is authorized to appoint persons to the offices set forth in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association as it deems appropriate. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that our officers may consist of one or more chairmen of the board, chief executive officer, president, chief financial officer, vice presidents, secretary, treasurer and such other offices as may be determined by the board of directors.
Director Independence
Nasdaq listing standards require that, subject to phase-in rules, a majority of our board of directors be independent. Our board of directors has determined that Mr. Wise and Mr. Gardner are “independent directors” as defined in Nasdaq listing standards. Our independent directors will have regularly scheduled meetings at which only independent directors are present.
Committees of the Board of Directors
Our board of directors has two standing committees: an audit committee and a compensation committee. Subject to phase-in rules and a limited exception, the rules of Nasdaq and Rule 10A-3 of the Exchange Act require that the audit committee of a listed company be comprised solely of independent directors. Subject to phase-in rules and a limited exception, the rules of Nasdaq require that the compensation committee of a listed company be comprised solely of independent directors
Audit Committee
We have established an audit committee of the board of directors. Mr. Wise, Mr. Gardner, Dr. Jacobs and Mr. Aberle will serve as members of our audit committee. Our board of directors has determined that Mr. Wise and Mr. Gardner are independent under Nasdaq listing standards and applicable SEC rules. Mr. Wise serves as the Chairman of the audit committee. Dr. Jacobs and Mr. Aberle do not meet the independent director standard under Rule 10A-3(b)(l) of the Exchange Act. Under Nasdaq listing standards and applicable SEC rules, subject to phase-in rules, we are required to have at least three members of the audit committee, all of whom must be independent. Because we list our securities on Nasdaq in connection with our initial public offering, our audit committee must have one independent member at the time of listing, a majority of independent members within 90 days of listing, and consist entirely of independent members within one year of listing. Each member of the audit committee is financially literate and our board of directors has determined that Mr. Wise qualifies as an “audit committee financial expert” as defined in applicable SEC rules.
The audit committee is responsible for:
● | meeting with our independent registered public accounting firm regarding, among other issues, audits, and adequacy of our accounting and control systems; |
● | monitoring the independence of the independent registered public accounting firm; |
● | verifying the rotation of the lead (or coordinating) audit partner having primary responsibility for the audit and the audit partner responsible for reviewing the audit as required by law; |
● | inquiring and discussing with management our compliance with applicable laws and regulations; |
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● | pre-approving all audit services and permitted non-audit services to be performed by our independent registered public accounting firm, including the fees and terms of the services to be performed; |
● | appointing or replacing the independent registered public accounting firm; |
● | determining the compensation and oversight of the work of the independent registered public accounting firm (including resolution of disagreements between management and the independent auditor regarding financial reporting) for the purpose of preparing or issuing an audit report or related work; |
● | establishing procedures for the receipt, retention and treatment of complaints received by us regarding accounting, internal accounting controls or reports which raise material issues regarding our financial statements or accounting policies; |
● | monitoring compliance on a quarterly basis and, if any noncompliance is identified, immediately taking all action necessary to rectify such noncompliance or otherwise causing compliance; and |
● | reviewing and approving all payments made to our existing shareholders, executive officers or directors and their respective affiliates. Any payments made to members of our audit committee will be reviewed and approved by our board of directors, with the interested director or directors abstaining from such review and approval. |
Director Nominations
We do not have a standing nominating committee though we intend to form a corporate governance and nominating committee as and when required to do so by law or Nasdaq rules. In accordance with Rule 5605 of the Nasdaq rules, a majority of the independent directors may recommend a director nominee for selection by the board of directors. The board of directors believes that the independent director can satisfactorily carry out the responsibility of properly selecting or approving director nominees without the formation of a standing nominating committee. The directors who will participate in the consideration and recommendation of director nominees Mr. Wise and Mr. Gardner. In accordance with Rule 5605 of the Nasdaq rules, Mr. Wise and Mr. Gardner are independent and all further directors participating in the consideration and recommendation of director nominees will be independent. As there is no standing nominating committee, we do not have a nominating committee charter in place.
The board of directors will also consider director candidates recommended for nomination by our shareholders during such times as they are seeking proposed nominees to stand for election at the next annual meeting of shareholders (or, if applicable, a special meeting of shareholders). Our shareholders that wish to nominate a director for election to our board of directors should follow the procedures set forth in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association.
We have not formally established any specific, minimum qualifications that must be met or skills that are necessary for directors to possess. In general, in identifying and evaluating nominees for director, the board of directors considers educational background, diversity of professional experience, knowledge of our business, integrity, professional reputation, independence, wisdom, and the ability to represent the best interests of our shareholders.
Compensation Committee
We have established a compensation committee of our board of directors. The members of our compensation committee are Mr. Wise, Mr. Gardner and Mr. Aberle. Mr. Wise serves as chairman of the compensation committee.
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Under Nasdaq listing standards, we are required to have a compensation committee composed entirely of independent directors. Because we list our securities on Nasdaq, our compensation committee must have one independent member at the time of listing, a majority of independent members within 90 days of listing, and consist of all independent members within one year of listing. Our board of directors has determined that Mr. Wise and Mr. Gardner are independent. We adopted a compensation committee charter, which details the principal functions of the compensation committee, including:
● | reviewing and approving on an annual basis the corporate goals and objectives relevant to our Chief Executive Officer’s compensation, evaluating our Chief Executive Officer’s performance in light of such goals and objectives and determining and approving the remuneration (if any) of our Chief Executive Officer based on such evaluation; |
● | reviewing and approving the compensation of all of our other Section 16 executive officers; |
● | reviewing our executive compensation policies and plans; |
● | implementing and administering our incentive compensation equity-based remuneration plans; |
● | assisting management in complying with our proxy statement and annual report disclosure requirements; |
● | approving all special perquisites, special cash payments and other special compensation and benefit arrangements for our executive officers and employees; |
● | producing a report on executive compensation to be included in our annual proxy statement; and |
● | reviewing, evaluating and recommending changes, if appropriate, to the remuneration for directors. |
The charter also provides that the compensation committee may, in its sole discretion, retain or obtain the advice of a compensation consultant, legal counsel or other adviser and will be directly responsible for the appointment, compensation and oversight of the work of any such adviser. However, before engaging or receiving advice from a compensation consultant, external legal counsel or any other adviser, the compensation committee will consider the independence of each such adviser, including the factors required by Nasdaq and the SEC.
Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation
None of our executive officers currently serves, and in the past year has not served, as a member of the compensation committee of any entity that has one or more executive officers serving on our board of directors.
Code of Ethics
We adopted a Code of Ethics applicable to our directors, officers and employees. A copy of the Code of Ethics will be provided without charge upon request from us. We intend to disclose any amendments to or waivers of certain provisions of our Code of Ethics in a Current Report on Form 8-K.
Conflicts of Interest
Under Cayman Islands law, directors and officers owe the following fiduciary duties:
● | duty to act in good faith in what the director or officer believes to be in the best interests of the company as a whole; |
● | duty to exercise powers for the purposes for which those powers were conferred and not for a collateral purpose; |
● | directors should not improperly fetter the exercise of future discretion; |
● | duty to exercise powers fairly as between different sections of shareholders; |
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● | duty not to put themselves in a position in which there is a conflict between their duty to the company and their personal interests; and |
● | duty to exercise independent judgment. |
In addition to the above, directors also owe a duty of care which is not fiduciary in nature. This duty has been defined as a requirement to act as a reasonably diligent person having both the general knowledge, skill and experience that may reasonably be expected of a person carrying out the same functions as are carried out by that director in relation to the company and the general knowledge skill and experience of that director.
As set out above, directors have a duty not to put themselves in a position of conflict and this includes a duty not to engage in self-dealing, or to otherwise benefit as a result of their position. However, in some instances what would otherwise be a breach of this duty can be forgiven and/or authorized in advance by the shareholders provided that there is full disclosure by the directors. This can be done by way of permission granted in the amended and restated memorandum and articles of association or alternatively by shareholder approval at general meetings.
Certain of our co-founders, officers and directors presently have, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities, including SPACs. As a result, if any of our co-founders, officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for an entity to which he, she or it has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, then, subject to their fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law, he, she or it will need to honor such fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such business combination opportunity to such entity, before we can pursue such opportunity. If these other entities decide to pursue any such opportunity, we may be precluded from pursuing the same. However, we do not expect these duties to materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law: (i) no individual serving as a director or an officer shall have any duty, except and 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. Any other special purpose acquisition company may also have terms that are the same or different than our terms, including terms that are more favorable to its investors and/or potential target businesses.
Conflicts may arise from XCOM Labs’ relationship with our company and its provision of services both to us and to its affiliates, including the conflict that XCOM Labs and its affiliates may receive material economic benefits as a result of a business combination with a target in which an XCOM Labs affiliate has a direct or indirect investment. In performing services for other affiliates, XCOM Labs may take commercial steps which may have an adverse effect on us.
Our key personnel, who are affiliated with XCOM Labs, may have a conflict of interest with respect to evaluating potential business combinations if XCOM Labs or its affiliates have direct or indirect exposure to the target of such potential business combination and may realize material economic benefits in connection with the corporation’s completion of a business combination with such target.
As a result, conflicts of interest may arise between our officers’ fiduciary and contractual obligations to these companies, including XCOM Labs and its affiliates, and our officers’ obligations to us. None of the members of our management team who are also employed by XCOM Labs, our sponsor or its affiliates have any obligation to present us with any opportunity for a potential business combination of which they become aware. Our management team, in their capacities as directors, officers or employees of XCOM Labs, our sponsor or their affiliates in their other endeavors, may choose to present potential business combinations to the related entities described above, current or future investment vehicles of our sponsor or its affiliates, including other blank-check companies, or third parties, before they present such opportunities to us, subject to applicable fiduciary duties. Certain of our officers and directors are now, and all of them may in the future become, affiliated with entities engaged in business activities similar to those intended to be conducted by us and, accordingly, may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented.”
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Below is a table summarizing the entities to which our executive officers and directors currently have fiduciary duties, contractual obligations or other material management relationships:
Individual |
Entity |
Entity’s Business |
Affiliation | |||
Barry S. Sternlicht | Starwood Capital Group Holdings, L.P. | Asset Management | Chairman and Chief Executive Officer | |||
Starwood Real Estate Income Trust, Inc. | Commercial Real Estate Investment | Chairman | ||||
Starwood Property Trust, Inc. | Commercial Real Estate Investment | Chairman and Chief Executive Officer | ||||
Invitation Homes Inc. | Residential Leasing | Director | ||||
The Estée Lauder Companies | Cosmetics | Director | ||||
SH Group | Hotel Management | Chairman and Chief Executive Officer | ||||
Jaws Estates Capital LLC | Asset Management | Chief Executive Officer | ||||
A.S. Roma | Football Club | Director | ||||
Amaala Company | Luxury Real Estate Development | Member of the Advisory Board | ||||
Cano Health | Health | Director | ||||
JAWS Mustang Acquisition Corporation | SPAC | Chairman | ||||
JAWS Hurricane Acquisition Corporation | SPAC | Chairman | ||||
Paul E. Jacobs, Ph.D. | XCOM Labs | Wireless Technology | Chairman and Chief Executive Officer | |||
Dropbox Inc. | Cloud Service Provider | Director | ||||
NBA | Sports League | Alternate Governor | ||||
Sacramento Basketball Holdings LLC | Basketball Team | Executive Vice Chairman | ||||
Kings Jacobs LLC | Management and Investment | Managing Member | ||||
San Diego Sports Investments LLC | Sports Investment | Member | ||||
Get Heal Inc. | Medical Services | Chairman | ||||
FIRST | Charitable | Director | ||||
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego | Charitable | President of the Board of Trustees | ||||
Javergo Partners LLC | Advisory Services | Member | ||||
Grand Prix LJ Foundation | Charitable | Director, President and Secretary | ||||
RV Spyglass Investments LLC | Real Estate Investment | Member | ||||
Wilcoln Lee | JAWS Estates Capital LLC | Asset Management | Portfolio Manager | |||
Derek K. Aberle | XCOM Labs | Wireless Technology | Executive Vice Chairman | |||
Prospector Capital Corp. | SPAC | Chief Executive Officer | ||||
EvoNexus | Non-profit Incubator | Director | ||||
Alliance for SoCal Innovation | Non-profit Accelerator | Director | ||||
SLT Advisory Services, Inc. | Consulting Services | President and Chief Executive Officer | ||||
Michael Racich | Jaws Estates Capital LLC | Asset Management | Chief Financial Officer | |||
JAWS Mustang Acquisition Corporation | SPAC | Chief Financial Officer | ||||
JAWS Hurricane Acquisition Corporation | SPAC | Chief Financial Officer | ||||
David E. Wise | — | — | — | |||
Cory Gardner | — | — | — |
Potential investors should also be aware of the following other potential conflicts of interest:
● | Our executive officers and directors are not required to, and will not, commit their full time to our affairs, which may result in a conflict of interest in allocating their time between our operations and our search for a business combination and their other businesses. We do not intend to have any full-time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination. Each of our executive officers is engaged in several other business endeavors for which he may be entitled to substantial compensation, and our executive officers are not obligated to contribute any specific number of hours per week to our affairs. Also, Mr. Sternlicht, as Chairman, shall not have day-to-day control of our affairs and shall not be involved in our day-to-day operations. |
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● | Our initial shareholders purchased founder shares and private placement warrants in a single transaction prior to the closing of our initial public offering. |
● | Our sponsor and each member of our management team have entered into an agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and public shares held by them in connection with (i) the completion of our initial business combination and (ii) a shareholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) that would modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares. Additionally, our sponsor has agreed to waive its rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to its founder shares if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame. If we do not complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame, the private placement warrants will expire worthless. Except as described herein, our sponsor and our directors and executive officers have agreed not to transfer, assign or sell any of their founder shares until the earliest of (A) one year after the completion of our initial business combination and (B) subsequent to our initial business combination, (x) if the closing price of our Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for share subdivisions, share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after our initial business combination, or (y) the date on which we complete a liquidation, merger, share exchange or other similar transaction that results in all of our public shareholders having the right to exchange their ordinary shares for cash, securities or other property. Except as described herein, the private placement warrants will not be transferable until 30 days following the completion of our initial business combination. Because each of our executive officers and director nominees will own ordinary shares or warrants directly or indirectly, they may have a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target business is an appropriate business with which to effectuate our initial business combination. |
● | Our officers and directors may have a conflict of interest with respect to evaluating a particular business combination if the retention or resignation of any such officers and directors is included by a target business as a condition to any agreement with respect to our initial business combination. In addition, our co-founders, officers and directors, are not required to commit any specified amount of time to our affairs, and, accordingly, will have conflicts of interest in allocating management time among various business activities, including identifying potential business combinations and monitoring the related due diligence. Also, Mr. Sternlicht, as Chairman, does not have day-to-day control of our affairs and is not be involved in the day-to-day operations. |
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We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor, co-founders, officers or directors. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor or any of our co-founders, officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or an independent accounting firm that such initial business combination is fair to our company and our shareholders from a financial point of view. In addition, if we combine with XCOM Labs concurrently with our initial business combination, we will obtain a fairness opinion with respect to such merger. We are not required to obtain such an opinion in any other context.
We cannot assure you that any of the above mentioned conflicts will be resolved in our favor.
Furthermore, in no event will our sponsor or any of our existing officers or directors, or their respective affiliates, be paid by us any finder’s fee, consulting fee or other compensation prior to, or for any services they render in order to effectuate, the completion of our initial business combination. Further, commencing on June 17, 2021, we began to reimburse an affiliate of our sponsor for office space, secretarial and administrative services provided to us in the amount of $10,000 per month.
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, which requires the affirmative vote of a majority of the shareholders who attend and vote at a general meeting of the company. In accordance with our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, shareholders representing at least one-third of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares, present in person or by proxy, will constitute a quorum. Our sponsor and each member of our management team have agreed to vote their founder shares and public shares in favor of our initial business combination.
Limitation on Liability and Indemnification of Officers and Directors
Cayman Islands law does not limit the extent to which a company’s memorandum and articles of association may provide for indemnification of officers and directors, except to the extent any such provision may be held by the Cayman Islands courts to be contrary to public policy, such as to provide indemnification against willful default, willful neglect, civil fraud or the consequences of committing a crime. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide for indemnification of our officers and directors to the maximum extent permitted by law, including for any liability incurred in their capacities as such, except through their own actual fraud, willful default or willful neglect. We have entered into agreements with our directors and officers to provide contractual indemnification in addition to the indemnification provided for in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. We have purchased a policy of directors’ and officers’ liability insurance that insures our officers and directors against the cost of defense, settlement or payment of a judgment in some circumstances and insures us against our obligations to indemnify our officers and directors.
Our officers and directors have agreed to waive any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies in the trust account, and have agreed to waive any right, title, interest or claim of any kind they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any services provided to us and will not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason whatsoever (except to the extent they are entitled to funds from the trust account due to their ownership of public shares). Accordingly, any indemnification provided will only be able to be satisfied by us if (i) we have sufficient funds outside of the trust account or (ii) we consummate an initial business combination.
Our indemnification obligations may discourage shareholders from bringing a lawsuit against our officers or directors for breach of their fiduciary duty. These provisions also may have the effect of reducing the likelihood of derivative litigation against our officers and directors, even though such an action, if successful, might otherwise benefit us and our shareholders. Furthermore, a shareholder’s investment may be adversely affected to the extent we pay the costs of settlement and damage awards against our officers and directors pursuant to these indemnification provisions.
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We believe that these provisions, the insurance and the indemnity agreements are necessary to attract and retain talented and experienced officers and directors.
Item 11. Executive Compensation
Executive Officer and Director Compensation
None of our executive officers or directors have received any cash compensation for services rendered to us. Commencing on June 17, 2021, we began to pay and have continued to pay an affiliate of our sponsor for office space, secretarial and administrative services provided to us in the amount of $10,000 per month. In addition, our sponsor, executive officers and directors, or their respective affiliates will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. Our audit committee reviews on a quarterly basis all payments that are made to our sponsor, executive officers or directors, or their affiliates. Any such payments prior to an initial business combination are made using funds held outside the trust account. Other than quarterly audit committee reviews of such reimbursements, we do not have any additional controls in place governing our reimbursement payments to our directors and executive officers for their out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with their activities on our behalf in connection with identifying and consummating an initial business combination. Other than these payments and reimbursements, no compensation of any kind, including finder’s and consulting fees, will be paid by the company to our sponsor, executive officers and directors, or their respective affiliates, prior to completion of our initial business combination.
After the completion of our initial business combination, directors or members of our management team who remain with us may be paid consulting or management fees from the combined company. All of these fees will be fully disclosed to shareholders, to the extent then known, in the proxy solicitation materials or tender offer materials furnished to our shareholders in connection with a proposed business combination. We have not established any limit on the amount of such fees that may be paid by the combined company to our directors or members of management. It is unlikely the amount of such compensation will be known at the time of the proposed business combination, because the directors of the post-combination business will be responsible for determining executive officer and director compensation. Any compensation to be paid to our executive officers will be determined, or recommended to our board of directors for determination, either by a compensation committee constituted solely by independent directors or by a majority of the independent directors on our board of directors.
We do not intend to take any action to ensure that members of our management team maintain their positions with us after the consummation of our initial business combination, although it is possible that some or all of our executive officers and directors may remain directors or negotiate employment or consulting arrangements to remain with us after our initial business combination. The existence or terms of any such employment or consulting arrangements to retain their positions with us may influence our management’s motivation in identifying or selecting a target business but we do not believe that the ability of our management to remain with us after the consummation of our initial business combination will be a determining factor in our decision to proceed with any potential business combination. We are not party to any agreements with our executive officers and directors that provide for benefits upon termination of employment.
Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters
The following table sets forth information regarding the beneficial ownership of our ordinary shares as of March 28, 2022 based on information obtained from the persons named below, with respect to the beneficial ownership of our ordinary shares, by:
● | each person known by us to be the beneficial owner of more than 5% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares; |
● | each of our executive officers and directors; and |
● | all of our executive officers and directors as a group. |
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In the table below, the percentage ownership is based on 27,600,000 Class A ordinary shares (which includes Class A ordinary shares that are underlying the units) and 6,900,000 Class B ordinary shares issued and outstanding as of December 31, 2021. The table below does not include the Class A ordinary shares underlying the private placement warrants held by our sponsor because these securities are not exercisable within 60 days of this Report.
Unless otherwise indicated, we believe that all persons named in the table have sole voting and investment power with respect to all of our ordinary shares beneficially owned by them.
Class B Ordinary Shares | Class A Ordinary Shares | |||||||||||||||||||
Name of Beneficial Owners(1) | Number of Shares Beneficially Owned | Approximate Percentage of Class | Number of Shares Beneficially Owned | Approximate Percentage of Class | Approximate Percentage of Voting Control | |||||||||||||||
Juggernaut Sponsor LLC (our sponsor) | 6,900,000 | (3) | 100 | % | — | — | 20.0 | % | ||||||||||||
PDM Juggernaut Investor LLC | 6,900,000 | (2)(3) | 100 | % | — | — | 20.0 | % | ||||||||||||
JAWS Equity Owner 148, L.L.C. | 6,900,000 | (2)(3) | 100 | % | — | — | 20.0 | % | ||||||||||||
Barry S. Sternlicht | 6,900,000 | (2)(3) | 100 | % | — | — | 20.0 | % | ||||||||||||
Paul E. Jacobs, Ph.D. | 6,900,000 | (2)(3) | 100 | % | — | — | 20.0 | % | ||||||||||||
Wilcoln Lee | — | (4) | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||
Derek K. Aberle | 6,900,000 | (2)(3) | 100 | % | — | — | 20.0 | % | ||||||||||||
Michael Racich | — | (4) | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||
David E. Wise | — | (4) | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||
Cory Gardner | — | (4) | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||
All officers, directors and director nominees as a group (seven individuals) | 6,900,000 | (2)(3)(4) | 100 | % | — | — | 20.0 | % | ||||||||||||
Adage Capital Partners, L.P.(5) | — | — | 1,800,000 | 6.52 | % | 5.2 | % | |||||||||||||
Citadel Advisors LLC(6) | — | — | 1,470,327 | 5.3 | % | 4.3 | % |
* | Less than one percent 1%. |
(1) | Unless otherwise noted, the business address of each of the following entities or individuals is 1601 Washington Avenue, Suite 800, Miami Beach, Florida 33139. |
(2) | Represents 6,900,000 shares directly held by our sponsor. |
(3) | Our sponsor is jointly controlled by PDM Juggernaut Investor LLC and JAWS Equity Owner 148, L.L.C, which share voting and investment discretion with respect to the securities held by Sponsor LLC. PDM Juggernaut Investor LLC is controlled jointly by Paul E. Jacobs, Ph.D. and Derek K. Aberle who exercise voting and investment discretion of PDM Juggernaut Investor LLC. JAWS Equity Owner 148, L.L.C. is controlled by Barry S. Sternlicht. Accordingly, each of Dr. Jacobs, Mr. Aberle and Mr. Sternlicht may be deemed to share dispositive power over the securities held by our sponsor, and thus, may be deemed to be the beneficial owners of these securities. Each of PDM Juggernaut Investor LLC, JAWS Equity Owner 148, L.L.C., Dr. Jacobs, Mr. Aberle and Mr. Sternlicht disclaim beneficial ownership of any securities held by our sponsor except to the extent of such entity’s or such person’s pecuniary interest therein. |
(4) | Does not include any shares indirectly owned by this individual as a result of his director or indirect membership interest in our sponsor. |
(5) | Represents the Class A ordinary shares beneficially held by Adage Capital Partners, L.P., a Delaware limited partnership (“ACP”) based solely on the Schedule 13G filed by ACP with the SEC on July 2, 2021 (the “ACP 13G”). The ACP 13G indicates that ACP is the beneficial owner of 1,800,000 Class A ordinary shares. Adage Capital Partners GP, L.L.C., a Delaware limited liability company (“ACPGP”) is the general partner of ACP, Adage Capital Advisors, L.L.C., a Delaware limited liability company (“ACA”), is the managing member of ACPGP, and Robert Atchinson (“Mr. Atchinson”) and Phillip Gross (“Mr. Gross”) are managing members of ACA. ACP, ACPGP, ACA, Mr. Atchinson, and Mr. Gross beneficially own and have shared and dispositive power with respect to 1,800,000 Class A ordinary shares and sole voting and dispositive power with respect to no Class A ordinary shares. The business address of ACP, ACPGP, ACA, Mr. Atchinson, and Mr. Gross is 200 Clarendon Street, 52nd floor, Boston, Massachusetts 02116. |
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(6) | Represents the Class A ordinary shares held by Citadel Advisors LLC (“Citadel Advisors”) based solely on Amendment No. 1 the Schedule 13G filed by Citadel Advisors with the SEC on February 14, 2022 (the “Citadel 13G”). The Citadel 13G indicates that Citadel Advisors is the beneficial owner of 1,467,588 Class A ordinary shares. Citadel Advisors Holdings LP, a Delaware partnership (“CAH”), is the sole member of Citadel Advisors and therefore has beneficial ownership of the shares of Class A ordinary shares directly owned by Citadel Advisors. Citadel GP LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (“CGP”), is the general partner of CAH and therefore has beneficial ownership of the shares of Class A ordinary shares directly owned by Citadel Advisors. Citadel Securities LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (“Citadel Securities”) is the beneficial owner of 874 shares of Class A ordinary shares. CALC IV LP, a Delaware partnership (“CALC4”), is the non-member manager of Citadel Securities and therefore has beneficial ownership of the shares of Class A ordinary shares directly owned by Citadel Securities. Citadel Securities GP LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (“CSGP”), is the general partner of CALC4 and therefore has beneficial ownership of the shares of Class A ordinary shares directly owned by Citadel Securities. Mr. Kenneth Griffin is the President and Chief Executive Officer of CGP and owns a controlling interest in CGP and CSGP, and therefore may be deemed to have beneficial ownership of 1,468,462 Class A ordinary shares. The business address of Citadel Advisors, CAH, CGP, Citadel Securities, CALC4, CSGP and Mr. Griffin is 131 S. Dearborn Street, 32nd Floor, Chicago, Illinois 60603. |
Our sponsor, officers and directors are deemed to be our “promoter” as such term is defined under the federal securities laws.
Changes in Control
There are no arrangements known to us, including any pledge by any person of our securities, the operation of which may at a subsequent date result in a change in control.
Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence
Founder Shares and Private Placement Warrants
Pursuant to the Securities Purchase Agreement, on January 19, 2021, our sponsor purchased Class B ordinary shares and private placement warrants for $6,625,000. On June 17, 2021, we entered into Amendment No. 1 to the Securities Purchase Agreement pursuant to which the purchase price for the Class B ordinary shares and private placement warrants was increased to $7,545,000 and the number of private placement warrants purchased was increased to 3,760,000. On June 22, 2021, we effected a share dividend with respect to our Class B ordinary shares of 1,150,000 shares thereof. At the closing of our initial public offering the sponsor held an aggregate of (i) 6,900,000 Class B ordinary shares, which such founder shares will automatically convert into Class A ordinary shares concurrently with or immediately following the consummation of our initial business combination on a one-for-one basis, subject to the adjustments described herein, and (ii) 3,760,000 private placement warrants, each exercisable to purchase one Class A ordinary share at $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment.
The private placement warrants are identical to the warrants sold in our initial public offering except that the private placement warrants, so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees, (i) will not be redeemable by us, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by the holders until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination, (iii) may be exercised by the holders on a cashless basis and (iv) will be entitled to registration rights.
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Other Transactions With Our Sponsor
If any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity that falls within the line of business of any 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 officers and directors currently have certain relevant fiduciary duties or contractual obligations that may take priority over their duties to us.
We currently maintain our executive offices at 1601 Washington Avenue, Suite 800, Miami Beach, FL 33139. The cost for our use of this space is included in the $10,000 per month fee we pay to an affiliate of our sponsor for office space, administrative and support services. Upon completion of our initial business combination or our liquidation, we will cease paying these monthly fees.
No compensation of any kind, including finder’s and consulting fees, will be paid to our sponsor, officers and directors, or their respective affiliates, for services rendered prior to or in connection with the completion of an initial business combination. However, these individuals will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made by us to our sponsor, officers, directors or their affiliates and will determine which expenses and the amount of expenses that will be reimbursed. There is no cap or ceiling on the reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses incurred by such persons in connection with activities on our behalf.
Our sponsor agreed to loan us up to $300,000 to be used for a portion of the expenses of our initial public offering. The loan was non-interest bearing, unsecured and due at the earlier of June 30, 2021 and the closing of our initial public offering. The loan was paid in full on June 23, 2021.
In addition, in order to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial 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. If we complete an initial business combination, we may repay such loaned amounts out of the proceeds of the trust account released to us. In the event that the initial business combination does not close, we may use a portion of the working capital held outside the trust account to repay such loaned amounts but no proceeds from our trust account would be used for such repayment. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants at a price of $2.00 per warrant at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants, including as to exercise price, exercisability and exercise period. The terms of such loans by our officers and directors, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. We do not expect to seek loans from parties other than our sponsor, its affiliates or 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.
After our initial business combination, members of our management team who remain with us may be paid consulting, management or other fees from the combined company with any and all amounts being fully disclosed to our shareholders, to the extent then known, in the tender offer or proxy solicitation materials, as applicable, furnished to our shareholders. It is unlikely the amount of such compensation will be known at the time of distribution of such tender offer materials or at the time of a general meeting held to consider our initial business combination, as applicable, as it will be up to the directors of the post-combination business to determine executive and director compensation.
Concurrently with our initial business combination, we may consider a potential combination with XCOM Labs. We expect that the resulting combined company would inherit our Nasdaq listing and its ordinary stock and warrants would be publicly traded. See “Risk Factors — Risks Relating to our Search for, Consummation of, or Inability to Consummate, a Business Combination and Post-Business Combination Risks — Even though we may consider combining with XCOM Labs concurrent with the completion of our initial business combination, we cannot provide any assurance that such a business combination with XCOM Labs will occur at all, or, if it does, we cannot provide any assurance as to the terms thereof.” We will seek to include XCOM Labs if we believe the combination of XCOM Labs and another target business in the wireless communications and related technology/product/service businesses under the XCOM Labs umbrella may allow the resulting combined company to leverage XCOM Labs’ experienced management team and offer significant synergy and long-term value creation opportunities for our investors and serve as a platform for further growth.
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We have not entered into any letter of intent or definitive agreement with XCOM Labs, nor have we agreed to valuation or other key terms and conditions with respect to such a possible combination transaction. As a result, even though we may consider a combination with XCOM Labs concurrently with the completion of our initial business combination, we cannot provide any assurance that such a combination with XCOM Labs will occur at all, or, if it does, we cannot provide any assurance as to the terms thereof. We will not, however, complete an initial business combination with only XCOM Labs. Any potential combination with XCOM Labs will close at the same time as the closing of our initial business combination. In addition, we will likely not consummate a business combination with XCOM Labs if the target business with respect to our initial business combination is not within the wireless communications and related technology business. If we pursue a combination with XCOM Labs concurrently with our initial business combination, a committee of our disinterested directors will negotiate the terms and conditions of such merger (including the valuation of XCOM Labs) on our behalf. Such committee of disinterested directors would also obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm which is a member of FINRA or an independent valuation or appraisal firm that the potential combination with XCOM Labs is fair to our company and our shareholders from a financial point of view. Our public shareholders will have the same voting and redemption rights with respect to any business combination that is concurrent with a merger with XCOM Labs as are generally applicable to our initial business combination and described elsewhere in this prospectus.
We have entered into a registration and shareholder rights agreement pursuant to which our sponsor is entitled to certain registration rights with respect to the private placement warrants, the warrants issuable upon conversion of working capital loans (if any) and the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the foregoing and upon conversion of the founder shares, and, upon consummation of our initial business combination, to nominate three individuals for election to our board of directors, as long as the sponsor holds any securities covered by the registration and shareholder rights agreement.
Policy for Approval of Related Party Transactions
Our board of directors has adopted an audit committee charter, providing for the review, approval and/or ratification of “related party transactions,” which are those transactions required to be disclosed pursuant to Item 404 of Regulation S-K as promulgated by the SEC, by the audit committee. At its meetings, the audit committee will be provided with the details of each new, existing, or proposed related party transaction, including the terms of the transaction, any contractual restrictions that the company has already committed to, the business purpose of the transaction, and the benefits of the transaction to the company and to the relevant related party. Any member of the committee who has an interest in the related party transaction under review by the committee shall abstain from voting on the approval of the related party transaction, but may, if so requested by the chairman of the committee, participate in some or all of the committee’s discussions of the related party transaction. Upon completion of its review of the related party transaction, the committee may determine to permit or to prohibit the related party transaction.
Item 14. Principal Accountant Fees and Services
The firm of WithumSmith+Brown, PC, or Withum, acts as our independent registered public accounting firm. The following is a summary of fees paid to Withum for services rendered.
Audit Fees. Audit fees consist of fees billed for professional services rendered for the audit of our year-end financial statements and services that are normally provided by Withum in connection with regulatory filings. The aggregate fees billed and billable by WithumSmith+Brown, PC for audit fees, inclusive of required filings with the SEC for the year ended December 31, 2021 and for the period from December 16, 2020 (inception) to December 31, 2020 and of services rendered in connection with our Initial Public Offering, totaled $156,710 and $0, respectively.
Audit-Related Fees. Audit-related fees consist of fees billed for assurance and related services that are reasonably related to performance of the audit or review of our year-end financial statements and are not reported under “Audit Fees.” These services include attest services that are not required by statute or regulation and consultation concerning financial accounting and reporting standards. During the year ended December 31, 2021 and the period from December 16, 2020 (inception) to December 31, 2020, we did not pay WithumSmith+Brown, PC any audit-related fees.
Tax Fees. Tax fees consist of fees billed for professional services relating to tax compliance, tax planning and tax advice. During the year ended December 31, 2021 and the period from December 16, 2020 (inception) to December 31, 2020, we did not pay WithumSmith+Brown, PC any tax fees.
All Other Fees. All other fees consist of fees billed for all other services. During the year ended December 31, 2021 and the period from December 16, 2020 (inception) to December 31, 2020, we did not pay WithumSmith+Brown, PC any other fees.
Pre-Approval Policy
Our audit committee was formed upon the consummation of our initial public offering. As a result, the audit committee did not pre-approve all of the foregoing services, although any services rendered prior to the formation of our audit committee were approved by our board of directors. Since the formation of our audit committee, and on a going-forward basis, the audit committee has and will pre-approve all auditing services and permitted non-audit services to be performed for us by our auditors, including the fees and terms thereof (subject to the de minimis exceptions for non-audit services described in the Exchange Act which are approved by the audit committee prior to the completion of the audit).
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PART IV
Item 15. Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules
(a) | The following documents are filed as part of this Report: |
(1) | Financial Statements |
(2) | Exhibits |
We hereby file as part of this Report the exhibits listed in the attached Exhibit Index.
* | Filed herewith |
** | Furnished herewith |
(1) | Incorporated by reference to our Current Report on Form 8-K, filed with the SEC on June 23, 2021. |
(2) | Incorporated by reference to our Registration Statement on Form S-1, as amended, initially filed with the SEC on February 12, 2021. |
Item 16. Form 10-K Summary
Not applicable.
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SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this Annual Report on Form 10-K to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.
March 30, 2022 | JAWS JUGGERNAUT ACQUISITION CORPORATION | |
By: | /s/ Paul E. Jacobs, Ph.D. | |
Name: | Paul E. Jacobs, Ph.D. | |
Title: | Chief Executive Officer and Director (Principal Executive Officer) |
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, this Annual Report on Form 10-K has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated.
Name | Position | Date | ||
/s/ Barry S. Sternlicht | Chairman | March 30, 2022 | ||
Barry S. Sternlicht | ||||
/s/ Paul E. Jacobs, Ph.D. | Chief Executive Officer and Director | March 30, 2022 | ||
Paul E. Jacobs, Ph.D. | (Principal Executive Officer) | |||
/s/ Michael Racich | Chief Financial Officer | March 30, 2022 | ||
Michael Racich | (Principal Financial and Accounting Officer) | |||
/s/ Wilcoln Lee | Chief Investment Officer | March 30, 2022 | ||
Wilcoln Lee | ||||
/s/ Derek K. Aberle | Director | March 30, 2022 | ||
Derek K. Aberle | ||||
/s/ David E. Wise | Director | March 30, 2022 | ||
David E. Wise | ||||
/s/ Cory Gardner | Director | March 30, 2022 | ||
Cory Gardner |
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INDEX TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
F-1
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
To the Shareholders and the Board of Directors of
JAWS Juggernaut Acquisition Corporation
Opinion on the Financial Statements
We have audited the accompanying balance sheets of JAWS Juggernaut Acquisition Corporation (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, the related statements of operations, changes in shareholders’ deficit and cash flows for the year ended December 31, 2021 and the period from December 16, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year ended December 31, 2021 and the period from December 16, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.
Restatement of Previously Issued Financial Statements
As discussed in Note 2 to the financial statements, the June 22, 2021 financial statement has been restated to correct a certain misstatement.
Basis for Opinion
These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (“PCAOB”) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.
We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audits to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. The Company is not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of its internal control over financial reporting. As part of our audits, we are required to obtain an understanding of internal control over financial reporting but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion.
Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.
/s/ WithumSmith+Brown, PC
We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2020.
New York, New York
March 30, 2022
PCAOB ID Number 100
F-2
JAWS JUGGERNAUT ACQUISITION CORPORATION
BALANCE SHEETS
December 31, | ||||||||
2021 | 2020 | |||||||
Assets | ||||||||
Current assets: | ||||||||
Cash | $ | 579,021 | $ | |||||
Prepaid expenses | 810,988 | 19,891 | ||||||
Total current assets | 1,390,009 | 19,891 | ||||||
Investments held in Trust Account | 276,024,958 | |||||||
Deferred offering costs | 25,000 | |||||||
Total assets | $ | 277,414,967 | $ | 44,891 | ||||
Liabilities, Class A Ordinary Shares Subject to Possible Redemption and Shareholders’ Deficit: | ||||||||
Current liabilities: | ||||||||
Accounts payable | $ | 293,367 | $ | 25,000 | ||||
Accrued expenses | 377,112 | 25,000 | ||||||
Note payable - related party | 5,563 | |||||||
Total current liabilities | 670,479 | 55,563 | ||||||
Derivative warrant liabilities | 10,446,800 | |||||||
Deferred underwriting commissions in connection with the initial public offering | 9,660,000 | |||||||
Total liabilities | 20,777,279 | 55,563 | ||||||
Commitments and Contingencies | ||||||||
Class A ordinary shares, $0.0001 par value; 27,600,000 and | shares subject to possible redemption at $10.00 per share redemption value as of December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020, respectively276,000,000 | |||||||
Shareholders’ Deficit | ||||||||
Preference shares, $0.0001 par value; 1,000,000 shares authorized; | issued or outstanding as of December 31, 2021 and 2020||||||||
Class A ordinary shares, $0.0001 par value; 300,000,000 shares authorized; | non-redeemable shares issued or outstanding at December 31, 2021 and 2020||||||||
Class B ordinary shares, $0.0001 par value; 30,000,000 shares authorized; 6,900,000 and 1 share(s) issued and outstanding as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively | 690 | |||||||
Additional paid-in capital | ||||||||
Accumulated deficit | (19,363,002 | ) | (10,672 | ) | ||||
Total shareholders’ deficit | (19,362,312 | ) | (10,672 | ) | ||||
Total Liabilities, Class A Ordinary Shares Subject to Possible Redemption and Shareholders’ Deficit | $ | 277,414,967 | $ | 44,891 |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
F-3
JAWS JUGGERNAUT ACQUISITION CORPORATION
STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2021 AND
FOR THE PERIOD FROM DECEMBER 16, 2020 (INCEPTION) THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2020
For The Year Ended December 31, 2021 | For the period from December 16, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020 | |||||||
Operating expenses: | ||||||||
General and administrative expenses | $ | 825,226 | $ | 10,672 | ||||
General and administrative expenses - related party | 63,334 | |||||||
Loss from operations | (888,560 | ) | (10,672 | ) | ||||
Other income (expense): | ||||||||
Offering costs associated with derivative warrant liabilities | (760,608 | ) | ||||||
Income on investments in the Trust Account | 24,958 | |||||||
Change in fair value of derivative warrant liabilities | 10,415,400 | |||||||
Total other income | 9,679,750 | |||||||
Net income (loss) | $ | 8,791,190 | $ | (10,672 | ) | |||
Weighted average number of shares outstanding of Class A ordinary shares | 14,593,973 | |||||||
Basic net income per share, Class A ordinary shares | $ | 0.42 | $ | |||||
Diluted net income per share, Class A ordinary shares | $ | 0.41 | $ | |||||
Weighted average number of Class B ordinary shares - basic | 6,180,000 | 1 | ||||||
Weighted average number of Class B ordinary shares - diluted | 6,900,000 | 1 | ||||||
Basic net income (loss) per share, Class B ordinary shares | $ | 0.42 | $ | (10,672 | ) | |||
Diluted net income (loss) per shares, Class B ordinary shares | $ | 0.41 | $ | (10,672 | ) |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
F-4
JAWS JUGGERNAUT ACQUISITION CORPORATION
STATEMENTS OF CHANGES IN SHAREHOLDERS’ DEFICIT
FOR THE PERIOD FROM DECEMBER
16, 2020 (INCEPTION) THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2020 AND
YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2021
Ordinary Shares | Additional | Total | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Class A | Class B | Paid-in | Accumulated | Shareholders’ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Shares | Amount | Shares | Amount | Capital | Deficit | Deficit | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Balance - December 16, 2020 (inception) | $ | $ | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Issuance of Class B ordinary share | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Net loss | - | - | (10,672 | ) | (10,672 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Balance - December 31, 2020 | $ | 1 | $ | $ | $ | (10,672 | ) | $ | (10,672 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||
Cancellation of Class B ordinary share | - | (1 | ) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Issuance of Class B ordinary shares and private placement warrants to Sponsor | - | 6,900,000 | 690 | 123,310 | 124,000 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Issuance of additional private placement warrants to Sponsor | - | - | 13,800 | 13,800 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Accretion of Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption amount | - | - | (137,110 | ) | (28,143,520 | ) | (28,280,630 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Net income | - | - | 8,791,190 | 8,791,190 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Balance - December 31, 2021 | $ | 6,900,000 | $ | 690 | $ | $ | (19,363,002 | ) | $ | (19,362,312 | ) |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
F-5
JAWS JUGGERNAUT ACQUISITION CORPORATION
STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
For the Year Ended December 31, 2021 | For the Period from December 16, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020 | |||||||
Cash Flows from Operating Activities: | ||||||||
Net income (loss) | $ | 8,791,190 | $ | (10,672 | ) | |||
Adjustments to reconcile net income (loss) to net cash used in operating activities: | ||||||||
General and administrative expenses paid by Sponsor under promissory note | 375 | 5,563 | ||||||
General and administrative expenses paid by Sponsor in exchange for issuance of Class B ordinary shares and private placement warrants | 25,000 | - | ||||||
Offering costs associated with derivative warrant liabilities | 760,608 | - | ||||||
Income on investments held in the Trust Account | (24,958 | ) | - | |||||
Change in fair value of derivative warrant liabilities | (10,415,400 | ) | - | |||||
Changes in operating assets and liabilities: | - | |||||||
Prepaid expenses | 89,020 | (19,891 | ) | |||||
Accounts payable | (611,750 | ) | 25,000 | |||||
Accrued expenses | 307,112 | - | ||||||
Net cash used in operating activities | (1,078,803 | ) | ||||||
Cash Flows from Investing Activities | ||||||||
Cash deposited in Trust Account | (276,000,000 | ) | ||||||
Net cash used in investing activities | (276,000,000 | ) | ||||||
Cash Flows from Financing Activities: | ||||||||
Cash proceeds from issuance of Class B ordinary shares and private placement warrants to Sponsor | 7,520,000 | |||||||
Proceeds received from initial public offering, gross | 276,000,000 | |||||||
Reimbursement from underwriters | 300,000 | |||||||
Repayment of note payable to related parties | (174,195 | ) | ||||||
Offering costs paid | (5,987,981 | ) | ||||||
Net cash provided by financing activities | 277,657,824 | |||||||
Net change in cash | 579,021 | |||||||
Cash - beginning of the period | - | |||||||
Cash - end of the period | $ | 579,021 | $ | - | ||||
Supplemental disclosure of noncash financing activities: | ||||||||
Offering costs included in accrued expenses | $ | 70,000 | $ | 25,000 | ||||
Offering costs paid by Sponsor under promissory note | $ | 168,257 | $ | |||||
Financing of insurance premiums | $ | 880,117 | $ | |||||
Deferred underwriting commissions | $ | 9,660,000 | $ |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
F-6
JAWS JUGGERNAUT ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
NOTE 1 - DESCRIPTION OF ORGANIZATION AND BUSINESS OPERATIONS
JAWS Juggernaut Acquisition Corporation (the “Company”) was incorporated as a Cayman Islands exempted company on December 16, 2020. The Company was formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses or entities (the “Business Combination”). The Company is not limited to a particular industry or sector for purposes of consummating a Business Combination. The Company is an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), as modified by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the “JOBS Act”) and, as such, the Company is subject to all of the risks associated with early stage and emerging growth companies.
As of December 31, 2021, the Company had not yet commenced operations. All activity for the period from December 16, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2021, relates to the Company’s formation and the initial public offering (the “Initial Public Offering”) described below, and, subsequent to the Initial Public Offering, identifying a target company for a Business Combination. The Company will not generate any operating revenues until after the completion of its initial Business Combination, at the earliest. The Company generates non-operating income in the form of interest income on investments held in trust from the proceeds of its Initial Public Offering. The Company has selected December 31 as its fiscal year end.
The Company’s sponsor is Juggernaut Sponsor LLC, a Delaware limited liability company and an affiliate of JAWS Estates Capital (the “Sponsor”). The registration statement for the Company’s Initial Public Offering was declared effective on June 17, 2021. On June 22, 2021, the Company consummated its Initial Public Offering of 27,600,000 units (the “Units” and, with respect to the Class A ordinary shares included in the Units being offered, the “Public Shares”), which included the full exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase an additional 3,600,000 Units to cover over-allotments, at $10.00 per Unit. As of December 31, 2021, offering costs totaled approximately $15,286,000 (consisting of approximately $5,220,000 of underwriting fees, net of approximately $300,000 reimbursed from the underwriters, approximately $9,660,000 of deferred underwriting fees and approximately $406,000 of other offering costs), of which approximately $761,000 was charged to the statement of operations upon the completion of the IPO and approximately $14,526,000 was charged to shareholders’ deficit.
Prior to the closing of the Initial Public Offering, the Sponsor purchased an aggregate of 6,900,000 Class B ordinary shares and 3,760,000 private placement warrants (“Private Placement Warrants”) which generated gross proceeds to the Company of $7,545,000 (the “Private Placement”).
Upon the closing of the Initial Public Offering and the Private Placement, $276.0 million ($10.00 per Unit) of the net proceeds of the sale of the Units in the Initial Public Offering and of the Private Placement Warrants in the Private Placement were placed in a trust account (“Trust Account”) and were invested in U.S. government securities, within the meaning set forth in Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act, with a maturity of 185 days or less, or in any open-ended investment company that holds itself out as a money market fund investing solely in U.S. Treasuries and meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”), as determined by the Company, until the earliest of: (i) the completion of a Business Combination and (ii) the distribution of the funds in the Trust Account to the Company’s shareholders, as described below.
The Company’s management has broad discretion with respect to the specific application of the net proceeds of the Initial Public Offering and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants, although substantially all of the net proceeds are intended to be applied generally toward consummating a Business Combination. The stock exchange listing rules require that the Business Combination must be with one or more operating businesses or assets with a fair market value equal to at least 80% of the assets held in the Trust Account (excluding the amount of deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on the interest earned on the Trust Account). The Company will only complete a Business Combination if the post-Business Combination company owns or acquires 50% or more of the issued and outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target business sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. There is no assurance that the Company will be able to successfully effect a Business Combination.
F-7
JAWS JUGGERNAUT ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
The Company will provide the holders of the Public Shares (the “Public Shareholders”) with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their Public Shares upon the completion of the Business Combination, either (i) in connection with a general meeting called to approve the Business Combination or (ii) by means of a tender offer. The decision as to whether the Company will seek shareholder approval of a Business Combination or conduct a tender offer will be made by the Company, solely in its discretion. The Public Shareholders will be entitled to redeem their Public Shares, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the Trust Account, calculated as of two business days prior to the consummation of the Business Combination (initially at $10.00 per Public Share, plus any pro rata interest earned on the funds held in the Trust Account and not previously released to the Company to pay its tax obligations) divided by the number of then issued and outstanding Public Shares, subject to certain limitations as described in the prospectus. The per-share amount to be distributed to the Public Shareholders who properly redeem their shares will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting commissions the Company will pay to the underwriter (as discussed in Note 6). There will be no redemption rights upon the completion of a Business Combination with respect to the Company’s warrants. The Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption were recorded at redemption value and classified as temporary equity, in accordance with the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 480 “Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity (“ASC 480”).
The Company will proceed with a Business Combination only if the Company has net tangible assets of at least $5,000,001 and, if the Company seeks shareholder approval, it receives an ordinary resolution under Cayman Islands law approving a Business Combination, which requires the affirmative vote of a majority of the shareholders who attend and vote at a general meeting of the Company. If a shareholder vote is not required and the Company does not decide to hold a shareholder vote for business or other legal reasons, the Company will, pursuant to its Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association, conduct the redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), and file tender offer documents containing substantially the same information as would be included in a proxy statement with the SEC prior to completing a Business Combination. If the Company seeks shareholder approval in connection with a Business Combination, the Sponsor agreed to vote its Founder Shares (as defined in Note 5) and any Public Shares purchased during or after the Initial Public Offering in favor of approving a Business Combination. Additionally, each Public Shareholder may elect to redeem their Public Shares, without voting, and if they do vote, irrespective of whether they vote for or against a proposed Business Combination.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, if the Company seeks shareholder approval of the Business Combination and the Company does not conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, 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 Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”)), will be restricted from redeeming its shares with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the Public Shares without the Company’s prior written consent.
The Sponsor agreed (a) to waive its redemption rights with respect to any Founder Shares (as defined in Note 5) and Public Shares held by it in connection with the completion of a Business Combination and (b) not to propose an amendment to the Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association (i) to modify the substance or timing of the Company’s obligation to allow redemption in connection with the Company’s initial Business Combination or to redeem 100% of the Public Shares if the Company does not complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period (as defined below) or (ii) with respect to any other provision relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, unless the Company provides the 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 Trust Account and not previously released to pay taxes, divided by the number of then issued and outstanding Public Shares.
The Company will have until 24 months from the closing of the Initial Public Offering, or June 22, 2023, to consummate a Business Combination (the “Combination Period”). However, if the Company has not completed a Business Combination within the Combination Period, the Company 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 100% of 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 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 then issued and outstanding Public Shares, which redemption will completely extinguish the rights of the Public Shareholders as shareholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any), and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of the Company’s remaining Public Shareholders and its Board of Directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in each case to the Company’s 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 the Company’s warrants, which will expire worthless if the Company fails to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period.
F-8
JAWS JUGGERNAUT ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
The Sponsor agreed to waive its rights to liquidating distributions from the Trust Account with respect to the Founder Shares it will receive if the Company fails to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period. However, if the Sponsor or any of its respective affiliates acquire Public Shares, such Public Shares will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the Trust Account if the Company fails to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period. The underwriter agreed to waive its right to its deferred underwriting commission (see Note 6) held in the Trust Account in the event the Company does not complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period, and in such event, such amounts will be included with the other funds held in the Trust Account that will be available to fund the redemption of the Public Shares. In the event of such distribution, it is possible that the per share value of the assets remaining available for distribution will be less than the Initial Public Offering price per Unit ($10.00).
In order to protect the amounts held in the Trust Account, the Sponsor agreed that it will be liable to the Company if and to the extent any claims by a third party (other than the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm) for services rendered or products sold to the Company, or a prospective target business with which the Company has discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the Trust Account to below the lesser of (1) $10.00 per Public Share and (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 $10.00 per Public Share, due to reductions in the value of trust assets, in each case net of the interest that may be withdrawn to pay taxes. This liability will not apply to any claims by a third party who executed a waiver of any and all rights to seek access to the Trust Account and as to any claims under the Company’s indemnity of the underwriter of the Initial Public Offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”). In the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, the Sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third-party claims. The Company will seek to reduce the possibility that the Sponsor will have to indemnify the Trust Account due to claims of creditors by endeavoring to have all vendors, service providers (other than the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm), prospective target businesses or other entities with which the Company does business, execute agreements with the Company waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to monies held in the Trust Account.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
As of December 31, 2021, the Company had approximately $579,000 in its operating bank account and working capital of approximately $720,000.
The Company’s liquidity needs prior to the consummation of the Initial Public Offering were satisfied through contribution from the Sponsor in exchange for issuance of Founder Shares (as defined in Note 5) and Private Placement Warrants, and a loan from the Sponsor of approximately $174,000 under the Note (as defined in Note 5). The Company repaid the Note in full on June 23, 2021, at which date the Note was terminated. Subsequent to the consummation of the Initial Public Offering, the Company’s liquidity has been satisfied through the net proceeds from the consummation of the Initial Public Offering and the Private Placement held outside of the Trust Account. In addition, in order to finance transaction costs in connection with a Business Combination, the Sponsor or an affiliate of the Sponsor, or certain of the Company’s officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, provide the Company Working Capital Loans (as defined in Note 5). As of December 31, 2021, there were no amounts outstanding under any Working Capital Loan.
Based on the foregoing, management believes that the Company will have sufficient working capital and borrowing capacity to meet its needs through the earlier of the consummation of a Business Combination or one year from this filing. Over this time period, the Company will be using the funds held outside of the Trust Account for paying existing accounts payable, identifying and evaluating prospective initial Business Combination candidates, performing due diligence on prospective target businesses, paying for travel expenditures, selecting the target business to merge with or acquire, and structuring, negotiating and consummating the Business Combination.
F-9
JAWS JUGGERNAUT ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Note 2 - Restatement of Previously Reported Financial Statement
In preparation of the Company’s financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company concluded it should restate its previously issued audited balance sheet as of June 22, 2021 (“Post-IPO Balance Sheet”) to classify all Class A ordinary shares subject to redemption in temporary equity. In accordance with the SEC and its staff’s guidance on redeemable equity instruments in ASC 480-10-S99, redemption provisions not solely within the control of the Company, require ordinary shares subject to redemption to be classified outside of permanent equity. The Company had previously classified a portion of its Class A ordinary shares in permanent equity. Although the Company did not specify a maximum redemption threshold, its charter currently provides that the Company will not redeem its Public Shares in an amount that would cause its net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001. Previously, the Company presented a portion of its Class A ordinary shares sold in its initial public offering as permanent equity to maintain shareholders’ equity greater than $5,000,000 on the basis that the Company will consummate its initial business combination only if the Company has net tangible assets of at least $5,000,001. Previously, the Company did not consider redeemable stock classified as temporary equity as part of net tangible assets. Subsequently, the Company revised this interpretation to include temporary equity in net tangible assets. As a result, the Company has concluded that all of its redeemable Class A ordinary shares should be classified as temporary equity. Accordingly, the Company determined it should present all redeemable Class A ordinary shares as temporary equity and recognize accretion from the initial book value to redemption value at the time of its Initial Public Offering and in accordance with ASC 480.
In accordance with SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 99, “Materiality,” and SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 108, “Considering the Effects of Prior Year Misstatements when Quantifying Misstatements in Current Year Financial Statements,” the Company evaluated the correction and has determined that the related impact was material to the previously filed financial statement that contained the error, reported in the Company’s Form 8-K for Post-IPO Balance Sheet. Therefore, the Company, in consultation with its Audit Committee, concluded that the Post-IPO Balance Sheet should be restated to present all Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption as temporary equity and to recognize accretion from the initial book value to redemption value at the time of its Initial Public Offering. As such, the Company is reporting the restatement to the Post-IPO Balance Sheet in this annual report. The previously presented Post-IPO Balance Sheet should no longer be relied upon.
The impact of the restatement to the Post-IPO Balance Sheet is the reclassification of 3,393,352 Class A ordinary shares from permanent equity to Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption as presented below:
As of June 22, 2021 | ||||||||||||
As Previously | ||||||||||||
Reported | Adjustments | As Restated | ||||||||||
Total assets | $ | 278,198,656 | $ | $ | 278,198,656 | |||||||
Liabilities and shareholders’ equity | ||||||||||||
Total current liabilities | $ | 685,172 | $ | $ | 685,172 | |||||||
Deferred underwriting commissions | 9,660,000 | 9,660,000 | ||||||||||
Derivative warrant liabilities | 20,787,000 | 20,787,000 | ||||||||||
Total liabilities | 31,132,172 | 31,132,172 | ||||||||||
Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption | 242,066,480 | 33,933,520 | 276,000,000 | |||||||||
Shareholders’ equity | ||||||||||||
Preference shares | ||||||||||||
Class A ordinary shares | 339 | (339 | ) | |||||||||
Class B ordinary shares | 690 | 690 | ||||||||||
Additional paid-in-capital | 5,789,661 | (5,789,661 | ) | |||||||||
Accumulated deficit | (790,686 | ) | (28,143,520 | ) | (28,934,206 | ) | ||||||
Total shareholders’ equity (deficit) | 5,000,004 | (33,933,520 | ) | (28,933,516 | ) | |||||||
Total Liabilities, Class A Ordinary Shares Subject to Possible Redemption and Shareholders’ Equity (Deficit) | $ | 278,198,656 | $ | $ | 278,198,656 |
NOTE 3 - BASIS OF PRESENTATION AND SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES
Basis of Presentation
The accompanying financial statements are presented in U.S. dollars in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”) and pursuant to the rules and regulations of the SEC.
Emerging Growth Company
The Company is an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act, and it may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in its periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved.
F-10
JAWS JUGGERNAUT ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Further, Section 102(b)(1) of the JOBS Act exempts emerging growth companies from being required to comply with new or revised financial accounting standards until private companies (that is, those that have not had a Securities Act registration statement declared effective or do not have a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act) are required to comply with the new or revised financial accounting standards. The JOBS Act provides that an emerging growth company can elect to opt out of the extended transition period and comply with the requirements that apply to non-emerging growth companies but any such an election to opt out is irrevocable. The Company has elected not to opt out of such extended transition period, which means that when a standard is issued or revised and it has different application dates for public or private companies, the Company, as an emerging growth company, can adopt the new or revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new or revised standard. This may make comparison of the Company’s financial statements with another public company that is neither an emerging growth company nor an emerging growth company that has opted out of using the extended transition period difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accounting standards used.
Concentration of Credit Risk
Financial instruments that potentially subject the Company to concentrations of credit risk consist of cash accounts in a financial institution, which, at times, may exceed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation coverage limit of $250,000. As of December 31, 2021 and 2020, the Company has not experienced losses on these accounts and management believes the Company is not exposed to significant risks on such accounts.
Cash and Cash Equivalents
The Company considers all short-term investments with an original maturity of three months or less when purchased to be cash equivalents. The Company had no cash equivalents as of December 31, 2021 and 2020.
Investments Held in Trust Account
The Company’s portfolio of investments is comprised of U.S. government securities, within the meaning set forth in Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act, with a maturity of 185 days or less, or investments in money market funds that invest in U.S. government securities and generally have a readily determinable fair value, or a combination thereof. When the Company’s investments held in the Trust Account are comprised of U.S. government securities, the investments are classified as trading securities, which are reported at fair value. Trading securities and investments in money market funds are presented on the balance sheets at fair value at the end of each reporting period. Gains and losses resulting from the change in fair value of these securities is included in income or loss from investments held in Trust Account in the accompanying statements of operations. The estimated fair values of investments held in the Trust Account are determined using available market information.
Use of Estimates
The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires the Company’s management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Making estimates requires management to exercise significant judgment. It is at least reasonably possible that the estimate of the effect of a condition, situation or set of circumstances that existed at the date of the financial statements, which management considered in formulating its estimate, could change in the near term due to one or more future confirming events. Such estimates may be subject to change as more current information becomes available; accordingly, the actual results could differ significantly from those estimates.
Fair Value of Financial Instruments
The fair value of the Company’s assets and liabilities which qualify as financial instruments under FASB ASC Topic 820, “Fair Value Measurements,” equal or approximate the carrying amounts represented in the balance sheet due to their short-term nature.
Fair Value Measurements
Fair value is defined as the price that would be received for sale of an asset or paid for transfer of a liability, in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. GAAP establishes a three-tier fair value hierarchy, which prioritizes the inputs used in measuring fair value. The hierarchy gives the highest priority to unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities (Level 1 measurements) and the lowest priority to unobservable inputs (Level 3 measurements). These tiers consist of:
● | Level 1, defined as observable inputs such as quoted prices (unadjusted) for identical instruments in active markets; |
● | Level 2, defined as inputs other than quoted prices included in Level 1 that are observable for the asset or liability, either directly or indirectly; and |
● | Level 3, defined as unobservable inputs in which little or no market data exists, therefore requiring an entity to develop its own assumptions, such as valuations derived from valuation techniques in which one or more significant inputs or significant value drivers are unobservable. |
F-11
JAWS JUGGERNAUT ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
In some circumstances, the inputs used to measure fair value might be categorized within different levels of the fair value hierarchy. In those instances, the fair value measurement is categorized in its entirety in the fair value hierarchy based on the lowest level input that is significant to the fair value measurement.
Derivative Warrant Liabilities
The Company does not use derivative instruments to hedge exposures to cash flow, market, or foreign currency risks. The Company evaluates all of its financial instruments, including issued warrants to purchase shares, to determine if such instruments are derivatives or contain features that qualify as embedded derivatives, pursuant to ASC 480 and FASB ASC Topic 815, “Derivatives and Hedging” (“ASC 815”). The classification of derivative instruments, including whether such instruments should be recorded as liabilities or as equity, is reassessed at the end of each reporting period.
The warrants issued in connection with the Initial Public Offering (the “Public Warrants”) and the Private Placement Warrants are recognized as derivative liabilities in accordance with ASC 815. Accordingly, the Company recognizes the warrant instruments as liabilities at fair value and adjusts the instruments to fair value at each reporting period. The liabilities are subject to re-measurement at each balance sheet date until exercised, and any change in fair value is recognized in the Company’s statement of operations. The fair value of the Public Warrants issued in connection with the Public Offering and Private Placement Warrants were initially measured at fair value using a Black-Scholes Option Pricing Method (the “BSM”). As of December 31, 2021, the fair value of the Public Warrants is based on their listed trading price and the fair value of the Private Placement Warrants is measured by reference to the listed trading price of the Public Warrants. The determination of the fair value of the warrant liabilities may be subject to change as more current information becomes available and accordingly the actual results could differ significantly. Derivative warrant liabilities are classified as non-current liabilities as their liquidation is not reasonably expected to require the use of current assets or require the creation of current liabilities.
Offering Costs Associated with the Initial Public Offering
Offering costs consisted of legal, accounting, underwriting fees and other costs incurred through the Initial Public Offering that were directly related to the Initial Public Offering. Offering costs are allocated to the separable financial instruments issued in the Initial Public Offering based on a relative fair value basis, compared to total proceeds received. Offering costs associated with warrant liabilities are expensed as incurred, presented as non-operating expenses in the statement of operations. Offering costs associated with the Public Shares were charged to the carrying value of the Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption upon the completion of the Initial Public Offering. The Company classifies deferred underwriting commissions are non-current liabilities as their liquidation is not reasonably expected to require the use of current assets or require the creation of current liabilities. As of December 31, 2021, offering costs totaled $15,286,238 (consisting of $5,220,000 of underwriting fees, net of $300,000 reimbursed from the underwriters, $9,660,000 of deferred underwriting fees and $406,238 of other offering costs), of which $760,608 was charged to the state of operations upon the completion of the IPO and $14,525,630 was charged to shareholders’ deficit.
Class A Ordinary Shares Subject to Possible Redemption
The Company accounts for its Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption in accordance with the guidance in ASC 480. Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption (if any) are classified as liability instruments and are measured at fair value. Conditionally redeemable Class A ordinary shares (including Class A 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 the Company’s control) are classified as temporary equity. At all other times, Class A ordinary shares are classified as shareholders’ deficit. The Company’s Class A ordinary shares feature certain redemption rights that are considered to be outside of the Company’s control and subject to the occurrence of uncertain future events. Accordingly, 27,600,000 Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption are presented as temporary equity, outside of the shareholders’ deficit section of the Company’s balance sheet. There were no Class A ordinary shares issued or outstanding at December 31, 2020.
Under ASC 480-10-S99, the Company has elected to recognize changes in the redemption value immediately as they occur and adjust the carrying value of the security to equal the redemption value at the end of the reporting period. This method would view the end of the reporting period as if it were also the redemption date of the security. Effective with the closing of the Initial Public Offering, the Company recognized the accretion from initial book value to redemption amount, which resulted in charges against additional paid-in capital (to the extent available) and accumulated deficit.
Income Taxes
FASB ASC Topic 740, “Income Taxes”, prescribes a recognition threshold and a measurement attribute for the financial statement recognition and measurement of tax positions taken or expected to be taken in a tax return. For those benefits to be recognized, a tax position must be more likely than not to be sustained upon examination by taxing authorities. There were no unrecognized tax benefits as of December 31, 2021. The Company’s management determined that the Cayman Islands is the Company’s only major tax jurisdiction. The Company recognizes accrued interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits as income tax expense. No amounts were accrued for the payment of interest and penalties as of December 31, 2021 and 2020. The Company is currently not aware of any issues under review that could result in significant payments, accruals or material deviation from its position. The Company is subject to income tax examinations by major taxing authorities since inception.
F-12
JAWS JUGGERNAUT ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
There is currently no taxation imposed on income by the Government of the Cayman Islands. In accordance with Cayman federal income tax regulations, income taxes are not levied on the Company. Consequently, income taxes are not reflected in the Company’s financial statements. The Company’s management does not expect that the total amount of unrecognized tax benefits will materially change over the next twelve months.
Net Income (Loss) Per Ordinary Share
The Company complies with accounting and disclosure requirements of FASB ASC Topic 260, “Earnings Per Share.” The Company has 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. Net income (loss) per ordinary share is calculated by dividing the net income (loss) by the weighted average shares of ordinary shares outstanding for the respective period.
The calculation of diluted net income per ordinary shares does not consider the effect of the warrants issued in connection with the Initial Public Offering (including exercise of the over-allotment option) and the Private Placement to purchase an aggregate of 10,660,000 Class A ordinary shares since their exercise is contingent upon future events. The Company has considered the effect of Class B ordinary shares that were excluded from the weighted average number of basic shares outstanding as they were contingent on the exercise of the over-allotment option by the underwriters. Since the contingency was satisfied, the Company has included these shares in the weighted average number as of the beginning of the period to determine the dilutive impact of these shares. Accretion associated with the redeemable Class A ordinary shares is excluded from earnings per share as the redemption value approximates fair value.
The following table presents a reconciliation of the numerator and denominator used to compute basic and diluted net income per share for each class of ordinary shares:
For The Year
Ended December 31, 2021 | ||||||||
Class A | Class B | |||||||
Basic and diluted net income (loss) per ordinary share: | ||||||||
Numerator: | ||||||||
Allocation of net income - basic | $ | 6,175,919 | $ | 2,615,270 | ||||
Allocation of net income - diluted | $ | 5,969,040 | $ | 2,822,150 | ||||
Denominator: | ||||||||
Basic weighted average ordinary shares outstanding | 14,593,973 | 6,180,000 | ||||||
Effect of dilutive securities | 720,000 | |||||||
Diluted weighted average ordinary shares outstanding | 14,593,973 | 6,900,000 | ||||||
Basic net income per ordinary share | $ | 0.42 | $ | 0.42 | ||||
Diluted net income per ordinary share | $ | 0.41 | $ | 0.41 |
For the Period from December 16, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020 | ||||||||
Class A | Class B | |||||||
Basic and diluted net income (loss) per ordinary share: | ||||||||
Numerator: | ||||||||
Allocation of net income - basic and diluted | $ | $ | (10,672 | ) | ||||
Denominator: | ||||||||
Basic and diluted weighted average ordinary shares outstanding | 1 | |||||||
Basic and diluted net income per ordinary share | $ | $ | (10,672 | ) |
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
In August 2020, the FASB issued Accounting Standard Update (ASU) No. 2020-06, Debt-Debt with Conversion and Other Options (Subtopic 470-20) and Derivatives and Hedging-Contracts in Entity’s Own Equity (Subtopic 815-40): Accounting for Convertible Instruments and Contracts in an Entity’s Own Equity (“ASU 2020-06”), which simplifies accounting for convertible instruments by removing major separation models required under current GAAP. The ASU also removes certain settlement conditions that are required for equity-linked contracts to qualify for the derivative scope exception, and it simplifies the diluted earnings per share calculation in certain areas. The Company adopted ASU 2020-06 on January 1, 2021. Adoption of the ASU did not impact the Company’s financial position, results of operations or cash flows.
The Company’s management does not believe that any other recently issued, but not yet effective, accounting standards if currently adopted would have a material effect on the accompanying financial statements.
F-13
JAWS JUGGERNAUT ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
NOTE 4 - INITIAL PUBLIC OFFERING
On June 22, 2021, the Company consummated its Initial Public Offering of 27,600,000 Units, which included the full exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase an additional 3,600,000 Units to cover over-allotments, at $10.00 per Unit. Generating gross proceeds of $276.0 million, and incurring offering costs of approximately $15.6 million, of which approximately $761,000 were offering costs allocated to the derivative warrant liabilities and approximately $9.7 million was for deferred underwriting commissions.
Each Unit consists of one Class A ordinary share, and one-fourth of one redeemable Public Warrant. Each Public Warrant entitles the holder to purchase one Class A ordinary share at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment (see Note 7).
NOTE 5 - RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS
Founder Shares and Private Placement Warrants
On January 19, 2021, the Sponsor purchased 5,750,000 Class B ordinary shares (the “Founder Shares”) and 3,300,000 Private Placement Warrants for an aggregate purchase price of $6,625,000. On June 22, 2021, the Sponsor purchased 460,000 additional Private Placement Warrants, increasing the aggregate purchase price for the Class B ordinary shares and Private Placement Warrants to $7,545,000. In addition, on June 22, 2021, the Company effected a share dividend with respect to Class B ordinary shares, resulting in an aggregate of 6,900,000 Class B ordinary shares outstanding. The Founder Shares included an aggregate of up to 900,000 shares that were subject to forfeiture in the event that, and to the extent to which, the underwriter’s option to purchase additional Units was exercised, so that the number of Founder Shares would equal, on an as-converted basis, approximately 20% of the Company’s issued and outstanding ordinary shares after the Initial Public Offering. The underwriters fully exercised the over-allotment on June 22, 2021; thus, these 900,000 Founder Shares were no longer subject to forfeiture.
Each Private Placement Warrant is exercisable to purchase one Class A ordinary share at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment (see Note 7). A portion of the proceeds from the Private Placement Warrants was added to the proceeds from the Initial Public Offering held in the Trust Account. If the Company does not complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period, the proceeds from the sale of the Private Placement Warrants will be used to fund the redemption of the Public Shares (subject to the requirements of applicable law) and the Private Placement Warrants will expire worthless.
The Sponsor agreed, subject to limited exceptions, not to transfer, assign or sell any of the Founder Shares until the earliest of: (A) one year after the completion of a Business Combination and (B) subsequent to a Business Combination, (x) if the closing price of the Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for share sub-divisions, share dividends, rights issuances, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after a Business Combination, or (y) the date on which the Company completes a liquidation, merger, share exchange or other similar transaction that results in all of the Public Shareholders having the right to exchange their Class A ordinary shares for cash, securities or other property.
Promissory Note - Related Party
On January 19, 2021, the Sponsor agreed to loan the Company an aggregate of up to $300,000 to cover expenses related to the Initial Public Offering pursuant to a promissory note (the “Note”). This Note was non-interest bearing and payable upon the completion of the Initial Public Offering. The Company borrowed approximately $174,000 under the Note and repaid the Note in full on June 23, 2021, at which date the Note was terminated.
Related Party Loans
In order to finance transaction costs in connection with a Business Combination, the Sponsor or an affiliate of the Sponsor, or certain of the Company’s officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan the Company funds as may be required (“Working Capital Loans”). If the Company completes a Business Combination, the Company may repay the Working Capital Loans out of the proceeds of the Trust Account released to the Company. Otherwise, the Working Capital Loans may be repaid only out of funds held outside the Trust Account. In the event that a Business Combination does not close, the Company may use a portion of the 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 $2.00 per warrant. The warrants would be identical to the Private Placement Warrants. As of December 31, 2021 and 2020, the Company had no Working Capital Loans outstanding.
F-14
JAWS JUGGERNAUT ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Administrative Support Agreement
The Company entered into an agreement to pay its Sponsor a total of $10,000 per month for office space, secretarial and administrative services provided to the Company commencing on the Company’s registration statement for the Initial Public Offering through the earlier of consummation of the initial Business Combination or the Company’s liquidation.
For the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company incurred approximately $63,000, in such fees, included as general and administrative fees - related party on the accompanying statements of operations. As of December 31, 2021, there were no amounts payable for these fees.
Due to Related Party
As of December 31, 2020, the Sponsor paid $5,563 on behalf of the Company to cover certain general and administrative expenses.
During the year ended December 31, 2021, the $5,563 due to related party balance was allocated to the Note which was executed on January 19, 2021. As of December 31, 2021, there was no amount due to related party as the Note was repaid.
NOTE 6 - COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES
Registration and Shareholder Rights
The holders of the Founder Shares, Private Placement Warrants and any warrants that may be issued upon conversion of Working Capital Loans (and any Class A ordinary shares issuable upon the exercise of the Private Placement Warrants and warrants that may be issued upon conversion of the Working Capital Loans) have registration rights to require the Company to register a sale of any of the securities held by them pursuant to a registration rights agreement signed upon the effective date of the Initial Public Offering. The holders of these securities are entitled to make up to three demands, excluding short form demands, that the Company register such securities. In addition, the holders have certain “piggy-back” registration rights with respect to registration statements filed subsequent to the completion of a Business Combination. The registration rights agreement does not contain liquidating damages or other cash settlement provisions resulting from delays in registering the Company’s securities. The Company will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such registration statements.
Underwriting Agreement
The Company granted the underwriter a 45-day option from the final prospectus relating to the Initial Public Offering to purchase up to 3,600,000 additional Units to cover over-allotments, if any, at the Initial Public Offering price less the underwriting discounts and commissions. The underwriters fully exercised the over-allotment on June 22, 2021.
The underwriter was entitled to an underwriting discount of $0.20 per Unit, or approximately $5.5 million in the aggregate, paid upon the closing of the Initial Public Offering. In addition, $0.35 per unit, or approximately $9.7 million in the aggregate will be payable to the underwriter for deferred underwriting commissions. The deferred fee will become payable to the underwriter from the amounts held in the Trust Account solely in the event that the Company completes a Business Combination, subject to the terms of the underwriting agreement.
Risks and Uncertainties
Management continues to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the industry and has concluded that while it is reasonably possible that the virus could have a negative effect on the Company’s financial position, results of its operations, and/or search for a target company, the specific impact is not readily determinable as of the date of this financial statements. The financial statement does not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.
In February 2022, the Russian Federation and Belarus commenced a military action with the country of Ukraine. As a result of this action, various nations, including the United States, have instituted economic sanctions against the Russian Federation and Belarus. Further, the impact of this action and related sanctions on the world economy are not determinable as of the date of these financial statements. The specific impact on the Company's financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows is also not determinable as of the date of these financial statements.
NOTE 7 - DERIVATIVE WARRANT LIABILITIES
As of December 31, 2021, the Company had 6,900,000 Public Warrants and 3,760,000 Private Warrants outstanding. There were no warrants outstanding at December 31, 2020.
F-15
JAWS JUGGERNAUT ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Public Warrants may only be exercised for a whole number of shares. No fractional shares will be issued upon exercise of the Public Warrants. The Public Warrants will become exercisable on the later of (a) 30 days after the completion of a Business Combination and (b) one year from the closing of the Initial Public Offering. The Public Warrants will expire five years from the completion of a Business Combination or earlier upon redemption or liquidation.
The Company will not be obligated to deliver any Class A ordinary shares pursuant to the exercise of a warrant and will have no obligation to settle such warrant exercise unless a registration statement under the Securities Act with respect to the Class A ordinary shares underlying the warrants is then effective and a prospectus relating thereto is current, subject to the Company satisfying its obligations with respect to registration, or a valid exemption from registration is available. No warrant will be exercisable and the Company will not be obligated to issue a Class A ordinary share upon exercise of a warrant unless the Class A ordinary share issuable upon such warrant exercise has been registered, qualified or deemed to be exempt under the securities laws of the state of residence of the registered holder of the warrants.
The Company agreed that as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 20 business days, after the closing of a Business Combination, it will use its best efforts to file with the SEC a registration statement for the registration, under the Securities Act, of the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants. The Company will use its best efforts to cause the same to become effective and to maintain the effectiveness of such registration statement, and a current prospectus relating thereto, until the expiration of the warrants in accordance with the provisions of the warrant agreement. If a registration statement covering the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants is not effective by the sixtieth (60th) business day after the closing of a Business Combination, warrant holders may, until such time as there is an effective registration statement and during any period when the Company will have failed to maintain an effective registration statement, exercise warrants on a “cashless basis” in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act or another exemption. Notwithstanding the above, if our Class A ordinary shares are at the time of any exercise of a warrant not listed on a national securities exchange such that they satisfy the definition of a “covered security” under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act, the Company may, at its option, require holders of public warrants who exercise their warrants to do so on a “cashless basis” in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act and, in the event the Company so elect, the Company will not be required to file or maintain in effect a registration statement, and in the event the Company do not so elect, the Company will use its best efforts to register or qualify the shares under applicable blue sky laws to the extent an exemption is not available.
Redemption of warrants when the price per Class A ordinary share equals or exceeds $18.00.
Once the warrants become exercisable, the Company may call the warrants for redemption (except as described with respect to the Private Placement Warrants):
● | in whole and not in part; |
● | at a price of $0.01 per warrant; |
● | upon not less than 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption to each warrant holder; and |
● | if, and only if, the closing price of the Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for share subdivisions, share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within a 30-trading day period ending three business days before the Company sends to the notice of redemption to the warrant holders (the “Reference Value”). |
If and when the warrants become redeemable by the Company, the Company may exercise its redemption right even if it is unable to register or qualify the underlying securities for sale under all applicable state securities laws.
Redemption of warrants when the price per Class A ordinary share equals or exceeds $10.00
Once the warrants become exercisable, the Company may redeem the outstanding warrants:
● | in whole and not in part; |
● | at $0.10 per warrant |
F-16
JAWS JUGGERNAUT ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
● | upon not less than 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption provided that holders will be able to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis prior to redemption and receive that number of shares based on the redemption date and the fair market value of the Class A ordinary shares except as otherwise described below; |
● | if, and only if, the Reference Value equals or exceeds $10.00 per Public Share (as adjusted) for any 20 trading days within the 30-trading day period ending three trading days before the Company sends the notice of redemption to the warrant holders; and |
● | if the Reference Value is less than $18.00 per share (as adjusted), the Private Placement Warrants must also be concurrently called for redemption on the same terms as the outstanding Public Warrants, as described above. |
If the Company calls the Public Warrants for redemption, as described above, its management will have the option to require any holder that wishes to exercise the Public Warrants to do so on a “cashless basis,” as described in the warrant agreement. The exercise price and number of ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the Public Warrants may be adjusted in certain circumstances including in the event of a share dividend, extraordinary dividend or recapitalization, reorganization, merger or consolidation. However, except as described below, the Public Warrants will not be adjusted for issuances of ordinary shares at a price below its exercise price. Additionally, in no event will the Company be required to net cash to settle the Public Warrants. If the Company is unable to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period and the Company liquidates the funds held in the Trust Account, holders of Public Warrants will not receive any of such funds with respect to their Public Warrants, nor will they receive any distribution from the Company’s assets held outside of the Trust Account with respect to such Public Warrants. Accordingly, the Public Warrants may expire worthless.
In addition, if (x) the Company issues additional Class A ordinary shares or equity-linked securities for capital raising purposes in connection with the closing of a Business Combination at an issue price or effective issue price of less than $9.20 per Class A ordinary share (with such issue price or effective issue price to be determined in good faith by the Company’s board of directors and, in the case of any such issuance to the Sponsor or its affiliates, without taking into account any Founder Shares held by the Sponsor or such affiliates, as applicable, prior to such issuance) (the “Newly Issued Price”), (y) the aggregate gross proceeds from such issuances represent more than 60% of the total equity proceeds, and interest thereon, available for the funding of a Business Combination on the date of the consummation of a Business Combination (net of redemptions), and (z) the volume weighted average trading price of its Class A ordinary shares during the 20 trading day period starting on the trading day prior to the day on which the Company consummates its Business Combination (such price, the “Market Value”) is below $9.20 per share, the exercise price of the warrants will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 115% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, and the $18.00 per share redemption trigger price will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 180% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price and the $10.00 per share redemption trigger price will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Share Price.
The Private Placement Warrants are identical to the Public Warrants underlying the Units being sold in the Initial Public Offering, except that the Private Placement Warrants and the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon the exercise of the Private Placement Warrants will not be transferable, assignable or salable until 30 days after the completion of a Business Combination, subject to certain limited exceptions. Additionally, the Private Placement Warrants will be exercisable on a cashless basis and be non-redeemable, except as described above, so long as they are held by the initial purchasers or their permitted transferees. If the Private Placement Warrants are held by someone other than the initial purchasers or their permitted transferees, the Private Placement Warrants will be redeemable by the Company and exercisable by such holders on the same basis as the Public Warrants.
The Company accounts for the Private Placement Warrants and the Public Warrants issued in connection with the Initial Public Offering in accordance with the guidance contained in ASC 815. Such guidance provides that because the warrants do not meet the criteria for equity treatment thereunder, each warrant must be classified as a liability due to the existence of provisions whereby adjustments to the exercise price of the warrants is based on a variable that is not an input to the fair value of a “fixed-for-fixed” option and the existence of the potential for net cash settlement for the warrant holders (but not all shareholders) in the event of a tender offer.
F-17
JAWS JUGGERNAUT ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
NOTE 8 – CLASS A ORDINARY SHARES SUBJECT TO POSSIBLE REDEMPTION
The Company’s Class A ordinary shares feature certain redemption rights that are considered to be outside of the Company’s control and subject to the occurrence of future events. The Company is authorized to issue 300,000,000 Class A ordinary shares with a par value of $0.0001 per share. Holders of the Company’s Class A ordinary shares are entitled to one vote for each share. As of December 31, 2021, there were 27,600,000 Class A ordinary shares outstanding, all of which were subject to possible redemption.
The Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption reflected on the balance sheet is reconciled on the following table:
Gross proceeds | $ | 276,000,000 | ||
Less: | ||||
Fair value of Public Warrants at issuance | (13,455,000 | ) | ||
Offering costs allocated to Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption | (14,825,630 | ) | ||
Plus: | ||||
Accretion of Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption amount | 28,280,630 | |||
Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption | $ | 276,000,000 |
NOTE 9 - SHAREHOLDERS’ DEFICIT
Preference Shares - The Company is authorized to issue 1,000,000 preference shares with a par value of $0.0001 per share, with such designations, voting and other rights and preferences as may be determined from time to time by the Company’s board of directors. As of December 31, 2021 and 2020, there were no preference shares issued or outstanding.
Class A Ordinary Shares - The Company is authorized to issue 300,000,000 Class A ordinary shares with a par value of $0.0001 per share. Holders of the Company’s Class A ordinary shares are entitled to one vote for each share. As of December 31, 2021, there were 27,600,000 Class A ordinary shares issued and outstanding, which were all subject to possible redemption and have been classified as temporary equity (see Note 8). There were no Class A ordinary shares issued or outstanding at December 31, 2020.
Class B Ordinary Shares - The Company is authorized to issue 30,000,000 Class B ordinary shares, with a par value of $0.0001 per share. Holders of the Class B ordinary shares are entitled to one vote for each share. As of December 31, 2020, there was one Class B ordinary share issued and outstanding, which was subsequently canceled. On January 19, 2021, the Sponsor purchased 5,750,000 Class B ordinary shares. On June 22, 2021, the Company effected a share dividend with respect to Class B ordinary shares, resulting in an aggregate of 6,900,000 Class B ordinary shares outstanding. Of the 6,900,000 Class B ordinary shares outstanding, up to an aggregate of 900,000 shares were subject to forfeiture in the event that, and to the extent to which, the underwriter’s option to purchase additional Units was exercised, so that the number of outstanding Class B ordinary shares would equal, on an as-converted basis, approximately 20% of the Company’s issued and outstanding ordinary shares after the Initial Public Offering. The underwriters fully exercised the over-allotment on June 22, 2021; thus, these 900,000 Class B ordinary shares were no longer subject to forfeiture. Accordingly, at December 31, 2021 and 2020, 6,900,000 and 1 Class B ordinary share(s) were issued and outstanding, respectively, none subject to forfeiture.
Holders of Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares will vote together as a single class on all matters submitted to a vote of shareholders, except as required by law.
The Class B ordinary shares will automatically convert into Class A ordinary shares concurrently with or immediately following the consummation of a Business Combination on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment. In the case that additional Class A ordinary shares or equity-linked securities are issued or deemed issued in connection with a Business Combination, the number of Class A ordinary shares issuable upon conversion of all Founder Shares will equal, in the aggregate, 20% of the total number of Class A ordinary shares outstanding after such conversion (after giving effect to any redemptions of Class A ordinary shares by Public Shareholders), including the total number of Class A ordinary shares issued, or deemed issued or issuable upon conversion or exercise of any equity-linked securities or rights issued or deemed issued, by the Company in connection with or in relation to the consummation of a Business Combination, excluding any Class A ordinary shares or equity-linked securities exercisable for or convertible into Class A ordinary shares issued, or to be issued, to any seller in a Business Combination and any Private Placement Warrants issued to the Sponsor, officers or directors upon conversion of Working Capital Loans; provided that such conversion of Founder Shares will never occur on a less than one-for-one basis.
F-18
JAWS JUGGERNAUT ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
NOTE 10 - FAIR VALUE MEASUREMENTS
The following table presents information about the Company’s financial assets and liabilities that are measured at fair value as of December 31, 2021:
Description | Quoted Prices in Active Markets (Level 1) | Significant Other Observable Inputs (Level 2) | Significant Other
Unobservable Inputs (Level 3) | |||||||||
Assets: | ||||||||||||
Investments held in Trust Account - U.S. Treasury Securities (1) | $ | 276,024,958 | $ | $ | ||||||||
Liabilities: | ||||||||||||
Derivative warrant liabilities – Public | $ | 6,762,000 | $ | $ | ||||||||
Derivative warrant liabilities – Private | $ | $ | 3,684,800 | $ |
(1) |
Transfers to/from Levels 1, 2, and 3 are recognized at the beginning of the reporting period. The Public Warrants began to be separately listed and traded in August 2021 resulting in the transfer of the valuation of the warrant liabilities from Level 3 measurements to Level 1 and Level 2 measurements. At December 31, 2021 the fair value of the Public Warrants is measured at their listed trading price, a Level 1 measurement and the fair value of the Private Warrants is measured by reference to the Public Warrant trading price, a Level 2 measurement. As the transfer of Private Placement Warrants to anyone who is not a permitted transferee would result in the Private Placement Warrants having substantially the same terms as the Public Warrants, the Company determined that the fair value of each Private Placement Warrant is equivalent to that of each Public Warrant.
Level 1 assets include investments in U.S. Treasury Securities. The Company uses inputs such as actual trade data, quoted market prices from dealers or brokers, and other similar sources to determine the fair value of its investments.
The fair value of the Public Warrants issued in connection with the Public Offering and Private Placement Warrants were initially measured at fair value using a Black-Scholes Option Pricing Method (the “BSM”).
The change in the fair value of the derivative warrant liabilities measured with Level 3 inputs for the year ended December 31, 2021, is summarized as follows:
Derivative warrant liabilities at January 1, 2021 | $ | |||
Issuance of Public and Private Warrant Liabilities | 20,862,200 | |||
Change in Fair Value of warrant liabilities | 138,000 | |||
Transfer of Public Warrants to Level 1 measurement | (13,593,000 | ) | ||
Transfer of Private Warrants to Level 2 measurement | (7,407,200 | ) | ||
Derivative warrant liabilities at December 31, 2021 | $ |
NOTE 11 - SUBSEQUENT EVENTS
The Company evaluated subsequent events and transactions that occurred up to the date financial statements were issued. Based on this evaluation, the Company did not identify any subsequent events that would have required adjustment or disclosure in the audited statements.
F-19