SK Growth Opportunities Corp - Annual Report: 2022 (Form 10-K)
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☒ | ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(D) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
☐ | TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(D) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
Cayman Islands |
001-41432 |
98-1643582 | ||
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) |
(Commission File Number) |
(I.R.S. Employer Identification Number) | ||
228 Park Avenue S #96693 New York, New York |
10003 | |||
(Address of principal executive offices) |
(Zip Code) |
Title of Each Class: |
Trading Symbol: |
Name of Each Exchange on Which Registered: | ||
Units, each consisting of one Class A Ordinary Share, $0.0001 par value, and one-half of one redeemable warrant |
SKGRU |
The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC | ||
Class A Ordinary Shares included as part of the units |
SKGR |
The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC | ||
Redeemable Warrants included as part of the units, each whole warrant exercisable for one Class A Ordinary Share at an exercise price of $11.50 |
SKGRW |
The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC |
Large accelerated filer | ☐ | Accelerated filer | ☐ | |||
Non-accelerated filer |
☒ | Smaller reporting company | ☒ | |||
Emerging growth company | ☒ |
Table of Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page | ||||||
CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS | 2 | |||||
PART I | 6 | |||||
Item 1. |
6 | |||||
Item 1A. |
27 | |||||
Item 1B. |
67 | |||||
Item 2. |
67 | |||||
Item 3. |
67 | |||||
Item 4. |
67 | |||||
PART II | 68 | |||||
Item 5. |
68 | |||||
Item 6. |
69 | |||||
Item 7. |
Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations |
69 | ||||
Item 7A. |
75 | |||||
Item 8. |
75 | |||||
Item 9. |
Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure |
75 | ||||
Item 9A. |
75 | |||||
Item 9B. |
76 | |||||
Item 9C. |
Disclosures Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections |
76 | ||||
PART III | 77 | |||||
Item 10. |
77 | |||||
Item 11. |
85 | |||||
Item 12. |
Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters |
86 | ||||
Item 13. |
Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence |
88 | ||||
Item 14. |
90 | |||||
92 | ||||||
Item 15. |
92 | |||||
Item 16. |
93 | |||||
SIGNATURES | 94 | |||||
INDEX TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS | F-1 |
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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; |
• | “founder shares” are to our Class B ordinary shares initially issued to our sponsor in a private placement 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 or earlier at the option of the holders thereof (for the avoidance of doubt, such Class A ordinary shares will not be “public shares”); |
• | “initial public offering” are to our initial public offering consummated on June 28, 2022; |
• | “initial shareholders” are to the 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 initially issued to our sponsor in a private placement simultaneously with the closing of our initial public offering and upon conversion of working capital loans and extension loans, if any, which warrants are identical to the warrants sold in our initial public offering, subject to certain limited exceptions; |
• | “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 initial shareholders, officers and directors to the extent our initial shareholders and/or officer and directors purchase public shares, provided that our initial shareholders’ and each officer’s or director’s status as a “public shareholder” will only exist with respect to such public shares; |
• | “SK” are to SK Inc., an affiliate of our sponsor; |
• | “sponsor” are to Auxo Capital Managers LLC, a Delaware limited liability company; |
• | “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; and |
• | “we,” “us,” “our,” “company” or “our company” are to SK Growth Opportunities Corporation, a Cayman Islands exempted company. |
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CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
Some of the statements contained in this Report may constitute “forward-looking statements” for purposes of the federal securities laws. Our forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our or our management team’s expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future. In addition, any statements that refer to projections, forecasts or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. The words “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intends,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “would” and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. Forward-looking statements in this Report may include, for example, statements about:
• | our ability to select an appropriate target business or businesses; |
• | our ability to complete our initial business combination; |
• | our expectations around the performance of a prospective target business or businesses; |
• | our success in retaining or recruiting, or changes required in, our officers, key employees or directors following our initial business combination; |
• | our officers and directors allocating their time to other businesses and potentially having conflicts of interest with our business or in approving our initial business combination; |
• | our potential ability to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination; |
• | our pool of prospective target businesses; |
• | 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. There can be no assurance that future developments affecting us will be those that we have anticipated. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties (some of which are beyond our control) or other assumptions that may cause actual results or performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those factors described under the heading “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.
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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.
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SUMMARY OF 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, 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. Such risks include, but are not limited to:
• | 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. |
• | Past performance by our management team, or their respective affiliates, may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in us. |
• | 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. |
• | If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, our initial shareholders, officers and directors 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. |
• | 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 coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and the status of debt and equity markets. |
• | We may not be able to consummate an initial business combination within the prescribed time frame, in which case we would cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up and we would redeem our public shares and liquidate. |
• | 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. |
• | 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. |
• | If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by shareholders may be less than $10.25 per public share. |
• | 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 $10.25 per share. |
• | If we have not consummated an initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of our initial public offering (or up to 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we extend the period of time to consummate a business combination, as described in more detail in this Report), our public shareholders may be forced to wait beyond such period before redemption from our trust account. |
• | The grant of registration rights to our initial shareholders 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. |
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• | 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. |
• | Our officers and directors may 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. |
• | 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 another blank check company, and, accordingly, may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented. |
• | 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, officers, directors or initial shareholders which may raise potential conflicts of interest. |
• | Since our initial shareholders, 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. |
• | 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. |
• | 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. |
• | A market for our securities may not develop, which would adversely affect the liquidity and price of our securities. |
• | We may reincorporate in or transfer by way of continuation to 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. |
• | Our officers, directors, security holders and their respective affiliates may have competitive pecuniary interests that conflict with our interests. |
• | The nominal purchase price paid by our initial shareholders for the founder shares may significantly dilute the implied value of your public shares in the event we consummate an initial business combination, and our initial shareholders likely to make a substantial profit on their investment in us in the event we consummate an initial business combination, even if the business combination causes the trading price of our ordinary shares to materially decline. |
• | The value of the founder shares following completion of our initial business combination is likely to be substantially higher than the nominal price paid for them, even if the trading price of our ordinary shares at such time is substantially less than $10.00 per share. |
• | Our management concluded that there is substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a “going concern.” |
• | 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 8, 2021 as a Cayman Islands exempted company for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination, which we refer to throughout this Report as our initial business combination.
SK is a leading global conglomerate based in the Republic of Korea (“Korea”) with breadth and depth across a diverse array of industries spanning multiple continents. A wholly-owned subsidiary of SK is the anchor investor in our sponsor. SK and its affiliated companies operate more than 125 businesses across the energy, life sciences, advanced materials, mobility, and semiconductors industries with over $130 billion in assets globally. For nearly 70 years, SK and its affiliated companies have grown through innovation, long-term partnerships, and a commitment to social value. In 2021, SK was ranked 129th on the Fortune Global 500 list. We believe our management team’s strong relationships with the broader SK network provides us with access to global and industry expertise, which we expect will help us source, perform due diligence on, and execute a business combination. In particular, we intend to focus on companies that may benefit from our relationships and the SK ecosystem.
We recognize that companies are no longer solely accountable for the returns they generate for shareholders but must also consider the social value created for the wider community. Society today is undergoing profound change through technological advancements and innovation. New paradigms are required to better conceptualize the relationship between business and society. As such, companies can no longer focus exclusively on their customers, employees, and shareholders, but must also consider their impact on affected communities and members of the wider public. It is our vision to help be a driver of this change and we are focused on acquiring a sustainable business with a double bottom-line focus. We believe that for-profit companies can play an integral role in supporting the social enterprise ecosystem to drive up the sustainability of these entities and to ensure they continue to maximize social value. We believe traditional business models must be superseded by ones that are articulated around the joint generation of financial returns and social impact. The idea behind this forward-thinking model is that both of these objectives are mutually reinforcing and can be grown simultaneously and steadily.
The term “ESG”—environmental, social, and governance—describes areas that characterize sustainable, socially responsible, or ethical investments. While we may pursue an acquisition opportunity in any business, sector, or geography, we intend to capitalize on the ability of our management team to identify, acquire, and manage a growth-oriented, market leading business with strong ESG metrics. We believe that our management team is well positioned to identify assets with attractive risk-adjusted business profiles in the marketplace. In addition to the broad reach of SK’s global platform, which evaluates hundreds of investment opportunities annually, our management team’s external network, developed over decades of work experience, ranges from industry executives, venture capital firms, private equity funds, and investment banks. This network, in combination with the extensive global industry and geographical reach of SK-affiliated operating companies will enable us to pursue a broad range of opportunities. Our management intends to focus on companies that can leverage the relationships and contacts of management to access diverse technical, operational and investing expertise. Additionally, we believe SK’s substantial presence in Asia presents a compelling opportunity for a target company that desires international expansion with a proven strategic partner.
Investment Opportunity
Our investment focus is toward transformative businesses that can build industries to deliver future financial and social prosperity. SK Growth Opportunities Corporation was founded to pursue an initial business combination with a company that is involved in developing and/or deploying technologies and products that address and solve ESG-related issues or is operated in a fashion that is consistent with ESG principles.
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We intend to focus our efforts primarily around:
• | U.S. businesses seeking to access growth capital in the public markets for accelerating development of disruptive technology, enhancing manufacturing capabilities, and constructing additional production facilities; |
• | U.S. companies with substantial untapped global opportunities to expand their serviceable addressable markets; |
• | U.S. companies with differentiated products, services, or technologies that aim to maximize welfare for all stakeholders and possess business models with attractive economics targeting large addressable markets; |
• | Premium assets with existing shareholders reaching the latter part of their investment lifecycles and seeking a path to liquidity to realize returns; and |
• | Higher-growth companies with ESG attributes that could help benefit society through positive environmental impact or financial empowerment, which could also receive increased public market support from more socially conscious investors. |
We believe our broad focus on acquiring a sustainable ESG business with a double bottom-line focus provides a rich palette of opportunities. In addition, we expect that our management team’s deep relationships across the ESG ecosystem and SK’s global franchise and relationships with other marquee players in the ESG space will allow us to generate proprietary deal flow to source and acquire an attractive business combination target. Our management team’s operational and investing experience in ESG—a sector that has become increasingly complex—provides a competitive advantage against blank check companies who may lack the deep domain and technical expertise required to evaluate ESG-related investment opportunities. Our management intends to focus on companies that can benefit from the investment and operational expertise, relationships and contacts of our management.
Business Strategy and Competitive Advantages
Leveraging our management team’s broad network, expertise, and relationship with SK, we will seek to identify and consummate our initial business combination with a company that aligns with our emphasis on strong ESG principles and can benefit from SK’s prominence in multiple diverse business areas.
We believe the following cornerstones of our business strategy provide us with competitive advantages in our pursuit of an initial business combination:
• | Our management team has substantial experience and established track records in identifying, evaluating and executing strategic investments and acquisitions. Throughout their careers, they have built solid reputations and an extensive network with industry leaders and investors which will be utilized to source target companies; |
• | SK and its affiliated companies have a global portfolio of operating companies in a variety of industries such as energy, chemicals, information and communications, materials, and logistics and service. We believe our management team’s close relationships across the whole SK ecosystem would provide another robust channel for sourcing target companies. In addition, our management team’s network and experience with SK and its affiliated companies will be a valuable resource to us during our rigorous due diligence process of targets in relevant sectors; |
• | SK has a strong commitment to ESG and existing experience in strategic partnerships, investments, and acquisitions in related businesses that enhance sustainability. Some recent examples by SK and its affiliated companies include forming BlueOvalSK in a joint venture with Ford, partnering with Bloom Energy to establish market leadership in the hydrogen economy, and consummating equity investments in Solid Power, Plug Power, Monolith Materials, Perfect Day, and Loop Industries. We believe SK’s reputation in the broader ESG community will enhance our credibility with target companies providing us access to substantial proprietary deal flow; and |
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• | Our management team is equipped with sophisticated experience from their various executive positions in leading multinational enterprises, which will enable us to aptly identify and advise on the business needs of target companies including sourcing, partnering, and expanding across geographies and markets. Our management will focus on companies that may benefit from SK’s deep relationship network and continued involvement. We believe our partnership-centric model and our ability to add differentiated strategic value to a business uniquely position us as an attractive partner for target companies seeking a capital infusion and a public listing. |
Acquisition Criteria
Consistent with our business strategy, we have identified the following general criteria and guidelines. We will seek an initial business combination with companies that we believe are:
• | Strongly aligned with ESG—These include companies with environmentally friendly technologies, products, and services that can improve the value chain of the ESG landscape while adhering to strict social responsibilities and ethics to enhance value for all stakeholders; |
• | Portfolio optionality—We believe in our ability to help build multiple paths to value creation for our initial business combination, which may include executing M&A and forming JVs/partnerships. We will seek an initial business combination with a target that has platform opportunities and a credible roadmap to expand vertically and/or horizontally over time; |
• | Potential commercial and strategic synergies with the SK platform—SK has operating companies and strategic investments across multiple industries and global geographical regions. These areas include new energy, clean technology, semiconductor, telecommunication, materials, alternative proteins, and other high growth industries. Our management intends to focus on companies that can benefit from the investment and operational expertise, relationships and contacts of our management and SK; and |
• | Sustainable standalone company—This includes companies with sustainable business models having the capacity to grow quickly in large addressable markets. |
• | Areas of Interest—The areas of interest in which we will seek the initial business combination are represented in but not limited to the following illustrative table: |
Category | Description | |
New Energy | Hydrogen energy / fuel cells, renewable energy, long duration energy storage, on-site power generation, virtual power plants | |
Electrification | Next-generation batteries, battery management systems, electric motors, on-board chargers, power control units, charging infrastructure | |
Clean Solutions | Waste-to-fuels, pollution / waste treatment, recycling / reuse (e.g., collection, sorting, and processing for papers, plastics, batteries, e-waste) | |
Sustainable Food | Alternative proteins (e.g., plat-based, fermentation, cell-based meat), vertical farming, AgTech (e.g., irrigation systems, monitoring, green fertilizers) | |
Carbon Management | Carbon capture, utilization, and storage | |
Materials | Green chemicals, coatings, building materials, textiles | |
Other | Resource utilization efficiency (e.g., building / data center cooling and heating, automated monitoring, smart homes, water conservation), micromobility, electrified rideshare, behavioral health, telehealth, supply chain logistics |
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Our Acquisition Process
In evaluating a prospective initial business combination, we expect to conduct a thorough diligence review to determine a company’s quality and intrinsic value. Our review process may include, among other things, detailed document reviews, financial analysis, technology reviews, management meetings, consultations with customers, competitors, and industry experts as well as review of other information that will be made available to us.
We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with SK, our sponsor, officers, or directors. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with such a company, we, or a committee of independent directors, would obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent firm that commonly renders valuation opinions, that such an initial business combination is fair to our shareholders from a financial point of view. In the event we pursue an initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with SK, such transactions may be subject to local Korean laws and regulations that require, among other things, a filing and approval by local regulators.
Members of our management team and our board may directly or indirectly own our securities following our initial public offering, and accordingly, 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. Further, each of 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 was included by a target business as a condition to any agreement with respect to our initial business combination.
Certain of our officers and directors have formerly been employed by or affiliated with SK. As a global investor, SK is continuously made aware of potential investment opportunities, one or more of which may present an opportunity for a business combination, but we have not (nor has anyone on our behalf) contacted any prospective target business or had any discussions, formal or otherwise, with respect to a business combination transaction with any prospective target business.
Certain of our directors and officers presently have, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities pursuant to which such director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity. Accordingly, if any of our directors or officers 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 may be required to honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such opportunity to such entity before we can pursue such opportunity. We do not believe, however, that any of the foregoing fiduciary duties or contractual obligations of our directors or officers will 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 one hand, and us, on the other.
Our initial shareholders and our officers and directors may sponsor or form other blank check companies similar to ours or may pursue other business or investment ventures during the period in which we are seeking an initial business combination. As a result, our initial shareholders, officers, and directors could have conflicts of interest in determining whether to present business combination opportunities to us or to any other blank check company with which they may become involved. However, we do not believe that any such potential conflicts would materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination.
In addition, certain of our 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.
Initial Business Combination
Nasdaq listing rules require that 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 assets held in the trust account (excluding the deferred underwriting commissions held in trust and taxes payable on the income earned on the trust account) at the time of signing a definitive agreement in connection with our initial business combination. If our
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board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or an independent entity that commonly renders valuation opinions with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. While we consider it unlikely that our board of directors 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 of directors 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 of directors 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% fair market value test, 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, shares or other equity interests of a target. In this case, we would acquire a 100% controlling interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new shares, our shareholders immediately prior to our initial business combination could own less than a majority of our outstanding shares subsequent to our initial business combination. If less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses are owned or acquired by the post-business combination company, the portion of such business or businesses that is owned or acquired is what will be valued for purposes of the 80% fair market value test. If the business combination involves more than one target business, the 80% fair market value test will be based on the aggregate value of all of the target businesses. In addition, we have agreed not to enter into a definitive agreement regarding an initial business combination without the prior consent of our sponsor. If our securities are not then listed on the Nasdaq for whatever reason, we would no longer be required to meet the foregoing 80% of fair market value test.
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.
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 SK, our sponsor, officers or directors. In the event we enter into such a transaction, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent entity that commonly renders valuation opinions that such initial business combination is fair to our shareholders from a financial point of view. We are not required to obtain such an opinion in any other context but may obtain such an opinion as part of our due diligence and evaluation of an initial business combination. In the event we pursue an initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with SK, such transactions may be subject to local Korean laws and regulations that require, among other things, a filing and approval by local regulators.
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In addition, our initial shareholders, officers and directors or any of their affiliates may make additional investments in the company in connection with the initial business combination, although our initial shareholders, officers and directors and their affiliates have no obligation or current intention to do so. If our initial shareholders, officers and directors or any of their affiliates elect to make additional investments, such proposed investment could influence our initial shareholders’, officers’ and directors’ motivations to complete an initial business combination.
Our initial shareholders, officers and directors may sponsor, form or participate in other blank check companies similar to ours during the period in which we are seeking an initial business combination. 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 initial shareholders, 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.
Status as a Public Company
We believe our structure will make 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 underwriter’s 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.
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While we believe that our structure and our management team’s backgrounds will make 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.
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 $1.235 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 end of that year’s second fiscal quarter; and (2) the date on which we have issued more than $1.00 billion in non-convertible debt securities during the prior three-year period. References herein to “emerging growth company” shall have the meaning associated with it in the JOBS Act.
Financial Position
With funds available for a business combination in Trust Account, following the partial exercise of the underwriter’s Over-Allotment Option (as defined below), initially in the amount of $207,504,000 (assuming no redemptions), after payment of the estimated expenses of our initial public offering and $7,336,000 of deferred underwriting fees, and assuming the outstanding principal on the overfunding loans are converted into Class A ordinary shares upon the consummation of our initial business combination, 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 our initial public offering, the sale of the private placement warrants and the overfunding loans, as well as 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
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We have 18 months (or 21 months if we have executed a definitive agreement relating to an initial business combination), from the closing of our initial public offering to consummate our initial business combination. However, if we anticipate that we may not be able to consummate our initial business combination within 18 months (or 21 months if we have executed a definitive agreement relating to an initial business combination), we may, by resolution of our board of directors if requested by our sponsor, extend the period of time to consummate a business combination up to two times, each by an additional three months (for a total of up to 24 months to complete a business combination), subject to the sponsor or its affiliates or designees depositing additional funds into the trust account as set out below. Our shareholders will not be entitled to vote or redeem their shares in connection with any such extension. However, our shareholders will be entitled to vote and redeem their shares in connection with a general meeting held to approve an initial business combination or in a tender offer undertaken in connection with an initial business combination if we propose such a business combination during any extension period. In order for the time available for us to consummate our initial business combination to be extended beyond 18 months (or 21 months if we have executed a definitive agreement relating to an initial business combination), our sponsor or its affiliates or designees must deposit into the trust account $2,096,000 , up to an aggregate of $4,192,000, on or prior to the date of the applicable deadline, for each three month extension. Any such payments would be made in the form of a non-interest bearing loan. In the event that we receive notice from our sponsor five days prior to the deadline of its wish for us to effect an extension, we intend to issue a press release announcing such intention at least three days prior to the deadline. In addition, we intend to issue a press release the day after the deadline announcing whether or not the funds have been timely deposited. Any such payments would be made in the form of non-interest bearing extension loans. Such extension loans may be converted into warrants upon the consummation of our initial business combination, at a price of $1.00 per warrant, at the option of our sponsor. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants. If we complete our initial business combination, and our sponsor decides not to convert the loan into warrants, we would repay such loaned amounts out of the proceeds of the trust account released to us. If we do not complete a business combination, we will not repay such loans. Any such extension loans would be in addition to the overfunding loans and any working capital loans made to us. Furthermore, the letter agreement with our initial shareholders contains a provision pursuant to which our sponsor has agreed to waive its right to be repaid for such loans in the event that we do not complete a business combination. Our sponsor and its affiliates or designees are not obligated to fund the trust account to extend the time for us to complete our initial business combination.
If we are unable to consummate our initial business combination within the applicable time period, we will, as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares for a pro rata portion of the funds held in the trust account and as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining shareholders and our board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in each case to our obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. In such event, the warrants will be worthless.
In addition to our sponsor’s ability to extend our deadline to consummate an initial business combination by up to six months as described above, we may also hold a shareholder vote at any time to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association to modify the amount of time we will have to consummate an initial business combination (as well as to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our public shares if we have not consummated an initial business combination within the completion window or with respect to any other material provisions relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity). As described herein, our initial shareholders, officers and directors have agreed that they will not propose any such amendment 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 (net of taxes payable), divided by the number of then-outstanding public shares, subject to the limitations described herein.
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.
Dedicated Sponsor Team
In addition to the management team, our sponsor has available the support of a team of experienced professionals dedicated to assisting our deal sourcing, due diligence and execution. We believe their combined knowledge and experience provides valuable advantages in our seeking and consummating the business combination. The team includes professionals from SK Global Development Advisors LLC (“SK Global”), an affiliate of our sponsor, and includes:
• | Hongjang Jin, Vice President, SK Global, who formerly served as a Director of SK hynix’s Global Development Group from 2019 to 2021, and Head of Corporate Development of SK hynix from 2017 to 2018, developing and executing inorganic investment strategies for SK Group and SK hynix in semiconductor, AI, datacenter, and new energy. Previously, he led multiple team functions including strategic planning, strategic marketing, sales operation, and consumer marketing at SK hynix America and SK hynix from 2005 to 2018, and accounting and finance at Hynix Semiconductor Manufacturing America from 2000 to 2005. |
• | Junghyuk “Eric” Choi, Director, SK Global, who has previously performed analysis on the Electric Vehicle, Battery, and Renewable Energy industries at Samsung SDI America from 2019 to 2021. Prior to that role, he served as Senior Equity Research Analyst and Head of Heavy Industries Team of Shinhan Investment Corp from 2011 to 2015, where he covered the Mobility sector and was awarded Best Analyst of the Year in Auto & Tire sector and youngest in league, and covered the Mobility sector as a senior analyst at LIG Investment & Securities from 2009 to 2011. He has published two books, Auto Empire and The Future of Industry Trends and Stocks after COVID. |
• | Xiaolan “Charlene” Kruk, Senior Manager, SK Global, who has served as a Senior Manager and sourced strategic investments in areas including alternative foods as part of SK hynix’s Global Development Group from 2020 to 2021. She also served in various operational and marketing roles in Samsung Electronics from 2010 to 2019, where she participated in the execution of the acquisition of SmartThings, transferred multiple startup teams in the entrepreneur-in-residence program to Samsung business units, and facilitated technology and business partnerships post-acquisition. |
• | David Rubino, Manager, SK Global. Previously, he worked as an Investment Principal at GoingVC Partners from 2019 to 2022, leading deals in materials, robotics, energy, and AI sectors as well as heading up portfolio outreach efforts. Prior to GoingVC, in 2018 he had been a part of corporate finance efforts at Corredata Inc, aligning with the executive team on capital raising and operational efficiencies. Additionally, he worked on sourcing, deal alignment, and execution of transactions as a technology M&A investment banker at Duff & Phelps from 2015 to 2017, and as a generalist investment banker at Goldman Sachs between 2013 to 2015. |
• | ChaYoung “Katie” Yoo, a Corporate Development Analyst and Executive Assistant to the CEO, SK Global, supports the SK Global team in strategic, operative, and administrative functions. She has worked for the SK Group since 2019. |
Organizational Structure
Our sponsor together with our directors currently hold 100% of our issued and outstanding shares. Our sponsor is mostly owned by Auxo Capital Inc., a Delaware corporation (“Holdco”), that is wholly owned by SK. Holdco wholly owns SK Global, the entity that employs our dedicated sponsor team. The diagram below depicts our organizational structure immediately prior to the completion of our initial public offering.
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Sources of Target Businesses
We anticipate that target business candidates will be 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. We may engage the services of professional firms or other individuals that specialize in business acquisitions on any formal basis. If we engage such firms of individuals, 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 initial shareholders 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 pay an affiliate of our sponsor a total of $10,000 per month for secretarial and administrative support services 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.
Our officers and directors along with SK’s global network have deep relationships within the ESG ecosystem. We anticipate sourcing opportunities from our relationships and contacts within the SK ecosystem as well as external network of executive and management teams, venture capitalists and other institutional investors, investment bankers, lenders, advisers, consultants, accountants, and other market participants. In addition, we expect
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to receive opportunities brought to our attention by 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 type 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.
We do not envision encountering conflicts with other SK affiliates, given our focus on enterprises seeking to access the public markets with an emphasis on the ESG sector.
We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with SK, our sponsor, officers or directors. In the event we enter into such a transaction, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent entity that commonly renders valuation opinions that such initial business combination is fair to our shareholders from a financial point of view. We are not required to obtain such an opinion in any other context but may obtain such an opinion as part of our due diligence and evaluation of an initial business combination. In the event we pursue an initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with SK, such transactions may be subject to local Korean laws and regulations that require, among other things, a filing and approval by local regulators.
Certain of our officers and directors presently have, and any of our officers and directors may have in the future, 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 may be required to 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. See “Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance—Conflicts of Interest.”
Evaluation of a Target Business and Structuring of Our Initial Business Combination
In evaluating a prospective target business, we expect to 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 will 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.
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. In addition, we have agreed not to enter into a definitive agreement regarding an initial business combination without the prior consent of our sponsor.
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. |
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Limited Ability to Evaluate the Target’s Management Team
Although we intend to closely scrutinize the management of a prospective target business when evaluating the desirability of effecting our initial business combination with that business, our assessment of the target business’s management may not prove to be correct. In addition, the future management may not have the necessary skills, qualifications or abilities to manage a public company. Furthermore, the future role of members of our management team, if any, in the target business cannot presently be stated with any certainty. The determination as to whether any of the members of our management team will remain with the combined company will be made at the time of our initial business combination. While it is possible that one or more of our directors will remain associated in some capacity with us following our initial business combination, it is unlikely that any of them will devote their full efforts to our affairs subsequent to our initial business combination. Moreover, we cannot assure you that members of our management team will have significant experience or knowledge relating to the operations of the particular target business.
We cannot assure you that any of our key personnel will remain in senior management or advisory positions with the combined company. The determination as to whether any of our key personnel will remain with the combined company will be made at the time of our initial business combination.
Following a business combination, we may seek to recruit additional managers to supplement the incumbent management of the target business. We cannot assure you that we will have the ability to recruit additional managers, or that additional managers will have the requisite skills, knowledge or experience necessary to enhance the incumbent management.
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 the Nasdaq 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 (other than in a public offering); |
• | Any of our directors, officers or substantial security holder (as defined by the Nasdaq rules) has a 5% 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 issued and outstanding ordinary shares or voting power of 1% or more (or 5% or more if the related party involved is classified as such solely because such person is a substantial security holder); 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; |
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• | 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. |
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 initial shareholders, directors, 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 where otherwise permissible under applicable law, rules and regulations. 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 initial shareholders, directors, 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 initial shareholders, 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) 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 (ii) 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 initial shareholders, officers, directors and/or their affiliates anticipate that they may identify the shareholders with whom our initial shareholders, 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 initial shareholders, 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 initial shareholders, 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.
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Our initial shareholders, 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 (net of taxes payable) 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 $10.25 per public share and such amount will be increased for each three-month extension by $0.10 if we choose to extend our time to consummate an initial business combination, as described herein. 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 underwriter. 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 initial shareholders, officers and directors 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 18 months from the closing of our initial public offering (or up to 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we extend the period of time to consummate a business combination, as described in more detail in this Report) or (B) with respect to any other material provisions relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity.
Limitations on Redemptions
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 or repurchases pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC for business or other reasons. So long as we obtain and maintain a listing for our securities on the Nasdaq we will be required to comply with the Nasdaq rules.
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If we held a shareholder vote to approve our initial business combination, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association:
• | 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.
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 such case, our initial shareholders, officers and directors have agreed to vote their founder shares and public shares, if any, in favor of our initial business combination. As a result, in addition to our initial purchaser’s founder shares, we would need 7,860,001 or 37.5% (assuming all issued and outstanding shares are voted) of the 20,960,000 public shares sold in our initial public offering (following the partial exercise of the underwriter’s Over-Allotment Option) 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 initial shareholders, officers and directors 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 18 months from the closing of our initial public offering (or up to 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we extend the period of time to consummate a business combination, as described in more detail in this Report) or (B) with respect to any other material provisions relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity.
If we conduct redemptions or repurchases 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.
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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.
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.
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Any request to redeem such shares, once made, may be withdrawn at any time up to two business days prior to the initially scheduled vote on the proposal to approve the business combination, unless otherwise agreed to by us. Furthermore, if a holder of a public share delivered its certificate in connection with an election of redemption rights and subsequently decides prior to the applicable date not to elect to exercise such rights, such holder may simply request that the transfer agent return the certificate (physically or electronically). It is anticipated that the funds to be distributed to holders of our public shares electing to redeem their shares will be distributed promptly after the completion of our initial business combination.
If our initial business combination is not approved or completed for any reason, then our public shareholders who elected to exercise their redemption rights would not be entitled to redeem their shares for the applicable pro rata share of the trust account. In such case, we will promptly return any certificates delivered by public holders who elected to redeem their shares.
If our initial proposed business combination is not completed, we may continue to try to complete a business combination with a different target until 18 months from the closing of our initial public offering (or up to 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we extend the period of time to consummate a business combination, as described in more detail in this Report).
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 18 months from the closing of our initial public offering (or up to 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we extend the period of time to consummate a business combination, as described in more detail in this Report) to consummate an initial business combination. If we have not consummated an initial business combination by such date, 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 (less taxes payable and up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses) divided by the number of the then-outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public shareholders’ rights as shareholders (including the right to receive further liquidation distributions, if any); and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining shareholders and our board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in each case, to our obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to our warrants, which will expire worthless if we fail to consummate an initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of our initial public offering (or up to 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we extend the period of time to consummate a business combination, as described in more detail in this Report) or prior to the expiration of the applicable deadline as described elsewhere in this Report. 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 initial shareholders, officers and directors 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 18 months from the closing of our initial public offering (or up to 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we extend the period of time to consummate a business combination, as described in more detail in this Report) 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.
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Our initial shareholders, officers and directors 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 18 months from the closing of our initial public offering (or up to 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we extend the period of time to consummate a business combination, as described in more detail in this Report) or (B) with respect to any other material provisions relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, 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 (net of taxes payable) divided by the number of the then-outstanding public shares. This redemption right shall apply in the event of the approval of any such amendment, whether proposed by our sponsor, any officer or director, or any other person.
We expect that all costs and expenses associated with implementing our plan of dissolution, as well as payments to any creditors, will be funded from amounts held outside the trust account plus up to $100,000 of funds from the trust account available to us to pay dissolution expenses, although we cannot assure you that there will be sufficient funds for such purpose. As of December 31, 2022, we have approximately $515,000 in cash held outside of the trust account.
If we were to expend all of the net proceeds of our initial public offering, the sale of the private placement warrants and the overfunding loans, other than the proceeds deposited in the trust account, and without taking into account interest, if any, earned on the trust account, the per-share redemption amount received by shareholders upon our dissolution would be $10.25 (assuming the period of time to consummate an initial business combination is not extended as provided for herein). The proceeds deposited in the trust account could, however, become subject to the claims of our creditors which would have higher priority than the claims of our public shareholders. We cannot assure you that the actual per-share redemption amount received by shareholders will not be less than $10.25. While we intend to pay such amounts, if any, we cannot assure you that we will have funds sufficient to pay or provide for all creditors’ claims.
Although we will seek to have all vendors, service providers, 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. Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. will not execute an agreement with us waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account. In addition, there is no guarantee that such entities will agree to waive any claims they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any negotiations, contracts or agreements with us and will not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason. In order to protect the amounts held in the trust account, our sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a 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) $10.25 per public share and (ii) the actual amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account if less than $10.25 per public share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest that may be withdrawn to pay our tax obligations, provided that such liability will not apply to any claims by a third-party or prospective target business that executed a waiver of any and all rights to seek access to the trust account nor will it apply to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriter of our initial public offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act and liabilities related to our initial business combination. 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
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verified whether our sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and we believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our company. Therefore, we cannot assure you that our sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations. None of our officers or directors will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses.
In the event that the proceeds in the trust account are reduced below the lesser of (i) $10.25 per public share and (ii) the actual amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account if less than $10.25 per public share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the amount of interest which may be withdrawn to pay our income tax obligations, and our sponsor asserts that it is unable to satisfy its indemnification obligations or that it has no indemnification obligations related to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether to take legal action against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations. While we currently expect that our independent directors would take legal action on our behalf against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations to us, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment may choose not to do so in any particular instance. Accordingly, we cannot assure you that due to claims of creditors the actual value of the per-share redemption price will not be less than $10.25 per public share.
We will seek to reduce the possibility that our sponsor will have to indemnify the trust account due to claims of creditors by endeavoring to have all vendors, service providers, 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 underwriter of our initial public offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. In the event that we liquidate and it is subsequently determined that the reserve for claims and liabilities is insufficient, shareholders who received funds from our trust account could be liable for claims made by creditors, however such liability will not be greater than the amount of funds from our trust account received by any such shareholder.
If we file a bankruptcy or winding-up petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the proceeds held in the trust account could be subject to applicable bankruptcy or insolvency law, and may be included in our bankruptcy 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 $10.25 per public share to our public shareholders. Additionally, if we file a bankruptcy or winding-up petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, any distributions received by shareholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or bankruptcy or insolvency laws as either a “preferential transfer” or a “fraudulent conveyance.” As a result, a bankruptcy or insolvency court could seek to recover some or all amounts received by our shareholders. Furthermore, our board of directors may be viewed as having breached its fiduciary duty to our creditors and/or may have acted in bad faith, and thereby exposing itself and our company to claims of punitive damages, by paying public shareholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors. We cannot assure you that claims will not be brought against us for these reasons.
Our public shareholders will be entitled to receive funds from the trust account only (i) in the event of the redemption of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of our initial public offering (or up to 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we extend the period of time to consummate a business combination, as described in more detail in this Report), (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 18 months from the closing of our initial public
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offering (or up to 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we extend the period of time to consummate a business combination, as described in more detail in this Report) or (B) with respect to any other material provisions relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, 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 18 months from the closing of our initial public offering (or up to 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we extend the period of time to consummate a business combination, as described in more detail in this Report), 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 and operating businesses seeking strategic acquisitions. Many of these entities are well established and have extensive experience identifying and effecting business combinations directly or through affiliates. 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 228 Park Ave S #96693, New York, NY 10003. We consider our current office space adequate for our current operations.
Employees
We currently have two 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.
Periodic Reporting and Financial Information
We 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.
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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 Act (As Revised) of the Cayman Islands, for a period of 20 years from the date of the undertaking, no law which is enacted in the Cayman Islands imposing any tax to be levied on profits, income, gains or appreciations will apply to us or our operations and, in addition, that no tax to be levied on profits, income, gains or appreciations or which is in the nature of estate duty or inheritance tax will be payable (i) on or in respect of our shares, debentures or other obligations or (ii) by way of the withholding in whole or in part of a payment of dividend or other distribution of income or capital by us to our shareholders or a payment of principal or interest or other sums due under a debenture or other obligation of us.
We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, as modified by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, or the JOBS Act. As such, we are eligible to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2012, or the Sarbanes Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a non-binding advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the prices of our securities may be more volatile.
In addition, Section 107 of the JOBS Act also provides that an “emerging growth company” can take advantage of the extended transition period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act for complying with new or revised accounting standards. In other words, an “emerging growth company” can delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We intend to take advantage of the benefits of this extended transition period.
We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of (1) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following the fifth anniversary of the completion of our initial public offering, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.235 billion, or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our Class A ordinary shares that are held by non-affiliates 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.
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Additionally, we are a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Item 10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K. Smaller reporting companies may take advantage of certain reduced disclosure obligations, including, among other things, providing only two years of audited financial statements. We will remain a smaller reporting company until the last day of the fiscal year in which (1) the market value of our ordinary shares held by non-affiliates exceeds $250 million as of the prior June 30, or (2) our annual revenues exceeded $100 million during such completed fiscal year and the market value of our ordinary shares held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30.
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 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, 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, and Consummation of or Inability to Consummate a Business Combination
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 requirements. 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 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.
Please see the section entitled “Business—Effecting Our Initial Business Combination—Shareholders May Not Have the Ability to Approve Our Initial Business Combination” for additional information.
If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, our initial shareholders, officers and directors 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, 20% of our outstanding ordinary shares. Our initial shareholders, officers and directors 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. As a result, in addition to our initial shareholders’ founder shares, we would need 7,860,001, or 37.5% (assuming all issued and outstanding shares are voted) of the 20,000,000 public shares sold in our initial public offering (following the partial exercise of the underwriter’s Over-Allotment Option) 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 initial shareholders and our officers and directors to vote in favor of our initial business combination will increase the likelihood that we will receive the requisite shareholder approval for such initial business combination.
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Your only opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding a potential business combination may be limited to the exercise of your right to redeem your shares from us for cash.
At the time of your investment in us, you will not be provided with an opportunity to evaluate the specific merits or risks of any target businesses. Since our board of directors may complete a business combination without seeking shareholder approval, public shareholders may not have the right or opportunity to vote on the business combination, unless we seek such shareholder approval. Accordingly, your only opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding a potential business combination may be limited to exercising your redemption rights within the period of time (which will be at least 20 business days) set forth in our tender offer documents mailed to our public shareholders in which we describe our initial business combination.
The ability of our public shareholders to redeem their shares for cash may make our financial condition unattractive to potential business combination targets, which may make it difficult for us to enter into a business combination with a target.
We may seek to enter into a business combination transaction agreement with a prospective target that requires as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. If too many public shareholders exercise their redemption rights, we would not be able to meet such closing condition and, as a result, would not be able to proceed with the business combination. Consequently, if accepting all properly submitted redemption requests would not allow us 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 to redeem such larger number of shares 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.
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The requirement that we consummate an initial business combination within the prescribed time frame 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 18 months from the closing of our initial public offering (or up to 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we extend the period of time to consummate a business combination, as described in more detail in this Report). 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.
We may not be able to consummate an initial business combination within the prescribed time frame, in which case we would cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up and we would redeem our public shares and liquidate.
We may not be able to find a suitable target business and consummate an initial business combination within 18 months after the closing of our initial public offering (or up to 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we extend the period of time to consummate a business combination, as described in more detail in this Report). 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, the outbreak of COVID-19 continues both in the U.S. and globally, and, while the extent of the impact of the outbreak 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 and other events, such as terrorist attacks, natural disasters or a significant outbreak of other infectious diseases, may negatively impact businesses we may seek to acquire. 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 (less taxes payable and up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of the then-outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public shareholders’ rights as shareholders (including the right to receive further liquidation distributions, if any); and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining shareholders and our board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in each case, to our obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. 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 $10.25 per public share, or less than $10.25 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 $10.25 per public share” and other risk factors herein.
Our sponsor may decide not to extend the term we have to consummate our initial business combination, in which case we would cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up and we would redeem our public shares and liquidate, and the warrants will be worthless.
We have 18 months (or 21 months if we have executed a definitive agreement relating to an initial business combination), from the closing of our initial public offering to consummate our initial business combination. However, if we anticipate that we may not be able to consummate our initial business combination within 18 months (or 21 months if we have executed a definitive agreement relating to an initial business
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combination), we may, by resolution of our board of directors if requested by our sponsor, extend the period of time to consummate a business combination up to two times, each by an additional three months (for a total of up to 24 months to complete a business combination), subject to the sponsor or its affiliates or designees depositing additional funds into the trust account as set out below. Our shareholders will not be entitled to vote or redeem their shares in connection with any such extension. However, our shareholders will be entitled to vote and redeem their shares in connection with a general meeting held to approve an initial business combination or in a tender offer undertaken in connection with an initial business combination if we propose such a business combination during any extension period. In order for the time available for us to consummate our initial business combination to be extended beyond 18 months (or 21 months if we have executed a definitive agreement relating to an initial business combination), our sponsor or its affiliates or designees must deposit into the trust account $2,096,000, up to an aggregate of $4,192,000, on or prior to the date of the applicable deadline, for each three month extension. Any such payments would be made in the form of a non-interest bearing loan. In the event that we receive notice from our sponsor five days prior to the deadline of its wish for us to effect an extension, we intend to issue a press release announcing such intention at least three days prior to the deadline. In addition, we intend to issue a press release the day after the deadline announcing whether or not the funds have been timely deposited. Any such payments would be made in the form of non-interest bearing extension loans. Such extension loans may be converted into warrants upon the consummation of our initial business combination, at a price of $1.00 per warrant, at the option of our sponsor. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants. If we complete our initial business combination, and our sponsor decides not to convert the loan into warrants, we would repay such loaned amounts out of the proceeds of the trust account released to us. If we do not complete a business combination, we will not repay such loans. Any such extension loans would be in addition to the overfunding loans and any working capital loans made to us. Furthermore, the letter agreement with our initial shareholders contains a provision pursuant to which our sponsor has agreed to waive its right to be repaid for such loans in the event that we do not complete a business combination. Our sponsor and its affiliates or designees are not obligated to fund the trust account to extend the time for us to complete our initial business combination.
If we are unable to consummate our initial business combination within the applicable time period, we will, as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares for a pro rata portion of the funds held in the trust account and as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining shareholders and our board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in each case to our obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. In such event, the warrants will be worthless.
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 coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and the status of debt and equity markets.
Since late 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused substantial disruption to global economies and markets and the virus has continued to spread on a global scale. The COVID-19 outbreak and a significant outbreak of other infectious diseases, including the resurgence or variants thereof, could result in a widespread health crisis that 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, or may already have been, materially and adversely affected. Furthermore, we may be unable to complete a business combination if continued concerns relating to COVID-19 continues to restrict travel, limit the ability to have meetings with potential investors or the target company’s personnel, vendors and services providers are unavailable to negotiate and consummate a transaction in a timely manner. The extent to which COVID-19 impacts our search for a business combination will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, including new information which may emerge concerning the severity of COVID-19 and the actions to contain COVID-19 or treat its impact, among others. 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.
In addition, our ability to consummate a transaction may be dependent on the ability to raise equity and debt financing which may be impacted by COVID-19 and other events, including as a result of increased market volatility, decreased market liquidity in third-party financing being unavailable on terms acceptable to us or at all.
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Finally, the outbreak of COVID-19 may also have the effect of heightening many of the other risks described in this “Risk Factors” section, such as those related to the market for our securities and cross-border transactions.
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.
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. There can be no assurance that these trends will not continue.
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. 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.
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.
Upon closing of our initial public offering, our sponsor (and its transferees/designees, if any) collectively owned 19.6% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares (assuming they do not purchase any shares in our initial public offering). Accordingly, they 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. In addition, Holdco, which is wholly owned by SK, owns a 91% economic interest in our sponsor, and therefore SK may be able to exert significant influence through our sponsor. If our sponsor purchases any additional ordinary shares in the aftermarket or in privately negotiated transactions, this would increase our sponsor’s and SK’s control. Neither our sponsor or its members nor, to our knowledge, any of our officers or directors, has 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 ordinary shares.
We may not be able to complete an initial business combination since such initial business combination may be subject to regulatory review and approval requirements, including pursuant to foreign investment regulations and review by governmental entities such as the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”), or may be ultimately prohibited.
Our initial business combination may be subject to regulatory review and approval requirements by governmental entities, or ultimately prohibited. For example, CFIUS has authority to review direct or indirect foreign investments in U.S. companies. Among other things, CFIUS is empowered to require certain foreign investors to make mandatory filings, to charge filing fees related to such filings, and to self-initiate national security reviews of foreign direct and indirect investments in U.S. companies if the parties to that investment choose not to file voluntarily. In the case that CFIUS determines an investment to be a threat to national security, CFIUS has the power to unwind or place restrictions on the investment. Whether CFIUS has jurisdiction to review an acquisition or investment transaction depends on—among other factors—the nature and structure of the transaction, including the level of beneficial ownership interest and the nature of any information or governance rights involved. For example, investments that result in “control” of a U.S. business by a foreign person always are subject to CFIUS jurisdiction. CFIUS’s expanded jurisdiction under the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act of 2018 and implementing regulations that became effective on February 13, 2020 further includes investments that do not result in control of a U.S. business by a foreign person but afford certain foreign investors certain information or governance rights in a U.S. business that has a nexus to “critical technologies,” “critical infrastructure” and/or “sensitive personal data.”
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For so long as SK retains a material ownership interest in us, we may be deemed a “foreign person” under the regulations relating to CFIUS. As such, an initial business combination with a U.S. business or foreign business with U.S. subsidiaries that we may wish to pursue may be subject to CFIUS review. If a particular proposed initial business combination with a U.S. business falls within CFIUS’s jurisdiction, we may determine that we are required to make a mandatory filing or that we will submit to CFIUS review on a voluntary basis, or to proceed with the transaction without submitting to CFIUS and risk CFIUS intervention, before or after closing the transaction. CFIUS may decide to block or delay our proposed initial business combination, impose conditions with respect to such initial business combination or request the President of the United States to order us to divest all or a portion of the U.S. target business of our initial business combination that we acquired without first obtaining CFIUS approval, which may limit the attractiveness of, delay or prevent us from pursuing certain target companies that we believe would otherwise be beneficial to us and our shareholders. In addition, certain federally licensed businesses may be subject to rules or regulations that limit foreign ownership.
The process of government review, whether by CFIUS or otherwise, could be lengthy. Because we have only a limited time to complete our initial business combination, our failure to obtain any required approvals within the requisite time period may require us to liquidate. If we are unable to consummate our initial business combination within the applicable time period required under our amended and restated memorandum and certificate of incorporation, including as a result of extended regulatory review of a potential initial business combination, we will, as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares for a pro rata portion of the funds held in the trust account and as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining shareholders and our board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in each case to our obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. In such event, our shareholders will miss the opportunity to benefit from an investment in a target company and the appreciation in value of such investment. Additionally, the warrants will be worthless.
If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, our initial shareholders, directors, 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 initial shareholders, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase public shares or warrants in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market prior to the completion of our initial business combination where otherwise permissible under applicable law, rules and regulations, 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 initial shareholders, directors, 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 purchase of public shares or warrants could be to (1) 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 (2) 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
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are subject to such reporting requirements. See “Business—Effecting Our Initial Business Combination—Permitted Purchases and Other Transactions with Respect to Our Securities” for a description of how our initial shareholders, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates will select which shareholders to purchase securities from in any private transaction.
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. See “Business—Effecting Our Initial Business Combination—Tendering Share Certificates in Connection with a Tender Offer or Redemption Rights.”
As the number of special purpose acquisition companies evaluating targets increases, attractive targets may become scarcer and there may be more competition for attractive targets. This could increase the cost of our initial business combination and could even result in our inability to find a target or to consummate an initial business combination.
In recent years, the number of special purpose acquisition companies that have been formed has increased substantially. Many potential targets for special purpose acquisition companies have already entered into an initial business combination, and there are still many special purpose acquisition companies preparing for an initial public offering, as well as many such companies currently in registration. As a result, at times, fewer attractive targets may be available to consummate an initial business combination.
In addition, because there are more special purpose acquisition companies seeking to enter into an initial business combination with available targets, the competition for available targets with attractive fundamentals or business models may increase, which could cause 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, 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 with an early stage company, a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of revenue or earnings.
To the extent we complete our initial business combination with an early stage company, a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of sales or earnings, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in the operations of the business with which we combine. These risks include investing in a business without a proven business model and with limited historical financial data, volatile revenues or earnings, intense competition and difficulties in obtaining and retaining key personnel. Although our officers and directors will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we may not be able to properly ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors and we may not 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.
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.
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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.
Because of our limited resources and the significant competition for business combination opportunities, it may be more difficult for us to complete our initial business combination. If we have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.25 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.
We expect to encounter intense competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours, including private investors (which may be individuals or investment partnerships), other blank check companies and other entities, domestic and international, competing for the types of businesses we intend to acquire. Many of these individuals and entities are well established and have extensive experience in identifying and effecting, directly or indirectly, acquisitions of companies operating in or providing services to various industries. Many of these competitors possess greater technical, human and other resources or more local industry knowledge than we do and our financial resources will be relatively limited when contrasted with those of many of these competitors. While we believe there are numerous target businesses we could potentially acquire with the net proceeds of our initial public offering, the sale of the private placement warrants and the overfunding loans, 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. Potential target companies will be aware that this may reduce the resources available to us for our initial business combination. Any of these obligations may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating a business combination. If we have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.25 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. See “ —If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by shareholders may be less than $10.25 per public share” and other risk factors herein.
If the net proceeds of our initial public offering, the sale of the private placement warrants and the overfunding loans not being held in the trust account are insufficient to allow us to operate for the 18 months following the closing of our initial public offering (or up to 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we extend the period of time to consummate a business combination, as described in more detail in this Report), 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.
The funds available to us outside of the trust account may not be sufficient to allow us to operate for at least the next 18 months (or up to 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we extend the period of time to consummate a business combination, as described in more detail in this Report), assuming that our initial business combination is not completed during that time. We expect to incur significant costs in pursuit of our acquisition plans.
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Management’s plans to address this need for capital through our initial public offering and potential loans from certain of our affiliates are discussed in the section of this Report titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.” However, our affiliates are not obligated to make loans to us in the future, and we may not be able to raise additional financing from unaffiliated parties necessary to fund our expenses. Any such event in the future may negatively impact the analysis regarding our ability to continue as a going concern at such time.
As of December 31, 2022, the Company had approximately $515,000 in cash and working capital deficit of approximately $4.6 million. 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 working capital loans may be convertible into warrants of the post-business combination entity at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants. Prior to the completion of our initial business combination, we do not expect to seek loans from parties other than our sponsor, its affiliates or members of our management team as we do not believe third parties will be willing to loan such funds and provide a waiver against any and all rights to seek access to funds in our trust account. If we have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period because we do not have sufficient funds available to us, we will be forced to cease operations and liquidate the trust account. Consequently, our public shareholders may only receive an estimated $10.25 per public share, or 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 $10.25 per public share” and other risk factors herein.
Our management has determined that the liquidity condition and mandatory liquidation, should a business combination not occur, and potential subsequent dissolution raises substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern for a period of time within one year after the date that the financial statements are issued. Our management plans to address this uncertainty through the completion of the initial business combination. However, there is no assurance that our plans to consummate the initial business combination will be successful or successful within the combination period.
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
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reporting losses. Even if our due diligence successfully identifies certain risks, unexpected risks may arise and previously known risks may materialize in a manner not consistent with our preliminary risk analysis. Even though these charges may be non-cash items and not have an immediate impact on our liquidity, the fact that we report charges of this nature could contribute to negative market perceptions about us or our securities. In addition, charges of this nature may cause us to violate net worth or other covenants to which we may be subject as a result of assuming pre-existing debt held by a target business or by virtue of our obtaining post-combination debt financing. Accordingly, any holders who choose to retain their securities following the business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.
If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by shareholders may be less than $10.25 per public share.
Our placing of funds in the trust account may not protect those funds from third-party claims against us. Although we will seek to have all vendors, service providers, 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.
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 18 months from the closing of our initial public offering (or up to 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we extend the period of time to consummate a business combination, as described in more detail in this Report), or upon the exercise of a redemption right in connection with our initial business combination, we will be required to provide for payment of claims of creditors that were not waived that may be brought against us within the ten years following redemption. Accordingly, the per-share redemption amount received by public shareholders could be less than the $10.25 per public share initially held in the trust account, due to claims of such creditors. Pursuant to the letter agreement with our initial shareholders, 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) $10.25 per public share and (ii) the actual amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account if less than $10.25 per public share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest that may be withdrawn to pay our tax obligations, provided that such liability will not apply to any claims by a third-party or prospective target business that executed a waiver of any and all rights to seek access to the trust account nor will it apply to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriter of our initial public offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act and liabilities related to our initial business combination. 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
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$10.25 per public share. In such event, we may not be able to complete our initial business combination, and you would receive such lesser amount per share in connection with any redemption of your public shares. None of our officers or directors will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses.
Our directors may decide not to enforce the indemnification obligations of our sponsor, resulting in a reduction in the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public shareholders.
In the event that the proceeds in the trust account are reduced below the lesser of (i) $10.25 per public share and (ii) the actual amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account if less than $10.25 per public share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest that may be withdrawn to pay our tax obligations, and our sponsor asserts that it is unable to satisfy its obligations or that it has no indemnification obligations related to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether to take legal action against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations. While we currently expect that our independent directors would take legal action on our behalf against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations to us, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment and subject to their fiduciary duties may choose not to do so in any particular instance. If our independent directors choose not to enforce these indemnification obligations, the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public shareholders may be reduced below $10.25 per public share.
We may not have sufficient funds to satisfy indemnification claims of our directors and 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.
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 $10.25 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 do not 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 earned thereon (less taxes payable and up to $100,000 of interest income to pay dissolution expenses). 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 $10.25 per share.
If, after we distribute the proceeds in the trust account to our public shareholders, we file a bankruptcy or winding-up petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, a bankruptcy or insolvency court may seek to recover such proceeds, and the members of our board of directors may be viewed as having breached their fiduciary duties to our creditors, thereby exposing the members of our board of directors and us to claims of punitive damages.
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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.
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. |
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 will be to identify and complete a business combination and thereafter to operate the post-transaction business or assets for the long term. We do not plan to buy businesses or assets with a view to resale or profit from their resale. We do not plan to buy unrelated businesses or assets or to be a passive investor.
We do not believe that our anticipated principal activities will subject us to the Investment Company Act. To this end, the proceeds held in the trust account may only be invested in United States “government securities” within the meaning of Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act having a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 promulgated under the Investment Company Act which
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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. An investment in our securities 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 18 months from the closing of our initial public offering (or up to 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we extend the period of time to consummate a business combination, as described in more detail in this Report), or (B) with respect to any other material provisions relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity; or (iii) absent our completing an initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of our initial public offering (or up to 24 months form the closing of our initial public offering if we extend the period of time to consummate a business combination, as described in more detail in this Report), 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 $10.25 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.
Changes in laws or regulations or how such laws or regulations are interpreted or applied, or a failure to comply with any laws or 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, our business combination may be contingent on our ability to comply with certain laws and regulations and any post-business combination company may be subject to additional laws and regulations. Compliance with, and monitoring of, applicable laws and regulations may be difficult, time consuming and costly. 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. In addition, those laws and regulations and their interpretation and application may change from time to time, including as a result of changes in economic, political, social and government policies, and those changes could have a material adverse effect on our business, including our ability to negotiate and complete our initial Business Combination, and results of operations.
On March 30, 2022, the SEC issued proposed rules that would, among other items, impose additional disclosure requirements in initial public offerings by SPACs and business combination transactions involving SPACs and private operating companies; amend the financial statement requirements applicable to business combination transactions involving such companies; update and expand guidance regarding the general use of projections in SEC filings, as well as when projections are disclosed in connection with proposed business combination transactions; increase the potential liability of certain participants in proposed business combination transactions; and impact the extent to which SPACs could become subject to regulation under the Investment Company Act of 1940. These rules, if adopted, whether in the form proposed or in revised form, may materially adversely affect our business, including our ability to negotiate and complete our initial business combination and may increase the costs and time related thereto.
If we have not consummated an initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of our initial public offering (or up to 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we extend the period of time to consummate a business combination, as described in more detail in this Report), our public shareholders may be forced to wait beyond such period before redemption from our trust account.
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If we have not consummated an initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of our initial public offering (or up to 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we extend the period of time to consummate a business combination, as described in more detail in this Report), the proceeds then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account (less taxes payable and up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), will be used to fund the redemption of our public shares, as further described herein. Any redemption of public shareholders from the trust account will be effected automatically by function of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association prior to any voluntary winding up. If we are required to wind up, liquidate the trust account and distribute such amount therein, pro rata, to our public shareholders, as part of any liquidation process, such winding up, liquidation and distribution must comply with the applicable provisions of the Companies Act. In that case, investors may be forced to wait beyond 18 months from the closing of our initial public offering (or up to 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we extend the period of time to consummate a business combination, as described in more detail in this Report) before the redemption proceeds of our trust account become available to them, and they receive the return of their pro rata portion of the proceeds from our trust account. We have no obligation to return funds to investors prior to the date of our redemption or liquidation unless, prior thereto, we consummate our initial business combination or amend certain provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, and only then in cases where investors have sought to redeem their Class A ordinary shares. Only upon our redemption or any liquidation will public shareholders be entitled to distributions if we do not complete our initial business combination and do not amend certain provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. 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 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 the 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 the 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 appointed in each year and each class (except for those directors appointed prior to our first annual general meeting) serving a three-year term.
You will not be permitted to exercise your warrants unless we register and qualify the underlying Class A ordinary shares or certain exemptions are available.
If the shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants are not registered under the Securities Act, we will be required to permit holders to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis, in which case, the number of Class A ordinary shares that you will receive upon cashless exercise will be based on a formula. 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
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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 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.
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 initial shareholders 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 prior to the closing of our initial public offering, our initial shareholders and their permitted transferees can demand that we register the resale of the Class A ordinary shares into which founder shares are convertible and the private placement warrants and the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the private placement warrants, warrants that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans and extension loans and the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon conversion of such warrants and any Class A ordinary shares issued to our sponsor upon conversion of the overfunding loans. We will bear the cost of registering these securities. The registration and availability of such a significant number of securities for trading in the public market may have an adverse effect on the market price of our Class A 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 initial shareholders or their permitted transferees are registered for resale.
Because we are neither limited to evaluating a target business in a particular industry sector nor have we selected any specific target businesses with which to pursue our initial business combination, you will be unable to ascertain the merits or risks of any particular target business’s operations.
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We may pursue business combination opportunities in any sector, except that we are not, under our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, 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. To the extent we complete our initial business combination, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in the business operations with which we combine. For example, if we combine with a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of sales or earnings, we may be affected by the risks inherent in the business and operations of a financially unstable or a development stage entity. Although our officers and directors will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we cannot assure you that we will properly ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors or that we will have adequate time to complete due diligence. Furthermore, some of these risks may be outside of our control and leave us with no ability to control or reduce the chances that those risks will adversely impact a target business. We also cannot assure you that an investment in our units will ultimately prove to be more favorable to investors than a direct investment, if such opportunity were available, in a business combination target. Accordingly, any holders who choose to retain their securities following the business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.
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.
The officers and directors of an acquisition candidate may resign upon completion of our initial business combination. The loss of a business combination target’s key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business.
The role of an acquisition candidate’s key personnel upon the completion of our initial business combination cannot be ascertained at this time. Although we contemplate that certain members of an acquisition candidate’s management team will remain associated with the acquisition candidate following our initial business combination, it is possible that members of the management of an acquisition candidate will not wish to remain in place.
We 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.
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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 $10.25 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.
We are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent accounting or investment banking firm, and consequently, you may have no assurance from an independent source that the price we are paying for the business is fair to our shareholders from a financial point of view.
Unless we complete our initial business combination with an affiliated entity, we are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent firm that commonly renders valuation opinions that the price we are paying is fair to our shareholders from a financial point of view. If no opinion is obtained, our shareholders will be relying on the judgment of our board of directors, who will determine fair market value based on standards generally accepted by the financial community. Such standards used will be disclosed in our proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, related to our initial business combination.
We may issue additional Class A ordinary shares or preference shares to complete our initial business combination or under an employee incentive plan after completion of our initial business combination. We may also issue Class A ordinary shares upon the conversion of the founder shares at a ratio greater than one-to-one at the time of our initial business combination as a result of the anti-dilution provisions contained in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. Any such issuances would dilute the interest of our shareholders and likely present other risks.
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association authorize the issuance of up to 9,000,000,000 Class A ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share, 999,000,000 Class B ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share, and 990,000 preference shares, par value $0.0001 per share. Immediately after our initial public offering and the partial exercise of the underwriter’s Over-Allotment Option, there were 8,979,040,000 and 993,760,000 authorized but unissued Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares, respectively, available for issuance which amount does not take into account shares reserved for issuance upon exercise of outstanding warrants or shares issuable upon conversion of the Class B ordinary shares, if any. The Class B ordinary shares will automatically convert into Class A ordinary shares (which such Class A ordinary shares delivered upon conversion will not have any redemption rights or be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account if we fail to consummate an initial business combination) at the time of our initial business combination or earlier at the option of the holders thereof as described herein and in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. Immediately after our initial public offering and the partial exercise of the underwriter’s Over-Allotment Option, there were no preference shares issued and outstanding. There amounts exclude any Class A ordinary shares or private placement warrants that may be issued upon conversion of the overfunding loans and the extension loans, respectively.
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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 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 as described in “Description of Securities—Warrants—Public Shareholders’ 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. |
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 Class A ordinary shares (which such Class A ordinary shares delivered upon conversion will not have any redemption rights or be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account if we fail to consummate an initial business combination) at the time of our initial business combination or earlier at the option of the holders thereof 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, 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 and extension loans and any Class A ordinary shares issued to our sponsor upon conversion of the overfunding 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.
Resources could be wasted in researching business combinations that are not completed, which could materially adversely affect subsequent attempts to locate and acquire or merge with another business. If we have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.25 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.
We anticipate that the investigation of each specific target business and the negotiation, drafting and execution of relevant agreements, disclosure documents and other instruments will require substantial management time and attention and substantial costs for accountants, attorneys and others. If we decide not to complete a specific initial
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business combination, the costs incurred up to that point for the proposed transaction likely would not be recoverable. Furthermore, if we reach an agreement relating to a specific target business, we may fail to complete our initial business combination for any number of reasons including those beyond our control. Any such event will result in a loss to us of the related costs incurred which could materially adversely affect subsequent attempts to locate and acquire or merge with another business. If we have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.25 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.
Members of our management team and affiliated companies have been, and may from time to time be, involved in legal proceedings 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 of such involvement, members of our management team and affiliated companies have been, and may from time to time be, involved in legal proceedings or governmental investigations unrelated to our business. Any such litigation, whether in the past, ongoing or in the future, may be detrimental to our reputation, may negatively impact our ability to attract suitable potential acquisition targets and our ability to identify and complete an initial business combination, and may have an adverse effect on the price of our securities.
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 and ongoing military action between Russia and Ukraine.
On February 24, 2022, Russian military forces launched a military action in Ukraine, and sustained conflict and disruption in the region is likely. Although the length, impact and outcome of the ongoing military conflict in Ukraine is highly unpredictable, this conflict could lead to significant market and other disruptions, including significant volatility in commodity prices and supply of energy resources, instability in financial markets, supply chain interruptions, political and social instability, changes in consumer or purchaser preferences as well as increase in cyberattacks and espionage. Russia’s recognition of two separatist republics in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine and subsequent military action against Ukraine have led to an unprecedented expansion of sanction programs imposed by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, Switzerland, Japan and other countries against Russia, Belarus, the Crimea Region of Ukraine, the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic and the so-called Luhansk People’s Republic.
The situation is rapidly evolving as a result of the conflict in Ukraine, and the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and other countries may implement additional sanctions, export controls or other measures against Russia, Belarus and other countries, regions, officials, individuals or industries in the respective territories. Such sanctions and other measures, as well as the existing and potential further responses from Russia or other countries to such sanctions, tensions and military actions, could adversely affect the global economy and financial markets and could adversely affect our ability to search for a business combination or finance such business combination, and the business, financial condition and results of operations of any target business with which we ultimately consummate a business combination may be materially adversely affected.
Risks Relating to Our Securities
The value of the founder shares following completion of our initial business combination is likely to be substantially higher than the nominal price paid for them, even if the trading price of our ordinary shares at such time is substantially less than $10.00 per share.
Upon the closing of our initial public offering and the partial exercise of the underwriter’s Over-Allotment Option, our initial shareholders invested in us an aggregate of $6,817,000, comprised of the $25,000 purchase price for the founder shares and the $6,792,000 purchase price for the private placement warrants. Such purchase of the private placement warrants was funded by SK, an affiliate of our sponsor. Assuming a trading price of $10.00 per share upon consummation of our initial business combination, the 5,240,000 founder shares would have an aggregate implied value of $52,400,000. Even if the trading price of our ordinary shares were as low as $1.30 per share, and the private placement warrants are worthless, the value of the founder shares would be approximately equal to the initials shareholders’ initial investment in us. As a result, our initial shareholders are likely to be able to
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make a substantial profit on the investment in us at a time when our public shares have lost significant value (whether because of a substantial amount of redemptions of our public shares or any other reason). Accordingly, our management team, which owns interests in our sponsor, may be more willing to pursue a business combination with a riskier or less-established target business than would be the case if our sponsor had paid the same per share price for the founder shares as our public shareholders paid for their public shares.
The nominal purchase price paid by our initial shareholders for the founder shares may significantly dilute the implied value of your public shares in the event we consummate an initial business combination, and our initial shareholders likely to make a substantial profit on their investment in us in the event we consummate an initial business combination, even if the business combination causes the trading price of our ordinary shares to materially decline.
While we offered our units at an offering price of $10.00 per unit and the amount in our trust account was initially $10.25 per public share, implying an initial value of $10.25 per public share, our initial shareholders paid only a nominal aggregate purchase price of $25,000 for the founder shares, or approximately $0.005 per share. As a result, the value of your public shares may be significantly diluted in the event we consummate an initial business combination. For example, the following table shows the public shareholders’ and initial shareholders’ investment per share and how that compares to the implied value of one of our shares upon the consummation of our initial business combination if at that time we were valued at $214,840,000, which is the amount we would have for our initial business combination in the trust account assuming no interest is earned on the funds held in the trust account and no public shares are redeemed in connection with our initial business combination. At such valuation, each of our 26,200,000 ordinary shares would have an implied value of $8.20 per share, which is a 20% decrease as compared to the initial implied value per public share of $10.25.
Public shares |
20,960,000 | |||
Founder shares |
5,240,000 | |||
|
|
|||
Total shares |
26,200,000 | |||
Total funds in trust available for initial business combinations(1) |
$ | 214,840,000 | ||
Implied value per share |
$ | 8.20 | ||
Public shareholders’ investment per share(2) |
$ | 10.00 | ||
Initial shareholders’ investment per share(3) |
$ | 0.005 |
(1) | Does not take into account other potential impacts on our valuation at the time of the business combination, such as the value of our public and private warrants, the trading price of our public shares, the business combination transaction costs (including payment of $7,336,000 of deferred underwriting commissions), any equity issued or cash paid to the target’s sellers or other third parties, or the target’s business itself, including its assets, liabilities, management and prospects. In addition, this amount includes $5,240,000 received from the overfunding loans from our sponsor, which loans will be repaid upon the closing of our initial business combination or converted into Class A ordinary shares at a conversion price of $10.00 per Class A ordinary share (or any combination thereof), at our sponsor’s discretion (provided that any such conversion may not occur until after the 60th day following the effective date of the registration statement in connection with our initial public offering). |
(2) | While the public shareholders’ investment is in both the public shares and the public warrants, for purposes of this table the full investment amount is ascribed to the public shares only. |
(3) | The initial shareholders’ total investment in the equity of the company, inclusive of the founder shares and the sponsor’s $6,792,000 investment in the private placement warrants, is $6,817,000. |
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Note that redemptions of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination would further reduce the implied value of our Class A ordinary shares. For instance, in the example above, if 50% of the public shares were redeemed in connection with our initial business combination, the implied value per share would be $6.83.
While the implied value of our public shares may be diluted, the implied value of $8.20 per share in the example above would represent a significant implied profit for our initial shareholders relative to the initial purchase price of the founder shares. Our initial shareholders have invested an aggregate of $12,057,000 in us in connection with our initial public offering, comprised of the $25,000 purchase price for the founder shares, the $6,792,000 purchase price for the private placement warrants and the $5,240,000 in the overfunding loan. Such purchase of the private placement warrants and funding of the overfunding loans was funded by SK, an affiliate of our sponsor. At $8.20 per share, the 5,240,000 founder shares would have an aggregate implied value of $42,968,000. As a result, even if the trading price of our ordinary shares significantly declines (whether because of a substantial amount of redemptions of our public shares or for any other reason), our initial shareholders will stand to make significant profit on its investment in us. In addition, our initial shareholders could potentially recoup approximately their entire investment in us even if the trading price of our Class A ordinary shares were as low as $1.30 per share and even if the private placement warrants are worthless. As a result, our initial shareholders are likely to make a substantial profit on its investment in us even if we select and consummate an initial business combination that causes the trading price of our Class A ordinary shares to decline, while our public shareholders who purchased our securities could lose significant value in their public shares. Our initial shareholders may therefore be economically incentivized to consummate an initial business combination with a riskier, weaker-performing or less-established target business than would be the case if our initial shareholders had paid the same per share price for the founder shares as our public shareholders paid for their public shares.
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 passive foreign investment company (a “PFIC”) for any taxable year (or portion thereof) that is included in the holding period of a U.S. Holder in 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 the PFIC status of an acquired company pursuant to a business combination and 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. In addition, it is possible that the start-up exception will not be available due to the structure or timing of our business combination and the PFIC status of an acquired company, each of which is not yet known. Therefore, 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, however, will not be determinable until after the end of such taxable year (and, in the case of the start-up exception, potentially not until after the two taxable years following our current taxable year). Moreover, if we determine we are a PFIC for any taxable year, we will endeavor to provide to a U.S. Holder such information as the Internal Revenue Service (“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 likely be unavailable with respect to our warrants in all cases. U.S. Holders should consult their tax advisers regarding the possible application of the PFIC rules.
An investment in our units may result in uncertain U.S. federal income tax consequences.
An investment in our units may result in uncertain U.S. federal income tax consequences. For instance, because there are no authorities that directly address instruments similar to our units, the allocation an investor makes with respect to the purchase price of a unit between the underlying Class A ordinary share and one-half of one redeemable warrant included in each unit could be challenged by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) or courts. Furthermore, the U.S. federal income tax consequences of a cashless exercise of our warrants is unclear under current law. Finally, it is unclear whether the redemption rights with respect to our Class A ordinary shares suspend the running of a U.S. Holder’s holding period for purposes of determining whether any gain or loss realized
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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 dividends we pay would be considered “qualified dividends” for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Prospective investors should consult their tax advisers with respect to the tax consequences of owning and disposing of our securities.
Our initial business combination or transactions relating thereto may result in taxes imposed on us and our shareholders or warrant holders.
We may, in connection with our initial business combination and subject to requisite shareholder approval by special resolution under the Companies Act, merge or otherwise combine with another company, or reincorporate in or transfer by way of continuation to the jurisdiction in which the target company or business is located or another jurisdiction. Tax structuring considerations are complex, the relevant facts and law are uncertain and may change, and we may prioritize commercial and other considerations over tax considerations. A shareholder or warrant holder may be required to recognize taxable income or gain with respect to our business combination or transactions relating thereto 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), in which the target company is located, or in which we reincorporate. In the event of a reincorporation, transfer by way of continuation or merger, any tax liability may attach prior to any consummation of redemptions of our Class A ordinary shares.
We do not intend to make any cash distributions to shareholders or warrant holders to pay taxes in connection with our business combination or thereafter. Shareholders and warrant holders may be subject to withholding taxes or other taxes with respect to their ownership of us after our business combination. In addition, we could be treated as tax resident in the jurisdiction in which the target company or business is located, which could result in adverse tax consequences to us (e.g., taxation on our worldwide income in such jurisdiction) and to our shareholders or warrant holders (e.g., withholding taxes on dividends and taxation of disposition gains).
We may effect a business combination with a target company that has business operations in multiple jurisdictions. If we effect such a business combination, we could be subject to significant income, withholding and other tax obligations in a number of jurisdictions with respect to income, operations and subsidiaries related to those jurisdictions. Due to the complexity of tax obligations and filings in other jurisdictions, we may have a heightened risk related to audits or examinations by taxing authorities. This additional complexity and risk could have an adverse effect on our after-tax profitability and financial condition.
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.
We are dependent upon our 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 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 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. We do not have an employment agreement with, or key-man insurance on the life of, any of our directors or officers.
The unexpected loss of the services of one or more of our directors or officers could have a detrimental effect on us.
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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.
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 prior to 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 election to our board of directors, as long as the sponsor holds any securities covered by the registration and shareholder rights agreement, which is described under the section of this Report entitled “Description of Securities—Registration and Shareholder Rights.”
Our officers and directors may allocate their time to other businesses thereby causing conflicts of interest in their determination as to how much time to devote to our affairs. This conflict of interest could have a negative impact on our ability to complete our initial business combination.
Our officers and directors are not required to, and may 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 officers may engaged in other business endeavors for which he may be entitled to substantial compensation, and our 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. If our 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. For a complete discussion of our officers’ and directors’ other business affairs, please see “Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance—Directors and Executive Officers.”
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 another blank check company, 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. Some of our officers and directors presently have, and any of them in the future may have, additional fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entity, subject to his
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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.
In addition, our initial shareholders, officers and directors may in the future become affiliated with other blank check companies that may have acquisition objectives that are similar to ours. 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 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 one hand, and us, on the other.
For a complete discussion of our officers’ and directors’ business affiliations and the potential conflicts of interest that you should be aware of, please see “Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance —Directors and Executive Officers,” “Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance —Conflicts of Interest” and “Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence.”
Our officers, directors, security holders and their respective affiliates may have competitive pecuniary interests that conflict with our interests.
We have not adopted a policy that expressly prohibits our directors, officers, 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 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. See the section titled “Description of Securities—Certain Differences in Corporate Law—Shareholders’ Suits” for further information on the ability to bring such claims. However, we might not ultimately be successful in any claim we may make against them for such reason.
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, officers, directors or initial shareholders which may raise potential conflicts of interest.
In light of the involvement of our sponsor, officers and directors with other entities, we may decide to acquire one or more businesses affiliated with our sponsor, officers, directors or initial shareholders. Our directors also serve as officers and board members for other entities, including, without limitation, those described under “Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance —Conflicts of Interest.” SK, our sponsor, officers and directors may sponsor, form or participate in other blank check companies similar to ours during the period in which we are seeking an initial business combination. 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
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that such affiliated entity met our criteria and guidelines for a business combination as set forth in “Business—Effecting Our Initial Business Combination—Evaluation of a Target Business and Structuring of Our Initial 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 another independent firm that commonly renders valuation opinions regarding the fairness to our shareholders from a financial point of view of a business combination with one or more domestic or international businesses affiliated with our sponsor, 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 initial shareholders, 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 December 9, 2021, our sponsor paid $25,000, or approximately $0.003 per share, to cover certain of our expenses in consideration of 8,625,000 Class B ordinary shares, par value $0.0001. On February 24, 2022, 1,437,500 Class B ordinary shares were surrendered and thereupon cancelled by the company resulting in a decrease in the total number of Class B ordinary shares outstanding from 8,625,000 shares to 7,187,500 shares. On May 5, 2022, 1,437,500 Class B ordinary shares were surrendered and thereupon cancelled by the company resulting in a decrease in the total number of Class B ordinary shares outstanding from 7,187,500 shares to 5,750,000 shares. Prior to the completion of our initial public offering, our sponsor transferred an aggregate of 90,000 Class B ordinary shares to our independent director nominees. Prior to the initial investment in the company of $25,000 by the sponsor, the company had no assets, tangible or intangible. The per share price of the founder shares was determined by dividing the amount contributed to the company by the number of founder shares issued. The founder shares will be worthless if we do not complete an initial business combination. In addition, our sponsor has purchased an aggregate of 6,792,000 private placement warrants, each exercisable to purchase one Class A ordinary share at $11.50 per share, at a price of $1.00 per warrant, or $6,792,000 in the aggregate, in a private placement that closed simultaneously with the closing of our initial public offering and the partial exercise of the underwriter’s over-allotment option. Such purchase was funded by SK, an affiliate of our sponsor. If we do not consummate an initial business within 18 months from the closing of our initial public offering (or up to 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we extend the period of time to consummate a business combination, as described in more detail in this Report), the private placement warrants will expire worthless. In addition, if we do not complete our initial business combination, we will not repay the overfunding loans from the trust account, and we would likely not have other available funds to repay the overfunding loans. The personal and financial interests of our 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 18-month anniversary of the closing of our initial public offering nears, which is the deadline for our consummation of an initial business combination, unless such deadline is extended as described herein.
We may engage our underwriter or one of its affiliates to provide additional services to us, which may include acting as financial advisor in connection with an initial business combination or as placement agent in connection with a related financing transaction. Our underwriter is entitled to receive deferred underwriting commissions that will be released from the trust account only upon a completion of an initial business combination. These financial incentives may cause our underwriter to have potential conflicts of interest in rendering any such additional services to us, including for example, in connection with the sourcing and consummation of an initial business combination.
We may engage our underwriter or one of its affiliates to provide additional services to us, including, for example, identifying potential targets, providing financial advisory services, acting as a placement agent in a private offering or arranging debt financing transactions. We may pay such underwriter or its affiliate 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 or its affiliates and no fees or other compensation for such services will be paid to the underwriter or its affiliates prior to the date that is 60 days from the date of the pricing of our initial public offering, unless such payment would not be deemed underwriter’s compensation in connection
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with our initial public offering. The underwriter is also entitled to receive deferred underwriting commissions that are conditioned on the completion of an initial business combination; provided that the underwriter reserves the right in its sole discretion to waive the deferred underwriting commissions at any time prior to the initial business combination by providing written notice to us. The underwriter or its affiliates’ financial interests tied to the consummation of a business combination transaction may give rise to potential conflicts of interest in providing any such additional services to us, including potential conflicts of interest in connection with the sourcing and consummation of an initial business combination.
We may issue notes or other debt securities, or otherwise incur substantial debt, to complete a business combination, which may adversely affect our leverage and financial condition and thus negatively impact the value of our shareholders’ investment in us.
Although we have no commitments as of the date of this Report to issue any notes or other debt securities (other than the overfunding loans), or to otherwise incur outstanding debt following our initial public offering, we may choose to incur substantial debt to complete our initial business combination. We have agreed that we will not incur any indebtedness unless we have obtained from the lender a waiver of any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to the monies held in the trust account. As such, no issuance of debt will affect the per-share amount available for redemption from the trust account. Nevertheless, the incurrence of debt could have a variety of negative effects, including:
• | default and foreclosure on our assets if our operating revenues after an initial business combination are insufficient to repay our debt obligations; |
• | acceleration of our obligations to repay the indebtedness even if we make all principal and interest payments when due if we breach certain covenants that require the maintenance of certain financial ratios or reserves without a waiver or renegotiation of that covenant; |
• | our immediate payment of all principal and accrued interest, if any, if the debt is payable on demand; |
• | 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 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 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. |
We may only be able to complete one business combination with the proceeds of our initial public offering, the sale of the private placement warrants and the overfunding loans, 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.
As of December 31, 2022, we had approximately $217.6 million held in trust account (excluding deferred underwriting commissions of approximately $7.3 million).
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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.
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
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valuations ascribed to the target and us in the business combination. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new Class A ordinary shares in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock, shares or other equity interests of a target. In this case, we would acquire a 100% interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new Class A ordinary shares, our shareholders immediately prior to such transaction could own less than a majority of our outstanding Class A ordinary shares subsequent to such transaction. In addition, other minority shareholders may subsequently combine their holdings resulting in a single person or group obtaining a larger share of the company’s shares than we initially acquired. Accordingly, this may make it more likely that our management will not be able to maintain control of the target business.
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.
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 will not provide a specified maximum redemption threshold. 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 initial shareholders, 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
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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 50% 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, 50% of the number of the then outstanding private placement warrants. In addition, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will 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 18 months from the closing of our initial public offering (or up to 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we extend the period of time to consummate a business combination, as described in more detail in this Report) or (B) with respect to any other material provisions relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity. To the extent any of such amendments would be deemed to fundamentally change the nature of any of the securities offered through this registration statement, we would register, or seek an exemption from registration for, the affected securities.
The provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association that relate to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares 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 the rights of a company’s shareholders, 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 the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares (including the requirement to deposit proceeds of our initial public offering, the sale of the private placement warrants and the overfunding loans 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 50% 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 initial shareholders and their permitted transferees, if any, who collectively beneficially own, on an as-converted basis, 20% of our Class A ordinary shares (assuming they did not purchase any of our securities in or after 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 initial shareholders, 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 18 months from the closing of our initial public offering (or up to 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we extend the period of time to consummate a business combination, as described in more detail in this Report) or (B) with respect to any other material provisions relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, unless we provide our public
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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 (net of taxes payable) 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 initial shareholders, 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.
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 $10.25 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, the sale of the private placement warrants and the overfunding loans 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, the sale of the private placement warrants and the overfunding loans 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 $10.25 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.
Our initial shareholders control 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 initial shareholders own, on an as-converted basis, 20% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares (assuming they did not purchase any of our securities in or after our initial public offering). Accordingly, they 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. If our initial shareholders purchase any additional Class A ordinary shares in the aftermarket or in privately negotiated transactions, this would increase their control. Neither our initial shareholders nor, to our knowledge, any of our officers or directors, have any current intention to purchase additional securities, other than as disclosed in this Report. 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 appointed by our sponsor, is and will be divided into three classes, each of which will generally serve for a term of three years with only one class of directors being appointed in each year. We may not hold an annual general meeting to 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 general meeting, as a consequence of our “staggered” board of directors, only a minority of the board of directors will be considered for election. Accordingly, our initial shareholders will continue to exert control at least until the completion of our initial business combination. In addition, we have agreed not to enter into a definitive agreement regarding an initial business combination without the prior consent of our sponsor. In connection with our initial business combination, we may enter into an agreement or other arrangement with the shareholders of the
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target with respect to voting and other corporate governance matters following completion of the initial business combination, and such agreement or arrangement may provide for, or the target shareholders may require that such agreement provide for, nomination, designation or representation rights on the board of directors of the combined entity that may be not be proportionate to our shareholders’ or such target shareholders’ ownership interest in the combined company.
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 are 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 our final prospectus in connection with our initial public offering, 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) adding or changing any provisions with respect to matters or questions 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 provided that the approval by the holders of at least 50% of the then-outstanding public warrants is required 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, 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, 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. With respect to any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act or the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder, we note, however, that there is uncertainty as to whether a court would enforce this provision and that investors cannot waive compliance with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. Section 22 of the Securities Act creates concurrent jurisdiction for state and federal courts over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Securities Act or the rules and regulations thereunder.
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 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.
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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.
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 as described under the heading “Description of Securities—Warrants—Redemption Procedures—Anti-dilution Adjustments”) 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. None of the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us.
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 10,480,000 of our Class A ordinary shares as part of the units offered in our initial public offering, including as a result of the partial exercise of the underwriter’s Over-Allotment Option. Simultaneously with the closing of our initial public offering and the partial exercise of the underwriter’s Over-Allotment Option, we issued in a private placement an aggregate of 6,792,000, at a price of $1.00 per warrant. Such purchase was funded by SK, an affiliate of our sponsor. 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 working capital loans into up to an additional 1,500,000 private placement warrants, at the price of $1.00 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.
Because each unit contains one-half of one redeemable warrant and only a whole warrant may be exercised, the units may be worth less than units of other blank check companies.
Each unit contains one-half of one redeemable warrant. Pursuant to the warrant agreement, no fractional warrants will be issued upon separation of the units, and only whole units will trade. If, upon exercise of the warrants, a holder would be entitled to receive a fractional interest in a share, we will, upon exercise, round down to the nearest whole number the number of Class A ordinary shares to be issued to the warrant holder. This is different
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from other offerings similar to ours whose units include one ordinary share and one whole warrant to purchase one whole share. We have established the components of the units in this way in order to reduce the dilutive effect of the warrants upon completion of a business combination since the warrants will be exercisable in the aggregate for one-half of the number of shares compared to units that each contain a whole warrant to purchase one whole share, thus making us, we believe, a more attractive merger partner for target businesses. Nevertheless, this unit structure may cause our units to be worth less than if a unit included a warrant to purchase one whole share.
A provision of our warrant agreement may make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination.
Unlike most blank check companies, 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 an issue price or effective issue price of less than $9.20 per ordinary share (with such issue price or shares held by our sponsor or such affiliates, as applicable, prior to such issuance) (the “Newly Issued Price”), (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 volume weighted average trading price of our Class A ordinary shares during the 20 trading day period starting on the trading day prior to the day on which we consummate our initial business combination (such price, the “Market Value”) is below $9.20 per share, then the exercise price of the warrants will be adjusted to be equal to 115% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, and the $18.00 per share redemption trigger prices described below under “Description of Securities—Warrants—Public Shareholders’ Warrants—Redemption of public warrants” will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 180% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price. This may make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination with a target business.
A market for our securities may not develop, which would adversely affect the liquidity and price of our securities.
The price of our securities may vary significantly due to one or more potential business combinations and general market or economic conditions, including as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. Furthermore, an active trading market for our securities may never develop or, if developed, it may not be sustained. You may be unable to sell your securities unless a market can be established and sustained.
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.
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 an exempted company 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. If we fail to complete our initial business combination, we will never generate any operating revenues.
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Past performance by our management team, 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 management has no experience in operating special purpose acquisition companies.
Our management concluded that there is substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a “going concern.”
As of December 31, 2022, the company had $515,410 in its operating bank accounts and $217,645,818 in marketable securities held in the trust account to be used for a business combination or to repurchase or redeem its ordinary shares in connection therewith. If the company is unable to raise additional funds to alleviate liquidity needs and complete a business combination by December 28, 2023 then the company will cease all operations except for the purpose of liquidating. The liquidity condition and date for mandatory liquidation and subsequent dissolution raise substantial doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern.
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 18 months from the closing of our initial public offering (or up to 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we extend the period of time to consummate a business combination, as described in more detail in this Report), or (B) with respect to any other material provisions relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity , and (iii) the redemption of our public shares if we have not consummated an initial business within 18 months from the closing of our initial public offering (or up to 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we extend the period of time to consummate a business combination, as described in more detail in this Report), 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 18 months from the closing of our initial public offering (or up to 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we extend the period of time to consummate a business combination, as described in more detail in this Report), 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.
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 units, Class A ordinary shares and warrants are currently listed on Nasdaq. Although after giving effect to our initial public offering we expect to meet, on a pro forma basis, the minimum initial listing standards set forth in the Nasdaq listing standards, we cannot assure you that our securities will be, or 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.
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Generally, we must maintain market value of listed securities ($50 million), a minimum number of publicly held shares (1.1 million), a minimum market value of publicly held securities ($15 million), a minimum number of holders of our securities (generally 400 public holders) and have at least four registered and active market makers. Additionally, in connection with our initial business combination, we expect to be required to demonstrate compliance with the initial listing requirements of Nasdaq or another national securities exchange, which are generally more rigorous than Nasdaq’s continued listing requirements, in order to continue to maintain the listing of our securities on Nasdaq. We cannot assure you that we will be able to meet those initial listing requirements at that time.
If the 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 we expect that our units and eventually our Class A ordinary shares and warrants will be listed on the Nasdaq our units, Class A ordinary shares and warrants will 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 the 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.
You will not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors of many other blank check companies.
Since the net proceeds of our initial public offering, the sale of the private placement warrants and the overfunding loans are intended to be used to complete an initial business combination with a target business that has not been selected, we may be deemed to be a “blank check” company under the United States securities laws. However, because we had net tangible assets in excess of $5,000,000 upon the completion of our initial public offering, the sale of the private placement warrants and the overfunding loans and we filed a Current Report on Form 8-K, including an audited balance sheet demonstrating this fact, we are exempt from rules promulgated by the SEC to protect investors in blank check companies, such as Rule 419. Accordingly, investors will not be afforded the benefits or protections of those rules. Among other things, this means our units were immediately tradable and we have a longer period of time to complete our initial business combination than do companies subject to Rule 419. Moreover, if our initial public offering were subject to Rule 419, that rule would prohibit the release of any interest earned on funds held in the trust account to us unless and until the funds in the trust account were released to us in connection with our completion of an initial business combination.
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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 exceeds $250 million as of the prior June 30, or (2) our annual revenues exceeded $100 million during such completed fiscal year and the market value of our ordinary shares held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30. 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.
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, 2023. 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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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.
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.
Risks Associated with Acquiring and Operating a Business in Foreign Countries
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 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 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 (1) 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 (2) 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
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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.
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; |
• | 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; |
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• | 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.
Because of the costs and difficulties inherent in managing cross-border business operations, our results of operations may be negatively impacted.
Managing a business, operations, personnel or assets in another country is challenging and costly. Any management that we may have (whether based abroad or in the U.S.) may be inexperienced in cross-border business practices and unaware of significant differences in accounting rules, legal regimes and labor practices. Even with a seasoned and experienced management team, the costs and difficulties inherent in managing cross-border business operations, personnel and assets can be significant (and much higher than in a purely domestic business) and may negatively impact our financial and operational performance.
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.
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.
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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 or transfer by way of continuation to 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 may reincorporate in or transfer by way of continuation to another jurisdiction in connection with our initial business combination and such reincorporation may result in taxes imposed on shareholders.
We may, in connection with our initial business combination and subject to requisite shareholder approval under the Companies Act, reincorporate in or transfer by way of continuation to the jurisdiction in which the target company or business is located or in another jurisdiction. The transaction may require a shareholder to recognize taxable income in the jurisdiction in which the shareholder 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 to pay such taxes. Shareholders may be subject to withholding taxes or other taxes with respect to their ownership of us after the reincorporation.
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 to compliance activities.
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.
There may be tax consequences to our business combinations that may adversely affect us.
While we expect to undertake any business combination so as to minimize taxes both to the acquired business and/or asset and us, such business combination might not meet the statutory requirements of a tax-free reorganization, or the parties might not obtain the intended tax-free treatment upon a transfer of shares or assets. A non-qualifying reorganization could result in the imposition of substantial taxes.
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Item 1B. | Unresolved Staff Comments |
None.
Item 2. | Properties |
We currently maintain our executive offices at 228 Park Ave S #96693, New York, NY 10003. We consider our current office space adequate for our current operations.
Item 3. | Legal Proceedings |
To the knowledge of our management, 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 “SKGRU,” “SKGR,” and “SKGRW,” respectively. Our units began trading on Nasdaq on June 24, 2022 and our shares of Class A ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 and warrants began trading on Nasdaq on August 15, 2022.
(b) | Holders |
As of December 31, 2022, there was one holder of record of our units, one holder of record of our Class A ordinary shares, four holders 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. |
Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities
On December 9, 2021, our Sponsor purchased 8,625,000 founder shares for an aggregate price of $25,000. On February 24, 2022, 1,437,500 founder shares were surrendered and thereupon cancelled by us. On May 5, 2022, 1,437,500 founder shares were surrendered and thereupon cancelled by us resulting in a decrease in the total number of founder shares outstanding to 5,750,000 shares. Our sponsor agreed to forfeit up to 750,000 founder shares to the extent that the Over-Allotment Option was not exercised in full by the underwriter, so that the founder shares would represent 20.0% of our issued and outstanding shares after our initial public offering. On July 20, 2022, we sold an additional 960,000 Units in the Partial Over-Allotment Exercise (as defined below) pursuant to the underwriter’s notice of the partial exercise of the Over-Allotment Option. On August 9, 2022, following the expiration of the remaining Over-Allotment Option, our sponsor forfeited 510,000 founder shares.
Simultaneously with the closing of our initial public offering, on June 28, 2022, we consummated the private placement of 6,600,000 private placement warrants at a price of $1.00 per private placement warrant to our sponsor, generating proceeds of $6.6 million. Substantially concurrently with the closing of the Partial Over-Allotment Exercise, on July 20, 2022, we completed an additional private placement of 192,000 additional private placement warrants to our sponsor at a purchase price of $1.00 per private placement warrant, generating gross proceeds to the company of $192,000. These issuances were made pursuant to the exemption from registration contained in Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act.
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No underwriting discounts or commissions were paid with respect to such sales.
Use of Proceeds
In connection with the initial public offering and the Partial Over-Allotment Exercise, we incurred offering costs of approximately $12.6 million (including deferred underwriting commissions of approximately $7.3 million). Other incurred offering costs consisted principally of preparation fees related to the initial public offering. After deducting the underwriting discounts and commissions (excluding the deferred portion, which amount will be payable upon consummation of the initial business combination, if consummated) and the initial public offering expenses, approximately $214.8 million of the net proceeds of the initial public offering, the Partial Over-Allotment Exercise, the proceeds of the overfunding loans and certain of the proceeds of the private placements was placed in the trust account. The net proceeds of the initial public offering, the Partial Over-Allotment Exercise, the proceeds of the overfunding loans and certain of the proceeds of the private placements are held in the trust account and invested as described elsewhere in this Report.
There has been no material change in the planned use of the proceeds from the initial public offering, the overfunding loan and the private placements as is described in the company’s final prospectus related to the initial public offering.
(g) | Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers |
None.
Item 6. | Selected Financial Data |
Not applicable.
Item 7. | Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations |
The following discussion and analysis of the company’s financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our audited financial statements and the notes related thereto which are included in “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Report. Certain information contained in the discussion and analysis set forth below includes forward-looking statements. Our actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of many factors, including those set forth under “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements,” “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Report.
References to the “company,” “our,” “us” or “we” refer to SK Growth Opportunities Corporation. The following discussion and analysis of the company’s financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with the audited financial statements and the notes related thereto which are included in “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Report. Certain information contained in the discussion and analysis set forth below includes forward-looking statements. Our actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of many factors, including those set forth under “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements and Risk Factor Summary,” “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Report.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This Report includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Securities 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. Factors that might cause or contribute to such a discrepancy include, but are not limited to, those described in our other SEC filings.
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Overview
We are a blank check company incorporated in Cayman Islands on December 8, 2021. 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. 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 Auxo Capital Managers LLC, a Delaware limited liability company. The registration statement for our initial public offering was declared effective on June 23, 2022. On June 28, 2022, we consummated our initial public offering of 20,000,000 units, at $10.00 per unit, generating gross proceeds of $200.0 million, and incurring offering costs of approximately $12.0 million, of which $7.0 million was for deferred underwriting commissions. The underwriter was granted a 45-day option from the date of the final prospectus relating to the initial public offering to purchase up to 3,000,000 additional units to cover over-allotments, if any, at $10.00 per unit (the “Over-Allotment Option”). On July 20, 2022, pursuant to the underwriter’s notice of the partial exercise of the Over-Allotment Option, we sold an additional 960,000 units, at $10.00 per unit, generating aggregate additional gross proceeds of $9.6 million to us (the “Partial Over-Allotment Exercise”). On August 7, 2022, the remaining Over-Allotment Option expired unexercised.
On August 10, 2022, the company announced that, effective August 15, 2022, the company’s Class A ordinary shares and warrants comprising each issued and outstanding unit will commence trading separately under the ticker symbols “SKGR” and “SKGW,” respectively. Holders of units may elect to continue to hold units or separate their units into the component securities.
Simultaneously with the closing of the initial public offering, we consummated the private placement (the “Private Placement”) of 6,600,000 private placement warrants, at a price of $1.00 per private placement warrant in a private placement to our sponsor, generating proceeds of $6.6 million. Substantially concurrently with the closing of the Partial Over-Allotment Exercise, we completed an additional private placement of 192,000 private placement warrants to our sponsor (the “Additional Private Placement”) at a purchase price of $1.00 per private placement warrant, generating gross proceeds to the company of $192,000.
In addition, upon the consummation of the initial public offering on June 28, 2022, our sponsor provided us with the first overfunding loan in the amount of $5.0 million to deposit in the trust account at no interest. In connection with the Partial Over-Allotment Exercise on July 20, 2022, our sponsor provided us with the second overfunding loan in the amount of $240,000 to deposit in the trust account.
Upon the closing of the initial public offering and the Partial Over-Allotment Exercise, approximately $214.8 million ($10.25 per unit) of net proceeds, including the net proceeds of the initial public offering, the Partial Over-Allotment Exercise, the proceeds of the overfunding loans and certain of the proceeds of the Private Placement and the Additional Private Placement, was placed in the trust account located in the United States with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee, and invested only in United States “government securities” within the meaning of Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act having a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 promulgated under the Investment Company Act which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations, as determined by us, until the earlier of: (i) the completion of a business combination and (ii) the distribution of the trust account as described below.
We will provide the public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their public shares upon the completion of a business combination either (i) in connection with a shareholders 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 business combination or conduct a tender offer will be made by us, solely in its discretion. The public shareholders will be entitled to redeem their public shares for a pro rata portion of the amount then held in the trust account (initially at $10.25 per public share). The per-share amount to be distributed to public shareholders who redeem their public shares will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting commissions we will pay to the underwriter.
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We have 18 months from the closing of the initial public offering to consummate an initial business combination, or December 28, 2023 (or 21 months if we have executed a definitive agreement relating to an initial business combination). If we anticipate that we may not be able to consummate the initial business combination within 18 months (or 21 months, if applicable) from the consummation of the initial public offering, we may, by resolution of the board of directors if requested by our sponsor, extend the period of time we will have to consummate an initial business combination up to two additional three-month periods (for a total of up to 24 months from the closing of the initial public offering); subject to our sponsor depositing additional funds into the trust account as set out below. Notwithstanding the foregoing, in no event will we have more than 24 months from the closing of the initial public offering to consummate an initial business combination. The public shareholders will not be entitled to vote on or redeem their shares in connection with any such extension. For each such extension, our sponsor (or its designees) must deposit into the trust account, under the form of loan (the “Extension Loans”), funds equal to $0.10 per unit, or $2,096,000, for up to an aggregate of $4,192,000, on or prior to the date of the applicable deadline for each three-month extension.
If we are unable to consummate an initial 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 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 (less taxes payable and 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 the remaining shareholders and the 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.
Going Concern Consideration
As of December 31, 2022, we had approximately $515,000 in cash and working capital deficit of approximately $4.6 million.
Our liquidity needs prior to the consummation of the initial public offering were satisfied through the payment of $25,000 from our sponsor to purchase founder shares, and loan proceeds from our sponsor of $300,000 under a promissory note, dated December 9, 2021 that was later amended on May 5, 2022 (the “Note”). We repaid the Note in full upon closing of the initial public offering. Subsequent to the consummation of the initial public offering, our liquidity has been satisfied through the net proceeds from the consummation of the initial public offering, the overfunding loans and the private placement held outside of the trust account. In addition, in order to finance transaction costs in connection with a business combination, our sponsor, members of our founding team or any of their affiliates may provide us with working capital loans as may be required (of which up to $1.5 million may be converted at the lender’s option into warrants).
We have incurred and expect to continue to incur significant costs in pursuit of our acquisition plans. In connection with our assessment of going concern considerations in accordance with FASB ASC Topic 205-40, “Presentation of Financial Statements—Going Concern,” we have until December 28, 2023 to consummate a business combination. It is uncertain that we will be able to consummate a business combination by this time, and if a business combination is not consummated by this date, then there will be a mandatory liquidation and subsequent dissolution of our company.
Our management has determined that the liquidity condition and mandatory liquidation, should a business combination not occur, and potential subsequent dissolution raises substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern for a period of time within one year after the date that the financial statements are issued. Our management plans to address this uncertainty through the initial business combination as discussed above. There is no assurance that our plans to consummate the initial business combination will be successful or successful within 18 months from the closing of the initial public offering (by December 28, 2023). The financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.
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Risks and Uncertainties
Our management continues to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and have 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.
In February 2022, the Russian Federation 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. Further, the impact of this action and related sanctions on the world economy are not determinable as of the date of the financial statement. The specific impact on our financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows is also not determinable as of the date of these financial statements.
Results of Operations
Our entire activity since inception up to December 31, 2022, related to our formation, the preparation for the initial public offering, and since the closing of the initial public offering, the search for a prospective initial business combination. We will not be generating any operating revenues until the closing and completion of our initial business combination, at the earliest. We will generate non-operating income in the form of interest income from the amount held in the trust account.
For the year ended December 31, 2022, we had a net income of approximately $2.1 million, which consisted of approximately $2.8 million in income from investments held in the trust account and change in fair value of derivative liability for the over-allotment option of approximately $21,000, offset by approximately $717,000 in general and administrative expenses (of which $60,000 was for administrative expenses for related party).
For the year ended December 31, 2021, we had a net loss of approximately $34,000, which consisted solely of and administrative expenses.
Contractual Obligations
Shareholder and Registration Rights
Pursuant to a registration and shareholder rights agreement entered into on June 23, 2022, the holders of founder shares, private placement warrants, Class A ordinary shares underlying the private placement warrants and any warrants that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans and extension 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 working capital loans and extension loans), have registration rights to require us to register a sale of any of the securities held by them. These holders are entitled to certain demand and “piggy-back” registration rights. However, the registration rights agreement provides that we will not be required to effect or permit any registration or cause any registration statement to become effective until termination of the applicable lock-up period. We will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such registration statements.
Underwriting and Advisory Agreement
The underwriter was entitled to an underwriting discount of $0.20 per unit, or $4.0 million in the aggregate, paid upon the closing of the initial public offering. An additional fee of $0.35 per unit, or approximately $7.0 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.
We also engaged Cohen & Company Capital Markets (“CCM”) to provide consulting and advisory services to us in connection with the initial public offering, for which it would receive: (i) an advisory fee of $400,000, paid upon the closing of the initial public offering, and (ii) a deferred advisory fee of $700,000 (payable solely in the event that we complete the initial business combination. The underwriter has reimbursed a portion of their fees to cover for the fees payable to CCM.
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In connection with the consummation of the Partial Over-Allotment Exercise, the underwriter and CCM were entitled to an additional fee of $192,000, paid upfront on July 20, 2022, and $240,000 in deferred underwriting and advisory commissions, (net of the reimbursement from the underwriter to cover for the fees payable to CCM).
Administrative Services Agreement
On June 23, 2022, we entered into an agreement with an affiliate of our sponsor, pursuant to which we agreed to pay such affiliate a total of $10,000 per month for secretarial and administrative support services provided to us through the earlier of consummation of the initial business combination and our liquidation. We incurred $60,000 in such fees included as general and administrative expenses to-related party on the accompanying statements of operations for both the year ended December 31, 2022. As of December 31, 2022, we fully paid for such services.
In addition, our sponsor, officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates, will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. The audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made 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.
Critical Accounting Estimates
The preparation of financial statements and related disclosures in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”) requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements, and the reported amounts of income and expenses during the periods reported. Actual results could materially differ from those estimates. We have not identified any critical accounting estimates.
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Recent Accounting Pronouncements
Our management do not believe that any recently issued, but not yet effective, accounting standards updates, if currently adopted, would have a material effect on the accompanying financial statements.
Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements and Contractual Obligations
As of December 31, 2022, we did not have any off-balance sheet arrangements as defined in Item 303(a)(4)(ii) of Regulation S-K and did not have any commitments or contractual obligations.
JOBS Act
On April 5, 2012, the JOBS Act was signed into law. The JOBS Act contains provisions that, among other things, relax certain reporting requirements for qualifying public companies. We qualify as an “emerging growth company” under the JOBS Act and are allowed to comply with new or revised accounting pronouncements based on the effective date for private (not publicly traded) companies. We elected 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, our financial statements may not be comparable to companies that comply with new or revised accounting pronouncements as of public company effective dates.
As an “emerging growth company”, we are not 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.
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Item 7A. | Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk |
We are a smaller reporting company as defined by Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act and are not required to provide the information otherwise required under this item.
Item 8. | Financial Statements and Supplementary Data |
This information appears following Item 15 of this Report and is incorporated herein by reference.
Item 9. | Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure |
None.
Item 9A. | Controls and Procedures |
Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
Disclosure controls and procedures are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by us in our Exchange Act reports is recorded, processed, summarized, and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms, and that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial and accounting officer or persons performing similar functions, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.
Under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, we conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures as of December 31, 2022, as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act. Based on this evaluation, our principal executive officer and principal financial officer have concluded that during the period covered by this report, our disclosure controls and procedures were effective as of December 31, 2022.
Management’s Report on Internal Controls Over Financial Reporting
This Report does not include a report of management’s assessment regarding internal control over financial reporting or an attestation report of our independent registered public accounting firm due to a transition period established by rules of the SEC for newly public companies.
Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting
There was no change in our internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022 covered by this Report that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting except for the below:
Our principal executive officer and principal 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.
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Item 9B. | Other Information |
None.
Item 9C. | Disclosures 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 Report, our directors and officers are as follows:
Name |
Age |
Position | ||
Richard Chin |
59 | Chief Executive Officer and Director | ||
Derek Jensen |
50 | Chief Financial Officer and Director | ||
Speaker John Boehner |
73 | Director | ||
Martin Payne |
54 | Director | ||
Michael Noonen |
60 | Director |
Richard Chin has served as our Chief Executive Officer and director since our inception in 2021. From 2017 to 2021, Mr. Chin served as President at SK hynix and Head of Global Development Group (“GDG”). Under Mr. Chin’s leadership, GDG developed and executed inorganic growth strategies for SK’s affiliates in the United States, including mergers and acquisitions, strategic investments, and joint venture partnerships. Concomitant with SK’s continued expansion into the U.S., Mr. Chin has significantly accelerated SK’s brand presence in recent years through his oversight of SK’s external affairs activities, including regulatory affairs and public policy activities in the United States, leading dialogue with prominent public and private investors and spearheaded the marketing efforts to expand SK’s brand prominence in the U.S. and globally. Prior to that, Mr. Chin also served as Chief Executive Officer of SK hynix America from 2016 to 2017, Chief Marketing Officer of SK hynix (world’s second largest memory semiconductor company) from 2013 to 2016, and President of SK telecom Americas, a U.S. subsidiary of SK telecom from 2007 to 2012. As the President of SK telecom Americas, Mr. Chin developed the U.S. market entrance strategy for SK telecom and led the development of organic growth engine solutions, establishment of venture capital operations, and execution of inorganic strategies adjacent to the wireless telecom industry. Prior to heading SK telecom Americas, Mr. Chin held key executive positions at Motorola Inc., including Corporate Vice President in charge of business ventures and development from 2006 to 2007 and Corporate Vice President and Director of Global Product Marketing from 2005 to 2006 and other senior positions from 1999 to 2005. Prior to Motorola, he held senior positions at Searle Pharmaceuticals from 1997 to 1999 and The NutraSweet Company from 1991 to 1997. Mr. Chin has served as a director on the boards of Virgin Mobile USA, Inc. from 2008 to 2009 and Mobile Money Ventures LLC from 2008 to 2011. Mr. Chin received a BA in Economics from the University of Chicago and a JD from the John Marshall Law School at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
We believe Mr. Chin’s extensive experience serving on the boards of global companies leading the development and execution of innovative growth strategies makes him well-qualified to sit on our board of directors.
Derek Jensen has served as our Chief Financial Officer and director since our inception in 2021. From 2020 to 2021, Mr. Jensen served as the Vice President of Corporate Development of GDG, where he was responsible for sourcing and executing mergers and acquisitions and strategic investments for SK in the United States. Prior to this role, Mr. Jensen served as Vice President of Corporate Business Development at Magic Leap from 2018 to 2020, Vice President of Corporate Development and Head of M&A at GlobalFoundries from 2016 to 2018, Vice President of Corporate Development at Xperi (formerly Tessera Technologies) from 2015 to 2016. In addition, from 2017 to 2018, Mr. Jensen served as a director on the board of Ineda Systems Inc. Prior to his corporate development leadership roles, Mr. Jensen spent nearly a decade working in investment banking at Citigroup Global Markets Inc. (from 2010 to 2012), UBS Securities LLC (from 2006 to 2010), Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. (from 2004 to 2006) and Deutsche Bank AG (from 2002 to 2004) principally covering the semiconductor and electronics sectors. Mr. Jensen received an MBA in Finance and Economics from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, an MS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and a BME in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Minnesota.
We believe Mr. Jensen’s executive leadership experience in various private and public technology companies and his extensive expertise in the area of finance makes him well-qualified to sit on our board of directors.
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Speaker John A. Boehner, has served as a member of our board of directors since our initial public offering. Speaker Boehner is the 53rd Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and since 2016 serves as a policy advisor at Squire Patton Boggs, a Washington D.C.-based law and public policy firm. He focuses on global business development and provides strategic advice and consulting on all aspects of domestic and international policy, drawing from his decades of experience both in business and at the highest levels of the U.S. government. Speaker Boehner served in the U.S. House of Representatives from January 1991 to October 2015, where he championed a number of major reforms as a Member of Congress and served as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from January 2011 to October 2015, where he developed a reputation for bringing Republicans and Democrats together in support of major policy initiatives and forged strong relationships with business and government leaders throughout the world. Speaker Boehner currently serves on the board of directors of Acreage Holdings, Inc. since 2018, Titan Mining Corporation since 2018 and Augusta Gold Corp. since 2021. Speaker Boehner has also served on the board of directors of Reynolds America Inc. (NASDAQ: REYN) from 2016 to 2017 and Arizona Mining from 2017 to 2018. Prior to entering public service, he spent years running a small business representing manufacturers in the packaging and plastics industry. Speaker Boehner received a BA from Xavier University.
We believe that Speaker Boehner’s business experience and extensive service and leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives, and his insight into public policy, governmental relations and regulatory matters make him well-qualified to sit on our board of directors.
Martin Payne, has served as a member of our board of directors since our initial public offering. Mr. Payne has over 30 years of experience in executive and board positions across a mix of private and public global enterprises. Mr. Payne currently serves as the chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Stick and Rudder Films, an entertainment company since 2013 and as the chief executive officer of Comprehensive Clinical Solutions, a healthcare services company since 2016. In addition, Mr. Payne currently serves on the boards of Exponent Health (formerly HRGi Holdings Inc.) since 2017, and Astraius since 2020. Mr. Payne has also served on the board of Healthcare Services Acquisition Corporation (NASDAQ: HCAR) from 2020 to 2022, MedX from 2016 to 2019 and Comprehensive Clinical Solutions from 2016 to 2019. While serving in board leadership positions of Healthcare Services Acquisition Corporation, MedX, Comprehensive Clinical Solutions, and Exponent Health, Mr. Payne led strategic and operational transformation efforts, including the business combination of three diverse healthcare services companies now operating as Exponent Health, Inc., and the successful, oversubscribed IPO launch of Healthcare Services Acquisition Corporation, which raised over $330 million. Mr. Payne was formerly with Catalyst Health Solutions (formerly NASDAQ: CHSI), from 2008 to 2014, where he led the highly value-accretive M&A transactions and integrations of HospiScript, IPS, Total Script, InPharmative, Future Scripts, Walgreens Health Initiatives, and RegenceRx. Prior to his tenure with Catalyst, Mr. Payne served in executive leadership roles at Coventry Health Care (formerly NYSE: CVH) from 2005 to 2008, Hanger Orthopedic Group (NYSE: HNGR) from 2002 to 2005, and United Health Group (NYSE: UNH) from 1994 to 2000. Additionally, from 2000 to 2002, Mr. Payne ran European marketing and sales for American Electric Power (NASDAQ: AEP), and built and managed pharmaceutical manufacturing plants in the UK. Mr. Payne started his career in the Royal Navy as a helicopter pilot. Mr. Payne received a biological and medicinal chemistry degree (BSc Hons) from the University of Essex.
We believe that Mr. Payne’s extensive history of leading value-creating transactions and transformations and executive leadership experience within entrepreneurial commercial focused companies make him well-qualified to sit on our board of directors.
Michael Noonen, has served as a member of our board of directors since our initial public offering. Mr. Noonen has 25 years of experience leading technology businesses and is currently a board director with SES.ai (NYSE: SES). In addition, Mr. Noonen currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Swave Photonics. From February 2022 until September 2022, Mr. Noonen served as the Interim Managing Director of Sivers Semiconductor. From 2019 and prior to it being acquired by Sivers Semiconductor in 2022, he served as Chief Executive Officer of MixComm Inc., a millimeter wave semiconductor company. He previously served as board director of Energous (NASDAQ: WATT) from 2019 to 2021. Prior to that, from Mr. Noonen served as SVP Global Business Development at Rambus Incorporated (NASDAQ: RMBS) from 2018 to 2019, as Global VP Sales & Marketing at Silego Technology Inc. from 2016 to 2017 and as Interim CEO and on the board of directors of Ambiq Micro, Inc. from 2014 to 2016. Prior to that, Mr. Noonen served as the Chairman and co-founder of Silicon Catalyst from 2013 to 2015, the World’s first semiconductor incubator and EE Times 2015 Start-up of the Year. In 2013, he was elected to the Global Semiconductor Alliance Board of Directors and chairman of the board of Socle, an IC design services company in Taiwan, which was acquired by Foxconn. Previously, Mr. Noonen was Executive Vice President,
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Global Products, Design, Sales, & Marketing at GlobalFoundries from 2011 to 2013 and Executive Vice President, Worldwide Sales & Marketing, at NXP Semiconductors (NASDAQ: NXPI) from 2008 to 2011. Mr. Noonen has held executive product line, sales and marketing roles at National Semiconductor from 2001 to 2008, Cisco Systems from 1999 to 2001, and 8x8 from 1993 to 1999. He started his career at NCR Microelectronics teaching mixed-signal IC design. He received a BS in Electrical Engineering from Colorado State University and in 2012 was named the College of Engineering Distinguished Alumni of the Year. He completed the Directors’ Consortium (Stanford, University of Chicago, Dartmouth) Corporate Governance program. Mr. Noonen holds multiple patents in the areas of Internet telephony and video communications.
We believe that Mr. Noonen’s extensive experience in executive leadership positions and expertise in information technology, innovation and the electronics industry make him well-qualified to sit on 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 appointed 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 the 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 the Nasdaq. The term of office of the first class of directors, consisting of Speaker Boehner, will expire at our first annual general meeting. The term of office of the second class of directors, consisting of Martin Payne and Richard Chin, will expire at our second annual general meeting. The term of office of the third class of directors, consisting of Michael Noonen and Derek Jensen, will expire at our third annual general meeting.
Prior to the completion of an initial business combination, any vacancy on the board of directors may be filled by a nominee chosen by a majority of our 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 chairman of the board of directors, 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 a majority of our board of directors be independent. Our board of directors has determined that Martin Payne, Speaker John Boehner and Michael Noonen are “independent directors” as defined in the 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 three standing committees: an audit committee, a nominating committee and a compensation committee. Subject to phase-in rules and a limited exception, the rules of the 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 the Nasdaq require that the compensation committee and the nominating committee of a listed company be comprised solely of independent directors.
Audit Committee
We have established an audit committee of the board of directors. Michael Noonen, Martin Payne and Speaker John Boehner serve as members of our audit committee. Our board of directors has determined that each of Michael Noonen, Martin Payne and Speaker John Boehner are independent under the Nasdaq listing standards and applicable
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SEC rules. Michael Noonen serves as the Chairman of the audit committee. Under the Nasdaq listing standards and applicable SEC rules, all the directors on the audit committee must be independent. Each member of the audit committee is financially literate and our board of directors has determined that Michael Noonen 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; |
• | 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 registered public accounting firm 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 with the terms of our initial public offering and, if any noncompliance is identified, immediately taking all action necessary to rectify such noncompliance or otherwise causing compliance with the terms of our initial public offering; and |
• | reviewing and approving all payments made to our existing shareholders, 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. |
Nominating Committee
We have established a nominating committee of our board of directors. The members of our nominating committee are Martin Payne and Michael Noonen and Martin Payne serves as chairman of the nominating committee. Under the Nasdaq listing standards, we are required to have a nominating committee composed entirely of independent directors. Our board of directors has determined that each of Martin Payne and Michael Noonen are independent.
The nominating committee is responsible for overseeing the selection of persons to be nominated to serve on our board of directors. The nominating committee considers persons identified by its members, management, shareholders, investment bankers and others.
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Guidelines for Selecting Director Nominees
The guidelines for selecting nominees, which are specified in a charter adopted by us in connection with our initial public offering, generally provide that persons to be nominated:
• | should have demonstrated notable or significant achievements in business, education or public service; |
• | should possess the requisite intelligence, education and experience to make a significant contribution to the board of directors and bring a range of skills, diverse perspectives and backgrounds to its deliberations; and |
• | should have the highest ethical standards, a strong sense of professionalism and intense dedication to serving the interests of the shareholders. |
The nominating committee will consider a number of qualifications relating to management and leadership experience, background and integrity and professionalism in evaluating a person’s candidacy for membership on the board of directors. The nominating committee may require certain skills or attributes, such as financial or accounting experience, to meet specific board of directors needs that arise from time to time and will also consider the overall experience and makeup of its members to obtain a broad and diverse mix of board of directors members. The nominating committee does not distinguish among nominees recommended by shareholders and other persons.
Compensation Committee
We have established a compensation committee of our board of directors. The members of our compensation committee are Speaker John Boehner and Michael Noonen, and Speaker John Boehner serves as chairman of the compensation committee.
Under the Nasdaq listing standards, we are required to have a compensation committee composed entirely of independent directors. Our board of directors has determined that each of Speaker John Boehner and Michael Noonen are independent. We have 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 officers; |
• | reviewing our executive compensation policies and plans; |
• | implementing and administering our incentive compensation equity-based remuneration plans; |
• | assisting management in complying with our proxy statement and annual report disclosure requirements; |
• | approving all special perquisites, special cash payments and other special compensation and benefit arrangements for our officers and employees; |
• | producing a report on executive compensation to be included in our annual proxy statement; and |
• | reviewing, evaluating and recommending changes, if appropriate, to the remuneration for directors. |
The charter also provides that the compensation committee may, in its sole discretion, retain or obtain the advice of a compensation consultant, legal counsel or other adviser and will be directly responsible for the appointment, compensation and oversight of the work of any such adviser.
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However, before engaging or receiving advice from a compensation consultant, external legal counsel or any other adviser, the compensation committee will consider the independence of each such adviser, including the factors required by the Nasdaq and the SEC.
Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation
None of our officers currently serves, and in the past year has not served, as a member of the compensation committee of any entity that has one or more officers serving on our board of directors.
Code of Ethics
We have 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; |
• | 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 officers and directors presently have, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary and contractual duties to other entities. As a result, 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, then, subject to their fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law, he or she 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 one hand, and us, on the other.
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Below is a table summarizing the entities to which our officers and directors currently have fiduciary duties, contractual obligations or other material management relationships:
Individual |
Entity |
Entity’s Business |
Affiliation | |||
Martin Payne |
Astraius |
Space Launch Vehicle |
Independent Director | |||
Exponent Health |
Healthcare Services |
Vice Chair | ||||
Stick and Rudder Films |
Entertainment |
Chief Executive Officer and Founder | ||||
Comprehensive Clinical Solutions |
Healthcare Services |
Chief Executive Officer | ||||
Michael Noonen |
Swave Photonics |
Technology |
Chief Executive Officer | |||
SES.ai |
Energy |
Director | ||||
Speaker John Boehner |
Squire Patton Boggs |
Law and Public Policy Firm |
Policy Advisor | |||
Acreage Holdings, Inc. |
Cannabis |
Director | ||||
Titan Mining Corporation |
Mining |
Director | ||||
Augusta Gold Corp. |
Mining |
Director |
(1) | Potential investors should also be aware of the following other potential conflicts of interest: |
• | Our officers and directors are not required to, and will not, commit their full time to our affairs, which may result in a conflict of interest in allocating their time between our operations and our search for a business combination and their other businesses. We do not intend to have any full-time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination. Each of our officers is engaged in several other business endeavors for which he may be entitled to substantial compensation, and our officers are not obligated to contribute any specific number of hours per week to our affairs. |
• | Our sponsor subscribed for founder shares prior to the date of the final prospectus in connection with our initial public offering and has purchased private placement warrants in a transaction that closed simultaneously with the closing of our initial public offering |
• | Our initial shareholders, officers and directors 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 18 months from the closing of our initial public offering (or up to 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we extend the period of time to consummate a business combination, as described in more detail in this Report) or (B) with respect to any other material provisions relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity. Additionally, our initial shareholders have agreed to waive their 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 required time period, the private placement warrants will expire worthless. |
• | Our initial shareholders have agreed not to transfer, assign or sell any of their founder shares until the earlier to occur of: (i) one year after the completion of our initial business combination; and (ii) subsequent to our initial business combination (x) the date on which we complete a liquidation, merger, share exchange or other similar transaction that results in all of our shareholders having the right to exchange their Class A |
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ordinary shares for cash, securities or other property or (y) if the closing price of our Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for share sub-divisions, 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 (except as described in the section entitled “Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters —Transfers of Founder Shares and Private Placement Warrants”). Any permitted transferees will be subject to the same restrictions and other agreements of our initial shareholders with respect to any founder shares. |
• | With certain limited exceptions, the private placement warrants and the ordinary shares underlying such warrants, will not be transferable, assignable or salable by our sponsor until 30 days after the completion of 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 sponsor, officers and directors may sponsor, form or participate in other blank check companies similar to ours during the period in which we are seeking an initial business combination. Any such companies may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an acquisition target, particularly in the event there is overlap among investment mandates. |
We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with SK, our sponsor, officers or directors. In the event we enter into such a transaction, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent entity that commonly renders valuation opinions that such initial business combination is fair to our shareholders from a financial point of view. We are not required to obtain such an opinion in any other context but may obtain such an opinion as part of our due diligence and evaluation of an initial business combination. In the event we pursue an initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with SK, such transactions may be subject to local Korean laws and regulations that require, among other things, a filing and approval by local regulators.
Furthermore, in no event will our initial shareholders 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 the date our securities are first listed on the Nasdaq, we will also reimburse an affiliate of our sponsor for secretarial and administrative support services provided to us in the amount of $10,000 per month.
We cannot assure you that any of the above mentioned conflicts will be resolved in our favor.
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 such case, our initial shareholders, officers and directors have agreed to vote their founder shares and public shares, if any, 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.
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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.
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 officers or directors have received any cash compensation for services rendered to us. Commencing on the date that our securities are first listed on the Nasdaq through the earlier of consummation of our initial business combination and our liquidation, we will reimburse an affiliate of our sponsor for secretarial and administrative support services provided to us in the amount of $10,000 per month. In addition, our sponsor, 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 will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made by us to our initial shareholders, officers or directors, or their affiliates. Any such payments prior to an initial business combination will be made using funds held outside the trust account. Other than quarterly audit committee review of such reimbursements, we do not expect to have any additional controls in place governing our reimbursement payments to our directors and officers for their out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with our 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 initial shareholders, 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 officer and director compensation. Any compensation to be paid to our officers will be determined, or recommended to the 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 officers and directors may 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 officers and directors that provide for benefits upon termination of employment.
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Item 12. | Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters |
The following table sets forth information regarding the beneficial ownership of our ordinary shares as of March 29, 2023 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. |
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.
In the table below, the percentage ownership is based on 20,960,000 Class A ordinary shares (which includes Class A ordinary shares that are underlying the units) and 5,240,000 Class B ordinary shares issued and outstanding as of December 31, 2022. 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.
Class B Ordinary Shares | Class A Ordinary Shares | |||||||||||||||||||
Name of Beneficial Owners(1) |
Number of Shares Beneficially Owned(2) |
Approximate Percentage of Class |
Number of Shares Beneficially Owned |
Approximate Percentage of Class |
Approximate Percentage of Voting Control |
|||||||||||||||
Auxo Capital Managers LLC (our sponsor)(3) |
5,150,000 | 98.3 | % | — | — | 19.7 | % | |||||||||||||
Adage Capital Partners, L.P.(4) |
— | — | 1,800,000 | 8.6 | % | 6.9 | % | |||||||||||||
Marshall Wace LLP(5) |
— | — | 1,249,994 | 6.0 | % | 4.8 | % | |||||||||||||
Richard Chin(3) |
5,150,000 | 98.3 | % | — | — | 19.7 | % | |||||||||||||
Derek Jensen(3) |
5,150,000 | 98.3 | % | — | — | 19.7 | % | |||||||||||||
Speaker John Boehner |
40,000 | * | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||
Martin Payne |
25,000 | * | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||
Michael Noonen |
25,000 | * | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||
All officers and directors as a group (five individuals) |
5,240,000 | 100 | % | — | — | 19.7 | % |
* | Less than 1%. |
(1) | Unless otherwise noted, the business address of each of the following entities or individuals is 288 Park Avenue S, #96693, New York, NY 10003 |
(2) | Interests shown consist solely of founder shares, classified as Class B ordinary shares. Such shares will automatically convert into Class A ordinary shares at the time of our initial business combination or earlier at the option of the holders thereof. |
(3) | The shares reported above are held in the name of our sponsor, Auxo Capital Managers LLC, a Delaware limited liability company with its registered address at 251 Little Falls Drive, Wilmington, New Castle County, Delaware 19808. Our sponsor is controlled by Richard Chin and Derek Jensen, who have voting and investment discretion in respect of the shares held of record by our sponsor and may be deemed to have shared beneficial ownership of the shares held by our sponsor. Each of Richard Chin and Derek Jensen disclaims beneficial ownership of the shares held by our sponsor, directly or indirectly. See “Business—Effecting our Initial Business Combination—Organizational Structure” for the relationship between us, our sponsor and our sponsor’s affiliates. |
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(4) | According to a Schedule 13G filed on July 8, 2022, Adage Capital Partners, L.P., Adage Capital Partners GP, L.L.C., Adage Capital Advisors, L.L.C., Robert Atchinson, and Phillip Gross held 1,800,000 Class A ordinary shares. The business address is 200 Clarendon Street, 52nd Floor, Boston, Massachusetts 02116. |
(5) | According to a Schedule 13G filed on February 14, 2022, Marshall Wace LLP held 1,249,994 Class A ordinary shares. The business address of Marshall Wace, LLC is George House, 131 Sloane Street, London, SW1X 9AT, UK. |
Our sponsor, officers and directors are deemed to be our “promoter” as such term is defined under the federal securities laws.
Our initial shareholders beneficially own 20% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares. Because of this ownership block, our sponsor may be able to effectively influence the outcome of all other matters requiring approval by our shareholders, including amendments to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association and approval of significant corporate transactions including our initial business combination.
Our initial shareholders have agreed (a) to vote any founder shares and public shares held by them in favor of any proposed business combination and (b) not to redeem any founder shares or public shares held by them in connection with a shareholder vote to approve a proposed initial business combination.
Our sponsor is deemed to be our “promoter” as such term is defined under the federal securities laws.
Transfers of Founder Shares and Private Placement Warrants
The founder shares, private placement warrants and any Class A ordinary shares issued upon conversion or exercise thereof are each subject to transfer restrictions pursuant to lock-up provisions in the agreements entered into by our initial shareholders and management team. Our initial shareholders have agreed not to transfer, assign or sell any of their founder shares or private placement warrants as shown in the table below.
Security |
Lock-up Period | |
Founder Shares | The earlier to occur of: (i) one year after the completion of our initial business combination; and (ii) subsequent to our initial business combination (x) the date on which we complete a liquidation, merger, share exchange or other similar transaction that results in all of our shareholders having the right to exchange their Class A ordinary shares for cash, securities or other property or (y) if the closing price of our Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for share sub-divisions, 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. | |
Private Placement Warrants | 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination. |
The foregoing restrictions are not applicable to transfers (a) to our officers or directors, any affiliates or family members of any of our officers or directors, any members or partners of our sponsor or their affiliates, any affiliates of our sponsor, or any employees of such affiliates; (b) in the case of an individual, by gift to a member of one of the individual’s immediate family or to a trust, the beneficiary of which is a member of the individual’s immediate family, an affiliate of such person or to a charitable organization; (c) in the case of an individual, by virtue of laws of
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descent and distribution upon death of the individual; (d) in the case of an individual, pursuant to a qualified domestic relations order; (e) by private sales or transfers made in connection with the consummation of a business combination at prices no greater than the price at which the founder shares, private placement warrants or Class A ordinary shares, as applicable, were originally purchased; (f) by virtue of an initial shareholders’ organizational documents upon liquidation or dissolution of such initial shareholders; (g) to the Company for no value for cancellation in connection with the consummation of our initial business combination; (h) in the event of our liquidation prior to the completion of our initial business combination; or (i) in the event of our completion of a liquidation, merger, share exchange or other similar transaction which results in all of our public shareholders having the right to exchange their Class A ordinary shares for cash, securities or other property subsequent to our completion of our initial business combination; provided, however, that in the case of clauses (a) through (f) these permitted transferees must enter into a written agreement agreeing to be bound by these transfer restrictions and the other restrictions contained in the letter agreement.
Item 13. | Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence |
Founder Shares and Private Placement Warrants
On December 9, 2021, the sponsor paid $25,000, or approximately $0.003 per share, to cover certain of our expenses in consideration of 8,625,000 Class B ordinary shares, par value $0.0001. On February 24, 2022, 1,437,500 Class B ordinary shares were surrendered and thereupon cancelled by the company resulting in a decrease in the total number of Class B ordinary shares outstanding from 8,625,000 shares to 7,187,500 shares. On May 5, 2022, 1,437,500 Class B ordinary shares were surrendered and thereupon cancelled by the company resulting in a decrease in the total number of Class B ordinary shares outstanding from 7,187,500 shares to 5,750,000 shares. Prior to the completion of our initial public offering, our sponsor transferred an aggregate of 90,000 Class B ordinary shares to our independent director nominees. The number of founder shares issued was determined based on the expectation that such founder shares would represent 20% of the issued and outstanding shares upon completion of our initial public offering. Up to 750,000 founder shares were subject to forfeiture by our sponsor depending on the extent to which the underwriter’s over-allotment option was exercised. On August 9, 2022, following the expiration of the remaining Over-Allotment Option, our sponsor forfeited 510,000 founder shares. The founder shares (including the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise thereof) may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by the holder.
Our sponsor has purchased an aggregate of 6,792,000 private placement warrants, each exercisable to purchase one Class A ordinary share at $11.50 per share, at a price of $1.00 per warrant, or $6,792,000 in the aggregate, in a private placement that occurred simultaneously with the closing of our initial public offering and the partial exercise of the underwriter’s over-allotment option. The private placement warrants will be non-redeemable and exercisable on a cashless basis. The private placement warrants (including the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise thereof) may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by the holder until thirty (30) days after the completion of the initial business combination. Such purchase was funded by SK, an affiliate of our sponsor.
In addition, our sponsor has lent us $5,240,000 as of the closing date of our initial public offering and the partial exercise of the underwriter’s over-allotment option at no interest, which we refer to throughout this Report as the overfunding loans. Such overfunding loans were funded by SK, an affiliate of our sponsor. The overfunding loans will be repaid upon the closing of our initial business combination or converted into Class A ordinary shares at a conversion price of $10.00 per Class A ordinary share (or any combination thereof) at our sponsor’s discretion, provided that any such conversion may not occur until after the 60th day following the effective date of the registration statement in connection with our initial public offering. The overfunding loans were extended in order to ensure that the amount in the trust account is initially $10.25 per public share. If we do not complete an initial business combination, we will not repay the overfunding loans from amounts held in the trust account, and its proceeds will be distributed to our public shareholders; however, we may repay the overfunding loans if there are funds available outside the trust account to do so.
As more fully discussed in the section of this Report entitled “Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance —Conflicts of Interest,” 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.
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We pay to an affiliate of our sponsor $10,000 per month for secretarial and administrative support services, commencing as of the date that our securities were first listed on the Nasdaq. 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 initial shareholders, 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 review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made by us to our initial shareholders, officers, directors or their affiliates and 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.
Prior to the consummation of our initial public offering, our sponsor agreed to loan us up to $300,000 to be used for a portion of the expenses of our initial public offering. These loans were non-interest bearing, unsecured and were due at the earlier of January 1, 2023 and the closing of our initial public offering. The loan was repaid upon the closing of our initial public offering out of the offering proceeds not held in the trust account.
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 working capital loans may be convertible into warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants, including as to exercise price, exercisability and exercise period. The terms of such working capital loans by our officers and directors, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such working capital 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.
We have 18 months (or 21 months if we have executed a definitive agreement relating to an initial business combination), from the closing of our initial public offering to consummate our initial business combination. However, if we anticipate that we may not be able to consummate our initial business combination within 18 months (or 21 months if we have executed a definitive agreement relating to an initial business combination), we may, by resolution of our board of directors if requested by our sponsor, extend the period of time to consummate a business combination up to two times, each by an additional three months (for a total of up to 24 months to complete a business combination), subject to the sponsor or its affiliates or designees depositing additional funds into the trust account as set out below. Our shareholders will not be entitled to vote or redeem their shares in connection with any such extension. However, our shareholders will be entitled to vote and redeem their shares in connection with a general meeting held to approve an initial business combination or in a tender offer undertaken in connection with an initial business combination if we propose such a business combination during any extension period. In order for the time available for us to consummate our initial business combination to be extended beyond 18 months (or 21 months if we have executed a definitive agreement relating to an initial business combination), our sponsor or its affiliates or designees must deposit into the trust account $2,096,000, up to an aggregate of $4,192,000, on or prior to the date of the applicable deadline, for each three month extension. Any such payments would be made in the form of a non-interest bearing loan. In the event that we receive notice from our sponsor five days prior to the deadline of its wish for us to effect an extension, we intend to issue a press release announcing such intention at least three days prior to the deadline. In addition, we intend to issue a press release the day after the deadline announcing whether or not the funds have been timely deposited. Any such payments would be made in the form of non-interest bearing extension loans. Such extension loans may be converted into warrants upon the consummation of our initial business combination, at a price of $1.00 per warrant, at the option of our sponsor. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants. If we complete our initial business
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combination, and our sponsor decides not to convert the loan into warrants, we would repay such loaned amounts out of the proceeds of the trust account released to us. If we do not complete a business combination, we will not repay such loans. Any such extension loans would be in addition to the overfunding loans and any working capital loans made to us. Furthermore, the letter agreement with our initial shareholders contains a provision pursuant to which our sponsor has agreed to waive its right to be repaid for such loans in the event that we do not complete a business combination. Our sponsor and its affiliates or designees are not obligated to fund the trust account to extend the time for us to complete our initial business combination.
If we are unable to consummate our initial business combination within the applicable time period, we will, as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares for a pro rata portion of the funds held in the trust account and as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining shareholders and our board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in each case to our obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. In such event, the warrants will be worthless.
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.
We entered into a registration and shareholder rights agreement pursuant to which our initial shareholders are entitled to certain registration rights with respect to the private placement warrants, the securities issuable upon conversion of working capital loans and extension loans (if any) and the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the foregoing and upon conversion of the founder shares and the overfunding loans, which is described under the section of this Report entitled “Description of Securities—Registration and Shareholder Rights.”
Policy for Approval of Related Party Transactions
The audit committee of our board of directors has adopted a 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 shall 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. During the year ended December 31, 2022 and for the period from December 8, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021, fees for our independent registered public accounting firm were $143,795 and $0, respectively, for the services Withum performed. These services related more specifically to: (i) the IPO process, (ii) Quarterly reviews, and the 2022 10-K audit.
Audit-Related Fees. During the year ended December 31, 2022 and for the period from December 8, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021, our independent registered public accounting firm did not render assurance and related services related to the performance of the audit or review of financial statements.
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Tax Fees. During the year ended December 31, 2022 and for the period from December 8, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021, fees for our independent registered public accounting firm for tax compliance, tax advice and tax planning services provided to us were $4,160 and $3,900, respectively.
All Other Fees. During the year ended December 31, 2022 and for the period from December 8, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021, there were no fees billed for products and services provided by our independent registered public accounting firm other than those set forth above.
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).
Our independent registered public accounting firm is:
WithumSmith+Brown, PC
1411 Broadway 23rd Floor
New York, NY 10018
PCAOB ID #100
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PART IV
Item 15. | Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules |
(a) | The following documents are filed as part of this Form 10-K: |
(1) | Financial Statements: |
Page | ||||
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm |
F-2 | |||
Balance Sheets |
F-3 | |||
Statements of Operations |
F-4 | |||
Statements of Changes in Shareholders’ Deficit |
F-5 | |||
Statements of Cash Flows |
F-6 | |||
Notes to Financial Statements |
F-7 |
(2) | Financial Statement Schedules: |
None.
(3) | Exhibits |
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We hereby file as part of this Report the exhibits listed in the attached Exhibit Index. Exhibits which are incorporated herein by reference can be inspected and copied at the public reference facilities maintained by the SEC, 100 F Street, N.E., Room 1580, Washington, D.C. 20549. Copies of such material can also be obtained from the Public Reference Section of the SEC, 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549, at prescribed rates or on the SEC website at www.sec.gov.
* | Filed herewith |
** | Furnished herewith |
(1) | Incorporated by reference to our Current Report on Form 8-K, filed with the SEC on June 29, 2022. |
(2) | Incorporated by reference to our Registration Statement on Form S-1, as amended, initially filed with the SEC on May 23, 2022. |
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 Report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.
March 29, 2023 | SK GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES CORPORATION | |||||
By: | /s/ Richard Chin Name: Richard Chin Title: Chief Executive Officer |
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, this Report 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/ Richard Chin Richard Chin |
Chief Executive Officer and Director (Principal Executive Officer) |
March 29, 2023 | ||
/s/ Derek Jensen Derek Jensen |
Chief Financial Officer and Director (Principal Financial and Accounting Officer) |
March 29, 2023 | ||
/s/ Speaker John A. Boehner Speaker John A, Boehner |
Director | March 29, 2023 | ||
/s/ Martin Payne Martin Payne |
Director | March 29, 2023 | ||
/s/ Michael Noonen Michael Noonen |
Director | March 29, 2023 |
94
Table of Contents
F-2 |
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Financial Statements: |
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F-3 |
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F-4 |
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F-5 |
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F-6 |
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F-7 |
December 31, |
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2022 |
2021 |
|||||||
Assets: |
||||||||
Current assets: |
||||||||
Cash |
$ | 515,410 | $ | — | ||||
Prepaid expenses |
415,866 | — | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Total current assets |
931,276 | — | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Non-current assets: |
||||||||
Deferred offering costs associated with initial public offering |
— | 31,985 | ||||||
Prepaid expenses—non-current |
204,750 | — | ||||||
Investments held in Trust Account |
217,645,818 | — | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Total non-current assets |
217,850,568 | 31,985 | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Total Assets |
$ |
218,781,844 |
$ |
31,985 |
||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Liabilities, Class A Ordinary Shares Subject to Possible Redemption and Shareholders’ Deficit: |
||||||||
Current liabilities: |
||||||||
Accounts payable |
$ | 2,331 | $ | — | ||||
Accrued expenses |
300,481 | 40,816 | ||||||
Overfunding loan |
5,240,000 | — | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Total current liabilities |
5,542,812 | 40,816 | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Non-current liabilities: |
||||||||
Deferred underwriting and advisory fees |
7,336,000 | — | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Total non-current liabilities |
7,336,000 | — | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Total Liabilities |
12,878,812 | 40,816 | ||||||
|
|
|
|
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Commitments and Contingencies |
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Class A ordinary shares, $0.0001 par value; 9,000,000,000 shares authorized; 20,960,000 and -0- |
217,545,818 | — | ||||||
Shareholders’ Deficit: |
||||||||
Preference shares, $0.0001 par value; 990,000 shares authorized; none issued or outstanding |
— | — | ||||||
Class A ordinary shares, $0.0001 par value; 9,000,000,000 shares authorized; no non-redeemable shares issued or outstanding |
— | — | ||||||
Class B ordinary shares, $0.0001 par value; 999,000,000 shares authorized; 5,240,000 and 5,750,000 shares issued and outstanding as of December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively (1)(2) |
524 | 575 | ||||||
Additional paid-in capital |
— | 24,425 | ||||||
Accumulated deficit |
(11,643,310 | ) | (33,831 | ) | ||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Total shareholders’ deficit |
(11,642,786 | ) | (8,831 | ) | ||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Total Liabilities, Class A Ordinary Shares Subject to Possible Redemption and Shareholders’ Deficit |
$ |
218,781,844 |
$ |
31,985 |
||||
|
|
|
|
(1) |
This number includes up to 750,000 Class B ordinary shares subject to forfeiture if the Over— Allotment Option is not exercised in full or in part by the underwriter. On July 20, 2022, the Company sold an additional 960,000 Units in the Partial Over— Allotment Exercise pursuant to the underwriter’s notice of the partial exercise of the Over— Allotment Option. On August 9, 2022, following the expiration of the remaining Over— Allotment Option, the Sponsor forfeited 510,000 Founder Shares (see Note 4). |
(2) |
The numbers at December 31, 2021 , have been retroactively restated to reflect the share surrenders of 1,437,500 and 1,437,500 Class B ordinary shares to the Company and thereupon cancelled on May 5, 2022 and February 24, 2022, respectively, resulting in a decrease in the total number of Class B ordinary shares outstanding from 7,187,500 shares to 5,750,000 shares (see Note 4). |
For the year ended December 31, 2022 |
For the period from December 8, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021 (1) |
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General and administrative expenses |
$ | 717,265 | $ | 33,831 | ||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Loss from operations |
(717,265 | ) | (33,831 | ) | ||||
|
|
|
|
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Other income: |
||||||||
Change in fair value of derivative liability |
20,794 | — | ||||||
Income from investments held in Trust Account |
2,805,818 | — | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Total other income |
2,826,612 | — | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Net income (loss) |
$ |
2,109,347 |
$ |
(33,831 |
) | |||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Basic and diluted weighted average shares outstanding, Class A ordinary shares |
10,652,308 | — | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Basic and diluted net income per share, Class A ordinary shares |
$ | 0.13 | $ | — | ||||
|
|
|
|
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Weighted average shares outstanding, Class B ordinary shares—basic |
5,094,945 | 4,782,609 | ||||||
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|
|
|
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Weighted average shares outstanding, Class B ordinary shares—diluted |
5,240,000 | 4,782,609 | ||||||
|
|
|
|
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Net income (loss) per share, Class B ordinary shares—basic |
$ | 0.13 | $ | (0.01 | ) | |||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Net income (loss) per share, Class B ordinary shares—diluted |
$ | 0.13 | $ | (0.01 | ) | |||
|
|
|
|
( 1 ) |
The numbers at December 31, 2021 , have been retroactively restated to reflect the share surrenders of 1,437,500 and 1,437,500 Class B ordinary shares to the Company and thereupon cancelled on May 5, 2022 and February 24, 2022, respectively, resulting in a decrease in the total number of Class B ordinary shares outstanding from 7,187,500 shares to 5,750,000 shares (see Note 4). |
Additional Paid-in |
Total Shareholders’ |
|||||||||||||||||||
Class B Ordinary Shares |
Accumulated |
|||||||||||||||||||
Shares |
Amount |
Capital |
Deficit |
Deficit |
||||||||||||||||
Balance—December 8, 2021 (inception) |
— |
$ |
— |
$ |
— |
$ |
— |
$ |
— |
|||||||||||
Issuance of Class B ordinary shares to Sponsor (1) (2) |
5,750,000 | 575 | 24,425 | — | 25,000 | |||||||||||||||
Net loss |
— | — | — | (33,831 | ) | (33,831 | ) | |||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||
Balance—December 31, 2021 |
5,750,000 |
$ |
575 |
$ |
24,425 |
$ |
(33,831 |
) |
$ |
(8,831 |
) | |||||||||
Sale of private placement warrants to Sponsor in private placement |
— | — | 6,792,000 | — | 6,792,000 | |||||||||||||||
Fair value of warrants included in the Units sold in the Initial Public Offering (including the Over-allotment Units) |
— | — | 3,144,000 | — | 3,144,000 | |||||||||||||||
Offering costs associated with issuance of warrants as part of the Units in the Initial Public Offering (including the Over-allotment Units) |
— | — | (199,041 | ) | — | (199,041 | ) | |||||||||||||
Forfeiture of Class B ordinary shares |
(510,000 | ) | (51 | ) | 51 | — | — | |||||||||||||
Accretion for Class A ordinary shares to redemption amount |
— | — | (9,761,435 | ) | (13,718,826 | ) | (23,480,261 | ) | ||||||||||||
Net income |
— | — | — | 2,109,347 | 2,109,347 | |||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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Balance—December 31, 2022 |
5,240,000 |
$ |
524 |
$ |
— |
$ |
(11,643,310 |
) |
$ |
(11,642,786 |
) | |||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(1) |
This number includes up to 750,000 Class B ordinary shares subject to forfeiture if the Over— Allotment Option is not exercised in full or in part by the underwriter. On July 20, 2022, the Company sold an additional 960,000 Units in the Partial Over— Allotment Exercise pursuant to the underwriter’s notice of the partial exercise of the Over— Allotment Option. On August 9, 2022, following the expiration of the remaining Over— Allotment Option, the Sponsor forfeited 510,000 Founder Shares (see Note 4). |
(2) |
The numbers at December 31, 2021 , have been retroactively restated to reflect the share surrenders of 1,437,500 and 1,437,500 Class B ordinary shares to the Company and thereupon cancelled on May 5, 2022 and February 24, 2022, respectively, resulting in a decrease in the total number of Class B ordinary shares outstanding from 7,187,500 shares to 5,750,000 shares (see Note 4). |
For the year ended December 31, 2022 |
For the period from December 8, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021 |
|||||||
Cash Flows from Operating Activities: |
||||||||
Net income (loss) |
$ | 2,109,347 | $ | (33,831 | ) | |||
Adjustments to reconcile net income (loss) to net cash used in operating activities: |
||||||||
Change in fair value of derivative liability |
(20,794 | ) | — | |||||
Income from investments held in Trust Account |
(2,805,818 | ) | — | |||||
General and administrative expenses paid by Sponsor in exchange for issuance of Class B ordinary shares |
— | 25,000 | ||||||
Changes in operating assets and liabilities: |
||||||||
Prepaid expenses |
(620,616 | ) | — | |||||
Accounts payable |
2,331 | — | ||||||
Accrued expenses |
121,650 | 8,831 | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Net cash used in operating activities |
(1,213,900 | ) | — | |||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Cash Flows from Investing Activities: |
||||||||
Cash deposited in Trust Account |
(214,840,000 | ) | — | |||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Net cash used in investing activities |
(214,840,000 | ) | — | |||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Cash Flows from Financing Activities: |
||||||||
Proceeds from note payable to related party |
300,000 | — | ||||||
Repayment of note payable to related party |
(300,000 | ) | — | |||||
Proceeds received from Overfunding Loan |
5,240,000 | — | ||||||
Proceeds received from initial public offering and over-allotment, gross |
209,600,000 | — | ||||||
Proceeds received from private placement |
6,792,000 | — | ||||||
Offering costs paid, net of reimbursement from underwriter |
(5,062,690 | ) | — | |||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Net cash provided by financing activities |
216,569,310 | — | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Net change in cash |
515,410 | — | ||||||
Cash—beginning of the period |
— | — | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Cash—end of the period |
$ |
515,410 |
$ |
— |
||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Supplemental disclosure of noncash investing and financing activities: |
||||||||
Offering costs included in accrued expenses |
$ | 170,000 | $ | 31,985 | ||||
Deferred underwriting and advisory fees |
$ | 7,336,000 | $ | — | ||||
Reversal of previous accrued offering costs |
$ | 31,985 | $ | — |
• |
Level 1, defined as observable inputs such as quoted prices (unadjusted) for identical instruments in active markets; |
• |
Level 2, defined as inputs other than quoted prices in active markets that are either directly or indirectly observable such as quoted prices for similar instruments in active markets or quoted prices for identical or similar instruments in markets that are not active; and |
• |
Level 3, defined as unobservable inputs in which little or no market data exists, therefore requiring an entity to develop its own assumptions, such as valuations derived from valuation techniques in which one or more significant inputs or significant value drivers are unobservable. |
As of December 31, 2022 |
||||
Gross proceeds |
$ | 209,600,000 | ||
Less: |
||||
Proceeds allocated to Public Warrants |
(3,144,000 | ) | ||
Proceeds allocated to over-allotment option |
(20,794 | ) | ||
Class A ordinary shares issuance costs |
(12,369,649 | ) | ||
Plus: |
||||
Accretion of carrying value to redemption value |
23,480,261 | |||
Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption |
$ |
217,545,818 |
||
For the years ended December 31, |
||||||||||||||||
2022 |
2021 |
|||||||||||||||
Class A |
Class B |
Class A |
Class B |
|||||||||||||
Basic and diluted net income (loss) per ordinary share: |
||||||||||||||||
Numerator: |
||||||||||||||||
Allocation of net income (loss) |
$ | 1,426,878 | $ | 682,469 | $ | — | $ | (33,831 | ) | |||||||
Denominator: |
||||||||||||||||
Weighted average ordinary shares outstanding—basic |
10,652,308 | 5,094,945 | — | 4,782,609 | ||||||||||||
Weighted average ordinary shares outstanding—diluted |
10,652,308 | 5,240,000 | — | 4,782,609 | ||||||||||||
Net income (loss) per ordinary share—basic |
$ | 0.13 | $ | 0.13 | $ | — | $ | (0.01 | ) | |||||||
Net income (loss) per ordinary share—diluted |
$ | 0.13 | $ | 0.13 | $ | — | $ | (0.01 | ) | |||||||
• | in whole and not in part; |
• | at a price of $0.01 per warrant; |
• | upon a minimum of 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption, the “30-day redemption period” and |
• | if, and only if, the last reported sale price (the “closing price”) of Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted) for any 20 trading days within a 30-trading day period ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which the Company sends the notice of redemption to the Public Warrant. |
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—Money Market Funds |
$ | 217,645,818 | $ | — | $ | — |