Sustainable Development Acquisition I 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 |
Delaware |
85-4353398 | |
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) |
(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.) | |
5701 Truxtun Avenue. Suite 201 Bakersfield, California |
90036 | |
(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 share of Class A Common Stock, $0.0001 par value, and one-half of one redeemable Warrant |
SDACU |
The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC | ||
Class A Common Stock, par value $0.0001 per share |
SDAC |
The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC | ||
Redeemable Warrants, each whole Warrant exercisable for one share of Class A Common Stock, each at an exercise price of $11.50 per share |
SDACW |
The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC |
Large accelerated filer | ☐ | Accelerated filer | ☐ | |||
Non-accelerated filer | ☒ | Smaller reporting company | ☒ | |||
Emerging growth company | ☒ |
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART I |
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Item 1. |
3 | |||||
Item 1A. |
23 | |||||
Item 1B. |
60 | |||||
Item 2. |
60 | |||||
Item 3. |
60 | |||||
Item 4. |
60 | |||||
PART II |
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Item 5. |
61 | |||||
Item 6. |
61 | |||||
Item 7. |
Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations |
61 | ||||
Item 7A. |
65 | |||||
Item 8. |
65 | |||||
Item 9. |
Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure |
65 | ||||
Item 9A. |
66 | |||||
Item 9B. |
67 | |||||
Item 9C. |
Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections |
67 | ||||
PART III |
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Item 10. |
68 | |||||
Item 11. |
73 | |||||
Item 12. |
Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters |
74 | ||||
Item 13. |
Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence |
75 | ||||
Item 14. |
77 | |||||
PART IV |
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Item 15. |
78 | |||||
Item 16. |
78 | |||||
SIGNATURES |
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CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains forward-looking statements, which reflect our current views with respect to, among other things, our strategy related to a potential business combination. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including statements regarding our strategy related to a potential business combination, are forward-looking statements. The words “believe,” “may,” “will,” “estimate,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “expect,” “should,” “could,” “target,” “predict,” “seek” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events and industry trends that we believe may affect our operations, objectives, and financial needs. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including those described in “Item 1A. Risk Factors” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Moreover, we operate in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment, and new risks emerge from time to time. It is not possible for our management to predict all risks, nor can we assess the impact of all factors on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements we may make. In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the forward-looking events and circumstances discussed in this Annual Report on Form 10-K may not occur, and actual results could differ materially and adversely from those anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements.
The forward-looking statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K are made only as of the date of this report. You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee that the future results, levels of activity, performance or events and circumstances reflected in the forward-looking statements will be achieved or occur. Moreover, neither we nor any other person assumes responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of the forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements for any reason after the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K to conform these statements to actual results or to changes in our expectations, except as required by law.
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RISK FACTORS SUMMARY
An investment in our securities involves risks. You should consider carefully the following risks, which are discussed more fully in “Item 1A. Risk Factors,” and all of the other information contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K before investing in our common stock. These risks include, but are not limited to, the following:
• | our being a company with no operating history and no revenue; |
• | 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 continued uncertainty resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic; |
• | changes in general market, economic and political conditions in the United States and global economies or financial markets, including those resulting from natural disasters, terrorist attacks, acts of war and responses to such events; |
• | adverse developments affecting the financial services industry, such as actual events or concerns involving liquidity, defaults or non-performance by financial institutions or transactional counterparties, could adversely affect our current and projected business operations and financial condition and results of operations; |
• | a new 1% U.S. federal excise tax could be imposed on us in connection with redemptions by us of our shares; |
• | our failure to obtain any required approvals within the requisite time period due to being deemed a “foreign person” under CFIUS may require us to liquidate; |
• | 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; |
• | the ability of our officers and directors to generate a number of potential business combination opportunities; |
• | 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; and |
• | our financial performance. |
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PART I
References in this Annual Report on Form 10-K to “we,” “us,” “our,” “company” or “our company” are to Sustainable Development Acquisition I Corp. References to our “management” or our “management team” are to our executive officers and directors, and references to our “sponsor” are to Sustainable Development Sponsor, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company. References to our “initial stockholders” refer to our sponsor and the company’s executive officers and directors.
ITEM 1. | BUSINESS. |
Introduction
We are a blank check public benefit corporation incorporated in Delaware for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses or entities. We have not selected any specific business combination target. We intend to effectuate our initial business combination using cash from the proceeds of our Initial Public Offering (as defined below) and the sale of the private placement shares, our shares, debt or a combination of cash, equity and debt. Based on our business activities, the Company is a “shell company,” as defined under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), because we have no operations and nominal assets consisting almost entirely of cash.
We are one of the few (if not the first) blank check companies to obtain Pending B Corp status. To become a Pending B Corp, we, among other things, incorporated as a public benefit corporation and completed a B Impact Assessment, which is a set of 200 sector-specific questions that reflect impact indicators and best practices intended to help us identify and establish the most impactful processes to put in place as we move forward. We have a strong interest in our initial business combination either being a Certified B Corp or implementing policies and processes to become certified after investment. B Corps abide by the highest standards of environmental and social issues, focusing on sustainable supply chains, quality jobs, and stakeholder engagement supported by strong governance mechanisms. The B Corp framework is highly aligned with benchmarking progress toward achieving the UN SDGs and signals that a business is using its power as a force for good. As a public benefit corporation, our corporate purpose includes: (i) fostering an enduring, sustainable and profitable business that advances the UN SDGs, (ii) being stewards of the land, air, and water, and (iii) being supportive of the people and communities within which we operate.
We seek to capitalize on the significant experience and vast network of our management team (including our board of directors) and affiliates of our sponsor, RRG Capital Management LLC, RRG Global Partners Fund, LP and RRG Renewable Resources Group LLC (collectively, with their affiliates, “RRG”) and Capricorn Investment Group LLC and Sustainable Investors Fund, LP (collectively, with their affiliates, “Capricorn”). Although we may pursue our initial business combination in any business, industry or geographic location, we currently intend to focus on opportunities that capitalize on the expertise and ability of our team to identify, acquire and operate a business that helps to address the global challenges identified by the UN SDGs. Our focus includes, but is not limited to, UN SDG-focused businesses.
We believe there are significant, attractive investment opportunities that are disrupting many conventional industries by delivering solutions to global environmental challenges in alignment with the UN SDGs. These investment opportunities are being supported by favorable global trends. While investing in UN SDG-focused solutions may cover a broad range of themes, we are focused on evaluating suitable targets, which through their operations, have a positive impact on global challenges. Further, these targets can benefit from our expertise in water, food & agriculture, renewable energy, and environmental resource management sectors, as well as from our sector supporting technologies and our commitment to making a positive impact.
We believe our collective background makes us well-positioned to identify attractive businesses that are delivering UN SDG-focused solutions that would further benefit from access to the public markets and the diverse skill set of our management team. We focus on evaluating established companies with leading competitive positions, experienced management teams, attractive financial profiles and robust long-term potential for growth and profitability. We intend to pursue opportunities with such a business and enhance stakeholder value by identifying and recruiting management, pursuing additional acquisitions, implementing operational improvements, increasing impact outcomes, and expanding its product offerings and geographic footprint. We intend to utilize our research capabilities, experience, reputation and relationships across these industries to achieve this objective.
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Significant Activities Since Inception
On February 9, 2021, we consummated our initial public offering (the “Initial Public Offering”) of 31,625,000 units (including 4,125,000 units issued to the underwriters pursuant to the exercise in full of the over-allotment option granted to the underwriters), at $10.00 per unit, generating gross proceeds of $316.3 million. Simultaneously with the closing of the Initial Public Offering, we consummated a private placement of 9,325,000 warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant to our sponsor, generating gross proceeds of approximately $9.3 million.
A total of $316,250,000 from the proceeds we received from the Initial Public Offering and the sale of the private placement shares was placed in a segregated trust account located in the United States, with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee. The amounts held in the trust account were invested in permitted United States “government securities” within the meaning of Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (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 that invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations. However, to mitigate the risk of being deemed to be an unregistered investment company (including under the subjective test of Section 3(a)(1)(A) of the Investment Company Act) and thus subject to regulation under the Investment Company Act, the Company has since instructed Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, the trustee with respect to the trust account, to liquidate the U.S. government treasury obligations or money market funds held in the trust account and to maintain such funds in a bank demand deposit account until the earlier of consummation of the initial business combination or liquidation of the Company. Except with respect to interest earned on the funds held in the trust account that may be released to us to pay our franchise and income tax obligations, the funds held in the trust account will not be released until the earliest of (a) the completion of our initial business combination, (b) the redemption of any public shares properly submitted in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (i) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination by August 12, 2023 or (ii) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-business combination activity, and (c) the redemption of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination by August 12, 2023, subject to applicable law. Public stockholders who redeem their shares of Class A common stock in connection with a stockholder vote described in clause (b) 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 are unable to complete an initial business combination by August 12, 2023 or during any subsequent extension period with respect to such shares of Class A common stock so redeemed (an “Extension Period”). The funds held in the trust account could become subject to the claims of our creditors, if any, which could have priority over the claims of our public stockholders.
On November 4, 2022, the Company filed a preliminary proxy statement and on January 6, 2023, a definitive proxy statement, both in connection with a special stockholders meeting (the “Extension Meeting”) to approve an amendment (the “Extension Amendment”) to the Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation of the Company to extend the date by which the Company must (i) consummate a Business Combination (ii) cease its operations if it fails to complete such Business Combination, and (iii) redeem or repurchase 100% of the Company’s Class A common stock included as part of the units sold in the Initial Public Offering from February 4, 2023 to August 12, 2023 (the “Extension”). On February 1, 2023, the Company held the Extension Meeting where the requisite stockholders of the Company approved the Extension Amendment. The Company filed the Extension Amendment with the Secretary of State of the State of Delaware on February 2, 2023.
In connection with the votes to approve the Extension Amendment, 29,446,012 shares of common stock of the Company were tendered for redemption at a per-share price of $10.125. As such, approximately 93.11% of the public shares were redeemed and approximately 6.89% of the public shares remain outstanding. The Class A common stock was redeemed at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the Trust Account, including interest earned on the Trust Account deposits (net of franchise and income taxes payable), divided by the number of then outstanding Class A common stock.
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Business Strategy
Our business strategy is to identify, acquire and maximize the value of a company operating in the UN SDG-related sectors of water, food & agriculture, renewable energy, and environmental resource management sectors, as well as supporting technologies. We have used our team’s extensive years of experience, and our wide-reaching network of deep relationships with industry executives, board members, venture capital and private equity firms, investment bankers, lawyers, investors and other service providers to UN SDG-focused Businesses in our target sectors to identify potential targets for our initial business combination. We will continue to seek opportunities that can benefit from our management team’s expansive experiences and unparalleled capabilities to create value for our stockholders.
We focus our efforts on opportunities where our domain knowledge, strategic vision, operating expertise, relationships and capital markets experience can enhance the growth and competitive position of the target company. We intend to identify and execute an initial business combination within an UN SDG-focused Business in the United States or another developed country, although we may pursue targets in any business, industry, sector, or geographical location. We believe our team’s experience allows us to evaluate targets in industries such as water services (e.g., storage, irrigation, utilities), food production and delivery (e.g., agriculture, seafood, logistics, processing, consumer-packaged goods), energy systems (e.g., renewable generation, utilities, energy efficiency/management), environmental resource management (e.g., waste management, environmental services, construction), infrastructure solutions (e.g., transportation, value-added distribution, logistics), and supportive technology (e.g., hardware, software, devices), among others. We believe that our strategy of investing in UN SDG-focused Businesses and the significant experience of our management team and affiliates of our sponsor focusing on environmentally friendly investments positions us well as a public benefit corporation to build shareholder value while simultaneously balancing stakeholder interests.
Our team has an extensive history of investing in successful business platforms through extensive analysis of the entire value chain. Our team also has a long and successful history of mentoring executives, developing operational talent and building profitable businesses over time. Our team, as well as our independent directors and advisors, were early advocates and participants in agriculture, water and renewable energy sectors who have deep understanding of what it takes to scale product offerings and grow lifetime stakeholder value in competitive, growing markets. We believe that this track record will present a compelling rationale to prospective targets, further bolstering the proprietary deal flow.
Success in investing in UN SDG-focused Businesses can be impacted by a number of factors, including a myriad of global regulations, government policies and spending, technological breakthroughs, and the ability of companies to reduce costs and achieve scale. We believe our team’s experience across water, food & agriculture, renewable energy and technology over the past nearly two decades provides a significant amount of proprietary domain expertise and know-how in evaluating investment opportunities across several industry segments in a rapidly changing regulatory context. We believe that the considerable amount of time our team has spent navigating the complex regulatory environment that is unique to many UN SDG-focused Businesses provides a differentiated competitive advantage.
Our team has demonstrated our compatibility with over 12 years of experience partnering on successful development opportunities within water and water-adjacent sectors, food & agriculture, and renewable energy. The following factors compose the core features of our competitive advantage in bringing an UN SDG-focused company to public markets.
• | Authenticity, Relevance and Track Record of the RRG and Capricorn partnership. RRG and Capricorn have a demonstrated track record of working together to create successful outcomes in developing water, food & agriculture, and energy projects since 2006. Over that time, RRG and Capricorn have invested in eight deals together. |
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• | Private to Public Experience. The combined team brings strong operating experience in leading and developing real assets in both private and public markets. More specifically, the team has a successful track record of understanding public capital markets and leading the transition of private companies into public markets. |
• | Deep Technical and Sector Understanding and Original Research. The team has a history of unlocking the value in overlooked opportunities by bringing a comprehensive understanding of the water, food & agriculture, renewable energy, and environmental resource management sectors, as well as supporting technologies. |
• | Strong Operating Experience. Experience in deploying value-creation strategies, including recruiting talented personnel, implementing system upgrades with the back-office systems, and delivering operating efficiency by implementing an analytically based approach to business metrics. |
• | Expansive Network of Partners. The RRG and Capricorn partnership brings together two distinct, deep and highly complementary set of industry and capital markets relationships that create a robust network for sourcing opportunities. |
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ESG and Impact
ESG and positive environmental and social impact are core elements to the success and mission of our business- not merely avoiding harm, but going beyond to create substantial and meaningful impact within our business model and through our value chain in a way that benefits multiple stakeholders. Recently, there has been increased demand for public ESG investments. As one of the few (if not the first) SPACs formed as a public benefit corporation, we are incorporating strong governance mechanisms from the very inception of our investment efforts.
RRG and Capricorn have industry-leading, even pioneering, ESG integration and implementation processes in place. We mirror these processes in our screening, due diligence, management/technical assistance, strategy and reporting work. Our goal is to complete a business combination that adheres to the IFC Performance Standards, a trusted international ESG management framework, as well as targeting impact areas within specific UN SDGs, such as Zero Hunger, Clean Water and Sanitation, Affordable and Clean Energy, and Responsible Consumption and Production. A key objective of our investment efforts is to generate environmental and social sustainability benefits in ways that support attractive risk-adjusted financial returns. We also monitor and affirm our ESG and Impact approach through relationships with trusted third-party validators.
Investing in UN SDG-focused Businesses inherently benefits from sound ESG practices, as business strategies intended to address sustainable development and global environmental and social challenges naturally integrate the risks and opportunities of climate change, workforce instability and resource scarcity in business decisions.
Our Acquisition Criteria
Consistent with our business strategy, we have looked and will continue to look to identify companies that have compelling growth potential and a combination of the below characteristics. We have used these criteria and guidelines in evaluating initial business combination opportunities, but we may decide to enter into our initial business combination with a target that only meets some, but not all of the following criteria.
• | Have operations that align with the UN SDGs and with B Corp principles: We focus on businesses which have the potential to help address the global challenges identified by the UN SDGs and those that either are, or that we believe could become, a Certified B Corporation. We focus on, but are not limited to, companies in the water, food & agriculture, renewable energy and environmental resource management sectors, as well as supporting technologies. |
• | Have a defensible market position: We seek to acquire a business that has a defensible position within a target market because of its differentiated technology, economies of scale, defined barriers to entry, brand strength, distribution capabilities, vertical integration, or other competitive advantages. |
• | Have a strong management team: We seek to partner with management teams that are aligned with our commitment to generate positive impact and financial value. Where necessary, we may also look to complement and enhance the capabilities of the target business’ management team by recruiting additional talent through our networks of contacts. |
• | Would benefit from our capabilities: We seek to acquire a business where the collective capabilities of our management and sponsor can be leveraged to improve the operations, financial performance and market position of the target. |
• | Can be acquired at an attractive valuation for public market investors: We seek to be disciplined and valuation-centric when identifying and negotiating with the target companies. |
• | Have or could face succession issues: We aim to leverage RRG’s and Capricorn’s networks to source companies that could benefit from becoming public to solve succession issues. |
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• | Is sourced through our proprietary channels: We aim to leverage RRG’s and Capricorn’s networks and differentiated access to our target sectors to source our business combination. |
• | Have an attractive financial profile: We seek to acquire a business that has highly recurring, predictable revenue and cash flows to support reinvestment growth. |
• | Have opportunities for growth: We seek to acquire a business that has little material technology, scale-up or market risk. We focus on companies where success is not premised on future capital raises to achieve growth plans, and there exists the potential to grow organically or through add-on acquisitions. |
• | Would benefit from access to the public markets: We seek to acquire a business that would benefit from better access to capital, an expansion of its investor base, or other benefits of becoming a public company. |
The criteria set forth above are not intended to be exhaustive. Any evaluation relating to the merits of a particular initial business combination may be based, to the extent relevant, on these general guidelines as well as other considerations, factors and criteria that our management may deem relevant.
Our Acquisition Process
In evaluating a potential target business, we expect to conduct a comprehensive due diligence review to seek to determine a company’s quality and its intrinsic value. That due diligence review may include, among other things, financial statement analysis, detailed document reviews, multiple meetings with management, consultations with relevant industry experts, competitors, customers and suppliers, as well as a review of additional information that we will seek to obtain as part of our analysis of a target company.
Members of our, RRG’s and Capricorn’s management teams, including our officers and directors, will directly or indirectly own our securities and accordingly, may have a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target company is an appropriate business with which to effectuate our initial business combination. Each of our officers and directors, as well as our, RRG’s and Capricorn’s management teams, may have a conflict of interest with respect to evaluating a particular business combination if the retention or resignation of any such officers, directors and management team members was included by a target business as a condition to any agreement with respect to such business combination.
We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, if required by applicable law or based upon the decision of our board of directors or a committee thereof, 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 us from a financial point of view.
Each of our directors and officers presently has, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity. Accordingly, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for an entity to which he or she has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she will honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such opportunity to such entity. We do not believe, however, that the fiduciary duties or contractual obligations of our officers or directors will materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination.
Our directors, officers, RRG, Capricorn, or their respective officers and affiliates may become involved with subsequent blank check companies similar to our Company. Each of RRG and Capricorn (but not our independent directors) have agreed not to separately participate in the formation of, or become a sponsor, an officer or director of, any blank check company with a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act before we have entered into a definitive agreement regarding our initial business combination or we have failed to complete our initial business combination by August 12, 2023.
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Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that we renounce our interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any director or officer unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of our Company, and such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue, and to the extent the director or officer is permitted to refer that opportunity to us without violating another legal obligation.
Our sponsor, 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
As required by Nasdaq rules, our initial business combination will be approved by a majority of our independent directors. Nasdaq rules also require that we must complete our initial business combination with one or more businesses that together have an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the net assets held in the trust account (excluding the deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable) at the time of our signing a definitive agreement in connection with our initial business combination. We refer to this as the 80% of net assets test. Our board of directors will make the determination as to the fair market value of our initial business combination. The fair market value of the target or targets will be determined by our board of directors based upon one or more standards generally accepted by the financial community (such as actual and potential sales, earnings, cash flow and/or book value). Even though our board of directors will rely on generally accepted standards, our board of directors will have discretion to select the standards employed. In addition, the application of the standards generally involves a substantial degree of judgment. Accordingly, investors will be relying on the business judgment of the board of directors in evaluating the fair market value of the target or targets. The proxy solicitation materials or tender offer documents used by us in connection with any proposed transaction will provide public stockholders with our analysis of our satisfaction of the 80% of net assets test, as well as the basis for our determinations. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of our initial business combination, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent entity that commonly renders valuation opinions with respect to the satisfaction of the 80% of net assets test. 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 our initial business combination, it may be unable to do so if it is less familiar or experienced with the business of a particular target or if there is a significant amount of uncertainty as to the value of a target’s assets or prospects.
We may structure our initial business combination either (i) in such a way so that the post-transaction company in which our public stockholders own shares will own or acquire 100% of the equity interests or assets of the target business or businesses, or (ii) in such a way so that the post-transaction 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 stockholders, or for other reasons. However, we will only complete an initial business combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, or the “Investment Company Act.” Even if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our stockholders prior to the initial business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post-transaction company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the initial business combination. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock of a target. 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 stockholders 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-transaction company, the portion of such business or businesses that is owned or acquired is what will be taken into account for purposes of the 80% of net assets test. If the initial business combination involves more than one target business, the 80% of net assets test will be based on the aggregate value of all of the transactions and we will treat the target businesses together as the initial business combination for purposes of a tender offer or for seeking stockholder approval, as applicable.
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Other Considerations
We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination or subsequent transaction with a company that is affiliated with RRG, Capricorn, or their respective officers and affiliates or our directors or officers. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination or, subject to certain exceptions, subsequent material transactions with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor or any of our officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, if required by applicable law or based upon the decision of our board of directors or a committee thereof, will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or an independent accounting firm that such initial business combination or transaction is fair to us from a financial point of view.
Financial Position
After the satisfaction of the redemptions in connection with the Extension, the balance in our Trust Account was approximately $22,062,774 which includes $10,631,250 of deferred underwriting commissions. 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 if needed to complete a transaction.
Effecting Our Initial Business Combination
We are not presently engaged in, and we will not engage in, any operations other than the pursuit of our business combination for an indefinite period of time. We intend to effectuate our initial business combination using cash from the proceeds of our Initial Public Offering and the private placement of the private placement warrants, the proceeds of the sale of our shares in connection with our initial business combination (pursuant to forward purchase agreements or backstop agreements we may enter or otherwise), shares issued to the owners of the target, debt issued to bank or other lenders or the owners of the target, or a combination of the foregoing. We may seek to complete our initial business combination with a company or business that may be financially unstable or in its early stages of development or growth, which would subject us to the numerous risks inherent in such companies and businesses.
If our initial business combination is paid for using equity or debt securities, 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 common stock, 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-transaction 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.
We may seek to raise additional funds through a private offering of debt or equity securities in connection with the completion of our initial business combination, and we may effectuate our initial business combination using the proceeds of such offering rather than using the amounts held in the trust account. In addition, we intend to target businesses larger than we could acquire with the net proceeds of our Initial Public Offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, and may as a result be required to seek additional financing to complete such proposed initial business combination. Subject to compliance with applicable securities laws, we would expect to complete such financing only simultaneously with the completion of our initial business combination. In the case of an initial business combination funded with assets other than the trust account assets, our proxy materials or tender offer documents disclosing the initial business combination would disclose the terms of the financing and, only if required by law, we would seek stockholder approval of such financing. There are no prohibitions on our ability to raise funds privately or through loans in connection with our initial business combination. At this time, we are not a party to any arrangement or understanding with any third party with respect to raising any additional funds through the sale of securities, the incurrence of debt or otherwise.
Sources of Target Businesses
Target business candidates have been brought to our attention from various sources, including our global networks, as well as other sources such as investment bankers and investment professionals. 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 many of these sources will have read this report and know what types of businesses we are targeting.
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Our sponsor, officers and directors and their respective 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. We may engage professional firms or other individuals that specialize in business acquisitions or other individuals, in which event we may pay a finder’s fee, consulting fee, advisory 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 will our sponsor or any of our existing officers or directors, or any entity with which our sponsor or officers are affiliated, be paid any finder’s fee, reimbursement, consulting fee, monies in respect of any payment of a loan or other compensation by the Company prior to, or in connection with any services tendered 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). Although none of our sponsor, officers, or directors, or any of their respective affiliates, will be allowed to receive any compensation, finder’s fees or consulting fees from a prospective business combination target in connection with a contemplated initial business combination, we do not have a policy that prohibits our sponsor, officers or directors, or any of their respective affiliates, from negotiating for the reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses by a target business. Some of our officers and directors may enter into employment or consulting agreements with the post-transaction 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 initial business combination candidate.
We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with RRG, Capricorn, or their respective officers and affiliates or our directors or officers. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors, or their respective affiliates, we, or a committee of independent directors, if required by applicable law or based upon the decision of our board of directors or a committee thereof, will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or an independent accounting firm that our initial business combination is fair to us from a financial point of view. We are not required to obtain such an opinion in any other context.
Selection of a Target Business and Structuring of our Initial Business Combination
We do not currently intend to purchase multiple businesses in unrelated industries in conjunction with our initial business combination. Subject to this requirement, our management will have virtually unrestricted flexibility in identifying and selecting one or more prospective target businesses, although we will not be permitted to effectuate our initial business combination with another blank check company or a similar company with nominal operations.
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.
In evaluating a prospective business target, we have and will continue to conduct a thorough due diligence review, which may encompass, among other things, meetings with incumbent management and key employees, document reviews, interviews of customers and suppliers, inspection of facilities, as well as a review of financial and other information that will be made available to us.
The time required to select and evaluate a target business and to structure and complete our initial business combination, and the costs associated with this process, are not currently ascertainable with any degree of certainty. Any costs incurred with respect to the identification and evaluation of a prospective target business with which our initial business combination is not ultimately completed will result in our incurring losses and will reduce the funds we can use to complete another business combination.
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Lack of Business Diversification
For an indefinite period of time after the completion of our initial business combination, the prospects for our success may depend entirely on the future performance of a single business. Unlike other entities that have the resources to complete business combinations with multiple entities in one or several industries, it is probable that we will not have the resources to acquire multiple businesses. In addition, we intend to focus our search for an initial business combination in a single industry. 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 limited number of products or services.
Post-Combination 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’ 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 an initial 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.
Stockholders May Not Have the Ability to Approve Our Initial Business Combination
We may conduct redemptions without a stockholder vote pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC. However, we will seek stockholder approval if it is required by law or applicable stock exchange rule, or we may decide to seek stockholder approval for business or other reasons. Presented in the table below is a graphic explanation of the types of initial business combinations we may consider and whether stockholder approval is currently required under Delaware law for each such transaction.
Type of Transaction |
Whether Stockholder Approval is Required |
|||
Purchase of assets |
No | |||
Purchase of stock of target not involving a merger with the Company |
No | |||
Merger of target into a subsidiary of the Company |
No | |||
Merger of the Company with a target |
Yes |
Under Nasdaq’s listing rules, stockholder approval would be required for our initial business combination if, for example:
• | we issue shares of Class A common stock that will either (a) be equal to or in excess of 20% of the number of shares of our Class A common stock then outstanding or (b) have voting power equal to or in excess of 20% of the voting power then outstanding; |
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• | any of our directors, officers or substantial shareholders (as defined by Nasdaq rules) has a 5% or greater interest (or such persons collectively have 10% or greater interest), directly or indirectly, in the target business or assets to be acquired and if the number of shares of common stock to be issued, or if the number of shares of common stock into which the securities may be convertible or exercisable, exceeds 5% of the number of shares of common stock or 5% of the voting power outstanding before the issuance in the case of any substantial security holders; or |
• | the issuance or potential issuance of common stock will result in our undergoing a change of control. |
The decision as to whether we will seek stockholder approval of a proposed business combination in those instances in which stockholder approval is not required by law will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on business and legal reasons, which include a variety of factors, including, but not limited to:
• | the timing of the transaction, including in the event we determine stockholder approval would require additional time, and there is either not enough time to seek stockholder approval or doing so would place the Company at a disadvantage in the transaction or result in other additional burdens on the Company; |
• | the timing of the transaction, including in the event we determine stockholder approval would require additional time, and there is either not enough time to seek stockholder 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 stockholder vote; |
• | the risk that the stockholders would fail to approve the proposed business combination; |
• | other time and budget constraints of the Company; and |
• | additional legal complexities of a proposed business combination that would be time-consuming and burdensome to present to stockholders. |
Permitted Purchases of Our Securities
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our sponsor, initial stockholders, directors, officers, advisors or their respective affiliates may purchase public shares or public warrants in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination. There is no limit on the number of shares our initial stockholders, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase in such transactions, subject to compliance with applicable law and Nasdaq rules. 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. If they engage in such transactions, they will not make 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. 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 comply with such rules. Any such purchases will be reported pursuant to Section 13 and Section 16 of the Exchange Act to the extent such purchasers are subject to such reporting requirements. None of the funds held in the trust account will be used to purchase public shares or public warrants in such transactions prior to completion of our initial business combination.
The purpose of any such purchases of shares could be to vote such shares in favor of the initial business combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining stockholder approval of the initial business combination or to satisfy a closing condition in an agreement with a target that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash at the closing of our initial business combination, where it appears that such requirement would otherwise not be met. The purpose of any such purchases of public warrants could be to reduce the number of public warrants outstanding or to vote such warrants on any matters submitted to the warrant holders for approval in connection with
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our initial business combination. Any such purchases of our securities may result in the completion of our initial business combination that may not otherwise have been possible. In addition, if such purchases are made, the public “float” of our shares of Class A common stock or warrants may be reduced and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, which may make it difficult to maintain or obtain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange.
Our sponsor, officers, directors and/or their affiliates anticipate that they may identify the stockholders with whom our sponsor, officers, directors or their affiliates may pursue privately negotiated purchases by either the stockholders contacting us directly or by our receipt of redemption requests submitted by stockholders following our mailing of proxy materials in connection with our initial business combination. To the extent that our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or their affiliates enter into a private purchase, they would identify and contact only potential selling stockholders 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 stockholder has already submitted a proxy with respect to our initial business combination. Our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or their affiliates will only purchase public shares if such purchases comply with Regulation M under the Exchange Act and the other federal securities laws.
Any purchases by our sponsor, officers, directors and/or their affiliates who are affiliated purchasers under Rule 10b-18 under the Exchange Act will only be made to the extent such purchases are able to be made in compliance with Rule 10b-18, which is a safe harbor from liability for manipulation under Section 9(a)(2) and Rule 10b-5 of the Exchange Act. Rule 10b-18 has certain technical requirements that must be complied with in order for the safe harbor to be available to the purchaser. Our sponsor, officers, directors and/or their affiliates will not make purchases of common stock if the purchases would violate Section 9(a)(2) or Rule 10b-5 of the Exchange Act. Any such purchases will be reported pursuant to Section 13 and Section 16 of the Exchange Act to the extent such purchases are subject to such reporting requirements.
Redemption Rights for Public Stockholders upon Completion of our Initial Business Combination or Certain Stockholder Votes to Amend our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation
We will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their shares of Class A common stock upon (i) the completion of our initial business combination or (ii) a stockholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination by August 12, 2023, or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity. Such redemptions, if any, will be made at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account as of two business days prior to the event triggering the right to redeem, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our franchise and income taxes, divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, subject to the limitations 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 underwriters. The redemption rights will include the requirement that a beneficial holder must identify itself in order to validly redeem its public shares. There will be no redemption rights upon the completion of our initial business combination with respect to our warrants. Our initial stockholders have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and any public shares held by them in connection with the completion of our initial business combination or a stockholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation.
Manner of Conducting Redemptions in Conjunction with a Stockholder Vote on our Initial Business Combination
We will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their shares of Class A common stock upon the completion of our initial business combination either (i) in connection with a stockholder meeting called to approve the initial business combination or (ii) by means of a tender offer. The decision as to whether we will seek stockholder approval of a proposed initial business combination or conduct a tender offer will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on a variety of factors such as the timing of the transaction and whether the terms of the transaction would require us to seek stockholder approval under the law or stock exchange listing requirement. Under Nasdaq rules, asset acquisitions and stock purchases would not typically require stockholder approval while direct mergers with our Company where we do not survive and any transactions where we issue more than 20% of our outstanding common stock or seek to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation would require stockholder approval. If we structure an initial business combination with a target company in a manner that requires stockholder approval, we will not have discretion as to whether to seek a stockholder vote to approve the proposed initial business combination. We may conduct redemptions without a stockholder vote pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC unless stockholder approval is required by law or stock exchange listing requirements or we choose to seek stockholder approval for business or other reasons. So long as we obtain and maintain a listing for our securities on Nasdaq, we will be required to comply with such rules.
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If a stockholder vote is not required and we do not decide to hold a stockholder vote for business or other reasons, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation:
• | 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, we or our sponsor will terminate any plan established in accordance with Rule 10b5-1 to purchase shares of our Class A common stock in the open market if we elect to redeem our public shares through a tender offer, 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 stockholders not tendering more than a specified number of public shares which are not purchased by our sponsor, which number will be based on the requirement that we may not redeem public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 upon consummation of our initial business combination and after payment of deferred underwriting commissions (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. If public stockholders tender more shares than we have offered to purchase, we will withdraw the tender offer and not complete the initial business combination.
If, however, stockholder approval of the transaction is required by law or stock exchange listing requirements, or we decide to obtain stockholder approval for business or other reasons, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation:
• | 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 stockholder approval of our initial business combination, we will distribute proxy materials and, in connection therewith, provide our public stockholders with the redemption rights described above upon completion of the initial business combination.
If we seek stockholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if a majority of the outstanding shares of common stock entitled to vote thereon are voted in favor of the initial business combination. A quorum for such meeting will consist of the holders present in person or by proxy of shares of outstanding capital stock of the Company representing a majority of the voting power of all outstanding shares of capital stock of the Company entitled to vote at such meeting. Our initial stockholders will count toward this quorum and pursuant to the letter agreement, our initial stockholders have agreed to vote their founder shares and any public shares purchased during or after our Initial Public Offering (including in open market and privately negotiated transactions) in favor of our initial business combination. For purposes of seeking approval of the majority of our outstanding shares of common stock voted, non-votes will have no effect on the approval of our initial business combination once a quorum is obtained. We intend to give approximately 30 days’ (but not less than 10 days’ nor more than 60 days’) prior written notice of any such meeting, if required, at which a vote shall be taken to approve our initial business combination. These quorum and voting thresholds, and the voting agreements of our initial stockholders, may make it more likely that we will consummate our initial business combination. Each public stockholder may elect to redeem its public shares irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction.
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Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 upon consummation of our initial business combination and after payment of deferred underwriting commissions (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. For example, the proposed initial 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 initial business combination. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all shares of Class A common stock that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed initial business combination exceed the aggregate amount of cash available to us, we will not complete the initial business combination or redeem any shares, and all shares of Class A common stock submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof. We may, however, raise funds through the issuance of equity-linked securities or through loans, advances or other indebtedness in connection with our initial business combination, including pursuant to forward purchase agreements or backstop arrangements we may enter into, in order to, among other reasons, satisfy such net tangible assets or minimum cash requirements.
Limitation on Redemption upon Completion of our Initial Business Combination if We Seek Stockholder Approval
Notwithstanding the foregoing, if we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that a public stockholder, together with any affiliate of such stockholder or any other person with whom such stockholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from seeking redemption rights with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in our Initial Public Offering, which we refer to as the “Excess Shares.” Such restriction shall also be applicable to our affiliates. We believe this restriction will discourage stockholders from accumulating large blocks of shares, and subsequent attempts by such holders to use their ability to exercise their redemption rights against a proposed initial 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 stockholder 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 or our management at a premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. By limiting our stockholders’ ability to redeem no more than 15% of the shares sold in our Initial Public Offering without our prior consent, we believe we will limit the ability of a small group of stockholders to unreasonably attempt to block our ability to complete our initial business combination, particularly in connection with an initial business combination with a target that requires as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. However, we would not be restricting our stockholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our initial business combination.
Tendering Stock Certificates in Connection with a Tender Offer or Redemption Rights
We may require our public stockholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” to either tender their certificates to our transfer agent prior to the date set forth in the tender offer documents or proxy materials mailed to such holders, or up to two business days prior to the initial vote on the proposal to approve the initial business combination in the event we distribute proxy materials, or to deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically using The Depository Trust Company’s DWAC (Deposit/Withdrawal At Custodian) System, at the holder’s option. The tender offer or proxy materials, as applicable, that we will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination will indicate whether we are requiring public stockholders to satisfy such delivery requirements, which may include the requirement that a beneficial holder must identify itself in order to validly redeem its public shares. Accordingly, a public stockholder would have from the time we send out our tender offer materials until the close of the tender offer period, or up to two days prior to the vote on the initial 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 exercise period, it is advisable for stockholders to use electronic delivery of their public shares.
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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 $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 stockholders’ vote on an initial business combination, and a holder could simply vote against a proposed initial business combination and check a box on the proxy card indicating such holder was seeking to exercise his or her redemption rights. After the initial business combination was approved, the Company would contact such stockholder to arrange for him or her to deliver his or her certificate to verify ownership. As a result, the stockholder then had an “option window” after the completion of the initial business combination during which he or she could monitor the price of the Company’s stock 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 stockholders were aware they needed to commit before the stockholder meeting, would become “option” rights surviving past the completion of the initial business combination until the redeeming holder delivered its certificate. The requirement for physical or electronic delivery prior to the meeting ensures that a redeeming holder’s election to redeem is irrevocable once the initial business combination is approved.
Any request to redeem such shares, once made, may be withdrawn at any time up to the date set forth in the tender offer materials or the date of the stockholder meeting set forth in our proxy materials, as applicable. 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 stockholders 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 proposed initial business combination is not completed, we may continue to try to complete an initial business combination with a different target by August 12, 2023.
Redemption of Public Shares and Liquidation if No Initial Business Combination
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, as further amended, provides that we will have by August 12, 2023 to complete our initial business combination. If we do not complete our initial business combination within such period, we will: (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our franchise and income taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to our warrants, which will expire worthless if we fail to complete our initial business combination by August 12, 2023.
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Our initial stockholders have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have waived their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any founder shares held by them if we fail to complete our initial business combination by August 12, 2023. However, if our sponsor, officers or directors acquire public shares, they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to such public shares if we fail to complete our initial business combination by August 12, 2023.
Our initial stockholders have agreed, pursuant to a written agreement with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (i) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination by August 12, 2023 or (ii) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, unless we provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their shares of Class A common stock upon approval of any such amendment at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our franchise and income taxes divided by the number of then outstanding public shares. However, we may not redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 upon consummation of our initial business combination and after payment of deferred underwriting commissions (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules). If this optional redemption right is exercised with respect to an excessive number of public shares such that we cannot satisfy the net tangible asset requirement (described above), we would not proceed with the amendment or the related redemption of our public shares at such time.
We expect that all costs and expenses associated with implementing our plan of dissolution, as well as payments to any creditors, will be funded from amounts remaining out of the approximately $2,250,000 of proceeds held outside the trust account, although we cannot assure you that there will be sufficient funds for such purpose. We will depend on sufficient interest being earned on the proceeds held in the trust account to pay any tax obligations we may owe. However, if those funds are not sufficient to cover the costs and expenses associated with implementing our plan of dissolution, to the extent that there is any interest accrued in the trust account not required to pay taxes on interest income earned on the trust account balance, we may request the trustee to release to us an additional amount of up to $100,000 of such accrued interest to pay those costs and expenses.
If we were to expend all of the net proceeds of our Initial Public Offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, other than the proceeds deposited in the trust account, and without taking into account interest, if any, earned on the trust account, the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders upon our dissolution would be approximately $10.00. The funds held 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 stockholders. We cannot assure you that the actual per-share redemption amount received by stockholders will not be substantially less than $10.00. Under Section 281(b) of the Delaware General Corporation Law (the “DGCL”), our plan of dissolution must provide for all claims against us to be paid in full or make provision for payments to be made in full, as applicable, if there are sufficient assets. These claims must be paid or provided for before we make any distribution of our remaining assets to our stockholders. 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 seek 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 any monies held in the trust account for the benefit of our public stockholders, 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. Marcum LLP, our independent registered public accounting firm, and the underwriters of the offering have not executed agreements with us waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account.
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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. Our sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a third party for services tendered or products sold to us, or a prospective target business with which we have entered into a written letter of intent, confidentiality or similar agreement or business combination agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the trust account to below the lesser of (i) $10.00 per public share and (ii) the actual amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account, if less than $10.00 per share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, less taxes payable, provided that such liability will not apply to any claims by a third party or prospective target business who executed a waiver of any and all rights to the monies held in the trust account (whether or not such waiver is enforceable) nor will it apply to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of our Initial Public Offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. 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 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, directors or members of our sponsor will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses.
In the event that the funds in the trust account are reduced below (i) $10.00 per public share or (ii) such lesser amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account, due to reductions in value of the trust assets, in each case net of the amount of interest which may be withdrawn to pay taxes, 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 if, for example, the cost of such legal action is deemed by the independent directors to be too high relative to the amount recoverable or if the independent directors determine that a favorable outcome is not likely. We have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such indemnification obligations and we cannot assure you that our sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations. Accordingly, we cannot assure you that due to claims of creditors the actual value of the per-share redemption price will not be less than $10.00 per public share.
We have access to up to $2,250,000 from the proceeds of our Initial Public Offering and the sale of the private placement warrants with which to pay any such potential claims (including costs and expenses incurred in connection with our liquidation, currently estimated to be no more than approximately $100,000). In the event that we liquidate and it is subsequently determined that the reserve for claims and liabilities is insufficient, stockholders 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 stockholder.
Under the DGCL, stockholders may be held liable for claims by third parties against a corporation to the extent of distributions received by them in a dissolution. The pro rata portion of our trust account distributed to our public stockholders upon the redemption of our public shares in the event we do not complete our initial business combination by August 12, 2023 may be considered a liquidating distribution under Delaware law. If the corporation complies with certain procedures set forth in Section 280 of the DGCL intended to ensure that it makes reasonable provision for all claims against it, including a 60-day notice period during which any third-party claims can be brought against the corporation, a 90-day period during which the corporation may reject any claims brought, and an additional 150-day waiting period before any liquidating distributions are made to stockholders, any liability of stockholders with respect to a liquidating distribution is limited to the lesser of such stockholder’s pro rata share of the claim or the amount distributed to the stockholder, and any liability of the stockholder would be barred after the third anniversary of the dissolution.
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Furthermore, if the pro rata portion of our trust account distributed to our public stockholders upon the redemption of our public shares in the event we do not complete our initial business combination by August 12, 2023, is not considered a liquidating distribution under Delaware law and such redemption distribution is deemed to be unlawful (potentially due to the imposition of legal proceedings that a party may bring or due to other circumstances that are currently unknown), then pursuant to Section 174 of the DGCL, the statute of limitations for claims of creditors could then be six years after the unlawful redemption distribution, instead of three years, as in the case of a liquidating distribution. If we do not complete our initial business combination by August 12, 2023, we will: (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our franchise and income taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. Accordingly, it is our intention to redeem our public shares as soon as reasonably possible following August 12, 2023, and, therefore, we do not intend to comply with those procedures. As such, our stockholders could potentially be liable for any claims to the extent of distributions received by them (but no more) and any liability of our stockholders may extend well beyond the third anniversary of such date.
Because we will not be complying with Section 280, Section 281(b) of the DGCL requires us to adopt a plan, based on facts known to us at such time that will provide for our payment of all existing and pending claims or claims that may be potentially brought against us within the subsequent ten years. However, because we are a blank check company, rather than an operating company, and our operations will be limited to searching for prospective target businesses to acquire, the only likely claims to arise would be from our vendors (such as lawyers, investment bankers, etc.) or prospective target businesses. We seek 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 any monies held in the trust account. As a result of this obligation, the claims that could be made against us are significantly limited, and the likelihood that any claim that would result in any liability extending to the trust account is remote. Further, our sponsor may be liable only to the extent necessary to ensure that the amounts in the trust account are not reduced below (i) $10.00 per public share or (ii) such lesser amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account, due to reductions in value of the trust assets, in each case net of the amount of interest withdrawn to pay taxes and will not be liable as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of our Initial Public Offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. 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.
If we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the proceeds held in the trust account could be subject to applicable bankruptcy law, and may be included in our bankruptcy estate and subject to the claims of third parties with priority over the claims of our stockholders. To the extent any bankruptcy claims deplete the trust account, we cannot assure you we will be able to return $10.00 per share to our public stockholders. Additionally, if we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, any distributions received by stockholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or bankruptcy laws as either a “preferential transfer” or a “fraudulent conveyance.” As a result, a bankruptcy court could seek to recover some or all amounts received by our stockholders. 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, thereby exposing itself and our Company to claims of punitive damages, by paying public stockholders 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 stockholders will be entitled to receive funds from the trust account only upon the earlier to occur of (i) the completion of our initial business combination, (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly tendered in connection with a stockholder vote to amend any provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination by August 12, 2023 or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, and (iii) the redemption of all of our public shares if we do not complete our business combination by August 12, 2023, subject to applicable law. In no other circumstances will a stockholder have any right or interest of any kind to or in the trust account. In the event we seek stockholder approval in connection with our initial business combination, a stockholder’s voting in connection with the initial business combination alone will not result in a stockholder’s redeeming its shares to us for an applicable pro rata share of the trust account. Such stockholder must have also exercised its redemption rights as described above. These provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, like all provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, may be amended with a stockholder vote.
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Competition
In identifying, evaluating and selecting a target business for our initial business combination, we may encounter competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours, including other blank check companies, private equity groups and leveraged buyout funds, and operating businesses seeking strategic business combinations. Many of these entities are well established and have extensive experience identifying and effecting business combinations directly or through affiliates. Moreover, many of these competitors possess greater financial, technical, human and other resources than we do. Our ability to acquire larger target businesses will be limited by our available financial resources. This inherent limitation may give others with greater resources an advantage in pursuing the initial business combination of a target business. Furthermore, our obligation to pay cash in connection with our public stockholders who exercise their redemption rights may reduce the resources available to us for our initial business combination and our outstanding warrants, and the future dilution they potentially represent, may not be viewed favorably by certain target businesses. Either of these factors may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating an initial business combination.
Facilities
Our executive offices are located at 5701 Truxtun Avenue, Suite 201, Bakersfield, California 93309 and our telephone number is (323) 329-8221. We consider our current office space adequate for our current operations.
Employees
We currently have two executive officers and three additional 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 initial 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 have registered our units, Class A common stock 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 stockholders with audited financial statements of the prospective target business as part of the tender offer materials or proxy solicitation materials sent to stockholders to assist them in assessing the target business. In all likelihood, these financial statements will need to be prepared in accordance with, or reconciled to, GAAP, or IFRS, depending on the circumstances, and the historical financial statements may be required to be audited in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. These financial statement requirements may limit the pool of potential targets we may conduct an initial business combination with 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 timeframe. We cannot assure you that any particular target business identified by us as a potential business combination candidate will have financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP or that the potential target business will be able to prepare its financial statements in accordance with the requirements outlined above. To the extent that these requirements cannot be met, we may not be able to acquire the proposed target business. While this may limit the pool of potential business combination candidates, we do not believe that this limitation will be material.
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We are required to evaluate our internal control procedures for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2022 as required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Only in the event we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer or an accelerated filer, and no longer qualify as an emerging growth company, will we be required to have our internal control procedures audited. A target company 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 business combination. We have 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.
Corporate Information
Our executive offices are located at 5701 Truxtun Avenue, Suite 201, Bakersfield, California 93309 and our telephone number is (323) 329-8221. We will maintain a corporate website at www.waterfoodenergySPAC.com. The information contained on, or that can be accessed through, our website is deemed not to be incorporated in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act. As such, we are eligible to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a non-binding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the prices of our securities may be more volatile.
In addition, Section 107 of the JOBS Act also provides that an emerging growth company can take advantage of the extended transition period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act for complying with new or revised accounting standards. In other words, an emerging growth company can delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We intend to take advantage of the benefits of this extended transition period.
We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of (1) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following the fifth anniversary of the completion of our Initial Public Offering, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion, or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the aggregate worldwide market value of our Class A common stock that is held by non-affiliates equals or exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30, and (2) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities during the prior three-year period. References herein to emerging growth company will have the meaning associated with it in the JOBS Act.
Additionally, we are a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Item 10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K. Smaller reporting companies may take advantage of certain reduced disclosure obligations, including, among other things, providing only two years of audited financial statements. We will remain a smaller reporting company until the last day of the fiscal year in which (1) the aggregate worldwide market value of our Class A common stock held by non-affiliates equaled or exceeded $250 million as of the prior June 30th, or (2) our annual revenues equaled or exceeded $100 million during such completed fiscal year and the aggregate worldwide market value of our Class A common stock held by non-affiliates equaled or exceeded $700 million as of the prior June 30th.
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ITEM 1A. | RISK FACTORS. |
An investment in our securities involves a high degree of risk. You should consider carefully all of the risks described below, together with the other information contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, before making a decision to invest in our units. 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 public stockholders may not be afforded an opportunity to vote on our proposed initial business combination, which means we may complete our initial business combination even though a majority of our public stockholders do not support such a combination.
We may choose not to hold a stockholder vote to approve our initial business combination unless the initial business combination would require stockholder approval under applicable law or stock exchange listing requirements or if we decide to hold a stockholder vote for business or other reasons. Except as required by law, the decision as to whether we will seek stockholder approval of a proposed initial business combination or will allow stockholders 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 stockholder approval. Accordingly, we may complete our initial business combination even if holders of a majority of our public shares do not approve of the initial business combination we complete.
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, our initial stockholders have agreed to vote in favor of such initial business combination, regardless of how our public stockholders vote.
Pursuant to the letter agreement, our initial stockholders have agreed to vote their founder shares, as well as any public shares they may purchase (including in open market and privately negotiated transactions), in favor of our initial business combination. Our initial stockholders own shares representing 20% of our outstanding shares of common stock immediately following the completion of our Initial Public Offering. Accordingly, if we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, the agreement by our initial stockholders to vote in favor of our initial business combination will increase the likelihood that we will receive the requisite stockholder approval for such initial business combination.
Your only opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding a potential business combination will be limited to the exercise of your right to redeem your shares from us for cash, unless we seek stockholder approval of the initial business combination.
At the time of your investment in us, you will not be provided with an opportunity to evaluate the specific merits or risks of our initial business combination. Since our board of directors may complete an initial business combination without seeking stockholder approval, public stockholders may not have the right or opportunity to vote on the initial business combination, unless we seek such stockholder vote.
Accordingly, if we do not seek stockholder approval, your only opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding a potential business combination may be limited to exercising your redemption rights within the period of time (which will be at least 20 business days) set forth in our tender offer documents mailed to our public stockholders in which we describe our initial business combination.
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The ability of our public stockholders 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 an initial business combination with a target.
We may seek to enter into an initial business combination agreement with a prospective target that requires as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. If too many public stockholders exercise their redemption rights, we would not be able to meet such closing condition and, as a result, would not be able to proceed with the initial business combination. Furthermore, in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 upon consummation of our initial business combination and after payment of deferred underwriting commissions (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. Consequently, if accepting all properly submitted redemption requests would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 upon consummation of our initial business combination and after payment of deferred underwriting commissions or such greater amount necessary to satisfy a closing condition as described above, we would not proceed with such redemption and the related business combination and may instead search for an alternate business combination. Prospective targets will be aware of these risks and, thus, may be reluctant to enter into an initial business combination with us.
The ability of our public stockholders 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 stockholders may exercise their redemption rights, and therefore will need to structure the transaction based on our expectations as to the number of shares that will be submitted for redemption. If our initial business combination agreement requires us to use a portion of the cash in the trust account to pay the purchase price, or requires us to have a minimum amount of cash at closing, we will need to reserve a portion of the cash in the trust account to meet such requirements, or arrange for third-party financing. In addition, if a larger number of shares are submitted for redemption than we initially expected, we may need to restructure the transaction to reserve a greater portion of the cash in the trust account or arrange for third-party financing. Raising additional third-party financing may involve dilutive equity issuances or the incurrence of indebtedness at higher than desirable levels. Furthermore, this dilution would increase to the extent that the anti-dilution provisions of the Class B common stock result in the issuance of Class A shares on a greater than one-to-one basis upon conversion of the Class B common stock at the time of our business combination. The above considerations may limit our ability to complete the most desirable business combination available to us or optimize our capital structure. The amount of the deferred underwriting commissions payable to the underwriters will not be adjusted for any shares that are redeemed in connection with an initial business combination. The per-share amount we will distribute to stockholders who properly exercise their redemption rights will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting commission and after such redemptions, the per-share value of shares held by non-redeeming stockholders will reflect our obligation to pay the deferred underwriting commissions.
The ability of our public stockholders 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 stock.
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 trust account until we liquidate the trust account. If you are in need of immediate liquidity, you could attempt to sell your stock in the open market; however, at such time our stock may trade at a discount to the pro rata amount per share in the trust account. In either situation, you may suffer a material loss on your investment or lose the benefit of funds expected in connection with our redemption until we liquidate or you are able to sell your stock in the open market.
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The requirement that we complete our initial business combination within the prescribed timeframe may give potential target businesses leverage over us in negotiating an initial business combination and may decrease our ability to conduct due diligence on potential business combination targets as we approach our dissolution deadline, which could undermine our ability to complete our initial business combination on terms that would produce value for our stockholders.
Any potential target business with which we enter into negotiations concerning an initial business combination will be aware that we must complete our initial business combination by August 12, 2023 or seek a stockholder approved extension of such period. Consequently, such target business may obtain leverage over us in negotiating an initial business combination, knowing that if we do not complete our initial business combination with that particular target business, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination with any target business. This risk will increase as we get closer to the timeframe described above. In addition, we may have limited time to conduct due diligence and may enter into our initial business combination on terms that we would have rejected upon a more comprehensive investigation.
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 ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the status of debt and equity markets.
The COVID-19 pandemic has adversely affected, and other events (such as terrorist attacks, natural disasters or a significant outbreak of other infectious diseases) could adversely affect, economies and financial markets worldwide, and the business of any potential target business with which we consummate a business combination could be materially and adversely affected. Furthermore, we may be unable to complete a business combination if concerns relating to COVID-19 continue 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 that 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 business combination may be dependent on the ability to raise equity and debt financing, which may be impacted by COVID-19 and other events (such as terrorist attacks, natural disasters or a significant outbreak of other infectious diseases), 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.
We may not be able to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed timeframe, in which case we would cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up and we would redeem our public shares and liquidate, in which case our public stockholders may only receive $10.00 per share, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, and our warrants will expire worthless.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, as further amended, provides that we must complete our initial business combination by August 12, 2023. We may not be able to find a suitable target business and complete our initial business combination within such time period. If we have not completed our initial business combination within such time period or during any subsequent Extension Period, we will (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our franchise and income taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. In such case, our public stockholders may only receive $10.00 per share, and our warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public stockholders may receive less than $10.00 per share on the redemption of their shares.
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If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors and their affiliates may elect to purchase public shares or public warrants from public stockholders, which may influence a vote on a proposed initial business combination and reduce the public “float” of our Class A common stock.
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase public shares or public warrants or a combination thereof in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination, although they are under no obligation to do so. However, they have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such transactions. None of the funds in the trust account will be used to purchase public shares or public warrants in such transactions.
Such a purchase may include a contractual acknowledgement that such stockholder, although still the record holder of our shares, is no longer the beneficial owner thereof and therefore agrees not to exercise its redemption rights. In the event that our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates purchase public shares in privately negotiated transactions from public stockholders who have already elected to exercise their redemption rights, such selling stockholders would be required to revoke their prior elections to redeem their shares. The purpose of such purchases could be to vote such shares in favor of the initial business combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining stockholder approval of the initial business combination, or to satisfy a closing condition in an agreement with a target that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash at the closing of our initial business combination, where it appears that such requirement would otherwise not be met. The purpose of any such purchases of public warrants could be to reduce the number of public warrants outstanding or to vote such warrants on any matters submitted to the warrant holders for approval in connection with our initial business combination. Any such purchases of our securities may result in the completion of our initial business combination that may not otherwise have been possible. Any such purchases will be reported pursuant to Section 13 and Section 16 of the Exchange Act to the extent such purchasers are subject to such reporting requirements.
In addition, if such purchases are made, the public “float” of our Class A common stock or public warrants and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, possibly making it difficult to obtain or maintain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange.
If a stockholder 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 tender offer rules or proxy rules, as applicable, when conducting redemptions in connection with our initial business combination. Despite our compliance with these rules, if a stockholder fails to receive our tender offer or proxy materials, as applicable, such stockholder may not become aware of the opportunity to redeem its shares. In addition, proxy materials or tender offer documents, as applicable, that we will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination will describe the various procedures that must be complied with in order to validly tender or redeem public shares, which may include the requirement that a beneficial holder must identify itself. For example, we may require our public stockholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” to either tender their certificates to our transfer agent prior to the date set forth in the tender offer documents mailed to such holders, or up to two business days prior to the initial vote on the proposal to approve the initial business combination in the event we distribute proxy materials, or to deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically. In the event that a stockholder fails to comply with these or any other procedures, its shares may not be redeemed.
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 and the sale of the private placement warrants were intended to be used to complete an initial business combination with a target business that has not been identified, we may be deemed to be a “blank check” company under the United States securities laws. However, because we have net tangible assets in excess of $5,000,000, 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 after our Initial Public Offering and we have a longer period of time to complete our initial business combination than do companies subject to Rule 419. Moreover, if we 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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If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, and if you or a “group” of stockholders are deemed to hold in excess of 15% of our Class A common stock, you will lose the ability to redeem all such shares in excess of 15% of our Class A common stock.
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that a public stockholder, together with any affiliate of such stockholder or any other person with whom such stockholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from seeking redemption rights with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in our Initial Public Offering without our prior consent, which we refer to as the “Excess Shares.” However, we would not be restricting our stockholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our initial business combination. Your inability to redeem the Excess Shares will reduce your influence over our ability to complete our initial business combination and you could suffer a material loss on your investment in us if you sell Excess Shares in open market transactions. Additionally, you will not receive redemption distributions with respect to the Excess Shares if we complete our initial business combination. 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 stock in open market transactions, potentially at a loss.
Because of our special purpose acquisition company structure and 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 do not complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share on our redemption of our public shares, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, and our warrants will expire worthless.
We expect to encounter 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 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 similar technical, human and other resources to ours, 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 and the sale of the private placement warrants, our ability to compete with respect to the acquisition of certain target businesses that are sizable will be limited by our available financial resources. This inherent competitive limitation gives others an advantage in pursuing the acquisition of certain target businesses. In addition, we have a strong interest in our initial business combination either being a Certified B Corp or implementing policies and processes to become certified after a business combination with us. We may face additional challenges identifying a target business that meets these criteria, or that is willing to implement these policies and processes. While we are not required to acquire a Certified B Corp, we may decline to pursue targets whose businesses we do not believe will be able to satisfy the Certified B Corp standards, which may make it more difficult for us to enter into an initial business combination. Furthermore, because we are obligated to pay cash for the shares of Class A common stock which our public stockholders redeem in connection with our initial business combination, target companies will be aware that this may present closing risk by reducing the resources available to us for our initial business combination. Additionally, potential target companies may be less inclined to consummate a transaction with us because definitive documentation for such a transaction will preclude any recourse against our trust account, meaning that potential counterparties may determine that they do not have adequate contractual remedies in the event a transaction fails to close. These factors may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating an initial business combination. If we do not complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public stockholders may receive less than $10.00 per share upon our liquidation.
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If the net proceeds of our Initial Public Offering and the sale of the private placement warrants not being held in the trust account are insufficient to allow us to operate, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination, in which case our public stockholders may only receive $10.00 per share, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, and our warrants will expire worthless.
The funds available to us outside of the trust account may not be sufficient to allow us to operate during the time prior to which we are required to complete our initial business combination. We believe that the funds available to us outside of the trust account are sufficient to allow us to operate until August 12, 2023; however, we cannot assure you that our estimate is accurate. Of the funds available to us, we could use a portion of the funds available to us to pay fees to consultants to assist us with our search for a target business. We could also use a portion of the funds as a down payment or to fund a “no-shop” provision (a provision in letters of intent or merger agreements designed to keep target businesses from “shopping” around for transactions with other companies on terms more favorable to such target businesses) with respect to a particular proposed initial business combination, although we do not have any current intention to do so. If we entered into a letter of intent or other agreement where we paid for the right to receive exclusivity from a target business and were subsequently required to forfeit such funds (whether as a result of our breach or otherwise), we might not have sufficient funds to continue searching for, or conduct due diligence with respect to, a target business. If we do not complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public stockholders may receive less than $10.00 per share upon our liquidation.
If the net proceeds of our Initial Public Offering and the sale of the private placement warrants not being held in the trust account are insufficient, it could limit the amount available to fund our search for a target business or businesses and complete our initial business combination, and we will depend on loans from our sponsor or management team to fund our search for an initial business combination, to pay our franchise and income taxes and to complete our initial business combination. If we are unable to obtain these loans, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination.
Of the net proceeds of our Initial Public Offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, only approximately $2,250,000 is available to us outside the trust account to fund our working capital requirements. If we are required to seek additional capital, we would need to borrow funds from our sponsor, management team or other third parties to operate or may be forced to liquidate. None of our sponsor, members of our management team nor any of their affiliates is under any obligation to advance funds to us in such circumstances. Any such advances would 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 $2,000,000 of such loans may be converted into private placement-equivalent warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender. Prior to the completion of our initial business combination, we do not expect to seek loans from parties other than our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor 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 are unable to obtain these loans, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination. If we do not complete our initial business combination 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 stockholders may only receive approximately $10.00 per share on our redemption of our public shares, and our warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public stockholders may receive less than $10.00 per share on the redemption of their shares.
Subsequent to the 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 our stock price, 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 surface all material issues that may be present inside a particular target business, that it would be possible to uncover all material issues through a customary amount of due diligence, or that factors outside of the target business and outside of our control will not later arise. As a result of these factors, we may be forced to later write down or write off assets, restructure our operations, or incur impairment or other charges that could result in our reporting losses. Even if our due diligence successfully identifies certain risks, unexpected risks may arise and previously known risks may materialize in a manner not consistent with our preliminary risk analysis. Even though these charges may be non-cash items and not have an immediate impact on our liquidity, the fact that we report charges of this nature could contribute to negative market perceptions about us or our securities. In addition, charges of this nature may cause us to violate net worth or other covenants to which we may be subject as a result of assuming pre-existing debt held by a target business or by virtue of our obtaining debt financing to partially finance the initial business combination. Accordingly, any stockholders who choose to remain stockholders following the initial business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their shares. Such stockholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value unless they are able to successfully claim that the reduction was due to the breach by our officers or directors of a duty of care or other fiduciary duty owed to them, or if they are able to successfully bring a private claim under securities laws that the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, relating to the initial business combination constituted an actionable material misstatement or omission.
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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 stockholders may be less than $10.00 per share.
Our placing of funds in the trust account may not protect those funds from third-party claims against us. Although we seek to have all vendors, service providers (other than our independent registered public accounting firm), prospective target businesses and other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the trust account for the benefit of our public stockholders, such parties may not execute such agreements, or even if they execute such agreements they may not be prevented from bringing claims against the trust account, including, but not limited to, fraudulent inducement, breach of fiduciary responsibility or other similar claims, as well as claims challenging the enforceability of the waiver, in each case in order to gain advantage with respect to a claim against our assets, including the funds held in the trust account. If any third party refuses to execute an agreement waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account, our management will perform an analysis of the alternatives available to it and will only enter into an agreement with a third party that has not executed a waiver if management believes that such third party’s engagement would be significantly more beneficial to us than any alternative. Making such a request of potential target businesses may make our acquisition proposal less attractive to them and, to the extent prospective target businesses refuse to execute such a waiver, it may limit the field of potential target businesses that we might pursue. Marcum LLP, our independent registered public accounting firm, and the underwriters of our Initial Public Offering, have not executed agreements with us waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account.
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 do not complete our initial business combination within the prescribed timeframe, 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 stockholders could be less than the $10.00 per share initially held in the trust account, due to claims of such creditors. Pursuant to a letter agreement, between us, our sponsor and our directors and officers, 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, or a prospective target business with which we have entered into a written letter of intent, confidentiality or similar agreement or business combination agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the trust account to below the lesser of (i) $10.00 per public share and (ii) the actual amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account, if less than $10.00 per share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, less taxes payable, provided that such liability will not apply to any claims by a third party or prospective target business who executed a waiver of any and all rights to the monies held in the trust account (whether or not such waiver is enforceable) nor will it apply to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of our Initial Public Offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. 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 believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our Company. Therefore, we cannot assure you that our sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations. As a result, if any such claims were successfully made against the trust account, the funds available for our initial business combination and redemptions could be reduced to less than $10.00 per public share. In such event, we may not be able to complete our initial business combination, and you would receive such lesser amount per share in connection with any redemption of your public shares. None of our officers, directors or members of our sponsor will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses.
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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 stockholders.
In the event that the proceeds in the trust account are reduced below the lesser of (i) $10.00 per share and (ii) the actual amount per share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account is less than $10.00 per share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest which may be withdrawn to pay taxes, 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, for example, the cost of such legal action is deemed by the independent directors to be too high relative to the amount recoverable or if the independent directors determine that a favorable outcome is not likely. If our independent directors choose not to enforce these indemnification obligations, the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public stockholders may be reduced below $10.00 per 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 (and any other persons who may become an officer or director prior to the initial business combination will also be required to waive) any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies in the trust account and not to seek recourse against the trust account for any reason whatsoever (except to the extent they are entitled to funds from the trust account due to their ownership of public shares). Accordingly, any indemnification provided will be able to be satisfied by us only if (i) we have sufficient funds outside of the trust account or (ii) we consummate an initial business combination. Our obligation to indemnify our officers and directors may discourage stockholders 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 stockholders. Furthermore, a stockholder’s investment may be adversely affected to the extent we pay the costs of settlement and damage awards against our officers and directors pursuant to these indemnification provisions.
If, after we distribute the proceeds in the trust account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, a bankruptcy court may seek to recover such proceeds, and we and our board may be exposed to claims of punitive damages.
If, after we distribute the proceeds in the trust account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, any distributions received by stockholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or bankruptcy laws as either a “preferential transfer” or a “fraudulent conveyance.” As a result, a bankruptcy court could seek to recover all amounts received by our stockholders. In addition, our board of directors may be viewed as having breached its fiduciary duty to our creditors and/or having acted in bad faith, thereby exposing itself and us to claims of punitive damages, by paying public stockholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors.
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If, before distributing the proceeds in the trust account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the claims of creditors in such proceeding may have priority over the claims of our stockholders, and the per-share amount that would otherwise be received by our stockholders in connection with our liquidation may be reduced.
If, before distributing the proceeds in the trust account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the proceeds held in the trust account could be subject to applicable bankruptcy law, and may be included in our bankruptcy estate and subject to the claims of third parties with priority over the claims of our stockholders. To the extent any bankruptcy claims deplete the trust account, the per-share amount that would otherwise be received by our stockholders 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; |
• | adoption of a specific form of corporate structure; and |
• | reporting, record keeping, voting, proxy and disclosure requirements and other rules and regulations. |
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 in securities and that our activities do not include investing, reinvesting, owning, holding or trading “investment securities” constituting more than 40% of our total assets (exclusive of U.S. government securities and cash items) on an unconsolidated basis. Our business is to identify and complete an initial 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 principal activities subject us to the Investment Company Act. To this end, pursuant to the trust agreement, 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 that invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations. The trustee is not permitted to invest in other securities or assets. By restricting the investment of the proceeds to these instruments, and by having a business plan targeted at acquiring and growing businesses for the long term (rather than on buying and selling businesses in the manner of a merchant bank or private equity fund), we intend to avoid being deemed an “investment company” within the meaning of the Investment Company Act. Our securities are 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 (i) the completion of our initial business combination; (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly submitted in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination by August 12, 2023 or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity; or (iii) absent an initial business combination by August 12, 2023, our return of the funds held in the trust account to our public stockholders 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 an initial business combination or may result in our liquidation. If we do not complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.
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Changes in laws or regulations, or a failure to comply with any laws and regulations, may adversely affect our business, including our ability to negotiate and complete our initial business combination and results of operations.
We are subject to laws and regulations enacted by national, regional and local governments. In particular, we will be required to comply with certain SEC and other legal requirements. Compliance with, and monitoring of, applicable laws and regulations may be difficult, time consuming and costly.
Those laws and regulations and their interpretation and application may also change from time to time, and those changes could have a material adverse effect on our business, investments and results of operations. In addition, a failure to comply with applicable laws or regulations, as interpreted and applied, could have a material adverse effect on our business, including our ability to negotiate and complete our initial business combination and results of operations.
If we have not completed an initial business combination by August 12, 2023, our public stockholders may be forced to wait beyond such period before redemption from our trust account.
If we have not completed an initial business combination by August 12, 2023, the proceeds then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay taxes (less up to $100,000 of the interest to pay dissolution expenses), will be used to fund the redemption of our public shares, as further described herein. Any redemption of public stockholders from the trust account will be effected automatically by function of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation 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 stockholders, as part of any liquidation process, such winding up, liquidation and distribution must comply with the applicable provisions of the DGCL. In that case, investors may be forced to wait beyond August 12, 2023 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 of public shares or liquidation unless we complete our initial business combination prior thereto and only then in cases where investors have sought to redeem their Class A common stock. Only upon our redemption or any liquidation will public stockholders be entitled to distributions if we do not complete our initial business combination.
Our stockholders may be held liable for claims by third parties against us to the extent of distributions received by them upon redemption of their shares.
Under the DGCL, stockholders may be held liable for claims by third parties against a corporation to the extent of distributions received by them in a dissolution. The pro rata portion of our trust account distributed to our public stockholders upon the redemption of our public shares in the event we do not complete our initial business combination by August 12, 2023 may be considered a liquidating distribution under Delaware law. If a corporation complies with certain procedures set forth in Section 280 of the DGCL intended to ensure that it makes reasonable provision for all claims against it, including a 60-day notice period during which any third-party claims can be brought against the corporation, a 90-day period during which the corporation may reject any claims brought, and an additional 150-day waiting period before any liquidating distributions are made to stockholders, any liability of stockholders with respect to a liquidating distribution is limited to the lesser of such stockholder’s pro rata share of the claim or the amount distributed to the stockholder, and any liability of the stockholder would be barred after the third anniversary of the dissolution. However, it is our intention to redeem our public shares as soon as reasonably possible following the August 12, 2023 deadline in the event we do not complete our initial business combination and, therefore, we do not intend to comply with the foregoing procedures.
Because we will not be complying with Section 280, Section 281(b) of the DGCL requires us to adopt a plan, based on facts known to us at such time that will provide for our payment of all existing and pending claims or claims that may be potentially brought against us within the ten years following our dissolution.
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However, because we are a blank check company, rather than an operating company, and our operations will be limited to searching for prospective target businesses to acquire, the only likely claims to arise would be from our vendors (such as lawyers, investment bankers, etc.) or prospective target businesses. If our plan of distribution complies with Section 281(b) of the DGCL, any liability of stockholders with respect to a liquidating distribution is limited to the lesser of such stockholder’s pro rata share of the claim or the amount distributed to the stockholder, and any liability of the stockholder would likely be barred after the third anniversary of the dissolution. We cannot assure you that we will properly assess all claims that may be potentially brought against us. As such, our stockholders could potentially be liable for any claims to the extent of distributions received by them (but no more) and any liability of our stockholders may extend beyond the third anniversary of such date. Furthermore, if the pro rata portion of our trust account distributed to our public stockholders upon the redemption of our public shares in the event we do not complete our initial business combination by August 12, 2023 is not considered a liquidating distribution under Delaware law and such redemption distribution is deemed to be unlawful (potentially due to the imposition of legal proceedings that a party may bring or due to other circumstances that are currently unknown), then pursuant to Section 174 of the DGCL, the statute of limitations for claims of creditors could then be six years after the unlawful redemption distribution, instead of three years, as in the case of a liquidating distribution.
Holders of Class A common stock will not be entitled to vote on any election of directors we hold prior to our initial business combination and, upon consummation of our initial business combination, our initial stockholders will have certain rights to designate individuals for nomination for election as directors.
Prior to our initial business combination, only holders of our founder shares will have the right to vote on the election of directors. Holders of our public shares will not be entitled to vote on the election of directors during such time. In addition, prior to the completion of an initial business combination, holders of a majority of our founder shares may remove a member of the board of directors for any reason. Accordingly, you may not have any say in the management of our Company prior to the consummation of an initial business combination. Further, pursuant to a registration and stockholder rights agreement, upon consummation of an initial business combination, our initial stockholders will be entitled to designate three individuals for nomination for election to our board of directors for so long as they continue to hold, collectively, at least 50% of the founder shares (or the securities into which such founder shares convert) held by such persons on the date of our Initial Public Offering. Thereafter, such initial stockholders will be entitled to designate (i) two individuals for nomination for election to our board of directors for so long they continue to hold, collectively, at least 30% of the founder shares (or the securities into which such founder shares convert) held by such persons on the date of our Initial Public Offering and (ii) one individual for nomination for election to our board of directors for so long they continue to hold, collectively, at least 20% of the founder shares (or the securities into which such founder shares convert) held by such persons on the date of our Initial Public Offering. This may result in such holders having significant control over our business.
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 do not complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share, or less than such amount 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, consultants and others. If we decide not to complete a specific initial business combination, the costs incurred up to that point for the proposed transaction likely would not be recoverable. Furthermore, if we reach an agreement relating to a specific target business, we may fail to complete our initial business combination for any number of reasons including those beyond our control. Any such event will result in a loss to us of the related costs incurred that could materially adversely affect subsequent attempts to locate and acquire or merge with another business. If we do not complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public stockholders may receive less than $10.00 per share on the redemption of their shares.
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We may engage one or more of our underwriters or one of their respective affiliates to provide additional services to us after our Initial Public Offering, 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 underwriters are entitled to receive deferred commissions that will be released from the trust only on a completion of an initial business combination. These financial incentives may cause them to have potential conflicts of interest in rendering any such additional services to us after our Initial Public Offering, including, for example, in connection with the sourcing and consummation of an initial business combination.
We may engage one or more of our underwriters or one of their respective affiliates to provide additional services to us after our Initial Public Offering, including, for example, identifying potential targets, providing financial advisory services, acting as a placement agent in a private offering or arranging debt financing. We may pay 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. The underwriters of our Initial Public Offering are also entitled to receive deferred commissions that are conditioned on the completion of an initial business combination. The underwriters’ or their respective 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.
Since our sponsor and its investors and our directors will lose their entire at-risk investment in us if our initial business combination is not completed, a conflict of interest may arise in determining whether a particular business combination target is appropriate for our initial business combination.
All of the founder shares held by our sponsor will be worthless if we do not complete an initial business combination. In addition, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 9,325,000 warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant, which will also be worthless if we do not complete an initial business combination. Our initial stockholders have entered into a letter agreement with us pursuant to which they have agreed to vote any shares owned by them in favor of any proposed initial business combination and to waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and public shares in connection with (i) the completion of our initial business combination and (ii) any stockholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination by August 12, 2023 or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity. In addition, we may obtain loans from our sponsor, affiliates of our sponsor or an officer or director. 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.
We may issue notes or other debt securities, or otherwise incur substantial debt, to complete an initial business combination, which may adversely affect our leverage and financial condition and thus negatively impact the value of our stockholders’ investment in us.
Although we have no commitments as of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K to issue any notes or other debt securities, or to otherwise incur outstanding debt, 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; |
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• | 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 common stock; |
• | 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 common stock if declared, our ability to pay expenses, make capital expenditures and acquisitions, and fund 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; |
• | limitations on our ability to borrow additional amounts for expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions, debt service requirements, and execution of our strategy; and |
• | other disadvantages compared to our competitors who have less debt. |
We may issue additional common stock or preferred stock to complete our initial business combination or under an employee incentive plan after completion of our initial business combination. We may also issue shares of Class A common stock upon the conversion of the Class B common stock 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 certificate of incorporation. Any such issuances would dilute the interest of our stockholders and likely present other risks.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation authorizes the issuance of up to 100,000,000 shares of Class A common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, 10,000,000 shares of Class B common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, and 1,000,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $0.0001 per share. There are currently 68,375,000 and 2,093,750 authorized but unissued shares of Class A common stock and Class B common stock, respectively, available for issuance, which amount does not take into account the shares of Class A common stock reserved for issuance upon exercise of outstanding warrants. There are currently no shares of preferred stock issued and outstanding. Shares of Class B common stock are convertible into shares of our Class A common stock initially at a one-for-one ratio but subject to adjustment as set forth herein, including in certain circumstances in which we issue Class A common stock or equity-linked securities related to our initial business combination. Shares of Class B common stock are also convertible at the option of the holder at any time.
We may issue a substantial number of additional shares of common or preferred stock to complete our initial business combination or under an employee incentive plan after completion of our initial business combination. We may also issue shares of Class A common stock to redeem the warrants or upon conversion of the Class B common stock 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 certificate of incorporation. However, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides, among other things, that prior to or in connection with our initial business combination, we may not issue additional shares of capital stock that would entitle the holders thereof to (i) receive funds from the trust account or (ii) vote on any initial business combination. These provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, like all provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, may be amended with the approval of our stockholders. However, our officers and directors have agreed, pursuant to a written agreement with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination by August 12, 2023, or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, unless we provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their shares of common stock 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 (which interest shall be net of taxes payable), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares.
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The issuance of additional shares of common or preferred stock:
• | may significantly dilute the equity interest of investors in our Initial Public Offering; |
• | may subordinate the rights of holders of common stock if preferred stock is issued with rights senior to those afforded our common stock; |
• | could cause a change of control if a substantial number of shares of our common stock 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; and |
• | may adversely affect prevailing market prices for our units, Class A common stock and/or warrants. |
We may only be able to complete one business combination with the proceeds of our Initial Public Offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, which will cause us to be solely dependent on a single business that may have a limited number of services and limited operating activities. This lack of diversification may negatively impact our operating results and profitability.
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 that may have the resources to complete several business combinations in different industries or different areas of a single industry. In addition, we intend to focus our search for an initial business combination in 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.
Compliance obligations under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may make it more difficult for us to effectuate our initial business combination, require substantial financial and management resources, and increase the time and costs of completing an initial business combination.
Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires that we evaluate and report on our system of internal controls beginning with our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ending December 31, 2022. Only in the event we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer or an accelerated filer, and no longer qualify as an emerging growth company, will we be required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement on our internal control over financial reporting. Further, for as long as we remain an emerging growth company, we will 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 company 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 business combination.
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Our warrants and founder shares may have an adverse effect on the market price of our Class A common stock and make it more difficult to effectuate our initial business combination.
We issued warrants to purchase 15,812,500 shares of our Class A common stock as part of the units offered by our Initial Public Offering prospectus and, simultaneously with the closing of our Initial Public Offering, we issued in a private placement warrants to purchase an aggregate of 9,325,000 shares of Class A common stock at $11.50 per share. Our initial stockholders currently own an aggregate of 7,906,250 founder shares. The founder shares are convertible into shares of Class A common stock on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment as set forth herein. In addition, if our sponsor makes any working capital loans, up to $2,000,000 of such loans may be converted into warrants, at the price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender. Such warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants, including as to exercise price, exercisability and exercise period.
To the extent we issue shares of Class A common stock to effectuate an initial business combination, the potential for the issuance of a substantial number of additional shares of Class A common stock upon exercise of these warrants and conversion rights could make us a less attractive business combination vehicle to a target business. Any such issuance will increase the number of issued and outstanding shares of our Class A common stock and reduce the value of the shares of Class A common stock issued to complete the initial business combination. Therefore, our warrants and founder shares may make it more difficult to effectuate an initial business combination or increase the cost of acquiring the target business.
The private placement warrants are identical to the warrants sold as part of the units in our Initial Public Offering except that, so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees, (i) they will not be redeemable by us, (ii) they (including the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of these warrants) may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by our sponsor until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination, (iii) they may be exercised by the holders on a cashless basis and (iv) they are entitled to registration rights.
The grant of registration rights to our initial stockholders may make it more difficult to complete our initial business combination, and the future exercise of such rights may adversely affect the market price of our Class A common stock.
Our initial stockholders and their permitted transferees can demand that we register the shares of Class A common stock into which our founder shares are convertible, the private placement warrants, the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the private placement warrants held, or to be held, by them, and holders of warrants that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans may demand that we register such warrants or the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of such warrants. We will bear the cost of registering these securities. The registration and availability of such a significant number of securities for trading in the public market may have an adverse effect on the market price of our Class A common stock. In addition, the existence of the registration rights may make our initial business combination more costly or difficult to conclude. This is because the stockholders of the target business may increase the equity stake they seek in the combined entity or ask for more cash consideration to offset the negative impact on the market price of our Class A common stock that is expected when the securities owned by our initial stockholders or holders of working capital loans or their respective permitted transferees are registered.
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We may seek business combination opportunities in industries or sectors which may or may not be outside of our management team’s area of expertise.
Although we have and intend to continue to focus on identifying companies in the water, food & agriculture, and renewable energy sectors, we will consider an initial business combination outside of our management team’s area of expertise if an initial business combination candidate is presented to us and we determine that such candidate offers an attractive business combination opportunity for our Company or we are unable to identify a suitable candidate in this sector after having expended a reasonable amount of time and effort in an attempt to do so. Although our management will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in any particular business combination candidate, 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 our stockholders than a direct investment, if an opportunity were available, in an initial business combination candidate. In the event we elect to pursue a business combination outside of the areas of our management team’s expertise, our management team’s expertise may not be directly applicable to its evaluation or operation, and the information contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K regarding the areas of our management team’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 stockholders who choose to remain stockholders following our initial business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their shares. Such stockholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.
As the number of special purpose acquisition companies evaluating targets increases, attractive targets may become scarcer, and there may be more competition for attractive targets. This could increase the cost of our initial business combination and could even result in our inability to find a target or to consummate an initial business combination.
In recent years, the number of special purpose acquisition companies that have been formed has increased substantially. Many potential targets for special purpose acquisition companies have already entered into an initial business combination, and there are still many special purpose acquisition companies preparing for an Initial Public Offering, as well as many such companies currently in registration. As a result, at times, fewer attractive targets may be available to consummate an initial business combination.
In addition, because there are more special purpose acquisition companies seeking to enter into an initial business combination with available targets, the competition for available targets with attractive fundamentals or business models may increase, which could cause target companies to demand improved financial terms. Attractive deals could also become scarcer for other reasons, such as economic or industry sector downturns, geopolitical tensions, or increases in the cost of additional capital 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 business combination opportunities with a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of revenue, cash flow or earnings, which could subject us to volatile revenues, cash flows or earnings or difficulty in retaining key personnel.
To the extent we complete our initial business combination with a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of revenues or earnings, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in the operations of the business with which we combine. These risks include volatile revenues or earnings 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.
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We are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or from an independent accounting firm, and consequently, you may have no assurance from an independent source that the price we are paying for the business is fair to us from a financial point of view.
Unless we seek to complete our initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors, or our board cannot independently determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses, we, or a committee of independent directors, are not required to 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 us from a financial point of view. If no opinion is obtained, our stockholders 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 materials or tender offer documents, as applicable, related 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. We do not, however, intend to purchase multiple businesses in unrelated industries in conjunction with our initial business combination. With multiple business combinations, we could also face additional risks, including additional burdens and costs with respect to possible multiple negotiations and due diligence investigations (if there are multiple sellers) and the additional risks associated with the subsequent assimilation of the operations and services or products of the acquired companies in a single operating business. If we are unable to adequately address these risks, it could negatively impact our profitability and results of operations.
We may attempt to complete our initial business combination with a private company about which little information is available, which may result in an initial business combination with a company that is not as profitable as we suspected, if at all.
In pursuing our initial business combination 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 an initial business combination with a company that is not as profitable as we suspected, if at all.
We do not have a specified maximum redemption threshold. The absence of such a redemption threshold may make it possible for us to complete an initial business combination with which a substantial majority of our stockholders do not agree.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will not provide a specified maximum redemption threshold, except that in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 upon consummation of our initial business combination and after payment of deferred underwriting commissions (such that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement that may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. As a result, we may be able to complete our initial business combination even though a substantial majority of our public stockholders do not agree with the transaction and have redeemed their shares or, if we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, have entered into privately negotiated agreements to sell their shares to our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or their affiliates. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all shares of Class A common stock that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed initial business combination exceed the aggregate amount of cash available to us, we will not complete the initial business combination or redeem any shares, all shares of Class A common stock submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof, and we instead may search for an alternate business combination.
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In order to effectuate an initial business combination, blank check companies have, in the recent past, amended various provisions of their charters and other governing instruments. We cannot assure you that we will not seek to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or governing instrument in a manner that will make it easier for us to complete our initial business combination that some of our stockholders or warrant holders may not support.
In order to effectuate an initial 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 and extended the time to consummate an initial business combination. We cannot assure you that we will not seek to amend our charter or governing instruments, including to extend the time to consummate an initial business combination in order to effectuate our initial business combination.
The provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation that relate to our pre-business combination activity (and corresponding provisions of the agreement governing the release of funds from our trust account), including an amendment to permit us to withdraw funds from the trust account such that the per share amount investors will receive upon any redemption or liquidation is substantially reduced or eliminated, may be amended with the approval of holders of 65% of our common stock, 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 certificate of incorporation and the trust agreement to facilitate the completion of an initial business combination that some of our stockholders may not support.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that any of its provisions related to pre-initial business combination activity (including the requirement to deposit proceeds of our Initial Public Offering and the private placement of warrants into the trust account and not release such amounts except in specified circumstances, and to provide redemption rights to public stockholders as described herein and including to permit us to withdraw funds from the trust account such that the per share amount investors will receive upon any redemption or liquidation is substantially reduced or eliminated) may be amended if approved by holders of 65% of our common stock entitled to vote thereon, and corresponding provisions of the trust agreement governing the release of funds from our trust account may be amended if approved by holders of 65% of our common stock entitled to vote thereon. In all other instances, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation may be amended by holders of a majority of our outstanding common stock entitled to vote thereon, subject to applicable provisions of the DGCL or applicable stock exchange rules. We may not issue additional securities that can vote on amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. Our initial stockholders will participate in any vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation 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 certificate of incorporation that govern our pre-initial business combination behavior more easily than some other blank check companies, and this may increase our ability to complete an initial business combination with which you do not agree. Our stockholders may pursue remedies against us for any breach of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation.
Our initial stockholders have agreed, pursuant to a written agreement with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (i) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination by August 12, 2023 or (ii) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, unless we provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their shares of Class A common stock 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, divided by the number of then outstanding public shares. These agreements are contained in a letter agreement that we have entered into with our initial stockholders. Our other stockholders are not parties to, or third-party beneficiaries of, these agreements and will not have the ability to pursue remedies against our sponsor, officers or directors for any breach of these agreements. As a result, in the event of a breach, our stockholders would need to pursue a stockholder derivative action, subject to applicable law.
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We may be unable to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination or to fund the operations and growth of a target business, which could compel us to restructure or abandon a particular business combination.
We have not selected any specific business combination target but intend to target businesses larger than we could acquire with the net proceeds of our Initial Public Offering and the sale of the private placement warrants. As a result, we may be required to seek additional financing to complete such proposed initial business combination. We cannot assure you that such financing will be available on acceptable terms, if at all. 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. Further, the amount of additional financing we may be required to obtain could increase as a result of future growth capital needs for any particular transaction, the depletion of the available net proceeds in search of a target business, the obligation to repurchase for cash a significant number of public shares from stockholders who elect redemption in connection with our initial business combination and/or the terms of negotiated transactions to purchase public shares in connection with our initial business combination. If we do not complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share plus any pro rata interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our franchise and income taxes 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 stockholders is required to provide any financing to us in connection with or after our initial business combination. If we do not complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may only receive approximately $10.00 per share on the liquidation of our trust account, and our warrants will expire worthless. Under certain circumstances our public stockholders may receive less than $10.00 per share upon the liquidation of the trust account.
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 shares of Class A common stock or equity-linked securities for capital-raising purposes in connection with the closing of our initial business combination at a Newly Issued Price of less than $9.20 per share; (ii) the aggregate gross proceeds from such issuances represent more than 60% of the total equity proceeds, and interest thereon, available for the funding of our initial business combination on the date of the consummation of our initial business combination (net of redemptions); and (iii) the Market Value 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 will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 180% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, and the $10.00 per share redemption trigger price will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price. This may make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination with a target business.
Because we must furnish our stockholders 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 an initial business combination meeting certain financial significance tests include historical and/or pro forma financial statement disclosure in periodic reports. We would include the same financial statement disclosure in connection with any tender offer documents. 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 financial statements in time for us to disclose such statements in accordance with federal proxy or tender offer rules and complete our initial business combination within the prescribed timeframe.
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Unstable market and economic conditions may have serious adverse consequences on the Company’s business, financial condition and share price.
The global economy, including credit and financial markets, has experienced extreme volatility and disruptions, including severely diminished liquidity and credit availability, declines in consumer confidence, declines in economic growth, increases in unemployment rates, increases in inflation rates, higher interest rates and uncertainty about economic stability. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in widespread unemployment, economic slowdown and extreme volatility in the capital markets. Similarly, Russia’s ongoing incursion of Ukraine has created extreme volatility in the global capital markets and is expected to have further global economic consequences, including disruptions of the global supply chain and energy markets. Any such volatility and disruptions may have adverse consequences on the Company or the third parties on whom it relies. If the equity and credit markets deteriorate, including as a result of political unrest or war, it may make any necessary debt or equity financing in connection with the initial business combination more difficult to obtain in a timely manner or on favorable terms, more costly or more dilutive. Increased inflation rates can adversely affect the Company by increasing its costs. Any significant increases in inflation and related increase in interest rates could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, results of operations and financial condition.
Adverse developments affecting the financial services industry, such as actual events or concerns involving liquidity, defaults or non-performance by financial institutions or transactional counterparties, could adversely affect our current and projected business operations and financial condition and results of operations.
Events involving limited liquidity, defaults, non-performance or other adverse developments that affect financial institutions, transactional counterparties or other companies in the financial services industry or the financial services industry generally, or concerns or rumors about any events of these kinds or other similar risks, have in the past and may in the future lead to market-wide liquidity problems. Most recently, on March 10, 2023, Silicon Valley Bank (“SVB”) was closed by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) as receiver. Similarly, on March 12, 2023, Signature Bank and Silvergate Capital Corp. were each swept into receivership. Although a statement by the Department of the Treasury, the Federal Reserve and the FDIC indicated that all depositors of SVB would have access to all of their money after only one business day of closure, including funds held in uninsured deposit accounts, borrowers under credit agreements, letters of credit and certain other financial instruments with SVB, Signature Bank or any other financial institution that is placed into receivership by the FDIC may be unable to access undrawn amounts thereunder.
Although we regularly assess our banking relationships and the location of the assets held in the trust account as we believe necessary or appropriate, our access to funding sources and other credit arrangements could be significantly impaired by factors that affect the financial services industry or economy in general. These factors could include, among others, events such as liquidity constraints or failures, the ability to perform obligations under various types of financial, credit or liquidity agreements or arrangements, disruptions or instability in the financial services industry.
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.
On March 30, 2022, the SEC issued proposed rules relating to, among other items, disclosures in business combination transactions involving SPACs and private operating companies; the financial statement requirements applicable to transactions involving shell companies; the use of projections in SEC filings in connection with proposed business combination transactions; the potential liability of certain participants in proposed business combination transactions; and the extent to which SPACs could become subject to regulation under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, including a proposed rule that would provide SPACs a safe harbor from treatment as an investment company if they satisfy certain conditions that limit a SPAC’s duration, asset composition, business purpose and activities. These rules, if adopted, whether in the form proposed or in a revised form, may increase the costs of and the time needed to negotiate and complete an initial business combination, and may constrain the circumstances under which we could complete an initial business combination.
A new 1% U.S. federal excise tax could be imposed on us in connection with redemptions by us of our shares.
On August 16, 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (the “IRA”) was signed into federal law. The IRA provides for, among other things, a new U.S. federal 1% excise tax on certain repurchases (including redemptions) of stock by publicly traded domestic (i.e., U.S.) corporations and certain domestic subsidiaries of publicly traded foreign corporations. The excise tax is imposed on the repurchasing corporation itself, not its stockholders from which shares are repurchased. The amount of the excise tax is generally 1% of the fair market value of the shares repurchased at the time of the repurchase. However, for purposes of calculating the excise tax, repurchasing corporations are permitted to net the fair market value of certain new stock issuances against the fair market value of stock repurchases during the same taxable year. In addition, certain exceptions apply to the excise tax. The U.S. Department of the Treasury (the “Treasury”) has been given authority to provide regulations and other guidance to carry out, and prevent the abuse or avoidance of the excise tax. IRS and Treasury have issued a notice of an intention to issue proposed regulations (the “Notice”); the Notice also provides interim guidance on which taxpayers can rely until issuance of the proposed regulations.
The IRA excise tax applies only to repurchases that occur after December 31, 2022. It is uncertain whether, and/or to what extent, the excise tax could apply to any redemptions of our public shares after December 31, 2022, including any redemptions in connection with initial business combination or extension requests, or exchanges of stock pursuant to an acquisitive reorganization (i.e., pursuant to the initial business combination or otherwise). Nevertheless, under the Notice, it appears that distributions pursuant to a complete liquidation of the Company (e.g., in the event we do not consummate an initial business combination) generally are not subject to this 1% excise tax, and other redemptions or repurchases of stock made during the same taxable year as the taxable year the Company completely liquidates and dissolves also would be exempt. Any redemption or other repurchase that occurs after December 31, 2022, in connection with a business combination, extension request or otherwise may be subject to the excise tax. Whether and to what extent we would be subject to the excise tax in connection with a business combination or otherwise would depend on a number of factors, including (i) the fair market value of the stock subject to redemptions and repurchases or exchanged in an acquisitive reorganization in connection with the business combination, (ii the structure of the business combination, (iii) the nature and amount of any private investment in public equity or other equity issuances in connection with the business combination (or otherwise issued not in connection with the business combination but issued within the same taxable year of the business combination) and (iv) the content of regulations and other guidance from the Treasury. In addition, because the excise tax would be payable by us, and not by the redeeming holder, the mechanics of any required payment of the excise tax have not been determined. The foregoing could cause a reduction in the cash available on hand to complete a business combination and in our ability to complete a business combination, and might affect the structure chosen for a business combination and any potential financing in connection with the business combination.
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We may be deemed a “foreign person” under the regulations relating to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”), and our failure to obtain any required approvals within the requisite time period may require us to liquidate.
CFIUS has authority to review direct or indirect investments by foreign persons in U.S. businesses.
Under the CFIUS regulations, foreign investors may be required to make mandatory filings and pay filing fees related to such filings. Also, CFIUS has the authority to self-initiate national security reviews of foreign direct and indirect investments in U.S. businesses if the parties to that investment choose not to file voluntarily or at the request of CFIUS. If CFIUS determines an investment to be a threat to national security, CFIUS has the power to block or impose mitigation measures 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. Certain investments that do not result in control of a U.S. business by a foreign person but afford foreign investors certain information or governance rights in a U.S. business involved in activities relating to “critical technologies,” “critical infrastructure” or “sensitive personal data” also are within the jurisdiction of CFIUS. The Company may also be subject to review by other U.S. government entities.
Our sponsor is a Delaware limited liability company. The sponsor is controlled by RRG Global Partners Fund, LP, a Cayman Islands exempted limited partnership (“RRG”), and Sustainable Investors Fund, LP, a Delaware limited partnership (“Capricorn”). The sponsor currently owns 7,831,250 shares of our Class B common stock and 9,325,000 Private Placement Warrants. The co-managers of the sponsor, RRG and Capricorn, by virtue of their shared control over our sponsor, may be deemed to beneficially own the Class B common stock and Private Placement Warrants held by our sponsor.
Certain investors in each of the co-managers of the sponsor are feeder funds in which foreign persons hold limited partner interests. Although CFIUS has significant discretion to determine whether a party is controlled by a foreign person and thus deemed to be a “foreign person” for CFIUS purposes, based on the structure of those investments, we do not believe that the sponsor or either of the co-managers of the sponsor would be considered to be under the control of a foreign person or that they would otherwise be considered a “foreign person” for CFIUS purposes. However, if CFIUS were to review the investment structure, it is possible that it may take a different view and assert jurisdiction over certain investments of the sponsor.
Should CFIUS reach such a conclusion, it is possible that a business combination with a U.S. business or foreign business with U.S. subsidiaries or operations that we may wish to pursue may be subject to CFIUS review or other regulatory review, depending on the Company’s ultimate share ownership following the business combination and other factors. Although we may pursue our initial business combination in any business, industry or geographic location, we are currently focused on opportunities that capitalize on the expertise and ability of our team to identify, acquire and operate a business that helps to address the global challenges identified by the UN SDGs, which include, but are not limited to, companies in the water, food & agriculture, renewable energy, and environmental resource management sectors, as well as supporting technologies, in the United States and other developed countries. Therefore, targets with which the Company may pursue a business combination could include U.S. businesses or companies in developed countries that have subsidiaries or operations in the United States.
If a particular proposed business combination 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 we may determine to proceed with the transaction without submitting to CFIUS and risk CFIUS intervention, before or after closing the transaction. CFIUS may decide to modify or delay our proposed business combination, impose conditions with respect to such business combination, request the President of the United States to order us to divest all or a portion of the U.S. target business of our business combination that we acquired without first obtaining CFIUS approval, or prohibit the business combination entirely. Accordingly, the pool of potential targets with which the proposed business combination can occur may be limited. These risks may delay or prevent us from pursuing our initial business combination with certain target companies that we believe would otherwise be attractive to us and our shareholders.
The process of government review or a decision to delay or prohibit the transaction, whether by CFIUS or otherwise, could be lengthy, and we have limited time to complete our business combination. If we are unable to consummate our business combination within the applicable time period required under the Company’s amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, we will be required to wind up, redeem and liquidate. 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 through a business combination. In addition, our warrants would expire which would result in a loss to warrant holders.
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Risks Relating to the Post-Business Combination Company
Any stockholders who choose to remain stockholders following our initial business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities.
We will seek to complete an initial business combination with companies in the water, food & agriculture, and renewable energy sectors, but may also pursue other business combination opportunities, except that we will not, under our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, be permitted to effectuate our initial business combination with another blank check company or similar company with nominal operations. Because we have not yet selected 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 operation of a financially unstable or a development stage entity. Although our officers and directors will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we cannot assure you that we will properly ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors or that we will have adequate time to complete due diligence. Furthermore, some of these risks may be outside of our control and leave us with no ability to control or reduce the chances that those risks will adversely impact a target business. We also cannot assure you that an investment in our units will ultimately prove to be more favorable to investors than a direct investment, if such opportunity were available, in a business combination target. Accordingly, any stockholders who choose to remain stockholders following our initial business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such stockholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value unless they are able to successfully claim that the reduction was due to the breach by our officers or directors of a duty of care or other fiduciary duty owed to them, or if they are able to successfully bring a private claim under securities laws that the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, relating to the business combination contained an actionable material misstatement or material omission.
Our management may not be able to maintain control of a target business after our initial business combination.
We may structure an initial business combination so that the post-transaction company in which our public stockholders 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-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target sufficient for 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-transaction company owns 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our stockholders prior to the initial business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post business combination company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the initial business combination. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares of Class A common stock in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock of a target. 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 shares of common stock, our stockholders immediately prior to such transaction could own less than a majority of our outstanding shares of common stock subsequent to such transaction. In addition, other minority stockholders may subsequently combine their holdings resulting in a single person or group obtaining a larger share of the Company’s stock than we initially acquired. Accordingly, this may make it more likely that our management will not be able to maintain our control of the target business. We cannot provide assurance that, upon loss of control of a target business, new management will possess the skills, qualifications or abilities necessary to profitably operate such business.
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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 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 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 stockholders 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 stockholder approval of the transaction is required by law, or we decide to obtain stockholder approval for business or other reasons, it may be more difficult for us to attain stockholder approval of our initial business combination if the target business does not meet our general criteria and guidelines. If we do not complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public stockholders may receive less than $10.00 per share on the redemption of their shares. 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 stockholders may be less than $10.00 per share” and other risk factors below.
We may face risks related to water, food & agriculture, and renewable energy sector companies.
Business combinations with companies in the water, food & agriculture, and renewable energy industries entail certain risks. If we are successful in completing a business combination with any such target business, we may be subject to, and possibly adversely affected by, the following risks:
• | governmental or regulatory actions relating to water rights, water quality or infrastructure, even if well intentioned; |
• | our inability to comply with governmental regulations and policies concerning renewable energy, such as energy development, electricity pricing and the process for interconnecting electricity generation, or to obtain governmental approval for our products and/or business operations; |
• | governmental or regulatory actions which, among other things, establish standards for the treatment, storage and disposal of solid and hazardous waste, could subject us to responsibility and liability for the cost of removal or remediation of hazardous substances; |
• | changes to labor regulations concerning minimum wages and minimum and maximum work hours or restricting the hiring of illegal immigrants; |
• | negative consumer beliefs about the use of biomass, including that it is the reason for increases in food prices, leads to air pollution, harms car and truck engines, and uses more fossil fuel than the amount of energy it produces; |
• | changes in demographics that impact water demands, public policies that may be negative toward investment in water resources, water resources market conditions or inability to obtain or maintain sufficient water supply; |
• | agricultural crops are vulnerable to crop disease, pests, and adverse weather conditions, and, because agricultural crops are perishable, unfavorable growing conditions can reduce both crop size and crop quality; |
• | negative impacts of climate change, including an increased risk of flooding, degradation in the quality of groundwater aquifers, and expansion of agricultural weed and pest populations; |
• | the failure of food and agriculture quality control procedures could cause losses from liability to harmed persons, and negatively impact consumer perception; |
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• | price fluctuations resulting from recessions, adverse weather conditions, natural disasters, political domestic and foreign trade, changes in supply and demand and other factors; |
• | difficulty in establishing and implementing a commercial and operational approach adequate to address the specific needs of the markets we are pursuing; |
• | legal claims arising with respect to any project having undisclosed or unknown environmental problems or as to which inadequate reserves have been established; |
• | need for substantial investments for infrastructure changes necessary for growth, such as additional rail and trucking capacity, additional storage facilities, advancement of technologies and updates to the electric grid; |
• | the viability and continued growth in demand for renewable energy may be impacted by many factors outside of our control, including competition, market acceptance of renewable energy systems, availability and amount of government subsidies and incentives, and prices of traditional utility-provided energy sources; |
• | difficulty in competing against established companies who may have greater financial resources and/or a more effective or established localized business presence; |
• | the possibility of applying an ineffective commercial approach to targeted markets, including product offerings that may not meet market needs with respect to their environmental or non-environmental attributes; |
• | an inability to build strong brand identity, environmental credibility or reputation for exceptional customer satisfaction and service; |
• | difficulty in timely identifying, attracting, training, and retaining qualified sales, technical, and other personnel; and |
• | any significant disruption in our computer systems or those of third parties that we would utilize in our operations, including disruptions or failure of our networks, systems or technology as a result of computer viruses, “cyber-attacks,” misappropriation of data or other malfeasance, as well as outages, natural disasters, terrorist attacks, accidental releases of information or similar events. |
Any of the foregoing could have an adverse impact on our operations following a business combination. However, our efforts in identifying prospective target businesses will be focused on, but not be limited to the water, food & agriculture and renewable energy sectors. Accordingly, if we acquire a target business in another industry, these risks will likely not affect us and we will be subject to other risks attendant with the specific industry in which we operate or target business which we acquire, none of which can be presently ascertained.
As a public benefit corporation, our duty to balance a variety of interests may result in actions that do not maximize stockholder value.
As a public benefit corporation, our board of directors has a duty to balance (i) the pecuniary interest of our stockholders, (ii) the best interests of those materially affected by our conduct and (iii) specific public benefits identified in our charter documents. While we believe our public benefit designation and obligation will benefit our stockholders, in balancing these interests, our board of directors may take actions that do not maximize stockholder value. Any benefits to stockholders resulting from our public benefit purposes may not materialize within the timeframe we expect or at all and may have negative effects. We may be unable or slow to realize the benefits we expect from actions taken to benefit our stakeholders, including farmers and local communities, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations, which in turn could cause our stock price to decline.
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As a public benefit corporation, we may be subject to increased derivative litigation concerning our duty to balance stockholder and public benefit interests, the occurrence of which may have an adverse impact on our financial condition and results of operations.
As a Delaware public benefit corporation, our stockholders (if they, individually or collectively, own at least 2% of our outstanding capital stock or shares having at least $2 million in market value (whichever is less)) are entitled to file a derivative lawsuit claiming that our directors failed to balance stockholder and public benefit interests. This potential liability does not exist for traditional corporations. Therefore, we may be subject to the possibility of increased derivative litigation, which would require the attention of management and, as a result, may adversely impact management’s ability to effectively execute our strategy. Any such derivative litigation may be costly and have an adverse impact on our financial condition and results of operations.
Risks Associated with Acquiring and Operating a Business in Foreign Countries
If we effect our initial business combination with a company with operations or opportunities outside of the United States, we would be subject to a variety of additional risks that may negatively impact our operations.
If we effect our initial business combination with a company with operations or opportunities outside of the United States, we would be subject to any special considerations or risks associated with companies operating in an international setting, including any of the following:
• | higher costs and difficulties inherent in managing cross-border business operations and complying with different commercial and legal requirements of overseas markets; |
• | rules and regulations regarding currency redemption; |
• | complex corporate withholding taxes on individuals; |
• | laws governing the manner in which future business combinations may be effected; |
• | tariffs and trade barriers; |
• | regulations related to customs and import/export matters; |
• | longer payment cycles and challenges in collecting accounts receivable; |
• | tax issues, including but not limited to tax law changes and variations in tax laws as compared to the United States; |
• | currency fluctuations and exchange controls; |
• | rates of inflation; |
• | cultural and language differences; |
• | employment regulations; |
• | data privacy; |
• | changes in industry, regulatory or environmental standards within the jurisdictions where we operate; |
• | public health or safety concerns and governmental restrictions, including those caused by outbreaks of pandemic disease such as the COVID-19 pandemic; |
• | crime, strikes, riots, civil disturbances, terrorist attacks, natural disasters and wars; |
• | deterioration of political relations with the United States; and |
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• | government appropriations of assets. |
We may not be able to adequately address these additional risks. If we were unable to do so, our operations might suffer, which may adversely impact our results of operations and financial condition.
The current conflict between Ukraine and Russia has caused unstable market and economic conditions and is expected to have additional global consequences.
The credit and financial markets have experienced extreme volatility and disruptions due to the current conflict between Ukraine and Russia. The conflict is expected to have further global economic consequences, including but not limited to the possibility of severely diminished liquidity and credit availability, declines in consumer confidence, declines in economic growth, increases in inflation rates and uncertainty about economic and political stability. In addition, the United States and other countries have imposed sanctions on Russia, which increases the risk that Russia, as a retaliatory action, may launch cyberattacks against the United States, its government, infrastructure and businesses. Any of the foregoing consequences, including those we cannot yet predict, may cause our business, financial condition, results of operations and the price of our Class A common stock to be adversely affected. Moreover, it may make it more difficult for us to identify a business combination partner and consummate a business combination on acceptable commercial terms or at all.
Risks Relating to our Management Team
Certain of our officers and directors are now, and all of them may in the future become, affiliated with entities engaged in business activities similar to those intended to be conducted by us and, accordingly, may have conflicts of interest in allocating their time and determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented.
Until we consummate our initial business combination, we will continue to engage in the business of identifying and combining with one or more businesses. Our officers and directors are, and may in the future become, affiliated with entities (such as operating companies or investment vehicles) that are engaged in a similar business.
Our officers and directors also may become aware of business opportunities which may be appropriate for presentation to us and other entities to which they owe certain fiduciary or contractual duties. Any such opportunities may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an acquisition target, and our directors and officers 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. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that we renounce our interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any director or officer unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of our Company and such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue, and to the extent the director or officer is permitted to refer that opportunity to us without violating another legal obligation.
Our directors, officers, RRG, Capricorn, or their respective officers and affiliates may become involved with subsequent blank check companies similar to our Company. Each of RRG and Capricorn (but not our independent directors) have agreed not to separately participate in the formation of, or become a sponsor, an officer or director of, any blank check company with a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act before we have entered into a definitive agreement regarding our initial business combination or we have failed to complete our initial business combination by August 12, 2023.
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 an initial business combination with a target business that is affiliated with our sponsor, our directors or officers, although we do not intend to do so. We do not 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.
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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 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 employ 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. In addition, the officers and directors of an initial business combination candidate may resign upon completion of our initial business combination. The departure of an initial business combination target’s key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business. The role of an initial business combination 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 initial business combination candidate’s management team will remain associated with the initial business combination candidate following our initial business combination, it is possible that members of the management of an initial business combination candidate will not wish to remain in place. The loss of key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business.
We are dependent upon our officers and directors, and their departure 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. Although our directors and officers have agreed to serve in their respective capacities until the earlier of the consummation by the Company of an initial business combination, the liquidation of the Company, or their removal, death or incapacity, they may not do so. 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.
Our key personnel may negotiate employment or consulting agreements as well as reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses, if any, with a target business in connection with a particular business combination. These agreements may provide for them to receive compensation or reimbursement for out-of-pocket expenses, if any, 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 the Company after the completion of our initial business combination only if they are able to negotiate employment or consulting agreements in connection with the initial business combination. Additionally, they may negotiate reimbursement of any out-of-pocket expenses incurred on our behalf prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, should they choose to do so. Such negotiations would take place simultaneously with the negotiation of the initial 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 initial business combination, or as reimbursement for such out-of-pocket expenses. The personal and financial interests of such individuals may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business. However, we believe the ability of such individuals to remain with us after the completion of our initial business combination will not be the determining factor in our decision as to whether or not we will proceed with any potential business combination. There is no certainty, however, that any of our key personnel will remain with us after the completion of our initial business combination. We cannot assure you that any of our key personnel will remain in senior management or advisory positions with us. The determination as to whether any of our key personnel will remain with us will be made at the time of our initial business combination.
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We may have a limited ability to assess the management of a prospective target business and, as a result, may affect our initial business combination with a target business whose management may not have the skills, qualifications or abilities to manage a public company, which could, in turn, negatively impact the value of our stockholders’ investment in us.
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’s management, therefore, may prove to be incorrect and such management may lack the skills, qualifications or abilities we suspected. Should the target’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 stockholders who choose to remain stockholders following the initial business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their shares. Such stockholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.
Our officers and directors 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 do not, commit their full time to our affairs, which results in a conflict of interest in allocating their time between our operations and our search for an initial business combination and their other businesses. Although we may in the future retain consultants and advisors to perform certain services for the Company, we do not have and do not intend to have any full-time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination. Each of our officers and directors is engaged in other business endeavors for which he may be entitled to substantial compensation, and our officers and directors are not obligated to contribute any specific number of hours per week to our affairs nor are they prohibited from sponsoring, or otherwise becoming involved with, or continuing their involvement with, any other blank check companies prior to us completing our initial business combination. Our independent directors may also serve as officers or 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.
We may engage in an initial business combination with one or more target businesses that have relationships with entities that may be affiliated with our sponsor, officers, directors or existing holders, 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 with which our sponsor or one or more of our officers or directors is affiliated. Our officers and directors also serve as officers and board members for other entities. 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 preliminary discussions concerning an initial business combination with any such entity or entities. Although we will not be specifically focusing on, or targeting, any transaction with any affiliated entities, we would pursue such a transaction if we determined that such affiliated entity met our criteria for an initial business combination and such transaction was approved by a majority of our disinterested directors. Despite our agreement to obtain an opinion, if required by applicable law or based upon the decision of our board of directors or a committee thereof, from an independent investment banking firm or an independent accounting firm regarding the fairness to our Company from a financial point of view of an initial business combination with one or more businesses affiliated with our officers, directors or existing holders, potential conflicts of interest still may exist and, as a result, the terms of the initial business combination may not be as advantageous to our public stockholders as they would be absent any conflicts of interest.
Moreover, we may, at our option, pursue an affiliated joint acquisition opportunity with other entities to which an officer or director has a fiduciary, contractual or other obligation or duty. Any such parties may co-invest with us in the target business at the time of our initial business combination, or we could raise additional proceeds to complete the acquisition by issuing equity to any such parties, which may give rise to certain conflicts of interest.
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Members of our management team and our board of directors and their respective 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 and our board of directors 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 our board of directors and their respective affiliated companies have been, and may from time to time be, involved in legal proceedings or governmental investigations unrelated to our business. Any such proceedings or investigations may be detrimental to our reputation and could negatively affect our ability to identify and complete an initial business combination and may have an adverse effect on the price of our securities.
Risks Relating to our Securities
There can be no assurance that we will be able to comply with the continued listing standards of Nasdaq, which could limit investors’ ability to make transactions in our securities and subject us to additional trading restrictions.
Our securities on Nasdaq. On December 1, 2021, in accordance with standard procedures related to the delayed filing of the Form 10-Q with the SEC, the Company received a notice from Nasdaq stating that the Company was not in compliance with the periodic filing requirements for continued listing. The Company fully regained compliance with the Nasdaq continued listing requirements as a result of filing the Form 10-Q on November 30, 2021, which eliminated the need for the Company to submit a formal plan to regain compliance.
Additionally, we cannot assure you that our securities will continue to be listed on Nasdaq in the future or prior to our initial business combination. In order to continue listing our securities on Nasdaq prior to our initial business combination, we must maintain certain financial, distribution and stock price levels. Generally, we must maintain a minimum amount in stockholders’ equity and a minimum number of public holders of our securities. Additionally, in connection with our initial business combination, we will be required to demonstrate compliance with Nasdaq’s initial listing requirements, which are more rigorous than Nasdaq’s continued listing requirements, in order to continue to maintain the listing of our securities on Nasdaq. For instance, our stock price would generally be required to be at least $4.00 per share. We cannot assure you that we will be able to meet those initial listing requirements at that time our shareholders’ equity would generally be required to be at least $5.0 million and we would be required to have at least 300 round-lot shareholders of our unrestricted securities (with at least 50% of such round-lot holders holding unrestricted securities with a market value of at least $2,500). The amount of shares redeemed in connection with the Extension and the fact that a significant number of additional shares could be redeemed in connection with our initial business combination increase the chances that the public “float” of our securities and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, possibly making it difficult for us to adhere to Nasdaq’s initial or continued listing requirements. If Nasdaq delists our securities from trading on its exchange and we are not able to list our securities on another national securities exchange, we expect our 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; |
• | determination that our Class A common stock is a “penny stock,” which will require brokers trading in our Class A common stock 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. |
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The National Securities Markets Improvement Act of 1996, which is a federal statute, prevents or preempts the states from regulating the sale of certain securities, which are referred to as “covered securities.” Because our units, Class A common stock and warrants are listed on Nasdaq, our units, Class A common stock and warrants are covered securities. Although the states are preempted from regulating the sale of our securities, the federal statute does allow the states to investigate companies if there is a suspicion of fraud, and, if there is a finding of fraudulent activity, then the states can regulate or bar the sale of covered securities in a particular case. While we are not aware of a state having used these powers to prohibit or restrict the sale of securities issued by blank check companies, other than the State of Idaho, certain state securities regulators view blank check companies unfavorably and might use these powers, or threaten to use these powers, to hinder the sale of securities of blank check companies in their states. Further, if we were no longer listed on Nasdaq, our securities would not be covered securities and we would be subject to regulation in each state in which we offer our securities, including in connection with our initial business combination.
You will not have any rights or interests in funds from the trust account, except under certain limited circumstances. To liquidate your investment, therefore, you may be forced to sell your public shares or warrants, potentially at a loss.
Our public stockholders will be entitled to receive funds from the trust account only upon the earliest to occur of: (i) our completion of an initial business combination, and then only in connection with those shares of Class A common stock that such stockholder properly elected to redeem, subject to the limitations described herein, (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly submitted in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination by August 12, 2023 or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity and (iii) the redemption of our public shares if we do not complete an initial business combination by August 12, 2023, subject to applicable law and as further described herein. In no other circumstances will a public stockholder have any right or interest of any kind in the trust account. Holders of warrants will not have any right to the proceeds held in the trust account with respect to the warrants. Accordingly, to liquidate your investment, you may be forced to sell your public shares or warrants, potentially at a loss.
Provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and Delaware law may inhibit a takeover of us, which could limit the price investors might be willing to pay in the future for our Class A common stock and could entrench management.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation contains provisions that may discourage unsolicited takeover proposals that stockholders may consider to be in their best interests. These provisions include the ability of the board of directors to designate the terms of and issue new series of preferred stock, and the fact that prior to the completion of our initial business combination only holders of shares of our Class B common stock have the right to vote to elect our Board of Directors, which may make the removal of management more difficult and may discourage transactions that otherwise could involve payment of a premium over prevailing market prices for our securities. We are also subject to anti-takeover provisions under Delaware law, which could delay or prevent a change of control. Together these provisions may make the removal of management more difficult and may discourage transactions that otherwise could involve payment of a premium over prevailing market prices for our securities.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation requires, to the fullest extent permitted by law, that derivative actions brought in our name, actions against our directors, officers, other employees or stockholders for breach of fiduciary duty and other similar actions may be brought only in the Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware and, if brought outside of Delaware, the stockholder bringing the suit will be deemed to have consented to service of process on such stockholder’s counsel, which may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors, officers, other employees or stockholders.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation requires, to the fullest extent permitted by law, that derivative actions brought in our name, actions against our directors, officers, other employees or stockholders for breach of fiduciary duty and other similar actions may be brought only in the Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware and, if brought outside of Delaware, the stockholder bringing the suit will be deemed to have consented to service of process on such stockholder’s counsel except any action (A) as to which the Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware determines that there is an indispensable party not subject to the jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery (and the indispensable party does not consent to the personal jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery within ten days following such determination), (B) which is vested in the exclusive jurisdiction of a court or forum other than the Court of Chancery, (C) for which the Court of Chancery does not have subject matter jurisdiction, or (D) any action created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction.
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Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in shares of our capital stock shall be deemed to have notice of and consented to the forum provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. Unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the federal district courts of the United States shall be the exclusive forum for the resolution of any action arising under the Securities Act. This choice of forum provision may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or any of our directors, officers, other employees or stockholders, which may discourage lawsuits with respect to such claims, although our stockholders will not be deemed to have waived our compliance with federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. Alternatively, if a court were to find the choice of forum provision contained in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could harm our business, operating results and financial condition.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that the exclusive forum provision will be applicable to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, subject to certain exceptions. Section 27 of the Exchange Act creates exclusive federal jurisdiction over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or the rules and regulations thereunder. As a result, the exclusive forum provision will not apply to suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction. In addition, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the federal district courts of the United States of America shall, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be the exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act of 1933 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.
Since only holders of our founder shares have the right to vote on the election of directors, Nasdaq may consider us to be a “controlled company” within the meaning of Nasdaq rules and, as a result, we may qualify for exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements.
Only holders of our founder shares have the right to vote on the election of directors. As a result, Nasdaq may consider us to be a “controlled company” within the meaning of Nasdaq corporate governance standards. Under Nasdaq corporate governance standards, a company of which more than 50% of the voting power is held by an individual, group or another company is a “controlled company” and may elect not to comply with certain corporate governance requirements, including the requirements that:
• | we have a board that includes a majority of “independent directors,” as defined under the rules of Nasdaq; and |
• | we have a compensation committee of our board that is composed entirely of independent directors with a written charter addressing the committee’s purpose and responsibilities. |
We do not currently utilize these exemptions and intend to comply with the corporate governance requirements of Nasdaq. However, if we determine in the future to utilize some or all of these exemptions, you will not have the same protections afforded to stockholders of companies that are subject to all of Nasdaq corporate governance requirements.
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We have not registered the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants under the Securities Act or any state securities laws at this time, and such registration may not be in place when an investor desires to exercise warrants, thus precluding such investor from being able to exercise its warrants except on a cashless basis. If the issuance of the shares upon exercise of warrants is not registered, qualified or exempt from registration or qualification, the holder of such warrant will not be entitled to exercise such warrant and such warrant may have no value and expire worthless.
We have not registered the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants under the Securities Act or any state securities laws at this time. However, under the terms of the warrant agreement, we have agreed that within twenty (20) business days after the later of the first date on which the warrants are exercisable and the date on which the Company receives any warrant holder request for such registration, we will use our commercially reasonable efforts to file with the SEC a registration statement for the registration under the Securities Act of the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants and thereafter will use our commercially reasonable efforts to cause the same to become effective within 45 business days after the filing of such registration statement and to maintain a current prospectus relating to the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants until the expiration of the warrants in accordance with the provisions of the warrant agreement. We cannot assure you that we will be able to do so if, for example, any facts or events arise which represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in the registration statement or prospectus, the financial statements contained or incorporated by reference therein are not current or correct or the SEC issues a stop order. If the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants are not registered under the Securities Act, we will be required to permit holders to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis, in which case the number of shares of our Class A common stock that you will receive upon cashless exercise will be based on a formula subject to a maximum number of shares equal to 0.361 shares of our Class A common stock per warrant (subject to adjustment). However, no warrant will be exercisable for cash or on a cashless basis, and we will not be obligated to issue any shares to holders seeking to exercise their warrants, unless the issuance of the shares upon such exercise is registered or qualified under the securities laws of the state of the exercising holder, or an exemption from state registration is available. If that exemption, or another exemption, is not available, holders will not be able to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis. Notwithstanding the above, if shares of our Class A common stock are at the time of any exercise of a public 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. 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 there is no exemption 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 will 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 paid the full unit purchase price solely for the shares of Class A common stock included in the units. 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.
The warrants may become exercisable and redeemable for a security other than the shares of Class A common stock, and you will not have any information regarding such other security at this time.
In certain situations, including if we are not the surviving entity in our initial business combination, the warrants may become exercisable for a security other than the shares of Class A common stock. As a result, if the surviving company redeems your warrants for securities pursuant to the warrant agreement, you may receive a security in a company of which you do not have information at this time. Pursuant to the warrant agreement, the surviving company will be required to use commercially reasonable efforts to register the issuance of the security underlying the warrants within 15 business days of the closing of an initial business combination.
If you exercise your public warrants on a “cashless basis,” you will receive fewer shares of Class A common stock from such exercise than if you were to exercise such warrants for cash.
There are circumstances in which the exercise of the public warrants may be required or permitted to be made on a cashless basis. First, if a registration statement covering the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants is not effective by the 60th business day after the closing of our initial business combination, warrant holders may, until such time as there is an effective registration statement, exercise warrants on a cashless basis in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act or another exemption.
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Second, if a registration statement covering the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants is not effective within a specified period following the consummation of our initial business combination, warrant holders may, until such time as there is an effective registration statement and during any period when we shall have failed to maintain an effective registration statement, exercise warrants on a cashless basis pursuant to the exemption provided by Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act, provided that such exemption is available; if that exemption, or another exemption, is not available, holders will not be able to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis. Third, if we call the public warrants for redemption, under certain circumstances, warrant holders will be able to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis. In the event of an exercise on a cashless basis, a holder would pay the warrant exercise price by surrendering the warrants for that number of shares of Class A common stock equal to the lesser of (A) the quotient obtained by dividing (x) the product of the number of shares of Class A common stock underlying the warrants, multiplied by the excess of the “fair market value” of our Class A common stock over the exercise price of the warrants by (y) the fair market value and (B) 0.361 per whole warrant, and the number of shares of our Class A common stock received by a holder upon exercise will be fewer than it would have been had such holder exercised the warrant for cash.
For example, if the holder is exercising 875 public warrants at $11.50 per share through a cashless exercise when the shares of our Class A common stock have a fair market value of $17.50 per share when there is no effective registration statement, then upon the cashless exercise, the holder will receive 300 shares of our Class A common stock. The holder would have received 875 shares of our Class A common stock if the exercise price was paid in cash. This will have the effect of reducing the potential “upside” of the holder’s investment in our Company because the warrant holder will hold a smaller number of shares of our Class A common stock upon a cashless exercise of the warrants they hold.
Our initial stockholders hold a substantial interest in us and will control the appointment of our board of directors until consummation of our initial business combination. As a result, they will appoint all of our directors prior to our initial business combination and may exert a substantial influence on actions requiring a stockholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support.
Our initial stockholders own shares representing 20% of our issued and outstanding shares of common stock. Accordingly, they may exert a substantial influence on actions requiring a stockholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support, including amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and approval of major corporate transactions. If our initial stockholders purchase any additional shares of common stock in the aftermarket or in privately negotiated transactions, this would increase their control. Factors that would be considered in making such additional purchases would include consideration of the current trading price of our Class A common stock. In addition, prior to our initial business combination, our initial stockholders have the right to appoint all of our directors and may remove members of the board of directors for any reason. Holders of our public shares have no right to vote on the appointment of directors during such time. These provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation may only be amended by a resolution passed by holders of a majority of the founder shares. As a result, you will not have any influence over the appointment of directors prior to our initial business combination. All of our directors were appointed by our initial stockholders for two-year terms. Moreover, on December 28, 2022, the 2022 Annual Meeting of Stockholders of the Company was held and all of our directors were re-appointed to serve on the Board of Directors of the Company until the next annual meeting of stockholders in 2023 or until their successors are duly elected and qualified. Accordingly, our initial stockholders will continue to exert control at least until the completion of our initial business combination.
Unlike many other similarly structured blank check companies, our initial stockholders will receive additional shares of Class A common stock if we issue shares to consummate an initial business combination.
The founder shares will automatically convert into Class A common stock at the time of our initial business combination, or earlier at the option of the holders, on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment as provided herein. In the case that additional shares of Class A common stock, or equity-linked securities convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for Class A common stock, are issued or deemed issued in excess of the amounts in our Initial Public Offering and related to the closing of the initial business combination, the ratio at which founder shares shall convert into Class A common stock will be adjusted so that the number of Class A common stock 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 all outstanding shares of common stock upon completion of our Initial Public Offering, plus (ii) all shares of Class A common stock and equity-linked securities issued, or deemed issued in connection with the initial business combination (excluding any shares or equity-linked securities issued, or to be issued, to any seller in the business combination, and any private placement-equivalent warrants issued to our sponsor or its affiliates upon conversion of loans made to us). This is different from most other similarly structured blank check companies in which the initial stockholder will only be issued an aggregate of 20% of the total number of shares to be outstanding prior to the initial business combination.
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We 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 shares of our Class A common stock purchasable upon exercise of a warrant could be decreased, all without your approval.
Our warrants were issued in registered form under a warrant agreement between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as warrant agent, and us. The warrant agreement provides that the terms of the warrants may be amended without the consent of any holder to cure any ambiguity or correct any defective provision, but requires the approval by the holders of at least 50% of the then outstanding public warrants to make any change that adversely affects the interests of the registered holders of public warrants. Accordingly, we may amend the terms of the public warrants in a manner adverse to a holder if holders of at least 50% of the then outstanding public warrants approve of such amendment. 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 or stock, shorten the exercise period or decrease the number of shares of our Class A common stock 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) we irrevocably submit to such jurisdiction, which jurisdiction shall be the exclusive forum for any such action, proceeding or claim. We will waive any objection to such exclusive jurisdiction and that such courts represent an inconvenient forum.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, these provisions of the warrant agreement do not apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal district courts of the United States of America are the sole and exclusive forum. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in any of our warrants shall be deemed to have notice of and to have consented to the forum provisions in our warrant agreement. If any action, the subject matter of which is within the scope of the forum provisions of our warrant agreement, is filed in a court other than a court of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (a “foreign action”) in the name of any holder of our warrants, such holder shall be deemed to have consented to: (x) the personal jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in the State of New York in connection with any action brought in any such court to enforce the forum provisions (an “enforcement action”), and (y) having service of process made upon such warrant holder in any such enforcement action by service upon such warrant holder’s counsel in the foreign action as agent for such warrant holder.
This choice-of-forum provision may limit a warrant holder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with our company, which may discourage such lawsuits. Alternatively, if a court were to find this provision of our warrant agreement inapplicable or unenforceable with respect to one or more of the specified types of actions or proceedings, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters in other jurisdictions, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and result in a diversion of the time and resources of our management and board of directors.
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We may redeem your unexpired warrants prior to their exercise at a time that is disadvantageous to you, thereby making your warrants worthless.
We have the ability to redeem outstanding warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.01 per warrant, provided that the last reported sales price of our Class A common stock equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like, and certain issuances of Class A common stock and equity-linked securities) for any 20 trading days within a 30 trading-day period ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which we give proper notice of such redemption and provided 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. Redemption of the outstanding warrants could force you (i) to exercise your warrants and pay the exercise price therefor at a time when it may be disadvantageous for you to do so, (ii) to sell your warrants at the then-current market price when you might otherwise wish to hold your warrants or (iii) to accept the nominal redemption price which, at the time the outstanding warrants are called for redemption, is likely to be substantially less than the market value of your warrants. None of the private placement warrants are redeemable by us except in certain circumstances, so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees.
In addition, we have the ability to redeem the outstanding public warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.10 per warrant upon a minimum of 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption provided that the closing price of our Class A common stock equals or exceeds $10.00 per share (as adjusted for adjustments to the number of shares issuable upon exercise or the exercise price of a warrant) for any 20 trading days within a 30 trading-day period ending on the third trading day prior to proper notice of such redemption and provided that certain other conditions are met, including that holders will be able to exercise their warrants prior to redemption for a number of shares of Class A common stock determined based on the redemption date and the fair market value of shares of our Class A common stock. The value received upon exercise of the warrants (1) may be less than the value the holders would have received if they had exercised their warrants at a later time where the underlying share price is higher and (2) may not compensate the holders for the value of the warrants, including because the number of shares received is capped at 0.361 shares of Class A common stock per whole warrant (subject to adjustment) irrespective of the remaining life of the warrants.
None of the private placement warrants are redeemable by us, other than in certain circumstances, so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees.
General Risk Factors
We are a recently formed company with limited operating history and no revenues, and you have no basis on which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective.
We are a recently formed company with no operating results, and we did not commence operations until obtaining funding through our Initial Public Offering. Because we lack a significant operating history, you have no basis upon which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective of completing our initial business combination with one or more target businesses. We have no plans, arrangements or understandings with any prospective target business concerning an initial business combination and may be unable to complete our initial business combination. If we fail to complete our initial business combination, we will never generate any operating revenues.
Past performance by RRG, Capricorn, our management team, directors and advisors may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in the company or in the future performance of any business we may acquire.
Information regarding performance by, or businesses associated with, RRG, Capricorn, our management team, directors and advisors, is presented for informational purposes only and represents investments made by affiliates of RRG, Capricorn and our management team under different circumstances, in some cases with different personnel involved and with different investment objectives. Past performance by RRG, Capricorn, our management team, directors or advisors is not a guarantee (i) either of success with respect to any business combination we may consummate or (ii) that we will be able to locate a suitable candidate for our initial business combination. You should not rely on the historical performance of RRG, Capricorn, our management team, directors and advisors as indicative of the future performance of an investment in the Company or the returns the Company will, or is likely to, generate going forward. Our management team, directors and advisors have had limited past experience with blank check and special purpose acquisition companies and no experience working together.
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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.
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 stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. As a result, our stockholders may not have access to certain information they may deem important. We could be an emerging growth company for up to five years following our Initial Public Offering, although circumstances could cause us to lose that status earlier, including if the aggregate worldwide market value of our Class A common stock held by non-affiliates equals or exceeds $700.0 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 aggregate worldwide market value of our Class A common stock held by non-affiliates equaled or exceeded $250 million as of the prior June 30th, or (2) our annual revenues equaled or exceeded $100 million during such completed fiscal year and the aggregate worldwide market value of our Class A common stock held by non-affiliates equaled or exceeded $700 million as of the prior June 30th. To the extent we take advantage of such reduced disclosure obligations, it may also make comparison of our financial statements and other disclosures with other public companies difficult or impossible.
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The warrants are being accounted for as a warrant liability and are being recorded at fair value upon issuance with changes in fair value each period reported in earnings, which may have an adverse effect on the market price of the Class A common stock.
As described in our financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, we are accounting for our issued and outstanding warrants as a warrant liability and is recording that liability at fair value upon issuance and is recording any subsequent changes in fair value as of the end of each period for which earnings are reported. The impact of increases in fair value may have an adverse effect on earnings, our balance sheet and statement of operations or the market price of the Class A common stock.
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ITEM 1B. | UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS. |
None.
ITEM 2. | PROPERTIES. |
Our executive offices are located at 5701 Truxtun Avenue, Suite 201, Bakersfield, California 93309. We consider our current office space adequate for our current operations.
ITEM 3. | LEGAL PROCEEDINGS. |
There is no material litigation, arbitration or governmental proceeding currently pending against us or any members of our management team in their capacity as such.
ITEM 4. | MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES |
Not applicable.
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PART II
ITEM 5. | MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES. |
Market Information
Our units, shares of Class A Common Stock and public warrants are traded on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbols “SDACU,” “SDAC,” and “SDACW,” respectively. On March 26, 2021, we announced that holders of our units could elect to separately trade our Class A Common Stock and warrants included in the units. On March 29, 2021, our Class A Common Stock and warrants became available for separate trading on Nasdaq under the symbols “SDAC” and “SDACW” respectively.
Holders
As of March 30, 2023, there were two holders of record of our Class A common stock and four holders of record of our Class B common stock.
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. Further, 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.
Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans
None.
Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities; Use of Proceeds from Registered Offerings
On February 9, 2021, we consummated our upsized Initial Public Offering of 31,625,000 units at a price of $10.00 per unit, including the full exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares. The Company’s units are traded on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the ticker symbol “SDACU.” Each unit consists of one share of the Company’s Class A common stock and one-half of one redeemable warrant. Each whole warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one share of Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share. Only whole warrants are exercisable. The securities sold in the offering were registered under the Securities Act on a registration statement on Form S-1 (No. 333-252161).
Of the proceeds received from the consummation of the Initial Public Offering and a simultaneous private placement of warrants, $316,250,000 was placed in the Company’s trust account. In connection with the votes to approve the Extension Amendment (as defined above), 29,446,012 shares of common stock of the Company were tendered for redemption at a per-share price of $10.125. There has otherwise been no material change in the planned use of proceeds from such use as described in the Company’s final prospectus, dated February 8, 2021.
ITEM 6. | [Reserved.] |
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 “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. 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,” “Item 1A. Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
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Overview
We are a blank check company incorporated as a Delaware public benefit corporation and formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses. We intend to effectuate our initial business combination using cash from the proceeds of our Initial Public Offering and the private placement of the private placement warrants, the proceeds of the sale of our shares in connection with our initial business combination (pursuant to forward purchase agreements or backstop agreements we may enter into following the consummation of our Initial Public Offering or otherwise), shares issued to the owners of the target, debt issued to banks or other lenders or the owners of the target, or a combination of the foregoing.
The registration statement for our IPO was declared effective on February 4, 2021. On February 9, 2021, we consummated the IPO of 31,625,000 units (including 4,125,000 units issued to the Underwriters pursuant to the exercise in full of the over-allotment option granted to the Underwriters) (“Units” and, with respect to the Class A common stock included in the Units being offered, the “Public Shares”), at $10.00 per Unit, generating gross proceeds of $316.3 million, and incurring offering costs of approximately $17.4 million, inclusive of $10.6 million in deferred underwriting commissions.
Simultaneously with the closing of the IPO, we consummated the private placement (“Private Placement”) of 9,325,000 warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant (“Private Placement Warrants” and, together with the warrants included in the Units, the “Warrants”) to the Sponsor, generating gross proceeds of approximately $9.3 million.
Upon the closing of the IPO and the Private Placement on February 9, 2021, $316.3 million ($10.00 per Unit) of the net proceeds of the sale of the Units in the IPO and the Private Placement were placed in a trust account (“Trust Account”) located in the United States with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee, and invested only in U.S. “government securities,” within the meaning of Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (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 the Company, until the earlier of: (i) the completion of a Business Combination and (ii) the distribution of the Trust Account as described below.
If we have not completed a Business Combination by August 12, 2023, we will (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the Public Shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the Trust Account, including interest earned on the funds held in the Trust Account and not previously released to us to pay its taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding Public Shares, which redemption will completely extinguish Public Stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any), and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of the remaining stockholders and our board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law.
We expect to incur significant costs in the pursuit of our acquisition plans. We cannot assure you that our plans to complete a Business Combination will be successful.
Recent Developments
The Company’s board of directors believed that there was not going to be sufficient time before the February 9, 2023 deadline to complete a business combination, and that it is in the best interest of the Company’s stockholders to extend the date by which the Company has to consummate a business combination in order that the Company’s stockholders have the opportunity to participate in any future investment. Therefore, on November 4, 2022, the Company filed a preliminary proxy statement and on January 6, 2023, a definitive proxy statement, both in connection with a special stockholders meeting (the “Extension Meeting”) to approve an amendment (the “Extension Amendment”) to the Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation of the Company to extend the date by which the Company must (i) consummate a Business Combination (ii) cease its operations if it fails to complete such Business Combination, and (iii) redeem or repurchase 100% of the Company’s Class A common stock included as part of the units sold in the Initial Public Offering from February 4, 2023 to August 12, 2023. On February 1, 2023, the Company held the Extension Meeting where the requisite stockholders of the Company approved the Extension Amendment. The Company filed the Extension Amendment with the Secretary of State of the State of Delaware on February 2, 2023.
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In connection with the votes to approve the Extension Amendment, 29,446,012 shares of common stock of the Company were tendered for redemption at a per-share price of $10.125. The Class A common stock was redeemed at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the Trust Account, including interest earned on the Trust Account deposits (net of franchise and income taxes payable), divided by the number of then outstanding Class A common stock.
The funds in the Trust Account have, since our Initial Public Offering, been held only in U.S. government treasury obligations with a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds investing solely in U.S. government treasury obligations and meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act. However, to mitigate the risk of being deemed to be an unregistered investment company (including under the subjective test of Section 3(a)(1)(A) of the Investment Company Act) and thus subject to regulation under the Investment Company Act, the Company has instructed Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, the trustee with respect to the Trust Account to liquidate the U.S. government treasury obligations or money market funds held in the Trust Account and thereafter to maintain the funds in the a bank demand deposit account until the earlier of consummation of the initial business combination or liquidation of the Company.
On October 11, 2022, Barclays Capital Inc. (“Barclays”) notified the Company that, subject to certain conditions, Barclays waives its entitlement to the payment of its portion of any deferred compensation in connection with its role as underwriter in the Initial Public Offering.
Results of Operations
For the year ended December 31, 2022, we had a net income of approximately $15.1 million, which included a gain from the change in fair value of warrant liabilities of $13.8 million and interest income on marketable securities of $4.4 million, offset by loss from operations of $2.3 million and a provision for income tax of $0.85 million.
For the year ended December 31, 2021, we had a net income of approximately $10.5 million, which included a gain from the change in fair value of warrant liabilities of $15.1 million, offset by a loss from operations of $1.7 million, offering cost expense allocated to warrants of $1.0 million, and expense for excess in fair value over cash received for private placement warrants of $1.9 million.
Our business activities from inception to December 31, 2022 consisted primarily of our formation and completing our IPO, and since the offering, our activity has been limited to identifying and evaluating prospective acquisition targets for a Business Combination.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Until the consummation of the Initial Public Offering, our only source of liquidity was an initial purchase of Class B common stock by our Sponsor and advances from our Sponsor.
On February 9, 2021, we consummated our Initial Public Offering of 31,625,000 units (the “Units”), including 4,125,000 Units sold pursuant to the full exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional Units. Each Unit consists of one share of Class A common stock, $0.0001 par value per share (the “Class A Common Stock”), and one-half of one redeemable warrant (the “Public Warrants”), each whole Public Warrant entitling the holder thereof to purchase one share of Class A Common Stock at an exercise price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment. The Units were sold at an offering price of $10.00 per Unit, generating gross proceeds of $316,250,000 (before underwriting discounts and commissions and offering expenses). Simultaneously with the closing of the Initial Public Offering, we consummated the sale of 9,325,000 Private Placement Warrants at a price of $1.00 per Private Placement Warrant in a private placement to our stockholders, generating gross proceeds of $9,325,000.
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Following the Initial Public Offering, the full exercise of the over-allotment option, and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants, a total of $316,250,000 was placed in the Trust Account, and we had approximately $3.2 million of cash held outside of the Trust Account and working capital of approximately $2.6 million. We incurred approximately $17.4 million in transaction costs, including $10.6 million of deferred underwriting fees that will be paid to the underwriters from the amounts held in the Trust Account solely in the event the Company completes its initial Business Combination.
For the year ended December 31, 2022, net cash used in operating activities was approximately $1.7 million, and net cash provided by financing activities was approximately 1 million.
For the year ended December 31, 2021, net cash used in operating activities was approximately $1.6 million, net cash used in investing activities was approximately $316.3 million, and net cash provided by financing activities was approximately $318.8 million.
At December 31, 2022, we had cash held in the Trust Account of $320,678,313. We intend to use substantially all of the funds held in the Trust Account, including any amounts representing interest earned on the Trust Account (less taxes payable (if applicable) and deferred underwriting commissions) to complete our Business Combination. To the extent that our shares or debt is used, in whole or in part, as consideration to complete our Business Combination, the remaining proceeds held in the Trust Account will be used as working capital to finance the operations of the post-Business Combination entity, make other acquisitions and pursue our growth strategies.
At December 31, 2022, we had cash of $318,932 held outside of the Trust Account. We intend to use the funds held outside the Trust Account primarily to identify and evaluate target businesses, perform business due diligence on prospective target businesses, travel to and from the offices, properties or similar locations of prospective target businesses or their representatives or owners, review corporate documents and material agreements of prospective target businesses, and structure, negotiate and complete a Business Combination.
In order to fund working capital deficiencies or finance transaction costs in connection with a Business Combination, our Sponsor or an affiliate of our Sponsor or certain of our officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds as may be required. If we complete a Business Combination, we would repay such loaned amounts. In the event that a 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 $2,000,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants, at the price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender. On August 23, 2022, the Company entered into a $500,000 promissory note agreement with the Sponsor. The note is payable upon the consummation of initial business combination or convertible into warrants at a price of $1.00 at the Sponsor’s discretion. The note provides up to $500,000 in funds to be drawn against it. The note does not accrue interest. At December 31, 2022, $500,000 was outstanding from this Convertible Note. On December 21, 2022, the Company entered into a $550,000 promissory note (the “Convertible Note”) agreement with the Sponsor. The Convertible Note is payable upon the consummation of initial business combination or convertible into warrants at a price of $1.00 at the Sponsor’s discretion. The Convertible Note provides up to $550,000 in funds to be drawn against it. The Convertible Note does not accrue interest. At December 31, 2022, $550,000 was outstanding from this Convertible Note. At December 31, 2022 and 2021, other than the Convertible Note described above, there was no outstanding balance on the Working Capital Loans.
Going Concern
In connection with our assessment of going concern considerations in accordance with Financial Accounting Standards Board’s Accounting Standards Codification Topic 205-40, “Presentation of Financial Statements – Going Concern,” we have until August 12, 2023, to consummate an initial business combination. It is uncertain that we will be able to consummate an initial business combination by this time. If an initial business combination is not consummated by this date, there will be a mandatory liquidation and subsequent dissolution of the Company. Additionally, it is uncertain that we will have sufficient liquidity to fund the working capital needs of the Company through August 12, 2023 or through twelve months from the issuance of this report. We have determined that the liquidity condition and mandatory liquidation, should an initial business combination not occur, and potential subsequent dissolution raises substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. No adjustments have been made to the carrying amounts of assets or liabilities should the Company be required to liquidate after August 12, 2023.
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Contractual Obligations
We do not have any long-term debt, capital lease obligations, operating lease obligations or long-term liabilities. The underwriters are entitled to a deferred fee of $0.35 per share, or $10,631,250 in the aggregate. The deferred fee will become payable to the underwriters from the amounts held in the Trust Account solely in the event that we complete a Business Combination, subject to the terms of the underwriting agreement.
Critical Accounting Policies
This management’s discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations is based on our financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP. The preparation of these financial statements requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities in our financial statements. On an ongoing basis, we evaluate our estimates and judgments, including those related to fair value of financial instruments and accrued expenses. We base our estimates on historical experience, known trends and events and various other factors that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.
Except as set forth below, there have been no significant changes in our critical accounting policies as discussed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021.
Recent Accounting Standards
Management does not believe that any recently issued, but not yet effective, accounting standards, if currently adopted, would have a material effect on our financial statements.
Item 7A. | Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk. |
Through December 31, 2022, our efforts have been limited to organizational activities, activities relating to our Initial Public Offering, and searching for a target business. We have engaged in limited operations and have not generated any revenues. We have not engaged in any hedging activities since our inception. We do not expect to engage in any hedging activities with respect to the market risk to which we are exposed.
The net proceeds of our Initial Public Offering, including amounts in the trust account, have been invested in U.S. government treasury obligations with a maturity of 185 days or less or in certain money market funds that invest solely in U.S. treasuries. Due to the short-term nature of these investments, we believe there will be no associated material exposure to interest rate risk.
Item 8. | Financial Statements and Supplementary Data. |
This information appears following Item 15 of this Annual Report and is included herein by reference.
Item 9. | Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure. |
None.
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Item 9A. | Controls and Procedures. |
Disclosure controls and procedures are controls and other procedures that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in our reports filed or submitted under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms. Disclosure controls and procedures include, without limitation, controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in our reports filed or submitted under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.
Disclosure Controls and Procedures
As required by Rules 13a-15 and 15d-15 under the Exchange Act, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer carried out an evaluation of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures as of December 31, 2022. Based upon this evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective as of December 31, 2022, due to the previous material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting related to accounting for complex financial instruments described in Item 4. Controls and Procedures included in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q as filed with the SEC on May 25, 2021, and due to the restatements of our February 9, 2021, March 31, 2021, and June 30, 2021 financial statements (the “restatements”) regarding the classification of redeemable Class A Shares, as described below, which combined, constitutes a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting related to accounting for complex financial instruments. Additionally, management has identified a material weakness in internal controls related to the accounting for fair value measurements including accruals of dividend income earned on marketable securities held in Trust Account. In light of these material weaknesses, we performed additional analysis as deemed necessary to ensure that our unaudited interim financial statements were prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. Accordingly, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer believes that the financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K present fairly in all material respects our financial position, results of operations and cash flows for the period presented.
Regarding the restatements to the March 31, 2021, and June 30, 2021 quarterly financial statements included in the Company’s Form 10-Qs, as filed with the SEC on May 25, 2021 and August 20, 2021, respectively, as well as the Company’s balance sheet included on the Company’s Form 8-K, as filed with the SEC on February 16, 2021, and restated on the Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on May 25, 2021, certain redemption provisions not solely within the control of the Company require common stock subject to redemption to be classified outside of permanent equity. The Company had previously classified a portion of the Class A common stock in permanent equity. The Company restated its financial statements to classify all Class A common stock as temporary equity and any related impact, as the threshold in its charter would not change the nature of the underlying shares as redeemable and thus would be required to be disclosed outside of permanent equity.
It is noted that the non-cash adjustments to the financial statement do not impact the amounts previously reported for our cash and cash equivalents or total assets. In light of this material weakness, we performed additional analysis as deemed necessary to ensure that our unaudited interim financial statements were prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.
Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
As required by Rules 13a-15 and 15d-15 under the Exchange Act, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer carried out an evaluation of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures as of December 31, 2022. Based upon their evaluation, and due to a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting over the accounting for complex financial instruments, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act) were not effective as of December 31, 2022.
Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
As required by SEC rules and regulations implementing Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting. Our internal control over financial reporting is designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of our financial statements for external reporting purposes in accordance with GAAP. Our internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that:
(1) | pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of our company, |
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(2) | provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with GAAP, and that our receipts and expenditures are being made only in accordance with authorizations of our management and directors, and |
(3) | provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition of our assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements. |
Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect errors or misstatements in our financial statements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree or compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate. Management assessed the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting at December 31, 2022. In making these assessments, management used the criteria set forth by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) in Internal Control — Integrated Framework (2013). Based on our assessments and those criteria, management determined that we did not maintain effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2022.
Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting
There were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting (as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) of the Exchange Act) that occurred during the year ended on December 31, 2022 covered by this Annual Report on Form 10-K that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.
Our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer performed additional accounting and financial analyses and other post-closing procedures including consulting with subject matter experts related to the accounting for the Warrants. 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.
ITEM 9B. | OTHER INFORMATION. |
None.
ITEM 9C. | DISCLOSURE REGARDING FOREIGN JURISDICTIONS THAT PREVENT INSPECTIONS |
Not applicable.
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PART III
ITEM 10. | DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE. |
Officers and Directors
Our executive officers and directors are as follows:
Name |
Age | Position | ||
Nicole Neeman Brady |
42 | Chief Executive Officer and Director | ||
Eric Techel |
48 | Chief Financial Officer | ||
Robert Schultz |
58 | Chair of the Board of Directors | ||
Kathleen Brown |
77 | Director | ||
Andrew Kassoy |
53 | Director | ||
Annette Rodriguez-Ferrer |
41 | Director |
Nicole Neeman Brady has been our Chief Executive Officer and director since December 2020. Ms. Neeman Brady has over 20 years of experience as an entrepreneur, executive, investor and community leader with global water, energy, and agricultural expertise. Ms. Neeman Brady also brings a diverse management expertise through her work in various operational and leadership roles. Ms. Neeman Brady serves as Principal and previously served as the firm’s Chief Operating Officer at Renewable Resources Group LLC, as well as a member of the Investment Committee and a board member of several of RRG’s portfolio companies. Ms. Neeman Brady has served as a board member of California Resources Corporation (NYSE:CRC) since 2021. Ms. Neeman Brady joined Renewable Resources Group LLC in 2017. From 2008 to 2017, Ms. Neeman Brady was a leader in various parts of Edison International (NYSE:EIX). She held the role of President and Founder at Edison Water Resources, a distributed water purification and recycling business, Vice President of Strategic Planning and Officer at Edison International, Director of Energy Procurement and Director of Renewable & Alternative Power Contracts at Southern California Edison. Earlier in her career, Ms. Neeman Brady worked in consulting for McKinsey & Co, in strategic planning for Twentieth Century Fox and in private equity for Goldman Sachs. Ms. Neeman Brady’s experience also includes a deep understanding of and passion for the public sector, including board service on the Colorado River Board of California and currently, as a Commissioner on the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and a Board member of the Library Foundation of Los Angeles. Ms. Neeman Brady holds dual AB degrees with honors from Brown University and an MBA, with distinction, from Harvard Business School. Ms. Neeman Brady’s significant investment, operational and financial expertise make her well qualified to serve as a member of our board of directors.
Eric Techel has been our Chief Financial Officer since December 2020. Mr. Techel has over 20 years of experience as an executive, investor and community leader in sustainable finance and venture capital. Currently Mr. Techel is a Partner and oversees Finance and Operations at Capricorn Investment Group, which he joined in 2007. Prior to Capricorn Investment Group, Mr. Techel was a Senior Manager with Deloitte in the Special Acquisition Services Group, which focused on due diligence for potential acquisitions of KKR. He spent 11 years with Deloitte in San Francisco, Bermuda, and Los Angeles. Mr. Techel is a CPA and received his B.A. in Economics from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Robert Schultz has been the Chair of our Board of Directors since 2020. Mr. Schultz has over 30 years of experience in sustainable finance as executive, investor and community leader. Currently Mr. Schultz is a Partner of Capricorn Investment Group. Prior to Capricorn Investment Group, he was the co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Greentech Capital Advisors, an investment bank and asset management firm focused on creating a more efficient and sustainable global infrastructure, which was sold to Nomura in April 2020. Prior to Greentech, he was a Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer of Morgan Stanley Fund Services and before that was a Managing Director and Head of Alternative Fund Services, North America for HSBC. He is currently a Director of Help for Children. Mr. Schultz is a Chartered Accountant and received his Bachelor of Commerce, with Honors, from Queen’s University in Canada. Mr. Schultz’s significant investment, operational and financial expertise make him well qualified to serve as a member of our board of directors.
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Independent Directors
Kathleen Brown (Director)
Kathleen L. Brown has served on our Board of Directors since 2021. Ms. Brown is a Partner at the law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP in Los Angeles. Prior to joining Manatt, Ms. Brown served in senior executive positions at Goldman Sachs Inc. and Bank of America. At Goldman Sachs, where her roles included chairman of Midwest investment banking and head of the Western region public-sector and infrastructure group, Ms. Brown participated in over $4.2 billion of water and power bond financings and counseled municipal utilities in California in their efforts to meet the state’s renewable energy standards. She also helped health care institutions navigate the challenges and opportunities presented by health care reform. As California State Treasurer, Ms. Brown managed a $25 billion bond portfolio, oversaw a $32 billion cash management fund and served as a trustee on the boards of CalPERS and CalSTRS, two of the largest pension funds in the nation. Ms. Brown served as co-chair of the Council of Institutional Investors; co-chair of the Presidential Commission on Capital Budgeting; a commissioner of the Los Angeles Board of Public Works; and a two-term member of the Los Angeles Board of Education. Ms. Brown holds a BA from Stanford University and a JD from Fordham University Law School. Ms. Brown’s significant investment, operational and financial expertise make her well qualified to serve as a member of our board of directors.
Andrew Kassoy (Director)
Andrew Kassoy has served on our Board of Directors since 2021. Mr. Kassoy is Executive Vice Chair and Co-Founder of B Lab. Prior to co-founding B Lab with Jay Coen Gilbert and Bart Houlahan, Mr. Kassoy spent 16 years in the private equity business; as a Partner at MSD Real Estate Capital, an investment vehicle for Michael Dell, as Managing Director in Credit Suisse First Boston’s Private Equity Department, and as a founding partner of DLJ Real Estate Capital Partners. He is a Board Member of Echoing Green and LabShul. He was a member of the U.S. Working Group of the G8 Social Impact Investing Task Force and a board member of the Freelancers Union. Mr. Kassoy graduated with Distinction from Stanford University where he was a Truman Scholar and President’s Award winner. He is a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute. Mr. Kassoy’s significant investment, operational, and financial expertise make him well qualified to serve as a member of our board of directors.
Annette Rodriguez-Ferrer (Director)
Annette Rodriguez-Ferrer has served on our Board of Directors since 2021. Ms. Rodriguez-Ferrer is a Managing Partner and Co-Founder of MKH Capital Partners, a Miami-based private equity firm. Ms. Rodriguez-Ferrer currently serves on the Boards of Fertilitas Ventures and Wax Center Partners and was formerly on the Board of Clean Streak Ventures. Prior to forming MKH Capital Partners, Ms. Rodriguez-Ferrer was a founding Partner at Navab Capital Partners and prior to that, was a Managing Director at Warburg Pincus. While at Warburg, Ms. Rodriguez-Ferrer served on the Boards of Gabe’s, Glansaol, Outset Medical (NASDAQ: OM), Silk Road Medical (NASDAQ: SILK), TriMark, and Wencor Group and was also actively involved with Scotsman Industries, Neiman Marcus and Consolidated Precision Products. Prior to Warburg Pincus, Ms. Rodriguez-Ferrer worked at JPMorgan Partners (nka CCMP Capital), the private equity arm of J.P. Morgan. Ms. Rodriguez-Ferrer currently serves on the Harvard Business School Alumni Board and the Board of New York Professional Advisors for Community Entrepreneurs (“NYPACE”), a non-profit organization, as the Chair of NYPACE’s Governance Committee. Ms. Rodriguez-Ferrer received a BS from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, magna cum laude, and an MBA from Harvard Business School with distinction.
Board Observers
RRG and Capricorn each have the right to have board observers attend all of the meetings of our board of directors.
Number and Terms of Office of Officers and Directors
We have five directors, with each director holding office until the next annual meeting of stockholders in 2023 or until their successors are duly elected and qualified. Prior to the completion of an initial business combination, any vacancy on the board of directors may be filled by a nominee chosen by holders of a majority of our founder shares.
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In addition, prior to the completion of an initial business combination, holders of a majority of our founder shares may remove a member of the board of directors for any reason. Our sponsor is entitled to nominate three individuals for election to our board of directors.
Our officers are appointed by the board of directors and serve at the discretion of the board of directors. Our board of directors is authorized to appoint persons to the offices set forth in our bylaws as it deems appropriate. Our bylaws provide that our officers may consist of a Chair of the Board, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, President, Vice Presidents, Secretary, Treasurer, Assistant Secretaries and such other offices as may be determined by the board of directors.
Director Independence
An “independent director” is defined generally as a person other than an officer or employee of the company or its subsidiaries or any other individual having a relationship, which, in the opinion of the company’s board of directors, would interfere with the director’s exercise of independent judgment in carrying out the responsibilities of a director. We have three “independent directors” as defined in the Nasdaq listing rules and applicable SEC rules. A majority of our board of directors is composed of independent directors in compliance with the majority independent board requirement in Rule 5605(b) of the Nasdaq listing rules. Our board has determined that each of Kathleen Brown, Andrew Kassoy, and Annette Rodriguez-Ferrer are independent directors under applicable SEC and Nasdaq listing rules. Our independent directors have regularly scheduled meetings at which only independent directors are present.
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Committees of the Board of Directors
Our board of directors has two standing committees: an audit committee and a compensation committee. In addition, director nominees will be recommended to the Board by independent directors constituting a majority of the Board’s Independent Directors in a vote in which only independent directors participate. Subject to phase-in rules and a limited exception, Nasdaq rules and Rule 10A-3 of the Exchange Act require that the audit committee of a listed company be composed solely of independent directors, and Nasdaq rules require that the compensation committee of a listed company each be composed solely of independent directors. Each committee operates under a charter that complies with Nasdaq rules, approved by our board of directors and with the composition and responsibilities described below. The charter of each committee is available on our website.
We do not have a nominations committee of our Board. Accordingly, our director nominees will be selected or recommended to the Board for selection by our independent directors constituting a majority of the Board’s independent directors in a vote in which only independent directors participate.
Audit Committee
We have established an audit committee of the board of directors. Ms. Brown, Mr. Kassoy and Ms. Rodriguez-Ferrer serve as members of our audit committee, and Mr. Kassoy chairs the audit committee. Under Nasdaq listing standards and applicable SEC rules, we are required to have at least three members of the audit committee, all of whom must be independent. Each of Ms. Brown, Mr. Kassoy and Ms. Rodriguez-Ferrer meet the independent director standard under Nasdaq listing standards and under Rule 10-A-3(b)(1) of the Exchange Act.
Each member of the audit committee is financially literate, and our board of directors has determined that Mr. Kassoy qualifies as an “audit committee financial expert” as defined in applicable SEC rules and has accounting or related financial management expertise.
We have adopted an audit committee charter, which details the principal functions of the audit committee, including:
• | assisting board oversight of (1) the integrity of our financial statements, (2) our compliance with legal and regulatory requirements, (3) the independent registered public accounting firm’s qualifications and independence and (4) the performance of our internal audit function and the independent registered public accounting firm; |
• | the appointment, compensation, retention, replacement, and oversight of the work of the independent registered public accounting firm engaged by us; |
• | pre-approving all audit and permitted non-audit services to be provided by the independent registered public accounting firm engaged by us, and establishing pre-approval policies and procedures; |
• | setting clear hiring policies for employees or former employees of the independent registered public accounting firm, including but not limited to, as required by applicable laws and regulations; |
• | setting clear policies for audit partner rotation in compliance with applicable laws and regulations; |
• | obtaining and reviewing a report, at least annually, from the independent registered public accounting firm describing (i) the independent registered public accounting firm’s internal quality-control procedures, (ii) any material issues raised by the most recent internal quality-control review, or peer review, of the audit firm, or by any inquiry or investigation by governmental or professional authorities within the preceding five years respecting one or more independent audits carried out by the firm and any steps taken to deal with such issues and (iii) all relationships between the independent registered public accounting firm and us to assess the independent registered public accounting firm’s independence; |
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• | meeting to review and discuss our annual audited financial statements and quarterly financial statements with management and the independent registered public accounting firm, including reviewing our specific disclosures under “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” |
• | reviewing and approving any related party transaction required to be disclosed pursuant to Item 404 of Regulation S-K promulgated by the SEC prior to us entering into such transaction; and |
• | reviewing with management, the independent registered public accounting firm, and our legal advisors, as appropriate, any legal, regulatory or compliance matters, including any correspondence with regulators or government agencies and any employee complaints or published reports that raise material issues regarding our financial statements or accounting policies and any significant changes in accounting standards or rules promulgated by the Financial Accounting Standards Board, the SEC or other regulatory authorities. |
Compensation Committee
We have established a compensation committee of the board of directors. Ms. Brown, Mr. Kassoy and Ms. Rodriguez-Ferrer serve as members of our compensation committee. Under Nasdaq listing standards and applicable SEC rules, all members of the compensation committee must be independent. Ms. Brown, Mr. Kassoy and Ms. Rodriguez-Ferrer are independent, and Ms. Brown chairs the compensation committee.
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, if any is paid by us or our sponsor, 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 making recommendations on an annual basis to our board of directors with respect to (or approving, if such authority is so delegated by our board of directors) the compensation, if any is paid by us, and any incentive compensation and equity-based plans that are subject to board approval of our other officers; |
• | reviewing on an annual basis 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; |
• | if required, 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. |
Notwithstanding the foregoing, as indicated above, until the earlier of the consummation of our initial business combination or our liquidation and in connection with potentially providing financing or other investments in connection with our initial business combination, no compensation of any kind, including finders’, consulting or other similar fees, will be paid to any of our sponsor, officers, directors or any of their respective affiliates, prior to, or for any services they render in order to effectuate the consummation of an initial business combination. Accordingly, it is likely that prior to the consummation of an initial business combination, the compensation committee will only be responsible for the review and recommendation of any compensation arrangements to be entered into in connection with such initial business combination. Prior to the completion of our initial business combination, any compensation paid to our Chief Executive Officer or other executive officers will be paid by our sponsor.
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The charter also provides that the compensation committee may, in its sole discretion, retain or obtain the advice of a compensation consultant, legal counsel or other adviser and will be directly responsible for the appointment, compensation and oversight of the work of any such adviser. However, before engaging or receiving advice from a compensation consultant, external legal counsel or any other advisor, the compensation committee will consider the independence of each such advisor, including the factors required by Nasdaq and the SEC.
Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation
None of our officers currently serves, or in the past year has served, as a member of the board of directors or compensation committee of any entity that has one or more officers serving on our board of directors.
Code of Business Conduct and Ethics
We have adopted a Code of Business Conduct and Ethics applicable to our directors, officers and employees, a copy of which is available on our website. In addition, a copy of the Code of Business Conduct and Ethics may be provided without charge upon request from us. We intend to disclose any amendments to or waivers of certain provisions of our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics in a Current Report on Form 8-K.
Compliance with Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act
Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act requires our executive officers, directors and persons who beneficially own more than 10% of a registered class of our equity securities to file with the SEC initial reports of ownership and reports of changes in ownership of our ordinary shares and other equity securities. These executive officers, directors, and greater than 10% beneficial owners are required by SEC regulation to furnish us with copies of all Section 16(a) forms filed by such reporting persons. Based solely on our review of such forms furnished to us and written representations from certain reporting persons, we believe that during the year ended December 31, 2022, all reports applicable to our executive officers, directors and greater than 10% beneficial owners were filed in a timely manner in accordance with Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act.
ITEM 11. | EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION. |
None of our executive officers or directors have received any cash compensation for services rendered to us. 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. We do not have a policy that prohibits our sponsor, officers or directors, or any of their respective affiliates, from negotiating for the reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses by a target business. Our audit committee reviews on a quarterly basis all payments that were made to our sponsor, officers or directors, or our or their affiliates. Any such payments prior to an initial business combination are made using funds held outside the trust account. Other than quarterly audit committee review of such payments, we do not 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 identifying and consummating an 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. These fees will be disclosed to stockholders in accordance with applicable rules and regulations, to the extent then known, in the tender offer materials or proxy solicitation materials furnished to our stockholders in connection with a proposed initial 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 initial 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. Prior to the completion of our initial business combination, any compensation paid to our Chief Executive Officer or other executive officers will be paid by our sponsor.
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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 team’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.
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 common stock as of March 30, 2023, by:
• | each person known by us to be the beneficial owner of more than 5% of our outstanding shares of common stock |
• | each of our officers and directors that beneficially owns shares of our common stock; and |
• | all our officers and, directors as a group. |
In the table below, percentage ownership is based on 2,178,988 Class A common stock and 7,906,250 Class B common stock, issued and outstanding as of March 30, 2023.
Unless otherwise indicated, we believe that all persons named in the table have sole voting and investment power with respect to all shares of common stock beneficially owned by them.
Class A Common Stock | Class B Common Stock | |||||||||||||||
Name and Address of Beneficial Owner (1) |
Number of Shares Beneficially Owned |
Approximate Percentage of Class |
Number of Shares Beneficially Owned(2) |
Approximate Percentage of Class |
||||||||||||
Sustainable Development Sponsor, LLC (3) |
— | — | 7,831,250 | 99.1 | % | |||||||||||
Nicole Neeman Brady |
— | — | — | — | ||||||||||||
Eric Techel |
— | — | — | — | ||||||||||||
Robert Schultz |
— | — | — | — | % | |||||||||||
Kathleen Brown |
— | — | 25,000 | * | ||||||||||||
Andrew Kassoy |
— | — | 25,000 | * | ||||||||||||
Annette Rodriguez-Ferrer |
— | — | 25,000 | * | ||||||||||||
All directors and executive officers as a group (6 individuals) |
— | — | 75,000 | * | % | |||||||||||
Other 5% Owners (4) (5) (6) |
— | — | — | — |
* | less than 1%. |
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(1) | Unless otherwise noted, the business address of each of the following entities or individuals is c/o Sustainable Development Acquisition I Corp., 5701 Truxtun Avenue, Suite 201, Bakersfield, California 93309. |
(2) | Interests shown consist solely of founder shares, classified as shares of Class B common stock. Such shares are convertible into shares of Class A common stock on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment. |
(3) | Our sponsor is the record holder of such shares. Each of Nicole Neeman Brady and Robert Schultz are managers of our sponsor’s board of managers. Any action by our sponsor with respect to our Company or the founder shares, including voting and dispositive decisions, requires a majority vote of the managers of the board of managers. Under the so-called “rule of three,” because voting and dispositive decisions are made by a majority of our sponsor’s managers, none of the managers of our sponsor is deemed to be a beneficial owner of our sponsor’s securities, even those in which such manager holds a pecuniary interest. Accordingly, none of our officers is deemed to have or share beneficial ownership of the founder shares held by our sponsor. |
(4) | According to a Schedule 13G filed on February 14, 2023, 3,108,413 shares were held for the account of funds affiliated with Saba Capital Management, L.P. The principal business office of each of the reporting persons is 405 Lexington Avenue, 58th Floor, New York, New York 10174. However, on March 9, 2023, Saba Capital Management, L.P. confirmed to the Company that, as of March 1, 2023, it no longer had a reportable position in SDAC as a consequence of having tendered shares for redemption in connection with the Extension Amendment. |
(5) | According to a Schedule 13G filed on February 10, 2023, 2,250,000 were held for the account of funds affiliated with PEAK6 Capital Management LLC. The principal business office of each of the reporting persons is 141 W. Jackson Blvd, Suite 500, Chicago, IL 60604. However, on March 3, 2023, PEAK6 Capital Management LLC confirmed to the Company that, as of March 1, 2023, it no longer had a reportable position in SDAC as a consequence of having tendered shares for redemption in connection with the Extension Amendment. |
(6) | According to a Schedule 13G filed on February 13, 2023, 1,979,728 were held for the account of funds affiliated with Aristeia Capital, L.L.C. The principal business office of each of the reporting persons is One Greenwich Plaza, 3rd Floor, Greenwich, CT 06830. However, on March 9, 2023, Aristeia Capital, L.L.C. confirmed to the Company that, as of March 1, 2023, it no longer had a reportable position in SDAC as a consequence of having tendered shares for redemption in connection with the Extension Amendment. |
ITEM 13. | CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS, AND DIRECTOR INDEPENDENCE. |
In December 2020, we issued an aggregate of 7,187,500 founder shares to our sponsor for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000 in cash, or approximately $0.003 per share. Subsequently, our sponsor transferred 25,000 founder shares to each of our three independent directors. On February 4, 2021, we effected a stock dividend of 718,750 shares with respect to our Class B common stock, resulting in our sponsor holding 7,831,250 shares of Class B common stock. The founder shares (including the Class A common stock issuable upon conversion thereof) may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by the holder.
Our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 9,325,000 warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant in a private placement that occurred simultaneously with the closing of our Initial Public Offering. Each private placement warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one share of our Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share. The private placement warrants (including the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise thereof) may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by the holder. Capricorn purchased an aggregate of 1,250,000 units in our Initial Public Offering at the public offering price.
If any of our officers or directors becomes aware of an initial 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 business combination opportunity to such other entity. Our officers and directors currently have certain relevant fiduciary duties or contractual obligations that may take priority over their duties to us.
No compensation of any kind, including any finder’s fee, reimbursement, consulting fee or monies in respect of any payment of a loan, will be paid by us to our sponsor, officers and directors, or any affiliate of our sponsor or officers, prior to, or in connection with any services rendered in order to effectuate, the consummation of an initial business combination (regardless of the type of transaction that it is). We do not have a policy that prohibits our sponsor, officers or directors, or any of their respective affiliates, from negotiating for the reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses by a target business. Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made to our sponsor, officers, directors or our 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.
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Our sponsor agreed to loan us up to $300,000 to be used for a portion of the expenses of our Initial Public Offering. The loan was fully repaid upon the closing of our Initial Public Offering. On August 23, 2022 and December 21, 2022, the Company entered into a $500,000 and $550,000 promissory note agreement (the “Convertible Notes”), respectively, with the Sponsor. The Convertible Note is payable upon the consummation of initial business combination or convertible into warrants at a price of $1.00 at the Sponsor’s discretion. The Convertible Note provides up to $500,000 and $550,000 in funds to be drawn against it, respectively. The Convertible Note does not accrue interest. As of December 31, 2022, the Convertible Notes had the full amounts of $500,000 and $550,000 withdrawn, respectively. No further borrowing is available against the Convertible Notes as of December 31, 2022.
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 would repay such loaned amounts. 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 $2,000,000 of such loans may be converted 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 loans by our officers and directors, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. We do not expect to seek loans from parties other than our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor as we do not believe third parties will be willing to loan such funds and provide a waiver against any and all rights to seek access to funds in our trust account.
After our initial business combination, members of our management team who remain with us may be paid consulting, management or other fees from the combined company with any and all amounts being fully disclosed to our stockholders, to the extent then known, in the tender offer or proxy solicitation materials, as applicable, furnished to our stockholders. 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 stockholder 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.
The holders of the founder shares, private placement warrants and warrants that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans (and any shares of Class A common stock issuable upon the exercise of the private placement warrants and warrants that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans and upon conversion of the founder shares) and certain security holders holding public shares, whether purchased in our Initial Public Offering or thereafter in the open market, are entitled to registration rights pursuant to a registration and stockholder rights agreement, requiring us to register such securities for resale (in the case of the founder shares, only after conversion to our Class A common stock). Any holder of at least 20% of the outstanding registrable securities owned by these holders is entitled to make up to two demands, excluding short form demands, that we register such securities. In addition, the holders have certain “piggy-back” registration rights with respect to registration statements filed subsequent to our completion of our initial business combination and rights to require us to register for resale such securities pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act. We will bear certain expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such registration statements.
In addition, pursuant to the registration and stockholder rights agreement, upon consummation of an initial business combination, our initial stockholders will be entitled to designate three individuals for nomination for election to our board of directors, for so long as they continue to hold, collectively, at least 50% of the founder shares (or the securities into which such founder shares convert) held by such persons as of our Initial Public Offering. Thereafter, such initial stockholders will be entitled to designate (i) two individuals for nomination for election to our board of directors for so long they continue to hold, collectively, at least 30% of the founder shares (or the securities into which such founder shares convert) held by such persons as of our Initial Public Offering and (ii) one individual for nomination for election to our board of directors for so long they continue to hold, collectively, at least 20% of the founder shares (or the securities into which such founder shares convert) held by such persons as of our Initial Public Offering.
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Related Person Transactions Policy
We have not adopted a formal policy for the review, approval or ratification of related party transactions. Accordingly, the transactions discussed above were not reviewed, approved or ratified in accordance with any such policy.
We adopted a Code of Business Conduct and Ethics requiring us to avoid, wherever possible, all conflicts of interests, except under guidelines or resolutions approved by our board of directors (or the appropriate committee of our board) or as disclosed in our public filings with the SEC. Under our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, conflict of interest situations will include any financial transaction, arrangement or relationship (including any indebtedness or guarantee of indebtedness) involving the Company.
In addition, our audit committee is responsible for reviewing and approving related party transactions to the extent that we enter into such transactions. An affirmative vote of a majority of the members of the audit committee present at a meeting at which a quorum is present will be required in order to approve a related party transaction. A majority of the members of the entire audit committee will constitute a quorum. Without a meeting, the unanimous written consent of all of the members of the audit committee will be required to approve a related party transaction. We also require each of our directors and officers to complete a directors’ and officers’ questionnaire that elicits information about related party transactions. These procedures are intended to determine whether any such related party transaction impairs the independence of a director or presents a conflict of interest on the part of a director, employee or officer.
To further minimize conflicts of interest, we have agreed not to consummate an initial business combination with an entity that is affiliated with any of our sponsor, officers or directors unless we, or a committee of independent directors, have obtained an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or an independent accounting firm that our initial business combination is fair to us from a financial point of view. No finder’s fees, reimbursements, consulting fee, monies in respect of any payment of a loan or other compensation will be paid by us to our sponsor, officers or directors, or any affiliate of our sponsor or officers, for services rendered to us prior to, or in connection with any services rendered in order to effectuate, the consummation of our initial business combination (regardless of the type of transaction that it is). However, the following payments will be made to our sponsor, officers or directors, or our or their affiliates, none of which will be made from the proceeds of our Initial Public Offering held in the trust account prior to the completion of our initial business combination:
• | reimbursement for any out-of-pocket expenses related to identifying, investigating and completing an initial business combination; and |
• | repayment of loans that may be made by our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our officers and directors to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, the terms of which have not been determined nor have any written agreements been executed with respect thereto. Up to $2,000,000 of such loans may be converted into warrants, at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender. |
Our audit committee reviews on a quarterly basis all payments that were made to our sponsor, officers or directors, or our or their affiliates.
ITEM 14. | PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING FEES AND SERVICES. |
The following is a summary of fees paid or to be paid to Marcum LLP, or Marcum, for services rendered.
Audit Fees. Audit fees consist of fees for professional services rendered for the audit of our year-end financial statements and services that are normally provided by Marcum in connection with regulatory filings. The aggregate fees of Marcum for professional services rendered for the audit of our annual financial statements and other required filings with the SEC for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, totaled approximately $93,972 and $104,000, respectively. The aggregate fees of Marcum related to audit services in connection with our Initial Public Offering totaled approximately $49,000. The above amounts include interim procedures and audit fees, as well as attendance at audit committee meetings.
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Audit-Related Fees. Audit-related fees consist of fees billed for assurance and related services that are reasonably related to performance of the audit or review of our financial statements and are not reported under “Audit Fees.” These services include attest services that are not required by statute or regulation and consultations concerning financial accounting and reporting standards. During the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, we did not pay Marcum any audit-related fees.
Tax Fees. We have engaged Marcum for tax services, planning and advice for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, but have totaled approximately $22,660 and $0, respectively.
All Other Fees. We did not pay Marcum for any other services for the year ended December 31, 2022 and 2021.
Pre-Approval Policy
Our audit committee was formed upon the pricing 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).
PART IV
ITEM 15. | EXHIBITS AND FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES. |
(a) | The following documents are filed as part of this Form 10-K: |
(1) | Financial Statements |
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm (PCAOB ID Number 688) |
F-2 | |||
Financial Statements: |
||||
F-3 | ||||
F-4 | ||||
F-5 | ||||
F-6 | ||||
F-7 |
(2) | Financial Statement Schedules |
None.
(3) | Exhibits |
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.
ITEM 16. | FORM 10-K SUMMARY. |
Not applicable.
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Page |
||||
F-2 |
||||
Financial Statements: |
||||
F-3 |
||||
F-4 |
||||
F-5 |
||||
F-6 |
||||
F to F-21-7 |
December 31, |
||||||||
2022 |
2021 |
|||||||
Assets |
||||||||
Cash |
$ | 318,932 | $ | 1,013,843 | ||||
Prepaid Expenses |
54,418 | 577,500 | ||||||
Due from related party |
8,247 | — | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Total current assets |
381,597 | 1,591,343 | ||||||
Prepaid expenses – non-current portion |
— | 54,418 | ||||||
Marketable securities held in Trust Account |
320,678,313 | 316,273,116 | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Total Assets |
$ |
321,059,910 |
$ |
317,918,877 |
||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Liabilities, Common Stock Subject to Redemption, and Stockholders’ Deficit |
||||||||
Accrued offering costs and expenses |
$ | 775,038 | $ | 780,704 | ||||
Promissory note – related party |
1,050,000 | — | ||||||
Income Tax Payable |
629,701 | — | ||||||
Total current liabilities |
2,454,739 | 780,704 | ||||||
Deferred Tax Liability |
215,870 | — | ||||||
Deferred underwriting fee |
10,631,250 | 10,631,250 | ||||||
Warrant liability |
1,046,814 | 14,878,193 | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Total Liabilities |
14,348,673 |
26,290,147 |
||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Commitments and Contingencies |
||||||||
Common stock subject to possible redemption, 0.0001 par value, 31,625,000 stock at redemption value of approximately $10.10 and $10.00 per share at December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively |
319,415,389 | 316,250,000 | ||||||
Stockholders’ Deficit |
||||||||
Preferred stock, $0.0001 par value; 1,000,000 shares authorized; none issued and outstanding |
— | — | ||||||
Class A common stock, $0.0001 par value; 100,000,000 shares authorized; none issued and outstanding at December 31, 2022 and 2021 |
— | — | ||||||
Class B common stock, $0.0001 par value; 10,000,000 shares authorized; 7,906,250 shares issued and outstanding at December 31, 2022 and 2021 |
791 | 791 | ||||||
Additional paid-in capital |
— | — | ||||||
Accumulated deficit |
(12,704,943 | ) | (24,622,061 | ) | ||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Total Stockholders’ Deficit |
(12,704,152 |
) |
(24,621,270 |
) | ||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Total Liabilities, Common Stock Subject to Redemption, and Stockholders’ Deficit |
$ |
321,059,910 |
$ |
317,918,877 |
||||
|
|
|
|
For the Year Ended December 31, |
For the Year Ended December 31, |
|||||||
2022 |
2021 |
|||||||
Operating costs |
$ | 2,308,499 | $ | 1,713,914 | ||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Loss from Operations |
(2,308,499 |
) |
(1,713,914 |
) | ||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Other income (expense): |
||||||||
Interest earned on marketable securities held in Trust Account |
4,405,197 | 23,116 | ||||||
Offering costs allocated to warrants |
— | (1,027,907 | ) | |||||
Excess of fair value over cash received for private placement warrants |
— | (1,939,600 | ) | |||||
Change in fair value of warrant liability |
13,831,379 | 15,140,032 | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Total other income, net |
18,236,576 |
12,195,641 |
||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Income before provision for income taxes |
15,928,077 | 10,481,727 | ||||||
Provision for income taxes |
(845,570 | ) | — | |||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Net income |
$ |
15,082,507 |
$ |
10,481,727 |
||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Weighted average shares outstanding, Class A common stock subject to possible redemption |
31,625,000 | 28,245,890 | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Basic and diluted net income per share, Class A common stock subject to possible redemption |
$ |
0.38 |
$ |
0.29 |
||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Weighted average shares outstanding, Class B common stock |
7,906,250 | 7,796,062 | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Basic and diluted net income per share, Class B common stock |
$ |
0.38 |
$ |
0.29 |
||||
|
|
|
|
Class A Common Stock |
Class B Common Stock |
Additional Paid-in |
Accumulated |
Total Stockholder’s |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stock |
Amount |
Stock |
Amount |
Capital |
Deficit |
Deficit |
||||||||||||||||||||||
Balance as of December 31, 2020 |
— |
$ |
— |
7,187,500 |
$ |
719 |
$ |
24,281 |
$ |
(2,412 |
) |
$ |
22,588 |
|||||||||||||||
Net income |
— | — | — | — | — | 10,481,727 | 10,481,727 | |||||||||||||||||||||
Stock split for Class B common stock |
— | — | 718,750 | 72 | (72 | ) | — | — | ||||||||||||||||||||
Remeasurement of common stock subject to possible redemption |
— | — | — | — | (24,209 | ) | (35,101,376 | ) | (35,125,585 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||
Balance as of December 31, 2021 |
— |
— |
7,906,250 |
791 |
— |
(24,622,061 |
(24,621,270 |
) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Remeasurement of common stock subject to possible redemption |
— | — | — | — | — | (3,165,389 | ) | (3,165,389 | ) | |||||||||||||||||||
Net income |
— | — | — | — | — | 15,082,507 | 15,082,507 | |||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||
Balance as of December 31, 2022 |
— |
$ |
— |
7,906,250 |
$ |
791 |
$ |
— |
$ |
(12,704,943 |
) |
$ |
(12,704,152 |
) | ||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For the Year Ended December 31, |
For the Year Ended December 31, |
|||||||
2022 |
2021 |
|||||||
Cash flows from operating activities: |
||||||||
Net income |
$ | 15,082,507 | $ | 10,481,727 | ||||
Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash used in operating activities: |
||||||||
Interest earned on marketable securities held in Trust Account |
(4,405,197 | ) | (23,116 | ) | ||||
Offering costs allocated to warrants |
— | 1,027,907 | ||||||
Excess of fair value over cash received for private placement warrants |
— | 1,939,600 | ||||||
Change in fair value of warrant liability |
(13,831,379 | ) | (15,140,032 | ) | ||||
Deferred tax liability |
215,870 | — | ||||||
Changes in operating assets and liabilities: |
||||||||
Prepaid assets |
577,500 | (631,918 | ) | |||||
Due from related party |
(8,247 | ) | — | |||||
Accrued expenses |
(5,666 | ) | 780,704 | |||||
Income Tax Payable |
629,701 | — | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Net cash used in operating activities |
(1,744,911 |
) |
(1,565,128 |
) | ||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Cash Flows from Investing Activities: |
||||||||
Investment of cash in Trust Account |
— | (316,250,000 | ) | |||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Net cash used in investing activities |
— |
(316,250,000 |
) | |||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Cash Flows from Financing Activities: |
||||||||
Proceeds from sale of Units, net of underwriting discounts |
— | 310,175,000 | ||||||
Proceeds from sale of Private Warrants |
— | 9,325,000 | ||||||
Proceeds from issuance of promissory note to Sponsor |
1,050,000 | 121,228 | ||||||
Payments on promissory issued to Sponsor |
— | (136,678 | ) | |||||
Payment of deferred offering costs |
— | (655,579 | ) | |||||
Net cash provided by financing activities |
1,050,000 |
318,828,971 |
||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Net change in cash |
(694,911 |
) |
1,013,843 |
|||||
Cash, beginning of period |
1,013,843 | — | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Cash, end of the period |
$ |
318,932 |
$ |
1,013,843 |
||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Supplemental disclosure of cash flow information: |
||||||||
Remeasurement of Class A common stock subject to redemption |
2,884,340 | 35,125,585 | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Deferred underwriters’ discount payable charged to additional paid-in capital |
— | 10,631,250 | ||||||
|
|
|
|
Gross Proceeds |
$ | 316,250,000 | ||
Less: |
||||
Proceeds allocated to Public Warrants |
(18,753,625 | ) | ||
Class A common stock issuance costs |
(16,371,960 | ) | ||
Plus: |
||||
Remeasurement of carrying value to redemption value |
35,125,585 | |||
|
|
|||
Class A common stock subject to possible redemption a s of December 31, 2021 |
$ |
316,250,000 |
||
Plus: |
||||
Remeasurement of carrying value to redemption value |
3,165,389 | |||
|
|
|||
Class A common stock subject to possible redemption a s of December 31, 2022 |
$ |
319,415,389 |
||
|
|
For the Year Ended December 31, |
For the Year Ended December 31, |
|||||||
2022 |
2021 |
|||||||
Class A Common Stock |
||||||||
Net income allocable to Class A common stock |
$ |
12,066,006 | $ | 8,214,475 | ||||
Basic and diluted weighted average shares outstanding |
31,625,000 | 28,245,890 | ||||||
Basic and diluted net income per common share |
$ | 0.38 | $ | 0.29 | ||||
Class B Common Stock |
||||||||
Net income allocable to Class B common stock |
$ | 3,016,501 | $ | 2,267,252 | ||||
Basic and diluted weighted average shares outstanding |
7,906,250 | 7,796,062 | ||||||
Basic and diluted net income per common share |
$ | 0.38 | $ | 0.29 | ||||
Level 1 - |
Valuations based on unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities that the Company has the ability to access. Valuation adjustments and block discounts are not being applied. Since valuations are based on quoted prices that are readily and regularly available in an active market, valuation of these securities does not entail a significant degree of judgment. |
Level 2 - |
Valuations based on (i) quoted prices in active markets for similar assets and liabilities, (ii) quoted prices in markets that are not active for identical or similar assets, (iii) inputs other than quoted prices for the assets or liabilities, or (iv) inputs that are derived principally from or corroborated by market through correlation or other means. |
Level 3 - |
Valuations based on inputs that are unobservable and significant to the overall fair value measurement. |
• |
in whole and not in part; |
• |
at a price of $ 0.01 per |
• |
upon not less than 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption (the “ 30 -day redemption period”) to each warrant holder; and |
• |
if, and only if, the last reported sale price of the Class A common stock for any 20 trading days within a 30 -trading day period ending three trading days before the Company sends the notice of redemption to the warrant holders (the “Reference Value”) equals or exceeds $ 18.00 per share (as adjusted for stock sub-divisions, stock capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like). |
• |
in whole and not in part; |
• |
at $ 0.10 per warrant upon a minimum of 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption, provided that holders will be able to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis prior to redemption and receive that number of shares determined by reference to the “fair market value” of the Class A common stock (as defined below in the immediately following paragraph) except as otherwise described below; |
• |
if, and only if, the Reference Value equals or exceeds $ 10.00 per share (as adjusted for stock sub-divisions, stock capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like); and |
• |
if the Reference Value is less than $ 18.00 per share (as adjusted for stock sub-divisions, stock capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like), the private placement warrants must also be concurrently called for redemption on the same terms as the outstanding public warrants, as described above. |
December 31, 2022 |
Quoted Prices In Active Markets (Level 1) |
Significant Other Observable Inputs (Level 2) |
Significant Other Unobservable Inputs (Level 3) |
|||||||||||||
Assets: |
||||||||||||||||
U.S. Money Market Funds held in Trust Account |
$ |
320,678,313 | $ |
320,678,313 | $ | — | $ | — | ||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||
: |
||||||||||||||||
Public Warrants Liability |
$ | 632,500 | $ | 632,500 | $ | — | $ | — | ||||||||
Private Placement Warrants Liability |
414,314 | — | — | 414,314 | ||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||
$ | 1,046,814 | $ | 632,500 | $ | — | $ | 414,314 | |||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
December 31, 2021 |
Quoted Prices In Active Markets (Level 1) |
Significant Other Observable Inputs (Level 2) |
Significant Other Unobservable Inputs (Level 3) |
|||||||||||||
Assets: |
||||||||||||||||
U.S. Money Market Funds held in Trust Account |
$ |
316,273,116 | $ | 316,273,116 | $ | — | $ | — | ||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||
: |
||||||||||||||||
Public Warrants Liability |
$ | 9,327,794 | $ | 9,327,794 | $ | — | $ | — | ||||||||
Private Placement Warrants Liability |
5,550,399 | — | — | 5,550,399 | ||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||
$ | 14,878,193 | $ | 9,327,794 | $ | — | $ | 5,550,399 | |||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fair Value at January 1, 2022 |
$ | 5,550,399 | ||
Change in fair value of public and private warrants |
(5,136,085 | ) | ||
|
|
|||
Fair Value of private warrants at December 31, 2022 |
$ | 414,314 | ||
|
|
|||
Fair Value at January 1, 2021 |
$ | — | ||
Initial fair value of public and private warrants |
30,018,225 | |||
Change in fair value of public and private warrants |
(13,557,201 | ) | ||
Public Warrants reclassified to Level 1 |
(10,910,625 | ) | ||
Fair Value of private warrants at December 31, 2021 |
$ | 5,550,399 | ||
|
|
Inputs |
December 31, 2022 |
December 31, 2021 |
||||||
Risk-free interest rate |
4.74 | % | 1.32 | % | ||||
Expected term remaining (years) |
0.89 | 5.60 | ||||||
Expected volatility |
7.8 | % | 10.7 | % | ||||
Stock price |
$ | 10.06 | $ | 9.74 |
December 31, 2022 |
December 31, 2021 |
|||||||
Deferred tax asset |
||||||||
Organizational costs/Start-up costs |
$ | 757,852 | $ | 318,341 | ||||
Unrealized gain/loss |
(215,870 | ) | — | |||||
Federal net operating loss |
— | 37,146 | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Total deferred tax asset (liability) |
541,982 | 355,487 | ||||||
Valuation allowance |
(757,852 | ) | (355,487 | ) | ||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Deferred tax asset (liability), net of allowance |
$ | (215,870 | ) | $ | — | |||
|
|
|
|
December 31, 2022 |
December 31, 2021 |
|||||||
Federal |
||||||||
Current |
$ | 629,700 | $ | — | ||||
Deferred |
(186,495 | ) | (354,980 | ) | ||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
State |
||||||||
Current |
— | — | ||||||
Deferred |
— | — | ||||||
Change in valuation allowance |
402,365 | 354,980 | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Income tax provision |
$ | 845,570 | $ | — | ||||
|
|
|
|
December 31, 2022 |
December 31, 2021 |
|||||||
Statutory federal income tax rate |
21.0 | % | 21.0 | % | ||||
Change in fair value of warrant liabilities |
(18.2 | ) | (24.4 | ) | ||||
Transaction costs allocated to warrants |
— | — | ||||||
Fair value of private warrant liability in excess of proceeds |
— | — | ||||||
Change in valuation allowance |
2.5 | 3.4 | ||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
Income tax provision |
5.3 | % | — | % | ||||
|
|
|
|
Table of Contents
EXHIBIT INDEX
Exhibit Number |
Description of exhibit | |
3.1 | Form of Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation (2) | |
3.2 | Amendment to Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation (5) | |
3.3 | Bylaws (2) | |
4.1 | Specimen Unit Certificate (2) | |
4.2 | Specimen Class A Common Stock Certificate (2) | |
4.3 | Specimen Warrant Certificate (included in Exhibit 4.4) | |
4.4 | Warrant Agreement, dated February 4, 2021, between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company and the Company (1) | |
4.5* | Description of Securities | |
10.1 | Letter Agreement, dated February 4, 2021, among the Company, the Sponsor each member of the Sponsor, each of the Company’s executive officers and directors and certain consultants of the Company (1) | |
10.2 | Investment Management Trust Agreement, dated February 4, 2021, between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company and the Company (1) | |
10.3 | Founder Shares Subscription Agreement, dated December 19, 2020, between the Registrant and Sustainable Development Sponsor, LLC (2) | |
10.4 | Warrant Purchase Agreement, dated February 4, 2021, between the Company and the Sponsor (1) | |
10.5 | Registration and Stockholder Rights Agreement, dated February 4, 2021, among the Company, the Sponsor and the other Holders (as defined therein) signatory thereto (1) | |
10.6 | Form of Indemnification Agreement (1) | |
10.7 | Promissory Note issued in favor of Sustainable Development Sponsor, LLC, dated December 19, 2020 (2) | |
10.8 | Promissory Note issued in favor of Sustainable Development Sponsor, LLC, dated August 23, 2022 (3) | |
10.9 | Promissory Note issued in favor of Sustainable Development Sponsor, LLC, dated December 21, 2022 (4) | |
31.1* | Certification of Principal Executive Officer pursuant to Rule 13a-14(a) and Rule 15d-14(a) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, as adopted pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002. | |
31.2* | Certification of Principal Financial Officer pursuant to Rule 13a-14(a) and Rule 15d-14(a) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, as adopted pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002. | |
32.1** | Certification of Principal Executive Officer pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002. | |
32.2** | Certification of Principal Financial Officer pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002. | |
101.INS | Inline XBRL Instance Document-the instance document does not appear in the Interactive Data File because its XBRL tags are embedded within the Inline XBRL document. | |
101.SCH | Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document. | |
101.CAL | Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase Document. | |
101.DEF | Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition. | |
101.LAB | Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Label Linkbase Document. | |
101.PRE | Inline XBRL Taxonomy Presentation Linkbase Document. | |
104 | Cover Page Interactive Data File (formatted as Inline XBRL and contained in Exhibit 101). |
* | Filed herewith |
** | Furnished herewith |
Table of Contents
(1) | Previously filed as an exhibit to our Current Report on Form 8-K filed on February 9, 2021 and incorporated by reference herein. |
(2) | Previously filed as an exhibit to our Form S-1 (File No. 333-252161) initially filed on January 15, 2021 and incorporated by reference herein. |
(3) | Previously filed as an exhibit to our Current Report on Form 8-K filed on August 23, 2022 and incorporated by reference herein. |
(4) | Previously filed as an exhibit to our Current Report on Form 8-K filed on December 21, 2022 and incorporated by reference herein. |
(5) | Previously filed as an exhibit to our Current Report on Form 8-K filed on February 07, 2023 and incorporated by reference herein. |
Table of Contents
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized on this 7th day of April, 2023.
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT ACQUISITION I CORP. | ||
By: | /s/ Nicole Neeman Brady | |
Name: Nicole Neeman Brady | ||
Title: Chairman, Chief Executive Officer |
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, this report has been signed by the following persons on behalf of the registrant in the capacities and on the dates indicated.
Signature | Title | Date | ||
/s/ Nicole Neeman Brady Nicole Neeman Brady |
Chairman, Chief Executive Officer (Principal Executive Officer) |
April 7, 2023 | ||
/s/ Eric Techel Eric Techel |
Chief Financial Officer (Principal Financial and Accounting Officer) |
April 7, 2023 | ||
/s/ Robert Shultz Robert Schultz |
Chair of the Board of Directors | April 7, 2023 | ||
/s/ Kathleen Brown |
Director | April 7, 2023 | ||
Kathleen Brown | ||||
/s/ Andrew Kassoy |
Director | April 7, 2023 | ||
Andrew Kassoy | ||||
/s/ Annette Rodriguez-Ferrer |
Director | April 7, 2023 | ||
Annette Rodriguez-Ferrer |