Valor Latitude Acquisition Corp. - Annual Report: 2021 (Form 10-K)
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM
10-K
(Mark One)
☒ | ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021.
OR
☐ | TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
For the transition period from to .
COMMISSION FILE NUMBER
001-40322
(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)
Cayman Islands |
98-1578908 | |
(State or Other Jurisdiction of Incorporation or Organization) |
(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.) | |
BO Box 309, Ugland House Grand Cayman |
1-1104 | |
(Address of Principal Executive Offices) |
(Zip Code) | |
+1 973 -290-233 Registrant’s telephone number, including area code | ||
Not Applicable (Former name or former address, if changed since last report) |
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act: | ||||
Title of Each Class |
Trading Symbol(s) |
Name of Each Exchange on Which Registered | ||
Class A ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share |
VLAT |
Nasdaq Capital Market | ||
Redeemable warrants, each one whole warrant exercisable for one Class A ordinary share at an exercise price of $11.50 |
VLATW |
Nasdaq Capital Market | ||
Units, each consisting of one Class A ordinary share and one-third of one redeemable warrant |
VLATU |
Nasdaq Capital Market |
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None
Indicate by check mark if the Registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☐ No ☒
Indicate by check mark if the Registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐ No ☒
Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the Registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation
S-T
(§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the Registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ☐ Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a
non-accelerated
filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2
of the Exchange Act. Large accelerated filer | ☐ | Accelerated filer | ☐ | |||
Non-accelerated filer |
☒ | Smaller reporting company | ☒ | |||
Emerging growth company | ☒ |
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule
12b-2
of the Act). Yes ☒ No ☐ Auditor PCAOB ID Number: 688 | Auditor Name: Marcum LLP |
Auditor Location: New York, NY, USA |
As of June 30, 2021 (the last business day of the registrant’s second fiscal quarter), the aggregate market value of its voting and
non-voting
common equity held by non-affiliates
as of such date was $
based upon the closing price reported for such date on the Nasdaq Capital Market. As of April 1
2, 23,000,000 Class A ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share, and 5,750,000 Class B ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share, were issued and outstanding, respectively. 2
, 202DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE
None.
VALOR LATITUDE ACQUISITION CORP.
ANNUAL REPORT ON FORM
10-K
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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INDEX TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS | F-1 |
i
CERTAIN TERMS
Unless otherwise stated in this Annual Report on Form
10-K
(this “Annual Report”), references to: “we,” “us,” “our,” “company,” “our company” or “Valor” are to Valor Acquisition Corp., a Cayman Islands exempted company;
“amended and restated memorandum and articles of association” are to our Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association;
“Class A ordinary shares” are to our Class A ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share;
“Class B ordinary shares” are to our Class B ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share;
“Companies Act” are to the Companies Act (2021 As Revised) of the Cayman Islands as the same may be amended from time to time;
“directors” are to our current directors
“founders shares” are to our Class B ordinary shares initially purchased by our sponsor in a private placement prior to our initial public offering and subsequently assigned to our sponsor for the same purchase price that was initially paid by our sponsor and the Class A ordinary shares that will be issued upon the automatic conversion of the Class B ordinary shares at the time of our initial business combination (for the avoidance of doubt, such Class A ordinary shares will not be “public shares”);
“initial shareholders” are to our sponsor and other holders of our founders shares prior to our initial public offering;
“letter agreement” refers to the letter agreement entered into between us and our initial shareholders, directors and officers on May 3, 2021;
“management” or our “management team” are to our officers and directors;
“ordinary shares” are to our Class A ordinary shares and our Class B ordinary shares;
“private placement warrants” are to the warrants issued to our sponsor in a private placement simultaneously with the closing of our initial public offering;
“public shares” are to our Class A ordinary shares sold as part of the units in our initial public offering (whether they were purchased in our initial public offering or thereafter in the open market);
“public shareholders” are to the holders of our public shares, including our sponsor, officers and directors to the extent our sponsor, officers or directors purchase public shares, provided their status as a “public shareholder” shall only exist with respect to such public shares;
“sponsor” or “Sponsor” are to Valor Latitude LLC, a Cayman Islands limited liability company;
“warrants” are to our redeemable warrants sold as part of the units in our initial public offering (whether they were purchased in the initial public offering or thereafter in the open market) and the private placement warrants; and
“$,” “US$” and “U.S. dollar” each refer to the United States dollar.
ii
CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS AND RISK FACTOR
SUMMARY
Some of the statements contained in this annual report may constitute “forward-looking statements” for purposes of the federal securities laws. Our forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our or our management team’s expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future. In addition, any statements that refer to projections, forecasts or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. The words “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “would” and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. Forward-looking statements in this Annual Report may include, for example, statements about:
• | our ability to select an appropriate target business or businesses; |
• | our ability to complete our initial business combination; |
• | our expectations around the performance of the prospective target business or businesses; |
• | our success in retaining or recruiting, or changes required in, our officers, key employees or directors following our initial business combination; |
• | our officers and directors allocating their time to other businesses and potentially having conflicts of interest with our business or in approving our initial business combination; |
• | our potential ability to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination; |
• | our pool of prospective target businesses; |
• | our ability to consummate an initial business combination due to the uncertainty resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic; |
• | the ability of our officers and directors to generate a number of potential business combination opportunities; |
• | our public securities’ liquidity and trading; |
• | the use of proceeds not held in the trust account or available to us from interest income on the trust account balance; |
• | the trust account not being subject to claims of third parties; or |
• | our financial performance. |
The forward-looking statements contained in this Annual Report are based on our current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects on us. There can be no assurance that future developments affecting us will be those that we have anticipated. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties (some of which are beyond our control) or other assumptions that may cause actual results or performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those factors described in “Item 1A.—Risk Factors.” Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of our assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary in material respects from those projected in these forward-looking statements. Some of these risks and uncertainties may in the future be amplified by the
COVID-19
outbreak and there may be additional risks that we consider immaterial or which are unknown. It is not possible to predict or identify all such risks. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws. iii
PART I
Item 1. Business
Introduction
We were incorporated as a Cayman Islands exempted company on January 21, 2021. The Company was incorporated for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses (the “Business Combination”). While we may pursue an acquisition opportunity in any business, industry, sector or geographical location, we intend to focus our search for an initial business combination on technology-enabled Latin American companies seeking to become category-defining enterprises and those targeting or expected to pursue cross-border expansion. A number of sectors, ranging from financial services, health & wellness, education,
e-commerce
and logistics are undergoing rapid, technology-led
disruption and consolidation. Many of the trends driving disruption in Latin America have been witnessed in the US, and are more powerful and more accelerated as a result of a high concentration of legacy technology incumbents, deep-rooted inefficiencies, supportive demographic dynamics, proliferation of mobile technology, and direct government actions aimed at promoting competition and innovation. Our sponsor is an arm of Valor Capital Group (“Valor Capital” or “our Sponsor”), a leading investment firm focused on Brazil and
US-Brazil
cross-border opportunities with a presence in New York, the Silicon Valley and São Paulo. The firm operates two investment strategies: Growth Equity and Venture Capital. Over the years, Valor Capital has demonstrated a successful track record of investing not only in early stage technology companies across a variety of end markets and technology verticals in Brazil, but also in later stage companies in the US looking to expand internationally, which have allowed it to develop a comprehensive, full lifecycle investing strategy with a differentiated ability to identify leaders across various markets. Since 2011, Valor Capital has developed deep relationships with entrepreneurs in the US and Latin America and empowered them to innovate in the booming Brazilian technology ecosystem. This network has provided Valor Capital access to attractive investment opportunities. Through four dedicated venture and growth funds and direct investments, our Sponsor has invested over than 80% of its capital thus far in Brazil. The remaining funds have been invested in a cross-border international strategy, which has enabled Valor Capital to build a unique, global network of portfolio companies. Our Sponsor is one of the largest dedicated technology asset managers in the region, and its funds’ historical performance and returns place it in the top quartile of Venture Capital firms across Emerging Markets, according to an industry source. Valor Capital’s leadership has extensive investing and operating experience. It was founded by Mr. Clifford M. Sobel, former US Ambassador to Brazil, in partnership with Mr. Scott Sobel, previously part of the founding team of Net2Phone, the pioneering VoIP Company. Mr. Scott Sobel has also held several executive roles in Fortune 500 companies such as Symbol Technologies and NCR. We also have a vastly experienced, seasoned management team led by Mr. Hélio L. Magalhães, our Director and our CEO since February 22, 2022, who also has prior CEO experience, including as the CEO of Citibank Brazil, and Mr. Doug Smith, our CFO with over 30 years of experience in the financial and investment industry, including serving as a Managing Director with Wesray Capital and its successors.
Valor Capital has focused on the unique opportunity to support local Brazilian founders in achieving their goals of enhancing efficiency and productivity in their respective markets by applying technology-driven solutions. This original orientation included monitoring the innovative, technology-enabled business environment in Brazil, with an emphasis on helping founders benefit from our deep network across the New York, the Silicon Valley and São Paulo triangle. With these themes in mind, we partnered with and invested in some of the most successful companies in the financial services, health & wellness, education,
e-commerce
and logistics sectors. 1
Guided by its values, vision and strategy, Valor Capital aspires to shape the Brazilian technology and socioeconomic landscape in congruence with the highest governance and sustainability standards across the world. As a partner of world-class, highly committed institutions such as the World Bank, International Finance Corporation (IFC), Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), sovereign wealth funds such as Temasek, and other internationally recognized institutional investors, our Sponsor is focused on investing in companies that meet, leverage and employ the best governance and sustainability practices available as well as make a tangible, lasting social impact.
Company History
On May 6, 2021, we consummated the IPO of 20,000,000 Public Units, at a price of $10.00 per Public Unit, generating gross proceeds of $200,000,000. Simultaneously with the closing of the IPO, we consummated the sale of 4,000,000 Private Placement Warrants, at a price of $1.50 per Private Placement Warrant, in a Private Placement to Valor Latitude LLC (the “Sponsor”) and Phoenix SPAC Holdco LLC (“Phoenix”), generating gross proceeds of $6,000,000.
On May 11, 2021, the underwriters purchased 3,000,000 units generating net proceeds to the Company of approximately $29,400,000 in the aggregate after deducting the underwriter discount. Simultaneously with the issuance and sale of the Units on May 11, 2021, we consummated the private placement with the Sponsor and Phoenix of an aggregate of 400,000 warrants to purchase Class A Ordinary Shares for $1.50 per warrant generating total proceeds of $600,000.
Of the net proceeds from the IPO, exercise of the over-allotment option, and associated private placements, $230,000,000 of cash was placed in the Trust Account. We cannot assure you that our plans to complete our Initial Business Combination will be successful.
On June 24, 2021, we announced that, commencing June 24, 2021, holders of the 23,000,000 units sold in the IPO may elect to separately trade the Valor Class A Ordinary Shares and the public warrants included in the units. Those units not separated continued to trade on Nasdaq under the symbol “VLATU” and the Valor Class A Ordinary Shares and public warrants that were separated trade under the symbols “VLAT” and “VLATW,” respectively.
Initial Business Combination
Nasdaq rules require that we must complete one or more business combinations having an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the value of the assets held in the trust account (excluding the deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on the interest earned on the trust account) at the time of our signing a definitive agreement in connection with our initial business combination. Our board of directors will make the determination as to the fair market value of our initial business combination upon standards generally accepted by the financial community. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of our initial business combination (including with the assistance of financial advisors), we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm which is a member of FINRA or a valuation or appraisal firm with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. While we consider it likely that our board of directors will 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 the target’s assets or prospects, including if such company is at an early stage of development, operations or growth, or if the anticipated transaction involves a complex financial analysis or other specialized skills and the board of directors determines that outside expertise would be helpful or necessary in conducting such analysis. As any such opinion, if obtained, would only state that the fair market value meets the 80% of net assets threshold, unless such opinion includes material information regarding the valuation of the target or the consideration to be provided, it is not anticipated that copies of such opinion would be distributed to our shareholders. However, if required by Schedule 14A of the Exchange Act, any proxy solicitation materials or tender offer documents that we will file with the SEC in connection with our initial business combination will include such opinion.
2
We anticipate structuring our initial business combination so that the post transaction company in which our public shareholders own shares will own or acquire up to 100% of the equity interests or assets of the target business or businesses. We may, however, structure our initial business combination such that the post 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 shareholders or for other reasons, 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 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 shareholders prior to the business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post transaction company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the business combination. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock, shares or other equity interests of a target. In this case, we would acquire a 100% controlling interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new shares, our shareholders immediately prior to our initial business combination could own less than a majority of our issued and 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 described above. If the business combination involves more than one target business, the 80% of net assets test will be based on the aggregate value of all of the target businesses.
Corporate Information
Our executive offices are located at PO Box 309, Ugland House, Grand Cayman
KY1-1104
and our telephone number is (973) 290 2331. We are a Cayman Islands exempted company. Exempted companies are Cayman Islands companies conducting business mainly outside the Cayman Islands and, as such, are exempted from complying with certain provisions of the Companies Act. As an exempted company, we have received a tax exemption undertaking from the Cayman Islands government that, in accordance with Section 6 of the Tax Concessions Act (As Revised) of the Cayman Islands, for a period of 20 years from the date of the undertaking, no law which is enacted in the Cayman Islands imposing any tax to be levied on profits, income, gains or appreciations will apply to us or our operations and, in addition, that no tax to be levied on profits, income, gains or appreciations or which is in the nature of estate duty or inheritance tax will be payable (i) on or in respect of our shares, debentures or other obligations or (ii) by way of the withholding in whole or in part of a payment of dividend or other distribution of income or capital by us to our shareholders or a payment of principal or interest or other sums due under a debenture or other obligation of us.
We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), as modified by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the “JOBS Act”). As such, we are eligible to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a
non-binding
advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the prices of our securities may be more volatile. In addition, Section 107 of the JOBS Act also provides that an “emerging growth company” can take advantage of the extended transition period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act for complying with new or revised accounting standards. In other words, an “emerging growth company” can delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We intend to take advantage of the benefits of this extended transition period.
We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of (1) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following the fifth anniversary of the completion of our initial public offering, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion, or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our Class A ordinary shares that are held by
non-affiliates
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. 3
Additionally, we are a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Rule 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 any fiscal year for so long as either (1) the market value of our ordinary shares held by non-affiliates
did not exceed $250 million as of the prior June 30, or (2) our annual revenues did not exceed $100 million during such completed fiscal year and the market value of our ordinary shares held by non-affiliates
did not exceed $700 million as of the prior June 30. Effecting Our Initial Business Combination
General
We are not presently engaged in, and we will not engage in, any operations for an indefinite period of time following our initial public offering until the closing of the Business Combination. We intend to effectuate our initial business combination using the cash held in the Trust Account, 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), 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 ordinary shares, we may use the balance of the cash released to us from the trust account following the closing 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.
While we may pursue an initial business combination target in any industry, we intend to focus our search on companies in the technology sector in Latin America. Although our management will assess the risks inherent in a particular target business with which we may combine, we cannot assure you that this assessment will result in our identifying all risks that a target business may encounter. Furthermore, some of those risks may be outside of our control, meaning that we can do nothing to control or reduce the chances that those risks will adversely affect a target business.
Evaluation of a Target Business and Structuring of Our Initial Business Combination
In evaluating a prospective target business, we expect to conduct a due diligence review which may encompass, among other things, meetings with incumbent management and employees, document reviews, interviews of customers and suppliers, inspection of facilities, as applicable, as well as a review of financial, operational, legal and other information which will be made available to us. If we determine to move forward with a particular target, we will proceed to structure and negotiate the terms of the business combination transaction.
The time required to select and evaluate a target business and to structure and complete our initial business combination, and the costs associated with this process, are not currently ascertainable with any degree of certainty. Any costs incurred with respect to the identification and evaluation of, and negotiation with, a prospective target business with which our initial business combination is not ultimately completed will result in our incurring losses and will reduce the funds we can use to complete another business combination. The company will not pay any consulting fees to members of our management team, or any of their respective affiliates, for services rendered to or in connection with our initial business combination.
Lack of Business Diversification
For an indefinite period of time after the completion of our initial business combination, the prospects for our success may depend entirely on the future performance of a single business. Unlike other entities that have the resources to complete business combinations with multiple entities in one or several industries, it is probable that we will not have the resources to diversify our operations and mitigate the risks of being in a single line of business. By completing our initial business combination with only a single entity, our lack of diversification may:
4
• | subject us to negative economic, competitive and regulatory developments, any or all of which may have a substantial adverse impact on the particular industry in which we operate after our initial business combination, and |
• | cause us to depend on the marketing and sale of a single product or limited number of products or services. |
Limited Ability to Evaluate the Target’s Management Team
Although we intend to closely scrutinize the management of a prospective target business when evaluating the desirability of effecting our initial business combination with that business, our assessment of the target business’s management may not prove to be correct. In addition, the future management may not have the necessary skills, qualifications or abilities to manage a public company. Furthermore, the future role of members of our management team, if any, in the target business cannot presently be stated with any certainty. The determination as to whether any of the members of our management team will remain with the combined company will be made at the time of our initial business combination. While it is possible that one or more of our directors will remain associated in some capacity with us following our initial business combination, it is unlikely that any of them will devote their full efforts to our affairs subsequent to our initial business combination. Moreover, we cannot assure you that members of our management team will have significant experience or knowledge relating to the operations of the particular target business.
We cannot assure you that any of our key personnel will remain in senior management or advisory positions with the combined company. The determination as to whether any of our key personnel will remain with the combined company will be made at the time of our initial business combination.
Following a business combination, we may seek to recruit additional managers to supplement the incumbent management of the target business. We cannot assure you that we will have the ability to recruit additional managers, or that additional managers will have the requisite skills, knowledge or experience necessary to enhance the incumbent management.
Redemption Rights for Public Shareholders upon Completion of Our Initial Business Combination
We will provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their Class A ordinary shares upon the completion of our initial business combination at a
per-share
price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account calculated as of two business days prior to the consummation of the initial business combination, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes, divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, subject to the limitations and on the conditions described herein. The amount in the trust account is initially anticipated to be $10.00 per public share. The per-share
amount we will distribute to investors who properly redeem their shares will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting commissions we will pay to the underwriters. Our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and any public shares they may hold in connection with the completion of our initial business combination. Limitations on Redemptions
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001. In addition, our proposed initial business combination may impose a minimum cash requirement for (i) cash consideration to be paid to the target or its owners, (ii) cash for working capital or other general corporate purposes or (iii) the retention of cash to satisfy other conditions. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all Class A ordinary shares that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed 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 Class A ordinary shares 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.
5
Manner of Conducting Redemptions
We will provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their Class A ordinary shares upon the completion of our initial business combination either (i) in connection with a general meeting called to approve the business combination or (ii) without a shareholder vote by means of a tender offer. The decision as to whether we will seek shareholder approval of a proposed business combination or conduct a tender offer will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on a variety of factors such as the timing of the transaction and whether the terms of the transaction would require us to seek shareholder approval under applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement or whether we were deemed to be a foreign private issuer (which would require a tender offer rather than seeking shareholder approval under SEC rules). Asset acquisitions and share purchases would not typically require shareholder approval while direct mergers with our company where we do not survive and any transactions where we issue more than 20% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares or seek to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association would require shareholder approval. So long as we obtain and maintain a listing for our securities on Nasdaq, we will be required to comply with the Nasdaq’s shareholder approval rules.
The requirement that we provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares by one of the two methods listed above is contained in provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association and will apply whether or not we maintain our registration under the Exchange Act or our listing on the Nasdaq. Such provisions may be amended if approved by holders of
two-thirds
of our ordinary shares entitled to vote thereon, so long as we offer redemption in connection with such amendment. If we provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares in connection with a general meeting, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association:
• | conduct the redemptions in conjunction with a proxy solicitation pursuant to Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act, which regulates the solicitation of proxies, and not pursuant to the tender offer rules, and |
• | file proxy materials with the SEC. |
In the event that we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, we will distribute proxy materials and, in connection therewith, provide our public shareholders with the redemption rights described above upon completion of the initial business combination.
If we seek shareholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if we receive an ordinary resolution under Cayman Islands law, which requires the affirmative vote of a majority of the shareholders who attend and vote at a general meeting of the company. A quorum for such meeting will be present if the holders of a majority of issued and outstanding shares entitled to vote at the meeting are represented in person or by proxy. Our sponsor, officers and directors will count toward this quorum and, pursuant to the letter agreement, our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed to vote their founder shares, private placement shares and any public shares purchased during or after the initial public offering (including in open market and privately-negotiated transactions) in favor of our initial business combination. For purposes of seeking approval of an ordinary resolution,
non-votes
will have no effect on the approval of our initial business combination once a quorum is obtained. These quorum and voting thresholds, and the voting agreement of our sponsor, officers and directors, may make it more likely that we will consummate our initial business combination. Each public shareholder may elect to redeem their public shares irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction or whether they were a public shareholder on the record date for the general meeting held to approve the proposed transaction. If a shareholder vote is not required and we do not decide to hold a shareholder vote for business or other legal reasons, we will:
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• | 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. |
In the event we conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, our offer to redeem will remain open for at least 20 business days, in accordance with Rule
14e-1(a)
under the Exchange Act, and we will not be permitted to complete our initial business combination until the expiration of the tender offer period. In addition, the tender offer will be conditioned on public shareholders not tendering more than the number of public shares we are permitted to redeem. If public shareholders tender more shares than we have offered to purchase, we will withdraw the tender offer and not complete the initial business combination. Upon the public announcement of our initial business combination, if we elect to conduct redemption pursuant to the tender offer rules, we or our sponsor will terminate any plan established in accordance with Rule
10b5-1
to purchase our Class A ordinary shares in the open market, in order to comply with Rule 14e-5
under the Exchange Act. We intend to require our public shareholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” to, at the holder’s option, either deliver their share certificates to our transfer agent or deliver their shares to our transfer agent electronically using the Depository Trust Company’s DWAC (Deposit/Withdrawal At Custodian) system, prior to the date set forth in the proxy materials or tender offer documents, as applicable. In the case of proxy materials, this date may be up to two business days prior to the scheduled vote on the proposal to approve the initial business combination. In addition, if we conduct redemptions in connection with a shareholder vote, we intend to require a public shareholder seeking redemption of its public shares to also submit a written request for redemption to our transfer agent two business days prior to the scheduled vote in which the name of the beneficial owner of such shares is included. The 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 indicate whether we are requiring public shareholders to satisfy such delivery requirements. We believe that this will allow our transfer agent to efficiently process any redemptions without the need for further communication or action from the redeeming public shareholders, which could delay redemptions and result in additional administrative cost. If the proposed initial business combination is not approved and we continue to search for a target company, we will promptly return any certificates or shares delivered by public shareholders who elected to redeem their shares.
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001. In addition, our proposed initial business combination may impose a minimum cash requirement for (i) cash consideration to be paid to the target or its owners, (ii) cash for working capital or other general corporate purposes or (iii) the retention of cash to satisfy other conditions. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all Class A ordinary shares that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed 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 Class A ordinary shares submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof.
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Limitation on Redemption Upon Completion of Our Initial Business Combination If We Seek Shareholder Approval
If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that a public shareholder, together with any affiliate of such shareholder or any other person with whom such shareholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from seeking redemption rights with respect to Excess Shares without our prior consent. We believe this restriction will discourage shareholders from accumulating large blocks of shares, and subsequent attempts by such holders to use their ability to exercise their redemption rights against a proposed business combination as a means to force us or our management to purchase their shares at a significant premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. Absent this provision, a public shareholder holding more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in our initial public offering could threaten to exercise its redemption rights if such holder’s shares are not purchased by us, our sponsor or our management at a premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. By limiting our shareholders’ ability to redeem no more than 15% of the shares sold in our initial public offering, we believe we will limit the ability of a small group of shareholders to unreasonably attempt to block our ability to complete our initial business combination, particularly in connection with a business combination with a target that requires as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. However, we would not be restricting our shareholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our initial business combination.
Delivering Share Certificates in Connection with the Exercise of Redemption Rights
As described above, we intend to require our public shareholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” to, at the holder’s option, either deliver their share certificates to our transfer agent or deliver their shares to our transfer agent electronically using the Depository Trust Company’s DWAC (Deposit/Withdrawal At Custodian) system, prior to the date set forth in the proxy materials or tender offer documents, as applicable. In the case of proxy materials, this date may be up to two business days prior to the scheduled vote on the proposal to approve the initial business combination. In addition, if we conduct redemptions in connection with a shareholder vote, we intend to require a public shareholder seeking redemption of its public shares to also submit a written request for redemption to our transfer agent two business days prior to the scheduled vote in which the name of the beneficial owner of such shares is included. The 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 indicate whether we are requiring public shareholders to satisfy such delivery requirements. Accordingly, a public shareholder would have up to two business days prior to the scheduled vote on the initial business combination if we distribute proxy materials, or from the time we send out our tender offer materials until the close of the tender offer period, as applicable, to submit or tender its shares if it wishes to seek to exercise its redemption rights. In the event that a shareholder fails to comply with these or any other procedures disclosed in the proxy or tender offer materials, as applicable, its shares may not be redeemed. Given the relatively short exercise period, it is advisable for shareholders to use electronic delivery of their public shares.
There is a nominal cost associated with the above-referenced process and the act of certificating the shares or delivering them through the DWAC system. The transfer agent will typically charge the broker submitting or tendering shares a fee of approximately $80.00 and it would be up to the broker whether or not to pass this cost on to the redeeming holder. However, this fee would be incurred regardless of whether or not we require holders seeking to exercise redemption rights to submit or 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.
Any request to redeem such shares, once made, may be withdrawn at any time up to the date set forth in the proxy materials or tender offer documents, 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 shareholders who elected to exercise their redemption rights would not be entitled to redeem their shares for the applicable pro rata share of the trust account. In such case, we will promptly return any certificates delivered by public holders who elected to redeem their shares.
If our initial proposed business combination is not completed, we may continue to try to complete a business combination with a different target until May 6, 2023.
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Redemption of Public Shares and Liquidation if No Initial Business Combination
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that we will have only until May 6, 2023 to complete our initial business combination. If we have not completed 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 (less taxes payable and up to $100,000 of interest income to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public shareholders’ rights as shareholders (including the right to receive further liquidation distributions, if any) and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining shareholders and our board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in the case of clauses (ii) and (iii) to our obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and in all cases subject to the other requirements of 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 within the allotted time period. Our sponsor, officers and directors 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 May 6, 2023. However, if our sponsor or management team 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 within the allotted time period.
Our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed, pursuant to a written agreement with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) 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 May 6, 2023 or (B) with respect to any other material provisions relating to shareholders’ rights or
pre-initial
business combination activity, unless we provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares upon approval of any such amendment at a per-share
price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our 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. If this optional redemption right is exercised with respect to an excessive number of public shares such that we cannot satisfy the net tangible asset requirement, we would not proceed with the amendment or the related redemption of our public shares at such time. 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 $344,000 of proceeds held outside the trust account and future working capital loans from the sponsor, although we cannot assure you that there will be sufficient funds for such purpose. 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 income 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 shareholders upon our dissolution would be approximately $10.00. The funds deposited in the trust account could, however, become subject to the claims of our creditors which would have higher priority than the claims of our public shareholders. We cannot assure you that the actual per-share
redemption amount received by shareholders will not be substantially less than $10.00. While we intend to pay such amounts, if any, we cannot assure you that we will have funds sufficient to pay or provide for all creditors’ claims. 9
Although we will seek to have all vendors, service providers, prospective target businesses and other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the trust account for the benefit of our public shareholders, there is no guarantee that they will execute such agreements or even if they execute such agreements that they would be prevented from bringing claims against the trust account including but not limited to fraudulent inducement, breach of fiduciary responsibility or other similar claims, as well as claims challenging the enforceability of the waiver, in each case in order to gain an advantage with respect to a claim against our assets, including the funds held in the trust account. If any third party refuses to execute an agreement waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account, our management will consider whether competitive alternatives are reasonably available to us and will only enter into an agreement with such third party if management believes that such third party’s engagement would be in the best interests of the company under the circumstances. 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 our initial public offering will not execute agreements with us waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account. In addition, there is no guarantee that such entities will agree to waive any claims they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any negotiations, contracts or agreements with us and will not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason. In order to protect the amounts held in the trust account, our sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a third party (other than Marcum LLP, our independent registered public accounting firm) 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 other 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 we believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our company. Therefore, we cannot assure you that our sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations. As a result, if any such claims were successfully made against the trust account, the funds available for our initial business combination and redemptions could be reduced to less than $10.00 per public share. In such event, we may not be able to complete our initial business combination, and you would receive such lesser amount per share in connection with any redemption of your public shares. None of our officers or directors will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses.
In the event that the funds in the trust account are reduced below the lesser of (i) $10.00 per public share and (ii) the actual amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account if less than $10.00 per share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case less taxes payable, and our sponsor asserts that it is unable to satisfy its indemnification obligations or that it has no indemnification obligations related to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether to take legal action against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations. While we currently expect that our independent directors would take legal action on our behalf against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations to us, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment may choose not to do so in any particular instance 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. 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 share. We will seek to reduce the possibility that our sponsor will have to indemnify the trust account due to claims of creditors by endeavoring to have all vendors, service providers, prospective target businesses or other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to monies held in the trust account. Our sponsor will also not be liable as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of our initial public offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. We will have access to up to approximately $1,000,000 from the proceeds of our initial public offering with which to pay any such potential claims (including costs and expenses incurred in connection with our liquidation, currently estimated to be no more than approximately $100,000). In the event that we liquidate and it is subsequently determined that the reserve for claims and liabilities is insufficient, shareholders who received funds from our trust account could be liable for claims made by creditors.
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If we file a bankruptcy or
winding-up
petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up
petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the funds held in the trust account could be subject to applicable bankruptcy or insolvency law, and may be included in our bankruptcy estate and subject to the claims of third parties with priority over the claims of our shareholders. To the extent any bankruptcy claims deplete the trust account, we cannot assure you we will be able to return $10.00 per share to our public shareholders. Additionally, if we file a bankruptcy or winding-up
petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up
petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, any distributions received by shareholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or bankruptcy or insolvency laws as either a “preferential transfer” or a “fraudulent conveyance.” As a result, a bankruptcy or insolvency court could seek to recover some or all amounts received by our shareholders. Furthermore, our board of directors may be viewed as having breached its fiduciary duty to our creditors and/or may have acted in bad faith, and thereby exposing itself and our company to claims of punitive damages, by paying public shareholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors. We cannot assure you that claims will not be brought against us for these reasons. Our public shareholders will be entitled to receive funds from the trust account only (i) in the event of the redemption of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination by May 6, 2023, (ii) in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to 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 May 6, 2023 or (B) with respect to any other material provisions relating to shareholders’ rights or
pre-initial
business combination activity or (iii) if they redeem their respective shares for cash upon the completion of our initial business combination. In no other circumstances will a shareholder have any right or interest of any kind to or in the trust account. In the event we seek shareholder approval in connection with our initial business combination, a shareholder’s voting in connection with the business combination alone will not result in a shareholder’s redeeming its shares to us for an applicable pro rata share of the trust account. Such shareholder must have also exercised its redemption rights described above. These provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, like all provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, may be amended with a shareholder vote. Conflicts of Interest
Each of our officers and directors presently has, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to another entity pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entity. Accordingly, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for an entity to which he or she has then- current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she will honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such business combination opportunity to such entity, subject to their fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law: (i) no individual serving as a director or an officer shall have any duty, except and to the extent expressly assumed by contract, to refrain from engaging directly or indirectly in the same or similar business activities or lines of business as us; and (ii) we renounce any interest or expectancy in, or in being offered an opportunity to participate in, any potential transaction or matter which may be a corporate opportunity for any director or officer on the one hand, and us, on the other. 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.
Facilities
We currently utilize office space at PO Box 309, Ugland House, Grand Cayman
KY1-1104.
We consider our current office space adequate for our current operations. 11
Employees
We currently have two officers: Hélio Magalhães and J. Douglas Smith. These individuals are not obligated to devote any specific number of hours to our matters but they intend to devote as much of their time as they deem necessary to our affairs until we have completed our initial business combination. The amount of time they will devote in any time period will vary based on whether a target business has been selected for our initial business combination and the stage of the business combination process we are in. We do not intend to have any full-time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination.
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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
and the prospectus associated with our Initial Public Offering, before making a decision to invest in our securities. If any of the following events occur, our business, financial condition and operating results may be materially adversely affected. In that event, the trading price of our securities could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment. General Risk Factors
We are a blank check company with no operating history and no revenues, and you have no basis on which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective.
We are a blank check company incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands with no operating results, and we will not commence operations until obtaining funding through our initial public offering. Because we lack an operating history, you have no basis upon which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective of completing our initial business combination. We have no plans, arrangements or understandings with any prospective target business concerning a 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.
Our independent registered public accounting firm’s report contains an explanatory paragraph that expresses substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a “going concern.”
As of December 31, 2021, we had cash outside the trust account of $343,519 and working capital of $475,704. Further, we have incurred and expect to continue to incur significant costs in pursuit of our financing and acquisition plans. Management’s plans to address this need for capital through our initial public offering are discussed in the section of this annual report titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.” We cannot assure you that our plans to raise capital or to consummate an initial business combination will be successful. These factors, among others, raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. The financial statements contained elsewhere in this annual report do not include any adjustments that might result from our inability to consummate our initial public offering or our inability to continue as a going concern.
Past performance by our management team, our sponsor and their affiliates, including investments and transactions in which they have participated and businesses with which they have been associated, may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in the Company.
Information regarding our management team and their affiliates, including investments and transactions in which they have participated and businesses with which they have been associated, is presented for informational purposes only. Any past experience and performance by our management team and their affiliates and the businesses with which they have been associated, is not a guarantee that we will be able to successfully identify a suitable candidate for our initial business combination, that we will be able to provide positive returns to our shareholders, or of any results with respect to any initial business combination we may consummate. You should not rely on the historical experiences of our management team and their affiliates, including investments and transactions in which they have participated and businesses with which they have been associated, as indicative of the future performance of an investment in us or as indicative of every prior investment by each of the members of our management team or their affiliates. The market price of our securities may be influenced by numerous factors, many of which are beyond our control, and our shareholders may experience losses on their investment in our securities.
13
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 may not have sufficient funds to satisfy indemnification claims of our directors and officers.
We have agreed to indemnify our officers and directors to the fullest extent permitted by law. However, our officers and directors have agreed to waive any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies in the trust account and to not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason whatsoever. Accordingly, any indemnification provided will be able to be satisfied by us only if (i) we have sufficient funds outside of the trust account or (ii) we consummate an initial business combination. Our obligation to indemnify our officers and directors may discourage shareholders from bringing a lawsuit against our officers or directors for breach of their fiduciary duty. These provisions also may have the effect of reducing the likelihood of derivative litigation against our officers and directors, even though such an action, if successful, might otherwise benefit us and our shareholders. Furthermore, a shareholder’s investment may be adversely affected to the extent we pay the costs of settlement and damage awards against our officers and directors pursuant to these indemnification provisions.
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.
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 internal controls attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. As a result, our shareholders may not have access to certain information they may deem important. We could be an emerging growth company for up to five years, although circumstances could cause us to lose that status earlier, including if the market value of our Class A ordinary shares held by
non-
affiliates exceeds $700 million as of any June 30 before that time, in which case we would no longer be an emerging growth company as of the following December 31. We cannot predict whether investors will find our securities less attractive because we will rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result of our reliance on these exemptions, the trading prices of our securities may be lower than they otherwise would be, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the trading prices of our securities may be more volatile. 14
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 Rule 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 any fiscal year for so long as either (1) the market value of our ordinary shares held by non-affiliates
did not exceed $250 million as of the prior June 30, or (2) our annual revenues did not exceed $100 million during such completed fiscal year and the market value of our ordinary shares held by non-affiliates
did not exceed $700 million as of the prior June 30. To the extent we take advantage of such reduced disclosure obligations, it may also make comparison of our financial statements with other public companies difficult or impossible. Compliance obligations under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may make it more difficult for us to effectuate 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 business with which we seek to complete our initial business combination may not be in compliance with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act regarding adequacy of its internal controls. The development of the internal control of any such entity to achieve compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may increase the time and costs necessary to complete any such business combination.
Because we are incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands, you may face difficulties in protecting your interests, and your ability to protect your rights through the U.S. Federal courts may be limited.
We are an exempted company incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands. As a result, it may be difficult for investors to effect service of process within the United States upon our directors or officers, or enforce judgments obtained in the United States courts against our directors or officers.
Our corporate affairs will be governed by our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, the Companies Act (as the same may be supplemented or amended from time to time) and the common law of the Cayman Islands. We will also be subject to the federal securities laws of the United States. The rights of shareholders to take action against the directors, actions by minority shareholders and the fiduciary responsibilities of our directors to us under Cayman Islands law are to a large extent governed by the common law of the Cayman Islands. The common law of the Cayman Islands is derived in part from comparatively limited judicial precedent in the Cayman Islands as well as from English common law, the decisions of whose courts are of persuasive authority, but are not binding on a court in the Cayman Islands. The rights of our shareholders and the fiduciary responsibilities of our directors under Cayman Islands law are different from what they would be under statutes or judicial precedent in some jurisdictions in the United States. In particular, the Cayman Islands has a different body of securities laws as compared to the United States, and certain states, such as Delaware, may have more fully developed and judicially interpreted bodies of corporate law. In addition, Cayman Islands companies may not have standing to initiate a shareholders derivative action in a Federal court of the United States.
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We have been advised by Maples and Calder (Cayman) LLP, our Cayman Islands legal counsel, that the courts of the Cayman Islands are unlikely (i) to recognize or enforce against us judgments of courts of the United States predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the federal securities laws of the United States or any state; and (ii) in original actions brought in the Cayman Islands, to impose liabilities against us predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the federal securities laws of the United States or any state, so far as the liabilities imposed by those provisions are penal in nature. In those circumstances, although there is no statutory enforcement in the Cayman Islands of judgments obtained in the United States, the courts of the Cayman Islands will recognize and enforce a foreign money judgment of a foreign court of competent jurisdiction without retrial on the merits based on the principle that a judgment of a competent foreign court imposes upon the judgment debtor an obligation to pay the sum for which judgment has been given provided certain conditions are met. For a foreign judgment to be enforced in the Cayman Islands, such judgment must be final and conclusive and for a liquidated sum, and must not be in respect of taxes or a fine or penalty, inconsistent with a Cayman Islands judgment in respect of the same matter, impeachable on the grounds of fraud or obtained in a manner, or be of a kind the enforcement of which is, contrary to natural justice or the public policy of the Cayman Islands (awards of punitive or multiple damages may well be held to be contrary to public policy). A Cayman Islands Court may stay enforcement proceedings if concurrent proceedings are being brought elsewhere.
As a result of all of the above, public shareholders may have more difficulty in protecting their interests in the face of actions taken by management, members of the board of directors or controlling shareholders than they would as public shareholders of a United States company.
We identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting relating to our complex financial instruments. This material weakness could continue to adversely affect our ability to report our results of operations and financial condition accurately and in a timely manner.
Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with GAAP. Our management also evaluates the effectiveness of our internal controls and we will disclose any changes and material weaknesses identified through such evaluation in those internal controls. A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.
In addition, in connection with the preparation of our financial statements as of
December 31, 2021, management identified errors made in our historical financial statements where we improperly classified a portion of our public shares as permanent equity to maintain shareholders’ equity greater than $5,000,000 on the basis that we will consummate our initial business combination only if we have net tangible assets of at least $5,000,001. As part of such process, management determined that the public shares include certain provisions that require classification of the public shares as temporary equity regardless of the minimum net tangible assets required by us to complete our initial business combination. Therefore, management concluded that our previously issued financial statements impacted should be restated to report all public shares as temporary equity. Management concluded that the foregoing constituted a material weakness as of
December 31, 2021.
As a result, we performed additional analysis as deemed necessary to ensure that our financial statements were prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. Accordingly, management believes that the financial statements included in this annual report on Form
10-K
present fairly in all material respects our financial position, results of operations and cash flows for the period presented. However, we cannot assure you that the foregoing will not result in any future material weaknesses or deficiencies in internal control over financial reporting. Even though we have strengthened our controls and procedures, in the future those controls and procedures may not be adequate to prevent or identify irregularities or errors or to facilitate the fair presentation of our financial statements. 16
Risks Relating to our Search for, Consummation of, or Inability to Consummate, a Business Combination and Post-Business Combination Risks
Our public shareholders may not be afforded an opportunity to vote on our proposed initial business combination, and even if we hold a vote, holders of our founder shares will participate in such vote, which means we may complete our initial business combination even though a majority of our public shareholders do not support such a combination.
We may choose not to hold a shareholder vote to approve our initial business combination unless the business combination would require shareholder approval under applicable law or stock exchange listing requirements. In such case, the decision as to whether we will seek shareholder approval of a proposed business combination or will allow shareholders to sell their shares to us in a tender offer will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on a variety of factors, such as the timing of the transaction and whether the terms of the transaction would otherwise require us to seek shareholder approval. Even if we seek shareholder approval, the holders of our founder shares will participate in the vote on such approval. Accordingly, we may complete our initial business combination even if holders of a majority of our ordinary shares do not approve of the business combination we complete.
Your only opportunity to effect your investment decision regarding a potential business combination may be limited to the exercise of your right to redeem your shares from us for cash.
At the time of your investment in us, you will not be provided with an opportunity to evaluate the specific merits or risks of our initial business combination. Since our board of directors may complete a business combination without seeking shareholder approval, public shareholders may not have the right or opportunity to vote on the business combination, unless we seek such shareholder vote. Accordingly, your only opportunity to effect your investment decision regarding our initial business combination may be limited to exercising your redemption rights within the period of time (which will be at least 20 business days) set forth in our tender offer documents mailed to our public shareholders in which we describe our initial business combination.
Because of our limited resources and the significant competition for business combination opportunities, it may be more difficult for us to complete our initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public shareholders may receive only their pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account that are available for distribution to public shareholders, and our warrants will expire worthless.
We 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, domestic and international, competing for the types of businesses we intend to acquire. Many of these individuals and entities are well-established and have extensive experience in identifying and effecting, directly or indirectly, acquisitions of companies operating in or providing services to various industries. Many of these competitors possess similar or greater technical, human and other resources to ours or more local industry knowledge than we do and our financial resources will be relatively limited when contrasted with those of many of these competitors. While we believe there are numerous target businesses we could potentially acquire with the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, our ability to compete with respect to the acquisition of certain target businesses that are sizable will be limited by our available financial resources. This inherent competitive limitation gives others an advantage in pursuing the acquisition of certain target businesses. Furthermore, we are obligated to offer holders of our public shares the right to redeem their shares for cash at the time of our initial business combination in conjunction with a shareholder vote or via a tender offer. Target companies will be aware that this may reduce the resources available to us for our initial business combination. Any of these obligations may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating a business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public shareholders may receive only their pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account that are available for distribution to public shareholders, and our warrants will expire worthless.
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The ability of our public shareholders to redeem their shares for cash may make our financial condition unattractive to potential business combination targets, which may make it difficult for us to enter into a business combination with a target.
We may seek to enter into a business combination transaction agreement with a minimum cash requirement for (i) cash consideration to be paid to the target or its owners, (ii) cash for working capital or other general corporate purposes or (iii) the retention of cash to satisfy other conditions. If too many public shareholders exercise their redemption rights, we would not be able to meet such closing condition and, as a result, would not be able to proceed with the business combination. The amount of the deferred underwriting commissions payable to the underwriter will not be adjusted for any shares that are redeemed in connection with a business combination and such amount of deferred underwriting discount is not available for us to use as consideration in an initial business combination. Furthermore, in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets, after payment of the deferred underwriting commissions, to be less than $5,000,001 upon completion of our initial business combination, or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement that may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. Consequently, if accepting all properly submitted redemption requests would cause our net tangible assets, after payment of the deferred underwriting commissions, to be less than $5,000,001 upon completion of our initial business combination or less than such greater amount necessary to satisfy a closing condition as described above, we would not proceed with such redemption of our public shares and the related business combination, and we may instead search for an alternate business combination. Prospective targets will be aware of these risks and, thus, may be reluctant to enter into a business combination transaction with us. If we are able to consummate an initial business combination, the
per-share
value of shares held by non-redeeming
shareholders will reflect our obligation to pay the deferred underwriting commissions. The ability of our public shareholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our shares may not allow us to complete the most desirable business combination or optimize our capital structure.
At the time we enter into an agreement for our initial business combination, we will not know how many shareholders may exercise their redemption rights, and therefore will need to structure the transaction based on our expectations as to the number of shares that will be submitted for redemption. If our initial business combination agreement requires us to use a portion of the cash in the trust account to pay the purchase price, or requires us to have a minimum amount of cash at closing, we will need to reserve a portion of the cash in the trust account to meet such requirements, or arrange for third party financing. In addition, if a 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 provision of the Class B ordinary shares results in the issuance of Class A ordinary shares on a greater than basis upon conversion of the Class B ordinary shares at the time of our initial business combination. In addition, 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
one-to-one
per-share
amount we will distribute to shareholders who properly exercise their redemption rights will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting commission and after such redemptions, the amount held in trust will continue to reflect our obligation to pay the entire deferred underwriting commissions. The above considerations may limit our ability to complete the most desirable business combination available to us or optimize our capital structure. The ability of our public shareholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our shares could increase the probability that our initial business combination would be unsuccessful and that you would have to wait for liquidation in order to redeem your shares.
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 shares in the open market; however, at such time our shares may trade at a discount to the pro rata amount per share in the trust account. In either situation, you may suffer a material loss on your investment or lose the benefit of funds expected in connection with your exercise of redemption rights until we liquidate or you are able to sell your shares in the open market.
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The requirement that we complete our initial business combination within 24 months after the closing of our initial public offering may give potential target businesses leverage over us in negotiating a business combination and may limit the time we have in which to conduct due diligence on potential business combination targets, in particular as we approach our dissolution deadline, which could undermine our ability to complete our initial business combination on terms that would produce value for our shareholders.
Any potential target business with which we enter into negotiations concerning a business combination will be aware that we must complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering. Consequently, such target business may obtain leverage over us in negotiating a business combination, knowing that if we do not complete our initial business combination with that particular target business, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination with any target business. This risk will increase as we get closer to the 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 partner business with which we ultimately complete a business combination, may be materially adversely affected by the recent coronavirus
(COVID-19)
pandemic and the status of debt and equity markets. The
COVID-19
pandemic has resulted in, and a significant outbreak of other infectious diseases could result in, a widespread health crisis that has adversely affected the economies and financial markets worldwide, and the business of any potential target business with which we consummate a business combination could be materially and adversely affected. 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 partner business’s personnel, vendors and services providers are unavailable to negotiate and complete a transaction in a timely manner. The extent to which COVID-19
impacts our search for a business combination will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, including new information which may emerge concerning the severity of COVID-19
and the actions to contain COVID-19
or treat its impact, among others. If the disruptions posed by COVID-19
or other matters of global concern continue for an extensive period of time, our ability to complete a business combination, or the operations of a partner business with which we ultimately complete a business combination, may be materially adversely affected. In addition, our ability to complete a transaction may be dependent on the ability to raise equity and debt financing which may be impacted by COVID-19
and other events, including as a result of increased market volatility, decreased market liquidity and third-party financing being unavailable on terms acceptable to us or at all. Finally, the outbreak of
COVID-19
may also have the effect of heightening many of the other risks described in this “Risk Factors” section, such as those related to the market for our securities and cross-border transactions. We may not be able to complete our initial business combination within 24 months after the closing of our initial public offering, in which case we would cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up and we would redeem our public shares and liquidate.
We may not be able to find a suitable target business and complete our initial business combination within 24 months after the closing of our initial public offering. Our ability to complete our initial business combination may be negatively impacted by general market conditions, volatility in the capital and debt markets and the other risks described herein. For example, the
COVID-19
pandemic continues to grow both in the U.S. and globally and, while the extent of the impact of the pandemic on us will depend on future developments, it could limit our ability to complete our initial business combination, including as a result of increased market volatility, decreased market liquidity and third-party financing being unavailable on terms acceptable to us or at all. 19
Additionally, the
COVID-19
pandemic may negatively impact businesses we may seek to acquire. If we have not completed our initial business combination within such time period, we will: (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share
price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account (less taxes payable and up to $100,000 of interest income to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public shareholders’ rights as shareholders (including the right to receive further liquidation distributions, if any) and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining shareholders and our board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in each case, to our obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and in all cases subject to the other requirements of applicable law. If we are unable to consummate our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, our public shareholders may be forced to wait beyond such to 24 months before redemption from our trust account.
If we are unable to consummate our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, the funds then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account (less taxes payable and up to $100,000 of interest income to pay dissolution expenses), will be used to fund the redemption of our public shares, as further described herein. Any redemption of public shareholders from the trust account will be effected automatically by function of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association prior to any voluntary winding up. If we are required to
wind-up,
liquidate the trust account and distribute such amount therein, pro rata, to our public shareholders, as part of any liquidation process, such winding up, liquidation and distribution must comply with the applicable provisions of the Companies Act. In that case, investors may be forced to wait beyond 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering before the redemption proceeds of our trust account become available to them, and they receive the return of their pro rata portion of the funds from our trust account. We have no obligation to return funds to investors prior to the date of our redemption or liquidation unless we consummate our initial business combination prior thereto and only then in cases where investors have sought to redeem their Class A ordinary shares. Only upon our redemption or any liquidation will public shareholders be entitled to distributions if we are unable to complete our initial business combination. If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, our initial shareholders and management team have agreed to vote in favor of such initial business combination, regardless of how our public shareholders vote.
Our initial shareholders own approximately 20% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares as of December 31, 2021. Our initial shareholders and management team also may from time to time purchase Class A ordinary shares prior to our initial business combination. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that, if we seek shareholder approval of an initial business combination, such initial business combination will be approved if we receive an ordinary resolution under Cayman Islands law, which requires the affirmative vote of a majority of the shareholders who attend and vote at a general meeting of the company, including the founder shares. As a result, in addition to our initial shareholders’ founder shares (including Phoenix’s founder shares for purposes of this calculation), we would need 7,500,001, or 37.5%, of the 20,000,000 public shares sold in our initial public offering to be voted in favor of an initial business combination in order to have our initial business combination approved (assuming all outstanding shares are voted and the over-allotment option is not exercised). In addition, in the event that Phoenix purchases 3,000,000 units (either in our initial public offering or after, or both) and votes them in favor of our initial business combination, a smaller proportion of affirmative votes from other public shareholders (31%) would be required to approve our initial business combination. Phoenix’s interest in the founder shares may provide an incentive to vote its shares in favor or our initial business combination.
Accordingly, if we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, the agreement by our initial shareholders and management team to vote in favor of our initial business combination will increase the likelihood that we will receive an ordinary resolution, being the requisite shareholder approval for such initial business combination.
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If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor, Phoenix, our other initial shareholders, directors, officers, advisors and their affiliates may elect to purchase shares or public warrants from public shareholders, which may influence a vote on a proposed business combination and reduce the public “float” of our Class A ordinary shares.
If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our sponsor, Phoenix, initial shareholders, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase 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, although they are under no obligation to do so. There is no limit on the number of shares our initial shareholders, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase in such transactions, subject to compliance with applicable law and Nasdaq rules. Additionally, at any time at or prior to our initial business combination, subject to applicable securities laws (including with respect to material
non-public
information), our initial shareholders, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may enter into transactions with investors and others to provide them with incentives to acquire public shares, vote their public shares in favor of our initial business combination or not redeem their public shares. However, they have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such transactions. None of the funds in the trust account will be used to purchase shares or public warrants in such transactions. Such purchases may include a contractual acknowledgment that such shareholder, 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, initial shareholders, directors, officers, advisors, Phoenix or their affiliates purchase shares in privately negotiated transactions from public shareholders who have already elected to exercise their redemption rights, such selling shareholders would be required to revoke their prior elections to redeem their shares. The purpose of any such purchases of shares could be to vote such shares in favor of the business combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining shareholder approval of the 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 ordinary shares 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 shareholder fails to receive notice of our offer to redeem our public shares in connection with our initial business combination, or fails to comply with the procedures for submitting or tendering its shares, such shares may not be redeemed.
We will comply with the proxy rules or tender offer rules, as applicable, when conducting redemptions in connection with our initial business combination. Despite our compliance with these rules, if a shareholder fails to receive our proxy materials or tender offer documents, as applicable, such shareholder 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 submit public shares for redemption. For example, we intend to require our public shareholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” to, at the holder’s option, either deliver their share certificates to our transfer agent, or to deliver their shares to our transfer agent electronically prior to the date set forth in the proxy materials or tender offer documents, as applicable. In the case of proxy materials, this date may be up to two business days prior to the scheduled vote on the proposal to approve the initial business combination. In addition, if we conduct redemptions in connection with a shareholder vote, we intend to require a public shareholder seeking redemption of its public shares to also submit a written request for redemption to our transfer agent two business days prior to the scheduled vote in which the name of the beneficial owner of such shares is included. In the event that a shareholder fails to comply with these or any other procedures disclosed in the proxy or tender offer materials, as applicable, its shares may not be redeemed.
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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 with enterprise values that are greater than we could acquire with the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants. As a result, if the cash portion of the purchase price exceeds the amount available from the trust account, net of amounts needed to satisfy any redemption by public shareholders, 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, we may be required to obtain additional financing in connection with the closing of our initial business combination for general corporate purposes, including for maintenance or expansion of operations of the post-transaction businesses, the payment of principal or interest due on indebtedness incurred in completing our initial business combination, or to fund the purchase of other companies. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public shareholders may only receive their pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account that are available for distribution to public shareholders, and our warrants will expire worthless. In addition, even if we do not need additional financing to complete our initial business combination, we may require such financing to fund the operations or growth of the target business. The failure to secure additional financing could have a material adverse effect on the continued development or growth of the target business. None of our officers, directors or shareholders is required to provide any financing to us in connection with or after our initial business combination.
Although we have identified general criteria and guidelines that we believe are important in evaluating prospective target businesses, we may enter into our initial business combination with a target that does not meet such criteria and guidelines, and as a result, the target business with which we enter into our initial business combination may not have attributes entirely consistent with our general criteria and guidelines.
Although we have identified general criteria and guidelines, including geographic area, for evaluating prospective target businesses, it is possible that a target business with which we enter into our initial business combination will not have all of these positive attributes. If we complete our initial business combination with a target that does not meet some or all of these guidelines, such combination may not be as successful as a combination with a business that does meet all of our general criteria and guidelines. In addition, if we announce a prospective business combination with a target that does not meet our general criteria and guidelines, a greater number of shareholders may exercise their redemption rights, which may make it difficult for us to meet any closing condition with a target business that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. In addition, if shareholder approval of the transaction is required by law, or we decide to obtain shareholder approval for business or other reasons, it may be more difficult for us to attain shareholder approval of our initial business combination if the target business does not meet our general criteria and guidelines. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public shareholders may only receive their pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account that are available for distribution to public shareholders, and our warrants will expire worthless.
We may seek business combination opportunities in industries or sectors that may be outside of our management’s areas of expertise.
We may consider a business combination outside of our management’s areas of expertise if a business combination candidate is presented to us and we determine that such candidate offers an attractive business combination opportunity for our company. 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 investors in our initial public offering than a direct investment, if an opportunity were available, in a business combination candidate. In the event we elect to pursue a business combination outside of the areas of our management’s expertise, our management’s expertise may not be directly applicable to its evaluation or operation, and the information contained in this annual report regarding the areas of our management’s expertise would not be relevant to an understanding of the business that we elect to acquire. As a result, our management may not be able to ascertain or assess adequately all of the relevant risk factors.
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Accordingly, any shareholders who choose to remain shareholders following our initial business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their shares. Such shareholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.
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 are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public shareholders may only receive their pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account that are available for distribution to public shareholders, and our warrants will expire worthless.
We 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 which could materially adversely affect subsequent attempts to locate and acquire or merge with another business. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public shareholders may only receive their pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account that are available for distribution to public shareholders, and our warrants will expire worthless.
We may have a limited ability to assess the management of a prospective target business and, as a result, may effect our initial business combination with a target business whose management may not have the skills, qualifications or abilities to manage a public company.
When evaluating the desirability of effecting our initial business combination with a prospective target business, our ability to assess the target business’s management may be limited due to a lack of time, resources or information. Our assessment of the capabilities of the target business’s management, therefore, may prove to be incorrect and such management may lack the skills, qualifications or abilities we suspected. Should the target business’s management not possess the skills, qualifications or abilities necessary to manage a public company, the operations and profitability of the post-combination business may be negatively impacted. Accordingly, any shareholders who choose to remain shareholders following the business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their shares. Such shareholders 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.
We may seek acquisition opportunities with an early stage company, a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of revenue or earnings.
To the extent we complete our initial business combination with an early stage company, a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of sales or earnings, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in the operations of the business with which we combine. These risks include investing in a business without a proven business model and with limited historical financial data, volatile revenues or earnings, intense competition and difficulties in obtaining and retaining key personnel. Although our officers and directors will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we may not be able to properly ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors and we may not have adequate time to complete due diligence. Furthermore, some of these risks may be outside of our control and leave us with no ability to control or reduce the chances that those risks will adversely impact a target business.
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Moreover, in pursuing our 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 a business combination with a company that is not as profitable (if at all) as we believed at the time of signing an agreement to acquire such private company or that fails to meet the projections upon which our valuation may be based.
The officers and directors of an acquisition candidate may resign upon completion of our initial business combination. The loss of a business combination target’s key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business.
The role of an acquisition candidate’s key personnel upon the completion of our initial business combination cannot be ascertained at this time. Although we contemplate that certain members of an acquisition candidate’s management team will remain associated with the acquisition candidate following our initial business combination, it is possible that members of the management of an acquisition candidate will not wish to remain in place.
Since our sponsor, Phoenix, officers and directors will lose their entire investment in us if our initial business combination is not completed (other than with respect to public shares they may acquire during or after our initial public offering), a conflict of interest may arise in determining whether a particular business combination target is appropriate for our initial business combination.
In January 2021, one of our directors paid $25,000, or approximately $0.004 per share, to cover certain of our offering costs, in exchange for an aggregate of 5,750,000 founder shares. In March 2021, the founder shares were assigned to our sponsor for the same purchase price that was initially paid by one of our directors. Immediately before the consummation of our initial public offering, our sponsor sold an aggregate of 738,731 founder shares to Phoenix for the same price originally paid for such shares by our sponsor. The founder shares held by our sponsor and Phoenix will be subject to forfeiture on a pro rata basis in the event the underwriters’ over-allotment option is not exercised. The purchase price of the founder shares was determined by dividing the amount of expenses paid on behalf of the company by the number of founder shares issued. The number of founder shares outstanding was determined based on the expectation that the total size of our initial public offering would be a maximum of 23,000,000 units if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full, and therefore that such founder shares represent approximately 20% of the outstanding shares after our initial public offering. The founder shares will be worthless if we do not complete an initial business combination. In addition, our sponsor and Phoenix purchased an aggregate of 4,400,000 private placement warrants for an aggregate purchase price of $6,600,000, or $1.50 per warrant. The private placement warrants will also be worthless if we do not complete our initial business combination. The personal and financial interests of our officers and directors may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business combination, completing an initial business combination and influencing the operation of the business following the initial business combination. This risk may become more acute as the
24-month
anniversary of the closing of our initial public offering nears, which is the deadline for our completion of an initial business combination. Because we must furnish our shareholders with target business financial statements, we may lose the ability to complete an otherwise advantageous initial business combination with some prospective target businesses.
The federal proxy rules require that the proxy statement with respect to the vote on an initial business combination include historical and pro forma financial statement disclosure. We will include the same financial statement disclosure in connection with our tender offer documents, whether or not they are required under the tender offer rules. These financial statements may be required to be prepared in accordance with, or be reconciled to, accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”) or international financial reporting standards as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (“IFRS”) depending on the circumstances and the historical financial statements may be required to be audited in accordance with the standards of the 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 rules and complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame.
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Subsequent to our completion of our initial business combination, we may be required to take write-downs or write-offs, restructuring and impairment or other charges that could have a significant negative effect on our financial condition, results of operations and the price of our securities, which could cause you to lose some or all of your investment.
Even if we conduct due diligence on a target business with which we combine, we cannot assure you that this diligence will identify all material issues that may be present within 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 or thereafter. Accordingly, any shareholders or warrant holders who choose to remain shareholders or warrant holders following the business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such shareholders or warrant holders 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. If third parties bring claims against us, the funds held in the trust account could be reduced and the
per-share
redemption amount received by shareholders 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 will seek to have all vendors, service providers, prospective target businesses and other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the trust account for the benefit of our public shareholders, such parties may not execute such agreements, or even if they execute such agreements they may not be prevented from bringing claims against the trust account, including, but not limited to, fraudulent inducement, breach of fiduciary responsibility or other similar claims, as well as claims challenging the enforceability of the waiver, in each case in order to gain advantage with respect to a claim against our assets, including the funds held in the trust account. If any third party refuses to execute an agreement waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account, our management will consider whether competitive alternatives are reasonably available to us and will only enter into an agreement with such third party if management believes that such third party’s engagement would be in the best interests of the company under the circumstances. Marcum LLP, our independent registered public accounting firm, and the underwriters of our initial public offering will not execute 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 have not completed 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 10 years following redemption. Accordingly, the
per-share
redemption amount received by public shareholders could be less than the $10.00 per public share initially held in the trust account, due to claims of such creditors. Pursuant to the letter agreement included as an exhibit to this annual report, our sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a third party (other than Marcum LLP, our independent registered public accounting firm) 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 other 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 we believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our company. Therefore, we cannot assure you that our sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations. As a result, if any such claims were successfully made against the trust account, the funds available for our initial business combination and redemptions could be reduced to less than $10.00 per public share. In such event, we may not be able to complete our initial business combination, and you would receive such lesser amount per share in connection with any redemption of your public shares. None of our officers or directors will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses. 25
Our directors may decide not to enforce the indemnification obligations of our sponsor, resulting in a reduction in the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public shareholders.
In the event that the funds in the trust account are reduced below the lesser of (i) $10.00 per 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, in each case less taxes payable, and our sponsor asserts that it is unable to satisfy his obligations or that he 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 shareholders may be reduced below $10.00 per share.
The securities in which we invest the funds held in the trust account could bear a negative rate of interest, which could reduce the value of the assets held in trust such that the
per-share
redemption amount received by public shareholders may be less than $10.00 per share. The proceeds held in the trust account will be invested only in U.S. government treasury obligations with a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule
2a-7
under the Investment Company Act, which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations. While short-term U.S. government treasury obligations currently yield a positive rate of interest, they have briefly yielded negative interest rates in recent years. Central banks in Europe and Japan pursued interest rates below zero in recent years, and the Open Market Committee of the Federal Reserve has not ruled out the possibility that it may in the future adopt similar policies in the United States. In the event that we do not to complete our initial business combination or make certain amendments to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, our public shareholders are entitled to receive their pro-rata
share of the proceeds held in the trust account, plus any interest income earned thereon (less taxes payable and up to $100,000 of interest income to pay dissolution expenses). Negative interest rates could reduce the value of the assets held in trust such that the per-share
redemption amount received by public shareholders may be less than $10.00 per share. If, after we distribute the funds in the trust account to our public shareholders, we file a bankruptcy or
winding-up
petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up
petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, a bankruptcy or insolvency court may seek to recover such proceeds, and the members of our board of directors may be viewed as having breached their fiduciary duties to our creditors, thereby exposing the members of our board of directors and us to claims of punitive damages. 26
If, after we distribute the funds in the trust account to our public shareholders, we file a bankruptcy or
winding-up
petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up
petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, any distributions received by shareholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or bankruptcy or insolvency laws as either a “preferential transfer” or a “fraudulent conveyance.” As a result, a bankruptcy or insolvency court could seek to recover some or all amounts received by our shareholders. In addition, our board of directors may be viewed as having breached its fiduciary duty to our creditors and/or having acted in bad faith, thereby exposing itself and us to claims of punitive damages, by paying public shareholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors. If, before distributing the funds in the trust account to our public shareholders, we file a bankruptcy or
winding-up
petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up
petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the claims of creditors in such proceeding may have priority over the claims of our shareholders and the per-share
amount that would otherwise be received by our shareholders in connection with our liquidation may be reduced. If, before distributing the funds in the trust account to our public shareholders, we file a bankruptcy or
winding-up
petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up
petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the funds held in the trust account could be subject to applicable bankruptcy or insolvency law, and may be included in our bankruptcy estate and subject to the claims of third parties with priority over the claims of our shareholders. To the extent any bankruptcy claims deplete the trust account, the per-share
amount that would otherwise be received by our shareholders in connection with our liquidation may be reduced. Our shareholders may be held liable for claims by third parties against us to the extent of distributions received by them upon redemption of their shares.
If we are forced to enter into an insolvent liquidation, any distributions received by shareholders could be viewed as an unlawful payment if it was proved that immediately following the date on which the distribution was made, we were unable to pay our debts as they fall due in the ordinary course of business. As a result, a liquidator could seek to recover some or all amounts received by our shareholders. Furthermore, our directors may be viewed as having breached their fiduciary duties to us or our creditors and/or may have acted in bad faith, thereby exposing themselves and our company to claims, by paying public shareholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors. We cannot assure you that claims will not be brought against us for these reasons. We and our directors and officers who knowingly and willfully authorized or permitted any distribution to be paid out of our share premium account while we were unable to pay our debts as they fall due in the ordinary course of business would be guilty of an offence and may be liable to a fine of $18,293 and to imprisonment for five years in the Cayman Islands.
We may not hold an annual general meeting until after the consummation of our initial business combination, which could delay the opportunity for our shareholders to appoint directors.
In accordance with Nasdaq corporate governance requirements, we are required to hold an annual general meeting no later than one year after our first fiscal year end following our listing on Nasdaq. There is no requirement under the Companies Act for us to hold annual or extraordinary general meetings to appoint directors. Until we hold an annual general meeting, public shareholders may not be afforded the opportunity to appoint directors and to discuss company affairs with management. Our board of directors is divided into three classes with only one class of directors being appointed in each year and each class (except for those directors appointed prior to our first general meeting) serving a three-year term. In addition, as holders of our Class A ordinary shares, our public shareholders will not have the right to vote on the appointment of directors until after the consummation of our initial business combination.
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Because we are neither limited to evaluating a target business in a particular industry sector nor have we selected any target businesses with which to pursue our initial business combination, you will be unable to ascertain the merits or risks of any particular target business’s operations.
Although we expect to invest in a technology-enabled Latin American company, our efforts to identify a prospective initial business combination target will not be limited to a particular industry, sector or geographic region. While we may pursue an initial business combination opportunity in any industry or sector, we intend to capitalize on the ability of our management team to identify and acquire a business or businesses that can benefit from our management team’s established global relationships and operating experience. Our management team has extensive experience in identifying and executing strategic investments globally and has done so successfully in a number of early stage technology companies across a variety of end markets and technology verticals in Brazil, as well as in later stage companies in the US looking to expand internationally, including companies in the financial services, health & wellness, education,
e-commerce
and logistics sectors, among others. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association prohibit us from effectuating a business combination with another blank check company or similar company with nominal operations. Because we have not yet selected or approached any specific target business with respect to a business combination, there is no basis to evaluate the possible merits or risks of any particular target business’s operations, results of operations, cash flows, liquidity, financial condition or prospects. To the extent we complete our initial business combination, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in the business operations with which we combine. For example, if we combine with a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of sales or earnings, we may be affected by the risks inherent in the business and operations of a financially unstable or a development stage entity. Although our officers and directors will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we cannot assure you that we will properly ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors or that we will have adequate time to complete due diligence. Furthermore, some of these risks may be outside of our control and leave us with no ability to control or reduce the chances that those risks will adversely impact a target business. We also cannot assure you that an investment in our units will ultimately prove to be more favorable to investors than a direct investment, if such opportunity were available, in a business combination target.
Accordingly, any shareholders who choose to remain shareholders following the business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such shareholders 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.
We are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or from a valuation or appraisal firm, and consequently, you may have no assurance from an independent source that the price we are paying for the business is fair to our shareholders from a financial point of view.
Unless we complete our initial business combination with an affiliated entity or our board of directors cannot independently determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses (including with the assistance of financial advisors), we are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm which is a member of FINRA or from a valuation or appraisal firm that the price we are paying is fair to our shareholders from a financial point of view. If no opinion is obtained, our shareholders will be relying on the judgment of our board of directors, who will determine fair market value based on standards generally accepted by the financial community. Such standards used will be disclosed in our proxy materials or tender offer documents, as applicable, related to our initial business combination.
Unlike some other similarly structured special purpose acquisition companies, our initial shareholders will receive additional Class A ordinary shares if we issue certain shares to consummate an initial business combination.
The founder shares will automatically convert into Class A ordinary shares concurrently with or immediately following the consummation of our initial business combination on a basis, subject to adjustment for share basis.
one-for-one
sub-divisions,
share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like, and subject to further adjustment as provided herein. In the case that additional Class A ordinary shares or equity-linked securities are issued or deemed issued in connection with our initial business combination, the number of Class A ordinary shares issuable upon conversion of all founder shares will equal, in the aggregate, 20% of the total number of Class A ordinary shares outstanding after such conversion (after giving effect to any redemptions of Class A ordinary shares by public shareholders), including the total number of Class A ordinary shares issued, or deemed issued or issuable upon conversion or exercise of any equity-linked securities or rights issued or deemed issued, by the Company in connection with or in relation to the consummation of the initial business combination, excluding any Class A ordinary shares or equity-linked securities exercisable for or convertible into Class A ordinary shares issued, or to be issued, to any seller in the initial business combination and any private placement warrants issued to our sponsor, officers or directors upon conversion of working capital loans; provided that such conversion of founder shares will never occur on a less than one-for-one
28
We may issue notes or other debt securities, or otherwise incur substantial debt, to complete a business combination, which may adversely affect our leverage and financial condition and thus negatively impact the value of our shareholders’ investment in us.
Although we have no commitments as of the date of this annual report to issue any notes or other debt securities, or to otherwise incur outstanding debt following our initial public offering, we may choose to incur substantial debt to complete our initial business combination. We and our officers have agreed that we will not incur any indebtedness unless we have obtained from the lender a waiver of any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to the monies held in the trust account. As such, no issuance of debt will affect the
per-share
amount available for redemption from the trust account. Nevertheless, the incurrence of debt could have a variety of negative effects, including: • | default and foreclosure on our assets if our operating revenues after an initial business combination are insufficient to repay our debt obligations; |
• | acceleration of our obligations to repay the indebtedness even if we make all principal and interest payments when due if we breach certain covenants that require the maintenance of certain financial ratios or reserves without a waiver or renegotiation of that covenant; |
• | our immediate payment of all principal and accrued interest, if any, if the debt security is payable on demand; |
• | our inability to obtain necessary additional financing if the debt security contains covenants restricting our ability to obtain such financing while the debt security is outstanding; |
• | our inability to pay dividends on our Class A ordinary shares; |
• | using a substantial portion of our cash flow to pay principal and interest on our debt, which will reduce the funds available for dividends on our Class A ordinary shares if declared, expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions and other general corporate purposes; |
• | limitations on our flexibility in planning for and reacting to changes in our business and in the industry in which we operate; |
• | increased vulnerability to adverse changes in general economic, industry and competitive conditions and adverse changes in government regulation; and |
• | limitations on our ability to borrow additional amounts for expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions, debt service requirements, execution of our strategy and other purposes and other disadvantages compared to our competitors who have less debt. |
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 which may have a limited number of products or services. This lack of diversification may negatively impact our operations and profitability.
The net proceeds from our initial public offering and the private placement of warrants will provide us with $221,950,000 that we may use to complete our initial business combination (after taking into account the $8,050,000 of deferred underwriting commissions being held in the trust account, and is after estimated offering expenses and working capital costs of $2,000,000). We may effectuate our initial business combination with a single target business or multiple target businesses simultaneously or within a short period of time. However, we may not be able to effectuate our initial business combination with more than one target business because of various factors, including the existence of complex accounting issues and the requirement that we prepare and file pro forma financial statements with the SEC that present operating results and the financial condition of several target businesses as if they had been operated on a combined basis. By completing our initial business combination with only a single entity, our lack of diversification may subject us to numerous economic, competitive and regulatory developments. Further, we would not be able to diversify our operations or benefit from the possible spreading of risks or offsetting of losses, unlike other entities which may have the resources to complete several business combinations in different industries or different areas of a single industry. Accordingly, the prospects for our success may be:
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• | solely dependent upon the performance of a single business, property or asset, or |
• | dependent upon the development or market acceptance of a single or limited number of products, processes or services. |
This lack of diversification may subject us to numerous economic, competitive and regulatory risks, any or all of which may have a substantial adverse impact upon the particular industry in which we may operate subsequent to our initial business combination.
We may attempt to simultaneously complete business combinations with multiple prospective targets, which may hinder our ability to complete our initial business combination and give rise to increased costs and risks that could negatively impact our operations and profitability.
If we determine to simultaneously acquire several businesses that are owned by different sellers, we will need for each of such sellers to agree that our purchase of its business is contingent on the simultaneous closings of the other business combinations, which may make it more difficult for us, and delay our ability, to complete our initial business combination. With multiple business combinations, we could also face additional risks, including additional burdens and costs with respect to possible multiple negotiations and due diligence 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 seek business combination opportunities with a high degree of complexity that require significant operational improvements, which could delay or prevent us from achieving our desired results.
We may seek business combination opportunities with large, highly complex companies that we believe would benefit from operational improvements. While we intend to implement such improvements, to the extent that our efforts are delayed or we are unable to achieve the desired improvements, the business combination may not be as successful as we anticipate.
To the extent we complete our initial business combination with a large complex business or entity with a complex operating structure, we may also be affected by numerous risks inherent in the operations of the business with which we combine, which could delay or prevent us from implementing our strategy. Although our management team will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business and its operations, we may not be able to properly ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors until we complete our business combination. If we are not able to achieve our desired operational improvements, or the improvements take longer to implement than anticipated, we may not achieve the gains that we anticipate. Furthermore, some of these risks and complexities may be outside of our control and leave us with no ability to control or reduce the chances that those risks and complexities will adversely impact a target business. Such combination may not be as successful as a combination with a smaller, less complex organization.
Our management may not be able to maintain control of a target business after our initial business combination. 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.
We may structure our initial business combination so that the post-transaction company in which our public shareholders own shares will own less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business, but we will only complete such business combination if the post-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 shareholders prior to the business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post business combination company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the business combination. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new Class A ordinary shares in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock, shares or other equity interests of a target. In this case, we would acquire a 100% interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new Class A ordinary shares, our shareholders immediately prior to such transaction could own less than a majority of our issued and outstanding Class A ordinary shares subsequent to such transaction. In addition, other minority shareholders may subsequently combine their holdings resulting in a single person or group obtaining a larger share of the company’s shares than we initially acquired. Accordingly, this may make it more likely that our management will not be able to maintain control of the target business.
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We do not have a specified maximum redemption threshold. The absence of such a redemption threshold may make it possible for us to complete our initial business combination with which a substantial majority of our shareholders do not agree.
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001. In addition, our proposed initial business combination may impose a minimum cash requirement for (i) cash consideration to be paid to the target or its owners, (ii) cash for working capital or other general corporate purposes or (iii) the retention of cash to satisfy other conditions. As a result, we may be able to complete our initial business combination even though a substantial majority of our public shareholders do not agree with the transaction and have redeemed their shares or, if we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, have entered into privately negotiated agreements to sell their shares to our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or any of their affiliates. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all Class A ordinary shares that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed business combination exceed the aggregate amount of cash available to us, we will not complete the business combination or redeem any shares, all Class A ordinary shares submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof, and we instead may search for an alternate business combination.
Certain agreements related to our initial public offering may be amended without shareholder approval.
Each of the agreements related to our initial public offering to which we are a party, other than the warrant agreement (except for provisions of the warrant agreement enabling amendments without shareholder or warrant holder approval that are necessary in the good faith determination of our board of directors (taking into account then existing market precedents) to allow for the warrants to be classified as equity in our financial statements) and the investment management trust agreement, may be amended without shareholder approval. Such agreements are: the underwriting agreement; the letter agreement among us and our initial stockholders, sponsor, officers and directors; the registration rights agreement among us and our initial shareholders; the private placement warrants purchase agreement between us and our sponsor; and the administrative services agreement among us, our sponsor and an affiliate of our sponsor. These agreements contain various provisions that our public shareholders might deem to be material. For example, our letter agreement and the underwriting agreement contain certain
lock-up
provisions with respect to the founder shares, private placement warrants and other securities held by our initial shareholders, sponsor, officers and directors. Amendments to such agreements would require the consent of the applicable parties thereto and would need to be approved by our board of directors, which may do so for a variety of reasons, including to facilitate our initial business combination. While we do not expect our board of directors to approve any amendment to any of these agreements prior to our initial business combination, it may be possible that our board of directors, in exercising its business judgment and subject to its fiduciary duties, chooses to approve one or more amendments to any such agreement. Any amendment entered into in connection with the consummation of our initial business combination will be disclosed in our proxy materials or tender offer documents, as applicable, related to such initial business combination, and any other material amendment to any of our material agreements will be disclosed in a filing with the SEC. Any such amendments would not require approval from our shareholders, may result in the completion of our initial business combination that may not otherwise have been possible, and may have an adverse effect on the value of an investment in our securities. For example, amendments to the lock-up
provision discussed above may result in our initial shareholders selling their securities earlier than they would otherwise be permitted, which may have an adverse effect on the price of our securities. 31
Our initial shareholders control a substantial interest in us and thus may exert substantial influence on actions requiring a shareholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support.
As of December 31, 2021, our initial shareholders owned approximately 20% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares. Accordingly, they may exert a substantial influence on actions requiring a shareholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support, including amendments to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. Neither our initial shareholders nor, to our knowledge, any of our officers or directors, have any current intention to purchase additional securities, other than as disclosed in this annual report. Factors that would be considered in making such additional purchases would include consideration of the current trading price of our Class A ordinary shares. In addition, our board of directors, whose members were appointed by our sponsor, is and will be divided into three classes, each of which will generally serve for a terms for three years with only one class of directors being appointed in each year. We may not hold an annual general meeting to appoint new directors prior to the completion of our initial business combination, in which case all of the current directors will continue in office until at least the completion of the business combination. If there is an annual general meeting, as a consequence of our “staggered” board of directors, only a minority of the board of directors will be considered for appointment and our initial shareholders, because of their ownership position, will have considerable influence regarding the outcome. Accordingly, our initial shareholders will continue to exert control at least until the completion of our initial business combination.
As the number of special purpose acquisition companies evaluating targets increases, attractive targets may become scarcer and there may be more competition for attractive targets. This could increase the cost of our initial business combination and could even result in our inability to find a target or to consummate an initial business combination.
In recent years, the number of special purpose acquisition companies that have been formed has increased substantially. Many potential targets for special purpose acquisition companies have already entered into an initial business combination, and there are still many special purpose acquisition companies preparing for an initial public offering, as well as many such companies currently in registration. As a result, at times, fewer attractive targets may be available to consummate an initial business combination.
In addition, because there are more special purpose acquisition companies seeking to enter into an initial business combination with available targets, the competition for available targets with attractive fundamentals or business models may increase, which could cause targets companies to demand improved financial terms. Attractive deals could also become scarcer for other reasons, such as economic or industry sector downturns, geopolitical tensions, or increases in the cost of additional capital needed to close business combinations or operate targets post business combination. This could increase the cost of, delay or otherwise complicate or frustrate our ability to find and consummate an initial business combination, and may result in our inability to consummate an initial business combination on terms favorable to our investors altogether.
Risks Relating to our Sponsor and Management Team
We are dependent upon our founders and officers and their loss could adversely affect our ability to operate.
Our operations are dependent upon a relatively small group of individuals and, in particular, our founders and officers. We believe that our success depends on the continued service of our founders and officers, at least until we have completed our initial business combination. In addition, our founders and officers are not required to commit any specified amount of time to our affairs and, accordingly, will have conflicts of interest in allocating their time among various business activities, including identifying potential business combinations and monitoring the related due diligence. We do not have an employment agreement with, or
key-man
insurance on the life of, any of our founders or officers. The unexpected loss of the services of one or more of our founders or officers could have a detrimental effect on us. 32
Our ability to successfully effect our initial business combination and to be successful thereafter will be 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 engage after our initial business combination, we cannot assure you that our assessment of these individuals will prove to be correct. These individuals may be unfamiliar with the requirements of operating a company regulated by the SEC, which could cause us to have to expend time and resources helping them become familiar with such requirements.
Our key personnel may negotiate employment or consulting agreements with a target business in connection with a particular business combination, and a particular business combination may be conditioned on the retention or resignation of such key personnel. These agreements may provide for them to receive compensation following our initial business combination and as a result, may cause them to have conflicts of interest in determining whether a particular business combination is the most advantageous.
Our key personnel may be able to remain with our company after the completion of our initial business combination only if they are able to negotiate employment or consulting agreements in connection with the business combination. Such negotiations would take place simultaneously with the negotiation of the business combination and could provide for such individuals to receive compensation in the form of cash payments and/or our securities for services they would render to us after the completion of the business combination. Such negotiations also could make such key personnel’s retention or resignation a condition to any such agreement. The personal and financial interests of such individuals may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business, subject to their fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law.
We may have a limited ability to assess the management of a prospective target business and, as a result, may effect our initial business combination with a target business whose management may not have the skills, qualifications or abilities to manage a public company.
When evaluating the desirability of effecting our initial business combination with a prospective target business, our ability to assess the target business’s management may be limited due to a lack of time, resources or information. Our assessment of the capabilities of the target business’s management, therefore, may prove to be incorrect and such management may lack the skills, qualifications or abilities we suspected. Should the target business’s management not possess the skills, qualifications or abilities necessary to manage a public company, the operations and profitability of the post-combination business may be negatively impacted. Accordingly, any shareholders who choose to remain shareholders following the business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their shares. Such shareholders 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.
The officers and directors of an acquisition candidate may resign upon completion of
our initial business combination
. The loss of a business combination target
’
s key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business.
The role of an acquisition candidate’s key personnel upon the completion of our initial business combination cannot be ascertained at this time. Although we contemplate that certain members of an acquisition candidate’s management team will remain associated with the acquisition candidate following our initial business combination, it is possible that members of the management of an acquisition candidate will not wish to remain in place.
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Our officers and directors will allocate their time to other businesses thereby causing conflicts of interest in their determination as to how much time to devote to our affairs. This conflict of interest could have a negative impact on our ability to complete our initial business combination.
Our officers and directors are not required to, and will not, commit their full time to our affairs, which may result in a conflict of interest in allocating their time between our operations and our search for a business combination and their other businesses. We do not intend to have any full-time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination. Each of our officers is engaged in other business endeavors for which he may be entitled to substantial compensation, and our officers are not obligated to contribute any specific number of hours per week to our affairs. Our independent directors also serve as officers and board members for other entities. If our officers’ and directors’ other business affairs require them to devote substantial amounts of time to such affairs in excess of their current commitment levels, it could limit their ability to devote time to our affairs which may have a negative impact on our ability to complete our initial business combination.
Our officers and directors presently have, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities and, accordingly, may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented.
Following the completion of our initial public offering and until we consummate our initial business combination, we intend to engage in the business of identifying and combining with one or more businesses. Each of our officers and directors presently has, and any of them in the future may have, additional fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entity. Accordingly, they may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented. These conflicts may not be resolved in our favor and a potential target business may be presented to another entity prior to its presentation to us, subject to their fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law: (i) no individual serving as a director or an officer shall have any duty, except and to the extent expressly assumed by contract, to refrain from engaging directly or indirectly in the same or similar business activities or lines of business as us; and (ii) we renounce any interest or expectancy in, or in being offered an opportunity to participate in, any potential transaction or matter which may be a corporate opportunity for any director or officer on the one hand, and us, on the other.
In addition, our sponsor, Phoenix and our officers and directors may sponsor or form other special purpose acquisition companies similar to ours or may pursue other business or investment ventures during the period in which we are seeking an initial business combination. Any such companies, businesses or investments may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an initial business combination. However, we do not believe that any such potential conflicts would materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination.
Our officers, directors, security holders and their respective affiliates may have competitive pecuniary interests that conflict with our interests.
We have not adopted a policy that expressly prohibits our directors, officers, security holders or affiliates from having a direct or indirect pecuniary or financial interest in any investment to be acquired or disposed of by us or in any transaction to which we are a party or have an interest. In fact, we may enter into a business combination with a target business that is affiliated with our sponsor, our directors or officers, although we do not intend to do so. Nor do we have a policy that expressly prohibits any such persons from engaging for their own account in business activities of the types conducted by us. Accordingly, such persons or entities may have a conflict between their interests and ours.
The personal and financial interests of our directors and officers may influence their motivation in timely identifying and selecting a target business and completing a business combination. Consequently, our directors’ and officers’ discretion in identifying and selecting a suitable target business may result in a conflict of interest when determining whether the terms, conditions and timing of a particular business combination are appropriate and in our shareholders’ best interest. If this were the case, it would be a breach of their fiduciary duties to us as a matter of Cayman Islands law and we or our shareholders might have a claim against such individuals for infringing on our shareholders’ rights. However, we might not ultimately be successful in any claim we may make against them for such reason.
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We may engage in a business combination with one or more target businesses that have relationships with entities that may be affiliated with our sponsor, 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 affiliated with our sponsor, officers, directors, Phoenix or other existing holders. Our directors also serve as officers and board members for other entities, including, without limitation, those described under “Management—Conflicts of Interest.” Such entities may compete with us for business combination opportunities. Our sponsor, officers and directors are not currently aware of any specific opportunities for us to complete our initial business combination with any entities with which they are affiliated, and there have been no substantive discussions concerning a business combination with any such entity or entities. Although we will not be specifically focusing on, or targeting, any transaction with any affiliated entities, we would pursue such a transaction if we determined that such affiliated entity met our criteria for a business combination as set forth in “Proposed Business—Effecting Our Initial Business Combination—Evaluation of a Target Business and Structuring of Our Initial Business Combination” and such transaction was approved by a majority of our independent and disinterested directors. Despite our agreement to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm which is a member of FINRA or a valuation or appraisal firm regarding the fairness to our company from a financial point of view of a business combination with one or more domestic or international businesses affiliated with our sponsor, officers, directors, Phoenix or other existing holders, potential conflicts of interest still may exist and, as a result, the terms of the business combination may not be as advantageous to our public shareholders as they would be absent any conflicts of interest.
Certain members of our board of directors and management team may be involved in and have a greater financial interest in the performance of other entities affiliated with our sponsor, and such activities may create conflicts of interest in making decisions on our behalf.
Certain of our directors and members of our management team may be subject to a variety of conflicts of interest relating to their responsibilities to our sponsor and its other affiliates. Such individuals may serve as members of management or a board of directors (or in similar such capacity) to various other affiliated entities. Such positions may create a conflict between the advice and investment opportunities provided to such entities and the responsibilities owed to us. The other entities in which such individuals may become involved may have investment objectives that overlap with ours. Furthermore, certain of our principals and employees may have a greater financial interest in the performance of such other affiliated entities than our performance. Such involvement may create conflicts of interest in sourcing investment opportunities on our behalf and on behalf of such other entities.
Risks Relating to our Securities
If a shareholder fails to receive notice of our offer to redeem our public shares in connection with our initial business combination, or fails to comply with the procedures for submitting or tendering its shares, such shares may not be redeemed.
We will comply with the proxy rules or tender offer rules, as applicable, when conducting redemptions in connection with our initial business combination. Despite our compliance with these rules, if a shareholder fails to receive our proxy materials or tender offer documents, as applicable, such shareholder 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 submit public shares for redemption. For example, we intend to require our public shareholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” to, at the holder’s option, either deliver their share certificates to our transfer agent, or to deliver their shares to our transfer agent electronically prior to the date set forth in the proxy materials or tender offer documents, as applicable. In the case of proxy materials, this date may be up to two business days prior to the scheduled vote on the proposal to approve the initial business combination. In addition, if we conduct redemptions in connection with a shareholder vote, we intend to require a public shareholder seeking redemption of its public shares to also submit a written request for redemption to our transfer agent two business days prior to the scheduled vote in which the name of the beneficial owner of such shares is included. In the event that a shareholder fails to comply with these or any other procedures disclosed in the proxy or tender offer materials, as applicable, its shares may not be redeemed. See the section of this Annual Report entitled “Business—Delivering Share Certificates in Connection with the Exercise of Redemption Rights.”
35
You will not have any rights or interests in funds from the trust account, except under certain limited circumstances. Therefore, to liquidate your investment, you may be forced to sell your public shares or warrants, potentially at a loss.
Our public shareholders will be entitled to receive funds from the trust account only upon the earliest to occur of: (i) our completion of an initial business combination, and then only in connection with those Class A ordinary shares that such shareholder properly elected to redeem, subject to the limitations and on the conditions described herein, (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly submitted in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to 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 within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering or (B) with respect to any other material provisions relating to shareholders’ rights or
pre-initial
business combination activity, and (iii) the redemption of our public shares if we have not completed an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, subject to applicable law and as further described herein. In no other circumstances will a public shareholder have any right or interest of any kind in the trust account. Holders of warrants will not have any right to the funds held in the trust account. Accordingly, to liquidate your investment, you may be forced to sell your public shares or warrants, potentially at a loss. Nasdaq may delist our securities from trading on its exchange, which could limit investors’ ability to make transactions in our securities and subject us to additional trading restrictions.
Our units, Class A ordinary shares and warrants are listed on Nasdaq. Although we expect to meet, on a pro forma basis, the minimum initial listing standards set forth in the Nasdaq listing standards, we cannot assure you that our securities will be, or will continue to be, listed on Nasdaq in the future or prior to our initial business combination. In order to continue listing our securities on Nasdaq prior to our initial business combination, we must maintain certain financial, distribution and share price levels. Generally, we must maintain a minimum amount in stockholders’ equity (generally $2,500,000) and a minimum number of holders of our securities (generally 300 public holders). 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 share price would generally be required to be at least $4.00 per share and our stockholder’s equity would generally be required to be at least $5.0 million. We cannot assure you that we will be able to meet those initial listing requirements at that time.
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 market. If this were to occur, we could face significant material adverse consequences, including:
over-the-counter
• | a limited availability of market quotations for our securities; |
• | reduced liquidity for our securities; |
• | a determination that our Class A ordinary shares are a “penny stock” which will require brokers trading in our Class A ordinary shares to adhere to more stringent rules and possibly result in a reduced level of trading activity in the secondary trading market for our securities; |
• | a limited amount of news and analyst coverage; and |
• | a decreased ability to issue additional securities or obtain additional financing in the future. |
The National Securities Markets Improvement Act of 1996, which is a federal statute, prevents or preempts the states from regulating the sale of certain securities, which are referred to as “covered securities.” Because we expect that our units and eventually our Class A ordinary shares and warrants will be listed on Nasdaq, our units, Class A ordinary shares and warrants will qualify as covered securities under the statute. Although the states are preempted from regulating the sale of 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 qualify as covered securities under the statute and we would be subject to regulation in each state in which we offer our securities.
36
Holders of our public shares will not be entitled to vote on the appointment of directors prior to our initial business combination.
Prior to our initial business combination, only holders of Class B ordinary shares will have the right to appointment directors in any general meeting. Holders of our public shares will not be entitled to vote on the appointment of directors during such time. Accordingly, you may not have any say in the management of our company prior to the completion of an initial business combination.
You are not 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 are intended to be used to complete an initial business combination with a target business that has not been selected, we may be deemed to be a “blank check” company under the United States securities laws. However, because we have net tangible assets in excess of $5,000,000 as of the completion of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants and we filed a Current Report on Form
8-K,
including an audited balance sheet demonstrating this fact, we are exempt from rules promulgated by the SEC to protect investors in blank check companies, such as Rule 419. Accordingly, investors are not afforded the benefits or protections of those rules. Among other things, this means our units were immediately tradable and we have a longer period of time to complete our initial business combination than do companies subject to Rule 419. Moreover, if our initial public offering were subject to Rule 419, that rule would have prohibited 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. If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, and if you or a “group” of shareholders are deemed to hold in excess of 15% of our Class A ordinary shares, you will lose the ability to redeem all such shares in excess of 15% of our Class A ordinary shares.
If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that a public shareholder, together with any affiliate of such shareholder or any other person with whom such shareholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from 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 shareholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our initial business combination. Your inability to redeem the Excess Shares will reduce your influence over our ability to complete our initial business combination and you could suffer a material loss on your investment in us if you sell Excess Shares in open market transactions. Additionally, you will not receive redemption distributions with respect to the Excess Shares if we complete our initial business combination. As a result, you will continue to hold that number of shares exceeding 15% and, in order to dispose of such shares, would be required to sell your shares in open market transactions, potentially at a loss.
Our warrant agreement designates the courts of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by holders of our warrants, which could limit the ability of warrant holders to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with our company.
Our warrant agreement provides that, subject to applicable law, (i) any action, proceeding or claim against us arising out of or relating in any way to the warrant agreement, including under the Securities Act, will be brought and enforced in the courts of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, and (ii) that we irrevocably submit to such jurisdiction, which jurisdiction shall be the exclusive forum for any such action, proceeding or claim. We will waive any objection to such exclusive jurisdiction and that such courts represent an inconvenient forum.
37
Notwithstanding the foregoing, these provisions of the warrant agreement will not apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal district courts of the United States of America are the sole and exclusive forum. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in any of our warrants shall be deemed to have notice of and to have consented to the forum provisions in our warrant agreement. If any action, the subject matter of which is within the scope of the forum provisions of 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 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.
choice-of-forum
If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, we may be required to institute burdensome compliance requirements and our activities may be restricted, which may make it difficult for us to complete our initial business combination.
If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, our activities may be restricted, including:
• | restrictions on the nature of our investments; and |
• | restrictions on the issuance of securities, |
• | each of which may make it difficult for us to complete our initial business combination. In addition, we may have imposed upon us burdensome requirements, including: |
• | registration as an investment company with the SEC; |
• | adoption of a specific form of corporate structure; and |
• | reporting, record keeping, voting, proxy and disclosure requirements and other rules and regulations that we are not subject to. |
In order not to be regulated as an investment company under the Investment Company Act, unless we can qualify for an exclusion, we must ensure that we are engaged primarily in a business other than investing, reinvesting or trading of securities and that our activities do not include investing, reinvesting, owning, holding or trading “investment securities” constituting more than 40% of our assets (exclusive of U.S. government securities and cash items) on an unconsolidated basis. Our business will be to identify and complete a business combination and thereafter to operate the post- transaction business or assets for the long term. We do not plan to buy businesses or assets with a view to resale or profit from their resale. We do not plan to buy unrelated businesses or assets or to be a passive investor.
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We do not believe that our anticipated principal activities will subject us to the Investment Company Act. To this end, the proceeds held in the trust account may only be invested in United States “government securities” within the meaning of Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act having a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule
2a-7
promulgated under the Investment Company Act which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations. Pursuant to the trust agreement, the trustee is not permitted to invest in other securities or assets. By restricting the investment of the proceeds to these instruments, and by having a business plan targeted at acquiring and growing businesses for the long term (rather than on buying and selling businesses in the manner of a merchant bank or private equity fund), we intend to avoid being deemed an “investment company” within the meaning of the Investment Company Act. Our initial public offering is not intended for persons who are seeking a return on investments in government securities or investment securities. The trust account is intended as a holding place for funds pending the earliest to occur of either: (i) the completion of our initial business combination; (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly submitted in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to 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 within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering or (B) with respect to any other material provisions relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-
initial business combination activity; or (iii) absent an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, our return of the funds held in the trust account to our public shareholders as part of our redemption of the public shares. If we do not invest the proceeds as discussed above, we may be deemed to be subject to the Investment Company Act. If we were deemed to be subject to the Investment Company Act, compliance with these additional regulatory burdens would require additional expenses for which we have not allotted funds and may hinder our ability to complete a business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public shareholders may only receive their pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account that are available for distribution to public shareholders, and our warrants will expire worthless. You will not be permitted to exercise your warrants unless we register and qualify the underlying Class A ordinary shares or certain exemptions are available.
If the issuance of the Class A ordinary shares upon exercise of the warrants is not registered, qualified or exempt from registration or qualification under the Securities Act and applicable state securities laws, holders of warrants will not be entitled to exercise such warrants and such warrants may have no value and expire worthless. In such event, holders who acquired their warrants as part of a purchase of units will have paid the full unit purchase price solely for the Class A ordinary shares included in the units.
We are not registering the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants under the Securities Act or any state securities laws at this time. However, under the terms of the warrant agreement, we have agreed that, as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 15 business days, after the closing of our initial business combination, we will use our commercially reasonable efforts to file with the SEC a registration statement covering the registration under the Securities Act of the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants and thereafter will use our commercially reasonable efforts to cause the same to become effective within 60 business days following our initial business combination and to maintain a current prospectus relating to the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants until the expiration or redemption 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 Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants are not registered under the Securities Act, under the terms of the warrant agreement, holders of warrants who seek to exercise their warrants will not be permitted to do so for cash and, instead, will be required to do so on a cashless basis, in which case the number of Class A ordinary shares that the holders of warrants will receive upon cashless exercise will be based on a formula subject to a maximum number of shares equal to 0.361 Class A ordinary shares per warrant (subject to adjustment).
In no event will warrants be exercisable for cash or on a cashless basis, and we will not be obligated to issue any shares to holders seeking to exercise their warrants, unless the issuance of the shares upon such exercise is registered or qualified under the securities laws of the state of the exercising holder, or an exemption from registration or qualification is available.
If our Class A ordinary shares are at the time of any exercise of a warrant not listed on a national securities exchange such that they satisfy the definition of “covered securities” under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act, we may, at our option, not permit holders of warrants who seek to exercise their warrants to do so for cash and, instead, require them to do so on a cashless basis in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act; in the event we so elect, we will not be required to file or maintain in effect a registration statement or register or qualify the shares underlying the warrants under applicable state securities laws, and in the event we do not so elect, we will use our commercially reasonable efforts to register or qualify the shares underlying the warrants under applicable state securities laws to the extent an exemption is not available.
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In no event will we be required to net cash settle any warrant, or issue securities (other than upon a cashless exercise as described above) 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 the Securities Act or applicable state securities laws. Our ability to require holders of our warrants to exercise such warrants on a cashless basis after we call the warrants for redemption or if there is no effective registration statement covering the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of these warrants will cause holders to receive fewer Class A ordinary shares upon their exercise of the warrants than they would have received had they been able to pay the exercise price of their warrants in cash.
If we call the warrants for redemption, we will have the option, in our sole discretion, to require all holders that wish to exercise warrants to do so on a cashless basis in the circumstances described in the prospectus for our Initial Public Offering. If we choose to require holders to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis or if holders elect to do so when there is no effective registration statement, the number of Class A ordinary shares received by a holder upon exercise will be fewer than it would have been had such holder exercised his or her warrant for cash. For example, if the holder is exercising 875 public warrants at $11.50 per share through a cashless exercise when the Class A ordinary shares 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 Class A ordinary shares. The holder would have received 875 Class A ordinary shares 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 Class A ordinary shares upon a cashless exercise of the warrants they hold.
The grant of registration rights to our initial shareholders and holders of our private placement warrants may make it more difficult to complete our initial business combination, and the future exercise of such rights may adversely affect the market price of our Class A ordinary shares.
Pursuant to an agreement that was entered into concurrently with the consummation of our initial public offering, our initial shareholders and their permitted transferees can demand that we register the Class A ordinary shares into which founder shares are convertible, holders of our private placement warrants and their permitted transferees can demand that we register the private placement warrants and the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the private placement warrants, and holders of securities that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans may demand that we register such units, shares, warrants or the Class A ordinary shares 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 ordinary shares. In addition, the existence of the registration rights may make our initial business combination more costly or difficult to conclude. This is because the shareholders of the target business may increase the equity stake they seek in the combined entity or ask for more cash consideration to offset the negative impact on the market price of our Class A ordinary shares that is expected when the ordinary shares owned by our initial shareholders, holders of our private placement warrants or holders of our working capital loans or their respective permitted transferees are registered.
We may be a passive foreign investment company, or “PFIC,” which could result in adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences to U.S. investors.
If we are a PFIC for any taxable year (or portion thereof) that is included in the holding period of a U.S. investor holding of our Class A ordinary shares or warrants, the U.S. investor may be subject to adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences and may be subject to additional reporting requirements. Our PFIC status for our current and subsequent taxable years may depend on whether we qualify for an exception to PFIC status for certain newly formed companies (the “start-up exception”). Depending on the particular circumstances, the application of the
start-up
start-up
start-up
We may issue additional Class A ordinary shares (including pursuant to an agreement with Phoenix) or preferred shares to complete our initial business combination or under an employee incentive plan after completion of our initial business combination. We may also issue Class A ordinary shares upon the conversion of the founder shares at a ratio greater than at the time of our initial business combination as a result of the anti-dilution provisions contained therein. Any such issuances would dilute the interest of our shareholders and likely present other risks.
one-to-one
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association authorizes the issuance of up to 200,000,000 Class A ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share, 20,000,000 Class B ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share, and 1,000,000 preferred shares, par value $0.0001 per share. Immediately after our initial public offering and full exercise of the over-allotment option, there were 177,000,000 and 14,250,000 authorized but unissued Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares, respectively, available for issuance which amount does not take into account shares reserved for issuance upon exercise of outstanding warrants or shares issuable upon conversion of the Class B ordinary shares. The Class B ordinary shares are automatically convertible into Class A ordinary shares concurrently with or immediately following the consummation of our initial business combination, initially at a ratio but subject to adjustment as set forth herein and in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, including in certain circumstances in which we issue Class A ordinary shares or equity-linked securities related to our initial business combination. Immediately after our initial public offering, there will be no preferred shares issued and outstanding.
one-for-one
40
We may issue a substantial number of additional Class A ordinary shares or preferred shares to complete our initial business combination or under an employee incentive plan after completion of our initial business combination. For example, we granted Phoenix the right, but not the obligation, to purchase an aggregate of 15% of our Class A ordinary shares, for a purchase price of $10.00 per Class A ordinary share issued, in any financing transaction we may conduct in connection with our initial business combination. We may also issue Class A ordinary shares upon conversion of the Class B ordinary shares at a ratio greater than at the time of our initial business combination as a result of the anti-dilution provisions as set forth therein. However, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide, among other things, that prior to our initial business combination, we may not issue additional shares that would entitle the holders thereof to (i) receive funds from the trust account or (ii) vote on any initial business combination. These provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, like all provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, may be amended with a shareholder vote. The issuance of additional ordinary or preferred shares:
one-to-one
• | may significantly dilute the equity interest of investors in our initial public offering; |
• | may subordinate the rights of holders of Class A ordinary shares if preferred shares are issued with rights senior to those afforded our Class A ordinary shares; |
• | could cause a change in control if a substantial number of Class A ordinary shares are issued, which may affect, among other things, our ability to use our net operating loss carry forwards, if any, and could result in the resignation or removal of our present officers and directors; and |
• | may adversely affect prevailing market prices for our units, Class A ordinary shares and/or warrants. |
We cannot assure you that we will not seek to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association or governing instruments in a manner that will make it easier for us to complete our initial business combination that our shareholders may not support.
In order to effectuate a business combination, special purpose acquisition companies have, in the recent past, amended various provisions of their charters and governing instruments, including their warrant agreements. For example, special purpose acquisition companies have amended the definition of business combination, increased redemption thresholds and extended the time to consummate an initial business combination and, with respect to their warrants, amended their warrant agreements to require the warrants to be exchanged for cash and/or other securities. Amending our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association requires a special resolution under Cayman Islands law, which requires the affirmative vote of a majority of at least
two-thirds
of the shareholders who attend and vote at a general meeting of the company, and amending our warrant agreement will require a vote of holders of at least a majority of the public warrants and, solely with respect to any amendment to the terms of the private placement warrants or any provision of the warrant agreement with respect to the private placement warrants, a majority of the then outstanding private placement warrants (except for provisions of the warrant agreement enabling amendments without shareholder or warrant holder approval that are necessary in the good faith determination of our board of directors (taking into account then existing market precedents) to allow for the warrants to be classified as equity in our financial statements). In addition, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association require us to provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares for cash if we propose an amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) 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 an initial business combination within 24 months of the closing of our initial public offering or (B) with respect to any other material provisions relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-initial
business combination activity. To the extent any of such amendments would be deemed to fundamentally change the nature of the securities offered through this registration statement, we would register, or seek an exemption from registration for, the affected securities. We cannot assure you that we will not seek to amend our charter or governing instruments or extend the time to consummate an initial business combination in order to effectuate our initial business combination. 41
The provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association that relate to our
pre-business
combination activity (and corresponding provisions of the agreement governing the release of funds from our trust account) may be amended with the approval of holders of not less than two-thirds
of our ordinary shares who attend and vote at a general meeting of the company (or 65% of our ordinary shares who attend and vote at a general meeting of the company with respect to amendments to the trust agreement governing the release of funds from our trust account), which is a lower amendment threshold than that of some other special purpose acquisition companies. It may be easier for us, therefore, to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association to facilitate the completion of an initial business combination that some of our shareholders may not support. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that any of its provisions related to
pre-business
combination activity (including the requirement to deposit proceeds of our initial public offering and the private placement of warrants into the trust account and not release such amounts except in specified circumstances, and to provide redemption rights to public shareholders as described herein) may be amended if approved by special resolution under Cayman Islands law which requires the affirmative vote of a majority of at least two-thirds
of the shareholders who attend and vote at a general meeting of the company, and corresponding provisions of the trust agreement governing the release of funds from our trust account may be amended if approved by holders of 65% of our ordinary shares who attend and vote at a general meeting of the company. Our initial shareholders, who will collectively beneficially own 20% of our ordinary shares upon the closing of our initial public offering (assuming they do not purchase any units in our initial public offering), will participate in any vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association and/or trust agreement and will have the discretion to vote in any manner they choose. As a result, we may be able to amend the provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association which govern our pre-business
combination behavior more easily than some other special purpose acquisition companies, and this may increase our ability to complete a business combination with which you do not agree. Our shareholders may pursue remedies against us for any breach of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. Our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed, pursuant to a written agreement with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) 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 within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering or (B) with respect to any other material provisions relating to shareholders’ rights or
pre-initial
business combination activity, unless we provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their Class A ordinary shares upon approval of any such amendment at a per-
share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes, divided by the number of then outstanding public shares. Our shareholders are not parties to, or third- party beneficiaries of, these agreements and, as a result, will not have the ability to pursue remedies against our sponsor, officers or directors for any breach of these agreements. As a result, in the event of a breach, our shareholders would need to pursue a shareholder derivative action, subject to applicable law. Our initial shareholders paid an aggregate of $25,000, or approximately $0.004 per founder share and, accordingly, you will experience immediate and substantial dilution from the purchase of our Class A ordinary shares.
The difference between the public offering price per share (allocating all of the unit purchase price to the Class A ordinary share and none to the warrant included in the unit) and the pro forma net tangible book value per share of our Class A ordinary shares after our initial public offering constitutes the dilution to you and the other investors in our initial public offering. Our initial shareholders acquired the founder shares at a nominal price, significantly contributing to this dilution. Upon closing of our initial public offering, and assuming no value is ascribed to the warrants included in the units, you and the other public shareholders will incur an immediate and substantial dilution of approximately 91.8% (or $9.18 per share, assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option), the difference between the pro forma net tangible book value per share after our initial public offering of $0.82 and the initial offering price of $10.00 per unit. This dilution would increase to the extent that the anti-dilution provisions of the founder shares result in the issuance of Class A ordinary shares on a greater than basis upon conversion of the founder shares at the time of our initial business combination. In addition, because of the anti-dilution protection in the founder shares, any equity or equity-linked securities issued in connection with our initial business combination would be disproportionately dilutive to our Class A ordinary shares.
one-to-one
42
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 a majority of the then outstanding public warrants, or for amendments necessary for the warrants to be classified as equity. As a result, the exercise price of your warrants could be increased, the exercise period could be shortened and the number of Class A ordinary shares purchasable upon exercise of a warrant could be decreased, all without your approval.
Our warrants will be 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 shareholder or warrant holder to cure any ambiguity or correct any defective provision or to make any amendments that are necessary in the good faith determination of our board of directors (taking into account then existing market precedents) to allow for the warrants to be classified as equity in our financial statements, but otherwise requires the approval by the holders of at least a majority 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 (i) in a manner adverse to a holder of public warrants if holders of at least a majority of the then outstanding public warrants approve of such amendment or (ii) to the extent necessary for the warrants in the good faith determination of our board of directors (taking into account then existing market precedents) to allow for the warrants to be classified as equity in our financial statements without the consent of any shareholder or warrant holder. Although our ability to amend the terms of the public warrants with the consent of at least a majority 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 shares, shorten the exercise period or decrease the number of Class A ordinary shares purchasable upon exercise of a warrant.
A provision of our warrant agreement may make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination.
If (i) we issue additional ordinary shares or equity-linked securities for capital raising purposes in connection with the closing of our initial business combination at a Newly Issued Price of less than $9.20 per Class A ordinary share, (ii) the aggregate gross proceeds from such issuances represent more than 60% of the total equity proceeds, and interest thereon, available for the funding of our initial business combination (net of redemptions), and (iii) the Market Value of our Class A ordinary shares is below $9.20 per share, the exercise price of the warrants will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 115% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, the $18.00 per share redemption trigger price will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 180% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, and the $10.00 per share redemption trigger price will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price. This may make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination with a target business.
Our warrants are accounted for as a warrant liability and are 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 our Class A ordinary shares or may make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination.
Following the consummation of our initial public offering and the concurrent private placement of warrants, we issued an aggregate of 12,066,667 warrants in connection with our initial public offering (comprised of the 7,666,667 warrants included in the units and the 4,400,000 private placement warrants). We account for these as a warrant liability and record at fair value upon issuance any changes in fair value each period reported in earnings as determined us based upon a valuation report obtained from an independent third party valuation firm. The impact of changes in fair value on earnings may have an adverse effect on the market price of our Class A ordinary shares. In addition, potential targets may seek a SPAC that does not have warrants that are accounted for as a warrant liability, which may make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination with a target business.
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We may redeem your unexpired warrants prior to their exercise at a time that is disadvantageous to you, thereby making your warrants worthless.
We have the ability to redeem the outstanding warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.01 per warrant, if, among other things, the last reported sales price of our Class A ordinary shares, or Reference Value, equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for share
sub-divisions,
share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like). 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 as described above could force you to (i) exercise your warrants and pay the exercise price therefor at a time when it may be disadvantageous for you to do so, (ii) sell your warrants at the then-current market price when you might otherwise wish to hold your warrants or (iii) accept the nominal redemption price which, at the time the outstanding warrants are called for redemption, we expect would be substantially less than the volume-weighted average trading price of our Class A ordinary shares during the 20 trading day period starting on the trading day prior to the day on which we complete our initial business combination, or Market Value, of your warrants. None of the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us so long as they are held by our sponsors, Phoenix or their respective permitted transferees. In addition, we have the ability to redeem the outstanding warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.10 per warrant if, among other things, the Reference Value equals or exceeds $10.00 per share (as adjusted for share
sub-divisions,
share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like). In such a case, the holders will be able to exercise their warrants prior to redemption for a number of our Class A ordinary shares determined based on the redemption date and the fair market value of our Class A ordinary shares. The value received upon exercise of the warrants (1) may be less than the value the holders would have received if they had exercised their warrants at a later time where the underlying share price is higher and (2) may not compensate the holders for the value of the warrants, including because the number of ordinary shares received is capped at 0.361 of our Class A ordinary shares per warrant (subject to adjustment) irrespective of the remaining life of the warrants. Our warrants may have an adverse effect on the market price of our Class A ordinary shares and make it more difficult to effectuate our initial business combination.
We have issued warrants to purchase 7,666,667 of our Class A ordinary shares as part of the units offered in our initial public offering (including the full exercise of the over-allotment option) and, simultaneously with the closing of our initial public offering and exercise of the over-allotment option, we issued in a private placement an aggregate of 4,400,000 private placement warrants, at $1.50 per warrant. In addition, if the sponsor makes any working capital loans, it may convert those loans into up to an additional 1,000,000 private placement warrants, at the price of $1.50 per warrant. To the extent we issue ordinary shares to effectuate a business transaction, the potential for the issuance of a substantial number of additional Class A ordinary shares upon exercise of these warrants could make us a less attractive acquisition vehicle to a target business. Such warrants, when exercised, will increase the number of issued and outstanding Class A ordinary shares and reduce the value of the Class A ordinary shares issued to complete the business transaction. Therefore, our warrants may make it more difficult to effectuate a business transaction or increase the cost of acquiring the target business.
Because each unit contains
one-third
of one warrant and only a whole warrant may be exercised, the units may be worth less than units of other special purpose acquisition companies. Each unit contains
one-third
of one warrant. Pursuant to the warrant agreement, no fractional warrants will be issued upon separation of the units, and only whole units will trade. If, upon exercise of the warrants, a holder would be entitled to receive a fractional interest in a share, we will, upon exercise, round down to the nearest whole number the number of Class A ordinary shares to be issued to the warrant holder. We have established the components of the units in this way in order to reduce the dilutive effect of the warrants upon completion of a business combination since the warrants will be exercisable in the aggregate for one-third
of the number of shares, thus making us, we believe, a more attractive merger partner for target businesses. Nevertheless, this unit structure may cause our units to be worth less than if it included a warrant to purchase one whole share. 44
Provisions in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association may inhibit a takeover of us, which could limit the price investors might be willing to pay in the future for our Class A ordinary shares and could entrench management.
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association contain provisions that may discourage unsolicited takeover proposals that shareholders may consider to be in their best interests. These provisions include a staggered board of directors and the ability of the board of directors to designate the terms of and issue new series of preferred shares, 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.
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.
Since our initial public offering, 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; |
• | we have a compensation committee of our board that is comprised entirely of independent directors with a written charter addressing the committee’s purpose and responsibilities; and |
• | to the extent that we have one, we expect our nominating and corporate governance committee to be comprised entirely of independent directors with a written charter addressing the committee’s purpose and responsibilities |
We do not intend to utilize these exemptions and intend to comply with the corporate governance requirements of Nasdaq, subject to applicable
phase-in
rules. However, if we determine in the future to utilize some or all of these exemptions, you will not have the same protections afforded to shareholders of companies that are subject to all of Nasdaq corporate governance requirements. Risks Associated with Acquiring and Operating a Business in Foreign Countries
If we effect our initial business combination with a company located outside of the United States, we would be subject to a variety of additional risks that may adversely affect us.
We intend to pursue a target company with operations or opportunities outside of the United States for our initial business combination, which may subject us to additional burdens in connection with investigating, agreeing to and completing such initial business combination, and if we effect such initial business combination, we would be subject to a variety of additional risks that may negatively impact our operations.
If we pursue a target a company with operations or opportunities outside of the United States for our initial business combination, we would be subject to risks associated with cross-border business combinations, including in connection with investigating, agreeing to and completing our initial business combination, conducting due diligence in a foreign jurisdiction, having such transaction approved by any local governments, regulators or agencies and changes in the purchase price based on fluctuations in foreign exchange rates.
If we effect our initial business combination with such a company, we would be subject to any special considerations or risks associated with companies operating in an international setting, including any of the following:
• | costs and difficulties inherent in managing cross-border business operations, including differences between U.S. GAAP and the International Accounting Standards; |
45
• | rules and regulations regarding currency redemption; |
• | complex corporate withholding taxes on individuals; |
• | laws governing the manner in which future business combinations may be effected; |
• | exchange listing and/or delisting requirements; |
• | tariffs and trade barriers; |
• | regulations related to customs and import/export matters; |
• | local or regional economic policies and market conditions; |
• | unexpected changes in regulatory requirements; |
• | challenges in managing and staffing international operations; |
• | longer payment cycles; |
• | tax issues, such as tax law changes and variations in tax laws as compared to the United States; |
• | currency fluctuations and exchange controls; |
• | rates of inflation; |
• | challenges in collecting accounts receivable; |
• | cultural and language differences; |
• | employment regulations; |
• | underdeveloped or unpredictable legal or regulatory systems; |
• | corruption; |
• | protection of intellectual property; |
• | social unrest, crime, strikes, riots and civil disturbances; |
• | regime changes and political upheaval; |
• | terrorist attacks and wars; and |
• | deterioration of political relations with the United States. |
We may not be able to adequately address these additional risks. If we were unable to do so, we may be unable to complete such initial business combination, or, if we complete such initial business combination, our operations might suffer, either of which may adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.
If our management following our initial business combination is unfamiliar with United States securities laws, they may have to expend time and resources becoming familiar with such laws, which could lead to various regulatory issues.
Following our initial business combination, our management may resign from their positions as officers or directors of the company and the management of the target business at the time of the business combination will remain in place. Management of the target business may not be familiar with United States securities laws. If new management is unfamiliar with United States securities laws, they may have to expend time and resources becoming familiar with such laws. This could be expensive and time-consuming and could lead to various regulatory issues which may adversely affect our operations.
After our initial business combination, substantially all of our assets may be located in a foreign country and substantially all of our revenue will be derived from our operations in such country. Accordingly, our results of operations and prospects will be subject, to a significant extent, to the economic, political and legal policies, developments and conditions in the country in which we operate.
The economic, political and social conditions, as well as government policies, of the country in which our operations are located could affect our business. Economic growth could be uneven, both geographically and among various sectors of the economy and such growth may not be sustained in the future. If in the future such country’s economy experiences a downturn or grows at a slower rate than expected, there may be less demand for spending in certain industries. A decrease in demand for spending in certain industries could materially and adversely affect our ability to find an attractive target business with which to consummate our initial business combination and if we effect our initial business combination, the ability of that target business to become profitable.
46
Exchange rate fluctuations and currency policies may cause a target business’ ability to succeed in the international markets to be diminished.
In the event we acquire a
non-U.S.
target, all revenues and income would likely be received in a foreign currency, and the dollar equivalent of our net assets and distributions, if any, could be adversely affected by reductions in the value of the local currency. The value of the currencies in our target regions fluctuate and are affected by, among other things, changes in political and economic conditions. Any change in the relative value of such currency against our reporting currency may affect the attractiveness of any target business or, following consummation of our initial business combination, our financial condition and results of operations. Additionally, if a currency appreciates in value against the dollar prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, the cost of a target business as measured in dollars will increase, which may make it less likely that we are able to consummate such transaction. We may reincorporate in another jurisdiction in connection with our initial business combination, and the laws of such jurisdiction may govern some or all of our future material agreements, we may not be able to enforce our legal rights and such reincorporation may result in taxes imposed on shareholders or warrant holders.
In connection with our initial business combination, we may relocate the home jurisdiction of our business from the Cayman Islands to another jurisdiction. If we determine to do this, the laws of such jurisdiction may govern some or all of our future material agreements. The system of laws and the enforcement of existing laws in such jurisdiction may not be as certain in implementation and interpretation as in the United States. The inability to enforce or obtain a remedy under any of our future agreements could result in a significant loss of business, business opportunities or capital.
In addition, if we determine to relocate the home jurisdiction of our business from the Cayman Islands to another jurisdiction, our initial business combination may require a shareholder or warrant holder to recognize taxable income in the jurisdiction in which the shareholder or warrant holder is a tax resident or in which its members are resident if it is a tax transparent entity (or may otherwise result in adverse tax consequences). We do not intend to make any cash distributions to shareholders or warrant holders to pay such taxes. Shareholders or warrant holders may be subject to withholding taxes or other taxes with respect to their ownership of us after the reincorporation.
We are subject to changing law and regulations regarding regulatory matters, corporate governance and public disclosure that have increased both our costs and the risk of
non-compliance.
We are subject to rules and regulations by various governing bodies, including, for example, the Securities and Exchange Commission, which are charged with the protection of investors and the oversight of companies whose securities are publicly traded, and to new and evolving regulatory measures under applicable law. Our efforts to comply with new and changing laws and regulations have resulted in and are likely to continue to result in, increased general and administrative expenses and a diversion of management time and attention from revenue-generating activities to compliance activities.
Moreover, because these laws, regulations and standards are subject to varying interpretations, their application in practice may evolve over time as new guidance becomes available. This evolution may result in continuing uncertainty regarding compliance matters and additional costs necessitated by ongoing revisions to our disclosure and governance practices. If we fail to address and comply with these regulations and any subsequent changes, we may be subject to penalty and our business may be harmed.
We employ a mail forwarding service, which may delay or disrupt our ability to receive mail in a timely manner.
Mail addressed to the Company and received at its registered office will be forwarded unopened to the forwarding address supplied by Company to be dealt with. None of the Company, its directors, officers, advisors or service providers (including the organization which provides registered office services in the Cayman Islands) will bear any responsibility for any delay howsoever caused in mail reaching the forwarding address, which may impair your ability to communicate with us.
47
After our initial business combination, it is possible that a majority of our directors and officers will live outside the United States and all of our assets will be located outside the United States; therefore, investors may not be able to enforce federal securities laws or their other legal rights.
It is possible that after our initial business combination, a majority of our directors and officers will reside outside of the United States and all of our assets will be located outside of the United States. As a result, it may be difficult, or in some cases not possible, for investors in the United States to enforce their legal rights, to effect service of process upon all of our directors or officers or to enforce judgments of United States courts predicated upon civil liabilities and criminal penalties on our directors and officers under United States laws.
We will be exposed to certain risks that are particular to investing in emerging and other markets.
In seeking significant investment exposure in Latin American countries, we are subject to political, economic, legal, operational and other risks that are inherent to operating and investing in these countries. These risks range from difficulties in settling transactions in emerging markets due to possible nationalization, expropriation, price controls and other restrictive governmental actions. We will also face the risk that exchange controls or similar restrictions imposed by foreign governmental authorities may restrict our ability to convert local currency received or held by us in their countries into U.S. dollars or other currencies, or to take those dollars or other currencies out of those countries.
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Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments
None.
Item 2. Property
We currently utilize office space at PO Box 309, Ugland House, Grand Cayman
KY1-1104.
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.
49
PART II
Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
(a) Market Information
Our units, Class A ordinary shares and warrants are each traded on Nasdaq under the symbols “VLAT,” “VLATW” and “VLATU,” respectively. Our units commenced public trading on May 4, 2021. Our Class A ordinary shares and warrants began separate trading on June 24, 2021.
(b) Holders
On December 31, 2021, there was one holder of record of our units, one holder of record of our Class A ordinary shares, 12 holders of record of our Class B ordinary shares and three holders of record of our warrants.
(c) Dividends
We have not paid any cash dividends on our ordinary shares to date and do not intend to pay cash dividends prior to the completion of our initial business combination. The payment of cash dividends in the future will be dependent upon our revenues and earnings, if any, capital requirements and general financial condition subsequent to completion of our initial business combination. The payment of any cash dividends subsequent to our initial business combination will be within the discretion of our board of directors at such time. In addition, our board of directors is not currently contemplating and does not anticipate declaring any share dividends in the foreseeable future. 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.
(d) Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans
None.
(e) Performance Graph
Not applicable.
(f) Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities; Use of Proceeds from Registered Offerings
Unregistered Sales
In January 2021, one of our directors purchased 5,750,000 of our Class B ordinary shares for a capital contribution of $25,000, or approximately $0.004 per share. In January 2021, such 5,750,000 of the Company’s Class B ordinary shares were transferred to the Sponsor for the same purchase price initially paid by the director of the Company, of which up to 750,000 Class B ordinary shares were subject to forfeiture if the over-allotment option was not exercised by the underwriters in full. In April 2021, our Sponsor transferred 50,000 Class B ordinary shares to each of our four independent directors, an aggregate of 1,697,758 Class B ordinary shares to our executive officers and other directors and an aggregate of 20,000 Class B ordinary shares to certain of our outside advisors. In addition, immediately prior to the consummation of our initial public offering, our Sponsor sold an aggregate of 738,731 Class B ordinary shares to Phoenix SPAC Holdco LLC, or Phoenix, for the same price originally paid for such shares by our Sponsor. On May 7, 2021, the underwriters exercised their over-allotment option in full; hence, the 750,000 Founder Shares are no longer subject to forfeiture and the Sponsor holds 3,093,511 Class B ordinary shares.
Our Sponsor is an accredited investor for purposes of Rule 501 of Regulation D. Each of the equity holders in our Sponsor is an accredited investor under Rule 501 of Regulation D. The sole business of our Sponsor is to act as the Company’s sponsor in connection with our initial public offering. The limited liability company agreement of our Sponsor provides that its membership interests may only be transferred to our officers or directors or other persons affiliated with our Sponsor, or in connection with estate planning transfers.
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Substantially concurrently with the closing of our Initial Public Offering, pursuant to the Private Placement Warrants Purchase Agreement, the Company completed the private sale of an aggregate of 4,000,000 warrants (the “Private Placement Warrants”) to our Sponsor and Phoenix at a purchase price of $1.50 per Private Placement Warrant, generating gross proceeds to the Company of $6,000,000, and substantially concurrently with the closing of the full exercise of the over-allotment option relating to the Initial Public Offering, the Company completed the private sale of an aggregate of 400,000 additional Private Placement Warrants to our Sponsor and Phoenix at a purchase price of $1.50 per Private Placement Warrant, generating gross proceeds to the Company of $600,000. The Private Placement Warrants are identical to the Warrants sold in the Initial Public Offering, except that the Private Placement Warrants, so long as they are held by our Sponsor or its permitted transferees, (i) are not redeemable by the Company, (ii) may not (including the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of such Private Placement Warrants), subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by such holders until 30 days after the completion of the Company’s initial business combination, (iii) may be exercised by the holders on a cashless basis and (iv) will be entitled to registration rights. No underwriting discounts or commissions were paid with respect to such sale. The issuance of the Private Placement Warrants was made pursuant to the exemption from registration contained in Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.
Use of Proceeds
Of the proceeds we received from our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, a total of $230,000,000, including $8,050,000 payable to the underwriter for deferred underwriting commissions, was placed in a U.S.-based trust account maintained by Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, acting as trustee.
There has been no material change in the planned use of proceeds from such use as described in the Company’s final prospectus (File
No. 333-254159),
dated May 3, 2021, which was declared effective by the SEC on May 3, 2021. (g) Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers
None.
Item 6. Selected Financial Data
Not applicable.
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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.
Overview
We were incorporated as a Cayman Islands exempted company on January 21, 2021. The Company was incorporated for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses (the “Business Combination”). While we may pursue an acquisition opportunity in any business, industry, sector or geographical location, we intend to focus our search for an initial business combination on technology-enabled Latin American companies seeking to become category defining enterprises and those targeting or expected to pursue cross-border expansion.
As indicated in the accompanying financial statements, as of December 31, 2021, we had $343,519 cash and deferred offering underwriter’s discount of $8,050,000.
On May 6, 2021, we consummated the IPO of 20,000,000 Public Units, at a price of $10.00 per Public Unit, generating gross proceeds of $200,000,000. Simultaneously with the closing of the IPO, we consummated the sale of 4,000,000 Private Placement Warrants, at a price of $1.50 per Private Placement Warrant, in a Private Placement to Valor Latitude LLC (the “Sponsor”) and Phoenix SPAC Holdco LLC (“Phoenix”), generating gross proceeds of $6,000,000. On May 11, 2021, the underwriters purchased 3,000,000 units generating net proceeds to the Company of approximately $29,400,000 in the aggregate after deducting the underwriter discount.
Simultaneously with the issuance and sale of the Units on May 11, 2021, we consummated the private placement with the Sponsor and Phoenix of an aggregate of 400,000 warrants to purchase Class A Ordinary Shares for $1.50 per warrant generating total proceeds of $600,000. Of the net proceeds from the IPO, exercise of the over-allotment option, and associated private placements, $230,000,000 of cash was placed in the Trust Account. We cannot assure you that our plans to complete our Initial Business Combination will be successful.
Results of Operations
Our entire activity since inception up to December 31, 2021 relates to our formation, the Initial Public Offering and, since the closing of the Initial Public Offering, a search for a Business Combination candidate. We will not be generating any operating revenues until the closing and completion of our initial Business Combination, at the earliest.
For the period from January 21, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021, we had a net income of $7,264,525, which included a gain from the change in fair value of warrant liabilities of $8,772,479 and interest income of $10,850, partially offset by a loss from operations of $970,204, and transaction costs of $548,600.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
On May 6, 2021 we consummated our IPO and Private Placement and on May 11, 2021 the underwriters fully exercised their over-allotment option and substantially concurrently therewith, we completed the private sale of an aggregate of 400,000 additional Private Placement Warrants. Of the net proceeds from the IPO, exercise of the over-allotment option, and associated Private Placements, $230,000,000 of cash was placed in the Trust Account and $1,961,865 of cash was held outside of the Trust Account and is available for working capital purposes. Until the consummation of the IPO, our only source of liquidity was an initial purchase of ordinary shares by the Sponsor and loans from the Sponsor and a related party.
52
Our initial shareholders, officers, directors or their affiliates may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds as may be required (“Working Capital Loans”). If we complete a Business Combination, we may repay the Working Capital Loans out of the proceeds of the Trust Account released to the Company. Otherwise, the Working Capital Loans may be repaid only out of funds held outside the Trust Account. In the event that a Business Combination does not close, we may use a portion of proceeds held outside the Trust Account to repay the Working Capital Loans but no proceeds held in the Trust Account would be used to repay the Working Capital Loans, other than the interest on such proceeds that may be released for working capital purposes. Except for the foregoing, the terms of such Working Capital Loans, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. The Working Capital Loans would either be repaid upon consummation of a Business Combination, without interest, or, at the lender’s discretion, up to $1,500,000 of such Working Capital Loans may be convertible into Private Placement Warrants of the post Business Combination entity at a price of $1.50 per warrant. As of December 31, 2021, no Working Capital Loans were outstanding.
At December 31, 2021, we had cash outside the Trust Account of $343,519 and working capital of $475,704. Over the next 12 months, we will be using these funds for paying existing accounts payable, identifying and evaluating prospective Initial Business Combination candidates, performing due diligence on prospective target businesses, paying for travel expenditures, selecting the target business to merge with or acquire, and structuring, negotiating and consummating the Business Combination. These conditions raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. Management plans to address this with the consummation of a proposed Business Combination in the combination period or with Working Capital Loans. Our Sponsor is committed and prepared to loan additional working capital to fund operations. There is no assurance that our plans to consummate a proposed business combination will occur or we will be able to borrow needed capital. As such, there is substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern.
Critical Accounting Policies
Use of Estimates
The preparation of our financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.
Cash and Cash Equivalents
We consider all short-term investments with an original maturity of three months or less when purchased to be cash equivalents. We did not have any cash equivalents as of December 31, 2021.
Offering Costs Associated with IPO
We comply with the requirements of ASC 34-10-S99-1 and SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin (“SAB”) Topic 5A—“Expenses of Offering”. Deferred offering costs consist of underwriting, legal, accounting and other expenses incurred through the balance sheet date that were directly related to the IPO. Offering costs are charged to shareholders’ deficit or the statement of operations based on the relative value of the Public Warrants to the proceeds received from the Units sold upon the completion of the IPO. Accordingly, May 11, 2021 (upon the underwriters exercising their overallotment option), offering costs totaling $13,112,968 (consisting of $4,600,000 of underwriting fee, $8,050,000 of deferred underwriting fee and $462,968 of other offering costs) were recognized with $548,600 which was allocated to the Public Warrants and Private Warrants, included in the statement of operations as a component of other income/(expense) and $ 12,564,368 included in temporary equity.
Fair Value of Financial Instruments
The fair value of our assets and liabilities, which qualify as financial instruments under the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) ASC 820, “Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures,” approximates the carrying amounts represented in the balance sheet.
Derivative Financial Instruments
We evaluate our financial instruments to determine if such instruments are derivatives or contain features that qualify as embedded derivatives in accordance with ASC Topic 815, “Derivatives and Hedging”. Our derivative instruments are recorded at fair value as of the IPO (May 6, 2021)
and re-valued at
each reporting date, with changes in the fair value reported in the statements of operations. Derivative assets and liabilities are classified on the balance sheet as current or non-current based
on whether or not net-cash settlement
or conversion of the instrument could be required within 12 months of the balance sheet date. We have determined the warrants are a derivative instrument. As the warrants meet the definition of a derivative, the warrants are measured at fair value at issuance and at each reporting date in accordance with ASC 820, Fair Value Measurement, with changes in fair value recognized in the statement of operations in the period of change. Warrant Instruments
We have accounted for the 12,066,667 warrants issued in connection with the IPO, Private Placement, and the underwriters exercise of the over-allotment option in accordance with the guidance contained in FASB ASC 815 “Derivatives and Hedging” whereby under that provision the warrants do not meet the criteria for equity treatment and must be recorded as a liability. Accordingly, we will classify the warrant instruments as a liability at fair value and adjust the instruments to fair value at each reporting period. This liability will
be re-measured at
each balance sheet date until the warrants are exercised or expire, and any change in fair value will be recognized in the Company’s statement of operations. The fair value of warrants will be estimated using an internal valuation model utilizing inputs such as assumed share prices, volatility, discount factors and other assumptions and may not be reflective of the price at which they can be settled. Such warrant classification is also subject to re-evaluation at
each reporting period. 53
Fair Value Measurements
Fair value is defined as the price that would be received for sale of an asset or paid to transfer of a liability, in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. GAAP establishes a three-tier fair value hierarchy, which prioritizes the inputs used in measuring fair value. The hierarchy gives the highest priority to unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities (Level 1 measurements) and the lowest priority to unobservable inputs (Level 3 measurements). These tiers include:
• | Level 1, defined as observable inputs such as quoted prices (unadjusted) for identical instruments in active markets; |
• | Level 2, defined as inputs other than quoted prices in active markets that are either directly or indirectly observable such as quoted prices for similar instruments in active markets or quoted prices for identical or similar instruments in markets that are not active; and |
• | Level 3, defined as unobservable inputs in which little or no market data exists, therefore requiring an entity to develop its own assumptions, such as valuations derived from valuation techniques in which one or more significant inputs or significant value drivers are unobservable. |
Stock Based Compensation
We comply with ASC 718 Compensation — Stock Compensation regarding founder shares acquired by our directors at prices below fair value. The acquired shares shall vest upon our Company consummating an initial Business Combination (the “Vesting Date”). If prior to the Vesting Date, the director ceases to be a director, the shares will be forfeited. The founder shares owned by the director (1) may not be sold or transferred, until one year after the consummation of a business combination, (2) not be entitled to redemption from the funds held in the trust account, or any liquidating distributions. We have 24 months from the date of our initial public offering to consummate a business combination, and if a business combination is not consummated, our Company will liquidate and the shares will become worthless.
Net Income Per Ordinary Share
We have two classes of shares, which are referred to as Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares. Earnings and losses are shared pro rata between the two classes of shares. We have not considered the effect of the warrants sold in the Initial Public Offering and the Private Placement to purchase an aggregate of 12,066,667 of our Class A ordinary shares in the calculation of diluted loss per share, since their exercise is contingent upon future events. As a result, diluted net income per ordinary share is the same as basic net income per ordinary share.
Concentration of Credit Risk
Financial instruments that potentially subject us to concentrations of credit risk consist of a cash account in a financial institution, which, at times, may exceed the Federal Depository Insurance Corporation limit of $250,000. At December 31, 2021, we have not experienced losses on this account and our management believes we are not exposed to significant risks on such account.
Class A Ordinary Shares Subject to Possible Redemption
We account for our ordinary shares subject to possible redemption in accordance with the guidance in ASC Topic 480 “Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity.” Ordinary shares subject to mandatory redemption (if any) are classified as a liability instrument and measured at fair value. Conditionally redeemable ordinary shares (including ordinary shares that feature redemption rights that are either within the control of the holder or subject to redemption upon the occurrence of uncertain events not solely within the Company’s control) are classified as temporary equity. At all other times, ordinary shares are classified as shareholders’ equity. Our ordinary shares feature certain redemption rights that are considered to be outside of the Company’s control and subject to the occurrence of uncertain future events. Accordingly, ordinary shares subject to possible redemption are presented at redemption value as temporary equity, outside of the shareholders’ equity section of the Company’s balance sheet.
Income Taxes
We account for income taxes under FASB ASC 740, “Income Taxes” (“ASC 740”). ASC 740 requires the recognition of deferred tax assets and liabilities for both the expected impact of differences between the financial statement and tax basis of assets and liabilities and for the expected future tax benefit to be derived from tax loss and tax credit carry forwards. ASC 740 additionally requires a valuation allowance to be established when it is more likely than not that all or a portion of deferred tax assets will not be realized. ASC 740 also clarifies the accounting for uncertainty in income taxes recognized in an enterprise’s financial statements and prescribes a recognition threshold and measurement process for financial statement recognition and measurement of a tax position taken or expected to be taken in a tax return. For those benefits to be recognized, a tax position must be more-likely-than-not to be sustained upon examination by taxing authorities. ASC 740 also provides guidance on derecognition, classification, interest and penalties, accounting in interim period, disclosure and transition.
We recognize accrued interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits as income tax expense. There were no unrecognized tax benefits and no amounts accrued for interest and penalties as of December 31, 2021. We are currently not aware of any issues under review that could result in significant payments, accruals or material deviation from its position. We are subject to examination since inception. We are considered to be an exempted Cayman Islands company with no connection to any other taxable jurisdiction and is presently not subject to income taxes or income tax filing requirements in the Cayman Islands or the United States. As such, our tax provision was zero for the period presented.
54
Recent Accounting Standards
In August 2020, the FASB issued Accounting Standards
Update (“ASU”) No. 2020-06, Debt —debt
with Conversion and Other Options (Subtopic 470-20) and Derivatives
and Hedging —Contracts in Entity’ Own Equity (Subtopic 815-40): Accounting for
Convertible Instruments and Contracts in an Entity’ Own Equity (“ASU 2020-06”), which simplifies
accounting for convertible instruments by removing major separation models required under current GAAP. The ASU also removes certain settlement conditions that are required for equity-linked contracts to qualify for the derivative scope exception, and it simplifies the diluted earnings per share calculation in certain areas. We have complied with ASU 2020-06 since its
inception on January 21, 2021. Adoption of the ASU did not impact our financial position, results of operations or cash flows. Our management does not believe that any other recently issued, but not yet effective, accounting standards if currently adopted would have a material effect on the accompanying financial statements.
Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements; Commitments
and Contractual Obligations Registration Rights Agreement
Pursuant to a registration rights agreement entered into on May 3, 2021, the holders of the Founder Shares (See Item 8, Note 5), and the Private Placement Warrants and its underlying securities (See Item 8, Note 4) are entitled to certain registration rights. The Company will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any registration statements pursuant to such registration rights.
Underwriting Agreement
Pursuant to the underwriting agreement, the underwriters received a cash underwriting discount of $4,600,000 following the consummation of the IPO and the exercise of the over-allotment option.
Additionally, the underwriters will be entitled to a deferred underwriting discount of 3.5% of the gross proceeds of the IPO and exercise of the over-allotment option, or $8,050,000, upon the completion of the Company’s Initial Business Combination subject to the terms of the underwriting agreement.
JOBS Act
The JOBS Act contains provisions that, among other things, relax certain reporting requirements for qualifying public companies. We will qualify as an “emerging growth company” and under the JOBS Act will be allowed to comply with new or revised accounting pronouncements based on the effective date for private (not publicly traded) companies. We are electing to delay the adoption of new or revised accounting standards, and as a result, we may not comply with new or revised accounting standards on the relevant dates on which adoption of such
standards is required for non-emerging growth companies. As a
result, our financial statements may not be comparable to companies that comply with new or revised accounting pronouncements as of public company effective dates. Additionally, we are in the process of evaluating the benefits of relying on the other reduced reporting requirements provided by the JOBS Act. Subject to certain conditions set forth in the JOBS Act, if, as an “emerging growth company,” we choose to rely on such exemptions we may not be required to, among other things, (i) provide an independent registered public accounting firm’s attestation report on our system of internal controls over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404, (ii) provide all of the compensation disclosure that may be required of
non-emerging growth public companies under
the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, (iii) comply with any requirement that may be adopted by the PCAOB regarding mandatory audit firm rotation or a supplement to the report of the independent registered public accounting firm providing additional information about the audit and the financial statements (auditor discussion and analysis), and (iv) disclose certain executive compensation related items such as the correlation between executive compensation and performance and comparisons of the CEO’s compensation to median employee compensation. These exemptions will apply for a period of five years following the completion of this offering or until we are no longer an “emerging growth company,” whichever is earlier. 55
Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk.
We are a smaller reporting company as defined
by Rule 12b-2 of
the Exchange Act and are not required to provide the information otherwise required under this item. 56
Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data
This information appears following Item 15 of this Report and is included herein by reference.
Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure
None.
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 Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms. Disclosure controls and procedures include, without limitation, controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in company reports filed or submitted under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to management, including our Chief Executive Officer (who serves as our Principal Executive Officer) and Chief Financial Officer (who serves as our Principal Financial and Accounting Officer), as appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.
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. Based upon their evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15(e)
and 15d-15(e)
under the Exchange Act) were not effective as of December 31, 2021, due to the material weakness in accounting for complex financial instruments. In light of this material weakness, we performed additional analysis as deemed necessary to ensure that our audited financial statements were prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. Accordingly, management believes that the financial statements included in this Form 10-K
present fairly in all material respects our financial position, results of operations and cash flows for the periods presented. We do not expect that our disclosure controls and procedures will prevent all errors and all instances of fraud. Disclosure controls and procedures, no matter how well conceived and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of the disclosure controls and procedures are met. Further, the design of disclosure controls and procedures must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints, and the benefits must be considered relative to their costs. Because of the inherent limitations in all disclosure controls and procedures, not evaluation of disclosure controls and procedures can provide absolute assurance that we have detected all our control deficiencies and instances of fraud, if any. The design of disclosure controls and procedures also is based partly on certain assumptions about the likelihood of future events, and there can be no assurance that any design will succeed in achieving its stated goals under all potential future conditions.
Management’s Report on Internal Controls Over Financial Reporting
This Annual Report on Form
10-K
does not include a report of management’s assessment regarding internal control over financial reporting or an attestation report of our independent registered public accounting firm due to a transition period established by rules of the SEC for newly public companies. 57
Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting
There was no change in our internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021 covered by this Annual Report on Form
10-K
that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting. In light of the material weakness, we have enhanced our processes to identify and appropriately apply applicable accounting requirements to better evaluate and understand the nuances of the complex accounting standards that apply to our financial statements. Our plans at this time include providing enhanced access to accounting literature, research materials and documents and increased communication among our personnel and third-party professionals with whom we consult regarding complex accounting applications. The elements of our remediation plan can only be accomplished over time, and we can offer no assurance that these initiatives will ultimately have the intended effects. Item 9B. Other Information.
None.
Item 9C. Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections.
Not Applicable.
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PART III
Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance
Directors and Executive Officers
Our directors and executive officers are currently as follows:
Name |
Age |
Position | ||
Hélio L. Magalhães | 70 | Chief Executive Officer and Director | ||
J. Douglas Smith | 60 | Chief Financial Officer | ||
Clifford M. Sobel | 72 | Chairman of the Board | ||
Scott Sobel | 47 | Director | ||
Mario Mello | 55 | Director | ||
Linda Rottenberg | 53 | Director | ||
Barry L. Engle | 58 | Director | ||
Brian P. Brooks | 52 | Director |
Hélio L. Magalhães, Chief Executive Officer and Director
Hélio Lima Magalhães has served as our CEO since February 2022 and as a member of our Board of Directors since the completion of our initial public offering. From 2012 to 2017, Mr. Magalhães was Chief Executive Officer of Citibank Brazil, a commercial bank. From 2010 to 2012, Mr. Magalhães served as President of The Americas Global Network Services (GNS) at American Express, a multinational financial services corporation. Mr. Magalhães has served as the chairman of the board of directors of Banco do Brasil S.A. since 2019 and as chairman of the board of UBS BB Investment Bank since 2020, and has also served on the board of directors of Companhia Melhoramentos São Paulo S.A. since 2019 and Suzano S.A. since 2020. Mr. Magalhães previously served as a board member of Eletropaulo Metropolitana (2018-2019), the Fundo Garantidor de Créditos (Brazilian FDIC) (2018), IRB Brasil RE (2017-2019), VR Investments (2017-2018), Elavon do Brasil (2012-2016), and the Brazilian Federation of Banks – Febraban (2012-2017), among other companies. Mr. Magalhães has a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from George Washington University (1976) and a postgraduate degree in Computer Science from the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de
Janeiro—PUC-Rio
(1982). We believe Mr. Magalhães’s significant knowledge and experience in the Latin American market and the financial industry, as well as extensive experience serving in a number of executive positions and as a board member of other public companies make him well qualified to serve as a director. J. Douglas Smith, Chief Financial Officer
J. Douglas (Doug) Smith has served as our CFO since February 2021. Since August 2011, Mr. Smith has served as CFO and Executive Vice President of Valor Capital Group, a growth equity and venture capital investment firm focused on United States and Brazil cross border opportunities. Mr. Smith serves on the investment committee of the six investment funds managed by Valor Capital’s venture arm. Mr. Smith is also a Managing Director at Wesray Social Investments, having worked for Wesray and affiliates since May 1986, where he is a member of the investment committee and oversees private investments for its affiliates and the related family office. Mr. Smith also sits on the investment committee of the MCJ Foundation and The Goldhirsh Foundation and until 2019 was on Board of Governors at the St. Joseph’s High School Foundation. From 2010 to March 2017, Mr. Smith also served as an advisor to and assisted with the launch of the Collaborative Fund, a seed venture firm. Mr. Smith began his career at Price Waterhouse in August 1983 and continued at the firm through May 1986, during which time he earned his CPA license. Mr. Smith left Price Waterhouse as a Tax Senior before joining Wesray Capital. Corp. in May 1986. Mr. Smith holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics/Accounting from the College of the Holy Cross (1983).
59
Clifford M. Sobel, Chairman of the Board
Clifford M. Sobel has been a member of our Board of Directors since February 2021. Since 2011, Mr. Sobel has served as managing Partner of Valor Capital Group, a growth equity and venture capital investment firm focused on United States and Brazil cross border opportunities. Since 2012, Mr. Sobel has served as partner of Related Brazil, a mixed use developer. From 1999 to 2001, Mr. Sobel was President and Chairman of Net2Phone, an internet telephony company. Mr. Sobel also serves on the board of the Council of the Americas (2016 to present), Council of American Ambassadors (2016-Present) and Christie’s Advisory Board for the Americas (2017 to present). Mr. Sobel also served on the board of Diamond Offshore Drilling (2011-2020), and the board of Aegon (NYSE – AEG) (2006) and Alpinvest (2005-2006). Mr. Sobel has a Bachelor’s degree in management from New York University (1972). We believe Mr. Sobel’s extensive corporate, private venture capital and diplomatic experience makes him well qualified to serve as a director.
Scott Sobel, Director
Scott Sobel has been a member of our Board of Directors since February 2021. Since 2011, Mr. Sobel has served as
co-founder
and managing Partner of Valor Capital Group, a growth equity and venture capital investment firm focused on United States and Brazil cross border opportunities. From 1996 to 2002, Mr. Sobel was a member of the founding team and Vice President of Net2Phone, an internet telephony company. Mr. Sobel served as Vice President of Emerging Markets for NCR Corporation, responsible for the company’s financial line of business in BRICA (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and Africa) from November 2009 to March 2011, and Vice President of Business Development & Government Affairs in the Asia Pacific region, based in Singapore from January 2007 to November 2009. From 2003 to 2007, Mr. Sobel served as Director of Business Development of Symbol Technologies, focused on the company’s mobile computing and wireless businesses. Mr. Sobel is on the Board of Directors of Incognia (June 2019 to present), Tembici (March 2020 to present) and National Mentoring Partnership/Mentoring.org (2017 to present). Mr. Sobel has a Bachelor of Science degree from Syracuse University (1996). We believe Mr. Sobel’s extensive corporate and private venture capital experience make him well qualified to serve as a director. Mario Mello, Director
Mario Mello has been a member of our Board of Directors since February 2021. Since 2013, Mr. Mello has served as an advisory board member and Operating Partner of Valor Capital Group, a growth equity and venture capital investment firm focused on United States and Brazil cross border opportunities. From 2010 to 2018, Mr. Mello was General Manager and General Director of PayPal Latin America. From 1996 to 2003, Mr. Mello served as Vice President, Senior Vice President and Executive Vice President of Visa do Brasil and Visa Latin America. Prior to joining Visa Latin America, Mr. Mello was a Statutory Director of Banco Real (which was acquired by Santander). Mr. Mello is currently a Board Member of Construtora Tenda S.A., a Brazilian real estate development company (since 2017), Track & Field Co. S.A., a Brazilian sportswear company (since 2018) and PicPay, a Brazilian payments company (since February 2021), as well as having previously served as a board member of certain Valor Capital Group invested companies, including Loopa, SolFacil and QuasarFlash. Mr. Mello is also the Founder and President of O Poder do Voto, a civic service
non-profit
start-up
company in Brazil that promotes political transparency. Mr. Mello has also served on the board of directors of Cielo, Alelo, CBSS and Fidelity Systems. Mr. Mello has a BSE in Civil Engineering from the Polytechnic School at the University of São Paulo (1988). We believe Mr. Mello’s extensive corporate and private venture capital experience make him well qualified to serve as a director. Linda Rottenberg, Independent Director
Linda Rottenberg has served as a member of our Board of Directors since the completion of our initial public offering. Ms. Rottenberg has served as
Co-Founder
and Chief Executive Officer of Endeavor Global, Inc., leader of the global high-impact entrepreneurship movement, since 1997. She also serves as President of Endeavor Catalyst LP Funds, which had over $250 million of assets under management as of February 2021 and co-invests
in Endeavor Entrepreneurs raising outside capital. Ms. Rottenberg serves on the board of Globant SA, a software developer; Olo, a digital food-ordering SaaS platform; and RTPZ, a SPAC founded by LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman and Zynga founder Mark Pincus. She previously served as board director of Zayo Group, a leading bandwidth infrastructure company. A graduate of Harvard College and Yale Law School, Ms. Rottenberg has been named among TIME’s “Innovators for the 21st century’ and U.S. News and World Report’s “America’s Best Leaders”. In 2018, she received the Heinz Award in Technology, the Economy and Employment. Ms. Rottenberg was selected to serve on our board of directors due to her knowledge and experience in the technology industry, her expertise in emerging and growth markets, and experience serving as director of other companies. 60
Barry Engle, Independent Director
Barry Engle has served as a member of our Board of Directors since the completion of our initial public offering. Mr. Engle was the founder and CEO of Qell Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: QELL), which completed its business combination with Lilium N.V. (NASDAQ:LILM). Mr. Engle’s career has included operational, financial and managerial roles within the international automotive sector, as well as growth-oriented companies across various industries. Mr. Engle spent five years in senior executive roles at General Motors Company (“GM”). From April 2019 through August 2020, Mr. Engle served as President of GM North America. In addition to his responsibilities for GM North America, Mr. Engle was Global Head of Chevrolet and served on the board of GM’s China joint venture. Before this, Mr. Engle served as the President of GM International. Mr. Engle joined GM in September 2015 as President of GM South America. Prior to joining GM, Mr. Engle spent time leading high growth, private equity and venture capital backed companies, serving as Chief Executive Officer of Agility Fuel Solutions and of European electric vehicle manufacturer Think EV. Before joining Think EV, Mr. Engle spent two years as President and CEO of New Holland Agricultural Equipment in Turin, Italy. Mr. Engle also spent a number of years with Ford Motor Company where he served as President & CEO of Ford Canada, President of Ford Brazil, and led U.S. Marketing for the Ford brand. Mr. Engle holds a BA in Economics, with a minor in Spanish, from Brigham Young University as well as an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Engle has also served on the National Advisory Council for the Marriott School of Business at Brigham Young University since 2006. We believe Mr. Engle’s experience with a publicly-traded special purpose acquisition company and significant knowledge and experience with growth-oriented companies across various industries, as well as his extensive experience serving in a number of executive positions and as a board member of other public companies, make him well qualified to serve as a director.
Brian P. Brooks, Independent Director
Brian Brooks has served as a member of our Board of Directors since the completion of our initial public offering. Mr. Brooks is a globally recognized leader in financial technology and financial services. He most recently served as Acting U.S. Comptroller of the Currency, where he was the administrator of the federal banking system and the chief executive of the
3,500-employee
federal agency responsible for chartering and supervising banks comprising 70 percent of all banking activity in the United States. Mr. Brooks’s background before leading the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency included serving as Chief Legal Officer of Coinbase (2018-2020), the largest digital asset exchange in the United States; executive vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary of Fannie Mae (2014-2018), the $3.2 trillion housing finance giant; vice chairman of OneWest Bank (2011-2014), a regional bank based in Southern California; and Washington, D.C. managing partner of global law firm O’Melveny & Myers LLP. Mr. Brooks’s board experience includes service on the boards of directors of Fannie Mae (2019-2020); Avant, Inc. (2017-2020), a major marketplace lending platform; and Spring Labs, a blockchain-enabled digital credit bureau; and numerous nonprofit boards. He has also been an advisor to and/or early stage investor in EarnUp, TextIQ, LoanSnap, and other technology companies. He holds an A.B. cum laude from Harvard University and a J.D. with honors from the University of Chicago. We believe Mr. Brooks’s extensive knowledge and experience in financial technology and financial services make him well qualified to serve as a director. Number and Terms of Office of Officers and Directors
Our board of directors currently consists of six members and is divided into three classes with only one class of directors being appointed in each year, and with each class (except for those directors appointed prior to our first general meeting) serving a three-year term. In accordance with Nasdaq corporate governance requirements, we are not required to hold an annual general meeting until one year after our first fiscal year end following our listing on Nasdaq. The term of office of the first class of directors, consisting of Mr. Barry Engle, Mr. Brian P. Brooks and Ms. Linda Rottenberg, will expire at our first annual general meeting. The term of office of the second class of directors, consisting of Mr. Hélio L. Magalhães, will expire at the second annual general meeting. The term of office of the third class of directors, consisting of Messrs. Clifford M. Sobel and Mario Mello, will expire at the third annual general meeting.
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Only holders of Class B ordinary shares will have the right to appoint directors in any general meeting held prior to or in connection with the completion of our initial business combination. Holders of our public shares will not be entitled to vote on the appointment of directors during such time. These provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association relating to the rights of holders of Class B ordinary shares to appoint directors may be amended by a special resolution passed by a majority of at least 90% of our ordinary shares voting in a general meeting. Our officers are appointed by the board of directors and serve at the discretion of the board of directors, rather than for specific terms of office. Our board of directors is authorized to appoint officers as it deems appropriate pursuant to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association.
Director Independence
Nasdaq listing standards require that a majority of our board of directors be independent within one year of our initial public offering. An “independent director” is defined generally as a person who, in the opinion of the company’s board of directors, has no material relationship with the listed company (either directly or as a partner, shareholder, stockholder or officer of an organization that has a relationship with the company). Our board of directors has determined that Ms. Rottenberg, Mr. Brooks and Mr. Engle are “independent directors” as defined in the Nasdaq listing standards and applicable SEC rules. Our independent directors will have regularly scheduled meetings at which only independent directors are present.
Officer and Director Compensation
None of our officers or directors have received any cash compensation for services rendered to us. Commencing May 4, 2021 through the earlier of consummation of our initial business combination and our liquidation, we will pay our sponsor or an affiliate thereof up to $10,000 per month for office space, utilities, secretarial and administrative support services provided to members of our management team and other expenses and obligations of our sponsor. In addition, our sponsor, officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates will be reimbursed for any expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made to our sponsor, officers or directors, or our or their affiliates. Any such payments prior to an initial business combination will be made from funds held outside the trust account. Other than quarterly audit committee review of such reimbursements, we do not expect to have any additional controls in place governing our reimbursement payments to our directors and officers for their expenses incurred in connection with our activities on our behalf in connection with identifying and consummating an initial business combination. Other than these payments and reimbursements, no compensation of any kind, including finder’s and consulting fees, will be paid by the company to our sponsor, officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates, prior to completion of our initial business combination.
out-of-pocket
out-of-pocket
After the completion of our initial business combination, directors or members of our management team who remain with us may be paid consulting or management fees from the combined company. All of these fees will be fully disclosed to shareholders, to the extent then known, in the proxy solicitation materials or tender offer materials furnished to our shareholders in connection with a proposed 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.
We do not intend to take any action to ensure that members of our management team maintain their positions with us after the consummation of our initial business combination, although it is possible that some or all of our officers and directors may negotiate employment or consulting arrangements to remain with us after our initial business combination. The existence or terms of any such employment or consulting arrangements to retain their positions with us may influence our management’s motivation in identifying or selecting a target business but we do not believe that the ability of our management to remain with us after the consummation of our initial business combination will be a determining factor in our decision to proceed with any potential business combination. We are not party to any agreements with our officers and directors that provide for benefits upon termination of employment.
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Committees of the Board of Directors
Our board of directors has three standing committees: an audit committee, a compensation committee and a nominating and corporate governance committee. Both our audit committee and our compensation committee will be composed solely of independent directors. Subject to
phase-in
rules, the rules of Nasdaq and Rule 10A-3
of the Exchange Act require that the audit committee of a listed company be comprised solely of independent directors, and the rules of Nasdaq require that the compensation committee and the nominating and corporate governance committee of a listed company be comprised solely of independent directors. Each committee operates under a charter that has been approved by our board and has the composition and responsibilities described below. The charter of each committee will be available on our website at https://www.valorlatitude.com. Audit Committee
Ms. Rottenberg, Mr. Engle and Mr. Brooks serve as the members and Mr. Engle serves as chair of the audit committee. Ms. Rottenberg, Mr. Engle and Mr. Brooks are independent of and unaffiliated with our sponsor and our underwriters. Under Nasdaq listing standards and applicable SEC rules, all the directors on the audit committee must be independent.
Each of Ms. Rottenberg, Mr. Engle and Mr. Brooks is financially literate and our board of directors has determined that each of Mr. Engle, Ms. Rottenberg and Mr. Brooks 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 will detail 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) our independent registered public accounting firm’s qualifications and independence, and (4) the performance of our internal audit function and independent registered public accounting firm; the appointment, compensation, retention, replacement, and oversight of the work of the independent registered public accounting firm and any other independent registered public accounting firm engaged by us; |
• | pre-approving all audit and non-audit services to be provided by the independent registered public accounting firm or any other registered public accounting firm engaged by us, and establishing pre-approval policies and procedures; reviewing and discussing with the independent registered public accounting firm all relationships the registered public accounting firm has with us in order to evaluate their continued independence; |
• | 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 (1) the independent registered public accounting firm’s internal quality-control procedures and (2) any material issues raised by the most recent internal quality-control review, or peer review, of the independent registered public accounting 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; |
• | 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 |
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• | 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
Ms. Rottenberg, Mr. Brooks and Mr. Engle serve as the members and Ms. Rottenberg serves as chair of the compensation committee. Under Nasdaq listing standards, all the directors on the compensation committee must be independent.
We have adopted a compensation committee charter, which will detail the principal functions of the compensation committee, including:
• | reviewing and approving on an annual basis the corporate goals and objectives relevant to our chief executive officer’s compensation, evaluating our chief executive officer’s performance in light of such goals and objectives and determining and approving the remuneration (if any) of our chief executive officer’s based on such evaluation; |
• | reviewing and making recommendations to our board of directors with respect to the compensation, and any incentive compensation and equity based plans that are subject to board approval of all of our other officers; |
• | reviewing our executive compensation policies and plans; |
• | implementing and administering our incentive compensation equity-based remuneration plans; |
• | assisting management in complying with our proxy statement and annual report disclosure requirements; |
• | approving all special perquisites, special cash payments and other special compensation and benefit arrangements for our officers and employees; |
• | producing a report on executive compensation to be included in our annual proxy statement; and |
• | reviewing, evaluating and recommending changes, if appropriate, to the remuneration for directors. |
Notwithstanding the foregoing, as indicated above, other than the payment to an affiliate of our sponsor of up to $10,000 per month, for up to 24 months, for office space, utilities, secretarial and administrative support, other expenses and obligations of our sponsor and reimbursement of expenses, no compensation of any kind, including finders, consulting or other similar fees, will be paid to any of our existing shareholders, 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.
The charter also provides that the compensation committee may, in its sole discretion, retain or obtain the advice of a compensation consultant, independent legal counsel or other adviser and will be directly responsible for the appointment, compensation and oversight of the work of any such adviser. However, before engaging or receiving advice from a compensation consultant, external legal counsel or any other adviser, the compensation committee will consider the independence of each such adviser, including the factors required by Nasdaq and the SEC.
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Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee
The members of our nominating and corporate governance are Ms. Rottenberg and Mr. Brooks. Mr. Brooks serves as chair of the nominating and corporate governance committee. Under the Nasdaq listing standards, all the directors on the nominating and corporate governance committee must be independent.
We have adopted a nominating and corporate governance committee charter, which will detail the purpose and responsibilities of the nominating and corporate governance committee, including:
• | identifying, screening and reviewing individuals qualified to serve as directors, consistent with criteria approved by the board, and recommending to the board of directors candidates for nomination for appointment at the annual general meeting or to fill vacancies on the board of directors; |
• | developing and recommending to the board of directors and overseeing implementation of our corporate governance guidelines; |
• | coordinating and overseeing the annual self-evaluation of the board of directors, its committees, individual directors and management in the governance of the company; and |
• | reviewing on a regular basis our overall corporate governance and recommending improvements as and when necessary. |
The charter also provides that the nominating and corporate governance committee may, in its sole discretion, retain or obtain the advice of, and terminate, any search firm to be used to identify director candidates, and will be directly responsible for approving the search firm’s fees and other retention terms.
We have not formally established any specific, minimum qualifications that must be met or skills that are necessary for directors to possess. In general, in identifying and evaluating nominees for director, the board of directors considers educational background, diversity of professional experience, knowledge of our business, integrity, professional reputation, independence, wisdom, and the ability to represent the best interests of our shareholders. Prior to our initial business combination, holders of our public shares will not have the right to recommend director candidates for nomination to our board of directors.
Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation
None of our officers currently serves, or in the past year has served, as a member of the compensation committee of any entity that has one or more officers serving on our board of directors.
Section 16(a) Beneficial Ownership Reporting Compliance
Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act requires our officers, directors and persons who beneficially own more than ten percent of our ordinary shares to file reports of ownership and changes in ownership with the SEC. These reporting persons are also required to furnish us with copies of all Section 16(a) forms they file. Based solely upon a review of such forms, we believe that during the year ended December 31, 2021 there were no delinquent filers.
Code of Ethics
We have adopted a code of ethics applicable to our directors, officers and employees (our “Code of Ethics”). Our Code of Ethics is available on our website. Our Code of Ethics is a “code of ethics,” as defined in Item 406(b) of Regulation
S-K.
We will make any legally required disclosures regarding amendments to, or waivers of, provisions of our Code of Ethics on our website. 65
Conflicts of Interest
All of our executive officers and certain of our directors have or may have fiduciary and contractual duties to certain companies in which they have invested. These entities may compete with us for acquisition opportunities. If these entities decide to pursue any such opportunity, we may be precluded from pursuing it. However, we do not expect these duties to present a significant conflict of interest with our search for an initial business combination.
Under Cayman Islands law, directors and officers owe the following fiduciary duties:
(i) | duty to act in good faith in what the director or officer believes to be in the best interests of the company as a whole; |
(ii) | duty to exercise powers for the purposes for which those powers were conferred and not for a collateral purpose; |
(iii) | directors should not improperly fetter the exercise of future discretion; |
(iv) | duty to exercise powers fairly as between different sections of shareholders; |
(v) | duty not to put themselves in a position in which there is a conflict between their duty to the company and their personal interests; and |
(vi) | duty to exercise independent judgment. |
In addition to the above, directors also owe a duty of care which is not fiduciary in nature. This duty has been defined as a requirement to act as a reasonably diligent person having both the general knowledge, skill and experience that may reasonably be expected of a person carrying out the same functions as are carried out by that director in relation to the company and the general knowledge skill and experience of that director.
As set out above, directors have a duty not to put themselves in a position of conflict and this includes a duty not to engage in self-dealing, or to otherwise benefit as a result of their position. However, in some instances what would otherwise be a breach of this duty can be forgiven and/or authorized in advance by the shareholders provided that there is full disclosure by the directors. This can be done by way of permission granted in the memorandum and articles of association or alternatively by shareholder approval at general meetings.
Each of our officers and directors presently has, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to another entity pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entity. Accordingly, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for an entity to which he or she has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she will honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such business combination opportunity to such entity, subject to their fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law: (i) no individual serving as a director or an officer shall have any duty, except and to the extent expressly assumed by contract, to refrain from engaging directly or indirectly in the same or similar business activities or lines of business as us; and (ii) we renounce any interest or expectancy in, or in being offered an opportunity to participate in, any potential transaction or matter which may be a corporate opportunity for any director or officer on the one hand, and us, on the other. 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.
Below is a table summarizing the other entities to which our officers and directors currently have fiduciary duties or contractual obligations:
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Individual |
Entity/Organization |
Entity’s Business |
Affiliation | |||
Hélio L. Magalhães | Banco do Brasil S.A. | Financial institution | Director | |||
UBS BB Investment Bank | Investment bank | Director | ||||
Companhia Melhoramentos São Paulo S.A. | Cellulose manufacturing and publishing company | Director | ||||
Suzano S.A. | Vertically integrated producer of paper and eucalyptus pulp | Director | ||||
J. Douglas Smith | Valor Capital Group | Growth equity and venture capital investment firm | Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President | |||
Valor venture funds | Venture capital investment | Member of investment committee | ||||
Wesray Social Investments | Venture capital investment firm | Managing director and member of investment committee | ||||
MCJ Foundation | Private Foundation | Member of investment committee | ||||
Goldhirsh Foundation | Private Foundation | Member of investment committee | ||||
Clifford M. Sobel | Valor Capital Group | Growth equity and venture capital investment firm | Co-founder and managing partner | |||
Related Brazil | Mixed use developer | Partner | ||||
Council of the Americas | American organization promoting free trade and open markets throughout the Americas | Director | ||||
Council of American Ambassadors | Association of non-career United States ambassadors. |
Director | ||||
Christie’s Advisory Board for the Americas | Auction house | Director | ||||
Scott Sobel | Valor Capital Group | Growth equity and venture capital investment firm | Co-founder and managing partner | |||
National Mentoring Partnership | Non-profit advocate resource for mentoring in the US |
Director | ||||
Mario Mello | Construtora Tenda S.A. | Brazilian real estate development company | Director | |||
Valor Capital Group | Growth equity and venture capital investment firm | Advisory board member and operating partner | ||||
Track & Field Co. S.A. | Brazilian sportswear company | Director | ||||
O Poder do Voto | Civic service non-profit start-up company |
Founder and President | ||||
Linda Rottenberg | Endeavor Global, Inc. | Non-profit organization supporting high-impact entrepreneurship |
Chief Executive Officer | |||
Endeavor Catalyst LP Funds | Co-investment firm designed to support Endeavor Global entrepreneurs |
President | ||||
Globant SA | Software developer | Director | ||||
Olo | Digital food-ordering SaaS platform | Director | ||||
RTPZ | SPAC | Director | ||||
Barry Engle | Lilium N.V. | Transportation development company | Director | |||
ABC Technologies Holdings Inc. | Automotive supplier company | Director |
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There are also other potential conflicts of interest:
• | Our officers and directors are not required to, and will not, commit their full time to our affairs, which may result in a conflict of interest in allocating their time between our operations and our search for a business combination and their other businesses. We do not intend to have any full-time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination. Each of our officers is engaged in several other business endeavors for which he may be entitled to substantial compensation, and our officers are not obligated to contribute any specific number of hours per week to our affairs. |
• | Our initial shareholders hold founder shares and private placement warrants. Our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and public shares in connection with the completion of our initial business combination. Additionally, our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed to waive their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to their founder shares if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame. If we do not complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame, the private placement warrants will expire worthless. Furthermore, our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed not to transfer, assign or sell any of their founder shares and any Class A ordinary shares issuable upon conversion thereof until the earlier to occur of: (i) one year after the completion of our initial business combination or (ii) the date following the completion of our initial business combination on which we complete a liquidation, merger, share exchange or other similar transaction that results in all of our shareholders having the right to exchange their ordinary shares for cash, securities or other property. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if the closing price of our Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for share sub-divisions, share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after our initial business combination, the founder shares will be released from the lockup. |
• | The private placement warrants (including the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the private placement warrants) will not be transferable until 30 days following the completion of our initial business combination. Because each of our officers and directors will own ordinary shares or warrants directly or indirectly, they may have a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target business is an appropriate business with which to effectuate our initial business combination. |
• | Our officers and directors may have a conflict of interest with respect to evaluating a particular business combination if the retention or resignation of any such officers and directors was included by a target business as a condition to any agreement with respect to our initial business combination. |
We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a business combination target that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors or completing the business combination through a joint venture or other form of shared ownership with our sponsor, officers or directors. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with a business combination target that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, would obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking which is a member of FINRA or a valuation or appraisal firm, that such initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view. We are not required to obtain such an opinion in any other context. Furthermore, in no event will our sponsor or any of our existing officers or directors, or any of their respective affiliates, be paid by the company any finder’s fee, consulting fee or other compensation prior to, or for any services they render in order to effectuate, the completion of our initial business combination. Further, commencing on the date our securities are first listed on Nasdaq, we will also pay our sponsor or an affiliate thereof up to $10,000 per month for office space, utilities, secretarial and administrative services provided to members of our management team and other expenses and obligations of our sponsor.
We cannot assure you that any of the above-mentioned conflicts will be resolved in our favor.
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In the event that we submit our initial business combination to our public shareholders for a vote, our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed to vote their founder shares, and they and the other members of our management team have agreed to vote their founder shares and any shares purchased during or after the offering in favor of our initial business combination.
Limitation on Liability and Indemnification of Officers and Directors
Cayman Islands law does not limit the extent to which a company’s memorandum and articles of association may provide for indemnification of officers and directors, except to the extent any such provision may be held by the Cayman Islands courts to be contrary to public policy, such as to provide indemnification against willful default, fraud or the consequences of committing a crime. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide for indemnification of our officers and directors to the maximum extent permitted by law, including for any liability incurred in their capacities as such, except through their own actual fraud, willful default or willful neglect. We have purchased a policy of directors’ and officers’ liability insurance that insures our officers and directors against the cost of defense, settlement or payment of a judgment in some circumstances and insures us against our obligations to indemnify our officers and directors. We have also entered into indemnity agreements with them.
Our officers and directors have agreed to waive any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies in the trust account, and have agreed to waive any right, title, interest or claim of any kind they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any services provided to us and will not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason whatsoever. Accordingly, any indemnification provided will only be able to be satisfied by us if (i) we have sufficient funds outside of the trust account or (ii) we consummate an initial business combination.
Our indemnification obligations may discourage shareholders from bringing a lawsuit against our officers or directors for breach of their fiduciary duty. These provisions also may have the effect of reducing the likelihood of derivative litigation against our officers and directors, even though such an action, if successful, might otherwise benefit us and our shareholders. Furthermore, a shareholder’s investment may be adversely affected to the extent we pay the costs of settlement and damage awards against our officers and directors pursuant to these indemnification provisions.
We believe that these provisions, the insurance and the indemnity agreements are necessary to attract and retain talented and experienced officers and directors.
Item 11. Executive Compensation.
None of our officers or directors have received or, prior to our initial business combination, will receive any cash compensation for services rendered to us. We pay our sponsor up to $10,000 per month for office space, administrative and support services. Our sponsor, officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates, will be reimbursed for any expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made to our sponsor, officers, directors or our or any of their affiliates.
out-of-pocket
After the completion of our initial business combination, directors or members of our management team who remain with us may be paid consulting, management or other compensation from the combined company. All compensation will be fully disclosed to shareholders, to the extent then known, in the tender offer materials or proxy solicitation materials furnished to our shareholders in connection with a proposed business combination. It is unlikely the amount of such compensation will be known at the time, because the directors of the post-combination business will be responsible for determining executive officer and director compensation. Any compensation to be paid to our officers after the completion of our initial business combination will be determined by a compensation committee constituted solely by independent directors.
We are not party to any agreements with our executive officers and directors that provide for benefits upon termination of employment. The existence or terms of any such employment or consulting arrangements may influence our management’s motivation in identifying or selecting a target business, and we do not believe that the ability of our management to remain with us after the completion of our initial business combination should be a determining factor in our decision to proceed with any potential business combination.
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Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters
The following table sets forth information regarding the beneficial ownership of our ordinary shares available to us at April 12, 2022, with respect to our ordinary shares held by:
• | each person known by us to be the beneficial owner of more than 5% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares; |
• | each of our officers and directors; and |
• | all our officers and directors as a group. |
Unless otherwise indicated, we believe that all persons named in the table have sole voting and investment power with respect to all ordinary shares beneficially owned by them. The following table does not reflect record or beneficial ownership of the private placement warrants as these warrants are not exercisable within 60 days of April 12, 2022.
Class A ordinary shares |
Class B ordinary shares(2) |
|||||||||||||||||||
Name of Beneficial Owners(1) |
Number of Shares Beneficially Owned |
Approximate Percentage of Class |
Number of Shares Beneficially Owned |
Approximate Percentage of Class |
Approximate Percentage of Ordinary Shares |
|||||||||||||||
5% Shareholders: |
||||||||||||||||||||
Valor Latitude LLC (3) |
— | — | % | 3,093,511 | 53.8 | % | 10.8 | % | ||||||||||||
Phoenix SPAC Holdco LLC (5) |
3,000,000 | 13.0 | % | 738,731 | 12.8 | % | 13.0 | % | ||||||||||||
Entities affiliated with Blackstone Inc. (6) |
1,980,000 | 8.6 | % | — | — | % | 6.9 | % | ||||||||||||
TRUXT Investimentos Ltda (7) |
1,849,600 | 8.0 | % | — | — | % | 6.4 | % | ||||||||||||
Entities affiliated with Arena Capital Advisors, LLC (8) |
2,639,984 | 11.5 | % | — | — | % | 9.2 | % | ||||||||||||
Directors and Officers: |
||||||||||||||||||||
Hélio L. Magalhães |
— | — | % | 143,750 | 2.5 | % | * | % | ||||||||||||
J. Douglas Smith |
— | — | % | 143,750 | 2.5 | % | * | % | ||||||||||||
Clifford M. Sobel (4) |
— | — | % | 1,266,508 | 22.0 | % | 4.4 | % | ||||||||||||
Scott Sobel |
— | — | % | 143,750 | 2.5 | % | * | % | ||||||||||||
Mario Mello |
— | — | % | * | * | % | * | % | ||||||||||||
Linda Rottenberg |
— | — | % | * | * | % | * | % | ||||||||||||
Barry L. Engle |
— | — | % | * | * | % | * | % | ||||||||||||
Brian P. Brooks |
— | — | % | * | * | % | * | % | ||||||||||||
All officers and directors as a group |
— | — | % | 1,847,758 | 32.1 | % | 6.4 | % |
* | Less than one percent. |
(1) | Unless otherwise noted, the business address of each of the persons and entities listed above is PO Box 309, Ugland House, Grand Cayman KY1-1104. |
(2) | Interests shown consist solely of founder shares, classified as Class B ordinary shares. Such shares will automatically convert into Class A ordinary shares concurrently with or immediately following the consummation of our initial business combination on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment. |
(3) | Valor Latitude LLC, our sponsor, is the record holder of such shares, and Valor Latitude LLC is controlled by a board of managers consisting of Clifford M. Sobel, J. Douglas Smith and Mario Mello. Each manager of Valor Latitude LLC has one vote, and the approval of two of the three members of the board of managers is required to approve an action of Valor Latitude LLC. Under the so-called “rule of three,” if voting and dispositive decisions regarding an entity’s securities are made by two or more individuals, and a voting and dispositive decision requires the approval of a majority of those individuals, then none of the individuals is deemed a beneficial owner of the entity’s securities. This is the situation with regard to Valor Latitude LLC. Based upon the foregoing analysis, no individual manager of Valor Latitude LLC exercises voting or dispositive control over any of the securities held by Valor Latitude LLC even those in which he directly holds a pecuniary interest. Accordingly, none of them will be deemed to have or share beneficial ownership of such shares and, for the avoidance of doubt, each expressly disclaims any such beneficial interest to the extent of any pecuniary interest he may have therein, directly or indirectly. |
(4) | Sobel 2020 Family LLC is the record holder of such shares, and Sobel 2020 Family LLC is controlled by a board of managers consisting of Clifford M. Sobel. The business address of Clifford M. Sobel is PO Box 309, Ugland House, Grand Cayman KY1-1104. |
(5) | This information is based solely on the Schedule 13G filed with the SEC on May 17, 2021 on behalf of SoftBank Group Corp., a Japanese kabushiki kaisha |
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(6) | This information is based solely on the Schedule 13G/A filed with the SEC on February 11, 2022 on behalf of Blackstone Aqua Master Sub-Fund, a sub-fund of Blackstone Global Master Fund ICAV (“Aqua Fund”), Blackstone Alternative Solutions L.L.C. (“BAS”), Blackstone Holdings I L.P. (“Holdings I”), Blackstone Holdings I/II GP L.L.C. (“Holdings GP”), Blackstone Inc. (“Blackstone”), Blackstone Group Management L.L.C. (“Blackstone Management”), and Stephen A. Schwarzman. The principal business address of each of the Reporting Person is 345 Park Avenue, 28th Floor, New York, NY 10154. Blackstone and the entities affiliated with Blackstone is controlled by its founder, Stephen A. Schwarzman. |
(7) | This information is based solely on the Schedule 13G/A filed with the SEC on February 4, 2022 on behalf of TRUXT Investimentos Ltda (“TRUXT”), Bruno de Godoy Garcia (“Mr. Garcia”) and TRUXT Brazil Long Bias (each a “Reporting Person”). TRUXT and Mr. Garcia have shared voting and dispositive power over 1,849,600 units. Mr. Garcia is the Chief Investment Officer and a controlling person of TRUXT. TRUXT is the investment manager, and Mr. Garcia is the portfolio manager, of TRUXT Brazil Long Bias, a Cayman Islands corporation. TRUXT, Mr. Garcia, and TRUXT Brazil Long Bias may be deemed to share voting and dispositive power with respect to 1,605,280 units held by TRUXT Brazil Long Bias. TRUXT, Mr. Garcia and TRUXT Brazil Long Bias expressly disclaim beneficial ownership of all units held by TRUXT Brazil Long Bias. The principal business address of each of the Reporting Person is Av. Ataulfo de Paiva, 153, 6 floor, Leblon, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 22440-032 Brazil. |
(8) | This information is based solely on the Schedule 13G/A filed with the SEC on February 14, 2022 on behalf of Arena Capital Advisors, LLC – CA, Series A, B, C and E of Arena Short Duration High Yield Fund, LP and Series 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11 and 16 of Arena Capital Fund, LP (each a “Reporting Person”). The principal business address of each of the Reporting Person is 12121 Wilshire Blvd. Ste 1010, Los Angeles, CA 90025. |
Our initial shareholders beneficially own approximately 20% of the issued and outstanding ordinary shares (excluding the representative shares). Prior to our initial business combination, only holders of our founders shares have the right to vote on the election of directors, and holders of a majority of our founders shares may remove a member of the board of directors for any reason. In addition, because of their ownership block, our initial shareholders may be able to effectively influence the outcome of all other matters requiring approval by our shareholders, including amendments to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association and approval of significant corporate transactions.
In connection with our initial public offering, our sponsor and Phoenix purchased an aggregate of 4,400,000 private placement warrants at a price of $1.50 per warrant. Each private placement warrant entitles the holder to purchase one Class A ordinary share at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as provided herein. If we do not complete our initial business combination by May 6, 2023, the proceeds of the sale of the private placement warrants held in the trust account will be used to fund the redemption of our public shares, and the private placement warrants will expire worthless. The private placement warrants are subject to the transfer restrictions described below. The private placement warrants will not be redeemable by us so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees. If the private placement warrants are held by holders other than our sponsor or its permitted transferees, the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us and exercisable by the holders on the same basis as the warrants included in the units sold in our initial public offering. Otherwise, the private placement warrants have terms and provisions that are identical to those of the warrants sold as part of the units in our initial public offering.
Our sponsor and our officers and directors are deemed to be our “promoters” as such term is defined under the federal securities laws. See “Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence” for additional information regarding our relationships with our promoters.
Transfers of Founder Shares and Private Placement Warrants
The founder shares, private placement warrants and any Class A ordinary shares issued upon conversion or exercise thereof are each subject to transfer restrictions pursuant to
lock-up
provisions in the agreement entered into by our sponsor and management team. Those lock-up
provisions provide that such securities are not transferable or salable (i) in the case of the founder shares, until the earlier of (A) one year after the completion of our initial business combination or earlier if, subsequent to our initial business combination, the closing price of the Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for share sub-divisions,
share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading
day period commencing at least 150 days after our initial business combination and (B) the date following the completion of our initial business combination on which we complete a liquidation, merger, share exchange or other similar transaction that results in all of our shareholders having the right to exchange their Class A ordinary shares for cash, securities or other property and (ii) in the case of the private placement warrants and any Class A ordinary shares issuable upon conversion or exercise thereof, until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination except in each case (a) to our officers or directors, any affiliate or family member of any of our officers or directors, any affiliate of our sponsor or to any member of the sponsor or any of their affiliates, (b) in the case of an individual, as a gift to such person’s immediate family or to a trust, the beneficiary of which is a member of such person’s immediate family, an affiliate of such person or to a charitable organization; (c) in the case of an individual, by virtue of laws of descent and distribution upon death of such person; (d) in the case of an individual, pursuant to a qualified domestic relations order; (e) by private sales or transfers made in connection with any forward purchase agreement or similar arrangement or in connection with the consummation of a business combination at prices no greater than the price at which the shares or warrants were originally purchased; (f) by virtue of the laws of the Cayman Islands or our sponsor’s limited liability company agreement upon dissolution of our sponsor, (g) in the event of our liquidation prior to our consummation of our initial business combination; or (h) in the event that, subsequent to our consummation of an initial business combination, we complete a liquidation, merger, share exchange or other similar transaction which results in all of our shareholders having the right to exchange their Class A ordinary shares for cash, securities or other property; provided, however, that in the case of clauses (a) through (f) these permitted transferees must enter into a written agreement agreeing to be bound by these transfer restrictions and the other restrictions contained in the letter agreements. 71
Registration Rights
The holders of the founder shares, private placement warrants and any warrants that may be issued on conversion of working capital loans (and any ordinary shares issuable upon the exercise of the private placement warrants or warrants issued upon conversion of the working capital loans and upon conversion of the founder shares) are entitled to registration rights pursuant to a registration rights agreement signed on the effective date of our initial public offering requiring us to register such securities for resale. The holders of these securities will be entitled to make up to three demands, excluding short form registration 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. However, the registration rights agreement provides that we will not permit any registration statement filed under the Securities Act to become effective until termination of the applicable
lock-up
period, which occurs (1) in the case of the founder shares, on the earlier of (A) one year after the completion of our initial business combination or (B) subsequent to our initial business combination, (x) if the last reported sale price of Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for share splits, share dividends, rights issuances, subdivisions, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading
day period commencing at least 150 days after our initial business combination, or (y) the date following the completion of our initial business combination on which we complete a liquidation, merger, share exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction that results in all of our public shareholders having the right to exchange their Class A ordinary shares for cash, securities or other property, and (2) in the case of the private placement warrants and the respective Class A ordinary shares underlying such warrants, 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination. We will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such registration statements. Equity Compensation Plans
As of December 31, 2021, we had no compensation plans (including individual compensation arrangements) under which equity securities were authorized for issuance.
Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence
In January 2021, one of our directors paid made a capital contribution of $25,000, or approximately $0.004 per share, to cover certain of our expenses, for which we issued 5,750,000 Founder Shares to such officer. In March 2021, the Founder Shares were assigned to the Sponsor for the same purchase price initially paid by one of our officers. Our initial shareholders collectively own 20% of our issued and outstanding shares as of our initial public offering.
In connection with our initial public offering, our Sponsor and Phoenix purchased an aggregate of 4,400,000 private placement warrants at a price of $1.50 per warrant. Each private placement warrant may be exercised for one Valor Class A Ordinary Share at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as provided herein. The private placement warrants (including the Valor Class A Ordinary Shares issuable upon exercise of the private placement warrants) may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by it until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination.
72
As more fully discussed in “Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance —Conflicts of Interest,” if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity that falls within the line of business of any entity to which he or she has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she may be required to present such business combination opportunity to such entity prior to presenting such business combination opportunity to us. Certain of our officers and directors presently have, and any of them in the future may have, additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entity.
We entered into an Administrative Services Agreement pursuant to which we pay our Sponsor up to $10,000 per month for office space, administrative and support services. Upon completion of our initial business combination or our liquidation, we will cease paying any of these monthly fees. Accordingly, in the event the consummation of our initial business combination takes until May 6, 2023, our Sponsor will be paid an aggregate of up to approximately $240,000 ($10,000 per month) for office space, administrative and support services, and other expenses and obligations of our Sponsor and will be entitled to be reimbursed for any expenses.
out-of-pocket
Our Sponsor, officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates, will be reimbursed for any expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made to our Sponsor, officers, directors or our or any of 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 expenses incurred by such persons in connection with activities on our behalf.
out-of-pocket
out-of-pocket
Our Sponsor agreed to loan us up to $250,000 under an unsecured promissory note to be used for a portion of the expenses of our IPO. These loans were
non-interest
bearing and unsecured, and were repaid upon completion of the IPO out of the $1,000,000 of offering proceeds that had been allocated for the payment of offering expenses (other than underwriting commissions) not held in the Trust Account. The value of our Sponsor’s interest in this loan transaction corresponded to the principal amount outstanding under any such loan.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. Any such loans may be repaid only from funds held outside the Trust Account or from funds released to us upon completion of our initial business combination. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants at a price of $1.50 per warrant at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants issued to our Sponsor. The terms of such loans, 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 Valor with any and all amounts being fully disclosed to our shareholders, to the extent then known, in the tender offer or proxy solicitation materials, as applicable, furnished to our shareholders. It is unlikely the amount of such compensation will be known at the time of distribution of such tender offer materials or at the time of a shareholder meeting held to consider our initial business combination, as applicable, as it will be up to the directors of the post-combination business to determine executive and director compensation.
We have entered into a registration rights agreement with respect to the founder shares, private placement warrants and warrants issued upon conversion of working capital loans (if any), which is described under the heading “Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters—Registration Rights.”
73
Related Party Policy
The audit committee of our board of directors has adopted a policy setting forth the policies and procedures for its review and approval or ratification of “related party transactions.” A “related party transaction” is any consummated or proposed transaction or series of transactions: (i) in which the company was or is to be a participant; (ii) the amount of which exceeds (or is reasonably expected to exceed) the lesser of $120,000 or 1% of the average of the company’s total assets at year end for the prior two completed fiscal years in the aggregate over the duration of the transaction (without regard to profit or loss); and (iii) in which a “related party” had, has or will have a direct or indirect material interest. “Related parties” under this policy will include: (i) our directors, nominees for director or officers; (ii) any record or beneficial owner of more than 5% of any class of our voting securities; (iii) any immediate family member of any of the foregoing if the foregoing person is a natural person; and (iv) any other person who maybe a “related person” pursuant to Item 404 of Regulation
S-K
under the Exchange Act. Pursuant to the policy, the audit committee will consider (i) the relevant facts and circumstances of each related party transaction, including if the transaction is on terms comparable to those that could be obtained in arm’s-length
dealings with an unrelated third party, (ii) the extent of the related party’s interest in the transaction, (iii) whether the transaction contravenes our code of ethics or other policies, (iv) whether the audit committee believes the relationship underlying the transaction to be in the best interests of the company and its shareholders and (v) the effect that the transaction may have on a director’s status as an independent member of the board and on his or her eligibility to serve on the board’s committees. Management will present to the audit committee each proposed related party transaction, including all relevant facts and circumstances relating thereto. Under the policy, we may consummate related party transactions only if our audit committee approves or ratifies the transaction in accordance with the guidelines set forth in the policy. The policy will not permit any director or officer to participate in the discussion of, or decision concerning, a related person transaction in which he or she is the related party. Director Independence
Nasdaq listing rules require that a majority of our board of directors be independent within one year of our initial public offering. An “independent director” is defined generally as a person who, in the opinion of the company’s board of directors, has no material relationship with the listed company (either directly or as a partner, shareholder, stockholder or officer of an organization that has a relationship with the company). Our board of directors has determined that Linda Rottenberg, Brian P. Brooks and Barry L. Engle are “independent directors” as defined in the Nasdaq listing standards and applicable SEC rules. Our independent directors will have regularly scheduled meetings at which only independent directors are present.
Item 14. Principal Accountant Fees and Services.
The firm of Marcum LLP, or Marcum, acts as our independent registered public accounting firm. The following is a summary of fees paid to Marcum for services rendered.
Audit Fees
10-K.
Audit-Related Fees.
Tax Fees
All Other Fees
Pre-Approval
Policy Our audit committee was formed upon the consummation of our Initial Public Offering. As a result, the audit committee did not
pre-approve
all of the foregoing services, although any services rendered prior to the formation of our audit committee were approved by our board of directors. Since the formation of our audit committee, and on a going-forward basis, the audit committee has and will pre-approve
all auditing services and permitted non-audit
services to be performed for us by our auditors, including the fees and terms thereof (subject to the de minimis exceptions for non-audit
services described in the Exchange Act which are approved by the audit committee prior to the completion of the audit). 74
PART IV
Item 15. Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules
(a) The following documents are filed as part of this Form
10-K:
(1) Financial Statements:
Page | ||
F - 2 | ||
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 that are incorporated herein by reference can be accessed on the SEC website at www.sec.gov.
75
76
32.2 | Certification of the Registrant’s Chief Financial Officer (Principal Financial and Accounting 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 Linkbase Document* | |
101.LAB | Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Label Linkbase Document* | |
101.PRE | Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase Document* | |
104 | Cover Page Interactive Data File—the cover page XBRL tags are embedded within the Inline XBRL document contained in Exhibit 101* |
* | Filed herewith. |
Item 16. Form
10-K
Summary Not applicable.
77
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Act of 1934, as amended, the registrant has duly caused this Annual Report on Form
10-K
to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned
, thereunto duly authorized
, on April 12, 2022. Valor Latitude Acquisition Corp. | ||
By: | /s/ J. Douglas Smith | |
Name: J. Douglas Smith | ||
Title: Chief Financial Officer |
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, this Annual Report on Form
10-K
has been signed by the following persons in the capacity and on the dates indicated. Name |
Position |
Date | ||
/s/ Hélio L. Magalhães |
Chief Executive Officer and Director (Principal Executive Officer) |
April 12, 2022 | ||
Hélio L. Magalhães | ||||
/s/ J. Douglas Smith |
Chief Financial Officer (Principal Financial and Accounting Officer) |
April 12, 2022 | ||
J. Douglas Smith | ||||
/s/ Clifford M. Sobel |
Chairman of the Board | April 12, 2022 | ||
Clifford M. Sobel | ||||
/s/ Scott Sobel |
Director | April 12, 2022 | ||
Scott Sobel | ||||
/s/ Mario Mello |
Director | April 12, 2022 | ||
Mario Mello | ||||
/s/ Linda Rottenberg |
Director | April 12, 2022 | ||
Linda Rottenberg | ||||
/s/ Barry L. Engle |
Director | April 12, 2022 | ||
Barry L. Engle | ||||
/s/ Brian P. Brooks |
Director | April 12, 2022 | ||
Brian P. Brooks |
78
VALOR LATITUDE ACQUISITION CORP.
INDEX TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
F-1
REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
To the Shareholders and Board of Directors of
Valor Latitude Acquisition Corp.
Opinion on the Financial Statements
We have audited the accompanying balance sheet of Valor Latitude Acquisition Corp. (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2021, the related statements of operations, changes in stockholders’ deficit and cash flows for the period from January 21, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2021, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the period from January 21, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.
Explanatory Paragraph – Going Concern
The accompanying financial statements have been prepared assuming that the Company will continue as a going concern. As more fully described in Note 1 to the financial statements, the Company’s business plan is dependent on the completion of a business combination and the Company’s cash and working capital as of December 31, 2021 are not sufficient to complete its planned activities for a reasonable period of time, which is considered to be one year from the issuance date of the financial statements. These conditions raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. Management’s plans with regard to these matters are also described in Note 1. The financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.
Basis for Opinion
These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s financial statements based on our audit. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (“PCAOB”) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.
We conducted our audit in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. The Company is not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of its internal control over financial reporting. As part of our audit, we are required to obtain an understanding of internal control over financial reporting but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion.
Our audit included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audit also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.
/s/ Marcum LLP
Marcum LLP
We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2021.
New York, NY
April 12, 2022
F-2
VALOR LATITUDE ACQUISITION CORP.
BALANCE SHEET
DECEMBER 31, 2021
Assets: |
||||
Current Assets: |
||||
Cash |
$ | 343,519 | ||
Prepaid expenses |
341,874 | |||
|
|
|||
Total current assets |
685,393 | |||
Prepaid expenses, non-current |
116,144 | |||
Investments held in trust account |
230,010,830 | |||
|
|
|||
Total Assets |
$ |
230,812,367 |
||
|
|
|||
Liabilities, Ordinary Shares Subject to Possible Redemption, and Shareholders’ Deficit |
||||
Current Liabilities: |
||||
Accrued offering costs and expenses |
$ | 164,780 | ||
Due to related party |
44,909 | |||
|
|
|||
Total Current Liabilities |
209,689 | |||
Warrant liabilities |
7,386,968 | |||
Deferred underwriters’ fee |
8,050,000 | |||
|
|
|||
Total Liabilities |
15,646,657 | |||
Commitments and Contingencies (Note 7) |
||||
Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption, 23,000,000 shares at $10.00 redemption value |
230,000,000 | |||
Shareholders’ Deficit: |
||||
Preference shares, $0.0001 par value; 1,000,000 shares authorized; none issued and outstanding |
— | |||
Class A ordinary shares, $0.0001 par value; 200,000,000 shares authorized; no shares issued and outstanding (excluding 23,000,000 shares subject to possible redemption) |
— | |||
Class B ordinary shares, $0.0001 par value; 20,000,000 shares authorized; 5,750,000 shares issued and outstanding |
575 | |||
Accumulated deficit |
(14,834,865 | ) | ||
|
|
|||
Total Shareholders’ Deficit |
(14,834,290 | ) | ||
|
|
|||
Total Liabilities, Ordinary Shares Subject to Possible Redemption, and Shareholders’ Deficit |
$ | 230,812,367 | ||
|
|
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
F-3
VALOR LATITUDE ACQUISITION CORP.
STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS
FOR THE PERIOD FROM JANUARY 21, 2021 (INCEPTION) THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2021
Formation and operating costs |
$ | 970,204 | ||
Loss from operations |
(970,204 | ) | ||
Other income (loss) |
||||
Change in fair value of warrant liabilities |
8,772,479 | |||
Transaction costs allocated to warrant liabilities |
(548,600 | ) | ||
Interest Income |
10,850 | |||
Total other income |
$ | 8,234,729 | ||
Net income |
$ | 7,264,525 | ||
Basic and diluted weighted average shares outstanding, Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption |
15,507,042 | |||
Basic and diluted net income per share |
$ | 0.35 | ||
Basic and diluted weighted average shares outstanding, Class B ordinary shares |
5,496,479 | |||
Basic and diluted net income per share |
$ | 0.35 | ||
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
F-4
VALOR LATITUDE ACQUISITION CORP.
STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN SHAREHOLDERS’ DEFICIT
FOR THE PERIOD FROM JANUARY 21, 2021 (INCEPTION) THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2021
Class B ordinary shares |
Additional Paid-in Capital |
Accumulated Deficit |
Total Shareholders’ Deficit |
|||||||||||||||||
Shares |
Amount |
|||||||||||||||||||
Balance as of January 21, 2021 (inception) |
— | $ | — | $ | — | $ | — | $ | — | |||||||||||
Class B ordinary shares issued to Sponsor |
5,750,000 | 575 | 24,425 | — | 25,000 | |||||||||||||||
Excess value of cash received over fair value of Private Placement Warrants |
— | — | 704,096 | — | 704,096 | |||||||||||||||
Remeasurement adjustment of Class A ordinary shares to redemption value |
— | — | (728,521 | ) | (22,099,390 |
) |
(22,827,911 | ) | ||||||||||||
Net income |
— | — | — | 7,264,525 | 7,264,525 | |||||||||||||||
Balance as of December 31, 2021 |
5,750,000 | $ | 575 | $ | — | $ | (14,834,865 | ) | $ | (14,834,290 | ) | |||||||||
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
F-5
VALOR LATITUDE ACQUISITION CORP.
STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS
FOR THE PERIOD FROM JANUARY 21, 2021 (INCEPTION) THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2021
Cash flows from operating activities: |
||||
Net income |
$ | 7,264,525 | ||
Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash used in operating activities: |
||||
Transaction costs allocated to warrant liabilities |
548,600 | |||
Amortization of prepaid expenses |
|
|
225,731 |
|
Change in fair value of warrant liabilities |
(8,772,479 | ) | ||
Interest earned on investments held in Trust Account |
(10,830 | ) | ||
Changes in assets and liabilities: |
||||
Prepaid expenses |
(683,749 | ) | ||
Accrued offering costs and expenses |
164,780 | |||
Due to related party |
44,909 | |||
|
|
|||
Net cash used in operating activities |
(1,218,513 | ) | ||
|
|
|||
Cash flows from investing activities: |
||||
Investments held in trust account |
(230,000,000 | ) | ||
|
|
|||
Net cash used in investing activities |
(230,000,000 | ) | ||
|
|
|||
Cash flows from financing activities: |
||||
Proceeds from issuance of founder shares |
25,000 | |||
Proceeds received from public offerings, net of underwriters’ discount |
225,400,000 | |||
Proceeds from private placement |
6,600,000 | |||
Payment of offering costs |
(462,968 | ) | ||
|
|
|||
Net cash provided by financing activities |
231,562,032 | |||
|
|
|||
Net change in cash |
343,519 | |||
Cash, beginning of the period |
— | |||
|
|
|||
Cash, end of the period |
$ | 343,519 | ||
|
|
|||
Supplemental disclosure of cash flow information: |
||||
Deferred underwriter’s fee |
$ | 8,050,000 | ||
|
|
|||
Remeasurement adjustment on redeemable class A ordinary shares |
$ | 22,099,390 | ||
|
|
|||
Initial measurement of warrant liabilities |
$ | 16,159,447 | ||
|
|
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
F-6
VALOR LATITUDE ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Note 1 — Organization, Business Operation and Going Concern
Valor Latitude Acquisition Corp. (the “Company”) was incorporated as a Cayman Islands exempted company on January 21, 2021. The Company was incorporated for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses (the “Business Combination”). While the Company may pursue an acquisition opportunity in any business, industry, sector or geographical location, it intends to focus its search for an initial business combination on technology-enabled Latin American companies seeking to become category-defining enterprises and those targeting or expected to pursue cross-border expansion.
As of December 31, 2021, the Company had not commenced any operations. All activity for the period from January 21, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021 relates to the Company’s formation and the initial public offering (“IPO”) described below. The Company will not generate any operating revenues until after the completion of its initial Business Combination, at the earliest. The
Company will generate non-operating income in the
form of interest income on cash and cash equivalents from the proceeds derived from the IPO. The Company has selected December 31 as its fiscal year end.The Company’s sponsor is Valor Latitude LLC, a Cayman Islands limited liability company (the “Sponsor”).
The registration statement for the Company’s IPO was declared effective on May 3, 2021 (the “Effective Date”). On May 6, 2021, the Company consummated its IPO of 20,000,000 units (the “Units”). Each Unit consists of one Class A ordinary share of the Company, par value $0.0001 per share (the “Class A Ordinary Shares”), and
one-third of
one redeemable warrant of the Company (“Warrant”), each whole Warrant entitling the holder thereof to purchase one Class A Ordinary Share for $11.50 per share. The Units were sold at a price of $10.00 per unit, generating gross proceeds to the Company of $200,000,000, which is discussed in Notes 3 and 8.
Substantially with the closing of the IPO, the Company completed the private sale of an aggregate of 4,000,000 warrants (the “Private Placement Warrants”) to Valor Latitude LLC (the “Sponsor”) and Phoenix SPAC Holdco LLC (“Phoenix”) at a purchase price of $1.50 per Private Placement Warrant, generating gross proceeds to the Company of $6,000,000. The Private Placement Warrants are identical to the warrants sold as part of the Units in the IPO except that, so long as they are held by the Sponsor, Phoenix or their respective permitted transferees: (1) they will not be redeemable by the Company; (2) they (including the Class A Ordinary Shares issuable upon exercise of these warrants) may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by the holders until 30 days after the completion of the initial Business Combination; (3) they may be exercised by the holders on a cashless basis; and (4) they (including the Class A Ordinary Shares issuable upon exercise of these warrants) are entitled to registration rights.
The
underwriters had a 45-day option from the
date of the Company’s Prospectus for the IPO (May 5, 2021) to purchase up to an additional 3,000,000 Units to cover over-allotments, if any. The underwriters fully exercised the over-allotment option and, on May 11, 2021, the underwriters purchased 3,000,000 units generating net proceeds to the Company of approximately $29,400,000 in the aggregate after deducting the underwriter discount.
Simultaneously with the issuance and sale of the Units on May 11, 2021, the Company consummated the private placement with the Sponsor and Phoenix of an aggregate of 400,000 warrants to purchase Class A Ordinary Shares for $1.50 per warrant generating total proceeds of $600,000.
A total of $230,000,000 was placed in a U.S.-based trust account at JPMorgan maintained by Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, acting as trustee.
Transaction costs of the IPO and the exercise of the over-allotment amounted to $13,112,968 consisting of $4,600,000 of underwriting discount, $8,050,000 of deferred underwriting discount, and $462,968 of other offering costs. Of the offering costs, $548,600 is included in the statement of operations and $12,564,368 is included in temporary equity.
F-7
Upon the closing of the IPO, management has agreed that an amount equal to at least $10.00 per Unit sold in the IPO, including the proceeds of the Private Placement Warrants, will be held in a trust account (“Trust Account”) and may only be invested in United States “government securities” within the meaning of Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act having a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain
conditions under Rule 2a-7 promulgated under the
Investment Company Act which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations. The Trust Account is intended as a holding place for funds pending the earliest to occur of either: (i) the completion of the initial Business Combination; (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly submitted in connection with a shareholder vote to amend the Company’s amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) to modify the substance or timing of the Company’s obligation to allow redemption in connection with the initial Business Combination or to redeem 100% of the public shares if the Company does not complete the initial Business Combination within 24 months from the closing of the IPO or (B) with respect to any other material provisions relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-initial
Business Combination activity; or (iii) absent an initial Business Combination within 24 months from the closing of the IPO, the return of the funds held in the Trust Account to the public shareholders as part of the redemption of the public shares. The Company’s management has broad discretion with respect to the specific application of the net proceeds of the IPO, although substantially all of the net proceeds of the IPO are intended to be generally applied toward consummating a Business Combination with (or acquisition of) a Target Business. As used herein, “Target Business” must be with one or more target businesses that together have a fair market value equal to at least 80% of the balance in the trust account (less any deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on interest earned) at the time of the Company’s signing a definitive agreement in connection with the Company’s initial Business Combination. Furthermore, there is no assurance that the Company will be able to successfully effect a Business Combination.
The Company will provide its public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their public shares upon the completion of the initial Business Combination either (i) in connection with a general meeting called to approve the Business Combination or (ii) without a shareholder vote by means of a tender offer. The decision as to whether the Company will seek shareholder approval of a proposed Business Combination or conduct a tender offer will be made by the Company, solely in its discretion. The shareholders will be entitled to redeem their
shares at a per-share price, payable in
cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the Trust Account calculated as of two business days prior to the consummation of the initial Business Combination, including interest earned on the funds held in the Trust Account and not previously released to the Company to pay its taxes, divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, subject to limitations. The amount in the Trust Account is initially anticipated to be $10.00 per public share. The ordinary shares subject to redemption are recorded at a redemption value and classified as temporary equity, in accordance with Financial Accounting Standards Board’s (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 480 “Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity.” In such case, the Company will proceed with a Business Combination if the Company has net tangible assets of at least $5,000,001 upon such consummation of a Business Combination and, if the Company seeks shareholder approval, a majority of the issued and outstanding shares voted are voted in favor of the Business Combination.
The Company will have 24 months from the closing of the IPO to complete the initial Business Combination (the “Combination Period”). However, if the Company is unable to complete the initial Business Combination within the Combination Period, the Company will (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public
shares, at a per-share price, payable in
cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the Trust Account, including interest earned on the funds held in the Trust Account (less taxes payable and up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public shareholders’ rights as shareholders (including the right to receive further liquidation distributions, if any) and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of the remaining shareholders and the board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject, in each case, to the Company’s obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and in all cases subject to the other requirements of applicable law.F-8
The Sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with the Company, pursuant to which they have agreed to (i) waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares (as described in
Note
) public shares in connection with the completion of the initial Business Combination; (ii) waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and public shares in connection with a shareholder vote to approve an amendment to the Company’s amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) to modify the substance or timing of the Company’s obligation to allow redemption in connection with the initial Business Combination or to redeem 100% of the public shares if the Company has not consummated an initial Business Combination within 24 months from the closing of the IPO or (B) with respect to any other material provisions relating to 5
shareholders’ rights or pre-initial Business Combination activity;
(iii) waive their rights to liquidating distributions from the Trust Account with respect to their founder shares if the Company fails to complete the initial Business Combination within 24 months from the closing of the IPO, although they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the Trust Account with respect to any public shares they hold if the Company fails to complete the initial Business Combination within the prescribed time frame; and (iv) vote any founder shares held by them and any public shares purchased during or after the IPO (including in open market and privately-negotiated transactions) in favor of the initial Business Combination. The Sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to the Company if and to the extent any claims by a third party (other than the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm) for services rendered or products sold to the Company, or a prospective target business with which the Company has entered into a written letter of intent, confidentiality or other 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 the indemnity of the underwriters of the IPO against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. However, the Company has not asked the Sponsor to reserve for such indemnification obligations, nor has the Company independently verified whether the Sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and the Company believes that the Sponsor’s only assets are securities of the Company. Therefore, it cannot assure that the Sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations.
Risks and Uncertainties
Management is continuing to evaluate the impact
of the COVID-19 pandemic on
the industry and has concluded that while it is reasonably possible that the virus could have a negative effect on the Company’s financial position, results of its operations and/or search for a target company, the specific impact is not readily determinable as of the date of these financial statements. The financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty. Liquidity and Capital Resources; Going Concern
On May 6, 2021 the Company consummated its IPO (see Note 3) and Private Placement (See Note 4) and on May 11, 2021 the underwriters fully exercised their over-allotment option and substantially concurrently therewith, the Company completed the private sale of an aggregate of 400,000 additional Private Placement Warrants. Of the net proceeds from the IPO, exercise of the over-allotment option, and associated Private Placements, $230,000,000 of cash was placed in the Trust Account and $1,961,865 of cash was held outside of the Trust Account and is available for the Company’s working capital purposes. Until the consummation of the IPO, the Company’s only source of liquidity was an initial purchase of ordinary share by the Sponsor and loans from the Sponsor and a related party.
The Company’s initial shareholders, officers, directors or their affiliates may, but are not obligated to, loan the Company funds as may be required (“Working Capital Loans”). If the Company completes a Business Combination, the Company may repay the Working Capital Loans out of the proceeds of the Trust Account released to the Company. Otherwise, the Working Capital Loans may be repaid only out of funds held outside the Trust Account. In the event that a Business Combination does not close, the Company may use a portion of proceeds held outside the Trust Account to repay the Working Capital Loans but no proceeds held in the Trust Account would be used to repay the Working Capital Loans, other than the interest on such proceeds that may be released for working capital purposes. Except for the foregoing, the terms of such Working Capital Loans, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. The Working Capital Loans would either be repaid upon consummation of a Business Combination, without interest, or, at the lender’s discretion, up to $1,500,000 of such Working Capital Loans may be convertible into Private Placement Warrants of the post Business Combination entity at a price of $1.50 per warrant. As of December 31, 2021, no Working Capital Loans were outstanding.
F-9
At December 31, 2021, the Company had cash outside the Trust Account of $343,519 and working capital of $475,704. Over the next 12 months, the Company will be using these funds for paying existing accounts payable, identifying and evaluating prospective Initial Business Combination candidates, performing due diligence on prospective target businesses, paying for travel expenditures, selecting the target business to merge with or acquire, and structuring, negotiating and consummating the Business Combination. These conditions raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. Management plans to address this with the consummation of a proposed Business Combination in the combination period or with Working Capital Loans. There is no assurance that the Company’s plans to consummate a proposed Business Combination will occur or the Company will be able to borrow needed capital. As such, there is substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern.
Note 2 — Summary of Significant Accounting Policies
Basis of Presentation
The accompanying financial statements are presented in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“US GAAP”) and pursuant to the rules and regulations of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”).
Emerging Growth Company Status
The Company is an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act, as modified by the Jumpstart the Company’s Business Startups Act of 2012, (the “JOBS Act”), and it may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in its periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved.
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 election to opt out is irrevocable. The Company has elected not to opt out of such extended transition period which means that when a standard is issued or revised and it has different application dates for public or private companies, the Company, as an emerging growth company, can adopt the new or revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new or revised standard. This may make comparison of the Company’s financial statements with another public company 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. Use of Estimates
The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.
F-10
Cash and Cash Equivalents
The Company considers all short-term investments with an original maturity of three months or less when purchased to be cash equivalents. The Company did not have any cash equivalents as of December 31, 2021.
Offering Costs Associated with IPO
The Company complies with the requirements of ASC 34-10-S99-1 and SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin (“SAB”) Topic 5A—“Expenses of Offering”. Deferred offering costs consist of underwriting, legal, accounting and other expenses incurred through the balance sheet date that were directly related to the IPO. Offering costs are charged to shareholders’ deficit or the statement of operations based on the relative value of the Warrants to the proceeds received from the Units sold upon the completion of the IPO. Accordingly, on May 11, 2021, (upon the underwriters exercising their over-allotment option), offering costs totaling
$13,112,968 (consisting of $4,600,000 of underwriting fee, $8,050,000 of deferred underwriting fee and $462,968 of other offering costs) were recognized with $548,600 which was allocated to the Public Warrants and Private Warrants, included in the statement of operations as a component of other income/(expense) and $ 12,564,368 included in temporary equity.
Investments Held in Trust Account
At December 31, 2021, funds held in the Trust Account include $230,010,830 of investments held in a money market fund characterized as Level 1 investments within the fair value hierarchy under ASC 820 (as defined below).
Fair Value of Financial Instruments
The fair value of the Company’s assets and liabilities, which qualify as financial instruments under the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) ASC 820, “Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures,” approximates the carrying amounts represented in the balance sheet.
Derivative Financial Instruments
The Company evaluates its financial instruments to determine if such instruments are derivatives or contain features that qualify as embedded derivatives in accordance with ASC Topic 815, “Derivatives and Hedging”. The Company’s derivative instruments are recorded at fair value as of the IPO (May 6, 2021)
and re-valued at
each reporting date, with changes in the fair value reported in the statement of operations. Derivative assets and liabilities are classified on the balance sheet as current or non-current based
on whether or not net-cash settlement
or conversion of the instrument could be required within 12 months of the balance sheet date. The Company has determined the warrants are a derivative instrument. As the warrants meet the definition of a derivative the warrants are measured at fair value at issuance and at each reporting date in accordance with ASC 820, Fair Value Measurement, with changes in fair value recognized in the statement of operations in the period of change. Warrant Instruments
The Company has accounted for the 12,066,667 warrants issued in connection with the IPO, Private Placement, and the underwriters exercise of the over-allotment option in accordance with the guidance contained in FASB ASC 815 “Derivatives and Hedging” whereby under that provision the warrants do not meet the criteria for equity treatment and must be recorded as a liability. Accordingly, the Company will classify the warrant instruments as a liability at fair value and adjust the instruments to fair value at each reporting period. This liability will be re-measured at each balance sheet date until the warrants are exercised or expire, and any change in fair value will be recognized in the Company’s statement of operations. The fair value of warrants will be estimated using an internal valuation model utilizing inputs such as assumed share prices, volatility, discount factors and other assumptions and may not be reflective of the price at which they can be settled. Such warrant classification is
also subject to re-evaluation at each reporting
period.F-11
Fair Value Measurements
Fair value is defined as the price that would be received for sale of an asset or paid to transfer of a liability, in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. GAAP establishes a three-tier fair value hierarchy, which prioritizes the inputs used in measuring fair value. The hierarchy gives the highest priority to unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities (Level 1 measurements) and the lowest priority to unobservable inputs (Level 3 measurements). These tiers include:
• | Level 1, defined as observable inputs such as quoted prices (unadjusted) for identical instruments in active markets; |
• | Level 2, defined as inputs other than quoted prices in active markets that are either directly or indirectly observable such as quoted prices for similar instruments in active markets or quoted prices for identical or similar instruments in markets that are not active; and |
• | Level 3, defined as unobservable inputs in which little or no market data exists, therefore requiring an entity to develop its own assumptions, such as valuations derived from valuation techniques in which one or more significant inputs or significant value drivers are unobservable. |
Stock Based Compensation
The Company complies with ASC 718 Compensation -- Stock Compensation regarding founder shares acquired by directors of the Company at prices below fair value. The acquired shares shall vest upon the Company consummating an initial Business Combination (the “Vesting Date”). If prior to the Vesting Date, the director ceases to be a director, the shares will be forfeited. The founder shares owned by the director (1) may not be sold or transferred, until one year after the consummation of a Business Combination, (2) not be entitled to redemption from the funds held in the Trust Account, or any liquidating distributions. The Company has 24 months from the date of the IPO to consummate a Business Combination, and if a Business Combination is not consummated, the Company will liquidate and the shares will become worthless.
The shares were issued on April 8, 2021 (“Grant Date”), and the
shares vest, not upon a fixed date, but upon consummation of an initial Business Combination. Since the approach in ASC 718 is to determine the fair value without regard to the vesting date, the Company has determined the valuation of the Class B shares as of the Grant Dates. The valuation resulted in a fair value of $0.0043 per share equal to cost as of the Grant Date, or an aggregate of $957 for the 220,000 shares. Upon consummation of an initial Business Combination, the Company will recognize $0 in compensation expense. Net Income Per Ordinary Share
The Company has two classes of shares, which are referred to as Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares. Earnings and losses are shared pro rata between the two classes of shares. The Company has not considered the effect of the 7,666,667 warrants sold in the Initial Public Offering and the 4,400,000 of Private Placement Warrants to purchase an aggregate of
12,066,667 of our Class A ordinary shares in the calculation of diluted loss per share, since their exercise is contingent upon future events. As a result, diluted net income per ordinary share is the same as basic net income per ordinary share. December 31, 2021 |
||||
Class A Ordinary Share |
||||
Net income allocable to Class A ordinary shares |
$ | 5,363,448 | ||
Basic and diluted weighted average shares outstanding |
15,507,042 | |||
Basic and diluted net income per share |
$ | 0.35 | ||
Class B Ordinary Share |
||||
Net income allocable to Class B ordinary shares |
$ | 1,901,077 | ||
Weighted average shares outstanding, basic and diluted |
5,496,479 | |||
Basic and diluted net income per ordinary share |
$ | 0.35 |
Concentration of Credit Risk
Financial instruments that potentially subject the Company to concentrations of credit risk consist of a cash account in a financial institution, which, at times, may exceed the Federal Depository Insurance Corporation limit of $250,000. At December 31, 2021, the Company has not experienced losses on this account and management believes the Company is not exposed to significant risks on such account.
Class A Ordinary Shares Subject to Possible Redemption
The Company accounts for its ordinary shares subject to possible redemption in accordance with the guidance in ASC Topic 480 “Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity.” Ordinary shares subject to mandatory redemption (if any) are classified as a liability instrument and measured at fair value. Conditionally redeemable ordinary shares (including ordinary shares that feature redemption rights that are either within the control of the holder or subject to redemption upon the occurrence of uncertain events not solely within the Company’s control) are classified as temporary equity. At all other times, ordinary shares are classified as shareholders’ equity. The Company’s ordinary shares feature certain redemption rights that are considered to be outside of the Company’s control and subject to the occurrence of uncertain future events. Accordingly, ordinary shares subject to possible redemption are presented at redemption value as temporary equity, outside of the shareholders’ equity section of the Company’s balance sheet.
As of December 31, 2021, the Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption reflected on the balance sheet are reconciled in the following table:
Gross proceeds from IPO |
$ |
230,000,000 |
||
Less: |
||||
Proceeds allocated to Public Warrants |
(10,263,543 |
) | ||
Ordinary share issuance costs |
(12,564,368 |
) | ||
Plus: |
||||
Remeasurement adjustment of carrying value to redemption value |
22,827,911 |
|||
|
|
|||
Ordinary shares subject to possible redemption |
$ |
230,000,000 |
||
|
|
F-12
Income Taxes
The Company accounts for income taxes under FASB ASC 740, “Income Taxes” (“ASC 740”). ASC 740 requires the recognition of deferred tax assets and liabilities for both the expected impact of differences between the financial statement and tax basis of assets and liabilities and for the expected future tax benefit to be derived from tax loss and tax credit carry forwards. ASC 740 additionally requires a valuation allowance to be established when it is more likely than not that all or a portion of deferred tax assets will not be realized.
ASC 740 also clarifies the accounting for uncertainty in income taxes recognized in an enterprise’s financial statements and prescribes a recognition threshold and measurement process for financial statement recognition and measurement of a tax position taken or expected to be taken in a tax return. For those benefits to be recognized, a tax position must be more-likely-than-not to be sustained upon examination by taxing authorities. ASC 740 also provides guidance on derecognition, classification, interest and penalties, accounting in interim period, disclosure and transition.
The Company recognizes accrued interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits as income tax expense. There were no unrecognized tax benefits and no amounts accrued for interest and penalties as of December 31, 2021. The Company is currently not aware of any issues under review that could result in significant payments, accruals or material deviation from its position. The Company is subject to examination since inception.
The Company is considered to be an exempted Cayman Islands company with no connection to any other taxable jurisdiction and is presently not subject to income taxes or income tax filing requirements in the Cayman Islands or the United States. As such, the Company’s tax provision was zero for the period presented.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
In August 2020, the FASB issued Accounting
Standards Update (“ASU”) No. 2020-06, Debt —debt with
Conversion and Other Options (Subtopic 470-20) and Derivatives and
Hedging —Contracts in Entity’ Own Equity (Subtopic 815-40): Accounting for Convertible
Instruments and Contracts in an Entity’ Own Equity (“ASU 2020-06”), which simplifies accounting
for convertible instruments by removing major separation models required under current GAAP. The ASU also removes certain settlement conditions that are required for equity-linked contracts to qualify for the derivative scope exception, and it simplifies the diluted earnings per share calculation in certain areas. The Company has complied with ASU 2020-06 since its inception
on January 21, 2021. Adoption of the ASU did not impact the Company’s financial position, results of operations or cash flows. The Company’s management does not believe that any other recently issued, but not yet effective, accounting standards if currently adopted would have a material effect on the accompanying financial statements.
Note 3 — Initial Public Offering Units
On May 6, 2021, the Company consummated its IPO of 20,000,000 units (the “Units”). Each Unit consists of one Class A ordinary share of the Company, par value $0.0001 per share (the “Class A
Ordinary Shares”), and
one-third of
one redeemable warrant of the Company (“Warrant”), each whole Warrant entitling the holder thereof to purchase one Class A Ordinary Share for $11.50 per share. The Units were sold at a price of $10.00 per unit, generating gross proceeds to the Company of $200,000,000, which is discussed in Note 7. The warrants will become exercisable on the later of 30 days after the completion of the initial Business Combination or 12 months from the closing of the IPO, and will expire five years after the completion of the initial Business Combination or earlier upon redemption or liquidation. The
underwriters had a 45-day option from the
date of the Company’s Prospectus for the IPO (May 5, 2021) to purchase up to an additional 3,000,000 Units to cover over-allotments, if any. The underwriters fully exercised the over-allotment option and, on May 11, 2021, the underwriters purchased 3,000,000 units generating net proceeds to the Company of approximately $29,400,000 in the aggregate after deducting the underwriter fee. F-13
Warrants
Each whole warrant entitles the holder to purchase one Class A ordinary share at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment.
The warrants will become exercisable on the later of 12 months from the closing of the IPO or 30 days after the completion of its initial Business Combination, and will expire five years after the completion of the Company’s initial Business Combination, at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, or earlier upon redemption or liquidation.
The Company has agreed that as soon as practicable, but in no event later than fifteen (15) business days after the closing of the initial Business Combination, the Company will use its commercially reasonable efforts to file with the SEC a registration statement for the registration, under the Securities Act, of the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants. The Company will use its commercially reasonable efforts to cause the same to become effective and to maintain the effectiveness of such registration statement, and a current prospectus relating thereto, until the expiration or redemption of the warrants in accordance with the provisions of the warrant agreement. If a registration statement covering the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants is not effective by the sixtieth (60th) business day after the closing of the initial Business Combination, warrant holders may, until such time as there is an effective registration statement and during any period when the Company will have failed to maintain an effective registration statement, exercise warrants on a “cashless basis” in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act or another exemption. Notwithstanding the above, if the Class A ordinary shares are at the time of any exercise of a warrant not listed on a national securities exchange such that they satisfy the definition of a “covered security” under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act, the Company may, at the Company’s option, require holders of public warrants who exercise their warrants to do so on a “cashless basis” in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act and, in the event the Company so elect, the Company will not be required to file or maintain in effect a registration statement, and in the event the Company does not so elect, the Company will use its commercially reasonable efforts to register or qualify the shares under applicable blue sky laws to the extent an exemption is not available. In such event, each holder would pay the exercise price by surrendering each such warrant for that number of Class A ordinary shares equal to the lesser of (A) the quotient obtained by dividing (x) the product of the number of Class A ordinary shares underlying the warrants, multiplied the excess of the “fair market value” less the exercise price of the warrants by (y) the fair market value and (B) 0.361. The “fair market value” shall mean the volume weighted average price of the Class A ordinary shares for the 10 trading days ending on the trading day prior to the date on which the notice of exercise is received by the warrant agent.
Redemption of Warrants When the Price per Class A Ordinary Share Equals or Exceeds $18.00
Once the warrants become exercisable, the Company may redeem the outstanding warrants (except as described herein with respect to the Private Placement Warrants):
• | in whole and not in part; |
• | at a price of $0.01 per warrant; |
• | upon not less than 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption (the “30-day redemption period”) to each warrant holder; and |
• | if, and only if, the last reported sale price of the Class A ordinary shares for any 20 trading days within |
• | A 30-trading day period ending three business days before the Company sends to the notice of redemption to the warrant holders (the “Reference Value”) equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for share sub-divisions, share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like). |
The Company has established the last of the redemption criteria discussed above to prevent a redemption call unless there is at the time of the call a significant premium to the warrant exercise price. If the foregoing conditions are satisfied and the Company issues a notice of redemption of the warrants, each warrant holder will be entitled to exercise his, her or its warrant prior to the scheduled redemption date. Any such exercise would not be done on a “cashless” basis and would require the exercising warrant holder to pay the exercise price for each warrant being exercised. However, the price of the Class A ordinary shares may fall below the $18.00 redemption trigger price (as
adjusted for share sub-divisions, share capitalizations, reorganizations,
recapitalizations and the like) as well as the $11.50 (for whole shares) warrant exercise price after the redemption notice is issued.F-14
Redemption of Warrants When the Price per Class A Ordinary Share Equals or Exceeds $10.00
Once the warrants become exercisable, the Company may redeem the outstanding warrants:
• | in whole and not in part; |
• | at $0.10 per warrant 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 table as described under “Description of Securities – Warrants – Public Shareholders’ Warrants”, based on the redemption date and the “fair market value” of the Class A ordinary shares (as defined below); |
• | if, and only if, the Reference Value equals or exceeds $10.00 per share (as adjusted for |
• | share sub-divisions, share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like); and |
• | if the Reference Value is less than $18.00 per share (as adjusted for share sub-divisions, share 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. |
In addition, if (x) the Company issues additional Class A ordinary shares or equity-linked securities for capital raising purposes in connection with the closing of the initial Business Combination at an issue price or effective issue price of less than $9.20 per Class A ordinary share (with such issue price or effective issue price to be determined in good faith by the board of directors and, in the case of any such issuance to the Sponsors or their affiliates, without taking into account any founder shares held by the initial shareholders or such affiliates, as applicable, prior to such issuance) (the “Newly Issued Price”), (y) the aggregate gross proceeds from such issuances represent more than 60% of the total equity proceeds, and interest thereon, available for the funding of the initial Business Combination on the date of the completion of the initial Business Combination (net of redemptions), and (z) the volume-weighted average trading price of the Class A ordinary shares during the 20 trading day period starting on the trading day prior to the day on which the Company completes the initial Business Combination (such price, the “Market Value”) is below $9.20 per share, the exercise price of the warrants will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 115% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, the $18.00 per share redemption trigger price described adjacent to “Redemption of warrants when the price per share of Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $18.00” 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 described adjacent to the caption “Redemption of warrants when the price per share of Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $10.00” will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price.
Note 4 — Private Placement
Simultaneously with the closing of the IPO, the Sponsor and Phoenix purchased an aggregate of 4,000,000 Private Placement Warrants at a purchase price of $1.50 per Private Placement Warrant, generating gross proceeds to the Company of $6,000,000.
Simultaneously with the issuance and sale of the Units on May 11, 2021, the Company consummated the sale of Private Placement Warrants with the Sponsor and Phoenix of an aggregate of 400,000 warrants to purchase Class A Ordinary Shares for $1.50 per warrant generating total proceeds of $600,000.
The Private Placement Warrants are identical to the warrants sold in the IPO except that the Private Placement Warrants, so long as they are held by the Sponsor, Phoenix or their respective permitted transferees, (i) will not be redeemable by the Company, (ii) may not (including the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of these Private Placement Warrants), subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by the holders until 30 days after the completion of the Company’s initial Business Combination, (iii) may be exercised by the holders on a cashless basis and (iv) will be entitled to registration rights.
F-15
If the Private Placement Warrants are held by holders other than the Sponsor, Phoenix or their respective permitted transferees, the Private Placement Warrants will be redeemable by the Company and exercisable by the holders on the same basis as the warrants included in the Units being sold in the IPO.
The Sponsor, Phoenix, and the Company’s officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with the Company, pursuant to which they have agreed to (i) waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares (as described in Note 5) and public shares in connection with the completion of the initial Business Combination; (ii) waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and public shares in connection with a shareholder vote to approve an amendment to the Company’s amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) to modify the substance or timing of the Company’s obligation to allow redemption in connection with the initial Business Combination or to redeem 100% of the public shares if the Company has not consummated an initial Business Combination within 24 months from the closing of the IPO or (B) with respect to any other material provisions relating to
shareholders’ rights or pre-initial Business Combination activity;
(iii) waive their rights to liquidating distributions from the Trust Account with respect to their founder shares if the Company fails to complete the initial Business Combination within 24 months from the closing of the IPO, although they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the Trust Account with respect to any public shares they hold if the Company fails to complete the initial Business Combination within the prescribed time frame; and (iv) vote any founder shares held by them and any public shares purchased during or after the IPO (including in open market and privately negotiated transactions) in favor of the initial Business Combination. Note 5 — Related Party Transactions
Founder Shares
On January 27, 2021, the Sponsor paid $25,000, or approximately $0.004 per share, to cover certain offering costs in consideration for 5,750,000 Class B ordinary shares, par value $0.0001. Up to 750,000 founder shares were subject to forfeiture by the Sponsor depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised. On May 11, 2021, the underwriters fully exercised the over-allotment option and purchased 3,000,000 units. As a result of the full exercise of the over-allotment option, the founder shares are no longer subject to forfeiture.
With certain limited exceptions, the founder shares are not transferable, assignable or salable (except to the Company’s officers and directors and other persons or entities affiliated with the Sponsor or Phoenix, each of whom will be subject to the same transfer restrictions) until the earlier of (A) one year after the completion of the initial Business Combination or earlier if, subsequent to the initial Business Combination, the closing price of the Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as
adjusted for share sub-divisions,
share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading
day period commencing at least 150 days after the initial Business Combination, and (B) the date following the completion of the initial Business Combination on which the Company completes a liquidation, merger, share exchange or other similar transaction that results in all of the shareholders having the right to exchange their Class A ordinary shares for cash, securities or other property.Stock Based Compensation
On April 8, 2021 the Company’s sponsor transferred a total of
220,000 founder shares to directors and advisors.
The Company complies with ASC 718 Compensation - Stock Compensation regarding founder shares acquired by directors of the Company at prices below fair value. The acquired shares shall vest upon the Company consummating an initial Business Combination (the “Vesting Date”). If prior to the Vesting Date, the director ceases to be a director, the shares will be forfeited. The founder shares owned by the director (1) may not be sold or transferred, until one year after the consummation of a Business Combination, (2) not be entitled to redemption from the funds held in the Trust Account, or any liquidating distributions. The Company has 24 months from the date of the IPO to consummate a Business Combination, and if a Business Combination is not consummated, the Company will liquidate and the shares will become worthless.
The Company has determined the valuation of the Class B shares as of the Grant Dates. The valuation resulted in a fair value of
$0.0043 per share equal to cost as of the Grant Date, or an aggregate of
$957 for thePromissory Note—Related Party
The Sponsor agreed to loan the Company an aggregate of up to $250,000 to be used for the payment of costs related to the IPO. The promissory
note was non-interest bearing, unsecured
and due on the earlier of December 31, 2021 or the closing of the IPO. As of December 31, 2021, the Company had no borrowings under the Promissory Note. Related Party Loans
In order to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial Business Combination, the Sponsor or an affiliate of the Sponsor or certain of the Company’s officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan the Company funds as may be required (the “Working Capital Loans”). If the Company completes the initial Business Combination, it would repay such loaned amounts. In the event that the initial Business Combination does not close, the Company may use a portion of the working capital held outside the Trust Account to repay such loaned amounts but no proceeds from the Trust Account would be used to repay such loaned amounts. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into Private Placement Warrants of the post Business Combination entity at a price of $1.50 per warrant at the option of the lender. Such warrants would be identical to the Private Placement Warrants.
As of December 31, 2021, no Related Party Loans were outstanding.
Due to Related Party
As of December 31, 2021, the Company owed
to related party. This amount is non-interest bearing and payable on demand.
F-16
Administrative Service Fee
Commencing on the date of the prospectus, the Company has agreed to pay an affiliate of the Sponsor up to $10,000 per month for office space, utilities, salaries or other cash compensation paid to consultants to the Sponsor, secretarial and administrative support services provided to members of the management team and other expenses and obligations of the Sponsor. For the period from January 21, 2021 (inception) to December 31, 2021, the Company incurred $70,000 in administrative service fees. Upon completion of the initial Business Combination or liquidation, the Company will cease paying these monthly fees.
Note 6 — Recurring Fair Value Measurements
At December 31, 2021, the Company’s warrant liabilities were valued at $7,386,968. Under the guidance in
ASC 815-40 the warrants
do not meet the criteria for equity treatment. As such, the warrants must be recorded on the balance sheet at fair value. This valuation is subject to re-measurement at each
balance sheet date. With each re-measurement, the warrant
valuation will be adjusted to fair value, with the change in fair value recognized in the Company’s statement of operations. The Company’s warrant liabilities for the Private Placement Warrants are based on a valuation model utilizing inputs from observable and unobservable markets with less volume and transaction frequency than active markets. The fair value of the Private Warrant liabilities classified within Level 3 of the fair value hierarchy.
The Company’s warrant liabilities for the Public Warrants are based on unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities that the Company has the ability to access. The fair value of the Public Warrant liabilities is classified within Level 1 of the fair value hierarchy.
Substantially all of the Company’s investment held in the Trust Account on the balance sheet consist of U. S. Money Market funds which are classified as cash equivalents. Fair values of these investments are determined by Level 1 inputs utilizing quoted prices (unadjusted) in active markets for identical assets.
The following table presents information about the Company’s assets and liabilities that were measured at fair value on a recurring basis as of December 31, 2021, and indicates the fair value hierarchy of the valuation techniques the Company utilized to determine such fair value.
December 31, 2021 |
Level 1 |
Level 2 |
Level 3 |
|||||||||||||
Assets: |
||||||||||||||||
U.S. Money Market held in Trust Account |
$ | 230,010,830 | $ | 230,010,830 | $ | — | $ | — | ||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||
Liabilities: |
||||||||||||||||
Public Warrants Liability |
$ | 4,676,667 | 4,676,667 | — | $ | — | ||||||||||
Private Placement Warrants Liability |
2,710,301 | — | — | 2,710,301 | ||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||
$ |
7,386,968 |
$ |
4,676,667 |
$ |
— |
$ |
2,710,301 |
|||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Measurement
The Company established the initial fair value for the Warrants on May 6, 2021, the date of the consummation of the Company’s IPO. The company used a Monte Carlo simulation model to value the Public Warrants and a modified Black-Scholes model to value the Private Warrants. In June 2021, the Company’s Public Warrants began separately trading on the NASDAQ and consequently were reclassified to a Level 1 valuation. At December 31, 2021, the Company used a modified Black-Scholes model to value the Private Warrants.
F-17
The key inputs into the valuation models were as follows at May 6, 2021 (inception) and December 31, 2021:
Input |
March 6, 2021 (Initial Measurement) |
December 31, 2021 |
||||||
Risk-free interest rate |
1.13 | % | 1.37 | % | ||||
Expected term (years) |
6.44 | 6.17 | ||||||
Expected volatility |
24.4 | % | 10.3 | % | ||||
Exercise price |
$ | 11.5 | $ | 9.76 |
The following table provides a reconciliation of changes in fair value liability of the beginning and ending balances for the Company’s Warrants classified as Level 3:
Fair value at January 21, 2021 (inception) |
$ | — | ||
Initial fair value on May 6, 2021 |
14,284,733 | |||
Initial value of Warrants issued on May 11, 2021 |
1,874,714 | |||
Public Warrants reclassified to level 1 (1) |
(6,134,867 | ) | ||
Change in fair value |
(7,314,279 | ) | ||
|
|
|||
Fair Value at December 31, 2021 |
$ | 2,710,301 | ||
|
|
(1) | Assumes the Public Warrants were reclassified on September 30, 2021. |
Except for the transfer from Level 3 to Level 1 for the Public Warrants, there were no other transfers between Levels 1, 2 or 3 during the for the period from January 21, 2021 to December 31, 2021.
Note 7 — Commitments and Contingencies
Registration Rights
The holders of the (i) founder shares, which were issued in a private placement prior to the closing of the IPO, (ii) Private Placement Warrants, which were issued in a private placement simultaneously with the closing of the IPO and the Class A ordinary shares underlying such Private Placement Warrants and (iii) Private Placement Warrants that may be issued upon conversion of Working Capital Loans will have registration rights to require the Company to register a sale of any of the securities held by them pursuant to a registration rights agreement. The holders of these securities are entitled to make up to three demands, excluding short form demands, that the Company registers such securities. In addition, the holders have certain “piggy-back” registration rights with respect to registration statements filed subsequent to the completion of the initial Business Combination. The Company will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such registration statements.
Warrant Amendments
The warrant agreement provides that the terms of the warrants may be amended without the consent of any shareholder or warrant holder to cure any ambiguity or correct any defective provision or to make any amendments that are necessary in the good faith determination of the board of directors of the Company (taking into account then existing market precedents) to allow for the warrants to be classified as equity in the Company’s financial statements, but requires the approval by the holders of at least a majority of the then outstanding public warrants to make any change that adversely affects the interests of the registered holders of public warrants. Accordingly, the Company may amend the terms of the public warrants (i) in a manner adverse to a holder of public warrants if holders of at least a majority of the then outstanding public warrants approve of such amendment or (ii) to the extent necessary for the warrants in the good faith determination of the board of directors of the Company (taking into account then existing market precedents) to allow for the warrants to be classified as equity in the Company’s financial statements without the consent of any shareholder or warrant holder. Although the Company’s ability to amend the terms of the public warrants with the consent of at least a majority 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 shares, shorten the exercise period or decrease the number of Class A ordinary shares purchasable upon exercise of a warrant.
F-18
Underwriters Agreement
The
underwriters had a 45-day option from the
date of the IPO to purchase up to an additional 3,000,000 units to cover over-allotments, if any. On May 11, 2021, the underwriters fully exercised the over-allotment option and purchased 3,000,000 units. Note 8 — Shareholders’ Deficit
Preference shares—
Class
A Ordinary shares—
Class
B ordinary shares
On May 11, 2021, the underwriters fully exercised the over-allotment option and purchased 3,000,000
units. As a result of the full exercise of the over-allotment option, the founder shares were no longer subject to
forfeiture.
Ordinary
The founder shares will automatically convert into Class A ordinary shares concurrently with or immediately following the consummation of the initial Business adjustment for
Combination on a one-for-one basis, subject to
share sub-divisions, share capitalizations, reorganizations,
recapitalizations and the like, and subject to further adjustment as provided herein. In the case that additional Class A ordinary shares or equity-linked securities are issued or deemed issued in connection with the initial Business Combination, the number of Class A ordinary shares issuable upon conversion of all founder shares will equal, in the aggregate, 20% of the total number of Class A ordinary shares outstanding after such conversion (after giving effect to any redemptions of Class A ordinary shares by public shareholders), including the total number of Class A ordinary shares issued, or deemed issued or issuable upon conversion or exercise of any equity-linked securities or rights issued or deemed issued, by the Company in connection with or in relation to the consummation of the initial Business Combination, excluding any Class A ordinary shares or equity-linked securities exercisable for or convertible into Class A ordinary shares issued, or to be issued, to any seller in the initial Business Combination and any Private Placement Warrants issued to the Sponsor, officers or directors upon conversion of working capital loans; provided that such conversion of founder shares will never occur on a less than one-for-one basis.
Note 9 — Subsequent Events
The Company evaluated subsequent events and transactions that occurred after the balance sheet date up to the filing date of the Company’s Form 10-K for the period ended December 31, 2021. The Company did not identify any subsequent events that would have required adjustment or disclosure in the financial statements, other than as discussed below.
F-19
On February 28, 2022, the Company entered into a convertible note with the Sponsor, pursuant to which the Sponsor agreed to loan the Company up to an aggregate principal amount of $300,000 (the “Convertible Note”). The Convertible Note is
non-interest
bearing and due on the earlier of: (i) 12 months from the date thereof or (ii) the date on which the Company consummates a business combination. If the Company does not consummate a business combination, the Company may use a portion of any funds held outside the Trust Account to repay the Convertible Note; however, no proceeds from the Trust Account may be used for such repayment if the Company does not consummate the Business Combination. Up to $300,000 of the Convertible Note may be converted into warrants at a price of $1.50 per warrant at the option of the Sponsor. The warrants would be identical to the Private Placement Warrants.
F-20