UNITED
STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM
(Mark One)
For
the fiscal year ended
For the transition period from to
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
| (State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) | (Commission File Number) | (I.R.S. Employer Identification Number) |
| (Address of principal executive offices) | (Zip Code) |
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: | Name of Each Exchange on Which Registered: | ||
| Units, each consisting of one share of Class A common stock, $0.0001 par value, and one-third of one redeemable warrant | AAQC.U | New York Stock Exchange | ||
| Warrants included as part of the units, each whole warrant exercisable for one share of Class A common stock at an exercise price of $11.50 per share | AAQC WS | New York Stock Exchange |
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 ☐
Indicate
by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act. Yes ☐
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.
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 and post such files).
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See definition of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
| Large accelerated filer | ☐ | Accelerated filer | ☐ |
| ☒ | Smaller reporting company | ||
| Emerging growth company |
If an emerging
growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any
new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s
assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over
financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared
or issued its audit report.
Indicate
by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes
The aggregate
market value of the common stock outstanding, other than shares held by persons who may be deemed affiliates of the registrant, computed
by reference to the closing sales price for the shares of common stock on the last business day of the registrant’s most recently
completed second fiscal quarter, as reported on the New York Stock Exchange (the “NYSE”), was $
As of March 7, 2022, there were
Documents Incorporated by Reference: None.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
i
CERTAIN TERMS
Unless otherwise stated in this Annual Report on Form 10-K (this “Report”), or the context otherwise requires, references to:
| ● | “amended and restated certificate of incorporation” are to the amended and restated certificate of incorporation of the company, which was adopted in connection with the closing of our initial public offering; |
| ● | “Class A common stock” are to our Class A common stock; |
| ● | “common stock” are to our Class A common stock and our Class B common stock; |
| ● | “equity-linked securities” are to any debt or equity securities that are convertible, exercisable or exchangeable for shares of our Class A common stock issued in connection with our initial business combination including, but not limited to, a private placement of equity or debt; | |
| ● | “founder shares” are to shares of our Class B common stock initially issued to our sponsor in a private placement prior to our initial public offering and the shares of our Class A common stock that will be issued upon the automatic conversion of the shares of our Class B common stock at the time of our initial business combination (for the avoidance of doubt, such shares of our Class A common stock will not be “public shares”); | |
| ● | “initial public offering” are to our initial public offering consummated on March 22, 2021; | |
| ● | “initial stockholders” are to holders of our founder shares prior to our initial public offering; | |
| ● | “management” or our “management team” are to our executive officers and directors, and “directors” are to our current directors; | |
| ● | “NYSE” are to the New York Stock Exchange. | |
| ● | “private placement warrants” are to the warrants issued to our sponsor in private placements simultaneously with the closing of our initial public offering and upon conversion of working capital loans, if any; | |
| ● | “public shares” are to shares of our Class A common stock 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 stockholders” are to the holders of our public shares, including our initial stockholders and management team to the extent our sponsor and/or members of our management team purchase public shares, provided that our sponsor’s and each member of our management team’s status as a “public stockholder” will only exist with respect to such public shares; |
| ● | “public warrants” are to the redeemable warrants issued as part of each Unit in our initial public offering and which began trading separately on May 10, 2021; | |
| ● | “sponsor” are to Accelerate Acquisition Sponsor LLC, a Delaware limited liability company; | |
| ● | “trust account” are to the trust account set up following our initial public offering with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee; and | |
| ● | “Unit” are to our Units issued in our initial public offering, each consisting of one share of Class A common stock, $0.0001 par value per share, and one-third of one redeemable warrant; | |
| ● | “we,” “us,” “our,” “company” or “our company” are to Accelerate Acquisition Corp., a Delaware corporation. |
ii
CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This Report, including, without limitation, statements under the heading “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, (the “Securities Act”) and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, (the “Exchange Act”). Our forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our or our management team’s expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future. In addition, any statements that refer to projections, forecasts or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. The words “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intends,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “would” and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. Forward-looking statements in this Report may include, for example, statements about:
| ● | our ability to select an appropriate target business or businesses; |
| ● | our ability to complete our initial business combination; |
| ● | our expectations around the performance of a prospective target business or businesses; |
| ● | our success in retaining or recruiting, or changes required in, our officers, key employees or directors following our initial business combination; |
| ● | our officers and directors allocating their time to other businesses and potentially having conflicts of interest with our business or in approving our initial business combination; |
| ● | our potential ability to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination; |
| ● | our pool of prospective target businesses; |
| ● | our ability to consummate an initial business combination due to the uncertainty resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic; |
| ● | the ability of our officers and directors to generate a number of potential investment opportunities; |
| ● | our public securities’ potential liquidity and trading; |
| ● | the lack of a market for our securities; |
| ● | the use of proceeds not held in the trust account or available to us from interest income on the trust account balance; |
| ● | the trust account not being subject to claims of third parties; or |
| ● | our financial performance following our initial public offering. |
The forward-looking statements contained in this Report are based on our current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects on us. There can be no assurance that future developments affecting us will be those that we have anticipated. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties (some of which are beyond our control) or other assumptions that may cause actual results or performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those factors described under the heading “Risk Factors.” Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of our assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary in material respects from those projected in these forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws. These risks and others described under “Risk Factors” may not be exhaustive.
iii
SUMMARY OF RISK FACTORS
The following is a summary of the principal risks described below in Part I, Item 1A “Risk Factors” in this Report. We believe that the risks described in the “Risk Factors” section are material to investors, but other factors not presently known to us or that we currently believe are immaterial may also adversely affect us. The following summary should not be considered an exhaustive summary of the material risks facing us, and it should be read in conjunction with the “Risk Factors” section and the other information contained in this Report.
Risks Relating to our Search for, Consummation of, or Inability to Consummate, a Business Combination and Post-Business Combination Risks
| ● | We have no operating history and no revenues, and you have no basis on which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective. |
| ● | Our public stockholders may not be afforded an opportunity to vote on our proposed initial business combination, which means we may complete our initial business combination even though a majority of our public stockholders do not support such a combination. |
| ● | If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor and members of our management team have agreed to vote in favor of such initial business combination, regardless of how our public stockholders vote. |
| ● | Your only opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding a potential business combination may be limited to the exercise of your right to redeem your shares from us for cash. |
| ● | The ability of our public stockholders to redeem their shares for cash may make our financial condition unattractive to potential business combination targets, which may make it difficult for us to enter into a business combination with a target. |
| ● | The ability of our public stockholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our shares may not allow us to complete the most desirable business combination or optimize our capital structure. |
| ● | The ability of our public stockholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our shares could increase the probability that our initial business combination would be unsuccessful and that you would have to wait for liquidation in order to redeem your shares. |
| ● | The requirement that we complete an initial business combination within 24 months after the closing of our initial public offering may give potential target businesses leverage over us in negotiating a business combination and may limit the time we have in which to conduct due diligence on potential business combination targets as we approach our dissolution deadline, which could undermine our ability to complete our initial business combination on terms that would produce value for our stockholders. |
| ● | The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the impact on business and debt and equity markets could have a material adverse effect on our search for a business combination, and any target business with which we ultimately consummate a 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. |
| ● | Changes in the market for directors and officers liability insurance could make it more difficult and more expensive for us to negotiate and complete an initial business combination. |
| ● | We may not be able to complete an initial business combination within 24 months after the closing of our initial public offering, in which case we would cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up and we would redeem our public shares and liquidate, in which case our public stockholders may only receive $10.00 per share, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, and our warrants will expire worthless. |
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| ● | If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors and their affiliates may elect to purchase shares or public warrants from public stockholders, which may influence a vote on a proposed business combination and reduce the public “float” of our Class A common stock. |
| ● | If a stockholder fails to receive notice of our offer to redeem our public shares in connection with our initial business combination, or fails to comply with the procedures for tendering its shares, such shares may not be redeemed. |
| ● | 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. |
| ● | You will not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors of many other blank check companies. |
| ● | 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 do not complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only their pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account that are available for distribution to public stockholders, and our warrants will expire worthless. |
Risks Relating to Our Sponsor and Management Team
| ● | We are dependent upon our executive officers and directors and their loss could adversely affect our ability to operate. |
| ● | 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. |
| ● | Our executive officers and directors will allocate their time to other businesses thereby causing conflicts of interest in their determination as to how much time to devote to our affairs. This conflict of interest could have a negative impact on our ability to complete our initial business combination. |
| ● | Since our sponsor, executive officers and directors will lose their entire investment in us if our initial business combination is not completed (other than with respect to public shares they have acquired during or may acquire 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. |
Risks Relating to Our Securities
| ● | 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. |
| ● | If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, and if you or a “group” of stockholders are deemed to hold in excess of 15% of our Class A common stock, you will lose the ability to redeem all such shares in excess of 15% of our Class A common stock. |
| ● | 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 stockholders may be less than $10.00 per share. |
| ● | The NYSE 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. |
| ● | Certain of our warrants are accounted for as a warrant liability and are recorded at fair value upon issuance with changes in fair value each period to be reported in earnings, which may have an adverse effect on the market price of our ordinary shares. |
v
PART I
Item 1. Business
Overview
We are a blank check company incorporated as a Delaware corporation and formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses, which we refer to throughout this Report as our initial business combination.
While we may pursue an initial business combination target in any business, industry or geographical location, we intend to focus our search on industrial, transportation & mobility, consumer and retail sectors, where our management team can capitalize on its decades of strategic experience to identify, acquire and operate an attractive target and drive superior shareholder value creation. We believe technological innovation is driving a new industrial and consumer revolution. As a result, we believe there is a large, attractive opportunity set positioned to benefit from a broad range of prevailing mega-trends, including: automation everywhere; advanced manufacturing and robotics; intelligent asset control and monitoring; dynamic supply chains; next-generation mobility technologies; and environmental sustainability, among many others. We believe that our founders are uniquely qualified to access opportunities that embody many of these trends and will realize a sustainable competitive advantage.
On December 31, 2020, our sponsor paid $25,000 to cover certain of our offering expenses in consideration for 8,625,000 shares of our Class B common stock, par value $0.0001. Our sponsor subsequently transferred 30,000 founder shares to each of our independent director nominees and 20,000 founder shares to each of our advisors, for $0.003 per share. On January 20, 2021, we effected a stock dividend of 1,437,500 shares, and on March 1, 2021, we effected a stock dividend of 1,437,500 shares, resulting in there being an aggregate of 11,500,000 founder shares outstanding.
On March 22, 2021, the Company consummated its initial public offering of 40,000,000 Units at $10.00 per Unit, generating gross proceeds of $400 million, and incurring offering costs of approximately $22.6 million, inclusive of $14 million in deferred underwriting commissions. The underwriter elected not to exercise its over-allotment option to purchase 6,000,000 Units, and on March 22, 2021, our sponsor forfeited 1,500,000 shares of Class B common stock at no cost. Each Unit consists of one share of Class A common stock and one-third of one redeemable warrant. Each whole public warrant entitles the holder to purchase one share of our Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment.
Simultaneously with the closing of our initial public offering, we consummated the private placement of 7,333,333 private placement warrants to our sponsor, at a price of $1.50 per private placement warrant, generating gross proceeds of $11.0 million. Each private placement warrant is exercisable to purchase one share of our Class A common stock.
Competitive Strengths
Our business selection process will capitalize on the deep experience and network of Messrs. Nardelli, Simoff and Kaplan, as well as the other members of our board of directors and advisors in consummating an initial business combination. Our competitive strengths and factors that we believe will contribute to our ability to execute a transaction include the following:
| ● | Premier Executives with Unique and Complementary Backgrounds: We believe our management team comprises individuals with the extensive operational, financial and managerial experience needed to effectively navigate the key opportunities and challenges in industrial, transportation & mobility, consumer and retail sectors. Coupled with Mr. Nardelli’s extensive operational and public company leadership experience, we believe that Messrs. Simoff’s and Kaplan’s transaction and investment experience positions us as a much desired partner. Members of our management team bring decades of relevant industry experience, complemented by deep public market knowledge through investment, public company board room and executive leadership experiences. We believe our management team’s distinguished and unique experiences will position our company as a preferred acquiror of attractive assets and enable us to identify, evaluate and execute a successful business combination and create significant value to stakeholders. |
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| ● | Proven Strategic and Operational Transformation Leadership Experience: Led by Mr. Nardelli, who has eight years of experience as a public company CEO and nine years of experience as a divisional president, our management team has proven ability to continuously implement growth and operational transformational strategies. Additionally, our founders have extensive experience in advising senior executives and board members as well as connecting with employees across all levels. We believe that these qualities are unique and instrumental in unlocking value to stakeholders after a business combination. |
| ● | Substantial Deal Sourcing and Execution Experience: Our management team is highly experienced in mergers and acquisitions across a wide variety of sectors. They have a strong track record of identifying synergistic assets, developing relationships with owners of these assets, optimally structuring transactions and successfully integrating acquired businesses. We believe that our management team’s substantive deal sourcing, structuring and execution experience will not only facilitate the initial business combination but will also help further accelerate the target’s future growth opportunities via subsequent acquisitions of other attractive targets. For example, Home Depot completed over 60 deals under Mr. Nardelli’s leadership. |
| ● | Deep and Extensive Executive Networks: We intend to source initial business combination opportunities through our management team’s extensive and differentiated network of relationships with CEOs, founders, family owners, venture capitalists and private equity sponsors. We also believe we can leverage our networks to attract top talent after the initial business combination and further strengthen the board of directors. |
| ● | Our Board of Directors and Advisors: Our directors and advisors have deep experience in technological research and development, capital formation and fundraising which both complement and further bolster the experience of our management team. We believe the expertise of our board and advisors will significantly benefit us as we evaluate potential initial business combination candidates as well as, to the extent they remain on our board of directors, following the completion of our initial business combination. |
| ● | Our Partnership with Andalusian: We will utilize Andalusian, Mr. Kaplan’s private investment firm, as a platform partner to bolster our sourcing, diligence and execution capabilities. Given Andalusian’s deep investing knowledge and experienced team, we believe that the firm will provide additive and differentiated skillset in our partnership. While Andalusian has no contractual obligation to assist us in locating and consummating an initial business combination, we believe that Andalusian will assist us to the extent it can as a result of Mr. Kaplan’s affiliation with us. We believe sellers of assets will look favorably on Andalusian’s involvement with us. However, we cannot assure you that Andalusian will assist us in locating and consummating an initial business combination. |
Business Strategy
Our management team intends to apply a focused, thesis-driven approach to capitalize on attractive opportunities in industrial, transportation & mobility, consumer and retail sectors. We believe these sectors are acutely impacted by accelerating technological adoption and penetration. The industrial installed base is rapidly becoming electrified and digitalized, recent technical inflection points like rapidly declining battery costs are accelerating the electrification of global transportation, and e-commerce is profoundly reshaping the consumer and retail landscape. We are seeing this technological progress manifest itself in mega-trends such as:
| ● | automation everywhere; |
| ● | advanced manufacturing and robotics; |
2
| ● | intelligent asset control and monitoring; |
| ● | dynamic supply chains; |
| ● | next-generation mobility technologies; and |
| ● | environmental sustainability, among many others. |
We believe that businesses that are able to anticipate and embrace these mega-trends will be positioned for long-term value creation.
Our management team has a long track record of identifying and implementing technology-enabled strategies to drive growth and create value. For example, during Mr. Nardelli’s tenure at Home Depot, he drove the transformation of the company’s supply chain to an advanced inventory management process and led efforts to implement device connectivity across its workforce and inventory, all with an emphasis on automation and cybersecurity. Similarly, during his time as the CEO of Chrysler, Mr. Nardelli developed strong relationships in the automotive sector at a time when the electrification of vehicles was gaining global traction in the industry. He has since developed experience and understanding of the application and regulatory requirements of fleet telematics and global positioning sensors as a board member of Genox Transportation, all key enablers of next-generation mobility. Importantly, we intend to leverage Mr. Little’s 37 years of experience in technology, engineering, material science and research & development at General Electric to assess the technological differentiation of potential business targets. We believe our experience uniquely positions us to capitalize on opportunities aligned with attractive structural growth trends.
We believe there is a broad universe of attractive business combination targets operating in industrial, transportation & mobility, consumer and retail ecosystems where AAC has strong experience and relationships. Upon completion of our initial public offering, our management, board of directors and advisors will activate their global network of relationships to begin the process of sourcing and reviewing potential opportunities for a potential business combination. We expect potential transaction sources to include sponsor-owned assets, corporate carve-outs and founder/management-owned entities.
Acquisition Criteria
Consistent with our business strategy, we have developed the following general, non-exhaustive investment criteria that we believe are important and aligned with our competitive strengths:
| ● | Sustainable, Long-Term Organic Growth |
| ○ | We will seek to partner with a business with sustainable long-term organic growth driven by clear competitive advantages and a mission-critical offering. We are focused on growth, which is predictable and durable through cycles, with manageable risk. |
| ● | Strong Brand Recognition |
| ○ | We will seek to partner with a business that has a bespoke brand that differentiates its positioning in the marketplace and strongly resonates with customers. We intend to target companies where brand is a competitive moat and which we believe will benefit from Mr. Nardelli’s proven track record of brand stewardship. |
| ● | Proven Revenue Model and a Diversified Blue Chip Customer Base |
| ○ | We will seek to partner with a business with a proven business model, including targets with highly contracted or recurring revenue and/or strong incumbency that results in predictable demand. We intend target businesses with a defensible proprietary product and/or differentiated service offerings that serve a diversified set of blue-chip companies or end-users. |
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| ● | Tech-Enabled Solutions Driving Meaningful Value Creation |
| ○ | We will seek to partner with a business that is increasing revenue and margins through utilizing technology, design engineering and know-how to support revenue growth and margin expansion as well as enhanced competitive advantage. During his tenure at GE and Home Depot, Mr. Nardelli focused on creating organizations that are faster, more flexible and more efficient through the implementation of new technologies and processes that leverage that experience in the business combination. |
| ● | Businesses That Will Benefit from Management’s Proprietary Relationships |
| ○ | We will seek to partner with businesses that will benefit from access to our management team’s proprietary relationships within the industrial, transportation & mobility, consumer and retail sectors. Mr. Nardelli’s career spans many decades yielding a vast network of business relationships. |
| ● | Ability to Support and Mentor an Exceptional Executive Management Team |
| ○ | We will seek to partner with a business that has a strong management team and culture of partnership. The AAC management team and board of directors have demonstrated consistent prowess in building, investing, nurturing and leading complex organizations. We believe Mr. Nardelli and the board of directors will be able to add significant value to an exceptional management team as they continue to create value for shareholders. |
These criteria are not intended to be exhaustive. Any evaluation relating to the merits of a particular initial business combination may be based, to the extent relevant, on these general guidelines as well as other considerations, factors and criteria that our management team may deem relevant. In the event that we decide to enter into our initial business combination with a target business that does not meet the above criteria and guidelines, we will disclose that the target business does not meet the above criteria in our stockholder communications related to our initial business combination, which, as discussed in this Report, would be in the form of proxy solicitation materials or tender offer documents that we would file with the SEC.
Initial Business Combination
In accordance with the rules of the NYSE, our initial business combination must occur with one or more target businesses that together have an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the assets held in the trust account (excluding the amount of deferred underwriting discounts held in trust and taxes payable by us on the income earned on the trust account) at the time of our signing a definitive agreement in connection with our initial business combination. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or an independent valuation or appraisal firm with respect to satisfaction of such criteria. Our stockholders may not be provided with a copy of such opinion nor will they be able to rely on such opinion. We do not intend to purchase multiple businesses in unrelated industries in conjunction with our initial business combination. Subject to this requirement, our management have virtually unrestricted flexibility in identifying and selecting one or more prospective businesses, although we are not permitted to effectuate our initial business combination solely with another blank check company or a similar company with nominal operations.
We anticipate structuring our initial business combination so that the post-transaction company in which our public stockholders own shares will own or acquire 100% of the equity interests or assets of the target business or businesses. 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 prior owners of the target business, the target management team or stockholders 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 (the “Investment Company Act”). Even if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our stockholders prior to the 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 transaction. 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 stockholders 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 valued for purposes of the 80% fair market value test. If the business combination involves more than one target business, the 80% fair market value test will be based on the aggregate value of all of the target businesses and we will treat the target businesses together as the initial business combination for purposes of a tender offer or for seeking stockholder approval, as applicable.
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To the extent we effect our initial business combination with a company or business that may be financially unstable or in its early stages of development or growth, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in such company or business. Although our management will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we cannot assure you that we will properly ascertain or assess all significant risk factors.
In evaluating a prospective target business, we expect to conduct a thorough due diligence review which will encompass, among other things, meetings with incumbent management and employees, document reviews, inspection of facilities, as well as a review of financial, operational, legal and other information which will be made available to us.
The time required to select and evaluate a target business and to structure and complete our initial business combination, and the costs associated with this process, are not currently ascertainable with any degree of certainty. Any costs incurred with respect to the identification and evaluation of a prospective target business with which our initial business combination is not ultimately completed will result in our incurring losses and will reduce the funds we can use to complete another business combination.
Potential Conflicts of Interest
We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers, directors or any of their affiliates. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or an independent valuation or appraisal firm that our initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view.
Our sponsor and directors directly or indirectly own founder shares and/or private placement warrants following our initial public offering and, accordingly, may have a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target business is an appropriate business with which to effectuate our initial business combination. Further, each of our officers and directors may have a conflict of interest with respect to evaluating a particular business combination if the retention or resignation of any such officers and directors was included by a target business as a condition to any agreement with respect to our initial business combination.
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 entities, including as described above. Accordingly, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity that 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 other entity, subject to their fiduciary duties under Delaware law.
Status as a Public Company
We believe our structure will make us an attractive business combination partner to target businesses. As an existing public company, we offer a target business an alternative to the traditional initial public offering through a merger or other business combination with us. In a business combination transaction with us, the owners of the target business may, for example, exchange their shares of stock, shares or other equity interests in the target business for our Class A common stock (or shares of a new holding company) or for a combination of our Class A common stock and cash, allowing us to tailor the consideration to the specific needs of the sellers. We believe target businesses will find this method a more expeditious and cost effective method to becoming a public company than the typical initial public offering. The typical initial public offering process takes a significantly longer period of time than the typical business combination transaction process, and there are significant expenses in the initial public offering process, including underwriting discounts and commissions, that may not be present to the same extent in connection with a business combination with us.
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Furthermore, once a proposed business combination is completed, the target business will have effectively become public, whereas an initial public offering is always subject to the underwriters’ ability to complete the offering, as well as general market conditions, which could delay or prevent the offering from occurring or could have negative valuation consequences. Once public, we believe the target business would then have greater access to capital, an additional means of providing management incentives consistent with stockholders’ interests and the ability to use its shares as currency for acquisitions. Being a public company can offer further benefits by augmenting a company’s profile among potential new customers and vendors and aid in attracting talented employees.
While we believe that our structure and our management team’s backgrounds will make us an attractive business partner, some potential target businesses may view our status as a blank check company, such as our lack of an operating history and our ability to seek stockholder approval of any proposed initial business combination, negatively.
Financial Position
With funds available for a business combination from our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants initially in the amount of $386,000,000, after payment of the estimated expenses of our initial public offering and $14,000,000 of deferred underwriting fees, we offer a target business a variety of options such as creating a liquidity event for its owners, providing capital for the potential growth and expansion of its operations or strengthening its balance sheet by reducing its debt leverage ratio. Because we are able to complete our initial business combination using our cash, debt or equity securities, or a combination of the foregoing, we have the flexibility to use the most efficient combination that will allow us to tailor the consideration to be paid to the target business to fit its needs and desires. However, we have not taken any steps to secure third party financing and there can be no assurance it will be available to us.
Effecting Our Initial Business Combination
We are not presently engaged in, and we will not engage in, any operations for an indefinite period of time following our initial public offering. We intend to effectuate our initial business combination using cash from the proceeds of our initial public offering, the private placements of the private placement warrants, our equity, debt or a combination of these as the consideration to be paid in our initial business combination. We may seek to complete our initial business combination with a company or business that may be financially unstable or in its early stages of development or growth, which would subject us to the numerous risks inherent in such companies and businesses.
If our initial business combination is paid for using equity or debt securities, or not all of the funds released from the trust account are used for payment of the consideration in connection with our initial business combination or used for redemptions of our Class A common stock, we may apply the balance of the cash released to us from the trust account for general corporate purposes, including for maintenance or expansion of operations of the post-transaction company, the payment of principal or interest due on indebtedness incurred in completing our initial business combination, to fund the purchase of other companies or for working capital.
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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.
We may need to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination, either because the transaction requires more cash than is available from the proceeds held in our trust account, or because we become obligated to redeem a significant number of our public shares upon completion of the business combination, in which case we may issue additional securities or incur debt in connection with such business combination. There are no prohibitions on our ability to issue securities or incur debt in connection with our initial business combination. We are not currently a party to any arrangement or understanding with any third party with respect to raising any additional funds through the sale of securities, the incurrence of debt or otherwise.
Sources of Target Businesses
Our process of identifying acquisition targets will leverage our sponsor and our management team’s industry experiences, proven deal sourcing capabilities and broad and deep network of relationships in numerous industries, including executives and management teams, private equity groups and other institutional investors, large business enterprises, lenders, investment bankers and other investment market participants, restructuring advisers, consultants, attorneys and accountants, which we believe should provide us with a number of business combination opportunities. We expect that the collective experience, capability and network of our sponsor, our directors and officers, combined with their individual and collective reputations in the investment community, will help to create prospective business combination opportunities.
In addition, we anticipate that target business candidates may be brought to our attention from various unaffiliated sources, including investment bankers and private investment funds. Target businesses may be brought to our attention by such unaffiliated sources as a result of being solicited by us through calls or mailings. These sources may also introduce us to target businesses in which they think we may be interested on an unsolicited basis, since many of these sources will have read our final prospectus and know what types of businesses we are targeting. Our officers and directors, as well as their affiliates, may also bring to our attention target business candidates of which they become aware through their business contacts as a result of formal or informal inquiries or discussions they may have, as well as attending trade shows or conventions.
We also expect to receive a number of proprietary deal flow opportunities that would not otherwise necessarily be available to us as a result of the business relationships of our officers and directors. While we do not presently anticipate engaging the services of professional firms or other individuals that specialize in business acquisitions on any formal basis, we may engage these firms or other individuals in the future, in which event we may pay a finder’s fee, consulting fee or other compensation to be determined in an arm’s length negotiation based on the terms of the transaction. We will engage a finder only to the extent our management determines that the use of a finder may bring opportunities to us that may not otherwise be available to us or if finders approach us on an unsolicited basis with a potential transaction that our management determines is in our best interest to pursue. Payment of finder’s fees is customarily tied to completion of a transaction, in which case any such fee will be paid out of the funds held in the trust account. In no event, however, will either of our sponsor or any of our existing officers or directors, or any entity with which they are affiliated, be paid any finder’s fee, consulting fee or other compensation by the company prior to, or for any services they render in order to effectuate, the completion of our initial business combination (regardless of the type of transaction that it is). None of our sponsor, executive officers or directors, or any of their respective affiliates, will be allowed to receive any compensation, finder’s fees or consulting fees from a prospective business combination target in connection with a contemplated acquisition of such target by us.
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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 from making the acquisition 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, executive officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, would obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or an independent valuation or appraisal firm, that such an 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.
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, including entities that are affiliates of our sponsor, pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entity.
Accordingly, if our sponsor or its affiliates or our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity that 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 Delaware law.
Evaluation of a Target Business and Structuring of our Initial Business Combination
Our initial business combination must occur with one or more target businesses that together have an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of our assets held in the trust account (excluding the deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable by us on the income earned on the trust account) at the time of the agreement to enter into the initial business combination. The fair market value of the target or targets will be determined by our board of directors based upon one or more standards generally accepted by the financial community, such as discounted cash flow valuation or value of comparable businesses. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or an independent valuation or appraisal firm, with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. We do not intend to purchase multiple businesses in unrelated industries in conjunction with our initial business combination. Subject to this requirement, our management have virtually unrestricted flexibility in identifying and selecting one or more prospective target businesses, although we are not be permitted to effectuate our initial business combination with another blank check company or a similar company with nominal operations.
In any case, we will only complete an initial business combination in which we own or acquire 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquire a controlling interest in the target sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. If we own or acquire less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses, the portion of such business or businesses that are owned or acquired by the post-transaction company is what will be valued for purposes of the 80% fair market value test. There is no basis for investors in our initial public offering to evaluate the possible merits or risks of any target business with which we may ultimately complete our business combination.
To the extent we effect our business combination with a company or business that may be financially unstable or in its early stages of development or growth we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in such company or business. Although our management will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we cannot assure you that we will properly ascertain or assess all significant risk factors.
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In evaluating a prospective target business, we expect to conduct a thorough due diligence review, which will encompass, among other things, meetings with incumbent management and employees, document reviews, interviews of customers and suppliers, inspection of facilities, 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:
| ● | 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.
Stockholders May Not Have the Ability to Approve our Initial Business Combination
We may conduct redemptions without a stockholder vote pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC subject to the provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. However, we will seek stockholder approval if it is required by law or applicable stock exchange rule, or we may decide to seek stockholder approval for business or other legal reasons.
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Under the NYSE’s listing rules, stockholder approval would be required for our initial business combination if, for example:
| ● | we issue shares of common stock that will be equal to or in excess of 20% of the number of our shares of common stock then outstanding (other than in a public offering); |
| ● | any of our directors, officers or substantial stockholders (as defined by the NYSE rules) has a 5% or greater interest (or such persons collectively have a 10% or greater interest), directly or indirectly, in the target business or assets to be acquired or otherwise and the present or potential issuance of common stock could result in an increase in outstanding common stock or voting power of 5% or more; or |
| ● | the issuance or potential issuance of common stock will result in our undergoing a change of control. |
The decision as to whether we will seek stockholder approval of a proposed business combination in those instances in which stockholder approval is not required by law will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on business and legal reasons, which include a variety of factors, including, but not limited to:
| ● | the timing of the transaction, including in the event we determine stockholder approval would require additional time and there is either not enough time to seek stockholder approval or doing so would place the company at a disadvantage in the transaction or result in other additional burdens on the company; |
| ● | the expected cost of holding a stockholder vote; |
| ● | the risk that the stockholders would fail to approve the proposed business combination; |
| ● | other time and budget constraints of the company; and |
| ● | additional legal complexities of a proposed business combination that would be time-consuming and burdensome to present to stockholders. |
Permitted Purchases of our Securities
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our sponsor, directors, executive 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. 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. If they engage in such transactions, they will not make any such purchases when they are in possession of any material non-public information not disclosed to the seller or if such purchases are prohibited by Regulation M under the Exchange Act.
Such a purchase may include a contractual acknowledgment that such stockholder, although still the record holder of our shares is no longer the beneficial owner thereof and therefore agrees not to exercise its redemption rights. In the event that our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates purchase shares in privately negotiated transactions from public stockholders who have already elected to exercise their redemption rights, such selling stockholders would be required to revoke their prior elections to redeem their shares. We do not currently anticipate that such purchases, if any, would constitute a tender offer subject to the tender offer rules under the Exchange Act or a going-private transaction subject to the going-private rules under the Exchange Act; however, if the purchasers determine at the time of any such purchases that the purchases are subject to such rules, the purchasers will comply with such rules.
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The purpose of any such purchases of shares could be to (i) vote such shares in favor of the business combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining stockholder approval of the business combination or (ii) 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.
In addition, if such purchases are made, the public “float” of our Class A common stock or public warrants may be reduced and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, which may make it difficult to maintain or obtain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange.
Our sponsor, officers, directors and/or their affiliates anticipate that they may identify the stockholders with whom our sponsor, officers, directors or their affiliates may pursue privately negotiated purchases by either the stockholders contacting us directly or by our receipt of redemption requests submitted by stockholders (in the case of our Class A common stock) following our mailing of proxy materials in connection with our initial business combination. To the extent that our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or their affiliates enter into a private purchase, they would identify and contact only potential selling stockholders who have expressed their election to redeem their shares for a pro rata share of the trust account or vote against our initial business combination, whether or not such stockholder has already submitted a proxy with respect to our initial business combination but only if such shares have not already been voted at the stockholder meeting related to our initial business combination. Our sponsor, executive officers, directors, advisors or any of their affiliates will select which stockholders to purchase shares from based on the negotiated price and number of shares and any other factors that they may deem relevant, and will only purchase shares if such purchases comply with Regulation M under the Exchange Act and the other federal securities laws.
Any purchases by our sponsor, officers, directors and/or their affiliates who are affiliated purchasers under Rule 10b-18 under the Exchange Act will only be made to the extent such purchases are able to be made in compliance with Rule 10b-18, which is a safe harbor from liability for manipulation under Section 9(a)(2) and Rule 10b-5 of the Exchange Act. Rule 10b-18 has certain technical requirements that must be complied with in order for the safe harbor to be available to the purchaser. Our sponsor, officers, directors and/or their affiliates will not make purchases of shares if the purchases would violate Section 9(a)(2) or Rule 10b-5 of the Exchange Act. Any such purchases will be reported pursuant to Section 13 and Section 16 of the Exchange Act to the extent such purchasers are subject to such reporting requirements.
Redemption Rights for Public Stockholders upon Completion of our Initial Business Combination
We will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their Class A common stock 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 completion of the initial business combination, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes, if any, divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, subject to the limitations described herein. The amount in the trust account is initially anticipated to be approximately $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 representative of the underwriters. The redemption rights will include the requirement that a beneficial holder must identify itself in order to validly redeem its shares. There will be no redemption rights upon the completion of our initial business combination with respect to our warrants. Our sponsor, directors and each member of our management team have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and any public shares in connection with (i) the completion of our initial business combination and (ii) a stockholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation that would affect the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of shares of Class A common stock the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we have not completed an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering.
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Limitations on Redemptions
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules). However, the proposed business combination may require: (i) cash consideration to be paid to the target or its owners, (ii) cash to be transferred to the target for working capital or other general corporate purposes or (iii) the retention of cash to satisfy other conditions in accordance with the terms of the proposed business combination. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all Class A common stock that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed business combination exceed the aggregate amount of cash available to us, we will not complete the business combination or redeem any shares, and all Class A common stock submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof.
Manner of Conducting Redemptions
We will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their public shares upon the completion of our initial business combination either (i) in connection with a stockholder meeting called to approve the business combination or (ii) by means of a tender offer. The decision as to whether we will seek stockholder 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 stockholder 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 stockholder approval under SEC rules). Asset acquisitions and share purchases would not typically require stockholder approval while direct mergers with our company where we do not survive and any transactions where we issue more than 20% of our shares of outstanding common stock or seek to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation would require stockholder approval. We currently intend to conduct redemptions in connection with a stockholder vote unless stockholder approval is not required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement and we choose to conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC for business or other legal reasons. So long as we maintain a listing for our securities on the NYSE, we will be required to comply with the NYSE rules.
If we held a stockholder vote to approve our initial business combination, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation:
| ● | conduct the redemptions in conjunction with a proxy solicitation pursuant to Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act, which regulates the solicitation of proxies, and not pursuant to the tender offer rules; and |
| ● | file proxy materials with the SEC. |
In the event that we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, we will distribute proxy materials and, in connection therewith, provide our public stockholders with the redemption rights described above upon completion of the initial business combination.
If we seek stockholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if a majority of the outstanding shares of common stock are voted by the stockholders at a stockholders meeting to approve the initial business combination, unless applicable law, our corporate governing documents or applicable stock exchange rules require a different vote, in which case we will complete our initial business combination only if such requisite vote is received. A quorum for such meeting will consist of the holder present in person or by proxy of shares of outstanding capital stock of the company representing a majority of the voting power of all outstanding shares of capital stock of the company entitled to vote at such meeting. Our initial stockholders will count towards this quorum and, pursuant to the terms of a letter agreement entered into with us, our sponsor and members of our management team have agreed to vote their founder shares and any public shares purchased during or after our initial public offering, in favor of our initial business combination. For purposes of seeking approval of the majority of our outstanding shares of common stock voted, non-votes will have no effect on the approval of our initial business combination once a quorum is obtained. As a result, in addition to our initial stockholders’ founder shares, we would need 15,000,001, or 37.5%, of the 40,000,000 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 issued and outstanding shares are voted and the over- allotment option is not exercised). These quorum and voting thresholds, and the voting agreements of our initial stockholders, may make it more likely that we will complete our initial business combination. Each public stockholder may elect to redeem its public shares irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction or whether they were a stockholder on the record date for the stockholder meeting held to approve the proposed transaction. In addition, our sponsor, directors and each member of our management team, 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 (i) the completion of a business combination and (ii) a stockholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation that would affect the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of shares of Class A common stock the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we have not completed an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering.
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If, however, stockholder approval of the transaction is required by law or stock exchange listing requirement, or we decide to obtain stockholder approval for business or other legal reasons, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation:
| ● | conduct the redemptions pursuant to Rule 13e-4 and Regulation 14E of the Exchange Act, which regulate issuer tender offers; and |
| ● | file tender offer documents with the SEC prior to completing our initial business combination which contain substantially the same financial and other information about the initial business combination and the redemption rights as is required under Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act, which regulates the solicitation of proxies. |
Upon the public announcement of our initial business combination, we or our sponsor will terminate any plan established in accordance with Rule 10b5-1 to purchase Class A common stock in the open market if we elect to redeem our public shares through a tender offer, to comply with Rule 14e-5 under the Exchange Act.
In the event we conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, our offer to redeem will remain open for at least 20 business days, in accordance with Rule 14e-1(a) under the Exchange Act, and we will not be permitted to complete our initial business combination until the expiration of the tender offer period. In addition, the tender offer will be conditioned on public stockholders not tendering more than the number of public shares we are permitted to redeem. If public stockholders tender more shares than we have offered to purchase, we will withdraw the tender offer and not complete the initial business combination.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules). Redemptions of our public shares may also be subject to a higher net tangible asset test or cash requirement pursuant to an agreement relating to our initial business combination. For example, the proposed business combination may require: (i) cash consideration to be paid to the target or its owners, (ii) cash to be transferred to the target for working capital or other general corporate purposes or (iii) the retention of cash to satisfy other conditions in accordance with the terms of the proposed business combination. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all shares of our Class A common stock that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed business combination exceed the aggregate amount of cash available to us, we will not complete the business combination or redeem any shares, and all shares of our Class A common stock submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof.
Limitation on Redemption upon Completion of our Initial Business Combination If We Seek Stockholder Approval
Notwithstanding the foregoing, if we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that a public stockholder, together with any affiliate of such stockholder or any other person with whom such stockholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from seeking redemption rights with respect to the Excess Shares. Absent this provision, a public stockholder holding more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in our initial public offering could threaten to exercise its redemption rights if such holder’s shares are not purchased by us, our sponsor or our management at a premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. By limiting our stockholders’ ability to redeem no more than 15% of the shares sold in our initial public offering without our prior consent, we believe we will limit the ability of a small group of stockholders to unreasonably attempt to block our ability to complete our initial business combination, particularly in connection with 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 stockholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our initial business combination.
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Tendering Stock Certificates in Connection with a Tender Offer or Redemption Rights
Public stockholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” will be required to either tender their certificates (if any) to our transfer agent prior to the date set forth in the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, mailed to such holders, or to deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically using The Depository Trust Company’s DWAC (Deposit/ Withdrawal At Custodian) System, at the holder’s option, in each case up to two business days prior to the initially scheduled vote to approve the business combination. The proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, that we will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination will indicate the applicable delivery requirements, which will include the requirement that a beneficial holder must identify itself in order to validly redeem its shares. Accordingly, a public stockholder would have from the time we send out our tender offer materials until the close of the tender offer period, or up to two days prior to the initial vote on the business combination if we distribute proxy materials, as applicable, to tender its shares if it wishes to seek to exercise its redemption rights. Given the relatively short period in which to exercise redemption rights, it is advisable for stockholders to use electronic delivery of their public shares.
There is a nominal cost associated with the above-referenced tendering process and the act of certificating the shares or delivering them through the DWAC System. The transfer agent will typically charge the tendering broker a fee of approximately $80.00 and it would be up to the broker whether or not to pass this cost on to the redeeming holder. However, this fee would be incurred regardless of whether or not we require holders seeking to exercise redemption rights to tender their shares. The need to deliver shares is a requirement of exercising redemption rights regardless of the timing of when such delivery must be effectuated.
The foregoing is different from the procedures used by many blank check companies. In order to perfect redemption rights in connection with their business combinations, many blank check companies would distribute proxy materials for the stockholders’ vote on an initial business combination, and a holder could simply vote against a proposed business combination and check a box on the proxy card indicating such holder was seeking to exercise his or her redemption rights. After the business combination was approved, the company would contact such stockholder to arrange for him or her to deliver his or her certificate to verify ownership. As a result, the stockholder then had an “option window” after the completion of the business combination during which he or she could monitor the price of the company’s shares in the market. If the price rose above the redemption price, he or she could sell his or her shares in the open market before actually delivering his or her shares to the company for cancellation. As a result, the redemption rights, to which stockholders were aware they needed to commit before the general meeting, would become “option” rights surviving past the completion of the business combination until the redeeming holder delivered its certificate. The requirement for physical or electronic delivery prior to the meeting ensures that a redeeming stockholder’s election to redeem is irrevocable once the business combination is approved.
Any request to redeem such shares, once made, may be withdrawn at any time up to two business days prior to the vote on the proposal to approve the business combination, unless otherwise agreed to by us. Furthermore, if a holder of a public share delivered its certificate in connection with an election of redemption rights and subsequently decides prior to the applicable date not to elect to exercise such rights, such holder may simply request that the transfer agent return the certificate (physically or electronically). It is anticipated that the funds to be distributed to holders of our public shares electing to redeem their shares will be distributed promptly after the completion of our initial business combination.
If our initial business combination is not approved or completed for any reason, then our public stockholders who elected to exercise their redemption rights would not be entitled to redeem their shares for the applicable pro rata share of the trust account. In such case, we will promptly return any certificates delivered by public holders who elected to redeem their shares.
If our initial proposed business combination is not completed, we may continue to try to complete a business combination with a different target until 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering.
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Redemption of Public Shares and Liquidation if no Initial Business Combination
Our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed that we will have only 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering to complete an initial business combination. If we have not completed an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, we will: (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes, if any (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of the then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidation distributions, if any), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to our warrants, which will expire worthless if we do not complete an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering.
Our sponsor, directors and each member of our management team 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 their founder shares if we do not complete an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering. However, if our sponsor, director or members of our management team acquire public shares in or after our initial public offering, they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to such public shares if we do not complete an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering.
Our sponsor, executive officers and directors have agreed, pursuant to a written agreement with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation that would affect the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of shares of Class A common stock the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, unless we provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares upon approval of any such amendment at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes, if any (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses) divided by the number of the then outstanding public shares. However, we may not redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules). If this optional redemption right is exercised with respect to an excessive number of public shares such that we cannot satisfy the net tangible asset requirement, we would not proceed with the amendment or the related redemption of our public shares at such time. This redemption right shall apply in the event of the approval of any such amendment, whether proposed by our sponsor, any executive officer, director or director nominee, or any other person.
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 $1,000,000 of proceeds held outside the trust account plus up to $100,000 of funds from the trust account available to us to pay dissolution expenses, although we cannot assure you that there will be sufficient funds for such purpose.
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If we were to expend all of the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, other than the proceeds deposited in the trust account, and without taking into account interest, if any, earned on the trust account, the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders upon our dissolution would be approximately $10.00. The proceeds deposited in the trust account could, however, become subject to the claims of our creditors which would have higher priority than the claims of our public stockholders. We cannot assure you that the actual per-share redemption amount received by stockholders will not be substantially less than $10.00. Under Section 281(b) of the DGCL, our plan of dissolution must provide for all claims against us to be paid in full or make provision for payments to be made in full, as applicable, if there are sufficient assets. These claims must be paid or provided for before we make any distribution of our remaining assets to our stockholders. While we intend to pay such amounts, if any, we cannot assure you that we will have funds sufficient to pay or provide for all creditors’ claims.
Although we will seek to have all vendors, service providers (other than our independent public registered accounting firm), prospective target businesses and other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the trust account for the benefit of our public stockholders, there is no guarantee that they will execute such agreements or even if they execute such agreements that they would be prevented from bringing claims against the trust account including but not limited to fraudulent inducement, breach of fiduciary responsibility or other similar claims, as well as claims challenging the enforceability of the waiver, in each case in order to gain an advantage with respect to a claim against our assets, including the funds held in the trust account. If any third party refuses to execute an agreement waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account, our management will perform an analysis of the alternatives available to it and will only enter into an agreement with a third party that has not executed a waiver if management believes that such third party’s engagement would be significantly more beneficial to us than any alternative. Examples of possible instances where we may engage a third party that refuses to execute a waiver include the engagement of a third party consultant whose particular expertise or skills are believed by management to be significantly superior to those of other consultants that would agree to execute a waiver or in cases where management is unable to find a service provider willing to execute a waiver. UBS 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 have agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a third party for services rendered or products sold to us (other than our independent public registered accounting firm), or a prospective target business with which we have discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amounts in the trust account to below the lesser of (i) $10.00 per public share and (ii) the actual amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account if less than $10.00 per share, due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest that may be withdrawn to pay our taxes, if any, provided that such liability will not apply to any claims by a third party or prospective target business that executed a waiver of any and all rights to seek access to the trust account nor will it apply to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of our initial public offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. In the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, our sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third party claims. However, we have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such indemnification obligations, nor have we independently verified whether our sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy their indemnity obligations and we believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our company. Therefore, we cannot assure you that our sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations. None of our officers or directors will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses.
In the event that the proceeds in the trust account are reduced below the lesser of (i) $10.00 per public share and (ii) the actual amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account if less than $10.00 per share, due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest which may be withdrawn to pay our taxes, if any, and our sponsor asserts that it is unable to satisfy its indemnification obligations or that they have no indemnification obligations related to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether to take legal action against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations. While we currently expect that our independent directors would take legal action on our behalf against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations to us, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment may choose not to do so in any particular instance. Accordingly, we cannot assure you that due to claims of creditors the actual value of the per-share redemption price will not be less than $10.00 per share.
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We will seek to reduce the possibility that our sponsor will have to indemnify the trust account due to claims of creditors by endeavoring to have all vendors, service providers (other than our independent public registered accounting firm), prospective target businesses or other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to monies held in the trust account. Our sponsor will also not be liable as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of our initial public offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. We will have access to up to approximately $1,000,000 from the proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants with which to pay any such potential claims (including costs and expenses incurred in connection with our liquidation, currently estimated to be no more than approximately $100,000). In the event that we liquidate and it is subsequently determined that the reserve for claims and liabilities is insufficient, stockholders who received funds from our trust account could be liable for claims made by creditors, however such liability will not be greater than the amount of funds from our trust account received by any such stockholder.
Under the DGCL, stockholders may be held liable for claims by third parties against a corporation to the extent of distributions received by them in a dissolution. The pro rata portion of our trust account distributed to our public stockholders upon the redemption of our public shares in the event we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering may be considered a liquidating distribution under Delaware law. If the corporation complies with certain procedures set forth in Section 280 of the DGCL intended to ensure that it makes reasonable provision for all claims against it, including a 60-day notice period during which any third-party claims can be brought against the corporation, a 90-day period during which the corporation may reject any claims brought, and an additional 150-day waiting period before any liquidating distributions are made to stockholders, any liability of stockholders with respect to a liquidating distribution is limited to the lesser of such stockholder’s pro rata share of the claim or the amount distributed to the stockholder, and any liability of the stockholder would be barred after the third anniversary of the dissolution.
Furthermore, if the pro rata portion of our trust account distributed to our public stockholders upon the redemption of our public shares in the event we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, is not considered a liquidating distribution under Delaware law and such redemption distribution is deemed to be unlawful (potentially due to the imposition of legal proceedings that a party may bring or due to other circumstances that are currently unknown), then pursuant to Section 174 of the DGCL, the statute of limitations for claims of creditors could then be six years after the unlawful redemption distribution, instead of three years, as in the case of a liquidating distribution. If we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, we will: (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account that may be released to us to pay our taxes, if any (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any) and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. Accordingly, it is our intention to redeem our public shares as soon as reasonably possible following our 24th month and, therefore, we do not intend to comply with those procedures. As such, our stockholders could potentially be liable for any claims to the extent of distributions received by them (but no more) and any liability of our stockholders may extend well beyond the third anniversary of such date.
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Because we will not be complying with Section 280, Section 281(b) of the DGCL requires us to adopt a plan, based on facts known to us at such time that will provide for our payment of all existing and pending claims or claims that may be potentially brought against us within the subsequent 10 years. However, because we are a blank check company, rather than an operating company, and our operations will be limited to searching for prospective target businesses to acquire, the only likely claims to arise would be from our vendors (such as lawyers, investment bankers, etc.) or prospective target businesses. As described above, pursuant to the obligation contained in our underwriting agreement, we will seek to have all vendors, service providers, prospective target businesses or other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the trust account. As a result of this obligation, the claims that could be made against us are significantly limited and the likelihood that any claim that would result in any liability extending to the trust account is remote. Further, our sponsor may be liable only to the extent necessary to ensure that the amounts in the trust account are not reduced below (i) $10.00 per public share or (ii) such lesser amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account, due to reductions in value of the trust assets, in each case net of the amount of interest withdrawn to pay taxes and will not be liable as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of our initial public offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. In the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, our sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third-party claims.
If we file a bankruptcy or winding-up petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the proceeds held in the trust account could be subject to applicable bankruptcy or insolvency law, and may be included in our bankruptcy estate and subject to the claims of third parties with priority over the claims of our stockholders. To the extent any bankruptcy claims deplete the trust account, we cannot assure you we will be able to return $10.00 per share to our public stockholders. Additionally, if we file a bankruptcy or winding-up petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, any distributions received by stockholders 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 stockholders.
Furthermore, our board of directors may be viewed as having breached its fiduciary duty to our creditors and/or may have acted in bad faith, and thereby exposing itself and our company to claims of punitive damages, by paying public stockholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors. We cannot assure you that claims will not be brought against us for these reasons.
Our public stockholders will be entitled to receive funds from the trust account only (i) in the event of the redemption of our public shares if we do not complete an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, (ii) in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of shares of Class A common stock the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering or (B) with respect to any other provisions relating to the rights of holders of our Class A common stock, or (iii) if they redeem their respective shares for cash upon the completion of the initial business combination. Public stockholders who redeem their shares of our Class A common stock in connection with a stockholder vote described in clause (ii) in the preceding sentence shall not be entitled to funds from the trust account upon the subsequent completion of an initial business combination or liquidation if we have not completed an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, with respect to such shares of our Class A common stock so redeemed. In no other circumstances will a stockholder have any right or interest of any kind to or in the trust account. In the event we seek stockholder approval in connection with our initial business combination, a stockholder’s voting in connection with the business combination alone will not result in a stockholder’s redeeming its shares to us for an applicable pro rata share of the trust account. Such stockholder must have also exercised its redemption rights described above. These provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, like all provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, may be amended with a stockholder vote.
Competition
In identifying, evaluating and selecting a target business for our initial business combination, we may encounter intense competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours, including other blank check companies, private equity groups and leveraged buyout funds, public companies and operating businesses seeking strategic acquisitions. Many of these entities are well established and have extensive experience identifying and effecting business combinations directly or through affiliates. Moreover, many of these competitors possess greater financial, technical, human and other resources than us. Our ability to acquire larger target businesses will be limited by our available financial resources. This inherent limitation gives others an advantage in pursuing the acquisition of a target business. Furthermore, our obligation to pay cash in connection with our public stockholders who exercise their redemption rights may reduce the resources available to us for our initial business combination and our outstanding warrants, and the future dilution they potentially represent, may not be viewed favorably by certain target businesses. Either of these factors may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating an initial business combination.
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Facilities
We currently maintain our executive offices at 51 John F. Kennedy Parkway, Short Hills, New Jersey 07078. The cost for our use of this space is included in the $10,000 per month fee we pay to an affiliate of our sponsor for office space, administrative and support services. We consider our current office space adequate for our current operations.
Employees
We currently have three executive officers. These individuals are not obligated to devote any specific number of hours to our matters but they intend to devote as much of their time as they deem necessary to our affairs until we have completed our initial business combination. The amount of time they will devote in any time period will vary based on whether a target business has been selected for our initial business combination and the stage of the business combination process we are in. We do not intend to have any full time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination.
Periodic Reporting and Financial Information
We will provide stockholders with audited financial statements of the prospective target business as part of the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, sent to stockholders to assist them in assessing the target business. In all likelihood, these financial statements may be required to be prepared in accordance with, or reconciled to, GAAP, or IFRS, depending on the circumstances, and the historical financial statements may be required to be audited in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. These financial statement requirements may limit the pool of potential target businesses we may acquire because some targets may be unable to provide such statements in time for us to disclose such statements in accordance with federal proxy rules and complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame. We cannot assure you that any particular target business identified by us as a potential acquisition candidate will have financial statements prepared in accordance with the requirements outlined above, or that the potential target business will be able to prepare its financial statements in accordance with the requirements outlined above. To the extent that these requirements cannot be met, we may not be able to acquire the proposed target business. While this may limit the pool of potential acquisition candidates, we do not believe that this limitation will be material.
We will be required to evaluate our internal control procedures for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2022 as required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Only in the event we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer or an accelerated filer, and no longer qualify as an emerging growth company, will we be required to have our internal control procedures audited. A target business may not be in compliance with the provisions of the Sarbanes- Oxley Act regarding adequacy of their internal controls. The development of the internal controls of any such entity to achieve compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may increase the time and costs necessary to complete any such acquisition.
We have filed a Registration Statement on Form 8-A with the SEC to voluntarily register our securities under Section 12 of the Exchange Act. As a result, we are subject to the rules and regulations promulgated under the Exchange Act. We have no current intention of filing a Form 15 to suspend our reporting or other obligations under the Exchange Act prior or subsequent to the completion of our initial business combination.
We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act. As such, we are eligible to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes- Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements and exemptions from the requirements of holding a non-binding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the prices of our securities may be more volatile.
In addition, Section 107 of the JOBS Act also provides that an “emerging growth company” can take advantage of the extended transition period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act for complying with new or revised accounting standards. In other words, an “emerging growth company” can delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We intend to take advantage of the benefits of this extended transition period.
We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of (1) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following the fifth anniversary of the completion of our initial public offering, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion, or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the Market Value of the shares of our Class A common stock that is held by non-affiliates equals or exceeds $700.0 million as of the prior June 30th, and (2) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non- convertible debt during the prior three-year period.
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Item 1A. Risk Factors
An investment in our securities involves a high degree of risk. You should consider carefully all of the risks described below, together with the other information contained in this Report and our final prospectus associated with our initial public offering, before making a decision to invest in our securities. If any of the following events occur, our business, financial condition and operating results may be materially adversely affected. In that event, the trading price of our securities could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment.
Risks Relating to our Search for, Consummation of, or Inability to Consummate, a Business Combination and Post-Business Combination Risks
We have no operating history and no revenues, and you have no basis on which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective.
We were formed in December 30, 2020 under the laws of the State of Delaware and have no operating results. Because we lack an operating history, you have no basis upon which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective of completing our initial business combination with one or more target businesses. We 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 do not complete our initial business combination, we will never generate any operating revenues.
Our public stockholders may not be afforded an opportunity to vote on our proposed initial business combination, which means we may complete our initial business combination even though a majority of our public stockholders do not support such a combination.
We may choose not to hold a stockholder vote before we complete our initial business combination if the business combination would not require stockholder approval under applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement. For instance, if we were seeking to acquire a target business where the consideration we were paying in the transaction was all cash, we would not be required to seek stockholder approval to complete such a transaction. Except as required by law or stock exchange, the decision as to whether we will seek stockholder approval of a proposed business combination or will allow stockholders to sell their shares to us in a tender offer will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on a variety of factors, such as the timing of the transaction and whether the terms of the transaction would otherwise require us to seek stockholder approval. Accordingly, we may complete our initial business combination even if a majority of our public stockholders do not approve of the business combination we complete.
Please see the section of this Report entitled “Item 1—Stockholders May Not Have the Ability to Approve our Initial Business Combination” for additional information.
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor and members of our management team have agreed to vote in favor of such initial business combination, regardless of how our public stockholders vote.
Our initial stockholders (including our sponsor) own, on an as-converted basis, 20% of our outstanding shares of common stock immediately following the completion of our initial public offering. Our initial stockholders and members of our management team also may from time to time purchase Class A common stock prior to our initial business combination. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that, if we seek stockholder approval of an initial business combination, such initial business combination will be approved if we receive the affirmative vote of a majority of the shares voted at such meeting, including the founder shares. If we submit our initial business combination to our public stockholders for a vote, pursuant to the terms of a letter agreement entered into with us, our sponsor and members of our management team have agreed to vote their founder shares and any shares purchased during or after our initial public offering, in favor of our initial business combination. As a result, in addition to our initial stockholders’ founder shares, we would need 15,000,001, or 37.5%, of the 40,000,000 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. Accordingly, if we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, the agreement by our sponsor and each member of our management team to vote in favor of our initial business combination will increase the likelihood that we will receive the requisite stockholder approval for such initial business combination.
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Your only opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding a potential business combination may be limited to the exercise of your right to redeem your shares from us for cash.
At the time of your investment in us, you will not be provided with an opportunity to evaluate the specific merits or risks of one or more target businesses. Since our board of directors may complete a business combination without seeking stockholder approval, public stockholders may not have the right or opportunity to vote on the business combination, unless we seek such stockholder vote. Accordingly, your only opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding a potential business combination may be limited to exercising your redemption rights within the period of time (which will be at least 20 business days) set forth in our tender offer documents mailed to our public stockholders in which we describe our initial business combination.
The ability of our public stockholders to redeem their shares for cash may make our financial condition unattractive to potential business combination targets, which may make it difficult for us to enter into a business combination with a target.
We may seek to enter into a business combination transaction agreement with a prospective target that requires as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. If too many public stockholders exercise their redemption rights, we would not be able to meet such closing condition and, as a result, would not be able to proceed with the business combination. Furthermore, in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. Consequently, if accepting all properly submitted redemption requests would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 or such greater amount necessary to satisfy a closing condition as described above, we would not proceed with such redemption and the related business combination and may instead search for an alternate business combination. Prospective targets will be aware of these risks and, thus, may be reluctant to enter into a business combination transaction with us.
The ability of our public stockholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our shares may not allow us to complete the most desirable business combination or optimize our capital structure.
At the time we enter into an agreement for our initial business combination, we will not know how many stockholders may exercise their redemption rights, and therefore will need to structure the transaction based on our expectations as to the number of shares that will be submitted for redemption. If our 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 additional third party financing. Raising additional third party financing may involve dilutive equity issuances or the incurrence of indebtedness at higher than desirable levels. The above considerations may limit our ability to complete the most desirable business combination available to us or optimize our capital structure. The amount of the deferred underwriting commissions payable to the representative of the underwriters will not be adjusted for any shares that are redeemed in connection with an initial business combination. The per-share amount we will distribute to stockholders who properly exercise their redemption rights will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting commission and after such redemptions, the amount held in trust will continue to reflect our obligation to pay the entire deferred underwriting commissions.
The ability of our public stockholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our shares could increase the probability that our initial business combination would be unsuccessful and that you would have to wait for liquidation in order to redeem your 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 our redemption until we liquidate or you are able to sell your shares in the open market.
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The requirement that we complete an initial business combination within 24 months after the closing of our initial public offering may give potential target businesses leverage over us in negotiating a business combination and may limit the time we have in which to conduct due diligence on potential business combination targets as we approach our dissolution deadline, which could undermine our ability to complete our initial business combination on terms that would produce value for our stockholders.
Any potential target business with which we enter into negotiations concerning a business combination will be aware that we must complete an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering. Consequently, such target business may obtain leverage over us in negotiating a business combination, knowing that if we do not complete our initial business combination with that particular target business, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination with any target business. This risk will increase as we get closer to the 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.
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the impact on business and debt and equity markets could have a material adverse effect on our search for a business combination, and any target business with which we ultimately consummate a business combination.
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has adversely affected, and other events (such as terrorist attacks, natural disasters or a significant outbreak of other infectious diseases) could adversely affect, 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 continued concerns relating to the coronavirus restrict travel, limit the ability to have meetings with potential investors or the target company’s personnel, vendors and services providers are unavailable to negotiate and consummate a transaction in a timely manner. The extent to which the coronavirus 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 the coronavirus pandemic and the actions to contain the coronavirus or treat its impact, among others. If the disruptions posed by the coronavirus or other matters of global concern continue for an extensive period of time, it could have a material adverse effect on our ability to consummate a business combination, or the operations of a target business with which we ultimately consummate a business combination.
In addition, our ability to consummate a transaction may be dependent on the ability to raise equity and debt financing and the coronavirus pandemic and other related events could have a material adverse effect on our ability to raise adequate financing.
As the number of special purpose acquisition companies evaluating targets increases, attractive targets may become scarcer and there may be more competition for attractive targets. This could increase the cost of our initial business combination and could even result in our inability to find a target or to consummate an initial business combination.
In recent years, the number of special purpose acquisition companies that have been formed has increased substantially. Many potential targets for special purpose acquisition companies have already entered into an initial business combination, and there are still many special purpose acquisition companies seeking targets for their initial business combination, as well as many such companies currently in registration. As a result, at times, fewer attractive targets may be available, and it may require more time, more effort and more resources to identify a suitable target and to consummate an initial business combination.
In addition, because there are more special purpose acquisition companies seeking to enter into an initial business combination with available targets, the competition for available targets with attractive fundamentals or business models may increase, which could cause target companies to demand improved financial terms. Attractive deals could also become scarcer for other reasons, such as economic or industry sector downturns, geopolitical tensions, or increases in the cost of additional capital needed to close business combinations or operate targets post-business combination. This could increase the cost of, delay or otherwise complicate or frustrate our ability to find and consummate an initial business combination, and may result in our inability to consummate an initial business combination on terms favorable to our investors altogether.
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Changes in the market for directors and officers liability insurance could make it more difficult and more expensive for us to negotiate and complete an initial business combination.
In recent months, the market for directors and officers liability insurance for special purpose acquisition companies has changed in ways adverse to us and our management team. Fewer insurance companies are offering quotes for directors and officers liability coverage, the premiums charged for such policies have generally increased and the terms of such policies have generally become less favorable. These trends may continue into the future.
The increased cost and decreased availability of directors and officers liability insurance could make it more difficult and more expensive for us to negotiate an initial business combination. In order to obtain directors and officers liability insurance or modify its coverage as a result of becoming a public company, the post-business combination entity might need to incur greater expense, accept less favorable terms or both. However, any failure to obtain adequate directors and officers liability insurance could have an adverse impact on the post-business combination’s ability to attract and retain qualified officers and directors.
In addition, even after we were to complete an initial business combination, our directors and officers could still be subject to potential liability from claims arising from conduct alleged to have occurred prior to the initial business combination. As a result, in order to protect our directors and officers, the post-business combination entity may need to purchase additional insurance with respect to any such claims (“run-off insurance”). The need for run-off insurance would be an added expense for the post-business combination entity, and could interfere with or frustrate our ability to consummate an initial business combination on terms favorable to our investors.
We may not be able to complete an initial business combination within 24 months after the closing of our initial public offering, in which case we would cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up and we would redeem our public shares and liquidate, in which case our public stockholders may only receive $10.00 per share, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, and our warrants will expire worthless.
Our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed that we must complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering. We may not be able to find a suitable target business and complete an initial business combination within 24 months after the closing of our initial public offering. Our ability to complete our initial business combination may be negatively impacted by general market conditions, volatility in the capital and debt markets and the other risks described herein. If we have not completed an initial business combination within such applicable time period, we will: (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up; (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes, if any (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any), subject to applicable law; and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law.
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors and their affiliates may elect to purchase shares or public warrants from public stockholders, which may influence a vote on a proposed business combination and reduce the public “float” of our Class A common stock.
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our sponsor, directors, executive 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, where otherwise permissible under applicable laws, rules and regulations, although they are under no obligation to do so. However, other than as expressly stated herein, 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.
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Such a purchase may include a contractual acknowledgment that such stockholder, although still the record holder of our shares is no longer the beneficial owner thereof and therefore agrees to vote in favor of the initial business combination or abstain and in any event not to exercise its redemption rights. In the event that our sponsor, directors, executive officers, advisors or their affiliates purchase shares in privately negotiated transactions from public stockholders who have already elected to exercise their redemption rights, such selling stockholders would be required to revoke their prior elections to redeem their shares. The purpose of any such purchases of shares could be to vote such shares in favor of the business combination, or abstain, and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining stockholder 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. See “Item 1—Permitted Purchases of Our Securities” for a description of how our sponsor, directors, executive officers, advisors or any of their affiliates will select which stockholders to purchase securities from in any private transaction.
In addition, if such purchases are made, the public “float” of our Class A common stock or public warrants and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, possibly making it difficult to maintain or obtain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange.
If a stockholder fails to receive notice of our offer to redeem our public shares in connection with our initial business combination, or fails to comply with the procedures for tendering its shares, such shares may not be redeemed.
We will comply with the 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 stockholder fails to receive our proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, such stockholder may not become aware of the opportunity to redeem its shares. In addition, the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, that we will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination will describe the various procedures that must be complied with in order to validly redeem or tender public shares. For example, we may require our public stockholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” to either tender their certificates to our transfer agent prior to the date set forth in the tender offer documents or proxy materials mailed to such holders, or up to two business days prior to the vote on the proposal to approve the business combination in the event we distribute proxy materials, or to deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically. In the event that a stockholder fails to comply with these or any other procedures, its shares may not be redeemed. See the section of this Report entitled “Item 1—Tendering Share Certificates in Connection with a Tender Offer or Redemption Rights.”
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 stockholders are entitled to receive funds from the trust account only upon the earlier to occur of: (i) our completion of an initial business combination, and then only in connection with those shares of our Class A common stock that such stockholder properly elected to redeem, subject to the limitations described herein, (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly tendered in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of shares of Class A common stock the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering or (B) with respect to any other provisions relating to the rights of holders of Class A common stock, and (iii) the redemption of our public shares if we have not completed an initial business within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, subject to applicable law and as further described herein. Public stockholders who redeem their Class A common stock in connection with a stockholder vote described in clause (ii) in the preceding sentence shall not be entitled to funds from the trust account upon the subsequent completion of an initial business combination or liquidation if we have not completed an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, with respect to such Class A common stock so redeemed. In addition, if we do not complete an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering is not completed for any reason, compliance with Delaware law may require that we submit a plan of dissolution to our then-existing stockholders for approval prior to the distribution of the proceeds held in our trust account. In that case, public stockholders may be forced to wait beyond 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering before they receive funds from our trust account. In no other circumstances will a public stockholder have any right or interest of any kind in the trust account. Holders of warrants will not have any right to the proceeds held in the trust account with respect to the warrants. Accordingly, to liquidate your investment, you may be forced to sell your public shares or warrants, potentially at a loss.
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You will not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors of many other blank check companies.
Since the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants 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 upon the successful completion of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants and have filed a Current Report on Form 8-K, including an audited balance sheet demonstrating this fact, we are exempt from rules promulgated by the SEC to protect investors in blank check companies, such as Rule 419. Accordingly, investors will not be afforded the benefits or protections of those rules. Among other things, this means that since 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.”
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 do not complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only their pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account that are available for distribution to public stockholders, and our warrants will expire worthless.
We expect to encounter intense competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours, including private investors (which may be individuals or investment partnerships), other blank check companies and other entities, domestic and international, competing for the types of businesses we intend to acquire. Many of these individuals and entities are well-established and have extensive experience in identifying and effecting, directly or indirectly, acquisitions of companies operating in or providing services to various industries. Many of these competitors possess greater technical, human and other resources or more local industry knowledge than we do and our financial resources will be relatively limited when contrasted with those of many of these competitors. While we believe there are numerous target businesses we could potentially acquire with the net proceeds of our initial public offering 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 stockholder 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 do not complete our initial business combination our public stockholders may receive only their pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account that are available for distribution to public stockholders, and our warrants will expire worthless.
If the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants not being held in the trust account are insufficient to allow us to operate for 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, it could limit the amount available to fund our search for a target business or businesses and complete our initial business combination, and we will depend on loans from our sponsor or management team to fund our search and to complete our initial business combination.
The funds available to us outside of the trust account to fund our working capital requirements may not be sufficient to allow us to operate for 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, assuming that our initial business combination is not completed during that time. We believe that, upon closing of our initial public offering, the funds available to us outside of the trust account, together with funds available from loans from our sponsor will be sufficient to allow us to operate for 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering; however, we cannot assure you that our estimate is accurate. Of the funds available to us, we expect to use a portion of the funds available to us to pay fees to consultants to assist us with our search for a target business. We could also use a portion of the funds as a down payment or to fund a “no-shop” provision (a provision in letters of intent designed to keep target businesses from “shopping” around for transactions with other companies or investors on terms more favorable to such target businesses) with respect to a particular proposed business combination, although we do not have any current intention to do so. If we entered into a letter of intent where we paid for the right to receive exclusivity from a target business and were subsequently required to forfeit such funds (whether as a result of our breach or otherwise), we might not have sufficient funds to continue searching for, or conduct due diligence with respect to, a target business. If we do not complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public stockholders may receive less than $10.00 per share upon our liquidation. See “—If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.00 per share” and other risk factors below.
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If we are required to seek additional capital, we would need to borrow funds from our sponsor, management team or other third parties to operate or may be forced to liquidate. Neither our sponsor, members of our management team nor any of their affiliates is under any obligation to advance funds to us in such circumstances. Any such advances would be repaid only from funds held outside the trust account or from funds released to us upon completion of our initial business combination. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants of the post-business combination entity at a price of $1.50 per warrant at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants. Prior to the completion of our initial business combination, we do not expect to seek loans from parties other than our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor as we do not believe third parties will be willing to loan such funds and provide a waiver against any and all rights to seek access to funds in our trust account. If we are unable to obtain these loans, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination. If we do not complete our initial business combination because we do not have sufficient funds available to us, we will be forced to cease operations and liquidate the trust account. Consequently, our public stockholders may only receive an estimated $10.00 per share, or possibly less, on our redemption of our public shares, and our warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public stockholders may receive less than $10.00 per share on the redemption of their shares. See “—If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.00 per share” and other risk factors below.
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 our share price, 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 surface all material issues with a particular target business, that it would be possible to uncover all material issues through a customary amount of due diligence, or that factors outside of the target business and outside of our control will not later arise. As a result of these factors, we may be forced to later write-down or write-off assets, restructure our operations, or incur impairment or other charges that could result in our reporting losses. Even if our due diligence successfully identifies certain risks, unexpected risks may arise and previously known risks may materialize in a manner not consistent with our preliminary risk analysis. Even though these charges may be non-cash items and not have an immediate impact on our liquidity, the fact that we report charges of this nature could contribute to negative market perceptions about us or our securities. In addition, charges of this nature may cause us to violate net worth or other covenants to which we may be subject as a result of assuming pre-existing debt held by a target business or by virtue of our obtaining post-combination debt financing. Accordingly, any stockholders who choose to remain stockholders following the business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such stockholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value unless they are able to successfully claim that the reduction was due to the breach by our officers or directors of a duty of care or other fiduciary duty owed to them, or if they are able to successfully bring a private claim under securities laws that the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, relating to the business combination contained an actionable material misstatement or material omission.
If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.00 per share.
Our placing of funds in the trust account may not protect those funds from third-party claims against us. Although we will seek to have all vendors, service providers (other than our independent public registered accounting firm), prospective target businesses and other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the trust account for the benefit of our public stockholders, such parties may not execute such agreements, or even if they execute such agreements, they may not be prevented from bringing claims against the trust account, including, but not limited to, fraudulent inducement, breach of fiduciary responsibility or other similar claims, as well as claims challenging the enforceability of the waiver, in each case in order to gain advantage with respect to a claim against our assets, including the funds held in the trust account. If any third party refuses to execute an agreement waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account, our management will perform an analysis of the alternatives available to it and will only enter into an agreement with a third party that has not executed a waiver if management believes that such third party’s engagement would be significantly more beneficial to us than any alternative. Making such a request of potential target businesses may make our acquisition proposal less attractive to them and, to the extent prospective target businesses refuse to execute such a waiver, it may limit the field of potential target businesses that we might pursue.
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Examples of possible instances where we may engage a third party that refuses to execute a waiver include the engagement of a third party consultant whose particular expertise or skills are believed by management to be significantly superior to those of other consultants that would agree to execute a waiver or in cases where management is unable to find a service provider willing to execute a waiver. In addition, there is no guarantee that such entities will agree to waive any claims they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any negotiations, contracts or agreements with us and will not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason. Upon redemption of our public shares, if we have not completed an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, or upon the exercise of a redemption right in connection with our initial business combination, we will be required to provide for payment of claims of creditors that were not waived that may be brought against us within the ten years following redemption. Accordingly, the per-share redemption amount received by public stockholders could be less than the $10.00 per public share initially held in the trust account, due to claims of such creditors. Pursuant to a letter agreement, our sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a third party (other than our independent public registered accounting firm) for services rendered or products sold to us, or a prospective target business with which we have discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amounts in the trust account to below the lesser of (i) $10.00 per public share and (ii) the actual amount per 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 net of the interest that may be withdrawn to pay our taxes, if any, provided that such liability will not apply to any claims by a third party or prospective target business that executed a waiver of any and all rights to seek access to the trust account nor will it apply to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of our initial public offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. Moreover, in the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, our sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third party claims. However, we have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such indemnification obligations, nor have we independently verified whether our sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our company. Therefore, we cannot assure you that our sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations. As a result, if any such claims were successfully made against the trust account, the funds available for our initial business combination and redemptions could be reduced to less than $10.00 per public share. In such event, we may not be able to complete our initial business combination, and you would receive such lesser amount per share in connection with any redemption of your public shares. None of our officers or directors will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses.
Our directors may decide not to enforce the indemnification obligations of our sponsor, resulting in a reduction in the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public stockholders.
In the event that the proceeds in the trust account are reduced below the lesser of (i) $10.00 per share and (ii) the actual amount per share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account if less than $10.00 per share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest that may be withdrawn to pay our taxes, if any, and our sponsor assert that it is unable to satisfy its obligations or that it has no indemnification obligations related to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether to take legal action against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations. While we currently expect that our independent directors would take legal action on our behalf against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations to us, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment and subject to their fiduciary duties may choose not to do so in any particular instance. If our independent directors choose not to enforce these indemnification obligations, the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public stockholders may be reduced below $10.00 per share.
We may not have sufficient funds to satisfy indemnification claims of our directors and executive officers.
We have agreed to indemnify our officers and directors to the fullest extent permitted by law. However, our officers and directors have agreed to waive any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies in the trust account and to not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason whatsoever (except to the extent they are entitled to funds from the trust account due to their ownership of public shares). Accordingly, any indemnification provided will be able to be satisfied by us only if (i) we have sufficient funds outside of the trust account or (ii) we complete an initial business combination. Our obligation to indemnify our officers and directors may discourage stockholders from bringing a lawsuit against our officers or directors for breach of their fiduciary duty. These provisions also may have the effect of reducing the likelihood of derivative litigation against our officers and directors, even though such an action, if successful, might otherwise benefit us and our stockholders. Furthermore, a stockholder’s investment may be adversely affected to the extent we pay the costs of settlement and damage awards against our officers and directors pursuant to these indemnification provisions.
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If, after we distribute the proceeds in the trust account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy or winding-up petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, a bankruptcy or insolvency court may seek to recover such proceeds, and the members of our board of directors may be viewed as having breached their fiduciary duties to our creditors, thereby exposing the members of our board of directors and us to claims of punitive damages.
If, after we distribute the proceeds in the trust account to our public stockholders, 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 stockholders 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 stockholders. In addition, our board of directors may be viewed as having breached its fiduciary duty to our creditors and/or having acted in bad faith, thereby exposing itself and us to claims of punitive damages, by paying public stockholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors.
If, before distributing the proceeds in the trust account to our public stockholders, 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 stockholders and the per-share amount that would otherwise be received by our stockholders in connection with our liquidation may be reduced.
If, before distributing the proceeds in the trust account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy or winding-up petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the proceeds held in the trust account could be subject to applicable bankruptcy or insolvency law, and may be included in our bankruptcy estate and subject to the claims of third parties with priority over the claims of our stockholders. To the extent any bankruptcy claims deplete the trust account, the per-share amount that would otherwise be received by our stockholders in connection with our liquidation may be reduced.
Our stockholders may be held liable for claims by third parties against us to the extent of distributions received by them upon redemption of their shares.
Under the Delaware General Corporation Law (the “DGCL”), stockholders may be held liable for claims by third parties against a corporation to the extent of distributions received by them in a dissolution. The pro rata portion of our trust account distributed to our public stockholders upon the redemption of our public shares in the event we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering may be considered a liquidating distribution under Delaware law. If a corporation complies with certain procedures set forth in Section 280 of the DGCL intended to ensure that it makes reasonable provision for all claims against it, including a 60-day notice period during which any third-party claims can be brought against the corporation, a 90-day period during which the corporation may reject any claims brought, and an additional 150-day waiting period before any liquidating distributions are made to stockholders, any liability of stockholders with respect to a liquidating distribution is limited to the lesser of such stockholder’s pro rata share of the claim or the amount distributed to the stockholder, and any liability of the stockholder would be barred after the third anniversary of the dissolution. However, it is our intention to redeem our public shares as soon as reasonably possible following the 24th month from the closing of our initial public offering in the event we do not complete our initial business combination and, therefore, we do not intend to comply with the foregoing procedures.
Because we will not be complying with Section 280, Section 281(b) of the DGCL requires us to adopt a plan, based on facts known to us at such time that will provide for our payment of all existing and pending claims or claims that may be potentially brought against us within the 10 years following our dissolution. However, because we are a blank check company, rather than an operating company, and our operations will be limited to searching for prospective target businesses to acquire, the only likely claims to arise would be from our vendors (such as lawyers, investment bankers, etc.) or prospective target businesses. If our plan of distribution complies with Section 281(b) of the DGCL, any liability of stockholders with respect to a liquidating distribution is limited to the lesser of such stockholder’s pro rata share of the claim or the amount distributed to the stockholder, and any liability of the stockholder would likely be barred after the third anniversary of the dissolution. We cannot assure you that we will properly assess all claims that may be potentially brought against us. As such, our stockholders could potentially be liable for any claims to the extent of distributions received by them (but no more) and any liability of our stockholders may extend beyond the third anniversary of such date. Furthermore, if the pro rata portion of our trust account distributed to our public stockholders upon the redemption of our public shares in the event we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering is not considered a liquidating distribution under Delaware law and such redemption distribution is deemed to be unlawful (potentially due to the imposition of legal proceedings that a party may bring or due to other circumstances that are currently unknown), then pursuant to Section 174 of the DGCL, the statute of limitations for claims of creditors could then be six years after the unlawful redemption distribution, instead of three years, as in the case of a liquidating distribution.
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We may not hold an annual meeting of stockholders until after the completion of our initial business combination.
In accordance with the NYSE corporate governance requirements, we are not required to hold an annual meeting until no later than one year after our first fiscal year end following our listing on the NYSE. Under Section 211(b) of the DGCL, we will, however, be required to hold an annual meeting of stockholders for the purposes of electing directors in accordance with our amended and restated bylaws unless such election is made by written consent in lieu of such a meeting. We may not hold an annual meeting of stockholders to elect new directors prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, and thus we may not be in compliance with Section 211(b) of the DGCL, which requires an annual meeting. Therefore, if our stockholders want us to hold an annual meeting prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, they may attempt to force us to hold one by submitting an application to the Delaware Court of Chancery in accordance with Section 211(c) of the DGCL.
Because we are neither limited to evaluating a target business in a particular industry sector nor have we selected any specific target businesses with which to pursue our initial business combination, you will be unable to ascertain the merits or risks of any particular target business’s operations.
We may pursue business combination opportunities in any sector, except that we are not, under our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, permitted to effectuate our initial business combination with another blank check company or similar company with nominal operations. Because we have not yet selected any specific target business with respect to a business combination, there is no basis to evaluate the possible merits or risks of any particular target business’s operations, results of operations, cash flows, liquidity, financial condition or prospects. To the extent we complete our initial business combination, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in the business operations with which we combine. For example, if we combine with a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of sales or earnings, we may be affected by the risks inherent in the business and operations of a financially unstable or a development stage entity. Although our officers and directors will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we cannot assure you that we will properly ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors or that we will have adequate time to complete due diligence. Furthermore, some of these risks may be outside of our control and leave us with no ability to control or reduce the chances that those risks will adversely impact a target business. We also cannot assure you that an investment in our securities will ultimately prove to be more favorable to investors than a direct investment, if such opportunity were available, in a business combination target. Accordingly, any stockholders who choose to remain stockholders following our initial business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such stockholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value unless they are able to successfully claim that the reduction was due to the breach by our officers or directors of a duty of care or other fiduciary duty owed to them, or if they are able to successfully bring a private claim under securities laws that the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, relating to the business combination contained an actionable material misstatement or material omission.
We may seek acquisition opportunities in industries or sectors which may be outside of our management’s area of expertise.
We will consider a business combination outside of our management’s area of expertise if a business combination candidate is presented to us and we determine that such candidate offers an attractive acquisition opportunity for our company. Although our management will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in any particular business combination 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 securities 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 an acquisition outside of the areas of our management’s expertise, our management’s expertise may not be directly applicable to its evaluation or operation, and the information contained in this Report regarding the areas of our management’s expertise would not be relevant to an understanding of the business that we elect to acquire. As a result, our management may not be able to adequately ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors. Accordingly, any stockholder who choose to remain stockholders following our business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their shares. Such stockholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.
Although we have identified general criteria and guidelines that we believe are important in evaluating prospective target businesses and our strategy is to identify, acquire and build a company in our target investment area, we may enter into our initial business combination with a target that does not meet such criteria and guidelines, and as a result, the target business with which we enter into our initial business combination may not have attributes entirely consistent with our general criteria and guidelines.
Although we have identified general criteria and guidelines for evaluating prospective target businesses and our strategy is to identify, acquire and build a company in our target investment area, it is possible that a target business with which we enter into our initial business combination will not have attributes consistent with our general criteria and guidelines. If we complete our initial business combination with a target that does not meet some or all of these guidelines, such combination may not be as successful as a combination with a business that does meet all of our general criteria and guidelines. In addition, if we announce a prospective business combination with a target that does not meet our general criteria and guidelines, a greater number of stockholders may exercise their redemption rights, which may make it difficult for us to meet any closing condition with a target business that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. In addition, if stockholder approval of the transaction is required by law, or we decide to obtain stockholder approval for business or other legal reasons, it may be more difficult for us to attain stockholder approval of our initial business combination if the target business does not meet our general criteria and guidelines. If we do not complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may only receive their pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account that are available for distribution to public stockholders, and our warrants will expire worthless.
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We may seek business combination opportunities with a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of revenue, cash flow or earnings, which could subject us to volatile revenues, cash flows or earnings or difficulty in retaining key personnel.
To the extent we complete our initial business combination with an early stage company, a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of revenues or earnings, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in the operations of the business with which we combine. These risks include investing in a business without a proven business model or with limited historic 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 relevant 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.
We are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent accounting or investment banking firm, and consequently, you may have no assurance from an independent source that the price we are paying for the business is fair to our stockholders from a financial point of view.
Unless we complete our initial business combination with an affiliated entity, we are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or an independent valuation or appraisal firm that the price we are paying is fair to our stockholders from a financial point of view. If no opinion is obtained, our stockholders will be relying on the judgment of our board of directors, who will determine fair market value based on standards generally accepted by the financial community. Such standards used will be disclosed in our proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, related to our initial business combination.
Past performance by our sponsor and its affiliates or our management team, including the businesses referred to herein, may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in us or in the future performance of any business that we may acquire.
Information regarding past performance of our sponsor and its affiliates and our management team is presented for informational purposes only. Any past experience and performance of our sponsor and its affiliates, our management team or the other companies referred to herein is not a guarantee either: (1) that we will be able to successfully identify a suitable candidate for our initial business combination or (2) of any results with respect to any initial business combination we may complete. You should not rely on the historical record of our sponsor and its affiliates, our management team’s performance or the performance of the other companies referred to herein as indicative of the future performance of an investment in us or the returns we will, or are likely to, generate going forward. An investment in us is not an investment in our sponsor or its affiliates, nor the other companies referred to in this Report.
Because we must furnish our stockholders with target business financial statements, we may lose the ability to complete an otherwise advantageous initial business combination with some prospective target businesses.
The federal proxy rules require that a proxy statement with respect to a vote on a business combination meeting certain financial significance tests include historical and/or pro forma financial statement disclosure in periodic reports. We will include the same financial statement disclosure in connection with our tender offer documents, whether or not they are required under the tender offer rules. These financial statements may be required to be prepared in accordance with, or be reconciled to, accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“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 Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (“PCAOB”). These financial statement requirements may limit the pool of potential target businesses we may acquire because some targets may be unable to provide such statements in time for us to disclose such statements in accordance with federal proxy rules and complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame.
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Compliance obligations under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may make it more difficult for us to effectuate a business combination, require substantial financial and management resources, and increase the time and costs of completing an acquisition.
Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires that we evaluate and report on our system of internal controls beginning with our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ending December 31, 2022. Only in the event we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer or an accelerated filer, and no longer qualify as an emerging growth company, will we 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 acquisition.
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 stockholders do not agree.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation does not provide a specified maximum redemption threshold, except that in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 (such that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. As a result, we may be able to complete our initial business combination even though a substantial majority of our public stockholders do not agree with the transaction and have redeemed their shares or, if we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and do not conduct redemptions in connection with our 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 shares of our Class A common stock that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed business combination exceed the aggregate amount of cash available to us, we will not complete the business combination or redeem any shares, all shares of our Class A common stock submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof, and we instead may search for an alternate business combination.
In order to effectuate an initial business combination, blank check companies have, in the recent past, amended various provisions of their charters and other governing instruments, including their warrant agreements. We cannot assure you that we will not seek to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or governing instruments in a manner that will make it easier for us to complete our initial business combination that our stockholders may not support.
In order to effectuate a business combination, blank check companies have, in the recent past, amended various provisions of their charters and governing instruments, including their warrant agreements. For example, blank check companies have amended the definition of business combination, increased redemption thresholds, changed industry focus 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 certificate of incorporation requires the approval of holders of 65% of our common stock, and amending our warrant agreement requires a vote of holders of at least 65% of the public warrants. In addition, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation require us to provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares for cash if we propose an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation that would affect the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of shares of Class A common stock the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering or with respect to any other provisions relating to the rights of holders of Class A common stock. To the extent any of such amendments would be deemed to fundamentally change the nature of any of the securities offered through our initial public offering, 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.
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The provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation that relate to our pre-business combination activity (and corresponding provisions of the agreement governing the release of funds from our trust account) may be amended with the approval of holders of at least 65% of our common stock, which is a lower amendment threshold than that of some other blank check companies. It may be easier for us, therefore, to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to facilitate the completion of an initial business combination that some of our stockholders may not support.
Some other blank check companies have a provision in their charter which prohibits the amendment of certain of its provisions, including those which relate to a company’s pre-business combination activity, without approval by a certain percentage of the company’s stockholders. In those companies, amendment of these provisions typically requires approval by 90% of the company’s stockholders attending and voting at an annual meeting. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides 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 stockholders as described herein) may be amended if approved by holders of 65% of our common stock entitled to vote thereon and corresponding provisions of the trust agreement governing the release of funds from our trust account may be amended if approved by holders of at least 65% of our common stock entitled to vote thereon. In all other instances, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation may be amended by holders of a majority of our outstanding shares of common stock entitled to vote thereon, subject to applicable provisions of the DGCL or applicable stock exchange rules. Our sponsor and its permitted transferees, if any, who will collectively beneficially own, on an as converted basis, 20% of our common stock upon the closing of our initial public offering, will participate in any vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and/or trust agreement and will have the discretion to vote in any manner they choose. As a result, we may be able to amend the provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation which govern our pre-business combination behavior more easily than some other blank check companies, and this may increase our ability to complete a business combination with which you do not agree. Our stockholders may pursue remedies against us for any breach of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation.
Our sponsor, executive officers and directors have agreed, pursuant to a written agreement with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation that would affect the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of Class A common stock the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, unless we provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their Class A common stock upon approval of any such amendment at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes, if any (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses) divided by the number of then outstanding public shares. These agreements are contained in letter agreements that we have entered into with our sponsor and each member of our management team. Our stockholders are not parties to, or third-party beneficiaries of, these agreements and, as a result, will not have the ability to pursue remedies against our sponsor, executive officers or directors for any breach of these agreements.
As a result, in the event of a breach, our stockholders would need to pursue a stockholder derivative action, subject to applicable law.
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We may be unable to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination or to fund the operations and growth of a target business, which could compel us to restructure or abandon a particular business combination. If we do not complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may only receive their pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account that are available for distribution to public stockholders, and our warrants will expire worthless.
Although we believe that the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants will be sufficient to allow us to complete our initial business combination, because we have not yet negotiated the acquisition of a target business we cannot ascertain the capital requirements for any particular transaction. If the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants prove to be insufficient, either because of the size of our initial business combination, the depletion of the available net proceeds in search of a target business, the obligation to redeem for cash a significant number of shares from stockholders who elect redemption in connection with our initial business combination or the terms of negotiated transactions to purchase shares in connection with our initial business combination, we may be required to seek additional financing or to abandon the proposed business combination. We cannot assure you that such financing will be available on acceptable terms, if at all. The current economic environment has made it difficult for companies to obtain acquisition financing. To the extent that additional financing proves to be unavailable when needed to complete our initial business combination, we would be compelled to either restructure the transaction or abandon that particular business combination and seek an alternative target business candidate. If we do not complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may only receive their pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account that are available for distribution to public stockholders and not previously released to us to pay our taxes on the liquidation of our trust account, and our warrants will expire worthless. In addition, even if we do not need additional financing to complete our initial business combination, we may require such financing to fund the operations or growth of the target business. The failure to secure additional financing could have a material adverse effect on the continued development or growth of the target business. None of our officers, directors or stockholders is required to provide any financing to us in connection with or after our initial business combination. If we do not complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may only receive approximately $10.00 per share on the liquidation of our trust account, and our warrants will expire worthless.
Our initial stockholders (including our sponsor) control a substantial interest in us and thus may exert a substantial influence on actions requiring a stockholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support.
Upon closing of our initial public offering, our initial stockholders (including our sponsor) own, on an as-converted basis, 20% of our issued and outstanding common stock. Accordingly, they may exert a substantial influence on actions requiring a stockholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support, including amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. If our initial stockholders purchase any of our securities in the aftermarket or in privately negotiated transactions, this would increase their control. Neither our sponsor nor, to our knowledge, any of our officers or directors, have any current intention to purchase additional securities, other than as disclosed in this Report. Factors that would be considered in making such additional purchases would include consideration of the current trading price of our Class A common stock. In addition, our board of directors, whose members were elected by our sponsor, is divided into three classes, each of which will generally serve for a terms for three years with only one class of directors being elected in each year. We may not hold an annual meeting of stockholders to elect new directors prior to the completion of our initial business combination, in which case all of the current directors will continue in office until at least the completion of the business combination. If there is an annual meeting, as a consequence of our “staggered” board of directors, only a minority of the board of directors will be considered for election and our sponsor, because of its ownership position, will have considerable influence regarding the outcome. In addition, prior to the completion of an initial business combination, holders of a majority of our founder shares may remove a member of the board of directors for any reason. Accordingly, our sponsor will continue to exert control at least until the completion of our initial business combination.
Resources could be wasted in researching acquisitions that are not completed, which could materially adversely affect subsequent attempts to locate and acquire or merge with another business. If we do not complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may only receive their pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account that are available for distribution to public stockholders, and our warrants will expire worthless.
We anticipate that the investigation of each specific target business and the negotiation, drafting and execution of relevant agreements, disclosure documents and other instruments will require substantial management time and attention and substantial costs for accountants, attorneys and others. If we decide not to complete a specific initial business combination, the costs incurred up to that point for the proposed transaction likely would not be recoverable. Furthermore, if we reach an agreement relating to a specific target business, we may fail to complete our initial business combination for any number of reasons including those beyond our control. Any such event will result in a loss to us of the related costs incurred which could materially adversely affect subsequent attempts to locate and acquire or merge with another business. If we do not complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may only receive their pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account that are available for distribution to public stockholders, and our warrants will expire worthless.
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Our key personnel may negotiate employment or consulting agreements with a target business in connection with a particular business combination, and a particular business combination may be conditioned on the retention or resignation of such key personnel. These agreements may provide for them to receive compensation following our initial business combination and as a result, may cause them to have conflicts of interest in determining whether a particular business combination is the most advantageous.
Our key personnel may be able to remain with our company after the completion of our initial business combination only if they are able to negotiate employment or consulting agreements in connection with the business combination. Such negotiations would take place simultaneously with the negotiation of the business combination and could provide for such individuals to receive compensation in the form of cash payments and/or our securities for services they would render to us after the completion of the business combination. Such negotiations also could make such key personnel’s retention or resignation a condition to any such agreement. The personal and financial interests of such individuals may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business, subject to his or her fiduciary duties under Delaware law. However, we believe the ability of such individuals to remain with us after the completion of our business combination will not be the determining factor in our decision as to whether or not we will proceed with any potential business combination. There is no certainty, however, that any of our key personnel will remain with us after the completion of our business combination. We cannot assure you that any of our key personnel will remain in senior management or advisory positions with us. The determination as to whether any of our key personnel will remain with us will be made at the time of our initial business combination. In addition, pursuant to a registration and shareholder rights agreement, our sponsor, upon completion of an initial business combination, will be entitled to nominate three individuals for election to our board of directors, as long as our sponsor holds any securities covered by the registration and stockholder’s rights agreement.
We may have a limited ability to assess the management of a prospective target business and, as a result, may affect our initial business combination with a target business whose management may not have the skills, qualifications or abilities to manage a public company.
When evaluating the desirability of effecting our initial business combination with a prospective target business, our ability to assess the target business’s management may be limited due to a lack of time, resources or information. Our assessment of the capabilities of the target business’s management, therefore, may prove to be incorrect and such management may lack the skills, qualifications or abilities we suspected. Should the target business’s management not possess the skills, qualifications or abilities necessary to manage a public company, the operations and profitability of the post-combination business may be negatively impacted. Accordingly, any stockholders who choose to remain stockholders following the business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their shares. Such stockholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value unless they are able to successfully claim that the reduction was due to the breach by our officers or directors of a duty of care or other fiduciary duty owed to them, or if they are able to successfully bring a private claim under securities laws that the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, relating to the business combination contained an actionable material misstatement or material omission.
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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 stockholders’ investment in us.
Although we have no commitments as of the date of this Report to issue any notes or other debt securities, or to otherwise incur outstanding debt following our initial public offering, we may choose to incur substantial debt to complete our initial business combination. 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 common stock; |
| ● | using a substantial portion of our cash flow to pay principal and interest on our debt, which will reduce the funds available for dividends on our Class A common stock if declared, our ability to pay expenses, make capital expenditures and acquisitions and fund other general corporate purposes; |
| ● | limitations on our flexibility in planning for and reacting to changes in our business and in the industry in which we operate; |
| ● | increased vulnerability to adverse changes in general economic, industry and competitive conditions and adverse changes in government regulation; and |
| ● | limitations on our ability to borrow additional amounts for expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions, debt service requirements and 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.
Of the net proceeds from our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, $400,000,000 are available to complete our business combination and pay related fees and expenses (which excludes up to $14,000,000, after taking into account the deferred underwriting commissions being held in the trust account and the estimated expense of our initial public offering).
We may effectuate our initial business combination with a single target business or multiple target businesses simultaneously or within a short period of time. However, we may not be able to effectuate our initial business combination with more than one target business because of various factors, including the existence of complex accounting issues and the requirement that we prepare and file pro forma financial statements with the SEC that present operating results and the financial condition of several target businesses as if they had been operated on a combined basis. By completing our initial business combination with only a single entity, our lack of diversification may subject us to numerous economic, competitive and regulatory developments. Further, we would not be able to diversify our operations or benefit from the possible spreading of risks or offsetting of losses, unlike other entities which may have the resources to complete several business combinations in different industries or different areas of a single industry. Accordingly, the prospects for our success may be:
| ● | solely dependent upon the performance of a single business, property or asset; or |
| ● | dependent upon the development or market acceptance of a single or limited number of products, processes or services. |
This lack of diversification may subject us to numerous economic, competitive and regulatory risks, any or all of which may have a substantial adverse impact upon the particular industry in which we may operate subsequent to our initial business combination.
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We may attempt to simultaneously complete business combinations with multiple prospective targets, which may hinder our ability to complete our initial business combination and give rise to increased costs and risks that could negatively impact our operations and profitability.
If we determine to simultaneously acquire several businesses that are owned by different sellers, we will need for each of such sellers to agree that our purchase of its business is contingent on the simultaneous closings of the other business combinations, which may make it more difficult for us, and delay our ability, to complete our initial business combination. With multiple business combinations, we could also face additional risks, including additional burdens and costs with respect to possible multiple negotiations and due diligence (if there are multiple sellers) and the additional risks associated with the subsequent assimilation of the operations and services or products of the acquired companies in a single operating business. If we are unable to adequately address these risks, it could negatively impact our profitability and results of operations.
We may attempt to complete our initial business combination with a private company about which little information is available, which may result in a business combination with a company that is not as profitable as we suspected, if at all.
In pursuing our acquisition strategy, we may seek to effectuate our initial business combination with a privately held company. By definition, very little public information generally exists about private companies, and we could be required to make our decision on whether to pursue a potential initial business combination on the basis of limited information, which may result in a business combination with a company that is not as profitable as we suspected, if at all.
Our initial business combination and our structure thereafter may not be tax-efficient to our securityholders.
Although we will attempt to structure our initial business combination in a tax-efficient manner, tax structuring considerations are complex, the relevant facts and law are uncertain and may change, and we may prioritize commercial and other considerations over tax considerations. For example, in connection with our initial business combination and subject to requisite stockholder approval, we may structure our business combination in a manner that requires stockholders and/or warrant holders to recognize gain or income for tax purposes. We do not intend to make any cash distributions to stockholders or warrant holders to pay taxes in connection with our business combination or thereafter. Accordingly, a stockholder or a warrant holder may need to satisfy any liability resulting from our initial business combination with cash from its own funds or by selling all or a portion of such holder’s shares or warrants.
If we pursue a target company with operations or opportunities outside of the United States for our initial business combination, we may face additional burdens in connection with investigating, agreeing to and completing such initial business combination, and if we effect such initial business combination, we would be subject to a variety of additional risks that may negatively impact our operations.
If we pursue a target a company with operations or opportunities outside of the United States for our initial business combination, we would be subject to risks associated with cross-border business combinations, including in connection with investigating, agreeing to and completing our initial business combination, conducting due diligence in a foreign jurisdiction, having such transaction approved by any local governments, regulators or agencies and changes in the purchase price based on fluctuations in foreign exchange rates.
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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 and complying with different commercial and legal requirements of overseas markets; |
| ● | rules and regulations regarding currency redemption; |
| ● | laws governing the manner in which future business combinations may be effected; |
| ● | exchange listing and/or delisting requirements; |
| ● | tariffs and trade barriers; |
| ● | regulations related to customs and import/export matters; |
| ● | local or regional economic policies and market conditions; |
| ● | unexpected changes in regulatory requirements; |
| ● | longer payment cycles; |
| ● | tax issues, including limits on our ability to change our tax residence from the United States, complex withholding or other tax regimes which may apply in connection with our business combination or to our structure following our business combination, variations in tax laws as compared to the United States, and potential changes in the applicable tax laws in the United States and/or relevant non-U.S. jurisdictions; |
| ● | currency fluctuations and exchange controls; |
| ● | rates of inflation; |
| ● | challenges in collecting accounts receivable; |
| ● | cultural and language differences; |
| ● | employment regulations; |
| ● | underdeveloped or unpredictable legal or regulatory systems; |
| ● | corruption; |
| ● | protection of intellectual property; |
| ● | social unrest, crime, strikes, riots and civil disturbances; |
| ● | regime changes and political upheaval; |
| ● | terrorist attacks, natural disasters and wars; |
| ● | deterioration of political relations with the United States; and |
| ● | government appropriation of assets. |
We may not be able to adequately address these additional risks. If we were unable to do so, we may be unable to complete such initial business combination, or, if we complete such combination, our operations might suffer, either of which may adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.
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If we effect a business combination with a target company organized in another jurisdiction, we may take actions in connection with the business combination that could have adverse tax consequences.
We may effect a business combination with a target company in another jurisdiction, reincorporate in the jurisdiction in which the target company or business is located, or reincorporate in another jurisdiction. Such transactions may result in tax liability for a stockholder or warrant holder in the jurisdiction in which the stockholder or warrant holder is a tax resident (or in which its members are resident if it is a tax transparent entity), in which the target company is located, or in which we reincorporate. In the event of a reincorporation pursuant to our initial business combination, such tax liability may attach prior to the consummation of redemptions of any of our public shares properly submitted to use for redemption in connection with such business combination. We do not intend to make any cash distributions to shareholders to pay such taxes. Stockholders or warrant holders may be subject to withholding taxes or other taxes with respect to their ownership of us after the reincorporation.
Furthermore, we may effect a business combination with a target company that has business operations outside of the United States and, possibly, business operations in multiple jurisdictions. If we effect such a business combination, we could be subject to significant income, withholding and other tax obligations in a number of jurisdictions with respect to income, operations and subsidiaries related to those jurisdictions. Due to the complexity of tax obligations and filings in other jurisdictions, we may have a heightened risk related to audits or examinations by taxing authorities. This additional complexity and risk could have an adverse effect on our after-tax profitability and financial condition.
If we have not completed an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, our public stockholders may be forced to wait beyond such 24 months before redemption from our trust account.
If we have not completed an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, the proceeds then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes, if any (less up to $100,000 of the interest to pay dissolution expenses), will be used to fund the redemption of our public shares, as further described herein. Any redemption of public stockholders from the trust account will be effected automatically by function of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation prior to any voluntary winding up. If we are required to wind-up, liquidate the trust account and distribute such amount therein, pro rata, to our public stockholders, as part of any liquidation process, such winding up, liquidation and distribution must comply with the applicable provisions of the DGCL. In that case, investors may be forced to wait beyond 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 proceeds from our trust account. We have no obligation to return funds to investors prior to the date of our redemption or liquidation unless we complete our initial business combination prior thereto and only then in cases where investors have sought to redeem their Class A common stock. Only upon our redemption or any liquidation will public stockholders be entitled to distributions if we do not complete our initial business combination.
Holders of our Class A common stock will not be entitled to vote on any appointment of directors we hold prior to our initial business combination.
Prior to our initial business combination, only holders of our founder shares will have the right to vote on the appointment of our directors. Holders of our public shares will not be entitled to vote on the appointment of our directors during such time. In addition, prior to the completion of an initial business combination, holders of a majority of our founder shares may remove a member of the board of directors for any reason. Accordingly, you may not have any say in the management of our company prior to the completion of an initial business combination.
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The grant of registration rights to our sponsor may make it more difficult to complete our initial business combination, and the future exercise of such rights may adversely affect the market price of the shares of our Class A common stock.
Pursuant to a registration and shareholder rights agreement, our sponsor and its permitted transferees can demand that we register the shares of our Class A common stock into which founder shares are convertible, the private placement warrants and the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the private placement warrants, and warrants that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans and the Class A common stock issuable upon conversion of such warrants. The registration rights will be exercisable with respect to the founder shares and the private placement warrants and the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of such private placement warrants. The registration and availability of such a significant number of securities for trading in the public market may have an adverse effect on the market price of our Class A common stock. In addition, the existence of the registration rights may make our initial business combination more costly or difficult to conclude. This is because the stockholders of the target business may increase the equity stake they seek in the combined entity or ask for more cash consideration to offset the negative impact on the market price of our Class A common stock that is expected when the securities owned by our sponsor or initial stockholders, holders of our private placement warrants or holders of warrants issued upon conversion of working capital loans, if any, or their permitted transferees are registered.
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.
A provision of our warrant agreement may make it more difficult for us to complete an initial business combination.
If (i) we issue additional common stock or equity-linked securities for capital raising purposes in connection with the closing of our initial business combination at a Newly Issued Price of less than $9.20 per common stock, (ii) the aggregate gross proceeds from such issuances represent more than 60% of the total equity proceeds, and interest thereon, available for the funding of our initial business combination on the date of the completion of our initial business combination (net of redemptions), and (iii) the Market Value is below $9.20 per share, then the exercise price of the warrants will be adjusted to be equal to 115% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, and the $10.00 and $18.00 per share redemption trigger prices will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 100% and 180% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, respectively. This may make it more difficult for us to complete an initial business combination with a target business.
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Risks Relating to Our Sponsor and Management Team
Our ability to successfully effect our initial business combination and to be successful thereafter will be totally dependent upon the efforts of our key personnel, some of whom may join us following our initial business combination. The loss of key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business.
Our ability to successfully effect our initial business combination is dependent upon the efforts of our key personnel. The role of our key personnel in the target business, however, cannot presently be ascertained. Although some of our key personnel may remain with the target business in senior management, director or advisory positions following our initial business combination, it is likely that some or all of the management of the target business will remain in place. While we intend to closely scrutinize any individuals we engage after our initial business combination, we cannot assure you that our assessment of these individuals will prove to be correct. These individuals may be unfamiliar with the requirements of operating a company regulated by the SEC, which could cause us to have to expend time and resources helping them become familiar with such requirements.
We are dependent upon our executive officers and directors and their loss could adversely affect our ability to operate.
Our operations are dependent upon a relatively small group of individuals and, in particular, our executive officers and directors. We believe that our success depends on the continued service of our officers and directors, at least until we have completed our initial business combination. In addition, our executive officers and directors are not required to commit any specified amount of time to our affairs and, accordingly, will have conflicts of interest in allocating their time among various business activities, including identifying potential business combinations and monitoring the related due diligence. We do not have an employment agreement with, or key-man insurance on the life of, any of our directors or executive officers. The unexpected loss of the services of one or more of our directors or executive officers could have a detrimental effect on us.
The officers and directors of an acquisition candidate may resign upon completion of our initial business combination. The loss of a business combination target’s key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business.
The role of an acquisition candidate’s key personnel upon the completion of our initial business combination cannot be ascertained at this time. Although we contemplate that certain members of an acquisition candidate’s management team will remain associated with the acquisition candidate following our initial business combination, it is possible that members of the management of an acquisition candidate will not wish to remain in place.
Our executive officers and directors will allocate their time to other businesses thereby causing conflicts of interest in their determination as to how much time to devote to our affairs. This conflict of interest could have a negative impact on our ability to complete our initial business combination.
Our executive officers and directors are not required to, and will not, commit their full time to our affairs, which may result in a conflict of interest in allocating their time between our operations and our search for a business combination and their other businesses. We do not intend to have any full-time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination. Each of our executive officers and directors is engaged in several other business endeavors for which he may be entitled to substantial compensation, and our executive officers and directors are not obligated to contribute any specific number of hours per week to our affairs. In particular, certain of our executive officers and directors are employed by affiliates of our sponsor. Our independent directors also serve as officers and board members for other entities. If our executive officers’ and directors’ other business affairs require them to devote substantial amounts of time to such affairs in excess of their current commitment levels, it could limit their ability to devote time to our affairs which may have a negative impact on our ability to complete our initial business combination.
Our officers and directors presently have, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities, including another blank check company, and, accordingly, may have conflicts of interest in allocating their time and determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented.
Until we complete 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, subject to his or her fiduciary duties under Delaware law. Accordingly, they may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented. These conflicts may not be resolved in our favor and a potential target business may be presented to another entity prior to its presentation to us, subject to their fiduciary duties under Delaware law. However, we do not believe that any potential conflicts would materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination.
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In addition, our directors and officers and our sponsor or its affiliates may in the future become affiliated with other blank check companies that may have acquisition objectives that are similar to ours. Accordingly, they may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented. These conflicts may not be resolved in our favor and a potential target business may be presented to such other blank check companies prior to its presentation to us, subject to our officers’ and directors’ fiduciary duties under Delaware law. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that we renounce our interest in any business combination opportunity offered to any director or officer unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of the company and it is an opportunity that we are able to complete on a reasonable basis.
Our executive officers, directors, security holders and their respective affiliates may have competitive pecuniary interests that conflict with our interests.
We have not adopted a policy that expressly prohibits our directors, executive officers, security holders or affiliates from having a direct or indirect pecuniary or financial interest in any investment to be acquired or disposed of by us or in any transaction to which we are a party or have an interest. In fact, we may enter into a business combination with a target business that is affiliated with our sponsor, our directors or executive officers, although we do not intend to do so. Nor do we have a policy that expressly prohibits any such persons from engaging for their own account in business activities of the types conducted by us, including the formation or participation in one or more other blank check companies. 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 stockholders’ best interest. If this were the case, it would be a breach of their fiduciary duties to us as a matter of Delaware law and we or our stockholders might have a claim against such individuals for infringing on our stockholders’ rights. However, we might not ultimately be successful in any claim we may make against them for such reason.
We may engage in a business combination with one or more target businesses that have relationships with entities that may be affiliated with our sponsor, executive officers, directors or existing holders which may raise potential conflicts of interest.
In light of the involvement of our sponsor, executive officers and directors with other entities, we may decide to acquire one or more businesses affiliated with our sponsor, executive officers, directors or existing holders. Such entities may compete with us for business combination opportunities. Our sponsor, including any of its affiliates, 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 the section of this Report entitled “Item 1—Evaluation of a Target Business and Structuring of our Initial Business Combination” and such transaction was approved by a majority of our independent and disinterested directors. Despite our agreement to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or an independent 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, executive officers, directors or 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 stockholders as they would be absent any conflicts of interest.
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Since our sponsor, executive officers and directors will lose their entire investment in us if our initial business combination is not completed (other than with respect to public shares they may have acquired during or may acquire after our initial public offering), a conflict of interest may arise in determining whether a particular business combination target is appropriate for our initial business combination.
On December 31, 2020, our sponsor paid an aggregate of $25,000, or approximately $0.003 per share, to cover certain of our offering costs in consideration of 8,625,000 shares of our Class B common stock. Our sponsor subsequently transferred 30,000 founder shares to each of our independent director nominees and 20,000 founder shares to each of our advisors, for $0.003 per share. On January 20, 2021, we effected a stock dividend of 1,437,500 shares, and on March 1, 2021, we effected a stock dividend of 1,437,500 shares, resulting in there being an aggregate of 11,500,000 founder shares outstanding. Prior to the initial investment in the company of $25,000 by our sponsor, the company had no assets, tangible or intangible. The number of founder shares issued was determined based on the expectation that such founder shares would represent 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 has purchased 7,333,333 private placement warrants, each exercisable to purchase one share of our Class A common stock at $11.50 per share, for a purchase price of approximately $11,000,000, or $1.50 per whole warrant, that will also be worthless if we do not complete a business combination. Holders of founder shares have agreed (A) to vote any shares owned by them in favor of any proposed business combination and (B) not to redeem any founder shares in connection with a stockholder vote to approve a proposed initial business combination. In addition, we may obtain loans from our sponsor, affiliates of our sponsor or an officer or director, and we may pay our sponsor, officers, directors and any of their respective affiliate’s fees and expenses in connection with identifying, investigating and completing an initial business combination.
The personal and financial interests of our executive officers and directors may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business combination, completing an initial business combination and influencing the operation of the business following the initial business combination. This risk may become more acute as the 24-month anniversary of the closing of our initial public offering nears, which is the deadline for our completion of an initial business combination.
Our management may not be able to maintain control of a target business after our initial business combination. Upon the loss of control of a target business, new management may not possess the skills, qualifications or abilities necessary to profitably operate such business.
We may structure our initial business combination so that the post-transaction company in which our public stockholders own shares will own less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business, but we will only complete such business combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target sufficient for us not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. We will not consider any transaction that does not meet such criteria. Even if the post-transaction company owns 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our stockholders prior to our initial business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post business combination company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the business combination. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares of our Class A common stock 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 shares of our Class A common stock, our stockholders immediately prior to such transaction could own less than a majority of our issued and outstanding Class A common stock subsequent to such transaction. In addition, other minority stockholders may subsequently combine their holdings resulting in a single person or group obtaining a larger share of the company’s 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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Risks Relating to Our Securities
If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, we may be required to institute burdensome compliance requirements and our activities may be restricted, which may make it difficult for us to complete our initial business combination.
If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, our activities may be restricted, including:
| ● | restrictions on the nature of our investments; and |
| ● | restrictions on the issuance of securities, each of which may make it difficult for us to complete our initial business combination. |
In addition, we may have imposed upon us burdensome requirements, including:
| ● | registration as an investment company; |
| ● | adoption of a specific form of corporate structure; and |
| ● | reporting, record keeping, voting, proxy and disclosure requirements and other rules and regulations. |
In order not to be regulated as an investment company under the Investment Company Act, unless we can qualify for an exclusion, we must ensure that we are engaged primarily in a business other than investing, reinvesting or trading of securities and that our activities do not include investing, reinvesting, owning, holding or trading “investment securities” constituting more than 40% of our assets (exclusive of U.S. government securities and cash items) on an unconsolidated basis. Our business will be to identify and complete a business combination and thereafter to operate the post-transaction business or assets for the long term. We do not plan to buy businesses or assets with a view to resale or profit from their resale. We do not plan to buy unrelated businesses or assets or to be a passive investor.
We do not believe that our 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. An investment in our securities is not intended for persons who are seeking a return on investments in government securities or investment securities. The trust account is intended as a holding place for funds pending the earliest to occur of either: (a) the completion of our initial business combination; (b) the redemption of any public shares properly tendered in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (i) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of shares of Class A common stock the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering or (ii) with respect to any other provisions relating to the rights of holders of our Class A common stock; or (c) absent our completing an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, our return of the funds held in the trust account to our public stockholders as part of our redemption of the public shares. If we do not invest the proceeds as discussed above, we may be deemed to be subject to the Investment Company Act. If we were deemed to be subject to the Investment Company Act, compliance with these additional regulatory burdens would require additional expenses for which we have not allotted funds and may hinder our ability to complete a business combination. If we do not complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may only receive their pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account that are available for distribution to public stockholders, and our warrants will expire worthless.
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Changes in laws or regulations, or a failure to comply with any laws and regulations, may adversely affect our business, including our ability to negotiate and complete our initial business combination and results of operations.
We are subject to laws and regulations enacted by national, regional and local governments. In particular, we are required to comply with certain SEC and other legal requirements. Compliance with, and monitoring of, applicable laws and regulations may be difficult, time consuming and costly. Those laws and regulations and their interpretation and application may also change from time to time and those changes could have a material adverse effect on our business, investments and results of operations. In addition, a failure to comply with applicable laws or regulations, as interpreted and applied, could have a material adverse effect on our business, including our ability to negotiate and complete our initial business combination, and results of operations.
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, and if you or a “group” of stockholders are deemed to hold in excess of 15% of our Class A common stock, you will lose the ability to redeem all such shares in excess of 15% of our Class A common stock.
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that a public stockholder, together with any affiliate of such stockholder or any other person with whom such stockholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from seeking redemption rights with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in our initial public offering without our prior consent, which we refer to as the “Excess Shares.” However, we would not be restricting our stockholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our initial business combination. Your inability to redeem the Excess Shares will reduce your influence over our ability to complete our initial business combination and you could suffer a material loss on your investment in us if you sell Excess Shares in open market transactions. Additionally, you will not receive redemption distributions with respect to the Excess Shares if we complete our initial business combination. And as a result, you will continue to hold that number of shares exceeding 15% and, in order to dispose of such shares, would be required to sell your shares in open market transactions, potentially at a loss.
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 stockholders may be less than $10.00 per share.
The proceeds held in the trust account will be invested only in U.S. government treasury obligations with a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act, which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations. While short-term U.S. government treasury obligations currently yield a positive rate of interest, they have briefly yielded negative interest rates in recent years. Central banks in Europe and Japan pursued interest rates below zero in recent years, and the Open Market Committee of the Federal Reserve has not ruled out the possibility that it may in the future adopt similar policies in the United States. In the event that we are unable to complete our initial business combination or make certain amendments to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, our public stockholders are entitled to receive their pro-rata share of the proceeds held in the trust account, plus any interest income, net of taxes paid or payable (less, in the case we are unable to complete our initial business combination, $100,000 of interest). Negative interest rates could reduce the value of the assets held in trust such that the per-share redemption amount received by public stockholders may be less than $10.00 per share.
The NYSE may delist our securities from trading on its exchange, which could limit investors’ ability to make transactions in our securities and subject us to additional trading restrictions.
Our units, Class A ordinary shares and warrants are currently listed on the NYSE under the symbol “AAQC.U”, “AAQC” and “AAQC WS”, respectively. Although after giving effect to our initial public offering we expect to continue meet, on a pro forma basis, the minimum initial listing standards set forth in the NYSE listing standards, our securities may not be, or may not continue to be, listed on the NYSE in the future or prior to our initial business combination. In order to continue listing our securities on the NYSE prior to our initial business combination, we must maintain certain financial, distribution and share price levels. Generally, we must maintain a minimum market capitalization (generally $50,000,000) and a minimum number of holders of our securities (generally 400 public holders).
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Additionally, our units will not be traded after completion of our initial business combination and, in connection with our initial business combination, we will be required to demonstrate compliance with the NYSE initial listing requirements, which are more rigorous than the NYSE continued listing requirements, in order to continue to maintain the listing of our securities on the NYSE.
For instance, our share price would generally be required to be at least $4.00 per share and our stockholders’ equity would generally be required to be at least $4.0 million. We may not be able to meet those initial listing requirements at that time.
If the NYSE delists any of our securities from trading on its exchange and we are not able to list our securities on another national securities exchange, we expect our securities could be quoted on an over-the-counter market. If this were to occur, we could face significant material adverse consequences, including:
| ● | a limited availability of market quotations for our securities; |
| ● | reduced liquidity for our securities; |
| ● | a determination that our Class A common stock are a “penny stock” which will require brokers trading in our Class A common stock to adhere to more stringent rules and possibly result in a reduced level of trading activity in the secondary trading market for our securities; |
| ● | a limited amount of news and analyst coverage; and |
| ● | a decreased ability to issue additional securities or obtain additional financing in the future. |
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 t our units, Class A common stock and warrants are listed on the NYSE, our units, Class A common stock and warrants 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 the NYSE, our securities would not qualify as covered securities under the statute, and we would be subject to regulation in each state in which we offer our securities.
We may issue additional shares of our Class A common stock or preferred stock to complete our initial business combination or under an employee incentive plan after completion of our initial business combination. We may also issue shares of our Class A common stock upon the conversion of the founder shares at a ratio greater than one-to-one at the time of our initial business combination as a result of the anti- dilution provisions contained in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. Any such issuances would dilute the interest of our stockholders and likely present other risks.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation authorizes the issuance of up to 500,000,000 shares of our Class A common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, 50,000,000 shares of our Class B common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, and 1,000,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $0.0001 per share. There are 460,000,000 and 40,000,000 authorized but unissued shares of our Class A common stock and Class B common stock, 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 common stock, if any. The Class B common stock is automatically convertible into Class A common stock at the time of our initial business combination as described herein and in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. There are no shares of preferred stock issued and outstanding.
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We may issue a substantial number of additional shares of our Class A common stock or shares of preferred stock to complete our initial business combination or under an employee incentive plan after completion of our initial business combination. We may also issue Class A common stock or upon conversion of the Class B common stock at a ratio greater than one-to-one at the time of our initial business combination as a result of the anti-dilution provisions contained in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. However, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides, among other things, that prior to or in connection with our initial business combination, we may not issue additional shares that would entitle the holders thereof to (i) receive funds from the trust account or (ii) vote on any initial business combination or on any other proposal presented to stockholders prior to or in connection with the completion of an initial business combination. These provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, like all provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, may be amended with a stockholder vote. The issuance of additional shares of common stock or shares of preferred stock:
| ● | may significantly dilute the equity interest of our investors; |
| ● | may subordinate the rights of holders of our Class A common stock if share of preferred stock are issued with rights senior to those afforded our Class A common stock; |
| ● | could cause a change in control if a substantial number of shares of our Class A common stock is issued, which may affect, among other things, our ability to use our net operating loss carry forwards, if any, and could result in the resignation or removal of our present officers and directors; |
| ● | may adversely affect prevailing market prices for our units, Class A common stock and/or warrants; and |
| ● | will not result in adjustment to the exercise price of our warrants. |
Unlike many other similarly structured special purpose acquisition companies, our initial stockholders may receive additional shares of our Class A common stock if we issue shares to complete an initial business combination.
Unless waived by the holders of the founder shares, the founder shares will automatically convert into shares of our Class A common stock on the first business day following the completion of our initial business combination at a ratio such that the number of shares of our Class A common stock issuable upon conversion of all founder shares will equal, in the aggregate, on an as-converted basis, 20% of the sum of (i) the total number of shares of our common stock issued and outstanding upon completion of our initial public offering, plus (ii) the total number of shares of our Class A common stock 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 completion of the initial business combination, excluding any shares of our Class A common stock or equity-linked securities exercisable for or convertible into shares of our Class A common stock issued, or to be issued, to any seller in the initial business combination and any private placement warrants issued to our sponsor upon conversion of working capital loans. In no event will the shares of our Class B common stock convert into shares of our Class A common stock at a rate of less than one to one. This is different than many other similarly structured blank check companies in which our sponsor will only be issued an aggregate of 20% of the total number of shares to be outstanding prior to the initial business combination.
We are not registering the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants under the Securities Act or any state securities laws at this time, and such registration may not be in place when an investor desires to exercise warrants, thus precluding such investor from being able to exercise its warrants except on a cashless basis and potentially causing such warrants to expire worthless.
We are not registering the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants under the Securities Act or any state securities laws at this time. However, under the terms of the warrant agreement, we have agreed to use our commercially reasonable efforts to file a registration statement under the Securities Act covering such shares and maintain a current prospectus relating to the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants until the expiration of the warrants in accordance with the provisions of the warrant agreement. We cannot assure you that we will be able to do so if, for example, any facts or events arise which represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in the registration statement or prospectus relating to our initial public offering, the financial statements contained or incorporated by reference therein are not current or correct or the SEC issues a stop order.
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If the shares of our Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants are not registered under the Securities Act, we will be required to permit holders to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis, in which case the number of shares of our Class A common stock that you will receive upon cashless exercise will be based on a formula subject to a maximum number of shares equal to 0.361 shares of our Class A common stock per warrant (subject to adjustment).
However, no such warrant will be exercisable for cash or on a cashless basis, and we will not be obligated to issue any shares to holders seeking to exercise their warrants, unless the issuance of the shares upon such exercise is registered or qualified under the securities laws of the state of the exercising holder, unless an exemption from state registration is available.
Notwithstanding the above, if the shares of our Class A common stock are at the time of any exercise of a warrant not listed on a national securities exchange such that it satisfies the definition of a “covered security” under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act, we may, at our option, require holders of public warrants who exercise their warrants to do so on a “cashless basis” in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act and, in the event we so elect, we will not be required to file or maintain in effect a registration statement, but we will be required to use our commercially reasonable efforts to register or qualify the shares under applicable blue sky laws to the extent an exemption is not available.
In no event will we be required to net cash settle any warrant, or issue securities or other compensation in exchange for the warrants in the event that we are unable to register or qualify the shares underlying the warrants under the Securities Act or applicable state securities laws and there is no exemption available. If the issuance of the shares upon exercise of the warrants is not so registered or qualified or exempt from registration or qualification, the holder of such warrant will not be entitled to exercise such warrant and such warrant may have no value and expire worthless. In such event, holders who acquired their warrants as part of a purchase of units will have paid the full unit purchase price solely for the shares of our Class A common stock included in the units. There may be a circumstance where an exemption from registration exists for holders of our private placement warrants to exercise their warrants while a corresponding exemption does not exist for holders of the warrants included as part of units sold in our initial public offering. In such an instance, our sponsor and its permitted transferees (which may include our directors and executive officers) would be able to sell the common stock underlying their warrants while holders of our public warrants would not be able to exercise their warrants and sell the underlying common stock. There may be a circumstance where an exemption from registration exists for holders of our private placement warrants to exercise their warrants while a corresponding exemption does not exist for holders of the warrants included as part of units sold in our initial public offering. In such an instance, our sponsor and its permitted transferees (which may include our directors and executive officers) would be able to sell the shares of common stock underlying their warrants while holders of our public warrants would not be able to exercise their warrants and sell the underlying shares of common stock. 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.
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 65% of the then outstanding public warrants. As a result, the exercise price of your warrants could be increased, the exercise period could be shortened and the number of shares of our Class A common stock purchasable upon exercise of a warrant could be decreased, all without your approval.
Our warrants were issued in registered form under a warrant agreement between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as warrant agent, and us. The warrant agreement provides that the terms of the warrants may be amended without the consent of any holder to cure any ambiguity or correct any defective provision, but requires the approval by the holders of at least 65% of the then outstanding public warrants to make any change that adversely affects the interests of the registered holders of public warrants. Accordingly, we may amend the terms of the public warrants in a manner adverse to a holder if holders of at least 65% of the then outstanding public warrants approve of such amendment. Although our ability to amend the terms of the public warrants with the consent of at least 65% of the then outstanding public warrants is unlimited, examples of such amendments could be amendments to, among other things, increase the exercise price of the warrants, convert the warrants into cash, shorten the exercise period or decrease the number of shares of our Class A common stock purchasable upon exercise of a warrant.
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Our warrant agreement designates the courts of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by holders of our warrants, which could limit the ability of warrant holders to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with our company.
Our warrant agreement provides that, subject to applicable law, (i) any action, proceeding or claim against us arising out of or relating in any way to the warrant agreement, including under the Securities Act, will be brought and enforced in the courts of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, and (ii) that we irrevocably submit to such jurisdiction, which jurisdiction shall be the exclusive forum for any such action, proceeding or claim. We will waive any objection to such exclusive jurisdiction and that such courts represent an inconvenient forum.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, these provisions of the warrant agreement do not apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal district courts of the United States of America are the sole and exclusive forum. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in any of our warrants shall be deemed to have notice of and to have consented to the forum provisions in our warrant agreement.
If any action, the subject matter of which is within the scope of the forum provisions of the warrant agreement, is filed in a court other than a court of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (a “foreign action”) in the name of any holder of our warrants, such holder shall be deemed to have consented to: (x) the personal jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in the State of New York in connection with any action brought in any such court to enforce the forum provisions (an “enforcement action”), and (y) having service of process made upon such warrant holder in any such enforcement action by service upon such warrant holder’s counsel in the foreign action as agent for such warrant holder.
This choice-of-forum provision may limit a warrant holder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with our company, which may discourage such lawsuits. Alternatively, if a court were to find this provision of our warrant agreement inapplicable or unenforceable with respect to one or more of the specified types of actions or proceedings, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters in other jurisdictions, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and result in a diversion of the time and resources of our management and board of directors.
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 Reference Value equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for adjustments to the number of shares issuable upon exercise or the exercise price of a warrant).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 Market Value of your warrants. None of the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees.
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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 adjustments to the number of shares issuable upon exercise or the exercise price of a warrant). In such a case, the holders will be able to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis prior to redemption for a number of shares of our Class A common stock determined based on the redemption date and the fair market value of our Class A common stock. The value received upon exercise of the warrants (1) may be less than the value the holders would have received if they had exercised their warrants at a later time where the underlying share price is higher and (2) may not compensate the holders for the value of the warrants, including because the number of common stock received is capped at 0.361 shares of our Class A common stock per warrant (subject to adjustment) irrespective of the remaining life of the warrants.
Our warrants and founder shares may have an adverse effect on the market price of the shares of our Class A common stock and make it more difficult to effectuate our initial business combination.
We have issued warrants to purchase 13,333,333 of our Class A common stock as part of the units offered in our initial public offering and, simultaneously with the closing of our initial public offering, we issued in a private placement an aggregate of 7,333,333 private placement warrants, each exercisable to purchase one share of our Class A common stock at $11.50 per share. Our sponsor currently owns an aggregate of 11,500,000 founder shares. The founder shares are convertible into Class A common stock on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment as set forth herein. In addition, if our sponsor makes any working capital loans, up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be converted into warrants, at the price of $1.50 per warrant at the option of the lender. Such warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants, including as to exercise price, exercisability and exercise period. Our public warrants are also redeemable by us for shares of our Class A common stock.
To the extent we issue Class A common stock for any reason, including to effectuate a business combination, the potential for the issuance of a substantial number of additional shares of our Class A common stock upon exercise of these warrants and conversion rights could make us a less attractive acquisition vehicle to a target business. Such warrants when exercised will increase the number of issued and outstanding shares of our Class A common stock and reduce the value of the Class A common stock issued to complete the business transaction. Therefore, our warrants and founder shares may make it more difficult to effectuate a business transaction or increase the cost of acquiring the target business.
The private placement warrants are identical to the warrants sold as part of the units in our initial public offering except that, so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees, (i) they will not be redeemable by us, (ii) they (including the shares of our Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of these warrants) may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by our sponsor until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination, (iii) they may be exercised by the holders on a cashless basis and (iv) are subject to registration rights.
Because each unit sold in our initial public offering contains one-third of one warrant and only a whole warrant may be exercised, the units may be worth less than units of other blank check companies.
Each unit sold in our initial public offering 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 shares of our Class A common stock to be issued to the warrant holder. This is different from other offerings similar to ours whose units include one share of common stock and one warrant to purchase one share of common stock. 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 compared to units that each contain a whole warrant to purchase one share, thus making us, we believe, a more attractive merger partner for target businesses. Nevertheless, this unit structure may cause our units to be worth less than if it included a warrant to purchase one whole share.
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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 common stock issuable upon exercise of these warrants will cause holders to receive fewer shares of our Class A common stock 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 our shares of Class A common stock are at the time of any exercise of a warrant not listed on a national securities exchange such that our shares of Class A common stock satisfy the definition of a “covered security” under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act, we may, at our option, require holders of public warrants who exercise their warrants to do so on a cashless basis in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act and, in the event we elect to do so, we will not be required to file or maintain in effect a registration statement, but we will use our commercially reasonable efforts to register or qualify the shares under applicable blue sky laws to the extent an exemption is not available. “Cashless exercise” means each holder would pay the exercise price by surrendering warrants in exchange for a number of shares of our Class A common stock equal to the lesser of (A) the quotient obtained by dividing (x) the product of (a) the number of shares of our Class A common stock underlying the warrants and (b) the excess of the “fair market value” over the exercise price of the warrants by (y) such fair market value and (B) the product of the number of warrants surrendered and 0.361, subject to adjustment. The “fair market value” shall mean the volume weighted average price of the shares of our Class A common stock 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.
In addition, if a registration statement covering the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants is not effective within a specified period following the consummation of our initial business transaction, warrant holders may, until such time as there is an effective registration statement and during any period when we shall have failed to maintain an effective registration statement, exercise warrants on a cashless basis. For purposes of calculating the number of shares issuable upon such cashless exercise, the “fair market value” of warrants shall be calculated using the volume weighted average sale price of the Class A common stock for the 10 trading days ending on the trading day prior to the date on which notice of exercise is received by the warrant agent.
If we choose to require holders to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis, which we may do at our sole discretion, or if holders elect to do so when there is no effective registration statement, the number of shares of our Class A common stock received by a holder upon exercise will be fewer than it would have been had such holder exercised 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 common stock have a fair market value of $17.50 per share when there is no effective registration statement, then upon the cashless exercise, the holder will receive 300 shares of our Class A common stock. The holder would have received 875 shares of our Class A common stock if the exercise price was paid in cash. This will have the effect of reducing the potential “upside” of the holder’s investment in our company because the warrant holder will hold a smaller number of shares of our Class A common stock upon a cashless exercise of the warrants they hold.
The warrants may become exercisable and redeemable for a security other than the Class A common stock, and you will not have any information regarding such other security at this time.
In certain situations, including if we are not the surviving entity in our initial business combination, the warrants may become exercisable for a security other than the Class A common stock. As a result, if the surviving company redeems your warrants for securities pursuant to the warrant agreement, you may receive a security in a company of which you do not have information at this time. Pursuant to the warrant agreement, the surviving company will be required to use commercially reasonable efforts to register the issuance of the security underlying the warrants within 20 business days of the closing of an initial business combination.
There is currently no market for our securities and a market for our securities may not develop, which would adversely affect the liquidity and price of our securities.
The price of our securities may vary significantly due to one or more potential business combinations and general market or economic conditions. Furthermore, an active trading market for our securities may never develop or, if developed, it may not be sustained. You may be unable to sell your securities unless a market can be established and sustained.
Provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and Delaware law may inhibit a takeover of us, which could limit the price investors might be willing to pay in the future for shares of our Class A common stock and could entrench management.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation contains provisions that may discourage unsolicited takeover proposals that stockholders may consider to be in their best interests. These provisions will include a classified board of directors, the ability of the board of directors to designate the terms of and issue new series of preferred stock, advance notice provisions for any stockholder proposals or director nominations, and the fact that prior to the completion of our initial business combination only holders of shares of our Class B common stock, which have been issued to our sponsor, are entitled to vote on the appointment of our directors, which may make more difficult the removal of management and may discourage transactions that otherwise could involve payment of a premium over prevailing market prices for our securities.
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We are also subject to anti-takeover provisions under Delaware law, which could delay or prevent a change of control. Together these provisions may make the removal of management more difficult and may discourage transactions that otherwise could involve payment of a premium over prevailing market prices for our securities.
Provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and Delaware law may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors and officers.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation requires, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, that (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf, (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any director, officer or other employee to us or our stockholders, (iii) any action asserting a claim against us, our directors, officers or employees arising pursuant to any provision of the DGCL or our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or amended and restated bylaws, or (iv) any action asserting a claim against us, our directors, officers or employees governed by the internal affairs doctrine may be brought only in the Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware, except any claim (A) as to which the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware determines that there is an indispensable party not subject to the jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery (and the indispensable party does not consent to the personal jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery within ten days following such determination), (B) which is vested in the exclusive jurisdiction of a court or forum other than the Court of Chancery, or (C) for which the Court of Chancery does not have subject matter jurisdiction. If an action is brought outside of Delaware, the stockholder bringing the suit will be deemed to have consented to service of process on such stockholder’s counsel. Although we believe this provision benefits us by providing increased consistency in the application of Delaware law in the types of lawsuits to which it applies, a court may determine that this provision is unenforceable, and to the extent it is enforceable, the provision may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors and officers, although our stockholders will not be deemed to have waived our compliance with federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that the exclusive forum provision will not apply to suits brought to enforce a duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction. Section 27 of the Exchange Act creates exclusive federal jurisdiction over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or the rules and regulations thereunder. Although we believe this provision benefits us by providing increased consistency in the application of Delaware law in the types of lawsuits to which it applies, the provision may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors and officers. Additionally, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the federal district courts of the United States of America shall be the exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act against us or any of our directors, officers, other employees or agents. However, there is uncertainty as to whether a court would enforce the exclusive forum provisions relating to causes of actions arising under the Securities Act.
Certain of our warrants are accounted for as a warrant liability and are recorded at fair value upon issuance with changes in fair value each period to be reported in earnings, which may have an adverse effect on the market price of our ordinary shares.
We account for our warrants as a warrant liability and recorded at fair value upon issuance any changes in fair value each period reported in earnings as determined by the Company based upon a valuation report obtained from its 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 ordinary shares.
General Risks
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.
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We are an emerging growth company within the meaning of the Securities Act, and if we take advantage of certain exemptions from disclosure requirements available to emerging growth companies, this could make our securities less attractive to investors and may make it more difficult to compare our performance with other public companies.
We are an “emerging growth company” within the meaning of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act, and we may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. As a result, our stockholders may not have access to certain information they may deem important. We could be an emerging growth company for up to five years, although circumstances could cause us to lose that status earlier, including if the Market Value of our Class A common stock held by non-affiliates equals or exceeds $700.0 million as of any June 30th before that time, in which case we would no longer be an emerging growth company as of the following December 31. We cannot predict whether investors will find our securities less attractive because we will rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result of our reliance on these exemptions, the trading prices of our securities may be lower than they otherwise would be, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the trading prices of our securities may be more volatile.
Further, Section 102(b)(1) of the JOBS Act exempts emerging growth companies from being required to comply with new or revised financial accounting standards until private companies (that is, those that have not had a Securities Act registration statement declared effective or do not have a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act) are required to comply with the new or revised financial accounting standards. The JOBS Act provides that a company can elect to opt out of the extended transition period and comply with the requirements that apply to non-emerging growth companies but any such an election to opt out is irrevocable. We have elected not to opt out of such extended transition period which means that when a standard is issued or revised and it has different application dates for public or private companies, we, as an emerging growth company, can adopt the new or revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new or revised standard. This may make comparison of our financial statements with another public company which is neither an emerging growth company nor an emerging growth company which has opted out of using the extended transition period difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accountant standards used.
We would be subject to a second level of U.S. federal income tax on a portion of our income if we are determined to be a personal holding company (a “PHC”) for U.S. federal income tax purposes.
A U.S. corporation generally will be classified as a PHC for U.S. federal income tax purposes in a given taxable year if (i) at any time during the last half of such taxable year, five or fewer individuals (without regard to their citizenship or residency and including as individuals for this purpose certain entities such as certain tax exempt organizations, pension funds and charitable trusts) own or are deemed to own (pursuant to certain constructive ownership rules) more than 50% of the stock of the corporation by value and (ii) at least 60% of the corporation’s adjusted ordinary gross income, as determined for U.S. federal income tax purposes, for such taxable year consists of PHC income (which includes, among other things, dividends, interest, certain royalties, annuities and, under certain circumstances, rents).
Depending on the date and size of our initial business combination, it is possible that at least 60% of our adjusted ordinary gross income may consist of PHC income as discussed above. In addition, depending on the concentration of our stock in the hands of individuals, including the members of our sponsor and certain tax exempt organizations, pension funds and charitable trusts, it is possible that more than 50% of our stock may be owned or deemed owned (pursuant to the constructive ownership rules) by five or fewer individuals during the last half of a taxable year. Thus, no assurance can be given that we will not become a PHC following our initial public offering or in the future. If we are or were to become a PHC in a given taxable year, we would be subject to an additional PHC tax, currently 20%, on our undistributed PHC income, which generally includes our taxable income, subject to certain adjustments.
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Since only holders of our founder shares will have the right to vote on the appointment of our directors, upon the listing of our shares on the NYSE, the NYSE may consider us to be a ‘controlled company’ within the meaning of the NYSE rules and, as a result, we may qualify for exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements.
After completion of our initial public offering, only holders of our founder shares will have the right to vote on the appointment of our directors. As a result, the NYSE may consider us to be a ‘controlled company’ within the meaning of the NYSE corporate governance standards. Under the NYSE 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 the NYSE; |
| ● | 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 |
| ● | we have a nominating and corporate governance committee of our board that is 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 the NYSE, 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 stockholders of companies that are subject to all of the NYSE corporate governance requirements.
We have identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2021. If we are unable to develop and maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting, we may not be able to accurately report our financial results in a timely manner, which may adversely affect investor confidence in us and materially and adversely affect our business and operating results.
Our management and our audit committee concluded that it was appropriate to restate our previously audited balance sheet as of March 22, 2021 in the Form 8-K filed with the SEC on March 26, 2021. Our management re-evaluated our application of ASC 480-10-S99-3A to our accounting classification of Public Shares. Our management and our audit committee concluded that it was appropriate to restate our previously issued (i) audited balance sheet as of March 22, 2021; (ii) unaudited interim financial statements included in the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended March 31, 2021, filed with the SEC on May 26, 2021; (iii) unaudited interim financial statements included in the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended June 30, 2021, filed with the SEC on August 3, 2021, and (iv) Note 2 to the unaudited interim financial statements and Item 4 of Part 1 included in the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended September 30, 2021, filed with the SEC on November 4. As a result of these matters, we have identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting of complex financial instruments.
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 and corrected on a timely basis.
Effective internal controls are necessary for us to provide reliable financial reports and prevent fraud. We continue to evaluate steps to remediate the identified material weaknesses. These remediation measures may be time consuming and costly and there is no assurance that these initiatives will ultimately have the intended effects.
If we identify any new material weaknesses in the future, any such newly identified material weakness could limit our ability to prevent or detect a misstatement of our accounts or disclosures that could result in a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements. In such case, we may be unable to maintain compliance with securities law requirements regarding timely filing of periodic reports in addition to applicable stock exchange listing requirements, investors may lose confidence in our financial reporting and our stock price may decline as a result. We cannot assure you that the measures we have taken to date, or any measures we may take in the future, will be sufficient to avoid potential future material weaknesses.
Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments
None.
Item 2. Properties
Our executive offices are located at 51 John F. Kennedy Parkway, Short Hills, New Jersey 07078, and our telephone number is (973) 314-3060. The cost for our use of this space is included in the $10,000 per month fee that we pay to our sponsor for administrative services, including office space, utilities, and secretarial support. We consider our current office space adequate for our current operations.
Item 3. Legal Proceedings
To the knowledge of our management, there is no material litigation currently pending or contemplated against us, any of our officers or directors in their capacity as such or against any of our property.
Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures
Not applicable.
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PART II
Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
(a) Market Information
Our Units, shares of Class A common stock and warrants are each traded on NYSE under the symbol “AAQC.U”, “AAQC” and “AAQC WS” respectively. Our Units commenced public trading on March 19, 2021. Our shares of Class A common stock and warrants began separate trading on May 10, 2021.
(b) Holders
On March 7, 2022, there was one holder of record of our Units, one holder of record of our shares of Class A common stock, seven holders of record of our shares of Class B common stock and two holders of record of our warrants.
(c) Dividends
We have not paid any cash dividends on our common stock to date and do not intend to pay cash dividends prior to the completion of an 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 conditions subsequent to completion of an initial business combination. The payment of any cash dividends subsequent to an 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 stock dividends in the foreseeable future. Further, if we incur any indebtedness, our ability to declare dividends may be limited by restrictive covenants we may agree to in connection therewith.
(d) Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans
None.
(e) Performance Graph
Not applicable.
(f) Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities; Use of Proceeds from Registered Offerings
On December 31, 2020, our sponsor, paid $25,000, or approximately $0.003 per share, to cover certain of our offering costs in consideration for 8,625,000 shares of Class B common stock, par value $0.0001 per share. Prior to the initial investment in the company of $25,000 by our sponsor, the company had no assets, tangible or intangible. Our sponsor subsequently transferred 30,000 founder shares to each of our independent director nominees and 20,000 founder shares to each of our advisors, for $0.003 per share. On January 20, 2021, we effected a stock dividend of 1,437,500 shares, and on March 1, 2021, we effected a stock dividend of 1,437,500 shares, resulting in there being an aggregate of 11,500,000 founder shares outstanding.
On March 22, 2021, the Company consummated its initial public offering of 40,000,000 Units at $10.00 per Unit, generating gross proceeds of $400 million. On March 22, 2021, following our initial public offering, the underwriter elected not to exercise its over-allotment option, and our sponsor forfeited 1,150,000 shares of Class B common stock at no cost. Each Unit consists of one share of Class A common stock and one-third of one redeemable warrant. Each whole public warrant entitles the holder to purchase one share of our Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment.
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Simultaneously with the closing of our initial public offering, we consummated the private placement of 7,333,333 private placement warrants to our sponsor, at a price of $1.50 per private placement warrant, generating gross proceeds $11 million. The purchase price of the private placement warrants was added to the net proceeds of our initial public offering and placed in the trust account such that the trust account held $411 million at the time of closing of our initial public offering. Each whole private placement warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one (1) share of Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to certain adjustments.
(g) Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers
None.
Item 6. [RESERVED]
Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
The following discussion and analysis of the Company’s financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our audited financial statements and the notes related thereto which are included in “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Certain information contained in the discussion and analysis set forth below includes forward-looking statements. Our actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of many factors, including those set forth under “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements,” “Item 1A. Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Overview
We are a blank check company formed under the laws of the State of Delaware on December 30, 2020 for the purpose of entering into a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses. We intend to effectuate our initial business combination using cash from the proceeds of the initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, our capital stock, debt or a combination of cash, stock and debt.
We expect to continue to incur significant costs in the pursuit of our acquisition plans. We cannot assure you that our plans to complete a business combination will be successful.
Results of Operations
We have neither engaged in any operations nor generated any revenues to date. Our only activities from December 30, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2021 were organizational activities, those necessary to prepare for the Initial Public Offering, described below, and identifying a target company for a Business Combination. We do not expect to generate any operating revenues until after the completion of our Business Combination. We generate non-operating income in the form of interest income on marketable securities held in the Trust Account. We incur expenses as a result of being a public company (for legal, financial reporting, accounting and auditing compliance), as well as for due diligence expenses.
For the year ended December 31, 2021, we had net income of $2,597,482, which consists of changes in fair value of the warrant liabilities of $4,546,667 and interest earned on investments held in Trust Account of $31,275, offset by formation and operating costs of $1,179,262 and transaction costs allocable to warrants of $801,198.
For the period from December 30, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, we had a net loss of $1,000, which consisted of formation and operational costs.
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Liquidity and Capital Resources
On March 22, 2021, we consummated the initial public offering of 40,000,000 Units at $10.00 per Unit, generating gross proceeds of $400,000,000. Simultaneously with the closing of the initial public offering, we consummated the sale of 7,333,333 private placement warrants at a price of $1.50 per private placement warrant in a private placement to our sponsor, generating gross proceeds of $11,000,000.
For the year ended December 31, 2021, cash used in operating activities was $1,496,965. Net income of $2,597,482 was affected by interest earned on investments held in the trust account of $31,275, changes in warrant liabilities of $4,546,667 and transaction costs allocable to warrant liabilities of $801,198. Changes in operating assets and liabilities used $317,703 of cash for operating activities.
For the period from December 30, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, cash used in operating activities was $0. Net loss of $1,000 was offset by the changes in operating assets and liabilities.
As of December 31, 2021, we had investments held in the trust account of $400,031,275 (including approximately $31,275 of interest) consisting of money market funds which are invested primarily in U.S. Treasury Securities. Interest income on the balance in the trust account may be used by us to pay taxes. Through December 31, 2021, we have not withdrawn any interest earned from the trust account.
We intend to use substantially all of the funds held in the trust account, including any amounts representing interest earned on the trust account (less income taxes payable), to complete our initial business combination. To the extent that our capital stock or debt is used, in whole or in part, as consideration to complete our initial business combination, the remaining proceeds held in the trust account will be used as working capital to finance the operations of the target business or businesses, make other acquisitions and pursue our growth strategies.
As of December 31, 2021, we had cash of $937,154. We intend to use the funds held outside the Trust Account primarily to identify and evaluate target businesses, perform business due diligence on prospective target businesses, travel to and from the offices, plants or similar locations of prospective target businesses or their representatives or owners, review corporate documents and material agreements of prospective target businesses, and structure, negotiate and complete an initial business combination.
In order to fund working capital deficiencies or finance transaction costs in connection with initial business combination, our Sponsor, or certain of our officers and directors or their affiliates may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds as may be required. If we complete an initial business combination, we would repay such loaned amounts. In the event that an initial business combination does not close, we may use a portion of the working capital held outside the trust account to repay such loaned amounts but no proceeds from our trust account would be used for such repayment. Up to $1,500,000 of such working capital loans may be convertible into warrants of the post business combination entity at a price of $1.50 per warrant. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants.
We do not believe we will need to raise additional funds in order to meet the expenditures required for operating our business. However, if our estimate of the costs of identifying a target business, undertaking in-depth due diligence and negotiating our initial business combination are less than the actual amount necessary to do so, we may have insufficient funds available to operate our business prior to our initial business combination. Moreover, we may need to obtain additional financing either to complete our initial business combination or because we become obligated to redeem a significant number of our public shares upon consummation of our initial business combination, in which case we may issue additional securities or incur debt in connection with such initial business combination.
Off-Balance Sheet Financing Arrangements
We have no obligations, assets or liabilities, which would be considered off-balance sheet arrangements as of December 31, 2021. We do not participate in transactions that create relationships with unconsolidated entities or financial partnerships, often referred to as variable interest entities, which would have been established for the purpose of facilitating off-balance sheet arrangements. We have not entered into any off-balance sheet financing arrangements, established any special purpose entities, guaranteed any debt or commitments of other entities, or purchased any non-financial assets.
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Contractual Obligations
We do not have any long-term debt, capital lease obligations, operating lease obligations or long-term liabilities, other than an agreement to pay the Sponsor a monthly fee of $10,000 for office space, utilities and secretarial and administrative support. We began incurring these fees on March 22, 2021 and will continue to incur these fees monthly until the earlier of the completion of the initial business combination and our liquidation.
The underwriters are entitled to a deferred fee of $0.35 per Unit, or $14,000,000 in the aggregate. The deferred fee will become payable to the underwriters from the amounts held in the trust account solely in the event that the Company completes an initial business combination, subject to the terms of the underwriting agreement.
Critical Accounting Policies
The preparation of financial statements and related disclosures in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements, and income and expenses during the periods reported. Actual results could materially differ from those estimates. We have identified the following critical accounting policies:
Derivative Warrant Liabilities
We account for the warrants in accordance with the guidance contained in ASC 815-40, under which the Warrants do not meet the criteria for equity treatment and must be recorded as liabilities. Accordingly, we classify the warrants as liabilities at their fair value and adjust the warrants to fair value in respect of each reporting period. This liability is subject to re-measurement at each balance sheet date until the warrants are exercised, and any change in fair value is recognized in our statement of operations. The private warrants and the public warrants for periods where no observable traded price was available are valued using a lattice model, specifically a binomial lattice model incorporating the Cox-Ross-Rubenstein methodology. For periods subsequent to the severability of the public warrants from the Units, the public warrant quoted market price was used as the fair value as of each relevant date. As of December 31, 2021, the fair value of the private placement warrants was the equivalent to that of the public warrants as they had substantially the same terms; however, they are not actively traded, as such are listed as a Level 2 fair value instruments. The change in fair value is recognized in the statements of operations.
Class A Common Stock Subject to Possible Redemption
We account for our Class A common stock subject to possible redemption in accordance with the guidance in Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 480 “Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity.” Shares of Class A common stock subject to mandatory redemption is classified as a liability instrument and is measured at fair value. Conditionally redeemable common stock (including common stock that feature redemption rights that is either within the control of the holder or subject to redemption upon the occurrence of uncertain events not solely within our control) is classified as temporary equity. At all other times, common stock is classified as stockholders’ (deficit) equity. Our Class A common stock features certain redemption rights that are considered to be outside of our control and subject to occurrence of uncertain future events. Accordingly, shares of Class A common stock subject to possible redemption are presented as temporary equity, outside of the stockholders’ (deficit) equity section of our balance sheets.
Net Income (Loss) per Common Share
We comply with accounting and disclosure requirements of FASB ASC Topic 260, “Earnings Per Share”. Net income (loss) per common stock is computed by dividing net income (loss) by the weighted average number of common shares outstanding for the period. We have two classes of shares, which are referred to as Class A common stock and Class B common stock. Income and losses are shared pro rata between the two classes of stock. Accretion associated with the redeemable shares of Class A common shares is excluded from earnings per share as the redemption value approximates fair value.
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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. The Company adopted ASU 2020-06 on January 1, 2021. Adoption of the ASU did not impact the Company’s financial position, results of operations or cash flows.
Management does not believe that any other recently issued, but not yet effective, accounting standards, if currently adopted, would have a material effect on our financial statements.
Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
We are a smaller reporting company as defined by Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act and are not required to provide the information otherwise required under this item.
Item 8. Consolidated Financial Statements And Supplementary Data
This information appears following Item 15 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K and is incorporated herein by reference.
Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure
None.
Item 9A. Controls and Procedures
Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
Disclosure controls and procedures are controls and other procedures that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in our reports filed or submitted under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms. Disclosure controls and procedures include, without limitation, controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in our reports filed or submitted under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.
As required by Rules 13a-15 and 15d-15 under the Exchange Act, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer carried out an evaluation of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures as of December 31, 2021. Based on this evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that, due to the material weakness that existed related to our accounting for complex financial instruments, and the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15 (e) and 15d-15 (e) under the Exchange Act) were not effective.
Disclosure controls and procedures are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by us in our Exchange Act reports is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms, and that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer or persons performing similar functions, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosures.
Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting
Other than described herein, there was no change in our internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the quarter 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. Management has implemented remediation steps to address the material weakness and to improve our internal control over financial reporting. Management has specifically expanded and improved our review process for complex securities and related accounting standards and we further improved this process by enhancing access to accounting literature, and the identification of third-party professionals with whom to consult regarding complex accounting applications.
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
Our officers and directors are as follows:
|
Name |
Age |
Position | ||
| Robert Nardelli | 73 | Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board | ||
| Michael Simoff | 66 | Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer | ||
| Jeffrey Kaplan | 60 | Head of Business Development and Secretary | ||
| Mark Little | 69 | Director | ||
| Mark Weinberger | 60 | Director | ||
| Dr. John E. Kelly III | 67 | Director |
Robert “Bob” Nardelli is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of AAC, bringing 50+ years of industrial, transportation & mobility, consumer and retail sector experience. Mr. Nardelli began his career working on the factory floor of General Electric as an entry-level manufacturing engineer. He quickly advanced through a series of leadership roles at GE, eventually leading GE Appliances, GE Transportation, and GE Power Systems over the course of 25+ years. Under his leadership, GE Power Systems doubled revenue from roughly $7 billion to nearly $15 billion and nearly quadrupled operating profits over the course of five years. Mr. Nardelli’s strategic vision positioned GE as a “one-stop-shop” solution provider across the power generation value chain, significantly enhancing customer service, reliability and uptime. Over the course of his tenure at GE, Mr. Nardelli successfully implemented a playbook to drive organic growth and operational improvements across a variety of business models and end markets, and successfully completed nearly 50 acquisitions while at the helm of GE Transportation and GE Power Systems.
In December 2000, Mr. Nardelli was named President and Chief Executive Officer of The Home Depot, and a year later was named as Chairman. At Home Depot, Mr. Nardelli added approximately 1,000 stores, making Home Depot the second largest retailer in the U.S., and expanded the company’s reach into the professional contractor distribution channel. Mr. Nardelli also quickly recognized opportunities for innovation, creating an information and supply-chain infrastructure that helped Home Depot to generate nearly 17 percent average annual earnings growth over his six year tenure. The improvements to supply chain contributed to improved delivery of product and service across the company, despite the added complexity of a proliferation of new product introductions under exclusive Home Depot brands. Under Mr. Nardelli’s leadership, Home Depot’s revenue nearly doubled from $46 billion to $91 billion, while net income more than doubled from $2.6 billion to $5.8 billion.
Upon joining Chrysler in 2007 as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Nardelli quickly recognized the early signs of the looming global financial crisis and was the first Big Three CEO to anticipate a multi-year downturn in the automotive industry. As a result, Mr. Nardelli and his executive team quickly reduced Chrysler’s footprint and implemented a comprehensive cost optimization program, even prior to Chrysler’s bankruptcy in 2009. Mr. Nardelli also capitalized on the seismic shifts in the automotive industry by accelerating new product development and introducing a range of award-winning and fuel-efficient vehicles. He strengthened the iconic Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep brands, where product innovation and brand innovation led to strong outcomes, such as elevating Jeep to the #1 SUV in its class and Dodge Ram winning Motor Trend truck of the year in 2010, 2013, 2014, 2019 and 2020. Mr. Nardelli also supported research and development efforts to enable Chrysler’s expansion into electric vehicles. Importantly, Mr. Nardelli played a critical role in laying the groundwork for the partnership with Fiat, which would enable Chrysler to successfully emerge from bankruptcy.
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After Chrysler, Mr. Nardelli continued to serve as Chief Executive Officer of Cerberus until 2012 and Senior Advisor until 2015. Mr. Nardelli led the team responsible for completing detailed due diligence on all new opportunities evaluated by Cerberus. The group was also responsible for reviewing and providing operational support for Cerberus’ portfolio of over 40 companies with a combined revenue of nearly $50 billion.
Mr. Nardelli oversaw the turnaround of several underperforming companies under Cerberus’s ownership and further built his comprehensive operational and financial toolkit. In 2012, Mr. Nardelli founded XLR-8 LLC, Investment & Advisory Co., a company which helps businesses identify weaknesses and improve performance and where he currently serves as Managing Member, and has served as a Senior Advisor to EY in their private equity functions since 2013. Since 2015, Mr. Nardelli has served as a Senior Advisor to Emigrant Bank and a Partner at Emigrant Capital Corp. Over his career, Mr. Nardelli has served on several public and private boards including BWXT Technologies (NYSE: BWXT), Genox Transportation, Pep Boys and Babcock & Wilcox (NYSE: BW). We believe Mr. Nardelli’s 50+ year track record of driving organic and inorganic growth, developing next-generation technology, implementing operational excellence, optimizing capital allocation, and improving corporate cultures makes him well qualified to serve as a member of our board of directors.
Michael Simoff is Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Director of AAC, bringing 30+ years of investing experience. Mr. Simoff has been working towards launching AAC since August 2020, prior to which, from January 2020 to August 2020, he managed his family’s assets. From January 2007 until January 2020, Mr. Simoff was a Portfolio Manager at Elliott Management Corporation, the New York based, global private investment firm with $41 billion AUM as of 2020. As a Portfolio Manager at Elliott, Mr. Simoff managed a global portfolio of private equity and debt covering a wide range of strategies and geographies. Prior to joining Elliott in 2007, Mr. Simoff helped to structure and complete financing for private investment funds and specific capital raising transactions while at Metcircle Securities and Stonehaven Capital. From 1999 to 2004, Mr. Simoff was at Merrill Lynch, Pierce Fenner & Smith Incorporated, serving in various capacities, including Director of Alternative Investments within the firm’s Private Banking and Investment Group and as the Head Investment Strategist for The Merrill Lynch Family Office. Mr. Simoff has extensive experience selecting and managing investments in a wide range of sectors including industrials, manufacturing, information technology, software, media and intellectual property. He has worked with wide range of management teams to set strategy, define goals and improve execution. Additionally, having begun his career as a field geologist for Lookout Mountain Coal, his background in the physical sciences adds to an in-depth understanding of the technical components and factors that enable performance. We believe Mr. Simoff’s ability to leverage insights from his substantial investment, financial, operational oversight and governance experience to help optimize the financial condition, operating performance and strategy of a company makes him well qualified to serve as a member of our board of directors.
Jeffrey Kaplan is the Head of Business Development and Secretary of AAC, bringing 30+ years of transaction and deal structuring experience. In 2020, Mr. Kaplan co-founded Andalusian, a private investment firm with over $1 billion in assets under management, where he now serves as President. Given Andalusian’s unique sourcing infrastructure and investing experience, we believe that the firm will serve as a valuable platform for AAC to facilitate the initial business combination. From 2011 to 2020, Mr. Kaplan was the Chief Operating Officer of Appaloosa Management, a Florida based global asset management firm with $13 billion AUM as of December 2021. In addition to his operating responsibilities, Mr. Kaplan was responsible for leading and executing acquisitions, sourcing private investment opportunities and managing the firm’s investment banking relationships. Mr. Kaplan has also served as Global Head of Mergers & Acquisitions, Financial Sponsors and Corporate Finance at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Over the course of his career, Mr. Kaplan has cultivated an extensive network of relationships with C-suite executives, corporate board members, financial sponsors and investment bankers, which will be critical in our ability to source and identify a target business with attractive characteristics. We believe that Mr. Kaplan’s transaction and deal structuring experience will be instrumental in identifying and consummating an initial business combination and enhancing the value of the acquired business.
Mark Little serves as a board member of AAC, bringing experience in technology engineering, material science and research and development. During his 37 year career at General Electric, Mr. Little served in diverse senior leadership roles in operations, research, strategic planning, joint venture development and product management. In 2005, Mr. Little became GE’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Director of GE Global Research. He led transformative initiatives in software, advanced manufacturing and cybersecurity, and delivered many innovations imperative to growing GE’s product and service portfolio. As Director of GE Global Research, Mr. Little oversaw a team of over 3,600 people from every major scientific and engineering disciplines, working at nine facilities across the USA, India, China, Germany, Brazil and Israel. As CTO, he led over 50,000 technologists across GE. Mr. Little served as a Director of Analog Devices until 2021 and is currently a Director at Fortistar Sustainable Solutions, Venture Partner at the Material Impact Fund, a Director of three start-up companies and an Advisor to Energy Impact Partners. We believe that Mr. Little’s extensive strategic and digital transformation experience across a number of industries makes him well qualified to serve as a member of our board of directors.
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Mark Weinberger serves as a board member of AAC. Mr. Weinberger brings his experience leading a global organization, working at the highest levels of government, and as an entrepreneur to AAC. Mr. Weinberger served as the Global Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of EY (Ernst & Young) (professional services) from 2013 through June 2019, having served as Global Chairman and CEO-elect in the prior year. During Mr. Weinberger’s tenure as the Global Chairman and CEO of EY, a leading global professional services organization, he championed increasing diversity at all levels and creating a more inclusive culture. Since departing EY in June 2019, Mr. Weinberger has joined and currently serves on the boards of Metlife Inc., Johnson & Johnson and Saudi Aramco. Mr. Weinberger provides a unique lens to the board, having served throughout his career in a variety of diverse leadership roles, including as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, operating executive, government leader, advisor, and startup founder, and is well qualified to serve as a member of our board of directors.
Dr. John E. Kelly III serves as a board member of AAC. Dr. Kelly brings four decades of experience from innovating and leading in the Information Technology industry to the AAC Board. Throughout his distinguished 40-year career at International Business Machines (“IBM”), Dr. Kelly held significant technical and business roles, driving IBM’s leadership in technologies ranging from semiconductors to supercomputers, and artificial intelligence (AI) to Quantum computing. A champion of technology, technologists and business, he steered IBM’s leadership in U.S. patents for the last 28 years and created one of the largest and most important intellectual property licensing businesses in the world.
From January 2019 to December 2020, Dr. Kelly served as IBM Executive Vice President, where he was responsible for helping to guide IBM’s global technical and business success and oversaw IBM’s enterprise-wide Intellectual Property, Security and Privacy, its academic, industrial, and government partnerships, as well as its technical community. He was also a long standing member of IBM’s senior M&A team, as well as leading numerous acquisitions, partnerships, and divestitures.
Previously, from 2014 through 2018, Dr. Kelly served as senior vice president, Cognitive Solutions and IBM Research, where he oversaw IBM’s software business and Watson (the company’s AI platform), and its AI portfolio and investments. Under his leadership, IBM expanded the specialization of IBM Watson into many domains including health, security, analytics, industrial Internet of Things, and financial services.
From 2007 to 2014, Dr. Kelly served as senior vice president and director of IBM Research, where he expanded its global footprint across 12 laboratories in 10 countries. He and his team advanced the science of artificial intelligence through Watson, the groundbreaking system that defeated two standing Jeopardy! world champions in 2011 and woke the world to the reality and potential of AI.
Dr. Kelly retired from IBM in 2020. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), a member of the National Academy of Engineering, and has received numerous national technology and leadership awards.
Advisors
Nathan Low serves as an advisor to AAC. Mr. Low served as President at Sunrise Securities Corp., which he founded in February 1992, until 2015. Under his leadership, Sunrise raised billions for many domestic and international public and private companies, using a variety of financing products including traditional debt and equity as well as innovative equity-related financing instruments, including underwriting nine SPACs from 2005 to 2008, raising approximately $2 billion in initial capital, all of which consummated their business combinations. He has 30+ years of investment banking expertise in medical, technology, and mining. Mr. Low began his career at International Rectifier Corp., where he worked from 1982 to 1985. Thereafter, he worked at Salomon Brothers, Bear Stearns and Prudential Bache in various trading and arbitrage capacities, where he innovated many novel derivative and synthetic mortgage structures, such as CMOs, IO/POs, and other trademarked derivatives. Mr. Low also currently serves on various charitable boards for special needs children and food security.
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Michael F. Senft serves as an advisor to AAC. Mr. Senft has served on the Board of Directors of AeroClean Technologies, and previously served as a senior advisor of Critical Response Group, a venture-stage company established to apply battlefield protocols to homeland security applications. Prior to serving as Vice President-Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Head of Investor Relations of KLX Inc from 2014 to 2018, Mr. Senft was a Managing Director of Moelis & Company. For more than 20 years, he advised on B/E Aerospace’s long-term capital transactions and strategic acquisitions. Mr. Senft has also served on the Board of Directors of Moly Mines Ltd., Del Monte Foods and B/E Aerospace. Mr. Senft’s prior positions include Global Head of Leveraged Finance at CIBC and Global Co-Head of Leveraged Finance at Merrill Lynch.
Lloyd G. Trotter serves as an advisor to AAC, bringing decades of operational expertise to AAC. Mr. Trotter is the co-founder and managing partner of GenNx360 Capital Partners, in which capacity he has served full-time since January 2008 after a 40-year career at General Electric, where his last position was Vice Chairman.
As a Vice Chairman of General Electric and President and Chief Executive Officer of GE Industrial, Mr. Trotter was responsible for a $28 billion business with nearly 80,000 employees worldwide. GE Industrial is comprised of GE Consumer & Industrial and GE Enterprise Solutions and provides a broad range of products and services throughout the world, including appliances, lighting and industrial products, factory automation systems, security and sensor technology, along with equipment financing, management and operating services.
Earlier, Mr. Trotter was Executive Vice President of Operations where he led efforts to improve operational excellence across GE’s businesses. From 2004 to 2006, Mr. Trotter served as president and chief executive officer of GE Consumer & Industrial, a role he assumed following the 2004 merger of GE’s consumer products, industrial systems and supply businesses.
Mr. Trotter was a founding member of GE’s African-American Forum and is actively involved in professional and community organizations. He represented GE for America’s Promise, an organization aiming to increase volunteerism in support of youth, and has served on the boards of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering (NACME), the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA), and the GE Foundation. He is currently on the board of Textron, Inc., and Meritor, Inc. He also served on the board of PepsiCo for nine years and Daimler A.G. for five years.
We will seek to leverage our officers’, directors’ and advisors’ proprietary network of relationships with entrepreneurs, corporate executives, private equity sponsors, venture and growth equity firms, family offices and sovereign wealth funds to identify, structure, finance and support the operations of a business combination target. We expect to conduct a comprehensive due diligence review which will include a detailed strategic assessment of the target business and the merits of its investment case, among other things, careful assessment of management and its stewardship, review of historical and prospective financial performance, site visits and thorough evaluation of all material company information. Our diligence process will also include an evaluation of key customer accounts and any concentration, renewal and tenure risks. We will seek to evaluate total addressable market size and market share, as well as conduct a full product review and competitive landscape analysis. We intend to work alongside management to identify key organic and inorganic growth drivers, while also assessing the impact our management team can have to accelerate these opportunities.
The past performance of our officers, directors or advisors is not a guarantee of either: (i) our ability to identify a suitable candidate for our initial business combination; or (ii) our ability to achieve success with respect to any business combination we may consummate. None of our officers, directors or advisors has had management experience with special purpose acquisition corporations in the past. Historical record of our directors’ and officers’ performances should not be considered indicative of any future performance.
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Our board of directors is divided into three classes with only one class of directors being elected in each year, and with each class (except for those directors appointed prior to our first annual meeting of stockholders) serving a three-year term. In accordance with the NYSE corporate governance requirements, we are not required to hold an annual meeting until one year after our first fiscal year end following our listing on the NYSE. The term of office of the first class of directors, consisting of Mark Little and Dr. John E. Kelly III, will expire at our first annual meeting of stockholders. The term of office of the second class of directors, consisting of Mark Weinberger, will expire at our second annual meeting of the stockholders. The term of office of the third class of directors, consisting of Robert Nardelli and Michael Simoff, will expire at our third annual meeting of stockholders. We may not hold an annual meeting of stockholders until after we complete our initial business combination.
Prior to the completion of an initial business combination, any vacancy on the board of directors may be filled by a nominee chosen by holders of a majority of our founder shares. In addition, prior to the completion of an initial business combination, holders of a majority of our founder shares may remove a member of the board of directors for any reason.
Pursuant to a registration and shareholder rights agreement, our sponsor, upon completion of an initial business combination, will be entitled to nominate three individuals for election to our board of directors, as long as our sponsor holds any securities covered by the registration and stockholders rights agreement.
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 nominate persons to the offices set forth in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation as it deems appropriate. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that our officers may consist of one or more chairman of the board of directors, chief executive officer, president, chief financial officer, vice president, secretary, treasurer and such other offices as may be determined by the board of directors.
Director Independence
The NYSE 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 that, in the opinion of the company’s board of directors, has no material relationship with the listed company (either directly or as a partner, stockholder or officer of an organization that has a relationship with the company). Our board of directors has determined that Mark Little, Mark Weinberger, and Dr. John E. Kelly III are “independent directors” as defined in the NYSE listing standards and applicable SEC rules. Our independent directors will have regularly scheduled meetings at which only independent directors are present.
Executive Officer and Director Compensation
None of our executive officers or directors have received any cash compensation for services rendered to us. Commencing on March 19, 2022, we have agreed to pay an affiliate of our sponsor a total of $10,000 per month for office space and administrative support services provided to us. In addition, our sponsor, executive officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made to our sponsor, executive officers or directors, or our or their affiliates. Any such payments prior to an initial business combination will be made using funds held outside the trust account. Other than quarterly audit committee review of such reimbursements, we do not expect to have any additional controls in place governing our reimbursement payments to our directors and executive officers for their out-of- pocket expenses incurred in connection with our activities on our behalf in connection with identifying and completing an initial business combination. Other than these payments and reimbursements, no compensation of any kind, including finder’s and consulting fees, will be paid by the company to our sponsor, executive officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates, prior to completion of our initial business combination.
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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 stockholders, to the extent then known, in the proxy solicitation materials or tender offer materials furnished to our stockholders in connection with a proposed business combination. We have not established any limit on the amount of such fees that may be paid by the combined company to our directors or members of management. It is unlikely the amount of such compensation will be known at the time of the proposed business combination, because the directors of the post-combination business will be responsible for determining executive officer and director compensation. Any compensation to be paid to our executive officers will be determined, or recommended to 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 completion of our initial business combination, although it is possible that some or all of our executive 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 completion of our initial business combination will be a determining factor in our decision to proceed with any potential business combination. We are not party to any agreements with our executive officers and directors that provide for benefits upon termination of employment.
Committees of the Board of Directors
Our board of directors has three standing committees: an audit committee, a compensation committee and a corporate governance and nominating committee. Subject to phase-in rules and a limited exception, the rules of the NYSE and Rule 10A of the Exchange Act require that the audit committee of a listed company be comprised solely of independent directors. Subject to phase-in rules and a limited exception, the rules of the NYSE require that the compensation committee of a listed company be comprised solely of independent directors.
Audit Committee
We have established an audit committee of the board of directors. Mark Little, Mark Weinberger and Dr. John E. Kelly III serve as members of our audit committee, and Mark Weinberger serves as chairman of the audit committee. Under NYSE listing standards and applicable SEC rules, all the directors on the audit committee must be independent. Our board of directors has determined that each of Mark Little, Mark Weinberger, and Dr. John E. Kelly III are independent.
Each member of the audit committee is financially literate and our board of directors has determined that Mark Weinberger and Mark Little each qualify as an “audit committee financial expert” as defined in applicable SEC rules.
We have adopted an audit committee charter, which details the primary functions of the audit committee, including:
| ● | appointing, compensating and overseeing our independent registered public accounting firm; |
| ● | reviewing and approving the annual audit plan for the company; |
| ● | overseeing the integrity of our financial statements and our compliance with legal and regulatory requirements; |
| ● | discussing the annual audited financial statements and unaudited quarterly financial statements with management and the independent registered public accounting firm; |
| ● | pre-approving all audit services and permitted non-audit services to be performed by our independent registered public accounting firm, including the fees and terms of the services to be performed; |
| ● | appointing or replacing the independent registered public accounting firm; |
| ● | establishing procedures for the receipt, retention and treatment of complaints (including anonymous complaints) we receive concerning accounting, internal accounting controls, auditing matters or potential violations of law; |
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| ● | monitoring our environmental sustainability and governance practices; |
| ● | establishing procedures for the receipt, retention and treatment of complaints received by us regarding accounting, internal accounting controls or reports which raise material issues regarding our financial statements or accounting policies; |
| ● | approving audit and non-audit services provided by our independent registered public accounting firm; |
| ● | discussing earnings press releases and financial information provided to analysts and rating agencies; |
| ● | discussing with management our policies and practices with respect to risk assessment and risk management; |
| ● | reviewing any material transaction between our Chief Financial Officer that has been approved in accordance with our Code of Ethics for our officers, and providing prior written approval of any material transaction between us and our President; and |
| ● | producing an annual report for inclusion in our proxy statement, in accordance with applicable rules and regulations. |
Compensation Committee
We have established a compensation committee of the board of directors. The members of our compensation committee are Mark Little, Mark Weinberger, and Dr. John E. Kelly III, and Mark Little serves as chairman of the compensation committee.
Under the NYSE listing standards and applicable SEC rules, we are required to have a nominating committee composed entirely of independent directors. Our board of directors has determined that each of Mark Little, Mark Weinberger, and Dr. John E. Kelly III are independent.
We have adopted a compensation committee charter, which details the primary functions of the compensation committee, including:
| ● | reviewing and approving corporate goals and objectives relevant to our Chief Executive Officer’s compensation (if any), evaluating our Chief Executive Officer’s performance in light of those goals and objectives, and setting our Chief Executive Officer’s compensation level (if any) based on this evaluation; |
| ● | setting salaries and approving incentive compensation and equity awards, as well as compensation policies, for all other officers who file reports of their ownership, and changes in ownership, of the company’s common stock under Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act (the “Section 16 Officers”), as designated by our board of directors; |
| ● | making recommendations to the board with respect to incentive compensation programs and equity-based plans that are subject to board approval; |
| ● | approving any employment or severance agreements with our Section 16 Officers;; |
| ● | granting any awards under equity compensation plans and annual bonus plans to our President and the Section 16 Officers; |
| ● | approving the compensation of our directors; and |
| ● | producing an annual report on executive compensation for inclusion in our proxy statement, in accordance with applicable rules and regulations. |
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Notwithstanding the foregoing, as indicated above, other than the $10,000 per month administrative fee payable to 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 stockholders, officers, directors or any of their respective affiliates, prior to, or for any services they render in order to effectuate the consummation of a 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, 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 the NYSE and the SEC.
Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee
We have established a corporate governance and nominating committee of our board of directors. The members of our corporate governance and nominating committee are Mark Little, Mark Weinberger, and Dr. John E. Kelly III, and Dr. John E. Kelly III serves as chairman of the corporate governance and nominating committee. Under the NYSE listing standards, we are required to have a corporate governance and nominating committee composed entirely of independent directors. Our board of directors has determined that each of Mark Little, Mark Weinberger, and Dr. John E. Kelly III are independent.
We have adopted a corporate governance and nominating committee charter, which details the primary functions of the corporate governance and nominating committee, including:
| ● | identifying individuals qualified to become members of the board of directors and making recommendations to the board of directors regarding nominees for election; |
| ● | reviewing the independence of each director and making a recommendation to the board of directors with respect to each director’s independence; |
| ● | developing and recommending to the board of directors the corporate governance principles applicable to us and reviewing our corporate governance guidelines at least annually; |
| ● | making recommendations to the board of directors with respect to the membership of the audit, compensation and corporate governance and nominating committees; |
| ● | overseeing the evaluation of the performance of the board of directors and its committees on a continuing basis, including an annual self-evaluation of the performance of the corporate governance and nominating committee; |
| ● | considering the adequacy of our governance structures and policies, including as they relate to our environmental sustainability and governance practices; |
| ● | considering director nominees recommended by stockholders; and |
| ● | reviewing our overall corporate governance and reporting to the board of directors on its findings and any recommendations. |
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Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation
None of our officers currently serves, or in the past year has served, as a member of the board of directors or compensation committee of any entity that has one or more officers serving on our board of directors.
Guidelines for Selecting Director Nominees
The guidelines for selecting nominees, which are specified in the corporate governance and nominating committee charter, generally provide that persons to be nominated:
| ● | should possess personal qualities and characteristics, accomplishments and reputation in the business community; |
| ● | should have current knowledge and contacts in the communities in which we do business and in our industry or other industries relevant to our business; |
| ● | should have the ability and willingness to commit adequate time to the board of directors and committee matters; |
| ● | should demonstrate ability and willingness to commit adequate time to the board of directors and committee matters; |
| ● | should possess the fit of the individual’s skills and personality with those of other directors and potential directors in building a board of directors that is effective, collegial and responsive to our needs; and |
| ● | should demonstrate diversity of viewpoints, background, experience, and other demographics, and all aspects of diversity in order to enable the board to perform its duties and responsibilities effectively, including candidates with a diversity of age, gender, nationality, race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. |
Each year in connection with the nomination of candidates for election to the board of directors, the corporate governance and nominating committee will evaluate the background of each candidate, including candidates that may be submitted by our stockholders.
Code of Ethics
We have adopted a Code of Ethics applicable to our directors, officers and employees. A copy of the Code of Ethics will be provided without charge upon written request to our principal executive offices. We intend to disclose any amendments to or waivers of certain provisions of our Code of Ethics in a Current Report on Form 8-K.
Conflicts of Interest
In general, officers and directors of a corporation incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware are required to present business opportunities to a corporation if:
| ● | the corporation could financially undertake the opportunity; |
| ● | the opportunity is within the corporation’s line of business; and |
| ● | it would not be fair to our company and its stockholders for the opportunity not to be brought to the attention of the corporation. |
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Certain of our officers and directors presently have, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities, including entities that are affiliates of our sponsor, pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entity. Accordingly, if our sponsor, its affiliates or our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity that 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 Delaware law. 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 entities to which our executive officers and directors currently have fiduciary duties, contractual obligations or other material management relationships:
| Individual | Entity | Entity’s Business | Affiliation | |||
| Robert Nardelli |
BWXT Technologies, Inc.
Emigrant Bank
Emigrant Capital Corp.
Ernst & Young LLP |
Manufacturing
Private Equity
Private Equity
Management Consulting
|
Board Member
Senior Advisor
Partner
Senior Advisor | |||
| Mark Little |
Analog Devices
Energy Impact Partners
Fortistar Sustainable Solutions Corp. |
Semiconductors & Manufacturing
Investment Firm
Energy |
Board Member
Advisor
Director | |||
| Mark Weinberger |
MetLife Inc.
Johnson & Johnson
Saudi Aramco
|
Life Insurance
Pharmaceuticals
Energy |
Board Member
Board Member
Board Member | |||
| Dr. John E. Kelly III | International Business Machines Corporation | Computer & Office Equipment | Consultant |
Potential investors should also be aware of the following other potential conflicts of interest:
| ● | Our executive officers and directors are not required to, and will not, commit their full time to our affairs, which may result in a conflict of interest in allocating their time between our operations and our search for a business combination and their other businesses. We do not intend to have any full-time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination. Each of our executive officers and directors is engaged in several other business endeavors for which he may be entitled to substantial compensation, and our executive officers and directors are not obligated to contribute any specific number of hours per week to our affairs. |
| ● | Our sponsor subscribed for founder shares prior to our initial public offering and purchased private placement warrants simultaneously with the closing of our initial public offering. |
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| ● | Our sponsor and each member of our management team have entered into agreements 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 (i) the completion of our initial business combination and (ii) a stockholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation that would affect the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of shares of Class A common stock the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we have not completed an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering. Additionally, our initial stockholders have agreed to waive their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to its founder shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame. If we do not complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame, the private placement warrants will expire worthless. Except as described herein, our sponsor and our directors and executive officers have agreed not to transfer, assign or sell any of their founder shares until the earlier of (A) one year after the completion of our initial business combination or (B) subsequent to completion of our initial business combination, (x) the date on which the last reported sale price of our Class A common stock equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after our initial business combination, or (y) the date on which we complete a liquidation, merger, capital stock exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction that results in all of our stockholders having the right to exchange their common stock for cash, securities or other property. The private placement warrants will not be transferable until 30 days following the completion of our initial business combination. Because each of our executive officers and directors will own common stock or warrants directly or indirectly, they may have a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target business is an appropriate business with which to effectuate our initial business combination. |
| ● | Our officers and directors may have a conflict of interest with respect to evaluating a particular business combination if the retention or resignation of any such officers and directors is included by a target business as a condition to any agreement with respect to our initial business combination. |
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 making the acquisition 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, executive officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, would obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or an independent 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 March 19, 2022, we have agreed to pay an affiliate of our sponsor a total of $10,000 per month for office space and administrative support services provided to us.
We cannot assure you that any of the above mentioned conflicts will be resolved in our favor.
In the event that we submit our initial business combination to our public stockholders for a vote, our sponsor has agreed to vote its founder shares, and our sponsor and the members of our management team have agreed to vote any shares purchased during or after the offering, in favor of our initial business combination.
Limitation on Liability and Indemnification of Officers and Directors
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that our officers and directors will be indemnified by us to the fullest extent authorized by Delaware law, as it now exists or may in the future be amended. In addition, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that our directors will not be personally liable for monetary damages to us or our stockholders for breaches of their fiduciary duty as directors, unless they violated their duty of loyalty to us or our stockholders, acted in bad faith, knowingly or intentionally violated the law, authorized unlawful payments of dividends, unlawful stock purchases or unlawful redemptions, or derived an improper personal benefit from their actions as directors.
We have entered into agreements with our officers and directors to provide contractual indemnification in addition to the indemnification provided for in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. Our amended and restated bylaws also permit us to secure insurance on behalf of any officer, director or employee for any liability arising out of his or her actions, regardless of whether Delaware law would permit such indemnification.
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We have purchased a policy of directors’ and officers’ liability insurance that insures our officers and directors against the cost of defense, settlement or payment of a judgment in some circumstances and insures us against our obligations to indemnify our officers and directors. Our officers and directors have agreed to waive any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies in the trust account, and have agreed to waive any right, title, interest or claim of any kind they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any services provided to us and will not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason whatsoever (except to the extent they are entitled to funds from the trust account due to their ownership of public shares). Accordingly, any indemnification provided will only be able to be satisfied by us if (i) we have sufficient funds outside of the trust account or (ii) we complete an initial business combination.
Our indemnification obligations may discourage stockholders from bringing a lawsuit against our officers or directors for breach of their fiduciary duty. These provisions also may have the effect of reducing the likelihood of derivative litigation against our officers and directors, even though such an action, if successful, might otherwise benefit us and our stockholders. Furthermore, a stockholder’s investment may be adversely affected to the extent we pay the costs of settlement and damage awards against our officers and directors pursuant to these indemnification provisions.
We believe that these provisions, the insurance and the indemnity agreements are necessary to attract and retain talented and experienced officers and directors.
Item 11. Executive Compensation
Executive Officer and Director Compensation
None of our executive officers or directors have received any cash compensation for services rendered to us. Commencing on March 19, 2022, we have agreed to pay an affiliate of our sponsor a total of $10,000 per month for office space and administrative support services provided to us. In addition, our sponsor, executive officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made to our sponsor, executive officers or directors, or our or their affiliates. Any such payments prior to an initial business combination will be made using funds held outside the trust account. Other than quarterly audit committee review of such reimbursements, we do not expect to have any additional controls in place governing our reimbursement payments to our directors and executive officers for their out-of- pocket expenses incurred in connection with our activities on our behalf in connection with identifying and completing an initial business combination. Other than these payments and reimbursements, no compensation of any kind, including finder’s and consulting fees, will be paid by the company to our sponsor, executive officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates, prior to completion of our initial business combination.
After the completion of our initial business combination, directors or members of our management team who remain with us may be paid consulting or management fees from the combined company. All of these fees will be fully disclosed to stockholders, to the extent then known, in the proxy solicitation materials or tender offer materials furnished to our stockholders in connection with a proposed business combination. We have not established any limit on the amount of such fees that may be paid by the combined company to our directors or members of management. It is unlikely the amount of such compensation will be known at the time of the proposed business combination, because the directors of the post-combination business will be responsible for determining executive officer and director compensation. Any compensation to be paid to our executive officers will be determined, or recommended to 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 completion of our initial business combination, although it is possible that some or all of our executive 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 completion of our initial business combination will be a determining factor in our decision to proceed with any potential business combination. We are not party to any agreements with our executive officers and directors that provide for benefits upon termination of employment.
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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 shares of common stock as of March 7, 2022 based on information obtained from the persons named below, with respect to the beneficial ownership of our shares of common stock, by:
| ● | each person known by us to be the beneficial owner of more than 5% of our outstanding shares of common stock; |
| ● | each of our named executive officers, directors and advisors that beneficially owns shares of our common stock; and |
| ● | all our executive officers, directors and advisors as a group. |
In the table below, percentage ownership is based on 40,000,000 shares of Class A common stock (which includes shares of Class A common stock that are underlying the Units) and 10,000,000 shares of Class B common stock outstanding as of March 7, 2022. The table below does not include the shares of Class A common stock underlying the private placement warrants held by our sponsor because these securities are not exercisable within 60 days of this Report.
| Class B common stock | Class A common stock | ||||||||||||||
| Name of Beneficial Owners(1) | Number of Shares Beneficially Owned(2) | Approximate Percentage of Class | Number of Shares Beneficially Owned | Approximate Percentage of Class | ||||||||||||
| Accelerate Acquisition Sponsor LLC (our sponsor) (3) | 9,850,000 | 98.5 | % | — | — | |||||||||||
| Robert Nardelli | — | — | % | — | — | |||||||||||
| Michael Simoff | — | — | % | — | — | |||||||||||
| Jeffrey Kaplan | — | — | % | — | — | |||||||||||
| Dr. John E. Kelly III | 30,000 | * | — | — | ||||||||||||
| Mark Little | 30,000 | * | — | — | ||||||||||||
| Mark Weinberger | 30,000 | * | — | — | ||||||||||||
| Nathan Low | 20,000 | * | — | — | ||||||||||||
| Michael Senft | 20,000 | * | — | — | ||||||||||||
| Lloyd Trotter | 20,000 | * | — | — | ||||||||||||
| All officers, directors and advisors as a group (nine individuals) | 10,000,000 | 100.0 | % | — | — | |||||||||||
| Aristeia Capital, L.L.C. (4) | — | — | 2,122,506 | 5.31 | % | |||||||||||
| * | Less than 1%. |
| (1) | Unless otherwise noted, the business address of each of our stockholders is 51 John F. Kennedy Parkway, Short Hills, New Jersey 07078. |
| (2) | Interests shown consist solely of founder shares, classified as shares of Class B common stock. Such shares will automatically convert into Class A common stock at the time of our initial business combination on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment. |
| (3) | Accelerate Acquisition Sponsor LLC, our sponsor, is the record holder of such shares. Our sponsor is managed by a board of managers consisting of Robert Nardelli, Michael Simoff and Jeffrey Kaplan. Any action by our sponsor with respect to our company or the founder shares, including voting and dispositive decisions, requires a majority vote of the managers of the board of managers. Under the so-called “rule of three,” because voting and dispositive decisions are made by a majority of our sponsor’s managers, none of the managers of our sponsor is deemed to be a beneficial owner of our sponsor’s securities, even those in which such manager holds a pecuniary interest. Accordingly, none of our directors or officers is deemed to have or share beneficial ownership of the founder shares held by our sponsor. |
| (4) | The address of Aristeia Capital, L.L.C. is One Greenwich Plaza, 3rd Floor, Greenwich, CT 06830, based on a Schedule 13G filed on February 14, 2022 (the “Aristeia 13G”). According to the Aristeia 13G, Aristeia Capital, L.L.C. is the investment manager of, and has voting control with respect to the securities held by, one or more private investment funds, and therefore Aristeia Capital, L.L.C. has beneficial ownership of the shares of Class A common stock directly owned such private investment funds. |
Our sponsor, officers and directors are deemed to be our “promoter” as such term is defined under the federal securities laws.
Changes in Control
None.
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Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence
Founder Shares
On December 31, 2020, our sponsor paid an aggregate of $25,000, or approximately $0.003 per share, to cover certain of our offering costs in consideration of 8,625,000 shares of Class B common stock, par value $0.0001. Our sponsor subsequently transferred 30,000 founder shares to each of our independent director nominees and 20,000 founder shares to each of our advisors, for $0.003 per share. On January 20, 2021, we effected a stock dividend of 1,437,500 shares, and on March 1, 2021, we effected a stock dividend of 1,437,500 shares, resulting in there being an aggregate of 11,500,000 founder shares outstanding. The number of founder shares issued was determined based on the expectation that such founder shares would represent 20% of the outstanding shares upon completion of our initial public offering. On March 22, 2021, our sponsor forfeited 1,500,000 founder shares upon the underwriters’ election to not exercise its over-allotment option. The founder shares (including the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise thereof) may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by the holder.
Our sponsor, pursuant to a written agreement, purchased an aggregate of 7,333,333 private placement warrants for a purchase price of $1.50 per whole warrant in a private placement simultaneously with the closing of our initial public offering. Each private placement warrant entitles the holder to purchase one share of our Class A common stock at $11.50 per share. The private placement warrants (including the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise thereof) may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by the holder.
As more fully discussed in the section of this Report entitled “Item 10—Conflicts of Interest,” if any of our sponsor or its affiliates, our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity that falls within the line of business of any entity to which he or she has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she will honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such opportunity to such entity. Our officers and directors currently have certain relevant fiduciary duties or contractual obligations that may take priority over their duties to us.
We currently maintain our executive offices at 51 John F. Kennedy Parkway, Short Hills, New Jersey 07078. The cost for our use of this space is included in the $10,000 per month fee we pay to an affiliate of our sponsor for office space and administrative support services, commencing March 19, 2021. Upon completion of our initial business combination or our liquidation, we will cease paying these monthly fees.
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No compensation of any kind, including finder’s and consulting fees, will be paid to our sponsor, officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates, for services rendered prior to or in connection with the completion of an initial business combination. However, these individuals will be reimbursed for any out-of- pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made to our sponsor, officers, directors or our or their affiliates and will determine which expenses and the amount of expenses that will be reimbursed. There is no cap or ceiling on the reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses incurred by such persons in connection with activities on our behalf.
Our sponsor agreed to loan us an aggregate of up to $300,000 to be used for a portion of the expenses of our initial public offering. The loan was non-interest bearing, unsecured and due at the earlier of June 30, 2021, or the closing of our initial public offering. We no longer borrow on this facility. As of December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020, there were no outstanding amounts under the promissory note from our sponsor.
In addition, in order to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds as may be required. If we complete an initial business combination, we would repay such loaned amounts. In the event that the initial business combination does not close, we may use a portion of the working capital held outside the trust account to repay such loaned amounts but no proceeds from our trust account would be used for such repayment. Up to $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, including as to exercise price, exercisability and exercise period. The terms of such loans by our officers and directors, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. We do not expect to seek loans from parties other than our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor as we do not believe third parties will be willing to loan such funds and provide a waiver against any and all rights to seek access to funds in our trust account.
After our initial business combination, members of our management team who remain with us may be paid consulting, management or other fees from the combined company with any and all amounts being fully disclosed to our stockholders, to the extent then known, in the tender offer or proxy solicitation materials, as applicable, furnished to our stockholders. It is unlikely the amount of such compensation will be known at the time of distribution of such tender offer materials or at the time of a stockholder meeting held to consider our initial business combination, as applicable, as it will be up to the directors of the post-combination business to determine executive and director compensation.
We have entered into a registration and stockholders rights agreement pursuant to which our sponsor is entitled to certain registration rights with respect to the private placement warrants, the warrants issuable upon conversion of working capital loans (if any) and the shares of our Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the foregoing and upon conversion of the founder shares and, upon completion of our initial business combination, to nominate three individuals for election to our board of directors, as long as our sponsor holds any securities covered by the registration and stockholder rights agreement.
Policy for Approval of Related Party Transactions
The audit committee of our board of directors has adopted a charter, providing for the review, approval and/or ratification of “related party transactions,” which are those transactions required to be disclosed pursuant to Item 404 of Regulation S-K as promulgated by the SEC, by the audit committee. At its meetings, the audit committee shall be provided with the details of each new, existing or proposed related party transaction, including the terms of the transaction, any contractual restrictions that the company has already committed to, the business purpose of the transaction and the benefits of the transaction to the company and to the relevant related party. Any member of the committee who has an interest in the related party transaction under review by the committee shall abstain from voting on the approval of the related party transaction, but may, if so requested by the chairman of the committee, participate in some or all of the committee’s discussions of the related party transaction. Upon completion of its review of the related party transaction, the committee may determine to permit or to prohibit the related party transaction.
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Item 14. Principal Accountant Fees and Services
The firm of WithumSmith+Brown, PC, or Withum, acts as our independent registered public accounting firm. The following is a summary of fees paid to Withum for services rendered.
Audit Fees. For the year ended December 31, 2021, fees for our independent registered public accounting firm were approximately $110,000, respectively for the services Withum performed in connection with our Initial Public Offering and the audit of our December 31, 2021 and 2020 financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Audit-Related Fees. For the year ended December 31, 2021 and for the period from December 31, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, our independent registered public accounting firm did not render assurance and related services related to the performance of the audit or review of financial statements.
Tax Fees. For the year ended December 31, 2021 and for the period from December 31, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, our fees for our independent registered public accounting firm were approximately $4,000 and $0, respectively for tax compliance, tax advice and tax planning services.
All Other Fees. For the year ended December 31, 2021 and for the period from December 31, 2020 (inception) December 31, 2020, there were no fees billed for products and services provided by our independent registered public accounting firm other than those set forth above.
Pre-Approval Policy
Our audit committee was formed upon the consummation of our Initial Public Offering. As a result, the audit committee did not pre-approve all of the foregoing services, although any services rendered prior to the formation of our audit committee were approved by our board of directors. Since the formation of our audit committee, and on a going-forward basis, the audit committee has and will pre-approve all auditing services and permitted non-audit services to be performed for us by our auditors, including the fees and terms thereof (subject to the de minimis exceptions for non-audit services described in the Exchange Act which are approved by the audit committee prior to the completion of the audit).
74
PART IV
Item 15. Exhibits, Financial Statements Schedules
| (a) | The following documents are filed as part of this Form 10-K: |
| (1) | Financial Statements: Our consolidated financial statements are listed in the “Index to Consolidated Financial Statements” on page F-1. |
| (2) | Financial Statement Schedules: None. |
| (3) | Exhibits |
We hereby file as part of this Report the exhibits listed in the attached Exhibit Index. Copies of such material can also be obtained on the SEC website at www.sec.gov.
| * | Filed herewith |
| ** | Furnished herewith |
| (1) | Previously filed as an exhibit to our Current Report on Form 8-K filed on March 23, 2021 and incorporated by reference herein. |
| (2) | Previously filed as an exhibit to our Registration Statement on Form S-1 filed on March 2, 2021 and incorporated by reference herein. |
Item 16. Form 10-K Summary
Not applicable.
75
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this Annual Report on Form 10-K to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.
March 9, 2022
| Accelerate Acquisition Corp. | ||
| /s/ Robert Nardelli | ||
| Name: | Robert Nardelli | |
| Title: | Chief Executive Officer | |
| (Principal Executive Officer) | ||
| /s/ Michael Simoff | ||
| Name: | Michael Simoff | |
| Title: | Chief Financial Officer | |
| (Principal Accounting and Financial Officer) | ||
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, this Annual Report on Form 10-K has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated.
| Name | Position | Date | ||
| /s/ Robert Nardelli | Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board | March 9, 2022 | ||
| Robert Nardelli | (Principal Executive Officer) | |||
| /s/ Michael Simoff | Chief Financial Officer | March 9, 2022 | ||
| Michael Simoff | (Principal Accounting and Financial Officer) | |||
| /s/ Mark Little | Director | March 9, 2022 | ||
| Mark Little | ||||
| /s/ Mark Weinberger | Director | March 9, 2022 | ||
| Mark Weinberger | ||||
| /s/ Dr. John E. Kelly III | Director | March 9, 2022 | ||
| Dr. John E Kelly III |
76
ACCELERATE ACQUISITION CORP.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
F-1
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
To the Stockholders and the Board of Directors of
Accelerate Acquisition Corp.
Opinion on the Financial Statements
We have audited the accompanying balance sheets of Accelerate Acquisition Corp. (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, the related statements of operations, changes in stockholders’ (deficit) equity, and cash flows for the year ended December 31, 2021 and the period from December 30, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year ended December 31, 2021 and the period from December 30, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.
Restatement of Previously Issued Financial Statements
As discussed in Note 2 to the financial statements, the March 22, 2021 financial statement has been restated to correct a certain misstatement.
Basis for Opinion
These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (“PCAOB”) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.
We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audits to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. The Company is not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of its internal control over financial reporting. As part of our audits we are required to obtain an understanding of internal control over financial reporting but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion.
Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.
/s/
We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2021.
March 8, 2022
PCAOB Number
F-2
ACCELERATE ACQUISITION CORP.
BALANCE SHEETS
| December 31, 2021 | December 31, 2020 | |||||||
| ASSETS | ||||||||
| Current assets | ||||||||
| Cash | $ | $ | ||||||
| Prepaid expenses | ||||||||
| Total Current Assets | ||||||||
| Deferred offering costs | ||||||||
| Investments held in Trust Account | ||||||||
| TOTAL ASSETS | $ | $ | ||||||
| LIABILITIES, CLASS A COMMON STOCK SUBJECT TO POSSIBLE REDEMPTION AND STOCKHOLDERS’ (DEFICIT) EQUITY | ||||||||
| Liabilities | ||||||||
| Current liabilities | ||||||||
| Accrued expenses | $ | $ | ||||||
| Accrued offering costs | ||||||||
| Total Current Liabilities | ||||||||
| Deferred underwriting fee payable | ||||||||
| Derivative warrant liabilities | ||||||||
| Total Liabilities | ||||||||
| Commitments and Contingencies | ||||||||
| Stockholders’ (Deficit) Equity | ||||||||
| Preferred stock, $ | ||||||||
| Class B common stock, $ | ||||||||
| Additional paid-in capital | ||||||||
| Accumulated deficit | ( | ) | ( | ) | ||||
| Total Stockholders’ (Deficit) Equity | ( | ) | ||||||
| TOTAL LIABILITIES, CLASS A COMMON STOCK SUBJECT TO POSSIBLE REDEMPTION AND STOCKHOLDERS’ (DEFICIT) EQUITY | $ | $ | ||||||
| (1) |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
F-3
ACCELERATE ACQUISITION CORP.
STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
| Year Ended December 31, | For the Period from December 30, 2020 (Inception) through December 31, | |||||||
| 2021 | 2020 | |||||||
| Operating and formation costs | $ | $ | ||||||
| Loss from operations | ( | ) | ( | ) | ||||
| Other income: (expense) | ||||||||
| Interest earned on investments held in Trust Account | ||||||||
| Change in fair value of derivative warrant liabilities | ||||||||
| Transaction costs allocable to derivative warrant liabilities | ( | ) | ||||||
| Total other income | ||||||||
| Net income (loss) | $ | $ | ( | ) | ||||
| Weighted average shares outstanding, Class A common stock | ||||||||
| Basic and diluted net income per share, Class A common stock | $ | $ | ||||||
| Weighted average shares outstanding, Class B common stock | ||||||||
| Basic and diluted net income per share, Class B common stock | $ | $ | ||||||
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
F-4
ACCELERATE ACQUISITION CORP.
STATEMENTS OF CHANGES IN STOCKHOLDERS’ (DEFICIT) EQUITY
| Class B Common Stock(1) | Additional Paid-in | Accumulated | Total Stockholders’ (Deficit) | |||||||||||||||||
| Shares | Amount | Capital | Deficit | Equity | ||||||||||||||||
| Balance — December 30, 2020 (Inception) | $ | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||||||||||
| Issuance of Class B common stock to Sponsor | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Net loss | — | ( | ) | ( | ) | |||||||||||||||
| Balance — December 31, 2020 | $ | $ | $ | ( | ) | $ | ||||||||||||||
| Accretion for Class A Common Stock subject to possible redemption | ( | ) | ( | ) | ( | ) | ||||||||||||||
| Excess of cash received over fair value of Private Placement Warrants | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Forfeiture of Founder Shares | ( | ) | ( | ) | ||||||||||||||||
| Net income | — | |||||||||||||||||||
| Balance – December 31, 2021 | $ | $ | $ | ( | ) | $ | ( | ) | ||||||||||||
| (1) |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
F-5
ACCELERATE ACQUISITION CORP.
STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
| Year Ended December 31, | For the Period from December 30, 2020 (Inception) through December 31 | |||||||
| 2021 | 2020 | |||||||
| Cash Flows from Operating Activities: | ||||||||
| Net income (loss) | $ | $ | ( | ) | ||||
| Adjustments to reconcile net income (loss) to net cash used in operating activities: | ||||||||
| Interest earned on investments held in Trust Account | ( | ) | — | |||||
| Transaction costs allocable to derivative warrant liabilities | — | |||||||
| Change in fair value of derivative warrant liabilities | ( | ) | — | |||||
| Changes in operating assets and liabilities: | ||||||||
| Prepaid expenses | ( | ) | — | |||||
| Accrued expenses | ||||||||
| Net cash used in operating activities | ( | ) | — | |||||
| Cash Flows from Investing Activities: | ||||||||
| Investment of cash in Trust Account | ( | ) | — | |||||
| Net cash used in investing activities | ( | ) | — | |||||
| Cash Flows from Financing Activities: | ||||||||
| Proceeds from sale of Units, net of underwriting discounts paid | — | |||||||
| Proceeds from sale of Private Placement Warrants | — | |||||||
| Proceeds from promissory notes – related party | — | |||||||
| Repayment of promissory notes – related party | ( | ) | — | |||||
| Payment of offering costs | ( | ) | — | |||||
| Net cash provided by financing activities | — | |||||||
| Net Change in Cash | — | |||||||
| Cash – Beginning | — | |||||||
| Cash – Ending | $ | $ | — | |||||
| Non-cash investing and financing activities: | ||||||||
| Offering costs included in accrued offering costs | $ | — | $ | |||||
| Offering costs paid by Sponsor in exchange for issuance of Founder Shares | $ | — | $ | |||||
| Deferred underwriting fee payable | $ | $ | — | |||||
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.
F-6
ACCELERATE ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
DECEMBER 31, 2021
NOTE 1. DESCRIPTION OF ORGANIZATION AND BUSINESS OPERATIONS
Accelerate Acquisition Corp. (the “Company”) was incorporated in Delaware on December 30, 2020. The Company was formed for the purpose of entering into a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses (the “Business Combination”).
The Company is not limited to a particular industry or sector for purposes of consummating a Business Combination. The Company is an early stage and emerging growth company and, as such, the Company is subject to all of the risks associated with early stage and emerging growth companies.
As of December 31, 2021, the Company had not commenced any operations. All activity for the period from December 30, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2021 relates to the Company’s formation, the initial public offering (“Initial Public Offering”), which is described below, and subsequent to the Initial Public Offering, identifying a target company for a Business Combination. The Company will not generate any operating revenues until after the completion of a Business Combination, at the earliest. The Company generates non-operating income in the form of interest income from the proceeds derived from the Initial Public Offering.
The
registration statement for the Company’s Initial Public Offering was declared effective on March 17, 2021. On March 22, 2021, the
Company consummated the Initial Public Offering of
Simultaneously
with the closing of the Initial Public Offering, the Company consummated the sale of
Transaction
costs amounted to $
Following
the closing of the Initial Public Offering on March 22, 2021, an amount of $
The
Company’s management has broad discretion with respect to the specific application of the net proceeds of the Initial Public Offering
and the sale of Private Placement Warrants, although substantially all of the net proceeds are intended to be applied generally toward
consummating a Business Combination. There is no assurance that the Company will be able to complete a Business Combination successfully.
The Company must complete one or more initial Business Combinations with one or more operating businesses or assets with a fair market
value equal to at least
The
Company will provide its holders of the outstanding Public Shares (the “public stockholders”) with the opportunity to redeem
all or a portion of their Public Shares upon the completion of a Business Combination either (i) in connection with a stockholder meeting
called to approve the Business Combination or (ii) by means of a tender offer. The decision as to whether the Company will seek stockholder
approval of a Business Combination or conduct a tender offer will be made by the Company. The public stockholders will be entitled to
redeem their Public Shares for a pro rata portion of the amount then in the Trust Account (initially $
F-7
ACCELERATE ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
DECEMBER 31, 2021
If the Company seeks stockholder approval, the Company will only proceed with a Business Combination if a majority of the shares voted are voted in favor of the Business Combination. If a stockholder vote is not required by applicable law or stock exchange rules and the Company does not decide to hold a stockholder vote for business or other reasons, the Company will, pursuant to its Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation (the “Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation”), conduct the redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and file tender offer documents with the SEC prior to completing a Business Combination. If, however, stockholder approval of the transaction is required by applicable law or stock exchange rules, or the Company decides to obtain stockholder approval for business or other reasons, the Company will offer to redeem shares in conjunction with a proxy solicitation pursuant to the proxy rules and not pursuant to the tender offer rules. If the Company seeks stockholder approval in connection with a Business Combination, the Sponsor has agreed to vote its Founder Shares (as defined in Note 6), and any Public Shares purchased during or after the Initial Public Offering in favor of approving a Business Combination. Additionally, each public stockholder may elect to redeem their Public Shares irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction or do not vote at all.
Notwithstanding
the above, if the Company seeks stockholder approval of a Business Combination and it does not conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender
offer rules, the Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation provides that a public stockholder, together with any affiliate of
such stockholder or any other person with whom such stockholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section
13 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”)), will be restricted from redeeming its shares
with respect to more than an aggregate of
The
Sponsor has agreed (a) to waive its redemption rights with respect to its Founder Shares and Public Shares held by it in connection with
the completion of a Business Combination and (b) not to propose an amendment to the Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation
(i) to modify the substance or timing of the Company’s obligation to provide holders of shares of Class A common stock the right
to have their shares redeemed in connection with the Company’s initial Business Combination or to redeem
The
Company will have until March 22, 2023 to complete a Business Combination (the “Combination Period”). If the Company is unable
to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period, the Company will (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of
winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the Public Shares, at a per-share
price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the Trust Account including interest earned on the funds held
in the Trust Account and not previously released to the Company to pay its tax obligations (less up to $
The
Sponsor has agreed to waive its liquidation rights with respect to the Founder Shares if the Company fails to complete a Business Combination
within the Combination Period. However, if the Sponsor acquires Public Shares in or after the Initial Public Offering, such Public Shares
will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the Trust Account if the Company fails to complete a Business Combination within the
Combination Period. The representative of the underwriters has agreed to waive its rights to the deferred underwriting commission (see
Note 6) held in the Trust Account in the event the Company does not complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period and,
in such event, such amounts will be included with the other funds held in the Trust Account that will be available to fund the redemption
of the Public Shares. In the event of such distribution, it is possible that the per share value of the assets remaining available for
distribution will be less than the Initial Public Offering price per Unit ($
In
order to protect the amounts held in the Trust Account, the Sponsor has agreed to be liable to the Company if and to the extent any claims
by a third party for services rendered or products sold to the Company, or a prospective target business with which the Company has discussed
entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the Trust Account to below the lesser of (1) $
F-8
ACCELERATE ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
DECEMBER 31, 2021
NOTE 2. RESTATEMENT OF PREVIOUSLY ISSUED FINANCIAL STATEMENT
The
Company’s management re-evaluated the classification of its Public Shares and management determined it should restate its historical
financial statements where, at the closing of the Company’s Initial Public Offering, the Company improperly classified its Class
A common stock subject to possible redemption. The Company previously classified the Class A common stock subject to possible redemption
as temporary equity to be equal to the redemption value of $
The impact of the restatement on the Company’s financial statement is reflected in the following table.
| As Previously Reported | Adjustment | As Restated | ||||||||||
| Balance Sheet as of March 22, 2021 | ||||||||||||
| Class A common stock subject to possible redemption | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||
| Class A common stock | $ | $ | ( | ) | $ | |||||||
| Additional paid-in capital | $ | $ | ( | ) | $ | |||||||
| Accumulated deficit | $ | ( | ) | $ | ( | ) | $ | ( | ) | |||
| Total Stockholders’ Equity (Deficit) | $ | $ | ( | ) | $ | ( | ) | |||||
NOTE 3. SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES
Basis of Presentation
The accompanying financial statements are presented in U.S. dollars and have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”) and pursuant to the accounting and disclosure rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”).
Emerging Growth Company
The Company is an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act, as modified by the Jumpstart Our 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 independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in its periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder 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 statement 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.
Offering Costs
Offering costs consist of legal, accounting,
underwriting fees and other costs incurred through the balance sheet date that are directly related to the Initial Public Offering. Offering
costs were allocated on a relative fair value basis between stockholders’ (deficit) equity and expense. The portion of offering
costs allocated to the Public Warrants has been charged to expense. Offering costs associated with the issuance of the Class A common
stock issued were charged against the carrying value of the Class A common stock subject to possible redemption upon the completion of
the Initial Public Offering. On December 31, 2021, offering costs totaled $
F-9
ACCELERATE ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
DECEMBER 31, 2021
Use of Estimates
The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires the Company’s management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period.
Making estimates requires management to exercise significant judgment. It is at least reasonably possible that the estimate of the effect of a condition, situation or set of circumstances that existed at the date of the financial statements, which management considered in formulating its estimate, could change in the near term due to one or more future confirming events. One of the more significant accounting estimates included in these financial statements is the determination of the fair value of the derivative warrant liabilities. Such estimates may be subject to change as more current information becomes available and accordingly the actual results could differ significantly from those estimates.
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 and 2020.
Marketable Securities Held in Trust Account
At December 31, 2021, substantially all of the assets held in the Trust Account were held in money market funds which are invested primarily in U.S. Treasury securities. Interest income is recognized when earned. The Company’s portfolio of marketable securities is comprised solely of U.S. government securities, within the meaning set forth in Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act, with a maturity of 185 days or less or in any open-ended investment company that holds itself out as a money market fund selected by the Company meeting the conditions of paragraphs (d)(2), (d)(3) and (d)(4) of Rule 2a-7 of the Investment Company Act. All of the Company’s investments held in the Trust Account are classified as trading securities. Trading securities are presented on the balance sheet at fair value at the end of each reporting period. Gains and losses resulting from the change in fair value of investments held in Trust Account are included in interest earned on marketable securities held in Trust Account in the accompanying statements of operations. The estimated fair values of investments held in Trust Account are determined using available market information.
Class A Common Stock Subject to Possible Redemption
The Company accounts for its Class A common stock subject to possible redemption in accordance with the guidance in Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 480 “Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity.” Class A common stock subject to mandatory redemption is classified as a liability instrument and is measured at fair value. Conditionally redeemable common stock (including common stock that feature redemption rights that is either within the control of the holder or subject to redemption upon the occurrence of uncertain events not solely within the Company’s control) is classified as temporary equity. At all other times, common stock is classified as stockholders’ (deficit) equity. The Company’s Class A common stock features certain redemption rights that are considered to be outside of the Company’s control and subject to occurrence of uncertain future events. Accordingly, shares of Class A common stock subject to possible redemption are presented as temporary equity, outside of the stockholders’ (deficit) equity section of the Company’s balance sheets.
The Company recognizes changes in redemption value immediately as they occur and adjusts the carrying value of redeemable common shares to equal the redemption value at the end of each reporting period. This method would view the end of the reporting period as if it were also the redemption date for the security. Immediately upon the closing of the Initial Public Offering, the Company recognized the accretion from initial book value to redemption amount value. The change in the carrying value of redeemable Class A common shares resulted in charges against additional paid-in capital and accumulated deficit.
F-10
ACCELERATE ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
DECEMBER 31, 2021
At December 31, 2021, the Class A common stock reflected in the balance sheet are reconciled in the following table:
| Gross proceeds | $ | |||
| Less: | ||||
| Proceeds allocated to Public Warrants | ( | ) | ||
| Class A common stock issuance costs | ( | ) | ||
| Plus: | ||||
| Accretion of carrying value to redemption value | ||||
| Class A common stock subject to possible redemption | $ |
Derivative Warrant Liabilities
The Company accounts for the Warrants (as defined below) (see Note 9) in accordance with the guidance contained in ASC 815-40-15-7D and 7F under which the Warrants do not meet the criteria for equity treatment and must be recorded as liabilities. Accordingly, the Company classifies the Warrants as liabilities at their fair value and adjust the Warrants to fair value at each reporting period. This liability is subject to re-measurement at each balance sheet date until exercised, and any change in fair value is recognized in our statements of operations. The Private Placement Warrants and the Public Warrants for periods where no observable traded price was available are valued using a lattice model, specifically a binomial lattice model incorporating the Cox-Ross-Rubenstein methodology. For periods subsequent to the detachment of the Public Warrants from the Units, the Public Warrant quoted market price was used as the fair value as of each relevant date. The Private Placement Warrants were initially valued using a lattice model, specifically a binomial lattice model incorporating the Cox-Ross-Rubenstein methodology. As of December 31, 2021, the fair value of the Private Placement Warrants was the equivalent to that of the Public Warrants as they had substantially the same terms.
Income Taxes
The Company follows the asset and liability method of accounting for income taxes under ASC 740, “Income Taxes.” Deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized for the estimated future tax consequences attributable to differences between the financial statement’s carrying amounts of existing assets and liabilities and their respective tax bases. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using enacted tax rates expected to apply to taxable income in the years in which those temporary differences are expected to be recovered or settled. The effect on deferred tax assets and liabilities of a change in tax rates is recognized in income in the period that included the enactment date. Valuation allowances are established, when necessary, to reduce deferred tax assets to the amount expected to be realized.
ASC 740 prescribes a recognition threshold and a measurement attribute for the financial statement recognition and measurement of tax positions taken or expected to be taken in a tax return. For those benefits to be recognized, a tax position must be more likely than not to be sustained upon examination by taxing authorities. 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 and 2020. The Company is currently not aware of any issues under review that could result in significant payments, accruals or material deviation from its position. The Company is subject to income tax examinations by major taxing authorities since inception.
Net Income (Loss) per Common Share
The Company complies with accounting and disclosure requirements of FASB ASC Topic 260, “Earnings Per Share”. Net income (loss) per common stock is computed by dividing net income (loss) by the weighted average number of common shares outstanding for the period. The Company has two classes of shares, which are referred to as Class A common stock and Class B common stock. Income and losses are shared pro rata between the two classes of stock. Accretion associated with the redeemable shares of Class A common shares is excluded from earnings per share as the redemption value approximates fair value.
The
calculation of diluted income (loss) per share does not consider the effect of the warrants issued in connection with the (i) Initial
Public Offering, and (ii) the private placement since the exercise of the warrants is contingent upon the occurrence of future events.
The warrants are exercisable to purchase
F-11
ACCELERATE ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
DECEMBER 31, 2021
The following table reflects the calculation of basic and diluted net income (loss) per common share (in dollars, except per share amounts):
| Year Ended December 31, 2021 | For the Period from December 30, 2020 (Inception) through December 31, 2020 | |||||||||||||||
| Class A | Class B | Class A | Class B | |||||||||||||
| Basic and diluted net income (loss) per common share | ||||||||||||||||
| Numerator: | ||||||||||||||||
| Allocation of net income (loss), as adjusted | $ | $ | $ | $ | ( | ) | ||||||||||
| Denominator: | ||||||||||||||||
| Basic and diluted weighted average shares outstanding | ||||||||||||||||
| Basic net income per common share | $ | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||||||
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 Deposit Insurance Coverage of $
Fair value of Financial Instruments
The fair value of the Company’s financial assets and liabilities reflects management’s estimate of amounts that the Company would have received in connection with the sale of the assets or paid in connection with the transfer of the liabilities in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. In connection with measuring the fair value of its assets and liabilities, the Company seeks to maximize the use of observable inputs (market data obtained from independent sources) and to minimize the use of unobservable inputs (internal assumptions about how market participants would price assets and liabilities). The following fair value hierarchy is used to classify assets and liabilities based on the observable inputs and unobservable inputs used in order to value the assets and liabilities:
| Level 1: | Quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities. An active market for an asset or liability is a market in which transactions for the asset or liability occur with sufficient frequency and volume to provide pricing information on an ongoing basis. |
| Level 2: | Observable inputs other than Level 1 inputs. Examples of Level 2 inputs include quoted prices in active markets for similar assets or liabilities and quoted prices for identical assets or liabilities in markets that are not active. |
| Level 3: | Unobservable inputs based on our assessment of the assumptions that market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability. |
As of December 31, 2021 and 2020, the carrying value of cash, prepaid expenses, deferred offering costs, accounts payable and accrued expenses, approximate their fair values primarily due to the short-term nature of the instruments.
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’s Own Equity (Subtopic 815-40): Accounting for Convertible Instruments and Contracts in an Entity’s Own Equity (“ASU 2020-06”), which simplifies accounting for convertible instruments by removing major separation models required under current U.S. GAAP. The ASU also removes certain settlement conditions that are required for equity-linked contracts to qualify for the derivative scope exception, and it simplifies the diluted earnings per share calculation in certain areas. The Company adopted ASU 2020-06 on January 1, 2021. Adoption of the ASU did not impact the Company’s financial position, results of operations or cash flows.
The Company’s management does not believe that any other recently issued, but not yet effective, accounting standards if currently adopted would have a material effect on the accompanying financial statements.
NOTE 4. INITIAL PUBLIC OFFERING
Pursuant
to the Initial Public Offering, the Company sold
F-12
ACCELERATE ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
DECEMBER 31, 2021
NOTE 5. PRIVATE PLACEMENT
Simultaneously
with the closing of the Initial Public Offering, the Sponsor purchased an aggregate of
NOTE 6. RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS
Founder Shares
On
December 31, 2020, the Sponsor paid $
The Sponsor has agreed, subject to certain limited exceptions, not to transfer, assign or sell any of the Founder Shares until the earlier of (A) one year after the completion of a Business Combination and (B) subsequent to a Business Combination, (x) if the last reported sale price of the Class A common stock equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after a Business Combination, or (y) the date on which the Company completes a liquidation, merger, capital stock exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction that results in all of the Company’s stockholders having the right to exchange their shares of Class A common stock for cash, securities or other property.
Administrative Support Agreement
The
Company entered into an agreement, commencing on March 22, 2021, pursuant to which the Company will pay a monthly fee of $
Promissory Notes — Related Parties
On
December 31, 2020, the Sponsor issued an unsecured promissory note to the Company (the “Promissory Note”), pursuant to which
the Company could borrow up to an aggregate principal amount of $
Related Party Loans
In
addition, in order to finance transaction costs in connection with a Business Combination, the Sponsor, an affiliate of the Sponsor,
or certain of the Company’s officers and 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 would repay the Working
Capital Loans out of the proceeds of the Trust Account released to the Company. Otherwise, the Working Capital Loans would be repaid
only out of funds held outside the Trust Account. In the event that a Business Combination does not close, 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. The Working Capital Loans would either be repaid upon consummation of a Business Combination, without
interest, or, at the lender’s discretion, up to $
F-13
ACCELERATE ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
DECEMBER 31, 2021
NOTE 7. COMMITMENTS
Risks and Uncertainties
Management continues to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and has concluded that while it is reasonably possible that the virus could have a negative effect on the Company’s financial position, results of its operations, and/or search for a target company, the specific impact is not readily determinable as of the date of this financial statement. The financial statement does not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.
Registration and Stockholder Rights
Pursuant
to a registration and stockholder rights agreement entered into on March 17, 2021, the holders of the Founder Shares, Private Placement
Warrants, and warrants that may be issued upon conversion of Working Capital Loans (and any shares of Class A common stock issuable upon
the exercise of the Private Placement Warrants and warrants issued upon conversion of the Working Capital Loans and upon conversion of
the Founder Shares) will be entitled to registration rights, requiring the Company to register such securities for resale (in the case
of the Founder Shares, only after conversion to our Class A common stock). Any holder of at least
Underwriting Agreement
The
Company granted the underwriters a 45-day option from the date of Initial Public Offering to purchase up to
The
underwriters are entitled to a deferred fee of $
NOTE 8. STOCKHOLDERS’ (DEFICIT) EQUITY
Preferred
Stock — The Company is authorized to issue
Class
A Common Stock — The Company is authorized to issue
Class
B Common Stock — The Company is authorized to issue
In
January 2021, the Sponsor transferred
Holders of Class A common stock and holders of Class B common stock will vote together as a single class on all matters submitted to a vote of our stockholders except as otherwise required by law.
F-14
ACCELERATE ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
DECEMBER 31, 2021
The
shares of Class B common stock will automatically convert into shares of Class A common stock at the time of a Business Combination on
a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment. In the case that additional shares of Class A common stock, or equity-linked securities,
are issued or deemed issued in excess of the amounts offered in the Initial Public Offering and related to the closing of a Business
Combination, the ratio at which shares of Class B common stock shall convert into shares of Class A common stock will be adjusted (unless
the holders of a majority of the outstanding shares of Class B common stock agree to waive such adjustment with respect to any such issuance
or deemed issuance) so that the number of shares of Class A common stock issuable upon conversion of all shares of Class B common stock
will equal, in the aggregate, on an as-converted basis,
NOTE 9. WARRANTS
Warrants
— As of December 31, 2021, there were
The Company will not be obligated to deliver any shares of Class A common stock pursuant to the exercise of a warrant and will have no obligation to settle such warrant exercise unless a registration statement under the Securities Act with respect to the Class A common stock underlying the warrants is then effective and a prospectus relating thereto is current, subject to the Company satisfying its obligations with respect to registration. No warrant will be exercisable and the Company will not be obligated to issue any shares of Class A common stock upon exercise of a warrant unless the share of Class A common stock issuable upon such warrant exercise has been registered, qualified or deemed to be exempt under the securities laws of the state of residence of the registered holder of the warrants.
The Company has agreed that as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 20 business days after the closing of the Company’s initial Business Combination, the Company will use its commercially reasonable efforts to file with the SEC a registration statement covering the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants. The Company will use its commercially reasonable efforts to cause such registration statement to become effective within 60 business days after the closing of a Business Combination and to maintain a current prospectus relating to those shares of Class A common stock until the warrants expire or are redeemed, as specified in the warrant agreement; provided that if shares of the Class A common stock are at the time of any exercise of a Public Warrant not listed on a national securities exchange such that they satisfy the definition of a “covered security” under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act, the Company may, at its option, require holders of public warrants who exercise their warrants to do so on a “cashless basis” in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act and, in the event the Company so elect, it will not be required to file or maintain in effect a registration statement, but 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. If a registration statement covering the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants is not effective by the 60th business day after the closing of a Business Combination, warrant holders may, until such time as there is an effective registration statement and during any period when the Company will have failed to maintain an effective registration statement, exercise warrants on a “cashless basis” in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act or another exemption.
Redemption of warrants when the price per share of Class A common stock 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 a minimum of 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption to each warrant holder; and | |
| ● | if, and only if, the last reported sale price of the Class A common stock for any 20 trading days within a 30-trading day period ending three business days before the Company sends the notice of redemption to the warrant holders (the “Reference Value”) equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like). |
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ACCELERATE ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
DECEMBER 31, 2021
If and when the warrants become redeemable by the Company, the Company may exercise its redemption right even if it is unable to register or qualify the underlying securities for sale under all applicable state securities laws.
Redemption of warrants when the price per share of Class A common stock equals or exceeds $10.00. Commencing ninety days after 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; |
If the Company calls the Public Warrants for redemption, as described above, its management will have the option to require any holder that wishes to exercise the Public Warrants to do so on a “cashless basis,” as described in the warrant agreement. The exercise price and number of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the Public Warrants may be adjusted in certain circumstances including in the event of a share dividend, extraordinary dividend or recapitalization, reorganization, merger or consolidation. However, except as described below, the Public Warrants will not be adjusted for issuances of common stock at a price below its exercise price. Additionally, in no event will the Company be required to net cash settle the Public Warrants. If the Company is unable to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period and the Company liquidates the funds held in the Trust Account, holders of Public Warrants will not receive any of such funds with respect to their Public Warrants, nor will they receive any distribution from the Company’s assets held outside of the Trust Account with respect to such Public Warrants. Accordingly, the Public Warrants may expire worthless.
In
addition, if (x) the Company issues additional shares of our Class A common stock or equity-linked securities for capital raising purposes
in connection with the closing of our initial business combination at an issue price or effective issue price of less than $
As
of December 31, 2021, there were
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ACCELERATE ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
DECEMBER 31, 2021
NOTE 10. INCOME TAX
The Company did not have any significant deferred tax assets or liabilities as of December 31, 2021 and 2020.
The Company’s net deferred tax assets (liabilities) are as follows:
| December 31, | December 31, | |||||||
| 2021 | 2020 | |||||||
| Deferred tax asset | ||||||||
| Net operating loss carryforward | $ | $ | ||||||
| Organizational costs/Startup expenses | ||||||||
| Total deferred tax asset | ||||||||
| Valuation allowance | ( | ) | ( | ) | ||||
| Deferred tax asset, net of allowance | $ | $ | ||||||
The income tax provision consists of the following:
| December 31, | December 31, | |||||||
| 2021 | 2020 | |||||||
| Federal | ||||||||
| Current | $ | $ | ||||||
| Deferred | ( | ) | ( | ) | ||||
| State | ||||||||
| Current | ||||||||
| Deferred | ||||||||
| Change in valuation allowance | ||||||||
| Income tax provision | $ | $ | ||||||
As
of December 31, 2021 and 2020, the Company had $
In
assessing the realization of the deferred tax assets, management considers whether it is more likely than not that some portion of all
of the deferred tax assets will not be realized. The ultimate realization of deferred tax assets is dependent upon the generation of
future taxable income during the periods in which temporary differences representing net future deductible amounts become deductible.
Management considers the scheduled reversal of deferred tax liabilities, projected future taxable income and tax planning strategies
in making this assessment. After consideration of all of the information available, management believes that significant uncertainty
exists with respect to future realization of the deferred tax assets and has therefore established a full valuation allowance. For the
year ended December 31, 2021, the change in the valuation allowance was $
A reconciliation of the federal income tax rate to the Company’s effective tax rate at December 31, 2021 and 2020 is as follows:
| December 31, 2021 | December 31, 2020 | |||||||
| Statutory federal income tax rate | % | % | ||||||
| Transaction costs associated with the Initial Public Offering | % | % | ||||||
| Change in fair value of warrant liabilities | ( | )% | % | |||||
| Change in valuation allowance | % | - | % | |||||
| Income tax provision | % | % | ||||||
The Company files income tax returns in the U.S. federal jurisdiction in various state and local jurisdictions and is subject to examination by the various taxing authorities.
F-17
ACCELERATE ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
DECEMBER 31, 2021
NOTE 11. FAIR VALUE MEASUREMENTS
The fair value of the Company’s financial assets and liabilities reflects management’s estimate of amounts that the Company would have received in connection with the sale of the assets or paid in connection with the transfer of the liabilities in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. In connection with measuring the fair value of its assets and liabilities, the Company seeks to maximize the use of observable inputs (market data obtained from independent sources) and to minimize the use of unobservable inputs (internal assumptions about how market participants would price assets and liabilities). The following fair value hierarchy is used to classify assets and liabilities based on the observable inputs and unobservable inputs used in order to value the assets and liabilities:
| Level 1: | Quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities. An active market for an asset or liability is a market in which transactions for the asset or liability occur with sufficient frequency and volume to provide pricing information on an ongoing basis. |
| Level 2: | Observable inputs other than Level 1 inputs. Examples of Level 2 inputs include quoted prices in active markets for similar assets or liabilities and quoted prices for identical assets or liabilities in markets that are not active. |
| Level 3: | Unobservable inputs based on our assessment of the assumptions that market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability. |
At
December 31, 2021, assets held in the Trust Account were comprised of $
The following table presents information about the Company’s assets and liabilities that are measured at fair value on a recurring basis at December 31, 2021 and indicates the fair value hierarchy of the valuation inputs the Company utilized to determine such fair value.
| Description | Level | December
31, 2021 |
|||||
| Assets: | |||||||
| Investments held in Trust Account – U.S. Treasury Securities Money Market Fund | 1 | $ | |||||
| Liabilities: | |||||||
| Warrant Liability – Public Warrants | 1 | $ | |||||
| Warrant Liability – Private Placement Warrants | 2 | $ | |||||
The Warrants were accounted for as liabilities in accordance with ASC 815-40 and are presented within warrant liabilities on our accompanying December 31, 2021 balance sheet. The warrant liabilities are measured at fair value at inception and on a recurring basis, with changes in fair value presented within change in fair value of warrant liabilities in the statements of operations.
The Public Warrants were initially valued using a lattice model, specifically a binomial lattice model incorporating the Cox-Ross-Rubenstein methodology, which is considered a Level 3 fair value measurement. As of December 31, 2021, the Public Warrants were valued using the instrument’s publicly listed trading price as of the balance sheet date, which is considered to be a Level 1 measurement due to the use of an observable market quote in an active market.
The Private Placement Warrants were initially valued using a lattice model, specifically a binomial lattice model incorporating the Cox-Ross-Rubenstein methodology, which is considered to be a Level 3 fair value measurement. The primary unobservable input utilized in determining the fair value of the Private Placement Warrants is the expected volatility of our ordinary shares. The expected volatility of the Company’s ordinary shares was determined based on the implied volatility of the Public Warrants. As of December 31, 2021, the fair value of the Private Placement Warrants was the equivalent to that of the Public Warrants as they had substantially the same terms as defined in the make-whole provision contained within the warrant agreement; however, they are not actively traded, as such are listed as a Level 2 in the hierarchy table above. The change in fair value is recognized in the statements of operations.
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ACCELERATE ACQUISITION CORP.
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
DECEMBER 31, 2021
The key inputs into the binomial lattice model for the Warrants as of the initial measurement date were as follows:
| March 22, 2021 (Initial Measurement) | ||||||||
| Input | Public Warrants | Private Warrants | ||||||
| Market price of public shares | $ | $ | ||||||
| Risk-free rate | % | % | ||||||
| Dividend yield | % | % | ||||||
| Exercise price | $ | $ | ||||||
| Effective expiration date | ||||||||
| One-touch hurdle | $ | $ | ||||||
Transfers to/from Levels 1, 2 and 3 are recognized at the beginning of the reporting period in which a change in valuation technique or methodology occurs. The table below presents the estimated value of the Public Warrants transferred from a Level 3 measurement to a Level 1 measurement upon detachment and the estimated value of the Private Placement Warrants transferred from a Level 3 measurement to a Level 2 measurement due to the make-whole provision included in the warrant agreement.
| Public Warrants | Private Warrants | Total Warrants | ||||||||||
| Fair value as of January 1, 2021 | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||
| Initial measurement on March 22, 2021 | ||||||||||||
| Change in fair value of derivative warrant liabilities | ( | ) | ( | ) | ( | ) | ||||||
| Fair value as of March 31, 2021 | ||||||||||||
| Transfer to Level 1 upon detachment | ( | ) | ( | ) | ||||||||
| Change in fair value | ||||||||||||
| Fair value as of June 30, 2021 | ||||||||||||
| Change in fair value of derivative warrant liabilities | ( | ) | ( | ) | ||||||||
| Transfer to Level 2 due to make-whole provision | ||||||||||||
| Fair value as of December 31, 2021 | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||
NOTE 12. SUBSEQUENT EVENTS
The Company evaluated subsequent events and transactions that occurred after the balance sheet date up to the date that the financial statements were issued. Based upon this review, the Company did not identify any subsequent events that would have required adjustment or disclosure in the financial statements.
F-19