S-1/A 1 fs12021a1_cmlifesciences3.htm REGISTRATION STATEMENT

As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 25, 2021.

Registration No. 333-253475

UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

____________________________

Amendment No. 1 to
FORM S-1
REGISTRATION STATEMENT
UNDER
THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

____________________________

CM Life Sciences III Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

____________________________

Delaware

 

6770

 

86-1691173

(State or other jurisdiction of
incorporation or organization)

 

(Primary Standard Industrial
Classification Code Number)

 

(I.R.S. Employer
Identification Number)

c/o Corvex Management LP
667 Madison Avenue
New York, New York 10065
(212) 474
-6745
(Address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of registrant’s principal executive offices)

____________________________

Eli Casdin, Chief Executive Officer
Keith Meister, Chairman
c/o Corvex Management LP
667 Madison Avenue
New York, New York 10065
(212) 474
-6745
(Name, address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)

____________________________

Copies to:

Joel L. Rubinstein
Colin J. Diamond
White & Case LLP
1221 Avenue of the Americas
New York, New York 10020
Tel: (212) 819
-8200

 

Gregg A. Noel
Michael J. Mies
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
525 University Avenue
Palo Alto, California 94301
Tel: (650) 470
-4500

____________________________

Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public: As soon as practicable after the effective date of this registration statement.

If any of the securities being registered on this Form are to be offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933 check the following box. £

If this Form is filed to register additional securities for an offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, please check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. £

If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. £

If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(d) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. £

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

Large accelerated filer

 

£

 

Accelerated filer

 

£

Non-accelerated filer

 

S

 

Smaller reporting company

 

S

       

Emerging growth company

 

S

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 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act. £

 

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CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE

Title of Each Class of Security Being Registered

 

Amount Being
Registered

 

Proposed
Maximum
Offering
Price per
Security
(1)

 

Proposed
Maximum
Aggregate
Offering
Price
(1)

 

Amount of
Registration
Fee

Units, each consisting of one share of Class A common stock, $0.0001 par value, and one-fifth of one redeemable warrant(2)

 

46,000,000 Units

 

$

10.00

 

$

460,000,000

 

$

50,186.00

 

Shares of Class A common stock included as part of the units(3)

 

46,000,000 Shares

 

 

 

 

 

 

(4)

Redeemable warrants included as part of the units(3)

 

9,200,000 Warrants

 

 

 

 

 

 

(4)

 

Shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of redeemable warrants(3)

 

9,200,000 Shares

 

 

11.50

 

 

105,800,000

 

 

11,542.78

(5)

Total

     

 

   

$

565,800,000

 

$

61,728.78

(6)

____________

(1)        Estimated solely for the purpose of calculating the registration fee pursuant to Rule 457(a) under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”).

(2)        Includes 6,000,000 units, consisting of 6,000,000 shares of Class A common stock and 1,200,000 redeemable warrants, which may be issued upon exercise of a 45-day option granted to the underwriters to cover over-allotments, if any.

(3)        Pursuant to Rule 416 under the Securities Act, there are also being registered an indeterminable number of additional securities as may be issued to prevent dilution resulting from stock splits, stock dividends or similar transactions.

(4)        No fee pursuant to Rule 457(g) under the Securities Act.

(5)        Calculated pursuant to Rule 457(g) under the Securities Act, based on the exercise price of the warrants.

(6)        The registrant previously paid a registration fee of $50,186.00 in relation to its initial filing of its Registration Statement on Form S-1 (File No. 333-253475) on February 25, 2021.

___________________________

The Registrant hereby amends this Registration Statement on such date or dates as may be necessary to delay its effective date until the Registrant shall file a further amendment which specifically states that this Registration Statement shall thereafter become effective in accordance with Section 8(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or until the Registration Statement shall become effective on such date as the Securities and Exchange Commission, acting pursuant to said Section 8(a), may determine.

 

 

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The information in this preliminary prospectus is not complete and may be changed. We may not sell these securities until the registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission is effective. This preliminary prospectus is not an offer to sell these securities and it is not soliciting an offer to buy these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted.

SUBJECT TO COMPLETION, DATED MARCH 25, 2021

PRELIMINARY PROSPECTUS

$400,000,000

CM Life Sciences III Inc.

40,000,000 Units

CM Life Sciences III Inc. is a blank check company formed as a Delaware corporation 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 as our initial business combination. We have not selected any specific business combination target and we have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, engaged in any substantive discussions, directly or indirectly, with any business combination target with respect to an initial business combination with us. While we may pursue an initial business combination target in any industry, sector or geographic region, we intend to focus our efforts on the life sciences sector.

This is an initial public offering of our securities. Each unit has an offering price of $10.00 and consists of one share of Class A common stock and one-fifth of one redeemable warrant. Each whole warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one share of Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as described herein. Only whole warrants are exercisable. No fractional warrants will be issued upon separation of the units and only whole warrants will trade. The warrants will become exercisable 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination, and will expire five years after the completion of our initial business combination or earlier upon redemption or our liquidation, as described herein. The underwriters have a 45-day option from the date of this prospectus to purchase up to 6,000,000 additional units to cover over-allotments, if any.

We will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their shares of Class A common stock upon the completion of our initial business combination at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account described below as of two business days prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes, divided by the number of then outstanding shares of Class A common stock that were sold as part of the units in this offering, which we refer to collectively as our public shares, subject to the limitations and on the conditions described herein. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering or any extended period of time that we may have to consummate an initial business combination as a result of an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (an “Extension Period”), we will redeem 100% of the public shares at a per share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, subject to applicable law and certain conditions as further described herein.

Our sponsor, CMLS Holdings III LLC, and our independent director nominees have severally committed to purchase an aggregate of 6,666,667 private placement warrants (or 7,466,667 warrants if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), each exercisable to purchase one share of Class A common stock at $11.50 per share, at a price of $1.50 per warrant, or $10,000,000 in the aggregate (or $11,200,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), in a private placement that will close simultaneously with the closing of this offering. Our sponsor has committed to purchase 6,083,335 private placement warrants (or 6,883,335 warrants if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), each of Mr. Henry, Mr. Robins and Dr. Robins (and/or one or more entities controlled by them) has committed to purchase 166,666 private placement warrants and Mr. Owusu-Kesse (and/or one or more entities controlled by him) has committed to purchase 83,334 private placement warrants.

Our initial stockholders currently own an aggregate of 11,500,000 shares of Class B common stock (up to 1,500,000 shares of which are subject to forfeiture by our sponsor depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised), which will automatically convert into shares of Class A common stock concurrently with or immediately following the consummation of our initial business combination on a one-for-one basis, subject to the adjustments described herein.

In connection with the consummation of this offering, we will enter into separate forward purchase agreements with affiliates of our sponsor, Casdin Capital, LLC (“Casdin Capital”) and Corvex Management LP (“Corvex Management”), in their capacities as investment advisors on behalf of one or more investment funds, clients or accounts managed by each of Casdin Capital and Corvex Management, respectively (collectively, their “Clients”), pursuant to which, subject to the conditions described below, they will cause certain Clients to purchase from us up to an aggregate amount of 15,000,000 shares of Class A common stock, or the forward purchase shares, for $10.00 per forward purchase share, or an aggregate amount of up to $150,000,000 in a private placement that will close concurrently with the closing of our initial business combination. The respective obligations of Casdin Capital and Corvex Management to cause Clients to purchase forward purchase shares will, among other things, be conditioned on our completing an initial business combination with a company engaged in a business that is within the investment objectives of the Clients purchasing forward purchase shares and on the business combination (including the target assets or business, and the terms of the business combination) being reasonably acceptable to such Clients as determined by Casdin Capital or Corvex Management, as relevant, as investment advisors on behalf of such Clients. See “Summary — The Offering — Forward Purchase Agreements.”

Currently, there is no public market for our units, Class A common stock or warrants. We intend to apply to have our units listed on The Nasdaq Capital Market, or Nasdaq, under the symbol “CMLTU” on or promptly after the date of this prospectus. We cannot guarantee that our securities will be approved for listing on Nasdaq. We expect the shares of Class A common stock and warrants comprising the units to begin separate trading on the 52nd day following the date of this prospectus unless Jefferies LLC and Cowen and Company, LLC inform us of their decision to allow earlier separate trading, subject to our satisfaction of certain conditions. Once the securities comprising the units begin separate trading, we expect that the Class A common stock and warrants will be listed on Nasdaq under the symbols “CMLT” and “CMLTW,” respectively.

We are an “emerging growth company” and “small reporting company” under applicable federal securities laws and will be subject to reduced public company reporting requirements. Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk. See “Risk Factors” beginning on page 33 for a discussion of information that should be considered in connection with an investment in our securities. Investors will not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors in Rule 419 blank check offerings.

Neither the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or determined if this prospectus is truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

     

PER UNIT

 

TOTAL

Public offering price

 

$

10.00

 

$

400,000,000

Underwriting discounts and commissions(1)

 

$

0.55

 

$

22,000,000

Proceeds, before expenses, to us

 

$

9.45

 

$

378,000,000

(1)        $0.20 per unit, or $8,000,000 in the aggregate (or $9,200,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), is payable upon the closing of this offering. Includes $0.35 per unit, or $14,000,000 in the aggregate (or $16,100,000 in the aggregate if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) payable to the underwriters for deferred underwriting commissions to be placed in a trust account located in the United States and released to the underwriters only upon the completion of an initial business combination. See also “Underwriting” for a description of compensation and other items of value payable to the underwriters.

Of the proceeds we receive from this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants described in this prospectus, $400 million, or $460 million if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full ($10.00 per unit in any case), will be deposited into a trust account in the United States with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee, after deducting $8,000,000 in underwriting discounts and commissions payable upon the closing of this offering (or $9,200,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) and an aggregate of $2 million to pay fees and expenses in connection with the closing of this offering and for working capital following the closing of this offering.

The underwriters are offering the units for sale on a firm commitment basis. The underwriters expect
to deliver the units to the purchasers on or about           , 2021.

Jefferies

 

Cowen

            , 2021

 

Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

Page

SUMMARY

 

1

THE OFFERING

 

12

SUMMARY RISK FACTORS

 

30

SUMMARY FINANCIAL DATA

 

32

RISK FACTORS

 

33

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

 

67

USE OF PROCEEDS

 

68

DIVIDEND POLICY

 

71

DILUTION

 

72

CAPITALIZATION

 

74

MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

 

75

PROPOSED BUSINESS

 

80

MANAGEMENT

 

107

PRINCIPAL STOCKHOLDERS

 

116

CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

 

120

DESCRIPTION OF SECURITIES

 

123

U.S. FEDERAL INCOME TAX CONSIDERATIONS

 

141

UNDERWRITING

 

150

LEGAL MATTERS

 

158

EXPERTS

 

158

WHERE YOU CAN FIND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

 

158

INDEX TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

 

F-1

REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

 

F-2

We are responsible for the information contained in this prospectus. We have not, and the underwriters have not, authorized anyone to provide you with different information, and neither we nor the underwriters take responsibility for any other information others may give to you. We are not, and the underwriters are not, making an offer to sell securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted. You should not assume that the information contained in this prospectus is accurate as of any date other than the date on the front of this prospectus.

Until         , 2021, all dealers that effect transactions in these securities, whether or not participating in this offering, may be required to deliver a prospectus. This is in addition to the dealer’s obligation to deliver a prospectus when acting as an underwriter and with respect to unsold allotments or subscriptions.

TRADEMARKS

This prospectus contains references to trademarks and service marks belonging to other entities. Solely for convenience, trademarks and trade names referred to in this prospectus may appear without the ® or ™ symbols, but such references are not intended to indicate, in any way, that the applicable licensor will not assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, its rights to these trademarks and trade names. We do not intend our use or display of other companies’ trade names, trademarks or service marks to imply a relationship with, or endorsement or sponsorship of us by, any other companies.

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Summary

This summary only highlights the more detailed information appearing elsewhere in this prospectus. As this is a summary, it does not contain all of the information that you should consider in making an investment decision. You should read this entire prospectus carefully, including the information under “Risk Factors” and our financial statements and the related notes included elsewhere in this prospectus, before investing.

Unless otherwise stated in this prospectus or the context otherwise requires, references to:

•     “we,” “us,” “company” or “our company” are to CM Life Sciences III Inc., a Delaware corporation;

•     “amended and restated certificate of incorporation” are to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, which will be adopted prior to the consummation of this offering;

•     “common stock” are to our Class A common stock and our Class B common stock;

•     “DGCL” refers to the Delaware General Corporation Law as the same may be amended from time to time;

•     “directors” are to our current directors and director nominees;

•     “founder shares” are to shares of Class B common stock initially purchased by our sponsor in a private placement prior to this offering and the shares of Class A common stock that will be issued upon the automatic conversion of the shares of Class B common stock at the time of our initial business combination as described herein;

•     “forward purchase agreements” are to the forward purchase agreements providing for the sale of forward purchase shares by us to Casdin Capital, Corvex Management or their respective affiliates in a private placement that would close concurrently with the closing of our initial business combination;

•     “forward purchase shares” are to the shares of our Class A common stock that may be issued to Casdin Capital, Corvex Management or their respective affiliate pursuant to the forward purchase agreements;

•     “initial stockholders” are to holders of our founder shares prior to this offering;

•     “management” or our “management team” are to our executive officers and directors;

•     “private placement warrants” are to the warrants issued to our sponsor and our independent director nominees (and/or one or more entities controlled by them) in a private placement simultaneously with the closing of this offering;

•     “public shares” are to shares of Class A common stock sold as part of the units in this offering (whether they are purchased in this 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 initial stockholders and/or members of our management team purchase public shares, provided that each initial stockholder’s and member of our management team’s status as a “public stockholder” will only exist with respect to such public shares; and

•     “sponsor” are to CMLS Holdings III LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, which is controlled by C-LSH III LLC (an entity affiliated with Eli Casdin) and M-LSH III LLC (an entity affiliated with Keith Meister), the members of the sponsor.

Unless we tell you otherwise, the information in this prospectus assumes that the underwriters will not exercise their over-allotment option and the forfeiture by our sponsor of 1,500,000 founder shares for no consideration.

GENERAL

We are a newly organized blank check company incorporated in January 2021 as a Delaware corporation 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 prospectus as our initial business combination. To date our efforts have been limited to organizational activities as well as activities related to this offering. We have not selected any specific business combination target and we have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, engaged in any substantive discussions, directly or indirectly, with any business combination target with respect to an initial business combination with us. While we may pursue an initial business combination target in any industry, sector or geographic region, we intend to capitalize on our management team’s background and experience to identify promising opportunities in the life sciences sector.

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OUR FOUNDERS

Our team intends to leverage the strong life sciences knowledge base and public and private market experience of our sponsor with the goal of executing a successful business combination in the life sciences sector. Our sponsor is an affiliate of Eli Casdin, founder and Chief Investment Officer of Casdin Capital, and of Keith Meister, founder and Chief Investment Officer of Corvex Management, two leading investment firms.

Eli Casdin and Casdin Capital

Founded by industry veteran Eli Casdin, Casdin Capital launched in 2011 as a leading thematic investor in the fast growing life sciences industry. Casdin Capital’s investment strategy includes but also extends beyond traditional drug development, finding opportunity in the vast universe of companies at the epicenter of innovation, spanning biotechnology and its many constituents. Companies beyond drug developers include developers of molecular-based diagnostics, providers of tools, developers of technology and data assets and operators of service companies that support research, development and product commercialization.

With nearly two decades of experience and a family history in the space that reaches back decades further, Mr. Casdin serves as both Casdin Capital’s Chief Executive and Chief Investment Officer. His track record is based on an ability to find opportunities on both the ‘bio’ and ‘tech’ sides and his understanding of where the two intersect. We believe that Mr. Casdin’s interest in industry synergy and his overall vision and understanding of the life sciences industry will open us to a large investment universe and help us identify significant inefficiencies.

With this broad industry lens and a long-term view, Mr. Casdin has been active in the private and public side of the capital market since 2011, investing in over 100 private companies and holding over 30 public company positions as of January 31, 2021. As one of the early crossover funds, Casdin Capital has also participated in 30 crossover investment rounds, 29 initial public offerings following crossover investments and 54 total initial public offerings.

Casdin Capital currently has $3.3 billion assets under management, 67 private portfolio companies and an active deal flow that brought it into conversation with hundreds of companies across the industry. In the 12 months ended January 31, 2021, Casdin Capital made 44 new investments in private companies and participated in 36 secondary offerings of companies in which it previously invested. In addition, 13 of its portfolio companies completed initial public offerings in that time period (Oric Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ORIC), Burning Rock Biotech Limited (Nasdaq: BNR), Black Diamond Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: BDTX), Revolution Medicines, Inc. (Nasdaq: RVMD), Generation Bio Co. (Nasdaq: GBIO), Relay Therapeutics (Nasdaq: RLAY), Taysha Gene Therapies Inc (Nasdaq: TSHA), Kronos Bio Inc (Nasdaq: KRON), Codiak BioSciences Inc (Nasdaq: CDAK), Foghorn Therapeutics Inc (Nasdaq: FHTX), 4D Molecular Therapeutics Inc (Nasdaq: FDMT), 908 Devices Inc (Nasdaq: MASS), Clover Health (Nasdaq: CLOV)). Casdin Capital’s thematic investment approach and focus on an investor/partner model has allowed the firm to forge strong relationships with companies, scientists and stakeholders, which we intend to draw upon as we identify opportunities for our initial business combination. Relying on deep research and a rich network of contacts to identify the connections between the science, technology and sharp, experienced management teams, Casdin Capital’s proven track record stems from working with management teams and scientists as valuable industry partners. We believe these robust partnerships and a focus on the entire life sciences continuum is what sets Casdin Capital apart from and in front of its peers and will allow us to spot new opportunities and potential challenges long before most investors understand the space.

Keith Meister and Corvex Management

Keith Meister is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Corvex Management, a New York based investment advisor with $2.5 billion assets under management. As Chief Investment Officer of Corvex Management, Mr. Meister is focused on investing in high-quality businesses that benefit from constructive stockholder engagement. Since inception, Corvex Management has invested more than $6 billion through its funds, special purpose vehicles and co-investments specifically for situations offering the opportunity for extensive engagement or board representations.

Mr. Meister’s active investing approach identifies asymmetric risk/reward opportunities and underscores a particular skill in finding synergies across diversified holdings. Focused on identifying market dislocations and adept at spotting differentiated points of view, the Corvex Management team has built success not only by creating a

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concentrated portfolio based on deep industry understanding and a willingness to take the longer-term view, but also by capitalizing on market inefficiencies and short-term volatility. Critical to that success is Mr. Meister’s track record effecting change at companies, even without a controlling stake, by creating buy-in from management teams, directors, and stockholders. Mr. Meister and his team have an extensive history of partnership and collaboration with key stakeholders, leading industry experts and like-minded stockholders, and are known for maintaining productive, ongoing dialogues with boards, management teams, and advisors.

We expect to benefit from Mr. Meister’s significant experience as a director of 16 public companies, which includes a long history of working with boards and management teams to create stockholder value through improved corporate governance, capital allocation, and operations. Since founding Corvex Management, Mr. Meister has served on the boards of directors of MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM), Yum Brands, Inc. (NYSE: YUM), The Williams Companies (NYSE: WMB), ADT, Inc. (NYSE: ADT), Ralcorp Holdings, Inc. and Motorola Mobility, Inc. Mr. Meister also brings to CM Life Sciences III the experience of having helped these companies enter into transactions with an aggregate value of over $80 billion involving spin-offs, asset dispositions, acquisitions, mergers, recapitalizations, and various forms of capital market transactions.

Prior to founding Corvex Management, Mr. Meister was Chief Executive Officer/Principal Executive Officer of Icahn Enterprises L.P. (NYSE: IEP), a diversified holding company, from 2003 through 2010. During his term as CEO/PEO, Icahn Enterprises grew from $1.5 billion to $18 billion in total assets while generating over 20% annual returns for stockholders. As CEO/PEO of Icahn Enterprises, Mr. Meister was responsible for overseeing a portfolio of holdings that spanned a wide range of industries including automotive, gaming, oil & gas, general industrial and asset management. Mr. Meister also served as a director for XO Holdings, Inc., American Casino and Entertainment Properties LLC, Federal-Mogul Corporation and American Railcar Industries, Inc. during his tenure with Icahn Enterprises.

OUR MANAGEMENT AND BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Eli Casdin, our Chief Executive Officer, is founder and Chief Investment Officer of Casdin Capital. Mr. Casdin founded Casdin Capital in 2011. For the last 17 years he has analyzed and invested in disruptive technologies and business models in life sciences and healthcare. Prior to founding Casdin Capital, Mr. Casdin was a vice president at Alliance Bernstein’s “thematic” based investment group where he researched and invested in the implications of new technologies for the life sciences and healthcare sectors. The black book, “The Dawn of Molecular Medicine,” co-authored by Mr. Casdin, details the early, yet already accelerating, wave of innovations in life sciences, and the next wave of investment opportunities. Mr. Casdin’s prior experience includes time at Bear Stearns and Cooper Hill Partners, a healthcare focused investment firm. Mr. Casdin earned a B.S. from Columbia University and an MBA from Columbia Business School. Mr. Casdin also serves as the Chief Executive Officer of CM Life Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: CMLF) and CM Life Sciences II Inc. (Nasdaq: CMII), both blank check companies sponsored by an affiliate of Casdin Capital and Corvex Management, since July 2020 and December 2020, respectively. Mr. Casdin serves on the board of directors for CM Life Sciences, Inc. and CM Life Sciences II Inc., and also serves as a director or observer on the boards of a number of privately held life sciences companies. He has previously served as a director or observer on other, now public, boards, including Exact Sciences Corporation (Nasdaq: EXAS), Invitae Corporation (NYSE: NVTA), Relay Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: RLAY), and Magenta Therapeutics (Nasdaq: MGTA). Mr. Casdin is currently a member of the New York Genome Center Board and a member of The Columbia University School of General Studies Board of Visitors.

Keith A. Meister, our Chairman of the Board, is Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer of Corvex Management, which he founded in December 2010. Prior to founding Corvex Management, Mr. Meister served as Chief Executive Officer and then Principal Executive Officer and Vice Chairman of the Board of Icahn Enterprises L.P. (NYSE: IEP) from August 2003 to August 2010. From their launch in November 2004 to August 2010, Mr. Meister also served as Senior Managing Director of the General Partners of Icahn Partners LP and affiliated funds. Mr. Meister currently serves on the board of directors for MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) and as Chairman of the boards of directors CM Life Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: CMLF) and CM Life Sciences II Inc. (Nasdaq: CMII), and has previously served as a director on numerous other public boards including: Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE: YUM), The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE: WMB), ADT, Inc. (NYSE: ADT), Ralcorp Holdings, Inc. and Motorola, Inc. (now Motorola Solutions, Inc., NYSE: MSI/Motorola Mobility, Inc.), among others. He is a director for Roar Digital, LLC, chairman of the board of directors for Harlem Children’s Zone and a member of the board of trustees for the American Museum of Natural History. Mr. Meister received an A.B. in government, cum laude, from Harvard College in 1995.

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Christian Henry, who will serve as a Director following completion of this offering, is Chairman of the Board of Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. (Nasdaq: PACB), since 2020, and of WAVE Life Sciences Ltd. (Nasdaq: WVE) since October 2017. Mr. Henry previously served as Executive Vice President & Chief Commercial Officer of Illumina, Inc. (Nasdaq: ILMN), an applied genomics technology company, from 2015 through January 2017, and previously served in various senior leadership roles at Illumina, Inc. from 2006 to 2015, including Chief Financial Officer, Chief Commercial Officer, General Manager, Genomic Solutions and General Manager, Life Sciences. During his time at Illumina he helped guide the company to grow to more than $2.2 billion in revenues. Prior to joining Illumina, Mr. Henry served as the Chief Financial Officer of Tickets.com, Inc. from 2003 to 2005, as Vice President, Finance & Corporate Controller of Affymetrix, Inc. (acquired by Thermo Fisher Scientific in 2016) from 1999 to 2003 and as Corporate Controller, and later Chief Accounting Officer, of Nektar Therapeutics (formerly Inhale Therapeutic Systems, Inc.) from 1997 to 1999. Mr. Henry holds a B.A. in biochemistry and cell biology from the University of California, San Diego and an M.B.A., with a concentration in finance, from the University of California, Irvine.

Kwame Owusu-Kesse, who will serve as a Director following completion of this offering, is Chief Executive Officer of Harlem Children’s Zone, a nationally acclaimed, anti-poverty organization that has pioneered the field of comprehensive, place-based services. As CEO of Harlem Children’s Zone, Mr. Owusu-Kesse oversees HCZ’s comprehensive programming, ranging from life-shaping early development and innovative education programs to community health and wellness and outreach initiatives, and is responsible for leading the implementation of a multifaceted five-year strategic plan that leverages program data to refine strategies, pursue innovative solutions to further improve participant outcomes, create efficiencies to reduce costs without reducing effectiveness and improve operations and procedures. Mr. Owusu-Kesse also recently spearheaded a national COVID-19 response and recovery strategy and helped broker a unique corporate partnership with the Take on Race Initiative led by Proctor and Gamble and a coalition of major corporations including Walmart, Dell, Dow Jones, and others. Recognized for his multi-sector leadership and demonstrated expertise in cross-disciplinary management, financial analysis, social innovation, fundraising, community building, and social and economic mobility, Mr. Owusu-Kesse was named to BETs Future 40 List, and most recently selected to City & State New York’s Top 100 list of most influential African Americans in New York politics. He received a B.A. in economics from Harvard College, an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, and a Master’s degree in public policy from Harvard Kennedy School.

Chad Robins, who will serve as a Director following completion of this offering, is Chief Executive Officer, Co-Founder and Chairman of Adaptive Biotechnologies Corp. (Nasdaq: ADPT), a commercial stage biotechnology company that aims to translate the genetics of the adaptive immune system into clinical products to diagnose and treat disease, since 2009. Mr. Robins has led Adaptive Biotechnologies Corp. in building a proprietary immune medicine platform that fuels businesses across life sciences research, clinical diagnostics, and drug discovery and guided the company through its initial public offering in 2019. Under his leadership, Adaptive Biotechnologies Corp. successfully launched the clinical diagnostic clonoSEQ®, the first and only FDA-authorized NGS-based test to detect and monitor minimal residual disease in certain B-cell cancers. Mr. Robins is actively engaged in the biotechnology and health policy communities, serving on the executive board of Life Science Washington and the steering committee of the Coalition for 21st Century Medicine. In addition to serving as Chairman of the Board for Adaptive Biotechnologies Corp., he also holds board positions with AltPep Corporation, AdvaMedDx, and HeadLight Technologies, Inc. Prior to Adaptive Biotechnologies Corp., Mr. Robins held executive-level positions in medical technology, investment and real estate companies. Mr. Robins holds an M.B.A. from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a B.S. in Managerial Economics from Cornell University.

Harlan Robins, who will serve as a Director following completion of this offering, is Chief Scientific Officer and Co-Founder of Adaptive Biotechnologies Corp. (Nasdaq: ADPT), since 2009. Prior to co-founding Adaptive Biotechnologies Corp., Dr. Robins served in various roles in the Computational Biology Program at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, including as an Assistant Faculty Member from 2006 to 2011, as an Associate from 2011 to April 2016, and as a Full Member and the Head of the program from April 2016 to June 2019. Dr. Robins holds a B.S. in Physics from Harvard University and a Master’s degree and Ph.D. in Physics from the University of California, Berkeley, with a visiting appointment to the California Institute of Technology. Dr. Robins received postdoctoral appointments in the particle theory group at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel and at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ.

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We believe our management team is well positioned to take advantage of the growing set of investment opportunities focused on the healthcare industry, and that our extensive existing relationships with portfolio companies along with our ongoing efforts to identify investment opportunities will allow us to generate an attractive transaction for our stockholders.

Certain of our executive officers and directors also serve as executive officers and directors of CM Life Sciences, Inc., a blank check company sponsored by an affiliate of Casdin Capital and Corvex Management that consummated its approximately $443 million initial public offering in September 2020. On February 10, 2020, CM Life Sciences, Inc. entered into an agreement and plan of merger (the “Merger Agreement”) among CM Life Sciences, Inc., S-IV Sub, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of CM Life Sciences, Inc. (“Merger Sub”) and Mount Sinai Genomics, Inc., a Delaware corporation, d/b/a Sema4 (“Sema4”), an AI- and machine learning-driven patient-centered genomic and clinical data intelligence company. Pursuant to the Merger Agreement, upon the closing of the transactions contemplated thereby (the “Transactions”), Merger Sub will merge with and into Sema4, with Sema4 being the surviving corporation and becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of CM Life Sciences, Inc. In connection with the entry into the Merger Agreement, CM Life Sciences, Inc. entered into subscription agreements with certain investors, pursuant to which, at closing of the Transactions, such investors will purchase an aggregate of 35,000,000 shares of CM Life Sciences, Inc.’s common stock at a purchase price of $10.00 per share for aggregate gross proceeds of $350,000,000. The Transactions are expected to close in the second quarter of 2021. Additionally, certain of our executive officers and directors also serve as executive officers and directors of CM Life Sciences II Inc., a blank check company sponsored by an affiliate of Casdin Capital and Corvex Management and focused on the life sciences sector, which consummated its $276 initial public offering in February 2021.

Past performance of our management team does not guarantee either (i) success with respect to any business combination we may consummate or (ii) that we will be able to identify a suitable candidate for our initial business combination. You should not rely on the historical performance record of our management team or their respective affiliates or any related investment’s performance as indicative of our future performance of an investment in the company or the returns the company will, or is likely to, generate going forward. For more information on the experience and background of our management team, see the section entitled “Management.”

We believe our ability to complete an initial business combination may be enhanced by our having entered into forward purchase agreements with affiliates of our sponsor, Casdin Capital and Corvex Management, in their capacities as investment advisors on behalf of their Clients, pursuant to which, subject to the conditions described below, they will cause certain Clients to purchase from us up to an aggregate amount of 15,000,000 shares of Class A common stock, or the forward purchase shares, for $10.00 per forward purchase share, or an aggregate amount of up to $150,000,000, in a private placement that will close concurrently with the closing of our initial business combination. The amount of forward purchase shares sold pursuant to the forward purchase agreements will be determined in our discretion based on our need for additional capital to consummate the initial business combination. Under each forward purchase agreement, we are required to approach Casdin Capital and Corvex Management if we propose to raise additional capital by issuing any equity, or securities convertible into, exchangeable or exercisable for equity securities in connection with the initial business combination. The respective obligations of Casdin Capital and Corvex Management to cause Clients to purchase forward purchase shares will, among other things, be conditioned on our completing an initial business combination with a company engaged in a business that is within the investment objectives of the Clients purchasing forward purchase shares and on the business combination (including the target assets or business, and the terms of the business combination) being reasonably acceptable to such Clients as determined by Casdin Capital or Corvex Management, as relevant, as investment advisors on behalf of such Clients. In determining whether a target is reasonably acceptable to Clients, we expect that Casdin Capital or Corvex Management, as relevant, would consider many of the same criteria as we will consider, but will also consider whether the investment is an appropriate investment for such Clients, including whether the investment complies with any guidelines, restrictions or conflicts of interest provisions applicable to such Clients. Each of Casdin Capital and Corvex Management will have the right to transfer a portion of the purchase obligation under the forward purchase agreement to third parties, or upon mutual agreement, to each other, subject to compliance with applicable securities laws. To the extent that we obtain alternative financing to fund the initial business combination and the Clients participate in such financing, the aggregate commitment under the forward purchase agreement will be reduced by the amount of such alternative financing. Please see the risk factor entitled “In evaluating a prospective target business for our initial business combination, our management will consider the availability of funds from the sale of the forward purchase shares, which may be used as part of the consideration to

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the sellers in the initial business combination. If all or some of the forward purchase shares are not purchased under the forward purchase agreement, we may decide not to consummate our initial business combination, or if we decide to, we may lack sufficient funds to consummate our initial business combination” for more information.

INDUSTRY OPPORTUNITY

CM Life Sciences III was founded to take advantage of a dynamic life sciences sector that continues to be buoyed by innovation. With a broadening set of applications for biotechnology that includes research tools and infrastructure, diagnostics, therapeutics, data, and industrial outputs, the life sciences sector offers compelling opportunities for investors who possess a broad overview and understand the trends and themes. CM Life Sciences III is that type of investment partnership, combining the unique industry experience, operational expertise, and investment savvy of Mr. Casdin and Mr. Meister to bring together strong companies and management teams and work with them to capitalize on the near- and far-term opportunities.

Healthcare spending in the United States currently exceeds $3.6 trillion, and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services estimates that number will soon approach 20% of total U.S. Gross Domestic Product. Investors are just now beginning to recognize that life sciences will be a major beneficiary of that growth. The momentum of discovery and propagation of science and technologies combined with the appeal of early-stage industry formation creates dynamic investment opportunities and significant advantages to knowledgeable specialists. New drugs generally receive significant attention and biotechnology investor focus, but there also exists tremendous opportunity in the broader and bigger industry of “bio” and “technology.”

The development of therapeutics are a powerful expression of this opportunity. That said, we intend to broaden the investment aperture even within this application to include the products and services that enable the discovery, development, manufacture and commercialization of these therapies. The momentum of research and development strategies of the biopharmaceutical industry makes this clear, with global R&D expenditures projected by Statista to be $182 billion in 2019, with more than $70 billion in estimated expenditures on U.S. health and medical R&D from federal, state and local governments and other industry sources. These figures encompass spending on all steps from discovery through clinical development and highlight the scope and scale of opportunity for therapeutic ecosystem industry players. U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of new drugs increased approximately 40% comparing 2010 to 2014 numbers with those of 2015 to 2019, and the base case outlook in the next five years forecasts that net medicine spending in the United States will increase from $344 billion in 2018 to $420 billion in 2023. Therefore, the industry is in a powerful growth mode.

While certain enabling life sciences company’s products get embedded early and have long lucrative life cycles with high profitability, the industry, by and large, remains fragmented, with most companies under-resourced and under-scaled. CM Life Sciences III will offer significant and under-appreciated opportunities to consolidate these strong but fledgling companies, a common strategy in every major industry but one possible only now that the life sciences industry has ripened. We will focus our search for business combination targets in three separate areas of the larger life sciences industry, including:

•     Life Sciences Tools:    Research markets endeavor to understand complex biological systems through the use of analytical technologies. These applications create adjacent opportunities for tools in areas such as sample preparation and in regulated downstream “applied markets.” With life sciences tools comprising an approximately $30 billion global market opportunity, the research spending across industry, academia, and government also supports long term GDP-plus growth. Cyclical innovation adds to the growth profile, particularly with the current wave of innovation in the ’omics fields. We identify particular opportunities around the industry’s tools, technology and data analysis and its coordination with the various end-customer segments to take advantage of the attractive fundamental trends.

•     Synthetic Biology:    So called Read/Write technologies, which describe the ability to sequence and synthesize genetic information, are powering the genomic revolution. These technologies have matured to the point where biological systems can be harnessed and manipulated towards a broad variety of applications that include diagnostic, therapeutic and broader industrial solutions. Given the flexibility of biological systems, investment opportunities exist for those who can identify applications outside a traditionally narrow focus. Many of these applications introduce the opportunity to create new products and new markets, as well as to enable more efficient and more environmentally sustainable manufacturing of existing products.

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•     Diagnostics:    The diagnostics industry is leveraging advances in biological tools and broader technologies, including cloud computing and data sciences. These new tools have ushered in advances in risk prediction, therapeutic regimen tailoring, and outcomes analysis, to name just a few. The results have been immediate, both to patient outcomes and industry value, but we believe that the potential of these tools is only now being realized. We believe use of “diagnostic” to describe this dynamic category is a misnomer, and prefer the term “molecular information.” The synergy created by a limited set of publicly investable opportunities and, structurally, the imbalance between channel and content capabilities across industry players is likely to drive powerful new investment opportunities. With progress in regulatory and reimbursement systems, we believe investment opportunities will continue to expand.

We believe that the current state of the life sciences IPO market will enhance our ability to locate attractive targets. Approximately 190 biotechnology companies have gone public since 2016 in the United States. Despite the current level of IPO activity, in February 2020, there were estimated to be approximately 9,500 life sciences companies globally, only a fraction of which are publicly traded. As these companies mature, they will need partners to complement, enhance, and extend their reach. CM Life Sciences III is positioned to be a major participant in that process.

ACQUISITION STRATEGY

CM Life Sciences III has a focused acquisition strategy. We believe that the rise in both the number and quality of companies entering the genomics space today presages significant consolidation and restructuring. Our comprehensive understanding of the science, strong ties to the industry, and broad experience guiding public companies gives us a competitive advantage to help shape, and profit from, this key moment in the maturation of the industry.

Not only do we anticipate CM Life Sciences III will have the advantage in sourcing transactions and creating strong, publicly listed life sciences companies, but the broad vision and on-the-ground expertise of our management team should allow us to see opportunities and synergies even before the target company’s management or board may. With robust partnerships and deep relationships dating back to the industry’s beginnings, our management and board have a track record of identifying potential opportunities and potential challenges, long before most other investors. With over two decades of research, diligence, formal and informal advising, and Board stewardship, we believe our founders are uniquely suited to bridge the gap between private promises and public profits; creating significant stockholder value by structuring companies for the public market typically inaccessible to private equity buyers.

Over the years, members of our management team from Casdin Capital have developed a rich, reflective and repeatable scientific process as rigorous as any found in relevant research labs, which we intend to draw upon as we evaluate targets. Our strategy is to seek out every possible data point and test every possible hypothesis. By methodically breaking down core elements, from treatments to management teams to political-historical context, and examining them from all angles, testing theories as we go, our leadership team learns and grows in step with the life sciences industry itself. When we assess company targets and the mechanisms for solving them, whether a drug or a technology application, we will seek to understand their innovative methodologies, not just their market potential. Beyond the science, we will also scrutinize target markets and competitors, question CEOs, Executive Teams and Boards on their ability to measure outcomes and push toward solutions, and create models for everything from commercial launch capabilities to regulatory hurdles to an entire team’s industry expertise and history. Deep knowledge of the science and its applications is only the beginning. Our experience continually reminds us to focus on leadership’s ability to grow a business and create an empowered workforce, and we seek companies that create the drive and resilience necessary to reach ambitious goals and, ultimately, market success.

With over four decades of combined experience in structuring and executing strategic investments and capital market transactions, our founders bring together a unique understanding of the industry and the world of corporate governance. Together Mr. Casdin and Mr. Meister specifically have bought, sold, combined and separated businesses and assets across industries and geographies, and together are strategically situated to identify and capitalize on industry consolidation. We also know that many companies lack the resources, infrastructure, and governance experience required to transition into successful public companies. Our team’s long-standing experience leading

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large, publicly traded corporations at the board and executive levels opens the door to many companies not yet envisioning themselves in the public market. We believe our experience structuring and executing complex transactions is as key an advantage when completing an initial business combination as it is when identifying future opportunities sparked by it.

Casdin Capital’s investments in over 100 private companies and their diligencing of hundreds of other investments every year has allowed them to map the far reaches of an industry most are just beginning to explore. As of January 31, 2021, Casdin Capital has interests in 67 private portfolio companies and in these companies they have partnered with 45 of the leading venture and healthcare investing firms and strategic arms of large incumbents, including Google Ventures, Arch Ventures, Atlas Ventures, Third Rock Ventures, Flagship Ventures, Wuxi Apptec (OTCMKTS: WUXIF), Danaher Corporation (NYSE: DHR), Viking Global, Warburg Pincus and Andreesson Horowitz. Casdin Capital has also fostered relationships with leading scientific and research institutions, such as Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, the New York Genome Center and Scripps Research. We expect that this deep understanding and these strong relationships, to which we will have access through members of our management team from Casdin Capital, will provide CM Life Sciences III a pipeline of proprietary opportunities that will continue to increase as new players enter the space, and as established players continue to branch out. CM Life Sciences III is not prohibited from pursuing combinations with companies affiliated with our sponsor, executive officers, or directors. In the event we seek to complete a combination with a target that is affiliated with our sponsor, we would obtain an opinion of an independent investment banking firm which is a member of FINRA or a valuation or appraisal firm stating that such an initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that a target will not be deemed an affiliate solely by virtue of ownership by our sponsor or its affiliates, or any of their or our executive officers or directors, of less than 10% of its common stock, individually or in the aggregate. Moreover, we anticipate value-creation opportunities from combining private companies already in the portfolios of our affiliates, Casdin Capital and Corvex Management, presenting unique opportunities at the partnership’s inception and opening us to other dynamic platforms across the industry.

Casdin Capital has developed relationships going back to the unlocking of the human genome, and today is a familiar and trusted participant in this dynamic and complex industry, as well-versed in the science as in the business models that underpin it. As an affiliate of Casdin Capital with key management members from Casdin Capital, we intend to leverage its reputation and position as more than just an investor, but a key partner to major and emerging companies, to work with the most successful and innovative industry professionals, the ones who will continue to drive growth and profits over the next few decades. Combined with Corvex Management, our leadership team is diverse and deep, with strengths in science and business, in research and investing, capital markets and corporate board rooms, and as alert to industry realignments as they are to subtle market moves. Success and strong returns come as much from our collective dedication as it does from our area-expertise. Our seasoned management team and board intends to leverage information from industry experts, scientists, management teams, and corporate directors to proceed with discipline and rigor to complete an attractive business combination that will produce attractive returns for our stockholders.

Consistent with this strategy, we have identified the following criteria to evaluate prospective target businesses. We intend to seek to acquire companies in the Life Sciences Tools, Synthetic Biology and Diagnostics fields and that we believe:

•     have a potential scientific or other business advantage or opportunity in the markets in which they operate;

•     have strong and experienced management teams or key personnel; and

•     will offer attractive risk-adjusted equity returns for our stockholders.

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 we believe 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 prospectus, would be in the form of proxy materials or tender offer documents, as applicable, that we would file with the SEC.

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INITIAL BUSINESS COMBINATION

Nasdaq rules require that we must complete one or more business combinations having an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the value of the assets held in the trust account (excluding the deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on the interest earned on the trust account) at the time of our signing a definitive agreement in connection with our initial business combination. Our board of directors will make the determination as to the fair market value of our initial business combination. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of our initial business combination, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm which is a member of FINRA or a valuation or appraisal firm with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. While we consider it unlikely that our board of directors will not be able to make an independent determination of the fair market value of our initial business combination, it may be unable to do so if it is less familiar or experienced with the business of a particular target or if there is a significant amount of uncertainty as to the value of the target’s assets or prospects. Additionally, pursuant to Nasdaq rules, any initial business combination must be approved by a majority of our independent directors.

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 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, or the Investment Company Act. Even if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our stockholders prior to the 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 of a target. In this case, we would acquire a 100% controlling interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new shares, our stockholders immediately prior to our initial business combination could own less than a majority of our outstanding shares subsequent to our initial business combination. If less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses are owned or acquired by the post-transaction company, the portion of such business or businesses that is owned or acquired is what will be taken into account for purposes of the 80% of net assets test described above. If the business combination involves more than one target business, the 80% of net assets test will be based on the aggregate value of all of the target businesses.

Prior to the date of this prospectus, we will file a Registration Statement on Form 8-A with the SEC to voluntarily register our securities under Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act. As a result, we will be subject to the rules and regulations promulgated under the Exchange Act. We have no current intention of filing a Form 15 to suspend our reporting or other obligations under the Exchange Act prior or subsequent to the consummation of our initial business combination.

SOURCING OF POTENTIAL INITIAL BUSINESS COMBINATION TARGETS

We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor, executive officers or directors, or completing the business combination through a joint venture or other form of shared ownership with our sponsor, executive officers or directors. In the event we seek to complete an initial business combination with a 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 which is a member of FINRA or a valuation or appraisal firm stating that such an initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that a target will not be deemed an affiliate solely by virtue of ownership by our sponsor or its affiliates, or any of their or our executive officers or directors, of less than 10% of its common stock, individually or in the aggregate.

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Members of our management team and our independent directors will directly or indirectly own founder shares and/or private placement warrants following this 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 another entity (including, without limitation, CM Life Sciences, Inc. in the event the Transactions are not consummated and CM Life Sciences II Inc.) pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entity. Accordingly, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for an entity to which he or she has then current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she will honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such business combination opportunity to such other entity (including, without limitation, CM Life Sciences, Inc. in the event the Transactions are not consummated and CM Life Sciences II Inc.). Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that we renounce our interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any director or officer unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of the company and such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue, and to the extent the director or officer is permitted to refer that opportunity to us without violating another legal obligation. 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.1

In addition, our sponsor and our officers and directors may sponsor or form other special purpose acquisition companies similar to ours or may pursue other business or investment ventures during the period in which we are seeking an initial business combination. Any such companies, businesses or investments may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an initial business combination. In particular, certain of our officers and directors serve as an officer and/or director of CM Life Sciences, Inc., a blank check company sponsored by an affiliate of Casdin Capital and Corvex Management that completed its initial public offering in September 2020 and entered into the Merger Agreement with Sema4 in February 2021, and CM Life Sciences II Inc., also a blank check company sponsored by an affiliate of Casdin Capital and Corvex Management focused on the life sciences sector, which completed its $276 million initial public offering in February 2021. However, we do not believe that any such potential conflicts would materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination because, although the aforementioned entities are also seeking acquisition targets in the life sciences industry, there are many companies in the life sciences sector that we believe represent business combination opportunities. Additionally, while no specific deal size is mandated, based on the net proceeds raised in CM Life Sciences II Inc.’s initial public offering, we anticipate that the size of transaction CM Life Sciences II Inc. will pursue will generally be smaller than the transaction we expect to pursue for our initial business combination.

CORPORATE INFORMATION

Our executive offices are located at 667 Madison Avenue, 2nd Floor, New York, New York 10065, and our telephone number is (212) 474-6745.

We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act, as modified by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the “JOBS Act”). As such, we are eligible to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a non-binding advisory vote on executive compensation and 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.

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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 this offering, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion, or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our Class A common stock that is held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30, and (2) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities during the prior three-year period. References herein to “emerging growth company” will have the meaning associated with it in the JOBS Act.

Additionally, we are a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Item 10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K. Smaller reporting companies may take advantage of certain reduced disclosure obligations, including, among other things, providing only two years of audited financial statements. We will remain a smaller reporting company until the last day of the fiscal year in which (1) the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates equals or exceeds $250 million as of the prior June 30th, and (2) our annual revenues equal or exceed $100 million during such completed fiscal year or the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates equals or exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30.

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THE OFFERING

In making your decision on whether to invest in our securities, you should take into account not only the backgrounds of the members of our management team, but also the special risks we face as a blank check company and the fact that this offering is not being conducted in compliance with Rule 419 promulgated under the Securities Act. You will not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors in Rule 419 blank check offerings. You should carefully consider these and the other risks set forth in the section below entitled “Risk Factors” in this prospectus.

Securities offered

 

40,000,000 units (or 46,000,000 units if the underwriter’s over-allotment option is exercised in full), at $10.00 per unit, each unit consisting of:

   

•   one share of Class A common stock; and

•   one-fifth of one redeemable warrant.

Proposed Nasdaq symbols

 

Units: “CMLTU”

   

Class A common stock: “CMLT”

   

Warrants: “CMLTW”

Trading commencement and separation of shares of Class A common stock and warrants

 




The units are expected to begin trading on or promptly after the date of this prospectus. The shares of Class A common stock and warrants comprising the units will begin separate trading on the 52nd day following the date of this prospectus unless Jefferies LLC and Cowen and Company, LLC inform us of their decision to allow earlier separate trading, subject to our having filed the Current Report on Form 8-K described below and having issued a press release announcing when such separate trading will begin. Once the shares of Class A common stock and warrants commence separate trading, holders will have the option to continue to hold units or separate their units into the component securities. Holders will need to have their brokers contact our transfer agent in order to separate the units into shares of Class A common stock and warrants. No fractional warrants will be issued upon separation of the units and only whole warrants will trade. Accordingly, unless you purchase at least five units, you will not be able to receive or trade a whole warrant.

Separate trading of the Class A common stock and warrants is prohibited until we have filed a Current Report on
Form 8-K

 





In no event will the Class A common stock and warrants be traded separately until we have filed with the SEC a Current Report on Form 8-K which includes an audited balance sheet reflecting our receipt of the gross proceeds at the closing of this offering. We will file the Current Report on Form 8-K promptly after the closing of this offering, which closing is anticipated to take place three business days from the date of this prospectus. If the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised following the initial filing of such Current Report on Form 8-K, a second or amended Current Report on Form 8-K will be filed to provide updated financial information to reflect the exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option.

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Units:

   

Number outstanding before this offering

 


0

Number outstanding after this offering

 


40,000,000(1)

Common stock:

   

Number outstanding before this offering

 


11,500,000(2)(3)

Number outstanding after this offering

 


50,000,000(1)(3)(4)

Warrants:

   

Number of private placement warrants to be sold in a private placement simultaneously with this offering

 




6,666,667(1)

Number of warrants to be outstanding after this offering and the private placement

 



14,666,667(1)

Exercisability

 

Each whole warrant offered in this offering is exercisable to purchase one share of Class A common stock. Only whole warrants are exercisable. No fractional warrants will be issued upon separation of the units and only
whole warrants will trade.

   

We structured each unit to contain one-fifth of one warrant, with each whole warrant exercisable for one share of Class A common stock, as compared to units issued by some other similar special purpose acquisition companies which contain whole warrants exercisable for one whole share, in order to reduce the dilutive effect of the warrants upon completion of a business combination as compared to units that each contain a whole warrant to purchase one whole share, thus making us, we believe, a more attractive business combination partner for target businesses.

____________

(1)        Assumes no exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option and the forfeiture by our sponsor of 1,500,000 founder shares for no consideration.

(2)        Includes up to 1,500,000 founder shares that will be forfeited by our sponsor depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised.

(3)        Founder shares are currently classified as shares of Class B common stock, which shares will automatically convert into shares of Class A common stock concurrently with or immediately following the consummation of our initial business combination on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment as described below adjacent to the caption “Founder shares conversion and anti-dilution rights.”

(4)        Includes 40,000,000 public shares and 10,000,000 founder shares.

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Exercise price

 

$11.50 per share, subject to adjustments as described herein. In addition, if (x) we issue additional shares of Class A common stock or equity-linked securities for capital raising purposes in connection with the closing of our initial business combination (excluding any issuance of forward purchase shares) at an issue price or effective issue price of less than $9.20 per share of Class A common stock (with such issue price or effective issue price to be determined in good faith by our board of directors and, in the case of any such issuance to our initial stockholders or their affiliates, without taking into account any founder shares held by our initial stockholders or such affiliates, as applicable, prior to such issuance) (the “Newly Issued Price”), (y) the aggregate gross proceeds from such issuances represent more than 60% of the total equity proceeds, and interest thereon, available for the funding of our initial business combination on the date of the consummation of our initial business combination (net of redemptions), and (z) the volume weighted average trading price of our Class A common stock during the 20 trading day period starting on the trading day after the day on which we consummate our initial business combination (such price, the “Market Value”) is below $9.20 per share, the exercise price of the warrants will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 115% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, the $18.00 per share redemption trigger price described adjacent to “Redemption of warrants when the price per share of Class A common stock equals or exceeds $18.00” and to “Redemption of warrants when the price per share of Class A common stock equals or exceeds $10.00” will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 180% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, and the $10.00 per share redemption trigger price described adjacent to the caption “Redemption of warrants when the price per share of Class A common Stock equals or exceeds $10.00” will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price.

Exercise period

 

The warrants will become exercisable 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination, provided that we have an effective registration statement under the Securities Act covering the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants and a current prospectus relating to them is available and such shares are registered, qualified or exempt from registration under the securities, or blue sky, laws of the state of residence of the holder (or we permit holders to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis under the circumstances specified in the warrant agreement). 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 are registering the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants in the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part because the warrants will become exercisable 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination, which may be within one year of this offering. However, because the warrants will be exercisable until their expiration date of up to five years after the completion of our initial business combination, in order to comply with the requirements of Section 10(a)(3) of the Securities Act following the consummation of our initial business combination, we have agreed that as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 15 business days after the closing of our initial business combination, we will use our best efforts to file with the SEC and have an effective registration statement covering the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants 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

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the warrant agreement. If a registration statement covering the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants is not effective by the 60th business day after the closing of our initial business combination, warrant holders may, until such time as there is an effective registration statement and during any period when we will have failed to maintain an effective registration statement, exercise warrants on a “cashless basis” in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act or another exemption. Notwithstanding the above, if our 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 they satisfy the definition of a “covered security” under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act, we may, at our option, require holders of public warrants who exercise their warrants to do so on a “cashless basis” in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act and, in the event we so elect, we will not be required to file or maintain in effect a registration statement, and in the event we do not so elect, we will use our best efforts to register or qualify the shares under applicable blue sky laws to the extent an exemption is not available.

   

The warrants will expire at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, five years after the completion of our initial business combination or earlier upon redemption or liquidation. On the exercise of any warrant, the warrant exercise price will be paid directly to us and not placed in the trust account.

Redemption of warrants when the price per share of Class A common stock equals or exceeds $18.00

 




Once the warrants become exercisable, we may redeem the outstanding warrants for cash (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, which we refer to as the 30-day redemption period; and

   

•   if, and only if, the closing price of our Class A common stock equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for adjustments to the number of shares issuable upon exercise or the exercise price of a warrant as described under the heading “Description of Securities — Warrants — Public Stockholders’ Warrants — Anti-Dilution Adjustments) for any 20 trading days within a 30-trading day period ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which we send the notice of redemption to the warrant holders.

   

We will not redeem the warrants as described above unless an effective registration statement under the Securities Act covering the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants is effective and a current prospectus relating to those shares of Class A common stock is available throughout the 30-day redemption period. 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 laws. Except as described below, none of the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us so long as they are held by the initial purchasers or their permitted transferees.

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Redemption of warrants when the price per share of Class A common stock equals or exceeds $10.00

 




Once the warrants become exercisable, we may redeem the outstanding warrants:

   

•   in whole and not in part;

   

•   at $0.10 per warrant upon a minimum of 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption provided that holders will be able to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis prior to redemption and receive that number of shares determined by reference to the table set forth under “Description of Securities — Warrants — Public Stockholders’ Warrants” based on the redemption date and the “fair market value” (as defined below) of our Class A common stock except as otherwise described in “Description of Securities — Warrants — Public Stockholders’ Warrants”;

   

•   if, and only if, the closing price of our Class A common stock equals or exceeds $10.00 per public share (as adjusted for adjustments to the number of shares issuable upon exercise or the exercise price of a warrant as described under the heading “Description of Securities — Warrants — Public Stockholders’ Warrants — Anti-dilution Adjustments”) for any 20 trading days within the 30-trading day period ending three trading days before we send notice of redemption to the warrant holders; and

   

•   if the closing price of our Class A common stock for any 20 trading days within a 30-trading day period ending three trading days before we send notice of redemption to the warrant holders is less than $18.00 per share (as adjusted for adjustments to the number of shares issuable upon exercise or the exercise price of a warrant as described under the heading “Description of Securities — Warrants — Public Stockholders’ Warrants — Anti-dilution Adjustments”), the private placement warrants must also be concurrently called for redemption on the same terms as the outstanding public warrants, as described above.

   

The “fair market value” of our Class A common stock shall mean the volume weighted average price of our Class A common stock during the 10 trading days immediately following the date on which the notice of redemption is sent to the holders of warrants. This redemption feature differs from the typical warrant redemption features used in other blank check offerings. We will provide our warrant holders with the final fair market value no later than one business day after the 10 trading day period described above ends. In no event will the warrants be exercisable in connection with this redemption feature for more than 0.361 shares of Class A common stock per warrant (subject to adjustment).

   

No fractional shares of Class A common stock will be issued upon redemption. If, upon redemption, a holder would be entitled to receive a fractional interest in a share, we will round down to the nearest whole number of the number of shares of Class A common stock to be issued to the holder. Please see the section entitled “Description of Securities — Warrants — Public Stockholders’ Warrants” for additional information.

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Forward purchase agreements

 

In connection with the consummation of this offering, we will enter into separate forward purchase agreements with affiliates of our sponsor, Casdin Capital and Corvex Management, in their capacities as investment advisors on behalf of their Clients, pursuant to which, subject to the conditions described below, they will cause certain Clients to purchase from us up to an aggregate amount of 15,000,000 shares of Class A common stock, or the forward purchase shares, for $10.00 per forward purchase share, or an aggregate amount of up to $150,000,000, in a private placement that will close concurrently with the closing of our initial business combination. The amount of forward purchase shares sold pursuant to the forward purchase agreements will be determined in our discretion based on our need for additional capital to consummate the initial business combination. Under each forward purchase agreement, we will be required to approach Casdin Capital and Corvex Management if we propose to raise additional capital by issuing any equity, or securities convertible into, exchangeable or exercisable for equity securities in connection with the initial business combination. The respective obligations of Casdin Capital and Corvex Management to cause Clients to purchase forward purchase shares will, among other things, be conditioned on our completing an initial business combination with a company engaged in a business that is within the investment objectives of the Clients purchasing forward purchase shares and on the business combination (including the target assets or business, and the terms of the business combination) being reasonably acceptable to such Clients as determined by Casdin Capital or Corvex Management, as relevant, as investment advisors on behalf of such Clients. In determining whether a target is reasonably acceptable to Clients, we expect that Casdin Capital or Corvex Management, as relevant, would consider many of the same criteria as we will consider, but will also consider whether the investment is an appropriate investment for such Clients, including whether the investment complies with any guidelines, restrictions or conflicts of interest provisions applicable to such Clients. Each of Casdin Capital and Corvex Management will have the right to transfer a portion of the purchase obligation under the forward purchase agreement to third parties, or upon mutual agreement, to each other, subject to compliance with applicable securities laws. To the extent that we obtain alternative financing to fund the initial business combination and the Clients participate in such financing, the aggregate commitment under the forward purchase agreement will be reduced by the amount of such alternative financing.

The forward purchase shares will be identical to the shares of Class A common stock included in the units being sold in this offering, except that they will not be transferable, assignable or salable until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination, except as described herein under “Principal Stockholders — Transfers of Founder Shares, Private Placement Warrants and Forward Purchase Shares,” and will be subject to registration rights.

Founder shares

 

During the period ended February 4, 2021, our sponsor paid $25,000, or approximately $0.002 per share, to cover certain of our offering costs in consideration of 11,500,000 founder shares.

Prior to the initial investment in the company of $25,000 by the sponsor, the company had no assets, tangible or intangible. The per share price of the founder shares was determined by dividing the amount of cash contributed to the company by the number of founder shares issued. The number of founder shares outstanding was determined based on the expectation that the total size of this offering would be a maximum of 46,000,000 units if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full, and therefore that such founder shares would represent 20% of the outstanding shares after this offering.

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Up to 1,500,000 of the founder shares will be forfeited by our sponsor depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option is not exercised. If we increase or decrease the size of the offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, we will effect a stock dividend or share contribution back to capital or other appropriate mechanism, as applicable, with respect to our Class B common stock immediately prior to the consummation of the offering in such amount as to maintain the ownership of founder shares by our initial stockholders, on an as-converted basis, at 20.0% of our issued and outstanding common stock upon the consummation of this offering.

   

The founder shares are identical to the shares of Class A common stock included in the units being sold in this offering, except that:

   

•   the founder shares are subject to certain transfer restrictions, as described in more detail below;

   

•   the founder shares are entitled to registration rights;

   

•   our initial stockholders, sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to (i) waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and public shares they hold in connection with the completion of our initial business combination, (ii) waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and public shares they hold in connection with a stockholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our public shares if we have not consummated an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering or during any Extension Period or with respect to any other material provisions relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity and (iii) waive their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any founder shares they hold if we fail to complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering or during any Extension Period (although they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any public shares they hold if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame). If we submit our initial business combination to our public stockholders for a vote, our initial stockholders have agreed to vote their founder shares and any public shares purchased during or after this 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 this offering to be voted in favor of an initial business combination in order to have our initial business combination approved (assuming all outstanding shares are voted and the over-allotment option is not exercised); and

   

•   the founder shares are automatically convertible into our Class A common stock concurrently with or immediately following the consummation of our initial business combination on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment pursuant to certain anti-dilution rights, as described below adjacent to the caption “Founder shares conversion and anti-dilution rights.”

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Transfer restrictions on founder shares

 


Our initial stockholders have agreed not to transfer, assign or sell any of their founder shares until the earlier to occur of: (i) one year after the completion of our initial business combination and (ii) the date on which we complete a liquidation, merger, capital stock exchange or other similar transaction after our initial business combination that results in all of our stockholders having the right to exchange their Class A common stock for cash, securities or other property; except to certain permitted transferees and under certain circumstances as described herein under “Principal Stockholders — Transfers of Founder Shares, Private Placement Warrants and Forward Purchase Shares”. Any permitted transferees will be subject to the same restrictions and other agreements of our initial stockholders with respect to any founder shares. We refer to such transfer restrictions throughout this prospectus as the lock-up. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if (1) the closing 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 (2) if we consummate a transaction after our initial business combination which results in our stockholders having the right to exchange their shares for cash, securities or other property, the founder shares will be released from the lock-up.

Founder shares conversion and anti-dilution rights

 


The founder shares will automatically convert into shares of Class A common stock concurrently with or immediately following the consummation of our initial business combination on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like, and subject to further adjustment as provided herein. In the case that additional shares of Class A common stock or equity-linked securities are issued or deemed issued in connection with our initial business combination, the number of shares of Class A common stock issuable upon conversion of all founder shares will equal, in the aggregate, on an as-converted basis, 20% of the total number of shares of Class A common stock outstanding after such conversion (after giving effect to any redemptions of shares of Class A common stock by public stockholders), including the total number of shares of 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 consummation of the initial business combination (including any forward purchase shares), excluding any shares of Class A common stock or equity-linked securities or rights exercisable for or convertible into shares of 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, officers or directors upon conversion of working capital loans, provided that such conversion of founder shares will never occur on a less than one-for-one basis. The term “equity-linked securities” refers to any debt or equity securities that are convertible, exercisable or exchangeable for our shares of Class A common stock issued in a financing transaction in connection with our initial business combination, including, but not limited to, a private placement of equity or debt.

Voting Rights

 

Holders of record of our Class A common stock and holders of record of our Class B common stock will vote together as a single class on all matters submitted to a vote of our stockholders, with each share of common stock entitling the holder to one vote except as required by law.

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Private placement warrants

 

Our sponsor and our independent director nominees have severally committed, pursuant to a written agreement, to purchase an aggregate of 6,666,667 private placement warrants (or 7,466,667 warrants if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), each exercisable to purchase one share of Class A common stock at $11.50 per share, at a price of $1.50 per warrant, or $10,000,000 in the aggregate (or $11,200,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), in a private placement that will close simultaneously with the closing of this offering. Our sponsor has committed to purchase 6,083,335 private placement warrants (or 6,883,335 warrants if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), each of Mr. Henry, Mr. Robins and Dr. Robins (and/or one or more entities controlled by them) has committed to purchase 166,666 private placement warrants and Mr. Owusu-Kesse (and/or one or more entities controlled by him) has committed to purchase 83,334 private placement warrants. A portion of the purchase price of the private placement warrants will be added to the proceeds from this offering to be held in the trust account such that at the time of closing of this offering $400 million (or $460 million if the underwriters exercise their over-allotment option in full) will be held in the trust account. If we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering or during any Extension Period, the private placement warrants will expire worthless.

   

The private placement warrants will be non-redeemable (except as described above under “Redemption of warrants when the price per share of Class A common stock equals or exceeds $10.00) and exercisable on a cashless basis so long as they are held by their initial purchasers or their permitted transferees. If the private placement warrants are held by holders other than their initial purchasers or their permitted transferees, the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us and exercisable by the holders on the same basis as the warrants included in the units being sold in this offering.

Transfer restrictions on private placement warrants

 


The private placement warrants (including the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the private placement warrants) will not be transferable, assignable or salable until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination, except as described herein under “Principal Stockholders — Transfers of Founder Shares, Private Placement Warrants and Forward Purchase Shares”.

Proceeds to be held in trust
account

 


Nasdaq rules provide that at least 90% of the gross proceeds from this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants be deposited in a trust account. Of the proceeds we will receive from this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants described in this prospectus, $400 million, or $460 million if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full ($10.00 per unit in either case), will be deposited into a segregated trust account located in the United States at JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee, after deducting $8,000,000 in underwriting discounts and commissions payable upon the closing of this offering (or $9,200,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) and an aggregate of $2.0 million to pay fees and expenses in connection with the closing of this offering and for working capital following the closing of this offering. The proceeds to be placed in the trust account include $14,000,000 (or $16,100,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) in deferred underwriting commissions.

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Except with respect to interest earned on the funds held in the trust account that may be released to us to pay our taxes, the proceeds from this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants will not be released from the trust account until the earliest of (i) the completion of our initial business combination, (ii) the redemption of our public shares if we are unable to complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering or during any Extension Period, subject to applicable law, and (iii) the redemption of our public shares properly submitted in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our public shares if we have not consummated an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering or during any Extension Period or with respect to any other material provisions relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity. The proceeds deposited in the trust account could become subject to the claims of our creditors, if any, which could have priority over the claims of our public stockholders.

Anticipated expenses and funding sources

 


Unless and until we complete our initial business combination, no proceeds held in the trust account will be available for our use, except the withdrawal of interest to pay our taxes and/or to redeem our public shares in connection with an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, as described above. 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. We estimate the interest earned on the trust account will be approximately $400,000 per year, assuming an interest rate of 0.1% per year; however we can provide no assurances regarding this amount. Unless and until we complete our initial business combination, we may pay our expenses only from such interest withdrawn from the trust account and:

   

•   the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants not held in the trust account, which initially will be approximately $1,000,000 in working capital after the payment of approximately $1,000,000 in expenses relating to this offering; and

   

•   any loans or additional investments from our sponsor, members of our management team or their affiliates or other third parties, although they are under no obligation to advance funds or invest in us, and provided that any such loans will not have any claim on the proceeds held in the trust account unless such proceeds are released to us upon completion of our initial business combination. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into private placement warrants, at a price of $1.50 per warrant, at the option of the lender.

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Conditions to completing our initial business combination

 


Nasdaq rules require that we must complete one or more business combinations having an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the value of the assets held in the trust account (excluding the deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on the interest earned on the trust account) at the time of our signing a definitive agreement in connection with our initial business combination. Our board of directors will make the determination as to the fair market value of our initial business combination. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of our initial business combination, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm which is a member of FINRA or a valuation or appraisal firm. While we consider it unlikely that our board of directors will not be able to make an independent determination of the fair market value of our initial business combination, it may be unable to do so if it is less familiar or experienced with the business of a particular target or if there is a significant amount of uncertainty as to the value of the target’s assets or prospects. Additionally, pursuant to Nasdaq rules, any initial business combination must be approved by a majority of our independent directors.

   

We will complete our initial business combination only if the post-transaction company in which our public stockholders own shares will own or acquire 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or is otherwise not required to register as an investment company under 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 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 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 or shares 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 taken into account for purposes of the 80% of net assets test described above, provided that in the event that the business combination involves more than one target business, the 80% of net assets test will be based on the aggregate value of all of the target businesses and we will treat the target businesses together as our initial business combination for purposes of a seeking stockholder approval or conducting a tender offer, as applicable.

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Permitted purchases of public shares and public warrants by our affiliates

 



If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our sponsor, initial stockholders, directors, executive officers, advisors or their respective affiliates may purchase public shares or public warrants in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination. There is no limit on the number of shares our initial stockholders, directors, officers, advisors or their respective affiliates may purchase in such transactions, subject to compliance with applicable law and Nasdaq rules. However, they have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such purchases or other transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such purchases or other transactions. None of the funds held in the trust account will be used to purchase shares or public warrants in such transactions. If they engage in such transactions, they will be restricted from making any such purchases when they are in possession of any material nonpublic information not disclosed to the seller or if such purchases are prohibited by Regulation M under the Exchange Act. We do not currently anticipate that such purchases, if any, would constitute a tender offer subject to the tender offer rules under the Exchange Act or a going-private transaction subject to the going-private rules under the Exchange Act; however, if the purchasers determine at the time of any such purchases that the purchases are subject to such rules, the purchasers will be required to comply with such rules. We expect 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 “Proposed Business — Permitted purchases of our securities” for a description of how our sponsor, initial stockholders, directors, executive officers, advisors or any of their affiliates will select which stockholders to purchase securities from in any private transaction.

   

The purpose of any such purchases of shares could be to vote such shares in favor of the business combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining the requisite 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. In addition, if such purchases are made, the public “float” of our Class A common stock or warrants may be reduced and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, which may make it difficult to maintain or obtain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange.

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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 public shares upon the completion of our initial business combination at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account calculated as of two business days prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes, divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, subject to the limitations and on the conditions described herein. The amount in the trust account is initially anticipated to be $10.00 per public share. The per share amount we will distribute to investors who properly redeem their shares will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting commissions we will pay to the underwriters. There will be no redemption rights upon the completion of our initial business combination with respect to our warrants. Our initial stockholders, sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares they hold and any public shares they may acquire during or after this offering in connection with the completion of our initial business combination.

Limitations on redemptions

 

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001. In addition, our proposed initial business combination may impose a minimum cash requirement for: (i) cash consideration to be paid to the target or its owners, (ii) cash for working capital or other general corporate purposes or (iii) the retention of cash to satisfy other conditions. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all shares of Class A common stock that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed initial business combination exceed the aggregate amount of cash available to us, we will not complete the initial business combination or redeem any shares in connection with such initial business combination, and all shares of Class A common stock submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof. We may, however, raise funds through the issuance of equity-linked securities or through loans, advances or other indebtedness in connection with our initial business combination, including pursuant to forward purchase agreements or backstop arrangements we may enter into following consummation of this offering, in order to, among other reasons, satisfy such net tangible assets or minimum cash requirements.

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) without a stockholder vote 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. 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 outstanding Class A common stock or seek to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation would require stockholder approval. So long as we obtain and maintain a listing for our securities on Nasdaq we will be required to comply with Nasdaq’s stockholder approval rules.

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The requirement that we provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares by one of the two methods listed above will be contained in provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and will apply whether or not we maintain our registration under the Exchange Act or our listing on Nasdaq. Such provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation may be amended if approved by holders of 65% of our common stock entitled to vote thereon.

   

If we provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares in connection with a stockholder meeting, we will:

   

•   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.

   

If we seek stockholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if a majority of the outstanding shares of common stock entitled to vote are voted in favor of the initial business combination. A quorum for such meeting will consist of the holders present in person or by proxy of shares of outstanding capital stock of the Company representing a majority of the voting power of all outstanding shares of capital stock of the Company entitled to vote at such meeting. Our initial stockholders will count towards this quorum and, pursuant to the letter agreement, our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed to vote any founder shares they hold and any public shares purchased during or after this offering (including in open market and privately-negotiated transactions) in favor of our initial business combination. For purposes of seeking approval of the majority of our outstanding shares of common stock entitled to vote, 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 only 15,000,001, or 37.5%, of the 40,000,000 public shares sold in this offering to be voted in favor of an initial business combination in order to have our initial business combination approved (assuming all outstanding shares are voted and the over-allotment option is not exercised). These quorum and voting thresholds, and the voting agreements of our initial stockholders, may make it more likely that we will consummate our initial business combination. Each public stockholder may elect to redeem its public shares irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction or whether they were a stockholder on the record date for the stockholder meeting held to approve the proposed transaction.

   

If a stockholder vote is not required and we do not decide to hold a stockholder vote for business or other legal reasons, we will:

   

•   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 our initial business combination and the redemption rights as is required under Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act, which regulates the solicitation of proxies.

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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 such initial business combination.

   

Upon the public announcement of our initial business combination, if we elect to conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, we and our sponsor will terminate any plan established in accordance with Rule 10b5-1 to purchase shares of our Class A common stock in the open market, in order to comply with Rule 14e-5 under the Exchange Act.

   

We intend to require our public stockholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” to, at the holder’s option, either deliver their stock certificates to our transfer agent or deliver their shares to our transfer agent electronically using The Depository Trust Company’s DWAC (Deposit/Withdrawal At Custodian) system, prior to the date set forth in the proxy materials or tender offer documents, as applicable. In the case of proxy materials, this date may be up to two business days prior to the date on which the vote on the proposal to approve the initial business combination is to be held. In addition, if we conduct redemptions in connection with a stockholder vote, we intend to require a public stockholder seeking redemption of its public shares to also submit a written request for redemption to our transfer agent two business days prior to the vote in which the name of the beneficial owner of such shares is included. The proxy materials or tender offer documents, as applicable, that we will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination will indicate whether we are requiring public stockholders to satisfy such delivery requirements. We believe that this will allow our transfer agent to efficiently process any redemptions without the need for further communication or action from the redeeming public stockholders, which could delay redemptions and result in additional administrative cost. If the proposed initial business combination is not approved and we continue to search for a target company, we will promptly return any certificates or shares delivered by public stockholders who elected to redeem their shares.

Limitation on redemption rights of stockholders holding more than 20% of the shares sold in this offering if we hold a stockholder vote

 





Notwithstanding the foregoing redemption rights, 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 redeeming its shares with respect to more than an aggregate of 20% of the shares sold in this offering, without our prior consent. We believe the restriction described above will discourage stockholders from accumulating large blocks of shares, and subsequent attempts by such holders to use their ability to redeem their shares as a means to force us or our management to purchase their shares at

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a significant premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. Absent this provision, a public stockholder holding more than an aggregate of 20% of the shares sold in this offering could threaten to exercise its redemption rights against a business combination 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 to no more than 20% of the shares sold in this offering, 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 all shares held by those stockholders that hold more than 20% of the shares sold in this offering) for or against our initial business combination.

Release of funds in trust account on closing of our initial business combination

 



On the completion of our initial business combination, the funds held in the trust account will be used to pay amounts due to any public stockholders who properly exercise their redemption rights as described above under “Redemption rights for public stockholders upon completion of our initial business combination,” to pay the underwriters their deferred underwriting commissions, to pay all or a portion of the consideration payable to the target or owners of the target of our initial business combination and to pay other expenses associated with our initial business combination. 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 the redemption of our public shares, we may apply the balance of the cash released to us from the trust account for general corporate purposes, including for maintenance or expansion of operations of post-transaction businesses, 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.

Redemption of public shares and distribution and liquidation if no initial business combination

 




Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that we will have only 24 months from the closing of this offering to complete our initial business combination or during any Extension Period. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination within such 24-month period or during any Extension Period, we will: (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any), and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of 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 fail to complete our initial business combination within the 24-month time period.

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Our initial stockholders have entered into agreements 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 fail to complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering or during any Extension Period. However, if our initial stockholders or management team acquire public shares in or after this offering, they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to such public shares if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the allotted 24-month time frame.

   

The underwriters have agreed to waive their rights to their deferred underwriting commission held in the trust account in the event we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering or during any Extension Period and, in such event, such amounts will be included with the funds held in the trust account that will be available to fund the redemption of our public shares.

   

Our sponsor, executive officers, directors and director nominees have agreed, pursuant to a written agreement with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering or during any Extension Period or with respect to any other material provisions relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, 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, divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, subject to the limitations described above under “Limitations on redemptions.” For example, our board of directors may propose such an amendment if it determines that additional time is necessary to complete our initial business combination. In such event, we will conduct a proxy solicitation and distribute proxy materials pursuant to Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act seeking stockholder approval of such proposal, and in connection therewith, provide our public stockholders with the redemption rights described above upon stockholder approval of such amendment.

Limited payments to insiders

 

There will be no finder’s fees, reimbursement, consulting fee, monies in respect of any payment of a loan or other compensation paid by us to our sponsor, officers or directors, or any affiliate of our sponsor or officers prior to, or in connection with any services rendered in order to effectuate, the consummation of our initial business combination (regardless of the type of transaction that it is). However, the following payments will be made to our sponsor, officers or directors, or our or their affiliates, and, if made prior to our initial business combination will be made from funds held outside the trust account.

   

•   Repayment of up to an aggregate of $300,000 in loans made to us by our sponsor to cover offering-related and organizational expenses;

   

•   Reimbursement for any out-of-pocket expenses related to identifying, investigating, negotiating and completing an initial business combination; and

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•   Repayment of loans which may be made by our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our officers and directors to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination. 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. Except for the foregoing, the terms of such loans, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans.

Audit Committee

 

We will establish and maintain an audit committee. Among its responsibilities, the audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made to our sponsor, officers or directors, or our or their respective affiliates and monitor compliance with the other terms relating to this offering. If any noncompliance is identified, then the audit committee will be charged with the responsibility to promptly take all action necessary to rectify such noncompliance or otherwise to cause compliance with the terms of this offering. For more information, see the section entitled “Management — Committees of the Board of Directors — Audit Committee.”

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SUMMARY RISK FACTORS

An investment in our securities involves a high degree of risk. The occurrence of one or more of the events or circumstances described in the section titled “Risk Factors,” alone or in combination with other events or circumstances, may materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results. In that event, the trading price of our securities could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment. Such risks include, but are not limited to:

•     We are a blank check company with no operating history and no revenues, and you have no basis on which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective.

•     Our stockholders may not be afforded an opportunity to vote on our proposed initial business combination, and even if we hold a vote, holders of our founder shares will participate in such vote, which means we may complete our initial business combination even though a majority of our public stockholders do not support such a combination.

•     Your only opportunity to affect your investment decision regarding a potential business combination may be limited to the exercise of your right to redeem your shares from us for cash.

•     If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, our initial stockholders and management team have agreed to vote in favor of such initial business combination, regardless of how our public stockholders vote.

•     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 requirement that we complete our initial business combination within 24 months after the closing of this offering or during any extension period may give potential target businesses leverage over us in negotiating a business combination and may limit the time we have in which to conduct due diligence on potential business combination targets, in particular as we approach our dissolution deadline, which could undermine our ability to complete our initial business combination on terms that would produce value for our stockholders.

•     If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor, initial stockholders, directors, executive 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 submitting or 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.

•     Nasdaq may delist our securities from trading on its exchange, which could limit investors’ ability to make transactions in our securities and subject us to additional trading restrictions.

•     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 are unable to 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.

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•     If the net proceeds of this offering not being held in the trust account are insufficient to allow us to operate for at least the 24 months following the closing of the 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.

•     Past performance by our management team and their affiliates may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in us.

•     Unlike some other similarly structured special purpose acquisition companies, our initial stockholders will receive additional Class A common stock if we issue certain shares to consummate an initial business combination.

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Summary Financial Data

The following table summarizes the relevant financial data for our business and should be read with our financial statements, which are included in this prospectus. We have not had any significant operations to date, so only balance sheet data is presented.

 

February 4,
2021

Balance Sheet Data:

 

 

 

 

Working capital (deficiency)

 

$

(5,000

)

Total assets

 

$

29,249

 

Total liabilities

 

$

5,000

 

Stockholder’s equity

 

$

24,249

 

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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 prospectus, before making a decision to invest in our units. If any of the following events occur, our business, financial condition and operating results may be materially adversely affected. In that event, the trading price of our securities could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment.

Risks Relating to our Search for, Consummation of, or Inability to Consummate, a Business Combination

Our stockholders may not be afforded an opportunity to vote on our proposed initial business combination, and even if we hold a vote, holders of our founder shares will participate in such vote, which means we may complete our initial business combination even though a majority of our public stockholders do not support such a combination.

We may choose not to hold a stockholder vote to approve our initial business combination if the business combination would not require stockholder approval under applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement. Except for as required by applicable law or stock exchange requirement, 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. Even if we seek stockholder approval, the holders of our founder shares will participate in the vote on such approval. Accordingly, we may complete our initial business combination even if a majority of our public stockholders do not approve of the business combination we complete. Please see the section entitled “Proposed Business — Stockholders May Not Have the Ability to Approve Our Initial Business Combination” for additional information.

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 our initial business combination. 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 our initial business combination may be limited to exercising your redemption rights within the period of time (which will be at least 20 business days) set forth in our tender offer documents mailed to our public stockholders in which we describe our initial business combination.

If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, our initial stockholders and management team have agreed to vote in favor of such initial business combination, regardless of how our public stockholders vote.

Our initial stockholders will own 20% of our outstanding common stock immediately following the completion of this offering. Our initial stockholders and management team also may from time to time purchase Class A common stock prior to the completion of 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 entitled to vote at such meeting, including the founder shares. 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 this offering to be voted in favor of an initial business combination in order to have our initial business combination approved (assuming all outstanding shares are voted and the over-allotment option is not exercised). Accordingly, if we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, the agreement by our initial stockholders and 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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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 minimum cash requirement for (i) cash consideration to be paid to the target or its owners, (ii) cash for working capital or other general corporate purposes or (iii) the retention of cash to satisfy other conditions. If too many public 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. Consequently, if accepting all properly submitted redemption requests would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 or make us unable to satisfy a minimum cash 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 initial business combination agreement requires us to use a portion of the cash in the trust account to pay the purchase price, or requires us to have a minimum amount of cash at closing, we will need to reserve a portion of the cash in the trust account to meet such requirements, or arrange for third party financing. In addition, if a larger number of shares is submitted for redemption than we initially expected, we may need to restructure the transaction to reserve a greater portion of the cash in the trust account or arrange for third party financing. Raising additional third party financing may involve dilutive equity issuances or the incurrence of indebtedness at higher than desirable levels. Furthermore, this dilution would increase to the extent that the anti-dilution provision of the Class B common stock results in the issues of shares of Class A common stock on a greater than one-to-one basis upon conversion of the shares of Class B common stock at the time of our initial business combination. In addition, the amount of the deferred underwriting commissions payable to the underwriters will not be adjusted for any shares that are redeemed in connection with an initial business combination. The 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 above considerations may limit our ability to complete the most desirable business combination available to us or optimize our capital structure.

The ability of our public 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 your exercise of redemption rights until we liquidate or you are able to sell your shares in the open market.

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The requirement that we complete our initial business combination within 24 months after the closing of this offering or during any Extension Period may give potential target businesses leverage over us in negotiating a business combination and may limit the time we have in which to conduct due diligence on potential business combination targets, in particular as we approach our dissolution deadline, which could undermine our ability to complete our initial business combination on terms that would produce value for our stockholders.

Any potential target business with which we enter into negotiations concerning a business combination will be aware that we must complete our initial business combination within 24 months after the closing of this offering or during any Extension Period. Consequently, such target business may obtain leverage over us in negotiating a business combination, knowing that if we do not complete our initial business combination with that particular target business, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination with any target business. This risk will increase as we get closer to the timeframe described above. In addition, we may have limited time to conduct due diligence and may enter into our initial business combination on terms that we would have rejected upon a more comprehensive investigation.

Our search for a business combination, and any target business with which we ultimately consummate a business combination, may be materially adversely affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and the status of debt and equity markets.

In December 2019, a novel strain of coronavirus was reported to have surfaced in Wuhan, China, which has and is continuing to spread throughout China and other parts of the world, including the United States. On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern.” On January 31, 2020, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex M. Azar II declared a public health emergency for the United States to aid the U.S. healthcare community in responding to COVID-19, and on March 11, 2020 the World Health Organization characterized the outbreak as a “pandemic”. The COVID-19 outbreak has and a significant outbreak of other infectious diseases could result in a widespread health crisis that could adversely affect the economies and financial markets worldwide, and the business of any potential target business with which we consummate a business combination could be materially and adversely affected. Furthermore, we may be unable to complete a business combination if continued concerns relating to COVID-19 continues to restrict travel, limit the ability to have meetings with potential investors or the target company’s personnel, vendors and services providers are unavailable to negotiate and consummate a transaction in a timely manner. The extent to which COVID-19 impacts our search for a business combination will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, including new information which may emerge concerning the severity of COVID-19 and the actions to contain COVID-19 or treat its impact, among others. If the disruptions posed by COVID-19 or other matters of global concern continue for an extensive period of time, our ability to consummate a business combination, or the operations of a target business with which we ultimately consummate a business combination, may be materially adversely affected.

In addition, our ability to consummate a transaction may be dependent on the ability to raise equity and debt financing which may be impacted by COVID-19 and other events, including as a result of increased market volatility, decreased market liquidity in third-party financing being unavailable on terms acceptable to us or at all.

We may not be able to complete our initial business combination within 24 months after the closing of this offering or during any Extension Period, in which case we would cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up and we would redeem our public shares and liquidate.

We may not be able to find a suitable target business and complete our initial business combination within 24 months after the closing of this offering or during any Extension Period. Our ability to complete our initial business combination may be negatively impacted by general market conditions, volatility in the capital and debt markets and the other risks described herein. For example, the outbreak of COVID-19 continues to grow both in the U.S. and globally and, while the extent of the impact of the outbreak on us will depend on future developments, it could limit our ability to complete our initial business combination, including as a result of increased market volatility, decreased market liquidity and third-party financing being unavailable on terms acceptable to us or at all. Additionally, the outbreak of COVID-19 may negatively impact businesses we may seek to acquire. If we have

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not completed our initial business combination within such time period, we will: (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any), and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of 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, initial stockholders, directors, executive 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 or public warrants.

If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our sponsor, initial stockholders, directors, executive officers, advisors or their respective affiliates may purchase public shares or public warrants in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination, although they are under no obligation to do so. There is no limit on the number of shares our initial stockholders, directors, officers, advisors or their respective affiliates may purchase in such transactions, subject to compliance with applicable law and Nasdaq rules. However, other than as expressly stated herein, they have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such purchases or transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such purchases or transactions. None of the funds in the trust account will be used to purchase public shares or public warrants in such transactions. Such purchases 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, initial stockholders, directors, executive officers, advisors or their respective 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 and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining the requisite 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. We expect 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 “Proposed Business — 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 obtain or maintain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange.

If a stockholder fails to receive notice of our offer to redeem our public shares in connection with our initial business combination, or fails to comply with the procedures for tendering its shares, such shares may not be redeemed.

We will comply with the 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 materials or tender offer documents, as applicable, such stockholder may not become aware of the opportunity to redeem its shares. In addition, proxy materials or tender offer documents, as applicable, that we will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination will describe the various procedures

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that must be complied with in order to validly tender or submit public shares for redemption. For example, we intend to require our public stockholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” to, at the holder’s option, either deliver their stock certificates to our transfer agent, or to deliver their shares to our transfer agent electronically prior to the date set forth in the proxy materials or tender offer documents, as applicable. In the case of proxy materials, this date may be up to two business days prior to the date on which the vote on the proposal to approve the initial business combination is to be held. In addition, if we conduct redemptions in connection with a stockholder vote, we intend to require a public stockholder seeking redemption of its public shares to also submit a written request for redemption to our transfer agent two business days prior to the vote in which the name of the beneficial owner of such shares is included. In the event that a stockholder fails to comply with these or any other procedures disclosed in the proxy or tender offer materials, as applicable, its shares may not be redeemed. See the section of this prospectus entitled “Proposed Business — Submitting Stock Certificates in Connection with Redemption Rights.”

You will not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors of many other blank check companies.

Since the net proceeds of this 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 will have net tangible assets in excess of $5,000,000 upon the completion of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants and will file a Current Report on Form 8-K, including an audited balance sheet demonstrating this fact, we are exempt from rules promulgated by the SEC to protect investors in blank check companies, such as Rule 419. Accordingly, investors will not be afforded the benefits or protections of those rules. Among other things, this means our units will be immediately tradable and we will have a longer period of time to complete our initial business combination than do companies subject to Rule 419. Moreover, if this offering were subject to Rule 419, that rule would prohibit the release of any interest earned on funds held in the trust account to us unless and until the funds in the trust account were released to us in connection with our completion of an initial business combination. For a more detailed comparison of our offering to offerings that comply with Rule 419, please see “Proposed Business — Comparison of This Offering to Those of Blank Check Companies Subject to Rule 419.”

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 20% of our Class A common stock, you will lose the ability to redeem all such shares in excess of 20% 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 20% of the shares sold in this 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 20% and, in order to dispose of such shares, would be required to sell your shares in open market transactions, potentially at a loss.

Because of our limited resources and the significant competition for business combination opportunities, it may be more difficult for us to complete our initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination within the required time period, 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 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

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and entities are well-established and have extensive experience in identifying and effecting, directly or indirectly, acquisitions of companies operating in or providing services to various industries. Many of these competitors possess similar or greater technical, human and other resources to ours or more local industry knowledge than we do and our financial resources will be relatively limited when contrasted with those of many of these competitors. While we believe there are numerous target businesses we could potentially acquire with the net proceeds of this 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 are unable to complete our initial business combination within the required time period, 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.

As the number of special purpose acquisition companies increases, there may be more competition to find an attractive target for an initial business combination. This could increase the costs associated with completing our initial business combination and may result in our inability to find a suitable target for our initial business combination.

In recent years, the number of special purpose acquisition companies that have been formed has increased substantially. Many companies have entered into business combinations with special purpose acquisition companies, and there are still many special purpose acquisition companies seeking targets for their initial business combination, as well as many additional special purpose acquisition companies currently in registration. As a result, at times, fewer attractive targets may be available, and it may require more time, effort and resources to identify a suitable target for 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 a suitable target for and/or complete our initial business combination.

If the net proceeds of this offering not being held in the trust account are insufficient to allow us to operate for at least the 24 months following the closing of the 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.

Of the net proceeds of this offering, only $1,000,000 will be available to us initially outside the trust account to fund our working capital requirements. We believe that, upon closing of this offering, the funds available to us outside of the trust account will be sufficient to allow us to operate for at least the 24 months following such closing; however, we cannot assure you that our estimate is accurate. Of the funds available to us, we could use a portion of the funds available to us to pay fees to consultants to assist us with our search for a target business. We could also use a portion of the funds as a down payment or to fund a “no-shop” provision (a provision in letters of intent or merger agreements designed to keep target businesses from “shopping” around for transactions with other companies 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 or merger agreement where we paid for the right to receive exclusivity from a target business and were subsequently required to forfeit such funds (whether as a result of our breach or otherwise), we might not have sufficient funds to continue searching for, or conduct due diligence with respect to, a target business.

In the event that our offering expenses exceed our estimate of $1,000,000, we may fund such excess with funds not to be held in the trust account. In such case, the amount of funds we intend to be held outside the trust account would decrease by a corresponding amount. Conversely, in the event that the offering expenses are less

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than our estimate of $1,000,000, the amount of funds we intend to be held outside the trust account would increase by a corresponding amount. The amount held in the trust account will not be impacted as a result of such increase or decrease. 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 complete our initial business combination within the required time period because we do not have sufficient funds available to us, we will be forced to cease operations and liquidate the trust account. Consequently, our public stockholders may only receive an estimated $10.00 per public share, or possibly less, on our redemption of our public shares, and our warrants will expire worthless.

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 and complete 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 and/or accept less favorable terms. Furthermore, 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, after completion of any initial business combination, our directors and officers could be subject to potential liability from claims arising from conduct alleged to have occurred prior to such initial business combination. As a result, in order to protect our directors and officers, the post-business combination entity may need to purchase additional insurance with respect to any such claims (“run-off insurance”). The need for run-off insurance would be an added expense for the post-business combination entity and could interfere with or frustrate our ability to consummate an initial business combination on terms favorable to our investors.

If 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 public share.

Our placing of funds in the trust account may not protect those funds from third party claims against us. Although we will seek to have all vendors, service providers, prospective target businesses and other entities (except for our independent registered public accounting firm) 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 consider whether competitive alternatives are reasonably available to us and will only enter into an agreement with such third party if management believes that such third party’s engagement would be in the best interests of the company under the circumstances. The underwriters of this offering as well as our registered independent public accounting firm will not execute agreements with us waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account.

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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 are unable to complete our initial business combination within the required time period, or upon the exercise of a redemption right in connection with our initial business combination, we will be required to provide for payment of claims of creditors that were not waived that may be brought against us within the 10 years following redemption. Accordingly, the per-share redemption amount received by public 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 the letter agreement the form of which is filed as an exhibit to the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, our sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a third party for services rendered or products sold to us, or a prospective target business with which we will enter into a written letter of intent, confidentiality or other similar agreement or business combination agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the trust account to below the lesser of (i) $10.00 per public share and (ii) the actual amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account, if less than $10.00 per public share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, less taxes payable, provided that such liability will not apply to any claims by a third party or prospective target business who executed a waiver of any and all rights to the monies held in the trust account (whether or not such waiver is enforceable) nor will it apply to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of this offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. However, we have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such indemnification obligations, nor have we independently verified whether our sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and we believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our company. Therefore, we cannot assure you that our sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations. As a result, if any such claims were successfully made against the trust account, the funds available for our initial business combination and redemptions could be reduced to less than $10.00 per public share. In such event, we may not be able to complete our initial business combination, and you would receive such lesser amount per share in connection with any redemption of your public shares. None of our officers or directors will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses.

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 public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account if less than $10.00 per public share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case less taxes payable, and our sponsor asserts that it is unable to satisfy its obligations or that it has no indemnification obligations related to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether to take legal action against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations. While we currently expect that our independent directors would take legal action on our behalf against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations to us, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment and subject to their fiduciary duties may choose not to do so in any particular instance. If our independent directors choose not to enforce these indemnification obligations, the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public stockholders may be reduced below $10.00 per public share.

If, after we distribute the proceeds in the trust account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, a bankruptcy court may seek to recover such proceeds, and 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 petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, any distributions received by stockholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or bankruptcy laws as either a “preferential transfer” or a “fraudulent conveyance.” As a result, a bankruptcy court could seek to recover some or all amounts received by our

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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, by paying public stockholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors, thereby exposing itself and us to claims of punitive damages.

If, before distributing the proceeds in the trust account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the claims of creditors in such proceeding may have priority over the claims of our stockholders and the per-share amount that would otherwise be received by our stockholders in connection with our liquidation may be reduced.

If, before distributing the proceeds in the trust account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the proceeds held in the trust account could be subject to applicable bankruptcy law, and may be included in our bankruptcy estate and subject to the claims of third parties with priority over the claims of our stockholders. To the extent any bankruptcy claims deplete the trust account, the per-share amount that would otherwise be received by our stockholders in connection with our liquidation may be reduced.

If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, we may be required to institute burdensome compliance requirements and our activities may be restricted, which may make it difficult for us to complete our initial business combination.

If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, our activities may be restricted, including:

•     restrictions on the nature of our investments; and

•     restrictions on the issuance of securities,

each of which may make it difficult for us to complete our initial business combination. In addition, we may have imposed upon us burdensome requirements, including:

•     registration as an investment company with the SEC;

•     adoption of a specific form of corporate structure; and

•     reporting, record keeping, voting, proxy and disclosure requirements and other rules and regulations that we are not currently subject to.

In order not to be regulated as an investment company under the Investment Company Act, unless we can qualify for an exclusion, we must ensure that we are engaged primarily in a business other than investing, reinvesting or trading of securities and that our activities do not include investing, reinvesting, owning, holding or trading “investment securities” constituting more than 40% of our assets (exclusive of U.S. government securities and cash items) on an unconsolidated basis. Our business will be to identify and complete a business combination and thereafter to operate the post-transaction business or assets for the long term. We do not plan to buy businesses or assets with a view to resale or profit from their resale. We do not plan to buy unrelated businesses or assets or to be a passive investor.

We do not believe that our anticipated principal activities will subject us to the Investment Company Act. To this end, the proceeds held in the trust account may only be invested in United States “government securities” within the meaning of Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act having a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 promulgated under the Investment Company Act which 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. This offering is not intended for persons who are seeking a return on investments in government securities or investment securities. The trust account is intended as a holding place for funds pending the earliest to occur of either: (i) the completion of our initial business combination; (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly tendered in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering or during any Extension Period or with respect to any other material provisions relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity; and (iii) absent an initial

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business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering or during any Extension Period, 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 are unable to complete our initial business combination within the required time period, 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.

Changes in laws or regulations, or a failure to comply with any laws and regulations, may adversely affect our business, including our ability to negotiate and complete our initial business combination, and results of operations.

We are subject to laws and regulations enacted by national, regional and local governments. In particular, we will be required to comply with certain SEC and other legal requirements. Compliance with, and monitoring of, applicable laws and regulations may be difficult, time consuming and costly. Those laws and regulations and their interpretation and application may also change from time to time and those changes could have a material adverse effect on our business, investments and results of operations. In addition, a failure to comply with applicable laws or regulations, as interpreted and applied, could have a material adverse effect on our business, including our ability to negotiate and complete our initial business combination, and results of operations.

Our stockholders may be held liable for claims by third parties against us to the extent of distributions received by them upon redemption of their shares.

Under the DGCL, stockholders may be held liable for claims by third parties against a corporation to the extent of distributions received by them in a dissolution. The pro rata portion of our trust account distributed to our public stockholders upon the redemption of our public shares in the event we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering or during any Extension Period 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 this 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 this offering or during any Extension Period 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

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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.

We may not hold an annual meeting of stockholders until after the consummation of our initial business combination, which could delay the opportunity for our stockholders to elect directors.

In accordance with Nasdaq’s 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 Nasdaq. Under Section 211(b) of the DGCL, we are, however, required to hold an annual meeting of stockholders for the purposes of electing directors in accordance with our 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 or geographic region 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.

Our efforts to identify a prospective initial business combination target will not be limited to a particular industry, sector or geographic region. While we may pursue an initial business combination opportunity in any industry, sector or geographic region, we expect to focus our efforts on the life sciences sector and intend to capitalize on the ability of our management team to identify, acquire and operate a business or businesses that can benefit from our management team’s established global relationships and operating experience. Our management team has extensive experience in identifying and executing strategic investments globally and has done so successfully in a number of sectors. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation prohibits us from effectuating a 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 units will ultimately prove to be more favorable to investors than a direct investment, if such opportunity were available, in a business combination target. Accordingly, any stockholders or warrant holders who choose to remain stockholders or warrant holders following the business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such stockholders or warrant holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value unless they are able to successfully claim that the reduction was due to the breach by our officers or directors of a duty of care or other fiduciary duty owed to them, or if they are able to successfully bring a private claim under securities laws that the proxy materials or tender offer documents, as applicable, relating to the business combination contained an actionable material misstatement or material omission.

Past performance by our management team and their respective affiliates may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in us.

Information regarding performance by, or businesses associated with, our management team or businesses associated with them is presented for informational purposes only. Past performance by our management team and their respective affiliates is not a guarantee either (i) of success with respect to any business combination we may consummate or (ii) that we will be able to locate a suitable candidate for our initial business combination. You

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should not rely on the historical record of the performance of our management team’s or businesses associated with them as indicative of our future performance of an investment in us or the returns we will, or is likely to, generate going forward.

In evaluating a prospective target business for our initial business combination, our management will consider the availability of funds from the sale of the forward purchase shares, which may be used as part of the consideration to the sellers in the initial business combination. If all or some of the forward purchase shares are not purchased under the forward purchase agreement, we may decide not to consummate our initial business combination, or if we decide to, we may lack sufficient funds to consummate our initial business combination.

In connection with the consummation of this offering, we will enter into separate forward purchase agreements with affiliates of our sponsor, Casdin Capital and Corvex Management, in their capacities as investment advisors on behalf of their Clients, pursuant to which, subject to the conditions described below, they will cause certain Clients to purchase from us up to an aggregate amount of 15,000,000 shares of Class A common stock, or the forward purchase shares, for $10.00 per forward purchase share, or an aggregate amount of up to $150,000,000, in a private placement that will close concurrently with the closing of our initial business combination. The proceeds from the sale of these forward purchase shares, together with the amounts available to us from the trust account (after giving effect to any redemptions of public shares) and any other equity or debt financing obtained by us in connection with the business combination, will be used to satisfy the cash requirements of the business combination, including funding the purchase price and paying expenses and retaining specified amounts to be used by the post-business combination company for working capital or other purposes. The amount of forward purchase shares sold pursuant to the forward purchase agreements will be determined in our discretion based on our need for additional capital to consummate the initial business combination.

Each of Casdin Capital’s and Corvex Management’s obligation to cause Clients to purchase forward purchase shares will, among other things, be conditioned on our completing an initial business combination with a company engaged in a business that is within the investment objectives of the Clients purchasing forward purchase shares and on the business combination (including the target assets or business, and the terms of the business combination) being reasonably acceptable to such Clients as determined by Casdin Capital or Corvex Management, as relevant, as investment advisors on behalf of such Clients. In determining whether a target is reasonably acceptable to Clients, we expect that Casdin Capital or Corvex Management, as relevant, would consider many of the same criteria as we will consider, but will also consider whether the investment is an appropriate investment for such Clients, including whether the investment complies with any guidelines, restrictions or conflicts of interest provisions applicable to such Clients. Accordingly, if either Casdin Capital or Corvex Management, as relevant, determines, as an investment advisor on behalf of such Clients that the initial business combination falls outside the investment objects of such Clients or is not reasonably acceptable to such Clients, it would not be obligated to purchase any forward purchase shares. In addition, the obligation to purchase forward purchase shares will be subject to fulfillment of customary closing conditions, including that our initial business combination must be consummated substantially concurrently with the purchase of forward purchase shares. If the sale of forward purchase shares does not close for any reason, including by reason of the failure to fund the purchase price, for example, we may lack sufficient funds to consummate our initial business combination.

We may seek business combination opportunities in industries, sectors or geographic regions that may be outside of our management’s areas of expertise.

Although we expect to focus our search for a target business in the life sciences sector, we will consider a business combination in industries, sectors or geographic regions outside of our management’s areas of expertise if a business combination candidate is presented to us and we determine that such candidate offers an attractive business combination opportunity for our company. Although our management will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in any particular business combination candidate, we cannot assure you that we will adequately ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors. We also cannot assure you that an investment in our units will not ultimately prove to be less favorable to investors in this offering than a direct investment, if an opportunity were available, in a business combination candidate. In the event we elect to pursue a business combination outside of the areas of our management’s expertise, our management’s expertise may not be directly applicable to its evaluation or operation, and the information contained in this prospectus 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

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to ascertain or assess adequately all of the relevant risk factors. Accordingly, any stockholders or warrant holders who choose to remain stockholders or warrant holders, respectively, following our initial business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their shares. Such stockholders or warrant holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.

Although we have identified general criteria and guidelines that we believe are important in evaluating prospective target businesses, we may enter into our initial business combination with a target that does not meet such criteria and guidelines, and as a result, the target business with which we enter into our initial business combination may not have attributes entirely consistent with our general criteria and guidelines.

Although we have identified general criteria and guidelines for evaluating prospective target businesses, it is possible that a target business with which we enter into our initial business combination will not have all of these positive attributes. If we complete our initial business combination with a target that does not meet some or all of these guidelines, such combination may not be as successful as a combination with a business that does meet all of our general criteria and guidelines. In addition, if we announce a prospective business combination with a target that does not meet our general criteria and guidelines, a greater number of 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 stock exchange listing rules, 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 are unable to 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 are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or from a valuation or appraisal firm, and consequently, you may have no assurance from an independent source that the price we are paying for the business is fair to our stockholders from a financial point of view.

Unless we complete our initial business combination with an affiliated entity or our board of directors cannot independently determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses (including with the assistance of financial advisors), we are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm which is a member of FINRA or from a valuation or appraisal firm that the price we are paying is fair to our 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 materials or tender offer documents, as applicable, related to our initial business combination.

Resources could be wasted in researching business combinations that are not completed, which could materially adversely affect subsequent attempts to locate and acquire or merge with another business. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination within the required time period, 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 are unable to complete our initial business combination within the required time period, 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 only be able to complete one business combination with the proceeds of this offering, the sale of the private placement warrants and the sale of forward purchase shares, which will cause us to be solely dependent on a single business which may have a limited number of products or services. This lack of diversification may negatively impact our operations and profitability.

The net proceeds held in the trust account from this offering and the private placement of warrants will provide us with $386,000,000 (or $443,900,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) that we may use to complete our initial business combination (after taking into account the $14,000,000, or $16,100,000 if the over-allotment option is exercised in full, of deferred underwriting commissions being held in the trust account). The proceeds from the sale of forward purchase shares will be up to $150,000,000.

We may effectuate our initial business combination with a single target business or multiple target businesses simultaneously or within a short period of time. However, we may not be able to effectuate our initial business combination with more than one target business because of various factors, including the existence of complex accounting issues and the requirement that we prepare and file pro forma financial statements with the SEC that present operating results and the financial condition of several target businesses as if they had been operated on a combined basis. By completing our initial business combination with only a single entity, our lack of diversification may subject us to numerous economic, competitive and regulatory developments. Further, we would not be able to diversify our operations or benefit from the possible spreading of risks or offsetting of losses, unlike other entities which may have the resources to complete several business combinations in different industries or different areas of a single industry. Accordingly, the prospects for our success may be:

•     solely dependent upon the performance of a single business, property or asset, or

•     dependent upon the development or market acceptance of a single or limited number of products, processes or services.

This lack of diversification may subject us to numerous economic, competitive and regulatory risks, any or all of which may have a substantial adverse impact upon the particular industry in which we may operate subsequent to our initial business combination.

We may attempt to simultaneously complete business combinations with multiple prospective targets, which may hinder our ability to complete our initial business combination and give rise to increased costs and risks that could negatively impact our operations and profitability.

If we determine to simultaneously acquire several businesses that are owned by different sellers, we will need for each of such sellers to agree that our purchase of its business is contingent on the simultaneous closings of the other business combinations, which may make it more difficult for us, and delay our ability, to complete our initial business combination. With multiple business combinations, we could also face additional risks, including additional burdens and costs with respect to possible multiple negotiations and due diligence investigations (if there are multiple sellers) and the additional risks associated with the subsequent assimilation of the operations and services or products of the acquired companies in a single operating business. If we are unable to adequately address these risks, it could negatively impact our profitability and results of operations.

We may 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 business combination strategy, we may seek to effectuate our initial business combination with a privately held company. Very little public information generally exists about private companies, and we could be required to make our decision on whether to pursue a potential initial business combination on the basis of limited information, which may result in a business combination with a company that is not as profitable as we suspected, if at all.

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We do not have a specified maximum redemption threshold. The absence of such a redemption threshold may make it possible for us to complete our initial business combination with which a substantial majority of our stockholders or warrant holders 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. In addition, our proposed initial business combination may impose a minimum cash requirement for: (i) cash consideration to be paid to the target or its owners, (ii) cash for working capital or other general corporate purposes or (iii) the retention of cash to satisfy other conditions. As a result, we may be able to complete our initial business combination even though a substantial majority of our public stockholders do not agree with the transaction and have redeemed their shares or, if we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, have entered into privately negotiated agreements to sell their shares to our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or any of their respective affiliates. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all shares of Class A common stock that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed business combination exceed the aggregate amount of cash available to us, we will not complete the business combination or redeem any shares in connection with such initial business combination, all shares of Class A common stock submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof, and we instead may search for an alternate business combination.

In order to effectuate an initial business combination, special purpose acquisition 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, special purpose acquisition companies have, in the recent past, amended various provisions of their charters and governing instruments, including their warrant agreements. For example, special purpose acquisition companies have amended the definition of business combination, increased redemption thresholds and extended the time to consummate an initial business combination and, with respect to their warrants, amended their warrant agreements to require the warrants to be exchanged for cash and/or other securities. Amending our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will require the approval of holders of 65% of our common stock, and amending our warrant agreement will require a vote of holders of at least 50% of the public warrants and, solely with respect to any amendment to the terms of the private placement warrants or any provision of the warrant agreement with respect to the private placement warrants, 50% of the number of the then outstanding private placement warrants. In addition, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation requires 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 to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete an initial business combination within 24 months of the closing of this offering or with respect to any other material provisions relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity. To the extent any of such amendments would be deemed to fundamentally change the nature of the securities offered through this registration statement, we would register, or seek an exemption from registration for, the affected securities. We cannot assure you that we will not seek to amend our charter or governing instruments or extend the time to consummate an initial business combination in order to effectuate our initial business combination.

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 65% of our common stock, which is a lower amendment threshold than that of some other special purpose acquisition companies. It may be easier for us, therefore, to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to facilitate the completion of an initial business combination that some of our stockholders may not support.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that any of its provisions related to pre-business combination activity (including the requirement to deposit proceeds of this offering and the private placement of warrants into the trust account and not release such amounts except in specified circumstances, and to provide

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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 65% of our common stock entitled to vote thereon. In all other instances, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation may be amended by holders of a majority of our outstanding common stock entitled to vote thereon, subject to applicable provisions of the DGCL or applicable stock exchange rules. Our initial stockholders, who will collectively beneficially own 20% of our common stock upon the closing of this offering (assuming they do not purchase any units in this offering), may 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 special purpose acquisition 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, directors and director nominees have agreed, pursuant to written agreements with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering or during any Extension Period or with respect to any other material provisions relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, 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, divided by the number of then outstanding public shares. 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, directors or director nominees 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.

Certain agreements related to this offering may be amended without stockholder approval.

Each of the agreements related to this offering to which we are a party, other than the warrant agreement and the investment management trust agreement, may be amended without stockholder approval. Such agreements are: the underwriting agreement; the letter agreement among us and our initial stockholders, sponsor, officers and directors; the registration rights agreement among us and our initial stockholders; and the private placement warrants purchase agreement between us and our sponsor. These agreements contain various provisions that our public stockholders might deem to be material. For example, our letter agreement and the underwriting agreement contain certain lock-up provisions with respect to the founder shares, private placement warrants and other securities held by our initial stockholders, sponsor, officers and directors. Amendments to such agreements would require the consent of the applicable parties thereto and would need to be approved by our board of directors, which may do so for a variety of reasons, including to facilitate our initial business combination. While we do not expect our board of directors to approve any amendment to any of these agreements prior to our initial business combination, it may be possible that our board of directors, in exercising its business judgment and subject to its fiduciary duties, chooses to approve one or more amendments to any such agreement. Any amendment entered into in connection with the consummation of our initial business combination will be disclosed in our proxy materials or tender offer documents, as applicable, related to such initial business combination, and any other material amendment to any of our material agreements will be disclosed in a filing with the SEC. Any such amendments would not require approval from our stockholders, may result in the completion of our initial business combination that may not otherwise have been possible, and may have an adverse effect on the value of an investment in our securities. For example, amendments to the lock-up provision discussed above may result in our initial stockholders selling their securities earlier than they would otherwise be permitted, which may have an adverse effect on the price of our securities.

We may be unable to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination or to fund the operations and growth of a target business, which could compel us to restructure or abandon a particular business combination.

We have not selected any specific business combination target but may target businesses with enterprise values that are greater than we could acquire with the net proceeds of this offering, the sale of the private placement warrants and the sale of the forward purchase shares. As a result, if the cash portion of the purchase price exceeds

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the amount available from the trust account and the sale of forward purchase shares, net of amounts needed to satisfy any redemption by public stockholders, or if the forward purchase shares are not purchased under the forward purchase agreement, we may be required to seek additional financing to complete such proposed initial business combination. We cannot assure you that such financing will be available on acceptable terms, if at all. To the extent that additional financing proves to be unavailable when needed to complete our initial business combination, we would be compelled to either restructure the transaction or abandon that particular business combination and seek an alternative target business candidate. Further, we may be required to obtain additional financing in connection with the closing of our initial business combination for general corporate purposes, including for maintenance or expansion of operations of the post-transaction businesses, the payment of principal or interest due on indebtedness incurred in completing our initial business combination, or to fund the purchase of other companies. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination within the required time period, 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. 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.

Our initial stockholders 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 this offering, our initial stockholders will own 20% of our issued and outstanding common stock (assuming they do not purchase any units in this offering). 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 units in this offering or if our initial stockholders purchase any additional Class A common stock in the aftermarket or in privately negotiated transactions, this would increase their control. Neither our initial stockholders nor, to our knowledge, any of our officers or directors, have any current intention to purchase additional securities, other than as disclosed in this prospectus. 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 and will be divided into three classes, each of which will generally serve for a terms for three years with only one class of directors being 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 initial stockholders, because of their ownership position, will have considerable influence regarding the outcome. Accordingly, our initial stockholders will continue to exert control at least until the completion of our initial business combination. Any forward purchase shares will not be issued until completion of our initial business combination, and, accordingly, will not be included in any stockholder vote until such time.

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 the proxy statement with respect to the vote on an initial business combination include historical and pro forma financial statement disclosure. We will include the same financial statement disclosure in connection with our tender offer documents, whether or not they are required under the tender offer rules. These financial statements may be required to be prepared in accordance with, or be reconciled to, accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”), or international financial reporting standards as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (“IFRS”), depending on the circumstances and the historical financial statements may be required to be audited in accordance with the standards of the 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 financial statements in time for us to disclose such statements in accordance with federal proxy rules and complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame.

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Compliance obligations under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may make it more difficult for us to effectuate our initial business combination, require substantial financial and management resources, and increase the time and costs of completing an initial business combination.

Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires that we evaluate and report on our system of internal controls beginning with our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ending December 31, 2022. Only in the event we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer or an accelerated filer, and no longer qualify as an emerging growth company, will we be required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement on our internal control over financial reporting. Further, for as long as we remain an emerging growth company, we will not be required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement on our internal control over financial reporting. The fact that we are a blank check company makes compliance with the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act particularly burdensome on us as compared to other public companies because a target business with which we seek to complete our initial business combination may not be in compliance with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act regarding adequacy of its internal controls.

The development of the internal control of any such entity to achieve compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may increase the time and costs necessary to complete any such business combination.

If we effect our initial business combination with a company located outside of the United States, we would be subject to a variety of additional risks that may adversely affect us.

If we pursue a target company with operations or opportunities outside of the United States for our initial business combination, we may face additional burdens in connection with investigating, agreeing to and completing such initial business combination, and if we effect such initial business combination, we would be subject to a variety of additional risks that may negatively impact our operations.

If we pursue a target a company with operations or opportunities outside of the United States for our initial business combination, we would be subject to risks associated with cross-border business combinations, including in connection with investigating, agreeing to and completing our initial business combination, conducting due diligence in a foreign jurisdiction, having such transaction approved by any local governments, regulators or agencies and changes in the purchase price based on fluctuations in foreign exchange rates.

If we effect our initial business combination with such a company, we would be subject to any special considerations or risks associated with companies operating in an international setting, including any of the following:

•     costs and difficulties inherent in managing cross-border business operations;

•     rules and regulations regarding currency redemption;

•     complex corporate withholding taxes on individuals;

•     laws governing the manner in which future business combinations may be effected;

•     exchange listing and/or delisting requirements;

•     tariffs and trade barriers;

•     regulations related to customs and import/export matters;

•     local or regional economic policies and market conditions;

•     unexpected changes in regulatory requirements;

•     challenges in managing and staffing international operations;

•     longer payment cycles;

•     tax issues, such as tax law changes and variations in tax laws as compared to the United States;

•     currency fluctuations and exchange controls;

•     rates of inflation;

•     challenges in collecting accounts receivable;

•     cultural and language differences;

•     employment regulations;

•     underdeveloped or unpredictable legal or regulatory systems;

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•     corruption;

•     protection of intellectual property;

•     social unrest, crime, strikes, riots and civil disturbances;

•     regime changes and political upheaval;

•     terrorist attacks and wars; and

•     deterioration of political relations with the United States.

We may not be able to adequately address these additional risks. If we were unable to do so, we may be unable to complete such initial business combination, or, if we complete such initial business combination, our operations might suffer, either of which may adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our initial business combination and our structure thereafter may not be tax-efficient to our stockholders and warrant holders. As a result of our business combination, our tax obligations may be more complex, burdensome and uncertain.

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 any 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, effect a business combination with a target company in another jurisdiction, or reincorporate in a different jurisdiction (including, but not limited to, the jurisdiction in which the target company or business is located). 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 the shares received. In addition, stockholders and warrant holders may also be subject to additional income, withholding or other taxes with respect to their ownership of us after our initial business combination.

In addition, 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 U.S. federal, state, local and non-U.S. taxing authorities. This additional complexity and risk could have an adverse effect on our after-tax profitability and financial condition.

Risks Relating to our Securities

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 will be 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 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 to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering or during any Extension Period or with respect to any other material provisions relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, and (iii) the redemption of our public shares if we are unable to complete an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering or during any Extension Period, subject to applicable law and as further described herein. In addition, if we are unable to complete an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering or during any Extension Period, 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 this offering or any Extension Period before they receive funds from

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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.

Nasdaq may delist our securities from trading on its exchange, which could limit investors’ ability to make transactions in our securities and subject us to additional trading restrictions.

We intend to apply to have our units listed on Nasdaq on or promptly after the date of this prospectus and our Class A common stock and warrants on or promptly after their date of separation. Although after giving effect to this offering we expect to meet, on a pro forma basis, the minimum initial listing standards set forth in Nasdaq listing standards, we cannot assure you that our securities will be, or will continue to be, listed on Nasdaq in the future or prior to our initial business combination. In order to continue listing our securities on Nasdaq prior to our initial business combination, we must maintain certain financial, distribution and share price levels. Generally, we must maintain a minimum amount in stockholders’ equity (generally $2,500,000) and a minimum number of holders of our securities (generally 300 public holders). Additionally, in connection with our initial business combination, we will be required to demonstrate compliance with Nasdaq’s initial listing requirements, which are more rigorous than Nasdaq’s continued listing requirements, in order to continue to maintain the listing of our securities on Nasdaq. For instance, our share price would generally be required to be at least $4.00 per share and our stockholder’s equity would generally be required to be at least $5,000,000. We cannot assure you that we will be able to meet those initial listing requirements at that time.

If Nasdaq delists our securities from trading on its exchange and we are not able to list our securities on another national securities exchange, we expect our securities could be quoted on an 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 is a “penny stock” which will require brokers trading in our Class A common stock to adhere to more stringent rules and possibly result in a reduced level of trading activity in the secondary trading market for our securities;

•     a limited amount of news and analyst coverage; and

•     a decreased ability to issue additional securities or obtain additional financing in the future.

The National Securities Markets Improvement Act of 1996, which is a federal statute, prevents or preempts the states from regulating the sale of certain securities, which are referred to as “covered securities.” Because we expect that our units and eventually our Class A common stock and warrants will be listed on Nasdaq, our units, Class A common stock and warrants will qualify as covered securities under the statute. Although the states are preempted from regulating the sale of our securities, the federal statute does allow the states to investigate companies if there is a suspicion of fraud, and, if there is a finding of fraudulent activity, then the states can regulate or bar the sale of covered securities in a particular case. While we are not aware of a state having used these powers to prohibit or restrict the sale of securities issued by blank check companies, other than the State of Idaho, certain state securities regulators view blank check companies unfavorably and might use these powers, or threaten to use these powers, to hinder the sale of securities of blank check companies in their states. Further, if we were no longer listed on Nasdaq, our securities would not qualify as covered securities under the statute and we would be subject to regulation in each state in which we offer our securities.

You will not be permitted to exercise your warrants unless we register and qualify the underlying Class A common stock or certain exemptions are available.

If the issuance of the Class A common stock upon exercise of the warrants is not registered, qualified or exempt from registration or qualification under the Securities Act and applicable state securities laws, holders of warrants will not be entitled to exercise such warrants and such warrants may have no value and expire worthless. In such event, holders who acquired their warrants as part of a purchase of units will have paid the full unit purchase price solely for the Class A common stock included in the units.

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We are registering the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants in the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part because the warrants will become exercisable 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination, which may be within one year of this offering. However, because the warrants will be exercisable until their expiration date of up to five years after the completion of our initial business combination, in order to comply with the requirements of Section 10(a)(3) of the Securities Act following the consummation of our initial business combination, we have agreed that, as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 15 business days, after the closing of our initial business combination, we will use our best efforts to file with the SEC a registration statement covering the registration under the Securities Act of the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants and thereafter will use our best efforts to cause the same to become effective within 60 business days following our initial business combination and to maintain a current prospectus relating to the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants until the expiration of the warrants in accordance with the provisions of the warrant agreement. We cannot assure you that we will be able to do so if, for example, any facts or events arise which represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in the registration statement or prospectus, the financial statements contained or incorporated by reference therein are not current or correct or the SEC issues a stop order.

If the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants are not registered under the Securities Act, under the terms of the warrant agreement, holders of warrants who seek to exercise their warrants will not be permitted to do so for cash and, instead, will be required to do so on a cashless basis in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act or another exemption.

In no event will warrants be exercisable for cash or on a cashless basis, and we will not be obligated to issue any shares to holders seeking to exercise their warrants, unless the issuance of the shares upon such exercise is registered or qualified under the securities laws of the state of the exercising holder, or an exemption from registration or qualification is available.

If our 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 they satisfy the definition of “covered securities” under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act, we may, at our option, not permit holders of warrants who seek to exercise their warrants to do so for cash and, instead, require them to do so on a cashless basis in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act; in the event we so elect, we will not be required to file or maintain in effect a registration statement or register or qualify the shares underlying the warrants under applicable state securities laws, and in the event we do not so elect, we will use our best efforts to register or qualify the shares underlying the warrants under applicable state securities 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 (other than upon a cashless exercise as described above) or other compensation in exchange for the warrants in the event that we are unable to register or qualify the shares underlying the warrants under the Securities Act or applicable state securities laws.

You may only be able to exercise your public warrants on a “cashless basis” under certain circumstances, and if you do so, you will receive fewer shares of Class A common stock from such exercise than if you were to exercise such warrants for cash.

The warrant agreement provides that in the following circumstances holders of warrants who seek to exercise their warrants will not be permitted to do for cash and will, instead, be required to do so on a cashless basis in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act: (i) if the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants are not registered under the Securities Act in accordance with the terms of the warrant agreement; and (ii) if we have so elected and the shares of Class A common stock is at the time of any exercise of a warrant not listed on a national securities exchange such that they satisfy the definition of “covered securities” under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act. If you exercise your public warrants on a cashless basis under the circumstances described in clauses (i) and (ii) in the preceding sentence, you would pay the warrant exercise price by surrendering the warrants for that number of shares of Class A common stock equal to the quotient obtained by dividing (x) the product of the number of shares of Class A common stock underlying the warrants, multiplied by the excess of the “fair market value” of our shares of Class A common stock (as defined in the next sentence) over the exercise price of the warrants by (y) the fair market value. The “fair market value” is the average reported closing price of the shares of Class A common stock for the 10 trading days ending on the third trading day prior to the date

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on which the notice of exercise is received by the warrant agent or on which the notice of redemption is sent to the holders of warrants, as applicable. As a result, you would receive fewer shares of Class A common stock from such exercise than if you were to exercise such warrants for cash.

The grant of registration rights to our initial stockholders and their permitted transferees, holders of our private placement warrants and their permitted transferees and holders of our forward purchase shares and their permitted transferees may make it more difficult to complete our initial business combination, and the future exercise of such rights may adversely affect the market price of our shares of Class A common stock.

Pursuant to an agreement to be entered into concurrently with or prior to the issuance and sale of the securities in this offering, at or after the time of our initial business combination, our initial stockholders and their permitted transferees can demand that we register the shares of Class A common stock into which founder shares are convertible, holders of our private placement warrants and their permitted transferees can demand that we register the private placement warrants and the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the private placement warrants, holders of our forward purchase shares and their permitted transferees can demand that we register their forward purchase shares and holders of warrants that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans may demand that we register such warrants or the Class A common stock issuable upon conversion of such warrants. The registration rights will be exercisable with respect to the founder shares, the forward purchase shares, the private placement warrants and the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of such private placement warrants. We will bear the cost of registering these securities. The registration and availability of such a significant number of securities for trading in the public market may have an adverse effect on the market price of our Class A common stock. In addition, the existence of the registration rights may make our initial business combination more costly or difficult to conclude. This is because the stockholders of the target business may increase the equity stake they seek in the combined entity or ask for more cash consideration to offset the negative impact on the market price of our Class A common stock that is expected when the shares of common stock owned by our initial stockholders, holders of our private placement warrants or holders of our working capital loans or holders of our forward purchase shares or their respective permitted transferees are registered.

We may issue additional shares of 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 shares of 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 380,000,000 shares of Class A common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, 20,000,000 shares of Class B common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, and 1,000,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $0.0001 per share. Immediately after this offering, there will be 325,000,000 and 10,000,000 (assuming in each case that the underwriters have not exercised their over-allotment option and the forfeiture by our sponsor of 1,500,000 shares of Class B common stock) authorized but unissued shares of Class A common stock and Class B common stock, respectively, available for issuance which amount does not take into account shares reserved for issuance upon exercise of outstanding warrants or shares issuable upon conversion of the Class B common stock. The Class B common stock is automatically convertible into Class A common stock concurrently with or immediately following the consummation of our initial business combination, initially at a one-for-one ratio but subject to adjustment as set forth herein and in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. Immediately after this offering, there will be no shares of preferred stock issued and outstanding.

We may issue a substantial number of additional shares of 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 shares of Class A common stock 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 as set forth therein. However, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides, among other things, that prior to our initial business combination, we may not issue additional shares that would entitle the holders thereof to (i) receive funds from the trust account or (ii) vote as a class with our public shares (a) on any initial business combination or (b) to approve an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of

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incorporation to (x) extend the time we have to consummate a business combination beyond 24 months from the closing of this offering or during any Extension Period or (y) amend the foregoing provisions. 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 investors in this offering;

•     may subordinate the rights of holders of Class A common stock if shares 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 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; and

•     may adversely affect prevailing market prices for our units, Class A common stock and/or warrants.

Unlike some other similarly structured special purpose acquisition companies, our initial stockholders will receive additional shares of Class A common stock if we issue certain shares to consummate an initial business combination.

The founder shares will automatically convert into shares of Class A common stock concurrently with or immediately following the consummation of our initial business combination on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like, and subject to further adjustment as provided herein. In the case that additional shares of Class A common stock or equity-linked securities are issued or deemed issued in connection with our initial business combination, the number of shares of Class A common stock issuable upon conversion of all founder shares will equal, in the aggregate, on an as-converted basis, 20% of the total number of shares of Class A common stock outstanding after such conversion (after giving effect to any redemptions of shares of Class A common stock by public stockholders), including the total number of shares of 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 consummation of the initial business combination (including any forward purchase shares), excluding any shares of Class A common stock or equity-linked securities or rights exercisable for or convertible into shares of 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, officers or directors upon conversion of working capital loans, provided that such conversion of founder shares will never occur on a less than one-for-one basis. This is different than some other similarly structured special purpose acquisition companies in which the initial stockholders will only be issued an aggregate of 20% of the total number of shares to be outstanding prior to our initial business combination.

Our initial stockholders paid an aggregate of $25,000 to cover certain of our offering costs in exchange for 11,500,000 founder shares, or approximately $0.002 per founder share and, accordingly, you will experience immediate and substantial dilution from the purchase of our shares of Class A common stock.

The difference between the public offering price per share (allocating all of the unit purchase price to the share of Class A common stock and none to the warrant included in the unit) and the pro forma net tangible book value per share of our Class A common stock after this offering constitutes the dilution to you and the other investors in this offering. Our initial stockholders acquired the founder shares at a nominal price, significantly contributing to this dilution. Upon closing of this offering, and assuming no value is ascribed to the warrants included in the units, you and the other public stockholders will incur an immediate and substantial dilution of approximately 95.8% or $9.58 per share, assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option), the difference between the pro forma net tangible book value per share after this offering of $0.42 and the initial offering price of $10.00 per unit. This dilution would increase to the extent that the anti-dilution provisions of the founder shares result in the issuance of shares of Class A common stock on a greater than one-to-one basis upon conversion of the founder shares at the time of our initial business combination and would become exacerbated to the extent that public stockholders seek redemptions from the trust for their public shares. In addition, because of the anti-dilution protection in the founder shares, any equity or equity-linked securities issued in connection with our initial business combination would be disproportionately dilutive to our Class A common stock.

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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 prospectus to issue any notes or other debt securities, or to otherwise incur outstanding debt following this 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 is payable on demand;

•     our inability to obtain necessary additional financing if the debt contains covenants restricting our ability to obtain such financing while the debt is outstanding;

•     our inability to pay dividends on our Class A 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, expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions and other general corporate purposes;

•     limitations on our flexibility in planning for and reacting to changes in our business and in the industry in which we operate;

•     increased vulnerability to adverse changes in general economic, industry and competitive conditions and adverse changes in government regulation; and

•     limitations on our ability to borrow additional amounts for expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions, debt service requirements, execution of our strategy and other purposes and other disadvantages compared to our competitors who have less debt.

We may amend the terms of the warrants in a manner that may be adverse to holders of public warrants with the approval by the holders of at least 50% of the then outstanding public warrants. As a result, the exercise price of your warrants could be increased, the exercise period could be shortened and the number of shares of Class A common stock purchasable upon exercise of a warrant could be decreased, all without your approval.

Our warrants will be issued in registered form under a warrant agreement between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as warrant agent, and us. The warrant agreement provides that the terms of the warrants may be amended without the consent of any holder for the purpose of (i) curing any ambiguity or to correct any defective provision or mistake, including to conform the provisions of the warrant agreement to the description of the terms of the warrants and the warrant agreement set forth in this prospectus or (iii) adding or changing any provisions with respect to matters or questions arising under the warrant agreement as the parties to the warrant agreement may deem necessary or desirable and that the parties deem to not adversely affect the rights of the registered holders of the warrants, provided that the approval by the holders of at least 50% of the then outstanding public warrants is required to make any change that adversely affects the interests of the registered holders of the public warrants. Accordingly, we may amend the terms of the public warrants in a manner adverse to a holder if holders of at least 50% of the then outstanding public warrants approve of such amendment. Although our ability to amend the terms of the public warrants with the consent of at least 50% of the then outstanding public warrants is unlimited, examples of such amendments could be amendments to, among other things, increase the exercise price of the warrants, convert the warrants into cash or stock (at a ratio different than initially provided), shorten the exercise period or decrease the number of shares of Class A common stock purchasable upon exercise of a warrant.

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Our warrant agreement will designate 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 will provide that, subject to applicable law, (i) any action, proceeding or claim against us arising out of or relating in any way to the warrant agreement, including under the Securities Act, will be brought and enforced in the courts of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, and (ii) that we irrevocably submit to such jurisdiction, which jurisdiction shall be the exclusive forum for any such action, proceeding or claim. We will waive any objection to such exclusive jurisdiction and that such courts represent an inconvenient forum.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, these provisions of the warrant agreement will not apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal district courts of the United States of America are the sole and exclusive forum. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in any of our warrants shall be deemed to have notice of and to have consented to the forum provisions in our warrant agreement. If any action, the subject matter of which is within the scope 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 public warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.01 per warrant, provided that the closing price of our Class A common stock equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for adjustments to the number of shares issuable upon exercise or the exercise price of a warrant as described under the heading “Description of Securities — Warrants — Public Stockholders’ Warrants — Anti-Dilution Adjustments”) for any 20 trading days within a 30 trading-day period ending on the third trading day prior to proper notice of such redemption and provided that certain other conditions are met. If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may exercise our redemption right even if we are unable to register or qualify the underlying securities for sale under all applicable state securities laws. As a result, we may redeem the warrants as set forth above even if the holders are otherwise unable to exercise the warrants. Redemption of the outstanding warrants could force you to (i) exercise your warrants and pay the exercise price therefor at a time when it may be disadvantageous for you to do so, (ii) sell your warrants at the then-current market price when you might otherwise wish to hold your warrants or (iii) accept the nominal redemption price which, at the time the outstanding warrants are called for redemption, we expect would be substantially less than the market value of your warrants. None of the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us (except as described below under “Description of Securities — Redeemable Warrants — Public Stockholders’ Warrants — Redemption of warrants when the price per share of Class A common stock equals or exceeds $10.00”) so long as they are held by the initial purchasers of the private placement warrants or their permitted transferees.

In addition, we have the ability to redeem the outstanding public warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.10 per warrant upon a minimum of 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption provided that the closing price of our Class A common stock equals or exceeds $10.00 per share

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(as adjusted for adjustments to the number of shares issuable upon exercise or the exercise price of a warrant as described under the heading “Description of Securities — Warrants — Public Stockholders’ Warrants — Anti-Dilution Adjustments”) for any 20 trading days within a 30 trading-day period ending on the third trading day prior to proper notice of such redemption and provided that certain other conditions are met, including that (i) if the closing price of our Class A common stock for any 20 trading days within a 30-trading day period ending three trading days before we send notice of redemption to the warrant holders is less than $18.00 per share (as adjusted for adjustments to the number of shares issuable upon exercise or the exercise price of a warrant as described under the heading “Description of Securities — Warrants — Public Stockholders’ Warrants — Anti-dilution Adjustments”), the private placement warrants must also be concurrently called for redemption on the same terms as the outstanding public warrants and (ii) holders will be able to exercise their warrants prior to redemption for a number of shares of Class A common stock determined based on the redemption date and the fair market value of our Class A common stock. Please see “Description of Securities — Warrants — Public Stockholders’ Warrants — Redemption of warrants when the price per share of Class A common stock equals or exceeds $10.00.” The value received upon exercise of the warrants (i) 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 (ii) may not compensate the holders for the value of the warrants, including because the number of shares of Class A common stock received is capped at 0.361 shares of Class A common stock per warrant (subject to adjustment) irrespective of the remaining life of the warrants.

Our warrants may have an adverse effect on the market price of our shares of Class A common stock and make it more difficult to effectuate our initial business combination.

We will be issuing warrants to purchase 8,000,000 shares of our Class A common stock (or 9,200,000 shares of Class A common stock if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) as part of the units offered by this prospectus and, simultaneously with the closing of this offering, we will be issuing in a private placement an aggregate of 6,666,667 private placement warrants (or 7,466,667 warrants if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), each exercisable to purchase one share of Class A common stock at $11.50 per share. In addition, if our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our officers and directors makes any working capital loans, such lender may convert those loans into up to an additional 1,500,000 private placement warrants, at the price of $1.50 per warrant. To the extent we issue common stock to effectuate a business transaction, the potential for the issuance of a substantial number of additional shares of Class A common stock upon exercise of these warrants could make us a less attractive acquisition vehicle to a target business. Such warrants, when exercised, will increase the number of issued and outstanding shares of 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.

Because each unit contains one-fifth of one warrant and only a whole warrant may be exercised, the units may be worth less than units of other special purpose acquisition companies.

Each unit contains one-fifth 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 Class A common stock to be issued to the warrant holder. This is different from other offerings similar to ours whose units include one common share and one warrant to purchase one whole share. We have established the components of the units in this way in order to reduce the dilutive effect of the warrants upon completion of a business combination since the warrants will be exercisable in the aggregate for one-fifth 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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The determination of the offering price of our units, the size of this offering and terms of the units is more arbitrary than the pricing of securities and size of an offering of an operating company in a particular industry. You may have less assurance, therefore, that the offering price of our units properly reflects the value of such units than you would have in a typical offering of an operating company.

Prior to this offering there has been no public market for any of our securities. The public offering price of the units and the terms of the warrants were negotiated between us and the underwriters. In determining the size of this offering, management held customary organizational meetings with representatives of the underwriters, both prior to our inception and thereafter, with respect to the state of capital markets, generally, and the amount the underwriters believed they reasonably could raise on our behalf. Factors considered in determining the size of this offering, prices and terms of the units, including the Class A common stock and warrants underlying the units, include:

•     the history and prospects of companies whose principal business is the acquisition of other companies;

•     prior offerings of those companies;

•     our prospects for acquiring an operating business at attractive values;

•     a review of debt to equity ratios in leveraged transactions;

•     our capital structure;

•     an assessment of our management and their experience in identifying operating companies;

•     general conditions of the securities markets at the time of this offering; and

•     other factors as were deemed relevant.

Although these factors were considered, the determination of our offering size, price and terms of the units is more arbitrary than the pricing of securities of an operating company in a particular industry since we have no historical operations or financial results.

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.

There is currently no market for our securities. Stockholders therefore have no access to information about prior market history on which to base their investment decision. Following this offering, the price of our securities may vary significantly due to one or more potential business combinations and general market or economic conditions, including as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak and other events (such as terrorist attacks, natural disasters or a significant outbreak of other infectious diseases). 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.

Risks Relating to our Management Team

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. In particular, certain of our officers and directors serve as an officer or director of CM Life Sciences, Inc. and CM Life Sciences II Inc., which are both blank check companies sponsored by an affiliate of Casdin Capital and Corvex Management. 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.

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Our ability to successfully effect our initial business combination and to be successful thereafter will be dependent upon the efforts of our key personnel, some of whom may join us following our initial business combination. The loss of key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business.

Our ability to successfully effect our initial business combination is dependent upon the efforts of our key personnel. The role of our key personnel in the target business, however, cannot presently be ascertained. Although some of our key personnel may remain with the target business in senior management or advisory positions following our initial business combination, it is likely that some or all of the management of the target business will remain in place. While we intend to closely scrutinize any individuals we engage after our initial business combination, we cannot assure you that our assessment of these individuals will prove to be correct. These individuals may be unfamiliar with the requirements of operating a company regulated by the SEC, which could cause us to have to expend time and resources helping them become familiar with such requirements.

Our key personnel may negotiate employment or consulting agreements with a target business in connection with a particular business combination, and a particular business combination may be conditioned on the retention or resignation of such key personnel. These agreements may provide for them to receive compensation following our initial business combination and as a result, may cause them to have conflicts of interest in determining whether a particular business combination is the most advantageous.

Our key personnel may be able to remain with our company after the completion of our initial business combination only if they are able to negotiate employment or consulting agreements in connection with the business combination. Such negotiations would take place simultaneously with the negotiation of the business combination and could provide for such individuals to receive compensation in the form of cash payments and/or our securities for services they would render to us after the completion of the business combination. Such negotiations also could make such key personnel’s retention or resignation a condition to any such agreement. The personal and financial interests of such individuals may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business, subject to their fiduciary duties under Delaware law.

Our executive officers and directors will allocate their time to other businesses thereby causing conflicts of interest in their determination as to how much time to devote to our affairs. This conflict of interest could have a negative impact on our ability to complete our initial business combination.

Our executive officers and directors are not required to, and will not, commit their full time to our affairs, which may result in a conflict of interest in allocating their time between our operations and our search for a business combination and their other businesses. We do not intend to have any full-time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination. Each of our executive officers is engaged in several other business endeavors for which he may be entitled to substantial compensation, and our executive officers are not obligated to contribute any specific number of hours per week to our affairs. Our independent directors also serve as officers and board members for other entities. In particular, certain of our officers and directors serve as an officer or director of CM Life Sciences, Inc. and CM Life Sciences II Inc., which are both blank check companies sponsored by an affiliate of Casdin Capital and Corvex Management. 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. For a complete discussion of our executive officers’ and directors’ other business affairs, please see “Management — Officers, Directors and Director Nominees.”

Our officers and directors presently have, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities and, accordingly, may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented.

Following the completion of this offering and until we consummate our initial business combination, we intend to engage in the business of identifying and combining with one or more businesses. Each of our officers and directors presently has, and any of them in the future may have, additional fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entity (including, without limitation, CM Life Sciences, Inc. in the event the Transactions are not consummated and CM Life Sciences II Inc.). 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

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and a potential target business may be presented to another entity prior to its presentation to us. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that we renounce our interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any director or officer unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of the company and such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue, and to the extent the director or officer is permitted to refer that opportunity to us without violating another legal obligation. In addition, our sponsor and our officers and directors may sponsor or form other special purpose acquisition companies similar to ours or may pursue other business or investment ventures during the period in which we are seeking an initial business combination. Any such companies, businesses or ventures (including, without limitation, CM Life Sciences, Inc. in the event the Transactions are not consummated and CM Life Sciences II Inc.) may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an initial business combination. However, we do not believe that any such potential conflicts would materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination because, although the aforementioned entities are also seeking acquisition targets in the life sciences industry, there are many companies in the life sciences sector that we believe represent business combination opportunities. Additionally, while no specific deal size is mandated, based on the net proceeds raised in CM Life Sciences II Inc.’s initial public offering, we anticipate that the size of transaction CM Life Sciences II Inc. will pursue will generally be smaller than the transaction we expect to pursue for our initial business combination.

For a complete discussion of our executive officers’ and directors’ business affiliations and the potential conflicts of interest that you should be aware of, please see “Management — Officers, Directors and Director Nominees,” “Management — Conflicts of Interest” and “Certain Relationships and Related Party Transactions.”

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. Nor do we have a policy that expressly prohibits any such persons from engaging for their own account in business activities of the types conducted by us. Accordingly, such persons or entities may have a conflict between their interests and ours.

The personal and financial interests of our directors and officers may influence their motivation in timely identifying and selecting a target business and completing a business combination. Consequently, our directors’ and officers’ discretion in identifying and selecting a suitable target business may result in a conflict of interest when determining whether the terms, conditions and timing of a particular business combination are appropriate and in our 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. Our directors and officers also serve as officers and board members for other entities, including, without limitation, those described under “Management — Conflicts of Interest.” Such entities may compete with us for business combination opportunities. Our sponsor, officers and directors are not currently aware of any specific opportunities for us to complete our initial business combination with any entities with which they are affiliated, and there have been no substantive discussions concerning a business combination with any such entity or entities. We would pursue such a transaction if we determined that such affiliated entity met our criteria for a business combination as set forth in “Proposed Business — Acquisition Strategy” and such transaction was approved by a majority of our independent and disinterested directors. Despite our agreement to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm which is a member of FINRA or a valuation or appraisal firm regarding the fairness to our company from a financial point of view of a business combination with one or more domestic or international

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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.

Since our sponsor, executive officers and directors will lose their entire investment in us if our initial business combination is not completed (other than with respect to public shares they may acquire during or after this offering), a conflict of interest may arise in determining whether a particular business combination target is appropriate for our initial business combination.

During the period ended February 4, 2021, our sponsor paid $25,000, or approximately $0.002 per share, to cover certain of our offering costs in consideration of 11,500,000 founder shares. In February 2021, our sponsor transferred 25,000 founder shares to each of Mr. Henry, Mr. Owusu-Kesse, Mr. Robins and Dr. Robins. Prior to the initial investment in the company of $25,000 by the sponsor, the company had no assets, tangible or intangible. The purchase price of the founder shares was determined by dividing the amount of cash contributed to the company by the number of founder shares issued. The number of founder shares outstanding was determined based on the expectation that the total size of this offering would be a maximum of 46,000,000 units if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full, and therefore that such founder shares would represent 20% of the outstanding shares after this offering. Up to 1,500,000 of the founder shares will be forfeited by our sponsor depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment is exercised. The founder shares will be worthless if we do not complete an initial business combination. In addition, our sponsor and our independent director nominees (and/or one or more entities controlled by them) have severally committed to purchase an aggregate of 6,666,667 private placement warrants (or 7,466,667 warrants if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), each exercisable for one share of Class A common stock at $11.50 per share, for an aggregate purchase price of $10,000,000 (or $11,200,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), or $1.50 per warrant, that will also be worthless if we do not complete our 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 this offering nears, which is the deadline for our completion of an initial business combination.

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 will require, 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 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, as to which the Court of Chancery and the federal district court for the District of Delaware shall have concurrent 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 will provide 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

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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.

Additionally, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the federal courts 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. Section 22 of the Securities Act, however, created concurrent jurisdiction for federal and state courts over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Securities Act or the rules and regulations thereunder. Accordingly, there is uncertainty as to whether a court would enforce such provisions, and the enforceability of similar choice of forum provisions in other companies’ charter documents has been challenged in legal proceedings. While the Delaware courts have determined that such exclusive forum provisions are facially valid, a stockholder may nevertheless seek to bring a claim in a venue other than those designated in the exclusive forum provisions, and there can be no assurance that such provisions will be enforced by a court in those other jurisdictions. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in our securities shall be deemed to have notice of and consented to these provisions; however, we note that investors cannot waive compliance with the federal securities laws and 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 limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us and may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors and officers.

Provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and Delaware law may inhibit a takeover of us, which could limit the price investors might be willing to pay in the future for our shares of Class A common stock and could entrench management.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation contains provisions that may discourage unsolicited takeover proposals that stockholders may consider to be in their best interests. These provisions include a staggered board of directors and the ability of the board of directors to designate the terms of and issue new series of preferred stock, 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.

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.

We may not have sufficient funds to satisfy indemnification claims of our officers and directors.

We have agreed to indemnify our officers and directors to the fullest extent permitted by law. However, our officers and directors have agreed to waive any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies in the trust account and to not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason whatsoever. Accordingly, any indemnification provided will be able to be satisfied by us only if (i) we have sufficient funds outside of the trust account or (ii) we consummate an initial business combination. Our obligation to indemnify our officers and directors may discourage 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.

Risks Relating to the Post-Business Combination Company

Subsequent to our completion of our initial business combination, we may be required to take write-downs or write-offs, restructuring and impairment or other charges that could have a significant negative effect on our financial condition, results of operations and the price of our securities, which could cause you to lose some or all of your investment.

Even if we conduct extensive due diligence on a target business with which we combine, we cannot assure you that this diligence will identify all material issues that may be present 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

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the target business and outside of our control will not later arise. As a result of these factors, we may be forced to later write-down or write-off assets, restructure our operations, or incur impairment or other charges that could result in our reporting losses. Even if our due diligence successfully identifies certain risks, unexpected risks may arise and previously known risks may materialize in a manner not consistent with our preliminary risk analysis. Even though these charges may be non-cash items and not have an immediate impact on our liquidity, the fact that we report charges of this nature could contribute to negative market perceptions about us or our securities. In addition, charges of this nature may cause us to violate net worth or other covenants to which we may be subject as a result of assuming pre-existing debt held by a target business or by virtue of our obtaining debt financing to partially finance the initial business combination or thereafter. Accordingly, any stockholders or warrant holders who choose to remain stockholders or warrant holders following the business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such stockholders or warrant holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value unless they are able to successfully claim that the reduction was due to the breach by our officers or directors of a duty of care or other fiduciary duty owed to them, or if they are able to successfully bring a private claim under securities laws that the proxy materials or tender offer documents, as applicable, relating to the business combination contained an actionable material misstatement or material omission.

We may have a limited ability to assess the management of a prospective target business and, as a result, may effect our initial business combination with a target business whose management may not have the skills, qualifications or abilities to manage a public company.

When evaluating the desirability of effecting our initial business combination with a prospective target business, our ability to assess the target business’s management may be limited due to a lack of time, resources or information. Our assessment of the capabilities of the target business’s management, therefore, may prove to be incorrect and such management may lack the skills, qualifications or abilities we suspected. Should the target business’s management not possess the skills, qualifications or abilities necessary to manage a public company, the operations and profitability of the post-combination business may be negatively impacted. Accordingly, any stockholders or warrant holders who choose to remain stockholders or warrant holders following the business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such stockholders or warrant holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value unless they are able to successfully claim that the reduction was due to the breach by our officers or directors of a duty of care or other fiduciary duty owed to them, or if they are able to successfully bring a private claim under securities laws that the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, relating to the business combination contained an actionable material misstatement or material omission.

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 management may not maintain control of a target business after our initial business combination. We cannot provide assurance that, upon loss of control of a target business, new management will possess the skills, qualifications or abilities necessary to profitably operate such business.

We may structure our initial business combination so that the post-transaction company in which our public stockholders own shares will own less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business, but we will only complete such business combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target sufficient for us not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. We will not consider any transaction that does not meet such criteria. Even if the post-transaction company owns 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our stockholders prior to the 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 Class A common stock in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock of a target. In this case,

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we would acquire a 100% interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new shares of Class A common stock, our stockholders immediately prior to such transaction could own less than a majority of our 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 maintain control of the target business.

General Risk Factors

We are a blank check company with no operating history and no revenues, and you have no basis on which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective.

We are a blank check company incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware with no operating results, and we will not commence operations until obtaining funding through this offering. Because we lack an operating history, you have no basis upon which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective of completing our initial business combination. We have no plans, arrangements or understandings with any prospective target business concerning a business combination and may be unable to complete our initial business combination. If we fail to complete our initial business combination, we will never generate any operating revenues.

We are an emerging growth company and a smaller reporting company within the meaning of the Securities Act, and if we take advantage of certain exemptions from disclosure requirements available to emerging growth companies or smaller reporting companies, this could make our securities less attractive to investors and may make it more difficult to compare our performance with other public companies.

We are an “emerging growth company” within the meaning of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act, and we may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor internal controls attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and 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 exceeds $700 million as of any June 30 before that time, in which case we would no longer be an emerging growth company as of the following December 31. We cannot predict whether investors will find our securities less attractive because we will rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result of our reliance on these exemptions, the trading prices of our securities may be lower than they otherwise would be, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the trading prices of our securities may be more volatile.

Further, Section 102(b)(1) of the JOBS Act exempts emerging growth companies from being required to comply with new or revised financial accounting standards until private companies (that is, those that have not had a Securities Act registration statement declared effective or do not have a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act) are required to comply with the new or revised financial accounting standards. The JOBS Act provides that a company can elect to opt out of the extended transition period and comply with the requirements that apply to non-emerging growth companies but any such an election to opt out is irrevocable. We have elected not to opt out of such extended transition period which means that when a standard is issued or revised and it has different application dates for public or private companies, we, as an emerging growth company, can adopt the new or revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new or revised standard. This may make comparison of our financial statements with another public company which is neither an emerging growth company nor an emerging growth company which has opted out of using the extended transition period difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accounting standards used.

Additionally, we are a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Item 10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K. Smaller reporting companies may take advantage of certain reduced disclosure obligations, including, among other things, providing only two years of audited financial statements. We will remain a smaller reporting company until the last day of the fiscal year in which (1) the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates equals or exceeds $250 million

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as of the prior June 30th, and (2) our annual revenues equal or exceed $100 million during such completed fiscal year or the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates equals or exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30th. To the extent we take advantage of such reduced disclosure obligations, it may also make comparison of our financial statements with other public companies difficult or impossible.

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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CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Some of the statements contained in this prospectus may constitute “forward-looking statements” for purposes of the federal securities laws. Our forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our or our management team’s expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future. In addition, any statements that refer to projections, forecasts or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. The words “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “would” and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. Forward-looking statements in this prospectus may include, for example, statements about:

•     our ability to select an appropriate target business or businesses;

•     our ability to complete our initial business combination;

•     our expectations around the performance of the prospective target business or businesses;

•     our success in retaining or recruiting, or changes required in, our officers, key employees or directors following our initial business combination;

•     our officers and directors allocating their time to other businesses and potentially having conflicts of interest with our business or in approving our initial business combination;

•     the proceeds of forward purchase shares being available to us;

•     our potential ability to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination;

•     our pool of prospective target businesses;

•     our ability to consummate an initial business combination due to the uncertainty resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic;

•     the ability of our officers and directors to generate a number of potential business combination opportunities;

•     our public securities’ potential liquidity and trading;

•     the lack of a market for our securities;

•     the use of proceeds not held in the trust account or available to us from interest income on the trust account balance;

•     the trust account not being subject to claims of third parties; or

•     our financial performance following this offering.

The forward-looking statements contained in this prospectus 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.

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USE OF PROCEEDS

We are offering 40,000,000 units at an offering price of $10.00 per unit. We estimate that the net proceeds of this offering together with the funds we will receive from the sale of the private placement warrants will be used as set forth in the following table.

 

Without
Over-allotment
Option

 

Over-allotment
Option
Exercised

Gross proceeds

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gross proceeds from units offered to public(1)

 

$

400,000,000

 

 

$

460,000,000

 

Gross proceeds from private placement warrants offered in the private placement

 

 

10,000,000

 

 

 

11,200,000

 

Total gross proceeds

 

$

410,000,000

 

 

$

471,200,000

 

Estimated offering expenses(2)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Underwriting commissions (2.0% of gross proceeds from units offered to public, excluding deferred portion)(3)

 

$

8,000,000

 

 

$

9,200,000

 

Legal fees and expenses

 

 

325,000

 

 

 

325,000

 

Printing and engraving expenses

 

 

35,000

 

 

 

35,000

 

Accounting fees and expenses

 

 

60,000

 

 

 

60,000

 

SEC/FINRA Expenses

 

 

119,686

 

 

 

119,686

 

Road show expenses

 

 

5,000

 

 

 

5,000

 

Nasdaq listing and filing fees

 

 

75,000

 

 

 

75,000

 

Directors and officers insurance

 

 

375,000

 

 

 

375,000

 

Miscellaneous

 

 

5,314

 

 

 

5,314

 

Total offering expenses (other than underwriting commissions)

 

$

1,000,000

 

 

$

1,000,000

 

Proceeds after estimated offering expenses

 

$

401,000,000

 

 

$

461,000,000

 

Held in trust account(3)

 

$

400,000,000

 

 

$

460,000,000

 

% of public offering size

 

 

100

%

 

 

100

%

Not held in trust account

 

$

1,000,000

 

 

$

1,000,000

 

The following table shows the use of the approximately $1,000,000 of net proceeds not held in the trust account(4)

 

Amount

 

% of Total

Legal, accounting, due diligence, travel, and other expenses in connection with any business combination(5)

 

 

740,000

 

74.0

%

Legal and accounting fees related to regulatory reporting obligations

 

 

85,000

 

8.5

%

Nasdaq and other regulatory fees