UNITED
STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM
(Mark
One)
For
the fiscal year ended
For the transition period from to
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
| (State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) | (Commission File Number) | (I.R.S. Employer Identification Number) |
| (Address of principal executive offices) | (Zip Code) |
Registrant’s
telephone number, including area code:
Not
Applicable
(Former name or former address, if changed since last report)
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
Title of Each Class: | Trading Symbol: | Name of Each Exchange on Which Registered: | ||
| Units, each consisting of one Class A ordinary share, $0.0001 par value per share, and one-fifth of one redeemable warrant | PFDRU | The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC | ||
| The | ||||
| Redeemable warrants included as part of the units, each whole warrant exercisable for one Class A ordinary share at an exercise price of $11.50 per share | PFDRW | The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC |
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None
Indicate
by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☐
Indicate
by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act. Yes ☐
Indicate
by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange
Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports),
and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.
Indicate
by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant
to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that
the registrant was required to submit and post such files).
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See definition of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
| Large accelerated filer | ☐ | Accelerated filer | ☐ |
| ☒ | Smaller reporting company | ||
| Emerging growth company |
If
an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for
complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.
Indicate
by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness
of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered
public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report.
Indicate
by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes
The aggregate market value of the common shares
outstanding, other than shares held by persons who may be deemed affiliates of the registrant, computed by reference to the closing sales
price for the Class A ordinary shares on June 30, 2021, as reported on The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC, was $
As
of March 31, 2022,
Documents Incorporated by Reference: None.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
i
CERTAIN TERMS
Unless otherwise stated in this Annual Report on Form 10-K (this “Report”), or the context otherwise requires, references to:
| ● | “we,” “us,” “our,” “company” or “our company” are to Pathfinder Acquisition Corporation; |
| ● | “Class A ordinary shares” are to our Class A ordinary shares; |
| ● | “Companies Act” are to the Companies Act (2020 Revision) of the Cayman Islands as the same may be amended from time to time; |
| ● | “ordinary shares” are to our Class A ordinary shares and our Class B ordinary shares, collectively; |
| ● | “founder shares” are to our Class B ordinary shares initially issued to our sponsor in a private placement prior to our initial public offering and the Class A ordinary shares that will be issued upon the automatic conversion of the Class B ordinary shares at the time of our initial business combination (for the avoidance of doubt, such Class A ordinary shares will not be “public shares”); |
| ● | “HGGC” are to HGGC, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company; |
| ● | “Industry Ventures” are to Industry Ventures, L.L.C., a Delaware limited liability company; |
| ● | “initial public offering” are to our initial public offering consummated on February 19, 2021; |
| ● | “initial shareholders” are to holders of our founder shares prior to our initial public offering; |
| ● | “management” or our “management team” are to our officers and directors, and “directors” are to our current directors; |
| ● | “private placement warrants” are to the warrants issued to our sponsor in private placements simultaneously with the closing of our initial public offering and the underwriter’s partial exercise of its over-allotment option and upon conversion of the working capital loans, if any; |
| ● | “public shares” are to our Class A ordinary shares sold as part of the units in our initial public offering (whether they were purchased in our initial public offering or thereafter in the open market); |
| ● | “public shareholders” are to the holders of our public shares, including our sponsor and members of our management team to the extent our sponsor and/or members of our management team purchase public shares, provided that our sponsor’s and each member of our management team’s status as a “public shareholder” will only exist with respect to such public shares; |
| ● | “public warrants” are to the redeemable warrants issued as part of each Unit in our initial public offering and which began trading separately on April 8, 2021; |
| ● | “sponsor” are to Pathfinder Acquisition LLC, a Delaware limited liability company; |
| ● | “trust account” are to the trust account set up following our initial public offering with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee; and |
| ● | “Unit” are to our Units issued in our initial public offering, each consisting of one Class A ordinary share, $0.0001 par value per share, and one-fifth of one redeemable warrant. |
ii
CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This Report, including, without limitation, statements under the heading “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, (the “Securities Act”) and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, (the “Exchange Act”). These forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including the words “believes,” “estimates,” “anticipates,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “may,” “will,” “potential,” “projects,” “predicts,” “continue,” or “should,” or, in each case, their negative or other variations or comparable terminology. There can be no assurance that actual results will not materially differ from expectations. Such statements include, but are not limited to, any statements relating to our ability to consummate any acquisition or other business combination and any other statements that are not statements of current or historical facts. These statements are based on management’s current expectations, but actual results may differ materially due to various factors, including, but not limited to:
| ● | our ability to select an appropriate target business or businesses; |
| ● | our ability to complete an 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 (including the activities of HGGC and Industry Ventures) and potentially having conflicts of interest with our business or in approving our initial business combination; |
| ● | our potential ability to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination; |
| ● | our pool of prospective target businesses; |
| ● | our ability to consummate an initial business combination due to the uncertainty resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and other events (such as terrorist attacks, natural disasters or other significant outbreaks of infectious diseases); |
| ● | the ability of our officers and directors to generate a number of potential investment opportunities; |
| ● | our public securities’ potential liquidity and trading; |
| ● | the lack of a market for our securities; |
| ● | the use of proceeds not held in the trust account or available to us from interest income on the trust account balance; |
| ● | the trust account not being subject to claims of third parties; or |
| ● | our financial performance following our initial public offering. |
The forward-looking statements contained in this Report are based on our current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects on us. Future developments affecting us may not be those that we have anticipated. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties (some of which are beyond our control) and other assumptions that may cause actual results or performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those factors described under the heading “Risk Factors.” Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of our assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary in material respects from those projected in these forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws. These risks and others described under “Risk Factors” may not be exhaustive.
iii
By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that may or may not occur in the future. We caution you that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and that our actual results of operations, financial condition and liquidity, and developments in the industry in which we operate may differ materially from those made in or suggested by the forward-looking statements contained in this Report. In addition, even if our results or operations, financial condition and liquidity, and developments in the industry in which we operate are consistent with the forward-looking statements contained in this Report, those results or developments may not be indicative of results or developments in subsequent periods.
iv
SUMMARY OF RISK FACTORS
The following is a summary of the principal risks described below in Part I, Item 1A “Risk Factors” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. We believe that the risks described in the “Risk Factors” section are material to investors, but other factors not presently known to us or that we currently believe are immaterial may also adversely affect us. The following summary should not be considered an exhaustive summary of the material risks facing us, and it should be read in conjunction with the “Risk Factors” section and the other information contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
| ● | We are a recently incorporated company with no operating history and no revenues, and you have no basis on which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective. |
| ● | Past performance by our management team or their respective affiliates may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in us. |
| ● | Our public shareholders may not be afforded an opportunity to vote on our proposed initial business combination, which means we may complete our initial business combination even though a majority of our public shareholders do not support such a combination. |
| ● | 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. |
| ● | If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor and members of our management team have agreed to vote in favor of such initial business combination, regardless of how our public shareholders vote. |
| ● | The ability of our public shareholders to redeem their shares for cash may make our financial condition unattractive to potential business combination targets, which may make it difficult for us to enter into a business combination with a target. |
| ● | The ability of our public shareholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our shares may not allow us to complete the most desirable business combination or optimize our capital structure. |
| ● | The ability of our public shareholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our shares could increase the probability that our initial business combination would be unsuccessful and that you would have to wait for liquidation in order to redeem your shares. |
| ● | The requirement that we consummate an initial business combination within 24 months after the closing of our initial public offering may give potential target businesses leverage over us in negotiating a business combination and may limit the time we have in which to conduct due diligence on potential business combination targets, in particular, as we approach our business combination deadline, which could undermine our ability to complete our initial business combination on terms that would produce value for our shareholders. |
| ● | Our search for a business combination, and any target business with which we ultimately consummate a business combination, may be materially adversely affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and the status of debt and equity markets. |
| ● | We may not be able to consummate an initial business combination within 24 months after the closing of our initial public offering, in which case we would cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up and we would redeem our public shares and liquidate. |
| ● | If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor, directors, executive officers, advisors and their affiliates may elect to purchase public shares or warrants, which may influence a vote on a proposed business combination and reduce the public “float” of our Class A ordinary shares or public warrants. |
v
| ● | If a shareholder fails to receive notice of our offer to redeem our public shares in connection with our initial business combination, or fails to comply with the procedures for tendering its shares, such shares may not be redeemed. |
| ● | 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. |
| ● | If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, and if you or a “group” of shareholders are deemed to hold in excess of 15% of our Class A ordinary shares, you will lose the ability to redeem all such shares in excess of 15% of our Class A ordinary shares. |
| ● | The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (“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. |
| ● | Because of our limited resources and the significant competition for business combination opportunities, it may be more difficult for us to complete our initial business combination. If we have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. |
| ● | If the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants not being held in the trust account are insufficient to allow us to operate for the 24 months following the closing of our initial public offering, it could limit the amount available to fund our search for a target business or businesses and our ability to complete our initial business combination, and we will depend on loans from our sponsor, its affiliates or members of our management team to fund our search and to complete our initial business combination. |
| ● | As the number of special purpose acquisition companies evaluating targets increases, attractive targets may become scarcer and there may be more competition for attractive targets. This could increase the cost of our initial business combination and could even result in our inability to find a target or to consummate an initial business combination. |
| ● | Our warrants are accounted for as a warrant liability and are recorded at fair value upon issuance with changes in fair value each period to be reported in earnings, which may have an adverse effect on the market price of our ordinary shares and could have a material effect on our financial results. |
| ● | We have identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting. This material weakness could continue to adversely affect our ability to report our results of operations and financial condition accurately and in a timely manner. | |
| ● | Our independent registered public accounting firm’s report contains an explanatory paragraph that expresses substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a “going concern.” |
vi
PART I
| Item 1. | Business |
General
We are a newly organized blank check company incorporated on December 18, 2020 as a Cayman Islands corporation whose business purpose is to effect a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses or assets, which we refer to as our initial business combination. We have not selected any specific business combination target.
Our company represents a partnership between affiliates of HGGC, a leading middle-market private equity firm, and Industry Ventures, a leading multi-strategy venture capital firm, as members of our sponsor group. We intend to focus our search on a growth-oriented technology or technology-enabled target that is at a key inflection point in its evolution and a beneficiary of secular tailwinds in one of several rapidly changing segments of the global economy. We believe this collaboration between affiliates of HGGC and Industry Ventures creates a unique partnership between a leading middle market private equity firm with a long-standing track record of investing success across industries and economic cycles, and a best-in-class multi-strategy venture capital platform with unparalleled access to thousands of private venture-backed growth companies, a proprietary database of financial and other information on these companies, and a deep understanding of the attributes and trends that will position a company for success in this changing environment. Our company is led by a management team with decades of experience as a crossover investor and dealmaker across the public-private spectrum. In our view, these factors place us at a competitive advantage to identify and consummate a highly attractive transaction.
Recent Developments
On July 15, 2021, we entered into a Business Combination Agreement (the “Original Business Combination Agreement”), with ServiceMax, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“ServiceMax”), and Stronghold Merger Sub, Inc., a Cayman Islands exempted company incorporated with limited liability and a wholly owned subsidiary of ServiceMax. On August 11, 2021, we, ServiceMax and Serve Merger Sub, Inc., a Delaware corporation and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, entered into an Amended and Restated Business Combination Agreement (the “Business Combination Agreement”). In connection with the entry into the Business Combination Agreement, we and ServiceMax entered into a certain ancillary agreements relating to the Business Combination Agreement, including subscription agreements with certain investors (which were amended and restated on August 11, 2021) to subscribe for an aggregate of up to 1,037,500 shares of common stock of Pathfinder following the business combination.
On December 6, 2021, we entered into a termination agreement (the “Termination Agreement”), effective as of such date, with the parties to the Business Combination Agreement, pursuant to which the parties agreed to mutually terminate the Business Combination Agreement due to unfavorable market conditions. As a result of the entry into the Termination Agreement, the Business Combination Agreement, and the ancillary agreements that were entered into in connection therewith, were either terminated or ceased to be effective, as applicable, in accordance with their terms.
HGGC
HGGC, of which our sponsor is an affiliate, is a leading middle-market private equity firm based in Palo Alto with $5.9 billion in cumulative capital commitments. Since inception in 2007, HGGC has completed over 300 transactions including 44 platform investments with a total enterprise value of over $40 billion. The firm is a sought-after partner to companies, management teams and investors and is recognized as a fair, reliable and trustworthy counterparty by people with whom it has done business. HGGC’s investing style is built around a commitment to partnership and is defined by a constructive, problem-solving approach to private equity and crossover investing that aims to bring long-term capital and financial sponsorship to bear to help companies solve important problems through direct and deep engagement in the pursuit of long-term value creation.
HGGC is a longstanding investor in Software, Technology, Technology-enabled Products and Services, and Business Services companies and has significant experience investing across other sectors such as Insurance Services, Consumer and Industrial Services. HGGC focuses its investments on companies that have attractive economic profiles and strong competitive positions in markets where the team can add value through strategic and operational support, M&A and capital markets capabilities and a broad network of relationships.
HGGC employs a proactive approach to opportunity sourcing with an in-house Business Development Team complemented by a network of business development affiliates who are focused on generating proprietary investment opportunities through industry contacts, intermediaries, other investment firms, advisors, other professional services firms and proprietary channels.
1
Industry Ventures
Industry Ventures is a leading venture capital firm that specializes in flexible capital solutions across the venture ecosystem — from early-stage to exit. Founded in 2000 and based in San Francisco, Industry Ventures has a 20-year track record with over $5.0 billion in assets under management, has made over 325 direct investments and over 475 fund investments to date, with exposure to over 5,000 venture-backed companies. Industry Ventures’ platform offers four complementary strategies that span the venture capital asset class through investments into companies and venture capital partnerships directly and via secondary transactions, providing unparalleled information and sourcing channels that create a unique competitive edge. Industry Ventures’ comprehensive database of limited partnership and company performance data coupled with cross-strategy information sharing provides access to proprietary deal flow and enhanced due diligence while allowing Industry Ventures to be a partner to venture capital fund managers and companies from inception to end of fund life. This provides a single manager relationship with access to early, mid, and late-stage venture-backed investments across the fund strategies.
Industry Ventures offers four complementary investment fund strategies:
| ● | Hybrid Fund of Funds — Focus is on early- and mid-stage venture-backed companies that are typically pre-revenue up to $20 million in revenues at the time of initial investment. Early-stage venture risk is mitigated through fund diversification by sector and vintage-year, and time to liquidity is accelerated by incorporating mid-stage companies into the portfolio through early secondary LP interests, SPVs, and direct co-investment into the breakout companies of underlying fund managers. |
| ● | Direct Funds — Focus is on mid-stage, venture-backed companies typically generating $5 million to $20 million in revenue at the time of initial investment. Access to these companies is through direct co-investments and SPVs into the breakout companies of underlying early-stage fund managers. |
| ● | Secondary Funds — Focus is on proven late-stage, venture-backed companies typically with $20 million to $200 million in revenues at the time of initial investment. Access to these companies is through direct secondaries and secondary LP interests. |
| ● | Tech Buyout Fund — Focus is on control-oriented, venture buyout opportunities in companies that are typically 10+ years old with $10 million to $50 million in revenue at time of exit. Access to these opportunities is through fund commitments to tech buyout funds <$1B in fund size and direct co-investments and SPVs in venture buyouts. |
This partnership between affiliates of HGGC and Industry Ventures is the result of a 20-plus year relationship between certain senior members of the two organizations, which has led to various conversations about potential collaboration over the years as well as the pursuit of specific transaction opportunities that were originated from conversations between individuals at HGGC and Industry Ventures. We believe the two firms bring complementary and synergistic capabilities to the table in the critical areas of target sourcing, target evaluation, transaction execution and value-added support for business combination targets, and we anticipate enjoying a strong and collaborative working relationship between the two firms in support of our activities.
Our Management and Board of Directors
Our management team is led by Rich Lawson, Chairman of the Board of Directors, David Chung, Chief Executive Officer and Director, Lindsay Sharma, Chief Investment Officer and Director, and Lance Taylor, Chief Financial Officer. They are supported by the resources of the broader HGGC and Industry Ventures platforms, providing access to leading sourcing, investment and operating professionals. Our company has the support of senior management across both firms, ensuring our company has the resources it needs to consummate a successful transaction and the HGGC and Industry Ventures teams are committed to a successful outcome. The heads of the HGGC and Industry Ventures organizations will be actively involved in supporting our efforts as members of the Board of Directors, including Rich Lawson, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of HGGC, Steve Young, President and Co-Founder of HGGC and Hans Swildens, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Industry Ventures. In addition, we will benefit from the active involvement of several experienced independent directors, including Steven Walske, former Chief Executive Officer of Parametric Technology Corporation.
2
With respect to the above, past experience or performance of our management team and their respective affiliates is not a guarantee of either (i) our ability to successfully identify and execute a transaction or (ii) success with respect to any business combination that we may consummate. You should not rely on the historical record of HGGC, Industry Ventures, our management team or their respective affiliates as indicative of future performance. Our management team and their respective affiliates have been involved with a large number of public and private companies in addition to those identified above, not all of which have achieved similar performance levels. See “Risk Factors — Past performance by our management team or their respective affiliates may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in us.” No member of our management team has any experience in operating special purpose acquisition companies. For a complete list of our executive officers and entities for which a conflict of interest may or does exist between such officers and the company, please refer to “Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance— Conflicts of Interest.”
Business Strategy and Competitive Strengths
Our business strategy is to identify and execute a business combination with a high quality, growth-oriented private company that we believe can succeed as a public company and generate attractive rates of return for shareholders over the long term.
We believe the following key cornerstones of our strategy position us well for success and differentiate us from other special purpose acquisition companies:
| (1) | Proprietary sourcing engine and information advantages based on leveraging the idea flow, portfolios, information access, and networks of HGGC and Industry Ventures, which we believe could provide advantageous access to thousands of private companies; |
| (2) | Institutional experience and expertise investing in Technology, Software and other Tech-enabled growth companies; |
| (3) | Decades of management team experience investing and executing transactions as a crossover investor across the public-private spectrum; |
| (4) | Deep partnership orientation and flexible problem-solving mindset that we believe will appeal to target companies, and |
| (5) | Ability to add value to target companies primarily by complementing the value creation efforts of skilled management teams with our ability to help maximize value capture for public companies through the application of thoughtful strategic investor relations and capital allocation strategies. |
Proprietary sourcing engine and information advantage: We will leverage two powerful proprietary sourcing engines in HGGC and Industry Ventures, which together have extensive coverage of sponsor portfolios across the venture capital, growth equity and private equity sectors as well as reach into the world of independent privately-owned businesses. Collectively, we believe we have the potential for access to thousands of private companies in over several hundred sponsor portfolios, with the potential for advantaged access to a significant percentage of them. We believe our sourcing efforts will be largely proactive and self-directed and will rely far less on intermediaries than many other special purpose acquisition companies.
Through Industry Ventures’ activities as a leading secondaries, fund-of-funds and direct investor in venture capital and growth equity portfolios, it has investments directly or indirectly in thousands of venture-backed companies in across hundreds of venture capital and growth equity portfolios. As a limited partner in over 375 venture capital funds, Industry Ventures not only has access to company-level information to the portfolio companies across their investee funds but has also invested in a sophisticated database to track individual company performance to proactively identify attractive and actionable target prospects and enhance due diligence efforts for its other strategies, including this SPAC. Industry Ventures has close relationships with its investee companies and has the ability to provide access to promising private companies generally without conflicts given its relatively small and often indirect ownership positions in the underlying companies.
As part of its investing activities as a leading mid-market private equity firm, HGGC has a dedicated internal sourcing and business development team that proactively monitors and engages with private equity and growth equity sponsors and their portfolios to mine for potential opportunities. The firm’s sponsor coverage effort encompasses close to 200 sponsors that control over 7,500 companies. The business development team’s CRM system includes over 6,000 target companies including both sponsor-backed companies and independent companies. In addition, HGGC has developed an extensive network of industry executives, intermediaries, advisors, attorneys and accountants through which it has consistently generated proprietary investment opportunities. Through these channels, HGGC has frequently sourced high quality opportunities which are not suitable for its private equity funds but could be a potential fit for this SPAC. HGGC also believes it has deep and advantaged networks in certain emerging geographic regions such as the Utah market, which has become an increasingly vibrant center of entrepreneurial activity in the Technology, Software and Technology-enabled Products and Services space.
Institutional experience in technology investing: Over its 13-year history, HGGC has invested in over 34 platform companies and 155 add-on investments. Roughly 60% of HGGC’s investments have been in Software, Technology, Technology-enabled Products and Services, and Business Services. Over its 20-year history as a multi-strategy venture capital investment platform, Industry Ventures has made over 300 direct investments and over 375 fund investments to date, with exposure to over 5,000 venture-backed companies across the technology sector. Collectively, HGGC and Industry Ventures have deep experience investing across the growth technology universe and a keen understanding of the attributes and trends that will position a target company for success in this changing environment.
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Decades of experience investing and deal-making across the public-private spectrum: Our CEO, David Chung, has invested as a crossover investor across the public-private spectrum for over 25 years. He has substantial experience as a pure private equity investor (at KKR, a global private equity firm), a pure public market investor (at Standard Pacific Capital, a long-short hedge fund), and a crossover investor across public and private markets (at Blum Capital, a hybrid private equity and public investment firm). Over his career, he has invested and led transactions with private and public companies, across industries and across stages, from earlier stage to more mature situations. In recent years as an affiliate of HGGC, he has focused on take-private transactions of public companies, which requires an understanding of public market dynamics and actionable arbitrage opportunities between and public and private markets.
The management team as a whole has deep expertise in evaluating both the key success factors of private companies as value creation engines as well as the qualities that enable public companies to succeed as drivers of long-term shareholder value. We believe we have the right mix of experience and expertise to successfully execute along the full scope of a SPAC’s activities, including identifying and partnering with a promising private company and its management team, negotiating and structuring a transaction that clears both private and public market audiences, and providing value-added support to the business combination public company primarily in the area of sustained value capture through strategic investor relations and capital allocation strategies.
Deep partnership orientation and flexible problem-solving mindset: HGGC’s investing style is built around a commitment to partnership and is defined by a constructive problem-solving approach to private equity and crossover investing that aims to help private and public companies solve important problems through direct and deep engagement in the pursuit of long-term value creation. HGGC’s partnership-driven, problem-solving approach to investing and deal-making has engendered a level of goodwill and recognition in the market that HGGC is a desirable and sought-after partner, and it is something that the firm seeks to reinforce with each interaction with prospective targets. This is equally true of Industry Ventures, which is known within the venture capital ecosystem as a trusted partner that provides a full and flexible range of inception-to-exit solutions for venture capital firms and their portfolio companies.
We believe this ingrained partnership and flexible problem-solving mindset is well suited to the needs of the SPAC market. We understand the partnership nature of interactions with business combination targets and believe we embody many of the intangible qualities that a business combination target would find attractive in a prospective partner.
Differentiated value-add for target companies: While we believe we can add substantial value to a business combination target in the same way HGGC and Industry Ventures add value to their portfolio companies – namely through operational and strategic support, M&A and capital markets capabilities, goal- and priorities-setting, infrastructure strengthening, and leveraging of extensive networks of contacts – we believe that one of our most differentiated areas of value-add for a business combination target will be in the area of optimizing value capture as a public company through the introduction of thoughtful strategic investor relations and capital allocation strategies. As experienced investors across the public-private spectrum, we have a keen understanding of the distinction between value creation and value capture, specifically in the public company context.
| ● | We believe that value creation is largely driven by: (a) the intrinsic capital-compounding characteristics of any underlying business, (b) the efforts of a skilled management team to execute effectively over time, and (c) the soundness of the business strategy being pursued. Value creation is manifested in the sustained growth in key financial metrics such as revenues, margins, earnings and cash flow as well as key operational metrics. |
| ● | Value capture for public companies, on the other hand, is manifested in the level and consistency of valuation metrics (such as earnings, cash flow and revenue multiples) that are earned by and afforded to a company over time. While it is certainly correlated with the progress of value creation, we believe value capture in the public markets is also a function of: (a) successful strategic investor relations strategies, which includes positioning the company effectively for public investors, crafting a value creation narrative that has investor resonance, establishing the right financial and operating metrics to support the narrative, and managing expectations effectively and consistently around performance of these metrics, and (b) value-enhancing capital allocation strategies, which relates to how management teams create value outside of pure operations through the effective deployment of excess capital into the highest returning opportunities available to a company. |
We believe that public companies with effective strategic investor relations and capital allocation strategies can earn consistently higher and less variable valuation multiples over time than peers with inferior strategic investor relations and capital allocation strategies. We believe that building a successful track record of capital allocation and performance against expectations has a substantial impact on long-term value delivery to shareholders and is an important parallel value driver to operational value creation.
Our deep experience investing across the public-private spectrum will enable us to guide a business combination target’s management team effectively through the journey of building a track record of strong capital allocation and performance reliability as a public company that will be critical to long-term value capture. We believe that even the strongest private company management teams typically do not have experience in this area, and our ability to help navigate the waters of public company value capture will be highly valuable to business combination targets.
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Market Opportunity
Our mission, to act as a value-added partner to a high quality private growth company for the purpose of launching and sustaining it as a successful public company, dovetails with several favorable market trends:
Long-term reversion toward public/private company balance via SPACs: We believe we are in the beginning stages of a long-term secular trend toward more private companies going public through special purpose acquisition vehicles. This trend is supported by the imbalance in the number of public and private companies in the U.S. According to World Bank data, the number of publicly traded companies in the U.S. has gone from roughly 8,000 in 1996 to between 4,000 and 4,500 today. By contrast, over the last 15 years the number of U.S. private companies backed by private equity firms alone (which is a subset of the number of total private companies in the U.S.) has increased from roughly 4,000 to over 8,000 today, according to McKinsey data. An important driver of this phenomenon has been the increasingly inefficient process mechanics and onerous and exacting standards required of private companies seeking to go public through a traditional initial public offering, while an increasingly robust and flexible private capital market comprising venture capital, growth equity and private equity has replaced capital from the public equity markets over time despite the higher cost of private capital. We believe that the market is reaching an inflection point where we are at the beginning of a long-term reversion toward an increasing number of public companies being created, as more private companies go public through increasingly mainstream alternative channels such as SPACs.
Large and growing addressable market for technology and growth focused SPACs: As a growth and technology-focused SPAC, we believe we face a large and growing opportunity set of potential target companies. In addition to the roughly 8,000 private companies in U.S. private equity portfolios, there are roughly 35,000 private companies in U.S. venture capital and growth equity portfolios, according to Pitchbook data. The vast majority of venture and growth equity backed companies are technology and growth oriented, and technology has represented the largest single sector for private equity investment over the last several years. In terms of trajectory, according to Pitchbook the number of private technology companies in North America has increased by more than 80% over the last 10 years. Close to 40% of these companies are venture-backed, and just under 5% have raised more than $50 million of capital. In addition, we believe investors, including those that have traditionally invested in early- and growth-stage private companies, have become increasingly open to investing in growth-oriented publicly traded business combination companies given the benefits of liquidity and public company transparency. Whether driven by the constantly evolving technological landscape, rapidly changing consumer preferences, the digitization of business processes or the pace and impact of disruptive innovation, we believe that technology-focused businesses are at a once-in-a-generation inflection point in responding to change and capitalizing on these trends.
Late-stage funding market increasing supply of targets: We believe we will benefit from increasing demand for private company liquidity which should drive greater actionability among our target universe of companies. Significant growth in the late-stage private capital market provides an indicator of the increasing base of later stage private companies that are reaching the level of scale and success to not only merit late stage capital but also to eventually be viable candidates for a business combination. According to Pitchbook data, U.S. based venture capital funds raised roughly $360 billion from 2014 to 2020E, while the amount of capital raised by U.S. based venture-backed companies over the same period was roughly $754 billion, which demonstrates the increased funding provided by later-stage growth equity and alternative investors. The volume of late stage funding over the last 5-6 years is a clear leading indicator of an increasing number of private companies growing and making progress toward an exit event, which should fuel the supply of viable business combination targets.
Venture capital portfolio elongation increasing demand for liquidity: In a similar vein, elongation of hold periods in the venture capital market is creating increasing demand for liquidity in their portfolio companies, contributing to the large and increasing base of potential targets for business combination. According to data from Cambridge Associates, the percentage of unrealized value (as defined by RVPI (remaining value per invested capital) ÷ TVPI (total value per invested capital)) in venture portfolios is 40% in 2010 vintage funds, roughly 40% in 2009 vintage funds, roughly 35% in 2008 vintage funds, and roughly 30% in 2007 vintage funds. There is significant value remaining in the portfolios of venture funds which are past their contractual 10-year fund lives, which should drive a growing demand for liquidity and exit events.
Acquisition Criteria
Consistent with our business strategy, we have identified the following general criteria and guidelines that we believe are important in evaluating prospective target businesses. We will use these criteria and guidelines in evaluating acquisition opportunities, but we may decide to enter into our initial business combination with a target business that does not meet these criteria and guidelines.
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We will seek to acquire companies that we believe:
| ● | Offer attractive growth prospects for the foreseeable future; |
| ● | Have proven unit economics that are compelling and sustainable; |
| ● | Have a strong and defensible competitive position; |
| ● | Are led by a strong and credible management team; |
| ● | Have public company-ready financial controls and infrastructure; |
| ● | Have an approximate transaction value of $500 million to $3 billion, with the ability to pursue larger opportunities that arise; |
| ● | Can be sourced through our extensive proprietary networks and relationships so as to avoid broadly marketed processes; and |
| ● | Could offer an attractive potential return for our shareholders. |
These criteria are not intended to be exhaustive. Any evaluation relating to the merits of a particular initial business combination may be based, to the extent relevant, on these general guidelines as well as other considerations, factors and criteria that our management may deem relevant. In the event that we decide to enter into our initial business combination with a target business that does not meet the above criteria and guidelines, we will disclose that the target business does not meet the above criteria in our shareholder communications related to our initial business combination, which, as discussed in this Report, would be in the form of proxy solicitation materials or tender offer documents that we would file with the SEC.
Our Acquisition Process
In evaluating a prospective target business, we expect to conduct an extensive due diligence review which may encompass, as applicable and among other things, meetings with incumbent management and employees, document reviews, interviews of customers and suppliers, inspection of facilities and a review of financial and other information about the target and its industry.
In connection with our evaluation of a potential target for an initial business combination, we intend to leverage the business relationships of HGGC and Industry Ventures and the access to information of potential targets and contacts afforded thereby. In particular, through Industry Ventures’ activities as a leading secondaries, fund-of-funds and direct investor in venture capital and growth equity portfolios, it has investments directly or indirectly in thousands of venture-backed companies in hundreds of venture capital and growth equity portfolios. As a result, we will consider and may engage in an initial business combination with an entity in which HGGC or Industry Ventures has an interest either as a shareholder or another capacity. As a result, there could be a conflict of interest between the interests of HGGC or Industry Ventures and the interests of our business. To minimize any such conflict of interest, any initial business combination with an entity that is affiliated with HGGC or Industry Ventures will be subject to the process for approval of related party transactions outlined in the section of this Report entitled “Certain Relationships and Related Party Transactions — Policy for Approval of Related Party Transactions.”
Each of our directors and officers has an interest, directly or indirectly, in founder shares and/or private placement warrants following 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, such 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.
Our officers and directors are not required to commit any specified amount of time to our affairs, and, accordingly, will have conflicts of interest in allocating management time among various business activities, including identifying potential business combinations and monitoring the related due diligence.
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Initial Business Combination
So long as our securities are then listed on the Nasdaq, our initial business combination must occur with one or more target businesses that together have an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the net 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 signing a definitive agreement in connection with our initial business combination. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc., or FINRA, or an independent valuation or appraisal firm with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. While we consider it unlikely that our board will not be able to make an independent determination of the fair market value of a target business or businesses, it may be unable to do so if the board is less familiar or experienced with the target company’s business, there is a significant amount of uncertainty as to the value of the company’s assets or prospects, including if such company is at an early stage of development, operations or growth, or if the anticipated transaction involves a complex financial analysis or other specialized skills and the board determines that outside expertise would be helpful or necessary in conducting such analysis. Since any opinion, if obtained, would merely state that the fair market value of the target business meets the 80% of net assets threshold, unless such opinion includes material information regarding the valuation of a target business or the consideration to be provided, it is not anticipated that copies of such opinion would be distributed to our shareholders. However, if required under applicable law, any proxy statement that we deliver to shareholders and file with the SEC in connection with a proposed transaction will include such opinion. 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-business combination company in which our public shareholders own shares will own or acquire 100% of the equity interests or assets of the target business or businesses. We may, however, structure our initial business combination such that the post-business combination company owns or acquires less than 100% of such interests or assets of the target business in order to meet certain objectives of the target management team or shareholders or for other reasons, but we will only complete such business combination if the post-business combination company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. Even if the post-business combination company owns or acquires 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our shareholders prior to the business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post-business combination company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the business combination. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock, shares or other equity interests of a target business, or issue a substantial number of new shares to third-parties in connection with financing our initial business combination. In this case, we would acquire a 100% controlling interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new shares, our shareholders immediately prior to our initial business combination could own less than a majority of our outstanding shares subsequent to our initial business combination. If less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses are owned or acquired by the post-business combination company, the portion of such business or businesses that is owned or acquired is what will be valued for purposes of the 80% of net assets test. 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. If our securities are not then listed on the Nasdaq for whatever reason, we would no longer be required to meet the foregoing 80% of net asset test.
To the extent we effect our initial business combination with a company or business that may be financially unstable or in its early stages of development or growth, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in such company or business. Although our management will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we cannot assure you that we will properly ascertain or assess all significant risk factors.
The time required to select and evaluate a target business and to structure and complete our initial business combination, and the costs associated with this process, are not currently ascertainable with any degree of certainty. Any costs incurred with respect to the identification and evaluation of a prospective target business with which our initial business combination is not ultimately completed will result in our incurring losses and will reduce the funds\we can use to complete another business combination.
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Other Considerations
We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor or any of our officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA or an independent accounting firm that such initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view. We are not required to obtain such an opinion in any other context.
Certain of our officers and directors presently have, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary and contractual duties to other entities. As a result, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for an entity to which he, she or it has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, then, he, she or it may be required to honor such fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such business combination opportunity to such entity, before we can pursue such opportunity. For example, affiliates of our sponsor, HGGC and Industry Ventures, have an obligation to present suitable opportunities to their funds before considering whether such opportunities may be suitable for the Company. If these other entities decide to pursue any such opportunity, we may be precluded from pursuing the same. However, we do not expect these duties to materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that we renounce our interest in any business combination opportunity offered to any director or officer unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of the company and it is an opportunity that we are able to complete on a reasonable basis.
Our directors and officers may sponsor, form or participate in other blank check companies similar to ours during the period in which we are seeking an initial business combination. Any such companies may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an acquisition target, particularly in the event there is overlap among investment mandates. However, we do not currently expect that any such other blank check company would materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination. In addition, our officers and directors, are not required to commit any specified amount of time to our affairs, and, accordingly, will have conflicts of interest in allocating management time among various business activities, including identifying potential business combinations and monitoring the related due diligence. The portion of our sponsor risk capital provided by Industry Ventures is funded by Industry Ventures Tech Buyout, LP. Industry Ventures’ principals, including our Chief Investment Officer and Director Ms. Lindsay Sharma and Director Mr. Hans Swildens, are required under the various partnership agreements of Industry Ventures, subject to certain exceptions, to dedicate substantially all of their business time to the affairs of Industry Ventures and its affiliates, including Industry Ventures Tech Buyout and its portfolio companies. As a portfolio investment of Industry Ventures Tech Buyout LP, we believe we will receive considerable support from the Industry Ventures platform.
Status as a Public Company
We believe our structure makes us an attractive business combination partner to target businesses. As an existing public company, we offer a target business an alternative to the traditional initial public offering through a merger or other business combination with us. In a business combination transaction with us, the owners of the target business may, for example, exchange their shares of stock in the target business for our Class A ordinary shares (or shares of a new holding company) or for a combination of our Class A ordinary shares and cash, allowing us to tailor the consideration to the specific needs of the sellers. We believe target businesses will find this method a more expeditious and cost effective method to becoming a public company than the typical initial public offering. The typical initial public offering process takes a significantly longer period of time than the typical business combination transaction process, and there are significant expenses in the initial public offering process, including underwriting discounts and commissions, that may not be present to the same extent in connection with a business combination with us.
Furthermore, once a proposed business combination is completed, the target business will have effectively become public, whereas an initial public offering is always subject to the underwriters’ ability to complete the offering, as well as general market conditions, which could delay or prevent the offering from occurring or have negative valuation consequences. Once public, we believe the target business would then have greater access to capital, an additional means of providing management incentives consistent with shareholders’ interests and the ability to use its shares as currency for acquisitions. Being a public company can offer further benefits by augmenting a company’s profile among potential new customers and vendors and aid in attracting talented employees.
While we believe that our structure and our management team’s backgrounds will make us an attractive business partner, some potential target businesses may view our status as a blank check company, such as our lack of an operating history and our ability to seek shareholder approval of any proposed initial business combination, negatively.
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We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act. As such, we are eligible to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a non-binding advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved, If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the prices of our securities may be more volatile.
In addition, Section 107 of the JOBS Act also provides that an “emerging growth company” can take advantage of the extended transition period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act for complying with new or revised accounting standards. In other words, an “emerging growth company” can delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We intend to take advantage of the benefits of this extended transition period.
We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of (1) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following the fifth anniversary of the completion of our initial public offering, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion, or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our Class A ordinary shares that are held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30th, and (2) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt during the prior three-year period.
Additionally, we are a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Item 10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K. Smaller reporting companies may take advantage of certain reduced disclosure obligations, including, among other things, providing only two years of audited financial statements. We will remain a smaller reporting company until the last day of the fiscal year in which (1) the market value of our ordinary shares held by non-affiliates exceeds $250 million as of the prior June 30, and (2) our annual revenues exceeded $100 million during such completed fiscal year or the market value of our ordinary shares held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30.
Financial Position
With funds available for a business combination in the amount of $313,625,000 in our trust account, after payment $11,375,000 of deferred underwriting fees, we offer a target business a variety of options such as creating a liquidity event for its owners, providing capital for the potential growth and expansion of its operations or strengthening its balance sheet by reducing its debt ratio. Because we are able to complete our initial business combination using our cash, debt or equity securities, or a combination of the foregoing, we have the flexibility to use the most efficient combination that will allow us to tailor the consideration to be paid to the target business to fit its needs and desires. However, we have not taken any steps to secure third-party financing and there can be no assurance it will be available to us.
Effecting Our Initial Business Combination
General
We are not presently engaged in, and we will not engage in, any operations for an indefinite period of time following our initial public offering. We intend to effectuate our initial business combination using cash from the proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, our equity, debt or a combination of these as the consideration to be paid in our initial business combination. We may seek to complete our initial business combination with a company or business that may be financially unstable or in its early stages of development or growth, which would subject us to the numerous risks inherent in such companies and businesses.
If our initial business combination is paid for using equity or debt, or not all of the funds released from the trust account are used for payment of the consideration in connection with our initial business combination or used for redemptions of our Class A ordinary shares, we may apply the balance of the cash released to us from the trust account for general corporate purposes, including for maintenance or expansion of operations of the post-business combination company, the payment of principal or interest due on indebtedness incurred in completing our initial business combination, to fund the purchase of other companies or for working capital.
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We have not selected any business combination target. Although our management will assess the risks inherent in a particular target business with which we may combine, we cannot assure you that this assessment will result in our identifying all risks that a target business may encounter. Furthermore, some of those risks may be outside of our control, meaning that we can do nothing to control or reduce the chances that those risks will adversely affect a target business.
We may need to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination, either because the transaction requires more cash than is available from the proceeds held in our trust account, or because we become obligated to redeem a significant number of our public shares upon completion of the business combination, in which case we may issue additional securities or incur debt in connection with such business combination. There are no prohibitions on our ability to issue securities or incur debt in connection with our initial business combination. We are not currently a party to any arrangement or understanding with any third-party with respect to raising any additional funds through the sale of securities, the incurrence of debt or otherwise.
Sources of Target Businesses
We anticipate that target business candidates will be brought to our attention from various internal sources as well as unaffiliated sources, including investment market participants, private equity groups, venture capital and growth equity firms, investment banking firms, consultants, accounting firms and large business enterprises. Target businesses may be brought to our attention by such unaffiliated sources as a result of being solicited by us through calls or mailings. These sources may also introduce us to target businesses in which they think we may be interested on an unsolicited basis, since some of these sources will have read this Report and know what types of businesses we are targeting. Our officers and directors, as well as their affiliates, may also bring to our attention target business candidates that they become aware of through their business contacts as a result of formal or informal inquiries or discussions they may have, as well as attending trade shows or conventions. In addition, we expect to receive a number of proprietary deal flow opportunities that would not otherwise necessarily be available to us as a result of the business relationships of our officers and directors. While we do not presently anticipate engaging the services of professional firms or other individuals that specialize in business acquisitions on any formal basis, we may engage these firms or other individuals in the future, in which event we may pay a finder’s fee, consulting fee or other compensation to be determined in an arm’s length negotiation based on the terms of the transaction. We will engage a finder only to the extent our management determines that the use of a finder may bring opportunities to us that may not otherwise be available to us or if finders approach us on an unsolicited basis with a potential transaction that our management determines is in our best interest to pursue. Payment of finder’s fees is customarily tied to completion of a transaction, in which case any such fee will be paid out of the funds held in the trust account. In no event, however, will our sponsor or any of our existing officers or directors, or their respective affiliates be paid by us any finder’s fee, consulting fee or other compensation prior to, or for any services they render in order to effectuate, the completion of our initial business combination (regardless of the type of transaction that it is). We have agreed to pay our sponsor a total of $10,000 per month for office space, secretarial and administrative support and to reimburse our sponsor for any out-of-pocket expenses related to identifying, investigating and completing an initial business combination. Some of our officers and directors may enter into employment or consulting agreements with the post-business combination company following our initial business combination. The presence or absence of any such fees or arrangements will not be used as a criterion in our selection process of an acquisition candidate.
We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor or any of our officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA or an independent accounting firm that such initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view. We are not required to obtain such an opinion in any other context.
Each of our officers and directors presently has, and any of them in the future may have, additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities, including entities that are affiliates of our sponsor, pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entity. Accordingly, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for an entity to which he or she has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she may be required to honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such business combination opportunity to such entity, subject to their fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law.
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Evaluation of a Target Business and Structuring of Our Initial Business Combination
In evaluating a prospective target business, we expect to conduct an extensive due diligence review which may encompass, as applicable and among other things, meetings with incumbent management and employees, document reviews, interviews of customers and suppliers, inspection of facilities and a review of financial and other information about the target and its industry. If we determine to move forward with a particular target, we will proceed to structure and negotiate the terms of the business combination transaction.
The time required to select and evaluate a target business and to structure and complete our initial business combination, and the costs associated with this process, are not currently ascertainable with any degree of certainty. Any costs incurred with respect to the identification and evaluation of, and negotiation with, a prospective target business with which our initial business combination is not ultimately completed will result in our incurring losses and will reduce the funds we can use to complete another business combination. The company will not pay any consulting fees to members of our management team, or their respective affiliates, for services rendered to or in connection with our initial business combination.
Lack of Business Diversification
For an indefinite period of time after the completion of our initial business combination, the prospects for our success may depend entirely on the future performance of a single business. Unlike other entities that have the resources to complete business combinations with multiple entities in one or several industries, it is probable that we will not have the resources to diversify our operations and mitigate the risks of being in a single line of business. By completing our initial business combination with only a single entity, our lack of diversification may:
| ● | subject us to negative economic, competitive and regulatory developments, any or all of which may have a substantial adverse impact on the particular industry in which we operate after our initial business combination; and |
| ● | cause us to depend on the marketing and sale of a single product or limited number of products or services. |
Limited Ability to Evaluate the Target’s Management Team
Although we intend to closely scrutinize the management of a prospective target business when evaluating the desirability of effecting our initial business combination with that business, our assessment of the target business’s management may not prove to be correct. In addition, the future management may not have the necessary skills, qualifications or abilities to manage a public company. Furthermore, the future role of members of our management team, if any, in the target business cannot presently be stated with any certainty. The determination as to whether any of the members of our management team will remain with the combined company will be made at the time of our initial business combination. While it is possible that one or more of our directors will remain associated in some capacity with us following our initial business combination, it is unlikely that any of them will devote their full efforts to our affairs subsequent to our initial business combination. Moreover, we cannot assure you that members of our management team will have significant experience or knowledge relating to the operations of the particular target business.
We cannot assure you that any of our key personnel will remain in senior management or advisory positions with the combined company. The determination as to whether any of our key personnel will remain with the combined company will be made at the time of our initial business combination.
Following a business combination, we may seek to recruit additional managers to supplement the incumbent management of the target business. We cannot assure you that we will have the ability to recruit additional managers, or that additional managers will have the requisite skills, knowledge or experience necessary to enhance the incumbent management.
Shareholders May Not Have the Ability to Approve Our Initial Business Combination
We may conduct redemptions without a shareholder vote pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC subject to the provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. However, we will seek shareholder approval if it is required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement, or we may decide to seek shareholder approval for business or other reasons.
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Under the Nasdaq’s listing rules, shareholder approval would typically be required for our initial business combination if, for example:
| ● | We issue ordinary shares that will be equal to or in excess of 20% of the number of our ordinary shares then-outstanding (other than in a public offering); |
| ● | Any of our directors, officers or substantial security holder (as defined by the Nasdaq rules) has a 5% or greater interest, directly or indirectly, in the target business or assets to be acquired or otherwise and the present or potential issuance of ordinary shares could result in an increase in issued and outstanding ordinary shares or voting power of 1% or more (or 5% or more if the related party involved is classified as such solely because such person is a substantial security holder); or |
| ● | The issuance or potential issuance of ordinary shares will result in our undergoing a change of control. |
The decision as to whether we will seek shareholder approval of a proposed business combination in those instances in which shareholder approval is not required by law will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on business and reasons, which include a variety of factors, including, but not limited to:
| ● | the timing of the transaction, including in the event we determine shareholder approval would require additional time and there is either not enough time to seek shareholder approval or doing so would place the company at a disadvantage in the transaction or result in other additional burdens on the company; |
| ● | the expected cost of holding a shareholder vote; |
| ● | the risk that the shareholders would fail to approve the proposed business combination; |
| ● | other time and budget constraints of the company; and |
| ● | additional legal complexities of a proposed business combination that would be time-consuming and burdensome to present to shareholders. |
Permitted Purchases and Other Transactions with Respect to Our Securities
If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our sponsor, directors, executive officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase public shares or warrants in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination. Additionally, at any time at or prior to our initial business combination, subject to applicable securities laws (including with respect to material nonpublic information), our sponsor, directors, executive officers, advisors or their affiliates may enter into transactions with investors and others to provide them with incentives to acquire public shares, vote their public shares in favor of our initial business combination or not redeem their public shares. However, they have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such transactions. None of the funds in the trust account will be used to purchase public shares or warrants in such transactions. If they engage in such transactions, they will be restricted from making any such purchases when they are in possession of any material non-public information not disclosed to the seller or if such purchases are prohibited by Regulation M under the Exchange Act.
In the event that our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates purchase shares in privately negotiated transactions from public shareholders who have already elected to exercise their redemption rights or submitted a proxy to vote against our initial business combination, such selling shareholders would be required to revoke their prior elections to redeem their shares and any proxy to vote against our initial business combination. We do not currently anticipate that such purchases, if any, would constitute a tender offer subject to the tender offer rules under the Exchange Act or a going-private transaction subject to the going-private rules under the Exchange Act; however, if the purchasers determine at the time of any such purchases that the purchases are subject to such rules, the purchasers will be required to comply with such rules.
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The purpose of any such transaction could be to (i) vote in favor of the business combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining shareholder approval of the business combination, (ii) reduce the number of public warrants outstanding or vote such warrants on any matters submitted to the warrant holders for approval in connection with our initial business combination or (iii) satisfy a closing condition in an agreement with a target that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash at the closing of our initial business combination, where it appears that such requirement would otherwise not be met. Any such purchases of our securities may result in the completion of our initial business combination that may not otherwise have been possible.
In addition, if such purchases are made, the public “float” of our Class A ordinary shares or public warrants may be reduced and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, which may make it difficult to maintain or obtain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange.
Our sponsor, officers, directors and/or their affiliates anticipate that they may identify the shareholders with whom our sponsor, officers, directors or their affiliates may pursue privately negotiated transactions by either the shareholders contacting us directly or by our receipt of redemption requests submitted by shareholders (in the case of Class A ordinary shares) following our mailing of tender offer or proxy materials in connection with our initial business combination. To the extent that our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or their affiliates enter into a private transaction, they would identify and contact only potential selling or redeeming shareholders who have expressed their election to redeem their shares for a pro rata share of the trust account or vote against our initial business combination, whether or not such shareholder has already submitted a proxy with respect to our initial business combination but only if such shares have not already been voted at the general meeting related to our initial business combination. Our sponsor, executive officers, directors, advisors or their affiliates will select which shareholders to purchase shares from based on the negotiated price and number of shares and any other factors that they may deem relevant, and will be restricted from purchasing shares if such purchases do not comply with Regulation M under the Exchange Act and the other federal securities laws.
Our sponsor, officers, directors and/or their affiliates will be restricted from making purchases of shares if the purchases would violate Section 9(a)(2) or Rule 10b-5 of the Exchange Act. We expect any such purchases would be reported by such person pursuant to Section 13 and Section 16 of the Exchange Act to the extent such purchasers are subject to such reporting requirements.
Redemption Rights for Public Shareholders upon Completion of Our Initial Business Combination
We will provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their Class A ordinary shares upon the completion of our initial business combination at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account calculated as of two business days prior to the consummation of the initial business combination, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes, if any, divided by the number of then-outstanding public shares, subject to the limitations described herein. The amount in the trust account is initially anticipated to be $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 in our initial public offering. The redemption rights will include the requirement that a beneficial holder must identify itself in order to validly redeem its shares. There will be no redemption rights upon the completion of our initial business combination with respect to our warrants. Further, we will not proceed with redeeming our public shares, even if a public shareholder has properly elected to redeem its shares, if a business combination does not close. Our sponsor and each member of our management team have entered into an agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and public shares held by them in connection with (i) the completion of our initial business combination and (ii) a shareholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) that would modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares.
Limitations on Redemptions
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provides that in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 (so that we do not then become subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules). However, the proposed business combination may require: (i) cash consideration to be paid to the target or its owners, (ii) cash to be transferred to the target for working capital or other general corporate purposes or (iii) the retention of cash to satisfy other conditions in accordance with the terms of the proposed business combination. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all Class A ordinary shares that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed business combination exceed the aggregate amount of cash available to us, we will not complete the business combination or redeem any shares, and all Class A ordinary shares submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof.
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Manner of Conducting Redemptions
We will provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their Class A ordinary shares upon the completion of our initial business combination either (i) in connection with a general meeting called to approve the business combination or (ii) by means of a tender offer. The decision as to whether we will seek shareholder approval of a proposed business combination or conduct a tender offer will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on a variety of factors such as the timing of the transaction and whether the terms of the transaction would require us to seek shareholder approval under applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement or whether we were deemed to be a foreign private issuer (which would require a tender offer rather than seeking shareholder approval under SEC rules). Asset acquisitions and share purchases would not typically require shareholder approval while direct mergers with our company and any transactions where we issue more than 20% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares or seek to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association would typically require shareholder approval. We currently intend to conduct redemptions in connection with a shareholder vote unless shareholder approval is not required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement or we choose to conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC for business or other reasons. So long as we obtain and maintain a listing for our securities on the Nasdaq, we will be required to comply with the Nasdaq rules.
If we held a shareholder vote to approve our initial business combination, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association:
| ● | conduct the redemptions in conjunction with a proxy solicitation pursuant to Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act, which regulates the solicitation of proxies, and not pursuant to the tender offer rules; and |
| ● | file proxy materials with the SEC. |
In the event that we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, we will distribute proxy materials and, in connection therewith, provide our public shareholders with the redemption rights described above upon completion of the initial business combination.
If we seek shareholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if we obtain the approval of a resolution adopted by the affirmative vote of at least a majority of the votes cast by the holders of the issued shares present in person or represented by proxy at a general meeting of the company and entitled to vote on such matter or a resolution approved in writing by all of the holders of the issued shares entitled to vote on such matter (an “ordinary resolution”). In such case, our sponsor and each member of our management team have agreed to vote their founder shares and public shares in favor of our initial business combination. As a result, in addition to our initial purchaser’s founder shares, we would need 12,187,501, or 37.5% (assuming all issued and outstanding shares are voted and the over-allotment option is not exercised), or 2,031,251, or 6.25% (assuming only the minimum number of shares representing a quorum are voted and the over-allotment option is not exercised), of the 27,500,000 public shares sold in our initial public offering to be voted in favor of an initial business combination in order to have our initial business combination approved. Each public shareholder may elect to redeem their public shares irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction or vote at all. In addition, our sponsor and each member of our management team have entered into an agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and public shares held by them in connection with (i) the completion of a business combination and (ii) a shareholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) that would modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares.
If we conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association:
| ● | conduct the redemptions pursuant to Rule 13e-4 and Regulation 14E of the Exchange Act, which regulate issuer tender offers; and |
| ● | file tender offer documents with the SEC prior to completing our initial business combination which contain substantially the same financial and other information about the initial business combination and the redemption rights as is required under Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act, which regulates the solicitation of proxies. |
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Upon the public announcement of our initial business combination, if we elect to conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, we and our sponsor will terminate any plan established in accordance with Rule 10b5-1 to purchase Class A ordinary shares in the open market, in order to comply with Rule 14e-5 under the Exchange Act.
In the event we conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, our offer to redeem will remain open for at least 20 business days, in accordance with Rule 14e-1(a) under the Exchange Act, and we will not be permitted to complete our initial business combination until the expiration of the tender offer period. In addition, the tender offer will be conditioned on public shareholders not tendering more than the number of public shares we are permitted to redeem. If public shareholders tender more shares than we have offered to purchase, we will withdraw the tender offer and not complete such initial business combination.
Limitation on Redemption upon Completion of Our Initial Business Combination If We Seek Shareholder Approval
If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provides that a public shareholder, together with any affiliate of such shareholder or any other person with whom such shareholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from redeeming its shares with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in our initial public offering, which we refer to as “Excess Shares,” without our prior consent. We believe this restriction will discourage shareholders from accumulating large blocks of shares, and subsequent attempts by such holders to use their ability to exercise their redemption rights against a proposed business combination as a means to force us or our management to purchase their shares at a significant premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. Absent this provision, a public shareholder holding more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in our initial public offering could threaten to exercise its redemption rights if such holder’s shares are not purchased by us, our sponsor or our management at a premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. By limiting our shareholders’ ability to redeem no more than 15% of the shares sold in our initial public offering without our prior consent, we believe we will limit the ability of a small group of shareholders to unreasonably attempt to block our ability to complete our initial business combination, particularly in connection with a business combination with a target that requires as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash.
However, we would not be restricting our shareholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our initial business combination.
Tendering Share Certificates in Connection with a Tender Offer or Redemption Rights
Public shareholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” will be required to either tender their certificates (if any) to our transfer agent prior to the date set forth in the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, mailed to such holders, or to deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically using The Depository Trust Company’s DWAC (Deposit/Withdrawal At Custodian) System, at the holder’s option, in each case up to two business days prior to the initially scheduled vote to approve the business combination. The proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, that we will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination will indicate the applicable delivery requirements, which will include the requirement that a beneficial holder must identify itself in order to validly redeem its shares. Accordingly, a public shareholder would have from the time we send out our tender offer materials until the close of the tender offer period, or up to two business days prior to the initially scheduled vote on the proposal to approve the business combination if we distribute proxy materials, as applicable, to tender its shares if it wishes to seek to exercise its redemption rights. Given the relatively short period in which to exercise redemption rights, it is advisable for shareholders to use electronic delivery of their public shares.
There is a nominal cost associated with the above-referenced tendering process and the act of certificating the shares or delivering them through the DWAC System. The transfer agent will typically charge the tendering broker a fee of approximately $80.00 and it would be up to the broker whether or not to pass this cost on to the redeeming holder. However, this fee would be incurred regardless of whether or not we require holders seeking to exercise redemption rights to tender their shares. The need to deliver shares is a requirement of exercising redemption rights regardless of the timing of when such delivery must be effectuated.
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The foregoing is different from the procedures used by many blank check companies. In order to perfect redemption rights in connection with their business combinations, many blank check companies would distribute proxy materials for the shareholders’ vote on an initial business combination, and a holder could simply vote against a proposed business combination and check a box on the proxy card indicating such holder was seeking to exercise his or her redemption rights. After the business combination was approved, the company would contact such shareholder to arrange for him or her to deliver his or her certificate to verify ownership. As a result, the shareholder then had an “option window” after the completion of the business combination during which he or she could monitor the price of the company’s shares in the market. If the price rose above the redemption price, he or she could sell his or her shares in the open market before actually delivering his or her shares to the company for cancellation. As a result, the redemption rights, to which shareholders were aware they needed to commit before the general meeting, would become “option” rights surviving past the completion of the business combination until the redeeming holder delivered its certificate. The requirement for physical or electronic delivery prior to the meeting ensures that a redeeming shareholder’s election to redeem is irrevocable once the business combination is approved.
Any request to redeem such shares, once made, may be withdrawn at any time up to two business days prior to the initially scheduled vote on the proposal to approve the business combination, unless otherwise agreed to by us. Furthermore, if a holder of a public share delivered its certificate in connection with an election of redemption rights and subsequently decides prior to the applicable date not to elect to exercise such rights, such holder may simply request that the transfer agent return the certificate (physically or electronically). It is anticipated that the funds to be distributed to holders of our public shares electing to redeem their shares will be distributed promptly after the completion of our initial business combination.
If our initial business combination is not approved or completed for any reason, then our public shareholders who elected to exercise their redemption rights would not be entitled to redeem their shares for the applicable pro rata share of the trust account. In such case, we will promptly return any certificates delivered by public holders who elected to redeem their shares.
If our initial proposed business combination is not completed, we may continue to try to complete a business combination with a different target until 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering.
Redemption of Public Shares and Liquidation If No Initial Business Combination
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provides that we will have only 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering to consummate an initial business combination. If we have not consummated an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, we will: (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up; (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes, if any (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses) divided by the number of the then-outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public shareholders’ rights as shareholders (including the right to receive further liquidation distributions, if any); and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining shareholders and our board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in the case of clauses (ii) and (iii) to our obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to our warrants, which will expire worthless if we fail to consummate an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provides that, if a resolution of the company’s shareholders is passed pursuant to the Companies Act of the Cayman Islands to commence the voluntary liquidation of the company, we will follow the foregoing procedures with respect to the liquidation of the trust account as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, subject to applicable Cayman Islands law.
Our sponsor and each member of our management team have entered into an agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any founder shares they hold if we fail to consummate an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering (although they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any public shares they hold if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame).
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Our sponsor, executive officers and directors have agreed, pursuant to a written agreement with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) that would modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares, unless we provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares upon approval of any such amendment at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes, if any, divided by the number of the then-outstanding public shares. However, we may not redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 (so that we do not then become subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules). If this optional redemption right is exercised with respect to an excessive number of public shares such that we cannot satisfy the net tangible asset requirement, we would not proceed with the amendment or the related redemption of our public shares at such time. This redemption right shall apply in the event of the approval of any such amendment, whether proposed by our sponsor, any executive officer or director, or any other person.
We expect that all costs and expenses associated with implementing our plan of dissolution, as well as payments to any creditors, will be funded from amounts remaining out of the $1,000,000 of proceeds held outside the trust account from our initial public offering plus up to $100,000 of funds from the trust account available to us to pay dissolution expenses, although we cannot assure you that there will be sufficient funds for such purpose.
If we were to expend all of the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, other than the proceeds deposited in the trust account, and without taking into account interest, if any, earned on the trust account, the per-share redemption amount received by shareholders upon our dissolution would be $10.00. The proceeds deposited in the trust account could, however, become subject to the claims of our creditors which would have higher priority than the claims of our public shareholders. We cannot assure you that the actual per-share redemption amount received by shareholders will not be less than $10.00. While we intend to pay such amounts, if any, we cannot assure you that we will have funds sufficient to pay or provide for all creditors’ claims.
Although we will seek to have all vendors, service providers, prospective target businesses and other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the trust account for the benefit of our public shareholders, there is no guarantee that they will execute such agreements or even if they execute such agreements that they would be prevented from bringing claims against the trust account including, but not limited, to fraudulent inducement, breach of fiduciary responsibility or other similar claims, as well as claims challenging the enforceability of the waiver, in each case in order to gain an advantage with respect to a claim against our assets, including the funds held in the trust account. If any third-party refuses to execute an agreement waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account, our management will perform an analysis of the alternatives available to it and will only enter into an agreement with a third-party that has not executed a waiver if management believes that such third-party’s engagement would be significantly more beneficial to us than any alternative. Examples of possible instances where we may engage a third-party that refuses to execute a waiver include the engagement of a third-party consultant whose particular expertise or skills are believed by management to be significantly superior to those of other consultants that would agree to execute a waiver or in cases where management is unable to find a service provider willing to execute a waiver. None of Deutsche Bank, Stifel or RBC will execute an agreement with us waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account, although each has agreed to waive its rights to its deferred underwriting commission held in the trust account in the event we do not consummate an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering. In addition, there is no guarantee that such entities will agree to waive any claims they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any negotiations, contracts or agreements with us and will not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason. In order to protect the amounts held in the trust account, our sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a third-party for services rendered or products sold to us (other than our independent registered public accounting firm), or a prospective target business with which we have discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amounts in the trust account to below the lesser of (i) $10.00 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, in each case net of the interest that may be withdrawn to pay our tax obligations, provided that such liability will not apply to any claims by a third-party or prospective target business that executed a waiver of any and all rights to seek access to the trust account nor will it apply to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of our initial public offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. In the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third-party, our sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third-party claims. However, we have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such indemnification obligations, nor have we independently verified whether our sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and we believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our company. Therefore, we cannot assure you that our sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations. None of our officers or directors will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses.
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In the event that the proceeds in the trust account are reduced below the lesser of (i) $10.00 per public share and (ii) the actual amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account if less than $10.00 per public share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the amount of interest which may be withdrawn to pay our tax obligations, and our sponsor asserts that it is unable to satisfy its indemnification obligations or that it has no indemnification obligations related to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether to take legal action against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations. While we currently expect that our independent directors would take legal action on our behalf against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations to us, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment may choose not to do so in any particular instance. Accordingly, we cannot assure you that due to claims of creditors the actual value of the per-share redemption price will not be less than $10.00 per public share.
We will seek to reduce the possibility that our sponsor will have to indemnify the trust account due to claims of creditors by endeavoring to have all vendors, service providers, prospective target businesses or other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to monies held in the trust account. Our sponsor will also not be liable as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of our initial public offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. We will have access to up to $1,000,000 from the proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants with which to pay any such potential claims (including costs and expenses incurred in connection with our liquidation, currently estimated to be no more than approximately $100,000). In the event that we liquidate and it is subsequently determined that the reserve for claims and liabilities is insufficient, shareholders who received funds from our trust account could be liable for claims made by creditors, however such liability will not be greater than the amount of funds from our trust account received by any such shareholder. In the event that our offering expenses exceed our estimate of $1,000,000, we may fund such excess with funds from the 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 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.
If we file a bankruptcy or winding-up petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the proceeds held in the trust account could be subject to applicable bankruptcy law, and may be included in our bankruptcy or involvency estate and subject to the claims of third parties with priority over the claims of our shareholders. To the extent any bankruptcy claims deplete the trust account, we cannot assure you we will be able to return $10.00 per public share to our public shareholders. Additionally, if we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, any distributions received by shareholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or bankruptcy or insolvency laws as either a “preferential transfer” or a “fraudulent conveyance.” As a result, a bankruptcy or insolvency court could seek to recover some or all amounts received by our shareholders. Furthermore, our board of directors may be viewed as having breached its fiduciary duty to our creditors and/or may have acted in bad faith, and thereby exposing itself and our company to claims of punitive damages, by paying public shareholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors. We cannot assure you that claims will not be brought against us for these reasons.
Our public shareholders will be entitled to receive funds from the trust account only (i) in the event of the redemption of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, (ii) in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares, or (iii) if they redeem their respective shares for cash upon the completion of the initial business combination. Public shareholders who redeem their Class A ordinary shares in connection with a shareholder vote described in clause (ii) in the preceding sentence shall not be entitled to funds from the trust account upon the subsequent completion of an initial business combination or liquidation if we have not consummated an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, with respect to such Class A ordinary shares so redeemed. In no other circumstances will a shareholder have any right or interest of any kind to or in the trust account. In the event we seek shareholder approval in connection with our initial business combination, a shareholder’s voting in connection with the business combination alone will not result in a shareholder’s redeeming its shares to us for an applicable pro rata share of the trust account. Such shareholder must have also exercised its redemption rights described above. These provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, like all provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, may be amended with a shareholder vote.
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Facilities
We currently maintain our executive offices at 1950 University Avenue, Suite 350, Palo Alto, CA 94303. The cost for our use of this space is included in the $10,000 per month fee we will pay to our sponsor for office space, administrative and support services. We consider our current office space adequate for our current operations.
Employees
We currently have three executive officers. These individuals are not obligated to devote any specific number of hours to our matters but they intend to devote as much of their time as they deem necessary to our affairs until we have completed our initial business combination. The amount of time they will devote in any time period will vary based on whether a target business has been selected for our initial business combination and the stage of the business combination process we are in. We do not intend to have any full time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination.
Periodic Reporting and Financial Information
We have registered our units, Class A ordinary shares and warrants under the Exchange Act and have reporting obligations, including the requirement that we file annual, quarterly and current reports with the SEC. In accordance with the requirements of the Exchange Act, our annual reports will contain financial statements audited and reported on by our independent registered public accountants.
We will provide shareholders with audited financial statements of the prospective target business as part of the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, sent to shareholders. These financial statements may be required to be prepared in accordance with, or reconciled to, GAAP, or IFRS, depending on the circumstances, and the historical financial statements may be required to be audited in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. These financial statement requirements may limit the pool of potential target businesses we may acquire because some targets may be unable to provide such statements in time for us to disclose such statements in accordance with federal proxy rules and complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame. We cannot assure you that any particular target business identified by us as a potential acquisition candidate will have financial statements prepared in accordance with the requirements outlined above, or that the potential target business will be able to prepare its financial statements in accordance with the requirements outlined above. To the extent that these requirements cannot be met, we may not be able to acquire the proposed target business. While this may limit the pool of potential acquisition candidates, we do not believe that this limitation will be material.
We are required to evaluate our internal control procedures for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2021 as required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Only in the event we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer or an accelerated filer and no longer qualify as an emerging growth company, will we not be required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement on our internal control over financial reporting. A target business may not be in compliance with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act regarding adequacy of their internal controls. The development of the internal controls of any such entity to achieve compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may increase the time and costs necessary to complete any such acquisition.
We have filed a Registration Statement on Form 8-A with the SEC to voluntarily register our securities under Section 12 of the Exchange Act. As a result, we are subject to the rules and regulations promulgated under the Exchange Act. We have no current intention of filing a Form 15 to suspend our reporting or other obligations under the Exchange Act prior or subsequent to the consummation of our initial business combination.
We are a Cayman Islands exempted company. Exempted companies are Cayman Islands companies conducting business mainly outside the Cayman Islands and, as such, are exempted from complying with certain provisions of the Companies Act. As an exempted company, we have applied for and received a tax exemption undertaking from the Cayman Islands government that, in accordance with Section 6 of the Tax Concessions Act (2020 Revision) of the Cayman Islands, for a period of 30 years from the date of the undertaking, no law which is enacted in the Cayman Islands imposing any tax to be levied on profits, income, gains or appreciations will apply to us or our operations and, in addition, that no tax to be levied on profits, income, gains or appreciations or which is in the nature of estate duty or inheritance tax will be payable (i) on or in respect of our shares, debentures or other obligations or (ii) by way of the withholding in whole or in part of a payment of dividend or other distribution of income or capital by us to our shareholders or a payment of principal or interest or other sums due under a debenture or other obligation of us.
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We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act. As such, we are eligible to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a non-binding advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the prices of our securities may be more volatile.
In addition, Section 107 of the JOBS Act also provides that an “emerging growth company” can take advantage of the extended transition period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act for complying with new or revised accounting standards. In other words, an “emerging growth company” can delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We intend to take advantage of the benefits of this extended transition period.
We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of (1) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following the fifth anniversary of the completion of our initial public offering, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion, or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our Class A ordinary shares that are held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30th, and (2) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt during the prior three-year period.
Additionally, we are a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Item 10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K. Smaller reporting companies may take advantage of certain reduced disclosure obligations, including, among other things, providing only two years of audited financial statements. We will remain a smaller reporting company until the last day of the fiscal year in which (1) the market value of our ordinary shares held by non-affiliates exceeds $250 million as of the prior June 30, and (2) our annual revenues exceeded $100 million during such completed fiscal year or the market value of our ordinary shares held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30.
Legal Proceedings
There is no material litigation, arbitration or governmental proceeding currently pending against us or any members of our management team in their capacity as such.
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| Item 1A. | Risk Factors |
An investment in our securities involves a high degree of risk. You should consider carefully all of the risks described below, together with the other information contained in this Report and the final prospectus associated with our initial public offering, before making a decision to invest in our securities. If any of the following events occur, our business, financial condition and operating results may be materially adversely affected. In that event, the trading price of our securities could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment.
Risks Relating to our Search for, Consummation of, or Inability to Consummate, a Business Combination and Post-Business Combination Risks
Our public shareholders may not be afforded an opportunity to vote on our proposed initial business combination, which means we may complete our initial business combination even though a majority of our public shareholders do not support such a combination.
We may choose not to hold a shareholder vote before we complete our initial business combination if the business combination would not require shareholder approval under applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement. For instance, if we were seeking to acquire a target business where the consideration we were paying in the transaction was all cash, we would typically not be required to seek shareholder approval to complete such a transaction. Except for as required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement, the decision as to whether we will seek shareholder approval of a proposed business combination or will allow shareholders to sell their shares to us in a tender offer will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on a variety of factors, such as the timing of the transaction and whether the terms of the transaction would otherwise require us to seek shareholder approval. Accordingly, we may complete our initial business combination even if holders of a majority of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares do not approve of the business combination we complete.
Please see the section entitled “Business — Shareholders 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 any target businesses. Since our board of directors may complete a business combination without seeking shareholder approval, public shareholders may not have the right or opportunity to vote on the business combination, unless we seek such shareholder approval. Accordingly, your only opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding a potential business combination may be limited to exercising your redemption rights within the period of time (which will be at least 20 business days) set forth in our tender offer documents mailed to our public shareholders in which we describe our initial business combination.
If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor and members of our management team have agreed to vote in favor of such initial business combination, regardless of how our public shareholders vote.
Our initial shareholders own, on an as-converted basis, 20% of our outstanding ordinary shares immediately following the completion of our initial public offering. Our sponsor and members of our management team also may from time to time purchase Class A ordinary shares prior to our initial business combination. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that, if we seek shareholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if a simple majority of the ordinary shares, represented in person or by proxy and entitled to vote thereon and who vote at a shareholder meeting, are voted in favor of the business combination. As a result, in addition to our initial shareholders’ founder shares, we would need 12,187,501, or 37.5% (assuming all issued and outstanding shares are voted), or 2,031,251, or 6.25% (assuming only the minimum number of shares representing a quorum are voted), of the 32,500,000 public shares sold in our initial public offering to be voted in favor of an initial business combination in order to have our initial business combination approved. Accordingly, if we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, the agreement by our sponsor and each member of our management team to vote in favor of our initial business combination will increase the likelihood that we will receive the requisite shareholder approval for such initial business combination.
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The ability of our public shareholders to redeem their shares for cash may make our financial condition unattractive to potential business combination targets, which may make it difficult for us to enter into a business combination with a target.
We may seek to enter into a business combination transaction agreement with a prospective target that requires as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. If too many public shareholders exercise their redemption rights, we would not be able to meet such closing condition and, as a result, would not be able to proceed with the business combination. Furthermore, in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 (so that we do not then become subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules). Consequently, if accepting all properly submitted redemption requests would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 or such greater amount necessary to satisfy a closing condition as described above, we would not proceed with such redemption and the related business combination and may instead search for an alternate business combination. Prospective targets will be aware of these risks and, thus, may be reluctant to enter into a business combination transaction with us.
The ability of our public shareholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our shares may not allow us to complete the most desirable business combination or optimize our capital structure.
At the time we enter into an agreement for our initial business combination, we will not know how many shareholders may exercise their redemption rights, and therefore will need to structure the transaction based on our expectations as to the number of shares that will be submitted for redemption. If a large number of shares are submitted for redemption, we may need to restructure the transaction to reserve a greater portion of the cash in the trust account or arrange for additional third-party financing. Raising additional third-party financing may involve dilutive equity issuances or the incurrence of indebtedness at higher than desirable levels. The above considerations may limit our ability to complete the most desirable business combination available to us or optimize our capital structure. The amount of the deferred underwriting commissions payable to the underwriters in our initial public offering will not be adjusted for any shares that are redeemed in connection with an initial business combination. The per-share amount we will distribute to shareholders who properly exercise their redemption rights will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting commission and after such redemptions, the amount held in trust will continue to reflect our obligation to pay the entire deferred underwriting commissions.
The ability of our public shareholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our shares could increase the probability that our initial business combination would be unsuccessful and that you would have to wait for liquidation in order to redeem your shares.
If our initial business combination agreement requires us to use a portion of the cash in the trust account to pay the purchase price, or requires us to have a minimum amount of cash at closing, the probability that our initial business combination would be unsuccessful is increased. If our initial business combination is unsuccessful, you would not receive your pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account until we liquidate the trust account. If you are in need of immediate liquidity, you could attempt to sell your shares in the open market; however, at such time our shares may trade at a discount to the pro rata amount per share in the trust account. In either situation, you may suffer a material loss on your investment or lose the benefit of funds expected in connection with our redemption until we liquidate or you are able to sell your shares in the open market.
The requirement that we consummate an initial business combination within 24 months after the closing of our initial public offering may give potential target businesses leverage over us in negotiating a business combination and may limit the time we have in which to conduct due diligence on potential business combination targets, in particular as we approach our business combination deadline, which could undermine our ability to complete our initial business combination on terms that would produce value for our shareholders.
Any potential target business with which we enter into negotiations concerning a business combination will be aware that we must consummate an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering. Consequently, such target business may obtain leverage over us in negotiating a business combination, knowing that if we do not complete our initial business combination with that particular target business, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination with any target business. This risk will increase as we get closer to the end of the time frame described above. In addition, we may have limited time to conduct due diligence and may enter into our initial business combination on terms that we would have rejected upon a more comprehensive investigation.
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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 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 continue to restrict travel, limit the ability to have meetings with potential investors or the target company’s personnel, vendors and services providers are unavailable to negotiate and consummate a transaction in a timely manner. The extent to which COVID-19 impacts our search for a business combination will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, including new information 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 and third-party financing being unavailable on terms acceptable to us or at all.
Finally, the outbreak of COVID-19 may also have the effect of heightening many of the other risks described in this “Risk Factors” section, such as those related to the market for our securities and cross-border transactions.
We may not be able to consummate an initial business combination within 24 months after the closing of our initial public offering, in which case we would cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up and we would redeem our public shares and liquidate.
We may not be able to find a suitable target business and consummate an initial business combination within 24 months after the closing of our initial public offering. Our ability to complete our initial business combination may be negatively impacted by general market conditions, volatility in the capital and debt markets and the other risks described herein. For example, although the outbreak of COVID-19 has waned in the U.S. and globally, and, there is no guarantee that there will be no future outbreak of COVID-19, and, while the extent of the impact of any future 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, any future outbreak of COVID-19 may negatively impact businesses we may seek to acquire. If we have not consummated an initial business combination within such 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, we will: (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up; (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes, if any (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses) divided by the number of the then-outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public shareholders’ rights as shareholders (including the right to receive further liquidation distributions, if any); and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining shareholders and our board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in the case of clauses (ii) and (iii), to our obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that, if a resolution of the company’s shareholders is passed pursuant to the Companies Act of the Cayman Islands to commence the voluntary liquidation of the company, we will follow the foregoing procedures with respect to the liquidation of the trust account as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, subject to applicable Cayman Islands law. In either such case, our public shareholders may receive only $10.00 per public share, or less than $10.00 per public share, on the redemption of their shares, and our warrants will expire worthless. See “— If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by shareholders may be less than $10.00 per public share” and other risk factors herein.
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If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor, directors, executive officers, advisors and their affiliates may elect to purchase public shares or warrants, which may influence a vote on a proposed business combination and reduce the public “float” of our Class A ordinary shares or public warrants.
If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our sponsor, directors, executive officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase public shares or warrants in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination, although they are under no obligation to do so. However, they have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such transactions. None of the funds in the trust account will be used to purchase public shares or warrants in such transactions.
In the event that our sponsor, directors, executive officers, advisors or their affiliates purchase shares in privately negotiated transactions from public shareholders who have already elected to exercise their redemption rights, such selling shareholders would be required to revoke their prior elections to redeem their shares. The purpose of any such transaction could be to (1) vote in favor of the business combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining shareholder approval of the business combination, (2) reduce the number of public warrants outstanding or vote such warrants on any matters submitted to the warrant holders for approval in connection with our initial business combination or (3) satisfy a closing condition in an agreement with a target that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash at the closing of our initial business combination, where it appears that such requirement would otherwise not be met. Any such purchases of our securities may result in the completion of our initial business combination that may not otherwise have been possible. In addition, if such purchases are made, the public “float” of our Class A ordinary shares or public warrants may be reduced and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, which may make it difficult to maintain or obtain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange. Any such purchases will be reported pursuant to Section 13 and Section 16 of the Exchange Act to the extent such purchasers are subject to such reporting requirements. See “Business — Permitted Purchases and Other Transactions with Respect to Our Securities” for a description of how our sponsor, directors, executive officers, advisors or their affiliates will select which shareholders to purchase securities from in any private transaction.
If a shareholder fails to receive notice of our offer to redeem our public shares in connection with our initial business combination, or fails to comply with the procedures for tendering its shares, such shares may not be redeemed.
We will comply with the proxy rules or tender offer rules, as applicable, when conducting redemptions in connection with our initial business combination. Despite our compliance with these rules, if a shareholder fails to receive our proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, such shareholder may not become aware of the opportunity to redeem its shares. In addition, the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, that we will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination will describe the various procedures that must be complied with in order to validly redeem or tender public shares. In the event that a shareholder fails to comply with these procedures, its shares may not be redeemed. See “Business — Business Strategy — Effecting Our Initial Business Combination — Tendering Share Certificates in Connection with a Tender Offer or Redemption Rights.”
You will not have any rights or interests in funds from the trust account, except under certain limited circumstances. Therefore, to liquidate your investment, you may be forced to sell your public shares or warrants, potentially at a loss.
Our public shareholders are entitled to receive funds from the trust account only upon the earliest to occur of: (i) our completion of an initial business combination, and then only in connection with those Class A ordinary shares that such shareholder properly elected to redeem, subject to the limitations described herein, (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly tendered in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares, and (iii) the redemption of our public shares if we have not consummated an initial business within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, subject to applicable law and as further described herein. Public shareholders who redeem their Class A ordinary shares in connection with a shareholder vote described in clause (ii) in the preceding sentence shall not be entitled to funds from the trust account upon the subsequent completion of an initial business combination or liquidation if we have not consummated an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, with respect to such Class A ordinary shares so redeemed. In no other circumstances will a public shareholder have any right or interest of any kind in the trust account. Holders of warrants will not have any right to the proceeds held in the trust account with respect to the warrants. Accordingly, to liquidate your investment, you may be forced to sell your public shares or warrants, potentially at a loss.
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You will not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors of many other blank check companies.
Since the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants are intended to be used to complete an initial business combination with a target business that has not been selected, we may be deemed to be a “blank check” company under the United States securities laws. However, because we had net tangible assets of at least $5,000,001 upon the completion of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants and filed a Current Report on Form 8-K, including an audited balance sheet demonstrating this fact, we are exempt from rules promulgated by the SEC to protect investors in blank check companies, such as Rule 419. Accordingly, investors will not be afforded the benefits or protections of those rules. Among other things, this means our units 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 our initial public offering were subject to Rule 419, that rule would prohibit the release of any interest earned on funds held in the trust account to us unless and until the funds in the trust account were released to us in connection with our completion of an initial business combination.
Because of our limited resources and the significant competition for business combination opportunities, it may be more difficult for us to complete our initial business combination. If we have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.
We expect to encounter intense competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours, including private investors (which may be individuals or investment partnerships), other blank check companies and other entities, domestic and international, competing for the types of businesses we intend to acquire. Many of these individuals and entities are well established and have extensive experience in identifying and effecting, directly or indirectly, acquisitions of companies operating in or providing services to various industries. Many of these competitors possess greater technical, human and other resources or more local industry knowledge than we do and our financial resources will be relatively limited when contrasted with those of many of these competitors. While we believe there are numerous target businesses we could potentially acquire with the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, our ability to compete with respect to the acquisition of certain target businesses that are sizable will be limited by our available financial resources. This inherent competitive limitation gives others an advantage in pursuing the acquisition of certain target businesses. Furthermore, we are obligated to offer holders of our public shares the right to redeem their shares for cash at the time of our initial business combination in conjunction with a shareholder vote or via a tender offer. Target companies will be aware that this may reduce the resources available to us for our initial business combination. Any of these obligations may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating a business combination. If we have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. See “— If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by shareholders may be less than $10.00 per public share” and other risk factors herein.
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If the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants not being held in the trust account are insufficient to allow us to operate for the 24 months following the closing of our initial public offering, it could limit the amount available to fund our search for a target business or businesses and our ability to complete our initial business combination, and we will depend on loans from our sponsor, its affiliates or members of our management team to fund our search and to complete our initial business combination.
As of December 31, 2021, approximately $21,000 was available to us in cash held outside the trust account to fund our working capital requirements. We believe that, as of December 31, 2021, the funds available to us outside of the trust account, together with funds available from loans from our sponsor, its affiliates or members of our management team will be sufficient to allow us to operate for at least the 24 months following the closing of our initial public offering; however, we cannot assure you that our estimate is accurate, and our sponsor, its affiliates or members of our management team are under no obligation to advance funds to us in such circumstances. Of the funds available to us, we expect to use a portion of the funds available to us to pay fees to consultants to assist us with our search for a target business. We could also use a portion of the funds as a down payment or to fund a “no-shop” provision (a provision in letters of intent designed to keep target businesses from “shopping” around for transactions with other companies or investors on terms more favorable to such target businesses) with respect to a particular proposed business combination, although we do not have any current intention to do so. If we entered into a letter of intent where we paid for the right to receive exclusivity from a target business and were subsequently required to forfeit such funds (whether as a result of our breach or otherwise), we might not have sufficient funds to continue searching for, or conduct due diligence with respect to, a target business.
If we are required to seek additional capital, we would need to borrow funds from our sponsor, its affiliates, members of our management team or other third parties to operate or may be forced to liquidate. Neither our sponsor, members of our management team nor their affiliates is under any obligation to us in such circumstances. Any such advances may be repaid only from funds held outside the trust account or from funds released to us upon completion of our initial business combination. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants of the post-business combination entity at a price of $2.00 per warrant at the option of the lender. As of December 31, 2021, we had borrowed $250,000 pursuant to such working capital loan arrangements. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants. Prior to the completion of our initial business combination, we do not expect to seek loans from parties other than our sponsor, its affiliates or members of our management team as we do not believe third parties will be willing to loan such funds and provide a waiver against any and all rights to seek access to funds in our trust account. If we have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period because we do not have sufficient funds available to us, we will be forced to cease operations and liquidate the trust account. Consequently, our public shareholders may only receive an estimated $10.00 per public share, or possibly less, on our redemption of our public shares, and our warrants will expire worthless. See “— If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by shareholders may be less than $10.00 per public share” and other risk factors herein.
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 or risks associated with a particular target business, that it would be possible to uncover all material issues through a customary amount of due diligence, or that factors outside of the target business and outside of our control will not later arise. As a result of these factors, we may incur additional costs and expenses and we may be forced to later write-down or write-off assets, restructure our operations, or incur impairment or other charges that could result in our reporting losses. Even if our due diligence successfully identifies certain risks, unexpected risks may arise and previously known risks may materialize in a manner not consistent with our preliminary risk analysis. Even though these charges may be non-cash items and not have an immediate impact on our liquidity, the fact that we report charges of this nature could contribute to negative market perceptions about us or our securities. In addition, charges of this nature may cause us to violate net worth or other covenants to which we may be subject as a result of assuming pre-existing debt held by a target business or by virtue of our obtaining post-combination debt financing. Accordingly, any holders of our securities who choose to retain their securities following the business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value unless they are able to successfully pursue claims under applicable law.
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If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by shareholders may be less than $10.00 per public share (which was the offering price in our initial public offering).
Our placing of funds in the trust account may not protect those funds from third-party claims against us. Although we will seek to have all vendors, service providers, prospective target businesses and other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the trust account for the benefit of our public shareholders, such parties may not execute such agreements, or even if they execute such agreements, they may not be prevented from bringing claims against the trust account, including, but not limited to, fraudulent inducement, breach of fiduciary responsibility or other similar claims, as well as claims challenging the enforceability of the waiver, in each case in order to gain advantage with respect to a claim against our assets, including the funds held in the trust account. If any third-party refuses to execute an agreement waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account, our management will perform an analysis of the alternatives available to it and will only enter into an agreement with a third-party that has not executed a waiver if management believes that such third-party’s engagement would be significantly more beneficial to us than any alternative.
Examples of possible instances where we may engage a third-party that refuses to execute a waiver include the engagement of a third-party consultant whose particular expertise or skills are believed by management to be significantly superior to those of other consultants that would agree to execute a waiver or in cases where management is unable to find a service provider willing to execute a waiver. In addition, there is no guarantee that such entities will agree to waive any claims they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any negotiations, contracts or agreements with us and will not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason. Upon redemption of our public shares, if we have not consummated an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, or upon the exercise of a redemption right in connection with our initial business combination, we will be required to provide for payment of claims of creditors that were not waived that may be brought against us within the ten years following redemption. Accordingly, the per-share redemption amount received by public shareholders could be less than the $10.00 per public share initially held in the trust account, due to claims of such creditors. Pursuant to a letter agreement entered into between us and our sponsor at the time of our initial public offering, our sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a third-party (other than our independent auditors) for services rendered or products sold to us, or a prospective target business with which we have discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amounts in the trust account to below the lesser of (i) $10.00 per public share and (ii) the actual amount per 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 net of the interest that may be withdrawn to pay our tax obligations, provided that such liability will not apply to any claims by a third-party or prospective target business that executed a waiver of any and all rights to seek access to the trust account nor will it apply to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of our initial public offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. Moreover, in the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third-party, our sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third-party claims.
However, we have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such indemnification obligations, nor have we independently verified whether our sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and 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.
Additionally, if we are forced to file a bankruptcy case or an involuntary bankruptcy case is filed against us that is not dismissed, or if we otherwise enter compulsory or court supervised liquidation, 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 shareholders. To the extent any bankruptcy claims deplete the trust account, we may not be able to return to our public shareholders $10.00 per share.
Our directors may decide not to enforce the indemnification obligations of our sponsor, resulting in a reduction in the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public shareholders.
In the event that the proceeds in the trust account are reduced below the lesser of (i) $10.00 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, in each case net of the interest that may be withdrawn to pay our tax obligations, and our sponsor asserts that it is unable to satisfy its obligations or that it has no indemnification obligations related to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether to take legal action against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations. While we currently expect that our independent directors would take legal action on our behalf against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations to us, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment and subject to their fiduciary duties may choose not to do so in any particular instance. If our independent directors choose not to enforce these indemnification obligations, the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public shareholders may be reduced below $10.00 per public share.
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We may not have sufficient funds to satisfy indemnification claims of our directors and executive officers.
We have agreed to indemnify our officers and directors to the fullest extent permitted by law. However, our officers and directors have agreed to waive any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies in the trust account and to not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason whatsoever (except to the extent they are entitled to funds from the trust account due to their ownership of public shares). Accordingly, any indemnification provided will be able to be satisfied by us only if (i) we have sufficient funds outside of the trust account or (ii) we consummate an initial business combination. Our obligation to indemnify our officers and directors may discourage shareholders from bringing a lawsuit against our officers or directors for breach of their fiduciary duty. These provisions also may have the effect of reducing the likelihood of derivative litigation against our officers and directors, even though such an action, if successful, might otherwise benefit us and our shareholders. Furthermore, a shareholder’s investment may be adversely affected to the extent we pay the costs of settlement and damage awards against our officers and directors pursuant to these indemnification provisions.
If, after we distribute the proceeds in the trust account to our public shareholders, we file a bankruptcy or winding-up petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, a bankruptcy or insolvency court may seek to recover such proceeds, and the members of our board of directors may be viewed as having breached their fiduciary duties to our creditors, thereby exposing the members of our board of directors and us to claims of punitive damages.
If, after we distribute the proceeds in the trust account to our public shareholders, we file a bankruptcy or winding-up petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, any distributions received by shareholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or bankruptcy or insolvency laws as either a “preferential transfer” or a “fraudulent conveyance.” As a result, a bankruptcy or insolvency court could seek to recover some or all amounts received by our shareholders. In addition, our board of directors may be viewed as having breached its fiduciary duty to our creditors and/or having acted in bad faith, thereby exposing itself and us to claims of punitive damages, by paying public shareholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors. We cannot assure you that claims will not be brought against us for these reasons.
If, before distributing the proceeds in the trust account to our public shareholders, we file a bankruptcy or winding-up petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the claims of creditors in such proceeding may have priority over the claims of our shareholders and the per-share amount that would otherwise be received by our shareholders in connection with our liquidation may be reduced.
If, before distributing the proceeds in the trust account to our public shareholders, we file a bankruptcy or winding-up petition or an involuntary bankruptcy or winding-up petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the proceeds held in the trust account could be subject to applicable bankruptcy or insolvency law, and may be included in our bankruptcy estate and subject to the claims of third parties with priority over the claims of our shareholders. To the extent any bankruptcy claims deplete the trust account, the per-share amount that would otherwise be received by our shareholders in connection with our liquidation may be reduced.
Our shareholders may be held liable for claims by third parties against us to the extent of distributions received by them upon redemption of their shares.
If we are forced to enter into an insolvent liquidation, any distributions received by shareholders could be viewed as an unlawful payment if it was proved that immediately following the date on which the distribution was made, we were unable to pay our debts as they fall due in the ordinary course of business. As a result, a liquidator could seek to recover some or all amounts received by our shareholders. Furthermore, our directors may be viewed as having breached their fiduciary duties to us or our creditors and/or may have acted in bad faith, thereby exposing themselves and our company to claims, by paying public shareholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors. We cannot assure you that claims will not be brought against us for these reasons. We and our directors and officers who knowingly and willfully authorized or permitted any distribution to be paid out of our share premium account while we were unable to pay our debts as they fall due in the ordinary course of business would be guilty of an offence and may be liable for a fine of $18,292.68 and imprisonment for five years in the Cayman Islands.
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We may not hold an annual general meeting until after the consummation of our initial business combination.
In accordance with the Nasdaq corporate governance requirements, we are not required to hold an annual general meeting until one year after our first fiscal year end following our listing on the Nasdaq. There is no requirement under the Companies Act for us to hold annual or extraordinary general meetings to elect directors. Until we hold an annual general meeting, public shareholders may not be afforded the opportunity to elect directors and to discuss company affairs with management. Our board of directors is divided into three classes with only one class of directors being elected in each year and each class (except for those directors appointed prior to our first general meeting) serving a three-year term.
Because we are neither limited to evaluating a target business in a particular industry, sector or geographic area nor have we selected any specific target businesses with which to pursue our initial business combination, you will be unable to ascertain the merits or risks of any particular target business’s operations.
We may pursue business combination opportunities in any industry, sector or geographic area, except that we are not, under our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, permitted to effectuate our initial business combination solely with another blank check company or similar company with nominal operations. To the extent we complete our initial business combination, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in the business operations with which we combine. For example, if we combine with a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of sales or earnings, we may be affected by the risks inherent in the business and operations of a financially unstable or a development stage entity. Although our officers and directors will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we cannot assure you that we will properly ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors or that we will have adequate time to complete due diligence. Furthermore, some of these risks may be outside of our control and leave us with no ability to control or reduce the chances that those risks will adversely impact a target business. We also cannot assure you that an investment in our units will ultimately prove to be more favorable to investors than a direct investment, if such opportunity were available, in a business combination target. Accordingly, any holders who choose to retain their securities following the business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.
We may seek acquisition opportunities in industries or sectors which may or may not be outside of our management’s area of expertise.
We will consider a business combination outside of our management’s area of expertise if a business combination target is presented to us and we determine that such candidate offers an attractive acquisition opportunity for our company. Although our management will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in any particular business combination target, we cannot assure you that we will adequately ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors. We also cannot assure you that an investment in our units will not ultimately prove to be less favorable to investors in our initial public offering than a direct investment, if an opportunity were available, in a business combination target. In the event we elect to pursue an acquisition outside of the areas of our management’s expertise, our management’s expertise may not be directly applicable to its evaluation or operation, and the information contained in this Report regarding the areas of our management’s expertise would not be relevant to an understanding of the business that we elect to acquire. As a result, our management may not be able to adequately ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors. Accordingly, any holders who choose to retain their securities following the business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.
Although we have identified general criteria and guidelines that we believe are important in evaluating prospective target businesses, we may enter into our initial business combination with a target that does not meet such criteria and guidelines, and as a result, the target business with which we enter into our initial business combination may not have attributes entirely consistent with our general criteria and guidelines.
Although we have identified general criteria and guidelines for evaluating prospective target businesses, it is possible that a target business with which we enter into our initial business combination will not have all of these positive attributes. If we complete our initial business combination with a target that does not meet some or all of these guidelines, such combination may not be as successful as a combination with a business that does meet all of our general criteria and guidelines. In addition, if we announce a prospective business combination with a target that does not meet our general criteria and guidelines, a greater number of shareholders may exercise their redemption rights, which may make it difficult for us to meet any closing condition with a target business that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. In addition, if shareholder approval of the transaction is required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirements, or we decide to obtain shareholder approval for business or other reasons, it may be more difficult for us to attain shareholder approval of our initial business combination if the target business does not meet our general criteria and guidelines. If we have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.
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As the number of special purpose acquisition companies evaluating targets increases, attractive targets may become scarcer and there may be more competition for attractive targets. This could increase the cost of our initial business combination and could even result in our inability to find a target or to consummate an initial business combination.
In recent years, the number of special purpose acquisition companies that have been formed has increased substantially. Many potential targets for special purpose acquisition companies have already entered into an initial business combination, and there are still many special purpose acquisition companies preparing for an initial public offering, as well as many such companies currently in registration. As a result, at times, fewer attractive targets may be available to consummate an initial business combination.
In addition, because there are more special purpose acquisition companies seeking to enter into an initial business combination with available targets, the competition for available targets with attractive fundamentals or business models may increase, which could cause target companies to demand improved financial terms. Attractive deals could also become scarcer for other reasons, such as economic or industry sector downturns, geopolitical tensions, or increases in the cost of additional capital needed to close business combinations or operate targets post-business combination. This could increase the cost of, delay or otherwise complicate or frustrate our ability to find and consummate an initial business combination, and may result in our inability to consummate an initial business combination on terms favorable to our investors altogether.
We are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent accounting or investment banking firm, and consequently, you may have no assurance from an independent source that the price we are paying for the business is fair to our shareholders from a financial point of view.
Unless we complete our initial business combination with an affiliated entity, we are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent accounting firm or independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA that the price we are paying is fair to our shareholders from a financial point of view. If no opinion is obtained, our shareholders will be relying on the judgment of our board of directors, who will determine fair market value based on standards generally accepted by the financial community. Such standards used will be disclosed in our proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, related to our initial business combination.
Because we must furnish our shareholders with target business financial statements, we may lose the ability to complete an otherwise advantageous initial business combination with some prospective target businesses.
The federal proxy rules require that a proxy statement with respect to a vote on a business combination meeting certain financial significance tests include historical and/or pro forma financial statement disclosure in periodic reports. We will include the same financial statement disclosure in connection with our tender offer documents, whether or not they are required under the tender offer rules. These financial statements may be required to be prepared in accordance with, or be reconciled to, accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, or GAAP, or international financial reporting standards as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board, or IFRS, depending on the circumstances and the historical financial statements may be required to be audited in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States), or PCAOB. These financial statement requirements may limit the pool of potential target businesses we may acquire because some targets may be unable to provide such statements in time for us to disclose such statements in accordance with federal proxy rules and complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame.
Resources could be wasted in researching acquisitions that are not completed, which could materially adversely affect subsequent attempts to locate and acquire or merge with another business. If we have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.
We anticipate that the investigation of each specific target business and the negotiation, drafting and execution of relevant agreements, disclosure documents and other instruments will require substantial management time and attention and substantial costs for accountants, attorneys and others. If we decide not to complete a specific initial 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. For example, we incurred expenses and fees in connection with our proposed business combination with ServiceMax, which was terminated on December 6, 2021. Many of the fees and related costs incurred may not be recouped, notwithstanding that the proposed business combination was terminated. If we have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.
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Compliance obligations under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may make it more difficult for us to effectuate a business combination, require substantial financial and management resources, and increase the time and costs of completing an acquisition.
Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires that we evaluate and report on our system of internal controls beginning with our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ending December 31, 2022. Only in the event we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer or an accelerated filer and no longer qualify as an emerging growth company, will we not be required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement on our internal control over financial reporting. The fact that we are a blank check company makes compliance with the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act particularly burdensome on us as compared to other public companies because a target business with which we seek to complete our initial business combination may not be in compliance with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act regarding adequacy of its internal controls. The development of the internal control of any such entity to achieve compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may increase the time and costs necessary to complete any such acquisition.
We do not have a specified maximum redemption threshold. The absence of such a redemption threshold may make it possible for us to complete our initial business combination with which a substantial majority of our shareholders do not agree.
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association 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 (so that we do not then become subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules). As a result, we may be able to complete our initial business combination even though a substantial majority of our public shareholders do not agree with the transaction and have redeemed their shares or, if we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, have entered into privately negotiated agreements to sell their shares to our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or their affiliates. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all Class A ordinary shares that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed business combination exceed the aggregate amount of cash available to us, we will not complete the business combination or redeem any shares, all Class A ordinary shares submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof, and we instead may search for an alternate business combination.
In order to effectuate an initial business combination, blank check companies have, in the recent past, amended various provisions of their charters and other governing instruments, including their warrant agreements. We cannot assure you that we will not seek to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association or governing instruments in a manner that will make it easier for us to complete our initial business combination that our shareholders may not support.
In order to effectuate a business combination, blank check companies have, in the recent past, amended various provisions of their charters and governing instruments, including their warrant agreements. For example, blank check companies have amended the definition of business combination, increased redemption thresholds, extended the time to consummate an initial business combination and, with respect to their warrants, amended their warrant agreements to require the warrants to be exchanged for cash and/or other securities. Amending our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association requires approval of a special resolution adopted by the affirmative vote of at least a two-thirds (2/3) majority (or such higher threshold as specified in the company’s amended and restated articles of association) of the votes cast by the holders of the issued shares present in person or represented by proxy at a general meeting of the company and entitled to vote on such matter or a resolution approved in writing by all of the holders of the issued shares entitled to vote on such matter (a “special resolution”), and amending our warrant agreement will require a vote of holders of at least 65% 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, 65% of the number of the then outstanding private placement warrants. In addition, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will require us to provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares for cash if we propose an amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) that would modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares. To the extent any of such amendments would be deemed to fundamentally change the nature of any of the securities offered through our initial public offering, we would register, or seek an exemption from registration for, the affected securities.
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The provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association that relate to our pre-business combination activity (and corresponding provisions of the agreement governing the release of funds from our trust account) may be amended with the approval of a special resolution which requires the approval of the holders of at least two-thirds of our ordinary shares who attend and vote at a general meeting of the company, which is a lower amendment threshold than that of some other blank check companies. It may be easier for us, therefore, to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association to facilitate the completion of an initial business combination that some of our shareholders may not support.
Some other blank check companies have a provision in their charter which prohibits the amendment of certain of its provisions, including those which relate to a company’s pre-business combination activity, without approval by a certain percentage of the company’s shareholders. In those companies, amendment of these provisions typically requires approval by between 90% and 100% of the company’s shareholders. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provides that any of its provisions related to pre-business combination activity (including the requirement to deposit proceeds of our initial public offering and the private placement of warrants into the trust account and not release such amounts except in specified circumstances, and to provide redemption rights to public shareholders as described herein) may be amended if approved by special resolution, meaning holders of at least two-thirds of our ordinary shares who attend and vote at a general meeting of the company, and corresponding provisions of the trust agreement governing the release of funds from our trust account may be amended if approved by holders of at least 65% of our ordinary shares; provided that the provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association governing the appointment or removal of directors prior to our initial business combination may only be amended by a special resolution passed by not less than 90% of our ordinary shares who attend and vote at our general meeting. Our sponsor and its permitted transferees, if any, who collectively beneficially own, on an as-converted basis, 20% of our Class A ordinary shares upon the closing of our initial public offering, will participate in any vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association and/or trust agreement and will have the discretion to vote in any manner they choose. As a result, we may be able to amend the provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association which govern our pre-business combination behavior more easily than some other blank check companies, and this may increase our ability to complete a business combination with which you do not agree. Our shareholders may pursue remedies against us for any breach of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association.
Our sponsor, executive officers and directors have agreed, pursuant to agreements with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) that would modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares, unless we provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their Class A ordinary shares upon approval of any such amendment at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes, if any, divided by the number of the then-outstanding public shares. Our shareholders are not parties to, or third-party beneficiaries of, these agreements and, as a result, will not have the ability to pursue remedies against our sponsor, executive officers or directors for any breach of these agreements. As a result, in the event of a breach, our shareholders would need to pursue a shareholder derivative action, subject to applicable law.
We may be unable to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination or to fund the operations and growth of a target business, which could compel us to restructure or abandon a particular business combination. If we have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.
Although we believe that the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants will be sufficient to allow us to complete our initial business combination, because we have not yet selected any prospective target business we cannot ascertain the capital requirements for any particular transaction. If the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants prove to be insufficient, either because of the size of our initial business combination, the depletion of the available net proceeds in search of a target business, the obligation to redeem for cash a significant number of shares from shareholders who elect redemption in connection with our initial business combination or the terms of negotiated transactions to purchase shares in connection with our initial business combination, we may be required to seek additional financing or to abandon the proposed business combination. We cannot assure you that such financing will be available on acceptable terms, if at all. The current economic environment may make it difficult for companies to obtain acquisition financing. To the extent that additional financing proves to be unavailable when needed to complete our initial business combination, we would be compelled to either restructure the transaction or abandon that particular business combination and seek an alternative target business candidate. If we have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. In addition, even if we do not need additional financing to complete our initial business combination, we may require such financing to fund the operations or growth of the target business. The failure to secure additional financing could have a material adverse effect on the continued development or growth of the target business. None of our officers, directors or shareholders is required to provide any financing to us in connection with or after our initial business combination.
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We may seek business combination opportunities with a high degree of complexity that require significant operational improvements, which could delay or prevent us from achieving our desired results.
We may seek business combination opportunities with large, highly complex companies that we believe would benefit from operational improvements. While we intend to implement such improvements, to the extent that our efforts are delayed or we are unable to achieve the desired improvements, the business combination may not be as successful as we anticipate.
To the extent we complete our initial business combination with a large complex business or entity with a complex operating structure, we may also be affected by numerous risks inherent in the operations of the business with which we combine, which could delay or prevent us from implementing our strategy. Although our management team will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business and its operations, we may not be able to properly ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors until we complete our business combination. If we are not able to achieve our desired operational improvements, or the improvements take longer to implement than anticipated, we may not achieve the gains that we anticipate. Furthermore, some of these risks and complexities may be outside of our control and leave us with no ability to control or reduce the chances that those risks and complexities will adversely impact a target business. Such combination may not be as successful as a combination with a smaller, less complex organization.
We may have a limited ability to assess the management of a prospective target business and, as a result, may affect our initial business combination with a target business whose management may not have the skills, qualifications or abilities to manage a public company.
When evaluating the desirability of effecting our initial business combination with a prospective target business, our ability to assess the target business’s management may be limited due to a lack of time, resources or information. Our assessment of the capabilities of the target business’s management, therefore, may prove to be incorrect and such management may lack the skills, qualifications or abilities we suspected. Should the target business’s management not possess the skills, qualifications or abilities necessary to manage a public company, the operations and profitability of the post-combination business may be negatively impacted. Accordingly, any holders who choose to retain their securities following the business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.
We may issue notes or other debt securities, or otherwise incur substantial debt, to complete a business combination, which may adversely affect our leverage and financial condition and thus negatively impact the value of our shareholders’ investment in us.
Although we have no commitments as of the date of this Report to issue any notes or other debt securities, or to otherwise incur outstanding debt following our initial public offering, we may choose to incur substantial debt to complete our initial business combination. We and our officers have agreed that we will not incur any indebtedness unless we have obtained from the lender a waiver of any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to the monies held in the trust account. As such, no issuance of debt will affect the per-share amount available for redemption from the trust account. Nevertheless, the incurrence of debt could have a variety of negative effects, including:
| ● | default and foreclosure on our assets if our operating revenues after an initial business combination are insufficient to repay our debt obligations; |
| ● | acceleration of our obligations to repay the indebtedness even if we make all principal and interest payments when due if we breach certain covenants that require the maintenance of certain financial ratios or reserves without a waiver or renegotiation of that covenant; |
| ● | our immediate payment of all principal and accrued interest, if any, if the debt 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 ordinary shares; |
| ● | using a substantial portion of our cash flow to pay principal and interest on our debt, which will reduce the funds available for dividends on our Class A ordinary shares if declared, expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions and other general corporate purposes; |
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| ● | limitations on our flexibility in planning for and reacting to changes in our business and in the industry in which we operate; |
| ● | increased vulnerability to adverse changes in general economic, industry and competitive conditions and adverse changes in government regulation; and |
| ● | limitations on our ability to borrow additional amounts for expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions, debt service requirements, execution of our strategy and other purposes and other disadvantages compared to our competitors who have less debt. |
We may only be able to complete one business combination with the proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, which will cause us to be solely dependent on a single business which may have a limited number of products or services. This lack of diversification may negatively impact our operations and profitability.
The net proceeds from our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants provided us with up to $313,625,000 in our trust account that we may use to complete our initial business combination (after taking into account the $11,375,000 of deferred underwriting commissions being held in the trust account).
We may effectuate our initial business combination with a single-target business or multiple-target businesses simultaneously or within a short period of time. However, we may not be able to effectuate our initial business combination with more than one target business because of various factors, including the existence of complex accounting issues and the requirement that we prepare and file pro forma financial statements with the SEC that present operating results and the financial condition of several target businesses as if they had been operated on a combined basis. By completing our initial business combination with only a single entity, our lack of diversification may subject us to numerous economic, competitive and regulatory developments. Further, we would not be able to diversify our operations or benefit from the possible spreading of risks or offsetting of losses, unlike other entities which may have the resources to complete several business combinations in different industries or different areas of a single industry. Accordingly, the prospects for our success may be:
| ● | solely dependent upon the performance of a single business, property or asset; or |
| ● | dependent upon the development or market acceptance of a single or limited number of products, processes or services. |
This lack of diversification may subject us to numerous economic, competitive and regulatory risks, any or all of which may have a substantial adverse impact upon the particular industry in which we may operate subsequent to our initial business combination.
We may attempt to simultaneously complete business combinations with multiple prospective targets, which may hinder our ability to complete our initial business combination and give rise to increased costs and risks that could negatively impact our operations and profitability.
If we determine to simultaneously acquire several businesses that are owned by different sellers, we will need for each of such sellers to agree that our purchase of its business is contingent on the simultaneous closings of the other business combinations, which may make it more difficult for us, and delay our ability, to complete our initial business combination. With multiple business combinations, we could also face additional risks, including additional burdens and costs with respect to possible multiple negotiations and due diligence (if there are multiple sellers) and the additional risks associated with the subsequent assimilation of the operations and services or products of the acquired companies in a single operating business. If we are unable to adequately address these risks, it could negatively impact our profitability and results of operations.
We may attempt to complete our initial business combination with a private company about which little information is available, which may result in a business combination with a company that is not as profitable as we suspected, if at all.
In pursuing our acquisition strategy, we may seek to effectuate our initial business combination with a privately held company. Very little public information generally exists about private companies, and we could be required to make our decision on whether to pursue a potential initial business combination on the basis of limited information, which may result in a business combination with a company that is not as profitable as we suspected, if at all.
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Risks Relating to our Securities
The securities in which we invest the funds held in the trust account could bear a negative rate of interest, which could reduce the value of the assets held in trust such that the per-share redemption amount received by public shareholders may be less than $10.00 per share.
The proceeds held in the trust account are invested only in U.S. government treasury obligations with a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act, which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations. While short-term U.S. government treasury obligations currently yield a positive rate of interest, they have briefly yielded negative interest rates in recent years. Central banks in Europe and Japan pursued interest rates below zero in recent years, and the Open Market Committee of the Federal Reserve has not ruled out the possibility that it may in the future adopt similar policies in the United States. In the event that we are unable to complete our initial business combination or make certain amendments to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, our public shareholders are entitled to receive their pro-rata share of the proceeds held in the trust account, plus any interest income, net of taxes paid or payable (less, in the case we are unable to complete our initial business combination, $100,000 of interest). Negative interest rates could reduce the value of the assets held in trust such that the per-share redemption amount received by public shareholders may be less than $10.00 per share.
If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, we may be required to institute burdensome compliance requirements and our activities may be restricted, which may make it difficult for us to complete our initial business combination.
If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, our activities may be restricted, including:
| ● | restrictions on the nature of our investments; and |
| ● | restrictions on the issuance of securities, each of which may make it difficult for us to complete our initial business combination. |
In addition, we may have imposed upon us burdensome requirements, including:
| ● | registration as an investment company with the SEC; |
| ● | adoption of a specific form of corporate structure; and |
| ● | reporting, record keeping, voting, proxy and disclosure requirements and other rules and regulations that we are currently not subject to. |
In order not to be regulated as an investment company under the Investment Company Act, unless we can qualify for an exclusion, we must ensure that we are engaged primarily in a business other than investing, reinvesting or trading of securities and that our activities do not include investing, reinvesting, owning, holding or trading “investment securities” constituting more than 40% of our assets (exclusive of U.S. government securities and cash items) on an unconsolidated basis. Our business will be to identify and complete a business combination and thereafter to operate the post-transaction business or assets for the long term. We do not plan to buy businesses or assets with a view to resale or profit from their resale. We do not plan to buy unrelated businesses or assets or to be a passive investor.
We do not believe that our principal activities will subject us to the Investment Company Act. To this end, the proceeds held in the trust account may only be invested in United States “government securities” within the meaning of Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act having a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 promulgated under the Investment Company Act which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations. Pursuant to the trust agreement, the trustee is not permitted to invest in other securities or assets. By restricting the investment of the proceeds to these instruments, and by having a business plan targeted at acquiring and growing businesses for the long term (rather than on buying and selling businesses in the manner of a merchant bank or private equity fund), we intend to avoid being deemed an “investment company” within the meaning of the Investment Company Act. An investment in our securities is not intended for persons who are seeking a return on investments in government securities or investment securities. The trust account is intended as a holding place for funds pending the earliest to occur of either: (i) the completion of our initial business combination; (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly tendered in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A ordinary shares the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares; or (iii) absent our completing an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, our return of the funds held in the trust account to our public shareholders as part of our redemption of the public shares. If we do not invest the proceeds as discussed above, we may be deemed to be subject to the Investment Company Act. If we were deemed to be subject to the Investment Company Act, compliance with these additional regulatory burdens would require additional expenses for which we have not allotted funds and may hinder our ability to complete a business combination. If we have not consummated our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.
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If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, and if you or a “group” of shareholders are deemed to hold in excess of 15% of our Class A ordinary shares, you will lose the ability to redeem all such shares in excess of 15% of our Class A ordinary shares.
If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provides that a public shareholder, together with any affiliate of such shareholder or any other person with whom such shareholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from redeeming its shares with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in our initial public offering, which we refer to as the “Excess Shares,” without our prior consent. However, we would not be restricting our shareholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our initial business combination. Your inability to redeem the Excess Shares will reduce your influence over our ability to complete our initial business combination and you could suffer a material loss on your investment in us if you sell Excess Shares in open market transactions. Additionally, you will not receive redemption distributions with respect to the Excess Shares if we complete our initial business combination. And as a result, you will continue to hold that number of shares exceeding 15% and, in order to dispose of such shares, would be required to sell your shares in open market transactions, potentially at a loss.
Nasdaq may delist our securities from trading on its exchange, which could limit investors’ ability to make transactions in our securities and subject us to additional trading restrictions.
Our securities are currently listed on the Nasdaq. However, we cannot assure you that our securities will continue to be listed on the Nasdaq in the future or prior to our initial business combination. In order to continue listing our securities on the Nasdaq prior to our initial business combination, we must maintain certain financial, distribution and share price levels. Generally, we must maintain a minimum market capitalization (generally $35,000,000) and a minimum number of holders of our securities (generally 300 public holders).
Additionally, our units will not be traded after completion of our initial business combination and, in connection with our initial business combination, we will be required to demonstrate compliance with the Nasdaq initial listing requirements, which are more rigorous than the Nasdaq continued listing requirements, in order to continue to maintain the listing of our securities on the Nasdaq.
For instance, in order for our shares to be listed upon the consummation of our business combination, at such time our share price would generally be required to be at least $4.00 per share. We cannot assure you that we will be able to meet those listing requirements at that time.
If the Nasdaq delists any of our securities from trading on its exchange and we are not able to list our securities on another national securities exchange, we expect such securities could be quoted on an over-the-counter market. If this were to occur, we could face significant material adverse consequences, including:
| ● | a limited availability of market quotations for our securities; |
| ● | reduced liquidity for our securities; |
| ● | a determination that our Class A ordinary shares are a “penny stock” which will require brokers trading in our Class A ordinary shares to adhere to more stringent rules and possibly result in a reduced level of trading activity in the secondary trading market for our securities; |
| ● | a limited amount of news and analyst coverage; and |
| ● | a decreased ability to issue additional securities or obtain additional financing in the future. |
The National Securities Markets Improvement Act of 1996, which is a federal statute, prevents or preempts the states from regulating the sale of certain securities, which are referred to as “covered securities.” Because our units, Class A ordinary shares and warrants are listed on the NASDAQ, such securities qualify as covered securities under the statute. Although the states are preempted from regulating the sale of covered securities, the federal statute does allow the states to investigate companies if there is a suspicion of fraud, and, if there is a finding of fraudulent activity, then the states can regulate or bar the sale of covered securities in a particular case. While we are not aware of a state having used these powers to prohibit or restrict the sale of securities issued by blank check companies, other than the State of Idaho, certain state securities regulators view blank check companies unfavorably and might use these powers, or threaten to use these powers, to hinder the sale of securities of blank check companies in their states. Further, if we were no longer listed on the Nasdaq, our securities would not qualify as covered securities under the statute and we would be subject to regulation in each state in which we offer our securities.
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We may issue additional Class A ordinary shares or preference shares to complete our initial business combination or under an employee incentive plan after completion of our initial business combination. We may also issue Class A ordinary shares upon the conversion of the founder shares at a ratio greater than one-to-one at the time of our initial business combination as a result of the anti-dilution provisions contained in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. Any such issuances would dilute the interest of our shareholders and likely present other risks.
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will authorize the issuance of up to 300,000,000 Class A ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share, 30,000,000 Class B ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share, and 1,000,000 preference shares, par value $0.0001 per share. There are 267,500,000 and 21,875,000 authorized but unissued Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares, respectively, available for issuance which amount does not take into account shares reserved for issuance upon exercise of outstanding warrants or shares issuable upon conversion of the Class B ordinary shares, if any. The Class B ordinary shares will automatically convert into Class A ordinary shares at the time of our initial business combination as described herein and in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. There are no preference shares issued and outstanding.
We may issue a substantial number of additional Class A ordinary shares or preference shares to complete our initial business combination or under an employee incentive plan after completion of our initial business combination. We may also issue Class A ordinary shares in connection with our redeeming the warrants or upon conversion of the Class B ordinary shares at a ratio greater than one-to-one at the time of our initial business combination as a result of the anti-dilution provisions as set forth herein. However, our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provides, among other things, that prior to or in connection with our initial business combination, we may not issue additional shares that would entitle the holders thereof to (i) receive funds from the trust account or (ii) vote on any initial business combination or on any other proposal presented to shareholders prior to or in connection with the completion of an initial business combination. These provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, like all provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, may be amended with a shareholder vote. The issuance of additional ordinary or preference shares:
| ● | may significantly dilute the equity interest of investors, which dilution would increase if the anti-dilution provisions in the Class B ordinary shares resulted in the issuance of Class A ordinary shares on a greater than one-to-one basis upon conversion of the Class B ordinary shares; |
| ● | may subordinate the rights of holders of Class A ordinary shares if preference shares are issued with rights senior to those afforded our Class A ordinary shares; |
| ● | could cause a change in control if a substantial number of Class A ordinary shares are issued, which may affect, among other things, our ability to use our net operating loss carry forwards, if any, and could result in the resignation or removal of our present officers and directors; |
| ● | may have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control of us by diluting the share ownership or voting rights of a person seeking to obtain control of us; |
| ● | may adversely affect prevailing market prices for our units, Class A ordinary shares and/or warrants; and |
| ● | may not result in adjustment to the exercise price of our warrants. |
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Unlike some other similarly structured blank check companies, our sponsor will receive additional Class A ordinary shares if we issue shares to consummate an initial business combination.
The founder shares will automatically convert into our Class A ordinary shares at the time of our initial business combination at a ratio such that the number of Class A ordinary shares issuable upon conversion of all founder shares will equal, in the aggregate, on an as-converted basis, 20% of the sum of (i) the total number of ordinary shares issued and outstanding upon completion of our initial public offering, plus (ii) the total number of Class A ordinary shares issued or deemed issued or issuable upon conversion or exercise of any equity-linked securities or rights issued or deemed issued, by the Company in connection with or in relation to the consummation of the initial business combination, excluding any Class A ordinary shares or equity-linked securities exercisable for or convertible into Class A ordinary shares issued, deemed issued, or to be issued, to any seller in the initial business combination and any private placement warrants issued to our sponsor, any of its affiliates or any members of our management team upon conversion of working capital loans. In no event will the Class B ordinary shares convert into Class A ordinary shares at a rate of less than one-to-one. This is different than some other similarly structured blank check companies in which the initial shareholders will only be issued an aggregate of 20% of the total number of shares to be outstanding prior to the initial business combination.
We are not registering the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants under the Securities Act or any state securities laws at this time, and such registration may not be in place when an investor desires to exercise warrants, thus precluding such investor from being able to exercise its warrants and causing such warrants to expire worthless.
We are not registering the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants under the Securities Act or any state securities laws at this time. However, under the terms of the warrant agreement, we have agreed that, as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 20 business days after the closing of our initial business combination, we will use our commercially reasonable efforts to file with the SEC a registration statement covering the issuance of such shares, and we will use our commercially reasonable efforts to cause the same to become effective within 60 business days after the closing of our initial business combination and to maintain the effectiveness of such registration statement and a current prospectus relating to those Class A ordinary shares until the warrants expire or are redeemed. 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, complete or correct or the SEC issues a stop order. If the shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants are not registered under the Securities Act in accordance with the above requirements, we will be required to permit holders to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis, in which case, the number of Class A ordinary shares that you will receive upon cashless exercise will be based on a formula subject to a maximum amount of shares equal to 0.361 Class A ordinary shares per warrant (subject to adjustment). However, no warrant will be exercisable for cash or on a cashless basis, and we will not be obligated to issue any shares to holders seeking to exercise their warrants, unless the issuance of the shares upon such exercise is registered or qualified under the securities laws of the state of the exercising holder, or an exemption from registration is available. Notwithstanding the above, if our Class A ordinary shares are at the time of any exercise of a warrant not listed on a national securities exchange such that they satisfy the definition of a “covered security” under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act, we may, at our option, require holders of public warrants who exercise their warrants to do so on a “cashless basis” in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act and, in the event we so elect, we will not be required to file or maintain in effect a registration statement, but we will use our commercially reasonable efforts to register or qualify the shares under applicable blue sky laws to the extent an exemption is not available. Exercising the warrants on a cashless basis could have the effect of reducing the potential “upside” of the holder’s investment in our company because the warrant holder will hold a smaller number of Class A ordinary shares upon a cashless exercise of the warrants they hold. In no event will we be required to net cash settle any warrant, or issue securities or other compensation in exchange for the warrants in the event that we are unable to register or qualify the shares underlying the warrants under applicable state securities laws and no exemption is available. If the issuance of the shares upon exercise of the warrants is not so registered or qualified or exempt from registration or qualification, the holder of such warrant shall not be entitled to exercise such warrant and such warrant may have no value and expire worthless. In such event, holders who acquired their warrants as part of a purchase of units will have paid the full unit purchase price solely for the Class A ordinary shares included in the units. There may be a circumstance where an exemption from registration exists for holders of our private placement warrants to exercise their warrants while a corresponding exemption does not exist for holders of the public warrants included as part of units sold in our initial public offering. In such an instance, our sponsor and its permitted transferees (which may include our directors and executive officers) would be able to exercise their warrants and sell the ordinary shares underlying their warrants while holders of our public warrants would not be able to exercise their warrants and sell the underlying ordinary shares. If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may exercise our redemption right even if we are unable to register or qualify the underlying Class A ordinary shares for sale under all applicable state securities laws. As a result, we may redeem the warrants as set forth above even if the holders are otherwise unable to exercise their warrants.
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We may amend the terms of the warrants in a manner that may be adverse to holders of public warrants with the approval by the holders of at least 65% of the then-outstanding public warrants. As a result, the exercise price of your warrants could be increased, the exercise period could be shortened and the number of our Class A ordinary shares purchasable upon exercise of a warrant could be decreased, all without your approval.
Our warrants are issued in registered form under a warrant agreement between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as warrant agent, and us. The warrant agreement provides that the terms of the warrants may be amended without the consent of any holder to cure any ambiguity or correct any defective provision, but requires the approval by the holders of at least 65% of the then-outstanding public warrants to make any change that adversely affects the interests of the registered holders of public warrants. Accordingly, we may amend the terms of the public warrants in a manner adverse to a holder if holders of at least 65% of the then-outstanding public warrants approve of such amendment 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, 65% of the number of the then outstanding private placement warrants. Although our ability to amend the terms of the public warrants with the consent of at least 65% of the then-outstanding public warrants is unlimited, examples of such amendments could be amendments to, among other things, increase the exercise price of the warrants, convert the warrants into cash, shorten the exercise period or decrease the number of Class A ordinary shares purchasable upon exercise of a warrant.
Our warrant agreement designates the courts of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by holders of our warrants, which could limit the ability of warrant holders to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with our company.
Our warrant agreement provides that, subject to applicable law, (i) any action, proceeding or claim against us arising out of or relating in any way to the warrant agreement, including under the Securities Act, will be brought and enforced in the courts of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, and (ii) that we irrevocably submit to such jurisdiction, which jurisdiction shall be the exclusive forum for any such action, proceeding or claim. We will waive any objection to such exclusive jurisdiction and that such courts represent an inconvenient forum.
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.
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We may redeem your unexpired warrants prior to their exercise at a time that is disadvantageous to you, thereby making your warrants worthless.
We have the ability to redeem the outstanding public warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.01 per warrant, provided that the closing price of our Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for adjustments to the number of shares issuable upon exercise or the exercise price of a warrant as described under the heading “Description of Securities — Warrants — Public Shareholders’ 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.
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 ordinary shares equals or exceeds $10.00 per share (as adjusted for adjustments to the number of shares issuable upon exercise or the exercise price of a warrant as described under the heading “Description of Securities — Warrants — Public Shareholders’ 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 holders will be able to exercise their warrants prior to redemption for a number of Class A ordinary shares determined based on the redemption date and the fair market value of our Class A ordinary shares. The value received upon exercise of the warrants (1) may be less than the value the holders would have received if they had exercised their warrants at a later time where the underlying share price is higher and (2) may not compensate the holders for the value of the warrants, including because the number of ordinary shares received is capped at 0.361 Class A ordinary shares per warrant (subject to adjustment) irrespective of the remaining life of the warrants.
None of the private placement warrants are redeemable by us as (except as described in the Description of Securities filed as an exhibit with this Report.) so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees.
Our warrants may have an adverse effect on the market price of our Class A ordinary shares and make it more difficult to effectuate our initial business combination.
We have issued warrants to purchase 6,500,000 Class A ordinary shares as part of the units offered by our initial public offering and, simultaneously with the closing of our initial public offering, we have issued in a private placement an aggregate of 4,250,000 private placement warrants, each exercisable to purchase one Class A ordinary share at $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment. In addition, if our sponsor, its affiliates or a member of our management team makes any working capital loans, it may convert up to $1,500,000 of such loans into up to an additional 750,000 private placement warrants, at the price of $2.00 per warrant. As of December 31, 2021, we had borrowed $250,000 in working capital loans. We may also issue Class A ordinary shares in connection with our redemption of our warrants.
To the extent we issue ordinary shares for any reason, including to effectuate a business combination, the potential for the issuance of a substantial number of additional Class A ordinary shares upon exercise of these warrants could make us a less attractive acquisition vehicle to a target business. Such warrants, when exercised, will increase the number of issued and outstanding Class A ordinary shares and reduce the value of the Class A ordinary shares issued to complete the business transaction. Therefore, our warrants may make it more difficult to effectuate a business transaction or increase the cost of acquiring the target business.
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Because each unit contains one-fifth of one redeemable warrant and only a whole warrant may be exercised, the units may be worth less than units of other blank check companies.
Each unit contains one-fifth of one redeemable warrant. Pursuant to the warrant agreement, no fractional warrants will be issued upon separation of the units, and only whole units will trade. If, upon exercise of the warrants, a holder would be entitled to receive a fractional interest in a share, we will, upon exercise, round down to the nearest whole number the number of Class A ordinary shares to be issued to the warrant holder. This is different from the securities of other blank check companies similar to ours whose units include one ordinary share and one whole warrant to purchase one whole share. We have established the components of the units in this way in order to reduce the dilutive effect of the warrants upon completion of a business combination since the warrants are exercisable in the aggregate for one-fifth of the number of shares compared to units that each contain a whole warrant to purchase one whole share, thus making us, we believe, a more attractive merger partner for target businesses. Nevertheless, this unit structure may cause our units to be worth less than if a unit included a warrant to purchase one whole share.
A provision of our warrant agreement may make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination.
If (i) we issue additional Class A ordinary shares or equity-linked securities for capital raising purposes in connection with the closing of our initial business combination at a issue price or effective issue price of less than $9.20 per Class A ordinary share (with such issue price or effective issue price to be determined in good faith by the board of directors and, in the case of any such issuance to the Initial Shareholders or their affiliates, without taking into account any founder shares held by the Initial Shareholders or such affiliates, as applicable, prior to such issuance) (the “Newly Issued Price”), (ii) the aggregate gross proceeds from such issuances represent more than 60% of the total equity proceeds, and interest thereon, available for the funding of our initial business combination on the date of the consummation of our initial business combination (net of redemptions), and (iii) the volume weighted average trading price of Class A ordinary shares during the 10-trading day period starting on the trading day prior to the day on which the Company consummates its initial Business Combination (such price, the “Market Value”) is below $9.20 per share, then the exercise price of the warrants will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 115% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, the $18.00 per share redemption trigger price will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 180% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, and the $10.00 per share redemption trigger price will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price. This may make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination with a target business.
Provisions in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association may inhibit a takeover of us, which could limit the price investors might be willing to pay in the future for our Class A ordinary shares and could entrench management.
Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association contains provisions that may discourage unsolicited takeover proposals that shareholders may consider to be in their best interests. These provisions will include a staggered board of directors, the ability of the board of directors to designate the terms of and issue new series of preference shares, and the fact that prior to the completion of our initial business combination only holders of our Class B ordinary shares, which have been issued to our sponsor, are entitled to vote on the appointment of directors, which may make more difficult the removal of management and may discourage transactions that otherwise could involve payment of a premium over prevailing market prices for our securities.
Because we are incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands, you may face difficulties in protecting your interests, and your ability to protect your rights through the U.S. federal courts may be limited.
We are an exempted company incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands. As a result, it may be difficult for investors to effect service of process within the United States upon our directors or executive officers, or enforce judgments obtained in the United States courts against our directors or officers.
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Our corporate affairs are governed by our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, the Companies Act (as the same may be supplemented or amended from time to time) and the common law of the Cayman Islands. We will also be subject to the federal securities laws of the United States. The rights of shareholders to take action against the directors, actions by minority shareholders and the fiduciary responsibilities of our directors to us under Cayman Islands law are to a large extent governed by the common law of the Cayman Islands. The common law of the Cayman Islands is derived in part from comparatively limited judicial precedent in the Cayman Islands as well as from English common law, the decisions of whose courts are of persuasive authority, but are not binding on a court in the Cayman Islands. The rights of our shareholders and the fiduciary responsibilities of our directors under Cayman Islands law are different from what they would be under statutes or judicial precedent in some jurisdictions in the United States. In particular, the Cayman Islands has a different body of securities laws as compared to the United States, and certain states, such as Delaware, may have more fully developed and judicially interpreted bodies of corporate law. In addition, Cayman Islands companies may not have standing to initiate a shareholders derivative action in a Federal court of the United States.
We have been advised by Walkers, our Cayman Islands legal counsel, that the courts of the Cayman Islands are unlikely (i) to recognize or enforce against us judgments of courts of the United States predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the federal securities laws of the United States or any state; and (ii) in original actions brought in the Cayman Islands, to impose liabilities against us predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the federal securities laws of the United States or any state, so far as the liabilities imposed by those provisions are penal in nature. In those circumstances, although there is no statutory enforcement in the Cayman Islands of judgments obtained in the United States, the courts of the Cayman Islands will recognize and enforce a foreign money judgment of a foreign court of competent jurisdiction without retrial on the merits based on the principle that a judgment of a competent foreign court imposes upon the judgment debtor an obligation to pay the sum for which judgment has been given provided certain conditions are met. For a foreign judgment to be enforced in the Cayman Islands, such judgment must be final and conclusive and for a liquidated sum, and must not be in respect of taxes or a fine or penalty, inconsistent with a Cayman Islands judgment in respect of the same matter, impeachable on the grounds of fraud or obtained in a manner, or be of a kind the enforcement of which is, contrary to natural justice or the public policy of the Cayman Islands (awards of punitive or multiple damages may well be held to be contrary to public policy). A Cayman Islands Court may stay enforcement proceedings if concurrent proceedings are being brought elsewhere.
As a result of all of the above, public shareholders may have more difficulty in protecting their interests in the face of actions taken by management, members of the board of directors or controlling shareholders than they would as public shareholders of a United States company.
Since only holders of our founder shares will have the right to vote on the appointment of directors, upon the listing of our shares on the Nasdaq, the Nasdaq may consider us to be a “controlled company” within the meaning of the Nasdaq rules and, as a result, we may qualify for exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements.
After completion of our initial public offering, only holders of our founder shares will have the right to vote on the appointment of directors. As a result, the Nasdaq may consider us to be a “controlled company” within the meaning of the Nasdaq corporate governance standards. Under the Nasdaq corporate governance standards, a company of which more than 50% of the voting power is held by an individual, group or another company is a “controlled company” and may elect not to comply with certain corporate governance requirements, including the requirements that:
| ● | we have a board that includes a majority of “independent directors,” as defined under the rules of the Nasdaq; |
| ● | we have a compensation committee of our board that is comprised entirely of independent directors with a written charter addressing the committee’s purpose and responsibilities; and |
| ● | we have a nominating and corporate governance committee of our board that is comprised entirely of independent directors with a written charter addressing the committee’s purpose and responsibilities. |
We do not currently utilize these exemptions and we currently comply with the corporate governance requirements of the Nasdaq, subject to applicable phase-in rules. However, if we determine in the future to utilize some or all of these exemptions, you will not have the same protections afforded to shareholders of companies that are subject to all of the Nasdaq corporate governance requirements.
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If we have not consummated an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, our public shareholders may be forced to wait beyond such 24 months before redemption from our trust account.
If we have not consummated an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, the proceeds then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes, if any (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), will be used to fund the redemption of our public shares, as further described herein. Any redemption of public shareholders from the trust account will be effected automatically by function of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association prior to any voluntary winding up. If we are required to wind up, liquidate the trust account and distribute such amount therein, pro rata, to our public shareholders, as part of any liquidation process, such winding up, liquidation and distribution must comply with the applicable provisions of the Companies Act. In that case, investors may be forced to wait beyond 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering before the redemption proceeds of our trust account become available to them, and they receive the return of their pro rata portion of the proceeds from our trust account. We have no obligation to return funds to investors prior to the date of their redemption or any liquidation unless, prior thereto, we consummate our initial business combination or amend certain provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, and only then in cases where investors have sought to redeem their Class A ordinary shares. Only upon their redemption or any liquidation will public shareholders be entitled to distributions if we do not complete our initial business combination and do not amend certain provisions of our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provides that, if a resolution of the company’s shareholders is passed pursuant to the Companies Act of the Cayman Islands to commence the voluntary liquidation of the company, we will follow the foregoing procedures with respect to the liquidation of the trust account as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, subject to applicable Cayman Islands law.
Holders of Class A ordinary shares will not be entitled to vote on any appointment of directors we hold prior to our initial business combination.
Prior to our initial business combination, only holders of our founder shares will have the right to vote on the appointment of directors. Holders of our public shares will not be entitled to vote on the appointment of directors during such time. In addition, prior to our initial business combination, holders of a majority of our founder shares may remove a member of the board of directors for any reason. Accordingly, you may not have any say in the management of our company prior to the consummation of an initial business combination.
The warrants may become exercisable and redeemable for a security other than the Class A ordinary shares, and you will not have any information regarding such other security at this time.
In certain situations, including if we are not the surviving entity in our initial business combination, the warrants may become exercisable for a security other than the Class A ordinary shares. As a result, if the surviving company redeems your warrants for securities pursuant to the warrant agreement, you may receive a security in a company of which you do not have information at this time. Pursuant to the warrant agreement, the surviving company will be required to use commercially reasonable efforts to register the issuance of the security underlying the warrants within 20 business days of the closing of an initial business combination.
The grant of registration rights to our sponsor may make it more difficult to complete our initial business combination, and the future exercise of such rights may adversely affect the market price of our Class A ordinary shares.
Pursuant to registration and shareholder rights agreement we entered into with our sponsor and certain other shareholders in connection with our initial public offering, our sponsor and its permitted transferees can demand that we register the resale of the Class A ordinary shares into which founder shares are convertible, the private placement warrants and the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the private placement warrants, and warrants that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans and the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon conversion of such warrants. The registration and availability of such a significant number of securities for trading in the public market may have an adverse effect on the market price of our Class A ordinary shares. In addition, the existence of the registration rights may make our initial business combination more costly or difficult to conclude. This is because the shareholders of the target business may increase the equity stake they seek in the combined entity or ask for more cash consideration to offset the negative impact on the market price of our securities that is expected when the securities owned by our sponsor or its permitted transferees are registered for resale.
We may reincorporate in another jurisdiction in connection with our initial business combination and such reincorporation may result in taxes imposed on shareholders.
We may, in connection with our initial business combination and subject to requisite shareholder approval under the Companies Act, reincorporate in the jurisdiction in which the target company or business is located or in another jurisdiction. The transaction may require a shareholder or warrant holder to recognize taxable income in the jurisdiction in which the shareholder or warrant holder is a tax resident or in which its members are resident if it is a tax transparent entity. We do not intend to make any cash distributions to shareholders or warrant holders to pay such taxes. Shareholders or warrant holders may be subject to withholding taxes or other taxes with respect to their ownership of us after the reincorporation.
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Risks Relating to our Sponsor and Management Team
Our ability to successfully effect our initial business combination and to be successful thereafter will be totally dependent upon the efforts of our key personnel, some of whom may join us following our initial business combination. The loss of key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business.
Our ability to successfully effect our initial business combination is dependent upon the efforts of our key personnel. The role of our key personnel in the target business, however, cannot presently be ascertained. Although some of our key personnel may remain with the target business in senior management, director or advisory positions following our initial business combination, it is likely that some or all of the management of the target business will remain in place. While we intend to closely scrutinize any individuals we engage after our initial business combination, we cannot assure you that our assessment of these individuals will prove to be correct. These individuals may be unfamiliar with the requirements of operating a company regulated by the SEC, which could cause us to have to expend time and resources helping them become familiar with such requirements.
Our key personnel may negotiate employment or consulting agreements with a target business in connection with a particular business combination, and a particular business combination may be conditioned on the retention or resignation of such key personnel. These agreements may provide for them to receive compensation following our initial business combination and as a result, may cause them to have conflicts of interest in determining whether a particular business combination is the most advantageous.
Our key personnel may be able to remain with our company after the completion of our initial business combination only if they are able to negotiate employment or consulting agreements in connection with the business combination. Such negotiations would take place simultaneously with the negotiation of the business combination and could provide for such individuals to receive compensation in the form of cash payments and/or our securities for services they would render to us after the completion of the business combination. Such negotiations also could make such key personnel’s retention or resignation a condition to any such agreement. The personal and financial interests of such individuals may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business. In addition, pursuant to a registration and shareholder rights agreement entered into in connection with our initial public offering, our sponsor, upon and following consummation of an initial business combination, will be entitled to nominate three individuals for appointment to our board of directors, as long as our sponsor holds any securities covered by the registration and shareholder rights agreement.
The officers and directors of an acquisition candidate may resign upon completion of our initial business combination. The loss of a business combination target’s key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business.
The role of an acquisition candidate’s key personnel upon the completion of our initial business combination cannot be ascertained at this time. Although we contemplate that certain members of an acquisition candidate’s management team will remain associated with the acquisition candidate following our initial business combination, it is possible that members of the management of an acquisition candidate will not wish to remain in place.
Our executive officers and directors will allocate their time to other businesses thereby causing conflicts of interest in their determination as to how much time to devote to our affairs. This conflict of interest could have a negative impact on our ability to complete our initial business combination.
Our executive officers and directors are not required to, and will not, commit their full time to our affairs, which may result in a conflict of interest in allocating their time between our operations and our search for a business combination and their other businesses. We do not intend to have any full-time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination. Each of our executive officers 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. In particular, certain of our officers and directors are employed by HGGC or Industry Ventures or affiliates of HGGC or Industry Ventures, which each are in the business of making investments in securities or other interests in or relating to companies in industries we may target for our initial business combination. Our independent directors also serve as officers and board members for other entities. If our executive officers’ and directors’ other business affairs require them to devote substantial amounts of time to such affairs in excess of their current commitment levels, it could limit their ability to devote time to our affairs which may have a negative impact on our ability to complete our initial business combination.
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Our officers and directors and affiliates of our sponsor presently have, and any of them in the future may have, additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities, including another blank check company, and, accordingly, may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented.
Until we consummate our initial business combination, we intend to engage in the business of identifying and combining with one or more businesses or entities. Each of our officers and directors presently has, and any of them in the future may have, additional fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entity. Accordingly, they may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented. For example, affiliates of our sponsor, HGGC and Industry Ventures, have an obligation to present suitable opportunities to their funds before considering whether such opportunities may be suitable for the Company. These conflicts may not be resolved in our favor and a potential target business may be presented to another entity prior to its presentation to us.
In addition, our sponsor, officers and directors may in the future become affiliated with other blank check companies that may have acquisition objectives that are similar to ours. Accordingly, they may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented. These conflicts may not be resolved in our favor and a potential target business may be presented to such other blank check companies prior to its presentation to us, subject to our officers’ and directors’ fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provides that we renounce our interest in any business combination opportunity which may be a business opportunity for both us and our sponsor and another entity, including any entities managed by the company or its affiliates and any companies in which the company or such entities have invested about which any of our officers or directors acquires knowledge and we will waive any claim or cause of action we may have in respect thereof. In addition our amended and restated articles of association contains provisions to exculpate and indemnify, to the maximum extent permitted by law, such persons in respect of any liability, obligation or duty to the company that may arise as a consequence of such persons becoming aware of any business opportunity or failing to present such business opportunity.
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 HGGC, Industry Ventures, 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 the company’s best interests. If this were the case, and the directors fail to act in accordance with their fiduciary duties to us as a matter of Cayman Islands law, we or our shareholders may have a claim against such individuals.
We may engage in a business combination with one or more target businesses that have relationships with entities that may be affiliated with HGGC, Industry Ventures, our sponsor, executive officers, directors or initial shareholders which may raise potential conflicts of interest.
In light of the involvement of HGGC, Industry Ventures, our sponsor, executive officers and directors with other entities, we may decide to acquire one or more businesses affiliated with HGGC, Industry Ventures, our sponsor, executive officers, directors or initial shareholders. HGGC, Industry Ventures, our sponsor, officers and directors may sponsor, form or participate in other blank check companies similar to ours during the period in which we are seeking an initial business combination. Such entities may compete with us for business combination opportunities. HGGC, Industry Ventures, 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. Moreover, we may pursue a transaction with an affiliated entity if we determined that such affiliated entity met our criteria and guidelines for a business combination and such transaction was approved by a majority of our independent and disinterested directors. Despite our agreement to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA or an independent accounting firm regarding the fairness to our company from a financial point of view of a business combination with one or more domestic or international businesses affiliated with our sponsor, executive officers, directors or initial shareholders, potential conflicts of interest still may exist and, as a result, the terms of the business combination may not be as advantageous to our public shareholders as they would be absent any conflicts of interest.
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Since our sponsor, executive officers and directors will lose their entire investment in us if our initial business combination is not completed (other than with respect to public shares they may acquire during or after our initial public offering), a conflict of interest may arise in determining whether a particular business combination target is appropriate for our initial business combination.
On December 28, 2020, our sponsor paid $25,000, or $0.003 per share, to cover certain of our offering costs in consideration of 7,906,250 Class B ordinary shares, par value $0.0001. In February 2021, our sponsor transferred 25,000 founder shares each to Steven Walske, Omar Johnson and Paul Weiskopf. Prior to the initial investment in the company of $25,000 by our sponsor, the company had no assets, tangible or intangible. The per share price of the founder shares was determined by dividing the amount contributed to the company by the number of founder shares issued. The founder shares will be worthless if we do not complete an initial business combination. In addition, our sponsor has purchased an aggregate of 4,250,000 private placement warrants, each exercisable to purchase one Class A ordinary share at $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment, at a price of $2.00 per warrant, in a private placement that closes simultaneously with the closing of our initial public offering. If we do not consummate an initial business within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, the private placement warrants will expire worthless. The personal and financial interests of our executive officers and directors may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business combination, completing an initial business combination and influencing the operation of the business following the initial business combination. This risk may become more acute as the 24-month anniversary of the closing of our initial public offering nears, which is the deadline for our consummation of an initial business combination.
Our management may not be able to maintain control of a target business after our initial business combination. Upon the loss of control of a target business, new management may not possess the skills, qualifications or abilities necessary to profitably operate such business.
We may structure our initial business combination so that the post-business combination company in which our public shareholders own shares will own less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business, but we will only complete such business combination if the post-business combination company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target business sufficient for us not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. We will not consider any transaction that does not meet such criteria. Even if the post-business combination company owns 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our shareholders prior to our initial business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post-business combination company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the business combination. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new Class A ordinary shares in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock, shares or other equity interests of a target. In this case, we would acquire a 100% interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new Class A ordinary shares, our shareholders immediately prior to such transaction could own less than a majority of our outstanding Class A ordinary shares subsequent to such transaction. In addition, other minority shareholders may subsequently combine their holdings resulting in a single person or group obtaining a larger share of the company’s shares than we initially acquired. Accordingly, this may make it more likely that our management will not be able to maintain control of the target business.
Our sponsor controls a substantial interest in us and thus may exert a substantial influence on actions requiring a shareholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support.
Our initial shareholders, including our sponsor, own, on an as-converted basis, 20% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares. Accordingly, our sponsor may exert a substantial influence on actions requiring a shareholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support, including amendments to our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association and approval of significant corporate transactions including our initial business combination. If our sponsor purchases any additional Class A ordinary shares in the aftermarket or in privately negotiated transactions, this would increase its control. Neither our sponsor nor, to our knowledge, any of our officers or directors, have any current intention to purchase additional securities, other than as disclosed in this Report. Factors that would be considered in making such additional purchases would include consideration of the current trading price of our Class A ordinary shares. In addition, our board of directors, whose members were elected by our sponsor, is divided into three classes, each of which will generally serve for a term of three years with only one class of directors being elected in each year. We may not hold general meeting to elect new directors prior to the completion of our initial business combination, in which case all of the current directors will continue in office until at least the completion of the business combination. If there is an annual meeting, as a consequence of our “staggered” board of directors, only a minority of the board of directors will be considered for appointment and our sponsor, because of its ownership position, will control the outcome, as only holders of our Class B ordinary shares will have the right to vote on the appointment of directors and to remove directors prior to our initial business combination. Accordingly, our sponsor will continue to exert control at least until the completion of our initial business combination.
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After our initial business combination, it is possible that a majority of our directors and officers will live outside the United States and all of our assets will be located outside the United States; therefore investors may not be able to enforce federal securities laws or their other legal rights.
It is possible that after our initial business combination, a majority of our directors and officers will reside outside of the United States and all of our assets will be located outside of the United States. As a result, it may be difficult, or in some cases not possible, for investors in the United States to enforce their legal rights, to effect service of process upon all of our directors or officers or to enforce judgments of United States courts predicated upon civil liabilities and criminal penalties on our directors and officers under United States laws.
We are dependent upon our executive officers and directors and their loss could adversely affect our ability to operate.
Our operations are dependent upon a relatively small group of individuals and, in particular, our executive officers and directors. We believe that our success depends on the continued service of our officers and directors, at least until we have completed our initial business combination. In addition, our executive officers and directors are not required to commit any specified amount of time to our affairs and, accordingly, will have conflicts of interest in allocating their time among various business activities, including identifying potential business combinations and monitoring the related due diligence. We do not have an employment agreement with, or key-man insurance on the life of, any of our directors or executive officers. The portion of our sponsor risk capital provided by Industry Ventures is funded by Industry Ventures Tech Buyout, LP. Industry Ventures’ principals, including our Chief Investment Officer and Director Ms. Lindsay Sharma and Director Mr. Hans Swildens, are required under the various partnership agreements of Industry Ventures, subject to certain exceptions, to dedicate substantially all of their business time to the affairs of Industry Ventures and its affiliates, including Industry Ventures Tech Buyout and its portfolio companies.
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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Risks Associated with Acquiring and Operating a Business in Foreign Countries
If we pursue a target company with operations or opportunities outside of the United States for our initial business combination, we may face additional burdens in connection with investigating, agreeing to and completing such initial business combination, and if we effect such initial business combination, we would be subject to a variety of additional risks that may negatively impact our operations.
If we pursue a target a company with operations or opportunities outside of the United States for our initial business combination, we would be subject to risks associated with cross-border business combinations, including in connection with investigating, agreeing to and completing our initial business combination, conducting due diligence in a foreign jurisdiction, having such transaction approved by any local governments, regulators or agencies and changes in the purchase price based on fluctuations in foreign exchange rates.
If we effect our initial business combination with such a company, we would be subject to any special considerations or risks associated with companies operating in an international setting, including any of the following:
| ● | costs and difficulties inherent in managing cross-border business operations; |
| ● | rules and regulations regarding currency redemption; |
| ● | complex corporate withholding taxes on individuals; |
| ● | laws governing the manner in which future business combinations may be effected; |
| ● | exchange listing and/or delisting requirements; |
| ● | tariffs and trade barriers; |
| ● | regulations related to customs and import/export matters; |
| ● | local or regional economic policies and market conditions; |
| ● | unexpected changes in regulatory requirements; |
| ● | longer payment cycles; |
| ● | tax issues, such as tax law changes and variations in tax laws as compared to the United States; |
| ● | currency fluctuations and exchange controls; |
| ● | rates of inflation; |
| ● | challenges in collecting accounts receivable; |
| ● | cultural and language differences; |
| ● | employment regulations; |
| ● | underdeveloped or unpredictable legal or regulatory systems; |
| ● | corruption; |
| ● | protection of intellectual property; |
| ● | social unrest, crime, strikes, riots and civil disturbances; |
| ● | regime changes and political upheaval; |
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| ● | terrorist attacks, natural disasters and wars; and |
| ● | deterioration of political relations with the United States. |
We may not be able to adequately address these additional risks. If we were unable to do so, we may be unable to complete such initial business combination, or, if we complete such combination, our operations might suffer, either of which may adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.
If our management following our initial business combination is unfamiliar with United States securities laws, they may have to expend time and resources becoming familiar with such laws, which could lead to various regulatory issues.
Following our initial business combination, our management may resign from their positions as officers or directors of the company and the management of the target business at the time of the business combination will remain in place. Management of the target business may not be familiar with United States securities laws. If new management is unfamiliar with United States securities laws, they may have to expend time and resources becoming familiar with such laws. This could be expensive and time-consuming and could lead to various regulatory issues which may adversely affect our operations.
After our initial business combination, substantially all of our assets may be located in a foreign country and substantially all of our revenue may be derived from our operations in any such country. Accordingly, our results of operations and prospects will be subject, to a significant extent, to the economic, political and social conditions and government policies, developments and conditions in the country in which we operate.
The economic, political and social conditions, as well as government policies, of the country in which our operations are located could affect our business. Economic growth could be uneven, both geographically and among various sectors of the economy and such growth may not be sustained in the future. If in the future such country’s economy experiences a downturn or grows at a slower rate than expected, there may be less demand for spending in certain industries. A decrease in demand for spending in certain industries could materially and adversely affect our ability to find an attractive target business with which to consummate our initial business combination and if we effect our initial business combination, the ability of that target business to become profitable.
Exchange rate fluctuations and currency policies may cause a target business’ ability to succeed in the international markets to be diminished.
In the event we acquire a non-U.S. target, all revenues and income would likely be received in a foreign currency, and the dollar equivalent of our net assets and distributions, if any, could be adversely affected by reductions in the value of the local currency. The value of the currencies in our target regions fluctuate and are affected by, among other things, changes in political and economic conditions. Any change in the relative value of such currency against our reporting currency may affect the attractiveness of any target business or, following consummation of our initial business combination, our financial condition and results of operations. Additionally, if a currency appreciates in value against the dollar prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, the cost of a target business as measured in dollars will increase, which may make it less likely that we are able to consummate such transaction.
We may reincorporate in another jurisdiction in connection with our initial business combination, and the laws of such jurisdiction may govern some or all of our future material agreements and we may not be able to enforce our legal rights.
In connection with our initial business combination, we may relocate the home jurisdiction of our business from the Cayman Islands to another jurisdiction. If we determine to do this, the laws of such jurisdiction may govern some or all of our future material agreements. The system of laws and the enforcement of existing laws in such jurisdiction may not be as certain in implementation and interpretation as in the United States. The inability to enforce or obtain a remedy under any of our future agreements could result in a significant loss of business, business opportunities or capital.
We are subject to changing law and regulations regarding regulatory matters, corporate governance and public disclosure that have increased both our costs and the risk of non-compliance.
We are subject to rules and regulations by various governing bodies, including, for example, the SEC, which are charged with the protection of investors and the oversight of companies whose securities are publicly traded, and to new and evolving regulatory measures under applicable law. Our efforts to comply with new and changing laws and regulations have resulted in and are likely to continue to result in, increased general and administrative expenses and a diversion of management time and attention from seeking a business combination target.
Moreover, because these laws, regulations and standards are subject to varying interpretations, their application in practice may evolve over time as new guidance becomes available. This evolution may result in continuing uncertainty regarding compliance matters and additional costs necessitated by ongoing revisions to our disclosure and governance practices. If we fail to address and comply with these regulations and any subsequent changes, we may be subject to penalty and our business may be harmed.
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General Risk Factors
We are a recently incorporated company with no operating history and no revenues, and you have no basis on which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective.
We are a company that was incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands on December 18, 2020 with no operating results. Because we lack an operating history, you have no basis upon which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective of completing our initial business combination with one or more target businesses. 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.
Past performance by our management team or their respective affiliates may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in us.
Information regarding performance is presented for informational purposes only. Any past experience or performance of our management team and their respective affiliates is not a guarantee of either (i) our ability to successfully identify and execute a transaction or (ii) success with respect to any business combination that we may consummate. You should not rely on the historical record of our management team or their respective affiliates as indicative of the future performance of an investment in us or the returns we will, or are likely to, generate going forward. Our management has no experience in operating special purpose acquisition companies.
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.
Changes in laws or regulations, or a failure to comply with any laws and regulations, may adversely affect our business, including our ability to negotiate and complete our initial business combination, and results of operations.
We are subject to laws and regulations enacted by national, regional and local governments. In particular, we are required to comply with certain SEC and other legal requirements. Compliance with, and monitoring of, applicable laws and regulations may be difficult, time consuming and costly. Those laws and regulations and their interpretation and application may also change from time to time and those changes could have a material adverse effect on our business, investments and results of operations. In addition, a failure to comply with applicable laws or regulations, as interpreted and applied, could have a material adverse effect on our business, including our ability to negotiate and complete our initial business combination, and results of operations.
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. Fewer insurance companies are offering quotes for directors and officers liability coverage, the premiums charged for such policies have generally increased and the terms of such policies have generally become less favorable. There can be no assurance that these trends will not continue. The increased cost and decreased availability of directors and officers liability insurance could make it more difficult and more expensive for us to negotiate an initial business combination. In order to obtain directors and officers liability insurance or modify its coverage as a result of becoming a public company, the post-business combination entity might need to incur greater expense, accept less favorable terms or both. However, any failure to obtain adequate directors and officers liability insurance could have an adverse impact on the post-business combination’s ability to attract and retain qualified officers and directors. In addition, even after we were to complete an initial business combination, our directors and officers could still be subject to potential liability from claims arising from conduct alleged to have occurred prior to the initial business combination. As a result, in order to protect our directors and officers, the post-business combination entity may need to purchase additional insurance with respect to any such claims (“run-off insurance”). The need for run-off insurance would be an added expense for the post-business combination entity, and could interfere with or frustrate our ability to consummate an initial business combination on terms favorable to our investors.
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We may be a passive foreign investment company, or “PFIC,” which could result in adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences to U.S. investors.
If we are a PFIC for any taxable year (or portion thereof) that is included in the holding period of a U.S. Holder (as defined in the section of the prospectus relating to our initial public offering captioned “Taxation — United States Federal Income Tax Considerations — General”) of our Class A ordinary shares or warrants, the U.S. Holder may be subject to adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences and may be subject to additional reporting requirements. Our PFIC status for our current and subsequent taxable years may depend on whether we qualify for the PFIC start-up exception (see the section of prospectus relating to our initial public offering captioned “Taxation — United States Federal Income Tax Considerations — U.S. Holders — Passive Foreign Investment Company Rules”). Depending on the particular circumstances the application of the start-up exception may be subject to uncertainty, and there cannot be any assurance that we will qualify for the start-up exception. Accordingly, there can be no assurances with respect to our status as a PFIC for our current taxable year or any subsequent taxable year. Our actual PFIC status for any taxable year, however, will not be determinable until after the end of such taxable year. Moreover, if we determine we are a PFIC for any taxable year, upon written request, we will endeavor to provide to a U.S. Holder such information as the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) may require, including a PFIC Annual Information Statement, in order to enable the U.S. Holder to make and maintain a “qualified electing fund” election, but there can be no assurance that we will timely provide such required information, and such election would be unavailable with respect to our warrants in all cases. U.S. investors should consult their tax advisors regarding the possible application of the PFIC rules. For a more detailed discussion of the tax consequences of PFIC classification to U.S. Holders, see the section of prospectus relating to our initial public offering captioned “Taxation — United States Federal Income Tax Considerations — U.S. Holders — Passive Foreign Investment Company Rules.”
We are an emerging growth company and a smaller reporting company within the meaning of the Securities Act, and if we take advantage of certain exemptions from disclosure requirements available to “emerging growth companies” or “smaller reporting companies,” this could make our securities less attractive to investors and may make it more difficult to compare our performance with other public companies.
We are an “emerging growth company” within the meaning of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act, and we may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. As a result, our shareholders may not have access to certain information they may deem important. We could be an emerging growth company for up to five years, although circumstances could cause us to lose that status earlier, including if the market value of our Class A ordinary shares held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of any June 30 before that time, in which case we would no longer be an emerging growth company as of the following December 31. We cannot predict whether investors will find our securities less attractive because we will rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result of our reliance on these exemptions, the trading prices of our securities may be lower than they otherwise would be, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the trading prices of our securities may be more volatile.
Further, Section 102(b)(1) of the JOBS Act exempts emerging growth companies from being required to comply with new or revised financial accounting standards until private companies (that is, those that have not had a Securities Act registration statement declared effective or do not have a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act) are required to comply with the new or revised financial accounting standards. The JOBS Act provides that a company can elect to opt out of the extended transition period and comply with the requirements that apply to non-emerging growth companies but any such an election to opt out is irrevocable. We have elected not to opt out of such extended transition period which means that when a standard is issued or revised and it has different application dates for public or private companies, we, as an emerging growth company, can adopt the new or revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new or revised standard. This may make comparison of our financial statements with another public company which is neither an emerging growth company nor an emerging growth company which has opted out of using the extended transition period difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accounting standards used.
Additionally, we are a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Item 10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K. Smaller reporting companies may take advantage of certain reduced disclosure obligations, including, among other things, providing only two years of audited financial statements. We will remain a smaller reporting company until the last day of the fiscal year in which (1) the market value of our ordinary shares held by non-affiliates exceeds $250 million as of the prior June 30, and (2) our annual revenues exceeded $100 million during such completed fiscal year or the market value of our ordinary shares held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30. To the extent we take advantage of such reduced disclosure obligations, it may also make comparison of our financial statements with other public companies difficult or impossible.
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Our warrants are accounted for as a warrant liability and are recorded at fair value upon issuance with changes in fair value each period to be reported in earnings, which may have an adverse effect on the market price of our ordinary shares and could have a material effect on our financial results.
We account for our warrants as a warrant liability and recorded at fair value upon issuance any changes in fair value each period reported in earnings as determined by us based upon a valuation report obtained from our independent third party valuation firm. The impact of changes in fair value on earnings may have an adverse effect on the market price of our ordinary shares. Furthermore, as a result of the recurring fair value measurement, our financial statements and results of operations may fluctuate quarterly based on factors which are outside of our control. Due to the recurring fair value measurement, we expect that we will recognize non-cash gains or losses on our warrants each reporting period and that the amount of such gains or losses could be material.
We have identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting. This material weakness could continue to adversely affect our ability to report our results of operations and financial condition accurately and in a timely manner.
Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with GAAP. Our management is likewise required, on a quarterly basis, to evaluate the effectiveness of our internal controls and to disclose any changes and material weaknesses identified through such evaluation in those internal controls. A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.
We identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting relating to our classification of a portion of the Class A Common Stock in permanent equity rather than temporary equity, as further described in this Report. Specifically, our management has concluded that our control around the interpretation and accounting for certain complex financial instruments issued by us was not effectively designed or maintained. This material weakness resulted in the restatement of our balance sheet as of February 19, 2021 and its interim financial statements for the quarters ended March 31, 2021 and June 30, 2021. Additionally, this material weakness could result in a misstatement of the warrant liabilities Class A ordinary shares and related accounts and disclosures that would result in a material misstatement of the financial statements that would not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. As a result of this material weakness, our management concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was not effective as of December 31, 2021.
Any failure to maintain such internal control could adversely impact our ability to report our financial position and results of operations on a timely and accurate basis. If our financial statements are not accurate, investors may not have a complete understanding of our operations. Likewise, if our financial statements are not filed on a timely basis, we could be subject to sanctions or investigations by the stock exchange on which our common stock is listed, the SEC or other regulatory authorities. In either case, there could result a material adverse effect on our business. Failure to timely file will cause us to be ineligible to utilize short form registration statements on Form S-3 or Form S-4, which may impair our ability to obtain capital in a timely fashion to execute our business strategies or issue shares to effect an acquisition. Ineffective internal controls could also cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information, which could have a negative effect on the trading price of our stock.
We can give no assurance that any additional material weaknesses or restatements of financial results will not arise in the future due to a failure to implement and maintain adequate internal control over financial reporting or circumvention of these controls. In addition, even if we are successful in strengthening our controls and procedures, in the future those controls and procedures may not be adequate to prevent or identify irregularities or errors or to facilitate the fair presentation of our financial statements.
Our independent registered public accounting firm’s report contains an explanatory paragraph that expresses substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a “going concern.”
As of December 31, 2021, we had approximately $21,000 in cash held outside of the trust account. Further, we have incurred and expect to continue to incur significant costs in pursuit of our financing and acquisition plans. Management’s plans to address this need for capital are discussed in the section of this Report titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.” We cannot assure you that our plans to raise capital or to consummate an initial business combination will be successful. We have until February 19, 2023 to consummate a Business Combination. If a business combination is not consummated by this date, there will be a mandatory liquidation and subsequent dissolution. These factors, among others, raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. The financial statements contained elsewhere in this Report do not include any adjustments that might result from our inability to continue as a going concern.
| Item 1B. | Unresolved Staff Comments |
None.
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| Item 2. | Properties |
We currently maintain our executive offices at 1950 University Avenue, Suite 350, Palo Alto, California 94303. The cost for our use of this space is included in the $10,000 per month fee we will pay to our sponsor for office space, utilities, and professional, secretarial and administrative support. We consider our current office space adequate for our current operations.
| Item 3. | Legal Proceedings |
To the knowledge of our management, there is no material litigation currently pending or contemplated against us, any of our officers or directors in their capacity as such or against any of our property.
| Item 4. | Mine Safety Disclosures |
Not applicable.
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PART II
| Item 5. | Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Shareholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities |
| (a) | Market Information |
Our Units, Class A ordinary shares and warrants are each traded on Nasdaq under the symbol “PFDRU”, “PFDR” and “PFDRW” respectively. Our Units commenced public trading on February 17, 2021. Our Class A ordinary shares and warrants began separate trading on April 8, 2021.
| (b) | Holders |
As of March 31, 2022, there was one holder of record of our Units, one holder of record of our Class A ordinary shares, four holders of record of our Class B ordinary shares, one hold of record of our public warrants and one holder of record of our private placement warrants.
| (c) | Dividends |
We have not paid any cash dividends on our common shares to date and do not intend to pay cash dividends prior to the completion of an initial business combination. The payment of cash dividends in the future will be dependent upon our revenues and earnings, if any, capital requirements and general financial conditions subsequent to completion of an initial business combination. The payment of any cash dividends subsequent to an initial business combination will be within the discretion of our board of directors at such time. In addition, our board of directors is not currently contemplating and does not anticipate declaring any stock dividends in the foreseeable future. Further, if we incur any indebtedness, our ability to declare dividends may be limited by restrictive covenants we may agree to in connection therewith.
| (d) | Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans |
None.
| (e) | Performance Graph |
Not applicable.
| (f) | Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities; Use of Proceeds from Registered Offerings |
On December 28, 2020, our sponsor paid $25,000, or $0.003 per share, to cover certain of our offering costs in consideration of 7,906,250 Class B ordinary shares, par value $0.0001. In February 2021, our sponsor transferred 25,000 founder shares each to Steven Walske, Omar Johnson and Paul Weiskopf. The number of founder shares issued was determined based on the expectation that such founder shares would represent 20% of the issued and outstanding shares upon completion of our initial public offering. The Class B ordinary shares will automatically convert into our Class A ordinary shares at the time of our initial business combination on a one-for-one basis, subject to certain anti-dilution rights and adjustments for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like. Such securities we issued pursuant to an exemption from registration contained in Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act. The founder shares (including the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise thereof) may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by the holder.
On February 19, 2021, we consummated our initial public offering of 32,500,000 units, which includes 2,500,000 units attributable to the underwriters’ partial exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase an additional 4,500,000 units, at $10.00 per unit, generating gross proceeds of $325.0, and incurring offering costs of approximately $18.5 million, inclusive of approximately $11.4 million in deferred underwriting commissions. Each unit consists of one Class A ordinary share and one-fifth of one redeemable warrant. Each whole public warrant entitles the holder to purchase one Class A ordinary share at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment.
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Simultaneously with the closing of our initial public offering, we consummated the private placement of 4,250,000 private placement warrants to our sponsor, at a price of $2.00 per private placement warrant, generating gross proceeds of approximately $8.5 million. Our sponsor is an accredited investor for purposes of Rule 501 of Regulation D under the Securities Act. The sole business of our sponsor was to act as our sponsor in connection with our initial public offering. These issuances were made pursuant to the exemption from registration contained in Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act. No underwriting discounts or commissions were paid with respect to such sales. Each private placement warrant is exercisable to purchase one Class A ordinary share for $11.50. The private placement warrants (including the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise thereof) may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by the holder until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination.
Of the gross proceeds received from our initial public offering, including the partial exercise of the over-allotment option, and the sale of the private placement warrants, $325.0 million was placed in our trust account.
| (g) | Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers |
None.
| Item 6. | [Reserved] |
Not applicable.
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| Item 7. | Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations |
References to the “Company,” “Pathfinder Acquisition Corporation,” “Pathfinder,” “our,” “us” or “we” refer to Pathfinder Acquisition Corporation. The following discussion and analysis of the Company’s financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and the notes thereto contained elsewhere in this report. Certain information contained in the discussion and analysis set forth below includes forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties.
Overview
We are a blank check company incorporated as a Cayman Islands exempted company on December 18, 2020. We were formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses (the “Business Combination”). We are an emerging growth company and, as such, we are subject to all of the risks associated with emerging growth companies.
Our sponsor is Pathfinder Acquisition LLC, a Delaware limited liability company. The registration statement for our initial public offering was declared effective on February 16, 2021. On February 19, 2021, we consummated our initial public offering of 32,500,000 Units, including 2,500,000 additional Units to partially cover over-allotments (the “Over-Allotment Units”), at $10.00 per Unit, generating gross proceeds of $325.0 million, and incurring offering costs of approximately $18.5 million, of which approximately $11.4 million was for deferred underwriting commissions. The underwriters had 45 days from the effective date of the prospectus to exercise the remaining portion of its option to purchase up to 2,000,000 Units at our initial public offering price to cover over-allotments, if any. On April 2, 2021, the over-allotment option on the remaining Units expired unexercised by the underwriters.
Simultaneously with the closing of our initial public offering, we consummated the private placement of 4,250,000 private placement warrants to our sponsor, each exercisable to purchase one Class A ordinary share at $11.50 per share, at a price of $2.00 per private placement warrant, generating gross proceeds to us of $8.5 million.
Upon the closing of our initial public offering and the private placement, $325.0 million ($10.00 per Unit) of the net proceeds of our initial public offering and certain of the proceeds of the private placement was placed in a trust account with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee and was 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 of 1940, as amended, or the Investment Company Act, which are invested only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations, as determined by us, until the earlier of: (i) the completion of a Business Combination and (ii) the distribution of the trust account as described below.
Our management has broad discretion with respect to the specific application of the net proceeds of its Initial Public Offering and the sale of private placement warrants, although substantially all of the net proceeds are intended to be applied generally toward consummating a Business Combination. Our initial Business Combination must be with one or more operating businesses or assets with a fair market value equal to at least 80% of the net assets held in the trust account (excluding the deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on the income earned on the trust account) at the time we sign a definitive agreement in connection with the initial Business Combination. However, we will only complete a Business Combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target business or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target business sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act.
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If we are unable to complete a Business Combination within 24 months from our initial public offering, we will (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up; (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay its income taxes, if any (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of the then-outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public shareholders’ rights as shareholders (including the right to receive further liquidation distributions, if any); and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining shareholders and its board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in the case of clauses (ii) and (iii) to our obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law.
Recent Developments
Termination of Proposed Business Combination
On July 15, 2021, we entered into a Business Combination Agreement (the “Original Business Combination Agreement”), by and among us, ServiceMax, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“ServiceMax”), and Stronghold Merger Sub, Inc., a Cayman Islands exempted company incorporated with limited liability and a wholly owned subsidiary of ServiceMax. On August 11, 2021, we, ServiceMax and Serve Merger Sub, Inc., a Delaware corporation and wholly-owned subsidiary of us (“Merger Sub”), entered into an Amended and Restated Business Combination Agreement (the “Business Combination Agreement”), pursuant to which Merger Sub would be merged with and into ServiceMax, with ServiceMax surviving as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pathfinder (the “Business Combination”).
On December 6, 2021, we and ServiceMax entered into a Termination Agreement (the “Termination Agreement”), effective as of such date, pursuant to which the parties agreed to mutually terminate the Business Combination Agreement due to unfavorable market conditions. The termination of the Business Combination Agreement is effective as of December 6, 2021.
Liquidity and Capital Resources and Going Concern
As of December 31, 2021, we had approximately $21,000 in our operating bank account, which is not sufficient working capital to meet its needs through the earlier of the consummation of a Business Combination or one year from this filing.
Our liquidity needs had been satisfied through the payment of $25,000 from our sponsor to cover for certain of our expenses in exchange for the issuance of the founder shares, and a loan of approximately $129,000 pursuant to the IPO Note issued to our sponsor (as defined in Note 5 to the financial statements included in Item 1 of this Report). We repaid the IPO Note in full on February 19, 2021. Subsequent to the consummation of our initial public offering and the private placement, our needs have been satisfied with the proceeds from the consummation of the private placement not held in the trust account. In addition, in order to finance transaction costs in connection with a Business Combination, our sponsor will provide us Working Capital Loans (as defined in Note 5 to the financial statements included in Item 1 of this Report). As of December 31, 2020, there were no amounts outstanding under any Working Capital Loans, and as of December 31, 2021, we had borrowed $250,000 in Working Capital Loans under the Working Capital Note (as defined in Note 5 to the financial statements included in Item 1 of this Report).
In connection with the management’s assessment of going concern considerations in accordance with FASB ASC Topic 205-40, “Presentation of Financial Statement—Going Concern,” management has determined that working capital needs, the mandatory liquidation and subsequent dissolution raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. These financial statements do not include any adjustments relating to the recovery of the recorded assets or the classification of the liabilities that might be necessary should we be unable to continue as a going concern.
Management continues to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the industry and has concluded that while it is reasonably possible that the virus could have a negative effect on our financial position, results of our operations and/or search for a target company, the specific impact is not readily determinable as of the date of the financial statements. The financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.
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Results of Operations
Our entire activity since inception up to December 31, 2021 was in preparation for our formation and our initial public offering and since our initial public offering, searching for a business combination target company. We do not expect to generate any operating revenues until the closing and completion of our initial Business Combination.
For the year ended December 31, 2021, we had net income of approximately $8.0 million, which consisted of approximately $10.0 million of non-operating gain resulting from the change in fair value of derivative warrant liabilities and approximately $28,000 of income from investments held in trust account, offset by approximately $1.5 million in general and administrative expenses, and approximately $575,000 in offering costs associated with derivative warrant liabilities.
For the period from December 18, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, we had a net loss of $8,000, which consisted of general and administrative expenses.
Contractual Obligations
Administrative Services Agreement
Commencing on the date that our securities were first listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market (“NASDAQ”) through the earlier of consummation of the initial Business Combination and the liquidation, we agreed to pay our sponsor $10,000 per month for office space, secretarial and administrative services provided to us.
In addition, our sponsor, officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable Business Combinations. The audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made by us to our sponsor, officers or directors, or us or their affiliates. Any such payments prior to an initial Business Combination will be made from funds held outside the trust account.
We incurred approximately $110,000 and $0 in general and administrative expenses in the accompanying consolidated statements of operations for the year ended December 31, 2021 and for the period from December 18, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, respectively. As of December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020, we had accrued approximately $49,000 and $0, respectively, for services in connection with such agreement on the accompanying condensed consolidated balance sheets.
Registration and Shareholder Rights
The holders of the founder shares, private placement warrants and warrants that may be issued upon conversion of Working Capital Loans (and any Class A ordinary shares issuable upon the exercise of the private placement warrants and warrants that may be issued upon conversion of Working Capital Loans) are entitled to registration rights pursuant to a registration and shareholder rights agreement entered into on the effective date of our initial public offering. The holders of these securities are entitled to make up to three demands, excluding short form demands, that we register such securities. In addition, the holders have certain “piggy-back” registration rights with respect to registration statements filed subsequent to the completion of the initial Business Combination. We will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such registration statements.
Underwriting Agreement
The underwriters were entitled to an underwriting discount of $0.20 per unit, or $6.5 million in the aggregate, payable upon the closing of our initial public offering. In addition, $0.35 per unit, or approximately $11.4 million in the aggregate will be payable to the underwriters for deferred underwriting commissions. The deferred fee will become payable to the underwriters from the amounts held in the trust account solely in the event that we complete a Business Combination, subject to the terms of the underwriting agreement.
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Critical Accounting Policies
Derivative Warrant Liabilities
We do not use derivative instruments to hedge exposures to cash flow, market, or foreign currency risks. We evaluate all of our financial instruments, including issued stock purchase warrants, to determine if such instruments are derivatives or contain features that qualify as embedded derivatives, pursuant to FASB ASC Topic 480 “Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity” (“ASC 480”) and FASB ASC Topic 815, “Derivatives and Hedging” (“ASC 815”). The classification of derivative instruments, including whether such instruments should be recorded as liabilities or as equity, is re-assessed at the end of each reporting period.
The 6,500,000 public warrants issued in connection with our initial public offering and the 4,250,000 private placement warrants are recognized as derivative liabilities in accordance with ASC 815. Accordingly, we recognize the warrant instruments as liabilities at fair value and adjusts the carrying value of the instruments to fair value at each reporting period until they are exercised or expires. The initial fair value of the public warrants issued in connection with the Public Offering and the fair value of the private placement warrants have been estimated using a binomial lattice model in a risk-neutral framework. The fair value of the public warrants as of September 30, 2021 is based on observable listed prices for such warrants. As the transfer of private placement warrants to anyone who is not a permitted transferee would result in the private placement warrants having substantially the same terms as the public warrants, we determined that the fair value of each private placement warrant is equivalent to that of each public warrant. Derivative warrant liabilities are classified as non-current liabilities as their liquidation is not reasonably expected to require the use of current assets or require the creation of current liabilities.
Class A Ordinary Shares Subject to Possible Redemption
We account for our Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption in accordance with the guidance in ASC Topic 480 “Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity.” Class A ordinary shares subject to mandatory redemption (if any) is classified as liability instruments and are measured at fair value. Conditionally redeemable Class A ordinary shares (including Class A ordinary shares that features redemption rights that are either within the control of the holder or subject to redemption upon the occurrence of uncertain events not solely within the our control) are classified as temporary equity. At all other times, Class A ordinary shares is classified as shareholders’ equity. Our Class A ordinary shares feature certain redemption rights that are considered to be outside of our control and subject to the occurrence of uncertain future events. Accordingly, 325,000,000 Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption is presented at redemption value as temporary equity, outside of the shareholders’ equity section of our balance sheet.
We recognize changes in redemption value immediately as they occur and adjusts the carrying value of the Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption to equal the redemption value at the end of each reporting period. This method would view the end of the reporting period as if it were also the redemption date for the security. Effective with the closing of our initial public offering, we recognized the accretion from initial book value to redemption amount, which resulted in charges against additional paid-in capital (to the extent available) and accumulated deficit.
Net income (loss) per ordinary share
We comply with accounting and disclosure requirements of FASB ASC Topic 260, “Earnings Per Share.” We have two classes of shares, which are referred to as Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares. Income and losses are shared pro rata between the two classes of shares. Net income (loss) per ordinary share is calculated by dividing the net income (loss) by the weighted average shares of ordinary shares outstanding for the respective period.
The calculation of diluted net income (loss) does not consider the effect of the warrants underlying the Units sold in our initial public offering (including the consummation of the Over-allotment) and the private placement warrants to purchase an aggregate of 10,750,000 Class A ordinary shares in the calculation of diluted income (loss) per share, because in the calculation of diluted income (loss) per share, because their exercise is contingent upon future events and their inclusion would be anti-dilutive under the treasury stock method. As a result, diluted net income (loss) per share is the same as basic net income (loss) per share for the year ended December 31, 2021. Accretion associated with the redeemable Class A ordinary shares is excluded from earnings per share as the redemption value approximates fair value.
We have considered the effect of Class B ordinary shares that were excluded from weighted average number as they were contingent on the exercise of over-allotment option by the underwriters. Since the contingency was satisfied, we included these shares in the weighted average number as of the beginning of the interim period to determine the dilutive impact of these shares.
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Recent Accounting Pronouncements
In August 2020, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) No. 2020-06, “Debt—Debt with Conversion and Other Options (Subtopic 470-20) and Derivatives and Hedging—Contracts in Entity’s Own Equity (Subtopic 815-40): Accounting for Convertible Instruments and Contracts in an Entity’s Own Equity” (“ASU 2020-06”), which simplifies accounting for convertible instruments by removing major separation models required under current GAAP. The ASU also removes certain settlement conditions that are required for equity-linked contracts to qualify for the derivative scope exception, and it simplifies the diluted earnings per share calculation in certain areas. We adopted ASU 2020-06 on January 1, 2021. Adoption of the ASU did not impact our financial position, results of operations or cash flows.
Our management does not believe that any other recently issued, but not yet effective, accounting standards updates, if currently adopted, would have a material effect on our consolidated financial statements.
Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements
As of December 31, 2021, we did not have any off-balance sheet arrangements as defined in Item 303(a)(4)(ii) of Regulation S-K.
JOBS Act
The Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the “JOBS Act”) contains provisions that, among other things, relax certain reporting requirements for qualifying public companies. We qualify as an “emerging growth company” and under the JOBS Act are allowed to comply with new or revised accounting pronouncements based on the effective date for private (not publicly traded) companies. We are electing to delay the adoption of new or revised accounting standards, and as a result, we may not comply with new or revised accounting standards on the relevant dates on which adoption of such standards is required for non-emerging growth companies. As a result, the financial statements may not be comparable to companies that comply with new or revised accounting pronouncements as of public company effective dates.
Additionally, we are in the process of evaluating the benefits of relying on the other reduced reporting requirements provided by the JOBS Act. Subject to certain conditions set forth in the JOBS Act, if, as an “emerging growth company,” we choose to rely on such exemptions we may not be required to, among other things, (i) provide an auditor’s attestation report on our system of internal controls over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404, (ii) provide all of the compensation disclosure that may be required of non-emerging growth public companies under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, (iii) comply with any requirement that may be adopted by the PCAOB regarding mandatory audit firm rotation or a supplement to the auditor’s report providing additional information about the audit and the financial statements (auditor discussion and analysis) and (iv) disclose certain executive compensation related items such as the correlation between executive compensation and performance and comparisons of the CEO’s compensation to median employee compensation. These exemptions will apply for a period of five years following the completion of our Initial Public Offering or until we are no longer an “emerging growth company,” whichever is earlier.
| Item 7A. | Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk |
We are a smaller reporting company as defined by Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act and are not required to provide the information otherwise required under this item.
| Item 8. | Consolidated Financial Statements And Supplementary Data |
This information appears following Item 15 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K and is incorporated herein by reference.
| Item 9. | Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure |
None.
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| Item 9A. | Controls and Procedures |
Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
Under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, we conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures as of December 31, 2021, as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act. Based on this evaluation, our principal executive officer and principal financial officer has concluded that during the period covered by this report, our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective as of December 31, 2021, because of a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting. A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the Company’s annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. Specifically, the Company’s management has concluded that our control around the interpretation and accounting for certain complex financial instruments issued by the Company was not effectively designed or maintained. This material weakness resulted in the restatement of the Company’s balance sheet as of February 19, 2021 and its interim financial statements for the quarters ended March 31, 2021 and June 30, 2021. Additionally, this material weakness could result in a misstatement of the warrant liabilities, Class A ordinary shares and related accounts and disclosures that would result in a material misstatement of the financial statements that would not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.
Disclosure controls and procedures are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by us in our Exchange Act reports is recorded, processed, summarized, and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms, and that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer or persons performing similar functions, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.
Management’s Report on Internal Controls Over Financial Reporting
This Annual Report on Form 10-K does not include a report of management’s assessment regarding internal control over financial reporting or an attestation report of our independent registered public accounting firm due to a transition period established by rules of the SEC for newly public companies.
Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting
In connection with the preparation of the interim financial statements for the fiscal period ended September 30, 2021, we identified a material weakness in our internal controls over financial reporting around the interpretation and accounting for complex financial instruments issued by us. This material weakness resulted in the restatement of our balance sheet as of February 19, 2021, and our interim financial statements for the quarters ended March 31, 2021 and June 30, 2021.
In order to remediate this material weakness, Our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer along with our management team has devoted, and plans to continue to devote, significant effort and resources to the remediation and improvement of our internal control over financial reporting. While we have processes to identify and appropriately apply applicable accounting requirements, management plans to enhance these processes to better evaluate its research and understanding of the nuances of the complex accounting standards that apply to its financial statements. We plan to include providing enhanced access to accounting literature, research materials and documents and increased communication among its personnel and third-party professionals with whom we consult regarding complex accounting applications.
Other than the steps taken above to remediate the material weakness, there was no change in our internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the period ended December 31, 2021, covered by this Annual Report on Form 10-K that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.
Item 9B. Other Information
None.
Item 9C. Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections
Not applicable.
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PART III
| Item 10. | Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance7 |
Our officers and directors are as follows:
| Name | Age | Position | ||
| Richard Lawson | 50 | Chairman of the Board | ||
| David Chung | 54 | Chief Executive Officer and Director | ||
| Lindsay Sharma | 38 | Chief Investment Officer and Director | ||
| Lance Taylor | 50 | Chief Financial Officer | ||
| J. Steven Young | 60 | Director | ||
| Hans Swildens | 51 | Director | ||
| Steven Walske | 70 | Director | ||
| Omar Johnson | 47 | Director | ||
| Paul Weiskopf | 55 | Director |
Rich Lawson, Chairman of the Board of Directors since December 2020, is the Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of HGGC, where he has been involved in all phases of the firm’s development since its formation and directs the firm’s strategy and investment decisions, governance and investor relations. Since HGGC’s inception in 2007, Mr. Lawson has overseen hundreds of completed transactions representing tens of billions of dollars in aggregate transaction value. Prior to leading HGGC, Mr. Lawson established predecessor private equity funds Huntsman Gay Capital Partners in 2007 with industrialist Jon M. Huntsman and Robert C. Gay, as well as Sorenson Capital in 2002 with medical products pioneer James LeVoy Sorenson. Mr. Lawson also served as President and Chief Executive Officer of enterprise software company Found, Inc. and worked at Morgan Stanley in its mergers and acquisitions department. Mr. Lawson received his MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies from Amherst College.
David Chung, Chief Executive Officer since December 2020 and Director since February 2021, is an Executive Director of HGGC, where he has led the extension of HGGC’s core middle-market private equity strategy to include public/private crossover strategies such as take-private transactions, PIPEs and toehold investments in publicly traded companies. He has over 25 years of experience as a private equity, public equity and crossover public/private investor and dealmaker, through which he has developed a distinctive wide-angle experience set and expertise as an engaged financial sponsor and partnership-oriented investor across the public-private spectrum. He has led or actively participated in a large number of transactions and investments involving private and public companies at different stages of growth across a wide range of industries, including Technology, Software, Technology-enabled Products and Services, Business Services and Consumer. Prior to joining HGGC in December 2016, Mr. Chung was an independent crossover private equity and public market investor through Arrowhead Holdings LLC since January 2013, a Partner at Blum Capital Partners (a hybrid private equity and public equity investment firm) from 2006 to 2012, Managing Member of Perspective Value Partners (startup public/private hybrid investment firm) from 2005 to 2006, a Partner at Standard Pacific Capital (a global long/short hedge fund) from 2002 to 2004, and a Director at KKR (a global private equity firm) from 1995 to 2002. Mr. Chung also served on the board of directors of Blucora, Inc. (NASDAQ: BCOR) from 2013 to 2017 as an independent director. Earlier in his career, he was a strategy consultant at McKinsey & Company and an investment banker at Hambrecht & Quist Inc., which specialized in initial public offerings, follow-on offerings and M&A transactions for emerging growth Technology and Healthcare companies. Mr. Chung is a graduate of Harvard College, where he graduated magna cum laude, and Harvard Business School, where he graduated with high distinction as a Baker Scholar.
Lindsay Sharma, Chief Investment Officer and Director since February 2021, is a Managing Director of Industry Ventures, where she has led the Industry Ventures Tech Buyout strategy and concentrated on originating, valuing and managing primary fund commitments and direct co-investment opportunities for the Industry Ventures Tech Buyout Fund since October 2018. She serves on the investment committee for the Industry Ventures Tech Buyout Fund and is actively involved in helping to enable successful exit scenarios in older venture-funded technology companies. Ms. Sharma also brings four years of experience as part of the Industry Ventures secondary team, purchasing secondary direct investments and limited partner interests, and assists in valuing companies. Prior to joining Industry Ventures in 2014, Ms. Sharma was a Principal in corporate strategy and development at Intuit, leading merger and acquisition activities for the company. Earlier in her career, Ms. Sharma was an investment professional at Great Hill Partners, a tech focused private equity firm and started her career as an investment banker at Bear Stearns in New York as a member of the Technology, Media and Telecom team. Ms. Sharma received her MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS in Business Administration in Finance and Accounting from Indiana University, graduating with distinction.
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Lance Taylor, Chief Financial Officer since December 2020, is a Partner and Chief Financial Officer of HGGC, where he leads the firm’s finance and accounting operations. Prior to joining HGGC in May 2014, Mr. Taylor was Managing Director, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Compliance Officer at Calera Capital, a middle-market private equity firm with offices in San Francisco and Boston, from May 2012 to May 2014. At Calera, Mr. Taylor oversaw the operations of the firm including investor relations, financial reporting, human resources and facilities. Prior to Calera, he was Chief Financial Officer of Legacy Venture, a venture focused philanthropic fund-of-funds with over $1 billion of assets under management. Mr. Taylor also worked at Lightspeed Venture Partners as their Director of Finance from 2000 to 2004. He was a Senior Audit Manager at Ernst & Young and began his career in the audit practice of Arthur Andersen in San Jose. Mr. Taylor earned an MBA from Duke University and a Master of Accountancy and BS in Accounting from Brigham Young University.
Steve Young, Director since February 2021, is the President and Co-Founder of HGGC, where he leads and manages the business and co-heads the Investment Committee together with Rich Lawson. Mr. Young serves as Chairman of the Board of four HGGC portfolio companies: Idera, Inc., Integrity Marketing Group, Dealer-FX and AutoAlert. Prior to their sales, he also served as a member of the Board of Directors for the firm’s exited investments in hybris Software (acquired by SAP AG (NYSE: SAP)), Serena Software (acquired by Micro Focus International plc (NYSE: MFGP)) and Sunquest Information Systems (acquired by Roper Technologies (NYSE: ROP)). Prior to the inception of HGGC in 2007, Mr. Young’s professional football career spanned more than fifteen years in the NFL, primarily with the San Francisco 49ers, where he received numerous accolades, including Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl XXIX, Sports Illustrated and Sporting News’ Player of the Year from 1992 to 1994 and the NFL’s Most Valuable Player for 1992 and 1994. In 2005, Mr. Young was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Mr. Young founded and chairs the Forever Young Foundation, which is actively involved in children’s charities worldwide. Mr. Young earned a JD from the J. Reuben Clark Law School and a BS in Finance and Political Science from Brigham Young University.
Hans Swildens, Director since February 2021, is the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Industry Ventures, where he has led and managed the overall business since August 1999. As an early pioneer of the modern secondary market for venture capital, Mr. Swildens created new ways to get liquidity for venture capital investments prior to an initial public offering or M&A event. Additionally, he was early to support the development of a new class of venture capital partnerships focused on seed and early stage investing during the last decade. He directs the firm’s investment processes, operations and limited partner relationships. Earlier in his career, Mr. Swildens was a successful entrepreneur who co-founded and acted as President of Microline Software, which was acquired by Blaze Software (IPO) and was subsequently acquired by Fair Isaac. He also helped start Speedera Networks (acquired by Akamai) and provided board advisory services to Discovery Mining (acquired by Interwoven), nCircle Network Security (acquired by Tripwire), and StepUp Commerce (acquired by Intuit). Mr. Swildens also helped finance Lowercase Capital. Mr. Swildens holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BA with distinction from the University of California at Santa Barbara.
Steven Walske, Director since February 2021, led Parametric Technology Corporation (NASDAQ: PTC) as its CEO from 1986 to 2000. Mr. Walske guided PTC from its start-up phase through its initial public offering to its position as the market leader in mechanical design automation software. Through Myriad Investments, LLC, since February 2000, he has advised private companies (several of which have gone public) such as Medallia (NYSE: MDLA), Endeca Technologies, Platfora, BladeLogic (NASDAQ: BLOG), Synopsys (NASDAQ: SNPS) and ClearCare on growth and go-to-market strategies as a value-added Board member. Mr. Walske served on the boards of directors of Synopsys from 1991 until April 2021 and Medallia from 2011 until October 2021, and he served on the board of directors of Platforma from September 2012 until August 2016 and on the board of directors of ClearCare from August 2016 to November 2019. Mr. Walske has extensive relationships in the venture capital and growth equity communities as well as with executives in the technology arena. Mr. Walske holds a BA in Economics from Princeton University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Omar Johnson, Director since February 2021, is the founder and CEO of ØPUS, LLC, a modern professional services firm that features a multi-disciplined collective of award-winning athletes, data scientists, creatives, and musicians who understand the anatomy of world-class brands. Since its inception, ØPUS has become an extension of the CMO office with its proprietary Culture-Centric Analytics and ØPUS Score. Through his work with Øpus United, Mr. Johnson has also been actively involved in developing initiatives, such as We The People and We Got Next, and authored Dear White Corporate America to encourage conversations around racial equity and the empowerment of younger generations to take action through polling, voting and representation within the government. Prior to founding Øpus, LLC, Mr. Johnson was the CMO of Beats by Dre and Vice President of Marketing at Apple. Under his tenure, Beats grew from $20 million to a $2 billion dollar category leader, becoming the #1 premium headphone in over 25 countries, which led to the subsequent purchase by Apple for $3 billion in 2014. Adweek named Johnson a “Brand Genius,” and Business Insider named him one of the “Most Innovative CMOs” in 2016. Additionally, Mr. Johnson has worked on hundreds of winning marketing campaigns while at international brands such as Nike, Coca-Cola, Kraft Foods and Campbell Soup. Mr. Johnson received a BS in Biology and Chemistry from Georgia State University and an MBA from Emory University.
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Paul Weiskopf, Director since February 2021, has extensive experience leading strategic transformation initiatives for global businesses, including leading Strategy & Corporate Development at Adobe (NASDAQ: ADBE) from 2005-2012, Hewlett Packard (NYSE) from 2000-2005, and Corporate Development at Domo (NASDAQ: DOMO) from 2014-2019. As an independent board member and strategic business advisor, he has advised private companies, such as Selligent, Monotype and Power Factors, and public companies, such as Synplicity, on strategy, alliances, successful M&A execution, SaaS models and operational improvement initiatives. Mr. Weiskopf has extensive relationships in the software and technology arena. Mr. Weiskopf holds a BA in Political Economy from U.C. Berkeley and an MBA from the Haas School of Business at U.C. Berkeley.
Number and Terms of Office of Officers and Directors
Our board of directors is divided into three classes, with only one class of directors being elected in each year, and with each class (except for those directors appointed prior to our first annual general meeting) serving a three-year term. In accordance with the Nasdaq corporate governance requirements, we are not required to hold an annual general meeting until one year after our first fiscal year end following our listing on the Nasdaq. The term of office of the first class of directors, consisting of Steven Walske, Omar Johnson and Paul Weiskopf will expire at our first annual general meeting. The term of office of the second class of directors, consisting of Steve Young and Hans Swildens, will expire at our second annual meeting of shareholders. The term of office of the third class of directors, consisting of Richard Lawson, David Chung and Lindsay Sharma, will expire at our third annual meeting of shareholders.
Prior to the completion of an initial business combination, any vacancy on the board of directors may be filled by a nominee chosen by holders of a majority of our founder shares. In addition, prior to the completion of an initial business combination, holders of a majority of our founder shares may remove a member of the board of directors for any reason.
Pursuant to an agreement to be entered into on or prior to the closing of our initial public offering, our sponsor, upon and following consummation of an initial business combination, will be entitled to nominate three individuals for appointment to our board of directors, as long as our sponsor holds any securities covered by the registration and shareholder rights agreement.
Our officers are appointed by the board of directors and serve at the discretion of the board of directors, rather than for specific terms of office. Our board of directors is authorized to appoint persons to the offices set forth in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association as it deems appropriate. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provides that our officers may consist of one or more chairman of the board, chief executive officer, president, chief financial officer, vice presidents, secretary, treasurer and such other offices as may be determined by the board of directors.
Director Independence
Nasdaq listing standards require that a majority of our board of directors be independent. Our board of directors has determined that Mr. Lawson, Mr. Young, Mr. Swildens, Mr. Walske, Mr. Johnson and Mr. Weiskopf are “independent directors” as defined in the Nasdaq listing standards. Our independent directors have regularly scheduled meetings at which only independent directors are present.
Committees of the Board of Directors
Our board of directors has three standing committees: an audit committee, a nominating committee and a compensation committee. Subject to phase-in rules and a limited exception, the rules of the Nasdaq and Rule 10A-3 of the Exchange Act require that the audit committee of a listed company be comprised solely of independent directors. Subject to phase-in rules and a limited exception, the rules of the Nasdaq require that the compensation committee and the nominating committee of a listed company be comprised solely of independent directors.
Audit Committee
We have established an audit committee of the board of directors. Mr. Walske, Mr. Johnson and Mr. Weiskopf serve as members of our audit committee. Mr. Walske serves as the Chairman of the audit committee. Under the Nasdaq listing standards and applicable SEC rules, we are required to have at least three members of the audit committee, all of whom must be independent. Our board of directors has determined that each of Mr. Walske, Mr. Johnson and Mr. Weiskopf meet the independent director standard under the Nasdaq listing standards and under Rule 10-A-3(b)(1) of the Exchange Act. Each member of the audit committee is financially literate and our board of directors has determined that each of Mr. Walske and Mr. Weiskopf qualify as an “audit committee financial expert” as defined in applicable SEC rules.
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The audit committee is responsible for:
| ● | meeting with our independent registered public accounting firm regarding, among other issues, audits, and adequacy of our accounting and control systems; |
| ● | monitoring the independence of the independent registered public accounting firm; |
| ● | verifying the rotation of the lead (or coordinating) audit partner having primary responsibility for the audit and the audit partner responsible for reviewing the audit as required by law; |
| ● | inquiring and discussing with management our compliance with applicable laws and regulations; |
| ● | pre-approving all audit services and permitted non-audit services to be performed by our independent registered public accounting firm, including the fees and terms of the services to be performed; |
| ● | appointing or replacing the independent registered public accounting firm; |
| ● | determining the compensation and oversight of the work of the independent registered public accounting firm (including resolution of disagreements between management and the independent auditor regarding financial reporting) for the purpose of preparing or issuing an audit report or related work; |
| ● | establishing procedures for the receipt, retention and treatment of complaints received by us regarding accounting, internal accounting controls or reports which raise material issues regarding our financial statements or accounting policies; |
| ● | monitoring compliance on a quarterly basis with the terms of our initial public offering and, if any noncompliance is identified, immediately taking all action necessary to rectify such noncompliance or otherwise causing compliance with the terms of our initial public offering; and |
| ● | reviewing and approving all payments made to our existing shareholders, executive officers or directors and their respective affiliates. Any payments made to members of our audit committee will be reviewed and approved by our board of directors, with the interested director or directors abstaining from such review and approval. |
Nominating Committee
We have established a nominating committee of our board of directors. The members of our nominating committee are Richard Lawson, Steve Young and Hans Swildens. Richard Lawson serves as chairman of the nominating committee. Under the Nasdaq listing standards, we are required to have a nominating committee composed entirely of independent directors. Our board of directors has determined that each of Richard Lawson, Steve Young and Hans Swildens are independent.
The nominating committee is responsible for overseeing the selection of persons to be nominated to serve on our board of directors. The nominating committee considers persons identified by its members, management, shareholders, investment bankers and others.
Guidelines for Selecting Director Nominees
The guidelines for selecting nominees, which are specified in a charter adopted by us, generally provide that persons to be nominated:
| ● | should have demonstrated notable or significant achievements in business, education or public service; |
| ● | should possess the requisite intelligence, education and experience to make a significant contribution to the board of directors and bring a range of skills, diverse perspectives and backgrounds to its deliberations; and |
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| ● | should have the highest ethical standards, a strong sense of professionalism and intense dedication to serving the interests of the shareholders. |
The nominating committee will consider a number of qualifications relating to management and leadership experience, background and integrity and professionalism in evaluating a person’s candidacy for membership on the board of directors. The nominating committee may require certain skills or attributes, such as financial or accounting experience, to meet specific board needs that arise from time to time and will also consider the overall experience and makeup of its members to obtain a broad and diverse mix of board members. The nominating committee does not distinguish among nominees recommended by shareholders and other persons.
Compensation Committee
We have established a compensation committee of our board of directors.
The members of our compensation committee are Mr. Weiskopf and Mr. Walske. Mr. Weiskopf serves as chairman of the compensation committee.
Under the Nasdaq listing standards, we are required to have a compensation committee composed entirely of independent directors. Our board of directors has determined that each of Mr. Weiskopf and Mr. Walske are independent. We have adopted a compensation committee charter, which details the principal functions of the compensation committee, including:
| ● | reviewing and approving on an annual basis the corporate goals and objectives relevant to our Chief Executive Officer’s compensation, evaluating our Chief Executive Officer’s performance in light of such goals and objectives and determining and approving the remuneration (if any) of our Chief Executive Officer based on such evaluation; |
| ● | reviewing and approving the compensation of all of our other Section 16 executive officers; |
| ● | reviewing our executive compensation policies and plans; |
| ● | implementing and administering our incentive compensation equity-based remuneration plans; |
| ● | assisting management in complying with our proxy statement and annual report disclosure requirements; |
| ● | approving all special perquisites, special cash payments and other special compensation and benefit arrangements for our executive officers and employees; |
| ● | producing a report on executive compensation to be included in our annual proxy statement; and |
| ● | reviewing, evaluating and recommending changes, if appropriate, to the remuneration for directors. |
The charter also provides that the compensation committee may, in its sole discretion, retain or obtain the advice of a compensation consultant, legal counsel or other adviser and will be directly responsible for the appointment, compensation and oversight of the work of any such adviser. However, before engaging or receiving advice from a compensation consultant, external legal counsel or any other adviser, the compensation committee will consider the independence of each such adviser, including the factors required by the Nasdaq and the SEC.
Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation
None of our executive officers currently serves, and in the past year has not served, as a member of the compensation committee of any entity that has one or more executive officers serving on our board of directors.
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Code of Ethics
We have adopted a Code of Ethics applicable to our directors, officers and employees. A copy of the Code of Ethics will be provided without charge upon request from us. Our Code of Ethics is posted on the “Investor Relations” section of our website at https://www.pathfinderacquisition.com/ under “Corporate Governance Documents.” We intend to disclose any amendments to or waivers of certain provisions of our Code of Ethics in a Current Report on Form 8-K.
Conflicts of Interest
Under Cayman Islands law, directors and officers owe the following fiduciary duties:
| ● | duty to act in good faith in what the director or officer believes to be in the best interests of the company as a whole; |
| ● | duty to exercise powers for the purposes for which those powers were conferred and not for a collateral purpose; |
| ● | directors should not improperly fetter the exercise of future discretion; |
| ● | duty to exercise powers fairly as between different sections of shareholders; |
| ● | duty not to put themselves in a position in which there is a conflict between their duty to the company and their personal interests; and |
| ● | duty to exercise independent judgment. |
In addition to the above, directors also owe a duty of care which is not fiduciary in nature. This duty has been defined as a requirement to act as a reasonably diligent person having both the general knowledge, skill and experience that may reasonably be expected of a person carrying out the same functions as are carried out by that director in relation to the company and the general knowledge skill and experience of that director.
As set out above, directors have a duty not to put themselves in a position of conflict and this includes a duty not to engage in self-dealing, or to otherwise benefit as a result of their position. However, in some instances what would otherwise be a breach of this duty can be forgiven and/or authorized in advance by the shareholders provided that there is full disclosure by the directors. This can be done by way of permission granted in the amended and restated memorandum and articles of association or alternatively by shareholder approval at general meetings.
Certain of our officers and directors presently have, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary and contractual duties to other entities. As a result, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for an entity to which he, she or it has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, then, he, she or it may be required to honor such fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such business combination opportunity to such entity, before we can pursue such opportunity. For example, affiliates of our sponsor, HGGC and Industry Ventures, have an obligation to present suitable opportunities to their funds before considering whether such opportunities may be suitable for the Company. If these other entities decide to pursue any such opportunity, we may be precluded from pursuing the same. However, we do not expect these duties to materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association provide that we renounce our interest in any business combination opportunity offered to any director or officer unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of the company and it is an opportunity that we are able to complete on a reasonable basis.
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Below is a table summarizing the entities to which our executive officers and directors currently have fiduciary duties, contractual obligations or other material management relationships:
| Individual | Entity | Entity’s Business | Affiliation | |||
| Richard Lawson | HGGC, LLC | Private Equity | Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder | |||
| Idera, Inc. | Information Management | Director | ||||
| Denodo Technologies, Inc. | Information Management | Director | ||||
| Davies Group Limited | Management Consulting | Director | ||||
| Beauty Industry Group Inc. | Cosmetics | Director | ||||
| RPX Corp. | IP Risk Management Services | Director | ||||
| AMI Cayman HoldCo Ltd. | Information Technology | Director | ||||
| Monotype Imaging Holdings, Inc. | Digital Content Licensing and Software | Director | ||||
| AutoAlert, LLC | Information Management | Director | ||||
| Dealer-FX Group Inc. | Information Technology | Director | ||||
| FPX, LLC | Information Management | Director | ||||
| 4Over, LLC | Online Trade Printer | Director | ||||
| Aventri, Inc. | Information Management | Director | ||||
| PCF Insurance | Insurance Brokerage | Director | ||||
| David Chung | HGGC, LLC | Private Equity | Executive Director | |||
| RPX Corp. | IP Risk Services Management | Director | ||||
| Monotype Imaging Holdings, Inc. | Digital Content Licensing and Software | Director | ||||
| Arrowhead Holdings LLC | Crossover Investments, Services | Managing Member | ||||
| Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco | Non-Profit Organization | Trustee | ||||
| Lindsay Sharma | Industry Ventures | Private Equity | Managing Director | |||
| Lance Taylor | HGGC, LLC | Private Equity | Chief Financial Officer | |||
| Dealer-FX Group Inc. | Information Technology | Director | ||||
| Right to Play USA | Non-Profit Organization | Director | ||||
| Capital Impact Foundation | Foundation | Treasurer |
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| J. Steven Young | HGGC, LLC | Private Equity | President and Co-Founder Director | |||
| Idera, Inc. | Information Management | Director | ||||
| Integritry Marketing Group | Insurance Brokerage | Director | ||||
| Dealer-FX Group Inc. | Information Technology | Director | ||||
| AutoAlert, LLC | Information Management | Director | ||||
| Innovative Interfaces Holdings, Ltd. | Information Management | Director | ||||
| Dynata, LLC | Information Management | Director | ||||
| FPX, LLC | Information Management | Director | ||||
| 4Over, LLC | Online Trade Printer | Director | ||||
| Aventri, Inc. | Information Management | Director | ||||
| Davies Group Limited | Management Consulting | Director | ||||
| Denodo Technologies Inc. | Information Management | Director | ||||
| Nutraceutical Corporation | Health Food Products | Director | ||||
| Beauty Industry Group Inc. | Cosmetics | Director | ||||
| HelpSystems, LLC | Information Management | Director | ||||
| RPX Corp. | IP Risk Management Services | Director | ||||
| AMI Cayman HoldCo Ltd | Information Technology | Director | ||||
| Monotype Imaging Holdings Inc. | Information Technology | Director | ||||
| PCF Insurance | Insurance Brokerage | Director | ||||
| Hans Swildens | Industry Ventures | Private Equity | Chief Executive Officer and Founder | |||
| Steven Walske | BigPanda, Inc. | Information Technology | Director | |||
| Sila Nanotechnologies, Inc. | Information Technology | Director | ||||
| Myriad Investments, LLC | Venture Capital | Managing Director | ||||
| Omar Johnson | Mission Advancement Corp. | Special Purpose Acquisition Company | Director | |||
| ØPUS, LLC | Brand Management | Founder and Chief Executive Officer | ||||
| Opus Intelligence Labs, Inc. | App Development | Chief Executive Officer | ||||
| Kingston London, LLC | Private Company | Chief Executive Officer | ||||
| Commerce Media Holdings, LLC | Electronic Shopping Platform | Director | ||||
| Osiris Acquisition Corp. | Special Purpose Acquisition Company | Lead Director | ||||
| Qualtrics | Software | Director | ||||
| Paul Weiskopf | Domo, Inc. | Information Technology | Independent Advisor |
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Accordingly, if any of the above executive officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for any of the above entities to which he or she has current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she will honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such business combination opportunity to such entity, and only present it to us if such entity rejects the opportunity. We do not believe, however, that any of the foregoing fiduciary duties or contractual obligations will materially affect our ability to complete our business combination. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that we renounce our interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any director or officer unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of our company and such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue.
We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with such a company, we, or a committee of independent directors, would obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm which is a member of FINRA or from an independent accounting firm, that such an initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view.
We have agreed not to enter into a definitive agreement regarding an initial business combination without the prior consent of our sponsor. In the event that we submit our initial business combination to our public shareholders for a vote, our initial shareholders have agreed to vote any founder shares held by them and any public shares purchased during or after the offering in favor of our initial business combination and our officers and directors have also agreed to vote any public shares purchased during or after the offering in favor of our initial business combination.
Furthermore, in no event will our sponsor or any of our existing officers or directors, or their respective affiliates, be paid by us any finder’s fee, consulting fee or other compensation prior to, or for any services they render in order to effectuate, the completion of our initial business combination. Further, commencing on the date our securities are first listed on the Nasdaq, we will also reimburse our sponsor for office space, secretarial and administrative services provided to us in the amount of $10,000 per month.
We cannot assure you that any of the above mentioned conflicts will be resolved in our favor.
If we seek shareholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if we obtain the approval of an ordinary resolution under Cayman Islands law. In such case, our sponsor and each member of our management team have agreed to vote their founder shares and public shares in favor of our initial business combination.
If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, whether as a result of conflicts of interest or otherwise, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share, or less in certain circumstances, upon the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. Please see “Risk Factors — If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by shareholders may be less than $10.00 per share” and other risk factors herein.
Limitation on Liability and Indemnification of Officers and Directors
Cayman Islands law does not limit the extent to which a company’s memorandum and articles of association may provide for indemnification of officers and directors, except to the extent any such provision may be held by the Cayman Islands courts to be contrary to public policy, such as to provide indemnification against willful default, willful neglect, actual fraud or the consequences of committing a crime. Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association will provide for indemnification of our officers and directors to the maximum extent permitted by law, including for any liability incurred in their capacities as such, except through their own actual fraud, willful default or willful neglect. We will enter into agreements with our directors and officers to provide contractual indemnification in addition to the indemnification provided for in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association. We expect to purchase a policy of directors’ and officers’ liability insurance that insures our officers and directors against the cost of defense, settlement or payment of a judgment in some circumstances and insures us against our obligations to indemnify our officers and directors.
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Our officers and directors have agreed to waive any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies in the trust account, and have agreed to waive any right, title, interest or claim of any kind they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any services provided to us and will not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason whatsoever (except to the extent they are entitled to funds from the trust account due to their ownership of public shares). Accordingly, any indemnification provided will only be able to be satisfied by us if (i) we have sufficient funds outside of the trust account or (ii) we consummate an initial business combination.
Our indemnification obligations may discourage shareholders from bringing a lawsuit against our officers or directors for breach of their fiduciary duty. These provisions also may have the effect of reducing the likelihood of derivative litigation against our officers and directors, even though such an action, if successful, might otherwise benefit us and our shareholders. Furthermore, a shareholder’s investment may be adversely affected to the extent we pay the costs of settlement and damage awards against our officers and directors pursuant to these indemnification provisions.
We believe that these provisions, the insurance and the indemnity agreements are necessary to attract and retain talented and experienced officers and directors.
Delinquent Section 16(a) Reports
Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act requires directors, executive officer and persons who beneficially own more than 10 percent of a registered class of our equity securities to file with the SEC initial reports of ownership and reports or changes in ownership of such equity securities. Such persons are also required to furnish us with copies of all Section 16(a) forms that they file. Based solely on a review of the copies of such reports furnished to us and written representations that no other reports were required, we believe that during fiscal year 2021 all of our directors, executive officers and persons who beneficially own more than 10 percent of a registered class of our equity securities complied on a timely basis with all applicable filing requirements under Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act, except for two Form 3 filings that were filed late in 2021 by Hans Swildens and Pathfinder Acquisition LLC in connection with the pricing of our initial public offering.
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| Item 11. | Executive Compensation |
Executive Officer and Director Compensation
None of our executive officers or directors have received any cash compensation for services rendered to us. We will reimburse our sponsor for office space, secretarial and administrative services provided to us in the amount of $10,000 per month until the earlier of consummation of our initial business combination and our liquidation,. In addition, our sponsor, executive officers and directors, or their respective affiliates will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made by us to our sponsor, executive officers or directors, or their affiliates. Any such payments prior to an initial business combination will be made using funds held outside the trust account. Other than quarterly audit committee review of such reimbursements, we do not expect to have any additional controls in place governing our reimbursement payments to our directors and executive officers for their out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with our activities on our behalf in connection with identifying and consummating an initial business combination. Other than these payments and reimbursements, no compensation of any kind, including finder’s and consulting fees, will be paid by the company to our sponsor, executive officers and directors, or their respective affiliates, prior to completion of our initial business combination.
After the completion of our initial business combination, directors or members of our management team who remain with us may be paid consulting or management fees from the combined company. All of these fees will be fully disclosed to shareholders, to the extent then known, in the proxy solicitation materials or tender offer materials furnished to our shareholders in connection with a proposed business combination. We have not established any limit on the amount of such fees that may be paid by the combined company to our directors or members of management. It is unlikely the amount of such compensation will be known at the time of the proposed business combination, because the directors of the post-combination business will be responsible for determining executive officer and director compensation. Any compensation to be paid to our executive officers will be determined, or recommended to the board of directors for determination, either by a compensation committee constituted solely by independent directors or by a majority of the independent directors on our board of directors.
We do not intend to take any action to ensure that members of our management team maintain their positions with us after the consummation of our initial business combination, although it is possible that some or all of our executive officers and directors may negotiate employment or consulting arrangements to remain with us after our initial business combination. The existence or terms of any such employment or consulting arrangements to retain their positions with us may influence our management’s motivation in identifying or selecting a target business but we do not believe that the ability of our management to remain with us after the consummation of our initial business combination will be a determining factor in our decision to proceed with any potential business combination. We are not party to any agreements with our executive officers and directors that provide for benefits upon termination of employment.
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| Item 12. | Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Shareholder Matters |
The following table sets forth information regarding the beneficial ownership of our shares of common stock as of March 31, 2022 based on information obtained from the persons named below, with respect to the beneficial ownership of our shares of common stock, by:
| ● | each person known by us to be the beneficial owner of more than 5% of our outstanding shares of common stock; |
| ● | each of our named executive officers and directors that beneficially owns shares of our common stock; and |
| ● | all our executive officers and directors as a group. |
In the table below, percentage ownership is based on 32,500,000 Class A ordinary shares (which includes Class A ordinary shares that are underlying the Units) and 8,125,000 Class B ordinary shares outstanding as of March 31, 2022. The table below does not include the Class A ordinary shares underlying the private placement warrants held by our sponsor because these securities are not exercisable within 60 days of this Report.
| Class B ordinary shares | Class A ordinary shares | Approximate | ||||||||||||||||||
| Name of Beneficial Owners(1) | Number of Shares Beneficially Owned |
Approximate Percentage of Class |
Number
of Shares Beneficially Owned |
Approximate Percentage of Class |
Percentage of Outstanding Ordinary Shares |
|||||||||||||||
| Pathfinder Acquisition LLC (our sponsor)(3) | 8,050,000 | 99.1 | % | — | — | 19.82 | % | |||||||||||||
| Richard Lawson(3) | 8,050,000 | 99.1 | % | — | — | 19.82 | % | |||||||||||||
| David Chung(4) | 8,050,000 | 99.1 | % | — | — | 19.82 | % | |||||||||||||
| Lindsay Sharma | 8,050,000 | 99.1 | % | — | — | 19.82 | % | |||||||||||||
| Lance Taylor | 8,050,000 | 99.1 | % | — | — | 19.82 | % | |||||||||||||
| Hans Swildens(4) | 8,050,000 | 99.1 | % | — | — | 19.82 | % | |||||||||||||
| J. Steven Young(4) | 8,050,000 | 99.1 | % | — | — | 19.82 | % | |||||||||||||
| Steven Walske | 25,000 | * | — | — | * | |||||||||||||||
| Omar Johnson | 25,000 | * | — | — | * | |||||||||||||||
| Paul Weiskopf | 25,000 | * | — | — | * | |||||||||||||||
| All officers and directors as a group (nine individuals) | 8,125,000 | 100.0 | % | — | — | 20.0 | % | |||||||||||||
| Five Percent Holders | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Alpha Wave Global, LP(5) | — | — | 3,152,617 | 9.70 | % | 7.76 | % | |||||||||||||
| * | Less than one percent. |
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| (1) | Unless otherwise noted, the business address of each of our shareholders is 1950 University Avenue, Suite 350, Palo Alto, CA 94303. |
| (2) | Class B ordinary shares will automatically convert into Class A ordinary shares at the time of our initial business combination as described in the section entitled “Description of Securities.” |
| (3) | Represents 8,050,000 Class B ordinary shares directly held by Pathfinder Acquisition LLC. |
| (4) | HGGC Pathfinder Holdings I, LLC (“HGGC Holdings”) has the power to appoint three members to the board of managers of our sponsor. Arrowhead Holdings, LLC (“Arrowhead”) has the power to appoint a member to the board of managers of our sponsor. Industry Ventures Tech Buyout Fund, LP (“Tech Buyout”) has the power to appoint two members to the board of managers of our sponsor. The board of managers of our sponsor exercises voting and dispositive power over all securities held by our sponsor. Each of Mr. Lawson and Mr. Young is a member of the board of managers of HGGC Holdings, and each of Mr. Lawson, Mr. Young and Mr. Taylor has been appointed to the board of managers of our sponsor by HGGC Holdings. Mr. Chung is the managing member of Arrowhead and has been appointed to the board of managers of our sponsor by Arrowhead. Each of Ms. Sharma and Mr. Swildens is a member of the investment committee of IV Tech Buyout GP, LLC, the general partner of Tech Buyout, and has been appointed to the board of managers of our sponsor by Tech Buyout. Accordingly, each of HGGC Holdings, Arrowhead, Tech Buyout, Mr. Lawson, Mr. Young, Mr. Taylor, Mr. Chung, Ms. Sharma and Mr. Swildens may be deemed to share dispositive power over the securities held by our sponsor, and thus, may be deemed to be the beneficial owners of these securities. Each of HGGC Holdings, Arrowhead, Tech Buyout, Mr. Lawson, Mr. Young, Mr. Taylor, Mr. Chung, Ms. Sharma and Mr. Swildens disclaims beneficial ownership of any securities held by our sponsor except to the extent of such entity’s or such person’s pecuniary interest therein. |
| (5) | According to a Schedule 13G filed with the SEC on February 14, 2021, the listed Class A ordinary shares may be deemed to be beneficially owned by Alpha Wave Global, LP (“Alpha Wave”), as the investment manager of certain affiliate private funds (the “Alpha Wave Funds”), and Mr. Richard Gerson, as the Chairman and Chief Investment Officer of Alpha Wave with respect to the Class A ordinary shares held by the Alpha Wave Funds. The principal business address of each reporting person is 660 Madison Avenue, 19th Floor, New York, NY 10065. |
Our sponsor, officers and directors are deemed to be our “promoter” as such term is defined under the federal securities laws.
Changes in Control
None.
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| Item 13. | Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence |
Founder Shares
On December 28, 2020, our sponsor paid an aggregate of $25,000 for certain expenses on our behalf in exchange for issuance of 7,906,250 Class B ordinary shares. On February 16, 2021, we effected a share dividend of 718,750 Class B ordinary shares to our sponsor, resulting in there being an aggregate of 8,625,000 Class B ordinary shares outstanding. Our sponsor agreed to forfeit up to an aggregate of 1,125,000 Class B ordinary shares to the extent that the option to purchase additional units was not exercised in full by the underwriters or was reduced, so that the Class B ordinary shares will represent 20% of our issued and outstanding shares after the initial public offering. The underwriters partially exercised their over-allotment option to purchase an additional 2,500,000 units on February 19, 2021 and on April 2, 2021, the over-allotment option on the remaining units expired unexercised by the underwriters; thus, 500,000 Class B ordinary shares were subsequently forfeited.
Our initial shareholders agreed, pursuant to a registration rights agreement entered into at the time of our initial public offering not to transfer, assign or sell any of their Class B ordinary shares until the earlier to occur of: (A) one year after the completion of the initial business combination or earlier if, subsequent to the initial business combination, the closing price of the Class A ordinary share equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for share sub-divisions, capitalization of shares, share dividends, rights issuances, subdivisions reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after the initial business combination, and (B) the date following the completion of the initial business combination on which Pathfinder completes a liquidation, merger, share exchange or other similar transaction that results in all of Pathfinder’s shareholders having the right to exchange their Class A ordinary shares for cash, securities or other property.
Our sponsor has agreed (i) to waive its redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and any public shares held by it in connection with the completion of our initial business combination and (ii) to waive its rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any founder shares held by it if the Company fails to complete the initial business combination within 24 months of our initial public offering, although our sponsor will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any public shares it holds if the Company fails to complete the business combination within 24 months of our initial public offering.
Private Placement Warrants
Simultaneously with the closing of the initial public offering, we consummated the private placement of 4,250,000 private placement warrants to our sponsor, each exercisable to purchase one Class A ordinary share at $11.50 per share, at a price of $2.00 per private placement warrant, generating gross proceeds to us of $8.5 million.
Each whole private placement warrant is exercisable for one whole Class A ordinary share at a price of $11.50 per share. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the private placement warrants to our sponsor was added to the proceeds from the initial public offering held in the trust account. If we do not complete a business combination within the 24 months from the closing of the initial public offering, the private placement warrants will expire worthless. The private placement warrants are non-redeemable except under certain conditions and exercisable on a cashless basis so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees.
Our sponsor and our officers and directors have agreed, subject to limited exceptions, not to transfer, assign or sell any of their private placement warrants until 30 days after the completion of the initial business combination.
Related Party Loans
On December 23, 2020, our sponsor agreed to loan us up to $300,000 to be used for the payment of costs related to the initial public offering pursuant to a promissory note. The promissory note was non-interest bearing, unsecured and due upon the closing of the initial public offering. Prior to the closing of the initial public offering, Pathfinder had borrowed approximately $129,000 under the promissory note. The promissory note was fully repaid on February 19, 2021.
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In addition, in order to fund working capital deficiencies or finance transaction costs in connection with an initial business combination, our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor, or certain of Pathfinder’s officers and directors will loan Pathfinder Working Capital Loans. If Pathfinder completes a business combination, we may repay the Working Capital Loans out of the proceeds of the trust account released to Pathfinder. Otherwise, the Working Capital Loans may be repaid only out of funds held outside the trust account. In the event that an initial business combination does not close, Pathfinder may use a portion of proceeds held outside the trust account to repay the Working Capital Loans but no proceeds held in the trust account would be used to repay the Working Capital Loans. The Working Capital Loans would either be repaid upon consummation of an initial business combination, without interest, or, at the lender’s discretion, up to $1.5 million of such Working Capital Loans may be convertible into warrants of the post Business Combination entity at a price of $2.00 per warrant. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants. Except for the foregoing, the terms of such Working Capital Loans, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. As of June 30, 2021 and December 31, 2020, Pathfinder had no borrowings under the Working Capital Loans.
On July 15, 2021, we issued the Working Capital Note to our sponsor providing for borrowings by Pathfinder in an aggregate principal amount of up to $500,000. The Working Capital Note was issued to allow for borrowings from time to time by Pathfinder for working capital expenses. The Working Capital Note (i) bears no interest, (ii) is due and payable upon the earlier of (a) February 19, 2023 and (b) the date that Pathfinder consummates an initial business combination and (iii) may be prepaid at any time. Unlike the Working Capital Loans discussed above, the Working Capital Note may not be converted to warrants of a post Business Combination Entity. As of December 31, 2021, there was $250,000 outstanding under the Working Capital Note.
Administrative Services Agreement
Commencing on the date that Pathfinder’s securities were first listed on Nasdaq through the earlier of consummation of the initial business combination and the liquidation, Pathfinder agreed to pay our sponsor $10,000 per month for office space, secretarial and administrative services provided to Pathfinder. Pathfinder incurred approximately $30,000 and $50,000 in general and administrative expenses in the accompanying unaudited condensed statements of operations for the three and six months ended June 30, 2021. As of June 30, 2021 and December 31, 2020, Pathfinder had accrued approximately $10,000 and $0, respectively, for services in connection with such agreement on the accompanying condensed balance sheets.
In addition, our sponsor, officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on Pathfinder’s behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable Business Combinations. The audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made by Pathfinder to our sponsor, officers or directors, or Pathfinder’s or their affiliates. Any such payments prior to an initial business combination will be made from funds held outside the trust account.
Expense Reimbursement
No compensation of any kind, including finder’s and consulting fees, will be paid to our sponsor, its officers and directors, or their respective affiliates, for services rendered prior to or in connection with the completion of an initial business combination. However, these individuals will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on Pathfinder’s behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. Pathfinder’s audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made by us to our sponsor, officers, directors or their affiliates and will determine which expenses and the amount of expenses that will be reimbursed. There is no cap or ceiling on the reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses incurred by such persons in connection with activities on Pathfinder’s behalf.
Other Relationships
If any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity that falls within the line of business of any entity to which he or she has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she will honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such opportunity to such entity. Our officers and directors currently have certain relevant fiduciary duties or contractual obligations that may take priority over their duties to us.
We currently maintains executive offices at 1950 University Avenue, Suite 350, Palo Alto, CA 94303. The cost for our use of this space is included in the $10,000 per month fee we pay to our sponsor for office space, administrative and support services.
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After the Business Combination, members of Pathfinder’s management team who remain with the New SM may be paid consulting, management or other fees from New SM with any and all amounts being fully disclosed to Pathfinder’s shareholders, to the extent then known, are provided in the proxy solicitation materials offered hereby.
Pathfinder has entered into a registration and shareholder rights agreement pursuant to which our sponsor is entitled to certain registration rights with respect to the private placement warrants, the warrants issuable upon conversion of Working Capital Loans (if any) and the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the foregoing and upon conversion of the Class B ordinary shares, and, upon consummation of Pathfinder’s initial business combination, to nominate three individuals for election to the New SM board of directors, as long as our sponsor holds any securities covered by the registration and shareholder rights agreement.
Related Party Policy
We have adopted a code of ethics requiring us to avoid, wherever possible, all conflicts of interests, except under guidelines or resolutions approved by our board of directors (or the appropriate committee of our board) or as disclosed in our public filings with the SEC. Under our code of ethics, conflict of interest situations will include any financial transaction, arrangement or relationship (including any indebtedness or guarantee of indebtedness) involving the company.
In addition, our audit committee, pursuant to a written charter that it has adopted, is responsible for reviewing and approving related party transactions to the extent that we enter into such transactions. An affirmative vote of a majority of the members of the audit committee present at a meeting at which a quorum is present will be required in order to approve a related party transaction. A majority of the members of the entire audit committee will constitute a quorum. Without a meeting, the unanimous written consent of all of the members of the audit committee will be required to approve a related party transaction. We also require each of our directors and executive officers to complete a directors’ and officers’ questionnaire that elicits information about related party transactions.
These procedures are intended to determine whether any such related party transaction impairs the independence of a director or presents a conflict of interest on the part of a director, employee or officer.
To further minimize conflicts of interest, we have agreed not to consummate an initial business combination with an entity that is affiliated with any of our sponsor, officers or directors unless we, or a committee of independent directors, have obtained an opinion from an independent investment banking firm which is a member of FINRA or an independent accounting firm that our initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view. Furthermore, no finder’s fees, reimbursements or cash payments will be made to our sponsor, officers or directors, or our or their affiliates, by us for services rendered to us prior to or in connection with the completion of our initial business combination. However, the following payments will be made to our sponsor, officers or directors, or our or their affiliates, none of which will be made from the proceeds of our initial public offering held in the trust account prior to the completion of our initial business combination:
| ● | repayment of up to an aggregate of $300,000 in loans made to us by our sponsor to cover offering-related and organizational expenses; |
| ● | payment to our sponsor of $10,000 per month, for up to 24 months, for office space, utilities and professional, secretarial and administrative support; |
| ● | reimbursement for any out-of-pocket expenses related to identifying, investigating and completing an initial business combination; and |
| ● | 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, the terms of which have not been determined nor have any written agreements been executed with respect thereto. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants, at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender. |
Our audit committee reviews on a quarterly basis all payments that were made by us to our sponsor, officers or directors, or our or their affiliates.
Director Independence
Nasdaq listing standards require that a majority of our board of directors be independent. Our board of directors has determined that Mr. Lawson, Mr. Young, Mr. Swildens, Mr. Walske, Mr. Johnson and Mr. Weiskopf are “independent directors” as defined in the Nasdaq listing standards. Our independent directors have regularly scheduled meetings at which only independent directors are present.
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| Item 14. | Principal Accountant Fees and Services |
The following is a summary of fees paid to WithumSmith+Brown, PC for services rendered.
Audit Fees. Audit fees consist of fees billed for professional services rendered for the audit of our year-end financial statements, reviews of our quarterly financial statements and services that are normally provided by our independent registered public accounting firm in connection with statutory and regulatory filings. The aggregate fees billed by WithumSmith+Brown, PC for audit fees, inclusive of required filings with the SEC for the period from February 5, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021, and of services rendered in connection with our initial public offering, totaled approximately $122,000. There were no fees incurred in 2020.
Audit-Related Fees. Audit-related fees consist of fees billed for assurance and related services that are reasonably related to performance of the audit or review of our year-end financial statements and are not reported under “Audit Fees.” These services include attest services that are not required by statute or regulation and consultation concerning financial accounting and reporting standards. We did not pay WithumSmith+Brown, PC any audit-related fees during the period from February 5, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021. There were no fees incurred in 2020.
Tax Fees. Tax fees consist of fees billed for professional services relating to tax compliance, tax planning and tax advice. We did not pay WithumSmith+Brown, PC any tax fees during the period from February 5, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021. There were no fees incurred in 2020.
All Other Fees. All other fees consist of fees billed for all other services. We did not pay WithumSmith+Brown, PC any other fees during the period from February 5, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021. There were no fees incurred in 2020.
Pre-Approval Policy
Our audit committee was formed upon the consummation of our initial public offering. As a result, the audit committee did not pre-approve all of the foregoing services, although any services rendered prior to the formation of our audit committee were approved by our board of directors. Since the formation of our audit committee, and on a going-forward basis, the audit committee has and will pre-approve all auditing services and permitted non-audit services to be performed for us by our auditors, including the fees and terms thereof (subject to the de minimis exceptions for non-audit services described in the Exchange Act which are approved by the audit committee prior to the completion of the audit).
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PART IV
| Item 15. | Exhibits, Financial Statements Schedules |
| (a) | The following documents are filed as part of this Form 10-K: |
| (1) | Financial Statements: Our consolidated financial statements are listed in the “Index to Consolidated Financial Statements” on page F-1. |
| (2) | Financial Statement Schedules: None. |
| (3) | Exhibits |
We hereby file as part of this Report the exhibits listed in the attached Exhibit Index. Copies of such material can also be obtained on the SEC website at www.sec.gov.
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| † | Certain of the exhibits and schedules to this exhibit have been omitted in accordance with Regulation S-K Item 601(b)(2). The Company agrees to furnish supplementally a copy of all omitted exhibits and schedules to the SEC upon its request. |
| * | Filed herewith |
| ** | Furnished herewith |
| (1) | Previously filed as an exhibit to our Current Report on Form 8-K filed on August 11, 2021 and incorporated by reference herein. |
| (2) | Previously filed as an exhibit to our Current Report on Form 8-K filed on February 22, 2021 and incorporated by reference herein. |
| (3) | Previously filed as an exhibit to our Registration Statement on Form S-1 filed on February 10, 2021 and incorporated by reference herein. |
| (4) | Previously filed as an exhibit to our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed on November 15, 2021 and incorporated by reference herein. |
| (5) | Previously filed as an exhibit to our Current Report on Form 8-K filed on December 6, 2021 and incorporated by reference herein. |
| Item 16. | Form 10-K Summary |
Not applicable.
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SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this Annual Report on Form 10-K to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.
April 1, 2022
| Pathfinder Acquisition Corporation | ||
| /s/ David Chung | ||
| Name: | David Chung | |
| Title: | Chief Executive Officer | |
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, this Annual Report on Form 10-K has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated.
| Name | Position | Date | ||
| /s/ Richard Lawson | Chairman | April 1, 2022 | ||
| Richard Lawson | ||||
| /s/ David Chung | Chief Executive Officer and Director | April 1, 2022 | ||
| David Chung | (Principal Executive Officer) | |||
| /s/ Lance Taylor | Chief Financial Officer | April 1, 2022 | ||
| Lance Taylor | (Principal Financial and Accounting Officer) | |||
| /s/ Lindsay Sharma | Director | April 1, 2022 | ||
| Lindsay Sharma | ||||
| /s/ Hans Swildens | Director | April 1, 2022 | ||
| Hans Swildens | ||||
| /s/ J. Steven Young | Director | April 1, 2022 | ||
| J. Steven Young | ||||
| /s/ Steven Walkse | Director | April 1, 2022 | ||
| Steven Walske | ||||
| /s/ Omar Johnson | Director | April 1, 2022 | ||
| Omar Johnson | ||||
| /s/ Paul Weiskopf | Director | April 1, 2022 | ||
| Paul Weiskopf |
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PATHFINDER ACQUISITION CORPORATION
Index to Consolidated Financial Statements
F-1
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
To the Shareholders and the Board of Directors of
Pathfinder Acquisition Corporation
Opinion on the Consolidated Financial Statements
We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Pathfinder Acquisition Corporation (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, the related consolidated statements of operations, changes in shareholders’ equity (deficit) and cash flows for the year ended December 31, 2021 and for the period from December 18, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the “consolidated financial statements”). In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year ended December 31, 2021 and the period from December 18, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.
Restatement of Financial Statement
As discussed in Note 2 to the consolidated financial statements, the February 9, 2021 balance sheet has been restated to correct certain misstatements.
Going Concern
The accompanying consolidated financial statements have been prepared assuming that the Company will continue as a going concern. As discussed in Note 1 of the consolidated financial statements, if the Company is unable to raise additional funds to alleviate liquidity needs and complete a business combination by February 19, 2023 then the Company will cease all operations except for the purpose of liquidating. The liquidity condition and date for mandatory liquidation and subsequent dissolution raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. Management’s plans in regard to these matters are also described in Note 1. The consolidated financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.
Basis for Opinion
These consolidated financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s consolidated financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (“PCAOB”) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.
We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audits to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the consolidated financial statements are free from material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. The Company is not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of its internal control over financial reporting. As part of our audits, we are required to obtain an understanding of internal control over financial reporting but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion.
Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the consolidated financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the consolidated financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the consolidated financial statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.
/s/
We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2020.
April 1, 2022
PCAOB ID Number
F-2
PATHFINDER ACQUISITION CORPORATION
CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
| December 31, | ||||||||
| 2021 | 2020 | |||||||
| Assets: | ||||||||
| Current assets: | ||||||||
| Cash | $ | $ | ||||||
| Prepaid expenses | ||||||||
| Total current assets | ||||||||
| Deferred offering costs associated with initial public offering | ||||||||
| Investments held in Trust Account | ||||||||
| Total Assets | $ | $ | ||||||
| Liabilities, Class A Ordinary Shares Subject to Possible Redemption and Shareholders’ Equity (Deficit): | ||||||||
| Current liabilities: | ||||||||
| Accounts payable | $ | $ | ||||||
| Accrued expenses | ||||||||
| Due to related party | ||||||||
| Note payable | ||||||||
| Total current liabilities | ||||||||
| Derivative warrant liabilities | ||||||||
| Deferred underwriting commissions | ||||||||
| Total liabilities | ||||||||
| Commitments and Contingencies | ||||||||
| Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption, $ | ||||||||
| Shareholders’ Equity (Deficit): | ||||||||
| Preference shares, $ | ||||||||
| Class A ordinary shares, $ | ||||||||
| Class B ordinary shares, $ | ||||||||
| Additional paid-in capital | ||||||||
| Accumulated deficit | ( | ) | ( | ) | ||||
| Total shareholders’ equity (deficit) | ( | ) | ||||||
| Total Liabilities, Class A Ordinary Shares Subject to Possible Redemption and Shareholders’ Equity (Deficit) | $ | $ | ||||||
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.
F-3
PATHFINDER ACQUISITION CORPORATION
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
| For the Year Ended December 31, 2021 | For the Period from December 18, 2020 (Inception) through December 31, 2020 | |||||||
| General and administrative expenses | $ | $ | ||||||
| General and administrative expenses - related party | ||||||||
| Loss from operations | ( | ) | ( | ) | ||||
| Other income (expenses): | ||||||||
| Change in fair value of derivative warrant liabilities | ||||||||
| Offering costs associated with derivative warrant liabilities | ( | ) | ||||||
| Income from investments held in Trust Account | ||||||||
| Net income (loss) | $ | $ | ( | ) | ||||
| Weighted average shares outstanding of Class A ordinary share | ||||||||
| Basic net income per share, Class A ordinary share | $ | $ | - | |||||
| Weighted average shares outstanding of Class B ordinary share, basic | ||||||||
| Basic net income (loss) per share, Class B ordinary share | $ | $ | ( | ) | ||||
| Weighted average shares outstanding of Class B ordinary share, diluted | ||||||||
| Diluted net income per share, Class A ordinary share | $ | ( | ) | |||||
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.
F-4
PATHFINDER ACQUISITION CORPORATION
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CHANGES IN SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY (DEFICIT)
| For the Year Ended December 31, 2021 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ordinary Shares | Additional | Total Shareholders’ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Class A | Class B | Paid-in | Accumulated | Equity | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Shares | Amount | Shares | Amount | Capital | Deficit | (Deficit) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Balance - December 31, 2020 | $ | $ | $ | $ | ( |
) | $ | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Excess cash received over the fair value of the private warrants | - | - | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Accretion of Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption amount | - | - | ( |
) | ( |
) | ( |
) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Forfeiture of Class B ordinary shares | ( |
) | ( |
) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Subsequent measurement of Class A ordinary shares subject to redemption against additional paid-in capital | - | - | ( |
) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Net income | - | - | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Balance - December 31, 2021 | $ | $ | $ | $ | ( |
) | $ | ( |
) | |||||||||||||||||||
| For the Period from December 18, 2020 (Inception) through December 31, 2020 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ordinary Shares | Additional | Total Shareholders’ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Class A | Class B | Paid-in | Accumulated | Equity | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Shares | Amount | Shares | Amount | Capital | Deficit | (Deficit) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Balance - December 18, 2020 (inception) | - | $ | - | $ | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Issuance of Class B ordinary shares to Sponsor | - | - | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Net loss | - | - | ( | ) | ( | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Balance - December 31, 2020 | - | $ | - | $ | $ | $ | ( | ) | $ | |||||||||||||||||||
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.
F-5
PATHFINDER ACQUISITION CORPORATION
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
| For the Year Ended December 31, 2021 | For the Period from December 18, 2020 (Inception) through December 31, 2020 | |||||||
| Cash Flows from Operating Activities: | ||||||||
| Net income (loss) | $ | $ | ( | ) | ||||
| Adjustments to reconcile net income (loss) to net cash used in operating activities: | ||||||||
| Change in fair value of derivative warrant liabilities | ( | ) | ||||||
| Offering costs associated with derivative warrant liabilities | ||||||||
| Income from investments held in Trust Account | ( | ) | ||||||
| Changes in operating assets and liabilities: | ||||||||
| Prepaid expenses | ( | ) | ||||||
| Accounts payable | ||||||||
| Accrued expenses | ||||||||
| Net cash used in operating activities | ( | ) | ||||||
| Cash Flows from Investing Activities | ||||||||
| Cash deposited in Trust Account | ( | ) | ||||||
| Net cash used in investing activities | ( | ) | ||||||
| Cash Flows from Financing Activities: | ||||||||
| Proceeds from note payable to related party | ||||||||
| Repayment of note payable to related party | ( | ) | ||||||
| Proceeds received from initial public offering | ||||||||
| Proceeds received from private placement | ||||||||
| Offering costs paid | ( | ) | ||||||
| Net cash provided by financing activities | ||||||||
| Net increase in cash | ||||||||
| Cash - beginning of the period | ||||||||
| Cash - end of the period | $ | $ | ||||||
| Supplemental disclosure of noncash financing activities: | ||||||||
| Offering costs included in accrued expenses | $ | $ | ||||||
| Offering costs paid by related party under note payable | $ | $ | ||||||
| Deferred underwriting commissions in connection with the initial public offering | $ | $ | ||||||
| Deferred offering costs included in accrued expenses | $ | $ | ||||||
| Prepaid expenses paid by Sponsor in exchange for issuance of Class B ordinary shares | $ | $ | ||||||
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.
F-6
PATHFINDER ACQUISITION CORPORATION
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Note 1 — Description of Organization and Business Operations
Pathfinder Acquisition Corporation (the “Company”) is a blank check company incorporated as a Cayman Islands exempted company on December 18, 2020. The Company was incorporated for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses that the Company has not yet identified (“Business Combination”).
As of December 31, 2021, the Company had not yet commenced operations. All activity for the period from December 18, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020 relates to the Company’s formation and the initial public offering (the “Initial Public Offering”), which is described below, and since the Company’s Initial Public Offering, the search for a business combination target. The Company will not generate any operating revenues until after the completion of its initial Business Combination, at the earliest. The Company will generate non-operating income in the form of interest income from the proceeds derived from the Initial Public Offering.
The Company’s
sponsor is Pathfinder Acquisition LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (“Sponsor”). The registration statement for
the Company’s Initial Public Offering was declared effective on February 16, 2021. On February 19, 2021, the Company
consummated its Initial Public Offering of
Simultaneously with the
closing of the Initial Public Offering, the Company consummated the private placement (“Private Placement”) of
Upon the closing of the Initial Public Offering
and the Private Placement, $
The
Company’s management has broad discretion with respect to the specific application of the net proceeds of its Initial Public
Offering and the sale of Private Placement Warrants, although substantially all of the net proceeds are intended to be applied
generally toward consummating a Business Combination. The Company’s initial Business Combination must be with one or more
operating businesses or assets with a fair market value equal to at least
F-7
The Company will provide its holders (the “Public
Shareholders”) of the Public Shares with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their Public Shares upon the completion of
a Business Combination either (i) in connection with a general meeting called to approve the Business Combination or (ii) by means of
a tender offer. The decision as to whether the Company will seek shareholder approval of a Business Combination or conduct a tender offer
will be made by the Company. The Public Shareholders will be entitled to redeem their Public Shares for a pro rata portion of the amount
then in the Trust Account (initially anticipated to be $
Notwithstanding
the foregoing, the Company’s Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association provides that a Public Shareholder,
together with any affiliate of such shareholder or any other person with whom such shareholder is acting in concert or as a “group”
(as defined under Section 13 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”)), will be restricted
from redeeming its shares with respect to more than an aggregate of
The
Company’s Sponsor, officers and directors agreed not to propose an amendment to the Company’s Amended and Restated
Memorandum and Articles of Association (A) to modify the substance or timing of the Company’s obligation to allow the redemption
of its Public Shares in connection with a Business Combination or to redeem
If
the Company is unable to complete a Business Combination within 24 months from the closing of the Initial Public Offering, or
February 19, 2023 (the “Combination Period”), the Company will (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of
winding up; (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the Public Shares,
at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the Trust Account, including interest
earned on the funds held in the Trust Account and not previously released to the Company to pay its taxes, if any (less up to
$
F-8
The Initial Shareholders agreed to waive their
liquidation rights with respect to the Founder Shares if the Company fails to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period.
However, if the Initial Shareholders should acquire Public Shares in or after the Initial Public Offering, they will be entitled to liquidating
distributions from the Trust Account with respect to such Public Shares if the Company fails to complete a Business Combination within
the Combination Period. The underwriters agreed to waive their rights to their deferred underwriting commission (see Note 6) held in the
Trust Account in the event the Company does not complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period and, in such event, such
amounts will be included with the funds held in the Trust Account that will be available to fund the redemption of the Company’s
Public Shares. In the event of such distribution, it is possible that the per share value of the residual assets remaining available for
distribution in the Trust Account will be less than the $
Termination of Proposed Business Combination
On July 15, 2021, the Company entered into a Business Combination Agreement (the “Original Business Combination Agreement”), by and among the Company, ServiceMax, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“ServiceMax”), and Stronghold Merger Sub, Inc., a Cayman Islands exempted company incorporated with limited liability and a wholly owned subsidiary of ServiceMax. On August 11, 2021, the Company, ServiceMax and Serve Merger Sub, Inc., a Delaware corporation and wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company (“Merger Sub”), entered into an Amended and Restated Business Combination Agreement (the “Business Combination Agreement”), pursuant to which Merger Sub would be merged with and into ServiceMax, with ServiceMax surviving as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pathfinder (the “Business Combination”).
On December 6, 2021, the Company and ServiceMax entered into a Termination Agreement (the “Termination Agreement”), effective as of such date, pursuant to which the parties agreed to mutually terminate the Business Combination Agreement due to unfavorable market conditions. The termination of the Business Combination Agreement is effective as of December 6, 2021.
As a result of the termination of the Business Combination Agreement, the Business Combination Agreement is of no further force and effect, and certain transaction agreements entered into in connection with the Business Combination Agreement, including, but not limited to, (i) the Second Amended and Restated Sponsor Letter Agreement, dated as of October 19, 2021, by and among the Company, ServiceMax, Pathfinder Acquisition, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (the “Sponsor”), and the other parties thereto, (ii) the Registration and Shareholder Rights Agreement, dated as of August 11, 2021, between Pathfinder, the Sponsor, ServiceMax, Silver Lake Technology Management, L.L.C., and certain other equityholders of ServiceMax JV, LP, a Delaware limited partnership and the parent entity of ServiceMax, and (iii) the Amended and Restated Subscription Agreements, dated August 11, 2021, between the Company, ServiceMax and certain investors, will either be terminated or no longer be effective, as applicable, in accordance with their respective terms.
For additional information regarding the agreement, see the Company’s Current Reports on Form 8-K filed by us on July 19, 2021 and August 12, 2021, and the withdrawal of Company’s registration statement on Form S-4 (as amended) on December 6, 2021.
Liquidity and Capital Resources and Going Concern
As
of December 31, 2021, the Company had approximately $
F-9
In connection with the Company’s assessment of going concern considerations in accordance with FASB ASC Topic 205-40, “Presentation of Financial Statement—Going Concern,” management has determined that working capital needs, the mandatory liquidation and subsequent dissolution raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. These consolidated financial statements do not include any adjustments relating to the recovery of the recorded assets or the classification of the liabilities that might be necessary should the Company be unable to continue as a going concern. The Company intends to complete a business combination by February 19, 2023.
Prior to the completion of the Initial Public
Offering, the Company’s liquidity needs had been satisfied through the payment of $
Note 2 – Restatement of Previously Filed Balance Sheet
The Company concluded it should restate its previously issued financial statements to classify all Class A ordinary shares subject to redemption in temporary equity and to classify its outstanding warrants as liabilities.
In accordance with ASC 480-10-S99,
redemption provisions not solely within the control of the Company require shares subject to redemption to be classified outside of permanent
equity. The Company had previously classified a portion of its Class A ordinary shares in permanent equity. Although the Company did not
specify a maximum redemption threshold, its charter currently provides that the Company will not redeem its Public Shares in an amount
that would cause its net tangible assets to be less than $
In accordance with FASB ASC Topic 340, “Other Assets and Deferred Costs,” as a result of the classification of the Warrants as derivative liabilities, the Company expensed a portion of the offering costs originally recorded as a reduction in equity. The portion of offering costs that was expensed was determined based on the relative fair value of the Public Warrants and shares of Class A ordinary shares included in the Units.
In accordance with SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 99, “Materiality,” and SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 108, “Considering the Effects of Prior Year Misstatements when Quantifying Misstatements in Current Year Financial Statements,” the Company evaluated the corrections and has determined that the related impact was material to the previously filed balance sheet that contained the error, reported in the Company’s Form 8-K filed with the SEC on February 25, 2021 (the “Post-IPO Balance Sheet”). Therefore, the Company, in consultation with its Audit Committee, concluded that the Post-IPO Balance Sheet should be restated to present all outstanding shares of Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption as temporary equity, to recognize accretion from the initial book value to redemption value at the time of its Initial Public Offering, and to classify all outstanding Warrants as liabilities. The previously presented Post-IPO Balance Sheet and should no longer be relied upon.
F-10
The following tables summarize the effect of the revision on each financial statement line item as of the date indicated:
| As of February 19, 2021 | As Previously Reported | Adjustment | As Restated | |||||||||
| Total assets | $ | $ | ||||||||||
| Total current liabilities | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||
| Deferred underwriting commissions | ||||||||||||
| Derivative warrant liabilities | ||||||||||||
| Total liabilities | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||
| Class A ordinary shares subject to redemption | ||||||||||||
| Preference shares | ||||||||||||
| Class A ordinary shares | ( | ) | - | |||||||||
| Class B ordinary shares | - | |||||||||||
| Additional paid-in capital | ( | ) | - | |||||||||
| Accumulated deficit | ( | ) | ( | ) | ( | ) | ||||||
| Total shareholders’ equity (deficit) | $ | $ | ( | ) | $ | ( | ) | |||||
| Total Liabilities, Class A Ordinary Shares Subject to Possible Redemption and Shareholders’ Equity (Deficit) | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||
Note 3 — Basis of Presentation and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies
Basis of Presentation
The accompanying consolidated financial statements are presented in U.S. dollars in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”) for financial information and pursuant to the rules and regulations of the SEC.
Principles of Consolidation
The consolidated financial statements of the Company include its wholly-owned subsidiaries in connection with the Proposed Business Combination. All inter-company accounts and transactions are eliminated in consolidation.
Emerging Growth Company
The Company is an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act, as modified by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the “JOBS Act”), and it may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in its periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved.
Further, Section 102(b)(1) of the JOBS Act exempts emerging growth companies from being required to comply with new or revised financial accounting standards until private companies (that is, those that have not had a Securities Act registration statement declared effective or do not have a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act) are required to comply with the new or revised financial accounting standards. The JOBS Act provides that an emerging growth 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. The Company has elected not to opt out of such extended transition period, which means that when a standard is issued or revised and it has different application dates for public or private companies, the Company, as an emerging growth company, can adopt the new or revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new or revised standard. This may make comparison of the Company’s consolidated financial statements with another public company that is neither an emerging growth company nor an emerging growth company that has opted out of using the extended transition period difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accounting standards used.
Use of Estimates
The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the consolidated financial statements and the reported amounts of income and expenses during the reporting period. Making estimates requires management to exercise significant judgment. It is at least reasonably possible that the estimate of the effect of a condition, situation or set of circumstances that existed at the date of the consolidated financial statements, which management considered in formulating its estimate, could change in the near term due to one or more future confirming events. One of the more significant accounting estimates included in these financial statements is the determination of the fair value of the warrant liability. Such estimates may be subject to change as more current information becomes available and accordingly the actual results could differ significantly from those estimates.
F-11
Cash and Cash Equivalents
The Company considers all short-term investments with an original maturity of three months or less when purchased to be cash equivalents. The Company had no cash equivalents as of December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020.
Investments Held in the Trust Account
The Company’s portfolio of investments held in the Trust Account is comprised of U.S. government securities, within the meaning set forth in Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act, with a maturity of 185 days or less, or investments in money market funds that invest in U.S. government securities, or a combination thereof. The Company’s investments held in the Trust Account are classified as trading securities. Trading securities are presented on the consolidated balance sheets at fair value at the end of each reporting period. Gains and losses resulting from the change in fair value of these securities is included in income from investments held in Trust Account in the accompanying consolidated statements of operations. The estimated fair values of investments held in the Trust Account are determined using available market information.
Concentration of Credit Risk
Financial
instruments that potentially subject the Company to concentrations of credit risk consist of cash accounts in a financial institution,
which, at times, may exceed the Federal Depository Insurance Corporation coverage limit of $
Fair Value of Financial Instruments
The fair value of the Company’s assets and liabilities which qualify as financial instruments under the FASB ASC Topic 820, “Fair Value Measurements” approximate the carrying amounts represented in the consolidated balance sheets, except for derivative warrant liabilities (see note 10).
Fair Value Measurements
Fair value is defined as the price that would be received for sale of an asset or paid for transfer of a liability, in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. GAAP establishes a three-tier fair value hierarchy, which prioritizes the inputs used in measuring fair value. The hierarchy gives the highest priority to unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities (Level 1 measurements) and the lowest priority to unobservable inputs (Level 3 measurements). These tiers consist of:
| ● | Level 1, defined as observable inputs such as quoted prices (unadjusted) for identical instruments in active markets; |
| ● | Level 2, defined as inputs other than quoted prices in active markets that are either directly or indirectly observable such as quoted prices for similar instruments in active markets or quoted prices for identical or similar instruments in markets that are not active; and |
| ● | Level 3, defined as unobservable inputs in which little or no market data exists, therefore requiring an entity to develop its own assumptions, such as valuations derived from valuation techniques in which one or more significant inputs or significant value drivers are unobservable. |
In some circumstances, the inputs used to measure fair value might be categorized within different levels of the fair value hierarchy. In those instances, the fair value measurement is categorized in its entirety in the fair value hierarchy based on the lowest level input that is significant to the fair value measurement.
F-12
Derivative Warrant Liabilities
The Company does not use derivative instruments to hedge exposures to cash flow, market, or foreign currency risks. The Company evaluates all of its financial instruments, including issued stock purchase warrants, to determine if such instruments are derivatives or contain features that qualify as embedded derivatives, pursuant to FASB ASC Topic 480 “Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity” (“ASC 480”) and FASB ASC Topic 815, “Derivatives and Hedging” (“ASC 815”). The classification of derivative instruments, including whether such instruments should be recorded as liabilities or as equity, is re-assessed at the end of each reporting period.
The warrants issued in connection with the Initial Public Offering (the “Public Warrants”) and the Private Placement Warrants are recognized as derivative liabilities in accordance with ASC 815. Accordingly, the Company recognizes the warrant instruments as liabilities at fair value and adjusts the carrying value of the instruments to fair value at each reporting period until they are exercised or expire. The initial fair value of the Public Warrants issued in connection with the Public Offering and the fair value of the Private Placement Warrants have been estimated using a binomial lattice model in a risk-neutral framework. The fair value of the Public Warrants as of December 31, 2021 is based on observable listed prices for such warrants. As the transfer of Private Placement Warrants to anyone who is not a permitted transferee would result in the Private Placement Warrants having substantially the same terms as the Public Warrants, the Company determined that the fair value of each Private Placement Warrant is equivalent to that of each Public Warrant. Derivative warrant liabilities are classified as non-current liabilities as their liquidation is not reasonably expected to require the use of current assets or require the creation of current liabilities.
Offering Costs Associated with the Initial Public Offering
Offering costs consisted of legal, accounting, underwriting fees and other costs incurred through the Initial Public Offering that were directly related to the Initial Public Offering. Offering costs were allocated to the separable financial instruments issued in the Initial Public Offering based on a relative fair value basis, compared to total proceeds received. Offering costs associated with derivative warrant liabilities were expensed as incurred and presented as non-operating expenses in the consolidated statements of operations. Offering costs associated with the Class A ordinary shares issued were charged against the carrying value of the Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption upon the completion of the Initial Public Offering. The Company classifies deferred underwriting commissions as non-current liabilities as their liquidation is not reasonably expected to require the use of current assets or require the creation of current liabilities.
Class A Ordinary Shares Subject to Possible Redemption
The
Company accounts for its Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption in accordance with the guidance in ASC Topic 480
“Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity.” Class A ordinary shares subject to mandatory redemption (if any) is classified
as liability instruments and are measured at fair value. Conditionally redeemable Class A ordinary shares (including Class A ordinary
shares that features redemption rights that are either within the control of the holder or subject to redemption upon the occurrence
of uncertain events not solely within the Company’s control) are classified as temporary equity. At all other times, Class
A ordinary shares is classified as shareholders’ equity. The Company’s Class A ordinary shares feature certain redemption
rights that are considered to be outside of the Company’s control and subject to the occurrence of uncertain future events.
Accordingly,
The Company recognizes changes in redemption value immediately as they occur and adjusts the carrying value of the Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption to equal the redemption value at the end of each reporting period. This method would view the end of the reporting period as if it were also the redemption date for the security. Effective with the closing of the Initial Public Offering, the Company recognized the accretion from initial book value to redemption amount, which resulted in charges against additional paid-in capital (to the extent available) and accumulated deficit.
F-13
Net income (loss) per ordinary share
The Company complies with accounting and disclosure requirements of FASB ASC Topic 260, “Earnings Per Share.” The Company has two classes of shares, which are referred to as Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares. Income and losses are shared pro rata between the two classes of shares. Net income (loss) per ordinary share is calculated by dividing the net income (loss) by the weighted average shares of ordinary shares outstanding for the respective period.
The
calculation of diluted net income (loss) does not consider the effect of the warrants underlying the Units sold in the Initial
Public Offering (including the Over-allotment Units) and the private placement warrants to purchase an aggregate of
The Company has considered the effect of Class B ordinary shares that were excluded from weighted average number as they were contingent on the exercise of the over-allotment option by the underwriters. Since the contingency was satisfied, the Company included these shares in the weighted average number as of the beginning of the interim period to determine the dilutive impact of these shares.
The following table reflects presents a reconciliation of the numerator and denominator used to compute basic and diluted net income (loss) per share of ordinary shares:
| For the Year Ended December 31, 2021 | ||||||||
| Class A | Class B | |||||||
| Basic net income per ordinary share: | ||||||||
| Numerator: | ||||||||
| Allocation of net income | $ | $ | ||||||
| Denominator: | ||||||||
| Basic weighted average ordinary shares outstanding | ||||||||
| Basic net income per ordinary share | $ | $ | ||||||
| For the Year Ended December 31, 2021 | ||||||||
| Class A | Class B | |||||||
| Diluted net income per ordinary share: | ||||||||
| Numerator: | ||||||||
| Allocation of net income | $ | $ | ||||||
| Denominator: | ||||||||
| Diluted weighted average ordinary shares outstanding | ||||||||
| Diluted net income per ordinary share | $ | $ | ||||||
F-14
| For
the Period from December 18, 2020 (Inception) through December 31, 2020 |
||||||||
| Class A | Class B | |||||||
| Basic and diluted net loss per ordinary share: | ||||||||
| Numerator: | ||||||||
| Allocation of net loss | $ | $ | ( |
) | ||||
| Denominator: | ||||||||
| Basic and diluted weighted average ordinary shares outstanding | ||||||||
| Basic and diluted net loss per ordinary share | $ | $ | ( |
) | ||||
Income Taxes
The Company complies with the accounting and reporting requirements of FASB ASC Topic 740, “Income Taxes” (“ASC 740”), which prescribes a recognition threshold and a measurement attribute for the financial statement recognition and measurement of tax positions taken or expected to be taken in a tax return. For those benefits to be recognized, a tax position must be more likely than not to be sustained upon examination by taxing authorities. The Company’s management determined that the Cayman Islands is the Company’s only major tax jurisdiction. The Company recognizes accrued interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits as income tax expense. There were no unrecognized tax benefits and no amounts accrued for interest and penalties as of December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020. The Company is currently not aware of any issues under review that could result in significant payments, accruals or material deviation from its position.
There is currently no taxation imposed on income by the Government of the Cayman Islands. In accordance with Cayman federal income tax regulations, income taxes are not levied on the Company. Consequently, income taxes are not reflected in the Company’s consolidated financial statements. The Company’s management does not expect that the total amount of unrecognized tax benefits will materially change over the next twelve months.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
In August 2020, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) No. 2020-06, “Debt—Debt with Conversion and Other Options (Subtopic 470-20) and Derivatives and Hedging—Contracts in Entity’s Own Equity (Subtopic 815-40): Accounting for Convertible Instruments and Contracts in an Entity’s Own Equity” (“ASU 2020-06”), which simplifies accounting for convertible instruments by removing major separation models required under current GAAP. The ASU also removes certain settlement conditions that are required for equity-linked contracts to qualify for the derivative scope exception, and it simplifies the diluted earnings per share calculation in certain areas. The Company adopted ASU 2020-06 on January 1, 2021 using a modified retrospective method for transition. Adoption of the ASU did not impact the Company’s financial position, results of operations or cash flows.
The Company’s management does not believe that any other recently issued, but not yet effective, accounting standards updates, if currently adopted, would have a material effect on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.
Note 4 — Initial Public Offering
On
February 19, 2021, the Company consummated its Initial Public Offering of
F-15
Note 5 — Related Party Transactions
Founder Shares
On
December 28, 2020, the Sponsor paid an aggregate of $
The Initial Shareholders agreed not to transfer, assign or sell any of their Founder Shares until the earlier to occur of: (A) one year after the completion of the initial Business Combination or earlier if, subsequent to the initial Business Combination, the closing price of the Class A ordinary share equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for share sub-divisions, capitalization of shares, share dividends, rights issuances, subdivisions reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after the initial Business Combination, and (B) the date following the completion of the initial Business Combination on which the Company completes a liquidation, merger, share exchange or other similar transaction that results in all of the Company’s shareholders having the right to exchange their Class A ordinary shares for cash, securities or other property.
Private Placement Warrants
Simultaneously
with the closing of the Initial Public Offering, the Company consummated the Private Placement of
Each
whole Private Placement Warrant is exercisable for one whole Class A ordinary share at a price of $
The Sponsor and the Company’s officers and directors agreed, subject to limited exceptions, not to transfer, assign or sell any of their Private Placement Warrants until 30 days after the completion of the initial Business Combination.
Related Party Loans
On December 23, 2020, the Sponsor agreed to loan
the Company up to $
In
addition, in order to fund working capital deficiencies or finance transaction costs in connection with a Business Combination,
the Sponsor or an affiliate of the Sponsor, or certain of the Company’s officers and directors will loan the Company funds
as may be required (“Working Capital Loans”). If the Company completes a Business Combination, the Company may repay
the Working Capital Loans out of the proceeds of the Trust Account released to the Company. Otherwise, the Working Capital Loans
may be repaid only out of funds held outside the Trust Account. In the event that a Business Combination does not close, the Company
may use a portion of proceeds held outside the Trust Account to repay the Working Capital Loans but no proceeds held in the Trust
Account would be used to repay the Working Capital Loans.
F-16
Promissory Note
On July 15, 2021, the Company issued a promissory
note (the “Promissory Note”) to the Sponsor providing for borrowings by the Company in an aggregate principal amount of up
to $
Administrative Services Agreement
Commencing
on the date that the Company’s securities were first listed on Nasdaq through the earlier of consummation of the initial
Business Combination and the liquidation, the Company agreed to pay the Sponsor $
In addition, the Sponsor, officers and directors, or any of their
respective affiliates will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on the Company’s
behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable Business Combinations. The audit committee
will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made by the Company to the Sponsor, officers or directors, or the Company’s
or their affiliates. Any such payments prior to an initial Business Combination will be made from funds held outside the Trust Account.
As of December 31, 2021 there was approximately $
Note 6 — Commitments and Contingencies
Registration and Shareholder Rights
The holders of the Founder Shares, Private Placement Warrants and warrants that may be issued upon conversion of Working Capital Loans (and any Class A ordinary shares issuable upon the exercise of the Private Placement Warrants and warrants that may be issued upon conversion of Working Capital Loans) are entitled to registration rights pursuant to a registration and shareholder rights agreement entered into on the effective date of the Initial Public Offering. The holders of these securities are entitled to make up to three demands, excluding short form demands, that the Company registers such securities. In addition, the holders have certain “piggy-back” registration rights with respect to registration statements filed subsequent to the completion of the initial Business Combination. The Company will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such registration statements.
Underwriting Agreement
The
underwriters were entitled to an underwriting discount of $
Risks and Uncertainties
Management continues to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and has concluded that while it is reasonably possible that the virus could have a negative effect on the Company’s financial position, results of its operations, and/or search for a target company, the specific impact is not readily determinable as of the date of these consolidated financial statements. The consolidated financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.
Consulting Agreements
The Company has an agreement with third party consultant to provide certain
advisory services to the Company relating to identification of and negotiation with potential targets, assistance with due diligence,
marketing, financial analyses and investor relations, pursuant to which the consultants have agreed to defer their fees and have
payment of such fees to be solely contingent on the Company closing an initial Business Combination. As of December 31, 2021, the Company
has incurred approximately $
F-17
Note 7 — Class A Ordinary Shares Subject to Possible Redemption
The
Company’s Class A ordinary shares feature certain redemption rights that are considered to be outside of the Company’s
control and subject to the occurrence of future events. The Company is authorized to issue
The Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption reflected on the consolidated balance sheet is reconciled on the following table:
| Gross proceeds | $ | |||
| Less: | ||||
| Fair value of Public Warrants at issuance | ( |
) | ||
| Offering costs allocated to Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption | ( |
) | ||
| Plus: | ||||
| Accretion on Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption amount | ||||
| Class A ordinary shares subject to possible redemption | $ |
Note 8 — Shareholders’ Equity (Deficit)
Preference
Shares — The Company is authorized to issue
Class
A Ordinary Shares — The Company is authorized to issue
Class
B Ordinary Shares — The Company is authorized to issue
Ordinary
shareholders of record are entitled to
The
Class B ordinary shares will automatically convert into Class A ordinary shares at the time of the initial Business Combination
at a ratio such that the number of Class A ordinary shares issuable upon conversion of all Founder Shares will equal, in the aggregate,
on an as-converted basis,
F-18
Note 9 — Warrants
As
of December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020, the Company had
Public Warrants may only be exercised for a whole number of shares. No fractional Public Warrants will be issued upon separation of the Units and only whole Public Warrants will trade. The Public Warrants will become exercisable on the later of (a) 30 days after the completion of a Business Combination and (b) 12 months from the closing of the Initial Public Offering; provided in each case that the Company has an effective registration statement under the Securities Act covering the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the Public 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 the Company permit holders to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis under certain circumstances). The Company agreed that as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 20 business days after the closing of the initial Business Combination, the Company will use commercially reasonable efforts to file with the SEC a registration statement covering the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants and to maintain a current prospectus relating to those Class A ordinary shares until the warrants expire or are redeemed, as specified in the warrant agreement relating to the Public Warrants. If a registration statement covering the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants is not effective by the 60th day after the closing of the initial Business Combination, warrant holders may, until such time as there is an effective registration statement and during any period when the Company will have failed to maintain an effective registration statement, exercise warrants on a “cashless basis” in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act or another exemption. Notwithstanding the above, if the Class A ordinary shares are at the time of any exercise of a warrant not listed on a national securities exchange such that they satisfy the definition of a “covered security” under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act, the Company may, at its option, require holders of Public Warrants who exercise their warrants to do so on a “cashless basis” and, in the event the Company so elects, the Company will not be required to file or maintain in effect a registration statement, and in the event the Company does not so elect, it will use commercially reasonable efforts to register or qualify the shares under applicable blue sky laws to the extent an exemption is not available.
The
warrants have an exercise price of $
The Private Placement Warrants are identical to the Public Warrants underlying the Units sold in the Initial Public Offering, except (i) that the Private Placement Warrants and the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the Private Placement Warrants will not be transferable, assignable or salable until 30 days after the completion of a Business Combination, subject to certain limited exceptions, (ii) except as described below, the Private Placement Warrants will be non-redeemable so long as they are held by the Sponsor or its permitted transferees and (iii) the Sponsor or its permitted transferees will have the option to exercise the Private Placement Warrants on a cashless basis and have certain registration rights. If the Private Placement Warrants are held by someone other than the Sponsor or its permitted transferees, the Private Placement Warrants will be redeemable by the Company in all redemption scenarios and exercisable by such holders on the same basis as the Public Warrants.
F-19
Redemption of warrants when the price per Class A ordinary share equals or exceeds $18.00:
Once the warrants become exercisable, the Company may redeem the outstanding warrants (except as described herein with respect to the Private Placement Warrants):
| ● | in whole and not in part; |
| ● | at a price of $0.01 per warrant; |
| ● | upon a minimum of 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption to each warrant holder; and |
The Company will not redeem the warrants as described above unless a registration statement under the Securities Act covering the issuance of the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants is then effective and a current prospectus relating to those Class A ordinary shares is available throughout the 30-day redemption period.
Redemption of warrants when the price per Class A ordinary share equals or exceeds $10.00:
Once the warrants become exercisable, the Company may redeem the outstanding warrants (except as described herein with respect to the Private Placement 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 Class A ordinary shares to be determined by reference to an agreed table based on the redemption date and the “fair market value” of Class A ordinary shares; |
| ● | if, and only if, the closing price of Class A ordinary shares equals or exceeds $10.00 per share (as adjusted) for any 20 trading days within the 30-trading day period ending three trading days before the Company sends the notice of redemption to the warrant holders; and |
The
“fair market value” of Class A ordinary shares for the above purpose shall mean the volume weighted average price
of Class A ordinary shares during the 10 trading days immediately following the date on which the notice of redemption is sent
to the holders of warrants. In no event will the warrants be exercisable on a cashless basis in connection with this redemption
feature for more than
If the Company is unable to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period and the Company liquidates the funds held in the Trust Account, holders of warrants will not receive any of such funds with respect to their warrants, nor will they receive any distribution from the Company’s assets held outside of the Trust Account with the respect to such warrants. Accordingly, the warrants may expire worthless.
F-20
Note 10 — Fair Value Measurements
The following table presents information about the Company’s assets and liabilities that are measured at fair value on a recurring basis as of December 31, 2021 and indicates the fair value hierarchy of the valuation techniques that the Company utilized to determine such fair value.
| Description | Quoted
Prices in Active Markets (Level 1) |
Significant
Other Observable Inputs (Level 2) |
Significant
Other Unobservable Inputs (Level 3) |
|||||||||
| Assets: | ||||||||||||
| Investments held in Trust Account - Money market fund | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||
| Liabilities: | ||||||||||||
| Derivative warrant liabilities - Public warrants | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||
| Derivative warrant liabilities - Private placement warrants | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||
As of December 31, 2020, there were no assets or liabilities that are measured at fair value on a recurring basis.
Level 1 assets include investments in money market funds that invest solely in U.S. Treasury securities with an original maturity of 185 days or less. The Company uses inputs such as actual trade data, quoted market prices from dealers or brokers, and other similar sources to determine the fair value of its investments.
Transfers to/from Levels 1, 2, and 3 are recognized at the beginning of the reporting period. The estimated fair value of Public Warrants were transferred from a Level 3 measurement to a Level 1 measurement in April 2021, when the Public Warrants were separately listed and traded in an active market. Subsequently in December 2021, the estimated fair value of Public Warrants were transferred from a Level 1 measurement to Level 2 measurement. The estimated fair value of the Private Warrants was transferred from a Level 3 measurement to a Level 2 fair value measurement in April 2021, as the transfer of Private Placement Warrants to anyone who is not a permitted transferee would result in the Private Placement Warrants having substantially the same terms as the Public Warrants, the Company determined that the fair value of each Private Placement Warrant is equivalent to that of each Public Warrant. There were no other transfers to/from Levels 1, 2, and 3 during the year ended December 31, 2021.
The initial fair value of the Public and Private Placement Warrants, issued in connection with the Public Offering, has been estimated using a binomial lattice model. For periods subsequent to the detachment of the Public Warrants from the Units, the Public Warrants’ listed price in an active market was used as the fair value. The estimated fair value of the Public and Private Placement Warrants, prior to Public Warrants being traded in an active market, is determined using Level 3 inputs. Inherent in a binomial lattice model are assumptions related to the Unit price, expected volatility, risk-free interest rate, term to expiration, and dividend yield. The Unit price is based on the publicly traded price of the Units as of the measurement date. The Company estimated the volatility for the Public and Private Placement Warrants based on the implied volatility from the traded prices of warrants issued by other special purpose acquisition companies. The risk-free interest rate is based on interpolated U.S. Treasury rates, commensurate with a similar term to the Public and Private Placement Warrants. The term to expiration was calculated as the contractual term of the Public and Private Placement Warrants, assuming one year to a Business Combination from the IPO date. Finally, the Company does not anticipate paying a dividend. The most significant input was volatility and significant increases (decreases) in the expected volatility in isolation would result in a significantly higher (lower) fair value measurement.
The change in the fair value of the derivative warrant liabilities, measured using Level 3 inputs, for the year ended December 31, 2021 is summarized as follows:
| Derivative warrant liabilities at January 1, 2021 | $ | |||
| Issuance of Public and Private Warrants | ||||
| Transfer of Public Warrants to Level 1 | ( |
) | ||
| Transfer of Private Warrants to Level 2 | ( |
) | ||
| Change in fair value of derivative warrant liabilities | ( |
) | ||
| Derivative warrant liabilities at December 31, 2021 | $ |
Note 11 — Subsequent Events
The Company has evaluated subsequent events and transactions that occurred after the balance sheet date and up to the date consolidated financial statements were available to be issued. Based upon this review, except as noted in Note 1, the Company did not identify any subsequent events that would have required adjustment or disclosure in the consolidated financial statements.
In February 2022, the Russian Federation and Belarus commenced a military action with the country of Ukraine. As a result of this action, various nations, including the United States, have instituted economic sanctions against the Russian Federation and Belarus. Further, the impact of this action and related sanctions on the world economy are not determinable as of the date of these financial statements. The specific impact on the Company’s financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows is also not determinable as of the date of these financial statements.
F-21