EX-5.1 2 microcloud_ex5-1.htm EXHIBIT 5.1

 

Exhibit 5.1

 

 

 

Our ref: SQG/813280-000001/28574413v2

 

 

24 January 2024

 

MicroCloud Hologram Inc.

 

We have acted as counsel as to Cayman Islands law to MicroCloud Hologram Inc. (the “Company”) in connection with the entry by the Company into the Transaction Documents (as defined below) and its issue of certain convertible promissory notes (the “Notes”) with a principal amount of US$9,500,000 to the Purchasers which are convertible into certain ordinary shares of a par value of US$0.0001 each in the capital of the Company upon the terms and subject to the limitations and conditions set forth in the Notes.

 

1Documents Reviewed

 

We have reviewed originals, copies, drafts or conformed copies of the following documents:

 

1.1The certificate of incorporation dated 9 May 2018 and the certificate of incorporation on change of name of the Company dated 16 September 2022 issued by the Registrar of Companies in the Cayman Islands.

 

1.2The amended and restated memorandum and articles of association of the Company as adopted by a special resolution passed on 8 September 2022 (the “Memorandum and Articles”).

 

1.3The written resolutions of the board of directors of the Company dated 23 January 2024 (the “Resolutions”) and the corporate records of the Company maintained at its registered office in the Cayman Islands.

 

1.4A certificate of good standing with respect to the Company issued by the Registrar of Companies dated 24 January 2024 (the “Certificate of Good Standing”).

 

 

 

 

 

 

1.5A certificate from a director of the Company a copy of which is attached to this opinion letter (the “Director’s Certificate”).

 

1.6The transaction documents listed in the Schedule (the “Transaction Documents”).

 

2Assumptions

 

The following opinions are given only as to, and based on, circumstances and matters of fact existing and known to us on the date of this opinion letter. These opinions only relate to the laws of the Cayman Islands which are in force on the date of this opinion letter. In giving the following opinions, we have relied (without further verification) upon the completeness and accuracy, as at the date of this opinion letter, of the Director’s Certificate and the Certificate of Good Standing. We have also relied upon the following assumptions, which we have not independently verified:

 

2.1The Transaction Documents and the Notes have been or will be authorised and duly executed and unconditionally delivered by or on behalf of all relevant parties in accordance with all relevant laws (other than, with respect to the Company, the laws of the Cayman Islands).

 

2.2The Transaction Documents and the Notes are, or will be, legal, valid, binding and enforceable against all relevant parties in accordance with their terms under the laws of New York (the “Relevant Law”) and all other relevant laws (other than, with respect to the Company, the laws of the Cayman Islands).

 

2.3The choice of the Relevant Law as the governing law of the Transaction Documents and the Notes has been made in good faith and would be regarded as a valid and binding selection which will be upheld by the courts of New York (the “Relevant Jurisdiction”) and any other relevant jurisdiction (other than the Cayman Islands) as a matter of the Relevant Law and all other relevant laws (other than the laws of the Cayman Islands).

 

2.4Where a Transaction Document has been provided to us in draft or undated form, it will be duly executed, dated and unconditionally delivered by all parties thereto in materially the same form as the last version provided to us and, where we have been provided with successive drafts of a Transaction Document marked to show changes to a previous draft, all such changes have been accurately marked.

 

2.5Copies of documents, conformed copies or drafts of documents provided to us are true and complete copies of, or in the final forms of, the originals, and translations of documents provided to us are complete and accurate.

 

2.6All signatures, initials and seals are genuine.

 

2.7The capacity, power, authority and legal right of all parties under all relevant laws and regulations (other than, with respect to the Company, the laws and regulations of the Cayman Islands) to enter into, execute, unconditionally deliver and perform their respective obligations under the Transaction Documents.

 

2.8There is no contractual or other prohibition or restriction (other than as arising under Cayman Islands law) binding on the Company prohibiting or restricting it from entering into and performing its obligations under the Transaction Documents and the Notes.

 

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2.9The Notes will be issued and authenticated in accordance with the provisions of the Note Purchase Agreements (as defined below).

 

2.10No monies paid to or for the account of any party under the Transaction Documents or any property received or disposed of by any party to the Transaction Documents in each case in connection with the Transaction Documents or the consummation of the transactions contemplated thereby represent or will represent proceeds of criminal conduct or criminal property or terrorist property (as defined in the Proceeds of Crime Act (As Revised) and the Terrorism Act (As Revised), respectively).

 

2.11No invitation has been or will be made by or on behalf of the Company to the public in the Cayman Islands to subscribe for the Notes.

 

2.12There is nothing under any law (other than the laws of the Cayman Islands) which would or might affect the opinions set out below. Specifically, we have made no independent investigation of the Relevant Law.

 

2.13The Court Register constitutes a complete record of the proceedings before the Grand Court as at the time of the Litigation Search (as those terms are defined below).

 

3Opinions

 

Based upon, and subject to, the foregoing assumptions and the qualifications set out below, and having regard to such legal considerations as we deem relevant, we are of the opinion that:

 

3.1The Company has been duly incorporated as an exempted company with limited liability and is validly existing and in good standing with the Registrar of Companies under the laws of the Cayman Islands.

 

3.2The Company has all requisite power and authority under the Memorandum and Articles to enter into, execute and perform its obligations under the Transaction Documents and the Notes.

 

3.3The execution and delivery of the Transaction Documents do not, and the issue and offer of the Notes and the performance by the Company of its obligations under the Transaction Documents will not, conflict with or result in a breach of any of the terms or provisions of the Memorandum and Articles or any law, public rule or regulation applicable to the Company currently in force in the Cayman Islands.

 

3.4The execution, delivery and performance of the Transaction Documents have been authorised by and on behalf of the Company and, upon the execution and unconditional delivery of the Transaction Documents by an Authorized Officer (as defined in the Board Resolutions) for and on behalf of the Company, the Transaction Documents will have been duly executed and delivered on behalf of the Company and will constitute the legal, valid and binding obligations of the Company enforceable in accordance with their terms.

 

3.5The Notes have been duly authorised by the Company and when the Notes are signed in fax or manually by a director on behalf of the Company and, if appropriate, authenticated in the manner set forth in the Note Purchase Agreements and delivered against due payment therefor will be duly executed, issued and delivered and will constitute the legal, valid and binding obligations of the Company enforceable in accordance with their respective terms.

 

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3.6No authorisations, consents, approvals, licences, validations or exemptions are required by law from any governmental authorities or agencies or other official bodies in the Cayman Islands in connection with:

 

(a)the execution, creation or delivery of the Transaction Documents by and on behalf of the Company;

 

(b)subject to the payment of the appropriate stamp duty, enforcement of the Transaction Documents against the Company;

 

(c)the offering, execution, authentication, allotment, issue or delivery of the Notes;

 

(d)the performance by the Company of its obligations under the Notes and the Transaction Documents; or

 

(e)the payment of the principal and interest and any other amounts under the Notes.

 

3.7No taxes, fees or charges (other than stamp duty) are payable (either by direct assessment or withholding) to the government or other taxing authority in the Cayman Islands under the laws of the Cayman Islands in respect of:

 

(a)the execution or delivery of the Transaction Documents or the Notes;

 

(b)the enforcement of the Transaction Documents or the Notes;

 

(c)payments made under, or pursuant to, the Transaction Documents; or

 

(d)the issue, transfer or redemption of the Notes.

 

The Cayman Islands currently has no form of income, corporate or capital gains tax and no estate duty, inheritance tax or gift tax.

 

3.8The courts of the Cayman Islands will observe and give effect to the choice of the Relevant Law as the governing law of the Transaction Documents and the Notes.

 

3.9Based solely on our search of the Register of Writs and Other Originating Process (the “Court Register”) maintained by the Clerk of the Court of the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands (the “Grand Court”) from the date of incorporation of the Company to the close of business (Cayman Islands time) on 22 January 2024 (the “Litigation Search”), the Court Register disclosed no writ, originating summons, originating motion, petition (including any petition for the winding-up of the Company or for the appointment of restructuring officers or interim restructuring officers thereto), counterclaim nor third party notice (“Originating Process”) nor any amended Originating Process pending before the Grand Court, in which the Company is identified as a defendant or respondent.

 

3.10Although there is no statutory enforcement in the Cayman Islands of judgments obtained in the Relevant Jurisdiction, a judgment obtained in such jurisdiction will be recognised and enforced in the courts of the Cayman Islands at common law, without any re-examination of the merits of the underlying dispute, by an action commenced on the foreign judgment debt in the Grand Court, provided such judgment:

 

(a)is given by a foreign court of competent jurisdiction;

 

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(b)imposes on the judgment debtor a liability to pay a liquidated sum for which the judgment has been given;

 

(c)is final;

 

(d)is not in respect of taxes, a fine or a penalty; and

 

(e)was not obtained in a manner and is not of a kind the enforcement of which is contrary to natural justice or the public policy of the Cayman Islands.

 

3.11It is not necessary to ensure the legality, validity, enforceability or admissibility in evidence of the Transaction Documents or the Notes that any document be filed, recorded or enrolled with any governmental authority or agency or any official body in the Cayman Islands.

 

4Qualifications

 

The opinions expressed above are subject to the following qualifications:

 

4.1The obligations assumed by the Company under the Transaction Documents and the Notes will not necessarily be enforceable in all circumstances in accordance with their terms. In particular:

 

(a)enforcement may be limited by bankruptcy, insolvency, liquidation, reorganisation, readjustment of debts or moratorium or other laws of general application relating to, protecting or affecting the rights of creditors and/or contributories;

 

(b)enforcement may be limited by general principles of equity. For example, equitable remedies such as specific performance may not be available, inter alia, where damages are considered to be an adequate remedy;

 

(c)some claims may become barred under relevant statutes of limitation or may be or become subject to defences of set off, counterclaim, estoppel and similar defences;

 

(d)where obligations are to be performed in a jurisdiction outside the Cayman Islands, they may not be enforceable in the Cayman Islands to the extent that performance would be illegal under the laws of that jurisdiction;

 

(e)the courts of the Cayman Islands have jurisdiction to give judgment in the currency of the relevant obligation and statutory rates of interest payable upon judgments will vary according to the currency of the judgment. If the Company becomes insolvent and is made subject to a liquidation proceeding, the courts of the Cayman Islands will require all debts to be proved in a common currency, which is likely to be the “functional currency” of the Company determined in accordance with applicable accounting principles. Currency indemnity provisions have not been tested, so far as we are aware, in the courts of the Cayman Islands;

 

(f)arrangements that constitute penalties will not be enforceable;

 

(g)enforcement may be prevented by reason of fraud, coercion, duress, undue influence, misrepresentation, public policy or mistake or limited by the doctrine of frustration of contracts;

 

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(h)provisions imposing confidentiality obligations may be overridden by compulsion of applicable law or the requirements of legal and/or regulatory process;

 

(i)the courts of the Cayman Islands may decline to exercise jurisdiction in relation to substantive proceedings brought under or in relation to the Transaction Documents in matters where they determine that such proceedings may be tried in a more appropriate forum;

 

(j)any provision in a Transaction Document which is governed by Cayman Islands law purporting to impose obligations on a person who is not a party to such Transaction Document (a “third party”) is unenforceable against that third party. Any provision in a Transaction Document which is governed by Cayman Islands law purporting to grant rights to a third party is unenforceable by that third party, except to the extent that such Transaction Document expressly provides that the third party may, in its own right, enforce such rights (subject to and in accordance with the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act (As Revised) of the Cayman Islands);

 

(k)any provision of a Transaction Document which is governed by Cayman Islands law which expresses any matter to be determined by future agreement may be void or unenforceable;

 

(l)we reserve our opinion as to the enforceability of the relevant provisions of the Transaction Documents to the extent that they purport to grant exclusive jurisdiction as there may be circumstances in which the courts of the Cayman Islands would accept jurisdiction notwithstanding such provisions;

 

(m)a company cannot, by agreement or in its articles of association, restrict the exercise of a statutory power and there is doubt as to the enforceability of any provision in the Transaction Documents whereby the Company covenants to restrict the exercise of powers specifically given to it under the Companies Act (As Revised) of the Cayman Islands (the “Companies Act”), including, without limitation, the power to increase its authorised share capital, amend its memorandum and articles of association or present a petition to a Cayman Islands court for an order to wind up the Company;

 

(n)if the Company becomes subject to Part XVIIA of the Companies Act, enforcement or performance of any provision in the Transaction Documents which relates, directly or indirectly, to an interest in the Company constituting shares, voting rights or director appointment rights in the Company may be prohibited or restricted if any such relevant interest is or becomes subject to a restrictions notice issued under the Companies Act; and

 

(o)enforcement or performance of any provision in the Transaction Documents which relates, directly or indirectly, to an interest in a Cayman Islands company or limited liability company constituting shares, membership interests, voting rights or director or manager appointment rights in respect of such company or limited liability company may be prohibited or restricted if any such relevant interest is or becomes subject to a restrictions notice issued under the Companies Act or the Limited Liability Companies Act (As Revised) (the “LLC Act”).

 

4.2Applicable court fees will be payable in respect of the enforcement of the Transaction Documents.

 

4.3Cayman Islands stamp duty may be payable if the original Transaction Documents are brought to or executed in the Cayman Islands.

 

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4.4To maintain the Company in good standing with the Registrar of Companies under the laws of the Cayman Islands, annual filing fees must be paid and returns made to the Registrar of Companies within the time frame prescribed by law.

 

4.5The Company must make an entry in its register of mortgages and charges in respect of all mortgages and charges created under the Transaction Documents in order to comply with section 54 of the Companies Act; failure by the Company to comply with this requirement does not operate to invalidate any mortgage or charge though it may be in the interests of the secured parties that the Company should comply with the statutory requirements.

 

4.6The obligations of the Company may be subject to restrictions pursuant to:

 

(a)United Nations and United Kingdom sanctions extended to the Cayman Islands by Orders in Council; and

 

(b)sanctions imposed by Cayman Islands authorities under Cayman Islands legislation.

 

4.7A certificate, determination, calculation or designation of any party to the Transaction Documents as to any matter provided therein might be held by a Cayman Islands court not to be conclusive, final and binding if, for example, it could be shown to have an unreasonable or arbitrary basis, or in the event of manifest error.

 

4.8The Litigation Search of the Court Register would not reveal, amongst other things, an Originating Process filed with the Grand Court which, pursuant to the Grand Court Rules or best practice of the Clerk of the Courts’ office, should have been entered in the Court Register but was not in fact entered in the Court Register (properly or at all), or any Originating Process which has been placed under seal or anonymised (whether by order of the Court or pursuant to the practice of the Clerk of the Courts’ office).

 

4.9In principle the courts of the Cayman Islands will award costs and disbursements in litigation in accordance with the relevant contractual provisions but there remains some uncertainty as to the way in which the rules of the Grand Court will be applied in practice. Whilst it is clear that costs incurred prior to judgment can be recovered in accordance with the contract, it is likely that post-judgment costs (to the extent recoverable at all) will be subject to taxation in accordance with Grand Court Rules Order 62.

 

4.10We reserve our opinion as to the extent to which the courts of the Cayman Islands would, in the event of any relevant illegality or invalidity, sever the relevant provisions of the Transaction Documents and enforce the remainder of the Transaction Documents or the transaction of which such provisions form a part, notwithstanding any express provisions in the Transaction Documents in this regard.

 

4.11We express no opinion as to the meaning, validity or effect of any references to foreign (i.e. non-Cayman Islands) statutes, rules, regulations, codes, judicial authority or any other promulgations and any references to them in the Transaction Documents.

 

We express no view as to the commercial terms of the Transaction Documents or whether such terms represent the intentions of the parties and make no comment with regard to warranties or representations that may be made by the Company.

 

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We express no opinion with respect to any direct or indirect acquisition, disposal or exercise of rights by the Company of or in respect of any interest in any property governed by the laws of or situated in the Cayman Islands.

 

The opinions in this opinion letter are strictly limited to the matters contained in the opinions section above and do not extend to any other matters. We have not been asked to review and we therefore have not reviewed any of the ancillary documents relating to the Transaction Documents and express no opinion or observation upon the terms of any such document.

 

This opinion letter is addressed to and for the benefit solely of the addressee and may not be relied upon by any other person for any purpose, nor may it be transmitted or disclosed (in whole or part) to any other person without our prior written consent.

 

Yours faithfully

 

/s/ Maples and Calder (Hong Kong) LLP

 

Maples and Calder (Hong Kong) LLP

 

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