RISK FACTORS SUMMARY
An investment in our securities involves a high degree of risk. The occurrence of one or more of the events or circumstances described in the section titled “Item 1A. Risk Factors,” alone or in combination with other events or circumstances, may materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results. In that event, the trading price of our securities could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment. Such risks include, but are not limited to:
Our public shareholders may not be afforded an opportunity to vote on our 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 effect your investment decision regarding a potential business combination may be limited to the exercise of your right to redeem your shares from us for cash.
If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor, officers and directors 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 could increase the probability that our initial business combination would be unsuccessful and that you would have to wait for liquidation in order to redeem your shares.
The requirement that we complete our initial business combination by May 2, 2024 (or such later date as may be approved by our shareholders), may give potential target businesses leverage over us in negotiating a business combination and may limit the time we have in which to conduct due diligence on potential business combination targets, in particular as we approach our dissolution deadline, which could undermine our ability to complete our initial business combination on terms that would produce value for our shareholders.
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) pandemic and the status of debt and equity markets.
If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor, directors, executive officers, advisors or their affiliates may elect to purchase shares or warrants from public shareholders, which may influence a vote on a proposed business combination and reduce the public “float” of our securities.
If a shareholder fails to receive notice of our offer to redeem our public shares in connection with our initial business combination, or fails to comply with the procedures for submitting or tendering its shares, such shares may not be redeemed.
You will not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors of many other blank check companies.
Because of our limited resources and the significant competition for business combination opportunities, it may be more difficult for us to complete our initial business combination. If we have not completed our initial business combination within the required time period, our public shareholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on our redemption of their shares, and our warrants will expire worthless.
If the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, including as a result of the partial exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option, not being held in the trust account are insufficient to allow us to operate until May 2, 2024 (or such later date as may be approved by our shareholders), it could limit the amount of cash available to fund our search for a target business or businesses and complete our initial business combination, and we will depend on loans from our sponsor or management team to fund our search and to complete our initial business combination.
Past performance by our management team and their affiliates, including investments and transactions in which they have participated and businesses with which they have been associated, may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in the company.
You will not have any rights or interests in funds from the trust account, except under certain limited circumstances. Therefore, to liquidate your investment, you may be forced to sell your public shares or warrants, potentially at a loss.
Nasdaq may delist our securities from trading on its exchange, which could limit investors’ ability to make transactions in our securities and subject us to additional trading restrictions.
We are a blank check company with no operating history and no revenues, and you have no basis on which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective.
In addition to the risks and uncertainties set forth in this report, we face certain material risks and uncertainties related to the Proposed Business Combination. If we succeed in effecting the Proposed Business Combination, we will face additional and different risks and uncertainties related to the business of the combined company. For more information regarding the risk factors related to the Proposed Business Combination, see the Form F-4 filed by Holdco with the SEC in connection with the Proposed Business Combination and the related definitive proxy statement/prospectus filed by Holdco and our company with the SEC on March 19, 2024.
PART I
Item 1. Business.
Overview
We are a blank check company incorporated on February 10, 2021 as a Cayman Islands exempted company and formed for the purpose of entering into a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization, or similar business combination with one or more businesses, which we refer to throughout this report as our initial business combination. While we may pursue an initial business combination in any industry, sector or geographic region, we have focused on targets that enable what we call the “Electric Grid 2.0”. We believe the “Electric Grid 2.0” addresses several mega trends that are creating a long tail of value-creating opportunities within the energy storage value-chain, including: (i) climate change and mandated reduction of GHG emissions, with a resulting increase in the share of renewable power generation (and associated grid-stability challenges); (ii) electrification of transportation, AI enabled grid optimization, V2G and V2X technology and smart battery management systems; and (iii) second life use of batteries and end of life battery recycling. Our mission is to partner with companies that have a roadmap to execute on the world’s energy transition to clean energy, and more specifically, those that enable technological advances to facilitate the increasing demand for energy storage. We seek to partner with a company that shares our overarching goal of goal seven of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals to “ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all” while utilizing our combined experience to drive sustainable growth and long-term economic value.
On November 2, 2021, we consummated our initial public offering of 25,000,000 units, at $10.00 per unit, generating gross proceeds of $250,000,000. Each unit consists of one Class A ordinary share and one-half of one redeemable warrant. Each whole warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one Class A ordinary share at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment. Simultaneously with the closing of our initial public offering, we consummated the private placement of 8,150,000 private placement warrants to our sponsor, Smilodon Capital, LLC, at a price of $1.00 per private placement warrant, generating proceeds of $8,150,000. We granted the underwriters of our initial public offering a 45-day option to purchase up to 3,750,000 additional units to cover over-allotments. On November 12, 2021, the underwriters partially exercised the over-allotment option and, on November 17, 2021, purchased an additional 1,377,660 units, generating gross proceeds of $13,776,600. Simultaneously with the closing of the partial exercise of the over-allotment option, we consummated the private placement of 275,532 private placement warrants to our sponsor at a purchase price of $1.00 per warrant, generating gross proceeds of $275,532.
A total of $263,776,600 ($10.00 per unit) of the proceeds from the initial public offering, including the partial exercise of the over-allotment option, and simultaneous private placements of private placement warrants were placed in a trust account at J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. (the “trust account”) maintained by Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, acting as trustee. Except for the withdrawal of interest to pay taxes, if any (and up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), our memorandum and articles of association provide that none of the funds held in the trust account will be released until the earliest of: (i) our completion of an initial business combination; (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly tendered in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our memorandum and articles of association to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination by May 2, 2024 (or such later date as may be approved by our shareholders); and (iii) the redemption of our public shares if we are unable to complete an initial business combination within the required time period. The proceeds held in the trust account will be invested only in U.S. government treasury obligations with a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “ Investment Company Act”) which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations.
Prior to the consummation of our initial public offering, on February 18, 2021, our sponsor paid $25,000 to purchase 8,625,000 founder shares, or approximately $0.003 per share. On July 29, 2021, our sponsor surrendered 1,437,500 founder shares to us for no consideration, resulting in a decrease in the total number of founder shares outstanding to 7,187,500. Our sponsor transferred to our independent directors and the additional anchor investors an aggregate of 1,321,717 founder shares. On December 12, 2021, in connection with the expiration of the remaining portion of the underwriters’ over-allotment option, our sponsor forfeited 593,085 founder shares to us for no consideration, and 6,594,415 founder shares remain outstanding. On August 1, 2023, pursuant to the Class B Conversion (as defined below) in connection with the Extension (as defined below), 6,594,414 founder shares were converted from Class B ordinary shares to Class A ordinary shares on a one-for-one basis.
A total of eleven anchor investors purchased units in our initial public offering. In connection with such purchases, (i) the three original anchor investors subscribed for interests in our sponsor representing an aggregate of 1,379,850 founder shares and certain of the private placement warrants held by our sponsor, which interests may be subject to forfeiture or repurchase in connection with the transfer or redemption of public shares acquired by the original anchor investors at the time of our initial public offering, and (ii) the additional anchor investors purchased an aggregate of 1,171,717 founder shares from our sponsor, in each case at prices similar to those paid by our sponsor for the founder shares and private placement warrants, as applicable.
On April 17, 2023 and April 27, 2023, by formal notice in writing to us and at our request, J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and BofA Securities, Inc., respectively, constituting all of the underwriters of our initial public offering, gratuitously waived their rights to 100% of the deferred fee payable to such underwriters upon completion of our initial business combination pursuant to the underwriting agreement entered into at the time of our initial public offering (the “Underwriting Agreement”), totaling $9,232,181 (collectively, the “Deferred Fee Waivers”).
On August 1, 2023, we held an extraordinary general meeting in lieu of the 2023 annual general meeting of our shareholders (the “Extension Meeting”) at which meeting our shareholders approved, among other matters, (i) an amendment to our memorandum and articles of association (as then in effect) to extend the date by which we must consummate an initial business combination from August 2, 2023 to May 2, 2024, or such earlier date as determined by our board of directors, for a total extension of up to nine months (collectively, the “Extension”), and (ii) an amendment to the trust agreement entered into at the time of our initial business combination (as amended, the “Trust Agreement”) to provide for the Extension. In connection with the implementation of the Extension, (i) on August 1, 2023, our initial shareholders voluntarily elected to convert 6,594,414 founder shares from Class B ordinary shares to Class A ordinary shares on a one-for-one basis in accordance with our memorandum and articles of association (collectively, the “Class B Conversion”), and (ii) we redeemed 15,498,302 Class A ordinary shares tendered for redemption by our public shareholders, at a redemption price of approximately $10.41 per share, for an aggregate redemption amount of approximately $161.3 million (the “Extension Redemption”). After the satisfaction of the Extension Redemption, the balance in the trust account was approximately $113.2 million. Upon completion of the Class B Conversion followed by the Extension Redemption, 17,473,772 Class A ordinary shares and one Class B ordinary share remain issued and outstanding. Notwithstanding the Class B Conversion, the holders of founder shares will not be entitled to receive any funds held in the trust account with respect to any such converted shares.
On July 25, 2023, we entered into one or more agreements (the “Non-Redemption Agreements”) with one or more unaffiliated third parties in exchange for them each agreeing not to redeem an aggregate of 760,000 public shares in connection with certain proposals considered and voted upon at the Extension Meeting, in exchange for our agreeing to issue or cause to be issued to each such investor 138,000 Class A ordinary shares (or equivalent securities of the post-combination company) (“Post-Combination Shares”) at the time of our initial business combination. We subsequently entered into additional Non-Redemption Agreements with unaffiliated third parties on the same or similar terms reflecting the above ratio of non-redeemed public shares to Post-Combination Shares, in each case with respect to the Extension Meeting. Pursuant to all such Non-Redemption Agreements, we have agreed to issue or cause to be issued to such investors an aggregate of 1,645,596 Post-Combination Shares. In addition, we have agreed that we will not utilize any funds from the trust account to pay any potential excise taxes that may become due pursuant to the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (“IR Act”) upon a redemption of public shares, including in connection with the Extension, an initial business combination or our liquidation.
Our units, Class A ordinary shares and warrants are each traded on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbols “PEGRU,” “PEGR” and “PEGRW,” respectively. Our units commenced public trading on November 2, 2021, and our Class A ordinary shares and warrants commenced separate public trading on December 20, 2021.
Subsequent to the period covered by this report, on April 8, 2024, we filed a preliminary proxy statement in connection with a possible further extension of the period of time in which we must consummate an initial business combination. We are preparing for such extension out of an abundance of caution if unforeseen events arise that would delay the consummation of the Proposed Business Combination beyond May 2, 2024. If we consummate the Proposed Business Combination on or prior to May 2, 2024, we would expect to abandon our efforts to seek such extension.
Proposed Business Combination
On October 2, 2023, we entered into the Business Combination Agreement with Holdco, Merger Sub, the Seller and Heramba, which provides for the Proposed Business Combination. On December 6, 2023, Holdco initially filed with the SEC the Form F-4 in connection with the Proposed Business Combination, which was subsequently amended on January 16, 2024, February 27, 2024 and March 15, 2024. The Form F-4 contains a preliminary proxy statement/prospectus that constitutes (i) a preliminary proxy statement relating to the Proposed Business Combination in connection with our solicitation of proxies for the vote by our shareholders regarding the Proposed Business Combination and related matters, as described in the Form F-4, and (ii) a preliminary prospectus relating to, among other things, the offer of the securities to be issued by Holdco in connection with the Proposed Business Combination.
Subsequent to the period covered by this report, on March 19, 2024, the Form F-4 was declared effective by the SEC, and Holdco and our company filed the definitive proxy statement/prospectus related to the Proposed Business Combination (the “definitive proxy statement/prospectus”) with the SEC. On or about March 19, 2024, we commenced the mailing of the definitive proxy statement/prospectus and other relevant documents to our shareholders as of March 1, 2024, the record date established for voting on the Proposed Business Combination. The terms of the Business Combination Agreement and other related ancillary agreements, including those noted below, are summarized in more detail in the Form F-4 and the definitive proxy statement/prospectus.
Also subsequent to the period covered by this report, on March 28, 2024, we held an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders (the “Business Combination Meeting”) to consider and vote upon the proposals set forth in the definitive proxy statement/prospectus. At the Business Combination Meeting, our shareholders approved the Business Combination Proposal, the Merger Proposal and each of the Advisory Governance Proposals, in each case as defined and described in more detail in the definitive proxy statement/prospectus. The final proposal, set forth as the Adjournment Proposal in the definitive proxy statement/prospectus, was not presented to our shareholders for vote. We expect the Proposed Business Combination to close, and the Holdco Ordinary Shares and Holdco Warrants (each as defined and described below) to be listed on Nasdaq under the ticker symbols “PITA” and “PITAW,” respectively, as soon as practicable.
Business Combination Agreement
Pursuant to the Business Combination Agreement, each of the following transactions will occur in the following order: (i) immediately prior to the effective time of the Merger (as defined below) (the “Merger Effective Time”), (1) each of our issued and outstanding units will be automatically separated into its component securities (the “Unit Separation”) and (2) the sole issued and outstanding Class B ordinary share will be automatically converted into one Class A ordinary share (such conversion, the “Closing Class B Conversion”); (ii) at the Merger Effective Time, we will enter into a plan of merger with Merger Sub, pursuant to which Merger Sub will merge with and into our company (the “Merger”), with our company being the surviving company in the Merger (the “Surviving Company”) and becoming a direct, wholly owned subsidiary of Holdco; (iii) at the Merger Effective Time, (a) each Class A ordinary share issued and outstanding immediately prior to the Merger Effective Time (which, for the avoidance of doubt, will include the Class A ordinary shares held as a result of the Unit Separation and the Closing Class B Conversion) will be automatically in exchange for the right to be issued one ordinary share in the capital of Holdco with a nominal value of €0.0001 (“Holdco Ordinary Shares”), (b) each public warrant will remain outstanding but will be automatically adjusted to become one Holdco public warrant (“Holdco Public Warrants”), (c) each private placement warrant will remain outstanding but will be automatically adjusted to become one Holdco private warrant (“Holdco Private Warrants” and together with the Holdco Public Warrants, the “Holdco Warrants”), (d) each Class A ordinary share properly tendered for redemption and issued and outstanding immediately prior to the Merger Time will be automatically and to exist and will thereafter represent only the right to be paid a pro rata portion of the trust account pursuant to our memorandum and articles of association, (e) each ordinary share issued and outstanding immediately prior to the Merger Time held by a shareholder will be automatically and to exist and will thereafter represent only the right to be paid the fair value of such ordinary share and such other rights as are granted by the Companies Act and (f) each ordinary share of Merger Sub issued and outstanding at the Merger Time will be automatically in consideration for the issuance of one validly issued, fully paid and non-assessable ordinary share of par value $1.00 in the Surviving Company; (iv) immediately following the Merger Time, pursuant to a transfer agreement to be entered into by and between the Seller and Holdco, the Seller will transfer as a contribution to Holdco, and Holdco will assume from the Seller, the shares in Heramba, all of which are held by the Seller, in exchange for the issuance by Holdco of 36,700,000 Holdco Ordinary Shares (the “Share Consideration”) to Seller; and (v) all deferred ordinary shares in the capital of Holdco with a nominal value of €1.00 each (“Holdco Deferred Shares”) shall within one month of the Merger Time be surrendered by the holder thereof to Holdco for nil consideration and such Holdco Deferred Shares shall thereafter be held as treasury shares by Holdco in of the minimum capital requirements for a public limited company under Irish law.
The consummation of the Proposed Business Combination is subject to a number of conditions set forth in the Business Combination Agreement including, among others, the Holdco Ordinary Shares being approved for listing on Nasdaq or another national securities exchange and the execution of various transaction agreements. There can be no assurance as to whether or when the Proposed Business Combination will be consummated.
Heramba Sole Shareholder Written Consent
Concurrently with the execution and delivery of the Business Combination Agreement, the Seller, as the sole shareholder of Heramba, delivered to us a written consent pursuant to which, among other things, it approved the execution of the Business Combination Agreement and related ancillary agreements, and approved the transactions contemplated thereby.
Sponsor Support Agreement
Concurrently with the execution and delivery of the Business Combination Agreement, we entered into a sponsor support agreement (the “Sponsor Support Agreement”) with Heramba and our sponsor, pursuant to which, among other things, our sponsor (a) agreed to vote any ordinary shares held by it as of the record date established for voting on the Proposed Business Combination in favor of the Business Combination Agreement, the Proposed Business Combination and each of the proposals set forth in the Form F-4, and against any action that would reasonably be expected to impede the completion of the Proposed Business Combination as described therein, (b) agreed not to transfer such shares until the earliest of the closing of the Proposed Business Combination (the “Closing”) or the termination of the Business Combination Agreement, except as set forth therein, (c) agreed not to redeem such shares in connection with the Proposed Business Combination (which waiver of redemption rights was initially provided in connection with our initial public offering in consideration for receipt of founder shares, and for certain covenants and commitments pursuant to a letter agreement entered into at the time of our initial public offering, and without any separate consideration paid in connection with providing such waiver) and (d) waived certain anti-dilution rights with respect to any such shares that are Class B ordinary shares.
Share Contribution Agreement
In connection with the Closing, the Seller and Holdco will enter into a transfer agreement (the “Share Contribution Agreement”) immediately following the Merger Effective Time, pursuant to which the Seller will transfer as a contribution to Holdco, and Holdco will assume from the Seller, all of the shares in Heramba (the “Contributed Shares”), in exchange for the issuance by Holdco of the Share Consideration to the Seller.
Lock-Up Agreement
In connection with the Closing, Holdco and certain holders of Holdco securities upon the Closing, including our sponsor, certain of our directors and executive officers and certain Heramba shareholders holding greater than 5% of the outstanding Holdco Ordinary Shares upon the Closing, will enter into a lock-up agreement (the “Lock-Up Agreement”), pursuant to which, among other things, each of such holders will agree to not effect any sale or distribution of the Lock-Up Securities (as defined therein), subject to certain customary exceptions set forth in the Lock-Up Agreement, until the earliest of: (i) the twelve month anniversary of the date of the Closing (the “Closing Date”), (ii) such time that the trading price of the Holdco Ordinary Shares equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for share splits, share dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 calendar days after the Closing Date, and (iii) such date on which Holdco completes a liquidation, merger, share exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction that results in all Holdco shareholders having the right to exchange their Holdco Ordinary Shares for cash, securities or other property. The Lock-Up Securities include up to 5,422,698 Holdco Ordinary Shares to be issued in exchange for the founder shares held by our sponsor and certain of our officers and directors, and 34,000,000 Holdco Ordinary Shares to be held by certain Heramba shareholders.
Registration Rights Agreement
In connection with the Closing, Holdco and certain holders of Holdco securities upon the Closing, including our sponsor, will enter into a registration rights agreement (the “Registration Rights Agreement”), pursuant to which, among other things, Holdco will agree to register for resale, pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), certain Holdco Ordinary Shares and other equity securities of Holdco that are held by the parties thereto from time to time. In addition, Holdco will agree to provide such holders with customary demand and piggyback registration rights with respect to the Registrable Securities (as defined therein). Such Registrable Securities are expected to include up to 6,594,415 Holdco Ordinary Shares to be issued in exchange for the founder shares, 8,425,532 Holdco Private Warrants resulting from the automatic adjustment of our private placement warrants at the Merger Effective Time (and the Holdco Ordinary Shares underlying such Holdco Private Warrants), 1,645,596 Holdco Ordinary Shares to be issued as the Post-Combination Shares under the Non-Redemption Agreements, and 36,700,000 Holdco Ordinary Shares to be held by certain Heramba shareholders.
Amended and Restated Warrant Agreement
In connection with the Closing , prior to the Merger Effective Time, we will enter into an amended and restated warrant agreement (the “Amended and Restated Warrant Agreement”) with Holdco and Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as warrant agent, and any successor warrant agent, pursuant to which the terms and conditions of the warrant agreement entered into at the time of our initial public offering (the “Warrant Agreement”) will be amended and restated to, among other things, reflect the automatic adjustment of our public warrants to Holdco Public Warrants and our private placement warrants to Holdco Private Warrants.
Acquisition Criteria
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 consummate an initial business combination with a target business that does not meet one or all of these criteria and guidelines. We have broadly focused on target businesses that we believe possess some or all of the following attributes:
High-growth potential across the emerging “Electric Grid 2.0” landscape with an ESG-focus : We seek companies that are well-positioned to capture market share in a large addressable market supported by long-term secular trends and favorable macroeconomic dynamics. These industry segments and candidates include, but are not limited to:
grid reliability and stability solutions that enable increased use of renewable power generation;
electrification of transportation and electric vehicle infrastructure with grid exposure or interest in expanding grid exposure;
smart and/or AI-enabled grid optimization, V2G and V2X power and battery management technologies;
second-life use of batteries including the use of upcycled EV batteries for stationary applications;
end-of life and/or battery recycling and recovery of metals and other high-value raw materials;
energy storage companies with particular focus on electric grids, and the ability to form a company capable of managing multiple battery technologies; and
independent power producers with existing renewables exposure fit for expansion, and in particular, the platform and appetite to scale renewable energy portfolios using battery storage and/or experience and interest in the development or expansion of micro-grids.
Strong track record of technology and product innovation : We seek companies with a strong history of innovation with limited capital intensity requirements, which also offer unique, differentiated products and value-added services to customers globally, along with a sustainable, leading market position.
Operational enhancement opportunities : We seek companies that can benefit from our management team’s ability to drive efficiencies and implement processes to generate continuous improvement, which is expected to have strong potential to create post-closing value creation.
Ability to scale and accelerate growth via acquisition opportunities: We seek companies that have enhanced potential to achieve significant scale through execution of strategic mergers and acquisitions. We believe that our broad network and extensive transaction experience will facilitate identifying, executing and successfully integrating acquisitions that will create shareholder value and enhance our long-term growth profile.
Best-in-class management team : We seek companies with a professional management team whose interests are aligned with those of our investors and complement the expertise of our own management team.
These criteria and guidelines 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 criteria and guidelines as well as other considerations, factors, criteria and guidelines that our management may deem relevant. In the event we decide to complete 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 and guidelines in our shareholder communications related to our initial business combination which would be in the form of tender offer documents or proxy solicitation materials we would file with the SEC.
Initial Business Combination
Nasdaq rules require that we must complete one or more business combinations having an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the value of the assets held in the trust account (excluding any deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on the interest earned on the trust account) at the time of our signing a definitive agreement in connection with our initial business combination. We refer to this as the 80% of fair market value test. The fair market value of the target or targets will be determined by our board of directors based upon one or more standards generally accepted by the financial community (such as actual and potential sales, earnings, cash flow and/or book value). Even though our board of directors will rely on generally accepted standards, our board of directors will have discretion to select the standards employed. In addition, the application of the standards generally involves a substantial degree of judgment. Accordingly, investors will be relying on the business judgment of our board of directors in evaluating the fair market value of the target or targets. The proxy solicitation materials or tender offer documents used by us in connection with any proposed transaction will provide public shareholders with our analysis of our satisfaction of the 80% of fair market value test, as well as the basis for our determinations. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of our initial business combination, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm which is a member of FINRA or a valuation or appraisal firm with respect to the of such criteria. Additionally, pursuant to Nasdaq rules, any initial business combination must be approved by a majority of our independent directors.
Our Business Combination Process
In evaluating prospective business combinations, we expect to conduct a thorough due diligence review process that will encompass, among other things, a review of historical and projected financial and operating data, meetings with management and their advisors (if applicable), on-site inspection of facilities and assets (if possible), discussion with customers and suppliers, legal reviews and other reviews as we deem appropriate. We will also seek to utilize the expertise of our management team in analyzing companies and evaluating operating projections, financial projections and determining the appropriate return expectations given the risk profile of the target business.
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, 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 the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or FINRA, or from an independent accounting firm, that our initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view.
Certain of our officers and directors presently have 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 other entity. Accordingly, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity that is suitable for an entity to which he or she has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations to present the opportunity to such entity, he or she will honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such opportunity to such entity. We believe, however, that the fiduciary duties or contractual obligations of our officers or directors will not materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination. Our memorandum and articles of association provides that we renounce any interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any director or officer unless such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue and the director or officer is permitted to refer that to us without any legal obligation.
Our founders, 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. 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 founders, sponsor, officers and directors are not required to commit any specified amount of time to our affairs and, accordingly, may have conflicts of interest in allocating management time among our various business activities.
Redemption Rights for Holders of Public Shares Upon Consummation of Our Initial Business Combination
We will provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their public shares upon the completion of our initial business combination at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account calculated as of two business days prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (if any), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares. The per share amount we will distribute to investors who properly redeem their shares will not be reduced by any deferred underwriting commissions we may pay to the underwriters of our initial public offering. There will be no redemption rights upon the completion of our initial business combination with respect to our warrants. Our initial shareholders, sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and, with respect to our sponsor, officers and directors, any public shares they may hold in connection with the completion of our initial business combination.
Conduct of Redemptions Pursuant to Tender Offer Rules
We may not be required by law to hold a shareholder vote. If we are not required by law and do not otherwise decide to hold a shareholder vote, we will, pursuant to our memorandum and articles of association, conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC and file tender offer documents with the SEC which will contain substantially the same financial and other information about the initial business combination and the redemption rights as is required under the SEC’s proxy rules.
Submission of Our Initial Business Combination to a Shareholder Vote
If we hold a shareholder vote, we will, like many blank check companies, offer to redeem shares in conjunction with a proxy solicitation pursuant to the proxy rules and not pursuant to the tender offer rules. If we seek shareholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if we receive approval pursuant to an ordinary resolution under Cayman Islands law, which requires the affirmative vote of a majority of the shareholders who attend and vote at a general meeting of our company. Our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed to vote their founder shares and any public shares they may hold in favor of our initial business combination. Each public shareholder may elect to redeem its public shares irrespective of whether it votes for or against the proposed transaction. In addition, our initial shareholders, sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and, with respect to our sponsor, officers and directors, their public shares in connection with the completion of our initial business combination.
Potential Actions to Secure Requisite Shareholder Approvals
Subject to applicable securities laws, our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase public shares or public warrants in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination, although they are under no obligation to do so. There is no limit on the number of public shares or public warrants such persons may purchase in such transactions, subject to compliance with applicable law, including Rule 14e-5 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), and Nasdaq rules. None of the funds held in the trust account will be used to purchase public shares or public warrants in such transactions. Such persons will not make any such purchases when they are in possession of any material non-public information not disclosed to the seller of such public shares or during a restricted period under Regulation M under the Exchange Act. Such purchases may include a contractual acknowledgment that a shareholder, although still the record holder of public shares, is no longer the beneficial owner thereof and therefore agrees not to exercise its redemption rights. In the event that our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates purchase public 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 such shares.
Any such privately negotiated purchases would be structured in compliance with the requirements of Rule 14e-5 under the Exchange Act, including, in relevant part, through adherence to the following: (a) such purchases would only be effected at purchase prices that are equal to or below the redemption price of the public shares in connection with our initial business combination, (b) no such shares would be voted in favor of our initial business combination and (c) no exercise of redemption rights would be made by the purchasers with respect to such shares.
We would disclose in a Current Report on Form 8-K prior to the shareholder meeting to vote on our initial business combination (i) the number of public shares purchased outside of the redemption offer, along with the purchase price(s) for such public shares, (ii) the purpose of any such purchases, (iii) the impact, if any, of the purchases on the likelihood that the business combination would be approved, (iv) the identities of the securityholders who sold to our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates (if not purchased on the open market) or the nature of the securityholders (e.g., five percent security holders) who sold such public shares and (v) the number of public shares for which we had received redemption requests pursuant to the redemption offer. Further, any such purchases would be reported pursuant to Section 13 and Section 16 of the Exchange Act to the extent the purchasers are subject to such reporting requirements.
The purpose of any such purchases of shares would be to increase the likelihood of obtaining shareholder approval of our initial business combination or otherwise limiting the number of public shares electing to redeem. The purpose of any such purchases of warrants could be to reduce the number of public warrants outstanding. If such transactions are effected, the consequence could be to cause our initial business combination to be consummated in circumstances where such consummation could not otherwise occur. Consistent with SEC guidance, shares purchased pursuant to such purchases of shares by the persons described above would not be permitted to be voted for our initial business combination. In addition, if such purchases are made, the public “float” of our securities and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, possibly making it difficult to maintain or obtain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange.
Our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates anticipate that they may identify the shareholders with whom such persons may pursue privately negotiated purchases by either the shareholders contacting us directly or by our receipt of redemption requests submitted in connection with our initial business combination. To the extent that our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates enter into such a private purchase, such persons would identify and contact only potential selling shareholders who have expressed their election to redeem their shares for a pro rata share of the trust account or to vote against our initial business combination. Our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates would only make such purchases that comply with Regulation M under the Exchange Act and other applicable federal securities laws.
Any such purchases by our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates who are affiliated purchasers under Rule 10b-18 under the Exchange Act will only be made to the extent such purchases are able to be made in compliance with Rule 10b -18, which is a safe harbor from liability for manipulation under Section 9(a)(2) of and Rule 10b-5 under the Exchange Act. Rule 10b-18 has certain technical requirements that must be complied with in order for the safe harbor to be available to the purchaser. Our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates would not make such purchases that would violate Section 9(a)(2) of or Rule 10b-5 under the Exchange Act.
Limitation on Redemption Rights 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 memorandum and articles of association provide that a public shareholder, together with any affiliate of such shareholder or any other person with whom such shareholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined in Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from seeking redemption rights with respect to excess shares without our prior consent. We believe this restriction will discourage shareholders from accumulating large blocks of shares, and subsequent attempts by such holders to use their ability to exercise their redemption rights against a proposed business combination as a means to force our company or management to purchase their shares at a significant premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. Absent this provision, a public shareholder holding more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in our initial public offering could threaten to exercise its redemption rights if such holder’s shares are not purchased by us, our sponsor or our management at a premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. By limiting our shareholders’ ability to redeem no more than 15% of the shares sold in our initial public offering, we believe we will limit the ability of a small group of shareholders to 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 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 our initial business combination.
Redemption of Public Shares and Liquidation If No Initial Business Combination
Our memorandum and articles of association provide that we have until May 2, 2024 to complete our initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination within such time period (or by such later date as may be approved by our shareholders), 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 (which interest shall be net of taxes payable, if any, and up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then issued and outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public shareholders’ rights as shareholders (including the right to receive further liquidation distributions, if any) and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining shareholders and our board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in each case to our obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for claims of creditors and other requirements of applicable law. There will be no redemption rights or distributions with respect to our warrants, which will expire if we to complete our initial business combination within the required time period.
Competition
In identifying, evaluating and selecting a target business for our initial business combination, we may encounter competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours, including other special purpose acquisition companies, private equity groups and leveraged buyout funds, public companies and operating businesses seeking strategic acquisitions. Many of these entities are well established and have extensive experience identifying and effecting business combinations directly or through affiliates. Moreover, many of these competitors possess greater financial, technical, human and other resources than us. Our ability to acquire larger target businesses will be limited by our available financial resources. This inherent limitation gives others an advantage in pursuing the acquisition of a target business. Furthermore, our obligation to pay cash in connection with our public shareholders who exercise their redemption rights may reduce the resources available to us for our initial business combination and our outstanding warrants, and the future dilution they potentially represent, may not be viewed favorably by certain target businesses. Either of these factors may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating an initial business combination.
Employees
We currently have five executive officers: Mr. Srinath Narayanan (President and Chief Executive Officer), Mr. David Roberts (Chief Operating Officer), Mr. Prakash Ramachandran (Chief Financial Officer), Mr. Tim Dummer (Head of Business Strategy) and Dr. Kathy Liu (Head of Technology Strategy). These individuals are not obligated to devote any specific number of hours to our matters, but they have devoted and will continue 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.
Corporate Information
We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act, as modified by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the “JOBS Act”). As such, we are eligible to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (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 $1.235 billion, or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our ordinary shares that is held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the end of that year’s second fiscal quarter; and (2) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt during the prior three-year period. References herein to “emerging growth company” shall have the meaning associated with it in the JOBS Act.
Additionally, we are a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Item 10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K. Smaller reporting companies may take advantage of certain reduced disclosure obligations, including, among other things, providing only two years of audited financial statements. We will remain a smaller reporting company until the last day of the fiscal year in which (1) the market value of our ordinary shares held by non-affiliates equaled or exceeded $250 million as of the end of that fiscal year’s second fiscal quarter, and (2) our annual revenues equaled or exceeded $100 million during such completed fiscal year and the market value of our ordinary shares held by non-affiliates equaled or exceeded $700 million as of the end of that fiscal year’s second fiscal quarter. 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.
Our executive offices are located at 1280 El Camino Real, Suite 200, Menlo Park, California 94025 and our phone number is (415) 205-7937. Our corporate website address is www.pegyr.com . Our website and the information contained on, or that can be accessed through, the website is not deemed to be incorporated by reference in, and is not considered part of, this report. You should not rely on any such information in making your decision whether to invest in our securities.
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, 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.
In addition to the risks and uncertainties set forth in this report, we face certain material risks and uncertainties related to the Proposed Business Combination. If we succeed in effecting the Proposed Business Combination, we will face additional and different risks and uncertainties related to the business of the combined company. For more information regarding the risk factors related to the Proposed Business Combination, see the Form F-4 filed by Holdco in connection with the Proposed Business Combination and the related definitive proxy statement/prospectus filed by Holdco and our company with the SEC on March 19, 2024.
Risks Relating to our Search for, and Consummation of or Inability to Consummate, a Business Combination
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, 2023, we had $127,624 in cash held outside of the trust account and a working capital deficit of $4,808,448. Further, we have incurred and expect to continue to incur significant costs undertaking in-depth due diligence and negotiating our initial business combination agreement. Our plans to raise capital and to consummate our initial business combination may not be successful. These conditions raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. Management’s plans to address this need for capital are discussed under “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” of this report. The financial statements contained in this report do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.
We have identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023. If we are unable to develop and maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting, we may not be able to accurately report our financial results in a timely manner, which may adversely affect investor confidence in us and materially and adversely affect our business and operating results.
In connection with the preparation of our financial statements as of December 31, 2023, management identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting that existed due to a lack of formal review controls, as required by COSO principles, over the accounting for complex financial instruments, to achieve complete, accurate and timely financial accounting, reporting and disclosures, resulting in adjustments to several accounts and disclosures.
A material weakness is a deficiency, or combination of deficiencies, in a company’s internal control over financial reporting such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of its annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.
Effective internal controls are necessary for us to provide reliable financial reports and prevent fraud. We continue to evaluate steps to remediate the identified material weakness. These remediation measures may be time consuming and costly and there is no assurance that these initiatives will ultimately have the intended effects.
If we identify any new material weaknesses in the future, any such newly identified material weakness could limit our ability to prevent or detect a misstatement of our accounts or disclosures that could result in a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements. In such case, we may be unable to maintain compliance with securities law requirements regarding timely filing of periodic reports in addition to applicable stock exchange listing requirements, investors may lose confidence in our financial reporting and our stock price may decline as a result. We cannot assure you that the measures we have taken to date, or any measures we may take in the future, will be sufficient to avoid potential future material weaknesses.
We, and following our initial business combination, the post-business combination company, may face litigation and other risks as a result of the material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting.
In connection with the preparation of our financial statements as of December 31, 2023, management identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting. As a result of such material weakness, the resulting adjustments to several accounts and disclosures, and other matters that may in the future be raised by the SEC, we face potential for litigation or other disputes which may include, among others, claims invoking the federal and state securities laws, contractual claims or other claims arising from the material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting and the preparation of our financial statements. As of the date of this report, we have no knowledge of any such litigation or dispute. However, we can provide no assurance that such litigation or dispute will not arise in the future. Any such or , whether or not, could have a material effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition or our ability to complete a business combination.
Our public shareholders may not be afforded an opportunity to vote on our proposed initial business combination, and even if we hold a vote, holders of the founder shares will participate in such vote, which means we may complete our initial business combination even though a majority of our public shareholders do not support such a combination.
We may choose not to hold a shareholder vote to approve our initial business combination if the business combination would not require shareholder approval under applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement. Except as required by applicable law or stock exchange 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. Even if we seek shareholder approval, the holders of the founder shares will participate in the vote on such approval. Accordingly, we may complete our initial business combination even if a majority of our public shareholders do not approve of the business combination we complete.
We may engage the underwriters of our initial public offering or one of their respective affiliates to provide additional services to us, which may include acting as financial advisor in connection with an initial business combination or as placement agent in connection with a related financing transaction. The underwriters are entitled to receive deferred commissions that will be released from the trust only on a completion of an initial business combination. These financial incentives may cause them to have potential conflicts of interest in rendering any such additional services to us, including, for example, in connection with the sourcing and consummation of an initial business combination.
We may engage the underwriters of our initial public offering or one of their respective affiliates to provide additional services to us, including, for example, identifying potential targets, providing financial advisory services, acting as a placement agent in a private offering or arranging debt financing. We may pay the underwriters or their respective affiliates fair and reasonable fees or other compensation that would be determined at that time in an arm’s length negotiation. The underwriters’ or their respective affiliates’ financial interests tied to the consummation of a business combination transaction may give rise to potential conflicts of interest in providing any such additional services to us, including potential conflicts of interest in connection with the sourcing and consummation of an initial business 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.
At the time of your investment in us, you will not be provided with an opportunity to evaluate the specific merits or risks of our initial business combination. Since our board of directors may complete a business combination without seeking shareholder approval, public shareholders may not have the right or opportunity to vote on the business combination, unless we seek such shareholder vote. Accordingly, your only opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding our initial business combination may be limited to exercising your redemption rights within the period of time (which will be at least 20 business days) set forth in our tender offer documents mailed to our public shareholders in which we describe our initial business combination.
If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed to vote in favor of such initial business combination, regardless of how our public shareholders vote.
In connection with the Extension, we redeemed 15,498,302 public shares tendered for redemption by our public shareholders, and 10,879,358 public shares remain outstanding. Our initial shareholders, directors and officers collectively hold 6,594,415 founder shares, representing approximately 37.7% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares, of which 1,171,717 founder shares, or approximately 6.7% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares, are held directly by the additional anchor investors. Such additional anchor investors will have the discretion to vote any ordinary shares over which they have voting control (including any public shares owned by them) in any manner they choose with respect to our initial business combination, although their ownership of founder shares may make it more likely that they will vote in favor of our initial business combination. Our memorandum and articles of association provide that approval of an initial business combination generally requires an ordinary resolution under Cayman Islands law, being the affirmative vote of at least a majority of our ordinary shares entitled to vote thereon and voted. As a result, in addition to the founder shares (assuming the additional anchor investors vote in favor of our initial business combination), we would need 2,142,472 public shares, or approximately 19.7% of the public shares currently issued and outstanding (assuming all issued and outstanding shares are voted), or no public shares (assuming only the minimum number of shares representing a quorum are voted) to be voted in favor of an initial business combination in order to have such business combination approved. Accordingly, the agreement by our sponsor, officers and directors to vote in favor of our initial business combination, and the likelihood that the additional anchor investors will vote in favor of our initial business combination, may increase the likelihood that we will receive the requisite shareholder approval for our initial business combination and may result in the approval of an initial business combination even if no public shares are voted in favor of such business combination.
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. This risk is magnified because we paid approximately $161.3 million out of the trust account to shareholders that tendered their public shares for redemption in connection with the Extension. 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 in connection with our initial business combination, and therefore will need to structure the transaction based on our expectations as to the number of shares that will be submitted for redemption. This risk is magnified because we paid approximately $161.3 million out of the trust account to shareholders that tendered their public shares for redemption in connection with the Extension. If our initial business combination agreement requires us to use a portion of the cash in the trust account to pay the purchase price or requires us to have a minimum amount of cash at closing, we will need to reserve a portion of the cash in the trust account to meet such requirements or arrange for third party financing. In addition, if a larger number of shares is submitted for redemption than we initially expected, we may need to restructure the transaction to reserve a greater portion of the cash in the trust account or arrange for third party financing. Raising additional third-party financing may involve dilutive equity issuances or the incurrence of indebtedness at higher than desirable levels. The above considerations may limit our ability to complete the most desirable business combination available to us or optimize our capital structure.
The ability of our public shareholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our shares could increase the probability that our initial business combination would be unsuccessful and that you would have to wait for liquidation in order to redeem your shares.
If our initial business combination agreement requires us to use a portion of the cash in the trust account to pay the purchase price or requires us to have a minimum amount of cash at closing, the probability that our initial business combination would be unsuccessful is increased. This risk may be increasingly prevalent given recent high levels of redemptions among other special purpose acquisition companies (“SPACs”) seeking shareholder approval of certain charter amendments or completing their initial business combinations. This risk is magnified because we paid approximately $161.3 million out of the trust account to shareholders that tendered their public shares for redemption in connection with the Extension. If our initial business combination is unsuccessful, you would not receive your pro rata portion of the trust account until we liquidate the trust account. If you are in need of immediate liquidity, you could attempt to sell your shares in the open market; however, at such time our shares may trade at a discount to the pro rata amount per share in the trust account. In either situation, you may suffer a material loss on your investment or lose the of funds expected in connection with your exercise of redemption rights until we or you are to sell your shares in the open market.
The requirement that we complete our initial business combination by May 2, 2024 (or such later date as may be approved by our shareholders), may give potential target businesses leverage over us in negotiating a business combination and may limit the time we have in which to conduct due diligence on potential business combination targets, in particular as we approach our dissolution deadline, which could undermine our ability to complete our initial business combination on terms that would produce value for our shareholders.
Any potential target business with which we enter into negotiations concerning a business combination will be aware that we must complete our initial business combination by May 2, 2024 (or such later date as may be approved by our shareholders). Consequently, such target business may obtain leverage over us in negotiating a business combination, knowing that if we do not complete our initial business combination with that particular target business, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination with any target business. This risk will increase as we get closer to the timeframe described above. In addition, we may have limited time to conduct due diligence and may enter into our initial business combination on terms that we would have rejected upon a more comprehensive investigation.
Our search for a business combination, and any target business with which we ultimately consummate a business combination, may be materially adversely affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and other pandemic-related events, and the status of debt and equity markets.
Since it was first reported in December 2019, a novel strain of coronavirus, which causes COVID-19, has spread across 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 pandemic has caused, 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 at all if concerns relating to COVID-19 restrict travel, limit the ability to have meetings with potential investors or a target business’s personnel, or vendors and services providers are 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 of COVID-19 and the actions to contain COVID-19 or treat its impact, among others. If the posed by COVID-19 or other matters of global 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 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 , decreased market liquidity in third-party financing being on terms acceptable to us or at all.
Finally, the COVID-19 pandemic may also have the effect of heightening many of the other risks described in this “Risk Factors” section, such as those related to the market for our securities and cross-border transactions.
We may not be able to complete our initial business combination by May 2, 2024 (or such later date as may be approved by our shareholders), in which case, unless any extended period of time that we may have to consummate an initial business combination as a result of an amendment to our memorandum and articles of association is approved, we would cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up and we would redeem our public shares and liquidate.
We may not be able to find a suitable target business and complete our initial business combination by May 2, 2024 (or such later date as may be approved by our shareholders). 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, including the impact of events such as the war between Russia and Ukraine, the Israel/Hamas conflict, inflation and the continued impact of outbreaks of COVID-19 in both the U.S. and globally. These factors 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, these and other factors may negatively impact businesses we may seek to acquire. If we have not completed our initial business combination within such time period or during any extended period of time that we may have to consummate an initial business combination as a result of an amendment to our memorandum and articles of association, we will: (i) all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public shareholders’ rights as shareholders (including the right to receive further 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, and dissolve, subject in the case of clauses (ii) and (iii) to our obligations under Cayman Islands law to provide for of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law.
If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor, directors, executive officers, advisors or their respective affiliates may elect to purchase shares or public warrants from public shareholders, which may influence a vote on a proposed business combination and reduce the public “float” of our Class A ordinary shares.
If we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our sponsor, directors, executive officers, advisors or their respective affiliates may purchase shares or public warrants in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination, although they are under no obligation to do so. There is no limit on the number of shares our initial shareholders, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase in such transactions, subject to compliance with applicable law and Nasdaq rules. Additionally, at any time at or prior to our initial business combination, subject to applicable securities laws (including with respect to material non-public information), our initial shareholders, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may enter into transactions with investors and others to provide them with incentives to acquire public shares, vote their public shares in favor of our initial business combination or not redeem their public shares. However, other than as expressly stated herein, they have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such purchases or other transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such purchases or other transactions. None of the funds in the trust account will be used to purchase shares or public warrants in such transactions. Such purchases may include a contractual acknowledgment that such shareholder, although still the record holder of our shares, is no longer the beneficial owner thereof and therefore agrees not to exercise its redemption rights.
In the event that our sponsor, initial shareholders, directors, 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 purchases of shares could be to increase the likelihood of obtaining the requisite shareholder approval of the business combination, or to satisfy a closing condition in an agreement with a target that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash at the closing of our initial business combination, where it appears that such requirement would otherwise not be met. The purpose of any such purchases of public warrants could be to reduce the number of public warrants outstanding or to vote such warrants on any matters submitted to the warrant holders for approval in connection with our initial business combination. Any such purchases of our securities may result in the completion of our initial business combination that may not otherwise have been possible. We expect any such purchases will be reported pursuant to Section 13 and Section 16 of the Exchange Act to the extent such purchasers are subject to such reporting requirements.
In addition, if such purchases are made, the public “float” of our Class A ordinary shares or public warrants and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, possibly making it difficult to obtain or maintain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange.
If a shareholder fails to receive notice of our offer to redeem our public shares in connection with our initial business combination, or fails to comply with the procedures for tendering its shares, such shares may not be redeemed.
We will comply with the proxy rules or tender offer rules, as applicable, when conducting redemptions in connection with our initial business combination. Despite our compliance with these rules, if a shareholder fails to receive our proxy materials or tender offer documents, as applicable, such shareholder may not become aware of the opportunity to redeem its shares. In addition, proxy materials or tender offer documents, as applicable, that we will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination will describe the various procedures that must be complied with in order to validly tender or submit public shares for redemption. For example, we intend to require our public shareholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” to, at the holder’s option, either deliver their share certificates to our transfer agent, or to deliver their shares to our transfer agent electronically prior to the date set forth in the proxy materials or tender offer documents, as applicable. In the case of proxy materials, this date may be up to two business days prior to the vote on the proposal to approve the initial business combination. In addition, if we conduct redemptions in connection with a shareholder vote, we intend to require a public shareholder seeking redemption of its public shares to also submit a written request for redemption to our transfer agent two business days prior to the vote in which the name of the owner of such shares is included. In the event that a shareholder to comply with these or any other procedures in the proxy or tender offer materials, as applicable, its shares may not be redeemed.
The securities in which we invest the proceeds held in the trust account could bear a negative rate of interest, which could reduce the interest income available for payment of taxes or reduce the value of the assets held in trust such that the per-share redemption amount received by shareholders may be less than $10.00 per share.
The proceeds held in the trust account will be invested only in U.S. government treasury obligations with a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations. While short-term U.S. 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 of very low or negative yields, the amount of interest income (which we may use to pay our taxes, if any) would be reduced. In the event that we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public shareholders are entitled to receive their pro-rata share of the proceeds then held in the trust account, plus any interest income (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses). If the balance of the trust account is reduced as a result of negative interest rates, the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public shareholders may be reduced below $10.00 per share.
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 was not selected prior to our initial public offering, we may be deemed to be a “blank check” company under the United States securities laws. However, because we have net tangible assets in excess of $5,000,001 and have filed a Current Report on Form 8-K, including an audited balance sheet demonstrating this fact, we are exempt from rules promulgated by the SEC to protect investors in blank check companies, such as Rule 419. Accordingly, investors are not afforded the benefits or protections of those rules. Among other things, this means our units were 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.
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 memorandum and articles of association provide that a public shareholder, together with any affiliate of such shareholder or any other person with whom such shareholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined in Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from seeking redemption rights with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in our initial public offering without our prior consent, which we refer to as the “Excess Shares.” However, we would not be restricting our shareholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our initial business combination. Your inability to redeem the Excess Shares will reduce your influence over our ability to complete our initial business combination and you could suffer a material loss on your investment in us if you sell Excess Shares in open market transactions. Additionally, you will not receive redemption distributions with respect to the Excess Shares if we complete our initial business combination. 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 .
Because of our limited resources and the significant competition for business combination opportunities, it may be more difficult for us to complete our initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public shareholders may receive only their pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account that are available for distribution to public shareholders, and our warrants will expire worthless.
We expect to encounter competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours, including private investors (which may be individuals or investment partnerships), other blank check companies and other entities, domestic and international, competing for the types of businesses we intend to acquire. Many of these individuals and entities are well-established and have extensive experience in identifying and effecting, directly or indirectly, acquisitions of companies operating in or providing services to various industries. Many of these competitors possess similar or greater technical, human and other resources to ours or more local industry knowledge than we do and our financial resources will be relatively limited when contrasted with those of many of these competitors. While we believe there are numerous target businesses we could potentially acquire with the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, our ability to compete with respect to the acquisition of certain target businesses that are sizable will be limited by our available financial resources. This inherent competitive limitation gives others an advantage in pursuing the acquisition of certain target businesses. Furthermore, we are obligated to offer holders of our public shares the right to redeem their shares for cash at the time of our initial business combination in conjunction with a shareholder vote or via a tender offer. Target companies will be aware that this may reduce the resources available to us for our initial business combination. Any of these obligations may place us at a competitive in consummating a business combination. If we are to complete our initial business combination, our public shareholders may receive only their pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account that are available for distribution to public shareholders, and our warrants will expire .
If the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, including as a result of the partial exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option, not being held in the trust account are insufficient to allow us to operate until May 2, 2024 (or such later date as may be approved by our shareholders), it could limit the amount of cash available to fund our search for a target business or businesses and complete our initial business combination, and we will depend on loans from our sponsor or management team to fund our search and to complete our initial business combination.
As of December 31, 2023, we had cash of $127,624 held outside the Trust Account and a working capital deficit of $4,808,448. We believe we will need to raise additional funds in order to meet the expenditures required for operating our business prior to our initial business combination. If we are required to seek additional capital, we would need to borrow funds from our sponsor, management team or other third parties to operate or may be forced to liquidate. Neither our sponsor, members of our management team nor any of their affiliates is under any obligation to advance funds to us in such circumstances. Any such advances would be repaid only from funds held outside the trust account or from funds released to us upon completion of our initial business combination. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants of the post-business combination entity at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants. Prior to the completion of our initial business combination, we do not expect to seek loans from parties other than our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor as we do not believe third parties will be willing to loan such funds and provide a waiver against any and all rights to seek access to funds in our trust account.
On October 25, 2023, we issued an unsecured promissory note to our sponsor, whereby our sponsor has agreed to loan up to $500,000 to us for working capital needs. Additionally, on January 26, 2024, we issued an unsecured promissory note to Srinath Narayanan (our President and Chief Executive Officer), whereby Mr. Narayanan has agreed to loan up to $375,000 to us for working capital needs. Each loan accrues no interest on the unpaid principal balance and is due on the earlier of (i) the date on which we consummate an initial business combination and (ii) the date that our winding up is effective. As of the date of this report, we had an aggregate outstanding balance of $850,000 under such notes. In the event that we do not consummate an initial business combination, such notes will be repaid only from amounts remaining outside of the trust account, if any.
If we are unable to complete our initial business combination because we do not have sufficient funds available to us, we will be forced to cease operations and liquidate the trust account. Consequently, our public shareholders may only receive $10.00 per share, or possibly less, on our redemption of our public shares, and our warrants will expire worthless.
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.
Our placing of funds in the trust account may not protect those funds from third party claims against us. Although we have sought and will continue to seek to have all vendors, service providers (except for our independent registered public accounting firm), prospective target businesses and other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the trust account for the benefit of our public 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 our assets, including the funds held in the trust account. If any third party to execute an agreement waiving such to the monies held in the trust account, our management will consider whether competitive alternatives are reasonably available to us and will only enter into an agreement with such third party if management believes that such third party’s engagement would be in the interests of the company under the circumstances. The underwriters of our initial public offering as well as our registered independent public accounting firm will not execute agreements with us waiving such to the monies held in the trust account.
Examples of possible instances where we may engage a third party that refuses to execute a waiver include the engagement of a third-party consultant whose particular expertise or skills are believed by management to be significantly superior to those of other consultants that would agree to execute a waiver or in cases where management is unable to find a service provider willing to execute a waiver. In addition, there is no guarantee that such entities will agree to waive any claims they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any negotiations, contracts or agreements with us and will not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason. Upon redemption of our public shares, if we are unable to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed timeframe, or upon the exercise of a redemption right in connection with our initial business combination, we will be required to provide for payment of claims of creditors that were not waived that may be brought against us within the 10 years following redemption. Accordingly, the per-share redemption amount received by public shareholders could be less than the $10.00 per public share initially held in the trust account, due to of such creditors. Pursuant to a letter agreement in connection with our initial public offering, our sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any by a third party for services rendered or products sold to us, or a prospective target business with which we have entered into a written letter of intent, confidentiality or other similar agreement or business combination agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the trust account to below the lesser of (i) $10.00 per public share and (ii) the actual amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the of the trust account, if less than $10.00 per share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, less taxes payable, provided that such liability will not apply to any by a third party or prospective target business who executed a waiver of any and all rights to the monies held in the trust account (whether or not such waiver is enforceable) nor will it apply to any under our indemnity of the underwriters of our initial public offering certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. However, we have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such indemnification obligations, nor have we independently verified whether our sponsor has sufficient funds to its indemnity obligations and we believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our company. Therefore, we cannot you that our sponsor would be to those obligations. As a result, if any such were made 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 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 by third parties including, without , by vendors and prospective target businesses.
Our directors may decide not to enforce the indemnification obligations of our sponsor, resulting in a reduction in the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public shareholders.
In the event that the proceeds in the trust account are reduced below the lesser of (i) $10.00 per share and (ii) the actual amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account if less than $10.00 per share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case less taxes payable, and our sponsor asserts that it is unable to satisfy its obligations or that it has no indemnification obligations related to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether to take legal action against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations. While we currently expect that our independent directors would take legal action on our behalf against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations to us, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment and subject to their fiduciary duties may choose not to do so in any particular instance. If our independent directors choose not to enforce these indemnification obligations, the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public shareholders may be reduced below $10.00 per share.
If, after we distribute the proceeds in the trust account to our public shareholders, we file a bankruptcy, winding-up or insolvency petition or an involuntary bankruptcy, winding-up or insolvency 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, winding-up or insolvency petition or an involuntary bankruptcy, winding-up or insolvency 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, by paying public shareholders from the trust account prior to addressing the of creditors, thereby itself and us to of .
If, before distributing the proceeds in the trust account to our public shareholders, we file a bankruptcy, winding-up or insolvency petition or an involuntary bankruptcy, winding-up or insolvency 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, winding-up or insolvency petition or an involuntary bankruptcy, winding-up or insolvency 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 may be reduced.
A new 1% U.S. federal excise tax could be imposed on us in connection with redemptions by us of our shares, including in connection with the Extension.
On August 16, 2022, the IR Act was signed into federal law. The IR Act provides for, among other things, a new U.S. federal 1% excise tax on certain repurchases (including redemptions) of stock by publicly traded U.S. domestic corporations and certain U.S. domestic subsidiaries of publicly traded foreign corporations occurring on or after January 1, 2023. The excise tax is imposed on the repurchasing corporation itself, not its shareholders from which shares are repurchased. The amount of the excise tax is generally 1% of the fair market value of the shares repurchased at the time of the repurchase. However, for purposes of calculating the excise tax, repurchasing corporations are permitted to net the fair market value of certain new stock issuances against the fair market value of stock repurchases during the same taxable year. In addition, certain exceptions apply to the excise tax. The U.S. Department of the Treasury (the “Treasury”) has been given authority to provide regulations and other guidance to carry out and prevent the abuse or avoidance of the excise tax.
On December 27, 2022, the Treasury released Notice 2023-2, which provides taxpayers with interim guidance on the excise tax that may be relied upon until the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) issues proposed Treasury regulations on such matter. Notice 2023-2 includes as one of its exceptions to the excise tax a distribution in complete liquidation of a “covered corporation”, to which Sec. 331 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), applies (so long as Sec. 332(a) of the Code also does not also apply).
Although we were incorporated in the Cayman Islands and currently are not a “covered corporation”, there is a possibility that we may acquire a U.S. domestic corporation, redomicile as a U.S. domestic corporation or engage in a transaction in which a U.S. domestic corporation becomes our parent or affiliate. Although it remains uncertain whether, and/or to what extent, the excise tax could apply to any redemptions of the public shares after December 31, 2022 if we were to become a “covered corporation” in the future, including any redemptions in connection with the Extension, our initial business combination or in the event we do not consummate our initial business combination by May 2, 2024, we would not expect the excise tax to apply to redemptions of public shares that occur during a taxable year in which we completely liquidate under Sec. 331 of the Code.
If we were to become a “covered corporation” in the future, there is a possibility that any redemption or other repurchase that occurs after December 31, 2022 may be subject to the excise tax, including in connection with our initial business combination, certain amendments to our memorandum and articles of association (including in connection with the Extension) or otherwise. Whether and to what extent we would be subject to the excise tax would depend on a number of factors, including (i) the fair market value of the redemptions and repurchases in connection with the initial business combination, certain amendments to our memorandum and articles of association (including in connection with the Extension) or otherwise, (ii) the structure of the initial business combination, (iii) the nature and amount of any “PIPE” or other equity issuances in connection with the initial business combination (or otherwise issued not in connection with the initial business combination but issued within the same taxable year of the initial business combination) and (iv) the content of regulations and other guidance from the Treasury. In addition, because the excise tax would be payable by the corporation and not by the redeeming holder, the mechanics of any required payment of the excise tax have not been determined. However, we have agreed that we will not utilize any funds from the trust account to pay any potential excise taxes that may become due pursuant to the IR Act upon a redemption of public shares, including in connection with the Extension, an initial business combination or our liquidation. The foregoing could cause a reduction in the cash available on hand to complete our initial business combination and in our ability to complete our initial business combination.
Changes in laws or regulations, or in how such laws or regulations are interpreted or applied, or a failure to comply with any laws, regulations, interpretations or applications, may adversely affect our business, including our ability to complete an initial business combination, our investments or our results of operations.
We are subject to laws and regulations, and interpretations and applications of such 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, and interpretations and applications of such 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 complete an initial business combination, our investments or our results of operations.
On March 30, 2022, the SEC issued proposed rules (the “SPAC Rule Proposals”) relating to, among other items, enhancing disclosures in business combination transactions involving SPACs and private operating companies; amending the financial statement requirements applicable to transactions involving shell companies; the use of projections by SPACs in SEC filings in connection with proposed business combination transactions; the potential liability of certain participants in proposed business combination transactions; and the extent to which SPACs could become subject to regulation under the Investment Company Act, including a proposed rule that would provide a safe harbor for such companies from the definition of “investment company” under the Investment Company Act. On January 24, 2024, the SEC issued final rules (the “SPAC Rules”) that formally adopted certain of the SPAC Rule Proposals and provided guidance describing circumstances in which a SPAC could become subject to regulation under the Investment Company Act. Compliance with the SPAC Rules, if such rules are effective prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, and related guidance may materially adversely affect our ability to complete an initial business combination and may increase the costs and time related thereto. See “— The SEC recently issued final rules to regulate special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, that may increase the costs and time needed to complete an initial business combination” and “— If we are deemed to be an investment company for purposes of the Investment Company Act, we would be required to institute compliance requirements and our activities would be restricted and, as a result, we may our efforts to consummate an initial business combination and . ”
The SEC recently issued final rules to regulate special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, that may increase the costs and time needed to complete an initial business combination.
On January 24, 2024, the SEC issued the SPAC Rules, effective as of 125 days following the publication of the SPAC Rules in the Federal Register, that formally adopted certain of the SPAC Rule Proposals issued on March 30, 2022. The SPAC Rules, among other items, impose additional disclosure requirements in initial public offerings by SPACs and business combination transactions involving SPACs and private operating companies; amend the financial statement requirements applicable to business combination transactions involving such companies; update and expand guidance regarding the general use of projections in SEC filings, as well as when projections are disclosed in connection with proposed business combination transactions; and increase the potential liability of certain participants in proposed business combination transactions. In addition, the SEC’s adopting release for the SPAC Rules provided guidance describing circumstances in which a SPAC could become subject to regulation under the Investment Company Act, including the SPAC’s duration, asset composition and business purpose, and the activities of the SPAC and its management team in furtherance of such goals.
Compliance with the SPAC Rules, if such rules are effective prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, and related guidance may materially adversely affect our ability to complete an initial business combination and may increase the costs and time related thereto. In addition, the need for compliance with the SPAC Rules and related guidance may cause us to liquidate the funds in the trust account or liquidate as a company at an earlier time than we might otherwise choose. Were we to liquidate as a company, our shareholders would not be able to realize the benefits of owning shares in a successor operating business, including the potential appreciation in the value of our ordinary shares and warrants following such a transaction, and our warrants would expire worthless.
If we are deemed to be an investment company for purposes of the Investment Company Act, we would be required to institute burdensome compliance requirements and our activities would be severely restricted and, as a result, we may abandon our efforts to consummate an initial business combination and liquidate.
The SEC’s adopting release for the SPAC Rules provided guidance describing circumstances in which a SPAC could become subject to regulation under the Investment Company Act, including the SPAC’s duration, asset composition and business purpose, and the activities of the SPAC and its management team in furtherance of such goals. However, the SEC declined to adopt a proposed rule issued as part of the SPAC Rule Proposals that would have provided a safe harbor for certain SPACs from the definition of “investment company” under the Investment Company Act. Whether a SPAC is an investment company under the Investment Company Act is a question of facts and circumstances according to the adopting release for the SPAC Rules, which added, “Given the individualized nature of this analysis, and because, depending on the facts and circumstances, a SPAC could be an investment company at any stage of its operations such that a specific duration limitation may not be appropriate, we have decided not to adopt proposed Rule 3a-10.”
As the applicability of the Investment Company Act to a SPAC is a question of facts and circumstances, it is possible that a claim could be made that we have been operating as an unregistered investment company. If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, our activities would be severely restricted. In addition, we would be subject to burdensome compliance requirements. If we are deemed to be an investment company and subject to compliance with and regulation under the Investment Company Act, we would be subject to additional regulatory burdens and expenses for which we have not allotted funds. As a result, unless we are able to modify our activities so that we would not be deemed an investment company, we would expect to abandon our efforts to complete an initial business combination and instead to liquidate. If we are required to liquidate, our shareholders would not be able to realize the benefits of owning shares in a successor operating business, including the potential appreciation in the value of our ordinary shares and warrants following such a transaction, and our warrants would expire .
If we instruct the trustee to liquidate the securities held in the trust account and instead to hold the funds in the trust account in cash until the earlier of the consummation of an initial business combination or our liquidation, we may be able to mitigate the risk that we could be deemed to be an investment company for purposes of the Investment Company Act. Following the liquidation of securities in the trust account, we may receive minimal interest, if any, on the funds held in the trust account, which may reduce the dollar amount our public shareholders would receive upon any redemption or liquidation of the company.
The funds in the trust account have, since our initial public offering, been held only in U.S. government treasury obligations with a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds investing solely in U.S. government treasury obligations and meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act. However, to mitigate the risk of our being deemed to be an unregistered investment company (including under the subjective test of Section 3(a)(1)(A) of the Investment Company Act) and thus subject to regulation under the Investment Company Act, we may, at any time, instruct the trustee with respect to the trust account to liquidate the U.S. government treasury obligations or money market funds held in the trust account and thereafter to hold all funds in the trust account in cash (or in an interest-bearing demand deposit account) at a national bank until the earlier of consummation of an initial business combination or liquidation of our company. Following such liquidation of the securities held in the trust account, we may receive minimal interest, if any, on the funds held in the trust account. However, interest previously earned on the funds held in the trust account still may be released to us to pay our taxes, if any, and certain other expenses as permitted. As a result, any decision to liquidate the securities held in the trust account and thereafter to hold all funds in the trust account in cash may reduce the dollar amount our public shareholders would receive upon any redemption or of our company.
The longer that the funds in the trust account are held in short-term U.S. government treasury obligations or in money market funds invested exclusively in such securities, rather than in cash, the greater the risk that we may be considered an unregistered investment company, in which case we may be required to liquidate our company. Accordingly, we may determine, in our discretion, to liquidate the securities held in the trust account at any time and instead hold all funds in the trust account in cash (or in an interest-bearing demand deposit account) at a national bank, which may further reduce the dollar amount our public shareholders would receive upon any redemption or liquidation of our company. As of the date of this report, we have not yet made any such determination to liquidate the securities held in the trust account.
Were we considered to be a “foreign person,” we might not be able to complete an initial business combination with a U.S. target company if such initial business combination is subject to U.S. foreign investment regulations and review by a U.S. government entity such as the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”), or ultimately prohibited.
Certain federally licensed businesses in the United States, such as broadcasters and airlines, may be subject to rules or regulations that limit foreign ownership. In addition, CFIUS is an interagency committee authorized to review certain transactions involving foreign investment in the United States by foreign persons in order to determine the effect of such transactions on the national security of the United States. Were we considered to be a “foreign person” under such rules and regulations, any proposed business combination between us and a U.S. business engaged in a regulated industry or which may affect national security could be subject to such foreign ownership restrictions and/or CFIUS review. The scope of CFIUS was expanded by the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act of 2018 (“FIRRMA”) to include certain non-controlling investments in sensitive U.S. businesses and certain acquisitions of real estate even with no underlying U.S. business. FIRRMA, and subsequent implementing regulations that are now in force, also subject certain categories of investments to mandatory filings. If a potential initial business combination with a U.S. business falls within the scope of foreign ownership restrictions, we may be unable to consummate an initial business combination with such business. In addition, if a potential initial business combination falls within CFIUS’s jurisdiction, we may be required to make a mandatory filing or determine to submit a voluntary notice to CFIUS, or to proceed with the initial business combination without notifying CFIUS and risk CFIUS intervention, before or after the initial business combination.
If CFIUS has jurisdiction over our initial business combination, CFIUS may decide to block or delay such initial business combination, impose conditions to mitigate national security concerns with respect to such initial business combination or order us to divest all or a portion of a U.S. business of the combined company if we had proceeded without first obtaining CFIUS clearance. If we were considered to be a “foreign person,” the foreign ownership limitations, and the potential impact of CFIUS, may limit the attractiveness of a transaction with us or prevent us from pursuing certain initial business combination opportunities that we believe would otherwise be beneficial to us and our shareholders. As a result, in such circumstances, the pool of potential targets with which we could complete an initial business combination could be limited and we may be adversely affected in terms of competing with other SPACs that do not have similar foreign ownership issues.
Moreover, the process of government review, whether by CFIUS or otherwise, could be lengthy. Because we have only a limited time to complete its initial business combination, our failure to obtain any required approvals within the requisite time period may require us to liquidate. If we liquidate, our public shareholders may only receive $10.00 per share, and our warrants will expire worthless. This will also cause our securityholders to lose any potential investment opportunity in a target company, and the chance of realizing future gains on their investment through any price appreciation in the combined company.
Delays in the government budget process or a government shutdown may materially adversely affect our ability to complete an initial business combination, or the operations of the combined company following our initial business combination.
Each year, the U.S. Congress must pass all spending bills in the federal budget. If any such spending bill is not timely passed, a government shutdown will close many federally run operations, which includes those of the SEC, and halt work for federal employees unless they are considered essential. If a government shutdown was to occur, and the SEC were to remain closed for a prolonged period of time, we may not be able to complete our initial business combination by May 2, 2024 as required by our memorandum and articles of association (or such later date as may be approved by our shareholders), particularly if the SEC is unable to timely review our filings, or those of a target business or other entity that relate to our initial business combination, or to declare such filings effective as may be applicable. Additionally, following consummation of our initial business combination, the combined company’s operations or its ability to raise additional capital to support its operations could be materially adversely affected by any government .
Our ability to complete an initial business combination may be materially adversely affected by negative impacts on the global economy, capital markets or other geopolitical conditions resulting from the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, subsequent sanctions against Russia, Belarus and related individuals and entities, global food shortages and other related consequences of prolonged military conflict.
United States and global markets have and may continue to experience volatility and disruption following the escalation of geopolitical tensions and the invasion of Ukraine by Russia in February 2022. In response to such invasion, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (“NATO”) deployed additional military forces to eastern Europe, and the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union and other countries have announced various sanctions and restrictive actions against Russia, Belarus and related individuals and entities, including the removal of certain financial institutions from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) payment system. Certain countries, including the United States, have also provided and may continue to provide substantial military aid and other assistance to Ukraine during the ongoing and prolonged military conflict, increasing geopolitical tensions with Russia, Belarus and other nations. The invasion of Ukraine by Russia and the resulting measures that have been taken, and could be taken in the future, by NATO, the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union and other countries have created global security concerns that could have a lasting impact on regional and global economies. Although the length and impact of the ongoing military in Ukraine is highly , continued escalations of the may lead to further market , including significant in commodity prices, credit and capital markets, as well as supply chain . Additionally, Russian military actions and the resulting sanctions, including further escalations with NATO, may continue to affect the global economy and financial markets and lead to and of liquidity in capital markets.
Any of the abovementioned factors, or any other negative impact on the global economy, capital markets or other geopolitical conditions resulting from the Russian invasion of Ukraine and subsequent sanctions, could adversely affect our search for a business combination and any target business with which we ultimately consummate a business combination. The extent and duration of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, resulting sanctions and any related market disruptions are impossible to predict, but could be substantial, particularly if current or new sanctions continue for an extended period of time or if geopolitical tensions result in expanded military operations on a global scale. Any such disruptions 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, cross-border transactions or our ability to raise equity or debt financing in connection with any particular business combination. If these disruptions 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 affected.
Military or other conflicts in Ukraine, including as a result of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the Middle East, including as a result of the Israel-Hamas conflict, or elsewhere may lead to increased volume and price volatility for publicly traded securities or affect the operations or financial condition of our company or potential target companies, which could make it more difficult for us to consummate our initial business combination.
Military or other conflicts in Ukraine, including as a result of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the Middle East, including as a result of the Israel-Hamas conflict, or elsewhere may lead to increased volume and price volatility for publicly traded securities or affect the operations or financial condition of our company or potential target companies, and to other company- or industry-specific, national, regional or international economic disruptions and economic uncertainty, any of which could make it more difficult for us to consummate our initial business combination.
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 us for these reasons. We and our directors and officers who and authorized or permitted any distribution to be paid out of our share premium account while we were to pay our debts as they fall due in the ordinary course of business would be of an offense and may be liable for a fine and to for five years in the Cayman Islands.
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 law, or we decide to obtain shareholder approval for business or other legal reasons, it may be more difficult for us to attain shareholder approval of our initial business combination if the target business does not meet our general criteria and guidelines. If we are to complete our initial business combination, our public shareholders may only receive their pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account that are available for distribution to public shareholders, and our warrants will expire .
We are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or from a valuation or appraisal firm, and consequently, you may have no assurance from an independent source that the price we are paying for the business is fair to our shareholders from a financial point of view.
Unless we complete our initial business combination with an affiliated entity or our board of directors cannot independently determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses (including with the assistance of financial advisors), we are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm which is a member of FINRA or from a valuation or appraisal firm that the price we are paying is fair to our shareholders from a financial point of view. If no opinion is obtained, our shareholders will be relying on the judgment of our board of directors, who will determine fair market value based on standards generally accepted by the financial community. Such standards used will be disclosed in our proxy materials or tender offer documents, as applicable, related to our initial business combination.
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.
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;
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 net proceeds from our initial public offering, including the partial exercise of the over-allotment option, and a portion of the proceeds of the sale of the private placement warrants, after giving effect to the Extension and the receipt of deferred fee waivers from the underwriters of our initial public offering, 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, including the partial exercise of the over-allotment option, and a portion of the proceeds of the sale of the private placement warrants initially provided us with $263,776,600 that we may use to complete our initial business combination (after taking into account the $9,232,181 of deferred underwriting commissions then being held in the trust account). In connection with the implementation of the Extension, we redeemed 15,498,302 Class A ordinary shares tendered for redemption by our public shareholders, at a redemption price of approximately $10.41 per share, for an aggregate redemption amount of approximately $161.3 million. Additionally, on April 17, 2023 and April 27, 2023, pursuant to the Deferred Fee Waivers, the underwriters of our initial public offering gratuitously waived their rights to 100% of the deferred fee payable to such underwriters upon completion of our initial business combination pursuant to the Underwriting Agreement, totaling $9,232,181.
We may effectuate our initial business combination with a single target business or multiple target businesses simultaneously or within a short period of time. However, we may not be able to effectuate our initial business combination with more than one target business because of various factors, including the existence of complex accounting issues and the requirement that we prepare and file pro forma financial statements with the SEC that present operating results and the financial condition of several target businesses as if they had been operated on a combined basis. By completing our initial business combination with only a single entity, our lack of diversification may subject us to numerous economic, competitive and regulatory developments. Further, we would not be able to diversify our operations or benefit from the possible spreading of risks or offsetting of losses, unlike other entities which may have the resources to complete several business combinations in different industries or different areas of a single industry. Accordingly, the prospects for our success may be:
solely dependent upon the performance of a single business, property or asset, or
dependent upon the development or market acceptance of a single or limited number of products, processes or services.
This lack of diversification may subject us to numerous economic, competitive and regulatory risks, any or all of which may have a substantial adverse impact upon the particular industry in which we may operate subsequent to our initial business combination.
We may attempt to simultaneously complete business combinations with multiple prospective targets, which may hinder our ability to complete our initial business combination and give rise to increased costs and risks that could negatively impact our operations and profitability.
If we determine to simultaneously acquire several businesses that are owned by different sellers, we will need for each of such sellers to agree that our purchase of its business is contingent on the simultaneous closings of the other business combinations, which may make it more difficult for us, and delay our ability, to complete our initial business combination. With multiple business combinations, we could also face additional risks, including additional burdens and costs with respect to possible multiple negotiations and due diligence investigations (if there are multiple sellers) and the additional risks associated with the subsequent assimilation of the operations and services or products of the acquired companies in a single operating business. If we are unable to adequately address these risks, it could negatively impact our profitability and results of operations.
We may seek acquisition opportunities with an early-stage company, a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of revenue or earnings.
To the extent we complete our initial business combination with an early-stage company, a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of sales or earnings, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in the operations of the business with which we combine. These risks include investing in a business without a proven business model and with limited historical financial data, volatile revenues or earnings, intense competition and difficulties in obtaining and retaining key personnel. Although our officers and directors will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we may not be able to properly ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors and we may not have adequate time to complete due diligence. Furthermore, some of these risks may be outside of our control and leave us with no ability to control or reduce the chances that those risks will adversely impact a target business.
We may attempt to complete our initial business combination with a private company about which little information is available, which may result in a business combination with a company that is not as profitable as we suspected, if at all.
In pursuing our business combination strategy, we may seek to effectuate our initial business combination with a privately held company. Very little public information generally exists about private companies, and we could be required to make our decision on whether to pursue a potential initial business combination on the basis of limited information, which may result in a business combination with a company that is not as profitable (if at all) as we believed at the time of signing an agreement to acquire such private company or that fails to meet the projections upon which our valuation may be based.
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 as a combination with a smaller, less complex organization.
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 or warrant holders do not agree.
Our memorandum and articles of association does not provide a specified maximum redemption threshold. In addition, our proposed initial business combination may impose a minimum cash requirement for; (i) cash consideration to be paid to the target or its owners, (ii) cash for working capital or other general corporate purposes; or (iii) the retention of cash to satisfy other conditions. As a result, we may be able to complete our initial business combination even though a substantial majority of our public shareholders do not agree with the transaction and have redeemed their shares or, if we seek shareholder approval of our initial business combination and do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, have entered into privately negotiated agreements to sell their shares to our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or any of their affiliates. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all Class A ordinary shares that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed business combination exceeds the aggregate amount of cash available to us, we will not complete the business combination or redeem any shares in connection with such initial business combination, all 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, special purpose acquisition companies have, in the recent past, amended various provisions of their charters and other governing instruments, including their warrant agreements. We cannot assure you that we will not seek to amend our memorandum and articles of association or governing instruments in a manner that will make it easier for us to complete our initial business combination that our shareholders may not support.
In order to effectuate a business combination, special purpose acquisition companies have, in the recent past, amended various provisions of their charters and governing instruments, including their warrant agreements. For example, special purpose acquisition companies have amended the definition of business combination, increased redemption thresholds and extended the time to consummate an initial business combination and, with respect to their warrants, amended their warrant agreements to require the warrants to be exchanged for cash and/or other securities. Amending our memorandum and articles of association will require a special resolution being (i) the affirmative vote of at least a two-thirds (2/3) majority of the votes cast by the holders of the issued ordinary shares present in person or represented at a general meeting of the company and entitled to vote on such matter or (ii) a unanimous written resolution of the shareholders, and amending our Warrant Agreement will require a vote of holders of at least 50% of the public warrants and, solely with respect to any amendment to the terms of the private placement warrants or any provision of the warrant agreement with respect to the private placement warrants, 50% of the number of the then outstanding private placement warrants. In addition, our memorandum and articles of association require us to provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares for cash if we propose an amendment to our memorandum and articles of association to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete an initial business combination by May 2, 2024, or with respect to any other material provisions relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity. To the extent any of such amendments would be deemed to fundamentally change the nature of our securities, we would register, or seek an exemption from registration for, the affected securities. We cannot you that we will not seek to amend our memorandum and articles of association or governing instruments or extend the time to consummate an initial business combination in order to effectuate our initial business combination.
The provisions of our 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 being (i) the affirmative vote of at least a two-thirds (2/3) majority of the votes cast by the holders of the issued ordinary shares present in person or represented at a general meeting of the company and entitled to vote on such matter or (ii) a unanimous written resolution of the shareholders, which is a lower amendment threshold than that of some other special purpose acquisition companies. It may be easier for us, therefore, to amend our memorandum and articles of association to facilitate the completion of an initial business combination that some of our shareholders may not support.
Our 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 by special resolution being (i) the affirmative vote of at least a two-thirds (2/3) majority of the votes cast by the holders of the issued ordinary shares present in person or represented at a general meeting of the company and entitled to vote on such matter or (ii) a unanimous written resolution of the shareholders and corresponding provisions of the Trust Agreement governing the release of funds from our trust account may be amended if approved by holders of 65% of our ordinary shares entitled to vote thereon. Our initial shareholders, who collectively beneficially approximately 37.7% of our ordinary shares (excluding any public shares held by the anchor investors), may participate in any vote to amend our 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 memorandum and articles of association which govern our pre-business combination behavior more easily than some other special purpose acquisition companies, and this may increase our ability to complete a business combination with which you do not agree. Our shareholders may pursue remedies us for any of our memorandum and articles of association.
Our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed, pursuant to written agreements with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our memorandum and articles of association to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within the time period then designated by our memorandum and articles of association, or with respect to any other material provisions relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, unless we provide our public shareholders with the opportunity to redeem their Class A ordinary shares upon approval of any such amendment at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes, if any, divided by the number of then outstanding public shares. Our shareholders are not parties to, or third-party beneficiaries of, these agreements and, as a result, will not have the ability to pursue remedies against our sponsor, 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.
Certain agreements related to our initial public offering may be amended without shareholder approval.
Each of the agreements related to our initial public offering to which we are a party, other than the Warrant Agreement and the Trust Agreement, may be amended without shareholder approval. Such agreements are: the Underwriting Agreement; the letter agreement among us and our sponsor, officers and directors; the registration rights agreement among us and the securityholders party thereto; the private placement warrants purchase agreement between us and our sponsor; and the administrative services agreement among us and EWI Capital. These agreements contain various provisions that our public shareholders might deem to be material. For example, our letter agreement and the Underwriting Agreement contain certain lock-up provisions with respect to the founder shares, private placement warrants and other securities held by our initial shareholders, directors and our management team. Amendments to such agreements would require the consent of the applicable parties thereto and would need to be approved by our board of directors, which may do so for a variety of reasons, including to facilitate our initial business combination. While we do not expect our board of directors to approve any amendment to any of these agreements prior to our initial business combination, it may be possible that our board of directors, in exercising its business judgment and subject to its fiduciary duties, chooses to approve one or more amendments to any such agreement. Any amendment entered into in connection with the consummation of our initial business combination will be disclosed in our proxy materials or tender offer documents, as applicable, related to such initial business combination, and any other material amendment to any of our material agreements will be in a filing with the SEC. Any such amendments would not require approval from our shareholders, may result in the completion of our initial business combination that may not otherwise have been possible, and may have an effect on the value of an investment in our securities. For example, amendments to the lock-up provision discussed above may result in the holders of the founder shares selling their securities earlier than they would otherwise be permitted, which may have an effect on the price of our securities.
We may be unable to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination or to fund the operations and growth of a target business, which could compel us to restructure or abandon a particular business combination.
We intend to target businesses with enterprise values that are greater than we could acquire with the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants. As a result, if the cash portion of the purchase price exceeds the amount available from the trust account, net of amounts needed to satisfy any redemption by public shareholders, we may be required to seek additional financing to complete such proposed initial business combination. We cannot assure you that such financing will be available on acceptable terms, if at all. To the extent that additional financing proves to be unavailable when needed to complete our initial business combination, we would be compelled to either restructure the transaction or abandon that particular business combination and seek an alternative target business candidate. Further, we may be required to obtain additional financing in connection with the closing of our initial business combination for general corporate purposes, including for maintenance or expansion of operations of the post-transaction businesses, the payment of principal or interest due on indebtedness incurred in completing our initial business combination, or to fund the purchase of other companies. If we are to complete our initial business combination, our public shareholders may only receive their pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account that are available for distribution to public shareholders, and our warrants will expire . 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 to secure additional financing could have a material 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.
Our initial shareholders control 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, officers and directors collectively beneficially own approximately 37.7% of our issued and outstanding ordinary shares (excluding any public shares held by the anchor investors). Accordingly, they may exert a substantial influence on actions requiring a shareholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support, including amendments to our memorandum and articles of association. If our initial shareholders, officers or directors purchase any additional Class A ordinary shares in the aftermarket or in privately negotiated transactions, this would increase their control. 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, is and will be 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. Although we held the Extension Meeting, as a consequence of our “staggered” board of directors, only a minority of the board of directors were considered for election and our initial shareholders, officers and directors, because of their ownership position, had considerable influence regarding the outcome.
In addition, prior to the completion of an initial business combination, holders of a majority of our Class B ordinary shares may fill any vacancy on the board of directors or remove a member of the board of directors for any reason. As our sponsor currently holds the sole issued and outstanding Class B ordinary share, our sponsor would control any such actions. Accordingly, our sponsor and directors will continue to exert control at least until the completion of 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 the proxy statement with respect to the vote on an initial business combination include historical and pro forma financial statement disclosure. We will include the same financial statement disclosure in connection with our tender offer documents, whether or not they are required under the tender offer rules. These financial statements may be required to be prepared in accordance with, or be reconciled to, United States generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) or international financial reporting standards as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board, 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). These financial statement requirements may limit the pool of potential target businesses we may acquire because some targets may be unable to provide such financial statements in time for us to disclose such statements in accordance with federal proxy rules and complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame.
Compliance obligations under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may make it more difficult for us to effectuate our initial business combination, require substantial financial and management resources, and increase the time and costs of completing an initial business combination.
Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires that we evaluate and report on our system of internal controls beginning with our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ending December 31, 2022. Only in the event we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer or an accelerated filer, and no longer qualify as an emerging growth company, will we be required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement on our internal control over financial reporting. Further, for as long as we remain an emerging growth company, we will not be required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement on our internal control over financial reporting. The fact that we are a blank check company makes compliance with the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act particularly burdensome on us as compared to other public companies because a target business with which we seek to complete our initial business combination may not be in compliance with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act regarding adequacy of its internal controls. The development of the internal control of any such entity to achieve compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may increase the time and costs necessary to complete any such business combination.
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 years, 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, or 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.
Recent increases in inflation and interest rates in the United States and elsewhere could make it more difficult for us to complete our initial business combination.
Recent increases in inflation and interest rates in the United States and elsewhere may lead to increased price volatility for publicly traded securities, including ours, or other national, regional or international economic disruptions, any of which could make it more difficult for us to complete our initial business combination.
Risks Relating to the Post-Business Combination Company
Subsequent to our completion of our initial business combination, we may be required to take write-downs or write-offs, restructuring and impairment or other charges that could have a significant negative effect on our financial condition, results of operations and the price of our securities, which could cause you to lose some or all of your investment.
Even if we conduct extensive due diligence on a target business with which we combine, we cannot assure you that this diligence will identify all material issues that may be present with a particular target business, that it would be possible to uncover all material issues through a customary amount of due diligence, or that factors outside of the target business and outside of our control will not later arise. As a result of these factors, we may be forced to later write-down or write-off assets, restructure our operations, or incur impairment or other charges that could result in our reporting losses. Even if our due diligence successfully identifies certain risks, unexpected risks may arise and previously known risks may materialize in a manner not consistent with our preliminary risk analysis. Even though these charges may be non-cash items and not have an immediate impact on our liquidity, the fact that we report charges of this nature could contribute to negative market perceptions about us or our securities. In addition, charges of this nature may cause us to net worth or other covenants to which we may be subject as a result of assuming pre-existing debt held by a target business or by virtue of our obtaining debt financing to partially finance the initial business combination or thereafter. Accordingly, any shareholders or warrant holders who choose to remain shareholders or warrant holders following the business combination could a reduction in the value of their securities. Such shareholders or warrant holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value unless they are to claim that the reduction was due to the by our officers or directors of a duty of care or other fiduciary duty owed to them, or if they are to bring a private claim under securities laws that the proxy materials or tender offer documents, as applicable, relating to the business combination contained an actionable material or material .
Resources could be wasted in researching business combinations that are not completed, which could materially adversely affect subsequent attempts to locate and acquire or merge with another business. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public shareholders may only receive their pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account that are available for distribution to public shareholders, and our warrants will expire worthless.
The investigation of each specific target business and the negotiation, drafting and execution of relevant agreements, disclosure documents and other instruments may require substantial management time and attention and substantial costs for accountants, attorneys and others. If we decide not to complete a specific initial business combination, the costs incurred up to that point for the proposed transaction likely would not be recoverable. Furthermore, if we reach an agreement relating to a specific target business, we may fail to complete our initial business combination for any number of reasons including those beyond our control. Any such event will result in a loss to us of the related costs incurred which could materially adversely affect subsequent attempts to locate and acquire or merge with another business. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public shareholders may only receive their pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account that are available for distribution to public shareholders, and our warrants will expire worthless.
Our ability to successfully effect our initial business combination and to be successful thereafter will be dependent upon the efforts of our key personnel, some of whom may join us following our initial business combination. The loss of key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business.
Our ability to successfully effect our initial business combination is dependent upon the efforts of our key personnel. The role of our key personnel in the target business, however, cannot presently be ascertained. Although some of our key personnel may remain with the target business in senior management or advisory positions following our initial business combination, it is likely that some or all of the management of the target business will remain in place. While we intend to closely scrutinize any individuals we engage after our initial business combination, we cannot assure you that our assessment of these individuals will prove to be correct. These individuals may be unfamiliar with the requirements of operating a company regulated by the SEC, which could cause us to have to expend time and resources helping them become familiar with such requirements.
Our key personnel may negotiate employment or consulting agreements with a target business in connection with a particular business combination, and a particular business combination may be conditioned on the retention or resignation of such key personnel. These agreements may provide for them to receive compensation following our initial business combination and as a result, may cause them to have conflicts of interest in determining whether a particular business combination is the most advantageous.
Our key personnel may be able to remain with our company after the completion of our initial business combination only if they are able to negotiate employment or consulting agreements in connection with the business combination. Such negotiations would take place simultaneously with the negotiation of the business combination and could provide for such individuals to receive compensation in the form of cash payments and/or our securities for services they would render to us after the completion of the business combination. Such negotiations also could make such key personnel’s retention or resignation a condition to any such agreement. The personal and financial interests of such individuals may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business, subject to their fiduciary duties under Cayman Islands law.
We may have a limited ability to assess the management of a prospective target business and, as a result, may effect our initial business combination with a target business whose management may not have the skills, qualifications or abilities to manage a public company.
When evaluating the desirability of effecting our initial business combination with a prospective target business, our ability to assess the target business’s management may be limited due to a lack of time, resources or information. Our assessment of the capabilities of the target business’s management, therefore, may prove to be incorrect and such management may lack the skills, qualifications or abilities we suspected. Should the target business’s management not possess the skills, qualifications or abilities necessary to manage a public company, the operations and profitability of the post-combination business may be negatively impacted. Accordingly, any shareholders or warrant holders who choose to remain shareholders or warrant holders following the business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such shareholders or warrant holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value unless they are able to successfully claim that the reduction was due to the breach by our officers or directors of a duty of care or other fiduciary duty owed to them, or if they are to bring a private claim under securities laws that the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, relating to the business combination contained an actionable material or material .
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 and, accordingly, any shareholders or warrant holders who choose to remain shareholders or warrant holders following the business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities.
To the extent we complete our initial business combination, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in the business operations with which we combine. For example, if we combine with a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of sales or earnings, we may be affected by the risks inherent in the business and operations of a financially unstable or a development stage entity. Although our officers and directors will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we cannot assure you that we will properly ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors or that we will have adequate time to complete due diligence. Furthermore, some of these risks may be outside of our control and leave us with no ability to control or reduce the chances that those risks will adversely impact a target business. We also cannot assure you that an investment in our securities will ultimately prove to be more favorable to investors than a direct investment, if such opportunity were available, in a business combination target. Accordingly, any shareholders or warrant holders who choose to remain shareholders or warrant holders following the business combination could a reduction in the value of their securities. Such shareholders or warrant holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value unless they are to claim that the reduction was due to the by our officers or directors of a duty of care or other fiduciary duty owed to them, or if they are to bring a private claim under securities laws that the proxy materials or tender offer documents, as applicable, relating to the business combination contained an actionable material or material .
The officers and directors of an acquisition candidate may resign upon completion of our initial business combination. The loss of a business combination target’s key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business.
The role of an acquisition candidate’s key personnel upon the completion of our initial business combination cannot be ascertained at this time. Although we contemplate that certain members of an acquisition candidate’s management team will remain associated with the acquisition candidate following our initial business combination, it is possible that members of the management of an acquisition candidate will not wish to remain in place.
Our management may not be able to maintain control of a target business after our initial business combination. We cannot provide assurance that, upon loss of control of a target business, new management will possess the skills, qualifications or abilities necessary to profitably operate such business.
We may structure our initial business combination so that the post-transaction company in which our public shareholders own shares will own less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business, but we will only complete such business combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target sufficient for us not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. We will not consider any transaction that does not meet such criteria. Even if the post-transaction company owns 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our shareholders prior to the business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post business combination company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the business combination. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new Class A ordinary shares in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock, shares or other equity interests of a target. In this case, we would acquire a 100% interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new Class A ordinary shares, our shareholders immediately prior to such transaction could own less than a majority of our 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 to maintain control of the target business.
If we effect our initial business combination with a company located outside of the United States, we would be subject to a variety of additional risks that may adversely affect us.
If we pursue a target business 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. Furthermore, we would be subject to risks associated with cross-border business combinations, including in connection with investigating, agreeing to and completing our initial business combination, conducting due diligence in a foreign jurisdiction, having such transaction approved by any local governments, regulators or agencies and changes in the purchase price based on fluctuations in foreign exchange rates.
If we effect our initial business combination with such a company, we would be subject to any special considerations or risks associated with companies operating in an international setting, including any of the following:
costs and difficulties inherent in managing cross-border business operations;
rules and regulations regarding currency redemption;
complex corporate withholding taxes on individuals;
laws governing the manner in which future business combinations may be effected;
exchange listing and/or delisting requirements;
tariffs and trade barriers;
regulations related to customs and import/export matters;
local or regional economic policies and market conditions;
unexpected changes in regulatory requirements;
challenges in managing and staffing international operations;
longer payment cycles;
tax issues, such as tax law changes and variations in tax laws as compared to the United States;
currency fluctuations and exchange controls;
rates of inflation;
challenges in collecting accounts receivable;
cultural and language differences;
employment regulations;
underdeveloped or unpredictable legal or regulatory systems;
corruption;
protection of intellectual property;
social unrest, crime, strikes, riots and civil disturbances;
regime changes and political upheaval;
terrorist attacks and wars, including the war between Russia and Ukraine; and
deterioration of political relations with the United States.
We may not be able to adequately address these additional risks. If we were unable to do so, we may be unable to complete such initial business combination, or, if we complete such initial business combination, our operations might suffer, either of which may adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Risks Relating to our Management Team
We may not have sufficient funds to satisfy indemnification claims of our directors and executive officers.
We have agreed to indemnify our officers, directors and advisors to the fullest extent permitted by law. However, our officers, directors and advisors have agreed to waive any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies in the trust account and to not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason whatsoever. Accordingly, any indemnification provided will be able to be satisfied by us only if (i) we have sufficient funds outside of the trust account or (ii) we consummate an initial business combination. Our obligation to indemnify our officers and directors may discourage shareholders from bringing a lawsuit against our officers or directors for breach of their fiduciary duty. These provisions also may have the effect of reducing the likelihood of derivative litigation against our officers and directors, even though such an action, if successful, might otherwise benefit us and our shareholders. Furthermore, a shareholder’s investment may be affected to the extent we pay the costs of settlement and awards our officers and directors pursuant to these indemnification provisions.
Past performance by our management team and their affiliates may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in us.
Information regarding performance by, or businesses associated with, our management team or businesses associated with them is presented for informational purposes only. Past performance by our management team is not a guarantee either (i) of success with respect to any business combination we may consummate or (ii) that we will be able to locate a suitable candidate for our initial business combination. You should not rely on the historical record of the performance of our management team’s or businesses associated with them as indicative of our future performance of an investment in us or the returns we will, or is likely to, generate going forward.
We may seek business combination opportunities in industries or sectors that may be outside of our management’s areas of expertise.
We will consider a business combination outside of our management’s areas of expertise if a business combination candidate is presented to us and we determine that such candidate offers an attractive business combination opportunity for our company. Although our management will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in any particular business combination candidate, we cannot assure you that we will adequately ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors. We also cannot assure you that an investment in our securities will not ultimately prove to be less favorable than a direct investment, if an opportunity were available, in a business combination candidate. In the event we elect to pursue a business combination outside of the areas of our management’s expertise, our management’s expertise may not be directly applicable to its evaluation or operation, and the information contained in this report regarding the areas of our management’s expertise would not be relevant to an understanding of the business that we elect to acquire. As a result, our management may not be able to ascertain or assess all of the relevant risk factors. Accordingly, any shareholders who choose to remain shareholders following our initial business combination could a reduction in the value of their shares. Such shareholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.
We are dependent upon our executive officers and directors and their loss could adversely affect our ability to operate.
Our operations are dependent upon a relatively small group of individuals and, in particular, our executive officers and directors. We believe that our success depends on the continued service of our officers and directors, at least until we have completed our initial business combination. In addition, our executive officers and directors are not required to commit any specified amount of time to our affairs and, accordingly, will have conflicts of interest in allocating their time among various business activities, including identifying potential business combinations and monitoring the related due diligence. We do not have an employment agreement with, or key-man insurance on the life of, any of our directors or executive officers. The unexpected loss of the services of one or more of our directors or executive officers could have a detrimental effect on us.
Our executive officers and directors will allocate their time to other businesses thereby causing conflicts of interest in their determination as to how much time to devote to our affairs. This conflict of interest could have a negative impact on our ability to complete our initial business combination.
Our executive officers and directors are not required to, and will not, commit their full time to our affairs, which may result in a conflict of interest in allocating their time between our operations and our search for a business combination and their other businesses. We do not intend to have any full-time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination. Each of our executive officers is engaged in several other business endeavors for which he may be entitled to substantial compensation, and our executive officers are not obligated to contribute any specific number of hours per week to our affairs. Our independent directors also serve as officers and board members for other entities. If our executive officers’ and directors’ other business affairs require them to devote substantial amounts of time to such affairs in excess of their current commitment levels, it could limit their ability to devote time to our affairs which may have a negative impact on our ability to complete our initial business combination.
Our officers and directors presently have, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities 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. Each of our officers and directors presently has, and any of them in the future may have, additional fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entity. Accordingly, they may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented. These conflicts may not be resolved in our favor and a potential target business may be presented to another entity prior to its presentation to us. Our memorandum and articles of association provide that we renounce any interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any director or officer unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of the company and such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue, and to the extent the director or officer is permitted to refer that to us without another legal obligation. In addition, our sponsor and our officers and directors may sponsor or form other special purpose acquisition companies similar to ours or may pursue other business or investment ventures during the period in which we are seeking an initial business combination. Any such companies, businesses or ventures may present additional of interest in pursuing an initial business combination. However, we do not believe that any such potential would materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination.
Our executive officers, directors, security holders and their respective affiliates may have competitive pecuniary interests that conflict with our interests.
We have not adopted a policy that expressly prohibits our directors, executive officers, security holders or affiliates from having a direct or indirect pecuniary or financial interest in any investment to be acquired or disposed of by us or in any transaction to which we are a party or have an interest. In fact, we may enter into a business combination with a target business that is affiliated with our sponsor, our directors or executive officers, although we do not intend to do so. Nor do we have a policy that expressly prohibits any such persons from engaging for their own account in business activities of the types conducted by us. Accordingly, such persons or entities may have a conflict between their interests and ours.
The personal and financial interests of our directors and officers may influence their motivation in timely identifying and selecting a target business and completing a business combination. Consequently, our directors’ and officers’ discretion in identifying and selecting a suitable target business may result in a conflict of interest when determining whether the terms, conditions and timing of a particular business combination are appropriate and in our shareholders’ best interest. If this were the case, it would be a breach of their fiduciary duties to us as a matter of Cayman Islands law and we or our shareholders might have a claim against such individuals for infringing on our shareholders’ rights. However, we might not ultimately be successful in any claim we may make against them for such reason.
We may engage in a business combination with one or more target businesses that have relationships with entities that may be affiliated with our sponsor, executive officers, directors or existing holders which may raise potential conflicts of interest.
In light of the involvement of our sponsor, executive officers and directors with other entities, we may decide to acquire one or more businesses affiliated with our sponsor, executive officers, directors or existing holders. Our directors also serve as officers and board members for other entities. Such entities may compete with us for business combination opportunities. Although we will not be specifically focusing on, or targeting, any transaction with any affiliated entities, we would pursue such a transaction if we determined that such affiliated entity met our criteria for a business combination and such transaction was approved by a majority of our independent and disinterested directors. Despite our agreement to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm which is a member of FINRA or a valuation or appraisal firm regarding the fairness to our company from a financial point of view of a business combination with one or more domestic or international businesses affiliated with our sponsor, executive officers, directors or existing holders, potential conflicts of interest still may exist and, as a result, the terms of the business combination may not be as advantageous to our public shareholders as they would be absent any conflicts of interest.
Since our sponsor, executive officers and directors will lose their entire investment in us if our initial business combination is not completed (other than with respect to public shares they have acquired or may acquire), a conflict of interest may arise in determining whether a particular business combination target is appropriate for our initial business combination.
On February 18, 2021, we issued an aggregate of 8,625,000 founder shares to our sponsor for an aggregate price of $25,000, or approximately $0.003 per share. On July 29, 2021, our sponsor surrendered 1,437,500 founder shares to us for no consideration, resulting in an aggregate of 7,187,500 founder shares outstanding. Our sponsor transferred to our independent directors and certain of our anchor investors an aggregate of 1,321,717 founder shares. On December 12, 2021, in connection with the expiration of the remaining portion of the underwriters’ over-allotment option, our sponsor forfeited 593,085 founder shares to us for no consideration, and 6,594,415 founder shares remain outstanding. The number of founder shares issued was determined based on the expectation that such founder shares would represent 20% of the outstanding ordinary shares after our initial public offering. In addition, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 8,425,532 private placement warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant for an aggregate purchase price of $8,425,532.
In connection with the implementation of the Extension, our initial shareholders voluntarily elected to convert 6,594,414 founder shares from Class B ordinary shares to Class A ordinary shares on a one-for-one basis in accordance with our memorandum and articles of association. Notwithstanding the Class B Conversion, the holders of founder shares will not be entitled to receive any funds held in the trust account with respect to any such converted shares.
Our initial shareholders, officers and directors have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to the founder shares, and, with respect to our sponsor, officers and directors, any public shares they may hold, in connection with the consummation of an initial business combination or the approval of certain amendments to our memorandum and articles of association, and to waive their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to the founder shares if we do not complete an initial business combination by May 2, 2024 (or such later date as may be approved by our shareholders). The founder shares will therefore be worthless if we do not complete an initial business combination; however, such persons would be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any public shares they hold. There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to the private placement warrants, which will expire worthless if we do not complete an initial business combination.
These interests, among others, may influence our directors in making their recommendation that you vote in favor of an initial business combination, as our sponsor, executive officers and directors may lose their entire investment in us if our initial business combination is not completed (other than with respect to public shares they have acquired or may acquire).
Risks Relating to our Securities
You will not have any rights or interests in funds from the trust account, except under certain limited circumstances. Therefore, to liquidate your investment, you may be forced to sell your public shares or warrants, potentially at a loss.
Our public shareholders will be entitled to receive funds from the trust account only upon the earliest to occur of: (i) our completion of an initial business combination, and then only in connection with those Class A ordinary shares that such shareholder properly elected to redeem, subject to the limitations described herein; (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly tendered in connection with a shareholder vote to amend our memorandum and articles of association to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination by May 2, 2024 (or such later date as may be approved by our shareholders) or during any extended period of time that we may have to consummate an initial business combination as a result of an amendment to our memorandum and articles of association or with respect to any other material provisions relating to shareholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity; and (iii) the redemption of our public shares if we are unable to complete an initial business combination within the required time period, subject to applicable law and as further described herein. In addition, if our plan to redeem our public shares if we are unable to complete an initial business combination by May 2, 2024 (or such later date as may be approved by our shareholders) is not completed for any reason, compliance with Cayman Islands law may require that we submit a plan of to our then-existing shareholders for approval prior to the distribution of the proceeds held in our trust account. In that case, public shareholders may be to wait beyond by May 2, 2024 (or such later date as may be approved by our shareholders) before they receive funds from our trust account. 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 your investment, you may be to sell your public shares or warrants, potentially at a .
Nasdaq may delist our securities from its exchange, which could limit investors’ ability to make transactions in our securities and subject us to additional trading restrictions.
Our units, Class A ordinary shares and warrants are currently listed on Nasdaq. We cannot assure you that our securities will continue to be listed on Nasdaq in the future or prior to our initial business combination. In order to continue listing our securities on Nasdaq prior to our initial business combination, we must maintain certain financial, distribution and share price levels. Generally, we must maintain a minimum average global market capitalization and a minimum number of holders of our securities. Additionally, in connection with our initial business combination, we will be required to demonstrate compliance with Nasdaq’s initial listing requirements, which are more rigorous than Nasdaq’s continued listing requirements, in order to continue to maintain the listing of our securities on Nasdaq. For instance, our share price would generally be required to be at least $4.00 per share and the publicly held shares would be required to be at least $15 million and we would be required to have a minimum of 400 round lot holders and 1,000,000 publicly held shares. We cannot assure you that we will be able to meet those initial listing requirements at that time.
On October 9, 2023, we received a notice from the Listing Qualifications Department of Nasdaq indicating that we are not in compliance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5450(a)(2), which requires us to have at least 400 total holders for continued listing on the Nasdaq Global Market. The notice is only a notification of deficiency, not of imminent delisting, and has no current effect on the listing or trading of our securities on the Nasdaq Global Market. The notice stated that we had 45 calendar days, or until November 24, 2023, to submit a plan to regain compliance with such rule. On November 24, 2023, we submitted to Nasdaq a plan to regain compliance with such rule within the required timeframe. If Nasdaq accepts our plan, Nasdaq may grant us an extension of up to 180 calendar days from the date of the notice, or until April 6, 2024, to evidence compliance with such rule. If Nasdaq does not accept our plan, we will have the opportunity to appeal the decision to a Nasdaq Hearings Panel.
If Nasdaq delists our securities from trading on its exchange and we are not able to list our securities on another national securities exchange, we expect our securities could be quoted on an over-the-counter market. If this were to occur, we could face significant material adverse consequences, including:
a limited availability of market quotations for our securities;
reduced liquidity for our securities;
a determination that our Class A 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 have been approved to be listed on Nasdaq, our units, Class A ordinary shares and warrants qualify as covered securities under the statute. Although the states are preempted from regulating the sale of our securities, the federal statute does allow the states to investigate companies if there is a suspicion of fraud, and, if there is a finding of fraudulent activity, then the states can regulate or bar the sale of covered securities in a particular case. While we are not aware of a state having used these powers to prohibit or restrict the sale of securities issued by blank check companies, other than the State of Idaho, certain state securities regulators view blank check companies unfavorably and might use these powers, or threaten to use these powers, to hinder the sale of securities of blank check companies in their states. Further, if we were no longer listed on 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.
Holders of our Class A ordinary shares will not be entitled to vote on any appointment of directors prior to our initial business combination.
Prior to our initial business combination, only holders of our Class B ordinary 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 the completion of an initial business combination, holders of a majority of our Class B ordinary shares may remove a member of the board of directors for any reason. As our sponsor currently holds the sole issued and outstanding Class B ordinary share, our sponsor would control any such actions. Accordingly, you may not have any say in the management of our company prior to the completion of an initial business combination.
Since our anchor investors have either an indirect beneficial interest in founder shares and certain private placement warrants held by our sponsor or directly hold founder shares, a conflict of interest may arise in determining whether a particular target business is appropriate for our initial business combination.
The anchor investors either (i) are members of our sponsor with an indirect beneficial interest in certain founder shares and private placement warrants held by our sponsor, which anchor investors we refer to as the original anchor investors, or (ii) hold founder shares directly, which anchor investors we refer to as the additional anchor investors. The additional anchor investors paid only a nominal amount for the founder shares. The original anchor investors, through their interests in the sponsor, acquired interests in founder shares and private placement warrants at prices similar to those paid by our sponsor for the founder shares and private placement warrants. Accordingly, our anchor investors will share in any appreciation in the value of the founder shares and private placement warrants above the original purchase price, provided that we successfully complete a business combination. Moreover, the anchor investors paid an effective price of $7.60 per ordinary share acquired in our initial public offering, as compared to the $10.00 per share paid by the other public shareholders in our initial public offering.
As a result, our anchor investors may have an incentive to vote any ordinary shares they own in favor of our initial business combination. In addition, if our anchor investors retain a substantial portion of their interests in our public shares and vote those public shares in favor of our initial business combination, we may receive sufficient votes to approve our initial business combination, regardless of how any other public shareholder votes their shares, although we are not aware of any arrangements or understandings among our anchor investors with regard to voting, including voting with respect to our initial business combination.
Since only holders of our Class B ordinary shares have the right to vote to appoint directors, Nasdaq may consider us to be a “controlled company” within the meaning of Nasdaq rules and, as a result, we may qualify for exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements.
Only holders of our Class B ordinary shares have the right to vote to appoint directors. As a result, Nasdaq may consider us to be a “controlled company” within the meaning of Nasdaq corporate governance standards. Under Nasdaq corporate governance standards, a company of which more than 50% of the voting power is held by an individual, group or another company is a “controlled company” and may elect not to comply with certain corporate governance requirements, including the requirements that:
we have a board that includes a majority of “independent directors,” as defined under the rules of Nasdaq;
we have a compensation committee of our board that is comprised entirely of independent directors with a written charter addressing the committee’s purpose and responsibilities; and
we have independent director oversight of our director nominations.
We do not currently intend to utilize these exemptions and intend to comply with the corporate governance requirements of Nasdaq, subject to applicable phase-in rules. However, if we determine in the future to utilize some or all of these exemptions, you will not have the same protections afforded to shareholders of companies that are subject to all of Nasdaq’s corporate governance requirements.
An investment in our securities may result in uncertain or adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences .
An investment in our securities may result in uncertain U.S. federal income tax consequences. For instance, because there are no authorities that directly address instruments similar to the units we issued in our initial public offering, the allocation an investor makes with respect to the purchase price of a unit between the Class A ordinary share and the one-half of a warrant to purchase one Class A ordinary share included in each unit could be challenged by the IRS or courts. Furthermore, the U.S. federal income tax consequences of a cashless exercise of warrants included in the units we issued in our initial public offering is unclear under current law. Finally, it is unclear whether the redemption rights with respect to our ordinary shares suspend the running of a U.S. holder’s holding period for purposes of determining whether any dividends we pay would be considered “qualified dividends” for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Prospective investors are urged to consult their tax advisors with respect to these and other tax consequences when purchasing, holding or disposing of our securities.
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 determined to be a PFIC for any taxable year (or portion thereof) that is included in the holding period of a U.S. holder of our 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 actual PFIC status for our current taxable year may depend on the status of the target company pursuant to a business combination and whether we qualify for the PFIC start-up exception. Depending on the particular circumstances, the application of the start-up exception is uncertain, 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 future taxable year. Our actual PFIC status for any taxable year, however, will not be determinable until after the end of such taxable year. If we determine we are a PFIC for any taxable year, we will endeavor to provide to a U.S. holder upon request such information as the 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. We urge U.S. holders to consult their own tax advisors regarding the possible application of the PFIC rules.
We may re-domicile or reincorporate in another jurisdiction in connection with our initial business combination, which may result in taxes imposed on shareholders and warrant holders.
We may, in connection with our initial business combination, re-domicile or 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 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 and warrant holders may be subject to withholding taxes or other taxes with respect to their ownership of us after the reincorporation.
Registration of the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants under the Securities Act or any state securities laws may not be in place when an investor desires to exercise warrants, thus precluding such investor from being able to exercise its warrants except on a cashless basis and potentially causing such warrants to expire worthless.
Under the terms of the Warrant Agreement, we have agreed that, as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 15 business days, after the closing of our initial business combination, we will use commercially reasonable efforts to file with the SEC a post-effective amendment to the registration statement filed in connection with our initial public offering or a new registration statement covering the registration under the Securities Act of the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants and thereafter will use commercially reasonable efforts to cause the same to become effective within 60 business days following our initial business combination and to maintain a current prospectus relating to the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants until the expiration of the warrants in accordance with the provisions of the warrant agreement. We cannot assure you that we will be able to do so if, for example, any facts or events arise which represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in the registration statement or prospectus, the financial statements contained or incorporated by reference therein are not current or correct or the SEC issues a stop order.
If the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants are not registered under the Securities Act, 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 warrant holders will receive upon cashless exercise will be based on a formula.
In no event will warrants be exercisable for cash or on a cashless basis, and we will not be obligated to issue any shares to holders seeking to exercise their warrants, unless the issuance of the shares upon such exercise is registered or qualified under the securities laws of the state of the exercising holder, or an exemption from registration or qualification is available. If the issuance of the shares upon exercise of the warrants is not so registered or qualified or exempt from registration or qualification, the holder of such warrant will not be entitled to exercise such warrant and such warrant may have no value and expire worthless. In such event, holders who acquired their warrants as part of a purchase of units will have paid the full unit purchase price solely for the 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 warrants included as part of units sold in our initial public offering. In such an instance, our sponsor and its permitted transferees would be able to 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 to register or qualify the underlying securities for sale under all applicable state securities laws.
If our Class A ordinary shares are at the time of any exercise of a warrant not listed on a national securities exchange such that they satisfy the definition of “covered securities” under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act, we may, at our option, not permit holders of warrants who seek to exercise their warrants to do so for cash and, instead, require them to do so on a cashless basis in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act; in the event we so elect, we will not be required to file or maintain in effect a registration statement or register or qualify the shares underlying the warrants under applicable state securities laws, and in the event we do not so elect, we will use commercially reasonable efforts to register or qualify the shares underlying the warrants under applicable state securities laws to the extent an exemption is not available.
In no event will we be required to net cash settle any warrant, or issue securities (other than upon a cashless exercise as described above) or other compensation in exchange for the warrants in the event that we are unable to register or qualify the shares underlying the warrants under the Securities Act or applicable state securities laws.
Warrant holders may only be able to exercise your public warrants on a “cashless basis” under certain circumstances, and if a warrant holder does so, it will receive fewer Class A ordinary shares from such exercise than if it were to exercise such warrants for cash.
The Warrant Agreement provides that in the following circumstances holders of warrants who seek to exercise their warrants will not be permitted to do so for cash and will, instead, be required to do so on a cashless basis in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act: (i) if the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants are not registered under the Securities Act in accordance with the terms of the warrant agreement; (ii) if we have so elected and the Class A ordinary shares is at the time of any exercise of a warrant not listed on a national securities exchange such that they satisfy the definition of “covered securities” under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act; and (iii) if we have so elected and we call the public warrants for redemption. If you exercise your public warrants on a cashless basis, you would pay the warrant exercise price by surrendering the warrants for that number of Class A ordinary shares equal to the quotient obtained by dividing (x) the product of the number of Class A ordinary shares underlying the warrants, multiplied by the excess of the “fair market value” (as defined below) of our Class A ordinary shares (as defined in the next sentence) over the exercise price of the warrants by (y) the fair market value. The “fair market value” is the average reported last sale price of the Class A ordinary shares for the 10 trading days ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which the notice of exercise is received by the warrant agent (or, in the case of redemption, on the third trading day prior to the date on which the notice of redemption is sent to the holders of warrants). As a result, you would receive fewer Class A ordinary shares from such exercise than if you were to exercise such warrants for cash.
The registration rights granted to our sponsor, additional anchor investors and holders of our private placement warrants, and pursuant to the Non-Redemption Agreements, 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 a registration rights agreement entered into concurrently with our initial public offering, our sponsor and its permitted transferees can demand that we register the founder shares, holders of our private placement warrants and their permitted transferees can demand that we register the private placement warrants and the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the private placement warrants, and holders of warrants that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans may demand that we register such warrants or the Class A ordinary shares issuable upon conversion of such warrants. The registration rights will be exercisable subsequent to our initial business combination with respect to such securities and, pursuant to the Non-Redemption Agreements, the Post-Combination Shares. We will bear the cost of registering these securities.
The registration and availability of such a significant number of securities for trading in the public market may have an adverse effect on the market price of our Class A ordinary shares. In addition, the existence of the registration rights may make our initial business combination more costly or difficult to conclude. This is because the shareholders of the target business may increase the equity stake they seek in the combined entity or ask for more cash consideration to offset the negative impact on the market price of our Class A ordinary shares that is expected when the founder shares, private placement warrants, warrants issued in respect of our working capital loans or the Post-Combination Shares are registered.
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. Any such issuances would dilute the interest of our shareholders and likely present other risks.
Our memorandum and articles of association authorizes the issuance of up to 200,000,000 Class A ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share, 20,000,000 Class B ordinary shares, par value $0.0001 per share, and 1,000,000 preference shares, par value $0.0001 per share. As of December 31, 2023, there are 182,526,228 and 19,999,999 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. 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 to redeem the warrants. However, our memorandum and articles of association provide, among other things, that prior to our initial business combination, we may not issue additional shares that would entitle the holders thereof to (i) receive funds from the trust account or (ii) vote as a class with our public shares (a) on any initial business combination or (b) to approve an amendment to our memorandum and articles of association to (x) extend the time we have to consummate a business combination beyond May 2, 2024, or (y) amend the foregoing provisions. These provisions of our memorandum and articles of association, like all provisions of our memorandum and articles of association, may be amended with a shareholder vote. The issuance of additional ordinary shares or preference shares:
may significantly dilute the equity interest of investors in our initial public offering;
may subordinate the rights of holders of Class A ordinary shares if 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; and
may adversely affect prevailing market prices for our units, Class A ordinary shares and/or warrants.
The nominal purchase price paid by our initial shareholders for the founder shares may significantly dilute the implied value of the public shares in the event we consummate an initial business combination, and our initial shareholders are likely to make a substantial profit on their investment in us in the event we consummate an initial business combination, even if the business combination causes the trading price of our Class A ordinary shares to materially decline.
Our initial shareholders invested an aggregate of $8,450,532 in our company in connection with our initial public offering, comprised of the $25,000 purchase price for the founder shares and the $8,425,532 purchase price for the founder warrants (excluding any public shares purchased by the initial shareholders). The amount held in the trust account was $115,981,606 as of December 31, 2023, implying a value of approximately $10.66 per public share.
The following table shows the public shareholders’ and initial shareholders’ investment per share and how these compare to the implied value of one Class A ordinary share upon the completion of our initial business combination. The following table (i) assumes that (a) our valuation is $115,981,606 (which is the amount held in the trust account as of December 31, 2023), (b) no additional interest is earned on the funds held in the trust account, (c) no public shares are redeemed in connection with our initial business combination and (d) all founder shares are held by our initial shareholders upon completion of our initial business combination, and (ii) does not take into account other potential impacts on our valuation at the time of our initial business combination such as (a) the value of the public warrants and private placement warrants, (b) the trading price of the Class A ordinary shares, (c) business combination transaction costs, (d) any consideration paid to the target’s sellers, (e) any equity issued to other third party investors or (f) the target’s business itself, including its assets, liabilities, management and prospects.
Public shares
10,879,358 shares
Founder shares
6,594,415 shares
Total shares
17,473,773 shares
Total funds in trust account (1)
Public shareholders’ investment per public share (2)
Initial shareholders’ investment per founder share (3)(4)
Implied value per Class A ordinary share upon completion of the initial business combination
Amount held in the trust account as of December 31, 2023. In connection with the implementation of the Extension, we redeemed 15,498,302 public shares, at a redemption price of approximately $10.41 per share, for an aggregate redemption amount of approximately $161.3 million.
While the public shareholders’ investment is in both the public shares and the public warrants, for purposes of this table the full investment amount is ascribed to the public shares only.
Investment per founder share reflects the forfeiture by our sponsor of 2,030,585 founder shares in the aggregate prior to our initial public offering and in connection with the partial forfeiture of the underwriters’ over-allotment option. On August 1, 2023, pursuant to the Class B Conversion in connection with the Extension, 6,594,415 founder shares were converted from Class B ordinary shares to Class A ordinary shares on a one-for-one basis.
The initial shareholders’ total investment in the equity of our company, inclusive of the founder shares and the private placement warrants (excluding any public shares purchased by the initial shareholders), is $8,450,532.
Based on these assumptions, each Class A ordinary share would have an implied value of $6.64 per share upon completion of our initial business combination, representing a 33.6% decrease from the initial implied value of $10.00 per public share. While the implied value of $6.64 per share upon completion of our initial business combination would represent a significant dilution to the public shareholders, this would still represent an increase in value for the initial shareholders relative to the initial purchase price of the founder shares. At $6.64 per share, the 6,594,415 Class A ordinary shares that the initial shareholders would own upon completion of our initial business combination (excluding any public shares purchased by the initial shareholders) would have an aggregate implied value of approximately $43,786,916. As a result, even if the trading price of the Class A ordinary shares significantly declines, the initial shareholders will stand to make significant profit on their investment in our company. In addition, the initial shareholders could potentially recoup their entire investment in our company (excluding any public shares purchased by the initial shareholders) even if the trading price of the Class A ordinary shares was as low as $1.28 per share and even if the private placement warrants are worthless. The initial shareholders may therefore be economically incentivized to complete an initial business combination with a riskier, weaker-performing or less-established target business, or on terms less to the public shareholders, rather than the company. This dilution would increase to the extent that public shareholders seek further redemptions from the trust account for their public shares.
We may amend the terms of the warrants in a manner that may be adverse to holders of public warrants with the approval by the holders of at least 50% of the then outstanding public warrants. As a result, the exercise price of your warrants could be increased, the exercise period could be shortened and the number of Class A ordinary shares purchasable upon exercise of a warrant could be decreased, all without your approval.
Our warrants were issued in registered form under the 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 50% 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 50% 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, 50% 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 50% of the then outstanding public warrants is unlimited, examples of such amendments could be amendments to, among other things, increase the exercise price of the warrants, convert the warrants into cash or shares (at a ratio different than initially provided), shorten the exercise period or decrease the number of Class A ordinary shares purchasable upon exercise of a warrant.
The 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.
The 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 the 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, or 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, or an enforcement action, and (y) having service of process made upon such warrant holder in any such enforcement action by service upon such warrant holder’s counsel in the foreign action as agent for such warrant holder.
This choice-of-forum provision may limit a warrant holder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with our company, which may discourage such lawsuits. Alternatively, if a court were to find this provision of our warrant agreement inapplicable or unenforceable with respect to one or more of the specified types of actions or proceedings, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters in other jurisdictions, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and result in a diversion of the time and resources of our management and board of directors.
We may redeem your unexpired warrants prior to their exercise at a time that is disadvantageous to you, thereby making your warrants worthless.
We have the ability to redeem the outstanding public warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.01 per warrant, provided that the last reported sale 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) 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. None of the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us in these circumstances for so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees. If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may exercise our redemption right even if we are unable to register or qualify the underlying securities for sale under all applicable state securities laws. As a result, we may redeem the warrants as set forth above even if the holders are otherwise unable to exercise the warrants. Redemption of the outstanding warrants could force you to (i) exercise your warrants and pay the exercise price therefor at a time when it may be disadvantageous for you to do so, (ii) sell your warrants at the then-current market price when you might otherwise wish to hold your warrants or (iii) accept the nominal redemption price which, at the time the outstanding warrants are called for redemption, we expect would be substantially less than the market value of your warrants. None of the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees.
In addition, we have the ability to redeem the outstanding public warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.10 per warrant, upon a minimum of 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption, provided that the last reported sale 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) 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 (i) may be less than the value the holders would have received if they had exercised their warrants at a later time when the underlying share price is higher and (ii) may not compensate the holders for the value of the warrants.
Our warrants and founder shares 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 issued warrants to purchase 13,188,830 Class A ordinary shares as part of the units offered in our initial public offering and, simultaneously with the closing of our initial public offering, we issued in private placements an aggregate of 8,425,532 private placement warrants, each exercisable to purchase one Class A ordinary share at $11.50 per share. There are currently 6,594,415 founder shares outstanding. In addition, if our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our officers and directors makes any working capital loans, such lender may convert those loans into up to an additional 1,500,000 private placement warrants, at the price of $1.00 per warrant.
To the extent we issue Class A 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 and conversion rights could make us a less attractive acquisition vehicle to a target business. Such warrants, when exercised, will increase the number of issued and outstanding Class A ordinary shares and reduce the value of the Class A ordinary shares issued to complete the business combination. Therefore, our warrants and founder shares may make it more difficult to effectuate a business transaction or increase the cost of acquiring the target business.
Because each unit contains one-half of one warrant and only a whole warrant may be exercised, the units may be worth less than units of other special purpose acquisition companies.
Each unit contains one-half of one warrant. Pursuant to the Warrant Agreement, no fractional warrants will be issued upon separation of the units, and only whole units will trade. If, upon exercise of the warrants, a holder would be entitled to receive a fractional interest in a share, we will, upon exercise, round down to the nearest whole number the number of Class A ordinary shares to be issued to the warrant holder. This is different from other offerings similar to ours whose units include one ordinary share and one warrant to purchase one whole share. We have established the components of the units in this way in order to reduce the dilutive effect of the warrants upon completion of a business combination since the warrants will be exercisable in the aggregate for one-half of the number of shares compared to units that each contain a whole warrant to purchase one share, thus making us, we believe, a more attractive merger partner for target businesses. Nevertheless, this unit structure may cause our units to be worth less than if it included a warrant to purchase one whole share.
A provision of the 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 Newly Issued Price (as defined in the Warrant Agreement) of less than $9.20 per Class A ordinary share, (ii) the aggregate gross proceeds from such issuances represent more than 60% of the total equity proceeds, and interest thereon, available for the funding of our initial business combination on the date of the consummation of our initial business combination (net of redemptions), and (iii) the Market Value (as defined in the Warrant Agreement) of our Class A ordinary shares 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.
A market for our securities may not develop, which would adversely affect the liquidity and price of our securities.
The price of our securities may vary significantly due to one or more potential business combinations and general market or economic conditions, including as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Israel/Hamas conflict and other events (such as terrorist attacks, natural disasters or a significant outbreak of other infectious diseases). Furthermore, an active trading market for our securities may never develop or, if developed, it may not be sustained. You may be unable to sell your securities unless a market can be established and sustained.
Our warrants are accounted for as a warrant liability and are recorded at fair value with any changes in fair value each period reported in earnings, which may have an adverse effect on the market price of our securities or may make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination.
We account for our warrants as a warrant liability, which means that we record them at fair value with any changes in fair value each period reported in earnings as determined by us based upon a valuation report obtained from an independent third party valuation firm. The impact of changes in fair value on earnings may have an adverse effect on the market price of our securities, including as a result of increased volatility in our earnings due to fluctuations in the value of the warrants as well as increased costs associated with obtaining such valuations. In addition, potential targets may seek a business combination partner that does not have warrants that are accounted for as a warrant liability, which may make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination with a target business.
General Risk Factors
We are a blank check company with no operating history and no revenues, and you have no basis on which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective.
We are a blank check company incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands with no operating results. Because we lack an operating history, you have no basis upon which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective of completing our initial business combination. We may be unable to complete our initial business combination. If we fail to complete our initial business combination, we will never generate any operating revenues.
We are an emerging growth company and a smaller reporting company within the meaning of the Securities Act, and if we take advantage of certain exemptions from disclosure requirements available to emerging growth companies or smaller reporting companies, this could make our securities less attractive to investors and may make it more difficult to compare our performance with other public companies.
We are an “emerging growth company” within the meaning of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act, and we may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor internal controls attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and 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 .
Further, Section 102(b)(1) of the JOBS Act exempts emerging growth companies from being required to comply with new or revised financial accounting standards until private companies (that is, those that have not had a Securities Act registration statement declared effective or do not have a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act) are required to comply with the new or revised financial accounting standards. The JOBS Act provides that a company can elect to opt out of the extended transition period and comply with the requirements that apply to non-emerging growth companies but any such an election to opt out is irrevocable. We have elected not to opt out of such extended transition period which means that when a standard is issued or revised and it has different application dates for public or private companies, we, as an emerging growth company, can adopt the new or revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new or revised standard. This may make comparison of our financial statements with another public company which is neither an emerging growth company nor an emerging growth company which has opted out of using the extended transition period difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accounting standards used.
Additionally, we are a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Rule 10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K. Smaller reporting companies may take advantage of certain reduced disclosure obligations, including, among other things, providing only two years of audited financial statements. We will remain a smaller reporting company until the last day of the fiscal year in which (1) the market value of our ordinary shares held by non-affiliates equaled or exceeded $250 million as of the prior June 30th, and (2) our annual revenues equaled or exceeded $100 million during such completed fiscal year and the market value of our ordinary shares held by non-affiliates equaled or exceeded $700 million as of the prior June 30th. To the extent we take advantage of such reduced disclosure obligations, it may also make comparison of our financial statements with other public companies difficult or impossible.
Provisions in our memorandum and articles of association and Cayman Islands law 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 memorandum and articles of association contain provisions that may discourage unsolicited takeover proposals that shareholders may consider to be in their best interests. These provisions include a staggered board of directors and the ability of the board of directors to designate the terms of and issue new series of preference shares, which may make the removal of management more difficult and may discourage transactions that otherwise could involve payment of a premium over prevailing market prices for our securities.
Provisions in our memorandum and articles of association and Cayman Islands law may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors and officers.
Cayman Islands law does not limit the extent to which a company’s memorandum and articles of association may provide for indemnification of officers and directors, except to the extent any such provision may be held by the Cayman Islands courts to be contrary to public policy, such as to provide indemnification against willful default, fraud or the consequences of committing a crime. Our memorandum and articles of association provide for indemnification of our officers and directors to the maximum extent permitted by law, including for any liability incurred in their capacities as such, except through their own actual fraud, willful default or willful neglect. We purchased a policy of directors’ and officers’ liability insurance that insures our officers and directors against the cost of defense, settlement or payment of a judgment in some circumstances and insures us against our obligations to indemnify our officers and directors.
Our officers and directors have agreed to waive any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies in the trust account, and have agreed to waive any right, title, interest or claim of any kind they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any services provided to us and will not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason whatsoever. 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.
In recent years, the number of special purpose acquisition companies evaluating targets increased substantially, and attractive targets have become scarcer. This could increase the valuations of business combination targets and 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 evaluating targets increased substantially, and attractive targets have become scarcer. Many potential targets for special purpose acquisition companies have already entered into an initial business combination, and there are still many special purpose acquisition companies seeking targets for their initial business combination, as well as many such companies currently in registration. As a result, at times, fewer attractive targets may be available, and it may require more time, more effort and more resources to identify a suitable target and to consummate an initial business combination. In addition, because there are more special purpose acquisition companies seeking to enter into an initial business combination with available targets, the competition for available targets with attractive fundamentals or business models may increase, which could cause target companies to demand improved financial terms. Attractive deals could also become scarcer for other reasons, such as economic or industry sector downturns, geopolitical tensions, or increases in the cost of additional capital needed to close business combinations or operate targets post-business combination. This could increase the cost of, delay or otherwise or our ability to find and consummate an initial business combination, and may result in our to consummate an initial business combination on terms to our investors altogether.
Cybersecurity 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, cybersecurity 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.
Because we are incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands, your ability to protect your rights through the U.S. Federal courts may be limited.
We are an exempted company incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands. As a result, it may be difficult for investors to effect service of process within the United States upon our directors or officers, or enforce judgments obtained in the United States courts against our directors or officers.
Our corporate affairs are governed by our memorandum and articles of association, the Companies Act and the common law of the Cayman Islands. We are also 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 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 law 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 or obtained in a manner, or be of a kind the enforcement of which is, to natural justice or the public policy or the Cayman Islands (awards of or multiple may well be held to be 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.
Adverse developments affecting the financial services industry could adversely affect our liquidity, financial condition and results of operations, either directly or through adverse impacts on certain of our vendors and customers.
Adverse developments that affect financial institutions, such as events involving liquidity that are rumored or actual, have in the past and may in the future lead to bank failures and/or market-wide liquidity problems. These events could have an adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations, either directly or through an adverse impact on certain of our vendors and customers. For example, on March 10, 2023, Silicon Valley Bank was closed by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) as receiver. Similarly, on March 12, 2023, Signature Bank was put into receivership. Since that time, there have been reports of instability at other U.S. banks. Although the Federal Reserve Board, the Department of the Treasury and the FDIC have taken steps to ensure that depositors at Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank can access all of their funds, including funds held in uninsured deposit accounts, and have taken additional steps to provide liquidity to other banks, there is no guarantee that, in the event of the of other banks or financial institutions in the future, depositors would be to access funds or that they would be to do so in a timely fashion.
To date, we have not experienced any adverse impact to our liquidity, financial condition or results of operations as a result of the events described above. However, failures of other banks or financial institutions may expose us to additional risks, either directly or through the effect on vendors or other third parties, and may lead to significant disruptions to our operations, financial condition and reputation. Moreover, uncertainty remains over liquidity concerns in the broader financial services industry. Our business may be adversely impacted by these developments in ways that we cannot predict at this time, there may be additional risks that we have not yet identified, and we cannot guarantee that we will be able to avoid negative consequences directly or indirectly from any failure of one or more banks or other financial institutions.
