As filed with the United States Securities and Exchange

Commission under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, on April 20, 2021

Registration No. 333-253569

 

 

 

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

 

 

AMENDMENT NO. 4 TO

FORM S-1

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

UNDER

THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

 

 

Big Sky Growth Partners, Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 

Delaware (State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)		6770 (Primary Standard Industrial Classification Code Number)		86-2084915 (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)

1201 Western Avenue, Suite 406

Seattle, Washington 98101

(406) 351-0820

(Address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of registrant’s principal executive offices)

 

 

Mark Vadon

Chief Executive Officer and Chairman

1201 Western Avenue, Suite 406

Seattle, Washington 98101

(406) 351-0820

(Name, address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)

 

 

Copies to:

 

Jocelyn M. Arel Daniel J. Espinoza Goodwin Procter LLP 100 Northern Avenue Boston, Massachusetts 02210 Tel: (617) 570-1000		Lauren Neiswender Chief Financial Officer & Chief Legal Officer 1201 Western Avenue, Suite 406 Seattle, Washington 98101 (406) 351-0820		Robert W. Downes Sullivan & Cromwell LLP 125 Broad Street New York, New York 10004 Tel: (212) 558-4000

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Large accelerated filer

☐

Accelerated filer

☐

Non-accelerated filer

☒

Smaller reporting company

☒

Emerging growth company

☒

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act.  ☐

CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE

 

TITLE OF EACH CLASS OF SECURITIES TO BE REGISTERED		AMOUNT BEING REGISTERED				PROPOSED MAXIMUM OFFERING PRICE PER SECURITY(1)				PROPOSED MAXIMUM AGGREGATE OFFERING PRICE(1)				AMOUNT OF REGISTRATION FEE
Units, each consisting of one share of Class A common stock, $0.0001 par value, and 1/4 of a redeemable Warrant to acquire one share of Class A common stock(2)			34,500,000			$	10.00			$	345,000,000			$	37,640
Class A common stock included as part of the Units(3)			34,500,000				—				—				—	(4)
Redeemable warrants to acquire one share of Class A common stock included as part of the Units(3)			8,625,000				—				—				—	(4)
Total										$	345,000,000			$	37,640	(5)

 

(1)	Estimated solely for the purpose of calculating the registration fee pursuant to Rule 457(o) under the Securities Act.

(2)	Includes 4,500,000 Units, consisting of 4,500,000 shares of Class A common stock and 1,125,000 redeemable warrants to acquire one share of Class A common stock, which may be issued upon exercise of a 45-day option granted to the underwriters to purchase additional units.

(3)	Pursuant to Rule 416(a), there are also being registered an indeterminable number of additional securities as may be issued to prevent dilution resulting from share splits, share capitalizations or similar transactions.

(4)	No fee pursuant to Rule 457(g).

(5)	Previously paid.

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

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

 

SUBJECT TO COMPLETION, DATED APRIL 20, 2021

PRELIMINARY PROSPECTUS

$300,000,000

Big Sky Growth Partners, Inc.

30,000,000 Units

 

 

Big Sky Growth Partners, Inc. is a newly organized blank check company incorporated in Delaware and formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses or entities, which we refer to as our initial business combination. We have not selected any business combination target and we have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, initiated any substantive discussions, directly or indirectly, with any business combination target.

This is the initial public offering of our securities. Each unit has an offering price of $10.00 and consists of one share of Class A common stock and one-fourth of one redeemable warrant. Each whole warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one share of Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as described herein. Only whole warrants are exercisable. No fractional warrants will be issued upon separation of the units and only whole warrants will trade. The warrants will become exercisable on the later of 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination or 12 months from the closing of this offering, and will expire five years after the completion of our initial business combination or earlier upon redemption or our liquidation, as described herein. The underwriters have a 45-day option from the date of this prospectus to purchase up to 4,500,000 additional units.

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

Our sponsor, Big Sky Growth Partners, LLC, has agreed to purchase 5,733,333 warrants (or 6,333,333 warrants if the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is exercised in full), each exercisable to purchase one share of Class A common stock at $11.50 per share, subject to adjustments as described herein, at a price of $1.50 per warrant ($8,600,000 in the aggregate or $9,500,000 if the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is exercised in full), in a private placement to occur concurrently with the closing of this offering. Our sponsor currently owns 8,625,000 shares of Class B common stock (up to 1,125,000 shares of which are subject to forfeiture depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is exercised), which will automatically convert into shares of Class A common stock at the time of our initial business combination on a one-for-one basis, subject to the adjustments as described herein.

Currently, there is no public market for our securities. We intend to apply to have our units listed on The Nasdaq Capital Market, or Nasdaq, under the symbol “BSKYU” on or promptly after the date of this prospectus. We cannot guarantee that our securities will be approved for listing on Nasdaq. We expect the shares of Class A common stock and warrants comprising the units to begin separate trading on Nasdaq under the symbols “BSKY” and “BSKYW”, respectively, on the 52nd day following the date of this prospectus (or if such date is not a business day, the following business day) unless Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC informs us of their decision to allow earlier separate trading and we have satisfied certain conditions.

We are an “emerging growth company” under applicable federal securities laws and will be subject to reduced public company reporting requirements. Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk. See “Risk Factors ” beginning on page 43 for a discussion of information that should be considered in connection with an investment in our securities. Investors will not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors in Rule 419 blank check offerings.

 

 

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

 

 

 

		PER UNIT				TOTAL
Public offering price		$	10.00			$	300,000,000
Underwriting discounts and commissions(1)		$	0.55			$	16,500,000
Proceeds, before expenses, to us		$	9.45			$	283,500,000

 

(1)

Includes $0.35 per unit, or $10,500,000 in the aggregate (or $12,075,000 in the aggregate if the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is exercised in full), payable to the underwriters for deferred underwriting commissions to be placed in a trust account located in the United States as described herein and released to the underwriters only upon the consummation of an initial business combination. See also “Underwriting” beginning on page for a description of compensation and other items of value payable to the underwriters.

Of the proceeds we receive from this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants described in this prospectus, $300,000,000, or $345,000,000 if the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is exercised in full ($10.00 per unit in either case), will be deposited into a trust account with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee.

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

 

 

Sole Book Running Manager

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC

 

 

            , 2021

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

		Page
SUMMARY			1
RISKS			41
SUMMARY FINANCIAL DATA			42
RISK FACTORS			43
CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS			78
USE OF PROCEEDS			79
DIVIDEND POLICY			82
DILUTION			83
CAPITALIZATION			85
MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS			87
PROPOSED BUSINESS			92
MANAGEMENT			122
PRINCIPAL STOCKHOLDERS			133
CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS			136
DESCRIPTION OF SECURITIES			139
U.S. FEDERAL INCOME TAX CONSIDERATIONS			158
UNDERWRITING			168
VALIDITY OF SECURITIES			175
EXPERTS			175
WHERE YOU CAN FIND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION			175
INDEX TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS			F-1

We are responsible for the information contained in this prospectus. We have not authorized anyone to provide you with different information, and we take no responsibility for any other information others may give to you. We are not, and the underwriters are not, making an offer to sell securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted. You should not assume that the information contained in this prospectus is accurate as of any date other than the date on the front of this prospectus.

 

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RISKS

We are a newly formed company that has conducted no operations and has generated no revenues. Until we complete our initial business combination (at the earliest), we will have no operations and will generate no operating revenues. In making your decision whether to invest in our securities, you should take into account not only the background of our management team, but also the special risks we face as a blank check company. This offering is not being conducted in compliance with Rule 419 promulgated under the Securities Act.

Accordingly, you will not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors in Rule 419 blank check offerings. For additional information concerning how Rule 419 blank check offerings differ from this offering, please see “Proposed Business—Comparison of This Offering to Those of Blank Check Companies Subject to Rule 419.” You should carefully consider these and the other risks set forth in the section entitled “Risk Factors” of this prospectus.

 

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SUMMARY FINANCIAL DATA

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

 

Balance Sheet Data:		February 19, 2021
Working capital (deficiency)		$	(5,000	)
Total assets		$	25,000
Total liabilities		$	5,000
Stockholder’s equity		$	20,000

If we do not consummate an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering, the proceeds then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses and net of taxes payable), will be used to fund the redemption of our public shares. Our sponsor has entered into an agreement with us pursuant to which it has agreed to (i) waive its redemption rights with respect to its founder shares and (ii) waive its rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to its founder shares if we fail to consummate an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering. Our sponsor and our directors and executive officers have also agreed (A) that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation that would modify the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering or with respect to any other material provisions relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, unless we provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their shares and (B) to waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and any public shares they may acquire during or after this offering in connection with the completion of our initial business combination. However, if our sponsor or members of our management team acquire public shares in or after this offering, they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to such public shares if we fail to consummate an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering.

 

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RISK FACTORS

Summary of Risk Factors

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

 

•

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

 

•

Past performance by the Investment Entities or our management team, may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in us.

 

•

We are dependent upon our executive officers and directors and their loss could adversely affect our ability to operate.

 

•

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 recent COVID 19 coronavirus pandemic and the status of debt and equity markets.

 

•

The requirement that the target business or businesses that we acquire must collectively have a fair market value equal to at least 80% of the balance of the funds in the trust account (excluding any taxes payable) at the time of the execution of a definitive agreement for our initial business combination may limit the type and number of companies with which we may complete such a business combination.

 

•

Our public stockholders may not be afforded an opportunity to vote on our proposed business combination, which means we may consummate our initial business combination even though a majority of our public stockholders do not support such a combination.

 

•

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

 

•

If we seek stockholders approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor has agreed to vote in favor of such initial business combination, regardless of how our public stockholders vote.

 

•

The ability of our public stockholders to redeem their shares for cash may make our financial condition unattractive to potential business combination targets, which may make it difficult for us to enter into our initial business combination with a target.

 

•

The ability of a large number of our stockholders to exercise redemption rights may not allow us to consummate the most desirable business combination or optimize our capital structure.

 

•

The requirement that we maintain a minimum net worth or retain a certain amount of cash could increase the probability that we cannot consummate our business combination and that you would have to wait for liquidation in order to redeem your shares.

 

•

The requirement that we complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering may give potential target businesses leverage over us in negotiating our initial business combination.

 

•

We may not be able to consummate our initial business combination within the required time period, in which case we would cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up and we would redeem our public shares and liquidate.

 

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•

If we seek stockholder approval of our business combination, our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors and their affiliates may elect to purchase shares from stockholders, in which case they may influence a vote in favor of a proposed business combination that you do not support.

 

•

Purchases of shares of common stock in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions by our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may make it difficult for us to maintain the listing of our shares on a national securities exchange following the consummation of an initial business combination.

 

•

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

 

•

You will not have any rights or interests in funds from the trust account, except under certain limited circumstances. To liquidate your investment, therefore, you may be forced to sell your public shares, potentially at a loss.

 

•

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

 

•

If we seek stockholder approval of our business combination and we do not conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, and if you or a “group” of stockholders are deemed to hold in excess of 15% of our shares of common stock, you will lose the ability to redeem all such shares in excess of 15% of our shares of common stock.

 

•

If the net proceeds of this offering not being held in the trust account are insufficient to allow us to operate for at least the next 24 months, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination.

 

•

Subsequent to our consummation of our initial business combination, we may be required to take write downs or write offs, restructuring and impairment or other charges.

 

•

Our directors may decide not to enforce indemnification obligations against our sponsor, resulting in a reduction in the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public stockholders.

 

•

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

 

•

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.

 

•

The Investment Entities and each of 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.

 

•

Our executive officers, directors, security holders and their respective affiliates may have competitive pecuniary interests that conflict with our interests.

 

•

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.

 

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An investment in our securities involves a high degree of risk. You should consider carefully all of the risks described below, together with the other information contained in this prospectus, before making a decision to invest in our units. If any of the following events occur, our business, financial condition and operating results may be materially adversely affected. In that event, the trading price of our securities could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment.

Risks Related to Our Business and Financial Position

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 with no operating results, and we will not commence operations until obtaining funding through this offering and consummating our initial business combination. Because we lack an operating history, you have no basis upon which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective of completing our initial business combination with one or more target businesses. We have no plans, arrangements or understandings with any prospective target business concerning our initial business combination and may be unable to complete our initial business combination. If we fail to complete our initial business combination, we will never generate any operating revenues.

Past performance by the Investment Entities or our management team, may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in us.

Information regarding performance by, or businesses associated with, the Investment Entities is presented for informational purposes only. Any past experience and performance of the Investment Entities or our management team is not a guarantee either: (1) that we will be able to successfully identify a suitable candidate for our initial business combination; or (2) of any results with respect to any initial business combination we may consummate. You should not rely on the historical record of the Investment Entities or our management team’s performance as indicative of the future performance of an investment in us or the returns we will, or are likely to, generate going forward. An investment in us is not an investment in any Investment Entity. None of our sponsor, officers, directors or the Investment Entities has had experience with forming a blank check company or special purpose acquisition company in the past.

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. Further, the Investment Entities and each of our officers and directors have duties and obligations with respect to confidentiality to other entities and may in the future agree to additional such duties or obligations, which may prevent the Investment Entities and such officers and directors from disclosing such information to the company. The Investment Entities and our officers and directors will comply with such duties and obligations of confidentiality to such other entities, in which case, the company may not have access to such information.

 

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

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

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

The requirement that the target business or businesses that we acquire must collectively have a fair market value equal to at least 80% of the balance of the funds in the trust account (excluding any taxes payable) at the time of the execution of a definitive agreement for our initial business combination may limit the type and number of companies with which we may complete such a business combination.

Nasdaq rules and our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will require that the target business or businesses that we acquire must collectively have a fair market value equal to at least 80% of the balance of the funds in the trust account (excluding any taxes payable) at the time of the execution of a definitive agreement for our initial business combination. This restriction may limit the type and number of companies that we may complete a business combination with. If we are unable to locate a target business or businesses that satisfy this fair market value test, we may be forced to liquidate and you will only be entitled to receive your pro rata portion of the funds in the trust account, which may be less than $10.00 per share.

Risks Related to Our Proposed Initial Business Combination

Our public stockholders may not be afforded an opportunity to vote on our proposed business combination, which means we may consummate our initial business combination even though a majority of our public stockholders do not support such a combination.

If a stockholder vote is not required, we may conduct redemptions via a tender offer. Accordingly, we may consummate our initial business combination even if holders of a majority of our public shares do not approve the business combination.

 

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

At the time of your investment in us, you will not be provided with an opportunity to evaluate the specific merits or risks of one or more target businesses. Because our board of directors may consummate our initial business combination without seeking stockholder approval, public stockholders may not have the right or opportunity to vote on the business combination. Accordingly, your only opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding a potential business combination may be limited to exercising your redemption rights within the period of time (which will be at least 20 business days) set forth in our tender offer documents mailed to our public stockholders in which we describe our business combination.

If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor has agreed to vote in favor of such initial business combination, regardless of how our public stockholders vote.

Our sponsor will own, on an as-converted basis, 20% of our outstanding common stock immediately following the completion of this offering. Our sponsor also may from time to time purchase shares of Class A common stock prior to our initial business combination. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that, if we seek stockholder approval of an initial business combination, such initial business combination will be approved if we receive the affirmative vote of a majority of the shares voted at such meeting, including the founder shares. As a result, in addition to our sponsor’s founder shares, we would need 11,250,001, or 37.5%, of the 30,000,000 public shares sold in this offering to be voted in favor of an initial business combination in order to have our initial business combination approved (assuming all outstanding shares are voted and the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is not exercised). Accordingly, if we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, the agreement by our sponsor to vote in favor of our initial business combination will increase the likelihood that we will receive the requisite stockholders approval for such initial business combination.

The ability of our public stockholders to redeem their shares for cash may make our financial condition unattractive to potential business combination targets, which may make it difficult for us to enter into our initial business combination with a target.

We may enter into a transaction agreement with a prospective target that requires as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. If too many public stockholders exercise their redemption rights, we may not be able to meet such closing condition, and as a result, would not be able to proceed with the business combination. Furthermore, in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001. Consequently, if accepting all properly submitted redemption requests would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 or such greater amount necessary to satisfy a closing condition as described above, we would not proceed with such redemption and the related business combination and may instead search for an alternate business combination. Prospective targets would be aware of these risks and, thus, may be reluctant to enter into our initial business combination transaction with us.

The ability of a large number of our stockholders to exercise redemption rights may not allow us to consummate the most desirable business combination or optimize our capital structure.

In connection with the successful consummation of our business combination, we may redeem up to that number of shares of common stock that would permit us to maintain net tangible assets of

 

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$5,000,001. If our business combination requires us to use substantially all of our cash to pay the purchase price, the redemption threshold may be further limited. Alternatively, we may need to arrange third party financing to help fund our business combination in case a larger percentage of stockholders exercise their redemption rights than we expect. If the acquisition involves the issuance of our shares as consideration, we may be required to issue a higher percentage of our shares to the target or its stockholders to make up for the failure to satisfy a minimum cash requirement. Raising additional funds to cover any shortfall may involve dilutive equity financing or incurring indebtedness at higher than desirable levels. This may limit our ability to effectuate the most attractive business combination available to us.

The requirement that we maintain a minimum net worth or retain a certain amount of cash could increase the probability that we cannot consummate our business combination and that you would have to wait for liquidation in order to redeem your shares.

If, pursuant to the terms of our proposed business combination, we are required to maintain a minimum net worth or retain a certain amount of cash in trust in order to consummate the business combination and regardless of whether we proceed with redemptions under the tender offer or proxy rules, the probability that we cannot consummate our business combination is increased. If we do not consummate our business combination, you would not receive your pro rata portion of the trust account until we liquidate. 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 in our trust account. In either situation, you may suffer a material loss on your investment or lose the benefit of funds expected in connection with our redemption until we liquidate or you are able to sell your shares in the open market.

The requirement that we complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering may give potential target businesses leverage over us in negotiating our initial business combination.

Any potential target business with which we enter into negotiations concerning our initial business combination will be aware that we must consummate our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering. Consequently, such target businesses may obtain leverage over us in negotiating our initial 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.

We may not be able to consummate our initial business combination within the required time period, in which case we would cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up and we would redeem our public shares and liquidate.

We may not be able to find a suitable target business and consummate an initial business combination within 24 months after the closing of this offering. Our ability to complete our initial business combination may be negatively impacted by general market conditions, volatility in the capital and debt markets and the other risks described herein. If we have not consummated an initial business combination within such applicable time period, we will: (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up; (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses and net of taxes payable), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which

 

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redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (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 stockholders and our board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in the case of clauses (ii) and (iii), to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law.

If we seek stockholder approval of our business combination, our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors and their affiliates may elect to purchase shares from stockholders, in which case they may influence a vote in favor of a proposed business combination that you do not support.

If we seek stockholder approval of our business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase shares or equity-linked securities in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the consummation of our initial business combination. Such purchases will not be made if our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates are in possession of any material non-public information that has not been disclosed to the selling stockholder, although they are under no obligation to do so. However, other than as expressly stated herein, they have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such transactions. In the event that our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates purchase shares in privately negotiated transactions from public stockholders who have already elected to exercise their redemption rights, such selling stockholders would be required to revoke their prior elections to redeem their shares. It is intended that, if Rule 10b-18 would apply to purchases by our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates, then such purchases will comply with Rule 10b-18 under the Exchange Act, to the extent it applies, which provides a safe harbor for purchases made under certain conditions, including with respect to timing, pricing and volume of purchases.

The purpose of such purchases would be to (1) increase the likelihood of obtaining stockholder approval of the business combination or (2) 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 the business combination, where it appears that such requirement would otherwise not be met. This may result in the consummation of an initial business combination that may not otherwise have been possible.

Purchases of shares of common stock in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions by our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may make it difficult for us to maintain the listing of our shares on a national securities exchange following the consummation of an initial business combination.

If our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates purchase shares of common stock in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions, the public “float” of our shares of common stock and the number of beneficial holders of our securities would both be reduced, possibly making it difficult to maintain the listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange following consummation of the business combination.

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

We will comply with the proxy rules or tender offer rules, as applicable, when conducting redemptions in connection with our initial business combination. Despite our compliance with these rules, if a stockholder fails to receive our proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, such stockholder may not become aware of the opportunity to redeem its shares. In addition, the proxy

 

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solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, that we will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination will describe the various procedures that must be complied with in order to validly redeem or tender public shares. In the event that a stockholder fails to comply with these procedures, its shares may not be redeemed. See “Proposed Business—Effecting Our Initial Business Combination—Tendering Share Certificates in Connection with a Tender Offer or Redemption Rights.”

You will not have any rights or interests in funds from the trust account, except under certain limited circumstances. To liquidate your investment, therefore, you may be forced to sell your public shares, potentially at a loss.

Our public stockholders shall be entitled to receive funds from the trust account only in the event of a redemption to public stockholders prior to any winding up in the event we do not consummate our initial business combination or our liquidation, if they redeem their shares in connection with an initial business combination that we consummate or if we seek to amend our certificate of incorporation to modify the substance or timing of our redemption obligation to redeem all public shares if we cannot complete an initial business combination within 24 months of the closing of this offering or with respect to any other material provisions relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity. In no other circumstances will a stockholder have any right or interest of any kind to the funds in the trust account. Accordingly, to liquidate your investment, you may be forced to sell your public shares, potentially at a loss.

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

Because the net proceeds of this offering are intended to be used to complete our initial business combination with a target business that has not been identified, we may be deemed to be a “blank check” company under the United States securities laws. However, because we will have net tangible assets in excess of $5,000,000 upon the successful consummation of this offering and will expect to file a Current Report on Form 8-K, including an audited balance sheet demonstrating this fact, we are exempt from rules promulgated by the SEC to protect investors in blank check companies, such as Rule 419. Accordingly, investors will not be afforded the benefits or protections of those rules. Among other things, this means our units will be immediately tradable and we will have a longer period of time to complete our initial business combination than do companies subject to Rule 419. Moreover, offerings subject to Rule 419 would prohibit the release of any interest earned on funds held in the trust account to us. For a more detailed comparison of our offering to offerings that comply with Rule 419, please see “Proposed Business—Comparison of This Offering to Those of Blank Check Companies Subject to Rule 419.”

If we seek stockholder approval of our business combination and we do not conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, and if you or a “group” of stockholders are deemed to hold in excess of 15% of our shares of common stock, you will lose the ability to redeem all such shares in excess of 15% of our shares of common stock.

If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that a public stockholder, individually or together with any affiliate of such stockholder or any other person with whom such stockholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from seeking redemption rights with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in this offering. Your inability to redeem more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in this offering will reduce your influence over our ability to consummate our initial business combination and you

 

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could suffer a material loss on your investment in us if you sell such excess shares in open market transactions. As a result, you will continue to hold that number of shares exceeding 15% and, in order to dispose of such shares, you would be required to sell your shares in open market transaction, potentially at a loss.

If the net proceeds of this offering not being held in the trust account are insufficient to allow us to operate for at least the next 24 months, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination.

The funds available to us outside of the trust account may not be sufficient to allow us to operate for at least the next 24 months, assuming that our initial business combination is not consummated during that time. Of the funds available to us, we could use a portion of the funds available to us to pay fees to consultants to assist us with our search for a target business. We could also use a portion of the funds as a down payment or to fund a “no-shop” provision (a provision in letters of intent designed to keep target businesses from “shopping” around for transactions with other companies on terms more favorable to such target businesses) with respect to a particular proposed business combination, although we do not have any current intention to do so. If we are unable to fund such down payments or “no shop” provisions, our ability to close a contemplated transaction could be impaired. Furthermore, if we entered into a letter of intent where we paid for the right to receive exclusivity from a target business and were subsequently required to forfeit such funds (whether as a result of our breach or otherwise), we might not have sufficient funds to continue searching for, or conduct due diligence with respect to, a target business. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may only receive a pro rata portion of the amount then in the trust account (which may be less than $10.00 per share) (whether or not the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is exercised in full) on our redemption, and our warrants will expire worthless.

Subsequent to our consummation of our initial business combination, we may be required to take write-downs or write-offs, restructuring and impairment or other charges.

Even if we conduct thorough due diligence on a target business with which we combine, this diligence may not surface all material issues that may be present inside a particular target business. And, regardless of how comprehensive our diligence may be, factors outside of the target business and outside of our control may arise later. As a result of these factors, we may be forced to later write-down or write-off assets, restructure our operations, or incur impairment or other charges that could result in our reporting losses. Even if our due diligence successfully identifies certain risks, unexpected risks may arise and previously known risks may materialize in a manner not consistent with our preliminary risk analysis. Even though these charges may be non-cash items and not have an immediate impact on our liquidity, the fact that we report charges of this nature could contribute to negative market perceptions about us or our securities. In addition, charges of this nature may cause us to violate net worth or other covenants to which we may be subject as a result of assuming pre-existing debt held by a target business or by virtue of our obtaining post-combination debt financing.

Our directors may decide not to enforce indemnification obligations against our sponsor, resulting in a reduction in the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public stockholders.

In the event that the proceeds in the trust account are reduced below $10.00 per share (whether or not the underwriters’ overallotment option is exercised in full) 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 on our behalf 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

 

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obligations to us, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment may choose not to do so in any particular instance. If our independent directors choose not to enforce these indemnification obligations on our behalf, the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public stockholders may be reduced below $10.00 per share.

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

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

Our 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. For a complete discussion of our executive officers’ and directors’ other business affairs, please see “Management—Officers, Directors and Director Nominees.”

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

Following the completion of this offering and until we consummate our initial business combination, we intend to engage in the business of identifying and combining with one or more

 

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businesses. The Investment Entities and each of our officers and directors presently has, and any of them in the future may have, additional fiduciary, contractual or other obligations to other entities, including the Investment Entities, pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity or other business opportunities to such entity. In addition, existing and future Investment Entities may compete with us for business combination opportunities and, if such opportunities are pursued by such entities, we may be precluded from pursuing such opportunities. Further, any of the foregoing may engage in businesses that are competitive to a prospective or actual target for the company’s initial business acquisition. 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 amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that we renounce our interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any director or officer unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of the company and such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue, and to the extent the director or officer is permitted to refer that opportunity to us without violating another legal obligation. In addition, our sponsor and each of our officers and directors may sponsor or form other special purpose acquisition companies similar to ours or may pursue other business or investment ventures, including without limitation forming investment funds or other vehicles whose strategies may conflict with or otherwise be competitive with us, during the period in which we are seeking an initial business combination. Any such companies, businesses or investments, including without limitation investment funds or other vehicles, may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an initial business combination. For a complete discussion of our executive officers’ and directors’ business affiliations and the potential conflicts of interest that you should be aware of, please see “Management—Officers, Directors and Director Nominees,” “Management—Conflicts of Interest” and “Certain Relationships and Related Party Transactions.”

Our executive officers, directors, security holders and their respective affiliates may have competitive pecuniary interests that conflict with our interests.

We have not adopted a policy that expressly prohibits our directors, executive officers, security holders or affiliates from having a direct or indirect pecuniary or financial interest in any investment to be acquired or disposed of by us or in any transaction to which we are a party or have an interest. In fact, we may enter into a business combination with a target business that is affiliated with our sponsor, our directors or executive officers or a target business in which any of the foregoing have an interest, although we do not intend to do so, or we may acquire a target business through an Affiliated Joint Acquisition with one or more affiliates of the Investment Entities and/or one or more investors in any current or future investment fund, investment vehicle, account or client. 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. As a result, there may be substantial overlap between companies that would be a suitable business combination for us and companies that would make an attractive target for the Investment Entities’ funds. In addition, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that we renounce our interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any director or officer unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of our company and such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue, and to the extent the director or officer is permitted to refer that opportunity to us without violating another legal obligation.

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 or in determining the outcome of any conflicts of interest that may arise as a result of such personal and

 

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financial interests. Consequently, our directors’ and officers’ discretion in identifying and selecting a suitable target business may result in a conflict of interest when determining whether the terms, conditions and timing of a particular business combination are appropriate and in our stockholders’ best interest. If this were the case, it would be a breach of their fiduciary duties to us as a matter of Delaware law and we or our stockholders might have a claim against such individuals for infringing on our stockholders’ rights. However, we might not ultimately be successful in any claim we may make against them for such reason.

We may engage in a business combination with one or more target businesses that have relationships with entities that may be affiliated with our sponsor, executive officers, directors or existing holders which may raise potential conflicts of interest.

In light of the involvement of our sponsor, executive officers and directors with other entities, we may decide to acquire one or more businesses affiliated with our sponsor, executive officers, directors or existing holders. Our directors also serve as officers and board members for other entities, including, without limitation, those described under “Management—Conflicts of Interest.” Such entities may compete with us for business combination opportunities. Our sponsor, officers and directors are not currently aware of any specific opportunities for us to complete our initial business combination with any entities with which they are affiliated, and there have been no substantive discussions concerning a business combination with any such entity or entities. Although we will not be specifically focusing on, or targeting, any transaction with any affiliated entities, we would pursue such a transaction if we determined that such affiliated entity met our criteria for a business combination as set forth in “Proposed Business—Effecting our initial business combination—Evaluation of a target business and structuring of our initial business combination” and such transaction was approved by a majority of our independent and disinterested directors. Despite our agreement to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm 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 stockholders as they would be absent any conflicts of interest.

Moreover, we may pursue an Affiliated Joint Acquisition opportunity with one or more affiliates of the Investment Entities and/or one or more investors in the Investment Entities. Any such parties may co-invest with us in the target business at the time of our initial business combination, or we could raise additional proceeds to complete the business combination by issuing to such parties a class of equity or equity-linked securities. Accordingly, such persons or entities may have a conflict between their interests and ours.

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

If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, our activities may be restricted, including restrictions on the nature of our investments and restrictions on the issuance of securities, each of which may make it difficult for us to complete our initial business combination. In addition, we may have imposed upon us burdensome requirements, including registration as an investment company, adoption of a specific form of corporate structure and reporting, record keeping, voting, proxy and disclosure requirements and other rules and regulations. If we were deemed to be subject to the Investment Company Act, compliance with these additional regulatory burdens would require additional expenses for which we have not allotted funds and may hinder our ability to consummate our initial business combination.

 

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

We do not believe that our anticipated principal activities will subject us to the Investment Company Act. To this end, the proceeds held in the trust account may only be invested in United States “government securities” within the meaning of Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act having a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 promulgated under the Investment Company Act which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations. Pursuant to the trust agreement, the trustee is not permitted to invest in other securities or assets. By restricting the investment of the proceeds to these instruments, and by having a business plan targeted at acquiring and growing businesses for the long term (rather than on buying and selling businesses in the manner of a merchant bank or private equity fund), we intend to avoid being deemed an “investment company” within the meaning of the Investment Company Act. This offering is not intended for persons who are seeking a return on investments in government securities or investment securities. The trust account is intended as a holding place for funds pending the earliest to occur of either: (i) the completion of our initial business combination; (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly tendered in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of shares of our Class A common stock the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to the rights of holders of shares of our Class A common stock, and (iii) the redemption of our public shares if we have not consummated an initial business within 24 months from the closing of this offering, subject to applicable law and as further described herein. If we do not invest the proceeds as discussed above, we may be deemed to be subject to the Investment Company Act. If we were deemed to be subject to the Investment Company Act, compliance with these additional regulatory burdens would require additional expenses for which we have not allotted funds and may hinder our ability to complete a business combination. If we do not complete our initial business combination within the required time period, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per public share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.

We do not have a specified maximum redemption threshold. The absence of such a redemption threshold may make it possible for us to complete our initial business combination with which a substantial majority of our stockholders or warrant holders do not agree.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will not provide a specified maximum redemption threshold, except that in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001. In addition, our proposed initial business combination may impose a minimum cash requirement for: (i) cash consideration to be paid to the target or its owners, (ii) cash for working capital or other general corporate purposes or (iii) the retention of cash to satisfy other conditions. As a result, we may be able to complete our initial business combination even though a substantial majority of our public stockholders do not agree with the transaction and have redeemed their shares or, if we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business

 

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combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, have entered into privately negotiated agreements to sell their shares to our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or any of their affiliates. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all shares of Class A common stock that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed business combination exceed the aggregate amount of cash available to us, we will not complete the business combination or redeem any shares in connection with such initial business combination, all shares of Class A common stock submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof, and we instead may search for an alternate business combination.

A provision of our warrant agreement may make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination.

Unlike most blank check companies, if (x) we issue additional shares of Class A common stock or equity-linked securities for capital raising purposes in connection with the closing of our initial business combination at an issue price or effective issue price of less than $9.20 per share of Class A common stock (with such issue price or effective issue price to be determined in good faith by our board of directors and, in the case of any such issuance to our initial stockholders or their affiliates, without taking into account any founder shares held by our initial stockholders or such affiliates, as applicable, prior to such issuance including any transfer or reissuance of such shares) (the “Newly Issued Price”), (y) the aggregate gross proceeds from such issuances represent more than 50% of the total equity proceeds, and interest thereon, available for the funding of our initial business combination, and (z) the volume weighted average trading price of our shares of Class A common stock during the 20 trading day period starting on the trading day after the day on which we consummate our initial business combination (such price, the “Market Value”) is below $9.20 per share, the exercise price of the warrants will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 115% of the Market Value, and $10.00 and the $18.00 per share redemption trigger prices of the warrants will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 100% and 180% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, respectively. This may make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination with a target business.

Changes in laws or regulations, or a failure to comply with any laws and regulations, may adversely affect our business, investments and results of operations.

We are subject to laws and regulations enacted by national, regional and local governments, in particular, the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC. Compliance with, and monitoring of, applicable laws and regulations may be difficult, time consuming and costly. Those laws and regulations and their interpretation and application also may 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 and results of operations.

If we are unable to consummate our initial business combination, our public stockholders may be forced to wait up to 24 months or longer before redemption from our trust account.

If we are unable to consummate our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering, we will, as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than five business days thereafter (subject to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and applicable law), distribute the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account (net of taxes payable), pro rata to our public stockholders by way of redemption and cease all operations except for the purposes of winding up of our affairs by way of a voluntary liquidation, as further described herein. Any redemption of public stockholders from the trust account shall be effected as required by our amended and restated certificate of incorporation prior to our commencing any voluntary liquidation. Except as

 

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otherwise described herein, we have no obligation to return funds to investors prior to the date of any redemption required as a result of our failure to consummate our initial business combination within the period described above or our liquidation, unless we consummate our initial business combination prior thereto and only then in cases where investors have sought to redeem their shares of common stock. Only upon any such redemption of public shares as we are required to effect, or any liquidation, will public stockholders be entitled to distributions if we are unable to complete our initial business combination.

The grant of registration rights to our sponsor may make it more difficult to complete our initial business combination, and the future exercise of such rights may adversely affect the market price of our shares of common stock.

Pursuant to an agreement to be entered into on the date of this prospectus, our sponsor (and/or our sponsor’s designees) and their permitted transferees can demand that we register the founder shares, the private warrants, the underlying securities and any securities issued upon conversion of working capital loans. 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 shares of common stock. In addition, the existence of the registration rights may make our initial business combination more costly or difficult to conclude. This is because the stockholder 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 shares of common stock that is expected to occur when the securities owned by our sponsor, holders of our private units or their respective permitted transferees are registered.

Because we have not selected a particular business or specific geographic location or any specific target businesses with which to pursue our initial business combination, you will be unable to ascertain the merits or risks of any particular target business’ operations.

We may pursue an acquisition opportunity in any business industry or sector, but we intend to initially focus on those industries or sectors that complement our management team’s background. Except for the limitations that a target business have a fair market value of at least 80% of the value of the trust account (excluding any taxes payable) and that we are not permitted to effectuate our initial business combination with another blank check company or similar company with nominal operations, we will have virtually unrestricted flexibility in identifying and selecting a prospective acquisition candidate. Because we have not yet identified or approached any specific target business with respect to our initial business combination, there is no basis to evaluate the possible merits or risks of any particular target business’ operations, results of operations, cash flows, liquidity, financial condition or prospects. To the extent we consummate 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 may not 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 thus leave us with no ability to control or reduce the chances that those risks will adversely impact a target business. In addition, investors will be relying on the business judgment of our board of directors, which will have significant discretion in choosing the standard used to establish the fair market value of a particular target business. An investment in our units may not ultimately prove to be more favorable to investors than a direct investment, if such opportunity were available, in an acquisition target.

 

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We may seek investment opportunities outside our management’s area of expertise and our management may not be able to adequately ascertain or assess all significant risks associated with the target company.

There is no limitation on the industry or business sector we may consider when contemplating our initial business combination. We may therefore be presented with a business combination candidate in an industry unfamiliar to our management team, but determine that such candidate offers an attractive investment opportunity for our company. In the event we elect to pursue an investment outside of our management’s expertise, our management’s experience may not be directly applicable to the target business or their evaluation of its operations.

Although we 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 specific 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 consummate 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 our initial business combination with a target that does not meet our general criteria and guidelines, a greater number of stockholders may exercise their redemption rights, which may make it difficult for us to meet any closing condition with a target business that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. In addition, if stockholder approval of the transaction is required by law or the Nasdaq, or we decide to obtain stockholder approval for business or other legal reasons, it may be more difficult for us to attain stockholder approval of our initial business combination if the target business does not meet our general criteria and guidelines. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may only receive $10.00 per share or even less (whether or not the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is exercised in full) on our redemption, and our warrants will expire worthless.

Management’s flexibility in identifying and selecting a prospective acquisition candidate, along with our management’s financial interest in consummating our initial business combination, may lead management to enter into an acquisition agreement that is not in the best interest of our stockholders.

Subject to the requirements in Nasdaq rules and our amended and restated certificate of incorporation that we must complete one or more business combinations having an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the value of the trust account (excluding any taxes payable) at the time of the agreement to enter into such initial business combination, we will have virtually unrestricted flexibility in identifying and selecting a prospective acquisition candidate. Investors will be relying on management’s ability to identify business combinations, evaluate their merits, conduct or monitor diligence and conduct negotiations. Management’s flexibility in identifying and selecting a prospective acquisition candidate, along with management’s financial interest in consummating our initial business combination, may lead management to enter into an acquisition agreement that is not in the best interest of our stockholders, which would be the case if the trading price of our shares of common stock after giving effect to such business combination was less than the per-share trust liquidation value that our stockholders would have received if we had dissolved without consummating our initial business combination.

 

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We are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm, and consequently, an independent source may not confirm that the price we are paying for the business is fair to our stockholders from a financial point of view.

Unless we consummate our initial business combination with an affiliated entity, we are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that the price we are paying is fair to our stockholders from a financial point of view. If no opinion is obtained, our stockholders will be relying on the judgment of our board of directors, who will determine fair market value based on standards generally accepted by the financial community. Such standards used will be disclosed in our tender offer documents or proxy solicitation materials, as applicable, related to our initial business combination.

Resources could be wasted in researching acquisitions that are not consummated.

We anticipate that the investigation of each specific target business and the negotiation, drafting, and execution of relevant agreements, disclosure documents, and other instruments will require substantial management time and attention and substantial costs for accountants, attorneys and others.

If we decide not to complete a specific initial business combination, the costs incurred up to that point for the proposed transaction likely would not be recoverable. Furthermore, if we reach an agreement relating to a specific target business, we may fail to consummate 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 stockholders may only receive $10.00 per share or even less (whether or not the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is exercised in full) on our redemption, and our warrants will expire worthless.

Our ability to successfully effect our initial business combination and to be successful thereafter will be largely dependent upon the efforts of our officers, directors and key personnel, some of whom may join us following our initial business combination.

Our operations are dependent upon a relatively small group of individuals and, in particular, our officers and directors. We believe that our success depends on the continued service of our officers and directors, at least until we have consummated our initial business combination. In addition, our officers and directors are not required to commit any specified amount of time to our affairs and, accordingly, will have conflicts of interest in allocating management time among various business activities, including identifying potential business combinations and monitoring the related due diligence. We do not have an employment agreement with, or key-man insurance on the life of, any of our directors or officers. The unexpected loss of the services of one or more of our directors or officers could have a detrimental effect on us.

The role of such persons in the target business, however, cannot presently be ascertained. Although some of such persons 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, our assessment of these individuals may not 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.

 

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Members of our management team may negotiate employment or consulting agreements with a target business in connection with a particular business combination. These agreements may provide for them to receive compensation following our 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.

Members of our management team may be able to remain with the company after the completion of our 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. The personal and financial interests of such individuals may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business. However, we believe the ability of such individuals to remain with us after the completion of our business combination will not be the determining factor in our decision as to whether or not we will proceed with any potential business combination. There is no certainty, however, that any members of our management team will remain with us after the completion of our business combination. We cannot assure you that any members of our management team will remain in senior management or advisory positions with us. The determination as to whether any members of our management team will remain with us will be made at the time of our initial business combination.

We may have a limited ability to assess the management of a prospective target business and, as a result, may effectuate 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’ management may be limited due to a lack of time, resources or information. Our assessment of the capabilities of the target’s management, therefore, may prove to be incorrect and such management may lack the skills, qualifications or abilities we suspected. Should the target’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.

The officers and directors of an acquisition candidate may resign upon consummation of our initial business combination. The loss of an acquisition 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 consummation 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 some members of the management team of an acquisition candidate will not wish to remain in place.

Risks Related to Our Operations

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

 

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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. For a complete discussion of our executive officers’ and directors’ other business affairs, please see “Management—Officers, Directors and Director Nominees.”

The Investment Entities and certain of our officers and directors are now, and all of them may in the future become, affiliated with entities engaged in business activities similar to those intended to be conducted by us and, accordingly, may have conflicts of interest in allocating their time and determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented.

Following the completion of this offering and until we consummate our initial business combination, we intend to engage in the business of identifying and combining with one or more businesses. The Investment Entities and our sponsor and officers and directors are, and may in the future become, affiliated with entities (such as operating companies or investment vehicles) that are engaged in a similar business. Our sponsor and directors and officers are also not prohibited from sponsoring, or otherwise becoming involved with, any other blank check companies prior to us completing our initial business combination. Moreover, certain of our directors and officers have time and attention requirements for investment funds of which affiliates of our sponsor are the investment managers.

The Investment Entities and our officers and directors also may become aware of business opportunities which may be appropriate for presentation to us and the other entities in the future to which they owe certain fiduciary or contractual duties. 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 amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that we renounce our interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any director or officer unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of our company and such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue.

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

Our 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, 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 (subject to certain approvals and consents), we may enter into a business combination with a target business that is affiliated with our sponsor, our directors or officers, although we do not intend to do so. We do not 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.

 

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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, officers, directors or existing holders which may raise potential conflicts of interest.

In light of the involvement of our sponsor, officers and directors with other entities, we may decide to acquire one or more businesses affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors. Our directors also serve as officers and board members for other entities, including, without limitation, those described under the section of this prospectus entitled “Management—Conflicts of Interest.” Such entities may compete with us for business combination opportunities. Our sponsor, officers and directors are not currently aware of any specific opportunities for us to complete our business combination with any entities with which they are affiliated, and there have been no preliminary discussions concerning a business combination with any such entity or entities. Although we will not be specifically focusing on, or targeting, any transaction with any affiliated entities, we would pursue such a transaction if we determined that such affiliated entity met our criteria for a business combination as set forth in the section of this prospectus entitled “Proposed Business—Sources of Target Businesses” and such transaction was approved by a majority of our disinterested directors. Despite our agreement to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA, or from an independent accounting firm, regarding the fairness to our company from a financial point of view of a business combination with one or more domestic or international businesses affiliated with our officers, directors or existing holders, potential conflicts of interest still may exist and, as a result, the terms of the business combination may not be as advantageous to our public stockholders as they would be absent any conflicts of interest.

Since our sponsor, officers and directors will lose their entire investment in us if our business combination is not completed, a conflict of interest may arise in determining whether a particular business combination target is appropriate for our initial business combination.

On February 19, 2021, our sponsor paid $25,000 to cover for certain expenses and offering costs on behalf of the company in exchange for issuance of 8,625,000 founder shares. Prior to the initial investment in the company of $25,000 by our sponsor, the company had no assets, tangible or intangible. The number of founder shares issued was determined based on the expectation that such founder shares would represent 20% of the outstanding shares after this offering. The founder shares will be worthless if we do not complete an initial business combination. In addition, our sponsor has committed to purchase an aggregate of 5,733,333 (or 6,333,333 if the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is exercised in full) private placement warrants, each exercisable for one share of our Class A common stock at $11.50 per share, subject to adjustments as described herein, for a purchase price of $8,600,000 (or $9,500,000 if the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is exercised in full), or $1.50 per whole warrant, that will also be worthless if we do not complete a business combination. Our sponsor and our directors and executive officers have agreed (A) to vote any shares owned by them in favor of any proposed business combination and (B) not to redeem any founder shares in connection with a stockholder vote to approve a proposed initial business combination. In addition, we may obtain loans from our sponsor, affiliates of our sponsor or an officer or director. The personal and financial interests of our officers and directors may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business combination, completing an initial business combination and influencing the operation of the business following the initial business combination.

Certain shares beneficially owned by our officers and directors will not participate in liquidating distributions and, therefore, our officers and directors may have a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target business is appropriate for our initial business combination.

Our sponsor has agreed to (i) waive its redemption rights with respect to its founder shares and (ii) waive its rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to its founder shares if

 

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we fail to consummate an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering. Our sponsor and our directors and executive officers have entered into agreements with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and any public shares they may acquire during or after this offering in connection with the completion of our initial business combination. However, if our sponsor, directors or executive officers acquire public shares in or after this offering, they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to such public shares if we fail to consummate an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering. Accordingly, the founder shares will be worthless if we do not consummate our initial business combination. Any warrants they hold, like those held by the public, will also be worthless if we do not consummate an initial business combination. The personal and financial interests of our directors and officers may influence their motivation in timely identifying and selecting a target business and completing a business combination. Consequently, our directors’ and officers’ discretion in identifying and selecting a suitable target business may result in a conflict of interest when determining whether the terms, conditions and timing of a particular business combination are appropriate and in our stockholders’ best interest.

We may issue notes or other debt securities, or otherwise incur substantial debt, to complete our initial business combination, which may adversely affect our financial condition and thus negatively impact the value of our stockholders’ investment in us.

Although we have no commitments as of the date of this prospectus to issue any notes or other debt securities, or to otherwise incur outstanding debt, we may choose to incur substantial debt to complete our initial business combination. If we incur any indebtedness without a waiver from the lender of any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the trust account, the incurrence of debt could have a variety of negative effects, including:

 

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default and foreclosure on our assets if our operating revenues after our initial business combination are insufficient to repay our debt obligations;

 

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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;

 

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our immediate payment of all principal and accrued interest, if any, if the debt security is payable on demand;

 

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

 

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our inability to pay dividends on our shares of common stock;

 

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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 shares of common stock if declared, expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions and other general corporate purposes;

 

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

 

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

 

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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.

 

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We may only be able to complete one business combination with the proceeds of this 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 this offering together with the funds we will receive from the sale of the private warrants (excluding $1,000,000 of net proceeds that will not be held in the trust account) will provide us with approximately $289,500,000 assuming no redemptions (or approximately $332,925,000 if the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is exercised in full) that we may use to complete our initial business combination, after payment of the deferred underwriting discount and estimated offering expenses of $1,600,000.

We may effectuate our initial business combination with a single target business or multiple target businesses simultaneously. 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 consummating 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 or services. This lack of diversification may subject us to numerous economic, competitive and regulatory developments, 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.

The securities in which we invest the funds held in the trust account could bear a negative rate of interest, which could reduce the value of the assets held in trust such that the per-share redemption amount received by public stockholders may be less than $10.00 per share.

The proceeds held in the trust account will be invested only in U.S. government treasury obligations with a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act, which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations. While short-term U.S. government treasury obligations currently yield a positive rate of interest, they have briefly yielded negative interest rates in recent years. Central banks in Europe and Japan pursued interest rates below zero in recent years, and the Open Market Committee of the Federal Reserve has not ruled out the possibility that it may in the future adopt similar policies in the United States. In the event that we are unable to complete our initial business combination or make certain amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, our public stockholders are entitled to receive their prorate share of the proceeds held in the trust account, plus any interest income, net of taxes paid or payable (less, in the case we are unable to complete our initial business combination, $100,000 of interest). Negative interest rates could reduce the value of the assets held in trust such that the per-share redemption amount received by public stockholders may be less than $10.00 per share.

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 stockholder may be less than $10.00 per public share.

Our placing of funds in the trust account may not protect those funds from third party claims against us. Although we will seek to have all vendors, service providers (excluding our independent

 

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registered public accounting firm), prospective partner businesses and other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the trust account for the benefit of our public stockholders, such parties may not execute such agreements, or even if they execute such agreements, they may not be prevented from bringing claims against the trust account, including, but not limited to, fraudulent inducement, breach of fiduciary responsibility or other similar claims, as well as claims challenging the enforceability of the waiver, in each case in order to gain advantage with respect to a claim against our assets, including the funds held in the trust account. If any third party refuses to execute an agreement waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account, our founders will perform an analysis of the alternatives available to it and will only enter into an agreement with a third party that has not executed a waiver if our founding team believes that such third party’s engagement would be significantly more beneficial to us than any alternative.

Examples of possible instances where we may engage a third party that refuses to execute a waiver include the engagement of a third party consultant whose particular expertise or skills are believed by our founding team to be significantly superior to those of other consultants that would agree to execute a waiver or in cases where our founding team is unable to find a service provider willing to execute a waiver. In addition, there is no guarantee that such entities will agree to waive any claims they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any negotiations, contracts or agreements with us and will not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason. Upon redemption of our public shares, if we have not consummated an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering or upon the exercise of a redemption right in connection with our initial business combination, we will be required to provide for payment of claims of creditors that were not waived that may be brought against us within the 10 years following redemption. Accordingly, the per share redemption amount received by public stockholder could be less than the $10.00 per public share initially held in the trust account, due to claims of such creditors. Pursuant to the letter agreement the form of which is filed as an exhibit to the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, our sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a third party for services rendered or products sold to us, or a prospective target business with which we have entered into a written letter of intent, confidentiality or similar agreement or business combination agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the trust account to below the lesser of (i) $10.20 per public share and (ii) the actual amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account, if less than $10.20 per share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, less taxes payable, provided that such liability will not apply to any claims by a third party or prospective target business who executed a waiver of any and all rights to the monies held in the trust account (whether or not such waiver is enforceable) nor will it apply to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of this offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. However, we have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such indemnification obligations, nor have we independently verified whether our sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our company. Therefore, we cannot assure you that our sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations. None of our officers or directors will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses.

We may attempt to simultaneously consummate business combinations with multiple prospective targets, which may hinder our ability to consummate 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

 

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delay our ability, to complete the initial business combination. With multiple business combinations, we could also face additional risks, including additional burdens and costs with respect to possible multiple negotiations and due diligence investigations (if there are multiple sellers) and the additional risks associated with the subsequent assimilation of the operations and services or products of the acquired companies in a single operating business. If we are unable to adequately address these risks, it could negatively impact our profitability and results of operations.

We may attempt to consummate our initial business combination with a private company about which little information is available.

In pursuing our acquisition strategy, we may seek to effectuate our initial business combination with a privately held company. By definition, very little public information 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 our initial business combination with a company that is not as profitable as we suspected, if at all.

We may not be able to maintain control of a target business after our initial business combination.

We may structure our initial business combination to acquire less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business, but we will only consummate such business combination if we will become the majority stockholder of the target (or control the target through contractual arrangements in limited circumstances for regulatory compliance purposes) or are otherwise not required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act or to the extent permitted by law we may acquire interests in a variable interest entity, in which we may have less than a majority of the voting rights in such entity, but in which we are the primary beneficiary. Even though we may own a majority interest in the target, our stockholders prior to the business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post business combination company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the business combination transaction. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock of a target. In this case, we acquire a 100% controlling interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new shares, our stockholders immediately prior to such transaction could own less than a majority of our outstanding shares subsequent to such transaction. In addition, other minority stockholders may subsequently combine their holdings resulting in a single person or group obtaining a larger share of the company’s stock than we initially acquired. Accordingly, this may make it more likely that we will not be able to maintain our control of the target business.

Holders of warrants will not participate in liquidating distributions if we are unable to complete an initial business combination within the required time period.

If we are unable to complete an initial business combination within the required time period and we liquidate the funds held in the trust account, the warrants will expire and holders will not receive any of such proceeds with respect to the warrants. The foregoing may provide a financial incentive to public stockholders to vote in favor of any proposed initial business combination as each of their warrants would entitle the holder to receive or purchase additional shares of common stock, resulting in an increase in their overall economic stake in us. If a business combination is not approved, the warrants will expire and will be worthless.

 

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If we do not maintain a current and effective prospectus relating to the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants, public holders will only be able to exercise such warrants on a “cashless basis” which would result in a fewer number of shares being issued to the holder than had such holder exercised the warrants for cash.

If we do not maintain a current and effective prospectus relating to the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the public warrants at the time that holders wish to exercise such warrants, they will only be able to exercise them on a “cashless basis” provided that an exemption from registration is available. As a result, the number of shares of common stock that a holder will receive upon exercise of its public warrants will be fewer than it would have been had such holder exercised its warrant for cash. Further, if an exemption from registration is not available, holders would not be able to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis and would only be able to exercise their warrants for cash if a current and effective prospectus relating to the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants is available. Under the terms of the warrant agreement, we have agreed to use our commercially reasonable efforts to meet these conditions and to maintain a current and effective prospectus relating to the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants until the expiration of the warrants. However, we cannot assure you that we will be able to do so. If we are unable to do so, the potential “upside” of the holder’s investment in us may be reduced or the warrants may expire worthless. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the private warrants may be exercisable for unregistered shares of common stock for cash even if the prospectus relating to the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants is not current and effective.

An investor will only be able to exercise a warrant for cash if the issuance of common stock upon such exercise has been registered or qualified or is deemed exempt under the securities laws of the state of residence of the holder of the warrants.

No public warrants will be exercisable for cash and we will not be obligated to issue shares of common stock unless the shares of common stock issuable upon such exercise have been registered or qualified or deemed to be exempt under the securities laws of the state of residence of the holder of the warrants. At the time that the warrants become exercisable, we expect to continue to be listed on a national securities exchange, which would provide an exemption from registration in every state. However, we cannot assure you of this fact. If the common shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants are not qualified or exempt from qualification in the jurisdictions in which the holders of the warrants reside, the warrants may be deprived of any value, the market for the warrants may be limited and they may expire worthless if they cannot be sold.

Our management’s ability to require holders of our warrants to exercise such warrants on a cashless basis will cause holders to receive fewer shares of common stock upon their exercise of the warrants than they would have received had they been able to exercise their warrants for cash.

If we call our public warrants for redemption when the price per share of Class A common stock equals or exceeds $18.00 after the criteria for such redemption as described elsewhere in this prospectus have been satisfied, our management will have the option to require any holders that wishes to exercise their warrant (including any warrants held by our sponsor and/or its permitted transferees) to do so on a “cashless basis.” If our management chooses to require holders to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis, the number of shares of common stock received by a holder upon exercise will be fewer than it would have been had such holder exercised their warrant for cash. This will have the effect of reducing the potential “upside” of the holder’s investment in our company.

 

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We may amend the terms of the warrants in a way that may be adverse to holders with the approval by the holders of a majority of the then outstanding warrants.

Our warrants will be issued in registered form under a warrant agreement between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as warrant agent, and us. The warrant agreement provides that the terms of the warrants may be amended without the consent of any holder to cure any ambiguity or correct any defective provision. The warrant agreement requires the approval by the holders of a majority of the then outstanding warrants (including the private warrants) in order to make any change that adversely affects the interests of the registered holders.

Our warrants are expected to be accounted for as a warrant liability and will be recorded at fair value upon issuance 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.

Following the consummation of this offering and the concurrent private placement of warrants, we will have 13,233,333 warrants outstanding (comprised of the 7,500,000 warrants included in the units and the 5,733,333 private placement warrants, assuming the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is not exercised). We currently expect to account for these warrants as a warrant liability, which means that we will record them at fair value upon issuance with any changes in fair value each period reported in earnings. The impact of changes in fair value on earnings may have an adverse effect on the market price of our securities. 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.

 

We have no obligation to net cash settle the warrants.

In no event will we have any obligation to net cash settle the warrants. Accordingly, the warrants may expire worthless.

We may redeem unexpired warrants prior to their exercise at a time that is disadvantageous to the warrantholders.

We have the ability to redeem outstanding warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.01 per warrant, if, among other things, the Reference Value equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like). Please see “Description of Securities—Warrants—Redemption of Public Stockholders’ Warrants When the Price Per Share of Class A Common Stock Equals or Exceeds $18.00.” We will not redeem the warrants unless an effective registration statement under the Securities Act covering the issuance of the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants is effective and a current prospectus relating to those shares of Class A common stock is available throughout the 30-day redemption period. If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may exercise our redemption right even if we are unable to register or qualify the underlying securities for sale under all applicable state securities laws.

In addition, we have the ability to redeem the outstanding warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.10 per warrant, if, among other things, the Reference Value equals or exceeds $10.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like). In such a case, the holders will be able to exercise their warrants prior to redemption for a number of shares of our Class A common stock determined based on the redemption date and the fair market value of our Class A common stock. Please see “Description of Securities—Warrants—Redemption of Public Stockholders’ Warrants When

 

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the Price Per Share of Class A Common Stock Equals or Exceeds $10.00.” The value received upon exercise of the warrants (1) may be less than the value the holders would have received if they had exercised their warrants at a later time where the underlying share price is higher and (2) may not compensate the holders for the value of the warrants, including because the number of common stock received is capped at 0.361 shares of our Class A common stock per warrant (subject to adjustment) irrespective of the remaining life of the warrants. We will not redeem the warrants unless an effective registration statement under the Securities Act covering the issuance of the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants is effective and a current prospectus relating to those shares of Class A common stock is available throughout the 30-day redemption period, except if the warrants may be exercised on a cashless basis and such cashless exercise is exempt from registration under the Securities Act. If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may exercise our redemption right even if we are unable to register or qualify the underlying securities for sale under all applicable state securities laws.

Redemption of the outstanding warrants 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, is likely to be substantially less than the Market Value of your warrants. Except as otherwise described in this prospectus, none of the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us for cash so long as they are held by their initial purchasers or their permitted transferees.

The ability of our public stockholders to exercise their redemption rights may not allow us to effectuate the most desirable business combination or optimize our capital structure.

If our initial business combination requires us to use substantially all of our cash to pay the purchase price, because we will not know how many public stockholders may exercise redemption rights, we may either need to reserve part of the trust account for possible payment upon such redemption, or we may need to arrange third party financing to help fund our initial business combination. In the event that the acquisition involves the issuance of our stock as consideration, we may be required to issue a higher percentage of our stock to make up for a shortfall in funds. Raising additional funds to cover any shortfall may involve dilutive equity financing or incurring indebtedness at higher than desirable levels. This may limit our ability to effectuate the most attractive business combination available to us.

In connection with any meeting held to approve an initial business combination, we will offer each public stockholder the option to vote in favor of the proposed business combination and still seek redemption of their shares.

In connection with any meeting held to approve an initial business combination, we will offer each public stockholder (but not our sponsor, officers or directors) the right to have their shares of common stock redeemed for cash (subject to the limitations described elsewhere in this prospectus) regardless of whether such stockholder votes for or against such proposed business combination; provided that a stockholder must in fact vote for or against a proposed business combination in order to have their shares of common stock redeemed for cash. If a stockholder fails to vote for or against a proposed business combination, that stockholder would not be able to have their shares of common stock so redeemed. We will consummate our initial business combination only if we have net tangible assets of at least $5,000,001 upon such consummation and a majority of the outstanding shares of common stock voted are voted in favor of the business combination. This is different than other similarly structured blank check companies where stockholders are offered the right to redeem their shares only when they vote against a proposed business combination. This threshold and the ability to seek redemption while voting in favor of a proposed business combination may make it more likely that we will consummate our initial business combination.

 

 

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We will require public stockholders who wish to redeem their shares of common stock in connection with a proposed business combination, or an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to effect the substance or timing of their redemption obligation if we fail to timely complete a business combination, to comply with specific requirements for redemption that may make it more difficult for them to exercise their redemption rights prior to the deadline for exercising their rights.

We will require our public stockholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” to either (i) tender their certificates to our transfer agent prior to the expiration date set forth in the tender offer documents mailed to such holders, or in the event we distribute proxy materials, up to two business days prior to the vote on the proposal to approve the business combination or amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to modify the substance or timing of our redemption obligation to redeem all public shares if we cannot complete an initial business combination or with respect to any other material provisions relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, or (ii) deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically using Depository Trust Company’s DWAC (Deposit/Withdrawal At Custodian) System, at the holder’s option. In order to obtain a physical stock certificate, a stockholder’s broker and/or clearing broker, DTC and our transfer agent will need to act to facilitate this request. It is our understanding that stockholders should generally allot at least two weeks to obtain physical certificates from the transfer agent. However, because we do not have any control over this process or over the brokers or DTC, it may take significantly longer than two weeks to obtain a physical stock certificate. While we have been advised that it takes a short time to deliver shares through the DWAC System, this may not be the case. Under our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, we will be required to provide at least 10 days advance notice of any stockholder meeting, which would be the minimum amount of time a stockholder would have to determine whether to exercise redemption rights. Accordingly, if it takes longer than we anticipate for stockholders to deliver their shares, stockholders who wish to redeem may be unable to meet the deadline for exercising their redemption rights and thus may be unable to redeem their shares.

Redeeming stockholders may be unable to sell their securities when they wish to in the event that the proposed business combination is not approved.

We will require public stockholders who wish to redeem their shares of common stock in connection with any proposed business combination to comply with the delivery requirements discussed above for redemption. If such proposed business combination is not consummated, we will promptly return such certificates to the tendering public stockholders. Accordingly, investors who attempted to redeem their shares in such a circumstance will be unable to sell their securities after the failed acquisition until we have returned their securities to them. The market price for our shares of common stock may decline during this time and you may not be able to sell your securities when you wish, even while other stockholders that did not seek redemption may be able to sell their securities.

Because of our structure, other companies may have a competitive advantage and we may not be able to consummate an attractive business combination.

We expect to encounter intense competition from entities other than blank check companies having a business objective similar to ours, including investment funds and operating businesses competing for acquisitions. Many of these entities are well established and have extensive experience in identifying and effecting business combinations directly or through affiliates. Many of these competitors possess greater technical, human and other resources than we do and our financial resources will be relatively limited when contrasted with those of many of these competitors. Therefore, our ability to compete in acquiring certain sizable target businesses may be limited by our available financial resources. This inherent competitive limitation gives others an advantage in pursuing the acquisition of certain target businesses. Furthermore, seeking stockholder approval of our initial business combination may delay the consummation of a transaction. Additionally, our rights, and the future dilution they represent (entitling the holders to receive shares of common stock on

 

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consummation of our initial business combination), may not be viewed favorably by certain target businesses. Any of the foregoing may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating our initial business combination.

We may be unable to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination or to fund the operations and growth of a target business, which could compel us to restructure or abandon a particular business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may only receive $10.00 per share or even less (whether or not the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is exercised in full) on our redemption, and the warrants will expire worthless.

Although we believe that the net proceeds of this offering will be sufficient to allow us to consummate our initial business combination, because we have not yet identified any prospective target business we cannot ascertain the capital requirements for any particular transaction or our costs to identify and consummate a transaction and to operate the target business. If the net proceeds of this offering prove to be insufficient for one or more reasons including the size of our initial business combination, the depletion of the available net proceeds in search of a target business, the obligation to repurchase for cash a significant number of shares from stockholders who elect redemption in connection with our initial business combination, or the terms of negotiated transactions to purchase shares in connection with our initial business combination, we may be required to seek additional financing or to abandon the proposed business combination. Financing may not be available on acceptable terms, if at all. The current economic environment may make it especially difficult for companies to obtain acquisition financing. To the extent that additional financing proves to be unavailable when needed to consummate our initial business combination, we would be compelled to either restructure the transaction or abandon that particular initial business combination and seek an alternative target business candidate. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may only receive $10.00 per share or even less (whether or not the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is exercised in full) on our redemption, and the warrants will expire worthless. In addition, even if we do not need additional financing to consummate our initial business combination, we may require such financing to fund the operations or growth of the target business. The failure to secure additional financing could have a material adverse effect on the continued development or growth of the target business. None of our officers, directors or stockholders is required to provide any financing to us in connection with or after our initial business combination.

Our sponsor controls a substantial interest in us and thus may exert a substantial influence on actions requiring a stockholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support.

Upon closing of this offering, our sponsor (and its transferees/designees, if any) collectively will own 20% of our issued and outstanding shares of common stock (assuming they do not purchase any units in this offering). Accordingly, they may exert a substantial influence on actions requiring a stockholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support, including amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. If our sponsor purchases any units in this offering, or if we or our sponsor purchase any additional shares of common stock in the aftermarket or in privately negotiated transactions, this would increase their control. Neither our sponsor nor, to our knowledge, any of our officers or directors, has any current intention to purchase additional securities. Factors that would be considered in making such additional purchases would include consideration of the current trading price of our shares of common stock.

Our sponsor paid an aggregate of $25,000, or approximately $0.003 per founder share and, accordingly, you will experience immediate and substantial dilution from the purchase of our shares of common stock.

The difference between the public offering price per share (allocating all of the unit purchase price to the shares of common stock included in the unit and none to the warrants included in the unit) and

 

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the pro forma net tangible book value per share after this offering constitutes the dilution to you and the other investors in this offering. Our sponsor acquired the founder shares at a nominal price, significantly contributing to this dilution. Upon closing of this offering, you and the other public stockholders will incur an immediate and substantial dilution of approximately 95.3% or $9.53 per share (the difference between the pro forma net tangible book value per share of $0.47 and the initial offering price of $10.00 per share immediately upon the closing of this offering), or a dilution of approximately 95.8% dilution or $9.58 per share (the difference between the pro forma net tangible book value per share of $0.42 and the initial offering price of $10.00 per share) if the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is fully exercised.

The determination of the offering price of our units and the size of this offering is more arbitrary than the pricing of securities and size of an offering of an operating company in a particular industry.

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

 

•

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

 

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prior offerings of those companies;

 

•

our prospects for acquiring an operating business at attractive values;

 

•

a review of debt to equity ratios in leveraged transactions;

 

•

our capital structure;

 

•

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

 

•

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

 

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other factors as were deemed relevant.

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

There is currently no market for our securities and a market for our securities may not develop, which would adversely affect the liquidity and price of our securities.

As of the date of this prospectus there is currently no market for our securities. Prospective stockholders therefore have no access to information about prior market history on which to base their investment decision. Following this offering, the price of our securities may vary significantly due to one or more potential business combinations and general market or economic conditions. Once listed on Nasdaq, an active trading market for our securities may never develop or, if developed, may not be sustained. Additionally, if our securities become delisted from Nasdaq for any reason, and are quoted on the OTC Bulletin Board, an inter-dealer automated quotation system for equity securities not listed on a national exchange, the liquidity and price of our securities may be more limited than if we were listed on Nasdaq or another national exchange. You may be unable to sell your securities unless a market can be established and sustained.

 

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Once initially listed on Nasdaq, our securities may not continue to be listed on Nasdaq in the future, which could limit investors’ ability to make transactions in our securities and subject us to additional trading restrictions.

We anticipate that our securities will be initially listed on Nasdaq upon consummation of this offering. However, we cannot assure you of this or that our securities will continue to be listed on Nasdaq in the future. Additionally, in connection with our business combination, Nasdaq may require us to file a new initial listing application and meet its initial listing requirements as opposed to its more lenient continued listing requirements. We cannot assure you that we will be able to meet those initial listing requirements at that time. If Nasdaq delists our securities from trading on its exchange, we could face significant material adverse consequences, including:

 

•

a limited availability of market quotations for our securities;

 

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a reduced liquidity with respect to our securities;

 

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a determination that our shares of common stock are a “penny stock” which will require brokers trading in our shares of common stock to adhere to more stringent rules, possibly resulting in a reduced level of trading activity in the secondary trading market for our shares of common stock;

 

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a limited amount of news and analyst coverage for our company; and

 

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

Because we must furnish our stockholders with target business financial statements prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles or international financial reporting standards, we may lose the ability to complete an otherwise advantageous initial business combination with some prospective target businesses.

The federal proxy rules require that a proxy statement with respect to a vote on a business combination meeting certain financial significance tests include historical and/or pro forma financial statement disclosure in periodic reports. These financial statements may be required to be prepared in accordance with, or be reconciled to, accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, or GAAP, or international financial reporting standards, or IFRS, as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board or the IASB, depending on the circumstances. Historical financial statements may be required to be audited in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States), or PCAOB. We will include substantially the same financial statement disclosure in connection with any tender offer documents we use, whether or not they are required under the tender offer rules. These financial statement requirements may limit the pool of potential target businesses with which we consummate our initial business combination, because some targets may be unable to provide such statements in time for us to disclose such statements in accordance with federal proxy rules, and hence we may be unable to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame.

Compliance obligations under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 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 acquisition.

Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or 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, 2021. 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 all public companies because a target company 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 controls of any such entity to achieve compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may increase the time and costs necessary to complete any such acquisition.

 

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We are an “emerging growth company” and we cannot be certain if the reduced disclosure requirements applicable to emerging growth companies will make our securities less attractive to investors.

We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the JOBS Act. We will remain an “emerging growth company” for up to five years. However, if either our non-convertible debt issued within a three-year period, or our revenues exceed $1.07 billion, or the market value of our shares of common stock that are held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million on the last day of the second fiscal quarter of any given fiscal year, we would cease to be an emerging growth company as of the following fiscal year. As an emerging growth company, we (i) are not required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, (ii) have reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and (iii) are exempt from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and obtaining stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved.

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

We cannot predict if investors will find our shares less attractive because we may rely on these provisions. If some investors find our shares less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our shares and our share price may be more volatile.

Since only holders of our founder shares will have the right to vote on the election of directors prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, upon the listing of our shares on Nasdaq, Nasdaq may consider us to be a “controlled company” within the meaning of the Nasdaq rules and, as a result, we may qualify for exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements.

After completion of this offering, only holders of our founder shares will have the right to vote on the election of directors prior to the consummation of our initial business combination. As a result, Nasdaq may consider us to be a “controlled company” within the meaning of the Nasdaq corporate governance standards. Under the Nasdaq corporate governance standards, a company of which more than 50% of the voting power is held by an individual, group or another company is a “controlled company” and may elect not to comply with certain corporate governance requirements, including the requirements that:

 

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we have a board that includes a majority of “independent directors,” as defined under the rules of Nasdaq; and

 

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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.

 

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We do not 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 stockholders of companies that are subject to all of the Nasdaq corporate governance requirements.

Our amended and restated certification of incorporation designates the Court of Chancery in the State of Delaware as the sole and exclusive forum for certain actions or proceedings that may be initiated by our stockholders, which could discourage claims or limit stockholders’ ability to make a claim against the Company, our directors, officers, and employees.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that, unless we consent to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware is the sole and exclusive forum for: (a) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf; (b) any action asserting a claim of breach of fiduciary duty owed by any of our directors, officers or other employees to us or to our stockholders; (c) any action asserting a claim arising pursuant to the Delaware General Corporate Law, or the DGCL, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or our bylaws; or (d) any action asserting a claim governed by the internal affairs doctrine, except for, as to each of (a) through (d) above, any claim as to which the Court of Chancery determines that there is an indispensable party not subject to the jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery (and the indispensable party does not consent to the personal jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery within ten days following such determination), which is vested in the exclusive jurisdiction of a court or forum other than the Court of Chancery, or for which the Court of Chancery does not have subject matter jurisdiction. These exclusive forum provisions would not apply to suits brought to enforce a duty or liability created by the Exchange Act, which provides for exclusive jurisdiction of the federal courts. It could apply, however, to a suit that falls within one or more of the categories enumerated in the exclusive forum provision and asserts claims under the Securities Act, inasmuch as Section 22 of the Securities Act creates concurrent jurisdiction for federal and state courts over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Securities Act or the rules and regulations thereunder; provided, that with respect to claims under the Securities Act, our stockholders will not be deemed to have waived our compliance with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. These exclusive forum provisions may limit the ability of our stockholders to bring a claim in a judicial forum that such stockholders find favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers, or employees, which may discourage such lawsuits against us and our directors, officers, and employees. Alternatively, if a court were to find the choice of forum provisions contained in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, and operating results.

Risks Associated with Acquiring and Operating a Business outside of the United States

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

If we effect our initial business combination with a company located outside of the United States, we would be subject to any special considerations or risks associated with companies operating in the target business’ home jurisdiction, including any of the following:

 

•

rules and regulations or currency redemption or 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;

 

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•

regulations related to customs and import/export matters;

 

•

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 or deflation;

 

•

challenges in collecting accounts receivable;

 

•

cultural and language differences;

 

•

employment regulations;

 

•

crime, strikes, riots, civil disturbances, terrorist attacks, pandemics and wars; and

 

•

deterioration of political relations with the United States. We may not be able to adequately address these additional risks. If we were unable to do so, our operations might suffer.

Social unrest, acts of terrorism, regime changes, changes in laws and regulations, political upheaval, or policy changes or enactments may occur in a country in which we may operate after we effect our initial business combination.

Political events in another country may significantly affect our business, assets or operations. Social unrest, acts of terrorism, regime changes, changes in laws and regulations, political upheaval, pandemics and policy changes or enactments could negatively impact our business in a particular country.

Many countries have difficult and unpredictable legal systems and underdeveloped laws and regulations that are unclear and subject to corruption and inexperience.

Our ability to seek and enforce legal protections, including with respect to intellectual property and other property rights, or to defend ourselves with regard to legal actions taken against us in a given country, may be difficult or impossible, which could adversely impact our operations, assets or financial condition.

Rules and regulations in many countries are often ambiguous or open to differing interpretation by responsible individuals and agencies at the municipal, state, regional and federal levels. The attitudes and actions of such individuals and agencies are often difficult to predict and inconsistent.

Delay with respect to the enforcement of particular rules and regulations, including those relating to customs, tax, environmental and labor, could cause serious disruption to operations abroad and negatively impact our results.

If relations between the United States and foreign governments deteriorate, it could cause potential target businesses or their goods and services to become less attractive.

The relationship between the United States and foreign governments could be subject to sudden fluctuation and periodic tension. For instance, the United States may announce its intention to impose quotas on certain imports. Such import quotas may adversely affect political relations between the two countries and result in retaliatory countermeasures by the foreign government in industries that may affect our ultimate target business. Changes in political conditions in foreign countries and changes in the state of U.S. relations with such countries are difficult to predict and could adversely affect our

 

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operations or cause potential target businesses or their goods and services to become less attractive. Because we are not limited to any specific industry, there is no basis for investors in this offering to evaluate the possible extent of any impact on our ultimate operations if relations are strained between the United States and a foreign country in which we acquire a target business or move our principal manufacturing or service operations.

If our management following our initial business combination is unfamiliar with United States securities laws, they may have to expend time and resources becoming familiar with such laws.

Following our initial business combination, our management may resign from their positions as officers or directors of the company and the management of the target business at the time of the business combination will remain in place. Management of the target business may not be familiar with United States securities laws. If new management is unfamiliar with our laws, they may have to expend time and resources becoming familiar with such laws. This could be expensive and time-consuming and could lead to various regulatory issues, which may adversely affect our operations.

Currency policies may cause a target business’ ability to succeed in the international markets to be diminished.

In the event we acquire a non-U.S. target, all revenues and income would likely be received in a foreign currency, the dollar equivalent of our net assets and distributions, if any, could be adversely affected by reductions in the value of the local currency. The value of the currencies in our target regions fluctuate and are affected by, among other things, changes in political and economic conditions. Any change in the relative value of such currency against our reporting currency may affect the attractiveness of any target business or, following consummation of our initial business combination, our financial condition and results of operations. Additionally, if a currency appreciates in value against the dollar prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, the cost of a target business as measured in dollars will increase, which may make it less likely that we are able to consummate such transaction.

Because foreign law could govern our material agreements, we may not be able to enforce our rights within such jurisdiction or elsewhere.

Foreign law could govern our material agreements. The target business may not be able to enforce any of its material agreements and remedies may not be available outside of such foreign jurisdiction’s legal system. The system of laws and the enforcement of existing laws and contracts in such jurisdiction may not be as certain in implementation and interpretation as in the United States. The judiciaries in certain foreign countries may be relatively inexperienced in enforcing corporate and commercial law, leading to a higher than usual degree of uncertainty as to the outcome of any litigation. Any such jurisdictions may not favor outsiders or could be corrupt. As a result, the inability to enforce or obtain a remedy under any of our future agreements could result in a significant loss of business and business opportunities.

 

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CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

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

 

•

our ability to complete our initial business combination;

 

•

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

 

•

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

 

•

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

 

•

our pool of prospective target businesses;

 

•

the ability of our officers and directors to generate a number of potential investment opportunities;

 

•

our public securities’ potential liquidity and trading;

 

•

the lack of a market for our securities;

 

•

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

 

•

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

 

•

our financial performance following this offering.

The forward-looking statements contained in this prospectus are based on our current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects on us. There can be no assurance that future developments affecting us will be those that we have anticipated. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties (some of which are beyond our control) or other assumptions that may cause actual results or performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those factors described under the heading “Risk Factors.” Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of our assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary in material respects from those projected in these forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.

 

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USE OF PROCEEDS

We are offering 30,000,000 units at an offering price of $10.00 per unit. We estimate that the net proceeds of this offering, together with the funds we will receive from the sale of the private placement warrants, will be used as set forth in the following table.

 

		WITHOUT UNDERWRITERS’ OPTION TO PURCHASE ADDITIONAL UNITS				OPTION TO PURCHASE ADDITIONAL UNITS EXERCISED
Gross proceeds
Gross proceeds from units offered to public(1)		$	300,000,000			$	345,000,000
Gross proceeds from private placement warrants offered in the private placement			8,600,000				9,500,000
Total gross proceeds		$	308,600,000			$	354,500,000
Offering expenses(2)
Underwriting commissions (2.0% of gross proceeds from units offered to public, excluding deferred portion)(3)		$	6,000,000			$	6,900,000
Legal fees and expenses			300,000				300,000
Printing and engraving expenses			40,000				40,000
Accounting fees and expenses			80,000				80,000
SEC/FINRA Expenses			89,890				89,890
Nasdaq listing and filing fees			75,000				75,000
Director & Officer liability insurance premiums			700,000				700,000
Miscellaneous			315,110				315,110
Total offering expenses (other than underwriting commissions)		$	1,600,000			$	1,600,000
Proceeds after offering expenses		$	301,000,000			$	346,000,000
Held in trust account(3)		$	300,000,000			$	345,000,000
% of public offering size			100	%			100	%
Not held in trust account		$	1,000,000			$	1,000,000

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

 

		AMOUNT				% OF TOTAL
Legal, accounting, due diligence, travel, and other expenses in connection with any business combination(5)			350,000				35.0	%
Legal and accounting fees related to regulatory reporting obligations			150,000				15.0	%
Administrative and support services			240,000				24.0	%
Nasdaq continued listing fees			55,000				5.5	%
Working capital to cover miscellaneous expenses			205,000				20.5	%
Total		$	1,000,000				100.0	%

 

(1)	Includes amounts payable to stockholders who properly redeem their shares in connection with the successful completion of our initial business combination.

(2)

In addition, a portion of the offering expenses have been paid from the proceeds up to $300,000 in loans from our sponsor, as described in this prospectus. Upon completion of this offering these loans will be repaid out of the $1,600,000 of offering proceeds allocated for the payment of offering expenses other than underwriting commissions. In the event that offering expenses are less than set forth in this table, any such amounts will be used for post-closing working capital expenses.

 

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(3)

The underwriters have agreed to defer underwriting commissions of 3.5% of the gross proceeds of this offering. Concurrently with the completion of our initial business combination, $10,500,000, which constitutes the underwriters’ deferred commissions (or $12,075,000 if the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is exercised in full) will be paid to the underwriters from the funds held in the trust account. See “Underwriting.” The remaining funds, less amounts released to the trustee to pay redeeming stockholders, will be released to us and can be used to pay all or a portion of the purchase price of the business or businesses with which our initial business combination occurs or for general corporate purposes, including payment of principal or interest on indebtedness incurred in connection with our initial business combination, to fund the purchases of other companies or for working capital. The underwriters will not be entitled to any interest accrued on the deferred underwriting discounts and commissions.

(4)

These expenses are estimates only. Our actual expenditures for some or all of these items may differ from the estimates set forth herein. For example, we may incur greater legal and accounting expenses than our current estimates in connection with negotiating and structuring our initial business combination based upon the level of complexity of such business combination. In the event we identify a business combination target in a specific industry subject to specific regulations, we may incur additional expenses associated with legal due diligence and the engagement of special legal counsel. In addition, our staffing needs may vary and as a result, we may engage a number of consultants to assist with legal and financial due diligence. We do not anticipate any change in our intended use of proceeds, other than fluctuations among the current categories of allocated expenses, which fluctuations, to the extent they exceed current estimates for any specific category of expenses, would not be available for our expenses. The amount in the table above does not include interest available to us from the trust account. 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. Assuming an interest rate of 0.1% per year, and no exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units, we estimate the interest earned on the trust account will be approximately $300,000 per year; however, we can provide no assurances regarding this amount.

(5)	Includes estimated amounts that may also be used in connection with our initial business combination to fund a “no shop” provision and commitment fees for financing.

The rules of Nasdaq provide that at least 90% of the gross proceeds from this offering and the private placement be deposited in a trust account. Of the $308,600,000 in proceeds we receive from this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants described in this prospectus, or $354,500,000 if the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is exercised in full, $300,000,000 ($10.00 per unit), or $345,000,000 if the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is exercised in full ($10.00 per unit), will be deposited into a trust account with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee, and $1,600,000, will be used to pay expenses in connection with the closing of this offering and for working capital following this offering. We will not be permitted to withdraw any of the principal or interest held in the trust account, except for the withdrawal of interest income to pay our income taxes, until the earliest of (i) the completion of our initial business combination, (ii) the redemption of our public shares if we are unable to consummate an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering, subject to applicable law, or (iii) the redemption of our public shares properly submitted in connection with a stockholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our public shares if we have not consummated an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering or with respect to any other material provisions relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity. Based on current interest rates, we expect that interest income earned on the trust account (if any) will be sufficient to pay income taxes.

 

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The net proceeds held in the trust account may be used as consideration to pay the sellers of a target business with which we ultimately complete our initial business combination. If our initial business combination is paid for using equity or debt securities, or not all of the funds released from the trust account are used for payment of the consideration in connection with our initial business combination, we may apply the balance of the cash released from the trust account for general corporate purposes, including for maintenance or expansion of operations of the post-transaction company, the payment of principal or interest due on indebtedness incurred in completing our initial business combination, to fund the purchase of other companies or for working capital. There is no limitation on our ability to raise funds privately or through loans in connection with our initial business combination.

We believe that amounts not held in trust, together with funds available to us from loans from our sponsor, will be sufficient to pay the costs and expenses to which such proceeds are allocated. However, if our estimate of the costs of undertaking in-depth due diligence and negotiating a business combination is less than the actual amount necessary to do so, we may be required to raise additional capital, the amount, availability and cost of which is currently unascertainable. If we are required to seek additional capital, we could seek such additional capital through loans or additional investments from our sponsor, members of our management team or any of their affiliates, but such persons are not under any obligation to advance funds to, or invest in, us.

We will reimburse our sponsor for office space, secretarial and administrative services provided to members of our founders, in the amount of $10,000 per month. Upon completion of our initial business combination or our liquidation, we will cease paying these monthly fees.

Our sponsor has agreed to loan us up to $300,000 to be used for a portion of the expenses of this offering. These loans are non-interest bearing, unsecured and are due at the earlier of the closing of this offering or the date on which we determine not to consummate this offering. The loans will be repaid upon the closing of this offering out of the $1,600,000 of offering proceeds allocated to the payment of offering expenses.

In addition, in order to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds as may be required. If we complete our initial business combination, we would repay such loaned amounts out of the proceeds of the trust account released to us. Otherwise, such loans would be repaid only out of funds held outside the trust account. In the event that our initial business combination does not close, we may use a portion of the working capital held outside the trust account to repay such loaned amounts, but no proceeds from our trust account would be used to repay such loaned amounts. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants of the post business combination entity at a price of $1.50 per warrant at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants. Except as set forth above, the terms of such loans, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. 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.

 

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DIVIDEND POLICY

We have not paid any cash dividends on our common stock to date and do not intend to pay cash dividends prior to the completion of our initial business combination. The payment of cash dividends in the future will be dependent upon our revenues and earnings, if any, capital requirements and general financial condition subsequent to completion of our initial business combination. The payment of any cash dividends subsequent to our initial business combination will be within the discretion of our board of directors at such time and subject to Delaware law. If we increase the size of this offering, we will effect a share capitalization or other appropriate mechanism immediately prior to the consummation of this offering in such amount as to maintain the number of founder shares, on an as-converted basis, at 20% of our issued and outstanding shares of Class A common stock upon the consummation of this offering. Further, if we incur any indebtedness in connection with a business combination, our ability to declare dividends may be limited by restrictive covenants we may agree to in connection therewith.

 

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DILUTION

The difference between the public offering price per share of Class A common stock, assuming no value is attributed to the warrants included in the units we are offering pursuant to this prospectus or the private placement warrants, and the pro forma net tangible book value per share of our Class A common stock after this offering constitutes the dilution to investors in this offering. Please see “Description of Securities—Warrants—Public Stockholders’ Warrants” and “Description of Securities—Warrants—Private Placement Warrants”. Such calculation does not reflect any dilution associated with the sale and exercise of warrants, including the private placement warrants, which would cause the actual dilution to the stockholders to be higher, particularly where a cashless exercise is utilized. Net tangible book value per share is determined by dividing our net tangible book value, which is our total tangible assets less total liabilities (including the value of shares of Class A common stock which may be redeemed for cash), by the number of outstanding shares of Class A common stock.

At February 19, 2021, our net tangible book deficit was $5,000, or approximately $(0.00) per share of common stock. After giving effect to the sale of 30,000,000 shares of Class A common stock included in the units we are offering by this prospectus (or 34,500,000 shares of Class A common stock if the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is exercised in full), the sale of the private placement warrants and the deduction of underwriting commissions and estimated expenses of this offering, our pro forma net tangible book value at February 19, 2021 would have been $5,000,010, or $0.47 per share (or $5,000,010, or $0.42 per share, if the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is exercised in full), representing an immediate increase in net tangible book value (as decreased by the value of 26,963,999 shares of Class A common stock that may be redeemed for cash, or 31,099,499 shares of Class A common stock if the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is exercised in full) of $0.47 per share (or $0.42 if the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is exercised in full) to our sponsor as of the date of this prospectus. Total dilution to stockholders from this offering will be $9.53 per share (or $9.58 if the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is exercised in full).

The following table illustrates the dilution to the stockholders on a per-share basis, assuming no value is attributed to the warrants included in the units or the private placement warrants:

 

		WITHOUT OPTION TO PURCHASE ADDITIONAL UNITS				WITH OPTION TO PURCHASE ADDITIONAL UNITS
Public offering price		$	10.00			$	10.00
Net tangible book deficit before this offering			(0.00	)			(0.00	)
Increase attributable to public stockholders			0.47				0.42
Pro forma net tangible book value after this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants			0.47				0.42
Dilution to public stockholders		$	9.53			$	9.58
Percentage of dilution to public stockholders			95.3	%			95.8	%

For purposes of presentation, we have reduced our pro forma net tangible book value after this offering (assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units) by $269,639,990 because holders of up to approximately 89.9% of our public shares may redeem their shares for a pro rata share of the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account at a per share redemption price equal to the amount in the trust account as set forth in our proxy or tender offer materials (initially anticipated to be the aggregate amount held in trust two days prior to the commencement of our stockholders meeting or tender offer, including interest and net of taxes payable), divided by the number of shares of Class A common stock sold in this offering.

 

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The following table sets forth information with respect to our sponsor and the stockholders:

 

		SHARES PURCHASED								TOTAL CONSIDERATION								AVERAGE PRICE
		NUMBER				PERCENTAGE				AMOUNT				PERCENTAGE				PER SHARE
Class B common stock(1)			7,500,000				20.0	%		$	25,000				0.01	%		$	0.003
Class A common stock			30,000,000				80.0	%			300,000,000				99.99	%		$	10.00
			37,500,000				100.0	%		$	300,025,000				100.0	%

 

(1)	Assumes no exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units and the corresponding forfeiture of 1,125,000 shares of Class B common stock held by our sponsor.

The pro forma net tangible book value per share after the offering (assuming that the underwriters do not exercise their option to purchase additional units) is calculated as follows:

 

		WITHOUT OPTION TO PURCHASE ADDITIONAL UNITS				WITH OPTION TO PURCHASE ADDITIONAL UNITS
Numerator:
Net tangible book deficit before this offering		$	(5,000	)		$	(5,000	)
Net proceeds from this offering and sale of the private placement warrants(1)			301,000,000				346,000,000
Plus: Offering costs paid in advance, excluded from tangible book value before this offering			25,000				25,000
Less: Deferred underwriting commissions			(10,500,000	)			(12,075,000	)
Less: Warrant liability			(15,880,000	)			(17,950,000	)
Less: Proceeds held in trust subject to redemption(2)			(269,639,990	)			(310,994,990	)
		$	5,000,010			$	5,000,010
Denominator:
Class B common stock outstanding prior to this offering			8,625,000				8,625,000
Class B common stock forfeited if underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is not exercised			(1,125,000	)			—
Class A common stock included in the units offered			30,000,000				34,500,000
Less: Shares subject to redemption			(26,963,999	)			(31,099,499	)
			10,536,001				12,025,501

 

(1)	Expenses applied against gross proceeds include offering expenses of $1,600,000 and underwriting commissions of $6,000,000 or $6,900,000 if the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional units (excluding deferred underwriting fees). See “Use of Proceeds.”

(2)

If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our sponsor, directors, executive officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase shares or public warrants in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination. In the event of any such purchases of our shares prior to the completion of our initial business combination, the number of shares of Class A common stock subject to redemption will be reduced by the amount of any such purchases, increasing the pro forma net tangible book value per share. See “Proposed Business—Effecting Our Initial Business Combination—Permitted Purchases of Our Securities.”

 

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CAPITALIZATION

The following table sets forth our capitalization at February 19, 2021, and as adjusted to give effect to the filing of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, the sale of our units in this offering and the private placement warrants and the application of the estimated net proceeds derived from the sale of such securities:

 

		February 19, 2021
		ACTUAL				AS ADJUSTED(1)
Note payable to related party(2)		$	—			$	—
Deferred underwriting commissions(3)			—				10,500,000
Warrant liability(5)			—				15,880,000
Class A common stock subject to possible redemption; -0- and 26,963,999 shares, actual and as adjusted, respectively			—				269,639,990
Preferred stock, $0.0001 par value, 1,000,000 shares authorized, actual and as adjusted; none issued and outstanding, actual and as adjusted			—				—
Class A common stock, $0.0001 par value, 100,000,000 shares authorized, actual and as adjusted; -0- and 3,036,001 shares issued and outstanding (excluding -0- and 26,963,999 shares subject to possible redemption), actual and as adjusted, respectively(4)			—				304
Class B common stock, $0.0001 par value, 10,000,000 shares authorized, actual and as adjusted; 8,625,000 and 7,500,000 shares issued and outstanding, actual and as adjusted, respectively(4)			863				750
Additional paid-in capital			24,137				5,003,956
Accumulated deficit			(5,000	)			(5,000	)
Total stockholders’ equity		$	20,000			$	5,000,010
Total capitalization		$	20,000			$	301,020,000

 

(1)	Assumes no exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units and the corresponding forfeiture of 1,125,000 shares of Class B common stock held by our sponsor.

(2)	Our sponsor may loan us up to $300,000 under an unsecured promissory note to be used for a portion of the expenses of this offering. To date, we have borrowed approximately $95,000 from our sponsor to cover for expenses in connection with this offering.

(3)

$0.35 per Unit, or $10,500,000 in the aggregate (or $12,075,000 in the aggregate if the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is exercised in full), will be payable to the underwriters for deferred underwriting commissions. The deferred underwriting commissions will become payable to the underwriters from the amounts held in the Trust Account solely in the event that the company completes a Business Combination, subject to the terms of the underwriting agreement. The company records deferred underwriting commissions upon the closing of the initial public offering as a reduction of additional paid-in capital. Since the actual additional paid-in capital was reduced by the recording of the accrued deferred underwriting commission, total capitalization, as adjusted, includes the amount of the deferred underwriting commission to reflect total capitalization.

(4)

Upon the completion of our initial business combination, we will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares for cash at a per share price equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account calculated as of two business days prior to the consummation of the initial business combination, including interest (net of taxes payable), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, subject to the limitations described herein whereby redemptions cannot cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 and any limitations (including, but not limited to, cash requirements) created by the terms of the proposed business combination.

 

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(5)

We will account for the 13,233,333 warrants to be issued in connection with this offering (comprised of 7,500,000 warrants included in the units and 5,733,333 private placement warrants, assuming the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is not exercised) in accordance with the guidance contained in Accounting Standards Codification Topic 815-40. Such guidance provides that because the warrants do not meet the criteria for equity treatment thereunder, each warrant must be recorded as a liability. Accordingly, we will classify each warrant as a liability at its fair value. This liability is subject to re-measurement at each balance sheet date. With each such re-measurement, the warrant liability will be adjusted to fair value, with the change in fair value recognized in our statement of operations. The warrants are also subject to re-evaluation of the proper classification and accounting treatment at each reporting period.

 

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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS

OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

Overview

We are a blank check company incorporated on February 11, 2021 as a Delaware corporation for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses. We have not selected any business combination target and we have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, initiated any substantive discussions, directly or indirectly, with any business combination target. We intend to effectuate our initial business combination using cash from the proceeds of this offering and the private placement of the private placement warrants, our shares, debt or a combination of cash, equity and debt.

The issuance of additional shares in a business combination:

 

•

may significantly dilute the equity interest of investors in this offering, which dilution would increase if the anti-dilution provisions in the shares of Class B common stock resulted in the issuance of shares of Class A common stock on a greater than one-to-one basis upon conversion of the shares of Class B common stock;

 

•

may subordinate the rights of holders of shares of Class A common stock if shares of preferred stock are issued with rights senior to those afforded our shares of Class A common stock;

 

•

could cause a change in control if a substantial number of shares of our Class A common stock are issued, which may affect, among other things, our ability to use our net operating loss carry forwards, if any, and could result in the resignation or removal of our present officers and directors;

 

•

may have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control of us by diluting the share ownership or voting rights of a person seeking to obtain control of us; and

 

•

may adversely affect prevailing market prices for our shares of Class A common stock and/or warrants. Similarly, if we issue debt securities or otherwise incur significant debt, it could result in:

 

•

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 (in the absence of a waiver or renegotiation of that covenant);

 

•

our immediate payment of all principal and accrued interest, if any, if the debt security is payable on demand;

 

•

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

 

•

our inability to pay dividends on our shares of Class A common stock;

 

•

using a substantial portion of our cash flow to pay principal and interest on our debt, which will reduce the funds available for dividends on our shares of Class A common stock if declared, expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions and other general corporate purposes;

 

•

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

 

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•

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.

As indicated in the accompanying financial statements, as of February 19, 2021, we had no cash and deferred offering costs of $25,000. Further, we expect to incur significant costs in the pursuit of our initial business combination. We cannot assure you that our plans to raise capital or to complete our initial business combination will be successful.

Results of Operations and Known Trends or Future Events

We have neither engaged in any operations nor generated any revenues to date. Our only activities since inception have been organizational activities and those necessary to prepare for this offering. Following this offering, we will not generate any operating revenues until after completion of our initial business combination at the earliest. We will generate non-operating income in the form of interest income on cash and cash equivalents after this offering. There has been no significant change in our financial or trading position and no material adverse change has occurred since the date of our audited financial statements. After this offering, we expect to incur increased expenses as a result of being a public company (for legal, financial reporting, accounting and auditing compliance), as well as for due diligence expenses. We expect our expenses to increase substantially after the closing of this offering.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Our liquidity needs have been satisfied prior to the completion of this offering through a payment of $25,000 from our sponsor to cover for certain expenses and offering costs on behalf of us in exchange for the issuance of the founder shares and a commitment from our sponsor to loan us up to $300,000 to cover our expenses in connection with this offering. We estimate that the net proceeds from (i) the sale of the units in this offering, after deducting offering expenses of $1,600,000, underwriting commissions of $6,000,000, or $6,900,000 if the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is exercised in full (excluding deferred underwriting commissions of $10,500,000, or $12,075,000 if the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is exercised in full), and (ii) the sale of the private placement warrants for a purchase price of $8,600,000 (or $9,500,000 if the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is exercised in full) will be $301,000,000 (or $346,000,000 if the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is exercised in full). $300,000,000 (or $345,000,000 if the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is exercised in full) will be held in the trust account, which includes the deferred underwriting commissions described above. The proceeds held in the trust account will be invested only in U.S. government treasury obligations with a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations. The remaining $1,000,000 will not be held in the trust account. In the event that our offering expenses exceed our estimate of $1,600,000, we may fund such excess with funds not to be held in the trust account. In such case, the amount of funds we intend to be held outside the trust account would decrease by a corresponding amount. Conversely, in the event that the offering expenses are less than our estimate of $1,600,000, the amount of funds we intend to be held outside the trust account would increase by a corresponding amount.

We intend to use substantially all of the funds held in the trust account, including any amounts representing interest earned on the trust account (less taxes payable and deferred underwriting

 

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commissions), to complete our initial business combination. We may withdraw interest income to pay our income taxes, if any. Our annual income tax obligations will depend on the amount of interest and other income earned on the amounts held in the trust account. We expect the interest income earned on the amount in the trust account (if any) will be sufficient to pay our income taxes. To the extent that our equity or debt is used, in whole or in part, as consideration to complete our initial business combination, the remaining proceeds held in the trust account will be used as working capital to finance the operations of the target business or businesses, make other acquisitions and pursue our growth strategies.

Prior to the completion of our initial business combination, we will have available to us the $1,000,000 of proceeds held outside the trust account, as well as certain funds from loans from our sponsor. We will use these funds to primarily identify and evaluate target businesses, perform business due diligence on prospective target businesses, travel to and from the offices, plants or similar locations of prospective target businesses or their representatives or owners, review corporate documents and material agreements of prospective target businesses, and structure, negotiate and complete a business combination.

We do not believe we will need to raise additional funds following this offering in order to meet the expenditures required for operating our business prior to our initial business combination, other than funds available from loans from our sponsor. However, if our estimates of the costs of identifying a target business, undertaking in-depth due diligence and negotiating an initial business combination are less than the actual amount necessary to do so, we may have insufficient funds available to operate our business prior to our initial business combination. In order to fund working capital deficiencies or finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds as may be required. If we complete our initial business combination, we would repay such loaned amounts. In the event that our initial business combination does not close, we may use a portion of the working capital held outside the trust account to repay such loaned amounts but no proceeds from our trust account would be used for such repayment. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants of the post business combination entity at a price of $1.50 per warrant at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants. The terms of such loans, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. 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.

We expect our primary liquidity requirements during that period to include approximately $350,000 for legal, accounting, due diligence, travel and other expenses associated with structuring, negotiating and documenting successful business combinations; $150,000 for legal and accounting fees related to regulatory reporting requirements; $240,000 for administrative and support services incurred during the search for an initial business combination target; $55,000 for Nasdaq continued listing fees; and $205,000 for general working capital that will be used for miscellaneous expenses and reserves.

We will also reimburse our sponsor for office space, secretarial and administrative services provided to us in the amount of $10,000 per month ($240,000 in the aggregate).

These amounts are estimates and may differ materially from our actual expenses. In addition, we could use a portion of the funds not being placed in trust to pay commitment fees for financing, fees to consultants to assist us with our search for a target business or as a down payment or to fund a “no-shop” provision (a provision designed to keep target businesses from “shopping” around for transactions with

 

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other companies or investors on terms more favorable to such target businesses) with respect to a particular proposed business combination, although we do not have any current intention to do so. If we entered into an agreement where we paid for the right to receive exclusivity from a target business, the amount that would be used as a down payment or to fund a “no-shop” provision would be determined based on the terms of the specific business combination and the amount of our available funds at the time. Our forfeiture of such funds (whether as a result of our breach or otherwise) could result in our not having sufficient funds to continue searching for, or conducting due diligence with respect to, prospective target businesses.

Moreover, we may need to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination, either because the transaction requires more cash than is available from the proceeds held in our trust account, or because we become obligated to redeem a significant number of our public shares upon completion of the business combination, in which case we may issue additional securities or incur debt in connection with such business combination. 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.

Controls and Procedures

We are not currently required to maintain an effective system of internal controls as defined by Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. We will be required to comply with the internal control requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2021 only in the event that we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer or an accelerated filer would we be required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement. Further, for as long as we remain an emerging growth company as defined in the JOBS Act, we intend 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 independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement.

Prior to the closing of this offering, we have not completed an assessment, nor have our auditors tested our systems, of our internal controls. We expect to assess the internal controls of our target business or businesses prior to the completion of our initial business combination and, if necessary, to implement and test additional controls as we may determine are necessary in order to state that we maintain an effective system of internal controls. A target business may not be in compliance with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act regarding the adequacy of internal controls. Many small and mid-sized target businesses we may consider for our initial business combination may have internal controls that need improvement in areas such as:

 

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staffing for financial, accounting and external reporting areas, including segregation of duties;

 

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reconciliation of accounts;

 

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proper recording of expenses and liabilities in the period to which they relate;

 

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evidence of internal review and approval of accounting transactions;

 

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documentation of processes, assumptions and conclusions underlying significant estimates; and

 

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documentation of accounting policies and procedures.

Because it will take time, management involvement and perhaps outside resources to determine what internal control improvements are necessary for us to meet regulatory requirements and market expectations for our operation of a target business, we may incur significant expenses in meeting our

 

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public reporting responsibilities, particularly in the areas of designing, enhancing, or remediating internal and disclosure controls. Doing so effectively may also take longer than we expect, thus increasing our exposure to financial fraud or erroneous financing reporting.

Once our management’s report on internal controls is complete, we will retain our independent auditors to audit and render an opinion on such report when required by Section 404. The independent auditors may identify additional issues concerning a target business’s internal controls while performing their audit of internal control over financial reporting.

Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk

The net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants held in the trust account will be invested 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. Due to the short-term nature of these investments, we believe there will be no associated material exposure to interest rate risk.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements; Commitments and Contractual Obligations; Quarterly Results

As of February 19, 2021, we did not have any off-balance sheet arrangements as defined in Item 303(a)(4)(ii) of Regulation S-K and did not have any commitments or contractual obligations. No unaudited quarterly operating data is included in this prospectus as we have not conducted any operations to date.

JOBS Act

The JOBS Act contains provisions that, among other things, relax certain reporting requirements for qualifying public companies. We will qualify as an “emerging growth company” and under the JOBS Act will be allowed to comply with new or revised accounting pronouncements based on the effective date for private (not publicly traded) companies. We are electing to delay the adoption of new or revised accounting standards, and as a result, we may not comply with new or revised accounting standards on the relevant dates on which adoption of such standards is required for non-emerging growth companies. As a result, our financial statements may not be comparable to companies that comply with new or revised accounting pronouncements as of public company effective dates.

Additionally, we are in the process of evaluating the benefits of relying on the other reduced reporting requirements provided by the JOBS Act. Subject to certain conditions set forth in the JOBS Act, if, as an “emerging growth company,” we choose to rely on such exemptions we may not be required to, among other things, (i) provide an auditor’s attestation report on our system of internal controls over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404, (ii) provide all of the compensation disclosure that may be required of non-emerging growth public companies under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, (iii) comply with any requirement that may be adopted by the PCAOB regarding mandatory audit firm rotation or a supplement to the auditor’s report providing additional information about the audit and the financial statements (auditor discussion and analysis) and (iv) disclose certain executive compensation related items such as the correlation between executive compensation and performance and comparisons of the CEO’s compensation to median employee compensation. These exemptions will apply for a period of five years following the completion of our initial public offering or until we are no longer an “emerging growth company,” whichever is earlier.

 

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PROPOSED BUSINESS

Overview

Big Sky is a newly organized blank check company established by Mark Vadon, Paul Ferris and Lauren Neiswender. We founded the company to leverage the deep expertise that our team has investing in, partnering with and growing digitally native Internet Retail and Direct-to-Consumer companies. While we may choose to partner with a company in any sector, we intend to focus our search on these sectors or technologies that power these sectors. We aim to partner with a business that demonstrates rapid growth fueled by its consumer value proposition and persistent relationship with customers. Today’s consumers are looking for product and service innovation as well as brand authenticity. We believe that businesses that are purpose-driven, environmentally sustainable and customer-focused demonstrate characteristics that are critical for differentiation and long-term persistent growth in our target sectors.

We will seek to capitalize on our management team’s experience as founders, entrepreneurs, operators, advisors and active investors in our focus sectors to both source differentiated opportunities and collaborate with a potential partner. We will draw on Mr. Vadon’s experience as the co-founder of both Zulily and Blue Nile and as the Chairman of the board of Chewy as well as his long track record of private and public investments. Our management team has an extensive network of founder, entrepreneur, board, C-level and venture investor relationships from which to source opportunities, and we believe that the experience and capabilities of our management team will make us an attractive partner. We expect to continue to be active investors and advisors following the potential business combination and plan to draw upon our management team’s expertise to add significant value to a partner through close strategic and board level collaboration.

We were incorporated in Delaware with the purpose to effect a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses. We have not selected any specific business combination target and we have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, engaged in any substantive discussions, directly or indirectly, with any business combination target with respect to an initial business combination with us.

Our Strategic Focus

We aim to collaborate closely with a business partner and will focus on partners that:

 

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Recognize Expertise and Capital Can Accelerate Growth. While we believe that the best partners will be operationally excellent and scaling rapidly prior to collaborating with us, we aim to identify a business that will benefit from our partnership, for whom additional capital and strategic support will accelerate their growth and enable them to capitalize on their market opportunity more rapidly. We look to partner with a team that recognizes the long-term advantages of being a publicly traded company. Our decades of experience of founding, leading, investing in and growing large scale consumer businesses in our target areas includes a wealth of pattern recognition of strategies that work, and those that perhaps will not. We strongly believe our experience and expertise in navigating an acceleration of growth at scale can significantly benefit our business combination partner.

 

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Benefit from a Trusted, Long-Term Growth Partnership. We are committed to partnering with a management team for the long-term and look to identify a team that similarly values our continued commitment far beyond a financial transaction. The business combination is just the beginning of the long-term relationship we seek to establish, and Mr. Vadon intends to remain on the board of the partner as a key strategic advisor for a number of years. We believe we can attract and relate to founders and partner management teams in a deeper, more peer-like manner, having managed through many of the challenges of a high growth consumer business.

 

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Our Management Team

Mark Vadon, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman

Our management team is led by Mark Vadon, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Vadon co-founded Zulily, a consumer internet retailer of products targeting moms, babies and children, and served as Chairman of the board from 2009 until September 2015. We believe that Zulily’s revenue growth was one of the fastest in the internet retail sector at that time, achieving over $1 billion in annual revenues less than five years from inception. Since inception, Zulily has generated over $11 billion in revenue. Mr. Vadon also co-founded Blue Nile, a consumer internet retailer of diamonds and fine jewelry, and served as Chairman of the board from 1999 to 2013 and Chief Executive Officer from 1999 to 2008. From its inception until it was acquired by Bain Capital in 2017, Blue Nile generated approximately $5 billion in revenue. Prior to co-founding Blue Nile, Mr. Vadon was a consultant for Bain & Company, a management consulting firm, which he joined in 1992.

Mr. Vadon has been actively investing in and advising consumer internet businesses since 2007. Mr. Vadon served as Chairman of the board of Chewy from 2014 to 2017, and advised and invested in private rounds of companies such as Allbirds, Crowd Cow, FlyHomes, Outdoor Voices, The Pill Club Medical Group, Rad Power Bikes, Sweetgreen, Thrive Market, Trupanion, Course Hero, New Engen and Wine.com. In addition to his privately held company boards, Mr. Vadon has served on the board of Qurate Retail Group since 2015, and previously served on the board of Home Depot from 2012 to 2019. Mr. Vadon holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Stanford University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Studies from Harvard University.

Mr. Vadon is responsible for Big Sky’s investment strategy and has relationships with an extensive network of founders, management teams, investors and advisors. We believe his reputation as a successful investor and track record of building, advising and supporting management teams in high growth consumer market segments will differentiate us as we identify and negotiate an initial business combination with potential partners.

Paul Ferris, President and Director

Paul Ferris serves as our President and a director. Mr. Ferris is a founding General Partner with Azure, an early stage technology focused venture capital firm based in San Francisco, CA. Mr. Ferris has over 25 years of experience working with high growth disruptive technology companies, with the past 20 years investing directly in consumer, digitally native vertical e-commerce and cloud enabling technologies for Azure. During his career, Mr. Ferris has played an active role in driving the growth of his portfolio companies by providing investment and strategic guidance, including stage-specific executive team recruitment, financial forecasting discipline, business model refinement, data-driven efficient customer acquisition strategies, critical business development partnerships and growth capital relationships. Over his 20 years as a venture capital investor, Mr. Ferris has built a strong and close network of entrepreneurs, board members, experienced executives and venture and growth-stage investors.

Prior to founding Azure in 2000, Mr. Ferris was a strategic adviser with several investment banks, including Credit Suisse First Boston, Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley, where he focused on emerging technology companies. He has played a key role in over 30 successful venture-backed outcomes, both as an investor and adviser. Mr. Ferris has served on both public and private boards and currently sits on the private boards of The Bouqs, Ranovus and Glydways. He is also a board member and board observer on a number of earlier stage Direct-to-Consumer e-commerce portfolio companies. Mr. Ferris received Bachelor of Arts degrees in Computer Science and English from Amherst College.

 

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We believe that Mr. Ferris’ experience sourcing, investing in and advising disruptive technology companies over many years will differentiate us in our ability to source and identify compelling potential partners.

Lauren Neiswender, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Legal Officer and Director

Lauren Neiswender serves as our Chief Financial Officer, Chief Legal Officer and a director. Ms. Neiswender served as General Counsel of Blue Nile from its initial public offering in 2004 to 2020 and served as Corporate Secretary from 2010 to 2020. Prior to Blue Nile, Ms. Neiswender was an attorney at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, PC. Ms. Neiswender has deep experience across a vast variety of financial and legal matters including, initial public offerings, going private transactions, debt financings, mergers and acquisitions, responsible sourcing, risk management, cybersecurity, privacy, intellectual property, import and export regulations, litigation, international expansion, human resources, tax, marketing and real estate. Ms. Neiswender holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Virginia and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Emory University.

We believe that Ms. Neiswender’s legal and financial expertise will differentiate us in matters of governance, financial advisory to potential target companies, and negotiation of terms on an initial business combination with potential partners.

Director Nominees

Our management team’s efforts to seek and collaborate with a suitable partner will be complemented by the extensive operating experience and network of our board of directors. Our board of directors will utilize their industry expertise, experience building companies with significant scale and broad network to assist us in identifying potential partners as well as advise our partner management team.

Darrell Cavens, Director

Darrell Cavens will serve as one of our directors following the completion of this offering. Mr. Cavens co-founded Zulily and served as its President and Chief Executive Officer from 2009 to 2018 and a director from October 2009 to October 2015. After Zulily, Mr. Cavens served as the President of New Ventures for Qurate Retail Group until his retirement. In this role, Mr. Cavens led the team responsible for driving innovative retail concepts and looking beyond Qurate Retail Group’s current business for additional growth opportunities, through internal innovation, strategic partnerships, joint ventures and acquisitions. Prior to Zulily, in 2009, Mr. Cavens spent a year at Microsoft Corporation leading the BizTalk Server business and almost a decade at Blue Nile from 1999 to 2008, where he most recently served as the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Technology. Prior to Blue Nile, he was at Starwave, a Seattle-based internet company, working on large web properties, including ESPN.com and ABCNews.com. Mr. Cavens currently serves on the public board of Tapestry since July 2018, and on several privately held company boards, including Rad Power Bikes. He serves as an advisory board member to Brooks Running and previously served on the boards of Offerup, Plated and Deliveroo.

Joseph Zwillinger, Director

Joseph Zwillinger will serve as one of our directors following the completion of this offering. Mr. Zwillinger co-founded Allbirds in 2015 and has served as the Co-Chief Executive Officer and a director of Allbirds since its inception. Allbirds makes shoes and apparel from natural materials and sells these products via a mix of digital and brick-and-mortar retail all over the world. Mr. Zwillinger regularly invests in early stage private companies as a General Partner in Good Friends, a venture

 

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capital fund. Prior to co-founding Allbirds, Mr. Zwillinger was the Vice President of Industrial Products at TerraVia (formerly Solazyme), a biotechnology company harnessing the power of microalgae to replace petroleum in fuels, chemicals, food, and cosmetics. Prior to TerraVia, Mr. Zwillinger worked in advisory and investment roles at Industry Ventures, Deloitte Consulting and the Goldman Sachs Group. Mr. Zwillinger earned a Master of Business Administration degree with Honors from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering & Operations Research from the University of California, Berkeley.

Michael Smith, Director

Michael Smith will serve as one of our directors following the completion of this offering. Mr. Smith is General Partner and co-founder at Footwork, an early stage venture capital firm. Mr. Smith is a member of several public company boards, including Stitch Fix since December 2020, Ulta Beauty since September 2019 and Herman Miller since January 2019. He is also a member of the boards of several privately held companies, including Food52, Mayvenn and Imperfect Foods. From 2012 to January 2021, Mr. Smith held various executive positions at Stitch Fix, an online apparel retailer and personal styling service, including most recently serving as its President and Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Smith also served as its interim Chief Financial Officer and General Manager of Stitch Fix Men, a new product line for the business. Prior to Stitch Fix, Mr. Smith served in a variety of capacities at Walmart.com, an online retail company, including Chief Operating Officer from 2010 to 2012 and Vice President from 2008 to 2010. Before turning to operations, Mr. Smith worked at Accenture and Morgan Stanley. Mr. Smith holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of California, Berkeley and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of Virginia.

Mary Alice Taylor, Director

Mary Alice Taylor will serve as one of our directors following the completion of this offering. Ms. Taylor has served on numerous public company boards, including Allstate from 1996 to 2018 and Blue Nile from 1999 to 2017. Ms. Taylor also served as a member of the boards of Autodesk, a design software company, and Sabre Holdings, an Internet travel services company. Ms. Taylor served as Chairwoman and Chief Executive Officer of HomeGrocer.com, an e-commerce company, from September 1999 until she completed a sale of the company to Webvan Group, an e-commerce company, in October 2000. Prior to HomeGrocer.com, Ms. Taylor served as Corporate Executive Vice President of Worldwide Operations and Technology for Citigroup for two years, and served as a Senior Vice President of FedEx for five years. Ms. Taylor holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from Mississippi State University.

 

Acquisition Criteria

Consistent with our strategic focus, we have identified the following general criteria that we believe are important in evaluating prospective partners, although we may decide to enter into a business combination with a partner that does not meet these criteria and guidelines.

 

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Visionary Management Team. We will seek to partner with a management team that is passionate about their opportunity and relentless in their desire to build a business that is large and meaningful.

 

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Rapid Growth Fueled by a Compelling Consumer Proposition. We will seek to partner with a company that is successfully capturing market share in a large addressable market with significant future opportunity. We will focus on those companies for which rapid growth and customer adoption is fueled by their compelling consumer value proposition versus those for whom growth is derived primarily from significant marketing spend.

 

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Positioned to Benefit from Being a Public Company. We intend to seek companies that demonstrate public market readiness and that would benefit from a partnership with our management team. We desire to partner with management teams who recognize the benefits of being a publicly traded company, including access to capital, increased brand awareness with customers and partners, strong ability to recruit and retain talent, a liquid currency with which to potentially augment growth through product, technology and/or talent acquisitions.

 

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Purpose-Driven Businesses. We will seek a partner that is customer-focused, purpose-driven, sustainable and environmentally friendly, which we believe are important brand characteristics for consumers today.

 

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Sustainable and Attractive Unit Economics. We will identify the core unit economics of any potential partner and assess the business’s ability to sustain significant growth while achieving strong profitability over time.

 

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Defensible Market Position. We intend to seek partners that have a strong market position and significant barriers to entry through brand value, innovative technology, large and loyal customer bases, and differentiated products or services.

 

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Data Driven Decision Making. We will seek to identify businesses for whom data is core to their decision-making processes and used as a key dashboard for operational and strategic judgements and to track business performance.

 

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High Ethical Standards. We will seek to partner with a management team that leads and builds their business with the highest standards of ethics and integrity.

These criteria and guidelines are not intended to be exhaustive. Any evaluation relating to the merits of an initial business combination may be based, to the extent relevant, on these general criteria and guidelines as well as other considerations, factors, and criteria that our team may determine to be relevant.

Acquisition Process

In evaluating a prospective target business, we expect to conduct an extensive due diligence review which may encompass, among other things, meetings with members of the target’s management and other employees, document reviews, interviews of customers and suppliers, inspections of facilities and a review of financial and other information about the target and its industry.

Members of our management team may directly or indirectly own our common stock and/or private placement warrants following this offering, and, accordingly, may have a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target business is an appropriate business with which to effectuate our initial business combination. Further, each of our officers and directors may have a conflict of interest with respect to evaluating a particular business combination if the retention or resignation of any such officers and directors is included by a target business as a condition to any agreement with respect to our initial business combination.

Each of our directors and officers 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. Accordingly, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for an entity to which he or she has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she will honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such opportunity to such entity. We do not believe, however, that the fiduciary duties or contractual obligations of our officers or directors will materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination.

 

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Our 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 officers and directors are not required to commit any specified amount of time to our affairs and, accordingly, will have conflicts of interest in allocating management time among various business activities, including identifying potential business combinations and monitoring the related due diligence.

General

We are a newly organized blank check company incorporated on February 11, 2021 as a Delaware corporation for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses or entities, which we refer to throughout this prospectus as our initial business combination. To date, our efforts have been limited to organizational activities as well as activities related to this offering. We have not selected any specific business combination partner and we have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, initiated any substantive discussions, directly or indirectly, with any business combination partner. We have generated no operating revenues to date and we do not expect that we will generate operating revenues until we consummate our initial business combination.

While we may pursue acquisitions in any sector or industry, we will focus our search for opportunities to create value in the sectors where our management team have significant experience and leading edge expertise.

Initial Business Combination

Nasdaq rules and our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will require that we complete one or more business combinations having an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the assets held in the trust account (excluding the amount of deferred underwriting discounts held in trust and taxes payable on the interest earned on the trust account) at the time of signing the agreement to enter into the initial business combination and that a majority of our independent directors approve such initial business combination(s). If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses, or we are considering an initial business combination with an affiliated entity, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), or an independent valuation or accounting firm with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. Our stockholders may not be provided with a copy of such opinion nor will they be able to rely on such opinion. While we consider it unlikely that our board will not be able to make an independent determination of the fair market value of a target business or businesses, it may be unable to do so if the board is less familiar or experienced with the target company’s business, there is a significant amount of uncertainty as to the value of the company’s assets or prospects, including if such company is at an early stage of development, operations or growth, or if the anticipated transaction involves a complex financial analysis or other specialized skills and the board determines that outside expertise would be helpful or necessary in conducting such analysis. Since any opinion, if obtained, would merely state that the fair market value of the target business meets the 80% of net assets threshold, unless such opinion includes material information regarding the valuation of a target business or the consideration to be provided, it is not anticipated that copies of such opinion would be distributed to our stockholders. However, if required under applicable law, any proxy statement that we deliver to stockholders and file with the SEC in connection with a proposed transaction will include such opinion.

 

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We anticipate structuring our initial business combination so that the post-transaction company in which our public stockholders own shares will own or acquire 100% of the equity interests or assets of the target business or businesses. We may, however, structure our initial business combination such that the post-transaction company owns or acquires less than 100% of such interests or assets of the target business in order to meet certain objectives of the prior owners of the target business, the target management team or stockholders or for other reasons, but we will only complete such business combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended. Even if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our stockholders prior to the business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post-transaction company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the business combination transaction. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock of a target. In this case, we would acquire a 100% controlling interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new shares, our stockholders immediately prior to our initial business combination could own less than a majority of our outstanding shares subsequent to our initial business combination. If less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses are owned or acquired by the post-transaction company, the portion of such business or businesses that is owned or acquired is what will be valued for purposes of the 80% of net assets test. If the business combination involves more than one target business, the 80% of net assets test will be based on the aggregate value of all of the target businesses and we will treat the target businesses together as the initial business combination for purposes of a tender offer or for seeking stockholders approval, as applicable.

Other Considerations

We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination or subsequent transaction with a company that is affiliated with any Investment Entity or our sponsor, founders, officers or directors, or a company in which any of the foregoing may have a direct or indirect interest. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with an Investment Entity, our sponsor or any of our founders, officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm which is a member of FINRA or an independent valuation or accounting firm that such initial business combination or transaction is fair to our company from a financial point of view.

Certain Investment Entities and members of our board of directors will directly or indirectly own founder shares and private placement warrants following this offering and, accordingly, may have a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target business is an appropriate business with which to effectuate our initial business combination. Further, each of our officers and directors may have a conflict of interest with respect to evaluating a particular business combination if the retention or resignation of any such officers or directors were to be included by a target business as a condition to any agreement with respect to our initial business combination.

We currently do not have any specific business combination under consideration. Our officers and directors have neither individually selected nor considered a target business nor have they had any substantive discussions regarding possible target businesses among themselves or with our underwriters or other advisors. Investment Entities are continuously made aware of potential business opportunities, one or more of which we may desire to pursue for a business combination, but we have not (nor has anyone on our behalf) contacted any prospective target business or had any substantive discussions, formal or otherwise, with respect to a business combination transaction with our company. We have not (nor have any of our agents or affiliates) been approached by any candidates (or

 

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representative of any candidates) with respect to a possible acquisition transaction with our company and we will not consider a business combination with any company identified by an Investment Entity at any time as a suitable acquisition candidate for it, unless such Investment Entity, in its sole discretion, declines such potential acquisition, in each case, in accordance with any legal, contractual or other obligations of such Investment Entity and such Investment Entity’s applicable existing and future policies and procedures. Additionally, we have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, taken any substantive measure, directly or indirectly, to select or locate any suitable acquisition candidate for us, nor have we engaged or retained any agent or other representative to select or locate any such acquisition candidate.

The Investment Entities currently manage multiple investment vehicles and may raise additional funds successor funds or other investment vehicles or accounts in the future, which may be during the period in which we are seeking our initial business combination. The Investment Entities may be seeking investments or acquisition opportunities and related financing at any time. We may compete with any one or more of them on any given acquisition opportunity.

In addition, our sponsor and each of our officers or directors may sponsor or form other special purpose acquisition companies similar to ours or may pursue other business or investment ventures, including without limitation forming investment funds or other vehicles whose strategies may conflict with or otherwise be competitive with us during the period in which we are seeking an initial business combination. Any such companies, businesses or investments, including without limitation investment funds or other vehicles, may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an initial business combination.

Each of the Investment Entities, our officers and directors presently has, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary, contractual or other obligations to other entities pursuant to which the Investment Entities or such persons is or will be required to present to such other entities a business opportunity that may conflict with or otherwise be competitive with us during the period in which we are seeking an initial business combination. Accordingly, if an Investment Entity or any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business opportunity for an entity to which such Investment Entity or such person has then-current fiduciary, contractual or other obligations to present such opportunity to such entity that may be a suitable business combination opportunity for us, such Investment Entity or such person will honor such fiduciary, contractual or other obligations to present such business opportunity to such other entity, in which case such business combination opportunity may not be made available to us. Further, each of the Investment Entities and our officers and directors have duties and obligations with respect to confidentiality to other entities and may in the future agree to additional such duties or obligations, which may prevent such Investment Entities or such officers and directors from disclosing such information to us. Each of the Investment Entities and our officers and directors will comply with such duties and obligations of confidentiality to such other entities, in which case, we may not have access to such information. In addition, we may, at our option, pursue an Affiliated Joint Acquisition opportunity with an entity to which the Investment Entities, our sponsor or any of our officers or directors currently has, or may in the future have, a fiduciary or contractual obligation. Any such entity may co-invest with us in the target business at the time of our initial business combination, or we could raise additional proceeds to complete the business combination by making a specified future issuance to any such entity. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that we renounce our interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any director or officer unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of our company and such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue, and to the extent the director or officer is permitted to refer that opportunity to us without violating another legal, contractual or other obligation.

 

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In addition, none of our founders, officers or directors are required to commit any specified amount of time to our affairs and, accordingly, will have conflicts of interest in allocating management time among various business activities, including identifying potential business combinations and monitoring the related due diligence. Moreover, our founders, officers and directors have, and will have in the future, time and attention requirements for current and future businesses, including the Investment Entities. To the extent any conflict of interest arises between, on the one hand, us and, on the other hand, any Investment Entity (including, without limitation, arising as a result of certain of our founders, officers and directors being required to offer investment or acquisition opportunities to such Investment Entity), such Investment Entity, its affiliates and our founders, officers and directors will resolve such conflicts of interest in their sole discretion in accordance with their then existing fiduciary, contractual, and other duties, and there can be no assurance that such conflict of interest will be resolved in our favor.

Any past experience and performance of any Investment Entity or our management team is not a guarantee either: (1) that we will be able to successfully identify a suitable candidate for our initial business combination; or (2) of any results with respect to any initial business combination we may consummate. You should not rely on the historical record of any Investment Entity or our management team’s performance as indicative of the future performance of an investment in us or the returns we will, or are likely to, generate going forward. An investment in us is not an investment in any Investment Entity. None of our sponsor, officers or directors has had experience with forming a blank check company or special purpose acquisition company in the past.

Status as a Public Company

We believe our structure will make us an attractive business combination partner to target businesses. As an existing public company, we offer a target business an alternative to the traditional initial public offering through a merger or other business combination with us. In a business combination transaction with us, the owners of the target business may, for example, exchange their shares of stock in the target business for our shares of Class A common stock (or shares of a new holding company) or for a combination of our shares of Class A common stock and cash, allowing us to tailor the consideration to the specific needs of the sellers. We believe target businesses will find this method a more expeditious and cost effective method to become a public company than the typical initial public offering. The typical initial public offering process takes a significantly longer period of time than the typical business combination transaction process, and there are significant expenses in the initial public offering process, including underwriting discounts and commissions, that may not be present to the same extent in connection with a business combination with us.

Furthermore, once a proposed business combination is completed, the target business will have effectively become public, whereas an initial public offering is always subject to the underwriters’ ability to complete the offering, as well as general market conditions, which could prevent the offering from occurring. Once public, we believe the target business would then have greater access to capital, an additional means of providing management incentives consistent with stockholders’ interests and the ability to use its shares as currency for acquisitions. Being a public company can offer further benefits by augmenting a company’s profile among potential new customers and vendors and aid in attracting talented employees.

While we believe that our structure and our management team’s backgrounds will make us an attractive business partner, some potential target businesses may view our status as a blank check company, such as our lack of an operating history and our ability to seek stockholder approval of any proposed initial business combination, negatively.

We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the JOBS Act. 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

 

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

Financial Position

With funds available for a business combination initially in the amount of $301,000,000, after payment of the estimated expenses of this offering and $10,500,000 of deferred underwriting fees (or $346,000,000 after payment of $12,075,000 of deferred underwriting fees if the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is exercised in full), we offer a target business a variety of options such as creating a liquidity event for its owners, providing capital for the potential growth and expansion of its operations or strengthening its balance sheet by reducing its debt ratio. Because we are able to complete our initial business combination using our cash, debt or equity securities, or a combination of the foregoing, we have the flexibility to use the most efficient combination that will allow us to tailor the consideration to be paid to the target business to fit its needs and desires. However, we have not taken any steps to secure third party financing and there can be no assurance it will be available to us.

Effecting Our Initial Business Combination

General

We are not presently engaged in, and we will not engage in, any operations for an indefinite period of time following this offering. We intend to effectuate our initial business combination using cash from the proceeds of this offering, the private placements of the private placement warrants, our equity, debt or a combination of these as the consideration to be paid in our initial business combination. We may seek to complete our initial business combination with a company or business that may be financially unstable or in its early stages of development or growth, which would subject us to the numerous risks inherent in such companies and businesses.

If our initial business combination is paid for using equity or debt securities, or not all of the funds released from the trust account are used for payment of the consideration in connection with our initial business combination or used for redemptions of our shares of Class A common stock, we may apply the balance of the cash released to us from the trust account for general corporate purposes, including for maintenance or expansion of operations of the post-transaction company, the payment of principal or interest due on indebtedness incurred in completing our initial business combination, to fund the purchase of other companies or for working capital.

We have not selected any business combination target and we have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, initiated any substantive discussions with any business combination target. Additionally, we have not engaged or retained any agent or other representative to select or locate any suitable acquisition candidate, to conduct any research or take any measures, directly or indirectly, to locate or contact a target business, other than our officers and directors. Accordingly, there is no current basis for investors in this offering to evaluate the possible merits or risks of the target business with which we may ultimately complete our initial business combination. Although our management will assess the risks inherent in a particular target business with which we may combine, we cannot assure you that this assessment will result in our identifying all risks that a target business may encounter. Furthermore, some of those risks may be outside of our control, meaning that we can do nothing to control or reduce the chances that those risks will adversely affect a target business.

We may need to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination, either because the transaction requires more cash than is available from the proceeds held in our trust

 

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account, or because we become obligated to redeem a significant number of our public shares upon completion of the business combination, in which case we may issue additional securities or incur debt in connection with such business combination. There are no prohibitions on our ability to issue securities or incur debt in connection with our initial business combination. We are not currently a party to any arrangement or understanding with any third party with respect to raising any additional funds through the sale of securities, the incurrence of debt or otherwise.

Sources of Target Businesses

Certain members of our management team have spent significant portions of their careers working with businesses in the Internet Retail and Direct-to-Consumer companies industry and have developed a wide network of professional services contacts and business relationships in that industry. The members of our board of directors also have significant executive management and public company experience with Internet Retail and Direct-to-Consumer companies. Our process of identifying acquisition targets will leverage our management team’s industry experiences, demonstrated deal sourcing capabilities and broad and deep network of relationships, including executives and management teams, private equity groups and other institutional investors, large business enterprises, lenders, investment bankers and other investment market participants, restructuring advisers, consultants, attorneys and accountants, which we believe should provide us with a number of business combination opportunities. We expect that the collective experience, capability and network of our founders, directors and officers, combined with their individual and collective reputations in the investment community, will help to create prospective business combination opportunities.

In addition, we anticipate that target business candidates may be brought to our attention from various unaffiliated sources, including investment bankers and private investment funds. Target businesses may be brought to our attention by such unaffiliated sources as a result of being solicited by us through calls or mailings. These sources may also introduce us to target businesses in which they think we may be interested on an unsolicited basis, since many of these sources will have read this prospectus and know what types of businesses we are targeting. Our officers and directors, as well as their affiliates, may also bring to our attention target business candidates of which they become aware through their business contacts as a result of formal or informal inquiries or discussions they may have, as well as attending trade shows or conventions.

While we do not presently anticipate engaging the services of professional firms or other individuals that specialize in business acquisitions on any formal basis, we may engage these firms or other individuals in the future, in which event we may pay a finder’s fee, consulting fee or other compensation to be determined in an arm’s length negotiation based on the terms of the transaction. We will engage a finder only to the extent our management determines that the use of a finder may bring opportunities to us that may not otherwise be available to us or if finders approach us on an unsolicited basis with a potential transaction that our management determines is in our best interest to pursue. Payment of a finder’s fee is customarily tied to completion of a transaction, in which case any such fee will be paid out of the funds held in the trust account. In no event, however, will our sponsor or any of our existing officers or directors, or any entity with which they are affiliated, be paid any finder’s

fee, consulting fee or other compensation by the company prior to, or for any services they render in order to effectuate, the completion of our initial business combination (regardless of the type of transaction that it is). None of our sponsor, executive officers or directors, or any of their respective affiliates, will be allowed to receive any compensation, finder’s fees or consulting fees from a prospective business combination target in connection with a contemplated acquisition of such target by us.

We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a business combination target that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors, or from making the acquisition through a

 

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joint venture or other form of shared ownership with our sponsor, officers or directors. Although we will not be specifically focusing on, or targeting, any transactions with affiliated entities, we would pursue such a transaction if we determined that such affiliated entity met our criteria for a business combination as set forth below and such transaction was approved by a majority of our independent and disinterested directors. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with a business combination target that is affiliated with our sponsor, executive officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, would obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking which is a member of FINRA or an independent valuation or accounting firm, that such an initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view. We are not required to obtain such an opinion in any other context.

As more fully discussed in “Management—Conflicts of Interest,” if any of our executive officers becomes aware of a business combination opportunity that falls within the line of business of any entity, including private funds under the management of any Investment Entity or its respective portfolio companies, to which he or she has pre-existing fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she may be required to present such business combination opportunity to such entity prior to presenting such business combination opportunity to us. In addition, existing and future funds managed by any Investment Entity or its respective portfolio companies may compete with us for business combination opportunities and if such opportunities are pursued by such entities, we may be precluded from pursuing such opportunities. All of our executive officers currently have certain relevant fiduciary duties or contractual obligations that may take priority over their duties to us. In addition, we may pursue an Affiliated Joint Acquisition opportunity with an entity to which an officer or director has a fiduciary or contractual obligation. Any such entity may co-invest with us in the target business at the time of our initial business combination, or we could raise additional proceeds to complete the acquisition by issuing to such entity a class of equity or equity-linked securities. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that we renounce our interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any director or officer unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of our company and such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue.

Evaluation of a Target Business and Structuring of Our Initial Business Combination

In evaluating a prospective target business, we expect to conduct a thorough due diligence review which may encompass, among other things, meetings with incumbent management and employees, document reviews, interviews of customers and suppliers, inspection of facilities, as well as a review of financial, operational, legal and other information which will be made available to us. If we determine to move forward with a particular target, we will proceed to structure and negotiate the terms of the business combination transaction.

The time required to select and evaluate a target business and to structure and complete our initial business combination, and the costs associated with this process, are not currently ascertainable with any degree of certainty. Any costs incurred with respect to the identification and evaluation of, and negotiation with, a prospective target business with which our initial business combination is not ultimately completed will result in our incurring losses and will reduce the funds we can use to complete another business combination. The company will not pay any consulting fees to members of our management team, or any of their respective affiliates, for services rendered to or in connection with our initial business combination.

 

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Lack of Business Diversification

For an indefinite period of time after the completion of our initial business combination, the prospects for our success may depend entirely on the future performance of a single business. Unlike other entities that have the resources to complete business combinations with multiple entities in one or several industries, it is probable that we will not have the resources to diversify our operations and mitigate the risks of being in a single line of business. By completing our initial business combination with only a single entity, our lack of diversification may:

 

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subject us to negative economic, competitive and regulatory developments, any or all of which may have a substantial adverse impact on the particular industry in which we operate after our initial business combination; and

 

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cause us to depend on the marketing and sale of a single product or limited number of products or services.

Limited Ability to Evaluate the Target’s Management Team

Although we intend to closely scrutinize the management of a prospective target business when evaluating the desirability of effecting our initial business combination with that business, our assessment of the target business’s management may not prove to be correct. In addition, the future management may not have the necessary skills, qualifications or abilities to manage a public company. Furthermore, the future role of members of our management team, if any, in the target business cannot presently be stated with any certainty. The determination as to whether any of the members of our management team will remain with the combined company will be made at the time of our initial business combination. While it is possible that one or more of our directors will remain associated in some capacity with us following our initial business combination, it is unlikely that any of them will devote their full efforts to our affairs subsequent to our initial business combination. Moreover, we cannot assure you that members of our management team will have significant experience or knowledge relating to the operations of the particular target business.

We cannot assure you that any of our key personnel will remain in senior management or advisory positions with the combined company. The determination as to whether any of our key personnel will remain with the combined company will be made at the time of our initial business combination.

Following a business combination, we may seek to recruit additional managers to supplement the incumbent management of the target business. We cannot assure you that we will have the ability to recruit additional managers, or that additional managers will have the requisite skills, knowledge or experience necessary to enhance the incumbent management.

Stockholders May Not Have the Ability to Approve Our Initial Business Combination

We may conduct redemptions without a stockholder vote pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC subject to the provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. However, we will seek stockholder approval if it is required by law or applicable stock exchange rule, or we may decide to seek stockholder approval for business or other legal reasons.

Under Nasdaq’s listing rules, stockholder approval would be required for our initial business combination if, for example:

 

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we issue (other than in a public offering for cash) common stock that will either (a) be equal to or in excess of 20% of the number of shares of Class A common stock then outstanding or (b) have voting power equal to or in excess of 20% of the voting power then outstanding;

 

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•

any of our directors, officers or substantial stockholders (as defined by Nasdaq rules) has a 5% or greater interest (or such persons collectively have a 10% or greater interest), directly or indirectly, in the target business or assets to be acquired or otherwise and the present or potential issuance of common stock could result in an increase in outstanding common stock or voting power of 5% or more; or

 

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the issuance or potential issuance of common stock will result in our undergoing a change of control.

The decision as to whether we will seek stockholder approval of a proposed business combination in those instances in which stockholder approval is not required by law will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on business and legal reasons, which include a variety of factors, including, but not limited to:

 

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the timing of the transaction, including in the event we determine stockholder approval would require additional time and there is either not enough time to seek stockholder approval or doing so would place the company at a disadvantage in the transaction or result in other additional burdens on the company;

 

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the expected cost of holding a stockholder vote;

 

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the risk that the stockholders would fail to approve the proposed business combination;

 

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other time and budget constraints of the company; and

 

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additional legal complexities of a proposed business combination that would be time-consuming and burdensome to present to stockholders.

Permitted Purchases of Our Securities

If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our sponsor, directors, executive officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase shares or public warrants in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination. However, they have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such transactions. None of the funds in the trust account will be used to purchase shares or public warrants in such transactions. If they engage in such transactions, they will not make any such purchases when they are in possession of any material non-public information not disclosed to the seller or if such purchases are prohibited by Regulation M under the Exchange Act.

In the event that our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates purchase shares in privately negotiated transactions from stockholders who have already elected to exercise their redemption rights, such selling stockholders would be required to revoke their prior elections to redeem their shares. We do not currently anticipate that such purchases, if any, would constitute a tender offer subject to the tender offer rules under the Exchange Act or a going-private transaction subject to the going-private rules under the Exchange Act; however, if the purchasers determine at the time of any such purchases that the purchases are subject to such rules, the purchasers will comply with such rules.

The purpose of any such purchases of shares could be to (i) vote such shares in favor of the business combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining stockholder approval of the business combination or (ii) to satisfy a closing condition in an agreement with a target that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash at the closing of our initial business combination, where it appears that such requirement would otherwise not be met. The purpose of any

 

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such purchases of public warrants could be to reduce the number of public warrants outstanding or to vote such warrants on any matters submitted to the warrant holders for approval in connection with our initial business combination. Any such purchases of our securities may result in the completion of our initial business combination that may not otherwise have been possible.

In addition, if such purchases are made, the public “float” of our shares of Class A common stock or public warrants may be reduced and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, which may make it difficult to maintain or obtain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange.

Our sponsor, officers, directors and/or their affiliates anticipate that they may identify the stockholders with whom our sponsor, officers, directors or their affiliates may pursue privately negotiated purchases by either the stockholders contacting us directly or by our receipt of redemption requests submitted by stockholders (in the case of shares of Class A common stock) following our mailing of proxy materials in connection with our initial business combination. To the extent that our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or their affiliates enter into a private purchase, they would identify and contact only potential selling stockholders who have expressed their election to redeem their shares for a pro rata share of the trust account or vote against our initial business combination, whether or not such stockholder has already submitted a proxy with respect to our initial business combination but only if such shares have not already been voted at the stockholder meeting related to our initial business combination. Our sponsor, executive officers, directors, advisors or any of their affiliates will select which stockholders to purchase shares from based on the negotiated price and number of shares and any other factors that they may deem relevant, and will only purchase shares if such purchases comply with Regulation M under the Exchange Act and the other federal securities laws.

Our sponsor, officers, directors and/or their affiliates will not make purchases of shares if the purchases would violate Section 9(a)(2) or Rule 10b-5 of the Exchange Act. Any such purchases will be reported pursuant to Section 13 and Section 16 of the Exchange Act to the extent such purchasers are subject to such reporting requirements.

Redemption Rights for Stockholders upon Completion of Our Initial Business Combination

We will provide our stockholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their shares of Class A common stock upon the completion of our initial business combination at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account calculated as of two business days prior to the consummation of the initial business combination, including interest (net of taxes payable), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, subject to the limitations described herein. The amount in the trust account is initially anticipated to be $10.00 per public share. The per share amount we will distribute to investors who properly redeem their shares will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting commissions we will pay to the underwriters. The redemption rights will include the requirement that a beneficial holder must identify itself in order to validly redeem its shares. Our sponsor has entered into an agreement with us, pursuant to which it has agreed to (i) waive its redemption rights with respect to its founder shares and (ii) waive its rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to its founder shares if we fail to consummate an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering. Our sponsor and our directors and executive officers have also agreed (A) that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation that would modify the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering or with respect to any other material provisions relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, unless we provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their shares and (B) to waive their redemption rights with

 

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respect to their founder shares and any public shares they may acquire during or after this offering in connection with the completion of our initial business combination. However, if our sponsor or members of our management team acquire public shares in or after this offering, they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to such public shares if we fail to consummate an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering.

Limitations on Redemptions

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules). However, the proposed business combination may require: (i) cash consideration to be paid to the target or its owners, (ii) cash to be transferred to the target for working capital or other general corporate purposes or (iii) the retention of cash to satisfy other conditions in accordance with the terms of the proposed business combination. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all shares of Class A common stock that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed business combination exceed the aggregate amount of cash available to us, we will not complete the business combination or redeem any shares, and all shares of Class A common stock submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof.

Manner of Conducting Redemptions

We will provide our stockholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their shares of Class A common stock upon the completion of our initial business combination either (i) in connection with a stockholder meeting called to approve the business combination or (ii) by means of a tender offer. The decision as to whether we will seek stockholder approval of a proposed business combination or conduct a tender offer will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on a variety of factors such as the timing of the transaction and whether the terms of the transaction would require us to seek stockholder approval under applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement or whether we were deemed to be a foreign private issuer (which would require a tender offer rather than seeking stockholder approval under SEC rules). Asset acquisitions and stock purchases would not typically require stockholder approval while direct mergers with our company where we do not survive and any transactions where we issue more than 20% of our outstanding common stock or seek to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation would require stockholder approval. We currently intend to conduct redemptions in connection with a stockholder vote unless stockholder approval is not required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement and we choose to conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC for business or other legal reasons.

If we held a stockholder vote to approve our initial business combination, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation:

 

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conduct the redemptions in conjunction with a proxy solicitation pursuant to Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act, which regulates the solicitation of proxies, and not pursuant to the tender offer rules; and

 

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file proxy materials with the SEC.

In the event that we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, we will distribute proxy materials and, in connection therewith, provide our stockholders with the redemption rights described above upon completion of the initial business combination.

If we seek stockholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if a majority of the shares of Class A common stock voted, on an as converted basis, are voted in favor of

 

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the business combination. In such case, our sponsor has agreed to vote the founder shares and any public shares purchased by our sponsor during or after this offering in favor of our initial business combination. As a result, in addition to our sponsor’s founder shares, we would need 11,250,001, or 37.5%, of the 30,000,000 public shares sold in this offering to be voted in favor of an initial business combination in order to have our initial business combination approved (assuming all outstanding shares are voted and the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is not exercised). Each stockholder may elect to redeem their public shares irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction. In addition, our sponsor and our directors and executive officers have entered into agreements with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and public shares in connection with the completion of a business combination.

If we conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation:

 

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conduct the redemptions pursuant to Rule 13e-4 and Regulation 14E of the Exchange Act, which regulate issuer tender offers; and

 

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file tender offer documents with the SEC prior to completing our initial business combination which contain substantially the same financial and other information about the initial business combination and the redemption rights as is required under Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act, which regulates the solicitation of proxies.

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

In the event we conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, our offer to redeem will remain open for at least 20 business days, in accordance with Rule 14e-1(a) under the Exchange Act, and we will not be permitted to complete our initial business combination until the expiration of the tender offer period. In addition, the tender offer will be conditioned on stockholders not tendering more than the number of public shares we are permitted to redeem. If stockholders tender more shares than we have offered to purchase, we will withdraw the tender offer and not complete the initial business combination.

Limitation on Redemption upon Completion of Our Initial Business Combination If We Seek Stockholder Approval

If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that a stockholder, together with any affiliate of such stockholder or any other person with whom such stockholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from seeking redemption rights with respect to Excess Shares. We believe this restriction will discourage stockholders from accumulating large blocks of shares, and subsequent attempts by such holders to use their ability to exercise their redemption rights against a proposed business combination as a means to force us or our management to purchase their shares at a significant premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. Absent this provision, a public stockholder holding more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in this offering could threaten to exercise its redemption rights if such holder’s shares are not purchased by us, our sponsor or our management at a premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. By limiting our stockholders’ ability to redeem no more than 15% of the shares sold in this offering without our prior consent, we

 

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believe we will limit the ability of a small group of stockholders to unreasonably attempt to block our ability to complete our initial business combination, particularly in connection with a business combination with a target that requires as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash.

However, we would not be restricting our stockholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our initial business combination.

Tendering Share Certificates in Connection with Redemption Rights or a Tender Offer

Public stockholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” will be required to either tender their certificates (if any) to our transfer agent prior to the date set forth in the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, mailed to such holders, or to deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically using The Depository Trust Company’s DWAC (Deposit/ Withdrawal At Custodian) System, at the holder’s option, in each case up to two business days prior to the initially scheduled vote to approve the business combination. The proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, that we will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination will indicate the applicable delivery requirements, which will include the requirement that a beneficial holder must identify itself in order to validly redeem its shares. Accordingly, a stockholder would have from the time we send out our tender offer materials up to two days prior to the vote on the business combination to tender its shares if it wishes to seek to exercise its redemption rights. Given the relatively short period in which to exercise redemption rights, it is advisable for stockholders to use electronic delivery of their public shares.

There is a nominal cost associated with the above-referenced tendering process and the act of certificating the shares or delivering them through the DWAC System. The transfer agent will typically charge the tendering broker a fee of approximately $80.00 and it would be up to the broker whether or not to pass this cost on to the redeeming holder. However, this fee would be incurred regardless of whether or not we require holders seeking to exercise redemption rights to tender their shares. The need to deliver shares is a requirement of exercising redemption rights regardless of the timing of when such delivery must be effectuated.

The foregoing is different from the procedures used by many blank check companies. In order to perfect redemption rights in connection with their business combinations, many blank check companies would distribute proxy materials for the stockholders’ vote on an initial business combination, and a holder could simply vote against a proposed business combination and check a box on the proxy card indicating such holder was seeking to exercise their redemption rights. After the business combination was approved, the company would contact such stockholder to arrange for them to deliver their certificate to verify ownership. As a result, the stockholder then had an “option window” after the completion of the business combination during which he or she could monitor the price of the company’s shares in the market. If the price rose above the redemption price, they could sell their shares in the open market before actually delivering their shares to the company for cancellation. As a result, the redemption rights, to which stockholders were aware they needed to commit before the stockholder meeting, would become “option” rights surviving past the completion of the business combination until the redeeming holder delivered its certificate. The requirement for physical or electronic delivery prior to the meeting ensures that a redeeming stockholder’s election to redeem is irrevocable once the business combination is approved.

Any request to redeem such shares, once made, may be withdrawn at any time up to two business days prior to the vote on the proposal to approve the business combination, unless otherwise agreed to by us. Furthermore, if a holder of a public share delivered its certificate in connection with an election of redemption rights and subsequently decides prior to the applicable date not to elect to

 

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exercise such rights, such holder may simply request that the transfer agent return the certificate (physically or electronically). It is anticipated that the funds to be distributed to holders of our public shares electing to redeem their shares will be distributed promptly after the completion of our initial business combination.

If our initial business combination is not approved or completed for any reason, then our stockholders who elected to exercise their redemption rights would not be entitled to redeem their shares for the applicable pro rata share of the trust account. In such case, we will promptly return any certificates delivered by public holders who elected to redeem their shares.

If our initial proposed business combination is not completed, we may continue to try to complete a business combination with a different target until 24 months from the closing of this offering.

Redemption of Public Shares and Liquidation If No Initial Business Combination

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that we will have only 24 months from the closing of this offering to consummate an initial business combination. If we are unable to consummate an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering, we will: (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up; (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses and net of taxes payable), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidation distributions, if any); and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in the case of clauses (ii) and (iii) to our obligations to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to our warrants, which will expire worthless if we fail to consummate an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering.

Our sponsor has entered into an agreement with us, pursuant to which it has waived its rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to its founder shares if we fail to consummate an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering. However, if our sponsor or members of our management team acquire public shares in or after this offering, they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to such public shares if we fail to consummate an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering.

Our sponsor had agreed, pursuant to a written agreement with us, that they it not propose any amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not consummate an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering or with respect to any other material provisions relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, unless we provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares upon approval of any such amendment at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (net of taxes payable), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares. However, we may not redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules). If this optional redemption right is exercised with respect to an excessive number of public shares such that we cannot satisfy the net tangible asset requirement, we would not proceed with the

 

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amendment or the related redemption of our public shares at such time. This redemption right shall apply in the event of the approval of any such amendment, whether proposed by our sponsors, any executive officer, director or director nominee, or any other person.

We expect that all costs and expenses associated with implementing our plan of dissolution, as well as payments to any creditors, will be funded from amounts remaining out of the $1,000,000 of proceeds held outside the trust account, although we cannot assure you that there will be sufficient funds for such purpose. However, if those funds are not sufficient to cover the costs and expenses associated with implementing our plan of dissolution, we may request the trustee to release to us an additional amount of up to $100,000 of such accrued interest to pay those costs and expenses.

If we were to expend all of the net proceeds of this offering, other than the proceeds deposited in the trust account, and without taking into account interest, if any, earned on the trust account, the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders upon our dissolution would be $10.00. The proceeds deposited in the trust account could, however, become subject to the claims of our creditors which would have higher priority than the claims of our public stockholders. We cannot assure you that the actual per-share redemption amount received by stockholders will not be less than $10.00. While we intend to pay such amounts, if any, we cannot assure you that we will have funds sufficient to pay or provide for all creditors’ claims.

Although we will seek to have all vendors, service providers (excluding 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 stockholders, there is no guarantee that they will execute such agreements or even if they execute such agreements that they would be prevented from bringing claims against the trust account including but not limited to fraudulent inducement, breach of fiduciary responsibility or other similar claims, as well as claims challenging the enforceability of the waiver, in each case in order to gain an advantage with respect to a claim against our assets, including the funds held in the trust account. If any third party refuses to execute an agreement waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account, our management will perform an analysis of the alternatives available to it and will only enter into an agreement with a third party that has not executed a waiver if management believes that such third party’s engagement would be significantly more beneficial to us than any alternative. Examples of possible instances where we may engage a third party that refuses to execute a waiver include the engagement of a third party consultant whose particular expertise or skills are believed by management to be significantly superior to those of other consultants that would agree to execute a waiver or in cases where management is unable to find a service provider willing to execute a waiver. The underwriters will not execute agreements with us waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account. In addition, there is no guarantee that such entities will agree to waive any claims they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any negotiations, contracts or agreements with us and will not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason. In order to protect the amounts held in the trust account, our sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a vendor for services rendered or products sold to us, or a prospective target business with which we have discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amounts in the trust account to below the lesser of (i) $10.00 per public share and (ii) the actual amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account if less than $10.00 per share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case less taxes payable, provided that such liability will not apply to any claims by a third party who executed a waiver of any and all rights to seek access to the trust account nor will it apply to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of this offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. In the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, our sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third party claims. However, we have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such indemnification

 

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obligations, nor have we independently verified whether our sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and we believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our company. Therefore, we cannot assure you that our sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations. None of our officers or directors will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses.

In the event that the proceeds in the trust account are reduced below the lesser of (i) $10.00 per public share and (ii) the actual amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account if less than $10.00 per share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case less taxes payable, and our sponsor asserts that it is unable to satisfy its indemnification obligations or that it has no indemnification obligations related to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether to take legal action against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations. While we currently expect that our independent directors would take legal action on our behalf against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations to us, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment may choose not to do so in any particular instance. Accordingly, we cannot assure you that due to claims of creditors the actual value of the per-share redemption price will not be less than $10.00 per share.

We will seek to reduce the possibility that our sponsor will have to indemnify the trust account due to claims of creditors by endeavoring to have all vendors, service providers (excluding our independent registered public accounting firm), prospective target businesses or other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to monies held in the trust account. Our sponsor will also not be liable as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of this offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. We will have access to up to $1,000,000 from the proceeds of this offering with which to pay any such potential claims (including costs and expenses incurred in connection with our liquidation, currently estimated to be no more than approximately $100,000). In the event that we liquidate and it is subsequently determined that the reserve for claims and liabilities is insufficient, stockholders who received funds from our trust account could be liable for claims made by creditors. In the event that our offering expenses exceed our estimate of $1,600,000, we may fund such excess with funds from the funds not to be held in the trust account. In such case, the amount of funds we intend to be held outside the trust account would decrease by a corresponding amount. Conversely, in the event that the offering expenses are less than our estimate of $1,600,000, the amount of funds we intend to be held outside the trust account would increase by a corresponding amount.

If we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the proceeds held in the trust account could be subject to applicable bankruptcy law, and may be included in our bankruptcy estate and subject to the claims of third parties with priority over the claims of our stockholders. To the extent any bankruptcy claims deplete the trust account, we cannot assure you we will be able to return $10.00 per share to our public stockholders. Additionally, if we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, any distributions received by stockholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or bankruptcy laws as either a “preferential transfer” or a “fraudulent conveyance.” As a result, a bankruptcy court could seek to recover some or all amounts received by our stockholders. Furthermore, our board of directors may be viewed as having breached its fiduciary duty to our creditors and/or may have acted in bad faith, and thereby exposing itself and our company to claims of punitive damages, by paying public stockholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors. We cannot assure you that claims will not be brought against us for these reasons.

Our public stockholders will be entitled to receive funds from the trust account only (i) in the event of the redemption of our public shares if we do not consummate an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering, (ii) in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our

 

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amended and restated certificate of incorporation to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not consummate an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering or with respect to any other material provisions relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity or (iii) if they redeem their respective shares for cash upon the completion of the initial business combination. In no other circumstances will a stockholder have any right or interest of any kind to or in the trust account. In the event we seek stockholder approval in connection with our initial business combination, a stockholder’s voting in connection with the business combination alone will not result in a stockholder’s redeeming its shares to us for an applicable pro rata share of the trust account. Such stockholder must have also exercised its redemption rights described above. These provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, like all provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, may be amended with a stockholder vote.

Comparison of Redemption or Purchase Prices in Connection with Our Initial Business Combination and If We Fail to Complete Our Initial Business Combination

The following table compares the redemptions and other permitted purchases of public shares that may take place in connection with the completion of our initial business combination and if we are unable to consummate an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering.

 

		REDEMPTIONS IN CONNECTION WITH OUR INITIAL BUSINESS COMBINATION		OTHER PERMITTED PURCHASES OF PUBLIC SHARES BY OUR AFFILIATES		REDEMPTIONS IF WE FAIL TO COMPLETE AN INITIAL BUSINESS COMBINATION
Calculation of redemption price		Redemptions at the time of our initial business combination may be made in connection with a stockholder vote or pursuant to a tender offer. The redemption price will be the same whether we conduct redemptions pursuant to a tender offer or in connection with a stockholder vote. In either case, our stockholders may redeem their public shares for cash equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account calculated as of two business days prior to the consummation of the initial business combination (which is initially anticipated to		If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase shares in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following completion of our initial business combination. There is no limit to the prices that our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may pay in these transactions. If they engage in such transactions, they will not make any such purchases when they are in possession of any material nonpublic information not disclosed to the seller or if such purchases		If we are unable to consummate an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering, we will redeem all public shares at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount, then on deposit in the trust account (which is initially anticipated to be $10.00 per share), including interest (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses and net of taxes payable) divided by the number of then outstanding public shares.

 

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		REDEMPTIONS IN CONNECTION WITH OUR INITIAL BUSINESS COMBINATION		OTHER PERMITTED PURCHASES OF PUBLIC SHARES BY OUR AFFILIATES		REDEMPTIONS IF WE FAIL TO COMPLETE AN INITIAL BUSINESS COMBINATION
		be $10.00 per share), including interest (net of taxes payable), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, subject to the limitation that no redemptions will take place if all of the redemptions would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 and any limitations (including but not limited to cash requirements) agreed to in connection with the negotiation of terms of a proposed business combination.		are prohibited by Regulation M under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act. We do not currently anticipate that such purchases, if any, would constitute a tender offer subject to the tender offer rules under the Exchange Act or a going-private transaction subject to the going-private rules under the Exchange Act; however, if the purchasers determine at the time of any such purchases that the purchases are subject to such rules, the purchasers will comply with such rules.
Impact to remaining stockholders		The redemptions in connection with our initial business combination will reduce the book value per share for our remaining stockholders, who will bear the burden of the deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable.		If the permitted purchases described above are made, there would be no impact to our remaining stockholders because the purchase price would not be paid by us.		The redemption of our public shares if we fail to complete our initial business combination will reduce the book value per share for the shares held by our sponsor, who will be our only remaining stockholder after such redemptions.

Comparison of This Offering to Those of Blank Check Companies Subject to Rule 419

The following table compares the terms of this offering to the terms of an offering by a blank check company subject to the provisions of Rule 419. This comparison assumes that the gross proceeds, underwriting commissions and underwriting expenses of our offering would be identical to those of an offering undertaken by a company subject to Rule 419, and that the underwriters will not exercise their option to purchase additional units. None of the provisions of Rule 419 apply to our offering.

 

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		TERMS OF OUR OFFERING		TERMS UNDER A RULE 419 OFFERING
Escrow of offering proceeds		$300,000,000 of the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants will be deposited into a trust account located in the United States with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee.		Approximately $255,150,000 of the offering proceeds, representing the gross proceeds of this offering, would be required to be deposited into either an escrow account with an insured depositary institution or in a separate bank account established by a broker-dealer in which the broker-dealer acts as trustee for persons having the beneficial interests in the account.
Investment of net proceeds		$300,000,000 of the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants held in trust 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.		Proceeds could be invested only in specified securities such as a money market fund meeting conditions of the Investment Company Act or in securities that are direct obligations of, or obligations guaranteed as to principal or interest by, the United States.
Receipt of interest on escrowed funds		Interest income on proceeds from the trust account to be paid to stockholders is reduced by (i) any taxes paid or payable and (ii) in the event of our liquidation for failure to complete our initial business combination within the allotted time, up to $100,000 of net interest that may be released to us should we have no or insufficient working capital to fund the costs and expenses of our dissolution and liquidation.		Interest income on funds in escrow account would be held for the sole benefit of investors, unless and only after the funds held in escrow were released to us in connection with our completion of a business combination.

 

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		TERMS OF OUR OFFERING		TERMS UNDER A RULE 419 OFFERING
Limitation on fair value or net assets of target business		Nasdaq rules and our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will require that we complete one or more business combinations having an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of our assets held in the trust account (excluding the amount of deferred underwriting discounts held in trust and taxes payable on the interest earned on the trust account) at the time of the agreement to enter into the initial business combination.		The fair value or net assets of a target business must represent at least 80% of the maximum offering proceeds.
Trading of securities issued		The units are expected to begin trading on or promptly after the date of this prospectus. The shares of Class A common stock and warrants comprising the units will begin separate trading on the 52nd day following the date of this prospectus (or if such date is not a business day, the following business day) unless Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC informs us of its decision to allow earlier separate trading, subject to our having filed the Current Report on Form 8-K described below and having issued a press release announcing when such separate trading will begin. We will file the Current Report on Form 8-K promptly after the closing of this offering, which is anticipated to take place three business days from the date the units commence trading. If the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is exercised following the initial filing of such Current Report on Form 8-K, a second or amended Current Report on Form 8-K will be filed to provide updated financial information to reflect the exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units. The units will automatically separate into their component		No trading of the units or the underlying shares of Class A common stock and warrants would be permitted until the completion of a business combination. During this period, the securities would be held in the escrow or trust account.

 

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		TERMS OF OUR OFFERING		TERMS UNDER A RULE 419 OFFERING
		parts and will not be traded after completion of our initial business combination.
Exercise of the warrants		The warrants cannot be exercised until the later of 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination or 12 months from the closing of this offering.		The warrants could be exercised prior to the completion of a business combination, but securities received and cash paid in connection with the exercise would be deposited in the escrow or trust account.
Election to remain an investor		We will provide our stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares for cash at a per share price 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 (net of taxes payable), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, upon the completion of our initial business combination, subject to the limitations described herein. We may not be required by law to hold a stockholder vote. If we are not required by law and do not otherwise decide to hold a stockholder vote, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, conduct the 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. If, however, we hold a stockholder vote, we will, like many blank check companies, offer to redeem shares in conjunction with a proxy		A prospectus containing information pertaining to the business combination required by the SEC would be sent to each investor. Each investor would be given the opportunity to notify the company in writing, within a period of no less than 20 business days and no more than 45 business days from the effective date of a post-effective amendment to the company’s registration statement, to decide if they elect to remain a stockholder of the company or require the return of their investment. If the company has not received the notification by the end of the 45th business day, funds and interest or dividends, if any, held in the trust or escrow account are automatically returned to the stockholder. Unless a sufficient number of investors elect to remain investors, all funds on deposit in the escrow account must be returned to all of the investors and none of the securities are issued.

 

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		TERMS OF OUR OFFERING		TERMS UNDER A RULE 419 OFFERING
		solicitation pursuant to the proxy rules and not pursuant to the tender offer rules. If we seek stockholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if a majority of the shares of Class A common stock, on an as converted basis, voted are voted in favor of the business combination. Additionally, each stockholder may elect to redeem their public shares irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will require that at least five days’ notice be given of any such stockholder meeting.
Business combination deadline		If we are unable to consummate an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering, we will (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up; (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem 100% of the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses and net of taxes payable), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish stockholders’ rights as stockholders (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 stockholders and our board of directors, liquidate and dissolve, subject in the case of		If an acquisition has not been completed within 18 months after the effective date of the company’s registration statement, funds held in the trust or escrow account are returned to investors.

 

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		TERMS OF OUR OFFERING		TERMS UNDER A RULE 419 OFFERING
		clauses (ii) and (iii) to our obligations to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law.
Release of funds		Except for the withdrawal of interest income to pay our income taxes, none of the funds held in trust will be released from the trust account until the earliest of: (i) the completion of our initial business combination, (ii) the redemption of our public shares if we are unable to consummate an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering, subject to applicable law, or (iii) the redemption of our public shares properly submitted in connection with a stockholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our public shares if we have not consummated an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering or with respect to any other material provisions relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity.		The proceeds held in the escrow account are not released until the earlier of the completion of a business combination or the failure to effect a business combination within the allotted time.

Competition

In identifying, evaluating and selecting a target business for our initial business combination, we may encounter intense competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours, including other blank check companies, private equity groups and leveraged buyout funds, public companies, 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 stockholders who exercise their redemption rights may reduce the resources available to us for our initial business combination and our outstanding warrants, and the future dilution they potentially represent, may not be viewed favorably by certain target businesses. Either of these factors may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating an initial business combination.

 

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Facilities

We currently maintain our executive offices at 1201 Western Avenue, Suite 406, Seattle, Washington 98101. The cost for our use of this space is included in the $10,000 per month fee we will pay to our sponsor for office space, administrative and support services. We consider our current office space adequate for our current operations.

Employees

We currently have three executive officers. These individuals are not obligated to devote any specific number of hours to our matters but they intend to devote as much of their time as they deem necessary to our affairs until we have completed our initial business combination. The amount of time they will devote in any time period will vary based on whether a target business has been selected for our initial business combination and the stage of the business combination process we are in. We do not intend to have any full time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination.

Periodic Reporting and Financial Information

We will register our units, shares of Class A common stock and warrants under the Exchange Act and have reporting obligations, including the requirement that we file annual, quarterly and current reports with the SEC. In accordance with the requirements of the Exchange Act, our annual reports will contain financial statements audited and reported on by our independent registered public accountants.

We will provide stockholders with audited financial statements of the prospective target business as part of the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, sent to stockholders. These financial statements may be required to be prepared in accordance with, or reconciled to, GAAP, or IFRS, depending on the circumstances, and the historical financial statements may be required to be audited in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. These financial statement requirements may limit the pool of potential target businesses we may acquire because some targets may be unable to provide such statements in time for us to disclose such statements in accordance with federal proxy rules and complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame. We cannot assure you that any particular target business identified by us as a potential acquisition candidate will have financial statements prepared in accordance with the requirements outlined above, or that the potential target business will be able to prepare its financial statements in accordance with the requirements outlined above. To the extent that these requirements cannot be met, we may not be able to acquire the proposed target business. While this may limit the pool of potential acquisition candidates, we do not believe that this limitation will be material.

We will be required to evaluate our internal control procedures for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2021 as required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Only in the event we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer or an accelerated filer will we be required to have our internal control procedures audited. A target business may not be in compliance with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act regarding adequacy of their internal controls. The development of the internal controls of any such entity to achieve compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may increase the time and costs necessary to complete any such acquisition.

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

 

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We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, as modified by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, or the JOBS Act. As such, we are eligible to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a non-binding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the prices of our securities may be more volatile.

In addition, Section 107 of the JOBS Act also provides that an “emerging growth company” can take advantage of the extended transition period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act for complying with new or revised accounting standards. In other words, an “emerging growth company” can delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We intend to take advantage of the benefits of this extended transition period.

We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of (1) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following the fifth anniversary of the completion of this offering, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion, or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our shares of Class A common stock that are held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30, and (2) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt during the prior three-year period.

Legal Proceedings

There is no material litigation, arbitration or governmental proceeding currently pending against us or any members of our management team in their capacity as such.

 

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MANAGEMENT

Officers, Directors and Director Nominees

Our officers, directors and director nominees are as follows:

 

NAME		AGE		POSITION
Mark Vadon		51		Chief Executive Officer and Chairman
Paul Ferris		50		President and Director
Lauren Neiswender		48		Chief Financial Officer, Chief Legal Officer and Director
Darrell Cavens		48		Director
Joseph Zwillinger		39		Director
Michael Smith		51		Director
Mary Alice Taylor		71		Director

Mark Vadon, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman

Our management team is led by Mark Vadon, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Vadon co-founded Zulily, a consumer internet retailer of products targeting moms, babies and children, and served as Chairman of the board from 2009 until September 2015. We believe that Zulily’s revenue growth was one of the fastest in the internet retail sector at that time, achieving over $1 billion in annual revenues less than five years from inception. Since inception, Zulily has generated over $11 billion in revenue. Mr. Vadon also co-founded Blue Nile, a consumer internet retailer of diamonds and fine jewelry, and served as Chairman of the board from 1999 to 2013 and Chief Executive Officer from 1999 to 2008. From its inception until it was acquired by Bain Capital in 2017, Blue Nile generated approximately $5 billion in revenue. Prior to co-founding Blue Nile, Mr. Vadon was a consultant for Bain & Company, a management consulting firm, which he joined in 1992.

Mr. Vadon has been actively investing in and advising consumer internet businesses since 2007. Mr. Vadon served as Chairman of the board of Chewy from 2014 to 2017, and advised and invested in private rounds of companies such as Allbirds, Crowd Cow, FlyHomes, Outdoor Voices, The Pill Club Medical Group, Rad Power Bikes, Sweetgreen, Thrive Market, Trupanion, Course Hero, New Engen and Wine.com. In addition to his privately held company boards, Mr. Vadon has served on the board of Qurate Retail Group since 2015 and previously served on the board of Home Depot from 2012 to 2019. Mr. Vadon holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Stanford University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Studies from Harvard University.

Mr. Vadon is responsible for Big Sky’s investment strategy and has relationships with an extensive network of founders, management teams, investors and advisors. We believe his reputation as a successful investor and track record of building, advising and supporting management teams in high growth consumer market segments will differentiate us as we identify and negotiate an initial business combination with potential partners.

Paul Ferris, President and Director

Paul Ferris serves as our President and a director. Mr. Ferris is a founding General Partner with Azure, an early stage technology focused venture capital firm based in San Francisco, CA. Mr. Ferris has over 25 years of experience working with high growth disruptive technology companies, with the past 20 years investing directly in consumer, digitally native vertical e-commerce and cloud enabling technologies for Azure. During his career, Mr. Ferris has played an active role in driving the growth of

 

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his portfolio companies by providing investment and strategic guidance, including stage-specific executive team recruitment, financial forecasting discipline, business model refinement, data-driven efficient customer acquisition strategies, critical business development partnerships and growth capital relationships. Over his 20 years as a venture capital investor, Mr. Ferris has built a strong and close network of entrepreneurs, board members, experienced executives and venture and growth-stage investors.

Prior to founding Azure in 2000, Mr. Ferris was a strategic adviser with several investment banks, including Credit Suisse First Boston, Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley, where he focused on emerging technology companies. He has played a key role in over 30 successful venture-backed outcomes, both as an investor and adviser. Mr. Ferris has served on both public and private boards and currently sits on the private boards of The Bouqs, Ranovus and Glydways. He is also a board member and board observer on a number of earlier stage Direct-to-Consumer e-commerce portfolio companies. Mr. Ferris received Bachelor of Arts degrees in Computer Science and English from Amherst College.

We believe that Mr. Ferris’ experience sourcing, investing in and advising disruptive technology companies over many years will differentiate us in our ability to source and identify compelling potential partners.

Lauren Neiswender, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Legal Officer and Director

Lauren Neiswender serves as our Chief Financial Officer, Chief Legal Officer and a director. Ms. Neiswender served as General Counsel of Blue Nile from its initial public offering in 2004 to 2020 and served as Corporate Secretary from 2010 to 2020. Prior to Blue Nile, Ms. Neiswender was an attorney at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, PC. Ms. Neiswender has deep experience across a vast variety of financial and legal matters including, initial public offerings, going private transactions, debt financings, mergers and acquisitions, responsible sourcing, risk management, cybersecurity, privacy, intellectual property, import and export regulations, litigation, international expansion, human resources, tax, marketing and real estate. Ms. Neiswender holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Virginia and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Emory University.

We believe that Ms. Neiswender’s legal and financial expertise will differentiate us in matters of governance, financial advisory to potential target companies, and negotiation of terms on an initial business combination with potential partners.

Director Nominees

Our management team’s efforts to seek and collaborate with a suitable partner will be complemented by the extensive operating experience and network of our board of directors. Our board of directors will utilize their industry expertise, experience building companies with significant scale and broad network to assist us in identifying potential partners as well as advise our partner management team.

Darrell Cavens, Director

Darrell Cavens will serve as one of our directors following the completion of this offering. Mr. Cavens co-founded Zulily and served as its President and Chief Executive Officer from 2009 to 2018 and a director from October 2009 to October 2015. After Zulily, Mr. Cavens served as the President of New Ventures for Qurate Retail Group until his retirement. In this role, Mr. Cavens led the team responsible for driving innovative retail concepts and looking beyond Qurate Retail Group’s current business for additional growth opportunities, through internal innovation, strategic

 

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partnerships, joint ventures and acquisitions. Prior to Zulily, in 2009, Mr. Cavens spent a year at Microsoft Corporation leading the BizTalk Server business and almost a decade at Blue Nile from 1999 to 2008, where he most recently served as the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Technology. Prior to Blue Nile, he was at Starwave, a Seattle-based internet company, working on large web properties, including ESPN.com and ABCNews.com. Mr. Cavens currently serves on the public board of Tapestry since July 2018, and on several privately held company boards, including Rad Power Bikes. He serves as an advisory board member to Brooks Running and previously served on the boards of Offerup, Plated and Deliveroo.

Joseph Zwillinger, Director

Joseph Zwillinger will serve as one of our directors following the completion of this offering. Mr. Zwillinger co-founded Allbirds in 2015 and has served as the Co-Chief Executive Officer and a director of Allbirds since its inception. Allbirds makes shoes and apparel from natural materials and sells these products via a mix of digital and brick-and-mortar retail all over the world. Mr. Zwillinger regularly invests in early stage private companies as a General Partner in Good Friends, a venture capital fund. Prior to co-founding Allbirds, Mr. Zwillinger was the Vice President of Industrial Products at TerraVia (formerly Solazyme), a biotechnology company harnessing the power of microalgae to replace petroleum in fuels, chemicals, food, and cosmetics. Prior to TerraVia, Mr. Zwillinger worked in advisory and investment roles at Industry Ventures, Deloitte Consulting and the Goldman Sachs Group. Mr. Zwillinger earned a Master of Business Administration degree with Honors from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering & Operations Research from the University of California, Berkeley.

Michael Smith, Director

Michael Smith will serve as one of our directors following the completion of this offering. Mr. Smith is General Partner and co-founder at Footwork, an early stage venture capital firm. Mr. Smith is a member of several public company boards, including Stitch Fix since December 2020, Ulta Beauty since September 2019 and Herman Miller since January 2019. He is also a member of the boards of several privately held companies, including Food52, Mayvenn and Imperfect Foods. From 2012 to January 2021, Mr. Smith held various executive positions at Stitch Fix, an online apparel retailer and personal styling service, including most recently serving as its President and Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Smith also served as its interim Chief Financial Officer and General Manager of Stitch Fix Men, a new product line for the business. Prior to Stitch Fix, Mr. Smith served in a variety of capacities at Walmart.com, an online retail company, including Chief Operating Officer from 2010 to 2012 and Vice President from 2008 to 2010. Before turning to operations, Mr. Smith worked at Accenture and Morgan Stanley. Mr. Smith holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of California, Berkeley and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of Virginia.

Mary Alice Taylor, Director

Mary Alice Taylor will serve as one of our directors following the completion of this offering. Ms. Taylor has served on numerous public company boards, including Allstate from 1996 to 2018 and Blue Nile from 1999 to 2017. Ms. Taylor also served as a member of the boards of Autodesk, a design software company, and Sabre Holdings, an Internet travel services company. Ms. Taylor served as Chairwoman and Chief Executive Officer of HomeGrocer.com, an e-commerce company, from September 1999 until she completed a sale of the company to Webvan Group, an e-commerce company, in October 2000. Prior to HomeGrocer.com, Ms. Taylor served as Corporate Executive Vice President of Worldwide Operations and Technology for Citigroup for two years, and served as a Senior Vice President of FedEx for five years. Ms. Taylor holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from Mississippi State University.

 

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Number and Terms of Office of Officers and Directors

Our board of directors is divided into three classes, with only one class of directors being elected in each year, and with each class (except for those directors appointed prior to our first annual meeting of stockholders) serving a three-year term. The term of office of the first class of directors, consisting of Mark Vadon and Darrell Cavens expire at our first annual meeting of stockholders. The term of office of the second class of directors, consisting of Paul Ferris and Michael Smith expire at our second annual meeting of stockholders. The term of office of the third class of directors, consisting of Lauren Neiswender, Mary Alice Taylor and Joseph Zwillinger will expire at our third annual meeting of stockholders.

Prior to the completion of an initial business combination, any vacancy on the board of directors may be filled by a nominee chosen by holders of a majority of our founder shares. In addition, prior to the completion of an initial business combination, holders of a majority of our founder shares may remove a member of the board of directors for any reason.

Pursuant to an agreement to be entered into concurrently with the issuance and sale of the securities in this offering, our sponsor, upon consummation of an initial business combination and for so long as our sponsor and its permitted transferees collectively hold at least 50% of the number of shares of common stock held by the sponsor upon consummation of this offering (after giving appropriate effect to any share splits, reverse share splits or other similar corporate transactions, or any adjustment to the conversion rate of the founder shares in connection with an initial business combination), will be entitled to nominate one person for election to our board of directors.

Our officers are appointed by the board of directors and serve at the discretion of the board of directors, rather than for specific terms of office. Our board of directors is authorized to appoint persons to the offices set forth in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation as it deems appropriate. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that our officers may consist of one or more chairman of the board, chief executive officer, president, chief financial officer, vice presidents, secretary, treasurer and such other offices as may be determined by the board of directors.

Director Independence

Applicable rules of the Nasdaq require a majority of a listed company’s board of directors to be comprised of independent directors within one year of listing. An “independent director” is defined generally as a person other than an officer or employee of the company or its subsidiaries or any other individual having a relationship which in the opinion of the company’s board of directors, would interfere with the director’s exercise of independent judgment in carrying out the responsibilities of a director. Upon the effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, we expect to have four “independent directors” as defined in Nasdaq’s listing standards and applicable SEC rules. Our board of directors has determined that Darrell Cavens, Joseph Zwillinger, Michael Smith and Mary Alice Taylor are “independent directors” as defined in the Nasdaq listing standards and applicable SEC rules. Our independent directors will have regularly scheduled meetings at which only independent directors are, subject to the transition rules described above for newly listed companies present.

Executive Officer and Director Compensation

None of our executive officers or directors have received any cash compensation for services rendered to us. Our sponsor, executive officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made to our

 

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sponsor, executive officers or directors, or our or their affiliates. Any such payments prior to an initial business combination will be made from funds held outside the trust account. Other than quarterly audit committee review of such reimbursements, we do not expect to have any additional controls in place governing our reimbursement payments to our directors and executive officers for their out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with our activities on our behalf in connection with identifying and consummating an initial business combination. Other than these payments and reimbursements, no compensation of any kind, including finder’s and consulting fees, will be paid by the company to our sponsor, executive officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates, prior to completion of our initial business combination.

After the completion of our initial business combination, directors or members of our management team who remain with us may be paid consulting or management fees from the combined company. All of these fees will be fully disclosed to stockholders, to the extent then known, in the proxy solicitation materials or tender offer materials furnished to our stockholders in connection with a proposed business combination. We have not established any limit on the amount of such fees that may be paid by the combined company to our directors or members of management. It is unlikely the amount of such compensation will be known at the time of the proposed business combination, because the directors of the post-combination business will be responsible for determining executive officer and director compensation. Any compensation to be paid to our executive officers will be determined, or recommended to the board of directors for determination, either by a compensation committee constituted solely by independent directors or by a majority of the independent directors on our board of directors.

We do not intend to take any action to ensure that members of our management team maintain their positions with us after the consummation of our initial business combination, although it is possible that some or all of our executive officers and directors may negotiate employment or consulting arrangements to remain with us after our initial business combination. The existence or terms of any such employment or consulting arrangements to retain their positions with us may influence our management’s motivation in identifying or selecting a target business but we do not believe that the ability of our management to remain with us after the consummation of our initial business combination will be a determining factor in our decision to proceed with any potential business combination. We are not party to any agreements with our executive officers and directors that provide for benefits upon termination of employment.

Committees of the Board of Directors

Upon the effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, our board of directors will have two standing committees: an audit committee and a compensation committee. Subject to phase-in rules and a limited exception, the rules of Nasdaq and Rule 10A of the Exchange Act require that the audit committee of a listed company be comprised solely of independent directors. Subject to phase-in rules and a limited exception, the rules of Nasdaq require that the compensation committee of a listed company be comprised solely of independent directors. Each committee will operate under a charter that has been approved by our board and will have the composition and responsibilities described below.

Audit Committee

Upon the effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, we will establish an audit committee of the board of directors. Mary Alice Taylor, Joseph Zwillinger and Michael Smith will serve as members of our audit committee. Our board of directors has determined that each of Mary Alice Taylor, Joseph Zwillinger and Michael Smith are independent. Mary Alice Taylor will serve as the Chairman of the audit committee. Each member of the audit committee meets

 

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the financial literacy requirements of Nasdaq and our board of directors has determined that Mary Alice Taylor qualifies as an “audit committee financial expert” as defined in applicable SEC rules and has accounting or related financial management expertise.

The audit committee is responsible for:

 

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meeting with our independent registered public accounting firm regarding, among other issues, audits, and adequacy of our accounting and control systems;

 

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monitoring the independence of the independent registered public accounting firm;

 

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verifying the rotation of the lead (or coordinating) audit partner having primary responsibility for the audit and the audit partner responsible for reviewing the audit as required by law;

 

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inquiring and discussing with management our compliance with applicable laws and regulations;

 

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pre-approving all audit services and permitted non-audit services to be performed by our independent registered public accounting firm, including the fees and terms of the services to be performed;

 

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appointing or replacing the independent registered public accounting firm;

 

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determining the compensation and oversight of the work of the independent registered public accounting firm (including resolution of disagreements between management and the independent auditor regarding financial reporting) for the purpose of preparing or issuing an audit report or related work;

 

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establishing procedures for the receipt, retention and treatment of complaints received by us regarding accounting, internal accounting controls or reports which raise material issues regarding our financial statements or accounting policies;

 

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monitoring compliance on a quarterly basis with the terms of this offering and, if any noncompliance is identified, immediately taking all action necessary to rectify such noncompliance or otherwise causing compliance with the terms of this offering; and

 

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reviewing and approving all payments made to our existing stockholders, executive officers or directors and their respective affiliates. Any payments made to members of our audit committee will be reviewed and approved by our board of directors, with the interested director or directors abstaining from such review and approval.

Compensation Committee

Upon the effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, we will establish a compensation committee of our board of directors. The members of our compensation committee will be Mary Alice Taylor, Joseph Zwillinger and Michael Smith and Mary Alice Taylor will serve as chairman of the compensation committee.

Our board of directors has determined that each of Mary Alice Taylor, Joseph Zwillinger and Michael Smith are independent. We will adopt a compensation committee charter, which will detail the principal functions of the compensation committee, including:

 

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reviewing and approving on an annual basis the corporate goals and objectives relevant to our Chief Executive Officer’s compensation, evaluating our Chief Executive Officer’s performance in light of such goals and objectives and determining and approving the remuneration (if any) of our Chief Executive Officer based on such evaluation;

 

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reviewing and approving the compensation of all of our other Section 16 executive officers;

 

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reviewing our executive compensation policies and plans;

 

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•

implementing and administering our incentive compensation equity-based remuneration plans;

 

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assisting management in complying with our proxy statement and annual report disclosure requirements;

 

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approving all special perquisites, special cash payments and other special compensation and benefit arrangements for our executive officers and employees;

 

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producing a report on executive compensation to be included in our annual proxy statement; and

 

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reviewing, evaluating and recommending changes, if appropriate, to the remuneration for directors.

The charter will also provide that the compensation committee may, in its sole discretion, retain or obtain the advice of a compensation consultant, legal counsel or other adviser and will be directly responsible for the appointment, compensation and oversight of the work of any such adviser. However, before engaging or receiving advice from a compensation consultant, external legal counsel or any other adviser, the compensation committee will consider the independence of each such adviser, including the factors required by Nasdaq and the SEC.

Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation

None of our executive officers currently serves, and in the past year has not served, as a member of the compensation committee of any entity that has one or more executive officers serving on our board of directors.

Director Nominations

In accordance with Rule 5605 of the Nasdaq rules, a majority of the independent directors may recommend a director nominee for selection by the board of directors. The board of directors believes that the independent directors can satisfactorily carry out the responsibility of properly selecting or approving director nominees without the formation of a standing nominating committee. The directors who will participate in the consideration and recommendation of director nominees are Darrell Cavens, Michael Smith, Joseph Zwillinger and Mary Alice Taylor. In accordance with Rule 5605 of the Nasdaq rules, all such directors are independent. As there is no standing nominating committee, we do not have a nominating committee charter in place.

The board of directors will also consider director candidates recommended for nomination by our stockholders during such times as they are seeking proposed nominees to stand for election at the next annual meeting of stockholders (or, if applicable, a special meeting of stockholders). Our stockholders that wish to nominate a director for election to our board of directors should follow the procedures set forth in our bylaws.

We have not formally established any specific, minimum qualifications that must be met or skills that are necessary for directors to possess. In general, in identifying and evaluating nominees for director, the board of directors considers educational background, diversity of professional experience, knowledge of our business, integrity, professional reputation, independence, wisdom, and the ability to represent the best interests of our stockholders.

Code of Ethics

Upon to the effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, we will have adopted a Code of Ethics applicable to our directors, officers and employees. A copy of the

 

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Code of Ethics will be provided without charge upon request from us. We intend to disclose any amendments to or waivers of certain provisions of our Code of Ethics in a Current Report on Form 8-K.

Conflicts of Interest

In general, officers and directors of a corporation incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware are required to present business opportunities to a corporation if:

 

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the corporation could financially undertake the opportunity;

 

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the opportunity is within the corporation’s line of business; and

 

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it would not be fair to our company and its stockholders for the opportunity not to be brought to the attention of the corporation.

Each of the Investment Entities and our officers and directors presently has, and any of them in the future may have, additional, fiduciary, contractual or other obligations to other entities pursuant to which such persons is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity. Accordingly, if an Investment Entity or any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for an entity to which such person has then-current fiduciary, contractual or other obligations to present such opportunity to such entity, such person will honor such fiduciary, contractual or other obligations to present such opportunity to such entity, in which case such opportunity may not be made available to us. Further, each of the Investment Entities and our officers and directors have duties and obligations with respect to confidentiality to other entities and may in the future agree to additional such duties or obligations, which may prevent the Investment Entities and such officers and directors from disclosing such information to us. The Investment Entities and our officers and directors will comply with such duties and obligations of confidentiality to such other entities, in which case, we may not have access to such information. In addition, we may, at our option, pursue an Affiliated Joint Acquisition opportunity with an Investment Entity or any other entity to which an officer or director currently has, or may in the future have, a fiduciary or contractual obligation. Any such entity may co-invest with us in the target business at the time of our initial business combination, or we could raise additional proceeds to complete the business combination by making a specified future issuance to any such entity. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that we renounce our interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any director or officer unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of our company and such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue, and to the extent the director or officer is permitted to refer that opportunity to us without violating another legal, contractual or other obligation.

 

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Below is a table summarizing the entities to which our executive officers and directors currently have fiduciary duties, contractual or other obligations:

 

Individual		Entity		Entity’s Business		Affiliation
Mark Vadon		Qurate Retail Group		Media		Director
		Rad Power Bikes		Consumer Products		Director
		New Engen		Marketing		Director
		Fly Homes		Real Estate		Director
Paul Ferris		Azure		Venture Capital		General Partner
		The Bouqs		Floral and gifts		Director
		Ranovus		Technology		Director
		Glydways		Technology		Director
		Subpac		Consumer Technology		Director
Lauren Neiswender		N/A		N/A		N/A
Darrell Cavens		Tapestry		Fashion		Director
		Rad Power Bikes		Consumer Products		Director
Joseph Zwillinger		Allbirds		Consumer Products		Co-Chief Executive Officer and Director
		Good Friends		Venture Capital		General Partner
		Ingenuity Foods		Consumer Products		Director
Michael Smith		Stitch Fix		Fashion		Director
		Ulta Beauty		Consumer Products		Director
		Herman Miller		Consumer Products		Director
		Food52		Home Products		Director
		Mayvenn		Consumer Products		Director
		Imperfect Foods		Grocery		Director
		Footwork		Venture Capital		General Partner
Mary Alice Taylor		N/A		N/A		N/A

Potential investors should also be aware of the following other potential conflicts of interest:

 

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In the course of their other business activities, our officers and directors may become aware of investment and business opportunities which may be appropriate for presentation to us as well as the other entities with which they are affiliated. Our management may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented.

 

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Our sponsor and its transferees, if any, have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and any public shares held by them in connection with the consummation of our initial business combination. Additionally, our sponsor has agreed to waive its redemption rights with respect to any founder shares held by it if we fail to consummate our initial business combination within 24 months after the closing of this offering. However, if our sponsor acquires public shares in or after this offering, it will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to such public shares if we fail to consummate an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of this offering. If we do not complete our initial business combination within such applicable time period, the proceeds of the sale of the private placement warrants held in the trust account will be used to fund the redemption of our public shares, and the private placement warrants will expire worthless. With certain limited exceptions, the founder shares will not be transferable, assignable by our sponsor or certain of our directors that hold founder shares (or any other permitted assigns, if any) until the earlier of: (A) one year after the completion of our initial business combination or (B) subsequent to our initial business combination, (x) if the last sale price of our shares of Class A common stock equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after our initial

 

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business combination, or (y) the date on which we complete a liquidation, merger, capital stock exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction that results in all of our stockholders having the right to exchange their shares of common stock for cash, securities or other property. With certain limited exceptions, the private placement warrants and the shares of Class A common stock underlying such warrants, will not be transferable, assignable or salable by our sponsor or its permitted transferees until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination. Since our sponsor and officers and directors may directly or indirectly own common stock and warrants following this offering, our officers and directors may have a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target business is an appropriate business with which to complete our initial business combination.

 

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Our officers and directors may have a conflict of interest with respect to evaluating a particular business combination if the retention or resignation of any such officers and directors was included by a target business as a condition to any agreement with respect to our initial business combination.

 

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Our sponsor, officers or directors may have a conflict of interest with respect to evaluating a business combination and financing arrangements as we may obtain loans from our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or any of our officers or directors to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants at a price of $1.50 per warrant at the option of the lender. Such warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants, including as to exercise price, exercisability and exercise period.

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 amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that we renounce our interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any director or officer unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of our company and such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue.

We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a business combination target that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors or completing the business combination through a joint venture or other form of shared ownership with our sponsor, officers or directors. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with a business combination target that is affiliated with our sponsor, executive officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, would obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking which is a member of FINRA or a valuation or appraisal firm, that such initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view. We are not required to obtain such an opinion in any other context. Furthermore, in no event will our sponsor or any of our existing officers or directors, or any of their respective affiliates, be paid by the company any finder’s fee, consulting fee or other compensation prior to, or for any services they render in order to effectuate, the completion of our initial business combination. Further, commencing on the date our securities are first listed on Nasdaq, we will also reimburse our sponsor for office space, secretarial and administrative services provided to us in the amount of $10,000 per month.

In addition, our sponsor or any of its affiliates may make additional investments in the company in connection with the initial business combination through a specified future issuance or otherwise, although our sponsor and its affiliates have no obligation or current intention to do so. If our sponsor or any of its affiliates elects to make additional investments, such proposed investments could influence our sponsor’s motivation to complete an initial business combination.

 

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In the event that we submit our initial business combination to our public stockholders for a vote, our sponsor has agreed to vote any founder shares held by it and any public shares purchased during or after the offering in favor of our initial business combination and our officers and directors have also agreed to vote any public shares purchased during or after the offering in favor of our initial business combination.

Limitation on Liability and Indemnification of Officers and Directors

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that our officers and directors will be indemnified by us to the fullest extent authorized by Delaware law, as it now exists or may in the future be amended. In addition, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that our directors will not be personally liable for monetary damages to us or our stockholders for breaches of their fiduciary duty as directors, unless they violated their duty of loyalty to us or our stockholders, acted in bad faith, knowingly or intentionally violated the law, authorized unlawful payments of dividends, unlawful stock purchases or unlawful redemptions, or derived an improper personal benefit from their actions as directors.

We will enter into agreements with our officers and directors to provide contractual indemnification in addition to the indemnification provided for in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. Our bylaws also will permit us to secure insurance on behalf of any officer, director or employee for any liability arising out of his or her actions, regardless of whether Delaware law would permit such indemnification.

We will purchase a policy of directors’ and officers’ liability insurance that insures our officers and directors against the cost of defense, settlement or payment of a judgment in some circumstances and insures us against our obligations to indemnify our officers and directors. Except with respect to any public shares they may acquire in this offering or thereafter (in the event we do not consummate an initial business combination), our officers and directors have agreed to waive (and any other persons who may become an officer or director prior to the initial business combination will also be required to waive) any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies in the trust account, and not to seek recourse against the trust account for any reason whatsoever, including with respect to such indemnification (although our officers and directors will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any public shares they hold if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame).

These provisions may discourage stockholders from bringing a lawsuit against our directors for breach of their fiduciary duty. These provisions also may have the effect of reducing the likelihood of derivative litigation against officers and directors, even though such an action, if successful, might otherwise benefit us and our stockholders. Furthermore, a stockholder’s investment may be adversely affected to the extent we pay the costs of settlement and damage awards against officers and directors pursuant to these indemnification provisions.

We believe that these provisions, the directors’ and officers’ liability insurance and the indemnity agreements are necessary to attract and retain talented and experienced officers and directors.

 

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PRINCIPAL STOCKHOLDERS

The following table sets forth information regarding the beneficial ownership of our common stock as of the date of this prospectus, and as adjusted to reflect the sale of our shares of Class A common stock included in the units offered by this prospectus, and assuming no purchase of units in this offering, by:

 

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each person known by us to be the beneficial owner of more than 5% of our outstanding common stock;

 

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each of our executive officers, directors and director nominees that beneficially owns common stock; and

 

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all our executive officers and directors as a group.

Unless otherwise indicated, we believe that all persons named in the table have sole voting and investment power with respect to all of our common stock beneficially owned by them. The following table does not reflect record or beneficial ownership of the private placement warrants as these warrants are not exercisable within 60 days of the date of this prospectus.

On February 19, 2021, we issued to our sponsor 8,625,000 founder shares (of which 1,125,000 are subject to forfeiture if the underwriters do not exercise their option to purchase additional units) in exchange for a payment of $25,000, or approximately $0.003 per share, from our sponsor to cover for certain expenses and offering costs on behalf of us. Prior to the initial investment in the company of $25,000 by the sponsor, the company had no assets, tangible or intangible. The per share price of the founder shares was determined by dividing the amount contributed to the company by the number of founder shares issued. The number of shares beneficially owned and post-offering percentages in the following table assume that the underwriters do not exercise their option to purchase additional units and that there are 37,500,000 shares of Class A common stock outstanding, consisting of (i) 30,000,000 shares of Class A common stock, (ii) 7,500,000 shares of Class B common stock, and (iii) 5,733,333 shares of Class A common stock (or 6,333,333 if the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is exercised in full) underlying the private placement warrants, issued and outstanding after this offering.

 

NAME AND ADDRESS OF BENEFICIAL OWNER(1)		NUMBER OF SHARES BENEFICIALLY OWNED(2(3)(4)				APPROXIMATE PERCENTAGE OF OUTSTANDING COMMON STOCK
						BEFORE OFFERING				AFTER OFFERING
Big Sky Growth Partners, LLC (our sponsor)(2)(3)			7,500,000				100.0	%			20.0	%
Mark Vadon(4)(5)			—				—				—
Paul Ferris(5)			—				—				—
Lauren Neiswender(5)			—				—				—
Darrell Cavens(5)			—				—				—
Joseph Zwillinger(5)			—				—				—
Michael Smith(5)			—				—				—
Mary Alice Taylor(5)			—				—				—
All officers, directors and director nominees as a group (7 individuals)			—				—	%			—	%

 

(1)	Unless otherwise noted, the business address of each of our stockholders is 1201 Western Avenue, Suite 406, Seattle, WA 98101.

(2)	Interests shown consist solely of founder shares, classified as shares of Class B common stock. Such shares will automatically convert into shares of Class A common stock at the time of our initial business combination as described in the section entitled “Description of Securities.”

 

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(3)	Does not include 5,733,333 shares of Class A common stock underlying the private placement warrants (or 6,333,333 shares of Class A common stock if the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units is exercised in full).

(4)

The shares reported herein are held in the name of our sponsor. Our sponsor is governed by a manager, Mark Vadon. As such, Mr. Vadon may have voting and investment discretion with respect to the shares of Class B common stock held of record by our sponsor and may be deemed to have shared beneficial ownership of the shares of Class B common stock held directly by our sponsor.

(5)	Does not include any shares indirectly owned by this individual as a result of his or her ownership interest in our sponsor.

Immediately after this offering, our sponsor will beneficially own 20% of the then issued and outstanding common stock (assuming they do not purchase any units in this offering). Because of this ownership block, our sponsor may be able to effectively influence the outcome of all other matters requiring approval by our stockholders, including amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and approval of significant corporate transactions including our initial business combination.

Our sponsor and our directors and executive officers have agreed (a) to vote any founder shares owned by them in favor of any proposed business combination and (b) not to redeem any founder shares in connection with a stockholder vote to approve a proposed initial business combination.

Our sponsor is deemed to be our “promoter” as such term is defined under the federal securities laws.

Transfers of Founder Shares and Private Placement Warrants

The founder shares, private placement warrants and any shares of Class A common stock issued upon conversion or exercise thereof are each subject to transfer restrictions pursuant to lock-up provisions in the agreements entered into by our sponsor and management team. Our sponsor and our directors and executive officers have agreed not to transfer, assign or sell any of their founder shares until the earliest of (a) one year after the completion of our initial business combination and (b) upon consummation of our initial business combination, (x) if the closing price of our shares of Class A common stock equals or exceeds $12.00 per share (as adjusted for share splits, share capitalizations, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within any 30-trading day period commencing at least 150 days after our initial business combination or (y) the date on which we complete a liquidation, merger, capital stock exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction that results in all of our stockholders having the right to exchange their shares of Class A common stock for cash, securities or other property. The private placement warrants and the respective shares of Class A common stock underlying such warrants are not transferable or salable until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination except in each case (a) to our officers or directors, any affiliates or family members of any of our officers or directors, to our sponsor, any members or partners of our sponsor or their affiliates, or any affiliates of our sponsor; (b) in the case of an individual, by gift to a member of one of the individual’s immediate family or to a trust, the beneficiary of which is a member of the individual’s immediate family, an affiliate of such person or to a charitable organization; (c) in the case of an individual, by virtue of laws of descent and distribution upon death of the individual; (d) in the case of an individual, pursuant to a qualified domestic relations order; (e) by private sales or transfers made in connection with the consummation of a business combination at prices no greater than the price at which the founder shares, private placement warrants or shares of Class A common stock were originally purchased; (f) by virtue of our sponsor’s organizational documents upon liquidation or dissolution of our sponsor; (g) to the company for no value for cancellation in connection with the consummation of our initial business combination; (h) in the event of our liquidation prior to the completion of our initial business combination; or (i) in the event of our

 

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