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Index to Financial Statements

As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 10, 2021.

Registration No. 333-                

 

 

 

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

 

 

FORM S-1

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

UNDER

THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

 

 

Berenson Acquisition Corp. I

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 

 

 

Delaware   6770   87-1070217

(State or other jurisdiction of

incorporation or organization)

 

(Primary Standard Industrial

Classification Code Number)

 

(I.R.S. Employer

Identification Number)

667 Madison Avenue, 18th Floor

New York, New York 10065

(212) 935-7676

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

 

 

Mohammed Ansari

Chief Executive Officer

667 Madison Avenue, 18th Floor

New York, NY 10065

(212) 935-7676

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

 

 

Copies to:

 

Alan I. Annex, Esq.

Yuta N. Delarck, Esq.

Greenberg Traurig, P.A.

333 S.E. 2nd Avenue

Miami, Florida 33131

Telephone: (305) 579-0576

 

Carol Anne Huff, Esq.

Winston & Strawn LLP

35 W. Wacker Drive

Chicago, Illinois 60601

Telephone: (312) 558-3203

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Large accelerated filer      Accelerated filer  
Non-accelerated filer      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 Security Being Registered   Amount Being
Registered
  Proposed
Maximum
Offering Price per
Security(1)
  Proposed
Maximum
Aggregate
Offering Price(1)
  Amount of
Registration Fee

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

  28,750,000 Units   $10.00   $287,500,000   $31,366.25

Shares of Class A common stock included as part of the units(2)(3)

  28,750,000 Shares   —     —     (4)

Redeemable warrants included as part of the units(2)(3)

  14,375,000 Warrants   —     —     (4)

Total

          $287,500,000   $31,366.25

 

 

(1)

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

(2)

Includes 3,750,000 units, consisting of 3,750,000 shares of Class A common stock and 1,875,000 redeemable warrants, which may be issued upon exercise of a 45-day over-allotment option granted to the underwriters to cover over-allotments, if any.

(3)

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

(4)

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

 

 

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

 

 

 


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Index to Financial Statements

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 SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

PRELIMINARY PROSPECTUS

$250,000,000

Berenson Acquisition Corp. I

25,000,000 Units

 

 

Berenson Acquisition Corp. I is a newly incorporated blank check company formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar transaction with one or more businesses, 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 potential business combination target. While we may pursue an initial business combination target in any industry or geographic location (subject to certain limitations described in this prospectus), we intend to focus our search on a target business operating in the software and technology-enabled services industry with a total enterprise value in excess of $1 billion.

This is an initial public offering of our securities. Each unit has an offering price of $10.00 and consists of one share of our Class A common stock and one-half of one redeemable warrant. Each whole warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one share of our Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per whole share, subject to adjustment as provided herein, and warrants may be exercised only for a whole number of shares of Class A common stock. The warrants will become exercisable on the later of 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination and 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 liquidation, as described in this prospectus. We have also granted the underwriters a 45-day option from the date of this prospectus to purchase up to an additional 3,750,000 units to cover over-allotments, if any.

We will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their shares of our 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, calculated as of two business days prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), 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 described herein. If we have not completed our initial business combination within 18 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, Berenson SPAC Holdings I, LLC, has committed to purchase an aggregate of 7,000,000 warrants (or 7,750,000 warrants if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) at a price of $1.00 per warrant ($7,000,000 in the aggregate, or $7,750,000 in the aggregate if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), each exercisable to purchase one share of our Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, in a private placement that will close simultaneously with the closing of this offering.

As of the date of this prospectus, our initial stockholders own 7,187,500 shares of our Class B common stock (up to 937,500 of which are subject to forfeiture by our sponsor depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised). The shares of our Class B common stock 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 adjustment as provided herein. Prior to our initial business combination, holders of our Class B common stock will have the right to elect all of our directors and may remove members of our board of directors for any reason. On all matters submitted to a vote of our stockholders, holders of our Class B common stock and holders of our Class A common stock will vote together as a single class, with each share of common stock entitling the holder to one vote, except as required by applicable law or stock exchange rule.

Up to 11 qualified institutional buyers or institutional accredited investors which are not affiliated with us, our sponsor, our directors or any member of our management, and which we refer to as the anchor investors throughout this prospectus, have expressed to us an interest in purchasing up to an aggregate of approximately 24,700,000 units in this offering at the offering price of $10.00, and such allocations will be determined by the underwriters. No anchor investor is expected to purchase more than 9.9% of the units in this offering (without giving effect to the over-allotment option). There can be no assurance that the anchor investors will acquire any units in this offering, or as to the amount of such units the anchor investors will retain, if any, prior to or upon the consummation of our initial business combination. There is also no guarantee that all 11 anchor investors will participate in the offering. If the anchor investors purchase all of the units which may be allocated to them, substantially all of the units purchased in this offering will be held by the anchor investors and these investors will potentially have different interests than our other public stockholders, as further discussed in this prospectus. The anchor investors will also have the potential to realize enhanced economic returns and overall economic outcome from their investment in us in comparison to our other public stockholders who are not making anchor investments and purchasing founder shares. Since our sponsor is transferring founder shares held by it to the anchor investors and we are not issuing any new founder shares, there will be no dilutive impact on the other investors in this offering. However, if the anchor investors purchase all of the units which may be allocated to them, such purchases would reduce the available public float for our securities. Any such reduction in our available public float may consequently reduce the trading volume, volatility and liquidity of our securities relative to what they would have been had such units been purchased by public investors and could result in our securities being delisted from the NYSE. For a discussion of certain additional arrangements with the anchor investors, see “Summary—The Offering—Expression of Interest.”

We have entered into forward purchase agreements with one of our anchor investors and another institutional accredited investor that is not affiliated with our sponsor or any member of our management, which we refer to together as the forward purchase investors throughout this prospectus, under which the forward purchase investors may purchase up to an aggregate of 5,000,000 shares of our Class A common stock, which we refer to as the forward purchase shares throughout this prospectus, at a price of $10.00 per share as described in the forward purchase agreements, each in a private placement that will close immediately prior to the closing of our initial business combination. The terms of the forward purchase shares will generally be identical to the shares of Class A common stock included in the units being sold in this offering, except that they will have registration rights and rights of first refusal to purchase securities we may offer in connection with a future business combination financing, as described in the forward purchase agreements. We have agreed with one of our forward purchase investors that it will have the right to acquire up to $25,000,000 million of securities. At our option, the securities offered to the forward purchaser may be equity securities, convertible debt securities or non-convertible debt instruments. The form of securities offered are in our discretion, although the forward purchaser is not obligated to purchase any securities from us. For a discussion of certain additional arrangements with our forward purchase investors, see “Summary—The Offering—Forward Purchase Shares.”

Prior to this offering, there has been no public market for our units, Class A common stock or warrants. We intend to apply to have our units listed on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) under the symbol “BACA.U” on or promptly after the date of this prospectus. We cannot guarantee that our securities will be approved for listing on the NYSE. The Class A common stock and warrants constituting 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 BofA Securities, Inc. (“BofA”) and Wells Fargo Securities, LLC (“Wells Fargo”) inform us of their decision to allow earlier separate trading, subject to our satisfaction of certain conditions. Once the securities constituting the units begin separate trading, we expect that the Class A common stock and warrants will be listed on the NYSE under the symbols “BACA” and “BACA WS”, respectively.

We are an “emerging growth company” and “smaller reporting company” under applicable federal securities laws and will be subject to reduced public company reporting requirements. Investing in our securities involves risks. Please see “Risk Factors” on page 40. Investors will not be entitled to protections normally afforded to investors in Rule 419 blank check offerings.

 

 

 

    

Per Unit

      

Total

 

Public offering price

   $ 10.00        $ 250,000,000  

Underwriting discounts and commissions(1)

   $ 0.55        $ 13,750,000  

Proceeds, before expenses, to us

   $ 9.45        $ 236,250,000  

 

  (1)

Includes $0.35 per unit, or $8,750,000 (or up to $10,062,500 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) in the aggregate, payable to the underwriters for deferred underwriting commissions to be placed in a trust account located in the United States as described herein. Does not include certain fees and expenses payable to the underwriters in connection with this offering. See “Underwriting” for a description of compensation and other items of value payable to the underwriters.

Of the proceeds we receive from this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants described in this prospectus, $250,000,000, or $287,500,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full ($10.00 per unit in either case), will be deposited into a U.S.-based trust account with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee, and $2,000,000 will be available to pay fees and expenses in connection with the closing of this offering and for working capital following this offering.

The underwriters are offering the units for sale on a firm commitment basis. Delivery of the units will be made on or about                     , 2021.

Neither the 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.

 

 

 

Joint Book-Running Managers
BofA Securities   Wells Fargo Securities

 

 

The date of this prospectus is                     , 2021


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Index to Financial Statements

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

SUMMARY

     1  

RISK FACTORS

     40  

USE OF PROCEEDS

     84  

DIVIDEND POLICY

     90  

DILUTION

     91  

CAPITALIZATION

     93  

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

     95  

PROPOSED BUSINESS

     101  

MANAGEMENT

     133  

PRINCIPAL STOCKHOLDERS

     144  

CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

     148  

DESCRIPTION OF SECURITIES

     151  

UNITED STATES FEDERAL INCOME TAX CONSIDERATIONS

     170  

UNDERWRITING

     180  

LEGAL MATTERS

     189  

EXPERTS

     189  

WHERE YOU CAN FIND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

     189  

INDEX TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

     F-1  

We are responsible for the information contained in this prospectus. We have not, and the underwriters have not, authorized anyone to provide any information or to make any representations other than those contained in this prospectus. We and the underwriters take no responsibility for, and can provide no assurance as to the reliability of, any other information that others may give you. This prospectus is an offer to sell only the units offered hereby, but only under circumstances and in jurisdictions where it is lawful to do so. The information contained in this prospectus is current only as of its date.

 

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SUMMARY

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

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

 

   

“amended and restated certificate of incorporation” are to our certificate of incorporation to be in effect upon the completion of this offering;

 

   

“anchor investors” are to the up to 11 qualified institutional buyers or institutional accredited investors which are not affiliated with us, our sponsor, our directors or any member of our management and that have expressed to us an interest in purchasing up to an aggregate of 24,700,000 units in this offering, as further described herein;

 

   

“Berenson” are to Berenson Holdings LLC;

 

   

“BofA” are to BofA Securities, Inc., a representative of the underwriters in this offering;

 

   

“Class A common stock” are to our shares of Class A common stock, par value $0.0001 per share;

 

   

“Class B common stock” are to our shares of Class B common stock, par value $0.0001 per share;

 

   

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

 

   

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

 

   

“directors” are to our current directors and director nominees named in this prospectus;

 

   

“equity-linked securities” refers to any debt or equity securities that are convertible, exercisable or exchangeable for our Class A common stock issued in a financing transaction in connection with our initial business combination, including but not limited to a private placement of equity or debt;

 

   

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

 

   

“forward purchase agreements” are to the forward purchase agreements providing for the sale of forward purchase shares by us to the forward purchase investors in a private placement that will close immediately prior to the closing of our initial business combination;

 

   

“forward purchase investors” are to certain institutional investors, each of which will enter into a forward purchase agreement;

 

   

“forward purchase shares” are to the shares of Class A common stock purchased pursuant to the forward purchase agreements;


 

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“initial stockholders” are to our sponsor and other holders of our founder shares prior to this offering (other than the anchor investors);

 

   

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

 

   

“Navigation” or “Navigation Capitalare to Navigation Capital Partners LLC;

 

   

“private placement warrants” are to the warrants issued to our sponsor in a private placement simultaneously with the closing of this offering;

 

   

“public shares” are to shares of our Class A common stock sold as part of the units in this offering (whether they are purchased in this offering or thereafter in the open market);

 

   

“public stockholders” are to the holders of our public shares, including our sponsor, officers and directors to the extent our sponsor, officers or directors purchase public shares, provided that each of their status as a “public stockholder” shall only exist with respect to such public shares;

 

   

“specified future issuance” are to any issuances of a class of equity or equity-linked securities that we may determine to make in connection with financing our initial business combination;

 

   

“sponsor” are to Berenson SPAC Holdings I, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company;

 

   

“warrants” are to our warrants sold as part of the units in this offering (whether they are purchased in this offering or thereafter in the open market) and the private placement warrants, collectively;

 

   

“we,” “us,” “our,” “company” or “our company” are to Berenson Acquisition Corp. I, a Delaware corporation; and

 

   

“Wells Fargo” are to Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, a representative of the underwriters in this offering.

Unless we tell you otherwise, the information in this prospectus assumes that the underwriters will not exercise their over-allotment option and the forfeiture by our sponsor of 937,500 founder shares.

You should only rely on the information contained in this prospectus. We have not, and the underwriters have not, authorized anyone to provide you with different information.

Our Company

We are a newly organized blank check company incorporated in June 2021 as a Delaware corporation 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, which we refer to throughout this prospectus as our initial business combination. To date, our efforts have been limited to organizational activities as well as activities related to this offering. We have not selected any specific business combination target and we have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, initiated any substantive discussions, directly or indirectly, with any potential initial business combination target. We intend to acquire a target company in the software or technology-enabled services sectors with a total enterprise value of in excess of $1 billion.

Our sponsor is affiliated with Berenson Holdings LLC (“Berenson”), a merchant bank founded in 1990 with two principal lines of business: investment banking and private equity investing. Within investment


 

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banking, Berenson provides a full spectrum of services, including strategic advisory/mergers and acquisitions (“M&A”), capital formation and restructuring across a range of sectors, growth stages and underlying market and economic backdrops. Within its sector-focused private equity investment practice, Berenson specializes in investing in software and technology-enabled services businesses. Berenson was co-founded by our Chairman, Jeffrey Berenson.

In addition, an affiliate of Navigation Capital Partners LLC (“Navigation Capital” or “Navigation”) is an investor in our sponsor. Navigation Capital is an Atlanta-based private equity firm that partners and invests with successful CEOs to launch companies into the public market. Navigation Capital’s team has previous experience across the full lifecycle of special purpose acquisition companies (“SPACs”), from the initial public offering to the de-SPAC business combination process. Navigation Capital will provide resources including a network of relationships, extensive SPAC knowledge base and a standardized SPAC operating system to streamline the business combination process. David Panton, the managing partner of Navigation Capital Partners SPAC Opportunity Partners, LLC, is a member of our board of directors.

Berenson Holdings LLC

Berenson and its partners have completed several hundred transactions representing well over $250 billion of transaction value since its founding and during their careers. Berenson is a trusted financial advisor and capital partner to executives, founders, boards of directors, family offices, financial sponsors, pension funds and government-related entities seeking to drive transformational growth as well as other value creation and preservation initiatives. Berenson’s heritage as independent, objective advisors and capable investors makes the firm a valuable partner to companies seeking focused, patient capital partners who will work to support the implementation of management’s long-term vision.

Berenson’s investment philosophy and approach to value creation is mirrored in its 2004 investment in Epoch Investment Partners, Inc. (“Epoch”). Berenson was Epoch’s first outside investor and joined with management to create and refine its original business plan, recruit additional management and board members and utilize its relationships to identify sources of capital, resulting in a reverse merger into a public shell company. This transaction provided Epoch with growth capital as well as immediate access to the public market. Post-merger Berenson remained as an important advisor to and board member of Epoch until the business was sold to TD Bank Group in 2013. During the period from 2004 to 2012, Epoch’s assets under management grew from $645 million to $24 billion, revenue grew from $1 million to over $100 million and the per share value including dividends increased by approximately 21x.

Berenson also has a long track record of serving as an on-going advisor to companies, management teams and investors that seek to create shareholder value via tuck-in and/or transformative acquisitions. Berenson provides its partners with capabilities such as deal sourcing, pipeline management, valuation, negotiation and other aspects of deal execution. We expect that companies that enact a business combination with us will have access to Berenson’s comprehensive transaction capabilities.

We are seeking to create an investment vehicle that will benefit from our long heritage of investment and advisory capability servicing corporations, entrepreneurs and private investors as they identify, evaluate and implement opportunities to realize and capitalize on their long-term strategic vision. We expect to rely on significant proprietary deal flow, and along with our board of directors, to identify and analyze businesses that we believe will benefit from Berenson’s experience and networks to accelerate and realize growth and shareholder value creation.

Navigation Capital Partners

Navigation Capital was established as the successor to Mellon Ventures, purchasing the remaining 34 companies in Mellon’s existing portfolio (Navigation Capital Partners I LP, or “NCP I”) and then founding a


 

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new partnership (Navigation Capital Partners II LP, or “NCP II”) to continue to invest in high growth, technology-enabled operating companies. Recognizing significant opportunity in SPACs, Navigation Capital created its SPAC Operations Group in 2019 to leverage its experience, network and track record to identify and partner with successful executives to launch SPACs.

Through Mellon Ventures, NCP I and NCP II, the Navigation fund management team has invested over $550 million in over 70 companies. Navigation’s SPAC experience includes sponsor investment by Navigation’s current management team in Pensare Acquisition Corp, sponsor investments in D& Z Media Acquisition Corp. (“D&Z Media”) (NYSE: DNZ), KINS Technology Group (Nasdaq: KINZ), Shelter Acquisition Corporation (Nasdaq: SHQA), CEA Space Partners I, Corp. (NYSE: CEAS), Tristar Acquisition I Corp. (“pending” NYSE: TRIS), and private investments in public equity (“PIPE”) investments in Pensare Acquisition Corp, American Virtual Cloud Technologies (Nasdaq: AVCT) and Astra/Holicity (Nasdaq: HOL).

Navigation has sector experience across technology, media & telecommunications, specialty finance & fintech, energy, niche manufacturing, business & distribution services, healthcare, aerospace & defense and food service. The Navigation team believes that its access to numerous private equity and venture capital backed private companies provides a robust pipeline for potential acquisition candidates.

Business Strategy

We will seek to capitalize on the significant industry experience and contacts of our management team and board of directors to identify, evaluate and acquire a target business. Our objective is to acquire a high-quality business that can generate attractive, risk-adjusted returns for stockholders. Our selection process will leverage Berenson’s and Navigation Capital’s extensive global network of relationships, deep industry knowledge across multiple geographies, transaction execution experience and deal sourcing capabilities that provide access to a broad spectrum of acquisition opportunities, which we believe will differentiate us as a partner of choice to potential business combination opportunities.

We believe that the following differentiated value propositions will allow us to bring to the public market a highly attractive business:

 

   

Proprietary Sourcing Capabilities: Our network of deep relationships with CEOs, founders, boards of directors and private equity sponsors provides us with a differentiated avenue for sourcing target businesses;

 

   

Proven Experience in Consummating Transactions: We believe that our extensive M&A experience, with a distinct reputation for navigating transaction complexities, is a significant advantage. Our team has demonstrated the ability to negotiate and structure transactions, evaluate corporate strategies, access growth capital, and develop appropriate capital structures;

 

   

Extensive Understanding of Capital Markets and Public Market Investors: We have significant experience in formulating a variety of structures for companies across a number of industries. Much of this structuring capability is based on familiarity with the key performance indicators and growth metrics of companies in our target industries;

 

   

Significant Software and Technology-enabled Services Investment Experience: We have extensive experience in analyzing attractive companies in our target sectors.

If we elect to pursue an investment outside of those industries, our management’s expertise related to those industries may not be directly applicable to its evaluation or operation, and the information contained in


 

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this prospectus regarding that industry might not be relevant to an understanding of the business that we elect to acquire.

Our Management Team

Our management team will consist of Jeffrey Berenson, our Chairman, Mohammed Ansari, our Chief Executive Officer and director, and Amir Hegazy, our Chief Financial Officer, who will be supported by the back office and administrative team of Berenson and Navigation Capital, our directors and our special advisor, as further described below.

Jeffrey Berenson

Mr. Berenson has served as our Chairman since our inception in June 2021. Mr. Berenson co-founded Berenson Minella & Company in 1990, the predecessor firm to Berenson. Prior to founding Berenson, Mr. Berenson was, among other things, the head of Merrill Lynch’s M&A Group and co-founder and co-head of its Merchant Banking Group. Mr. Berenson joined White Weld & Co. in 1972, moving to the M&A Department of Merrill Lynch following its acquisition of White Weld in 1978.

Mr. Berenson served as a director of Epoch (NASDAQ: EPHC) from 2004 until its sale to TD Bank Group in 2013, Noble Energy (NASDAQ: NBL) from 2005 until its sale to Chevron (NYSE: CVX) in 2020, Patina Oil and Gas Corp from 2002 until its sale to Noble Energy (NASDAQ: NBL) in 2005. Mr. Berenson graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. from Princeton University.

Mohammed Ansari

Mr. Ansari has served as our Chief Executive Officer since our inception in June 2021 and as our director since September 2021. Mr. Ansari is the President and Senior Managing Partner of Berenson. He leads Berenson’s principal investing business and has completed over 100 principal investments and investment banking transactions since joining the firm. Mr. Ansari joined Berenson in 1997 from Salomon Brothers, where he worked in mergers and acquisitions advisory for major U.S. and Canadian corporations in the New York and Toronto offices. Mr. Ansari currently serves on the board of Skience LLC and BCP Light Holdings, LLC, and as a board observer for IntraPac International Corporation. Mr. Ansari received a Master of Philosophy Degree in Economics from Cambridge University and a B.S. in Economics and Business Finance from Brunel University, where he graduated with First Class Honors.

Amir Hegazy

Mr. Hegazy has served as our Chief Financial Officer since our inception in June 2021. Mr. Hegazy is a Managing Director of Berenson focused on software and technology-enabled services. He has over 13 years of experience in investment banking, having worked on a variety of transactions, including buy side and sell side assignments, capital raises and restructurings, and private equity investing as a senior member of Berenson Capital. Mr. Hegazy currently serves on the board of Skience LLC. Mr. Hegazy graduated cum laude with a B.A. in finance and a minor in economics from Pace University.

Our Directors

David Panton

David Panton has served as our director since in our inception in June 2021. He currently serves as the Chairman of Panton Equity Partners, LLC, a private family office which he founded in June 2012. His robust investment and deal experience across various industries provide for unique insight when evaluating potential


 

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targets. Since May 2020, Dr. Panton has been the managing partner of Navigation Capital Partners SPAC Opportunity Partners, LLC, an investment firm focused on building a diversified portfolio of investments in SPACs utilizing three strategies: providing sponsor capital, leading investments in SPAC initial public offerings, and investing in PIPEs” for SPACs. Navigation Capital’s SPAC team recruits CEOs to lead SPACs through its SPAC-in-a-Box® operating system to streamline the SPAC IPO process. In 2007, Dr. Panton co-founded Navigation Capital Partners LP, an Atlanta-based private equity firm that has made growth and buyout investments. Prior to his role at Navigation Partners, Dr. Panton served as Vice President at Mellon Ventures, a $1.4 billion private equity firm, before purchasing the portfolio in a partnership with Larry Mock and Goldman Sachs and founding Navigation Capital. Prior to this, Dr. Panton founded Caribbean Equity Partners, the private equity firm focused on investments in the Caribbean and Latin America. Since August 2011, Dr. Panton has been an adjunct professor of Finance at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School. He has served on private and public boards of directors, including Brand Bank (sold to Renasant Bank), Track Utilities (sold to CIVC Partners), Exeter Finance (sold to Blackstone), SecureWorks (sold to Dell Technologies), Ameritech Facility Services and D&Z Media (NYSE: DNZ). Dr. Panton received his Doctorate in Management Studies from Oxford University, his J.D. from Harvard Law School, and his A.B. from Princeton University.

Carl Ferenbach (independent director nominee)

Mr. Ferenbach is a co-founder of Berkshire Partners LLC (“Berkshire”), a private equity investment firm based in Boston, MA. Berkshire has managed nine private equity investment funds representing over $16 billion of capital. Mr. Ferenbach is Chairman & co-founder of High Meadows Foundation and High Meadows Fund. He also serves on a number of boards including the Environmental Defense Fund, the Advisory Board of Princeton Environmental Institute, Nassau Hall Society at Princeton University, The Wilderness Society and Climate Central. Mr. Ferenbach served as Chairman of the Board of English, Welsh & Scottish Railway Ltd., U.S. Can Corporation and Crown Castle International Corp. He also served as a director of other Berkshire portfolio companies. Mr. Ferenbach served in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, received an A.B. from Princeton University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Kay Kapoor (independent director nominee)

Mrs. Kapoor is the founder & CEO of Arya Technologies, a company that provides end-to-end technology solutions and consulting services to the U.S. federal government and the industry that supports it. Arya provides innovative and fiscally-responsible solutions for cybersecurity, big-data, analytics, cloud and mobility. Previously, Mrs. Kapoor led AT&T’s Global Public Sector organization, a $15 billion segment of AT&T that provides technology and communications solutions to government & education customers across federal, state, local, and international markets. Over the course of four years, she transformed the segment and delivered substantial growth, including capturing multibillion-dollar contracts, such as the landmark FirstNet contract to build a nationwide public safety broadband network for first responders. Prior to that, Mrs. Kapoor served as chairman and CEO of Accenture Federal Services, a wholly-owned $1.3 billion subsidiary of Accenture LLC, leading 2,500 members of its U.S. federal business. Before that, she worked at Lockheed Martin Corporation for 20 years leading complex organization units and government/regulatory relations and served as vice president and COO of Lockheed Martin’s $4 billion, 13,000 employee unit, IS&GS - Civil. Mrs. Kapoor has 29 years of experience in government and commercial markets. She is the recipient of numerous industry awards. In addition, she serves on the board of directors of ComSovereign Holding Co. (NASDAQ: COMS) since November 2020 and also is active on boards of philanthropy and academia. Mrs. Kapoor earned her bachelor’s degree in information systems from the University of Maryland and her Master of Science in information systems from Johns Hopkins University, complemented by executive programs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University.


 

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Ronald Kasner (independent director nominee)

Mr. Kasner is currently Vice Chairman of online search and content intelligence platform, Conductor Founders, Inc. Previously, Mr. Kasner was an executive with cloud-based talent acquisition software company, iCIMS, Inc. During Mr. Kasner’s tenure, iCIMS grew annual recurring revenue from $20 million to over $250 million while being named one of the Best Places to Work nationally. Mr. Kasner also serves as an Independent Board Member for Envisage Technologies, LLC. Mr. Kasner earned his bachelor’s degree in finance and accounting from the University of Virginia and his JD from Harvard Law School.

Gal Munda (independent director nominee)

Mr. Munda currently serves as the co-head of technology research at Berenberg Capital Markets and as the lead analyst covering global design software. Previously, he served in several other positions at Berenberg including as associate director and vice president of equity research and led vertical software investing at Matrix Capital Management. Mr. Munda has over 10 years of finance and equity research experience, specifically within the software industry. Mr. Munda earned his bachelor’s degree in economics and business from the University of Maribor, Slovenia and his masters degree in finance and investment from Nottingham University Business School.

Our Special Advisor

William W. Priest

Mr. Priest is Executive Chairman and Co-Chief Investment Officer of Epoch Investment Partners, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Toronto Dominion Bank and an affiliate of TD Asset Management. He is a portfolio manager for Epoch’s global equity investment strategies and leads the Investment Policy Group, a forum for analyzing broader secular and cyclical trends that Epoch believes will influence investment opportunities. Prior to co-founding Epoch in 2004, Mr. Priest was a Co-Managing Partner and portfolio manager at Steinberg Priest & Sloane Capital Management, LLC for three years. Before forming Steinberg Priest, he was a member of the Global Executive Committee of Credit Suisse Asset Management (CSAM), Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Credit Suisse Asset Management Americas and CEO and portfolio manager of its predecessor firm BEA Associates, which he co-founded in 1972. During his 30 year tenure at BEA and CSAM, he helped to develop the firm into a well-recognized investment manager with over $100 billion under management. Mr. Priest is the co-author of several published articles and papers on investing and finance, including the books, The Financial Reality of Pension Funding Under ERISA, Free Cash Flow and Shareholder Yield: New Priorities for the Global Investor, and the more recent Winning at Active Management: The Essential Roles of Culture, Philosophy and Technology. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation, is a former CPA and a graduate of Duke University and the University of Pennsylvania Wharton Graduate School of Business.

Business Combination Criteria

We seek to merge with a private company operating in the software and technology-enabled services sector with recurring/predictable revenue and the prospect for high free cash flow conversion at scale. We expect to focus on businesses with a total enterprise value in excess of $1 billion with as many of the following characteristics as possible:

 

   

Passionate Management: We are drawn to teams that “live and breathe” their end-markets and have a unique understanding for the current and future needs of their clients. We recognize that execution capability is critical and look for teams with demonstrable past success;


 

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Large and Growing End Markets: We seek to identify businesses that are solving problems in large and growing markets. We focus primarily on the products/services that the business currently offers and are careful to not be influenced by “blue-sky” opportunities (though we view their credible presence as upside);

 

   

Resilient Barriers to Entry: We seek established and emerging market leaders with defensible and self-reinforcing competitive advantages such as high switching costs, network effects, proprietary data/integrations and learning effects;

 

   

Mission-Critical Offerings: For us, an ideal business demonstrates low price elasticity, though we are careful to make sure that it is not over-earning/rent-seeking. We especially like products and services that provide high value at a low nominal cost; we believe this represents pricing power;

 

   

Organic Volume Growth: We prefer businesses that have historically driven growth through volume; we look to isolate pricing from overall revenue growth;

 

   

Attractive Unit Economics: We analyze unit economics in order to identify businesses with long-term strong free cash flow generation potential at scale;

 

   

A Well-Defined Corporate Culture: We believe that companies are built by teams, not individuals; much of the value of exceptional leaders lies in their ability to cultivate a strong, defined and evolving corporate culture which can be used to attract and retain talent. Key attributes include accountability, ethics, empowerment, transparency and diversity of thought;

 

   

Potential to Benefit from Our Expertise: We will rely on our advisory heritage to assist management in identifying, negotiating, financing and structuring transactions including acquisition and/or capital raises to support and accelerate long-term growth.

We believe we can enhance the value proposition of a business combination through, among other things:

 

   

Growth Strategies: We can assist the company in developing and executing organic and inorganic growth strategies, including operational and management enhancements, as well as identifying and executing on acquisitions;

 

   

Capital Formation: We can continually monitor capital markets and advise on opportunities to optimize capital structure and transition the company’s investor base to fundamental, long-term holders;

 

   

Public Company Readiness: We can assist a company in creating an appropriate public company accounting and reporting infrastructure and obtaining relevant analyst coverage.

Industry Opportunity

The business landscape continues to experience an unprecedented level of disruption as companies recognize the need to migrate their internal processes and the delivery of their products and service offerings to digital and cloud-based formats. We believe that the pace of this digitalization has been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic which further highlighted the need for businesses to rely on cloud-based infrastructure, security, communications and applications in order to deliver value to stakeholders and compete with digital-native offerings. We intend to focus our search on a company in the software and technology-enabled services sector which is well positioned to capitalize on these trends.


 

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We believe that software and technology-enabled services companies offer the following attributes which should result in an attractive investment opportunity:

 

   

Software and technology-enabled services companies are able to achieve rapid and sustained growth due to their reliance on cloud-based infrastructure and the ability to serve a myriad of industries and end markets;

 

   

Software and technology-enabled services companies can provide mission-critical offerings for end customers resulting in less cyclicality and highly predictable cash flows. Once integrated into day-to-day workflows, removing software or essential services can be time-consuming and expensive. Additionally, the cloud delivery model allows for continuous product enhancement and rapid deployment of new features and functionalities. These attributes typically result in attractive customer retention profiles and the opportunity to increase customer lifetime value;

 

   

Software and technology-enabled services companies are typically able to produce an attractive free cash flow yield at scale due to their reliance on technology to create efficiencies in their infrastructure, operations, customer acquisition costs and product and service delivery models;

 

   

Software and technology-enabled services companies can generate above average growth rates which can drive greater shareholder value. As of June 8, 2021, the S&P Software & Services Select Industry Index returned an annualized 20.4% over the last 10 years, far greater than the 14.9% annualized return of the S&P Total Market Index during that timeframe.

Sourcing of Potential Initial Business Combination Targets

Business combination targets that are developing core technologies and pursuing disruptive commercialization strategies often need access to stable capital but lack access to public markets. Our team has the necessary technical, operating and transactional expertise to identify attractive acquisition targets that would most benefit from the value we seek to deliver to our shareholders vis-à-vis our initial business combination. The primary sourcing activities of our team will emanate from its access to high quality deal flow that meets our acquisition criteria—the result of successfully investing in, scaling and operating innovative companies.

We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor, executive officers or directors, or completing the business combination through a joint venture or other form of shared ownership with our sponsor, executive officers or directors. In the event we seek to complete an initial business combination with a target that is affiliated with our sponsor, executive officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, would obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm which is a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”), or an independent accounting firm stating 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.

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

Our officers and directors presently has, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to another entity, pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a


 

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business combination opportunity to such entity. In particular, Dr. Panton currently serves on a board of directors of D&Z Media, a blank check company formed for substantially similar purposes as our company but with a media, education technology (“ed-tech”), and other related industries business focus. D&Z Media completed its initial public offering in January 2021, in which it sold 25 million units. Each unit had an offering price of $10.00 and consists of one share of common stock and one-third of one warrant, generating aggregate gross proceeds of $287.5 million (including over-allotment option). D&Z Media has not yet announced or completed its initial business combination. Accordingly, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for an entity to which he or she has then current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she will honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such business combination opportunity to such other entity. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that we renounce our interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any director or officer unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of the company and such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue, and to the extent the director or officer is permitted to refer that opportunity to us without violating another legal obligation. We do not believe, however, that the fiduciary duties or contractual obligations of our officers and directors will materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination.

In addition, our sponsor, officers and directors may sponsor or form other special purpose acquisition companies similar to ours or may pursue other business or investment ventures during the period in which we are seeking an initial business combination. Any such companies, businesses or investments, including D&Z Media, may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an initial business combination. Our officers and directors are not required to commit any specified amount of time to our affairs, and, accordingly, will have conflicts of interest in allocating management time among various business activities, including identifying potential business combinations and monitoring the related due diligence. However, we do not believe that any such potential conflicts would materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination.

Affiliates of our sponsor are not prohibited from sponsoring other special purpose acquisition companies and such affiliates, including Navigation and Berenson, expect to sponsor special purpose acquisition companies in the future. In particular, Navigation is a sponsor of four special purpose acquisition companies that have filed registration statements in connection with their initial public offerings. Any such companies may pursue similar targets and compete with us for business combination opportunities. 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 special purpose acquisition company would materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination. For more information, see the section entitled “Management—Conflicts of Interest.”

Initial Business Combination

The NYSE listing rules require that our initial business combination must be with one or more target businesses that together have an aggregate fair market value equal to at least 80% of the assets held in the trust account (excluding any deferred underwriters fees and taxes payable on the income earned on the trust account) at the time of our signing a definitive agreement in connection with our initial business combination. We refer to this as the 80% fair market value test. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA, or from an independent accounting firm, with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. Additionally, pursuant to the NYSE rules, any initial business combination must be approved by a majority of our independent directors. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if we are not listed on the NYSE at the time of our initial business combination, these rules will not be applicable to us.

We anticipate structuring our initial business combination so that the post-transaction company in which our public stockholders own or acquire shares will own or acquire 100% of the outstanding equity interests or


 

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assets of the target business or businesses. We may, however, structure our initial business combination such that the post-transaction company owns or acquires less than 100% of such interests or assets of the target business in order to meet certain objectives of the target management team or stockholders or for other reasons, but we will only complete such business combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target business sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, or the Investment Company Act. Even if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target, our stockholders prior to our initial business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post-transaction company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in our initial business combination. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock of a target, or issue a substantial number of new shares to third-parties in connection with financing our initial business combination. In such cases, 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 outstanding equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses are owned or acquired by the post-transaction company, the portion of such business or businesses that is owned or acquired is what will be taken into account for purposes of the 80% fair market value test. If our initial business combination involves more than one target business, the 80% fair market value test will be based on the aggregate value of all of the target businesses.

Prior to the effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, we will file a Registration Statement on Form 8-A with the SEC to voluntarily register our securities under Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (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.

Corporate Information

Our executive offices are located at 667 Madison Avenue, 18th Floor, New York, New York 10065, and our telephone number is (212) 935-7676.

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.


 

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We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of: (i) 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 common stock that is held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the end of that fiscal year’s second fiscal quarter; and (ii) the date on which we have issued more than $1.00 billion in non-convertible debt securities during the prior three-year period. References herein to “emerging growth company” shall have the meaning associated with it in the JOBS Act.

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


 

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THE OFFERING

 

Securities offered   

25,000,000 units (or 28,750,000 units if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), at $10.00 per unit, each unit consisting of:

 

•  one share of Class A common stock; and

 

•  one-half of one redeemable warrant to purchase one share of Class A common stock.

Listing of our securities and proposed symbols    We intend to apply to have our units listed on the NYSE, under the symbol “BACA.U” and shares of Class A common stock and warrants, once they begin separate trading will be listed on the NYSE under the symbols “BACA” and “BACA WS”, respectively.
Trading commencement and separation of Class A common stock and warrants   

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

 

Additionally, the units will automatically separate into their component parts and will not be traded after completion of our initial business combination.

Separate trading of the Class A common stock and warrants is prohibited until we have filed a Current Report on Form 8-K.    In no event will the Class A common stock and warrants be traded separately until we have filed with the SEC a Current Report on Form 8-K which includes an audited balance sheet of the company reflecting our receipt of the gross proceeds at the closing of this offering. We will file the Current Report on Form 8-K promptly after the closing of this offering. If the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised following the initial filing of such Current Report on Form 8-K, a second or amended Current Report on Form 8-K will be filed to provide updated financial information to reflect the exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option.
Units:   
Number outstanding before this offering    0

 

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Number outstanding after this offering    25,000,000(1)
Common stock:   
Number outstanding before this offering    7,187,500(2)(3)
Number outstanding after this offering    31,250,000(1)(3)(4)
Warrants:   
Number of private placement warrants to be sold in a private placement simultaneously with this offering    7,000,000(1)
Number of warrants to be outstanding after this offering and the private placement    19,500,0000(1)
Exercisability   

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

 

Each unit in this offering is structured to contain one-half of one redeemable warrant, with each whole warrant exercisable for one share of Class A common stock, as compared to units issued by some other similar blank check companies which contain whole warrants exercisable for one whole share, in order to reduce the dilutive effect of the warrants upon completion of our initial business combination as compared to units that each contain a whole warrant to purchase one whole share, thus making us, we believe, a more attractive business combination partner for target businesses.

Exercise price   

$11.50 per whole share of Class A common stock, subject to adjustment as described herein.

 

In addition, if we issue additional shares of Class A common stock or equity-linked securities for capital raising purposes in connection with

 

1 

Assumes no exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option.

2 

Consists solely of founder shares and includes up to 937,500 founder shares that are subject to forfeiture by our sponsor depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised.

3 

Founder shares are classified as shares of Class B common stock, which shares 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 adjustment as described below adjacent to the caption “Founder shares conversion and anti-dilution rights.”

4 

Includes 25,000,000 public shares and 6,250,000 founder shares.


 

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   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 sponsor or its affiliates, without taking into account any founder shares held by our sponsor or such affiliates, as applicable, prior to such issuance) (the “newly issued price”), the exercise price of the warrants will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 115% of the newly issued price, and the $18.00 per share redemption trigger price described below under “Redemption of warrants when the price per share of Class A common stock equals or exceeds $18.00” will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 180% of the newly issued price.
Exercise period   

The warrants will become exercisable on the later of:

 

•  30 days after the completion of our initial business combination; and

 

•  12 months from the closing of this offering;

 

provided in each case that we have 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 and a current prospectus relating to them is available and such shares are registered, qualified or exempt from registration under the securities, or blue sky, laws of the state of residence of the holder (or we permit holders to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis under the circumstances specified in the warrant agreement).

 

We are not registering the issuance of shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants at this time. However, we have agreed that as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 20 business days after the closing of our initial business combination, we will use our commercially reasonable efforts to file with the SEC, and within 60 business days following our initial business combination to have declared effective, a registration statement covering the issuance of the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants, and to maintain a current prospectus relating to those shares of Class A common stock until the warrants expire or are redeemed; provided, that if our Class A common stock is at the time of any exercise of a warrant not listed on a national securities exchange such that it satisfies the definition of a “covered security” under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act, we may, at our option, require holders of public warrants who exercise their warrants to do so on a “cashless basis” in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act and, in the event we so elect, we will not be required to file or maintain in effect a registration statement, but we will use our commercially reasonable efforts to register or qualify the shares under applicable blue sky laws to the extent an exemption is not available.

 

The warrants will expire at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, five years after the completion of our initial business combination or earlier upon


 

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   redemption or liquidation. On the exercise of any warrant, the warrant exercise price will be paid directly to us and not placed in the trust account.
Redemption of warrants when the price per share of Class A common stock equals or exceeds $18.00   

Once the warrants become exercisable, we may redeem the outstanding warrants (except as described herein with respect to the private placement warrants):

 

•  in whole and not in part;

 

•  at a price of $0.01 per warrant;

 

•  upon a minimum of 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption, which we refer to as the 30-day redemption period; and

 

•  if, and only if, the last reported sale price of our Class A common stock equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like and for certain issuances of Class A common stock and equity-linked securities as described above) for any 20 trading days within a 30-trading day period ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which we send the notice of redemption to the warrant holders.

  

We will not redeem the warrants as described above unless a registration statement under the Securities Act covering the issuance of the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants is then effective and a current prospectus relating to those shares of 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. As a result, we may redeem the warrants as set forth above even if the holders are otherwise unable to exercise the warrants.

 

If we call the warrants for redemption as described above, our management will have the option to require all holders that wish to exercise warrants to do so on a “cashless basis.” In determining whether to require all holders to exercise their warrants on a “cashless basis,” our management will consider, among other factors, our cash position, the number of warrants that are outstanding and the dilutive effect on our stockholders of issuing the maximum number of shares of Class A common stock issuable upon the exercise of our warrants. In such event, each holder would pay the exercise price by surrendering the warrants for that number of shares of Class A common stock equal to the lesser of (i) the quotient obtained by dividing (a) the product of the number of shares of Class A common stock underlying the warrants, multiplied by the excess of the “fair market value” of our Class A common stock (defined below) over the exercise price of the


 

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warrants by (b) the fair market value and (ii) 0.361. Please see the section entitled “Description of Securities—Warrants—Public Stockholders’ Warrants” for additional information.

 

None of the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us (except as described below under “Redemption of warrants when the price per share of Class A common stock equals or exceeds $10.00”) so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees.

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

Commencing ninety days after the warrants become exercisable, we may redeem the outstanding warrants (except as described herein with respect to the private placement warrants):

 

•  in whole and not in part;

  

 

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

 

•  upon a minimum of 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption;

 

•  if, and only if, the last reported sale price of our Class A common stock equals or exceeds $10.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) on the trading day prior to the date on which we send the notice of redemption to the warrant holders; and

 

•  if, and only if, there is an effective registration statement covering the issuance of the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants and a current prospectus relating thereto available throughout the 30-day period after written notice of redemption is given.

  

 

The “fair market value” of our Class A common stock shall mean the average last reported sale price of our Class A common stock for the 10 trading days ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which the notice of redemption is sent to the holders of warrants. This redemption feature differs from the typical warrant redemption features used in other blank check offerings. In no event will the warrants be exercisable in connection with this redemption feature for more than 0.361 shares of Class A common stock per warrant (subject to adjustment).


 

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

  

 

Pursuant to the warrant agreement, references above to Class A common

stock shall include a security other than Class A common stock into which the Class A common stock has been converted or exchanged for in the event we are not the surviving company in our initial business combination.

Election and removal of directors; voting rights    Prior to our initial business combination, only holders of our Class B common stock will have the right to vote on the election of directors. Holders of the Class A common stock will not be entitled to vote on the election of directors during such time. In addition, prior to our initial business combination, holders of a majority of the outstanding shares of
   our Class B common stock may remove a member of our board of directors for any reason. These provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation may only be amended if approved by holders of a majority of at least 90% of the outstanding shares of Class B common stock voting at a stockholder meeting. With respect to any other matter submitted to a vote of our stockholders, including any vote in connection with our initial business combination, except as required by applicable law or stock exchange rule, holders of our Class A common stock and holders of our Class B common stock will vote together as a single class, with each share entitling the holder to one vote.
Founder shares   

On June 25, 2021, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 7,187,500 founder shares (up to 937,500 of which are subject to forfeiture by our sponsor depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised) for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000, or approximately $0.004 per share.

 

Prior to the initial investment in the company of $25,000 by our sponsor, we had no assets, tangible or intangible. The per share purchase price of the founder shares was determined by dividing the amount of cash contributed to us by the number of founder shares issued. In September 2021, our sponsor expects to transfer an aggregate of 25,000 founder shares to each of our independent director nominees and our special advisor at their original purchase price. If we increase or decrease the size of this offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, we will effect a stock dividend or share contribution back to capital or other appropriate mechanism, as applicable, with respect to our Class B common stock immediately prior to the consummation of this offering in such amount as to maintain the number of founder shares at 20.0% of our issued and outstanding shares of our common stock upon the consummation of this offering. Our initial stockholders will collectively own 20.0% of our issued and outstanding shares after this offering (assuming they do not purchase any units in this offering). Up to 937,500 founder shares will be subject to forfeiture by our sponsor depending on


 

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the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised. Subject to each anchor investor purchasing 100% of the units allocated to it, in connection with the closing of this offering our sponsor will sell an aggregate of 1,872,159 founder shares to the anchor investors at their original purchase price.

 

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

 

•  prior to our initial business combination, only holders of the Class B common stock have the right to vote on the election of directors and holders of a majority of the outstanding shares of our Class B common stock may remove members of our board of directors for any reason;

 

•  our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive: (i) their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and any public shares held by them in connection with the completion of our initial business combination; (ii) their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and any public shares held by them in connection with a stockholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (a) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemptions in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we have not consummated our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or (b) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity; and (iii) their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any founder shares they hold if we fail to complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or during any extended time that we have to consummate a business combination beyond 18 months as a result of a stockholder vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (an “Extension Period”) (although they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any public shares they hold if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame). The anchor investors have also agreed, with respect to their founder shares only, to waive their redemption rights as described above as well as their rights with respect to liquidating distributions. If we submit our initial business combination to our public stockholders for a vote, our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed, pursuant to such letter agreement, to vote their founder shares and any public shares they hold in favor of our initial business combination. In addition, the anchor investors have agreed


 

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to vote their founder shares in favor of our initial business combination. As a result, in addition to our initial stockholders’ and anchor investors’ founder shares, we would need 9,375,001, or 37.5%, of the 25,000,000 public shares sold in this offering to be voted in favor of an initial business combination in order to have our initial business combination approved (assuming all outstanding shares are voted and the over-allotment option is not exercised), or an additional 1,562,501, or 6.3% (assuming only the minimum

numberof shares representing a quorum are voted and the over-allotment option is not exercised), of the 25,000,000 public shares sold in this offering to be voted in favor of a transaction, in order to have such initial business combination approved;

  

 

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

 

•  the founder shares are automatically convertible into shares of our Class A common stock at the time of our initial business combination, or earlier at the option of the holder, on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment pursuant to certain anti-dilution rights, as described in more detail below; and

 

•  the holders of founder shares are entitled to registration rights.

Transfer restrictions on founder shares    Our sponsor, officers and directors and anchor investors have agreed not to transfer, assign or sell any of their founder shares until the earlier to occur of: (i) one year after the completion of our initial business combination and (ii) subsequent to our initial business combination, (a) the date on which we complete a liquidation, merger, stock exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction that results in all of our public stockholders having the right to exchange their shares of Class A common stock for cash, securities or other property or (b) if the last reported sale price of our 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 business combination (except as described herein under “Principal Stockholders—Transfers of Founder Shares and Private Placement Warrants”). Any permitted transferees would be subject to the same restrictions and other agreements of our initial stockholders and anchor investors with respect to any founder shares. We refer to such transfer restrictions throughout this prospectus as the lock-up.
Founder shares conversion and anti-dilution rights    The shares of Class B common stock will automatically convert into shares of Class A common stock at the time of our initial business combination, or earlier at the option of the holder, on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment, as provided herein. In the case that additional shares of Class A common stock, or equity-linked securities (as described herein), are issued or deemed issued in excess of the

 

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   amount issued in this offering and related to the closing of our initial business combination, including pursuant to a specified future issuance, the ratio at which shares of Class B common stock shall convert into shares of Class A common stock will be adjusted (unless the holders of a majority of the outstanding shares of Class B common stock agree to waive such adjustment with respect to any such issuance or deemed issuance, including a specified future issuance) so that the number of shares of Class A common stock issuable upon conversion of all shares of Class B common stock will equal, in the aggregate, on an as-converted basis, 20% of the aggregate number of all shares of common stock outstanding upon the completion of this offering, plus the aggregate number of shares of Class A common stock and equity-linked securities issued or deemed issued in connection with our initial business combination (net of the number of shares of Class A common stock redeemed in connection with our initial business combination), excluding any shares or equity-linked securities issued, or to be issued, to any seller in our initial business combination and any private placement warrants issued to our sponsor, an affiliate of our sponsor or any of our officers or directors.
Expression of Interest   

Up to 11 anchor investors have expressed to us an interest in purchasing up to an aggregate of 24,700,000 units in this offering at the offering price of $10.00 per unit, and such allocations will be determined by the underwriters. No anchor investor is expected to purchase more than 9.9% of the units in this offering (without giving effect to the over-allotment option).

 

Pursuant to such units, the anchor investors have not been granted any shareholder or other rights in addition to those afforded to our other public stockholders. Further, the anchor investors are not required to (i) hold any units, shares of Class A common stock or warrants they may purchase in this offering or thereafter for any amount of time, (ii) vote any shares of Class A common stock they may own at the applicable time in favor of our initial business combination or (iii) refrain from exercising their right to redeem their public shares at the time of our initial business combination. The anchor investors will have the same rights to the funds held in the trust account with respect to the shares of Class A common stock underlying the units they may purchase in this offering as the rights afforded to our other public stockholders.

 

There can be no assurance that the anchor investors will acquire any units in this offering, or as to the amount of such units the anchor investors will retain, if any, prior to or upon the consummation of our initial business combination. There is also no guarantee that all 11 anchor investors will participate in the offering. In the event that the anchor investors purchase all of the units that they have expressed an interest in purchasing in this offering, hold all such units until prior to consummation of our initial business combination and vote their public shares in favor of our initial business combination, in addition to the founder shares, no affirmative votes from other public stockholders would be required to approve our initial business combination. The anchor investors are not required to vote any of their public shares in


 

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favor of our initial business combination or for or against any other matter presented for a stockholder vote.

 

Each anchor investor has entered into separate investment agreements with us and our sponsor pursuant to which anchor investors agreed to purchase an aggregate of 1,872,159 founder shares, from our sponsor at the closing of this offering, subject to such anchor investor’s acquisition of 100% of the units allocated to it by the underwriters in this offering. Pursuant to the investment agreements, the anchor investors have agreed to (a) vote any founder shares held by them in favor of our initial business combination and (b) subject any founder shares held by them to the same lock-up restrictions as the founder shares held by our sponsor and independent directors. Since our sponsor is transferring founder shares held by it to the anchor investors and we are not issuing any new shares of Class B common stock, there will be no dilutive impact on the other investors in this offering.

Forward Purchase Shares    We have entered into forward purchase agreements with one of our anchor investors and another institutional accredited investor that is not affiliated with our sponsor or any member of our management, which we refer to together as the forward purchase investors throughout this prospectus, under which the forward purchase investors may purchase up to an aggregate of 5,000,000 forward purchase, at a price of $10.00 per share as described in the forward purchase agreements, each in a private placement that will close immediately prior to the closing of our initial business combination. The terms of the forward purchase shares will generally be identical to the shares of Class A common stock included in the units being sold in this offering, except that they will have registration rights and rights of first refusal to purchase securities we may offer in connection with a future business combination financing, as described in the forward purchase agreements. We have agreed with one of our forward purchase investors that it will have the right to acquire up to $25,000,000 million of securities. At our option, the securities offered to the forward purchaser may be equity securities, convertible debt securities or non-convertible debt instruments. The form of securities offered are in our discretion, although the forward purchaser is not obligated to purchase any securities from us.
Private placement warrants    Our sponsor has committed, pursuant to a written agreement, to purchase an aggregate of 7,000,000 private placement warrants (or 7,750,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) at a price of $1.00 per warrant ($7,000,000 in the aggregate or $7,750,000 in the aggregate if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) in a private placement that will occur simultaneously with the closing of this offering. Each private placement warrant is exercisable to purchase one share of Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as provided herein. Certain of the proceeds of the purchase price of the private placement warrants will be added to the proceeds from this offering to be held in the trust account. If we do not complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or following any Extension 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 (subject to the

 

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   requirements of applicable law) and the private placement warrants will expire worthless. The private placement warrants will not be redeemable by us (except as described below under “Description of Securities—Warrants—Public Stockholders’ Warrants—Redemption of Warrants for Class A common stock”) so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees. If the private placement warrants are held by holders other than our sponsor or its permitted transferees, the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us in all redemption scenarios and exercisable by the holders on the same basis as the warrants included in the units being sold in this offering. Our sponsor, as well as its permitted transferees, have the option to exercise the private placement warrants on a cashless basis.
Transfer restrictions on private placement warrants    The private placement warrants (including the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the private placement warrants) will not be transferable, assignable or salable until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination (except as described herein under “Principal Stockholders—Transfers of Founder Shares and Private Placement Warrants”).
Proceeds to be held in trust account   

Of the net proceeds we will receive from this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants described in this prospectus, $250,000,000 ($10.00 per unit), or $287,500,000 ($10.00 per unit) if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full (including $8,750,000 (or up to $10,062,500 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) in deferred underwriting commissions), will be deposited into a U.S.-based trust account with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee, and $2,000,000 will be used to pay expenses in connection with the closing of this offering and for working capital following this offering. The funds in the trust account will be invested only in specified U.S. government treasury bills or in specified money market funds.

 

Except with respect to interest earned on the funds held in the trust account that may be released to us to pay our tax obligations, the funds held in the trust account will not be released from the trust account until the earliest of: (i) the completion of our initial business combination; (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly submitted 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 allow redemptions 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 18 months from the closing of this offering or (b) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity; and (iii) the redemption of all of our public shares if we have not completed our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering, subject to applicable law. The proceeds deposited in the trust account could become subject to the claims of our creditors, if any, which could have priority over the claims of our public stockholders.


 

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Anticipated expenses and funding sources   

Except as described above with respect to the payment of taxes, unless and until we complete our initial business combination, no proceeds held in the trust account will be available for our use, except the withdrawal of interest to pay taxes or to redeem our public shares in connection with an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, as described above. The funds held in the trust account will be invested only in U.S. government securities with a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations. We will disclose in each quarterly and annual report filed with the SEC prior to our initial business combination whether the proceeds deposited in the trust account are invested in U.S. government treasury obligations or money market funds or a combination thereof. Based upon current interest rates, we expect the trust account to generate approximately $500,000 of interest annually (assuming an interest rate of 0.20% per year). Unless and until we complete our initial business combination, we may pay our expenses only from:

 

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

 

•  with respect to payment of taxes, any interest earned from the trust account; and

 

•  any loans or additional investments from our sponsor, members of our management team or any of their affiliates or other third parties, although they are under no obligation to loan funds or invest in us, and provided that any such loans will not have any claim on the proceeds held in the trust account. If we complete our initial business combination, we expect to repay such loaned amounts out of the proceeds of the trust account released to us. Otherwise, such loans may be repaid only out of funds held outside the trust account. Up to $1,500,000 of all loans made to us may be convertible into warrants of the post-business combination entity at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender at the time of the business combination. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants issued to the initial stockholders.

Conditions to completing our initial business combination    There is no limitation on our ability to raise funds privately, including pursuant to any specified future issuance, or through loans in connection with our initial business combination. The NYSE listing rules require that our initial business combination must be with one or more target businesses that together have an aggregate fair market value equal to at least 80% of the value of the assets held in the trust account (excluding any deferred underwriters fees and taxes payable on the income earned on the trust account) at the time of our signing a definitive agreement in connection with our initial business combination. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if we are not listed on the NYSE at the time of our initial business combination for whatever reason, we would no longer be required to meet the foregoing 80% fair market value test.

 

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   If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA, or from an independent accounting firm. We will complete our initial business combination only if the post-transaction company in which our public stockholders own shares will own or acquire 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target business sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. Even if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target, our stockholders prior to our initial business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post-transaction company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in our initial business combination transaction. If less than 100% of the outstanding equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses are owned or acquired by the post-transaction company, the portion of such business or businesses that is owned or acquired is what will be taken into account for purposes of the 80% fair market value test; provided that in the event that our initial business combination involves more than one target business, the 80% fair market value test will be based on the aggregate value of all of the target businesses.
Permitted purchases and other transactions with respect to 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, sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their affiliates may purchase public shares or warrants in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination. Please see “Proposed Business—Permitted purchases and other transaction with respect to our securities” for a description of how such persons will determine from which stockholders to seek to acquire securities.
   There is no limit on the number of shares or warrants such persons may purchase, or any restriction on the price that they may pay. Any such price per share may be different than the amount per share a public stockholder would receive if it elected to redeem its shares in connection with our initial business combination. Additionally, at any time at or prior to our initial business combination, subject to applicable securities laws (including with respect to material nonpublic information), our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their affiliates may enter into transactions with investors and others to provide them with incentives to acquire public shares, vote their public shares in favor of our initial business combination or not redeem their public shares. However, such persons 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 our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their affiliates determine to undertake any such transactions, such transactions could have the effect of influencing the vote necessary to approve such transaction. None of the funds held in the trust account will be used to purchase public shares

 

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   or warrants in such transactions. Such persons will be restricted from making any 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. Subsequent to the consummation of this offering, we will adopt an insider trading policy which will require insiders to: (i) refrain from purchasing securities during certain blackout periods and when they are in possession of any material non-public information; and (ii) clear all trades with our legal counsel prior to execution. We cannot currently determine whether our insiders will make such purchases pursuant to a Rule 10b5-1 plan, as it will be dependent upon several factors, including but not limited to, the timing and size of such purchases.
  

Depending on such circumstances, our insiders may either make such purchases pursuant to a Rule 10b5-1 plan or determine that such a plan is not necessary.

 

We do not currently anticipate that such purchases, if any, would constitute a tender offer subject to the tender offer rules under the Exchange Act or a going-private transaction subject to the going-private rules under the Exchange Act; however, if the purchasers determine at the time of any such purchases that the purchases are subject to such rules, the purchasers will be required to comply with such rules. Our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their affiliates will be restricted from making any purchases if the purchases would violate Section 9(a)(2) or Rule 10b-5 of the Exchange Act.

 

We would expect that 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. None of the funds held in the trust account will be used to purchase shares or public warrants in such transactions prior to completion of our initial business combination. See “Proposed Business — Permitted purchases and other transaction with respect to our securities” for a description of how our sponsor, initial stockholders, directors, officers, advisors or any of their affiliates will select which stockholders to transact with in any private transaction.

 

The purpose of any such transaction could be to (i) vote such shares in favor of the initial business combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining stockholder approval of the initial business combination, (ii) 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 or (iii) reduce the number of public warrants outstanding or to vote such warrants on any matters submitted to the warrantholders for approval in connection with our initial business combination. Any such transaction 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 warrants may be reduced and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, which may make it difficult to maintain or obtain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange.


 

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Redemption rights for public stockholders upon completion of our initial business combination    We will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their public shares upon the completion of our initial business combination at a per share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, calculated as of two business days prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes, divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, subject to the limitations described herein. The amount in the trust account is initially anticipated to be $10.00 per public share. The redemption rights will include the requirement that a beneficial holder must identify itself in order to validly redeem its shares. The per share amount we will distribute to investors who properly redeem their shares will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting commissions we will pay to the underwriters. There will be no redemption rights upon the completion of our initial business combination with respect to our warrants. Our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and any public shares held by them in connection with the completion of our initial business combination. Our other directors and officers have also entered into the letter agreement, which imposes the same obligations on them with respect to any public shares acquired by them.
Manner of conducting redemptions   

We will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their public shares upon the completion of our initial business combination either: (i) in connection with a stockholder meeting called to approve the business combination; or (ii) by means of a tender offer. The decision as to whether we will seek stockholder approval of a proposed business combination or conduct a tender offer will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on a variety of factors such as the timing of the transaction and whether the terms of the transaction would require us to seek stockholder approval under applicable law or stock exchange listing requirement. Asset acquisitions and 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 typically require stockholder approval. We intend to conduct redemptions without a stockholder vote pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC unless stockholder approval is required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirements or we choose to seek stockholder approval for business or other reasons.

 

If a stockholder vote is not required and we do not decide to hold a stockholder vote for business or other reasons, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation:

 

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

In the event we conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, our offer to redeem will remain open for at least 20 business days, in accordance with Rule 14e-1(a) under the Exchange Act, and we will not be permitted to complete our initial business combination until the expiration of the tender offer period. In addition, the tender offer will be conditioned on public stockholders not tendering more than a specified number of public shares, which number will be based on the requirement that we will only redeem public shares so long as (after such redemptions) our net tangible assets will be at least $5,000,001, either prior to or upon consummation of an initial business combination, after payment of the deferred underwriting commission (so that we do not then become subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules), or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. If public stockholders tender more shares than we have offered to purchase, we will withdraw the tender offer and not complete such initial business combination.

 

If, however, stockholder approval of the transaction is required by applicable law or stock exchange listing requirements or we decide to obtain stockholder approval for business or other reasons, we will:

 

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

 

•  file proxy materials with the SEC.

 

We expect that a final proxy statement would be mailed to public stockholders at least 10 days prior to the stockholder vote. However, we expect that a draft proxy statement would be made available to such stockholders well in advance of such time, providing additional notice of redemption if we conduct redemptions in conjunction with a proxy solicitation. Although we are not required to do so, we currently intend to comply with the substantive and procedural requirements of Regulation 14A in connection with any stockholder vote even if we are not able to maintain our NYSE listing or Exchange Act registration.


 

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If we seek stockholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if a majority of the outstanding shares of our common stock voted are voted in favor of the business combination. In such case, pursuant to the terms of a letter agreement entered into with us, our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed (and their permitted transferees will agree) to vote their founder shares and any public shares held by them in favor of our initial business combination. We expect that at the time of any stockholder vote relating to our initial business combination, our initial stockholders and their permitted transferees will own at least 20% of our outstanding shares of common stock entitled to vote thereon. Our other directors and officers also have agreed to vote in favor of our initial business combination with respect to public shares acquired by them, if any. These voting thresholds, and the voting agreements of our initial stockholders, may make it more likely that we will consummate our initial business combination. Each public stockholder may elect to redeem their public shares without voting, and if they do vote, irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction.

 

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that we will only redeem our public shares so long as (after such redemptions) our net tangible assets will be at least $5,000,001 either prior to or upon consummation of an initial business combination, after payment of the deferred underwriting commission (so that we do not then become subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules). Redemptions of our public shares may also be subject to a higher net tangible asset test or cash requirement pursuant to an agreement relating to our initial business combination. For example, 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 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 common stock submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof, and we instead may search for an alternate business combination.

Tendering stock certificates in connection with a tender offer or redemption rights    We may require our public stockholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” to either tender their certificates to our transfer agent prior to the date set forth in the tender offer documents or proxy materials mailed to such holders, or up to two business days prior to the scheduled vote on the proposal to approve our initial business combination in the event we distribute proxy materials, 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, rather than simply voting against the initial business combination. The tender offer or proxy materials, as applicable, that we

 

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   will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination will indicate whether we are requiring public stockholders to satisfy such delivery requirements, which will include the requirement that a beneficial holder must identify itself in order to validly redeem its shares.
Limitation on redemption rights of stockholders holding more than 15% of the shares sold in this offering if we hold stockholder vote    Notwithstanding the foregoing redemption rights, if we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that a public stockholder, together with any affiliate of such stockholder or any other person with whom such stockholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from redeeming its shares with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in this offering, without our prior consent. We believe the restriction described above will discourage stockholders from accumulating large blocks of shares and subsequent attempts by such holders to use their ability to redeem their shares as a means to force us or our sponsor or its affiliates 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 against a business combination if such holder’s shares are not purchased by us or our sponsor or its affiliates at a premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. By limiting our stockholders’ ability to redeem to no more than 15% of the shares sold in this offering, we believe we will limit the ability of a small group of stockholders to unreasonably attempt to block our ability to complete our initial business combination, particularly in connection with a business combination with a target that requires as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. However, we would not be restricting our stockholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including all shares held by those stockholders that hold more than 15% of the shares sold in this offering) for or against our initial business combination.
Redemption rights in connection with proposed amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation    Some other blank check companies have a provision in their charter which prohibits the amendment of certain charter provisions. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that any of its provisions (other than amendments relating to the appointment or removal of directors prior to our initial business combination, which require the approval of holders of a majority of at least 90% of the outstanding shares of Class B common stock voting at a stockholder meeting) related to pre-business combination activity (including the requirement to deposit proceeds of this offering and the private placement warrants into the trust account and not release such amounts except in specified circumstances) may be amended if approved by holders of at least 65% of our common stock who attend and vote in a stockholder meeting, and corresponding provisions of the trust agreement governing the release of funds from our trust account may be amended if approved by holders of at least 65% of our outstanding

 

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   common stock. In all other instances, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that it may be amended by holders of a majority of our outstanding common stock, subject to applicable provisions of the Delaware General Corporation Law, or DGCL, or applicable stock exchange rules. Our initial stockholders, who will beneficially own 20% of our common stock upon the closing of this offering (assuming they do not purchase any units in this offering), may participate in any vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and/or trust agreement and will have the discretion to vote in any manner they choose. Unless specified in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or bylaws, or as required by applicable law or stock exchange rules, the affirmative vote of a majority of the outstanding shares of our common stock that are voted is required to approve any such matter voted on by our stockholders, and, prior to our initial business combination, the affirmative vote of holders of a majority of the outstanding shares of our Class B common stock is required to approve the election or removal of directors. Our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed, pursuant to a written agreement with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (i) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemptions 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 18 months from the closing of this offering or (ii) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, unless we provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their shares of common stock upon approval of any such amendment at a per share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to pay our taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares. Our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and any public shares held by them in connection with the completion of our initial business combination. Our other directors and officers have also entered into the letter agreement, which imposes the same obligations on them with respect to any public shares acquired by them.
Release of funds in trust account on closing of our initial business combination    On the completion of our initial business combination, all amounts held in the trust account will be released to us, less amounts released to a separate account controlled by the trustee for disbursal to redeeming stockholders. We will use these funds to pay amounts due to any public stockholders who properly exercise their redemption rights as described above under “Redemption rights for public stockholders upon completion of our initial business combination,” to pay the underwriters their deferred underwriting commissions, to pay all or a portion of the consideration payable to the target or owners of the target of our initial business combination and to pay other expenses associated with our initial business combination. If our initial business combination is paid for using equity or debt or not all of the funds released from the trust account are used for payment of the

 

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   consideration in connection with our initial business combination or used for redemption of our public shares, we may apply the balance of the cash released to us from the trust account for general corporate purposes, including for maintenance or expansion of operations of post-transaction businesses, the payment of principal or interest due on indebtedness incurred in completing our initial business combination, to fund the purchase of other businesses or for working capital.
Redemption of public shares and distribution and liquidation if no initial business combination   

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that we will have only 18 months from the closing of this offering to complete our initial business combination. If we have not completed our initial business combination within such 24-month period or during any Extension Period, we will: (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up; (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than 10 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 earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any); and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to our warrants, which will expire worthless if we fail to complete our initial business combination within such period.

 

Our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have waived their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to their founder shares if we fail to complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or during any Extension Period. However, if our initial stockholders then hold any public shares, they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to such public shares if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the allotted time frame to complete our initial business combination. The underwriters have agreed to waive their rights to their deferred underwriting commission held in the trust account in the event we do not complete our initial business combination within the allotted time frame (including any Extension Period) and, in such event, such amounts will be included with the funds held in the trust account that will be available to fund the redemption of our public shares.

   Our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed, pursuant to a written agreement with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (i) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemptions 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 18 months from the closing of this offering or (ii) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, unless we provide our public stockholders with the

 

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   opportunity to redeem their shares of Class A common stock upon approval of any such amendment at a per share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares. However, we will only redeem our public shares so long as (after such redemptions) our net tangible assets will be at least $5,000,001 (i) in the case of our initial business combination, either prior to or upon consummation of such initial business combination, after payment of the deferred underwriting commission or (ii) in the case of an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (a) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemptions in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we have not consummated our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering, or any Extension Period, or (b) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, upon such amendment (in each case so that we do not then become subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules). If this optional redemption right is being exercised with respect to an excessive number of public shares such that we cannot satisfy the net tangible requirement (described above) we would not proceed with the amendment or the related redemption of our public shares.
Limited payments to insiders   

There will be no finder’s fees, reimbursements or cash payments made by us to our sponsor, officers or directors, or our or any of their affiliates, for services rendered to us prior to or in connection with the completion of our initial business combination, other than the following payments, none of which will be made from the proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants held in the trust account prior to the completion of our initial business combination:

 

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

 

•  payment to our sponsor of a total of $10,000 per month, for up to 18 months, for office space, utilities, administrative and support services;

 

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

 

•  repayment of loans which may be made by our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our officers and directors to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, the terms of which have not been determined nor have any written agreements been executed with respect thereto. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender.


 

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   These payments may be funded using the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants not held in the trust account or, upon completion of the initial business combination, from any amounts remaining from the proceeds of the trust account released to us in connection therewith.
   Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made by us to our sponsor, officers or directors, or our or any of their affiliates.
Audit committee    We will establish and maintain an audit committee, as and when required by the rules of the NYSE and Rule 10A of the Exchange Act, to, among other things, monitor compliance with the terms described above and the other terms relating to this offering. If any noncompliance is identified, then the audit committee will be charged with the responsibility to promptly take all action necessary to rectify such noncompliance or otherwise to cause compliance with the terms of this offering. For more information, see the section entitled “Management—Committees of the Board of Directors—Audit Committee.”
Conflicts of Interest   

Each of our officers and directors presently has, and any of them in the future may further have, fiduciary or contractual obligations to at least one other entity pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entity. Accordingly, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for an entity to which he or she has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she will honor these obligations to present such business combination opportunity to such entity, and only present it to us if such entity rejects the opportunity. We do not believe, however, that the fiduciary duties or contractual obligations of our officers or directors will materially affect our ability to complete our business combination.

 

Affiliates of our sponsor are not prohibited from sponsoring other special purpose acquisition companies and such affiliates, including Navigation and Berenson, expect to sponsor special purpose acquisition companies in the future. Any such companies may pursue similar targets and compete with us for business combination opportunities. 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 special purpose acquisition company would materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination. For more information, see the section entitled “Management—Conflicts of Interest.”


 

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Indemnity    Our sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a third party (other than our independent registered public accounting firm) 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 amount of funds in the trust account to below (i) $10.00 per public share or (ii) such lesser amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest which may be withdrawn to pay taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), except as to any claims by a third party who executed a waiver of any and all rights to seek access to the trust account and except as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of this offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. Moreover, in the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, our sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third-party claims. We have not independently verified whether our sponsor, which is a newly formed entity, has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our company and, therefore, our sponsor may not be able to satisfy those obligations. We have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such obligations.

 

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SUMMARY OF RISK FACTORS

In making your decision on whether to invest in our securities, you should take into account the special risks we face as a blank check company, as well as the fact that this offering is not being conducted in compliance with Rule 419 promulgated under the Securities Act, and, therefore, 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.” In addition, our business is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, including those highlighted in the section titled “Risk Factors,” that represent challenges that we face in connection with the successful implementation of our strategy. 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 adversely affect our ability to effect a business combination, and may have an adverse effect on our business, cash flows, financial condition and results of operations. Such risks include, but are not limited to:

 

   

we are a newly incorporated company with no operating history and no revenues;

 

   

public stockholders’ lack of opportunity to vote on our proposed business combination;

 

   

lack of protections normally afforded to investors of blank check companies;

 

   

our initial stockholders controlling a substantial interest in us;

 

   

deviation from acquisition criteria and guidelines;

 

   

our ability to complete our initial business combination;

 

   

our expectations around the performance of a prospective target business or businesses

 

   

completing a business combination with a company located in a foreign jurisdiction;

 

   

issuance of equity and/or debt securities to complete a business combination;

 

   

lack of working capital;

 

   

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

 

   

dependence on key personnel;

 

   

past performance by our management team is not indicative of future performance of an investment in us;

 

   

conflicts of interest of our sponsor, officers and directors;

 

   

there is currently no market for our securities and a market for our securities may not develop;

 

   

the delisting of our securities by the NYSE;

 

   

the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and related risks;

 

   

delay in receiving distributions from the trust account;


 

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the exercise of registration rights by our security holders may have an adverse effect on the market price of our Class A common stock;

 

   

warrant holders limited to exercising warrants only on a “cashless basis;”

 

   

ability to amend the terms of our warrants with the approval by the holders of at least 50% of the then outstanding public warrants;

 

   

shares being redeemed and warrants becoming worthless;

 

   

adverse effect of warrants and founder shares on the market price of our Class A common stock;

 

   

changes in laws or regulations, or our failure to comply with any laws and regulations;

 

   

uncertain or adverse U.S. federal income tax consequence; and

 

   

difficulties and limitations in protecting your interests, and your ability to protect your rights through the U.S. federal courts.

You should carefully consider these and the other risks set forth in the section entitled “Risk Factors” beginning on page 39 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.

 

    

As of June 25, 2021

 
    

Actual

   

As Adjusted

 

Balance Sheet Data:

    

Working capital (deficit)(1)

   $ (14,000   $ 225,027,300  

Total assets(2)

   $ 61,300     $ 251,022,300  

Total liabilities(3)

   $ 39,000     $ 25,995,000  

Value of common stock subject to possible conversion/tender(4)

   $ —       $ 224,645,466  

Stockholder’s equity(5)

   $ 22,300     $ 381,834  

 

(1)

The “as adjusted” calculation includes $250,000,000 cash held in trust from the proceeds of this offering and the sale of private warrants, plus $1,000,000 of cash held outside of the trust account, less $8,750,000 of deferred underwriting commissions and warrant liability of $17,245,000 and plus $22,300 of actual stockholder’s equity at June 25, 2021.

(2)

The “as adjusted” calculation includes $250,000,000 cash held in trust from the proceeds of this offering and the sale of private warrants, plus $1,000,000 of cash held outside the trust account plus $22,300 of actual stockholder’s equity at June 25, 2021.

(3)

The “as adjusted” liabilities represent $8,750,000 of deferred underwriting commissions and $17,245,000 warrant liability assuming the underwriters’ over-allotment option is not exercised.

(4)

The “as adjusted” calculation equals 25,000,000 shares of Class A common stock purchased in the public offering, less deferred underwriting commissions $8,750,000, public warrant liability $10,875,000 and estimated offering costs $5,729,534.

(5)

Excludes 25,000,000 shares of Class A common stock which are subject to conversion in connection with our initial business combination. The “as adjusted” calculation equals the “as adjusted” total assets, less the “as adjusted” total liabilities, less the value of shares of common stock that may be converted in connection with our initial business combination ($10.00 per share).

The “as adjusted” information gives effect to the sale of the units we are offering and the sale of the private warrants, including the payment of the estimated costs of the offering from such sales and the repayment of the accrued and other liabilities required to be repaid.

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 (if a vote is required or being obtained).

If our initial business combination is not completed within 18 months from the closing of this offering, the proceeds then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), will be used to fund the redemption of our public shares. Our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to their founder shares if we fail to complete our initial business combination within such 24-month time period or during any Extension Period.


 

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CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Some statements contained in this prospectus are forward-looking in nature. 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. 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. 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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RISK FACTORS

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

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

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

We may not hold a stockholder vote to approve our initial business combination unless the business combination would require stockholder approval under applicable law or stock exchange listing requirements or if we decide to hold a stockholder vote for business or other reasons. For instance, the NYSE rules currently allow us to engage in a tender offer in lieu of a stockholder meeting but would still require us to obtain stockholder approval if we were seeking to issue more than 20% of our outstanding shares to a target business as consideration in any business combination. Therefore, if we were structuring a business combination that required us to issue more than 20% of our outstanding shares, we would seek stockholder approval of such business combination. However, except as required by applicable law or stock exchange rules, the decision as to whether we will seek stockholder approval of a proposed business combination or will allow stockholders to sell their shares to us in a tender offer will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on a variety of factors, such as the timing of the transaction and whether the terms of the transaction would otherwise require us to seek stockholder approval. Accordingly, we may consummate our initial business combination even if holders of a majority of the outstanding shares of our common stock do not approve of the business combination we consummate. Please see the section entitled “Proposed Business—Stockholders May Not Have the Ability to Approve Our Initial Business Combination” for additional information.

If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed to vote in favor of such initial business combination and the anchor investors have agreed to vote their founder shares in favor of such initial business combination, regardless of how our public stockholders vote.

Our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed (and their permitted transferees will agree), pursuant to the terms of a letter agreement entered into with us, to vote their founder shares and any public shares held by them in favor of our initial business combination. In addition, the anchor investors have agreed to vote their founder shares in favor of our initial business combination. As a result, in addition to our initial stockholders’ founder shares and the anchor investors’ founder shares, we would need 9,375,001, or 37.5%, of the 25,000,000 public shares sold in this offering to be voted in favor of an initial business combination in order to have our initial business combination approved (assuming all outstanding shares are voted and the over-allotment option is not exercised), or an additional 1,562,501, or 6.3% (assuming only the minimum number of shares representing a quorum are voted and the over-allotment option is not exercised), of the 25,000,000 public shares sold in this offering to be voted in favor of a transaction, in order to have such initial business combination approved. Accordingly, if we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, the agreement by our initial stockholders and management team and anchor investors to vote in favor of our initial business combination will increase the likelihood that we will receive the requisite stockholder approval for such initial business combination. Our other directors and officers have also entered into the letter agreement, which imposes the same obligations on them with respect to any public shares acquired by them. We expect that our initial stockholders and their permitted transferees will own at least 20% of our outstanding shares of common stock at the time of any such stockholders vote. Accordingly, if we seek stockholders approval of our initial business

 

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combination, it is more likely that the necessary stockholders approval will be received than would be the case if such persons agreed to vote their founder shares in accordance with the majority of the votes cast by our public stockholders. In the event that the anchor investors purchase all of the units that they have expressed an interest in purchasing in this offering, hold all such units until prior to consummation of our initial business combination and vote their public shares in favor of our initial business combination, in addition to the founder shares, no affirmative votes from other public stockholders would be required to approve our initial business combination. The anchor investors are not required to vote any of their public shares in favor of our initial business combination or for or against any other matter presented for a shareholder vote.

Your only opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding a potential business combination will be limited to the exercise of your right to redeem your shares from us for cash, unless we seek stockholder approval of such business combination.

At the time of your investment in us, you will not be provided with an opportunity to evaluate the specific merits or risks of our initial business combination. Additionally, since our board of directors may complete a business combination without seeking stockholder approval, public stockholders may not have the right or opportunity to vote on the business combination, unless we seek such stockholder vote. Accordingly, if we do not seek stockholder approval, 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 initial business combination.

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

We may seek to enter into a business combination transaction agreement with a prospective target that requires as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. If too many public stockholders exercise their redemption rights, we would not be able to meet such closing condition and, as a result, would not be able to proceed with the business combination. Furthermore, we will only redeem our public shares so long as (after such redemptions) our net tangible assets, after payment of the deferred underwriting commissions, will be at least $5,000,001 either prior to or upon consummation of an initial business combination, after payment of the deferred underwriting commission (so that we do not then become subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules), or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. Consequently, if accepting all properly submitted redemption requests would cause our net tangible assets to not be at least $5,000,001 either prior to or upon consummation of an initial business combination, after payment of the deferred underwriting commission, or such greater amount necessary to satisfy a closing condition as described above, we would not proceed with such redemption and the related business combination and may instead search for an alternate business combination. Prospective targets will be aware of these risks and, thus, may be reluctant to enter into a business combination transaction with us.

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

At the time we enter into an agreement for our initial business combination, we will not know how many stockholders may exercise their redemption rights and, therefore, we will need to structure the transaction based on our expectations as to the number of shares that will be submitted for redemption. If our initial business combination agreement requires us to use a portion of the cash in the trust account to pay the purchase price or requires us to have a minimum amount of cash at closing, we will need to reserve a portion of the cash in the trust account to meet such requirements or arrange for third-party financing. In addition, if a larger number of shares is submitted for redemption than we initially expected, we may need to restructure the transaction to

 

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reserve a greater portion of the cash in the trust account or arrange for third party financing. Raising additional third-party financing may involve dilutive equity issuances or the incurrence of indebtedness at higher than desirable levels. The above considerations may limit our ability to complete the most desirable business combination available to us or optimize our capital structure. The amount of the deferred underwriting commissions payable to the underwriters will not be adjusted for any shares that are redeemed in connection with an initial business combination. The per-share amount we will distribute to stockholders who properly exercise their redemption rights will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting commissions and after such redemptions, the per-share value of shares held by non-redeeming stockholders will reflect our obligation to pay the deferred underwriting commissions.

The ability of our public stockholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our shares could increase the probability that our initial business combination would be unsuccessful and that you would have to wait for liquidation in order to redeem your stock.

If our initial business combination agreement requires us to use a portion of the cash in the trust account to pay the purchase price, or requires us to have a minimum amount of cash at closing, the probability that our initial business combination would be unsuccessful increases. If our initial business combination is unsuccessful, you would not receive your pro rata portion of the trust account until we liquidate the trust account. If you are in need of immediate liquidity, you could attempt to sell your stock in the open market; however, at such time our stock may trade at a discount to the pro rata amount per share in the trust account. In either situation, you may suffer a material loss on your investment or lose the benefit of funds expected in connection with our redemption until we liquidate or you are able to sell your stock in the open market.

The requirement that we complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame may give potential target businesses leverage over us in negotiating a business combination and may limit the time we have in which to conduct due diligence on potential business combination target, in particular as we approach our dissolution deadline, which could undermine our ability to complete our initial business combination on terms that would produce value for our stockholders.

Any potential target business with which we enter into negotiations concerning a business combination will be aware that we must complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering. Consequently, such target business may obtain leverage over us in negotiating a business combination, knowing that if we do not complete our initial business combination with that particular target business, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination with any target business. This risk will increase as we get closer to the end of the timeframe described above. In addition, we may have limited time to conduct due diligence and may enter into our initial business combination on terms that we would have rejected upon a more comprehensive investigation.

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

In December 2019, a novel strain of coronavirus was reported to have surfaced in Wuhan, China, which has and is continuing to spread throughout China and other parts of the world, including the United States. On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern.” On January 31, 2020, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex M. Azar II declared a public health emergency for the United States to aid the U.S. healthcare community in responding to COVID-19, and on March 11, 2020 the World Health Organization characterized the outbreak as a “pandemic”.

The COVID-19 outbreak has resulted in a widespread health crisis that has adversely affected the economies and financial markets worldwide, and the business of any potential target business with which we

 

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consummate a business combination could be materially and adversely affected. Furthermore, we may be unable to complete a business combination if continued concerns relating to COVID-19 continues to restrict travel, limit the ability to have meetings with potential investors or the target company’s personnel, vendors and services providers are unavailable to negotiate and consummate a transaction in a timely manner. The extent to which COVID-19 impacts our search for a business combination will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, including new information which may emerge concerning the severity of COVID-19 and the actions to contain COVID-19 or treat its impact, among others. If the disruptions posed by COVID-19 or other matters of global concern continue for an extensive period of time, our ability to consummate a business combination, or the operations of a target business with which we ultimately consummate a business combination, may be materially adversely affected.

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

We may not be able to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame, in which case we would cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up and we would redeem our public shares and liquidate, in which case our public stockholders may receive only $10.00 per share, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, and our warrants will expire worthless.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that we must complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering. We may not be able to find a suitable target business and complete our initial business combination within such time period. Our ability to complete our initial business combination may be negatively impacted by general market conditions, volatility in the capital and debt markets and the other risks described herein. For example, while the extent of the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on us will depend on future developments, it could limit our ability to complete our initial business combination, including as a result of increased market volatility, decreased market liquidity and third-party financing being unavailable on terms acceptable to us or at all. Additionally, the outbreak of COVID-19 may negatively impact businesses we may seek to acquire.

If we have not completed our initial business combination within such time period or during any Extension Period, we will: (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up; (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than 10 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 earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any); and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. In such case, our public stockholders may receive only $10.00 per share, or less than $10.00 per share, on the redemption of their shares, and our warrants will expire worthless. See “—If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.00 per share” and other risk factors herein.

If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their affiliates may elect to purchase shares or warrants from public stockholders, which may influence a vote on a proposed business combination and reduce the public “float” 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,

 

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officers, advisors or any of their affiliates may purchase public shares or public warrants or a combination thereof in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination. Additionally, at any time at or prior to our initial business combination, subject to applicable securities laws (including with respect to material nonpublic information), our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their affiliates may enter into transactions with investors and others to provide them with incentives to acquire public shares, vote their public shares in favor of our initial business combination or not redeem their public shares. However, they are under no obligation to do so. Please see “Proposed Business—Permitted purchases and other transaction with respect to our securities” for a description of how our sponsor, initial stockholders, directors, officers, advisors or any of their affiliates will select which stockholders to transact with in any private transaction. Such a purchase may include a contractual acknowledgement that such public stockholder, although still the record holder of our shares is no longer the beneficial owner thereof and therefore agrees not to exercise its redemption rights. In the event that our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their affiliates purchase shares in privately negotiated transactions from public stockholders who have already elected to exercise their redemption rights or submitted a proxy to vote against our initial business combination, such selling public stockholders would be required to revoke their prior elections to redeem their shares and any proxy to vote against our initial business combination. The price per share paid in any such transaction may be different than the amount per share a public stockholder would receive if it elected to redeem its shares in connection with our initial business combination. The purpose of any such transaction could be to (i) vote such shares in favor of the initial business combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining stockholder approval of the initial business combination, (ii) 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 or (iii) reduce the number of public warrants outstanding or to vote such warrants on any matters submitted to the warrantholders for approval in connection with our initial business combination. Any such transaction 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 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.

Potential participation in this offering by our anchor investors could reduce the public float for our securities.

The anchor investors have in aggregate expressed to us an interest in purchasing up to 98.8% of the units in this offering (excluding any units issued upon exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option). If our anchor investors purchase all of the units for which they have expressed an interest, such purchases would reduce the available public float for our securities. Any such reduction in our available public float may consequently reduce the trading volume, volatility and liquidity of our securities relative to what they would have been had such units been purchased by public investors and could result in our securities being delisted from the NYSE. The anchor investors are not required to hold any public units, Class A common stock or warrants they may purchase in this offering or thereafter for any amount of time. Accordingly, the anchor investors may sell any, or up to all, of the public units, Class A common stock or warrants they may purchase in this offering or thereafter at any time. The sale of material amounts of our units, Class A common stock or warrants, or the perception that such sales may occur, could reduce the market prices of those securities and may encourage short sales.

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 tender offer rules or proxy 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 tender offer or proxy materials, as applicable, such stockholder may not become aware of the opportunity to redeem its shares. In addition, the tender offer documents or proxy materials, as applicable, that

 

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we will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination will describe the various procedures that must be complied with in order to validly tender or redeem public shares, which will include the requirement that a beneficial holder must identify itself in order to validly redeem its shares. For example, we may require our public stockholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” to either tender their certificates to our transfer agent prior to the date set forth in the tender offer documents or proxy materials mailed to such holders, or up to two business days prior to the scheduled vote on the proposal to approve the initial business combination in the event we distribute proxy materials, or to deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically. In the event that a stockholder fails to comply with these or any other procedures, its shares may not be redeemed. See “Proposed Business—Tendering stock certificates in connection with a tender offer or redemption rights.”

 

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

If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that a public stockholder, together with any affiliate of such stockholder or any other person with whom such stockholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from redeeming its shares with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in this offering, which we refer to as the “Excess Shares,” without our prior consent. However, we would not be restricting our stockholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our initial business combination. Your inability to redeem the Excess Shares will reduce your influence over our ability to complete our initial business combination and you could suffer a material loss on your investment in us if you sell Excess Shares in open market transactions. Additionally, you will not receive redemption distributions with respect to the Excess Shares if we complete our initial business combination. As a result, you will continue to hold that number of shares exceeding 15% and, in order to dispose of such shares, would be required to sell your stock in open market transactions, potentially at a loss.

Because of our limited resources and the significant competition for business combination opportunities, it may be more difficult for us to complete our initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on our redemption of their stock, and our warrants will expire worthless.

We expect to encounter intense competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours, including private investors (which may be individuals or investment partnerships), other blank check companies and other entities, domestic and international, competing for the types of businesses we intend to acquire. Many of these individuals and entities are well-established and have extensive experience in identifying and effecting, directly or indirectly, acquisitions of companies operating in or providing services to various industries. Many of these competitors possess greater technical, human and other resources or more local industry knowledge than we do, and our financial resources will be relatively limited when contrasted with those of many of these competitors. While we believe there will be numerous target businesses we could potentially acquire with the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, our ability to compete with respect to the acquisition of certain target businesses that are sizable will be limited by our available financial resources. This inherent competitive limitation gives others an advantage in pursuing the acquisition of certain target businesses. Furthermore, in the event we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we are obligated to pay cash for shares of our Class A common stock, it will potentially reduce the resources available to us for our initial business combination. Any of these obligations may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating a business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. See “—If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.00 per share” and other risk factors herein.

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

In recent years, the number of special purpose acquisition companies that have been formed has increased substantially. Many companies have entered into business combinations with special purpose

 

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acquisition companies, and there are still many special purpose acquisition companies seeking targets for their initial business combination, as well as many additional special purpose acquisition companies currently in registration. As a result, at times, fewer attractive targets may be available, and it may require more time, effort and resources to identify a suitable target for an initial business combination.

In addition, because there are more special purpose acquisition companies seeking to enter into an initial business combination with available targets, the competition for available targets with attractive fundamentals or business models may increase, which could cause target companies to demand improved financial terms. Attractive deals could also become scarcer for other reasons, such as economic or industry sector downturns, geopolitical tensions or increases in the cost of additional capital needed to close business combinations or operate targets post-business combination. This could increase the cost of, delay or otherwise complicate or frustrate our ability to find a suitable target for and/or complete our initial business combination.

Our independent registered public accounting firm’s report contains an explanatory paragraph that expresses substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a “going concern.”

As of June 25, 2021, we had $25,000 in cash and a working capital deficit of $(14,000). Further, we expect to incur significant costs in pursuit of our acquisition plans. Management’s plans to address this need for capital through this offering are discussed in the section of this prospectus titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.” Our plans to raise capital and to consummate our initial business combination may not be successful. These factors, among others, raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. The financial statements contained elsewhere in this prospectus do not include any adjustments that might result from our inability to consummate this offering or our inability to continue as a going concern.

If the funds not being held in the trust account are insufficient to allow us to operate for at least the 18 months following the closing of this offering, 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 18 months following the closing of this offering, assuming that our initial business combination is not completed during that time. We expect to incur significant costs in pursuit of our acquisition plans. Management’s plans to address this need for capital through this offering and potential loans from certain of our affiliates are discussed in the section of this prospectus titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.” However, our affiliates are not obligated to make loans to us in the future, and we may not be able to raise additional financing from unaffiliated parties necessary to fund our expenses. Any such event in the future may negatively impact the analysis regarding our ability to continue as a going concern at such time.

We believe that, upon the closing of this offering, the funds available to us outside of the trust account, will be sufficient to allow us to operate for at least the 18 months following the closing of this offering; however, we cannot assure you that our estimate is accurate. Of the funds available to us, we could use a portion of the funds available to us to pay fees to consultants to assist us with our search for a target business. We could also use a portion of the funds as a down payment or to fund a “no-shop” provision (a provision in letters of intent or merger agreements designed to keep target businesses from “shopping” around for transactions with other companies or investors on terms more favorable to such target businesses) with respect to a particular proposed business combination, although we do not have any current intention to do so. If we entered into a letter of intent or merger agreement where we paid for the right to receive exclusivity from a target business and were subsequently required to forfeit such funds (whether as a result of our breach or otherwise), we might not have sufficient funds to continue searching for, or conduct due diligence with respect to, a target business. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. See “—If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be

 

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reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.00 per share” and other risk factors herein.

If the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants not being held in the trust account are insufficient, it could limit the amount available to fund our search for a target business or businesses and complete our initial business combination and we will depend on loans from our sponsor or management team to fund our search, to pay our taxes and to complete our initial business combination.

Of the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, we estimate only $1,000,000 will be available to us initially outside the trust account to fund our working capital requirements. In the event that our offering expenses exceed our estimate of $1,000,000, we may fund such excess with funds not to be held in the trust account. In such case, the amount of funds we intend to be held outside the trust account would decrease by a corresponding amount. Conversely, in the event that the offering expenses are less than our estimate of $1,000,000, the amount of funds we intend to be held outside the trust account would increase by a corresponding amount. If we are required to seek additional capital, we would need to borrow funds from our sponsor, management team or other third parties to operate or may be forced to liquidate. Neither our sponsor, members of our management team nor any of their affiliates is under any obligation to loan funds to us in such circumstances. Any such loans may be repaid only from funds held outside the trust account or from funds released to us upon completion of our initial business combination. If we have not completed our initial business combination within the prescribed timeframe because we do not have sufficient funds available to us, we will be forced to cease operations and liquidate the trust account. In such case, our public stockholders may receive only $10.00 per share, or less in certain circumstances, and our warrants will expire worthless. See “—If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.00 per share” and other risk factors herein.

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

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

Changes in the market for directors and officers liability insurance could make it more difficult and more expensive for us to negotiate and complete an initial business combination.

In recent months, the market for directors and officers liability insurance for special purpose acquisition companies has changed in ways adverse to us and our management team. Fewer insurance companies are offering quotes for directors and officers liability coverage, the premiums charged for such policies have generally increased and the terms of such policies have generally become less favorable. These trends may continue into the future.

The increased cost and decreased availability of directors and officers liability insurance could make it more difficult and more expensive for us to negotiate and complete an initial business combination. In order to

 

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obtain directors and officers liability insurance or modify its coverage as a result of becoming a public company, the post-business combination entity might need to incur greater expense and/or accept less favorable terms. Furthermore, any failure to obtain adequate directors and officers liability insurance could have an adverse impact on the post-business combination’s ability to attract and retain qualified officers and directors.

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

If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.00 per 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 (other than 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, 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 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. Making such a request of potential target businesses may make our acquisition proposal less attractive to them and, to the extent prospective target businesses refuse to execute such a waiver, it may limit the field of potential target businesses that we might pursue. The underwriters of this offering will not execute agreements with us waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account.

Examples of possible instances where we may engage a third party that refuses to execute a waiver include the engagement of a third party consultant whose particular expertise or skills are believed by management to be significantly superior to those of other consultants that would agree to execute a waiver or in cases where we are 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 completed our initial business combination within the prescribed timeframe, or upon the exercise of a redemption right in connection with our initial business combination, we will be required to provide for payment of claims of creditors that were not waived that may be brought against us within the 10 years following redemption. Accordingly, the per share redemption amount received by public stockholders could be less than the $10.00 per share initially held in the trust account, due to claims of such creditors.

Our sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a third party (other than our independent registered public accounting firm) 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 amount of funds in the trust account to below (1) $10.00 per public share or (2) such lesser amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest which may be withdrawn to pay our taxes, except as to any claims by a third party who executed a waiver of any and all rights to seek access to the trust account and except

 

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as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of this offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. Moreover, in the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, our sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third-party claims. We have not independently verified whether our sponsor, which is a newly formed entity, has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our company and, therefore, our sponsor may not be able to satisfy those obligations. We have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such obligations. As a result, if any such claims were successfully made against the trust account, the funds available for our initial business combination and redemptions could be reduced to less than $10.00 per public share. In such event, we may not be able to complete our initial business combination, and you would receive such lesser amount per public share in connection with any redemption of your public shares. None of our officers or directors will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses.

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

In the event that the proceeds in the trust account are reduced below the lesser of: (i) $10.00 per public share; or (ii) such lesser amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest which may be withdrawn to pay our taxes, 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 and subject to their fiduciary duties may choose not to do so in certain instances. If our independent directors choose not to enforce these indemnification obligations, the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public stockholders may be reduced below $10.00 per share.

If, after we distribute the proceeds in the trust account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, a bankruptcy court may seek to recover such proceeds, and the members of our board of directors may be viewed as having breached their fiduciary duties to our creditors, thereby exposing the members of our board of directors and us to claims of punitive damages.

If, after we distribute the proceeds in the trust account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, any distributions received by stockholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or bankruptcy laws as either a “preferential transfer” or a “fraudulent conveyance.” As a result, a bankruptcy court could seek to recover some or all amounts received by our stockholders. In addition, our board of directors may be viewed as having breached its fiduciary duty to our creditors and/or having acted in bad faith by paying public stockholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors, thereby exposing itself and us to claims of punitive damages.

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

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

 

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

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

 

   

restrictions on the nature of our investments; and

 

   

restrictions on the issuance of securities;

each of which may make it difficult for us to complete our initial business combination.

In addition, we may have imposed upon us burdensome requirements, including:

 

   

registration as an investment company with the SEC;

 

   

adoption of a specific form of corporate structure; and

 

   

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

We do not believe that our anticipated principal activities will subject us to the Investment Company Act. The proceeds held in the trust account may be invested by the trustee only in U.S. government treasury bills with a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds investing solely in U.S. treasuries and meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act. Because the investment of the proceeds will be restricted to these instruments, we believe we will meet the requirements for the exemption provided in Rule 3a-1 promulgated under 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 consummate our initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.

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

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

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

Under the DGCL, stockholders may be held liable for claims by third parties against a corporation to the extent of distributions received by them in a dissolution. The pro rata portion of our trust account distributed to

 

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our public stockholders upon the redemption of our public shares in the event we do not complete our initial business combination within the required time period may be considered a liquidating distribution under Delaware law. If a corporation complies with certain procedures set forth in Section 280 of the DGCL intended to ensure that it makes reasonable provision for all claims against it, including a 60-day notice period during which any third-party claims can be brought against the corporation, a 90-day period during which the corporation may reject any claims brought, and an additional 150-day waiting period before any liquidating distributions are made to stockholders, any liability of stockholders with respect to a liquidating distribution is limited to the lesser of such stockholder’s pro rata share of the claim or the amount distributed to the stockholder, and any liability of the stockholder would be barred after the third anniversary of the dissolution. However, it is our intention to redeem our public shares as soon as reasonably possible following the 24th month from the closing of this offering (or the end of any Extension Period) in the event we do not complete our initial business combination and, therefore, we do not intend to comply with those procedures.

Because we do not intend to comply with Section 280, Section 281(b) of the DGCL requires us to adopt a plan, based on facts known to us at such time that will provide for our payment of all existing and pending claims or claims that may be potentially brought against us within the 10 years following our dissolution. However, because we are a blank check company, rather than an operating company, and our operations will be limited to searching for prospective target businesses to acquire, the only likely claims to arise would be from our vendors (such as lawyers, investment bankers, consultants, etc.) or prospective target businesses. If our plan of distribution complies with Section 281(b) of the DGCL, any liability of stockholders with respect to a liquidating distribution is limited to the lesser of such stockholder’s pro rata share of the claim or the amount distributed to the stockholder, and any liability of the stockholder would likely be barred after the third anniversary of the dissolution. We cannot assure you that we will properly assess all claims that may be potentially brought against us. As such, our stockholders could potentially be liable for any claims to the extent of distributions received by them (but no more) and any liability of our stockholders may extend beyond the third anniversary of such date. Furthermore, if the pro rata portion of our trust account distributed to our public stockholders upon the redemption of our public shares in the event we do not complete our initial business combination within the required time period is not considered a liquidating distribution under Delaware law and such redemption distribution is deemed to be unlawful, then pursuant to Section 174 of the DGCL, the statute of limitations for claims of creditors could then be six years after the unlawful redemption distribution, instead of three years, as in the case of a liquidating distribution.

We may not hold an annual meeting of stockholders until after the consummation of our initial business combination.

In accordance with the NYSE corporate governance requirements, we are not required to hold an annual meeting of stockholders until no later than one year after our first fiscal year end following our listing on the NYSE. Under Section 211(b) of the DGCL, we are, however, required to hold an annual meeting of stockholders for the purposes of electing directors in accordance with our bylaws unless such election is made by written consent in lieu of such a meeting. We may not hold an annual meeting of stockholders to elect new directors prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, and thus we may not be in compliance with Section 211(b) of the DGCL, which requires an annual meeting. Therefore, if our stockholders want us to hold an annual meeting prior to our consummation of our initial business combination, they may attempt to force us to hold one by submitting an application to the Delaware Court of Chancery in accordance with Section 211(c) of the DGCL.

The forward purchase investors have the ability to excuse themselves from their obligation to purchase forward purchase shares for any reason.

Pursuant to the forward purchase agreements, the forward purchase investors may purchase up to an aggregate of 5,000,000 forward purchase shares for total gross proceeds of up to $50,000,000. We have agreed with one of our forward purchase investors that it will have the right to acquire up to $25,000,000 million of securities. At our option, the securities offered to the forward purchaser may be equity securities, convertible debt securities or non-convertible debt instruments. The form of securities offered are in our discretion, although the forward purchaser is not obligated to purchase any securities from us. Pursuant to the forward purchase

 

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agreements, if, upon notification of our intention to enter into an initial business combination, a forward purchase investor decides not to purchase such forward purchase shares for any reason, such forward purchase investor will be excused from its obligation to purchase such forward purchase shares. This excusal right could give the forward purchase investors significant influence over our decision of whether or not to proceed with an initial business combination with a particular target business. We may not be able to obtain any or enough additional funds to account for such shortfall, which may impact our ability to consummate an initial business combination. Any such shortfall would also reduce the amount of funds that we have available for working capital of the post-business combination company.

In evaluating a prospective target business for our initial business combination, our management may rely on the availability of all of the funds from the sale of the forward purchase shares to be used as part of the consideration to the sellers in the initial business combination. If the sale of some or all of the forward purchase shares fails to close, for any reason, we may lack sufficient funds to consummate our initial business combination.

We have entered into forward purchase agreements pursuant to which the forward purchase investors have committed to purchase the forward purchase shares for up to $50,000,000 in the aggregate, in a private placement to close immediately prior to the closing of our initial business combination. We have agreed with one of our forward purchase investors that it will have the right to acquire up to $25,000,000 million of securities. At our option, the securities offered to the forward purchaser may be equity securities, convertible debt securities or non-convertible debt instruments. The form of securities offered are in our discretion, although the forward purchaser is not obligated to purchase any securities from us. The funds from the sale of the forward purchase shares may be used as part of the consideration to the sellers in our initial business combination, expenses in connection with our initial business combination or for working capital in the post transaction company. Notwithstanding the foregoing, each forward purchase investor will have the right to be excused from its purchase obligation in connection with any specific business combination under certain circumstances as described in this prospectus.

If the sale of some or all of the forward purchase shares fails to close for any reason, including by reason of the forward purchase investors deciding not to purchase their forward purchase shares, we may lack sufficient funds to consummate our initial business combination. The forward purchase investors’ obligations to purchase forward purchase shares will be subject to fulfillment of customary closing conditions. In the event of any such failure to fund by the forward purchase investors, any obligation is so terminated or any such closing condition is not satisfied and not waived by the forward purchase investors, we may lack sufficient funds to consummate our initial business combination.

Our forward purchase investors have entered into contingent forward purchase agreements with us that provide for the purchase of an aggregate of up to 5,000,000 forward purchase shares, at a price of $10.00 per forward purchase share, in a private placement to close immediately prior to the closing of our initial business combination. We have agreed with one of our forward purchase investors that it will have the right to acquire up to $25,000,000 million of securities. At our option, the securities offered to the forward purchaser may be equity securities, convertible debt securities or non-convertible debt instruments. The form of securities offered are in our discretion, although the forward purchaser is not obligated to purchase any securities from us. Each forward purchase investor will have the right to be excused from its purchase obligation in connection with any specific business combination if, within five days following written notice delivered by us of our intention to enter into a specific business combination, the forward purchase investor notifies us that it has decided not to proceed with the purchase for any reason. If either forward purchase investor exercises such right, or otherwise fails to purchase the forward purchase shares allocated to it, such forward purchase investor will forfeit a pro rata portion of its interest in our sponsor or its right to purchase founder shares from our sponsor, as applicable. Any funds from the sale of the forward purchase shares may be used as part of the consideration to the sellers in the initial business combination, for expenses in connection with the initial business combination or for the combined company’s working capital needs.

Pursuant to the forward purchase agreements, we have agreed that we will use our commercially reasonable efforts (i) to file within 30 days after the closing of the initial business combination a registration statement with the SEC registering the resale of the forward purchase shares and the private units (and

 

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underlying securities) held by the forward purchase investors, (ii) to cause such registration statement to be declared effective as soon as practicable thereafter and (iii) to maintain the effectiveness of such registration statement until the earliest of (a) such date as all of the securities covered thereby have been sold or otherwise transferred and (b) the date all of the securities covered thereby can be sold publicly without restriction or limitation under Rule 144 under the Securities Act, and without the requirement to be in compliance with Rule 144(c)(1) under the Securities Act. We will bear the costs and expenses of filing such registration statement.

The grant of registration rights to our initial stockholders and their permitted transferees and the anchor investors may make it more difficult to complete our initial business combination, and the future exercise of such rights may adversely affect the market price of our Class A common stock.

Pursuant to an agreement to be entered into on or prior to the closing of this offering, at or after the time of our initial business combination, our initial stockholders and their permitted transferees and the anchor

 

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investors can demand that we register the resale of their founder shares after those shares convert to shares of our Class A common stock. In addition, our sponsor and its permitted transferees can demand that we register the resale of the private placement warrants and the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the private placement warrants, and holders of warrants that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans may demand that we register the resale of such warrants or the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of such warrants. We will bear the cost of registering these securities. The registration and availability of such a significant number of securities for trading in the public market may have an adverse effect on the market price of our Class A common stock. In addition, the existence of the registration rights may make our initial business combination more costly or difficult to complete. This is because the stockholders of the target business may increase the equity stake they seek in the combined entity or ask for more cash consideration to offset the negative impact on the market price of our Class A common stock that is expected when the common stock owned by our initial stockholders or their permitted transferees, the private placement warrants owned by our sponsor or their permitted transferees, warrants issued in connection with working capital loans or Class A common stock issuable upon conversion of the founder shares held by the anchor investors are registered for resale.

Because we are neither limited to evaluating target businesses in a particular industry nor have we selected any specific target businesses with which to pursue our initial business combination, you will be unable to ascertain the merits or risks of any particular target business’s operations.

We may seek to complete a business combination with an operating company in any industry or sector, but we will not, under our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, be permitted to effectuate our initial business combination solely with another blank check company or similar company with nominal operations. Because we have not yet selected or approached any specific target business with respect to a business combination, there is no basis to evaluate the possible merits or risks of any particular target business’s operations, results of operations, cash flows, liquidity, financial condition or prospects. To the extent we complete our initial business combination, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in the business operations with which we combine. For example, if we combine with a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of sales or earnings, we may be affected by the risks inherent in the business and operations of a financially unstable or a development stage entity. Although our officers and directors will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we cannot assure you that we will properly ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors or that we will have adequate time to complete due diligence. Furthermore, some of these risks may be outside of our control and leave us with no ability to control or reduce the chances that those risks will adversely impact a target business. We also cannot assure you that an investment in our units will not ultimately prove to be less favorable to investors than a direct investment, if such opportunity were available, in a target business. Accordingly, any stockholders or warrant holders who choose to remain a stockholder or warrant holder following our initial business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such stockholders or warrant holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.

We may seek acquisition opportunities in industries outside of the software and technology-enabled services industry (which industries may or may not be outside of our management’s area of expertise).

Although we intend to focus on identifying business combination targets in the software and technology-enabled services industry, we will consider a business combination outside of the software and technology-enabled services industry (which industries may be outside our management’s area of expertise) if a business combination target is presented to us and we determine that such target offers an attractive acquisition opportunity for our company or we are unable to identify a suitable candidate in the software and technology-enabled services industry. Although our management will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in any particular business combination target, we may not adequately ascertain or assess all of the risks. An investment in our units may ultimately prove to be less favorable to investors in this offering than a direct investment, if an opportunity were available, in a business combination target.

 

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In the event we elect to pursue an acquisition outside of the software and technology-enabled services industry, our management’s expertise may not be directly applicable to its evaluation or operation, and the information contained in this prospectus regarding the software and technology-enabled services industry would not be relevant to an understanding of the business that we elect to acquire.

Because we intend to seek a business combination with a target business in the software and technology-enabled services industry, we expect our future operations to be subject to risks associated with this industry.

Business combinations with businesses in the software and technology-enabled services industry entail special considerations and risks. If we are successful in completing a business combination with such a target business, we may be subject to, and possibly adversely affected by, the following risks:

 

   

if we do not develop successful new products or improve existing ones, our business will suffer;

 

   

we may invest in new lines of business that could fail to attract or retain users or generate revenue;

 

   

we will face significant competition and if we are not able to maintain or improve our market share, our business could suffer;

 

   

the loss of one or more members of our management team, or our failure to attract and retain other highly qualified personnel in the future, could seriously harm our business;

 

   

if our security is compromised or if our platform is subjected to attacks that frustrate or thwart our users’ ability to access our products and services, our users, advertisers, and partners may cut back on or stop using our products and services altogether, which could seriously harm our business;

 

   

malware, viruses, hacking and phishing attacks, spamming, and improper or illegal use of our products could seriously harm our business and reputation;

 

   

if we are unable to successfully grow our user base and further monetize our products, our business will suffer;

 

   

if we are unable to protect our intellectual property, the value of our brand and other intangible assets may be diminished, and our business may be seriously harmed;

 

   

we may be subject to regulatory investigations and proceedings in the future, which could cause us to incur substantial costs or require us to change our business practices in a way that could seriously harm our business;

 

   

components used in our products may fail as a result of a manufacturing, design, or other defect over which we have no control, and render our devices inoperable;

 

   

an inability to manage rapid change, increasing consumer expectations and growth;

 

   

an inability to build strong brand identity and improve subscriber or customer satisfaction and loyalty;

 

   

an inability to deal with our subscribers’ or customers’ privacy concerns;

 

   

an inability to license or enforce intellectual property rights on which our business may depend;

 

   

an inability by us, or a refusal by third parties, to license content to us upon acceptable terms;

 

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potential liability for negligence, copyright, or trademark infringement or other claims based on the nature and content of materials that we may distribute;

 

   

competition for the leisure and entertainment time and discretionary spending of subscribers or customers, which may intensify in part due to advances in technology and changes in consumer expectations and behavior; and

 

   

disruption or failure of our networks, systems or technology as a result of computer viruses, “cyber-attacks,” misappropriation of data or other malfeasance, as well as outages, natural disasters, terrorist attacks, accidental releases of information or similar events.

Any of the foregoing could have an adverse impact on our operations following a business combination. However, our efforts in identifying prospective target businesses will not be limited to businesses in the software and technology-enabled services industry. Accordingly, if we acquire a target business in another industry, these risks we will be subject to risks attendant with the specific industry in which we operate or target business which we acquire, which may or may not be different than those risks listed above.

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

Although we have identified general criteria and guidelines for evaluating prospective target businesses, it is possible that a target business with which we enter into our initial business combination will not have all of these positive attributes. If we complete our initial business combination with a target that does not meet some or all of these criteria and guidelines, such combination may not be as successful as a combination with a business that does meet all of our general criteria and guidelines. In addition, if we announce a prospective business combination with a target that does not meet our general criteria and guidelines, a greater number of stockholders may exercise their redemption rights, which may make it difficult for us to meet any closing condition with a target business that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. In addition, if stockholder approval of the transaction is required by applicable law or stock exchange rules, or we decide to obtain stockholder approval for business or other 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 receive only approximately $10.00 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.

We may seek acquisition opportunities with an early stage company, a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of revenue or earnings, which could subject us to volatile revenues or earnings, intense competition and difficulties in obtaining and retaining key personnel.

To the extent we complete our initial business combination with an early stage company, a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of sales or earnings, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in the operations of the business with which we combine. These risks include investing in a business without a proven business model and with limited historical financial data, volatile revenues or earnings, intense competition and difficulties in obtaining and retaining key personnel. Although our officers and directors will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we may not be able to properly ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors and we may not have adequate time to complete due diligence. Furthermore, some of these risks may be outside of our control and leave us with no ability to control or reduce the chances that those risks will adversely impact a target business.

 

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We are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or from an independent accounting firm, and consequently, you may have no assurance from an independent source that the price we are paying for the business is fair to our company from a financial point of view.

Unless we complete our initial business combination with an affiliated entity, we are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA or from an independent accounting firm that the price we are paying is fair to our company 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.

We may issue additional shares of Class A common stock or preferred stock to complete our initial business combination or under an employee incentive plan after completion of our initial business combination. We may also issue shares of Class A common stock upon the conversion of the Class B common stock at a ratio greater than one-to-one at the time of our initial business combination as a result of the anti-dilution provisions described herein. Any such issuances would dilute the interest of our stockholders and likely present other risks.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will authorize the issuance of up to 200,000,000 shares of Class A common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, and 20,000,000 shares of Class B common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, and 1,000,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $0.0001 per share. Immediately after this offering, there will be 162,000,000 and 13,750,000 (assuming in each case, that the underwriters have not exercised their over-allotment option) authorized but unissued shares of Class A common stock and Class B common stock available, respectively, for issuance, which amount takes into account shares reserved for issuance upon exercise of outstanding warrants but not the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon the conversion of the Class B common stock. Shares of Class B common stock are automatically convertible into shares of our Class A common stock at the time of our initial business combination, initially at a one-for-one ratio but subject to adjustment as set forth herein.

We may issue a substantial number of additional shares of Class A common stock and may issue shares of preferred stock, in order to complete our initial business combination (including pursuant to a specified future issuance) or under an employee incentive plan after completion of our initial business combination. We may also issue shares of Class A common stock upon conversion of the Class B common stock at a ratio greater than one-to-one at the time of our initial business combination as a result of the anti-dilution provisions described herein. However, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide, among other things, that prior to our initial business combination, we may not issue additional shares of capital stock that would entitle the holders thereof to (i) receive funds from the trust account or (ii) vote as a class with our public shares (a) on any initial business combination or (b) to approve an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to (1) extend the time we have to consummate a business combination beyond 18 months from the closing of this offering or (2) amend the foregoing provisions. The issuance of additional shares of common or preferred stock:

 

   

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

 

   

may subordinate the rights of holders of common stock if preferred stock is issued with rights senior to those afforded our common stock;

 

   

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

 

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

 

   

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

 

   

may not result in adjustment to the exercise price of our warrants.

Resources could be wasted in researching acquisitions that are not completed, which could materially adversely affect subsequent attempts to locate and acquire or merge with another business. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.

We anticipate that the investigation of each specific target business and the negotiation, drafting and execution of relevant agreements, disclosure documents and other instruments will require substantial management time and attention and substantial costs for accountants, attorneys and others. If we decide not to complete a specific initial business combination, the costs incurred up to that point for the proposed transaction likely would not be recoverable. Furthermore, if we reach an agreement relating to a specific target business, we may fail to complete our initial business combination for any number of reasons including those beyond our control. Any such event will result in a loss to us of the related costs incurred which could materially adversely affect subsequent attempts to locate and acquire or merge with another business. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.

We may engage one or more of our underwriters or one of their respective affiliates to provide additional services to us after this offering, which may include acting as financial advisor in connection with an initial business combination or as placement agent in connection with a related financing transaction. Our underwriters are entitled to receive deferred commissions that will released from the trust only on a completion of an initial business combination. These financial incentives may cause them to have potential conflicts of interest in rendering any such additional services to us after this offering, including, for example, in connection with the sourcing and consummation of an initial business combination.

We may engage one or more of our underwriters or one of their respective affiliates to provide additional services to us after this offering, including, for example, identifying potential targets, providing financial advisory services, acting as a placement agent in a private offering or arranging debt financing. We may pay such underwriter or its affiliate fair and reasonable fees or other compensation that would be determined at that time in an arm’s length negotiation; provided that no agreement will be entered into with any of the underwriters or their respective affiliates and no fees or other compensation for such services will be paid to any of the underwriters or their respective affiliates prior to the date that is 60 days from the date of this prospectus, unless such payment would not be deemed underwriters’ compensation in connection with this offering. The underwriters are also entitled to receive deferred commissions that are conditioned on the completion of an initial business combination. The underwriters’ or their respective affiliates’ financial interests tied to the consummation of a business combination transaction may give rise to potential conflicts of interest in providing any such additional services to us, including potential conflicts of interest in connection with the sourcing and consummation of an initial business combination.

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 or directors 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 and directors. Our officers and directors also

 

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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 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 “Proposed Business—Effecting our initial business combination—Selection 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 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 sponsor, officers or directors, potential conflicts of interest still may exist and, as a result, the terms of the business combination may not be as advantageous to our company and our public stockholders as they would be absent any conflicts of interest.

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

On June 25, 2021, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 7,187,500 founder shares (up to 937,500 of which are subject to forfeiture by our sponsor depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised) for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000, or $0.004 per share. If we increase or decrease the size of this offering, we will effect a capitalization or share repurchase or redemption or other appropriate mechanism, as applicable, immediately prior to the consummation of this offering in such amount as to maintain the number of founder shares at 20% of our issued and outstanding common stock upon the consummation of this offering. The founder shares will be worthless if we do not complete an initial business combination. In September 2021, our sponsor expects to transfer an aggregate of 25,000 founder shares to each of our independent director nominees and our special advisor at their original purchase price. In addition, our sponsor has committed to purchase an aggregate of 7,000,000 (or 7,750,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) private placement warrants, each exercisable for one share of our Class A common stock, for a purchase price of $7,000,000 in the aggregate (or $7,750,000 in the aggregate if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), or $1.00 per warrant, that will also be worthless if we do not complete our initial business combination. Each private placement warrant may be exercised for one share of Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as provided herein.

The founder shares are identical to the shares of common stock included in the units being sold in this offering, except that: (i) the founder shares are subject to certain transfer restrictions, as described in more detail below; (ii) our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to: (a) waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and any public shares held by them in connection with the completion of our initial business combination; (b) waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and any public shares held by them in connection with a stockholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (1) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemptions in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we have not consummated our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or (2) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity; and (c) waive their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any founder shares they hold if we fail to complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering (although they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any public shares they hold if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame); (iii) the founder shares are automatically convertible into shares of our Class A common

 

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stock at the time of our initial business combination on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment pursuant to certain anti-dilution rights, as described in more detail below; and (iv) the founder shares are entitled to registration rights. In addition, our other directors and officers have also entered into the letter agreement, which imposes the same obligations on them with respect to any public shares acquired by them.

The personal and financial interests of our sponsor, officers and directors may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business combination, completing an initial business combination and influencing the operation of the business following the initial business combination. This risk may become more acute as the 24-month deadline following the closing of this offering nears, which is the deadline for the completion of our initial business combination.

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

Although we have no commitments as of the date of this prospectus to issue any notes or other debt securities, or to otherwise incur outstanding debt following this offering, we may choose to incur substantial debt to complete our initial business combination and affiliates of our sponsor could potentially provide such financing. We have agreed that we will not incur any indebtedness unless we have obtained from the lender a waiver of any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to the monies held in the trust account. As such, no issuance of debt will affect the per share amount available for redemption from the trust account. Nevertheless, the incurrence of debt could have a variety of negative effects, including:

 

   

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

 

   

acceleration of our obligations to repay the indebtedness even if we make all principal and interest payments when due if we breach certain covenants that require the maintenance of certain financial ratios or reserves without a waiver or renegotiation of that covenant;

 

   

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

 

   

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

 

   

our inability to pay dividends on our 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 common stock if declared, expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions and other general corporate purposes;

 

   

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

 

   

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

 

   

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

 

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We may only be able to complete one business combination with the proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, which will cause us to be solely dependent on a single business which may have a limited number of products or services. This lack of diversification may materially negatively impact our operations and profitability.

The net proceeds from this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants will provide us with up to $250,000,000 (or $287,500,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) that we may use to complete our initial business combination (which includes $8,750,000 or, up to $10,062,500 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full, of deferred underwriting commissions being held in the trust account, and excludes an aggregate of $2,000,000 in estimated offering and working capital expenses).

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

 

   

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

 

   

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

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

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

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

We may attempt to complete our initial business combination with a private company about which little information is available, which may result in a business combination with a company that is not as profitable as we suspected, if at all.

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

 

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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 do not agree.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will not provide a specified maximum redemption threshold, except that we will only redeem our public shares so long as, after payment of the deferred underwriting commissions and after such redemptions, will be at least $5,000,001 (i) in the case of our initial business combination, either prior to or upon consummation of such initial business combination, after payment of the deferred underwriting commission or (ii) in the case of an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (a) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemptions in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we have not consummated our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or (b) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, upon such amendment (in each case such that we do not then become subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules), or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement that may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. As a result, we may be able to complete our initial business combination even though a substantial majority of our public stockholders do not agree with the transaction and have redeemed their shares or, if we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, have entered into privately negotiated agreements to sell their shares to our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or any of their affiliates. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all shares of 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, all shares of common stock submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof, and we instead may search for an alternate business combination.

In order to effectuate an initial business combination, blank check companies have, in the recent past, amended various provisions of their charters and modified governing instruments, including their warrant agreements. We cannot assure you that we will not seek to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or governing instruments in a manner that will make it easier for us to complete our initial business combination that some of our stockholders may not support.

In order to effectuate an initial business combination, blank check companies have, in the recent past, amended various provisions of their charters and modified governing instruments, including their warrant agreements. For example, blank check companies have amended the definition of business combination, increased redemption thresholds extended the time to consummate an initial business combination and, with respect to their warrants, amended their warrant agreements to require the warrants to be exchanged for cash and/or other securities. We cannot assure you that we will not seek to amend our charter or governing instruments, including to extend the time to consummate an initial business combination in order to effectuate our initial business combination.

Certain provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation that relate to our pre-business combination activity (and corresponding provisions of the agreement governing the release of funds from our trust account) may be amended with the approval of holders of at least 65% of our common stock, which is a lower amendment threshold than that of some other blank check companies. It may be easier for us, therefore, to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to facilitate the completion of an initial business combination that some of our stockholders may not support.

Some other blank check companies have a provision in their charter which prohibits the amendment of certain of its provisions, including those which relate to a company’s pre-business combination activity, without approval by holders of a certain percentage of the company’s stockholders. In those companies, amendment of these provisions typically requires approval by holders holding between 90% and 100% of the company’s public

 

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shares. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that any of its provisions related to pre-business combination activity (including the requirement to deposit proceeds of this offering and the private placement warrants into the trust account and not release such amounts except in specified circumstances) may be amended if approved by holders of at least 65% of our common stock who attend and vote in a stockholder meeting, and corresponding provisions of the trust agreement governing the release of funds from our trust account may be amended if approved by holders of at least 65% of our outstanding common stock. In all other instances, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that it may be amended by holders of a majority of our outstanding common stock, subject to applicable provisions of the DGCL or applicable stock exchange rules. Unless specified in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or bylaws, or as required by applicable law or stock exchange rules, the affirmative vote of a majority of the outstanding shares of our common stock that are voted is required to approve any such matter voted on by our stockholders, and, prior to our initial business combination, the affirmative vote of holders of a majority of the outstanding shares of our Class B common stock is required to approve the election or removal of directors. Our initial stockholders, who will beneficially own 20% of our common stock upon the closing of this offering (assuming they do not purchase any units in this offering), may participate in any vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and/or trust agreement and will have the discretion to vote in any manner they choose. As a result, we may be able to amend the provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation which will govern our pre-business combination behavior more easily than some other blank check companies, and this may increase our ability to complete our initial business combination with which you do not agree.

Our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed, pursuant to a written agreement, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (i) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemptions 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 18 months from the closing of this offering or (ii) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, unless we provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their shares of Class A common stock upon approval of any such amendment at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, divided by the number of then outstanding public shares. These agreements are contained in a letter agreement that we have entered into with our sponsor, officers and directors. Our public stockholders are not parties to, or third-party beneficiaries of, these agreements and, as a result, will not have the ability to pursue remedies against our sponsor, officers or directors for any breach of these agreements. As a result, in the event of a breach, our stockholders would need to pursue a stockholder derivative action, subject to applicable law.

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

Certain agreements, including the letter agreement among us and our sponsor, officers and directors, and the registration rights agreement among us and our initial stockholders and the anchor investors, may be amended without stockholder approval. These agreements contain various provisions, including transfer restrictions on our founder shares, that our public stockholders might deem to be material. While we do not expect our board of directors to approve any amendment to any of these agreements prior to our initial business combination, it may be possible that our board of directors, in exercising its business judgment and subject to its fiduciary duties, chooses to approve one or more amendments to any such agreement in connection with the consummation of our initial business combination. Any such amendments would not require approval from our stockholders, may result in the completion of our initial business combination that may not otherwise have been possible, and may have an adverse effect on the value of an investment in our securities.

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.

Although we believe that the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants will represent sufficient equity capital to allow us to complete our initial business combination, because we have

 

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not yet selected any prospective target business we cannot ascertain the capital requirements for any particular transaction. If the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants prove to be insufficient, either because of the size of our initial business combination, the depletion of the available net proceeds in search of a target business, the obligation to redeem for cash a significant number of shares from 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. We cannot assure you that such financing will be available on acceptable terms, if at all. To the extent that additional financing proves to be unavailable when needed to complete our initial business combination, we would be compelled to either restructure the transaction or abandon that particular business combination and seek an alternative target business candidate. In addition, even if we do not need additional financing to complete our initial business combination, we may require such financing to fund the operations or growth of the target business. The failure to secure additional financing could have a material adverse effect on the continued development or growth of the target business. None of our sponsor, officers, directors or stockholders or any of their respective affiliates is required to provide any financing to us in connection with or after our initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account, and our warrants will expire worthless.

Our initial stockholders and anchor investors will control the election of our board of directors until consummation of our initial business combination and will hold a substantial interest in us. As a result, they will elect all of our directors prior to our initial business combination and may exert a substantial influence on actions requiring a stockholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support.

Upon the closing of this offering, holders of our founder shares will own 20% of our outstanding common stock (assuming they do not purchase any units in this offering). In addition, prior to our initial business combination, holders of our Class B common stock, all of which are held by our initial stockholders and anchor investors, will have the right to appoint all of our directors and may remove members of our board of directors for any reason. Holders of our public shares will have no right to vote on the election of directors during such time. These provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation may only be amended by holders of a majority of at least 90% of the outstanding shares of our Class B common stock voting at a stockholder meeting. As a result, you will not have any influence over the election of directors prior to our initial business combination.

Neither our initial stockholders nor, to our knowledge, any of our officers or directors, have any current intention to purchase additional securities, other than as disclosed in this prospectus. Factors that would be considered in making such additional purchases would include consideration of the current trading price of our Class A common stock. In addition, as a result of their substantial ownership in our company, our initial stockholders may exert a substantial influence on other actions requiring a stockholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support, including amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and approval of major corporate transactions.

If our initial stockholders purchase any additional shares of common stock in the aftermarket or in privately negotiated transactions, this would increase their influence over these actions. Accordingly, our initial stockholders will exert significant influence over actions requiring a stockholder vote.

Since only holders of our Class B common stock will have the right to vote on the election of directors, upon the listing of our shares on the NYSE, the NYSE may consider us to be a “controlled company” within the meaning of the NYSE rules and, as a result, we may qualify for exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements.

After completion of this offering, only holders of our Class B common stock will have the right to vote on the election of directors. As a result, the NYSE may consider us to be a “controlled company” within the

 

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meaning of the NYSE corporate governance standards. Under the NYSE corporate governance standards, a company of which more than 50% of the voting power is held by an individual, group or another company is a “controlled company” and may elect not to comply with certain corporate governance requirements, including the requirements that:

 

   

we have a board that includes a majority of ‘independent directors,’ as defined under the rules of the NYSE;

 

   

we have a compensation committee of our board that is comprised entirely of independent directors with a written charter addressing the committee’s purpose and responsibilities; and

 

   

we have a nominating and corporate governance committee of our board that is comprised entirely of independent directors with a written charter addressing the committee’s purpose and responsibilities

We do not intend to utilize these exemptions and intend to comply with the corporate governance requirements of the NYSE, 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 NYSE corporate governance requirements.

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 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 sponsor or its affiliates, without taking into account any founder shares held by our sponsor or such affiliates, as applicable, prior to such issuance) (the “newly issued price”), the exercise price of the warrants will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 115% of the newly issued price, and the $18.00 per share redemption trigger price will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 180% of the newly issued price. This may make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination with a target business.

Because we must furnish our stockholders with target business financial statements, we may lose the ability to complete an otherwise advantageous initial business combination with some prospective target businesses.

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

 

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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 19,500,000 warrants outstanding (including the 12,500,000 warrants included in the units and the 7,000,000 private placement warrants, assuming the underwriters’ over-allotment option is not exercised) in accordance with the guidance contained in ASC 815-40. 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. Our valuation model will utilize inputs such as assumed share prices, volatility, discount factors and other assumptions and may not be reflective of the price at which such warrants can be settled. 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.

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

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

Data privacy and security breaches, including, but not limited to, those resulting from cyber incidents or attacks, acts of vandalism or theft, computer viruses and/or misplaced or lost data, could result in information theft, data corruption, operational disruption, reputational harm, criminal liability and/or financial loss.

In searching for targets for our initial business combination, we may depend on digital technologies, including information systems, infrastructure and cloud applications and services, including those of third parties with which we may deal. Sophisticated and deliberate attacks on, or privacy and security breaches in, our systems or infrastructure, or the systems or infrastructure of third parties or the cloud, could lead to corruption or misappropriation of our assets, proprietary information, and sensitive or confidential data, including certain health information protected under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, or HIPAA, and other laws. As an early stage company without significant investments in data privacy or security protection, we may not be sufficiently protected against such occurrences and therefore could be liable for privacy and security breaches, including potentially those caused by any of our subcontractors. We may not have sufficient resources to adequately protect against, or to investigate and remediate any vulnerability to, cyber incidents or other incidents that result in a privacy or security breach. It is possible that any of these occurrences, or a combination of them, could have adverse consequences on our business and lead to reputational harm, criminal liability and/or financial loss.

 

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

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

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

 

   

costs and difficulties inherent in managing cross-border business operations and complying with commercial and legal requirements of overseas markets;

 

   

rules and regulations regarding currency redemption;

 

   

complex corporate withholding taxes on individuals;

 

   

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

 

   

tariffs and trade barriers;

 

   

regulations related to customs and import/export matters;

 

   

longer payment cycles;

 

   

tax consequences, such as tax law changes, including termination or reduction of tax and other incentives that the applicable government provides to domestic companies, and variations in tax laws as compared to the United States;

 

   

currency fluctuations and exchange controls;

 

   

rates of inflation;

 

   

challenges in collecting accounts receivable;

 

   

cultural and language differences;

 

   

employment regulations;

 

   

crime, strikes, riots, civil disturbances, terrorist attacks, natural disasters and wars;

 

   

deterioration of political relations with the United States;

 

   

obligatory military service by personnel; and

 

   

government appropriation of assets.

 

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

There may be tax consequences to our initial business combination that may adversely affect us.

While we expect to undertake any initial business combination so as to minimize taxes both to the acquired business and/or asset and us, such initial business combination might not meet the statutory requirements of a tax-free reorganization, or the parties might not obtain the intended tax-free treatment upon a transfer of shares or assets. A non-qualifying reorganization could result in the imposition of substantial taxes.

We would be subject to a second level of U.S. federal income tax on a portion of our income if we are determined to be a personal holding company (a “PHC”), for U.S. federal income tax purposes.

A U.S. corporation will generally be classified as a PHC for U.S. federal income tax purposes in a given taxable year if (i) at any time during the last half of such taxable year, five or fewer individuals (without regard to their citizenship or residency and including as individuals for this purpose certain entities such as certain tax-exempt organizations, pension funds, and charitable trusts) own or are deemed to own (pursuant to certain constructive ownership rules) more than 50% of the stock of the corporation by value and (ii) at least 60% of the corporation’s adjusted ordinary gross income, as determined for U.S. federal income tax purposes, for such taxable year consists of PHC income (which includes, among other things, dividends, interest, certain royalties, annuities and, under certain circumstances, rents).

Depending on the date and size of our initial business combination, it is possible that at least 60% of our adjusted ordinary gross income may consist of PHC income as discussed above. In addition, depending on the concentration of our stock in the hands of individuals, including the members of our sponsor and certain tax-exempt organizations, pension funds, and charitable trusts, it is possible that more than 50% of our stock will be owned or deemed owned (pursuant to the constructive ownership rules) by five or fewer such persons during the last half of a taxable year. Thus, no assurance can be given that we will not become a PHC following this offering or in the future. If we are or were to become a PHC in a given taxable year, we would be subject to an additional PHC tax, currently imposed at a rate of 20%, on our undistributed PHC income, which generally includes our taxable income, subject to certain adjustments.

Risks Relating to the Post-Business Combination Company

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

Even if we conduct extensive due diligence on a target business with which we combine, we cannot assure you that this diligence will identify all material issues that may be present with a particular target business, that it would be possible to uncover all material issues through a customary amount of due diligence, or that factors outside of the target business and outside of our control will not later arise. As a result of these factors, we may be forced to later write-down or write-off assets, restructure our operations, or incur impairment or other charges that could result in our reporting losses. Even if our due diligence successfully identifies certain risks, unexpected risks may arise and previously known risks may materialize in a manner not consistent with our preliminary risk analysis. Even though these charges may be non-cash items and not have an immediate impact on our liquidity, the fact that we report charges of this nature could contribute to negative market perceptions about us or our securities. In addition, charges of this nature may cause us to violate net worth or other covenants to which we may be subject as a result of assuming pre-existing debt held by a target business or by virtue of our obtaining post-combination debt financing. Accordingly, any stockholders or warrant holders who choose to

 

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remain a stockholder or warrant holder following our initial business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such stockholders or warrant holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.

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

We may structure our initial business combination so that the post-transaction company in which our public stockholders own shares will own or acquire less than 100% of the outstanding equity interests or assets of a target business, but we will only complete such business combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target business sufficient for us not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. We will not consider any transaction that does not meet such criteria. Even if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target, our stockholders prior to our initial business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post business combination company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in our initial business combination. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares of common stock in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock of a target, or issue a substantial number of new shares to third-parties in connection with financing our initial business combination. In such cases, we would acquire a 100% interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new shares of common stock, our stockholders immediately prior to such transaction could own less than a majority of our outstanding shares of common stock subsequent to such transaction. In addition, other minority stockholders may subsequently combine their holdings resulting in a single person or group obtaining a larger share of the company’s stock than we initially acquired. Accordingly, this may make it more likely that our management will not be able to maintain our control of the target business.

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

When evaluating the desirability of effecting our initial business combination with a prospective target business, our ability to assess the target business’s management may be limited due to a lack of time, resources or information.

Our assessment of the capabilities of the target’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. Accordingly, any stockholders or warrant holders who choose to remain a stockholder or warrant holder following our initial business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such stockholders or warrant holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.

The officers and directors of an acquisition candidate may resign upon completion of our initial business combination. The departure of a target business’s key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business. The role of an acquisition candidate’s key personnel upon the completion of our initial business combination cannot be ascertained at this time. Although we contemplate that certain members of an acquisition candidate’s management team will remain associated with the acquisition candidate following our initial business combination, it is possible that members of the management of an acquisition candidate will not wish to remain in place.

 

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If our management following our initial business combination is unfamiliar with U.S. securities laws, they may have to expend time and resources becoming familiar with such laws, which could lead to various regulatory issues.

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

Risks Relating to Our Management Team

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

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

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

Our key personnel may be able to remain with the company after the completion of our initial business combination only if they are able to negotiate employment or consulting agreements in connection with the business combination. Such negotiations would take place simultaneously with the negotiation of the business combination and could provide for such individuals to receive compensation in the form of cash payments and/or our securities for services they would render to us after the completion of the business combination. 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 initial 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 of our key personnel will remain with us after the completion of our initial business combination. We cannot assure you that any of our key personnel will remain in senior management or advisory positions with us. The determination as to whether any of our key personnel will remain with us will be made at the time of our initial business combination.

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

Our operations are dependent upon a relatively small group of individuals and in particular, we believe that our success depends on the continued service of our directors and officers, at least until we have completed our initial business combination. In addition, our directors and officers 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

 

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various business activities, including identifying potential business combinations and monitoring the related due diligence. 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. 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.

Our 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 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 officers and our Chairman is engaged in other business endeavors for which he may be entitled to substantial compensation and our officers and our Chairman are not obligated to contribute any specific number of hours per week to our affairs. Our independent directors may also serve as officers or board members for other entities. If our 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 officers’ and directors’ other business affairs, please see the section of this prospectus entitled “Management—Directors and Officers.” For a complete discussion of our officers’ and directors’ other business affairs, please see “Management—Directors and Executive Officers.”

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 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. Certain of our officers and directors are now, and all of them may in the future become, affiliated with entities that are engaged in a similar business.

Each of our officers and directors presently has, and any of them in the future may further have, fiduciary or contractual obligations to at least one other entity pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entity. Accordingly, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for an entity to which he or she has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she will honor these obligations to present such business combination opportunity to such entity, and only present it to us if such entity rejects the opportunity. 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 “Management—Directors, Director Nominees and Executive Officers,” “Management—Conflicts of Interest” and “Certain Relationships and Related Party Transactions.”

 

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Our officers, directors 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 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 officers, although we do not intend to do so. Nor do we have a policy that expressly prohibits any such persons from engaging for their own account in business activities of the types conducted by us. Accordingly, such persons or entities may have a conflict between their interests and ours.

Risks Relating to Our Securities

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 or warrants, potentially at a loss.

Our public stockholders will be entitled to receive funds from the trust account only upon the earliest to occur of: (i) the completion of our initial business combination, and then only in connection with those shares of Class A common stock that such stockholder properly elected to redeem, subject to the limitations described herein; (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly submitted 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 allow redemptions 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 18 months from the closing of this offering or (b) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity; and (iii) the redemption of all of our public shares if we have not completed our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering, subject to applicable law and as further described herein. In addition, if we are unable to complete an initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering for any reason, compliance with Delaware law may require that we submit a plan of dissolution to our then-existing stockholders for approval prior to the distribution of the proceeds held in our trust account. In that case, public stockholders may be forced to wait beyond 18 months from the closing of this offering before they receive funds from our trust account. In no other circumstances will a public stockholder have any right or interest of any kind to or in the trust account. Holders of warrants will not have any right to the proceeds held in the trust account with respect to the warrants. Accordingly, to liquidate your investment, you may be forced to sell your public shares or warrants, potentially at a loss.

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

We intend to apply to have our units listed on the NYSE on or promptly after the date of this prospectus and our Class A common stock and warrants listed on or promptly after their date of separation. Although after giving effect to this offering we expect to meet, on a pro forma basis, the minimum initial listing standards set forth in the NYSE listing standards, we cannot assure you that our securities will be, or will continue to be, listed on the NYSE in the future or prior to our initial business combination. In order to continue listing our securities on the NYSE prior to our initial business combination, we must maintain certain financial, distribution and share price levels. Generally, we must maintain a minimum market capitalization (generally $40,000,000) and a minimum number of holders of our securities (generally 400 round lot holders). Additionally, our units will not be traded after completion of our initial business combination and, in connection with our initial business combination, we will be required to demonstrate compliance with the NYSE’s initial listing requirements, which are more rigorous than the NYSE’s continued listing requirements, in order to continue to maintain the listing of our securities on the NYSE. For instance, our share price would generally be required to be at least $4.00 per share and our stockholders’ equity would generally be required to be at least $4,000,000. We cannot assure you that we will be able to meet those initial listing requirements at that time.

 

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If NYSE delists any of our securities from trading on its exchange and we are not able to list such securities on another national securities exchange, we expect such securities could be quoted on an over-the-counter market. If this were to occur, we could face significant material adverse consequences, including:

 

   

a limited availability of market quotations for our securities;

 

   

reduced liquidity for our securities;

 

   

a determination that our Class A common stock is a “penny stock” which will require brokers trading in our Class A common stock to adhere to more stringent rules and possibly result in a reduced level of trading activity in the secondary trading market for our securities;

 

   

a limited amount of news and analyst coverage; and

 

   

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

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

The nominal purchase price paid by our sponsor for the founder shares may significantly dilute the implied value of your public shares in the event we complete an initial business combination. In addition, the value of the sponsor’s founder shares will be significantly greater than the amount our sponsor paid to purchase such shares in the event we complete an initial business combination, even if the business combination causes the trading price of our shares of Class A common stock to materially decline.

Our sponsor has committed to invest an aggregate of $7,025,000 (assuming the underwriters’ overallotment option is not exercised), in us in connection with this offering, comprised of the $25,000 purchase price for the founder shares and the $7,000,000 (assuming the underwriters’ overallotment option is not exercised) purchase price for the private placement warrants. We are offering our units to the public at an offering price of $10.00 per unit, and the amount in our trust account is initially anticipated to be $10.00 per public share, implying an initial value of $10.00 per public share. However, because the sponsor paid only a nominal purchase price of approximately $0.004 per share for the founder shares, the value of your public shares may be significantly diluted as a result of the automatic conversion of our sponsor’s founder shares into shares of Class A common stock upon our completion of an initial business combination.

The following table shows the public stockholders’ and our sponsor’s investment per share and how these compare to the implied value of one share of Class A common stock upon the completion of our initial business combination. The following table assumes that (i) our valuation is $250,000,000 (which is the amount we would have in the trust account for our initial business combination assuming the underwriters’ overallotment option is not exercised), (ii) no interest is earned on the funds held in the trust account, (iii) no public shares are redeemed in connection with our initial business combination and (iv) all founder shares are held by our initial

 

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stockholders upon completion of our initial business combination, and does not take into account other potential impacts on our valuation at the time of the initial business combination such as (i) the value of our public and private placement warrants, (ii) the trading price of our Class A common stock, (iii) any equity issued or cash paid to the target’s sellers, (iv) any equity issued to other third party investors, or (v) the target’s business itself.

 

Class A common stock held by public stockholders

     25,000,000 shares  

Class B common stock held by our initial stockholders

     6,250,000 shares  

Total shares of common stock

     31,250,000 shares  

Total funds in trust at the initial business combination

   $ 250,000,000  

Public stockholders’ investment per share of Class A common stock(1)

   $ 10.00  

Our initial stockholders’ investment per share of Class B common stock(2)

   $ 0.004  

Implied value per share of Class A common stock upon the initial business combination(3)

   $ 8.00  

 

(1)

While the public stockholders’ investment is in both the public shares and the public warrants, for purposes of this table the full investment amount is ascribed to the public shares only.

(2)

Our initial stockholders’ total investment in the equity of the company, inclusive of the founder shares and the sponsor’s $7,000,000 (assuming the underwriters’ overallotment option is not exercised) investment in the private placement warrants, is $7,025,000. For purposes of this table, the full investment amount is ascribed to the founder shares only.

(3)

All founder shares held by our initial stockholders would automatically convert into shares of Class A common stock upon completion of our initial business combination.

Based on these assumptions, each share of Class A common stock would have an implied value of $8.00 per share upon completion of our initial business combination, representing a 20% decrease from the initial implied value of $10.00 per public share. While the implied value of $8.00 per share of Class A common stock upon completion of our initial business combination would represent a dilution to our public stockholders, this would represent a significant increase in value for our initial stockholders relative to the price they paid for each founder share. At $8.00 per share of Class A common stock, the 6,250,000 shares of Class A common stock that our initial stockholders would own upon completion of our initial business combination (assuming the underwriters’ overallotment option is not exercised and after automatic conversion of the 6,250,000 founder shares) would have an aggregate implied value of $50,000,000. As a result, even if the trading price of our Class A common stock significantly declines, the value of the founder shares held by our initial stockholders will be significantly greater than the amount our initial stockholders paid to purchase such shares. In addition, our initial stockholders could potentially recoup their entire investment in our company even if the trading price of our Class A common stock after the initial business combination is as low as $1.12 per share. As a result, our initial stockholders are likely to earn a substantial profit on their investment in us upon disposition of its shares of Class A common stock even if the trading price of our Class A common stock declines after we complete our initial business combination even if the value of the public shares declines significantly. Our initial stockholders may therefore be economically incentivized to complete an initial business combination with a riskier, weaker-performing or less-established target business than would be the case if our initial stockholders had paid the same per share price for the founder shares as our public stockholders paid for their public shares.

This dilution would increase to the extent that the anti-dilution provisions of the Class B common stock result in the issuance of shares of Class A common stock on a greater than one-to-one basis upon conversion of the Class B common stock at the time of our initial business combination and would become exacerbated to the extent that public stockholders seek redemptions from the trust. In addition, because of the anti-dilution protection in the founder shares, any equity or equity-linked securities issued in connection with our initial business combination would be disproportionately dilutive to our Class A common stock.

 

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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. You may have less assurance, therefore, that the offering price of our units properly reflects the value of such units than you would have in a typical offering of an operating company.

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

 

   

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

 

   

prior offerings of those companies;

 

   

our prospects for acquiring an operating business at attractive values;

 

   

a review of debt to equity ratios in leveraged transactions;

 

   

our capital structure;

 

   

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

 

   

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

 

   

other factors as were deemed relevant.

Although these factors were considered, the determination of our offering 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.

There is currently no market for our securities. Stockholders therefore have no access to information about prior market history on which to base their investment decision. Following this offering, the price of our securities may vary significantly due to one or more potential business combinations and general market or economic conditions, including as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak and other events (such as terrorist attacks, natural disasters or a significant outbreak of other infectious diseases). Furthermore, an active trading market for our securities may never develop or, if developed, it may not be sustained. You may be unable to sell your securities unless a market can be established and sustained.

We are not registering the issuance of shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants under the Securities Act or any state securities laws at this time, and such registration may not be in place when an investor desires to exercise warrants, thus precluding such investor from being able to exercise its warrants except on a “cashless basis” and potentially causing such warrants to expire worthless.

We are not registering the issuance of shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants under the Securities Act or any state securities laws at this time. However, under the terms of the

 

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warrant agreement, we have agreed, as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 20 business days after the closing of our initial business combination, to use our commercially reasonable efforts to file, and within 60 business days following our initial business combination have declared effective, a registration statement under the Securities Act covering the issuance of such shares and maintain a current prospectus relating to the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants, until the expiration of the warrants in accordance with the provisions of the warrant agreement. We cannot assure you that we will be able to do so if, for example, any facts or events arise which represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in the registration statement or prospectus, the financial statements contained or incorporated by reference therein are not current, complete or correct or the SEC issues a stop order. If the issuance of the shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants are not registered under the Securities Act, we will be required to permit holders to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis. However, no warrant will be exercisable for cash or on a cashless basis, and we will not be obligated to issue any shares to holders seeking to exercise their warrants, unless the issuance of the shares upon such exercise is registered or qualified under the securities laws of the state of the exercising holder or an exemption from registration is available. Notwithstanding the above, if our Class A common stock is at the time of any exercise of a warrant not listed on a national securities exchange such that it satisfies the definition of a “covered security” under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act, we may, at our option, require holders of public warrants who exercise their warrants to do so on a “cashless basis” in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act and, in the event we so elect, we will not be required to file or maintain in effect a registration statement, but we will use our commercially reasonable efforts to register or qualify the shares under applicable blue sky laws to the extent an exemption is not available. In no event will we be required to net cash settle any warrant, or issue securities or other compensation in exchange for the warrants in the event that we are unable to register or qualify the shares underlying the warrants under applicable state securities laws and no exemption is available. If the issuance of the shares upon exercise of the warrants is not so registered or qualified or exempt from registration or qualification, the holder of such warrant shall not be entitled to exercise such warrant and such warrant may have no value and expire worthless. In such event, holders who acquired their warrants as part of a purchase of units will have paid the full unit purchase price solely for the shares of Class A common stock included in the units. There may be a circumstance where an exemption from registration exists for holders of our private placement warrants to exercise their warrants while a corresponding exemption does not exist for holders of the public warrants included as part of units sold in this offering. In such an instance, our sponsor and its permitted transferees (which may include our directors and officers) would be able to exercise their warrants and sell the common stock underlying their warrants while holders of our public warrants would not be able to exercise their warrants and sell the underlying common stock. 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 shares of Class A common stock for sale under all applicable state securities laws. As a result, we may redeem the warrants as set forth above even if the holders are otherwise unable to exercise the warrants.

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

Our warrants will be issued in registered form under a warrant agreement between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as warrant agent, and us. The warrant agreement provides that the terms of the warrants may be amended without the consent of any holder to cure any ambiguity or correct any defective provision, but requires the approval by the holders of at least 50% of the then outstanding public warrants to make any change that adversely affects the interests of the registered holders of public warrants. Accordingly, we may amend the terms of the public warrants in a manner adverse to a holder if holders of at least 50% of the then outstanding public warrants approve of such amendment. Although our ability to amend the terms of the public warrants with the consent of at least 50% of the then outstanding public warrants is unlimited, examples of such amendments could be amendments to, among other things, increase the exercise price of the warrants, convert

 

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the warrants into cash or stock, shorten the exercise period or decrease the number of shares of our common stock purchasable upon exercise of a warrant.

Our warrant agreement will designate the courts of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by holders of our warrants, which could limit the ability of warrant holders to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with our company.

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

Notwithstanding the foregoing, these provisions of the warrant agreement will not apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal district courts of the United States of America are the sole and exclusive forum. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in any of our warrants shall be deemed to have notice of and to have consented to the forum provisions in our warrant agreement. If any action, the subject matter of which is within the scope the forum provisions of the warrant agreement, is filed in a court other than a court of the State of New York or the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (a “foreign action”) in the name of any holder of our warrants, such holder shall be deemed to have consented to: (i) the personal jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in the State of New York in connection with any action brought in any such court to enforce the forum provisions (an “enforcement action”), and (ii) having service of process made upon such warrant holder in any such enforcement action by service upon such warrant holder’s counsel in the foreign action as agent for such warrant holder.

This choice-of-forum provision may limit a warrant holder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with our company, which may discourage such lawsuits. Alternatively, if a court were to find this provision of our warrant agreement inapplicable or unenforceable with respect to one or more of the specified types of actions or proceedings, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters in other jurisdictions, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and may result in a diversion of the time and resources of our management and board of directors.

We may redeem your unexpired warrants prior to their exercise at a time that is disadvantageous to you, thereby making your warrants worthless.

We have the ability to redeem outstanding warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.01 per warrant, provided that the last reported sales price of our Class A common stock equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like and for certain issuances of Class A common stock and equity-linked securities as described above) for any 20 trading days within a 30 trading-day period ending on the third trading day prior to the date we send the notice of redemption to the warrant holders. If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may exercise our redemption right even if we are unable to register or qualify the underlying securities for sale under all applicable state securities laws. As a result, we may redeem the warrants as set forth above even if the holders are otherwise unable to exercise the warrants. Redemption of the outstanding warrants could force you to: (i) exercise your warrants and pay the exercise price therefor at a time when it may be disadvantageous for you to do so; (ii) sell your warrants at the then-current market price when you might otherwise wish to hold your warrants; or (iii) accept the nominal redemption price which, at the time the outstanding warrants are called for redemption, is likely to be substantially less than the market value of your warrants. None of the private

 

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placement warrants will be redeemable by us (except as described below under “Description of Securities—Warrants—Public Stockholders’ Warrants—Redemption of warrants for Class A common stock”) so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees.

In addition, we may redeem your warrants after they become exercisable for $0.10 per warrant upon a minimum of 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption provided that holders will be able to exercise their warrants prior to redemption for a number of Class A common stock determined based on the redemption date and the fair market value of our Class A common stock. Please see “Description of Securities—Redeemable Warrants—Public Stockholders’ Warrants—Redemption of warrants for Class A common stock.” Any such redemption may have similar consequences to a cash redemption described above. In addition, such redemption may occur at a time when the warrants are “out-of-the-money,” in which case you would lose any potential embedded value from a subsequent increase in the value of the Class A common stock had your warrants remained outstanding.

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

We will be issuing warrants to purchase 12,500,000 shares of our Class A common stock (or up to 14,375,000 shares of our Class A common stock if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), at a price of $11.50 per whole share (subject to adjustment as provided herein), as part of the units offered by this prospectus and, simultaneously with the closing of this offering, we will be issuing in a private placement an aggregate of 7,000,000 (or 7,750,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) private placement warrants, each exercisable to purchase one share of Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as provided herein. Our initial stockholders currently hold 7,187,500 founder shares (up to 937,500 of which are subject to forfeiture by our sponsor depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised). The founder shares are convertible into shares of Class A common stock on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment as set forth herein. In addition, if our sponsor, an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our officers and directors make any working capital loans, up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be converted into warrants, at the price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender. Such warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants. To the extent we issue shares of Class A common stock to effectuate our initial business combination, the potential for the issuance of a substantial number of additional shares of Class A common stock upon exercise of these warrants or conversion rights could make us a less attractive acquisition vehicle to a target business. Any such issuance will increase the number of outstanding shares of our Class A common stock and reduce the value of the Class A common stock issued to complete the business combination. Therefore, our warrants and founder shares may make it more difficult to effectuate a business combination or increase the cost of acquiring the target business.

The private placement warrants are identical to the warrants sold as part of the units in this offering except that, so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees: (i) they will not be redeemable by us (except as described below under “Description of Securities—Warrants—Public Stockholders’ Warrants—Redemption of Warrants for Class A common stock”); (ii) they (including the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of these warrants) may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by our sponsor until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination; (iii) they may be exercised by the holders on a cashless basis; and (iv) they (including the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of these warrants) are entitled to registration rights. The private placement warrants will not vote on any amendments to the warrant agreement discussed elsewhere in this prospectus.

Because each unit offered in this offering contains one-half of one redeemable warrant and only a whole warrant may be exercised, the units may be worth less than units of other blank check companies.

Each unit offered in this offering contains one-half of one redeemable warrant. Pursuant to the warrant agreement, no fractional warrants will be issued upon separation of the units, and only whole warrants will trade.

 

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This is different from other offerings similar to ours whose units include one share of Class A common stock and one whole warrant to purchase one whole share. We have established the components of the units in this way in order to reduce the dilutive effect of the warrants upon completion of a business combination since the warrants will be exercisable in the aggregate for one-half of the number of shares compared to units that each contain a whole warrant to purchase one whole share, thus making us, we believe, a more attractive business combination partner for target businesses. Nevertheless, this unit structure may cause our units to be worth less than if they included a warrant to purchase one whole share.

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

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will contain provisions that may discourage unsolicited takeover proposals that stockholders may consider to be in their best interests. These provisions include the ability of the board of directors to designate the terms of and issue new series of preferred shares, and the fact that prior to the completion of our initial business combination only holders of our shares of Class B common stock, which may make more difficult the removal of management and may discourage transactions that otherwise could involve payment of a premium over prevailing market prices for our securities.

We are also subject to anti-takeover provisions under Delaware law, which could delay or prevent a change of control. Together these provisions may make more difficult the removal of management and may discourage transactions that otherwise could involve payment of a premium over prevailing market prices for our securities.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will designate the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with our company or our company’s directors, officers or other employees.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware shall, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be the sole and exclusive forum for any (i) derivative action or proceeding brought on behalf of our company, (ii) action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any director, officer, employee or agent of our company to our company or our stockholders, or any claim for aiding and abetting any such alleged breach, (iii) action asserting a claim against our company or any director or officer of our company arising pursuant to any provision of the DGCL or our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or our bylaws, or (iv) action asserting a claim against us or any director or officer of our company governed by the internal affairs doctrine except for, as to each of (i) through (iv) above, any claim (a) 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), (b) which is vested in the exclusive jurisdiction of a court or forum other than the Court of Chancery, or (c) for which the Court of Chancery and the U.S. federal district court for the District of Delaware does not have subject matter jurisdiction, as to which the Court of Chancery and the federal district court for the District of Delaware shall concurrently be the sole and exclusive forums. Notwithstanding the foregoing, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that the exclusive forum provision will not apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal district courts of the United States of America shall be the sole and exclusive forum. Section 27 of the Exchange Act creates exclusive federal jurisdiction over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or the rules and regulations thereunder. Additionally, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the federal courts shall be the exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act against us or any of our directors, officers, other employees or agents. Section 22 of the Securities Act, however, created concurrent jurisdiction for

 

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federal and state courts over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Securities Act or the rules and regulation thereunder. Accordingly, there is uncertainty as to whether a court would enforce such provisions, and the enforceability of similar choice of forum provisions in other companies’ charter documents has been challenged in legal proceedings. While the Delaware courts have determined that such exclusive forum provisions are facially valid, a stockholder may nevertheless seek to bring a claim in a venue other than those designated in the exclusive forum provisions, and there can be no assurance that such provisions will be enforced by a court in those other jurisdictions. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in our securities shall be deemed to have notice of and to have consented to the forum provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, however, we note that investors cannot waive compliance with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. Although we believe this provision benefits us by providing increased consistency in the application of Delaware law in the types of lawsuits to which it applies, the provision may limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us and may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors and officers.

If any action the subject matter of which is within the scope the forum provisions is filed in a court other than a court located within the State of Delaware (a “foreign action”) in the name of any stockholder, such stockholder shall be deemed to have consented to: (i) the personal jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located within the State of Delaware in connection with any action brought in any such court to enforce the forum provisions (an “enforcement action”), and (ii) having service of process made upon such stockholder in any such enforcement action by service upon such stockholder’s counsel in the foreign action as agent for such stockholder.

This choice-of-forum provision may make it more costly for a stockholder to bring a claim, and it may also limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with our company or its directors, officers or other employees, which may discourage such lawsuits. Alternatively, if a court were to find this provision of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation inapplicable or unenforceable with respect to one or more of the specified types of actions or proceedings, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters in other jurisdictions, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and result in a diversion of the time and resources of our management and board of directors.

An investment in this offering may involve uncertain or adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences.

An investment in this offering may involve uncertain or adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences. For instance:

 

   

because there are no authorities that directly address instruments similar to the units we are issuing in this offering, the allocation an investor makes with respect to the purchase price of the unit between the share of Class A common stock and one-half of one warrant included in the unit could be challenged by the Internal Revenue Service of the United States (the “IRS”) or the courts.

 

   

if we make distributions on our Class A common stock, such distributions generally will be treated as dividends for U.S. federal income tax purposes to the extent of our current or accumulated earnings and profits. The ability of a holder to seek redemption of their shares may be viewed as a position with respect to substantially similar or related property which diminishes your risk of loss and thereby affects your ability to satisfy the holding period requirements for the dividends received deduction or the tax rate on qualified dividend income with respect to the time period prior to the approval of an initial business combination.

 

   

our warrants may be exercised on a cashless basis in certain situations as described in this prospectus. Although there is no direct legal authority as to the U.S. federal income tax treatment of an exercise of a warrant on a cashless basis, we intend to take the position that such exercise will

 

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not be taxable, either because the exercise is not a gain realization event or because it qualifies as a tax-free recapitalization. In the former case, it is unclear whether a holder’s holding period for the shares of our Class A common stock will commence on the date of exercise of the warrant or the day following the date of exercise of the warrant. In the latter case, the holding period of the Class A common stock would include the holding period of the exercised warrants. However, our position is not binding on the IRS and the IRS may treat a cashless exercise of a warrant as a taxable exchange.

 

   

any capital gain or loss you realize on a sale or other disposition of our Class A common stock will generally be long-term capital gain or loss if your holding period for the Class A common stock is more than one year. However, the redemption feature of the Class A common stock could affect your ability to satisfy the holding period requirements for the long-term capital gain tax rate with respect to the time period prior to the approval of an initial business combination.

See the section titled “United States Federal Income Tax Considerations” for a summary of the material United States Federal income tax considerations of an investment in our securities. Each prospective investor is urged to consult a tax advisor with respect to the specific tax consequences of the acquisition, ownership and disposition of our securities, including the applicability and effect of state, local, or foreign tax laws, as well as U.S. federal tax laws.

General Risk Factors

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

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

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

Information regarding performance by, or businesses associated with, members of our management team and their respective affiliates, including Berenson and Navigation Capital, is presented for informational purposes only. Any past experience and performance, including related to acquisitions, of members of our management team and their respective affiliates, including Berenson and Navigation Capital, is not a guarantee either: (i) that we will be able to successfully identify a suitable candidate for our initial business combination; or (ii) of any results with respect to any initial business combination we may consummate. You should not rely on the historical record of our management team’s or their affiliates’ performance, including that of Berenson and Navigation Capital, 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 Berenson or Navigation Capital or any of their funds.

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

We are an “emerging growth company” within the meaning of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act, and we may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are

 

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applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. As a result, our stockholders may not have access to certain information they may deem important. We could be an emerging growth company for up to five years, although circumstances could cause us to lose that status earlier, including if the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the end of any second quarter of a fiscal year, in which case we would no longer be an emerging growth company as of the end of such fiscal year. We cannot predict whether investors will find our securities less attractive because we will rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result of our reliance on these exemptions, the trading prices of our securities may be lower than they otherwise would be, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the trading prices of our securities may be more volatile.

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

Additionally, we are a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Item 10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K. Smaller reporting companies may take advantage of certain reduced disclosure obligations, including, among other things, providing only two years of audited financial statements. We will remain a smaller reporting company until the last day of the fiscal year in which (i) the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates exceeds $250 million as of the end of that fiscal year’s second fiscal quarter, or (ii) our annual revenues exceeded $100 million during such completed fiscal year and the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the end of that fiscal year’s second fiscal quarter. To the extent we take advantage of such reduced disclosure obligations, it may also make comparison of our financial statements with other public companies difficult or impossible.

 

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USE OF PROCEEDS

We are offering 25,000,000 units at an offering price of $10.00 per unit. We estimate that the net proceeds of this offering together with the funds we will receive from the sale of the private placement warrants will be used as set forth in the following table.

 

    

Without Over-
Allotment Option

   

Over-Allotment
Option Exercised

 

Gross proceeds

    

Gross proceeds from units offered to public(1)

   $ 250,000,000     $ 287,500,000  

Gross proceeds from private placement warrants offered in the private placement

     7,000,000       7,750,000  
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total gross proceeds

   $ 257,000,000     $ 295,250,000  

Estimated offering expenses(2)

    

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

   $ 5,000,000     $ 5,750,000  
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Legal fees and expenses

     300,000       300,000  

Accounting fees and expenses

     50,000       50,000  

Printing and engraving expenses

     10,000       10,000  

SEC expenses

     31,366       31,366  

FINRA expenses

     43,625       43,625  

Travel and road show

     20,000       20,000  

Directors and officers insurance premiums(7)

     425,000       425,000  

NYSE listing and filing fees

     85,000       85,000  

Miscellaneous expenses(4)

     35,009       35,009  
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total estimated offering expenses (other than underwriting commissions)

   $ 1,000,000     $ 1,000,000  
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Proceeds after estimated offering expenses

   $ 251,000,000     $ 288,500,000  
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Held in trust account(3)

   $ 250,000,000     $ 287,500,000  

% 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 estimated net proceeds not held in the trust account.(5)

 

    

Amount

    

% of Total

 

Legal, accounting, due diligence, travel and other expenses in connection with any business combination(6)

   $ 350,000        35.0

Legal and accounting fees related to regulatory reporting obligations

     150,000        15.0

Payment for office space, utilities, administrative and support services

     180,000        18.0

Working capital to cover miscellaneous expenses (including franchise taxes net of anticipated interest income)

     235,000        23.5
  

 

 

    

 

 

 

NYSE continued listing fees

     85,000        8.5
  

 

 

    

 

 

 

Total

   $ 1,000,000        100.0
  

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

(1)

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

(2)

A portion of the offering expenses will be paid from the proceeds of loans from our sponsor of up to $300,000 as described in this prospectus. As of June 25, 2021, we have not borrowed any amount under the promissory note with our sponsor. These loans will be repaid upon completion of this offering out of the

 

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  $1,000,000 of offering proceeds that has been allocated for the payment of offering expenses (other than underwriting commissions) not held in the trust account. These expenses are estimates only. In the event that offering expenses are less than as set forth in this table, any such amounts will be used for post-closing working capital expenses. In the event that the offering expenses are more than as set forth in this table, we may fund such excess with funds not held in the trust account.
(3)

The underwriters have agreed to defer underwriting commissions equal to 3.5% of the gross proceeds of this offering. Upon completion of our initial business combination, $8,750,000, which constitutes the underwriters’ deferred commissions (or up to $10,062,500 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) will be paid to the underwriters from the funds held in the trust account and the remaining funds, less amounts released to a separate account controlled by the trustee for disbursal to 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)

Includes organizational and administrative expenses and may include amounts related to above-listed expenses in the event actual amounts exceed estimates.

(5)

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 a 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 payment for office space, utilities, administrative and support services in the table above assumes the consummation of our initial business combination takes the maximum 18 months. Based on current interest rates, we would expect the trust account to generate approximately $500,000 of interest annually following the investment of such funds in specified U.S. Government Treasury bills or in specified money market funds; however, we can provide no assurances regarding this amount. This estimate assumes an interest rate of 0.20% per annum based upon current yields of securities in which the trust account may be invested. In addition, in order to fund working capital deficiencies or 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 expect to repay such loaned amounts out of the proceeds of the trust account released to us. Otherwise, such loans may be repaid only out of funds held outside the trust account. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants issued to our sponsor. The terms of such loans, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. 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.

(6)

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.

(7)

This amount represents the approximate amount of annualized director and officer liability insurance premiums we anticipate paying following the completion of this offering and until we complete a business combination.

The NYSE listing rules provide that at least 90% of the gross proceeds from this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants be deposited in a trust account. Of the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of

 

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the private placement warrants, $250,000,000 (or $287,500,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), including $8,750,000 (or up to $10,062,500 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) of deferred underwriting commissions, will, upon the consummation of this offering, be deposited into a U.S.-based trust account with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee. The funds in the trust account will be invested only in U.S. government treasury bills 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. Based on current interest rates, we estimate that the interest earned on the trust account will be approximately $500,000 per year, assuming an interest rate of 0.20% per year. We will not be permitted to withdraw any of the principal or interest held in the trust account except for the withdrawal of interest to pay our taxes, and the funds held in the trust account will not be released from the trust account until the earliest of: (i) the completion of our initial business combination; (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly submitted 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 allow redemptions 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 18 months from the closing of this offering or (b) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity; and (iii) the redemption of all of our public shares if we have not completed our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering, subject to applicable law. Based on current interest rates, we expect that interest earned on the trust account will be sufficient to pay our taxes.

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 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 redemption of our public shares, we may apply the balance of the cash released to us from the trust account for general corporate purposes, including for maintenance or expansion of operations of post-transaction businesses, the payment of principal or interest due on indebtedness incurred in completing our initial business combination, to fund the purchase of other businesses 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 will be sufficient to pay the costs and expenses to which such proceeds are allocated. This belief is based on the fact that while we may begin preliminary due diligence of a target business in connection with an indication of interest, we intend to undertake in-depth due diligence, depending on the circumstances of the relevant prospective acquisition, only after we have negotiated and signed a letter of intent or other preliminary agreement that addresses the terms of a business combination. 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 loan funds to, or invest in, us.

We will enter into an Administrative Services Agreement pursuant to which we will pay an affiliate of our sponsor a total of $10,000 per month, for up to 18 months, for office space, utilities, administrative and support services. 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. As of June 25, 2021, we have not borrowed any amount under the promissory note with our sponsor. These loans are non-interest bearing, unsecured and are due at the earlier of December 31, 2021 and the closing of this offering. These loans will be repaid upon completion of this offering out of the $1,000,000 of offering proceeds that has been allocated for the payment of offering expenses (other than underwriting commissions) not held in the trust account.

 

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In addition, in order to fund working capital deficiencies or 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 expect to repay such loaned amounts out of the proceeds of the trust account released to us. Otherwise, such loans may be repaid only out of funds held outside the trust account. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants issued to our sponsor. The terms of such loans, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. We do not expect to seek loans from parties other than our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor as we do not believe third parties will be willing to loan such funds and provide a waiver against any and all rights to seek access to funds in our trust account.

If we 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, officers, advisors or any of their affiliates may also purchase shares in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination. Please see “Proposed Business—Permitted purchases and other transaction with respect to our securities” for a description of how such persons will determine from which stockholders to seek to acquire shares. The price per share paid in any such transaction may be different than the amount per share a public stockholder would receive if it elected to redeem its shares in connection with our initial business combination. However, such persons have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such transactions. If they engage in such transactions, they will be restricted from making any such purchases when they are in possession of any material non-public information not disclosed to the seller or if such purchases are prohibited by Regulation M under the Exchange Act. 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.

We will only redeem our public shares so long as, after payment of the deferred underwriting commissions and after such redemptions, will be at least $5,000,001 (i) in the case of our initial business combination, either prior to or upon consummation of such initial business combination, after payment of the deferred underwriting commission or (ii) in the case of an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (a) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemptions in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we have not consummated our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or (b) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, upon such amendment (in each case so that we do not then become subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) and the agreement for our initial business combination may require 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 so that we cannot satisfy the net tangible asset requirement or any net worth or cash requirements, we would not proceed with the redemption of our public shares or the business combination, and instead may search for an alternate business combination.

Up to 11 anchor investors have expressed to us an interest in purchasing up to an aggregate of 24,700,000 units in this offering at the offering price of $10.00 per unit, and such allocations will be determined by the underwriters. Pursuant to such units, the anchor investors have not been granted any shareholder or other rights in addition to those afforded to our other public stockholders. Further, the anchor investors are not required to (i) hold any units, shares of Class A common stock or warrants they may purchase in this offering or thereafter for any amount of time, (ii) vote any shares of Class A common stock they may own at the applicable time in favor of our initial business combination or (iii) refrain from exercising their right to redeem their public shares at the time of our initial business combination. The anchor investors will have the same rights to the funds held in the trust account with respect to the shares of Class A common stock underlying the units they may purchase in this offering as the rights afforded to our other public stockholders.

 

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There can be no assurance that the anchor investors will acquire any units in this offering, or as to the amount of such units the anchor investors will retain, if any, prior to or upon the consummation of our initial business combination. There is also no guarantee that all 11 anchor investors will participate in the offering. In the event that the anchor investors purchase all of the units that they have expressed an interest in purchasing in this offering, hold all such units until prior to consummation of our initial business combination and vote their public shares in favor of our initial business combination, in addition to the founder shares, no affirmative votes from other public stockholders would be required to approve our initial business combination. The anchor investors are not required to vote any of their public shares in favor of our initial business combination or for or against any other matter presented for a stockholder vote.

A public stockholder will be entitled to receive funds from the trust account only upon the earliest to occur of: (i) the completion of our initial business combination, and then only in connection with those shares of Class A common stock that such stockholder properly elected to redeem, subject to the limitations described herein; (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly submitted 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 allow redemptions 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 18 months from the closing of this offering or (b) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity; and (iii) the redemption of all of our public shares if we have not completed our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering, subject to applicable law. In no other circumstances will a public stockholder have any right or interest of any kind to or in the trust account. Holders of warrants will not have any right to the proceeds held in the trust account with respect to the warrants.

Our forward purchase investors have entered into contingent forward purchase agreements with us that provide for the purchase of an aggregate of up to 5,000,000 forward purchase shares, at a price of $10.00 per forward purchase share, in a private placement to close immediately prior to the closing of our initial business combination. The terms of the forward purchase shares will generally be identical to the shares of Class A common stock included in the units being sold in this offering, except that they will have registration rights and rights of first refusal to purchase securities we may offer in connection with a future business combination financing, as described in the forward purchase agreements. We have agreed with one of our forward purchase investors that it will have the right to acquire up to $25,000,000 million of securities. At our option, the securities offered to the forward purchaser may be equity securities, convertible debt securities or non-convertible debt instruments. The form of securities offered are in our discretion, although the forward purchaser is not obligated to purchase any securities from us. Each forward purchase investor will have the right to be excused from its purchase obligation in connection with any specific business combination if, within five days following written notice delivered by us of our intention to enter into a specific business combination, the forward purchase investor notifies us that it has decided not to proceed with the purchase for any reason. If either forward purchase investor exercises such right, or otherwise fails to purchase the forward purchase shares allocated to it, such forward purchase investor will forfeit a pro rata portion of its interest in our sponsor or its right to purchase founder shares from our sponsor, as applicable. Any funds from the sale of the forward purchase shares may be used as part of the consideration to the sellers in the initial business combination, for expenses in connection with the initial business combination or for the combined company’s working capital needs.

Our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and any public shares held by them in connection with the completion of our initial business combination. Our other directors and officers have also entered into the letter agreement, which imposes the same obligations on them with respect to any public shares acquired by them. In addition, our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and any public shares held by them in connection with a stockholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (i) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemptions in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we have not consummated our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or (ii) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights

 

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or pre-initial business combination activity. In addition, the anchor investors also agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares. Our sponsor, directors and officers and anchor investors have also agreed to waive their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to their founder shares if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame. However, if our sponsor or any of our officers, directors or affiliates or the anchor investor acquires public shares in or after this offering, they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to such public shares if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame.

 

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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. In addition, our board of directors is not currently contemplating and does not anticipate declaring any stock dividends in the foreseeable future, except if we increase the size of this offering, in which case we will effect a capitalization or share repurchase or redemption or other appropriate mechanism immediately prior to the consummation of this offering in such amount as to maintain the number of founder shares at 20% of our issued and outstanding common stock upon the consummation of this offering. Further, if we incur any indebtedness in connection with our initial 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. 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 public 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 Class A common stock which may be redeemed for cash), by the number of outstanding shares of our Class A common stock.

At June 25, 2021, our net tangible book value was ($14,000), or approximately (0.00) per common share. After giving effect to the sale of 25,000,000 shares of Class A common stock included in the units we are offering by this prospectus (or 28,750,000 shares of Class A common stock if the underwriters’ over-allotment option 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 June 25, 2021 would have been $381,834 or $0.06 per share (or $415,525 or $0.06 per share if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), representing an immediate increase in net tangible book value (as decreased by the value of the 25,000,000 shares of Class A common stock that may be redeemed for cash, or 28,750,000 shares of Class A common stock if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) of $0.06 per share (or $0.06 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) to our initial stockholders as of the date of this prospectus and an immediate dilution to public stockholders from this offering of $10.00 per share. Total dilution to public stockholders from this offering will be $9.94 per share (or $9.94 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full).

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

 

    

Without Over-

Allotment

   

With Over-

Allotment

 

Public offering price

   $ 10.00     $ 10.00  

Net tangible book deficit before this offering

     (0.00     (0.00

Increase attributable to public stockholders

     0.06       0.06  
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Pro forma net tangible book value after this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants

     0.06       0.06  

Dilution to public stockholders

   $ 9.94     $ 9.94  
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Percentage of dilution to public stockholders

     99.39     99.42

For purposes of presentation, we have reduced our pro forma net tangible book value after this offering (assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option) by $224,645,466 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 tender offer or proxy materials (initially anticipated to be the aggregate amount held in trust two business days prior to the commencement of our tender offer or stockholders meeting, 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 shares of Class A common stock sold in this offering).

 

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

 

    

Shares Purchased

   

Total Consideration

   

Average price
per share

 
    

Number

    

Percentage

   

Amount

    

Percentage

 

Initial Stockholders(1)(2)

     6,250,000        20.00   $ 25,000        0.01   $ 0.004  

Public Stockholders

     25,000,000        80.00   $  250,000,000        99.99   $ 10.00  
  

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

 
     31,250,000        100.0   $ 250,025,000        100.0  
  

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

(1)

Assumes the full forfeiture of 937,500 shares of Class B common stock that are subject to forfeiture by our sponsor depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised.

(2)

Assumes conversion of the founder shares into Class A common stock on a one-for-one basis. The dilution to public stockholders would increase to the extent that the anti-dilution provisions of the founder shares result in the issuance of shares of Class A common stock on a greater than one-to-one basis upon such conversion.

The pro forma net tangible book value per share after this offering is calculated as follows:

 

    

Without Over-

allotment

   

With Over-

allotment

 

Net tangible book deficit before this offering

   $ (14,000   $ (14,000

Net proceeds from this offering and sale of the private placement warrants(1)

     251,000,000       288,500,000  

Plus: Offering costs paid in advance, excluded from tangible book value before this offering

     36,300       36,300  

Less: Deferred underwriting commissions

     (8,750,000     (10,062,500

Less: Warrant Liability

     (17,245,000     (19,558,750

Less: Proceeds held in trust subject to redemption(2)

     (224,645,466     (258,485,525
  

 

 

   

 

 

 
   $ 381,834     $ 415,525  
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Denominator:

    

Class B common stock outstanding prior to this offering

     7,187,500       7,187,500  

Class B common stock forfeited if over-allotment is not exercised

     (937,500     —    

Class A common stock included in the units offered

     25,000,000       28,750,000  

Less: Shares subject to redemption

     (25,000,000     (28,750,000
  

 

 

   

 

 

 
     6,250,000       7,187,500  
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

(1)

Expenses applied against gross proceeds include offering expenses of $1,000,000 and underwriting commissions of $5,000,000 payable at closing (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, initial stockholders, 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—Initial Business Combinations—Permitted Purchases of Our Securities.”

 

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CAPITALIZATION

The following table sets forth our capitalization at June 25, 2021 and as adjusted to give effect to the sale of our units and the private placement warrants and the application of the estimated net proceeds derived from the sale of such securities:

 

    

June 25, 2021

 
    

Actual

   

As Adjusted(1)

 

Note payable—related party(2)

   $ —       $ —    

Warrant Liability(3)

     —         17,245,000  

Deferred underwriting commissions

     —         8,750,000  

Class A common stock, subject to redemption(4)

     —         224,645,466  

Stockholders’ equity (deficit):

    

Preferred stock, $0.0001 par value, 1,000,000 shares authorized; no shares issued or outstanding (actual); 1,000,000 shares authorized; no shares issued or outstanding (as adjusted)

     —         —    

Common Stock

    

Class A common stock, $0.0001 par value, 200,000,000 shares authorized; no shares issued or outstanding (actual); 200,000,000 shares authorized; 0(5) shares outstanding (excluding 25,000,000 shares subject to redemption) (as adjusted)

     —         —    

Class B common stock, $0.0001 par value, 20,000,000 shares authorized (actual); 7,187,500(5) shares outstanding (actual); 20,000,000 shares authorized (as adjusted); 6,250,000(5) shares outstanding (as adjusted)

     719       625  

Additional paid-in capital(6)

     24,281       654,375  

Accumulated deficit

     (2,700     (273,166
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total stockholders’ equity

     22,300       381,834  
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total capitalization

   $ 22,300     $ 251,022,300  
  

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

(1)

Assumes the full forfeiture of 937,500 shares that are subject to forfeiture by our sponsor depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised. The proceeds of the sale of such shares will not be deposited into the trust account, the shares will not be eligible for redemption from the trust account nor will they be eligible to vote upon the initial business combination.

(2)

Our sponsor has agreed to loan us up to $300,000 to be used for a portion of the expenses of this offering. As of June 25, 2021, we had not borrowed any amount under the promissory note with our sponsor.

(3)

We will account for the warrants to be issued in connection with this offering (the 12,500,000 warrants included in the units and the 7,000,000 private placement warrants, assuming the underwriters’ over-allotment option is not exercised) in accordance with the guidance contained in ASC 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.

(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 equal to their pro rata share of 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 (which interest shall be net of taxes payable), subject to the limitations described herein whereby our net tangible assets will be maintained at a minimum of $5,000,001 following such redemptions, and any limitations (including, but not limited to, cash requirements) created by the terms of the proposed business combination. The “as adjusted” amount is presented net of proceeds allocated to the public warrants and net of allocated transaction costs related to this offering. The Class A Common Stock contains redemption rights that make them redeemable by our public stockholders.

 

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  Accordingly, they are classified within temporary equity in accordance with the guidance provided in ASC 480-10-S99-3A, and will be subsequently accreted to redemption value.
(5)

Actual share amount is prior to any forfeiture of founder shares by our sponsor and as adjusted share amount assumes no exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option.

(6)

The “as adjusted” additional paid-in capital calculation is equal to the “as adjusted” total stockholders’ equity of $381,834, less common stock (par value) of $625, less the accumulated deficit of $(273,166).

 

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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF

FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

Overview

We are a newly incorporated blank check company incorporated as a Delaware corporation and formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar transaction 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 potential business combination target. We intend to effectuate our initial business combination using cash from the proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, our capital stock, debt or a combination of cash, stock and debt.

The issuance of additional shares of our stock 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 founder shares resulted in the issuance of shares of Class A common stock on a greater than one-to-one basis upon conversion of the founder shares;

 

   

may subordinate the rights of holders of common stock if preferred stock is issued with rights senior to those afforded our common stock;

 

   

could cause a change of control if a substantial number of shares of our 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 stock ownership or voting rights of a person seeking to obtain control of us;

 

   

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

 

   

may not result in adjustment to the exercise price of our warrants.

Similarly, if we issue debt securities or otherwise incur significant indebtedness, 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 without a waiver or renegotiation of that covenant;

 

   

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

 

   

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

 

   

our inability to pay dividends on our 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 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;

 

   

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 June 25, 2021, we had cash of $25,000 and deferred offering costs of $36,300. Further, we expect to continue to incur significant costs in the pursuit of our acquisition

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. We will generate non-operating income in the form of interest income on cash and cash equivalents in the form of specified U.S. government treasury bills or specified money market funds 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 receipt of $25,000 from the sale of the founder shares to our sponsor and up to $300,000 in loans from our sponsor under an unsecured promissory note. As of June 25, 2021, we have not borrowed any amount under the promissory note with our sponsor. We estimate that the net proceeds from (i) the sale of the units in this offering, after deducting offering expenses of approximately $1,000,000 and underwriting commissions of $5,000,000 ($5,750,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) (excluding deferred underwriting commissions of $8,750,000 (or up to $10,062,500 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full)), and (ii) the sale of the private placement warrants for a purchase price of $7,000,000 (or $7,750,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), will be $251,000,000 (or $288,500,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full). Of this amount, $250,000,000 (or $287,500,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), including $8,750,000 (or up to $10,062,500 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) in deferred underwriting commissions will be deposited into the trust account. The funds in the trust account will be invested only in specified U.S. government treasury bills or in specified money market funds. The remaining $1,000,000 will not be held in the trust account. In the event that our offering expenses exceed our estimate of $1,000,000 we may fund such excess with funds not to be held in the trust account. In such case, the amount of funds we intend to be held outside the trust account would decrease by a corresponding amount. Conversely, in the event that the offering expenses are less than our estimate of $1,000,000, the amount of funds we intend to be held outside the trust account would increase by a corresponding amount.

We intend to use substantially all of the funds held in the trust account, including any amounts representing interest earned on the trust account (which interest shall be net of taxes payable and excluding deferred underwriting commissions) to complete our initial business combination. We may withdraw interest to pay our taxes. Delaware franchise tax is based on our authorized shares or on our assumed par and non-par capital, whichever yields a lower result. Based on the number of shares of our common stock authorized and

 

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outstanding and our estimated total gross proceeds after the completion of this offering, our annual franchise tax obligation is expected to be capped at the maximum amount of annual franchise taxes payable by us as a Delaware corporation of $200,000. 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 only taxes payable by us out of the funds in the trust account will be income and franchise taxes. We expect the interest earned on the amount in the trust account will be sufficient to pay our taxes. To the extent that our capital stock 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 an estimated $1,000,000 of proceeds held outside the trust account. We will use these funds primarily to identify and evaluate target businesses, perform business due diligence on prospective target businesses, travel to and from the offices or similar locations of prospective target businesses or their representatives or owners, review corporate documents and material agreements of prospective target businesses, structure, negotiate and complete a business combination, and to pay our taxes to the extent the interest earned on the trust account is not sufficient to pay our taxes.

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. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants of the post-business combination entity at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants issued to our sponsor. The terms of such loans, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. 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 in connection with any business combinations; $150,000 for legal and accounting fees related to regulatory reporting requirements; $85,000 for the NYSE continued listing fees; $180,000 for office space, utilities, administrative and support services and approximately $235,000 for general working capital that will be used for miscellaneous expenses.

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 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.

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. 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. Moreover, we may need to obtain additional financing either to complete our initial business combination or because we become obligated to redeem a significant number of our public shares upon

 

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completion of our initial business combination, in which case we may issue additional securities or incur debt in connection with such business combination, which may include a specified future issuance.

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 reporting requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2022. Only in the event that we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer or an accelerated filer, and no longer qualify as an emerging growth company, would we be required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement on our internal control over financial reporting. Further, for as long as we remain an emerging growth company 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 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:

 

   

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

 

   

reconciliation of accounts;

 

   

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

 

   

evidence of internal review and approval of accounting transactions;

 

   

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

 

   

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 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 registered public accounting firm to audit and render an opinion on such report when required by Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The independent registered public accounting firm 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 bills with a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds

 

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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.

Related Party Transactions

On June 25, 2021, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 7,187,500 founder shares (up to 937,500 of which are subject to forfeiture by our sponsor depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised) for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000, or approximately $0.004 per share. The purchase price of the founder shares was determined by dividing the amount of cash contributed to the company by the number of founder shares issued. In September 2021, our sponsor expects to transfer 25,000 founder shares to each of our independent director nominees and our special advisor (for a total of 125,000 founder shares) at their original purchase price.

We will enter into an Administrative Services Agreement pursuant to which we will also pay our sponsor a total of $10,000 per month, for up to 18 months for office space, utilities, administrative and support services. Upon completion of our initial business combination or our liquidation, we will cease paying these monthly fees.

Our sponsor, officers and directors or any of their respective affiliates will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made by us to our sponsor, officers, directors or our or any of their affiliates and will determine which expenses and the amount of expenses that will be reimbursed. There is no cap or ceiling on the reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses incurred by such persons in connection with activities on our behalf.

Our sponsor has agreed to loan us up to $300,000 under an unsecured promissory note to be used for a portion of the expenses of this offering. As of June 25, 2021, we have not borrowed any amount under the promissory note with our sponsor. These loans are non-interest bearing, unsecured and are due at the earlier of December 31, 2021 and the closing of this offering. These loans will be repaid upon completion of this offering out of the $1,000,000 of offering proceeds that has been allocated for the payment of offering expenses (other than underwriting commissions) not held in the trust account.

In addition, in order to fund working capital deficiencies or 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 expect to repay such loaned amounts out of the proceeds of the trust account released to us. Otherwise, such loans may be repaid only out of funds held outside the trust account. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants issued to our sponsor. The terms of such loans, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. 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.

Our sponsor has committed, pursuant to a written agreement, to purchase an aggregate of 7,000,000 private placement warrants (or 7,750,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) at a price of $1.00 per warrant ($7,000,000 in the aggregate or $7,750,000 in the aggregate if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) in a private placement that will occur simultaneously with the closing of this offering. Each private placement warrant is exercisable to purchase one share of Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as provided herein. Our sponsor will be permitted to transfer the private placement warrants held by it to certain permitted transferees, including our officers and directors and other persons or entities affiliated with or related to them, but the transferees receiving such securities will be

 

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subject to the same agreements with respect to such securities as our sponsor. Otherwise, these warrants will not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferable or salable until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination. The private placement warrants will be non-redeemable so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees (except as described below under “Description of Securities—Warrants—Public Stockholders’ Warrants—Redemption of Warrants for Class A common stock”). The private placement warrants may also be exercised by our sponsor or its permitted transferees for cash or on a cashless basis and our sponsor and its permitted transferees will also have certain registration rights related to the private placement warrants (including the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the private placement warrants), as described below. Otherwise, the private placement warrants have terms and provisions that are identical to those of the warrants being sold as part of the units in this offering.

Pursuant to a registration rights agreement we will enter into with our initial stockholders and anchor investors on or prior to the closing of this offering, we may be required to register certain securities for sale under the Securities Act. These holders, and holders of warrants issued upon conversion of working capital loans, if any, are entitled under the registration rights agreement to make up to three demands that we register certain of our securities held by them for sale under the Securities Act and to have the securities covered thereby registered for resale pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act. In addition, these holders have the right to include their securities in other registration statements filed by us. We will bear the costs and expenses of filing any such registration statements. See “Certain Relationships and Related Party Transactions.”

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

As of June 25, 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 conducted no operations to date.

Jobs Act

On April 5, 2012, the JOBS Act was signed into law. 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: (1) provide an auditor’s attestation report on our system of internal controls over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act; (2) 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; (3) 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 (4) 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

Our Company

We are a newly organized blank check company incorporated in June 2021 as a Delaware corporation 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, which we refer to throughout this prospectus as our initial business combination. To date, our efforts have been limited to organizational activities as well as activities related to this offering. We have not selected any specific business combination target and we have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, initiated any substantive discussions, directly or indirectly, with any potential initial business combination target. We intend to acquire a target company in the software or technology-enabled services sectors with a total enterprise value in excess of $1 billion.

Our sponsor is affiliated with Berenson, a merchant bank founded in 1990 with two principal lines of business: investment banking and private equity investing. Within investment banking, Berenson provides a full spectrum of services, including strategic advisory/M&A, capital formation and restructuring across a range of sectors, growth stages and underlying market and economic backdrops. Within its sector-focused private equity investment practice, Berenson specializes in investing in software and technology-enabled services businesses. Berenson was co-founded by our Chairman, Jeffrey Berenson.

In addition, an affiliate of Navigation is an investor in our sponsor. Navigation Capital is an Atlanta-based private equity firm that partners and invests with successful CEOs to launch companies into the public market. Navigation Capital’s team has previous experience across the full lifecycle of SPACs from the initial public offering to the de-SPAC business combination process. Navigation Capital will provide resources including a network of relationships, extensive SPAC knowledge base and a standardized SPAC operating system to streamline the business combination process. David Panton, the managing partner of Navigation Capital Partners SPAC Opportunity Partners, LLC, is a member of our board of directors.

Berenson Holdings LLC

Berenson and its partners have completed several hundred transactions representing well over $250 billion of transaction value since its founding and during their careers. Berenson is a trusted financial advisor and capital partner to executives, founders, boards of directors, family offices, financial sponsors, pension funds and government-related entities seeking to drive transformational growth as well as other value creation and preservation initiatives. Berenson’s heritage as independent, objective advisors and capable investors makes the firm a valuable partner to companies seeking focused, patient capital partners who will work to support the implementation of management’s long-term vision.

Berenson’s investment philosophy and approach to value creation is mirrored in its 2004 investment in Epoch. Berenson was Epoch’s first outside investor and joined with management to create and refine its original business plan, recruit additional management and board members and utilize its relationships to identify sources of capital, resulting in a reverse merger into a public shell company. This transaction provided Epoch with growth capital as well as immediate access to the public market. Post-merger Berenson remained as an important advisor to and board member of Epoch until the business was sold to TD Bank Group in 2013. During the period from 2004 to 2012, Epoch’s assets under management grew from $645 million to $24 billion, revenue grew from $1 million to over $100 million and the per share value including dividends increased by approximately 21x.

Berenson also has a long track record of serving as an on-going advisor to companies, management teams and investors that seek to create shareholder value via tuck-in and/or transformative acquisitions. Berenson provides its partners with capabilities such as deal sourcing, pipeline management, valuation, negotiation and other aspects of deal execution. We expect that companies that enact a business combination with us will have access to Berenson’s comprehensive transaction capabilities.

 

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We are seeking to create an investment vehicle that will benefit from our long heritage of investment and advisory capability servicing corporations, entrepreneurs and private investors as they identify, evaluate and implement opportunities to realize and capitalize on their long-term strategic vision. We expect to rely on significant proprietary deal flow, and along with our board of directors, to identify and analyze businesses that we believe will benefit from Berenson’s experience and networks to accelerate and realize growth and shareholder value creation.

Navigation Capital Partners

Navigation Capital was established as the successor to Mellon Ventures, purchasing the remaining 34 companies in Mellon’s existing portfolio (NCP I) and then founding a new partnership (NCP II) to continue to invest in high growth, technology-enabled operating companies. Recognizing significant opportunity in SPACs, Navigation Capital created its SPAC Operations Group in 2019 to leverage its experience, network and track record to identify and partner with successful executives to launch SPACs.

Through Mellon Ventures, NCP I and NCP II, the Navigation fund management team has invested over $550 million in over 70 companies. Navigation’s SPAC experience includes sponsor investment by Navigation’s current management team in Pensare Acquisition Corp, sponsor investments in D&Z Media (NYSE: DNZ), KINS Technology Group (Nasdaq: KINZ), Shelter Acquisition Corporation (Nasdaq: SHQA), CEA Space Partners I, Corp. (NYSE: CEAS), Tristar Acquisition I Corp. (“pending” NYSE: TRIS), and PIPE investments in Pensare Acquisition Corp, American Virtual Cloud Technologies (Nasdaq: AVCT), and Astra/Holicity (Nasdaq: HOL).

Navigation has sector experience across technology, media & telecommunications, specialty finance & fintech, energy, niche manufacturing, business & distribution services, healthcare, aerospace & defense and food service. The Navigation team believes that its access to numerous private equity and venture capital backed private companies provides a robust pipeline for potential acquisition candidates.

Business Strategy

We will seek to capitalize on the significant industry experience and contacts of our management team and board of directors to identify, evaluate and acquire a target business. Our objective is to acquire a high-quality business that can generate attractive, risk-adjusted returns for stockholders. Our selection process will leverage Berenson’s and Navigation Capital’s extensive global network of relationships, deep industry knowledge across multiple geographies, transaction execution experience and deal sourcing capabilities that provide access to a broad spectrum of acquisition opportunities, which we believe will differentiate us as a partner of choice to potential business combination opportunities.

We believe that the following differentiated value propositions will allow us to bring to the public market a highly attractive business:

 

   

Proprietary Sourcing Capabilities: Our network of deep relationships with CEOs, founders, boards of directors and private equity sponsors provides us with a differentiated avenue for sourcing target businesses;

 

   

Proven Experience in Consummating Transactions: We believe that our extensive M&A experience, with a distinct reputation for navigating transaction complexities, is a significant advantage. Our team has demonstrated the ability to negotiate and structure transactions, evaluate corporate strategies, access growth capital, and develop appropriate capital structures;

 

   

Extensive Understanding of Capital Markets and Public Market Investors: We have significant experience in formulating a variety of structures for companies across a number of industries. Much of this structuring capability is based on familiarity with the key performance indicators and growth metrics of companies in our target industries;

 

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Significant Software and Technology-enabled Services Investment Experience: We have extensive experience in analyzing attractive companies in our target sectors.

If we elect to pursue an investment outside of those industries, our management’s expertise related to those industries may not be directly applicable to its evaluation or operation, and the information contained in this prospectus regarding that industry might not be relevant to an understanding of the business that we elect to acquire.

Our Management Team

Our management team will consist of Jeffrey Berenson, our Chairman, Mohammed Ansari, our Chief Executive Officer and director, and Amir Hegazy, our Chief Financial Officer, who will be supported by the back office and administrative team of Berenson and Navigation Capital and our directors and our special advisor, as further described below.

Jeffrey Berenson

Mr. Berenson has served as our Chairman since our inception in June 2021. Mr. Berenson co-founded Berenson Minella & Company in 1990, the predecessor firm to Berenson. Prior to founding Berenson, Mr. Berenson was, among other things, the head of Merrill Lynch’s M&A Group and co-founder and co-head of its Merchant Banking Group. Mr. Berenson joined White Weld & Co. in 1972, moving to the M&A Department of Merrill Lynch following its acquisition of White Weld in 1978.

Mr. Berenson served as a director of Epoch (NASDAQ: EPHC) from 2004 until its sale to TD Bank Group in 2013, Noble Energy (NASDAQ: NBL) from 2005 until its sale to Chevron (NYSE: CVX) in 2020, Patina Oil and Gas Corp from 2002 until its sale to Noble Energy (NASDAQ: NBL) in 2005. Mr. Berenson graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. from Princeton University.

Mohammed Ansari

Mr. Ansari has served as our Chief Executive Officer since our inception in June 2021 and as our director since September 2021. Mr. Ansari is the President and Senior Managing Partner of Berenson. He leads Berenson’s principal investing business and has completed over 100 principal investments and investment banking transactions since joining the firm. Mr. Ansari joined Berenson in 1997 from Salomon Brothers, where he worked in mergers and acquisition advisory for major U.S. and Canadian corporations in the New York and Toronto offices. Mr. Ansari currently serves on the board of Skience LLC and BCP Light Holdings, LLC, and as a board observer for IntraPac International Corporation. Mr. Ansari received a Master of Philosophy Degree in Economics from Cambridge University and a B.S. in Economics and Business Finance from Brunel University, where he graduated with First Class Honors.

Amir Hegazy

Mr. Hegazy has served as our Chief Financial Officer since our inception in June 2021. Mr. Hegazy is a Managing Director of Berenson focused on software and technology-enabled services. He has over 13 years of experience in investment banking, having worked on a variety of transactions, including buy side and sell side assignments, capital raises and restructurings, and private equity investing as a senior member of Berenson Capital. Mr. Hegazy currently serves on the board of Skience LLC. Mr. Hegazy graduated cum laude with a B.A. in finance and a minor in economics Finance from Pace University.

Our Directors

David Panton

David Panton has served as our director since in our inception in June 2021. He currently serves as the Chairman of Panton Equity Partners, LLC, a private family office which he founded in June 2012. His robust

 

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investment and deal experience across various industries provide for unique insight when evaluating potential targets. Since May 2020, Dr. Panton has been the managing partner of Navigation Capital Partners SPAC Opportunity Partners, LLC, an investment firm focused on building a diversified portfolio of investments in SPACs utilizing three strategies: providing sponsor capital, leading investments in SPAC initial public offerings, and investing in PIPEs for SPACs. Navigation Capital’s SPAC team recruits CEOs to lead SPACs through its SPAC-in-a-Box® operating system. In 2007, Dr. Panton co-founded Navigation Capital Partners LP, an Atlanta-based private equity firm that has made growth and buyout investments. Prior to his role at Navigation Partners, Dr. Panton served as Vice President at Mellon Ventures, a $1.4 billion private equity firm, before purchasing the portfolio in a partnership with Larry Mock and Goldman Sachs and founding Navigation Capital. Prior to this, Dr. Panton founded Caribbean Equity Partners, a private equity firm focused on investments in the Caribbean and Latin America. Since August 2011, Dr. Panton has been an adjunct professor of Finance at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School. He has served on private and public boards of directors, including Brand Bank (sold to Renasant Bank), Track Utilities (sold to CIVC Partners), Exeter Finance (sold to Blackstone), SecureWorks (sold to Dell Technologies), Ameritech Facility Services and D&Z Media (NYSE: DNZ). Dr. Panton received his Doctorate in Management Studies from Oxford University, his J.D. from Harvard Law School, and his A.B. from Princeton University.

Carl Ferenbach (independent director nominee)

Mr. Ferenbach is a co-founder of Berkshire, a private equity investment firm based in Boston, MA. Berkshire has managed nine private equity investment funds representing over $16 billion of capital. Mr. Ferenbach is Chairman & co-founder of High Meadows Foundation and High Meadows Fund. He also serves on a number of boards including the Environmental Defense Fund, the Advisory Board of Princeton Environmental Institute, Nassau Hall Society at Princeton University, The Wilderness Society and Climate Central. Mr. Ferenbach served as Chairman of the Board of English, Welsh & Scottish Railway Ltd., U.S. Can Corporation and Crown Castle International Corp. He also served as a director of other Berkshire portfolio companies. Mr. Ferenbach served in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, received an A.B. from Princeton University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Kay Kapoor (independent director nominee)

Mrs. Kapoor is the founder & CEO of Arya Technologies, a company that provides end-to-end technology solutions and consulting services to the U.S. federal government and the industry that supports it. Arya provides innovative and fiscally-responsible solutions for cybersecurity, big-data, analytics, cloud and mobility. Previously, Mrs. Kapoor led AT&T’s Global Public Sector organization, a $15 billion segment of AT&T that provides technology and communications solutions to government & education customers across federal, state, local, and international markets. Over the course of four years, she transformed the segment and delivered substantial growth, including capturing multibillion-dollar contracts, such as the landmark FirstNet contract to build a nationwide public safety broadband network for first responders. Prior to that, Mrs. Kapoor served as chairman and CEO of Accenture Federal Services, a wholly-owned $1.3 billion subsidiary of Accenture LLC, leading 2,500 members of its U.S. federal business. Before that, she worked at Lockheed Martin Corporation for 20 years leading complex organization units and government/regulatory relations and served as vice president and COO of Lockheed Martin’s IS&GS—Civil unit. Mrs. Kapoor has 29 years of experience in government and commercial markets. She is the recipient of numerous industry awards. In addition, she serves on the board of directors of ComSovereign Holding Co. (NASDAQ: COMS) since November 2020 and also is active on boards of philanthropy and academia. Mrs. Kapoor earned her bachelor’s degree in information systems from the University of Maryland and her Master of Science in information systems from Johns Hopkins University, complemented by executive programs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University.

 

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Ronald Kasner (independent director nominee)

Mr. Kasner is currently Vice Chairman of online search and content intelligence platform, Conductor Founders, Inc. Previously, Mr. Kasner was an executive with cloud-based talent acquisition software company, iCIMS, Inc. During Mr. Kasner’s tenure, iCIMS grew annual recurring revenue from $20 million to over $250 million while being named one of the Best Places to Work nationally. Mr. Kasner also serves as an Independent Board Member for Envisage Technologies, LLC. Mr. Kasner earned his bachelor’s degree in finance and accounting from the University of Virginia and his JD from Harvard Law School.

Gal Munda (independent director nominee)

Mr. Munda currently serves as the co-head of technology research at Berenberg Capital Markets and as the lead analyst covering global design software. Previously, he served in several other positions at Berenberg including as associate director and vice president of equity research and led vertical software investing at Matrix Capital Management. Mr. Munda has over 10 years of finance and equity research experience, specifically within the software industry. Mr. Munda earned his bachelor’s degree in economics and business from the University of Maribor, Slovenia and his masters degree in finance and investment from Nottingham University Business School.

Our Special Advisor

William W. Priest

Mr. Priest is Executive Chairman and Co-Chief Investment Officer of Epoch, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Toronto Dominion Bank and an affiliate of TD Asset Management. He is a portfolio manager for Epoch’s global equity investment strategies and leads the Investment Policy Group, a forum for analyzing broader secular and cyclical trends that Epoch believes will influence investment opportunities. Prior to co-founding Epoch in 2004, Mr. Priest was a Co-Managing Partner and portfolio manager at Steinberg Priest & Sloane Capital Management, LLC for three years. Before forming Steinberg Priest, he was a member of the Global Executive Committee of Credit Suisse Asset Management (CSAM), Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Credit Suisse Asset Management Americas and CEO and portfolio manager of its predecessor firm BEA Associates, which he co-founded in 1972. During his 30 year tenure at BEA and CSAM, he helped to develop the firm into a well-recognized investment manager with over $100 billion under management. Mr. Priest is the co-author of several published articles and papers on investing and finance, including the books, The Financial Reality of Pension Funding Under ERISA, Free Cash Flow and Shareholder Yield: New Priorities for the Global Investor, and the more recent Winning at Active Management: The Essential Roles of Culture, Philosophy and Technology. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation, is a former CPA and a graduate of Duke University and the University of Pennsylvania Wharton Graduate School of Business.

Business Combination Criteria

We seek to merge with a private company operating in the software and technology-enabled services sector with recurring / predictable revenue and the prospect for high free cash flow conversion at scale. We expect to focus on businesses with a total enterprise value in excess of $1 billion with as many of the following characteristics as possible:

 

   

Passionate Management: We are drawn to teams that “live and breathe” their end-markets and have a unique understanding for the current and future needs of their clients. We recognize that execution capability is critical and look for teams with demonstrable past success;

 

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Large and Growing End Markets: We seek to identify businesses that are solving problems in large and growing markets. We focus primarily on the products / services that the business currently offers and are careful to not be influenced by “blue-sky” opportunities (though we view their credible presence as upside);

 

   

Resilient Barriers to Entry: We seek established and emerging market leaders with defensible and self-reinforcing competitive advantages such as high switching costs, network effects, proprietary data / integrations and learning effects;

 

   

Mission-Critical Offerings: For us, an ideal business demonstrates low price elasticity, though we are careful to make sure that it is not over-earning / rent-seeking. We especially like products and services that provide high value at a low nominal cost; we believe this represents pricing power;

 

   

Organic Volume Growth: We prefer businesses that have historically driven growth through volume; we look to isolate pricing from overall revenue growth;

 

   

Attractive Unit Economics: We analyze unit economics in order to identify businesses with long-term strong free cash flow generation potential at scale;

 

   

A Well-Defined Corporate Culture: We believe that companies are built by teams, not individuals; much of the value of exceptional leaders lies in their ability to cultivate a strong, defined and evolving corporate culture which can be used to attract and retain talent. Key attributes include accountability, ethics, empowerment, transparency and diversity of thought;

 

   

Potential to Benefit from Our Expertise: We will rely on our advisory heritage to assist management in identifying, negotiating, financing and structuring transactions including acquisition and/or capital raises to support and accelerate long-term growth.

We believe we can enhance the value proposition of a business combination through, among other things:

 

   

Growth Strategies: We can assist the company in developing and executing organic and inorganic growth strategies, including operational and management enhancements, as well as identifying and executing on acquisitions;

 

   

Capital Formation: We can continually monitor capital markets and advise on opportunities to optimize capital structure and transition the company’s investor base to fundamental, long-term holders;

 

   

Public Company Readiness: We can assist a company in creating an appropriate public company accounting and reporting infrastructure and obtaining relevant analyst coverage.

Industry Opportunity

The business landscape continues to experience an unprecedented level of disruption as companies recognize the need to migrate their internal processes and the delivery of their product and service offerings to digital and cloud-based formats. We believe that the pace of this digitalization has been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic which further highlighted the need for businesses to rely on cloud-based infrastructure, security, communications and applications in order to deliver value to stakeholders and compete with digital-native offerings. We intend to focus our search on a company in the software and technology-enabled services sector which is well positioned to capitalize on these trends.

 

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We believe that software and technology-enabled services companies offer the following attributes which should result in an attractive investment opportunity:

 

   

Software and technology-enabled services companies are able to achieve rapid and sustained growth due to their reliance on cloud-based infrastructure and the ability to serve a myriad of industries and end markets;

 

   

Software and technology-enabled services companies can provide mission-critical offerings for end customers resulting in less cyclicality and highly predictable cash flows. Once integrated into day-to-day workflows, removing software or essential services can be time-consuming and expensive. Additionally, the cloud delivery model allows for continuous product enhancement and rapid deployment of new features and functionalities. These attributes typically result in attractive customer retention profiles and the opportunity to increase customer lifetime value;

 

   

Software and technology-enabled services companies are typically able to produce an attractive free cash flow yield at scale due to their reliance on technology to create efficiencies in their infrastructure, operations, customer acquisition costs and product and service delivery models;

 

   

Software and technology-enabled services companies can generate above average growth rates which can drive greater shareholder value. As of June 8, 2021, the S&P Software & Services Select Industry Index returned an annualized 20.4% over the last 10 years, far greater than the 14.9% annualized return of the S&P Total Market Index during that timeframe.

Sourcing of Potential Initial Business Combination Targets

Business combination targets that are developing core technologies and pursuing disruptive commercialization strategies often need access to stable capital but lack access to public markets. Our team has the necessary technical, operating and transactional expertise to identify attractive acquisition targets that would most benefit from the value we seek to deliver to our shareholders vis-à-vis our initial business combination. The primary sourcing activities of our team will emanate from its access to high quality deal flow that meets our acquisition criteria—the result of successfully investing in, scaling and operating innovative companies.

We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor, executive officers or directors, or completing the business combination through a joint venture or other form of shared ownership with our sponsor, executive officers or directors. In the event we seek to complete an initial business combination with a target that is affiliated with our sponsor, executive officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, would obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm which is a member of FINRA or an independent accounting firm stating 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.

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

Our officers and directors presently has, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to another entity, pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entity. In particular, Dr. Panton currently serves on a board of directors of D&Z Media, a blank check company formed for substantially similar purposes as our company but

 

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with a media, ed-tech, and other related industries business focus. Accordingly, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for an entity to which he or she has then current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she will honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such business combination opportunity to such other entity. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that we renounce our interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any director or officer unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of the company and such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue, and to the extent the director or officer is permitted to refer that opportunity to us without violating another legal obligation. We do not believe, however, that the fiduciary duties or contractual obligations of our officers and directors will materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination.

In addition, our sponsor, officers and directors may sponsor or form other special purpose acquisition companies similar to ours or may pursue other business or investment ventures during the period in which we are seeking an initial business combination. Any such companies, businesses or investments, including D&Z Media, may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an initial business combination. Our officers and directors are not required to commit any specified amount of time to our affairs, and, accordingly, will have conflicts of interest in allocating management time among various business activities, including identifying potential business combinations and monitoring the related due diligence. However, we do not believe that any such potential conflicts would materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination.

Initial Business Combination

The NYSE listing rules require that our initial business combination must be with one or more target businesses that together have an aggregate fair market value equal to at least 80% of the assets held in the trust account (excluding any deferred underwriters fees and taxes payable on the income earned on the trust account) at the time of our signing a definitive agreement in connection with our initial business combination. We refer to this as the 80% fair market value test. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA, or from an independent accounting firm, with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. Additionally, pursuant to the NYSE rules, any initial business combination must be approved by a majority of our independent directors. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if we are not listed on the NYSE at the time of our initial business combination, these rules will not be applicable to us.

We anticipate structuring our initial business combination so that the post-transaction company in which our public stockholders own or acquire shares will own or acquire 100% of the outstanding equity interests or assets of the target business or businesses. We may, however, structure our initial business combination such that the post-transaction company owns or acquires less than 100% of such interests or assets of the target business in order to meet certain objectives of the target management team or stockholders or for other reasons, but we will only complete such business combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target business sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, or the Investment Company Act. Even if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target, our stockholders prior to our initial business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post-transaction company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in our initial business combination. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock of a target, or issue a substantial number of new shares to third-parties in connection with financing our initial business combination. In such cases, 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 outstanding equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses are

 

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owned or acquired by the post-transaction company, the portion of such business or businesses that is owned or acquired is what will be taken into account for purposes of the 80% fair market value test. If our initial business combination involves more than one target business, the 80% fair market value test will be based on the aggregate value of all of the target businesses.

Prior to the effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, we will file a Registration Statement on Form 8-A with the SEC to voluntarily register our securities under Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (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.

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 target businesses an alternative to the traditional initial public offering through a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar transaction. In this situation, the owners of the target business would exchange their shares of stock in the target business for shares of our stock or for a combination of shares of our stock and cash, allowing us to tailor the consideration to the specific needs of the sellers. Although there are various costs and obligations associated with being a public company, we believe target businesses will find this method a more certain and cost-effective method to becoming a public company than the typical initial public offering. In a typical initial public offering, there are additional expenses incurred in marketing, road show and public reporting efforts that may not be present to the same extent in connection with a business combination with us.

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

We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the JOBS Act. We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of (i) 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 common stock that is held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the end of that fiscal year’s second quarter, and (ii) the date on which we have issued more than $1.00 billion in non-convertible debt securities during the prior three-year period.

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

Financial Position

With funds available for a business combination initially in the amount of $241,250,000 assuming no redemptions and after payment of $8,750,000 of deferred underwriting commissions (or $277,437,500 assuming

 

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no redemptions and after payment of up to $10,062,500 of deferred underwriting commissions if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), in each case, before estimated offering and working capital expenses, 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

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 and the sale of the private placement warrants, our capital stock, debt or a combination of these as the consideration to be paid in our initial business combination. We may seek to complete our initial business combination with a company or business that may be financially unstable or in its early stages of development or growth, which would subject us to the numerous risks inherent in such companies and businesses.

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

We have not selected any target business and we have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, initiated any substantive discussions, directly or indirectly, with any target business.

We may seek to raise additional funds through a private offering of debt or equity securities in connection with the completion of our initial business combination (which may include a specified future issuance), and we may effectuate our initial business combination using the proceeds of such offering rather than using the amounts held in the trust account.

In the case of an initial business combination funded with assets other than the trust account assets, our tender offer documents or proxy materials disclosing the business combination would disclose the terms of the financing and, only if required by applicable law or we decide to do so for business or other reasons, we would seek stockholder approval of such financing. There are no prohibitions on our ability to raise funds privately, including pursuant to any specified future issuance, or through loans in connection with our initial business combination. At this time, we are not a party to any arrangement or understanding with any third party with respect to raising any additional funds through the sale of securities or otherwise.

Selection of a Target Business And Structuring of our Initial Business Combination

NYSE listing rules require that our initial business combination must be with one or more target businesses that together have an aggregate fair market value equal to at least 80% of the value of the assets held in the trust account (excluding any deferred underwriters fees and taxes payable on the income earned on the trust account) at the time of our signing a definitive agreement in connection with our initial business combination. We refer to this as the 80% fair market value test. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA, or from an independent accounting

 

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firm, with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. Our management will have virtually unrestricted flexibility in identifying and selecting one or more prospective target businesses, although we will not be permitted to effectuate our initial business combination solely with another blank check company or a similar company with nominal operations.

In any case, we will only complete an initial business combination in which we own or acquire 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquire a controlling interest in the target business sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. If we own or acquire less than 100% of the outstanding equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses, the portion of such business or businesses that are owned or acquired by the post-transaction company is what will be taken into account for purposes of the 80% fair market value test. There is no basis for investors in this offering to evaluate the possible merits or risks of any target business with which we may ultimately complete our initial business combination.

To the extent we effect our initial business combination with a company or business that may be financially unstable or in its early stages of development or growth we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in such company or business. Although our management will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we cannot assure you that we will properly ascertain or assess all significant risk factors.

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, document reviews, inspection of facilities, as well as a review of financial, operational, legal and other information which will be made available to us.

The time required to select and evaluate a target business and to structure and complete our initial business combination, and the costs associated with this process, are not currently ascertainable with any degree of certainty. Any costs incurred with respect to the identification and evaluation of a prospective target business with which our initial business combination is not ultimately completed will result in our incurring losses and will reduce the funds we can use to complete another business combination.

Lack of Business Diversification

For an indefinite period of time after the completion of our initial business combination, the prospects for our success may depend entirely on the future performance of a single business.

Unlike other entities that have the resources to complete business combinations with multiple entities in one or several industries, it is probable that we will not have the resources to diversify our operations and mitigate the risks of being in a single line of business. By completing our initial business combination with only a single entity, our lack of diversification may:

 

   

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

 

   

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

Limited Ability to Evaluate the Target’s Management Team

Although we intend to closely scrutinize the management of a prospective target business when evaluating the desirability of effecting our initial business combination with that business, our assessment of the

 

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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. 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 our initial 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. However, we will seek stockholder approval if it is required by applicable law or stock exchange rules, or we may decide to seek stockholder approval for business or other reasons. Presented in the table below is a graphic explanation of the types of initial business combinations we may consider and whether stockholder approval is currently required under Delaware law for each such transaction.

 

Type of Transaction

  

Whether

Stockholder

Approval is

Required

 

Purchase of assets

     No  

Purchase of assets

     No  

Merger of target into a subsidiary of the company

     No  

Merger of the company with a target

     Yes  

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

 

   

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

 

   

any of our directors, officers or substantial security holders (as defined by the rules of the NYSE) has a 5% or greater interest, directly or indirectly, in the target business or assets to be acquired and if the number of shares of common stock to be issued, or if the number of shares of common stock into which the securities may be convertible or exercisable, exceeds either (i) 1% of the number of shares of common stock or 1% of the voting power outstanding before the issuance in the case of any of our directors and officers or (ii) 5% of the number of shares of common stock or 5% of the voting power outstanding before the issuance in the case of any substantial security holders; or

 

   

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 applicable law or stock exchange listing

 

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requirements 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:

 

   

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;

 

   

the expected cost of holding a stockholder vote;

 

   

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

 

   

other time and budget constraints of the company; and

 

   

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

Permitted Purchases and Other Transactions With Respect to our Securities

In the event 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, officers, advisors or any of their affiliates may purchase public shares or warrants in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination. There is no limit on the number of shares or warrants such persons may purchase. Additionally, at any time at or prior to our initial business combination, subject to applicable securities laws (including with respect to material nonpublic information), our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their affiliates may enter into transactions with investors and others to provide them with incentives to acquire public shares, vote their public shares in favor of our initial business combination or not redeem their public shares. However, they have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such transactions. In the event sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their affiliates determine to undertake any such transactions, such transactions could have the effect of influencing the vote necessary to approve such transaction. None of the funds held in the trust account will be used to purchase public shares or warrants in such transactions. Such persons will be restricted from making any such purchases when they are in possession of any material non-public information not disclosed to the seller or if such purchases are prohibited by Regulation M under the Exchange Act. Such a purchase may include a contractual acknowledgement that such stockholder, although still the record holder of our shares, is no longer the beneficial owner thereof and therefore agrees not to exercise its redemption rights. Subsequent to the consummation of this offering, we will adopt an insider trading policy which will require insiders to (1) refrain from purchasing securities during certain blackout periods and when they are in possession of any material non-public information and (2) to clear all trades with our legal counsel prior to execution. We cannot currently determine whether our insiders will make such purchases pursuant to a Rule 10b5-1 plan, as it will be dependent upon several factors, including but not limited to, the timing and size of such purchases. Depending on such circumstances, our insiders may either make such purchases pursuant to a Rule 10b5-1 plan or determine that such a plan is not necessary.

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

 

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The purpose of any such transaction could be to (1) vote such shares in favor of the initial business combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining stockholder approval of the initial business combination, (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 our initial business combination, where it appears that such requirement would otherwise not be met or (3) reduce the number of public warrants outstanding or to vote such warrants on any matters submitted to the warrantholders for approval in connection with our initial business combination. This 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 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, advisors and/or any of their affiliates anticipate that they may identify the stockholders with whom our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or any of their affiliates may pursue privately negotiated transactions by either the stockholders contacting us directly or by our receipt of redemption requests submitted by stockholders (in the case of public shares) following our mailing of tender offer or proxy materials in connection with our initial business combination. To the extent that our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or any of their affiliates enter into a private purchase, they would identify and contact only potential selling or redeeming 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. Such persons would select the stockholders from whom to acquire shares based on the number of shares available, the negotiated price per share and such other factors as any such person may deem relevant at the time of purchase. The price per share paid in any such transaction may be different than the amount per share a public stockholder would receive if it elected to redeem its shares in connection with our initial business combination. Our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or any of their affiliates will be restricted from purchasing shares unless such purchases comply with Regulation M under the Exchange Act and the other federal securities laws.

Any purchases by our sponsor, officers, directors and/or any of their affiliates who are affiliated purchasers under Rule 10b-18 under the Exchange Act will be restricted except to the extent such purchases are able to be made in compliance with Rule 10b-18, which is a safe harbor from liability for manipulation under Section 9(a)(2) and Rule 10b-5 of the Exchange Act. Rule 10b-18 has certain technical requirements that must be complied with in order for the safe harbor to be available to the purchaser. Our sponsor, officers, directors and/or any of their affiliates will be restricted from making purchases of common stock if the purchases would violate Section 9(a)(2) or Rule 10b-5 of the Exchange Act.

Redemption Rights for Public Stockholders Upon Completion of our Initial Business Combination

We will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their shares of 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 earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes, divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, subject to the limitations described herein. At completion of the business combination, we will be required to purchase any public shares properly delivered for redemption and not withdrawn. 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 a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which it has agreed to waive its redemption rights with respect to its founder shares and any public shares it may acquire during or after this offering in connection with the completion of our initial business combination. Our other directors and officers have also entered into the letter agreement, which imposes the same obligations on them with respect to any public shares acquired by them. In addition, the anchor investors will not be entitled to

 

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redemption rights with respect to any founder shares held by them in connection with the completion of our business combination.

Manner of Conducting Redemptions

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 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. 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 typically require stockholder approval. We intend to conduct redemptions without a stockholder vote pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC unless stockholder approval is required by applicable law or stock exchange rules or we choose to seek stockholder approval for business or other reasons.

If a stockholder vote is not required and we do not decide to hold a stockholder vote for business or other reasons, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation:

 

   

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

 

   

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

Upon the public announcement of our initial business combination, we and our sponsor will terminate any plan established in accordance with Rule 10b5-1 to purchase shares of our Class A common stock in the open market 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 public stockholders not tendering more than a specified number of public shares, which number will be based on the requirement that we will only redeem public shares so long as (after such redemptions) our net tangible assets will be at least $5,000,001, either prior to or upon consummation of an initial business combination, after payment of the deferred underwriting commission (so that we do not then become subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. If public stockholders tender more shares than we have offered to purchase, we will withdraw the tender offer and not complete such initial business combination.

If, however, stockholder approval of the transaction is required by applicable law or stock exchange rules, or we decide to obtain stockholder approval for business or other reasons, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation:

 

   

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.

We expect that a final proxy statement would be mailed to public stockholders at least 10 days prior to the stockholder vote. However, we expect that a draft proxy statement would be made available to such stockholders well in advance of such time, providing additional notice of redemption if we conduct redemptions in conjunction with a proxy solicitation. Although we are not required to do so, we currently intend to comply with the substantive and procedural requirements of Regulation 14A in connection with any stockholder vote even if we are not able to maintain our NYSE listing or Exchange Act registration.

In the event that we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, we will distribute proxy materials and, in connection therewith, provide our public 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 outstanding shares of common stock voted are voted in favor of the business combination. In such case, pursuant to the terms of a letter agreement entered into with us, our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed (and their permitted transferees will agree) to vote their founder shares and any public shares held by them in favor of our initial business combination. Our other directors and officers also have agreed to vote in favor of our initial business combination with respect to public shares acquired by them, if any. We expect that at the time of any stockholder vote relating to our initial business combination, our initial stockholders and their permitted transferees will own at least 20% of our outstanding shares of common stock entitled to vote thereon. Each public stockholder may elect to redeem their public shares without voting and, if they do vote, irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction. In addition, our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and any public shares held by them in connection with the completion of a business combination. Our other directors and officers have also entered into the letter agreement, which imposes the same obligations on them with respect to any public shares acquired by them.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that we will only redeem our public shares so long as (after such redemptions) our net tangible assets will be at least $5,000,001, either prior to or upon consummation of an initial business combination, after payment of the deferred underwriting commission (so that we do not then become subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules). Redemptions of our public shares may also be subject to a higher net tangible asset test or cash requirement pursuant to an agreement relating to our initial business combination. For example, 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, and we instead may search for an alternate business combination.

Limitation on Redemption Upon Completion of our Initial Business Combination if We Seek Stockholder Approval

Notwithstanding the foregoing, 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 public stockholder, together with any affiliate of such stockholder or any other person with whom such stockholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from redeeming its shares with respect to Excess Shares, without our prior consent. We believe this restriction will discourage stockholders from accumulating large

 

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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 sponsor or its affiliates 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 or our sponsor or its affiliates 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, we believe we will limit the ability of a small group of stockholders to unreasonably attempt to block our ability to complete our initial business combination, particularly in connection with a business combination with a target that requires as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. However, we would not be restricting our stockholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our initial business combination.

Tendering Stock Certificates in Connection with A Tender Offer or Redemption Rights

We may require our public stockholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” to either tender their certificates to our transfer agent prior to the date set forth in the tender offer documents or proxy materials mailed to such holders, or up to two business days prior to the scheduled vote on the proposal to approve the business combination in the event we distribute proxy materials or to deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically using The Depository Trust Company’s DWAC (Deposit/Withdrawal At Custodian) System, rather than simply voting against the initial business combination at the holder’s option. The tender offer or proxy materials, as applicable, that we will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination will indicate whether we are requiring public stockholders to satisfy such delivery requirements, which will include the requirement that a beneficial holder must identify itself in order to validly redeem its shares. Accordingly, a public stockholder would have from the time we send out our tender offer materials until the close of the tender offer period, or up to two business days prior to the scheduled vote on the business combination if we distribute proxy materials, as applicable, to tender its shares if it wishes to seek to exercise its redemption rights. Pursuant to the tender offer rules, the tender offer period will be not less than 20 business days and, in the case of a stockholder vote, a final proxy statement would be mailed to public stockholders at least 10 days prior to the stockholder vote. However, we expect that a draft proxy statement would be made available to such stockholders well in advance of such time, providing additional notice of redemption if we conduct redemptions in conjunction with a proxy solicitation. Given the relatively short exercise period, 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 Depository Trust Company’s DWAC (Deposit/Withdrawal At Custodian) 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 his or her redemption rights. After the business combination was approved, the company would contact such stockholder to arrange for him or her to deliver his or her 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 stock in the market. If the price rose above the redemption price, he or she could sell his or her shares in the open market before actually delivering his or her shares to the company for cancellation. As a result, the redemption rights, to which stockholders were aware they needed to

 

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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 holder’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 the date set forth in the tender offer materials or two business days prior to the scheduled date of the stockholder meeting set forth in our proxy materials, as applicable (unless we elect to allow additional withdrawal rights). Furthermore, if a holder of a public share delivered its certificate in connection with an election of redemption rights and subsequently decides prior to the applicable date not to elect to exercise such rights, such holder may simply request that the transfer agent return the certificate (physically or electronically). It is anticipated that the funds to be distributed to holders of our public shares electing to redeem their shares will be distributed promptly after the completion of our initial business combination.

If our initial business combination is not approved or completed for any reason, then our public 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 18 months from the closing of this offering or during any Extension Period.

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 18 months from the closing of this offering to complete our initial business combination. If we have not completed our initial business combination within such period or during any Extension Period, we will: (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up; (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than 10 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 earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any); and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to our warrants, which will expire worthless if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time period.

Our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have waived their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to their founder shares if we fail to complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or during any Extension Period. However, if our initial stockholders then hold any public shares, they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to such public shares if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the allotted time frame to complete an initial business combination.

Our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed, pursuant to a written agreement with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (i) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemptions 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 18 months from the closing of this offering or (ii) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial

 

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business combination activity, unless we provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their shares of Class A common stock upon approval of any such amendment at a per share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares. However, we will only redeem our public shares so long as (after such redemptions) our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 (i) in the case of our initial business combination, either prior to or upon consummation of such initial business combination, after payment of the deferred underwriting commission or (ii) in the case of an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (a) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemptions in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we have not consummated our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or (b) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, upon such amendment (in each case so that we do not then become subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules). If this optional redemption right is being exercised with respect to an excessive number of public shares such that we cannot satisfy the net tangible requirement (described above) we would not proceed with the amendment or the related redemption of our public shares.

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, to the extent that there is any interest accrued in the trust account not required to pay our taxes 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 and the sale of the private placement warrants, other than the proceeds deposited in the trust account, and without taking into account interest, if any, earned on the trust account, the per share redemption amount received by stockholders upon our dissolution would be approximately $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 substantially less than $10.00. See “Risk Factors—If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.00 per share” and other risk factors described above. Under Section 281(b) of the DGCL, our plan of dissolution must provide for all claims against us to be paid in full or make provision for payments to be made in full, as applicable, if there are sufficient assets. These claims must be paid or provided for before we make any distribution of our remaining assets to our stockholders. 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 (other than 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. The underwriters of this offering will not execute agreements with us waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account.

 

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Examples of possible instances where we may engage a third party that refuses to execute a waiver include the engagement of a third party consultant whose particular expertise or skills are believed by management to be significantly superior to those of other consultants that would agree to execute a waiver or in cases where we are 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. In order to protect the amounts held in the trust account, our sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a third party (other than our independent registered public accounting firm) 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 amount of funds in the trust account to below (i) $10.00 per public share or (ii) such lesser amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest which may be withdrawn to pay our taxes, except as to any claims by a third party who executed a waiver of any and all rights to seek access to the trust account and except as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of this offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. Moreover, in the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, our sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third-party claims. We have not independently verified whether our sponsor, which is a newly formed entity, has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our company and, therefore, our sponsor may not be able to satisfy those obligations. We have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such 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: (i) $10.00 per public share; or (ii) such lesser amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account, due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the amount of interest which may be withdrawn to pay our taxes, 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 and subject to their fiduciary duties may choose not to do so in certain instances. Accordingly, we cannot assure you that due to claims of creditors the actual value of the per share redemption price will not be substantially less than $10.00 per share. See “Risk Factors—If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.00 per share” and other risk factors described above.

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 (other than 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 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 and the sale of the private placement warrants (after payment of offering expenses), 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 $1,000,000, we may fund such excess with funds from the funds not to be held in the trust account. In such case, the amount of funds we intend to be held outside the trust account would decrease by a corresponding amount. Conversely, in the event that the offering expenses are less than our estimate of $1,000,000, the amount of funds we intend to be held outside the trust account would increase by a corresponding amount.

 

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Under the DGCL, stockholders may be held liable for claims by third parties against a corporation to the extent of distributions received by them in a dissolution. The pro rata portion of our trust account distributed to our public stockholders upon the redemption of our public shares in the event we do not complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering may be considered a liquidating distribution under Delaware law. If the corporation complies with certain procedures set forth in Section 280 of the DGCL intended to ensure that it makes reasonable provision for all claims against it, including a 60-day notice period during which any third-party claims can be brought against the corporation, a 90-day period during which the corporation may reject any claims brought, and an additional 150-day waiting period before any liquidating distributions are made to stockholders, any liability of stockholders with respect to a liquidating distribution is limited to the lesser of such stockholder’s pro rata share of the claim or the amount distributed to the stockholder, and any liability of the stockholder would be barred after the third anniversary of the dissolution.

Furthermore, if the pro rata portion of our trust account distributed to our public stockholders upon the redemption of our public shares in the event we do not complete our initial business combination within the required time period, is not considered a liquidating distribution under Delaware law and such redemption distribution is deemed to be unlawful, then pursuant to Section 174 of the DGCL, the statute of limitations for claims of creditors could then be six years after the unlawful redemption distribution, instead of three years, as in the case of a liquidating distribution. If we have not completed our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or any Extension Period, we will: (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up; (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than 10 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 earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any); and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. Accordingly, it is our intention to redeem our public shares as soon as reasonably possible following the end of our acquisition period and, therefore, we do not intend to comply with those procedures. As such, our stockholders could potentially be liable for any claims to the extent of distributions received by them (but no more) and any liability of our stockholders may extend well beyond the third anniversary of such date.

Because we will not be complying with Section 280, Section 281(b) of the DGCL requires us to adopt a plan, based on facts known to us at such time that will provide for our payment of all existing and pending claims or claims that may be potentially brought against us within the subsequent ten years. However, because we are a blank check company, rather than an operating company, and our operations will be limited to searching for prospective target businesses to acquire, the only likely claims to arise would be from our vendors (such as lawyers, investment bankers, etc.) or prospective target businesses. As described above, pursuant to the obligation contained in our underwriting agreement, we will seek to have all vendors, service providers (other than 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. The underwriters of this offering will not execute agreements with us waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account.

As a result of this obligation, the claims that could be made against us are significantly limited and the likelihood that any claim that would result in any liability extending to the trust account is remote. Further, our sponsor may be liable only to the extent necessary to ensure that the amounts in the trust account are not reduced below: (i) $10.00 per public share; or (ii) such lesser amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account, due to reductions in value of the trust assets, in each case net of the amount of interest withdrawn to pay our taxes and will 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. In the event

 

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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.

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. See “Risk Factors—If, after we distribute the proceeds in the trust account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, a bankruptcy court may seek to recover such proceeds, and the members of our board of directors may be viewed as having breached their fiduciary duties to our creditors, thereby exposing the members of our board of directors and us to claims of punitive damages.”

Our public stockholders will be entitled to receive funds from the trust account only upon the earliest to occur of: (i) the completion of our initial business combination, and then only in connection with those shares of Class A common stock that such stockholder properly elected to redeem, subject to the limitations described herein; (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly submitted 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 allow redemptions 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 18 months from the closing of this offering or (b) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity; and (iii) the redemption of all of our public shares if we have not completed our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering, subject to applicable law and as further described herein. 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 our initial 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.

Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will contain certain requirements and restrictions relating to this offering that will apply to us until the consummation of our initial business combination. If we seek to amend any provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-business combination activity, we will provide public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares in connection with any such vote. Specifically, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide, among other things, that:

 

   

prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, we shall either: (i) seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination at a meeting called for such purpose at which stockholders may seek to redeem their shares, regardless of whether they vote for or against the proposed business combination, into their pro rata share of the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable); or (ii) provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to tender their shares to us by means of a tender offer (and

 

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thereby avoid the need for a stockholder vote) for an amount equal to their pro rata share of the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable), in each case subject to the limitations described herein;

 

   

we will consummate our initial business combination only if we have net tangible assets of at least $5,000,001, either prior to or upon consummation of an initial business combination, after payment of the deferred underwriting commission, and, solely if we seek stockholder approval, a majority of the outstanding shares of common stock voted are voted in favor of the business combination at a duly held stockholders meeting;

 

   

if we have not completed our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or during any Extension Period, we will: (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up; (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable, and less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any); and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law; and

 

   

prior to our initial business combination, we may not issue additional shares of capital stock that would entitle the holders thereof to (i) receive funds from the trust account or (ii) vote as a class with our public shares (a) on any initial business combination or (b) to approve an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to (1) extend the time we have to consummate a business combination beyond 18 months from the closing of this offering or (2) amend the foregoing provisions.

These provisions cannot be amended without the approval of holders of at least 65% of our common stock who attend and vote in a stockholder meeting. In the event we seek stockholder approval in connection with our initial business combination, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that we may consummate our initial business combination only if approved by a majority of the outstanding shares of common stock voted by our stockholders at a duly held stockholders meeting.

Additionally, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that, prior to our initial business combination, only holders of our Class B common stock will have the right to vote on the election of directors and that holders of a majority of the outstanding shares of our Class B common stock may remove a member of the board of directors for any reason. These provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation may only be amended if approved by holders of at least 90% of the outstanding shares of our Class B common stock voting at a stockholder meeting.

Unless specified in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or bylaws, or as required by applicable law or stock exchange rules, the affirmative vote of holders of a majority of the outstanding shares of our common stock that are voted is required to approve any such matter voted on by our stockholders.

 

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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 have not completed our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or during any Extension Period.

 

    

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 pursuant to a tender offer or in connection with a stockholder vote. 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 public 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 be $10.00 per public share), including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes, divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, subject to the limitation that we will only redeem public shares so long as (after such redemptions) our net tangible assets will be at least $5,000,001, either prior to or upon consummation of an initial business combination, after payment of the deferred underwriting commission, and any limitations (including but not limited to cash    If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their affiliates may purchase shares in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination. Such purchases will be restricted except to the extent such purchases are able to be made in compliance with Rule 10b-18, which is a safe harbor from liability for manipulation under Section 9(a)(2) and Rule 10b-5 of the Exchange Act. None of the funds in the trust account will be used to purchase shares in such transactions.    If we have not completed our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or during any Extension Period, 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 public share), 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.

 

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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

   requirements) agreed to in connection with the negotiation of terms of a proposed business combination.      
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 interest withdrawn in order to pay our taxes (to the extent not paid from amounts accrued as interest on the funds held in the trust account).    If the permitted purchases described above are made, there will 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 initial stockholders, who will be our only remaining stockholders 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 over-allotment option. None of the provisions of Rule 419 apply to our offering.

 

    

Terms of Our Offering

  

Terms Under a Rule 419 Offering

Escrow of offering proceeds    Of the gross proceeds from this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants be deposited in a trust account. $250,000,000 of the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants will be deposited into a U.S.-based trust account with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee.    Approximately $212,625,000 of the offering proceeds, representing the gross proceeds of this offering less allowable underwriting commissions, expenses and company deductions under Rule 419, 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    $250,000,000 of the net offering proceeds and the sale of the private placement warrants held in trust will be invested only in U.S. government treasury bills 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.    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.

 

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Terms of Our Offering

  

Terms Under a Rule 419 Offering

Receipt of interest on escrowed funds    Interest on proceeds from the trust account to be paid to stockholders is reduced by: (1) any taxes paid or payable; and (2) 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 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.
Limitation on fair value or net assets of target business    NYSE listing rules require that our initial business combination must be with one or more target businesses that together have an aggregate fair market value equal to at least 80% of the value of the assets held in the trust account (excluding any deferred underwriters fees and taxes payable on the income earned on the trust account) at the time of our signing a definitive agreement in connection with our 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 will begin trading on or promptly after the date of this prospectus. The Class A common stock and warrants constituting 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 BofA and Wells Fargo inform us of their decision to allow earlier separate trading, subject to our having filed the Current Report on Form 8-K described below and having issued a press release announcing when such separate trading will begin. We will file the Current Report on Form 8-K promptly after the closing of this offering. If the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised following the initial filing of such Current Report on Form 8-K, a second or amended Current Report on Form 8-K will be filed to provide updated financial information to reflect the exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option.    No trading of the units or the underlying 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.
Exercise of the warrants    The warrants cannot be exercised until the later of 30 days after the completion    The warrants could be exercised prior to the completion of a business

 

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   of our initial business combination and 12 months from the closing of this offering.    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 public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares for cash equal to their pro rata share of 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, which interest shall be net of taxes payable, upon the completion of our initial business combination, subject to the limitations described herein. We may not be required by applicable law or stock exchange rules to hold a stockholder vote. If we are not required by applicable law or stock exchange rules 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 solicitation pursuant to the proxy rules and not pursuant to the tender offer rules. Pursuant to the tender offer rules, the tender offer period will be not less than 20 business days and, in the case of a stockholder vote, a final proxy statement would be mailed to public stockholders at least 10 days prior to the stockholder vote. However, we expect that a draft proxy statement would be made available to such stockholders well in advance of such time, providing additional notice of redemption if we conduct redemptions in conjunction with a proxy solicitation. If we seek    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 he, she or it elects to remain a stockholder of the company or require the return of his, her or its 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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   stockholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if a majority of the outstanding shares of common stock voted are voted in favor of the business combination. A quorum for such meeting will consist of the holders present in person or by proxy of shares of outstanding capital stock of the company representing a majority of the voting power of all outstanding shares of capital stock of the company entitled to vote at such meeting. Additionally, each public stockholder may elect to redeem its public shares without voting and, if they do vote, irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction.   
Business combination deadline    If we have not completed an initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering, or during any Extension Period, we will: (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up; (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than 10 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 earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any); and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law.    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.
Release of funds    Except with respect to interest earned on the funds held in the trust account that    The proceeds held in the escrow account are not released until the earlier of the

 

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   may be released to us to pay our taxes, the funds held in the trust account will not be released from the trust account until the earliest of: (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 allow redemptions 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 18 months from the closing of this offering or (b) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity; and (iii) the redemption of all of our public shares if we have not completed our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering, subject to applicable law.    completion of a business combination or the failure to effect a business combination within the allotted time.
Limitation on redemption rights of stockholders holding more than 15% of the shares sold in this offering if we hold a stockholder vote    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 public stockholder, together with any affiliate of such stockholder or any other person with whom such stockholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from redeeming its shares with respect Excess Shares (more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in this offering), without our prior consent. Our public stockholders’ inability to redeem Excess Shares will reduce their influence over our ability to complete our initial business combination and they could suffer a material loss on their investment in us if they sell Excess Shares in open market transactions.    Most blank check companies provide no restrictions on the ability of stockholders to redeem shares based on the number of shares held by such stockholders in connection with an initial business combination.
Tendering stock certificates in connection with a    We may require our public stockholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or    In order to perfect redemption rights in connection with their business combinations, holders could vote against

 

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tender offer or redemption rights    hold their shares in “street name,” to either tender their certificates to our transfer agent prior to the date set forth in the tender offer documents or proxy materials mailed to such holders or up to two business days prior to the scheduled vote on the proposal to approve the business combination in the event we distribute proxy materials, 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. The tender offer or proxy materials, as applicable, that we will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination will indicate whether we are requiring public stockholders to satisfy such delivery requirements, which will include the requirement that a beneficial holder must identify itself in order to validly redeem its shares. Accordingly, a public stockholder would have from the time we send out our tender offer materials until the close of the tender offer period, or up to two business days prior to the scheduled vote on the business combination if we distribute proxy materials, as applicable, to tender its shares if it wishes to seek to exercise its redemption rights.    a proposed business combination and check a box on the proxy card indicating such holders were seeking to exercise their redemption rights. After the business combination was approved, the company would contact such stockholders to arrange for them to deliver their certificate to verify ownership.

Competition

We expect to encounter intense competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours, including private investors (which may be individuals or investment partnerships), other blank check companies and other entities, domestic and international, competing for the types of businesses we intend to acquire.

Many of these individuals and entities are well-established and have extensive experience in identifying and effecting, directly or indirectly, acquisitions of companies operating in or providing services to various industries. Many of these competitors possess greater technical, human and other resources or more local industry knowledge than we do, and our financial resources will be relatively limited when contrasted with those of many of these competitors. While we believe there will be numerous target businesses we could potentially acquire with the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, our ability to compete with respect to the acquisition of certain target businesses that are sizable will be limited by our available financial resources. Our sponsor or any of its affiliates may make additional investments in us, although our sponsor and its affiliates have no obligation or other duty to do so. This inherent competitive limitation gives others an advantage in pursuing the acquisition of certain target businesses. Furthermore, our obligation to pay

 

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cash in connection with our public 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 target businesses. Any of these factors may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating and completing an initial business combination.

Facilities

 

   

We currently maintain our executive offices at 667 Madison Avenue, 18th Floor, New York, New York 10065, and our telephone number is (212) 935-7676. The cost for this space is included in the $10,000 per month, for up to 18 months, fee that we will pay an affiliate of our sponsor for office space, utilities, administrative and support services. We consider our current office space adequate for our current operations.

Employees

We currently have two officers and do not intend to have any full-time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination. Members of our management team 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 that any such person will devote in any time period to our company will vary based on whether a target business has been selected for our initial business combination and the current stage of the business combination process.

Periodic Reporting and Financial Information

We will register our units, 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 accounting firm.

We will provide stockholders with audited financial statements of the prospective target business as part of the tender offer materials or proxy solicitation materials sent to stockholders to assist them in assessing the target business. These financial statements may be required to be prepared in accordance with, or be reconciled to, GAAP or IFRS, depending on the circumstances and the historical financial statements may be required to be audited in accordance with PCAOB standards. These financial statement requirements may limit the pool of potential target businesses we may acquire because some targets may be unable to provide such financial statements in time for us to disclose such financial statements in accordance with federal proxy rules and complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame. While this may limit the pool of potential business combination 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, 2022 as required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Only in the event we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer or an accelerated filer and no longer qualify as an emerging growth company, will we be required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirements on our internal control over financial reporting. A target business may not be in compliance with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act regarding adequacy of their internal controls. The development of the internal controls of any such entity to achieve compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may increase the time and costs necessary to complete any such acquisition.

Prior to the effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, 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, as modified by the JOBS Act. As such, we are eligible to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a non-binding advisory vote on executive compensation and 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 (i) 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 common stock that is held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the end of that fiscal year’s second quarter, and (ii) the date on which we have issued more than $1.00 billion in non-convertible debt securities during the prior three-year period.

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

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, and we and the members of our management team have not been subject to any such proceeding in the 12 months preceding the date of this prospectus.

 

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MANAGEMENT

Directors, Director Nominees and Executive Officers

 

Name

  

Age

  

Title

Jeffrey Berenson    70    Chairman of the Board of Directors
Mohammed Ansari    47    Chief Executive Officer and Director
Amir Hegazy    35    Chief Financial Officer
David Panton    49    Director
Carl Ferenbach    79    Independent Director Nominee
Kay Kapoor    58    Independent Director Nominee
Ronald Kasner    48    Independent Director Nominee
Gal Munda    37    Independent Director Nominee

Our executive officers, directors and independent director nominees are as follows:

Jeffrey Berenson has served as our Chairman since our inception in June 2021. Mr. Berenson co-founded Berenson Minella & Company in 1990, the predecessor firm to Berenson. Prior to founding Berenson, Mr. Berenson was, among other things, the head of Merrill Lynch’s M&A group and co-founder and co-head of its Merchant Banking Group. Mr. Berenson joined White Weld & Co. in 1972, moving to the M&A department of Merrill Lynch following its acquisition of White Weld in 1978.

Mr. Berenson served as a director of Epoch Investments (NASDAQ: EPHC) from 2004 until its sale to TD Bank Group in 2013, Noble Energy (NASDAQ: NBL) from 2005 until its sale to Chevron (NYSE: CVX) in 2020, Patina Oil and Gas Corp from 2002 until its sale to Noble Energy (NASDAQ: NBL) in 2005. Mr. Berenson graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. from Princeton University.

Mohammed Ansari has served as our Chief Executive Officer since our inception in June 2021 and as our director since September 2021. Mr. Ansari is the President and Senior Managing Partner of Berenson. He leads Berenson’s principal investing business and has completed over 100 principal investments and investment banking transactions since joining Berenson. Mr. Ansari joined Berenson in 1997 from Salomon Brothers, where he worked in M&A advisory for major U.S. and Canadian corporations in the New York and Toronto offices. Mr. Ansari currently serves on the board of directors of Skience LLC and BCP Light Holdings, LLC, and as a board observer for IntraPac International Corporation. Mr. Ansari received a Master of Philosophy Degree in Economics from Cambridge University and a B.S. in Economics and Business Finance from Brunel University, where he graduated with First Class Honors.

Amir Hegazy has served as our Chief Financial Officer since our inception in June 2021. Mr. Hegazy is a Managing Director of Berenson focused on software and technology-enabled services. He has over 13 years of experience in investment banking, having worked on a variety of transactions, including buy side and sell side assignments, capital raises and restructurings, and private equity investing as a senior member of Berenson. Mr. Hegazy serves on the board of directors of Skience LLC since December 2018. Mr. Hegazy graduated cum laude with a B.A. in finance and a minor in economics from Pace University.

David Panton has served on our board of directors since our inception in June 2021. He currently serves as the Chairman of Panton Equity Partners, LLC, a private family office which he founded in June 2012. Since May 2020, Dr. Panton has been the managing partner of Navigation Capital Partners SPAC Opportunity Partners, LLC, an investment firm focused on building a diversified portfolio of investments in SPACs utilizing three strategies: providing sponsor capital, leading investments in SPAC initial public offerings, and investing in PIPEs for SPACs. Navigation Capital’s SPAC team recruits CEOs to lead SPACs through its SPAC-in-a-Box® operating system to streamline the SPAC IPO process. In February 2002, Dr. Panton co-founded Navigation Capital Partners LP, an Atlanta-based private equity firm that has made growth and buyout investments. In

 

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partnership with Goldman Sachs, its portfolio includes investments in many operating companies. Prior to his role at Navigation Partners, Dr. Panton served as Vice President at Mellon Ventures, a $1.4 billion private equity firm, before purchasing the portfolio in a partnership with Larry Mock and Goldman Sachs and founding Navigation Capital. Prior to this, Dr. Panton founded Caribbean Equity Partners, a private equity firm focused on investments in the Caribbean and Latin America. Since August 2011, Dr. Panton has been an adjunct professor of Finance at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School. He has served on private and public boards of directors, including Brand Bank (sold to Renasant Bank), Track Utilities (sold to CIVC Partners) D and Z Media Acquisition Corp (NYSE: DNZ), Exeter Finance (sold to Blackstone), SecureWorks (sold to Dell Technologies), and Ameritech Facility Services. Dr. Panton received his Doctorate in Management Studies from Oxford University, his J.D. from Harvard Law School, and his A.B. from Princeton University. His robust investment and deal experience across various industries provide for unique insight when evaluating potential targets.

Carl Ferenbach has agreed to serve on our board of directors following the completion of this offering. Mr. Ferenbach is a co-founder of Berkshire Partners LLC (“Berkshire”), a private equity investment firm based in Boston, MA, founded in 1986. Berkshire has managed nine private equity investment funds representing over $16 billion of capital. Mr. Ferenbach is the Chairman & co-founder of High Meadows Foundation and High Meadows Fund. He also serves on a number of boards of directors including the Environmental Defense Fund, the Advisory Board of Princeton Environmental Institute, Nassau Hall Society at Princeton University, The Wilderness Society and Climate Central. Mr. Ferenbach served as Chairman of the Board of English, Welsh & Scottish Railway Ltd., U.S., Can Corporation and Crown Castle International Corp. He also served as a director of other Berkshire portfolio companies. Mr. Ferenbach served in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, received an A.B. from Princeton University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Kay Kapoor has agreed to serve on our board of directors following the completion of this offering. Mrs. Kapoor is the founder and CEO of Arya Technologies, LLC, which she founded in December 2017. Arya Technologies, LLC is a company that provides end-to-end technology solutions and consulting services to the U.S. federal government and the industry that supports it. Arya Technologies, LLC provides innovative and fiscally-responsible solutions for cybersecurity, big-data, analytics, cloud and mobility. Previously, from January 2013 to November 2017 Mrs. Kapoor led AT&T’s Global Public Sector organization, a $15 billion segment of AT&T that provides technology and communications solutions to government & education customers across federal, state, local, and international markets. Over the course of four years, she transformed the segment and delivered substantial growth, including capturing multibillion-dollar contracts such as the landmark FirstNet contract to build a nationwide public safety broadband network for first responders. Prior to that, Mrs. Kapoor served as chairman and CEO of Accenture Federal Services, a wholly-owned $1.3 billion subsidiary of Accenture LLC, leading 2,500 members of its U.S. federal business. Before that, she worked at Lockheed Martin Corporation for 20 years leading complex organization units and government/regulatory relations and served as vice president and COO of Lockheed Martin’s IS&GS—Civil unit. Mrs. Kapoor has 29 years of experience in government and commercial markets. She is the recipient of numerous industry awards. In addition, she serves on the board of directors of ComSovereign Holding Co. (NASDAQ: COMS) since November 2020 and also is active on boards of philanthropy and academia. Mrs. Kapoor earned her bachelor’s degree in information systems from the University of Maryland and her Master of Science in information systems from Johns Hopkins University, complemented by executive programs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University.

Ronald Kasner has agreed to serve on our board of directors following the completion of this offering. Mr. Kasner has served as the Vice Chairman of online search and content intelligence platform, Conductor Founders, Inc. since April 2020 and as the advisor with Exsecutus Advisors, LLC since October 2019. Previously, from March 2010 to May 2020, Mr. Kasner was an executive with cloud-based talent acquisition software company, iCIMS, Inc. During Mr. Kasner’s tenure, iCIMS grew annual recurring revenue from $20 million to over $250 million while being named one of the Best Places to Work nationally. Mr. Kasner also serves as an independent member of the board of Envisage Technologies, LLC since May 2020. In addition, from August 2016 to August 2017, Mr. Kasner served on the board of directors of Macropoint, LLC. Mr. Kasner

 

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earned his bachelor’s degree in finance and accounting from the University of Virginia and his J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Gal Munda has agreed to serve on our board of directors following the completion of this offering. Mr. Munda has served as the co-head of technology research at Berenberg Capital Markets and as the lead analyst covering global design software from July 2020 to present. Previously, he served in several other positions at Berenberg including as associate director and vice president of equity research from January 2014 until October 2019 and led vertical software investing at Matrix Capital Management from October 2019 to July 2020. Mr. Munda has over 10 years of finance and equity research experience, specifically within the software industry. Mr. Munda earned his bachelor’s degree in economics and business from the University of Maribor, Slovenia and his masters degree in finance and investment from Nottingham University Business School.

Number and Terms of Office of Officers and Directors

Upon the effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, we expect that our board of directors will consist of seven members. In accordance with the NYSE corporate governance requirements, we are not required to hold an annual meeting until one year after our first fiscal year end following our listing on the NYSE. The term of office of our initial directors will expire at our first annual meeting of stockholders.

Prior to consummation of our initial business combination, holders of our Class B common stock will have the right to elect all of our directors and remove members of our board of directors for any reason. Holders of our public shares will not have the right to vote on the election of directors during such time. These provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation may only be amended if approved by holders at least 90% of the outstanding shares of our Class B common stock voting at a stockholder meeting. Approval of our initial business combination will require the affirmative vote of a majority of our board directors, which must include a majority of our independent directors. Subject to any other special rights applicable to the stockholders, prior to our initial business combination, any vacancies on our board of directors may be filled by the affirmative vote of a majority of the directors present and voting at the meeting of our board of directors that includes any directors representing our sponsor then on our board of directors, or by holders of a majority of the outstanding shares of our Class B common stock.

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 bylaws as it deems appropriate. Our bylaws provide that our officers may consist of a Chairman of the Board, a Chief Executive Officer, a President, a Chief Financial Officer, a Secretary and such other officers (including without limitation, Vice Presidents, Assistant Secretaries and a Treasurer) as may be determined from time to time by the board of directors.

Director Independence

The NYSE listing standards require that a majority of our board of directors be independent within one year of our initial public offering. 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 the NYSE listing standards and applicable SEC rules. We expect a majority of our board of directors to be comprised of independent directors within 12 months from the date of listing to comply with the majority independent board requirement of the NYSE listing standards. Our board has determined that each of Carl Ferenbach, Kay Kapoor, Ronald Kasner and Gal Munda is an independent director under applicable SEC and the NYSE listing rules. Our independent directors will have regularly scheduled meetings at which only independent directors are present.

 

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Executive Officer and Director Compensation

None of our officers or directors have received any cash compensation for services rendered to us. Commencing on the date that our securities are first listed on the NYSE through the earlier of consummation of our initial business combination and our liquidation, we will pay our sponsor a total of $10,000 per month, for up to 18 months for office space, utilities, administrative and support services. Our sponsor, officers and directors, or any of their respective affiliates, will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made by us to our sponsor, officers, directors or our or any of their affiliates.

After the completion of our initial business combination, directors or members of our management team who remain with us may be paid consulting, management or other compensation from the combined company. All compensation will be fully disclosed to stockholders, to the extent then known, in the tender offer materials or proxy solicitation materials furnished to our stockholders in connection with a proposed business combination. It is unlikely the amount of such compensation will be known at the time such materials are distributed, 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 officers after the completion of our initial business combination will be determined by a compensation committee constituted solely by independent directors.

We are not party to any agreements with our officers and directors that provide for benefits upon termination of employment. The existence or terms of any such employment or consulting arrangements may influence our management’s motivation in identifying or selecting a target business, and we do not believe that the ability of our management to remain with us after the consummation of our initial business combination should be a determining factor in our decision to proceed with any potential business combination.

Committees of the Board of Directors

Upon the effective date of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, our board of directors will have three standing committees: an audit committee, a nominating and corporate governance committee and a compensation committee, each of which will be composed solely of independent directors. Subject to phase-in rules, the rules of the NYSE and Rule 10A-3 of the Exchange Act require that the audit committee of a listed company be comprised solely of independent directors and the rules of the NYSE require that the nominating and corporate governance committee and the compensation committee of a listed company be comprised solely of independent directors. Each committee will operate under a charter that complies with the NYSE rules, will be approved by our board of directors and will have the composition and responsibilities described below. The charter of each committee will be available on our website following the closing of this offering.

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. The members of our audit committee will be Gal Munda, Kay Kapoor and Carl Ferenbach. Gal Munda will serve as chairman of the audit committee. Under the NYSE listing standards and applicable SEC rules, we are required to have at least three members of the audit committee, all of whom must be independent. Our board of directors has determined that each of Gal Munda, Kay Kapoor and Carl Ferenbach is independent under the NYSE listing standards and under Rule 10-A-3(b)(1) of the Exchange Act.

Each member of the audit committee is financially literate, and our board of directors has determined that Gal Munda qualifies as an “audit committee financial expert” as defined in applicable SEC rules and has accounting or related financial management expertise.

 

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We will adopt an audit committee charter, which will detail the duties of the audit committee, including:

 

   

assisting board oversight of (i) the integrity of our financial statements, (ii) our compliance with legal and regulatory requirements, (iii) the independent registered public accounting firm’s qualifications and independence and (iv) the performance of our internal audit function and the independent registered public accounting firm;

 

   

the appointment, compensation, retention, replacement, and oversight of the work of the independent registered public accounting firm and any other independent registered public accounting firm engaged by us;

 

   

pre-approving all audit and non-audit services to be provided by the independent registered public accounting firm or any other registered public accounting firm engaged by us, and establishing pre-approval policies and procedures;

 

   

reviewing and discussing with the independent registered public accounting firm all relationships the auditors have with us in order to evaluate their continued independence;

 

   

setting clear hiring policies for employees or former employees of the independent registered public accounting firm;

 

   

setting clear policies for audit partner rotation in compliance with applicable laws and regulations;

 

   

obtaining and reviewing a report, at least annually, from the independent registered public accounting firm describing (i) the independent registered public accounting firm’s internal quality-control procedures and (ii) any material issues raised by the most recent internal quality-control review, or peer review, of the audit firm, or by any inquiry or investigation by governmental or professional authorities, within the preceding five years respecting one or more independent audits carried out by the firm and any steps taken to deal with such issues;

 

   

reviewing and approving any related party transaction required to be disclosed pursuant to Item 404 of Regulation S-K promulgated by the SEC prior to us entering into such transaction; and

 

   

reviewing with management, the independent registered public accounting firm, and our legal advisors, as appropriate, any legal, regulatory or compliance matters, including any correspondence with regulators or government agencies and any employee complaints or published reports that raise material issues regarding our financial statements or accounting policies and any significant changes in accounting standards or rules promulgated by the Financial Accounting Standards Board, the SEC or other regulatory authorities.

Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee

Upon the effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, we will establish a nominating and corporate governance committee of the board of directors. Under the NYSE listing standards, we are required to have a nominating and corporate governance committee composed entirely of independent directors. The members of our nominating and corporate governance committee will be Carl Ferenbach, Kay Kapoor and Ronald Kasner. Carl Ferenbach will serve as chairman of the nominating and corporate governance committee.

We will adopt a nominating and corporate governance committee charter, which will detail the duties of the nominating and corporate governance committee, including:

 

   

identifying, screening and reviewing individuals qualified to serve as directors and recommending to the board of directors candidates for nomination for election at the annual meeting of stockholders or to fill vacancies on the board of directors;

 

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developing and recommending to the board of directors and overseeing implementation of our corporate governance guidelines;

 

   

coordinating and overseeing the annual self-evaluation of the board of directors, its committees, individual directors and management in the governance of the company; and

 

   

reviewing on a regular basis our overall corporate governance and recommending improvements as and when necessary.

The charter will also provide that the nominating and corporate governance committee may, in its sole discretion, retain or obtain the advice of, and terminate, any search firm to be used to identify director candidates, and will be directly responsible for approving the search firm’s fees and other retention terms.

Guidelines for Selecting Director Nominees

The guidelines for selecting nominees, which are specified in the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee Charter, generally provide that persons to be nominated:

 

   

should have demonstrated notable or significant achievements in business, education or public service;

 

   

should possess the requisite intelligence, education and experience to make a significant contribution to the board of directors and bring a range of skills, diverse perspectives and backgrounds to its deliberations; and

 

   

should have the highest ethical standards, a strong sense of professionalism and intense dedication to serving the interests of the stockholders.

The nominating and corporate governance committee will consider a number of qualifications relating to management and leadership experience, background and integrity and professionalism in evaluating a person’s candidacy for membership on the board of directors. The nominating and corporate governance committee may require certain skills or attributes, such as financial or accounting experience, to meet specific board needs that arise from time to time and will also consider the overall experience and makeup of its members to obtain a broad and diverse mix of board members. The nominating and corporate governance committee does not distinguish among nominees recommended by stockholders and other persons.

Compensation Committee

Upon the effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, we will establish a compensation committee of the board of directors. Under the NYSE listing standards, we are required to have a compensation committee composed entirely of independent directors. The members of our compensation committee will be Kay Kapoor, Gal Munda and Ronald Kasner. Kay Kapoor will serve as chairman of the compensation committee.

We will adopt a compensation committee charter, which will detail the duties of the compensation committee, including:

 

   

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

 

   

reviewing and making recommendations to our board of directors with respect to the compensation, and any incentive compensation and equity-based plans that are subject to board approval of all of our other officers;

 

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reviewing our executive compensation policies and plans;

 

   

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

 

   

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

 

   

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

 

   

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

 

   

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 the NYSE and the SEC.

Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation

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

Code of Business Conduct and Ethics

Upon the effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, we will have adopted a code of business conduct and ethics applicable to our directors, officers and employees (our “Code of Ethics”). A copy of the 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. See “Where You Can Find Additional Information.”

Corporate Governance Guidelines

Our board of directors will adopt corporate governance guidelines in accordance with the corporate governance rules of the NYSE that serve as a flexible framework within which our board of directors and its committees operate. These guidelines will cover a number of areas including board membership criteria and director qualifications, director responsibilities, board agenda, roles of the chairman of the board, chief executive officer and presiding director, meetings of independent directors, committee responsibilities and assignments, board member access to management and independent advisors, director communications with third parties, director compensation, director orientation and continuing education, evaluation of senior management and management succession planning. A copy of our corporate governance guidelines will be available on our website following the closing of this offering.

Conflicts of Interest

Each of our officers and directors presently has, and any of them in the future may further have, fiduciary or contractual obligations to at least one other entity, including D&Z Media, pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entity. Accordingly, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is

 

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suitable for an entity to which he or she has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she will honor these obligations to present such business combination opportunity to such entity, and only present it to us if such entity rejects the opportunity. 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.

Affiliates of our sponsor are not prohibited from sponsoring other special purpose acquisition companies and such affiliates, including Navigation and Berenson, expect to sponsor special purpose acquisition companies in the future. In particular, Navigation is a sponsor of four special purpose acquisition companies that have filed registration statements in connection with their initial public offerings. Any such companies may pursue similar targets and compete with us for business combination opportunities. 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 special purpose acquisition company would materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination.

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 business combination. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that, prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, 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 the director or officer is permitted to refer that opportunity to us without violating any legal obligation. Our officers and directors would continue to be subject to all other fiduciary duties owed to us and our stockholders and no other waivers of their respective fiduciary obligations have been provided to any such officers and directors. We do not have any plans to waive the fiduciary duties of our officers and directors post-business combination.

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

 

   

None of our officers or directors is required to commit his or her full time to our affairs and, accordingly, may have conflicts of interest in allocating his or her time among various business activities.

 

   

In the course of their other business activities, our officers and directors may become aware of investment and business opportunities that 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. For a complete description of our management’s other affiliations, see “— Directors, Director Nominees and Executive Officers.”

 

   

Our initial stockholders, officers and directors have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and any public shares held by them in connection with the consummation of our initial business combination. Our other directors and officers have also entered into the letter agreement, which imposes the same obligations on them with respect to any public shares acquired by them. Additionally, our initial stockholders, officers and directors have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares if we fail to consummate our initial business combination within 18 months after the closing of this offering or during any Extension Period. However, if our initial stockholders or any of our officers, directors or affiliates 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 our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame. 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

 

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shares, and the private placement warrants will expire worthless. With certain limited exceptions, the founder shares will not be transferable, assignable or salable by our initial stockholders until the earlier of (i) one year after the completion of our initial business combination and (ii) subsequent to our initial business combination, (a) if the last reported sale price of the 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 business combination, or (b) the date on which we complete a liquidation, merger, stock exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction that results in all of our public stockholders having the right to exchange their shares of Class A common stock for cash, securities or other property. With certain limited exceptions, the private placement warrants and the shares of common stock underlying such warrants, will not be transferable, assignable or salable by our sponsor 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 shares 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 effectuate our initial business combination.

 

   

Our key personnel 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 initial business combination and as a result, may cause them to have conflicts of interest in determining whether to proceed with a particular business combination.

 

   

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

The conflicts described above may not be resolved in our favor.

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:

 

   

the corporation could financially undertake the opportunity;

 

   

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

 

   

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

Accordingly, as a result of multiple business affiliations, our officers and directors have similar legal obligations relating to presenting business opportunities meeting the above-listed criteria to multiple entities. Furthermore, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that, prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, the doctrine of corporate opportunity will not apply with respect to any of our officers or directors in circumstances where the application of the doctrine would conflict with any fiduciary duties or contractual obligations they may have, and there will not be any expectancy that any of our directors or officers will offer any such corporate opportunity of which he or she may become aware to us. Below is a table summarizing the entities to which our officers, directors and director nominees currently have fiduciary duties or contractual obligations that may present a conflict of interest:

 

Name of Individual

  

Entity Name

  

Entity’s Business

  

Affiliation

Jeffrey Berenson    Berenson Holdings LLC    Investment    Co-founder

 

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Name of Individual

  

Entity Name

  

Entity’s Business

  

Affiliation

David Panton    Navigation Capital Partners LP    Investment    Co-founder
   Panton Equity Partners, LLC    Investment    Chairman
   AmeriTech Facility Services    Renovation Services    Director
   Jamaica Chamber of Commerce    Non-profit    Director
Mohammed Ansari    Skience LLC    Technology    Director
   BCP Light Holdings, LLC    Investment    Director
   IntraPac International Corporation    Packaging solutions    Board Observer
  

Berenson Holdings LLC

  

Investment

  

President and Senior Managing Partner

  

Kayan Aviation

   Aviation Leasing and Asset Management   

Director

Amir Hegazy    Skience LLC    Technology    Director
   Berenson Holdings LLC    Investment    Managing Director
Carl Ferenbach    Berkshire Partners LLC    Investments    Co-founder
Kay Kapoor    Arya Technologies, LLC    Technology Consulting and Advisory Services    Founder and Chief Executive Officer
   ComSovereign Holding Co.    Technology / Telecommunications    Independent Director
Ronald Kasner    Conductor Founders, Inc.    Technology    Vice Chairman
   Exsecutus Advisors, LLC    Advisory Firm    Advisor
   Envisage Technologies, LLC    Technology    Independent Director
Gal Munda    Berenberg Capital Markets LLC    Banking    Co-head of Technology Research

Accordingly, if any of the above officers or directors become aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for any of the above entities to which he or she has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she will honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such business combination opportunity to such entity, and only present it to us if such entity rejects the opportunity. We do not believe, however, that any of the foregoing fiduciary duties or contractual obligations will materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination. 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 company that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent and disinterested directors, will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA or from an independent accounting firm, that our initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view.

In addition, our sponsor or any of its affiliates may make additional investments in the company in connection with the initial business combination, although our sponsor and its affiliates have no obligation or

 

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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.

In the event that we submit our initial business combination to our public stockholders for a vote, our initial stockholders, officers and directors have agreed, pursuant to the terms of a letter agreement entered into with us, to vote their founder shares (and their permitted transferees will agree) and any public shares held by them in favor of our initial business combination. Our other directors and officers have also entered into the letter agreement, which imposes the same obligations on them with respect to any public shares acquired by them.

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, except to the extent such exemption from liability or limitation thereof is not permitted by the DGCL.

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 permit us to maintain 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 obtain 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. 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 insurance and the indemnity agreements are necessary to attract and retain talented and experienced officers and directors.

Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act may be permitted to directors, officers or persons controlling us pursuant to the foregoing provisions, we have been informed that in the opinion of the SEC such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is therefore unenforceable.

Indemnity

Our sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a third party (other than our independent registered public accounting firm) 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 amount of funds in the trust account to below (1) $10.00 per public share or (2) such lesser amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest which may be withdrawn to pay taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), except as to any claims by a third party who executed a waiver of any and all rights to seek access to the trust account and except as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of this offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. Moreover, in the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, our sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third-party claims. We have not independently verified whether our sponsor, which is a newly formed entity, has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our company and, therefore, our sponsor may not be able to satisfy those obligations. We have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such obligations. Therefore, we cannot assure you that our sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations. We believe the likelihood of our sponsor having to indemnify the trust account is limited because we will endeavor to have all vendors and prospective target businesses as well as other entities execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to monies held in the trust account.

 

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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 common stock included in the units offered by this prospectus, and assuming no purchase of units in this offering, by:

 

   

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

 

   

each of our executive officers, directors and director nominees; and

 

   

all our executive officers, directors and director nominees 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 shares of 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.

The post-offering numbers and percentages presented assume that the underwriters do not exercise their over-allotment option, that our sponsor forfeits 937,500 founder shares, that there are 31,250,000 shares of our common stock issued and outstanding after this offering and that none of the anchor investors purchase any of the units that may be allocated to them. For a detailed discussion of the arrangements with the anchor investors, please see “—Expression of Interest” below.

 

    

Prior to Offering
Approximate

   

Post-Offering
Approximate

 
    

Number of

Shares

Beneficially

Owned(2)

    

Percentage of

Outstanding

common
stock

   

Number of

Shares
Beneficially
Owned

    

Percentage
of
Outstanding
common
stock

 

Name and Address of Beneficial Owner(1)

          

Berenson SPAC Holdings I, LLC (our sponsor)(3)

     7,037,500        97.9     6,125,000        19.6

Jeffrey Berenson(3)

     —          —         —          —    

David Panton

     7,037,500        97.9     6,125,000        19.6

Mohammed Ansari(4)

     7,037,500        97.9     6,125,000        19.6

Amir Hegazy(4)

     —          —         —          —    

Carl Ferenbach(4)

     25,000        *       25,000        *  

Kay Kapoor

     25,000        *       25,000        *  

Ronald Kasner

     25,000        *       25,000        *  

Gal Munda

     25,000        *       25,000        *  

All directors and executive officers as a group (eight individuals)

     7,187,500        100     7,112,500        20

 

*

Less than one percent.

(1)

Unless otherwise noted, the business address of each of the following entities or individuals is 667 Madison Avenue, 18th Floor, New York, New York 10065.

(2)

Interests shown consist solely of founder shares. Such shares 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 adjustment, as described in the section entitled “Description of Securities.”

(3)

Berenson SPAC Holdings I, LLC, our sponsor, is the record holder of such securities. Jeffrey Berenson controls the managing member of our sponsor and, as a result, has voting and investment discretion with respect to the securities held of record by our sponsor and may be deemed to have beneficial ownership of

 

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  the securities held directly by our sponsor. Mr. Berenson disclaims beneficial ownership of such securities except to the extent of his pecuniary interest therein.
(4)

Does not include certain shares indirectly owned by this individual as a result of his indirect membership interest in our sponsor.

Upon the completion of this offering, holders of our founder shares will hold 7,187,500 founder shares (up to 937,500 of which will be subject to forfeiture by our sponsor depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised). Because of their ownership block, holders of our founder shares may be able to effectively influence the outcome of all matters requiring approval by our stockholders, including the election of directors, amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and approval of significant corporate transactions, including approval of our initial business combination. If we increase or decrease the size of this offering, we will effect a capitalization or share repurchase or redemption or other appropriate mechanism, as applicable, with respect to our shares of Class B common stock immediately prior to the consummation of this offering in such amount as to maintain the number of founder shares at 20% of our outstanding common stock upon the consummation of this offering.

Our sponsor has committed, pursuant to a written agreement, to purchase an aggregate of 7,000,000 private placement warrants (or 7,750,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) at a price of $1.00 per warrant ($7,000,000 in the aggregate or $7,750,000 in the aggregate if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) in a private placement that will occur simultaneously with the closing of this offering. Each private placement warrant is exercisable to purchase one share of Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as provided herein. Private placement warrants may be exercised only for a whole number of shares. If we do not complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering, 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. The private placement warrants are subject to the transfer restrictions described below, and will not be redeemable by us so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees (except as described under “Description of Securities—Warrants—Public Stockholders’ Warrants—Redemption of Warrants for Class A common stock”). If the private placement warrants are held by holders other than our sponsor or its permitted transferees, the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us in all redemption scenarios and exercisable by the holders on the same basis as the warrants included in the units being sold in this offering. Our sponsor and its permitted transferees will also have certain registration rights related to the private placement warrants (including the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the private placement warrants), as described below. Otherwise, the private placement warrants have terms and provisions that are identical to those of the warrants being sold as part of the units in this offering.

Our sponsor and our officers and directors are deemed to be our “promoters” as such term is defined under the federal securities laws. See “Certain Relationships and Related Party Transactions” for additional information regarding our relationships with our promoters.

Forward Purchase Agreements

The anchor investors have in aggregate expressed to us an interest in purchasing up to 98.8% of the units in this offering (excluding any units issued upon exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option). If our anchor investors purchase all of the units for which they have expressed an interest, such purchases would reduce the available public float for our securities. Any such reduction in our available public float may consequently reduce the trading volume, volatility and liquidity of our securities relative to what they would have been had such units been purchased by public investors and could result in our securities being delisted from the NYSE. The anchor investors are not required to hold any public units, Class A common stock or warrants they may purchase in this offering or thereafter for any amount of time. Accordingly, the anchor investors may sell any, or up to all, of the public units, Class A common stock or warrants they may purchase in this offering or thereafter at any time. The sale of material amounts of our units, Class A common stock or warrants, or the perception that such sales may occur, could reduce the market prices of those securities and may encourage short sales.

 

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Expression of Interest

Up to 11 anchor investors have expressed to us an interest in purchasing up to an aggregate of 24,700,000 units in this offering at the offering price of $10.00 per unit, and such allocations will be determined by the underwriters.

No anchor investor is expected to purchase more than 9.9% of the units in this offering (without giving effect to the over-allotment option).

Pursuant to such units, the anchor investors have not been granted any shareholder or other rights in addition to those afforded to our other public stockholders. Further, the anchor investors are not required to (i) hold any units, shares of Class A common stock or warrants they may purchase in this offering or thereafter for any amount of time, (ii) vote any shares of Class A common stock may own at the applicable time in favor of our initial business combination or (iii) refrain from exercising their right to redeem their public shares at the time of our initial business combination. The anchor investors will have the same rights to the funds held in the trust account with respect to the shares of Class A common stock underlying the units they may purchase in this offering as the rights afforded to our other public stockholders.

There can be no assurance that the anchor investors will acquire any units in this offering, or as to the amount of such units the anchor investors will retain, if any, prior to or upon the consummation of our initial business combination. There is also no guarantee that all 11 anchor investors will participate in the offering. In the event that the anchor investors purchase all of the units that they have expressed an interest in purchasing in this offering, hold all such units until prior to consummation of our initial business combination and vote their public shares in favor of our initial business combination, in addition to the founder shares, no affirmative votes from other public stockholders would be required to approve our initial business combination. The anchor investors are not required to vote any of their public shares in favor of our initial business combination or for or against any other matter presented for a stockholder vote.

Each anchor investor has entered into separate investment agreements with us and our sponsor pursuant to which anchor investors agreed to purchase an aggregate of 1,872,159 founder shares, from our sponsor at the closing of this offering, subject to such anchor investor’s acquisition of 100% of the units allocated to it by the underwriters in this offering. Pursuant to the investment agreements, the anchor investors have agreed to (a) vote any founder shares held by them in favor of our initial business combination and (b) subject any founder shares held by them to the same lock-up restrictions as the founder shares held by our sponsor and independent directors. Since our sponsor is transferring founder shares held by it to the anchor investors and we are not issuing any new shares of Class B common stock, there will be no dilutive impact on the other investors in this offering.

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 letter agreement with us to be entered into by our initial stockholders. Those lock-up provisions provide that such securities are not transferable or salable (i) in the case of the founder shares, until the earlier of (a) one year after the completion of our initial business combination and (b) subsequent to our initial business combination, (1) if the last reported sale price of the 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 business combination, or (2) the date on which we complete a liquidation, merger, stock exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction that results in all of our public stockholders having the right to exchange their shares of Class A common stock for cash, securities or other property, and (ii) in the case of the private placement warrants and the respective Class A common stock underlying such warrants, until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination,

 

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except in each case (a) to our officers or directors, any affiliates or family members of any of our officers or directors, any members of our sponsor, or any affiliates of our sponsor, (b) in the case of an individual, by gift to a member of the individual’s immediate family or to a trust, the beneficiary of which is a member of the individual’s immediate family or 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 securities were originally purchased; (f) in the event of our liquidation prior to our completion of our initial business combination; (g) by virtue of the laws of Delaware or our sponsor’s limited liability company agreement, as amended, upon dissolution of our sponsor; or (h) in the event of our completion of a liquidation, merger, stock exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction which results in all of our public stockholders having the right to exchange their shares of Class A common stock for cash, securities or other property subsequent to our completion of our initial business combination; provided, however, that in the case of clauses (a) through (e) these permitted transferees must enter into a written agreement agreeing to be bound by these transfer restrictions and the other restrictions contained in the letter agreement.

Registration Rights

The holders of the founder shares, private placement warrants and warrants that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans (and any shares of common stock issuable upon the exercise of the private placement warrants or warrants issued upon conversion of the working capital loans and upon conversion of the founder shares) will be entitled to registration rights pursuant to a registration rights agreement to be entered into on or prior to the closing of this offering requiring us to register such securities for resale (in the case of the founder shares, only after conversion to shares of Class A common stock). The holders of these securities will be entitled to make up to three demands, excluding short form registration demands, that we register such securities. In addition, the holders will have certain “piggy-back” registration rights with respect to registration statements filed subsequent to our completion of our initial business combination and rights to require us to register for resale such securities pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act. However, the registration rights agreement provides that we will not be required to effect or permit any registration or cause any registration statement to become effective until termination of the applicable lock-up period as described under “Principal Stockholders—Transfers of Founder Shares and Private Placement Warrants.” We will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such registration statements.

 

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CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

On June 25, 2021, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 7,187,500 founder shares (up to 937,500 of which are subject to forfeiture by our sponsor depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised) for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000, or approximately $0.004 per share. The purchase price of the founder shares was determined by dividing the amount of cash contributed to the company by the number of founder shares issued. In September 2021, our sponsor expects to transfer 25,000 founder shares to each of our independent director nominees and special advisor (for a total of 125,000 founder shares) at their original purchase price. Upon the completion of this offering, our initial stockholders will hold 7,187,500 founder shares (up to 937,500 of which will be subject to forfeiture by our sponsor depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised). If we increase or decrease the size of this offering, we will effect a capitalization or share repurchase or redemption or other appropriate mechanism, as applicable, with respect to our shares of Class B common stock immediately prior to the consummation of this offering in such amount as to maintain the number of founder shares at 20% of our outstanding common stock upon the consummation of this offering. Our sponsor does not intend to purchase any units in this offering.

Our sponsor has committed, pursuant to a written agreement, to purchase an aggregate of 7,000,000 private placement warrants (or 7,750,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) at a price of $1.00 per warrant ($7,000,000 in the aggregate or $7,750,000 in the aggregate if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) in a private placement that will occur simultaneously with the closing of this offering. Each private placement warrant is exercisable to purchase one share of Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as provided herein. Private placement warrants may be exercised only for a whole number of shares. The private placement warrants (including the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the private placement warrants) may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by it until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination.

As more fully discussed in “Management—Conflicts of Interest,” if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity that falls within the line of business of any entity to which he or she has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she may be required to present such business combination opportunity to such entity prior to presenting such business combination opportunity to us. Our officers and directors currently have certain relevant fiduciary duties or contractual obligations that may take priority over their duties to us.

We will enter into an Administrative Services Agreement pursuant to which we will also pay our sponsor a total of $10,000 per month, for up to 18 months, for office space, utilities, administrative and support services. Upon completion of our initial business combination or our liquidation, we will cease paying these monthly fees. Accordingly, in the event the consummation of our initial business combination takes the maximum 18 months, an affiliate of our sponsor will be paid a total of $180,000 ($10,000 per month) for office space, utilities, administrative and support services and will be entitled to be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses.

Our sponsor, officers and directors or any of their respective affiliates will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made by us to our sponsor, officers, directors or our or any of their affiliates and will determine which expenses and the amount of expenses that will be reimbursed. There is no cap or ceiling on the reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses incurred by such persons in connection with activities on our behalf.

Our sponsor has agreed to loan us up to $300,000 to be used for a portion of the expenses of this offering. As of June 25, 2021, we have not borrowed any amount under the promissory note with our sponsor. These loans are non-interest bearing, unsecured and are due at the earlier of December 31, 2021 and the closing

 

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of this offering. These loans will be repaid upon completion of this offering out of the $1,000,000 of offering proceeds that has been allocated for the payment of offering expenses (other than underwriting commissions) not held in the trust account.

In addition, in order to fund working capital deficiencies or 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 expect to repay such loaned amounts out of the proceeds of the trust account released to us. Otherwise, such loans may be repaid only out of funds held outside the trust account. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants issued to our sponsor. The terms of such loans, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. 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.

After our initial business combination, members of our management team who remain with us may be paid consulting, management or other fees from the combined company with any and all amounts being fully disclosed to our stockholders, to the extent then known, in the tender offer or proxy solicitation materials, as applicable, furnished to our stockholders. It is unlikely the amount of such compensation will be known at the time of distribution of such tender offer materials or at the time of a stockholder meeting held to consider our initial business combination, as applicable, as it will be up to the directors of the post-combination business to determine executive officer and director compensation.

We have entered into a letter agreement with our initial stockholders, officers and directors pursuant to which (i) they have agreed to waive: (a) their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and public shares held by them, as applicable, in connection with the completion of our initial business combination; (b) their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and public shares held by them in connection with a stockholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (1) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemptions in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we have not consummated our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or (2) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity; and (c) their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any founder shares they hold if we fail to complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or during any Extension Period (although they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any public shares they hold if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame), and the founder shares are subject to certain transfer restrictions, as described under “Description of Securities—Founder Shares.” The anchor investors have also agreed, with respect to their founder shares only, to waive their redemption rights as described above as well as their rights with respect to liquidating distributions.

On or prior to the closing of this offering, we will enter into a registration rights agreement with respect to the founder shares, private placement warrants and warrants issued upon conversion of working capital loans (if any), which is described under the heading “Principal Stockholders—Registration Rights.”

Related Party Policy

We have not yet adopted a formal policy for the review, approval or ratification of related party transactions. Accordingly, the transactions discussed above were not reviewed, approved or ratified in accordance with any such policy.

Prior to the consummation of this offering, we will adopt our Code of Ethics requiring us to avoid, wherever possible, all conflicts of interests, except under guidelines or resolutions approved by our board of directors (or the appropriate committee of our board of directors) or as disclosed in our public filings with the SEC. Under our Code of Ethics, conflict of interest situations will include any financial transaction, arrangement

 

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or relationship (including any indebtedness or guarantee of indebtedness) involving the company. A form of our Code of Ethics that we plan to adopt prior to the consummation of this offering is filed as an exhibit to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part.

In addition, our audit committee, pursuant to a written charter that we will adopt prior to the consummation of this offering, will be responsible for reviewing and approving related party transactions to the extent that we enter into such transactions. An affirmative vote of a majority of the members of the audit committee present at a meeting at which a quorum is present will be required in order to approve a related party transaction. A majority of the members of the entire audit committee will constitute a quorum. Without a meeting, the unanimous written consent of all of the members of the audit committee will be required to approve a related party transaction. Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made by us to our sponsor, officers or directors, or our or any of their affiliates.

These procedures are intended to determine whether any such related party transaction impairs the independence of a director or presents a conflict of interest on the part of a director, employee or officer.

To further minimize conflicts of interest, we have agreed not to consummate an initial business combination with an entity that is affiliated with any of our sponsor, officers or directors unless we, or a committee of independent and disinterested directors, have obtained an opinion from an independent investment banking firm which is a member of FINRA or an independent accounting firm that our initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view. Furthermore, no finder’s fees, reimbursements or cash payments will be made by us to our sponsor, officers or directors, or our or any of their affiliates, for services rendered to us prior to or in connection with the completion of our initial business combination. However, the following payments will be made to our sponsor, officers or directors, or any of their affiliates, none of which will be made from the proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants held in the trust account prior to the completion of our initial business combination:

 

   

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

 

   

Payment to our sponsor of a total of $10,000 per month, for up to 18 months for office space, utilities, administrative and support services;

 

   

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

 

   

Repayment of loans which may be made by our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our officers and directors to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, the terms of which have not been determined nor have any written agreements been executed with respect thereto. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender.

The above payments may be funded using the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants not held in the trust account or, upon completion of the initial business combination, from any amounts remaining from the proceeds of the trust account released to us in connection therewith.

 

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DESCRIPTION OF SECURITIES

Pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, our authorized capital stock will consist of 200,000,000 shares of Class A common stock, $0.0001 par value per share, 20,000,000 shares of Class B common stock, $0.0001 par value per share, and 1,000,000 shares of undesignated preferred stock, $0.0001 par value per share. The following description summarizes the material terms of our capital stock. Because it is only a summary, it may not contain all the information that is important to you.

Units

Each unit has an offering price of $10.00 and consists of one share of Class A common stock and one-half of one warrant. Each 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 in this prospectus. Pursuant to the warrant agreement, a warrant holder may exercise its warrants only for a whole number of shares of Class A common stock. This means that only a whole warrant may be exercised at any given time by a warrant holder. No fractional warrants will be issued upon separation of the units and only whole warrants will trade. Accordingly, unless you purchase at least two units, you will not be able to receive or trade a whole warrant.

The Class A common stock and warrants constituting 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 BofA and Wells Fargo inform us of their decision to allow earlier separate trading, subject to our having filed the Current Report on Form 8-K described below and having issued a press release announcing when such separate trading will begin. Once the shares of Class A common stock and warrants commence separate trading, holders will have the option to continue to hold units or separate their units into the component securities. Holders will need to have their brokers contact our transfer agent in order to separate the units into shares of Class A common stock and warrants. Additionally, the units will automatically separate into their component parts and will not be traded after completion of our initial business combination. No fractional warrants will be issued upon separation of the units and only whole warrants will trade. Accordingly, unless you purchase at least two units, you will not be able to receive or trade a whole warrant.

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

Common Stock

Upon the closing of this offering, 31,250,000 shares of our common stock will be outstanding (assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option and the corresponding forfeiture of 937,500 founder shares by our sponsor), including:

 

   

25,000,000 shares of our Class A common stock underlying the units being offered in this offering; and

 

   

6,250,000 shares of Class B common stock held by our initial stockholders.

If we increase or decrease the size of this offering, we will effect a capitalization or share repurchase or redemption or other appropriate mechanism, as applicable, with respect to our shares of Class B common stock immediately prior to the consummation of this offering in such amount as to maintain the number of founder shares at 20% of our outstanding common stock upon the consummation of this offering.

 

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Holders of the Class A common stock and holders of the Class B common stock of record are entitled to one vote for each share held on all matters to be voted on by stockholders; provided that, prior to our initial business combination, holders of our Class B common stock will have the right to elect all of our directors and remove members of our board of directors for any reason. These provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation may only be amended if approved by holders of a majority of at least 90% of the outstanding shares of our Class B common stock voting at a stockholder meeting. On any other matter submitted to a vote of our stockholders, holders of our Class B common stock and holders of our Class A common stock will vote together as a single class, except as required by applicable law or stock exchange rule.

Unless specified in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or bylaws, or as required by applicable law or stock exchange rules, the affirmative vote of holders of a majority of the outstanding shares of our common stock that are voted is required to approve any such matter voted on by our stockholders, and, prior to our initial business combination, the affirmative vote of holders of a majority of the outstanding shares of our Class B common stock is required to approve the election or removal of directors. There is no cumulative voting with respect to the election of directors, with the result that the holders of more than 50% of the Class B common stock voted for the election of directors can elect all of the directors. Our stockholders are entitled to receive ratable dividends when, as and if declared by the board of directors out of funds legally available therefor.

Because our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will authorize the issuance of up to 200,000,000 shares of Class A common stock, if we were to enter into a business combination, we may (depending on the terms of such a business combination) be required to increase the number of shares of common stock which we are authorized to issue at the same time as our stockholders vote on the business combination to the extent we seek stockholder approval in connection with our initial business combination.

In accordance with the NYSE corporate governance requirements, we are not required to hold an annual meeting until one year after our first fiscal year end following our listing on the NYSE. Under Section 211(b) of the DGCL, we are, however, required to hold an annual meeting of stockholders for the purposes of electing directors in accordance with our bylaws unless such election is made by written consent in lieu of such a meeting. We may not hold an annual meeting of stockholders to elect new directors prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, and thus we may not be in compliance with Section 211(b) of the DGCL, which requires an annual meeting. Therefore, if our stockholders want us to hold an annual meeting prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, they may attempt to force us to hold one by submitting an application to the Delaware Court of Chancery in accordance with Section 211(c) of the DGCL.

We will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their shares upon the completion of our initial business combination at a per share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, calculated as of two business days prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes, divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, subject to the limitations 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 owner must identify itself in order to validly redeem its shares. Our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and any public shares held by them in connection with the completion of our initial business combination. Our other directors and officers have also entered into the letter agreement, which imposes the same obligations on them with respect to any public shares acquired by them. Permitted transferees of our initial stockholders, officers or directors will be subject to the same obligations.

Unlike some other blank check companies that hold stockholder votes and conduct proxy solicitations in conjunction with their initial business combinations and provide for related redemptions of public shares for cash

 

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upon completion of such initial business combinations even when a vote is not required by applicable law or stock exchange rules, if a stockholder vote is not required by applicable law or stock exchange rules and we do not decide to hold a stockholder vote for business or other reasons, 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 prior to completing our initial business combination. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will require these tender offer documents to 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, a stockholder approval of the transaction is required by applicable law or stock exchange rules, or we decide to obtain stockholder approval for business or other reasons, we will, like many blank check companies, offer to redeem shares in conjunction with a proxy solicitation pursuant to the proxy rules and not pursuant to the tender offer rules. If we seek stockholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if a majority of the outstanding shares of our common stock voted are voted in favor of the business combination. A quorum for such meeting will consist of the holders present in person or by proxy of shares of outstanding capital stock of the company representing a majority of the voting power of all outstanding shares of capital stock of the company entitled to vote at such meeting. However, the participation of our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or any of their affiliates in privately-negotiated transactions (as described in this prospectus), if any, could result in the approval of our initial business combination even if a majority of our public stockholders vote, or indicate their intention to vote, against such business combination. For purposes of seeking approval of the majority of our outstanding shares of common stock, non-votes will have no effect on the approval of our initial business combination once a quorum is obtained. We intend to give approximately 30 days (but not less than 10 days nor more than 60 days) prior written notice of any such meeting, if required, at which a vote shall be taken to approve our initial business combination. These quorum and voting thresholds, and the voting agreements of our sponsor, may make it more likely that we will consummate our initial business combination.

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 public stockholder, together with any affiliate of such stockholder or any other person with whom such stockholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from redeeming Excess Shares, without our prior consent. 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. Our stockholders’ inability to redeem the Excess Shares will reduce their influence over our ability to complete our initial business combination, and such stockholders could suffer a material loss in their investment if they sell such Excess Shares on the open market. Additionally, such stockholders will not receive redemption distributions with respect to the Excess Shares if we complete the business combination. And, as a result, such stockholders will continue to hold that number of shares exceeding 15% and, in order to dispose such shares would be required to sell their stock in open market transactions, potentially at a loss.

If we seek stockholder approval in connection with our initial business combination, our initial stockholders, officers and directors have agreed (and their permitted transferees will agree), pursuant to the terms of a letter agreement entered into with us, to vote their founder shares and any public shares held by them in favor of our initial business combination. In addition, the anchor investors have agreed to vote their founder shares in favor of our initial business combination. As a result, in addition to our initial stockholders’ and anchor investors’ founder shares, we would need 9,375,001, or 37.5%, of the 25,000,000 public shares sold in this offering to be voted in favor of an initial business combination in order to have our initial business combination approved (assuming all outstanding shares are voted and the over-allotment option is not exercised), or an additional 1,562,501, or 6.3% (assuming only the minimum number of shares representing a quorum are voted and the over-allotment option is not exercised), of the 25,000,000 public shares sold in this offering to be voted in favor of a transaction, in order to have such initial business combination approved. Accordingly, if we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, the agreement by our initial stockholders and management team and the anchor investors to vote in favor of our initial business combination will increase the

 

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likelihood that we will receive the requisite stockholder approval for such initial business combination. In the event that the anchor investors purchase all of the units that they have expressed an interest in purchasing in this offering, hold all such units until prior to consummation of our initial business combination and vote their public shares in favor of our initial business combination, in addition to the founder shares, no affirmative votes from other public stockholders would be required to approve our initial business combination. The anchor investors are not required to vote any of their public shares in favor of our initial business combination or for or against any other matter presented for a shareholder vote. Our other directors and officers have also entered into the letter agreement, which imposes the same obligations on them with respect to any public shares acquired by them. Additionally, each public stockholder may elect to redeem its public shares without voting and, if they do vote, irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction.

Pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, if we have not completed our initial business combination within 18 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 10 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 earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any); and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. Our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have waived their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to their founder shares if we fail to complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or during any Extension Period. In addition, the anchor investors have agreed to waive their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to the founder shares held by them. However, if our initial stockholders or anchor investors then hold any public shares, they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to such public shares if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the allotted time frame to complete an initial business combination.

In the event of a liquidation, dissolution or winding up of the company after a business combination, our stockholders are entitled to share ratably in all assets remaining available for distribution to them after payment of liabilities and after provision is made for each class of stock, if any, having preference over the common stock. Our stockholders have no preemptive or other subscription rights. There are no sinking fund provisions applicable to the common stock, except that we will provide our stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares for cash equal to their pro rata share of the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable), upon the completion of our initial business combination, subject to the limitations described herein.

Founder Shares

The founder shares are identical to the shares of common stock included in the units being sold in this offering, except that: (i) prior to our initial business combination, only holders of the Class B common stock have the right to vote on the election of directors and holders of a majority of the outstanding shares of our Class B common stock may remove members of our board of directors for any reason; (ii) our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed: to (a) waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and any public shares held by them in connection with the completion of our initial business combination; (b) waive their redemption rights with respect to their founder shares and any public shares held by them in connection with a stockholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (1) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemptions in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we

 

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have not consummated our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or (2) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity; and (c) waive their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any founder shares they hold if we fail to complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or during any Extension Period (although they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any public shares they hold if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame); (iii) the founder shares are subject to certain transfer restrictions, as described in more detail below; (iv) the founder shares are automatically convertible into shares of our Class A common stock at the time of our initial business combination on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment pursuant to certain anti-dilution rights, as described in more detail below; and (v) the founder shares are entitled to registration rights. If we submit our initial business combination to our public stockholders for a vote, our initial stockholders, officers and directors have agreed (and their permitted transferees will agree), pursuant to the terms of a letter agreement entered into with us, to vote their founder shares and any public shares held by them purchased during or after this offering in favor of our initial business combination.

The shares of Class B common stock 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 increase in respect of the issuance of certain securities, as provided herein. In the case that additional shares of Class A common stock, or equity-linked securities (as described herein), are issued or deemed issued in excess of the amount issued in this offering and related to the closing of our initial business combination, including pursuant to a specified future issuance, the ratio at which shares of Class B common stock shall convert into shares of Class A common stock will be adjusted (unless the holders of a majority of the outstanding shares of Class B common stock agree to waive such adjustment with respect to any such issuance or deemed issuance, including a specified future issuance) so that the number of shares of Class A common stock issuable upon conversion of all shares of Class B common stock will equal, in the aggregate, on an as-converted basis, 20% of the aggregate number of all shares of common stock outstanding upon the completion of this offering, plus the aggregate number of shares of Class A common stock and equity-linked securities issued or deemed issued in connection with our initial business combination (net of the number of shares of Class A common stock redeemed in connection with our initial business combination), excluding any shares or equity-linked securities issued, or to be issued, to any seller in our initial business combination and any private placement warrants issued to our sponsor, an affiliate of our sponsor or any of our officers or directors.

With certain limited exceptions, the founder shares are not transferable, assignable or salable (except to certain affiliates, each of whom will be subject to the same transfer restrictions) until the earlier of (i) one year after the completion of our initial business combination and (ii) subsequent to our initial business combination, (a) if the last reported sale price of the 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 business combination, or (b) the date on which we complete a liquidation, merger, stock exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction that results in all of our public stockholders having the right to exchange their shares of Class A common stock for cash, securities or other property.

Preferred Stock

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will authorize 1,000,000 shares of preferred stock and will provide that shares of preferred stock may be issued from time to time in one or more series. Our board of directors will be authorized to fix the voting rights, if any, designations, powers, preferences, the relative, participating, optional or other special rights and any qualifications, limitations and restrictions thereof, applicable to the shares of each series. Our board of directors will be able to, without stockholder approval, issue preferred stock with voting and other rights that could adversely affect the voting power and other rights of the holders of the common stock and could have anti-takeover effects. The ability of our board of directors to issue preferred stock without stockholder approval could have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a change

 

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of control of us or the removal of existing management. We have no preferred stock outstanding at the date hereof.

Although we do not currently intend to issue any shares of preferred stock, we cannot assure you that we will not do so in the future. No shares of preferred stock are being issued or registered in this offering.

Warrants

Public Warrants

Each whole warrant entitles the registered holder to purchase one share of our Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per whole share, subject to adjustment as discussed below, at any time commencing on the later of 12 months from the closing of this offering and 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination. Pursuant to the warrant agreement, a warrant holder may exercise its warrants only for a whole number of shares of Class A common stock. This means only a whole warrant may be exercised at a given time by a warrant holder. No fractional warrants will be issued upon separation of the units and only whole warrants will trade. Accordingly, unless you purchase at least two units, you will not be able to receive or trade a whole warrant. The warrants will expire five years after the completion of our initial business combination, at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, or earlier upon redemption or liquidation.

We will not be obligated to deliver any shares of Class A common stock pursuant to the exercise of a warrant and will have no obligation to settle such warrant exercise unless a registration statement under the Securities Act covering the issuance of the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants is then effective and a current prospectus relating to those shares of Class A common stock is available, subject to our satisfying our obligations described below with respect to registration. No warrant will be exercisable for cash or on a cashless basis, and we will not be obligated to issue any shares to holders seeking to exercise their warrants, unless the issuance of the shares upon such exercise is registered or qualified under the securities laws of the state of the exercising holder, or an exemption from registration is available. In the event that the conditions in the two immediately preceding sentences are not satisfied with respect to a warrant, the holder of such warrant will not be entitled to exercise such warrant and such warrant may have no value and expire worthless. In no event will we be required to net cash settle any warrant. In the event that a registration statement is not effective for the exercised warrants, the purchaser of a unit containing such warrant will have paid the full purchase price for the unit solely for the share of Class A common stock underlying such unit.

We are not registering the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants at this time. However, we have agreed that as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 20 business days after the closing of our initial business combination, we will use our commercially reasonable efforts to file with the SEC a registration statement registering the issuance, under the Securities Act, of the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants. We will use our commercially reasonable efforts to cause the same to become effective within 60 business days following our initial business combination and to maintain the effectiveness of such registration statement, and a current prospectus relating thereto, until the expiration of the warrants in accordance with the provisions of the warrant agreement. Notwithstanding the above, if our Class A common stock is at the time of any exercise of a warrant not listed on a national securities exchange such that it satisfies the definition of a “covered security” under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act, we may, at our option, require holders of public warrants who exercise their warrants to do so on a “cashless basis” in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act and, in the event we so elect, we will not be required to file or maintain in effect a registration statement, but will use our commercially reasonable efforts to register or qualify the shares under applicable blue sky laws to the extent an exemption is not available.

Redemption of warrants when the price per share of Class A common stock equals or exceeds $18.00. Once the warrants become exercisable, we may call the warrants (except as described herein with respect to the private placement warrants) for redemption:

 

   

in whole and not in part;

 

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at a price of $0.01 per warrant;

 

   

upon not less than 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption (the “30-day redemption period”) to each warrant holder; and

 

   

if, and only if, the last reported sale price of our Class A common stock equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like and for certain issuances of Class A common stock and equity-linked securities as described below) for any 20 trading days within a 30-trading day period ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which we send the notice of redemption to the warrant holders.

If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may exercise our redemption right even if we are unable to register or qualify the underlying securities for sale under all applicable state securities laws. As a result, we may redeem the warrants as set forth above even if the holders are otherwise unable to exercise the warrants.

We have established the $18.00 per share (as adjusted) redemption criteria discussed above to prevent a redemption call unless there is at the time of the call a significant premium to the warrant exercise price. If the foregoing conditions are satisfied and we issue a notice of redemption of the warrants, each warrant holder will be entitled to exercise its warrant prior to the scheduled redemption date. However, the price of the Class A common stock may fall below the $18.00 redemption trigger price (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) as well as the $11.50 warrant exercise price after the redemption notice is issued.

Redemption of warrants when the price per share of Class A common stock equals or exceeds $10.00. Commencing ninety days after the warrants become exercisable, we may redeem the outstanding warrants (except as described herein with respect to the private placement warrants):

 

   

in whole and not in part;

 

   

at a price of $0.10 per warrant provided that holders will be able to exercise their warrants prior to redemption and receive that number of shares of Class A common stock determined by reference to the table below, based on the redemption date and the “fair market value” of our Class A common stock (as defined below) except as otherwise described below;

 

   

upon a minimum of 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption;

 

   

if, and only if, the last reported sale price of our Class A common stock equals or exceeds $10.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, reclassifications, recapitalizations and the like) on the trading day prior to the date on which we send the notice of redemption to the warrant holders; and

 

   

if, and only if, there is an effective registration statement covering the issuance of the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants and a current prospectus relating thereto available throughout the 30-day period after written notice of redemption is given.

The numbers in the table below represent the number of shares of Class A common stock that a warrant holder will receive upon cashless exercise in connection with a redemption by us pursuant to this redemption feature, based on the “fair market value” of our Class A common stock on the corresponding redemption date (assuming holders elect to exercise their warrants and such warrants are not redeemed for $0.10 per warrant), determined based on the average of the last reported sales price for the 10 trading days ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which the notice of redemption is sent to the holders of warrants, and the number of months that the corresponding redemption date precedes the expiration date of the warrants, each as set forth in the table below.

 

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Pursuant to the warrant agreement, references above to Class A common stock shall include a security other than Class A common stock into which the Class A common stock has been converted or exchanged for in the event we are not the surviving company in our initial business combination. The numbers in the table below will not be adjusted when determining the number of shares of Class A common stock to be issued upon exercise of the warrants if we are not the surviving entity following our initial business combination.

The stock prices set forth in the column headings of the table below will be adjusted as of any date on which the number of shares issuable upon exercise of a warrant is adjusted as set forth in the first three paragraphs under the heading “—Anti-dilution Adjustments” below. The adjusted stock prices in the column headings will equal the stock prices immediately prior to such adjustment, multiplied by a fraction, the numerator of which is the number of shares deliverable upon exercise of a warrant immediately prior to such adjustment and the denominator of which is the number of shares deliverable upon exercise of a warrant as so adjusted. The number of shares in the table below shall be adjusted in the same manner and at the same time as the number of shares issuable upon exercise of a warrant.

 

Redemption Date (period

to expiration of warrants)

  

£10.00

    

11.00

    

12.00

    

13.00

    

14.00

    

15.00

    

16.00

    

17.00

    

18.00

 

57 months

     0.257        0.277        0.294        0.310        0.324        0.337        0.348        0.358        0.361  

54 months

     0.252        0.272        0.291        0.307        0.322        0.335        0.347        0.357        0.361  

51 months

     0.246        0.268        0.287        0.304        0.320        0.333        0.346        0.357        0.361  

48 months

     0.241        0.263        0.283        0.301        0.317        0.332        0.344        0.356        0.361  

45 months

     0.235        0.258        0.279        0.298        0.315        0.330        0.343        0.356        0.361  

42 months

     0.228        0.252        0.274        0.294        0.312        0.328        0.342        0.355        0.361  

39 months

     0.221        0.246        0.269        0.290        0.309        0.325        0.340        0.354        0.361  

36 months

     0.213        0.239        0.263        0.285        0.305        0.323        0.339        0.353        0.361  

33 months

     0.205        0.232        0.257        0.280        0.301        0.320        0.337        0.352        0.361  

30 months

     0.196        0.224        0.250        0.274        0.297        0.316        0.335        0.351        0.361  

27 months

     0.185        0.214        0.242        0.268        0.291        0.313        0.332        0.350        0.361  

24 months

     0.173        0.204        0.233        0.260        0.285        0.308        0.329        0.348        0.361  

21 months

     0.161        0.193        0.223        0.252        0.279        0.304        0.326        0.347        0.361  

18 months

     0.146        0.179        0.211        0.242        0.271        0.298        0.322        0.345        0.361  

15 months

     0.130        0.164        0.197        0.230        0.262        0.291        0.317        0.342        0.361  

12 months

     0.111        0.146        0.181        0.216        0.250        0.282        0.312        0.339        0.361  

9 months

     0.090        0.125        0.162        0.199        0.237        0.272        0.305        0.336        0.361  

6 months

     0.065        0.099        0.137        0.178        0.219        0.259        0.296        0.331        0.361  

3 months

     0.034        0.065        0.104        0.150        0.197        0.243        0.286        0.326        0.361  

0 months

     —          —          0.042        0.115        0.179        0.233        0.281        0.323        0.361  

The exact fair market value and redemption date may not be set forth in the table above, in which case, if the fair market value is between two values in the table or the redemption date is between two redemption dates in the table, the number of shares of Class A common stock to be issued for each warrant exercised will be determined by a straight-line interpolation between the number of shares set forth for the higher and lower fair market values and the earlier and later redemption dates, as applicable, based on a 365 or 366-day year, as applicable. For example, if the average last reported sale price of our Class A common stock for the 10 trading days ending on the third trading date prior to the date on which the notice of redemption is sent to the holders of the warrants is $11 per share, and at such time there are 57 months until the expiration of the warrants, holders may choose to, in connection with this redemption feature, exercise their warrants for 0.277 shares of Class A common stock for each whole warrant. For an example where the exact fair market value and redemption date are not as set forth in the table above, if the average last reported sale price of our Class A common stock for the 10 trading days ending on the third trading date prior to the date on which the notice of redemption is sent to the holders of the warrants is $13.50 per share, and at such time there are 38 months until the expiration of the warrants, holders may choose to, in connection with this redemption feature, exercise their warrants for 0.298

 

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shares of Class A common stock for each whole warrant. In no event will the warrants be exercisable in connection with this redemption feature for more than 0.361 shares of Class A common stock per warrant. Finally, as reflected in the table above, if the warrants are out of the money and about to expire, they cannot be exercised on a cashless basis in connection with a redemption by us pursuant to this redemption feature, since they will not be exercisable for any shares of Class A common stock.

Any public warrants held by our officers or directors will be subject to this redemption feature, except that such officers and directors shall only receive “fair market value” for such public warrants if they exercise their public warrants in connection with such redemption (“fair market value” for such public warrants held by our officers or directors being defined as the last reported sale price of the public warrants on such redemption date).

This redemption feature differs from the typical warrant redemption features used in other blank check offerings, which typically only provide for a redemption of warrants for cash (other than the private placement warrants) when the trading price for the Class A common stock exceeds $18.00 per share for a specified period of time. This redemption feature is structured to allow for all of the outstanding warrants (other than the private placement warrants) to be redeemed when the Class A common stock is trading at or above $10.00 per share, which may be at a time when the trading price of our Class A common stock is below the exercise price of the warrants. We have established this redemption feature to provide us with the flexibility to redeem the warrants without the warrants having to reach the $18.00 per share threshold set forth above under “— Redemption of warrants when the price per share of Class A common stock equals or exceeds $18.00.” Holders choosing to exercise their warrants in connection with a redemption pursuant to this feature will, in effect, receive a number of shares for their warrants based on an option pricing model with a fixed volatility input as of the date of this prospectus. This redemption right provides us with an additional mechanism by which to redeem all of the outstanding warrants, and therefore have certainty as to our capital structure as the warrants would no longer be outstanding and would have been exercised or redeemed and we will be required to pay the redemption price to warrant holders if we choose to exercise this redemption right and it will allow us to quickly proceed with a redemption of the warrants if we determine it is in our best interest to do so. As such, we would redeem the warrants in this manner when we believe it is in our best interest to update our capital structure to remove the warrants and pay the redemption price to the warrant holders.

As stated above, we can redeem the warrants when the Class A common stock is trading at a price starting at $10.00, which is below the exercise price of $11.50, because it will provide certainty with respect to our capital structure and cash position while providing warrant holders with the opportunity to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis for the applicable number of shares of Class A common stock. If we choose to redeem the warrants when the Class A common stock is trading at a price below the exercise price of the warrants, this could result in the warrant holders receiving fewer shares of Class A common stock than they would have received if they had chosen to wait to exercise their warrants for Class A common stock if and when such Class A common stock trades at a price higher than the exercise price of $11.50 per share.

No fractional shares of Class A common stock will be issued upon exercise. If, upon exercise, a holder would be entitled to receive a fractional interest in a share, we will round down to the nearest whole number of the number of shares of Class A common stock to be issued to the holder. If, at the time of redemption, the warrants are exercisable for a security other than the shares of Class A common stock pursuant to the warrant agreement (for instance, if we are not the surviving company in our initial business combination), the warrants may be exercised for such security.

Redemption procedures and cashless exercise. If we call the warrants for redemption as described above under “—Redemption of warrants when the price per share of Class A common stock equals or exceeds $18.00,” our management will have the option to require any holder that wishes to exercise his, her or its warrant to do so on a “cashless basis.” In determining whether to require all holders to exercise their warrants on a “cashless basis,” our management will consider, among other factors, our cash position, the number of warrants that are

 

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outstanding and the dilutive effect on our stockholders of issuing the maximum number of shares of Class A common stock issuable upon the exercise of our warrants. If our management takes advantage of this option, all holders of warrants would pay the exercise price by surrendering their warrants for that number of shares of Class A common stock equal to the lesser of (i) the quotient obtained by dividing (a) the product of the number of shares of Class A common stock underlying the warrants, multiplied by the excess of the “fair market value” (defined below) over the exercise price of the warrants by (b) the fair market value and (ii) 0.361. The “fair market value” shall mean the average last reported sale price of the Class A common stock for the 10 trading days ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which the notice of redemption is sent to the holders of warrants. If our management takes advantage of this option, the notice of redemption will contain the information necessary to calculate the number of shares of Class A common stock to be received upon exercise of the warrants, including the “fair market value” in such case. Requiring a cashless exercise in this manner will reduce the number of shares to be issued and thereby lessen the dilutive effect of a warrant redemption. We believe this feature is an attractive option to us if we do not need the cash from the exercise of the warrants after our initial business combination. If we call our warrants for redemption and our management does not take advantage of this option, our sponsor and its permitted transferees would still be entitled to exercise their private placement warrants for cash or on a cashless basis using the same formula described above that other warrant holders would have been required to use had all warrant holders been required to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis, as described in more detail below.

A holder of a warrant may notify us in writing in the event it elects to be subject to a requirement that such holder will not have the right to exercise such warrant, to the extent that after giving effect to such exercise, such person (together with such person’s affiliates), to the warrant agent’s actual knowledge, would beneficially own in excess of 9.8% (or such other amount as a holder may specify) of the shares of Class A common stock outstanding immediately after giving effect to such exercise.

Anti-dilution adjustments. If the number of outstanding shares of Class A common stock is increased by a stock dividend payable in shares of Class A common stock, or by a split-up of shares of Class A common stock or other similar event, then, on the effective date of such stock dividend, split-up or similar event, the number of shares of Class A common stock issuable on exercise of each warrant will be increased in proportion to such increase in the outstanding shares of Class A common stock. A rights offering to holders of Class A common stock entitling holders to purchase shares of Class A common stock at a price less than the fair market value will be deemed a stock dividend of a number of shares of Class A common stock equal to the product of (i) the number of shares of Class A common stock actually sold in such rights offering (or issuable under any other equity securities sold in such rights offering that are convertible into or exercisable for Class A common stock) multiplied by (ii) one minus the quotient of (a) the price per share of Class A common stock paid in such rights offering divided by (b) the fair market value. For these purposes (i) if the rights offering is for securities convertible into or exercisable for Class A common stock, in determining the price payable for Class A common stock, there will be taken into account any consideration received for such rights, as well as any additional amount payable upon exercise or conversion and (ii) fair market value means the volume weighted average price of Class A common stock as reported during the ten trading day period ending on the trading day prior to the first date on which the shares of Class A common stock trade on the applicable exchange or in the applicable market, regular way, without the right to receive such rights.

In addition, if we, at any time while the warrants are outstanding and unexpired, pay a dividend or make a distribution in cash, securities or other assets to the holders of Class A common stock on account of such shares of Class A common stock (or other shares of our capital stock into which the warrants are convertible), other than (a) as described above, (b) certain ordinary cash dividends, (c) to satisfy the redemption rights of the holders of Class A common stock in connection with a proposed initial business combination, (d) to satisfy the redemption rights of the holders of Class A common stock in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (i) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemptions in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our Class A common stock if we do not complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or (ii) with

 

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respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, or (e) in connection with the redemption of our public shares upon our failure to complete our initial business combination, then the warrant exercise price will be decreased, effective immediately after the effective date of such event, by the amount of cash and/or the fair market value of any securities or other assets paid on each share of Class A common stock in respect of such event.

If the number of outstanding shares of our Class A common stock is decreased by a consolidation, combination, reverse stock split or reclassification of shares of Class A common stock or other similar event, then, on the effective date of such consolidation, combination, reverse stock split, reclassification or similar event, the number of shares of Class A common stock issuable on exercise of each warrant will be decreased in proportion to such decrease in outstanding shares of Class A common stock.

Whenever the number of shares of Class A common stock purchasable upon the exercise of the warrants is adjusted, as described above, the warrant exercise price will be adjusted by multiplying the warrant exercise price immediately prior to such adjustment by a fraction (i) the numerator of which will be the number of shares of Class A common stock purchasable upon the exercise of the warrants immediately prior to such adjustment, and (ii) the denominator of which will be the number of shares of Class A common stock so purchasable immediately thereafter.

In addition, if (i) 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 sponsor or its affiliates, without taking into account any founder shares held by our sponsor or its affiliates, as applicable, prior to such issuance) (the “newly issued price”), (ii) the aggregate gross proceeds from such issuances represent more than 60% of the total equity proceeds, and interest thereon, available for the funding of our initial business combination on the date of the completion of our initial business combination (net of redemptions), and (iii) the volume weighted average trading price of our Class A common stock during the 20 trading day period starting on the trading day prior to the day on which we complete our initial business combination (such price, the “Market Value”) is below $9.20 per share, the exercise price of the warrants will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 115% of the higher of the Market Value and the newly issued price, and the $18.00 per share redemption trigger price described above under “Redemption of warrants when the price per share of Class A common stock equals or exceeds $18.00” will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 180% of the higher of the Market Value and the newly issued price.

In case of any reclassification or reorganization of the outstanding shares of Class A common stock (other than those described above or that solely affects the par value of such shares of Class A common stock), or in the case of any merger or consolidation of us with or into another corporation (other than a consolidation or merger in which we are the continuing corporation and that does not result in any reclassification or reorganization of our outstanding shares of Class A common stock), or in the case of any sale or conveyance to another corporation or entity of the assets or other property of us as an entirety or substantially as an entirety in connection with which we are dissolved, the holders of the warrants will thereafter have the right to purchase and receive, upon the basis and upon the terms and conditions specified in the warrants and in lieu of the shares of our Class A common stock immediately theretofore purchasable and receivable upon the exercise of the rights represented thereby, the kind and amount of shares of stock or other securities or property (including cash) receivable upon such reclassification, reorganization, merger or consolidation, or upon a dissolution following any such sale or transfer, that the holder of the warrants would have received if such holder had exercised their warrants immediately prior to such event. However, if such holders were entitled to exercise a right of election as to the kind or amount of securities, cash or other assets receivable upon such consolidation or merger, then the kind and amount of securities, cash or other assets for which each warrant will become exercisable will be deemed to be the weighted average of the kind and amount received per share by such holders in such consolidation or merger that affirmatively make such election, and if a tender, exchange or redemption offer has

 

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been made to and accepted by such holders (other than a tender, exchange or redemption offer made by the company in connection with redemption rights held by stockholders of the company as provided for in the company’s amended and restated certificate of incorporation or as a result of the redemption of shares of Class A common stock by the company if a proposed initial business combination is presented to the stockholders of the company for approval) under circumstances in which, upon completion of such tender or exchange offer, the maker thereof, together with members of any group (within the meaning of Rule 13d-5(b)(1) under the Exchange Act) of which such maker is a part, and together with any affiliate or associate of such maker (within the meaning of Rule 12b-2 under the Exchange Act) and any members of any such group of which any such affiliate or associate is a part, own beneficially (within the meaning of Rule 13d-3 under the Exchange Act) more than 50% of the outstanding shares of Class A common stock, the holder of a warrant will be entitled to receive the highest amount of cash, securities or other property to which such holder would actually have been entitled as a stockholder if such warrant holder had exercised the warrant prior to the expiration of such tender or exchange offer, accepted such offer and all of the Class A common stock held by such holder had been purchased pursuant to such tender or exchange offer, subject to adjustments (from and after the consummation of such tender or exchange offer) as nearly equivalent as possible to the adjustments provided for in the warrant agreement. Additionally, if less than 70% of the consideration receivable by the holders of Class A common stock in such a transaction is payable in the form of common equity in the successor entity that is listed for trading on a national securities exchange or is quoted in an established over-the-counter market, or is to be so listed for trading or quoted immediately following such event, and if the registered holder of the warrant properly exercises the warrant within thirty days following public disclosure of such transaction, the warrant exercise price will be reduced as specified in the warrant agreement based on the per share consideration minus Black-Scholes Warrant Value (as defined in the warrant agreement) of the warrant.

The warrants will be issued in registered form under a warrant agreement between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as warrant agent, and us. You should review a copy of the warrant agreement, which will be filed as an exhibit to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part, for a complete description of the terms and conditions applicable to the warrants. The warrant agreement provides that (i) the terms of the warrants may be amended without the consent of any holder for the purpose of (a) curing any ambiguity or correct any mistake, including to conform the provisions of the warrant agreement to the description of the terms of the warrants and the warrant agreement set forth in this prospectus, or defective provision or (b) adding or changing any provisions with respect to matters or questions arising under the warrant agreement as the parties to the warrant agreement may deem necessary or desirable and that the parties deem to not adversely affect the rights of the registered holders of the warrants and (ii) all other modifications or amendments require the vote or written consent of at least 50% of the then outstanding public warrants and, solely with respect to any amendment to the terms of the private placement warrants, forward purchase warrants or working capital warrants or any provision of the warrant agreement with respect to the private placement warrants, forward purchase warrants or working capital warrants, at least 50% of the then outstanding private placement warrants, forward purchase warrants or working capital warrants, respectively.

The warrant holders do not have the rights or privileges of holders of Class A common stock and any voting rights until they exercise their warrants and receive shares of Class A common stock. After the issuance of shares of Class A common stock upon exercise of the warrants, each holder will be entitled to one vote for each share held of record on all matters to be voted on by holders of Class A common stock.

No fractional warrants will be issued upon separation of the units and only whole warrants will trade.

Private Placement Warrants

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

 

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other persons or entities affiliated with our sponsor) and they will not be redeemable by us so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees (except for a number of shares of Class A common stock as described under “—Public Stockholders’ Warrants—Redemption of warrants for Class A common stock”). Our sponsor, or its permitted transferees, has the option to exercise the private placement warrants on a cashless basis and our sponsor and its permitted transferees will also have certain registration rights related to the private placement warrants (including the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the private placement warrants), as described below. Otherwise, the private placement warrants have terms and provisions that are identical to those of the warrants being sold as part of the units in this offering. If the private placement warrants are held by holders other than our sponsor or its permitted transferees, the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us in all redemption scenarios and exercisable by the holders on the same basis as the warrants included in the units being sold in this offering.

If holders of the private placement warrants elect to exercise them on a cashless basis, they would pay the exercise price by surrendering his, her or its warrants for that number of shares of Class A common stock equal to the quotient obtained by dividing (i) the product of the number of shares of Class A common stock underlying the warrants, multiplied by the excess of the “fair market value” (defined below) over the exercise price of the warrants by (ii) the fair market value. The “fair market value” shall mean the average last reported sale price of the Class A common stock for the 10 trading days ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which the notice of redemption is sent to the holders of warrants. The reason that we have agreed that these warrants will be exercisable on a cashless basis so long as they are held by our sponsor and its permitted transferees is because it is not known at this time whether they will be affiliated with us following a business combination. If they remain affiliated with us, their ability to sell our securities in the open market will be significantly limited. We expect to have policies in place that prohibit insiders from selling our securities except during specific periods of time. Even during such periods of time when insiders will be permitted to sell our securities, an insider cannot trade in our securities if he or she is in possession of material non-public information. Accordingly, unlike public stockholders who could exercise their warrants and sell the shares of Class A common stock received upon such exercise freely in the open market in order to recoup the cost of such exercise, the insiders could be significantly restricted from selling such securities. As a result, we believe that allowing the holders to exercise such warrants on a cashless basis is appropriate.

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 expect to repay such loaned amounts out of the proceeds of the trust account released to us. Otherwise, such loans may be repaid only out of funds held outside the trust account. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants of the post-business combination entity at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants issued to our sponsor.

Dividends

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. In addition, our board of directors is not currently contemplating and does not anticipate declaring any stock dividends in the foreseeable future, except if we increase the size of this offering, in which case we will effect a capitalization or share repurchase or redemption or other appropriate mechanism immediately prior to the consummation of this offering in such amount as to maintain the number of founder shares at 20% of our outstanding common stock upon the consummation of this offering. Further, if we incur any indebtedness in connection with our initial business combination, our ability to declare dividends may be limited by restrictive covenants we may agree to in connection therewith.

 

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Our Transfer Agent and Warrant Agent

The transfer agent for our common stock and warrant agent for our warrants is Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company. We have agreed to indemnify Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company in its roles as transfer agent and warrant agent, its agents and each of its stockholders, directors, officers and employees against all liabilities, including judgments, costs and reasonable counsel fees that may arise out of acts performed or omitted for its activities in that capacity, except for any liability due to any gross negligence, willful misconduct or bad faith of the indemnified person or entity.

Our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will contain certain requirements and restrictions relating to this offering that will apply to us until the completion of our initial business combination. These provisions cannot be amended without the approval of the holders of at least 65% of our common stock who attend and vote in a stockholder meeting. Our initial stockholders, who collectively will beneficially own 20% of our common stock upon the closing of this offering (assuming they do not purchase any units in this offering), may participate in any vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and will have the discretion to vote in any manner they choose. Unless specified in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or bylaws, or as required by applicable law or stock exchange rules, the affirmative vote of a majority of the outstanding shares of our common stock that are voted is required to approve any such matter voted on by our stockholders, and, prior to our initial business combination, the affirmative vote of holders of a majority of the outstanding shares of our Class B common stock is required to approve the election or removal of directors. Specifically, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide, among other things, that:

 

   

if we have not completed our initial business combination within 18 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 10 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 earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any); and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law;

 

   

prior to our initial business combination, we may not issue additional shares of capital stock that would entitle the holders thereof to (i) receive funds from the trust account or (ii) vote as a class with our public shares (a) on any initial business combination or (b) to approve an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to (1) extend the time we have to consummate a business combination beyond 18 months from the closing of this offering or (2) amend the foregoing provisions;

 

   

although we do not currently intend to enter into a business combination with a target business that is affiliated with our sponsor, our directors or our officers, we are not prohibited from doing so. In the event we enter into such a transaction, we, or a committee of independent and disinterested directors, will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA or from an independent accounting firm that such a business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view;

 

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if a stockholder vote on our initial business combination is not required by applicable law or stock exchange rules and we do not decide to hold a stockholder vote for business or other reasons, we will offer to redeem our public shares pursuant to Rule 13e-4 and Regulation 14E of the Exchange Act, and will file tender offer documents with the SEC prior to completing our initial business combination which contain substantially the same financial and other information about our initial business combination and the redemption rights as is required under Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act;

 

   

our initial business combination must occur with one or more operating businesses or assets that together have an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the net assets held in the trust account (net of amounts disbursed to management for working capital purposes, if permitted, and excluding the amount of any deferred underwriting commissions) at the time of the agreement to enter into the initial business combination;

 

   

if our stockholders approve an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemptions 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 18 months from the closing of this offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, we will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their shares of common stock upon such approval at a per share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes, divided by the number of then outstanding public shares; and

 

   

we will not effectuate our initial business combination solely with another blank check company or a similar company with nominal operations.

In addition, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that we will only redeem our public shares so long as (after such redemptions) our net tangible assets will be at least $5,000,001, (i) in the case of our initial business combination, either prior to or upon consummation of such initial business combination. or (ii) in the case of an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (a) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemptions in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we have not consummated our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering or (b) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, upon such amendment (in each case so that we do not then become subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules).

Certain Anti-Takeover Provisions of Delaware Law and our Amended and Restated Certificate Of Incorporation And Bylaws

We will be subject to the provisions of Section 203 of the DGCL regulating corporate takeovers upon completion of this offering. This statute prevents certain Delaware corporations, under certain circumstances, from engaging in a “business combination” with:

 

   

a stockholder who owns 15% or more of our outstanding voting stock (otherwise known as an “interested stockholder”);

 

   

an affiliate of an interested stockholder; or

 

   

an associate of an interested stockholder, for three years following the date that the stockholder became an interested stockholder.

 

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A “business combination” includes a merger or sale of more than 10% of our assets. However, the above provisions of Section 203 do not apply if:

 

   

our board of directors approves the transaction that made the stockholder an “interested stockholder,” prior to the date of the transaction;

 

   

after the completion of the transaction that resulted in the stockholder becoming an interested stockholder, that stockholder owned at least 85% of our voting stock outstanding at the time the transaction commenced, other than statutorily excluded shares of common stock; or

 

   

on or subsequent to the date of the transaction, the business combination is approved by our board of directors and authorized at a meeting of our stockholders, and not by written consent, by an affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of the outstanding voting stock not owned by the interested stockholder.

Our authorized but unissued common stock and preferred stock are available for future issuances without stockholder approval (including a specified future issuance) and could be utilized for a variety of corporate purposes, including future offerings to raise additional capital, acquisitions and employee benefit plans. The existence of authorized but unissued and unreserved common stock and preferred stock could render more difficult or discourage an attempt to obtain control of us by means of a proxy contest, tender offer, merger or otherwise.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that prior to our initial business combination, holders of our Class B common stock will have the right to elect all of our directors and may remove members of our board of directors for any reason.

Exclusive Forum for Certain Lawsuits

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware shall, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be the sole and exclusive forum for any (i) derivative action or proceeding brought on behalf of our company, (ii) action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any director, officer, employee or agent of our company to our company or our stockholders, or any claim for aiding and abetting any such alleged breach, (iii) action asserting a claim against our company or any director, officer or employee of our company arising pursuant to any provision of the DGCL or our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or our bylaws, or (iv) action asserting a claim against us or any director, officer or employee of our company governed by the internal affairs doctrine except for, as to each of (i) through (iv) above, any claim (a) 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), (b) which is vested in the exclusive jurisdiction of a court or forum other than the Court of Chancery, or (c) for which the Court of Chancery and the U.S. federal district court for the District of Delaware does not have subject matter jurisdiction, as to which the Court of Chancery and the U.S. federal district court for the District of Delaware shall concurrently be the sole and exclusive forums. Notwithstanding the foregoing, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that the exclusive forum provision will not apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal district courts of the United States of America shall be the sole and exclusive forum. Section 27 of the Exchange Act creates exclusive federal jurisdiction over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or the rules and regulations thereunder. Additionally, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the federal courts shall be the exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act against us or any of our directors, officers, other employees or agents. Section 22 of the Securities Act, however, created concurrent jurisdiction for federal and state courts over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created

 

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by the Securities Act or the rules and regulation thereunder. Accordingly, there is uncertainty as to whether a court would enforce such provisions, and the enforceability of similar choice of forum provisions in other companies’ charter documents has been challenged in legal proceedings. While the Delaware courts have determined that such exclusive forum provisions are facially valid, a stockholder may nevertheless seek to bring a claim in a venue other than those designated in the exclusive forum provisions, and there can be no assurance that such provisions will be enforced by a court in those other jurisdictions. Although we believe this provision benefits us by providing increased consistency in the application of Delaware law in the types of lawsuits to which it applies, the provision may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors and officers. Furthermore, the enforceability of choice of forum provisions in other companies’ certificates of incorporation has been challenged in legal proceedings, and it is possible that a court could find these types of provisions to be inapplicable or unenforceable.

Special Meeting of Stockholders

Our bylaws provide that special meetings of our stockholders may be called only by a majority vote of our board of directors, by our chief executive officer or by our chairman, if any.

Advance Notice Requirements for Stockholder Proposals and Director Nominations

Our bylaws will provide for advance notice procedures with respect to stockholder proposals and the nomination of candidates for election as directors, other than nominations made by or at the direction of our board of directors or a committee of our board of directors. In order for any matter to be “properly brought” before a meeting, a stockholder will have to comply with advance notice requirements and provide us with certain information. Generally, to be timely, a stockholder’s notice must be received at our principal executive offices not less than 90 days nor more than 120 days prior to the first anniversary date of the immediately preceding annual meeting of stockholders. Pursuant to Rule 14a-8 of the Exchange Act, proposals seeking inclusion in our proxy statement must comply with the notice periods contained therein. Our bylaws will also specify requirements as to the form and content of a stockholder’s notice. Our bylaws will allow the chairman of the meeting at a meeting of the stockholders to adopt rules and regulations for the conduct of meetings which may have the effect of precluding the conduct of certain business at a meeting if the rules and regulations are not followed. These provisions may also defer, delay or discourage a potential acquirer from conducting a solicitation of proxies to elect the acquirer’s own slate of directors or otherwise attempting to influence or obtain control of us.

Securities Eligible for Future Sale

Immediately after this offering we will have 31,250,000 (or 35,937,500 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) shares of common stock outstanding on an as converted basis. Of these shares, the 25,000,000 shares (or 28,750,000 shares if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) sold in this offering will be freely tradable without restriction or further registration under the Securities Act, except for any shares purchased by one of our affiliates within the meaning of Rule 144 under the Securities Act. All of the remaining 6,250,000 (or 7,187,500 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) founder shares and all 7,000,000 (or 7,750,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) private placement warrants are restricted securities under Rule 144, in that they were issued in private transactions not involving a public offering, and are subject to transfer restrictions as set forth elsewhere in this prospectus.

Rule 144

Pursuant to Rule 144, a person who has beneficially owned restricted shares of our common stock or warrants for at least six months would be entitled to sell their securities provided that: (i) such person is not deemed to have been one of our affiliates at the time of, or at any time during the three months preceding, a sale;

 

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and (ii) we are subject to the Exchange Act periodic reporting requirements for at least three months before the sale and have filed all required reports under Section 13 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act during the 12 months (or such shorter period as we were required to file reports) preceding the sale.

Persons who have beneficially owned restricted shares of our common stock or warrants for at least six months but who are our affiliates at the time of, or at any time during the three months preceding, a sale, would be subject to additional restrictions, by which such person would be entitled to sell within any three-month period only a number of securities that does not exceed the greater of:

 

   

1% of the total number of shares of common stock then outstanding, which will equal 312,500 shares immediately after this offering (or 359,375 if the underwriters exercise their over-allotment option in full); or

 

   

the average weekly reported trading volume of the common stock during the four calendar weeks preceding the filing of a notice on Form 144 with respect to the sale.

Sales by our affiliates under Rule 144 are also limited by manner of sale provisions and notice requirements and to the availability of current public information about us.

Restrictions on the use Of Rule 144 By Shell Companies or Former Shell Companies

Rule 144 is not available for the resale of securities initially issued by shell companies (other than a business combination related shell companies) or issuers that have been at any time previously a shell company. However, Rule 144 also includes an important exception to this prohibition if the following conditions are met:

 

   

the issuer of the securities that was formerly a shell company has ceased to be a shell company;

 

   

the issuer of the securities is subject to the reporting requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act;

 

   

the issuer of the securities has filed all Exchange Act reports and material required to be filed, as applicable, during the preceding 12 months (or such shorter period that the issuer was required to file such reports and materials), other than Current Reports on Form 8-K; and

 

   

at least one year has elapsed from the time that the issuer filed current Form 10 type information with the SEC reflecting its status as an entity that is not a shell company.

As a result, our initial stockholders will be able to sell their founder shares and our sponsor will be able to sell its private placement warrants, as applicable, pursuant to Rule 144 without registration one year after we have completed our initial business combination.

Registration Rights

The holders of the founder shares, private placement warrants and warrants that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans (and any shares of common stock issuable upon the exercise of the private placement warrants or warrants issued upon conversion of the working capital loans and upon conversion of the founder shares) will be entitled to registration rights pursuant to a registration rights agreement to be entered into on or prior to the closing of this offering requiring us to register such securities for resale (in the case of the founder shares, only after conversion to shares of Class A common stock). The holders of these securities will be entitled to make up to three demands, excluding short form registration demands, that we register such securities. In addition, the holders will have certain “piggy-back” registration rights with respect to registration statements filed subsequent to our completion of our initial business combination and rights to require us to register for

 

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resale such securities pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act. However, the registration rights agreement provides that we will not be required to effect or permit any registration or cause any registration statement to become effective until termination of the applicable lock-up period as described under “Principal Stockholders—Transfers of Founder Shares and Private Placement Warrants.” We will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such registration statements.

Listing of Securities

We intend to apply to have our units, Class A common stock and warrants listed on the NYSE under the symbols “BACA.U”, “BACA” and “BACA WS”, respectively. We expect that our units will be listed on the NYSE on or promptly after the effective date of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part. Following the date the shares of our Class A common stock and warrants are eligible to trade separately, we anticipate that the shares of our common stock and warrants will be listed separately and as a unit on the NYSE. We cannot guarantee that our securities will be approved for listing on the NYSE.

 

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UNITED STATES FEDERAL INCOME TAX CONSIDERATIONS

The following discussion is a summary of the U.S. federal income tax considerations generally applicable to the ownership and disposition of our units, Class A common stock and warrants, which we refer to collectively as our securities. Because the components of a unit are generally separable at the option of the holder within a short period of time after the date of this prospectus, the holder of a unit generally should be treated, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, as the owner of the underlying Class A common stock and warrant components of the unit. As a result, the discussion below of the U.S. federal income tax consequences with respect to actual holders of Class A common stock and warrants should also apply to holders of our units (as the deemed owners of the underlying Class A common stock and warrants that comprise the units).

This summary is based upon U.S. federal income tax law as of the date of this prospectus, which is subject to change or differing interpretations, possibly with retroactive effect. This summary does not discuss all aspects of U.S. federal income taxation that may be important to particular investors in light of their individual circumstances, including investors subject to special tax rules (e.g., financial institutions, insurance companies, broker-dealers, partnerships (including entities or arrangements treated as partnerships for U.S. federal income tax purposes) and their partners, tax-exempt organizations (including private foundations), taxpayers that have elected mark-to-market accounting, S corporations, regulated investment companies, real estate investment trusts, investors that will hold Class A common stock or warrants as part of a straddle, hedge, conversion, or other integrated transaction for U.S. federal income tax purposes, persons that actually or constructively own five percent or more (by vote or value) of our shares, controlled foreign corporations, passive foreign investment companies or investors that have a functional currency other than the U.S. dollar), all of whom may be subject to tax rules that differ materially from those summarized below.

This summary does not discuss other U.S. federal tax consequences (e.g., estate or gift tax), any state, local, or non-U.S. tax considerations or the Medicare tax or alternative minimum tax. In addition, this summary is limited to investors that will hold our securities as “capital assets” (generally, property held for investment) under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, (the “Code”), and that acquired the securities pursuant to this offering. No ruling from the Internal Revenue Service, (the “IRS”) has been or will be sought regarding any matter discussed herein. No assurance can be given that the IRS would not assert, or that a court would not sustain a position contrary to any of the tax aspects set forth below.

For purposes of this summary, a “U.S. Holder” is a beneficial holder of securities who or that, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, is:

 

   

an individual who is a United States citizen or resident of the United States;

 

   

a corporation or other entity treated as a corporation for United States federal income tax purposes created in, or organized under the law of, the United States, any state or political subdivision thereof, or the District of Columbia;

 

   

an estate the income of which is includible in gross income for United States federal income tax purposes regardless of its source; or

 

   

a trust (i) the administration of which is subject to the primary supervision of a United States court and which has one or more United States persons (within the meaning of the Code) who have the authority to control all substantial decisions of the trust or (ii) that has in effect a valid election under applicable Treasury regulations to be treated as a United States person.

A “non-U.S. Holder” is a beneficial holder of our securities who or that is neither a U.S. Holder nor a partnership or other passthrough entity for U.S. federal income tax purposes but such term generally does not include an individual who is present in the United States for 183 days or more in the taxable year of disposition. If you are such an individual, you should consult your tax advisor regarding the U.S. federal income tax consequences of the sale or other disposition of our securities.

 

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If a partnership (including an entity or arrangement treated as a partnership or other passthrough entity for U.S. federal income tax purposes) holds our securities, the tax treatment of a partner, member or other beneficial owner in such partnership will generally depend upon the status of the partner, member or other beneficial owner, the activities of the partnership and certain determinations made at the partner, member or other beneficial owner level. If you are a partner, member or other beneficial owner of a partnership holding our securities, you are urged to consult your tax advisor regarding the tax consequences of the ownership and disposition of our securities.

THIS DISCUSSION OF U.S. FEDERAL INCOME TAX CONSIDERATIONS IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TAX ADVICE. WE URGE PROSPECTIVE HOLDERS TO CONSULT THEIR TAX ADVISORS CONCERNING THE U.S. FEDERAL INCOME TAX CONSEQUENCES TO THEM OF OWNING AND DISPOSING OF OUR SECURITIES, AS WELL AS THE APPLICATION OF ANY, STATE, LOCAL AND NON-U.S. INCOME, ESTATE AND OTHER TAX CONSIDERATIONS.

Personal Holding Company Status

We would be subject to a second level of U.S. federal income tax on a portion of our income if we are determined to be a personal holding company (“PHC”) for U.S. federal income tax purposes. A U.S. corporation will generally be classified as a PHC for U.S. federal income tax purposes in a given taxable year if (i) at any time during the last half of such taxable year, five or fewer individuals (without regard to their citizenship or residency and including as individuals for this purpose certain entities such as certain tax-exempt organizations, pension funds, and charitable trusts) own or are deemed to own (pursuant to certain constructive ownership rules) more than 50% of the stock of the corporation by value and (ii) at least 60% of the corporation’s adjusted ordinary gross income, as determined for U.S. federal income tax purposes, for such taxable year consists of PHC income (which includes, among other things, dividends, interest, certain royalties, annuities and, under certain circumstances, rents).

Depending on the date and size of our initial business combination, it is possible that at least 60% of our adjusted ordinary gross income may consist of PHC income as discussed above. In addition, depending on the concentration of our stock in the hands of individuals, including the members of our sponsor and certain tax-exempt organizations, pension funds, and charitable trusts, it is possible that more than 50% of our stock will be owned or deemed owned (pursuant to the constructive ownership rules) by five or fewer such persons during the last half of a taxable year. Thus, no assurance can be given that we will not become a PHC following this offering or in the future. If we are or were to become a PHC in a given taxable year, we would be subject to an additional PHC tax, currently imposed at a rate of 20%, on our undistributed PHC income, which generally includes our taxable income, subject to certain adjustments.

General Treatment of Units

There is no statutory, administrative or judicial authority directly addressing the treatment, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, of a unit or instruments similar to a unit and, therefore, its treatment is not entirely clear. The acquisition of a unit should be treated for U.S. federal income tax purposes as the acquisition of one share of our Class A common stock and one-half of one warrant to acquire one share of our Class A common stock. For U.S. federal income tax purposes, each holder of a unit must allocate the purchase price paid by such holder for such unit between the one share of Class A common stock and the one-half of one warrant based on the relative fair market value of each at the time of issuance. Under U.S. federal income tax law, each investor must make his or her own determination of such value based on all the relevant facts and circumstances. Therefore, we strongly urge each investor to consult his or her tax advisor regarding the determination of value for these purposes. The price allocated to each share of Class A common stock and the one-half of one warrant should be the stockholder’s initial tax basis in such share or one-half of one warrant, as the case may be. Any disposition of a unit should be treated for U.S. federal income tax purposes as a disposition of the share of

 

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Class A common stock and one-half of one warrant comprising the unit, and the amount realized on the disposition should be allocated between the share of Class A common stock and the one-half of one warrant based on their respective relative fair market values (as determined by each such unit holder based on all the relevant facts and circumstances) at the time of disposition. The separation of the share of Class A common stock and one-half of one warrant constituting a unit and the combination of half warrants into a single warrant should not be a taxable event for U.S. federal income tax purposes.

The foregoing treatment of the units, shares of Class A common stock and warrants, and a holder’s purchase price allocation are not binding on the IRS or the courts. Because there is no authority that directly addresses instruments that are similar to the units, no assurance can be given that the IRS or the courts will agree with the characterization described above or the discussion below. Each prospective investor is urged to consult its tax advisors regarding the U.S. federal, state, local and any foreign tax consequences of an investment in a unit (including alternative characterizations of a unit and its components). The following discussion is based on the assumption that the characterization of the Class A common stock and warrants and the allocation described above are respected for U.S. federal income tax purposes.

U.S. Holders

Taxation of Distributions

If we pay distributions in cash or other property (other than certain distributions of our stock or rights to acquire our stock) to U.S. Holders of shares of our Class A common stock, such distributions will generally constitute dividends for U.S. federal income tax purposes to the extent paid from our current or accumulated earnings and profits, as determined under U.S. federal income tax principles. Distributions in excess of current and accumulated earnings and profits will constitute a return of capital that will be applied against and reduce (but not below zero) the U.S. Holder’s adjusted tax basis in our Class A common stock. Any remaining excess will be treated as gain realized on the sale or other disposition of the Class A common stock and will be treated as described under “U.S. Holders—Gain or Loss on Sale, Taxable Exchange or Other Taxable Disposition of Class A Common Stock” below.

Dividends we pay to a U.S. Holder that is a taxable corporation generally will qualify for the dividends received deduction if the requisite holding period is satisfied. With certain exceptions (including dividends treated as investment income for purposes of investment interest deduction limitations), and provided certain holding period requirements are met, dividends we pay to a non-corporate U.S. Holder will generally constitute “qualified dividends” that will be subject to tax at long-term capital gains rates. It is unclear whether the redemption rights with respect to the Class A common stock described in this prospectus may prevent a U.S. Holder from satisfying the applicable holding period requirements with respect to the dividends received deduction or the tax rate on qualified dividend income, as the case may be. If the holding period requirements are not satisfied, then a corporation may not be able to qualify for the dividends received deduction and would have taxable income equal to the entire dividend amount, and non-corporate U.S. Holders may be subject to tax on such dividend at regular ordinary income tax rates instead of the rate that applies to qualified dividend income.

Gain or Loss on Sale, Taxable Exchange or Other Taxable Disposition of Class A Common Stock

A U.S. Holder will generally recognize gain or loss on the sale, taxable exchange or other taxable disposition (which generally would include a redemption treated as a sale, as described below, or as a result of dissolution and liquidation in the event we do not complete an initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering) of our Class A common stock. Any such gain or loss will be capital gain or loss, and will generally be long-term capital gain or loss if the U.S. Holder’s holding period for the Class A common stock so disposed of exceeds one year. It is unclear, however, whether the redemption rights with respect to the Class A common stock described in this prospectus may suspend the running of the applicable holding period for this purpose. If the running of the holding period for the Class A common stock is suspended, then non-corporate

 

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U.S. Holders may not be able to satisfy the one-year holding period requirement for long-term capital gain treatment, in which case any gain on a sale or taxable disposition of the shares would be subject to short-term capital gain treatment and would be taxed at regular ordinary income tax rates. Long-term capital gains recognized by non-corporate U.S. Holders may be eligible to be taxed at reduced rates.

The amount of gain or loss recognized will generally be equal to the difference between (i) the sum of the amount of cash and the fair market value of any property received in such disposition (or, if the Class A common stock is held as part of a unit at the time of the disposition, the portion of the amount realized on such disposition that is allocated to the Class A common stock based upon the then fair market values of the Class A common stock and the warrant included in the unit) and (ii) the U.S. Holder’s adjusted tax basis in its Class A common stock so disposed of. A U.S. Holder’s adjusted tax basis in its Class A common stock will generally equal the U.S. Holder’s acquisition cost (that is, as discussed above, the portion of the purchase price of a unit allocated to a share of Class A common stock or, as discussed below, the U.S. Holder’s initial basis for Class A common stock received upon exercise of a warrant) less any prior distributions treated as a return of capital. The deductibility of capital losses is subject to limitations.

Redemption of Class A Common Stock

In the event that a U.S. Holder’s Class A common stock is redeemed pursuant to the redemption provisions described in this prospectus under the section of this prospectus entitled “Description of Securities—Common Stock” or if we purchase a U.S. Holder’s Class A common stock in an open market transaction (each of which we refer to as a “redemption”), the treatment of the transaction for U.S. federal income tax purposes will depend on whether the redemption qualifies as a sale of the Class A common stock under Section 302 of the Code. If the redemption qualifies as a sale of Class A common stock under the tests described below, the tax consequences to the U.S. Holder will be the same as described under “U.S. Holders—Gain or Loss on Sale, Taxable Exchange or Other Taxable Disposition of Class A Common Stock” above. If the redemption does not qualify as a sale of Class A common stock, the U.S. Holder will be treated as receiving a corporate distribution, the tax consequences of which are described above under “U.S. Holders—Taxation of Distributions.” Whether the redemption qualifies for sale treatment will depend primarily on the total number of shares of our stock treated as held by the U.S. Holder (including any stock constructively owned by the U.S. Holder as a result of owning warrants) relative to all of our shares outstanding both before and after the redemption. The redemption of Class A common stock will generally be treated as a sale of the Class A common stock (rather than as a corporate distribution) if the redemption (i) is “substantially disproportionate” with respect to the U.S. Holder, (ii) results in a “complete termination” of the U.S. Holder’s interest in us or (iii) is “not essentially equivalent to a dividend” with respect to the U.S. Holder. These tests are explained more fully below.

In determining whether any of the foregoing tests are satisfied, a U.S. Holder takes into account not only stock actually owned by the U.S. Holder, but also shares of our stock that are constructively owned by it. A U.S. Holder may constructively own, in addition to stock owned directly, stock owned by certain related individuals and entities in which the U.S. Holder has an interest or that have an interest in such U.S. Holder, as well as any stock the U.S. Holder has a right to acquire by exercise of an option, which would generally include common stock which could be acquired pursuant to the exercise of the warrants. A redemption of a U.S. Holder’s stock will be substantially disproportionate with respect to the U.S. Holder if the percentage of our outstanding voting stock actually and constructively owned by the U.S. Holder immediately following the redemption of common stock is, among other requirements, less than 80% of the percentage of our outstanding voting stock actually and constructively owned by the U.S. Holder immediately before the redemption. There will be a complete termination of a U.S. Holder’s interest if either (i) all of the shares of our stock actually and constructively owned by the U.S. Holder are redeemed or (ii) all of the shares of our stock actually owned by the U.S. Holder are redeemed and the U.S. Holder is eligible to waive, and effectively waives in accordance with specific rules, the attribution of stock owned by certain family members and the U.S. Holder does not constructively own any other shares of our stock (including any stock constructively owned by the U.S. Holder as a result of owning warrants). The redemption of the Class A common stock will not be essentially equivalent to a dividend if the redemption

 

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results in a “meaningful reduction” of the U.S. Holder’s proportionate interest in us. Whether the redemption will result in a meaningful reduction in a U.S. Holder’s proportionate interest in us will depend on the particular facts and circumstances. The IRS has indicated in a published ruling that even a small reduction in the proportionate interest of a small minority stockholder in a publicly held corporation who exercises no control over corporate affairs may constitute such a “meaningful reduction.” A U.S. Holder is urged to consult its tax advisors as to the tax consequences of a redemption, including the application of the constructive ownership rules described above.

If none of the foregoing tests is satisfied, the redemption will be treated as a corporate distribution, the tax consequences of which are described under “U.S. Holders—Taxation of Distributions,” above. After the application of those rules, any remaining tax basis of the U.S. Holder in the redeemed Class A common stock should be added to the U.S. Holder’s adjusted tax basis in its remaining stock, or, if it has none, to the U.S. Holder’s adjusted tax basis in its warrants or possibly in other stock constructively owned by it.

Exercise of a Warrant

Except as discussed below with respect to the cashless exercise of a warrant (including a cashless exercise that we intend to treat as a redemption of warrants for shares), a U.S. Holder will generally not recognize gain or loss upon the exercise of a warrant. The U.S. Holder’s tax basis in the share of our Class A common stock received upon exercise of the warrant will generally be an amount equal to the sum of the U.S. Holder’s initial investment in the warrant (i.e., the portion of the U.S. Holder’s purchase price for a unit that is allocated to the warrant, as described above under “—General Treatment of Units”) and the exercise price of such warrant. It is unclear whether a U.S. Holder’s holding period for the Class A common stock received would commence on the date of exercise of the warrant or the following day; in either case the holding period will not include the period during which the U.S. Holder held the warrant.

The tax consequences of a cashless exercise of a warrant are not clear under current tax law. A cashless exercise may be nontaxable, either because the exercise is not a realization event or because the exercise is treated as a recapitalization for U.S. federal income tax purposes (including a cashless exercise treated as a redemption, as described below). In either situation, a U.S. Holder’s tax basis in the Class A common stock received would generally equal the holder’s tax basis in the warrant. If the cashless exercise were not treated as a realization event, it is unclear when a U.S. Holder’s holding period for the Class A common stock would commence. If, however, the cashless exercise were treated as a recapitalization, the holding period of the Class A common stock would include the holding period of the warrant.

It is also possible that a cashless exercise could be treated in whole or in part as a taxable exchange in which gain or loss would be recognized. In such event, a U.S. Holder could be deemed to have surrendered a number of warrants having an aggregate fair market value equal to the exercise price for the total number of warrants to be exercised. The U.S. Holder would recognize capital gain or loss in an amount equal to the difference between the fair market value of the warrants deemed surrendered and the U.S. Holder’s tax basis in such warrants. Such gain or loss would be long-term or short-term depending on the U.S. Holder’s holding period in the warrants deemed surrendered. In this case, a U.S. Holder’s tax basis in the Class A common stock received would equal the sum of the U.S. Holder’s initial tax basis in the warrants exercised (i.e., the portion of the U.S. Holder’s purchase price for the units that is allocated to the warrants, as described above under “—General Treatment of Units”) and the exercise price of such surrendered warrants. It is unclear whether a U.S. Holder’s holding period for the Class A common stock would commence on the date of exercise of the warrants or the day following the date of exercise of the warrants; in either case, the holding period would not include the period during which the U.S. Holder held the warrants.

Because of the absence of authority on the U.S. federal income tax treatment of a cashless exercise, including when a U.S. Holder’s holding period would commence with respect to the Class A common stock received, there can be no assurance which, if any, of the alternative tax consequences and holding periods described above would be adopted by the IRS or a court of law. Accordingly, U.S. Holders are urged to consult their tax advisors regarding the tax consequences of a cashless exercise.

 

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Sale, Exchange, Redemption or Expiration of a Warrant

Upon a sale, exchange (other than by exercise), redemption (other than a redemption for Class A common stock as discussed below), or expiration of a warrant, a U.S. Holder will recognize taxable gain or loss in an amount equal to the difference between (i) the amount realized upon such disposition or expiration (or, if the warrant is held as part of a unit at the time of the disposition of the unit, the portion of the amount realized on such disposition that is allocated to the warrant based on the then respective fair market values of the warrant and the Class A common stock constituting such unit) and (ii) the U.S. Holder’s tax basis in the warrant (that is, the portion of the U.S. Holder’s purchase price for a unit that is allocated to the warrant, as described above under “—General Treatment of Units”). Such gain or loss will generally be treated as long-term capital gain or loss if the warrant is held by the U.S. Holder for more than one year at the time of such disposition or expiration. The deductibility of capital losses is subject to certain limitations.

If we give notice of an intention to redeem warrants for $0.10 as described in the section of this prospectus entitled “Description of Securities—Warrants—Public Stockholders’ Warrants,” and a U.S. Holder exercises its warrants on a cashless basis and receives the amount of Class A common stock as determined by reference to the table set forth thereunder, we intend to treat such exercise as a redemption of warrants for Class A common stock for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Such redemption should be treated as a “recapitalization” within the meaning of Section 368(a)(1)(E) of the Code. Accordingly, a U.S. Holder should not recognize any gain or loss on the redemption of warrants for shares of Class A common stock. A U.S. Holder’s aggregate tax basis in the shares of Class A common stock received in the redemption generally should equal the U.S. Holder’s aggregate tax basis in the warrants redeemed and the holding period for the shares of Class A common stock received should include the U.S. Holder’s holding period for the surrendered warrants. However, there is some uncertainty regarding this tax treatment and it is possible such a redemption could be treated in part as a taxable exchange in which gain or loss would be recognized in a manner similar to that discussed above for a cashless exercise of warrants or otherwise characterized. Accordingly, a U.S. Holder is urged to consult its tax advisor regarding the tax consequences of a redemption of warrants for shares of Class A common stock.

Possible Constructive Distributions

The terms of each warrant provide for an adjustment to the number of shares of Class A common stock for which the warrant may be exercised or to the exercise price of the warrant in certain events, as discussed in the section of this prospectus captioned “Description of Securities—Warrants—Public Stockholders’ Warrants.” An adjustment which has the effect of preventing dilution is generally not a taxable event. Nevertheless, a U.S. Holder of warrants would be treated as receiving a constructive distribution from us if, for example, the adjustment increases the holder’s proportionate interest in our assets or earnings and profits (e.g., through an increase in the number of shares of Class A common stock that would be obtained upon exercise or through a decrease in the exercise price of the warrants), including as a result of a distribution of cash or other property, such as other securities, to the holders of shares of our Class A common stock, or as a result of the issuance of a stock dividend to holders of shares of our Class A common stock, in each case which is taxable to such holders of such shares as a distribution. Any constructive distribution received by a U.S. Holder would be subject to U.S. federal income tax in the same manner as if such U.S. Holder received a cash distribution from us equal to the fair market value of such increased interest. Generally, a U.S. Holder’s adjusted tax basis in its warrant would be increased to the extent any such constructive distribution is treated as a dividend.

Non-U.S. Holders

Taxation of Distributions

In general, any distributions (including constructive distributions) we make to a non-U.S. Holder of shares of our Class A common stock, to the extent paid out of our current or accumulated earnings and profits (as determined under U.S. federal income tax principles), will constitute dividends for U.S. federal income tax

 

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purposes and, provided such dividends are not effectively connected with the non-U.S. Holder’s conduct of a trade or business within the United States, we will be required to withhold tax from the gross amount of the dividend at a rate of 30%, unless such non-U.S. Holder is eligible for a reduced rate of withholding tax under an applicable income tax treaty and provides proper certification of its eligibility for such reduced rate (usually on an IRS Form W-8BEN or W-8BEN-E, as applicable). In the case of any constructive dividend (described further below), it is possible that this tax would be withheld from any amount owed to a non-U.S. Holder by us or another applicable withholding agent, including cash distributions on other property or sale proceeds from warrants or other property subsequently paid or credited to such holder. Any distribution not constituting a dividend will be treated first as reducing (but not below zero) the non-U.S. Holder’s adjusted tax basis in its shares of our Class A common stock and, to the extent such distribution exceeds the non-U.S. Holder’s adjusted tax basis, as gain realized from the sale or other disposition of the Class A common stock, which will be treated as described under “Non-U.S. Holders—Gain on Sale, Taxable Exchange or Other Taxable Disposition of Class A Common Stock and Warrants” below. In addition, if we determine that we are classified as a “United States real property holding corporation” (see “Non-U.S. Holders—Gain on Sale, Taxable Exchange or Other Taxable Disposition of Class A Common Stock and Warrants” below), we may be required to withhold 15% of any distribution that exceeds our current and accumulated earnings and profits.

Dividends we pay to a non-U.S. Holder that are effectively connected with such non-U.S. Holder’s conduct of a trade or business within the United States (or, if a tax treaty applies, are attributable to a U.S. permanent establishment or fixed base maintained by the non-U.S. Holder) will generally not be subject to U.S. withholding tax, provided such non-U.S. Holder complies with certain certification and disclosure requirements (usually by providing an IRS Form W-8ECI). Instead, such dividends will generally be subject to U.S. federal income tax, net of certain deductions, at the same corporate or graduated individual rates applicable to U.S. Holders unless an applicable income tax treaty provides otherwise. If the non-U.S. Holder is a corporation, dividends that are effectively connected income may also be subject to a “branch profits tax” at a rate of 30% (or such lower rate as may be specified by an applicable income tax treaty).

Exercise, Expiration or Redemption of a Warrant

The characterization for U.S. federal income tax purposes of a non-U.S. Holder’s exercise of a warrant, the expiration of a warrant held by a non-U.S. Holder, or the redemption of warrants held by a non-U.S. Holder for Class A common stock generally will correspond to the characterization described under “U.S. Holders—Exercise of a Warrant” or “U.S. Holders—Sale, Exchange, Redemption or Expiration of a Warrant” above, as applicable, although to the extent a cashless exercise results in a taxable exchange, the tax consequences to the non-U.S. Holder would be the same as those described below in “Non-U.S. Holders—Gain on Sale, Exchange or Other Taxable Disposition of Class A Common Stock and Warrants.”

Gain on Sale, Exchange or Other Taxable Disposition of Class A Common Stock and Warrants

A non-U.S. Holder will generally not be subject to U.S. federal income or withholding tax in respect of gain recognized on a sale, taxable exchange or other taxable disposition of our Class A common stock, which would include a redemption as a result of a dissolution and liquidation in the event we do not complete an initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering, or warrants (including an expiration or redemption of our warrants), in each case without regard to whether those securities were held as part of a unit, unless:

 

   

the gain is effectively connected with the conduct of a trade or business by the non-U.S. Holder within the United States (and, if an applicable tax treaty so requires, is attributable to a U.S. permanent establishment or fixed base maintained by the non-U.S. Holder);

 

   

the non-U.S. Holder is an individual who is present in the United States for 183 days or more in the taxable year of disposition and certain other conditions are met; or

 

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we are or have been a “United States real property holding corporation” for U.S. federal income tax purposes at any time during the shorter of the five-year period ending on the date of disposition or the period that the non-U.S. Holder held our Class A common stock, and, in the case where shares of our Class A common stock are regularly traded on an established securities market, the non-U.S. Holder has owned, directly or constructively, more than 5% of our Class A common stock at any time within the shorter of the five-year period preceding the disposition or such non-U.S. Holder’s holding period for the shares of our Class A common stock. There can be no assurance that our Class A common stock will be treated as regularly traded on an established securities market for this purpose.

Unless an applicable treaty provides otherwise, gain described in the first bullet point above will be subject to tax at generally applicable U.S. federal income tax rates as if the non-U.S. Holder were a U.S. resident. Any gains described in the first bullet point above of a non-U.S. Holder that is a foreign corporation may also be subject to an additional “branch profits tax” at a 30% rate (or lower applicable treaty rate). Gain described in the second bullet point above will generally be subject to a flat 30% U.S. federal income tax. Non-U.S. Holders are urged to consult their tax advisors regarding possible eligibility for benefits under income tax treaties.

If the third bullet point above applies to a non-U.S. Holder, gain recognized by such holder on the sale, exchange or other disposition of our Class A common stock or warrants will be subject to tax at generally applicable U.S. federal income tax rates. In addition, a buyer of our Class A common stock or warrants from such holder may be required to withhold U.S. federal income tax at a rate of 15% of the amount realized upon such disposition. We cannot determine whether we will be a United States real property holding corporation in the future until we complete an initial business combination. We will be classified as a United States real property holding corporation if the fair market value of our “United States real property interests” equals or exceeds 50% of the sum of the fair market value of our worldwide real property interests plus our other assets used or held for use in a trade or business, as determined for U.S. federal income tax purposes. If we are or have been a “United States real property holding corporation” you are urged to consult your own tax advisors regarding the application of these rules.

Possible Constructive Distributions

The terms of each warrant provide for an adjustment to the number of shares of Class A common stock for which the warrant may be exercised or to the exercise price of the warrant in certain events, as discussed in the section of this prospectus captioned “Description of Securities—Warrants—Public Stockholders’ Warrants.” An adjustment which has the effect of preventing dilution is generally not a taxable event. Nevertheless, a non-U.S. Holder of warrants would be treated as receiving a constructive distribution from us if, for example, the adjustment increases the holder’s proportionate interest in our assets or earnings and profits (e.g., through an increase in the number of shares of Class A common stock that would be obtained upon exercise or through a decrease in the exercise price of the warrants), including as a result of a distribution of cash or other property, such as other securities, to the holders of shares of our Class A common stock, or as a result of the issuance of a stock dividend to holders of shares of our Class A common stock, in each case which is taxable to such holders of such shares as a distribution. Any constructive distribution received by a non-U.S. Holder would be subject to U.S. federal income tax (including any applicable withholding) in the same manner as if such non-U.S. Holder received a cash distribution from us equal to the fair market value of such increased interest without any corresponding receipt of cash. It is possible that any withholding tax owed by a non-U.S. Holder on a constructive distribution might be satisfied by us or another applicable withholding agent out of sale proceeds from warrants or other property (or other cash proceeds) subsequently paid or credited to such holder. Generally, a non-U.S. Holder’s adjusted tax basis in its warrant would be increased to the extent any such constructive distribution is treated as a dividend.

 

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Redemption of Class A Common Stock

The characterization for U.S. federal income tax purposes of the redemption of a non-U.S. Holder’s Class A common stock pursuant to the redemption provisions described in this prospectus under “Description of Securities—Common Stock” will generally correspond to the U.S. federal income tax characterization of such a redemption of a U.S. Holder’s Class A common stock, as described under “U.S. Holders—Redemption of Class A Common Stock” above, and the consequences of the redemption to the non-U.S. Holder will be as described above under “Non-U.S. Holders—Taxation of Distributions” and “Non-U.S. Holders—Gain on Sale, Exchange or Other Taxable Disposition of Class A Common Stock and Warrants,” as applicable. It is possible that because we or another applicable withholding agent may not be able to determine the proper characterization of a redemption of a non-U.S. Holder’s shares of Class A common stock, the withholding agent might treat the redemption as a distribution subject to withholding tax. A non-U.S. Holder generally may obtain a refund of any excess amounts withheld by timely filing an appropriate claim for refund with the IRS. Non-U.S. Holders should consult their own tax advisors regarding the application of the foregoing rules in light of their particular facts and circumstances.

Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act

Sections 1471 through 1474 of the Code and the Treasury Regulations and administrative guidance promulgated thereunder (commonly referred as the “Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act” or “FATCA”) generally impose withholding at a rate of 30% in certain circumstances on dividends in respect of our securities which are held by or through certain foreign financial institutions (including investment funds), unless any such institution (i) enters into, and complies with, an agreement with the IRS to report, on an annual basis, information with respect to interests in, and accounts maintained by, the institution that are owned by certain U.S. persons and by certain non-U.S. entities that are wholly or partially owned by U.S. persons and to withhold on certain payments, or (ii) if required under an intergovernmental agreement between the United States and an applicable foreign country, reports such information to its local tax authority, which will exchange such information with the U.S. authorities. An intergovernmental agreement between the United States and an applicable foreign country may modify these requirements. Accordingly, the entity through which our securities are held will affect the determination of whether such withholding is required. Similarly, dividends in respect of our securities held by an investor that is a non-financial non-U.S. entity that does not qualify under certain exceptions will generally be subject to withholding at a rate of 30%, unless such entity either (i) certifies to us or the applicable withholding agent that such entity does not have any “substantial United States owners” or (ii) provides certain information regarding the entity’s “substantial United States owners,” which will in turn be provided to the U.S. Department of Treasury. Prospective investors should consult their tax advisors regarding the possible implications of FATCA on their investment in our securities.

Thirty percent withholding under FATCA was scheduled to apply to payments of gross proceeds from the sale or other disposition of property that produces U.S.-source interest or dividends beginning on January 1, 2019, but on December 13, 2018, the IRS released proposed regulations that, if finalized in their proposed form, would eliminate the obligation to withhold on gross proceeds. Such proposed regulations also delayed withholding on certain other payments received from other foreign financial institutions that are allocable, as provided for under final Treasury Regulations, to payments of U.S.-source dividends, and other fixed or determinable annual or periodic income. Although these proposed Treasury Regulations are not final, taxpayers generally may rely on them until final Treasury Regulations are issued. However, there can be no assurance that final Treasury Regulations will provide the same exceptions from FATCA withholding as the proposed Treasury Regulations. Prospective investors should consult their tax advisors regarding the effects of FATCA on their investment in our securities.

Information Reporting and Backup Withholding

Dividend payments with respect to our shares of Class A common stock and proceeds from the sale, exchange or redemption of shares of our Class A common stock or warrants may be subject to information

 

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reporting to the IRS and possible United States backup withholding. Backup withholding will not apply, however, to a U.S. Holder who furnishes a correct taxpayer identification number and makes other required certifications, or who is otherwise exempt from backup withholding and establishes such exempt status. A Non-U.S. Holder generally will eliminate the requirement for information reporting and backup withholding by providing certification of its foreign status, under penalties of perjury, on a duly executed applicable IRS Form W-8 or by otherwise establishing an exemption. Backup withholding is not an additional tax. Amounts withheld as backup withholding may be credited against a holder’s U.S. federal income tax liability, and a holder generally may obtain a refund of any excess amounts withheld under the backup withholding rules by timely filing the appropriate claim for refund with the IRS and furnishing any required information.

THE U.S. FEDERAL INCOME TAX DISCUSSION SET FORTH ABOVE IS INCLUDED FOR GENERAL INFORMATION ONLY AND MAY NOT BE APPLICABLE DEPENDING UPON A HOLDER’S PARTICULAR SITUATION. HOLDERS ARE URGED TO CONSULT THEIR OWN TAX ADVISORS WITH RESPECT TO THE TAX CONSEQUENCES TO THEM OF THE ACQUISITION, OWNERSHIP AND DISPOSITION OF OUR CLASS A COMMON STOCK AND WARRANTS, INCLUDING THE TAX CONSEQUENCES UNDER STATE, LOCAL, ESTATE, NON-U.S. AND OTHER TAX LAWS AND TAX TREATIES AND THE POSSIBLE EFFECTS OF CHANGES IN U.S. OR OTHER TAX LAWS.

 

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UNDERWRITING

BofA Securities, Inc. and Wells Fargo Securities, LLC are acting as representatives for each of the underwriters named below. Subject to the terms and conditions set forth in an underwriting agreement among us and the underwriters, we have agreed to sell to the underwriters, and each of the underwriters has agreed, severally and not jointly, to purchase from us, the number of units set forth opposite its name below.

 

Underwriter

  

Number of Units

 

BofA Securities, Inc.

                   

Wells Fargo Securities, LLC

                   
  

 

 

 

Total

     25,000,000  
  

 

 

 

Subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the underwriting agreement, the underwriters have agreed, severally and not jointly, to purchase all of the units sold under the underwriting agreement if any of these units are purchased. If an underwriter defaults, the underwriting agreement provides that the purchase commitments of the non-defaulting underwriters may be increased or the underwriting agreement may be terminated.

We have agreed to indemnify the underwriters against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act, or to contribute to payments the underwriters may be required to make in respect of those liabilities.

The underwriters are offering the units, subject to prior sale, when, as and if issued to and accepted by them, subject to approval of legal matters by their counsel, including the validity of the units, and other conditions contained in the underwriting agreement, such as the receipt by the underwriters of officer’s certificates and legal opinions. The underwriters reserve the right to withdraw, cancel or modify offers to the public and to reject orders in whole or in part.

Commissions and Discounts

The representatives have advised us that the underwriters propose initially to offer the units to the public at the public offering price set forth on the cover page of this prospectus and to dealers at that price less a concession not in excess of $[●] per unit. After the initial offering, the public offering price, concession or any other term of the offering may be changed.

The following table shows the public offering price, underwriting discount and proceeds before expenses to us. The information assumes either no exercise or full exercise by the underwriters of their option to purchase additional units.

 

    

Per Unit(1)

    

Without Option(1)

    

With Option(1)

 

Public offering price

   $ 10.00      $ 250,000,000      $ 287,500,000  

Underwriting discount and commissions

   $ 0.55      $ 13,750,000      $ 15,812,500  

Proceeds, before expenses, to us

   $ 9.45      $ 236,250,000      $ 271,687,500  
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

(1)

Includes $0.35 per unit, or $8,750,000 (or $10,062,500 if the over-allotment option is exercised in full) in the aggregate, payable to the underwriters for deferred underwriting commissions to be placed in a trust account located in the United States as described herein. The deferred commissions will be released to the underwriters only on completion of an initial business combination, in an amount equal to $0.35 multiplied by the number of Class A common stock sold as part of the units in this offering, as described in this prospectus.

 

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The expenses of the offering, not including the underwriting discount, are estimated at $1,000,000 and are payable by us. We have agreed to reimburse the underwriters for up to $25,000 of FINRA-related fees and expenses of the underwriters’ legal counsel.

Option to Purchase Additional Units

We have granted an option to the underwriters, exercisable for 45 days after the date of this prospectus, to purchase up to 3,750,000 additional units at the public offering price, less the underwriting discount. If the underwriters exercise this option, each will be obligated, subject to conditions contained in the underwriting agreement, to purchase a number of additional units proportionate to that underwriter’s initial amount reflected in the above table.

No Sales of Similar Securities

We, our sponsor and our officers and directors have agreed that we and they will not, subject to certain exceptions, for a period of 180 days after the date of this prospectus, (i) offer, pledge, sell, contract to sell, sell any option or contract to purchase, purchase any option or contract to sell, grant any option, right or warrant to purchase, or otherwise transfer or dispose of, directly or indirectly, or file with, or submit to, the SEC a registration statement under the Securities Act relating to any units, shares of common stock, founder shares, warrants or any securities convertible into, or exercisable, or exchangeable for, any units, common stock, founder shares, or warrants, or publicly disclose the intention to undertake any of the foregoing, or (ii) enter into any swap or other arrangement that transfers, in whole or in part, any of the economic consequences of ownership of any units, shares of common stock, founder shares, or warrants or any such other securities, whether any such transaction described in clause (i) or (ii) above is to be settled by delivery of units or such other securities, in cash or otherwise, without the prior written consent of BofA and Wells, except, in each case, that we may (a) issue and sell the private placement warrants; (b) issue and sell the additional units to cover our underwriters’ over-allotment option (if any); (c) register with the SEC pursuant to an agreement to be entered into concurrently with the issuance and sale of the securities in this offering, the resale of the founder shares, the private placement warrants and warrants that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans (and any shares of Class A common stock issued or issuable upon exercise of any such private placement warrants or warrants issued upon conversion of the working capital loans and upon conversion of the founder shares); and (d) issue securities in connection with our initial business combination. However, the foregoing shall not apply to the forfeiture of any founder shares pursuant to their terms or any transfer of founder shares to current or future independent director of the company (as long as such current or future independent director is subject to the terms of the letter agreement applicable to the initial stockholders with respect to such founder shares at the time of such transfer; and as long as, to the extent any Section 16 reporting obligation is triggered as a result of such transfer, any related Section 16 filing includes a practical explanation of the transfer). BofA and Wells Fargo in their sole discretion may release any of the securities subject to these lock-up agreements at any time without notice.

Our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed not to transfer, assign or sell any of their founder shares until the earlier to occur of: (i) one year after the completion of our initial business combination and (ii) subsequent to our initial business combination, (a) if the last reported sale price of the 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 business combination, or (b) the date on which we complete a liquidation, merger, 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 (except as described herein under “Principal Stockholders—Transfers of Founder Shares and Private Placement Warrants”). Any permitted transferees would be subject to the same restrictions and other agreements of our initial stockholders with respect to any founder shares.

The private placement warrants (including the shares Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the private placement warrants) will not be transferable, assignable or salable until 30 days after the completion

 

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of our initial business combination (except with respect to permitted transferees as described herein under “Principal Stockholders—Transfers of Founder Shares and Private Placement Warrants”).

The NYSE Listing

We intend to apply to have the units approved for listing on the NYSE, subject to notice of issuance, under the symbol “BACA.U” and, once the Class A common stock and warrants begin separate trading, to have our Class A common stock and warrants listed on the NYSE under the symbols “BACA” and “BACAWS,” respectively.

Before this offering, there has been no public market for our securities. The initial public offering price was determined through negotiations between us and the representatives. In addition to prevailing market conditions, the factors to be considered in determining the initial public offering price are:

 

   

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

 

   

prior offerings of those companies,

 

   

our management,

 

   

our capital structure, and

 

   

currently prevailing general conditions in equity securities markets, including current market valuations of publicly traded companies considered comparable to our company.

An active trading market for our securities may not develop. It is also possible that after the offering our securities will not trade in the public market at or above the initial public offering price.

The underwriters do not expect to sell more than 5% of the units in the aggregate to accounts over which they exercise discretionary authority.

If we do not complete our initial business combination within 18 months from the closing of this offering, the trustee and the underwriters have agreed that: (i) they will forfeit any rights or claims to their deferred underwriting discounts and commissions, including any accrued interest thereon, then in the trust account; and (ii) the deferred underwriters’ discounts and commissions will be distributed on a pro rata basis, together with any accrued interest thereon (which interest shall be net of taxes payable) to the public stockholders.

Price Stabilization, Short Positions and Penalty Bids

Until the distribution of the units is completed, SEC rules may limit underwriters and selling group members from bidding for and purchasing our securities. However, the representatives may engage in transactions that stabilize the price of the units, such as bids or purchases to peg, fix or maintain that price.

In connection with the offering, the underwriters may purchase and sell our units in the open market. These transactions may include short sales, purchases on the open market to cover positions created by short sales and stabilizing transactions. Short sales involve the sale by the underwriters of a greater number of units than they are required to purchase in the offering. “Covered” short sales are sales made in an amount not greater than the underwriters’ option to purchase additional units described above. The underwriters may close out any covered short position by either exercising their option to purchase additional units or purchasing units in the open market. In determining the source of units to close out the covered short position, the underwriters will consider, among other things, the price of units available for purchase in the open market as compared to the

 

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price at which they may purchase units through the option granted to them. “Naked” short sales are sales in excess of such option. The underwriters must close out any naked short position by purchasing units in the open market. A naked short position is more likely to be created if the underwriters are concerned that there may be downward pressure on the price of the units in the open market after pricing that could adversely affect investors who purchase in the offering. Stabilizing transactions consist of various bids for or purchases of units made by the underwriters in the open market prior to the completion of the offering.

The underwriters may also impose a penalty bid. This occurs when a particular underwriter repays to the underwriters a portion of the underwriting discount received by it because the representatives have repurchased units sold by or for the account of such underwriter in stabilizing or short covering transactions.

Similar to other purchase transactions, the underwriters’ purchases to cover the syndicate short sales may have the effect of raising or maintaining the market price of the units or preventing or retarding a decline in the market price of the units. As a result, the price of the units may be higher than the price that might otherwise exist in the open market. The underwriters may conduct these transactions on the NYSE, in the over-the-counter market or otherwise.

Neither we nor any of the underwriters make any representation or prediction as to the direction or magnitude of any effect that the transactions described above may have on the price of the units. In addition, neither we nor any of the underwriters make any representation that the representatives will engage in these transactions or that these transactions, once commenced, will not be discontinued without notice.

Electronic Distribution

In connection with the offering, certain of the underwriters or securities dealers may distribute prospectuses by electronic means, such as e-mail.

Other Relationships

We are not under any contractual obligation to engage any of the underwriters to provide any services for us after this offering and have no present intent to do so. However, any of the underwriters may introduce us to potential target businesses or assist us in raising additional capital in the future. If any of the underwriters provide services to us after this offering, we may pay such underwriter fair and reasonable fees that would be determined at that time in an arm’s length negotiation; provided that no agreement will be entered into with any of the underwriters and no fees for such services will be paid to any of the underwriters prior to the date that is 60 days from the date of this prospectus, unless such payment would not be deemed underwriters’ compensation in connection with this offering, and we may pay the underwriters of this offering or any entity with which they are affiliated, a finder’s fee or other compensation for services rendered to us in connection with the completion of a business combination.

Some of the underwriters and their affiliates have engaged in, and may in the future engage in, investment banking and other commercial dealings in the ordinary course of business with us or our affiliates. They have received, or may in the future receive, customary fees and commissions for these transactions.

In addition, in the ordinary course of their business activities, the underwriters and their affiliates may make or hold a broad array of investments and actively trade debt and equity securities (or related derivative securities) and financial instruments (including bank loans) for their own account and for the accounts of their customers. Such investments and securities activities may involve securities and/or instruments of ours or our affiliates. The underwriters and their affiliates may also make investment recommendations and/or publish or express independent research views in respect of such securities or financial instruments and may hold, or recommend to clients that they acquire, long and/or short positions in such securities and instruments.

 

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The expenses of the offering, not including the underwriting discount, are estimated at $1,000,000 and are payable by us. We have agreed to reimburse the underwriters for up to $25,000 of FINRA-related fees and expenses of the underwriters’ legal counsel.

European Economic Area

In relation to each Member State of the European Economic Area (each a “Relevant State”), no securities have been offered or will be offered to the public in that Relevant State prior to the publication of a prospectus in relation to the securities which has been approved by the competent authority in that Relevant State or, where appropriate, approved in another Relevant State and notified to the competent authority in that Relevant State, all in accordance with the Prospectus Regulation), except that offers of securities may be made to the public in that Relevant State at any time under the following exemptions under the Prospectus Regulation:

 

  (i)

to any legal entity which is a qualified investor as defined under the Prospectus Regulation;

 

  (ii)

to fewer than 150 natural or legal persons (other than qualified investors as defined under the Prospectus Regulation), subject to obtaining the prior consent of the representatives for any such offer; or

 

  (iii)

in any other circumstances falling within Article 1(4) of the Prospectus Regulation, provided that no such offer of securities shall require the Company or the representatives to publish a prospectus pursuant to Article 3 of the Prospectus Regulation or supplement a prospectus pursuant to Article 23 of the Prospectus Regulation.

Each person in a Relevant State (other than a Relevant State where there is a Permitted Public Offer) who initially acquires any securities or to whom any offer is made will be deemed to have represented, acknowledged and agreed to and with the Company and the representatives that it is a qualified investor within the meaning of the Prospectus Regulation.

In the case of any securities being offered to a financial intermediary as that term is used in Article 5(1) of the Prospectus Regulation, each such financial intermediary will be deemed to have represented, acknowledged and agreed that the securities acquired by it in the offer have not been acquired on a non-discretionary basis on behalf of, nor have they been acquired with a view to their offer or resale to, persons in circumstances which may give rise to an offer to the public other than their offer or resale in a Relevant State to qualified investors, in circumstances in which the prior consent of the representatives has been obtained to each such proposed offer or resale.

The Company, the representatives and their affiliates will rely upon the truth and accuracy of the foregoing representations, acknowledgements and agreements.

For the purposes of this provision, the expression an “offer to the public” in relation to any securities in any Relevant State means the communication in any form and by any means of sufficient information on the terms of the offer and any securities to be offered so as to enable an investor to decide to purchase or subscribe for any securities, and the expression “Prospectus Regulation” means Regulation (EU) 2017/1129.

The above selling restriction is in addition to any other selling restrictions set out below.

United Kingdom

In relation to the United Kingdom (“UK”), no securities have been offered or will be offered pursuant to the offering to the public in the UK prior to the publication of a prospectus in relation to the securities which has been approved by the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK in accordance with the UK Prospectus Regulation

 

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and the FSMA, except that offers of securities may be made to the public in the UK at any time under the following exemptions under the UK Prospectus Regulation and the FSMA:

 

  (i)

to any legal entity which is a qualified investor as defined under the UK Prospectus Regulation;

 

  (ii)

to fewer than 150 natural or legal persons (other than qualified investors as defined under the UK Prospectus Regulation), subject to obtaining the prior consent of the representatives for any such offer; or

 

  (iii)

at any time in other circumstances falling within section 86 of the FSMA, provided that no such offer of securities shall require the Company or any representative to publish a prospectus pursuant to Section 85 of the FSMA or Article 3 of the UK Prospectus Regulation or supplement a prospectus pursuant to Article 23 of the UK Prospectus Regulation.

Each person in the UK who initially acquires any securities or to whom any offer is made will be deemed to have represented, acknowledged and agreed to and with the Company and the representatives that it is a qualified investor within the meaning of the UK Prospectus Regulation.

In the case of any securities being offered to a financial intermediary as that term is used in Article 5(1) of the UK Prospectus Regulation, each such financial intermediary will be deemed to have represented, acknowledged and agreed that the securities acquired by it in the offer have not been acquired on a non-discretionary basis on behalf of, nor have they been acquired with a view to their offer or resale to, persons in circumstances which may give rise to an offer to the public other than their offer or resale in the UK to qualified investors, in circumstances in which the prior consent of the representatives has been obtained to each such proposed offer or resale.

The Company, the representatives and their affiliates will rely upon the truth and accuracy of the foregoing representations, acknowledgements and agreements.

For the purposes of this provision, the expression an “offer to the public” in relation to any securities in the UK means the communication in any form and by any means of sufficient information on the terms of the offer and any securities to be offered so as to enable an investor to decide to purchase or subscribe for any securities, the expression “UK Prospectus Regulation” means Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 as it forms part of domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, and the expression “FSMA” means the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.

This document is for distribution only to persons who (i) have professional experience in matters relating to investments and who qualify as investment professionals within the meaning of Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 (as amended, the “Financial Promotion Order”), (ii) are persons falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) (“high net worth companies, unincorporated associations etc.”) of the Financial Promotion Order, (iii) are outside the United Kingdom, or (iv) are persons to whom an invitation or inducement to engage in investment activity (within the meaning of Section 21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, as amended (“FSMA”)) in connection with the issue or sale of any securities may otherwise lawfully be communicated or caused to be communicated (all such persons together being referred to as “relevant persons”). This document is directed only at relevant persons and must not be acted on or relied on by persons who are not relevant persons. Any investment or investment activity to which this document relates is available only to relevant persons and will be engaged in only with relevant persons.

Switzerland

The units may not be publicly offered in Switzerland and will not be listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (“SIX”) or on any other stock exchange or regulated trading facility in Switzerland. This document has been

 

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prepared without regard to the disclosure standards for issuance prospectuses under art. 652a or art. 1156 of the Swiss Code of Obligations or the disclosure standards for listing prospectuses under art. 27 ff. of the SIX Listing Rules or the listing rules of any other stock exchange or regulated trading facility in Switzerland. Neither this document nor any other offering or marketing material relating to the units or the offering may be publicly distributed or otherwise made publicly available in Switzerland.

Neither this document nor any other offering or marketing material relating to the offering, the Company, the units have been or will be filed with or approved by any Swiss regulatory authority. In particular, this document will not be filed with, and the offer of units will not be supervised by, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA (FINMA), and the offer of units has not been and will not be authorized under the Swiss Federal Act on Collective Investment Schemes (“CISA”). The investor protection afforded to acquirers of interests in collective investment schemes under the CISA does not extend to acquirers of units.

Dubai International Financial Centre

This prospectus relates to an Exempt Offer in accordance with the Offered Securities Rules of the Dubai Financial Services Authority (“DFSA”). This prospectus is intended for distribution only to persons of a type specified in the Offered Securities Rules of the DFSA. It must not be delivered to, or relied on by, any other person. The DFSA has no responsibility for reviewing or verifying any documents in connection with Exempt Offers. The DFSA has not approved this prospectus nor taken steps to verify the information set forth herein and has no responsibility for the prospectus. The securities to which this prospectus relates may be illiquid and/or subject to restrictions on their resale. Prospective purchasers of the units offered should conduct their own due diligence on the units. If you do not understand the contents of this prospectus you should consult an authorized financial advisor.

Australia

No placement document, prospectus, product disclosure statement or other disclosure document has been lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (“ASIC”), in relation to the offering. This prospectus does not constitute a prospectus, product disclosure statement or other disclosure document under the Corporations Act 2001 (the “Corporations Act”), and does not purport to include the information required for a prospectus, product disclosure statement or other disclosure document under the Corporations Act.

Any offer in Australia of the units may only be made to persons (the “Exempt Investors”) who are “sophisticated investors” (within the meaning of section 708(8) of the Corporations Act), “professional investors” (within the meaning of section 708(11) of the Corporations Act) or otherwise pursuant to one or more exemptions contained in section 708 of the Corporations Act so that it is lawful to offer the units without disclosure to investors under Chapter 6D of the Corporations Act.

The units applied for by Exempt Investors in Australia must not be offered for sale in Australia in the period of 12 months after the date of allotment under the offering, except in circumstances where disclosure to investors under Chapter 6D of the Corporations Act would not be required pursuant to an exemption under section 708 of the Corporations Act or otherwise or where the offer is pursuant to a disclosure document which complies with Chapter 6D of the Corporations Act. Any person acquiring units must observe such Australian on-sale restrictions.

This prospectus contains general information only and does not take account of the investment objectives, financial situation or particular needs of any particular person. It does not contain any securities recommendations or financial product advice. Before making an investment decision, investors need to consider whether the information in this prospectus is appropriate to their needs, objectives and circumstances, and, if necessary, seek expert advice on those matters.

 

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Hong Kong

The securities have not been offered or sold and will not be offered or sold in Hong Kong, by means of any document, other than (i) to “professional investors” as defined in the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Cap. 571) of Hong Kong and any rules made under that Ordinance; or (ii) in other circumstances which do not result in the document being a “prospectus” as defined in the Companies Ordinance (Cap. 32) of Hong Kong or which do not constitute an offer to the public within the meaning of that Ordinance. No advertisement, invitation or document relating to the securities has been or may be issued or has been or may be in the possession of any person for the purposes of issue, whether in Hong Kong or elsewhere, which is directed at, or the contents of which are likely to be accessed or read by, the public of Hong Kong (except if permitted to do so under the securities laws of Hong Kong) other than with respect to securities which are or are intended to be disposed of only to persons outside Hong Kong or only to “professional investors” as defined in the Securities and Futures Ordinance and any rules made under that Ordinance.

Japan

The securities have not been and will not be registered under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Law of Japan (Law No. 25 of 1948, as amended) and, accordingly, will not be offered or sold, directly or indirectly, in Japan, or for the benefit of any Japanese Person or to others for re-offering or resale, directly or indirectly, in Japan or to any Japanese Person, except in compliance with all applicable laws, regulations and ministerial guidelines promulgated by relevant Japanese governmental or regulatory authorities in effect at the relevant time. For the purposes of this paragraph, “Japanese Person” shall mean any person resident in Japan, including any corporation or other entity organized under the laws of Japan.

Singapore

This prospectus has not been registered as a prospectus with the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Accordingly, the securities were not offered or sold or caused to be made the subject of an invitation for subscription or purchase and will not be offered or sold or caused to be made the subject of an invitation for subscription or purchase, and this prospectus or any other document or material in connection with the offer or sale, or invitation for subscription or purchase, of the securities, has not been circulated or distributed, nor will it be circulated or distributed, whether directly or indirectly, to any person in Singapore other than (i) to an institutional investor (as defined in Section 4A of the Securities and Futures Act (Chapter 289) of Singapore, as modified or amended from time to time (the “SFA”)) pursuant to Section 274 of the SFA, (ii) to a relevant person (as defined in Section 275(2) of the SFA) pursuant to Section 275(1) of the SFA, or any person pursuant to Section 275(1A) of the SFA, and in accordance with the conditions specified in Section 275 of the SFA, or (iii) otherwise pursuant to, and in accordance with the conditions of, any other applicable provision of the SFA.

Where the securities are subscribed or purchased under Section 275 of the SFA by a relevant person which is:

 

  (i)

a corporation (which is not an accredited investor (as defined in Section 4A of the SFA)) the sole business of which is to hold investments and the entire capital stock of which is owned by one or more individuals, each of whom is an accredited investor; or

 

  (ii)

a trust (where the trustee is not an accredited investor) whose sole purpose is to hold investments and each beneficiary of the trust is an individual who is an accredited investor, securities or securities-based derivatives contracts (each term as defined in Section 2(1) of the SFA) of that corporation or the beneficiaries’ rights and interest (howsoever described) in that trust shall not be transferred within six months after that corporation or that trust has acquired the securities pursuant to an offer made under Section 275 of the SFA except:

 

  (iii)

to an institutional investor or to a relevant person, or to any person arising from an offer referred to in Section 275(1A) or Section 276(4)(i)(B) of the SFA;

 

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  (iv)

where no consideration is or will be given for the transfer;

 

  (v)

where the transfer is by operation of law; or

 

  (vi)

as specified in Section 276(7) of the SFA.

Canada

The securities may be sold only to purchasers purchasing, or deemed to be purchasing, as principal that are accredited investors, as defined in National Instrument 45-106 Prospectus Exemptions or subsection 73.3(1) of the Securities Act (Ontario), and are permitted clients, as defined in National Instrument 31-103 Registration Requirements, Exemptions and Ongoing Registrant Obligations. Any resale of the securities must be made in accordance with an exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the prospectus requirements of applicable securities laws.

Securities legislation in certain provinces or territories of Canada may provide a purchaser with remedies for rescission or damages if this prospectus (including any amendment thereto) contains a misrepresentation, provided that the remedies for rescission or damages are exercised by the purchaser within the time limit prescribed by the securities legislation of the purchaser’s province or territory. The purchaser should refer to any applicable provisions of the securities legislation of the purchaser’s province or territory for particulars of these rights or consult with a legal advisor.

Pursuant to section 3A.3 (or, in the case of securities issued or guaranteed by the government of a non-Canadian jurisdiction, section 3A.4) of National Instrument 33-105 Underwriting Conflicts (NI 33-105), the underwriters are not required to comply with the disclosure requirements of NI 33-105 regarding underwriter conflicts of interest in connection with this offering.

 

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LEGAL MATTERS

Greenberg Traurig, P.A., Miami, Florida, is acting as counsel in connection with the registration of our securities under the Securities Act, and as such, will pass upon the validity of the securities offered in this prospectus. Certain legal matters will be passed upon on behalf of the underwriters by Winston & Strawn LLP.

EXPERTS

The financial statements included in this prospectus and elsewhere in the registration statement have been so included in reliance upon the report of Grant Thornton LLP, independent registered public accountants, upon the authority of said firm as experts in accounting and auditing.

WHERE YOU CAN FIND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

We have filed with the SEC a registration statement on Form S-1 under the Securities Act with respect to the securities we are offering by this prospectus. This prospectus does not contain all of the information included in the registration statement. For further information about us and our securities, you should refer to the registration statement and the exhibits and schedules filed with the registration statement. Whenever we make reference in this prospectus to any of our contracts, agreements or other documents, the references are materially complete but may not include a description of all aspects of such contracts, agreements or other documents, and you should refer to the exhibits attached to the registration statement for copies of the actual contract, agreement or other document.

Upon completion of this offering, we will be subject to the information requirements of the Exchange Act and will file annual, quarterly and current event reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. You can read our SEC filings, including the registration statement, over the Internet at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.

 

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BERENSON ACQUISITION CORP. I

INDEX TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

 

REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

     F-2  

BALANCE SHEET

     F-3  

STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS

     F-4  

STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN STOCKHOLDER’S EQUITY

     F-5  

STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS

     F-6  

NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

     F-7  

 

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Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

Board of Directors and Stockholders

Berenson Acquisition Corp. I

Opinion on the financial statements

We have audited the accompanying balance sheet of Berenson Acquisition Corp. I (a Delaware corporation) (the “Company”) as of June 25, 2021, the related statements of operations, changes in stockholder’s equity, and cash flows for the period from June 1, 2021 (inception) through June 25, 2021, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of June 25, 2021, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the period from June 1, 2021 (inception) through June 25, 2021, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

Going Concern

The accompanying financial statements have been prepared assuming that the Company will continue as a going concern. As discussed in Note 1 to the financial statements, the Company has no present revenue, its business plan is dependent on the completion of a financing transaction and the Company’s cash and working capital as of June 25, 2021 are not sufficient to complete its planned activities for the upcoming year. These conditions, along with other matters set forth in Note 1, raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. Management’s plans regarding these matters are also described in Notes 3 and 4 to the financial statements. The financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.

Basis for opinion

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s financial statements based on our audit. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (“PCAOB”) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audit in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. The Company is not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of its internal control over financial reporting. As part of our audit we are required to obtain an understanding of internal control over financial reporting but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion.

Our audit included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audit also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.

/s/ GRANT THORNTON LLP

We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2021.

New York, New York

July 20, 2021 (except for Note 3 and Note 4, as to which the date is September 10, 2021)

 

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BERENSON ACQUISITION CORP. I

BALANCE SHEET

June 25, 2021

 

ASSETS  

ASSETS

  

CURRENT ASSET:

  

Cash

   $ 25,000  
  

 

 

 

Total current asset

     25,000  
  

 

 

 

Deferred offering costs

     36,300  
  

 

 

 

TOTAL ASSETS

   $ 61,300  
  

 

 

 

LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDER’S EQUITY

 

CURRENT LIABILITIES:

  

Accrued expenses

   $ 39,000  
  

 

 

 

Total liabilities

     39,000  
  

 

 

 

Commitments and contingencies (Note 5)

  

Stockholder’s equity:

  

Preferred stock, $0.0001 par value; 1,000,000 shares authorized; none issued and outstanding

     —    

Class A common stock, $0.0001 par value; 200,000,000 shares authorized; none issued and outstanding

     —    

Class B common stock, $0.0001 par value; 20,000,000 shares authorized; 7,187,500 shares issued and outstanding(1)

     719  

Additional paid-in capital

     24,281  

Accumulated deficit

     (2,700
  

 

 

 

Total stockholder’s equity

     22,300  
  

 

 

 

TOTAL LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDER’S EQUITY

   $ 61,300  
  

 

 

 

 

(1)

This number includes an aggregate of up to 937,500 shares of Class B common stock subject to forfeiture if the over-allotment option is not exercised in full in or in part by the underwriters (see Note 4).

 

See accompanying notes to financial statements.

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BERENSON ACQUISITION CORP. I

STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS

For the period from June 1, 2021 (inception) through June 25, 2021

 

General and administrative expenses

   $ 2,700  
  

 

 

 

Net loss

   $ (2,700
  

 

 

 

Weighted average shares outstanding, basic and diluted(1)

     6,250,000  
  

 

 

 

Basic and fully diluted net loss per share

   $ (0.00
  

 

 

 

 

(1)

This number excludes an aggregate of up to 937,500 Class B common stock subject to forfeiture if the over-allotment option is not exercised in fully or in part by the underwriters.

 

See accompanying notes to financial statements.

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Index to Financial Statements

BERENSON ACQUISITION CORP. I

STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN STOCKHOLDER’S EQUITY

For the period from June 1, 2021 (inception) through June 25, 2021

 

    

Common Stock

    

Additional

Paid-in

Capital

    

Accumulated

Deficit

   

Total

Stockholder’s

Equity

 
    

Class A

    

Class B

 
    

Shares

    

Amount

    

Shares

    

Amount

 

Balance—June 1, 2021 (inception)

     —        $ —          —        $ —        $ —        $ —       $ —    

Issuance of Class B common stock to Sponsor(1)

     —          —          7,187,500        719        24,281        —         25,000  

Net loss

     —          —          —          —          —          (2,700     (2,700
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

 

Balance—June 25, 2021

     —        $ —          7,187,500      $ 719      $ 24,281      $ (2,700   $ 22,300  
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

(1)

This number includes an aggregate of 937,500 shares of Class B common stock subject to forfeiture if the over-allotment option is not exercised by the underwriters (see Note 4).

 

See accompanying notes to financial statements.

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Index to Financial Statements

BERENSON ACQUISITION CORP. I

STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS

For the period from June 1, 2021 (inception) through June 25, 2021

 

CASH FLOWS FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES:

  

Net loss

   $ (2,700

Changes in operating assets and liabilities:

  

Accrued expenses

     2,700  
  

 

 

 

Net cash provided by operating activities

     —    
  

 

 

 

CASH FLOWS FROM FINANCING ACTIVITIES:

  

Proceeds from issuance of Class B common stock to Sponsor

     25,000  
  

 

 

 

Net cash provided by financing activities

     25,000  
  

 

 

 

NET INCREASE IN CASH

     25,000  

CASH BEGINNING OF PERIOD

     —    
  

 

 

 

CASH END OF PERIOD

   $ 25,000  
  

 

 

 

SUPPLEMENTAL DISCLOSURE OF NON-CASH ACTIVITIES:

  

Deferred offering costs included in accrued expenses

   $ 36,300  
  

 

 

 

 

See accompanying notes to financial statements.

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Table of Contents
Index to Financial Statements

BERENSON ACQUISITION CORP. I

NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Note 1—Description of Organization, Business Operations and Basis of Presentation

Berenson Acquisition Corp. I (the “Company”) was incorporated in Delaware on June 1, 2021. The Company was 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 (the “Business Combination”).

As of June 25, 2021, the Company had not commenced any operations. All activity for the period from June 1, 2021 (inception) through June 25, 2021 relates to the Company’s formation and the proposed initial public offering described below. The Company will not generate any operating revenues until after the completion of its initial Business Combination, at the earliest. The Company will generate non-operating income in the form of interest income on cash and cash equivalents from the proceeds derived from the Proposed Public Offering (as defined below). The Company has selected December 31 as its fiscal year end.

The Company’s sponsor is Berenson SPAC Holdings I, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (the “Sponsor”). The Company’s ability to commence operations is contingent upon obtaining adequate financial resources through an expected public offering (the “Proposed Public Offering”) of 25,000,000 units (each, a “Unit” and collectively, the “Units”) at $10.00 per Unit (or 28,750,000 units if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), which is discussed in Note 3, and the sale of private placement warrants to the Sponsor, which is discussed in Note 4.

The Company’s management has broad discretion with respect to the specific application of the net proceeds of the Proposed Public Offering and the sale of the Private Placement Warrants, although substantially all of the net proceeds are intended to be applied generally toward consummating a Business Combination. There is no assurance that the Company will be able to complete a Business Combination successfully. The Company must complete an initial Business Combination with one or more operating businesses or assets with a fair market value equal to at least 80% of the net assets held in the Trust Account (as defined below) (net of amounts disbursed to management for working capital purposes, if permitted, and excluding the amount of any deferred underwriting discount). However, the Company will only complete a Business Combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target business sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”). Upon the closing of the Proposed Public Offering, management has agreed that an amount equal to at least $10.00 per Unit sold in the Proposed Public Offering, including proceeds from the sale of the Private Placement Warrants to the Sponsor, will be held in a trust account (“Trust Account”) located in the United States with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee, and invested only in U.S. “government securities,” within the meaning set forth in Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act, with a maturity of 185 days or less, or 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, as determined by the Company, until the earlier of: (i) the completion of a Business Combination and (ii) the distribution of the Trust Account as described below.

The Company is expected to provide holders of the Company’s outstanding shares of Class A common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, sold in the Proposed Public Offering (the “Public Stockholders”) with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their Public Shares (as defined below) upon the completion of a 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 the Company will seek stockholder approval of a Business Combination or conduct a tender offer will be made by the Company, solely in its discretion. The Public Stockholders will be entitled to redeem their Public Shares for a pro rata portion of the

 

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Table of Contents
Index to Financial Statements

BERENSON ACQUISITION CORP. I

NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

 

Note 1—Description of Organization, Business Operations and Basis of Presentation – Continued

 

amount then held in the Trust Account (initially anticipated to be $10.00 per Public Share), calculated as of two business days prior to the initial Business Combination, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to the Company to pay the Company’s taxes, net of taxes payable. The per-share amount to be distributed to Public Stockholders who redeem their Public Shares will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting commissions the Company will pay to the underwriters (as discussed in Note 5). These Public Shares will be recorded at a redemption value and classified as temporary equity upon the completion of the Proposed Public Offering in accordance with the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 480 “Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity.” The Company will proceed with a Business Combination if a majority of the shares voted are voted in favor of the Business Combination. The Company will not redeem the Public Shares in an amount that would cause its net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001. If a stockholder vote is not required by applicable law or stock exchange rule and the Company does not decide to hold a stockholder vote for business or other reasons, the Company will, pursuant to its amended and restated certificate of incorporation (the “Certificate of Incorporation”), conduct the redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and file tender offer documents with the SEC prior to completing a Business Combination. If, however, stockholder approval of the transaction is required by applicable law or stock exchange rule, or the Company decides to obtain stockholder approval for business or other reasons, the Company will offer to redeem shares in conjunction with a proxy solicitation pursuant to the proxy rules and not pursuant to the tender offer rules. Additionally, each Public Stockholder may elect to redeem their Public Shares without voting, and if they do vote, irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction. If the Company seeks stockholder approval in connection with a Business Combination, the initial stockholders (as defined below) have agreed to vote any Founder Shares (as defined below in Note 4) and any Public Shares held by them in favor of a Business Combination. In addition, the initial stockholders have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any Founder Shares and any Public Shares held by them in connection with the completion of a Business Combination.

The Certificate of Incorporation will provide that a Public Stockholder, together with any affiliate of such stockholder or any other person with whom such stockholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”)), will be restricted from redeeming its shares with an aggregate of 15% or more of the Public Shares, without the prior consent of the Company.

The Sponsor and the Company’s officers and directors (the “initial stockholders”) have agreed, pursuant to a letter agreement with the Company, that they will not propose any amendment to the Certificate of Incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of the Company’s obligation to allow redemption in connection with the initial Business Combination or to redeem 100% of the Public Shares if the Company does not complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period (as defined below) or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial Business Combination activity, unless the Company provides the 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 (which interest shall be net of taxes payable) divided by the number of then outstanding Public Shares.

If the Company is unable to complete a Business Combination within 18 months from the closing of the Proposed Public Offering (as such period may be extended pursuant to the Certificate of Incorporation, the “Combination Period”), the Company will (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the Public Shares, at a

 

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Table of Contents
Index to Financial Statements

BERENSON ACQUISITION CORP. I

NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

 

Note 1—Description of Organization, Business Operations and Basis of Presentation – Continued

 

per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the Trust Account including interest earned on the funds held in the Trust Account and not previously released to the Company to pay the Company’s taxes, net of taxes payable (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding Public Shares, which redemption will completely extinguish Public Stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any), and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of the Company’s remaining stockholders and the Company’s board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to the Company’s obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to the Company’s warrants, which will expire worthless if the Company fails to complete its initial Business Combination within the Combination Period.

The initial stockholders have agreed to waive their rights to liquidating distributions from the Trust Account with respect to any Founder Shares held by them if the Company fails to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period. However, if the initial stockholders acquire Public Shares in or after the Proposed Public Offering, they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the Trust Account with respect to such Public Shares if the Company fails to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period. The underwriters have agreed to waive their rights to the deferred underwriting commission (see Note 5) held in the Trust Account in the event the Company does not complete a Business Combination within in the Combination Period and, in such event, such amounts will be included with the other funds held in the Trust Account that will be available to fund the redemption of the Public Shares. In the event of such distribution, it is possible that the per share value of the residual assets remaining available for distribution (including Trust Account assets) will be only, or less than, $10.00. In order to protect the amounts held in the Trust Account, the Sponsor has agreed to be liable to the Company if and to the extent any claims by a third party for services rendered or products sold to the Company, or a prospective target business with which the Company has discussed entering into a transaction agreement (a “Target”), reduce the amount of funds in the Trust Account to below the lesser of (i) $10.00 per Public Share and (ii) the actual amount per Public Share held in the Trust Account as of the date of the liquidation of the Trust Account, if less than $10.00 per Public Share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, less taxes payable, provided that such liability will not apply to any claims by a third party or Target that executed a waiver of any and all rights to the monies held in the Trust Account nor will it apply to any claims under the Company’s indemnity of the underwriters of the Proposed Public Offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”). Moreover, in the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, then the sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third-party claims. The Company will seek to reduce the possibility that the Sponsor will have to indemnify the Trust Account due to claims of creditors by endeavoring to have all vendors, service providers, prospective target businesses and other entities with which the Company does business, execute agreements with the Company waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to monies held in the Trust Account.

Going Concern Consideration

As of June 25, 2021, the Company had $25,000 in cash and a working capital deficiency of ($14,000). Further, the Company has incurred and expects to continue to incur significant costs in pursuit of its financing and acquisition plans. Management plans to address this need for capital through the Proposed Public Offering. The Company cannot assure that its plans to raise capital or to consummate an initial Business Combination will be successful. These factors, among others, raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. The financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from its inability to consummate the Proposed Public Offering or its inability to continue as a going concern.

 

F-9


Table of Contents
Index to Financial Statements

BERENSON ACQUISITION CORP. I

NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

 

Note 1—Description of Organization, Business Operations and Basis of Presentation – Continued

 

Basis of Presentation

The accompanying financial statements are presented in U.S. dollars in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”) and pursuant to the rules and regulations of the SEC.

Note 2—Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Cash and Cash Equivalents

The Company considers all short-term investments with an original maturity of three months or less when purchased to be cash equivalents. The Company did not have any cash equivalents as of June 25, 2021.

Concentration of Credit Risk

Financial instruments that potentially subject the Company to concentrations of credit risk consist of cash accounts in a financial institution, which, at times, may exceed the Federal Depository Insurance Coverage limit of $250,000. At June 25, 2021, the Company has not experienced losses on these accounts and management believes the Company is not exposed to significant risks on such accounts.

Financial Instruments

The fair value of the Company’s assets and liabilities, which qualify as financial instruments under FASB ASC 820, “Fair Value Measurements” approximates the carrying amounts represented in the balance sheet.

The Company applies ASC 820, which establishes a framework for measuring fair value and clarifies the definition of fair value within that framework. ASC 820 defines fair value as an exit price, which is the price that would be received for an asset or paid to transfer a liability in the Company’s principal or most advantageous market in an orderly transaction between market participants on the measurement date. The fair value hierarchy established in ASC 820 generally requires an entity to maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs when measuring fair value. Observable inputs reflect the assumptions that market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability and are developed based on market data obtained from sources independent of the reporting entity. Unobservable inputs reflect the entity’s own assumptions based on market data and the entity’s judgments about the assumptions that market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability and are to be developed based on the best information available in the circumstances.

Level 1—Assets and liabilities with unadjusted, quoted prices listed on active market exchanges. Inputs to the fair value measurement are observable inputs, such as quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities.

Level 2—Inputs to the fair value measurement are determined using prices for recently traded assets and liabilities with similar underlying terms, as well as direct or indirect observable inputs, such as interest rates and yield curves that are observable at commonly quoted intervals.

Level 3—Inputs to the fair value measurement are unobservable inputs, such as estimates, assumptions, and valuation techniques when little or no market data exists for the assets or liabilities.

 

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Index to Financial Statements

BERENSON ACQUISITION CORP. I

NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

 

Note 2—Summary of Significant Accounting Policies – Continued

 

Use of Estimates

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires the Company’s management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Deferred Offering Costs Associated with the Proposed Public Offering

Deferred offering costs consist of legal, accounting, underwriting fees and other costs incurred through the balance sheet date that are directly related to the Proposed Public Offering and that will be charged to stockholder’s equity upon the completion of the Proposed Public Offering. Should the Proposed Public Offering prove to be unsuccessful, these deferred costs, as well as additional expenses to be incurred, will be charged to operations.

Net Loss Per Common Share

The Company complies with accounting and disclosure requirements of FASB ASC Topic 260, “Earnings Per Share.” Net loss per share is computed by dividing net loss by the weighted average number of shares of common stock outstanding during the period excluding common stock subject to forfeiture. Weighted average shares were reduced for the effect of an aggregate of 937,500 shares of common stock that are subject to forfeiture if the over-allotment option is not exercised by the underwriters (Note 5). At June 25, 2021, the Company did not have any dilutive securities and other contracts that could, potentially, be exercised or converted into shares of common stock and then share in the earnings of the Company. As a result, diluted loss per share is the same as basic loss per share for the period presented.

Income Taxes

The Company follows the asset and liability method of accounting for income taxes under FASB ASC 740, “Income Taxes.” Deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized for the estimated future tax consequences attributable to differences between the financial statements carrying amounts of existing assets and liabilities and their respective tax bases. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using enacted tax rates expected to apply to taxable income in the years in which those temporary differences are expected to be recovered or settled. The effect on deferred tax assets and liabilities of a change in tax rates is recognized in income in the period that included the enactment date. Valuation allowances are established, when necessary, to reduce deferred tax assets to the amount expected to be realized. Deferred tax assets were deemed immaterial as of June 25, 2021.

FASB ASC 740 prescribes a recognition threshold and a measurement attribute for the financial statement recognition and measurement of tax positions taken or expected to be taken in a tax return. For those benefits to be recognized, a tax position must be more likely than not to be sustained upon examination by taxing authorities. There were no unrecognized tax benefits as of June 25, 2021. The Company recognizes accrued interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits as income tax expense. No amounts were accrued for the payment of interest and penalties as of June 25, 2021. The Company is currently not aware of any issues under review that could result in significant payments, accruals or material deviation from its position. The Company is subject to income tax examinations by major taxing authorities since inception.

The provision for income taxes was deemed de minims for the period from June 1, 2021 (date of inception) through June 25, 2021.

 

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Index to Financial Statements

BERENSON ACQUISITION CORP. I

NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

 

Note 2—Summary of Significant Accounting Policies – Continued

 

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

The Company’s management does not believe that any recently issued, but not yet effective, accounting standards if currently adopted would have a material effect on the accompanying financial statements.

Note 3—Proposed Public Offering

Pursuant to the Proposed Public Offering, the Company intends to offer for sale 25,000,000 units at a price of $10.00 per Unit. Each Unit consists of one share of Class A common stock (such shares of common stock included in the Units being offered, the “Public Shares”), and one-half of one redeemable warrant (each, a “Public Warrant”). Each whole Public Warrant entitles the holder to purchase one share of Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment (see Note 6).

The Company will grant the underwriters a 45-day option from the date of the final prospectus relating to the Proposed Public Offering to purchase up to 3,750,000 additional Units to cover over-allotments, if any, at the Proposed Public Offering price, less underwriting discounts and commissions.

Note 4—Related Party Transactions

Founder Shares

On June 25, 2021, the Sponsor subscribed to purchase 7,187,500 shares of the Company’s Class B common stock, par value $0.0001 per share (the “Founder Shares”), and fully paid for those shares on June 25, 2021. The initial stockholders have agreed to forfeit up to 937,500 Founder Shares to the extent that the over-allotment option is not exercised in full by the underwriters. The forfeiture will be adjusted to the extent that the over-allotment option is not exercised in full by the underwriters so that the Founder Shares will represent 20.0% of the Company’s issued and outstanding shares of common stock after the Proposed Public Offering. If the Company increases or decreases the size of the Proposed Public Offering, the Company will effect a stock dividend or share contribution back to capital or other appropriate mechanism, as applicable, immediately prior to the consummation of the Proposed Public Offering in such amount as to maintain the number of Founder Shares at 20.0% of the Company’s issued and outstanding shares of common stock upon the consummation of the Proposed Public Offering.

The initial stockholders will agree, subject to limited exceptions, not to transfer, assign or sell any of the Founder Shares until the earlier to occur of: (A) one year after the completion of the initial Business Combination or (B) subsequent to the initial Business Combination, (x) if the last reported sale price of the 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 the initial Business Combination, or (y) the date on which the Company completes a liquidation, merger, capital stock exchange, reorganization or other similar transaction that results in all of the Company’s stockholders having the right to exchange their shares of common stock for cash, securities or other property.

Private Placement Warrants

The Sponsor is expected to purchase an aggregate of 7,000,000 Private Placement Warrants (or 7,750,000 Private Placement Warrants if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), at a price of $1.00 per Private Placement Warrant (approximately $7,000,000 in the aggregate, or $7,750,000 if the

 

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Index to Financial Statements

BERENSON ACQUISITION CORP. I

NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

 

Note 4—Related Party Transactions – Continued

 

underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) in a private placement that will occur simultaneously with the closing of the Proposed Public Offering. Each whole Private Placement Warrant is exercisable for one whole share of Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the Private Placement Warrants to the Sponsor will be added to the proceeds from the Proposed Public Offering to be held in the Trust Account. If the Company does not complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period, the Private Placement Warrants will expire worthless. The Private Placement Warrants will be non-redeemable for cash (except as described below) and exercisable on a cashless basis so long as they are held by the Sponsor or its permitted transferees.

The Sponsor will agree, subject to limited exceptions, not to transfer, assign or sell the Private Placement Warrants until 30 days after the completion of the initial Business Combination.

Related Party Loans

On June 25, 2021, the Sponsor agreed to loan the Company an aggregate of up to $300,000 to cover expenses related to the Proposed Public Offering pursuant to a promissory note (the “Note”). This loan is non-interest bearing and payable on the earlier of December 31, 2021 or the completion of the Proposed Public Offering. There is no balance outstanding as of June 25, 2021.

In addition, in order to fund working capital deficiencies or finance transaction costs in connection with a Business Combination, the Sponsor or an affiliate of the Sponsor, or certain of the Company’s officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan the Company funds as may be required (“Working Capital Loans”). Upon the consummation of a Business Combination the Working Capital Loans may be repaid out of the proceeds of the Trust Account released to the Company or, at the lender’s discretion, up to $1,500,000 of the loan balance may be converted into warrants with terms identical to the Private Placement Warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant. If a Business Combination does not close the Working Capital Loans could only be repaid with funds held outside the Trust Account.

Except for the foregoing, the terms of such Working Capital Loans, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. To date, the Company had no borrowings under the Working Capital Loans.

Service and Administrative Fees

The Company intends to enter into an agreement, commencing on the effective date of the Proposed Public Offering, to pay the Sponsor $10,000 per month for office space, secretarial and administrative support. Upon completion of the Business Combination or the Company’s liquidation, the Company will cease paying these monthly fees.

Note 5—Commitments & Contingencies

Registration Rights

The holders of Founder Shares, Private Placement Warrants and any warrants that may be issued upon conversion of Working Capital Loans will be entitled to registration rights pursuant to a registration rights agreement to be signed prior to the consummation of the Proposed Public Offering. These holders will be entitled to certain demand and “piggyback” registration rights. The Company will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such registration statements.

 

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Index to Financial Statements

BERENSON ACQUISITION CORP. I

NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

 

Note 5—Commitments & Contingencies – Continued

 

Underwriting Agreement

The underwriters are expected to be entitled to an underwriting discount of $0.20 per unit, or $5,000,000 in the aggregate (or approximately $5,750,000 in the aggregate if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full), payable upon the closing of the Proposed Public Offering. $0.35 per unit, or approximately $8,750,000 in the aggregate (or approximately $10,062,500 in the aggregate if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) will be payable to the underwriters for deferred underwriting commissions. The deferred fee will become payable to the underwriters from the amounts held in the Trust Account solely in the event that the Company completes a Business Combination, subject to the terms of the underwriting agreement.

Note 6—Stockholder’s Equity

Class A Common Stock—The Company is authorized to issue 200,000,000 shares of Class A common stock with a par value of $0.0001 per share. As of June 25, 2021, there were no shares of Class A common stock issued or outstanding.

Class B Common Stock—The Company is authorized to issue 20,000,000 shares of Class B common stock with a par value of $0.0001 per share. On June 25, 2021, the Sponsor subscribed to purchase 7,187,500 shares of Class B common stock, which was fully paid on June 25, 2021. Of these, an aggregate of up to 937,500 shares of Class B common stock are subject to forfeiture to the Company by the initial stockholders for no consideration to the extent that the underwriters’ over-allotment option is not exercised in full or in part, so that the number of Founder Shares will equal 20% of the Company’s issued and outstanding shares of common stock after the Proposed Public Offering.

Stockholders of record are entitled to one vote for each share held on all matters to be voted on by stockholders; provided that, prior to the completion of the initial Business Combination, holders of the Class B common stock will have the right to elect all of the Company’s directors and remove members of the Company’s board of directors for any reason. Holders of the Public Shares will not be entitled to vote on the Company’s election of directors during such time. These provisions of the Certificate of Incorporation may only be amended by a resolution passed by the holders of a majority of shares of the Class B common stock. With respect to any other matter submitted to a vote of the Company’s stockholders, including any vote in connection with the initial Business Combination, holders of the Class A common stock and holders of the Class B common stock will vote together as a single class on all matters submitted to a vote of the Company’s stockholders, except as required by law.

The shares of Class B common stock will automatically convert into Class A common stock at the time of the initial Business Combination, or earlier at the option of the holders, 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 described herein. In the case that additional shares of Class A common stock, or equity-linked securities, are issued or deemed issued in excess of the amounts issued in the Proposed Offering and related to the closing of the initial Business Combination, including pursuant to a specified future issuance, the ratio at which shares of Class B common stock shall convert into shares of Class A common stock will be adjusted (unless the holders of a majority of the then-outstanding shares of Class B common stock agree to waive such adjustment with respect to any such issuance or deemed issuance, including a specified future issuance) so that the number of shares of Class A common stock issuable upon conversion of all shares of Class B common stock will equal, in the aggregate, on an as-converted basis, 20% of the sum of the total number of all shares of common stock outstanding upon the completion of the Proposed Public Offering plus all shares of Class A

 

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Table of Contents
Index to Financial Statements

BERENSON ACQUISITION CORP. I

NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

 

Note 6—Stockholder’s Equity – Continued

 

common stock and equity-linked securities issued or deemed issued in connection with the initial Business Combination (excluding any shares or equity-linked securities issued or issuable to any seller in the initial Business Combination).

Preferred Stock—The Company is authorized to issue 1,000,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $0.0001 per share, with such designations, voting and other rights and preferences as may be determined from time to time by the Company’s board of directors. As of June 25, 2021, there were no shares of preferred stock issued or outstanding.

Note 7—Warrants

Public Warrants may only be exercised for a whole number of shares. No fractional Public Warrants will be issued upon separation of the Units and only whole Public Warrants will trade. The Company has agreed that as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 15 business days after the closing of the initial Business Combination, the Company will use its commercially reasonable efforts to file, and within 60 business days following the initial Business Combination to have declared effective, a registration statement covering the issuance of the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants and to maintain a current prospectus relating to those shares of Class A common stock until the warrants expire or are redeemed; provided, that if the Class A common stock is at the time of any exercise of a warrant not listed on a national securities exchange such that it satisfies the definition of a “covered security” under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act, the Company may, at its option, require holders of Public Warrants who exercise their warrants to do so on a “cashless basis” in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act and, in the event the Company so elects, it will not be required to file or maintain in effect a registration statement, but it will be required to use its best efforts to register or qualify the shares under applicable blue sky laws to the extent an exemption is not available. The Public Warrants will become exercisable on the later of (a) 30 days after the completion of a Business Combination and (b) 12 months from the closing of the Proposed Public Offering; provided in each case that the Company has an effective registration statement under the Securities Act covering the issuance of the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the Public Warrants and a current prospectus relating to them is available and such shares are registered, qualified or exempt from registration under the securities, or blue sky, laws of the state of residence of the holder (or the Company permits holders to exercise their Public Warrants on a cashless basis under the circumstances specified in the warrant agreement). The Public Warrants will expire five years after the completion of a Business Combination or earlier upon redemption or liquidation.

The warrants will have an exercise price of $11.50 per share. If (x) the Company issues additional shares or equity-linked securities for capital raising purposes in connection with the closing of the initial Business Combination at an issue price or effective issue price of less than $9.20 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, rights issuances, subdivisions, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) (with such issue price or effective issue price to be determined in good faith by the Company’s board of directors, and in the case of any such issuance to the Sponsor, initial stockholders or their affiliates, without taking into account any Founder Shares held by them prior to such issuance) (the “Newly Issued Price”), (y) the aggregate gross proceeds from such issuances represent more than 60% of the total equity proceeds, and interest thereon, available for the funding of the initial Business Combination on the date of the consummation of the Initial Business Combination (net of redemptions), and (z) the volume weighted average trading price of the Company’s shares of Class A common stock during the 20 trading day period starting on the trading day prior to the day on which the Company consummates the initial Business Combination (such price, the “Market Value”) is below $9.20 per share, the exercise price of each warrant will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) such that the effective exercise price per full share will be equal to 115% of the higher of (i) the Market Value and (ii) the Newly Issued Price,

 

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BERENSON ACQUISITION CORP. I

NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

 

Note 7—Warrants – Continued

 

and the $18.00 per share redemption trigger price described below will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 180% of the higher of (i) the Market Value and (ii) the Newly Issued Price.

The Private Placement Warrants will be identical to the Public Warrants, except that (1) the Private Placement Warrants and the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the Private Placement Warrants will not be transferable, assignable or salable until 30 days after the completion of a Business Combination, subject to certain limited exceptions, (2) the Private Placement Warrants will be non-redeemable (except as described below) so long as they are held by the Sponsor or its permitted transferees, (3) the Private Placement Warrants may be exercised by the holders on a cashless basis and (4) the holders of the Private Placement Warrants (including with respect to the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the Private Placement Warrants) are entitled to registration rights. If the Private Placement Warrants are held by someone other than the Sponsor or its permitted transferees, the Private Placement Warrants will be redeemable by the Company in all redemption scenarios and exercisable by such holders on the same basis as the Public Warrants.

The Company may call the Public Warrants for redemption:

 

   

in whole and not in part;

 

   

at a price of $0.01 per warrant;

 

   

upon a minimum of 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption; and

 

   

if, and only if, the last reported sale price of the Class A common stock equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within the 30-trading day period ending on the third business day prior to the date on which the Company sends the notice of redemption to the warrant holders.

If the Company calls the Public Warrants for redemption, management will have the option to require all holders that wish to exercise the Public Warrants to do so on a “cashless basis,” as described in the warrant agreement.

In no event will the Company be required to net cash settle any warrant. If the Company is unable to complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period and the Company liquidates the funds held in the Trust Account, holders of warrants will not receive any of such funds with respect to their warrants, nor will they receive any distribution from the Company’s assets held outside of the Trust Account with the respect to such warrants. Accordingly, the warrants may expire worthless.

The Company will evaluate the accounting treatment for the Private Placement Warrants and Public Warrants upon issuance based on the final terms and conditions.

Note 8—Subsequent Events

The Company has evaluated subsequent events and transactions that occurred after the balance sheet date up to July 20, 2021, the date that the financial statements were available to be issued. Based upon this review, the Company did not identify any subsequent events that would have required adjustment or disclosure in the financial statements.

 

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BERENSON ACQUISITION CORP. I

NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

 

Note 9—Unaudited Subsequent Events

The Company has entered into forward purchase agreements with third party anchor investors that are not affiliated with the Company or the Sponsor, under which such forward purchase investors may purchase up to an aggregate of $50,000,000 in Class A common stock as described in the forward purchase agreements, each in a private placement that will close immediately prior to the closing of the initial Business Combination. The terms of the forward purchase shares will generally be identical to the Class A common stock shares included in the units being sold in this offering, except that they will have registration rights and rights of first refusal with respect to any business combination financing, as described in the forward purchase agreements. The Company has agreed with one of its forward purchase investors that it will have the right to acquire up to $25,000,000 million of securities. At the Company’s option, the securities offered to the forward purchaser may be equity securities, convertible debt securities or non-convertible debt instruments. The form of securities offered are in the Company’s discretion, although the forward purchaser is not obligated to purchase any securities from the Company.

 

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25,000,000 Units

BERENSON ACQUISITION CORP. I

 

 

PRELIMINARY    PROSPECTUS

 

                    , 2021

Until                     , 2021 (25 days after the date of this prospectus), all dealers that buy, sell or trade units, whether or not participating in this offering, may be required to deliver a prospectus. This is in addition to the dealers’ obligation to deliver a prospectus when acting as underwriters and with respect to their unsold allotments or subscriptions.

 

 

 


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PART II

INFORMATION NOT REQUIRED IN PROSPECTUS

Item 13. Other Expenses of Issuance and Distribution.

The estimated expenses payable by us in connection with the offering described in this registration statement (other than the underwriting discount and commissions) will be as follows:

 

SEC expenses

   $ 31,266  

FINRA expenses

     43,625  

Accounting fees and expenses

     50,000  

Printing and engraving expenses

     10,000  

Travel and road show expenses

     20,000  

Directors & officers liability insurance premiums(1)

     425,000  

Legal fees and expenses

     300,000  

NYSE listing and filing fees

     85,000  

Miscellaneous

     35,009  
  

 

 

 

Total

   $ 1,000,000  
  

 

 

 

 

(1)

This amount represents the approximate amount of annual director and officer liability insurance premiums the registrant anticipates paying following the completion of its initial public offering and until it completes a business combination.

Item 14. Indemnification of Directors and Officers.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that all of our directors, officers, employees and agents shall be entitled to be indemnified by us to the fullest extent permitted by Section 145 of the Delaware General Corporation Law (“DGCL”). Section 145 of the Delaware General Corporation Law concerning indemnification of officers, directors, employees and agents is set forth below.

Section 145. Indemnification of officers, directors, employees and agents; insurance.

 

  (a)

A corporation shall have power to indemnify any person who was or is a party or is threatened to be made a party to any threatened, pending or completed action, suit or proceeding, whether civil, criminal, administrative or investigative (other than an action by or in the right of the corporation) by reason of the fact that the person is or was a director, officer, employee or agent of the corporation, or is or was serving at the request of the corporation as a director, officer, employee or agent of another corporation, partnership, joint venture, trust or other enterprise, against expenses (including attorneys’ fees), judgments, fines and amounts paid in settlement actually and reasonably incurred by the person in connection with such action, suit or proceeding if the person acted in good faith and in a manner the person reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the best interests of the corporation, and, with respect to any criminal action or proceeding, had no reasonable cause to believe the person’s conduct was unlawful. The termination of any action, suit or proceeding by judgment, order, settlement, conviction, or upon a plea of nolo contendere or its equivalent, shall not, of itself, create a presumption that the person did not act in good faith and in a manner which the person reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the best interests of the corporation, and, with respect to any criminal action or proceeding, had reasonable cause to believe that the person’s conduct was unlawful.

 

  (b)

A corporation shall have power to indemnify any person who was or is a party or is threatened to be made a party to any threatened, pending or completed action or suit by or in the right of the corporation to procure a judgment in its favor by reason of the fact that the person is or was a

 

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  director, officer, employee or agent of the corporation, or is or was serving at the request of the corporation as a director, officer, employee or agent of another corporation, partnership, joint venture, trust or other enterprise against expenses (including attorneys’ fees) actually and reasonably incurred by the person in connection with the defense or settlement of such action or suit if the person acted in good faith and in a manner the person reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the best interests of the corporation and except that no indemnification shall be made in respect of any claim, issue or matter as to which such person shall have been adjudged to be liable to the corporation unless and only to the extent that the Court of Chancery or the court in which such action or suit was brought shall determine upon application that, despite the adjudication of liability but in view of all the circumstances of the case, such person is fairly and reasonably entitled to indemnity for such expenses which the Court of Chancery or such other court shall deem proper.

 

  (c)

To the extent that a present or former director or officer of a corporation has been successful on the merits or otherwise in defense of any action, suit or proceeding referred to in subsections (a) and (b) of this section, or in defense of any claim, issue or matter therein, such person shall be indemnified against expenses (including attorneys’ fees) actually and reasonably incurred by such person in connection therewith.

 

  (d)

Any indemnification under subsections (a) and (b) of this section (unless ordered by a court) shall be made by the corporation only as authorized in the specific case upon a determination that indemnification of the present or former director, officer, employee or agent is proper in the circumstances because the person has met the applicable standard of conduct set forth in subsections (a) and (b) of this section. Such determination shall be made, with respect to a person who is a director or officer at the time of such determination, (1) by a majority vote of the directors who are not parties to such action, suit or proceeding, even though less than a quorum, or (2) by a committee of such directors designated by majority vote of such directors, even though less than a quorum, or (3) if there are no such directors, or if such directors so direct, by independent legal counsel in a written opinion, or (4) by the stockholders.

 

  (e)

Expenses (including attorneys’ fees) incurred by an officer or director in defending any civil, criminal, administrative or investigative action, suit or proceeding may be paid by the corporation in advance of the final disposition of such action, suit or proceeding upon receipt of an undertaking by or on behalf of such director or officer to repay such amount if it shall ultimately be determined that such person is not entitled to be indemnified by the corporation as authorized in this section. Such expenses (including attorneys’ fees) incurred by former officers and directors or other employees and agents may be so paid upon such terms and conditions, if any, as the corporation deems appropriate.

 

  (f)

The indemnification and advancement of expenses provided by, or granted pursuant to, the other subsections of this section shall not be deemed exclusive of any other rights to which those seeking indemnification or advancement of expenses may be entitled under any bylaw, agreement, vote of stockholders or disinterested directors or otherwise, both as to action in such person’s official capacity and as to action in another capacity while holding such office. A right to indemnification or to advancement of expenses arising under a provision of the certificate of incorporation or a bylaw shall not be eliminated or impaired by an amendment to such provision after the occurrence of the act or omission that is the subject of the civil, criminal, administrative or investigative action, suit or proceeding for which indemnification or advancement of expenses is sought, unless the provision in effect at the time of such act or omission explicitly authorizes such elimination or impairment after such action or omission has occurred.

 

  (g)

A corporation shall have power to purchase and maintain insurance on behalf of any person who is or was a director, officer, employee or agent of the corporation, or is or was serving at the request

 

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  of the corporation as a director, officer, employee or agent of another corporation, partnership, joint venture, trust or other enterprise against any liability asserted against such person and incurred by such person in any such capacity, or arising out of such person’s status as such, whether or not the corporation would have the power to indemnify such person against such liability under this section.

 

  (h)

For purposes of this section, references to “the corporation” shall include, in addition to the resulting corporation, any constituent corporation (including any constituent of a constituent) absorbed in a consolidation or merger which, if its separate existence had continued, would have had power and authority to indemnify its directors, officers, and employees or agents, so that any person who is or was a director, officer, employee or agent of such constituent corporation, or is or was serving at the request of such constituent corporation as a director, officer, employee or agent of another corporation, partnership, joint venture, trust or other enterprise, shall stand in the same position under this section with respect to the resulting or surviving corporation as such person would have with respect to such constituent corporation if its separate existence had continued.

 

  (i)

For purposes of this section, references to “other enterprises” shall include employee benefit plans; references to “fines” shall include any excise taxes assessed on a person with respect to any employee benefit plan; and references to “serving at the request of the corporation” shall include any service as a director, officer, employee or agent of the corporation which imposes duties on, or involves services by, such director, officer, employee or agent with respect to an employee benefit plan, its participants or beneficiaries; and a person who acted in good faith and in a manner such person reasonably believed to be in the interest of the participants and beneficiaries of an employee benefit plan shall be deemed to have acted in a manner “not opposed to the best interests of the corporation” as referred to in this section.

 

  (j)

The indemnification and advancement of expenses provided by, or granted pursuant to, this section shall, unless otherwise provided when authorized or ratified, continue as to a person who has ceased to be a director, officer, employee or agent and shall inure to the benefit of the heirs, executors and administrators of such a person.

 

  (k)

The Court of Chancery is hereby vested with exclusive jurisdiction to hear and determine all actions for advancement of expenses or indemnification brought under this section or under any by law, agreement, vote of stockholders or disinterested directors, or otherwise. The Court of Chancery may summarily determine a corporation’s obligation to advance expenses (including attorneys’ fees).

Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act may be permitted to our directors, officers, and controlling persons pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, we have been advised that, in the opinion of the SEC, such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling person in a successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person in connection with the securities being registered, we will, unless in the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to the court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether such indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.

In accordance with Section 102(b)(7) of the DGCL, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, will provide that no director shall be personally liable to us or any of our stockholders for monetary damages resulting from breaches of their fiduciary duty as directors, except to the extent such limitation on or exemption from liability is not permitted under the DGCL. The effect of this provision of our

 

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amended and restated certificate of incorporation is to eliminate our rights and those of our stockholders (through stockholders’ derivative suits on our behalf) to recover monetary damages against a director for breach of the fiduciary duty of care as a director, including breaches resulting from negligent or grossly negligent behavior, except, as restricted by Section 102(b)(7) of the DGCL. However, this provision does not limit or eliminate our rights or the rights of any stockholder to seek non-monetary relief, such as an injunction or rescission, in the event of a breach of a director’s duty of care.

If the DGCL is amended to authorize corporate action further eliminating or limiting the liability of directors, then, in accordance with our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, the liability of our directors to us or our stockholders will be eliminated or limited to the fullest extent authorized by the DGCL, as so amended. Any repeal or amendment of provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation limiting or eliminating the liability of directors, whether by our stockholders or by changes in law, or the adoption of any other provisions inconsistent therewith, will (unless otherwise required by law) be prospective only, except to the extent such amendment or change in law permits us to further limit or eliminate the liability of directors on a retroactive basis.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will also provide that we will, to the fullest extent authorized or permitted by applicable law, indemnify our current and former officers and directors, as well as those persons who, while directors or officers of our corporation, are or were serving as directors, officers, employees or agents of another entity, trust or other enterprise, including service with respect to an employee benefit plan, in connection with any threatened, pending or completed proceeding, whether civil, criminal, administrative or investigative, against all expense, liability and loss (including, without limitation, attorney’s fees, judgments, fines, ERISA excise taxes and penalties and amounts paid in settlement) reasonably incurred or suffered by any such person in connection with any such proceeding. Notwithstanding the foregoing, a person eligible for indemnification pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will be indemnified by us in connection with a proceeding initiated by such person only if such proceeding was authorized by our board of directors, except for proceedings to enforce rights to indemnification.

The right to indemnification which will be conferred by our amended and restated certificate of incorporation is a contract right that includes the right to be paid by us the expenses incurred in defending or otherwise participating in any proceeding referenced above in advance of its final disposition, provided, however, that if the DGCL requires, an advancement of expenses incurred by our officer or director (solely in the capacity as an officer or director of our corporation) will be made only upon delivery to us of an undertaking, by or on behalf of such officer or director, to repay all amounts so advanced if it is ultimately determined that such person is not entitled to be indemnified for such expenses under our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or otherwise.

The rights to indemnification and advancement of expenses will not be deemed exclusive of any other rights which any person covered by our amended and restated certificate of incorporation may have or hereafter acquire under law, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, our bylaws, an agreement, vote of stockholders or disinterested directors, or otherwise.

Any repeal or amendment of provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation affecting indemnification rights, whether by our stockholders or by changes in law, or the adoption of any other provisions inconsistent therewith, will (unless otherwise required by law) be prospective only, except to the extent such amendment or change in law permits us to provide broader indemnification rights on a retroactive basis, and will not in any way diminish or adversely affect any right or protection existing at the time of such repeal or amendment or adoption of such inconsistent provision with respect to any act or omission occurring prior to such repeal or amendment or adoption of such inconsistent provision. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will also permit us, to the extent and in the manner authorized or permitted by law, to indemnify and to advance expenses to persons other that those specifically covered by our amended and restated certificate of incorporation.

 

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Our bylaws, which we intend to adopt immediately prior to the closing of this offering, include the provisions relating to advancement of expenses and indemnification rights consistent with those which will be set forth in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. In addition, our bylaws provide for a right of indemnity to bring a suit in the event a claim for indemnification or advancement of expenses is not paid in full by us within a specified period of time. Our bylaws also permit us to purchase and maintain insurance, at our expense, to protect us and/or any director, officer, employee or agent of our corporation or another entity, trust or other enterprise against any expense, liability or loss, whether or not we would have the power to indemnify such person against such expense, liability or loss under the DGCL.

Any repeal or amendment of provisions of our bylaws affecting indemnification rights, whether by our board of directors, stockholders or by changes in applicable law, or the adoption of any other provisions inconsistent therewith, will (unless otherwise required by law) be prospective only, except to the extent such amendment or change in law permits us to provide broader indemnification rights on a retroactive basis, and will not in any way diminish or adversely affect any right or protection existing thereunder with respect to any act or omission occurring prior to such repeal or amendment or adoption of such inconsistent provision.

We will enter into indemnification agreements with each of our officers and directors a form of which is to be filed as an exhibit to this Registration Statement. These agreements will require us to indemnify these individuals to the fullest extent permitted under Delaware law against liabilities that may arise by reason of their service to us, and to advance expenses incurred as a result of any proceeding against them as to which they could be indemnified.

Pursuant to the Underwriting Agreement to be filed as Exhibit 1.1 to this Registration Statement, we have agreed to indemnify the underwriters and the underwriters have agreed to indemnify us against certain civil liabilities that may be incurred in connection with this offering, including certain liabilities under the Securities Act.

Item 15. Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities.

On June 25, 2021, Berenson SPAC Holdings I, LLC, our sponsor, and purchased an aggregate of 7,187,500 founder shares (up to 937,500 of which are subject to forfeiture by our sponsor depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised) for an aggregate offering price of $25,000 at an average purchase price of approximately $0.004 per share. The number of founder shares issued was determined based on the expectation that the founder shares would represent 20% of the outstanding common stock upon completion of this offering. Such securities were issued in connection with our organization pursuant to the exemption from registration contained in Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act. Our sponsor is an accredited investors for purposes of Rule 501 of Regulation D.

In addition, our sponsor has committed, pursuant to a written agreement, to purchase from us an aggregate of 7,000,000 (or 7,750,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full) private placement warrants at $1.00 per warrant (for an aggregate purchase price of $7,000,000 or $7,750,000 if the underwriters’ over-allotment option is exercised in full). This purchase will take place on a private placement basis simultaneously with the completion of our initial public offering. This issuance will be made pursuant to the exemption from registration contained in Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act.

No underwriting discounts or commissions were paid with respect to such sales.

 

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Item 16. Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules.

 

  (a)

Exhibits. The following exhibits are being filed herewith:

 

Exhibit

  

Description

  1.1    Form of Underwriting Agreement*
  3.1    Certificate of Incorporation*
  3.2    Form of Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation*
  3.3    Bylaws*
  4.1    Specimen Unit Certificate*
  4.2    Specimen Class A Common Stock Certificate*
  4.3    Specimen Warrant Certificate (included in Exhibit 4.4)*
  4.4    Form of Warrant Agreement between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company and the Registrant*
  5.1    Form of Opinion of Greenberg Traurig, P.A.*
10.1    Promissory Note, dated June 21, 2021, issued to Berenson Acquisition Corp. I*
10.2    Subscription Agreement for Founder Shares, dated June 25, 2021, between the Registrant and Berenson SPAC Holdings I, LLC*
10.3    Form of Letter Agreement among the Registrant and its officers, directors and Berenson SPAC Holdings I, LLC*
10.4    Form of Investment Management Trust Agreement between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company and the Registrant*
10.5    Form of Registration Rights Agreement between the Registrant and certain security holders*
10.6    Form of Sponsor Private Placement Warrants Purchase Agreement between the Registrant and Berenson SPAC Holdings I, LLC*
10.7    Form of Indemnity Agreement*
10.8    Form of Administrative Services Agreement by and between the Registrant and Berenson SPAC Holdings I, LLC*
10.9    Form of Investment Agreement by and among the Registrant, Berenson SPAC Holdings I,LLC and the anchor investors.*
10.10    Form of Forward Purchase Agreement*
14    Form of Code of Business Conduct and Ethics*
23.1    Consent of Grant Thornton LLP*
23.2    Consent of Greenberg Traurig, P.A. (included in Exhibit 5.1)*
24    Power of Attorney (included on the signature page of this Registration Statement)*
99.1    Form of Audit Committee Charter*
99.2    Form of Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee Charter*
99.3    Form of Compensation Committee Charter*
99.4    Consent of Carl Ferenbach*
99.5    Consent of Kay Kapoor*
99.6    Consent of Ronald Kasner*
99.7    Consent of Gal Munda*

 

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*

Filed herewith.

 

  (b)

Financial Statements. See page F-1 for an index to the financial statements and schedules included in the registration statement.

Item 17. Undertakings.

 

  (a)

Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act of 1933 may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons of the registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, the registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the Securities and Exchange Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act of 1933 and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by the registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling person of the registrant in the successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person in connection with the securities being registered, the registrant will, unless in the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether such indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the Act and will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.

 

  (b)

The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes that:

 

  (1)

For purposes of determining any liability under the Securities Act of 1933, the information omitted from the form of prospectus filed as part of this registration statement in reliance upon Rule 430A and contained in a form of prospectus filed by the registrant pursuant to Rule 424(b)(1) or (4) or 497(h) under the Securities Act shall be deemed to be part of this registration statement as of the time it was declared effective.

 

  (2)

For the purpose of determining any liability under the Securities Act of 1933, each post-effective amendment that contains a form of prospectus shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.

 

  (3)

For the purpose of determining liability under the Securities Act of 1933 to any purchaser, if the registrant is subject to Rule 430C, each prospectus filed pursuant to Rule 424(b) as part of a registration statement relating to an offering, other than registration statements relying on Rule 430B or other than prospectuses filed in reliance on Rule 430A, shall be deemed to be part of and included in the registration statement as of the date it is first used after effectiveness. Provided, however, that no statement made in a registration statement or prospectus that is part of the registration statement or made in a document incorporated or deemed incorporated by reference into the registration statement or prospectus that is part of the registration statement will, as to a purchaser with a time of contract of sale prior to such first use, supersede or modify any statement that was made in the registration statement or prospectus that was part of the registration statement or made in any such document immediately prior to such date of first use.

 

  (4)

For the purpose of determining liability of a registrant under the Securities Act of 1933 to any purchaser in the initial distribution of the securities, the undersigned registrant undertakes that in a primary offering of securities of an undersigned registrant pursuant to this registration statement, regardless of the underwriting method used to sell the securities to the purchaser, if

 

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  the securities are offered or sold to such purchaser by means of any of the following communications, the undersigned registrant will be a seller to the purchaser and will be considered to offer or sell such securities to such purchaser:

 

  (i)

Any preliminary prospectus or prospectus of the undersigned registrant relating to the offering required to be filed pursuant to Rule 424;

 

  (ii)

Any free writing prospectus relating to the offering prepared by or on behalf of the undersigned registrant or used or referred to by an undersigned registrant;

 

  (iii)

The portion of any other free writing prospectus relating to the offering containing material information about the undersigned registrant or its securities provided by or on behalf of the undersigned registrant; and

 

  (iv)

Any other communication that is an offer in the offering made by the undersigned registrant to the purchaser.

 

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SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933 the registrant has duly caused this registration statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in the City of New York, State of New York on September 10, 2021.

 

Berenson Acquisition Corp. I
By:  

/s/ Mohammed Ansari

Name:   Mohammed Ansari
Title:   Chief Executive Officer and Director

Power of Attorney

KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS, that each of the undersigned constitutes and appoints each of Mohammed Ansari and Amir Hegazy, each acting alone, his true and lawful attorneys-in-fact and agents, with full power of substitution and resubstitution, for such person and in his name, place and stead, in any and all capacities, to sign this Registration Statement on Form S-1 (including any and all pre-effective and post-effective amendments and registration statements filed pursuant to Rule 462 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended), and to file the same, with all exhibits thereto, and other documents in connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, granting unto said attorneys-in-fact and agents, each acting alone, full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing requisite and necessary to be done in and about the premises, as fully to all intents and purposes as he might or could do in person, hereby ratifying and confirming that any such attorney-in-fact and agent, or his substitute or substitutes, may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, this registration statement has been signed by the following persons in the capacities and on the dates indicated.

 

Signature

  

Title

 

Date

/s/ Mohammed Ansari

Mohammed Ansari

  

Chief Executive Officer and Director

(Principal Executive Officer)

  September 10, 2021

/s/ Amir Hegazy

Amir Hegazy

  

Chief Financial Officer

(Principal Financial and Accounting Officer)

  September 10, 2021

/s/ Jeffrey Berenson

Jeffrey Berenson

   Chairman of the Board of Directors   September 10, 2021

/s/ David Panton

David Panton

   Director   September 10, 2021